Major Update: Achievements, Weapon, Enemy, Hazard Systems & Soundscape

Achievements & Meta-Progression

• Steam Achievements: Implemented a complete achievement system with tracking, UI popups, save file persistence, and Steam reporting.

• Stats Persistence: Added offline stats tracking that saves locally and synchronizes with the SteamStatsManager upon connection.

New Content: Weapons, Enemies & Onboarding

• Introductory Scene & Controls: Added a new introductory scene upon boot and integrated a game controls infographic to streamline player onboarding.

• Laser Weapon: Added an instant-hit Laser weapon. Mechanics support multi-beam spread, bounce chaining, size scaling, and per-beam critical hits. Weapon firing and item pickups now record directly to the stats manager.

• Snake Totem: Added a stationary enemy unit that charges venom attacks and repositions near the player. Sorting anchors were adjusted and projectile spawn points were moved to the top of the sprite.

Combat & AI Adjustments

• Goo Hazards: The Bird Flu Chicken now spawns Goo puddle hazards during specific attack frames. These deal foot-specific damage and pulse before despawning.

• AI Optimization: Added catch-up logic to relocate distant enemies and implemented visual indicators for enemies occluded by obstacles. Modified enemy orientation logic to continuously face the player.

• Collision & Projectiles: Implemented CircleCast obstacle detection for projectiles and added safety delays to prevent spawn-kills. Added static Rigidbody2D components to background obstacles to process trigger events.

• Player Mechanics: Enabled the visual dash cooldown bar and updated the PlayerController to apply armor calculations during damage events.

• Encounter Rebalancing: Modified CombatNodes spawn timings, intervals, and reduced the burst count from 50 to 30. Rebalanced weapon parameters including cooldowns, projectile durations, and scaling.

Soundscape & UI Refinements

• Soundscape Updates: Overhauled the audio experience with a large integration of new Foley and combat sound effects. Updated audio mappings in Sounds.json, throttled the frequency of player dash and hit audio, and configured the BootLoader to initialize gameplay music automatically.

• Interface: Rebuilt the Compendium stats panel using dynamic vertical layout groups. Increased the size of Route Map UI icons and rows. Added input blockers to prevent gameplay stick and D-pad inputs from registering during UI menu navigation.

• Script Modernization: Replaced FindObjectOfType with FindFirstObjectByType across runtime scripts.

Phase 1 Complete: Steam Cloud & Multi-Slot Saves

Phase 1 Complete: Market Expansion

We have reached the end of Phase 1 on our roadmap. This update bridges the gap between hardware and accessibility, ensuring your progress is safe, portable, and available across multiple platforms.

Steam Cloud & Multi-Profile Saves

• Cloud Sync: Introduced SteamCloudManager to handle seamless cross-device synchronization and conflict resolution.

• Save Profiles: You can now manage multiple distinct save slots. This includes legacy save migration and the ability to switch profiles without affecting other data.

• Session Tracking: Added playtime and lastUpdated timestamps to metadata for better save management.

Linux & Hardware Support

• Native Linux Build: Native support is now enabled, ensuring optimal performance for Linux users.

• Steamworks Enabled: The platform-specific guards have been lifted, fully enabling Steamworks features across all supported desktop builds.

Gamepad UI & Quality of Life

• Dynamic Hints: UI elements like the Compendium and Outhouse now feature gamepad-aware prompts that update instantly when you switch input devices.

• Save UI Polish: Expanded the SaveProfileUI with larger interaction targets and clear controller icon overlays for easier navigation.

• Game Clock Update: Refined the HUD clock to dynamically switch formats (M:SS vs. SS) for better readability during intense waves.

• Graphics Persistence: The BootLoader now correctly applies your saved graphics preferences immediately upon launch.

Technical Hardening

• Stability: Implemented safer JSON handling, RouteManager guards, and null-checks for the SoundManager to prevent rare crashes.

• Combat Tuning: Updated CombatNodes.json with additional spawn entries for more varied enemy encounters.

What's Next? With Phase 1 finalized, we are officially moving into Phase 2: Shareholder Value, focusing on Steam Achievements, Daily Run Challenges, and Global Leaderboards.

Roadmap Update: Full Controller Support is Here!

The Market Outlook: Controller Support Integrated

The first major pillar of our roadmap is now live. We have completely rebuilt the input handling for Egg-Flation to provide a native, polished experience for gamepad players.

Full Controller & Input Overhaul

• Native Gamepad Support: Added comprehensive detection for Xbox and generic controllers with automatic device-switching.

• UI Navigation Helpers: Introduced GamepadUIHelper and GamepadFocusCoinOverlay to provide clear visual feedback on which button is currently focused.

• Menu Flow: Updated every menu—from the MetaShop and Compendium to the Route Map—with explicit navigation paths and auto-scroll functionality.

• Input Buffering: Added staggering and frame-skips to menu transitions to prevent accidental "stale" button presses.

Gameplay & Data Tuning

• Weapon Update: The egg_mine has been rebranded as the Toxic Egg Mine with updated visuals and descriptions.

• Combat Balancing: Increased projectileSpeed and projectileCount for specific abilities; reduced global hitInvulnerableTime for faster-paced combat.

• Enemy Tweaks: Adjusted base health for elite units and refined spawn intervals to replace "Virus Flocks" with "Chicken Swarms."

• Movement Logic: Improved the PlayerController to suppress mouse cursor movement while a gamepad is active.

UI Polish & Bug Fixes

• Wobble & Scale: Added ButtonWobble and MainMenuButtonFocus effects to all cards and buttons for a more tactile, responsive feel.

• Route Map Navigation: Re-engineered the map to handle D-pad panning and Left-Stick edge detection for easier node selection.

• Experience Bar: Fixed a legacy bug where the XP bar would loop its fill animation on first restore.

• Cursor Management: Improved mouse/keyboard detection to avoid "false positives" on shared axes.

Roadmap Status: With Controller Support finalized, we are turning our attention toward Phase 1's remaining goals: Native macOS/Linux builds and the Multi-Slot Save system.

Upcoming Roadmap: The Market Outlook

Upcoming Roadmap: The Market Outlook

With Egg-Flation now live on Steam, focus is shifting toward expanding the game’s reach and adding new layers of strategic depth. Here is the plan for the next series of updates.

Phase 1: Market Expansion

This phase focuses on accessibility and technical flexibility for all Steam users.

• Full Controller Support: Implementing native gamepad integration to move beyond keyboard and mouse. This is a primary step toward Steam Deck Verification.

• Cross-Platform Support: Developing native builds for macOS and Linux.

• Multi-Slot Saves: Overhauling the save system to support three distinct slots. This allows for shared devices and the ability to test new strategies without losing primary progress.

Phase 2: Shareholder Value

We are integrating deeper competitive and retention systems to reward long-term play.

• Steam Achievements: Mapping major milestones and boss kills directly to your Steam profile.

• Daily Run Challenges: A globally seeded 24-hour fixed route where everyone starts with a standardized base loadout, regardless of permanent upgrades.

• Global Leaderboards: Tracking and ranking top performers for Daily Runs and Endless Mode survival times.

• Endless Mode: Fully implementing logic to allow players to push builds indefinitely after completing a standard run.

• Weapon Evolutions: High-level weapons can now be merged with specific passive items to create advanced, powerful variants.

Phase 3: Bull & Bear

New thematic threats and a more dynamic campaign structure are being introduced.

• New Elite Enemies: Introducing the Bull Market (increases the speed of nearby swarms) and the Bear Market (projects a suppression aura that slows recovery and attacks).

• Market Forecast System: Expanding the route map into a branching campaign featuring mid-wave modifiers and random events like "Flash Crashes" or "Audits."

Phase 4: Quality Assurance

Final polish to ensure gameplay remains fair and visually rewarding.

• Attack Telegraphing: Adding clear visual warning zones to boss abilities to ensure evasion feels skill-based.

• Anti-Camp Measures: Refining the difficulty system to use specific enemy behaviors to displace stationary players.

• Visual Evolution: Adding physical character changes—such as visible armor—that reflect power progression as stats are maximized.

Note on Audio: Work is ongoing to refine the soundscape. Adjustments to the SFX landscape will be rolled out gradually across these phases.