Gone Viral News

Welcome Mutants, to Gone Viral, the Internet's deadliest gameshow!

Headed by by AAA veteran game developers Jeremy “Gaffer” Gaffney & Doug Koup, they previously worked on games such as Wildstar, Guild Wars, Overwatch, and City of Heroes. Their mission in entering the indie world: to handcraft titles that get gamers excited - including themselves!

[h3]About the Game[/h3]
Gone Viral is set inside a mutant post-apocalypse society that so glorifies violence and social media that the ultimate hybrid of the two has become the cornerstone of their entertainment – in the form of the most brutal gameshow ever devised. Gone Viral puts the player in the shoes of a “contestant” on that gameshow – a nomad without ties to their sadistic culture who’s been captured and will now be forced to fight for their life.

So step right up - you’re the next contestant! Create KILLTACULAR Carnage like your life depends on it! EXECUTE not just your enemies, but death-defying combos to woo ALL-IMPORTANT fans! Satisfy your Fans’ THIRST for BLOOD and reap the rewards. Do WHATEVER it takes to gain freedom!

[h3]Feature List[/h3]

• Killer Combos - Weaponize your enemies by walloping ‘em into other combatants and deathtraps to REALLY get fans excited
  
• Kills = Fans - The flashier your combos and the more mayhem you unleash, the more likes and followers you’ll get!
  
• Fans = Upgrades - Sate your fans’ parched throats with FOUNTAINS of blood and they’ll reward you with amazing upgrades!
  
• Homicidium ad Infinitum - With endless combinations of mutations and attacks, each unique experience in the arena is as death-defying as the last so you can MURDER FOREVER.
  
• Blood Stream - Real-life audiences introduce another layer of interaction to the experience as they vote to help (or hinder) you in your killing sprees.
  

[h3]Dev Diary[/h3]

Without further ado, check out our Dev Diary where Jeremy will walk you through the game. Gaffer, take it away!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Streamer Compilation[/h3]

Don't just take our word on the game. Here's a video of real contestants trying to go big, go home, and Go Viral!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Don't miss out on your chance to play the demo during PAX/EGX Rezzed!

[h3]Connect with Us[/h3]

• Discord: http://www.discord.gg/skullbot
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/skullbotgames
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skullbotgames/
• Website: https://www.skullbotgames.com/

CLOSED BETA UPDATE 0.2.26

Another week, another update! Well it’s not just any other week - we’re getting ready for the end of Closed Beta (boo) on the 23rd - and the start of Early Access (yay!) on September 24th! Exciting times!

This week - an overhaul of Polls, fixing lots of subtle issues when transitioning levels or coming back from saves, tweaking Insanity Modes, and lots of polish as we clean the windows and spray potpourri around the joint before Early Access!

Thanks for the streams/suggestions and feedback over these weeks - we’ve got a giant amount of stuff in the hopper for new content, classes, mutations, levels, and more coming down the pike in EA - but makin’ sure the core is solid has been a primary goal of Beta and we couldn’t have done that without ya.

Enjoy!


Content:
-- The "Gain 6 heart containers" achievement is now "Gain 7 heart containers" since you have a bonus heart on Insanity 0 (from https://www.twitch.tv/Wyvern stream as he got this achievement in the first room from Resilience)
-- Added a new achievement for becoming the new Champion with Abacus
-- Insanity 6 now speeds up Enemies, no longer speeds up the PC, and beefs up Bosses (Good suggestion @Seebo)
-- Added +IT, +ShotZip, +Attack Rate stats to Telekinetic Weapon

Polish:
-- Polls and Fan overhaul - fixes following tracked issues:
----- BUG: Poll - new polls can start during level end/run end sequences (from @AcceptableLosses stream)
----- POLISH: Poll delays need to be tested across levels/save states
----- NEED REPRO: Poll ended up in uncompleted state but paid off
----- BUG: It looks like Audience is voting on a poll left over from the last game in its begin play, which meant it was voting before it had any traits set
----- BUG: when starting at 30 fans, it completely skips the 25 fan chest (@Seebo and others)
----- POLISH: Sometimes Polls stack up when crossing levels and get very spammy
----- BUG: Issues with too many polls, polls that shouldn't be running, and "NONE" fan gift rewards (@lueders_rebel stream)
----- POLISH [DEV]: Vote for Fan Gift had no winner because cheated to next level before poll was started officially
----- BUG: Polls should fully clean up on changing level/pay off immediately on the new level
----- POLISH [DEV]: Hitting restart cheat doesn't clean up polls properly
----- POLISH: Polls are still voting/paying off/etc. while level complete is up
----- BUG: Fixed issue where a poll could end up in a strange state if you were to leave the level at just the wrong time
-- Cleaned up a few collision and shadow issues in the silhouette decor
-- Hooked up silhouette decor for game show and security tilesets
-- Turret Buddy no longer hides under the floor like a scaredyturret (thanks @TempleVIPER1 and @Merz but not @Seebo)
-- Updated the collision on the level greeter signs to reduce things getting stuck on them and behind them (thanks @AcceptableLosses and @Ceapa_Verde)
-- Fixed rock bridges using the wrong texture when in shops (thanks @AcceptableLosses)
-- Fixed an issue where the claw's leap attack could get stuck when it was too close to too many walls (thanks @Ceapa_Verde)
-- Level greeters and tire stacks can no longer be flown through (thanks @Merz)
-- Cleaned up the collision and pathfinding settings for tire stacks
-- Significantly reduced the chance that mutant choppers get stuck in doors and between rocks (thanks to a million different testers who have been asking us to fix this for a hundred years)
-- Secret rooms no longer protect their floors from nukes
-- Fixed bug where GameShow style pretty doors weren't responding to Breaching Charges (thanks @AlderFX) or Lockpicks (thanks @AcceptableLosses) because Doug (thanks @Doug).
-- Made the highlight colors on buttons of the "Game Over" screen much clearer for controller/mouse highlighting (good suggestion @TheChronicToast)
-- Switched the steam achievement "New Champ: Abacus" over to the new in-game achievement
-- Game show wall screens can now show your webcam if you have it enabled
-- Deadly Mode (Insanity 7) properly raises overall Threat level (good catch @Seebo)
-- Deadly PC RunModifier raises POW by a bit less than previously (thank @Seebo for the nerf, send him love)
-- Fixed spurious warning thrown first time PC is takes an enemy hit
-- Fixed warning thrown by Minispike Spiders/other enemies that die when they deal contact damage
-- Run Visualizer (the little circle icons on LevelSummary and RunSummary) updates to show the current levels/status/progress/boss level
-- Made it a bit easier to navigate between the main character select menu and the character select arrows (thanks @📺Robman92 - 🎨RobmanCartoons)
-- X-ray Eyes is much more consistent in scanning of Chests/non-character actors (thanks @loginerror)
-- Added a SFX marker to show where your Telekinetic Weapon (great suggestion @TheChronicToast)
-- The Juggernaut's charge can no longer be interrupted by being hit (thanks @Seebo)
-- Charges of all types can no longer be interrupted by seeing new targets (thanks @Seebo)
-- Color and rim light adjustments for all enemies
-- New Doors for destroyed secert wall and broken barbed wire for low secret wall
-- adjusted low barb wire corner pillars to not be so damn high
-- Switched gameshow screens over to the newer screen material
-- Set the start room greenscreen GV logo to use its texture transparency
-- Cleaned up various text descriptions for items
-- Moved all in-progress icons to consistently be "Caution: Beta" for prototype items (should never see in game unless devs cheat one in), "Generic Mutation" or "Generic Gadget"/etc. for individual icons that are still in development. Many icons were either improperly Caution: Beta or old, square, icon pack icons.
-- Hooked up broken barbed wire wall topper for low secret door walls
-- Hooked up the new open gameshow secret doors
-- Fixed some minor spelling issues in our options menus
-- Slicer Boxes use a better sawblade asset and have an emissive trail to alert you of danger
-- Updated the win screen to invite you to sign up for the mailing list instead of the closed beta
-- You can now fast-forward through unlocks if you are SOOOOO impatient to get to your next run. Sheesh!
-- The main menu now uses lies and trickery to make your completion % look empty when you have a fresh save file
-- Reduced the amount of time the Rocket Bombadier variant can get stuck facing away from the player (thanks @Seebo)

Developer Notes
-- [DEV] Added extra logging to VoteManager to track down poll issues
-- [DEV] Added the basic analytics session data we currently have access to
-- [DEV] Removing a few strings that should not have been included in our localized text
-- [DEV] Cleaned up a bunch of unnecessary localized text
-- [DEV] Removed a few deprecated UI's
-- [DEV] Enabled log viewer plugin
-- [DEV] Cleanup and logging added around polls
-- [DEV] LogViewer
-- [DEV] Added backend support for pausing voting at end of/between levels
-- [DEV] Updated the creature test level to use the new lighting setup
-- [DEV] Removing a bunch of unnecessary strings from being localized
-- [WIP] Audience Tiers and Polls overhaul - logging, solidifying,making more resilient to save/load and level changes
-- [WIP] Further Polls bulletproofing
-- [DEV] Fix for 4.25 compile error with USound
-- [DEV] Source and dll for LogViewer plugin in 4.25
-- [DEV] Initial steps to convert to Unreal 4.25
-- [DEV] UE 4.25.3 conversion complete
-- [DEV] Updating all of the modules and dlls for 4.25
-- [DEV] Disabling all default Magic Leap plugins as they started throwing warning in 4.25 and we don't use them
-- [DEV] Fix for UE 4.25 cooked build warning re: LogViewer
-- [DEV] Fixed build issues for UE 4.25
-- [DEV] Bulletproofing in PlayerController camera manipulation for Editor purposes
-- [DEV] Updated comments in GV_BPFL
-- [DEV] Overhaul of base spawning system to make it easier to find when newly created Actors are not yet fully spawned
-- [DEV] Lighting tweaks to adjust to UE4.25's modified autoexpose system
-- [DEV] Improved poll logging further
-- [DEV] Updated the monitor material to allow you to ignore texture transparency
-- [DEV] Test rooms CreatureTester and JG_TinyTest now use new GS_Lighting/Post settings
-- [DEV] Added test audio files to the project
-- [DEV] Added cheats for audio debug logging and playing test audio files
-- [WIP] Added Ricardo's Illustration assets for Abacus and Decimus end sequence.
-- [DEV] SteamDataSuite is not initialized if the game is running as a demo version
-- [DEV] Updated to the latest localized set of strings
-- [DEV] Updating the game version to 0.2.26

Everyone’s favorite post-apocalyptic game show will be coming to Steam Early Access for $19.99 on September 24th! Whether you’ve never heard of this gory game show before or you’ve been grinding mutants to a bloody pulp in this roguelite brawler, new and returning fans of Gone Viral have quite a lot to look forward to in the game’s Early Access! If you’d like to try out its over-the-top mayhem and get a taste for its boundless replayability, we have demos you can play today on Steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/680030

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Gone Viral explores a mutant post-apocalypse society that so glorifies violence and social media that the ultimate hybrid of the two has become the cornerstone of their entertainment – the most brutal game show ever devised. Gone Viral puts the player in the shoes of a “contestant” on that gameshow who has been captured and is forced to fight for their life – and for likes.

String together sickening combos to sate your Fans’ thirst for blood and gain rewards. Mutations upgrade your slaughtering skills to achieve even greater spectacle and efficiency as you tear your way through room after room, leaving a trail of blood and tears (but mostly blood) in your wake. Grab your freedom by the throat!

Rise to become the apocalypse’s greatest SOCIAL MURDIA STAR as you amass a following in-game or IRL. “IRL!?” you say? That’s right! Twitch Integration optionally lets you invite your viewers to take part in the world of Gone Viral as Fans who can vote to either help or hinder you.

Quench your fans’ parched throats with fresh-squeezed BLOOD and reap the rewards. Do WHATEVER it takes to gain freedom!

Features:
Killer Combos - Annihilate enemies by ricocheting them off walls, smashing them into each other, or shoving them into bone-crunching traps.
Kills = Fans - The flashier your combos and the more mayhem you unleash, the more likes and followers you’ll get!
Fans = Upgrades - Sate your fans’ parched throats with FOUNTAINS of blood and they’ll reward you with amazing upgrades!
Homicidium ad Infinitum - With endless combinations of mutations and attacks, each unique experience in the arena is as death-defying as the last so you can MURDER FOREVER.
Blood Stream - Real-life audiences can introduce another layer of interaction to the experience as they vote to help (or hinder) you in your killing sprees.

If you want to keep up to date on all the post-apocalyptic action, make sure you join the Gone Viral Discord! As always, feel free to connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook!

Good luck in the arena - you’ll need it!

CLOSED BETA HOTFIX 0.2.25.2

There are a few minor goodies in here - but MOSTLY this should:

-- Address some FPS issues that can occur from our audience getting a bit too rowdy for some graphics cards
-- Fix an issue where Steam Saves could occasionally decide “aw no, you can’t have the new sexy graphics and rooms, we’re overwriting that with old prison stuff because we hate fun”

Also fixed some polish goodness - especially from watching recent streams big and small, thanks for that!

Enjoy!


Content:
-- Hooked up new security tileset wall panels
-- Hooked up new security decor
-- Fixed some issues with existing decor positioning
-- Added some additional decor variety through random mirroring

Polish:
-- Added a bunch of optimizations to prisoners/silhouettes (from @FederalGhosts stream - thanks!)
-- Fixed an issue where your steam cloud saves could break how your rooms looked (thanks @GlorifiedGamer)
-- Can no longer infini-chain claw slams on Insanity 6/super-high stats (nice catch @Ceapa_Verde)
-- Fixed Abacus game winner achievement text (used to read that he beat the Champ, where he might have won by beating the Juggernaut on Insanity 0 instead)
-- Another fix to prevent the "Boss Approaches" UI from sometimes freezing mid-animation. This has been a hard one to fix (works fine in editor, but sometimes issues in the cooked build) - thanks for most recent find @lueders_rebel)
-- Updated the vision blocking boxes on the silhouette decor to make them less obvious in various edge cases
-- Updated the materials of several NPC's so that they can show a death texture
-- Fixed an issue where silhouettes and wall top decor would not spawn for inside corners
-- Added more Shoutouts to Tips
-- Fixed nomenclature in progression bar tooltips for main menu (from @FederalGhosts stream)
-- More silhouette optimizations
-- There is now a hard distance limit on zooming in and out to prevent edge cases that were happening with weirdly distant or close zoom levels
-- Decore is now able to go into a low performance mode 20% closer to the player without visual issues, helping overall performance

Developer Notes
-- [DEV] Added coresight analytics plugin to source
-- [DEV] Cleaned up SDS analytics to register only once per session
-- [DEV] Added cheat to reveal full Murderpedia
-- [DEV] Updating build version to 0.2.25.2

Hey, gladiators!

Well, the time has come! Gamescom is upon us and you better believe Gone Viral is out and about with the best of them! We have some very sneaky, very cool content coming up this weekend, but before any of that stuff, let's talk streamers!

We have some of the best, funniest, fastest and slowest players out there giving Gone Viral a shot this weekend, not to mention past episodes of Buddy Gets Good and some of our very own animatedbreak's streams up on the store page. If you want to tune in, here are the times!

Friday, August 28th:
Buddy Gets Good! at 2PM Eastern, 11AM Pacific, 6PM GMT!
AcceptableLsses at 4PM Eastern, 1PM Pacific, 8PM GMT!

Saturday, August 29th:
Spinachee at 4PM Eastern, 1PM Pacific, 8PM GMT!

If you'd like to try out all the latest and greatest that Gone Viral has to offer, make sure you check out the demo live now on our Steam page!

Good luck in the Arena-- you'll need it!