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Nova Drift News

- Version 0.30.5 Is Live: AZIMUTH UPDATE -

Hello Drifters!

We have another group of exciting updates to share with everyone, shortly after last month's update. Here is what just went live:

[h2]NEW LOCALIZATIONS[/h2]
Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, and Polish languages are now supported.



[h2]ENEMIES 2.0 STATUS UPDATE:[/h2]
Over the last few months, we've been working on the exciting tech needed for Enemies 2.0, which includes enemy behaviors and formations. While the tech is finished, we haven't had the time to implement it yet. This will be a big design challenge, and any change to enemies this large is certain to incur a lot of rebalance needs. Additionally, it'd be nice to have new enemies and bosses ready to take full advantage of the tech. For these reasons, this will be included in a later update. That said, there are plenty of improvements in this update that are ready for you!


[h2]REVISED ROADMAP[/h2]



[h2]NEW FEATURES[/h2]

Enemy Entrances
Certain enemies can now enter anywhere on the battlefield via emerging from the background or utilizing portal technology.


Enemy Overhaul: Celestials
These feared creatures now boast improved visuals and revamped attacks to match their ferocity!


Construct Improvements
Allies can now utilize Charged Shot and Siege Weaponry. Additionally, several constructs have refined movement.


BOOOOST!
Rainbow cycling improves everything, right? Added about a dozen new instances of rainbow cycling for the BOOST power up and improved existing effects.



[h2]FULL CHANGELOG[/h2]
For the full list of improvements and fixes, check out the development blog: https://blog.novadrift.io/patch-notes/


[h2]OUROBOROS UPDATE[/h2]
If you missed it, we made another major update just a month ago, including new gear and wild mods: https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/858210/view/2779241325218318720

- Version 0.29.8 Is Live: OUROBOROS Update -

Hello Drifters old and new,

We know it's been a while since the last new content, so we are extra excited to announce the OUROBOROS Update, live as of today!

[h2]FEATURES[/h2]

[h3]- New Body Gear: Leviathan (Nova Drift's most requested feature!)[/h3]

Yes, that's the player in the middle of the screen

[h3]- 5 New Wild Mods, plus significant adjustments to older ones.[/h3]



[h3]- You gain additional gear choices at account level 25 and 50, to a maximum of 7. This means that with 7 choices, it will never cost more than 1 reroll to get the gear you want.[/h3]



[h3]- Major reworks to certain shields and bodies.[/h3]

[h3]- Major improvements to construct AI[/h3]

[h3]- A new music track - RECURSOR - has been added to the game and OST[/h3]

[h3]- Balancing, Quality-Of-Life Updates, Bugfixes and Optimizations[/h3]


[h2]UPCOMING LINUX PORT[/h2]

In the past, Steam Proton ran the game just fine, but for unknown reasons this is no longer the case. In light of that, we will be working on an official Linux port, that is planned to be ready by November. Linux users can play on the Proton branch for now, which contains the last major update (0.28.13) that worked.


[h2]UPCOMING LOCALIZATIONS[/h2]

Simplified Chinese and Russian are currently not 100% supported in this latest update, but will be soon. English phrases will appear where translations are not yet implemented. We are also working on adding Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Polish by Mid-November.


[h2]UPCOMING UPDATES[/h2]

A good deal of progress has been made for the first wave of Enemies 2.0, but it isn't ready yet. We expect this content to be available by Mid-November.

Something is coming...




[h2]PATCH NOTES[/h2]

Major Features
  • Added a new Body Gear: Leviathan (Nova Drift's most requested feature!)
  • Major rework: Helix Shield has been replaced with Orbital Shield, and has been given entirely new mechanics and visuals (Nova Drift's second most requested feature!)
  • Rework: Assault Body has been granted new power: There is an 8% chance for weapons fired by you to be "empowered", greatly increasing the stats of the attack. As with all unique body powers, certain mods can scale this power
  • Rework: Assault Body now resists mobility-reducing effects from weaponry by 15%
  • You gain additional gear choices at account level 25 and 50, to a maximum of 7. This means that with 7 choices, it will never cost more than 1 reroll to get the gear you want
  • Added the above "Empower" mechanic to a few Wild Mods: Outrage Module & Phantom Strike. More mods will gain this keyword later
  • Added a new BGM, "Recursor", to both Standard and Wild Metamorphosis modes
  • Added the game credits to the main menu. If I missed anyone, please don't hesitate to mention it


Wild Metamorphosis Adjusments
  • Added a new Wild Mod: Evolutionary Niche
  • Added a new Wild Mod: Grandeur
  • Added a new Wild Mod: Maelstrom
  • Added a new Wild Mod: Quantum Decoherence
  • Added a new Wild Mod: Spontaneous Generation
  • Rare Wild Mods are now slightly more common (1 in 4 -> 1 in 3.5)
  • If Chaotic Ambition increases your maximum Wild Mods per level by more than 7 it will begin to increase your minimum Wild Mods per level instead
  • Transmogrification now grants +1 level
  • Obsession penalties -1.25% / level -> -1% / level
  • Phantom Strike is now an empowered attack
  • Outrage Module is now an empowered attack



Improvements & Balance
  • Research hull 90 -> 85
  • Research shields -10% -> -15%
  • Research can no longer banish THE VOID (Void banishes you)
  • Research must now pay 2 rerolls in order to banish a rare Wild Mod
  • Rare Wild Mods now say "RARE" in their titles
  • Added shake and sound feedback for failing a Banish
  • 110 -> 115 shields for Reflect Shield
  • There is now a hard level cap of 100. If you manage to somehow reach this, we've got a problem, please report it
  • Homing projectiles now seek enemies and targets equally
  • You can now toggle healing numbers in settings for you and your constructs, off by default
  • You can now toggle self-damage numbers in settings for you and your constructs, off by default
  • Drones now spread out their firing sequence evenly
  • If you have an old corrupted save file, the game will attempt to fix it
  • Experience orbs now scatter a bit from enemies
  • Experience orb probabilities change as waves progress, resulting in less but more valuable orbs for the same value. This reduces visual clutter
  • Increased base exp needed per level a touch. This only really impacts the first dozen waves or so
  • Increasing your level by a mod no longer affects the EXP curve at all. You will be treated as though you are your base level
  • Added a border and some breathing room to owned mod displays
  • Retribution gained a new rule: If Retribution causes your mines to exceed your mine construct limit, an existing mine is detonated
  • Charged Mines gained a new rule: -1 to mine construct limit
  • Antimatter Rounds is now stronger but only affects weapons fired by you. This change was made because it enabled insane shenanigans with mines, especially when charged. Additionally, the game could use more incentives for self-firing builds
  • Since it is now possible to achieve +50%, or even +100%, for unique body powers, Engineer's added construct limits now respects this modifier (rounded down)
  • Courser & Battery now scale their added projectiles with modifiers to body unique powers (rounded down)
  • Warp Strike total damage -35% -> -30%
  • Homing Strike has been given a more informative description
  • Homing Strike total projectile damage -80% -> -70%
  • Homing Strike total blast, velocity & size modifiers -70% -> -60%
  • Homing Strike grace degeneration time extended from .6667 -> 1 seconds
  • Changed how targeting affects various weapons. Most notably, very fast projectiles are now better at targeting
  • Modifiers to thrust now have a minimum value of 0%
  • Rampage now scales with modifiers to thrust, and the text has been changed to "You gain constant added thrust power"
  • The pause menu now reports your size modifier
  • The pause menu now reports your plating


Construct Improvements:
  • Interceptor allies with Salvo now build up stockpile count and fire a spray of missiles of at least 10
  • Improved construct targeting behavior, especially for Guardian Allies:
  • Guardian targets the objects closest to the player
  • Guardian tries to stay between the player and its combat target
  • Turret with Counter-Artillery tries to shoot down projectiles heading toward the player
  • Construct aiming rotation now has more damping so they don't overshoot
  • Swarm Constructs now deal 6 -> 7 damage
  • Swarm Constructs cap their firing range at 240 units so they don't fire out of range
  • Swarm Construct attack scaling based on their target's distance is now more likely to hit
  • Swarm Constructs consider the average of sprite width and height for the purpose of range, instead of the larger
  • Swarm Constructs are allowed to clump up a bit closer
  • Swarm Construct target range is now slightly shorter


Enemy Changes
  • Triangle mines, from Pulsars, now spray projectiles 3 at a time with wider spacing (Because triangles)
  • Enemy serpents use degrees for sinusoidal movement and reduce sinusoidal movement when near a screen edge to avoid leaving the screen. If they do leave the screen, they now wrap
  • Bolt-Throwers linger a bit longer after firing
  • Interceptor Champion charge speed ramps up more slowly, and they spend more time "charging". They drop mines less frequently for longer. As a result, mines are dropped farther apart, and you have more time to react to the charge
  • Saucers now require wave 10 to be elite and wave 15 to be champion
  • Saucers now screen-wrap more tightly
  • Spitfire grants you an extra half-second to react to its arrival and deal with other waves before charging its orb
  • Saucers give +25% orbs


Fixes
  • Fixed a silly bug where enemy knockback would apply twice from collisions, resulting in about +25% more effective knockback from all crashes than intended (I'm so sorry)
  • Interceptor Ally aim now takes firing direction modifier from Propulsive Munitions into account
  • Fixed a crash with Ally
  • Overseer's movement penalty now works properly
  • Blades created by allies can no longer take blast or beam damage to their non-existent shields
  • Made global damage calculations more sensible
  • Fixed a bug where Scion wouldn't drop its rewards
  • Fixed a bug where Settings would become stuck if you tried to go to the online leaderboards, but they aren't available on that game version
  • Having both Overseer, a construct that can use your weapon, and Rapid Reconstruction no longer results in no Weapon Gear being offered
  • Removed an exploit where you could enable Mayhem mode and disable the other modes by editing your save file
  • Fixed a bug that would cause certain effects and objects to be deleted if you pause while the player is in a black hole
  • Various performance optimizations

Upcoming Content & Localizations /// Gamemaker Award Voting /// Fatherhood!

[h3]Upcoming Content[/h3]
Jeffrey has created a large and detailed blog post about major upcoming changes and additions to Nova Drift, and you can read it here. Highlights include Enemies 2.0, the new Serpent Body Gear, the Bestiary and thoughts on the upcoming narrative / story.




[h3]Upcoming Localization[/h3]
We're incredibly close to finalizing Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, and German. While we have 100% of these strings translated, we need more eyeballs on them to have full confidence in their quality, consistency, and correct use of game terminology. Please visit https://www.localizor.com/nova-drift if you can help with these languages!




[h3]Gamemaker Award Voting[/h3]
If you didn't know, Nova Drift is created using Gamemaker Studio 2.0 and we've recently found out that we're one of the top 5 finalists for their Game Of The Year Award! Voting has opened up today so please help us out by CLICKING RIGHT HERE TO VOTE!




[h3]Fatherhood[/h3]
Jeffrey, the lead developer, is going to become a new father any day now! If you don't see him around the Discord Server or as active on the forums, just know that he is probably attending to the baby drifter who just entered the world or catching up on sleep :)


Thanks for the continued support!

-Miles @ Pixeljam

Version 0.28.12 Is Live: Interface & Quality Of Life Improvements + Localization

Hello Drifters,

Today we launch 0.28.12, which includes many interface and quality of life improvements as well as full support for French, Russian, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese!

View the full patch notes here: https://blog.novadrift.io/patch-notes/

Also, we just launched a 35% discount for the next week - this is a great time to get your friends on board! :)

Our upcoming major update, Enemies 2.0, includes a sweeping overhaul to the wave system and existing foes, many new bosses and enemies, all new game modes, and a new array of powers. We're excited to share with you what's in the works, so please join the Discord group to hang out with the Nova Drift community and to see previews from the developers: https://discord.gg/Zp2MkPJ

Finally, please leave a review for the game if you have not yet! This really helps the game reach new players.

Thanks,

-Miles @ Pixeljam

Help Us Test The New Interface And Chinese/French/Russian Translations

Hello players,

In the experimental branch, you will find the following changes:

- Traditional Chinese translation, accessible from the settings menu. Simplified Chinese is almost ready, and will be available in the next few weeks. Russian and French are also available!
- Improvements to the menus, settings and general interface of the game
- Better controls customization

To access the experimental branch:

1) Right-click on Nova Drift in your library and select "Properties"
2) Go to the tab marked "Betas"
3) In the drop-down box, select "experimental-internal alpha testing"

Since this is an alpha test, be aware that things might break! We will be continuing to iterate on the menus throughout the week.

Please report anything you find to the Steam forums or our Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/Zp2MkPJ

Thanks again for the support!