New Content:
- 7 new EXTRA achievements
- 1 new challenge stage
- 1 new bonus stage
- 1 new character
- 1 new weapon with its evolution
- 1 new passive weapon
- 1 new power-up, Seal III

Since the early days of VS, people have been asking important questions like "Why is it called Santa Water?" and this patch is finally here to answer that; but what other dark mysteries will surface while looking for answers in the Laborratory?

[previewyoutube=Tgn_XyvtOro;full][/previewyoutube][previewyoutube=NFm0uBHVAL0;full][/previewyoutube]

Quick walkthrough to unlock all the new content:

- Pick up a total of 33 Rosaries to unlock the Laborratory stage. If you've been playing for long you'll most likely already have enough; if so, enter and exit a run to get the unlock.
- Use the levers in the larger rooms of the stage until you get the Santa Javelin and Arma Dio.
- Evolve the Santa Javelin with a maxed out Clover
- Use the levers at the bottom of the new stage to defeat a lot of enemies and unlock a bonus stage
- Survive 20 minutes to unlock Santa Ladonna.
- Seal/Banish 40 items in a run to unlock the Seal III power-up.

Full spoilers:

New stage: Laborratory
A challenge stage where everything is trying to kill you, including the narrow corridors. There are special levers you can pull to trigger mostly positive effects (depending on Luck) that could also spawn weapons and passives, depending on which room they're from.

New weapon: Santa Javelin & Seraphic Cry
Though starting weapon as it aims for random enemies, can critically hit and it turns the Duration stat into additional Amount for itself. Compatible with special arcanas (Gemini, Twilight Requiem, Tragic Princess). Requires a maxed out Clover to be evolved.
The evolution uses Luck to deal additional damage. Picking up Rosaries while it is equipped turns them into a quadruple screen clearing explosion that turns enemies into XP gems.

New passive: Arma Dio
Allows you to choose any base-game passive.
It actually counts as a weapon, so can also be chosen from a Candybox.

New character: Santa Ladonna
Starts with a temporary cooldown bonus and automatically triggers a Rosary when reaching critically low HP (recover hp to full to recharge the ability). Absolutely nothing else

New stage: Carlo Cart
A silly little bonus stage where you cannot fully stop moving. It plays very differently compared to the average stage, so there are no extra unlocks tied to playing it, it's just for fun.

New power-up: Seal III
As the name suggests, it's a more convenient Seal power-up that allows you to seal 3 items per rank. This brings the total number of sealable items to 60!


General FAQs

Cross-save beta
- Cross save is now available on the beta branches on Steam, Android, and iOS too.
- FAQ here: https://poncle.games/account-help


Other projects
- Online co-op for Vampire Survivors: the technical work is going well, still too early for more details!
- EXPERIMENTS: going well, a lot of fun, I'm putting this here and planning to copy-paste this line for many future updates though, this stuff takes time!
[this was copy pasted from previous news as expected :p]

Will you make more Adventures?
Yes! We had planned to make new Adventures more often, but then realised that while they work very well to isolate new DLC content, the base-game ones are missing something.
So we've been working on adding a new feature to the game (that will remain a little secret for now) after which we'll be back releasing new adventures.

The Tides of the Foscari one is an exception. Instead of just retelling the story of the DLC, we decided to do something different with it, but that requires yet another feature that still isn't in the base game. Hopefully we'll see it happen sometime during the summer!

It's worth noting that in the meantime nothing has stopped us from writing the deepest lore to accompany new future adventures, that, as we all know, together with environmental storytelling, is at the core of the VS experience /s

Where are we on the Extra-content roadmap?
Right here obviously:


Operation Guns DLC
Our next Collab DLC releases in a few days, on May 9th, for $2.49 / 2.49 / 1.99 !
Read everything about it on the store page and here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1794680/announcements/detail/4104540932629701544

1.10.0 tweaks and fixes
- You can now PET the dog by pressing both triggers on a controller.
- When playing co-op, added the option to Share Passive among players for evolution purposes.
- Stage Selection is now split into two steps for ease of navigation if you're playing with a controller
- Updated pre-spawned arcana treasures so they get pulled in by VIII - Mad Groove.
- Improved loader to provide more information about the current DLC loading progress.
- Added missing retaliation damage to Pako Battiliar and its evo.

- Fix for tips not showing in the Treasure Chest info panel of evolutions.
- Fix for Bestiary mobile portrait info masking issue.
- Pickups group in recap page now generates a new row when exceeding max width.
- Fix for the game over red background overlay to use correct sizing after White Hand.
- Fix for Sole Solution causing tile map issues during the fight with The Ender.
- Fixed audio playback error in fight with The Ender.
- Fix for "new content available in store" button showing up incorrectly.
- Fixed character reveal so the characters are the correct scale.
- Hyper mode toggle is now correctly shown.
- Fix for text overlap/sizing in treasure chest info panel.
- Updated pause menu map to match old-engine implementation.
- Fixes for various weapons to hide them correctly when dying in co-op.
- Fix for errors with random arcana selection being triggerable before the animation is complete.
- Fixes for various stage collisions when playing in inverse mode.
- Updated the player stats panel (pause menu) to handle displaying the Recovery value to 2 decimal places, so small increments are shown.
- Fix for DLC ordering so that DLCs will now be loaded in a consistent order.
- Fixed cosmic egg in bestiary.
- Updated the Item Found page to check whether the item you are picking up allows duplicates, and if so displays the base level data.
- Fixed an issue where if you manually changed the window size the current resolution would not display correctly inside the options page.
- Fix for camera zoom issues when playing on displays less than the target 16:10 aspect ratio (both portrait and landscape).
- Fixed selection arrows sometimes showing on mobile when they should not.
- Fix to make drop downs hide when clicking anywhere outside of them.
- Fixed an issue with allowing player 1 to reassign controllers when toggling in options.
- Fix for Gatti chicken eating power and chance upgrades being reset on level up.
- Fix for drowner's spawned via trisection events after 30 minutes being invulnerable.
- Fix for disable moving background not being applied on stage start (only when toggled).
- Fixed formatting / centering issues with secrets page on mobile.
- Added a loader between menu and gameplay to show that the game is loading a stage.
- Fix for Moongolow secret check in co-op.
- Added scrolling to character selection progress panel.
- Fix for hyper (and inverse) mode creeping to stages without hyper (or inverse) unlocked.
- Added in missing scene fade transition between Moongolow and Holy Forbidden.
- Fixed hellfire rotation on world bounce.
- Various portrait UI scaling fixes.
- Fix for error with coin spawn in Poe's Adventure Chapter 3.
- Improved back button navigation on bestiary to be more accurate to JS.
- Fix for cut off character found animation on mobile portrait.

[LEGACY OF THE MOONSPELL]
- Evolving Four Seasons now only requires a maxed out Candelabrador

[TIDES OF THE FOSCARI]
- Evolving the Flash Arrow now only requires a maxed out Bracer
- Fixed a sprite error in Foscari Abyss' background.
- Fixed animation timing of World Eater.
- Fix for World Eater offsets.

[EMERGENCY MEETING]
- Fix Impostongue firing assassination when disabled.
- Updated the body part pickups that Shapeshifter spawns to allow them to be attracted by the magnet.
- Updated the font used for the Vent2Weapon when enemies are ejected.
- Fix for reactor engine sprite not filling in the black bars in portrait leaving visible gaps for the flames.

Today we are announcing Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns, our second collab DLC, made in collaboration with the KONAMI's Contra team!

You might have noticed a couple of very obscure hints in Vampire Survivors about how much we admire and remember fondly playing all the iconic game series sparked by KONAMI over the years, which is why when we got the opportunity to work with their Contra team we took it immediately!

It's been surreal and a lot of fun to retrieve old memories of playing Contra with randos at the arcade, or with friends on a home console, and reinterpret them in a Vampire Survivors sauce. In fact we got a bit carried away and added more content to the DLC pack than initially planned, trying to pick & mix some of the old and some of the new, some of the obvious and some of the unexpected.

This was yet another dream come true for many in our team, so thank you all for your continued support and making this a reality!

Will the agents of the Contra Force resist the urge to join the Vampire Survivors in their doomed search for a vampire? No.








Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns content
We started with the usual number of characters and weapons in mind when developing this content pack, but it's been very difficult to work with such constraints when dealing with such an iconic series like Contra. So we did the only logical thing, make more:

• 11 gun-slinging characters
  
• 22 new weapons between base versions and evolutions. They're not all guns - some of them trigger explosions too!
  
• 1 large stage and 1 bonus stage
  
• 13 music tracks directly from the Contra series and 6 brand new covers
  
• An explosively silly 6-chapters Adventure
  

New Content:
- 7 new EXTRA achievements
- 1 new bonus stage
- 2 new characters
- 4 new weapons (of which 2 evos)
- 1 new relic

In this patch there are a lot of fixes too, including some optimisations that will let you play a run with Sammy for at least 2 more seconds than before!

Steam Achievements notes: this patch actually adds 8 platform Achievements, because it includes the Atlas Gate from the Adventures update!

[previewyoutube=kVyydTcMBZc;full][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube=2sfuApZEnGU;full][/previewyoutube]

Quick content walkthrough:

THE BAT STUFF
- Defeat a total of 161616 bats, from any stage, to unlock the Pako Battiliar weapon
- Evolve Pako Battiliar using Max level Hollow Heart to unlock the Bat Robbert character

THE SPACE STUFF
- Collect 5 Gold Fingers to unlock Space 54 (enter and exit a run if you've already got enough)
- Pickup the Phas3r weapon in Space 54, get it to level 7, and evovle it using Max level Empty Tome.
- At minute 18 in Space 54, locate and collect the Brave Story relic.
- Survive 20 minutes in Space 54 to unlock the Space Dude character.

Cross-Save now in public-beta
Available on the Steam public-beta branch and on Android public beta! Please send us any feedback about the feature, it's very delicate since we're talking about save-data, so we'll take all the help we can get to make sure it's solid.
Please also let us know if there's any other service you could find useful. We've been investigating cross-platform-dlc (so buy in one place, play anywhere) but it's the biggest bureaucratic can of worms ever; so, not being a technical problem, I'm honestly not too hopeful we'll be able to get it done (if you follow gaming news then you probably know very well how protective certain platforms are of any paid content).

We have put together a FAQ here: https://poncle.games/account-help


Full spoilers:

Stage: Space 54
Plain bonus stage with plenty of items and odd enemies. Walls stop blocking movement at minute 11:00
Might be a bit strong visually, so if it's bothering you please make sure to see if checking the "Disable Moving Background" makes it better!

Relic: Brave Story
Allows to choose Random Level Up choices in Stage Selection. Currently selectable only before starting a run. This will let you try do to runs in which the RNG picks weapons for you when levelling up, good luck!

Weapon: Phas3r & Photonstorm
Can be picked up in Space 54, and unlocked for every other run by levelling it up to Level 7. For the base version, Area only affects size horizontally. The evolution fires at least x2 projectiles than the base version, occasionally x5 when dealing a critical hit.

Weapon: Pako Battiliar & Mazo Familiar
Can be unlocked anytime just by killing A LOT of bats, across any amount of runs. It fires additional times when the owner receives damage or loses a shield. The evolution fires more projectiles and deals bonus damage depending on the current Max Health bonus of the owner.


NewCharacter: Space Dude
Fast character that starts with Phas3r.
Has a special ability that fires all weapons regardless of their Cooldown every few seconds. The cooldown of this ability is affected by the Cooldown stat.


NewCharacter: Bat Robbert
Slightly tanky character that starts with Pako Battiliar.
Has a special ability: when falling below 20% health, he gains +16 MaxHP (max +400) and recovers 30% health. This ability recharges every time the character is fully healed.


What's next?
Well, I know the next 3 steps/updates we'll take on our Chaos Roadmap, but if I say anything I'm going to spoil the surprise effect (and probably find myself face to face with a hitman hired by the marketing team). A lot of players have been asking for more dark/serious settings, so I can at least tell you that 1 of those 3 steps has been cherry picked because it's probably the darkest one we have on the roadmap
It won't be the next one, but should arrive soon enough!

We're also working on new Adventures for the main game of course, together with the "missing piece" of the Adventures mechanics, that once again I won't spoil until we have something concrete to show.

Flash updates on other projects:
- Online co-op: the technical work is going well, still too early for more details!
- EXPERIMENTS: going well, a lot of fun, I'm putting this here and planning to copy-paste this line for many future updates though, this stuff takes time!

The Phaser Framework
I don't usually reveal details about the DEEP LORE of VS, but this time it's worth making an exception, because part of this update is dedicated to... a game framework, Phaser!
Weirder than usual, I know, but Phaser was the original framework I used to make VS, is an absolute joy to use, and if I hadn't loved working with it to begin with, I would have probably never made VS, so I thought it deserved a bit more than just a line in the credits.

I've noticed a few players asking for more info about Phaser the previous times I've mentioned it, so I asked Richard, its developer, to write a few lines for you!

quote=Richard:
[quote=Richard]
I can still remember when Luca came to the Phaser Discord and showed off the first public version of Vampire Survivors, which he had created using our game framework. As the developer of Phaser, I'm always interested in seeing what people make with it, no matter what it may be like visually or how complete it is, so I had a look.

Seeing the screenshots on the Itch page, my immediate thought was, "What a strange mish-mash of sprites!" It was almost as if someone had thrown together a bundle of OpenGameArt and hoped for the best. As we all know, looks can be deceiving. Because then I played it. You don't need me to tell you just how sublimely addictive Vampire Survivors is. The Steam score and play time stats are a testament to this. Yet even in that very early stage, it sunk its gameplay hooks deep into me and never let up.

Because each run-through was relatively quick, you felt compelled to give it just one more go to see how you could improve. It didn't matter how insane and chaotic the visuals were. It didn't matter that the game was made in JavaScript and running in the browser. Because as thousands of creatures mobbed you and you swung that King Bible desperately, all of that just blended away as you fixated on the zone you were in.

It's the perfect example of a compelling gameplay loop. Demonstrating clearly that it doesn't matter one bit what tech you choose. You can still make an outstanding game. We've had many people come to Phaser since the release of Vampire Survivors, some looking to make similar games. For those who are curious, Phaser is a fully open-source game framework that allows you to make web-based games. All you need to know is a little JavaScript, and you can get started within minutes. There are built-in features for physics, animation, audio, and plenty more, and it has been in active development for the past decade. If that appeals to you, then we'll be more than happy to welcome you into our community. While we cannot guarantee you'll achieve the same level of success, after all, that would be like capturing lightning in a bottle; you'll at least have fun trying.[/quote]
Richard's too kind and is advertising VS more than Phaser, so let me put my two cents and say that Phaser offers incredible support, with dozens of clear examples you can access and edit on the fly directly from your browser window; it allows you to go straight to the fun part of game development. Everyone is different and therefore has different preferences for coding and development; I love the freedom of creativity and speed that a language as chaotic as Javascript provides, and the empowerment I got from Phaser is something I've never seen any other framework to match.
If you're curious just click on one of the examples from the website and fiddle with it in real time!

Thank you for being patient to get updates on other platforms
Not really a Steam problem, but there are a lot of players who have the game on multiple platforms, so just wanted to thank you for waiting that long to get the content that Steam got in December
We managed to do a global release with this patch today at least, I hope we'll be able to keep it up!


---

1.9.0 tweaks and fixes:
- Optimisation for spawning of gems and coins
- Optimisation for weapons that interact with pickups (Gatti Amari, Vicious Hunger, etc.)
- Fixed red XP gems sometimes flying away and taking forever to come back
- Fixed Coffins not spawning if the corresponding character had been unlocked via a spell
- Fixed Crimson Shroud not triggering retaliation damage
- Fixed a layering issue with CosmicEgg enemy
- Fixed merchant alignment upon multiple opens
- Fixed some particle emitters leaving gaps
- Fixed collision shape of Valkyrie Turner
- Fixed bought weapons in Adventures that wouldn't always level up in the same run they had been bought
- Fixed multiple evos of the same weapon appearing in treasure chests when only one should be present
- Fixed some animations going at insane speed on certain monitors
- Fixed Victory Sword not instant-killing some reapers that should have been weak to it
- Fixed text scaling sometime being off in Stage Selection
- Fixed display of secret characters sometime showing question marks when they shouldn't
- Fixed timing of events tied to music in Gallo Tower, Astral Stair, Eudamonia Machine
- Fixed "Show Guides" option resetting after every run
- Fixed The Directer sometime not getting counted as defeated in the Bestiary
- Tentative fix for Linux launch issue and missing Steam Overlay
- [MOONSPELL] Fixed time limit in Adventure Chapter 5
- [FOSCARI] Fixed Arcana XIX - Heart of Fire sometimes not applying to Prismatic Missile
- [FOSCARI] Optimisation for Shadow Servant at high Amount
- [FOSCARI] Fixed Je-Ne-Viv's World Eater's offset
- [EM] Fixed Mini Impostor and Impostongue appearing as level up options when they shouldn't anymore
- [EM] Fixed the medical scan not clearing its projectiles when the character dies
- [EM] Fixed interaction between Just Vent and Pentagram triggering errors
- [EM] Fixed Magnet bonus from Paranormal Scan being 10 times smaller than it should have been
- [EM] Fixed white box shown on some maps while in Adventures
- [MOBILE] text sizes on portrait when opening grimoire adjusted
- [MOBILE] fix missing options button on fresh save in portrait
- [MOBILE] fix jumping characters on ascension mobile window
- [MOBILE] fix for merchant screen layout on some screen resolutions
- [MOBILE] fix for Ascension animation moving parts of the UI
- [MOBILE] fix an issue for spells sometimes not working on Android
- Other minor bugfixes, tweaks, memory optimisations
- A lot of background work for accounts management and Cross-Save
- (x18) Pushing this change so [new game engine] stops bugging me
- (x6) Pushing this change because [new game engine] decided a feature was a bug

And we're at the start of 2024!

It's been once again a wild ride, and once again we have to thank all of you for your comments, quotes, messages, fan art, reviews, and, naturally, relentelessy keeping up with your 100% (sorry!)

As always, we are incredibly thankful for the community that has built up around Vampire Survivors.

We're doing another huge post like last year to talk about everything that happened and also have a look at what's to come in the future. There's a lot to cover, so we hope you enjoy!



Thank you from everyone at poncle!
Even after being out for more than one year, the reception of VS keeps being absolutely mindblowing.
Poncle has grown to 20 people now and we're all still busy working exclusively on VS due to the ports, engine changes, frequent updates and releases. And then, you know, the marketing team exists.

We have a lot going on behind the scenes, but I'll keep the update focused on Vampire Survivors and I'll reveal a few bit in the paragraphs below!


Everything that happened
*Deep breath* :
Bat Country, DICE Awards Action game of the year, BAFTA for Game Design, BAFTA for Best Game, Tides of the Foscari DLC, Astral Stair, Nintendo Switch port, Local Co-op, first players event, OST orchestra recordings (3rd one actually ), Whiteout, Adventures, first collab DLC Emergency Meeting!

Missed something? Most likely, oh we have udpated the OST on Steam to be available in FLAC format for example, anyway, 2023 summary done, next!

[previewyoutube=4nYRx3fPNO4;full][/previewyoutube]

State of: Online co-op
We are still investigating! To retro-fit online multiplayer in a game as simple as this, but with so much content, is still a huge challenge. We've got help now, and things are looking promising, but it's still too early for us to be able to make any promises. We'll keep giving you tiny updates until hopefully we can confirm it's actually going to happen.

State of: Cross-save
We had this in testing for a while now, but the real hold-up is having to put in place everything that is needed to comply with GDPR, CCPA, and whatever else is required for data protection. We had delays even just in testing the feature in public-beta because there's a lot of work to do - even if all we need to do to bridge the accounts you already have on different platforms is storing just an email and password combination.
We're working on a QOL update for February and we're hoping to launch cross-save in public-beta only at the same time (Steam and Android only to start with).

State of: Cross-MEDIA
Yep, we're doing cross-media like the big boys for real!
Back in April 2023 we announced an animated tv series in collaboration with Story Kitchen. We had of course waited for the various strikes to end before getting to it, so for now we can just say that more info is coming in 2024!

Honestly we have received a lot of proposals to collaborate on cross-media projects, but rather than jumping the gun we have preferred to wait to find partners that felt right, especially because to make anything that isn't a videogame out of VS requires good ideas, creativity, and that quirky knowledge of the game, that is a very difficult triplet to get 100% right!

We have several partners now and we'll reveal more on these projects as they mature and we've got good stuff to show!

What's next for VS content?
If you're somehow managing to follow the Chaos Roadmap and are curious to know what changed from the last time:
- codename Chalcedony turned out to be Emergency Meeting
- Emergency Meeting is update 1.8
- no need to be cryptic about the next update: Honey Moon is the codename for the new update 1.9, "Space 54", currently available for testing on the Steam-PC public beta branch! If everything goes well, 1.9 should reach all platforms in February together with a few performance and QOL improvements.
- the vast majority of these are free content updates of Whiteout-size


I doubt we can get all of these done in 2024, and that's why there are no dates nor an order, but we're here to try!

More platforms
We know people are demanding more platforms, but we're also keen on doing the ports ourselves, one at a time, and that takes time.
We can't "just hire immediately more people": I don't think that's how a healthy company grows; let's give poncle time to grow organically.
We can't "just get a publisher": it would make us lose control on features and pricing.

I'd love to tell you everything about the next port, but the marketing team would kill me; I can just say it's the most obvious one, so for streaming services of course, codenamed "if it looks like mud and smells like mud, then it's Vampire Survivors"

Fangamer merch
Our friends at Fangamer have made some neat Vampire Survivors gadgets: an incredibly metal t-shirt, and some enamel character pins that also come with a little accesory. The Queen Sigma pin in particular is very versatile, as shown by Lucy in this video.
I use mine in a little diorama my little siblings made for me for Christmas

(feel free to cringe in the comments, but please appreciate I spared you the rest of the poem!)

THE VAMPIRE SURVIVORS EXPERIMENT
Uh-oh, what now?
Something I've been trying to put in place almost since the beginning of VS' crazy ride is finally happening: poncle is teaming up with other indie devs to work on some VS-adjacent experiments. We're calling these experiments because:
- we're starting with just an idea, we don't know where that will lead us and that's okay
- we don't know when, or even if, we'll be happy with the final results and be ready to share them
- it keeps us free to, well, experiment, stay flexible, take risks and have fun
- as you can see from this totally not vague overview, we're following a highly scientific method and it's totally not an esoteric process at all:

What will these experiments yield? Is there a meaning to the icons? Are there "only" six in progress? Why is this called PENTAgram in game, if the star has 6 points? Will there be a vampire? We'll find out the answers to these and many other important questions someday.

---

That's all for now, got a pretty busy 2024 ahead of us!
Thank you all once again and see you in the next run!

- Luca & poncle (including the marketing team)

v1.8.206 Tweaks
- Seal 2 power-up now gives 2 seals per rank instead of 1
- Fixed Area and Duration scaling of Fuwalafuwaloo
- Bug fixes from previous version
- For more information on Adventures please see: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1794680/view/3870343609927647849?l=english


Emergency Meeting DLC info

Content:

• 9 playable characters
  
• 15 new weapons (of which 7 evolutions)
  
• A new large stage
  
• A new Adventure
  
• 6 brand new music tracks
  
• 20 in-game-only achievements
  

The Vampire Survivors are desperate to find the vampire, but are running out of places where to look. Only one option remains, the last frontier: be the bullet hell... in space!

We shoot them to the moon, but landed just slightly off target... Oh well, since we're here we might as well investigate this carefully crafted knockoff mysterious purple world of Polus Replica and stock up on friends, weapons, and floor chicken as usual. You never know when or where you might get lucky and stumble upon a vampire, so better keep those EYES open anyway!

[previewyoutube=1WMUJ_YMPlY;full][/previewyoutube]
Vampire Survivors: Emergency Meeting is our first collab DLC, made possible by the wonderful Among Us developers, Innersloth! We took elements of Among Us that most fans of the game will recognise and freely re-interpreted them in a Vampire Survivors spin, for some outrageous, ridiculous, and hopefully fun, combinations of characters and weapons.

Common daily questions at poncle HQ are among the lines of "How would I survive 30' in the videogame Vampire Survivors if I only had an ID Card to defend myself?" and it was pure bliss to be able to give an answer to those important questions. Huge thanks to the folks at Innersloth for making all of this possible!





Vampire Survivors: Emergency Meeting contains:

• 9 playable characters
  
• 15 new weapons (of which 7 evolutions)
  
• A new large stage
  
• A new Adventure
  
• 6 brand new music tracks
  
• 20 in-game-only achievements
  

• 1 relic, Atlas Gate: Enables base game Adventures. Found in Boss Rash, minute 7
  
• 1 new achievement for obtaining the Atlas Gate (in-game only. Will be added to the list on Steam together with the next content patch, your 100% is safe for the rest of the year!)
  
• 2 base game Adventures
  
• 1 Adventure for the Legacy of the Moonspell DLC
  
• 
  

It's been another crazy year here at poncle working on Vampire Survivors, and as usual it's thanks to you all if we can keep doing that while also having fun!
This year isn't over yet anyway, we still have update 1.8 to release, together with a (very little) extra bit of content that isn't even available in the public beta version yet.

If you think we've done enough, it would be great to get a nomination for "Labor of Love" in the Steam Awards please!
If you think we should do more instead, no problem, hopefully in 2024 we'll get there! I'm going to share our Chaos Roadmap just below, to tease how much more we're planning to add in the future

When it comes to planning new content, I'm not a fan of big, perfect, highly detailed roadmaps, as it's often straight up impossible to foresee all problems that might occur during development (did you happen to hear about a huge software company trying to screw over game developers recently?)

Even internally, we use a big list of stuff we know we want to do, but we don't put that in order or on a timeline. So here's our Chaos Roadmap, a highly cryptic list of all future updates that are getting cooked behind the scenes:


Wondering what the heck MAZERELLA is? Sorry, my lips are sealed.

Wondering which one will be next? Me too haha

Thank you all once again, and hope to see you in here again soon for the Adventures update!

- Luca

Ready for the October patch?

It's snow themed.

New Content:
- 6 new EXTRA achievements
- 1 new bonus stage
- 2 new relics to get a new PowerUp and morph an existing character
- 1 new weapon with its evolution
- 1 new playable character
- 1 new music track

Quick content walkthrough:
- Pickup a total of 20 Orologions to unlock the new stage, Whiteout. If you have played the game long enough, you'll probably just need to enter and exit a run!
- In Whiteout, find the Antidote relic and the Glass Fandango weapon.
- Pick up and maximize Wings to evolve the Glass Fandango.
- Survive 20 minutes in Whiteout.
- In the post game, go to Tiny Bridge and find the Chaos Altemanna.

[previewyoutube=czvC_-iXtic;full][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube=-3Ypl2d0Ha8;full][/previewyoutube]


Full spoilers:

Stage: Whiteout
It's a 20 minutes Bonus stage, so for most of it there isn't anything particularly challenging. Enemies move very slowly and take extra damage from fire weapons, which is why you might want to save the next spicy sausage for when the boss shows up. Funny snowmen will block your path, but might drop a decent amount of gold coins and everyone's favourite pickup: Orologions.

As you can tell from the unlock condition, this isn't a post game stage like TinyBridge/BatCountry/AstralStair, so it's rather easy. If you Invert it though...



Relic: Chaos Altemanna
Allows the character O'Sole Meeo to morph when reaching Level 80. It gets a few minor stats boost and evolves its Celestial Dusting into Profusione D'Amore.
The weapon evolution still shoots flowers, but these ones also bounce against the side of the screen. It also spawns floating leaves that occasionally bloom into a chain-reaction of damaging explosions.

Relic: Antidote
Allows to buy the Defang PowerUp.

PowerUp: Defang
Very cheap PowerUp to slightly reduce difficulty. Makes some enemies completely unable to deal damage. These enemies have a green tint, that can be disabled in Options.

Weapon: Glass Fandango
Can be picked up in Whiteout, and unlocked for every other run by levelling it up to Level 7. Attacks faster and in the faced direction when moving, and with standard delay and all around when standing still. Deals extra damage to frozen enemies. Gains bonus area during the time-freeze triggered by Orologions. Requires maxed Wings to evolve into Celestial Voulge.

Weapon evolution: Celestial Voulge
Has a chance to deal critical hits and to freeze enemies. Changes the time-freeze from Orologions: enemies appear frozen and deal no damage as usual, but keep moving towards the player. Deals continuous damage.

NewCharacter: She-Moon Eeta
Starts with Glass Fandango. Slightly defensive character thanks to high Armor and Movement Speed. Has a "CriticalHP skill", that triggers when she drops below 25% Max Health: she triggers a 10 seconds time-freeze, just like Orologions do.
The CriticalHP skill recharges only when the character recovers all HP. If the characters get hit by an attack strong enough to kill them, CriticalHP doesn't trigger.



Need some real Halloween spoops?
If you haven't already done it last year, cast the spell spoopyseason to unlock special skins for Mortaccio, Yatta Cavallo, Bianca Ramba, and O'Sole!

What's next?
The next big feature, "Adventures", needs just a bit more time in the oven before we'll be able to release it. We wanted to deliver it together with Whiteout, but there's a lot of QA to do and, as mentioned in the previous update, the release process has become slower due to all the platforms we're on, so we decided to play it safe and leave the risky bits to a future update.
If everything goes well, we should be able to deliver the Adventures patch on Steam in less than a month

Adventures remix content of the base game and add a bit of new flavour through new stage progression and descriptions. They allow to have a fresh start with new chapters to tackle, without losing anything obtained in the main game. There are several features and details that we will explain one by one in the weeks ahead.
There will be Adventures in the base game and also a special Adventure for each DLC. For example, this is what you'll see when you start the Legacy of the Moonspell Adventure:


We're also planning to put the new cross-save feature into the beta channels; if you'd like to try it, please follow the beta updates on our Discord to know when it will be available for testing.

What's up with the "INdUsTRy sTaNDaRd gAMe EnGiNE" ?
We'll keep supporting VS and stick to our top secret updates roadmap, but that doesn't mean that we aren't ready to port VS once again if the engine situation becomes unsustainable.
We already had to rewrite almost everything in the new "game engine", since we're using it only for the ability to easily export the game for consoles. Everything else is basically custom and working in the new engine was actually an uphill battle against the engine itself.

That being said, going back to the old engine is not an option. While Phaser is a fantastic framework and I wouldn't use anything else if I could, the tech stack needed to make it run on anything that isn't a web browser is too heavy and unsupported by consoles. Most of the performance gains we've seen with the swap are in fact thanks to dropping the old tech stack, not because the new engine is doing any miracles.
There are also some features that exist exclusively on the new engine (co-op, and soon Adventures) that would have been incredibly hard to make in the old one, so, if we really have to make a change, we'll go to a new-new-engine rather than the old one.

Thanks to your support we could afford another engine switch if we have to, but it would be another bumpy ride and I'd rather spend that time and headspace on new features, content, and games.

PS: if you're a fan of Phaser like me, you probably have already noticed some funny content in the Directer's Cut teaser... can't wait to show you more in the following months!


Sorry for the delays (on other platforms)!
Despite being ready for weeks, the Whiteout update is actually still not approved for release on all platforms. The blocker -on another platform, not Steam- , was the usage of the term "Flashing VFX" in the Options menu...

Last time I mentioned that we wanted to always release patches globally, because we know how frustrating it is to receive updates late only because your platform of choice is not the main one. But with this level of silliness, in return it becomes unfair to all other players to hold back a release because a single platform is that slow, for such nonsense reasons.

Going forward we'll stick to our release pipeline, try to anticipate all the submissions as much as possible, but then we won't wait for all the approval processes to be finished to release new patches on PC.

Sorry if content gets delayed on other platforms, we'll keep trying our best, but we have so much more content to release before the end of 2023 that we really can't afford longer waiting times.


THANK YOU!

Last week we hit 200k reviews on Steam! A huge thank you from everyone at poncle for your support!
In return we will... keep working on VS and stuff! :)



---

1.7.0 tweaks and fixes:
- Added more treasure chests in Il Molise
- Fixed weapon spacing in arcanas list to accommodate new weapons.
- Fixed text overlap in collection where there are 3 line descriptions.
- Fix for some missing translations in the options menu.
- Fixed Je-ne-viv world eater logic causing slowdown.
- Fixed bought character's in secrets menu.
- Fixed revive animation not being scaled correctly.
- Fixed issue with Je-ne-viv crashing Il Molise.
- Fixed quit button audio cutoff.
- Fixed bestiary enemies scaling up and down incorrectly.
- Fixed resolution dropdrop displaying incorrect resolution.
- Fixed Cosmic Egg display in Bestiary.
- Fixed World Eater crashing with lots of eggs.
- Fixed Trinacria in Bestiary.
- Fixed Bestiary Information cutoff/display issues.
- Fixed incorrect No Future particles.
- Fixed Hellfire projectile rotation on bounce.
- Fixed Goshadokuro losing it's head in the Bestiary.
- Fixed Directer fight inconsistencies vs old engine.
- Fixed the pause menu not animating the first time it is opened.
- Fixed missing red death particles in Holy Forbbiden.
- Updated Traditional Chinese display name on the languages page.
- Updated pickup logic to better match old-engine behaviour.
- Minor optimisation on damage number display.
- Removed incorrect screen flash on Gorgeous Moon.
- Removed various flashes if Flashing VFX is disabled.
- Added translations for "Mobile FAQ".
- Added bounds on death particles.
- Added missing flash vfx on Directer intro.

• Updated co-op UI to add "Enter co-op" button
  
• Changed Steam DLC button to launch an URL instead of Steam overlay to resolve auto-playing videos in the background.
  
• Added save data recovery for early-access players returning to the game.

• Gold items in collection are now only visible on collection
  
• Fix item pickups from sometimes incorrectly awarding multiple times
  
• In co-op, all players now die in Holy Forbidden if timer runs out
  
• Added game version to preloader
  
• Added DLC versions to options page.
  
• Fixed issue with weapon names not showing up in recap in Japanese.
  
• Fix for extra "-" in academy badge level up translation in some languages.
  
• Fixed Egg Count overlapping
  
• Fixed pause menu text overflow with high egg count.
  
• Fix regression of player-colour coded treasure panel buttons.
  
• Fixing chests getting stuck outside of walls on Astral Stairs.
  
• Fixed piano birds not being visible.
  
• Make golden eggs go to collecting character in co-op, in rare cases where you find them. Stops Sigma getting eggs indirectly.
  
• Adjusting Directer fight background stars zoom effect.
  
• Fixed Merchant soft lock when all weapons are selected.
  
• Fixed which character gets healing hearts in co-op.
  
• Fixed Vento Weapon not updating area size.
  
• Merchant now checks weapons in all players not just the active player.
  
• Increasing size and alpha of pause button.
  
• Sprite sizes are now correct after changing character skin.
  
• Fixed an issue where every level up bonuses were not being applied to all characters.
  
• Making the background music resume after completing Leda event.
  
• Fixed an issue where enemies were initializing with a wiggled state.
  
• Bestiary description no longer truncates and expands the content correctly.
  
• Merchant back button works via controller.
  
• Fix to Astral Stairs Teleport Layering.
  
• Fix for power up icon sizes.
  
• Character found page dark icon sizing adjustment.
  
• Fixed infernas secret page weapon reward icon size.
  
• Fixed sprite sizes in achievement info panel, and character select info panel.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Directer fight would try to progress before the Directer had been spoken to.
  
• Fix for issues with lingering visuals when exiting stages.
  
• Collection items now accurate sizes compared to old-engine.
  

Today is a big day for our game as we are finally fulfilling half the game title: there are still no Vampires but at least there are SurvivorS now. We are adding a local co-op mode today!

Make sure to restart Steam to force the update on the main game and DLC packs!

Vampire Survivors is also launching on Nintendo Switch today and the Steam version is fully moving to a new engine!


vsgarlic Local co-op update out now!
You can play the whole of VS (including DLC packs) in 4 player local co-op now!

All you need is one controller per player and you can add up to 3 extra people on the character select screen and continue to play through your missions, hunt achievements etc. with your friends.

[previewyoutube=Ei78IfoD2yI;full][/previewyoutube]

The biggest changes to playing VS in local co-op are, well... other people. In addition to the usual chaos of human interactions, there are also different options so you can customise your co-op games such as coloured outlines for your character and indicators, and we added some small multiplayer specific mechanics like The Friendship Amulet.

A question we get a lot is if there is online multiplayer coming too (yes, we're looking into online co-op too, but that is such a massive undertaking that we cannot make any promises at this time. Local co-op is a first step). For now we recommend using unofficial solutions like Steam Remote Play that let you play online with friends with Steam right away. As a completely remote team (we dont live in a big castle together), weve found these are mostly reliable but do have some flaws, so make sure to head over to the FAQ for tips and smaller known issues that are out of our hands to fix.

We hope you will enjoy the co-op mode with your friends, foes, and any undead demons you may have summoned. And big thanks for making this possible, we would have never thought two years ago that we would make co-op happen and its all thanks to your support!

PS: You can find more answers to the most frequent co-op questions in our FAQ here.

vsgarlic Out now on Nintendo Switch
Mamma mia! Vampire Survivors is also out on Nintendo Switch today! 4 player co-op and all updates are included. Same price as the Steam version, no surprises or hidden taxes! (actually there's a 10% launch discount)

A lot of people have been asking for cross-save, and the Nintendo Switch port will most likely increase demand even more. We're working on it: we have already run successful tests in moving saves between PC, mobile, and consoles, while also adding cloud save slots! We'll keep you updated, but save data is a very delicate thing, so this will really need a lot of testing and an adequate amount of time in the oven to be released in a safe, fully working state. Thanks for being patient!



vsgarlic Full switch to new engine
As we have announced in the last update, Vampire Survivors on Steam is fully switching to its new engine today. The original and new engine have been running in parallel for a while and we are at a point now where there should be only very subtle differences left, so its time to make the switch so that we can focus on adding features that wouldn't have been achievable on the old engine.

If there are major differences or even something small but that's really annoying you in the new engine, please let us know on the forums or on Discord: last year we have discarded a fully working, first version of the new engine and started this one just to stay accurate to the original gameplay, so we're not afraid to tackle a few leftover differences :)

You can find the massive changelog for v1.6 here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1794680/view/3678929839479077754


And have a quick look at a comparison in performance on Steam Deck here:
https://youtu.be/z7HCGKzwRjs


vsgarlic Can I still play on the old engine?
The old engine will not be updated anymore, but it will be kept on a private beta branch for anyone who wants to stay on it. To access the private branch, use the password: PhaserVersion2023
We wanted to keep both versions running in parallel and provide a launcher, but the overhead is just not manageable. It's just smarter to focus our efforts on a single version of the game, even because certain features, like co-op or the future cross-save options, would just be a massive time sink to implement on the old engine and I'd rather put that time and energy on new content instead.

poemg What's next
Thanks to the new engine being the new standard, we can finally work on large features that were very difficult, or borderline impossible, to develop on the old one.

There's a lot happening behind the scenes, but we'll start with a large feature that has been taking shape since December 2022 and that will add a lot of gameplay options and possibilities. I won't spoil anything as it's difficult to summarize it quickly, we'll properly announce and explain this new feature over the upcoming weeks. For now, I'll just share a mysterious screenshot:


While the screenshot depicts something from the Legacy of the Moonspell DLC just because it looks cool, please note that this new core feature is for everyone and it goes well beyond showing a different main menu background (btw the amazing artwork is from Matt Frith - it's also animated!).
It will be released in a free patch, together with a bit of new content

As you've surely noticed, we're not able anymore to release content at a fast pace, since the game is not anymore a single little .exe I can upload on Steam on my own. Between the DLCs and all the different platforms we're now on, doing a release involves testing, building, and uploading about 21 different things, and going through 4 different certification processes. Something as simple as someone from a certification team not liking the translation of a single word, in a single language, could block any release by days.

Sure, we could release on different platforms at different times, but we know how frustrating it is to wait for patches to reach your platform of choice while everyone else is playing new content, so we'd rather try to keep doing global releases on the same days.
To address this long-winded process, we're doing some heavy work behind the scenes to allow us to go back to, ideally, releasing content patches every month, so at a similar pace we had during early access. This will take quite some time, in the meantime we'll keep doing our best to deliver updates!

Thank you all once again!
- what you liked from this update, was from Luca, and what you didn't, was from the marketing team vsskull



Oh, wait, there's more! direyes
Did you see any of the "Directer's Cut" footage online?
That's something we've been doing in most events (since TGS 2022): hiding some of the future content for the game in plain sight, but this time it blew up online! While the actual menu screen might never appear in game, all the new content shown in that version is scheduled to be fully developed and released in future free updates.
So here's a sneak peak of a handful among the dozens of characters and weapons that are getting developed for 2023 and beyond: https://youtu.be/M8GSUPBrhU8

Deprecated old engine, it won't be updated anymore. All main branches are now on the new engine.
The old engine is only available on a private beta branch accessible using the password PhaserVersion. It will not be updated anymore.

v1.6 New Features:

• Added local co-op mode!
  
• Added "Disable Blood" option.
  
• Added "Pixel Font" option.
  
• Added "Border Type" option.
  
• Added Twitch integration (Steam only).
  

• Added Friendship Amulet.
  
• Added extra options for co-op:
  
• -Player colour selection.
  
• -Player outlines toggle.
  
• -Player indicators toggle.
  
• -UI Selection tint toggle.
  
• -Controller/Keyboard assignment toggle.
  
• -Sequential chest mode toggle.
  
• Added support for Steam Remote Play Together.
  

• Fixed Crimson Shroud explosions not counting as rataliatory damage.
  
• Fixed Coin sound being more high-pitched during gold fever vs the original engine.
  
• Fixed Santa Water hit box position.
  
• Fixed an issue where La Borra and Ophion would not despawn properly when off screen.
  
• Fixed an issue where Super Turbo Candybox II could be shown in a chest multiple times.
  
• Fixed an issue where the game would freeze at the end of the Directer fight in some situations.
  
• Fixed Random Events showing in "special Cappella Magna" & "Eudaimonia M.".
  
• Fixed a spawn position issue with the Drowner in Boss Rash stage.
  
• Fixed issue with golden eggs being incorrectly applied in the Astral Stair stage.
  
• Fixed an issue where projectiles supporting Heart of Fire Arcana were triggering retaliation explosions instead of weapon explosions.
  
• Updated translations with new text entries, options etc.
  
• Added extra error handling to DLC loading.
  
• Fixed an issue with the save conflict popup not displaying correctly on certain devices.
  
• Fixed an issue where timestamps were not displayed in local time for save conflicts.
  
• Fixed total egg count not updating when buying from the merchant or picking up Golden Eggs which caused Egg Man to not show up.
  
• Fixed evolution highlights not covering the entire item in the Grimoire.
  
• Improvements to caching and performance of options menu.
  
• Fixed issue with Trickster appearing in non-inverted library.
  
• Removed Stained Window from weapon summary list.
  
• Multiple navigation arrows fixes across the UI.
  
• Fixed a crash that could happen when the Gorgeous Moon weapon was removed.
  
• Fixed issue with sprite generation which resulted in higher vertex counts causing gradient tinting to not work.
  
• Enabled missing gradient tint and corrected depth sorting of Mirage projectiles.
  
• Fixed issue where the username was not visible on the main menu.
  
• Fixed issue with equipment panel spacing.
  
• Fixed pause button alpha not matching original engine.
  
• Fixed potential crash related to equipment panel.
  
• Fixed issue with Gem physics offsets.
  
• Fixed item found particles spinning too quickly on high refresh rate monitors.
  
• Fixed Metaglio merging not showing in equipment panel.
  
• General improvements to formatting and alignment of items in the equipment panel.
  
• Fixed sprite sizing across all panels.
  
• Optimised tilemap loading.
  
• Fix for UI popups being on the wrong layer in some situations.
  
• Fixed avatar infernas weapon not showing in secrets page.
  
• Fixed a sorting order issue for cursors and their icons.
  
• Updated how toastie is spawned to closer match original engine, and to ensure it is hidden when leaving gameplay.
  
• Added switching of Syuuto's song during weapon evolution.
  
• Removed "RELEASE" from version number on main menu.
  
• Fixed Gallo Tower fog positioning to cover transparent borders in landscape.
  
• Fixed tiling backgrounds starting offset.
  
• Updated the default pitch of all SFX to better match the source.
  
• Fixed scroll bar speed across multiple UI pages.
  
• Updated incorrect Silent Sanctuary Arcana icon.
  
• Fixed crash on boot up with iOS platform under certain situations.
  
• Updated Level Up to fill out extra items when less than 3 are available and you are less than level 3.
  
• Fixed crash when certain trisection events triggered for a second time in the same run.
  
• Fixed resistances not showing properly in the bestiary.
  
• Fixed Orochimaro's neck graphic being displayed upside down.
  
• Fixed an issue where the weapon store may have no weapons left, only passives, and not grant you anything.
  
• Fixed Drowner water edges being visible when using transparent borders in gameplay.
  
• Fixed hidden weapons not being checked when activating some arcanas.
  
• Fixed an issue with Astral Stair spinning portraits moving too slowly.
  
• Updated collider on the boss mummy enemies.
  
• Fix for Tides of the Foscari evolutions not showing in the Grimoire by default prior to seeing/unlocking.
  
• Updated the spawn location of the Academy Badge to spawn on land in Lake Foscari.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Drowner is not dismissed in some scenarios.
  
• Tweak to enemy rotation to closer match the original engine.
  
• Fix for enemy wiggle not being processed accurately.
  
• Updated pixelated font rendering to improve clarity and performance.
  
• Fixed pivot points of enemies.
  
• Reduced weight of fallback font to bring other languages in-line with thickness of EN.
  
• Fixed some missing translations in Character Selection.
  
• Fixed a soft-lock when fighting Jen-Ne-Viv boss.
  
• Fixed missing translation for grimoire title.
  
• Added translations to trisection events.
  
• Fixed visual issue with Eleanor sprite position after Je-Ne-Viv boss transition.
  
• Fixed equipment stats moving down the screen randomly when opening certain UI pages.
  
• Fixed an issue with the 16:10 aspect masking during gameplay.
  
• Fixed an issue where the default language was always forcefully applied.
  
• Added missing Victory Sword check to Stalker and Drowner enemies.
  
• Optimised in-game stats panel.
  
• Fixes to back buttons to resolve various navigation issues.
  
• Fixed retaliation issue with Eskizzibur.
  
• Fixed the Drowner enemy in Boss Rash not spawning at the correct location.
  
• Clamped the players movement speed between min and max integer values to stop the game crashing under extreme speeds.
  
• Fixed issue with trisection event text overlapping gold fever.
  
• Improved the way that out of bounds pickups move towards players.
  
• Added option to disable moving background in Astral Stair.
  
• Fixed an issue where pickups were being despawned too quickly, meaning maps always showed them.
  
• Fixed an error when showing weapon evolutions for players who are maxed out.
  
• Fixed error where Cold Explosions were triggering on already dead targets.
  
• Fixed the usage of various incorrect sprites throughout the game.
  
• Updated the list of Red and Blue weapons.
  
• Fixed Ophion not despawning correctly which sometimes caused a crash.
  
• Fixed Drowner movement speeds and positioning (in particular when in Hyper mode)
  
• Fixed a situation where invalid stage data could cause a crash.
  
• Updated DLC Store button location on mobile.
  
• Fixed an issue where Sole Solution was not pausing.
  
• Fixed an issue where particle reformatting could cause a crash on the Level Up screen.
  
• Fixed various enemy spawning differences to better match the original engine.
  
• Fixed an issue with tiled enemy spawns not matching the original engine.
  
• Corrected gameplay zoom level to better match the original engine.
  
  
• Fixed a bug with the Delete Save Data option not appearing anymore.
  
• Added missing SFX for Summon Night and Echo Night
  
• Added missing SFX for Candybox opening
  
• Updated credits.
  
• Fix for revives triggering twice.
  
• Fixes for particle effect sizes and duration on Level Up and Arcana.
  
• Various small fixes for VFX at different aspect ratios.
  
• Pentagram flash now obeys Flashing VFX in the options.
  
• UI Pages can now be scrolled quickly using shoulder buttons on controllers.
  
• Fixed page up down in pages with non uniformly sized elements (e.g. options page), also fixed page up down not working at all in the ingame options page
  
• Fix for linux launch issues and missing steam overlay
  
• Fixed lingering images on screen sides after completing the yellow sign collection animation
  
• Improvements to Arcana selection navigation.
  
• Optimised Thunder Loop Projectile to reduce hitch after evolving.
  
• Fixed Gorgeous Moon display colors and alpha.
  
• Fix scroll snapping when using mouse on a tickbox after having scrolled
  
• Fix for secrets page using incorrect character texture (DLC only) for unlocks popup.
  
• Updated config for Rosary SFX.
  
• Fixed audio issue with vacuum.
  
• Fix for pickup vacuum behaviour differences.
  
• Fixing DLC enemies appearing in credits if you don't own DLC.
  
• Fixes for Luminaire's VFX.
  
• Fix for walking characters hiding too early during preloader.
  
• Fixed an issue with CherryStarsWeapon/Projectile not despawning its sprites and effects properly.
  
• Fixed an issue where the bone giant weapon was not being removed properly during special events.
  
• Weapon Selection: Header size adjustment.
  
• Stage Select: Tweaked font size/alignment.
  

• Updated button animations.
  
• Updated text animations.
  
• Updated revive animations.
  
• Updated timings.
  
• Improvements to pixelation effect on Game over.
  

• Updated buttons, VFX and hierarchy.
  
• Fixed item icon sizing.
  

• Ray scale tweaks.
  
• Great Jubilee weapon reveal is now above the fireworks.
  
• Updated positions, tweens and material of the rays.
  
• Now only updating fireworks once per trigger.
  

• Particles are now bigger and have a longer duration.
  
• Fixed item icon sizing.
  

• Corrected button alignment.
  
• Fixed item icon sizing.
  
• Fixed a layering issue with the scrollbar
  

• Updated button animations.
  
• Updated text animations.
  
• Updated revive animations.
  
• Updated timings.
  

• Button position tweaks.
  
• Ray scale tweaks.
  
• Fixes for tweens on exiting the panel.
  
• Various improvements to panel closing animation.
  
• Now only updating fireworks once per trigger.
  
• Updated positions, tweens and material of the rays.
  
• Improvements to burst effect timing.
  
• Starts off dark by default.
  
• Fixes for particles and spinning.
  

• Validated sizes of both arcana card selections.
  
• Card selection size adjustment.
  
• Arcana panel (on right) is now correct size.
  
• Info panel text sizing and alignment improved.
  
• Fixed card corner sizes.
  
• Fixes for skip button corners.
  
• Fixes for card selection corners.
  
• Various timing changes and improvements.
  
• Updated particles size and density.
  
• Get and Random buttons now have thicker borders.
  
• Unlocked count now displayed at the top.
  

• Arcana panels were the wrong size.
  
• Fixed scroll view in game options.
  

• Fixes to colour and transparency of divider.
  
• Improvements to list alignment.
  
• Navigation fixes.
  
• Fixes to text formatting.
  
• Fix for scroll when hovering.
  
• Fix for content fitting issues.
  
• Fixes for various special enemy entries.
  
• Basic bestiary enemies now correctly match the enemy size.
  

• Input button updated.
  
• Particle size and masking updated.
  
• Now scales the title out on click.
  
• Added page divider line.
  

• Fixed incorrect frames used for arcanas.
  
• Coin prizes now display correctly.
  
• Fixed broken language key on coin prizes.
  
• Fixed incorrect panel icons for unlocks.
  
• Corrected text sizing.
  
• Fixed navigation.
  
• Fix for scale of character rewards.
  
• Unlock, description and icons updated.
  
• Text available size and space updated to fix resizing.
  

• Aligned info panel text.
  
• Fixed powerup level slot being on by default.
  
• Fixes to item font size and color.
  

• Fixed bug with scale of price.
  
• Sizing updates.
  
• Tweaked ront size/alignment.
  

• Fixed Conga line visibility.
  
• Fixed navigation.
  

• Fix for collection item question mark size.
  
• Updated info panel icon sizing.
  

• Reduced delay on lvl 1 chest done button.
  
• Reduced delay on lvl 2 chest done button.
  
• Adjusted treasure chest ribbon length.
  
• Tweaked timings for treasure skips.
  
• New skip animations.
  
• New skip timings.
  
• Updated intro blast speed.
  
• Updated intro chest positioning.
  
• Updated intro chest animation.
  
• Fixed open button behaviour.
  
• Adjusted curved ribbon in lvl 3 chests.
  
• Adjusted far left and right reel sorting.
  
• Made bubbles fade in instead of appearing.
  
• Adjusted lvl 3 reel positions.
  
• Adjusted stars behind weapon reveal.
  
• Fixed the background circle shape, speed and alpha.
  
• Tweaked open and done button sizes.
  
• Separated arrows from open and done buttons.
  
• Open button now rotates out correctly.
  
• Adjusted fireworks sorting order.
  
• Changed flash and ring sorting order to be over the reels.
  
• Stopping background panel lighting up in lvl 1 chests.
  
• Updated order of lvl 2 chest wining patern.
  
• Moved fireworks behind chests.
  
• Made coin countup scale in, not just appear.
  
• Adjusted flash scale and position.
  
• Adjusted position of lvl 2 reels and coin display.
  
• Changed when coin particles stop in lvl 1 & 2 chests.
  
• Adjusted ring scale amount.
  
• Changed layer of coin value.
  
• Updated anim to scale out the coin value.
  
• The "done" button now rotates in instead of appearing.
  
• Added delay to coin value pulsing.
  
• Added delay to "done" button.
  
• Changed position of coin value.
  
• Changed timing to ring scaling down.
  
• Updated info panel icon sizing.
  

We are currently super busy finishing the co-op update (coming 17th August!) but weve got a whole bunch of smaller Vampire Survivors updates we wanted to share with you, including Steam Community Items (out today), more info about the local co-op mode (including the first gameplay video), and some info about fully switching to our new engine. Also, our first ever community event will be taking place in London next month, where attendees can try the co-op mode before launch. Lets dive in!

Steam Community Items (Trading Cards etc) out today
While you wait for the co-op update we thought we would hit the generate Steam Trading card and other Steam things button in our game development software, so here they are!

From today you can finally unlock the following to bolster your Steam profile:

5 Trading Cards
6 Badges
5 Emoticons
3 Profile Backgrounds

If you are not familiar with Steam Community Items, then you can read how to unlock them here.

Did you know that if you click on a Steam card in your inventory, you get to see the larger picture the snapshot comes from? Because of this, we had a lot of fun making the cards, so I hope you enjoy them too! (Spoiler: If you look really really closely you might spot a super subtle video game reference or two in them).
Here's a sneak peak at one of the large cards:


(please note that due to some rules we had to remove the text from the official cards. Since the artists have spent quite some time on the text versions, we will be publishing them in the Artworks section on Steam in the following weeks)

We'll be looking into making new items in the future, like the animated point shop items, this is just the first step!

First co-op mode gameplay video + new info
We are also getting a lot of questions about how the local co-op mode will work gameplay-wise, and that reminded us of the old saying a first gameplay video is worth a thousand words.

[previewyoutube=AcIaLGwpp2o;full][/previewyoutube]

It should answer a lot of questions like how levelling up, moving as a group, destroying friendships etc works. The video shows a pretty advanced build of the new mode but we are still tweaking details and balancing it so what you see here is still work in progress. For example...



There will also be a new item in co-op mode that we havent shown before. Its an ancient, almighty artefact called The Friendship Amulet.

This item can appear on the level-up screen and will level-up a random active weapon for each player. Players will have to decide if they tactically (or selfishly) pick a level-up for a weapon of their choice or give the whole group a round of random level-up.
(don't worry about the Friendship Amulet poking a hole in your Collection, it is shown in there from the beginning since it's more a game mechanic rather than an item you pick up)

We are also trying to pack as many options as possible by the next release to customise the co-op experience:


If you got feedback about the footage, of course let us know in the comments here. On that note: Weve already heard a lot of players asking for an online mode, but that's an order of magnitude or two more complicated to make right now. Maybe we'll look into it when we have more time. Or maybe we are already?


Fully switching to new engine
As you may know, we have been running Vampire Survivors in parallel on its original engine Phaser and its new engine (that we needed for porting and better stability) for a while on Steam. Now that we are close to a point where the new engine is thoroughly tested and runs better than the old one, we will fully switch the game over to the new engine on 17th August.

On this note, big thanks to Phaser! I had a lot of fun building Vampire Survivors in it and can highly recommend it if you are interested in making wild games pretty fast!

Co-op hands-on event in London


We are hosting our first ever community event, in real life!

Its a hands-on event where you can try out a preview of the local co-op mode with friends (if you dont have friends then we can provide some in this case, its a much requested feature). The co-op event will be taking place in early August, London (UK). Were hoping to get some player feedback on how people like the co-op mode in the wild.

So you can expect playing the co-op mode, free stuff, and surprising snacks. Tickets will be free but limited. We will announce more details on how to apply for tickets on our usual Discord, and then Twitter, Threads, TikTok, and any other social media platform that dies and arises in the meantime.

Thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed both the artworks of the marketing team and mine!
- Luca

Today is a very special day in Vampire Survivors history, as we can finally confirm that one of the most requested community features is coming to the game: We are adding Vampires! Just kidding.

But we are adding a couch co-op mode for up to 4 players!

Couch co-op

[previewyoutube=-j2budq0Qpo;full][/previewyoutube]

The couch co-op mode will be released on August 17 with a free update that will let you play the whole game, including all updates and DLCs, with friends (or foes). In couch co-op mode, you can either continue your current game or start a new adventure. It will also be possible to seamlessly switch between single and co-op play between stages, unlock achievements, etc. In short: you will be able to play the whole game in local co-op!
And yes, this will also work on Steam Deck if you sit together close enough (or connect it to a TV).

We hope you will enjoy the co-op mode as much as we did when playtesting and making it. It already tested multiple friendships in the poncle team your friendships could be next. <3

Vampire Survivors is coming to Nintendo Switch!
After searching for many months, we finally found the "port to Nintendo Switch" button in our game engine! We'll press it on August 17, not a day sooner.



For everyone who wants to know more details about how the co-op mode will work, weve also got some more info below. Since we will be on so many platforms, we have also started a newsletter where we will be sharing further announcements and info about the co-op mode in the next weeks, so if you want to receive them you can sign-up here.

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Couch Co-op mode FAQ

Why are you adding couch co-op to Vampire Survivors?
Because its fun (we hope!) and couch co-op is one of the most requested community features.

How much does the couch co-op update cost?
Nothing. The co-op update will be completely free.

When does the couch co-op update launch?
August 17, 2023.

How does the couch co-op update change the gameplay?
While we cant go into too many details here, we can already say that the gameplay stays largely the same (more chaos aside), though adding more players changes a few gameplay systems of course. For example, you will share the level up bar with the experience points with your friends and level up in turns, all players will always be visible on the same screen (so no splitscreen) and there will also be a few ways to sabotage each other: just, you know, pick Gatti Amari.

Can multiple people play on one keyboard on PC?
Unfortunately we hit some technical limitations, so for now you will need one controller input device (keyboard, controller etc.) per player.

With how many people can I play Vampire Survivors once the couch co-op update hits?
Up to 4 players in total in local couch co-op. Be the bullet hell with your besties! Or on your own by using 4 controllers at once! (jk please don't do that to yourself )

Can I also play co-op online?
Not officially! When the co-op update lands, it will allow local couch co-op for up to 4 players but does not support online play.
That being said, there are online gaming solutions like Steam Remote Play Together that work with every game, so you will be able to play online with those workarounds of course.

Is there only a couch co-op mode or can I also play against my friends?
There's no versus mode, but we're sure some of you will find a way or two to test how good your friendships are in the co-op.

Will there be specific couch co-op multiplayer levels?
Nope! We designed the co-op mode in a way that you can play through all of Vampire Survivors with friends, but there wont be co-op specific levels.

Will there be couch co-op focused achievements?
Also nope! We dont want anyone to feel like they HAVE to play co-op to unlock and see everything in the game. You will be able to play the whole of Vampire Survivors with friends, foes or your favourite creatures of the night but its fully optional.

Can I also play the DLCs in couch co-op?
Of course! As long as you own a DLC you will be able to play it in local co-op.

Do I need to start from the beginning to play the couch co-op?
You can seamlessly switch between co-op and single player before every run. No need to start a new game, and all the unlocks you get during a co-op play session will carry over to your singleplayer save.

Can I select the same character as my friends? We all want to play as Poe!
Multiple Poes would tip the balance of the universe, so for now every character can only be selected by one player per run.

Will there be future single-player updates for the game?
Yes! We will continue to support the game with free updates and paid DLCs, but moving forward you will be able to play everything solo (as usual) or in co-op if you prefer.

Beta when?
If you're on the new-engine branch, you'll be able to test couch co-op some time before the official release, but we don't have a specific date for that yet.

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MORE Co-op FAQs!

Local co-op also on MOBILE?
Yes, if you connect bluetooth controllers to your mobile device you can play together, but in landscape only. Good luck!

Does the update include friends and a couch?
No, as unfortunately we're unable to provide physical goods and people... Or are we?

You might have seen that we announced the new patch v1.5 in the PC Gaming Show yesterday (SURPRISE!) and it's out now (not a surprise but hope you will enjoy it)!

Expect overwhelming chaos in the beginning even more than usual! The new patch comes with the new Astral Stair level, featuring flying paintings, the new GoldFinger pick-up (destroy a lot of enemies fast and win prizes!), a gameshow-like spinning wheel that triggers random events, half-a new character, a new game mode, relics, achievements and more.

Here is a short overview of the patch content and below you can find the Full Spoiler section if you want to see everything that is in v1.5.


v1.5 Contains:
- 6 new achievements (2 from the DLCs)
- 1 new challenge stage
- 3 new relics to get a new game mode, a new character transformation, and a map
- 1 new pickup that triggers a short special event

Quick content walkthrough:
- Reach Level 80 in Inverse Inlaid Library to unlock Astral Stair
- In Astral Stair, find the Chaos Rosalia to unlock the morph ability for Yatta Cavallo
- In Astral Stair, find the Trisection to unlock the Random Events option in Stage Selection
- Find the Map of Astral Stair, Mt.Moonspell (DLC), and Lake Foscari (DLC) in the respective stages

[previewyoutube=sIQv7sWPBu0;full][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube=qKZJ3m37giQ;full][/previewyoutube]

Full spoilers:

Stage: Astral Stair
Has an intro cutscene (auto-skipped after all relics in the stage have been obtained).
Initially, it looks like the usual infinitely repeating stages, but it's actually a single giant map. It's confusing to navigate until you discover it actually has a very simple layout.
Players can use teleporters to move through different rooms.
Has enemies that follow the beat of the music and turn either red or blue. They can be damaged only by weapons of the same colour they're currently "wearing".
Has special boss enemies, Cosmic Eggs, which can cast the same Infinite Corridor ability the player can normally obtain. It halves the player's health at every cast, making it potentially dangerous even to characters with crazy bonuses.

Relic: Map of Astral Stair
Surprisingly, this is a map of Astral Stair.

Relic: Trisection
Unlocks a new game mode called Randomize Minute Events. In this mode, there are spinning wheels that can be seen in the bottom right corner of the screen. They triggers special events every minute; whether theyre good or bad depends on the character's Luck stat. Good luck!

This option is always enabled by default in the new stage Astral Stair (until you pick up the Trisection relic), but with the relic you can have the mode switched on or off for every stage.

Please note: This mode is not compatible with the PC Twitch mode (since it's doing the same thing as the Twitch mode, without needing a chat).

Relic: Chaos Rosalia
Allows the character Yatta Cavallo to morph when reaching Level 80. It gets a few minor stats boost and evolves its Cherry Bomb weapon into Yatta Daikarin.

The weapon evolution still throws bombs, but also draws "constellations" around the character that explode, dealing luck-based damage.

Pickup: GoldFinger
A new pickup that triggers a special event in which the character becomes invincible and more powerful for a set amount of time. During this time, a counter is displayed to show how many enemies are getting defeated in the invincibility period.
When the invincibility ends, the player is given a score and a prize.

Current tresholds and prizes:

Bronze: 0
Silver: 500 + Player Level
Gold: 1000 + Player Level x2
Demon: 1500 + Player Level x3
Cosmic: 2500 + Player Level x4

Bronze: healing + bouncy weapon if the players has less than 6 total items
Silver: coins + healing + Little Clover + random pickup between Gilded Clover, NFT, or Rosary.
Gold: coins + floor chicken + treasure chest (no evo)
Demon: coins + treasure chest (with evos)
Cosmic: coins + treasure chest (with evos) + random weapon

Possible Cosmic Finger weapons: Greatest Jubilee, Torrona's Box, or Victory Sword,
+ Candybox if the player has less than 6 weapons
+ "anima weapon" (???) if the player has less than 7 weapons and doesn't already have an anima weapon


After finding the Trisection, the GoldFinger has a very slim chance to be dropped in most stages.

new engine tweaks and fixes:
- doubled projectile pool limit
- La Borra projectiles getting stuck
- music volume resetting after getting changed

New Patch Content

• [DLC] New relics: Map of Mt.Moonspell and Map of Lake Foscari
  Found in the respective DLC stages, they let you see a detailed map in the pause menu.
  
  
• Option to Seal the Chaos Malachite relic
  Prevents Mortaccio from morphing when he reaches LV80
  
  
• Option to easily reset Save Data
  Its now easier to reset your Save Data but it is strongly recommended to backup your Save Data before resetting.
  
  - Delete save data in main game: go to Options, press CTRL+F2, seven times in a row
  - Delete save data in new-engine: go to Options, tap the Account icon seven times, then click Delete Save and confirm through all the pop-ups
  
  To find out how to backup your save game, please follow the guide here.
  

• fixed Song of Mana disappearing when entering the mirror in Gallo Tower.
  
• fixed picked up golden eggs not disappearing from the map screen sometimes
  
• fixed Abyss Foscari wall position when setting visually inverted option to false
  
• tentative fix for white screen on starting up the game (switching to the new-engine branch is recommended to avoid this issue altogether, it's one of the many reasons we're moving to the new engine)
  

• the branch is now public and easily accessible from the list of Betas in the Steam client
  
• Fix for Ophion and Prismatic Missile not working as expected
  
• Fix for weapons not properly affected by Arcanas: Tri-Bracelet, Valkyrie Turner, Luminaire
  
• Fix for Silver Wind not giving hearts
  
• Fix for camera issues during events
  
• Fix for level up evo indicators not showing on passives for DLC weapons
  
• Fix for Abyss Foscari wall position when setting visually inverted option to false
  
• Fix for bestiary missing entries in the total count display in some scenarios
  
• Fix for issue where pick-up weapons could not be leveled up
  
• Fix for incorrect projectile pool limits
  
• Improvements to DLC loading and memory management (mostly affects mobile version)
  
• Text, localisation, and number formatting fixes
  
• Other minor bugfixes and improvements
  

Small patch coming in May
Now that the second DLC Tides of the Foscari is out (big thanks to everyone who played it and gave us feedback!), we wanted to give an update on what free patches and updates we are working on and some other news!

The first part is that we are working on a smaller patch that should launch in May (will have smaller additions and fixes, like a more detailed map for DLC stages) and we are also working on our next bigger patch, v1.5, which will be similar in size to the Bat Country update (new stage, relics etc.).
While we dont have a firm date for this v1.5 patch yet, we are aiming for sometime this summer to give the team a bit more time after the busy DLC launch period. As always, we will try something a bit different with this patch!


Animated show coming!



The other Vampire Survivors news we wanted to share is that we are working on an animated series! If you had told me this a year ago, I wouldn't have believed you. I still don't believe you, but it's actually happening.

Because we're a small company and barely have any idea about how to make games, not to mention TV shows, we are partnering up with a company called Story Kitchen (their team includes Derek Kolstad, who is the writer/creator of John Wick, and Dmitri M. Johnson, who produced the Sonic films) to make the Vampire Survivors show.

As we all know, the most important thing in Vampire Survivors has always been the story, so we are very excited for this and we hope you are too! Its still early days for the show, but I can already say that we will be involved so that we can ensure it doesnt have any vampires (probably) and they will only cast the finest garlic (will work with the worlds best garlic producers).
Thanks to everyone who's been asking for this since the Moonspell trailer: sometimes bombarding the socials with requests actually works! :)

More info on Deadline.com

As always, thanks so much for playing Vampire Survivors and sticking with us!
Luca

New Patch Content
- 1 new batch for the Seal powerup, tied to an achievement
- 4 new music tracks that I won't spoil, but are very likely what you've been asking for very recently!

Tweaks
- changed sound effect of the Night Sword
- optional: new engine on beta branch

As anticipated previously, this patch is minuscule because we had to slow down more than expected on standard content due to all the changes required to bring the new engine on PC, but we have new content planned to release over the next few weeks of course!
In the meantime, the new engine is now available in private beta for everyone who wants to try it early. We'll only fully swap over to it once we've ironed out all the differences with the base version of the game. You can read more about the new engine, and how to enter the beta, on the Discord or here: ( https://steamcommunity.com/app/1794680/discussions/3/5769714637082190371/ )


Tides of the Foscari DLC out today

Content:
- 1 new large stage, with different enemies spawning in different zones
- 8 new characters
- 13 new weapons and evolutions
- 7 new music tracks
- 21 new achievements, but some are... weird? Please follow the in-game list of Unlocks to uncover them all

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2313550/Vampire_Survivors_Tides_of_the_Foscari/

[previewyoutube=iC4O-_kG11s;full][yt][/previewyoutube]







How to start the DLC?
The new stage, Lake Foscari, will appear right away at the bottom of the Stage Selection menu. You'll see new entries in the Unlocks menu to guide you through the rest of the content.
Can't see the new stage or weird stuff happens? Check on the main menu if the main game is at least on version 1.4.100. If not, quit the game and reboot Steam to trigger the download for the game update!

What if I want everything unlocked from the start?
There are Secret Spells you can use to unlock content quickly

There is no DLC when I start the game
Please make sure you're on game version 1.4, as older versions won't detect the content pack. Closing and reopening Steam to trigger an update should do the trick! Make sure the DLC is installed by right-clicking the game title, choosing Properties > DLC, and checking that it is active.

Will the main game keep receiving free updates and content?
Yes, DLCs will always be purely extra content in terms of Stages, Monsters, Weapons, Characters etc.
Items, Power-ups, game mechanics and more will continue to be added to the base game, so if you don't pick up the DLC you don't have to fear missing out.
We'll keep having free updates like the Tiny Bridge and Bat Country ones for example.

Is there an evolution for Party Popper?
No, it's supposed to be a joke weapon (I mean, more of a joke than the average weapon) for a joke character. Who knows what might happen in the future though...

Will the new music tracks be available in the Soundtrack?
Yes! The OST will be updated in the following days with all the new tracks. Even *those* ones.

Does the DLC have achievements?
Yes, I apologise to players who cares a lot about not losing their 100% achievement completion and I can say that we're working on something, but rather complicated and for the longer term, that should help with this issue among other things.
In the meantime, Achievement completion will not be prioritised over what's always been in the nature of the game: achievements tied to unlocks.

Is the DLC available on other platforms?
Yes, we're trying to launch around the same time on all platforms.

Why only $1.99?
Just like for the first DLC, the community is as usual very kind and we still get a lot of this type of comments, some intended just as a compliment, some are actually serious. While I'm very grateful for the sentiment, just like for the main game, the DLC has a price that "feels right" to me and that reflects the production value of it.

We've been growing as a company and have been pushing where we can, for example with having an actual orchestra to perform some pieces for the Foscari soundtrack, but poncle needs more time (and still more key people!) to be able to provide a higher production value. For this DLC I once again had to fill gaps by using asset packs for example, so a low price, and frequent discounts, simply seem fair.
We'll charge more for new stuff when we'll have something even better to offer, don't worry and thank you once again!

Is VS going to turn into a DLC fest?
We don't know and that is an option: what we do in terms of business decisions depends a lot on player feedback and on what we'd like to see as players ourselves. Personally, being able to pay a small fee to get more straightforward content for a game I'm really into sounds great ( ages ago I literally had dreams about spending 5 to buy a disk that would add 1 more stage to Valkyrie Profile ).
If DLCs are sustainable and are welcomed, why not make them?
While this kind of stuff is often associated with unfair business practices, that is often a byproduct of having games designed around monetization systems. What we're doing goes the other way around: we make things, then use the monetization tool and price tag that seems most appropriate to distribute them. Sometimes we have to charge, sometimes we can do it even for free!

As announced some time back, we'll be done with VS for real only once I - or you - get tired of it.

Hope you have fun with the DLC, and if not, please send us some feedback, we don't have time to always reply but we read and assimilate everyting, thank you!
- Luca

A never heard before tale of a warrior, a mage, and a thief venturing into a forest.

Tides of the Foscari will be the second DLC expansion for Vampire Survivors, introducing another huge stage as well as a slate of new characters, monsters and weapons to play with. And of course, secrets may be lurking in the shadowed canopies of the deep forest But as always we can neither confirm nor deny the presence of vampires.

Nestled deep within a continent-sized forest is Foscari Academy, a school where the elite of the world train their children for careers as powerful wizards, indefatigable generals, and expert spies. The Academy is divided into three houses, a premise hitherto untouched in all of fantasy fiction. Three students, one from each house, brave the journey into a forest stuffed with mythological creatures, all to have a jolly adventure, with absolutely nothing interrupting the whimsy. This is all mind-blowingly original stuff, we know, but it only gets better folks.


Vampire Survivors: Tides of the Foscari will contain:

• 8 allegedly never seen before characters.
  
• 13 new weapons between base versions and evolutions. Including the sword, the arrow, and the magic
  
• 1 large stage: a forest called Lake.
  
• 7 brand new music tracks.
  
• 21 achievements.
  

Contains:
- 3 new achievements
- 1 new challenge stage
- 2 new relics to get a new PowerUp and something special

Quick content walkthrough:
- Reach Level 80 in Inverse Mad Forest: Unlocks Bat Country
- Find the Apoplexy relic at minute 09:00 in Bat Country: Unlocks Charm Power Up
- Find the Chaos Malachite relic at minute 18:00 in Bat Country: Unlocks morph ability for Mortaccio

Tweaks:
- Items not necessary for the Queen Sigma unlock have a yellowish background color in Collection
- If you have at least 1M gold, the Eggman appears in Moongolow
- The game should remember the skins you've been using for each character
- "spoopyseason" spell should permanently unlock new skins for Mortaccio, Yatta Cavallo, Bianca Ramba, and O'Sole Meeo
- Added a team member to the credits (hi everyone!)

[previewyoutube=a9REb2CEzV0;full][/previewyoutube][previewyoutube=SGduhATDNl4;full][/previewyoutube]

Full spoilers:

Bat Country
New challenge stage!
- trippy
- contains the 2 relics needed to unlock the Charm power up and Mortaccio's morph ability
- very low XP gain, but high enemy density
- not many light sources, but items can be dropped by diamonds
- please remember that in stages where the background moves, there in an option to disable such movement
- pizzas appear on new runs after getting both relics. They simply allow to change the background and have no other effect



Apoplexy relic: unlocks Charm PowerUp. It increases enemies spawn quantity, for each single wave, by 20 per rank (max +100).


Chaos Malachite Relic
When reaching Level 80, Mortaccio morphs into a big bone boy and his Bone weapon evolves into Anima of Mortaccio
- He gains +2 Armor, +1 Amount, and +100 MaxHP. He fully recovers HP.
- Anima of Mortaccio fires bones just like the base Bone weapon, but the bones accelerate after every bounce. Big spinning arms appear around the player. Sometimes they detach and start flying around, dealing base damage times Amount. It's currently obtainable only by morphing Mortaccio.

We're at the start of 2023!

It's certainly been a wild ride, and we have to thank all of you for your comments, quotes, messages, fan art, Steam reviews, and, naturally, attempting to find the supernatural at all given opportunities. We've watched you 100% the game (multiple times, sorry!), create wonderful monster-slaying builds, get us into the Steam Awards, and generally have a slaying good time.

As always, we are incredibly thankful for the community that has built up around Vampire Survivors.

We thought we'd do a longer post here and cover a bunch of topics we'd like to talk about, from the base game all the way through to the future. There's a lot to cover, so we hope you enjoy!




Thank you from everyone at poncle!
It's been a little over one year since VS released in Early Access on Steam, and the reception has been absolutely mindblowing. Thanks to all the players, my 2022 has been incredible, I went from working on VS over the weekends to working on VS 24/7 and starting a company, somehow. This company is poncle of course and I'm very grateful I got the privilege to work with the people I've always wanted to work with. And then there's the marketing team.

It's been surreal to appear on multiple 2022 GOTY lists, topping a few, and getting an actual, physical, very heavy, Golden Joystick Award too!
Most people in poncle play games, but have been working in industries only adjacent to gaming before, so everyone is hyped and happy for working on a game liked by so many people on so many platforms.
So thank you all once again, and we wish you an incredible new year like the one you gifted us


Version 1.0 on all platforms
Initially planned for "whenever, maybe end of next year", then secretly "early March", and then totally "in the summer", after more than doubling the content originally planned for the base game, in October we finally managed to wrap up v1.0 of VS.
That was the easy part though, as most of poncle had been working in parallel on an engine port of VS to allow us to reach more platforms ASAP. In Novemeber, we also managed to launch on Xbox and then on mobile in December, not to mention we got a DLC!
VS has also been the most played game on Steam Deck for the past 6 months or so, which makes the Deck another very important platform to take into account every time we add something.
What about other platforms? We all hear you and I know exactly what you want, but honestly, I don't think that putting VS on Teslas would be a good idea.


Mobile version
Soon after the initial success of VS, I started to look for a business partner to work on a mobile version of the game. Unfortunately, nobody I spoke with was on board with the monetization I had in mind for the platform: non-predatory. Months passed by and a large number of actual clones - not "games like Vampire Survivors", but actual 1:1 copies with stolen code, assets, data, progression - started to appear everywhere.
This forced our hand to release the mobile game ASAP, and put a lot of stress on the dev team that wasn't even supposed to worry about mobile in the first place.
Because of that we still have several features that we have to implement or polish on mobile, the most important one being Cloud Saves and Save Transfer (potentially Save Merging too!), but since we're still without a backend/full stack engineer, this might end up taking longer than expected.

If you're like me, then if you wanted VS on mobile you'd have beeen happy to just pay a couple of bucks for it and call it a day; but the mobile market doesn't work like that and by making VS a paid app I'd have cut out completely a lot of new players from even trying the game.
This is why we ended up with a free-for-real approach, where monetization is minimal and is designed to never interrupt your game, always be optional and in your control trough a couple of "watch ads" buttons, and doesn't have any of that real money sinks that mobile cashgrabs are usually designed around. It's just the full game, playable offline, in landscape or portrait, with touch controls or with a gamepad.

With both iOS and Android versions currently sitting at an average 4.8rating and a crazy amount of organic downloads got exclusively thanks to word of mouth and a silly trailer we got given the chance to air during the prestigious Game Adverts, I think we're on the right track with monetization, but we still don't know how to distribute the Legacy of the Moonspell DLC on mobile.
The problems we're facing are the same mentioned above: how do we make it fair, but also accessible to players who are only into free games. We'll figure something out and publish the DLC asap!

We're still working on bug fixes for mobile, but are having trouble finding some specific devices to recreate some of the niche but worse bugs (like invisible enemies wtf) so I'm sorry it's taking longer than usual to fix them, but we're working on it and have been scouting even the dodgiest possible places to find the devices we need.


Where's the new engine?
On console and mobile!
Because of everything I said in the previous paragraph, we didn't have time to offer the new engine also on PC before the end of the year. It's not straightforward as we need to develop a little launcher first, that will allow you to choose what game version to launch and with what options. This might be particularly challenging on Steam Deck and we'll be working on it in early 2023.
There's still plenty of things that have to be ported 1:1 (Valkyrie Turner's VFX come ot mind just to make a quick example) but we're planning to keep supporting the current JS version for quite a bit, until at some point next year, when we'll just swap to the new engine altogether, as maintaining both versions of the game will mostly be a waste of time once they're unrecognizable from one another.

Our first version of the new engine was literally 10 times more performing than the current one, but the game physics behaved in a very realistic way compared to the arcade-y nature of the original, so during the summer we started over and focused on fidelity rather than performance.
So, while the gain in performance is not as significant as x10 anymore, we're still getting overall better performance, improved hardware compatibility, and more options.


DLC and updates
During the summer we started to talk about DLC internally and I would usually go for "4 characters, 8 weapons, and 1 simple stage", only to end up with our first DLC having double the characters (starting to see a pattern here?), 13 weapons, and 1 stage that is all but simple compared to the others.
I was absolutely terrified to launch it since it wass the first completely new thing we put up for sale, but once again reception was mindblowing and we got flooded by positive feedback, so thank you once again for making it a success!

We also had a hype trailer for the DLC where we wanted the animated sequence to be a surprise for the fans, so, to great horror of the marketing team, we put it at the end rather than the start of the footage, hope you've enjoyed it!

If you like this kind of content packs, then there will be more coming. Please remember that DLCs will only ever add more characters/weapons/stages and that the main game will keep getting updated regularly with main game mechanics and content (think Tiny Bridge-style patches) so that no key-feature will ever be gatekept by a paywall.

Since the last few months were mental with v1.0, Xbox, mobile, and the DLC, please expect patches to be released at a slower pace compared to 2022, as we have to swap to a more sustainable release pipeline and also coordinate patches between a lot of platforms, not to say that, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, we now have 2 different versions of the game to maintain.


What's next?
There's a lot of stuff, not exclusively related to Vampire Survivors, getting made behind the scenes in poncle
There's something weird and big (in terms of pixels) coming soon to the Steam public-beta, and since the Legacy of the Moonspell DLC has been a success, The Directer will soon offer to take the survivors to yet another world in search for the vampire... Do you have any suggestions where to try next? The ride only ends when you decide to get off! Or we find a vampire I guess.


Thank you all once again and see you in the next run!

- Luca & poncle (including the marketing team)

Fangs to our incredible community (AKA you!!) Vampire Survivors has been nominated for Best Game On The Go at the Steam Awards. Everyone here at Survivors HQ would like to send out a huge thank you to those who helped us get the nomination.

It would be a huge honor and also quite funny if we won the top prize, so please consider choosing us the polls are open now!

Its been a real rollercoaster ride since we launched into Early Access, and we reckon a Steam award would be the perfect way to cap off this wild year. If this game has helped you Survive the last 12 months, wed love to have your vote. Please tell your friends, family and local creatures of the night to vote as well.

Okay, enough from us for now. As always, we thank you
Team poncle

New Content
- 1 new very important skin for Peppino

Tweaks
- added option to toggle maxed power ups
- when treasure chests are skippable, coin-only treasure chests will now just play a quick in-game animation
- treasure chests containing Arcanas have a different colour
- fix for overall kill count breaking on modded/corrupted saves
- fixed infinitely bouncing Carrello
- minor fixes in bestiary
- removed Floor Chicken requirement for Marrabbio
- fixed non-looping music tracks: Castle People and I'm Every Reaper
- added support for DLC
- coffins will now spawn on maps even if you don't have the Milky Way Map
- pause menu map is now zoomed-in in Moongolow, The Bone Zone, and Mt.Moonspell


Legacy of the Moonspell DLC info
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2230760/Vampire_Survivors_Legacy_of_the_Moonspell/

Content:
- 1 new large stage, with different enemies spawning in different zones
- 8 new characters
- 13 new weapons and evolutions
- 6 new music tracks

[previewyoutube=c9xLGO9ujEk;full][/previewyoutube]

How to start the DLC?
If the Inlaid Library is unlocked, then the new stage will appear right away in the Stage Selection menu. You'll see 17 new entries in the Unlocks menu to guide you through the rest of the content.

What if I want everything unlocked from the start?
There are Secret Spells you can use to unlock the content quickly.

There is no DLC when I start the game
Please make sure you're on game version 1.2, as older versions won't detect the content pack. Closing and reopening Steam to trigger an update should do the trick!

Will the game keep receiving free updates and content?
Yes, DLCs will always be purely extra content in terms of Stages, Monsters, Weapons, Characters etc.
Items, Power-ups, game mechanics and more will continue to be added to the base game, so if you don't pick up the DLC you don't have to fear missing out.
We'll keep having free updates like the Tiny Bridge one for example.

Is there an evolution for 108 Bocce?
No, it's supposed to be a very straightforward weapon. Never say never though...

Will the new music tracks be available in the Soundtrack?
Yes! Please keep an eye on the devlog in Discord to know when the soundtrack will be updated, otherwise it might take a while before we get the chance to let people know through Steam News.

Does the DLC have achievements?
Yes, we keep having in-game unlocks tied to platform achievements. We asked for support and we tried to separate them somehow (even the hacky ways...) but there isn't a reliable way to do it at the moment. If we'll ever get the option to separate achievement lists in the future, rest assured we will!

Is the DLC available on other platforms?
Yes, but not on mobile yet, that will be something for ealy next year as we figure out how to make it available in a fair way.

Why only $1.99?
The community is as usual very kind and we get a lot of this type of comments, some intended just as a compliment, some are actually serious. While I'm very grateful for the sentiment, just like for the main game, the DLC has a price that "feels right" to me and that reflects the production value of it.

For the past few months and for the DLC, we had amazing artists like Glauber Kotaki and Pitavant for the new graphics, Daniele Zandara and his new bangers with live recordings, that little surprise in the DLC trailer, a whole company to sustain to be able to launch on all current platforms, and yet poncle still needs time (and key people!) to be able to provide a higher production value. For the DLC I still had to fill some gaps by using asset packs for example, so a low price, and frequent discounts, simply seem fair.
We'll charge more for new stuff when we'll have something even better to offer, don't worry and thank you once again!

Hope you have fun with the DLC, and if not, please send us some feedback, thank you!

Step into the light, Survivor.
Prepare to enter a new chapter in the Vampire Survivors story, as youre thrust into the world of Moonveil in Vampire Survivors: Legacy of the Moonspell.

The Moonspell clan has fallen, overrun by vicious oni and yokai that have torn through the lands like teeth through skin. In a haven of the living dead, the Survivors have caught wind that a vampire may be in these lands, and with the sun forever set there's never a better time to begin the hunt.

The oni and yokai arent the only thing that can be vicious however, as a group of new Survivors enters the fray armed to the (pointy?) teeth with new weapons and new evolutions to cut this evil down.





Vampire Survivors: Legacy Of The Moonspell contains:

• 8 never seen before characters
  
• A Brand new stage. Our biggest yet, filled with several environments which also feature unique monsters
  
• 13 powerful new weapons with Evolutions for you to discover
  
• 6 brand new music tracks
  

New Content
- 2 Extra Achievements
- 1 new Power Up
- 1 new Challenge Stage
- 1 new Secret

Tweaks
- Improved loading times of the pause menu

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1794680/view/3497637038420938234?l=english
[previewyoutube=21OLUQyn5UU;full][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube=mmkBxaOl83w;full][/previewyoutube]

New Unlocks info (spoilers?)

Tiny Bridge Challenge stage:
- Obtain by reaching Level 80 in Inverse Gallo Tower

Seal PowerUp:
- 10 ranks
- base price: 10.000
- Obtain by banishing 10 or more items in a single run.
- Allows to Banish an item from level up choices, or a pickup from light sources. Use in COLLECTION menu.

When Sealing a weapon, it will be automatically added to the list of banished weapons at the start of a run. When Sealing an item, the item will not be removed from the loot table, but will turn into a Gold Coin instead, which means this does not affect standard drop rates.

Were coming to the end of a crazy year here at Vampire Survivors HQ. A huge thank you once again to all the players who turned this little weekend project into an insane success. We owe it all to you, for real.

Today the annual Steam Awards nominations opened up the floor for fans to put their favourite games into the running. We think it would be really funny if we were named in one of the categories with our silly game. If you enjoyed Vampire Survivors and want to help out, please vote for us in the Best Game on the Go category (especially if you enjoyed the game on Steam Deck or your laptop). And if you happen to absolutely LOVE us on your desktop and havent taken us on an adventure with you, please consider nominating us in the Game of the Year category.

Please note that each player can only nominate us in one category. If youre not sure which to pick, please go for Best Game on the Go as we think thats where weve got the best shot!

Thank you so much. Keep on Vampire Surviving!

1.0.105 - fix for black screen in event stage
1.0.106 - fix for item descriptions on multiple lines, text update
1.0.107 - fix for the extra screen in the inverse library appearing too often
1.0.108 - lowered volume of Side B music tracks
1.0.109 - tentative fix for black screen in new event stage (please try to swap to your main graphic card if it still happens) , text update, Mirror/Trumpet achievement fix on starting up the game
1.0.110 - Steam data migration process updated
1.0.111 - fix for BGM selection getting locked when entering special menus, fix for Drowner not appearing in the bestiary, hidden some unlocks until they're actually obtainable
1.0.112
- Tweaked Twitch events
- Twitch level up countdown timer starts when the first messsage is received
- Fixed stage modifiers to work with the new system
- Fixed bounding box of a couple of characters
- Improved loading times of the pause menu (still WIP)
- Fixed double egg removal in final stage
1.0.113
- fixed fonts for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages
- fixed controller input in Stage Selection
- removed Orologions from certain boss fights
- fix for game crashing with certain modded or corrupted saves
- added Sketamari in Bestiary
- tentative fix to Golden Eggs memory leak
1.0.114
- added some silly spell codes including spoopyseason : activates alternative skins for Mortaccio, Yatta Cavallo, Bianca Ramba, O'Sole Meeo, and their starting weapons until the game is rebooted.

[previewyoutube=aS7JqyHdQQA;full][/previewyoutube]

New Content
- 3 achievements to fix existing unlocks:
Complete any 30 minutes stage with Gallo or Divano. [Unlocks: Bracelet]
Discover every standard evolution and union. [Unlocks: Candybox]
Evolve the Bracelet and then the Bi-Bracelet. [Unlocks: 500 gold]

- 4 new achievements:
Find all the relics from all stages. [Unlocks stage: Eudaimonia M.]
Obtain Gracia's Mirror. [Unlocks: Inverse Mode]
Obtain the Seventh Trumpet. [Unlocks: Endless Mode]
See the final fireworks. [Unlocks: Greatest Jubilee]

- 1 new event stage

- 1 new weapon

- New skins for: Pugnala, Giovanna, Poppea, Concetta, and Mask of the Red Death.

- New "Side B" soundtrack. Every Side B track unlocks together with the stage it belongs to.

- New option for "blast processed" sound effects.

- Added missing music tracks for Il Molise (and Boss Rash in 0.11.400)

- Added 11 languages: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.

- Added Twitch integration: the chat makes decisions for you and triggers special events. Enable in Options by typing in the chat's name, no need to login or doing anything weird.

INVERSE MODE
- Stages layout is upside down (can be disabled in Options) plus minor visual changes depending on stage.
- Gold gains are increased by 200%. Luck bonus of 20%.
- Enemies start with +200% Max Health.
- Enemies gain 5% Max Health every minute and and 1% movement speed every 2 minutes (cumulative with the Bone Zone enemy bonuses).
- The merchant also sells: Skip, Banish, and Reroll (can carry up to 20) and 1 extra Arcana.

ENDLESS MODE
- The Reaper won't spawn at the final minute.
- Reaching the final minute of a stage will make the enemy waves to restart from minute 0, completing a "cycle".
- Enemies gain 100% of their base Max Health per cycle.
- Enemies spawn frequency and amount is increased by 50% per cycle.
- Enemies deal 25% more damage per cycle. The player's max damage cap is diminished by 1 per cycle.
- The merchant respawns on every cycle and sells "+1 Revival" instead of Golden Eggs.


Achievement Tweaks:
- Reduced level requirements for character achievements (reach LV 100 is now LV80, reach LV99 is now reach LV50)
- Mindbender now unlocks at 50 COLLECTION items instead of 100


Tweaks:
- New UI to show what relics are available in each stage
- New UI to show what stages have been cleared for each character (plus option to turn it off)
- New UI option to lock the selection of a music track so it persists between runs
- Each rank in Banish and Reroll now grants 2 of them instead of 1.
- Picking up an Orologion also slows down Gold Fever decay by 50%
- Lightning Ring and Thunderloop are now affected by Arcana II - Twilight Requiem
- Bracelet is now affected by arcana XIV - Jail of Crystal. Bi-Bracelet is also affected by Arcana II - Twilight Requiem. Tri-Bracelet is also affected by Arcana XIX - Heart of Fire
- Reduced Sketamari's HP recovery when absorbing other skeletons.
- Increased XP gain in the early minutes of the Dairy Plant.
- Increased base gold amount in treasure chests.
- "Recovery" stat now also affects the potency of health recovery pickups.
- Arcana II - Twilight Requiem's explosions damage is now affected by Curse.
- "quick start" now becomes available after unlocking the 5 main stages.
- Capped all Limit break bonuses other than Might (this in particular is very open to suggestions in case it makes sense to increase some caps)


Quick walkthrough for players who already have everything from 0.11 and want all the new v1.0 content asap

1)On opening the game, you should automatically get the new Achievement "The Eudaimonia Machine". If not, make sure you're not missing any relic from 0.11, then enter and exit a run. The achievement will unlock a new event stage.
2)Enter the new stage "Eudaimonia M." and do stuff.
3)Enter and exit any stage while using the option you have unlocked in step 2.
4)Go back to "Eudaimonia M." and do stuff.
5)Enter and exit any stage while using the option you have unlocked in step 4.
6)Go back to "Eudaimonia M." and do stuff.


Twitch Mode Details

Currently requires a physical keyboard to be set up.

To enable Twitch mode, go to Options from the main menu, type your Twitch channel name in the text box and click the Twitch connect button.



From now on, level up decisions will be made by the Twitch chat by typing a number from 1 to 7, depending on the options available on the level up screen. Viewers will also be able to choose special commands like Reroll and Banish:


In the second half of every minute, the chat will also be able to vote on what special event will happen at the start of the next minute by typing a,b, or c. This vote is secret and the results are revealed only when the next minute ticks:


Playing in Hurry mode also allows the chat to trigger events every 30 seconds instead than every minute.
(It is not possible to change position of the Twitch Selection panel at this time, but suggestions are welcome)


No beta?
To avoid spoilers, the new content of v1.0 hasn't been through the usual public-beta process, so please feel free to highlight any problems, frustrations, or balancing issues about the new mechanics in the Discord or in the Steam forum so we can improve on those :)


What's next
Vampire Survivors started as a "simple gameplay base that I could use to have fun making content for over the weekends", and despite all the changes that happened over the past year, that original vision of a simple canvas at which to throw everything including the kitchen sink has never really changed. Well, that "over the weekends" turned into "in any waking hour", but the rest is still valid :)
For that reason we'll be done with VS for real only once I - or you - get tired of it.

We'll probably start developing something new in poncle, but support for VS will also carry on. As anticipated in the v1.0 announcement, well need to do some QOL improvements on niche mechanics like Eggs and Limit Break, plus finishing the engine port. But brand new features are also in the works

A huge thank you once again to all the players who turned this little weekend project into an insane success!

We're almost there! One last small update before v1.0 release day, with the new skin for Concetta Caciotta!


We have changed the Save Data system several times during development: VS seems to be very portable so people have been playing it on multiple devices, which is a situation that my initial naive approach to save data wasn't ready to handle.
If you want to be ready for v1.0, I'd suggest to launch the game right now, as it will already take care of migrating your save data to the latest version. If there are problems, please use Lucy's guide to save data recovery: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2847140637
If that's not enough, please drop us an email at support@poncle.net and we'll do our best.

I know the importance of preserving save data: my 100 hours Pokemon Blue save file has been overwritten by a friend 24 years ago. As you can see, I'm totally over it.


Yes, yes, there's another music track as usual, Side B of the Boss Rash!
[previewyoutube=HZZoljFtWr8;full][/previewyoutube]




Previous days:
Day 1: new relic Seventh Trumpet
Day 2: new skin Mask of the Red Death
Day 3: new Side B music Libro Inferno
Day 4: new skin Pugnala Provola
Day 5: UI improvements
Day 6: new Side B music Barely Staying Alive
Day 7: Vampire Survivors Original Soundtrack
Day 8: new relic Gracia's Mirror
Day 9: new skin Giovanna Grana
Day 10: new sound option Blast Processing
Day 11: new weapon Greatest Jubilee
Day 12: new skin Poppea Pecorina

We have a small update today with a new skin for Poppea Pecorina! Simple and clean!



In v1.0 the early game of the Dairy Plant will be more forgiving, as the difficulty got ramped up mostly to follow up on the community's requests back then, but ultimately it ended up being too much for most players. With all the options to add optional difficulty in v1.0, there is no need to have an overly stern Dairy Plant anymore.

Also here's the Side B theme for the Dairy Plant:
[previewyoutube=T6x9lrEvr-w;full][/previewyoutube]

Tomorrow we'll have another small announcement, I'll keep the changelog for v1.0 to be entirely revelaed for the 20th!



Previous days:
Day 1: new relic Seventh Trumpet
Day 2: new skin Mask of the Red Death
Day 3: new Side B music Libro Inferno
Day 4: new skin Pugnala Provola
Day 5: UI improvements
Day 6: new Side B music Barely Staying Alive
Day 7: Vampire Survivors Original Soundtrack
Day 8: new relic Gracia's Mirror
Day 9: new skin Giovanna Grana
Day 10: new sound option Blast Processing
Day 11: new weapon Greatest Jubilee

You know those pretty fireworks that pop when you open a coffin? Well, as per industry standard, we have entered a contract with the military and have now weaponised said fireworks, please enjoy!
(we have not entered a contract with the military)

New weapon Greatest Jubilee: has a chance to create light sources (brazier, candelabras etc.) when firing. Scales with all usual stats, but works best with Luck.

[previewyoutube=jaGXPyroWNI;full][/previewyoutube]

To unlock it all you have to do is go for one of the new achievements of v1.0, "See the final fireworks."




Previous days:
Day 1: new relic Seventh Trumpet
Day 2: new skin Mask of the Red Death
Day 3: new Side B music Libro Inferno
Day 4: new skin Pugnala Provola
Day 5: UI improvements
Day 6: new Side B music Barely Staying Alive
Day 7: Vampire Survivors Original Soundtrack
Day 8: new relic Gracia's Mirror
Day 9: new skin Giovanna Grana
Day 10: new sound option Blast Processing

Rolling out a change to the save data location/system to avoid surprises on launch day for v1.0

- Disabled Steam AUTO-Cloud. Steam Cloud is now implemented in-game.
This is to avoid synchronization issues that were showing the wrong save file the first time the latest version was booted up. The Save Data path has now been finalised and it's in the default Steam userdata folder.
When booting up the game in the new version for the first time, you'll see a line of text letting you know that the save data is being migrated.
The old backup systems are still in place in case anything goes wrong.

- Little QOL: 5 items treasure chests become skippable if you've played the game too much

"What if we do Side B, but for sound effects?"
And so the accurately named Blast Processing option was implemented.

There's no need to unlock it, from the get go you'll be able to toggle the option to get access to a few different sounds and jingles when playing the game! I won't spoil all of them, here's a few examples:

[previewyoutube=7L6crFZVGxA;full][/previewyoutube]

*doot not included

Tomorrow we'll have a look at a new weapon



Previous days:
Day 1: new relic Seventh Trumpet
Day 2: new skin Mask of the Red Death
Day 3: new Side B music Libro Inferno
Day 4: new skin Pugnala Provola
Day 5: UI improvements
Day 6: new Side B music Barely Staying Alive
Day 7: Vampire Survivors Original Soundtrack
Day 8: new relic Gracia's Mirror
Day 9: new skin Giovanna Grana

[SPOILERS]


We have a small update for Day 9, a new skin for Giovanna Grana!
Figured out how cats work yet? It's one of the big misteries of life.



We're also publishing on YT the Side B theme for The Bone Zone for a perfect little Halloween package:
[previewyoutube=hpv3k2mSoyM;full][/previewyoutube]






Previous days:
Day 1: new relic Seventh Trumpet
Day 2: new skin Mask of the Red Death
Day 3: new Side B music Libro Inferno
Day 4: new skin Pugnala Provola
Day 5: UI improvements
Day 6: new Side B music Barely Staying Alive
Day 7: Vampire Survivors Original Soundtrack]
Day 8: new relic Gracia's Mirror

[SPOILERS]


You've heard of the "Side B" music tracks, you've seen weird upside-down images and lines of text in the YT videos, and VS is lacking a proper reference to one of the p c ever to appear in a videogame, so you must have seen this one coming, right?
The new relic Gracia's Mirror will allow you to play Inverse Mode, where the stages are upside down!

It's not only a visual novelty though, as it also boosts Gold gains and Enemy Health by 200%
On top of that, enemies also grow stronger over time, making this a proper hard mode. This makes a place like the Inverted Bone Zone an absolute nightmare

To make up for the huge spike in difficulty, the merchant will have an expanded inventory and will be happy to sell you additional Skips, Banishes, Rerolls, and an extra ARCANA. Buying it will increase the maximum amount of Arcanas you can carry by one.




Since the merchant respawns at every cycle if you're playing Endless, mixing it with Inverse means that you can get an extra arcana per cycle, with no limits! (Well, 22 is the limit...)



If you find the stage inversion weary on the eyes, but want to keep the gameplay changes, there's an option to disable the visual inversion.



Previous days:
Day 1: new relic Seventh Trumpet
Day 2: new skin Mask of the Red Death
Day 3: new Side B music Libro Inferno
Day 4: new skin Pugnala Provola
Day 5: UI improvements
Day 6: new Side B music Barely Staying Alive
Day 7: Vampire Survivors Original Soundtrack

The Vampire Survivors Original Soundtrack is now available on Steam!
It currently contains 25 music tracks from the game and 8 jingles, including the Treasure Opening ones,
for a total of 33 MP3 files, at 320kpbp, from Daniele Zandara, Filippo Vicarelli, and William Davies.

If When we'll add new music to VS, we'll also add it to this OST.
For starters, 3 more tracks will be added once the game is fully released on October 20th
Lossless version will also be added.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2169090/Vampire_Survivors_Soundtrack

There is also a Game + Soundtrack bundle available with a 15% discount:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/28346/Vampire_Survivors_Soundtrack_Bundle/

Fancy another preview? Here's the Side B theme for the Mad Forest stage:
[previewyoutube=dxx6fvhf5Pc;full][/previewyoutube]

What's happening owoo?


Previous days:
Day 1: new relic Seventh Trumpet
Day 2: new skin Mask of the Red Death
Day 3: new Side B music Libro Inferno
Day 4: new skin Pugnala Provola
Day 5: UI improvements
Day 6: new Side B music Barely Staying Alive

[SPOILERS]



Day 6 reveal is another perfect vampire-hunting track, Moongolow Side B, from Filippo Vicarelli! Speaking of vampires, found any yet?

[previewyoutube=A1uuzHH6tMw;full][/previewyoutube]

A bit of trivia about Moon-go-low: during development, I had decided to scrap the "typical water stage" in favor of focusing on some special events, but by then Daniele had already been working on the theme for the water stage. Once he delivered, I found that theme so enthralling and inspiring that I just decided to bring back the stage and make it part of the sequence of special events, because when those synths in the second half kick in is just like stepping into another plane of existence.

Like the new tracks but getting tired of all the posts about music? Don't worry, we'll spice things up soon, that's just because we've been building up to tomorrow's reveal



Previous days:
Day 1: new relic Seventh Trumpet
Day 2: new skin Mask of the Red Death
Day 3: new Side B music Libro Inferno
Day 4: new skin Pugnala Provola
Day 5: UI improvements

[SPOILERS]


Today we're going to have a quick look at some UI and QOL improvemenets, starting from the Character Selection screen, where you'll finally be able to see what stages you have completed for each character:


The list is there only if you need an excuse to play more, if you find it annoying you'll also get the option to disable it altogether and forget it ever existed:


As you can see the Options menu now supports pagination, because we're expecting plenty of new options going forward. We'll reveal a couple of new ones in the following days


In the Stage Selection screen now you can easily see where you can find new relics. Finding all of them will be very important for unlocking the new content of v1.0!


Once you unlock the Magic Banger, you'll also get the option to lock your music selection, so that it will persist between runs:


On top of these there are some other minor tweaks, like explaining that you keep gold and unlocks when quitting, or that you can skip Treasure animations, including 5 item ones.



Previous days:
Day 1: new relic Seventh Trumpet
Day 2: new skin Mask of the Red Death
Day 3: new Side B music Libro Inferno
Day 4: new skin Pugnala Provola

[SPOILERS]


We have a small update for Day 4, a new seconday skin for B- Pugnala! For Pugnala Provola!

Why secondary though? That's because all the new sprites have been made to replace the generic ones from an asset pack, but a few characters, like Christine, Pugnala, or Concetta, had always been drawn from scratch instead, so there is no real need to substitute them.

All the old skins were static sprites that got tweaked and animated by Twiranux and can always be selected in game after unlocking the Mindbender, while all the new skins are from Glauber Kotaki



Since a lot of fans have been asking for it, we're also publishing the new Boss Rash theme by Daniele Zandara!

[previewyoutube=NRlvBEDpW7o;full][/previewyoutube]

On a totally unrelated note, on the 28th of October Bayo 3 will come out out so I'll finally have an excuse to take my first holiday of 2022
Anyway since VS will be on v1.0 on the 20th, I won't really have any work to do after that day, right? Right?





Previous days:
Day 1: new relic, Seventh Trumpet
Day 2: new skin, Mask of the Red Death
Day 3: new Side B music Libro Inferno

On Day 3 we're bringing back something from the past!
If you have been following the development of VS since the early days, then you probably know that the Inlaid Library used to have a different background music.

That track was a major inspiration for the development of the Library (eg. exploding enemies wouldn't exist without it) but we had to remove it when Music Selection was introduced in the game, with the promise that it will be back one day.

Since then, expert midi tamer FIlippo Vicarelli has produced a new arrangement of the track exclusively for VS, but on top of that he's also been producing "Side B" music tracks for all the main stages!

There will be at least 12 new music tracks in v1.0, not only from Filippo but also from the incredible Daniele Zandara who already gave us an insane amount of bangers so far!

The new tracks will be released on the YT channel as usual:
[previewyoutube=8Ks03M-dQgk;full][/previewyoutube]

I really like videogame music. There will be a lot more about it in the future, not necessarily bound to the advent calendar



Previous days:
Day 1: new relic, Seventh Trumpet
Day 2: new skin, Mask of the Red Death

[SPOILERS]


We have a small update for Day 2, the new default skin for Mask of The Red Death! Courtesy of the incredible Glauber Kotaki, who's been working with us on new sprites since the lovely Giant Enemy Crab



The old skin will still be selectable if you have unlocked the Mindbender. Also, this won't affect the aspect of the enemy Reaper.

[previewyoutube=Hd0euW2dt4g;full][/previewyoutube]



Previous days:
Day 1: new relic, Seventh Trumpet

[h3][SPOILERS][/h3]
Welcome to day 1 of our "advent calendar" for version 1.0 of the game!
Starting today we will be posting little teasers and spoilers about new content for v1.0 on Steam, the usual social channels, and Discord. We'll reveal something new every day. Sometimes just a little detail, sometimes something slightly bigger :)



Let's start the reveals with something big: a new relic, Seventh Trumpet !

A few people had already noticed there was something about it hidden in the old roadmap graphics, but what does it do?

It allows you to doot at The Reaper and send it away /j. It enables the Endless stage modifier, effectively allowing you to play any stage for as long as you want, without having to worry about The Reaper.
The enemy waves will start over from the first one, but enemies will also grow stronger and more resistant with each cycle.
Luckily, enemies aren't the only thing that will re-appear with each cycle, but the merchant too. What, it doesn't really help you say? Well... let's talk about that again in a few days :)


[previewyoutube=wQaXt4c5sjY;full][/previewyoutube]

[h3]What to expect from v1.0[/h3]
v1.0 will mark the completion of the main content for the game! The v1.0 update will land on 20th October.

Since the Roadmap has been completed with patch 0.11.3, all the content that will be added in v1.0 is a surprise and should hopefully offer a little something for everyone.

What I can reveal already is that there will also be minor tweaks in balancing items to try make them more useful, with Santa Water/La Borra being the only one candidate for a slight nerf, as they tend to surpass almost everything else by an order of magnitude with little to no effort.

There will be a handful of new achievements, and a couple of the existing achievements will receive different unlock conditions (you won't have to get them again, they'll stay unlocked if you've already got them).
This is because during EA the Moongolow/Cappella incident had to be split over different patches, breaking the natural Stage progression. That will be reviewed and streamlined like for the other achievements.

Save Data will of course be left intact. We had to go through several iterations in the past months to make sure things work between PC, Mac, and Steam Deck, but, if anything goes wrong, please always remember that there's a Data Recovery system in the Options menu!

The game will still run in Electron, so aside from the new content there won't be much else particularly relevant (more on this, and on the new engine, in the paragraphs below).


[h3]New official languages coming[/h3]
With 1.0 the game will officially support the following languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Korean, and Japanese!
You'll still be able to use custom language patches of course, but we won't be able to use fan-translations once the game is in 1.0. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the Public localisation sheet, and while some of your lines might be gone, your names will stay in the credits and in our hearts of course


[h3]New engine port[/h3]
The port to a new engine is still ongoing and we're aiming to release it by the end of the year. We're at the last pass at optimization and polish (plus adding the final bits of content that still have to be seen on the current version too). Once it's out, Save Data will carry over.

The goal of the new engine is to have the exact same game, with increased performance and compatibility for more machines, and like most new things in VS it will remain optional. So if you're happy with the current Electron version, nobody will force you to move to the new one :)

The major problems that the new engine will fix are:
- Work on machines that get the webGL not supported error, get a white screen of death, get a black screen with a sad face, or have the game installed on a non-standard path.
- Fix input issues or the game straight up crashing when multiple controllers are attached to the machine.
- Remapping input.
- Cloud Save conflicts due to non-useful files.
- Use more than 1 CPU core :) Let those FPS fly high
- Native support for Linux

What the new engine won't fix because it's a feature:
- Passing through walls


[h3]Post v1.0 support[/h3]
While the game might be content complete, Vampire Survivors doesn't end here and a lot more surprises are in the works. A LOT.
We're working on the new engine and will have the usual tweaks/bug fixes of course, but also in the past months there have been a few unscheduled, niche gameplay additions to VS, like Golden Eggs and Limit Breaks, that are used so much that they need some QOL improvements.
On top of this, there will be no public-beta for v1.0, so player feedback will be even more important than usual after release!


[h3]More info on v1.0[/h3]
We need plenty of time and focus to wrap up the content for v1.0, but starting from the 7th October we will also be posting little teasers and spoilers about it on the usual socials and Discord. We'll start exactly 14 days before release, by revealing something new every day. Sometimes just a little detail, sometimes something slightly bigger :)

1 new achievement: Reach Level 99 with Poe.
- the last Arcana: XXI - Blood Astronomia
- 1 new "weapon" : this is more like a minor gameplay feature
- 1 new SECRET

[previewyoutube=cnE7CIJwfVY;full][/previewyoutube]

Price increase on September 21st
As announced forever ago in the Early Access notes, the price of the game will go up slightly to reflect all the content and regular updates that were added during the games Early Access. The price will go up on September 21st, which is a bit before the release of v1.0
Why is it going up before the release of v1.0? To be frank, it's because otherwise I'd mess up the sales calendar for the rest of the year. I want to keep the option open to eventually enter some of the usual seasonal sales, and increasing the price on v1.0 launch day would mess up the timings, as price changes also comes with a temporary price freeze.

v1.0 Release Date & Information
Please keep an eye on the Steam news, in two weeks time I'll have accurate dates and everything in place to make an annoucement about v1.0! Can't wait to share more :)

Hello everyone, as many of you already know, patch 0.11.0 was the last major one before we started to wrap up all the content for v1.0

This means that for the next few weeks we'll be getting small updates with tweaks, bug fixes, and minor bits of content to complete the roadmap, We'll soon announce the release date for v1.0, but in the meantime here's what's in this new small patch!


Tweaks/Bugfixes:
- Unlockable option to choose a the Random character (check SECRETS menu).
- Option to skip the weapon selection from Candybox.
- Option to stop moving backgrounds (Moongolow, Cappella Magna).
- Option to cash-in immediately all remaining Revives when completing a stage.
- Added a few new sprites.
- New secondary skin for Christine.

- There's now a low, Luck-based chance that green coin bags from Treasure Chests could be substituted by a Candybox, if it has been unlocked.

- Fixed movement input resetting when leveling up/opening a treasure chest.
- Fixed a few errors around controllers (please know/remember that we won't be able to fix all controller issues until we complete the port to the new engine).
- Fixed birds firing timer at high cooldown.
- Fixed Gorgeous Moon breaking when firing too often due to Limit Break.
- Fixed Queen Sigma unlocking without having to exit and re-enter a run.
- Fixed NO FUTURE bouncing exlposions damage being considered retaliatory.

New Content
- 3 new Achievements
- 1 new Arcana: IX - Divine Bloodline
- 1 new Character: Queen Sigma
- 2 new weapons: Victory Sword and Sole Solution

Tweaks:
- More secret spells
- Added option to skip Arcana drafts

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2850644789
[previewyoutube=qyNFX9GFKZA;full][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube=D1JT8q2A_TI;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks from 0.10.109
- Added an on-screen keyboard in the new menu for gamepad and Steam Deck users
- Increased grace time between key presses to cast spells
- Fixed new theme of The Bone Zone not looping properly
- Slightly reduced movement speed of the Sketamari
- Added more spells, but they're SECRETS

[previewyoutube=D1JT8q2A_TI;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks
- Added an on-screen keyboard in the new menu for gamepad and Steam Deck users
- Increased grace time between key presses to cast spells
- Fixed new theme of The Bone Zone not looping properly
- Slightly reduced movement speed of the Sketamari
- Added more spells, but they're SECRETS

Roadmap at 0.10.109

New Content



Contains 2 new achievements and:
- 1 new Arcana
- incredible SECRETS

Extra (not present on the roadmap):
- 2 new characters
- 1 new relic

[previewyoutube=Bev04oQqjtY;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks:
- Added a new music track in The Bone Zone

- Arcana "I - Gemini" also affects Gatti Amari and its evolution and Nduja Fritta.
Unfortunately this also fixes the never ending Nduja glitch in the Dairy Plant :(

- Arcana "V - Chaos in the Dark Night" has changed to: "Overall projectile Speed continuously changes between -50% and +50% over 10 seconds. The character starts gaining +1% projectile Speed every level."

- Arcana "XVII - Lost & Found Painting" has changed to: "Overall Duration continuously changes between -50% and +50% over 10 seconds. The character starts gaining +1% Duration every level."

- Arcana "XVIII - Boogaloo of Illusions" has changed to: "Overall Area continuously changes between -25% and +25% over 10 seconds. The character starts gaining +1% Area every level."




Work in progress:
- On-screen keyboard for touch-screen and gamepad users
- More spells

New Content



Contains 4 new achievements and:
- new Challenge stage
- 2 new Arcanas

Important:
- Moved save data folder on Windows to a safer location to avoid Cloud conflicts and issues on Steam Deck. The save files will now be in %APPDATA%/Vampire_Survivors_Data.

Extra (not present on the roadmap):
- 1 new character: Gyorunton. Due to time constraints, this one won't be linked to the usual Unlocks/Achievements. The unlock conditions are "Survive 15 minutes in the new challenge stage, with 1 active weapon only"
- 1 new weapon: Bracelet

[previewyoutube=mm3P0_5rkZg;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks:
- Added a new music track when opening the Bestiary (can also be used as a standard in-game track )
- Added a cap to Duration for Limit Broken weapons
- Results screen now shows damage from special Arcanas

[previewyoutube=VBmDc5DN500;full][/previewyoutube]

Bugfixes:
- Option to hide damage numbers also affects recovery numbers
- Some projectiles standing still when there are no enemies
- Vento Sacro and Fuwalafuwaloo stop firing after getting a Duration bonus via Limit Break

Bugfixes
- Having only Pentagram when limit breaking shouldn't display a blank menu anymore
- Limit broken Gorgeous Moon is now affected by amount
- Prevented Pentagram and Gorgeous Moon to flash too quickly when leveled up rapidly
- Made it easeir to see the relic at the end of Stage 5
- Fixed some typos in Limit Breaks
- Defeating the reaper before 31:00 counts as surviving 31 minutes

Steam Deck save issues
Thanks to everyone who's reporting details together with the new error popup, we're still unable to break the save system on our unit despite meddling with it in any possible way, but we should be able to get more help this week

New Content



Contains 3 new achievements and:
- new version of Stage 5, let's mosey! Will revert to a simpler version once successfully completed
- final roadmap relic with a new game mechanic
- 1 new arcana


Extra (not present on the roadmap):
- 1 minor relic to view enemies data from the main menu (the list is largely incomplete and will be updated with more data and details as we get closer to v1.0). Can be found in Dairy Plant.

Tweaks:
- Updated some graphics
- Added a visual indicator of how many skins are available per character
- Added option to always pick Coin Bag or Floor Chicken when leveling up after maxing out all weapons (unlocks automatically after playing long enough)
- Added visual reminders for Banished items
- Obtained unlocks can be filtered out from the list
- Crimson Shroud's retaliation damage now heavily damages some special enemies

[previewyoutube=dXN4PC_a0xU;full][/previewyoutube]

Bugfixes:
- "Reach minute 31" arcanas not unlocking under certain situations
- Post-Moongolow stage crashing with certain characters
- Tentative fix for losing write access to save data folder
- Tentative fix for negative/overflowing coins


Content roadmap at v0.8.0

New Content



Contains 6 new achievements and:
- 1 new character
- 1 new weapon
- 2 new Arcanas

Extra (not present on the roadmap):
- 1 Minor relic to change character appearance (where applicable) and maximum active weapons per run (fill 100 slots in the COLLECTION page to unlock)
- 1 Minor relic to show discovered unions and evolutions during a run (found in Inlaid Library)

Tweaks:
- Improved stats of Vento Sacro's early levels
- Added extra area coverage to Fuwalafuwaloo
- Moved Magic Banger relic to Green Acres
- Hurry mode also gives a 25% XP bonus
- Added support for German and Brazilian-Portuguese

Bugfixes:
- Tentative fix for standard saves not working on Steam Deck for some users

[previewyoutube=sBeUURT-5Mo;full][/previewyoutube]


24 of 24 Characters done!
And so we're done, we have finally finished implementing all playable characters for Vampire Survivors....
who am I kidding, there's no way I'm not adding a few more before version 1.0
Please keep an eye on the devlog in Discord or on the socials for some surprises!

100.000
Positive reviews on Steam!
This is incredible, thank you very much to all of you for making this little game such a big success! It's thanks to you that now we can also talk properly about...

poncle
When I wrote the name "poncle" for the first time, some 10 years ago, I went for a lowercase "p" because I had this pretentious thought of "this would serve as a reminder to stay small and humble no matter what". And oh my, with things being so crazy with VS that actually turned out to be a very good reminder to have!

We had a team for some time now, but I'm taking the opportunity to talk about it only now that one more developer, David, is finally joining me in working full time on the current version of the game. This doesn't mean we're going to reach version 1.0 of the game faster than expected, but it means we'll be putting in the game even more features and be faster in polishing rough edges. One of the new relics from this patch, the Grim Grimoire, is a good example of what kind of extras to expect!

If you've been following this kind of longer update posts, then you probably already know that since January we had freelancers working on porting VS to an industry-standard game engine. Some of those freelancers, Adam, Matt, and Sam (strictly in alphabetical order), are now part of poncle and are working full time on the engine port!
Initially we thought about re-making the game using features from the new engine, but the resulting game, even if better optimised, didn't really feel "Vampire Survivors" enough. For starters, the physics were too accurate and realistic, enemies weren't even able to push one another inside walls, or the fonts were just too crisp and easy to read. That was not acceptable.
So we're now busy rewriting the entire physics system so that it feels arcade-y rather than realistic and tweaking a lot of aspects of the main gameplay loop so that in the end, ideally we'll have a version of Vampire Survivors that plays just like the current one, but that is free of hardware and controller compatibility issues and that performs well even when there is an unreasonable amount of projectiles and enemies on screen.

We're still planning to release the new version this summer, but in reality "it will be ready when it's ready", we won't be rushing for an arbitrary release date and will take all the time it requires to be done right.

If you hang out in the VS Discord or follow the VS social media accounts, then you most likely already know the work of Beth (Slothie), our community manager, who's also working on a few surprises beyond the usual teasers and polls!

To sum it up, we might be getting close to the of Vampire Survivors, but for poncle that's just the beginning :)

New Content



Contains 9 new achievements and:
- first iteration on Stage 5
- 1 new character
- 2 new Arcanas
- 1 new Weapon and its evolution
- 1 new PowerUp

[previewyoutube=gbjWbz02SPc;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks:
- The Stage Selection screen will now display when the lunar eclipse event is available in Moongolow (required to unlock Stage 5)
- Added a toggle to disable Golden Eggs bonuses
- Updated some graphics
- Changed PowerUp markup cost from percentage-based to a flat increase
- Added little icons for Vacuum, Rosary, Orologion, Nduja, and Floor Chicken on the map

Bugfixes:
- Bonus Revivals from Golden Eggs not working
- some controllers crashing the game at random intervals
- vanilla game crashing after save data alterations from mods
- Rerolls, Skips, and Banish disappearing from the PowerUp screen on old save files
- Fixed some special achievements needing a reboot to unlock on Steam

Stage 5: first iteration
I know this might take away some of the magic, but, after the previous "small" patch, I feel like it's important to let everyone know that currently there are no secrets nor particularly complex mechanics in Stage 5.
The main point of it is unlocking the new character, the stage will have to go through one or two more iterations before being considered complete :)

Thanks to everyone once again for your support in the beta, on social media, and of course for playing the game!

New Content

Contains 5 new achievements to unlock:
- 1 bonus stage
- 1 relic to access 2 minor gameplay mechanics
- 2 new arcanas
- 1 more rank for the Skip power-up

[previewyoutube=S8UajtMkN-I;full][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube=fvt2hQi-4gQ;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks:
- Halved base duration of Shadow Pinion and Valkyrie Turner
- Shadow Pinion and Valkyrie Turner striking attack has a damage bonus depending on how long it has been "charged"
- Arcana XIX - Heart of Fire also affects Valkyrie Turner's striking attack and Phiera Der Tuphello
- Every bonus point in Armor now also increases retaliatory damage by 10%. Retaliatory damage is currently inflicted by NO FUTURE and Arcana XIX
- Music and music mods can now be previewd in stage selection screen
- Rerolls can now be used to draft Arcanas

Bugfixes:
- Unfortunately, due to one of the new game mechanics, the time has come to fix the Bone-stuck-in-the-boss glitch
- Tentative fix to items sometimes not leveling up near the end of a run


New minor game mechanics
Due to the amount of work needed to improve on the save data issues with Mac and Steam Cloud, and also for the future patch 0.7, patch 0.6.0 will have less content than usual. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I also hope you have fun with the new little mechanics added in this patch!

One of the new mechanics is mostly for players who simply enjoy playing the game even when there's nothing left to unlock, so please don't feel like you have to grind for these new bonuses.

Future content, unlocks, and achievements will still be (un)balanced on the vanilla character stats and power-ups* and so will not expect you to have accumulated any of these new bonuses.
* Curse excluded

To access the recovery menu, go to Options from the main screen and click Data Recovery.

A few options will show up if the files required for the recovery are on your machine:

Load Last Run : loads the backup made at the end of your last run (synced with Steam Cloud)

Show Local Backups: shows a (possibly very long) list of backups that are stored exclusively on your machine. Click one of the entries to restore the backup from that version/date/time

Load Old System Data: useful to Mac/Linux users only, this should recover the data saved by the old system that got discontinued since Sunday the 8th of May.
Using this on Windows or for other reasons might yield unexpected results, as the old save system was highly fragmented and prone to data corruption.

New Content

Contains 8 new achievements and:

- A coffin in Gallo Tower
- 1 new weapon
- 2 weapon evolutions
- 1 new item to pickup
- 2 new Arcanas
- 1 new relic/minor gameplay option
- 1 more rank for Banish

[previewyoutube=BNoJwkVM1DM;full][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube=7DS0B19RKvs;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks:
- updated some sprites
- added Fullscreen toggle in Options menu
- temporarily removed copyrighted music tracks and therefore "Streamer safe music" option (all music currently available is safe)
- increased area scaling for King Bible and Unholy Vespers

Bugfixes:
- Celestial Dusting firerate affected by FPS
- Phieraggi not visually scaling with Area


Community
Thank you very much for all the new subscribers on poncle's YT channel, thanks to you we were finally able to disable ads on all our videos, so you can enjoy the content in peace!

Hotfix for character moving automatically when using certain controllers

Restored analog movement speed when using analog sticks
- Lowered volume of Celestial Dusting
- Updated localisation

New Content

Contains 6 new achievements to unlock:

- 1 new, hard Challenge Stage
- 1 new Character and 1 new Weapon
- 1 more rank for Reroll and Skip powerups
- 2 new Arcanas

Time to go back to the dark and serious roots of Vampire Survivors
[previewyoutube=dc8j1fQWaPE;full][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube=5pRdoY2MWn8;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks:
- Added a toggle in Stage Selection to disable Arcanas. Disabling them also disables the extra minibosses at 11:00 and 21:00
- Added the option to pick a random first Arcana.
- Reduced long term gains of Gatti's attack power when stealing chicken.
- Halved projectile explosion damage from Arcana XIX - Heart Of Fire.
- Reduced cost of Reroll, Skip, and Banish.

Bugfixes:
- Tentative fix to chicken/coinbag choice presenting itself when there are still items that can be leveled up
- Phieraggi is now affected by Arcana V - Chaos in the Dark Night.
- Added an extra backup system for save data in %appdata%/Vampire_Survivors/saves/backups. These backups will not sync with Steam Cloud, so you can restore them manually if needed.


Community
A big welcome to all the new players, and a big thank you to all the returning players that are pushing the game once again to some incredible concurrent players peak!

New Content

Contains 4 (?) new achievements:

- 1 new relic/major gameplay feature (Arcana)
- 1 more level of Banish
- 1 new weapon
- Inlaid Library Coffin


The new content in this patch will allow you to summon chaos and vicious creatures and also tap into the great occult power of the Arcanas. It sounds like this though:
[previewyoutube=RETz46NOQWE;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks:
- Minor changes to spawn waves
- Changed base drop rate of some Treasure Chests from 80% to 100%
- Reduced Cooldown of Carrllo
- Each rank in "Skip" now gives 2 skips instead of 1
- Specified Clock Speed in Stage Selection
- Removed special BGM from weapons (it stays on special characters only)

Bugfix:
- Game data will now be saved when backing out of selection menus


[h3]How to unlock Arcanas as a game mechanic[/h3]
- Find the Randomazzo at the top of Stage 4. Be careful.

[h3]How to unlock more Arcanas[/h3]
- After finding the Randomazzo, new unlocks will be available and visible in the Unlocks menu. There are 6 Arcanas in this patch, more will be added in future patches.

[h3]How to activate Arcanas during a run[/h3]
- You get to choose any unlocked Arcana at the start of a new run. After that, if you have unlocked more arcanas than just the default one, then there is a chance you can get a random draft from Trasure Chests. Most Treasure Chests containing Arcanas are carried by bosses spawning at minute 11:00 and 21:00. You can carry a maximum of 3 Arcanas at the same time.


The real Early Access content
Because of the way I've originally tested the game mechanics in VS, most of what we've seen so far has somewhat always been from the realm of the expected.

With Arcanas that's going to change a little.

This new layer of game mechanics will be largely untested due to the large amount of interactions it could have, so there might be major changes to them as we move forward in patches.

Please keep this in mind when discussing Arcanas, there will inevitably be talks about what's trash and what's op, but my concern is about people fighting over this kind of stuff and forgetting the main point of the game: having fun.

So I hope you have fun finding new ways to break the game and reach 1fps again, and fingers crossed there won't be need for nerfs, only buffs :)

New Content

Contains 7 new achievements:
- 1 new stage, including new enemies and events
- 1 new character
- 1 new relic/gameplay option
- 1 new weapon
- 1 new evolution
- 1 more Reroll
- 1 more Banish

[previewyoutube=2t4DtCps-4I;full][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube=TmvcIjmtxmc;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks:
- Heavily reduced chances that enemies will spawn inside walls in the Dairy Plant
- New entry in the Options menu "Less physics, more FPS". It's enabled by default, if you don't like it or for some reason it glitches badly on your machine, you can disable it from the Options menu from the main screen.
- Guide arrows don't jitter anymore - please enable the guides from the Pause menu if you have the Map but can't locate coffins etc.

Bugfix: some projectiles not moving when there are no enemies to target
Bugfix: Clock Lancet disappearing when moving upwards for too long


[h3]New gameplay option[/h3]
Unlocked by finding the new relic in Stage 4, the new "Hurry" option in Stage Selection will simply make the timer tick twice as fast, so enemies waves will change every 30 seconds in real time instead of the usual 60.


What's next
Arcanas are coming soon :)

New Content

Contains 5 new achievements and:
- Mad Forest Coffin
- 3 weapons (more like 2.5)
- 1 new unlockable power up
- 1 new music track that plays when...

[previewyoutube=Ox9uRw-ddJM;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks:
- Added stage modifiers information on the Stage Selection screen
- Added info for discovered evolutions on Level Up panels
- Changed treasure chests in Il Molise
- Changed Il Molise unlock condition to "Unlock Hyper mode for any normal stage"
- Updated sprites for some items

- New save data system that uses a much simpler file format and should prevent issues like unlocks getting out of sync.
It has the drawback that the game won't be saving your coins as soon as you pick them up anymore, but will only save at the end of a run, or when opening a treasure chest.

Save data will be converted automatically on launching the game. The new location of the save file is %appdata%/Vampire_Survivors/saves


What's next

We have a fresh, yet already outdated with this patch, roadmap infographic here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1794680/view/3131696199131643254

Arcanas are coming sometime in April, but before they do we'll be getting a new super-chill stage

[h3]This is going to be akin to a blog post, so here's right away a TLDR:
[/h3]


[h2]Overview of the Roadmap to 1.0[/h2]
When Vampire Survivors first released on Steam in Early Access, it was estimated to be at 60% content completion. The game had 7 playable characters, 22 weapons, 12 power-ups, 1 stage, and 23 achievements.

Thanks to the overwhelming success and support from the players, new content has started to come out at a much faster pace than anticipated and the roadmap has also been expanded significantly. The amount of playable characters planned for version 1.0 of the game has been doubled and so has the number of stages with the introduction of bonus/challenge ones. A dozen new weapons have been designed and a handful of new power-ups thrown into the mix.

This is where we're at now (patch 0.3.1) :

• Playable characters: 15 / 24
  
• Weapons and evolutions: 32 / 48
  
• Power-ups: 18 / 20
  
• Normal Stages: 3 / 5
  
• Special Stages: 2 / 5
  

New Content

4 achievements to unlock:
- a Bonus stage
- a new weapon evolution
- a new character
- an extra rank for the Skip power-up

If you've already met the requirements for the Bonus stage achievement, then simply enter and exit a run to unlock it right away.

[previewyoutube=i-cNkgovw2Q;full][/previewyoutube]

Bugfixes:
- changes to cooldown don't reset weapon firing timers anymore
- special stage pickups are now immune to bad/purple Pentagram, but now Pentagram also correctly erases all other on-screen pickups
- tentative fix for King Bible/Unholy Vespers not making a full circle
- tentative fix for UI elements overlapping when pickipng up a stage item at the same time as leveling up or pausing the game

Tweaks:
- reduced cost of the Skip power-up
- treasure chests are now visible on the map

What's next
The original Early Access description from December mentioned a 60% content completion, but since then a lot more stuff has been added to the roadmap for game version 1.0, not to mention that content has been coming out at a much faster pace than anticipated.
So, rather than providing a few hints about what to expect from the next patch as usual, I'll soon be putting together a larger announcement to shed some light on the overall roadmap, game difficulty, power creep, performance optimisation etc.

Thank you to all the players for the continued, incredible support, see you soon on the Steam News page of the game! A new major game mechanic is coming in April

• updated translations for existing languages
  
• increased XP gain over the first 10 minutes in Stage 3
  
• moved some stage items closer to the starting point
  

New Content

6 achievements to unlock new content, including 1 stage and 1 weapon.

The fastest way to start unlocking the new content is:
Reach Level 40 in the Inlaid Library, then either Quit or complete your run.

From then on, just keep an eye on your list of achievements to see what's next.

Here's how the new stage looks and sounds

[previewyoutube=p7qpWDSN7lM;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks:
- armor and hp bonus for Antonio
- hp bonus for Gennaro and Suor Clerici
- moveSpeed bonus for Krochi
- changed colliders in Mad Forest
- hidden stage items now have a 100% chance to appear
- minor optimizations

Bugfixes:
- tentative fix for game freezing at startup after using localization mods
- tentative fix for game freezing on character selection after save data corruption/mod

[h3]Stage 3[/h3]
The new stage introduces a few new gameplay mechanics, so you might want to take it easy and disable your Curse PowerUp if you have it enabled. It also contains a new type of item that you can pick up to permanently unlock a new game feature.
Unlocking Stage 3 will also make its enemies and events eligible to spawn in Green Acres.

[h3]Mac version[/h3]
It will come out a few hours after the Windows one, apologies for the delay!


Future content and the Dev Team
So far I think I've managed to keep up a decent pace with new content patches, while the rest of the part-time team has been focused on making builds, QOL improvements, and porting the game to a standard game engine.
The port is now in a fully playable state and has been stress tested to handle even more stuff than the currenv version of VS puts on screen, by staying at stable 60fps even on low specs hardware.
This version also gets rid of of those problems where people who can play the web version with no issues aren't instead able to play on Steam due to some hardware error, or who gets weird rendering issues with the screen freezing or becoming white while the game keeps running in the background.

So we have reached a point where we need to start working more towards having feature parity between the new version and the current one, which means that new content will be rolled out more slowly.
While there will probably still be weekly patches once in a while - after all I've built the game specifically to allow myself to make new content quickly - officially we're moving to a new content patch release every two weeks.

TLDR: new content patches will come out once every two weeks, efforts to fix breaking erors (WebGL Unsupported, white screens etc.) will be redirected to speed up development on the new game engine.


Community
Thank you everyone once again for helping in the public beta, providing quality memes, fantastic fan art, an incredible amount of guides and videos, and just being overall awesome

New Content:

- 1 new PowerUp immediately available

- 4 new achievements to unlock:

• 1 new character.
  
• 1 semi-new character holding a new special weapon.
  
• 1 new Passive Weapon.
  
• 1 extra rank for the Reroll PowerUp.
  

New Content:
- 1 new weapon evolution
- 2 new minor game mechanics/PowerUps
- 3 new achievements to unlock the content above
- Enabled the following languages: French, Korean, Russian, and Chinese. Also Spanish and Japanese at about 90% completion.


[previewyoutube=ajQONQJPp-g;full][/previewyoutube]

- Added a brief moment of invulnerability after leveling up
- Translation fixes and Translation tools, new languages
- Minor sprite updates
- Minor tweaks to weapons rarity
- Bugfix for people getting stuck on a black screen after changing language
- Bugfix for treasure chests getting stuck in obstacles
- Made a certain thing official but the ride never ends


[h3]Localisation[/h3]
While more languages are on the way, there is now also an official tool to make mods for fan-made translations. Please join the Discord server for the details (link at the end of the page).

What's next
A new input system is being tested to improve controls between screen transitions and allow for key rebinding. A few other QOL improvements are in the works, but priority right now is being given to the completion of Stage 3 and the new game mechanics it will bring.

[h3]Linux version[/h3]
Still no luck with the native build, playing the Windows version using Proton still seems to be the best way for now. There will be more tests done on the public-beta branch during this week, thank you for your patience and help!

Community
Thank you all once again for your help and feedback, between the modding scene, fan translations, and the Discord community leaderboards the support is simply incredible

New Content:
- 3 new achievements. Check their description to see what they unlock!
- 1 new character
- 1 new weapon evolution
- 1 new passive weapon and relative PowerUp
- Saves backup system
- new music track for Green Acres:

[previewyoutube=2Tdl2Ze4DpA;full][/previewyoutube]

- Tweak: Heaven Sword takes longer to despawn
- Tweak: every level in Crown gives +8% experience now
- Bugfix: game crashing on picking up multiple chests at the same time
- tentative fix for people having high CPU usage or stuck on an empty screen when launching the game

[h3]Mac version[/h3]
The Mac version is out now!

[h3]Saves backup system[/h3]
Backups are automatic, if you ever lose your data, it's probably due to the game engine not shutting down completely or to a rogue file in the save folder. Please try to:
- Go to %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Roaming and if there is a file without extension called "Vampire_Survivors", delete it.
- Restart your machine to make sure the game is shut down completely, then launch it again, go to Options, finally click "Restore Backup" and "Confirm"

This is a temporary workaround while we try to fix the root cause of the problem.


[h3]Issues with launching the game[/h3]
For people experiencing black or white screens immediately after launching the game, please follow this thread as someone is managing to get through:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1794680/discussions/1/3195868146172344437/

Work on the new engine is going smoothly, still too soon to be able to say for sure when we can do the swap and forget about this kind of rendering issues, but in the meantime I'm still trying to find some workarounds. Please also keep an eye on the launch options for the game, the new option to "Launch with Steam Overlay enabled" also solved the issues for a few players, so new experimental options might be added soon.


What's next
Other than saves backup, there hasn't been much time for QOL this week, so hopefully we'll see some new tweaks in the next one. Stage 3 is in development, with a new layout, enemies, and a new minor game mechanic.

[h3]Localisation[/h3]
Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish translations are currently available on the public-beta branch. They need some tweaking but should be good to go soon. Coming later this month Russian, Italian, Portuguese, and possibly more.

[h3]Linux version[/h3]
Still having some trouble with the native version, should hopefully need just a couple more days, but I said the same thing last week so...

Community
Please welcome Slothie who joined the part-time team as Community Manager!
With more than 11K users on Discord and a new peak of 53k concurrent players we really needed the extra help. @everyone thank you once again for your incredible support

New Content:
- 3 new achievements. Check their description to see what they unlock.
- 2 new characters, Dommario and Suor Clerici.
- 1 new special, challenge stage that is just like the classic Mad Forest, but has no new enemies nor layout. Comes with a minor new feature that will expand with every new future stage. Enter/exit a run if you've already satisfied the requirements to unlock it.
- rework of the Mad Forest layout in preparation of a future feature
- new "streamer friendly" soundtrack for the Inlaid Library stage
- option to play the old sountrack by disabling "Streamer Safe Music" from the Options menu (affects the Library Stage only for now)
- new animations for mudmen, mummies, ghost witches, and Library bosses



[previewyoutube=mGABLSOMtok;full][/previewyoutube]

- Bugfix/workaround: the game shouldn't crash anymore on triggering texture errors when "pausing while leveling up" or similar situation
- Tweak: minor increase to the chance that killing an enemy with Soul Eater will spawn a little heart
- Tweak: minor increase to Pentagram's base chance to not delete items
- Tweak: "Refund Powerup" buttons is at the top of the PowerUp Selection screen. Use it often to try new upgrade paths!
- Tweak: reduced volume of the infamous "Treasure Found" sound
- Added epilepsy warning on launching the game
- Made it easier to do certain inputs on the main screen


What's next
Other than the obvious new evolutions and missing base characters, in February we'll be getting Stage 3, that will also unlock a new minor game mechanic, that will in turn give the ability to recruit new, special characters.


[h3]Localisation[/h3]
We couldn't get the translations on time for this patch, so we'll be releasing a new patch during the week, as soon as we get them and after doing QA. New languages will be Korean, Chinese, Japanese, German, French, and Spanish. More languages will be added in February, including Italian, even if I personally really thinky is a bit redundante

[h3]QOL improvements[/h3]
We couldn't wrap up with QOL improvements in January, so things like key rebinding, chicken/money bag lock, smooth out input after leveling up etc. will be added over the next few patches

[h3]Mac and Linux builds[/h3]
They're currently being QAd, so please expect them to drop sometime soon!

[h3]Steam Deck[/h3]
Yes

[h3]Mobile version[/h3]
The mobile version of the game launched as a test in a couple of regions in May 2021, and it ran terribly, so development switched back to PC. We're running a parallel project to move the game to an engine that will allow for a good mobile version.
While waiting for the new mobile version, I suggest to try Magic Survival on Android, the game that inspired the original prototype of Vampire Survivors and that was also made by a solo dev.

[h3]Engine issues[/h3]
Old news but have to be repeated unfortunately, as there are still rendering issues on certain hardware, regardless of how powerful it is, that don't let some people play the Steam version. While the best bet is to wait for the new version made in a different engine, we're still experimenting with newer version of Electron/Chromium to see if they have better compatibility.
Other issues about save files getting held hostage by game processes not halting completely are being addressed and will probably get fixed by writing a custom save/load system.



Community
A huge thank you once again to the incredible community: between discord bots, fan sites, community leaderboards, and 45k concurrent players, this keeps going way, way beyond expectations and I think that the best way to express my thanks is to keep delivering on the Early Access promises

New content in patch 0.2.9
- the NFT (for those out of the loop, it's a joke, please read below)
- Garlic evolution
- 1 new "evolution"
- 2 new achievements for finding the above two



- Graphics: idle animation for headless skeletons, ectoplasms, giant bats, medusa heads
- Tweak: capped Garlic's maximum knocback debuff for bosses
- Bugfix: projectiles should now despawn correctly (fixes pauses in Thousand Edge)
- Bugfix: gems sometimes not merging if the player stands still for a long time
- Bugfix: Inlaid Library boss collision box fixed


What's next
Next week will be focused on bug fixing and having a major review of all the recent feedback and suggestions about quality of life features.
Localisation in 5 languages is almost done, key rebinding and a review of the input system to address issues like the interruptions when leveling up is on the way. We're aiming for Mac and Linux builds by the end of the month too.
An engine-port project is running in parallel with the development of the current Steam version of the game, so to ease porting to other platforms and ensuring maximum compatibility with the Steam Deck.


The NFT

In commemoration of the 35th (day) anniversary of the Vampire Survivors release on Steam,
we decided to jump on the hottest trends in gaming and release our own NFT.

From game patch 0.2.9, the Nduja Fritta Tanto can randomly drop from candles/braziers to add 10 spicy seconds to your runs. Terrible pun, great item. We're against nft practices if that wasn't clear.


Rendering issues at startup and during Treasures or Level Up
We've made some progress on finding a workaround for these blockers, and while we might not be able to get rid of them altogether until the port to the new engine is done, next week we should be able to start testing some of these workarounds in the public-beta branch.

Community
A huge thank you once again to the outstanding community, today we've hit a new peak of more than 10.000 concurrent players! Thank you also for being patient about bug fixes and missing features, we're working as fast as possible to keep up with the sudden growth

The new patch is being rolled out and contains:
- QOL: Steam Cloud Saves
- QOL: Volume sliders
- QOL: after unlocking a couple of characters, a stats panel becomes visible on the character selection screen
- QOL: after unlocking a handful of weapons, current stats and weapon levels will be displayed when leveling up and on the pause screen




- Tweak: Garlic hits reduce knockback and freeze resistance
- Tweak: Orologion doesn't prevent enemies from spawning anymore
- Tweak: increased birds's level up area bonus
- Bugfix: Axes won't despawn anymore if sent too high
- Bugfix: unlocks from Achievements are reactivated on launching the game
- Bugfix: corrected movemenet of a few projectiles to be independent from frame rate. They used to go insanely fast if the game was running above 60fps
- Bugfix: corrected Garlic description: ignores amount, duration, speed
- Added additional logs for people experiencing crashes, can be found in %APPDATA%\Vampire_Survivors\logs


What's next
While January is still about QOL improvements like localisation, key re-binding, Mac/Linux builds, etc, next week we'll be getting a few more bits of content too.

[previewyoutube=3Q807FEkajY;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]
[h3][h2]

[/h2][/h3]
Rendering issues at startup and during Treasures
The Steam version of the game is built using Electron and Chromium, that might have rendering issues on certain hardware, regardless of how powerful it is. This could lead to black screens, heavy slowdowns when the there are a lot of semi-transparent pixels on screen, and high CPU usage.
We don't have direct control over those issues, so we're currently looking for short terms workarounds, but also starting a parallel rework, in a different engine, for the long term.

Community
The Discord server just reached 1000 members, the all-time concurrent players peak is above 6000 and the positive reviews are well beyond 2000 at the time of writing: once again, a huge thank you to everyone for the incredible feedback

Version 0.2.7 is available now and contains:

- Content: 1 new character and 1 new achievement
- Graphics: added idle animations to zombies, flowers, mantises, mummies, werewolves, ghosts
- Tweak: minor clarifications and changes to some descriptions
- Tweak: treasure chests can now only level up existing weapons (or give extra coins if no weapons can be leveled up)
- Bugfix: corrected the DPS stats numbers (could have shown up as 10 times smaller than they are)
- Bugfix: Axe's bonus area scaling fixed and specified in description
- Bugfix: fireworks now shouldn't linger on screen anymore when triggering a beeg shiny



What's next
Just a reminder that Cloud Saves, volume sliders, and in-game stats display are on the way and that the goal of the month is to deal with all kind of QOL improvements, bug fixing, troubleshooting etc.


About the changes to Treasure Chests
Treasure Chests are supposed to be a purely positive thing, which is why the fact that they could potentially give you unwanted items had to be corrected. For the players who were using the chests to have fun "glitching" their way to extra passive weapons, don't worry, there will be new ways to go beyond the soft limit and get extra stats :)


About technical issues with Treasure animations
The game engine is a bit unusal, it runs on Electron which is something we don't have full control over. Electron can behave widly differently on different machines, which makes some issues, like "Black Screen when skipping a treausre animation using a controller", or even something straightforward like "big slowdowns when opening any chests", very difficult to replicate.
To help with the investigation, we're adding more ways to log errors and give us an idea on what kind of workaround we can put together. Thank you for your patience while we try to fix crashes and slowdowns!


About the dev team
I can't thank enough my friends who jumped on board immediately to help managing the game!
Things that were just unthinkable to tackle at the moment, like localisation or Mac and Linux builds, are now instead an upcoming possibility :)
We need some help to pick a name for the "Moderators" role on Discord, please suggest something cool or I'll end up typing in something stupid as usual, like Candelabradoors or something.


About suggestions from the community
I cannot possibly reply to everyone, but I'm reading all the suggestions! A lot of fun ideas have come up in the past few days and please know that yes, despite having already a lot of scheduled content to finish, your discourse is influencing design and roadmap. An apology for shattering Mister Big Cat's dream, who proposed a "stiking rich character that starts with garlic", and got instead a poor stinking old man taking that starter weapon slot.
Finally, huge thanks once again to you all for the incredible support!

Version 0.2.6b is available now and contains:

QOL improvements:

• toggle fullscreen by pressing ALT+Enter or F11
  
• after getting a handful of treasures, their animation can be skipped by pressing ESC, right mouse button, or "B"/cancel on a gamepad
  
• added more information on the Results screen
  
• tentative fix to slow downs with certain weapon combos
  

• Lightning Ring projectiles never skip strikes and can fall on any random enemy on screen
  
• adjusted tips for a few weapons if there's any stat they ignore
  
• minor changes to the Clover pickup
  
• sped up first enemy wave in Inlaid Library
  

Version 0.2.5 is available now and contains:

• Content: new stage, Inlaid Library (includes new enemies and Hyper difficulty)
  
• Content: 2 new permanent PowerUps to increase gold and HP gains
  
• Content: 2 new passive Weapons to increase gold and HP gains
  
• Content: 11 new achievements
  
• Framework: added support for tileset maps
  
• Graphics: added idle animations for ghouls and skeletons
  

• Tweak: PowerUps can be reset/refunded from the PowerUp screen
  
• Tweak: adjusted a few sound effects
  
• Tweak: Peachone and Ebony Wings' movement speed scale up with the player's bonus movement speed
  
• Tweak: changed enemies in Mad Forest minutes 25-30
  
• Tweak: the invulnerability period after a Laurel shield is destroyed now goes up with the weapon's level
  
• Tweak: Pentagram's item erasure is slightly more forgiving
  
• Bugfix: Treasure Chest Open button overlapping with coins counter
  
• QOL: Added a "Restore Steam Achievements" button under Options. If any achievement is unlocked in-game, but still locked in Steam for some reason, this will re-sync the Steam achievements.
  

Patch 0.2.4
This patch is available now and contains some new content and several tweaks requested by players:

- Content: added Bloody Tear, evolution for the Whip
- Content: added Heaven Sword, evolution for the Cross
- Graphics: added idle animations for bats
- Tweak: added a brief moment of invulnerability after picking up a treasure
- Tweak: difficulty spikes adjustments
- Tweak: added feedback on getting hit by enemies
- Tweak: reduced Lightning Ring cooldown
- Tweak: Spacebar can be used just like Enter to interact with the UI
- Tweak: Pause menu can be opened by pressing Esc
- Bugfix: Lightning Ring achievement now properly checks for a total of 5000 enemies killed rather than 5000 per run

Bloody Tear


Heaven Sword



What's next

Patch 0.2.5 is already in the works and it will contain some framework changes, so that levels could be a bit more complex. Here's a glimpse of the next stage!