The Survival Games Battle Royale beta is now open. Speak to our Discord bot, POP-L0CK to request a beta key. More detail within.
You will need a Beta key to access the Beta, and these are free. Over on our Discord channel, I've written a bot that can hand them out. Say this to the Bot:
@POP-L0K I volunteer as tribute
He'll DM you a key, and the instructions on how to use it.
This is a small Beta, and we want to work closely with those of you who participate. Multiplayer will be turned off from time to time, if we find a huge bug or just want to consolidate our users into one session with a higher player count.
The very first thing we want to find out, is if it installs and launches correctly on your machine. As most PC gamers know, every gaming rig is a unique set of parts and software. Sure Survival Games runs on our dev machines and test rigs, but does it run on your gaming PC? Let us know!
See you guys online! - Jarryd
Devlog 33 - The Battle Box
In this post, I'll be discussing the spawning system of Survival Games and how it effects the early part of the game.
The Battle Box, is a shipping crate with some jet engines slapped on the side by the A.C.R.O.N.Y.M corporation. Players begin each round onboard, and can jump out while the Battle Box flies over random trajectories of the island.
After you jump, there is skydiving stage that lasts about a minute. If you angle down, you'll hit the ground sooner. If go for distance, and deploy your glider with [SPACEBAR] you'll take much longer. Upon landing on the ground, the Glider is removed from your inventory.
Aggressive players who land soon, will be rewarded with the opportunity to loot the world first. Players who are cautious, will likely make it to the end game. But they may lack the gear to triumph in the end. It's really your call every time you play.
Some readers are aware of the 2014 release of Survival Games as an Xbox title, and may be one of the 280,000 people who picked up a copy. I'd like to make it very clear, that the old spawn point system has been replaced by the Battle Box spawn method, as Survival Games player count has jumped from 16 to 64 players.
I'll cover more differences and improvements from time to time in these posts, as what we learned from the 2014 release has had a strong impact on development today. If you have any questions, the dev team will answer them over in Discussions on our Community Hub.
Thanks for reading!
A Delay!
We're now launching December 28!
2.0 Studios has been making games for over eight years now, but this is our very first Steam game. We misunderstood the submission process, and accidentally delayed our own game.
Right now, Survival Games is in the first review stage. Our mistake was not doing this one month ago when we were showing Survival Games off at PAX Melbourne. This means that Survival Games won't spend long as a "coming soon" game, and will have launch date later than expected while we wait for the Valve team to do their thing.
The silver lining, is that we now have the time to run a Beta. Access keys will be issued via our Discord Server from our custom Discord Bot, POP-L0k. This Beta will run in the time before the game launches into Early Access, beginning in the next few days.
I'm sorry for the delay, and hope that you'll give the Beta a shot in the meantime.
Thank you for reading!
- Jarryd
Devlog 32: Combat (Guns, Melee and throwing)
Wrecking face, hearing the lamentations of their women and driving your blade into them is the best part of Survival Games. So in this post, I'll talk about guns, melee weapons and nasty things you throw at other people.
Onwards to glory!
Guns are what you really want to get your hands on in Survival Games. The guns in Survival games require you to find ammo, and a few special guns even have multiple ammo types. These include incendiary shells for the shotgun, and explosive arrows for the bow.
Survival Games draws inspiration from the Halo series, so you can melee with any weapon. This is doubly good, as you conserve precious ammo this way. You can't use guns when sprinting however, and Aiming down Sight (ADS) lends an accuracy bonus.
Melee weapons play a huge roles in books and movies, but tend to be forgotten by other Survival genre titles. Swinging a Katana using your power attack, and having your enemy block the attack with their own Sledge Hammer is a satisfying moment in combat.
Wounded players leave bloody trails you can follow, and tired players will be unable to run. This makes recreating those brutal scenes from 2000's Battle Royale not just possible, but very fun!
This brings us to the throwable weapons. Grenades, jars of acid, daggers and more can be chucked. Some, can be baked which allows you to time the explosions perfectly. Take advantage of this, and the destructible terrain to make a surprise entry to an enemy stronghold.
You can get to know the weapons when Survival Games launches on Steam, December 7th 2017. Thank you for reading!
Devlog 31: Hunger and Sleep
In this post, I’ll be covering some of the Survival aspects of the environment that can be just as challenging as the other players you are up against. Specifically, Hunger and Sleep.
Let’s get into it!
You can equip powerful weapons and thick armor, but without adequate sustenance this is not enough. Simple fruits such as berries can be foraged for in the wilderness as they grow on trees or on bushes. Better than these, are the man made supplies you will find in buildings. These buildings attract players, so keep this risk in mind.
There are also wild animals, such as bunnies and wild boars. These will drop raw meats when you slay them, which are very nourishing, and even heal some of your damage. Boars, wolves and lions all know how to defend themselves, so be sure to bring a decent melee weapon along.
Hunger is linked with stamina. This is a subtle detail, that the more skilled players will take note of. The more often you deplete your stamina by running and power attacking, the hungrier you will get. This brings us round to the risky business of sleeping. Each day, you become increasingly tired. The consequence, is that stamina will not regenerate. A tired player cannot attack as quickly, nor use power attacks and sprint. Sleeping is easy, just find a clear area and hold down the sleep key (H). It takes a three seconds to go to sleep, and three more to wake up.
Be sure your chosen nap space is safe before you drift off for the time needed to fully recover. There are beds, and these cut down the time you spend actually sleeping.
You’ll get to try all this out when Survival Games launches on Greenlight on December 7th. Thanks for reading!
MIGW and December 7 Early Access
This is devlog 30 for Survival Games, and I'll be covering our recent appearance at PAX in Melbourne.
You can keep reading, or check out the Devlog video. It's got Jarryd, one of devs (Netcode programmer) reading this post with some Zombies mode in the background.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mba-xJlbrzA
Down here in Australia, we have something called Melbourne International Games week. It is ten day event that draws over sixty thousand people. There are industry, educational and consumer gaming activities and events. The Penny Arcade Expo runs at the end of this, and goes for three days. We at 2.0 Studios were offered a last second placement, to showcase our game as a part of PAX rising. This is a set of showcases from small indie teams with modest beginnings.
During the three days, thousands of people checked us out. We ran a live demo of Survival Games showing off the Zombie Survival mode in single player. We also showed Arena Shooter in a two player Multiplayer session. We saw all kinds of gamers ranging from MLG thirty somethings to adorable little kids jump on and try it. From a developers perspective, it was an incredible learning experience. We could see what delighted and what frustrated gamers first hand. This has already led to some big improvements to Survival Games.
We gave out hundreds of promo cards as well. So if you've come back to check us out after seeing us at PAX, thanks again! You guys offered some really insightful feedback, and it was just plain wonderful for us to you all having so much fun.
So in conclusion, PAX Melbourne 2017 was out first ever showcasing of one of our games in our eight year history, but it certainly will not be our last. In the next developer log, I'll be discussing the Point of Interest System in Survival Games, and how that affects Battle Royale mode.
Thank you for reading, and be sure check out Survival Games on Steam when it drops into Early Access on December 7th!
Note: This post was moved from the Greenlight page.
Devlog 29 - Zombies, tributes and PAX
Survival Games will be coming to Early Access on December 7, 2017
Since the time of our last writing, Survival Games has undergone a massive transformation. It includes not just one mode of play, but four. There is also now 8 maps instead of one.
If you're one of the cool kids heading off to PAX Melbourne next weekend, you can check us out in the PAX Rising section where we will be running four player rounds of Survival Games!
So let's break down the game modes this fantastic new build of Survival Games has:
BATTLE ROYALE MODE: This is the flagship gametype. Inspired by the 2000 movie of the same name, and the Hunger Games movie/book series, it pits a dozen players against one another in a brutal fight to the death. Large sections of the map change each time you play, and loot is randomly placed so that you can never memorise and own the world. And at the end? The dome shrinks. Take THAT campers!
ZOMBIE MODE: Co-operative Survival is the meaning of this gametype. City 26 has been overrun by the hordes of the dead that you must fend off. As each day passes, they grow more powerful and numerous. Delve into the sewers, through the locked doors and be rewarded with the best gear. But beware, the foulest undead creatures love the dark and winding corridors.
ARENA MODE: Fast paced in your face shooter gameplay inspired by the greatest first person shooters of all time. In Deathmatch, collect weapons from the map and blow each other away. Many maps are tributes to legendary first person shooter games such as Halo, Unreal Tornament and Counterstrike. But remember, this is a block game. Terrain will be destroyed, and scorched a myriad of different colors as your play.
MAP EDITOR: Build your own maps block by block. Take the base maps this ships with, modify and invite your friends to try out your wicked new changes. Name nodes, weather controllers, creature spawners and more await builders.
DOUBLE MULTIPLAYER We're also offering two different multiplayer modes. Steamworks for online play, with a quick and easy search and join system. Keep your games private, boot the fools or just drop into new public games whenever you are slain.
Local Network Play, does not rely on an internet connection. Lightning fast, and lag free the way you're dad's shooters used to be. This is perfect for those of you who attend public LANS or simply invite a few mates over for the weekend. We at 2.0 love LAN gaming, and deem this essential to a true multiplayer game.
SINGLE PLAYER: Survival Games is multiplayer game, that is without a doubt. Gamers who just want some alone time should know that without other players, creatures and the elements still make for incredible opposition. Fending off Zombies for days in game, or simply lasting as long as you can in the Arena by hunting food and building shelter keeps this game engaging. Oh, and you can always just burn a dozen hours building stuff if that's more your speed too.
Follow us, and let us know what you think as Survival Games makes the push into Early Access and beyond!
Thank you for reading! - Jarryd
Note: This post was moved from the Greenlight page.
