- Campaign Mode Preview - 31 July 2019
Folks, just a little longer until the next update. Thank you for your patience! Most systems for the new Campaign Mode are in place, as you can see in the video below: https://youtu.be/JIAG_XQub4M What I'm going to do the next couple of days is create the content, i.e. the levels and tutorials. Here's what's coming: Complete levels to unlock special abilities, gain ability charges and access to more levels. Each level can present you with a variety of objectives and limitations. ( along with custom-tailored enemy waves of increasing difficulty as you progress in the campaign). Configure your starting loadout: assign charges to your favorite special abilities or the ones that are most effective to complete the current objective. Side-grading options for Arcade and Co-op Modes: unlock additional starting slots for each special ability and redistribute the fixed number of available charges…
- Hotfix 0.7e: Mini Stun Duration - 15 April 2019
The version you have installed is shown in the main menu screen. Bugfixes The Stun power-up's duration, when only one avatar is alive, was 0. Set it to something more reasonable... Updated the Stun power-up's sound effects so they work like the rest of the audio. Fixed an issue where the edges could flash in the wrong rhythm if players didn't zap anything before level 1.
- Hotfix v0.7d (Advanced Tutorial fix) - 2 April 2019
Hot on the heels of the main update...(You can always see which version of the game you have in the Main Menu.) Bugfixes Fixed a bug in the Advanced Tutorial where the wrong power-up would spawn, preventing tutorial progress. Fixed power-up sprites so they match the new special ability icons.
- Power-Up Update: v0.7 / See You at EGX! - 2 April 2019
Folks, you now have a new special ability at your disposal: Invincibility! Quickly press and your avatars will grow bigger, faster, and indestructible for a little while, allowing you to cheerfully bump into all those pesky enemies without a care in the world and watch them pop! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32753801%2F4647edb411f04df635af590fbe21ff6b3f5eca6d.gif This is the most defensive of the four abilities and it's quick and easy to activate, too. The trade-off is that your multiplier won't apply to points you score this way. It represents the opposite of the Spinning Beam on the risk-/reward-spectrum and thus is also particularly well-suited for new players. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32753801%2F3e8bbf9d00e3097854f378e4a8cc8a4ca9d9112a.png This completes the set of special abilities planned for the 1.0 releas…
- Tiny Post-Update Update - 17 March 2019
In the video settings, setting flashing to "none" didn't properly disable background flashing. Now it does. :-)
- Update 0.6.7: Improved Controller Support & Bugfixes - 16 March 2019
Hi everyone! As some of you know, I invested some time into the Switch port of the game recently. That also was a good opportunity to work on the controller support on the PC version. Since MODSORK revolves so much around its unique control scheme, I've always wanted to pay special attention to how you physically interact with the game and to make the best of what the hardware can offer. What's New: Customized rumble patterns for DS4 and XBox360 controllers. In the past I noticed the rumbling felt weird when I wasn't using the controllers I normally worked with, so now it's calibrated for each device. New rumble events, for instance when teleporting. Light bar support for DS4: it shows correct player color and also blinks in the color of the surviving avatar when the other is dead. .https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32753801%2F1d19c9c8f5cf33aef5bf7b3e0ace4%25E2%2580%25A6
- Time For Some Music (Update)! - 13 February 2019
I'm excited to share this update with you. It is mainly about the music and the synchronized visual effects. As always, you can choose to stick to the previous version by selecting it in the beta branch. There are only insignificant balance changes, so the leaderboards won't reset this time. At some point I'd like to do an in-depth devblog post about the game's audio systems and how it all works, but for now here's the update notes: New Features: Better support for music structure. Instead of escalating and reaching a plateau early, a run is now divided into music phases that allow changing things up further into the run. Support for lots more variations in looping sounds like drums (instead of simply looping sample A until it's time to loop sample B over and over, it's now possible to play e.g. AAABAAAB before changing to playing CDCD) Seamless audio transitions between the menu, pre-g…
- Music Update: Preview Available in Beta Branch - 4 February 2019
As the Music Updates approaches, there's now a new preview version available in the beta branch. Check it out to get an sneak peak of what's coming! (You can do so by right-clicking on the game in your library, and going to the beta tab). Here's some highlights: Seamless audio between menu, pre-game and post-game screens Expanded musical structure: as the game progresses, the semi-random chord progressions can change, samples can change (for instance different hihat patterns later into the game), all sorts of things can adapt to how far you are into a run various visual effects that are synchronized to the music can now adapt to various rhythms. some were previously deactivated (like the flashing lines on the edges of the arena, I think it looks quite cool) the patterns themselves now allow for variations, so for example a drum pattern can play 3 bars of pattern A and do a little variat…
- An Update on the Music Update and Miscellanous Stuff - 20 December 2018
Dear Current Players: The Music Update is coming along nicely, and soon! I ended up redoing a lot of the systems for the interactive music and extending their features. As every game developer will tell you, increasing the complexity of the features a game has also increases the time it takes to create content, but I'm very excited about these and the game will benefit from it. In other news, with the coming update, the "beta" branches will be named more appropriately. Currently, the "beta" branch holds the most recent previous version of the game. In the future, the previous version will be available in a branch called *drumroll....* previous_version! Yes, I did come up with that name myself, thank you! ;) The branch called "beta" will contain the latest version and experimental versions. Dear New Players: Welcome! I'm working on a Steam Guide that should come in handy with the learnin…
- Hotfix 0.6.2c - 13 November 2018
Just a little fix to address a very old and a very new issue: The Spinning Beam ability now shouldn't miss far-away enemies anymore and reliably zap everything it hits. Minor Update 0.6.2b introduced a bug where the revived avatar wouldn't move during its invulnerability phase. Sorry! It now works again as intended. The Spinning Beam fix may have an impact on performance, please let me know if you notice anything when you use it.
- Next: Music! Also: Minor Update 0.6.2b - 8 November 2018
I've uploaded a minor update that does the following: xbox 360 controllers: triggers now work in the menu, too (they already did for other game controllers) pressing ESC (instantly) or holding the back / select button for ~1sec will lead to instant game over if your run already started (so you don't have to kill yourself anymore to end the run). If you haven't zapped START yet, it will take you back to the menu instead. removed a GUI element in Arcade Mode that wasn't doing anything at the moment (you might see it again in the future ;) ) fixed a button sprite in the menu The version number of the game is always displayed in the main menu under the title, along with the most noteworthy changes. What's Next? The plan for the next major update is to work on the systems that control the music to make them smarter and make the music more dynamic. Content-wise, both existing SoundSets are go…
- Update 1 is online; Completely redone wave progression - 1 November 2018
Hi all, I'm happy to bring you the first major update to MODSORK. The main feature is a complete redesign of the wave progression, using new spawn shapes and behaviors. Give this new version a and go enjoy the added variety! The leaderboards have been reset, but the old leaderboards can still be looked up on Steam. New Content: New spawn patterns (various "Arrows", tight vertical lines, "Tristars") lots of new waves, structured in new wave levels Redid the whole wave system to be able to create content easier in the future Created a system for color management to facilitate creating "Color Sets" in the future added 2 new background Color Sets Bugfixes: fixed enemies remaining shielded after the shielder enemy ("clock") is dead unofficial keyboard controls: fixed insane diagonal movement speed-up fixed a bug with the power-up spawning schedule improved beam color consistency across backg…
- Unknown Pleasures: Five more of one thousand new games on Steam - 31 August 2018
Today’s selection marks the 1,000th game I’ve played this year. One sodding thousand. Admittedly it’s a meaningless number but it might give some hope to those of you who are worried that games are going downhill or it’s been a bad year. It really hasn’t. There are loads and loads of great games out there. Sure, there’s some rubbish too, but this column alone has sifted through a thousand in a mere 8 months, and that’s after discarding the big names, the stuff Fraser or Dominic have poached, the shovelware, and the inevitable daily idiot-milking dreck about PUTIN JONG BITCOIN HA HA HA. And that’s just on Steam! Things are good, my brave Unknowanauts. Whatever our complaints about Steam? The games, they are good. We are very lucky to be here, now. Long may it continue. Onwards then, to another round of Unknown Pleasures . Poking the squinty…
- What's Next? Early Access Plans - 31 August 2018
Hi all, Before PAX starts tomorrow, I thought I'd share some more info about what Early Access development will look like in the coming months: Types of Updates and Frequency I'm expecting to do regular updates on a more or less monthly schedule. In between those, there may be hotfixes if necessary. There will also be a beta branch where you can occasionally try out features I'm working on. Next Hotfix This is a bit of a major one and will bring a local leaderboard mode as well as more granular control over the flashing lights in the game (e.g. enable just the background flashing, without the "danger"-flashing). Also other fixes and improvements (like co-op scoring and current end-game waves). Unfortunately, the internet connection at my hotel is very unreliable, so this will have to wait till Friday next week when I'm back home. It's a bit ironic cause I've never been so close to Valve…
- Open Alpha Weekend Coming Up! - 2 August 2018
This weekend, (August 4th and 5th), there will an Open Alpha where you can give the game a go and at the same time help me find bugs and other issues before the proper Early Access launch. In the end this is happening as a separate time-limited free-to-play app that will unlock here: Edited, as the app is no longer online
