As Killing Floor 2, closes out the 2019 chapter of its lifecycle, it’s important to reflect on how the game has grown and changed over the past year and where it’s going for its continued future. On the outset of 2019, we had three overarching goals we wanted to target:
- Target top quality of life improvements and issues
- Add weapons to the arsenal that fulfilled unserved functions with a perk’s existing arsenal
- Deliver on long-in-development features and content that are hotly requested.
For the first point, we did a deep analysis of our end of year survey, forums, and community posts and compiled a list of things we wanted to target within each of our updates. These improvements came directly from the fan requests so please continue to be active on the forums, surveys, and social media.
At the end of 2018, we recognized we had a robust catalog of weapons so we wanted to make a concerted effort within the design to tailor each new weapon to serve some new function within the perk’s role on the team that was yet to be served. It’s out of this thought exploration that we imagined the insane wackiness of the 2019 weapon catalog from healing bats, explosive harpoon launchers, revolvers with ricochet fragmentation rounds, charging lightning cannons, microwave assault rifles, and more. We hope you had as much fun playing with those weapons as we did making them.
For the third goal, we went full Ahab on wanting to tackle the white whales of Killing Floor 2. From looking through the results of the 2018 survey what was overwhelming requested above all other features were Objective Mode and a new Boss Battle. Since the early access launch of Killing Floor 2, clever data miners have seen glimpses of what we have worked towards this year and that has been steadily built up over the course of our many content updates. Though it took many months and years of iteration and exploration we’re proud of what we’ve been able to produce as a team.
Here’s a punch list of the major highlights from 2019:
Today’s Killing Floor 2
Game Updates
- Cyber Revolt - March 26th, 2019
- Back & Kickin’ Brass - June 18th. 2019
- Grim Treatments - October 1st, 2019
- Yuletide Horror - December 10th, 2019
Maps
- Spillway
- Steam Fortress
- Ashwood Asylum
- Sanitarium
Game Modes
- Objective Mode - Supported On:
- Steam Fortress
- Outpost
- Zed Landing
- Nuked
- Biotics Lab
Boss
- The Matriarch
- Includes Christmas Seasonal Version
Weapons
- Killerwatt (Survivalist)
- Helios Rifle (Firebug)
- Hemoclobber (Berserker / Field Medic)
- Seal Squeal (Demolitionist)
- Ion Thruster (Berserker)
- Rhino Revolvers (Gunslinger)
- HRG Nailgun PDW (SWAT)
- HRG Healthrower (Field Medic)
- HRG Buckshot Revolvers (Support)
- Mosin Nagant (Sharpshooter)
- Riot Shield & Glock 18 (SWAT)
- HRG Incision (Field Medic)
- HRG Winterbite (Gunslinger)
Quality of Life Improvements:
- Added functionality to shut off Zed enrage when that Zed triggers a panic state from toxic, emp, fire, or microwave. Zeds revert back to being enraged after the duration of the panic is over.
- Added an option Toggle to Sprint to the GAMEPLAY settings.
- Improved Zed Line of Sight Spawning Issues.
- User Interface Improvements :
- Added an objective tracker for any wave with an active objective that is optional or mandatory. This tracker relays information and conditions about the objective.
- Updated player health bars to improve visibility and distinction. We also added an option in the Gameplay options to revert back to the old version.
- Updated coloration of some objective elements to purple to improve their distinction.
- Replaced objective iconography with exclamations to denote points of interest.
- Added a drop shadow to player names and icons to improve legibility
- Abomination Fight Improvements
- SYG Reward System and UI Improvements
- Low Health Indicator Refinement
- Skip Trader Hotkey
- Zed Armor Rework
- C4 Moved to Equipment Inventory Slot
- Underslung Grenade Launchers Reload on Alt-Fire
- Prestige Level 4 & 5
- In-game Item Sales and Direct Purchase Bundles
New Music
- “Cyberpunk” by Rocky Grey.
- “Menace” by Sigurd Jøhnk-Jensen
- “Infectious” by Sigurd Jøhnk-Jensen
- “Asylum” by Rocky Grey
- “Plasma Shock” by Rocky Grey
- “Silent Night, Zedly Night” by Rocky Grey
New Merch Store
https://tripwireinteractive.com/#/shop
New Official Forums
https://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/index.php
What Lies Ahead
Now entering into the 5th year in the live environment, Killing Floor 2 will live on but as we look ahead to new horizons for Tripwire Interactive we have some important announcements for future development. Starting with the Spring 2020 seasonal update, we’re excited to announce Tripwire will be collaborating with World War Z developer Saber Interactive to develop future Killing Floor 2 features and content. Over the past year, we conducted an exhaustive search of development studios and Saber Interactive prove themselves to have the right technical and creative skillset that gelled well with Killing Floor 2’s identity and gameplay. Our internal team will still be heavily involved in guiding the design and intent for the updates as we work together so that we maintain a consistently high-quality bar that our community expects.
But, what can you expect going into 2020 for the future of Killing Floor 2? Well, we have a full slate of maps, weapons, and more that we've been planning that we think you’ll be excited for but as we did last year we want to see what you would like to see and how you feel about the overall state of the game. Here’s the link for where you can submit your feedback and suggestions. The survey will be up until the end of the year for you to fill out. Thanks in advance for your time:
http://www.tripwireinteractive.com/redirect/KF2Survey/
Additional Weapons - Our tradition of creating new exciting weapons will be in full force for the new year catering to different and expanding on different play styles and perk roles. We will continue to experiment with new HRG weapons to build a new identity for those existing weapons that they’ll be based on. I can’t divulge too much on what new toys are coming up next so let’s put a pin on that burning question for later.
Additional Maps - As you all saw with Sanitarium within this latest update, we’re excited to begin rolling out the 2019 Mapping Contest winners within an official capacity to the game that will continue into 2020. With every map we take official, we take great care to take the original community mappers’ intent and refine and optimize the gameplay and visuals of the map so that it can be enjoyed on all platforms. Where the next new outbreak might occur we need to look to our talented Horzine researchers to find the devil in those details...
Major Events - Seasonal Events are the core of Killing Floor 2’s quarterly updates and for 2020 will be no exception. For the seasonal events you’ve all come to love we have more in store with a slight twist on previous themes,
Quality of Life Additions - We’ll continue to make quality of life additions to the game with every update. Through the survey and collating all the feedback across the different official community channels we’ll be reviewing the top requested items and prioritizing by how actionable, feasible, and beneficial to the player they’ll be to implement. Not everything will make the cut but we hope to provide clarity on why certain requests will not be acted on for the foreseeable future when we make those determinations.
Bugs - As you notice in our change logs, we try to fix as many bugs as possible within each release to maintain a stable and polished experience. As a reminder, the best way to bring bugs to our attention is through our official forums which are available here:
Official Tripwire KF2 Forums -
https://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/index.php?categories/killing-floor-2.25/
Continued Polish & Refinement - With development support of Saber Interactive, we will continue to hold a high quality bar for every release in all that we do.
Community Interaction - We hope you have appreciated getting to know all our talented developers a little more through our developer spotlights. Here’s links to what was previously posted if you missed them at the time:
Sean Manzano - Quality Assurance Director: https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/community/developer-spotlight-sean-manzano
Tom Weithers - Gameplay Programmer
https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/community/developer-spotlight-tom-weithers
Curt Hartung - Senior Programmer
https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/community/developer-spotlight-curt-hartung
Ryan See - Sound Designer
https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/community/developer-spotlight-ryan-see
Chris Goodwin - Level Designer
https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/community/developer-spotlight-chris-goodwin
Josh Stanley - Junior Technical Artist
https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/community/developer-spotlight-josh-stanley
Kevin Butt - Senior Level Designer
https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/community/developer-spotlight-kevin-butt
Mike Stone - Producer
https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/community/developer-spotlight-mike-stone
Louice Adler - Concept Artist and Graphic Designer
https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/community/developer-spotlight-louice-adler
David Amata - Product Lead
https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/community/developer-spotlight-david-amata
Jonathan Betancourt - Junior Game Designer
https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/community/developer-spotlight-jonathan-betancourt
Jeff Robinson - Senior Gameplay Programmer
https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/community/developer-spotlight-jonathan-betancourt
We hope to continue these posts in the future and are planning future community interaction events in the coming year.. For any announcements, stay tuned to our social channels as usual for updates:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tripwireinteractive/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/KillingFloor
Throughout all the ups and downs of development, community support and involvement is vital for the continued success of Killing Floor 2. Rest assured we pay close attention to all of our messaging channels and take it very seriously to heart as without a strong vibrant KF2 community there is no KF2. Your passion and continued support of the game is why we have been able to support for these many years and hope you are excited as we are for its continued future.
See you all on the Killing Floor.
Regards,
David Amata
Product Lead
Tripwire Interactive