Weekly Update

12 Feb 2021Developer post

Source: Steam Community (opens in a new tab)

More massive changes

Hey! Many of you are giving great feedback on how to improve the game. Wanted to let you know your comments are appreciated and getting into the game!

Any new upgrades?

Yes, one:

[upgrade] Balls are attractive

Be careful. Attractive balls invite a lot of potentially unwanted guests trying to touch your balls!

What did you do to help people just starting Dualism?

One of the great struggles with Dualism's development, especially as a roguelike, is making it easy and fun for people brand new to it and deep and challenging for those who invest lots of time. This week's updates are again focused on giving newbies a better time while still keeping it challenging in the later levels.

[balance] Hit boxes bigger across the board, but wings are still generally included in the hit boxes
[balance] Initial shots bigger and faster
[balance] Initial speed slightly faster
[balance] Made experiment level up half as often upgrade twice as hard (less complexity)
[balance] Made experiment bosses way sooner (quicker to the big action)
[balance] Heal twice as often but half as much
[GUI] Initial tip text describes core concept of white and black
[GUI] Tutorial advances quicker and descriptions are more concise for better understanding
[GUI] Remind players to upgrade more

Was there an update last week?

Yes! SPARKLES! A lot of particle effects, among other things were added, which made the game look radically different. For more information, check out the patch notes. Honestly, I couldn't find the patch notes on Steam, so I won't be doing that anymore. Updates will stick to this format.

What else changed?

[controls] Added a vibration intensity option in Options->Handling
[GUI] Doors and upgrades appear in Pause menu
[GUI] What's new on main menu
[balance] Changed poison dmg to be every 1/2 second instead of every 1/3 second
[fix] Bombs fragments come out at random angles
[fix] Bombs deployable slightly faster
[fix] Saves when you do alt+Enter to toggle fullscreen
[rework] Waves wave better... (This was totally accidental, I have no idea why it's happening, but it's a good thing)
[art] made mouse clearer and hexagonal
[rework] DPS is a game option instead of an upgrade
[rework] Screw attack does spirit status effects and player in screw does physical status effects
[rework] Screw 22% stronger
[rework] Screw - all effects only effect when color is opposite
[balance] Blasts happen 33% less often
[balance] Boss homing shots are slightly easier to deal with
[balance] Spider boss shots bigger and weaker
[balance] Reduced gnat shooter big's hp slightly
[balance] Halved mosquito health (make them more like paper like they really are)
[balance] Water bug buffer
[balance] Zig Zagger slower
[gui] Gameover text entry fixes
[balance] Any shot # increases or RoF reduces dmg very slightly
[fix] Fix tracking on reflection
[fix] Fix reflection shot size
[fix] Remove extra stop in dimensions handling option
[fix] Tracking balanced to be a little better, maybe?
[fix] If using keyboard, don't vibrate the controller
[fix] One of the white player shot sprites was the wrong size
[balance] Tracking and the other special shots reduce power less
[balance] Heal less exponentially as time goes on (keep it harder later on)
[marketing] Gameplay video - https://youtu.be/8uXQ5QuKGE8

Yes, these are massive changes in the gameplay, and it's my intention to keep doing this throughout development. So please let me know what you think! These updates are coming at the requests of players, so make your voice heard!