Yet Another Zombie Survivors News

[h2]Welcome, Survivor![/h2]

We are launching the beta test for the 0.6 update to the game. Please read the information below to find out what's changing in this build and how you can help us test things. Keep in mind that everything is subject to change based on your feedback, so please let us know what you think.

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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 "0.6 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 on 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]
The most important thing we want you to test and give us your feedback on, is the new map and how do you feel about the wave definitions (types of enemies appearing at which moment in time). This content addition is aimed at players with fully filled out current skill-tree, which is Survival Level 80-90.

Here are some of the things that have been added/changed in this release:

• New map: Green Hell, with new enemy types and new environmental hazards.
• New game mode: Extermination (replaces Boss Rush mode and related achievements).
• New enemy form: Elite (increased size & stats, but have better drops).
  
• Item Pool Customization function (available after unlocking 50 or more items).
  
• First iteration of the Encyclopedia, which will grow in time upon your feedback.
  
• Additional (to previous beta) engine optimizations and performance tweaks.
  
• Additional fixes for frame pacing issues that were reported on some 60+ Hz displays.
  
• Another sound effects update (new sounds & changes to some of the existing ones).
  
• Other minor fixes & improvements / balance changes.

We're restructuring Boss Rush into a new game mode because we found that the previous mode was not significantly different from the Endless mode. We want to bring new & interesting experiences to the game, so we hope the wave-based mode will prove to be such.

One Hit is also on our radar and we are planning to revamp it for the next update (0.7). We'll try to remix it so that it's still challenging, but with a little more room for player error. The end result should be a lot more interesting; we all enjoy a fun arcade game from time to time, don't we?

[hr][/hr][h2]What should I do if the game works worse or crashes?[/h2][hr][/hr]
Keep us posted on the stability of the game, as we'll continue to work on improving the game and fixing any issues you may encounter with this beta test. If the game stutters or crashes more than before, please let us know!

If your game is performing worse than before, please press F8 on your keyboard and quickly fill out the survey to let us know what's going on. This will also send us your log files so we can check if there are any errors happening in the background.

If your game has crashed, you can send us your crash reports instead, which you can find at

• %localAppData%\Temp\Awesome Games Studio\Yet Another Zombie Survivors\Crashes\

Please zip / rar / 7z this folder and send it to us at [email protected]


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Depending on the amount of changes and improvements that need to be implemented based on your feedback, we aim for this beta to take about 2 weeks, after which we will officially release the 0.6 update.

Thank you for all your support and patience ːheart_meː

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2163330/Yet_Another_Zombie_Survivors/


[hr][/hr][h2]UPDATE 2:[/h2][hr][/hr]

• fix for the bug where certain items/powerups would occure twice on the same selection screen
  
• some improvements for systems detecting incoming damage to be more precise
  
• slow down debuff icon adjusted
  
• improvements for Extermination mode last enemies indicators
  
• fix for a bug where Team Level on Main Menu sometimes would display 0
  
• windup for Werewolf's fast attack increased a bit
  
• fix where Item Pool was not loading properly after restarting the game
  
• fix where Boomers would sometimes become a spooky moving acid fog
  
  
• Huntress's class perk changed to 5/10/20% (from 2.5/5/10)
  
• Medic's class perk changed to 10/25/50% (from 25/50/100)
  
• Glass of Milk: Healing bonus -5% (from -2.5%), 1 stack (from 3)
  
• Pickup Pick: Heal 10% of max HP (from +50 HP)
  
• Heavy Metal: Heal 50% of max HP (from +250 HP)

[hr][/hr][h2]UPDATE 3:[/h2][hr][/hr]

• New awesome music tracks for Green Hell.
  
• New in-between wave interface for the Extermination mode.
  
• Additional fixes for potential screen flashes when playing Engineer.
  
• "It's Raining Men" achievement is easier to trigger (6 ragdolls needed).
  
• Anonymous diagnostics added (can be toggled on/off in options).
  
• Other tweaks, and fixes for reported bugs & issues.

ㅤ[h3]Welcome, Survivors![/h3]

We hope you're enjoying the 0.5 update so far. Here's another round of news and interesting tidbits from behind the scenes of Yet Another Zombie Survivors' development process. Not all of today's news is happy, but we hope you'll enjoy reading it anyway.

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• [h3]Epitaph to Sanji the rabbit[/h3]

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Unfortunately, we have to start this devlog with some bad news. It is with a heavy heart that we let you know that our mascot, which you have grown to love, has recently passed away.

Seven-year-old Sanji suddenly fell ill overnight, and as it turned out, he had contracted a bacterium that rapidly worsened his condition. Despite the veterinarians' quick response and efforts, our friend could not be saved. The bacterium attacked the nervous system and in just three hours Sanji was gone. He was loved to the end, and just before he died, he ate his last, favorite treat - a slice of banana.

We're sure he's not suffering now as he binks through the clearings full of endless carrots and potatoes. He was always a sweetheart, quiet and eager to be petted, and will be remembered as such. His legacy lives on as he left behind two other loving family members - Chopper & Nami - who are also rabbits.



Thank you for all the potatoes you've fed him. Let's keep him in our minds and hearts from now on.

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• [h3]Upcoming new map[/h3]

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At the time of writing, we're hard at work on the next map, which will feature a forest-like environment.

You'll face more challenges than before, as well as brand new enemies and modified versions of the old ones. We've got a few ideas for fun stage hazards and interactions, but we'd also love to hear your thoughts on what and how to challenge you in this new area.

As for the name, it's a temperate forest at night, full of zombies and mutated creatures. It's not set in stone, but we found a name that stuck pretty well: Green Hell. Is it a good one? Let us know in the comments.


We'd love to share more, but this is all a work in progress, so we don't want to hype something that may or may not get added. We hope you'll jump into the public beta as soon as it's available to give us your feedback on the new map and its content. Actually, you can join the beta right now, as we're currently testing the performance updates - but about that...

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• [h3]Major performance improvements[/h3]

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With the help of our friends at HyperStrange, we've been working hard to improve the performance of the game and the engine itself.

We're happy to report that from both our testing and feedback from our public beta, the improvements are really noticeable. Depending on your hardware environment, you can expect a 20 to 100 percent framerate improvement in upcoming versions of the game!

For example, the Steam Deck can now run the game at a 50-70 FPS (depending on your graphics settings) most of the time, whereas it used to stick around 20-40 FPS in the previous versions. There's still the issue of framerates getting lower and lower the longer you play the modes with no time limit, but that's something we'll continue to work on in the future.



We're still working on the issue of vertical sync capping the framerate at low values on some devices, so some players will need to disable it (easily turned off in the game's options) for smoother gameplay. If you experience weird stuttering or FPS drops in the game, please disable vertical sync and set the framerate limit to your monitor's display value (Hz). This should help!

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• [h3]Item pool customization[/h3]

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Another promise we've made, and one we intend to keep, is to give players the ability to customize the ever-expanding item pool. Starting with version 0.6, you'll be able to customize the potential item chest content. Players will be free to disable (and enable) any item they wish, as long as the total pool remains with at least 40 items.

This is just one of many changes to itemization to come, as we're committed to making items yet another fun way to interact and customize your runs. We'll be adding new items as well as tweaking the stats of the old ones, and even tweaking the ones that aren't your favorites or are considered a bit bland.



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• [h3]A new Awesome Dev appeared![/h3]

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What is that rustling in the tall grass over there? A shiny, legally distinct pocket creature?

Not at all! It's a new Awesome Developer joining the fight for awesomeness! Adam has recently joined our (tiny but mighty) team as a new programmer. Here's a word from him to you:You'll find Adam mostly working on a separate project of ours, BUT he will jump in from time to time to help Mariusz (and his two dogs) program YAZS. He's actually the one behind the item pool customization integration.

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• [h3]Stay tuned for version 0.6 Beta![/h3]

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As mentioned, we're still adding ones and zeros for the upcoming update, and it's coming together nicely. Be sure to keep an eye out for the 0.6 public beta test, as it's definitely coming in March.

In case you missed the last few news posts about the game, we're also continuing to work on a new skill trees / meta progression rework that will allow us to easily add new fun nodes and modifiers to the game in the future. Since this requires a lot of planning and balancing, it will most likely come in a future update (we hope to have it implemented in version 0.7).

We're also working on adding a promised Encyclopedia/Codex feature to the game, which will list all the important information and details that players will want to gather and read. Be sure to keep us updated on what you would like to see detailed in the in-game codex (could be anything from tutorial information to the number of potatoes taken).

On the topic of information and encyclopedias, the Yet Another Zombie series also has an official wiki that was recently launched, which we invite you to browse and expand as we go along with the game's development: https://yetanotherzombie.wiki.gg.


If you'd like to, be sure to hop on any of our social media profiles and/or our Discord server:

ㅤㅤ  Discord ㅤㅤ   X / Twitter ㅤㅤ   Facebook ㅤㅤ   Instagram


As always, thank you for accompanying us on this journey!

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio

[h2]Welcome, Survivor![/h2]

We're launching a special beta test for the game's upcoming performance update. Please read the information below to find out what's changing in this build and how you can help us test things.

[hr][/hr]
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 "0.5_PerfBeta" 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 on 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]
This release is special because instead of testing an upcoming content update, we want you to test the performance and stability of the game against the build on the default branch (0.5.1a+). We hope to make the game run better for you, especially with improvements to the CPU usage.

Here are some of the things that have been added/changed in this release:

• Various performance related changes, engine & tools updates.
• Potential fixes for framerate drops, crashes, and rare cases of savegame resets.
  
• Some small gameplay tweaks, nothing major (e.g. reworked attack patterns for the Butcher boss).
  
• Added controller support for the pause menu controls and pop-up information.
  
• Added mouse-over pop-up information for the Survivor's weapons and abilities in their selection menu.
  
• Another sound effects update (new sounds & changes to some of the existing ones).
  
• Legendary version of the Military Training XP modifier now gives +30%, up from +20%).
  
• Fixes/improvements to how Lockdown & Banish options work with gamepad/controllers.
  
• Tank: Rocket launcher should now be able to deal weapon critical damage again.
  
• Other minor fixes & improvements.

While these changes may seem minor, the performance and engine updates are of immense importance to the current and future health of the game. The updated version should definitely run better on most hardware that meets the game's minimum system requirements.

[hr][/hr][h2]What should I do if the game works worse or crashes?[/h2][hr][/hr]
Keep us posted on the stability of the game, as we'll continue to work on improving the game and fixing any issues you may encounter with this beta test. If the game stutters or crashes more than before, please let us know!

If your game is performing worse than before, please press F8 on your keyboard and quickly fill out the survey to let us know what's going on. This will also send us your log files so we can check if there are any errors happening in the background.

If your game has crashed, you can send us your crash reports instead, which you can find at

• %localAppData%\Temp\Awesome Games Studio\Yet Another Zombie Survivors\Crashes\

Please zip / rar / 7z this folder and send it to us at [email protected]


[hr][/hr]
This beta will most likely be merged with the upcoming 0.6 beta test, resulting in the 0.6.0 public content update release, which will combine these performance improvements and new content additions.

Thank you for all your support and patience ːheart_meː

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2163330/Yet_Another_Zombie_Survivors/

[h3]Welcome, Survivor![/h3]

We're releasing a quick hotfix to address pressing issues that appeared in version 0.5.1:

• Fixed the in-game Feedback Form (F8) getting stuck after pressing the "Submit" button.
  
• Fixed the after-run end screens displaying wrong/placeholder values and information.

Thank you for both your reports and your patience!


ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio

[h3]Welcome, Survivor![/h3]

We're releasing an update to both fix some issues that were present in version 0.5.0, as well as add some much-needed additions.

First of all, we apologize for the less-than-ideal state of some things within the previous version. These problems stem from some of the big changes that happened in the 0.5.0 public beta branch, which changed a lot of things. For example, the minor and major level-ups were reworked into the military training system, which drastically changed the pace of leveling itself.

We're sorry that we didn't address this properly before we released the 0.5 update, as we didn't want to make you wait any longer for the update. We'll do our best to make sure situations like this don't happen again with major version updates.

Moving on, this update brings:

• Improved leveling curve with more frequent level-ups.
  
• Better Military Training / passive level-up upgrade values / numbers.
  
• Higher chance of stackable items to reappear in Item Chests.
  
• Buffs to area of effect melee attacks, chemical damage, etc.
  
• New QoL features, gameplay tweaks, and fixes for reported issues.
  
• And more! (see below).

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[h2]GAMEPLAY & BALANCE CHANGES:[/h2]

• Improved balance of experience progression for better gameplay feel (TLDR: more level-ups!).
  
• Further improvements to the passive leveling / military training system:
  
  • "Common", "Rare", and "Legendary" variants now offer much better bonuses, ranging from 2x to 4x better than in version 0.5.0.
    
  • Passive upgrades that appear when the level-up selection pool dries up are now of “Infinite” rarity, which usually defaults to half of the updated “Common” values.
    
  • Life Steal Chance and Amount passive upgrade cards have been removed (even tiny amounts of +% for these stats were really strong, but getting +0.05% upgrades didn't look good to players. We'll most likely rework these stats in a future update).
    
  • Slightly increased the rarity boost effect of the "Luck" stat.
    
  • Reduced the spawn rate of the Military Training powerup slightly to balance the changes above.
• Picked items now have a higher chance of reappearing in Item Chests if they have more than one available stack.
  
• (Ghost: / Pyro:) Area damage melee weapons now always hit all enemies within their radius (previously there was a limit to the number of enemies hit per attack), but their damage is greatly reduced after reaching a certain number of targets.
  
• (Medic:) Chemical damage over time now also deals additional damage equal to 1% of the enemy's maximum HP per tick.
  
• Engineer: "Energy Shield" ability base cooldown increased to 50 seconds (from 40).
  
• SWAT: "Grenade Trail" ability Amount stat increased by +2 and base damage increased by +50.
  
• Pyro: "Flamethrower" area of damage increased (also, killed zombies now have a burning visual effect).
  
• "Runner Zombie" enemy health points scaling reduced / nerfed.
  
• Endless: Horde stats adjusted - slighty faster HP growth, slighty slower damage growth.
  
• Adjusted spawn rate of various pick-up/power-ups.

[h2]QUALITY OF LIFE:[/h2]

• A visual representation of enemy that killed the player is now displayed at the endscreen interface.
  
• Stats that are at their cap (limit) are now grayed out and have an exclaim mark next to their value.
  
• The Reset Progress function in the Options menu now has a hold-to-confirm button to prevent accidental progress erasure.
  
• Added information in the bottom right corner of the screen to show the current status of the Manual Aim/Auto Fire settings when the game starts or when they're toggled using a hotkey.
  
• Changed "Team Level" to "Survival Level" to better differentiate between the in-game team level and the meta progression profile/account level.
  
• Tweaked the "hitbox" of the buttons on the character/map/game mode selection screens when using the mouse cursor.
  
• Added new sound effects. Please note that some sounds and their volumes are still under development.
  
• Added additional information about the "Reset Points" button to the "Forget It" achievement.
  
• Added a custom description for the Health Potion item to better convey information about how it works.
  
• Updated most instances of "reload speed" phrases to "weapon cooldown reduction".
  
• Changed the title of the "Kill Characters" option to "Conclude Run".
  
• Some other translation improvements.

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

• Entering menus while in-game should once again always pause the gameplay.
  
• The Steam API has been updated to the latest version, which should help with some savegame-related issues.
  
• SWAT: Bullets created by the "Ricochet" ability will now always spawn correctly on the enemy hit by the original projectile.
  
• Huntress: Leveling the "Arrow Penetration" ability will no longer wrongly decrease the chance of its effect to occure.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause the movement speed decreasing effect of "Frozen" status to stack multiple times, instead of always causing an exact -50% movement speed debuff on the enemy.
  
• Fixed the stacking amounts of the "Teddy Bear" and "Golden Key" items.
  
• Using the "Switch Tab" key while in the "Reset Progress" option of the Options menu will no longer break the options interface.
  
• Fire Walk With Me" achievement progress is now saved correctly and no longer resets between game restarts.
  
• Fixed the "Fatigue" popup in the pause menu displaying an incorrect tooltip.
  
• Fixed weapon and ability usage endscreen times to properly display values greater than 60 minutes.
  
• The visual representation of the experience bar should no longer freeze in rare cases.
  
• Other minor bug fixes and improvements.

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For the next major update (0.6), we have decided to focus on the current state of meta progression, among other things.

We plan to both expand the meta progression skill-tree and introduce per-Survivor skill-trees, which will allow us to easily add new powers, enhancements, and ability modifiers in the future.



Here's one of our early WiP concept arts for one of its pages. Let us know what do you think about it!

[hr][/hr]
In addition, we've partnered with Wiki.gg to open an official Yet Another Zombie Wiki!

[h2]https://yetanotherzombie.wiki.gg[/h2]

It's still in its infancy, but you can check it below, as well as help us fill it with new content.
If you'd like to help us in maintainging it, be sure to come to #yazs-wiki on our Discord!

As always, we're grateful for all of your feedback, suggestions, and bug reports. Thank you! ːheart_meː

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2163330/