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 ]