New Trailer

First big update of 2020! For the past 2 months I've focused on marketing preparation, such as creating a brand new website and trailer. I've also been contacting streamers, watching them play, and making some great changes to the new player experience. More on that in a moment, but first check this new trailer!

Super Strong Zombies

Perhaps the biggest change this version is simply this - [b]zombies now have 100hp instead of 50hp[/b]. At first this seems like a simple change, but when you remember that 50% of your time is spent as a zombie, this is a huge change to the flow of the game. The time to kill has doubled, especially for new players who are zombies most of the time. By cranking the hit points up to 100hp, zombies now play almost identically to normal players, and the game feels a lot nicer because of it. Zombies are no longer a death-trap for new players.

Upgradeable Guns

Of course, with 100hp zombies being a survivor is now scarier than ever, so a number of fun changes have been added to compensate for this. First of all, killing zombies will give you more cash and experience. Always nice. But the real fun change is this - [b]whenever you kill a zombie, your current weapon will gain +2% damage[/b]. This suddenly makes killing zombies great fun, and as a survivor you might even dare to venture out of the safe zone to hunt them, because you can upgrade your gun all the way up to +40% damage and gain a huge showdown advantage.

New Zombie Resurrections

The third and final zombie change is a bit controversial, but honestly great fun - [b]if you kill another zombie, you have a 10% chance to instantly resurrect[/b]. This introduces a second way to get back in the game as a zombie. The most common and reliable method is to kill a living player, but now you have a chance of coming back from a zombie kill too! This makes playing as a zombie more exciting because you always have hope. Even when all the survivors have retreated to the safety of the red zone, you still have a chance and a way to win. Being a zombie has never been more fun - and killing zombies is now even funner.

Tutorial and Better Interface

The game now helps new players learn the game in various ways. There is a new tutorial option which triggers when a new player first clicks the PLAY button. This will host a special server against bots, where they only do 20% damage against you. This lets you progress through the Newbie Checklist up the top right in peace and gives a safe, lag-free, veteran-free first experience of the game.

I've also added little tool tips, such as a prompt to pickup a nearby gun if you are only holding a pistol (I've noticed that new players tend to run right past guns for some reason). Also, the mechanics of the Battle Royale mode are explained better in various ways, most impressively with this sexy new victory screen that shows up each time someone wins a round. It will flash red if an enemy wins, and green if an ally wins. It also explains how the point scoring system works:

Major Vehicle Buffs

Vehicles have had their hitpoints buffed and now have the ability to regenerate health out of combat. You also don't instantly die if your vehicle explodes, but are simply ejected out with a mere 20hp loss. To compensate for this, passengers inside a car will now take more damage (25% instead of 15%, almost double).

This is a win-win both for drivers and those on-foot. Drivers can now cruise around the map without their car exploding instantly, and those on-foot can now shoot at cars without feeling like their bullets don't do anything. The whole thing is balanced a lot nicer and vehicles are now a legitimately viable form of combat.

Changelog

There are a few other nifty changes this version too. Such as everyone starting with 10 extra skill points. This alone is a huge improvement and allows players to really explore advanced skill builds without having to spend the first half of the round looting. A lot of focus has gone into the bots AI as well, generally making them easier, but harder in the final stages of the round - making each showdown a legitimate adrenaline pumping experience. Check out the full list below!

- 10 extra skill points for everyone

- Zombies now have 100hp instead of 50

- Zombies now award double the cash for kills and full XP

- Killing enemies now upgrades your gun with +2% DMG (not if you're a zombie)

- Reduced the damage of most guns to 90% of previous levels

- Zombies now have a 10% chance or randomly resurrecting by killing another zombie

- Reduced warmup round duration

- Prettier and more informative text is shown after each round

- Supply drops now only give 20s warning

- Bots in general are easier, but superbots are harder

- Bots no longer shoot you from offscreen

- You can't dodge vehicles by jumping anymore, gotta shift them

- In nonBR game modes, you start with a random tier1 gun

- XP earned on higher difficulties is increased

- Vehicles now have health regen, more hitpoints and faster speed

- Vehicles are no longer death traps when they explode

- Shooting a player inside a vehicle now does 25% damage instead of 15%

- Made vehicle explosions look cooler

- You now get $500 for destroying vehicles instead of $200

- Double Damage doesn't apply to other players with double damage

- Reduced the amount of cash and guns that spawn on the ground

- Guards in the campaign now do 50% as much damage as before

- Fixed a bug where joining an online game now restarts the match if no one is in it

- Fixed a bug where the gamepad would register without you realising it

- Fixed a bug where bullet recoil wasn't syncing properly with linux servers

- Fixed a bug when matchmaking would put you into a server with high ping

- Fixed a bug where players could jump into an enemies vehicle (avoiding roadkill)

40% Discount on Steam

If you like the game and want to support it, you can do so by getting the full game and the DLC for 40% off here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/308600/Geneshift/

Have fun!

Bencelot.