Nova Drift News

Hello players new and old,

It's time to give some brand new peeks at what's coming up for Nova Drift in 2021. The full details on everything can be found at Chimeric's Blog, but here's a pretty comprehensive review in case you want to keep your experience fully in-Steam...

Quick note - the Nova Drift OST is currently 55% off for the next week!



[h2]Battlefield Zoom[/h2]

One of the more common complaints about Nova Drift is dying to late-game confusion. Player feedback indicated that things were feeling cramped as waves get into the several hundreds the screen begins to fill and with bullets and explosions. Also, the more tactical enemy formations that we wanted to create required more room to work correctly. We needed a way to control the battlefield size. To mitigate these concerns we added camera zoom functionality allowing us to pan out and view a larger battlefield. In future versions, the game will gradually zoom out as waves advance, or zoom way out for certain big encounters. We also added shiny new parallaxing starfields.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Boss Overhauls[/h2]

In order to make the zoom changes super-noticeable we revamped Station Omega. It was made 70% larger, much bulkier, and more visually interesting. We also gave all of its visual effects a once-over and added some new ones. It's more or less the same fight, but now it is easier to access its vulnerable nodes. Most bosses will similarly receive a revision before we're done and a few will receive drastic overhauls.



[h2]New Enemies[/h2]

Most bosses and many enemies will be overhauled over the course of the Enemies 2.0 updates. Additionally, many brand new enemies and alternate boss encounters will be introduced. Here's a preview of some of them:





[h2]Enemy Formations[/h2]



The backbone of enemies 2.0, enemy formations allow us to assign enemies certain behaviors while their leader exists. Currently there are 6 formations:

• Trail - Enemies follow their leader in a line
  
• Orbit - Enemies orbit their leaders in an ellipse
  
• Flank - Enemies flank their leaders at a certain angle
  
• Rank and File - Enemies line up rank and file behind their leader
  
• Support - Enemies focus on healing and supporting their leader instead of nearby allies
  
• Protect - Enemies will place themselves between you and their leader
  

We've got quite an active discord with a very chill and inclusive community. The dev team is also pretty active there. We recently upgraded the server to level 2 and opened some new channels like #ask-the-devs and #feedback. The latter allows you to submit feedback to a bot that lets players upvote or downvote the suggestion. I'm also quite proud of the #game-dev-help channel, which is a space for current and aspiring developers to learn and collaborate. So... come chat with us!

Finally, please consider leaving a review if you haven't yet - it always helps the game reach new players, which is nice!

Thanks for reading,

- MIles @ Pixeljam / Jeffrey @ Chimeric

Thanks to everyone for their entries! Here are the official winners... please note that a single person can't win in multiple categories:

WILD META FIRST PLACE: FlashBPanther - 7.46.28 - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1013064284
NORMAL MODE FIRST PLACE: ngi_ery - 7.35.24 - https://youtu.be/RLCcTWqS7IY

SECOND PLACE (Wild meta): Batotsu El del Mostacho - 8.16.02 - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1009362772
THIRD PLACE (Wild meta): Idiotica - 9.21.22 - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1004714155

SECOND PLACE (Normal mode): Ge - 8.03.27 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSfnB7rq60Q&t=3s
THIRD PLACE (Normal mode): Shadow Sovereign - 8.15.04 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdMU-bncF8k&ab_channel=BrandonBurnett

Special Mentions:

Massive Damage Award - Idiotica - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1004714155
iPhone 15 Award (aka tallest screen) - UDTakeover - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vle1ru431G0OOxRWkJEfxahOwWVrCZwI/view?usp=sharing
Pacficist Award - Epileptix - https://youtu.be/pWk6bQcimXs

I'll DM everyone with their prizes. Ping me if you don't get yours...

Hello everyone! While Jeffrey (Chimeric) decompresses from the incredible task of moving his entire life and family halfway across the planet, I will be helming the next major event, which will be described right after a brief message that Nova Drift is currently 40% off for the next 13 days, and the soundtrack is 50% off as well. This is a great time to get both things as a bundle for that buddy that enjoys both novas and drifting: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/12177/Nova_Drift_Game__Soundtrack/

Now onto the main event:

[h2]Nova Drift Speed Run Contest: SERAPH KILL[/h2]

Duration:
Submissions will be accepted between now and May 11th, 2021, 12:00 PM EST.

Submission Rules:
- Time must taken using the built-in Speedrun Mode timer.
- Submissions must be accompanied by video, with your time visible.
- Videos must contain the loadout screen, the full gameplay, and the end game screen. High resolution is preferred, but not required. Feel free to compress the video in order to make upload and download speeds more reasonable.
- Recording must have game sound and no substantial area of the screen blocked.
- Time starts on the first frame the player is visible and stops when the wave 100 Seraph is destroyed. Your time selecting upgrades also counts!
- No mods or game altering software may be used.
- Links to your video may posted in the #contests-submissions channel on Discord (https://discord.gg/Zp2MkPJ) or in the newly created Contest Submission Steam discussion: . You can chat about the contest in #contests-chat on Discord.

Game Rules:
-The wave 100 Seraph must be destroyed.
-In the rare instance that the Seraph is damaged by a singularity or comet, the run will be considered invalid.
-All Challenge Modes must be unlocked and turned on. Practice Game Mode must be disabled.
-If you enable Wild Metamorphosis, your submission will be entered into the WILD META contest, else you will be entered into the NORMAL contest.

Prizes (for both contests):
5 Nova Drift and Nova Drift OST keys to give to your buddies, plus public recognition!
And if you want it: The Pixeljam Complete game bundle (Itch.io key)

Other prizes will be given to second and third place, plus perhaps bonuses for extra creative speedrunning solutions :)

FAQ:
Q) Loadout screen?
A) The game over screen that shows all the mods that created your build.

Q) How to turn on the timer?
A) In the game settings screen

Q) After I beat Seraph should I just kill my player?
A) Probably, unless you want the video to be way longer :slight_smile:

Q) Can I upload the video to youtube or other similar platform?
A) Sure, just send us the link to the youtube video. However you want to host and share the video with us is fine.

Q) Can I submit multiple videos as I do better and better?
A) Yes!

Q) Will the timer keep going after I beat Seraph?
A) Yes, but the sub-timers will show the final time to beat Seraph, and that's the time we'll use.

Good luck! Now get runnin'...

Hello all,

We're excited to finally launch the latest major update to Nova Drift, titled SYZYGY, which we assure you is a real word.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

View the PATCH NOTES for the full details of the new features and changes, but here are the highlights:

• Speedrun Mode has been added to the Settings menu. While this is toggled, you'll always see your game time and wave. Additionally, the game will display your splits for each boss you defeat and submit to the new leaderboard once Seraph is defeated (wave 100).
  
• 2 new music tracks have been added: Parallelism (in normal mode) and its remix Parallelism (Freed) (in Wild Meta mode)
  
• Added a unique animation and sound effect for player death that scales in intensity as your level (for that run) increases. This is powered the shiny brand new Visual FX Engine that will be used in other parts of the game in future updates.
  
• Major reworks for Singular Strike, Warp Shield, Salvo & Vortex.
  
• Over 100 balance adjustments and bug fixes!
  

April 13 UPDATE: Hotfix V. 0.31.20 is now live, fixing several construct-related crashes.

This is also an update to keep you busy while you wait for the first round of enemy improvements and additions. With this update, we have switched to the new enemy "engine" in preparation for those changes, so there may be some growing pains to iron out. Let us know if anything is amiss in the bugs discussion or on Discord.

As usual, please leave a review for the game if you have not yet: https://store.steampowered.com/recommended/recommendgame/858210/ - this helps a lot with getting the game in front of new players.

With this update complete, we are now prepared to focus fully on the Enemies 2.0 updates we discussed in previous posts. To be released over many small incremental updates, Enemies 2.0 will bring new enemies, fresh enemy behaviors and formations, enemy support roles, alternate bosses, new power ups, secrets, and reworks to existing enemy content, both mechanical and visual. Beyond raising the bar on enemies, the overhaul aims to improve Nova Drift's variety, scaling, and fairness, while emphasizing tactical gameplay, improving build versatility, and reducing general chaos and confusion. It's a Nova Drift renaissance!

Enjoy the update, and take care :)

-Miles @ Pixeljam

A balance update in the BETA branch to keep you busy while you wait for the first round of enemy improvements and additions. With this update, we have switched to the new enemy "engine", so there may be some growing pains to iron out.

Don't worry! We've already made huge progress toward the enemy updates you've been waiting for.

Minor Features and Improvements

• Speedrun Mode has been added to the Settings menu! While this is toggled, you'll always see your game time and wave. Additionally, the game will display your splits for each boss you defeat
  
• Since we're supporting speedrunning, the game now uses "real time" instead of game time. As a result, your time at game end is accurate regardless of your hardware
  
• Comets now shatter on enemies they can't one shot, creating a spray of rock and ice. This helps make comets less swingy on boss fights and more interesting during encounters
  
• Added a unique FX and SFX for the player death! The higher your level when you die, the more spectacular it is (up to level 50). The SFX you hear will be a little different, each time, too
  
• Added a new setting: Auto deploy Turrets
  
• Added a new setting: Auto deploy Mines
  
• Added a new BGM Track: "Parallelism"
  
• Added a new BGM Track: "Parallelism Freed", the remix to Parallellism, that plays in Wild Metamorphosis
  
• BGM Tracks: Zeroed, Recursor, and NoGrav now play in both Wild Metamorphosis and standard as they have no remix
  
• Auto deploy will no longer behave differently for Architect. If you do not want architect to auto deploy, you can leave these settings off
  
• Constructs will now attempt to avoid impending blasts, such as Celestial bombs
  
• "Centering" enemies on screen now works better with various monitor aspect ratios
  
• Grenades, Grenade submunitions, and Salvo missiles are no longer removed from the game if you level up while they are present
  
• The player won't take damage from enemies or celestial hazards while touching a singularity until 3 seconds after they come out
  
• Reroll drops in the Wild Metamorphosis challenge mode are consistent with the reroll penalty at game start, which is 50% fewer rerolls. Previously this rate was reduced, but not consistently
  
• Improved the accuracy of measuring various shield radii
  

Balance and Mechanical Changes

• Super Mod: Singular Strike has been reworked. New rules: Your weapon behaves as though your projectile count is 1. Your projectile count beyond 1 is fused into your single projectile, strengthening it. Up to 25 projectiles can be fused. +15% damage, size, and blast radius. Each projectile fused adds an additional 50% of its damage to your projectile. Each projectile fused further increases the size and blast radius of your projectile, with diminishing returns. +.1-second rate of fire delay
  
• Warp Shield has been reworked, and given updated visuals. The warp destination no longer automatically rotates around you, and is instead forward facing. It has gained a new power: If your shield protects you when it breaks, you will be intangible for .75s while teleporting. In this state, you may steer the position of the destination point around your shield radius
  
• Salvo has been reworked. Salvo now stockpiles 4 missiles per .5 second interval. Modifiers to projectile count affect the number of missiles stockpiled per interval while modifiers to rate of fire affect the interval duration. It still has diminishing returns as the stockpile becomes larger. Salvo is considered a 4-base-projectile weapon
  
• As a result of the above changes, Salvo begins weaker, but scales much more powerfully from many weapon mods. Also, Salvo always fires 1 missile and ignores burst fire. However, for the purposes of barrage, it still behaves as it previously did
  
• Salvo seeking begins to decay after being in existence for too long (this is only noticeable with really, really slow projectiles)
  
• Salvo-Loaded Mines now calculate their projectile count based on a stockpile of one second
  
• Vortex has been reworked, with the goal of making it easier to use at low levels, and less out of control when pushed to the maximum. Vortex charges faster at small sizes, and has a lower base cost of self-damage. However, to compensate, the self-damage costs scale more exponentially with the size of the vortex. You may need to release your Vortex sooner at very high sizes!
  
• Vortex scaling has been made generally more sensible and consistent under the hood. Singular Strike now applies its size bonus during the charge rather than on release
  
• Vortex has been given new visuals that are less blinding and occlusive. Also, the Vortex is held slightly farther away from the player so you are less likely to collide with your target
  
• 18 -> 12 base projectile count for Flak. Flak has gained a new power: Doubles added projectiles gained from upgrades. Slightly reduced Flak spread and projectile size
  
• Made Grenade's cluster count less prolific at high size modifiers. Shouldn't affect much at low values
  
• Blade used to deal "area" damage if it was in contact with a target. Blade now does this all the time, making it more reliable and generally more destructive, especially at larger sizes. Its area hitbox has been made more accurate
  
• Blades have a new hidden ability: They now take -50% less total damage from all sources (except self-damage)
  
• 1.75s -> 1.5s Blade assembly time
  
• Blades no longer trigger so much player self-damage from mods that scale with your rate of fire
  
• Overseer will now only add additional blades from base construct count and added constructs, not from projectile mods
  
• 180 -> 220 base damage for Pulse
  
• Pulse projectiles now work with all projectile mods!
  
• 50% -> 35% Pulse base damage for Pulse shards
  
• Thermal Lance base beam damage has been increased by 15%
  
• Cloak rate for Spectre is now 1% faster per your level
  
• +200% -> +250% cloak max stealth bonus
  
• Shockwave shield small pulses have a 22% longer delay between pulses. Shockwave shield now only releases its large shockwave on shield reset if the shield has broken
  Orbital Shield now gains less magnitude based on how much magnitude it already has, resulting in a soft cap on size and damage. To compensate, the base magnitude gain from damage has been increased ~21%. (Orbital was reaching potentially screen-sized sizes, shutting down enemies completely)
  
• Firefly thruster size now also scales with sources of "total" thrust, such as Amp and Ataraxia
  
• 25% -> 15% Firefly self-damage resistance
  
• 25% -> 15% Firefly crash damage resistance (Firefly was already the whole package with no drawbacks on top of being capable of massive area burn damage)
  
• Body power multipliers now affect Battery projectile size modifier
  
• 600% -> 400% for Leviathan max crash damage bonus
  
• Banishing any Wild Mod using the Research body gear now costs 2 rerolls, however Research now gains its defensive buff for spending rerolls by banishing, not for the amount of mods banished. (Research has become a staple of truly busted Wild Metamorphosis builds to the point of becoming practically mandatory in the highest scoring builds. Something had to be done)
  
• Overseer has been reworked. It now provides +1 to advanced constructs instead of doubling them. It still doubles basic and standard construct assembly limits. Overseer's assembly speed buff has been increased 1% to 2% to match its thrust malus. (Overseer's explosive power when combined with Engineer was negatively impacting game balance. Without making this change, advanced constructs would need to be made weaker, which negatively impacts all other ship bodies). As a result of this change, some constructs have been adjusted to help compensate for the loss of power to Engineer via Overseer:
  
  
• 30 -> 25 second assembly time for Allies
  
• 35 -> 30 second assembly time for Turrets
  
• 125 -> 150 hull for Turrets
  
• 25 -> 30 damage for Drones
  
• .04% -> .05% assembly speed per your level for Elegant Construction
  
• -30% -> -40% drone rate of fire for Rocket Drones
  
• +25% -> +60% damage for Rocket Drones
  
• +30% -> +40% drone hull for Reinforced Drones
  
  
• Weapon movement and turn rate modifiers now apply to Interceptor Ally
  
• Interceptor Allies will not fire a number of Blade Drones exceeding your Blade assembly limit
  
• Barrage will now only scale additional projectiles for Blades from projectile modifiers, not construct assembly limit modifiers
  
• Splinter Shot projectile count has been made less prolific at very high size values
  
• Super Mod: Tempest Break now requires Deadly Wake and Flash Shielding instead of Streamline and Flash Shielding. (Shieldbreaker builds couldn't afford to be this fragile)
  
• +8 -> +10 base damage for Super Mod: Barrage, which now grants base damage instead of flat damage
  
• 25% -> 30% maximum hull or shields converted for Conversion
  
• Siege Weaponry now works with Charged Shot, Thermal Lance, and Vortex. This applies self-damage continuously while charging, and the rate of fire multiplier from Siege-Weaponry applies to the charge rate
  
• Siege Weaponry + Charged Shot now boosts Salvo stockpile rate while charging
  
• Siege Weaponry + Interceptor Ally now applies construct fire rate multiplier
  
• Weapon total thrust while firing malus are now multiplicative with each other. Base maluses of this type have been adjusted: Thermal Lance, Torrent, and Vortex -35% -> -30%
  
• -90% -> -80% total thrust while firing for Siege Weaponry. Siege Weaponry's ramping self damage has been made less severe
  
• Charged Shot minimum bonus value is now +0%, instead of +15%
  
• -80% -> -90% for Calibrate max spread reduction
  
• Splinter shot velocity now has a floor. This helps things like Blade bursts stay relevant when the projectile is at the apex of boomeranging
  
• Rare Wild Mod: Twin Strike spread reduction is now a "total" modifier to your spread
  
• -15% -> -10% for rare Wild Mod: Twin Strike total spread modifier
  
• -5% -> -7% for rare Wild Mod: Twin Strike cooldown and recovery
  
• +10% -> +7% weapon damage and projectile size for Heavy Caliber
  
• -10% -> -7% weapon velocity for Heavy Caliber
  
• Wild Mod: Maelstrom scaling has been adjusted similarly to how Orbital Shield was
  
• Wild Mod: Scorching Wake fireballs now offset more the more you have, causing them to be less clumped-up
  
• Wild Mod: Solar Heart has been made more impactful. It's bonuses have been doubled and it's malus has been more than doubled
  
• +50% -> +40% global damage for Hidden Power (This massive bonus was from an older time, where there were fewer ways to deal "secondary damage")
  
• Firing Array has been reworked. New Rules: +15% total projectile damage and blast radius for your central projectile. Other projectiles also receive adjustments to projectile damage and blast radius, incrementally decreasing to 0% for your outermost projectiles. +30% total projectile size for your central projectile. Your other projectiles also receive adjustments to projectile size, incrementally decreasing to -30% for your outermost projectiles
  
• Gemini Protocol now works for shielded constructs
  
• Rare Wild Mod: Obsession has been reworked. It now only applies the malus for recursive mods added by Obsession, not for your total Wild Mods owned. As a result, the malus has been increased from 1 % to 3% of your total hull and shields
  
• Wild Mod: Spontaneous Generation no longer self-destructs Architect's constructs.
  
• +3% -> +2% maximum hull and shields for Wild Mod: Rampage
  
• Hull threshold triggers have been reworked. This affects Retribution and Outrage Module. They now trigger based on the original damage dealt, and not the damage taken. Since this is more damage, the trigger threshold has been increased from 10% to 15% of your maximum hull (This change was primarily made so that "Minebreaker" builds could work again, now that Retribution has limitations)
  
• Armor stack quantity gained by taking damage has been reduced by 37.5%. To compensate, Rebuke damage has been increased 60%. (Adaptive Armor was insane value for one point, and pretty much a mandate for any very high scoring build. It still provides a lot of defense when needed, but it's now more in line with other defensive mods)
  
• Self damage "hits" no longer always give at least one armor stack, but Self-damage now generates armor stacks at a more favorable rate. 50% -> 75% efficiency
  
• 35 -> 40 base hull from Rapid Reconstruction
  
• +80% -> +100% regeneration from Rapid Reconstruction
  
• 25 -> 100 damage for Blink (This change was primarily made so that the Super Mod: Displacement deals more relevant damage
  
• Super Mod: Burnout Reactors + Gemini Protocol now behaves as you'd expect
  
• Each type of damage resistance is now additive with other sources of the same type instead of either additive or multiplicative. Fixed several inconsistencies with how damage resistance is calculated
  
• Stacking burn damage from enemy orbs, especially from Seraph, takes longer to ramp up to its full damage, starting from 0. This effect has been applied to enemy deadly wakes, as well. My hope is that these are less of a hard counter to Leviathan as a result, as well as making Seraph and Spitfire less of an "insta-kill" at very high waves
  
• Regeneration and shield cooldown no longer occurs if the player is invulnerable (except during Emergency Systems)
  
• Made knockback from the player less extreme at high values
  
  

Localization Changes

• For strings that were changed this update, and new strings moving forward, tool-tip numbers now reflect in-game variables. This means that changes which only affect numbers will not require re-translation
  
• Improved dozens of upgrade descriptions
  

Fixes and Under The Hood

• Removed the requirement that you first orb come from an enemy if you're skipping waves using the Danger Zone challenge mod
  
• Previously, "flat" damage and "base" damage behaved inconsistently, scaling from some things they should not, in order of operations different than what you'd expect. This has been corrected. All instances of flat damage are now base damage, and base damage is simply added to the weapon base damage before modifiers. This affects: Wild Mod: Solar Heart, Super Mod: Antimatter Rounds, and Super Mod: Barrage
  
• Fixed some hitboxes that were slowly and invisibly rotating, causing some unintended behavior
  
• Fixed Corrosion's wildly inaccurate tool tip damage
  
• Rewrote Bastion code to try to be less of an error-prone special snowflake
  
• Windowed Mode: For window sizes that fit vertically but not horizontally, we now clamp the width to the maximum and allow it to be used
  
• Leviathan tries harder to keep its segments together
  
• Leviathan, at extreme sizes, now doesn't show its seams while wrapping
  
• Crates outside the edge of the screen are allowed to generate loot normally when destroyed
  
• Charged Mines now correctly reduces your mine assembly limit, as it claims it does
  
• Fixed Constructs using Siege Weaponry automatically having Saturation Fire
  
• Fixed reflected projectiles not getting handled properly in a few places
  
• Fixed recoil resistance not affecting player recoil from Heavy Caliber
  
• Fixed Calibrate applying in a few cases it shouldn't have
  
• Fixed some inconsistencies with Blade assembly limit being misreported
  
• Fixed Turret Specialist not reducing Turret self-damage
  
• Fixed the Construct Swarm rate of fire boost only applying to a single advanced Swarm Construct
  
• Fixed Venom Strike not scaling with body power multipliers
  
• Warp Strike now wraps wider, allowing the weapon to hit off-screen enemies more reliably
  
• Railgun and crash damage now can't reach quite such extreme values of screen shake and has a cap
  
• Fixed a silly bug where one half of Eclipse chassis had their rarity bonuses applied twice, and the other had none
  
• Fixed the possibility of Retribution occurring if you can't assemble and deploy constructs
  
• Fixed some strange scaling with some blast radii
  
• Fixed several cases where weird things could apply Essense Sap
  
• Fixed Hives being trapped off-screen
  
• Dart projectiles now disable wrapping and destroy-outside behavior while lodged in something
  
• Made the knockback modifier from Polar Inversion work on a case by case basis so things like enemy recoil and comets aren't affected
  
• Things that worked in a circular range have been made more accurate, using real pixel values
  
• Included some missing Simplified Chinese characters
  
• Wild Mod: Winnow can no longer banish THE VOID and does not grant rerolls or size reduction for them
  

See the build history at: https://blog.novadrift.io/patch-notes/