Hi again! Here back with another mini update, enjoy!
Change List:
Level 3
Reduced Wire's Size to 2x1
Removed Final Door (Exposing Catwalk) to Reduce Confusion
Jail Doors Now Drop their Fuses When Your Inventory is Full
Jail Doors Now have a Slight Cooldown Period to Avoid Accidentally Reopening if Spamming
Removed Large Fuse Panel Lockers
Removed Gas from First Sector
Fixed Various Bugs with Level 3 Objectives
Improved Level Loading Speed
Minor Visual Tweaks
Level 4
Added Interactable Light Switches to Each Room to Track Where You Have Searched
Overhauled Graphics, Especially on the Windows
Removed Similar Puzzle Colors to Avoid Confusion
Fixed Lights and Windows not Being Visible On Low Settings
Various Performance Optimizations
Level Fun
Added Level Run Ending to the Beginning of Level Fun
Minor Visual and Performance Improvements
Level Hub
Locked Levels Now Show as Locked Doors Instead of Not Spawning
Improved Level Loading Speed
Level 0
Bacteria Can no Longer Grab You in a Hole
Bacteria Now Requires Both Arms to be Close to Grab You, Allowing Players to Sometimes Slip Past
Miscellaneous
Fixed achievements sometimes not being given to players
Minor Performance Improvements to All Levels (Low: +2%, Medium: +1%, High & Ultra: >1%, Older laptops may see higher gains)
Added Invite Button in Multiplayer Lobbies for Quick Invites to Your Steam Friends
Jumping Now Cancels Looking Back with Alt
Adjusted Interact Progress Bar to Better Signal When to Hold
Overhead Player Names Now Hide When that Player is Running
Decreased Size Slightly of Overhead Names
Improved Text Quality of Overhead Names
BET 11.0.0 | Level 3 Overhaul + Lots of QOL
Hey everyone! Here with an exciting release packed with QOL and tweaks. This brings an almost entire overhaul to level. Why did level 3 get an overhaul? To be frank we weren't proud of what the level was gameplay wise. We want every new level to be our best yet and Level 3 didn't meet those standards. For those of you who have already played level 3, I highly recommend you play again! It feels like a new experience. For easy access, use the new "Return to the Hub" feature in the menu to travel to Level 3 through the hub.
Big Features:
Level Replay System
Added Option to Return to the Hub Allowing you To Freely Replay Levels
Level 3 Overhaul
Level Difficulty Now Scales Per Player (Much easier solo now)
Major Performance Improvements
Removed Majority of Dead Ends from Level Generation
Minor Visual Tweaks
Multiplayer Quality of Life Improvements
Added Floating Name Tags Above Players When Looking at Them (Can be disabled)
Added In Game Multiplayer Settings Menu (Kick players, change max players, get code, change public lobby status)
Implemented Steam Invites and Joining off Of Your Friends Via Steam Overlay
Added Live In Game Player Count When Searching for Lobbies
Level Fun
Ticket Penalty Decreases When More Players are in a Red Light Green Light Minigame
Fix Traffic Light Switching When a Player Enters a Mini Game
Lowered Max Minigame Playplace Size by 10%
Bug Fixes
Fixed Issue That Caused the Camera to Clip into the Player Model When Downed
Fixed Bug that Sometimes Left Players Rag-dolled Even After Being Revived
Fixed Numerous Issues Causing Players to Sometimes be in "Ghost" Lobbies Where Joining is Broken
Performance
Optimized Medium Settings for a 2% Performance Improvement (Up to 4% on some hardware and levels)
Optimized Enhanced Raytracing on Medium and High Settings for a 12% Performance Improvement
Minor (>1%) Additional Performance Improvement for Medium, High and Ultra Settings
Miscellaneous
You can Now Drag Items to Use or Drop Them
Added Trophy Icon to Any Save that Has Unlocked the Hub / Beaten all Levels
Game Audio and Voice Chat Now Works When Tabbed Out
Fixed Items in The Hub Floating
Glitched Furniture Now Moves When Spectating
Level Transition Fades Are Now More Consistent and Do Not Restart When Spammed
Updated Localization
BET 0.10.3
Hello again! Squeezing in another hotfix for today, with a few bug fixes, items dropping on death, and brining DLSS 4 to the Backrooms!
Specific Change List:
Upgraded to DLSS 4.0
Players Now Drop All of Their Items Upon Death!
Fixed Bug Causing Level ! Scratcher to Not Play Animations on Low Settings
Fixed Crash that Affected Some Users on Game Load
Notable improvements in DLSS 4 are:
Greatly improved quality and improved performance for RTX 20, 30, 40, and 50 Series
Multi-frame generation for RTX 50 Series
Greatly improved Frame Gen performance for RTX 40 and 50 Series
Note: While Ray Reconstruction is now included with DLSS 4 (and it looks amazing) I haven't enabled it due to major performance issues. I'm currently working with Nvidia to optimize DLSS-RR for UE 5.5.
BET 0.10.2
Hi again everyone. It's been amazing to see everyone playing and enjoying the new update. I've been monitoring feedback extremely closely and listening. Level 3 is definitely too hard! We've made some changes today that should help the level feel a little more balanced. Let me know how the changes feel!
Change List:
Level 3 Changes:
Reduced Clump Top Speed by 15%
Clumps No Longer Spawn on the Top Floor
Clumps Now Pause and Stare for Longer Before Attacking (Giving you a chance to get your butt out of there!)
Doubled Fuse Spawn Rate in Jail Doors
Made Jail Doors 20% Faster to Open and Close
Doubled Electrical Tape Amount
Increased Wire Amount by 50%
Increased Size of Top Floor by 10%
Decreased Number of Hallways in the Middle Floor by 15%
Increased Potency of Gasoline, it Now Fills Up the Entire Fuel Gauge (Also decreased gas in world to compensate)
Granola Squares now Remove the "Tired" Effect that Blocked Sprinting for 4 Seconds
Slight Modification to Locker Materials
Bugs:
Fixed Bug that Allowed Players to Pickup Items From Inside Locked Lockers
Fixed Potential Crash on the Host when a Client Drops an Item
Potential Fix for Some Players Crashing Upon Loading into the Main Menu
Journeys & Junctions Part 2 Out Now!
Change List:
Major Additions:
Added Level Fun
Added Level 3, the Electrical Station
Added Level The Hub, Which Allows you to Replay Your Favorite Levels
Added 2 New Entities
Added 10 New Items
Enhancements to Almost Every Level
Significant Graphics and Performance Improvements
Significant Bug Fixes
Multiplayer Lobbies Overhaul
Added Journey Summary to End of Game
Various Quality of Life Improvements
Note From the Developer:
Hey everyone!!! I've been pretty active in our Discord lately, but for some of you it's been a while! As a quick summary and explanation for the long delay between updates, I had an injury in early November that sidelined me for 2 months. I was the only one working on the game at the time, so things sat in limbo while I recovered. Since the beginning of this year I've been back in the development seat and have been tirelessly working on expanding the team. Expansion is a long and arduous process of finding the right fits so don't expect any crazy increase in output for the next few months. Its vital to take the time to ensure every new team member is hungry to improve the player experience for you guys!
In the mean time, Ethan, myself, and a new developer have been working to give the game a much needed make over, this update is the collection of our efforts for the last 2 months. Thanks for sticking around and enjoy!
- Blake
Detailed Change List:
Added New Achievements for New Levels
Added Ability to Kick Players
Added Ability to Copy Lobby Code by Clicking
Current and Max Players Now Show in Lobby UI
Fixed Entitles Sometimes Camping Downed Players
Upgraded to Unreal Engine 5.5
Reduced Lights Sparkling When Viewed at a Distance
Greatly Reduced Ghosting/Smearing
Performance Improvements and Major Performance Improvements for Some Hardware
Increased Lighting Quality
Greatly Increased Level Generation Load Times
Potentially Fixed Bug that Stops Voice Chat From Being Spatialized
Fixed Bug that Stopped All Movement When Using Items in Your Inventory
Fixed Bug that Prohibited you From Joining Lobbies You've Left
Various Reverb Audio Fixes
Greatly Reduced Stuttering when Using Hardware/Enhanced Raytracing
Added Icons For Every Button and Key
Rebound Controller Mappings for More Natural Gameplay
Reworked Controller Look Axis/Stick Feel
Added Dead-zone to Controller Movement
Added Emotes to Controller
Added Controller Vibration on Death
Remove Psycho Settings
Fixed Bug that Caused Shadows to Be Pixelated After Going to Medium Settings
Fixed Inventories Wrongly Persisting or Wiping After Level Travel
Jump Now Cancels Crouching
Fixed Steam Deck/Linux Proton Prompting to Install Files Every Time
Added Hungarian Language
Updated Localization
Fixed Issue With Achievements Sometimes not Applying
Allow Players to be More Spread Out When Encountering "Exit Requires All Players" Doors
Fixed Sanity Heartbeat Sometimes not Being Audible
Fixed Potential Crash on Clients After Traveling to a New Level
Remove Gamemode Select Screen
Various Tweaks to Item Stats
Increased Footstep Sound Volume
Increased Item Pickup Interaction Boxes
Fixed Feet Sometimes Not Being Fully Planted on the Ground
Renamed Hardware Raytracing to Enhanced Raytracing
Level 0
Made Pitfall Mold Marking Spawn Randomly Now
Updated Caution Tape Path Look
Fixed Pitfall Task not Working
Fixed Smiler Record Task Sometimes Not Registering
VRAM Optimizations
Level 1
Increased Level Size by 25%
Increased Number of Generators
Needed Generators Now Increase with Player Count
Added Exit Sign to Exit Door
Fixed Items Floating in Level 1 Spawn
Lighting Tweaks
Performance Improvements in Storage Rooms
Smoothed Generator Restart Progress Bar
Minor Audio Tweaks
Level 2
Lowered the Sound Generated By Footsteps
Added Chance of Items Inside of Lockers
Fixed Bug that Made Interact Text Persist After Opening Valve on Client
Switched Valve Indicator Light to Green for More Clarity
Level 6
Fix Level 6 Wire Sometimes Not Appearing
Redid Level 6 Wire for a More Realistic Look
Changed Wire Endpoint Logic
Level 6 Drop Rooms Now Show their Respective Color
Level 6 Doors Do Not Open Until All Buttons Are Pressed
Added Informative Objectives to Level 6
Added Pitfalls to Second Section to Pose Hazard
Added More Items and Loot to Level
Portrait Background are Now Blue
Removed Colors in Puzzle That Could Be Mistaken for the Same
Minor Performance Improvements
Level 37
Various Fixes to Textures
Fixed Crash on Clients During Level Generation
Level Run
Morgue Door Control Panel Now Flashes When Open
What's Different From the Beta?
Glad you asked! Everything you see above is new features that weren't in the beta (0.9). Below are changes that specifically pertain to the beta content. We've spent the majority of our time dialing in the game feel of the new levels!
Each Floor Item Crate Requires an Increasing Amount of Fuses
Gasoline Drain Rate is Now Different on Each Floor
Bolt Cutters are Now Found in Lockers
Fixed Clumps Camping Floor Entrances
Fixed Clumps Spawning Inside of Shelves
Added Wire Hazards that Can Stun You
Implemented Unique Hallway Generation Per Floor
Terminals Now Show the Item the Floor Provides
Fuse Amount is Now A Fixed Ratio Instead of Random
Fixed Multiple Bugs with Control Room Levers
Jail Doors now Alert and Attract the Clump
Decreased Tape Amount
Major VRAM Optimizations
Fuses Can Now Be Found in Various Lockers and Shelves
Polished Control Room Environment
Polished Clump Animations
Added Sounds to Cat Walk
Fuse Panels can Be Closed
Minor Performance Improvements
Fixed Issues with Clump Sounds not Playing
Ending Door Now Requires Bolt Cutters
Minor Ambient Audio Tweaks
Level FUN
Decreased Ticket Penalty When Moving in Red Light Green Light
Added Hint When Minigame Reward is 0
Increased Lights on Duration
Added Chance for Lights to Turn off Within 7 Seconds of Turning on
Added New Ending
Fixed Bug that Caused Partygoer to Become Immediately Hostile After Lights Come On
Fixed Issue That Crammed Players into Play Place Upon Teleport
Increased Quality of Various Meshes in Level
Small Updates to Arcade Rooms
Added Safe Zone to Start of Minigame That Will Not Deduct Tickets When Moving
Fixed Chance for Minigame to Deduct Tickets for Players Outside of Play Place
Lights Now Only Turn off in Warehouses and Parkour Play Places
Exit Locator Now Plays for Client
Lights Now Stay On in Warehouse Rooms
Exit Locator has a 33% Chance to Spawn Instead of 100%
Random Decrease Coin Cost of Larger Rooms
Cleaned Up Teleportation Logic For Smoother Transitions
Minor Adjustments to Warehouse Room Layouts
Tweaked Coin Spawn Chances
Optimized Play Place Performance
Teleport Holes are Now Green In Play Places
Decreased Food Item Spawn Chances
Increased Spawn Chances of Cupcakes and Cookies
Fixed Issue that Caused Partygoer Head to Snap
Fixed Exit Locators Having Collision
Increased Balloon Count
Various Performance Improvements
Decreased Effectiveness of Cupcakes and Cookies on Sanity
Minor Fixes to Numerous Mesh's Collision
Minor Graphical Issue Fixes
Level Hub
Minor Visual Tweaks
Fixed Issue that Caused Journey Summary to Sometimes Not Show
Fixed Time Calculation on Journey Summary
Minor Journey Summary Tweaks
Journeys and Junctions Part II Beta Out NOW
Hey everyone,
First and foremost, I want to apologize for the delay and lack of communication. This past day has been hectic preparing for release. I know you all are extremely excited but I hope you can understand there was no malicious intent. I love this community dearly and I am extremely grateful for everyone who plays my game.
In Better News…
Secondly, I am ecstatic to announce the release of Level 3, Level Fun, and the Hub, along with 2 new entities and a plethora of new items. To get the update, all you need to do is select the Beta branch to start playing right now!
Why Beta?
Over this past day, I’ve come to realize BET has grown far past its small roots. The past couple of months have seen a 50x growth in player count. Bugs no longer impact a few people, but rather hundreds. There is a certain level of bug-free polish and game balancing that is needed for the game to hold well in Steam’s limelight. These are definitely growing pains and not insurmountable but I haven't had time to scale BET for the level of polish that the player count reflects. Since June of this year, I’ve been working on the Journeys and Junctions update nonstop. With this update out now, I will have a lot more time to focus inward and build a sustainable base to meet expectations. I think BET has outgrown me a little bit recently but hopefully, I can reel things in with some team building.
How long will it be in Beta?
For the reasons mentioned above, it will probably stay in beta for a few days while we tweak the gameplay of the levels. Your feedback is crucial to this, we want to make the levels as fun as possible so please, voice what is good about the levels, and what sucks. Don’t hold back! I know a beta is annoying, and a few months ago I would’ve just pushed this update live, but with all the people now enjoying BET, I want to get it right.
What happened?
This is a very fair question. 12 hour delays are unacceptable and for me to try to justify it would solidify my ignorance. The main root cause for those curious was my build machine throwing out errors, two hours before release, meaning I couldn't push to Steam. I had to drop everything and troubleshoot which put a huge wrench in the content roll out. This build machine packages updates almost hourly without fail, so its just unfortunate circumstance. Regardless, this isn't an excuse, moving forward, I will be sure to have the update uploaded to Steam before I announce a time.
About the Discord
I’ve seen a lot of people upset about the discord being locked down, but it was the only option to avoid our server being banned by discord. 5,000 people joined in one day and by the end of the day, there were rampant slurs, nsfw content and people threatening other members in DMs. Discord has a standing policy that it is the server owner's duty to moderate and disallow those things, otherwise that server is shut down. I wasn't involved in the moderation process, but our mod team consists of a handful of my friends and no one wants to lose sleep over a discord modding role. Our server is usually a kind and friendly environment for backrooms enthusiasts so no one was prepared. After this message, there will be a slow unlocking of channels to ease back into things.
How can I improve?
Finally, some feedback for me. Addressing thousands of people is extremely difficult, along with managing getting the update out. I am well aware though of the situation being handled poorly but if I can ask for some feedback on how to better address the community, it would help me build a protocol to best serve you all. I’ll add a FAQ section to this post so we can have a semi-open discussion.
Journeys & Junctions Part I: Update 17
Change List:
Added Halloween-themed decorations to the lobby
Updated release date for Journeys and Junctions Part 2.
Journey’s and Junctions Part II Now Releasing October 28th
Hi everyone, this is a tough announcement for me to put out as I am just as excited for this update as you all are, but in order for this update to be truly special, the release date needs to be pushed back 4 weeks, to October 28th.
This is especially hard as I feel like I’m letting you all down in doing this but I feel that putting out rushed content would be letting the community down even more. This month I hired and on-boarded an additional team member but they unfortunately were unable to meet expectations. Scaling a team to meet demand is very difficult, and even more so when working on an update. It was a misstep on my behalf and I apologize. I greatly appreciate the community support over the past few months, and it has given me the resources to build a team that can make this the best backrooms game as possible. Unfortunately there’s a lot more nuance than money spent equals content.
I am the only developer working on BET currently. I am actively working to make this change but in the mean time, I greatly appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding.
As for a little progress update, as you the community is more than entitled to one, I am currently working on the last of 3 levels for this update. An extra 4 weeks gives me plenty of time to add lots of polish, make the gameplay as fun as possible, and maybe even additional content. I’ve also added a sneak peek of an upcoming entity =)
I’m sure there will be a lot of questions, but I predict these to be the biggest of them so i’ve answered them ahead of time. I will be in discord and steam forums, answering any additional questions.
Why tell us the day before the release day?
This was a delay I thought I was able to avoid, even with the reasons mentioned above. Delaying the update is the last thing I want to do, so I wanted to give it my best effort to make the deadline. I realize now that this would mean shipping rushed content and the community does not deserve that.
If the update was almost ready, why are you pushing it back 4 weeks?
I know delays suck for everyone, and the last thing I want is to mislead expectations. 4 weeks guarantees there will be no future delays and it also gives me more time to add even more content to make this update.
Sorry again, Blake
Journeys & Junctions Part I: Update 16
Change List:
Added "Invert Mouse" option that inverts the Y axis when looking
Fixed bug that caused mouse movements to be inverted when eating too many moldy bananas
Journeys & Junctions Part I: Hotfix 15
Change List:
Fixed bug that caused the player to fly through the ending cutscene at Mach 8
