SO…WHADDUP?
Dayummm have we got news for you! Last time you heard from us our heads were up in the clouds from the amazing feedback that we got from both the press and players at Gamescom 2017. The award was a nice touch too 😉
We were also participating at Reboot InfoGamer 2017 that took place in Zagreb in November, where we showcased the game once more. Last year we took home the “Best Gameplay” Award at the same show, so this time around we were not eligible to compete again.
But just because we haven’t posted a blog article since then doesn’t mean we’ve been sitting on our butts and doing nothing. Au contraire!
Well we kinda were sitting on our butts since that is pretty much the life of every game developer – but we managed to put in a s***-ton of changes and features into the game!
There is so much to go through that we literally don’t know where to start!
YOU DID WHAT?!
Ok, so we’ll just put in the most noticeable changes and upgrades:
Leaderboards – We integrated Steam Leaderboards so that our beta testers can compete for glory and fight each other over who has the biggest score! That one might be a mistake because they’ve gotten so good at the game that none of us devs can now beat those high scores. Guess we’ll have to do a reset and wipe those leaderboards clean and save ourselves from the embarrassment.
Daily Challenges – To spicy it up even more we added Daily Challenges to the game. All players get one shot each day to get their name on this leaderboard. Every player will get to play the same character and the same level layout. You might even get to play a Daily Challenge with a character that you didn’t unlock, if the game decides so. It’s a cool feature that gives the players a sneak peek at the content that they still haven’t unlocked.
Improved N.E.T.R.I.C.S.A. – We actually made this bad girl function properly. All the info about the characters you unlock, weapons you pick up, enemies you run into and bosses you defeat, all under one roof! Who doesn’t like a good read? I know, right?
Final Boss – We added the final boss in the game. The mighty Ugh-Zan robot! It’s our very own take on this monstrosity and this battle will really test your nerves. And just when you think that you defeated him – he comes back IN A TANK! This flammenwerfer-rotating-boost-charging-rocket salvo-firing beast will make you beg for mercy!
New vehicle – Speaking of final boss fights, we forgot to mention that Ugh-Zan is so freakin’ huge that you are going to fight him in a chopper! That’s right! We added yet another vehicle in the game. After jeeps and boats, it’s time for helicopters. Fire your minigun and missile launcher at the monster while dodging beams and deflecting his rockets with your rotor blades. Fun times, eh?
New characters – Boy do we have those, along with their passive and special abilities. But we’re not gonna say who they are. It’s a surprise. And a big one at that. You’re gonna love this one and it’s definitely going to be worth the wait.
Achievements – We have a lot of those. New icons are finished and being implemented as we speak. Completing tasks and unlocking achievements will be necessary in unlocking the content of the game like new weapons and characters. What? You thought that we were going to serve those on a platter?
Updated environments – We went through every environment and updated all of them. And of course this wasn’t our first time doing it. Or 10th. Or 20th. We’re probably going to go over it again and update it once more. But we just wanted you to know. Carry on.
Obstacle destruction – Our environments were destroyable from the beginning but there were some objects that we decided could not be destroyed. Well now you can destroy those objects as well. Destroying is fun, so knock yourselves out. Environments explode into tiny blocks when they get hit and now these blocks have a cool bounce to them. Looks super cool!
Mojo & perks & scoring – And since we’re on the subject of environment destruction, we added more reasons for players to do it. Points and perks! Every obstacle and enemy you destroy will explode into tiny cubes. Some of those cubes will be golden and players will automatically collect them. Those golden cubes are called Mojo and will count into your overall score in the end. We also added a dedicated MOJO BAR on top of the screen, so when players fill up that bar, they get a perk. It’s not restricted to destroying bosses to get perks anymore. You can get them before you even get to the first boss. Maybe even 2 perks if your skilful and a bit lucky. So it’s not only important to get far, but to destroy as much as you can.
Sheep – No serious game can go without sheep. You gotta have sheep if you wanna be one of the cool kids. So we got sheep in our game. You can find them in the Medieval aisle.
New enemies – Besides creating new playable characters for the game, we wanted to add more enemies as well. So we did!
CUCURBITO is a pretty nasty pumpkin head that runs at normal speed at first but charges at you if you piss him off. And how do you piss him off you ask? Well by shooting at him! See what we did? You’re gonna piss him off eventually. Or die trying.
MUMBO JUMBO is a very bulky looking shaman dude with lot of HP. What he does is he swings his shaman staff and upgrades all enemies that are near him to a higher tier. So be sure to get rid of Mumbo Jumbo ASAP once you see him.
THE MUMMY? Oh that one you’re going to have to shoot. You can’t use melee attacks on him because he unwraps and wraps back up again every time you try to do that. Just try not to let it get too close. Ok?
ULGUMP is a goblin like creature that will appear at the bottom of the screen and spend some time there before shooting a giant energy ball that will block out a part of the screen. The energy ball is so powerful that he does a somersault shooting it and just disappears off the screen. Get in the energy ball’s way, and you will get hurt. Just like Shaman, it’s best to destroy him before he has a chance to act.
BLOATER (not the final name) is a huge dude filled with acid-like green goo and he explodes when he dies. We don’t need to emphasize that it’s in your best interest that you are not near him when he does!
Now KNIGHT is a tricky enemy since she will have a shield in front of her at all times, so bullets will be blocked. When she gets close to you she will bump into the players knocking them back. This is especially dangerous if you are near a ledge as you will most likely be flying off of one at that moment. Best tactic is to circle around and hit her from the back.
Traps – There are even more traps now! So watch where you’re walking! Some will damage you immediately, and some will lock you in place until you break free with a melee swing. Watch out!
Flawless victories against bosses – Skilfull players will now get extra Mojo if they defeat bosses without getting hit. So any players get a Flawless Victory are sure to get a perk, no matter how much their MOJO bar is filled.
AI – Enemies are a bit smarter and some, like Kleers, a bit faster. Not every enemy will ram into a wall. But if some do, they will start damaging the obstacle and eventually get through. Other enemies like Mummies will completely avoid walls and obstacles. Even the walls that you put in front of them using the Seismic weapon.
Weapon System Rework – We spent a lot of time working on our primary and special weapons system. All characters would have the same primary weapons – assault rifle and shotgun, and they would get random special weapons out of crates that you would need to smash in game.
If you didn’t fire a single shot from a filled up special weapon, the next time you destroyed a crate you would get a different weapon. If you used up some of the ammo and then destroyed the crate, your special weapon would only get refilled. With a dedicated button to discard a special weapon, players could choose between refilling or getting a new weapon. But if you would use up the special weapon all the way, your character would throw it away.
We reworked that.
Now there is no more discarding of weapons button. When you deplete the ammo it stays with you and you can refill it by picking up special weapon ammo. But if you destroy a special weapon crate, you always get a new weapon.
We also added unique primary weapons to every character in game. So playthroughs with different characters will be different – unique even!
New menu – The menu is now completely overhauled! Camera transitions over a 3D scene depending on what your selection in the menu is. Looks super sweet and way better than before. Just look at that moonlight! Still working on it so it’s bound to look even better. There will also be a special lobby that will allow players to enable various challenges and curses if they want a higher difficulty in their session.
End game screen and rewards – Remember those achievements and tasks that we mentioned earlier? Well we added a cool screen with Tokens for the stuff that you just unlocked – characters or weapons. Looks really cool plus there is a nice shot effect when you keep pressing “Continue”. You’re gonna love it!
New perks – since we dropped the weapon dropping mechanic (aaah wordplay) we had to get rid of the perks that were activated when using that mechanic. So we added perks related to the newly added special ammo pick up. Special Delivery and Special Reload. One perk increases the amount of ammo that you will be able to pick up, while the other enables players to completely refill the special weapon once they get the special ammo pick up.
Visual improvements, UI additions and optimization – you get the picture. No seriously – here’s a picture for you to see. Two pictures even!
Consoles! – we are optimizing and developing the game for consoles! Switch, PS4, Xbox One – we got you covered.
Since the game is nearing the end of development it’s time to put the pedal to the metal and start crunching. So we’ll probably lock ourselves up in the studio and come out some time after spring starts. Maybe not shave until then as well. Yeah, that would be fun.
If you guys have any questions that you want to ask or want to know more about the game, feel free to contact us. You can also visit our Steam page and join our little community that is bound to grow bigger soon.
