Chaos Chain
Attention, freelancers!
Hey everyone, I've been working on this update for the past month. I feel like it's at a point now that I can safely release it. There were some issues that I found during my testing/work that I wanted to get taken care of before I pushed out anything else, so that is why there was a bit of a delay from the last content update.
A new boss is operating a smuggling ring somewhere in the Slade Sprawl
That said, there's a lot of new stuff in this patch. Smugglers are no longer purely just set pieces - they're a fully fleshed out faction and you can actually fight them and run into roaming gangs of them during your travels in the form of random encounters. In the next update, I plan to include some travel events (the ones that are narrated and have a scenario presented) involving them. For now, there's a side quest (given by Omari - another big character that was previously only ever encountered one time during the main story) where you can tangle with them. I did a lot of testing with them and I tried to make them actually "feel" different to fight against compared to regular thugs. On top of that, I also diversified some of the skill patterns and stats on a lot of the enemies already in the game to make their faction/gang behave uniquely.
Jengo, Omari's muscle
The Smoldering Pits subdistrict is now finalized for my planned content for the area. I am moving away now and onto other things such as further areas, finally getting around to expanding the main story further, and creating more content in other areas of the game world. I look forward to continuing to expand the playable areas and filling them out with more stuff to do.
Preview of the new side quest and area
The Datalog (quest journal) now shows a risk factor associated with EVERY side quest and contract to give players a better idea of what they're getting involved in. This change is part of a lot of feedback that I have received regarding balance, especially early on, and the fact that you could accidentally walk into a really tough situation or encounter without being fully aware of it and get screwed over because of it. That is no longer the case. The info is there now to help guide you. Originally, I didn't want to include anything like this because I felt like it sort of felt like a spoiler, but I heard a lot of responses regarding the subject and my feelings on the matter changed. So, now with a side quest for example, in the bottom right of the panel, it shows you a risk factor (out of 5) for the anticipated risk associated with a given quest. A 0 means absolutely no risk. A 5 means you're going to get destroyed. A ? means that I couldn't put a number on it such as repeatable tasks where you need to find and deliver items because there are about a million ways to acquire things in the game and some of them pose a threat and some do not. Anything between 1 and 5 just means there's probably some danger, with the number getting higher if there is a tougher fight or more enemies or harder skill checks.
Another thing I did based on player feedback is include more info/help text for some of the quests already in the game. A bit of new dialogue was added in a few different places to give more guidance on what is involved/expected in some quests, considerably. Some of the original dialogues were a bit vague and now have more detail to help out.
As for the rest, check out the full change log below!
*Please note that these changes are not in any particular order.*
BETA Update 1.103.0 Change Log:
Bug Fixes:
- FIXED a typo in one of the latest updated dialogues
- FIXED a clipping issue with some of the floor tiles
- FIXED being able to open the PDA screen during the intro
- FIXED being able to open the companion dialogue system during the intro (It would tell you that you had no companions to talk to but obviously wasn't intended to be directly usable during the intro text)
- FIXED ammo containers not spawning loot properly (They will now spawn ammo as intended and regular containers can now spawn ammo again)
- FIXED thug faction enemies still having pipe bombs in their loot drop lists
- FIXED Roid's interference weakness stat (It was only at 35% when it should have been 60% - he now has a true "Achilles Heel" as intended)
- Added a new Steam Achievement
- Added new side quest "Conflict of Interest"
- All side quests and contracts now have a risk level (1-5) listed in their datalog section (It's just an estimated value of difficulty for the quest --- this is based on community feedback)
- Quest giver names are now listed in purple instead of pink in the datalog
- Updated help text with new hints about the side quest "Relief Recovery" (Based on community feedback)
- Added some new characters/environment changes that take place/appear after certain events and choices
- Added Smugglers as an official enemy faction (Faction specific bonuses: +5% Ranged Evasion, +5% Evasion)
- Added battler graphics for smuggler enemies
- Added Smuggler Breaker enemy variant
- Added Smuggler Trigger enemy variant
- Added Smuggler Gunrunner enemy variant
- Added Smuggler Rattler enemy variant
- Added Smuggler Crackshot enemy variant
- Added Smuggler Slammer enemy variant
- Added a new boss enemy
- Added a new "magic"/special weapon
- Added Gun Butt ability to nail gun by default
- Added new boss enemy graphics (Sprite, battler, and portrait)
- Added Smuggler enemy encounter troop lists
- Added a new plot related item
- Added new item icon art
- Updated randomized encounter lists with the smuggler troop compositions when traveling between zones
- Renamed some existing enemy class variants to better fit their roles
- Immortal gang members will no longer use glitter bombs in combat but can now use concussion grenades
- Updated enemy loot drop lists
- Added new TV barks (2)
- Added Hab Block 13: Top Floor area (Becomes available after talking to a new unique NPC after going to the Hab Block during the main quest - there will be further interaction with these characters later, but for now there's a new side quest available)
- Added Drug Den area (Plot Related - Smoldering Pits)
- Level up message now mentions that the given character has gained skill points as a reminder
- Added new unique NPC graphics (Sprites and portraits)
- Added new unique NPCs to interact with
- Added new Hexer NPC sprites
- Added new construction worker NPC sprites with new gasmasks by Ace Hangman (Thank you!)
- Updated several dialogues with new details and options
- Various other minor tweaks and changes (A lot of them)
Please let me know of any bugs or issues you encounter so I can fix them. This update will be available for download shortly.
A friendly reminder: if you're enjoying the game so far or have ideas you'd like to share, please consider leaving a review for the game. This not only helps with much needed visibility, but also gives me important feedback for the game to help it become a better final product. Also, if you have questions, concerns, or requests, please visit the official Chaos Chain Steam Forums or join the official Discord Channel!
Official Links:
- Corrosive Studios Steam Store Page
- Chaos Chain Steam Discussion Forums
- Corrosive Studios Discord Server
- Official Patreon Page
That's all for now, enjoy!
Stay Alert. Stay Armed. Stay Alive. Don't lose your humanity.
-Cryptic ːCStudiosː