Announcement Eggy Swarm Beta Is Now Live

Eggy Swarm Development Update – Difficulty Progression, Permanent Upgrades & Cosmetic Stats​

A fairly substantial progression update has now gone into Eggy Swarm, covering difficulty balance, unlock progression, permanent character power and a new gameplay-stat layer for cosmetics.

Normal difficulty has been made less punishing​

One of the biggest changes is to Normal difficulty.

Normal is intended to be the entry point into Eggy Swarm, so it has now been rebalanced to give players much more room to learn the game, build weapons and get used to boss mechanics before moving into the harder difficulties.

The current Normal defaults are approximately 75% enemy health, 65% enemy damage, 85% enemy movement speed, 25% normal spawn pressure and 25% elite pressure, with a much slower difficulty ramp. Score and credit rewards remain at the normal 1× baseline.

The intention is that Normal should still require you to build properly and survive, but it should no longer feel as though the game is trying to flatten a new player immediately.

Difficulty progression​

There are currently five main difficulties:

Normal is the starting difficulty and the most forgiving. It is designed for learning the arenas, weapons, evolutions and bosses.

Veteran is the first unlocked difficulty. Enemies become tougher and faster, spawn pressure increases and elites become more threatening. It currently gives a 1.25× score multiplier and 1.20× reward multiplier.

Nightmare pushes much harder, with substantially more enemy health, damage and elite pressure. It currently gives 1.55× score and 1.45× rewards.

Hell is intended to be genuinely punishing. Enemy health is around 1.9× Normal's baseline, damage 1.6×, spawning is much more aggressive and elites are significantly stronger. It provides 1.95× score and 1.75× rewards.

Swarm is currently the highest standard difficulty. Enemy health reaches 2.4×, damage 1.9×, spawn pressure 1.7× and elite pressure 2.5×, with 2.5× score and 2.2× rewards.

How higher difficulties are unlocked​

Difficulty progression is now tied to actually beating the previous difficulty in Classic mode.

Everyone starts with Normal available. Completing a Classic run on Normal unlocks Veteran. Completing Veteran unlocks Nightmare. Completing Nightmare unlocks Hell, and completing Hell unlocks Swarm.

So, for example, if you complete an arena on Classic / Normal, Veteran becomes available for future Classic runs.

The unlock is based on a genuine Classic victory rather than simply surviving for a certain amount of time or reaching a score threshold. The game records the highest difficulty you have beaten and unlocks the next difficulty in sequence.

The win condition is the same on every difficulty​

The objective itself does not change between difficulties.

Whether you are playing Normal, Veteran, Nightmare, Hell or Swarm, a successful Swarm run requires you to:

Defeat all 3 bosses.

The difficulty changes how dangerous the journey becomes; it does not change what counts as winning.

That means players always know exactly what the objective is: survive the arena, develop your build, defeat all three bosses and complete the Swarm.

Permanent Progression has been substantially expanded​

Permanent Progression has also grown into a much larger system.

There are now 19 permanent upgrades with 183 total ranks available. These upgrades carry into future standard runs and allow players to gradually specialise their account with offensive, defensive, utility and economy improvements.

Current Eggy defaults are:

• Weapon Calibration – Damage: +1.5% total weapon damage per rank. 10 ranks. Costs: 7,000 / 11,000 / 17,000 / 25,000 / 36,000 / 50,000 / 70,000 / 95,000 / 125,000 / 165,000 credits.
• Combat Overclock – Cooldown: -1% weapon cooldown per rank. 10 ranks. Costs: 10,000 / 16,000 / 24,000 / 35,000 / 50,000 / 70,000 / 95,000 / 130,000 / 175,000 / 230,000.
• Precision Targeting – Critical Chance: +0.75 percentage points critical chance per rank. 10 ranks. Uses the 10,000 → 230,000 premium cost curve.
• Critical Matrix – Critical Damage: +2% critical damage per rank. 10 ranks. Uses the 7,000 → 165,000 combat cost curve.
• Boss Hunter – Boss Damage: +1.5% damage against bosses per rank. 10 ranks. Combat cost curve.
• Elite Suppression – Elite Damage: +1.5% damage against elite enemies per rank. 10 ranks. Combat cost curve.
• Vitality Matrix – Maximum HP: +2% maximum HP per rank. 10 ranks. Combat cost curve.
• Reinforced Chassis – Armour: adds 1 Armour every two ranks, reaching +5 Armour at Rank 10. Combat cost curve.
• Recovery Nanites – Regeneration: +0.15 HP/sec regeneration per rank, reaching +1.5 HP/sec at Rank 10. Utility costs: 5,000 / 8,000 / 12,000 / 18,000 / 26,000 / 38,000 / 52,000 / 70,000 / 95,000 / 125,000.
• Hazard Plating – Hazard Resistance: -2% arena hazard damage per rank. 10 ranks. Utility cost curve.
• Velocity Calibration – Projectile Speed: +2% projectile speed per rank. 10 ranks. Utility cost curve.
• Area Engineering – Weapon Area: +1.5% weapon area/radius per rank. 10 ranks. Utility cost curve.
• Thruster Calibration – Movement Speed: +1.5% movement speed per rank. 10 ranks. Utility cost curve.
• Magnet Array – Pickup Radius: +5% pickup radius per rank. 10 ranks. Utility cost curve.
• Experience Uplink – XP Gain: +2% XP gain per rank. 10 ranks. Utility cost curve.
• Flux Stabilisation – Duration: +1.5% weapon/effect duration per rank. 10 ranks. Utility cost curve.
• Tactical Rerolls: +1 starting reroll per rank, up to 3. Costs 25,000 / 75,000 / 200,000 credits.
• Fortune Processor – Luck: +1% Luck per rank. 10 ranks. Premium cost curve.
• Salvage Protocol – Run Credits: +1% credits from accepted eligible runs per rank. 10 ranks. Premium cost curve.

The default progression catalogue therefore represents 10,838,000 credits worth of permanent progression if somebody eventually maxes everything.

This system is deliberately long-term. It gives credits somewhere meaningful to go without requiring players to abandon the weapons, characters or cosmetics they already enjoy.

Cosmetics can now provide gameplay stats​

Cosmetics are no longer necessarily visual-only.

Eligible cosmetics can now carry curated stat packages, and those bonuses are displayed directly on their Swarm Shop cards before purchase.

The supported stat types currently include Damage, Cooldown Reduction, Critical Chance, Critical Damage, Boss Damage, Elite Damage, Maximum HP, Armour, HP Regeneration, Hazard Resistance, Projectile Speed, Weapon Area, Movement Speed, Pickup Radius, XP Gain, Effect Duration, Luck and additional Run Credits.

Different cosmetic categories can lean toward different kinds of bonuses. For example, weapon finishes naturally suit offensive bonuses, character skins can lean defensive, while trails, auras, profile items and other cosmetic categories can provide utility or progression-oriented bonuses.

There are also combined-equipment caps so somebody cannot simply stack an unlimited amount of one stat by equipping several cosmetics.

The current default combined cosmetic caps include things such as +6% Damage, -4% Cooldown, +3% Critical Chance, +10% Critical Damage, +6% Boss Damage, +6% Elite Damage, +8% Max HP, +3 Armour, +0.60 HP/sec Regen, -8% Hazard Damage, +8% Projectile Speed, +6% Weapon Area, +6% Movement Speed, +20% Pickup Radius, +8% XP Gain, +6% Duration, +4% Luck and +4% Run Credits.

Permanent Progression and cosmetic bonuses also stack together, so they form two separate layers of long-term character development rather than replacing one another.

Site owners now control both systems from the ACP​

An important part of this work is that I did not want Eggy Swarm's progression balance permanently dictated by my preferred numbers.

Both systems are now designed to be configurable by the site administrator from the XenForo ACP.

Permanent Progression Tuning allows the administrator to change the credit cost and total effect of every individual rank of every permanent upgrade.

That means a site could keep the Eggy defaults, make progression slower and more conservative, or deliberately create a much more powerful arcade-style version of Swarm.

For example, if an upgrade normally starts at +5% Damage, the site administrator could decide that on their community it should be +50% Damage instead. The gameplay runtime uses the administrator-defined value rather than relying on a hardcoded client-side percentage.

The costs work the same way. Rank 1 could cost 5,000 credits on one site and 100,000 on another, while later levels can each have their own independently configured price and effect.

Existing players keep the ranks they have already purchased when these values are changed.

Cosmetic Stat Tuning provides the same level of control for cosmetics. Administrators can edit the exact bonuses attached to individual cosmetics and can also adjust the global stacking caps.

So a cosmetic that ships with something like +0.7% Damage could be changed to +2%, +5%, +20% or whatever the site owner considers suitable for their own economy and balance.

The goal is for Eggy Swarm to ship with a balanced default experience while still giving communities full control over how grindy, generous, difficult or overpowered they want their own version of the game to become.

There is still plenty more planned, but this update puts a much stronger progression framework underneath the game and gives both players and site owners significantly more control over how Eggy Swarm develops.

Update on Eggy Swarm​

1. Mobile UI implemented for landscape mode on Classic and Endless modes
2. Story Mode now live and still being fine tuned

Eggy Swam update​

The Story Mode is now effectively stable.

Planned updates for today will include

• The Lost Signal campaign achievements
• Extra difficulty modes
• Cosmetics/character/arena unlocks based on campaign story mode achievement unlocks

Here's a glimpse of the Blackout mission

Objectives:

• Restore all 4 substations
• destroy 2/2 waves of enemies

Eggy Swarm update​

Story Mode now supports three difficulty levels

• Standard — the original Story Mode balance.
• Onslaught — tougher enemies, increased damage, greater spawn pressure, and tighter mission timers.
• Extinction — the most demanding Story difficulty, with significantly stronger enemies, heavier spawn pressure, tighter timers, and reduced healing/recovery.

Story Mode also now includes 18 dedicated achievements, complete with in-game achievement unlock notifications.

There are 15 chapter achievements, one for completing each chapter:

Chapter 1 completed through Chapter 15 completed.


There are also three full-campaign achievements tied to completing all 15 chapters on a specific difficulty:

• Signal Restored — complete the full Story campaign on Standard.
• Against the Onslaught — complete the full Story campaign on Onslaught.
• Extinction Denied — complete the full Story campaign on Extinction.

These Story achievements also expand the existing custom Shop system. Site owners can assign custom cosmetics, arenas, or characters to specific Story achievement IDs, allowing new Shop items to unlock only after members complete the required Story milestones.

This adds another progression layer to Story Mode and gives site owners much more flexibility when creating exclusive rewards for campaign progression.

Eggy Swarm Update​

A new update for Eggy Swarm is now live, bringing a major new mode, improved presentation, and a more active front-end experience.

New: Time Attack Mode​

A brand new Time Attack mode has been added.

Time Attack is built to be a fast, high-intensity alternative to the standard run types. Instead of focusing on a traditional progression-heavy match, this mode throws you straight into a chaotic power fantasy and asks one simple question:

How much score can you build before the 5-minute timer runs out?

In Time Attack, the goal is pure action and pressure. The mode is designed to feel explosive, rewarding and different from the normal Swarm experience, with a stronger emphasis on speed, destruction and score chasing.

Purpose of Time Attack​

The purpose of Time Attack is to deliver a more arcade-style mode where players can jump in, go berserk, and push for the highest possible score in a fixed time limit. It is intended to be:

• faster to get into
• more immediately action-packed
• ideal for score chasing
• a fun alternative to standard matches

If you want a mode that feels wild, aggressive and built around pure performance, Time Attack is that mode.

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New: Full Screen Mode​

A new Full Screen mode has been added to Eggy Swarm.

This gives players a cleaner and more immersive way to play, especially during active runs. Full Screen mode is designed to improve focus on the battlefield and make the gameplay area feel more prominent and cinematic.

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New: Activity Feed​

Eggy Swarm now includes a new activity feed on the builder/play page.

This feed helps make the game feel more alive by broadcasting player activity and recent Swarm events. It is designed to give the page a more active multiplayer atmosphere, even before a run begins.

The activity feed can broadcast things such as:

• <user> was defeated in <arena> on <date>
• <user> was victorious in <arena> on <date>
• <user> scored <amount> in Time Attack on <date>
• <user> just bought <item> from <shop> on <date>
• <user> just completed Chapter 1 in <campaign name> on <date>

This helps surface recent gameplay, purchases, campaign progress and standout Time Attack scores in one place.

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New Arenas Added​

This update also includes new arenas for Eggy Swarm.

The new arenas expand the game’s variety and give players more environments to fight through, helping keep runs feeling fresher and more varied.

Swarm Update — Introducing Gauntlet Mode​

A fairly major Eggy Swarm update this time. The new Gauntlet Mode is now up and running, and one of the most important parts of the work behind it has been making sure it isn't just a rigid, hard-coded game mode.

A lot of the Gauntlet is controlled directly through the Eggy Swarm ACP, so it can be expanded and rebalanced over time without having to rewrite the mode every time something changes.

From the ACP I can configure the overall Gauntlet rules, including whether the mode is enabled, whether players are allowed to Cash Out, the minimum stage at which Cash Out becomes available, the Stage 10 completion bonus, the first-clear bonus, how many Shop rewards are awarded, whether Shop rewards can also be given on repeat clears, and which Shop categories are eligible for rewards.

Each individual Gauntlet stage is configurable as well. The ACP lets me change the stage/map name, choose which arena that stage uses, set how many Credits are added to the provisional risk pot, and independently scale enemy HP, enemy damage, enemy movement speed, spawn pressure, elite pressure, boss HP and boss damage.

I can also control the amount of healing given between stages and the number of between-stage upgrade choices. That means future balancing doesn't require rebuilding the entire Gauntlet around one fixed difficulty curve. Individual stages can be made easier, harder, longer, more aggressive, more boss-focused, or more generous between rounds as needed.

The reward side is configurable too. Gauntlet Shop rewards now use the actual custom items created through the Swarm Shop Manager, rather than randomly handing out the generated/default Shop catalogue. All Shop categories are enabled by default, but those categories can be individually enabled or disabled from the Gauntlet ACP whenever needed.

So while the current route is ten stages, the underlying design has been built to be maintained and scaled rather than treated as a one-off feature.

Introducing Gauntlet Mode
Gauntlet is a long-form endurance mode built around one simple question:

How far are you willing to risk what you've already earned?
You begin the Gauntlet with a normal character build rather than being handed a fully powered setup.

Your weapons, upgrades, evolutions, level progression, HP and general build state carry forward as you move through the Gauntlet. You continue earning XP and developing your build throughout the run instead of effectively starting a new game every time the arena changes.

The Gauntlet has a provisional Credit pot. Clearing stages adds Credits to that pot, but those Credits are not yours yet.

After completing Stages 1 through 9, you are presented with two choices.

CASH OUT ends the Gauntlet and awards the Credits currently sitting in your pot.

BRAVE IT OUT takes you into the next stage with your existing build and increases the amount you are risking.

If you continue and lose, the entire provisional pot is lost.

There is no protected percentage, checkpoint banking or safety net. Refreshing, leaving the game or otherwise terminating an active Gauntlet also counts as abandoning the attempt. Gauntlet is intended to be one continuous run.

The current Gauntlet route is:

Stage 1 — Training Grounds
The opening test. Clear 3 waves of enemies and establish the beginning of your build.

Stage 2 — Dead Sector
Clear 5 waves as enemy numbers and pressure begin increasing.

Stage 3 — Emberworks
Survive and clear 7 waves through the foundry.

Stage 4 — Wastelands
Clear 9 increasingly pressured waves across the ruined industrial arena.

Stage 5 — Sandbox
The halfway point. Clear 11 waves while keeping the build you've assembled alive.

Stage 6 — Bloodheart
Clear 13 waves as the Gauntlet begins moving firmly into its harder stages.

Stage 7 — Gilded Nexus
Clear 15 waves with further increases to enemy strength and pressure.

Stage 8 — Amethyst Bastion
Survive 17 waves inside the fortified violet arena.

Stage 9 — Rustwater Ruins
The final conventional endurance stage. Clear 19 waves before deciding whether you're prepared to risk everything on the finale.

Stage 10 — Phaseglass Array
The final arena works differently.

First you must clear 5 final waves.

After that, the Gauntlet enters its boss phase.

You must defeat 3 bosses sequentially, with only one main boss active at a time. Additional enemies can enter the fight while a boss is alive, and the remaining adds are cleared when that boss falls before the next boss encounter begins.

There is no mid-stage Cash Out during the final arena.

Defeat the third boss and the Gauntlet is conquered.

The current full stage pot reaches 11,750 Credits if every stage is cleared, with a default 2,500 Credit completion bonus on top, although both the stage rewards and completion bonus are adjustable from the ACP.

A completed run can also award an eligible custom Swarm Shop item.

So a full clear currently represents a substantial run rather than a quick side mode. My recorded full run came in at roughly 35 minutes, which is about where I wanted Gauntlet to sit: something you deliberately commit to, build through, and potentially throw away a very large reward by getting greedy.

There will no doubt be further balancing as more people get their hands on it, but the important foundation is now there: the mode, progression carry-over, risk system, finite wave structure, final boss sequence, server-authoritative rewards and the ACP controls needed to keep expanding it.

What’s new in Swarm

I’ve been working on the second Story campaign for Swarm, which is called Blacksite Protocol.

This is a completely separate campaign from The Last Signal, with its own 15 chapters, progression and saves.

The main thing I wanted to do differently with Blacksite Protocol was make the player actually have to interact with the levels rather than every chapter just being about surviving waves of enemies. There is still plenty of combat, but there are now switches, gates, machinery, movable objects, puzzles and other things that have to be dealt with before you can progress.


A quick look at what each chapter involves:

1. Emergency Lockdown
Restore two breakers, defend the lockdown terminal while it powers back up, then get through the blast gate.

2. Blocked Passage
Move cargo onto pressure plates to unlock the route, deal with the enemies that arrive and then push further into the facility.

3. Coolant Failure
Work out the correct order for the coolant valves, restart the pumps and get the cooling system back online.

4. Freight Lift
Load the freight lift, start it, defend it during the ascent and clear the machinery when the lift gets jammed.

5. Containment Breach
Instead of simply killing everything, you have to get the correct enemy types into containment zones alive before access to the lab opens.

6. Power Routing
Use the junctions to route power through the facility. Getting the routing right also shuts down enemy spawn vents and eventually opens the exit.

7. Crusher Works
This one makes you use the machinery itself. Enemies need to be positioned under the crushers and killed with them before you can move on.

8. Flooded Core
Move debris out of the way, recover power cells, place them into the correct sockets and bring the drainage pumps online.

9. Security Override
Remember the security sequence, enter it correctly, commit the override and then deal with the security response.

10. Assembly Line
Route the conveyors, move components through the machinery, get them into the correct sockets and build the charge.

11. Dark Sector
The area is mostly dark and you have to carry an energy orb around with you. It powers temporary lights and reveals clues that you need to work out the route.

12. Magnetic Lock
Use magnetic controls to move large metal blocks around the level and position them correctly to unlock the way forward.

13. Reactor Cascade
There are four damaged reactor systems but you can only recover three of them. What you choose to repair affects what happens during the rest of the chapter.

14. Blacksite Intelligence
There are six intelligence nodes, but only three are genuine. You have to work out which ones can actually be trusted before opening the final route.

15. Protocol Zero
The final chapter brings several of the campaign mechanics together. You will be restoring generators, moving magnetic blocks, redirecting shield beams, installing containment cells, completing a sequence to remove the boss protection, fighting Protocol Zero and then escaping the Blacksite.

The idea behind the campaign is basically to make the levels feel much more involved. You still have the usual Swarm combat going on around you, but now you also have to pay attention to the environment and work out what the level actually wants you to do.

Blacksite Protocol will have its own full 15 chapter progression alongside The Last Signal.