Hello everybody! Today we’re happy to announce a much-awaited update build E1.09 for Rogue Continuum. First and foremost: Rampage Rufus. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback that he has a really tough time in the game because he’s melee, while his foes are ranged. Well, that’s all changed now: Rufus now has the ability to nullify enemy bullets with his sword or chainsaw. This really pumps up his survivability in the game, and we feel he’s now much better equipped to handle the many bullets thrown his way. Check out the screenshot GIF above, or better yet, give him a try! Next up is Destructobot. We felt that not only did Destructobot’s shield make him a little overpowered compared to the other characters, but his slow-charging shield also made him a bit slower, because players had to wait for it to recharge. So, we modified how his shield works, by reducing his shield’s full capacity by half, but also increasing the recharge rate by 50%. We think this makes Destructobot a bit faster-paced than before. We also bumped his base (un-upgraded) starting HP down slightly, from 1100HP to 900HP. Overall he’s a bit more challenging to play now, but also moves through maps quicker than before due to faster shield recharging. In addition, we noticed that the completely random chance of medkit spawns sometimes seemed a bit frustrating – players would occasionally get a couple of medkit drops even when they were at full health, and when health was low, medkits sometimes seemed to NEVER appear. That’s fixed too – now, the probability of getting a medkit increases with decreasing hero health. You’re pretty much guaranteed not to get a medkit while at full or near-full health (so you get to pick up a powerup instead *fist pump*), and when your health is low, you’ll have a significantly higher chance of getting a medkit. The full changelog is below. It contains other balancing notes too and many much-requested changes (like better boss-kill drops, for example) so be sure to check it out :) Hero changes: Rampage Rufus - Rufus' chainsaw and sword can now nullify enemy bullets - Rufus' chainsaw has a much faster temperature increase and decrease speed. Also displays "overheated" when the chainsaw is overheated. - Overheating the chainsaw renders the chainsaw unusable for 1.5 seconds (reduced from previous duration of 3.0s). Note: no change in the sword - the sword is not prone to overheating. - Rufus base HP reduced from 1000HP to 800HP since his survivability is significantly increased due to being able to nullify enemy bullets - A speed-line image of a chainsaw now shows on top of Rufus' chainsaw when it's engaged. Hero changes: Smackdown Sam - Reduced base reload time for machine gun by 20% Hero changes: Ownage Olga - if Olga shoots a critical shot, indicator text will show up on top of Olga. Hero changes: Destructobot - Destructobot base HP reduced from 1100HP to 900HP. - Reduced Destructobot full shield capacity by 50%. - Increased Destructobot base shield recharge rate by 50%. - Fixed shield behavior so that if damage taken by Destructobot is more than remaining shield points, damage will first be absorbed by remaining shield points before being deducted from hitpoints. - Reduced Destructobot's "Missile Barrage" Special Attack's base number of missiles from 9 to 8. - Increased Destructobot's Missile Pod weapon's base direct damage from 80 to 105; reduced the weapon's splash damage from 20% to 8% of direct damage. Item balancing - Chance of getting a medkit increases when heroes are low on health. At full health, no medkits will appear. Enemy Balancing - Enemy bosses now have an approximately 50% chance of dropping a powerup when killed (exact percentage depends on which enemy boss) - Increased enemy boss kill reward money significantly. Now, if the enemy boss does not drop a powerup, it will drop between 18-25 credits when killed. - Tweaked some boss behaviors (tweaks are not listed here in order to prevent spoilers) - Reduced hitpoints of Spartilian Carrier Slugs by 40% - Reduced damage of Arcturan Cloaking Sniper by 20% Level length - Reduced level sizes slightly. Map path length reduced by about 15% for most missions. Exact distance to level destination is still varied since maps are procedurally generated. Bug fixes - Fixed bug where game incorrectly calculates incremental hitpoints increase when player gets multiple HealthUp powerups Other updates - Updated burning visual effect for enemy corpses -William, Rocktastic Games Dev Team