Gone Viral News

CLOSED BETA UPDATE NUMERO UNO
Our focii this week were thrifold:
Getting in some new content in the down time before we would start getting Closed Beta feedback and bugs.
Bunches of bugfixes once we started getting testers giving feedback!
Occasionally sleepin.

So, with that in mind, updates over this 5-day window:

Content:
-- Added new Armor Blood Armor - can only be repaired by picking up hearts
-- Added new Carnage Item Fan Favorite - requests an extra Fan Event from your fans (will stack - so if you already have one pending you'll now have 2 in the next room)
-- Added new Fan Event - Sticky Mess. Black, sticky goop rains down during the next combat. Ew.
-- Added new Fan Event - Gadget Play -- Gadgets rain from the sky during your next combat, disappearing about as quickly as they fall
-- Added rare mutation Dangerous - raises your POW by 1.0, multiplies all damage you do by 150%, raises Threat (all creature/trap damage) by 1/2 heart.
-- Added new NPC LevelUp buff - Trap Proof* - enemies now resist traps, are vulnerable to weapons and projectiles
-- Added new level achievement Explorer -- 12 fans (base) for visiting every (non-corridor, non-meta) room on the level
-- Added a new circular arena room
-- Added a new X-shaped arena room
-- Added a new bomb focused arena
-- Cleaned up the existing arena rooms
-- Added lit bombs to common consumable pools

UI:
-- Darkened the LevelEndSummary screen because it was like staring into the blazing nuclear furnace of the sun while playing at night (thanks @Seebo @Goat of Departure)

Polish:
-- Flak Jacket (or any armor that didn't adjust stats) wouldn't adjust character sheet properly until something else made the sheet update. Fixed. Nice find, @Wraiths
-- Audio is now played relative to your avatar’s position instead of the camera's position. (This was making the game oddly quiet when the camera was zoomed out, etc.)
-- Fixed an issue where blocked span cages would blink in and out of your view quickly
-- Enabled ability for twitch whispers to be received by game
-- Tweaked twitch logging
-- Updated many animations
-- Added new audio files
-- Fixed an issue where if the oompa camera was hit by a big enough Nuke, could throw a warning
-- Added counterclockwise spinning blade trap
-- Made Carnage room in tutorial use blade trap directions that naturally help shove baddies into pits
-- Removed a ton of unnecessary collision on the various gladiators and the Champ (fixes an issue where they would path erratically as their worn items could block their own pathing)
-- Fixed issue where flying NPCs/your Telekinetic Weapon could occasionally get confused inside of tire stacks (thanks @Hammy)
-- Fixed a bug with resurrection where if a resurrectable creature was walloped to death exactly 5 seconds after resurrecting it would destroy itself rather than forming a corpse (@blobdole how the hell did you find that?)
-- Possible fix for spurious semi-hidden UE4 spline crash that is creating extra crash logs (and may fix @Snorlaxxo's initial game launch issue)
-- Fixed an issue where unplanned pits could cause the room to stay stuck in lockdown if they blocked a spawn cage (Thanks @Wraiths)
-- Activating Dev Mode should now be much harder to do accidentally (thanks @Snorlaxxo7!)
-- Updated lit bombs to work when spawned directly by a room
-- Updated lit bomb art and sfx
-- Added a very small random delay to bomb rocks exploding to prevent cases where they all explode in the same frame hurting performance
-- Updated a bunch of sounds that were commonly or semi-commonly used that had bad stacking rules (hopefully now protecting @Snorlaxxo's ears)
-- Added redirector to prevent lit bombs from spawning in certain containers (Shops, for instance)
-- Added lit bombs to be more common in blood, unlocked chests

Dev Notes
-- Added dungeon room spotlights to many of our test levels so that their lighting is more similar to the lighting in the main game
-- Added Twitch dev integration
-- Added new C++ function for updating health containers to CPP_BaseCharacter
-- [DEV] Some backend work to allow future permanent grafting of armor via machine
Checkin:
-- [DEV] Animation redirector cleanup
-- [DEV] Threat handling moved into C++ for use by non-levelbuffs
-- [DEV] Updated Synergy testing range with new mutations/carnage items
-- [DEV] Moved elements of death into C++
-- Minor changes to make Google Analytics more analytical
-- [DEV] Enabled logging of Audience opinions on polls
-- [DEV] Adjusted Fan trait opinions around Explorer achievement/Achievement.Level.Visited.*
-- [DEV] Rooms now register themselves with Levelmanager at initialization time

* Beta note: Keep an eye out for the new level up buff (Trap Proof) and let us know how it feels.
Some thoughts: Our goals with the NPC buffs are to change the playstyle / make the game more challenging on a per run basis in different ways and to avoid doing so in tedious ways. (and extra HP/armor/etc. can often do that historically when making NPC buffs where fights can be longer more so than harder)
So with that in mind, this level up buff makes the NPCs take 1/4 the normal damage from traps, but double normal melee and projectile damage. This means positioning matters a bit less, whacking things matters more - which should be a change of pace, since positioning is normally really really key. But… we'll have to see if resistances / vulnerabilities are the right way to handle this, because that is a fairly extreme difference. And maybe less positioning is just a less interesting of a playstyle in any case, though the hope would be that it works as a rare-ish change in playstyle.

Anyways, yadda yadda, but keep an eye out for the feel of this one with that in mind and the thought “Do we have too many defensive vs. offensive level buffs for NPCs”.

Thanks!

- Gaff

(Side note, I'll probably be making the various NPC buffs more impactful as a rule so that you really feel the effects. They were originally balanced around a 9-level deep run, not the current 4 levels that we've polished for beta testing - but it's nice if you really feel the difference between "the NPCs got +ZIP 3 times" vs. "The NPCs got +Longshot 3 times". Even if this impact level works though, they might get balanced back down as we open up new levels in the future so as to not be too insane in that context)

CLOSED BETA FINAL VERSION!
A few quick minor fixes from today, that also keep us in the groove of doing more frequent mini-updates.

The largest bit here is some retooling of Polls. If you are streaming on Twitch, we cleaned up the broadcasting of the various options and formatting for instructing your viewers how to vote.

UI:
-- Improved twitch chat interface for polls
-- Renamed Fan polls properly
-- Marked Fan Tier polls to properly not allow repeat voting
-- You can now hide the in-game twitch chat window as a separate option from enabling twitch integration

Analytics:
-- Main Menu is now a valid screen for Analytics
-- Analytics via SetScreen are no longer recorded while in dev mode or test levels

Polish:
-- Fixed bug where you were not getting a Boss Kill run achievement for the final boss (you still won't get Flawless against him for now)
-- DungeonMapGenerator has the ability to send a printout of the dungeon level to the logs
-- Cleanup of how DungeonRoom handles end of combat achievements
-- “Mutant” achievements (which grant bonus fans the more you mutate) now granted bonus fans even during a run in which you die. The Pure Strain Human (bonus for no mutations at all) achievement still requires victory to grant bonus fans
-- Improved twitch logging
-- Removed some log spam from Twitch Chat box

CLOSED BETA HOTFIX VERSION!
Final final tweaks! A few quick fixes as we complete our preparations - enjoy!

Content:
-- Robot Assassin Abacus is unlocked by defeating The Champ

Polish:
-- Twitch connectivity issues fixed
-- Fixed a bug where a big enough explosion could open a secret door from outside the room it was attached to, causing the room to lock down without you inside it
-- Wallbouncer has proper materials
-- Hooked up new stylish moves for opening spiked doors or blood chests using walloped enemies - Death’s Door and Chest Burster
-- Added stylish move for killing creatures via an exploding enemy (bomb spiders, for instance)
-- The Carnage Challenge at the end of the tutorial now plays the success sound
-- Shock Sword animation tuneups

CLOSED BETA CANDIDATE VERSION!

Well, some final tweaks to get ready for a broader testing group are in! Just small stuff in this build, since we’re trying not to make major changes before the invites start going out.

A quick overview of what Closed Beta means for us:

Closed Beta is all about adding yet more interested gamers to beat on the game and give feedback as we continue to develop Gone Viral. We’ve been gathering interested folks on the list for just over a year now, and we’ll be continuing to add more folks as we move forward.

For folks in Friends and Family, not much changes - y’all are automatically in Closed Beta too! You won’t see much different except for new companions in giving feedback and finding bugs, and we’ll continue to be active on discord talking to players, keeping everyone up to date on what we’re doing and generally hanging out.

Thanks a ton! Updates below:

UI:
-- Windowed Fullscreen is now the default display setting
-- Quick Fan Event Tracker overhaul:
-- Improved readability
-- Visibility updates properly when fan events are introduced/complete
-- Refers to Fan Events everywhere, not Viewer Events (whatever they were)
-- PollWatcher improved: Better random vote placement, votes stay up longer/larger, fewer vote overlaps

Polish:
-- Updated the sign in the final tutorial room to the new level greeter assets
-- Fixed an issue where you could use the claws to leap over the gaps between rooms
-- Added run achievements for dying, resurrecting, and defeating enemies
-- Fixed function that randomly places widgets in a Canvas Panel
-- Character sheet name properly shows your current name instead of assuming you're always Decimus
-- Fixed grates in Stomper_Swarm_Std
-- Optimized Sawblade Projectiles and added to pools
-- FIXED: Mortar Projectiles weren't always disabling ticks properly on ExpendProjectile
-- Fixed error in Psychic Sawblades
-- Fixed multiple issues with NPCs on death (Bosses weren't ending their music, creatures not dropping weapons, etc.)
-- Telekinetic Weapons no longer receive NPC LevelUp buffs (Goliath, etc.) - note however that in general, your buddies do receive these buffs (which is IMO cool - in deeper runs they may retain some utility for ya, or be mirror shielded, etc.)
-- Fixed an issue where Da Champ was choosing the same weapons in the same order every fight
-- Added new analytics info and logging around analytics
-- Gadgets now display properly on your character (only the active gadget will display in your offhand, where previously all gadgets would simultaneously)
-- Nuke Rocks no longer cause trap damage - so Arena Armor no longer prevents the damage
-- Changed UI text in various places from "Friends and Family" to "Closed Beta" - woo!
-- Mode the "game over" voice into the proper voice volume channel
-- All destructible meshes are being exploded enthusiastically again (was broken after some changes last week)
-- FTL Dash can no longer get you stuck in corners
-- Enemies hit by FTL dash now fly back in the correct direction
-- Enemies hit by dash damage now travel dash wallop distances instead of full wallop distances

YEAH, WE PATCH EVERY 4 DAYS, WE’RE COOL LIKE THAT!
It might seem like we JUST patched last Wednesday - and, oh, yeah, we did! New stuff coming at you because we are Just That Cool as we head towards cleaning out our list of Closed-Beta-Blocking-Bugs. There isn’t anything too crazy in here as it’s only a few days of updates. Some retooling of how we handle death, armor, and machines more than anything else to handle some long-standing bugs, and some UI polish as well. Enjoy!

UI:
-- Improved Encyclopedia UI to be less programmer-art-y
-- Allowed Fan Gift Tracker to handle multiple simultaneous fan gifts
-- Fan Gift widgets are properly aligned at side of screen
-- Rescaled Fan Gift widgets to avoid alignment issues

Content:
-- Lightweight injector now applies the correct buff and is actually quite useful
-- Added new Armor Forge machine to some shops/medlabs to help with your armor repairing needs

Polish:
-- Fix for 4.23 build issue with GameplayTags
-- Tosser plus Bubble Wand now shoots a spray of projectiles
-- Fixed log spam being thrown by Tar_Splatter
-- Quitting rapidly before the "end run" screen comes up will no longer allow you to avoid death via save file
-- Timed our animations to work with the new auto-calculated descent timings for flyup/slamdown
-- Machines no longer have accidental collision set on their holographic signs
-- Added debug text capabilities to FGWidgets
-- Removed debug spam from ThrownWeaponProjectile
-- Cleaned up some machine transaction data
-- Fixed bug where Biggest Fan could fly you down two levels at once
-- Fixed broken grates in Stompers_Std
-- The armor forge now saves and loads when you leave and rejoin a run
-- Updated the art and collision setting for the armor forge
-- Portable Repair Kit is no longer an injector (it started off life as one)
-- Re-tagged Portable Repair Kit
-- Artified Portable Repair Kit
-- Animated Forge and prettified
-- Cleaned up some of the machine pools
-- Added armor forges to all shop rooms
-- Added persistent data for Fame system
-- Retooling of how Transactions handle you losing health containers:
-- If you have no health containers left, transactions involving health containers fail without taking a health container/killing you (fixes an issue where Abacus could eternally open Genetic Surgeries)
-- If you have no health containers left as Decimus, your worn armor if any can keep you alive still (not sure I like this TBH but handling it otherwise is visually confusing)
-- Creatures can still be lost by losing their last bits of health (so you can still kill creatures by wacking them into Genetic Surgeries if you can pull that off)
-- Blood locks (which transact hearts rather than heart containers) should still function the same
-- Walloping heart consumables into blood locks/etc. still works the same
-- Let me know if you see issues as this is all pretty fiddly and could easily have unintended consequences!
-- Health Gambler machines now do 32 damage to NPCs rather than 128
-- Fixed the immunity that you get during the "arena pod opening" animation to protect you from pit hits and to last a little bit after you regain control to give you a chance to get out of a dangerous situation before you get hit
-- In yet another "doesn't add a ton of functionality yet but handles some edge cases and touches everything and could break stuff" - reworked death and corpse states to be cleaner, moved some aspects into C++
-- Damage.IgnoresArmor now does actually damage your armor if you are out of HP
-- This sounds odd but allows for fewer strange cases like Decimus being able to trigger health gamblers while in his flak jacket penalty-free or Abacus not being able to use health gamblers when it feels like he should.
-- If your armor is all that is keeping you alive and you swap armor, you now die if the new armor has insufficient armor left (previously you'd survive with 0HP/armor)
-- Also moved more death-handling stuff to C++ for BaseCharacter