Hello everyone. I’ve got a major content update for Gearbits. This update adds a whole new game mode, the wave survival mode. After the game launched, several people suggested adding a wave survival mode. Well, here it is! I hope you’ll like it.
Here’s how you play:
Start the wave mode by going to "Extra missions" in the main menu. Here you can select a map or change the game parameters. You unlock more maps as you progress through the story.
Each new wave spawns in an escalating number of enemies. Defeating enemies earns you credits. You can use credits to buy new weapons and equipment in between waves. Then you use the weapons to defeat enemies in the next wave to earn more credits.
This goes on until you clear the set amount of waves. You can also set the wave count to “infinite” to go on until you’re shot down or exit to menu.
I’ve also added in three new achievements. I was kinda surprised by how many people go out of their way to collect achievements, so here’s a little something for you sickos.
Wave motion energy: Clear 15 or more waves with any parameters.
Eight minutes of death: Clear 8 or more waves with "100% bug" and "Catastrophic escalation" parameters.
Mass production miracle: Complete all missions with the Mirabilis regular type.
Some of you might have noticed that the wave mode was already patched in to the public branch yesterday. I uploaded a patch yesterday, but I didn’t want to make a big announcement yet, in case some game breaking bug managed to sneak in. Nothing game breaking has been reported, but I’ve made some other small adjustments. Here’s a list:
- Enemies give slightly more credits.
- Resupply, repair and support drops now cost less.
- Jammer drones produce correctly coloured wrecks when destroyed.
- Fixed a bug where starting a new game and exiting before defeating any enemies caused the previous games enemies to be displayed in the score total.
- The shop platform now randomly moves to a new location between waves.
I also wanted to get yesterdays patch out as soon as possible, because it contained a ton of bug fixes unrelated to the wave mode. Now that the game has released, a lot of new people have played it and in doing so, they’ve discovered a lot of bugs. Here’s a list of what has changed:
- Charged weapons no longer play their charge effects if no ammo is left.
- Fixed running animations not playing if the players moves the analog stick very slightly.
- It is no longer possible to hold movement keys when loading into mission 4 and avoid getting equipped with the tag gun, making the mission unwinnable.
- The animated sample in mission 12 no longer randomly disables its collider and allows the player to walk through it.
- Mission 13 no longer randomly spawns the player below the map. This one was really nasty, because it only seemed to happen randomly, and it basically ruined a story set piece for those who encountered it.
- Mission 17 bosses no longer stay behind to attack the ground if no suitable targets are in range.
- The last cutscene can now be paused.
The game is made by one person and tested by a few volunteers, so I appreciate the leniency you’ve shown me with accepting the bugs. Even so, I am very disappointed to have allowed them through.
Luckily, patching builds on Steam is very easy and I’ve been able to patch these out. Still, I dislike the mentality of releasing an unfinished game and then fixing it later. Or selling a game with half the content and adding the rest later. Gearbits is not a live service game. If I ever try to sell you a “Gearbits battle pass” it will be your job to hunt me down.
I won’t sell a battle pass, but I do have ideas for more Gearbits related content. I’d like to do more if the game becomes successful enough to warrant expansions or maybe even a sequel. Maybe with the addition of the wave mode, the game takes off and becomes the first installment of the long running Gearbits franchise. You can always hope, right?
Next, I’ll try to take some distance from the project and do something else besides game development on my free time. I’ve got a ton of ideas for games, Gearbits related and otherwise, so I’ll be back. But I think I’ll be better equipped to make those ideas a reality, after I take a small break from game development.