It's finally here! I can't thank you all enough for keeping hope for the project as I was working on transitioning this from a solo project to a studio and building up a team. Updates will be much more frequent from this point on. This update has been a long time coming but rest assured future updates will take far less time.
CHANGELIST:
Added Level 2, Pipe Dreams
Added Level 4, The Abandoned Office
Added a New Entity
The Flashlight is Now Toggleable with T
Various Global Optimizations
Significant Optimizations to Level 1
Increased Sprint Duration by 10%
Rebuilt the Procedural Generation System to Allow Many Future Unique Levels
KNOWN ISSUES: (These will be addressed in a hotfix very soon)
Scratcher is Extremely Difficult to Hide From
Level 4 Exit is Sometimes too Hard, and Sometimes Way too Easy
Connected Clients Don't Get Sent Back to the Lobby When All Players Die
Clients Sometimes Can No Clip Through Walls in Level 2, This is not Intended.
Update on the Updates
Hey everyone!
It’s been a bit and I wanted to update you all and apologize for keeping everyone in the dark for so long. The last couple of months have proved to be immensely challenging development-wise. Things like procedural generation issues, bugs, and just recently, me getting sick with some pretty nasty food poisoning have caused delays that don’t bode well for the vision I have for this project. I’ve come to realize it's just too big of a feat for me alone.
Since release, I have been actively searching for passionate developers to help build out this vision. At the start of this month, I hired my first employee and am in the process of hiring another extremely promising candidate!
Augmenting the best tools for collaboration into a solo project is no easy feat and requires lots of system administrative work, documentation writing, business organization, etc. As result, this has taken up almost all of my time recently, and will continue to do so for the next week or two. After this is done, it will take a couple of weeks for new employees to get familiar with the code base and be able to start contributing.
All I ask is for everyone’s patience for this period, there will be a short-term hiccup in development but huge long-term benefits in terms of development speed. I expect the Q1 roadmap to be finished by mid-April instead of the planned March deadline. Its important to add that the original dates were estimates as noted in the roadmap, so sorry for any confusion!
This is a super exciting time for BET and I wanted to thank everyone for all of your support without you all, none of this would be possible. If anyone is interested in joining the team, is super passionate about building the best Backrooms game possible, and has great Unreal Engine C++ skills, apply to work for Triiodide here!
I hope you all have enjoyed the holidays. I'm super excited for this year and all that is in store for BET. I wanted to post a road map detailing my plans for Q1 (Now-Spring) Just clarify, I've decided to bundle the next update and release two levels at once, it may take a bit longer but I want this update to feel extremely sizable. Lastly, now that the holidays are over, I will have all the time in the world to dedicate to BET.
Thanks for sticking around and playing!
Click here to view a larger version of the roadmap.
BET 0.1.2
Changes:
Overhauled the vast majority of level art, improving graphics greatly
Added random puddle generation
Skin Stealer AI improvements
Skin Stealer animation improvements
Made minor tweaks to level generation
Reduced flashlight brightness and range
Fixed generators spawning inside walls and soft-locking players
Hi everyone! Thanks for all of the undeserved support recently. I hope you all enjoy this update that polishes a lot of rough edges that were launched in the initial release of Level 1. Level 1 should be out of beta in 5-7 days as I add more procedural generation/explorable areas this week.
On the topic of Levels, I wanted to apologize for being unable to meet the promised 1-2 weeks. My intent was never to mislead; I was confident this was achievable at first but bug fixes, polishing old levels, and managing all of the other things that come with a shipped game, this just isn't realistic on my own.
This is something that I would like to reinstate in the future if and when I can hire help/polish workflows. That being said, the official level cadence will be "New Levels Every Month". It's entirely possible that there will be multiple levels released in one month, but for now, it's best I don't promise that, instead focusing on releasing a single polished level.
Thank you again, everyone :)
BET 0.1.1
Hey everyone, I've just gotten back from my 5-day trip yesterday and I'm ready to go full steam ahead on level 1 fixes and development. This is the first minor update addressing the most significant issues but many more will be coming this week. Thanks for sticking around and showing so much undeserved support!
Change Log:
Fixed "Phantom" Skin Stealers (Only one person could see them and they would stand still)
Fixed the wrong escape message showing on non-hosts for level 1
Beating level 0 now brings you to level 1
Fixed shadow artifacts on level 1
Fixed issue where some players would fall through the floor at the start of level 1
Added achievement for beating level 1
Fixed language setting not applying the selected language
Added Czech, Swedish, and Ukrainian translations
Implemented new crash reporting feature, allowing bugs to be pinpointed and patched much quicker
BET 0.1.0: Level 1 Released! [BETA]
Level 1 is finally out!
A big disclaimer, Level 1 is in very early beta at the moment it still needs a fair amount of work but I wanted to get it out to everyone instead of delaying it further.
Most notably:
Enterable rooms, currently they are walled off but rooms that you can explore and find things in will be coming
Skin stealer AI improvements, a flanking feature will be added so they don't just go straight on, making it harder to fend them off with your flashlight
Puddles, this is done, I have everything for it but just need to add it to the generation
A better exit. Right now the exit is pretty uninspired. I have plans of doing a vent puzzle escape that's going to be a big part of the level
Extra sound effects for generators, lights, monsters etc
A second story in the parking garage with ramps
LEVEL 1 RELEASED [BETA]
Level 1 is finally out!
A big disclaimer, Level 1 is in very early beta at the moment it still needs a fair amount of work but I wanted to get it out to everyone instead of delaying it further.
Most notably:
Enterable rooms, currently they are walled off but rooms that you can explore and find things in will be coming
Skin stealer AI improvements, a flanking feature will be added so they don't just go straight on, making it harder to fend them off with your flashlight
Puddles, this is done, I have everything for it but just need to add it to the generation
A better exit. Right now the exit is pretty uninspired. I have plans of doing a vent puzzle escape that's going to be a big part of the level
Extra sound effects for generators, lights, monsters etc
A second story in the parking garage with ramps
BET 0.0.3 + Level 1 Release Date Announcement
Update Overview:
Significantly improved Bacteria's AI
Added public lobbies
Added the option for 6-player lobbies
Fixed numerous multiplayer joining issues
Added exit signs around the elevator to help lost players
Added Steam achievement when escaping Level 0
Overhauled the main menu (UI and background improvements)
Lowered tape count requirement to 8 (Each extra player is an extra tape, eg. 2 players = 9 tapes)
Made pitfalls harder to fall off of
Decreased stamina drain rate by 10% and increased regen by 20%
Lowered average event rate by 15%
Bacteria AI Updates:
Bacteria will no longer camp your hiding spot
Bacteria will try to look for an alternate path to get you if on the pitfalls instead of glitching
Bacteria will now search the area around your last known location
Bacteria now responds more intelligently to sounds like whistling and footsteps
Bacteria will no longer stay agro-locked if it can't reach you
Squashed Bugs:
Fixed mic staying on after dying
Fixed bug that made it so you had to click twice for the first time on the main menu
Fixed loading screen when joining lobbies
Fixed not being able to join lobbies via code sometimes
Fixed not being able to exit lobbies
Fixed issue where button clicks/hitboxes wouldn't line up with the icon
Fixed crash when beating level 0
Fixed camera hiss being audible on the host when a player is using it
Fixed sound being muted after beating level 0
Fixed level 1 launch date when beating level 0
-Level 1 Release Date-
Firstly, I really want to apologize for the delay. This update has taken a good chunk of my time and I didn't want to just neglect the base game and slap Level 1 onto it. A large part of this game's philosophy is making the base as strong as possible and building off from there.
That being said, I'm super excited to announce the official release date for Level 1! Level 1 will be released on Friday, November 11th.
BET 0.02 + New Map Announcement
NEW MAP ANNOUCED: "Level 1 is a massive warehouse with concrete floors and walls, exposed rebar, dim fluorescent lights placed on the walls, and a low-hanging fog with no discernible source. The fog often coalesces into condensation, forming puddles on the floor in inconsistent areas."
Goals: Repair generators to restore the backup power and collect almond water to prepare for your journey into the backrooms.
Entities: Facelings (Passive), Skin Stealers (Hostile, but only come out in the dark, light and large groups will scare them off)
Events: The power will intermittently turn off. You are then left with only a flashlight as skin stealers are out on the hunt.
Time per successful run-through: 15-20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
ETA: October 28th-November 2nd
0.0.2 UPDATE FEATURES:
Added voice proximity chat (beta)
Added numbered hazmat suites to better differentiate in multiplayer
Added German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian translations, thanks to our awesome Discord community.
Fixed loading screen bug when joining sessions
Improved audio quality
Tweaked stamina drain
A Thank You: I wanted to take a second to thank everyone for supporting this dream. The support has been outrageous and I can't thank you all enough. I am committed to making the best Backrooms game possible and I won't stop until it's miles ahead of anything else anyone has ever played. Thank you all again.
B.E.T v0.0.1: The Bacteria Update
Added Bacteria roaming sounds
Bacteria no longer endlessly screams
Fixed issue where Bacteria would block you in the elevator
Bacteria has "rage" meter, meaning it will start the game off more docile but as you complete your objectives, it will become increasingly aggressive
Updated Bacteria's AI
Added win screen after beating Level 0
Fixed crash caused by Smilers
Balanced audio, including lower Bacteria screams and whistle.
