Hi NIMRODS,
We’ve got an exciting progress update to share!
In the following sections we’ve outlined a snippet of the features that we have been working on - all which are still in development. We've also included tags to give you an idea of when to expect them. The Bzz Update is coming up very soon (beta testing is now open - see more details at the end of this post), with more updates planned after that. Keep in mind that everything shared here is a work in progress and subject to change.
Bzz Arena
We're excited to introduce our next playable character: Bzz - a fierce bee-like creature. To unlock Bzz, you'll first have to face off against him in his secret arena. We don’t want to spoil too many details of the fight - but we’re excited for you all to try it out. This area will be an extension to the Hive Barrens with new breakables, threats and mechanics.
New Biome
The Violet Forest is our newest biome, teeming with fungi and mushroom inspired elements. Prepared to face a range of new enemies - from fat fungus to shroom-firing cannons. More details will be unveiled soon!
New Chests
We’ve been rethinking how chests work to make unlocking augments more interesting. Expect new chest types that require creative solutions to open.
Augments
Magic Module Augment
Genies? Magic? This augment line makes your bullets wrap from one side of the screen to the other, giving fast projectiles an extra edge. At upgraded levels, you'll even get three wishes to cheat death - plus some other bonuses.
Bifurcation Augment
This is a unique and experimental augment currently in development. Each shot of bullets you fire will be connected by a tether, and any enemy that encounters the tether will be affected by your projectile’s on-hit effects. For example, if you're using the Cryo Magazine, the tether will freeze any enemies it hits as your bullets do.
We’ve included a preview of the current implementation. Please note the beam tether is still a work in progress and the final artwork is still in the works. (slowed down to show the hit calculations)
Reroll Improvements
We’re actively testing ways to make rerolls more prevalent in the early game. At present, you can only find rerolls in the Gambler Pod, but as we expand the pool of gun augments, we also want to provide more opportunities for rerolling. While this won’t be in the next update, but it’s coming in one not too far down the line.
Gunporium
You’ve asked, and we agree. We’re in early development on the Gunporium, a place where you can view your guns, augments, stats, and more. We're still prototyping, but here’s a quick mock-up of what it could look like.
Performance Improvements
We’ve made significant performance improvements, particularly on the minimap. It now uses the main camera instead of a separate one - visually identical, but with a big performance boost, especially on devices like the Steam Deck (you no longer have to disable VSync to get the max framerate early game)
We’re also planning a full optimization pass on all enemies. This will take some time, but improvements will roll out over the next several updates.
Steam Rich Presence
A small feature based on community feedback - Steam will now reflect what you're doing in-game, whether you’re exploring a biome, battling a boss, or relaxing on the Home Ship 😌
As always, each update includes a number of quality of life improvements and bug fixes, which we’ll detail in the patch notes when the update goes live.
This is just a small glimpse into what we’re building as we head toward 1.0. Stay tuned for much more!
Public Beta is LIVE
Up next is the Bzz Battle Update. We are currently running a public Beta for this update, so come join us on Discord to participate - we’d love to hear your feedback!
