Hello everyone, it has been a while. Draggie/Jeroen got a new part-time job besides gamedev and due to the changes had little time/energy to work on the game. Things are stabilizing now though and we're picking things back up.
We want to get the Store done next and that will get the game into Beta (version 0.1), which means we can then fully focus on polishing/fixing existing features and adding all the extra features/content.
So lets start with this patch, which is the last one before the Beta release. Lets take a look.
Bugfixes:
Fixed navmes in large Cryo room,
Fixed missing lights in one of the spiral staircases,
Fixed missing light tags in the new staircases,
Fixed audio settings not working in pause menu,
Fixed ambient Lobby sounds using the wrong audio bus, making volume settings not work for those,
Fixed bugged fire sprite in Tutorial,
Fixed lights being on in infected area in Tutorial,
Fixed some missing reverb area settings in Tutorial,
Fixed missing reverb area settings in some level generator sections,
Added missing area triggers in Tutorial,
Added and adjusted missing area tags in Tutorial for infection and Tools,
Fixed Skeleton monster spawn scream sound not playing,
Fixed issues with Skeleton monster spawn animation causing it to get stuck in an idle loop,
Fixed inventory and item dropping not working when player died previously with the PDA open,
Polishes:
Added more spawn locations for Special Items,
Added more spawn locations for Crew,
Item Monsters:
The Special Items that you need to retrieve can now be corrupted by the Infection, turning them into various passive and active creatures. Some will make it harder to see, others will mess with head and give you hallucinations and there's even one that can place you right in the midst of the source of horrors!
Working towards Beta
It's been a little quiet, so time for an heads-up on what we are working on and what you can expect.
Working towards the Beta:
The game is currently at version 0.08e and next update will be version 0.09. Now this update focuses mostly on the Special Items, the new monsters of these Items and the extra tasks during missions such as retrieving Items and Crew.
Here's some previews of the new creatures that the Infection spawns:
However we've been already working on the Store too, to get some basic systems in place. With the Store you'll be able to use your "space credits" accumulated from your missions to buy better and more equipment. This also means that players/teams will now start out with only the bare basics, instead of having almost everything from the get-go. Additionally players will need to take into consideration that certain equipment such as the EMP bomb and Fire Extinguisher are single-use only and thus need to be bought again after use. Of course we will make sure this is nicely balanced out with the rewards you get from successful missions. (these interfaces are still a work-in-progress, of course)
Once 0.09 is out we can start improving and expanding on the Store, to works towards the beta 0.1 release. Amongst other things we'll need to design and make new Suits, Tools and Weapons. We're hoping to get 0.09 out sometime this month (July).
As a TL;DR: here's a list of things that we are working on or still have to do for the Beta:
Finish the 3 Item Monsters, each having unique abilities that will not kill you but will make your mission that much harder, These are almost done.
Finish the Store functionality. You will be able to manage the equipment you use on missions as well as buy new equipment. The basics are there but we need to finish the management section of the Store.
Add new Suits that are more specialized and/or more resilient, This is still TODO.
Add new Tools to help you on your missions. These will be able to temporarily deter the monsters, will help with pinpointing the location of the Source, will help deal with fire and repairs, etc. These are TODO.
New room: the Oxygen Farm. Here you will be able to recharge your oxygen to some degree. The rooms are finished, they now need to be implemented functionally into the game. [*[ Many bugfixes and polishes, which we always work on, naturally. [/list]
From Beta to Full Release:
Once the game is in Beta it will be feature-complete, though we will likely expand and improve on some features as we work towards the final version. Aside from that we will of course keep improving on the game so it is stable and smooth infection hunting for you all. Additionally we will start work on implementing VR for an extra dimension of immersion :)
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment, make a thread in the Steam Forums or hit us up on our Discord. We're happy to hear your thoughts.
Patch 0.08e - Netcode refactors, FSR and Resolutions and fixes!
FSR, resolutions and better aspect ratio support:
An FSR scaling option has been added to options menu, which allows scaling the currently set resolution anywhere between 50% to 100% (which turns it off). This allows for much better performance without too much image quality loss.
The resolution setting in the options menu now actually changes rendering resolution in fullscreen mode too, which allows players to lower the resolution from native for better performance if FSR doesn't solve it. Fullscreen mode itself has been changed to exclusive fullscreen for better multi-monitor support. In windowed mode the window will now automatically center on the main screen.
After feedback from some of you we did some testing and bugfixes in the UI/object picking and the game now properly supports different aspect ratios such as 4:3 and Ultrawide. Please let us know in Steam Discussions, or Discord, if you still have issues with aspect ratios and the UI or interacting with stuff ingame.
Player netcode refactor:
There were some issues with the player netcode and we had to come up with some workarounds for sync issues for teams with more than 2 players. These weren’t game-breaking issues, but definitely ruined immersion as animations and rotations for example wouldn’t sync. There were also sync issues with the hiding mechanic which needed fixing.
After some relentless testing and attempts at fixing things we decided to go for a code refactor to tidy up and get things sorted properly with a different approach to how the player code handles communication.
It was quite a bit of work but the new player netcode should provide a much more stable and immersive experience! On top of that bandwidth usage has been reduced quite a bit, interactions with high ping should be snappier, interpolation for movement has been added for a more smooth experience with high ping and stuff like the hiding mechanic works much better now.
Bugfixes:
Fixed issues with interactions and objects at non 16:9 resolutions,
Fixed issue when changing the inventory whilst the PDA journal is open causes player to be unable to drop inventory items,
Fixed similar issue with having the PDA stats open, which breaks the PDA animation when changing inventory,
Fixed lights not going back on when Reactor is repaired,
Fixed ship systems not going back on when Reactor is repaired,
Fixed missing red color on some Growths in Afterlife,
Rewrote hiding system which should fix some bugs related to hiding,
Various fixes and refactors in player code, see details above.
Fixed miscalculation in ship health causing the VO to state the ship health is less than 50% when it is not.
Polishes:
Unpowered ship systems now show as yellow, infected/broken as red, in Afterlife,
Added effect for when a Lymph Node is destroyed,
Attacking Lymph Nodes gains you a little bit of time now,
Destroying a Lymph Node now gains you extra time,
Pulsing sound now stops when you die in Afterlife,
Added visual effect for getting hurt by the Seekers in Afterlife,
Adjustments to the Afterlife death effect, still a WIP but going to expand on this further in later updates,
Crew can now be hurt & infected by hunting monsters,
Crew suits have slight color variation now,
Crew now show an on-fire effect when hurt by the Flamethrower,
Crew now show an on-fire effect when hurt by fire in the ship,
Crew will now flee from target player when hurt,
Updated the fire sprite,
Added movement interpolation to player sync,
Changed fullscreen mode to exclusive fullscreen,
Windowed mode now centers properly on the main monitor.
Patch 0.08d - Crew & Oxygen
Steam Replayability Fest is starting tomorrow so.... Pushing this update earlier than planned :)
Shop:
Basic implementation of the Shop is there, though not accessible for players just yet. We're going to be testing the features on the Testing Beta (you can opt in freely on Steam) the coming week(s) along with the other new things.
Along with the Shop there will be some new Tools slowly becoming available over time. There will be further additions to the monsters i.e. Special Item monsters as well as interactions between monsters and Crew.
For now here's what's been fixed & changed in this patch:
Bugfixes:
Fixed Crew monster not detecting line-of-sight for clientside players,
Fixed ship oxygen levels being incorrect.
Polishes:
Tweaked oxygen level simulation to be more consistent: oxygen will drop to 50% when the Life Support is broken, infected areas will drop their oxygen level further. Overall infection percentage also lowers the oxygen i.e. if a large portion of the ship is infected the overall level will be lower,
Added some new Crew spawn locations,
Flamethrower now affects Crew monster, charring it and slowing it down. It will also flee from its target for a few seconds when hit.
Crew monsters will now move very slowly within the range of an active Chiller,
Hotfix 2 for Patch 0.08c
Bugfixes:
Fixed missing option for PDA entry key.
Polish:
Crew can now be pushes aside so they don't block player movement,
Added new Crew voice lines and variation in voice pitch,
Updates new door textures with grime.
Hotfix 1 for Patch 0.08c
Bugfixes:
Fixed missing door texture
Patch 0.08c - New Monsters and various fixes
Several new things have been added to the game and there's been a bunch of work done to the networking and connectivity.
Bugfixes:
several fixes for black screen bug when joining,
client will now retry connecting once if initial connection fails when joining and will quit to the main menu if the retry also fails,
several fixes for black screen bug when host exits the session,
Possible fix for some issues with third player animations and rotation breaking,
Fixed incorrect collision in Tutorial cabin,
Fixed some infection creatures not showing as red in Afterlife,
Fixed Life Support showing as red in Afterlife when not broken yet,
Fixed repairing Ship Systems in Afterlife sometimes not working properly,
Fixed Nano Pattern Detector not finding pattern when very close to Infection Source,
Fixed infection effect level jumping around between values when an area is fully infected,
Fixed wrong shader on door frames,
Polish:
Changed the effect of the Source Monster,
Increased timeout time for connecting players to 30 seconds,
Added connection status and failure messages when joining a team,
Flamethrower particles now inherit player movement,
Debriefing now shows score for rescued crew members,
Afterlife players do more damage when attacking the Infection,
Crew can open uninfected and powered doors now,
Added more texture variation to doors,
Special Tasks: Rescue:
There may be still surviving crew within the ship, escort them to safety lest they get consumed by the Infection and turned into monsters. Crew monsters will stalk nearby players, but will stop their movement when observed. Don't let them get too close and try to trap them, lest you have to constantly deal with them!
New Event:
New apparition/hallucination event, it's the Afterlife bleeding through into the real world... In your mind.
Patch 0.08b - Crew, Voice Logs and Special Items
Bugfixes:
Fixed transparency issue with the textures of the Source monster,
Fixed large computer core interface and cursor not working,
Fixed animations and rotation of client-side players being broken for other client-side players,
Fixed Hunter (and Crew) jittering in place,
Fixed some pathfinding issues in airlock type 4.
Polish:
Polished Source monster effects to look more creepy and consistent,
Changed confusing text on Reprogrammer to mention “nodes” instead of “source”
The sounds the Source makes are now more muffled the farther away you are,
Player footsteps are now more muffled the farther away they are,
Oxygen level in the ship now drops quickly if the Life Support loses power,
Life Support now turns off when power is lost in the ship,
Added a bunch more spawn locations for Special Items and Crew,
Crew Implementation:
Crewmembers now spawn in the mission ships, depending on if that Special Task has been assigned to the mission. You'll have to escort these scared astronauts to safety. This is still only the initial implementation and doesn't contain the monsters yet that result from crewmembers getting infected.
Special Items:
Added two new Special Items, next up will the be monsters that result from the Items getting infected.
Added Blackbox,
Added Camera.
Voice Logs:
Cassette players now spawn in the mission ships, containing voice logs of the former crew of the ships, giving you some insight in how things started going wrong.
Hotfix 1 for Patch 0,08a
Bugfixes:
Fixed missing shader on the Source monster effects,
Fixed transparency issue with the Source monster effects.
Polish:
Polished shader effect of the Source monster,
Adjusted textures of the Source monster to be darker and creepier.
Patch 0.08a - Special Items and many gameplay improvements
Happy 2024! Hope your year will be great :)
We've been working hard on improving gameplay and adding new features/content to the game. The difficulty levels should be way more consistent when it comes to the Infection behavior such as hunting, making the game more accessible to new players. Mechanics such as hiding from monsters are much improved too. We also had another go at the Tutorial, adding missing things and improving texts. There's still a few improvements that can be done to the Tutorial, but these are for upcoming updates.
Bugfixes:
Fixes for connection issues when joining a team,
Fixed Afterlife repair or attack sound still playing for a while after respawn,
Fixed Computer Core mouse cursor going invisible in Tutorial,
Fixed Computer Core datadump screen not syncing between players when a client starts the datadump,
Fixed Computer Core not stopping dump when power goes out,
Fixed Life Support not shutting down when power goes out,
Fixed airlock 4 fan sound not playing,
Fixed missing collision on elevator decoration,
Fixed explosion effect not showing,
Fixed Hunter ignoring target when target is hiding and the Hunter is out of stamina,
Fixed Hunter glitching through doors whilst roaming,
Fixed monsters hunting a player again if they move whilst hiding,
Fixed hunt not starting if a player uses a Weapon but has 100% suit integrity,
Fixed Source ambient/event sounds player having wrong range after killing the infection,
Fixed light flickering event not showing or showing in the wrong location,
Fixed Source monster insta-killing target when spawning, now there’s a 5 second timer before the monster can actually do anything,
Fixed Infection Source becoming way too hot,
Fixed Nano Pattern Detector not working when near the Infection Source,
Fixed Tools sometimes not picking up the Infection Source depending on position of the Tool and Infection Source,
Fixed PDA infection type identification not resetting internally when evidence is de-selected, causing the mission manager to think the player still has all evidence whilst they do not,
Fixed death transition overlay not showing,
Polish:
Repairing a Ship System from Afterlife doesn’t cause hunts anymore to make things more fair,
Repairing and attacking sounds are a little quieter now,
Seekers eat away more time,
Seekers are now stronger on higher difficulties, but slightly weaker on amateur difficulty,
Amateur missions now have 5 minutes of prep time to allow new players more time to get to grips with things,
Amateur missions now have a much lower hunting rate,
Amateur missions will now only be on small and medium ship sizes,
Oxygen Scrubber Infection Source no longer roams, instead it only uses its special teleport ability to move with a low chance,
Infection Source now becomes more active when players are nearby,
Infection Source light flickers event now also has a chance to cause a power surge through most of the ship,
Dragging doors is easier now,
Tools (except the Nano Pattern Detector) are now distance-based, meaning you get a stronger signal the closer you are to the Infection Source,
Temperature Gun now scans the area in front of it, instead of the one the player is standing in,
Glowsticks now always spawn & are thrown in the direction the player is facing,
Fires now depends on environment temperature, so freezing an area with the Chiller also puts out fire,
Fires now no longer make an entire section of the ship drain player oxygen, now it’s only the area near the fire itself,
Updated the fire smoke effect and optimized GPU usage
Added multiplayer sync for fires now they can be put out,
Fixed up some missing bits on various textures in the Tutorial,
Made some UI elements of the Computer Core bigger for easier access,
The password entry now auto-focuses when accessing the Computer Core,
Improved collision shape in small cabin decoration,
Improved hiding areas to make more sense and take up more of a room,
Changed small room/hallway reverb,
Changed most the Infection Source noises to sound more close and creepy,
Door sounds now are less loud and have much shorter audible range,
Added shutdown sound to Reactor Core that plays when power is lost,
Added alarm sound and light effect to Reactor Core that plays when it is broken,
Special Tasks: Recover Briefcase:
Recover special items from the ship, before the Infection gets to them and repurposes them for its own goals. Currently only one Special Item is in the game: the secret documents briefcase. In the future we’ll add 2 more types. You will gain score and money for every retrieved item and lose some for every non-retrieved item.
New Item: Fire Extinguisher:
Having trouble with the ship being on fire? Find and grab a fire extinguisher and quench those flames. Two will spawn in the ship on amateur and easy missions, only one on medium and none on hard missions. The extinguisher has limited fuel, so be smart about which fires you put out. This item will be available in the Shop in the future.
Tutorial Improvements:
The Tutorial is getting some much needed improvements. In this patch we added and changed the first couple things. We’ll keep improving on it as we get more feedback.
Added Afterlife info to Tutorial,
Added fire to Tutorial,
Added hiding to Tutorial,
Changed some of the texts to be more concise,
Added some environment sounds to the Tutorial,
Added missing airlock door sound when starting Tutorial mission,
