Hey everyone,
We're back with another huge Chapter milestone: Our recent updates and overhauls to our Combat system, Controller Support and Experience surrounding those have lead us to a really exciting spot where we can expand upon them with another huge Takeover mission and a Roguelite style Side Hustle!
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Before we start, let's do a quick recap of where we've been, as well as where we are.
In Chapter Zero, we debuted the game with a huge offering of content, and spent weeks (and months) ironing out systems and overhauling them based on community feedback. From there, we were able to prioritise content based on the loudest feedback, which in turn lead to Chapter One
Chapter One came with more missions, the first strike at the Mayors inner circle via the Maude Boss fight, and systems to allow players to upgrade how much cash and items they can hold. We added new repeatable activities, as well as the ability to take your Homies with you throughout the city.
One of the more clear pieces of feedback was a frustration with the wait between these massive drops of content, and we agreed. Why sit on a tangible upgrade to a system while we're finishing the rest, if we can just put them out as we're happy. So we took that tact with Chapter Two.
Throughout Chapter Two's development we focused on improving the vehicle systems and how you engage with them, as well as dropping in content to other pre-existing mechanics. Along the way we added new systems such as Fast Travel, the Two Wheeled Vehicles and the new First Player Experience. Rounding it off with the new concept of Side Hustles, we introduced ShipPost the Courier Side Hustle, added the Mod Shop to garages so you could customise your vehicles, overhauled the Vehicle Damage system and Stealing methods, along with a ton of extra content.
So now, Chapter Three:
On our lead up to Chapter Three we brought you the New Island: LaGordo Valley, a beautiful new spot in the north which featured more landscape and a different feeling compared to the big city life of Rockhaven. We overhauled the combat system introducing the ability to Block and Dash, allowing you to retaliate blocked damage and reset cooldowns on successfully dodged attacks, along with castbars to show you what the enemy is thinking. The second Side Hustle: WTF3K, a Drone Racing league, made its debut. Full Controller Support was added along with some big reworks on the UI screens that needed it the most. And of course a ton more improvements, missions and other content were added.
But enough of the old news, what's new today? Let's take a look:
Takeover 2: MOVR HQ
The long awaited follow up to the large Takeover Mission from Chapter One is here, Takeover 2: MOVR HQ. Meet Memphis, an ex-wrestler handpicked by the Mayor to lead the MOVR force. Memphis continues to live in kayfabe and has no idea his real responsibilities or goals, so he's converted the MOVR base into a giant wrestling promotion: one you'll get to take part in!
MOVR HQ is our largest mission yet, and one we're very proud of. You'll scope the place out using a drone, take part in some platforming, sneak through the base, and yes: take part in a wrestling show where between rounds you'll select abilities to make yourself overpowered.
As with the first Takeover, make sure you have at least 3 levelled up Homies (or co-op friends) willing to come for the ride, as you'll certainly need them to take on the combat challenges and Memphis himself in our most difficult boss fight yet.
Along with Memphis, you'll also be seeing a lot of two brand new enemy types:
MOVR LOSR
Meet the losers of the MOVR HQ, the MOVR LOSRs. These dorks are meek little punching bags not just for the MOVR team itself but for you as well! We're told it gets better once you leave school, maybe that's true for some but not for these guys. You'll get a sense of pent up rage when they start throwing their items at you or when they wanna get real nasty it's fireworks time, literally.
Their fireworks will light up the floor around you and your only option is to get out of the way. When they're not throwing a tantrum they can also benefit their colleagues by deploying a healing robot. So make sure you get to the LOSRs quick, they won't put up much of a fight. Also, be sure to use your dodge to close ground on them, as LOSR's love to run away when you get close.
MOVR BRUISR
On the opposite side of the spectrum are the big boys, the MOVR BRUISRs. This is what happens when you inject Goorana into your veins. An experiment gone right? Depends who you ask. Much bigger and scarier than the LOSRs or even the standard issue MOVRs, the BRUISRs have more health and a harder hit to boot. Don't make them mad or you're gonna witness them burst into a rage with a Ground Slam.
Marking the ground around you, you'll see where the BRUISR is going to smash down upon you. You'll want to dash out of the way to make it to safety.
A Running Charge is the other trick up their sleeve. Standing in the way will make sure you are the first to get ragdolled and set alight by the fire left on their trail. Sounds tough but with a bit of luck we're sure you'll manage.
With new Enemy Types being added, along with the last update's Combat Overhaul - it would make sense to create a new Side Hustle around this right?
Side Hustle: Metro Dungeon
Introducing our third Side Hustle: Metro Dungeon, a roguelite experience fit to show off all things combat in It's Only Money. We're fans of the genre and with all the systems we've already developed for and surrounding the combat - it's simply just a thing that made a lot of sense to highlight everything that's available. Let's dig in:
Getting into Rockhaven's Underground Metro System is no easy feat, and neither is leaving it (unscathed at least). With the help of Nana and a funny little portal you can get sent to the Metro Dungeon whenever you please.
The task is simple, defeat the Waves of enemies in the Dungeon and bring back as many Goorana Crystals as you can for an increased reward.
However, it is important to note that visiting through the portal doesn't come without its quirks.
Milestones and Relics
The first thing you are going to notice are the Milestone Relics. These are a strange fusion of a Trigger and an Effect that could potentially help you.
You'll have the choice of three Relics every second Milestone and a chance to reroll the selection pool if they don't suit your fighting style. The other two Milestones will grant you a choice of Milestone Moves.
Every Milestone the items hanging around the Dungeon will change around, keep that in mind.
Stat Upgrades
After completing a wave you will get a choice of three Stat Upgrades. These will come in a variety of potency, so choose wisely.
Stat Upgrades can help in a number of ways: fight enemies quicker by becoming stronger, navigate the dungeon faster with increased movement stats or just make it easier on yourself by choosing stats that let you take more damage and afford more mistakes.
The choice is yours but think about how they might interact with your chosen Relics and Moves.
Goorana Crystals
The whole reason anyone is even down there is to gather Goorana Crystals. This is the only place to gather this valuable resource and the Mayor has a monopoly on it.
The best way to get Goorana Crystals is to find the big crystals around the Dungeon and bash the heck out of them. However, enemies will tend to drop some when knocked out, and you can also recycle any Junk items at the Junk2Crystal Recycler if you can find it.
You can spend the Goorana Crystals in the Dungeon when Rerolling any selection pools for Relics, Moves or Upgrades between Waves. You can also use them to Respawn and escape out of the jail room incase things don't go your way, but the cost is hefty.
If you save them up and avoid using too many, then bringing them back after completing the dungeon run Nana will convert the Crystals into regular cash to use in Rockhaven.
Stuck Homies
You will also occasionally find Stuck Homies in the Dungeon. Get them before the current Milestone is over or they won't come back.
Standing in the area of the Stuck Homie for long enough will help bring them in to start fighting with you. Homies in houses will come through first, so make sure your strongest ones are housed!
If you don't have any homies then random undercivilians will spawn in to help you.
Coming Home
We haven't mentioned this yet, but you're not taking anything with you, to or from, this is a roguelite of course.
You will start with no Moves, no Buffs, no Items and you won't be bringing anything you grab back with you, Nana just wants the Goorana Crystals!
We can't wait to see what builds you create down in the Metro Dungeon, the highest damage amount from a single punch we've seen so far was just over 800... do you think can you beat that? Tell us how you get on in our Discord or in the Steam forums.
We've also gone through and fixed more bugs that were found along the way, and made tweaks that have had some good knock on effects.
If you're new, or you've been out of the loop for awhile feel free to check out some of the other updates we've done along the way to Chapter Three, including:
Combat Overhaul, New Island, Full Controller Support, Drone Racing & Map Overhaul
What's next
As always, we're going to spend the next bit of time cleaning up any unforeseen bugs and touching up anything that's quick from your feedback. Considering the breadth of new content that's been added, we'll also be curious to see any performance impacts across the community. As always, share these reports with us and we'll hone in on the culprits. Once we're in the clear, a couple of us will be strapped to a plane and heading to another hemisphere.
Gamescom
We had such a good time at PAX Australia in 2022, not only did we get to try Five Guys for the first time, we went back and ate there three more times! We also got to meet a ton of great people and show off the early development of the game. Now we're heading off to Germany in August for Gamescom and It's Only Money will be playable on the show floor. The amount of progress the game has made since PAX is something we're very proud of and we can't wait for more people to get their hands on it. We'll talk more about this closer to the date.
Of course more content is on the way, it never stops, we've got some great ideas we're really excited to get started on.
As always, thank you all for being on the ride of It's Only Money! In a lot of ways, we're just getting started, so buckle in for even more.
