Genome Guardian News

[h3]Alright, now the update hiatus begins (assuming there's no urgent bugs in this one) - the next big update (3.0.0) will contain 8 new turrets & 19 new perks, but that will release in roughly a month's time. Until then: Sink your teeth into this loaded patch, which replaces the turret you unlock for clearing Depth 5 of Shmup Mode...[/h3]


[h2]Viper: "The GALACTIC Guardian!"[/h2]
If you weren't convinced yet that Genome Guardian can feel like a vertical shmup, you sure will be now! Each weapon on Viper fires out of different barrels, each with unique modifiers:

• Weapon 1: rapid, accurate, alternating
  
• Weapon 2: angled spread
  
• Weapon 3: side missiles
  
• Weapon 4: damaging exhaust
  

Viper is also the first turret you can unlock that can move excluding all the turrets you unlock after finishing the story 😉.


[h3]BALANCE:[/h3]

• (perk) Tweezers: Chance of -1 Health when a projectile misses 10% → 5%.
  
• (perk) Hourglass: Now also increases Knockback.
  
• (perk) Amber: Now also increases Knockback.
  
• (perk) Tire: Buffed its effectiveness on regular turrets, but now imposes Health Max -50% (because let's face it, Tire gives you an insane advantage).
  

[h3]CHANGES:[/h3]

• (mode) Shmup: now all you need to do to unlock it is finish the tutorial (aka Extract Mode Depth 0, your first victory)!
  
• (turret) Boombox: will now be unlocked via 10 Extract mode victories instead (if you already have it, you keep it!).
  
• Adjusted the volume of various sound effects (Did you know there's a sound that plays when you start the last wave before victory? Yeah, it was that quiet).
  
• Projectiles on turrets that make projectiles orbit around it now fade in.
  

[h3]FIXES:[/h3]

• (perk) Mushroom: Won't instakill big purple/white you-know-who anymore (but I'll let it take out an 8th of its Health!)
  
• Shield would sometimes show as negative.
  
• Weapons were getting reduced Range if their Speed was too high.
  
• The recently-introduced weapon Firerate circles would sometimes not appear next to the right weapon.
  
• Weapons with Burst Fire would sometimes build Heat faster if a Firerate buff was received during a wave (which is not what's ever supposed to happen on any weapon).
  
• Explosive weapons were continuously building damage with each shot if they exceeded 60/s Firerate!
  
• Some projectiles would fade out before they actually dissappeared.
  

[h3]Main reason for this update is fixing a problem where power-ups would spawn in the shop & menus, and the rate would increase with each run - still a whole lot of other stuff in this one though![/h3]

[h3]BALANCE:[/h3]

• (turret) Boombox: Slight buffs to earlygame performance (I won't reveal how but it'll struggle less in the beginning).
  
• (turret) Riptide: improved mechanics & visual effects that should make it both easier to work with and more fun to use.
  
• (perk) Emerald: chance to ignore hits at/below 10 Health +50% → +70%.
  
• (perk) Leaf: Speed +25% → +50%.
  
• (weapon) CCGT Rail Splitshot: Accuracy of the pre-split projectile is now pinpoint like CGT Splitzooka.
  

[h3]CHANGES:[/h3]

• (perk) Burner: renamed back to Burner.
  
• nicer Hitscan weapon effects.
  
• Added an effect for when you eliminate a microbe with Knockback.
  
• Adjusted some more unlock conditions (like before, if you've already unlocked something, this won't affect you).
  
• (turret) Boombox: Barrel Light will now adjust to current Accuracy (which is influenced by current decibels).
  
• Nicer projectile effects (they fade out & shrink just before they expire now).
  
• There's now little circles beside each of your weapons, which indicates when it can fire again (more helpful for really low Firerate weapons).
  
• Hovering over an item's price in the shop won't count as hovering over the button now (it felt weird being able to click the button by clicking below it).
  

[h3]FIXES:[/h3]

• Power-ups were spawning while in the shop / in menus for some reason 😛
  
• (turret) Boomerang: Boomerang is supposed to allow each instance of a projectile to hit microbes twice, but some projectiles were still only able to hit once.
  
• (perk) Piston: This perk was applying Critical Damage as increased Knockback incorrectly - it would compound with each Critical Hit…
  
• Large enough projectiles were dissappearing the moment they were fired in Shmup Mode.
  
• Clicking the green + button to add an item to a slot while the game is paused could softlock the game - this can't happen anymore.
  

The next BIG CONTENT UPDATE will probably be near the end of June, and there will be fewer updates in general until then, since the game is in a fairly stable state right now. I'll still handle any urgent bugs as needed though. If you have the game and been waiting before you get started, now is a great time!

As of this update, Genome Guardian's review score is 100% positive - I'm really glad how much people are enjoying the game, and the time they're putting into it! Indeed, the people that have played it seem to love it, but it definitely lacks exposure right now. The main thing the game needs is simply more eyes on it - I'm hoping to see some YouTubers covering the game soon.

I'm saving a big truckload of content for when I can do a round of "update exposure" through Steam - as soon as I'm able, you're going to get at least a whopping 9 NEW TURRETS & 19 NEW PERKS (and that's not me making promises I can't keep - 80% of those are fully implemented and ready to go). All 9 of those new turrets have interesting, game-changing functions. That update may also include a new mode, which may or may not turn Genome Guardian into a brick breaker (like "Arkanoid") - if not, then it might feature a different mode, with the brick breaker one coming later.

Anyways though, here's a few things:

[h3]BALANCE:[/h3]

• (turret) Kaleido: Damage +15% → +20%.
  
• (perk) Bandage: Now only works if you don't have any Shield (you could literally survive indefinitely / completely AFK before with the right build).
  

[h3]CHANGES:[/h3]

• (perk) Burner: renamed to Bunsen.
  
• The Heat Circle will now always render above the turret.
  
• Various perks that required achieving victory at Depth 5 with a specific turret now let you unlock the perk by doing so with 2 turrets (ex. the Shell perk can now be unlocked via Depth 5 win with Buckler or Tank). (NOTE: a couple of those additional turrets aren't released yet though!)
• (turret) Jester: even more jestery 🃏🃏🃏
  
• "Area" weapon (ex. Molotov) circles now gradually fade over time, to both communicate their lifespan and increase microbe visibility.
  
• nicer Hitscan weapon effects.
  

[h3]FIXES:[/h3]

• the Heat Circle no longer scales with the turret when you have it set to follow your crosshair instead.
  
• Projectiles with Sticky will now have Knockback after they've stopped moving (due to Sticky).
  
• Skipping the shop no longer causes Murky Fog to dissappear.
  
• (perk) Stapler: was unlocking after victory in Shmup mode at Depth 4 instead of Depth 3.
  

[h3]I'm saving a bunch of new turrets and perks for a later update (there's already 4 new turrets and 10 new perks ready!) - it'll be a big update that MIGHT include a new mode, or just be focused on adding a ton of turrets/perks.[/h3]

[h3]CHANGES:[/h3]

• "Beginner Tips" will no longer be toggled back on in SETTINGS if you reset progress after achieving 1 victory in Extract Mode.
  
• New players will now gradually unlock shop features (Reroll Button, Lock Buttons, Heal Buttons). This is primarily to prevent inexperienced players from blowing all of their Biomass on heals, then getting frustrated when they can never afford shop items as a result.
  
• You can now skip the shop completely up to 3 times in Classic Mode (to reduce the odds that you have to pick something you don't want).
  
• If multiple projectiles hit a microbe at the same time, and it only takes a few of those projectiles to eliminate the microbe, then the remaining projectiles won't be destroyed (this will make things like shotgun-type weapons feel and perform better).
  

[h3]FIXES:[/h3]

• Fixed some more oddities that would occur when locking free shop items.
  
• Fixed stuck enemies becoming larger if damaged, on turrets with Turret Scale modifiers.
  
• Fixed spinning turrets exhibiting jerky spinning behaviour sometimes.
  
• Fixed a crash relating to The Abyss.
  

[h3]I made this Imgur album to showcase some of Genome Guardian's coolest turrets! Also QoL changes and bug fixes.[/h3]

[h3]CHANGES:[/h3]

• The names of Modes, Turrets & Perks are no longer hidden until unlocked in the CHECKLIST. The CHECKLIST still won't tell you any more details about them, but you'll at least know how to get things if you know what they're called from outside the game (ex. hearing about a cool turret in an update and wanting to b-line towards unlocking it).
  
• A setting has been added that makes the heat circle follow your crosshair!
  
• (turret) Jester: More jestery 🃏
  
• (turret) Surge: Redesign.
  

[h3]FIXES:[/h3]

• The newly-added heat circle shadow would always end up being enabled when you start a run.
  
• The perk unlocked for firing for 120s without stopping can actually be unlocked now.
  
• The perk unlocked by having 30 turrets unlocked can actually be unlocked now.
  
• Bounce projectiles were getting a speed boost when they hit things at an angle, which was never intended.