Greetings, Daisen employees! (Or other companies). It has been quite a while since our team released the last update for Daisen. It feels like it was back in the winter, right? All this time, we have been preparing a massive relaunch of Daisen, which we divided into 2.5 updates. They will be waiting for you this summer.
Quality Update: Part 1
As we mentioned in a previous news post, we are completely overhauling the game this year. In fact, we are rebuilding it from scratch—exactly the way we always wanted to see and present it to you, our players. This update focuses on critical architectural changes. You could say we took a medieval house and remodeled it into a modern city dwelling.
Important: Save File Warning
We have completely reworked the save system. Old save files are no longer compatible with the game. Thank you for your understanding!
Updated Visuals
We have reimagined the game's visual style and undertook a global overhaul in the Quality Update. We implemented a custom shader that makes the image more stylized. Along with this, we updated the existing locations in the game. Let's be honest: there is still a lot of work to do, but we are steadily moving toward better improvements and detailing. We also started adding more interactivity. Now, every location features interesting elements—from physical water in the Pool to a broken elevator in the Hospital.
Here are a few screenshots of the updated environments:
Updated Weapons
We have completely redesigned the visuals of the entire arsenal. Now, all weapons truly look as if they were made by a single manufacturer—Daisen. Alongside this, we updated the animations to give the weapons more "juice" and deliver an entirely new shooting feel.
Updated Overheat System
One of the core game mechanics has received a significant upgrade. We added new effects and animations for when a player overheats a weapon. Furthermore, players will now take damage from overheating. It's a bit of a symbolic punishment. So, have you bought medicine for burned fingers yet? ;)
New Weapon - Pulsar
And here is a brand new gun! Meet the Pulsar! This is an ultra-fast-firing weapon that outpaces the fastest cowboys in the wild world of Daisen. For fans of shredding enemies with a barrage of fire, this will be a massive gift that will cost just a few runs in Bloodstorm.
Experimental Features
We are continuing our "Testing Features" segment. As a reminder, these are game elements currently in active development, and we implement them into full updates for better debugging and feedback collection.
Enemy Mutations
We are actively testing the Mutation system. It analyzes the player's actions and alters opponents accordingly. Enemies might not just gain more health or damage—they can also change their combat tactics.
Photo Mode
Found an epic moment or want to look closer at the details? Photo Mode is at your service! This tool allows you to activate a free camera, take a beautiful shot, or even record a video. Will you share your best shots with us on Discord? :)
Custom Animation System - Honami Animation System
To improve in-game animations, we decided to drop the standard Unity Animator and wrote our own system. Besides offering better control and expanded functionality, Honami is much more optimized. This will allow us to avoid many performance issues in the future that we would otherwise have to fix with crutches.
Other Improvements and Changes
General performance optimization.
Improved gamepad support.
Added a new main menu.
Updated animations for both enemies and the player.
Added new music tracks, specifically for the Bloodstorm Hub.
Arc-drones now have a shotgun attack (they fire a burst of several projectiles, similar to the Infantryman's attack).
Line-drones now have a chance to release a homing projectile upon death.
Added settings for the speedometer.
Added a testing mode in Bloodstorm. If you click "Testing" in the arena selection menu, you can try out a location without enemies.
Reworked Sandbox mode: added new building tools and a new UI menu.
UI button prompts are now clickable. This solves the issue of players not having access to a keyboard or experiencing major UX inconveniences.
New events in Bloodstorm: — Early Start: Prematurely starts the next wave. — Essentiar Hunger: Deals damage at the beginning and weakens the player's defense. — Move Or Die: You take damage if you stand still. Keep moving to survive!
The Tiara now knocks the player back in mid-air. Try using this for a Rocket Jump!
Added an auto-aim feature.
Now, in case of a weapon overheat, the crosshair in the center of the screen becomes almost completely transparent.
Added a damage indicator that clearly shows the direction of the attack.
Players now receive extra bonus points for completing waves with active events.
Updated the Ignis 4 level.
Updated the credits.
Now, when swapping weapons, the player gets a brief "window" that temporarily increases the damage of the equipped gun.
Why Exactly "Part 1"?
During development, we faced a tremendous number of technical challenges. Realizing that we couldn't tackle such a volume of changes in one go, we decided to split the Quality Update into 2.5 parts.
Why two and a half?
We are already preparing Quality Update Part 1.5, which will introduce a new weapon (Katana), a new location, and content that didn't make it into the first part. Quality Update Part 2 will be the final chord of this update cycle, after which our team will fully dedicate itself to developing the "Prelude".
We sincerely thank everyone who follows the game, plays it, and shares feedback about Daisen. Your support is the most valuable thing we have. We are incredibly happy to grow such an awesome community. Thank you!