Hello all,
Thanks for the patience while we worked on this update, now ready to test in the BETA Branch. This update is a little different, as it focuses mainly on performance, graphics options, Steam Deck support, quality-of-life features, and lots of small additions and improvements.
It was a necessary update to pave the way for new content, which will be much easier to add now that we have these others things out of the way. Please let us know how this build goes for you in the Beta Feedback Thread.
CHANGELOG:
v0.729 (beta branch)
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V99 Engine Overhaul
Entirely new vector rendering system built from scratch
Around 6x faster raw line drawing performance!
Custom effect shader pipeline
Multisample antialiasing up to 4x
Variable pixel density up to 2.0x
Improved system loop timing: legacy 'delta' timing mode removed
Significant optimisation gains in collision detection, entity management, memory traffic, etc.
More accurate collision detection
After one launch into fullscreen via the windowed intro, the app will auto launch into fullscreen next time (unless the app is set to windowed again while running and then quit)
New CRT effects (bezel reflections, barrel distortion, phosphor trails, new overlays)
New graphics options: aperture (beam width), dwell (corner sharpness)
Manual viewport scaling options
New audio mix: sound effects, aux reverb and speech generator are dynamics compressed in a dedicated bus (pre-fader), music channels are no longer affected by global dynamics compression
Experimental X/Y oscilloscope audio renderer (requires high sample-rate DC-coupled audio interface, not practical for or enabled in UMF yet)
Steamdeck improvements
Steamdeck controller support via XInput
Steamdeck will auto-launch into fullscreen on first run (unless it has been windowed while running in linux desktop mode, then quit)
[!] NOTE: Steamdeck requires Proton 10.x (beta) or Proton Hotfix to run (as of 2025/09/23)
[!] NOTE: Steamdeck requires "Disable Frame Limit" to be switched on in Performance Settings to v-sync properly
Graphics / Audio / QoL
Entire game aspect ratio widened by 12% (was 5:4 now 7:5)
All old display modes recreated with the new shader pipeline, except for 'v99 extrasharp' (can be recreated with the new aperture and dwell controls)
Each display mode now sets various parameters to sensible defaults (dwell, aperture, persistence, screen sim., reduced motion)
New display mode: 'Hotwired Trinitron', based on a Sony PVM9044QM
At game over, time slows down to 0.01% momentarily and the entity that destroyed the city is highlighted
Improved game over FX sequence, increased debris entity count, new debris items
New city traffic vehicle variants
New particle FX on flail targets and cobalt impacts
Red Weed enemy now comes in 3 sprite variants
New asteroid chunk variants
Default music volume of 50% is now the maximum, scaled in the options UI to appear as 100%
End-of-day rewards (as opposed to rewards gained during the day) are shown in italic in the reward summary screen
Gamepad menu button now toggles options menu on title screen
Improved gamepad deadzone / sensitivity curve for nuke target crosshair movement
Improved gamepad sensitivity curve for turret aiming
Additions
In-game reward meter showing how many reward challenges have been stacked during the day
New AoE/DoT system, 'hotzones' apply damage to enemies over time based on their distance from the zone epicenter
Overfuelled Boosters deal damage in their wake over 1 second, dealing (potentially) 5x more damage overall
Mini-blob variant added for week 1
Alternative game over audio when >1,000,000 points scored
Adjustments / Improvements
Sub-frame player bullet init positioning (fire rates no longer affected by non-meshing frame rates)
More accurate bullet-enemy collision checks
Slightly more generous and more accurate city hitbox ('unfair' deaths less likely)
Cobalt bullets have 5% greater intertia (pushing force)
Cobalt Coil Gun temporarily gets twin shot during Blackout
Shotgun Cannon deals 6% more damage overall (Blunderbuss inherits this increase also)
Laser Watchtowers deal 2.5% more damage per second (all tiers)
Mines ('rainbow bombs') have 5% more air resistance (fall slightly slower)
Improved pulse knockback / pull behaviour when interacting with pathed enemies
Wizard mine drop rate 16% slower
Anemones now target outposts as well as the city and drones
Asteroids have 8% less health
Level 2 Cheval de Frise have 10% less health
Level 3 Cheval de Frise have 5% less health
Various enemy wave colour tweaks
Cautious Drones are 5% less cautious (minimum distance to hazards)
Aggressive Drones are 5% more cautious (minimum distance to hazards)
If Aggressive Drones collide with enemy mines/bombs and survive the impact, the projectile becomes 'primed' (collides with other enemies)
If enemy missiles survive a drone impact, the missile stops thrusting and falls under gravity
Drones no longer necessarily die on impact with enemy shields (damage based on impact magnitude)
Added explanation popups for drone behavioural parameters
After applying a factory mod upgrade, the edit outpost screen is opened automatically with the 'recycle obsolete drones' option flashing
'Centipede' squad enemies are less likely to kamikaze into the ground
Bookworm reward now requires 4 research categories (Offensive Innovation Center now counts towards bookworm)
Discipline reward is no longer given to hermits
High Voltage Arcing damage increase raised to 66% from 50%
Work Retreat daily reward bonus multiplier increased to 2x
Red Flag Day reward bonus multiplier increased to 6x
Context Switch charge rate boost while not firing increased to 666%
Week 1 attack wave cadence reduction ramp ends on day 6 insteand of day 4 (reduction at day 1 is still 12.5%)
Fixes
Prevent crash when spam-clicking icons in upgrade tree
Prevent gamepad thumbstick events being sent to nonexistent brains on game over (single frame potential crash)
Prevent rare crash when newly spawned sub-entities (fighters launched by Calamari, Tanks, etc) are destroyed by orphaned bullets while being initialised
Prevent buttons hidden during UI transitions from being interactive in rare scenarios causing UI discombobulation
Fixed incorrect scale units for drones aiming at fly-by enemies (Cruisers)
Mines no longer bounce off outposts on direct collisions
Drones will no longer attempt to aim at cloaked enemies
Fixed minus 1 population bug in rare cases
Points can no longer be earned from enemies dying in game over explosion (fixed potential difference in final score in-game vs final score on game over summary screen)
Fixed explosive enemy gibs seed sometimes not auto-popping (Cruisers, Calamari, Wizards)
Drones can no longer take damage by colliding with the ground while in config mode (and potentially destroying themselves and outposts)