BIG UPDATE IS LIVE — New Maps, New Gameplay Style & Dynamic Atmosphere
Last Hope: Zombie Autobattler · published
Hey everyone,
One of the biggest updates I've worked on since starting this game is finally live.
This update adds a completely new map style with the Canyon maps, a new dynamic atmosphere and weather system, a full Minigun rework, tower and synergy adjustments, boss fixes, and a lot of smaller improvements and bug fixes.
First of all, I want to thank everyone who has given the game a chance, played it, added it to their wishlist, and taken the time to leave feedback or report bugs.
I'm developing this game completely on my own, so every bit of feedback genuinely helps me figure out what needs to be improved next.
Here's what's new:
New Canyon Maps & Map Switching
A new map style with a different gameplay approach has been added to the game.
Press B to switch to the new Canyon-style maps.
Press M to switch between the different themed maps available in this new map style.
Want to go back to the original gameplay style? Just press B again.
Each Canyon map has its own theme and atmosphere, while also changing how you approach your defenses.
Persistent Tower Placement
Towers can be dragged and placed on strategic positions along the Canyon walls.
Tower positions are automatically saved.
Your setup stays the same even if you close the game or switch between map styles.
If you pick up a tower and drop it somewhere that isn't a valid placement spot, the placement is cancelled and the tower returns to its original base slot.
Towers placed on the Canyon walls are 40% larger on the battlefield.
The Projector Tower now has a Canyon-specific +80° / -80° semi-circle scanning mode.
Dynamic Atmosphere & Weather System
I've also added a new atmosphere system to make each map feel more distinct.
Different maps now have their own environmental effects based on their theme:
Grass & Green Valleys — Golden and red autumn leaves drifting in the wind.
Radioactive Areas — Glowing toxic spores rising from the ground.
Magma & Hell — Burning embers and volcanic ash coming from the lava.
Ice & Tundra — Heavy snowfall and strong horizontal blizzards.
Desert & Canyon — Hot sandstorms that reduce visibility.
City & Military Base — Industrial dust and atmospheric smoke.
Island & Coast — Light sea spray and coastal moisture.
Caves — Glowing purple spores floating through the darkness.
The environmental fog also now automatically changes its color depending on the theme of the map.
Minigun Rework
The Minigun has received a pretty big visual and mechanical overhaul.
It now visually heats up as you keep firing.
Added 6 different visual heat stages.
The Minigun now progresses from cold, to high-speed rotation, heating up, glowing hot, and eventually overheating/jamming.
The rotating weapon mechanism has been separated from the lower platform.
The weapon can now rotate 360° while the mechanical base stays fixed to the ground.
Bullet spawn points and laser lines have been aligned more accurately with the barrel geometry.
Tower & Synergy Changes
Because of the different layout of the Canyon maps, I've gone through a lot of towers and their synergies individually.
Improved the contrast of Infantry and Minigun bullets on snowy maps so they don't disappear into the white terrain.
Infantry: Increased by 40% in Canyon maps and adjusted targeting for the horizontal attack lanes.
Mortar: Predictive targeting has been adjusted for Canyon's horizontal corridors.
Acid Tower: The Boiling Poison ultimate is now centered properly on the battlefield in Canyon maps.
Tesla Coil: Sphere Lightning and Magnetic Vortex are now kept within the Canyon boundaries.
Flame Drone: Fixed an issue where drones could fly over the mountains and disappear.
Sniper: Fixed target-lock issues when moving the tower.
Fixed DPS tracking for the Sniper's Gauss and Burst attacks.
Saw Tower: Reworked the old linear damage formula and moved it to an exponential million-scale damage system.
Ice Tower: Fixed Iceberg Launcher and freezing pools getting stuck in mountain slopes.
Sound Tower: Four Speakers of the Apocalypse, Banshee Drone and Decoy synergies have been adjusted to stay within the Canyon corridors.
Rocket Launcher: Glacial Spears and Black Hole synergies are now kept within the valley boundaries.
Aggressive Tree: Tower placement is now saved permanently.
Fixed zombies launched by the Aggressive Tree going outside the map.
Added DPS tracking for its secondary projectiles.
Boss Fixes
Some bosses had a few serious problems specifically on the Canyon maps, so I've fixed those as well.
Boss 4 — Drone Master
Fixed an issue where the drones could escape into the mountains and effectively make the boss impossible to kill.
The shield angle has also been adjusted and positioned toward the front-left side of the boss, facing the base.
Boss 5 — Omega
Omega's biomass growth rate has been rebalanced according to the width of the Canyon corridors.
Also fixed an issue where Omega could get buried inside the mountains.
Performance & Bug Fixes
Fixed X/Y/Z mode mismatches in particle velocity curves.
Cleaned up unnecessary console errors.
Fixed towers getting stuck with incorrect sizes or positions when switching between Normal and Canyon modes.
Reduced unnecessary object creation.
Moved several systems to Object Pooling.
Reduced unnecessary RAM and VRAM usage caused by repeated object creation.
One More Thing...
This game is being developed entirely by me, so updates like this take quite a bit of time.
I'm still learning and improving things as I go, and there are plenty of ideas and systems I'd like to add in the future.
If you've played the game and have any feedback, ideas, or even small bugs you've noticed, please let me know. I read the feedback and it genuinely helps me decide what to work on next.
And seriously, thank you for giving my game a chance.
I hope you enjoy the update.
Have fun!