This update balances the bosses after the initial playthrough. The bosses were a bit weak on Overseer 2.0 and above compared to advanced player power levels. After this update they should offer a more serious challenge in Overseer 2.0 and above.
Advanced Overseer level scaling for Centipede
Advanced Overseer level scaling for Caretaker
Advanced Overseer level scaling for Spiderbot
Advanced Overseer level scaling for Hovertank
Railgun soldier now has a small delay after the laser cone
Fixed buggy prefab which had spawn points inside a hacker room
Main menu now fades in the circuits
Adjusted global boss hp progress
Explosive bullet projectile damage multiplier is now 1.5x (was 2.0x, a bit too much)
Currently we're working on implementing more advanced scaling for abilities. They tend to lose effectiveness after Overseer 2.0 so we'll implement some new scaling features for those as well.
Game Update May 5th 2016
We updated the game with some features requested by the players after the launch. Some bugs were fixed also. Here are the patch notes.
- Changed crit color.
- A special unlock terminal now shows a correct text if it has already been unlocked.
- Swapped the colors of player's damage and crits.
- Fixed one memory leak in actor sound manager
- Centipede's head and tail now spawn "immune" when hit.
- Changed autodoc and ultradoc tooltips to reflect they're different
- Adjusted companion drone stat scaling to 1.0 - scales 1:1 with player
- Text on floor says ROOS as in text and speech in museum
- Fixed a bug when reinforcements sometimes fail to appear in high overseer levels
- Made companion drone alert sound less irritating, it repeats quite often
- Added alert sound for companion drone
- Fixed a bug with Grit achievement.
- The description should remain as the purchasd item
- More suitable sounds for purchase (gun clicks and some bleep for ability)
- Melee hit sound is now a more meaty thud
- Companion drone is now immune to lasers.
- Companion drone now scales with player stats.
- Tip arrows for longer lists in purchases if there's content to be scrolled
- Added some new loading tips
- Added a melee effect for the player.
- Now properly freeing all actor type assets before reloading.
- Fixed memory leak in releasing UISets and DropDownList UI components.
- Replaced some odd floor tiles in an entry elevator room.
We're currently working on the console builds in order to release them within hopefully next two months. However, we're also working on a new update. Hopefully it'll be released next week. The update will most likely include improved and more detailed boss scaling for advanced OS 2.0+ levels.
In addition we're making the mod support a reality but the schedule on that is not yet certain (hopefully within a month).
Neon Chrome Released on Steam
The game is now out - wohoo! We've done our best to make the game as good as we can and the current build is very much final. The last thing we did after the "update beta" yesterday was an improvement for the second tutorial where you need to break the wall - it should be quite hard to miss now.
We'll try to fix any problems which remained hidden as quickly as possible.
Anyways, enjoy the game! You can leave us feedback on the forums or via the feedback button in the game!
Update Beta 27th April 2016
We've just updated the beta branch with the latest version. The build has a bunch of nice fixes but we need a bit more testing. Let us know if you find any problems - we may elevate this build to default build tomorrow if it proves to be "trustworthy enough"... yes.. Trust Score is still low with this fresh build. Anyways, here's the change list.
<*>Fixed a laser beam sometimes going through a wall in hospital.
<*>Moved code from ActorAISpiderbot::OnHit to ActorAISpiderbot::OnDealtDamage.
<*>Mainly visual fixes to a few boss stages.
<*>It is now possible to get "kill enemies" achievements from story levels.
<*>The game draws "DISCONNECTED" in place of energy meter if player dead, should work in coop now
<*>Wide button sources and visual tuning
<*>Centered the enhancements screen a bit better
<*>Some minor UI tweaks and fixes (1280x960 map screen should work, centered the char sheet as it was misaligned in some situations when pinned to the side, centered yes-no answer screen, centered some stat info elements better)
<*>Suicide is now Disconnect as it fits the theme better
<*>Fixed a bug with the unlock screen. Now co-op players can correctly press buttons with their own gamepad or mouse.
<*>Lowered sofa hp to 80, more in line with other furniture pieces
Update Beta 26th April 2016
We'll be moving the quick updates into beta branch as of today. After some testing the beta branch becomes "the default build".
If you want to play the latest version which hasn't been tested "that much", opt in for the "beta" in properties->betas.
Usually the beta version includes all the latest tweaks, features and fixes, but on the other hand there may be new and interesting bugs as well :)
Here's the change list, some of this was already in 25th April update.
<*>Fixed a bug where a hub elevator did not open after defeating a boss if one co-op player died during the battle.
<*>Removed "explosion_required_to_damage" flag from sofa.xml.
<*>Removed reflections from cryocasks which don't seem to have reflections visible on ground in any case (more fps)
<*>Moved a tutorial text marker in hub down a bit as it was on top of the stat upgrade consoles
<*>Intro skippable
<*>Added death tips for some turrest and shooter mine
<*>Improved turret naming
<*>Removed vibration setting from control setups (unimplemented)
<*>Fixed some floor tiles in the hub.
<*>Added classic resolutions to make the game playable on ultra wide monitors.
<*>Default d3d9 present interval used for improved input response in some cases
<*>Updated credits with some tester names
<*>Added some subtle lightning to other major muzzle flashes as well (laser already had it)
<*>Removed icon from psycho dart's immune text.
<*>Added spider key room to hovertank battle.
<*>Updated Psycho Dart description to reflect current functionality.
<*>Special unlock removed from board room
<*>Loot room now opens with yellow key
<*>The voice overs should not overlap as there's a door between the sections of the board room
<*>Current max centered in stat info
<*>Psycho Darts now convert only organic enemies.
<*>Replaced Armacore and Armocorp with Armocore.
<*>Fixed a bug with psycho darts. Enemies should not stay permanently converted anymore.
<*>Fixed a rare room's miniboss to be immune to conversion.
Update 21st April 2016
A bunch of fixes and tweaks in this update.
<*>Modified back button behaviour on some screens
<*>Lights that cast shadows are now a LOT faster to create/move/destroy.
<*>Lowered the HP of dummies in gun range but shortened the target time (should be a bit easier now).
<*>Fixed kamikaze drone vision cone rendering.
<*>Added some testers into credits
<*>Music now stops correctly after all three spiders are dead in the second spiderbot battle.
<*>Removed a lot of unnecessary yellow doors from residential.
<*>Added a different weapon for third phase of the rocket shooting Spiderboss.
<*>Removed motd for now
<*>Traffic spawner placeholder model is now a crate for added performance
<*>Fixed naming bug
<*>ATM sound responses cached
<*>Fixed a jumpy camera that appeared in the Hovertank battle in a coop mode.
<*>Post unlock missing image fixed, added source too
<*>Grenadier must be alive and have hitpoints to show immune
<*>Hovertank hp 6000 -> 5600
<*>Post unlock screen now gives credits based on the stat upgrade price.
<*>Now only the first player can navigate in the hub after the death in coop mode.
<*>Nerfed Achilles Targeting Unit and Energy Capacitor from 50% to 30%
<*>Techie energy bonus now +20% instead of +50%
<*>Fixed co-op control issues when one player is using keyboard and mouse.
<*>Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented patrols from moving.
<*>Weapon pickup overlays do not switch anymore if another player moves over the weapon.
<*>Minor visual fixes in the Overseer stage.
<*>Lowered the assault rifle fire sfx volume a bit
<*>Now only the primary gamepad can scroll items in the status screen in coop mode.
<*>Grenadiers now spawn "immune"-text from explosive damage
<*>Now only primary controller can use screens in the hub in coop mode.
<*>Fixed static skinned actor AABBs and optimized AABB calculations.
<*>Fixed dead grenadier issues.
<*>Replaced the overseer map icon with the one from the achievements
<*>Circler grey area bitmaps cached better
<*>Melee also on left bumper in controller art
<*>The achievements console should update correctly now
<*>Overseer 2.0 and up a bit more challenging (boss hp, enemy hp)
<*>Missile flame tweaks
Neon Chrome Release Candidate 2
Another Release Candidate build with a batch of small fixes & balancing
<*> The unlock screen now uses big ability icons.
<*> Only player 1 can navigate in the hub in coop mode.
<*> Only one player can now control unlock screens and the pause menu at a time.
<*> Small fix to companion drone AI.
<*> Projectile rendering now uses bitmap batcher. Should improve performace.
<*> Moved Techie's Companion drone to Hacker.
<*> Companion drone is now immune to explosives.
<*> Stat and ability icons are now updated correctly on the unlock screen.
<*> Chapter 5 now has 4 (direct) or 3 levels (from elevator 1)
<*> Back damage increase removed from corp soldier
<*> Corp soldier a bit slower and damage bonus decreased
<*> Empty room removed from hub
Neon Chrome Release Candidate 1
The latest update is the very first release candidate of Neon Chrome. We will update before the release - at least the MOTD and some other details but for the most part this is very final.
The biggest change is the "post unlock" behavior. I'll tell you the whole story.
First we implemented unlocks a couple of months ago in the final phases of main production. First the unlock pool was global and all unlocks weree pulled from there. This was the most basic implementation of unlocks we wanted to have, but we iterated on that.
After playing a while we decide we wanted to control the pacing of unlocks so that we could have more radical stuff in the game without too severe impact: Some stuff which unlocks late game makes the early levels much easier. So the unlocks were tied to chapters. This mean chapters started running "out of unlocks" at some point. We decided to give stat upgrades from chapters with all unlocks done. The other option was to stop spawning unlock terminals, but we think the game is more fun with them: The joy of discovery!
However, after playing that version it started to become clear that the unlock terminals become super valuable when stat upgrade costs raised higher and higher as you improved the stats. For maxing out the easiest way was to farm the terminals from early chapters. This is something we didn't want to encourage that radically.
So just a few days ago we changed the unlock terminals to increase the stat cap as many beta testers have asked for that and we also wanted to give the really advanced players more stuff to play with. That didn't feel right either for early game.
So, today we changed it hopefully for the last time. Now the unlock terminals usually give you a chance to change your ability during the game (something people wanted too) or money. Some terminals give you a stat upgrade - but that's much rarer. Also, after you max out a stat, some terminals give you a stat cap upgrade. We feel that this is the combination we've been looking for :)
Anyways, have fun!
Change list below, mostly bug fixes.
<*>The player can now always destroy shooter mines with a melee attack.
<*>Made a couple of special stages slightly easier.
<*>Removed parenting from a wall turret in Hospital.
<*>Fixed caretaker move animation speed
<*>Raised the railgun damage a bit.
<*>Modified unlock terminal behavior when there are nothing to unlock.
<*>Airship should not pop in any more, spawned much further away
<*>Total play time is now correctly updated after the player has finished the game.
<*>Now micro missiles never target companion drones.
<*>Made the softa slightly lower to prevent player from lifting barrel
<*>Added death tips for Spiderboss variants.
<*>Fixed an error with getSQRandInt() - might have caused music and variant spawn bugs
<*>Slowdown field does not show effects for cryocasks anymore.
<*>Only player owned explosives spawn submunitions now
<*>Spideroid limits lowered for a bit less spideroids
<*>The map screen now says Generating instead of Loading when generating levels.
<*>There is now a small delay before player's mines activate ( you can sneak plant mines).
<*>Fixed problem with crossbow model
<*>Removed some repetitious stages from special stage list.
<*>Caretaker's name is now Caretaker.
<*>Lit up some crates in hovertank battle to avoid accidental collisions
<*>Exploding bullet should not hurt the owner anymore
<*>Fixed a crash bug that rarely appeared when a hovertank killed a player.
<*>Removed bad low walls
<*>Shrapnel actor has a better name
<*>Main menu buttons centered
<*>Stat screen fix
<*>Removed vibration checkbox from options (not implemented yet)
<*>Achievement rewards are not shown as collected credits in the death screen statistics anymore.
<*>Gen1 back in warehouse
<*>Bug with orphaned exploding bullets fixed
<*>Dead actor props are updated on death even when they die outside the screen.
<*>Smoothed choppy loop from char sheet idle animation
<*>Adjusted assault rifle firing sound
<*>Added a simple stand and backside to the wall turret model
<*>Fixed a crash bug related to a grenade launcher.
<*>Fixed some potential bugs.
<*>Music should be different in subsequent levels
<*>Fixed hologuys lighting (and all skinned models which had the old self_illuminated flag).
Neon Chrome Beta Update 13th April 2016
This might be the last "beta update" - the next one may be a release candidate.
In this update we added the ability to increase the stat cap by finding unlock terminals from chapters with all unlocks opened. You can also buy stats above 100 after the stat cap increases - they will be very expensive though.
We also added some very special rooms and improved the explosived bullet enhancement.
We also implemented GPU skinning for most actors and it is active by default. This should result in a low to moderate fps increase. We observed 2-8% with an Intel-based integrated GPU and 10-30% with a more powerful discrete GPU. At the moment some props on dead actors might be drawn incorrectly but that will be fixed soon. If GPU skinning causes any incompatibility issues, we may disable it in the future.
Finally we also optimized the shadow drawing and limited dynamic lights to 4 per actor for even more FPS. The visual difference isn't noticeable but the fps should improve.
The following updates will most likely contain only fixes for bugs we may find during the next couple of days. We hope to keep improving the game even after the release but the scope of that will be affected greatly by the success of the game: The bigger the audience the more resources we can spend to improve the game.
Anyways, massive thanks to all beta testers so far! The game has improved a lot because of your feedback. We hope you've enjoyed the game and continue to enjoy it in the future too!
<*>The stat info screen now shows the stat cap.
<*>Statistics screen scrolling with gamepad
<*>Fixed a level bug in warehouse & labs
<*>Limited nanocloud draw layers when the HPs start to rise
<*>Civilians are not counted as enemies anymore in the death screen statistics.
<*>Consoles should now always use gamepad tooltips.
<*>Updated UI for consoles
<*>GPU skinning is now enabled by default.
<*>GPU skinning can be disabled from some actors (cryocask and airship are never skinned on GPU).
<*>Small tweaks to boss health bars.
<*>Shader optimizations.
<*>Adjusted hologram hand wave animation
<*>Minor fixes to some special stages.
<*>Cam shake has now a slider, cam shake can be disabled if slider at bottom
<*>Checbox sizes corrected
<*>The caretaker now always reacts if the player shoots it.
<*>Min/Maxer achievement now requires that one stat is upgraded to level 100.
<*>Boss health bars now fit on screen if aspect ratio is 4:3.
<*>Neon signs should load and release bitmaps properly
<*>Spider keycard added: spider room is in the board room
<*>Stat icons should load and release properly
<*>Stat prices now increase after the default stat cap
<*>Made unlock terminal shadow a bit larger
<*>Unlock terminals now increase the stat cap if there is nothing to unlock.
<*>Bug fixed in death screen
<*>Overseer stopping end screen improved
<*>Added INDESTRUCTIBLE flag to elevator
<*>Improved stun pulse visuals and audio
<*>Adjusted stun pulse sfx
<*>Listbox selector fixed.
<*>Fixed stun effects to reflect real range
<*>Enemy conv. shotgun projectiles travel at the same speed as the rifle projectiles now
<*>Elite soldier has a plasma shotgun to make it more different from conventional (both had the same weapon before)
<*>Elite soldier reload time and clip size were improved to compensate for slower bullets
<*>Sonic and emp pulse range is now 550 instead of 700
<*>Fixed the reinforcements display when entering an elevator
<*>Shadows are now drawn in batches (performance improvements)
<*>Lights affecting dynamic actors is now limited to sg variable
<*>Start markers were oddly rotated in many start rooms. Fixed those.
<*>The player character should not aim at the top-left corner automatically anymore when playing on console/gamepad
<*>Fixed some grenadier bugs.
<*>Setting current story item pointer to null after freeing the memory.
<*>Fixed overseer achievement icon and cyberthrone animation
<*>Modified default gamepad keys. The left bumper is now a melee attack and the right bumper fires a weapon.
<*>Changing default keys now works correctly in a co-op mode.
<*>Circle draw optimizations (improved performance)
<*>Modified weapon drawing. Weapons should now be drawn better in a co-op character selection screen. Drawing should also work correctly in different resolutions.
<*>Polished hacks console diff viz bars
<*>Death tips improved for elite soldier
<*>Exploding bullets now really explode (may need balancing, splinter bullets, submunitions, exploding bullets combos is quit nice)
<*>Fixed bug where the game tried to draw explosion range for a non-explosive crossbow bolt
<*>Fixed a bug where credits were not saved correctly between caretaker phases (lost money)
<*>Optimized shadows
