Clone Drone in the Danger Zone News

Co-op is coming next Thursday, September 5th!

Grab your favorite friend, sibling, twin, clone or machine learning algorithm and see you then!

We're baaaaaaaaaack! We've been working on some awesome stuff the last few weeks, so figured it's high time for an update post!



Following up on the new Arena design detailed in our last preview, the upgrade room and spawn areas are being given face-lifts of their own.

Can you spot the difference?



The TVs now also show a preview of the next level!



Clone Drone is "TOO EASY", you say? Well, now you've done it. We're adding two new difficulty tiers: Uranium and Insanium. Good luck.



As part of the all-new Arena design detailed in our last preview, we're working through all of the existing endless levels and enhancing them with the power of awesome new art and the last two year's worth of level editor improvements.











We'll be including a Twitch Extension update alongside the next update, and will be starting a beta test of the extension before then. Shoot us an email with your Twitch stream URL and we will send along a link to the experimental beta extension once it's approved for testing by Twitch (late this week or early next week, hopefully!).

The updated Twitch Extension will feature:

• a new Enemy Spawn Queue in the extension will let viewers see exactly which enemies will be spawned next and their current position in line. No more trying to time your spawns for the next round or "maximum enemies have been spawned this round!" warnings!
  
• for Twitch Affiliate/Partner players, you can now use Bits from the extension to cheer for the streamer on top of your enemies. There will also be an optional "Bits-Only Mode" for large streams
  
• Level Editor: new ability to mark your Endless levels as "Twitch-only" or "Exclude from Twitch". (These won't require re-beating the level, so will be easier to toggle on and off)
  
• Level Editor: new TwitchSpawnPoint objects that allow for more viewer spawns per round and configuration of where different types of viewer enemies should be spawned
  
• instead of just some enemies being viewer-driven, ALL enemies will be dynamically spawned by the audience. If not enough viewer spawns are available, the game will automatically spawn enemies for you.
  

These features are still under heavy development, and during the beta will require using a separate test Twitch Extension app, so wait for the extension beta instructions if you'd like to try it early!



We've been having a blast playing co-op, and these arena and level changes have been making it all the more fun.



As always, Doborog is streaming development live on Twitch! https://twitch.tv/doborog

As we noted last time, on the stream page you can also find a link to access the latest experimental builds, which include progress on co-op and the new arena. (As the description notes — these builds are under heavy development and will contain lots of bugs! So proceed with caution :D)

We are aiming to release the co-op update before the end of August. It's going to be a big update!

Until then!!

Happpppy Summerrrr! We've been hard at work on some fun new things for our next major update, so we figured now would be a good time to share some peeks at what's in store.



Co-op has been one of our most requested features since we added multiplayer support last year. Now that we've started building it, we get it -- it's really fun! For the past few weeks we've been working through the various parts of endless mode to make them multiplayer co-op compatible.



Co-op places you and a partner in the arena for some tag-team robot slicing. Clones are shared, and if you run out, your partner's last-ditch combat may be the only thing standing between glory and humiliating defeat.

Our initial "tests" are revealing Co-op is a great mode to play with a friend and jam on for a few hours. Yes... "tests"... (we may have become a bit addicted...)



Gary has been applying his voxel skills to refresh the Arena!



Ooh... pretty!



The audience! What is this?



They're doing the SIN() wave!



As part of upgrading spiders-tron to work well in multiplayer for Co-op, we're making their legs smarter! Gone are the days of spider-tron falling over at the slightest gust of wind.



What wonderful inverse kinematics!



We
If you're a Twitch streamer and interested in trying out betas of the extension update, email us with your Twitch stream URL and we will get you hooked up to try the latest!



Did you know?! Doborog has been streaming co-op development daily! If you would like to follow along with the latest, check out the Twitch stream here: https://twitch.tv/doborog

On the stream page you can also find a link to access the latest experimental builds, which include progress on co-op and the new arena. (As the description notes -- these builds are under heavy development and will contain lots of bugs! So proceed with caution :D)

We're expecting to ship this update some time in August, and will share more on release as it's closer to complete.

Until next time!

Holy cow, Chapter 4 was a big update!

Between the new enemies, mind transfer mechanic and spear / shield, we decided to put together a quick mini-release to add these elements throughout the game. (We also took this as an opportunity to do some extra bug fixing and optimization!)



Spears and shields... over the network?!?! Yes!



The basic spear costs 1 upgrade point, which introduces many opportunities for interesting spear-combination builds.

All out of upgrade points? There is now also a Max Spear drop in Last Bot Standing!



This update adds a fresh batch of endless levels that feature the new enemies introduced in chapter 4. You'll find these levels are chock-full of spear and fleet command / analysis bots.



Look for these levels in Endless and Twitch modes (and in the workshop challenge below). Keep your head down!



We released an updated Twitch extension (0.0.7) with the new enemies from chapter 4.



We also:

• Updated the Twitch extension's "Allow Access" hint to reflect Twitch's new layout
  
• Updated the "Configuration" page with extra helpful getting started steps and support for Dark Mode
  
• Enabled spawning kick bots on flame raptors from the extension, since we hear it is "the ultimate troll move"
  

No longer must you fear lava causing the game to grind to a jittery halt! (Now you can fear it just because it might set you on fire...)





Not a fan of garbage? There is now a setting to limit the amount of robot garbage the game keeps around the level. This is especially useful for Twitch Mode, or other custom levels with tons of enemies.





We decided Chapters 3 and 4 are levels so big, they deserve their own dedicated loading bars. Now you can cheer on your computer while the bar fills up!



You can now enable any of the following in your workshop challenges:

• Mind Transfer mode
  
• Random Upgrade mode
  
• Greatswords for all
  
• Armor for all
  

Set these in the Level Editor under Challenges -> Config! We are looking forward to seeing what folks make with these new modifiers!



To demonstrate the Random Upgrade modifier for Workshop Challenges, Doborog put together a Random Upgrade Challenge 2.0 workshop challenge that features new endless mode maps from this update (including Death Cube 3.0)!



Subscribe on the Steam Workshop and play the challenge it under Challenges -> Workshop!

We hope you enjoy this update, & up next: Co-op!!

What is your status, human? Let us tell you of our status!


We just pushed a small update that fixed a few things:

• Workshop uploading: To upload levels to the workshop you must accept the Steam Subscriber agreement. The level editor now helpfully tells you about that instead of silently not uploading your level.
  
• Chapter 4 bugs: We fixed a number of issues where it was possible to transfer your mind into enemies that were not active and end up in a bugged out state.
  

Let us know if you find any other bugs!

(Edit: Someone found another bug and we fixed that in 0.14.0.108)

 

Chapter 4 added a ton of new features, so before we move on we want to make sure they get a chance to spread to other parts of the game!

We're putting together a fun little update that will:

• Add the spear and MAX SPEAR drops to Last Bot Standing!
  
• Add new enemy types to Endless Levels!
  
• Add new enemy types to the Twitch Extension!
  

Look for it in the next 2-3 weeks!



 

Wouldn't it be cool if you could fight robots with your friends?
We think so too, which is why we're tackling co-op as the next major update to the game!!!



What do you want out of a co-op experience? Is hugging important? Let us know!