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Utopia Must Fall

 
Utopia Must Fall is easily one of the best modern arcade shoot 'em upsMay 19, 2025 - GamingOnLinuxUtopia Must Fall from developer Pixeljam has absolutely absorbed my attention recently. It's easily one of the best modern arcade shoot 'em ups I've ever played with a great moody atmosphere. Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/05/utopia-must-fall-is-easily-one-of-the-best-modern-arcade-shoot-em-ups/ Version 0.702 ExtremelyHotFixMay 16, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsAddresses a late-game nullifier glitch.V. 0.701 HotfixMay 16, 2025 - Community Announcementsv0.701 Hotfix QoL When first placing an outpost, a 'config?' tooltip appears above the outpost config buttons Deploy Drone Factory and Deploy Laser Watchtower upgrades show as blocked when outpost or factory capacity limit is reached Operation Hermit highlights as being blocked when hovering over Stockpile Nukes or Nuclear Weapons Lab offers Clarified 'fine keyboard aim' control functionality in options menus Fixes Fixed an accidentally rude typo! Fixed drone on drone collision boundary engine crash (!) in rare circumstances + The Industrial Update Is Live +May 14, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello all, The time has come for the biggest update to Utopia Must Fall yet. The INDUSTRIAL UPDATE is now live! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/cb96cb5fda57270189d174d4180e3de2b9e99d53.gif Featuring: Skill tree: fully overhauled upgrade system with interactive tree structure, graphical icons for every upgrade and 4 special 'opportunity' slots. Requirements, blockers, hierarchy and time constraints for regular upgrades are demystified. Drones! Automated floating, modifiable allies that dodge hazards and chase enemies, equipped with onboard railgun turrets and adjustable behavioural parameters. Drone-related upgrades: Deploy Drone Factory, Twin Drone Factory, Atomic Drones, Double-Barrelled Drones, Robotics Specialist Watchtower mod: Q Disruptor - targets are temporarily timewarped to 0.25x regular speed Opportunity Upgrades: Cheap Nukes, Work Retreat, Red Flag Day, Context Switch New cities to defend: Cairo Horizon and HyperParis Many other additions, improvements, tweaks, balances, fixes, etc. Read the full changelog here. Let us know what you think in the comments and forums! Also, please leave a review for the game if you haven't yet, every little bit helps. Finally, we'll be increasing the price of the game in 2 weeks, after the current discount ends. Grab it now (or tell your friends about it) while it's still unreasonably inexpensive. Thanks again for the support, - Miles @ Pixeljam+ Grid Ranger Version 1.0 Is Live (Also Made With V99) +Mar 25, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello all, As you may or may not know, Utopia Must Fall was created in our new vector game engine we call V99 - and we're making multiple games with it. Today we just released version 1.0 of GRID RANGER, an intense shortform 3D shmuplike featuring mouse-centric controls and classic arcade 'dodge & blast' action: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/6e9025cc259fcb1ccfb7454782c97854fd6d080a.gif Grid Ranger's Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2964400/Grid_Ranger/ If you already own UMF, you can get Grid Ranger as part of a bundle for a deeper-than-normal discount: Click here to check it out. Thanks for reading, and take care, -Miles @ Pixeljam + Progress Update - March 2025 +Mar 14, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello all, Things are moving along with the next major content update. We hear your requests for more early-game variety and we are focusing on this alongside a ton of smaller improvements. Here is a preview of the battle drones, which will be available in week 1. Build an enthusiastic little buddy to help fight for humanity right away, and steadily upgrade to a small army of automatic alien-slaughtering robo-beasts: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/d3d021fb2faf9ff900dc12f41706a009497cfcb6.gif The ever-popular skill tree is also coming together well. The bottom part of the tree in red (institute of automation) will eventually be filled out to be as beefy as all the other major branches: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/3561c2dc6805f01a45375263428750ec4a29bc8b.gif We expect this update to be in beta testing by April, and launching in early May. Also, if you haven't yet, please leave a review for the game! Every little bit helps get the game out to new players, and we'd love to hear from you. -Miles @ Pixeljam + Upcoming Plans / Price Increase / Developer Face Reveal +Feb 4, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello All, On February 15th, we will be increasing the price of Utopia Must Fall to $6.99 USD. We plan on upping it by a dollar for each major content update until it sits somewhere around 10 or 15 dollars total. We look forward to having 10+ dollars worth of content for 1.0 release, whenever that may be.... probably some time in 2026. Important: when we do price increases, Steam auto-suggests prices in every other region, and we generally just set it to what it suggests. But sometimes it suggests something that players in that region feel is way too high (often in Argentina, Turkey, Indonesia, etc). If you notice the price of the game in your region rise to something that feels unbalanced with what the game offers, please contact us! We're always open to reducing prices in other regions so that all may enjoy the game. --------////+++++ Here is what we're thinking about working on next... not set in stone, but likely: New weapon upgrades to increase the early-game build variety Aerial battle drones (deploy and watch them fight for you) More cities to defend A free browser-based demo (with a slight spin on the game mechanics to keep it fresh) And of course the visualized skill tree ++++++\\\\\\------- And finally, since we were nominated for an IGF award recently, we had to make a video showing the lead developer (Datassette) talking about the game for one of their showreels. Datassette is usually pretty camera-shy, but we managed to convince him to do it, and here is a peek! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/fecf6d2b3cbbf2fe4da3bf7a53e250e607cb4009.gif Nice work, Datassette :) Thanks again for the support, -Miles @ Pixeljam+ First Major Content Update '666' Is Live +Jan 31, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsGreeting fellow UMFers, We're pleased as porridge to announce that the first major content update for Utopia Must Fall is live. Read the full changelog here. Highlights: New upgrade: Graphene Tipped Rods, cobalt projectiles are slowed and become superheated on contact with nuke fireballs, passing through enemies and dealing damage multiple times (hot bullets) New upgrade: Full Graphene Coating (hermit only), hot cobalt bullets melt through 50% more enemies {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/eec7142a676a75b5ff26ad5c8ccf0ff27d25a177.gif Nullifiers now absorb a limited amount of nuke fireball energy before collapsing into a temporary wormhole releasing a swarm of Anemones Anemones congregate above the city leeching shield energy. If the shield is offline, life force is drained directly from citizens {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/df5c1ae11ab54d852b0472411c0b4811a81c1f91.gif All unshielded enemies (except Nullifiers) can now be killed with nukes, those previously fully immune are now between 80% and 98% resistant All enemy shields are now destructible with bullets, lasers or flail strikes Cobalt Coil Gun deals 2x damage to enemy shields Two rare attack wave variants added (Mini Rebel Centipede, Contracting Nuclear Polygon Squad) There are also scads of balance adjustments, engine improvements, new sound effects, new music, and a few new achievements as well: Gonnahavemesomefun - destroy a cloaking enemy before it had the chance to use its cloaking ability (enemies that enter already cloaked don’t count) Hard Boiled - break an enemy shield using superheated projectiles Seafood Platter - destroy an entire swarm of inter-dimensional Anemones Blissful Ignorance - survive 14 days without taking any shield damage Pretty Decent Innit? - suffer 3 shield breaks in one day Bookworm & Bohemian rewards / achievements brought back BONUS BESTIARY This will be in-game soon, but for now enjoy this handy guide to all that ails your precious city: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/7fbefaef65a7dfaf1c8d493f08bb6672462c0658.png WHAT'S NEXT? New upgrades, new cities to defend, new enemies, and the ever-popular visualized skill tree: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/d31fc9e563f8b5bd4911c74ef9af9ec5d04024d9.png WANT TO HELP? Please consider leaving a review if you have not already. And for those that like to get more involved, join our discord server (go to the umf channels). Thanks again for the support, as well as the valiant effort to save humanity! -Miles @ Pixeljam First Content Update Is Imminent, Help Us Last-Minute Test?Jan 30, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello all, We're about to drop the first major content update for Utopia Must Fall. Check it out on the BETA branch (Version 0.666) if you want a sneak peek before we make it live. We've been testing extensively with a smaller group of people, and it's now ready to run the Steam Community gauntlet. Here are the major changes, but a full changelog will be available soon: Enemies: - Nullifiers now absorb a limited amount of nuke fireball energy before collapsing into a temporary wormhole releasing a swarm of Anemones - Anemones congregate above the city leeching shield energy. If the shield is offline, life force is drained directly from citizens - Falling enemy gibs are now non-lethal to an unshielded city - All unshielded enemies (except Nullifiers) can now be killed with nukes, those previously fully immune are now between 80% and 98% resistant - Enemy shields are now destructible with bullets, lasers or flail strikes Upgrades: - Cobalt Coil Gun deals 2x damage to enemy shields - Cobalt Coil Gun more likely to appear for Hermits - New upgrade: Graphene Tipped Rods, cobalt projectiles are slowed and become superheated on contact with nuke fireballs, passing through enemies and dealing damage multiple times (hot bullets) - New upgrade: Full Graphene Coating (hermit only), hot cobalt bullets melt through 50% more enemies - Institute of Automation more likely to appear in the first week (Bookworm reward achievable again) - Adaptive Beam Focusing removed, range vs damage outpost setting is now always available - Shield capacity upgrades (hermit only) now give an instant recharge, are more generous, and display percentage values relative to initial maximum (numbers go above 100%) Rewards / Achievements: - Hard Boiled - break an enemy shield using superheated projectiles - Seafood Platter - destroy an entire swarm of inter-dimensional anemones - Blissful Ignorance - survive 14 days without taking any shield damage - Pretty Decent Innit? - suffer 3 shield breaks in one day - Bookworm & Bohemian rewards / achievements brought back Other Improvements: - Many nerfs and buffs, everywhere (we'll get more specific in final changelog) - V-Sync timing mode now uses variable timesteps and allows framerates anywhere between 60-200hz (needs further testing, Delta timing is still the default for Windows installs) - In-game FPS counter available via key - Fixed rare crash during shift-zoom transitions Let us know what you think in the feedback channels on the forums, or in comments here. -Miles @ PixeljamUTOPIA MUST FALL Is Nominated For an IGF Award! Also, Vote for us?Jan 28, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello all, We recently found out that Utopia Must Fall has been nominated for "Excellence in Audio" for the upcoming Independent Games Festival, which is... kind of awesome! Last time Rich and I went to the IGF was when Dino Run got nominated for Best Web Game back in 2008 or something. Rich will be attending GDC this year, and we're flying John (Datassette) from London to San Francisco for the award ceremony and expo where we will be showcasing the game. There is also an audience award that anyone can vote for, but voting ends on January 31st! Go check it out if you feel like giving a nod to Utopia: https://informa-tech.formstack.com/forms/27th_annual_independent_games_festival_audience_award We're also *this* close to launching a major update to the game, more info on that in about a week... Thanks again for the support, -Miles @ Pixeljam+ First Content Update Sneak Peek +Dec 17, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello UMFers, We hope everyone has been enjoying the QoL update to the game, and now that we have that out of the way, it's time to focus on the good stuff - new content! We're approaching 2025 with the perspective that more frequent but smaller updates is preferred over larger but less frequent ones. So we're aiming to get the first one out next month... it has a few new features, and here is a peek at one that you may appreciate - Cobalt Coil Gun is now armor-piercing: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/249a52a09f1456d2fe11b6538f6118b52617b463.gif We should start testing this (and some other new content) sometime in January, also aiming to release it in the same month if possible. There is so much we want to add, but we're a small team (1 person on all aspects of development and 1 other on promo) so you know... it takes time to get it right. One thing that really helps is leaving a review for the game. So if you haven't done that, please do! It does more good than you might realize :) Have a great holiday break, and don't feel bad about letting Chicago 2.0 burn to the ground - they had it coming apparently. -Miles @ Pixeljam+ The Quality Of Life Update Is Live +Nov 26, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello all, We're happy to announce that the first significant update to Utopia Must Fall is now live! Mac Users: if the update doesn't launch properly, do a full uninstall and re-install. Version 0.656 - The QoL Update Controller support, offering customisable options for any combination of mouse, keyboard and gamepad, or fully gamepad controlled Full keyboard / d-pad access to all in-game interfaces Major performance improvements in line rendering (up to 60% faster) High frame rate support, up to 120fps Visual improvements: overhauled shaders, *Sharpie Mode*, extended display options including gamma adjustment Advanced BIOS options for fine tuning GPU settings - Press SHIFT on boot-up to activate (including skipping studio logos on boot, if you must) Multiple fixes for minor visual glitches and logic bugs Pause menu now available in upgrade / reward screens Wider aspect ratio and playfield Major internal engine refactor (groundwork for more updates!) Minimal nerfs / buffs to account for difficulty change associated with wider playfield Read the full patch notes here. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/5a8e10b332d4de88c64075d9f6ea68eb4316de0a.gif Now, on to content updates! Thanks again for the patience and support, - Miles @ Pixeljam+ First Update Ready For Beta Testing +Oct 31, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello Utopians, Thanks for the patience while we got this together. We're happy to report that the first significant update to Utopia Must Fall (version 0.639) is ready to preview in the BETA branch on Steam. Read the full changelog here. Summary for those that don't want to read the changelog: V99 Engine improvements - better/smoother framerates Full controller support! And expanded keyboard/mouse options too Game is now 5:4 instead of square New display mode: SHARPIE Various buffs Please check it out (once again, in the BETA branch) and leave us feedback in the new BETA FEEDBACK thread or on Discord in the umf-feedback channel Looking forward to buttoning this up and getting it out to everyone! After this is wrapped up we'll start on the first major content update :) - Miles @ Pixeljam+ + Upcoming Updates // A New V99 Game In Steam Next Fest + +Oct 14, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello all, We've spent the last couple of weeks diving in to the very guts of the v99 engine hunting down bugs and making fundamental improvements. For us, this means we have a much nicer development workflow so we can bring you updates (and other v99 games) more quickly 🔧 , and for Utopia Must Fall, this means controller support, more efficient rendering, and significantly more stable frame rates 🎉 . {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/79ff298c2c76e7b9d45daeb201a6595cb99e17b3.gif We're aiming to release a small quality-of-life update in the next 2-3 weeks with all this, plus a few of the most-requested UI improvements. Once that's cleared out of the way, we can start building all the new feature ideas we have stacked up! (keep your suggestions coming). And speaking of other V99 games, 3D 'shmuplike' GRID RANGER now has a 1-level demo that everyone can try right now, as part of the Steam Next Fest. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/909f137ef13fcc9adf27946e1040cdf4d5d1a360.gif Check out the game here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2964400/Grid_Ranger/ Thanks for the patience and support! -Miles @ Pixeljam+ POST-LAUNCH REPORT / FUTURE PLANS +Sep 12, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello all, Now that the dust has settled from launch, we can have a big exhale and figure out what's next for Utopia Must Fall. A lot of great suggestions and feedback so far... A lot of you have echoed what we already planned to do: more variety in the early game, and more ways to kick ass in the late game. Those things are top priority, but we'd also like to add controller & deck support, new enemies, etc. We'll figure out the right order of things in time. The lead dev (Datassette) also posted a message on the forums that is worth checking out! if you didn't read it, the main takeaway is that he crunched like mad to get the game launched and needs a little decompression time. He'll be back on the updates soon enough though. In the meantime I'll be engaging with players and helping to figure out what's priority for the next round of updates. Here is our roadmap so far: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/4f9a66d8ef9f7d278217554884410192f0439bdc.gif We expect this to change over time as new ideas emerge and players continue to give their thoughts. In summary, we are grateful for the support so far and we're glad people are enjoying it... this is only the beginning! Take care, -Miles @ Pixeljam + UTOPIA MUST FALL IS LIVE +Sep 9, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello all, We're very excited to announce that UTOPIA MUST FALL has finally launched! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/1683a982588cdc2b6f2a0a987bfac4f9c397164a.gif This is just the beginning... leave us those those sweet feedbacks and feature suggestions in the Steam forums or on our Discord in the Utopia Must Fall channels. And please leave a review! It helps a lot in the early days :) -Miles @ Pixeljam+ UTOPIA MUST FALL Launch Date: 9/9/24 +Aug 29, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello all, Utopia Must Fall will be launching on September 9th! The launch version is greatly improved, balanced and enlarged compared to the demo a few months ago. We're super excited to show you the new content. If you are curious to see some early-game footage, go here: https://x.com/pixeljamgames/status/1829190815328915568 {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45013932/5d27f59911080e1fcfc40cd6b002ddb00b1c862b.gif+ Downloadable Demo Now Available +May 29, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello all, We launched the browser demo last week, which worked out pretty well. So it seems safe to release the downloadable demo into the wild now. This one has a wider playfield than the browser demo, and also has true fullscreen support. Find the link on the store page - we just made it live a few hours ago. Note: the demo will not work on Intel Macs - we're working on figuring that out. If you have an older (intel) Mac, try the browser demo: https://pixeljamarcade.com/game/utopia-must-fall/ Leave feedback here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/2849680/discussions/0/4326348922704625449/ Looking forward to launching the full version in July! -Miles @ Pixeljam

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