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KERNEL PANIC v2.3.0

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@mafuzyk mafuzyk released this 26 Aug 16:51
· 252 commits to main since this release
v2.3.0
93b9f34

The first big gameplay update: playable programs, two new enemies, a full boss rework, a recovery system, and one long list of bugs squashed. Same neon arena — meaner and fairer.

New Stuff

  • Playable programs. Pick your process in the menu: KERNEL is the balanced default; DAEMON (unlocks at cycle 5) trades range for a hot close-range fire rate, refunds dash on kills and carries two dash charges; ROOTLET (unlocks after beating a boss without taking damage) is slow, fires heavy shots, and swaps Overclock for a shield. Scores and saves record which program you ran.
  • Two new enemies. RECURSOR teleports in short jumps and leaves corruption pools where it was — pools mark the past, keep moving. FIREWALL anchors down and builds a rotating wall of orbs that disappears when it dies. Both have bestiary entries with counterplay tips.
  • Boss rework. New HP formula (120 + 42 per boss index) — tougher fights that are no longer damage sponges. ROOT.exe splits into two mini-ROOTs instead of dying at lethal damage; SEGFAULT gains a Lancer-style targeting line and a phase-two charge; BLUE SCREEN fires a Spewer-style orb fan; PAGE FAULT rebuilds its shield once at half HP with an obvious warning and two extra Pages.
  • RECOVER pickup. A green +1 HP pickup that the mote magnet will not pull in — you have to move. Drops from 8% of normal kills and 25% of elite kills, guaranteed at 50% boss HP (once per boss) and on boss death. Entirely absent from One-HP.
  • Two new RECOVER patches. RECYCLER adds +6% RECOVER chance per level; DATA LEECH makes elites always drop RECOVER.
  • New SCRAP DIET patch. Overflow motes (collected while the Overclock meter is full or active) bank toward a heal: 25 motes for +1 HP, 20 at level 2, with a HUD chip showing your progress. Also excluded from One-HP offers.
  • Heal telemetry. The game-over screen now summarizes your heals by source, like HEALS +4 (RECOVER x2, SCRAP x1, CYCLE x1).
  • HUD shows the build version, pause and game over show your program name, and bestiary entries gained counterplay tips.
  • Touch: the aim stick base is now anchored — it no longer slides under your finger mid-drag. Lock-on stays out of Weekly for now (temporarily reverts to stick/drag without erasing your saved preference).

Fixes

  • Saving settings no longer wipes your records and stats — the config is loaded before writing.
  • Wave 1 announcements now reach the HUD: spawner signals connect before the first wave starts.
  • VAMPIC could heal twice at combo x4 because of a duplicate combo_milestone signal — fixed.
  • Weekly Run is now fully deterministic: every gameplay-affecting random roll (spawn order, drops, mote positions) goes through the seeded RNG.
  • Touch dash goes through the same central dash logic as keyboard, so Quick Dash, Magnetic Dash and Phase Dash patches work from touch too.
  • Bullet spread is computed once — the visible bullet rotation and its actual trajectory can no longer disagree.
  • The high score reset clears the real Classic record (best_classic), and Touch Size cycles through all options instead of getting stuck on BIG.
  • The boss summon cap counts living summons, so summoning no longer permanently shuts off mid-fight, and the boss phase flash decays by delta instead of frame rate.
  • Mouse camera lean is disabled on touch, and adaptive quality now restores your tier when performance recovers instead of only degrading.
  • The menu version is driven by project settings — no more stale version strings.
  • Mote glow restored; mobile bestiary and menu UI stabilized.

Balance & Feel

  • VAMPIC now has a 10-second internal cooldown between heals, and its patch chip dims/blinks in the HUD while on cooldown — a no-heal never feels silent or random.

Art & Sound

  • The app uses the release launcher icon.

Under the Hood

  • MoteField rewrite: all memory motes render through a single MultiMesh — one draw call for the whole field instead of one node per mote. The main source of lag on mid-range phones is gone, and kill bursts are allocation-free.

Downloads

  • KERNEL-PANIC-v2.3.0.apk — production-signed Android APK.
  • KERNEL-PANIC-v2.3.0-debug.apk — debug APK for device testing.
  • kernel-panic + kernel-panic.pck — portable Linux x86_64 build; keep both files in the same directory.
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