A few days ago I decided on a new method of determining which features to add to Black Ice – features will be judged based on how “Metal” they are. For instance, you wouldn’t think that a buff system is metal, but it lets you do things like set your enemies on fire, which is Very Metal.
While metal is a fun way of phrasing things, what I really mean is that I’m going to start adding the features with the biggest impact to the players. While I can guess what players will like, I’m actually going one step further and releasing opening my entire To-Do list to the public. Fans can vote and comment for their favorite features, so I know exactly what people want. I wasn’t surprised that people want me to add Multiplayer (which is definitely coming!), but I didn’t expect people to ask me to make enemies harder. More enemy types, and additional enemy affixes have received a ton of votes.
To that end, for this patch, not only can you set enemies on fire, but now they can set YOU on fire. You asked for it – flaming spiders will be jumping at your face, starting tonight with the release of the 0.1.670 patch. On top of that, I’m also adding ways for enemies to slow or freeze players in place. Of course, players will have the opportunity to do the same to enemies, which opens up a whole slew of interesting ability interactions.
Flaming spiders will be jumping at your face.
For instance, if you freeze an enemy in place, it becomes a sitting duck for the high-damage Disc weapons. Will the highly accurate lasgun be as popular when enemies are sitting ducks? You may be skilled enough to freeze several enemies in the same area, leaving them vulnerable to a powerful AOE attack from a missile or a mine.
This has me thinking of many more possibilities – what if I added an armor break debuff that made enemies (or the player) more susceptible to damage? What if I added a grenade that pulls all nearby enemies into a central area? What about an Ion Cannon with a long charge up that does a ton of damage in a small area? What happens when you armor up so you can tank a ton of enemies and then use the Ion Cannon and a shotgun?
As you can see, I definitely have more ideas than I have time, but I want you to know that I’m listening, I love your ideas, and I’m working as hard as I can. I’m still releasing a patch every week (barring special circumstances), and this week’s patch should be a huge improvement both in number of features and amount of “Metal” gameplay. At this rate, I should even be able to launch a Steam Greenlight campaign for Black Ice by GDC. I know you’ll vote for it 
