Yet Another Zombie Survivors News

[h3]Welcome, Survivor![/h3]

We're pushing out a quick update to fix some of the issues you've been reporting since the 0.3.1 patch.

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

• Your characters should no longer get beneath the ground or walk in the air
  
• Proper Chinese characters should now be displayed in the control remapping panel

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]

The first content update is now live!

We hope you have fun playing on the new map, fighting new enemies, completing new challenges, and experimenting with new items and abilities! Please share your feedback with us, and remember that this is just the beginning, with much more content and in-game systems to come.

We've also implemented many of the things you've asked for, from manual aim & shoot options to one-hit kill prevention mechanisms. There are also a lot of other minor improvements and QoL, like improved item tooltips or fixes for FSR and Bloodless modes.

We've also streamlined the critical hit system, as it wasn't clear what was supposed to crit and what wasn't. It's now a simple boost to the damage done by weapons and abilities directly related to them. Its base damage has also been increased from 150% to 200%.

Special thanks to all of our beta testers for helping us squash the bugs and providing invaluable feedback. As always, we will continue to monitor the situation and address any remaining issues as they arise.

Have fun conquering the dunes!


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[h2]NEW CONTENT:[/h2]

• New map "Vile Wasteland" with new environmental hazard.
  
• New enemies unique to the new map, as well as modifications to the old ones.
  
• 11 new items, most of which have unique triggers (On boss kill, on critical hit, etc.).
  
• 6 new second-tier abilities, one for each Survivor (i.e. "resurrection" mechanic for Medic).
  
• 19 new achievements, some of which offering new, tougher challenges.
  
• Sanji.

[h2]GAMEPLAY CHANGES:[/h2]

• Weapon manual aim & weapon auto-shoot features.
  
• Manual/auto aim toggle on middle mouse button / right thumbstick press (both are rebindable).
  
• Damage received buffer: The maximum damage a player can take is now capped at -1000 HP.
  
• Melee attacks (Ghost) are made from the edges of the party circle instead of the character's model.
  
• Streamlined critical hits to cover only the Survivor's weapons and abilitites related to these.
  
• Further improvements to the aiming AI and weapon target priorities of the Survivors.
  

[h2]QUALITY OF LIFE:[/h2]

• Improvements to weapon/ability/item selection screens (stat highlight, color indicators).
  
• Endscreens now display additional information such as the game mode and version number.
  
• Skill-tree "Reset" option now has a confirmation prompt.
  
• Options menu now includes descriptions of each setting and preview images where needed.
  
• Better FSR implementation (no more blurred UI & better visuals).
  
• Abilities in the pause menu now have descriptions on mouse-over.
  
• Game size reduction & RAM usage improvements.
  
• Improvements to Bloodless mode.

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

• Fix for the game not correctly saving progress and/or not creating new backup save files.
  
• Fix for the game displaying two interfaces at the same time & unpausing the gameplay on UI screens.
  
• Fix for magnet & healthpack powerups disappearing from the ground with time (they shouldn't).
  
• (Yet another) Fix for boss health bars staying on screen after the enemy is defeated.
  
• Limit on simultaneous audio instances increased from 32 to 64 to fix some reported audio glitches on Endless Mode.
  
• Fix for SOS Signal recruited Survivors giving wrong stat bonuses.
  
• "Brigthness" setting in game options should now save correctly.
  
• Other bug fixes for most of the reported issues.

[h2]BALANCE CHANGES:[/h2]

• Base Critical Damage stat increased to 200% (from 150%).
  
• "T-Pose Doll" now increases the Immunity Time After Taking Damage by 0.3s (from 1s).
  
• "Wooden Stick" now also decreases the Ability Damage stat by -5%, but has 2 stacks (from 5) and increases the Experience Gain Modifier by +25% (from +10%).
  
• Skill-tree: "Role Player" now increases the experience points by up to 25% (from 50%).
  
• Skill-tree: All three upgrades to Recycle, Reroll and Banish stats now give +2 per point (from +1).
  
• Life steal now has an internal cooldown of 0.2s to prevents overheals in values of thousands of HP.

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Thank you for all the positive reviews you're leaving us on Steam ːheart_meː

Please keep in mind that the game is a work in progress, so it will only get better with the implementation of new content, quality of life features, and upcoming revisions to some of the systems.
We all want this game to be great, and we hope you'll join us on this journey and give us your feedback!

Thank you for reading. Have fun with the update & don't forget to feed Sanji!

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio

Welcome, Survivor!

We're releasing the 0.3.0 beta test version to our Public Beta branch here on Steam, and we'd like to invite you to take a look at the changes we've made to the game. Feel free to give us your feedback on the state of YAZS and help us iron out any remaining issues before we release it to a standard branch for everyone to enjoy!

IMPORTANT: To reduce any possible confusion and accelerate the implementation of changes, please keep all the discussion related to the test versions to the spaces listed below:

• A dedicated #yazs-beta channel on our Discord server.
  
• "Public Beta Test" sub forum on YAZS Steam forums.
  
• Comments under this post.

You can also send us your feedback at [email protected]
adding "0.3.0 BETA" somewhere in the title of your message. Thanks!

[hr][/hr][h2]How to join the Public Beta Test?[/h2][hr][/hr]
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.

[hr][/hr][h2]What should I test in this version?[/h2][hr][/hr]
There are multiple things we'd like you to take a look at and share you're feedback on them.

Here are some of the things added/changed in this version:

• New map with new enemies and new environmental hazards (unlocked by completing Default Mode on the first map).
  
• One new tier two ability for each survivor (i.e. a new resurrection mechanic for Medic).
  
• 11 new items & 19 new achievements.
  
• Weapon manual aim & weapon auto-shoot features.
  
• Damage received buffer: The maximum damage a player can take is capped at -1000 HP.
  
• Melee attacks (Ghost) to be made from the edges of the party circle instead of the character's model.
  
• Streamlined critical hits to cover only the Survivor's weapons and abilitites related to these (e.g. Ricochet).
  
• Fix for the game not correctly saving progress and/or not creating new backup save files.
  
• Fix for the game displaying two interfaces at the same time & unpausing the gameplay on UI screens.
  
• Fix for magnet & healthpack powerups disappearing from the ground with time (they shouldn't).
  
• (Yet another) Fix for boss health bars staying on screen after the enemy is defeated.
  
• Other bug fixes for most of the reported issues (Engineer's screen flashes are still work in progress).
  
• Endscreens now display additional information such as the game mode and version number.
  
• Improvements to weapon/ability/item selection screens (descriptions, stat highlight, color indicators).
  
• Abilities in the pause menu now have descriptions on mouse-over.
  
• Game size reduction & RAM usage improvements.
  
• Limit on simultaneous audio instances increased from 32 to 64.
  
• Skill-tree reset function now has a confirmation panel.
  
• Improvements to Bloodless mode & FSR implementation.
  
• Options menu now includes descriptions of each setting and preview images where needed.
  
• Minor gameplay balance changes / tweaks.

Please also take a look at our Roadmap Board for the quick list of notable changes.

An extended patchnote with detailed changes will be prepared for the full release of 0.3.0 update, as all the current changes are subject to revision upon your feedback. Please feel free to share all your thoughts with us, thank you!

This beta test is expected to last about 5 days, after which we will release an updated version of the game.

See you very soon!

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio

[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