The first update launched today!
Here is a detailed account of everything that’s new.

New Team Member: Jonathan Palen!

Jonathan started emailing detailed bug reports shortly after the game launched.
There is a word for this in Game Development: Quality Assurance!

With nearly 100 bugs filed, you can thank him for a ton of things that DON’T happen anymore, because he found them. 😀

Guest Team Member: Dana Nelson

Did you know that Endless Mode has 125 unique levels of possible enemy configurations?

Dana helped tackle the meaty design task of designing the difficulty ramp for Endless Mode, and will be monitoring what levels you poor humans die on the most.

She also created most new level layouts. Enjoy the Death Cube!

New Feature: Endless Mode

Endless Mode asks a simple question: How far can you get?
There are 5 Difficulty Tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Titanium

The preview post goes into more detail of how it works.

New Feature: Jetpack!!!

In addition to going fast, the jetpack lets you cut enemies while flying forward.
If you’re fast enough it lets you pull off some crazy maneuvers!

New Enemy: Jetpack Bots

The most dangerous enemy in the game is without a doubt the Mark 2 Jetpack Bot.
These Bad Bots appear in the Titanium tier, and will suddenly END YOU when you least expect it.

Their Mark 1 counterpart appears in the Gold tier.

New Enemy: Spider-tron 6000

Bigger, deadlier, harder to kill.
Expect to get knocked into some saw blades!

Spider-Tron 6000 appears in the Diamond Tier.

Double the word count!!

Commentatron and Analysis-Bot have much to say about Endless Mode.
So much in fact, that the amount of dialogue MORE THAN DOUBLED in this update with 4353 new words!

Fun facts:

• Most common word: human, said 291 times.
• Longest word: titaniuuuuuuuuum with 16 characters.

Smaller changes

Here are a ton of smaller things that also got changed:

• 1 of 5 humans got removed from Story Mode. It now ends when you beat the first 10 levels.
• Social buttons now appears on the title screen. Follow me on twitter! 😛
• Power Kick upgrades got removed – They weren’t actually that helpful.
• Spider Bomb Shrapnel does not fly as far. It should only hit you if you’re right next to a bomb.
• New Version Display – The game will now tell you when a new version is available!
• Clones limited to 5 – This is to make the Titanium difficulty more challenging for insane people who somehow got to that difficulty level.
• Error Handling Improved – In the unlikely event that you experience an error, the game will ask you to quit. This is to prevent save data from being corrupted.
• Save Data Auto-Repair – It is very rare, but in case your save data gets corrupted, the game will automatically reset it. Also stores a rolling backup version to minimize the impact of this happening.
• Feedback Form Updated – If you have feedback, there’s now a new form for that.
• Separate Commentator Volume – You can now adjust the volume of the commentators. Useful if you’re making youtube videos and want to be the one talking.
• Return to Title Screen from ESC Menu – Can you believe I shipped without that? I totally did.

63 Bugs Fixed!

I won’t list them all here, but some highlights:

• You can no longer jump through walls.
• Enemies don’t kick each other over anymore
• You can’t break the game by pushing your clone into the elevator.

This was a crunch build

On a personal note, this build was made while working 12 hour days and not relaxing during the weekend. Next update I’ll slow down a bit, to make sure you guys get more than two updates. 🙂 I’m looking forward to working on this game for a long time to come!

If you have thoughts on the new build, go tell everyone in the forum!
Don’t own the game yet? Go buy it!

The first major update is about to drop. 😀
I’m working like a madman to get as many awesome things into it as possible, but it’s now far enough along that I can share what some of those things are!

Endless Mode

Are you tired of playing the same 10 levels?
Endless Mode is here to help!

• No escape! In this mode there is no escape from the arena. You fight until you die.
• High Scores: How far can you get? Hopefully further than last time!
• Randomized Levels: To increase replayability, the levels you’re presented with are randomized each run.
• Escalating Difficulty! After you win a certain amount you move on to the next difficulty tier. If you think the game is a bit too easy right now, say hello to the Titanium Tier. >:)

Updated Robot Art!

Did you notice that archers look exactly like swordsmen in the current build?
That changes in 0.2!

Spidertron 6000!!!!

Spidertron 6000 is a superior model.
It is unlikely that any human will manage to defeat it.

A new challenger appears!

A new sword robot is in the works.
Outside of the Mark 1-3 chain, this one focuses heavily on speed and unpredictable movement.

Bugs bugs bugs

A lot of bugs will be fixed for next update!
Many are already fixed, and the whole last week before the update is dedicated to stabilizing the build.

Thank you for playing!

I never imagined such a tremendous response from launching the alpha on itch.io!
It is every developer’s dream to watch people play their game and not find it terrible. 😀

The success of the alpha launch means that I’ll be working on this game for a long time to come.

As mentioned at the top, the next update launches on Oct 28.

The Open Alpha just launched, and you might be wondering what happens next.
Here are some of the things hovering near the top of the priority queue.

Responding to feedback & bugs

A large part of the next update will be to fix things that aren’t working for people.

If you find something wrong or run into technical issues, let me know!
The game also has a nice itch.io forum you can use.

New Enemy types & Levels!

More challenges are coming!
While there may be updates that are largely about support systems around the game, I’ll do my best to inject fresh challenges each time for experienced players.

One major area to explore is non-humanoid enemies.
Expect this friendly dog to show up soon:

Kicks overhaul!

Kicking is an awesome ability. Knock people over in order to stab them. Kick them into sawblades! The fun-potential for kicks is vast.

However, play testing has revealed that the current version is very difficult to use.
An easy-to-use overhaul is coming!

Kicks in sword fighting are generally not recommended.
Lucky for you, Clone Drone in the Danger Zone allows you to continue fighting if your leg gets cut off!

Twitch Mode!

While the fast pace of Clone Drone in the Danger Zone does not lend itself well to a twitch-plays style integration, the arena format could be a natural fit for letting viewers interact more deeply with the person streaming.

In 2016 getting a twitch chat to show up in the game is very straightforward.
Expect some interesting experiments! 🙂

Story Progression

Much work remains to be done on the story progression of the game.
This is perhaps one of the aspects of the game where being in alpha is most keenly felt.

I’ll slowly build it out, but custom content tends to take a lot of time, so other features with a higher impact might take priority.

Clone Drone in the Danger Zone is now available on itch.io!

This is a really exciting step!
The game is going to see vast changes over the coming months, with lots of exciting content still to be added.

Be a part of the vanguard and play the game before it becomes cool! 😀
Your feedback will be heard loudly and shape the experience to be the best it can possibly be.

Greetings human!

Clone Drone in the Danger Zone is a wonderful competition in which you’ll soon take part!
We look forward to seeing you fight to the death in your shiny new robot body.

We are gearing up to provide you with a First Access experience.

In the meantime, look at this happy robot:

Soon this could be YOU!