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 ]