Zombie Estate 2 news & patch notes

Hi everyone! I wanted to show off a work in progress shot of the new Farm level that will be in the next content patch! (For free) Still a bunch of work to do for this update, but I'll keep you guys posted as progress is made. Thanks everyone! -Netherius http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27443136/f1d9b3533b4eed5711c7a1600c5f3b55814a39e1.png

Hi everyone! I wanted to show off a work in progress shot of the new Farm level that will be in the next content patch! (For free) Still a bunch of work to do for this update, but I'll keep you guys posted as progress is made. Thanks everyone! -Netherius http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27443136/f1d9b3533b4eed5711c7a1600c5f3b55814a39e1.png

Small patch to fix a data corruption issue with certain languages. Sorry for the delay on the new content update! I've been really busy and have not had nearly as much time to work on it as I thought I would have. Stay tuned!

Small patch to fix a data corruption issue with certain languages. Sorry for the delay on the new content update! I've been really busy and have not had nearly as much time to work on it as I thought I would have. Stay tuned!

Bugs Fixed

• Fixed Mega Healing Totem (and other aura based totems) not working correctly when overlapping, causing the 2nd one dropped to not function.
• Fixed bug where players could get stuck on the victory screen.
• Fixed the controller toggle button not working when the player joins a lobby.
• When joining a lobby with a controller on the Lobby Browser, the character select screen will now correctly default to the controller instead of reverting back to mouse and keyboard.

Bugs Fixed

• Fixed Mega Healing Totem (and other aura based totems) not working correctly when overlapping, causing the 2nd one dropped to not function.
• Fixed bug where players could get stuck on the victory screen.
• Fixed the controller toggle button not working when the player joins a lobby.
• When joining a lobby with a controller on the Lobby Browser, the character select screen will now correctly default to the controller instead of reverting back to mouse and keyboard.

Balance Patch

This is the first of many balance tweak patches for the game. I've buffed/nerfed some low hanging fruit, but I am aware there are things that still need tweaking, such as Minions. Game Difficulty

• Reduced the first few waves' zombie counts.
• Further reduce the drop rate of ammo, money, and health packs as zombie count gets higher.

I'm hearing both that the game is too brutal and too easy... So I've taken a few steps to balance out the difficulty a bit. This should make the beginning of the game a bit easier, while making the late game more difficult by reducing ammo, money, and health pack drops. I am keeping a close eye on this and will continue to tweak as necessary. There are a *lot* of variables that go into this, so a delicate touch is necessary. Buffs

• Buff fire rate and reload rate of the Tundra Falcon (John's starting weapon.) John's weapon was firing too slow causing his opening waves to be more difficult than most other characters.
• Nikta Beam now has a 100% chance to bounce off walls up to 3 times. The Nikta Beam was much weaker than it should have been at it's price point. Now that the bullets bounce, players can fire it in narrow hallways, or on long straight paths, to have the ricochet take out additional zombies.
• Mining Helmet now properly increases explosive damage by 25%. The tooltip was correct, but the stat increase was accidentally set to 15%.

Nerfs

• Frost Arrow cost increase and rate of fire decrease. The Frost Arrow was vastly out-classing weapons of similar cost. While I don't want to over-nerf, I've increased the price a bit while reducing the rate of fire.
• Life Steal overall reduced. Towards the end of development, I changed how life steal was calculated requiring I reduce the life steal % on various weapons. I missed a couple, including Dave's Rake, causing them to make their wielder's nearly invincible.
• Deluxe Nurse Hat Z-Point cost raised to 120. This hat was mistakenly priced at 40 points.

And last but not least, in appreciation for all your support, I've added a new hat! http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27443136/fc2bf488a4fad6c5c7ca4fa02b928c88a4a42568.png Thanks everyone, and as always, please let me know if you run into any issues! I will be continuing to knock out my bug list this week. -Netherius

Balance Patch

This is the first of many balance tweak patches for the game. I've buffed/nerfed some low hanging fruit, but I am aware there are things that still need tweaking, such as Minions. Game Difficulty

• Reduced the first few waves' zombie counts.
• Further reduce the drop rate of ammo, money, and health packs as zombie count gets higher.

I'm hearing both that the game is too brutal and too easy... So I've taken a few steps to balance out the difficulty a bit. This should make the beginning of the game a bit easier, while making the late game more difficult by reducing ammo, money, and health pack drops. I am keeping a close eye on this and will continue to tweak as necessary. There are a *lot* of variables that go into this, so a delicate touch is necessary. Buffs

• Buff fire rate and reload rate of the Tundra Falcon (John's starting weapon.) John's weapon was firing too slow causing his opening waves to be more difficult than most other characters.
• Nikta Beam now has a 100% chance to bounce off walls up to 3 times. The Nikta Beam was much weaker than it should have been at it's price point. Now that the bullets bounce, players can fire it in narrow hallways, or on long straight paths, to have the ricochet take out additional zombies.
• Mining Helmet now properly increases explosive damage by 25%. The tooltip was correct, but the stat increase was accidentally set to 15%.

Nerfs

• Frost Arrow cost increase and rate of fire decrease. The Frost Arrow was vastly out-classing weapons of similar cost. While I don't want to over-nerf, I've increased the price a bit while reducing the rate of fire.
• Life Steal overall reduced. Towards the end of development, I changed how life steal was calculated requiring I reduce the life steal % on various weapons. I missed a couple, including Dave's Rake, causing them to make their wielder's nearly invincible.
• Deluxe Nurse Hat Z-Point cost raised to 120. This hat was mistakenly priced at 40 points.

And last but not least, in appreciation for all your support, I've added a new hat! http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27443136/fc2bf488a4fad6c5c7ca4fa02b928c88a4a42568.png Thanks everyone, and as always, please let me know if you run into any issues! I will be continuing to knock out my bug list this week. -Netherius

Version 2.0.11

I just pushed Version 2.0.11 that contains the below bug fixes. Let me know if there are any issues!

• Attempted fix of graphical issues where zombie/character/bullet textures disappear, but shadows can be seen moving around. PLEASE let me know if you see it again after this update. I have yet to reproduce this at my desk. (Note: if the bug still exists, I've heard alt-tabbing/minimizing tends to fix it.)
• Fixed local players continuing to move after the store has been opened. (Trying to escape, those cowards.)
• Fixed local players not being able to re-open the store while others are browsing. Press Space/A to open it again.
• Fixed issue that could result in players not continuing to the Victory Screen after winning the game. Please let me know if you see this still.
• Added a "Quit" button on the lobby that you can use if you get "stuck" in a corrupted lobby. Still investigating what caused that corruption of that one lobby. Last but not least, congrats to KingIce, Pigergast, victorytrinity, and Kritso for getting all the way to wave 31! Anyone done better yet? :) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=842644705 Thanks again guys for the support! -Netherius

Version 2.0.11

I just pushed Version 2.0.11 that contains the below bug fixes. Let me know if there are any issues!

• Attempted fix of graphical issues where zombie/character/bullet textures disappear, but shadows can be seen moving around. PLEASE let me know if you see it again after this update. I have yet to reproduce this at my desk. (Note: if the bug still exists, I've heard alt-tabbing/minimizing tends to fix it.)
• Fixed local players continuing to move after the store has been opened. (Trying to escape, those cowards.)
• Fixed local players not being able to re-open the store while others are browsing. Press Space/A to open it again.
• Fixed issue that could result in players not continuing to the Victory Screen after winning the game. Please let me know if you see this still.
• Added a "Quit" button on the lobby that you can use if you get "stuck" in a corrupted lobby. Still investigating what caused that corruption of that one lobby. Last but not least, congrats to KingIce, Pigergast, victorytrinity, and Kritso for getting all the way to wave 31! Anyone done better yet? :) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=842644705 Thanks again guys for the support! -Netherius

Version 2.0.9 - Lobby Browser

First off, thank you guys so much for your continued love and support of Zombie Estate 2! I'm blown away by the community's response to our game! I just pushed version 2.0.9 to the Steam servers. This version includes a much requested Lobby Browser system. This will let you search for lobbies other players created who are waiting on people to join so that you can get into a game as quickly as possible. (See below for a screenshot.) Additionally, a couple of crash bugs have been fixed. Please realize it's a very large feature to try to add in a patch on the first day after launch, so forgive any crudeness/bugs. Please let us know in the Technical Issues board if you run into any problems and I'll work my hardest to get them resolved ASAP. Thank you guys again so so much. I have many exciting ideas for the future of this game. ːsteamhappyː -Netherius http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27443136/ee90226f7ef0351cebb2ea8a22d728c020396bdd.png

Version 2.0.9 - Lobby Browser

First off, thank you guys so much for your continued love and support of Zombie Estate 2! I'm blown away by the community's response to our game! I just pushed version 2.0.9 to the Steam servers. This version includes a much requested Lobby Browser system. This will let you search for lobbies other players created who are waiting on people to join so that you can get into a game as quickly as possible. (See below for a screenshot.) Additionally, a couple of crash bugs have been fixed. Please realize it's a very large feature to try to add in a patch on the first day after launch, so forgive any crudeness/bugs. Please let us know in the Technical Issues board if you run into any problems and I'll work my hardest to get them resolved ASAP. Thank you guys again so so much. I have many exciting ideas for the future of this game. ːsteamhappyː -Netherius http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27443136/ee90226f7ef0351cebb2ea8a22d728c020396bdd.png