HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed News

Toy Soldiers,

Major Update #3 was a huge success! We’re thrilled to hear how much enjoyment you’re having with the bots. We’ve also had a very positive reaction to the newly added Third-Person Camera Mode. Thank you for helping us iron out these bugs. Please keep your ideas and suggestions coming in, we are listening.:)

[h3]Added[/h3]
Some official servers now have bots on by default.

[h3]FIXES[/h3]

• Fixed new cheat code not working on some difficulties.
  
• Fixed meatbag physics crash issues when travelling to the lobby.
  
• Fixed some UI spelling mistakes and escaped quotes.
  
• Fixed lighting in Kitchen, Garden and Garage when shadow setting is on low (no more glowing actors)
  
• Fixed pathfinding issues on Attic, Operation Alley, Garden and Tutorial.
  
• Fixed jeeps getting stuck in the Garden bin.
  
• Improved wave balance in earlier waves to have better pacing on all maps with Bots.
  
• Bots navigate around cores and traps a bit better.
  
• Fixed floating grass in Garden map.
  
• Fixed flickering tree in Garden map.
  
• Fixed bots being forcefully added to custom lobbies.
  
• Removed a few local player effects that should not be emitting from Bots.
  
• Fixed jump-pad paths and coins on a few levels.
  
• Fixed it so Bots try not to build and repair at dead cores.
  
• Fixed some attachments and particles not showing when in Third Person properly.
  
• Fixed Claw attachment in Plague mode.
  
• Fixed Bots not being able to take batteries from the Charger.
  
• Fixed another crash bug related to Pickup spawning on the server.
  
• Fixed bots sometimes not being removed from the game when a player joins. Now they leave behind their weapons and credits.
  
• Fixed rare crash bug related to the UFO shield shader being invalid on some GPUs.
  
• Fixed invincible chopper bug finally...
  
• Fixed Bot scores not being transferred over rounds in Plague.
  
• Fixed weapon sometimes swapping to the previous dropped weapon.
  
• Improved bullet FX speed in Co-op to closer match PvP.
  
• Improved lightmaps on a few maps to increase load times.
  
• Fixed zombies sometimes being too far away to hit.
  
• Fixed zombies not hitting some actor buildables types.
  
• Improved footstep particle system to not create particles if the parent mesh is not visible.
  
• Fixed bots sticking around in a server when a player leaves.
  
• Fixed players using expensive camera checks when not the local player.
  

Thank you and have a wonderful festive season ahead! -Joe

- Digital Cybercherries

Small Soldiers,

Sgt. Max Ammo would be proud... But the battle is not over... We need your vote now more than ever. It's so easy to do and requires no sign-up. You know how hard we've been working on Hypercharge, and how much we listen to your feedback. But now, we're asking for just a little help.

If you want to help us win, please ask your Steam friends, IRL friends and family to vote. Sharing our IndieDB page everywhere, also helps. :)

If you think we deserve to win, please vote for HYPERCHARGE and help us secure 1st place in the Indie DB 2020 “Indie of the Year Awards”

Visit this link and click "TOP 100"

Thank you so much! -Joe
- Digital Cybercherries

[h3]We are now live! Ask us Anything.[/h3]

Greetings, Small Soldiers!

We’re very proud to announce that Major Update 3 is now live! The bulk of this update focuses on Bots and a Third-Person Camera Mode. There are also a ton of changes, improvements and fixes. Thank you so much for your continued support. It truly means a lot to us.

Please note: If you encounter any bugs when playing, please let us know on our Steam Forums or Discord. We will do our very best to iron them out, ASAP. We can now look forward to Major Update #4: Survival!

If you think we deserve to win, please vote for HYPERCHARGE and help us secure 1st place in the Indie DB 2020 “Indie of the Year Awards”

It takes just 3 clicks:
1 - Click the banner below:
2 - Click VOTE FOR THIS GAME - TOP 100.
3 - Scroll down a little and click VOTE HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed.

Third-person camera mode now implemented! You can change the camera view via Option > Controls.

We’ve improved movement/animations. This includes vaulting, reloading, turning, & surface based leaning!

Have a little help from a friend! Bots are now available in PvE and will help guide you to victory.

Bots will do their best to scavenge each environment for resources, weapons and attachments.

You can now play against Bots in PvP. Choose your difficulty mode. Casual, Regular, Expert or Nightmare.

[h3]New Content & Improvements[/h3]

• Added player Bots to Cooperative Waves mode and Deathmatch
  
• Added Third-Person Camera Modes (with multiple configurations in Options > Controls)
  
• All maps have an improved balance for Single-Player
  
• Improved weapon sounds for all weapons - Better in PvP!
  
• Improved overall player animations and movement to help the game feel better in Thirdperson.
  
• Added option to set number of Bots and their Difficulty.
  
• Added option to override the music in PvP.
  
• Added option to override what team the Bots will join in PvP.
  
• Added more game rules to allow choosing starting attachments and changing the weapons that spawn in the map in PvP!
  
• Added many new particles FX to spice up telling apart game-actors from the world.
  
• Improved performance in many areas from Particle FX to Nav Generation, Collision setup etc.
  
• Improved visuals and added new FX on many enemies (Zombies, Jets, Choppers, CargoPlanes, Tanks and more)
  
• Added player landing particles.
  
• Added it so the Scope has a lens and scope-like crosshair.
  
• Added new bullet impact sounds and FX for more materials.
  
• Added default spawn weapon and attachment types for different weapon sets (Snipers Only = Gives Scope)
  
• Added build tool particle FX.
  
• Added AddBot and RemoveBot commands to game.
  
• Added Shield Depleted and Recharge sounds.
  
• Added Power node cable electricity.
  
• Added brass ejection particle to weapons.
  
• Added it so Max Ammo now says the word HYPERCORE and POWERNODE in the colour of the core or node being damaged.
  
• Added crosshair to build mode.
  
• Added new spectator mode for PvP - Track the player who killed you for a few seconds until respawn.
  
• Improved lighting and atmospherics on a few maps (Garage, Kitchen and more)
  
• Improved jump-pads timing and velocity calculations.
  
• Improved the prompt highlight to now be context based. Will find and attach what you pointed at, and the player will comment on that actor. (Enemy, Pickup or Core etc)
  
• Improved Spinners with colored explosions.
  Improved VFX for better gameplay experience (e.g. Powernodes show electricity & radar, Jumppads have indicator)
  
• Improved VFX for all weapons (new BB bullet casings, muzzle flashes)
  
• Improved damage indication for NPCs (e.g. damage stages for tanks etc.)
  
• Improved VFX and feedback for NPCs (e.g. Experiments)
  
• Improved gameplay for weapons
  
• Improved VFX for weapons
  
• Improved SFX attachment levels for weapons
  

[h3]Various Fixes and Changes[/h3]

• Added new optimised emitter system for impact particles.
  
• Added proper fallback fonts for other languages.
  
• Changed colour of Attachment Pickups to be different from Weapon Pickups.
  
• Fixed Car collision in Garage map.
  
• Fixed collision of turret base to allow walking inbetween turrets around a core.
  
• Fixed many Navigation Mesh bugs for many maps (and created a few new ones)
  
• Fixed crashing issue related to physics cleanup.
  
• Fixed crashing issues during server travel back to lobby.
  
• Fixed broken muzzle flashes on other players.
  
• Fixed build spots in Garden.
  
• Fixed Glider Planes dive-bombing the ground after spawn.
  
• Fixed Chungus getting stuck in many areas.
  
• Fixed missing PowerNode cables in maps.
  
• Fixed text issues and spelling mistakes in a few places.
  
• Fixed traps, not counting to the stats properly in some types of kills.
  
• Fixed batteries and other pickups being able to fall through world boundaries.
  
• Fixed broken lighting in some areas of some maps.
  
• Fixed build tool showing in PvP on players.
  
• Fixed dropped weapons and attachments, not being cleaned up in the world.
  
• Fixed jump-pads affecting some enemies that it shouldn't.
  
• Fixed turrets targeting some enemies that they shouldn't.
  
• Fixed minigun holding angle in thirdperson.
  
• Fixed a few sound distance issues in the world.
  
• Fixed players able to spawn inside a newly placed Turret and getting stuck.
  
• Fixed many navfixes and improvements for Tutorial map.
  
• Fixed weapon 'beams' showing incorrectly when you can't pick up a dropped weapon.
  
• Fixed PvP spawning non-PvP pickups sometimes.
  
• Fixed for missing or broken materials in a few levels.
  
• Fixed voice commands kicking players out of servers.
  
• Fixed banner material in Hallway_Hard
  
• Fixed bathroom ghost spinner.
  
• Fixed grenade launcher particle offset.
  
• Fixed missing zomibe animations.
  
• Fixed enemies ignoring their target core if something minor interrupts their pathfinding.
  
• Fixed microwave collision
  
• Fixed issues with losing focus on main menu.
  
• Fixed delay on credits page world hiding FX.
  
• Fixed music track lists.
  
• Fixed mouse click-focus issues for loadout menu.
  
• Fixed AI issues regarding finding valid pathing and cores (meatbag and chungus fixes).
  
• Fixed minigun muzzle particle spinning.
  
• Fixed pickup highlighting when changing weapons and spawning.
  
• Fixed strange finger pose that everyone keeps mentioning.
  
• Fixed stuck zombies on attic in some areas.
  
• Fixed a few stuck areas in KidsBedroom
  
• Fix for impact particles copying the scale of what they are attached to.
  
• Fixed build spot emitters colour not updating after spawn.
  
• Improved time required holding USE to pick up a pickup (in PvP).
  
• Fixed weapon pickup highlight beams showing for weapons you cant pick up.
  
• Optimised Navigation Mesh generation time in all levels.
  
• Optimised Collision Initialization time in all levels. (Removing skybox collisions)
  
• Improved spectator input movement and rotation.
  
• Fixed Menu crash in rare instance.
  
• Improvements for bootstraper on Windows.
  
• Build tool gives credits to player when destroying a Bots buildable.
  
• Improved Game Rules system to cache values to improve lookup performance.
  
• Many balance changes to weapons, enemies and wave-spawns.
  

Have a nice rest of your weekend. - Joe
- Digital Cybercherries.

Small Soldiers,

As many of you are aware, we are a team of just five indie developers. We’re working very hard to deliver each Major Update and are extremely proud of how well development is coming along. 

Hypercharge launched over 7 months ago, and since then we’ve already launched multiple Major Updates and Hot Fixes, all based on player feedback. As of now, we have received over 1,100 reviews with an overall score of 90% Very Positive. With your continued effort in helping us develop the game, we’re convinced we will continue to succeed. It truly is a team effort. We don’t see you as numbers; we see you as actual people with great ideas. It’s because of you that Hypercharge is continuously reaching its full potential. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you! Finally, here’s some content to enjoy!

[h3]Development Recap[/h3]
Bots & Single-player Improvements Survial Game mode & Community Concerns

After a high amount of requests, we’ve redesigned how the scope works. It now acts as a traditional Sniper Scope, and we have to say, it’s so much fun! We’re looking into adding more scope variants, too.

Again, after many requests, we implemented a third-person camera mode with 360° predictive jumping, meaning your Hypercharge figure can really strike an action pose in style.

We’ve also tweaked the overall flow of movement/animations. This includes vaulting, reloading, turning, and surface based leaning which have all been polished to perfection. Traversing should feel smoother!

We’ve made it so you can easily switch between your preferred camera angle with a touch of a button. This adds a new dynamic to the gameplay.

Sneak peek of the new UI. Currently, it’s not the easiest to navigate, which can often lead to a frustrating experience. Every aspect will change, and we’re sure it’ll be very user friendly.

Well, I hope you enjoyed Dev Blog #3. If you have any questions about the game, please let us know on the Steam forums or Discord.

Please note: All content above is WIP. We can’t promise that every single feature will make it into each Major Update. This announcement is a development blog aimed to shed light on what we are working on, and hope to add in the future.

Have a pleasant rest of your day. - Joe
- Digital Cybercherries.