In this update we've addressed some major sticking points in Endurium's gameplay, centered around the theme of building momentum.
With the lack of a proper HUD in VR, we initially went with a system where you either had an endurium charge, or you didn't. This made it easy to tell if its time to attack or not without having to manage your ammo. However, with the creation of the Hovering Info Screen and the endurium charge floater, we are now able to lean into the "building up a charge" concept.
Here you can see a user with 150 points of endurium built up. On the left, they have 2 charge tanks with a total capacity of 200. One tank is filled and has the typical energy animated overlay, the other is at 50%. On the right, they've purchased an additional charge tank, bringing their total capacity to 300.
Users will now be able to fire off an endurium wave as soon as they have a single filled tank, effectively tripling your rate of attack. What's more, there is no longer diminishing returns on gaining endurium, so the faster the level, the faster your charge builds. Tanks are usually consumed all at once. Any un-filled tanks are left behind, which helps you build momentum as you go because that next charge won't take quite as long as the first. Damage stacks for each charge tank, so the more you've built up, the better your chances of destroying a drone out-right rather than leaving it wounded.
Furthering the concept of momentum, we're removing Shield Restore as a base effect on all Discharge Modules. Since these modules no longer all discharge your endurium, they are being renamed "Equipment Modules." While we liked the idea of needing to decide between healing yourself to keep going, or risking it on another attack and hoping you can win before taking enough damage to be defeated, we found most users felt this made the game too much of a tug-of-war, proffering to push forward so as to beat the level before tiring out.
We've come up with something new. This new bar that's glowing beneath your shield meter is your Kinetic Barrier. As you destroy beams, even the standard red ones, you'll build up an extra layer of defense. Every 3 beams you destroy will reduce the damage you take by 1, to a maximum of 10 at first level but going to 20 at max rank. Since most beams deal 25 damage, this means you can effectively block 80% of all incoming damage by going only 60 seconds between taking hits. This makes damage far less punishing, but does make taking damage repeatedly much more significant. This creates a great positive feedback loop. The better you get at avoiding hits, the better your barrier will work, effectively multiplying your personal skill gains
Players who still want to be able to heal at the press of the button will still be able to do so by equipping the Emergency Restore Module, which will now restore increasing amounts of shields as you fill energy tanks rather than relying on a Shield Restore base stat.
And that's not the only module with changes coming to it. We wanted mods to have a bigger impact on your gameplay and have gone through every one of them to make them shine as much as possible, including adding 6 new ones. From creating chain lightning with your charged strikes, plasma blasts that consume your kinetic barrier to deal damage to the beam drones, endurium wave modules that instantly fill your barrier, or consume it to deal bonus damage, or even gaining two blasters at once. There's a lot to go over, and you can read more about that in the full notes below, or in-game using the new Upgrades menu which gives each module a full page to itself that explains how they work and what its benefits and synergies are. This wont be the end to module updates either, as we have a full set of 12 more on the way, and we'll be adding the ability to equip a full set of 3 modules on each plasma blade, allowing you to have a different ability tied to the activate button of each controller, as well as a different Endurium Wave module, not to mention synergizing passives.
Finally, we've added a handful of new Plasma Blade color styles. From useful ones like blades who's color is tied to your shield level, starting green and fading to red. To snazzy ones like the Prismatic or Shifting blades that create rainbows of color in their own ways. (Yes, we did intend on releasing this patch in Pride month, but alas.) Not to leave out those who sympathize with our Morally Gray company name, we've also add a Monochrome blade that can be White, silvery, or even Black with a White glow for those users with an affinity for a certain other laser sword from a place far, far away.
As always you can join the conversation over on our Discord! We'd love to hear from you!
And we only need 5 more reviews before Steam will give us a "positive/negative" rating which would go a long way towards supporting the game!
Below are the full patch notes:
Major Changes
• Many of the new stats, modules and mechanics, can be explored in more detail in the newly redesigned Upgrade screen, which now has sub-pages for each module detailing how they work, and what benefits they offer.
• Added a new shield meter: Kinetic Barrier. Killing beams, even standard red beams, now stores up an additional layer of shielding. The longer you go without taking damage, the more resistant to damage you become. Taking any damage will reduce your kinetic barrier to 0, but damage to shields will be reduced by the amount built up in your kinetic barrier. Charge rate 0.33 per beam destroyed, to a maximum of 10, plus 1 per rank to a maximum of 20 at rank 10.
• Reduced base beam damage to player by 5.
• Removed Shield Restore as a base ability. Players can equip the Emergency Restore equipment module to regain this ability.
• Endurium required to fire an endurium wave reduced from 300 to 100, effectively tripling your base charge rate.
• Charge rate base stat removed. Charge gains no longer have diminishing returns based on the rate of special beams, allowing charge to grow faster on harder difficulties.
• New base stat: Charge Capacity. The charge wheel now starts with only 1 cell, increasing Charge Capacity grants extra cells allowing you to stack up damage if you do not get an opportunity to strike right away. As you progress to faster and faster speeds, upgrading to have even more tanks will allow you to deal massive damage all at once.
• Base damage reduced from 100 to 50. Damage per rank unchanged from 10.
• Damage no longer has an rng component. Damage now scales based on your accuracy. The closer to center you hit the drone, the more damage you will deal.
• Hitting a drone "dead center" has a chance to deal 999 damage.
• Drone armor increase per tier raised by about 20, starting from tier 3.
• Added colors to the drone targeting highlight that change in relation to its remaining health
• Added smaller drone health bar that is permanently visible below the drone once it takes damage. This can be disabled in the preferences menu.
• In order to balance the players new ability to destroy more than 1 drone at a time, 50% of destroyed drones will spawn during drone movement phase, rather than just 1.
• Added 1 second delay after the end of Sixer's assault before the drones begin firing again to give the player to line up a shot and counter• attack
• Lowered the required velocity to shoot an endurium wave by half. This will particularly help players not using the HTC Vive, as the heftier vive controllers allow for more follow-through on your wrist movements. We continue to recommend using the Vive or Vive Pro for Endurium and really, any melee weapon based VR game.
• Added an accessibility option to disable splitting beams for users with a lower range of motion.
Base Module Updates
• Base targeting speed has been increased by nearly 100%.
• Removed Blade Length as a base stat, base length extended by 30%
• Removed Time Dilation as a base stat.
• Removed Reactive Shields as a base stat.
Endurium Wave Module Updates
• Auto Target now increases targeting reticle movement speed per rank.
• Returning Wave now combined with Blade Throw. Blade throw now reduces your kinetic barrier while the blade is airborne, this will allow kinetic energy to go negative, increasing the damage you take as in the previous version. But, at higher levels will only slightly reduce your barrier level is you have enough points in both Blade Throw and Kinetic Barrier. If the blade strikes a Drone while at least 1 endurium charge tank is filled, it will detonate the stored charge to damage the drone as if it were an endurium wave. Otherwise, 100% is left unspent.
• Electric Pulse now stuns drones if they aren't destroyed by it.
• New Endurium Wave Module: Energy Tap. This wave module consumes your stored Kinetic Barrier to deal bonus damage.
• New Endurium Wave Module: Splitting Wave. Wave and Size reduced by 50%, but fires 3 waves in a line matching the direction you were swinging when you released the wave. Each rank increases the number of extra thrown waves.
• Extra Charge functionally unchanged, but has been adjusted to work with the new multiple charge tank system.
Passive Module Updates
• Adaptive Defenses no longer reduces your damage. Instead, your endurium charge rate is slowly reduced to 50% proportionate to the amount of damage to your shields. Conversely, kinetic energy charge rate increased up to 200%, plus 10% per rank.
• New Passive Module: Energy Siphon. Increases critical strike chance per rank. Completely fills your kinetic barrier when scoring a critical strike.
• Force field changed to passive. Instead of reducing damage after a shield restore, it instead functions similar to Reactive Shields, granting a chance to prevent defeat and extending that invulnerability for 10 seconds.
• Energized Strikes changed to passive. Rather than granting a period of time where 1 lightning bolt strikes the next closest beam, energized strikes empowers your charged strike when you have at least 1 charge tank filled. 1 Charge tank will be consumed to send chain lightning ripping through the battlefield. This destroys beams and damages drones and bots.
• Reworked Regen Module to only replenish your shields by gaining Endurium in excess of your maximum. Regen no longer reduces your charge rate.
• Time Slow changed to passive. Works functionally like Time Dilation, but the amount that time is slowed is proportionate to how damaged your shields are. Duration increased by 5 seconds when shields are critical.
Discharge Module Updates
• Renamed to "Equipment Modules." This modules no longer discharge built up endurium by default. Instead, each works in its own way when the activate button is pressed.
• New Equipment Module: Power Converter. Press and hold the activate button to slowly drain your shields and buildup endurium charge.
• Plasma Blast changed to equipment module. Can only be activated when kinetic barrier is full and consumes your kinetic barrier. Destroys any beams in the field while dealing variable damage to drones and bots.
• Blaster changed to equipment module. Pressing the activate button now switches either blade between the blaster and plasma blade. Holding the trigger now charges the shot for bonus damage on release. Can be used to destroy Heavy beams and damage beam drones. If any charge tanks are filled, it will instead fire an endurium super• beam which deals endurium wave damage to drones.
• Endurium Barrier changed to equipment module. Pressing the activate button lowers your blade and raises a shield. Blocking beams with the shield reduces your kinetic barrier by 1. This is particularly useful against Electric beams because you no longer need to dodge them, and against Endurium Bolts due to their small size and the relative size of your blade compared to the shield's surface area. Swinging the shield can also deflect the Endurium Bolt back at the drone as the blade can.
• Making the Blaster and Endurium Barrier the same type of module removes the playstyle where the player has both at once. This playstyle will be restored in an upcoming patch where we intent to give each plasma blade its own set of 3 modules
• Emergency Restore is now the only way for the player to restore shields. Restore amount scales with number of filled charge tanks.
"• Chaos Theory. Activating grants temporary invulnerability, chance to activate one of the following effects:
-Plasma Discharge.
-Time Slowed by 70%
-Gain 50 shields and completely fill your kinetic barrier.
-Chain lighting lashes out to strike 30 targets.
-A random beam drone explodes.
-All beam drones healed or damaged unpredictably.
-Generate a continuous stream of lightning that can be directed by pointing both hands in the same direction.
-Deals 35 damage to you.
-Nothing. (Invulnerability does not activate)"
Minor Changes
• Changed the method for detecting save games to make it easier to transfer profiles between PCs.
• Player profiles are now simple text files, by opening them in notepad or similar, players can give themselves extra credits, unlock all levels, or all gear if one were so inclined.
• Slightly reduced the chance for special beams per tier.
• Splitting beams now only split if struck by a melee attack.
• Increased health of the tutorial drones, but made the tutorial end after only one is destroyed.
• Added a text floater to the red beams in the tutorial that tells you to swing harder if you don't destroy a beam.
• Added a text floater to the blue beams in the tutorial that tells you to swing a second time.
• Added a laser pointer to the VR menu to give users better positional awareness when their blades are off.
• Adjusted the number of volleys the drones fire before re• aligning to scale better with tier.
• Added slight bonus credits for winning a match equal to one drone kill.
• Added a credit bonus to timed matches so that the player always earns credits when they win even if the match is only against electric drones. Bonus is equal to one drone kill per minute in the time limit.
• Adjusted the default grip position for the Valve Index.
• Tutorial updated to introduce some of the new mechanics and provides details about the infoscreen.
Cosmetic Changes
• Previous versions of Endurium used a function that scaled the ring around the player and the menu's location based off the bounds of their playspace. Until the OpenXR plugin is developed enough to fix the issues with the HTC Vive, we will be disabling this feature and using the "standard" playspace.
• Added preferences option to display a small drone health bar permanently on damaged drones.
• Improved framerate in Permafrost and Highrise.
• Re• designed the upgrade screen to have more detailed info about each upgrade in their own dedicated sub• pages.
• Plasma blade customization menu is now broken into 2 tabs. One for Colors and one for Hilt Components.
• The energy swirl effect over your blades when your charge is full now matches the color of your blade.
• Added vibrance scaler to plasma blade colors. This will scale the amount of white in the plasma trails and dims the blade's white core, letting more of the chosen color bleed into the center of the blade.
• Added new plasma blade color styles. The color slider still effects the color of your hilt components normally.
• The Chromatic plasma blade style is the default Endurium plasma blade look.
• The Prismatic plasma blade creates a constantly shifting rainbow.
• The Shifting plasma blade style constantly cycles through the color spectrum.
• The Monochrome plasma blade style creates a white blade. The vibrance slider fades the core down to grey and then black.
• The Shield• Linked plasma blade color style fades from green to red as you take damage.
• Added gold coloring to the selected hilt component highlight.
• Reversed the direction of the blade offset to make it more intuitive. Negative values now rotate the blade towards the floor.
• Re• worded the Endurium Wave infographic in the tutorial.
• Repositioned the gear unlock screen for better formatting.
• Added an option to disable splitting beams.
• Lowered the volume of beam strikes
Bug Fixes
• Fixed an issue with saving custom blade components on two blades at once.
• Fixed an issue in Beam Break mode that caused some users to unlock more gear than intended after clearing tier 1.
• Fixed a bug preventing the endurance mode intro from displaying if you upgrade your gear after completing tier 1.
• Removed an unnecessary negative sign when your aim offset is set to 0.
• Fixed a bug causing the unlock screen to show if you lose the rounds following getting the unlock.
• Fixed the Endurium Settings menu not switching its options button text back to "Beam Options" after clicking "Accept."
• Fixed the Endurance mode intro not showing if you enter the upgrade menu.
• Fixed a bug causing Sixer to grant Endurium if it's alive when the game ends.
• Fixed not being able to scorch the ground in the Firelands with your plasma blades.
• Fixed a bug causing the clock to get stuck at 0:01 at the end of timed matches.
• Fixed a bug preventing the electrified beams from inheriting the direction of your swing for its spark emitter.