Skillshot City News

[h2]Free Giveaway[/h2]
The base game for Geneshift is currently free-to-keep on Steam. This means that if you download the game right now, you'll get the game in your library, free, forever!

Please keep in mind that this is the BASE game, but does not include the DLC. I repeat, the DLC is not included. Fortunately, the base game has 95% of the content and is all you need to play, so get it while you can!

[h2]Released by Accident[/h2]
Funnily enough, this giveaway was NOT meant to happen today. I woke up this morning to see that Valve accidentally enabled it a full month ahead of schedule! I have sent them numerous support requests to reschedule the giveaway to June as planned, but have yet to receive a response. (to be fair, they work on Valve time). Let me tell you, after a shock like that I didn't even need my morning coffee.

I've asked Valve to cancel this giveaway now, so that I can do it *properly* in early June as planned. This means that the giveaway might randomly go away sometime in the next few hours. Rest assured, if you got the game for free, you will keep the game for free. And if you miss out, you can always get it again when we do the giveaway properly in early June.

Anyway, have fun!
Ben.

The biggest change this version is in the new chemical system. "What chemical system?" I hear you ask? I don't blame you, as it was FAR too confusing before. Well no longer. Chemicals have been improved in various ways. The biggest of which is that chemicals now give you a passive ability when you carry them! For example, if you carry a Warp Field, you will increase your max shifts by +2. Chemicals are much cheaper now too ($1000) each. So you can almost view chemicals as cheap combat enhancements. Even if you never place them, you can spend a cool $1000 for some serious upgrades! Such as:

- Synthetic Shop (previously called Base Chemicals) gives you +20% ammo.
- Alchemic Acid gives you +20% cash for kills and loot.
- Warp Fields give you +2 max shifts.
- Sonar Cells increases your vision range.
- Goo Trap slows enemies with your bullets.
- Health and Mana stimulants now increase max hp/mana by +20.
- Damage Stimulant increases your gun's DMG by +5% per kill.
- Fission Mine (a new chem) makes you throw 2x grenades at once.
- Laser Tripwire (a new chem) removes all weapon recoil.
- Neutralizer now makes you immune to enemy chemicals.




There are 2 brand new chemicals that do some really fun stuff when placed as well - Fission Mines and Laser Tripwires. When an enemy steps inside your Fission Mine, it will detonate with a HUGE explosion dealing 100hp damage to anyone nearby. They have 1.5s to escape before the boom. Laser Tripwires let you set up a tripwire across a chokepoint, which shoots a laser beam at anyone who steps into it, taking off half their health. These new chemicals are great for area control, and are an intuitive way for new players to understand the chemical system.


Another huge change is that when you place a chemical on the ground it is now visible to your enemies. Yes, you can actually *SEE* them, unlike before where they were all invisible. This is a huge change, and makes it far easier to find and destroy enemy chemicals, which will award you big bucks! If you want you can still make your chemical invisible, but this will cost you an extra $1000 to "conceal" it.

This mechanic makes for some interesting choices. For example, you could spend $1000 to buy a Laser Tripwire and place it in a chokepoint. By default this will be visible to enemies, and might deter them from coming through that route. This might be enough. However, you can upgrade it for another $1000 to make it invisible, which means they'll accidentally step into the tripwire and get shot by it.




There is a brand new way to resurrect as a zombie - finding the Genetic Heart. The Genetic Heart is a special piece of loot only available to zombies. If you step into it, you'll instantly respawn! There is only one heart in the map at any one time, and it will spawn randomly somewhere in the map. This gives zombies a great new way to get back into the game (in addition to killing a survivor).

This mechanic was added to encourage looting and exploration. And because there is only one heart at a time, it becomes a race against the other zombies to find it first. Vehicles are by far the best way to do this, so you can now finally play GTA-style, cruising around in a vehicle and have an actual competitive reason for doing so!




A huge improvement to the skill system is that you can now create skill builds across multiple skill trees! You no longer have to stick to just the Cybernetic, or Mental, or Physical skill tree. You can now create a super defensive skill build that combines Self Repair (Cybernetic) with Force Fields (Physical). The options are endless! It costs 4 skill points to access each additional skill tree.




The hex grid, which is where you spend Kill Coins and unlock stuff, has been split into 6 distinct tiers (containing 21 items each). You now need to fully complete the previous tier before you are able to unlock anything from the next one, and all items in a tier have the same cost. The kill coin costs per tier are 5, 20, 50, 100, 150, 200. These costs overall are cheaper than before, and are especially cheap for new players as the start of the game (as there are now a bunch of items that only cost 5 coins each). Daily Challenges now give 2x as many Kill Coins, making everything even faster to unlock.

The reason for this change is to give players a sense of progression ("3 more items till I unlock the next tier!"). This also simplifies decision making. A problem the old system had was that you would end up with like 50+ items available to unlock, all of them costing different amounts of kill coins, and it was really hard to know what to get ("Do I unlock the UZI for 15 kill coins, or the Force Fields for 75 kill coins, or any of the other 48 items I can't remember?"). Now, every item costs exactly the same amount of coins, so you only need to focus on the actual item itself. And the available options are far less, letting you actually keep them all in mind and make a more fun, informed decision. Finally, when doing daily challenges to grind for kill coins, you now know exactly how many coins you need as all items have the same price.




Health Kits are far more important, and give you a huge incentive to stay alive and loot. There are health kits everywhere, which will increase your max hp/mana by +5. It's expected that you'll gain about +50 max hitpoints by the end of the round, really helping in the final showdown. But if you just camp, or become a zombie and resurrect, you won't have this health advantage. Basically, the health kits have been reworked to strongly reward and encourage players who loot the map, while still trying not to die. You can't just rely on a last minute resurrection anymore, as you'll be at a serious health disadvantage. Stay safe!


There are a bunch of other goodies in this version, such as damage numbers that show up whenever you hit someone (I love this one). Here is the complete list of changes!

- All chemicals now have passive abilities when you hold them! EG:
- Synthetic Shop (previously called Base Chemicals) gives you +20% ammo.
- Alchemic Acid gives you +20% cash for kills and loot.
- Warp Fields give you +2 max shifts.
- Sonar Cells increases your vision range.
- Goo Trap slows enemies with your bullets.
- Health and Mana stimulants now increase max hp/mana by +20.
- Damage Stimulant increases your guns DMG by +5% per kill.
- Fission Mine (new chem) gives you a free grenade each throw.
- Laser Tripwire (new chem) removes all weapon recoil.
- Chemicals are now visible to enemies by default. Huge change!
- Chemicals can now be made invisible by standing in them and buying a "Concealer" for $1000.
- Chemicals now cost $1000 instead of $3000.
- You can neutralize your own chemicals to refund them.
- Damage/Mana/Health Stimulants are now separate chemicals detached from Base costing $2000.
- Added a new chemical called Fission Mine. It explodes when enemies step in it.
- Added a new chemical called Laser Tripwire. It zaps enemies who step into it.
- Warp Fields can now warp to ALL buy zones.
- There is a new piece of loot called the "Genetic Heart" which will resurrect zombies who find it.
- You can now unlock skills from multiple skill trees.
- Skill points now cost $1000 instead of $2000.
- Generally, weapons across the board do less damage, but are more accurate.
- Killing enemies now causes them to drop excess chemicals, health and mana kits.
- Increased the shifting length from 6m to 8m.
- Non-BR game modes now have designated buy zones, similar to BR.
- Removed the capturing cooldown timer in Conquest mode.
- In Conquest, each team starts with 2 points captured already to save time.
- Zombies in BR now have 100 mana and can use passive skills.
- Zombies can no longer see or loot for health or mana, making survival key.
- You can now go all the way up to a max of 200 hp/mana from kits.
- Adrenaline Rush has been changed to make you run faster while you're reloading.
- Generally there is less cash in the map and you only get $100 cash per kill.
- Superweapons now cost $8000 instead of $5000.
- You get to keep the ammo in your gun between rounds.
- Everyone runs a little bit faster.
- Vehicles have less health, but much faster out of combat regen.
- You no longer need to eject from a car that's on fire. It will heal itself naturally.
- Bazooka, Grenades and Stinger Missiles all do exactly 300hp vs cars (enough to kill buggies).
- Reorganised some items in the hex unlock grid, and also split it into tiers.
- In order to access the next tier in a hex grid, you need to unlock a certain amount of items first.
- Added damage numbers that show up whenever you shoot someone.
- Daily Challenges now give more kill coins (30/40/50 vs 10/20/30).
- Ammo piles now give you +2% DMG to your currently held weapon.
- Fixed countless bugs and AI issues.


Have fun!
Bencelot.

First big update of 2020! For the past 2 months I've focused on marketing preparation, such as creating a brand new website and trailer. I've also been contacting streamers, watching them play, and making some great changes to the new player experience. More on that in a moment, but first check this new trailer!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



Perhaps the biggest change this version is simply this - zombies now have 100hp instead of 50hp. At first this seems like a simple change, but when you remember that 50% of your time is spent as a zombie, this is a huge change to the flow of the game. The time to kill has doubled, especially for new players who are zombies most of the time. By cranking the hit points up to 100hp, zombies now play almost identically to normal players, and the game feels a lot nicer because of it. Zombies are no longer a death-trap for new players.



Of course, with 100hp zombies being a survivor is now scarier than ever, so a number of fun changes have been added to compensate for this. First of all, killing zombies will give you more cash and experience. Always nice. But the real fun change is this - whenever you kill a zombie, your current weapon will gain +2% damage. This suddenly makes killing zombies great fun, and as a survivor you might even dare to venture out of the safe zone to hunt them, because you can upgrade your gun all the way up to +40% damage and gain a huge showdown advantage.





The third and final zombie change is a bit controversial, but honestly great fun - if you kill another zombie, you have a 10% chance to instantly resurrect. This introduces a second way to get back in the game as a zombie. The most common and reliable method is to kill a living player, but now you have a chance of coming back from a zombie kill too! This makes playing as a zombie more exciting because you always have hope. Even when all the survivors have retreated to the safety of the red zone, you still have a chance and a way to win. Being a zombie has never been more fun - and killing zombies is now even funner.



The game now helps new players learn the game in various ways. There is a new tutorial option which triggers when a new player first clicks the PLAY button. This will host a special server against bots, where they only do 20% damage against you. This lets you progress through the Newbie Checklist up the top right in peace and gives a safe, lag-free, veteran-free first experience of the game.

I've also added little tool tips, such as a prompt to pickup a nearby gun if you are only holding a pistol (I've noticed that new players tend to run right past guns for some reason). Also, the mechanics of the Battle Royale mode are explained better in various ways, most impressively with this sexy new victory screen that shows up each time someone wins a round. It will flash red if an enemy wins, and green if an ally wins. It also explains how the point scoring system works:





Vehicles have had their hitpoints buffed and now have the ability to regenerate health out of combat. You also don't instantly die if your vehicle explodes, but are simply ejected out with a mere 20hp loss. To compensate for this, passengers inside a car will now take more damage (25% instead of 15%, almost double).

This is a win-win both for drivers and those on-foot. Drivers can now cruise around the map without their car exploding instantly, and those on-foot can now shoot at cars without feeling like their bullets don't do anything. The whole thing is balanced a lot nicer and vehicles are now a legitimately viable form of combat.





There are a few other nifty changes this version too. Such as everyone starting with 10 extra skill points. This alone is a huge improvement and allows players to really explore advanced skill builds without having to spend the first half of the round looting. A lot of focus has gone into the bots AI as well, generally making them easier, but harder in the final stages of the round - making each showdown a legitimate adrenaline pumping experience. Check out the full list below!

- 10 extra skill points for everyone
- Zombies now have 100hp instead of 50
- Zombies now award double the cash for kills and full XP
- Killing enemies now upgrades your gun with +2% DMG (not if you're a zombie)
- Reduced the damage of most guns to 90% of previous levels
- Zombies now have a 10% chance or randomly resurrecting by killing another zombie
- Reduced warmup round duration
- Prettier and more informative text is shown after each round
- Supply drops now only give 20s warning
- Bots in general are easier, but superbots are harder
- Bots no longer shoot you from offscreen
- You can't dodge vehicles by jumping anymore, gotta shift them
- In nonBR game modes, you start with a random tier1 gun
- XP earned on higher difficulties is increased
- Vehicles now have health regen, more hitpoints and faster speed
- Vehicles are no longer death traps when they explode
- Shooting a player inside a vehicle now does 25% damage instead of 15%
- Made vehicle explosions look cooler
- You now get $500 for destroying vehicles instead of $200
- Double Damage doesn't apply to other players with double damage
- Reduced the amount of cash and guns that spawn on the ground
- Guards in the campaign now do 50% as much damage as before
- Fixed a bug where joining an online game now restarts the match if no one is in it
- Fixed a bug where the gamepad would register without you realising it
- Fixed a bug where bullet recoil wasn't syncing properly with linux servers
- Fixed a bug when matchmaking would put you into a server with high ping
- Fixed a bug where players could jump into an enemies vehicle (avoiding roadkill)



How do you know when the game is on discount? A new version is announced. How do you know when a new version is announced? The game is on discount. My business 101 book said these two events should occur together, so here we are. Check out these awesome new changes now for 40% off! This coffee isn't going to pay for itself!

Have fun!
Bencelot.

After working on Battle Royale all year, I've decided to update the other game modes. Conquest mode in particular got a complete rework and plays MUCH better now. It's such a big rework that I'll just explain how it works from scratch and ignore the old rules completely.

There are 5 control points, connected in a linear line. The scientists start at point A, and the rebels at point E. You must capture the points in order A-B-C-D-E, and the first team to control all 5 points wins. You capture a point in two ways, either by standing next to it for 30s, or by buying the Capturer chemical for $5000 and planting it on the center. Proximity capturing is the main approach, but saving up for a Capturer can be the winning move that gives your team the game.



If you own a control point you can buy from it, warp to it, and also pick up all the free cash which rains down upon it (at a rate of $1000 per minute). So far this all sounds like typical Conquest rules for a linear recapturing game mode. But here's where it gets interesting:

Whenever you capture a control point, BOTH TEAMS will go onto a 60s capturing cooldown. This means that for the next 60s neither team is able to capture a point. You can speed up this cooldown by getting kills (shaving 2s off the timer per kill). This cooldown mechanic effectively creates a race scenario where the match is split up into a series of 60s rounds. It works like this:



The scientists capture a control point, going from 3 vs 2 to 4 vs 1. Both teams are now on a 60s cooldown, and a race has begun to see which team can capture the next point. You get kills as fast as you can to advance the timer faster, and then prepare as best as you can for when the timer reaches 0s, so you can begin capturing instantly.

The winner of this race will capture their point, but more importantly DENY their enemy from capturing their point, as they are put onto a cooldown again. This create intense moments where you need to work with your team to capture points as quickly and efficiently as possible or else the other team will beat you. This race mechanic really adds a sense of rhythm to the game, with alternating moments of preparation and execution, and I hope you enjoy it!




The way cash is earned in the game has changed in a few ways. In non BR modes, the passive cash income has been replaced with looting, so it behaves similar to Battle Royale. Players also get 3x as much cash for killing enemies and the kill combo system has been expanded to allow for longer and bigger combos. Cash will also now fall from the sky into the buy zones (in BR) and control points (in Conquest). These are in little $100 silver coins and fall at a rate of $1000 per minute. This makes camping/defending a viable strategy as you can stay in the one place, protecting one of these key locations and still earn an income.



I have spent about 2 weeks fixing my old outdated OpenGL code to make the game run significantly smoother. If you have a slow PC then this here is probably going to be the single best improvement to the game I've ever released, because the difference is like night and day. Also, the falling from the sky in Battle Royale runs a lot smoother now too!

• Conquest has been completely reworked.
  
• 3x the amount of cash is awarded for killing enemies.
  
• Made huge performance improvements.
  
• Improved the graphics of bullets.
  
• The crosshair now indicates how much ammo you have left.
  
• New players start the game with access to more items.
  
• Light Shifting now improves the recharge time between shifts.
  
• Laser Focus has been replaced with a new skill called Adrenalin Rush which makes you move faster in combat.
  
• Flaregun now fires an explosive bullet.
  
• Increased the movement speed of all weapons in combat.
  
• Fixed a number of issues with the bots behaviour using shared chemicals.
  
• Allied chemicals now display at full size so it's easier to see their range.
  
• Non-BR game modes now give 5x as much cash in the form of loot, but have no passive income.
  
• Pressing 'E' on a bot will make him drop the flag in CTF
  
• Changed how the scoring works in nonBR modes. +1 per kill, +10 per capture, +2 for killing someone holding the flag.
  
• Significantly buffed the UZI's bullet and movement speed.
  
• Buffed the damage of the Photon Beam, Flamethrower, M3 and Barrett.
  
• Health and Mana kits now give +5 max hp instead of +25 temporary hp.
  
• The max hp is now capped at 150 instead of 200hp.
  
• Firing weapons will be disabled for 1.5s after using a warp field.
  
• Updated some translations.
  
• Fixed a bunch of bugs.
  

Geneshift is of course particpating in the Winter Sale with a thicc 40% discount. Now is the time. Your time - to shine. Also, I'll be away for the next 2 weeks for Xmas, but hit me up on Discord if you have any issues. Otherwise I hope you all have a fantastic Xmas and New Years.

I want to thank everyone who has bought, played or discussed the game in Discord. The game is in a MUCH better state now than it was a year ago and I have you all to thank for it.

Merry Xmas and a happy new year!
Cheers,
Ben.

Geneshift now has supply drops! They will randomly appear in the map with a 30s countdown timer. Everyone in the server is alerted to this and has 30s to get to the area and then fight to be the last man standing to claim the prize. The prize is that a bunch of new ultra-rare loot will drop, including permanent max hp/mana upgrades, a +30% Damage weapon, +10 kill coins and possibly an entire new skill unlocked for free! These supply drops give you an excellent incentive to play agrgressively, and provide interesting king of the hill style battles.




Zombies have been reworked in a big way this version and play a lot better. There is now stuff to actually DO as a zombie and you are much stronger as well. For starters zombie weapons now do 100% damage instead of 50%, which no longer punishes you and lets you continue playing as normal. Resurrections are much easier because of this, and easier still as there is no 20s countdown time anymore - you can resurrect as soon as you spawn. Furthermore, zombies can now keep their gun and max hp benefits when they spawn the next round. This, combined with supply drops gives you something really meangingful to fight over once dead - a chance to start with an extra high damage weapon or more max hp.




You might have noticed in the screenshots above that the camera angle has been tilted! After 10 years Geneshift has finally upgraded from a pure birds-eye shooter into an isometric shooter! Who knows, in another 10 years this might become and FPS! Eitherway, this new camera angle looks a lot nicer on the eyes, and helps you judge the height of boxes in the map as well. It makes for a far more immersive playing experience, especially combined with the other graphical upgrades.

For example, Geneshift now supports 4X MSAA antialiasing and looks a lot smoother because of it. It also has updated player models, where they hold the weapons properly instead of like blockmen. There is even a new "gore" setting in the options menu that can significantly increase the amount of blood that comes out of baddies when you make them go splat.




A number of skills have been buffed, and a few have been buffed in a very interesting way - team buffing. Certain skills, such as Self Repair, Ignition Orb, Xray-Vision and Frenzy will now benefit nearby allies when you cast them, allowing for some really interesting new squad tactics. Other cool tweaks are the new looting system, where if you run over the same type of gun you not only grab its ammo, but can now upgrade the damage of your current gun by +2%. This little boost can really add up and makes looting as a zombie extra fun.




Geneshift is on discount. You know how this works! If you want to support the game now would be a great time to pick it up. Also, to celebrate this new version I decided to create a cybertruck with a flamethrower attached to its forehead - enjoy!