A big new update has been released for BlastZone 2! Survival mode now has a completely new scoring system that makes use of a skill-based multiplier system. Destroying enemies with well placed charge shots increase the multiplier and hitting enemies with regular shots maintains the multiplier. The multiplier gradually decreases over time and reduces rapidly when getting hit by enemies. New players can still play Survival mode while ignoring this new scoring system, but it adds a lot of depth for mid range and advanced players, effectively raising the skill ceiling without affecting the skill floor.
Prior to this update, all the game modes were evaluated and it was discovered that Survival mode was mostly used as a stepping stone for newer players to ramp up and unlock Blitz mode. This helped and gave the mode a useful place in game progression, but there was an opportunity to maintain its relevance for more advanced players. As it stood, Survival mode was the most straight forward mode in the game, not having much unique to help it stand out. Now, with this new scoring system, I found myself playing it very differently and being much more engaged in the moment to moment decisions to maximize my score. This gives the new Survival mode a more unique identity, and makes it more fun to play.
The main drawback of this update is that it makes the current Survival Mode online leaderboard obsolete. Skillful players can now easily surpass the top scores of the leaderboard and the current top score holders will need to claw back up to maintain their titles. Some thought was put into potentially boosting all the current scores to keep them relevant, but this is an artificial fix and there is excitement in shattering the old skill ceiling organically.
A number of other additions and improvements are a part of this update as well, including score rank categories added to more game modes, which adds more options for unlocking those achievements. There are also better ship state feedback effects, including animations for attaining each regular charge level, as well as a context sensitive hyper charge animation to show when it is charging at an accelerated rate or not. More details on these and more are below.
Here are the full release notes: (v1.26.0.0)
- Created a new score multiplier system for Survival mode -Use charge shots and points pickups to raise your multiplier -Hit enemies with regular shots to maintain your multiplier -Getting hit reduces your multiplier -Waiting too long without maintaining your multiplier gradually reduces it -Dying resets your multiplier
- Updated the HUD and netcode to support the new Survival multiplier system
- Reworked the score rank category thresholds for Survival mode to match the new scoring system
- Added score rank categories for Blitz Mode and Classic B mode viewable in the gameover screen
- Added particle effects when the player attains Charge Level 1 and Charge Level 2
- Added a particle effect when picking up item drops
- Added a particle effect when firing a Barrage Shot using ship A1
- Added unlock info subtext when Classic B and Blitz mode, or Veteran and Turbo difficulty are locked
- Increased the triangle density of the Outer Space star background sphere, improving texture mapping consistency
- Eliminated Hyper power reduction and the use of Fire2 and Fire3 weapons when Hyper mode is activate during the Wave Splash Screen
- The hyper charge up animation now only shows when hyper power is charging at an accelerated rate
- Increased the opacity of the hyper charge up animation to make it easier to see
- Updated a few game mode selection subtexts in the menus
- Removed the charge up sound from hyper charging; now it is only used for regular charging
- Fixed a bug when pressing enter on the "Motion Smoothing" option in the client online multiplayer lobby
- Fixed cluster shots erroneously showing power bolt or super bolt dissipation animations
- Fixed missing individual player scores in the gameover screen when playing Multiplayer Blitz mode
Another smaller update was recently released as well, making improvements to gamepad button mapping (v1.25.4.1):
- Gamepad button mapping has been updated to prevent a single button from being mapped to multiple actions -This prevents game breaking bugs in the menu system and other areas
- Updated the config program to prevent gamepad buttons from being bound to multiple actions, similar to the in-game update
- Changed the color of the gamepad config column headers to separate them from selectable options
- Migrated to the latest version of the Steam SDK (v1.42)
I hope everyone enjoys the newly revamped Survival mode and don’t forget to give your feedback through email or the forums! As usual, to make sure you have the latest version, start the game and check the lower left corner of the title screen for “v1.26.0.0” or above.