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Combat Update News

It's been some time since the Co-op Update was released and we understand that not everyone is following us on our social media where I post sneak peeks and other short-form updates.

So here's some news about the upcoming update mainly for folks that follow us only here! But don't worry, even if you follow us everywhere (stalker alert), I'm still going to include things I haven't leaked anywhere else yet.

Next update = Combat update?


That's right! The majority of the feedback after the Co-op Update mentioned the state of combat. Seeing that, we decided to make combat the top priority and dedicate this next update to improving all aspects of it.

DISCLAIMER: Keep in mind that many things are still unfinished/placeholder-ish and will look different when the update releases.

Here's what we've been working on


[h3]First Person Animations[/h3]
The 1st person view is no longer just a static hand with a gun. Anything you do will trigger some kind of response from the player model. We spent a lot of time analyzing these "immersive effects" in other games. There are still tons of adjustments to do, but the system is done and now it’s just about tweaking the values.



[h3]Improved Shooting & Projectiles[/h3]
One of the biggest community complaints was about the hit-scan shooting. All weapons are now projectile-based with recoil, bullet drop, muzzle velocity, and many more features that you're used to from other games. This includes the ability to hip fire or aim down-sights.



[h3]Reworked COG Units[/h3]
Some of you might remember when I shared the old concepts for improved COG units a few months back. Well, the time has come and COGs will be getting a major facelift along with a new brain (smarter behavior). Since they're getting smarter they will be able to use a larger array of new weapons to cause you all kinds of trouble. Defending your drillship or attacking theirs won't be as straight forward anymore.





Apart from that, COGs won't be hit-scan shooting anymore either and their aim won't be as perfect too. We are also working on audio clues for them to signal things like spotting you, losing you, being idle, and so on.

[h3]New Drillship Turret(s)[/h3]
The long-awaited new turret is finally making an appearance and it's even better than what you hoped for! Because we are not going to add just one new turret but a whole bunch of them! These will even out your chances against attacks from the now smarter, better equipped, and noisier COGs.





[h3]Armor[/h3]
One of the biggest issues in combat was that you couldn't increase your health as the game got more challenging. So to solve that, basic armor is being added to increase your chances against tougher enemies. However, it is not the planned "power armor" suit yet but more of a bulletproof vest. The "power armor" suit is planned for a later update.



[h3]Co-op Focused Features[/h3]
As the enemies get tougher, proper teamwork will be even more necessary. That's why we're adding the ability to heal or revive your crewmates. Being able to drop items like you're used to from other survival games is also happening.



Other things I should mention...

We expanded our team even more recently, which forced us to update our project management systems but everything seems to be working better than ever now. Our concept artist, for example, is already able to work on things for future updates wasting no time.

Why is this important? Well, it should really help with the long delays between each update since a lot of the work is being done in advance. Here's one of the things he's working on:



Last thing the team wanted me to mention is that maybe not all of these features will make it in this update. We are very aware that this update is taking way too long... again, so if some feature starts being overly complicated, we will push it into the next update. Still, the combat focus of this update stands, and I'm sure most of these will make it in.

And that's all for now. Thank you so much for your amazing support! Let us know what you think and if you have any questions, leave them below or ping me on Discord.

~ Rich

Join our community on Discord
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for sneak peeks and short-form updates

https://store.steampowered.com/app/951440/Volcanoids/

Help us make the first Melee Weapon



It has proven to be very effective to go medieval on COGs in certain situations.

But do you know what would be even more effective? Going medieval with something that was actually designed for chopping off rusty robot parts rather than mining. And that's where you come in.

Submit your melee weapon ideas in our Discord server and we will pick a few of our favorite ones. After that, you guys will be able to vote which one of those will make it in the upcoming update and the person that submitted the winning weapon will get to name it as well.





You can submit your melee weapon ideas in our Discord server until this Friday, July 24 and the chance to vote will come shortly after.

Never miss an update
  • Get development news and sneak peeks on Twitter
  • Chat with thousands of other players and devs on Discord
  • See highlights from the development, office and events on Instagram
  • Make a suggestion for the game and upvote/downvote others on Nolt
  • Watch new trailers, teasers and tutorials on YouTube
  • Get your news and updates through our Newsletter



Can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

~ Volcanoids Dev Squad

https://store.steampowered.com/app/951440/Volcanoids/

Steam Summer Sale + What's Coming Next

Hey everyone, the Summer Sale is here again and Volcanoids is joining the annual wallet massacre with a 25% discount!

I know that many of you already own the game and in that case, now's a great time to recruit friends for your crew so you can commandeer drillships, survive eruptions, bathe in lava and fight robots together.

Latest major update


For anybody checking our progress after a long time, the most recent major update was the Co-op Update released on May 20 (roughly a month ago). This update added the highly requested co-op multiplayer, new devices, new items, and some QOL improvements. If this update flew under your radar, check out the trailer below.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Cool, what's next?


When going through your feedback after the Co-op Update we agreed that the thing that needs the most attention right now is combat in general. So the next major update is going to revolve around that. Here are some sneak peeks of what's coming.

Disclaimer: everything you'll see below is a work in progress

[h3]New enemy units[/h3]

Friendly and not so friendly.









[h3]Default unit visual overhaul[/h3]

New look, new guns.









[h3]Player will get some love too, don't worry[/h3]

New weapons, new and improved first-person animations and more player-related goodies are in the pipeline as well.

There aren't many sneak peeks of this right now but once we have something, we'll share it on our social media channels, so keep your eyes peeled there.



Never miss an update
  • Get development news and sneak peeks on Twitter
  • Chat with thousands of other players and devs on Discord
  • See highlights from the development, office and events on Instagram
  • Make a suggestion for the game and upvote/downvote others on Nolt
  • Watch new trailers, teasers and tutorials on YouTube
  • Get your news and updates through our Newsletter


Stay tuned for more sneak peeks on our social media and as always, thank you so much for your support! Take care everyone

~ Volcanoids Dev Squad

https://store.steampowered.com/app/951440/Volcanoids/

[h3]Sneaky Bonus Peek[/h3]

A bunch of fixes and optimizations Update

Hey y'all! We released a new update focused solely on fixing, optimizing, and changing things based on the feedback we got from you since the Co-op Update. Check out the full changelog below to see if that annoying bug you told us about got fixed!

What's New


[h3]Full Changelog[/h3]

Improvements
  • Quests now correctly handle missing devices/modules
  • Items are now moved into player inventory when deconstructing chests
  • Items in production are returned when deconstructing stations and worktables


Optimizations
  • Major drillship movement & deploy optimizations
  • Quest UI rendering optimization
  • Cog AI minor optimizations
  • Other minor optimizations


Fixes
  • Major occlusion culling fixes
  • Achievements now work properly on clients
  • Cogs now use a ladder properly after load
  • Minor networking fixes and improvements
  • Better system of password protection
  • Fixed issue with multiplayer lobbies
  • Fixed submerging lever not updating to drillship position
  • Fixed disappearing doors in drillship segments
  • Items no longer get lost when canceling production
  • Fixed issue with missing roof module that caused a hole in the ceiling
  • Items are no longer lost if player deconstructs mounted chest
  • Fixed wrong scale of the logo in the end page


Stay Updated
  • Get development news and sneak peeks on Twitter or Facebook
  • Chat with thousands of other players and the devs on Discord
  • Receive development updates through Email
  • See highlights from the development, office and events on Instagram
  • Make a suggestion for the game and upvote/downvote others on Nolt
  • See the roadmap for upcoming features on Trello
  • Watch new trailers, teasers and tutorials on YouTube


As always thank you so much for your feedback and continuous support! If you haven't yet make sure to follow us on social media as we share sneak peeks of upcoming features pretty much daily now. Take care everyone!

~ Volcanoids Dev Squad

https://store.steampowered.com/app/951440/Volcanoids/

Co-op Update Hotfix

Hey everyone! We made some changes/fixes based on fresh feedback we got from you after the Co-op Update. See the full list of changes/fixes below.

We hope you're having blast playing the new Co-op Update and have a great weekend y'all!

What's new


[h3]Full Changelog[/h3]

Inventory window changes:
  • left panel contains only 'Character' tab
  • right panel does not contain 'Character' tab
  • renamed 'Online' tab to 'Drillship', changed tooltip
  • renamed 'Move All' buttons to: 'Take all' and 'Dump all'
  • 'Take All' now closes inventory (with slight delay) after moving all items into player inventory
  • 'Dump All' keeps guns and ammo in player inventory when there are other items to dump
  • changed default keybind for 'Take All' to [E]
  • changed default keybind for 'Dump All' to [Q]
  • added keybind for 'Stack', default is [R]
  • all keybinds can be changed in Options


Other changes:
  • high-power revolver ammo is now tier 1
  • change stack size from 45 to 50 for all items with stack size of 45


Fixes:
  • fixed issues with loading older saves
  • fixed unable to upgrade Engine 2 to Engine 3
  • fixed long tooltips of ores
  • fixed chest positioning in blast mine


Stay Updated
  • Get development news and sneak peeks on Twitter or Facebook
  • Chat with thousands of other players and the devs on Discord
  • Receive development updates through Email
  • See highlights from the development, office and events on Instagram
  • Make a suggestion for the game and upvote/downvote others on Nolt
  • See the roadmap for upcoming features on Trello
  • Watch new trailers, teasers and tutorials on YouTube


~ Volcanoids Dev Squad

https://store.steampowered.com/app/951440/Volcanoids/