The new beta has many small fixes & improvements.
Of course, just after I shipped it, I made a few fixes right away. One fixes a rare crash bug if someone was just finishing reloading their gun when they died.
Another implements the 'Beacon' crystal. The beacon creates an irresistible glowing sphere that causes nearby enemies to walk towards it and ignore everything else for several seconds. This can be used to create some breathing room during a fight, or to clear an area of guards.
We had a another 'Atomizer' crystal that used to atomize enemy crystals and add their elements to your inventory, but now enemies don't carry crystals, so we changed it to the 'Fury', which makes all nearby enemies forget their 'team' affiliation and begin attacking each other for several seconds before reverting to their old teams.
Here is a shot of the beacon crystal in effect, with two Bull creatures attracted to it, and ignoring the player.
I find that the crystals largely go unused unless I am in a really tough fight, in which case all those I'm carrying get used in fairly short order! ;)
We increased enemy running speed, which not only looks better, but matches the player's speed more, makes them dodge more effectively. It also allows the Bat Vanguard suicide bomber enemies to work better. They sprint at the player at a very high speed and then detonate their bombs.
The junkyard level is now finished, and I was actually able to complete it yesterday after 3 deaths or so. Been working on the Ore Processing facility also, which is done, but needs a bit more oomph.
