Yet Another Zombie Survivors News

[h3]Hi everyone![/h3]

It's me, Mariusz, the sole Yet Another Zombie Survivors programmer!


I just wanted to give a quick update for all of you who are waiting for the content update for YAZS - it's possible that it will take one more week or so to be pushed into the public beta branch.

The reason is that I've just had a minor right-hand surgery this Wednesday. Unfortunately, I'm right-handed, so this event reduced our team's coding ability by about 86.9%. Fortunately, there were no complications, so I think I'll be fine soon.

For now, I'll continue to code the zeros and ones with my left hand, taking a few more breaks along the way. This might affect the release date of the content update a bit, so sorry about that! I hope you'll understand. We'll see you again in the August content update, hopefully soon!

Pinky promise... but with the left pinky this time 😅💦


My two dogs (Bekon & Figa) are helping me out with the coding work, but they're distracted easily 👀

PS you can read more about the upcoming update in the last announcement, in case you've missed it: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2163330/view/3657537107635416926

ㅤStay healthy,
ㅤㅤMariusz & Awesome Games Studio

[h3]Welcome, Survivor![/h3]

Thank you for all the overwhelmingly positive feedback you've given us so far!

We're glad that so many of you are as passionate about YAZS as we are! We're also aware that many of you have 100% of what's currently available in the first Early Access version, so please don't worry - there will be much more to come!

We're also exploring various ways to revamp & implement additional meta progression methods. Outside of the Prestige & New Game+ systems that will come later, we are also planning to expand and redesign the skill tree (don't worry, you won't lose your skill points), as well as possibly adding per-run loadout options.

We're working on the things you wrote in your feedback. Some will come sooner, some later, but we're reading and considering everything. Maybe except for that one thing Patata posted. Come on Patata, you know better than us that we can't do that yet, maybe in the next update!

Anyway....

[h2]0.3.0 Content Update is coming![/h2]

As you've noticed, the first few updates after the game's release were mostly basic gameplay changes, bug fixes, balance and quality of life stuff. We needed to focus on these types of changes to keep the game in a healthy & fun state. Now that the situation is mostly stable, we're shifting our focus to working on new stuff for everyone to enjoy!

We plan for the first content update for YAZS to be released around middle-August / in 2-3 weeks.

When ready, we will be publishing it on the Public Beta branch first, to be able to tweak the possible imperfections with the help of our awesome community. We'll make another announcement related to it when it'll become available, so don't worry about it for now (make sure you "Follow" the game on Steam, just in case).

One of the things we want to add to the game as soon as possible is a new map with new enemies and gameplay mechanics tied to them. We have decided that the second arena in which you will survive will be a desert region that is one of the remaining frontiers between humanity and the Horde. Here's a sneak peek:


Any ideas on how should it be named? Let us know in the comments (we always read 100% of them).

Other than that, we're also working on adding a new ability for each of the currently available characters, new items, and new achievements to get, among other things.

[h2]Weapon manual aiming & shooting[/h2]

While we're sticking to our design philosophy of making YAZS a casual and accessible game, we're also listening to the needs of our community. That's why we'll be adding an optional setting that allows players to manually aim and/or fire their weapons.

The feature itself will have a few toggles to better customize the experience. For example, you will be able to choose whether manual aiming works for the team leader only or for the entire squad at once. Keep in mind that this feature affects the survivors' weapons, not their abilities, which will always remain automatic, with triggers and start conditions for some.

By default, the manual settings will be disabled as we continue to develop and balance YAZS as the auto-aim & auto-shoot game you already know and love. If you feel like it, you will be able to enable the manual features in the game's "Controls" tab in Options.

[h2]YAZS Roadmap is live![/h2]

We've recently released a roadmap board to let everyone know what our current priorities are and what we plan to add to the game over time.

Roadmap: https://trello.com/b/Ipc33X20/yet-another-zombie-survivors-roadmap


Instead of setting strict time frames that might end up as empty promises and yellow-backgrounds, we wanted to show you what's going on with development on YAZS in a way that's easy to keep up to date.

This will also allow us to let you know the important issues we're focusing on fixing, and quickly show you what's coming in the next public beta build. You can also join our Discord, as the roadmap changes will be updated in real time in the #yazs-roadmap channel.

[h2]Thank you for reading![/h2]

By the way... meet Sanji, our curly little potato:


I hope you're looking forward to our first content update and are as excited as we are!

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio

[h3]Welcome, Survivor![/h3]

We're pushing out a quick update to fix some of the issues you've been reporting since the 0.2.2 patch.

[h2]ISSUE & BUG FIXES:[/h2]

• Medic Survivor now properly unlocks at 100 collected healthpacks instead of requiring 200 and displaying negative values on the Team Leader selection screen.
  
• Potential fix for the framerate issues some players have encountered since the last update.
  
• Crit-chance value should no longer incorrectly display as 0 in some cases.
  
• "Boom, Headshot!" skill has had its display values corrected.
  
• Tank now grants +10/20/40 Armor instead +10/20/30
  
• Huntress' Explosive Arrows explosion effect size has been reduced (just the visual aspect)
  
• Freeze effect should now work properly on bosses
  
• Endless Mode Horde damage scaling was slightly reduced

We're sorry for the inconvenience! Please be assured that we are monitoring the situation and will continue to do so, so please report any issues and we'll do our best to fix them.

Thank you for your patience.

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio

[h3]Welcome, Survivor![/h3]

First of all, a huge thank you for the overwhelming amount of quality feedback you've given us! We want to assure you that we are constantly analyzing and implementing the things you send us.

Second, we want you to know that we're aware that we're still a bit short on the content side. But! You have a promise from us, a small indie team, that there is MUCH more to come!

We're starting a public beta branch where we'll be pushing changes that need additional feedback from you & the community before they go live. Please scroll to the bottom of this post to learn more.

Alright! Let's start with the...

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[h2]GAMEPLAY CHANGES:[/h2]

• Improved general aiming AI of characters (Huntress learned how to aim).
  
• Player's hitbox radius reduced when controlling both solo and duo teams.
  
• Healthpack collected amount needed to unlock The Medic reduced to 100 (from 200).
  
• "Banish" option now leaves an opportunity to pick other choices on the same Level-up/Chest selection screen.
  
• Skill-tree: It is no longer required to have at least one point spend in the upgrade above the currently selected skill to upgrade it.
  
• Chests and SOS Signals now have the same activation distance and time requirements (1 second).
  
• "Reroll" option now grants choices that are different than the current ones (when possible).
  
• Stats clamping system improved to clamp values when they are read, instead of when written.
  
• "Bloom" setting added to graphics settings in the game's options.

[h2]QUALITY OF LIFE:[/h2]

• Mouse Movement option added in the game's settings: OFF (default) / On Click / Always.
  
• It is now possible to use 1/2/3 (X/Y/B) buttons to make a selection on the Level-up/SOS Signal/Chest screens.
  
• On-screen indicator arrows and dots are now distict, animated, and are displayed over the low-health vignette visual effect.
  
• On-screen indicators for currently equipped weapons and their reload status, displayed above the skills and their cooldowns.
  
• Skill-tree: Added an option to refund single upgrade points from each skill, instead of doing a whole skill-tree reset.
  
• Feedback Form (F8) shortcut is now remappable within the Remap Controls option in game's options.
  
• There is now a new feedback effect for successfully parrying incoming damage.
  
• Endless Mode: A new Pause Menu option was added, allowing to conclude the run.
  
• Added a confirmation window when trying to quit the current run.

[h2]ISSUE & BUG FIXES:[/h2]

• Remapped controls should now properly save.
  
• Random floating boss healthbars should no longer appear.
  
• Fixed the ingame UI not displaying properly on widescreen resolutions.
  
• "Liberate" SOS Signal option now correctly shows the money received (taking modifiers into account).
  
• SWAT: "Helicopter Strike" ability helicopter no longer despawns when multiple helicopters are active at the same time.
  
• Engineer: "Laser" weapon now properly uses Damage Per Second property instead of Damage.
  
• Engineer: "Energy Shield" ability now properly shows its duration on the level-up screen.
  
• Medic: "Stimpack" ability now works properly (before, it was adding a bonus of +0.25% instead of +25%).
  
• Medic: Zombies killed by the antidote/vaccine effect now properly count as kills done by the Medic.
  
• "Heavy Metal" item now properly displays +250 HP restored on magnet pickup, instead of +50 HP.
  
• "Healing Potion" item now properly displays "Current Health" instead of "Health".
  
• Life Steal values are now properly hidden when "Damage Numbers" option is toggled OFF.
  
• Localization improvements (eg. Ghost's unlock text field in Polish language).
  
• Other minor fixes & improvements.

[h2]GLOBAL BALANCE IMPROVEMENTS:[/h2]

• Base Critical Damage reduced to 150% (from 200%).
  
• Freezing effects now slows zombies by 75% (from 50%).
  
• Exploding Zombie damaging area/fog radius decreased by 10%.
  
• Healing option on Level-up screen has its value increased 500 (from 200).
  
• Money option on the Level-up screen has its value increased to 500 (from 300).
  
• "Stone Skin" power-up active duration reduced to 5s (from 8s).
  
• "It's Raining Men" achievement's number of required airborne zombies reduced to 10 (from 20).
  
• "It's Over 9000!" achievement's timeframe has been reduced to 2s (from 5s).

[h2]SURVIVOR BALANCE IMPROVEMENTS:[/h2]

• SWAT: Leader perk now grants 5/10/20% Weapon Reload Speed (from 2.5/5/10%).
  
• SWAT: "Helicopter strike" ability collision box width increased to 12 (from 9).
  
  
• Tank: Leader perk now gives +10/20/30 Armor instead of +100/200/300 max HP.
  
• Tank: "Minefield" ability base cooldown reduced to 20s (from 30s).
  
  
• Engineer: "Electric Turret" ability cooldown reduced to 15s (from 30s).
  
• Engineer: "Electric Turret" ability now increases its range on level-up instead of reducing cooldown.
  
  
• Huntress: "Eagle Eye" ability now also grants +10% Critical Damage per ability level.
  
• Huntress: "Explosive Arrows" and "Freezing Arrows" weapons has now increased Fire Rate.
  
• Huntress: "Explosive Arrows" weapon projectiles now explode after 0.75s (from 1s).
  
  
• Ghost: "Kunai" ability cooldown reduced to 5s (from 10s).
  
• Ghost: "Critical Protocol" ability now grants +35% Critical Chance and +50% Critical Damage.
  
  
• Medic: Antidote/vaccine effect strength increased by around 15%.
  
• Medic: "Handgun" weapon base damage increased to 45 (from 35).
  
• Medic: "Handgun" weapon damage per level increased to +20 (from +10).
  
• Medic: "Syringe Gun" weapon base damage per second increased to 40 (from 20).
  
• Medic: "Syringe Gun" weapon now shortens the Reload Time on level-up instead of increasing the Fire Rate.
  
• Medic: "Antidote Flask" and "Freezing Flasks" weapons base throw interval lowered to 2s (from 4s).
  
• Medic: "Antidote Flask" weapon base and per second damage increased to 40 (from 30).
  
• Medic: "Antidote Flask" weapon minimal damage per tick increased to 10.
  
• Medic: "Antidote Flask" weapon damage per second increased to 15 (from 10).
  
• Medic: "Freezing Flask" weapon damage increased to 100 (from 20... oof!).
  
• Medic: "Freezing Flask" weapon damage per level increased to +20 (from +10).
  
• Medic: Zombies affected by the antidote/vaccine effect now also explodes when killed by another damage source.
  
• Medic: "Medical Education" now grants +5 HP/s per level (from +2 HP/s).

[h2]ITEMS BALANCE IMPROVEMENTS:[/h2]

• "Frying Pan" item Armor increase changed to +7.5 (from 5).
  
• "Glass of Milk" item Armor increase changed to +15 (from +10).
  
• "Chocolate Box" item now increases armor by 70 when under 20% of health.
  
• "Medkit" item now grants +5 HP/s (from +2 HP/s).
  
• "Stretcher" item now gives +7 HP/s (from +4 HP/s).
  
• "Wooden Stick" item now gives +10% XP bonus (from +5%).
  
• "Health Potion" item now gives +500 HP (from +300 HP).

[h2]UPCOMING CHANGES:[/h2]

• First content update!
  
• Manual aiming option.
  
• Public Beta Steam branch. DONE!
• Mouse character movement option. DONE!
• CODEX / Encyclopedia of in-game content.
  
• Separate save for game options (resolution, quality).
  
  
  

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Want to help us out & get an early look at the new version of the game? Awesome!

[h3]DISCLAIMER: Before jumping straight in, please understand, that this version of the game might be unstable, create issues when switching between old & new builds of the game, and may generally be less stable, more buggy, and in an overall imperfect state. We will do our best to help you with any issues, but please understand the risks associated with beta testing.[/h3]

If you understand the potential problems and are willing to take the risk, here's how you can get in:

[h2]How to join:[/h2]

1. Open your Steam client, find Yet Another Zombie Survivors on your games list, right-click its name and select the "Properties..." option.
   
2. Enter the "Betas" tab, click the "None" drop-down menu on the right, and select the "public-beta" option. You can always return to the default version of the game by selecting "None" again.
   
3. If you want to share your feedback about the beta version (thanks in advance!), click the image below to join our Discord server (you'll need an account for that, but it'll be worth it, believe me!):
   
   
   
4. When joined, you will be able to comment the current beta version in the new #yazs-beta forums, which you can join by selecting it from the drop-down list:
   
5. And that's all! If the beta/test version of the game is different from the current one, the Steam will update the game with its changes. You will know that the Beta Branch is active from the "[public-beta]" text to the right of the game's title in your game's library.

Thank you for joining! Currently, there is no new build in this branch, but we'll be sharing one (hopefully soon!) in case there's something we need to test first. Thank you for joining!

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Last but not least, thank you for all the positive reviews you're leaving us on Steam! It helps us a lot ːheart_meː

Thanks for reading! See you next time, have fun!

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio

[h3]Welcome, Survivor![/h3]

Thank you all for playing the game, your positive reception, and submitting all of your feedback and bug reports. We listen to all of it and are committed to improving the game with the continued help of our awesome community. Here's the list of things we're changing & improving since yesterday's release:


[h2]GAMEPLAY CHANGES:[/h2]

• Reroll option has been added to SOS Survivor Selection panel.
  
• "Stone Skin" power-up now grants 1000 Armor and when its effect is active, the low-health vignette visual effect is disabled.
  
• After expending all possible level-up options, there's now a 100% chance to have level-up options of both money and a health powerup.
  
• Experience modifier that increases every few enemy waves was reduced a bit.
  
• There is now a temporary immunity of 0.3 seconds after a Level-up/SOS Signal/Item Chest panels closes.
  
• Endless Mode: Wave damage modifier now clamps at 2000% instead of 300%.

[h2]ISSUE & BUG FIXES:[/h2]

• Chests should no longer spawn over each other.
  
• Ghost: "Protocol: Critical" ability no longer drops the Critical Chance stat to 0%.
  
• Ghost: "Shuriken" ability now fires a proper amount of projectiles and scales properly with leveling.
  
• Fixed a bug where level-up overlay would persist after losing the run.
  
• Weapon upgrades that change the Reload Time stat of that weapon now properly show it's value in seconds instead of as a percentage.
  
• Fixed the "No Skill" achievement not unlocking, as it wrongly counted money and health powerups as abilities.
  
• Fixed an issue where "Faster, Better..." skill-tree upgrade and "Solar Panel" item would improperly increase Ability Cooldown stat instead of decreasing it.
  
• Endless: Timer now shows play time properly instead of looping after reaching over 60 minutes mark.
  
• Fixes / improvements to the Charger boss enemy AI & animations.
  
• Other minor fixes.

[h2]BALANCE IMPROVEMENTS:[/h2]

• Balance and improvements to "Life Steal" effects:
  
  • Basic Life Steal Value stat increased to 1% from 0%.
    
  • "Suspicious Pendrive" item now grants 3% Life Steal Chance.
    
  • "Vampire Survivor" item now grants 1.5% Life Steal Chance and Value.
    
  • "Annoying Trumpet" item temporarily removed to be reworked in the future.
    
• Reduced the amount of experience gems dropped from bosses.
  
• Huntress: "Zombie Decoy" ability cooldown reduced, and it also additionally drops three grenades at the surrounding area before exploding.
  
• Ghost: "Protocol: Critical" ability cooldown reduced to 30s (from 60s), critical chance reduced to 50% (from 100%).
  
• Ghost: "Shuriken" ability cooldown increased, as its strength also increased due to a bug fix.
  
• SWAT: "Automatic Turret" ability damage and cooldown reduction per level increased.
  
• Tank: "Bombing Strike" ability cooldown reduction added to its level-up bonuses.
  
• Engineer: "Energy Shield" ability cooldown reduction added to its level-up bonuses.
  
• Medic: "Handgun" & "Syringe Gun" weapons overall buff.
  
• Medic: "Transplantology" ability cooldown increased to 45s (from 30s), Life Steal Value decreased to 5% (from 10%), and base duration changed to 3s (from 5s).

[h2]QUALITY OF LIFE:[/h2]

• There's now a popup when you hover over reward icon on Achievements and Defeat panels (mouse-only for now).
  
• Current ability level is now visible in the Abilities tab in the Pause Menu (mouse-only for now).
  
• Localization improvements (eg. Double Barrel Shotgun -> Pump Action Shotgun).
  
• Blaster firing sound and Laser start/stop volume has been decreased.

[h2]UPCOMING CHANGES:[/h2]

• Manual aiming option.
  
• Public Beta Steam branch.
  
• Mouse character movement option.
  
• CODEX / Encyclopedia of in-game content.
  
• Separate save for game options (resolution, quality).

Thank you & have a great weekend!

Stay awesome,
Awesome Games Studio