We are proud to finally release our massive optimization update that includes much needed improvements to the game's performance as well as tons of new features.
Optimizations
With our plethora of changes including switching languages, object pooling, rendering improvements, collision detection improvements, and more, we've successfully optimized the game by leaps and bounds. Expect the game to run buttery smooth even as thousands of projectiles fill the screen.
Quality of Life
We have been going through our checklist of QoL changes throughout the past months. Below are the changes we've managed to get to.
In the workshop, you can now send an item to the combiner by right-clicking it on mouse or pressing one of the buttons on your controller.
The workshop inventory now has a scrollbar so you can actually access all of your items. (Side-eyes Vulture)
Holograms now show the item they are copying.
Placing an item into the combiner will now preview what its upgrade will look like.
Switchable items will now display which side they are on with a visual indicator.
A new ship select screen has been added that includes better information.
Save and quit is now supported for singleplayer. Pressing 'End Run' will now save your run instead of ending it.
A run now counts as a win as long as you reach Act 4. Defeating the final boss is now just for bragging rights.
It is now possible to hot-drop and leave a multiplayer party mid-run without stalling the game for them.
If you're playing on the controller, you can now use the bumpers and triggers to steer.
Your guns will now aim at where enemies are going instead of directly at them. This means they will land most of their shots now.
We have added a new Codex that contains all the items in the game. You can even pull up this codex to look at it if a reward offers you items from another ship.
General Combat Changes
Scramble
Scramble was an annoying status effect for the game. When it was inflicted on the player, it felt very debilitating since you had to fight in a much riskier situation to get the same output. Meanwhile, inflicting Scramble on enemies didn’t really feel like it was doing much. Now, Scramble flips all of your weapons 180 degrees. This makes it much stronger against enemies, while making it a fair effect that players can adapt to.
Charge Weapons
Charge weapons are now affected by fire rate modifiers and work with Burst Fire.
Bosses
Most bosses have been adjusted to make them more interesting challenges. Most bosses now have multiple destructible parts, giving meaningful milestones throughout the fight. When a boss part takes damage, so does the main body. However, the main body gets a massive boost in armor for each undestroyed part.
New Combat UI
The health bar has moved closer to the action, along with a display of your weapon cooldowns. In addition, all status effects are now displayed near your ship, including Armor. Not only that, boss health bars will now also display the status effects that are on them for much better clarity.
Keep Rework
As the first ship that players will play, the Keep needs to be simple and easy to understand with beginner-friendly mechanics. Keep is now a skirmishing hit-and-run style ship with good mobility and Fixed synergies. It rewards charging at enemies and then backing off to regenerate shields. Landers and Echo have been removed. (Landers will most likely make a return on another ship)
New Ships
In addition to the Keep, this update introduces three new playable ships: Stasis, Burnout, and Manifold! There's too much to explain, but it'll be much faster for you to just dive right in and check them out!