First off is the list of changes to the game between Builds 141 and 150. Below that is the end date for the demo, what that means, and what's next.
CoA Build 141-150 Summary
Major Changes:
- C4 and Detonator Added - For VR: Pick up detonator and grab C4 off chest, then stick the C4 to objects before detonation - Non VR: Hold left click to see trajectory and throw, then right click to explode - Disclaimer: C4 is currently undergoing testing, so it may cause crashing at some points, use at your own discretion.
- Crusader Knight character added to game - Crusader AI added to list (Claymore and Mace variants) - Crusader shield WIP
- Unarmed soldiers will look for weapons and pick them up - Applies to both the Unarmed NPC and any NPC's that lose their weapons - Prioritize weapons or enemies depending on distance - Recommend making them pick up physics guns!
- Hitting Gun With Melee Knocks It Out Of AI Hands - Fists and blunt weaponry can knock enemies' weapons out easier - Certain weapons are hard to disarm such as rifles and muskets (for close combat purposes)
- Added Artillery, Mortar, and Napalm Radios (found at the end of the weapon list) - Added radio communication sounds when calling in strikes using radio - also applies to Radiomen
- Restoration god power now heals units and burns zombies/infected
- Ranged units set target by closest visible enemy rather than purely the closest unit, which previously made them ignore enemies until they could see the nearest one. Allows for more dynamic ranged fights.
Damage Overhauls
- Chest and neck shots will do several times more damage than hitting other regions
- Stomach shots do higher damage but not as much as chest hits
- player bullets do more damage toward AI
- AI let go of second grip on gun when dying
- Fixed not falling over if leg shot out
- Shooting chest or leg may make them fall over
- Melee damage ignores damage reduction multiplier to arms and legs
- Melee AI dismember each other more easily without causing more overall damage to health
- Blunt damage knocks out enemies or knocks them down at least
- Punches also knock them down and apply force
- Burning units face direction of where they randomly run with varied speeds
- Fire AOE modifications to radius and exposed variables
General Changes And Fixes
- Talos takes reduced damage from ranged (10%)
- Changed angular velocity strength of character arms to stop them from flopping around during movement
- T 72b Tank Ensure Death
- Radio Hand Rotation
- Fixed Talos not dying to explosives
- Caps Lock Hides UI
- Slide Grab Bug Fix
- Large melee weapons like halberd, great axes can cause dismemberment, launches enemies, and can now cause destruction to buildings. Revised movesets for non-vr character.
- Decreased default game volume for new players
- Grenade pull pin sound replaced/fixed
- Humanoid units can be pinned down (weighing them down will prevent them from standing up)
- Decreased AI arrow damage by 1/5th
- Optimized main menu island and first tutorial by making it non-voxel for now
- Optimized ranged AI visibility check (see if they can hit target before firing)
- Fixed laser attachment pointing to origin point of map bug
Demo End Date:
The demo will be concluding on Monday November 20th at 10 am PST. This may come as a surprise for some of you but the demo was intended to only be available between October 9th to October 16th as part of Steam Next Fest, but due to player requests, we decided to extend it and let many more people enjoy it over a longer time span.
By November 20th, it will have been up for 42 days, which is 35 days more days than we initially intended! In that time, we've updated the game 25 times (that's just by time of this announcement, there likely will be several more before November 20th), adding various new features, bug fixes, and modifications as requested by the community. There are much more changes to come with optimization/performance improvements being among the top priorities.
We hope you enjoyed playing the game or continue to have fun will it until the end date.
Some of you are likely wondering if the demo will return: the answer is yes, albeit in a smaller form.
As it currently is, the demo is much larger than we intended. This was mostly because of time constraints that we didn't have time to decide what should be in the demo and what shouldn't, but we're glad we released this version because we received amazing feedback and learned that players enjoyed the amount of content and gameplay mechanics offered.
If you are willing to help, you can continue to have access to the game as a tester.
Testers play the game and record footage which helps us devs substantially to improve the game. In return, testers receive the game for free on release and can play the game anytime.
Join the Discord and look for #tester-signup-instructions to see more details. You can also join if you just want to follow development, make suggestions, and be part of the community!
Until next time,
Cry of Athena Dev Team