Reality Break v1.00.0 hotfix 6 has gone live.

Courtney's notes: This hotfix includes a substantial overhaul of the game's UI text presentation, the first pass at improving text legibility across the board with a particular focus on comfort when playing the game on handhelds such as Steam Deck.

I've been made aware of two fixes related to graphics drivers that allowed players to resolve big performance problems:

1. if you're on Nvidia driver v572.16 and experiencing extremely poor performance, please try reverting to an older version or upgrading to a newer one. v572.16 has been reported by various players as causing a host of massive problems in various games.
   
2. if you're using an AMD graphics card, one of my players who was experiencing a repeatable crash to desktop when jumping into a mission has reported that updating to the February 20th Optional AMD Drivers fixed the problem.

In addition, I'm tracking the following performance problems for a fix:

1. stuttering on high refresh rate monitors: I've ordered a 180Hz monitor so I can diagnose the problems in my dev environment.
   
2. players on HDDs as opposed to SSDs: I've implemented a few improvements for the game hitting the hard drive unnecessarily, and have also ordered an HDD so I can test this myself.
   
3. high enemy density: more improvements will be coming here over time.

This update also includes a smattering of other fixes and improvements as requested by the player community - thank you for letting me know what you'd like to see in the game!

• reduced the impact of object pool initialization when starting the game by amortizing it over time more effectively
  
• added more effects to object pool

• tripled the auto-pickup radius for currencies dropped in space as well as for health, energy, and supercharge drops
  
• Resource drops are now automatically collected at the same distance as currencies. If ejected from your ship's inventory, they will not be auto-collected again until you leave and re-enter their auto-pickup radius.
  
• if you have two or more equipped weapons that are either all Primary or all Secondary, pressing either the Primary or Secondary fire input will fire all of them

• increased proc chance of Laser debuff from 10% to 50%, and increased its potency from +100% to +200% Secondary Weapon damage taken
  
• increased refund chance for the Vibrant Acuity talent from 50% to 75%
  
• increased the Armor multiplier from the Fortify Skill from 20% to 50% per level, and made it scale with all enemies within 200 meters instead of 100
  
• reduced the damage scaling for Pilot Skills that use Total Damage Output to bring them closer to weapons (dev note: This affects Superheated, Negate Existence, and Asteroid Barrage. For example, Negate Existence was being used as a pure dps Skill that outpaced any possible weapon combo even without factoring in the Execute bonus. However, I'm continuing to monitor this heavily and will adjust as needed, in particular making sure that all Aptitude Ranks are achievable.)
  
• increased Resource drop rates from Asteroids by 100%
  
• increased Resource drop rates from enemies by 900%
  
• dramatically increased spawn chance of recurring antagonist at higher story campaign completion levels during a given cycle (dev note: leveling your pilot past lv10, equipping Epics/Artifacts, and progressing the story will all increase the chance that this antagonist warps into your mission - as long as you're surrounded by several enemies)

• fixed being unable to click on 'X' button to close the Navigation dialog
  
• fixed display strings for rewards from side missions that would rank up an Aptitude if completed at a higher Challenge Level
  
• fixed weapon damage scaling from the following affixes: power source (e.g., Energy-based vs Ammo-based), specialization (e.g., Phaser vs Launcher), and subspecialization (e.g., Primary vs Secondary) (dev note: this fix represents a buff to weapon damage, in some cases a substantial improvement if you were running many such affixes)
  
• fixed loss of ship and UI control inputs if Navigation dialog was open during a jump sequence
  
• fixed various consistency issues when displaying numerical bonuses from certain Affixes in various contexts, such as weapon type damage bonuses in item tooltips and the Stat Details panel
  
• fixed extra visual fx spawning and not being cleaned up for the ship buff applied by one of the unique Launcher weapons
  
• fixed not being able to Abandon Mission in the Chaos Vortex

Reality Break v1.00.0 hotfix 5 has gone live.

Courtney's notes: More performance fixes along with progression and gameplay blockers are included in this hotfix.

A note about balance: I am continuing to evaluate this with the community. Once the overall landscape reaches a more stable state, I will evaluate whether more sweeping changes are warranted. Thank you for continuing to post balance feedback.

Also, this hotfix reworks the penultimate mission so that players who defeat the recurring antagonist during the first cycle that's possible don't miss critical story exposition that explains much of the game's plot, and so that they don't the final rank for one of the main Story Talents. In addition, this enables the final two mission skips that those players were missing, including by far the largest skip in the launch version of the game.

The launch for Reality Break exceeded my expectations, and I will continue improving the game over the coming weeks and months. Thank you all again for joining me on this journey!

• substantially improved the performance of the game's asteroids, including updating, damaging, and destroying them
  
• improved the performance of spawning impact/hit fx caused by standard attack abilities as well as beam type abilities

• story campaign mission The Reality of the Situation now includes additional exposition dialogue from a separate timeline branch if the player arrives at that mission after having defeated the recurring antagonist during the first cycle that's possible to do; this also makes sure to upgrade the relevant Story Talent to its maximum rank, and unlocks two more mission skips

• show oversized item Ship Class rewrites differently depending on whether the player can afford them, and show "Fighter" as the ship's label in the ship dialog UI header (dev note: this is to increase tutorialization for the Ship Class rewrite feature since it continues to be missed by many players)

• Region Mod Type and Region Mod Value mission rewrites now generate more reasonable values that scale with mission Challenge Level

• fixed Backup Plan item regression alternating its shots instead of firing both simultaneously
  
• fixed Negatron Collider item cooldown reduction bonus not working
  
• fixed homing weapon projectiles not tracking Hazards or Structures, such as Launcher missiles not acquiring lock on Volatile Anomalies and Colossus Pulsers
  
• fixed remaining Analysis time getting stuck at 0 seconds if the analysis was completed via the bonus from the Multiplex Analysis talent
  
• fixed various visual and calculation problems with the Region Mod Type and Region Mod Value mission rewrite
  
• fixed campaign story missions locking their level at 1 for newly-created pilots when other pilots have already completed other timelines for the Reality Stream
  
• fixed Talent Tier 2 bonus to Loot Quality not applying

Reality Break v1.00.0 hotfix 4 has gone live.

Courtney's notes: This hotfix lands with a variety pack of upgrades, including increased projectile combat performance, fixes for a couple of progression blockers, resolution for a few areas of broken balance or outright exploits, improved UX clarity, and other fixes!

Thank you again for posting all the bug reports and feedback - I'm continuing to work through them to address the highest-priority issues, and I will eventually get through them all.

Also, one thing I'd like to address is the player feedback about larger-sized items, such as Warship class items. Those items are not for larger ship types. Take a closer look at a large item's tooltip after you have unlocked Rewriting and you'll discover something powerful you can do with it!

• implemented the first pass at an Auto-Pooling system, currently just for projectiles as well as their launch fx and impact fx, which aims to reduce the performance impact of projectile combat dramatically throughout the game
  
• disabled generic fx spawned unnecessarily by projectile impacts that were critical hits since there's a separate and far more performant system for spawning those
  
• non-Epic Swarmer firing rate has been reduced by 33% because it was way above other Swarmers (its dps has been counterbalanced)
  
• disabled impact fx triggering impact sounds that would follow the object, which was an unnecessary expense
  
• reduced max particle counts on Rakeris boss encounter by 90%
  
• optimized the terrain on the Rakeris encounter map, reducing its memory and render requirements
  
• added support for disabling terrain decals during the Rakeris encounter (dev note: this is currently bound to the HD Clouds setting in the Options dialog until the next batch of localization goes through)

• if the player's ship is destroyed during the story mission "Gathering: The Magic", the protective barrier granted by the mission is now correctly reapplied
  
• restored the Into the Vortex button functionality on a lategame end-of-cycle popup
  
• don't spawn recurring antagonist as early in any given cycle
  
• the crafting NPC no longer becomes inoperable if certain missions are skipped and then the campaign is completed

• the Loot Filter now has three additional toggles that allow items meeting certain criteria to bypass the filter's standard logic (Rarity rewrite, Affix Type rewrite, and Codex set completion) (dev note: this exposes functionality that already existed under the hood and defaulted to on, but that behavior was confusing to many players, so these Loot Filter bypasses now default to off.)

• rebalanced RP multiplier scaling from Expert Goals by bringing it in line with other RP multipliers instead of being wildly out of balance when incorporating the Strive for Excellence and/or Finesse talents
  
• substantially improved the recurring antagonist's loot table

• fixed item loss resulting from dragging an equipped item onto another item in the ship's inventory that was not currently equippable in the source slot
  
• fixed certain rarity rewrites of common weapons resulting in a Selbar weapon
  
• fixed exploit in the Chaos Vortex that allowed for risk-free survival time in the miasma with the Walking With Ancients talent
  
• fixed exploit with repeatedly boosting an Affix Fragment while the Vibrant Formulation subtalent is active
  
• fixed equipped Drones firing too many shots in certain circumstances
  
• fixed gaining phantom Drones above the currently unlocked # of slots when rewriting an equipped Drone's rarity to Epic or higher
  
• fixed certain Expert Goals tracking instances of damage taken by player ship outside of the correct story mission map

Reality Break v1.00.0 hotfix 3 has gone live.

Courtney's notes: This hotfix focuses on some progression blockers, fixes a couple of egregious Talent bugs, and has the first of many performance improvements. In addition, I have included fixes for a couple of issues that are technically in the Balance category but that are substantially affecting players' ability to progress through the campaign and complete it: the recurring antagonist and the final boss fight.

I'm continuing to investigate why certain powerful machines with modern CPUs and latest GPUs are sometimes struggling heavily on certain scenes, when my dev machine (i7 6700K / 16GB / GTX970) and my gaming machine (i7 14700F / 32GB / 4070 TS) both run the game more than playably, except with ridiculous combinations of projectile effects and impacts due to combining things like Hyper Mode, Twin Bolt, Alter Spacetime, and Haste buffs. I don't have any other PCs available to test with at the moment, so I appreciate everyone who emails me additional info to help me track this down for all of you. In addition, Valve sent me Steam Deck dev hardware, which will speed up my optimization work.

Thank you all once again for your patience.

• item tooltip performance: no longer recalculate layout or positioning if nothing has changed, no longer process "show" logic if the element being hovered hasn't changed, don't clean up tweens unnecessarily (such as when no tweens have been started)
  
• items marked for Scrap no longer calculate their comparison delta indicators (dev note: this system will continue to be optimized over time)
  
• added caching for logic that validates keys used for display string translation lookup
  
• set up object pooling for additional visual effects

• fixed many instances of mission objectives being skipped or mission objectives disappearing after exiting to the main menu, quitting the game, or warping to a different region than intended. This fixes issues such as the third mission losing its "jump to Station 6" objective if a side mission was begun instead.
  
• fixed the first story mission skipping some of its objectives after breaking a profile and restarting the game
  
• the rescue target for the story campaign mission "Rewrite the Scientific Method" now has 99.9% damage reduction, 10x the shields, and 2x the shield recharge rate so that they are more durable and don't interrupt the flow of the story campaign
  
• opponents in the game's final fight have been significantly retuned: dodge chance reduced by 50%, shields reduced by 50%, shield recharge rate reduced by 80%, damage reduced by 75%
  
• the recurring antagonist has been significantly retuned: shields reduced by 50%, shield recharge rate reduced by 80%, damage reduced by 90%

• fixed instances where an item's item level could be downgraded in a particular rewrite scenario (dev note: Pulling the Strands freebie item combined with a certain rewrite in mission 3)
  
• fixed various bugs with the Barrage affix: limited its affix value rolls in the same way as Twinbolt, ensured it's quantized, don't allow it to drop as a Unique Modifier Type rewrite option
  
• fixed being able to get above Tier level 100 by refunding subtalents; the game will fix up all profiles on load to have the correct tier levels for the currently purchased talents
  
• fixed tooltip for maxed out subtalents not including the "(no refund)" warning next to the Reset input instruction
  
• fixed loot filter allowing inappropriate items to drop once the bonus has been unlocked for the Fate Core's Rare rewrite tier
  
• fixed scaling bonus for Fate Core Rare rewrite tier not updating correctly if an item's rarity was rewritten to one that qualifies
  
• fixed tutorial not popping up that explains Fate Core Epic tier bonus
  
• fixed certain affixes displaying as 0% if their value was fractional
  
• fixed the logic for the talent A Beautiful Cortex so that it produces reasonable rewrite values
  
• fixed bug that prevented new pilots from seeing Shields and Drone item drops, even if the player had already stabilized the Fate Core

Reality Break v1.00.0 hotfix 2 has gone live.

Courtney's note: Thank you everyone for your copious and detailed feedback! I'm working through all it as fast as I can while, balancing that against time spent working on the game itself. I appreciate your continued patience, and please continue to bear with me - I was not expecting this kind of launch, and it's just me working on this game, so it will take a little bit of time for me to get through everything. I'm prioritizing stability issues and progression blockers for these initial hotfixes, though some regular changes will make their way in if they're very fast, targeted, and low risk. Eventually, these hotfixes will make way for regular updates with exciting upgrades to the game. Thank you very much for playing Reality Break!

• fixed instability arising from applying the Timespace Cache talent bonus on the Fate Core item, or on any Mission item

• fixed a story campaign progression soft lock with a certain story mission encounter in the Chaos Vortex not keeping the player's ship immortal for long enough, causing it to blow up before continuing to the endless spawning portion
  
• added on-load fixup for profile saves that have gotten into a bad state with the story campaign on mission objectives waiting for the Fate Core to be analyzed, and the Analyze button not being interactable. This fixes the Fate Core not being analyzable during the "Wait for analysis to complete" objective of the "Resonance of Fate" mission, as well as bulletproofs against a similar possibility during the "Analyze the Fate Core again" objective of the "Dormant Colossus" mission
  
• fixed a few ways the game's story campaign could get into a bad state if a mission objective was waiting for the player to dock with a certain station, but the player warped to another station and docked there instead
  
• made the rescue target in Rewrite The Scientific Method invulnerable while stationary so that it doesn't cause mission failures out of players' control
  
• fixed being unable to progress to the final fight except during the first cycle encountering it

• increased the average number of Resource drops you'll see from Common asteroids throughout the game by 100%
  
• reduced the Resource costs of Tech Specialist ship upgrades by 30%-40%
  
• increased Credits gained when selling items to traders by 900%

• fixed photonic storms in luzul cluster damaging your ship after it had initiated slipdrive
  
• fixed the recurring antagonist's ship not processing movement or abilities while too far off-screen
  
• fixed Extraction duplication exploit triggered by picking up the item in the extraction slot before clicking on the Extract button, then putting the item back into the Extraction slot for further extractions
  
• fixed Instigator skill activation
  
• fixed Slipstream Balancers unique bonus functionality

Reality Break v1.00.0 hotfix 1 has gone live (0642)

Courtney's note: I'm working on hotfix 2 right now, with more stability and progression fixes. Thank you very much for your patience as I work through the avalanche XD.

• fixed game getting into a very bad state if the local system calendar was set to any of the following: ThaiBuddhist, UmAlQura, Hijiri
  
• fixed rare crash when hovering the cursor over an equip slot in the ship UI
  
• fixed stability problem that occurred in certain instances of processing nearby loot drops in space for two of the tutorials

• fixed complete progression blocker if you purchased the Quantum Frame Regulator Chassis while ship inventory was full
  
• removed Price from the tutorial chassis to prevent a situation where you didn't have enough credits to purchase it at that step

• fixed input binding for Rewrite functionality not yet being visible in the Rebinding UI when first instructed to rewrite the Fate Core
  
• fixed Codex Set 8 requiring Drone items that are not yet implemented

I have been working on this game for a long time, and it feels rather unbelievable that it is finally out. While I got a small taste of this feeling when I launched the demo in August 2023, nothing can compare to the full release of my dream game, to the knowledge that all of you will be checking it out over the coming days, weeks, months. Thank you to those who have supported me on this journey with encouragement and feedback, and thank you to those who are just joining us now!

Steam's algorithms include some benefits for the # of reviews a game has, so the sooner we can hit various milestones (including at just 10 reviews!), the more successful the game will be. So: please leave a review!


Here's a partial list of what you can expect in the full version compared to the demo:

Find out who the Unknown Voice is, what Jolgen's motives are, what really happened to Station 4, and your pilot's role in the galaxy!
Speed up analyzing items with Multiplex Analysis, a talent that allows you to gain Inspection Points after destroying enemies and completing missions! And, if you find an item you like, preserve it to the next timeline as your Favored Item!
The launch version includes many more elements you can eventually rewrite, such as rewriting Treasure Crates to boost their contents, rewriting the Affix Operator so that it multiplies a stat instead of adding to it, and even certain elements of the story itself!
Deploy the new ""Phasic Aligner"" phaser that grants a Power boost for each version of it equipped on your ship... in any loadout. Then, fire the ""Splinter"" Railgun that flings pieces of deadly shrapnel from enemies it hits for a devastating chain reaction!
The cunning Sage uses the power of Ship Regeneration to turn the tables on adversaries, while the dominating Commander is a master of Drone technology. And, completing ever-higher Challenge Levels unlocks new Aptitude Ranks that grant various boosts and even unique Fate Affixes!
Replacing an item that has an Affix you like? Try to Extract it, then Synthesize it alongside others into an item Chassis!
Survive a continuous onslaught until your Slipdrive comes back online, scan Facilities while dodging RPG projectiles fired by Institute ""Negotiators"", intercept a Convoy loaded down with loot, and more!
Face off against the mysterious Voi'ner with Reconstruction technology capable of bringing their ships back, dodge weapons fire by Rakeris Shrikes that can cloak at will, face off against the massive Nexus Mothership, and take down deadly new bosses while dodging their attacks, such as the Raider Factory's Cutter Lasers!
Unlock Fatestorms to fend off assaults while completing random missions, complete side missions in any order you choose to stack Flow Bonuses that culminate in a highly rewarding Flow Combo, defeat the timeline-spanning Overlord, and complete new Codex Sets - even setting one as a favored set to increase the drops from it!
Even though today's v1.0 launch is a complete experience, I have many plans to expand this game. I am particularly interested in shaping the game based on player feedback, and will devote a large chunk of my post-launch schedule to work on fixes and features that come directly from everyone playing the game!

I love ARPGs for their replayability, and one of the mechanisms for that is encapsulated via a single word: ""endgame"". Reality Break ships with multiple endgame systems, but there is more I want to do. As a solo dev, it will take me some time to expand this aspect of the game while balancing against other important work, but I'm dedicated to making it the best it can be. I plan to focus my work on systems that interact with each other to create new mechanics and new playstyles!

Today at 2pm Central time I will be doing an AMA on the r/Games subreddit! I'm looking forward to answering all kinds of questions about life, the universe, and game development. Come hang out and ask me anything!

In the coming weeks, I will enable public playtesting of upcoming builds of the game via a Steam beta branch. Think of it like the PTRs used by online games: a way for you to check out upcoming changes and offer feedback before they go live!

The best way to give feedback is to email me at [email protected] or to join the official Element Games discord! This is especially helpful if you encounter something that breaks the game for you or prevents progress in some way - go to your %localappdata%low\Element Games\Reality Break folder and email me all of your *.sav and *.log files along with a description of the issue you're experiencing. This will help me fix things much faster.

The game's community has already come up with various ways to mod the game in unexpected + fantastic directions, and I can't wait to see what comes out of that! The discord has a modding channel with various tutorials and tools, but I am very open to implementing suggestions for making the game more moddable over time.

Also, below is a list of patch notes covering many (though not all) of the improvements and fixes I've made to the game since the various demo releases, the vast majority a direct result of player feedback.

On a personal note, I kind of knew a little about what I was signing up for as a solo dev making a Diablo-like, but at the same time, I was clueless. Out of my journey came Reality Break, a spaceship loot-based ARPG that truly I hope you enjoy playing. As I mentioned before, but reiterating since it helps so much: please leave a review after you check out the game! I can't wait to see what you all think of Reality Break.

That's enough from me - much love, and happy breaking! <3
~Courtney


Reality Break full version build v1.00.0 has gone live!

• Substantially sped up various Reality Stream UI functionality.
  
• Substantially sped up Reality Stream save/load.
  
• Slightly reduced performance impact of many dozens of uncollected world drops existing at once.

• Substantially improved Reality Stream legibility.
  
• Further distinguished visuals for main Reality Stream talent UIs that unlock new features.
  
• Changed the player ship icon on the Area Scan’s overlay mode from a dot to the same triangular sprite used in the dialog mode, including rotation, to make it easier to see.
  
• Don't start the Chaos Vortex mission timer until dialogue is done showing.
  
• Treasure crates can no longer spawn inside hazards.
  
• Rewrite entry UI tooltips for Affix Type/Value and Unique Modifier Type/Value now show a description of their affix/stat.
  
• When equipping an item, preserve the ship's previous health/energy/shield fraction.
  
• Moved expert goal completion UI/fx to fixed screen area, improving clarity
  
• When dying due to collision with something, correctly display the name of the collided object in the skull icon hover tooltip on the area scan dialog.
  
• Move Storage dialog to the right while the rewrite dialog is open, rather than closing it.
  
• Item tooltips now appear adjacent to the UI dialog containing the item, such as just outside the ship dialog UI's bounds, rather than overlapping other inventory items or equipment.
  
• Show the reason for player ship's destruction on the Defeated outro/respawn UI.
  
• Don't advance mission elapsed timers while on Defeated screen or if the map isn't currently running for any reason.
  
• The Tech Specialist dialog UI now shows current resource amounts.

• Sped up appearance of Interact instructions.
  
• Improved Interact instruction sound.
  
• Improved hitboxes on Reality Stream Talent UI items.
  
• Made it clearer that the game has an Ironman Mode option.
  
• Map music continues playing through death and respawn to keep up the energy level.
  
• Made portions of the Break Profile flow mandatory, including tutorials that always show up and cannot be skipped.
  
• Added tutorial for Multi-Loot.
  
• Most Points of Interest and other things that can be scanned or approached no longer appear as gray on the Area Scan before they have been completed.

• Reduced physics impulses on player ships by a further 50%.
  
• Shields are now hit before Armor to start with, until the new Guard Inversion talent has been purchased.
  
• Added Fortify skill (CL: one of multiple tools for player-controllable survivability)
  
• Added Recursion skill
  
• Redesigned Aggressive Engagement: it now triggers on secondary weapon kill for +25% crit chance.
  
• Redesigned Surge: it now triggers on Fate Beam kill for +400% energy regen.
  
• Additional Resource types are now required for various purchases in the game, and they can now be obtained from the usual sources of Resources with decreasing drop rate for rarer ones.

• Gave enemies extra targeting range when in combat.
  
• Reworked Gold Plated talent so it adds up to 100% of current Armor at high amounts of Credits.
  
• Removed errant +1 to RP break multiplier based on number of previous breaks.
  
• Mission CL rewrite costs increasing amounts of fate.
  
• Mission CL rewrite is capped at 4 CLs above highest completed.
  
• Reduced the effectiveness of Draw Essence by 90%.
  
• Multishot now has 5 points max.
  
• Dramatically buffed Pillager loot drops.
  
• Reduced baseline item drop rate by 50%.
  
• Toned down out of control Max Energy affix scaling at higher item levels.
  
• The free item received from Pulling the Strands now drops at a higher item level, based on the aggregate Tier level.
  
• Rewriting item rarity now costs less for higher rarities.
  
• Increased Negate Existence cooldown to 25 seconds.
  
• Reduced damage output of Nexus enemy ships.
  
• Dramatically reduced damage output of Colossus Detonators.
  
• Dramatically buffed context-based Affixes, such as damage from weapon power source, specific weapon specialization damage, pilot Skill effect.
  
• Removed the time limit on Investigation side missions.
  
• Increased the time limit on Demolition side missions by 30%.
  
• Fate Beam damage now scales with 20% of your Pilot Level.
  
• Reduced exponent base for completed Expert Goals by 15%.
  
• Reduced exponent base for completed Codex Sets by 25%.
  
• Rebalanced Codex set bonuses slightly.

• fixed difficulty button not showing up on current pilot after buying Omen talent
  
• fixed Fission elites spawned from Ambush Crates subdividing into allies of the player's ship
  
• fixed ClearLatestCompletionOnLoad not working if you just exited to main menu and returned
  
• fixed light color on railgun attacks
  
• fixed various enemy projectiles exiting the plane of gameplay and flying over or under the player's ship
  
• fixed ambiguity when interacting with specialist shipyard or item storage while near both of them
  
• fixed aiming of railguns and other beam weapons when their cast was started in a different targeting direction than when they fired (also demo internal: clear focus targets cached flag too)
  
• fixed beam attack direction becoming detached from player's aim and its fx
  
• fixed skill rewrite fx and audio playing every time the pilot dialog was opened after a skill was rewritten
  
• fixed a bug where some items could load in a Suppressed state and get stuck with nonfunctional affixes
  
• Fixed propulsion abilities not canceling when player input is suppressed or when speech bubble shows up
  
• fixed rewriting Unique Modifier Type not updating its display in a matching Unique Modifier Value rewrite
  
• fixed wrong interactions between Unique Modifier Type and Unique Modifier Value rewrites on the same item
  
• fixed tutorial flow getting stuck in a loop in cases where it was flagged to hide on a completed NPE step
  
• fixed being unable to click Codex dialog’s close button
  
• fixed input display icons not always working on international keyboard layouts
  
• fixed interact instructions not updating their input displays when interact binding was updated
  
• fixed area scan instruction input showing {0} the first time
  
• Fixed inline input text replacement not respecting QWERTZ
  
• Fixed input icon replacement not respecting QWERTZ
  
• Fixed Windows and Enter keys not working with input icon replacement
  
• Fixed bindings not refreshing if the system keyboard layout was changed while they were hidden
  
• fixes for overlord continuing its escape cast across death+restarts
  
• fixed front end metagame button label with specific # of RP getting overwritten by translated text
  
• fixed reflect/deflect mechanics not preventing projectile damage when the projectile was redirected
  
• fixed player ship no longer appearing on nav map after completing a mission and before jumping to another sector
  
• fixed item rewrites for affix value and affix type not being updated when an item was granted as a mission reward at a higher challenge level
  
• fixed various affix stats getting a double boost from being higher level (their value was increased by both the item's level and the Core Multiplier, which comes from item level)
  
• fixed Dormant Punisher not matching the rotation of the debris field it spawns from
  
• fixed Envelop fx not working correctly on repeated casts
  
• fixed Envelop not disappearing smoothly when its time was almost up
  
• fixed long pilot names overflowing their pilot dialog UI label
  
• fixed ship center HUD propulsion icon being at half opacity
  
• fixed item tooltip UI not always showing alt compare instruction when hovering a drone equipment item
  
• fixed Affix Type rewrite using previous entry's value to calculate conversion multiplier rather than the parent entry’s value, as it should be for multiple-choice rewrites
  
• fixed various inconsistencies in how affix values were displayed in the ship dialog and its stat details panel
  
• fixed a variety of issues with Ironman Mode deaths not "taking" and with pilots being Extinguished when they shouldn't have been
  
• fixed being able to go into the vortex while player input isn't allowed or the player's ship is dead
  
• fixed Current Sector display for side missions without objectives, such as Elimination
  
• fixed blank icon for Engine Thrust affix type rewrite entry
  
• fixed item loss if the "slot for analysis" input binding was pressed on an item while there was another picked-up item as well as an item slotted into the quantum frame
  
• fixed lack of audiovisual fx when rewriting an item in the stash
  
• fixed erosion of Talent Tier level when refunding Sub-talents that would have put it above 100/100
  
• fixed skill UI sheen overlay getting stuck in various positions if the dialog was closed during the animation
  
• fixed quantized item affixes, such as Twin Bolt, sometimes having fractional components under the hood, which resulted in their summation not working as expected
  
• fixed certain enemy railguns knocking back the player's ship after they'd already fired
  
• fixed epic sensors item Vivisector and epic propulsion item Superhero Launch making various things vulnerable that shouldn't be
  
• fixed resource items showing up dark in ship inventory UI due to recycling and stale non-matching equipment overlay
  
• fixed toggle favorite/scrap sweep not working in Storage UI
  
• fixed Slipdrive input binding working before Slipdrive was repaired
  
• fixed Raider Fighter's projectile attacks sometimes going over/under their targets
  
• fixed Volatile Crates not exploding
  
• fixed some issues that prevented Launcher missiles from homing in on targets correctly
  
• fixed Teleport propulsion ability sometimes lodging the ship in the middle of an object
  
• fixed stack overflow leading to a crash when completing a Reality Font point of interest
  
• fixed getting stuck with Mission-type "equipment" items if they were in Storage when a quest needed them
  
• fixed various radar and area scan signatures going gray immediately upon approaching their entity rather than after that entity was completed, such as defeating a Volatile Anomaly
  
• fixed Railguns being classed as Ammo-based instead of the correct Energy-based
  
• fixed Rarity rewrite doubling up the CoreMultiplier increase calculation
  
• fixed Rarity rewrite stat increase from CoreMultiplier bump not updating an item entity's stat cache, resulting in stale values post-rewrite
  
• fixed rewriting Rarity to a Defined Item not upgrading the item's affixes
  
• fixed items rewritten to Rare not generating their 2-part randomized display names
  
• fixed Elimination targets showing massive max health and shields with only partial current health if encountered on higher Omen levels
  
• fixed being able to toggle front end UI dialogs while launching into space
  
• fixed Salvage mission targets that split due to Fission losing the mission's target item

I have officially announced the release date for Reality Break, and... it's soon!! To celebrate this announcement, here's a launch reveal trailer. I hope you enjoy :)

<3

~Courtney

Hi all! Reality Break is in Bullet Heaven Fest 2.0, and I decided to update the Reality Break demo! This is the final demo update before the game's full launch early next year. I promised to include one more feature from the upcoming full version, and I'm pleased to deliver something new for you in this update!

This update includes a sneak peek into the Overlord endgame activity. In the demo version, an ultra-powerful Overlord enemy will now spawn as the target of Excursion missions at Challenge Level 20 or higher. You will have only a limited time to destroy it before it warps away! Be warned: the overlord has a massive health pool and powerful defenses, making it a true challenge to bring down.

In the full version, there's a major twist: The Overlord's current health is preserved across engagements, and even across profile breaks!

If you do manage to defeat the overlord, you will be substantially rewarded. I hope you enjoy this first look!


~Courtney



Patch notes follow:

Reality Break Demo build v0.17.0 has gone live!

Courtney's Dev Notes: This is the final demo update before the full version releases next year, though if any severe issues pop up I will hotfix them. Enjoy!

• Full version sneak peek: Overlord. This is a first look at an endgame activity where you have to destroy an ultra-powerful enemy capital ship. Once engaged, it begins firing up its quantum slipdrive to escape, and summons a variety of enemies to defend it. If you defeat it before it warps out, you get rewarded substantially! In the demo version, the Overlord has a chance to spawn as the target of an Excursion mission. In the full release, it will be available to pursue via its own mission type. What's more, its health will be preserved across engagements and even across profile breaks! However, it will drop better loot if defeated in a single go, making it a true test of both damage and survivability.
  
• Unique Modifier Type rewrites on Epic items now use the same multiple-choice setup as Affix Type rewrites.
  
• Added randomization to items' Core Multipliers for more variation in item drops.
  
• Replaced the default engine sound for the player ship with more subtle audio and tuning.

• The particle effects spawned when anything takes damage are now metered out at a global level, allowing the game to detect when many are being spawned at once and reduce their spawn quantity. This improves performance substantially when operating at high levels of Haste, Twin Bolt, and various projectile/beam split effects, as well as against high enemy densities.
  
• Reduced the max loot drop spawns from 5 per update to 1 per update, improving performance when many ships are destroyed on the same update and generate large amounts of loot simultaneously.
  
• Don't update the ship dialog while it's not visible.

• Improved the clarity of gameplay and reduced the impression of "visual clutter" across the board: (unit layer highlighting, reduced bg lighting, bg objects farther away, bg effects dimmer, destruction debris darker, lower bloom, smaller flares, lower exposure on skyboxes, dimmer stars.)
  
• When a side mission is completed at a rewritten Challenge Level, all other side missions have their rewrite dropdowns set to that same Challenge Level.
  
• Toggle Favorite/Scrap now locks itself to enable/disable based on the first item toggled. (Courtney's note: this lets you sweep the cursor across multiple items to batch enable or disable Favorite/Scrap based on what happened to the first item in the sequence, rather than a per-item toggle like before.)
  
• Increased the width of the visual tell for the Restored Punisher's Overload Blast ability.
  
• Decryption Key items now despawn when any other copy is looted.
  
• Reduced the game's baseline audio volume.
  
• Affixes that contribute to delta comparison tooltip rollups are now prefaced with an empty bullet point to distinguish them from the filled bullet point used for affixes that don't.

• Reduced the damage of the Restored Punisher's Overload Blast attack by 96%.

• fixed loss of input control after opening nav map while jumping to a mission
  
• fixed Epic Sensors item "The Scrambler"'s Virus debuff applying to the player's ship
  
• fixed "skill points available" attention grabber showing even if all skills are maxed
  
• fixed enemies staying on the area scan after they're destroyed
  
• fixed inconsistencies/inaccuracies in area scan uncertainty radius indicators for points of interests that haven't yet been approached
  
• fixed Demolition side missions sometimes marking Colossus Pulsers as their mission target
  
• fixed issue where entities with colliders that prevent damage (such as the Colossus Reactor's armored rings) were still taking damage from certain collisions
  
• fixed various UIs mistakenly continuing to display the pilot's class
  
• fixed "skill points available" attention grabber showing even if all skills are maxed
  
• fixed "on cooldown" flyouts showing in wrong positions for attempted activations of propulsion and ship regeneration
  
• fixed being able to open various dialogs while camera was fully faded out
  
• fixed Chaos Vortex spawning ships the player hasn't seen yet
  
• fixed physics impulses against elites not propagating to their destroyed fx, and lowered impulse strength across the board
  
• fixed not all parts of various numeric dropdowns being clickable, such as for mission challenge level and screen resolution
  
• fixed equipment on clone spawned via the Through The Looking Glass skill not inheriting the source equipment's unique modifiers
  
• fixed certain mission rewards not upgrading correctly or at all with Challenge Level
  
• fixed mission rewards not displaying correctly if upgraded due to increased Challenge Level
  
• improved scrollbar positioning in numeric dropdowns
  
• fixed a bug that made the player ship engine sound play too loudly