- Ai can now use the mounted gun ability, still a little weirdness but the issue is largely fixed.
- The punch clock in the desert op level now works as intended.
Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum
0.6.9.8 Hotfix
0.6.9.8 Update
Got a weird one for you. This week I had fun with a new feature and added a bunch of other random stuff.
This update features some more lovely artwork from @saspicious! Go commission something from them on twitter here!
As always, join the discord!
Here are da notes!
New Stuff
- Added Mounted Guns. I attempted to make the lamest thing in video games fun, hopefully you like them! These bad bois appear in a few existing levels. The AI can generally use them too, although there are a few weird behaviors I might change later. And if you want one on demand…
- New Gunmeister Ability: Hell Fire Club. Summon a mounted gun wherever you want it! Gunmeister is in a good spot balance and fun wise imo but not in a good spot variety wise. This is the first ability that doesn’t involve just applying a buff to your weapon. It’s also absolutely BUSTED if ur even a little creative so it costs 12 ego fuck you
- Level Updates! I’ve been going through and fixing up some missions based on feedback. I did three this week and I’ve got changes planned for many more.
- Desert Op mission now has you hunting down 3 commanders instead of everyone. These dudes are tough, and very reluctant to leave their starting spots so they can step on a landmine. I also modified the level geometry, and threw in some mounted guns for good measure.
- The Cartel Job mission was slightly modified to make it more fair. This mission was a brick wall for a lot of players, myself included. There’s now a mounted gun in the north west, and some changes to turret placement to help out hackers. The standard grunt enemies also got a 75% damage reduction penalty. There are so many of them it’s only fair they go down quickly.
- The Cabin in the Woods mission was kinda hard on hackers, so I’ve added some new computers to provide additional pathways towards completing the level.
- Added new computer: Blood Bank. A datastore that succs you!
- Added some new skeleton sprites.
Tweaks and Fixes
- Bows now work with the unstoppable force, and forbidden technique perks. Bows were hacked in as a ranged “melee” option so these perks didn’t play nice before.
- Grenades had their damage generation floor adjusted from level x 3 to just 3. This is meant to accommodate players who build around hurting (but not killing) themselves with their own grenades. I’ll be looking into adding a downgrade option for your armory soon!
- Fixed a lot of UI buttons that turned pure white when you hovered over them. There are still buttons that do this but the Missions screen, email, and other big menus have been fixed. This was a stylistic choice that was sort of obnoxious so I'm working to patch it out. Thanks to Taigen Moon for suggesting this change!
- Fixed several bugs with exotic weapon types not upgrading or summoning properly, including Meepis’s legendary twin saber Abdul Rayyan!
- Meepis’s legendary twin saber Abdul Rayyan is now considered a “Full Swing” melee type. Operates the same as a half swing but the hitbox causes damage to be dealt 360 degrees around the user.
- Bows dropped by pagan sneakers are now visible to the player, even if the sneaker dies underneath the shadow of the swamp.
- Fixed a bug where walkie talkies looked crooked when pulled out mid kick by enemies.
- An enemy in the rescue mission was placed out of bounds so I got them back to where they needed to be.
Known Issues
- Enemies can’t use the mounted gun ability, something about it messes with their AI so I’ve disabled it for now.
- Plenty not listed here.
Feeling mentally ready to resume work on the next big side quest, so I may take a week off from regular updates depending on how that goes.
Thank you to everyone who submitted a report this week, and a special thanks to everyone who left a review!
0.6.9.7 Hotfix
Fixed some typos
Breaker boxes in the train how hit connective segments as well
Fixed several bugs with melee weapon generation, enemies dropping a different weapon after dying, that sort of thing
0.6.9.7 Update
If you wanna access this mission, all you gotta do is Pay 100k towards your debt. This means that finished save files can't currently access the mission. I'm working on a way to make that happen tho.
As always, Join the Discord!
New Stuff
- Added Meepis
- Added the new secret Rewards Program Mission. Good little agents who pay their debts get rewards! This new mission features the song Fake Creative by THISBOYB who was kind enough to lend it to me. You can check out their stuff on soundcloud here!
- You can now zoom out a lot more on the network graph to 0.5x
- Added several new variants of hacking enemies. These only appear in the new mission currently, however I plan to make different types of hacking a bigger deal in DDS moving forward.
- Added tons of new computers, including the shutter stations, blood sucking toll booths, radar arrays, operators, punchclocks, fatnodes, and the atrocious symbol of disdain. These currently only appear in the new mission, but depending on reception I may incorporate them in existing levels later on as well!
- Added some new curved directional melee weapons, including the Khopesh, Sabre, and more!
- 5 new skeleton sprites!
- Added Scronkle
Tweaks and Fixes
- Easy Hack Menu no longer leaves remaining text
- Fixed a bug where brass knuckles were putting targets to sleep in addition to dealing damage, now they just deal damage.
- Camera alert range increased by 25% This had previously been nerfed but it was breaking some of the encounter designs so boosted it back up.
- Fixed several duplicate workstation names in the Rescue Mission
- Lots of small bug fixes involving AI.
Known Issues Introduced In this Update
One of the mechanical rewards for completing this quest requires some big changes to work, so currently it is not available. I’ll be adding that in at a later date.
Red Bypass hackers can sometimes get locked into not attacking you if you attack them first. I’ve had a really hard time figuring this out and I decided not to delay everything just to fix it.
Currently, you can only access this mission by paying into your debt, meaning it isn't accessible from finished save files. I'm working on a quick alternate way of getting to this mission for agents who have beaten the game and don't wanna start a new character
This mission has a lot of padding, in terms of the story stuff before hand.
Some Thoughts
Finally, I wanted to write some general thoughts on how the project is coming along. DDS was released in early access three months ago, meaning that there are supposed to be three months left in the early access period. Completing DDS by then will be basically impossible and I’ll be updating the early access banner in the near future to reflect that >:| My life and work outside of gamedev has gotten busy and it’s been difficult to keep up. I’m very sorry about this. I don’t want to be one of those devs who keeps their project in early access forever, but this period will definitely need to be extended to finish the planned content.
Next some thoughts on future content. This will contain some spoilers for the new mission. The new optional mission added in this update is frankly ridiculous in terms of difficulty and size. It’s meant to serve as a final challenge and something to chew on while I finish up the next side quest. I’ve added lots of options for getting around the huge map, so hopefully this does not end up being a failed experiment. Going forward, I want to focus on smaller shorter missions like those featured in the early to mid game that are challenging due to more interesting mechanics. I’ve made a few of these for the new sidequest, and while they’re much harder to design, they’re easier to test and maintain. For those of you concerned that future DDS missions will continue ballooning out of control please be aware that I’m working to avoid this.
There are also a few mechanical rewards missing from this new sidequest that will appear in your apartment in a later update depending on your choices. For my own sanity I wanted to get this out and didn’t wanna delay the entire update another week.
For the next few weeks I’m going to be shifting gears back towards fixing bugs, and fundamental issues in DDS’s core codebase. Lots of issues have been reported over the last few weeks and I want to address those ASAP now that this update is out. I’m also working on an overhaul to the randomly generated missions which, as a player mentioned, feel much more “random” than “generated at the moment. This was needed anyway for the planned roguelike mode.
That’s all for now, thank you everyone who picked up DDS and a special thanks to everyone who left a review!
0.6.9.6.5 Update
Lots of you have purchased the game during this Steam sale, so welcome! This is a smol update with some very important bug fixes!
New Stuff
- Added a button to the top right of the ez hack window that will scale its size.
- Bubble drones now have a stay and roam command so they can hold a position for you.
- Maintenance Hub have a new drain command that lowers enemy ego down to zero. This is a pretty niche thing right now but will be more useful in later missions.
- Added a hacking resistance parameter. This extends the time it takes to be autohacked. Currently doesn't really matter but will be important in future updates.
Fixes
- Fixed a BIG BUG where a dialogue encounter at the end of the "champion" mission was skipped if you talked to certain secret NPCs earlier in the game. This was due to a weird flag mislabel mistake on my end. This dialogue encounter has been reset for all players if you wanna go back and see it. If you finished the champion mission and things felt really weird and incomplete, you probably ran into this bug!
- Fixed a bug where you could receive a pacifist reward without going pacifist if you completed a mission and then died on your way to the exit.
- I found many weird bugs in the bubble drone AI when ordering it into a position with the [X] key so ordering has been disabled for this unit temporarily.
- Shifter and Secret Stash computers now work with the ez hax interface
Currently working on a new standalone mission that imma try and have done next week. Big changes to level generation, lots of new ways for enemies to hack you are also in the works, along with a big new sidequest!
Thank you again to everyone who has kept up with the game and left a review :> I finally have a few days off for the holidays and imma spend it getting some serious dev work done (•̀ᴗ•́)و
0.6.9.6 Update
Here with a weird and chaotic DDS update. This one features some amazing artwork from Emett. Go check out their work on twitter!
Btw, did you know DDS has a difficulty slider that reduces the damage you take? A lot of agents didn't! You can find this in the gameplay section of the options menu.
Here are da notes.
New Stuff
- Customize the DDS a e s t h e t i c with lots of new color settings!
- Added new highly customizable scanline shader.
If you feel like playing around with these new customization settings, tweet out your creations using the #ddsvibes hastag! I'm looking for a new default profile plus some presets and would love to borrow some community creations for that purpose.
- Updated options menu with tabs for each category. This will give me room to add even more options.
- You can now delete items from your armory to remove annoying clutter.
- Updated the Train mission with an emergency braking system. Using this will allow you to walk outside, but stopping the train may lead to unforeseen consequences :O
- Updated a big chunk of the rescue mission. This section previously had an annoying hacking puzzle that most players just went around.
- Added like 5 new extra cute skeleton sprites to the generation pool.
- Added a speedrunnin' timer you can turn on from the options menu. I don't know much about speedrunning so I'm sure there are some improvements I can make to this thing. Some other requested features like the ability to disable secret ability unlocks from previous runs are also in the works. I've been told that DDS has some speedrunnin' potential so I'll be providing some additional support for this in the future. Check out the current world record here! https://www.speedrun.com/deadeye_deepfake_simulacrum/run/z1q1kxwy
Fixes
- Haunters spawned from the Necromancer whiteout ability no longer leave invisible corpses.
- The Hungry aura perk no longer stacks when multiple units in an area have it.
- These changes prevent the game from EXPLODING when doing a particular level. This previously lead to hundreds of zombies being spawned which, while funny, brought the game to its knees.
Taking a short break from the development of the next beeg sidequest to do a shorter standalone mission thing. I'm planning on releasing that in the next two weeks!
0.6.9.5.5 Hotfix
0.6.9.5.5 Update (• 3 •)
Very quick weekly update for you. This comes with save file corruption protection, and a bunch of tweaks and fixes.
New Stuff
- Save File Corruption protection! DDS will now backup your save game each time you load successfully, and attempt to restore things in the event of space wedgie. I have received a single digit number of complaints about save files dying since launch. While this doesn't seem to affect a lot of people, losing your save file really really sucks! This is not a perfect solution, but I think it'll greatly lower the chance of your save getting screwed up.
Fixes
- Jump the Gun Perk buffed, reload penalty is now 1.5x instead of 2x. This perk is weird, and this buff doesn't necessarily make it good. Keeping an eye on it.
- Breach! Ability now has 1 charge. You can still use this to bypass some levels, but it now requires combining with a second ability of some kind.
- Breach charges no longer pass through doors.
- Fixed some spelling mistakes in vocation descriptions, and changed description for technician.
- Equipping items in the shop now reloads your perks. This should solve a lot of weird issues in the apartment where perks could temporarily boost your stats. If you know you know.
- Fixed a bug where the immovable object perk for knight would stack the speed debuff after interacting with the abilities menu.
- Baby mimics should no longer cause cameras to break. Cameras still look like disco balls with so many of them crawling around but that's a problem for another day.
- Nosh ability buff. This ability was pretty good but people were only using it for the ego recovery. Now Nosh will restore 3 hp, 2 slug, and 1 ego, instead of 1s across the board. I hope this makes the ability more useful to different types of agents!
- Fixed a bug where NPCs with legendary weapons would not drop them if you one shotted them before they become alerted.
Now for a quick development update! It's about 1 month into the development of the next side quest. I have 7 missions planned for this with possibly an 8th standalone joining them. The first 3 are done, along with the story bits connecting them. That means I'm kind of behind schedule for getting this released by the end of the year :/ I expect development for this to extend into January but I promise to make the new content worth the wait :>
Thanks as always for checking out DDS and keeping up with development! See you next week with more esoteric bug fixes and maybe a new feature!
0.6.9.5 Update
This update is crazy late. Sorry about that! My life is still pretty busy but I've got some fun bite-sized changes to share with y'all this week. Here are da notes!
- Orb ammo gets a buff! These rounds no longer hover for a second before changing course to the nearest target. They previously had a 50% damage penalty after this for some reason. No more! Orb ammo is now actually fun to use. I've also updated the sound effect to give it some bass.
- New ability for Technician - Breach! - Throw a satchel charge that destroys walls. I've wanted to add something like this for a while but there were lots of details to iron out. You can't currently hack the satchel charges but I'll be updating these things for stuff like that in the future.
- Many changes to superfast travel. I resolved a lot of bugs associated with moving crazy fast. The player should now have a much harder time glitching through walls when traveling this fast, and some of the weird movement-skipping should be greatly reduced at certain speed thresholds. If you still wanna slip through walls with this strat, check out the necromancer vocation! This fix was ANNOYING to get working, and it's still not perfect :< I think we're on the right track though.
- Added remotehelp and localhelp to autocomplete
- you can now press ctrl+backspace to delete full words in the terminal, special thanks to user modern in the discord for decompiling the game and writing the code for this!
Thanks again to everyone who has given DDS a try so far, and a *special* thanks to everyone who left a review! We still got that perfect streak going. A few more positive reviews and I can start developing that God complex I've always wanted. Fufufufu~ <(￣︶￣)>
Join the Discord!
Help Nominate DDS for the Steam Awards :O
Here with a quick little announcement. The Steam awards are fast approaching and that means you get to nominate your favorite games for funzo categories :O
I would be absolutely honored if any of you would like to nominate DDS for the Most Innovative Gameplay category!
That is all. Have a wonderful day (o˘◡˘o)