Hello all, it's been a while! Sorry it's been so long, I've been trying to do more frequent
nightly uploads only on the Discord due to a significant change in the balance. I think it's in an
ok enough place for an alpha. And during all those balance changes, I had plenty of time to add
quite a few significant new features! It's a long list of changes, with an even longer list of
balance changes at the bottom. It's also the first time trying out using the website to add patch
notes, so let me know what you think!
- Greenfoot5
Super Significants
Localisation & Settings
The game can now be translated into different languages! Currently, I'm working on adding a
pirate language as I only know English (I've tried to learn French and Japanese in the past,
but sadly I've struggled). There's still a lot to clean up, especially something like level
name is used in multiple places rather than having just one reference. This should be done
over the next few updates as each duplicate is cleaned up one by one.
To contribute to a localisation, there are forums on Discord for it. If you wish to
contribute, there isn't any code required, and if you really don't want to touch the code, you
can just mention the changes in the Discord forum and a contributor will get to it as soon as
they can. We can also add localisations without making the available so even if you only want
to contribute one translation, that's fine! This pirate language still needs work! There are a
few modules that aren't updated, along with many buttons. If you're interested in making up
some pirate, join in the discussion! Don't like pirate but want another fun language? Create a
post for it!
The discussions are only on Discord for now. I will be looking into how best to open the
discussions on GitHub too, but for now it's Discord only. During this time you're welcome to
open issues or email [email protected] with the specific changes you think should be made.
You can change your localisation from the brand new settings menu (there's a button on the
main menu).
Saving
This is not completely tested. There are likely still bugs, but saving and loading is now
available. The game will automatically save when a wave ends, and when a wave starts. Any new
save will overwrite your old save. If it gets corrupted while saving, you save will be lost.
But, saving is now here, so if you need to pause for a bit, there's almost no worry that
you'll lose your progress.
This also bring about a change to when we save to the leaderboard. Rather than upload your
score when it's game over or you pause the game, we now save whenever the local save is made
(after waves and when the next one starts) meaning as soon as someone beats your score, it's
saved. We also don't retry the save if it failed, this way we're more likely to save a score
(even if it's a wave or two below what you achieved).
If you do discover any bugs related to saving, please do make sure to report them on discord
or email [email protected].
Merged Modules
Two modules of the same tier, will now be merged into the next tier! This means very, *very*,
significant changes to the modules balance, the highest level of each module has probably
increased for every module. For example, damage, range and fire rate now reach T7. You can
find the balance changes at the bottom of this page
Tutorial
Add a tutorial that is rather boring and all text, but it's also only the first version. If
you're brand new to the game, or have already played a few times, do check it out, as there's
a few things in there that might surprise you. There's also a wiki link within the tutorial so
you can easily locate the wiki in-game.
GitHub Issues
This one's more for development, but we've moved from using the Notion To Do list to GitHub
issues. This allows other people to more easily collaborate, and better integrates the to do
list with both code and pull requests. The updates to the to do list are also more easily
available in Discord too.
Privacy Policy
As I work towards publishing the game on the Play Store with the release of the beta, I've
been working towards meeting all their compliance stuff. One of which is a privacy policy. You can view it here: https://bestagon.alchemix.dev/legal/privacy.html, and there's also a button in the settings to view it. A button will be added to the website
homepage when I can.
Not So Significants
Shop UI Improvements
The Shop UI got some significant enhancements in terms of how well it scales with screen
size. On phones, it won't be quite so squished for example and all the text readable. Due to
an imperfect solution some of the text is tiny, and issue #112 on github will remain open, so it's noted as something that's still not finished.
The margins at the bottom and sides of the shop have also been reduced while at the top text
was added to make it clear that the game is paused while the shop is open.
New Art
The map and the fast enemies got some art improvements! These do make the game slightly less
clear and mostly add gradients. There are plans to add art to all enemies and turrets before
beta, but I'm not sure yet what it will look like. This is separate from the 3d art
attempts.
Level Removals
Both Hexagon and Polygon have been removed from the map pool. This is because I'd prefer to
focus on just three levels (those with unique balance) rather than having three levels with
the same balance plus two others. It devalues the levels that are balanced the same, and
demotivates balancing Loop and Upgrade as the balance only affects on map.
The maps have not been deleted, but are just no longer packaged in a build, nor in the level
select. They may make a comeback at some point, but there's no plan for that currently.
GitHub Actions Working
GitHub actions are finally working! They now automatically build for Linux, Windows (64x and
not). These happen as soon as someone pushes to the repository (aka the new nightly/dev
builds). Sadly MacOS/OSX and Android aren't working, I'm aiming to look into these at a
further date so everyone has access.
Other Changes
Updated Unity Version
We're now using Unity 2022 for the project. While not a LTS version, it's stable enough that
I felt I could use it after 2021 was crashing too much when I wanted to work.
Main Menu Improvements
Based on if you're playing the release version, the beta, the alpha or a nightly/dev build,
the wordmark will change colour to reflect the version you're playing.
There are also some social buttons at the bottom right, one for GitHub, one for Ko-Fi and
one for Discord.
Enemies now rotate towards their target
The rotation is instant, but it means tracer (fast enemy) now actually looks where it's
going. This was a small experiment during development to see if it makes units like the
square better, and it appears it does.
Projectiles are now drawn on top of everything but the UI
Projectiles used to hide under other enemies and turrets, but they are now drawn on top
meaning you can see them almost anywhere.
Many, many bug fixes.
Most of these were bugs discovered by new features and the nightly builds.
Balance Changes
Modules
Bombs
| Explosion Radius | Damage | Fire Rate | Range | Bullet Speed | Knockback (Lancer Only) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | +30% | +35% | -5% | -10% | -5% | -5% |
| T2 | +60% | +50% +75% | -15% | -20% | -15% -10% | -15% |
| T3 | +100% +120% | +70% +175% | -40% | -30% | -30% -15% | -25% |
| T4 | +240% | +375% | -60% | -45% | -50% +30% | -40% |
| Damage | Range | |
|---|---|---|
| T1 | +10% | +10% |
| T2 | +15% +20% | +15% +20% |
| T3 | +25% +40% | +25% +40% |
| T4 | +85% | +85% |
- Bombs now target the location of the enemy when fired, rather than chasing the enemy.
We wanted to focus on keeping bombs and missile separate, and while only bombs can be applied to smasher, bombs felt like a bad choice for shooter and gunner. This should change that and make bombs more unique.
- Bombs can now be applied to Lancer
Now that bombs target location, why not add it to Lancer?
Burn
Damage (% of max health) | Tick Count | Tick Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | +2% | 3 | 1s |
| T2 | +3% | 6 | 0.5s |
| T3 | +3.5% | 8 | 0.25s |
Critical
| Chance | |
|---|---|
| T1 | +5% ÷ fire rate |
| T2 | +12% ÷ fire rate |
| T3 | +25% ÷ fire rate |
Damage
| Damage | |
|---|---|
| T1 | +15% |
| T2 | +25% +29% |
| T3 | +45% +58% |
| T4 | +115% |
| T5 | +90% +228% |
| T6 | +450% |
| T7 | +1000% |
Execute
| Health Remaining | |
|---|---|
| T1 | 20% 10% |
| T2 | 30% 20% |
| T3 | 30% |
Fire Rate
| Fire Rate | |
|---|---|
| T1 | +10% |
| T2 | +15% +19% |
| T3 | +25% +37% |
| T4 | +55% |
| T5 | +160% |
| T6 | +296% |
| T7 | +590% |
Ghost
- No Change
Giantslayer
| Damage to Bosses | |
|---|---|
| T1 | +50% |
| T2 | +100% |
| T3 | +195% |
| T4 | +390% |
| T5 | +775% |
Instakill
| Chance | |
|---|---|
| T1 | +0.5% ÷ fire rate |
| T2 | +1% ÷ fire rate |
| T3 | +1.97% ÷ fire rate |
| T4 | +3.9% ÷ fire rate |
Missiles
| Explosion Radius | Damage | Fire Rate | Bullet Speed | Fire Rate (Gunner Only) | Bullet Speed (Gunner Only) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | +20% +15% | +20% +40% | -20% | +35% | -5% | +5% |
| T2 | +40% | +30% +60% | -20% | +50% | -10% | +15% |
| T3 | +75% +60% | +100% +175% | -40% | +65% +75% | -15% -25% | +30% |
| T4 | +70% | +400% | -60% | +85% | -60% | +50% |
Poison
| Damage | Tick Count | Tick Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | 150 | 10 | 0.5s |
| T2 | 300 400 | 12 | 0.25s |
| T3 | 1200 | 14 | 0.25s |
| T4 | 3000 | 11 | 0.2s |
| T5 | 9000 | 10 | 0.15s |
Range
| Range | |
|---|---|
| T1 | +15% +10% |
| T2 | +20% +19% |
| T3 | +40% +42% |
| T4 | +90% |
| T5 | +80% +200% |
Reload
| Chance | |
|---|---|
| T1 | +10% |
| T2 | 19% |
| T3 | 37% |
- Fixed a bug where reload wouldn't trigger
Slow
| Slow Percentage | Duration | Spin Up Multiplier (Gunner Only) | Spin Down Multiplier (Gunner Only) | Range (Smasher Only) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | +7.5% | 2s | -10% | +7.5% | -15% |
| T2 | +10% | 3s | -20% | +15% | -22.5% |
| T3 | +15% | 3.5s | -30% | +25% | -30% |
| T4 | +20% | 4s | -50% | +40% | -40% |
- Slow is capped at 60% speed loss (was 80%)
Slows was a little too good at holding back enemies and made choke-points a bit too powerful. Hopefully this should help spread out players' defences.
Sniper
| Range | Damage | Fire Rate | Rotation Speed | Bullet Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | +100% | +120% | -50% | -30% | +100 |
| T2 | +175% | +220% | -75% | -40% | +150% |
| T3 | +450% | +375% | -120% | -70% | +275% |
| Range | Damage | Rotation Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | +50% | +50% | -50% |
| T2 | +75% | +100% | -65% |
| T3 | +140% | +180% | -85% |
| Range | Damage | Fire Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | +70% | +100% | -50% |
| T2 | 110% | 210% | -75% |
| T3 | +260% | +350% | -87% |
Stun
| Enemy Chance | Duration | Turret Chance | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | 7% ÷ fire rate | 0.25s | 4% ÷ fire rate | 0.75s |
| T2 | 15% ÷ fire rate | 0.5s | 7% ÷ fire rate | 1.25s |
- Stun now stuns turrets correctly
There was a bug preventing this from working, which has now been fixed, there's an animation that plays that's similar to surge. While stunned, the turret doesn't rotate, shoot or even make progress on it's next attack, but will still remember what enemy it was targeting
Surge
| Fire Rate | Duration | Cooldown | |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | +175% | 3s | 4s |
| T2 | +250% | 4s | 8s |
| T3 | +400% | 2s | 3s |
Tracker
| Rotation Speed | Damage | Max Fire Rate (Gunner Only) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | +40% | +10% | +10% |
| T2 | +80% +85% | +17% +25% | +20% |
| T3 | +160% | +50% | +38% |
| T4 | +300% | +100% | +75% |
Velocity
| Bullet Speed | Fire Rate | Range (Gunner & Shooter Only) | Bullet Range (Lancer Only) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | +30% | +7% | +7% | +10% |
| T2 | +60% +55% | +12% +15% | +12% +15% | +20% |
| T3 | +120% | +25% | +25% | +35% |
| Damage | Fire Rate | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | +10% | +10% | +10% |
| T2 | +15% +20% | +15% +20% | +15% +20% |
| T3 | +50% | +20% | +50% |
Turrets
Laser
| Damage Per Second | Range | Rotation Speed |
|---|---|---|
| 200 180 | 4 | 7 |
Enemies
- No Changes