54 NEW SKILL MUTATIONS

Mutate your skills to unlock new combos! Skills are the core of GSA. The first 90% of each match is spent leveling up as fast as you can to unlock skills and create strong synergies before the final showdown. Well this process just got a whole lot more interesting with skill mutations.
Every skill now has a "mutation power". This isn't active to begin with, but you can activate it at vendors by spending a new in-game currency called Syringes. A simple example of a mutation is the Self Repair skill. This normally just heals you, but if you activate it's mutation power it will ALSO make you move much faster for the 2 seconds that the heal is active. This opens up new ways to use the skill, like chasing or escaping from enemies.

54 Unique Mutation Powers

All 54 skills in the game have their own unique mutation power. Here are a few examples: - Radiate's mutation makes your own nukes heal you, allowing you to cast it on yourself. - Executioner's mutation causes enemies to explode when they die, creating chain reactions of cops exploding eachother. - Invisibility's mutation causes you to accumulate damage when standing near enemies, allowing you to stalk enemies to secretly charge up a powerful shot. - Flying Dagger's mutation makes your throwing knife fly back to you like a boomerang, allowing you to double hit enemies and do trick shots. - Bullet Time's mutation will steal all nearby enemy bullets and fire them back towards them (like in this image below).

Activate Mutations with Syringes

You get +1 syringe every 5 score you earn in game, and it works out so that most players will be able to activate either 2 or 3 mutations each match. But you'll usually have 5 skills, so you'll need to choose which skills you want to build around, as you can't mutate them all. Mutating a skill will also give that skill a big boost of skill points, based on the rarity of that skill, forcing you to really invest into the skill you're mutating. This is a big power spike, and makes it extra exciting to earn score and get that next syringe. The primary way to get score is to level up but also get kills during overtime, and this new incentive to get score ASAP gets players to really hunt kills during the final showdown moments, instead of hiding away.

Full Changelog

[GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - When you die or respawn, all vendor options reset for you. - When zombies revive, they only start with 100 health, and will need to regen the reset. - Knife now does 70hp damage, with 60 rate of fire. Instead of 60hp damage, with 80 rate of fire. - Shadows from players in the air are more visible. - Bomb Boxes have a slightly bigger explosion radius. - Crate Race modifier can only be completed once per round. - The leaderboards now show players' actual builds used in-game. Not their builds from the menu. This includes the skill level and syringes. [CLASS CHANGES] - Assault's reload speed is now +70% instead of +50%. -Fixed a bug where criminal's gangster could kill enemies. It now caps at 1hp like the rest of the gang. -Criminal's gangster has a 3% chance of appearing instead of a 5% chance when shifting. [SKILL CHANGES] - Backtrack renamed to Teleportation. Teleportation will teleport you to your target after a short channeling time. After teleporting, it will heal you. - Combo Killer now drops loot starting at double kills, not triple kills. - Armed Robbery rewards are now only given once every 60s. A little indicator will appear above the vendor's head to show when it's ready to be killed again. Speed vendor upgrades speed this up. - Armed Robbery has higher drop rates to compensate. - Blade Mail no longer buffs the next bullet as it takes damage. Instead, Blade Mail will drop damage med kits as you take damage. - Rambulance no longer boosts your vehicle speed (too hard to drive with). Instead it will make your car take less damage. - Energy Vortex no longer slows enemies (for netcode smoothness reasons). It has been compensated by having a larger radius and doing more damage/healing. - Automatic Armor's protection duration is now 2s instead of 1.5. - Firestorm flies a bit slower through the air. - Assassinate's econ boost ranges from 30% to 120% instead of 40% to 160%. - Critical Rage's cooldown rescaled to 32 to 8s, instead of 30 to 12s. - Spike Trap's vulnerability time is 4s instead of 3s. - Clip Magnet has greater seeking, but takes longer to refill a clip. The seeking bullets also now expire when that gun reloads.

[ 2025-04-16 15:57:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all, this version just polishes up the econ and scoring systems a bit. It mostly plays the same with one key difference - how to score well. Your score from level ups is now capped at 20 (when you hit level 10). This is fairly easy for most veteran players to achieve, and so everyone will be equally on 20 points here. Instead, focus on outscoring enemies by getting more kills during overtime, and by winning the rounds 1 and 2 showdowns, which now give +5 score each (in hindsight they should have done this a long time ago). The reason for the score cap is that players were taking specific econ skills and classes just because they gave more XP, more levels, and thus more score. That's not a great incentive. It's still useful to take these classes because being a higher level makes you more powerful, but you'll now need to actually USE that power by killing enemies in showdowns if you want bonus score. You can't just automatically get more score than other players just by choosing the right class. Another benefit of this change is that it tones down the RUSH factor of GSA. GSA is all about farming, and of course you still want to outfarm your enemies. But now you no longer NEED to do this. You can afford to do other things that don't give farm (eg shop from vendors, place chemicals, fight gangsters) and not worry that you're falling behind in score. So this opens up more strategies to win, and also removes the psychologcal feeling of "guilt" that you're doing something other than grinding XP. Now you can chill out before overtime, and not rush. Use this time to prepare your build, then get a lot of kills and wins in overtime. Enjoy! bencelot ---- [SCORING CHANGES] - Score earned from level ups is now capped at 20 (level 10) - We now get +5 score for winning rounds 1 and 2 [ECONOMY CHANGES] - No new skill appears at level 15 - Deaths now remove 200xp instead of 100xp - Kills now give 50xp + 10xp x streak (capped at 100xp) instead of a fixed 100xp - Cops now give a flat 10xp and $100 per kill, instead of $50 + 10 x Wanted level - The main supply drop has an extra $1000 and 100xp in it - XP Fountains are now shown in the minimap - XP Fountains are now only disabled for 20s instead of 120s - Improved the pacing and difficulty of Survival mode. Also the Hostile Vendors modifier no longer hides vendors from the map. [MODIFIER CHANGES] - Crate Race gives 1 vendor upgrade instead of 2, but only requires 20 instead of 30 crates [SKILL CHANGES] - Force Field explosion damage is now 10 instead of 30 - Frenzy duration is now 2.5s instead of 3.0s - Falling Inferno damage now ranges from 40% to 160%, instead of 30% to 120%. However, by default it no longer gives extra molotov duration - Rambulance healing lasts for 10s instead of 6s - Illicit Income cash per wanted level is doubled. - Armed Robbery drops slightly more cash per vendor killed - Mana Shield duration is now 3s instead of 2.5s after using a skill - Proximity Rounds has a slightly larger trigger radius - Radiate has a slightly larger area - Laser Scope has slightly faster bullet speed but less range [WEAPON CHANGES] - Bazookas rpm is now 70 instead of 60 [CLASS CHANGES] - Heavy gains +2.5% instead of +3.0% ROF when at low health - Scavenger shifts are +33% instead of +50% faster (when moving. Still +150% when standing still)

[ 2025-02-28 14:13:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all, this version replaces the old passive XP income with something more skillful - XP Pools.
Scattered around the map are a new special type of zone called an XP Pool. It looks a bit like a gangster camp, but it is blue. Standing inside this will give you XP, until you drain the pool. There are 15 of these to explore for in the map. Up the top right of the screen is a number that shows the amount of XP you're currently able to drain from these pools. This number gradually increases like a passive XP income. When it gets big enough you should seek out an XP Pool to claim it. This shifts this XP into your actual XP bar and levels you up.
It takes a bit of time to claim the XP. Up to 8 seconds per pool. And enemies can attack you while you do this, so they can claim the pool themselves. This is a far more interesting way to earn XP than the old passive income. It creates new points of interest in the map to fight over, and some subtle strategies as to the optimal time to claim the XP. These XP Pools also serve a much needed purpose in GSA - forced downtime. It's only 8 seconds, but it's one of the only times in GSA that you can stand still and actually feel productive. All other times you are on your feet, hunting for kills and loot. These XP pools scattered around the map will give players short moments of rest, while still feeling productive. It's a great time to look at your build, think about your skills, and decide on your next synergy. Something that is much easier to do when you're chillin' in a pool, than cruising through the city streets of Gene Shift Auto.
Enjoy! bencelot ---- [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - Passive Income has been replaced with a mechanic called "XP Pools". - Reaching max shields no longer give +$1000. - Kills now give a flat 100xp always. They don't increase based on your kill streak. However, the amount of cash earned can still increase based on your streak (ranging from $100 to $500 on a 5x streak). - Vendors are less likely to spawn in a location where one has just died. - Armed Robbery now gives +$1000 instead of +100xp - Phase Drifting takes a bit longer to charge up to full speed - Flaming Bullets duration is now fixed at 1s, and ranges from 3 to 12 hp/s damage - Scavenger's new shifting perk is buffed to +50% shift restore speed instead of +33% [GENERAL CHANGES] - Random class and random skills modes no longer give bonus out of game XP (they still give in-game cash and XP though). This allows players to play whatever mode they genuinely prefer, instead of prioritizing these random modes purely for account progression. - Fixed a bug where epic random flasks wouldn't always give epics

[ 2025-02-18 18:50:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all, just a small balance patch today. In a few weeks I'll release a larger update that gives every skill in the game a brand new special mutation that changes how it plays. Stay tuned for that! The main focus of this patch however is to simplify the gameplay. The feature above will add a bit more complexity, and GSA is already a fast and complex game! So this version is "making space" for this upcoming feature by removing some complex mechanics that are mildly fun, but not enough to justify their extra complexity, and ultimately just become a bit of a mental tax that you need to think about if you want to play well. I'll give some examples, but it's a bit wordy and you can just skip to the changelog for a quick list of changes. A good example is the penalty for death. This is now changed to give a flat 100xp penalty. If you die 6 times in a match, you'll have -600xp. Very simple. Just try to avoid dying. That's all you need to know and you can now go back to getting kills. The previous system however was more complicated. You lost 50% of your current XP towards the next level. This meant that if you just leveled up you'd lose a small amount, but if you were almost at the end you'd lose a lot! Now.. that is quite interesting. But it added a whole new level of complexity to the game. Good players needed to constantly check their XP bar to see where they were at, and know when they should take risks or not. Often though you'd forget this and then see a huge amount of XP drain away which felt bad. Ultimately, GSA is so fast-paced that it's more fun to just focus on getting clean kills, instead of having to constantly manage your XP bar. In a simpler or slower game this could be cool, but GSA is so fast it's just too much to focus on, and takes focus away from quality combat. Another example is that this version removes the rare loot icons in the minimap. It's another thing to keep track of, that gets your mind into the UI and out of the game itself. Now you can just focus on exploring the city itself, instead of heading to checkpoints in a map. Another mechanic that got cut was the "first 3 kills of each round give bonus XP" rule. This cluttered up the HUD and it's just simpler to give a flat +100xp per kill. Finally, rounds are 1 minute longer to give sufficient time to explore and shop before the circle pushes you into overtime. In general, this version should let you just exist in the city itself, and focus on quality combat without having to constantly check various parts of the HUD. Feedback is welcome of course! Enjoy! bencelot ---- [GENERAL CHANGES] - Wanted stars now appear in the middle of the screen when the "WANTED LEVEL X/5" message shows. - Holding ALT will now show the names of guns in the bottom right. - The "PLAY VS BOTS" button is renamed to "PRACTICE MODE" and it works slightly differently: - In Practice mode, you will become invulnerable if you stand still and avoid shooting for 1s. There are only 12 bots in the lobby, and they are easier. You can't earn trophies in this mode. This is a good mode for players to explore the mechanics, read UI elements and skill descriptions, without fear of being shot at. - Daily challenges give 250 acid and 2500 XP instead of 200 and 2000. - The Deluxe DLC will now give 3x instead of 2x to these daily challenges. And it gives 3x instead of 4x to the ACID level ups (150 instead of 200). This is overall a buff, and should give DLC players DLC roughly +1000 more ACID per day (aka 1 flask). - Legendary packs are only available to players who have bought the DLC or starter pack first. - Added a new "CLAIM ALL" button when leveling up. [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - There are now 4 minutes before overtime instead of 3. - The first 3 kills of the round rule has been removed. Too complex. Instead, all player kills give +100xp more than before. - When you die, you now lose a fixed 100xp, instead of 50% of your current XP progress. This removes the mental need to keep track of your current XP progress. - Rare loot crates no longer show in the minimap, nor do heart crates show for survivors. - It once again takes 3 kills instead of 2 kills to get the skill in the 3rd build slot at levels 4 and 6. - No new skill appears at level 12 anymore. This is moved back to level 15 (but almost no one ever reaches this). 5 skills is enough. - Hearts now give $100 instead of 10xp for survivors. - The civilian gangster mission and place chemicals mission no longer appear in round 1. - The kill zombies civ mission only requires 1 kill instead of 2. - Vendor upgrades do prices differently. Instead of the price going up per purchase across all upgrades. It goes up on a per upgrade basis. The first purchase costs $9000, then the next $12000, then the final one is $15000. - Vendor upgrades for skills won't appear if you don't have any skill that works with it. [CLASS CHANGES] - Assassin only gains +15% instead of +20% upgrade power per kill. - Caster now get a -33% discount on skill upgrades instead of a -50% discount. - Scavenger's second perk has been removed and replaced with a new one called: "Swift Shifts" - Swift Shifts: Restore shift charges +33% faster when moving, or +100% faster when stationary [SKILL CHANGES] - Soul Drop no longer steals health from enemies. It still does the damage, but you no longer get that amount of health back as well (way too OP). - Clusterbomb has a smaller range to toss at nearby players, only 35m instead of 45m - Self Repair cooldown now ranges from 18s to 12s, instead of staying fixed at 15s - Self Repair healing now ranges from 20 to 80hp instead of 20 to 110hp - Frenzy duration now ranges from 20s to 14s, instead of being fixed at 20s - Revenge Rockets bazooka damage now ranges from 50% to 110% instead of 30% to 90% - Regeneration healing rate now ranges from 6 to 24hp/s instead of 5 to 20hp/s - Shrapnel damage now ranges from +20% to +80%, instead of +20% to +110% - Smoke Bomb healing now ranges from 8 to 32hp/s instead of 6 to 24 hp/s - Flying Dagger damage now ranges from 100% to 130% instead of 85% to 115% - Invis move speed is now +10 to +40% instead of +16 to + 64%. Gun penalty duration is now 0.5 instead of 1.0s. - Boots of travel move speed is now +12 to + 48% instead of +16 to +64%. It kicks in after 0.5 instead of 0.7s. - Phase Drifting speed now ranges from +40% to +100% instead of +60% to +120%

[ 2025-02-15 13:22:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all, this is a special announcement! URANIUM has been rescaled to 50% of it's previous value. This means the COSTS and REWARDS and BALANCES in everyone's account is now exactly 50% of the previous value. Relatively, nothing changes. If you notice that you have half as much uranium as before, this is why. But it is OK because everything is exactly half as expensive, so your purchasing power is the same as before. Actually, everyone's uranium has been scaled down to 50%, and then had +200 added for fun, and to make up for the confusion. Why make this change? Because it will align the prices with USD better. This change name makes 1000 uranium = $10 USD. This makes for easier maths, less confusion and more transparency. So basically everything was rescaled down 50%, with these exceptions (all of them make things cheaper and better for players): - Weekly challenges used to give 5/10/15/20/50 uranium (100 total). Now they give 5/10/15/20/25 (75 total, or the equivalent of 150 in old values). So they are +50% more rewarding. - Leaderboard rewards are also better. Genetic God used to give 600 uranium, now it gives 400, but it should have been rescaled down to 300. So at 400 it is +33% more rewarding. - All shop items got 50% cheaper. So did the cost of bonus daily challenges. But a few items got even cheaper than that: - Epic Flasks used to cost 400 uranium. Now they cost 150. - Epic Class Flasks used to cost 500, and now they cost 200. - Shard boosters used to cost 500, now they cost 200. - The uranium cost to swap DNA between classes used to be 30 x DNA%, but it is now 10 x DNA% (capped at 500). Hopefully this doesn't confuse anyone! Also, there are some small gameplay changes listed below. Cheers, Ben. ---- [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - Criminal's 3rd perk is now called "Shifty Soldiers": Every time you shift, there is a 3% chance to summon a gangster to join your gang (max 1). - Killing a criminal will also instantly kill his entire gang. - Magnets have a 20% hit rate instead of 15%. - There are now 18 instead of 24 players in a server - Fission mines from the Minefield perk are now visible instead of hidden - Assassin's upgrades gain +20% instead of +15% per kill - Assassin's no longer lose their potential next upgrade when they die. - In squads mode, you get $5000 instead of $3000 for capturing gang loot - As a survivor, hearts now display as XP - Score is now given automatically for kills in overtime, instead of having to pick it up - Dying once again removes all of your XP towards the next level. - Players no longer gain score for the final 5 placement - More loot pops out of enemies when you kill them

[ 2025-01-17 20:02:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

ROUND MODIFIERS

Round modifiers change the game. In GSA there are 3 battle royale rounds per match. At the end of each round, all players will now vote on a round modifier. The modifier that wins will become active for the rest of the match, affecting all players equally and changing the rules of the game.
In the screenshot above we see that there were 2 choices after I won the warmup. Crate Race: After opening 30 crates, you'll get 2 vendor upgrades. 360 No Scopes: Spinning 360 degrees briefly makes your next bullet do +25 damage. 360 No Scopes got more votes because it has more meme potential, and so for the rest of the match everyone was spinning in circles frantically trying to one-shot one another.

Adapting to New Modifiers

Modifers don't just add roguelitey variety. They also adds strategic depth. For example, with 360 No Scopes you might want to pivot to a sniper build, because sniper rifles have a long delay between shots anyway, giving you time to do a quick twirl before your next shot. Sticking with an SMG however won't let you make much use of this modifier, because you'd be better off just aiming at the enemy as you spray. Once you decide to pivot to a sniper build, you'll then start making other choices in-game, like taking sniper-friendly skills that give you faster bullets. Before you know it, you're running a completely different build to the previous match, all because this wacky modifier won the vote. But had Crate Race won instead, you could go for something totally different (like movement speed skills to loot extra fast). GSA's gameplay was already quite varied due to the random skill drafting, but with 3 round modifiers in each match and thousands of possible combinations, no two matches will ever be the same.

Round Wins Now Matter

The cool thing about this feature is that if you win the round, you get far more influence over the vote. You not only get more votes than everyone else, but you get to decide what is even voted upon in the first place! This is determined by your modifier build.
In the screenshot above you can see I created a build for the Assassin class (the 6 modifiers shown on the right). Whenever I win a round while playing as Assassin, this build is used, and 2 of the modifiers are randomly selected for voting. In this case it was Crate Race and 360 No Scopes. But I would have been happy for ANY of these modifiers to show up, because I specifically equipped modifiers that synergize nicely with the Assassin class. This synergy potential makes round wins really matter. Because no matter what gets voted on, you can be sure that as the round winner, the next modifier that appears will combo nicely with your class and playstyle.

UNLOCK MODIFIERS WITH SHARDS

With this version, there are 54 modifiers in the game, with more to be released soon! These modifiers are split into 18 commons, 12 rares, 12 epics, and 12 legendaries. Players start with all the commons unlocked and can start creating builds immediately. But to get the rest, you'll need to spend shards.

Spend Shards to Get Modifiers

Shards are a currency that you mostly get from leveling up your classes. When you get 100 shards, you can spend them to supercharge your next flask and make it drop a modifier. Doing this gives you a 10% chance to drop a legendary modifier, a 35% chance to get an epic or higher, and a 100% chance to get a rare modifier or higher. In the screenshot above I unlocked the legendary Thug Drops modifier, which changes how gangs work (more on gangs below!). Now I am free to equip Thug Drops to my modifier builds and give it a chance to appear when I win my next match. It is also possible to get new modifiers without spending shards, but this is extremely unlikely. It's just a 0.2% chance to get a random legendary modifier for free in any flask. This is just for fun, and shards are the main way. Also, if you hit a duplicate modifier in the flask, that's OK. Those 100 shards will get turned into 100 ENRICHED SHARDS instead, which lets you buy legendary modifiers directly from the shop.

Sharing The Love

The thing I love about this system is that you share these unlocks with others. You don't just unlock Thug Drops for yourself, no. It is a round modifier that affects everyone in the server. This means it's not just veteran players with 100+ hours in the game that get to experience this content. Whenever they win, we all get to try out some of the crazy legendary modifiers that they've unlocked. It also means that if you're a more casual player, you can still get lucky, unlock a sweet legendary modifier, and be one of the only players in the entire game who has the ability to make this specific modifier appear. There will be many players who don't have that modifier, and haven't even played it before. And then suddenly when you win your next match, there it is. And if you're feeling generous, you can vote for this new legendary modifier just so they can try something new. In this way, unlocking new modifiers doesn't just benefit you, it benefits the whole community.

Weekly Modifiers

There are also weekly modifiers. These rotate every week, and they are added to everyone's build. So you have your 6 equipped modifiers, and then the 2 weekly modifiers bring the total up to 8. These are randomly shuffled up and then 2 are chosen for voting each round. This means that we'll see the weekly modifiers more often, and if you want you can strategize around them.
In the screenshot above we see: Gold Rush: 30s into the round, multiple rare loot crates will land in the safe zone. Skill Scan: Reveal nearby enemies for 5s after casting a skill. Gold Rush combos nicely with Scavenger, as they duplicate every bit of loot they pick up. And Skill Scan synergizes with Caster, as they tend to run more active skills due to faster cooldowns. If you're feeling sweaty and want to try grind the leaderboards, it might be worth focussing on one of these 2 classes for a couple of days to get an edge! These change every Friday and Monday morning.

GANGSTERS

This version takes GSA one step closer to GTA with the addition of Gangsters! You'll sometimes find a gang of 4 gangsters guarding some loot. If you capture the loot by standing inside the yellow circle for 5 seconds you will gain +$5000. Unless of course the "Thug Drops" modifier mentioned above is in play, in which case a far more valuable supply drop will land instead.
However, these gangsters are tough, and will kill you fast. You normally need to kill all 4 gangsters before trying to capture their loot. They have 200 health each and high damage. You can't just run in blind or you'll die. You need to actually think about how you take them out, ideally smart and one at a time. You might even want to take some AoE skills like Radiate or use Molotovs to take them out faster.

Risk vs Reward

One of the gangsters will have a red backpack that is emitting smoke. When this gangster is killed he will explode, dealing 100hp damage to nearby enemies. This might be a good way to kill the other gangsters fast, if you can line them up just right. But it's risky. The risk is that this explosion will also aggro the remaining gangsters permanently. This makes them chase you forever across the map and gain infinite vision of you too. This is a huge risk, because gangsters hurt and the last thing you need in this city is to make more enemies. So if you go for the backpack guy, make sure you take the rest out at the same time! Otherwise, maybe save that guy for last.

OTHER BIG CHANGES

- Skill builds now only have 8 slots instead of 12. The middle 4 slots (for Epic and higher) have been removed for simplicity. The old system was too complex, and with round modifiers now ALSO getting their own builds, it was too much. - The first active skill gives +30 max hp when you claim it. This rewards players who take at least one active skill, which ultimately makes the game more fun and varied for everyone. - Brought back the mission arrow that shows the nearest mission civ. This helps new players always find something to do. Don't know how to farm? Just follow the arrow, do a mission and repeat. Just like in GTA2. - Reworked the real-money prices of Uranium, Starter Packs and Legendary Packs. Also changed what's in them. They have the same general value as before, but the Starter pack now gives Epic flasks instead of XP Flasks, and the Legendary Packs cost $10, but gives more uranium than before. The Deluxe DLC is unaffected. - You can now auto-open flasks to drastically reduce clicks. Right click flasks to queue them up, then click open. The game will go through all the flasks in the queue, spending ACID, shards and magnets as needed. This is useful for players who have stockpiled a lot of ACID and flasks and can't be bothered to click a bunch of times. Now you can queue them up and let it run while you go get a cup of coffee. Any new round modifiers or legendary drops will be indicated for you when it's done. - Added a feature that lets you spend uranium to entirely swap all the DNA from one class to another. View it in the skills page. This helps players who invested all of their ACID and flasks into a single class (usually Assault as that's the starting one), but then feel trapped. You can now shift all of that data onto another class to try something new. - Added some sick new menu music!

CHANGELOG

[MINOR GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - We only lose half our XP instead of all of it on death. - We get just +1 score for overtime kills instead of +2 score. The focus is now more on your level. - Players in general move, shoot and reload very slightly faster. - Bullets now "attach" to the ground so you can shoot enemies behind slopes. - Random skills mode now gives +10% instead of +20% cash and XP. - The requirements for the "earn trophies" daily challenge is doubled. But the 4th daily requirements is halved. - Vendor upgrade costs now increase by $3000 instead of $2000 per purchase. - Civs and cops no longer use pistols against you at wanted level 1, even if you shoot them. - Level ups only give +5 instead of +10 max hp. - Everyone spawns with 20% shield, which goes up to 60% after 4 kills. - Improved bot pathfinding and difficulty. - Added new civilian missions. - We can now carry up to 5 nades instead of 4 at a time. - Chemicals restore charges every 40s instead of 60s. [CLASS CHANGES] - Heavy's ROF perk now gives 1.0% ROF per level, but +3.5% when below 50% health (instead of a flat 2.5% all the time). - Caster's active cooldowns restore +50% instead of +40% faster. - Criminal no longer goes undercover and looks like a cop. That perk is replaced. Criminal's new perk is called "Shifty Civilians" and will cause the nearest civilian to teleport to your location when you shift (25% of the time). - Scientist's gain +$500 instead of +$1000 for deaths nearby chemicals. [SKILL CHANGES] - Backtrack healing now ranges from 20% to 50% instead of 20% to 80% - Blade Mail protection now ranges from 9 to 27% instead of 10 to 40%, but it begins at 40% health instead of 30% - Medical Supplies nerfed to have healing and throw go from 6 to 24 instead of 8 to 32 - Mana Shield protection now ranges from 8 to 32% instead of 10 to 40% - Boots of Travel now kicks in after 0.7 instead of 0.8s - Shrapnel damage now ranges from 24% to 96% instead of 20% to 80% - Venom Shot seeking speed is now 70 instead of 50 - Illicit Income gives 2x cash and XP for all levels - XRay Vision now reveals slightly more players - Blade Fury now does 2x damage vis civs/cops/gangsters - Shockwave heals 1 less health per bullet for all levels - Bullet Time seeking now ranges from 10 to 70 instead of 10 to 40 degrees/s - Flying Dagger damage is now 85% to 115% instead of 70% to 100% - Mirror Image gets +10 health

WHAT'S NEXT? BATTLE PASS!

The next major feature will be a monthly battle pass. It will include a bunch of shards, ACID and other goodies in both the free and paid tracks. It will have fun weekly missions, and make it easier to unlock more round modifiers (and there will be a LOT more coming!). I'm not sure exactly on the design of the battle pass yet, but I am sure that I don't want it to expire. If you buy it, you won't need to rush to complete it. You should be able to progress at your own pace. Anyway, that will be a while away. And there are a lot more modifiers to create in the meantime. Cheers and happy new year! Ben (bencelot).

[ 2025-01-10 16:51:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

A BUNCH OF STUFF

This is a summary of the biggest changes over the last few months. A few of these features have been live for a while, but I hadn't made a Steam announcement for them yet. If you've played the game recently you might have seen some of these, but if not, here's what's new in the world of GSA!
Explosive Boxes There are fun new ways to kill people. Some of the loot crates are now shown in red. These are explosive and will deal 60hp damage to anyone nearby, including yourself! If you want to claim the loot inside them you should shoot them from afar first, as running into them to open the crate will hurt. They crates also deal extra damage vs vehicles and are a great way to initiate a fight!

Car Physics Kills Even cooler, when cars explode the car body will now blast forwards out of the explosion. The car will deal huge roadkill damage as it slides across the ground, killing anyone caught in it's path. So now you can set traps by parking cars in chokepoints. I like to drive a car up to an incoming supply drop where I know a lot of enemies will be, and then pull off trick shots like these.
Pretty Graphics Various parts of the game look better. The lighting is more vibrant and colourful. The circle of death is easier to see as it now has a little row of dots showing its edge.

The Uranium Shop Players can now finally spend their Uranium! If you have or buy the Deluxe Edition DLC, you will get a bonus 3000 uranium, but everyone can also earn uranium for free. Daily challenges, leveling up, and opening flasks all give uranium, which you can spend in the new shop. The shop displays new offers every day, selling things like ACID, Magnets, direct DNA purchases and various Flasks. Most popular are the class-specific flasks, which guarantee Epic or Legendary drops for your favourite classes. Uranium makes account progression more strategic and gives you more control over how your account progresses. You can even wishlist your favorite skills by right clicking on them, and they will appear in the shop more often, allowing you to buy DNA directly on your favorite skills and classes.
Progression & Flasks Streamlined The new progression system has seen many improvements since it was released 5 months ago. Huge thanks to all the Early Access testers who gave feedback on this! Flasks are more convenient to claim as there are no longer any inventory limits. You can stack flasks infinitely. You have the option to convert regular class flasks into Epic flasks. This means that flasks for the classes you don't play are no longer useless. You can turn them into Epics which are always useful. The flask animation got a lot of criticism for being too slow, so that has been sped up 2x faster. And there is also a new "QUICK MIX" option that removes the animation entirely (except for when an Epic or Legendary is about to pop out).
Automatic Skill Builds The recently added skill builds got a huge improvement due to the new "Auto Build" feature. By clicking the AUTO button the game will automatically assign 12 skills to your build for you. It chooses these skills based on 3 factors. The rarity of the skill, hardcoded synergies that I know work well with that specific class, and most importantly, your personal skill usage. The game will track how much you use each skill based on your "votes" when you click the skills during drafting in-game. Then based on this information it creates a build that prioritizes your favourite skills. It works pretty well, and is convenient for new players who aren't sure what skills they like yet.
New Survivor Income Loot Drops The survivor income is the biggest source of XP in the game. This is a battle royale after all, and survival needs to matter. But it used to work in a fairly confusing way. Now it works like this: Roughly once per minute, every survivor in the game will receive a special supply crate that lands right next to them. This contains a huge amount of XP, far more than you will get from other sources like cops, missions or kills. Only survivors get this though, not zombies. So if you want to farm up and become as strong as possible for the round 3 showdown, you need to stay alive! This mechanic is more visual and intutive to new players. But it also adds interesting gameplay considerations for veterans. You get a 3 second warning before your box drops, which gives you just enough time to get to safety to claim it. You can also claim other player's income boxes, if you can somehow kill them before they claim it. The semi-random nature of the drops means you never know when it will come, and so when you hear the warning beeps you have to think fast to ensure you successfully claim this huge source of farm.
Random Class Options You can now select a random class before you join a match. This gives you a subtle +10% XP boost, to compensate for the fact that you aren't able to counter of use your best class. This is in the rougelitey spirit of the game, and rewards players who have mastered every class. There's also a "Random Everything" mode, which also will not only randomise your class, but also your skill build too. Since this feature was added about 25% of players have been using it, from the looks of the leaderboards.
Hundreds of Tweaks to Skills, Classes and Mechanics There are too many micro tweaks to list here, but they're all listed in the changelogs in game. Here are some of the highlights though: - Added a new Kill Frenzy loot pickup, inspired by GTA2. This triggers a mission where you have 30s to kill 5 enemies. - Added a new DOUBLE DAMAGE loot pickup, also inspired by GTA2. Collecting this gives you double damage for the next 3 seconds. It's good to camp one of these and wait for an unsuspecting victim to come nearby. - New loot crates are randomly hidden on rooftops, encouraging exploration and rewarding players who know how to do parkour. - Killing enemies now gives cash and XP based on your kill streak. $100 and 10xp per streak. So if you kill your 8th player without dying, it gives $800 and 80xp. This rewards survival, and puts a big focus on quality instead of quantity kills. - Added a camera zoom option, which lets you zoom the camera out to see your surroundings better. - Scoring is reworked. It is now based entirely on placement of each round, with later rounds giving more score. Your level or kills now have no impact on your score. This is important as it frees you up to just focus on the survival and build optimisation, instead of feeling the need to constantly grind kills to keep up. - Free to Play players can now play all the survival mode difficulty modifiers. This allows them to compete with Deluxe DLC players on the daily leaderboards for top score. - Boxes cast line of sight shadows more aggressively, creating more line of sight blockers in the map. We used to be able to see over a 5m tall box, but now we can't. Creating more interesting gameplay fighting around these. - Too many class and skill balances to list here. Check the changelog in game!

WHAT'S NEXT? ROUND MODIFIERS!

The next major feature will be a literal game-changing new "round modifiers" system. How will it work? In a match of Gene Shift Auto, there are 3 rounds, lasting 5 minutes each. Soon, each of these rounds will have a special modifier or minigame activated during it. I will create a bunch of these modifiers, but only one will be active at a time. Some ideas I'm thinking of are: - The Floor is Lava! Areas of the map turn to fire, changing how we move about. - Meteor Strike! Meteors will randomly fall from the sky, giving 2s warning before hitting the ground. - Turbo Guns! Everyone will fire bullets +50% faster. - Spinning Saws! Giant saws will spin at various chokepoints in the map, requiring timing to get through. Just like dungeon crawling in Skyrim.
Each round, a new random modifier will be chosen. This will add huge amounts of variety and replayability, and really lean into the roguelitey vibes too. Players will need to adapt to the changing situation if they want to survive and farm as well as possible. Even cooler is how these modifiers are chosen. They are chosen semi-randomly, but importantly they will ultimately be decided by the winner of the previous round. If you win round 1, then you'll be the one who decides what modifier is active in round 2! This seems super fun to me. The stakes for winning rounds 1 and 2 will become huge, knowing that you'll be deciding the gameplay for everyone else in the server next round. Getting to choose also will have subtle gameplay advantages, as you might be able to choose a modifier that you are especially good at, or that synergises nicely with your build. Anyway, this will be released in a couple of months, so stay tuned! Cheers, Ben (bencelot).

[ 2024-09-20 10:57:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Heyo! Just a small patch today. There are some balance changes and a rework to how we earn Shards. Shards still don't do anything, so this rework doesn't really matter yet. But we now earn them from leveling up our classes. We also need a certain number of Legendary skills in a class to reach the next level. To make sure we all get the right class level and get the correct amount of Shards, I've had to roll back everyone's class levels a bit. This will let you reclaim up to the new right class level, get the right amount of shards, and also get a free +300 ACID for each class level up. Woo! This version also now has a RANDOM CLASS BUTTON. This is to encourage players to experiment and get more variety in their gameplay. You will gain a slight +15% cash and XP boost to compensate for the lack of reliability. Or randomize your skills too for +30%! Enjoy! ---- [GENERAL CHANGES] - Made the chat log bigger and integrated Discord. - Daily challenges must now be claimed from the main menu. - Added pretty visual effects whenever you claim resources in the menu. - Added a coming soon button for the shop. [SHARD & CLASS LEVEL CHANGES] - Shards are no longer earned from earning excess DNA on your legendary skills, nor are they earned from leveling up. - Shards are instead earned by levelling up your classes. You get +30 shards and +300 ACID per class level up. - Class levels now have 2 requirements. You need X amount of trophies like before, but now you also require a certain number of legendary skills on that class. - This makes higher class levels harder to reach, so to compensate, gun skin cosmetics are now unlocked at earlier combined class levels. - Everyone's shards have been reset and class levels rolled back, so you can re-level your classes to get up to the new amount, and get the right amount of shards. - FYI, Shards will eventually be used to unlock alternative class perks, letting us swap existing perks out for new ones. Coming soon! [EXCESS DNA CHANGES] - Excess DNA that you earn when a skill reaches Legendary is no longer turned into shards. Instead it is stored on the skill itself. - For every 5000 excess DNA that you earn, your skill will gain +1 medal level (the old way of earning skill medals is removed). - These medal levels contribute towards your total class medal count, which is a new requirement used to unlock higher class levels. - It now takes 5000 instead of 4500 DNA for a skill to reach legendary status. All players have their existing epic and legendary skills boosted by +500 DNA to compensate. - You can now make progress towards your next magnet from earning excess DNA (previously excess DNA didn't count and was "wasted"). [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - Shotguns have 35 instead of 30m range and slightly better accuracy. - Rare loot crates spawn more frequently in the map. - Vendor skill duration upgrades are now +25/50/75% instead of +30/60/90%. - Vendor skill speed upgrades are now +30/60/90% instead of +20/40/60%. - Added 2 new "random class" options that become available when you hit level 100. - Random Class: Play a random class, prioritizing daily challenges if available. Your skill build will match the selected build on that class. You earn +15% cash and XP from all sources in-game, and get +15% XP at the end of the match. - Random Class & Skills: Play a random class, prioritizing daily challenges if available. You'll use a random skill build, but get +1 extra reroll.. You earn +30% cash and XP from all sources in-game, and get +30% XP at the end of the match. - Vendors are more likely to carry chemicals, especially during round 1 (buffing Scientist). [CLASS CHANGES] - Criminal's gang now fires at enemy cops and civs who are attacking and hunting you. [SKILL NERFS] - Charged Shot now only gives half as much damage after throwing a grenade - Shrapnel chance of free nade now ranges from 40% to 160% instead of 100% to 400% - Mirror Image clone damage is now 12% to 30% instead of 10% to 40% - Radiate initial impact damage is now 10 to 70hp instead of 20 to 80hp - Falling Inferno duration is now +2 to +5s instead of +2 to +8s - Toxic Blood duration is now +4 to + 7s instead of +4 to +10s [SKILL BUFFS] - Automatic Armor protection time is now 1.5s instead of 1s - Blade Mail has more protection, ranging from -14% to -56% instead of -10% to -40% - Combo Killer now drops more loot per multi kill level, ranging from 40% to 160% instead of 30% to 120% - Armed Robbery's chance of a free upgrade now ranges from 8% to 32% instead of 6% to 24% - Firestorm's cooldown now ranges from 16s to 10s instead of 20s to 14s - Spike Trap's cooldown now ranges from 18s to 12s instead of 20s to 14s

[ 2024-07-12 08:55:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Oops, I fucked up. I accidentally wiped everyone's DNA while working in the database. This is super embarrassing and I'm really sorry! The backups were also too old to use (though I've now made sure this can never happen again). Here's the plan to fix this. We're going to RESPEC our builds: 1) First of all, everyone over level 10 gets +1000 free uranium as an apology (equal to $10 USD, usable in the shop next version). 2) Everyone's ACID has been refunded. 3) Everyone's level is back to 0 (but XP is NOT reset). This allows us to very quickly reclaim all the flasks and get back to where we were before. 4) Flasks and shards are reset (as you'll re-earn all of these as you open the flasks again). Magnets earned from DNA are reset for same reason. Overall, we will all have roughly as much DNA as before. The big downside is that it will be a pain to open all those flasks in a row. To open them faster, hold SHIFT when you click the MIX FLASK button! The upside is that we'll all be a bit richer than before, as you get to keep the ACID, uranium, new skills, and magnets you previously unlocked from non-DNA sources, as well as the +1000 free uranium. Also, this is an opportunity to reuse your magnets to perfectly craft your builds. I'm really sorry about this, I screwed up hard! Please send me a message on Steam if you have any problems. In other news, there are some fun things in this version! Progression is way smoother now, with the ability to infinitely stack flasks. Scoring in PvP is now based entirely on placement, and F2P players can now attempt ALL survival challenges. Let's see who gets the top score! Enjoy! (and again, sorry for the fuckup.) ---- [GENERAL CHANGES] - Each class now has 3 builds slots, so you can create multiple skill builds per class. - Right clicking on skills will wishlist them, which will make them appear more often in the shop. You can do this from leaderboards, the skill tree, or when opening flasks. [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - Scoring in BR is completely reworked! We no longer get score for levels or kills. This removes the need to grind non-stop to keep up. Instead, we receive score based ONLY on our placement each round. - The scores for placement are awarded to the final 10 players of each round: + 1/2/3/4/5/6/8/10/15/20 score (these values are for round 1. Rounds 2 and 3 are bigger). - We no longer earn bonus health based on round placement, as we earn score instead. More health kits spawn in the map to compensate. - If you damage a player but then within the next 10s they die to cops, then you are given the kill. - The player hitbox is now slightly smaller, and all guns deal 10% less damage. - The amount of XP you can get from ingame farming is capped at 6000 instead of 8000. - Winning a BR match now gives much more XP. XP rewards range from 6000 to 2000xp, instead of 2000xp to 100xp. - In warmups, instead of the circle closing in super tight which looks quite ugly, everyone just dies when the timer hits 0:00. [FLASK & PROGRESSION CHANGES] - All flask types can now be stacked up to 999 each per slot. - Flask inventory size is 24 for all players, F2P and Deluxe. - Sped up the flask animation 2x. You can hold SHIFT when opening flasks to make it even faster. - Class flasks once again only give 2 instead of 3 drops for that class. - Class flasks can now only be sold in batches of 3 at a time. However they give 100 ACID each instead of 50 each (so 300 for a batch of 3). - The Epic Skill Flask is now called "Epic Class Flask" and gives a random class instead. - XP flasks now cost 2000 instead of 3000 ACID. - Chance of unlocking a ring 4 skill is now 10% instead of 5%. [SURVIVAL CHANGES] - F2P players can now complete all survival challenges, and not just the first row. This allows all players to compete on the daily leaderboards for top score. - Removed the bonus XP from win streaks in survival mode. It's better for people to be able to take risks and experiment with harder survival modifers, without fear of losing the streak. - The bonus XP from difficulty modifiers in survival mode now only apply when you win the run, in the same way the bonus score works. - The "Adaptation" survival difficulty modifer is changed. It used to only show you 1 skill option instead of 2. Now it gives you 1 less reroll. - The final round of survival now also has a zombie swarm. [CLASS CHANGES] - Criminal's gang members will no longer trigger fission mine. - Scientist's Alchemic Network no longer restores your health when enemies are nearby. However it gives $1000 instead of $500 per enemy death, and the range is much larger. - Scientist's Potent Chemicals perk now additionally makes chemicals be on discount from vendors. - Sniper's bonus range is now +15% instead of +20%. [SKILL CHANGES] - Killer Cooldowns now also restores the cooldowns of your chemicals, by 5% to 35% restored per kill. - Falling Inferno no longer throws another molotov when you toggle off certain skills (like Invis or Bullet Time). - Critical Rage duration now ranges from +40% to +160% instead of +50% to +200%. - Invis duration now ranges from 6 to 24s instead of 10 to 40s. - Clip Magnet's charge time now ranges from 24 to 18s instead of 24 to 12s. - Cluster Bomb cooldown is now 18 instead of 20s. - Fire Storm now does 5x instead of 2x damage vs cars. - Smoke Bomb now fades into invis 50% faster than before.

[ 2024-06-28 15:00:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Spicy changes this version! 1) All classes can now shoot while shifting. Instead of your gun being disabled, it will shoot with worse accuracy instead. This used to be Assault's perk, which now gets +15% bullet speed instead. 2) The skill build system has been restructured a bit. We can now equip Legendary skills into the Epic and Rare slots. This solves a problem where once you got 2 Legendary skills on a class, any new Leges felt kind of useless. 3) The game will now Auto-Level your skills if you join a game mid-match in rounds 2 or 3. This way we can just start playing, and not have to click 10+ times. The auto-leveling takes skills from your build and still gives Leges etc. There are also a few changes to Flask types, making them more powerful and interesting. Read on below! ---- [GENERAL CHANGES] - Daily challenges for playing specific classes now work in the Conquest game mode. - Sped up ranked mode slightly, making it so players don't have to grind as much to reach higher ranks. - Made some UI improvements to the Flask inventory. Also added a new PURCHASED tab, which doesn't do anything yet, but will become a place to store flasks that you buy with Uranium. [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - Changed bot behaviour to no longer priortize attacking the winning player in the server. This is usually a human and felt unfair. - Jumping on flat ground no longer makes your accuracy worse. Only if you jump really high in the air. - We can now shoot while shifting on all classes! However your accuracy is worse due to the movement. Machine guns and Rifles have a lot of inaccuracy, while SMGS and pistols have less. - When players join mid-match, they start with the average number of extra damage and health kits collected so far in the server. This is how XP and cash already worked. - When players join mid-match, the game will auto level skills for them. This simulates a player just spamming the right-hand side skill draft button (where your build appears). - The skill build system now allows Legendaries and Epics to show up at lower rarities. - The skill build is now split into 3 sections, clearly indicated in the menu. There is a new rule that you are guaranteed to see a skill from each of the 3 sections once per match. This helps you create synergies and combos. If you have a combo of 3 skills, put 1 in each section for a chance to play all 3 in a match. - Added a bounty system (patched live a week ago). When you get 4 kills in a row (OWNAGE!), $2000 appears above your head. Enemies who kill you get this reward. This grows up to $6000 if you get 12 kills in a row. [FLASK CHANGES] - Magnetic Flasks now only require 1 magnet to use, but they cost 3000 instead of 1500 ACID. - XP Flasks now give +50xp instead of +20xp per DNA earned, but they cost 3000 instead of 1000 ACID. - Catchup flask is improved. Instead of only giving DNA to your least played class, it gives it to all classes except your 2 most played classes. It still only costs 500 ACID to open. - Created a new flask type called "Legendary Class Flask". This is a legendary flask with a twist! It tells you what class the Legendary will be for. This changes every day at 0:00 UTC, and also whenever you open a flask. - Mystery flasks no longer give class specific Legendary flasks (as you might get stuck with a class you don't like). Instead they give the new "Legendary Class Flask" which gives more control over what class you get. [CLASS CHANGES] - Assault's first perk is now "You will move +10% faster, and your bullets travel +15% faster." It no longer lets you shoot while shifting, as ALL classes get that now. - Caster's skill cooldowns are now +50% instead of +60% faster. - When Criminals are undercover they no longer appear to enemies in the minimap. Your gang now does 70% instead of +65% regular cop damage. - Scientist's bombs will appear more frequently at vendors (50% instead of 33% of the time). - Assassin's bullets seek slightly faster during the 2s kill window. [SKILL CHANGES] - Blade Mail's max bonus damage cap is now 100 instead of 50. - Shift Attack's bonus damage now lasts for 0.8 instead of 1.0s after shifting. - Firestorm flies 10% faster through the air. - Firestorm cooldown is now 20/19/18/17/16/15/14 instead of a flat 20s. - Radiate's explosion area is reduced by 10%. - Laser Scope's bullet speed and range is reduced by 20%. - Cluster Bomb takes 0.2s longer to throw grenades for all levels. - Stimpacks heals 1 less hitpoint per shift for all levels. - Mirror Image health now ranges from 20 to 80 instead of 30 to 120. - Venom Shot seeking is now 40 instead of 50 degrees per second. - Charged Shot damage now ranges from 16 to 64 instead of 12 to 48. - Medical Supplies now pulls loot from big supply crates at 50% instead of 35% the distance. - Phase Drifting speed is now +40 to +160% instead of +50 to +200%. - Xray Vision has a higher range and reveals more enemies at higher levels. This range now also reveals rare loot crates further in the minimap. - Rambulance healing linger duration is 6 instead of 5s after you exit a car. - Backtrack cooldown now ranges from 20 to 14s, but the duration is massviely buffed to 5s to 35s (instead of 4s to 16s).

[ 2024-05-28 09:58:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! This is just a small polishing version. You might see that the version number is now 0.806 instead of 1.806. I should have done this a long time ago. As Gene Shift Auto is still in Early Access, it makes sense to save 1.0 for the full release (soon tm). The main feature in this version is a new AUTO SKILL BUILD button. Clicking this automatically creates a skill build for that class, from the skills you have available. This should make build creation faster. The skills chosen for your build are a combination of: 1) Your most used skills. When you choose skills in-game, the game remembers the skills that you click most often, and assumes they are your favorites. These are prioritized in build making. 2) Specific class synergies. Some skills synergize especially well with a certain class. For example, Shift Supply works well with Assault because Assault can shoot while shifting. These skills get a bonus boost as well. There are also a few small balance tweaks shown below. I've patched a few of these out already and mentioned them in the DEV-UPDATES chat channel, but here's a summary of the latest few changes. Enjoy! ---- [GENERAL CHANGES] - The version number is now shown as 0.XXX instead of 1.XXX. - Added a new AUTO skill build button as mentioned above. - You can now remove skills from build slots by clicking a little X on the button (right click also works). - After level 200 you can now sell class flasks from within the inventory. So you don't have to decide immediately if you want it or not. Just claim it and sell them later. - The builds shown on the leaderboards now shows their most recent WINNING build played. It doesn't update if the player doesn't win. - Players can now toggle the supporters medallion off, including in global chat and leaderboards. [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - Supply Drops in the final BR round always drop an upgrade. - Heart drops now spawn every 30s instead of every 60s. - When a heart drop lands, the icon changes in the minimap to show it's an available crate, not an incoming drop. - Heart crates continue to spawn during overtime (1 will spawn in squads mode and 2 in FFA, every 30s). - Zombie kills continue to give +1 heart, but you no longer get free vision of zombies during overtime. [CLASS CHANGES] - Assault's move speed is now +10% instead of +12%. - Criminal's gang does 65% instead of 50% damage. - Heavy's health kits now restore 25% of your MISSING health instead of 20% of your MAX health. Save them till the end! - Caster's cooldowns are now only +60% faster instead of +100%. - Scientist's bombs now deal +30% damage instead of +20%, blast you higher into the air, and are more frequently found at vendors. - Scientist's Alchemic Network gives +1 clip and +$1000 instead of +0.5 clips and +$500 per enemy death. [SKILL CHANGES] - Fixed a bug where Xray Vision wouldn't show enemies on the minimap. [CHEMICAL CHANGES] - Sonar Cells chemical no longer increases your view range. Instead it gives your bullets +7 degrees of seeking. - Fission Mine's passive no longer gives +1 grenade every 40s. Instead it makes your explosives have +20% explosion size. - Chemicals now have 2 instead of 3 charges - Chemicals now cost $6000 instead of $7000 - Chemicals take 2.5 instead of 3.0s to neutralize [BUG FIXES & OTHER THINGS] - Updated Chinese and German translations. Thanks guys <3

[ 2024-05-17 10:06:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

OPEN FLASKS & CREATE BUILDS!

Finally! Something to do. This is GSA's biggest version yet. It completely reworks the progression system, turning 36 skill unlocks into over 1000 skill rarities! We get these rarities by combinging ACID with a new resource called FLASKS. These skill rarities can then be used to equip your favorite skills and create cool skill builds.
This is an important version as it FINALLY gives GSA's biggest fans something to work towards. The old progression system was very simple. You would unlock 36 skills and then you're done. That only took about 30 hours, and then.. nothing. All the ACID you earned from doing challenges and playing matches couldn't be spent on anything, as there was nothing left to unlock. Some players have stockpiled millions of ACID over the years. Well now we finally have a system to work towards again, and this one will last a LOT longer. It's more fun when each match gives you real meaningful progress, so lets see how it works!

[MAJOR FEATURES]

Here is a summary of the new features, roughly in the order that we use them:
1) New Progression Track: As we earn XP we can move up this track and claim flasks. We can also get ACID, Magnets and other resources. Click your account level up the top left to view this. As you go up the track new types of flasks will become available. These special flasks are more advanced and require strategic thinking to use well. There are fun milestones to work towards, such as a Legendary Flask at level 100, which is guaranteed to give you a Legendary skill.
2) New Currencies: Most important are Flasks and Magnets. These 2 new currencies are combined with our existing currency of ACID to generate DNA. DNA is what lets us equip our skills to our builds. As you earn more DNA on a skill it will increase in rarity, allowing you to see it more frequently in your skill build. There are also 2 other currencies called Uranium and Shards, but they don't do anything yet. A shop will be added in a future version. But I've included these currencies now so players can start stockpiling them ahead of time.
3) Flask Inventory: There are different types of flasks. Starter flasks, Legendary flasks, etc. They go into your inventory on the Unlocks page. Here you can see I'm about to open a "Heavy Booster Flask", which costs 500 ACID. This gives a bunch of DNA specifically for the Heavy class. 4) Opening Flasks: Select a flask and spend ACID to open it. This shows a groovy animation and gives you random DNA on skills and classes. 5) Spending Magnets: When opening flasks you can also spend Magnets to guarantee DNA for a specific skill. This is very useful. Normally, Flasks give random DNA (like you would get random cards in other deck building games like Magic or Hearthstone). But Magnets let you control EXACTLY what gets DNA, so you can play with your favorite skills.
6) Class/Skill DNA: Each class has its own skill tree, with DNA on its skills. As you earn DNA your skills become Rare, Epic, then Legendary. These are indicated with blue, purple and yellow skill icons. In this image we can see that the Assault class has got 3 skills up to Legendary status.
7) Skill Builds: Each class has a build of 12 skill slots. There are 2 Legendary slots, 4 Epics slots, and 6 Rare slots. To equip a skill to a slot you first need enough DNA. For example, you need 500 DNA to equip a skill to the Rare slot. 1500 is required for Epic, and 4500 for Legendary. Here is a closeup of the Sniper class after a few hours of play. Some rarities have already been unlocked, with "Illicit Income" already equipped in a Legendary slot! Now, how do builds work? We don't see ALL 12 skills each game. That would be very repetitive. Instead, the game will show you 1 Legendary, 1 Epic and 1 Rare. This means that the skills you equip are more likely to appear, but not guaranteed. As there are only 2 Legendary slots, Illicit Income is going to appear in 50% of matches, and the other Legendary in the other 50%. In this case the other Legendary slot is empty, which means that it will be populated with a random skill. As there are 6 Rare slots however, you only see them 17% of the time. So Legendary is naturally better than Rare. If you really like a skill, you should Magnet it often so it accumulates DNA fast and reaches Legendary status. This will allow you to see if far more often than other skills.

[3 NEW CLASSES]

CRIMINAL class unlocks at level 50: - Gang Warfare: Civs and cops join your gang, following you and shooting enemies. Your max gang size is 3. - Undercover: You'l disguise yourself as a cop when at full health. Your health bar and any status effects on you are hidden to enemies. - Five Star Man: The time between cop waves is reduced by 50%. Killing cops restores +30 health. SCIENTIST class unlocks at level 60: - Ballistic Bombs: Vendors sometimes sell weapons with 3 clips worth of explosive bullets. These bullets explode on impact, dealing +20% damage. - Alchemic Network: For each enemy within 30m of your placed chemicals, you gain +1 hp/s. Also, all enemy deaths within range give you +$500 and +0.5 clips worth of Ballistic Bombs. - Potent Chemicals: Chemical passive and active effects are +50% stronger. Also, when you buy anything from vendors, restore +0.5 chemical charges. ASSASSIN class unlocks at level 70: - Dagger Dance: Every 8 seconds there is a 2 second window where your bullets seek towards enemies and deal +20% damage. (Hint, this 2 second window is synced with the music). - Kill Contracts: After completing a civilian mission, your next kill gives you +1 random vendor upgrade as long as you don't die. - Mastery: Kills during your 2s Dagger Dance window increase the power of your upgrades by +5% (max +100%). Dying halves this bonus.

[GAMEPLAY CHANGES]

- Allies can now pick up the same heart without denying each other. - Hearts expire after 10 seconds. An indicator now shows how long until loot expires. - Passive regen is now briefly paused when shifting. - Cops now have 60hp instead of 30hp, and super cops now have 100hp. - You only lose 1 wanted star when you die, not all of them. - Cops now pursue you even during overtime, so be careful! - At vendors you can pay $500 to remove 1 wanted star at a time. - Rerolling the skill draft now costs $1000 instead of $2000, but can only be done once per level. - Rerolling the draft when your build is shown now costs $3000 instead of $5000. You cannot reroll legendary drafts. - When your build is shown, a new indicator appears above the reroll button showing your other build options. One of these is randomly selected when you click reroll. - The legendary skill now appears at level 4 instead of 5. You'll usually see a rare or epic at levels 5 and 7 (but sometimes 1 and 2 are possible). - Rare, epic and legendary skills in the draft are now determined by your skill build instead of being chosen at random. If you haven't got a skill equipped to that slot, it shows a random skill. - Guns do 10% more damage, with a slight variance in damage deal. EG: USP damage is now 10 to 12, instead of fixed at 10. - Chemicals now only take 0.35s to activate instead of 1.0s.

[GENERAL CHANGES]

- There is a new progression track that lets us claim Flasks, ACID and other things. New types of flasks will appear when you reach higher levels. Scroll up to see what's coming (it starts repeating itself at level 300+). - Our account level is now based on our level in the new progression track. Your old XP isn't lost though! It'll accelerate your progress until you catch up to your old level. - Added a new currency called Uranium. Note, this doesn't do anything yet. There will be a shop where you can buy ACID and Magnets in a later version. - The Deluxe DLC now gives +1500 Uranium. All existing DLC owners have had this added to their accounts. - Daily challenges now give 400 ACID and 4000 xp instead of 200 ACID and 5000 xp. - Weekly challenges give more ACID, and the final one gives +50 Uranium. - Monthly leaderboards give 2x as much ACID. Higher ranks will also give Uranium (300 for Genetic God, 150 for Immortal, 50 for Bio Weapon). - Monthly leaderboards now show the skill build each person used in their latest match. You can toggle this off to view upcoming rewards instead. - Removed the all time XP leaderboard. This is now replaced with a monthly XP leaderboard. There's also a monthly ACID earned leaderboard. - Rearranged a few skills in the skill tree. This only matters because certain flasks unlock ring 3 or ring 4 skills. - Players now earn +3 magnets for every 3 recruits that they get. You also get +1000 ACID per recruit. - Players earn +10% bonus end of match XP for playing in a Steam party. - Skill badges are now based on how many classes have that skill at Legendary status. They don't affect gameplay, just to show off.

[CLASS CHANGES]

- Assault's move speed is now +12% instead of +10%. Reload time is now +60% instead of +70%. - Sniper's bullets must travel 70m instead of 60m to reach their full +20% damage (a slight nerf). - Heavy's Crisis Cover only reduces 2hp instead of 3hp of damage. Final Focus only gives +2% rate of fire instead of +3% per level. - Caster's skills have +100% cooldown speed instead of +70% cooldown speed. They heal 15% instead of 20% of your max hp when cast. - Caster gets +1 reroll instead of cheaper rerolls. Most classes can only reroll once, but caster can do it twice. - Caster no longer has the Potent Upgrades perk, instead it gets a new perk called Skill Synergy: - Caster: After each skill draft that shows your build, gain a random vendor upgrade. This upgrade matches the skill selected if possible.

[SKILL CHANGES]

- Shockwave now reveals enemies for 3 seconds. - Shift Supply has 1 less shift per level, but the added shift distance is now 60% larger. - Boots of Travel move speed is 80% what it used to be. - Rambulance's extra vehicle speed is halved, as it was too hard to drive. - Spike Trap's vulnerability duration is now 5s instead of 3s. Cooldown is a bit slower. - Firestorm clusters it's fireballs tighter together, making it more bursty. - Arcane Power is now renamed to Charged Shot, and has a new icon (in the Weaponry tree). - Proximity Rounds (and Arcane Power) have better graphics/sounds when fired. - Venom Shot now does impact damage for each dart, ranging from 4 to 16hp. - Venom Shot poison rate is 50% as strong as before (the point above makes it buffed overall). - Poison Trail's duration is 75% as long as it used to be. - Skill Shots gives 1 extra charge per kill, for all levels. - Smoke Bomb only heals you when you're at full invisibility. - Armed Robbery has a 33% higher chance of dropping upgrades when you kill vendors. - Manic Mechanic does 33% more bonus damage vs vehicles. - Combo Killer's bonus combo time is 50% as long as before. However, it now also makes victims drop loot when you kill them. There is a 30 to 120% chance to drop loot PER multikill level (so if you get a 10x combo that becomes 300% to 1200%. That's a lot of loot!)

[BUG FIXES & OTHER THINGS]

- Fixed a bug where Deluxe people would occasionally not see their cosmetics. - Updated Chinese and German translations. Thanks guys <3

[ 2024-04-19 17:37:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all, this version places a larger focus on SURVIVAL by introducing the Survivor's Income. When you're a survivor you will passively gain cash and XP over time. When you're a zombie however, this income is paused. You can see your Survivor Income growing up the top-right of the screen. The cash and XP shown will be given to you when you get your next kill. Then the income resets and starts counting up again. This means that you don't have to go crazy hunting for kills, as you'll get paid the same rate anyway. GSA is a Battle Royale and so it should have high-stakes around dying. But previously death only really mattered during overtime. Now death always matters, and the fastest way to farm is to play wisely and focus on quality kills only. Enjoy! bencelot ---- [SURVIVOR INCOME] - The Kill Reward is now called Survivor Income, and it now only grows while you're a survivor. - It will grow at $1200/min in round 1, $2400/min in round 2, and $3600/min in round 3. - For XP it grows at 120/min in round 1, 240/min in round 2, and 360/min in round 3. - During overtime it will grow 2x faster, making it extra beneficial to be alive in this time. - Survivor Income is capped at $9999 and 999 XP. Make sure you get a kill before it caps out or you'll miss out on income. - Cash and the Survivor Income are now shown up the top right of the screen, near the buy menu. [ECONOMY CHANGES] - We no longer lose 10% of our cash on death. Being a zombie and missing income is the new penalty. - Supply Drops and Rare Loot now give more cash and XP in round 2, and even more in round 3. - Streak Points now give +$5000 when you hit 5/10/20/30 instead of 5/10/15/20/25/30. - Vendor upgrades continue to get more expensive up to a cap of $20,000 instead of $10,000. [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - The final 6 players now get +5/10/15/20/25/30 max hp instead of +100/200/300/400/500/600xp. - Players once again gain +5 max hp per level instead of +10. However there are more health kits in the map to compensate. - Max health is now capped at 500 instead of 300. [VENDOR UPGRADE CHANGES] - Weapon damage now gives +6% instead of +5% per tier. - Weapon bullet speed is now +25% instead of +20% per tier. - Weapon rate of fire is now +8% instead of +6% per tier. [CLASS CHANGES] - Caster skill vendor upgrades are once again +50%, not +100%. - Caster's active skills now restore +20% of MAX health instead of a fixed +30hp when cast. They also get +70% cooldown speed instead of +50%. - Heavy's shield goes back to -3hp below 50%. - Heavy's health kits drop half as often, but give twice as much health. Easier to use. - Scavenger passive healing is now +100% faster instead of +150% faster. - Assault move speed is now +10% instead of +12%. - Sniper damage at range is now +20% instead of +25%. [SKILL CHANGES] - Executioner damage now ranges from 8 to 32 instead of 10 to 40%. [WEAPON CHANGES] - Nailgun clip size is now 30 instead of 25.

[ 2024-02-07 10:44:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all, this version adds a new class called Scavenger! Scavenger is all about looting. If you collect 50 bits of loot in a row without dying, you will hit the jackpot and suddenly double all of that farm. Scavenger also gets free loot for damaging enemies, and can heal much faster by standing still. This version also changes how the skill upgrades from vendors work. Skill upgrades no longer affect just one individual skill (eg: +20% Firestorm damage), but instead affect ALL skills that apply (eg: +10% to all damage skills). This is cool because we can make synergies. For example Firestorm, Executioner and Radiate all have the +DAMAGE tag, which means buying that upgrade will buff all 3 of them at once! Other neat changes are the ability to shoot while driving cars and some changes to the economy. Enjoy! bencelot ---- [GENERAL CHANGES] - Class icons are no longer shown during the warmup round. - Removed the skill stats tracking system that displayed skill medals. These didn't really do anything and added too much confusion. These will be reintroduced in a different way in a later version. - Daily challenges now give +5000xp instead of +2000 (or +10,000xp if you have Deluxe DLC). [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - 2x as much loot falls into the centre during showdowns. - Players who join a game halfway through, in R2 or R3 spawn with a tier 1 gun in addition to their USP. Skills are no longer auto-levelled for players. - When zombies get 4 hearts they will now respawn somewhere nearby, so they can continue their existing fight. - Players now gain +10 instead of +5 max hp per level, but level up slower and fewer random health kits exist in the map. [SKILL UPGRADES] - Skill upgrades purchased from vendors now affect ALL skills, allowing for some cool synergies between skills that share the same tag. - There are 6 tags you can upgrade: Cooldown Speed, Skill Damage, Skill Duration, Skill Size, Skill Speed, Skill Healing. - Check the skill tree to see what tags each skill qualifies for. Most skills are affected by multiple tags. - Vendor upgrades are now more expensive, costing $6000, then $8000, then $10000. [VEHICLE CHANGES] - You can now fire guns while driving cars! Doing so gives you +15 degrees of inaccuracy. - Vehicles have less health and provide a bit less protection to compensate. - Improved vehicle netcode. It shouldn't rubberband if your car explodes anymore. - More vehicles spawn in the map and bots drive them more frequently. [ECONOMY CHANGES] - When we die, instead of losing 10% of our kill reward, we lose 10% of our unspent cash. - Missions no longer give upgrades, instead they give a fixed +$3000 and +300xp per mission. - Getting 5 streak points now gives $5000 instead of 500xp. - Tightened up the levelling curve, slowing down the rate we level up, and giving new skills on levels 1/2/4/5/7 only. [NEW CLASS: SCAVENGER] - Added the 5th class called Scavenger. Scavenger is all about looting the map, getting dangerously close to enemies, but trying to survive. It's 3 perks are: - Copy Coin: If you collect 50 loot items without dying, you'll duplicate all of them. Dying will halve the amount currently collected. - Pickpocket: Damaging enemies makes them drop random loot, on a 8 second cooldown. The closer you are the more loot they drop. - Static Aid: Your passive regen will recharge and heal +150% faster whenever you stand still. [CLASS CHANGES] - Heavy's ROF increases by +3% instead of +2% per level. - Heavy's shield will now also activate when standing still. - Caster loses the Skill Lottery perk that gave you a level 1 legendary. Instead, the new skill-based vendor upgrades are +50% more powerful. [SKILL CHANGES] - All skills have been buffed slightly, by making their level 1 version stronger. For example Vampirism used to give +4/8/12/etc healing. Now it starts at +8/12/16/etc. [WEAPON CHANGES] - USP fire rate is now 360 instead of 300 - Deagle DPS remains the same, but now has 25hp x 240 rpm instead of 20hp x 300 rpm (more impactful) - UZI bullet speed is now 85 instead of 75m/s - SPAS spread is now 20 instead of 22 - AK47 damage is now 10 instead of 11, but fire rare is 515 instead of 450 (feels better). AK47 recoil is worse. - Ruger fire rate is now 80 instead of 72 - Barrett fire rate is now 48 instead of 50 - Tasers fire rate is now 360 instead of 300 - Nailgun fire rate is now 900 instead of 720, with damage at 9 instead of 10. DPS is thus 135 instead of 120 (highest in the game!) But the clip size is only 25 instead of 30. - Seek Rifle rpm is now 400 instead of 360, bringing DPS up to 107 instead of 96 - Minigun clip size is now 50 instead of 40 [BUG FIXES] - Fixed the max wanted steam achievement (for real this time)

[ 2024-01-26 14:29:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all, hope you had a great new years break. Just a small balance patch. FYI, these balance changes are based on feedback in Discord, but also on data collected from every player and every match. If a skill gets a higher win rate than average it might get a nerf. Same for weak skills getting buffs. Over the last year I've seen that the skills are getting close to a consistent, balanced win-rate. Yay science! The other interesting change this version is that rare loot is now visible on the minimap, and gives more XP too. It will show with a little question mark icon, giving players a new type of objective to fight over. Enjoy! bencelot ---- [GENERAL CHANGES] - The score chart now automatically displays between rounds. - Warmup rounds are a bit faster. - Changed the colour of enemies from red to slightly purplishly red. [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - Pressing E on regular civilians now makes them follow you. - When a zombie picks up their 4th heart piece, they will remain for another 0.5s before they revive. This gives time to pickup other loot. - Rerolling now costs $2000 for regular drafts and $5000 for boosted drafts. However, if you reroll on a boosted draft you are now guaranteed to get that same rarity after rerolling. - Rare loot crates now give an extra +100xp and show up on the minimap when they're active. - Heart fragments now give +50xp instead of +20xp for survivors. However, they no longer drop on kill for survivors. - Players now get 10 instead of 5 score per level up. - The skill point leveling curve is now 15% slower. - Our second legendary skill appears at level 12 instead of 15. - Bots are less accurate with snipers and M4A1. [CLASSES CHANGES] - Assault no longer has +20% bigger shifts, nor does it reduce combat slowdown. Instead, Assault has a new perk which makes it reload weapons +70% faster. - Sniper's bullets now have +20% range instead of +5m range (+20% works out to +10m range on normal rifles). - Heavy's health kits appear 20% instead of 15% of the time, and will pop out directly behind you if possible, also more consistently. - Caster no longer gains extra cash or XP from kills. Instead skill draft rerolls are 50% cheaper ($1000 instead of $2000, or $2500 instead of $5000 if boosted). [SKILL BUFFS] - Self Repair takes 2.0 instead of 3.0s to heal - Illicit Income gain per wanted level is +3% instead of +2% per level - Cluster Bomb throws nades 0.1s more frequently - Force Fields bounced bullets deal 10% more damage and steer a bit faster - Blade Fury slashing damage is now 100hp/s instead of 60hp/s - Invis only does reduced damage for 0.7 instead of 1.0s - Rambulance post-vehicle healing duration is now 5s instead of 4s, and regen is +5hp/s for all levels - Shockwave cooldown is 2s faster for all levels - Medical Supplies now fires loot at you from player kills too [SKILL NERFS] - Vampirism healing gains 4% instead of 5% per level - Clip Magnet seeking is 2 less per level - Proximity Rounds charging range is now 30 instead of 40m - Bullet Time slows enemy bullets down to 20% instead of 16% speed, and doesn't seek as much at higher levels.

[ 2024-01-11 15:58:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

NEW CLASS SYSTEM

Choose your champion! This version adds a long awaited class system. There are currently 4 classes, but more will be added next version. On the loading screen you can choose to play as Assault, Sniper, Heavy or Caster. Each class has 3 powerful perks, which creates a unique playstyle that combos best with the various skills and weapons in the game. Everyone's class icon is shown above their heads, allowing us to see what others are playing and counter them. There is a subtle rock, paper, scissors mechanic amongst the classes too. For example, the Sniper class deal extremely high damage bullets - but only at range. So charge up close to counter them! The Assault class moves extra fast and can close the gap easily, making Assault a natural counter to Sniper. However Assault is countered by Heavy, because Heavy has a shield perk that reduces all enemy bullet damage by 3, which really harms the high ROF guns that the Assault likes to use. Sniper rifles however blast right through this shield, and so Heavy is countered by Sniper. And then there's Caster doing his own thing, spamming active skills all over the place.

4 NEW CLASSES

These classes replace the old Perk system. The old perk system had solid perks in it, but the system itself was too confusing and static. It was too much effort to think up a new combo between matches, and so we mostly just stuck with the same old perks game after game. Classes take the best of the old perks, tweak them a bit, buff them a lot, and make it extremely convenient to change classes between matches. With a single click you can try a whole new playstyle each game! Here are the perks of the new classes.
ASSAULT PERKS (Movement & Aggression) - Super Shifts: You can fire your weapon while shifting, and your shift distance is +20%. - Run & Gun: Move +15% faster. You also won't slow down as much when firing your guns. - Death Fueled: Gain +10hp/s for 10s whenever you kill an enemy player civ or cop. SNIPER PERKS (High Damage at Range) - Rifle Range: Bullets gain damage the further they travel, dealing up to +25% damage at 70m. Also gives +5m range. - Black Market: You can purchase tier 2 and 3 guns 1 round earlier. - Backup Bomb: Whenever you throw an explosive you'll throw another one for free shortly after. HEAVY PERKS (Huge DPS, but Immobile) - Crisis Cover: Enemy bullets deal -3 damage to you whenever your health goes below 50%. - Final Focus: Gain +30% rate of fire and +30% bullet speed whenever your health goes below 50%. - Beaten Heart: Gives a 15% chance to drop a +20hp health kit whenever you're hit by an enemy bullet. CASTER PERKS (Yer a Wizard Harry!) - Active Healing: Active skills have -30% cooldown time and instantly heal you +30 health when cast. - Skill Lottery: At level 1 you will see 2 Epic skills in the draft. - Flashy Finish: Gain +$500 and +50xp from each kill. This is doubled if you kill with non-bullet damage.

LEVEL UP CLASSES & GET SKINS

We can level up our classes too. Whenever you earn trophies at the end of the match (based on your placement) you'll make progress towards your chosen class. When you get enough trophies you can level it up, which gives you some currency but more importantly unlocks new gun skins. There are 35 new cosmetics added to the game. This includes a "Silver" skin for every gun, and a few "Golden" skins for the most popular ones. As your total class level increases you'll gain access to new skins, until every gun is shimmering in either silver or gold. Due to the camera angle, characters appear quite small in GSA, and the guns appear even smaller. To solve this, every gun skin has a huge bright glow, simulating the blue moonlight reflecting off the gun's barrel - or the "sunlight" if you have a golden skin.

REROLLING SKILL DRAFTS

Another huge change - there is now a REROLL button in the skill draft. Whenever you level up you'll see 2 new skills. But you now have a 3rd option to spend $1000 to reroll the draft and see 2 other skills instead. You can keep clicking this until you find a skill that works with your build. This gives cash an interesting new use, and if you're trying to create the perfect skill build you might spend MOST of your cash on rerolling. But if you're more versatile and can make any skill work, then you can save your money to buy bigger guns instead. This system subtly rewards players who have mastered all the skills in the game, and are able to adapt to anything they're given.

NO MORE SKILL DISABLING

It is no longer possible to disable skills in the skill tree. This feature had good and bad points. The good: It was fun to be able to create a unique build by disabling skills, and it was also nice to avoid skills that you didn't like. The bad: It was a fairly tedious requirement to do this if you wanted to play competitively, because you just had to copy the meta skills and play nothing else. Not only was it a pain to have to manually disable all of the other skills, but it just made the game stale where all the top players were using the same 18 skills over and over again. GSA is a PvP roguelite, and 18 skills just doesn't provide enough variety to do "roguelite" justice. Now that rerolling exists we have a way to skip the skills we don't like. And now that classes exist, we have a way to choose our playstyle between matches too. So disabling skills is gone, and with everyone now using all 54 skills the game feels more fresh and roguelitey than ever before!

PROGRESSION CHANGES & WHAT'S NEXT

Our account level is now calculated in a different way, which means that your level number might be a bit higher or lower than before. It is now exactly 10,000 xp per level. Also, Skill Coins have been renamed to ACID. This is in preparation for a complete progression rework that will come out next version. This rework will capture the fun of skill build creation in a far more intutive way, and without the staleness of the old build system. For a sneak peak at what's to come, next version we will earn "Flasks" whenever we level up our account, and combine that with ACID (skill coins) to earn DNA on our skills. With enough DNA we will be able to equip our skills to our skill build, in either the Rare, Epic or Legendary slots. This will become the main progression system and there's a lot more to it, but the details can wait till next version when it's actually released. If you're curious though come ask in discord! Anyway, come online to try out the new classes, and have a great Xmas! Ben.

FULL CHANGELOG

[DELUXE EDITION DLC CHANGES] - Getting the DLC now gives you an instant +10,000 ACID. All existing DLC owners have had this added to their accounts. - Daily Challenges now give 2x XP as well as ACID for DLC owners. - 17 of the 35 new gun skins are exclusively reserved for DLC owners. - The Supporter's medallion is no longer shown next to DLC owner's health bars in-game (as that shows the class icon now instead). [OTHER GENERAL CHANGES] - Removed the Trophy Challenge for now (The +200 ACID from class level ups does this better). - We no longer earn ACID at the end of each match (Again, class levels ups do this better, as more trophies = faster class level ups). - Tweaked the ACID values from daily challenges, to offset the extra ACID earned from weeklys and class level ups. - Improved the graphics in the map, making it night time. - Your most actively played class now shows next to your name in the leaderboards. - At the start of each month, you'll now earn ACID based on your previous months rating (50% of the rating, rounded down to the nearest 250). [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - Added more jump pads to the map. - Removed the ability to guarantee skills and disable skills. Instead we can now reroll skills for $1000. - If you reroll a rare or epic draft, you might not see boosted skills after you reroll. But the game WILL remember that you are "owed" that epic and will try give it to you later. - Removed the perks system entirely. All players now have access to all 4 classes (which don't have to be unlocked like perks did). [SKILL CHANGES] - Regeneration healing rate is improved, but it is now disabled for 1s after firing your gun. - Rambulance now heals you for 3s after you exit a vehicle. Healing ranges from 5 to 35 hp/s. [SKILL BUFFS] - Force Field no longer makes you move faster. Instead it will bounce enemy bullets back at them for 10/20/30/40/50/60/70% damage - Venom cooldown is faster at low levels and deals +5 hp damage. - Shockwave restores +1 hp per bullet at all levels. - Blade Fury can once again hit the same enemy up to 3 times instead of 2 times. - Invis reveal range is only 10m instead of 15m, and damage penalty 70% instead of 50%. - Skill Shots non-bullet damage ranges from +5 to +35% instead of +4 to +22%. - Energy Vortex has +4 hp/s lifesteal for all levels. - Armed Robbery has a higher chance of dropping hearts and upgrades (+5% for all levels). - Soul Drop trigger height is now 5m and cooldown only 5s instead of 6m and 6s. - Radiate duration now ranges from 2 to 5 instead of fixed at 3. - Mirror Image clones do +5% damage across all levels, but cooldown is now 15s instead of 12s. - Beefcake now gives +12 instead of +10 max hp per level. - Shrapnel damage now ranges from +15% to +105% instead of +10% to 70%. - Arcane Power damage now increased by 8 instead of 7 per level. - Proximity Rounds charge time now ranges from 4.5 to 1.5 instead of 4.0 to 1.0s, but has a 40m charging radius instead of 30m. - BackTrack health restored is now 40 to 100% instead of 15 to 100%. - Shift Supply now also increases shift distance by +10/15/20/25/30/35/40%. - XRay Vision range is now 100 to 600 instead of 50 to 350. [SKILL NERFS] - Clip Magnet seeking now ranges from 8 to 20 degrees instead of being fixed at 20, but the recharge time is a bit faster to compensate. - Executioner damage now increases by 6% instead of 8% per level. - Self Repair takes 3s instead of 2.5s to fully heal. - Blade Mail protection now ranges from -6% to -42% instead of -10% to -50%. - Bullet Time cooldown is now 20 to 14s instead of 20 to 8s.

[ 2023-12-22 18:52:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Heyo, this is a small patch to make showdowns cleaner. A recent change made it a bit too easy for zombies to respawn, especially if there were a lot of skilled players in the server who knew how to move fast. This made the final showdowns a bit too chaotic and a bit of a coin flip to see who would win. So to make showdowns more clean between the final survivors, zombie respawns are harder. Killing another zombie now only drops 1 heart piece, and they no longer drop the amount they were carrying. We also require 4 instead of 3 hearts to respawn. To compensate for this, we no longer lose our hearts when we die (which was a bit frustrating anyway). Enjoy! bencelot ---- [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] -Zombies no longer lose their heart progress when they die. But they now require 4 hearts to rez instead of 3. -Killing an enemy zombie now drops exactly 1 heart. It doesn't drop extra fragments based on how many they've collected. -Added green bubble visual feedback for all healing skills -During overtime, the poison gas deals increasing damage based on your time inside it, and this rate is now remembered until you die. -Tweaked the order we unlock boosted skills. Instead of getting a legendary on level 5, and rares/epics on 8/11/14/17. We now get our legendary at 6 and get rares/epics at 5/10/15. If you reach level 20 you'll get a second legendary. -Whenever we see a brand new legendary or epic in the draft, we only get 1 draft option (in the next major version, we'll be able to unlock boosters that let us control these) -Fixed a bug where you couldn't reload if you have only fired a single shot of your gun -Your existing skills now show when you are offered new skills - Map spawns 18 instead of 20 vendors - Flare gun now deals 10hp flame damage for 1s -Added 3s extra to the end of each round to collect loot [SKILL CHANGES] -Radiate impact radius is 20m instead of 16m -Stimpacks can no longer heal you in the poison gas -Flying Dagger now works for zombies. -Flying dagger damage now ranges from 70% to 100% instead of 105% to 135% -Force Fields burst damage is now 30 instead of 20 -Clip Magnet now shows a green seeking halo when you have available bullets

[ 2023-11-13 20:41:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

This patch tweaks the cash and XP rates to make farming more meaningful, and adds key milestones to aim for just before the rounds 1, 2 and 3 showdowns. Firstly, we all earn a lot more cash and XP. Tier 2 and tier 3 weapons are also $5000 cheaper, so we'll all be more powerful by the final showdown. Also, skills now level up at fixed, predictable levels. We get new skills at levels 1/2/5/8/11/14. If you farm well, you can reach level 5 just before the round 1 showdown. This is important because level 5 now always gives you a LEGENDARY boosted skill, which starts at level 4 and can reach a super OP level 7. Levels 8, 11 and 14 will give everyone EPIC or RARE skills, which also give bonus points and provide key milestones right before the round 2 and 3 showdowns. Enjoy! bencelot ---- [SKILL DRAFT CHANGES] - We now always see brand new skills at levels 1 and 2. Then 3 and 4 upgrade them. Then we get boosted skills on level 5/8/11/14/17. - Normal skills can now go up to level 4 instead of level 3. - Boosted skills now come in 3 rarites: Rare, Epic and Legendary. - Legendary skills always appear at level 5. They start at level 4 and go up to level 7. - Epic skills can appear at levels 8, 11, 14 and 17. They start at level 3 and go up to level 6. - Rare skills also appear at levels 8, 11, 14 and 17. They start at level 2 and go up to level 5. [ECONOMY CHANGES] - Getting 5 streak points now gives you a flat +500xp, instead of a free level up. - The Kill Reward now gains xp and cash 33% faster. - Supply Drops give an extra +100xp, +$1000 and +3% weapon damage. - Cops give 11/12/13/14/15xp based on your wanted level instead of a flat 10. - Tier2 weapons cost $5000 instead of $10,000 (but are still only available on round 2) - Superweapons cost $15k instead of $25k ($10k instead of $15k to upgrade from your tier 2 gun) [GAMEPLAY CHANGES] - Cops have 50 instead of 40hp health and do 100% instead of 80% damage. - 3 supply drops instead of 1 spawn at the start of a BR match - Supply drops gain armor for each player nearby, shown by an expanding health bar. - Civilians now eject from cars faster, immediately as soon as it starts flaming - Shotguns now deal more damage but have worse range and spread [GENERAL CHANGES] - Updated the default control scheme a bit (for new players). Interacting with HUD is now CTRL, placing chems is now C, slashing knife is now middle mouse - All players, now including F2P people, will show off their account level when they win a round - Your Streak point progress is shown below your health bar. [SKILL BUFFS] -Radiate cooldown is now 18/17/16/15/14/13/12 instead of fixed at 16s. It does +5 impact damage per level and the radius is 10% larger -Beefcake doesn't increase your hitbox size as much (lvl 7 is +20% instead of +40%) -Falling Inferno now additionally increases your molotov duration by 1 to 7s -Critical Rage chance now ranges from 140 to 380% instead of 133 to 333% -Illicit Income values are halved, but it now increases your XP earned as well -Shrapnel chance of free nade now ranges from 50% to 350% instead of 40% to 280% -Armed Robbery chance of big XP ranges from 25 to 175% instead of 20 to 140% -Medical supplies healing ranges from 10 to 40 instead of 5 to 35 per loot -Hypnotic Army range increased by 5m, and cooldown is now 10 instead of 12s. Max vendors is now 0/0/1/2/3/4/5 -Invisibility duration buffed by 5s per level -Blade Fury slashing damage is now 100 instead of 60 hp/s -The bonus damage duration after spike trap is 4 instead of 3s -Flying Dagger range and speed increased by 10m for all levels -Backtrack duration increased by 1s for all levels -Rambulance damage also increases car mass for collision purposes [SKILL NERFS] -Flaming Bullets duration now ranges from 0.5 to 1.1 instead of 0.3 to 1.5s -Regeneration healing ranges from 2 to 14hp/s instead of 2.5 to 17.5 hp.s -Executioner damage ranges from 8% to 56% instead of 10% to 70% -Self Repair takes 2.5 instead of 2.0s to heal you -Stimpacks healing ranges from 3 to 21 instead of 4 to 28 hp per shift -Toxic Blood duration now ranges from 3 to 9s instead of 2 to 14s -Arcane power bullet damage ranges from 7 to 49 instead of 8 to 56hp -Clip Magnet seek speed is now 20 instead of 30 degrees per second -Assassinate bonus damage ranges from +3 to +15% instead of +3 to +21% [BUG FIXES] - Fixed a bug where clip size upgrades weren't showing properly in the HUD. - Fixed Always on Top challenge not working - Fixed a bug that caused cops to stand on top of cars - Fixed a bug where the critical rage sound effect wasn't applied to shotguns

[ 2023-11-10 16:51:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

CRITICAL RAGE

May the best reflexes win. GSA now has a new and extremely OP mechanic called Critical Rage. Whenever you shoot an enemy you have a 3% chance to go crazy and start firing critical bullets. These bullets deal DOUBLE DAMAGE and for the next 2 seconds you will obliterate anything in front of you, so make those bullets count! Why was this added? Because it is just pure dopamine fun and feels incredible when it randomly kicks in. Now, you might think this is some OP RNG BS... and that's what people said in playtesting too! But we fixed that with a very visible 1 second warning animation before you enter this state. If your opponents have good reflexes this is more than enough time for them to shift to safety and wait out your 2 seconds of fury. Of course, we all get these equally, and ultimately the players with the better reflexes win - either shifting to safety or pushing their advantage and landing those sweet, sweeeet crit hits.

LEVEL SIX BOOSTED SKILLS

The skill draft now contains BOOSTED skills. Boosted skills randomly appear in your skill draft and they appear in the most special colour of all - rainbow. Boosted skills give you free skill points when you level them up. The later into the game it is, the more free points you get. If they appear on level 2 they'll give just +1 free point. Not bad. But if this occurs at level 11 then you'll get +4 points instead! This keeps farming relevant right until the end of the match, as every last level might boost you to victory. More importantly however, boosted skills can go all the way up to level SIX, whereas normal skills are capped at level 3. Investing this many skill points into a single skill makes it extremely powerful, and it's been good fun playtesting them all to see how broken they get. You don't have to invest this many points of course, as you have other skills to level as well. But you have the option to take your boosted skill to the max and adapt the rest of your build to support it. Now, hang on a second.. more OP RNG??? Not quite, because everyone gets boosted skills at the same levels. At the start of the match the server will decide which levels will be boosted, and all players get their boost option at the same time. Usually there are just 1 or 2 boosted skills per game.. but very rarely there can be 5 or even 6. For everyone. These rare matches are wild where everyone is extremely OP, potentially with 2x the amount of skill points as we'd normally get. High stakes indeed!

13 BRAND NEW SKILLS

This version adds 13 new skills. Some of these have been automatically added to your account, others are further out in the skill tree and need to be unlocked. All of these skills are passives, which is what most people seem to prefer, and the extra options really make drafting interesting. A few of these skills were inspired by Vampire Survivors, for example "Revenge Rockets" which spins bazookas around you and automatically fires them at enemies whenever you get hit.

• Revenge Rockets: 1/2/3/4/5/6 bazookas spin around you and automatically fire back at enemies whenever they shoot you.
• Beefcake: Gain +10/20/30/40/50/60 max hp.
• Executioner: Deal +10/20/30/40/50/60% damage against enemies with less than 50% health remaining.
• Stimpacks: Restore +4/8/12/16/20/24 hp per shift.
• Critical Rage: Increases the chance of entering critical rage by +33/67/100/133/167/200%.
• Shift Supply: Gives +1/2/3/4/5/6 bonus shift charges.
• Combo Killer: Increases the time you get between multi-kills from 3s to 4.5/6.0/7.5/9.0/10.5/12.0.
• Falling Inferno: Throws a free molotov whenever you cast a skill for 25/50/75/100/125/150% damage.
• Medical Supplies: All forms of loot heal you by 5/10/15/20/25/30 hp. Crates throw loot towards you.
• Flying Dagger: You can throw your knife 10/20/30/40/50/60 meters and for extra damage.
• Rambulance: Your vehicles drive faster, do more ramming damage, and heal you by 10/20/30/40/50/60 hp/s.
• Armed Robbery: Killing vendors has a chance to drop rare loot. XP, hearts and upgrades. Chance of upgrade is 5/10/15/20/25/30%.
• Acid Trail: You leave a trail of acid behind you that deals 10/20/30/40/50/60 hp/s damage to enemies inside it.

TROPHY CHALLENGE

To help you earn the coins to unlock some of these new skills, there is a new system called Trophy Challenge. All 54 skills in the game have their own challenge, which is to finish a match with at least 6 trophies while using the skill. This can only be attempted for one skill at a time, which is determined by whatever skill you choose to guarantee shows up at the start of the match. This system does a few things. If you don't feel like playing ranked mode but still want to have a meaningful goal to achieve, you can attempt a new trophy challenge. Just select a different skill between matches and try win 6 trophies! This system also encourages people to explore new skills, as there are 500 free coins for every unique trophy challenge you complete.

TRIOS MODE

I looked at the metrics and saw that almost no one was playing in parties of 4. There were a lot of people in parties of 2 and 3 however. So to help consolidate our playerbase and get more full servers, there are no more 2 player duos or 4 player squads servers. These modes are now replaced with 3 player trios servers, so as to not split the playerbase. Of course, FFA still exists for the ultra competitive.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

There are a few smaller features that make a really big difference. Zombie Resurrection: All zombies respawn with 1 heart, meaning we only need to collect 3 instead of 4 to revive. This also means that you are GUARANTEED to get a heart for killing an enemy zombie too (as they will also spawn with 1 heart), making zombie farming in overtime more reliable. 18 Starting Skills: New accounts start with 18 skills instead of 6. This is a huge jump, 3x as many! All existing players have had these starting 18 skills added to their accounts for free too, including some of the brand new ones added this version. Mini-Skill Descriptions: Every skill has been given a very short summary description, so that when drafting you can instantly get a general idea of what the skill does. Hover over it for the full description if you want more info. GSA is a fast-paced game, and sometimes you just need to make snap decisions. FPS & Netcode Improvements: Apparently the game was spawning about 1000 particles from players on the other side of the map. Bit unnecessary! Removing this has really improved the performance. Graphics and Bullet Feedback: I spent a day or so improving the bullet feedback. Nice juicy blood sound effects when your bullets hit, and good flashing effects too. It feels satisfying, and the unique sound effect actually helps know when your shots land off screen. Ranked Mode Improvments: It's been 3 months now since ranked was introduced, and ranks keep getting higher! So I've added a new tier, and also adjusted the ranked algorithm to place a higher emphasis on raw skill instead of how many matches you've played. Also, a new ranked season is about to start on the 1st of the month, so now would be a great time to hop on and see how you go!

FULL CHANGELOG

--- NEW CRITICAL RAGE MECHANIC --- - Whenever you hit an enemy you have a 3% chance of entering a state of CRITICAL RAGE. - In this state you will glow bright red and deal 2x weapon damage for the next 2 seconds. - It takes 1 second to charge up, and other players see that you're about to go nuts, so they have a chance to take cover. --- NEW SKILL BOOSTS IN THE DRAFT --- - Boosted skills randomly appear in the skill draft, glowing rainbow. All players are given boosted skills at the same levels, randomly chosen by the server each match. - Boosted skills start with extra skill points, and they are also able to go all the way up to level 6, instead of level 3, making them extremely powerful. --- SKILL TREE CHANGES --- - Rearranged the skill tree and added 12 new skills (see below). - All skills have had their values tweaked slightly and go up to level 6 now (previously they went to level 4). - New players start with 18 instead of 6 skills. All existing players have been given the inner 18 skills for free. - Skill costs have increased, but daily challenges give far more skill coins. - Skills now require a certain number of medals within that tree before you can unlock them. You can earn medals by playing skills in that tree. - F2P players can now earn skill medals beyond level 10, they are no longer capped. - The guaranteed skill once again works EVERY round, not 33% of matches. It will appear somewhere between levels 1 and 5. - Every skill now has a "Trophy Challenge", which can be attempted for your guaranteed skill. If you get 6 trophies in game, you'll complete the challenge and get +500 skill coins. - Skill builds now must have at least 12 passives and 6 actives at all times. --- GENERAL CHANGES --- - Kill coins are now called Skill coins. - Every so often a crate will burst out an insane amount of skill coins. - A big XP progress bar shows up the top of the screen showing your progress to next level. - Hovering over skills now shows a shortened text description of what they do. - Added a hotkey option to ping the map to allies. You'll need to set this yourself (default is X). - Silver and gold upgrades from vendors now show the relative increases instead of absolute. - Mild FPS performance improvements by reducing unnecessary particles. - Improved the visuals and sound effects when you hit enemies. --- RANKED MODE CHANGES --- - When ranks reset each month, everyone's progress is rolled back 50%. But this is now also capped at 15 matches. This gives a more fair start for the month. - Added new rank images, and added a new rank stage called "Immortal" from 6000 to 7999. Genetic God is now the final rank at 8000+. - Tweaked the ranked algorithm to converge on your true skill level faster, rewarding skill more than grinding. --- GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Chemicals now cost $6,000 instead of $10,000. - Weapon refunds now cost $1,000 instead of $2,000. - Explosives no longer deal self damage. - You can now carry 4 instead of 3 explosives. - Civ/Cop multikills give bigger XP rewards. 200%/300%/350%/375% instead of 150%/200%/250%/300% - Zombies always respawn with at least 1 heart piece, so we only need to collect 3 to revive. - Hearts now give 20xp instead of $200 for survivors who pick them up. - Toned down vehicle steering sensitivity, making cars easier to drive. --- PERK CHANGES --- - Skill lottery now starts you at level 2 instead of 3. - Removed a few perks due to them being turned into skills instead. --- 13 BRAND NEW SKILLS --- - Beefcake: Gain +10/20/30/50/60 max hp. - Stimpacks: Restore +4/8/12/16/20/24 hp per shift. - Critical Rage: Increases the chance of entering critical rage by +33/67/100/133/167/200%. - Shift Supply: Gives +1/2/3/4/5/6 bonus shift charges. - Combo Killer: Increases the time you get between multi-kills from 3s to 4.5/6.0/7.5/9.0/10.5/12.0. - Executioner: Deal +10/20/30/50/60% damage against enemies with less than 50% health remaining. - Falling Inferno: Throws a free molotov whenever you cast a skill for 25/50/75/100/125/150% damage. - Medical Supplies: All forms of loot heal you by 5/10/15/20/25/30 hp. Crates throw loot towards you. - Flying Dagger: You can throw your knife 10/20/30/40/50/60 meters and for extra damage. - Rambulance: Your vehicles drive faster, do more ramming damage, and heal you by 10/20/30/40/50/60 hp/s. - Armed Robbery: Killing vendors has a chance to drop rare loot. XP, hearts and upgrades. Chance of upgrade is 5/10/15/20/25/30%. - Revenge Rockets: 1/2/3/4/5/6 bazookas spin around you and automatically fire back at enemies whenever they shoot you. - Acid Trail: You leave a trail of acid behind you that deals 10/20/30/40/50/60 hp/s damage to enemies inside it. --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Self Repair is once again simplified, and doesn't give bonus healing below 50%. - Regeneration no longer affects your out of combat healing. Instead it just gives a steady continuous heal at all times. - Smoke Bomb health per second now increases by level. - Automatic Armor nerfed slightly, only protecting for 1s instead of 1.5s. - Proximity Rounds now do 10hp per shot instead of 5, but it acquires charged shots slower. - Arcane Power no longer boosts raw skill damage, but instead does more damage per shot. It also gets bonus bullet damage after throwing a grenade. - Spike Trap deals 50% less spike damage, but now also makes players vulnerable to bullet damage for the next 3s. - Manic Mechanic no longer increases driving speed, but gives more farm per car destroyed instead. - Killer Cooldowns now also restores the ammo in your clip whenever you get a kill. - Toxic Blood now also triggers when you explode cars, and has a longer duration. - Critical Shifting renamed to Shift Attack, and it now applies to all shifts, not just the top 2. - Clip Magnet no longer interacts with crates. Instead, it will make the bullets in your gun gradually gain seeking over time. - Blade Fury will spin around you for 5s instead of 1s. You can burst the blades prematurely by casting it again. - Shrapnel gives less grenade damage, but now has a chance to drop free grenades when you open crates. - Energize renamed to Laser Scope. It continues to increase bullet speed and range. - Shockwave no longer slows enemy projectiles. Instead it will heal you for every bullet frozen in the air. - Venom Shot duration is now fixed at 2.0s, thus dealing more DPS at higher levels. - Ignition Orb removed from the game. RIP.

[ 2023-10-29 19:51:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! This version tweaks skill drafting to make GSA play more like a roguelite. The goal is to reduce repetitive matches by reducing the control we have over our builds. For example, the guaranteed skill now only appears in 33% of matches. This affects all players equally, and still lets us choose and use our favourite - but not every game. Most games we need to adapt to the draft and piece together a smart build as we play, which raises the skill ceiling. Speaking of skill ceilings, it just got even higher! This is because in ranked mode rounds 1 and 2 now give +1 trophy each. This means that if you manage to win all 3 rounds you can get 12 trophies instead of 10, letting skillful players climb the ranks extra fast. Next version will rework the perks system into a classes system, making it far easier to switch playstyles between games. Enjoy! ---- --- GENERAL CHANGES --- - Added a reconnect button. This appears above the play button in purple, and lets you rejoin the last server you were in (useful if you d/c). - If you leave a duos/squads server mid-game and rejoin, the server will try and put you back onto the old squad. - Improved visual feedback whenever you hit an enemy by making their outline briefly flash white. --- GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - The draft now only shows 2 skill options instead of 3. - The guaranteed skill now only appears in 33% of matches. - When you get a bonus skill point, this now jumps from level 0 to 2 instead of 1 to 3. - All skill values have been rescaled slightly, so that levels 1 and 2 are a bit weaker, 3 is the same, and 4 is extra powerful. - Level 4 skills now appear at levels 7/10/13/16/etc. - Skill builds now require 15 skills instead of 12 (5 actives and 10 passives). If you had existing builds below 15, ring 1 skills will be automatically added to them (but you can change them of course). - The victors of rounds 1 and 2 get +1 trophy instead of bonus health. This brings the max trophies you can earn per match up to 12. - Expanded the size of red zone slightly to reduce player density in showdowns. - Rare loot crates are now more likely to fall out in the open instead of in parkour spots. --- WEAPON CHANGES --- - Grenades do +5 damage - Molotovs do +5 damage --- NEW SKILL --- - Parasites has been removed from the game. Instead we have a new passive skill called: "Proximity Rounds" - Proximity Rounds: Adds high damage bullets to both of your guns. These bullets accumulate over time, but only when standing nearby enemy players. - Max bullets charged: 3/6/9/15 with a charging time of 3/2.5/2.0/1.5s per bullet. You must be within 30m to begin charging. - Charged bullets do +5hp damage (+10 for shotguns and snipers) --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Self Repair now gives +100% healing while you are below 50% health. Healing is now +15/25/35/55 instead of +30/40/50/70. Cooldown is 16s for all levels. - Energize speed is now +5/10/15/25% instead of +10/15/20/25% - Frenzy rpm is now +12/20/28/44% instead of +15/20/25/35%. Cooldown is now 22s for all levels instead of 20/19/18/16. - Boots of Travel now kicks in after 1.5s for all levels, instead of 2/1.8/1.6/1.2 - Shrapnel damage boost now applies to vehicle explosions as well. Shrapnel molotov duration is now 2/4/6/10s instead of 2/3/4/6s - Radiate impact damage is now 10/20/30/50 instead of 20/30/40/60, but cooldown is now 16s instead of 20/19/18/16s. - Critical Shifting now has 5/10/15/25% damage instead of 8/11/14/20%. Duration is fixed at 1s for all levels instead of 0.8/0.9/1.0/1.2 - Cluster Bomb time between throws is now 1.4/1.2/1.0/0.6 instead of 1.3/1.2/1.1/0.9 - Firestorm now throws 2/3/4/6 instead of 3/4/5/7 fireballs, but it takes less time to shoot them all out (0.4 instead of 0.7s). Cooldown increased by 4s for all levels. - Blade fury range is now 35m instead of 50m - Killer cooldowns now reduces cooldowns by 20/40/60/100% instead of 35/40/65/95% - Blade Fury cooldown is now 16/15/14/12s instead of 15 for all levels - Blade Mail damage reduction is now -15/25/35/50% instead of -25/35/45/60%, but works at the same strength regardless of how empty your clip was (the description already gave this impression, now it just works this way) - Mirror images now do 5/10/15/25 damage instead of 10/15/20/30% damage, but their health is now 20/40/60/100 instead of 20/30/40/60 - Hypnotic Army follower hp is now +20/40/60/100 instead of +30/40/50/70, and cooldown is fixed at 12 instead of 20/18/16/12 - Smoke Bomb duration is now 1.5/2.5/3.5/5.5 instead of 2/3/4/6 but healing rate is 12hp/s instead of 10hp/s - Invis move speed is now +10/20/30/50% instead of +20/30/40/60%, but duration is now 7/14/21/35s instead of 8/12/16/24. Cooldown is now 15s at all levels instead of 20/18/16/12s - Venom cooldown is now 20/19/18/16s instead of 15s for all levels. Venom seeking is higher, as is the time the trail stays on the ground. - Clip Magnet seeking speed is now fixed at 20 degrees/s instead of 10/15/20/30 degrees. - Clip Magnet no longer charges up the remaining bullets in your current magazine (which would get lost on reload). Instead it charges up 20/40/60/100% of both your held weapons - Bullet Time seeking is now 10/20/30/50 instead of 10/15/20/30 degrees per second - Phase Drifting speed buffed to 150/170/190/230% instead of 150/165/180/210%

[ 2023-09-11 12:36:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

MINOR TWEAKS August 7th, 2023 Heyo, nothing too crazy this patch. The main change is buffing the TTK of some weapons, and repositioning the game info box to the top left of the screen. Enjoy! ---- --- GENERAL CHANGES --- - Repositioned the game mode info HUD element to now appear up the top left of the screen - Players can now only have 1 account on their SteamID (this won't affect 99% of players, but fixes an exploit) - When someone wins a round, the DLC medallion now only shows for people who own the DLC - Tutorial improvements --- WEAPON CHANGES --- - Buffed AK rpm from 400 to 450 - Buffed Ruger damage from 35 to 40, but reduced rpm from 90 to 80. - SMGs and LMGs have slightly faster bullet speed. --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Firestorm projectiles are closer together, but fly a bit slower through the air - Blade Fury blades now burst out after 1s instead of 1.5s --- BUG FIXES --- - Fixed a bug where the final 6 scoreboard would keep showing ranks even when people were playing casual mode

[ 2023-08-07 05:46:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

GET RANKED

MMR is everything. GSA now has a ranked mode, and as a competitive gamer I am pumped! Gene Shift Auto now finally provides a true challenge, and this gives meaning to every single mechanic in the game. Sure, before you could "beat" the game and win a match.. but could you do it consistently? Can you do it with the highest win rate possible? Ranked mode now provides this challenge and lets us put our skills to the test.

Earning Trophies

The quest for the Holy Grail begins. When you load into a match, you can choose between Casual or Ranked mode. If you select ranked mode you'll be able to earn Trophies. Trophies are awarded at the end of the match based on your score. First place gets 10 trophies, second place gets 8, third gets 6, and so on. After 5 placement matches you will be given a rating and a corresponding rank. Your rating is based on your AVERAGE TROPHIES PER MATCH. This means that if you place poorly in a game (or quit early) your rating will go down. This makes rating an actual measure of skill, rather than who has played the longest. Having said that, someone who consistently averages 1st or 2nd place over 100 games is probably better than someone who by chance happens to win 1 match. So our ratings initially start a bit lower and will approach towards our true average as we demonstrate our ability to win games CONSISTENTLY.

Monthly Leaderboards

The rating system is tied to the monthly leaderboards, where players can climb the ranks and see who can get the highest rating each month. When a new month starts, the previous month will be archived and winners will be immortalized in the previous month's leaderboards page. Also, at the start of each month, everyone's rating will have a soft reset and be partially reduced. This soft reset allows new players to have a chance at the top spot, and also ensures that our ranks are up to date and reflect our skills in the current meta.

Climbing the Ranks

Of course, the most important part of any ranking system is showing off. As your rating improves, so too will your rank. When your rating crosses over the next threshold you will get a new rank title and badge. Whenever you play a ranked match (not casual), this badge will show next to your name in the in-game scoreboards, letting everyone know who the real danger is.
As a final cool benefit, the game is now using the ranking technology to secretly determine player's skills behind the scenes, even when ranked mode is disabled. These hidden ratings will be useful to ensure balanced squads and potentially match making in the future.

Other Groovy Changes

Ranked mode is the big new feature that just dropped, but here are a few other smaller changes that have been released since the last major Steam announcement. Stronger GTA Focus: There are new civilian missions, and a sense of exploration as you use vehicles to find them. We can also climb wanted levels much faster for those going a PvE farming strategy (is PvE the best way to win games? With ranks we can now find out!) More Risk & Reward Mechanics: You now get bonus XP and cash for killing players during overtime, but this is the riskiest time to hunt for kills as if you die you can't revive. Likewise, supply drops have been buffed, but they now land just before overtime, increasing the risk. Faster Gameplay: The game is just faster and crisper now. We move faster, especially during combat. This requires more skill to aim and lead targets. The TTK is also faster, and weapons are more differentiated. More Features for F2P Players: Players without the DLC can now attempt 24 instead of 10 challenges from the challenge grid. Also, the ability to co-op with friends in survival mode is no longer restricted. Hardcore survival mode is also avaiable to F2P players. Extra Powerful Lvl 4 Skills: It is now harder to take a skill up to max level of 4, but if you do it will extra powerful, as the 4th skill point is now worth double (as if it was level 5). You must get 10 skill points before you can take a skill up to max level though, so get farming! Skill Balancing: With ranked mode, I needed to make sure the skills were ACTUALLY balanced, based on cold hard data. So I added a new stats tracking system to check the win rates and kill rates of each individual skill. It turned out that the passive weapon skills were mega OP, and many actives were underperforming (as they require more skill to use). So I've done the buffs and now the tricksy interesting skills are competitive. There are a lot of other changes, small quality of life fixes, better graphics, more visceral level up and kill effects etc. There's too much to list but it's all available in the in-game changelogs.

Next Steps

Next version I will continue expanding the perks system and turn it into a full-fledged class system. By grouping the perks into classes we can buff the effects significantly while keeping them balanced. It will be easier than ever to switch between playstyles and live out your wildest warrior / assassin / mage / engineer / spy / outlaw fantasies. Have fun getting ranked! bencelot.

[ 2023-07-21 09:51:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

This version puts a stronger emphasis on the GTA aspects of GSA. If you can handle the chaos, you will be showered with xp, cash and more! COPS: Cop waves come 2x as frequently, as do wanted levels. MISSIONS: We are no longer limited to 1 mission per round. There are also brand new civilian missions, and if you don't like one you can replace it by talking to another civ. CARS: Vehicles now deal extra road-kill damage and get a +$1000 reward for a successful roadkill. And they help find missions! In exciting news, a new RANKED MODE will be released sometime next week. A true test of skill with a leaderboard, win rating (similar to MMR), and custom rank badges. Stay tuned. ---- --- GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Players can climb wanted levels faster. - Players can do up to 3 missions per round instead of 1. - Every 3rd mission will give a random upgrade, otherwise cash. - Contracts perk no longer adds extra missions, but makes them all random upgrades instead of cash. - Chems cost 10k instead of 8s, but take 1.0 instead of 1.5s to place. - Vendor upgrades now cost $6000/7000/8000/9000/10000 (capped at $10k). --- GENERAL CHANGES --- - Added a button to refresh leaderboards. --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Boots of Travel speed is now +20/30/40/60 instead of +15/25/35/55% - Mana Shield protection is now -15/20/25/35% instead of -10/15/20/30% - Clip Magnet seeking is reduced to +10/15/20/30 instead of +20/30/40/60 - Backtrack duration is now 4/6/8/12 instead of 4/5/6/8s

[ 2023-07-13 08:01:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Heyo, this version makes it so F2P peeps can now attempt hardcore survival runs. Coop is now also available to F2P players. Previously these were DLC only features (the DLC still lets you play multiple runs per day as well as modify your run with a bunch of difficulty modifiers). Have fun! ---- --- MAJOR CHANGES --- - F2P players can now attempt 24 instead of 10 challenges in the challenge grid. - F2P players can now attempt hardcore survival difficulty. - F2P players can now do co-op survival runs with friends (1 per day, get the DLC for unlimited runs per day). - F2P players can now complete the first 3 survival difficulty modifers (the rest are for the Deluxe Edition). --- GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - When you join a game mid-way, the game will auto level some skills for you so you can just start playing and not have to click 10 times. - The 4th level of every skill has been buffed, to make level 4 extra strong (the equivalent of 2 skill points). - The power spike at level 7 gives +3 skill points instead of +4. - Level 4 skills only become available when you reach level 10 in-game. - Made civ vendors offer a more healthy random distribution of civ upgrades. - Sped up the in-game skill point levelling curve by 10%. --- GENERAL CHANGES --- - At the end of the match, the extra XP you earn from end of match XP multipliers is shown. - Survival challenges must be unlocked 1 at a time. - Players only need to accept the random perk when starting a match, not the 2 they already know they have (fewer clicks). - Every challenge in the challenge grid now gives XP and coins, instead of one or the other. To get the coins, claim them in the menu after a match. - The DLC supporter's medallion once again shows next to your health bar. - Increased the passive kill coin loot rate slightly. --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Flaming Bullets duration is now 0.6/0.8/1.0/1.4 instead of 0.6/0.9/1.2/1.5 - Energize speed is now +15/20/25/35% instead of +15/25/35/50% - Vampirism healing is now +6/9/12/18 instead of +6/10/14/20 - Gunslinger recoil is now 85/75/65/50% instead of 80/65/50/30% - Force Field health is now 90/120/150/200 instead of 80/100/120/150 - Manic Mechanic increases your vehicle boost speed by +10/20/30/40% --- PERK CHANGES --- - Black Market perk now lets you buy T2 and T3 guns a round earlier. - Outlaw perk makes cop waves spawn upon you more frequently. - Genetic Heart perk now gives +25 max hp instead of +20. - Life Steal perk now gives +1.5 per bullet instead of +2.0. --- BUG FIXES --- - Fixed a bug where perks would display incorrectly if you joined mid-match. - Fixed a bug where Flaming Bullets always appeared in the draft. - Fixed a bug where vendors would show 2 identical upgrades.

[ 2023-06-22 08:52:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! Nothing major this week, just some QoL changes and balance tweaks. A few of these were patched out already a few days ago, but here is a summary of the changes since v1.610. Enjoy! ---- --- MAJOR GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Tier 2 guns now cost $15000 instead of $10000. - Tier 3 guns now cost $30000 instead of $25000. - Removed the blue cop circle mechanic. You can now only lose your wanted level by paying off a vendor. --- MINOR GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Mission civs continue to offer the same mission to other players after you take the mission. So allies can grab the same one. - As a zombie, survivors will show a full heart next to their health bar to indicate you will rez from killing them. - The minimap zoom shows 250m instead of 150m around you. - Removed the police grenade kills mission. - Cop waves spawn differently now. The time between waves has been reduced, but a new wave will only trigger upon killing a cop. - Cops deal 100% instead of 70% damage, but have 40 instead of 50hp. - BR rounds 1 and 2 now give different rewards based on squad size: $5000 or 20hp for solos, $4000 or 15hp for duos, $3000 or 10hp for squads (and survival). - Players who join a game mid-way now come in with higher cash and XP than before (closer to the actual average). - Upgrade costs start at $6000 instead of $5000. - Vendors no longer sell Warp Fields in Conquest or CTF modes. - Reduce vehicle hitpoints by about 20%. --- GENERAL CHANGES --- - Music now plays all the time in BR modes, not just during overtime. - Made daily challenges easier to complete. - Streamlined the tutorial, removing unnecessary text. - At the end of the round, the game now shows your rank, kills and deaths. --- WEAPON CHANGES --- - Shotguns now have more range, but more spread. - Rifles have less spread, but more recoil (when holding the trigger). - LMGS have more spread but 10% more damage. - Flare Gun now costs $5000 instead of $3000. - Blast Cannon can no longer be targeted at your feet, instead the bullets fly like a normal gun. --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Smoke Bomb is once again cast on your person, not cursor. It has increased radius by 5m for all levels. - Venom damage increased to 20/35/50/70hp. - Spike Trap damage buffed by 10hp at all levels. - Assassinate cooldowns is now 5s instead of 10s. --- PERK CHANGES --- - Black market saves you $7000 instead of $5000. - Buffed Skill Scan range from 150 to 300m. - Buffed blast shield nade protection from -40% to -50%. - Final Focus bullet speed and rof is now +25% instead of +20%. - SWAT Vest now gives -75% damage from civs/cops instead of -50%. - Flying Dagger now does 70hp instead of 60hp.

[ 2023-05-26 05:38:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fight to the Beats in the Cyberpunk Streets

Oh. My. Gawd. Becky. Look at that - Cyberpunk aesthetic! It's so.. neon! GSA has gone full Cyberpunk with a visual overhaul to the map and many effects in game. The map is now set in a dark, raining city lit by futuristic pink and blue neon lights. Your shifts and bullets have been recoloured to fit the look too, and when you kill enemies they will cover your screen in a big burst of neon blood. Best of all, the map will visually pulse to the beat of the new cyberpunk tunes!

New Trailer

The trailer has been updated with one of the new musical tracks and some new footage. Check it out! [previewyoutube=ba5QR3wsLO8;full][/previewyoutube]

12 New Cyberpunky/Synthwavey Tunes

Gene Shift Auto now has professionally made music! The old music was made entirely by me, and it was.. you know, not bad. A bit of a catchy tune here and there? But I'm not a musician, and it's just not the same. These new tracks sound way better and really get the adrenaline pumping. And this makes a huge difference. After all, what is the point of GSA if not to inject a high-stakes rush of BR fueled dopamine right into your eyes and earballs? These tunes take that rush to the next level.

Dynamically Synced To the Action

What's especially cool is how the music syncs with the action in the game. The music will only play during overtime of each round, to indicate that the stakes have changed and you need to focus. As a refresher on how GSA plays, each match lasts 15 minutes, consisting of 3, 5 minute rounds. The winner of round 3 wins the game. And each round has 2 stages within it:

• Looting Stage (3 minutes): You can revive easily, so stakes are low. Mess around, fight cops, do missions, just enjoy some GTA vibes.
• Overtime (2 minutes): In overtime you can't revive anymore, so death is final. This massively raises the stakes, and is the BR part of the game. This is when the music kicks in, it's last man standing, and this helps remind you that the stakes are high and you need to survive!

The genre also changes based on what round you're in, gradually getting more and more intense.

• Round 1: Groovy Retro/Synthwave Vibes. Fun and melodic.
• Round 2: Actiony Cyberpunk vibes. Loud, industrial, and with a heavy beat.
• Round 3 (the final showdown): Dramatic/Epic/Dark Hans Zimmer just got cut off in traffic vibes.

Also, the volume of the music will change based on how well you're playing, getting louder and louder the longer you stay alive, to really amp up the adrenaline. Many elements in the game are visually synchronised to this beat as well, like police sirens will flash red/blue to the beat. Just for funsies.

Improving the Perks System

There are a few big changes to improve the perks system that came out last month. 1: Perks no longer cost kill coins to unlock. Anyone who bought perks has been refunded those coins. 2: You can now equip 2 perks instead of 1, allowing you to create more interesting builds between games. 3: At the start of each match, all players are given a 3rd bonus perk. This is randomly chosen from all the perks in the game, even the ones you haven't earned yet. Most interestingly, ALL players are given the SAME random perk. Which makes each game feel really different. In one match we all might get the +20 max hp perk (Genetic Heart), making it a slower, more tanky game. In the next we all might get the ability to throw 2x grenades. Knowing what your opponents have is something you'll want to adapt to while drafting your skill build in-game.

New Play vs Bots Option

GSA is a complicated game, and it can be a bit overwhelming for new players. But now you can fire up a quick game vs bots to learn, practice or experiment with that shiny new perk you unlocked. And no longer need to figure things out in the competitive heat of the PvP servers online. The bots are pretty easy as well, so if you just want a chill game to feel like a badass this is a nice option.

Next Steps

Next version I'll be adding a new cosmetics system, to allow players to customize their appearance with some fancy outfits and bling bling. Some cosmetics will be available for purchase with kill coins for free, and others exclusively purchased with a premium currency for people who want to support the game. The ability to customise our characters has been requested for a long time now, and I'm excited to create some really sick (perhaps cyberpunky) looking outfits, taunts and special effects. Of course this will be purely cosmetic, and not affect gameplay in any way. Anyway will post more soon once I know more details. Have fun and enjoy the new tunes! Ben.

Big Old Changelist

--- MAJOR GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Players can now equip 2 perks instead of 1 in the skill tree. Your second perk is no longer randomly chosen from your pool of 6. You simply equip your 2 favourite perks. But you also get... - At the start of each match, all players are given a 3rd bonus perk. This is randomly chosen from all the perks in the game and ALL players have the SAME perk. So we'll have games where everyone has extra health, or more grenades, or more money, etc. Each game will play differently and you'll want to adapt to this fact while drafting. - The heart crate that used to land 1 minute after overtime (-1:00) has been removed. Instead, zombies will drop their heart fragments when you kill them, and if you can collect 4 you'll revive. - Perks no longer cost kill coins to unlock. You simply get them for free once you earn enough medals in that skill tree. I have refunded kill coins to anyone who bought perks previously. - There is a new PLAY VS BOTS option that instantly puts you into a BR Solos game vs bots on easy difficulty. Good for practice! You won't earn bonus end of match XP from this mode though. --- MINOR GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Heart crates now only have 6 instead of 8 heart pieces. - Heart and Supply crates will automatically explode after 30s of not being opened. - Zombies can now see each other during overtime (so they can find eachother to trade heart fragments). - Cop waves come more frequently at higher wanted levels. - Chemicals now bounce red in the HUD when you try cast them on cooldown. - You can no longer downgrade weapons at vendors (the button will be greyed out). - The cost to replace weapons of a similar tier at a vendor is $1000 instead of $2000. - Round 1 victor now gets +$5000 instead of +$3000. - Round 2 victor now gets +20 max hp instead of +15 max hp. - The kill reward resets to $500 and 50xp instead of $300 and 30xp. - Guns are now pseudorandom instead of true random from vendors (on a tier by tier basis). So if you haven't seen a specific gun it will be more likely to appear next time. --- GRAPHICS, MUSIC & SOUNDS --- - The map is now set at night time, has more neon lights, and graffiti on the walls. - Added new cyberpunky (cyan and purple) effects in-game. When you kill players they burst out neon blood, shifts have neon cyberpunky colors, and things like jump pads now flash cyan and purple in time with the beat! - Added new car radio tunes when civilians drive past. Also new sound effects for kills and when standing in the circle of death. - If you have the Deluxe Edition, the GSA logo no longer appears above your head or in the scoreboard. It will still appear when you chat in-game and in the leaderboards. --- CHEMICAL CHANGES --- - Goo Trap's extra jump height is now 3m instead of 4m, and it increases the soul drop trigger requirement by 1.5m. --- WEAPON CHANGES --- - Improved the visual look of Photon Beam. - Changed the color of bullet trails. They are now based on tier. Tier 1 = yellow, Tier 2 = blue, Tier 3 = purple. - Knife no longer does 2x damage vs civs and cops. --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Xray Vision gets a HUGE range buff, now revealing players 50/100/150/250m away. - Soul Drop healing now occurs over a period of 6s, and the lifesteal happens over 1s. - Boots of Travel speed is now +10/20/30/45 instead of +20/30/40/60%, but the delay time is improved by 1s for all levels. --- PERK CHANGES --- - Contracts perk now always guarantees you get a random upgrade.

[ 2023-05-12 02:03:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've got a groovy new chat wheel! Simply hold 'C' to bring up the chat wheel, and then select one of 8 pre-made messages. This feature is handy when you want to issue quick commands to your team-mates ("Follow me!" "Okay"). The 8 messages are also auto-translated, allowing you to communicate with people who speak a different language. Enjoy! Ben.

[ 2023-04-14 09:14:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

A Whole New World (of Perks)

What is a perk? Perks are powerful passive buffs that last all game. They are a bit like skills, but instead of leveling them up, you will be given 2 perks at the start of each match automatically. There are 36 perks in total, spread across the 6 skill trees, and they do all sorts of things. Here are a few examples:

• Genetic Heart (Healing Tree): Gain +20 max hitpoints.
• Evasive Shot (Defense Tree): You can fire your weapons while shifting.
• Heat Seeking (Weaponry Tree): Your bullets will steer towards enemies.
• Boom Box (Burst Damage Tree): Crates have a 30% chance to give you a free grenade.
• Skill Lottery (DOT Tree): Start each match with a free level 3 skill.
• Outlaw (Utility Tree): You will never lose your wanted level, even when you die.

Unlocking Perks With Medals

There are 6 perks per skill tree, and to unlock the higher tier perks in that tree you first need a certain number of skill medals. To get skill medals you need to use the skills within that tree, and level up their individual medals by completing skill-specific challenges.
This screenshot should make it clearer. Here we are looking at the perks in the Defense Tree. I have unlocked 3 perks in this tree already, but in order to unlock the 4th (Driveby) I first need to earn 30 medals within the Defense tree. I currently only have 14, but I can choose to use the Defense skills while playing to earn medals faster. This system exists for 2 reasons: 1) It makes build creation far more interesting, as you now rewarded for embracing a particular skill tree to unlock the perks that best suit your custom playstyle. 2) It encourages you to try new skills, as you will earn medals faster at the earlier levels, and thus the best way to get medals is to try new skills within your tree of choice.

6 Brand New Skills

In addition to the 36 entirely brand new perks, the skill tree itself has been rearranged. All of the add-on skills have been removed and rolled into their base skills (eg, Plasma Ball now automatically shoots out multiple balls like Fire Storm used to do). And instead, we get 6 brand new passive skills! - SHRAPNEL: "Grenades and other explosives deal more damage, and molotov's burn for longer." - FLAMING BULLETS: "Your bullets set enemies on fire, dealing damage and delaying their passive regen." - BOOTS OF TRAVEL: "Makes you run faster whenever you aren't firing your gun" - BLADE MAIL: "Protects you while you reload, and protects more based on how empty your clip was. After reloading, your next bullet deals bonus damage equal to the damage blocked." - SKILL SHOTS: "Increases all forms of non-bullet damage (skills, grenades, cars, knife, etc). If you get a non-bullet kill, you'll gain a charge that gives extra damage. Charges reset on death." - ASSASSINATE: "A random enemy will be revealed to you in the map, and you will deal bonus damage against them. If you kill them you'll earn extra cash and XP, then get a new target."

Faster, Snappier Round Format

Gameplay has been improved in countless other ways, but here are the 3 biggest changes to the BR formula: 1) Rounds only last 3 minutes instead of 5 minutes: With 3 rounds and overtime this gives a snappy 14 minute match instead of 20 minutes. It's not just faster, but the gameplay is more chaotic, more intense, and every second counts. 2) Skill points are rarer, but more powerful: Instead of reaching level 18, a good player should reach level 10. But we'll be just as powerful now due to all the extra +2 skill point bonuses you get in the draft. This focuses on quality over quantity, and lets us spend more time shooting and less time clicking skills. 3) Players can revive after overtime: A special heart crate will fall down 1 minute after overtime, to give all the zombies in the server 1 last opportunity to revive. But only 1 person can get the heart, so you better prepare! This keeps players always active and always with a sense of hope to win right up until the very last second. That's it for this version, as always please leave feedback either here or on Discord. Enjoy!

Big Old Changelist

--- NEW PERKS SYSTEM --- - Added a whole new perks system! - Perks are passive buffs that you select before the match begins. EG: +20 max hitpoints, +10% bullet damage, or cheaper weapons from vendors. - There are 36 perks in total, and they are organised into the 6 skill trees. So there are 6 Healing perks, 6 Defense perks, etc. - You can enable 1 perk per skill tree, which creates a pool of 6 perks. Then when the game begins, 2 of those perks will be randomly selected and given to you for free. - To unlock new perks you must first collect a certain number of SKILL MEDALS within that skill tree. And you get skill medals by using skills within that tree. - All the perks are equally balanced (hopefully!). They don't get any more powerful as you reach higher tiers, but they do get more EXTREME in their behaviour and playstyle. - Check it out in the skills tree. Perks are shown in green, and you can click on the 6 green buttons to open the Perks menu for that tree. --- REWORKED SKILL TREE --- - The skill tree no longer restricts the unlocking of skills based on rings, giving you more flexibility in your build creation. - Rearranged a bunch of skills in the skill tree, putting simpler skills up front and making them cheaper (600 instead of 1000 coins). - Removed every add-on skill in the game as they didn't work well with drafting. Instead, many have been rolled into their base skills, as we have 8 brand new skill instead. - We can no longer set a skill to appear at level 10. Instead, that slot is used to set a perk to appear at the start of the game. - The medal requirements for every skill have been rebalanced to ensure all skills can earn medals at a similar pace (as these really matter for perks now). - F2P players can take their skill medals all the way up to level 10 instead of level 4. --- ACCOUNT PROGRESSION CHANGES --- - Account level ups now give +100 instead of +25 coins. - Reworked the curve that determines what our player level is, resulting in everyone being lower level than before. It was just too fast before. No one has lost any XP from this, but you might have to wait a while to get back your level based cosmetics. --- MAJOR GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Each round now lasts 3 minutes instead of 5 minutes. This makes matches last about 14 instead of 20 minutes. - Slowed down the in-game leveling curve, but increased the amount of +2 bonus skill points (same power level, but fewer clicks required). - Added one final heart crate that lands one minute after overtime, giving players a last chance to rez. - Reworked the scoring system in BR, the main change is that only round 3 gives bonus placement score. - Instead of capturing chemicals which then expire 10s later, you'll simply destroy the chemical instantly and get $500 instead. - We can now only carry 1 chemical at a time instead of 3. But all chemicals are now more powerful. --- OTHER GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Kill Reward once again loses money when you die, but only 20% instead of 100%. - The max hp cap is now 300 instead of 200. - The skill draft is simplified for new accounts, showing at first only 1 draft option, then 2, then 3 once you've got 10 skills enabled. - You can sell skill points for $1000 instead of $500. - Players can now keep their wanted level between rounds. - Survival mode gives -10 score instead of -1 score per death. - You can now throw grenades while shifting. - If you have 3 grenades and then buy a molotov for $500, you will get 3 molotovs instead of just 1 (effectively trading in your nades). --- WEAPON CHANGES --- - Blast Cannon no longer has the charge up mechanic (but is now a bit better at launching you up into the air) --- CHEMICAL CHANGES --- - All chemicals restore charges every 90 instead of 150s. - Chemicals take 3s instead of 2s to capture. - All chemicals now cost $10,000. - Warp Field passive now boosts shift speed by 30% instead of 25%. - Sonar Cells now gives 10s of global vision instead of 0.5s. - Sonar Cells passive now gives 2x the view range it used to. - Goo Trap passive gives +4 instead of +2 meters jump height. - Fission Mine damage is now 75 instead of 60hp. --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Illicit Income no longer restores health, but it can now restore cash vs cops as well. - Smoke Bomb is moved to the healing tree. It now heals you by 10 hp/s while you stand inside it. - Frenzy now also boosts your movement speed by +20/30/40/60%. - Plasma Ball is now called Fire Storm, and is merged with its old add-on. It now fires 3/4/5/7 fireballs. - Infection's trail effect has been added into Venom Shot itself, allowing venom to infect other players. - Counter Spell now called Automatic Armor. It now treats all forms of damage equally. - Hypnotic Army follower health is now +30hp for all levels. - Phasic Bullets now called Bouncing Bullets and bounced bullets do a lot more damage. - Skill Shots is now called Killer Cooldowns. - Force Field now has more shield health and movement speed. - Soul Drop no longer disables enemies weapons, but instead restores your health when you land it. - Manic Mechanic reworked to no longer be about driving cars, but instead destroying them: "Deal extra damage vs vehicles, and gain bonus cash and XP for destroying them." --- NEW SKILLS --- - Shrapnel: "Grenades and other explosives deal more damage, and molotov's burn for longer." - Flaming Bullets: "Your bullets set enemies on fire, dealing damage and delaying their passive regen." - Boots of Travel: "Makes you run faster whenever you aren't firing your gun" - Blade Mail: "Protects you while you reload, and protects more based on how empty your clip was. After reloading, your next bullet deals bonus damage equal to the damage blocked." - Skill Shots: "Increases all forms of non-bullet damage (skills, grenades, cars, knife, etc). If you get a non-bullet kill, you'll gain a charge that gives extra damage. Charges reset on death." - Assassinate: "A random enemy will be revealed to you in the map, and you will deal bonus damage against them. If you kill them you'll earn extra cash and XP, then get a new target." --- NEW PERKS --- There are 36 of them, so I won't list them here. Go check them out in the skill tree!

[ 2023-04-07 17:00:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! This version reworks shifting to make fights cleaner and movement smoother. There are two big changes: 1) You can no longer fire your gun while shifting (cleaner fights) 2) We get shift charges far more often (smoother movement) Previously, players could shoot and shift at the same time. And good players realised that you could spam shifts every fight and be almost impossible to hit. This made fights quite messy. But now, players must make a tactical choice of when to shoot and when to shift, and use shifts to reposition themselves next to cover before they attack. Another upside is we can all have way more shifts, as there is no risk of people spamming them during fights anymore. So movement in general is a lot faster, and no longer needs annoying penalties to discourage shifting in combat either. So shift as much as you like! (Just do it smart while in combat). Other highlights this version are a new warmup mode (with random skills instead of guns), new zombie betting (where you can bet multiple times per round), and we no longer lose our Kill Reward cash when we die. As always feedback on Steam or Discord is welcome. Enjoy! ---- --- SHIFTING REWORK --- - You can no longer shoot while shifting (skills still work though) - Players take 20% less damage while shifting - Shift charges restore faster (every 0.8s), and don't recharge slower in combat - Shift charges no longer get smaller if you use too many of them or during combat --- GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Dying no longer loses your kill reward. To get a higher kill reward, stay alive during overtime to get a 2x speed boost not available to zombies. - Zombie Betting awards more XP and allows for multiple bets per round, making it a good source of farm for zombies (and a bit of a rubberband mechanic). - The Final 6 Leaderboard no longer gives XP, it just gives 5/10/15/20/25/30 score per round. - Players move 10% faster - In survival mode you get 2 missions per round instead of 1 --- GENERAL CHANGES --- - Survival difficulty modifiers are now all immediately available (to DLC owners). You no longer need to unlock them 1 at a time. - The Deluxe DLC gives 2x rewards to daily challenges instead of 4x. However it now also doubles the coins you get from round wins and level ups. - Daily challenges now completely reset every day at 0:00 UTC. - Daily challenges now give a flat 150 kill coins each (600 total), instead of 50/100/150/200 (500 total). - Warmup Round now gives players a single level 4 SKILL instead of weapon. --- WEAPON CHANGES --- - Reload times are 20% faster. - Weapon swapping times are 20% faster. - Buffed sniper range by 10%. --- CHEMICAL CHANGES --- - Chemicals placed into the map once again last for 10 mins instead of 2 mins. - Warp Field now costs $5000 instead of $4000 --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Mana Shield protection is now 90/85/90/75% instead of 80/75/70/65%, however mana shield now also protects you while shifting. - Bullet Time duration is now 4s instead of 3s. - Plasma Damage slightly reduced. - Venom travel speed and range slightly reduced.

[ 2023-02-17 04:03:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

2X XP Week & 30% DLC Discount

Hey all! To celebrate the new version, this week everyone will earn 2X XP. The Deluxe Edition will also be 30% off if you're interested! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2194030/Gene_Shift_Auto_Deluxe_Edition/

Streamlined Combat

Since going F2P it has become very clear - Gene Shift Auto is complicated! Over the years many mechanics have been added, and in hindsight not all of them provided enough gameplay depth to justify their complexity. There was just a bit too much going on. Gene Shift Auto should be easy to learn and hard to master, and that's what this version hopes to achieve. So a number of mechanics have been removed this version (from PvP, they still exist in Survival mode). We no longer need to worry about backup lives, nor do we have to grind missions non-stop without a moments rest. Critical boolets were neat but didn't really add enough so they're gone too. Only mechanics that really ADD something to gameplay remain. But by far the biggest change of all is...

Infinite Ammo!

Guns have unlimited ammo now. You no longer need to rebuy ammo, and you'll never run out mid-combat. To compensate reload times have been increased and cash drop rates are less as we'll no longer be spending cash throughout the game. Vendors no longer need to sell ammo, and so they have a much needed extra weapon slot instead. Ammo management is a great mechanic in simpler games, but in GSA we have far more important things to worry about, such as...

SWAT Vans!

The cops are more dangerous now with SWAT vans. These kick in at wanted level 3 (special forces kick in at wanted level 4). The Van is tough with a bunch of hitpoints, so you can't just blow it up before it arrives. Each van will charge you down and pop out 4 cops at the last minute. You could say that these police are actually FASHION police, because we now have...

Exclusive Cosmetics

The cosmetics page has been reworked and a bunch of new cosmetics have been added for those who own the Deluxe Edition. A nice way to show off your support for the game. Some big ones are: - Ability to change your shirt color - Ability to change your bullet trails - Rainbow effect when you shift

New Skills

A few new skills have been added too. Last version saw the addition of Hypnotic Army, which allows you to hypnotise nearby cops and civilians to become your minions. Now we have a new skill called Clip Magnet, which makes your bullets seek towards enemies based on how many crates you've recently opened. It also makes the crates you destroy shoot their loot towards you, so you can YOINK a supply drop from across the screen!

A Huge Amount of Polish

Most of this version is just polish. Polish polish polish! There have been tens of thousands of new players join since going F2P and hundreds of lessons learned from observing them. The changelog below has the details but some fun highlights are: Civs now run away from gunfire; the ability to refund your weapon for 100% of its initial purchase value; Sonar Cells reworked so when you stand inside it you get global map vision; QoL improvements, skill balancing, bug fixes and more!

Next Version

Now that F2P is done, and this version has polished up (most of) the issues found by the new F2P audience, I will be free to actually do some solid dev again! And I'm very excited about the next major feature, which will be turning the city into a giant GTA-style playground. The city right now is too plain. There aren't enough land marks and there aren't any ways to interact with the map. This is what I want to change. Lets add a police station to farm cops at, a hospital to respawn at, hidden rooms to explore, fun parkor puzzles and turbo boosters everywhere. Super fast moving jump pads that launch you directly into giant spinning blades of death. Should be fun. Anyway enjoy the version! Ben.

Big Old Changelist

--- MAJOR GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - All weapons now have INFINITE AMMO (you still need to reload, but never rebuy). - Removed critical bullets from the game. - The concept of backup lives has been removed from PvP game modes. When a survivor collects a heart they get $200 instead. - You can only do 3 missions per game, one unlocking per round, and missions are no longer shared with allies. --- DLC CHANGES (STUFF FREE PLAYERS NOW GET ACCESS TO) --- - All players can now equip a skill to appear at level 1, which was previously a DLC exclusive. Skill builds are more fair this way. - All players now get access to all 4 daily challenges instead of just 2, allowing for 500 coins per day (instead of 250). - Free players can now play survival mode once per day instead of once per week (DLC is of course still unlimited). - All players can now earn kill coins based on their placement at the end of a match. - Added a new cosmetic to change your pants color --- DLC CHANGES (STUFF DLC PLAYERS NOW GET) --- - The Deluxe Edition now makes skills 2x cheaper to unlock (skills previously cost 500, now 1000 for F2P and 500 for DLC. F2P rate should be almost the same due to 2x as many daily challenges) - Instead of DLC giving a one time +3000 coins, it now makes daily challenges give 4x the XP and coins. - Reworked the cosmetics page and made half of the cosmetics DLC exclusives. This includes a few existing cosmetics (like the Cape). - Added a new cosmetic to change shirt color (DLC) - Added a new cosmetic to change bullet trail color (DLC) - Added a new cosmetic to show zombie wings when a zombie (DLC) - Added a new cosmetic to make your shifts cycle through the rainbow (DLC) --- MINOR GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Added a SWAT Van to be driven by cops on wanted level 3. It's like a cop car, but with 600hp instead of 200hp and it will carry 4 instead of 2 cops. - Replaced the reload speed perk with ammo consumption perk (-20/30/40% ammo used) - Kill Reward resets to $200 instead of $100, making double kills pay more cash - Heart crates no longer give bonus score or health. Just 8 heart fragments. - Survivors no longer see a hud arrow to the nearest heart crate. - Supply drops now only come once per round instead of 3 times. It will start at 3:00 and land at the 2:00 minute mark - Supply drops give +20 score instead of +10, and drop better loot. - Perks from supply drops can now be shared amongst 2 allies. - The minimap now shows mission gives, and no longer shows helicopters or loot spawners. - Improved vehicle handling and reverse speed. - Multikills increase slower. Instead of +200/300/400/500% it is now +150/200/225/250/275/300%. - The big cashpiles now give $1000 instead of $2000, an the big mutation orbs give 100xp instead of 200xp. - Civs are more easily scared by nearby gunfire. - Shift range is reduced slightly while in combat, to prevent people spamming all over the place. --- GENERAL CHANGES --- - QoL improvement where you can hold down the fire button and automatically resume shooting after switching weapons. - Survival mode now has 1 less round (so standard = 3 and hardcore = 4). Survival AI is made harder. - To incentivize bigger and more varied builds, players now gain +1% XP for each skill they have enabled, in-game. This is capped at +30%. - Rearranged a few skills in the skill tree, and changed the rules so that you must complete the inner rings before you can do the outer ones. - The crosshair now shows 3 circles underneath it that correspond to your 3 active skills, and indicates their cooldowns. - Reworked the tutorial with a cool new scripted cop shootout. Try it out! --- WEAPON CHANGES --- - When upgrading your gun you can get a 100% refund instead of 50%. - Superweapons deal 10% less damage on average, and cost $25,000 instead of $20,000. - Increased reload time of all guns by 0.5s (to offset the new infinite ammo). - Reduced bullet ranges when aiming vertically slightly. - Reduced sniper range from 100 to 70, and buffed bullet speed slightly to compensate. --- CHEMICAL CHANGES --- - You can carry a maximum of 3 chemicals at once instead of 4. - Removed Supply Beacon, Laser Trip Wire, Skill Stimulant, Damage Stimulant, and Synthetic Shop from the game (for now). - Sonar Cells no longer reveals enemies in a 60m radius around you. Instead, it will give you global map vision while you stand inside it. - Goo Trap passive is changed to increase your jump height by 2m. - Chemicals take 3s to capture instead of 2s. - Chemical cooldowns are now 150s instead of 180s. - Placed chemicals only exist for 2 minutes instead of 20 minutes. - Capturing a chemical now sets its expiry time to 20s instead of 60s. - Warp Field no longer appears in CTF or Conquest modes. --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Rapid Refill (addon for Frenzy) has been removed from the game. - Instead we have a new skill called Clip Magnet, which makes your bullets seek faster and makes loot crates throw their loot towards you. - X-Ray Vision range is buffed to 30/50/80/120, but is only able to show you the closest 1/2/3/5 enemies - Energize range is now +10/15/20/30 instead of +15/25/35/50%. - Self Repair cooldown is now 15/14/13/12 instead of 15s flat. - Phase drifting now shows a red ring around you to indicate top speed and bonus damage. - Radiate now shows green if allied, red if enemy, and has better vertical hit detection. - Radiate burst damage is buffed to 20/30/40/60, and the linger duration is fixed at 3s - Chemical Boost no longer deals damage. - Invisibility once again deals reduced damage. 75% for 0.5s after leaving invis. To compensate the reveal range is reduced from 25 to 15m. - Critical Shifting damage reduce to +10/15/20/25%. - Smoke Bomb can now be cast where your target is instead of your position. --- BUG FIXES --- - Fixed a bug where skill medallions weren't showing at the end of the game.

[ 2023-02-13 17:55:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Steam Page is Fixed!

Valve has fixed the issue and the play button now works. I want to apologise to the thousands of people who visited the store page yesterday. This was a very unusual bug and confused a lot of players. A lot of people messaged me thinking that their country or region had been locked out, or wondering if they personally did something wrong. But nope, it was an issue on Valve's end that affected everyone. On a personal level that was a stressful 30 hours! There was a huge spike in store page visits yesterday, over 120,000 people, but not a single download. Bit of a rough start, but all good. Anyway I'm going to copy paste the previous Steam announcement now, as this one will become the default message, and people need to know what will happen to their accounts. So if you read the previous announcement you can skip all this :)

Now Free to Play!

Gene Shift Auto is now F2P. This will massively grow our playerbase, get fresh faces into our community and allow you to play with your friends for free! I want to thank everyone who has played the game so far. I couldn't have done this without you. Seeing you guys log in every day gave me the motivation to keep going all these years. We've been in Early Access for 5 years and a lot has changed, and I'm pumped that we've finally hit this massive milestone.

What Happens Now?

The new business model is simple. Multiplayer is Free to Play, and the singleplayer/coop survival mode is given to people who own the Deluxe Edition DLC. (In addition to other goodies like bonus challenges, cosmetics, kill coins etc). Nothing has really changed here, as this is how the Deluxe Edition already worked. Anyone who has ever spent real money on the game in the past should automatically have the Deluxe Edition in their Steam account. This is worth $15 USD same as the game was previously. So no one will be losing money from this change. If you don't have the DLC please contact me ASAP via discord or the Steam forums. Anyone who got the game during a free giveaway in the past will continue to play for free with all the same features as before, just now we will have far more people to shoot at!

Exclusive Rewards

Additionally, as thanks for your support all these years, all existing players have been given +2000 kill coins. You've also been given an exclusive cosmetic only available to accounts created before the F2P date. Log in to claim these rewards now!

Double XP Week

To celebrate this big change all players will earn double XP for the next 7 days. So tell your friends and come online for a game. Slaughter some nubs, level up fast, and see if you can become the last man standing! Much love, bencelot.

[ 2022-11-29 22:37:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Now Free to Play!

Gene Shift Auto is now F2P. This will massively grow our playerbase, get fresh faces into our community and allow you to play with your friends for free! I want to thank everyone who has played the game so far. I couldn't have done this without you. Seeing you guys log in every day gave me the motivation to keep going all these years. We've been in Early Access for 5 years and a lot has changed, and I'm pumped that we've finally hit this massive milestone.

What Happens Now?

The new business model is simple. Multiplayer is Free to Play, and the singleplayer/coop survival mode is given to people who own the Deluxe Edition DLC. (In addition to other goodies like bonus challenges, cosmetics, kill coins etc). Nothing has really changed here, as this is how the Deluxe Edition already worked. Anyone who has ever spent real money on the game in the past should automatically have the Deluxe Edition in their Steam account. This is worth $15 USD same as the game was previously. So no one will be losing money from this change. If you don't have the DLC please contact me ASAP via discord or the Steam forums. Anyone who got the game during a free giveaway in the past will continue to play for free with all the same features as before, just now we will have far more people to shoot at!

Exclusive Rewards

Additionally, as thanks for your support all these years, all existing players have been given +2000 kill coins. You've also been given an exclusive cosmetic only available to accounts created before the F2P date. Log in to claim these rewards now!

Double XP Week

To celebrate this big change all players will earn double XP for the next 7 days. So tell your friends and come online for a game. Slaughter some nubs, level up fast, and see if you can become the last man standing! Much love, bencelot.

[ 2022-11-28 14:33:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Going Free to Play

After 5 years in Early Access, Geneshift (now called Gene Shift Auto) is going Free to Play! This will happen on the 28th of November, 2022 (in about 2 weeks). This move to F2P will bring far more players into our community. We will have fuller servers, more members in the discord, and you can invite your friends to play for free! What will happen to you? Well, there are 2 main groups of players right now - those who own the Deluxe Edition and those who do not. Anyone who has ever spent real money on the game already owns the Deluxe Edition, and will continue to own it after we go F2P, which will still be valued at $15 USD. Anyone who got the game for free during a giveaway in the past will continue to be able to play for free. Additionally, to thank everyone for playing during this early phase, you will be given an exclusive cosmetic not available to accounts created after we go F2P. Also +2000 kill coins will be instantly added to your account on the F2P date. Make sure to follow and wishlist the game to get a reminder from Steam in 2 weeks!

New Name & New Trailer

As you may have noticed, Geneshift is now called Gene Shift Auto. This is to help rebrand the game for the new F2P experience. The name has changed because the game *itself* has changed so much over the years. "Geneshift" was released as a story-based campaign. It didn't have cops, missions, the megamap, skill drafting, vendors or even the BR game mode! We're playing a completely different game, more of a sequel really, and a new name will help communicate to all the old fans just how much has changed. Alongside the name change, we also have a sick new trailer. Check it out here! [previewyoutube=zcsgeeLG6dQ;full][/previewyoutube]

Other Cool Features

Several neat features have been patched out to the game over the last 2 months, but they haven't been discussed here on Steam yet. So I'll summarise each of them now! Kill Contracts The way we earn cash and XP has been replaced with a new Kill Contract system. All players now have a "Kill Contract" which is displayed under the minimap, and shows how much XP and cash you will earn on your next kill. This number ticks up over time, capping out at $3000 after a few minutes. When you kill your next victim, you are awarded the amount of accumulated cash and XP, and then the contract resets to $0. If you die the contract also resets to $0. This change has plenty of benefits. First of all, it creates moments of high tension when you go for too long without getting a kill. The contract gets bigger and bigger and the stakes grow as well, and it feels super satisfying to secure that kill and redeem the contract. Also, it fundamentally changes the pacing of the game. Under the old system, we were incentivized to grind kills non-stop to farm XP and cash as fast as possible. But kill contracts change that. You will now passively earn your XP and cash regardless, and as long as you successfully claim the contract (get a kill and don't die) you'll earn farm just as fast as anyone else. This frees you up to do all the other things in the game, like missions, shopping, placing chemicals, exploring for loot etc.
Better Skill Drafting Skill drafting has been improved in various ways. Firstly, our max health is now tied to your level. You get +5 max hp whenever you level up, and random health kits have been removed from the game. This reduces RNG from looting, makes leveling up more significant, and creates better overall pacing. Secondly, the skill draft is made a lot more interesting with BONUS skill points. At key milestones you will be offered a super-charged skill that comes with bonus free skill points. For example when you hit level 5 you might be offered a choice of Plasma Ball, Force Field, or Invisibility (+2 points). And if you take Invisibility, you'll level it by 2 skill points instead of 1 - effectively giving you an extra level if and only if you choose Invis. This expands the roguelikeyness of the game as you are now incentivized to experiment with various skills you might not normally have taken.
Bigger Cop Wave Dynamics Police waves are now bigger and badder, but less frequent. I was finding them a bit too grindy before. Now they will only swarm after you every 90s or so, but when they do they come in hard. More explosions, more XP, but then more downtime to focus on the rest of the game without being swamped.
PVP Hardcore Mode In preparation for all the newbies arriving after F2P, a new "Hardcore Mode" has been added to PvP. This is optional, but if you enable this mode you will deal 25% less damage to new accounts under level 20. This will help them compete and have a chance. In exchange for your sacrifice, you'll earn +50% XP at the end of the match and will also get to run around with a sexy golden healthbar. Improved Art Style The Art Style has also improved, going for a slight catoony toon-shader effect. All players, vehicles, crates and the map now have a thin black outline around them. You can see the effect in the trailer and screenshots above!

Big Old Changelist

Here are all the changes shown in the in-game changelog, made for all the minor versions since the latest Steam announcement. Version 1.474 --- BIGGEST CHANGES --- - Killing enemies no longer gives you $100 x killstreak. Instead it uses a new KILL CONTRACT system explained above. - You no longer lose cash on death, but rather your kill contract resets. - Removed regular health kits from the game. Instead, players get +5 max hp whenever they level up (capping at 200hp total). - Perks for weapons now apply to ALL weapons, and no longer lock you into a specific subtype. --- OTHER GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Reduced the power of a number of kill streak bonuses, so they're not as OP and snowbally. - When a chemical is captured, its expiry time is set to 60s, so you're no longer feeding your enemies by placing chems. - Reduced the number of crates that spawn in the map by bundling more loot per crate. - Cop kills now give more xp based on your wanted level: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 at max level. - Survival bot health is now 100/120/140/160/180 instead of 80/100/120/140/160. - Vendors are now much less likely to see perk tier upgrades, while missions are now more likely to upgrade as opposed to giving something new. - Selling a perk gives $2000 per tier instead of $500 per tier. - The loot crate at the end of survival is now sharable with all players. --- VEHICLE CHANGES --- - Vehicles now have a small amount of damage passthrough, ranging from 20% on weak cars (buggie, loafer) to 10% on strong cars (camper, flatbed). - For 1s after you first enter a car, you will continue to take full passthrough damage. - Vehicle regen delay is now 2.0s intead of 1.2s. - When a player exits a car their gun is only disabled for 0.5 instead of 1.0s. - Vehicle explosion cash is now $200 instead of $100. - Radar Truck now has 100m vision range. - Hornet stinger missiles now have 50% faster seeking. --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Manic Mechanic no longer provides additional healing to passengers. - Parasites have a slightly larger hitbox. Version 1.477 --- BIGGEST CHANGES --- - Changed the guaranteed skills system. Instead of being able to guarantee 3 skills, we can now only do 2 skills. But they are stronger because: - DLC owners can make a skill appear at level 1 instead of 3 - The other skill appears at level 10. This skill will begin at max level. If you don't select a skill, a random skill will get the bonus points at level 10. - At levels 2/5/15 one of the 3 skills in the draft will be randomly chosen to come with +1 free skill point if you choose it. --- SKILL TREE AND DRAFT CHANGES --- - Level 4 skills now become available at levels 12/16/20/24/28/30 instead of 10/15/20/25/30. (plus we'll get one at level 10 for our skill build) - Active skills now come out at fixed points, on levels 1, 5 and 10. It is impossible to get 3 actives before level 10. - You can now sell skill points for $500 instead of having to level them - Skill Builds now require at least 8 active skills (as well as 8 passive skills). Add-on skills aren't counted. - Improved the functionality of the skill tree, making it easier to equip skills (try click on the big button up top) - The stats tracking requirements for various skills have been reduced significantly, as it took too long to make progress - Skill stats tracking no longer works against survival zombies, as they are too easy and spammable --- OTHER GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Tier 2 guns now cost $10000 instead of $8000 - Superweapons now cost $20000 instead of $15000 - All chemicals now cost $5000 - The BR circle now shrinks to nothingness if rounds go on too long - Health Stimulant now gives +10hp/s instead of +5hp/s - The server now announces when a player breaks someones kill streak - The HUD now shows the round number next to the timer - The mission arrow reappears at the start of each round, but disables for the rest of the round once you have a mission active - End of round XP rewards are now 150/200/250/300/350/400 instead of 100/200/300/400/500/600 --- VEHICLE CHANGES --- - Vehicles take 8s to fully regenerate instead of 5s, and regen is disabled for 2.5 instead of 2.0s after taking damage - You take full damage passthrough for 1.5s after entering a car, instead of 1.0s --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Plasma Ball no longer gets a damage perk - Parasite Swarm no longer gets a damage perk - Parasite Swarm DPS is now 60/70/80/90 instead of 80/90/100/120 - Blood Leech healing is now 30/60/70/100% instead of 50/75/100/150% - Invisibility loses the move speed perk and move speed is now +10/20/30/50 instead of +20/35/50/80 - Arcane Power skill damage mult is now +5/10/15/25 instead of +10/15/20/30 - Arcane Power bullet damage mult is now 10/13/16/20 instead of 10/12/14/16 - Mirror Image now heads towards your target at the time of casting - Illicit Income healing is now 10/20/30/50 per kill instead of 10/15/20/30, but this is not affected by wanted level --- BUG FIXES --- - Fixed a bug with mirror image not showing supporters medallion - Fixed the bug where the end of round XP summary wasn't showing Version 1.481 --- OTHER GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Ammo is now bought in $500 increments instead of $1000 - The unharmed challenge has been replaced with a requirement to land in the helicopter --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Self Repair duration is now 1.5 instead of 2.5s - Soul Drop victim ROF is 10% faster at all levels - Counter Spell lasts 2s instead of 1s and no longer triggers vs civs/cops - Force Field duration is now 3.5 instead of 3.0s - Smoke Bomb fadeout time is now 0.2 instead of 0.5s - Frenzy duration is now 2.5/3.0/3.5/4.0 instead of 3/3.5/4/5 - Frenzy cooldown is now 20/18/16/14 instead of fixed at 20 - Clusterbomb nades is now 3/4/5/7 and it no longer benefits from skill shot charges - Skill Shot has been reworked. It no longer gains charges. Instead, it reduces your skill cooldowns whenever you get a kill. The reduction is a percentage of the remaining time. - Skill Shot Cooldown Time %: -25/-40/-55/-80 - Skill Shot Against Civs/Cops %: -5/-10/-15/-25 --- BUG FIXES --- - Fixed a bug where Shockwave would cause bullets to stay permanently frozen in the air Version 1.483 --- OTHER GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Players completing daily challenges are no longer announced to the server. - Players ranking up their skill tracking is no longer anounced to the server except at key milestones (lvl 5/10/15/20). --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Ignition Orb duration is now 10s instead of 6s - Manic mechanic no longer heals your car faster, but instead increases your cars max speed by +10/20/30/40% - Manic Mechanic added recoil is now 30/20/10/0 instead of 25/20/15/10 - Phase drifting now continues to work when you shift - Chemical Boost makes chemicals appear on discount --- BUG FIXES --- - Fixed a bug where borderless fullscreen mode would glitch when alt-tabbing Version 1.484 --- BIGGEST CHANGES --- - Default number of BR rounds is 3 instead of 4 - Increased the speed that kill contracts grow by +30% to compensate for the above --- GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - The bonus skill at level 15 comes with +2 free skill points instead of +1 - Max recoil on guns is 7 instead of 10 degrees - Arrows for supply/heart crates continue to display until the crate it actually destroyed, not just when it lands - 33% of the time, the heart crate will drop a phaser shift instead of +10 max hp - When vendors are created, they are more likely to spawn with (and thus sell) a weapon tier that matches the round number (T1 in R1, T2 in R2, Supers in R3) - Loot Spawners no longer guarantee a bonus +200xp --- GENERAL CHANGES --- - The Deluxe Edition DLC gives an additional +1000 kill coins - Increased the kill coin rewards for placement at the end of a match (plus matches are faster) - Increased the cost of unlocking skills at higher levels - New players can now begin using the guaranteed skills feature when they get 12 instead of 18 skills --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Self Repair duration is now 2.0 instead of 1.5s --- BUG FIXES --- - Fixed a server performance issue Version 1.486 --- BIGGEST CHANGES --- - The wanted circle is smaller, but it now moves towards you at all times, getting faster based on your wanted level. --- GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Cops now deal 60% instead of 50% damage. - Leveling up in survival mode gives +3 max hp instead of +5 max hp - If you already own a chemical, you are less likely to see that same chemical in vendors - Laser Tripwire damage shaves off 35% instead of 50% of remaining hp (to account for the recent increase in max hp) - The Heart crate now gives +10 score. - Loot Spawners now drop more frequently in later rounds. --- GENERAL CHANGES --- - The Deluxe Edition now gives 2x as many kill coins whenever you level up or complete a daily challenge. - Supply drops are more likely to drop +10 kill coins (50% of the time). - Added a message to let players know they have joined mid-game with average cash and XP. --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Increased plasma speed from 44 to 47 m/s, but reduced damage to 0.6/0.7/0.8/1.0 instead of 0.7/0.8/0.9/1.0 --- BUG FIXES --- - Fixed a bug where rare loot crates were putting out 200 cash instead of 200xp.

[ 2022-11-15 03:25:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Kill Streaks

This version raises the stakes by adding kill streaks! If you kill 4 players in a row without dying, the server will announce to everyone that you are, as they say.. "owning". It sounds much cooler in game. At 6 kills you are wicked sick, 8 kills unstoppable, 10 kills on a m-m-m-monster kill and 12 kills you are GODLIKE! Additionally on each of these stages you will be rewarded with a randomly generated buff, that lasts until you die. Here is the full list of perks you can randomly get when you hit a kill streak milestone:

• +1000 cash
• +100 xp
• ammo & hp restored
• +20% skill damage
• +10% gun damage
• +15% bullet speed
• -30% recoil
• -35% shift cooldown
• -35% chemical cooldown
• +50% regen rate
• 200% civ/cop XP
• vendor discounts
• extra jump height
• 20 global map vision
• bigger car explosions

Finally, the amount of cash and XP you earn now increases with your streak as well. All of this makes you really not want to die and raises the stakes in combat. It also affects how you farm, as the previous strategy of "charge blindly into battle chasing kills" now pays out less than the new strategy of "selectively engage in fights you know you can win, and stay alive at all costs. This is very important because of another major change this version...

New Victory Condition

The rules for winning have changed. Previously you needed to reach 100 score and then win the following round. There were 2 issues with this. Firstly, it was confusing. Secondly is that if your score was very far behind, you would feel a bit hopeless, like you could never catch up. But that's all fixed now. Now, to win the game all you need to do is this - win round 4. It doesn't matter what your score is. You can mess about in a casual GTA-style way in the first 3 rounds and still have a chance at victory. Everyone now has hope of winning right up until the final showdown, and players in the lead must stay on their toes or else they'll have their victory snatched from them. The core focus of the game therefore has now changed. The point of the first 3 rounds now is to get as FARMED as you can, with as much cash and XP as possible. When you start round 4 you want to be an OP juggernaut with the highest chances of winning possible. And how to get you get farmed fast? Kill streaks. Focusing on quality engagments and putting your skills to the test.

Survival Replayability with Difficulty Modifiers

Survival Mode has gained a huge amount of replayabilty with the addition of Difficulty Modifers. When you start a survival run you can enable 1 or more modifiers, which will make the game more challenging in various ways. If you manage to win the game with a modifier enabled, you will complete it, like a challenge. And you will also gain bonus score, XP and kill coins. There are 18 modifiers at the moment and they are designed to get you to play in various ways. Some are much harder than others, and give bonus score and XP to compensate. Here are some example: Minefield: Covers the map in hidden Fission Mines that will detonate shortly after you step on them (protip: use a car). Super Swarm: Spawns 3x as many zombies in the zombie phase (protip: get some AoE skills). Spellcaster: Your weapons deal -25% damage, but skills +50% damage (protip: get Plasma Ball). Explosive Retaliation: When you kill an enemy, they will toss a final nade at you (protip: have some shifts saved up to dodge it).

Other Fun Changes

This version improves the graphics with bigger car and player explosions. It also improves performance and netcode stability too. Skills and weapons have been rebalanced. The economy of cash and XP is far steadier - providing more interesting decision making opportunities. There's a new skill called Arcane power, which makes your next shot extra powerful immediately after casting a skill. In survival mode, there is a new sandbox stage after the zombie swarm. This stage lets you free-roam the map with no time pressure, fighting cops in true GTA style. There is also a new staging area before the game starts so all co-op players can ready up before starting. Scoring for the leaderboard has also been streamlined, and is now a measure of who can survive with the most difficulty modifers enabled. Read the changelog for the full list!

Free to Play Update

We're getting closer to going F2P. It's looking like early December, but I'll make an official announcement once Valve confirms. I'm very excited to see our playerbase grow! Reminder: Anyone who has already bought the game, or buys the game now, will be given the Deluxe Edition DLC, which is the same price as the game at the moment. So whether you buy now or after going F2P doesn't really matter. But if you want to try the F2P multiplayer first that's fine, just wishlist the game now and hop online in December!

45% Discount

Geneshift is 45% off. Hooray!

Big Old Changelist

Note: Some of these have already been patched in the last few weeks, so you may have read them already in-game. This is the complete list of changes since the last major Steam announcement. --- NEW VICTORY CONDITION --- - Players no longer need to reach 100 score to be able to win the round in PvP BR modes. - Instead, each match will always run for exactly 4 rounds. And whoever has the highest score at the end of the fourth round will win. - In practice, the winner is the player who wins the final round. Because the final round gives +300 score (other rounds give +30). - The placement scoring for the final 6 players is now only awarded on round 4 and gives out +10/20/30/40/50/60 score instead of +10/14/18/22/26/30. - In earlier rounds, the final 6 leaderboard now awards bonus XP instead. Giving +300/400/500/600/700/800 xp. - Rounds 1, 2 and 3 now give special rewards to the winner. Round 1 gives +$3000. Round 2 gives +20 max hp. Round 3 gives +1 life (and a bonus life container). Hold TAB to see this in-game. --- SURVIVAL DIFFICULTY MODIFIERS --- - Players can now enable "difficulty modifiers" before starting a survival game. These make the game harder in interesting ways, and award bonus XP. - If you manage to beat the survival run then you will "complete" that modifier, like a challenge. This will award you +100 kill coins the first time you do this. - You can only attempt one new modifier at a time. But you can stack as many completed modifiers as you like, for more total XP gain. --- GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Tier 2 weapons now cost $8000 instead of $5000 - Rare loot crates now put out an extra 300xp - Max hp overheal is now 200 instead of 150 - When you consume a life you only come back with 100hp, not max hp - Police bounty goes back to $500 per star instead of $1000 - Made cops more forgiving and avoid you in combat - All missions give +200xp now, even the ones that give a random perk. So it's either 200xp + a perk, or 200xp + $3000 - The cutoff time to get combo kills is now 3s instead of 2.5s - Electrified a few rooftop to prevent camping them in final showdowns. They deal 20hp/s damage - Civilians will always drop a bit of loot now, either cash or XP - Cash and XP for player kills is completely changed, and now uses the formula $100 x Kill Streak. Don't die or you'll lose your streak! - Special bonuses are given at key milestones during your streak, as well as a epic voiceovers announcing your awesomeness to the server. - You will lose 10% of your current cash when you die. - Added a new XP breakdown when you hold TAB, similar to the score breakdown, which shows all your various sources of XP - Added a new skill called Arcane Power, which replaces Vapor Slide (an add-on to Plasma Ball) - Arcane Power increases the damage of all your skills. Also whenever you cast a skill, the very next bullet you shoot with be enchanted with extra damage - In PvP BR modes you now get +5 score whenever you level up - The biggest kill streak leaderboard in the main menu now only applies to PvP BR modes - In the skill tree, left clicking the same skill again will toggle its enabled/disable status if allowed - You only get +20 max hp instead of +30 max hp for winning the 2nd round - Flattened the XP leveling curve a bit, making it easier to hit higher levels - Made vehicle explosions look cooler - Guaranteed skills for drafting are back to 3/6/9 instead of 2/5/8 - Players now deal 2x damage vs cars when they are empty or filled with cops/civs. Previously this only applied to knives - Increased the amount of driveby missions in the map at once, from 3 to 5. - Slightly increased default weapon zoom range. - Superweapons now cost $15k instead of $12k. - Increaesd the sized of the wanted circle at lower levels. - Standard survival requires 1 less assassination per round. - Zombie betting now gives XP instead of cash (eg: instead of $1000 cash it'll give 100xp). - Zombies will now only spawn into the red zone during overtime in round 4 only. Not in earlier rounds. - Vendors are slightly more likely to carry upgrades of the guns you already hold. - Reduced the damage of grenades and bazookas by 10hp each. Moltov DPS is now 10hp/s instead of 15hp/s. - Grenades now do 2x damage vs civs and cops, like bazookas already do - Players must reach level 20 before they are able to play Conquest or CTF modes - Fixed some glitches with vertical auto aiming prioritizing civilians - Non-DLC players now get 10 free attempts at survival instead of 5 - Increased the rate you level up in survival mode by 20% - Slightly reduced enemy accuracy and reflexes in hardcore mode (still harder than standard though) - Winstreak bonus is now +5% XP instead of +10%, and is capped at +50% instead of 100%. - The referral system no longer requires recruits to be level 10 or to be your Steam friend - Once you get 5 recruits you will get a free Steam key as well as a bonus +1000 kill coins - Players now show off their skills and skill medallions when they win a BR round - The supporters medallion now shows next to your name in-game - You now only get 1% XP for each skill enabled, instead of 2%. This is more friendly to ppl making custom skill builds. - Made zombie bots spawn closer to the red zone in overtime, in case they wanna go bet - Chemical Boost cooldown speed buffed to 150/200/250/300% instead of 125/150/175/200% - Reduced required nade kills for the spagetti quest by 1 - Missions give $3000 and 300xp instead of $2000 and 200xp - Loot Spawners give $3000 and 300xp instead of $2000 and 200xp - Passive healing is now 10hp/s instead of 15hp/s - Emergency shifts gradually get smaller and smaller as you become exhausted. Shifts normally move you 22m/s. Then the first emergency shift moves 17, then 12, then 7. - Emergency shift damage penalty starts counting at -1hp then -2hp, then -3hp and so on. - Supply Drops no longer include a +10 max hp kit. This now appears in the heart crate instead. - Max wanted level no longer stops you from buying from vendors. - Cops no longer give score. - Missions no longer give score. - Loot spawners no longer give score. - Half as much XP is given for zombie betting. - Tier1 guns will appear in vendors if you don't own any primary/secondary weapons at all. - The kill combo duration is now 2.5s instead of 2.0s . - Superweapon ammo costs $1500 instead of $2000 to fully refill. - Superweapons start with +30% DMG instead of +20%. --- WEAPON & CHEMICAL CHANGES --- - M60 damage is now 10 instead of 11 - SMGS range is now 40 instead of 35 - Spas & Blast Cannon range is now 35 instead of 30 - M3 spread is now 18 instead of 15 - Minigun spread is now 4 instead of 6 - Flamethrower bullet speed is now 60 instead of 45 - Barrett now does 60hp damage instead of 70hp, but has RPM of 60 instead of 40 - All snipers now deal x1.5 damage vs civs/cops - Skill Stimulant only gives +10% XP, not +20% passively. But is now multiplied with the full kill combo --- SKILL CHANGES --- - You can no longer throw nades behind a forcefield. Tossing a nade will explode the shield instead - Force Field no longer does shatter damage. This has been moved to Bouncing Bullets, dealing 10/15/20/25hp - Force Field now has health of 50/65/80/100hp. If it runs out of health it will explode prematurely. Cops/civs don't damage the force field however - Skill Shot reduces cooldowns by 8% instead of 10% per charge. However charges are no longer lost on death - Levelling Plasma Ball now increases its size as well: 10/12/14/16 (previous size was 14) - Plasma now does 150% damage vs civs/cops - Force Field duration is now 3s instead of 5s. - Force Field move speed is now 60/75/90/110% instead of 60/80/100/130%. - Soul Drop ROF reduction is now 65/60/55/50 instead of 60/50/40/30. - Sonar Cells no longer reveals invisibility. - Invis duration is now 8/12/16/20 instead of 8/16/24/32, and cooldown is now 15 instead of 12s. - Spike Trap cooldown is now 20/18/16/12s instead of fixed at 20s. - Plasma damage is now 0.7/0.8/0.9/1.1 instead of 0.5/0.7/0.9/1.2 and cooldown is now 20/16/12/8 instead of fixed at 10s - Regeneration delay time is now 3/2.5/2/1.5 instead of 3/2.6/2.2/1.8 (default is 3.5) - Venom can now kill civilians (still caps at 1hp vs players) - Skill Shots no longer triggers from knife kills, but has 30% chance to trigger vs civs/cops instead of a 20% - Chemical Boost cooldown speed buffed to 150/200/250/300% instead of 125/150/175/200% - Chemical Boost jump heights buffed to 6/9/12/18 instead of 4/7/10/15 - Soul Drop no longer triggers if you spawn in the air - Spike Trap no longer returns to the owner. Spike Trap duration is now 8s instead of 5s. - Spike Trap damage is now 30/40/50/60hp instead of 20/30/40/50 - Vampirism healing is now 8/12/16/24% instead of 10/15/20/30% - Critical Shifting damage boost is now 20/25/30/40% instead of 10/15/20/30% - Critical Shifting duration is now 0.6/0.7/0.8/1.0 instead of 0.8 - Illicit Income no longer works on the end of round zombie swarm in survival - Invis move speed is now 1.2/1.4/1.6/2.0 instead of 1.1/1.2/1.3/1.5 - Invis duration is now 6/8/10/12 instead of 8/12/16/20 - Increased smoke bomb vertical range slightly - Venom dps is now 12 instead of 10 and seeking is now 40 instead of 30 - Nerfed the cash rate for Illicit Income at higher wanted levels - Buffed Xray damage linger duration to 2/4/6/10s instead of 1/2/3/4. - Arcane power bullet damage is now 10/12/14/16 instead of 5/10/15/20 - Venom Shot duration is now 2.5/3/3.5/5s instead of 2/3/4/5, and total damage output is now 30/40/50/70 instead of 24/36/48/60 - Plasma Ball does 5hp less damage at all ranges --- BUG FIXES --- - Fixed a bug where you could rejoin after the warmup round with warmup guns - Fixed a bug where the end of round XP bonus for not dying in survival wasn't being applied - Fixed a bug where bonus civilian kill combo XP wasn't counting towards our out of game progression - Fixed a bug where you could jump over a car to avoid taking damage

[ 2022-09-26 17:00:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Customizeable Skill Builds

Have you ever played Magic: The Gathering? Well my favourite part of the game isn't playing the game, but rather designing my deck. And now you can do that with the skills in Geneshift! This version gives you the ability to create and save skill builds. You can now disable skills from appearing in-game, giving you control over the skill draft. This has huge strategic potential as you can choose to only enable skills that synergize well together, and disable the rest. For example, you might choose to only enable long-ranged skills and create a sniper build. Then in-game you won't have close-range skills appear and diluting the skill draft. There are countless skill combinations to explore, and designing a synergistic build might make the difference between victory or defeat. After designing your build you can easily give it a name and save it. You can have multiple custom-made builds saved and conveniently switch between them via a dropdown menu on the skills page. This not only lets you enjoy the theorycrafting of build creation, but it also makes it quick and easy to toggle between playstyles between matches, increasing variety and replayability!

New Dynamic Music

The fast-paced gameplay of Geneshift is ultimately designed to give you one thing above all others - a rush of adrenaline. And nothing affects our feels more powerfully than music. Which is why I've started redoing some of the old tunes, cranking up the beat and the intensity. I'm also designing this new music in a special way. The rounds in Geneshift are exactly 5 minutes long, with supply drops appearing at the 4:00, 2:00 and 0:00 marks. So I have designed the music to sync up perfectly with these key action moments, and crank the intensity just as the supply drops land and the big high-stakes fights break out all across Subvein City.

Conquest Mode

Conquest mode now works on a ticket system, similar to the Battlefield games. Each team starts with 500 tickets and you win by removing all the enemy team's tickets. There are 2 ways to remove enemy tickets. Kills will reduce their count by 1. But so will holding more control points than the enemy team, which causes their tickets to slowly bleed down as well. This change ensures that each Conquest match lasts a reasonable duration, and doesn't drag on for hours like the old mode allowed.

Extremely Easy Revivals - Until Overtime

The role of zombie revivals has been rethought and it is now easier than ever to revive. As a zombie you simply need to get just 1 kill vs a survivor to come back to life. Not only that, but there are now THREE heart crates that land when the round timer hits 0:00, tripling your chances of coming back. Due to these changes it is extremely easy to revive during the first 5 minutes of each round. This lets you roam the map freely, take risks, fight cops and generally enjoying the sandboxy GTA vibes without fear of dying. Geneshift is moving in the GTA direction and that means the rules need to support chaos and action and the occassional death. This is now possible with easy revivals. But Geneshift is still a BR right? Yes! For starters, there is a new $5000 reward for players who survive the full round and make it to overtime without dying. Secondly, once overtime begins it becomes very difficult to revive. So the true BR survival experience begins during overtime. At this point you don't want to die, because you won't be able to revive, and the best way to get score is still to place as high as possible in the round.

Free to Play Later This Year!

In other news, Geneshift will go Free to Play some time later this year! This will do wonders for our playerbase, and make it easier than ever to play with friends. The multiplayer will go F2P, and the Supporter's Edition DLC will continue to exist for those who want to support development. Anyone who has ever spent money on the game (and therefore owns the Supporter's Edition) will continue to keep the DLC. Anyone who buys the game before we go F2P will also get the DLC (as it is included in the base package) for the same price as it'll be after going F2P. It will take a few months to prepare for the launch. I need to make new trailers, completely redo the Steam page, and even slightly change the name of the game! Geneshift has changed a lot over the years! It doesn't look or play anything like it did when it first hit Early Access in 2017, and so it needs a new look to reflect that before it's made available to the F2P audience on Steam. Anyway, exciting times ahead! I'll make an announcement with details closer to the date. Stay tuned and have fun!

Big Old Changelist

- Added the ability to save and load skill builds, allowing players to theorycraft fun skill combos and instantly apply them between rounds. - This saves the skill choices at levels 2, 5 and 8, as well as all the skills you've enabled and disabled. You can give builds a name and easily select them from a dropdown menu. - Basic/Free accounts can have a maximum of 3 builds saved. DLC accounts are unlimited. - In the skill tree you now have the ability to toggle your skills between enabled or disabled. Only enabled skills will show up in the skill draft in-game. - This means you can now create skill builds that synergize well together. You could make a sniper build by only enabling long range skills like Energize and Plasma Ball, and disabling close range skills like Blade Fury. - To ensure enough variety, you must have at least 16 skills enabled at all times, 10 of which must be passives. - Removed the ability to reroll for skills in-game. Players must now adapt to what their custom-made build gives them. - The guaranteed skills feature now lets you guarantee skills at level 2/5/8 instead of 3/6/9 and is enabled once you have 18 skills unlocked. - Updated the main menu music a bit. - Updated some of the songs in-game in an experimental way, where the music syncs up with the 5 minute structure of the BR round. So the high-adrenaline beats kick in just as overtime begins. - Created a whole new type of mission that isn't activated by civilians, but rather, by cars. This will give you 60s to kill 2 civilians on opposite sides of the map. Drive fast! - Reduced cash and XP earned from player kills back to $400 + 20xLevel. - Bots in survival mode can no longer gain bonus lives. They can still deny hearts though. - Zoomed the camera in a tad, and reduced bullet ranges slightly to compensate. - Doubled the amount of loot that comes out of helicopters. - The passive regen delay on cars is now only 1s instead of 2s when you deal self car damage (making it less punishing when noobs drive into a wall). - Cops only do 40% instead of 50% damage. - Made it slightly faster to progress to wanted level 2. - Fixed a few issues in the tutorial, where cops spawned before they were explained. - Reduced the damage of burst weapons when fired by cops, such as m3, grenade and barrett. - Added an stage in the tutorial that requires you to explode a civilian with a grenade. - Force Field duration is now 4s instead of 5s. - Force Field damage is now 10/20/30/40 instead of 20/30/40/50, and cooldown is now 20s instead of 15s. - X-Ray Vison now additionally affects how long you keep vision on an enemy after you damage them. After damaging an enemy you'll be able to see them through walls for 1.0/1.5/2.0/3.0s. Default is now 0.5 instead of 1.5. - Vampirism no longer has overheal abilities - Energy Vortex cooldown is now 20s for all levels - Energy Vortex range is now 24/26/28/30 instead of 24/28/32/46 - Self Repair takes 2.5 instead of 1.5s to heal you up - Regen out of combat time is now 3/2.6/2.2/1.8 instead of 3/2.7/2.4/2.0 - Rapid Refill free bullet chance is now 45/60/75/90% instead of 30/50/70/90% - Spike Trap damage is now 20/30/40/50 and cooldown is now 20/18/16/14 instead of flat 20 - Cluster Bomb no longer removes a skill shot charge (it still benefits from the charges aquired though) - Cluster Bomb is now less random in its targeting, and will prioritise players more - Skill Shot charges now expire after 3 minutes (each charge has its own timer) - Ignition Orb cooldown is now 10/9/8/6 instead of 12/11/10/9 and size is now 8/12/16/20 instead of 8/10/12/16 - Removed the damage penalty on Invisibility - Parasites now have a shorter firing delay penalty of approx 0.5 instead of 0.8s. They also fire out faster so that DPS is now 80/90/100/120 hp/s - - Non supporters get 5 free attempts to play the full survival mode. After that it goes back to the first round only. - The "players left" element above the minimap now shows in yellow and black to make it easier to glance at quickly. - Improved framerate smoothness when using vsync (make sure it's enabled). - Improved netcode hit detection when firing up or down vertically. - Updated some musical tracks. Will update the rest soon! - Improved the look of the text in the tutorial. - Cops and civs no longer shoot at players in the red zone after 0:00 (unless you shoot them first). - When you hold ALT in survival mode, time won't slow down immediately. It only slows down after 5s (to prevent exploits). - Reduced Minigun DPS from 150 down to 120. - Reduced the chargeup time on Blast Cannon from 1.0s to 0.8s. - Fixed a bug where you could revive while dead. - Fixed a bug where clusterbomb and energy vortex would interact with spectating zombies. - Fixed a bug where supply drops would spawn in weird locations. - Fixed a bug where hardcore survival mode would appear to unlock (but not really) when you killed yourself in round 1 of survival. - Updated the map with some new areas. - Improved the visual look of the red zone. - Zombies inside the red zone no longer make sounds, so cannot distract the remaining players. - Simplified the tutorial, and added the option to replay it. Check it out! (It's to the left of Survival Standard Difficulty mode). - The revival mechanic for zombies has changed. To revive you simple need to get 1 kill against a survivor. You no longer need to collect 4 heart pieces. - Supply Drops and hearts now spawn at the same time again, landing at 4:00, 2:00 and 0:00 on the round timer. 4 drops spawn at a time. - Vendors show more personalized perks, and will try to only show you perks for the weapons you currently hold. - Removed the passive $600/minute income for survivors in BR mode. - Instead, when the timer hits 0:00 players will be instantly given a cash reward based on how many times they died. If you don't die at all you get +$5000. - Zombies will now respawn inside the red zone if they die after 0:00. This makes them spectators by default (but are free to run outside again). - Killing players now gives more cash and XP. $500 + $50 per level. - You can now carry a max of 3 nades at a time instead of 4. - Photon Beam no longer penetrates skills like Force Field or Bullet Time. - Supply Drop chem now takes 20s instead of 30s to land. It will also be guaranteed to drop a +10 max hp every time (before it was 33%). - Counter Spell has been reworked: "Whenever you are damaged by an enemy, Counter Spell will automatically trigger and reduce that incoming damage. It provides extra strong protection against non-bullet damage. After triggering it must recharge." - Fade time in Smoke bomb is now 0.5s instead of 0.1s. - Moved the button to the campaign into the custom server lobby. The campaign is simply too outdated at this point, so it's hidden away. Taking its place is a more convenient way to toggle survival difficulty modes. - Players now receive +10% XP at the end of each survival run multiplied by their win streak (eg if you have a winstreak of 4 you'll get +40% XP). - Players now receive +2% XP at the end of each match for each skill they have enabled. - Skills in the outer rings of the skill tree now become available based on skills unlocked, not player level. You need 18 and then 24 skills to unlock each tier. - When you revive you will now respawn somewhere within the red zone, but not at the very center. - As a zombie trying to revive, hearts now drop every 2nd kill. Survivors no longer drop a heart every kill (this was causing too many revives). - Default BR round duration is now 5 instead of 6 minutes. - Heart and supply drops now alternate every minute like so: Heart (4:00), Supplies (3:00), Heart (2:00), Supplies (1:00), Heart (0:00). - In solos the final 5 players get 10/15/20/25/50 points. But now in squad based modes the final 6 players get 10/12/14/16/18/30 points. - Kill combo cash payouts are now capped at 400% instead of going up to 1000%. - Buffed USP speed and range by 5 each. - Bazooka player damage is now 50 instead of 60 (vehicle damage remains at 300). - Chemicals are now pseudorandom when bought from vendors. If you go a long time without seeing chem X you become more likely to see it. - Chem vendors are more likely to sell multiple chemicals. - Synthetic Shop now only has 1 charge, but it refills every 2 mins instead of every 3mins. - Shops/Vendors now carry a max of 4 nades each, after that they will display sold out. - Chemicals stop recharging after you've been in overtime for 2+ minutes. - Skill Shot nerfed slightly so that it reduces your cooldown by -20/30/40/50%. - Neutral cops won't reveal you in Invisibility. - Illicit Income no longer works on civilians, but the base cash gain vs cops is doubled to +40/60/80/100 per kill. - Force Field cooldown is now 15s vs 12s. - Toxic Blood now triggers when you kill someone inside a car. - Clusterbomb now alternates between throwing nades and molotovs. - Toxic blood duration to 3/4/5/7s instead of 3/5/7/10s. - Fixed a bug where players would get their hp restored when they ranked up a skill. - Fixed a bug where cops weren't using grenades. - Fixed a bug where your heart pieces would display in the HUD as empty when dead. - Fixed the exploit where you could leave a game, reconfigure your skills and rejoin to change your build. - Players are now invulnernable when they respawn in BR modes. This gives new players a chance to read their skills in peace. - This spawn invulnerability disables after 120s. It will also disable instantly as soon as you move or shoot. - Removed movement recoil on snipers. - Super cops now give $200 + 20xp instead of $150 + 15xp. - Reduced the size of the wanted circle at wanted level 1, making it much easier to escape the cops. - Players now only take 40hp damage in a car explosion instead of 80hp. - Bazooka car damage is now 300 instead of 480. - The fade-out time in Smoke Bomb is now only 0.1s instead of 0.5s. - Shockwave no longer slows enemy movement speed, instead it will slow their bullet's travel speed. - Cop and Zombie kills now give +0.5 instead of +0.2 score. Civ kills no longer give score. - As a zombie trying to revive, killing a survivor now gives +1 quarter heart, while killing a zombie continues to give +0.5. - Clusterbomb cooldown is now 20s instead of 40s. - Venom duration is now 2/3/4/5 instead of 2.0/2.5/3.0/4.0. - Fixed various bugs, including a game crashing bug and one which made our progress not be saved.

[ 2022-08-08 15:00:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Kill Coins Reworked

This version completely reworks the skill tree and the progression system. Kill coins are the main way to unlock content in the game, but they are now only used to unlock skills. This means that all other content that was previously unlocked via coins is now free. All players now have access to every weapon, chemical, and vehicle in the game. Important: Because of this drastic change, I have refunded everyone's kill coins. This way no one will have wasted their coins unlocking weapons which are now given for free. With all your coins refunded, you can start unlocking some of the new skills in the new skill tree!

A New Skill Tree

The skills have been rearranged into a groovy new skill tree. This tree not only looks cooler than the old hex grid, but is far more flexible. If you see someone use a certain skill in-game, you are only a few steps away from unlocking it. This is far nicer than the old system, where you simply had to grind through the hex grid until you reached a certain skill. Players now get to decide what skill to get next, and whether they should focus more on damage, healing, or utility. A well diversified selection of skills gives you more versatility in the battle field!

Customizable Skill Builds

Wanna play with your favorite skill? Well now you can! Up the top of the skills page is a new Skill Builds feature. This lets players force skills appear at specific moments in the skill draft. For example, you can guarantee that the Self Repair skill will show up when you hit level 9 in-game. If you own the Supporter's Edition DLC you can configure a skill to show up at level 3 and level 6 as well.

Skill Medallions & Progression

You may notice in the screenshot above some little badges on the skills. These are skill medallions. They are purely cosmetic, but you can rank them up by completing skill specific challenges. For example, you need to get 5 Plasma Ball kills to rank Plasma up to level 2. When you do your main account will gain experience, and your badge will improve in appearance. These badges go all the way up to level 20 and are visible for other players to see at the end of each match. A great way to show off your skills.

6 Brand New Skills

- ILLICIT INCOME: Increases the cash and health you gain from killing enemies. This increases further based on your wanted level. By default, player kills give +50 health. - MANIC MECHANIC: Allows you to shoot out the window of your car while driving (with worse accuracy). Also continuously restores the health of the vehicle and all passengers inside it. - CHEMICAL BOOST: Makes you jump higher when standing in your chemicals. Also makes your chemicals restore charges faster. - CLUSTER BOMB: Spawns grenades that spin around you. These grenades will be randomly tossed at nearby enemies over time. If you have Skill Shot charges you will throw 1 extra grenade per charge, and then lose a charge. - SOUL DROP: Whenever you fall onto the ground near an enemy you will reduce their rate of fire. Enemies killed in this state will drop an extra heart piece on death. - TOXIC BLOOD: Whenever you kill an enemy they will leave a pool of toxic blood on the ground. Any enemies who step in this will become poisoned and take damage over time.

Free Level-Based Cosmetics

Cosmetics used to be unlocked with kill coins. Now they are given to players for free, but based on your player level. Every 5 levels a new cosmetic will be unlocked. This finally gives your account level a purpose. It actually does something now. It makes you look pretty. There are also new cosmetics. There are 7 head types to choose from. You can stick with the original Dragonball Z style hair, or go for something a little less extreme. Eventually you'll unlock a police helmet and an assassin's hood. There are other cosmetics too. The Supporter's Medallion now changes in appearance as you level up, glowing gold once you reach level 100.

Helicopters!

Geneshift now has helicopters! Why? Because they're damn cool that's why. They also create a much needed "point of interest" in the map. They shoot out free bits of loot every few seconds and slowly travel across the map. This creates a natural hot-zone that players flock to. Free loot and a guaranteed place to get some kills. Zombies are coded to spawn next to these helicopters to further increase the action.

Rare Loot Spawners

Rare loot crates now fall into these things called Loot Spawners. A loot spawner will sit on the ground and display a 60 second countdown. When the timer hits 0, a rare loot crate will fall into it. Destroy the crate and you'll get +3 score, a heart fragment, and some high value loot. A tier2 weapon, chemical, perk, or phase shift. Half of these loot spawners are hidden on rooftops only accessible via parkour puzzlery. The other half are out in the open, making high stakes zones to fight over.

Final 6 Leaderboard

The scoring system has been reworked to place a much larger emphasis on survival. Specifically making it to the final 6. Of course winning the entire round gives more points, but making it to the final 6 is now a well-rewarded achievement. You'll get +10 score once you hit the final 6, plus your name will display in a mini-leaderboard above the mini-map showing all the remaining survivors.

Zombie Betting

To heighten the stakes of being in the final 6, there is a cool new feature - zombie betting. When zombies walk into the red zone they now become spectators. They cannot shoot or be shot at. But they can watch and they can also click on a survivor to place a bet that that player will win. If they guess correctly they will receive a cash reward!

Easier Zombie Revivals

A simple change but a very important one - zombies no longer lose their hearts fragments on death. This means that to resurrect you no longer need to kill 4 players in a row without dying. This was far too difficult for new players and needelessly frustrating. Now you can simply collect heart pieces at your own pace and death isn't as punishing. Every second player you kill drops a heart piece, and there are plenty of zombies at the helicopters. So get to the choppa to farm hearts quick!

Forgiving Cops

There's so much crime in Geneshift the the cops have gotten a little lenient. It is now much easier to escape the cops and lose your wanted level. All you need to do is leave the blue circle. You no longer need to wait an extra 30s for the timer to fade away. Also, you will only get a wanted level when you KILL a cop, not when one of your stray bullets hits one. The cop AI has also been coded to go easier on players who are currently fighting other players, simply taking cover and waiting till the fight is over.

Graphics, Game Feel & Netcode Fixes

A few weeks also went towards just making the game FEEL better. Netcode has been recoded to be as responsive and steady as possible. The lighting engine got reworked with more realistic and softer shadows. Shaders now give dynamic contrast and more overall colour. Bullets are easier to see and have more OOPH when hitting enemies. A lot of QoL features were added to the HUD to help new players as well. You can now see vendors in the minimap. Weapons will display their tier next to their name, and you can toggle the zoom of the minimap.

Other Changes

- Removed fall damage from the game. - Survivors now receive a passive income of $600 per minute. Zombies do not get this. - Tweaked the cop spawning algorithm to no longer spawn cops on you when you're mid-combat against players. - Improvements to pathfinding and AI. Cops are smarter at taking cover and will do so to avoid overwhelming you in big fights. - Players now display their level above their heads, and the amount of cash and XP you get for a kill scales up based on their player level - There is a now a $1000 bounty for killing a player who has gotten a quad kill (4 kills in a row without dying). - The scoring in BR is now a first to 100 instead of 50, and you get a lot more score from supply drops, missions and making it to the final 6 survivors. More interesting objectives. - In PvP modes zombies no longer give +1 score. They are treated like cops and civs and give score every 4th kill. - Big reworks to various areas of the map, improving both the gameplay and the graphics. Other improvements to graphics and bullet feedback to make the game just FEEL better. - A big focus on netcode stability, which should minimise warpiness while increasing responsiveness. - Removed the Genetic Heart and replaced it with a new supply drop that pops out 6 heart fragments. - Supply crates now burst loot out into a larger area, up to 12m in all directions. This makes it harder to shift through and steal all the loot at once. - At the end of a round you can hover over other people's names to see their score breakdown and what skills/weapons they used. - Superweapons have 2x as much reserve ammo in them, but ammo cost has doubled ($2000 instead of $1000 to fully refill). - Vendors are now shown on the minimap, as are the new loot spawners. Your allies are shown more clearly when off the edge of the map. - Zombies are now shown in purple instead of yellow (to avoid confusion with the yellow buy zones on the minimap). - The circle of death is now green instead of yellow. Looks better and matches the thematic "toxic goo" colour in the map. - Added an option in the menu and a new hotkey to toggle the minimap zoom. Default is Z. Useful for escaping the cops. - Reworked the default controls for gamepad. - Improved vertical auto-aim by making it prioritise whoever is closest to your crosshair. - In the buy menu it now says the tier after the weapon name, like MP5 (TIER 2). Helping new players upgrade their guns properly. - Reworked a bunch of the civilian missions as well as the daily challenges. Making sure everything is fun and achieveable. - Removed the critical damage after shifting, and put this into a skill instead (called Critical Shifting). - Synthetic Shop now ensures discounts on any chems that appear, and makes it more likely to provide chemical buy options. - The word "active" now shows in hot pink when you see it in the skill draft. - Changed the colour of bullets to make them easier to see against the map. - Countless bug and balance fixes. - Invisibility now increases your move speed by +10/20/30/40%, in addition to increasing the invis duration. - Spike Trap has been given a new feature. After 5s, instead of the spikes expring, they will slide back along the ground towards you, damaging enemies they touch. - Shockwave no longer dispels enemies, but instead slows them to 70/65/60/50% speed. - Frenzy ROF is now 120/125/130/140% but the cooldown is now 20/18/16/14s. - Self Repair cooldown is now 15s instead of 10s, but healing amount has been buffed to 20/35/50/70hp. - The damage of Force Field now increases the longer you keep them active, instead of being 50% and then suddenly 100% if exploded in the final second. - Radiate now deals an initial burst of damage the moment it hits the ground, dealing an instant 10/15/20/30hp. - Plasma Ball speed is now fixed at 54 instead of 50/52/54/58. - Energize bullet speed and range are both now 115/120/125/135%, whereas before bullet speed was 120/130/140/160% and range was 110/115/120/130%. - Black Hole renamed to Energy Vortex and the lifedrain is now 4/6/8/10 instead of 3/4/5/7. - Added vertical auto aim on Parasites and Venom.

[ 2022-05-02 10:58:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Infinite Shifting

This version focuses on making the core gameplay loop as smooth and fun as possible. The biggest change is to shifts. I always found it frustrating to run out of shifts mid-combat. You want to dodge an incoming bazooka shot only to hear a "brrrrr" error noise and die instead. Well no more! Players can now spam shift as much as they like. The game will never deny your movement. This helps you escape, chase, jump and dodge, and really makes the game live up to the name GeneSHIFT. To prevent players from just spamming shift non-stop we each have 3 shift charges. If you have a charge available and shift, you'll deal bonus critical damage. But if you try shift without any charges remaining you will lose health instead. You can still move, but it'll cost you. You'll lose 10hp every time you shift while empty. This creates interesting tactical decisions. It's still a wise move to dodge an incoming bazooka shot, but not something you want to spam in combat.

Homing Bazooka Missiles

Bazookas now firing homing missiles that seek towards you. This is fun because the bazooka is now the weapon of choice for cops. 75% of cops will fire a bazooka at you, and I've tweaked the speed to be juuuust right. Fast enough to pose a threat, but slow enough to dodge if you shift at the perfect moment (and you can always shift now!).

Survival Reworks

Survival mode also got plenty of polish this version. There are now only 2 difficulty levels, Standard and Hardcore, and hardcore mode is hard indeed! A lot of playtesting was done to smooth out the difficulty curve, especially in co-op mode. In hardcore lives are rare, bots are more accurate, and you have to survive a bonus 5th round where zombies will swarm you in increasing intensity right up till the final showdown. At the end of each round a special civilian vendor will appear giving you a choice of 3 bonus perks as well. You'll need to choose wisely to survive the onslaught at the end of the match!

Quality of Life Changes & an Improved Tutorial

Another big focus was making the game easier for new players. I got my gf to try the game and she was.. confused, to say the least. The tutorial now has far better pacing, by letting new players choose when they're ready to proceed instead of automatically throwing them into the next lesson. The HUD now indicates useful information like the time remaining on your wanted level and the number of shifts you have remaining (shown as triangles on your crosshair).

General Gameplay Polish

Players hitboxes are smaller so we can now hide properly behind cover. The skill drafting algorithm is now pseudorandom to ensure you see all skill equally over the last few games. Cops drop more loot, cash, score and XP. Vendors won't automatically shoot you if a stray bullet hits them. Blast Cannon has been reworked into a super shotgun, and can now be charged up over 1s to deal 2x damage. Black Hole now has lifesteal, and can be used to farm health off clusters of civilians. Plenty more balance and bug fixes are mentioned in the changelog below!

Full Changelog

--- BIGGEST CHANGES --- - Players can shift even once they run out of charges. Your movement is never denied. However if you shift without charges you will lose 5, then 10, then 15hp per shift. - There are now only 2 difficulty levels across the entire game. Standard and Hardcore. This affects the campaign, survival and in pvp mode. Hardcore mode is now extra hard. --- SURVIVAL CHANGES --- - You progress through wanted levels 50% faster in hardcore mode (applies to both survival and pvp) - You start with only 1 bonus life instead of 4 in hardcore mode, and quarter-hearts drop every 3 instead of every 2 kills. - You no longer get +10 placement score per round in survival - Civ missions now give +5 score instead of +3 score in survival mode - Hardcore survival mode now has 5 rounds, and in the 5th round you will be swarmed by zombies - If you become a zombie in coop survival mode you can no longer collect hearts from kills. The only way to rez is to capture a genetic heart (or wait till next round). - Coop zombies in survival are no longer killed off at 0:00, but they cannot respawn after 0:00 - Zombie humans can now fire guns inside the red zone in survival mode (in coop) - Fixed a bug where the entire server of bots would swarm the heart in survival mode - The amount of cash and xp earned from kills now increases with the number of players in coop survival mode. 200/300/400/500 cash and 20/30/40/50xp - The $1000 assassination bounty is now awarded to all players in coop survival mode, to prevent competing over it - Tweaked the AI to make them spread out far more evenly across the map, instead of clustering in one area - The price of blood bags increases by $1000 everytime you buy one. - Reduced max hp in survival to 150. Reduced the rate that you find health kits to compensate - The amount of XP you get for selling a life with a skill syringe now scales up based on your level. Instead of being a flat +300xp it is now 300 + Levelx20 --- GENERAL CHANGES --- - Increased the amount of blood when shooting people. - Made shifts look cooler. The crosshair now shows small triangles to indicate how many shifts you have left. - Played a handy noise so you know when your shifts come back online. - Critical bullets and critical damage are now shown in purple - Changed the demo restrictions for free accounts and survival runs. Free accounts can now play multiple times per day, but are limited to just the first round. - Added an option to disable music in pvp modes - Holding tab now displays the number of rounds, game mode, and difficulty of the server - The camera now shakes when you crash your car into a wall - Added a handy QoL feature where if you try to cast a skill and it's on cooldown, the timer will flash briefly in your target - Changed the colours of various bullets so that each weapon is easily distinguishable. - Enemy bullets are now sped up slightly on the client to account for the clients ping, showing more accurately where they are on the server and allowing players to dodge - You can now see how many lives your allies have above their health bar - Got my gf to playtest the tutorial and realised that it's no where near nooby proofed enough - Simplified the tutorial and made it far less overwhelming (AI won't shoot at you mid tutorial item) - Plenty of bug fixes --- GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Updated the megamap with @GelatinOverlord's amazing map changes. Thanks man! - Tweaked the skill drafting algorithm to prioritize showing skills that you haven't seen in the last few games or so - Setting a civ car on fire so the dude runs out works better, because the fire automatically goes out when the civ ejects - Reduced bullet speeds of regular weapons slightly - Max recoil is now 10 instead of 15 degrees on all guns - Shifts now take 3.5s to recharge instead of 4s. Same for the passive regen. - The cooldown time between shifts is now 0.35s instead of 0.6s - Critical damage is now applied for 0.8s after you start shifting, instead of 0.5s after you finish shifting - Wanted levels are now removed when a BR round is finished - When fleeing the cops, a timer now shows the exact number of seconds remaining - Damage numbers now show up when you hit vehicles - Buy menus now have 2 ammo options, allowing you to buy ammo for both your guns - Player hitboxes are slightly smaller, making it easier to hide behind 2x2x2m boxes - There are once again 3 supply/heart drops per round, landing at 5:00, 3:00, and 1:00 - You can now see civ vendors and missions givers as you fall from the sky - The leveling curve is a tad slower once you go above level 20 - The cost of perks from vendors now increases by $2000 whenever you buy one. So it goes $4000, then $6000, then $8000, etc. - Reduced the chance of getting an upgraded silver/gold perk in PvP modes by 50% - Purple lootboxes can now be shared by allies (but fewer of them spawn) - Cops now give $150 and 15xp instead of $100 and 10xp. They also ocassionally drop ammo. - You now get +1 score for every 2nd cop you kill instead of every 5th. You get +1 score for every 4th civ instead of every 5th. - Vendors will only get pissed off once they get below 75% health --- CHEMICAL CHANGES --- - Fission Mine damage is now 60hp instead of 80hp and range is slightly reduced - Sonar cells reveal radius is 60m instead of 40m - Synthetic Shop now costs $5000 instead of $3000 - Supply Beacon now passively gives +20% cash instead of +10% cash, but the crate won't always drop super high value items like perks/chems/guns etc - Laser Tripwire duration is now 30s instead of 20s, and passively it also slightly reduces the spread on shotguns - Each Damage stimulant also increases the max critical damage by +10% (default is +50%, so as you stack them you can get up to +60/70/80/90%) - Damage stimulant kills only increase by 1% per kill and don't work against civilians. They can still be stacked up to +4% per kill if you bought 4 of them --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Made plasma ball no longer disable your weapons. Cooldown is now a flat 10s at all levels. - Plasma Ball speed is now flattened to 50/52/54/56 instead of 45/50/55/60 - Plasma explosion graphic looks crisper and cooler, making it easier to see the explosion radius - Phase Drifting now has a flat 8s cooldown for all levels. - Reduced venom range from 100 to 60 - Mirror image has a flat cooldown of 8s per level instead of 10/8/6/4s - Increased Frenzy buff radius from 7m to 10m - Shockwave freezes bullets for 2s instead of 1s - Black Hole now also has lifesteal. It will steal 3/4/5/7 hp/s from each enemy inside the blackhole, simultaneously dealing damage and restoring health to the owner - Invisibility now shows a ring around you indicating the reveal radius. - Xray vision no longer reveals invisible players beyond the usual reveal radius. - Force Fields now explode if you remove all their health, instead of just fading away --- WEAPON CHANGES --- - Bazookas are now homing missiles with seeking. - Increased bazooka damage from 40 to 50 - Flaregun now costs $3000 instead of $1000 and isn't spammed all over the map - The movement speed buffs on guns is now +15/30/45% instead of +20/40/60%, and only appears in survival mode - Deagle rpm is now 270 instead of 240 - Minigun damage is now 15hp instead of 16hp. - Movement slow while firing machine guns has improved, going from 50% to 70% - Nailgun has very slightly faster move speed, bullet speed, and accuracy - Blast Cannon has been reworked. It no longer lobs in the air. Instead it behaves more like an M3, but with the ability to charge up. If you hold it for 1s then it will do double damage, 100hp instead of 50hp. The bullets are still explosive and you can still use it to blast up walls. - Superweapons now cost $12000 instead of $15000 - SPAS clipsize is now 8 instead of 10 - SPAS damage goes from 56 to 50 - MP5 now has 11 clips instead of 10 - MP5 damage is now 7.5 instead of 8.0 - Flashbang no longer deal self damage - UZI now suffers absolutely zero movement slowdown, either while firing or moving generally. Slight buff to recoil too. - USP spread goes from 0.2 to 3.0, and bullet speed from 80 to 70 - M3 damage goes from 64 to 70 - AK47 bullet speed goes from 100 to 120, and bullet range goes from 50 to 55 - M249 damage is now 11 instead of 10, and total ammo is 480 instead of 300 - M60 magazine size is now 40 instead of 50, and damage is now 12 instead of 11

[ 2022-02-15 05:00:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Exploring for Rare Loot

This version taps into that fun feeling of discovery and exploration in GTA. You find a random staircase, climb onto a rooftop and discover a cool item as a reward for your efforts. Geneshift now does this with the addition of rare loot crates. These boxes glow in purple and contain extra valuable items such as superweapons, chemicals, $5000 perks, life fragments, etc. The megamap has been updated with over 50 spawn points where these rare loot crates might spawn. Each location has been designed as a puzzle, which requires some form of parkour to get to. In the screenshot below you can see a rare loot crate has spawned in a new balcony area. This balcony is too high up to access via normal jumping, and requires you to parkour your way up there, as shown with the arrows below. The idea with these puzzles is to provide players a change of pace from the fast-paced combat of Geneshift. They also make exploration more fun, and get you using your brain to solve puzzles in completely different ways.

Shifting Now Gives Critical Bullets

Everytime you shift there is now a brief window of time where your gun will fire critical bullets. You see an enemy, shift towards him, and then have 0.5s to fire off a few rounds with extra damage. This window of time is small, so you better make sure those critical bullets hit! Critical bullets deal +20% damage, which can be increased to +50% damage via looting ammo kits. Previously, critical bullets played a fairly small role in the game as they were only available as the final bullets in your magazine. But now they're relevant to every single fight as long as you have the quick aim and timing to use them effectively.
+50% damage is a lot! It can easily decide the winner of a fight. A well timed shift might give you the extra damage needed to secure the kill. But you might instead choose to save your shift so you can escape to safety at the last minute. By giving shifts both an offensive and defensive use, shifts are far more interesting to use. To offset this huge buff, shifts now regenerate a lot slower (once every 4 seconds). We're also capped at only max 3 shifts at a time - so use them wisely! It is possible to bring that max up to 5 shifts, but only if you find them in the purple rare crates mentioned above. Basically shifts are now a lot more powerful than before, but a lot rarer too - so use them wisely!

New Life Mechanics in Survival

A big issue with survival mode was how to cater to players of different skill levels. Generally it was too hard for newbies and far too easy for veterans. This has been solved with a whole new economy around lives. For starters, bots are a lot harder. More accurate, bigger guns, more skills, etc. There is also a minimum number of bots you must "assassinate" each round, to force players to take action and not hide on a rooftop somewhere. You're now going to be in a lot of tough fights, and are going to lose lives in the process. This keeps things far more engaging for skillful players.
To offset this increased difficulty there are new ways to gain back these lives. You can now buy them for $3000 at vendors, and you can find them in the new purple loot crates. Lives are now your main "resource" in the game, and you'll need to explore, farm cops, get sick combo kills to earn enough cash to buy the lives necessary to survive. There are additional incentives for skillful players to play their very best as well. If you manage to survive a round without losing a single life, a free supply drop will land next to you which gives bonus score and goodies. You can also SELL your lives for extra XP if you're feeling risky and don't think you'll die anyway.

Zombie Swarm

Survival also has a new zombie swarm stage that happens at the end of each round. After you kill all the players, zombies will respawn and swarm you with their meaty fists. This can be quite challenging, but really rewards skillful usage of area of effect skills and chemicals, because the combo-kill potential is insane.

Full Changelog

--- BIGGEST CHANGES --- - For a brief 0.5s after shifting, your gun will fire critical bullets. This gives shifts a new offensive usage and makes them worth saving up for tough encounters. - Added over 50 secret loot areas to the megamap. These loot areas will occassionally spawn a RARE crate with expensive loot. However, they are often hidden or require you to figure out a jumping puzzle to get them. - If you avoid losing a life within a survival round, a bonus supply drop will land next to you at the end of the round - Survival mode is quite a bit harder, but you can now buy extra lives from vendors for $3000 - In survival mode you now have the ability to SELL lives from vendors for 300xp per heart - Bots no longer respawn as zombies in survival mode, but instead will spawn as a special "zombie swarm" at the end of each round --- OTHER CHANGES --- - Rare loot crates are hidden in hard to reach places and will drop one of the following: A) 2 quarter hearts B) A random perk C) $2000 in cash D) 10 xp vials E) A chemical F) A tier 2 weapon G) A crate full of 4x nades - Survival mode now requires you to assassinate 8/12/16/20 targets each round (randomly chosen enemy players) - These targets show with a little crosshair above their healthbar, and will not be attacked by other bots - ensuring you MUST fight and not camp till the final showdown - One of these targets will be a primary target with an arrow pointing towards him. Killing this guy gives $1000 bonus bounty - Supply Drops now give +10 score instead of +5 score in survival mode - At the end of each survival round you will gain bonus cash based on how many lives you lost - Nades now cost $500 instead of $300, and lob slightly faster in the air - Capped the amount of money from a kill combo at $2000 per kill (won't affect civs at all, but prevents broken amounts of cash from player kills) - Fixed a bunch of bugs with AI - Superweapons now cost $15000 instead of $10000 - Shifts are now considered a rare loot type, only showing in the special purple loot boxes - Max number of shifts is now 5 instead of 8 - Warp Fields now passively increase shift regen rate by 50% each, instead of giving +2 max shifts - Cooldown time between shifts is now 0.65s instead of 1.0s - Shifts take 4.0s to regen instead of 3.0s - Survival mode lets you collect up to 8 lives instead of 5, and you start with 4 instead of 3 - Civ vendors now have 300hp instead of 500hp - Civs no longer spawn in survival once the timer hits 0, to prevent infinite civ farming - Changed the sound effect and reduced the duration of losing a life - In survival mode it is now possible to get quarter hearts from looting crates - The option to pay off cop bounty is now in a dedicated 6th slot in the buy menu, and doesn't replace the 5th slot - Losing a life in survival mode no longer removes your unfinished life quarters - Some cool map changes made by player GelatinOverlord, mostly own the bottom right of the map, adding some much needed gameplay and graphical improvements. Thanks! - Bots in coop survival mode squad together tighter, making them harder to take down - Survival bot hitpoints increases by +25 each round - Nerfed BT slowdown to 25/20/15/10% - Nerfed MP5 recoil a touch - You now lose 2 score whenever you die in survival - Sonar Cells reveal range is now 40m isntead of 30m - Fixed a bug where bots wouldn't look at mirror image - Xray vision now reveals loot crates - Shifts now look cooler, leaving a little blue trail behind them - Deagle damage is now 20 instead of 17, with a rpm of 240 instead of 300 - All guns now start at +20% critical damage instead of +50%, and go up to +50% instead of +100%. This is to offset the increased frequency you can use them now via shifting. - Plenty of bug fixes

Merry Christmas

And a happy new year! Have fun! bencelot

[ 2021-12-22 21:00:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Cops and Cop Cars

For a "GTA-inspired" game it sure took a long time to add cops - but they are finally here! We have cops, cop cars, special forces and more. If a cop sees you commit a crime your wanted level will raise - with an increasingly larger force trying to take you down. Cops add plenty of flavor and action to the game, with emergent car chases, vehicle explosions, chain reactions and new cop-centric missions. Cops provide a whole new level of risk/reward decision making to PvP games. You can intentionally farm waves of cops for bonus loot - but you might not survive. If you want to lose the cops you have two choices. Pay a bounty at a vendor, or escape the blue circle on your minimap. If you go for the later you better bring a car, because the cops will chase you down, sirens blaring.

Civilian Combat & Kill Combos

PvE is more exciting not only with the cops but also with the addition of kill combos. If you kill two enemies in a row you'll get a double kill which pays out 2x XP and cash. Triple kills give 3x, Quad kills 4x, and Multikills 5x. You need to kill within 2.0s to maintain your combo, and while multikills are rare, they feel VERY satisfying. This change makes cop and civilian combat far more interesting. Sure you could just fire a bazooka at a cop car. But if you wait a moment you can line it up to kill a nearby civilian as well, getting 2x the reward. This quick decision makes every civilian or cop and opportunity to test your skills and get rewarded for it. As you level up in-game your weapons and skills get stronger, which makes it easier to pull off these combos. This creates a sort of farming engine, where the stronger you become the faster you can farm, similar to farming creeps in MOBAs. All the skills have been given bonus damage modifiers against civilians, and civilian combos brings a whole new way to use the existing skills in the game.

Scoring now Rewards PvE Combat

This version places a large emphasis on PvE combat in preparation for the upcoming roguelite mode. Scoring has been reworked to give points for killing cops and civilians, as well as completing missions. If you want to play GTA and fight an army of cops with a minigun you can do so - and get score for it. This creates new paths to victory and viable new playstyles. A new scoretab shows when you hold TAB which shows you exactly what your score is, how it was calculated, and what else you can do to maximise it. This should help new players understand how to win the game.

Vehicles go BOOM!

There's also a focus on sandboxy, explosive GTA mayhem. There are a lot more civilians in the map, and more cars driving around as well, making the city feel far more alive. This version really redefines the role of cars in the game as well - to go BOOM! Cop cars will chase you but their hitpoints are low. A well placed bazooka will set off chain reactions of explosions as the cop cars detonate.

Graphics and FPS & Netcode Improvements

I've reworked the lighting engine to not only run faster but look better too. The cop sirens look pretty great as they zoom along, reflecting off the fog and shiny metal objects. Bullets are cleaner, muzzle flashes brighter, and explosions bigger. Turn on high GFX mode and enjoy!

Other Juicy Changes

There are plenty of other neat changes. Health upgrades no longer reset when you die, Smoke Bomb has been reworked to turn you invisible, QoL improvements, a new arrow in the HUD directs you towards the nearest civilian mission, better vehicle handling, and the usual balancing and bug fixing. Read the changelog below for the full list!

Full Changelog

--- BIGGEST CHANGES --- - Police now exist in the game. They will patrol the streets on foot or in a car, and if you commit a crime nearby they will start hunting you - Added a new kill combo system that makes civilian kills more fun. If you get kills within 2.0s of eachother you'll gain a combo multiplier and earn more cash and XP. - Completely reworked scoring. It's still first to 50 points, but you can now get score for killing civilians, cops, and doing missions. Much more of a PvE focus. - Significant peformance optimisation as well as beautiful graphical improvements made to dynamic lighting (try High GFX!) --- POLICE MECHANICS --- - Wanted levels go up when you kill cops. Wanted 1 = fists, wanted 2 = pistols, wanted 3 = primary weapons, wanted 4 = special forces, wanted 5 = civilians riot. - To lose your wanted level you must escape the blue circle on the minimap then hide for 30s. If you damage a cop the timer will reset. - You can also lose your wanted level by paying a bounty at civilian vendors. It costs $500 per wanted level. - On wanted level 4 cops will start spawning as "special forces" types and be able to cast skills. Each wave of cops will cast a randomised skill (a wave of Plasma users for example) --- OTHER GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Max hitpoints, critical bullets and phase shifts no longer reset when you die. They last the entire match. - Health kits now give an instant +30hp in addition to +5 max hp. - Vendors are more likely to sell T2 and T3 guns than T1 guns. - Removed all the collision tiles in the map, meaning you can jump anywhere. - Twice as many vehicles and civilians spawn in the map, making it feel more alive. - An arrow now points you towards the nearest civilian mission giver. - Sped up the leveling curve so you get to spend more skill points. - Added a new option to automatically open the vendor buy menu when you stand next to him (default on) - Kills give +1 score instead of +2 score. - You get +1 score for every 5 civs/cops that you kill. - A round win now gives +10 score instead of +20. - Supply drops now give +5 score instead of +10. - Survival/Placement gives +1 score instead of +2 score on 10/9/8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1 players remaining. - Civ missions now give +3 score instead of +2. - Added a new scorecard that shows your score progress when you hold TAB. - Civ missions now give either a random perk OR they give +$2000 and +100xp. - Some civilian missions have been reworked to now focus on cops instead. For example knifing 4 cops, or killing cops with grenades. - Added vertical auto aim vs cops and civilians. - Civs now have 50hp instead of 30hp and do a bit more damage (33% instead of 25%). - Civ kills now give 10xp instead of 5xp. - The BR circle now shrinks at 2:00 mins remaining instead of 3:00 mins remaining (but shrinks 1.5x faster). - Supply drops and the heart now begin falling at 1:00, 3:00, 5:00 minutes, and land at 2:00, 4:00, 6:00 minutes. - Loot now falls every 60s instead of 120s, but half as much each time. - In squads mode the score chart is now sorted by individual score instead of by squads, and it awards kill coins this way too. - Bots buy superweapons less often. - Zombie rezzing is now easier. Heart drops are no longer randomized, but guaranteed to drop a half-heart every 2nd kill. - Zombies no longer take 2x damage in the red zone, but can no longer cast skills inside it (just as they can't fire guns). - The red zone is now graphically brightly visible when you're a zombie. - Replaced the "collect health kits" civ mission with "get quad kills". - Movement speed while in the air is now 100% instead of 50% --- VEHICLE CHANGES --- - You are now 100% immune to enemy bullet damage while inside a vehicle. However the driver can now only fire your gun while the car is stationary - Vehicles have far less hitpoints than before, but only do 20hp damage to passengers when they explode. - There is now a 0.8s delay when you enter or exit a car before you can fire your gun. Same delay is applied when you change seats. - Improved the acceleration and reverse speed on vehicles. - Reduced the cost of vehicles down to $500 to $1000. - Added a new cop car called a "Patroller". Left click to turn on the siren. - Empty vehicles take 50% more damage, and regen 3x faster - Vehicles will no longer explode you into the air unless you're actually standing on a car (or have done so in the last 1s) - Vehicles now have a 0.5s buffer from when its hitpoints hit 0 to when it actually explodes and make a cool "whiiirrrrt!!" noise --- WEAPON CHANGES --- - Superweapon ammo now only costs $1000 to fully refill instead of $4000, but supers only have 50% as much reserve ammo in them - Bazooka now does 320hp vs vehicles instead of 200hp. - Ruger now penetrates players/civs one time. - Nailgun now pierces up to 3 enemies instead of bouncing bullets. - Deagle damage is now 17 instead of 15. It does x1.5 damage vs civs and cops. - Capped explosives at 4 instead of 5, reduce explosives rate of fire. - Minigun does 23% more damage, but spread goes from 3 to 10 degrees (spray and pray baby). - Spas damage is now 56 instead of 42, but fire rate is now 120 instead of 144. - USP damage is now 10 instead of 9 - Blast Cannon damage is now 27 instead of 24, but rof is now 200 instead of 240 - The movement speed gain on weapon perks is now +20/40/60% instead of +15/30/45% --- CHEMICAL CHANGES --- - Changed the Synthetic Shop icon to a dollar sign - Goo Traps will slow civs/cop to 10% speed - Laser Tripwire duration is now 20s instead of 10s - Laser Tripwire will fire upon chasing cops instantly, without the 0.5s activation time - Damage Stimulant now gives +1% crit DMG vs civs/cops - The activation time for chemicals is now 1.5s instead of 2.5s - Warp Fields now come with 4 instead of 2 charges. - Supply Beacon chemical now has 1 charge instead of 2 - Supply Beacon no longer drops a health kit (too OP) --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Skill cooldown perks are now -20/30/40% time instead of +30/60/90% speed - Smoke Bomb has been reworked. Smoke bomb no longer fades your enemies screens to black, but instead makes you invisible as long as you stay inside the smoke. - Self Repair cooldown is now 2s longer. - Plasmaball no longer blasts you up into the air - Blade Fury slashing DPS increased from 50 to 60 hp/s - Blade Fury no longer disables your weapons upon firing, but it does less damage and bursts after 2s instead of 1s - Venom now does a flat 10hp/s damage, and the duration grows 2/2.5/3/4s. It used to be a fixed 4s duration with a total 20/25/30/40 damage dealt. Venom is able to kill players yet again and doesn't cap at 1hp. - Clip Magnet and Ammo kits no longer give less ammo to superweapons - Radiate no longer disables weapons upon firing, but it does less damage. Duration is 1s longer for all levels - Radiate now only does 5hp/s damage to self - Vampirism gives 50% more healing vs civilians. - Spike Trap does +5 damage per level (30/35/40/50). - Venom Shot does 2x damage vs civs and cops. - Shockwave duration is now 6s vs civs/cops - Skill shot now has a 10% chance to trigger vs civs/cops - Black Hole duration is now 5s instead of 10s - Black Hole does extra slow vs civs/cop: 70/50/30/10% speed - Backtrack healing per level is 40/60/80/100% instead of 25/50/75/100% - Xray Vision range vs civs/cops is now 20/40/60/100m --- BUG FIXES & TECHNICAL IMPROVEMENTS --- - Significant improvements to framerate and netcode warpiness - Significantly improved pathfinding speed of AI - Reduced the filesize of the Geneshift install by 800MB - Improved the loading time and memory usage of the megamap. - Fixed a bug where you could fire skills while standing on black tiles - Fixed a bug where rerolling wouldn't work - Fixed a bug where ex-vendors would have too much HP after a round restart - Fixed a bug where vendors could offer the same car twice - Fixed a bug that made zombie AI too aggressive - Fixed a bug where you would join as a zombie in a coop survival game

40% Discount

Geneshift is on sale this week, so like, subscribe, and smash that buy button. Next version will be focused on gang mechanics and territory warfare! Have fun! bencelot

[ 2021-09-27 17:00:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Rougelite Replayability

Geneshift is borrowing from the roguelite genre to massively increase the game's replayability, variety, and adaptability. The idea is to give players different guns and skills each round so that each match feels unique. No two matches will ever feel the same, and players will need to adapt to new items to survive. To do this, the old skill menu and buy menu have been removed and replaced with brand new systems with limited choices - skill drafting and vendors. Players are now rewarded for thinking on their feet and creating a smart build on the fly. Let's explore!

Skill Drafting

Whenever you level up you'll now be given a draft of just 3 skills. You can level just 1 of these 3 skills, and will get a fresh set of 3 every time you level up. This is of course a huge change, as you can no longer choose whatever skills you want anymore. But it results in every match feeling completely different as your build is never the same. You'll discover new skill combinations and have to adapt as you play. If you don't like any of the 3 options, there is an option to reroll for another set of 3, but you can only do this once every 120s. For example, you start the game and for your first skill point see Plasma Ball, Blade Fury, and Vampirism. Which do you choose? If you take Plasma, you'll want to look for other skills and guns that suit the long range playstyle. If you choose Blade Fury, you better go searching for a shotgun. Lets say you decide on a ranged build and take Plasma Ball. Then you level up again, and are offered Plasma Ball (level 2), Energize (level 1), and Self Repair (level 1). What do you choose now? When you choose one, you might not see the other options again. So what's more important? An extra powerful Plasma, or the ability to heal? Decisions decisions.. Drafting not only adds replayability and adaptability, but it will also do wonders for the new player experience too. No longer will newbies be overwhelmed with 30+ choices. There are just 3 skills to consider at a time. Furthermore, skills now go up to level 4, and this 4th level is STRONG. But the drafting algorithm won't show you the 4th level until you hit level 10, making this a nice milestone.

Civilian Vendors

The buy menus have undergone a similar change. Instead of heading to a buy zone, pressing B, and choosing from the entire buy menu, players now must explore for Civilian Vendors. These are specials civilians with a yellow speech bubble above their head. Pressing E on them will open up a small buy list up the top right of the screen, with just 5 things for sale. Typically each vendor will sell: 1) ammo, 2) grenades, 3) a gun, 4) a chemcial or vehicle, 5) a special perk. Each vendor sells a different set of items. and players are now rewarded for exploring the map and checking out a few vendors before making a purchase. If you don't like what a vendor has for sale, find another one. Vendors will sometimes sell items on discount, such as a Minigun which is 30% off. Nothing feels better than finding a vendor who has the perfect weapon for your skill build and it's on discount. Even cooler, vendors now sell perks as well! Previously you could only get these perks by completing missions. But now you can buy them directly for $5000. For example, a vendor might be selling the +20% Firerate perk for SMGS, which works great if you've managed to buy an MP5 elsewhere. The end result of these two huge reworks is that special feeling you get in a roguelite where everything just comes together (or not). The addition of level 4 skills, discounted guns, and perks allows for some insanely overpowered combos if you ge lucky. But you won't get this everytime, so it feels extra special when you do.

Chemical Capturing

Another neat change is the ability to capture enemy chemcials. Previously you could destroy enemy chemicals by standing on them for 3 seconds, but now you will capture them instead. This is way more fun, and can result in some really interesting emergent gameplay. For example, you are walking along and discover an enemy has placed down a Health Stimulant (which gives you health regen when standing nearby it). It's out in the open and your enemy is guarding it, but you turn on Force Fields to protect you while you capture it. Now it's yours and you have the health regen. So your enemy throws down a Molotov Cocktail to get you to retreat and tries to reclaim it himself. It creates a very interesting king of the hill mechanic. Now you might be thinking "why should I place chemcials when my enemy can just steal them from me?" Well another change solves this. Chemicals are now hidden from enemies unless they step inside them. So you can place a Health Stimulant in an obscure corner somewhere, and get the health benefits from it, and as long as your enemy doesn't see you do it they are unlikely to walk there and discover/capture it. A well placed chemical can really give you a hidden advantage now.

Survival Difficulty Redesign

The way difficulty scales in survival has been changed as well. Previously bots would just gain +25% damage each round, which was a bit bland. Early rounds were too eash, and later rounds had some OP situations where they could 1-shot you with an M3. So now bots always do a flat 100% damage like normal. Instead, each round they will level up their weapons and skills. Round 1 has them using tier1 weapons, round 2 gives tier2 weapons, and round 3 has them using superweapons. They'll also gain more powerful skills each round too. This is hard, but a lot more interesting to play against. In the final round all the bots unite against you, and you'll need to take on an army of superweapon wielding enemies to survive. But if you draft a good build and buy some nice perks, you might just have what it takes.

Other Neat Changes

The M4 has been changed to a burst fire gun. There are new skills in the game like Counter Shot (which turns enemy damage into health for a short duration), and Skill Shots (which makes you skills recharge faster whenever you get a skillful non-gun kill). Other add-on skills like Spike Trap, Mirror Image and Smoke Bomb are now their own separate active skills and have been buffed considerably. Weapon recoil has been improved, lives have been buffed and are now exclusively earned via the Genetic Heart, and plenty of skill, weapon and chemical reworks based on player feedback. Check the full changelog below for details!

Full Changelog

--- BIGGEST CHANGES --- - Skills are now leveled via a draft of 3 each time you level up. You can reroll the 3 choices once every 120 seconds. - The buy zone no longer exists. Instead, players buy items from civilian vendors who sell items on discount. - Civ vendors now let you buy mission rewards (the perks you get from completing a mission). These cost $5000 each and are never discounted. - You can now capture enemy chemicals by standing on them for 3 seconds. Doing so will make that chemical your own. This replaces the concept of destroying enemy chemicals. - Chemicals are invisible to enemies when you first place them down (but will revealed if the enemy steps into them). - Every skill can now go up to level 4, and the level 4 values are extremely powerful. These only appear in the skill draft once you hit level 10. - Bots in survival mode no longer gain in damage. It is always 100%. However, they will gain power by unlocking more powerful guns (tier 1, 2, 3) and skills instead. --- OTHER GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Capped the number of lives a player can earn in PVP to 1, and this can only be earned from the Genetic Heart. - When you consume a heart you are now able to keep firing your gun. But you're no longer invulnerable. you'll simply gain all your health back and take 50% damage for the next 3s. - Civilians can now drop loot. - Reworked the way skill information is displayed in the HUD. - Repositioned the final red zones in BR, limiting them to bigger more open areas with fewer rooftops around. - Grenades now fall into the red zone in overtime along with other forms of loot. - You gain +5% DMG when you loot the same gun, and this caps at +50 instead of +30% DMG (on critical bullets). - Survival bots now have randomised skills, like in PvP. They don't all have the exact same skill (which is too repetitive). - Improved bot AI to no longer prioritize humans over other bots. - Killing a bot at max wanted level extends the timer by 3s instead of 1s. - Added a cross to the center of the crosshair. - Vehicles now have 2x as many hitpoints, but when they catch fire, they stay on fire for 10s (forcing players out). - Improved the quality of gun sound effects. - Increased the sound range so you can hear enemies shooting in the distance. - Killing survivors now awards $500 while killing zombies now awards $200. - Warmup rounds now have superweapons in them, and players no longer keep their guns when the warmup ends. - Supply Crates visually look bigger. - Supply drops are now guaranteed to drop a weapon always, which will be glowing to indicate that its critical bullets do +50% more DMG. - Fixed a bunch of bugs. --- WEAPON CHANGES --- - The M4A1 is now a burst fire weapon, firing 3 fast bursts at a time. - Buffed molotov's radius, while reducing duration from 5s to 4s. - Weapons in general have less recoil. - Deagle now costs $3000 and rate of fire is now 300 instead of 275. - Improved the movement speed of rifles. - Improved the range of machine guns. - Tapping doesn't work as well for controlling recoil, but bursting works better. - All guns have +40 zoom range (including snipers). - Bazooka flies 90% as fast through the air. - Grenades, flashbangs and molotovs now cost $300 instead of $500 (or cheaper if found on discount). --- CHEMICAL CHANGES --- - Chemicals now have a 2.5s activation time before they do anything. - You can now carry up to a max of 4 chemicals. - The benefits of the three stimulants now last for 8s instead of 3s. - All chems now have 2 charges max instead of 3. - Warp Fields now last in the map for 20 mins instead of 6 mins. They also have a 1s warp time instead of 1.5s. - Sonar Cells now have a "discovery radius" of 5 meters. But they will reveal enemies with a 25m range. This lets you hide it in a corner and get vision benefits, without the enemy standing inside and discovering the chemical. - Fission Mine's no longer give extra throws (too OP). Instead they'll give +1 free grenade every 60s. - Only one of your fission mines can be activated at a time. - Laser Tripwire now has a 0.5s activation time before it can do any damage. Once an enemy steps into it, it will activate and become visible to everyone in the server. - Once active, Laser Tripwire has an 10 second duration where it will deal damage to any enemies who step inside it. After this 10s is over it will expire. --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Skill cooldowns are in general faster. - Players can now go up to level 30, and the leveling curve is now faster. - Bionic Charges has been replaced with a new pure passive skill call "Skill Shot", which works like so: Whenever you kill with an enemy with a non-gun damage source (eg: skills, vehicles, knife, grenades), you'll gain a charge. These charges speed up your skill cooldowns. Charges reset on death. - Clip Magnet is now called "Rapid Refill" and works slightly differently: When Frenzy is active, each bullet you fire has a chance to not reduce your ammo count. - Smoke Bomb is now its own active skill with a 15s cooldown. It is completely independent of Black Hole. - Mirror Image is now its own active skill with a cooldown of 10s, and buffed duration of 4/6/8/15 and buffed clone health of 25/50/75/100hp. - Assault Armor renamed to Counter Spell, and it will now also block enemy grenades, in addition to skills and chemicals. - Ignition Orb is no longer disabled when an enemy steps inside it. Only when the owner steps inside it.

40% Discount

Geneshift is on sale this week, so like, subscribe, and smash that buy button. Next version will be focused on gang mechanics and territory warfare! Have fun! bencelot

[ 2021-06-25 02:30:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

A stylish new HUD & crosshair

This version cleans up the HUD. It looks nicer on the eye, but more importantly removes clutter and only shows the most important information. There is also a new crosshair that expands in size based on your current level of recoil, making recoil much easier to control. Recoil in general has been increased, and combined with this new crosshair combat is significantly more skillful as recoil control is now a key component in gunplay.

Skills no longer require mana

Mana has been completely removed from the game. Active skills now only have cooldowns, ranging from 5s to 30s based on their strength. You'll now hear a new "ding" sound whenever a skill comes off cooldown. The screenshot below shows how skills are displayed in the new HUD. You can see a progress bar and countdown on each skills' cooldown (EG: Self Repair has 8s left on cooldown). This change removes the frustration of running out of mana mid-combat, and keeps you in a state of flow as you skillfully outplay your foes.

Lives reworked to keep you in action

The new lives mechanic has been streamlined as well. Previously when you used a life, you'd still die and respawn again.. the only difference was that you didn't come back as a zombie. But this still felt like dying. This has been changed so that when you use a life, you get to stay in the action. You'll simply consume the life and regenerate your health on the spot. This takes 3s and during this 3s you will be invulernable, move 2x faster, and be unable to shoot. This gives you (and your enemies) a 3s window to reposition and reload.

Critical bullets and interesting reload decisions

The DMG looting system has been reworked. Ammo kits used to give you +2% damage on your gun, which was nice, but not particularily exciting. Now ammo kits give you "critical bullets" instead. Critical bullets do significantly more damage, ranging from +50 to +100% of your usual damage. A critical blast from the M3 Super can kill in a single shot! But there's a catch. Only some of your bullets are critical, and the critical ones are all at the end of your magazine. So an AK47 has a clip size of 30 bullets, and you might have looted 5 critical bullets. When you reload, the first 25 bullets will do a normal 10hp damage each, and the final 5 will do 20hp each, right before you reload. This creates an interesting risk/reward mechanic where you need to decide between playing it safe and reloading to get a full clip, or taking the risk to fire off those critical bullets, hoping you finish the kill before you run out of ammo. Firing these critical bullets also feels great. Your crosshair turns orange, the bullets are red, and there's plenty of screenshake and big red damage numbers pop up when they hit. In a gun like the Barrett, that final shot does +50% damage and might be enough for a 1-shot kill - but you better not miss.

Full Changelog

--- BIGGEST CHANGES --- - Completely redesigned the HUD, including a new crosshair that dynamically shows your gun's recoil. - Mana has been removed from the game. Skills now rely entirely on cooldowns instead. - When you lose a bonus life you'll no longer respawn, but will stay alive in the action. You'll simply consume the heart and gain your health back over the next 3s. - Weapons now have a new concept called "critical bullets" which do huge bonus damage (+50 to +100%). However, you only have a few of these bullets at the very end of your gun's magazine. - You can no longer buy ammo from anywhere in the map, however all guns have 2x as much reserve ammo. - Vehicles now have infinite boost. --- GAMEPLAY CHANGES --- - Zombies can no longer use guns in the red zone. - Lives are now dropped from enemies when you kill them instead of gaining a flat +0.2 per kill. - Lives become less likely to drop as the remaining player count gets below 10, and in the final 1v1 no lives drop from kills. - When using a life, you will not be able to shoot, but you also won't take any damage. You'll also move 2x faster so you can ecape to safety. - In Survival mode you now start with 3 bonus lives, but the enemies are much harder. - Civilians now drop a random amount of cash. - Looting ammo kits gives you more critical bullets. - In overtime in BR (not survival), health, cash, and ammo kits will fall from the sky into the red area, to incentivize survivors to get out into the open and grab the loot. - Survivors now gain +2 score when there are 25,20,15,10,5,4,3,2 players remaining (instead of gaining +1 per minute). - Killing survivors now gives +2 score per kill (killing zombies is still +1). - Civilian missions now award $2000 instead of $1000. - Added some red bars along the top and bottom of the screen that make it easier to see how much health you've lost. - Vertical aiming no longer works on civilians. - Mental tree skills now only give +10% shift regen, not +20%. - Cybernetic tree skills now only buff your weapon damage, not all damage. - Weapon buffs from civilian missions are now given based on weapon TYPE instead of a specific weapon. So instead of getting +13% damage on the UZI, you'll get this for all SMGs. - Fixed many bugs. --- WEAPON CHANGES --- - Recoil is now stronger on most guns. This allows for more skillful shooting. This is made possible due to the new crosshair very obviously changing size. - Superweapon ammo is now split into clips, just like normal guns. - You can now carry up to 5 of each nade type, instead of 3. - Knife no longer has the charge up mechanic. But the basic swoosh has been buffed from 50 to 70hp damage. - Knife/Claws now do 3x damage vs vehicles. - Machine guns now have the same bullet range as rifles. - M3 now has 8 bullets in a clip instead of 2. --- CHEMICAL CHANGES --- - Mana Stimulant is now called "Skill Stimulant" and has been reworked. When held passively, you will earn +20% xp from kills and loot. When placed, your skills will cooldown +50% faster. - Supply Drop now has 2 max charges instead of 1, and now costs $5000. - Laser Tripwire recoil reduction now also applies to movement recoil, and now costs $5000. - Damage Stimulant gives +2% DMG per kill, and this no longer resets upon death. It also now costs $5000. - Health Stimulant now costs $5000. --- SKILL CHANGES --- - Venom Shot no longer kills enemies (it'll stop at 1hp). Duration is now 5s instead of 4s. - Energize speeds are now +20/30/40%. - Radiate cooldown is 15s instead of 30s. - Black Hole now has a much larger starting size of 16/18/20m (instead of 10/15/20m), but the slow isn't as strong at level 1 (0.8/0.65/0.5). - Bionic Charges now last until you die (or consume a heart). You now gain 2 charges per kill, capped at 3/5/7 charges. Each charges gives +1hp/s. - Shockwave duration is now 4s instead of 3s. - Phasic Rebound damage after bouncing is now 40/80/120% instead of 50/75/100%. - Return Fire damage is now 100/150/200% instead of 50/100/150%. - Bionic Charges now gives 4/6/8 max charges, allowing for 4/6/8 hp/s regen. - Phase drifting speeds are now 140/170/200% instead of 130/150/170%. - Frenzy ROF is now 112/118/124% instead of 110/120/130%. - Casting Frenzy no longer disables shooting for 0.5s. - Radiate durations are now 2/3.5/5 instead of 2.5/4/5.5s. - Stagnation slow is now 85/70/55% instead of 80/60/40%. - Blood Leech healing is now 50/75/100% instead of 30/60/90%. - Invis reveal range is now 16/12/8m instead of 20/15/10m, and durations are now 10/30/50s instead of 10/20/30s. - Fixed a bug where swift stalker wasn't working (nor were civ mission buffs that gave movement speed). Swift stalker now stacks with phase drifting for siiiiick speeds. - Level Force Fields now makes you move faster as intended (bug fix). - Infection damage boost is now 112/118/124% instead of 110/120/130%. - Ignition Orb cooldown is now 15s instead of 5s. - Teleportation has been replaced with a new skill called Backtrack, and has a cooldown of 20s instead of 10s. - Backtrack marks your position with an X on the ground. After a short time you'll teleport back to this location and restore lost health. You can cast again to teleport back immediately. - Backtrack duration is 3/5/7s, and the health restored is 20/30/40% of lost health.

40% Discount

Geneshift is on sale this week, so like, subscribe, and smash that buy button. Next version will be focused on gang mechanics and territory warfare! Have fun! bencelot

[ 2021-05-03 15:00:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to Subvein City

This new map is 5x larger than before. With classic GTA2 vibes, this map feels immersive and completely transforms the game. Vehicles play a critical role in transport now, and the rules of Battle Royale have been changed to work on a larger scale. Over the coming versions I want to make Geneshift more sandboxy with a focus on exploration, and this mega map is a great place to start.

Sexy New Graphics

To go with the mega map we now have a new day/night cycle, fog effects, lens flares, rain and thunder, and more. It's a significant upgrade to the aesthetics of the game and the weather patterns really make the new map a lot more immersive.

Critical Gameplay Changes

- Enemies now have health bars above their heads. It feels satisfying to hit people and prioritize targets based on who has the lowest health. - You can now rebuy ammo from anywhere in the map at any time. Just press B and buy ammo. - Whenever you fire your gun you will be revealed for 1.5s to all other players nearby. This makes it much easier to find action in the minimap. - Phase drifting has been removed as a default ability but made into a new skill in the Physical tree. - Weapons have a reduced range, preventing people from firing at you off-screen. - The firing delay on active skills like Plasma Ball has been reduced from 1.0s to 0.5s.

Battle Royale Mechanics

Everything has been scaled up for the new massive map. We have more players, longer rounds and a new scoring system to keep matches between 15 to 30 minutes. Instead of first to win 3 rounds, it's first to 50 points. With this change there are many new ways to gain score like doing civilian missions, hunting for kills or winning supply drops. This also allows you to feel productive even as a zombie.

New Zombie Resurrection Mechanics

Most exciting are the new rules for zombies, making zombie gameplay far more engaging and free. A few highlights are: - Zombies can keep respawning infinitely and aren't forced to spectate. - Zombies can now fire guns in the red zone, but take 2x damage. - Zombies no longer resurrect from killing a survivor, but instead killing 5 enemies in a row (zombies included). - Zombies can now resurrect with a new special "Heart" supply drop which falls every 2 minutes. These final 2 points completely change the zombie meta, and let you focus on exploring the map, getting quality kill streaks, and winning the super intense Heart drop. To win the heart you simply need to stand on it for 5s. But be careful, because every other zombie will try do the same and only 1 player gets to revive!

New Lives Mechanic

Another big addition is the new lives mechanic. Battle royale is the last man alive. By default we all start with 1 life, and if you die you become a zombie with 0 lives. But now you have the ability to earn bonus lives! Every kill gives you +0.2 lives, so if you get 5 kills in a row you'll gain a backup life. If you get another 5 kills in a row you'll have 2 backup lives. These backup lives mean that if you die, you'll consume the life but will not become a zombie. This system provides a much needed incentive to hunt for kills instead of hiding on a roof somewhere surviving. Every kill is exciting as it gets you one step closer to that bonus life that might let you win the game.

Chemical Charges System

Chemicals now come with charges making them far more useful. When you buy a Warp Field chemical, it now lets you place FOUR warp fields instead of just 1. The charges refill every 2 minutes, so you can keep on placing them. Huge buff to chemicals, as a single chemical can be used to fully prepare an area for maximum advantage. I personally like to place Trip Wires all around the incoming supply drop.

Streamlining Skills System

Skills have been streamlined in a few ways. Firstly, you can take a skill directly up to level 3, without the confusing requirement to get 4/9/14 skills in that tree first. Secondly, each tree now gives you a passive bonus for each skill point in the tree. Every point in the Cybernetic tree gives you a passive +2% damage. Physical skills give +0.5 health regen per skill point, and Mental skills +20% shift regen per point. The old skill queue system has been disabled by default, because it's honestly more fun to choose your own build as you play. But if you really want this you can re-enable it in the options menu.

Full Changelog

- New map called Subvein-City 5x larger than before. - Huge graphical improvements like fog, lens flares, bullet trails, random debris, rain and a day night cycle. - New rules for Battle Royale to work with the big new map, such as increasing the number of players from 20 to 32. - The rules for resurrection have changed. Instead of killing 1 survivor, you must now kill 5 enemies without dying (zombies included). - A better way to resurrect however is to win the new "Heart" supply drop. This falls every 2 minutes and you can rez if you stand ontop of it for 5s. - Battle Royale rounds now last 6 minutes instead of 3 minutes and scoring has been changed. Instead of first player to win 3 rounds, it is now first player to 50 score. - Scoring system in Battle Royale is changed. You now get +1 per minute alive, +1 per kill, +2 per civilian mission, +5 per supply drop, and +20 for a round win. - Zombies can once again respawn over and over again instead of going to spectator mode. - Zombies can now shoot guns in the red zone. However they will take 200% damage in the red zone. - Survival mode has been changed to only have 4 rounds instead of 12, but rounds are longer. - Survival mode now ends the moment you actually die, you don't get to become a zombie anymore (except in coop). - Everyone's top scores in Survival mode have been rescaled downwards, to correspond to the new reduced number of rounds. - Conquest mode has new rules for the big map. You can now capture any point, not forced to go in order from A to B to C to D to E. The capturing cooldown has also been removed. - There is a new "lives" mechanic in Battle Royale. If you kill 5 players without dying you'll gain +1 life, which prevents you from becoming a zombie if you die. - Chemicals now work on a "charges" system. For example, buying a Warp Field now lets you place down 4 warp fields instead of just 1. - Chemicals placed on the ground will now automatically expire after 360s. - Phase Drifting (double tapping shift) has been removed as a default ability. - Phase Drifting is now a skill in the Physical tree, and you are now able to fire your gun while drifting. - Enemies now have health bars above their heads. - When you fire a gun, your location will be revealed to enemies for 1.5s in the map and minimap. - Each skill tree now has a passive benefit for each point invested in it: - You get +2% damage for each point spent in the Cybernetic skill tree. - You get +0.5 hp/s regen at all times for each point in the Physical skill tree. - You regenerate shifts +20% faster for each point in the Mental skill tree. - You can now level skills right up to level 3, without needing to get 4/9/14 skills in that tree first. - Skill builds have been removed from the game by default. The game is funner when you get to choose your build as you play. But you can re-enable this in the advanced options if you wish. - You can now buy ammo at any time from anywhere in the map. Simply press (B) and click the yellow "Buy Ammo" button. - Increased the amount of cash and XP earned killing enemies, killing civiliand and doing civilian missions. - Players are now smaller and move faster, requiring more skill to hit them. - Reduced the firing delay on offensive skills like Plasma Ball and Venom Shot. - Reduced the damage, bullet speed and range of all guns by about 10%. - Big improvements to AI in all game modes. - Minor balance tweaks to various weapons and skills. - Streamlined some elements in the HUD. - Plenty of bug fixes.

40% Discount

Geneshift is on sale this week, so like, subscribe, and smash that buy button! I hope you enjoy this crazy big new version and have a rockin Christmas. Have fun! bencelot

[ 2020-12-18 22:29:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Ingame Progression Reworks

This version completely reworks all the systems of the game. There is a huge focus on in-game progression, the core gameplay loop, and giving a sense of becoming stronger and stronger within the match. You'll start with a single skill point but can now level up by killing people. Meanwhile, cash is never wasted as your weapons and chemicals are no longer lost on death. Instead, your purchases last forever allowing for key strategic decisions on how you create your build in-game.

Complete Skills Rework

The biggest change is to the skills system. We now start each match at level 1, with a single skill point. But as you kill enemies you will now gain xp and level up. Each level lets you invest another skill point and become more powerful. This is especially true as every skill in the game has been reworked to remove skill penalties. If you put a point into Vampirism you get free healing with absolutely no downside. Level 3 skills are objectively more powerful than level 1 skills, and every skill point is valuable. All of the skills have been individually tweaked as well, and some completely reworked. For example, Radiate now fires a nuclear missile at your target location. Active skills have become more skillful to use too, by adding minor firing delays that require you to use the skills tactically instead of blindly firing them in combat.

Permanent Weapons, Chemicals and Cars

Killing enemies not only gives you XP to level up your skills, but it also gives you cash. And now cash is really valuable. Why? Because the things you can buy with cash (weapons, chemicals and cars) are now all permanent. Before this version, you might save up $5000 to buy a super weapon, only to die and lose it all. This hurt a lot and removed any sense of progress you got from earning cash. But no more! Now you get to keep your weapons and chemicals on death, meaning that the expensive weapon you bought will be yours for the rest of the match. The price of these items has been increased to compensate for this, and this creates some interesting milestones throughout the course of a match. You start by buying a tier1 gun, then saving $5000 for a tier2 gun, and then $10000 for a superweapon. Which weapon you buy (or chemical) has now become a big, important, strategic decision. But whatever you choose, you'll be growing more powerful and truly rewarded for the cash you earn in-game.

Phase Drifting & Supply Crates

There is a new way to move around the map - phase drifting! Simply double-tap shift and you will go into a new sliding motion. This lets you move around the map faster, and you will gain in speed the longer you can travel too - but there's a catch. Your movement has momentum, like you're skating on ice. This requires a bit of skill to pull off, but once you get the hang of it you'll be Tokyo drifting around corners and ramming into supply crates. This change simply makes movement fun. Supply crates are a new addition to the game too. The random loot scattered around the map is now bundled up into these crates, making them like fun little presents to open up. You can even use them as temporary cover to block against enemy bullets (until they explode). The main supply drop comes in a super golden grate with extra health and lots of goodies inside.

Complete Chemical Rework

The chemical system now works in a fundamentally different way. Before, you had to choose between either holding a chemical, or placing it on the ground for different benefits. This was a tough choice and often people chose to go for the simpler option of just carrying them. But now you don't need to choose. When you buy a chemical you get both the carried version AND the placed version for free. You can pour some of your chemical onto the ground to get the placed benefits, while still holding onto it. Then after a 120s cooldown, you can place it down again in case someone destroys it. This makes it significantly easier to set up a quick base around a key area, as you always have your passive chemicals on hand. For example, you might decide to buy 2 Sonar Cells and a Fission Mine. You go to a building, and set Sonar's on the chokepoints and a Fission Mine on the buy zone. They after you win your fight there, you can run to the next location, wait for the cooldown to expire and reposition your chemicals again. Just as with weapons, the chemicals you purchase are permanent for the rest of the match, and act as significant tech upgrades that grow you more and more powerful. A few more chemical changes are that now everyone can destroy chemicals at any time, for free. Simply stand on an enemy chemical, hold CTRL and click Neutralize. This works now because enemy chemicals aren't permanently destroyed, but merely put on cooldown and can be replaced later (it would've been too powerful otherwise). Also, Alchemic Acid has been removed and replaced with a new chemical called Supply Beacon, which lets you call down a supply drop every 300s.

Changelog

- Everyone now starts at level 1, but instead of looting for skill points, you will earn XP and level up by killing enemies. - Skills no longer gain penalties as you level them up. Level 3 is now objectively stronger than level 1, making every level up valuable. - Every skill in the game has been rebalanced and reworked with some big changes. EG: Radiate now fires a nuke at your target location. - You no longer lose your weapons on death. This lets you save up for expensive guns and keep using them for the rest of the match. - You can now double-tap shift to enter a new movement mode called 'phase drifting'. This lets you move faster but reveals you to enemies. - You no longer lose your chemicals on death. The chemicals you buy will stick with you all match, making them great tech upgrades. - You can now place chemicals for free based on the chemicals you're carrying. If your chemical gets destroyed, you can simply replace it. - Some chemicals have been reworked and replaced. EG: Supply Beacon, which lets you call down a supply drop every 300 seconds. - Everyone can now Neutralize enemy chemicals for free all the time. The Neutralizer chemical has been removed. - You only have to buy a car once to unlock a license for it. This license lets you rebuy that car for free for the rest of the match. - Loot is now bundled up into 15hp crates, and supply drops now come in a big shiny 150hp crate. Shoot or shift into them to open them. - When you kill an enemy, you'll instantly gain +50 hp and mana, allowing you to keep fighting and avoid getting third partied. - Adjusted the costs of all chemicals, weapons and vehicles, generally making them more expensive as they are now permanent upgrades. - Accessing level 3 skills is now a bit different. You can take a single skill up to level 3 on your 5th/10th/15th point in that tree. - Your player level (shown up the top left of the screen) is now higher, as I've changed the leveling curve so people level up more frequently. - And much more! Balance tweaks, bug fixes, and quality of life changes based on hundreds of hours of discussion in the Discord.

40% Discount

Geneshift is on sale this week, so like, subscribe, and smash that buy button! Have fun! bencelot

[ 2020-08-03 15:30:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Get Geneshift for free!

For the next 48 hours you can get the base game of Geneshift 100% free. Simply download the game from the store page and you'll get it in your library, free, forever! Please keep in mind that this giveaway is only for the base game and does not include the Supporter's Edition DLC. Fortunately, the base game has 95% of the content and is all you need to play, so please tell your friends and get it while you can! There are going to be a LOT of players online due to this giveaway, so if you want to dominate the PvP servers, or are curious about the brand new singleplayer survival game mode, now's the time to play!

Play the New Singleplayer Mode!

Last week Geneshift released a HUGE new version with a whole new singleplayer game mode - Daily Survival Runs. You fight 12 rounds against increasingly deadly enemies and see how long you can survive. Each round the enemy grows stronger and the only way to survive is to complete these new GTA2 style missions for civilians, which give you randomly generated bonuses to your items. These bonuses are great fun and give you crazy powers like +50% movement speed on your knife, or +200% size when you cast Radiate. You'll need to adapt your play-style based on the bonuses you get if you want to survive and top the leaderboards. These new civilian missions and their bonus rewards have been added to the PvP modes too. This game is getting more like GTA2 every version! If you like the normal Geneshift gameplay but don't want to deal with lag or veterans kicking your ass, this is the mode for you. Even better, if you own the Supporter's Edition DLC you can play this mode in 4-player co-op with friends (and only one of you needs to own it as well).

40% Discount on the Supporter's DLC

If you like the game and want to support development, now is a great time to pick up the Supporter's Edition DLC. Otherwise, just telling your friends and playing the game is great too. Cheers :D Btw if the servers start crashing and you have technical issues, please contact me at bencelot@geneshift.net or better yet, on the official Discord: discord.gg/geneshift Have fun! Ben.

[ 2020-06-08 17:15:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Free to Keep Giveaway

Geneshift will be doing a free-to-keep giveaway on June 8th! You may have noticed that the game went free-to-keep a few weeks ago too. That was due to a miscommunication between Valve and I, so we're doing it again. There will be plenty of new people online, so make sure to join the fun!

New Singleplayer Mode - Daily Survival Runs

This version introduces a new singleplayer mode - Daily Survival Runs! You fight 12 rounds against increasingly deadly enemies and see how long you can survive. Each round the enemy grows stronger by gaining more damage, health and skills. The final rounds are very difficult, and the only way to survive them is to grow stronger yourself, which you do by completing missions and unlocking special bonuses. You can play this new mode once per day, and after you win (or lose) your score will be added to the new daily survival leaderboards. If you manage to survive all 12 rounds, you'll unlock Hardcore, then Insane, and finally Ultimate difficulty - where you can play endlessly to try set the highest score possible. If you like the normal Geneshift gameplay but don't want to deal with lag or veterans kicking your ass, this is the mode for you. Even better, if you own the Supporters Edition DLC you are able to play this mode in 4-player co-op!

Civilian Missions

Some civilians now have a little "HELP ME" text bubble above them. Pressing [E] on these civilians will start a mission. These missions are available in all game modes, but are especially designed for the new survival mode. They will have you doing things like driving over civilians, or taking out armed thugs, or killing enemies without taking any damage. Every mission is different, and in co-op you complete them together with your allies and all share the rewards. What rewards you ask?

Random Item Bonuses

When you complete a civilian mission you get a special reward that lasts for the rest of the match. For example, you might unlock +80% bullet speed on the AK47, or +50% damage on Plasma Ball. These are generated in a semi-random way, trying to buff items that you're already holding, but exactly which item is unknown. Also, in the new survival mode you'll start the match with 3 randomly generated bonuses, which are reset every 24 hours and shared by everyone. These random bonuses encourages you to adapt, and makes every game feel different. One round you might be sniping due to the extra high damage Plasma Ball, and another you might be charging with a shotgun due to the +30% movement speed on the M3. It's a whole lot of fun trying out these OP bonuses, and a big strategy to winning the new survival mode is to get as many as you can in early rounds to try survive the later ones.

Weapon & Ammo Mechanics

You can now carry 2 primary weapons at the same time, allowing for smart combos like a sniper & shotgun combo. However it takes longer to swap between them, and you might want to use a pistol anyway for the faster swapping. The cost of ammo has also been increased significantly, making cash a lot more valuable. The ammo cost is especially high for tier2 weapons, and even more for superweapons. This creates an interesting dynamic where you get more damage at higher tiers, but the ammo efficiency is way worse, meaning you'll need to save up cash in early rounds to sustain the ammo in later rounds when you are forced to use a higher tier gun (in survival).

Skill System Streamlined

Skills now only require 2 points to max out, instead of 4. Before, there was no point in leveling a skill to level 2 or 3.. it was just a waste of time clicking. Now things are clean. Your first point into the skill unlocks it, and the next point maxes it out. The new level 2 skill has the same power as the old level 4, so it's just been rescaled. But wait, there's more! Because if you spend 8 skill points within the same tree, you gain the ability to spend a third skill point on those skills within the tree, and this third point is much much stronger than anything we've seen before (the equivalent of level 6 from last version, if such a level existed). Also, you can now freely unlock skills from any skill tree. Meaning you can combine Cybernetic, Physical and Mental skills together without having to pay any cost. This really opens up the skill builds you can create. Another change is that everyone's starting level has been drastically reduced, but there are more skill points lying around. This places an emphasis on looting for skill points and actually growing stronger throughout the round.

Chemical & Vehicle Improvements

You can now shoot 360 degrees out the window of your car, instead of just 180 degrees to the side you're on. This makes driveby shootings much easier to do. To compensate for this the car offers less protection. Chemicals are improved too, as you can now carry up to 3 chemicals at the same time. This not only makes it easier to pick up and put down an entire base, but it also lets you stack the chemical's passive abilities. If you carry 3 Fission Mines for example you will throw FOUR grenades at the same time for the price of one (as each one gives +1 free grenade). Is this crazy OP? Hop on to find out!

Battle Royale Zombie Changes

Zombies can now use their claws in the red zone, meaning they always have a chance of getting back into the game, even when the final survivors are in the final circle. However, to prevent endless zombie claw spam, if you die as a zombie you are forced to spectate for the rest of the round. This has the added benefit of making you really value your life as a zombie, as if you die you're out of the round.

Changelog

- Pressing [E] on a civilian now gives you a mission, which if completed awards you special bonuses. - In the new daily survival run, you will start with 3 randomly generated bonuses, which changes every 24 hours. - You can now carry 2 primary weapons. Switching time is longer if doing this though. - You can now shoot 360 degrees while driving vehicles, but they offer less protection. - Skills now cap out after 2 points instead of 4. They're rescaled though, so the new level 2 is as strong as the old level 4. - If you spent 8 skill points in the same tree, you are able to spend a 3rd skill point which makes it ultra powerful. - Players now start with far fewer skill points, giving a new emphasis on looting points as you play (go for Supply Drops). - You can now combine skills from multiple skill trees, allowing for far more interesting skill builds. - Changed the mana cost of active skills to 20/35/50. Mana regenerates slower to compensate. - You can now carry up to 3 chemicals at the same time, and pickup chemicals instantly. - Renamed the Complete Edition DLC to the Supporters Edition DLC. - Health and mana regenerate in the campaign, just like in PvP. - Zombies can now use their claws in the red zone. - If you die as a zombie, you must now spectate the rest of the round. - Daily challenges can now be done against zombies (like get 6 shotgun kills). - Killing a zombie now gives +1 score in BR, and it's first to 60 instead of 50. - Tier1 guns are capped at +30% DMG, Tier2 guns at +50% DMG, and Superweapons at +100% DMG. - Ammo is generally more expensive and guns have fewer bullets, making cash more valuable. - Added a dedicated 'Buy Ammo' button. - Added pretty new graphical animations and particle effects. - Rearranged the position of items in the HUD. - Rearranged some items in the hex grid. - Fixed countless bugs. - Added a whole new singleplayer survival mode. Go try it! Have fun! Bencelot.

[ 2020-05-29 15:01:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Free-to-Keep Giveaway

The base game for Geneshift is currently free-to-keep on Steam. This means that if you download the game right now, you'll get the game in your library, free, forever! Please keep in mind that this is the BASE game, but does not include the DLC. I repeat, the DLC is not included. Fortunately, the base game has 95% of the content and is all you need to play, so get it while you can!

Released by Accident

Funnily enough, this giveaway was NOT meant to happen today. I woke up this morning to see that Valve accidentally enabled it a full month ahead of schedule! I have sent them numerous support requests to reschedule the giveaway to June as planned, but have yet to receive a response. (to be fair, they work on Valve time). Let me tell you, after a shock like that I didn't even need my morning coffee. I've asked Valve to cancel this giveaway now, so that I can do it *properly* in early June as planned. This means that the giveaway might randomly go away sometime in the next few hours. Rest assured, if you got the game for free, you will keep the game for free. And if you miss out, you can always get it again when we do the giveaway properly in early June. Anyway, have fun! Ben.

[ 2020-05-12 09:11:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Chemical Passive Abilities

The biggest change this version is in the new chemical system. "What chemical system?" I hear you ask? I don't blame you, as it was FAR too confusing before. Well no longer. Chemicals have been improved in various ways. The biggest of which is that chemicals now give you a passive ability when you carry them! For example, if you carry a Warp Field, you will increase your max shifts by +2. Chemicals are much cheaper now too ($1000) each. So you can almost view chemicals as cheap combat enhancements. Even if you never place them, you can spend a cool $1000 for some serious upgrades! Such as: - Synthetic Shop (previously called Base Chemicals) gives you +20% ammo. - Alchemic Acid gives you +20% cash for kills and loot. - Warp Fields give you +2 max shifts. - Sonar Cells increases your vision range. - Goo Trap slows enemies with your bullets. - Health and Mana stimulants now increase max hp/mana by +20. - Damage Stimulant increases your gun's DMG by +5% per kill. - Fission Mine (a new chem) makes you throw 2x grenades at once. - Laser Tripwire (a new chem) removes all weapon recoil. - Neutralizer now makes you immune to enemy chemicals.

Brand New Chemicals

There are 2 brand new chemicals that do some really fun stuff when placed as well - Fission Mines and Laser Tripwires. When an enemy steps inside your Fission Mine, it will detonate with a HUGE explosion dealing 100hp damage to anyone nearby. They have 1.5s to escape before the boom. Laser Tripwires let you set up a tripwire across a chokepoint, which shoots a laser beam at anyone who steps into it, taking off half their health. These new chemicals are great for area control, and are an intuitive way for new players to understand the chemical system.

Chemicals are now Visible

Another huge change is that when you place a chemical on the ground it is now visible to your enemies. Yes, you can actually *SEE* them, unlike before where they were all invisible. This is a huge change, and makes it far easier to find and destroy enemy chemicals, which will award you big bucks! If you want you can still make your chemical invisible, but this will cost you an extra $1000 to "conceal" it. This mechanic makes for some interesting choices. For example, you could spend $1000 to buy a Laser Tripwire and place it in a chokepoint. By default this will be visible to enemies, and might deter them from coming through that route. This might be enough. However, you can upgrade it for another $1000 to make it invisible, which means they'll accidentally step into the tripwire and get shot by it.

Resurrect with the Genetic Heart

There is a brand new way to resurrect as a zombie - finding the Genetic Heart. The Genetic Heart is a special piece of loot only available to zombies. If you step into it, you'll instantly respawn! There is only one heart in the map at any one time, and it will spawn randomly somewhere in the map. This gives zombies a great new way to get back into the game (in addition to killing a survivor). This mechanic was added to encourage looting and exploration. And because there is only one heart at a time, it becomes a race against the other zombies to find it first. Vehicles are by far the best way to do this, so you can now finally play GTA-style, cruising around in a vehicle and have an actual competitive reason for doing so!

Unlock Multiple Skill Trees

A huge improvement to the skill system is that you can now create skill builds across multiple skill trees! You no longer have to stick to just the Cybernetic, or Mental, or Physical skill tree. You can now create a super defensive skill build that combines Self Repair (Cybernetic) with Force Fields (Physical). The options are endless! It costs 4 skill points to access each additional skill tree.

The Unlock Hex Grid is now Tiered

The hex grid, which is where you spend Kill Coins and unlock stuff, has been split into 6 distinct tiers (containing 21 items each). You now need to fully complete the previous tier before you are able to unlock anything from the next one, and all items in a tier have the same cost. The kill coin costs per tier are 5, 20, 50, 100, 150, 200. These costs overall are cheaper than before, and are especially cheap for new players as the start of the game (as there are now a bunch of items that only cost 5 coins each). Daily Challenges now give 2x as many Kill Coins, making everything even faster to unlock. The reason for this change is to give players a sense of progression ("3 more items till I unlock the next tier!"). This also simplifies decision making. A problem the old system had was that you would end up with like 50+ items available to unlock, all of them costing different amounts of kill coins, and it was really hard to know what to get ("Do I unlock the UZI for 15 kill coins, or the Force Fields for 75 kill coins, or any of the other 48 items I can't remember?"). Now, every item costs exactly the same amount of coins, so you only need to focus on the actual item itself. And the available options are far less, letting you actually keep them all in mind and make a more fun, informed decision. Finally, when doing daily challenges to grind for kill coins, you now know exactly how many coins you need as all items have the same price.

Health Kits & Survival

Health Kits are far more important, and give you a huge incentive to stay alive and loot. There are health kits everywhere, which will increase your max hp/mana by +5. It's expected that you'll gain about +50 max hitpoints by the end of the round, really helping in the final showdown. But if you just camp, or become a zombie and resurrect, you won't have this health advantage. Basically, the health kits have been reworked to strongly reward and encourage players who loot the map, while still trying not to die. You can't just rely on a last minute resurrection anymore, as you'll be at a serious health disadvantage. Stay safe!

Changelog

There are a bunch of other goodies in this version, such as damage numbers that show up whenever you hit someone (I love this one). Here is the complete list of changes! - All chemicals now have passive abilities when you hold them! EG: - Synthetic Shop (previously called Base Chemicals) gives you +20% ammo. - Alchemic Acid gives you +20% cash for kills and loot. - Warp Fields give you +2 max shifts. - Sonar Cells increases your vision range. - Goo Trap slows enemies with your bullets. - Health and Mana stimulants now increase max hp/mana by +20. - Damage Stimulant increases your guns DMG by +5% per kill. - Fission Mine (new chem) gives you a free grenade each throw. - Laser Tripwire (new chem) removes all weapon recoil. - Chemicals are now visible to enemies by default. Huge change! - Chemicals can now be made invisible by standing in them and buying a "Concealer" for $1000. - Chemicals now cost $1000 instead of $3000. - You can neutralize your own chemicals to refund them. - Damage/Mana/Health Stimulants are now separate chemicals detached from Base costing $2000. - Added a new chemical called Fission Mine. It explodes when enemies step in it. - Added a new chemical called Laser Tripwire. It zaps enemies who step into it. - Warp Fields can now warp to ALL buy zones. - There is a new piece of loot called the "Genetic Heart" which will resurrect zombies who find it. - You can now unlock skills from multiple skill trees. - Skill points now cost $1000 instead of $2000. - Generally, weapons across the board do less damage, but are more accurate. - Killing enemies now causes them to drop excess chemicals, health and mana kits. - Increased the shifting length from 6m to 8m. - Non-BR game modes now have designated buy zones, similar to BR. - Removed the capturing cooldown timer in Conquest mode. - In Conquest, each team starts with 2 points captured already to save time. - Zombies in BR now have 100 mana and can use passive skills. - Zombies can no longer see or loot for health or mana, making survival key. - You can now go all the way up to a max of 200 hp/mana from kits. - Adrenaline Rush has been changed to make you run faster while you're reloading. - Generally there is less cash in the map and you only get $100 cash per kill. - Superweapons now cost $8000 instead of $5000. - You get to keep the ammo in your gun between rounds. - Everyone runs a little bit faster. - Vehicles have less health, but much faster out of combat regen. - You no longer need to eject from a car that's on fire. It will heal itself naturally. - Bazooka, Grenades and Stinger Missiles all do exactly 300hp vs cars (enough to kill buggies). - Reorganised some items in the hex unlock grid, and also split it into tiers. - In order to access the next tier in a hex grid, you need to unlock a certain amount of items first. - Added damage numbers that show up whenever you shoot someone. - Daily Challenges now give more kill coins (30/40/50 vs 10/20/30). - Ammo piles now give you +2% DMG to your currently held weapon. - Fixed countless bugs and AI issues. Have fun! Bencelot.

[ 2020-03-20 13:00:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

New Trailer

First big update of 2020! For the past 2 months I've focused on marketing preparation, such as creating a brand new website and trailer. I've also been contacting streamers, watching them play, and making some great changes to the new player experience. More on that in a moment, but first check this new trailer! [previewyoutube=8LYrUhgE2Ag;full][/previewyoutube]

Super Strong Zombies

Perhaps the biggest change this version is simply this - zombies now have 100hp instead of 50hp. At first this seems like a simple change, but when you remember that 50% of your time is spent as a zombie, this is a huge change to the flow of the game. The time to kill has doubled, especially for new players who are zombies most of the time. By cranking the hit points up to 100hp, zombies now play almost identically to normal players, and the game feels a lot nicer because of it. Zombies are no longer a death-trap for new players.

Upgradeable Guns

Of course, with 100hp zombies being a survivor is now scarier than ever, so a number of fun changes have been added to compensate for this. First of all, killing zombies will give you more cash and experience. Always nice. But the real fun change is this - whenever you kill a zombie, your current weapon will gain +2% damage. This suddenly makes killing zombies great fun, and as a survivor you might even dare to venture out of the safe zone to hunt them, because you can upgrade your gun all the way up to +40% damage and gain a huge showdown advantage.

New Zombie Resurrections

The third and final zombie change is a bit controversial, but honestly great fun - if you kill another zombie, you have a 10% chance to instantly resurrect. This introduces a second way to get back in the game as a zombie. The most common and reliable method is to kill a living player, but now you have a chance of coming back from a zombie kill too! This makes playing as a zombie more exciting because you always have hope. Even when all the survivors have retreated to the safety of the red zone, you still have a chance and a way to win. Being a zombie has never been more fun - and killing zombies is now even funner.

Tutorial and Better Interface

The game now helps new players learn the game in various ways. There is a new tutorial option which triggers when a new player first clicks the PLAY button. This will host a special server against bots, where they only do 20% damage against you. This lets you progress through the Newbie Checklist up the top right in peace and gives a safe, lag-free, veteran-free first experience of the game. I've also added little tool tips, such as a prompt to pickup a nearby gun if you are only holding a pistol (I've noticed that new players tend to run right past guns for some reason). Also, the mechanics of the Battle Royale mode are explained better in various ways, most impressively with this sexy new victory screen that shows up each time someone wins a round. It will flash red if an enemy wins, and green if an ally wins. It also explains how the point scoring system works:

Major Vehicle Buffs

Vehicles have had their hitpoints buffed and now have the ability to regenerate health out of combat. You also don't instantly die if your vehicle explodes, but are simply ejected out with a mere 20hp loss. To compensate for this, passengers inside a car will now take more damage (25% instead of 15%, almost double). This is a win-win both for drivers and those on-foot. Drivers can now cruise around the map without their car exploding instantly, and those on-foot can now shoot at cars without feeling like their bullets don't do anything. The whole thing is balanced a lot nicer and vehicles are now a legitimately viable form of combat.

Changelog

There are a few other nifty changes this version too. Such as everyone starting with 10 extra skill points. This alone is a huge improvement and allows players to really explore advanced skill builds without having to spend the first half of the round looting. A lot of focus has gone into the bots AI as well, generally making them easier, but harder in the final stages of the round - making each showdown a legitimate adrenaline pumping experience. Check out the full list below! - 10 extra skill points for everyone - Zombies now have 100hp instead of 50 - Zombies now award double the cash for kills and full XP - Killing enemies now upgrades your gun with +2% DMG (not if you're a zombie) - Reduced the damage of most guns to 90% of previous levels - Zombies now have a 10% chance or randomly resurrecting by killing another zombie - Reduced warmup round duration - Prettier and more informative text is shown after each round - Supply drops now only give 20s warning - Bots in general are easier, but superbots are harder - Bots no longer shoot you from offscreen - You can't dodge vehicles by jumping anymore, gotta shift them - In nonBR game modes, you start with a random tier1 gun - XP earned on higher difficulties is increased - Vehicles now have health regen, more hitpoints and faster speed - Vehicles are no longer death traps when they explode - Shooting a player inside a vehicle now does 25% damage instead of 15% - Made vehicle explosions look cooler - You now get $500 for destroying vehicles instead of $200 - Double Damage doesn't apply to other players with double damage - Reduced the amount of cash and guns that spawn on the ground - Guards in the campaign now do 50% as much damage as before - Fixed a bug where joining an online game now restarts the match if no one is in it - Fixed a bug where the gamepad would register without you realising it - Fixed a bug where bullet recoil wasn't syncing properly with linux servers - Fixed a bug when matchmaking would put you into a server with high ping - Fixed a bug where players could jump into an enemies vehicle (avoiding roadkill)

40% Discount

How do you know when the game is on discount? A new version is announced. How do you know when a new version is announced? The game is on discount. My business 101 book said these two events should occur together, so here we are. Check out these awesome new changes now for 40% off! This coffee isn't going to pay for itself! Have fun! Bencelot.

[ 2020-02-24 14:00:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

New Conquest Game Mode

After working on Battle Royale all year, I've decided to update the other game modes. Conquest mode in particular got a complete rework and plays MUCH better now. It's such a big rework that I'll just explain how it works from scratch and ignore the old rules completely. There are 5 control points, connected in a linear line. The scientists start at point A, and the rebels at point E. You must capture the points in order A-B-C-D-E, and the first team to control all 5 points wins. You capture a point in two ways, either by standing next to it for 30s, or by buying the Capturer chemical for $5000 and planting it on the center. Proximity capturing is the main approach, but saving up for a Capturer can be the winning move that gives your team the game.
If you own a control point you can buy from it, warp to it, and also pick up all the free cash which rains down upon it (at a rate of $1000 per minute). So far this all sounds like typical Conquest rules for a linear recapturing game mode. But here's where it gets interesting: Whenever you capture a control point, BOTH TEAMS will go onto a 60s capturing cooldown. This means that for the next 60s neither team is able to capture a point. You can speed up this cooldown by getting kills (shaving 2s off the timer per kill). This cooldown mechanic effectively creates a race scenario where the match is split up into a series of 60s rounds. It works like this:
The scientists capture a control point, going from 3 vs 2 to 4 vs 1. Both teams are now on a 60s cooldown, and a race has begun to see which team can capture the next point. You get kills as fast as you can to advance the timer faster, and then prepare as best as you can for when the timer reaches 0s, so you can begin capturing instantly. The winner of this race will capture their point, but more importantly DENY their enemy from capturing their point, as they are put onto a cooldown again. This create intense moments where you need to work with your team to capture points as quickly and efficiently as possible or else the other team will beat you. This race mechanic really adds a sense of rhythm to the game, with alternating moments of preparation and execution, and I hope you enjoy it!

Cash Reworks

The way cash is earned in the game has changed in a few ways. In non BR modes, the passive cash income has been replaced with looting, so it behaves similar to Battle Royale. Players also get 3x as much cash for killing enemies and the kill combo system has been expanded to allow for longer and bigger combos. Cash will also now fall from the sky into the buy zones (in BR) and control points (in Conquest). These are in little $100 silver coins and fall at a rate of $1000 per minute. This makes camping/defending a viable strategy as you can stay in the one place, protecting one of these key locations and still earn an income.

Performance Improvements

I have spent about 2 weeks fixing my old outdated OpenGL code to make the game run significantly smoother. If you have a slow PC then this here is probably going to be the single best improvement to the game I've ever released, because the difference is like night and day. Also, the falling from the sky in Battle Royale runs a lot smoother now too!

Changelog

• Conquest has been completely reworked.
• 3x the amount of cash is awarded for killing enemies.
• Made huge performance improvements.
• Improved the graphics of bullets.
• The crosshair now indicates how much ammo you have left.
• New players start the game with access to more items.
• Light Shifting now improves the recharge time between shifts.
• Laser Focus has been replaced with a new skill called Adrenalin Rush which makes you move faster in combat.
• Flaregun now fires an explosive bullet.
• Increased the movement speed of all weapons in combat.
• Fixed a number of issues with the bots behaviour using shared chemicals.
• Allied chemicals now display at full size so it's easier to see their range.
• Non-BR game modes now give 5x as much cash in the form of loot, but have no passive income.
• Pressing 'E' on a bot will make him drop the flag in CTF
• Changed how the scoring works in nonBR modes. +1 per kill, +10 per capture, +2 for killing someone holding the flag.
• Significantly buffed the UZI's bullet and movement speed.
• Buffed the damage of the Photon Beam, Flamethrower, M3 and Barrett.
• Health and Mana kits now give +5 max hp instead of +25 temporary hp.
• The max hp is now capped at 150 instead of 200hp.
• Firing weapons will be disabled for 1.5s after using a warp field.
• Updated some translations.
• Fixed a bunch of bugs.

40% Discount & Merry Christmas

Geneshift is of course particpating in the Winter Sale with a thicc 40% discount. Now is the time. Your time - to shine. Also, I'll be away for the next 2 weeks for Xmas, but hit me up on Discord if you have any issues. Otherwise I hope you all have a fantastic Xmas and New Years. I want to thank everyone who has bought, played or discussed the game in Discord. The game is in a MUCH better state now than it was a year ago and I have you all to thank for it. Merry Xmas and a happy new year! Cheers, Ben.

[ 2019-12-23 12:30:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Supply Drops

Geneshift now has supply drops! They will randomly appear in the map with a 30s countdown timer. Everyone in the server is alerted to this and has 30s to get to the area and then fight to be the last man standing to claim the prize. The prize is that a bunch of new ultra-rare loot will drop, including permanent max hp/mana upgrades, a +30% Damage weapon, +10 kill coins and possibly an entire new skill unlocked for free! These supply drops give you an excellent incentive to play agrgressively, and provide interesting king of the hill style battles.

Zombie Improvements

Zombies have been reworked in a big way this version and play a lot better. There is now stuff to actually DO as a zombie and you are much stronger as well. For starters zombie weapons now do 100% damage instead of 50%, which no longer punishes you and lets you continue playing as normal. Resurrections are much easier because of this, and easier still as there is no 20s countdown time anymore - you can resurrect as soon as you spawn. Furthermore, zombies can now keep their gun and max hp benefits when they spawn the next round. This, combined with supply drops gives you something really meangingful to fight over once dead - a chance to start with an extra high damage weapon or more max hp.

Tilted Camera Angle

You might have noticed in the screenshots above that the camera angle has been tilted! After 10 years Geneshift has finally upgraded from a pure birds-eye shooter into an isometric shooter! Who knows, in another 10 years this might become and FPS! Eitherway, this new camera angle looks a lot nicer on the eyes, and helps you judge the height of boxes in the map as well. It makes for a far more immersive playing experience, especially combined with the other graphical upgrades. For example, Geneshift now supports 4X MSAA antialiasing and looks a lot smoother because of it. It also has updated player models, where they hold the weapons properly instead of like blockmen. There is even a new "gore" setting in the options menu that can significantly increase the amount of blood that comes out of baddies when you make them go splat.

New Gameplay Twists

A number of skills have been buffed, and a few have been buffed in a very interesting way - team buffing. Certain skills, such as Self Repair, Ignition Orb, Xray-Vision and Frenzy will now benefit nearby allies when you cast them, allowing for some really interesting new squad tactics. Other cool tweaks are the new looting system, where if you run over the same type of gun you not only grab its ammo, but can now upgrade the damage of your current gun by +2%. This little boost can really add up and makes looting as a zombie extra fun.

40% Discount

Geneshift is on discount. You know how this works! If you want to support the game now would be a great time to pick it up. Also, to celebrate this new version I decided to create a cybertruck with a flamethrower attached to its forehead - enjoy!

[ 2019-11-29 13:00:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Controller Support!

The most requested feature since Geneshift joined Early Access, controller support is finally here! It's been tested with Xbox and Playstation controllers, but should work with other types too. It turned out signficantly better than I expected, and I'd love to hear your opinions on it. All the hotkeys are rebindable in the options menu, but here is the default layout:

Zombie can use Weapons & Cars!

Even more exciting is a whole bunch of improvements to how zombies work. For starters, zombies can now buy, loot and use weapons! You're no longer forced to repetitively use the zombie pests or claws. To prevent this being being overpowered, zombies will only deal 50% as much damage when using a normal weapon, and have reduced range too. Zombies can drive cars too! They've also been buffed up to 50hp instead of 30hp, and their pests weapons has been turned into a mini-shotgun that is far more tactical to play with. Overall being a zombie is a lot more fun this version because there is so much more you can do. But wait.. there's more.

Zombie Resurrections

Another big change is that zombies can once again resurrect by killing a player, and get back into the game. However there is a twist, which is that you need to be alive for at least 30s before resurrections are possible. This is shown as a progress bar down the bottom of the screen. This change adds a sense of survival to being a zombie, where the ideal strategy is to no longer brute-force you way to try kill an enemy player, but instead to stealthily survive for 30s, loot up with weapons and health kits, and go for a quality kill instead. It makes resurrections harder to pull off, but so much sweeter when you do.

Share Chemicals With Allies

Another huge change is that chemicals can be shared with allies. This adds all sorts of teamwork in Squads mode. You can place a Warp field and have your ally warp through it. You and your buddy can place Sonar Cells to provide shared vision on all entrances to the final circle. You can sell weapons into Alchemic Acid and split the profits, and of course you can use your friend's sneakily placed Base Chemicals to rebuy ammo. The teamwork options are huge and chemicals in general should get a lot more exposure now that you only have to do half the work to set them up.

Changelog

• Added full controller support.
• Zombies can now use weapons.
• Zombies can now use vehicles.
• Zombie pests reworked into a tactical shotgun that does 40hp damage per blast.
• Zombies now have 50 hp and mana instead of 30.
• Zombie claws and knife now do 50hp damage instead of 35.
• Active skills now cost 20/30/40/50 mana instead of 15/20/25/30.
• Mana regen rate is now +5 mana/s instead of +3 mana/s,
• Skill points now cost $2000 each instead of $3000.
• Translators can now edit translations in data/translations folder and test them in-game.
• Allies can now use eachothers chemicals.
• More HUD improvements, showing weapon stats and explaining how and skills trees work.
• Reorganised the unlocks grid to make all the chemicals much cheaper.
• Updated some translations.

Future Plans

Now that controller support is added Geneshift is really getting ready for another big marketing push. And this of course means more players! I'll update the trailer first, and then start contacting the press. Until then, have fun!

[ 2019-11-01 14:00:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Steam Friend Invites

Geneshift now has a party system! Perfect for playing with friends in Battle Royale squads. You can now invite your friends on Steam to join your party, which allows you to chat with eachother while still in the menu and organise what game to play. You can also follow the party leader into a game, which makes it much easier for friends to play in the same server. The game will also ensure you're all put onto the same squad if possible. The max party size is 4, as this matches the max squad size in both Battle Royale and the coop campaign.

Dynamic Music

The music has received a much needed update, making it sound more badass. The old tunes were too slow for the fast-paced gameplay. Even better, the music will now dynamically change based on the action on screen! Whenever you take damage the music will gradually become more and more intense, fading in a powerful beat and drums based on the action on screen. This effect turned out way better than I expected and really gets the heart racing in times of action. It makes you focus and play at least 30% better than you would otherwise! And that is a Geneshift guarantee.

Survival Focused Gameplay

There are some significant changes to the rules of the Battle Royale this version, which place a far greater emphasis on survival. Geneshift has always been a cross between a Battle Royale and a deathmatch, with it's series of 2 minute back-to-back rounds. But the balance was too deathmatchy, and these new changes tap into that feeling of survival that other BR's capture so well. The main change is removing the mechanic where zombie players could come back to life by killing a player. While a novel idea, it ultimately made surviving irrelevant as you could always come back after dying. Now, death is final, and if you die you'll stay as a zombie for the rest of the round. You can still loot of course, but you won't get a chance to come back and win that round.
This is especially important because you now get a massive +20 points for winning a round, compared to the previous +5 reward. This means that you NEED to win rounds if you wanna win the game, and to do that you need to survive. There are a few other small changes that further enhance this survival vibe, such as making each round last 3 minutes instead of 2, and awarding players bonus XP over time simply for staying alive. Overall, this survival focus makes the game feel significantly more immersive, makes vehicles and chemicals far more useful as ways to stay alive, and makes round wins far more satisfying (especially when combined with the intense, new dynamic music!)

New Graphics & Brighter Maps

Geneshift now has a brand new logo! You might have also noticed a new header image on Steam. The HUD has also been improved, as you can see the health and mana bars are now far easier to see. The official maps have also been turned to day-time instead of night time, which is prettier and makes it easier to see enemies and game objects.

Changelog

• You can now invite Steam friends to join your party.
• Changed all the music in the game, and gave it dynamic intensity.
• New logo and new brighter new in-game graphics.
• Zombies can no longer resurrect by killing a living player.
• Rounds now last 3 minutes instead of 2.
• Winning a round now gives +20 points instead of +5.
• You get +10xp every 30s that you stay alive to reward survival.
• Tier 1 guns only do 75% as much damage as before.
• Bazooka does 400hp instead of 600hp damage, making cars far more viable.
• You can now choose your difficulty on the loading screen, and earn more XP for higher difficulties.
• Players now spawn with a USP in Battle Royale mode.
• Changed bot behaviour to play with a survival focus and try to avoid players.
• Holding TAB in-game now shows daily challenges under the minimap.
• Improved the health and mana bars in the HUD.
• Tweaked how the civilian wanted level increases, making it easier to reach level 3 then escape further attention.
• Guards no longer turn into zombies in the campaign.
• You no longer need to return souls in the campaign, simply killing zombies will do.
• The game no longer pauses when you open the buy menu in singleplayer PvP modes, as this is inconsistent with multiplayer.
• Made the "Top 3 in Match" daily challenge a permanent feature in the top slot, so every day you have a reason to win a game.
• Made some in-game graphics sync with the music, like your character will dance to it if you idle long enough.
• Fixed a bunch of bugs.
• Updated some translations.

40% Discount & Future Plans

Oooohh, a discount. And oh my... it's so big! If you haven't done so yet now is a great time to pick up the game. The next things I'll focus on are making a new trailer, updating all the translations and (trying!) to add controller support. No guarantees on the controller support as it might not work well, but we'll see. Anyway, enjoy the new version and have fun!

[ 2019-10-21 12:00:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's been 3 months since the last version, but this one is worth the wait. This version completely reworks Geneshift's progression system, changing how you level up, how you unlock things, how XP is earned and more. It introduces a new currency called "Kill Coins" which are used to unlock items, adds the concept of "personalised difficulty", and features a new daily challenges system. Best of all, the menu has got a total makeover and now looks gorgeous! Check out this before and after pic!

New Menu

The new menu system not only looks better but is significantly easier to navigate. There's a big play button which will auto-join you into the ideal server, daily challenges shown on the left, and every other page has been polished up too. Up the top left we see your current level and XP displayed, along with any kill coins you've earned (more on that later). Specific pages of the menu have been reworked too, such as the challenges page. The challenge page shown below not only looks swish with it's new hex layout, but changes how challenges are earned too. You can now complete any challenge adjacent to one you've already completed (in the picture below the pink are completed and the blue are able to be completed). This lets you slowly work your way down the challenge grid, and move diagonally from challenge to challenge. This is a big improvement over the previous design where if you got stuck on a challenge it would completely prevent you from claiming any challenges below it.

Daily Challenges

Speaking of challenges, the main menu now shows 3 new daily challenges. These new challenges are a great way to earn extra XP and kill coins (yes yes, more on that later..). After you complete a challenge it will reset with a new randomly chosen challenge at 0 UTC each day. Also everyone will get the same challenges, which I'm hoping will result in some ridiculous days where everyone is exclusively using sniper rifles to try complete the "Get 10 sniper kills" challenge. These challenges are a lot of fun as they always give you something new to aim for each day.

New XP System

The XP system has been completely reworked. First of all, you can now go all the way up to level 100. Your level is shown above your head in-game and represents how much XP other players get for killing you. It's a great way to show off your progress and make others fear you, while also valuing the high XP bounty on your head. Every time you level up you will gain +15 kill coins which can be used to unlock items. The XP you earn each day is also used to compete in the daily leaderboards, and the 20 players who earn the most XP each day will receive additional kill coins.

Personalised Difficulty

One fun new way to earn extra XP is by playing on a harder difficulty level. This will result in facing more difficult but also higher level bots, and these higher level bots will award more XP whenever you kill them. The cool thing about this new difficulty mechanic is that it is personallised just to you, so you can choose to play on Insane difficulty, whie someone else in the server can play on Standard. This allows veteran players to have a challenge and farm bonus XP without forcing newbies to die to aimbots.

Kill Coins

Kill Coins are the new main currency that you can earn. They are used to unlock items which gives you the main sense of progression in the game. Items used to be unlocked with XP but this was quite confusing, as normally players don't expect to "spend" XP and see it go down. So now instead, XP makes you level up, and when you do that you gain +15 kill coins. You also gain kill coins for completing daily challenges and regular challenges. You also get them by topping the daily XP leadboards.
Items are now arranged in a hexagonal grid, and like the challenges, you can only unlock an item that is adjacent to one you've already unlocked. Players can snake their way down the list, picking and choosing which items to get. This adds an element of strategy in the way you progress your account. Do you rush vertically down the list to reach the top-tier skills and weapons? Or do you unlock the significantly cheaper items up the top first? The previous version also had the concept of "item discovery" which has now been removed from the game. You no longer need to randomly discover an item in the map before you can unlock it (which could sometimes take forever and was frustratingly random). Now you can unlock anything as long as you've reached it in the hexagonal grid and have earned enough kill coins.

Other Cool Changes

There are plenty of other changes too. I'll list some of the highlights below:

• The game automatically logs you in when you open it.
• The menu background is now animated with dudes shooting at cars.
• Added 20 new challenges, and 30 new daily challenges.
• Victory points have been removed from the game.
• You no longer require a certain amount of victory points to play on harder difficulties.
• Challenges no longer require a certain amount of victory points to complete.
• Winning a round now awards +500/300/200 XP instead of victory points.
• Challenges no longer need to be "claimed". You get the reward as soon as you complete the challenge.
• Challenges that give you items will now actually unlock the item for you, rather than simply "discover" it (as discovery concept has been removed).
• Synergy points have been removed from the game, streamlining the skills system.
• You can now increase your player's starting skill level by unlocking "skill points" in the new hexagonal unlocks grid.
• Made a bunch of UI improvements in the HUD and menu.
• Demo players no longer earn 5x less XP than DLC players, instead they can only use 20% of the kill coins they earn (but get the other 80% if they upgrade).
• Fixed a bunch of Steam achievements.
• The singleplayer campaign can now be played on any difficulty you want. You don't have to finish standard before you can attempt Hardcore or Insane.
• Rescaled everyone's XP to try work with the new leveling system (which is now out of 100 instead of 20).
• A new supporters badge will show next to the name of players who have bought the full game. This shows in leaderboards and in-game chat.
• Cosmetic medallions now only adjust your shoulder pads, not the icon next to your name.
• Made it so you can still play the game even without logging in (incase the master server crashes). Your stats and progress can't be saved doing this.
• Reworked the options menu, getting rid of a bunch of old obsolute advanced options.
• Killing civilians and zombies now awards +1xp per kill.
• Added a new accounts page in the menu that shows cool stats like how many daily challenges you've completed, number of vehicles destroyed and weapon accuracy.
• Nerfed sprintstun and allowed phase shifts to regenerate even while taking damage.
• Made bots generally a bit easier.

40% Discount

Wow, Geneshift is on discount just as a new version is released! Brilliant business strategy batman! Yes, you can get the game for 40% off now if you choose. Or just play the free demo and tell your friends. As always feedback is welcome! Have fun!

[ 2019-09-02 07:12:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

To celebrate the 10 year anniversary since Geneshift first came online, this version is getting a big, immersive, GTA2 inspired makeover. We now have civilians, vehicle friendly maps, and even a 4-star wanted level. This version also introduces a new squad mode, player vs bots coop option, a new difficulty level, new BR mechanics, a more permissive free demo option, and more!

Civilians!

Geneshift now has civilians! They walk around the map on premade paths, cross the street at pedestrian crossings, chill out in the park or loiter near their favourite uhmmmm.. establishments.
Some of them drive cars and blast groovy beats out of the radio. If you fire a gun next to them they'll scream and run away. They really bring the map to life and make the game far more immersive. But best of all, they introduce a fun new mini-game that can be played alongside the main game...

Civilian Aggression

Inspired by the wanted level system in GTA games, you now have a "civilian aggression rating". This ranges from 0 to 4 stars and increases the more civilians you kill. By default civilians will ignore you, which is important as I don't want them distracting from the main gameplay. However if you choose to go on a murderous killing spree, then your rating will start to increase. As your rating increases, civilians will drop better and better loot, but they'll also become more aggressive towards you. At level 0 they ignore you. At level 1 they will attack with their fists. At level 2 they will fire back with pistols, while level 3 makes them use autos. Finally if you manage to reach level 4 (it's not easy to do) then they will go into an all out riot where every civilian in the map will swarm to your location to destroy you as soon as possible. This acts as a sort of mini-game where you can try and see how long you can survive against the mob. But what's really cool is that this is an actually viable strategy in-game. If you reach this max wanted level you will earn some seriously good loot, like the new +20% DMG purple super weapons. Also, civilians award a bit of cash when you kill them, so they give you something to farm up while running around the maps.

Expanded Demo User Rights

Demo users (who use the demo linked on the right of the store page) now have far more options in-game. They can now actually unlock items! This is pretty huge, as they can now play Geneshift competitively 100% for free. Of course XP is still earned slower without the full game, but all items in the game can now be used given enough time. Furthermore, when you upgrade to the DLC you will now instantly double your XP, allowing you to get a bunch of cool new items.

Vehicle Friendly Maps

Finally for the first time in 10 years Geneshift has wide maps that are actually big enough to drive vehicles in. Before now the maps were either too small or too cramped, but as requested, I have taken the time to finally expand them. And it feels great! You can now hop into a car and just cruise all over the place. New roads have been bulldozed through buildings and annoying boxes have been removed to make for a super smooth driving experience.

Battle Royale Squads

Battle Royale now has a new default game mode - squads! Squads support up to 5 players, allowing for some sweet 5v5v5v5 games. Even better, these squads dynamically change size based on the number of players in the server, which lets players play co-op vs the bots. I think this will do wonders for our community and give a much better first impression to new players. Instead of joining a FFA game and getting destroyed by a veteran, they will now be placed on the same team, working together and introducing some great team play. The menu also has a new "quick play" button which will automatically place you into the best online server too, factoring in ping, players and game type.

Refining Battle Royale Mechanics

Iteration iteration iteration. This version improves in the Battle Royale formula in a few key ways. First of all, the circle now shrinks in a more interesting way, alternating between open looting then sudden shrinking. Loot will also now drop into specific buy zone areas throughout the round as well, which encourages players to fight over key areas to gain a financial edge. The zombie's now have an updated ranged attack as well, making for interesting combat between zombies without overwhelming the remaining players.

Better Bot AI & Difficulty

There is a new, extremely tough, "Ultimate" difficulty setting for those wanting a challenge. This is especially fun to play with friends using the new Battle Royale squads mode. Bot difficulty itself has been tweaked, to make the bots generally more difficult, and especially smarter at winning rounds. You are no longer guaranteed to win every single round on Standard difficulty, and a lot of the previous exploits against bots no longer work. For example, bots are now smart enough to shift out of the way if you try run them over with a car.

Balance Changes

As always there are a bunch of small balance and bug fixes. I can't write them all out but here are some highlights:

• Super weapons have been nerfed in terms of DPS and ammo.
• Tier1 guns now cost $2000 instead of $1000.
• Tier2 guns now cost $3000 instead of $2000.
• Superweapons now cost $3500 to refill instead of $2500.
• You now take 15% damage when shot at and inside a vehicle.
• A charged knife will now cause vehicles to instantly catch fire, forcing enemies to eject.
• Capture the Flag, Deathmatch, Conquest and Checkpoint modes have been added to the new big official maps.
• Cash randomly drops into buy zones in BR.
• Made bots worse at knifing.
• Reduced the range of zombie pests, while increasing it's rate of fire.
• Players are now shown as green in BR, as are your squad mates.
• Fixed a few broken challenges and Steam achievements.
• You can no longer buy vehicles from base chemicals.
• The BR circle deals more damage the longer you stand in it.
• Goo Trap slow has been nerfed to 70% slow instead of 50%.
• Players can now keep their gun when they win a BR, but without ammo.
• Reduced the effects of sprint stun, allowing for faster movement speed during combat.
• Killing a civilan car will increase your wanted level 4x faster.
• Changed the behaviour of the circle to shrink down to the red zombie line, pause there briefly, and then shrink again.
• Gave demo users the ability to unlock weapons and cybernetic skills.
• Players will now double their total earned XP when they upgrade to the DLC.
• Player names are now shown above characters at all times.
• Made super bots more difficult in standard difficulty, ensuring a constant challenge.

35% Discount

Wow what a coincidence! Geneshift is on sale at the exact same time this version has comes out. It's like the stars have aligned, and fired a cosmic ray of love straight from your wallet to my bank account. Amazing! Nah in all seriousness, you can get the game cheap now if you want. Or simply play the new demo option, which has been expanded to allow the unlocking of all items anyway. As long as you tell your friends and hop on for a game I'm happy. Have fun!

[ 2019-05-20 11:35:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's a big one! Through constant iteration of test versions and discussions in Discord, this version has reworked almost every system in the game. There's a huge focus on usability, making mechanics intuitive to new players, and streamlining everything for the Battle Royale mode. I'll go into detail below, but here are some of the biggest changes:

• Every skill is reworked and actives no longer have penalties.
• New skills have been added to replace old/broken/weird ones.
• Weapons have been reworked to feel significantly more tactical.
• The knife is no longer a 1-shot kill, unless you charge it first.
• Chemicals can be bought from anywhere in the map.
• Chemicals can be picked up for free at any time.
• Cosmetics are now unlocked with XP instead of community credits.
• The default heal has been replaced with a passive regen.
• The control scheme has changed to become more usable.

Skill Penalties Removed

The skill system has been reworked in a number of ways. The biggest change is the removal of skill penalties from active skills. Over 15 confusing and unintuitve penalties removed in a single version! Replaced with a single, simple, and easy to understand drawback - the mana you use to cast it. Much simpler. There's a new philosophy guiding how the skills behave in this version, and that is "bigger is better" (heh). Previously skills didn't make you more powerful because they had penalties. In some situations these penalties would actually make you weaker. While good for competitive gameplay, this was very unintuitive to new players, and not too fun either. So now skills will always make you stronger. And the more skill points you have, the stronger you become. To do this every skill in the game has been reworked, changed and simplified to make them as inutitive for new players as possible. There are also fun new skills such as X-Ray vision which lets you see through walls.

Skill Tree Reworks

The skill system itself has been streamlined too. For starters, you can now only unlock a maximum of 3 active skills. Before there was no limit, allowing you to get up to 15 active skills, which of course was ridiculously difficult to manage. Now with 3 only there are 3 dedicated hotkeys to use your 3 abilities (right click, C and Z). It feels MUCH easier to cast your skills without having to remember what number cast what ability. But wait, there's more! The skill trees actually do something now, because once you invest into one of the trees you are unable to invest into the others. This forces players to adopt a certain playstyle and is more similar to the hero or class-based combat seen in other games. However if you really want to multi-tree you can, but it will cost you 6 extra skill points to unlock extra trees. There are more changes too, like the ability to invest synergy points every 8 levels (which are now super powerful), and the ability to reset your skill build mid-game to experiment with different options.

The Knife is Dead

I've changed how the weapons behave as well. The most important one is that knife no longer kills in 1-shot. Honestly it was silly how powerful the knife was before, but now it only does a mere 35hp damage.. unless you charge it. You can now hold the mouse down to start charging your knife, and only after doing this for 1.5s will you be able to do a full 1-shot stab. This massively nerfs knife in normal combat, but still keeps it interesting for ambushes.

T-T-T-Tactical Combat

Weapons have had some big sweeping changes made to them. For starters, the concepts of damage fadeoff and movement recoil are now removed. Don't know what those are? Don't worry... no one did. That's why they're removed. It wasn't intuitive enough. Weapons now do the same damage at all ranges, making combat a lot more powerful at long distance. Furthermore, weapons will now slow your enemies when you hit them, similar to the tagging system used in CS:GO. This makes combat a lot cleaner and makes cover a lot more important, because if you get hit out in the open you're a sitting duck.

Chemical Convenience

The chemical system is great fun if you know how to use it. But it has always been to hard to use. Well no longer. The biggest change here is that you can buy chemcials from anywhere in the map! Just press B and buy whatever chemical you want. This makes it much easier to set up a base and start building in your favorite area, as you no longer need to trek the chemical all the way across the map to place it. Also you can now hold CTRL to pick-up your existing chemicals off the ground for free. There is also a brand new chemical too called "Goo Trap", which will slow enemies as soon as they step inside it, making this the first combat-oritented chemical.

Cosmetics Unlock with XP

The old "community credits" system that I made back in 2010 has finally been removed from the game, and merged into the new and improved XP system. It's super streamlined and means that you can now purchase cosmetic unlocks like capes and lightsabers with XP instead of community credits. This is great news, because everyone has XP and no one even knew how to earn community credits.

General Combat Streamlining

Combat has been streamlined in other areas as well. There is a big focus on reducing the number of unnecessary key-presses, so you can focus on actually playing the game and not messing about with the keyboard. One way this has been achieved is by removing the default heal that was activated by CTRL. Instead of having to heal yourself during combat, the game will now automatically heal you once you've been out of combat for 4 seconds.

New Battle Royale Mechanics

Zombies now have a new ranged weapon called Pests, which is a lot more fun to play with than the melee claws. It is no longer possible to buy weapons from the centre of the BR circle, forcing you to loot fully before commiting to the final showdown, as you can't rely on the buy zone anymore. Random weapon around the map have been given random damage buffs as well, making looting a lot more fun as you might pick up a rifle with x1.15 damage. And more. Much more.

Balance Changes

So much has changed in this version I can't write a full list. So here are the top 10% most interesting changes this version, cause I can't type them all out.

• Some weapons randomly spawn with x1.20 damage modifiers.
• You can no longer buy weapons at the centre of the circle.
• Guns are now much more powerful at range and have no movement recoil.
• Weapons now slow enemies when you hit them, like tagging in CS:GO.
• Vehicles have fewer hitpoints.
• Literally every single skill in the game has been reworked.
• Active skills no longer have penalties! Just the mana that it takes to cast them.
• The knife no longer does a 1-shot kill! It only does 35hp damage. However if you hold the mouse for 1.5s it will charge up and become a 1-shot again.
• Zombies now have a new ranged attack called Pests that behaves a bit like a shotgun.
• Tier 2 weapons are now significantly more powerful.
• Phase Shifting now drastically reduces accuracy to avoid abuse in close-quarter combat.
• You can now buy chemicals from anywhere in the map.
• You can now pick up chemicals by holding CTRL on-top of them.
• The default control scheme has been streamlined.
• There are new chemicals, such as Goo Trap which slows enemies.
• Cosmetics are now unlocked with XP. The community credit system has been removed from the game.
• Skill Trees are now restricted to just using just 1 tree at a time, however you can unlock other trees by spending skill points.
• The default healing ability has been removed from the game, and replaced with a fast auto-regen that kicks in after 4s.
• You can now only unlock a maximum of 3 active skills, allowing for streamlined skill-casting hotkeys.
• You can now hold up to 3 grenades at the same time.
• The HUD has been streamlined to show hotkeys to auto-select your weapons and 3 active skills.
• The leveling curve has been changed and is now capped at level 20.
• New skills added such as X-Ray Vision, Parasite Swarm, Ignition Orb, Laser Focus, and more.
• Late game upgrades have been removed from the game.
• Picking up ammo now gives ammo to all weapons, not just your currently held one.
• You can now reset your skill build in-game by holding ALT and clicking on a new "Reset" button.
• Bots have been made smarter, upgrading their weapons, using the shop and exploring the map better.
• Conquest mode now progresses by getting kills rather than earning cash.
• Tier1 weapons are now given for free in non-BR game modes.
• Reworked the cash rate in non-BR game modes to match up with how BR works and prevent exploits.
• Fixed countless bugs and exploits.
• Skills now go up to level 4 instead of level 3, with +1 synergy earned for every 8 levels in the tree.

April Fools!

Ok that's it! Oh also, there is a special flaming hot easter egg in the game available only for today. Enjoy!

[ 2019-04-01 20:19:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

New Bot Difficulty Levels

This version makes your skill actually matter. Last version bots would adjust their difficulty based on your K:D ratio. This was great for new players, but uninteresting for veterans because your skill didn't really matter. You were always going to get the same K:D ratio anyway, so why try? There was also no incentive to unlock more powerful items, either. This is now fixed! Bots come in 4 new difficulty levels - Playful, Standard, Hardcore and Insane - and if you want to beat the harder bots you will have to play well. Really well. There are rewards for beating harder bots too, such as earning more XP per kill and earning more victory points per win (more on that later). When you first play you only have access to the playful bots, but as you win games you'll unlock the ability to play on higher difficulties. This gives you something to work towards and wraps the entire game up with a meaningful progression system. Higher difficulties give more XP, which makes you more powerful, which actually mattters now because the bots are harder to kill. They won't go easy on you. Most importantly, you can now have a genuine challenge and be rewarded for playing your best.

Victory Points & Daily Leaderboards

You now receive "Victory Points" whenever you win games. These are only awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd players in a match. Victory points are needed to unlock the new bot difficulty levels mentioned above. So if you want to play harder bots and earn more XP, you will need to actually win games! This all or nothing approach makes the final stages of each match far more exciting as the exclusive victory points are at stake. Even better, there is a new daily leaderboard system which ranks players based on how many victory points they have won each day. These leaderboards can be explored in-game, and the top 20 players each day will receive a bonus XP reward! You can also view previous leaderboards, allowing winners to be recognise in the game for all time!

Driveby Shootings

You can now shoot out the window of vehicles while driving at the same time! This buffs vehicles a lot and is just damn fun. You can also loot for items by driving over them with vehicles, which I think makes vehicles the new best thing to aim for when falling from the sky. Ch-ch-check it:

Anti-Zombie Circle

There's a new anti-zombie mechanic that kills zombies who try to reach the centre of the Battle Royale zone. This gives the remaining human survivors a ring of safety, and lets them focus on eachother instead of the incoming swarm of zombies. This really makes the game feel a lot more "last man standingy". It now comes down to a tactical heads-up between the 2 final players without zombies causing chaos all over the place. Zombie players still have plenty to do outside the circle however, such as looting for cash or placing chemicals.

Balance Changes

Here are some other noteworthy changes:

• Zombies move faster as the anti-zombie circle prevents swarming.
• Players in the circle of death are now revealed in the map.
• Newbie Checklist now awards +300xp instead of +30xp.
• The leveling curve is now slower, but goes all the way up to level 50.
• There are 4 new late-game unlocks which permanently buff your character.
• The first round of the Battle Royale is pistols only.
• Tweaked the rates that you earn XP from awesome points and kills.
• Awesome points now only happen if you do something actually awesome (get a kill with a vehicle, skill, explosive, etc).
• Grenades now do 100hp damage.
• The loot drop rate now depends on the difficulty level. Higher difficulties drop more permanent loot (like skill unlocks), but less temporary loot (like free weapons).
• You can no longer choose which ally to duo with if they are a bot.
• Challenges now require a certain amount of victory points to claim, which matches up with which difficulty level you have unlocked vs bots.
• The crosshair is now bigger and sexier.
• Missions are removed from Conquest games due to too much complexity.
• XP is no longer affected by your kill combo as it was too exploitable.
• Superweapons now cost 100% to refill ammo instead of 50%.
• Nerfed Spike trap.
• Fixed a bunch of bugs.

35% Discount

Geneshift will be on sale starting Monday, Feb 25th. You can fuel my chocolate addiction by buying the game for yourself or a friend! If you have any questions you can ask me in Discord at: http://discord.gg/geneshift

[ 2019-02-25 02:33:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Jump Pads!

This version adds a new Quake-inspired feature - jump pads! Simply hop onto a jump pad and it will launch you up into the air. Jump pads come in two main flavours, horizontal and vertical. In the gif above we see horizontal ones chained together. Vertical ones are placed next to buildings and let you easily jump over walls and other obstacles. I added jump pads because I received a lot of feedback that the maps were too maze-like and hard to navigate. Especially in a turbo fast Battle Royale, the last thing you want is to get stuck in a dead-end and killed by the circle. Jump pads solve this issue. I have placed pads in all the dead ends and now it is super easy to get to the centre. So hop into the game and hop onto a jump pad!

New XP & Skills System

I have reworked the XP system to give a new sense of progression. As you kill enemies in-game you will now earn XP, which is similar to the old "points" that you earned to unlock items. However this XP now has a second benefit, which is that it permanently increases the amount of skill points you start a round with. This is applied in the campaign and when playing against bots, and is an optional setting in multiplayer games. This provides a bit of an MMO mechanic. When you first create an account you will be at level 1. But as you play you'll slowly and permanently level up. After playing for a few hours you might reach level 6, which means you start each game with 6 skill points instead of 1. For convenience I've added a "use previous skill build" button, which instantly loads up the previous build you were using with a single click. This new system makes you feel more and more powerful as you play and lets you experiment with some fun skill builds. Before, when you started at level 1, the match ended before you had a chance to get a good skill combo going. Now you can enjoy your favourite skills all game.

5 New Game Modes

I have unlocked all 5 additional game modes for base game players (those who don't have the DLC). Previously only DLC owners could play these, but there wasn't much point because there weren't enough players in the servers. Now everyone can play every PvP mode! The new modes are Conquest, Extraction, Checkpoint Racing, Deathmatch and Zombie Survival.

Newbie Checklist

Another big concern with the previous version was the lack of a tutorial. Well this has been (partially) addressed by adding the Newbie Checklist to Battle Royale. It's a little box that sits in the top-right corner of the screen and guides you step by step through all the main areas of combat. It takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete and can be done in-game while playing, and will teach you how to buy guns, use skills, place and destroy chemicals, and more.

Balance Changes

I've tweaked a bunch of values based on the feedback over the past 2 months. Here are some of the major changes:

• I have slowed zombie movement speed so they're less overwhelming.
• Chemicals are significantly cheaper.
• Neutralizing chemicals now awards a fixed $3000.
• Tier2 weapons now cost $2000 instead of $3000 and have more ammo.
• Default round duration is 2.5 minutes instead of 2 minutes.
• Rearranged a bunch of challenges based on completion rates.
• Loot now spawns in specific areas, instead of evenly across the map.
• Enemies don't show on the minimap while falling in BR.
• The "new item discovered" popup box no longer distracts you in pvp servers.
• If you win a solo/duo BR round, you get to keep your gun for the next round.
• Skills are now capped at level 3 instead of level 5.
• Skill points can be purchased in all game modes now, not just BR.
• The skill queues system now works in Battle Royale.
• Drastically sped up the drop rates for discovering new skills and chemicals in-game.
• End of round awards now contribute towards your item and skill level progression.
• The bomb that will become the centre of the next round is now highlighted in the minimap.
• Self Repair skill now increases the rate you gain mana as you level it up.

25% Discount & Future Plans

Next version I will be reworking the skills system and adding more depth and strategic territory control to the Battle Royale mode. I'll also continue to chip away at the long list of balance, bugs and other suggestions you guys have provided me. It's great to have a clear list of feedback to work from and I hope you guys enjoy this new version! Also, Geneshift is on sale for 25% off right now. You can fuel my coffee addiction by buying the game for yourself or a friend! If you have any questions you can ask me in Discord at: http://discord.gg/geneshift

[ 2019-02-05 00:18:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

So I recently posted about Geneshift on reddit and it exploded to over 64,000 upvotes! This brought thousands of new players to both the game and the Discord. There have been hundreds of positive reviews, plenty of valuable feedback, and non-stop 24/7 players online. Geneshift hasn't been this active all year! The servers crashed twice, and I got about 7 hours sleep in 3 days. It's been wild!

213,000 Concurrent Players

Ok, these weren't real players. This was more of a bug/loophole with Valve's trading card system. Apparently bots were able to idle in Geneshft to collect trading cards, and this spread like wild-fire online until over 200,000 bots were idling the game at the same time. Somehow placing Geneshift on the top 10 leaderboard for the most played games on Steam.. OF ALL TIME! This is totally ridiculous and again, these are not real players, but as a single dev this just blows my mind.

Future Plans

The best part of all this has been the incredibly valuable feedback that I've received. People from all over the world have told me exactly what needs to be done to polish Geneshift up. I'm very proud to say that over 85% of the recent reviews have been positive and am so glad to see people enjoying the game. But there is still a lot more work to be done. I have read and responded to every single review and comment. I've been compiling a huge TODO list to start working on after Christmas and the new year. This list is massive and will be a few months of work, but it's all valuable and necessary. Here are just a few plans:

• Controller support
• A proper tutorial
• Special events that allow non-DLC players to enjoy other PvP modes
• Expanding and streamlining the maps
• Usability improvements
• Bug fixes
• Menu redesigns
• More challenges and reworking existing ones
• Zombie nerfs and general balancing
• Upgrading netcode and server stability
• More translations

Happy New Year

The last few days have been crazy, and I'm still busy responding to everyone and doing tech support. I will make a few minor bug fixes over the coming days, and then it will be Christmas and NYE so I'll be busy then too. But starting in the new year I am pumped to get cracking on all your amazing feedback. This has been the best Xmas present I could have asked for and I can't thank you all enough for playing, telling your friends, writing reviews, and leaving feedback. All of this really helps our community grow. I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

30% Discount on the base game and Complete Edition DLC

Geneshift is on sale for 30% off right now. This will last for the entire Winter Steam sale. If you want to try the other PvP modes, the singleplayer campaign, or just support the game now is a great time to pick Geneshift up. Thanks! If you have any questions you can ask me in Discord at: http://discord.gg/geneshift

[ 2018-12-21 05:41:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Sorry everyone, the servers are dying. Reddit hugged it to death. I am working to get this resolved ASAP. Please be patient and thanks for your understanding :) While you wait, you can play a game vs bots. You won't be logged in, but you can still run around practicing your skills. Just click the "Battle Royale vs Bots" button. Update: The servers are back online. Thanks for your patience!

[ 2018-12-18 20:14:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

For the next 48 hours you can get a copy of Geneshift for free! No questions asked, just add it to your library and its yours free to keep forever. This is the base game, featuring the awesome new Battle Royale mode, where each round lasts only 2 minutes. I'm doing this to build a playerbase for our multiplayer community. I also just want to see people play my game - I've spent 9 years on this thing and I'm really excited to get new players. So spread the word, tell your friends and hop on!

4 New Languages!

The more the merrier! Welcome to all Chinese, Russian, Portuguese and German speaking gamers. I hope you enjoy Geneshift! The game has been translated from members of the community and I am eternally grateful to them for the hours of work they put in. There were a LOT of descriptions to update! As these translations are brand new there might be a few errors, so if you find any please contact me on Discord and we'll fix them as soon as possible.

Complete Edition DLC

If you want to support the game you can also buy the Complete Edition DLC, which is 30% off for the next 48 hours. Honestly Battle Royale is my favourite mode and you get that for free, but the DLC has a few cosmetics and extra game modes you might enjoy. https://store.steampowered.com/app/978140/Geneshift_Complete_Edition/ If you have any questions, please join us on Discord! We have a lovely community happy to help out, answer questions or just chat. Have fun! Join us on DIscord: https://discord.gg/geneshift UPDATE: Valve has disabled trading cards on Geneshift for some reason! Please know that I did not do this and am as disappointed as you are. I want trading cards to work and if I could enable them I would, because right now people are leaving negative reviews about trading cards and I can't do anything about it. Anyway have fun :)

[ 2018-12-17 18:06:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Challenges & Rewards

This version introduces a new progression system called "Battle Royale Challenges". There are 60 challenges to complete, starting off easy and becoming increasingly difficult as you progress through them. When you complete a challenge you'll discover a new item, such as a weapon or skill, which can be used in-game. Players are now rewarded for pulling off ridiculous stunts and impressive feats of skills. If you actually manage to knife 3 people while falling from the sky, you're gonna get rewarded for it dammit!

Exclusive Items

One cool feature about this new challenge system is that it changes how players discover and unlock items. Previously items would randomly spawn in the map and all a player had to do to was just pick them up. That's rather uninteresting and unsatisfying. Now however, certain items can ONLY be discovered if you complete the appropriate challenge. This gives a sense of exclusivity to certain items. If you want to use the Flamethrower you will need to complete the "Plasma Strike" challenge to unlock it. This is a nice way to show off to other players how much you've achieved.

Singleplayer Content

This challenge system gives players a sense of purpose and progression while playing the new Battle Royale mode. It effectively adds dozens of hours of singleplayer content for those who wish to complete all the challenges. It also gives you something to do when fighting against bots. The challenges are fun to complete and require a lot of creative thinking, and now you'll have something to show for our efforts. Your challenge progression is also shown in-game to other players, so you can show off how much you've accomplished.

Improved Graphics

In other news, I've played around with the lighting engine to make the game look significantly brighter, cleaner and more colourful. There are also more particle effects and the Battle Royale circle is now blue in daytime maps to make it easier to see. Check it out!

Battle Royale Reworks

Based on feedback over the past 2 months I've continued to refine the new Battle Royale mode, tweaking drop rates, bot behaviour, and the cash system. One significant change is the new focus on buying your own items, relying less on random loot drops and more on smart cash management. Items have been made cheaper and cash drops have increased to make this possible, and I think it should make the game play a lot more strategic.

Complete Edition DLC

You may notice that Geneshift now has a "Complete Edition DLC". This is in preparation for the full release sometime next year, but for now doesn't really change anything. Everyone who previously owned Geneshift gets this DLC for free. Anyone who buys the game during the sale this week also gets the DLC for free. Right now it's simply a way to separate the Battle Royale from the rest of the game.

30% Discount

Geneshift is on sale for 30% off right now. Get it while it's hot! Anyway, enjoy the new challenges, please leave feedback in the Discord, and have fun!

[ 2018-12-04 02:23:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Duo Partnerships

Everything is better with a friend. Just one ally is all you need to get that magical splash of teamwork - and that is exactly what this new version does! This version introduces a new server type for Battle Royals called "Duos", where you play with a friend in a 2v2v2v2v2. First team to 30 points wins! I added this after noticing that friends were playing together in FFA and purposefully not killing eachother. Up until they were the final 2, that is, then they had to stab eachother in the back. Now however you can share a victory condition and truly have your buddies back. You will share vision with eachother, see eachother's chemicals, and can heal eachother too. The game will automatically pair human players together, but you can choose a specific ally in-game by holding ALT. If you pair up with a bot you can even control them by pinging into the map!

Barrier Replaced with Healing

The barrier that protected you when you held CTRL has been removed and replaced with the Self Repair healing skill. That is to say, holding CTRL will now heal you instead of merely reducing incoming damage! Because of this change I have reworked and replaced a few skills that depended on the old barrier mechanic. This is a pretty big change and might make a few skills unbalanced.. but it's a necessary fix that makes the game more elegant and easier to play. One less key to remember, right? This is the benefit of getting new players into the game and listening to their feedback - they point out glaring issues that had gone unnoticed by me this whole time.

Bunch of Polishing

I've also done a bunch of polishing based on feedback on the new Battle Royale mode. You can now pick up loot while driving a car. Bots are signifcantly smarter, including hunting as a pack in the new Duos mode. I've removed any Pay2Win restrictions on demo users, making for a fair playing field. You can now increase the amount of phase shifts with the new light shifting skill. Lots of fun!

Marketing and What's Next

In general, it's been a pretty good 2 weeks for Geneshift since Battle Royale was launched. We've had articles written on Rock Paper Shotgun, PC Gamer, and a 33k upvoted post on reddit! New players seem to really enjoy the Battle Royale mode, and with their valuable feedback this version really polishes everything up. I'm now ready to get start emailing streamers and youtubers and reach a wider audience. Stay tuned!

[ 2018-10-11 03:23:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

This is the biggest version of Geneshift yet and plays like a whole new game! This new mode has all the usual features of a Battle Royale: orbital drops, looting, a shrinking circle of death, and last man standing. But there are a few unique twists on the BR genre too. The main one being that each round is only two minutes long!

New Trailer

Check out this brand new trailer showing off some of the cool new features in this mode, including orbital drops, looting and a sexy, orange, shrinking circle of death. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaVP1udAiVk

Two Minute Rounds

In this Battle Royale each round only lasts two minutes. You spawn in the air, fly to a safe location, and begin looting for weapons, skills, health kits and more. The circle is constantly closing in, creating a sense of urgency and pushing you towards the big show-down in the centre. Two minutes worked best in our testing. It gives you just enough time to loot, but not so much that you feel like you're in a walking simulator. The winner of each round gets +10 points (and +1 point per kill) and the first player to 50 points wins.

Zombie Respawning

Another twist is that when you die you don't get kicked back into the menu lobby. How boring! Instead, you respawn as a zombie with only 30hp and a melee attack. If you actually manage to kill a remaining player, you will respawn as a human and be back in with a chance to win the round! Being a zombie also makes you unaffected by the circle of death. This means you can loot for rare skills, chemicals, and cash in areas that are unsafe for humans to travel. You have something productive to do while the round is going on, and can set yourself up to do better in future rounds.

Looting & Item Progression

This mode completely changes Geneshift because of looting, and it actually makes the game FAR more accessible for new players. Geneshift has always had a complexity problem. With over 30 skills to read, new players were overwhelmed with too much choice and information. This new looting system solves this by restricted access to items. You can only unlock a skill after you have discovered it, which means that you learn how to play the game GRADUALLY. This also gives a great sense of progression, where you get excited to discover a new item and see what new skill you've unlocked.

Big GTA2 Style Maps

Another thing I love about this mode is that it's able to use the massive GTA2-like maps from the campaign. If you've only played the multiplayer, you'll really enjoy running around these massive new maps. The vehicles and chemicals play great on them and really give a big open-world, survival experience. Talking of vehicles and chemicals, it's really interesting to see how they behave with these new BR mechanics. Vehicles are a great way to escape the circle if you get trapped while looting. They'll provide just enough speed and protection to get you to safety. Meanwhile, chemicals like Warp Field give you the ability to teleport to the single, central buy zone. This lets you spend your cash on ammo and prepare for the final showdown.

Marketing and What's Next

This is the mode that Geneshift shall be known for. It's so much easier for new players and streamers to get into the game without being overwhelmed. So now that this is out I'm officially shifting gears into 100% marketing mode. We're going to start having a lot of streams and players, and I couldn't be more excited! A big thanks to everyone who has helped develop this mode in the Discord. Now it's time to play!

[ 2018-09-29 00:29:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Alright internet, you win. Geneshift is hopping on the BR bandwagon and I'm pumped!
The reason I'm making this mode is because of this gif, and this 5800 upvoted reddit post. I spent an afternoon chucking together this mock-up Battle Royale circle to see how it would play, then posted it on reddit. The response was overwhelmingly positive with hundreds of people saying I should make it and they'd buy it. So let's do it!

How it Will Work

I'm still working out the details in the Discord and this Steam forum post. But here's what we have so far. The game will consist of multiple rounds. You get +1 point for a kill, +10 points for being the last man standing. First player to 100 points wins.

Looting

Each new round will start with you falling from the sky at a random location in the map. You'll be armed with nothing but your knife, and will have to loot for unlocks. You'll loot for ammo, weapons, health kits, cash, phasers, skills, vehicles, experience points and more. All the unlocks in the campaign basically. You run around, looking for the best weapons possible, and leveling up your mutant with skills and extra phase shifts.

Respawning

Eventually you come across an enemy. You shoot, you kill. You come across another enemy, and this time you die. Unlike in PUBG, you actually get to respawn, but you'll come back as a zombie only capable of melee attacks. If you manage to kill a real human you get a second chance at life.

Big GTA2 Style Maps

Each round will only last about 2 minutes, with the circle rapidly shrinking. We will be playing on the maps from the campaign, because they are bigger and have a lot more space to hide and explore. Imagine playing on a huge map like this. True GTA2 style!

Simple and Streamable

One reason why I'm so keen to make this mode is because it's an opportunity to remake Geneshift's multiplayer in a far simpler way. I love me some Conquest mode but it is admittedly quite overwhelming. The buy menu, the skills menu, there's over 80 things you can unlock. New players and streamers get confused. This new mode however will remove the buy menu and the skill menu. You have to loot for items one by one, meaning you can learn as you go. This new mode should make a great first impression for new players, and hopefully will be fun to watch youtubers play as well.

30% Discount

Thought I'd quickly mention that Geneshift is currently 30% off. Now that the campaign is done and I'm adding all this new content I might bump the price up to $15 soon, so now would be a cheap time to grab the game. Anyway I hope to get this new version out within a month, so stay tuned!

[ 2018-08-13 02:43:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

All hail our robot overlords! This is perhaps the biggest version of Geneshift ever released. Why? Because multiplayer just became playable! Fancy that.. making a game that you can actually PLAY. Crazy! Previously if you joined an empty server there was nothing to do except run around a bit and shoot at boring, dumb gangsters. There was no challenge, no objective, no game. But just like in real life, AI has come to save the day. These new bots are designed to play just like real players. They'll drive cars, level skills, place chemicals, capture objectives, and even shit-talk you. They're smart, use teamwork, and will give you a real challenge. It honestly feels like playing a regular PvP game. Half the time you won't even notice you're playing against a cold, heartless, silicon-fearing robot. They play a hell of a lot better than your average human, that's for sure.

How Bots Work

Bots replace the old gangsters, and are meant to act and play just like real players. You can configure how many of them will play in the server. As real humans join and leave the server, the bots will disappear and reappear to replace them. This way you can ensure there is always a perfectly full and balanced 10 player game running at all times. Bots play like humans and also follow the exact same rules as humans. They earn cash in the same way that humans do, and must manage their money to save up for super weapons and chemicals. They deal and take the same amount of damage as real players, with no hidden modifiers. They also do not cheat. They can't see through walls. They won't try to neturalize your chemicals unless they actually SAW you place the chemical. I've even simulated a hazy sort of memory that fades over time. I've really tried to make them play as similar to real humans as possible.

Dynamic Difficulty

Bots adjust their level of difficulty to make for a fun game. The skill of a bot is mostly determined by reaction time and accuracy. Their accuracy will go up and down depending on how well their opponent is playing. They have a target K:D ratio that they want to maintain, and this ensures that every game is a fun, healthy challenge. A brand new player to the game can fight the bots and they'll naturally go easy on him. A veteran can fight bots and they'll 720 Tony Hawk Pro Skater no-scope him as soon as things start getting too easy. In general when fighting against bots alone you should end up with a K:D ratio around 2:1 or so. Keep in mind that even though your K:D vs bots is guaranteed to be good, you are still going to be challenged. You might be getting more kills, but your allied bots will play worse to compensate. You get to carry your team somewhat, but with great power comes great responsibility. You'll genuinely have to fight to beat the enemy team from capturing the objectives. And of course you'll still have to fight other players.

Graphical Improvements

In other news, I've made a number of sexy graphical improvements this version. I've added atmospherics like light rays and floating bits of dust that give the game a real 3D effect. Firing guns is far more satisfying with sexy new particle effects, debris, blood and muzzle smoke. Bullets now glow and look extra chunky too.

New Multiplayer Features

I've also copied a bunch of features from the campaign across to the PvP modes. The kill combo system from the campaign now also applies when fighting against bots/humans and awards you a bit of extra cash for getting combo kills. Awesome points also occur in multiplayer now, and give you +50xp as well as +2 phasers for the rest of your life. You'll occassionally get a free hp/mana drop when killing enemies too. And also killing an enemy with a chemical now causes the same chemical explosion effect as seen in the campaign.

General balancing

A beautiful side benefit of bots is that we can really playtest the game now. In our latest test build we discovered that Bionic Gas, Lasing Orb and Self Repair were OP af. So they have been nerfed with the power of a thousand keystrokes (or at least like.. 20). Self Repair now auto disables once you reach max health too. And a few more tweaks that I can't remember.

Marketing Plans

The only thing more fun to fight than these new smart bots is actual players. And now that this version is out I am officially switching gears into 100% marketing mode. The campaign is done, the PvP is finally playable, and it's time to spread the word. So stay tuned over the next few weeks as I start emailing youtubers, posting memes on le reddit and finding other ways to get players into this game. If you want to invite your friends to play the free multiplayer in the demo, now would be a great time! Have fun and please give me feedback here or in Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/geneshift

[ 2018-07-27 01:07:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Well that took longer than expected. We've been in Early Access for over a year now, and I've only just completed reworking the singleplayer campaign. This version polishes the final 4 stages, updating them with all the cool improvements I've made over the past year. There are story rewrites too. The completion of the campaign marks a huge turning point in the development of Geneshift, as I'll be shifting focus back onto multiplayer and marketing after this. It also makes my self-diagnosed OCD happy that it took a nice, clean 10 versions to rework the campaign.

Awesome Points and Cash Drops

How will you know the new campaign is awesome? Because the game will constantly remind you whenever you do something cool. My favorite thing about this version (apart from the relief of finally finishing the campaign) are awesome points. Awesome points are awarded when you perform extra well during combo kills, and give you XP and a skill-point or a phaser. This gif below shows them in action, as well as the new cash drop animation. Cash no longer drops on every single kill, but instead happens randomly about 30% of the time. This means you earn far less cash during the campaign, and really makes every kill and every dollar far more valuable and necessary to survive.

Better Skill Balancing

You now have the ability to buy skill points in the campaign for $2000 a pop. This, combined with the buffing of a bunch of skills, adds a lot of flavour to the game. You can also level skills all the way up to level 5 now, allowing for some fairly ridiculous skill combos. Awesome points also award skill-points too. With all of this, I've reworked a bunch of skill values (see the changelog below) to ensure that all skills are useful and the more points you invest into the skill, the better it becomes.

Permanent and Ranked Servers for Demo Users

I have changed the permissions for demo users, allow them to now play in permanent and ranked servers. This is done for the benefit of paying players, as these servers will now become more populated. Permanent servers are one of Geneshift's most unique multiplayer features, and now we'll be able to enjoy them again!

New Trailer & Marketing Plans

To celebrate 1 year in Early Access and the completion of the campaign, I've created a new trailer showing off all the new features added so far. Check it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOV0gG9CXcE Now that the campaign is done it's marketing time. I'm finally happy for gamers to see the game. So over the coming weeks expect to see more players in the servers. I'm going to be sending emails to relevant youtubers and try get some love from them. If you want to invite your friends to play the free multiplayer in the demo, now would be a great time! Have fun and please give me feedback here or in Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/geneshift

Changelog

GENERAL CHANGES

• Massively reworked the final 4 stages of the campaign.
• Community Credits now get +200 for buying the game and +50 for adding a reference.
• Demo users can now join Permanent matches and Ranked servers.
• You can now purchase skill points in the campaign for $2000 each.
• Reduced the cost of many campaign unlocks.
• Improved the graphical effects of collecting cash from guards.
• Long custscenes can now be skipped by pressing ESC in-game.
• Synergies have been removed from the campaign, allowing you to level straight up to level 5 with normal skill points.
• You no longer lose $200 whenever you die. Instead you gain $500 if you complete a stage without dying.
• Holding middle mouse now opens the skill rose and defaults to selecting instead of auto casting. It also pauses the campaign.

GAMEPLAY CHANGES

• Awesome Points now occur when you do something awesome, awarding +300xp and a phaser or a skill point.
• Guards now drop cash only 1/3rd of the time. Making cash a lot more rare and valuable.
• The kill combo system has slightly new multiplier values and a longer timer (4s instead of 3s).
• Guards occassionally drop health and mana, healing you for +50hp. This happens about 10% of the time.
• Mana no longer regenerates up to 20 mana in stealth.
• Barrier mana burn is now 2 mana/s instead of 3 mana/s.
• Guards now do about 50% more damage, though there is a smarter dynamic difficulty system in place.
• Playful guards now have 100hp instead of 50, but their damage is 50% less instead.
• Superweapons now only cost $5000 instead of $10000, but have half as much ammo in PvP modes.

SKILL CHANGES

• Force Field explosion damage now ranges from 60 to 40 instead of 60 to 20.
• Venom Shot has been flipped from levels 1 to 5.
• Venom Shot damage vs guards is now x4 instead of x3 (ensuring it
• does enough to kill). Venom Shot mana cost is now 15 instead of 20.
• Vampirism now restores mana against guards ranging from 2% to 6%.
• Phasic Bullets no longer needs Energize.
• Bullet Time now unlocks at level 0.
• Static Charges now unlocks at level 5.
• Self Repair mana cost is now 20 instead of 30.
• Radiate damage is now 35hp/s instead of 30hp/s.
• Radiate now does x1.5 damage vs guards.
• Blade Fury mana cost is now 25 instead of 20.
• Blade Fury can now be burst after 4s instead of after the full cooldown.
• Blade Fury has switched from levels 1 to 5.
• Blade Fury max damage no longer applies to guards or zombies.
• Plasma Ball has been flipped from levels 1 to 5.
• Plasma Ball mana cost is now 25 instead of 20.
• Plasma Ball now does x3 damage vs guards instead of x1.5.

BUG FIXES

• Massively improved the performance when you have a lot of idle vehicles in the map.
• AI now enters the correct vehicle when following you.
• Fixed a bug displaying the top cash earners in each campaign stage.

[ 2018-06-20 07:07:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Gratuitous Slow Motion Sequences

Fasten your seatbelts, we're about to enter Valve time. All the coolest moments in the campaign have been given a bit of slow motion just to make you feel extra badass. There is literally no point to this feature. Check it out in this gif below:

Smart Vehicle Camera

Talk about efficient gif usage! The animation above also shows off the new vehicle camera. Your vehicle is no longer fixed in the very centre of the screen. Instead, the camera will now shift forward slightly, allowing you to see further ahead and plan where you're going to turn next. This feature has been requested for a long time and really makes driving easier.

AI Vision Barriers

This is a pretty big addition, and something I've needed for a long time. There are now green barriers that block AI vision. They're effectively doors that enemy guards cannot see through. They will disable if you shoot or walk through them, but until then you are free to observe your enemy and plan your attack before the shit hits the fan. In the gif below you can see the guard walk past, and only after the door is disabled does he spot me.

Residence Reworks

Yet another map has been polished up with all the new features added over hte past 10 months. Residence, S04 starts off with a sexy slow motion vehicle sequence (as shown in the gif above), and has been polished from start to finish. Next version will focus entirely on the rest of the campaign, and finally finish up a years worth of work redoing the singleplayer. Anyway that's all for this version. Have fun and please give me feedback here or in Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/geneshift

[ 2018-04-25 08:58:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Self Driving Cars

Step aside Google, Geneshift now has self driving cars! That's right, cars can now be driven by bots. This has allowed me to add a bunch of cool new sections to the campaign, including escort missions, chase sequences and general man vs car combat. Get your bazookas ready cause you'll have a lot of cars to shoot! Check out this sweet totally unscripted gif:

Phase Shifting

Why walk when you can run? Why run when you can shift!? I've added a great new feature called Phase Shfting that makes movement way more tactical. Simply tap the shift key and you will now blink forward in an instant, dodging enemy grenades, escaping to cover, or charging in at your enemy with a knife. In PvP each player has 3 shifts, and can use them all up to get instant bursts of speed. After using a shift it will take 2 seconds to replenish, so you need to time them well. This new system is a lot of fun, and best of all, the title "GeneSHIFT" finally makes sense, as shifting is now a key mechanic in the game.

Car Boosting

Ok so we already had car boosting, but now it LOOKS awesome. Like actual fire comes out the back of your car. I've also made the boost mechanic a lot tighter. Your boost bar only lasts 3s now, but you get some real speed because of it. This is better than the old boost which lasted forever but barely increased your speed at all. That was more of a general speed increase, but now boosting really feels like a tactical maneuver. It sounds awesome too.

Downtown Reworks

This version continues the slow but steady polishing of the campaign. Downtown (map 3) now joins Laboratory and Subway as being fully polished up with all the new features I've added over the last few versions. It focuses especially on vehicle combat using the new AI driving, and starts with a very groovy escort mission. In fact escort missions are now actually possible, as you can now fail a stage when AI characters die. This allowes for timed challenges and a bunch of other fun things. Anyway that's all for this version. Have fun and please give me feedback here or in Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/geneshift

[ 2018-03-18 03:57:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

In the not so wise words of EA, this version will give you a sense of pride and accomplishment. How you ask? By completely reworking the progression system. This new system adds strategy, gives cash a purpose, and lets you personalize your character as you progress through the game. Holy buzzwords batman, let's read on!

New Progression System

The old system was very simple. You discovered an item in the map and from that point on you could access it in the buy menu. This was great and all, but it meant that everyone had the exact same build. You were progressing, but it wasn't customizable and there wasn't any strategy or excitement to it. This new system adds a simple step that fixes this. When you discover an item in the map it becomes "discovered", but now it is not immediately unlocked. To fully unlock it you must actually buy it in the menu screen shown above. You buy it with cash earned from the campaign. This single change makes the progression system a lot more interesting: 1) Cash now has long term value as it is needed to progress. This gives you an incentive to get those sick combo kills, and also introduces an "end game" grinding stage for completionists. 2) Your build is now personalized and requires strategy. Do you spend your remaining $8000 unlocking the M4A1 or Force Fields? 3) You can now get excited about cool items. Before you were just given Invisibility before you even knew what it did. There was no anticipation. Now you'll actually care when you finally invest the $20,000 required to unlock it.

Sexy HUD Stuff

Check out this cool new STAGE CLEAR thingy. It shows up when you kill the last enemy on each stage and makes you feel like a badass. I've also made the HUD a bit cleaner and given everything a sci-fi blue tint. With the release of this version I think I'm 100% done with the "systems" aspect of the campaign. Everything is in place now. Now I just need to go through and polish up the actual stages themselves to work with all the cool new features I've been adding. Next version is going to be a whole new game!

[ 2018-01-18 06:01:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

A few nice changes in this version, the biggest one being a completely reworked menu system. I should have done this earlier, because it looks great and first impressions are oh so important. We've also got some nice changes to the campaign and yet another new combo kill system.

New Menu System

The menu has been reworked in a few ways. The overall aesthetic has been improved with a cool new blue background and new textures. The actual navigation has been changed too, with a dedicated main menu which lets you go into and out of the individual pages. This results in far fewer buttons on the screen at one time and is less overwhelming to new players. Even the options menu has been resdesigned with a new "common options" page that hides most of the advanced settings that no one cares about.

New Kill Combo System (for the 4th time now?)

I've yet again reworked the Kill Combo system, but I think I've got it perfect this time. There is no longer any confusing cash multiplier step that indirectly affects how much money you get per kill. The new system simply gives you extra cash directly. Instead of a double kill increasing you multiplier by 20% so that future kills give more cash, now a double kill just straight up gives you $150 for a kill instead of $100. Easy! There is still the concept of "special kills" which also award extra cash, and if you combo these together you get more money faster. Kills must be made within 3s of eachother to increase the combo. Here are some examples: Normal Kill: $100 Road Kill: $150 Stealth Kill: $150 Double Kill: $100, then $150 Double Road Kill: $150, then $250

No Skill Level Restrictions

In the campaign there are no longer level restrictions when you unlock skills. This means you can now unlock high level skills like Teleportation at level 1! Before you had to wait till you reached level 10 to be able to do this, so with this change these skills are FAR more useful. I'm curious to see how this affects speedruns.

New Animated Barricades

In the screenshot above you can see two barricades blocking off the top doors. This is a new feature that replaces the old doors that were hacked together with models. These are better not only because they're animated and sound cool, but because they go down into the ground when they're closed. The old models stayed the same but simply because walkable, which made it really hard to tell if you could go through them or not.

Change Log

General Changes

• The menu has been reworked, graphically and with a new naviation system.
• The options menu features a new "common options" section that hides away most of the advanced settings.
• There are now three presets in the options menu that easily adjust your graphical settings.
• Tweaked a bunch of text and fonts throughout the menu system.

Campaign Changes

• Skills can now be unlocked at any level in the campaign.
• Help Text is now shown as a separate popup down the bottom of the screen, instead of being spoken by guards.
• A new animated barricade type exists to replace some of the old doors, making it clearer if you can or cannot pass through.
• The Kill Combo system has been reworked, now rewarding extra cash for special and combo kills directly.
• On each stage players can now compete for the total cash earned in the stage, rather than compete over the highest cash multiplier (which no longer exists).
• The loading screen between campaign stages now has animated text to build suspense when you see your end of round stats.
• Made some general tweaks to Laboratory and Subway.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where vehicles would get stuck on the sides of walls.
• Fixed a performance issue on some systems.
• Honestly I fixed a bunch of other things, but I forgot to add them to the changelog this version. Lots of good stuff, go enjoy!

[ 2017-12-04 05:07:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Plenty of new features! In the campaign we have a new exploding guard type who alerts nearby enemies, we have a fun new kill combo system, and the skill penalites have all been removed as well! In multiplayer we have a massive rework to how barrier works, and maps that resize based on the number of players in the server.

Exploding Guards

Some guards will now walk with a red backpack filled with explosives chemicals. If you kill them they explode in a dazzling fireworks display, creating a sound that alerts nearby enemies. This new guard type is currently only in the first 2 stages of the campaign, but will allow me to create a variety of awesome puzzles and high adrenalin sequences where the shit hits the fan the moment you explode one of these guards.

New Kill Combo System

The gif above also shows the new kill combo system, showing a new "Double Kill" type as the grenade kills both guards simultaneously. Double Kills (along with Triple, Quad and Multi Kills) are a new kill type that rewards you with extra cash. This is done with the new cash multiplier system, which goes up when you perform "skillful" kills. The cash multiplier stays at x1.0 unless you do something cool. If you get a double kill, it will jump up to x1.2. If you then get a road kill it will increase futher to x1.3. This means that any kill you get will pay out $130 instead of $100. You are rewarded with more cash for killing in awesome ways, and there are other new kill types as well, such as Skill Kills, Quick Kills, and Stealth Kills.

Resizing Maps

Maps will now resize based on the number of players in the server. When there aren't many players in the server, blue electricity will cover the ground the outsides of the map and kill anyone who walks into it. This forces players to stay in the centre, effectively shrinking the map size and resulting in far more active and fast-paced battles when playing in a smaller server.

Jumping Indicators

In the screenshot above you can also see some blue highlights on the boxes to the right. This new feature indicates if a box is of a jumpable height or not, and makes it much easier to jump in a 3D environment with a top-down view.

Barrier Rework

Barrier is a fundamental part of combat, especially multiplayer combat, and so this rework changes a lot. Barrier no longer absorbs damage into your mana pool. Instead it has been simplified to a simple 25% damage reduction at the price of slower movement and -3 mana/s. This change makes barrier more useful as you'll no longer lose all of your mana in an instant when damaged. It also ensures that you never die with "unused mana" which was a kinda silly way to die with the old system.

No Skill Penalties

In the campaign there are no skill penalties. This is pretty huge, and should make it a lot more exciting to discover new skills and mutation vials, as they are nothing but 100% benefit now. I've also made this option available for PvP servers for shits and giggles (though it will probably be pretty unbalanced).

Change Log

General Changes

• Skill Penalties are now optional in PvP servers.
• Blood is a lot more gorey.
• The game now uses a new default font, instead of boring ungamey arial.
• Dedicated campaign servers now reset to standard difficulty if the server is empty.
• Neutralizing is no longer required by the Newbie Checklist.
• Spectating will default to a player instead of free-look mode now.
• Cash bubbles now occur where you kill your enemy rather than floating above your head, making the cash rewards easier to see.
• Capturers now display with a blue smoke instead of red.
• Text bubbles now animate the text, instead of displaying it all at the same time.
• There's now a little bit of screen recoil whenever you shoot.
• Sprint speed is now 160% instead of 150%.

Campaign Changes

• Skills no longer have penalties in Stealth mode.
• Guards now show a little exclaimation mark above their heads when they're first alerted.
• You will take a $200 penalty whenever you die.
• The bomb explosion can't destroy a vehicle if player is inside it.
• Dying in co-op during a zombie phase switches you to zombie (instead of just sitting there watching).
• Guards turn speed is now a bit slower.
• Guards typically now only engage you once they get direct LOS to you, but after this they keep chasing you.
• Guards prefer not to jump over boxes now if it's possible to run around it instead.

Skill Changes

• All skills that used to cost 15 mana now cost 20 mana.
• Regeneration max mana is now 80/70/60/50/40 instead of 90/80/70/60/50.
• Self Repair mana cost is now 30 instead of 20.
• Self Repair range is now 2.5/3/3.5/4/4.5 instead of 2/2.5/3/3.5/4.
• Self Repair regen is now 15/20/25/30/35 instead of 10/15/20/25/30.
• Self Repair burn is now 6/9/12/15/18 instead of 3/6/9/12/15.
• Energize no longer awards cash.
• Energize ammo burn is now 130/140/150/160/170% instead of 140/150/160/170/180%.
• Static Charges required damage is now 8/7/6/5/4 instead of 14/12/10/8/6.
• Static Charges removes the barrier burn penalty on your victims.
• Lasing Orb won't suffer from the 3 mana/s barrier burn penalty.

Weapon Changes

• Super weapons now do 50% more damage vs zombies.
• USP damage is now 13 instead of 16.
• Deagle damage is now 20 instead of 24.
• Flare Gun flame duration is now 3s instead of 4s.
• Taser damage is now 20 instead of 24.
• UZI damage is now 16 instead of 20.
• MP5 damage is now 16 instead of 20.
• Nailgun damage is now 16 instead of 20.
• M3 damage is now 108 instead of 112.
• M3 rpm is now 90 instead of 100.
• M3 now does x1.05 damage vs guards.
• SPAS damage is now 60 instead of 77.
• SPAS now does x1.05 damage vs guards.
• Blast Cannon damage is now 44 instead of 52.
• AK47 damage is now 20 instead of 25.
• M4A1 damage is now 15 instead of 19.
• Seek Rifle damage is now 18 instead of 24.
• M249 damage is now 19 instead of 23.
• M60 damage is now 26 instead of 32.
• Minigun damage is now 16 instead of 20.
• Ruger damage is now 40 instead of 45.
• Ruger movement speed is now 0.90 instead of 0.95.
• Barrett damage is now 60 instead of 65.
• Photon Beam damage is now 50 instead of 60.
• Flamethrower damage is now 7 instead of 8.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the mouse was too sensitive.
• Fixed a bug where mini-checkpoints wouldn't always trigger in coop.
• Fixed a camera zoom issue with rotating vehicle camera.
• Fixed a bug with smoke bomb view ranges.
• Optimised netcode performance a bit.

[ 2017-09-27 08:46:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

This version is inspired by the extremely challenging and awesome shooter, Hotline Miami. I've completely reworked the campaign by adding a new checkpoint system and increasing enemy damage by over 500%!

5x More Guard Damage

Guards in the campaign now deal 5x as much damage as they did last version. They've gone from 20% damage up to the full 100% damage that players do in multiplayer. This obviously makes the campaign a lot more difficult, but it plays much better because of it. You really need to play tactically to survive now, as every mistake will be punished. The old damage values were designed to make Geneshift a more casual, relaxed experience. It was noob friendly, but in hindsight that wasn't the way to go. Multiplayer is brutal and kills you endlessly, and the singleplayer should do the same. So taking inspiration from Hotline Miami's instant 1-shot kill approach, Geneshift just got a whole lot tougher. You'll die a lot more often now, but this just makes each new checkpoint all the more satisfying to reach.

New Checkpoint System

There's also a new checkpoint system that fundamentally changes how the game is played - dying now makes you lose progress and go back to the previous checkpoint. On the ground there are little yellow checkpoint symbols that save the game state when you walk into them. If you then die, you will go back to the yellow checkpoint and lose ALL your progress since then. This change was also inspired by the checkpoint resets in Hotline Miami. This is a really huge change. Previously, when you died you would simply respawn a bit back and not lose any progress at all. Any guards you killed would stay dead, and you could simply run forward again and pick up where you left off. While this was nice and friendly to a casual player, it really took a lot of the challenge out of the game and made death feel a bit meaningless. This new system penalizes death a whole lot more, and combined with the 500% damage increase is really brutal. Dying will lose all your progress since the last checkpoint, so if you're pinned down with only 20hp remaining, you're really going to try as hard as you can to survive. The new checkpoint system also affects how co-op is played, as dying in co-op now puts you into spectator mode. You'll respawn only when you friend dies or reaches the next checkpoint. This change is needed to preserve the all or nothing challenge the new checkpoint system provides, rather than letting co-op players just constantly respawn and push forward without any real fear of death.

Chinese Translation Incoming

I've also been working with a friend to add a Simplifed Chinese translation to the game. Many years ago during the beta Geneshift had a strong Chinese community, and I'm excited to finally give Chinese gamers a proper translation. The translation isn't ready yet, but I hope to release it in a few versions time. When this happens we'll see plenty of activity in the multiplayer servers, so let's make sure to welcome the new Chinese community. The more players the better!

Exploding Heads and Bubbly Text Bubbles

There are a few more fun things in this version, such as enemy heads will now fly off when you kill them, creating some funny death physics. Also text bubbles have a bit more personality when they pop up, wobbling like they were in a game of Candy Crush or something. Anyway I'm very excited to see your thoughts on the new Hotline Miami inspired gameplay. Enjoy!

[ 2017-08-16 04:02:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 1.03 introduces a brand new aiming system. You can now zoom the camera way out, showing a lot more of your surroundings. This gives you more situational awareness and makes aiming feel smoother too!

Subway Reworks

I've also completely reworked SubwayS02, adding 2 new vehicle sections and an interesting new "Hotline Miami" inspired section as well. The guards in this section wear red clothing and deal MUCH more damage. This requires more precise, tactical skill to take them out. Many people have compared Geneshift to Hotline Miami, and it is indeed a great game, so I'm going to be adding more of these high damage sections in future versions. Feedback is welcome on this new type of enemy!

Rotating Camera

There's also a new rotating camera view, which applies when driving vehicles. Some people get motion sick from it though, so I've made it optional and off by default. Still, it's pretty fun to mess around with, and makes for a more immersive driving experience!

Bug & Balance Fixes

There are a bunch of bug fixes and performance tweaks. I've fixed one really silly bug that was causing some paying customers to see the demo version, and made a huge improvement to the performance in the singleplayer campaign as well. Finally, Geneshift is going on sale for a week on Steam at 20% off. If you haven't bought it yet or have some friends who are keen, now would be a great time to let them know. Enjoy!

[ 2017-07-31 10:00:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 1.02 is out with 3 brand new skills. The ideas came from the massive reddit thread I made a few weeks ago asking for skill suggestions. There were some amazing ideas there and I've just added my 3 favorites!

3 New Skills

Physicals get Reverse Fire, allowing you to shoot bullets behind you and cover your rear. Mentals get Mirror Image, which creates a clone of yourself to deceive enemies; and Cybernetic players get Vapor Slide, which makes the floor slippery and lets you move extra fast. They're probably super unbalanced, so please help me test them out and give feedback!

3 New Cash System

This version also includes a big change to the cash system in the campaign, placing a lot more focus on earning kill combos. Underneath the minimap is a miniature leaderboard that shows the highest kill combo earned on a given stage, and gives credit to the player who got it.

New Vehicle Section

From reading reviews the vehicles are everyone's favourite part of the campaign, so I wanted to give more of that. I've added a second car sequence to Laboratory where you fly through a road-block and drive a bunch of dudes over.

Bug & Balance Fixes

As always there are bug and balance fixes. The most notable ones are a rework to Blade Fury's busting mechanic, and Firestorm's explosions are now spread out in a line. Venom has been nerfed along with shotguns. For more details check the changelog in-game or on the forums. Have fun!

[ 2017-06-27 10:05:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Ooo baby, back to coding after a great launch. We've reached the "Very Positive" rating on Steam; the Discord community has hundreds of new members; and we've played some really fun games together. Thanks a million guys!
I also recently got some love on reddit. I asked for skill ideas and received over 4000 responses! This blew my mind and some of the ideas are really awesome. So... lets add them!

3 New Skills

I want to add 3 new skills for next version. The best 3 from the reddit thread. One for each skill tree. If you want to, please browse through the ideas and reply here with links to your favourites.

New Vehicle Section

I want to add a sweet vehicle section to the start of Subway in the campaign as well. From reading reviews the vehicles are everyone's favourite part, so I want to give more of that. The Hornet is a very fun vehicle and I'm going to create a sequence where you're driving along the train tracks firing missiles at Rebels hiding in the vents.

Bug & Balance Fixes

Venom is OP, I know I know! I will be fixing a few of the bugs and balance issues that have been raised in the week since launch. I also want to give a few quality of life improvements such as making the smoke on the Capturer chemical red. Lots of tweaks to look forward to. Anyway, that's it for now. I don't know how long this will take but I am fucking pumped to do it, because for the past 2 months I have done nothing but send emails and do marketing. Now I get to geek out and add fun stuff again! Woop woop!

[ 2017-05-31 06:24:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

I've finally had time to sleep after my all-nighter of bug fixing, server maintaining and newbie slaughtering. I woke up to see full servers, thousands of sales and plenty of new members in the Discord community. We have 100% positive Steam reviews, 33 and counting. Each review counts so I really appreciate the time you guys took to write them. Overall I couldn't be happier with the launch, so thank you all!
I believe this mostly came from the 53,000 upvoted reddit post I made the moment I launched the game. The response has been overwhelming, so a big thanks to all the redditors who helped build the hype train. There have been some great articles written about the game, including an extra personal one detailing my 8 year dev journey to Peru.
Anyway, what's next? Well the first thing I need to do is troubleshoot a few bugs a couple of people have been having. If you have any issues just hit me up in the Discord or the Steam Forum and I'll respond to you ASAP. I'm also working with a few youtubers to get some exposure and bring plenty more players in here. If you want to help out you can post and tell your friends about the game too.
After that, it's back to dev. This the beauty of Early Access. I want to start adding fun stuff, and I want your ideas! We need to do some balancing of the skills and weapons, so please give me your thoughts on that. And we also need more content. So lets start tossing some ideas around for new stuff to add. Skills, weapons, vehicles... there's plenty more to do.
Anyway, back to it. Thanks a million for the great launch guys. If you like the game please consider writing a review, it will really help us get noticed in Steam's algorithm. And if you're using the demo, please just keep on playing! Remember there is currently a 20% discount, so if you upgrade now you can unlock the rest of the game for cheap. Thanks all! Ben.

[ 2017-05-25 01:08:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

It only took 8 years, but Geneshift is finally on Steam. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who's played over the years - your feedback and support has been invaluable. Now that we're on Steam our community can grow, so please tell your friends. Show them the free multiplayer demo! Also if you like the game and want more players please leave a Steam review - it really helps us. Now having said all that, let's play!
Of course, this is only the Early Access launch. There's a lot more fun stuff to look forward to! More content, more features, you guys decide! The next big feature will be ranked servers, where players are awarded ranks based on their performance in-game. An advanced ELO system will accurately measure you skill and rank you up and down, encouraging all sorts of competitive and tactical play! This is almost fully coded but needs a bit more testing before release. Anyway, it should come out in a few weeks! After that, let's add more vehicles and chemicals :D
Once again, I want to say thank again to everyone who's helped me develop and release this game. I look forward to the next stage in Geneshift's history and seeing all the cool ideas and feedback you guys give me. Cheers, Ben.

[ 2017-05-23 16:07:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

In one week Geneshift will launch on Steam. We've got a bunch of new members on Discord who joined after a post on reddit exploded with over 7000 upvotes. If you've started following Geneshift as a result of this post then I just want to say thank you for the overwhelming support you guys gave. I can't wait to play with you all next week. Thousands of players have wishlisted the game already, meaning we will launch Geneshift with a bang! Of course there is a free multiplayer demo available as well. So if you want to play with your friends, just share the Steam page and you'll be riding shotgun with them in no time!
See you all in a week! Ben.

[ 2017-05-16 09:24:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Geneshift launch in action. Geneshift will now launch May 23rd, 2017. I've pushed it back from April 27th due to all the feedback you guys have provided. There have been so many great suggestions, but implementing them takes time - and I want to launch the best game possible. With the new date we'll launch a better game with a bigger community. The demo is available to play and I encourage everyone to download it. Give me more feedback in Discord! Until then I'll keep polishing and sharing the game to make the launch as big and exciting as possible.
And lets be honest... I've been making this game for 8 years - I clearly don't know how to estimate time. But on May 23rd Geneshift will launch as a bigger and better game than ever before. Now grab that demo from the Steam store, hop on Discord and let's play! Join the Discord Chat: https://discord.me/geneshift

[ 2017-04-20 01:33:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Geneshift Demo is now available on Steam! Play the full Conquest multiplayer game mode with no restrictions. Just hop on and play for as long as you like. And tell your friends, because demo and full customers can play together in the same servers, for FREE!
For the entire time that Geneshift has been in development the multiplayer has been free. I want to keep it that way. Obviously it's a demo and some features are restricted, such as the campaign and online co-op. But the main multiplayer game mode is free to play for as long as you like. So hop on and enjoy the crazy skills and insane vehicle action today!

[ 2017-04-12 22:49:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

I've decided that Geneshift will now release into Early Access instead of going directly to the full launch. Why? Because I'm not done with this game yet. For the past 8 years I've developed this game with the help of the community. On Early Access we can keep this going, just bigger and better! I've always intended to keep developing the game after it hits Steam, and Early Access is the best way to indicate this.
So get ready to play, test, playtest and do some more testing (and playing). There's a lot of cool new content I want to add and on the 27th of April 2017 Geneshift is going to be bigger than ever before!

[ 2017-03-29 03:11:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

After 8 years of development Geneshift is finally launching on Steam! Geneshift will launch on the 27th of April 2017 and be available for both PC and Linux.
It feels weird to have the final deadline, and to have 8 years of work all come down to just one day. I'm not going to lie, I'm a wee bit nervous, but I've gotta launch some time. I wanted to give a big thank you to all the guys who have stuck with the game over the years. I wouldn't have finished it without you. Your feedback, suggestions and motivation to keep going have been invaluable. So thank you!
To celebrate the new launch date I've just uploaded the final and official Geneshift trailer. Again, a big thank you to everyone who acted in it! We've got a lot of great shots showing off the skills, vehicles, multiplayer, online-coop and more. Here is the youtube link, check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsabFqVs_IM Anyway to stay up to date with the latest changes in the final month, make sure to follow Geneshift on Facebook and Twitter. Even better, check out the new official Discord chat room! There are a bunch of us in there discussing the game every day and doing the final playtests, and you are invited to join. Looking forward to playing with you all in a month!
Discord: https://discord.me/geneshift Twitter: https://twitter.com/Geneshift Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Geneshift/

[ 2017-03-24 07:43:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

A week ago I created an official Geneshift Discord chat room, and it's all that anyone uses anymore. There are dev updates, theorycrafting and a hint of shitposting too, so come join the fun at: https://discord.me/geneshift

[ 2017-03-23 00:28:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

I've just released the final trailer! This one took 1.5 weeks to create and I want to extend a big thank you to all the players who helped with the filming. Your patience is much appreciated! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtckXPDDcfc

[ 2017-02-09 02:03:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Geneshift has been in dev for over 8 years now. The demo was released in 2009 under the names of Subvein and later Mutant Factions. To stay under budget I've had to code Geneshift from cheap countries all around the world. It's been great fun and I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I've enjoyed making it!

[ 2017-01-27 01:28:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Just a little heads up on what I'm doing. Geneshift will be released in a couple of months and I'm on the home-stretch now. I'm currently testing Steam achievements and making sure they all trigger correctly. It's so cool watching little Geneshift icons pop up in the Steam overlay!

[ 2017-01-20 05:25:26 CET ] [ Original post ]