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 ]