The Arena DLC is finally out! The Arena is a DLC that opens a brand new survival game mode complete with leaderboards. The price is USD 4.99 with a 25% launch discount. The goal is simple: Survive as long as possible. Each level will be harder and the game will seriously try to kill you!
Regarding the scope there are five roles which you can play. You know the roles from the main game but there are also some differences. The loadouts are fixed in order to make the scores more comparable and more dependent on skill. Your main game unlocks will be in effect in survival. You're more likely to score higher with more unlocks but a skilled player can achieve a nice score with the starting unlocks also. Arena is currently only single player as we had limited to deliver it.
A mid-tier high score will take roughly 20-30 minutes to achieve so you should expect at least 2 hours of play time minimum if you do that with each role. However, if you like to compete in arena based survival high score modes, you'll probably be gaming in this mode much much longer.
In the immediate future we'll be monitoring the feedback on the Arena forums here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/428750/discussions/2/ We'll update the Arena at least a couple of times after we learn more how people play it and what they think of it.
If the DLC gains popularity we may do larger feature additions like co-op modes, custom character mode and more variable arenas. This largely depends on how the DLC sells. To break even with the work done so far we'd need around 20% of Steam buyers to buy the DLC. Let's see how it goes - this is our first DLC ever if you do not count the OST.
See you on the scoreboard!
Announcing Neon Chrome - Arena DLC
We're proud to announce Neon Chrome - Arena - an upcoming DLC for Neon Chrome. The Arena is - as you can maybe tell from the name - an arena-based survival game mode for Neon Chrome. It will have online leaderboards - something we've wanted to create for Neon Chrome from the beginning.
The concept is simple: Kill waves of enemies, upgrade weapons, install enhancements and try to survive as long as possible. The Arena is leaderboard based so your goal is to collect as much credits as you can before you die. The games will last between 1-10 minutes depending mainly on skill but also on luck a bit.
All the roles have their own leaderboards as they play very differently and some are better than others. It will be interesting to see how the scores align. Expect some leaderboard wipes during the first few weeks as we balance the game.
At first the Arena will be independent from the main game, but eventually we could maybe give rewards in the main game. However, due to balancing issues this will not be a launch feature.
Currently we hope to launch next week but it may change if we run into any trouble. The price will be announced later.
Latest Update
The latest update included misc. balancing and fix for late game Hovertank bug - you were able to hammer it down with knock back enhancements and big damage. Shouldn't be possible any more.
The Linux version had some library issues with libpng so you need to use the beta-branch to access the latest update for now. We'll fix it when we have time.
Also check out http://teslavslovecraft.com for our upcoming game!
In any case: Happy holidays to everyone!
Gameplay updates, Linux and Mac support
The game now officially supports Linux and Mac. We've also updated the gameplay in various ways so the game should better than ever!
- Enhancements branding fixed (had wrong corp brand in one enhancement)
- The collider of the centipede tail is now smaller so that bullets do not hit it.
- Made invisible spawners indestructible so that missiles wont't target them
- The player should not be able to walk past the caretaker next level trigger
- Missiles and other explosives now always damage turrets and wall hatches.
- Time speed is always restored to normal when the player dies.
- The hub now opens in steps when you progress in levels
- Spiderbot made a bit easier as the third weapon is less lethal
- Death screen is not shown anymore after the first tutorial has been finished.
- Movement a bit more precise/snappier
- Centipede missiles have a kill switch at 2.4 secs to make dodging easier (was 5)
- Increased airship text texture to 512x512
- Following gamepads are now officially supported on Mac OS X: Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4, and PS3.
- More powerful friendly autoturrets in Hovertank-battle
Xenoraid is out - build your fleet and save humanity!
Check out our latest game: Xenoraid - you get to build your own fleet of four starfighters and then save the humanity with them! You'll be certain to experience pure unfiltered shoot'em up joy in this game!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/460220/
Latest Update Beta Version: Balancing and Linux support
We're happy to announce that Linux version has entered the beta phase among with some balancing changes.
We wanted to make it available as early as possible to get feedback quickly. You may encounter bugs. Please post any bugs or feedback here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/428750/discussions/1/343785380902784801/
Important: You need to opt-in for the beta branch to play this update and access the Linux version.
Linux build is available - very early, with minimal testing
The last phase of spiderbot was made a bit easier.
The movement is now a bit less "floaty" and more precice - let us know what you think!
The player is taken into the hub after the first tutorial level where player dies. The level stats did not make much sense after this tutorial level.
Third phase of Centipede was balanced a bit: the missiles will die sooner making the maneuvering task more manageable and enjoyable
Airship texture is bigger to make it clearer
Hovertank battle turrets are more useful
You need to destroy a bit less powercells in some warehouse and hospital levels.
Hovertank main gun made more dodgeable to allow more different playstyles in addition to using the boxes as cover.
OS X version is also in the beta branch but currently the performance is way too low to call it playable. You can try it, but don't expect to play it.
The Latest Update
The update which was on the beta branch was made live. Hilights from the update:
Centipede shieds stay down longer, whick makes it a bit easier.
A few additional healt kits in various boss fights give a bit more leeway and choices.
Shielded guards have better shield hit effects
Player turn speed increased for improved aiming maneuverability.
Second tutorial has some additional instructions
Some tooltip bugs fixed
Mods: Use game_settings_override.xml to override game_settings.xml "MISC_SETTINGS" section. Some mods which override game_settings.xml may not work properly. However, this should be more future proof as game_settings.xml may be updated in main game.
Modding, Improved Purchases & Balancing Available Now!
The latest version is now available. There are two major things.
The first one is the improved purchasing functionality. You'll have the ability to buy multiple enhancements on higher Overseer levels. 2 on 2.0, 3 on 3.0 and so on (number of free slots also limits this). You can also buy a weapon starting from level 5 up to 25. You can buy up to level 10 on Overseer 1.0, 15 on 2.0, 20 on 3.0 and so on. The prices increase exponentially - the high levels are supposed to be very very expensive.
The second one is the mod support. The game now supports mods to some extent and there are a couple of quick example mods for you to play with. The mod support is offered always "as is" and we can't make guarantees of the quality of mods so you'll be using them at your own risk. We'll release more info later but this should get interested people started. We're not sure yet how much we can invest on the mod support on long term as it depends heavily on the game sales.
The mods are accessed from the options menu.
Purchase multiple enhancements from Overseer 2.0 onwards
Purchase a weapon with level 5-25.
Level editor & preliminary mod support
The first levels before the Spiderbot are a bit easier (no more borrowing enemies from higher levels)
The game spawns a bit more upgrades when starting from a higher elevator
The game should now sync offline achievements to Steam
Some minor bugs fixed
Enemy balancing: Some enemies were a bit too unforgiving compared to their power level. Elite soldier got dodgeable bullets and Model 184 was also made a bit less deadly.
Boss balancing: We tweaked the bosses after reading a lot of user and press review feedback. They should be a bit more forgiving now with some added health kits and tweaked parameters.
Thanks to all the players!
Modding Support In Beta!
The modding support is now available on the beta branch. Read more here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/428750/discussions/1/357287304420250077/
Update 16th May 2016 - Ability Scaling & General Balancing
The latest update which was just moved from beta testing to default included the following changes.
- Abilities now scale with the damage stat and are much more useful on higher OS levels.
- Explosive damage from player weapons also scales in similar fashion. This should make weapons with explosive damage more potent (it's also easier to blow yourself to bits if you're not careful).
- Explosive damage is also taken into account in base damage calcs
- Railgun loses less damage when piercing objects (33% loss instead of 50%)
- Submunitions now has a 25% chance to trigger (was 20%), but spawns fewer grenades.
- Psycho Darts can now convert named variants (Keymaster, Sergeant, etc), but unique minibosses (name written in white) are still immune.
- Fixed a bug where a converted Grenadier wouldn't attack enemies
In general the OS levels after 2.0 should be a clearly easier now when your damage stat starts to get over 50 and the enemies get more hp. The scaling also affects the 1.0 a bit if you spend a lot of credits on buffing damage.
