Vindictive Drive 2 News

• Fixed colission issue in 1S and 7N
  
• Toned down the volume that drowned the cute bunny
  
• Minor UI changes
  
• Fixed issue where Hex's portrait would disappear sometimes
  
• Removed unfair mine in 3N1E
  

Thank you for playing, I have Kirov on my production table right now.
Love

-Bal

Here's a summary of everything because this is gonna be long.
It's a total rebuild, if you haven't played in a while I recommend starting over, it's a new experience, I promise.

To make it short, I made the game again from scratch and made it look better too.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

• Ark Royal and Rei
  
• All maps redesigned and rebuilt from scratch, but better
  
• New aggro system
  
• New distance based rendering system
  
• New sprites for ALL MAIDBOTS!
  
• Lullastasia rework!
  
• New inventory system with built enemy encyclopedia
  
• New tutorial
  
• Zero advice in the city
  
• Lots of UI improvements
  
• Lag demon glitch fixed (this thing is what inspired this whole rework)
  
• New Xera battle!
  
• Stygian Traverse rework!
  
• New Kit guides for ALL MAIDBOTS!
  
• Auriga bridge simplified, more to the point and with room for Kickstarter NPCs
  
• Balance changes on several Maidbots
  
• New Upgrade System
  

All maps have been rebuilt from scratch, now when you deploy in the city, you will load up an entire district to explore, the city map now looks different also, with the addition of North Circle District in 4N to replace the previous 6 to 7N area.

Two rendering systems have been put in place, they both work leagues better than what we had before, but from the feedback gathered in this update I will decide on which one to focus.


South and North Circle Districts work on an aggro system that activates the enemies as you approach, the rest of the city and Stygian Traverse works on a distance based rendering system, which creates all objects and deletes them depending on how far you are from them.

Bigger areas also mean players HP won't be replenished so often, forcing the player to be cautious, also, I just noticed I put a REALLY CRUEL MINE in the Natural Reserve, sorry in advance it will be patched asap, though you spawn in the same spot so its just a minor inconvenience.

Also the aggro system, now when you are detected by an enemy, other nearby enemies may approach you as well when in range.

All the enemies have been modified to adapt to these changes, the bosses are generally tougher now, but you can still abuse Zyrenette to get you past half of them. More about her below.

That reminds me the Return Spots are now bigger and work better, I'm sure you will love that. The previous ones were awful, what was I even thinking!?


The game has been described as a souls like, that doesn't necessarily mean new players need to get anihilated and struggle before they manage to get anything done, so, several things have changed for them.

The bridge now connects to the essential NPCs, they will immediately take you to the tutorial, where Zero explains the mechanics and UI, afterwards, the normal dialogues of the bridge are unlocked, the UI of the bridge NPCs has been updated to make things more simple, it also looks better, so, yay.

After that, you will deploy in the city with Zero, now, the chat feature will have some common questions answered, this feature will be expanded on depending on how players use it.

This brings me to:



Even if you hate to read and remember crafting materials, now, in the city map you have a list of enemies and how many you need to kill to get which maidbot, and location also.


The enemies' list also has a description that shows what they do for the tricky ones.


All maidbots have new sprites and kit guides that you can consult in the city, that was a lot of work, now they all have cool animations as you use them.



Rei is here! The adorable vampire streamer is ready and offers a very edgy playstyle with a fast special that drains your HP for very high damage and a basic attack that restores it.



You can get Rei by catching Rei(as a bat) in Beluga Lake,(it's a random encounter, leaving and entering the area may be a cheap way to trigger it, its intended to be found by accident by unsuspecting players but if you're reading this you probably deserve a hint) and visiting the twitch channel from the Collab Area

If you like the game's Rei, you will adore the real one, take a look at her Twitch channel!
For real it's fun, ask anyone there I actually watch the streams. Even more than that, making this character I ended up making a good friend that I appreciate a lot.



Ark Royal is a new Generation 2 Maidbot! She's a melee dasher with a shield that absorbs damage for powerful counter attacks, her dashing speed is slower than Shireywha and she can't use her shield while attacking, which makes her a powerful but fairly balanced as far as Ultras go.



This Maidbot is voiced by the charismatic and skilled Savvi Lee. Give her a warm welcome!



The Dark Maiden has a new kit and a new look, now she provides a balanced attack and defense combo, she now rewards high mobility by attacking only once on close range but restoring HP, forcing the player into a safer playstyle, the aggressive "in your face" moves belong to Kyvzaki.


Her hook is still there, but she will now be the one dragged to enemies dealing huge damage and attacking multiple enemies if they are close enough to her.



I think she's really fun now.

The old Lullastasia was glitchy and offered only a hook which was boring for how difficult she is to get, defeating Gyubeeh and Kidovah is no joke, which reminds me...





The Stygian Traverse now is an endurance survival dungeon, where your score is the distance traveled instead of just floors, the frequency of enemy attacks is random and vary from very quiet to hell on earth, where you can be attacked by multiple Freija Drones at the same time and they move fast now!



Gyubeeh and Kidovah themselves had their new paint job, they are now tougher, with double the HP they had, more firepower and shields that return your attacks and heal them, the area in which you fight them is also tighter, no longer bound by walls, but if you step out of it it's instant death, so speed buffs that dominate the city can be a disadvantage here.


Now you can upgrade your Mecha! We have four upgrades now, it's a low and safe number you know, more will be added depending on how broken the builds players come up with are gonna be.

• Mar's nuke has a slightly slower travel speed, making it "safer" to use, her basic attack is faster, the nuke itself also deals more damage, making her more reliable because I found that people actually play her so, ey!
  
• Kyvzaki and Shireywha hit harder
  
• Vu's knife hitbox is bigger
  
• Zyrenette's Stardust Rebellion retains its broken damage but now costs 15% HP to use, which makes her a very powerful character in the city but extremely unreliable in the Stygian Traverse.
  

Xera now gives you the epic fated battle you deserve, she's the toughest while also giving you a show of bullet hell and looking very pretty while doing so, yes her look has been slightly updated as well.


The Lag Demon glitch which has terrorized the game for months is finally gone, it was the whole reason behind this rework to be honest, so, a blessing in disguise, from a curse to an opportunity, as thanks for improving the game, we are gonna make a Maidbot in its honor!
Stay tuned for news on this! If you have any ideas for this new Maidbot I am all ears!

With that being said, this was also the toughest period of development, I am exhausted, this update's name is Heart and Soul because it's quite honestly what I have put in it, but I wanted to make it a statement, there's probably things to fix as it's all brand new systems, but at its worst it is still leagues superior and more fun than the game we had before.

These new systems, also opened the door for new fun stuff that I can't reveal yet as I have enough to deliver on my plate as it is, but, opportunities for a better game keep coming, this was tough but worth it.

As I am writing this it's 2:30 AM and I still need to make the trailer/s and the new maidbots' spotlight videos, and tomorrow I have to fix some bugs I found.

These videos will be added ASAP, I'm on it.

• Dragging the slider on the enemy encyclopedia will trigger some maidbots LMB actions
  
• A couple buildings on the Natural Reserve need a clipping fix
  
• Not a bug but the mine I mentioned in the Natural Reserve is an unfair cheap shot
  
• Ark Royal's planned carpet bombing skill has been removed before even releasing her because it ended up feeling way too overtuned, though it's correct in her kit details, its still there in the card so, it has to go.
  

Please send me your Stygian Traverse score and alfajor counts if you want, it will matter soon, thank you for being there.

Love

-Bal

Some performance adjustments and fixed glitch that made you turn back from 3N1E

Additional balance notes will be posted on Twitter later

• Fixed info in her Archive file
  
• She can now remain unlocked, activate her in Hex's Corner once more for the changes to be effective
  
• Moved HP bar in the Stygian Traverse and made it smaller so it won't conflict with future hud changes
  
• Added new icon just for fun
  

Remaining issues:
Gather player feedback on Rika's video cutscene to address potential freezes with videos in general
Lag Demon, though it's cause has been identified its a bunch of work to replace all maps with the new system

Sorry for the inconveniences and thank you for playing, currently working on Ark Royal, Helena and mech upgrades.

The Maidbot game has won the Kickstarter challenge thanks to our players and supporters, we are celebrating with our first ever collab with the Ultra-Class Maidbot, Rika Helleaven.



Rika's kit brings an unique set of skills, she relies on making her projectiles bounce to get the most of her damage, she can also grow very large in size and crush your enemies with her special attack, she also has the first Ultimate skill in the game, she grows larger and eats the whole planet, you and your enemies die but you get their loot after Vitakrosis goes back in time, slightly annoyed at you for doing this.

Rika comes with additional graphics and assets and even that cutscene that's unique to her, and was tough to produce but it's worth it, she's fun to use!


This update also brings new sprite standards for both Rika and Zero, I'll update all other Maidbots with an animated sprite and kit descriptions you can consult while in the city so that new players can have a better experience.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Despite being an Ultra Maidbot, Rika will only cost owning 4 Maidbots and checking out Chaotic Helleaven in Hex's Corner, which means she's basically free for old players.

I made a post in the Kickstarter page giving details of everything I've been doing and what I'm gonna do next, look forward to auditions, backer rewards and more this week!

The Lag Demon glitch has also been identified, I established a new set of maps, if the Lag Demon doesn't trigger for the first time upon arriving to those maps, then it's gonna be old history.
If the maps don't work, then it will still narrow it down to where we need it, either way, we win. Hopefully we are only an update away from exterminating it.

There is too much coming our way soon and it's all great, please check it out here:

Kickstarter post about future plans and my current activity