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GUARDS! News

DEMO V5: TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Greetings Guards!

The gnomes over at the GUARDS! Gadget Guild [G3] have been hard at work creating new tools to be used in the endless war on crime. You will now have access to the following equipment:

  • Nailbomb
  • Fire Whiskey
  • Push Daggers
  • Knuckle Dusters
  • Fire Bombs
  • Frying Pan


We have also updated the store in GUARDS HQ with a wide variety of snazzy new uniform colors and shields. So now you can thwart crime and look fantastic doing it!


FULL PATCH NOTES FOLLOW:
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Changelist January 2024


New Features
[+] Added Nailbomb, Fire Whiskey, Push Daggers, Knuckle Dusters and Fire Bombs to crates
[+] Add frying pan
[+] 2000g coins earnt from completing a district
[+] Host Can Kick Players
[+] Player Count Balancing of Objective and Enemy Counts
[+] Add Weapon Shop to APC spawn room during a mission
[+] Enemies are now stunned by flying ragdoll enemies after being kicked
[+] Enemies break props when kicked and ragdolled into them
[+] Dynamic Weather and Time of Day
[+] Shields can now be bought at the Armory
[+] Added an 'end of round slomo' camera that focuses on the loss or win event
[+] Added seating and enterable APC
[+] Added Quest area with Fire Pit (for main game)
[+] Setup Skeleton Faction with Necromancer (spoilers!)
[+] Items are now unlocked via district reached (new items added)
[+] Add a 'stuck' button in the escape menu

Alterations
[~] Extraction now requires all living players in the area
[~] One Hostage will always reside in the final room of a mission
[~] Enemies will repopulate after reaching the final room of a mission, or a the mid point during a mission, whichever comes first
[~] Nametags are now red when the player is downed
[~] Improved pickup highlight and outlines
[~] Mission timer increased to 10 minutes (from 6 minutes)
[~] Training Room Weapons can no longer be taken on missions
[~] Increase night brightness
[~] Heavy weapons can no longer be dropped by Chieftains until KO
[~] Add a Delay and animation of arms raised to the brick thrower (balance, telegraph)
[~] AI can now move through kneeling AI (reduce getting stuck)
[~] Armor and weapon cost iterations and Weapon UI for lethality and damage
[~] Loss screen improved background image
[~] Miff crate thrower now throws a Miff vial at you, less confusing during Miff Evidence collect missions

Bug Fixes
[-] Fixed some sessions continue to run after error
[-] Miff poison throwers never appear
[-] Red barrels would stun instead of kill
[-] Expired missions which would fail the case fail would not reset the case progress
[-] Gamepad losing focus in AAR, Main Menu, Settings, Server Browser and other screens
[-] KO or Dead characters holding crates would fly gracefully into the sky
[-] Crossbow kills let you escape the map
[-] There was no Kill volume when falling out of the map
[-] Players frequently revive inside walls
[-] Spectate Camera UI was missing
[-] KO stars don't stop after arrest / revive
[-] The food eating sound cue was audible regardless of distance to the source
[-] Coin sounds happen twice on pickup
[-] Fix missing Game UI after entering a mission

Dev Streams

Live Dev Streams!


Starting in January developers of GUARDS have been livestreaming on Youtube and Twitch
  1. New Enemies
  2. New Weapons and Equipment
  3. Quality of life and UX iterations
  4. New Environments
  5. Bug fixes


Join us daily from 8-10am Central Time

Jankuary

Similar to Inktober and other month long daily events, I have coined 'JANKUARY' a daily stream where we hack together awesome content for the game and in some cases, remove jank (bug fixes, QOL).

Join the discord to join in chat!
GUARDS! DISCORD!

Twitch
Twitch/lowkeygamedev

Youtube
Youtube/lowkeygamedev

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

WAR FOR NEW ALESTEAD!

The situation in New Alestead has escalated, the Mega City Slums are under constant gang occupation, Perps are roaming the streets, civilians are being held at ransom, and a new drug 'Miff' is taking over.

Our orders are destabilize the gangs control of the districts and gather intel on the Kingpins location - then bring him in!

Its your job to subdue the perps, rescue the hostages, and detain any Miff contraband on the Streets.

We have limited time to pull this off, and if.. no WHEN we do you bring the son-of-a-gobbo back alive for interrogation... we'll make sure he talks!

// MAJOR CHANGES //

🏙️ Procedurally Generated Maps

In order to increase replayability we have moved from scripted, linear mission chains to procedurally generated city maps. The old maps you know and love are still in the game, but have been re-worked as boss levels.

🎲 Meta Game

In addition to increasing replayability on the mission layer, we have added an over-arching meta game. If you are familiar with XCOM you will feel right at home with our meta-layer that sees you splitting your focus across multiple crime scenes in an attempt to keep anarchy under control while frantically trying to gather enough intel on the Kingpins location before he escapes!

⚔️ Combat and Weapon Overhaul

New challenges require new tools and equipment. Guards will now be able to choose between lethal and non-lethal weapons - which are ideal for taking down high value targets. Recent legislation means Guards will now no longer be able to "accidentally" punch high value targets to death. The standard issue Guard Kick (tm) has received a significant boost. New weapons are available for purchase in the weapon store.

⚒️ Armor and Armor Values

Armor now provides its wearers with additional health improvements! Spend your hard earned gold on stylish, and practical armor upgrades. You can upgrade your armor at the armor stand by the door in your quarters.

FULL PATCH NOTES FOLLOW:
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Changelist December 2023
(Last Changelist posted October 2023)

Additions:
[+] Added new HUB and tutorial area
[+] Added Generated missions - Mission on the war map are randomized each day (Subdue, Rescue, miff collect)
[+] Added Generated level layouts - New Alestead is a vast city, each missions takes place in one of the many generated streets of New Alestead
[+] Added Generated level loading screen with mission info
[+] Added Crisis War Map - Tracks Anarchy and available missions per district
[+] Added District Anarchy Tracker - Each mission you fail will advance the Anarchy track, at max Anarchy the District will fall to gang control
[+] Added Mission Timeouts - Missions are active for a limited time and when they expire anarchy will increase
[+] Added District Intel Tracker - Each mission you win provides Intel, at max Intel we find the Kingpin
[+] Added HUD elements for next mission and intel/anarchy tracker
[+] Added HUD Popups when returning to the HUB for mission timeout, max anarchy, max intel, kingpin defeated, kingpin escaped, new case file
[+] Added Kingpin Mission - Take on the Kingpin in a final mission to save the district, if you fail he will escape and the district will be lost
[+] Added Pay coin to control the situation on the Streets - Increase time on missions, decrease anarchy and discover new missions
[+] Added Buyable weapons before hitting the streets
[+] Added Armor Stand and Armor defense buffs (increase HP)
[+] Added Lethal vs Non Lethal Damage - Non Lethal cannot kill, Deadly can kill if KO, Lethal will instantly kill if enemy reaches 0 HP
[+] Added Persistent Equipment caching Between Levels
[+] Added HUD Markers to APC and Extraction locations
[+] Added UI feeback to coin and cape pickup
[+] Added enemy screaming and arms raised telegraph at close range
[+] Added After Action Report Crisis Trackers
[+] Added Coins to HUD
[+] Added enemy repopulation mechanic to backfill the world with enemies on the return / extraction beat
[+] Added ability to escort Perps and Hostages (follow / stay)
[+] Added secondary coins reward from bring perps back to the APC
[+] Added Bloody Screen effect for low health
[+] Added F to invite Friends element (opens steam overlay)
[+] Added Friend elements to HUD, flashes red when KO, and a red skull if dead and needs revive
[+] Added downswing to melee combo 3rd attack

Alterations:
[~] Goblin Thrower rearm animations
[~] Update sprint and Idle animations to have less camera sway
[~] Added smoke pop to hub assets when they are recreated
[~] Thrower brick now explodes on impact
[~] Remove roll from camera shakes to help with motion sickness
[~] Tweak hit stop animation on melee to feel better
[~] Increase enemy melee range to keep the enemy in frame
[~] Increase attack combo windows
[~] Edit Translations
[~] Decreased Player Stun Duration
[~] Allow Player to block whilst Stunned
[~] Updated music
[~] Miff Blind Effect updated
[~] Fracture assets now KO enemies instead of killing them
[~] Stopped stealing weapons from enemy front, only allow stealing weapons from behind

Bugs:
[!] Fix bandwidth limits to improve overseas networking
[!] Fix unplaced notices not destroying when parented actor is fractured or destroyed
[!] Fix gamepad issue where multiple settings would change when scrolling a setting
[!] Fix some item hit effects missing on clients, in particular ally kick effects
[!] Fix thrower enemy floating
[!] Fix thrower enemy not rearming and standing idle
[!] Fix Punching with Shield not working
[!] Fix throwing knife attachment issue
[!] Fix Thrower not moving after arrest
[!] Fix issue where UI would not draw
[!] Fix muffled enemy VO
[!] Fix infinite falling bug in some levels
[!] Fix AI seeing through doors and stacking up on them
[!] Fix missing mouse in AAR in some cases
[!] Fix loss of gamepad control in some cases

CaRtOoNz & H2ODelirious Play GUARDS!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]












Watch CaRtOoNz & H2ODelirious play GUARDS! If you've ever wanted to watch two inebriated city guards with questionable accents terrorize the inhabitants of the city and each other then this video has you covered.

It was a nice surprise for us and awesome to see people indulging in the kind of goofy chaos we had in mind when we first started making this game.

The demo they played was a little on the old side, but don't worry - we have a new one with lots of combat improvements, a new procedurally generated levels and new XCOM style crime fighting meta game - so watch this space!

DEMO UPDATE V2

GUARDS! LISTEN UP!

The results from the first weeks training initiative are in, and you knuckleheads have smashed, kicked and thrown your way through every obstacle in your path - but we have work to do... lets cut to it.

You, our hardy GUARDS! have raised some important questions, and found some questionable issues during our field exercise!

  • Confusion in combat?! We hear you!
  • Frustration in the face of our adversaries! WE hear you!
  • Overseas Foreign Exchange GUARDS!?? WE HEAR YOU!

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We at BASTION HQ have hit the roundtable to workshop some changes to our rules of engagement for future training, buckle up lads and lassies, this is the first of many, and not the shortest list either:

Additions:
[+] Localisation for Chinese, Japanese, Russian, French and German
[+] A health station bench has been added to the first level for on-site training purposes
[+] Added Language toggle to the settings menus
[+] Toggle Blood in the Settings
[+] Toggle Sprint in the Settings

Alterations:
[~] Shielding and Guarding now have unique audio and effect feedback when taking hits
[~] Guarding no longer causes tinnitus or bleeding
[~] Can now attack when shielding
[~] Melee weapons can now hit multiple targets during a swing
[~] Gamepad Default Sensitivity reduced from 3 to 1.3
[~] First level enemy layout changed
[~] Taunt moved to the V Key
[~] Kicks can now hit multiple targets
[~] Crates now destroy other crates when hitting each other
[~] Fast Runner Goblin has overworked his arms, and therefore cannot punch as frequently (by half)
[~] GUARDS Stun duration reduced from 3s to 2s, that training worked out well!

Bugs:
[!] Fix an issue where GUARDS! experienced godhood in the BASTION HUB level
[!] Fix issues with collecting throwing knives and ammo count