Hey folks!

First of all, thank you for your patience. Yes, v0.9.0 took way more time than we expected but we are confident it'll be worth it in the long haul. Long story short, we refactored several bits of our codebase and introduced lots of systems we'll be using from this patch and beyond, such as support for multiple maps, single and multiplayer map traveling, a better foundation to create game mechanics, and much more.

Anyways, let's get into the good stuff.

Introducing Mefisto Patch (v0.9.0)

Notable changes

• Say hello to our first boss, Mefisto! Once you escaped from the first map, you'll have to face Mefisto and its unique mechanics in order to beat the game. Here you go some screenshots of it and its level. Just to give you a taste. :P
  
  
  
  
• We added a Lobby Map. Now, by default, you always start at the Lobby (or the Bunker, you call). Currently, there's not much to do in there besides jumping into the combat map, but it serves as the foundation for incoming releases. And before I forget: this is the only place where you can invite friends to play. Outside the Lobby, you won't have the invite option available.
  
• We introduced the Poison Mechanic. Which is different from the Infection Mechanic you already know. Poison applies damage over time, and if don't kill zombies you're probably dead.
  

General changes

• General re-balance of everything. We tweaked lots of numbers. From weapons, to how zombies scale and more. We won't list here in detail because it's too much and you won't remember anyway so...
  
• Reworked the way to escape from the first map. Prior to this patch, there was a Radio Station in the front yard of the first map (the "House") that you had to repair with certain amounts of scraps. This Radio was removed and now you gotta repair the car in the garage. The twist here is that you can do it in small chunks of Scraps, never requiring you to save huge amounts of Scrap to repair it at once. And oh, this car repairs itself after every succeeded wave - so you don't even have to bother unless you are in a hurry.
  
• Restarting the match is now persistent. Hell yeah, multiplayer players: you don't have to recreate the party when the match is over. By just clicking 'Restart Match' at any time, the match is restarted with everybody at the party.
  
• We added better-looking loading screens. That pitch black is now gone.
  
• We added a complete damage displayer. Prior to this patch, you had to do some math in order to calculate your damage output. We are now automating that task and displaying it to you right from your Character Info screen, accessible through the 'B' key.
  
• Several other UI changes.
  
• Improved multiplayer load times. We got frustrated for how long some load times could take, so we improved it. We now expect everyone to feel quicker load times, regardless of their hardware.
  

Balancing

• Special zombies now are showing up gradually. Prior to this patch, our algorithm that chooses which zombie we're going to spawn was pretty random. Now, worry not -- complex zombies won't show up in early waves.
  
• Increased initial Scav Health. From 60 to 80.
  
• Buffed Perk Faster Scrapping. Scrap collection speed increased from 50% to 70%.
  
• Buffed Perk Scrapper. Scrap yielding increased from 10% to 20%.
  
• Buffed Scav Perk 'Finders Keepers'. Cash earned at every 3 scraps increased from 10 to 20.
  
• Added 'Vampirism' Perk. Every 3 zombies you kill, you receive 1 Health.
  
• Added 'Necroscrapper' Perk. Every 3 zombies you kill, you receive 3 Scraps.
  
• Added 'Meatshield' Perk. Every 5 zombies you kill, you receive 3 Armor.
  
• Shotguns got significantly nerfed. All the shotguns had their damage decreased. Hunters were abusing damage because of the way they scale.
  

Bugfixes

• Fixed Hazmat Zombies applying unreliable damage.
  
• Fixed Server Player seeing other players' hit mark.
  
• Fixed some achievements not triggering when they should.
  
• Fixed some achievements triggering when they should not.
  
• Fixed zombies' progress bar not reaching 0% at client players in a multiplayer environment.
  
• Fixed players not being able to interact with the Post Match Screen.
  
• Fixed players being able to see their own names when looking up.
  

What's next?

Please, take into account that the following might change and will not necessarily land at the very next patch.

Our next goals are almost all related to polish. We know the game still lacks that 'touch of finish', thus we want to take some time to focus only on that so you, our player, can enjoy Not Dead Yet at its best. To manifest our ideas for the next patches here it goes some early planning - listed in no particular order:

• Improve weapons 'feel'. (better animations, sound effects, etc);
  
• Add some animations we judge essential;
  
• Add more sound effects and more contextual music to the game;
  
• Introduce some new, smaller mechanics our players were asking for;
  
• Expand shallow mechanics we have in the game;
  
• Rework the initial map of the game;
  
• And like always, bug fixes.
  

And oh, now that I mentioned the rework we're doing in the initial map of the game, here you go some preview screenshots we took from it. Please remember that these screenshots are a work in progress, were taken inside the engine, and don't represent the final version of the map.





The idea behind this map is to expand the possibilities early on in the game. It'll be bigger, have two floors and lots of things to unveil. It'll be super fun! o/ And don't panic: we'll be working in lightning and atmosphere as well, thus we believe the final version of it will be even better to the eyes. :D

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OK, I believe that's it. Hope you meet Mefisto and enjoy the update and the weekend!

See you next week!

Wholeheartedly,
VINCAE Entretenimento.