Horde Hunters News

Hello. This update is still in the aftermath of the new weekly challenge feature. There's nothing like a little competition to bring out issues in runs! Mainly the scoring has seen an overhaul and big changes made to overcome the late-game lag. There's still more to do but I wanted to push this update out before the next weekly kicks in. All the performance improvements may affect the gameplay experience somewhat so looking forward to getting feedback on that as well. This is very much an iterative process so bear with me as we're tweaking the formula.

[h3]Full changelog:[/h3]

General

• Many of the leaderboard score multipliers changed. Elite multiplier is calculated based on average kill time. Unused power-ups will give a bonus multiplier for total score
  
• Endless late-game (20min+) enemies will get even tankier over time
  
• Reduced the maximum number of enemies that can be spawned
  
• Older non-elite enemies are destroyed from the map for better performance
  
• Enemy land and air units no longer collide with each other
  
• Enemy knockback stops on obstacle collision and is stunned for the remainder of time
  
• Map contrast increased a bit for better clarity
  
• Player damage when inside the mine increased by 50%
  
• Character maximum level increased to 15
  
• Shield initial attack rate decreased from 2s to 2.5s
  
• Added an arrow to protect mission party member for better visibility
  
• Fire mission radius will decrease slowly every second
  
• Mission outside timer is a total of 5s, not 5s every time you go out
  
• Jumping/dashing enemies can't be stunned anymore
  
• An icon is shown next to the player energy bar if ability is blocked by elite
  
• Cart driver (on Road maps) will hurt player too so watch out!
  

Bugs

• Leaderboard score backup could get corrupted and not be able to send again
  
• Event log would get in the way when accessing settings during run
  
• Mission timers got desynced (in event log and arrows) when using mine or disco ball
  
• Jumping/dashing enemies could on occasion trigger more than once making their direction and speed erratic
  
• Sometimes elites would show red dash indicator line despite not having said ability
  
• Mission and level up reward screens could be dismissed with space
  
• Enemy spawn frequency was not always consistent
  
• Some weapons could have a critical upgrade costing 0 after maxing everything else out
  

Hello. During summertime the updates are a bit slimmer as I'm enjoying the outdoors and other activities more. However, the show must go on so there's always something on the works. This falls in line towards a maintenance update but with a potentially interesting change/addition which is that you can now upgrade weapon stats indefinitely after they are maxed out. This will likely need some balancing in the next updates but let's see how it first plays out.

I also wanted to congratulate JHG that took the first ever weekly challenge top spot and earned a $10 Steam gift card. I gave him a bit of a sweat as the runner-up but it was well earned for the win. Be sure to join the fun every week with a new map and rules!

General

• Updated game engine to latest version
  
• Added character level information to leaderboards (will show 0 for old records)
  
• Enabled precise collisions for melee weapon accuracy with potentially some performance hits
  
• All the normal weapon attributes are able to be upgraded further after maxing them out (previously only damage was on offer)
  
• Increased rune activation radius
  

Bugs

• Mission timers would go on in event log and mission arrows when movement was paused such as using the Disco Ball
  
• Challenge mission elites would freeze unable to be killed if not starting the mission and letting the timer run out
  
• Level up screen could have elite kill offerings when leveling up later and picking elite skull in between
  

One day I'll push out a major version without immediate hotfixes. One day...

Bugs

• Weekly map power-ups were not saving properly
  
• Runes were sometimes not saving properly when having a specific consumable linked to it
  
• Level up later would not work with automatic leveling so removed the feature for that setting
  
• Leaderboard score of 0 is no longer submitted
  

Hello. I've been wanting to run more leaderboard competitions for some time now but the system hasn't been flexible enough for my needs. So, I spent some time to create a new weekly competition that is easy for me to maintain without updating the game itself (fingers crossed).

[h2]Endless Weekly Competition[/h2]



Every Monday there will be a new map to compete in. It can be any of the current maps in the game but it can also have some special "rules" if I choose to such as playing with a certain character, maximum number of power-ups, maximum timer or a fixed difficulty. This alone offers a lot of variation for many weeks to come with an option to expand further if need be.

Until further notice the winner of each week is awarded a $10 Steam Gift Card. To make things easier for me the winner should come to Discord and claim their prize within 1 week otherwise I will put it towards a future prize. Also, to make this interesting and fun for me as well I will not exclude myself from participating. If I happen to win then I will essentially save myself $10. ːsteamhappyː You will just have to take my word for not cheating in any way!

[h3]Full changelog:[/h3]

General

• New map: Endless Weekly Competition - Every week (Mon-Sun) a new leaderboard map to compete against with custom rules. Winner is awarded a $10 Steam Gift Card
  
• Added 3 new runes
  
• Added player max health to leaderboard information (shown under character popup with other stats)
  
• If a leaderboard score submission fails for some reason it is saved and tried again later
  

Bugs

• Scrollbar (in power-ups and achievements) did not scroll smoothly with mouse wheel
  
• Perception 50% bonus projectile was broken
  

Hello. I'm calling this one a maintenance update because it doesn't really bring in new content but has additions and fixes for many little things. The game is once again taking part in G.Round testing and as a result many changes improve the new player experience but there's also plenty for existing players.

I should mention that currently Horde Hunters is on sale for under 3 bucks on the Steam Summer Sale! It'll likely be a long time before it's this low again so tell your friends or gift them to support the game.

[h2]New player settings[/h2]



You really enjoyed the player healthbar introduced in the previous update. So much so that you wanted more from the feature so here we go. You can now also show the energy bar and as a bit of a bonus enable player and party member outlines for better visibility.

[h2]New difficulty selection screen + changes[/h2]



Difficulty is still the number one feedback point I see with new players. I've now introduced a new difficulty selection screen before the tutorial begins to help make a more informed choice. There's also some extras to help players on the lower difficulty to complete their runs. You'll also note that weapon upgrade costs now vary on all difficulty levels (except Normal).

FYI there are 5 new achievements for completing the main maps with the very hard difficulty. Sorry to say if you've previously done these they won't count because I wasn't tracking that information. Still, with the new weapon upgrade cost changes you may be facing an additional challenge.

[h2]Honorable mentions[/h2]

Other interesting additions include being able to Level Up Later, quickly toggle Auto-aiming with a hotkey and the Run mode changed so now you have to keep pressing the button like in most other games. For all the other changes see the full changelog below. Cheers

[h3]Full changelog:[/h3]

General

• New setting: Player health bar - None, On hit, Always (Default: On hit)
  
• New setting: Player energy bar - None, Always (Default: None)
  
• New setting: Player and party member outlines (Default: No)
  
• New shop action: Level Up Later - Allows to take a peek at the next level up rewards but also viewing character/gear without having to level up
  
• New achievements (5) for completing main maps on Very Hard difficulty
  
• New difficulty selection screen when starting tutorial
  
• Weapon upgrade costs are relative to difficulty
  
• Lower difficulty (Easy and below) end-game is a bit easier. Also extra open inventory slots on start
  
• Difficulty screen: Corrected that "playing below the default" means the Normal difficulty
  
• Auto-aim can be quickly toggled in-game with the [F1] key
  
• Run mode changed: Hold button to run (instead of toggle on/off)
  
• Energy Shield item will also knock back and stun surrounding enemies upon hit
  
• Every time you're hit the energy recharge stops for 1s. With Ginseng your energy will still go up by 50%
  
• Boss top healthbar removed. Added next move information on top of boss
  
• Top "Main Menu" changed to read "Back" instead
  
• Terrain speed information did not align properly to bottom of screen if there were no consumables
  
• Added a new music track when losing a run
  
• Added text to power-ups screen that they are saved for each character and map separately
  
• Auras will have additional instructions for first time use
  
• Replaced the player damage sound with another
  
• Character stat information is shown when hovering the character panel healthbars with a mouse
  
• Consumable amounts are shown again (when paused)
  
• Active consumables are better highlighted
  
• Map goal information moved to the zoomed out phase. Removed the big message from the start of run
  
• Weapon stats are not seen on level up screens to declutter information
  
• Some GUI color changes
  

Bugs

• Protect and Rescue mission timers didn't pause when outside area
  
• Dwarf smash effect (visual only) did not align properly with character size and direction
  
• 10k+ leaderboard achievements do not pop immediately after run
  
• Light Wand weapon was broken (fired a small blip in front of the character)
  
• Gamepad navigation with shop consumables and weapons had minor issues since moving to the new GUI system
  
• Minor graphical issues if Steam Deck plugged into a monitor
  
• Power-ups navigation had some scrolling issues when using gamepad
  
• Player can get stuck in the mountains after elite push (maybe fixed, hard to reproduce)
  
• Boss battle may not trigger on certain game speeds due to rounding error
  
• Some issues with building messages and ongoing mission happening during boss battle
  
• When adjusting music volume during the game, the music stays on (although being muted on pause)
  
• Mouse scroll speed was somewhat limited. You can now scroll e.g. consumables faster