Working on getting a Public Roadmap out, there's seems to be an awful lot of confusion on the current status of the game's developmentːsteamsaltyː (i.e., some folks think this is it, there's nothing new to be added or being worked on...)
So going to finally put that to rest with a pubic roadmap.ːsteamhappyː
Twitch
https://www.twitch.tv/victorburgosgames
Discord
If you need some realtime chat support from your fellow Survivors or want to chat up the devs, join our Discord: https://discord.gg/monochrome
AMA - Update 3 and Beyond - Now Live on Twitch
Summary
Jump onto Twitch if you have any questions or concerns about the current state of the game, what the future holds for us, or something random like my favorite drinkːsteammockingː. All the while I work on Save/Load and probably other things for Update 3.
Twitch
https://www.twitch.tv/victorburgosgames
ːsteamhappyːːsteammockingː
Will be updating the Demo today (tell all your buddies!)
Summary
Goign to be updating the demo today. Doing the final touches now live on stream:
https://www.twitch.tv/victorburgosgames
Tell everyone you know with a VR headset, if they have had any reservations about the game... let them try it out for free basically. The whole apartment level (3rd floor) is up for grabs in this version.
It has all the most recent updates (Up to Update 2 and a few more goodies as well)
Update 2 Live!!!
OPEN BETA
First off, thank you for all those who helped test out the Beta branch and submitted bug reports! Without you, it would have been harder to get this Update out.ːsteamhappyː
Second, if you want to join in on the next update's beta, follow this: https://gyazo.com/110f52ae4c60f7d4250d3418d5630ffd
SUMMARY
Increase in performance on the city map, better melee, improved hit reactions from the zombies, new Shooting Range to test out various weapons and so much more in this update, we hope you enjoy!
Update 2 "Final" Sneak Peak in is Beta branch
SUMMARY
Full patch notes will be up when it's released to the main branch. But here are a few items from the various departments. Don't know how to get to beta? Follow this: https://gyazo.com/110f52ae4c60f7d4250d3418d5630ffd
USER EXPERIENCE
Added some localization in the following languages: English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, to tooltips in various areas. This is a work in progress, they will be corrected and expanded upon as time goes on, including subtitles. New languages will appear in the future
GAMEPLAY
FIXED: Items (typically keycards) falling through the ground
FIXED: Alarm watch not going off when you load into the apartment (yeah it’s supposed to be a bit annoying on purpose, remember your watch menu!)
FIXED: Toggle grip issues with weapons and all cabinets in the Outbreak
mission
AI
Zombies no longer appear headless
LEVEL DESIGN
Firing Range added. The entrance is at the basement of the Apt Complex.
ART
If zombies are shot in the leg, they fall down and crawl towards player now
AUDIO
Footsteps are now more pronounced/working as intended
FROM PLAYER FEEDBACK
Firing Range logic (first pass), go in and have some fun! It will be continuously improved upon as time goes on. (Go to basement)
STAY INFORMED
As always don't forget to follow and jump onto Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/victorburgosgames where I am usually live streaming development of the game and join us on Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/monochrome and join over 1400 fellow Survivors in chat!
BETA BUG REPORTS
ːsteamhappyː Please report any bugs (ON BETA) on the Steam subforum: Open Beta, on Discord (#open-beta) or jump on Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/victorburgosgames) and tell me!
Update 2 Bug Fixing and Dev Status Report Live Stream
Summary
I'll be going over our current issues that we are having in development, as well as possible solutions. Also I will answer ANY and ALL questions and concerns you all may have about the game or anything else really. Even my favorite food if you so desire to know it (which happens to be Gyudon btw)ːsteamhappyː
Twitch
https://www.twitch.tv/victorburgosgames
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/victorburgosgames
Update 2 Status/Open Beta
Summary
Alright, last week didn't go as planned at allːsteamsadː. We were trying to get out Update 2, and then we ran into some bugs, we fixed those bugs then pushed it out...well, those bug fixes actually introduced more bugs that the testers didn't catchːsteamfacepalmː.
We also had very few participating testers during that day. Which is where "Open Betas" are going to now come into play. We'll still have our core playtesters (looking for more BTWːsteamhappyː), and they'll help us out with verifying/reproducing bug reports, but to be honest....you are all super good at finding bugs and stuff that breaks the game!ːsteammockingː
So here's an opportunity to help make the game better (yeah, that's also what Early Access is supposed to be all about!) That and you'll get to play the latest and greatestːsteamhappyː.
Where to report bugs?
Please report them in the "Open Beta" subforum or on Discord (https://discord.gg/monochrome) channel #open-beta
Want to become an official playtester for us?
Jump onto Discord and signup in #request-forms
So how's Open Beta going to work?
Basically, if we don't get any bug reports within a certain period of time (mainly super annoying or game-breaking ones), then we'll push it out to the Public after making sure it's gravy one more time by the dev themselves.
When it's released to the public, we'll release the patch notes as well.
Open Beta Update 2 Summary
While full patch notes will go out on release...here are some things to look forward to in Open Beta:
Firing Range (basement of the apartment complex you load into when you start the game)
Localization of most of the tooltips (more coming later)
Weapons now will flash slides and fire selectors briefly on grip (unless in immersion mode)
A whole bunch of annoying bugs were fixed.
Oh, I also added a working vending machine to the first garage in Outbreak, because it took all of 30 minutes and someone asked for one when I asked what you all wanted when we hit 70% in Discord, and well, yeah, we aren't there anymore, but still, a promise is a promise.
Which reminds me, I'd love to get a list of feature-requests for when we hit milestones (Like review %, sales, etc). Think of them like strech goals.
Post them on Steam or Discord.
Thanks!!!
Update 2 (Content/Patch) Prep/Bugfixing Live Stream
Summary
Looking to see if we can't push out Update 2 today ːsteamhappyː. Just depends if we can kill any major bugs we and our playtesters can catch before releasing to the publicːsteammockingː.
And in case you missed it before. We were doing "too many hotfixes (almost 2 weeks later, it didn't make sense to keep calling them hotfixes)
You will STILL receive hotfixes, but they will only happen in between Updates, which come in two flavors: Content and Patch Updates and will typically happen weekly at the end of the week (we are pushing for Thursday releases)
Hotfix 8 was renamed into Update 1. I will continue to name the hotfixes incrementally so it's easier to keep totals between Updates and Hotfixes :) (If anyone has any objections or feel like there's a better way to make this clearer to understand, let me know! )
Twitch
https://www.twitch.tv/victorburgosgames
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/victorburgosgames
Mixer
https://mixer.com/VictorBurgos
Addressing: "Why is the demo so polished, but Early Access isn't?"
I took a bit of time out of my day to work on this to hopefully address this concern one last time. If you ever see anyone ask this question online (Reddit, YouTube, Steam review, Discord, wherever) please direct them here!
If you have any further questions or concerns, please ask them below and we'll address them!
Questions from the audience
I'm not exactly sure how this answers the question. The initial demo was made with a programmer that made a buggy mess? The demo was based on a framework that was completely redone by the time of EA? Hotfixes and changes after EA launch messed with earlier systems?
The initial demo that was released to the public was with me. The first programmer that was handling most of the logic had no clue what they were doing and had caused a lot of issues.
When I came onboard the project I had to redo a lot of his systems. Which takes time . And adding new systems to make sure the vision for the demo worked. Alex at the time when they started had very little to no knowledge of programming/scripting. Only through Blueprints was he able to grasp it and keep the project afloat. But it wasn't enough and I was brought onboard.
The demo was a "proof of concept" if you will. Show what could be done if/when done right, with enough time . All those systems in the demo were completely gutted for the EA launch. A lot of the feedback from the demo basically has us redoing 95% of all the gameplay systems so that we could get what the majority wanted in there. Which takes time, in this case... a lot of time .
Hotifxes and Changes after EA launch made the game better. Eventually, with enough time , we will get to the amount of polish and care that the demo was given.
To recap: Demo launch happened with 1.5 years of total dev time. EA Launch basically happened with 4 months of total dev time. Obviously these aren't super accurate numbers, because a lot of the art/sounds/design were already in place, a lot were tweaked for performance though. But basically 98% of all programming logic you could consider less than 4 months old.
Update #1 - Patch - The First Patch To Fix A Whole Bunch Of Random Stuff
Whoa...new name?
So yeah, after some talking over, it doesn't make sense for a hotfix to appear 2 weeks laterːsteammockingː Also, there were various improvements and gameplay changes, that a naming convention change was in order. We are striving for an update at least once per week, with hotfixes to appear in between them if neccessary.
The new naming conventions will be as follows:
Updates will come in two flavors: Patches, which will resolve bugs, gameplay changes, balancing, etc and Content, which will introduce new gameplay features, missions, modes, etc. And you should expect them on Thursdays unless something crazy happens.
This came out a bit later than expected, but we ran into some small bugs with the fuses, and had to put a workaround in place. Otherwise there's a mix of random stuff fixed and tweaked, while Slot Save/Loading still MIAːsteamsadː. and pushed to Hotfix #9...
FIXED
**Please note: Your Options Settings on your watch may have changed, please check them prior to playing!**
AutoLift does not affected the cellphone anymore
Toggle Grip disengages on Coins/Fuses/FuseBoxes and Melee breaks now (if there are other items that Toggle Grip doesn't disengage properly other than by running away, let me know)
Fixed a crash that was occuring with the TV (which also seems to have fixed crashes that were occurring outside the Apartment, if so, woohoo, if not let me know)
Interim Saving (between levels) is functional (with a few bugs, duplication of keycards in backpack and doesn't save held items (yet)), will fix in next update
Fuses not appearing in Garage to do Fuse Minigame (now have searchables to look for and grab them)
Grenade no longer able to be grabbed from Clean Apartment using Arcade Machine quarters
Invisible Zombies no more
No longer able to walk through vending machine and wife's car
Performance is vastly improved in City map (Garage area)
Various attack animations cleaned up
Loading Doors are no longer able to be destroyed
Riot Zombie now able to be killed with melee
No longer able to slot items into backpack that's closed
FROM PLAYER FEEDBACK
The beginnings of the Slot Save/Load was started: Going back and forth with my Twitch audience, we came up with a neat idea about how to do Slot Saving, inspired by Resident Evil’s Ribbon/Typewriter save system, we’ll be using Lighters and Candles. Eventually, the lighter will have lighter fluid that you’ll have to scavenge about for fuel so that you can save your game (trolllolːsteammockingː, nah, but that would have been funny).
UPDATED
City Map (Post Apartment) care package removed since Interim saving is back, while there's a few new items to look out for.
Added some more tooltips in the Starting Apartment for more clarity on some things that new players were having issues with.
OUTSTANDING MAJOR ISSUES
Save/Load Game system (Hotfix #9 now) ːsteamsadːːsteamsadː Patience...it will be worth doing it right the first time rather than something buggy.
Interim Saving does not allow saving of held items (so don't hold onto anything between levels)
ːsteamhappyː Please report any bugs on the Steam subforum: Bugs, on Discord or jump on Twitch and tell me!
Also please consider editing your reviews to reflect the current state of the game, thanks everyone! Stay tuned for Hotfix#9 as well as our first Content Update, coming soon! ːsteamhappyː
STAY INFORMED
As always don't forget to follow and jump onto Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/victorburgosgames where I am usually live streaming development of the game and join us on Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/monochrome and join over 1400 fellow Survivors in chat!
