Hello folks, As we're approaching the release date, May 1st, I'm pushing out the last beta update. Lots of small and big changes in preparation for Glass Cannon 1.0.

Arena, Cannon and Challenge Selection

I had planned to do the "arenas, challenges and cannons" one month after release, as it is extra content, but since I've had some extra time, I decided to sneak in a small update for it in time for release.
The full version will slowly introduce different ways to play the game through updates. You will start off each run by choosing 3 things: [olist]

Your Cannon Each one will have limitations and advantages. For example, the demolitionist, who can only deal damage through explosions or the jester, which has the 1st mod slot on each weapon permanently occupied by the wabbajack mod...

The Arena Differently shaped arenas like the hexagon or racetrack or the plus which you unlock by completing challenge runs or achievements.

The Challenge Level (for the arena) Each challenge level is like a difficulty for a given arena. Each is unlocked for an arena by beating its previous challenge. They are:

• quark: default
• electron: enemy health scales faster
• atom: no longer get money from killing enemies and per diem
• molecule: weapons parish in 5 rounds
• polymer: enemy health scales even faster
• cell: enemies are always homing and the shop has a 1 minute time limit

Each challenge also applies the effects of all other challenges before it. So, the molecule difficulty basically applies its own effect + atom + electron. [/olist] Please note that all of the above is subject to change as I haven't tested it thoroughly!

Linux!

Glass Cannon can now be played on Linux as well (natively!) I know proton works basically flawlessly for it, but I still decided to make a native build for Linux, as I intend to also port it for the Steam Deck if the game gets good sales, so a native Linux build was a given.

Other changes

• The win screen when finishing a run now shows more detailed stats
• Summoned brawlers now also inherit all of the player effects as well. For example, if the player has spoon mod equipped and summons a brawler, the brawler will heal 1 health each time it collides with an enemy. The brawler still inherits all the bullet effects as well, like last time.
• Crossbow knockback works correctly now
• Bat correctly works with wall and destructable hit effects
• Crash fixes around summoned zealots
• Crash fixes around shell in shell mod
• Update Damaging Strike Mod sprite and rename the mod to Collision Buff
• Update Steel Barrel Mod VFX
• Improved star particles for stun effects
• Cordyceps mod SFX and VFX. Infected enemies will emanate green particles
• Clicking GET on a rolled weapon when inventory was full no longer bugs out the button
• Increased the spawn distance of the enemies from the player. You should no longer see levels where enemies are spawned right next to the player.
• UI glitch fixes when clicking some buttons
• Minor bugfixes and balancing

Can't wait to see how the 1.0 release will be received by you all. Cheers! - Niko

[ 2025-04-28 23:42:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello folks, In the new Beta v2.3 we now have all the icons, so no more question marks in the shop! This patch also includes different VFX and new sounds for mods and perks that lacked them. Expect more visual and audio updates throughout the whole beta. Also balanced a few OP mods and fixed a few minor bugs. The beta will no longer get updates for new content (except visuals and audio which are missing from some mods and effects). At full release on May 1st, challenges, different maps and so on will be added, which won't make it in time for the beta as it ends the day before. I will showcase the challenge mode and new content in the next post (maybe new enemy types, different cannon types, arena shapes etc.) Hope you're all enjoying the game so far. Cheers! - Niko

[ 2025-04-19 18:46:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello folks, Glass Cannon is on MacOS now! Should work both on the old Intel CPUs and Apple Silicon. Also changed a few things for v2.2.

Changelog

• Enemies that get resurrected by necromancers multiple times in one go now have a 7% chance to merge with their clones. So, previously if a bouncer died when inside of 2 necro ranges, it would get resurrected twice, so you'd have 2 bouncers in its place. Now we have a 7% chance to have the two resurrected bouncers merge into a bigger bouncer with summed stats. This change will strike a good balance between enemy number and toughness when it comes to rounds with necromancers.
• Increased the knockback on the shotgun - it is a strong weapon, so it's only fair to make its use clumsy. The knockback will make it more balanced.
• "Go back" and "skip ahead" perks now work more consistently
• added a bunch of icons for weapon mods (previously they were question marks). Slowly I'll make icons for every single mod and for the final version, we'll have zero question mark icons in the shop.
• Remove confusing mod levelling mechanic where you could have gaps between LVL improvements, so, for example, you had to upgrade some mods 2 or 3 times before seeing any improvement in its stats. Now each mod upgrade gives a bonus.
• The change above prompted pricing changes for some strong mods - some mods are now more expensive to compensate for this buff.
• Major performance fixes when there are large amounts of particles
• Crash fixes when lots of enemies or bullets would get cloned (not related to the necromancer bug below)
• Crash fix for necromancer enemies where they'd keep cloning each other and eventually slow your computer down. This no longer happens. Most of the lag was due to some bug which duplicated the enemies for no reason but didn't actually put them in the play area - so you couldn't see them but they still took CPU time.

As always, don't forget to let me know what you think in the feedback form or on the Glass Cannon Discord server! And grab a key for your friends: Glass Cannon Free Beta Keys More to come! - Niko

[ 2025-04-07 21:06:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Going to be doing updates almost daily as people play the game and break it in many ways. Here is what I've changed:

• The plasma ball base stats were too high, so the BNC and its LVL 5 bonus have been reduced
• When you win the game, the final stats screen should now display the correct numbers
• Rerolling consecutively in the shop increases the reroll price by $1
• You no longer get 4 free spins for the weapon wheel at max level. Just 3.
• Performance fixes - when enemies can't fit in the arena, they just won't spawn anymore (this happened with necromancer enemies, who would recursively clone each other until they killed the player).
• Size mod price increase $2 -> $3. It was a bit too cheap.

Don't forget to let me know what you think in the feedback form or on the Glass Cannon Discord server! Also, grab a key for your friends: Glass Cannon Free Beta Keys More to come! - Niko

[ 2025-04-02 11:23:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello again folks, For real now, Glass Cannon is almost ready to release! On May 1st, the game will be out. Until then, I'm doing a Beta v2 test to balance the difficulty.

Beta v2

If you were part of the previous beta, you can go ahead and play the updated game right now, your key will still work! If you're new, then grab a key here: Glass Cannon Beta v2 Keys Please mark the key you take with "TAKEN" right next to it. You can send that link to your friends so they can also join in! Also, join the official Discord server. Just like before, you will find a "Leave Feedback" button at various places in the game. They all lead to the same form which has a few simple questions. Please fill the form after you're done playing the game! Especially if you participated in the previous beta, your feedback will be immensely useful for me to see if the game improved from last time.

What's new

After the previous open beta, I realized that the game lacked content, meat & potatoes, so I've added a LOT more stuff, namely:

• 100 new weapon mods and perks. Stuff that can summon brawlers and wizards who will fight for you, mods that combo with each other, make enemies friendly etc.
• Bosses like the Leader & Henchmen or the Triplets or the Duo...
• Unique enemy formations (they can huddle together now or form fortresses and other patterns).
• Better UX. For example, clicking outside the arena no longer misfires, you can select weapons with clicks...
• Weapon level bonuses - each weapon has a bonus that it gets when upgraded to LVL 5

Hopes

My goal with this game was to create a virtual world which you, the player, can observe and then use the resulting knowledge to theorize and create interesting new combinations. The game should reward you for thinking deeply and creatively about the abstract rules of this virtual world. I believe I've achieved that goal and the game has done a complete 180. I was able to come up with ~500 unique combinations for weapons and mods (actually useful ones!) and at some point I stopped counting. I keep discovering new builds every day and with your feedback, we can find even more of them and iron out some rough edges. Glass Cannon is easily the most well-designed game I've ever made in my life and I sincerely hope all the work that went into it serves to create a fun experience for you all. Hope you enjoy the game, Niko

[ 2025-03-31 23:41:33 CET ] [ Original post ]