Escape from Mandrillia
SURPRISE UPDATE: IN-GAME STEAM REMOTE INVITES
0.0.12.4 UPDATE - EXPERIMENTAL DUMP
But first, some behind-the scenes context.
The main big thing I've been working on is the AI system. The first fully-fledged AI enemy (the stationary Sentinel Murderbot) will make its debut in the upcoming HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE later this week, when all playtesting has been completed. My main priority was to make sure this first enemy reacts to all the mechanics the game has for human players in a satisfying way (both as the Robot and as the Mandrillians) and I'm pretty happy with it so far. Next step will be navigation for the AI, but that's another story.
The other big thing is the upcoming Arena mode. I have ditched the whole "virtual training" aesthtetic; the Arcade Hub will be extremely streamlined because I noticed the current layout was too unfocused and confusing for players. Now that the VR tutorial can be launched from the Main Menu, the Arcade Hub will be disabled until the first Arena gamemodes are ready.
Here's a sneak peek of a stress test I made on the Arena map - you can also see some of the new systems I've been working on for it, like the destroyable cover.
The Arena will be a roughly 100x100 meter map with modularity in mind. Besides providing game modes for both singleplayer and local multiplayer (versus and coop), it's gonna be an excellent testing ground for the AI enemies and new features. The first Arena modes will only use the inner part of the map, pictured above.
Now let's see what is new in today's update:
ADDITIONS:
MONKEY FRONT DODGE
Mandrillians can now dodge forwards if they press the DODGE button while holding the SPRINT button. This adds flexibility to the Mandrillian's movement options.
FINGER TRACKING
For those of you who are into that kind of thing, you can activate "Advanced Finger Tracking" next to the other visual options in the Main Menu. It -should- work with all supported controllers, but obviously the main benefit is for Index controller users.
TRICKSHOT COIN
This started as a small coding exercise just to see how the ULTRAKILL coin would feel in VR and it ended up being so fun it made it into the main game. Coins will have a chance to spawn on safe rooms. If you pull off a split shot, you'll get a shiny new achievement and the infinite coin unlocked in the Item Spawner!
BULLET DEFLECTION
A feature that will come in handy for more action-packed upcoming modes: timing a swing against enemy bullets will deflect them right back at them (or any nearby enemy)
TARGETING SYSTEM REFINEMENT
Until now the only "teams" in the game were the Mandrillians and the Robot. Now that new factions will start arriving, a universal targeting/ID system had to be put in place for stuff like the Sentry and upcoming NPCs. For example, on next week's Halloween Challenge, Mandrillians will be tagged as "friendly" for the Sentry Turret.
Also, stuff like the poison smoke now obstructs the targeting sytem.
OTHER TWEAKS AND CHANGES:
- Punches no longer use the VR player controller "fake" velocity to calculate punch strenght. This prevents the annoying accidental slaps when running past monkeys.
- The Multitool now has some visual and audio feedback if you deplete its battery by shooting firearms while cloaked.
- Buttons now have a split-second cooldown on them to prevent accidental double presses.
- Reworked the pipe weapon to interact and damage stuff like explosive barrels.
- Made the "SKIP INTRO" button persistent across the session.
- Rebalanced the Quad Launcher ammo spawns.
- Fixed some of the Victory Room stats, and future-proofed it.
- Glowstiks glow buffed.
0.0.12.3 Alpha Update - Main Menu tweaks, QoL, Balance Adjustments
MENU TWEAKS AND QOL STUFF
-Renamed "Virtual Training" to "Arcade Hub". It will make more sense in the future.
-Reworked the Main Menu start button: now there is a handy touchscreen to quickly select where you want to go (including instant access to the Basic Tutorial), and to toggle the intro skip.
-Added a small screen on the Main Menu detailing the features of the selected Robot body.
-Tweaked the indicators for the starting items (now they have a red arrow pointing at them)
-Added option to go back to either the Main Menu or the Arcade Hub at the end of the Basic Tutorial.
-Victory Room screen text now indicates the active preset in the match.
-Changed Mandrillian's FOV indicators in their minimap to a better looking one that better represents the current FOV (and changes accordingly if you zoom)
-Fixed Scientist model sometimes culling in the Main Menu.
GAME BALANCING, TWEAKS, AND FIXES
-Fixed Multitool's "glow in the dark" markings being too visible for the Mandrillians.
-Changed Horror Mode flashlight cooldown from 120 to 45 seconds.
-Fixed Survivor loot style not giving the Robot any stinkin repair kits
-Buffed the frag grenade blast radius and shrapnel amount.
-Slightly buffed the RPG blast radius.
-Nerfed sticky grenade blast radius and shrapnel amount (this is basically a buff)
-Fixed crate in Research not giving the Plasma Rifle at all (now it should have a 1/20 chance)
-Reworked crossbow bolt code for the upcoming Arena Mode, and by accident fixed the BALL going crazy when bolts got stuck to it.
-Pump Shogtun now appears in crates with 2 shells in the shell holder.
-HMG rebalance: slight rate of fire increase, no longer needs to be 2-handed to fire.
And most importantly: the BALL is back in the Main Menu for the Mandrillians to play with.
PROGRESS REPORT
Some of you might have already noticed the disabled buttons at the Virtual Training Hub. Soon those will take you to a variety of modules, the most important one being the Arena.
The Arena will be an arcade-y gamemode for those of you who want instant, fast-paced action. You'll face an assortment of enemies and obstacles, scoring points along the way.
SINGLE PLAYER CONTENT AND NPCS
The Arena update will also mark the beginning of single-player content. To make it more than a glorified shooting range, I've been working on the foundations of the NPC systems. The first version of the Arena will be VR-only, but soon after you'll get Versus mode (adding enemy player-controlled Mandrillians to the mix), and maybe even cooperative modes.
This means I have to make enemies fun to fight against as both the Robot and the Mandrillians, which has been quite the interesting challenge so far.
Here's some test footage of me placing this beefed up tutorial bot in the main map, checking its reaction to different types of damages and its targeting systems:
NPCS AS MATCH MODIFIERS
All these things learned in the "controlled environment" that is Virtual Training are gonna come in handy for one of the future features I'm most excited about: NPCs as a new kind of match modifier. For people wanting to add some spice to their matches against friends, or for people who just feel like playing alone, these additions should be a literal game changer.
THE INSECTOIDS
Mandrillian mechanics are completely balanced around the idea of them being controlled by human players. In the past I considered adding an option for "filler monkeys"; dumb AI-controlled Mandrillians that would just rush at the Robot. I ended up scratching that idea because it would just not work with Mandrillians as I knew them. But what about making a simpler, "dumber" enemy that could fill that role while still making sense?
The idea behind Insectoids as a match modifier is that the player will decide how many (if any) of them they want. Maybe a handful scattered around, feasting on corpses that hold good loot. Maybe you want more, but still a finite amount. Or maybe you want them to infinitely respawn, completely changing the dynamics of the game (this sounds like a good addition to the Super Soldier preset...)
Besides being a new obstacle chipping at your health and making you waste ammo, they'll also be a good tool against the Mandrillians, as they will be hostile to any non-insectoid entity.
THE DRONE
The roided up version of the Sentry Turret, this SPHYNX machine will be another NPC match modifier. Roaming the facility in search of any unidentified threat, it will shoot at anything that moves, be it the Robot, Mandrillians or Insectoids. However, if you link your Multitool (as you can currently do to enable the security camera system), it will identify you as a friend and you will have a valuable ally.
It's also physics-based and I'm having too much fun testing it.
DISCORD AND DISCOUNT
As I have no proper update to offer you in these trying times, the game's gonna be 24% off for a week.
And as always, if you want to find people to play against over Remote Local Play, or just have a look at the development process, you can
JOIN THE DISCORD
Have a nice week!
MONKEY TRAINING UPDATE
This update also comes with some tweaks under the hood: I've reworked the Item Spawner, hopefully making it easier for potential modders to add new entries. There's also a new unlocking mechanic for secret weapons, and a couple new match modifiers regarding minimap sound blips.
This is not a very exciting update, but I had to get this out of the way before getting into more... juicy stuff.
As always, if you're looking for some people to play the game with over Remote Play, you can join the official Discord Server!
VIDEO TUTORIALS AND TRAINING DUMMIES
Right as you get into the game, on the Main Menu, Mandrillian players now have three condensed video tutorials showing all relevant mechanics.
The videos cover attacking, dodging, stamina management, the health system, vent mechanics, tracking, and the special move.
On top of that, I included handy training dummies for Mandrillians to practice attacking and dodging: after being hit, these dummies will react with a stun charge.
ITEM SPAWNER CODE REWORK, ITEM UNLOCK PROGRESSION
I've reworked the Item Spawner code to make it easier for potential modders to add entries to it.
I've also added an "unlock" system; right now there is only 1 unlock (tied to the CEO room secret quest), but there's more planned for the next update (centered around Virtual Training scenarios)
COMING SOON: VIRTUAL TRAINING MODULES
After getting this monkey business out of the way, I'm focusing on something I've been wanting to do for a while: expanding the Virtual Training scenarios and modules.
Right now the only VIrtual Training module is the VR tutorial one (well, and the hub, of course). The idea is to have Virtual Training as a way to have more arcadey fun both alone and with friends, hopefully with some nice leaderboards too.
First modules coming up will be some shooting range courses, and an Arena mode for players that want more shooty action and less horror.
FULL CHANGELOG:
ADDITIONS:
- Added video tutorials for the Mandrillians in the starting scene
- Added training dummies for the Mandrillians to practise
- Added unlocking mechanics for the item spawner
- Added 1 unlockable weapon for the item spawner
- Added 2 new presets: Robot Newcomer, Mandrillian Newcomer
- Added new match settings: sprint minimap blip (20m/off), door minimap blip (50m/20m/off)
- Added glowsticks after being threatened for years
- Added 2 new achievements
TWEAKS:
- Monkeys now get a little bit of special move charge when hitting doors
- Made it easier to "cheat" the CEO room secret by making the other key item be spawnable on the item spawner
FIXES:
- Fixed monkeys "dynamic spawn" markers colliding with the VR player and with each other
PS: glowstik
QUICK HOTFIX
0.0.12.1 Alpha Update - Preparing for Mandrillian Tutorial
TWEAKS:
- Mandrillian 1-stamina point attack now charges twice as fast, does a tiny bit less of damage. Rest of attacks (2 point, 3 point, critical 3 point) take the same time as before to charge.
- "Monkey IK" setting is no longer a setting and it's always ON.
- Made the flamethrower's glow-in-the-dark fuel gauge way less visible for monkeys (visibility unchanged for VR player).
- Enabled most of Mandrillian's features and UI in the Main Menu, in preparation for the upcoming "Mandrillian Tutorial" integration for that scene.
- Changed some descriptions for the starting cage's wall showing the bindings ("POWERUP" is now "SPECIAL"; "STEALTH" is now "CROUCH"; specified "HOLD TO CHARGE, RELEASE TO ATTACK")
- Updated the MONO PATRONO section in the credits.
FIXES:
- Fixed Mandrillian sounds for jumping in/out of vents doing weird things sometimes.
- FIxed (?) "haptics" and Mandrillian's "wounds" settings sometimes not being properly saved/reset. For first time players they should default to ON. Rest of players should double check the setting they're at, and the game should save it properly from now on.
- Fixed Quad Launcher rockets not being properly physics-frozen in ammo crates.
- Fixed Main Menu start button's pulsating light turning off after a minute.
That's all for now, have a nice weekend!
QUICK HOTFIX
-Fixed a particular corpse being consistently less-dead than it should be
PLAYING WITH FIRE UPDATE
However, there are two things I'm gonna have to improve:
- Better Mandrillian "training" for new players, as the current main menu control pics + random "pro tips" in-match are obviously not good enough. This is a priority and I will try to make proper videos and Virtual Training scenarios similar to what the VR player has, on top of an official Steam Guide for advanced Mandrillian strats.
- Somehow people keep buying (and refunding) the game not realizing the game is local-only. I've tried to make that fact as clear as I've been able to with the Steam description, mini description, capsule image, trailer and Steam tags stating it right away. I'm open to suggestions on how to make that more clear for potential buyers (as well as explaining how to use Remote Local Play, which seems to be a feature not many people know about)
THE OFFICIAL DISCORD
As always, remember there is an OFFICIAL DISCORD SERVER you can join full of peculiar little characters that will probably be willing to play with you over Remote Play and teach you the ropes of Mandrillia. It's also the best place for feedback and suggestions, and overall discussion of the game.
This is the first update of hopefully many, and adds some gnarly new mechanics to the game on top of addressing some of the initial feedback. It's time to play with fire.
THE UPDATE
Now, a recurring piece of feedback during these weeks has been "sure, the game is alright, but I wish I could commit more war crimes". Worry not, because this update is ripe with those.
INTRODUCING: FLAMMABLE GAS
Every cloud of poison gas in the game (be it from exploded green barrels, poison grenades, or the "decontamination" chamber) is now flammable. Just put a flammable source near those clouds, and they will be set off in a glorious ball of fire.
There are a lot of things that count as "flame source", some more obvious, some less. Careless robots should mind the little pilot of their flamethrowers. Burning Mandrillians should avoid crossing poison gas clouds even more than before... Unless they want to weaponize that. Overheating can be very dangerous for the robot, after all.
INTRODUCING: INCENDIARY QUAD LAUNCHER
Sometimes you want to set things on fire that are beyond flamethrower range. Shooting those red barrels is cool and all, but nothing beats four incendiary rockets being spat out in less than a second.
The Quad Launcher does not have a very big blast radius, and its little rockets can't fit much propellant, so aiming it will be tricky, forcing you to account for projectile drop. But they will bring warmth to your heart, and to any unlucky Mandrillian in the way.
FULL CHANGELOG:
ADDITIONS:
- New weapon: Incendiary Quad Launcher.
- New mechanic: Flammable poison gas clouds.
- New war crime-related achievement.
TWEAKS:
- The weapon crate progression in Horror mode is now Flamethrower - Quad Launcher - Heavy Machine Gun.
- Improved starter item lights: they are brighter, blink faster, and for a longer time.
- Added slight blinking light to "START MATCH" big red button.
- Specified that Mandrillian's attack button is "Hold to charge - Release to attack" at the Main Menu cage.
- Robot now brings any items being held at the moment of winning to the Victory Room .
BALANCING:
- Crossbow standard bolt buffed: higher burst damage, slightly longer bleed effect.
- Mandrillians can now see with their own eyes the footsteps of a sprinting Robot (if they are 20 meters away or closer), on top of it being shown in the minimap.
FIXES:
- Fixed sentry turret having horrible peripheral vision and being a bit careless with friendly fire.
- Fixed the minimap Robot sprint notification being centered to playspace instead of player position.
- Fixed spoiler-y thing regarding the CEO room mini-quest.
- Fixed dummy Mandrillian at the Basic Tutorial scene having its radar blip disappear after being killed once.
- Fixed multitool bug that happened if you were holding it while winning.
- Fixed objects placed on top of barrels staying frozen in mid air after the barrels exploded.
- Fixed security cameras being invulnerable to blast damage.
- Fixed observation chamber 3 text not being visible.
- Fixed warehouse-research lab vent being misaligned with the vent hole.
- Cleaned up C4 detonator code.
That's all for now, happy Mandrillin'!
ESCAPE FROM MANDRILLIA, NOW AVAILABLE!
I'd love to write a lenghty wall of text here, but I can't. Maybe in the near future. Now, to make sure everything is working as it should, and to keep working on this monkey business.
As always, I will be lurking on the cursed Discord server, and often up for games, if you dare.
Have a nice heatwavey summer, everybody <3