Hey everyone!
It's been a hot minute since we've said anything on here.
Chronicle just launched a massive update changing a lot of the base game and we also added a ton of new content. Check out the patch notes below for ALL of the changes!
Additions
- Dead co-op players now respawn before the final stage.
- Controller D-Pad now works.
- All controllers now have support.
- Menus can now be navigated via the D-Pad on controllers.
- White flash added to the laser recharger for a visual cue when the laser is ready to be used.
- Sound added to the laser recharger on ready use.
- Weapon drop odds reduced 8% -> 1% + 0.5% per missed drop.
- All bosses and midbosses now strafe.
- Some enemies can have armor and will flash blue instead of white.
- B button now allows for back to grid from the menus.
- All damage sources now show damage numbers.
- New start run screen in The Grid.
- The Grid's menu dots now flash red when something new exists in that section.
- Asteroids have been reworked and re-animated.
- Load game screen now shows your current ship level and highest completed difficulty.
- Pause menu shows current game mode.
- Added tutorial to challenges section for clarity.
- New mid-game cutscene added.
- New Voice Over for Operator 27.
- New Voice Over for Unit Eight's computer.
- Arcade mode now has multiple different voice lines.
- New achievements have been added.
- Death defy now shows as a notification when it triggers.
Powerups!
We've added a handful of powerups that drop more often than weapons to assist you against the constant barrage of enemies and bullets. Powerups expire after set amounts of time.
- 2x Damage - Increase all damage output by 2x.
- 3x Damage - Increase all damage output by 3x.
- Auto Fire - Constant fire without holding down the fire buttons.
- Max Fire Rate - Increased your fire rate to the max perk level.
- Ammo Crate - Gives a free pickup of all current ammo-containing weapons.
- Shield - Adds a player shield that blocks the first instance of damage.
- Bullet Reflector - Enables your reflector that ricochets bullets back at enemies using their damage.
- Homing Bullets - Turns your bullets into precision death bullet machines.
Multi-Lane Room System!
To give the game more of a roguelike feel, Chronicle now has 3 separate lanes that exist. The side lanes can be switched to at various times through the level and have different bonuses attached to completing those rooms. The enemies in this side rooms have increased health and damage.
- Health - Increases max health by 20%.
- Weapon - Grants a weapon and increased damage output by 10%.
- Scraps - Grants a whole mess of scraps.
- Bombs - Grants extra bombs and increases bomb damage output.
- Trait Star - Grants an increased rarity trait.
Traits!
Roguelikes typically have ways to modify the gameplay to make each run unique. Chronicle has 31 different traits that can spawn after a side lane and after a boss.
Your current Traits are always visible from the Pause Menu and you can not have more than 9 different traits.
New Perk Nodes
- Starting Shield - Starts each run with the shield powerup.
- Starting Trait - Adds a % chance to start a run with a trait drop selection.
- Unlock Double Fire - Adds the double fire weapon into the drop system.
- Unlock Double Angled Fire - Adds the double angled weapon into the drop system.
- Unlock Upgraded Sideshot - Adds the upgraded sideshot weapon into the drop system.
Ascensions!
- After completing the Standard game mode, you can now unlock ascension levels.
- Ascensions are the standard game mode with more factors / rules added in to increase the difficulty drastically.
New Boss Abiltiies and Changes
- Bob
- ---> Burst Fire when shield get broken or shield returns to normal after healing.
- ---> Bob Drones now spawn with every attack starting at 50% HP.
- ---> Total bob drones on screen increased from 4 -> 5
- ---> Decreased Bob's cooldown between attacks from 3.5 sec -> 3 sec
- Logan
- ---> Bomb that confused player movement controls.
- Fionne
- ---> Bomb that explodes into shrapnel in 360 degrees.
- ---> Fionne's buzzsaws move 20% faster
- Nano & Nina
- ---> Attached now track player and fire a massive laser.
Changes
Chronicle was initially was too slow to be classified as a bullet hell, so we've made some changes to the player's stats and systems to make it feel like it's settled into it's niche.
- Initial Bullet Attack Cooldown reduced from 0.3 sec -> 0.15 sec (faster initial fire rate)
- Fire Rate per level perk reduced from 2.5% -> 2%
- Initial Bullet Speed increased from 6.5 units/sec -> 8.75
- Initial Missile Fire Rate reduced from 0.58 sec -> 0.445 sec
- Initial Player Movement Speed increased from 5.5 units/sec -> 6.15
- Players now start with 3 weapons, basic shot, single angled shot, sideshot. Can pickup empowered version of each of these weapons which have an ammo count.
To compensate for the player buffs, we've also buffed stats across the board for enemies.
- Basic enemy drones now attack faster from 0.75 sec -> 0.6 sec
- All enemy default bullet speeds increased from 5.85 units/sec -> 7.85 units/sec
- Turret bullet speed increased from 5.95 units/sec -> 7.85 units/sec
- Bob's drones bullet speed increased from 3 units/sec -> 4 units/sec
- Bob's elites bullet speed increased from 4 units/sec -> 6.25 units/sec
- Zelos - all forms - bullet speed increased from 5 units/sec -> 6.75 units/sec
- Base Defense System bullet speed increased from 5 units/sec -> 6.25 units/sec
- Fionne, Logan, Nano & Nina, and Tetraknights bullet speed increased from 4 units/sec -> 6 units/sec
- Ground Mech bullet speed increased from 6 units/sec -> 7 units/sec
- Enemy health calculations reworked to be less exponential and feel more fair.
- On a new run, enemies now start spawning 1 second faster from 3.5 sec -> 2.5 sec after player flies in.
- Reduced enemy spawn interval speed from 1.75 sec -> 1.05 sec
- Reduced time waiting between waves from 5.5 sec -> 0.25 sec
- Increased chance of two enemies spawning at the same time from 10% -> 25%
- Increased chance of three enemies spawning at the same time from 3% -> 6.5%
- Tweaked the color of the back button in the New and Load Game menus to better show when it is selected.
- Pausing in story mode is now instant and does not have a wait buffer.
- Removed moving around The Grid during zoom out.
- Missiles have been reworked.
- ---> Missile weapon is now the Missile Barrage.
- ---> Missiles now auto target enemies.
- ---> The missile fire rate perk is now Total Missile Targets (up to 16 missiles can be fired at once)
- ---> Turning speed improved.
- Nina now targets and tracks the player faster during her laser attack.
- Increased loading screen bullet speed.
- Modified asteroid explosion sound.
- Added sounds in selection screens.
Fixes
- "Defy Death" perk could activate when you choose to End Run from the Pause Menu, which would not end your run.
- Fixed a bug where you could scroll between menu screens when the stats screens were open.
- Fixed a bug where Pulse Blast ammo was consumed as fast as regular weapons.
- Fixed an issue where The Tetraknights would fire missiles from empty voids.
- Fixed a co-op issue where reaching Zelos with a dead second player stops you from advancing to the final level.
- Fixed a bug where hitbox was larger than intended for player collisions.
- Fixed a bug where Tetraknight Gren's vines would persist after he exploded.
- Fixed a sorting issue where Weapons and Scraps were not sitting above all objects for easy visibility.
- Fixed a sorting issue where Players were not sitting above all objects for easy visibility.
- Fixed a bug where the game would not progress is Nano died too fast before Nina.
- Fixed localization issues in The Grid.
- Fixed an issue where Vine attacks would not update when the boss strafes.
- Fixed a bug where The Tetraknights would not attack immediately in Boss Rush.
- Fixed a bug where Nina would spawn in the wrong animation state in Boss Rush.
- Bosses no longer bounce backward when taking damage.
- Fixed a bug where skipping too quickly through cutscenes would break them.
- Fixed a bug where The Grid would say you were about to play a Boss Rush mode but ended up in Standard.
- Bosses no longer move horizontally off camera.
- Fixed a bug where Drill Drones sometimes would not attack.
- Removed challenge rewards line from Boss Rush end screen.
- Fixed a bug where Fionne's buzzsaws would disappear if only one left the top of the screen.
- Fixed Background in main menu for controls screen.
- Added loading screen after company logos to fix the black screen issue.
- Fixed a bug where tutorials would break boss cutscenes.
- Fixed controller navigation in load game screen.
- Fixed a bug where beating the game would grant you 5 ship levels.
- Fixed a bug where players would sit above blast doors inside the ship.
- Fixed Gren's warning vines to update with his movement.
- Fixed a bug where you could not re-select the pause menu after alt-tabbing.
We hope you love the new Chronicle as much as we do!
Here's to an excellent rest of the year!
Much love,
Static City Games