This update is not huge but its timing is important as it brings an extension to a special event more people deserve to experience. It does include one very promising work-in-progress feature upgrade for those trophy hunters among you.
Summary:
Glitch Day is now Glitch Week!
Kill count stats now save long term!
Action screenshots can be taken while paused.
Display support has been refined.
Glitch Event Extended!
Have you heard of Glitch Day? In the past, it was a fleeting, single-day event each year where things got turned a bit on their head. To help more people discover and enjoy the madness, the special day has been extended this year into a week-long event.
You can now enjoy this special challenge mode through Sunday, April 6. It will be a wacky time in REVO! Is it even playable? Give it a try and let me and other players know about your glitchy experience. Dive into our friendly space community to lurk or share.
Kill Counts Saved
Way back on March 14, 2024, the update included a partial new feature where the game would track the number of kills you made for each type of enemy. Sadly, even though it would show your numbers on the new Game Stats screen, it also warned that it would not save them. The ability to save that data was going to require a bit more work.
The plan was to continue that work right away, but it clearly took a long while for development to get back around to this feature. Finally, though, the save file has been expanded to include all of your kill counts! They will accumulate indefinitely, so go ahead and rack up thousands of Swarmer kills.
One day, this will enable an in-game achievement system. There are no achievements in place yet, but with the game now tracking some combat statistics, with other types of numbers to be added later, a lot of the groundwork is in place. And achievements will be for all players, no matter where you got the game or play the game.
If you're excited about achievements, you can join that discussion already in progress on Steam or elsewhere to share your thoughts with the rest of the community.
Screenshot Mode Begun
Did you ever want to capture the perfect action snapshot in a game? REVO has some pretty good explosions and weapon patterns from time to time, but it's been difficult to get those mid-action shots without moving your hands away from the controls.
While it's not a perfect solution, you can now pause the game mid-action and use the newly added Take Screenshot option in the pause menu to quickly capture a gameplay view. It generates a PNG file in a screenshots folder right next to where your save files and log files live.
There are plans to expand on this feature to allow even better control over your view of the action, but for now this will perform the basic task of helping you capture the action while paused.
If you nab a good image with this feature (or even with your own method), please share it with me and other REVO players in the community on Steam or elsewhere!
Title Screen Refined
There were some bad layout situations that came to my attention which plagued displays sporting a 16:10 aspect ratio. Menus and other on screen info were crowding or overlapping one another.
In this update, the title screen has been greatly improved. Not only do 16:9 and 16:10 displays look very consistent, but ultra wide displays will enjoy a little extra breathing room thanks to some responsive layout choices. Plus I corrected which Play button will auto select as the title displays for those of you that have unlocked additional game modes.
More user interface improvements are planned for future updates. This is just a quick refinement.
Panoramic Update
Enjoy gameplay upgrades and quality of life fixes during the spooky season and beyond. The main focus this round was removing some pain points for new and experienced players alike. Hopefully, you'll have an all around more exciting and fun time!
Summary:
Better display support for wide and standard screens plus audio fixes.
Much more engaging asteroids, drone boss, and some heavy enemies.
Ultra Wide Support & Layout Fixes
Removed side bars for full panoramic view and adjusted UI layouts for a consistent look across various display ratios. In the process, the support ship dashboard HUD also got a cleaner layout to avoid overlapping items. Looks better on 16:9, 16:10, and 21:9 ratio displays.
Boss Upgrade
The boss with attack drones now use the attack drones repeatedly throughout the battle, and it is more resilient against the Blackout Device. This might be the best boss fight in the game now! Hopefully, you'll enjoy a more engaging combat experience.
Audio Fixes
All menu sounds are now affected by the Sound FX volume slider, plus the strange bug causing menu sounds during battle was fixed. This annoyance is gone and you have a bit more control over the balance of what you hear.
Asteroid Behavior
To reduce frustrating deaths, asteroids no longer blast apart as aggressively, but are now a more interesting challenge and possible utility. Witness chain reactions as one fragment destroys a neighboring asteroid. Asteroids are now more manageable and fun.
Heavy Enemy Vulnerability
Too ease up the grind, especially for first time players in the first level, those side armored heavy gunships are now prevented from fully closing their impenetrable outer armor. It might still take some skill, but you can deal damage at all times against these oversized tanks.
While testing the Halloween event, something went terribly wrong: for some strange reason, the game would hang on the Loading screen. Fortunately, it was an easy fix and there is even now a feature that will prevent the infinite loading process in favor of just closing the game application to desktop.
In the future, it would be nice to display a friendly message to players about the specific issue the game detects, but for now, this is a simple way to avoid trapping you in the game.
To summarize, the game failed to load during the Spooktober event because of a missing object reference that snuck in during a recent update, and that bug is now squashed and things are back to normal.
Enjoy some Spooky REVO all through October!
Happy Birthday, REVO!!!
Happy 3rd Birthday, REVO!!!
Invite all your friends to the party at 50% off this weekend only!
Also enjoy all of the big updates to the graphics, gameplay, and more.
Glows, Glitches, & Gameplay Changes
This is a big update for REVO intended to ease some difficult aspects for new players, clarify how things work, and generally polish the basic experience for everyone. Gameplay was tweaked, visual communication was enhanced, graphics slightly refined, and more.
Summary:
Engine and post processing upgrade.
Screen glitch effect on player damage.
Instant armor repair during battle.
No more ship to drop conversion.
Bosses drop tech and score differently.
Enhanced score adjustment display.
Refined level select interface.
Miniboss/Irongill adjustment.
New ship arrival notification.
Fixed errant milestone notification.
REVO v1.0.16 Details
Engine & Post Processing Upgrade
A big engine upgrade led to an overhaul in post processing. Visual polish like neon glows are of nicer quality, but will hopefully feel about the same as before. This is a subtle effect adjustment.
Screen Glitch Effect
Speaking of effects, a long lost visual communication of player damage was a screen glitch. This effect was lost when changing renderers mid production to achieve better dynamic lighting.
Newcomers won’t realize what they’ve been missing, but those who saw the effect loved it and it was sorely missed. Thanks to the generous work of some amazing developers out there in computer land, a port of the old effect was made for the newer renderer.
When your player ship takes armor damage, you will see a full screen glitch effect. This will help you better notice the damage and feel the damage more accutely.
Instant Armor Repair
While your energy shield will regenerate on its own given a safe moment to recover, your armor have been hit points that don’t grow back. At least not until you dock between levels. This can make a little damage seem very punishing in a high speed, chaotic battle and a lot of damage quite annoying as you tolerate the low health alarm.
Now, given the right conditions, your armor will gradually repair on its own during battle. You will be required, similarly to shield regeneration, to find a safe moment and be stocked up on material, which means you must be effective in battle and have the skill to earn your repair. Hopefully, this smooths the lower end of the difficulty ramp and offers more experienced players a new system to learn and leverage.
Special thanks to early tester Argent Vulpine for requesting this. Sorry for the delay.
Combat Asset Retention
You primarily need ammo to stay in the fight, so ammo drops are an item your support ship builds and sends to you should you run low. These drops, as well as extra ships, require tech to build. One of the old ways to keep you armed in battle should your support ship run low on tech was to convert an extra ship into an ammo drop. This happened automatically and was too subtle for players to notice, plus it led to many frustrating game overs.
This is no longer a function of the support ship. Once you have an extra ship, you keep it. Once you have an ammo drop, you keep it. They only empty as you directly use them. No more mysterious asset conversion will happen in the background. This, of course, means that if you run low on ammo, you will need to learn other survival skills.
Boss Tech & Scoring
Each boss you encounter has a power core you must destroy to defeat them. In fact, some bosses have many power cores. Every boss used to be worth the same point value when you destroyed it, but now each power core is worth its own point value making multi-core bosses more valuable kills. This is an opportunity for higher scores across the board!
Furthermore, cores and turrets would only drop ammo, but tech debris is now dropped by some of the destructible boss components. You might discover that this can be useful for your own specific tactical needs, but is generally just one more way to gather a common resource.
Score Adjustment Display
Every time you earn points, an adjustment number displays briefly to inform you of how much you earned. Of course, with multiple kills at once or in quick succession, it has been easy to miss some of the adjustments values. The display will now show the last five changes, making it a bit easier to spot distinct values that happen close together.
Level Select Refinement
When docked between levels, arrows that indicate you can scroll to a previous or next level are now accurately hidden when a level is not available to the left or right. Further, left/right input from a gamepad or keyboard will now change level selection without having to additionally interact with arrow shaped buttons. It’s a bit simpler now and hopefully more visually clear, especially when the level info highlights while interactive.
Miniboss/Irongill Adjustment
Those large enemies that have impenetrable side armor and open only to volley an attack have been adjusted slightly to ease combat for inexperienced players. The huge armor panels now open at a slightly different angle and raise up a little higher to better reveal the vulnerable hull underneath. The panels also close more slowly, but open for attack more frequently. This should provide a better chance to for the player to attack them with less of a tedious grind.
New Ship Arrival Notification
When you have an extra ship and take fatal damage, that extra ship zooms into the battle to allow you to continue the fight with virtually no downtime. Unfortunately, this has been a little too subtle for new players who think they have lost and can no longer play. They soon realize they have another ship in play when they are surprised that they are once again under attack.
Thanks to a request by streamer Lloyd Berry, there is now an announcement as the extra ship arrives and a visible countdown just before the delivery capsule releases you into combat. While it is quick, it should be enough notice to ready yourself for battle.
Fixed: Errant Milestone Notification
Finally, a bug was fixed where a “New Personal Best” or “1,000,000 Achieved” message would appear as you transition from the title screen menu to being docked just before playing any level. This was simply an oversight during development and these score assessments only happen now after you clear a level.
This is a small update for REVO to improve performance and fix a bug, plus it adds a tiny bit of new content for those who especially enjoy the soundtrack.
Small performance improvements.
Fixed personal best score display.
Full credits now available through main menu.
Edited and expanded Special Thanks section.
Special new music added for credits.
Official soundtrack has a new track!
REVO v1.0.15.1 Details
Smooth Level Clear
Performance at the moment you clear a level used to experience a little speed bump, known as a lag spike, where the game would very noticeably lurch in its activity for a split second. While small, this sort of thing makes the game feel a bit clunky. The end of level lag should now be completely gone as the support ship arrives thanks to some simple code optimizations.
Full Credits Access
Previously, to see the full credits of the game with all of its Special Thanks and such, you had to beat the final boss and watch the ending. You can now access the full credits through the main menu. From the title screen, go to About REVO and select Full Credits.
Special Thanks Revisited
The list of names under the Special Thanks section of the game credits have been slightly reformatted as well as added to. When the game launched, several people were selected for an acknowledgement regarding feedback and support. These people had been helping out for years. Since the game’s release, new players stepped up in a significant way just like the original wave of feedback and support and earned a place among them.
New Music!
You can enjoy a new entry to the game’s soundtrack during the ending credits, either by winning the game or through the main menu, or simply by listening to the REVO Soundtrack. It is a piece of music that was written specifically for REVO during its production back in 2018, but it was never put into the game.
This song was originally only a sample of an idea and meant to be a starting point for writing other songs. Since the release of the game, it was decided that it would make perfect credits music, but it was not a priority until this game update when the credits got a little attention.
This music is finally part of the game as well as the official soundtrack. Please enjoy!
Enjoy some fixes and an early peek at a new, much requested, feature set.
Easter Calculation
Easter is hard to calculate, but the Cosmic Egg event will now land accurately around the correct date according to western tradition. Dates were hardcoded for 2023, but going forward will be automatically calculated. This update is being made just in time for the next Cosmic Egg event starting March 26th this year.
Gameplay Stats - New!
Many requests have been made for the addition of Steam achievements within REVO. In order to accomplish this, the game first needs to have a system for tracking statistics, otherwise achievements can't be calculated. You will now see a new menu item, "Gameplay Stats", on the title screen as well as the pause screen. These stats will accumulate as you play, but they do not yet save long term. This means you can get a taste for it and help me test it, but neither Stats or Achievements are fully implemented yet.
Paused Game Info
Also on the pause screen is the game's version info. I thought this might be helpful just in case someone is playing and needs to figure out if they're really playing the latest update or want to more quickly report details of a problem discovered without interrupting gameplay in progress. It's likely to show up during let's plays which could be informative. It also adds a fresh pop of color.
No Double Trouble
If you've unlocked Boss Rush mode (good job!), then you may have noticed a silly mistake I made of showing the boss in the foreground doing battle and simultaneously sneaking by in the background. Finally, this is corrected and you will no longer see sneaky doppelganger bosses.
Rainbows, Jelly Beans, & Madness
This season is stuffed with space rainbows, neon jelly beans, and a little quirkiness. Enjoy weeks of cosmetic overhauls, a festive Easter egg hunt, and a mind bending one-day challenge. Let's take a look at what to expect on the March event train this year.
When you boot up REVO from March 12 through 17, you can enable the Lucky Stars event. Defend yourself with the super green clover shield, collect all the glittery gold, and unleash rainbows of pain upon your foes.
You'll be able to boot up REVO from March 26 through 31 for the Cosmic Egg event. This one is extra special because it includes an Easter egg hunt and there is a small prize you can keep and use year round if you win. Gotta catch 'em all!
Finally, if you time it perfectly and play on the very day that follows Easter this year, you'll be greeted with an in game event so ridiculously twisted, you might at first think it's impossible. Rest assured, Glitch Day is a grand ol' time of confusing maneuvers and nonsensical chatter.
Which events are for you?
All of these events are worth a try. Lucky Stars is best just for a small visual change, Cosmic Egg is great for adding another layer of fun as well as delightfully refreshing visuals, and Glitch Day is excellent for experienced REVO players but still a goofy time for newcomers.
Enjoy the festivities!
Spooky REVO Season
REVO seems to be haunted. In fact, the spooky vibes look like they’re going to stick around for the entire month of October. Can you find all the eerie changes? There even appears to be a ghoulish weapon available for a limited time.
Enjoy the spooky season with a big helping of neon explosions.
REVO just got a demo added to the store page. If you don't have a copy of the game already and want to get a taste of it for free, go check that out!
I'm also looking for as much feedback as I can get on the demo experience. I want people to have fun with it and to know exactly what to expect for the full game. So please give it a try and leave me some comments wherever you like. Right here is fine.
If you own the full game and want to help with demo feedback (which would be amazing!), then just let me know and I'll get you a copy another way. (Or you can create a second Steam account, but that's not really necessary.)
