1. NIMRODS
  2. News

NIMRODS News

NIMRODS Update | Hotfix 0.4.6

Greetings, NIMRODS!

In today’s hotfix, we’ve addressed several issues, including balance changes, improvements, and, of course, bug fixes.

We focused on community-reported items that were safe to fix and improve right away. Some of the bigger concerns are being investigated and worked on, but these require more testing and fine-tuning—such as an opacity slider for Explosion FX.

The feedback and bug reports have been fantastic, so please keep them coming ❤️

Changelog

[h3]Balance[/h3]
Chassis
  • RPG: Bullet Damage has been changed from 13 → 16
  • RPG: Rate of Fire has been changed from 1.2 → 1.0
  • RPG: Reload Speed has been changed from 0.5 → 0.56
Augments
  • Grenade Launcher: Cooldown changed from 0.333 seconds → 0.2 seconds to allow grenade spam a little faster with low Magazine Size builds
Costs
  • Optical Carbine cost has been increased from 6000 → 8000 Credits
  • GT Ultralite Railgun cost has been increased from 12,500 → 17,000 Credits
  • Vixen cost has been reduced from 15,000 Credits & 50 Firestone Crystals → 500 Credits & 20 Firestone Crystals


[h3]Added[/h3]
  • A language button has been added to the Settings menu under Accessibility
  • Roobie now has a frozen visual effect when frozen
  • Currency tooltips have been added. You can now hover over them to read their description

[h3]Changed[/h3]
  • Improved the Big Carl miniboss hitbox
  • Charrrger Miniboss flame puddles now display the correct magenta color
  • Dung Beetle Ball now has the correct magenta color
  • Simplified Chinese localization improvements
  • Wyrdwood currency icon now matches the color of Hard Malphor
  • Emerald Bauble currency icon now matches the color of Hard Titannus

[h3]Fixed[/h3]
  • Fixed an issue where enemies in Hard difficulty were not spawning when deploying directly into Hard difficulty drop zones
  • Fixed an issue where an unintended number of 'Thugs' were spawning with the 'Gang Gang' Miniboss
  • Fixed an issue where Wyrdwood and Emerald Bauble currency did not appear in the 'Resources' section of the 'Game Over' screen after killing Malphor ⭐ or Titannus ⭐
  • Fixed an issue where the 'XP Extravaganza' quests weren't unlocking after collecting XP Orbs
  • Fixed an issue where the 'One Giant Leap' quest wasn't unlocking after capturing the 'Titan's Harness` augment crate
  • Fixed an issue where the 'Hit me Daddy' quest wasn't unlocking after getting hit 10 times by the Splitserpent miniboss
  • Fixed an issue where the 'Chicken Charm' provided an incorrect amount of Bullet Damage
  • Fixed an issue where the Drone did not receive any Turrets upon leveling up if it had the 'Turret Placer' augment
  • Fixed an issue where the Drone did not receive the Rate of Fire buff if it had the 'Honors Cross Charm' augment
  • Fixed an issue where neither the Drone nor the player emitted a shockwave when the Drone leveled up if it had the 'Honor Medal Charm' augment


Thank you all so much for the overwhelming support. We're dedicated to make this game together with those joining us on this journey!

If you haven't already, come join our official Discord server

NIMRODS Update | Hotfix 0.4.5

Greetings, NIMRODS!

What a wonderful Early Access launch it has been!

The team has been extremely excited watching y'all play and experience the game. We're actively monitoring the Steam Forums, Discord, Social Media, and watching all of the videos and livestreams you have been creating!

In today's hotfix we're addressing some of the critical issues that were brought up by the community:

Changelog

[h3]Improved[/h3]
  • Localization improvements to all the languages. We will continue to work on this with every, single, update we release!
  • Chinese and Korean font weight improvements have been made

[h3]Changed[/h3]
  • Dung Beetle ball no longer applies the Confusion status effect to the player when they are hit by it that causes inverted controls. You now get the Slowed status effect instead

[h3]Fixed[/h3]
  • Fixed an issue where certain elements on the screen would not clean up correctly while playing on a widescreen monitor
  • Fixed an issue where the player's health bar wasn't displaying at the correct position while playing on a widescreen monitor
  • Fixed an issue where the Chinese font was not working correctly
  • Fixed an issue where the Research Cache wasn't layered correctly
  • Fixed an issue where the collider on the Research Cache wasn't working correctly
  • Fixed an issue where certain Quests were giving 0 rewards
  • Fixed an issue where certain Unlock Requirements were displaying a value of 0
  • Fixed an issue where the Bombardier Bee was using the incorrect movement speed value
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when defeating Titannus with certain Augments
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when returning to the Home Ship if there were navigation arrows active

Thank you all so much for the overwhelming support. We're dedicated to make this game together with those joining us on this journey!

If you haven't already, come join our official Discord server

Create completely ridiculous weapons in survive-em-up roguelite shooter NIMRODS: GunCraft Survivor

NIMRODS: GunCraft Survivor on the surface may look just like yet another survivor-like, but it has captured my total attention in a way not many have been able to. It's just thoroughly great.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/10/create-completely-ridiculous-weapons-in-survive-em-up-roguelite-shooter-nimrods-guncraft-survivor

NIMRODS is out now in Early Access!

NIMRODS: GunCraft Survivor is out now in Early Access with a 10% discount!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2086430/NIMRODS_GunCraft_Survivor

[h2]Why Early Access?[/h2]
At Fiveamp, we’re living our dream as indie game devs because of passionate players like you. Our top priority is to ensure that NIMRODS is not only fun but also deeply satisfying and highly replayable. Early Access plays a crucial role in achieving that goal. By releasing NIMRODS in Early Access, we can gather valuable feedback and player data, helping us fine-tune the game to make it the best experience possible.

From the earliest prototype to today, we’ve always been listening—and we’ll keep listening well after the full release. We believe the best games are shaped by their communities. Early Access is our way of making sure NIMRODS stays on track to become the game we all want it to be.

[h2]Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?[/h2]
Around a year. Declaring our game “done” doesn’t mean the journey ends there though! Like many great games, we envision a rich endgame, not just for players but for us as developers, too. We want to continue to develop NIMRODS long into the future!

[h2]How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?[/h2]
The core loop is fully implemented and engaging, but there's still room for so many interesting systems!

We want to make sure that our priorities are informed by the needs and interests of the players, meaning that we hesitate to make concrete plans until we’ve gathered information on how you all are receiving the game. Even then, there are a few things we are confident we want to put in:
  • More guns
  • More augments
  • Another augment slot
  • A bigger map with more areas
  • More enemies
  • More minibosses
  • More genes
  • More characters
  • A higher implicit level cap

Besides new content, we’re hoping to add several new systems to the game. Ideally, these systems will rise up to meet the needs of the players. Do players love planning routes from point-of-interest to point-of-interest? Maybe we’ll make an expanded map and waypoint system. Do players love collecting guns more than selling them? Maybe we need a better inventory management system for the homeship. But either of those systems would be a waste of time if nobody asks for them. We’ll have plenty of time before release to make the game awesome, and we look forward to seeing where your feedback and data will take us!

[h2]What is the current state of the Early Access version?[/h2]
Honestly, the game is pretty loaded. We've routinely gotten the feedback that even our demo felt like a complete game. The game as it stands now already has more content than many in this genre:
  • 14 gun chassis, most of which sport their own unique mechanics.
  • 174 augments in 29 different lines. That’s 286,720 final combinations, or 80 over billion combinations in total!
  • 10 unique rank-and-file enemies with 10 variations each.
  • 7 unique minibosses.
  • Two unique bosses.
  • Four different stores spanning eight different kinds of currency, each found from a different source.
  • A handcrafted map (no procedural or AI generation!) that’s larger than any other in the genre.
  • Many types of things for you to find as you explore ranging from ancient defense systems to plants that need to be protected to scavenged technological marvels for you to rebuild and claim as your own.
  • A “drone” system that lets you play alongside one of your old runs, reborn into a mechanical body!
  • A customization system for the drone that lets you adjust its AI an abilities to better support you in your runs.
  • Two characters with a choice of abilities.
  • A genetic upgrade system that lets you power yourself up in permanent ways between runs.
  • An extensive library of quests to complete and earn rewards for.
  • Plenty of polish, such as music, sound effects, and visual effects.
  • Ten hours of content if you rush the main missions.
  • Over a hundred if you want to fully upgrade yourself. Near-infinite if you want to try out all the possible combinations of guns you’ve got access to…
  • And MORE! (We’re not kidding. There’s some stuff we don’t want to mention here because it will be more fun if you discover it for yourself in game!)

Given all the content we’ve packed into this Early Access, we’re confident there are hours & hours worth of captivating gameplay already.

[h2]Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?[/h2]
Very possibly. As we get closer to our full release, we’ll re-evaluate how much content is in the game and what sorts of unique experiences we provide compared to other entries in the genre, and we may determine that a higher price point might be merited. If we make that decision, we'll make sure to let you all know well in advance!

[h2]How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?[/h2]
We want your feedback very badly! Gamers know the difference between a fun game and a boring one, and we want to make sure we’re always moving in the “fun” direction! We want to take constant “pulse checks” to make sure we’re prioritizing the right features, making the game more fun every update, and refining NIMRODS to it’s best possible state!

[h2]How can I support you?[/h2]
Since the Demo, we've been creating such an amazing community and there are plenty of wonderful people out there wanting to support us, and it means the world to us. Here's a couple of things you could do if you want to support us:
  • Purchase the Game - Obviously. We really appreciate it, because it keeps our lights on and feeds our family! We can't make this game without you!
  • Leave a Review - Steam determines what games it should promote based in large part on how many reviews a game gets. If you leave a review for us, it'll help increase our reach in a surprisingly powerful way.
  • Play the crap out of NIMRODS! - Steam also determines what games it should promote, in small part, based on a game's peak concurrent player count, so even playing our game will help get NIMRODS in front of more eyes!
  • Leave Feedback - When the game is released, we'll re-open the bugs and feedback portion of our Discord server! We will monitor the Steam comments and forums as well, but the discord server is the fastest way to catch our eyes.
  • Tell us what you want to see in NIMRODS - More Biomes? Augments? Chassis? Or is there some additional polish you want to see in what we've already got, like a new information screen of some kind?
  • Spread the word - Tell your friends, or maybe even buy them a copy!
  • Encourage your favorite Content Creator(s) or Streamer(s) to look into playing NIMRODS - Streamers and Content Creators have a huge impact on the success of a game, and if you can talk a streamer into playing NIMRODS, that would be awesome for us and our community!

Thank you for reading and all of your support! ːluvː

NIMRODS Devlog | The Final Night of Waiting

Greetings, NIMRODS community!

This is it. Dawn of the final day: 24 hours remain.

At times like this, it's natural to get introspective and look back at where we came from and forward into the future.

This project was never meant to be as big as it is now. Back when we first started, we had a shoe-string budget, and we decided to prototype a Bullet Heaven because the genre was popping off. We figured the premise was simple enough that we could crank out a game in six months and use it as a springboard to make a bigger, more epic game.

In retrospect, that's almost funny.

An early prototype with art from an asset pack

We had a working Demo four months into the project that we posted on Itch.io. We all thought it was pretty fun, and players did too. But then, one feature at a time, we said "This game would be so much better if..." It started when we went through and overhauled all the augments to get rid of the old "defense only" augments. It continued when we expanded the map from a small square arena to a giant world the players could explore. People liked their drone, so we expanded the drone's role to be a constant companion instead of a high-powered "summon".

Early Arena-style map in the prototype

When we released the Demo back in March, it looked like we were almost done. Then, we flipped a table. You see, we wanted to really let the players make incredible guns, but the game just couldn’t handle some of the more impressible builds without slowing to a crawl. The problem was that we had already optimized about everything we could optimize, and it still wasn’t enough. In the end, we decided to sink months into refactoring our underlying engine to use Unity’s new lightning-fast data-oriented technology stack (DOTS) featuring ECS and the Burst compiler. We had to recode over half the game, but the time spent was worth it; now the craziest guns you build can run at a respectable framerate instead of degrading the game’s performance into a slideshow. The game wouldn't be complete without some way to gain power in the metagame, so we added the genetic system, the drop pod system, and the drone customization system. Trying to balance this all took a lot of math and a lot of educated guesswork, and we spent hours pouring over spreadsheets and fiddling with numbers.

Meanwhile, we decided that having minibosses that were simply scaled up versions of already existing enemies wasn't enough. Our artists went on an rampage, designing some of the coolest enemies I've ever seen him make to replace the old minibosses, and our programmers coded all the new behaviors in the new engine to bring them all to life.

And then came the bug hunting. Oh, the bug hunting...

Turns out, when you reprogram half your engine, you pick up a few bugs along the way. Our QA pulled very long hours to make sure that all the new content was at least as bug-free as the old content, and did so in a legendarily short amount of time. We also have to give a huge shoutout to our alpha testers who brought up hundreds of more issues! Without them, who knows how many more bugs would have snuck through to the early access release!

And now, after two and a half years of stretching that shoe-string budget further than any of us thought possible, with a development time five times longer than the six months we thought this project would take, we stand at the precipice of the NIMRODS release at last. Everything's locked in at this point. We can't change the game without the risk of introducing some last minute bugs. We can't change our store listing because there's no time to go through Steam's approval process again. We're just holding our breath and waiting in the quiet of the early morning before a new day dawns for our beloved game.

So what comes next? If you've looked at the "Why Early Access?" portion of our store page, you probably already know:

The jury's still out!

It's at this point that a lot of companies would post a Roadmap, saying which new features they plan to add in each upcoming patch during the Early Access process. We're specifically not doing that. We want to give it a week to let you all play the game so you can really absorb where NIMRODS is at now. After that, we'll let you all tell us what you think would be most fun to add. We want this game to be as fun for you as possible, so when we think of what should come next, who could possibly be better to ask than you!

Oh, sure, we've got some small little polish things we'll do as we wait for your feedback to come in - a few minibosses that didn't quite make it into the game in time, some bug fixes that were too risky to patch mere days before release, polishing up the UI to make sure you've got all the information you need - but mostly, NIMRODS is venturing into uncharted territory, and we're as excited to see which direction it goes as you are!

But enough about the future. What about now?

If you want to help, here's what you can do:
  • Buy the game - Obviously. We really appreciate it, because it keeps our lights on and feeds our families! We can't make this game without you!
  • Leave a review - Steam determines what games it should promote based in large part on how many reviews a game gets. If you leave a review for us, it'll help increase our reach in a surprisingly powerful way.
  • Play the crap out of NIMRODS! - Steam also determines what games it should promote, in small part, based on a game's peak concurrent player count, so even playing our game will help get NIMRODS in front of more eyes!
  • Leave feedback! - When the game is released, we'll re-open the bugs and feedback portion of our Discord server! We will monitor the Steam comments and forums as well, but the discord server is the fastest way to catch our eyes.
  • Tell us what you want to see in NIMRODS - More Biomes? Augments? Chassis? Or is there some additional polish you want to see in what we've already got, like a new information screen of some kind?
  • Spread the word - Tell your friends, or maybe even buy them a copy!
  • Encourage your favorite Creators or Streamers to look into playing NIMRODS - Streamers and Content Creators have a huge impact on the success of a game, and if you can talk a streamer into playing NIMRODS, that would be awesome for us and our community!

Who knows where this journey will take us! We hope that when the full version 1.0 is released, the game will have grown tremendously, we'll look back on this week with the same fondness that we're looking back on our ancient little itch demo today.

Here's to a new day!
From all of us at Fiveamp, Thank YOU so much for your continued support! 💖

Join our official Discord server for more news and updates!
https://discord.com/invite/mdbCsgnsS7