Survivalist: Invisible Strain cover
Survivalist: Invisible Strain screenshot
PC Steam
Genre: Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Strategy, Adventure, Indie

Survivalist: Invisible Strain

New patch (v73)
I've released a new patch, this one's mainly about giving you some clues that invisible strain is spreading in your community, while still keeping it a bit ambiguous. I'm interested in people's feedback about that! It also fixes a few miscellaneous bugs.
  • People with invisible strain snarl from time to time
  • Brain scanner readout probability of invisible strain infection
  • More gossip dialog about invisible strain and other stuff
  • When trying to find bandages, NPCs will avoid those that are near to a threat
  • NPCs can tear up clothes to bandage themselves
  • Fix for being able to view the contents of buildings from far away in command mode
  • Fix for dialog not working between player characters in online co-op
  • Made 'Hand over your gold' and 'Die scum' dialog options require you to hold the button so you don't press them accidentally
  • Crash fix

Early Access Launch Date - June 1st 2020!
It's happening! Invisible Strain has been in beta for nearly a year and it's time to make it available for everyone. Early Access starts on 1st June 2020! Of course, early access is just the beginning - it'll be in there for a pretty long time, at least a year I would say, while I add more stuff and work on story mode.

The early access price will be $6.99, but there'll be a 25% launch discount so you can get it for around $5.25 in the first week.

I've posted a new gameplay trailer, which is basically a cut-down version of a playthrough I did last week. The somewhat tragic adventures of Brody Cantu and his gang, the Ugly Snakes:
[previewyoutube="oziHsAsiVBk;full"]
Many thanks to everyone who participated in the beta and sent me feedback and (so many) bug reports. I still have a long todo list from that, which I expect to be working through during early access.

Oh, I should also mention for beta testers there's a new small patch out (v72):
  • Made green and blue strain antigen a little less common again
  • Fix for characters sometimes not crouching while following you when you're crouching
  • Some fixes to surrendering and feuding
  • Fix for characters not reacting to enemies right in front of them sometimes
  • Fix for binding keys to switch targets not working

New patch (v71)
This one's mainly about tweaking the difficulty to make it a little easier to start with, and fixing a few bugs.
  • Get rid of burned out vehicles (for new maps) as it's confusing/frustrating that you can't enter them. Also increased number of vehicles generated on roads so there's more hiding places.
  • Made pickaxes, shovels and antigen more common
  • Made ranged weapons a little more accurate and faster to aim
  • Increased time to fight off a zombie when they grab you, before they get bitten
  • Made you get a little less tired in melee combat
  • Made zombies a little more easily distracted by rancid meat, added a hint for that, and fixed some bugs with stealth
  • Fix for sometimes triggering war with friendlies by swinging a weapon at a dead zombie

New patch (v67)
New patch today! This one introduces the possibility that, if you have recruited someone with invisible strain, they may bite other people within your community while you're not looking and if no one else is currently around, thus spreading the infection and taking over :)
  • Invisible strain can spread in your community
  • Added more hints for noobs
  • You can ask bunny-hunt quest givers for hunting tips
  • Allow moving between different motel rooms
  • Added back doors to vans and ambulances
  • Guarantee no red or white strain zombie spawnpoints within a certain distance of player start (hordes might still wander by though)
  • Fix for raiders/hordes sometimes being able to track you down forever
  • Debug features

EDIT - had to release another one (v68) to fix some crashes in that:
  • Added some more new music tracks for exploration and combat
  • Crash fixes

EDIT - and another lol (v69)
  • Fix for hint messages jittering
  • Another crash fix, and fixes for some glitchiness when transitioning to invisible strain

New patch (v65)
Someone reported a crash so I decided to release a quick patch, this fixes the crash and also includes a bunch of other fixes I was working on this weekend:
  • NPCs will also not blame you for leading zombies to them if you save someone from being bitten
  • Fix for miners going to rocks outside your base even if you tell them to use a Mine
  • Fix for miners and lumberjacks giving up if they can't get to a particular tree/rock
  • Fix for crafters failing to find minerals if they are stored in a mine's inventory
  • Fix for trappers failing to get the equipment they need to reset traps
  • Fix for NPCs not reacting in some situations when you destroy a building of theirs
  • Some fixes for combat AI failing to attack defence buildings
  • Allow direct controlled player character to open gates even if policy is Always Closed
  • Crash fix

EDIT - released another new patch (v66) to fix an out of sync error.

In other news I've sent out beta keys today to all the people who were in my waiting list! There's still a few keys left in the batch so email me if you want one. My email:
EDIT - they're all gone now, sorry!

New patch (v64)
I think I'm going to start my last round of beta testing after this, so to those people who I said I would add to the waiting list, I'll hopefully send you a key in the next day or so :) Here's the changelist:
  • Show Take All and Scavenge actions on buildings so you can see/take stuff without entering them (unless they are owned by another faction)
  • You can hide inside vehicles (except the burned out ones)
  • Refugees don't try to attack player to take over abandoned bases
  • Early game hints about aiming and target switching for noobs
  • NPCs won't blame you for their friends being killed by zombies, if they've seen you killing a zombie recently
  • Instead of hiding crafting options you don't have the required skill for, just grey them out
  • Button prompts for rotating camera in command mode
  • Make enter building first on list of actions for Mine
  • Character Save/Load includes equipment, skills and personality

New patch (v63)
Big new patch today:
  • Roving refugees or raiders will take over abandoned settlements
  • AI settlements will repair and rebuild damaged and destroyed buildings
  • You can hide the action menu while browsing your inventory
  • Traders will stock better items the more you trade with them
  • If throwing a pipe bomb or molotov at a neutral character, damage others nearby
  • Make Cooks respect crafting limits set via Community tab
  • Added another combat music track
  • Made music a bit quieter
  • Made zombies slightly more likely to dodge leg attacks
  • Made people use the toilet less often
  • Made sprint togglable and work more consistently on AI states
  • Show a message when a settlement (that you know the name of) has been wiped out
  • Pit traps can be reset for free a few times before they need wood
  • Fixes for pit trap rendering glitches
  • Fix for crafters getting stuck depositing crafted items sometimes
  • Fix for targeting reticule sometimes showing zombies as crippled when they aren't
  • Fix for archers not restocking ammo from arrows stuck in corpses
  • Fix for people forgetting what they are doing after chopping down a tree
  • Fix for character sometimes getting stuck in Aim mode after assassinating someone
  • Crash fix

I believe that repopulating dead communities was the last major thing I wanted to get in before early access launch, so it's getting pretty close! What follows now is a period of smaller tweaks and bug fixing.

New patch (v62)
Released a quick patch as I found one of my recent patches was causing out of sync errors for people in multiplayer. But also Alexandre the composer has added a couple of new music tracks for when you visit AI camps. Here's the changelist:
  • Looter and Neutral Camp Music
  • Fix for raiders getting stuck trying attack an inaccessible zombie
  • Fix for combat AI sometimes getting stuck when inside a fence attacking a zombie outside it
  • Fix for farmer AI getting stuck going into and out of a building repeatedly
  • Fix for farmer AI not being getting water from bottles in nearby buildings
  • Out of Sync fix

New patch (v60)
By popular request, you can now save and load character appearance settings on the character creator! Here's the full changelist:
  • Added another music track for player camp, removed synth on one of the title tracks
  • Added option to save characters in the character creator
  • Added debug pages for music and bird song, and toned down the bird song a bit
  • Crash fixes

EDIT - turns out I broke something that meant some savegames crashed on load, I've now released a fix (v61).

New patch (v59)
Just to say that over the weekend I released a patch that adds music to the game! Unlike in the original Survivalist, it'll play different types of music depending on what you're doing - whether you're in combat, or sneaking up on some zombies, or exploring, or managing your base, or whatever. It's a first pass, hopefully I'll expand the library over time to add some more variation.

That is all :)
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