Hello Kritters!
During the last 6 months, Kritter evolved A LOT. Because Kritter current demo is more a test build than anything else, we took the time to add many new features that bring us closer to what we are aiming for this game. And of course, as we are a tiny team of two working on our free time, everything takes more time than it should :D
We are so excited to show all those new things to you and get your feedback about it.
I'll drop a patch note later in this announcement but let me describe to you the core features we added.
A new world map randomly generated
This new map brings the new artistic direction we are aiming for the first act : a barren, post apocalyptic world a bit inspired by MadMax. This new feature maybe one line long in our list, but it was weeks of work. It's still not a final version as we want to add more diversity to the tiles.
So here the thing. The center of the map is always the same, but arround it, everything is different in each run. The map is composed of random tiles, and the inside of those tiles is also random.
This kinda look like this if seen from above.
Base Building
This was an even bigger task to make but we have done it.
You have two kind of base building:
- Structure building: Those are the defensive parts you can build where you want. Walls, traps and turrets are the only options for now but we are planning on adding a dozen of cool thingy to build.
- Module building: Those are staticly placed elements that you can build and upgrade. They will act as M.Ark and Kritters upgrades. For now you don't have much of a choice. 4 modules slots for 4 modules. One to speed up your movements, one to increase exploration time, one to heal M.Ark and one to upgrade M.Ark's shield. But we are aiming for 20+ modules and you will have to choose because you won't have as much slots available.
They look like this:
Teleporters!
During exploration, look out for portals. Those will bring you back to M.Ark in a second. Way better than walking all the way to your base isn't it?
New resources and deposits
Two new resources are now available.
- Carbon: Used for structure building.
- Temporal crystals: Used for upgrades.
You can find them in chest for also in deposits that are scattered around the world.
Do I have a screenshot about it? Absolutely not, you'll discover them while playing!
A merchand
This one actually replace the old shop you had while playing to M.Ark. This one is from a race called the Azertys and they strangely look like old known piece of technology.
A lot of little things changed everywhere. The following patch note is not exhaustive but you'll get a good idea of what's new :)
Kritter Patch Note v0.8.4
General
- By default, the steam name is used as your Kritter's name.
- Reworked narration: All the voices have been recorded again and the tutorial has been shorten a bit to improve the experience of new players.
- A welcome popup on start now explains that this is still a game under developpement.
- When players fall from a high place, they now do so at a coherent speed.
- Enemies now look where they go.
- Items now drop on floor with a cool animation.
World
- An entirely new, randomly generated world map. This new map brings the new artistic direction we are aiming for the first act : a barren, post apocalyptic world a bit inspired by MadMax. This new feature maybe one line long in our list, but it was weeks of work. It's still not a final version as we want to add more diversity to the tiles.
- A new Shop: Mark won't be your shop anymore. You will now have to find the mysterious Azerty, and old living computer selling goods to travelers.
- New resources and ore deposits: Carbon and Temporal Crystals are now available among the Energy Crystals (the blue ones) and the Soul Crystals (red ones) already in the game. To add more fun that just looting them from dead enemies, we also added deposits everywhere on the map to get those useful resources.
- Teloporters! Yes, you won't have to go back on foot to your base anymore. Best feature in the game?
- New mini blobs enemies: quick, weak but numerous!
Gameplay
- Temporal Bubble: A whole new phase to rest after a wave and before starting a new exploration.
- Structure building : Available by buying a special perk in the skill tree. We aim to add a lot of fun things to build and for now, you'll be able to build walls, fences, traps and turrets.
- Modules: a new way to upgrade your base and your Kritter against the resources you gathered during exploration. Just 4 of them are available now but we are planning on 20+ modules.
- Gamepad aim has been greatly improved.
- Chests reworked: They now drop rewards directly on the floor. More juicy and no UI, oh yes!
- A lot more visual feedbacks. That's our little secrets to make the game feel good!
- Gamepad gameplay has been improved. It's now easier to hit targets.
- Landmines now disappear after exploding.
- The F.A.I.L device is not a consummable to revive in solo or resurect your friends in multiplayer anymore. Now a charge of F.A.I.L Device will prevent you from dying on a fatal hit and will heal you for half your health. Same behaviour in multiplayer. Those items are not shared anymore.
- Resources in general are not shared between players anymore.
- Mobs now reset their health if they lose aggro.
- Broken walls now repare themself at the end of a wave.
- Traps are twice bigger.
Bugs
- Yellow crystals seen as -1 when you had 0 in module build popup
- The modules at maximum level doesn't show the detail of last seen module anymore
- Big chests now always drop loot
Multiplayer
- Players can now resurect their friends as many times as they want. The F.A.I.L Device is not used for that anymore.
- Players can now build and upgrade modules in multiplayer.
Bugs
- Client players can now pick up resources and power ups
- Client players can now build turrets and traps and correclty see the walls they build
- Telegraph now don't stay on world after the enemy's death
- Cactus Stom is finally fixed (1 year old bug)
- Client players now see the boss health correclty
- Screen was shaking non stop for client player if the host built a module
- Shop now visible for client players (Bug #10 from Hypadao)
- Tracker landmines now work if created by a client player
- The names of your friends were sometimes poping on screen and stayed there
- Leaving the game as a client now disconnect you properly from the game and brings you back inside M.Ark (not working 100% of the time ).
UI
- You can now see the Kritter's direction with a little UI thingy arround your character
- Healthbar are smaller and disappear after a fex moment without hit
- A new end of run screen is now here to give you some stats and encourage you to play again
- The little popups showing how much resources you picked are now stackable to improve the readability (and also show the exact number, which was not the case before)
Bugs:
- Fixed a case where the main screen UI could disappear
Audio
New audio mix so every sound is now properly managed by audio settings
Other
- The Defender is now properly animated for its primary attack
- New light inside the pod. So colorful !
- Numerous translation fixes
- Dozens of bug fixed but I prefer to forget they ever existed
- Full re balancing of the game
Thank you so much for reading, for all your support and have fun playing Kritter!