Null Vector is officially released!

Update 5 is also live, which brings with it a bunch of new content, some balance changes, as well as polish, new features, and bug fixes.

Mini-bosses have now been added, denoted by "{B}" on their teleporters. 2 of these new rooms will spawn per run, each containing 1 of 3 unique mini-bosses. Completing these rooms is difficult, but has the potential to drop high level ship parts and other loot as a reward.

A new challenge room type, Hold the Zone, has been added to the existing two challenge room types. It's a fun, king of the hill style mode that adds some nice variety to the challenge rooms.

This update also includes 7 new unlockable Modifiers, the new "Mortar Bot" ship part, and 2 new machines. The high score menu has also been updated and now allows you to view stats such as kills and active modifiers for newly achieved high scores. The full change log can be found below.

As a side note, we've also created a brand new trailer to celebrate the launch - you can view it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TU-d-z-kTc

Above all else, I'm delighted to say, we finally got there! It's been an incredible 16 months of development, with many ups, a few downs, and lots of great responses from the community. I want to again thank everyone who participated during Null Vector's Early Access. Your feedback was amazing and has shaped Null Vector into something I'm very proud to finally release. Also want to give a special thank you to Adam Alake for the amazing music, sound effects, and trailers. You did a fantastic job, Null Vector wouldn't be the same without you.

Thank you and enjoy!
- Alex (Optical Override)

Changelog:

• New mini-boss rooms with 3 unique mini-bosses.
  
• New challenge room type, "Hold the Zone".
  
• Mortar Bot ship part.
  
• Crusher machine.
  
• Auto-Welder machine.
  
• 7 new difficulty modifiers.
  
• 2 new room obstacle configurations.

• Loot: HP spawn rates in both 1 and 2 wave-type rooms reduced 15%.
  
• Loot: Crystals spawn rates on wave-type room completion lowered from one Crystal "guaranteed" every 2 rooms, to one every 3 rooms.
  
• Modifiers: Iron Boss now also adds 25% HP to mini-bosses as well as the final boss.
  
• Parts: Laser max upgrade changed to 1 (part can't be upgraded, find additional parts to stack laser property and gain accuracy bonus).

• Pause Menu: activated modifiers are now visible as icons at the bottom of the pause menu's main menu.
  
• Visuals: floor now "spawns" and "despawns" when teleporting between rooms (weird side note: the floor sliding between rooms was initially built for VR; it was used to keep the player visually "grounded" to help reduce motion sickness).
  
• Modifiers: 2 renamed: "High Velocity 1" -> "High Velocity", "HP Spawn Rate" -> "Where's the HP?".
  
• Modifiers: modifier icons shown in win screen stats.
  
• Modifiers: any newly unlocked modifiers are now displayed after killing the boss.
  
• Main Menu: scrolling left/right in Scores menu screen now changes the high score table type (removed the strange temporary menu switching using button presses).
  
• High Score: run stats are now saved for high scores and are viewable from the High Scores menu (kills, rooms cleared, sector reached, specific modifiers used).
  
• High Score: default high scores have been added (may push your old, lower scores off the bottom of the table).
  
• 2 Player: darkened the color of enemies targeting player 2.
  
• Polish: 2 player sector complete upgrade screen visually updated, added audio as well.
  
• Polish: pressing "Cancel" closes the map as well as pressing the map button (B button on Xbox controller, Q button on keyboard).
  
• Polish: Upgrade machine menu replaces Cost: xC with "Max Upgrade Limit" when part can't be upgraded (noticed a few players get confused here).

• Fixed Nanobots spawn probability persisting after dropping all Nanobots parts.
  
• Fixed Weapon stat menu for Multi-Shot (showed x/3, now correctly shows x/4 as there are 3 additional levels of Multi-Shot from the starting weapon).
  
• Fixed a rare bug where the player could inflict damage after getting killed which could have strange effects on the game state.
  
• Fixed a bug where you could pause while a machine's menu was active (could create strange, game-breaking scenarios with some machines).
  
• Fixed a "bug" where completing either a Collect or Hold the Zone challenge room in Sector 6 by killing all enemies could crash if the last burst of enemies contained a level 4 follower enemy.
  
• Fixed a bug in 2 player collect rooms on Sector 6 where killing splitter enemies caused multiple new enemies to spawn.

After starting work on Null Vector in January of 2017 and developing the game for 16 months, I’m excited to announce the full game will be releasing on May 3, 2018.

First, I want to thank everyone who has played the game over the last 8 months since its release into Early Access. I also want to give a special thank you to everyone that has also been involved in the discussion boards. Your helpful feedback in the community has been more than I could have asked for and it has truly shaped Null Vector into something better than I could have imagined. Thank you!


Also, a new trailer (with a cool custom soundtrack by Adam Alake) has been created to show off some bits of new content that will be released with the next update on launch day. You can expect some new room types, new machines, and new enemies among other content additions and balance changes.

Thanks and I’ll see you all on release day!
- Alex (Optical Override)

Update 4.1 is just a small update/patch to polish up Update 4. There's no significant new content in this update (that's for Update 5!).

This mini-update includes a bunch of fixes and balancing to audio, added a short tutorial to get new players into the game quicker, and updated music for Sectors 1-3 in Standard mode.

The mini-update also includes 1 balance change to Hell Mode (thanks, Osiluss!) as well as some minor bug fixes and visual polish.

As you may have noticed, Null Vector finally has a price tag. Nothing will change for everyone who downloaded the game during the free period, you can continue to enjoy Null Vector like before. I also want to thank everyone who downloaded the game during the free period, your feedback in the community pages has helped shape Null Vector immensely.

Thank you!
- Alex (@OpticalOverride)


Full Change Log:

Content:
- New intro tutorial (only plays once, it should take players who already know how to play less than 30 seconds all together)
- teaches movement, shooting, machines/menus, teleporters and ship parts
- Updated music tracks for Sectors 1-3 in Standard mode

Balance:
- Enemy: added a small delay to the cross lasers for the chasing enemies in Sectors 3 and 4 in Hell Mode

Additional Changes:
- Audio: volumes adjusted for about a dozen sounds in game and a handful of sound files
- Audio: default audio levels changed (Music = 80%, SFX = 70%). You may have to readjust your desired sound levels
- Audio: increment/decrement adjustment granularity of Music/SFX volume levels in pause menu increased from 10% to 5%
- Audio: music duck volume threshold reduced from -30 db to -22 db (music was ducking the SFX too much, especially in the new Hell Mode)
- Audio: new, shorter stinger for Hell Mode (main menu -> Hell Mode)
- Misc: new transition into Hell Mode for the new stinger
- Misc: chest polish: text that appears when in interact range, can't push it around anymore (your ship flies over it now), and explosion VFX/SFX

Bug Fixes:
- popups no longer "pause" when the game is paused, cluttering up the pause menu (they'll fade away normally)
- follower 2 and follower 3 after-death effects no longer occur in Hell Mode when destroyed by an allied Bot

Update 4 adds a new, much more difficult game mode called Hell Mode.

The mode changes all enemies (including the boss) to make them significantly more deadly and includes 7 new music tracks by Adam Alake. The new mode is unlocked after all 5 of the current Modifiers have been unlocked (but not necessarily enabled). This mode is the way I always envisioned Null Vector. It's hard, and with all of the current modifiers enabled it absolutely kicks my ass... Which is awesome.

There have also been a few balance tweaks to the weapons. The biggest change is Rockets now explode once per level when combined with Piercing or Ricochet. This means Rocket + (Ricochet or Pierce) explodes once, and then the projectile converts back into a standard bullet. Upgrading Rocket to Rocket II would explode on both the first impact as well as the final impact. This reduces the previous OP nature of the Rocket part and gives reason to upgrade rockets past level 1.

Finally, there's been a handful of minor balance tweaks to most loot tables (too small and too many to mention on the change log) as well as a few handfuls of polish tweaks to audio, the menus, and game play. Check the full change log below for more info.

Hope you enjoy the new update! Get in touch on the discussion boards and let me know what you think!

Also special thanks to everyone who has already contributed on the discussion board: Osiluss, d e a t h, plaguetonic themes, Recruit™, to name a few for the great feedback and suggestions!

Enjoy!
- Alex (Optical Override)

And if you want earlier updates on development or just hear me talk about stuff, you can follow me on Twitter @OpticalOverride


Full Change Log:

Content:
- Hell Mode: similar to the standard mode, but all enemies and the boss have been rebuilt and/or rebalanced to make them significantly harder
- All new music by Adam Alake for Hell Mode (7 new tracks)
- New high score tables for both 1 and 2 player Hell Mode
- New main menu intro

Balance:
- Weapon property: Rocket level now corresponds to the number of times a projectile can explode (ex: Rocket + Ricochet now results in only 1 explosion on first impact, Rocket II + Ricochet results in 2 explosions)
- Parts: Damage max level per part is 1 (part no longer upgradeable, must find additional parts to upgrade)
- Parts: Rocket max level per part is 2
- Parts: Ricochet max level per part is 1 (part no longer upgradeable, must find additional parts to upgrade)
- Parts: enemies killed by Bots don't produce any projectiles on death
- Parts: Laser Bot is now much more accurate (it was kind of a bug, but it changes the balance significantly)
- Machines: any machine (not just the Mechanic machine) may or may not spawn in the first room
- Machines: Radar machine can now only "find" a machine that doesn't currently exist on the map (machines that have been used/exploded can have another machine of that type "found")
- Machines: small adjustments to the starting machines table on all sectors (Radars slightly more likely, Converters slightly less likely, etc.)
- Boss: reduced the attack delay between the boss landing and firing

Additional Changes:
- Audio: sound effect for the Roulette machine
- Audio: sound effect when crushing parts
- Audio: sound effect for purchasing items from the Converter and Exchange machines
- Audio: sound effect for Exchange machine re-rolling
- Audio: sound effect for the Radar machine
- Audio: quieter impact and laser sounds for the boss (hell mode and standard)
- Input: Pause button (Escape key on keyboard, Start on controller) on main menu navigates back like the Cancel button (Q key on keyboard, B button on Xbox controller)
- Misc.: 2x score multiplier now pauses when Boss is unable to be attacked
- Misc.: +2 HP pickup now pulses red/white, making it easier to differentiate from a +1 HP pickup
- Misc.: removed Overheat from the Pause->Weapon Stats page (no longer a possible weapon property)
- Misc.: added Pierce level to the Pause->Weapon Stats page
- Misc.: Converter now drops purchased items near the machine rather than the middle of the room
- Misc.: added analytics data collection (just anonymous progression data such as sector completes, score, etc.)

Bug Fixes:
- a rare bug that could produce glitchy results (frozen bullets) when completing a Collect challenge room
- a rare-ish bug that could score enemy kills multiple times (including the boss, resulting in multiple 1,000 point rewards)
- can no longer purchase an item or re-roll as the Exchange machine is still re-rolling

Update 3 adds a local two player co-op mode, better support for 'generic' dual analog controllers, as well as some balance and bug fixes for the single player mode. The full change log is at the bottom of this post.

Overall the most exciting addition in this update is the two player co-op. It's still fairly early in development for this mode, so please let me know in the discussion board what you think! Player 1 controls the standard ship, while player 2 directly controls a helper bot. After completing each sector, player 2 is allowed to upgrade their weapon. Player 2 also has the unique option of using "Abilities", which are recharge-able weapons that can be used while enemies are present. Abilities can be chosen and upgraded after completing a sector.

The Overheat property has been removed in Update 3. In testing the property worked well, but thanks to substantial feedback since Update 2 it's clear that complicating the simple, old-school firing system just isn't fun. Instead, parts that granted Overheat before (Homing Shot and Multi-Shot) visually pulse red and white and reduce the player's max HP by 1 upon pickup. I think this does a much better job of balancing these two powerful parts without complicating the simple and fun firing mechanics. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

The Radar machine now simply shows 1 hidden machine in the sector for 2 crystals and Nanobots are now a much more effective option against the final boss.

I've also implemented a new input system that should allow better controller support for almost any controller with dual analog sticks.

Enjoy the update!
- Alex (Optical Override)


Full Change Log:

Content:
- 2 Player mode added (local co-op game mode)
- 2 Player high score table (press Interact key when viewing the Scores in the main menu to toggle viewing 1P/2P scores)
- Some parts remove Max HP upon pickup, shown by parts that pulse red/white (Max HP is regained when dropping the part)

Balance:
- Weapon property: removed Overheat (Homing Shot and Multi-Shot no longer grant Overheat)
- Parts: removed Heat Sink (because Overheat is gone, may come back later)
- Parts: Multi-Shot part now lowers Max HP by 1
- Parts: Multi-Shot also lowers Fire Rate by 1
- Parts: Multi-Shot part no longer upgradeable at the Upgrade machine (have to find another part to upgrade)
- Parts: Homing Shot part now lowers Max HP by 1 (same as Multi-Shot)
- Parts: Homing Shot now only lowers Fire Rate by 1 (instead of 2)
- Parts: Homing Shot part no longer upgradeable at the Upgrade machine (have to find another part to upgrade)
- Parts: Nanobots now have a small chance to spawn when hitting an enemy (not just by killing them)
- Parts: Nanobots can attack the boss
- Parts: Nanobots also have a slightly lower chance of spawning upon killing an enemy
- Machines: Radar machine now just reveals a new, "hidden" machine in the sector (costs 2 crystals)
- Machines: Radar machine no longer guaranteed to spawn after Sector 1 (chance of spawning in any sector)

Additional Changes:
- indirect support for generic, "dual analog" controllers through Rewired v1.1.7.8 (Steam Controller not directly supported at this time)
- the collectibles in the "Collect" challenge rooms now pulse in size, hopefully making them visually more obvious

Bug Fixes:
- pickups (like crystals and HP) will now reset their position to the center of the room if they get "stuck" on top of obstacles
- the enemies that split from the splitting followers in sector 6 won't persist after completing a collect challenge room

Update 2 is a major update that includes a new sector (complete with 4 new enemies and a new music track), new parts, a new weapon property, a new Challenge room type, a new machine and lots more.

This update also brings with it major changes to the general balance and therefore, likely the "feel" of the game as well. I ask that you please give the new balance a chance, however if something feels off or not fun, don't be afraid to voice your opinion in the discussion board. I'd love to hear from you!

One interesting addition is the new "Weapon" menu (while in-game, select Weapon from the pause menu). It displays the current properties of your weapon such as damage, fire rate, overheat level, etc. and can be really helpful when making decisions about parts.

I'm also excited about the new Upgrade machine. It works much like the Mechanic machine but allows 1 part to be upgraded (+1 level). This machine changes the strategy around which parts should be carried (to be upgraded later) or made permanent by the Mechanic machine. Be aware that some parts have a max upgrade limit, per part.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Enjoy the update!
- Alex (Optical Override)


Full change log:

Content:
- new Sector
- 4 new enemies (in the new Sector and Boss waves)
- new music for the sector
- new Challenge room type, "Collect" room
- new machine: Upgrade Machine - like the Mechanic machine, but allows 1 part to be upgraded (+1 level)
- new weapon property: Overheat - temporarily lowers fire rate after prolonged firing, lowers damage on each shot fired after fully overheated (now granted with Multi-Shot and Homing Shot)
- new part: Heat Sink - counter-acts the new Overheat property (-1 Overheat). Can be used to grant negative Overheat to allow for short, charged bursts of fire
- new part: Nanobots - grants the possibility of enemies killed by the player to spawn a swarm of killer nanobots

Balance:
- Parts: Multi-Shot II removed from loot tables (can be aquired by upgrading a Multi-Shot part)
- Parts: Mutli-Shot drop less likely
- Parts: Multi-Shot now grants +2 Overheat
- Parts: Homing Shot now grants +1 Overheat
- Parts: Laser II (and above) no longer adds piercing shot (multiple lasers add more accuracy)
- Parts: Laser II drop removed from loot tables
- Parts: Accuracy added back in (grants +2 accuracy per level, rather than +1 like before)
- Parts: Shield guaranteed spawn rate decreases faster after each spawn (slightly less Shields likely per run, hint: upgrade them!)
- Parts: Both Laser Bot and Rocket Bots now have level 2 versions (like the Helper Bot)
- Machines: Converter machine spawn slightly more likely
- Machines: Roulette machine loot table adjusted - parts slightly more likely, HP slightly less likely
- Loot: ship part loot tables overhauled, too many changes to mention individually. should provide better choices in the loot rooms and a more balanced experience
- Loot: crystal drop now guaranteed every 2 rooms (could spawn more often)
- Loot: Max HP drop in Challenge rooms slightly less likely
- Loot: small chance of part drop in 2 wave rooms removed

Additional Changes:
- Radar machine can now be used twice - first use shows sector info, second reveals 1 hidden machine in the sector
- can now see your ship's current weapon properties by pausing the game and going to "Weapon" (green or red text means property is above or below soft limit range, respectively)
- Machine menus still opened/closed by moving towards/away from the machine, but can now also be opened/closed using the interact/cancel buttons as well
- Pause menu Cancel button navigation added (Q on keyboard, B on Xbox controllers)

Bug Fixes:
- Mechanic machine menu now displays the correct number of parts when using the "Max Parts" modifier
- Charger enemy should get stuck on walls significantly less often, if at all
- Teleporting enemies (Teleporter and Wandering level 2) should teleport into the player less often (makes several attempts to find an open location away from the player)
- Machine menus and wave text will now close when the Pause/Game Over menus appear
- fixed small, flickering, visual artifact that would occasionally appear on the player's bullet shadows

Update 1 is the first "real" update for Null Vector. It contains some new parts, a new room type, a lot of balance changes (including changes to scoring, machines, and various loot tables), support for the PS4 controller, and difficulty "Modifiers". The full change list is at the bottom of this post.

Modifiers are an optional way of altering the rules and difficulty of the game. Once unlocked and enabled, modifiers will not only make the game more challenging, but give a bonus score percentage. This gives the potential for much higher scores, but at the cost of added challenges. You can access the Modifiers menu from the main menu.

I hope everyone is enjoying the game so far. A lot of your suggestions from the discussion boards made it into the update, either directly (Rocket starting AoE, Exchange machine, loot room duplicates) or indirectly (more consistent Shield part drops, score on damage). Please let me know in the discussion board what you think or if you have any suggestions on the update!

Enjoy!
- Alex (Optical Override)


Full change log:

Content:
- new "Challenge" room type (optional, high risk/high reward room)
- Modifiers that change the difficulty/rules of the game when enabled. Unlocked by beating the game in various ways. (5 modifiers)
- 2 new room obstacle configurations
- new part added: "Piercing"
- new part added: "Laser Bot"
- new part added: "Rocket Bot"

Balance:
- Parts: Accuracy part removed, Laser now increases accuracy
- Parts: Shield II removed (too OP for current difficulty, may return later)
- Parts: Shield will spawn more consistently (based on an increasing probability and guaranteed every N drops, where N gradually increases after each drop)
- Parts: Rocket area of effect starts larger (but increases slower with each Rocket part than before)
- Parts: Multi-Shot II drop rate slightly reduced
- Parts: Helper Bot I and II minor rebalancing (bullet and behavior)
- Scoring: each unit of damage done to an enemy now adds 1 point (including units of damage beyond the enemy's max HP)
- Machines: Converter now has a limited number of uses before self destruct (3)
- Machines: Exchange loot tables fixed (should produce more interesting deals and no more "1 HP for 2 HP")
- Loot: the treasure room (AKA the item room/store/loot room) now produces 2 unique items
- Loot: MaxHP slightly more likely
- Loot: MaxHP+2 removed, HP+2 less likely
- Loot: loot tables changed for Chests (slightly less loot likely)
- Loot: probability for crystal drop on room complete 50% less for rooms with 2 and 3 waves
- Enemy: Transporter collider stays active but shrinks in size while moving
- Enemy: Saucer slightly faster ascent/descent and movement speed
- Boss: limited the number of enemy waves that spawn during the 3rd pattern

Bugs:
- possible fix for extended black screen between the Optical Override splash and the main menu (let me know through the discussion boards or by email if this doesn't help, I'll make a patch)
- powerups no longer spawn outside the map
- player can no longer get stuck if a machine spawns on them (by killing last enemy while in upper right corner)
- Rocket can now hit things in the air (when using Homing Shot for example)
- the rotating lasers in the boss' 3rd attack pattern are now frame rate independent

Additional Changes:
- PS4 controller is now supported
- changed the player ship damage sound effects
- can now bypass the count-up displayed on Game Over and final screen by pressing interact
- Rocket's "flash" of white effect shortened (could easily blind yourself with multiple Rocket projectiles)
- limited the number of frames slow time can last when hitting an enemy (to exaggerate player bullet impact) to avoid what seemed like FPS drop
- small delay added before machines allow interact input (to stop accidental interactions before the menu fully appeared)
- added "Press [Interact] to Start" on first run of main menu (to avoid confusion on how to interact with menu)

First I just want to thank everyone who has played the game, the response has been amazing. Also, a special thank you to everyone who has been contributing in the discussion boards; so many great ideas have already been shared.

Patch 1 is a small but necessary update containing some glitch fixes, quality of life additions and a handful of optimizations. Look below for a full change log.

I know everyone is excited to get extra content to play with (me too!). The next update (Update 1) will be the one that contains added content, so stay tuned!

Thank you!
- Alex (OpticalOverride)


Full Change log:
- fixed a glitch where the player could die while completing a room and stay alive (glitched game over screen)
- quick fix for a glitch where the Transporter enemy would get stuck in an invincible state for longer than intended
- shortened the arcade cabinet intro after first play
- saves the last initials used for high score
- saves music/sound effects levels after quitting
- added 3 Quality Levels (High/Medium/Low)
- minimum specs updated (for Low Quality level)
- the following optimizations on the CPU and GPU (all quality levels):
- reduced some draw calls per frame (CPU)
- removed a post processing effect (GPU)

After a lot of work, Null Vector is finally out on Early Access and ready to be played!

Be aware, while the game is Free to Play for now, the price will certainly change either during Early Access or upon full release. Be sure to let your friends know to download now so they can get it for free!

And finally, please let me know what you think. There's a lot more content, features and balance I would like to add, but more importantly I want to hear what you want. What are your favorite and least favorite parts of the game? What features would you like to see?

Have fun!
- Alex (Optical Override)