Zigfrak
Grenade Mods: A Thing You're Getting
Some bombs come as payloads, in stacks, dispensing bomb items which must be handled individually. Now you've got a bomb: do you want to jettison it, arm it, disarm it, or give it to an enemy? Some bombs require remote detonators, some have timed fuses. Using payload bombs effectively involves juggling several items in the UI, with an understanding that arming a bomb is even a thing you can do in Zigfrak in the first place. Sometimes bombs take the form of RPGs or Mines, eating up a weapon slot.
And what is Flak? For our purposes here, Flak is a shaped explosive shrapnel charge, detonated towards your enemy at very close range. So effectively, yet another specialized type of bomb. An underdeveloped bomb at that, represented only by a smattering of minimally effective items throughout the game. Sure, it's fun if you know how to play it, and are into "melee" style spaceship combat.
Looking at the pre-BBQ bomb situation, it's a complete clusterfrak. Using payload bombs is incongruous to the rest of gameplay, and it's really hard to justify equipping Flak, RPGs, or Mine weapons in place of a top-end guided missile launcher. We're cleaning it up, and the result is a fun new dimension to combat in Zigfrak. In Backyard BBQ, we'll be unifying Mines, RPGs, Bombs, and Flak into a singularly kick-ass Grenade mechanic. No matter the situation, the play flow for bombs is being collapsed from several convoluted UI interactions into one button. Thousands of Grenade Mods will be available, representing all of your favorite old-school bombs, and more, flavor-blasted.
Grenades will be launched pretty much how you expect, via an alternate fire command, probably taking over the "G" keybinding by default. Grenade deployment will consume a charge from a tightly limited pool of Grenade ammo. The generic Mine and Flak ammo types are to be retired.
More as I know it, thanks for reading!
State of the BBQ
Here's the latest on Backyard BBQ, Zigfrak's expansion in progress. Since the announcement, we have a much better grasp on the specifics. I am firming up the release date to "when it's ready", but the good news is that there will be two appetizer rounds. The overarching plan calls for two major pre-expansion releases, to get everything nice and ready for the actual expansion content.
Whistle Wettin' Pre-BBQ Feature Release
This release will introduce many expansion features, including skill trees, overhauled ship control, and navigable systems (aka "free roaming"). It will not include expansion content or second playthrough. It's looking good, and I hope to open this up for beta testing soon. Soon-ish-ish.
Hootenanny of a Pre-BBQ Engine Update
We want to stay current with Unity, the engine Zigfrak was built with. There are lots of good reasons to migrate to Unity 5, and we're going to do so before the expansion content drops. This is a pretty boring update on the surface, because the goal is to get the game back into the same playable state it was in for the feature release... but with some very welcome improvements, in areas such as physics performance, sound, and lighting.
Unity 5 raises minimum system requirements, and so finally must we, at the time of this release. I'm not sure of the exact specs, but will make sure this is communicated.
There will be a beta period for the engine update release.
Backyard BBQ
Finally, we're gonna have us a BBQ. This is where the expanded content and reitemized second playthrough will drop. Can't wait! Details are a closely guarded secret; there will be a closed beta prior to this release.
Thanks for reading! I hope to share the feature release with beta testers very soon. All pieces will be delivered when ready, we're cooking it low and slow.
I Hate Desura
First, an apology to Zigfrak's player base on Desura. I'm sorry. We've been lagging behind a couple versions there, and if you actually depend on the Desura client for updates (who uses that, really though?), then you haven't been getting the latest and greatest. You bought the game, and you deserve equal treatment. The latest bits will soon be updated on Desura.
Updating Desura is a serious pain. It's a full work day (or longer) for us to update Zigfrak's builds there. The process for updating standalone builds is great (feed in a URL, Desura's servers slurp it down, and you're good to go), but updating the "images" used by the Desura client must be done from inside of the Desura client on the platform for which you are publishing. It's a tedious and error-prone process that typically only works about 20% of the time you try.
Couple with the fact that nobody is buying the game on Desura anymore, our motivation levels drop. It remains to be seen if we will remain on the Desura platform, but we're there for now.
I'm immensely grateful to the original Desura crew for taking a chance on Zigfrak during our alpha funding phase, but it's really hard to justify having to jump through continued hoops to remain there these days.
Anyway, hello to all new players from the Groupees Space Bundle -- and again, apologies to all existing players on Desura for the tardiness of our updates there. We'll have the latest bits up very shortly, and you can always get the very latest directly from http://zigfrak.com or Steam.
If you haven't heard, the game is getting a free expansion soon, which we're pretty excited about. Hop over to http://zigfrak.com/bbq for details.
Thank you for playing Zigfrak!
--Alex
Announcing Zigfrak: Backyard BBQ!
Check out the details at: http://zigfrak.com/bbq
Zigfrak 1.17
Still on the fence? Try the demo! It includes several tiers of missions, and has a level cap of 10. Saved games will carry over to the full version.
Changes:
- Rebuilt with Unity 4.5.2
- Support for demo mode on Steam
- Several new Singularity types now spawn in the wild (why!?)
Fixes:
- Improved cursor locking behavior on Linux (thanks Unity!)
- Fixed another issue which could cause players to become lodged in the Throat of LGoD, unable to progress.
- Fixed a saved game corruption issue which could sometimes occur when a non-English language was in use by the operating system, resulting in a hang or crash when loading.
(Edit: Just posted 1.18, a minor follow-up patch)
Fixes:
- Restored normal camera control mode when controlling large ships.
- Explicitly set file attributes when creating backup of saved game.
Zigfrak 1.16
1.15:
Changes:
- Rebuilt with Unity 4.5.1
Fixes:
- Fixed another issue which could cause players to become lodged in the Throat of LGoD, unable to progress.
- Fixed a saved game corruption issue which could sometimes occur when non-English language settings were in use by the operating system, resulting in a hang or crash when loading.
1.16:
Fixes:
- Fixed another issue loading saved games in non-English locales.
Please post any feedback to the discussion boards, or privately to support@entheogen.net. Thanks!
Zigfrak 1.14
Changes
- Many items and powerups which provided restorative effects to health and/or shield may now also restore armor or overshield. Armor and overshield restoration powerups may also drop while in combat.
- Added an adjustable slider for free-roaming faction count, under Gameplay Options. 1.13 increased the number of factions and ships which can be active at once when free-roaming the galaxy; if your computer suffers in the performance department due to too many active units, try decreasing this value.
- Tweaked volume for several sound effects.
Fixes
- Fixed an issue with custom keybindings sometimes not getting saved.
- Added Killdrone crafting template and associated component. Missed adding this back in when ammo was refactored.
Zigfrak 1.13
This is a stable wrap-up of the changes introduced in test releases 1.11 and 1.12. Huge thanks to everyone who opted in and provided feedback. Release notes may be found here:
http://forum.zigfrak.com/index.php?p=/discussion/105/zigfrak-1-13
Zigfrak 1.12: Beta opt-in is live
Zigfrak 1.12: The Itempocalypse!
Full release notes for 1.11 and 1.12 are available here:
http://forum.zigfrak.com/index.php?p=/discussion/105/zigfrak-1-11-and-1-12-steam-beta-opt-in
Zigfrak 1.12 is available on a beta opt-in basis.
Many items have been removed or changed. Lots of new items, all the way up to level 40, are available from vendors and as loot.
If upgrading from a previous version, you'll receive voucher credits for any of your items which were removed from the game. You may redeem these credits for upgraded items at most friendly stations.
Ammo is no longer an inventory item, and specialty ammo effects are now weapon properties. Most weapons no longer scale with player level, so keep your eyes open for upgrades! Many of your previously equipped items may suddenly feel underpowered, due to being underleveled.
If you were in the middle of a scenario and aren't able to upgrade right away, consider equipping your emergency weapons. They have been upgraded, will scale to your level, and should allow you to get by until something better comes along.
The game manual and ZigDB have not yet been updated to reflect these changes. Will get to that ASAP.
--Alex
1.12 Development Update
I wanted to post about the upcoming changes in 1.12... but it wouldn't all fit in an announcement! Luckily, discussion topics don't have this problem, so I've posted a status update for 1.12 in this thread:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/259430/discussions/3/540731691146933356/
TL;DR: Ammo as we knew it is gone; weapons, engines, auto-equip overhauled; lots of fixes and changes; available "soon".