Official Early Access Playtest is now OPENNN!!!
Bio-Breaker Playtest · published · build 23114219
Here we are. After MONTHS of climbing this figurative mountain, this is it. The official Steam Early Access playtest. Thank you all so so SO much for getting me here. I honestly can hardly believe it. Fun fact, I originally planned to get the store page up back in week 10... Oh how naive that plan was...
I'll do an official offical release whenever the game is close enough to being good enough for Early Access release and a fitting fest rolls around.
Endless Mode Rework!!
You start with only the Pistol like in Wave ModeThe shop and upgrades menu are now available in Endless Mode!However, the player cannot infinitely buy stuff and upgrade it, you can use a max of $700 before the shop and upgrades menu disappearAlso if there's no more upgrades or stuff that can be purchased within the spending limit, the shop and upgrades will also closeClearing passive perks will reduce the money spent by the amount the equipped passive perks costed (you're not getting it refunded, this is just so your power potential isn't screwed over by buying perks you decided you didn't want) (you'll still be locked out of clearing them once the shop and upgrades menu disappears so just be careful what you choose)Clearing the equipped active ability will also subtract money spent by $100 but the upgrades for that ability will not subtract from the money spent (mainly because it would be a pain in the butthole to code)You can keep track of how much money you've spent at the bottom of the shop and upgrades menusWhen you die, a results board comes up to showing you:
Score
High score
Enemies killed
Time survived
Best time survived
Introducing: Phases!
After earning enough points from killing enemies the enemy patterns change (indicated by big flashing text saying "The assault is about to grow fiercer!") and you are given 20 seconds before enemies start spawning again. Use this time to decide what to use your money on and/or clean up remaining enemiesYou can skip the 30 seconds and gain money and score points doing so. At a 1.35x per skipped second valueNew stronger enemies start spawning and at a faster rate too (Mass-Mutations also occur more often)However you will be given tiny breaks every few enemy spawns depending on the current phaseOn the 4th phase the stage boss is spawned alongside other enemies (Boom-Brute will do its Living Landmine barf even on stage 1)On the final phase the difficulty is set from Normal to HardYou can see the current phase where current wave would normally be displayed
Main changes
Added 33 new Steam achievements
Added Steam Cloud support (I can't really test it myself, so if you have 2 PCs and find anything bugs relating to save file data, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!)
Added input controls prompt icons for text (god, it was a pain in the [REDACTED])Added a slider setting for camera damping (this is mainly for those who get easily motion sick, but if you think the default speed is too slow, you can also lower the damping or even turn it off if you're that crazy)Also added 'reset to default' buttons to slider settingsAdded buttons on the main menu that link to the Discord server and Subreddit
Shop, Upgrades and arsenal balance changes
I've tweaked a bunch of stats on the different parts of the player's kit, which is mostly just tweaking numbers up or down.
Added a button next to the shop buy button that'll take you to the selected weapons (or active ability) upgrades
Buttons in the shop and upgrades menu now trigger as soon as you press down on them (I made this change because hitting buttons in the shop and upgrades menu on the move is difficult because if you moved your mouse the tiniest bit after clicking down before letting go, it wouldn't select it)
Using the scroll wheel in the shop and upgrades menu now resets scrolling inertia
Medkit:
- Added use speed upgrade
- Decreases use time by 0.1 seconds per upgrade
Costs $40 at base
Can be upgraded up to 3 times
- Increased the base price of the damage upgrade from $15 to $20
- Increased the base price of the pierce upgrade from $10 to $20
Shortened the time between bullets fired with the burst upgrade
Boomerang:
- Replaced the fire rate upgrade with projectile speed and increased the base fire rate of the Boomerang
The fire rate now no longer changes depending on how far it was thrown
Sentry:
Increased the charge requirement from 45 to 75 damage
Decreased bullet damage from 3 to 2
Decreased the price of the damage upgrade from $50 to $40
Decreased damage upgrade effect from +1 damage per upgrade tick, to +0.25
- Added light that changes color depending on their current health (only visible on stage 3)
Hearty:
Decreased the price from $75 to $65
Now increases health pickup drop rate by +15%
Immovable:
Removed because it was just a boring Passive Perk and it's essentially been replaced by something I talk about further down the changelog
Bestiary
I've made multiple changes regarding the bestiary, so I've decided to clump them together here.
Entries now also display threat and rarity level
Entries also include a TIP section that tells how to deal with the enemy
The description box is now scrollable because of the length of the descriptions + the TIP section
Touched up some of the artworks
Hitting an undiscovered enemy or getting close enough to one now unlocks its entry (This is so you don't have to kill it in order to read its tip mainly)
Entries can now also be unlocked in Endless mode
You can also unlock the Boom-Brute's entry on stage 1
Stage 3/Parking Cellar
Added burn barrels to stage 3 that you can shoot to stoke the flames of. Increasing the area they light up, and the range of their flesh ignition (they'll burn you and enemies that get too close). They'll start to burn out after being stoked, but you can just shoot them again and their flames will go back up again (you can also stoke them with explosions)
- Added a massive unkillable parasite nest to the bottom left corner of Parking Cellar that'll spawn valueless parasites when you get too close (this is to make the bottom left corner of the map less safe and also to add something a bit more interesting than just "another hole in the wall where regular enemies can spawn from")
Tweaked the crashed car's sprites on stage 3 to now have a cracked windshield and the drivers seat door kicked off
- The player now starts on the left side of the car on stage 3 instead of the right side
Other stuffMoving while burning now increases the effect duration drain by 50%Tweaked the explosion animation sprite a bitRenamed Warehouse to Shelter
Restart text no longer flashes and just stays on screen when you die in Wave Mode
Swapped around yes and no buttons on the "Would you like to give some feedback?" screen so you don't hit yes as easily (I would like the feedback, but I feel like having to move your mouse over to no would slightly annoy some player)
Removed the "(unfinished)" text next to Wave Mode on the main menu because some people think it means it's not available yet
Introducing: Resistances!
Melee Resistance:
Reduces melee damage by 5% per level
Costs $65 at base
Can be upgraded 3 times
Projectile Resistance:
Reduces projectile damage by 10% per level
Costs $50 at base
Can be upgraded 3 times
Explosion Resistance:
Reduces explosion damage by 10% per level
Costs $80 at base
Can be upgraded 2 times
Environmental Resistance:
Reduces environmental damage by 10% per level
Costs $25 at base
Can be upgraded 3 times
Knockback Resistance:
Reduces knockback by 25% per level
Costs $10 at base
Can be upgraded 4 times
Status Effect duration Resistance:
Reduces negative status effect duration by 10% per level
Costs $80 at base
Can be upgraded 3 times
Status Effect system!
I've implemented a new Status Effect system to the player which will GREATLY help with adding new effects! It's also very versatile and can actually be used in future games!
Current status effects can be seen at the bottom of the screen as well as a timer on them (alongside new status effects, this includes: dash cooldown, Invulnerability, Ghost, Tenacity cooldown, skunk breath and burning)
Some status effects have a different "max duration" compared to their "start duration". This is the case with Burn for example, meaning that when you touch fire at first, the duration is only 5 seconds long. But if you stay in the fire, every 0.5 seconds will increase the duration by 1 second, up to a max of 8 seconds
New Upgradeable Stat: Dash Distance
- Increases dash distance by 25% per level Costs $70 at base
- Can be upgraded 3 times
New Passive Perk: Regenerator
Upon taking at least 0.9 (0.8 on easy mode) damage in a single hit, starts regenerating 0.5 (0.45 on easy mode) HP over the course of 5 seconds (can not be triggered multiple times at once)
Unaffected by resistances
New Active Ability: Turbo
- Takes 20 damage to charge
- Grants a +25% speed boost for 5 seconds on activation
Upgrades:
- Effect duration: +0.5 seconds to duration (costs $50 at base, can be upgraded 3 times)
- Boost: +5% to speed effect, so it'll be +40% at max level (costs $50 at base, can be upgraded 3 times)
New Enemy: Kindler
Ignites the player on a melee hit and is immune to fire (it's a pretty basic enemy, but I just wanted to add it)It's only in Endless Mode for now
New Enemy: Banshee
Stands a bit away from the player and starts wailing. If the player is too close while it's wailing, they'll get a status effect that increases damage taken by 25% for the next 10-15 secondsIt's only in Endless Mode for now
New Enemy: Torpedo
Once making line of sight with the player, makes a sound and an alert icon pointing in its direction appears indicating it's about to go flying at you, exploding on collisionWhile it's flying at its target, it has 4 health, so you can't just hold down fire with the Minigun at it and be safe It's only in Endless Mode for now
Enemy changes
Normally I'd just lump the enemy changes in with the Main changes, but I've rebalanced so much this time it warrants its own segment
General changes
Enemies are now more likely to spawn at the closest spawnpoint to to the player (this is to combat the issue of the player just simply running circles around the map)
- Enemies are now more likely to drop health pickups the lower your health gets
Speed boosted enemies now are speed boosted by +35% instead of +50%
- Boost Mass-Mutation now give enemies their boosts for 20 seconds instead of 30
- The ring on boosted enemies now fades away with the duration of the boost
Parasite will no longer give money (with the exception of the "Infested!" Mass-Mutation in Endless Mode)
The Bramble now has a chance to release a bunch of poisonous particles if you're close for too long instead of burrowingPoison deals extreme damage over time, but won't do the killing blow. It doesn't do damage when you health is 1 or less (it lasts 4-6 seconds)Spitter and Spreadspitter:
Decreased projectile damage from 1 to 0.9
Projectile speed and life span are now affected by difficulty: (Easy: -10% speed and lifetime) (Hard: +10% speed and lifetime)
(Spitter only) Projectiles now has 10% health on hard mode, meaning they'll tank 1 Minigun bullet
Tweaked AI to now switch to melee attack when the player gets too close
Decreased move speed
Decreased projectile speed
Devourer:
Increased health from 5 to 6
Increased its speed
No longer slows down when turning
Decreased attack range
Minelayer:
Increased melee attack from 1 to 1.25 and reduced landmine enemy damage from 2 to 1.5
Shortened time between mine spawns from 2 seconds to 1.75
Mine spawn rate is now affected by difficulty: (Easy: +10% longer interval) (Hard: -10% interval)
1 in 4 chance to spawn a Living Landmine instead of a regular landmine in Hard mode
Living Landmine now ignores other enemies and passes through them (except for Parasites and Rabbitlings)Angler will now go directly for the player if it hasn't been aggro'd after 30 seconds (this is to avoid it being the remaining enemy on stage 3 and the player is just left confused where the last enemy is)Decreased Angler attack area (it was able to hit the player if they were directly behind it while it attacked before)Renamed Echoer to WarperGave Warper a sound for when it's about to teleport and increased the time it takes to teleport after starting its animation (this is to make them feel a little less bs to fight)Increased Prowler speedIncreased Rabbitling speedIncreased Rabbit Mother speed a tiny bitRabbit Mother's Rabbitling spawn range is now affected by difficulty: (Easy: -10% range) (Hard: +20% range)Caustic acid pools now apply a short but strong DoT effect on both the player and enemiesThe Healbooster and Healbooster Sporemound now heal 1 health to enemies per spore instead of 0.2Increased the enemy sentries fire rate and rangeIncreased stationary boosters' spore production and rangeIncreased time between Parasite Nest Parasite spawns from 3 seconds to 4Infested now gives $4 instead of $1Added a 0.2 second interval between Parasite spawns from Infested corpsesGave The Bramble's in-game sprites some... additions
Gave The Brute a cool sleeveless hoodie
Touched up on The Prowlers in-game sprites
Tweaked the Parasite Nest sprite
Changed the booster spore sprite
Bug fixes
Fixed starting a new Wave Mode run COMPLETELY wiping your save data. Including settings and bestiary entries (major oopsies)Fixed the first wave in the tutorial being able to be started earlyFixed bullet pierce just randomly not... piercing ._."Fixed Boom-Brute being able to trigger close range explosions when not close enough to the player to actually deal damage with themFixed Explosive not being able to drop health pickupsFixed the intro animation skip acting weird (you can instantly skip with pressing enter once now)Fixed Out With a Bang not saying enemies take less damage from enemy created explosions some timesFixed Skunk corpses being slightly ahead of where they should beFixed the player being shown holding the Boomerang instead of the Pistol if you hover your mouse over the shop button as soon as a stage finishes loadsFixed "FIRERATE" grammar error (it's actually not a word as it turns out)Fixed enemy corpses sometimes being layered underneath one that just died if they on top of another enemies corpse
And, as always, but ESPECIALLY now,
Did some other stuff I prob forgor ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯