There will be more data and proper atribution here (original author, steam link, original post date, etc) real soon, I promise. This is just like a technical test to see if they're coming in ok at all.
Yet Another Zombie Survivors » Yet Another Development Update — September 2023
We’re happy that you’re enjoying the content update we’ve prepared by the end of August.
For this devlog, we’ve prepared answers to some recurring questions about the game, as well as other important things we want to talk to you about. We hope you’ll join us as we explore the possible outcomes and future of Yet Another Zombie Survivors.
ㅤ* Sanji the rabbit with one of his adoring fans.
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Problem: Will the recent changes in Unity pricing hurt you & YAZS?
To be honest, we don’t know.
As you might have heard, there was a recent change of pricing methodology introduced by the Unity (the Game Engine we’re using). At first glance (and second glance as well) it seems to be an awful thing that will hurt lots of independent developers, and by extend – the players.
In short, it looks like Unity wants to introduce an additional payment from the developers, which consist of 0.15 USD per install. This might not look like much, but then, you need to consider what “per install” really means, and the fact, that it looks like it will count EACH install and reinstall of the game (on PC, on consoles and mobile it might be even worse).
This means, that each person who bought the game, would only need to install and run the game multiple times on different computers, for the Unity to charge us a real amount of money.
This means, that people who haven’t bought the game and downloaded it through less than legal means would also make us pay for them launching their game, with not much of ways of us defending against that.
This means, that in theory, bad people would be able to instantly put us into a risk of bankrupcy by running bots & scripts to install, run, and uninstall/refund the game hundreds of times across many virtual PC’s.
We are both shocked and disappointed by this unexpected change of pricing from the company we’ve trusted for years, especially because of the short notice and how poorly was it thought out in terms of considering piracy and bad actors.
Said change is currently a topic of heavy discussion online, as it’s planned to go live by January 1st, 2024. We still believe that the new pricing will not go live in the current shape, and something more reasonable will be proposed instead.
Let’s hope everything will turn out ok in the end 🤞
ㅤ* Example of an awareness campaign when the planned changes go live (via @TafferKing451).
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Problem: I can’t seem to get enough potatoes in a run!
We’ve all experienced the pain of needing that third potato to complete our build like the icing on the cake, but it continues to elude us like a lie. We’re thinking of several ways to solve the problem of too many wanted and unwanted items in item chests. Here are some ideas we’ll almost certainly implement going forward:
1) Items that are already in your inventory but have multiple possible stacks (can appear more than once) will have an increased chance of reappearing. This should make it much easier to specialize in set builds without relying so much on luck. Of course, this would need to be tweaked on a case-by-case basis, as there are also one-time use items like Pills and Health Potions involved. When life gives you potatoes, make French fries!
2) We are planning to redesign the “Skip” feature, as we can all agree that its current state is less than ideal. What we’re currently thinking of doing is changing it to an aptly named “Lockdown” function. It would serve as an ability to lock down an item or upgrade so that it will appear with 100% chance the next time the same selection interface is opened. This should help a lot in all those cases where you see two great options, but you’re forced to choose only one.
3) Item page in the Codex/Encyclopedia interface (also coming), where you can browse through the items you have unlocked, see which ones you have left to unlock, and most importantly, create a pool of items you want to appear in the game from all the items available. We’re thinking of allowing players to mix and match all the items in the Codex at will, with only one restriction; there must always be a set minimum number of items in the game that you can’t go below. This is for both balance and fun factor reasons.
ㅤ* 100% fake inscenization of what it could look like (we actually need to program it first).
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Problem: There are too many abilities on the level-up screen!
We’re aware of the problem that when you unlock new character tiers, their new abilities will clutter up the leveling options.
It’s a tricky situation to be honest. We are planning to add ability evolutions, ultimate upgrades, maybe even different weapon evolution paths, but the problem of having too many options will always haunt us.
Contrary to the direction we’re planning for itemization, we don’t want to just let people ban abilities before they start the run, because we feel that actively planning and strategizing how to best use the tools the game gives us is one of the most fun parts of the game. Making it so that you always get exactly what you want, while sounding fun at first, would be very unbalanced and lead to “only viable builds” with no branching paths and real-time improvisation.
Increasing the chances of weapons and set abilities appearing against each other could theoritically lead to some negative outcomes, such as in situations where the player wants to play a weapon-less or ability-less run, or where they keep getting level-ups for things we think they want to get but they don’t plan to take (wasting more banishes in the process).
One of the things we are considering is adding an extra option slot per additional Survivor in your party (up to 5 options total), which should greatly reduce the “luck” factor in the game. But… it might be tricky to implement with the way the current interface looks and scales, as legibility is very important to us, especially on smaller screens like the one in the Steam Deck.
Either way, we’ll see what we can do! The situation will improve as we continue to balance the experience gem values, increase the banish/reroll stats, and with the upcoming implementation of the new “Lockdown” feature (see above).
ㅤ* “Hey guys, is it me, or is it getting a bit cramped around here?”
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Problem: The game is too hard, I can’t finish the level!
We get a lot of reports that the game is too hard in its current state.
We’ve made some tweaks and adjustments in this regard and will continue to balance the game as we go. Please note that while it is possible to complete the level without unlocking anything new or advancing on the meta progression ladder, we are trying to discourage this as a viable strategy.
You are supposed to lose in this game. We strongly believe that losing is an integral part of the experience, and something that makes us learn from our mistakes and grow stronger over time.
Don’t worry, in time (and with the upcoming updates) you’ll gain enough power to become an unstoppable force, cutting through the horde like butter, but the experience of gaining power is an integral part of this game, and the whole Bullet Heaven / Reverse Bullet Hell genre.
Don’t give up, get up and keep fighting. You can do this!
We’ll be here to support you, so good luck & have fun!
ㅤ* Scientifically accurate visualisation of what happened to Scarabs in 0.3.3 HOTFIX.
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Problem: The game is too easy, I can’t die in the level!
We get a lot of reports that the game is too easy in its current state.
From the feedback we collect, we can attribute almost all of these comments to the Endless Mode, where the mix of team stats and in-game systems puts players in a state of play where there is no losing state and they can play forever.
We’ve tried tweaking things before to keep things balanced across all game modes, but that doesn’t seem to be a viable strategy going forward. While Endless is one of the most played game modes at the moment, it’s not the only one available – all of our players have to tackle the Default game mode first before they have the option to enjoy Endless.
As we don’t want to take away the feeling of being overpowered – one of the main focuses of this genre is to eventually become the ultimate killing machine – here are some of the ideas we have to tackle the “Endless Problem”:
- Focus on additional Endless Mode customizations for in-game systems, characters, enemies, weapons, abilities, items, etc. – This takes the most development time and requires a lot of testing, which may not be the best idea overall.
- Adding a per-enemy custom scaling parameter, which we’re working on implementing, and should help a lot with situations where one enemy is way too weak while the other is way too strong at the same Horde Level.
- Introduce a “Fatigue” debuff for Survivors that could stack indefinitely starting around the 30 minute mark, which would decrease their defensive stats over time, but not their offensive stats. For example, the maximum damage taken buffer and/or invincibility frames would steadily decrease, making each hit taken more deadly. This would not take away the damage potential of the squad and the fun factor of actually “playing the game”, but it would solve the invincibility problem.
Of course, we would also continue to tune down things – especially the ones that can’t get better in the current release, like weapon reload speed – with the premise that the same level of power can still be acquired through upgrades and unlockables, so that the sense of progression and growth remains consistent. Keep in mind that this is an early access game, and I think we both don’t want to reach the absolute limit of meta progression just yet.
ㅤ* Gameplay might break a little bit after 2 hours of Endless (video user jxion shared on our Discord).
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Problem: There’s not enough content! Get back to work!
We’re constantly working to add more, but it’s a battle that can’t really be won. We will always want for there to be more, especially of the stuff we enjoy. Everyone would love for the fun to never end.
Don’t worry – we’re adding more of literally everything! Characters, maps, game modes, meta progression, new options, new mechanics. The thing is, it takes time, and in this world there are large game development companies with hundreds of people working on individual projects to produce content quickly, and even they miss deadlines all the time.
We’re a small team, with usually up to three people working on the game at any given time, and a single programmer who, as of this writing, is taking a short vacation to catch his breath and regain some much-needed energy.
It may sound like an excuse, but what we want you to understand is the reality of indie development. We’re doing our best, and we all want this game to be packed with extra activities and endless amounts of content, but things like that take time, and we’re trying not to rush out a cluttered, buggy mess, but an enjoyable experience.
As mentioned in one of the previous patchnotes, we’ll be spending the next few weeks tweaking the code and in-game systems, which may not look spectacular, but is incredibly important. We’re also looking to tweak some things like the aforementioned recycling mechanic, or some of the stats stacking down instead of up (ability cooldown -50% -> ability cooldown reduction +50%) – things like that.
But! That doesn’t mean you won’t have more stuff to do if you’ve cleared everything.
We’d like to let you know, that we’ll soon be adding two new optional game modes:
Boss Rush Mode would be a pretty normal & chill game mode with a twist. The twist is that instead of waves of basic zombies, you’ll be fighting mini-bosses (and most likely big bosses in future versions). We don’t know what the perfect time limit would be for this mode, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out together with you when it hits the public beta branch.
One Hit Mode is a bit more complicated. As the name suggests, you can be defeated with a single hit, so it’s a challenge of how well you can hit incoming enemies while dodging their attacks. To keep it healthy and reduce the potential stress involved, we think this would consist of 5-minute runs. Also, the dodge chance could be forced to 0%.
There’s obviously a lot of nuance and per-mode tweaking that goes into these additions, but with your help, I think we can find an ideal place for them to coexist with the rest of the current and upcoming content additions.
There are also tons of incredible ideas suggested by you – our players – many of which we’d love to implement over time, slowly but surely making the game even more awesome, update after update.
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Problem: This news post is getting too long!
We’re actually working hard to fix that.
One of the ways we’ll address this is to thank you all for reading. We’re glad that you’re with us on this journey to make an awesome game out of what we currently have, and we hope you’ll continue to support us by playing, giving us your feedback, reporting issues and leaving us reviews on Steam.
We’ll continue to do our best, and while it sometimes (often) takes us longer than expected, we can guarantee that we’re doing our best to give you a crazy fun title to enjoy!
If you’d like to, be sure to hop on any of our social media profiles and/or our Discord server:
@AwesomeGamesStd
@AwesomeGamesStudio
@awesomegamesstudio
@awesomegamesstudio
https://discord.gg/m4JfXuS
Once again, thank you all for playing & for reading! ːluvː
ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio