DeadWire News

[p]As always, thank you for playing and sending your feedback through various channels. As a thank-you, I wanted to create a free content update to expand the replayability of the game. Big, big thank you again. While the game didn’t reach as many people as I hoped, I’m grateful that people still play it and seem to enjoy it.[/p][p]The Armory update gives you new ways to replay the content, hopefully creating more fun.
Big points are:[/p]

• [p]6 new weapons[/p]
• [p]New weapon drop game mode[/p]
• [p]3 new difficulty modes [/p]
• [p]Expanded Score Attack mode with offline leaderboards [/p]
• [p]Russian, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese localization[/p]

[h2]Weapons[/h2][p]I’ve added new weapons to spice up your runthroughs. You can access these guns from the new Armory menu by enabling "random weapon drops". This feature gives enemies a random chance to drop a weapon from the pool of available guns.[/p][p]Since these new weapons can break the flow of the game, they only work in levels you’ve already beaten, and they disable time trials. Mostly because some of these new guns are really overpowered, which leads me to...[/p][h2]Hard Modes[/h2][p]In the Armory menu, you can enable up to 4 different difficulty modes.[/p]

• [p]Normal: Your regular experience as you’re used to.[/p]
• [p]Hard: Doubles enemies’ HP and armor values. This has actually become my favorite way to play, and part of me wishes it was the default at launch. It forces you to hack enemies and use the environment. If you’ve been playing without linking enemies for multi-kills or breaking armor, you’re in for a rough time. [/p]
• [p]Overclck: Enemies double their values again, and everyone has armor now. You’ll need to use hacking abilities and powerups to gain the upper hand. [/p]
• [p]G1itch: The hardest mode doubles HP and armor values, gives everyone armor, and doubles their damage. Boost mode and slow-mo in hack mode will be your best friends here.[/p]

[p]Each difficulty also awards a new badge in the level select, depending on what difficulty you’ve beaten the level on. It forces you to play Deadwire the way it’s meant to be played and ties directly into the enhanced score mode.[/p][h2]Score Mode[/h2][p]With all the new weapons and difficulty modes, I’ve also expanded Score Mode. If you didn’t notice before, you can toggle it on in the level select. Eliminating enemies now gives you score, and performing different actions or hacks gives even more. Combos and accuracy increase your multiplier, and with the new update, you can get even higher multipliers depending on the selected difficulty.[/p][p]Each level now has an offline leaderboard that keeps track of your top 3 scores across all difficulties.[/p][h2]Languages[/h2][p]This update adds localization for Simplified Chinese, Russian, and Japanese. Enjoy![/p][h2]Changelog[/h2][h3]Quality of Life and System[/h3]

• [p]Pause menu now shows control keys[/p]
• [p]Fixed bug where score bonus had to be 1 or scores broke [/p]
• [p]Language now saves and loads correctly on close and reopen [/p]
• [p]Fonts now change for specific languages[/p]

[h3]Gameplay and Balance[/h3]

• [p]Hard mode now includes HP, armor, and score modifiers [/p]
• [p]New weapons[/p]
• [p]Difficulty HUD icon now displays and saves correctly [/p]
• [p]Level 22 “Boost Me” side objective made more consistent [/p]
• [p]Level 24: "Don't blow the barrels" side objective was triggered too early[/p]
• [p]Time Trial now blocked if weapon drops are enabled [/p]
• [p]Swords now correctly get stuck on panic walls [/p]
• [p]Edited enemy placements and amount in various initial levels for smoother onboarding[/p]

[h3]Other tweaks:[/h3]

• [p]Smaller bullet trails for weaker weapons[/p]
• [p]New SFX for new guns and bike explosion[/p]
• [p]New vfx for crashes, explosions and deaths[/p]
• [p]Enemy HP bar gets destroyed on bike explosions[/p]
• [p]Corpse angle correctly sets angle on explosion deaths[/p]

[h3]UI and Menus[/h3]

• [p]Armory menu updated for new weapons and difficulty options [/p]
• [p]Changed “L/R” to “Left/Right” for easier onboarding [/p]
• [p]Overlay sprites now render correctly above 3D effects [/p]
• [p]Gamepad hack UI correctly hide when not overlapping objects[/p]

[h3]Gamepad[/h3]

• [p]Deadzone enlarged for smoother movement[/p]
• [p]Crosshair lerps its speed and moves slower overall for smoother aiming[/p]
• [p]New icons for D-pad and sticks [/p]
• [p]Back button changed to B instead of Y (expected standard)[/p]

[p]As always, thank you so much for playing! If you like DeadWire please feel free to leave a review, that really helps us solo-developers. [/p][p]Until next time![/p]

Quick hotfix for some side-objectives that weren't consistent

• Act 3-2 - Squishing 2 enemies should count more consistently
  
• Act 3-4 - Stealth-ing to shotgun is less punishing
  
• Act 3-5 - Stunning enemies now counts correctly when multiple enemies are stunned at the same time
  
• Act 4-1 - Shotgun correctly placed
  
• Act 4-2 - Not opening walls SO could be blocked if multiple attempts were done
  

Have fun!

As mentioned before, this patch focuses on making the early onboarding smoother and improving the difficulty curve. This is the first of multiple balance updates, so please forgive the lack of bug fixes or new features in this one.

While I can personally enjoy a hard difficulty curve, the line between fun and annoying is pretty thin. DeadWire slipped into the annoying side of that line (tunnel vision is a hell of a thing).

Most of the problems were in the first three levels. These are the levels where the player is still focused on learning the hacking mechanics, but some situations forced sudden decisions players weren’t ready for. Instead of just removing enemies or dumping more tutorial text, I wanted to do a little design exercise. The changes are mostly about enemy and object placement. Sometimes just turning an enemy to face another way can, in theory, fix a lot of what was frustrating.

I hope these changes make the game feel more welcoming to new players, while also bringing back anyone who bounced off earlier. For those who already beat the game, more content is still coming.

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• Level 0: Made tutorial actions clearer with the old trusty arrows. Realigned enemies in the first room to avoid a too-early shootout.
  
• Level 1: Replaced enemies in the first room so the speaker can actually be used for distraction as intended. Also replaced a generator by the door since people kept missing it and thinking they were softlocked.
  
• Levels 2, 3, and 6: Rebalanced enemy placement and numbers. There are fewer enemies now, but I adjusted their pathfinding zones to cover the gaps the extra ones used to cover.
  
• Level 8: One of the few puzzle levels in DeadWire, but way too many people dropped out here. What was supposed to be a palette cleanser had the opposite effect. Players clearly don’t want to spend a ton of time solving the few puzzles that exist. I’ve added some new lights and decorations to nudge players more clearly toward the solution.
  
• Backend: Tweaked how shooting works, especially with burst-fire weapons. This is groundwork for future content. Shouldn’t break anything… but if it does, oops, let me know.

That’s it for now. I’m working on more, and as always, let me know if you have feedback or find something broken. Thanks!

[p]First off, thank you all for the continued feedback and playthroughs. It has been really helpful to see how you are experiencing DeadWire, and I am making adjustments based on what I have seen.[/p][p][/p][h2]Difficulty and Level Flow[/h2]

• [p]Easing up the first 4 levels: most players understand the core mechanics quickly, but the difficulty spike comes a bit too soon.[/p]
• [p]Levels 1 and 2: these should feel like tutorials, but too many players are getting killed before they even get comfortable with the controls. I am reworking them to be smoother introductions.[/p]
• [p]Level 3: overall too difficult at the moment, so I will be dialing it back.[/p]
• [p]Level 4: mostly fine, but there is still room to smooth out the pacing.[/p]

[h2]New Content[/h2][p]As a thank you, I am also working on a free content drop:[/p]

• [p]Several new weapons to play around with.[/p]
• [p]A harder difficulty mode designed to make those weapons have a place. Details will come soon.[/p]

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2][p]A round of bug fixes is also in the works. If you run into anything, please keep letting me know as it really helps.[/p]

[p]Fixing even more achievements.

[/p]

• [p] Chain reaction
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• [p] Fast
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• [p] Faster
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• [p] Velocity Noodle
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• [p] Beating side objectives for each act + all of them
  [/p]

[p]This first patch focuses on addressing urgent bugs and making the first improvements to gamepad support. [/p][h2]QoL[/h2]

• [p] Added a 0.2 sec shoot buffer when ReWire time runs out, so you don’t accidentally fire when hacking ends. [/p]
• [p] You can now cancel wires with a single press of the scoreToggle button (default Q / X / Square), instead of holding down shoot.[/p]

[h2]Gamepad [/h2][p]I've made some adjustments to improve gamepad controls. It’s still not perfect, but this should be a solid start: [/p]

• [p] Bigger selection area for targeting hackable objects, plus a new HUD element to visualize it. [/p]
• [p] Added a small stick release buffer before the cursor auto-magnetizes to the closest hackable object. This should feel smoother and less like you’re “fighting” the controls. [/p]
• [p] Magnetizing is now faster, letting you move roughly where you want and then release for precision. [/p]
• [p] Pressing R3/RS (right stick down) cycles between hackable objects on-screen, starting with the closest to your cursor. (Note: this ignores Line of Sight.) [/p]

[h2]Score Mode[/h2]

• [p] Added a notification in level select to highlight Score Mode, which many players missed. If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s fun, give it a go! :) [/p]

[h2]Gameplay Adjustments[/h2]

• [p] Act 1 Boss: reduced maximum simultaneous ads to 2 (previously 3–4 in some situations). [/p]
• [p] Added new spawn points to spread enemies out more evenly. [/p]

[h2]Side Objectives & Achievements[/h2][p]I've fixed several broken side objectives and achievements. Some may require redoing to unlock properly: [/p]

• [p] Hot-Wire: Side Objective 2 now unlocks correctly. [/p]
• [p] Escape the Club – Don’t Blow Barrels: removed a barrel that could be destroyed by a bike. [/p]
• [p] Maximum Pain – Save the Barrels: now unlocks correctly. [/p]
• [p] Office Place: Side Objective 2 now unlocks correctly. [/p]
• [p] The Stairs – Pistol Only: burst pistol now counts correctly. [/p]
• [p] Wired To Death achievement now unlocks correctly. [/p]

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• [p] Music transitions made more consistent (less chance of dropping to silence). [/p]
• [p] Squishing enemies with containers should now behave more consistently. [/p]
• [p] LoS overlay on enemies now works for spawned enemies. [/p]
• [p] Fixed a memory leak when loading checkpoints (caused by bullet trails without bullets), most noticeable on Maximum Pain checkpoint 2. [/p]

[p] As always, please keep sending feedback — it helps a lot! /Shotgun Anaconda[/p]