Whisker Squadron: Survivor News

Hey all! 2024 is off to a great start here at Flippfly. We've been hard at work reading your feedback and planning out some awesome new features.

[h3]Spring Sale - All Flippfly Games and DLC are on Sale![/h3]
Enjoy a discount on Flippfly games this week! Also good on DLC, so now's the perfect chance to complete your collection or grab a copy of Survivor for your friend!

[h3]Call for Beta Testers[/h3]
Those awesome new features mentioned above intrigue you? Be the first to get a sneak peek at them! You can join our Beta Testing community here and select that you'd like to join our private Steam Beta channel!



[h3]More Lore?![/h3]
Want to learn more about the characters and lore of the universe? You can now follow the whole Whisker Squadron on Instagram! Our artist, Jin, is posting her original sketches and posting teasers about the surrounding universe, and you can be the first to see it.



As always - we thank you for your feedback and support! We're so excited to keep sharing updates with you all.

ELITES INCOMING!

Join our developer livestream where we'll be showcasing our brand-new minibosses and an explosive new missile weapon!

Here's what's in store:

🎮 Miniboss Reveal: Watch as Dayne takes on the challenge of facing off against our minibosses. Experience the thrill of intense battles, pick up a new strategy or two, and see firsthand how our new missile weapon changes the game!

💬 AMA/Chat: Got feedback? We wanna hear it! Hang out, share your thoughts, and let's have a blast! Be one of the first to hear what's coming next.

Check out some of our minibosses below... how many do you think Dayne can win against?!

Hey friends, the team has been working super hard on a major new content update!
One of the most requested features for this series is boss fights.

We have some BIG plans for end stage bosses coming soon, but in the meantime, we decided to redesign the "Elite" enemies in the game and turn them into epic miniboss fights.

Here's how it works:
There are (currently) 4 possible elites that will spawn in zone 5. They are the only thing in that zone, and we've done our best to make it feel really cinematic.




There's even a mysterious "The Swarm" character speaking through them. What is it saying??


We'll be refining this system in the coming months and adding additional Elites.

Additionally, we've added a new secondary weapon called Precision Rocket Launcher.
Full patch notes below including lots of quality of life updates!


[h2]NEW FEATURES/CONTENT:[/h2]
Elite enemies are now minibosses! There are 4 of them so far, with an epic fight in zone 5.
New secondary weapon: Precision Missile Launcher. Beat 4 Hard challenges to unlock.
New boss music

[h2]CHANGES/IMPROVEMENTS:[/h2]
Roll deflector now costs energy instead of a cooldown.
Made lasers and laserbeams a bit easier to see.
Improved laserbeam sounds.
Enemy homing missiles have a bigger hitbox.
A few more enemies in earlier zones.
Replaced "Pierced Shot" text with "Pierced Kill" to be less UI spam.
made flash between regions a bit more subtle/easier on the eyes.
Loadout screen now shows what the various ship stats mean.
Rapid Fire and Fortify Hull items now show total firing rate and hull values after upgrading.
Redesigned button layout on Game Over screen to feel more natural with a mouse..
Changed several unlocks that were related to killing Elites, to match the new miniboss Elite system
Enemies will shoot less projectiles simultaneously.
Improved readability of tutorial text.
HUD Messages have a new animation.
Rush Or Die will now just force you to boost for its duration, rather than killing you if you stop.
Updated Peacekeeper achievement so it only requires getting through zone 4 without killing anything.
Changed Scrap Limit challenge to be in a zone that's not an Elite fight.

[h2]BUG FIXES:[/h2]
Combo Hull now properly restores your health 20% of the time instead of 100% of the time.
The buildings in Nexus Station are now high enough for Elites to walk underneath.
Fixed hit fx not playing for piercing bullets.
Changed tight boost assassin to deal 50 damage to elites.
Changed black holes to deal 50 damage to elites.
Fixed some glitches with dialog system.
Fixed invalid sound playing when buying item on loadout screen.
Fixed bugs in options screen related to controller input and Twitch options.
Elites should no longer randomly disappear without being killed
Old Sweeper Beetle Elite no longer appears in region 7.
TransLink Evacuation music stops when a region is cleared.
Sky Crawler Larva won't get sucked into black holes.
Elites will not be invisible when Ghost Gambit is active.
Fixed some typos and item descriptions.
Black Holes appear more consistently, and also aren't around during Elite intro cinematics

[h2]JOIN THE BETA![/h2]
Want to see our next round of updates early? Join the "beta" branch on Steam, now available to the public. We publish betas at a more frequent pace, and we also have a very active Discord community where we monitor feedback. We'd love to have more players testing early features and helping us shape the game.

Join the Discord here and look at the "Roles and Channels" section for instructions to join the private Beta channel.

[h2]ROADMAP[/h2]
We'll be publishing a public roadmap for the rest of the year soon. For now, we want to reassure you that our team of 9 is actively working on the game and will be for some time!

Hey all, we just pushed a new beta build.
We're working on a big update to the "elite" enemies in the game and would really love your feedback!
We've also got some quality of life and bug fixes in here.

Full patch notes:


[h2]NEW FEATURES/CONTENT:[/h2]
New Miniboss music tracks.
New Miniboss: Arachnidaddy.
A new Swarm character that will taunt the player through dialog in Miniboss encounters.

[h2]CHANGES/IMPROVEMENTS[/h2]
Enemies will shoot less projectiles simultaneously.
Improved readability of tutorial text.
Precision Rocket Launcher now only requires beating 4 Hard challenges instead of 5.
All enemies on screen will now die upon Miniboss death.
Minibosses now have cinematic intros and phase switches.
Miniboss attack patterns have been updated to be more readable/predictable.
Doubled Scrap, Missiles, and Health Pickups dropped for each Miniboss when defeated.
New Powerful Laserbeams have had their damage cut from 30 to 18.
HUD Messages have a new animation.
Scatter Queen phase one attack shoots less homing missiles.
New hit effects on Scatter Queen forcefield.
Regurgitators and Stinger Scarabs have been removed from Scatter Queens phase 2 enemy pool.
Decreased the amount of plasma balls shot in both phases of Sweeper Beetle.
Rush Or Die will now just force you to boost for its duration, rather than killing you if you stop.
Updated Peacekeeper achievement so it only requires getting through zone 4 without killing anything.
BUG FIXES
When a Miniboss is recycled the run no longer softlocks.
Old Sweeper Beetle Elite no longer appears in region 7.
TransLink Evacuation music stops when a region is cleared.
Sky Crawler Larva won't get sucked into black holes.
Minibosses will not be invisible when Ghost Gambit is active.
Fixed some typos and item descriptions

Previous beta patch notes:


[h2]NEW FEATURES/CONTENT:[/h2]
Minibosses! This feature is in beta and we'd like your feedback. A random "elite" will appear in zone 5 in your run.
They are *tough*. Let us know what you think in the feedback form and Discord!
New secondary weapon: Precision Missile Launcher (work in progress). Beat all the Hard challenges to unlock.

[H2]CHANGES/IMPROVEMENTS[/H2]
made flash between regions a bit more subtle/easier on the eyes.
Loadout screen now shows what the various ship stats mean.
Rapid Fire and Fortify Hull items now show total firing rate and hull values after upgrading.
Redesigned button layout on Game Over screen to feel more natural with a mouse..
Changed several unlocks that were related to killing Elites, to match the new miniboss Elite system

[H2]BUG FIXES[/H2]
Fixed hit fx not playing for piercing bullets.
Fixed deflection logic for other shields.
Changed tight boost assassin to deal 50 damage to elites.
Changed black holes to deal 50 damage to elites.
Fixed some glitches with dialog system.
Fixed invalid sound playing when buying item on loadout screen.
Fixed bugs in options screen related to controller input and Twitch options.

[h2]JOIN THE BETA![/h2]
Want to see our next round of updates early? Join the "beta" branch on Steam, now available to the public. We publish betas at a more frequent pace, and we also have a very active Discord community where we monitor feedback. We'd love to have more players testing early features and helping us shape the game.

Join the Discord here and look at the "Roles and Channels" section for instructions to join the private Beta channel.

Hey all, we decided to take this past month and focus on refining the game with a bunch of bug fixes and quality of life improvements!

[h2]Cursed Choices and Rerolls[/h2]

There are three changes related to Cursed Choices in this build:
1. Most Cursed Choices have had their rewards redesigned to give you a bigger benefit.
2. Cursed choices are now mandatory when they appear.
3. We've added a "rerolls" system. For now, you get one reroll per run.

Early feedback from beta testers has been that this feels more interesting, but let us know what you think!


[h2]0.66.3 FULL PATCH NOTES[/h2]

[h3]NEW FEATURES/CONTENT:[/h3]

• Item Rerolls! Don't like the given level up choices? Use the "reroll" option on the level up screen (You get one reroll per run for now).
  

[h3]CHANGES/IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]

• The "Survivor" Challenge is now in the "Extreme" difficulty category.
  
• Fortify Hull now gives 10 hull per level.
  
• Ship base Hull values adjusted slightly.
  
• Redesigned the rewards for most Cursed Choices to be more... Rewarding.
  
• Cursed Choices are now mandatory. Good luck!
  
• Twitch voting: Increased default voting time.
  
• Made particle FX for grabbing scrap a bit smaller.
  

[h3]BUG FIXES:[/h3]

• Fixed Smooth Sailing and Skeleton Key achievements.
  
• Fixed Cursed Choice items staying active at the end of a run.
  
• Fixed bug where item and enemy sounds were playing after the player died.
  
• Revive won't be offered again if you already used it.
  
• Two drones will no longer double up on one side of the ship.
  
• Fixed bug where enemies got stuck in Translink Evacuation.
  
• Fixed issue where enemies shot through walls in Translink Evacuation.
  
• Fixed bug where character dialog played at awkward time during zone transition.
  
• Fixed tutorial videos not showing up on Linux/Steam Deck.
  
• Fixed various music-related bugs in Challenges.
  
• Timed Challenges will start the timer at more appropriate time.
  
• Fixed issue with UI text being removed when Healing Fog & Ghost Gambit are active.
  
• Fixed "new" badge drawing on top of patch notes.
  
• Fix for Twitch options in menu being interactive even when feature was disabled.
  
• Fixed various typos and formatting errors in item descriptions.
  

[h2]JOIN THE BETA![/h2]
Want to see our next round of updates early? Join the "beta" branch on Steam, now available to the public. We publish betas at a more frequent pace, and we also have a very active Discord community where we monitor feedback. We'd love to have more players testing early features and helping us shape the game.

Join the Discord here and look at the "Roles and Channels" section for instructions to join the private Beta channel.

[h2]WHAT'S NEXT?[/h2]
Here's a little teaser of what we're working on next. Join the beta branch and jump in our Discord to see it early and share your thoughts with the team!