Skillshot City News

It's a big one! Through constant iteration of test versions and discussions in Discord, this version has reworked almost every system in the game. There's a huge focus on usability, making mechanics intuitive to new players, and streamlining everything for the Battle Royale mode. I'll go into detail below, but here are some of the biggest changes:

• Every skill is reworked and actives no longer have penalties.
  
• New skills have been added to replace old/broken/weird ones.
  
• Weapons have been reworked to feel significantly more tactical.
  
• The knife is no longer a 1-shot kill, unless you charge it first.
  
• Chemicals can be bought from anywhere in the map.
  
• Chemicals can be picked up for free at any time.
  
• Cosmetics are now unlocked with XP instead of community credits.
  
• The default heal has been replaced with a passive regen.
  
• The control scheme has changed to become more usable.
  

The skill system has been reworked in a number of ways. The biggest change is the removal of skill penalties from active skills. Over 15 confusing and unintuitve penalties removed in a single version! Replaced with a single, simple, and easy to understand drawback - the mana you use to cast it. Much simpler.

There's a new philosophy guiding how the skills behave in this version, and that is "bigger is better" (heh). Previously skills didn't make you more powerful because they had penalties. In some situations these penalties would actually make you weaker. While good for competitive gameplay, this was very unintuitive to new players, and not too fun either. So now skills will always make you stronger. And the more skill points you have, the stronger you become. To do this every skill in the game has been reworked, changed and simplified to make them as inutitive for new players as possible. There are also fun new skills such as X-Ray vision which lets you see through walls.


The skill system itself has been streamlined too. For starters, you can now only unlock a maximum of 3 active skills. Before there was no limit, allowing you to get up to 15 active skills, which of course was ridiculously difficult to manage. Now with 3 only there are 3 dedicated hotkeys to use your 3 abilities (right click, C and Z). It feels MUCH easier to cast your skills without having to remember what number cast what ability.

But wait, there's more! The skill trees actually do something now, because once you invest into one of the trees you are unable to invest into the others. This forces players to adopt a certain playstyle and is more similar to the hero or class-based combat seen in other games. However if you really want to multi-tree you can, but it will cost you 6 extra skill points to unlock extra trees. There are more changes too, like the ability to invest synergy points every 8 levels (which are now super powerful), and the ability to reset your skill build mid-game to experiment with different options.




I've changed how the weapons behave as well. The most important one is that knife no longer kills in 1-shot. Honestly it was silly how powerful the knife was before, but now it only does a mere 35hp damage.. unless you charge it. You can now hold the mouse down to start charging your knife, and only after doing this for 1.5s will you be able to do a full 1-shot stab. This massively nerfs knife in normal combat, but still keeps it interesting for ambushes.


Weapons have had some big sweeping changes made to them. For starters, the concepts of damage fadeoff and movement recoil are now removed. Don't know what those are? Don't worry... no one did. That's why they're removed. It wasn't intuitive enough. Weapons now do the same damage at all ranges, making combat a lot more powerful at long distance. Furthermore, weapons will now slow your enemies when you hit them, similar to the tagging system used in CS:GO. This makes combat a lot cleaner and makes cover a lot more important, because if you get hit out in the open you're a sitting duck.


The chemical system is great fun if you know how to use it. But it has always been to hard to use. Well no longer. The biggest change here is that you can buy chemcials from anywhere in the map! Just press B and buy whatever chemical you want. This makes it much easier to set up a base and start building in your favorite area, as you no longer need to trek the chemical all the way across the map to place it. Also you can now hold CTRL to pick-up your existing chemicals off the ground for free. There is also a brand new chemical too called "Goo Trap", which will slow enemies as soon as they step inside it, making this the first combat-oritented chemical.




The old "community credits" system that I made back in 2010 has finally been removed from the game, and merged into the new and improved XP system. It's super streamlined and means that you can now purchase cosmetic unlocks like capes and lightsabers with XP instead of community credits. This is great news, because everyone has XP and no one even knew how to earn community credits.


Combat has been streamlined in other areas as well. There is a big focus on reducing the number of unnecessary key-presses, so you can focus on actually playing the game and not messing about with the keyboard. One way this has been achieved is by removing the default heal that was activated by CTRL. Instead of having to heal yourself during combat, the game will now automatically heal you once you've been out of combat for 4 seconds.

Zombies now have a new ranged weapon called Pests, which is a lot more fun to play with than the melee claws. It is no longer possible to buy weapons from the centre of the BR circle, forcing you to loot fully before commiting to the final showdown, as you can't rely on the buy zone anymore. Random weapon around the map have been given random damage buffs as well, making looting a lot more fun as you might pick up a rifle with x1.15 damage. And more. Much more.




So much has changed in this version I can't write a full list. So here are the top 10% most interesting changes this version, cause I can't type them all out.

• Some weapons randomly spawn with x1.20 damage modifiers.
  
• You can no longer buy weapons at the centre of the circle.
  
• Guns are now much more powerful at range and have no movement recoil.
  
• Weapons now slow enemies when you hit them, like tagging in CS:GO.
  
• Vehicles have fewer hitpoints.
  
• Literally every single skill in the game has been reworked.
  
• Active skills no longer have penalties! Just the mana that it takes to cast them.
  
• The knife no longer does a 1-shot kill! It only does 35hp damage. However if you hold the mouse for 1.5s it will charge up and become a 1-shot again.
  
• Zombies now have a new ranged attack called Pests that behaves a bit like a shotgun.
  
• Tier 2 weapons are now significantly more powerful.
  
• Phase Shifting now drastically reduces accuracy to avoid abuse in close-quarter combat.
  
• You can now buy chemicals from anywhere in the map.
  
• You can now pick up chemicals by holding CTRL on-top of them.
  
• The default control scheme has been streamlined.
  
• There are new chemicals, such as Goo Trap which slows enemies.
  
• Cosmetics are now unlocked with XP. The community credit system has been removed from the game.
  
• Skill Trees are now restricted to just using just 1 tree at a time, however you can unlock other trees by spending skill points.
  
• The default healing ability has been removed from the game, and replaced with a fast auto-regen that kicks in after 4s.
  
• You can now only unlock a maximum of 3 active skills, allowing for streamlined skill-casting hotkeys.
  
• You can now hold up to 3 grenades at the same time.
  
• The HUD has been streamlined to show hotkeys to auto-select your weapons and 3 active skills.
  
• The leveling curve has been changed and is now capped at level 20.
  
• New skills added such as X-Ray Vision, Parasite Swarm, Ignition Orb, Laser Focus, and more.
  
• Late game upgrades have been removed from the game.
  
• Picking up ammo now gives ammo to all weapons, not just your currently held one.
  
• You can now reset your skill build in-game by holding ALT and clicking on a new "Reset" button.
  
• Bots have been made smarter, upgrading their weapons, using the shop and exploring the map better.
  
• Conquest mode now progresses by getting kills rather than earning cash.
  
• Tier1 weapons are now given for free in non-BR game modes.
  
• Reworked the cash rate in non-BR game modes to match up with how BR works and prevent exploits.
  
• Fixed countless bugs and exploits.
  
• Skills now go up to level 4 instead of level 3, with +1 synergy earned for every 8 levels in the tree.
  

Ok that's it! Oh also, there is a special flaming hot easter egg in the game available only for today. Enjoy!

This version makes your skill actually matter. Last version bots would adjust their difficulty based on your K:D ratio. This was great for new players, but uninteresting for veterans because your skill didn't really matter. You were always going to get the same K:D ratio anyway, so why try? There was also no incentive to unlock more powerful items, either.

This is now fixed! Bots come in 4 new difficulty levels - Playful, Standard, Hardcore and Insane - and if you want to beat the harder bots you will have to play well. Really well. There are rewards for beating harder bots too, such as earning more XP per kill and earning more victory points per win (more on that later). When you first play you only have access to the playful bots, but as you win games you'll unlock the ability to play on higher difficulties.

This gives you something to work towards and wraps the entire game up with a meaningful progression system. Higher difficulties give more XP, which makes you more powerful, which actually mattters now because the bots are harder to kill. They won't go easy on you. Most importantly, you can now have a genuine challenge and be rewarded for playing your best.




You now receive "Victory Points" whenever you win games. These are only awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd players in a match. Victory points are needed to unlock the new bot difficulty levels mentioned above. So if you want to play harder bots and earn more XP, you will need to actually win games! This all or nothing approach makes the final stages of each match far more exciting as the exclusive victory points are at stake.

Even better, there is a new daily leaderboard system which ranks players based on how many victory points they have won each day. These leaderboards can be explored in-game, and the top 20 players each day will receive a bonus XP reward! You can also view previous leaderboards, allowing winners to be recognise in the game for all time!


You can now shoot out the window of vehicles while driving at the same time! This buffs vehicles a lot and is just damn fun. You can also loot for items by driving over them with vehicles, which I think makes vehicles the new best thing to aim for when falling from the sky. Ch-ch-check it:




There's a new anti-zombie mechanic that kills zombies who try to reach the centre of the Battle Royale zone. This gives the remaining human survivors a ring of safety, and lets them focus on eachother instead of the incoming swarm of zombies. This really makes the game feel a lot more "last man standingy". It now comes down to a tactical heads-up between the 2 final players without zombies causing chaos all over the place. Zombie players still have plenty to do outside the circle however, such as looting for cash or placing chemicals.




Here are some other noteworthy changes:

• Zombies move faster as the anti-zombie circle prevents swarming.
  
• Players in the circle of death are now revealed in the map.
  
• Newbie Checklist now awards +300xp instead of +30xp.
  
• The leveling curve is now slower, but goes all the way up to level 50.
  
• There are 4 new late-game unlocks which permanently buff your character.
  
• The first round of the Battle Royale is pistols only.
  
• Tweaked the rates that you earn XP from awesome points and kills.
  
• Awesome points now only happen if you do something actually awesome (get a kill with a vehicle, skill, explosive, etc).
  
• Grenades now do 100hp damage.
  
• The loot drop rate now depends on the difficulty level. Higher difficulties drop more permanent loot (like skill unlocks), but less temporary loot (like free weapons).
  
• You can no longer choose which ally to duo with if they are a bot.
  
• Challenges now require a certain amount of victory points to claim, which matches up with which difficulty level you have unlocked vs bots.
  
• The crosshair is now bigger and sexier.
  
• Missions are removed from Conquest games due to too much complexity.
  
• XP is no longer affected by your kill combo as it was too exploitable.
  
• Superweapons now cost 100% to refill ammo instead of 50%.
  
• Nerfed Spike trap.
  
• Fixed a bunch of bugs.
  

Geneshift will be on sale starting Monday, Feb 25th. You can fuel my chocolate addiction by buying the game for yourself or a friend! If you have any questions you can ask me in Discord at: http://discord.gg/geneshift

This version adds a new Quake-inspired feature - jump pads! Simply hop onto a jump pad and it will launch you up into the air. Jump pads come in two main flavours, horizontal and vertical. In the gif above we see horizontal ones chained together. Vertical ones are placed next to buildings and let you easily jump over walls and other obstacles.

I added jump pads because I received a lot of feedback that the maps were too maze-like and hard to navigate. Especially in a turbo fast Battle Royale, the last thing you want is to get stuck in a dead-end and killed by the circle. Jump pads solve this issue. I have placed pads in all the dead ends and now it is super easy to get to the centre. So hop into the game and hop onto a jump pad!




I have reworked the XP system to give a new sense of progression. As you kill enemies in-game you will now earn XP, which is similar to the old "points" that you earned to unlock items. However this XP now has a second benefit, which is that it permanently increases the amount of skill points you start a round with. This is applied in the campaign and when playing against bots, and is an optional setting in multiplayer games.

This provides a bit of an MMO mechanic. When you first create an account you will be at level 1. But as you play you'll slowly and permanently level up. After playing for a few hours you might reach level 6, which means you start each game with 6 skill points instead of 1. For convenience I've added a "use previous skill build" button, which instantly loads up the previous build you were using with a single click.

This new system makes you feel more and more powerful as you play and lets you experiment with some fun skill builds. Before, when you started at level 1, the match ended before you had a chance to get a good skill combo going. Now you can enjoy your favourite skills all game.




I have unlocked all 5 additional game modes for base game players (those who don't have the DLC). Previously only DLC owners could play these, but there wasn't much point because there weren't enough players in the servers. Now everyone can play every PvP mode! The new modes are Conquest, Extraction, Checkpoint Racing, Deathmatch and Zombie Survival.


Another big concern with the previous version was the lack of a tutorial. Well this has been (partially) addressed by adding the Newbie Checklist to Battle Royale. It's a little box that sits in the top-right corner of the screen and guides you step by step through all the main areas of combat. It takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete and can be done in-game while playing, and will teach you how to buy guns, use skills, place and destroy chemicals, and more.




I've tweaked a bunch of values based on the feedback over the past 2 months. Here are some of the major changes:

• I have slowed zombie movement speed so they're less overwhelming.
  
• Chemicals are significantly cheaper.
  
• Neutralizing chemicals now awards a fixed $3000.
  
• Tier2 weapons now cost $2000 instead of $3000 and have more ammo.
  
• Default round duration is 2.5 minutes instead of 2 minutes.
  
• Rearranged a bunch of challenges based on completion rates.
  
• Loot now spawns in specific areas, instead of evenly across the map.
  
• Enemies don't show on the minimap while falling in BR.
  
• The "new item discovered" popup box no longer distracts you in pvp servers.
  
• If you win a solo/duo BR round, you get to keep your gun for the next round.
  
• Skills are now capped at level 3 instead of level 5.
  
• Skill points can be purchased in all game modes now, not just BR.
  
• The skill queues system now works in Battle Royale.
  
• Drastically sped up the drop rates for discovering new skills and chemicals in-game.
  
• End of round awards now contribute towards your item and skill level progression.
  
• The bomb that will become the centre of the next round is now highlighted in the minimap.
  
• Self Repair skill now increases the rate you gain mana as you level it up.
  

Next version I will be reworking the skills system and adding more depth and strategic territory control to the Battle Royale mode. I'll also continue to chip away at the long list of balance, bugs and other suggestions you guys have provided me. It's great to have a clear list of feedback to work from and I hope you guys enjoy this new version!

Also, Geneshift is on sale for 25% off right now. You can fuel my coffee addiction by buying the game for yourself or a friend! If you have any questions you can ask me in Discord at: http://discord.gg/geneshift

So I recently posted about Geneshift on reddit and it exploded to over 64,000 upvotes! This brought thousands of new players to both the game and the Discord. There have been hundreds of positive reviews, plenty of valuable feedback, and non-stop 24/7 players online. Geneshift hasn't been this active all year! The servers crashed twice, and I got about 7 hours sleep in 3 days. It's been wild!




Ok, these weren't real players. This was more of a bug/loophole with Valve's trading card system. Apparently bots were able to idle in Geneshft to collect trading cards, and this spread like wild-fire online until over 200,000 bots were idling the game at the same time. Somehow placing Geneshift on the top 10 leaderboard for the most played games on Steam.. OF ALL TIME! This is totally ridiculous and again, these are not real players, but as a single dev this just blows my mind.




The best part of all this has been the incredibly valuable feedback that I've received. People from all over the world have told me exactly what needs to be done to polish Geneshift up. I'm very proud to say that over 85% of the recent reviews have been positive and am so glad to see people enjoying the game. But there is still a lot more work to be done.

I have read and responded to every single review and comment. I've been compiling a huge TODO list to start working on after Christmas and the new year. This list is massive and will be a few months of work, but it's all valuable and necessary. Here are just a few plans:

• Controller support
  
• A proper tutorial
  
• Special events that allow non-DLC players to enjoy other PvP modes
  
• Expanding and streamlining the maps
  
• Usability improvements
  
• Bug fixes
  
• Menu redesigns
  
• More challenges and reworking existing ones
  
• Zombie nerfs and general balancing
  
• Upgrading netcode and server stability
  
• More translations
  

The last few days have been crazy, and I'm still busy responding to everyone and doing tech support. I will make a few minor bug fixes over the coming days, and then it will be Christmas and NYE so I'll be busy then too. But starting in the new year I am pumped to get cracking on all your amazing feedback.

This has been the best Xmas present I could have asked for and I can't thank you all enough for playing, telling your friends, writing reviews, and leaving feedback. All of this really helps our community grow. I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year!


Geneshift is on sale for 30% off right now. This will last for the entire Winter Steam sale. If you want to try the other PvP modes, the singleplayer campaign, or just support the game now is a great time to pick Geneshift up. Thanks!

If you have any questions you can ask me in Discord at: http://discord.gg/geneshift

This version introduces a new progression system called "Battle Royale Challenges". There are 60 challenges to complete, starting off easy and becoming increasingly difficult as you progress through them. When you complete a challenge you'll discover a new item, such as a weapon or skill, which can be used in-game. Players are now rewarded for pulling off ridiculous stunts and impressive feats of skills. If you actually manage to knife 3 people while falling from the sky, you're gonna get rewarded for it dammit!


One cool feature about this new challenge system is that it changes how players discover and unlock items. Previously items would randomly spawn in the map and all a player had to do to was just pick them up. That's rather uninteresting and unsatisfying. Now however, certain items can ONLY be discovered if you complete the appropriate challenge. This gives a sense of exclusivity to certain items. If you want to use the Flamethrower you will need to complete the "Plasma Strike" challenge to unlock it. This is a nice way to show off to other players how much you've achieved.




This challenge system gives players a sense of purpose and progression while playing the new Battle Royale mode. It effectively adds dozens of hours of singleplayer content for those who wish to complete all the challenges. It also gives you something to do when fighting against bots. The challenges are fun to complete and require a lot of creative thinking, and now you'll have something to show for our efforts. Your challenge progression is also shown in-game to other players, so you can show off how much you've accomplished.


In other news, I've played around with the lighting engine to make the game look significantly brighter, cleaner and more colourful. There are also more particle effects and the Battle Royale circle is now blue in daytime maps to make it easier to see. Check it out!




Based on feedback over the past 2 months I've continued to refine the new Battle Royale mode, tweaking drop rates, bot behaviour, and the cash system. One significant change is the new focus on buying your own items, relying less on random loot drops and more on smart cash management. Items have been made cheaper and cash drops have increased to make this possible, and I think it should make the game play a lot more strategic.




You may notice that Geneshift now has a "Complete Edition DLC". This is in preparation for the full release sometime next year, but for now doesn't really change anything. Everyone who previously owned Geneshift gets this DLC for free. Anyone who buys the game during the sale this week also gets the DLC for free. Right now it's simply a way to separate the Battle Royale from the rest of the game.


Geneshift is on sale for 30% off right now. Get it while it's hot! Anyway, enjoy the new challenges, please leave feedback in the Discord, and have fun!