News

But in any case, 2.26 is closing in, I’m currently bug and play testing the game thoroughly and fix old and new issues as I go. New game mechanics are up and running and old ones have been and are still beeing updated! I’ve also spent nearly two weeks doing pretty much nothing else than optimizing world collision data and code optimizations for the game mechanics that consume the most memory. For the world collision optimizations I will probably need another few days to have fully optimized all world chunks/tiles.

Another thing I’ve fiddled with for 2.26 is game balancing, primarily regarding the game difficulty setting. Without going into detail I can say that it’s more adapted to the length of the game than it was before, also the item generator now calculate item tiers determined by the level of the monster or loot that was opened/killed instead of the player level. The new way of calculating item tiers ensure that the player can’t go back to the first map where monsters are of level 1 – 6 and still loot items of high-rated tiers.
A minor set-back with this approach did appear though, as the level of monsters in one map may vary individually I noticed that there usually is three item tiers that may drop within the same map. This turned into a headache when looting consumables that stack as I soon discovered that my inventory was full with health vials of various item tiers.

In order to get around this obstacle I added a small text on each item icon that present the item tier in roman numerals. I chose roman numerals in hope that the number should not be confused with the item’s stack size.

Some new visual updates has been made aswell, as I spoke of earlier, the character splatmaps that are applied to monsters as they get killed to splash some blood on their bodies- available if “Enable Gore” setting is toggled on.

Also pay attention to the strong light sources in the images, as the bloom image effect is now generating anamorphic lens flares.

There are also alot of world events and boss encounters that I have planned to modify for v2.27, but I’ve actually already begun to change a few of them. Just to spill some examples, the Necromancing mission’s boss encounter as mentioned in my previous article, and also the Machinist boss encounter has been redone. And as I felt that the Machinist model and animations were of too crappy quality I went ahead and created a new Machinist boss. The Machinist now also have the ability to jump into vent shafts to regain some health.

-Achievments-

There’s currently 12 new achievments implemented, I still have a few to add before the release though. Do note that for 2.26 achievments may now hold alot more restrictions than earlier. Previous versions of the game forced each achievment to have 6 restrictions or less, while it currently may hold up to 20 restrictions. (Restrictions are achievment goals/stages/phases.)

As mentioned in earlier posts regarding the 2.26 release lots of new game content awaits. I still need a few weeks to get done with all planned optimizations and update/implemented to remaining content of this game version and to ensure that everything works properly (aswell as make sure that old character profiles remain compatible.) But I dare to say that 2.26 is not far from done!

Another note, regarding the UI is that the game now gives a more clear hint of a character level up as can be seen below.

I think that I spoke about the update log in an earlier post and the fact that I was about to start posting it on LBKR’s website with more or less live updates but I can’t recall ever telling anyone about it beeing done. In any case, I have begun to post the updates on the website on a weekly-ish basis so if you’re interested to check out the log with all updates and bug fixes this far go on and check LBKR Update Log. (2.26 current progress: 401 Updates/Changes, 127 Bug Fixes)

It’s probably not a surprise that there are some new monsters poping up along with the new chapters however, I’ve laid some extra focus on the “unique” monsters in the game.
All previously added uniques have received their own texture/skin, and some new unique monsters has been added aswell.

There are now three new skills for every player character in the game- Charisma, Move Speed modifier and block multiplier.

– Charisma helps determine the cost of merchant’s services and item prices, better charisma will reduce the costs.
– Move Speed Modifier is as simple as it sounds. It has been around all along but was hard-coded in earlier versions of the game. Having it as a skill gives the player a better overview of his/hers current move speed and also makes it possible for items to affect the move speed.
– Block Multiplier is a hidden statistic that is purely modified by buffs or item modifiers. It will reduce incoming damage by a specified percent of the full damage value.

Let’s just quickly go through the new monsters and monster variations done this far-

Masher, a relatively small alien creature that charge it’s victims. It’s a melee combatant and primarily deal physical damage

Arctic Grunt, it’s an off-spring to the regular “Infected Grunt” monster but is wearing equipment better suited for winter conditions.

The arctic Grunt is a ranged combatant and deal frost damage. It also has the ability to buff itself and nearby monsters.

Tentacloid, it’s the result of cutting an arctic grunt in half. It continuously moves toward your character and inflict toxic damage over time if you stand to close to it.

On to the “uniques“… Unique monster in LBKR can be placed somewhere in between the “Master” minibosses and the main bosses of the game. They are powerful and have all developed their unique skills and abilities.

At this time there are five new uniques, the Dweller, Nuk’thal, Forlorn Signalist, Dahl’kuztak, the trapped and Awakened Guardian and they’re scattered out in the five new chapters.

Something worth mentioning regarding the uniques is that first of all, the chance of receiving mythical-rated loot by killing them is alot better than other monsters. Furthermore alot of them can drop unique (exquisite) items.

There’s also some new monsters that inherit from old monsters, but are simply more powerful such as the Brawler (inherits from Brute), Excavator (inherits from Scientist) and Desola Worker (inherits from Hypoxia Worker).

If anyone of you who read this article have played the secret map Excavation Site2 you might notice that Brawler is the same character as one of the bosses in that map. That’s because I’ve decided to remake the Excavation Site2-map aswell as the Heritage challenge mission, this lead to the brawler becoming the first regular variation of the Brute instead of a boss.

The second boss Feedzilla has become a unique monster that spawn with a randomized world event, and the Forgotten Feeder boss has been removed from the game entirely.

For 2.26 there will be an entirely new type of equipable gear, runes. You may equip up to three runes simultaneously and each rune will buff your character’s skills in a variety of ways.

As with all other gear the runes may be generated with item modifiers attached that you can unlock in exchange for some crafting materials.

There are three different conditions of a rune (as one part of the item generation procedure), Corrupted, Default and Ancient. Ancient runes are the most powerful ones and usually provide a great passive effect and usually comes with a powerful active damage / vital reg bonus but they require a sacrifice to be used, usually draining your health over time or inflicting instant damage when you equip / unequip the item.

If a rune is corrupted they will usually be more powerful than “Default” runes as well however, a corrupted rune has a chance to get a negative bonus rating, meaning that some of your character’s skills will become weaker when wearing the rune.

Currently there are 26 different types of runes where 6 of those are of exquisite item rarity rating (mega-rare)

Two other new items are the Item Tier Chip and Property Modifier. They are used to upgrade/improve equipment of your choice.

I’ve also added two new exquisite items, Radiant Gauntlets of Purple Skin (Armor) and The Needler (Weapon), on top of that I’ve added a new “super modifier” that is used on most exquisite gear. When you’ve unlocked all item modifiers of an exquisite item the super modifier will automaticly be unlocked.

The super modifiers are alot more specific than common modifiers, such as the Pillar of Light super-mod, it has a relatively large chance to turn any opponent you hit with your weapon into a wandering lightning tower that shoot lightning bolts on nearby monsters.

Or perhaps the Shield super-mod that activates a shield that absorbs all damage received for as long as it’s not broken. When your shield has been drained (ie. you’ve received too much damage) it will break and any received damage will drain your health again, but the shield will regenerate after a few seconds.

Right, moving on. Earlier a weapon’s Armor penetration rating was determined by what type of weapon class it was assigned to but this is no longer the case.

While the weapon classes still determine the base points given to the item’s AP value, the value is now also modified during the item generation procedure depending on the item’s condition and rarity aswell.

The amount of “Void Crystals” required to unlock item modifiers for mythical and exquisite items has been decreased alot.

For those of you who’ve played through the game and completed it, you already know that the game currently end quite abruptly with the text “You’ve escaped for now…” appearing on screen. I’ve scrambled enough time these last few months though to continue the work on the “story line”. (Not that it’s much of a story… but in lack of betters words, eh? 😉 )

By the time I write this article I’ve implemented 4 out of 5 new chapters/maps for LBKR that will all be unlocked by the release of 2.26, I’m not sure when the final chapter is due but as always, I’ll have it done as soon as possible!

For the four, already mentioned, chapters that will be released along with the update I’ve currently only added very few layout variations, I’ll also have to add more arenas and hidden rooms to match the first five chapters of the game, considering content, but I’ve made some good progress already!

A small note, none of the new chapters will take place inside the IGCC facilities and a couple of them take place in exterior areas, in order to give some variation to the maps and gameplay.

Takes place in an area on the planet that’s been under lockdown by high ranking IGCC scientists and special forces [TACOP expedition] for classified reasons. There are lots of old buildings, ruins and signs in general of a lost civilization.

Beneath the wildlands there is a large cave system that such as the Wildlands hold the remains of old structures.

From the caverns there’s a passage to an otherwise cut off part of Sindre, the Highlands. The highlands offer harsh temperature and weather conditions, but never the less someone decided to build a secret station up there long time ago, called the “Desola Station”

The main route from the caverns will lead you to the Hive. Simply put, it’s the home of the Forsaken creatures that are still around on the planet.
The area was isolated/sealed off during the TACOP expedition, but a special key has allowed scientists to enter the hive in order to collect speciements and observe the forsaken. To reach the hive the player will be required to locate mentioned key.

I’ll not reveal much regarding this chapter yet as I am currently in a relatively early stage of planning/writing/creating it. What I can say for now is that the final events during chapter 9 will have the player fall down into the planet’s core where it will become clear what’s actually going on in the game/story (Or hopefully become clear atleast… I suppose it will depend on how good I can manage to narrate it)

Oh right, and the final boss of LBKR will be located here!

As mentioned before, I will have chapter 6 through 9 implemented for v 2.26, while chapter 10 won’t be released for undefined time (for obvious reasons.), read below for some facts regarding the maps for the 2.26 release! Apart from that I think I’ll leave it here for now, returning soon with the next part of the update report! (Characters/Monsters/Items).

Feel free to post or pm me if you have any questions about anything regarding LBKR!