Vactics Early Access Update #14 - Elite

Update #14 is Elite. It is an update that introduces three elite enemies into the game to challenge players as they reach the second phase of the campaign mode. Elite is also how I feel about my journey in developing Vactics, a journey I started in 2020 as a hobby project in my spare time. I'm very happy with the game that you all get to play today in 2023.

The new enemy types will start to appear in the game once players unlock the second phase of the war and increase the challenge of the game. They will also now appear in Daily District challenges for those who want to see them right away.

I've been working very hard through January on the final features of the game in preparation for the 1.0 release. It is not far away now. There are so many little changes that are in place to prepare for the release of Vactics and I am working very hard to ensure that everyone who picks up the game has a great time playing it.

I also expect this will be the last time that I will make these requests here:

1. If you are enjoying the game, leaving a Steam review. They really will help me. They help Steam inform people that Vactics is a game could enjoy as well. I would love to see that number go up.

2. Tell a friend and tell some strangers. Word of mouth is the main way people can find Vactics. Please share widely and let me know when you do too.

3. I always want to know what I can do to improve the game. Make a forum post or use the in-game feedback button. Players who get in touch in these ways have really helped me improve Vactics.

Thank you as always for playing Vactics, leaving feedback and coming along with me on this journey.

Cheers, Gerard / The Lemur Conspiracy

Client Versions

Early Access: #0.800.4777 Demo: #0.400.4415

### Changes

Achievements - Added a new achievement to the game.

Audio - Added a sound effect to play when Vactics reinforcements arrive.

Campaign Map - Updated the drop animations for new districts as they arrive on the map.

Content - Changed the name of the evil corporation.

Content - Re-wrote the content for the control tower tutorials.

Content - Re-wrote the content for the district escalations tutorials.

Content - Re-wrote the final battle tutorials to better explain the new requirement.

Content - Re-wrote the messages shown after the end of a successful.

Daily District Challenge - Players can now activate all three escalations for the daily immediately. Forcing players to unlock escalation levels took away some choice and meant that early runs were never going to be able to compete on the leaderboards.

Gameplay - In the final battle the mech must now have at least 20% power in order to properly activate the Vactic Cores to complete the game.

Gameplay - Launcher Vactics cooldown between attacks reduced by 1 turn. More grenades!

Gameplay - Added 3 new Elite enemy types to the game. These enemies hit harder and have new behaviours that make them more deadly in battle. They will appear in the second phase of campaign mode and in the daily district challenges.

Sprites - Updated some mech sprites so that they work better when combined with other mech parts.

UI - Added a trail effect to the game cursor.

UI - Added polish and layout fixes to the tech upgrade UI.

UI - Changed the menu flow so that players return to the main menu after a successful campaign run.

UI - Moved the color palette selection option into the game progress screen. It was previously located in the settings menu.

UI - Updated the look and feel of the game over panel to make room for bigger text elements.

UI - Updated the look of in-game achievements.

VFX - Changed the colouring of the player when they are destroyed to better highlight the event.

### Bugfixes

Art - Fixed a broken animation cycle on one of the residential buildings.

Content - Fixed missing text on the Daily District game over screen

Cutscenes - Fixed incorrect frame offsets during the intro cutscene.

Daily District Challenge - Fixed bug where player could exit out of a daily challenge after dying and it would not record their score and that the attempt had been used up.

Gameplay - Fixed bug when enemy reinforcements would spawn even after the player was dead.

Gameplay - Fixed bug where sweeper turret targets were still showing up as valid after the target was destroyed by an explosion.

UI - Fixed the offset for the reinforcements countdown label so that it is not cut off on some displays.