Aighty! So we have a lot to talk about with this coming update but I wanted to kick things off on a slightly more fun note. If you follow us on social media (which if you don't you totally should) this won't be anything new to you, however, I know not everyone does. But last week we unveiled a small teaser for Viscerafest's final chapter via its Lil promo image, and we thought we might give you guys who may have missed it a peak!
Development on the game's final chapter is kicking off now and as time rolls on we'll be giving you more Lil insider peaks here and there.
But it's time to focus on the here and now because we've got a patch to get to! And boy is it a doozy...
The "I May Have Gone A Bit Too Far In Some Places" Patch
So over the course of time since Viscerafest chapter 2 was released I've had the chance to sit down and observe some folks run through the new content. Hearing their thoughts, watching them play, and just generally taking mental notes as I evaluate what needs to be fixed tweaked, or change. Over the course of me doing this, it ultimately brought to light a fact I'd had a hunch on but was not fully sure about. That of course being Viscerafest chapter 2 was just a bit too hard.
You see the way the game was supposed to be paced as follows. Each chapter would escalate throughout the course of its run time, getting harder and harder throughout until it ended, as one would expect. But when the chapter after rolls around the idea was the chapter would open by scaling things back to about the midway point of the prior chapter. This was going to be done for 2 reasons.
Give players a bit of breathing room in the hopes of preventing the experience from becoming exhausting.
Prevent the game's consistent escalation from reaching a critical mass where it becomes so torturously hard partway through that nothing after that point could surpass it outside of being unrelentingly cruel.
So in essence, C2l1 was supposed to be as hard as C1l4, which it is very much not, and as a consequence, the consistent escalation seen thereafter impacts the rest of the chapter resulting in the game getting a bit harder a Lil faster than I intended. As a result, this patch's aim is to scale things back to where they were supposed to be as well as address various other balancing and gameplay-related issues. Now it's worth noting, not every inch of every level has been altered, some fights and encounters have remained the same, but for the most part, a fair chunk of the levels encounters have been completely reworked and the chapter's pacing as a whole has been changed for what I believe to be the better.
Tbh this is an issue I can't fully go into here. Most players are just reading this to get to the patch notes, it's not really the time or place for a deep design discussion. So if any of the changes or tweaks leave you feeling perplexed or worried, please feel free to post your thoughts in the steam forums, OR more preferably hop over to our discord! Which I will be including in a link below. But enough talk! Here are your patch notes!
Patch 0.9.1.0
Tweaks:
Stalkers HP nerfed
Stalkers homing projectiles now have looser homing
Arachnospud's HP nerfed
Arachnospud's homing projectiles now have looser homing
Nomad's hitscan attack damage output tweaked
Nomad Priest's speed buffed
Nomad Priests' aim nerfed
Hellbird's speed nerfed on harder difficulties
Hellbirds will now be vulnerable for longer after they attack
Spawnlings will now wait longer between jumps
Mecha scientists now wait longer to begin attacking
Chapter 1 final bosses projectile spew damage nerfed
Chapter 2 final bosses homing missiles now have looser homing
Enemy and item placement tweaked in C1l3 and C1l4
Enemy and item placement tweaked across all chapter 2 levels
C2L6's level geometry tweaked to allow enemies free access to other parts of the level
Warhound's initial blast radius slightly reduced
Fixes:
Fixed bug where Chapter 2's final boss would shoot one last cheeky projectile between phases
Fixed level/teleport transitions breaking due to fixed fades
Fixed bug that allowed the chapter 1 boss to be damageable via melee during its intro
Fixed train outdoor ambient sections that were playing indoor sounds
Fixed platform in C2L5 infinitely looping sounds
Discord: https://discord.gg/E2pUkxe
Forgive Me Father Has Left Early Access!
Greetings Bounty Hunters, It is always a joyous occasion when a retro shooter is released, wouldn't you agree? And today is just such a day - Forgive Me Father has left Early Access! Check out the full launch trailer:
[previewyoutube="XDLHEVNLxz4;full"]
You can read all the details and info about the new content in the announcement and for the first week, you can enjoy a 15% discount. Furthermore, fans of Viscerafest may be eligible for further discount if purchased through the This Is My Boomstick bundle.
Fixed issue where the player was unable to lock onto the first boss
Fixed bug where if you entered a level without the last weapon you had equipped in your inventory, your weapons wouldn't work properly
Known issue, will be fixed very soon: Banshee remains idle whilst being attacked
Don't forget to let us know how's your progress so far! Join our Discord server, we can have a talk there!
"Please Read" - regarding Chapter 2
Ok so, we just recently released chapter 2, and some bugs slipped through the cracks. Now this isn't out of the ordinary, every game is plagued with thousands of bugs and only so many can really be stamped out, especially when you're on a tight deadline. We rely on our testers to find issues, and when you've got a small pool of people playing it can sometimes be hard to find issues.
With that said, Some major issues slipped through the cracks, including 2 known major save bugs, and an elevator that really doesn't like us. That sucks, and it's been miserable seeing this crap happen especially when getting to just this point has been so much of a nightmare and we thought we'd crossed all our T's. we're currently hammering away at these issues right now and we will be aiming to have a patch out within the week. We're terribly sorry this happened, and we're trying to work quickly to rectify it, but fixing this stuff does take time, and rushing to fix it will probably only make it worse.
We wish all of you the best, thank you for supporting us so far, if you find any bugs please report them, supplying as much info and potentially footage as possible, it always helps.
Chapter 2 is now available!
How are you doin', Bounty Hunters?
The next episode of Caroline's hunt for THE bounty is finally here. We proudly introduce Chapter 2 of Viscerafest, raising the stakes in the story to a whole new level and bringing more areas, more weapons, more carnage, definitely more viscera and maybe even more fest than ever before! And wait until you meet Hampter!
For your viewing pleasure, we have prepared a short trailer, and we are looking forward to hearing how you like the new content!
[previewyoutube="VfzJKiQVqWU;full"]
Want more detailed overview of what this content update brings? Check out the full changelog!
New Content:
The entirety of Chapter 2 and its hub containing 7 levels
8 new enemy types
2 new weapons
You can now customize your loadout when replaying levels
Hampter
Tweaks:
Updated logo
Revised difficulty descriptions
Various enemy, weapon, and UI sprite reworks
Icons for saving, and no save zones
Death has gotten some extra flare with new sounds and visuals along with a counter to tally your demise
Tweaked Chapter 1 ammo placements
Tweaked Item placements in Chapter 1 secrets to prevent players from being able to overstock on resources, completely negating the need to think tactically about how resources are used
Nerfed shotguns because with fixed piercing they were overpowered
Tweaked Quad Shotgun encounter in C1L5
Enemy placements on Nightmare have been nerfed
Tweaked Thunderbirds charge to be more consistent across all difficulties
Buffed Blitzers projectile speed
Zetheran projectile speed nerfed
8 new sets of difficulty names
Stalker Death effects tweaked
Moved the tutorial options
Gibbed enemies will no longer Re-Gib upon loading a save to help with performance
Blood now despawns overtime to help with performance in some of the more taxing maps
When replaying levels from the hub, the player's health is automatically set to 100
Keys are now themed after the doors of the location that they are used on
Drone Reworks:
The enemy type known as the drone is a support unit that is invulnerable whilst not attacking, firing an incredibly fast and damaging projectile. Players would regularly cheese/abuse this enemy when in isolation. Various other factors saw this enemy being a little uninspiring to encounter, so we've made modifications to its behavior to address the above.
When punched, the drone enters an alternate stun state where it drops a stunning field that slows the player and drains their health
Drones now take reduced damage from melee attacks
Explosives now pass through Drone shields
A new weapon has been introduced to directly counter Shielded enemies like the Drones
Drones now drop a custom armor pickup upon death rather than the standard shard
Fixes:
Fixed shotguns projectile piercing
Made minor fix to a single shot in the Chapter 1 end cutscene
Fixed issue where certain interactions caused the players weapons to vanish
Fixed issue where pressing Escape would interact with pause menu buttons
Stalker Homing Projectile impact effects fixed
General Optimization
Various save fixes
Let us know how you enjoy the game and keep us informed about any bugs or issues you encounter. You know the way, just leave a review or start a discussion on Steam or join our Discord server.
Don't Miss the Viscerafest Chapter 2 Preview Livestream!
Hey there, Bounty Hunters,
Many of you have already finished the first chapter of Viscerafest and probably have been wondering what will happen next. Boy, do we have some good news for you!
Tomorrow, on March 23, 2022, you will get an epic opportunity to take a sneak peek into the new Chapter, since the streamer Jared Bair and the developer of Viscerafest will be streaming the new content live together!
Viscerafest content update (including Chapter 2) will be released very soon, so stay tuned, follow us on our social media and join our Discord server!
A Quick Update On... Updates!
Ahoi! Lead dev here and it's uh... It's been a minute. We've been hard at work on chapter 2 and we were hoping to have it out for you guys by the beginning of February. It's quite clearly a bit past the beginning of February though... so as you might assume there's been a few setbacks.
Back in December, we released a Lil update showcasing the first level of Viscerafest's second chapter, but prior to that, we were originally going to have another content update. Quite clearly that didn't happen and a lot of that just has to do with us underestimating the scope of what we were trying to implement, that being the games modifier/store system. For the time being that has been shelved, but our push to get that ready kinda set us back a Lil bit.
Shortly following the release of the chapter 2 teaser the file sharing service known as Unity Collab that our team had been using up until that point crapped out on me. I lost connection to the project altogether for a period of about a week, meaning effectively I couldn't get any work done. We did manage to fix the issue but that quite obviously set us back even more.
This all in turn meant that whilst we were supposed to have Viscerafest chapter 2 content complete by the 31st of December... that didn't end up happening until the 26th of January. We are currently on clean-up duty, our beta testing teams are running through chapter 2 and positively destroying it so we can make sure things are as stable as they can be by launch. Or they were before our lead programmer Elijah caught Covid effectively preventing us from being able to fix issues and make new builds for testing.
So yeah... we're sort of in a limbo of uncertainty right now as far as when *exactly* chapter 2 will be done. We are pretty close to having the second chapter in a releasable state and our new plan until Elijah got sick was to release the content update near the end of February/beginning of March, but it is looking like we may quite possibly have to push that back just a bit more.
We are sorry things are taking so long. It's been a very frustrating experience for all of us as of late. But I can indeed confirm Viscerafest Chapter 2 is coming out in the nebulous period of soon, and I can also say that despite the troubles we've been facing internally, it is pretty awesome.
Currently, Viscerafest is on sale, being 15% off. If you haven't done so yet and would like to nab the game at a discounted price then feel free to do so. I want to end by saying thank you to all of the wonderful folks who've been supporting us throughout the game's development. Whether it be through kind words, fan art, or just buying the game, we really can't thank you all enough for the love you've given us. That is all for now! I hope you guys have a wonderful day.
Love Hurts - But This Valentine's Day, You Bring the Pain!
Greetings, Bounty Hunters! We know very well how badly love hurts - but why should you be the one hurting? So this Valentine's Day, and for one week afterwards, we want to make it easier for you to bring the pain: Viscerafest is 15% OFF until February 21st. But that's not all! Misery loves company, so...
Forgive Me Father just released a new content update and is 20% OFF!
Still not enough to turn that frown upside down? Check out either the This Is My Boomstick bundle or the IndieDB Players Choice - Best FPS bundle and get an additional 15% discount on any of these amazing old school shooters you don't own yet!
And yeah, of course, you can enjoy these offers even if you are happily in love. Sure, be like that. We're not stopping you. ːsteamsadː
Viscerafest in the Lunar New Year sale - only a day left!
Greetings Bounty Hunters! The seasons are changing, the Year of the Ox has ended, and the Year of the Tiger has arrived. And we are celebrating this occasion with the Lunar New Year Sale! If you've been waiting for a chance to grab Viscerafest at great price, wait no more - it is now at 15% off, with the possibility of even higher discount if purchased through the This is my Boomstick bundle - the additional discount applies in full even if you already own some of the games in it!
These incredible offers are only valid for another day however, until February 3rd - so don't miss your chance and grab the game now!
And once you've played the game, please, give use feedback in form of a Steam review, in the discussions or come chat to our Discord server. It is very much appreciated and helps us make the game even better for our fans!
