Intravenous News

Hey everyone!

The BETA version of the Controller Support update (version 1.2) is now available on the "controllersupport" branch. It also adds tactical reloads, custom difficulties, and the improved shadow filtering.

As I am primarily a keyboard + mouse person, the game was designed with a keyboard + mouse set-up first and foremost. This is why I ask you, the community, to try the game out with a controller (those that have one) to give feedback on the control scheme.

Currently the game has two control schemes - the second one swaps some keys on the first one, basically making it more suitable for left-handed people. Feel free to suggest control schemes, as I can add as many as people come up with as long as they're comfortable.

The controller used for adding the support for them, was one that replicates the XBOX series controllers in it's button layout.

As this is a beta version, please understand that you might encounter issues if you opt into the BETA branch.



Version 1.2.0 BETA 1:
- added controller support
- added tactical reloads:
* a faster type of reload which results in the non-empty magazine being dropped to the ground
* enabled by enabling one of the activation schemes in the "Allow tactical reloads?" dropbox in the options menu
* performed by holding the reload key for a short duration
* three types of tactical reload control schemes: regular, inverse, double-tap

- player weapon handling balancing:
* AK-103, AK-107, Saiga-12K non-empty reload time increased to 1.9 seconds (was 1.7 seconds)
* MP5 empty mag, chamber ready reload time decreased to 1.3 seconds (was 1.6 seconds)
* Mini-uzi non-empty reload time increased to 1.9 seconds (was 1.6 seconds)

- improved and optimized shadow filtering:
* settings above "Rough" now produce a much better result, including penumbra simulation, for very smooth shadow fall-off near the edges of a light caster
* "Normal" quality now produces a visual result on par with, or better than, the previous "Soft" setting while using up to 20% less GPU power than the previous "Normal" setting
* "Soft" quality now produces a visual result far better than previously, while using up to 10% less GPU power
* a new shadow filtering quality setting - "Ultra" - has been added, it increases the penumbra quality, at the expense of increased GPU usage

- added a UI element hint when choking an enemy, to keep holding down the choke key to grab the body upon finishing the choke
- unconscious/dead bodies are now a little bit darker, so that they blend in more with the background, to make it easier for the player to see whether there is someone still alive in a place with a lot of dead bodies
- 'Easy' and 'Normal' difficulties now increase the protection provided by armor by 30% and 15%, respectively
- when picking up ammo, the ammo pick up element will now fill up to display how close you are to carrying the maximum amount of ammo for that caliber type
- when taking damage in 'Masochist' difficulty, and in any custom difficulty that has insta-death enabled, the 'hurt' effect will now show even if the player survived the attack due to body armor
- in the New Game+ menu the unlocked weapon list is now sorted by alphabet, in order to be easier to read and spot differences
- fixed the custom level campaign unlocking the 'Gun Nut' achievement (should be reserved only for the main campaign)
- fixed being able to infinitely duplicate empty mags, by unloading a weapon and reloading it in the right conditions
- fixed the game unlimiting FPS when the monitor's refresh rate exceeded 165hz and the player entered the options menu, with a previously set framerate cap of greater than 165 FPS


Simply right-click on Intravenous in your game list, click on 'Properties', switch over to the 'BETAS' tab, and opt into the "controllersupport" beta. Once the game finishes updating, you're good to go!

Got feedback or bugs to report regarding the Controller Update BETA branch? Post it here!

Don't forget to report any issues you encounter outside of the beta branch in this thread!

You can also join the official Discord server!

Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying the game!

Hey folks!

This update's main intent is to take care of a couple of AI oversights. It should save from frustration in cases where the AI seemingly starts behaving differently, compared to your previous reset.

Version 1.1.7:
- suspicious (not alert) goons are now a little bit easier to evade
- improved savefile preview image saving
- fixed enemies in 'suspicion' state not saving & restoring the amount of times they've heard a sound when loading, resulting in incorrect AI behavior

Don't forget to report any issues you encounter in this thread!

You can also join the official Discord server!

Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying the game!

Hey everyone!

In this post I will talk about what to expect of the upcoming controller support update, version 1.2.

Before that, I'd like to mention that Intravenous is part of the Indie Live Expo Winter 2021 event which is on now! The game is 15% off during it's duration, so if you have a friend who wanted to play the game - now's a great chance to let them know!

Now, let's get on with the upcoming features!


Never saw that one coming, huh?
This is some thing the community has asked for, and now it'll be implemented in the next major update.


A small feature, but one that has a rather large impact on gunplay. In version 1.2 you will be able to enable tactical reloads in the options menu.

A tactical reload can be performed when there is ammo remaining in the weapon's magazine. This type of reload drops the current magazine to the floor, instead of putting it back into a mag pouch, and grabbing a new one.

This can save up to 0.3 seconds of time, which can be the difference between life and death in tense situations.

The downside is that you drop the non-empty magazine to the floor, instead of putting it in your mag pouch! If you want to get the ammo back - you'll need to pick the mag back up.


This is another feature that I saw the community ask for, and I'm happy to announce that version 1.2 will add the ability to create your own difficulties to play through campaigns or singular levels!

In addition to being able to adjust most of the difficulty settings, you can also enable optional randomization of weapons, flashlights, and enemy experience levels!

Randomization in particular adds more replayability to the game, as with it enabled, suddenly levels play in a completely different light compared to before!


Another thing I improved in version 1.2 is shadow filtering. Now, when comparing the new 'Normal' setting to the old one, there is up to a 20% performance uplift, while the resulting image looks far better, in fact in most cases the new 'Normal' setting puts out an image that looks on par with the old 'Soft'!

Comparing the new 'Soft' to the old one, there is a 10% performance uplift, and a far better looking image.

Lastly, since the filtering now looks far better, I decided to add a new option for it: 'Ultra'. It further improves shadow filtering, which makes the shadows look even better!

That about wraps up the biggest changes in version 1.2. Initially I wanted to make version 1.2 add just controller support, but I thought that wouldn't be a whole lot for a major version uptick.
So now you've got a total of 4 new things to look forward to, each making the game better.

Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying the game!

Hey everyone!

The Halloween sale is on, and Intravenous is 15% off for it's duration!

If you've wanted to play the game, or had a friend who really wanted to try the game out - now's a great chance to grab it.
The game recently has had a map editor implemented into it, so now the community can create their own custom scenarios!

Work on joystick support is going well. Gameplay-wise it's already fully implemented, it just needs some visual cues in places where there are none (think various menus, etc.), and testing. Once everything's ready I'll be putting up a BETA version of the joystick support on a beta branch, so that folks can test, give feedback, and report bugs.

Aside from that I've also recently improved shadow filtering in the game for the joystick support update. Not only do shadows look better now, but they also use less of your CPU and GPU resources. Per my testing, a performance improvement of up to 20% can be seen, with an average improvement of 10%! Better visuals and better performance? Now that's a deal I can't say "no" to!



In other words: if you have a low-end graphics card, your game will simply run better. If you had no trouble running the game before, your graphics card will heat up less, as it's doing less work, while outputting an image that looks better than before. :)

Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying the game!

Hey folks!

This update fixes a couple of minor issues.

Version 1.1.6:
- fixed goons sometimes having completely incorrect view angles when sitting down
- fixed the player sprite having an incorrect render scale when carrying a body, resulting in the protag seemingly opening doors/interacting with objects with the same arm that he's carrying the body with
- fixed some issues with user-made levels opening the loadout menu when they shouldn't
- fixed being able to get stuck between a car and a wall on Shopkeeper's Mansion

Don't forget to report any issues you encounter in this thread!

You can also join the official Discord server!

Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying the game!