Welcome to 2.0b - Rebirth, Deathtide Survivors' massive overhaul!
Update Summary: The game has changed so much in this update, I couldn't help but naming it Patch 2.0 - Rebirth! Deathtide Survivors should now feel like an entirely new experience, with a lot more polish and care put into it. The update sets the tone for the future of Deathtide Survivors and raises the bar of our quality standards for future additions and content.
Before you dive in, an apology and news concerning the future: Unfortunately, Act II has been postponed to another update (2.1b) due to (I cannot understate this) massive personal problems I've been fixing alongside the work on this update (out of 70 days between release 1.0 and this update, I've actually only been able to work around 35 days or so and therefore it seemed better to cut the update in two parts).
However, in this short amount of time I have been able to completely overhaul the game and Act I, and also added the new ranked mode Nightmare+, new quests, spells and rewards (such as character skins) so there is more than enough content to enjoy until I launch Act II on patch 2.1b, with an expected release date of 45 days after this update, this other update will bring new enemies, bosses and a new map of the same level of quality Act I now has, it will also expand existing systems such as Nightmare+, bring a new character class (warrior) and add a lot of other things.
Addendum: The first 2 months of our early access release have been an extremely humbling and interesting experience, We've grown a very nice community, and most importantly, we received A LOT of excellent feedback from everyone, which have made their way into our first massive update. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do!
[Look and Feel]
• Overhauled the entire interface. Every single menu has been painstakingly rebuilt from the ground up, with brand new functionality added, along with lots of bells and whistles for that extra coat of polish!
• Added complete Gamepad support for every single menu and interaction, except for typing a custom profile name (still requires a keyboard).
• Massively upgraded the graphics of the game:
- Completely redesigned the map's texture set.
- Added better color grading (goodbye washed-out colors).
- Upgraded enemy models.
- Upgraded particles and other special effects.
- Added volumetric fog. (Don't worry, it's cheap to render it).
• Reworked melee hit registration (now the attack animation syncs up perfectly with the actual hit, and the hit distance has been adjusted, so getting hit no longer feels unfair.)
• Upgraded the combat feedback, now enemy attacks feel more brutal and getting hit feels more painful. (also removed the annoying moaning).
• Reworked the size and speed of all enemies and the player, now you will feel closer to the action and enemies will seem more oppressive. It is also easier to see their attack animations to time your dodges accordingly.
• Overhauled Act I's map, adding lots of interesting and dynamic zones (Try to find the healing fountain!) to encourage exploration and clever gameplay. The map now has distinct zones with colliders that block enemy (and player!) pathing, create choke zones, and encourage smart herding of enemy crowds. Just be careful not to get cornered.
• Massively improved the intelligence of ranged AI to circumnavigate the new obstacles, now archers and mages will always try to keep a good line of sight. Seriously, you can't fool them.
[Content]
• Added an entirely new ranked difficulty mode, Nightmare+.
• Added a new reward system for Nightmare+.
• Added Character Skins.
• Added new quests (sorry completionists, you'll have to reach 100% again!).
• Added Steam Achievements for all quests in the game.
• Added 12 new spells:
- 4 new autocast spells - one of each element.
- 2 new Ultimate spells - including our first healing spell!
- 4 new attunements - for greater build diversity
- 2 new buffs - which should make builds more fun!
• P.S: Even more spells are coming on patch 2.1b!
[Quality of Life]
• Increased the modularity, stability and polish of the code, creating a solid base for future updates.
• Added a quick menu exit button on keyboard (Press Esc to close any menu)
• Added a damage/DPS counter for spells on the pause and death menu.
• Added a selling option on the item shop and a disenchantment option on chest drops.
• Polished the Settings menu, adding expected functionality that was lacking.
• Added new elements to the library.
• Added a Save Failsafe system to prevent data loss, alongside Steam Cloud integration for save files.
[Balance]
• Completely reworked the consumable item balance, items with duration last a considerably greater amount of time, but are weaker, and healing potions will heal based on percentage instead of direct values.
• Reworked casual difficulty modifiers.
• Rebalanced every single autocast and ultimate spell.
[Bugfix]
• Fixed a resolution bug that affected weird aspect ratios, such as 5:4, now the game should correctly detect and force 16:9(with black bars) to any unorthodox aspect ratios imaginable to mankind, that may or may not exist on this physical plane of reality (such as 0:0).
• Fixed a bug that made it impossible to finish an Act I match if you killed Midnight before Moonlight in the werewolf boss fight (this specific bug has been haunting me for months, good riddance!).
• Fixed a bug that caused light phalanx to hit the enemy twice during framerate drops and other edge scenarios.
• Fixed a bug that caused the screen to update the resolution when applying graphical options unrelated to resolution.
• Fixed lots of bugs in the talents menu, that allowed players to pick all 3 ultimate talents and other talents that should be otherwise locked.
• Fixed typos, bad grammar, mistranslations, and general textual errors.
• Fixed a bug in the Settings menu that prevented the graphics sliders from updating with the chosen Preset.
• Fixed a small time precision bug that would make periodic magic effects (such as damage over time) trigger an inconsistent amount of times.
• Alleviated a problem that made it possible to play bowling with enemies by dashing into them at full speed, which would launch them across the world at high speeds. This was especially noticeable on the Werewolf bossfight. It can still happen during frame drops, (thanks Nvidia Physx!) as Physx heavily extrapolates physical forces at lower framerates, I'll investigate this issue further and will hopefully fix it later on.
• Fixed a problem where certain spell effects would disappear before completing their beautiful animations.
• Fixed a problem where the user would not be able to rebind their gamepad bindings.