Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Strategy, Adventure, Indie
Infectonator : Survivors
Update #34 - Major Improvement - Nov 19, 2015
Greeting Survivors!
We continue working on Survivors with more features and fixes. And we are now getting closer and closer to the final release! After having an exciting PAX exhibition, we come with major changes and additions to the game.
TRAVEL So, what is actually going on with it? You see, previously the game seemed to have no ending because you might not get the idea when you will reach your end. We also felt that current traveling system is running a bit complicated. Concerning this situation, we come up with some changes to the traveling system. Thus, now you are going to go through several checkpoints (that acts as cities), where you stop at each checkpoint (because of your problematic car), start exploring goods and materials, fix car, and then head to your destination.
MAP EXPLORATION REVISED We also make a change to the map exploration flow within the game. After quite some time, we figured out that putting tower defense and exploration mode together is taking much time and considerably hassling. To resolve this, and with random encounter enabled, we simply separate them and make it so that defense mode only appears each time you randomly encounter hordes of zombie while exploring the map. And you can go directly to explore mode without having to enter defense mode. This way, you might notice and turn up with question, "how you can find other survivors or fight boss, then?" Given the situation, we make it that boss and survivors will just appear in explore mode, if you don't meet them on defense mode.
OBJECTS ON STREET IN EXPLORE MODE Another addition is putting objects like concretes and, especially, cars and other searchable objects on the streets of the building you are exploring. We put this idea to our head since we know, with new map exploration flow, we are getting less on defense mode, where cars are normally seen (in which you can find important things like spark plugs, fuels, etc). Hence, we still have the chance to search on cars for those required items in explore mode. Placing the concrete as obstacle can also become good challenge for you to wander through it while shooting at or being chased by zombies.
GEARS ARE DROP-ABLE It was impossible to get any gears or equipment from scavenging objects (and we also got some complaints from people playing our challenge mode on PAX that it was hard for them to get medkit because they desperately need to heal their characters). Now, you can have the chance to find them on scavenge, and it is quite helpful! You are also given some chances to be able to get weapons and equipment from dead bodies. lying on the ground.
REAL ENDLESS CHALLENGE MODE Now challenge mode will come with real endless waves of zombies. Yes, it is totally endless.
OTHER UPDATES Our update doesn't stop there!
Balancing - We have balanced the gameplay with necessary changes and adjustments.
New Zombie - Added one annoying zombie, go check it out!
Bug Fixing - Other more fixed minor bugs, such as false difficulty information on area with boss, gear durability information, etc.
Thank you for being patient with us and the game's development.
I'll see you again in 2 weeks with more updates!
Suggestions & Feedbacks If you have suggestions and/or feedback on the game, please post on Infectonator : Survivors' Steam Discussions Forum. You can also make a shout out on Toge Productions' Facebook or Twitter
Update #33 - PAX AUS & Kickstarter Update! - Nov 2, 2015
Hi Survivors!
KICKSTARTER IS NOW LIVE First of all, we would like to tell you that our Kickstarter campaign is now LIVE! Please give your support and help us push through the final step of the game's development!
PAX AUS Now that PAX Aus has ended, we finally have the time to share our experiences. I'm sorry that we couldn't work on updating the game this week because we were all busy manning our PAX booth.
PAX Aus was a great experience! This was our first time ever attending and exhibiting Infectonator Survivors at an event such as PAX and it's awesome to see that a lot of people love the game.
Our booth was always packed with people lining up to play the Challenge mode. And we even see a few people play more than once (sometimes up to 7 times), they go back in line as soon as they finish one session!
One of the most frequently asked question is : "Is it going to be multiplayer?"
We would love to make the game multiplayer, however we just don't have the resources to do it. That's why one of our Kickstarter stretch goal is adding Multiplayer for the game. So please back our Kickstarter campaign !
We had cosplayers visit our booth and try the game on!
We were also interviewed by several gaming journalists and media outlets. It feels amazing to hear that they think our game is fun and unique!
Not only that, we also got to meet with other indie game developers from all over the world! We met with Ty Carrey - Co-Founder & Director of Armello, Jake & Justin - creators of Always Sometimes Monsters, and many more!
We took a group selfie with Vagabond Dog, Tinimations, and GottaGames
Here Henry Roesly, Ty Carrey, and Kris
We had a great time at PAX Aus, it was truly a great experience. Hopefully, we can showcase our game at PAX East & PAX Prime next year.
We'll resume work on Infectonator Survivors next week, so please stay tuned on the next update!
Suggestions & Feedbacks If you have suggestions and/or feedback on the game, please post on Infectonator : Survivors' Steam Discussions Forum. You can also make a shout out on Toge Productions' Facebook or Twitter
Update #32 -Hot Fix! - Oct 13, 2015
Hello Survivors!
This one is a quick update. We just fixed a couple of bugs in Infectonator : Survivors:
MacOS Crash After Tutorial - The bug that prevents MacOS players to enter the HQ after the tutorial is now fixed. Thanks to Brian Harbeston for pointing out the bug.
Save Game Bug - A bug that prevented players from deleting an old saved game is now fixed. Thanks to Justin Guash for pointing this one out!
Thank you for being patient with us and the game's development.
I'll see you again in 2 weeks with more updates!
Supporting our Kickstarter Launch We are currently gathering support for our pre-launch campaign via Thunderclap. You can also be a part of it!
Suggestions & Feedbacks If you have suggestions and/or feedback on the game, please post on Infectonator : Survivors' Steam Discussions Forum. You can also make a shout out on Toge Productions' Facebook or Twitter
Update #31 - Challenge Mode, PAX AUS & Kickstarter Update! - Oct 12, 2015
Hello Survivors!
This month is a very stressful yet exciting month, mixed altogether. Why? Because this month we will be doing two things! First, we will be showcasing Infectonator : Survivors at PAX AUS in Melbourne, and...we are also launching our Kickstarter campaign on 27 October 2015!
So what's new on this update?
CHALLENGE MODE We are introducing Challenge Mode! This is a new game mode, designed to be quick, tough, and nasty! You will start with 4 characters trapped in a building surrounded by hordes of zombies. The rule is simple. Survive as long as possible!
This mode is actually created for our PAX AUS exhibition. We come up with this so people can quickly jump into the game and get a first hand experience of the gameplay. Not only that, whoever wins our challenge can come home with a FREE Steam Key, Infectonator : Survivors T-Shirts, and merchandise!
OTHER UPDATES Of course our update doesn't stop there, here are more of them!
Reloading in HQ - Your survivors can now reload during base attacks.
Inventory Access Fixed - Characters' inventory should not be accessible in the HQ when they are still away from the base.
Fuel Boost Fixed - Problem when fuel boosting in the project (workshop, car, and garden) didn't work properly is now fixed.
Character's Perks - We have added more new perks for some characters.
Kickstarter & Steam Early Access Exclusive Rewards To all Steam Early Access backers, we THANK YOU for your support from the depths of our heart! In appreciation for your support, we'll give exclusive digital rewards to Steam Early Access backers that have bought the game on Steam before 20 October 2015!
The Reward will include
Digital Artbook - A digital copy of The Art of Infectonator
Digital Soundtracks - A digital copy of the game's sound tracks.
Alien Colony DLC - This DLC is almost an entirely new game. We'll be taking Infectonator Survivors to LV426. (only if the Kickstarter stretch goal is met)
Others - Additional digital content, such as: wallpapers, posters, and many more
These rewards will be sent digitally through Steam only if our campaign is successful.
Why Kickstarter? While most game studios take their games to Kickstarter first and launch them on Steam Greenlight later, we are taking a different approach. We have seen many games that were funded in Kickstarter getting canceled or took ages before players can even try it. We wanted to created a working game first, get it Greenlit, and listen to our fans as we develop it together. We want you to be able to play and experience Infectonator : Survivors first, and show our commitment in this project. That's why we've been developing this game using our own funds for almost 3 years.
Now, we are taking Infectonator : Survivors to Kickstarter for the final push! We have completed most of the gameplay mechanics, but as you can see the game still needs a lot of content (such as: stories, quests, bosses, etc). With your help we can finish the game faster and add more features and content.
We hope that we've shown you our commitment and convinced you to support us and help us make our vision for Infectonator : Survivors a reality.
Our Kickstarter campaign will go live on Tuesday, 27 October 2015 at 10.00 AM EST.
Supporting our Kickstarter Launch You can also support us by helping us spread the word for our upcoming Kickstarter campaign.
We are currently gathering support for our pre-launch campaign via Thunderclap. You can also be a part of it!
Thunderclap is a wonderful crowdspeaking platform that helps a single message to go viral by saying it together at the same time. It will automatically post the news of our Kickstarter campaign via your newsfeed when the campaign started! So whether you are busy or not available during that time, you can still be a great help for us!
Hopefuly the campaign can go viral and you can continue your day without hustle! Let's share it together! Thank you so much for your support!
PAX AUS We can't believe that PAX AUS is only a few weeks away! If you are going to PAX AUS, please visit our booth in the International Indie Pavilion booth number INT01.
Take our challenge and you might come home with a FREE Steam Key, Infectonator : Survivors T-Shirts, and merchandise!
Thank you for being patient with us and the game's development.
I'll see you again in 2 weeks with more updates!
Suggestions & Feedbacks If you have suggestions and/or feedback on the game, please post on Infectonator : Survivors' Steam Discussions Forum. You can also make a shout out on Toge Productions' Facebook or Twitter
Apparently, this last several weeks we'd been so busy preparing for our planned journey to Melbourne to attend games industry seminars and sorting out our booth and stuffs for PAX Australia. Nonetheless, we also still continue working on Survivors with more features and fixes.
KICKSTARTER As you all may have known, we are going to Kickstarter in October. If you are an Early Access backer we want to thank you and we are preparing an Early Backer exclusive reward.
First of all, let me elaborate more about the KS campaign. The goal of the KS campaign is to help us finish this game faster and add more content into the final game. If this KS is funded, everyone, including Early Access backers, will get the benefit.
Of course we don't forget about our Early Access backers (people who purchased the game before the KS campaign started). Because without your support we won't make it this far. So once the KS is funded, we will give all Early Access backers an exclusive reward. One thing for sure, the exclusive reward would be something digital so that we could distribute it easily and with no extra delivery costs. The reward would likely be either an extra copy (Steam Key) of the game, exclusive digital art book + behind the scenes dev stuff, soundtracks, an extra DLC, or all of the above. Some of the reward might be tied to one or two stretch goals in our KS campaign.
With that said, we do hope that you, our Early Access backers, would once again give support on the KS campaign. Your support can be as simple as telling your friends about our little indie game and the KS campaign.
We've also set up a reward tier that (hopefully) could cater to all, Early Access backers and new backers. For example: as an Early Access backer you already own the game so you might not want an extra copy, however you are interested in getting a T-shirt ($15 a piece). You can choose the $1 tier and add the T-Shirt as an ADD-ON to your reward with an extra $14. You'll get a survey where you will indicate what your extra $ credit should be used for. If you want to buy an extra copy then that's fine too :D
If the KS campaign gets funded more than the campaign goal, we might be able to add stretch goals. Some of the stretch goals that we have in mind are:
- "Alien Colony" DLC - We are taking Infectonator : Survivors to LV426, Aliens style (Smart guns and Pulse rifles included). We might change some names and design to avoid copyright infringement. :P
- Modding Tools - We might be able to provide you some extra tools to help mod the game.
- Character Customization System - You can customize how the characters look in-game.
We would love to get your feedback on this. Also if you have suggestions on the Stretch goals or Reward tiers, please let us know :D Details regarding the Kickstarter campaign & rewards will be sent out through email, so please go to www.infectonatorsurvivors.com and join our mailing list.
BASE UNDER ATTACK We've been considering this feature for some times, but now we are actually putting it into the game with some changes made to accommodate the mechanism.
There will be chance of swarm of zombies breaching your base and assaulting your people determined by the difficulty your base has. The higher the difficulty, the greater the chance and numbers of zombies you will encounter in your base. Characters who are assigned to any projects or works will automatically leave off the jobs and get under siege, when the attack occurs. All zombies will go straight to the center of the base and hunt you people down. Going Infectonator-style, you will oversee the defense activity until base is cleared from zombies. When your character dies, they can still be revived by clicking on them when dying timer is still ticking. Even if it's too late to revive, you can make them alive again using your money (@mmo).
Concerning this mechanism, we set the base to have increasing difficulty every 3 days, and so it will have random encounter when you approach, much the same as other buildings. You will also undergo defense and exploration before you can turn to map again and eventually enter HQ.
OTHER UPDATES Our update doesn't stop there!
Balancing - We have balanced the gameplay with necessary changes.
Perks - Even now scientist has real, functioning perk.
Bug Fixing - Other more fixed minor bugs.
Thank you for being patient with us and the game's development.
I'll see you again in 2 weeks with more updates!
Suggestions & Feedbacks If you have suggestions and/or feedback on the game, please post on Infectonator : Survivors' Steam Discussions Forum. You can also make a shout out on Toge Productions' Facebook or Twitter
Update #29 - New Gameflow, PAX AUS! - Aug 25, 2015
Hi Survivors!
We are back with a new update! This time it's a MAJOR update! We have made a lot of improvements to the game. These new improvements include a new gameflow change.
NEW GAMEFLOW Before this update, every time you move to a new building you have no choice but to enter combat mode. Not only that it was very tiring and time consuming, it made returning to the HQ a painful journey.
We listened to all your feedback and decided to change this flow. After a very risky surgical game code overhauling procedure, we have finally manage to change the gameflow and made it better.
Now, you no longer have to enter combat mode at every move. You can now move easily from one building to another with a chance of random combat encounter.
Zombie infestation levels in each building will effect the chance of encounter. For example, your chances of encountering combat is very low when going to a Police Station with "Harmless" infestation level. On the other hand, going to a "Dangerous" Apartment will certainly give you a combat encounter.
RANDOM EVENTS, INTERACTIONS & QUESTS Another improvement that we made is to the game's story/events mechanics. There are now 3 types of story/events :
Random Events - These are events that will happen in the city view layer when you are moving from one building to another.
Interaction Events - These are events that are triggered when you interacted an object during exploration/combat mode.
Quest Events - These are events that triggers a quest with multiple story events and interactions. These quests can be triggered by a random event or an interaction event.
With this, we have started working on implementing story based quests.
UI IMPROVEMENTS We've also improved the user interface.
GRID STYLE CHANGE We replaced the Red-Green grids.
BUG FIXES
Game crashes when a rescued survivor died in combat - This is now fixed.
Minor bug fixes - Performance improvements & minor bug fixes.
WE ARE GOING TO PAX AUS
We are happy to announce that the Infectonator : Survivors dev team will be having a booth at PAX AUS this year! We'll have a booth at the International Indie Pavilion showcasing the game's latest build and selling some Infectonator T-Shirt & merchandise. You and your friends can also win FREE Infectonator swag & Steam Keys!
So, if you are planning to go to PAX AUS, don't forget to visit our booth and say hi! We would love to meet all of you! See you in Melbourne soon!
PLANS FOR KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN
It's been a very long journey developing Infectonator : Survivors. I started the initial game's design & prototype back in November 2012. Now, almost 3 years later we can all see that the game is shaping up and almost at the finish line.
We made it this far thanks to your support!
Even though we've managed to go this far, our limited resources did not allow us to go as fast as we hoped. Our small team of 4 have been working on this game on a shoestring budget for almost 3 years.
The game mechanics for Infectonator : Survivors is almost 100% complete. However, to truly make this game great we feel that it needs more content. Content such as : story, quests, cutscenes, characters, npc, voice acting, more enemies, giant monster bosses, etc.
This is why we are planning to do a Kickstarter campaign in October. With additional funding we would be able to hire extra help and finish the game faster (hopefully by Dec 2015 or Jan 2016) with more and better content. Not only that, Kickstarter can also help the game gain more exposure.
We are also planning additional exclusive rewards for you, our Early Access backers!
We want to hear from you. We want to know what you think about this Kickstarter plan. We also want to know what kind of rewards that you would want to see from this campaign. Please let us know what you think on the comments section below.
Once again, we thank you all for your support!
Suggestions & Feedbacks Please tell us if you find more issues or suggestions within the game.
Thank you for being patient with us and the game's development.
I'll see you again in 2 weeks with more updates!
If you have suggestions and/or feedback on the game, please post on Infectonator : Survivors' Steam Discussions Forum. You can also make a shout out on Toge Productions' Facebook or Twitter
Update #28.5 - Fix And Twix - Aug 6, 2015
Hello Survivors!
Here is a small update on this month, consisting mainly of some bug fixes and gameplay tweaks. It's important to keep fixing the problems, so we want to let you know about it. Note: We make it as new version of game update, so expect data save loss.
BUG FIXES
Rescued Survivors Bug - We found out that when we encounter survivors to be rescued but eventually died in the process, it would immediately cause crash to the game. We fixed it so that it won't happen again.
Gear Bug - You might have noticed this problem before, as gears used by the characters would still give effects even when gears are unequipped or discarded. This bug has been fixed nicely.
DIY Crafting Bug - We also resolved problem where DIY items, excluding armor and weapons, failed to craft and wasted materials being used to craft them.
TWEAKS
Graphic Glitch - The game showed some graphic problems, especially when doing fade-to-black scene, but then we managed to sort it out accordingly.
Perk Tweaked - Character perk is also getting corrected and adjusted.
Car Project Tweaked - We reckoned a small issue on character's positioning when doing and changing car projects, nonetheless it is finely tweaked.
But, that's not all...
FEATURE: DYNAMIC TEXT
We've also added a text system commonly found in many role-playing games. When in events showing the dialogues, it will dynamically display and type each block of text. Also each finished, completed sentences of the dialogue will be given timer before going to the next dialogue.
Please tell us if you find more issues or suggestions within the game.
Thank you for being patient with us and the game's development.
I'll see you again in 2 weeks with more updates!
Suggestions & Feedbacks If you have suggestions and/or feedback on the game, please post on Infectonator : Survivors' Steam Discussions Forum. You can also make a shout out on Toge Productions' Facebook or Twitter
Update #28 - Dramatic Update - July 24, 2015
Hi Survivors!
Once again, this update is, as a matter of fact, all about bug fixing, since people found out some irritating problems which caused the game to not progressing. Since then, we pushed it through and get it done this week, and here we are. But, hold on! That's not all! What's more, we made an interesting and very cool addition:
DRAMATIC GAME-OVER SCENE Yup, the drama. When you have no more survivors just to survive and live the next day, something dramatic need to come about. It will give you the feel that you are finished and the sign that you have to start it over again. The scene will slow down in motion and gradually set into black screen.
BUG FIXES And now, the problems that have been solved:
CAR FIXING PROBLEM When it was actually assumedly fixed in prior update, the game just got messier. To travel to the next city, it is important that car fixing is working. We assure you for now that it is again solved. We also fix some UI problems within the car project. Note: need to restart the game to make it work.
OBJECT PLACEMENT BUG We also already find a solution to object placement that blocked a path when characters try to go through door into the room, and now there will be no more object blocking the door.
MAP MOVEMENT BUG We received feedback where map movement (a move to other surrounding buildings) was instead increasing every time survivors went camping. The bug is fixed.
MERCHANT & GUARDS BUG Merchant bug that technically sometimes caused the game to crash and the guards that used your ammos are now fixed.
GARDEN BUG Garden was mistakenly showing car's project and now is fix.
SMG CLIP GLITCH SMG resulting in characters having body glitch is now fixed.
Thank you for being patient with us and the game's development. We also still is figuring out problems that hopefully don't become really troublesome.
I'll see you again in 2 weeks with more updates!
Suggestions & Feedbacks If you have suggestions and/or feedback on the game, please post on Infectonator : Survivors' Steam Discussions Forum. You can also make a shout out on Toge Productions' Facebook or Twitter
Update #27 - Content, Interaction, and Grass - July 10, 2015
Hello Survivors!
This time, we've been making a lot of new stuffs to add, such as new items, new zombie character (and more to come), features, and even a hypnotizing animated grass! We would say that our graphic artists are working pretty hard on this one. It's been a month from our last update, but we'll always make sure that we're still staying the course to stick to the plan and finish it up. So here are the updates:
Whoaa...the grass...magnifique!
NEW CONTENTS We make a bunch of new contents in our list. For example, we put more new items that are necessary for our upcoming feature, such as car fixing, cooking, quests, random events, and so on. Not only that, we also make various skins for the zombies. In the future, you also will get new bosses with their own characteristic. We also work on "prettifying" the headquarter with more objects, decorations, ornaments, and more.
Some new objects are also interactable to the characters, and this will help building up stories by triggering events or activating quests and giving you certain goals or points to reach.
FIXING THE CAR Now fixing the car is not part of the crafting system in the workbench. Instead, it stands on its own. You need your characters ready to be in the car fix team, and when you choose them, they will get near around the car and start fixing it after you choose one of the fixing projects. You also need some spareparts (items) to be able to start repairing, based off of the project you choose. And the car is ready to use after you finish all the repairs.
ROOM AND BUILDING LAYOUTS Buildings now have more and supposedly better layout of rooms, and rooms have more and better layout of interior objects and stuffs, especially for house building. We add them to give a feeling of more 'realistic' tones and vibes to it.
RESEARCH TREE AND WEAPON TIER BALANCING We also improve the crafting system to have better management on research tree and weapon craftmanship. You need to have your character to study crafting in specific level of weaponry and then be able to make weapons for you to use, like handgun, rifle, or melee weapon. Of course, you need specific items or gun parts that you can find outside your base to be able to make it.
OTHER UPDATES Our update doesn't stop there, of course!
Engine Update - Latest code optimization for our engine.
Difficulty Balancing - Latest improvement on making better balances in term of in-game battle difficulty that will give you more challenging experiences.
Bug Fixing - A lot more fixed minor bugs. We notice that we haven't checked all bugs found and informed from the feedbacks, expect us to work on it in the next update.
Next: we will start working on the story with its quests and random events to create certain storylines and goals in the hope that you will never ask yourself and wonder where you are going to go :D
Thank you for being patient with us and the game's development.
I'll see you again in 2 weeks with more updates!
Suggestions & Feedbacks If you have suggestions and/or feedback on the game, please post on Infectonator : Survivors' Steam Discussions Forum. You can also make a shout out on Toge Productions' Facebook or Twitter
Update #26 - Less Leak, More Tweak - June 10, 2015
Greeting Survivors!
We have another important game update this week.
MEMORY LEAK - BUG FIXED We also found a critical problem that it gradually uses up memory and could slow down the game. We've now fixed this memory leak issue. It's very crucial to put this right at once to give better performance.
MOUSE CONTROL TWEAKED This might be one of the most required updates during battle. We see that players often accidentally miss clicked causing their characters to be unselected. We feel that the unselect feature is causing more harm than good. To give you better control in managing/directing characters, interacting with objects, etc., we decided that clicking on an empty area will no longer unselect characters.
FOG OF WAR SYSTEM As you might have remembered that one of our updates was adding character's fog of war that worked principally as character's area of sight. The out-of-sight area was basically covered with thick dark fog where you cannot see through, before or after you explore the area. After tweaking the FOW, now it has the function where area that have been explored will be more transparent and you can immediately check the rooms to see whether the enemies are still inside those rooms or not.
OTHER UPDATES Our update doesn't stop there!
Difficulty Balancing - Latest improvement on making better balances in term of in-game battle difficulty that will give you more challenging experiences.
Waypoint Tweaking - Better pathfinding for better performance.
Bug Fixing - Other more fixed minor bugs.
Thank you for being patient with us and the game's development.
I'll see you again in 2 weeks with more updates!
Suggestions & Feedbacks If you have suggestions and/or feedback on the game, please post on Infectonator : Survivors' Steam Discussions Forum. You can also make a shout out on Toge Productions' Facebook or Twitter
