@JuurianChi

I'm honestly starting to believe I am a control scheme simpleton… Always the slowest thing to progress in my games.

I always come up with fantastic controls and gameplay ideas… but take forever to actually implement anything.

And then I'll keep rewriting the same code over and over because I think of a more efficient way to do something. :(

Today I'm announcing a few upcoming changes.

The game is now called hack&/, officially. And, instead of releasing smaller updates, I'm going to slow down the pace and instead release larger ones less frequently. The next update, version 2.1, is going to have a ton of new stuff for 'yall.

Here is the menu I've been working on for the next update…

As you can see there is a new 'Wardrobe' menu item. The Wardrobe is going to be the spot where you can spend your kills that you have racked up on cosmetics for your favorite heroes. There is also a 'Leaderboards' item, and yup, online leaderboards are coming.

You can click on items in the top news bar to learn more…

I'm going on vacation for the month of July, and won't be working on hack&/ until the following month. So sometime in the middle/near the end of June you can expect version 2.1 to drop. Thanks.

I like the leaderboard and wardrobe additions, adds something to aim for. You should put in a global kill counter and maybe global kill counters for specific types of enemies.

I like the name, too! :D

@eagly

Yup–in the wardrobe there will be a bunch of statistics such as your global kills, overall kills, kills by enemy type, and kills by hero!

It's late and I'm on the inventory grind…

This is the early stage of the Closet (i..e backpack). Drops are going to work similar to the way they do in Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2. Random drops on death, or you can buy them from the in-game store using kills.

Edit:

Slowly but surely, the item pool is growing…

Hi everyone–let me blow the dust caked on this thread off…

There we go. First let me apologize to anyone who was keeping an eye on this game for failing to deliver on what I said earlier about version 2.1 being dropped sometime near the end of June. That obviously didn't happen. I was in the middle of helping my parents move to a new place and the day to leave for vacation snuck up on me so fast. I didn't have regular internet access during that time. However, that's no excuse. I promised something and did not deliver on that promise. That's on me.

Now, if you're still with me, I've arrived from my extended vacation. Work has resumed on hack&/ in full, throbbing force. And to make up for my dropping off the face of the Earth, update 2.1 is going to be even more stuffed with additions and features out the wahzoo. Let's take a look at a few…

There will be a total of three new heroes coming in this update.

Meet Siku–a powerful eskimo ranged hero with a diverse skillset.

Siku's first skill is a passive which progressively slows down enemies hit with his primary attack.

The second skill our little Inuit warrior has available is Ice Spike. This skill sends out a straight line of sharp ice that will damage and stun any enemies in the way.

His third ability is Ice Path. Siku shoots ice from his palm, creating a slippery field out of thin air. Siku moves faster while on ice, and any enemies trying to move across will be slowed.

The final ability in Siku's icy arsenal is Snowman. This skill plops down a tiny snowman with an AOE. Tossing snowballs at snowmen will increase their AOE. Any enemy who enters the AOE of a snowman is frozen solid as the snowman explodes.

The second hero is Baqir, an extremely mobile melee hero with a focus on high damage output.

The first skill Baqir has is the passive ability Fury, which increases his primary attack speed and allows his primary attacks to block incoming projectiles.

Baqir's second ability, Sand Screen, creates a cloud of sand and dust that cloaks Baqir while he is underneath.

Blade Whirl, the third skill in Baqir's arsenal, is an AOE nuke. This is especially useful in a situation where Baqir is surrounded. Combined with Mirage, Baqir can hop into a group of enemies and tear it up.

His final skill, Mirage, is a standard blink ability. This skill lets Baqir both avoid danger and get right into the fray.

The final hero to be added to version 2.1 is still incomplete. (But not for long!) Meet Gearhead. Ignore the incomplete skill icons.

Gearhead's first skill is his most important one–Mechs-o-skeleton. This skill creates a mech suit that Gearhead can pilot. The mech suit will tank damage for Gearhead, but can be destroyed. Gearhead can exit the mech suit at any time.

His second ability is the passive Tune-Up, which allows Gearhead to repair his mech suit by whacking it with his wrench. This skill also gives Gearhead's primary attack a chance to stun.

Gearhead's third ability is up in the air for now. I've been tossing a few ideas around, one of them being an oil ability that Gearhead can splash on his mech (while outside of it) to temporarily increase its move and attack speed. He could also spread it on the ground to slow enemies, or increase the amount of damage they take. I've also considered a mech-related ability, such as an AOE stomp that would stun nearby enemies. However, I feel an ability that would work while either in or out of the mech suit would be best.

Gearhead's final ability is Plan B. This skill ejects Gearhead from the driver's seat of his mech suit. The mech suit promptly self-destructs, dealing damage in an AOE to nearby enemies.

There are a bunch of new enemies too!

Mini-barbarians, fast, swarming, and highly annoying. They're weak, but don't underestimate them–if you get stunned with a pack of angry mini-barbarians surrounding you, it's curtains. Suicide barbarians. These guys wield a stick of dynamite. You know the rest. Witches! These night-time ranged enemies are durable and toss out a projectile that will damage and stun you for a long period of time. Lightstalkers are the final new enemy addition. These little guys won't seek you out to harm you–all they want is to gulp down the surrounding lanterns.

There has been a myriad of bug fixes and UI improvements and control tweaks. For example, the space bar now serves as a 'swap to previous ability' key. This makes swapping between skills much faster than before. Combinations like Korak's Grapple Vine into Stomp and Baqir's Mirage into Blade Whirl become all the more fluid. There are also tooltips for skills and runes.

I really want to get this out to you all as fast as my fingers can manage. With that being said, I'm planning on releasing 2.1 without sound design (although the search for a designer continues…) and without the full options/leaderboard capabilities. The Wardrobe, while functional, will also be an incomplete product. Mainly, I want to give you guys the improved gameplay experience with the new heroes. As soon as Gearhead is complete, I'll update you all with a download link.

Thanks.