Escape from Mandrillia cover
Escape from Mandrillia screenshot
Steam
Genre: Indie

Escape from Mandrillia

0.3.3 - SMALL POLISH PASS TO MANDRILLIAN BOTS
Small, boring update here with fixes to several Mandrillian Bot issues found while testing, as well as a small reduction of speed for both the Robot's sprint and the Mandrillians' walk and sprint speedsthat should make the game feel a little bit more controllable.


  • Robot's sprint speed slightly reduced (walking speed kept the same)
    Mandrillian's walking and sprinting speed slightly reduced (crouching, dazed, and vent speed kept the same)
  • Fixed navmesh allowing Mandrillian Bots to phase through a couple barrels in some places
  • Polished navmesh in problem zones that could lead to unnatural movement
  • Added more aggressive failsafes to Mandrillian Bots getting stuck and/or stopping to reconsider their life choices for longer than intended
  • Tweaked the way Mandrillian Bots decide when to attack. Until now, they will always attack at a fixed "safe" distance (roughly enough to connect 1-point attacks). Now, they can randomly decide to go for a "safe" short distance, or risk it and pounce from longer distances, even if that means they'll miss more often, similar to a real player. This should make fighting them feel more natural
  • Added some hidden "aggression level" stats to Mandrillian Bots that can make them act a bit more desperate in high-urgency situations like the final Elevator, opting to circle around the player if out of stamina instead of running away to the vents searching for powerups
  • Added a hidden "aggression level" to the Mandrillian Bots that, when triggered, can make them be a bit more pushy for a while instead of running away to heal/get stamina back (even when choosing that is detrimental to them)
  • Fixed the Robot's chest gib not having the Medal cosmetic when blown up (very important!)

0.3.2 - MANDRILLIAN BOT SPAWNING FIXES
While working on the firing range and on the new challenges, I found a hefty amount of bugs related to the Mandrillian Bots spawning logic, so here's a bunch of fixes to that. As an apology, I also added an extra ammo box on the exit zone.


  • Fixed setting the Mandrillian Bot max number to 1 actually giving the bot an illegal buddy at the beginning of the match
  • Fixed a massive amount of bugs regarding game over states when playing against finite Mandrillian Bots, in both normal and dynamic spawn types
  • Adjusted the distance from the VR player a Mandrillian Bot can do the dynamic spawn "digging out" thing
  • Added an extra ammo box to the west wing of the exit area, giving it some symmetry

END OF HALLOWEEN EVENT
Non-update here, just removing the Insectoid crate from the Main Menu (you can always access the Infestation event from the Challenges screen!)

The Firing Range update is finally getting close, so stay tuned.

0.3.1 - MANDRILLIAN BOT DYNAMIC SPAWN AND SOME FIXES
Hello there! Just some quick fixes here, and a neat addition to Mandrillian Bots.

As always, please send any feedback/bug report my way either here or at the Discord.


  • Mandrillian Bots now use the dynamic spawn (spawning from the ground) if that match setting is enabled. Enjoy!
  • Fixed human-controlled Mandrillians not displaying the gibbing effect properly
  • Increased Fire Bomb upgrade fuse timer from 2 to 3 seconds
  • Decreased Plasma Gun upgrade non-aiming spread from 3 degrees to 1.5 degrees
  • Fixed "Burster" spawning style being able to be selected for Insectoids (it did nothing anyways)

HALLOWEN'S INFESTATION CHALLENGE
Hello there! After last year's embarrassing lack of Halloween event, I've tried to come up with some appropiately disgusting stuff.

CHALLENGES


The main new feature here is the introduction of the Challenges (and, with them, cosmetic unlockables). Located on the same screen you select your match setting presets, those are single-player matches that will often have unique gimmicks.

For now there's three "normie" challenges, good for testing your skill as the Robot, with increasing difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert. Completing the Expert Challenge will get you a shiny new achievement, and a cool new medal cosmetic to brag to your friends.

But you're here for the Halloween event, and this year's is the Infestation Challenge, which introduces the "unique gimmick" part I mentioned before.

INFESTATION



You can immediately access the Infestation Challenge by opening this box, but it will remain available forever from the Challenge menu.

The Infestation Challenge is, as you might have guessed, Insectoid centric. Armed with a plasma revolver and a flamethrower, you'll have to carefully navigate through the facility while trying to avoid triggering an Insectoid swarm. There's also Mandrillians on the loose but there seems to be something... wrong with them. The fact that they don't appear to attack Insectoids should tip you off on what's going on.



Completing the Infestation Challenge will get you the CERTIFIED EXTERMINATOR new achievement, as well as the Gas Mask unlockable.

IMPROVEMENTS TO NPC ENEMIES


Besides the addition of the Challenges, this update comes with a massive amount of improvements to NPCs. Both Mandrillian bots and Insectoids should feel way better to fight against now, with both improved behaviors and quality of life tweaks so they feel challenging but not unfair or annoying. Mandrillian bots now react in a more natural way to the player being cloaked near them. Insectoids will do some "warning attacks" if they are approaching you from behind, to avoid frustrating situations where you get hit by a sneaky Insectoid out of the blue. Also, you can now use glowsticks as bait for Insectoids, which is kinda cute.

WHAT NOW?


I would have really liked to have the Firing Range ready for this update, but sadly there's been just too many small things getting in the way. At least, now there's nothing holding me back from getting into it, and this update is packed with a lot of small tweaks and improvements to get Mandrillia closer to full release. Check the changelog for all the details!

FULL CHANGELOG



  • NPC POLISH PASS
  • Insectoids will now use "warning attacks" when attacking the Robot from behind. These warnings have them doing the noise and jump (sometimes the little squeal sound), but won't do any damage. Each insectoids starts with 1-2 warnings in storage, which get used up every time they do either a warning shot or an actual attack: once an insectoid has used all its warnings, it will just attack normally until it dies.
  • Improved Insectoid textures (they look goopier now)
  • Lit glowsticks can now be used as bait for Insectoids

  • Improved a lot of Mandrillian bot behaviors
  • Improved the way Mandrillian bots detect a nearby cloaked Robot
  • Removed the speed penalty from rubbing against a Mandrillian bot

  • Flamethrower pilot and flames now count as a sound that brings the attention of nearby Insectoid and Mandrillian Bots (until now they only made the Robot be considered as uncloaked)

  • CHALLENGES AND UNLOCKABLES
  • Introduced "Challenges" (can be selected on the same screen you select presets) -single player matches with predefined settings that can include unique quirks
  • Added the folllowing challenges: BEGINNER, INTERMEDIATE, EXPERT and INFESTATION
  • Introduced the unique challenge quirk "infested Mandrillians", where the Mandrillian Bots can sometimes burst into a swarm of Insectoids
  • Added a new type of cosmetic: Body Gear
  • Introduced cosmetic unlockables from completing certain challenges
  • Added the GAS MASK face gear and the MEDAL body gear as unlockables for completing the Infestation and Expert challenges
  • Added the CERTIFIED EXTERMINATOR and DID YOU WANT A MEDAL? achievements for completing the Infestation and Expert challenges

  • GENERAL TWEAKS AND FIXES
  • Added settings for the Scent Tracking cooldown besides on/off (the default's slow at 80 seconds, medium at 55 seconds, fast at 30 seconds)
  • Adjusted corpse loot system still using the old multitool values to determine you don't need batteries -corpses will no longer spawn with batteries if for example you have the cloak and stun disabled on match settings, as the motion sensor doesn't use any battery unlike the old radar
  • Theres a small chance you'll get glowsticks on worker corpses

  • Improved pipe collision behavior, smashing insectoids with it is now quite a bit satisfying
  • When playing "solo mode", the FMOD sound will be muted, as you're supposed to just hear the VR player's side anyways, so no sense in duplicating them

  • Fixed index finger clipping through the SMG trigger guard FINALLY
  • Cosmetics are now visible on spectator camera and security camera feed
  • Added a little sound at the Victory Room when to indicate you successfully called for a Rematch, Menu return, or Mandrillian liberation
  • Fixed oversight that prevented Mandrillians to spawn in Victory Room after being liberated if the match was a "solo" round

HOTFIX
Tiny hotfix: fixed visual bug that caused the poison smoke FX to instantly disappear as soon as the poison status effect stopped, instead of slowly fading away

0.2.6.1 - UPGRADE IMPROVEMENTS
Small update with a polish pass on the upgrades, trying to make them all worth their prices and fun for both the Mandrillians and the Robot.


  • Healer turned out to be quite OP after the last buffs, allowing a single Mandrillian to infinite-combo the Robot. Healer price now increased from 400 to 600 points; Healer cooldown increased from 15 (yeah, I know) to 25 seconds

  • Firebomb Upgrade now can be aimed up and down using the Mandrillian's crosshair, instead of just left and right with a fixed elevation angle
  • Firebombs now get launched twice as hard
  • Buffed Firebomb's fire damage (until now the Robot needed to be hit by 2 firebombs to overheat)
  • Firebomb Upgrade cooldown now 20 seconds instead of 25

  • Added a slight aim assist to the Plasma Gun Upgrade: every time you fire (while aiming), there's a shotgun-like cast of 50 rays checking for valid targets in a 7.5º angle cone; if they hit, it will sort all valid targets by distance and aim the shot at the closest one. Valid targets include the Robot, Turrets, and Insectoids. The fact it is a shotgun spread raycast cone means your chances to trigger the aim assist are higher the closest to the target you are and the closest to the laser the target is
  • Plasma Gun Upgrade non-laser-aiming accuracy increased by 1 degree (just to make it less annoying to shoot barrels at short range)

  • Reworked the way the Jammer works: instead of having a single "jamming pulse" after 1.5 seconds of fake scanning, now the scanning is actually representing of the jamming capabilities: the scan will last for 1 seconds during which 3 pulses will fire off
  • Removed the "red wave" FX for the Jammer pulse, replacing it with a subtle shockwave effect

  • Armor Upgrade price reduced from 1000 to 800

  • Fast, Medium and Slow Berserk charge times changed from 30, 220, 300 seconds to 45, 200, 240 seconds

  • Flamethrower direct damage changed from 1 to 2, giving a bit of an upside to direct-hitting a Mandrillian instead of using the sticky flame mechanic
  • Robot-induced fire damage for Mandrillians now applies to whatever specific body part it hits, instead of always applying to the main body health pool

  • Fixed Robot's damage sounds stacking when hit by explosives (which caused them to play at a louder volume than intended)

0.2.6 - FEATURE PACKAGE
Hello! This one is a package of a lot of stuff I've been doing that deserves to be pushed to main.

There's some bug fixing, and a lot of improvements for both Insectoids and Mandrillian Bots.
I've also improved the ambient sounds for the main scene, and included a toggle to turn music on or off if you prefer a more tense atmosphere.

Stay tuned!


  • Fixed potentially game-breaking bugged rumble settings that would break some damage types if playing with a controller with no player 2 present
  • Fixed bugged logic regarding endgame split screen management and other endgame corner case situations

  • Both Mandrillian Bots and Insectoids will try to avoid fire and smoke clouds. Insectoids will do a terrible job at it.

  • Increased Insectoid hitbox size, they are now way easier to hit
  • After attacking a Mandrillian, Insectoids will be highlighted in a red light for 5 seconds (only visible to Mandrillians), making it easier to see where that bite came from if you're in pitch dark
  • Crossbow bolts now annihilate insectoids
  • Insectoids less prone to attack/dodge. You'll see them doing their little threat display more often, giving you time to deal with them if there's not too many surrounding you
  • Insectoids now hit slightly harder: getting swarmed is not a situation you want to end up in
  • Improved Insectoid behavior related to their tiny vents
  • Insectoids now appear on the Map Stations as tiny dots
  • Insectoids are now fat enough to trigger the final elevator's overweight alert
  • Insectoid now make a faint noise when walking while agitated (very quiet, but loud enough to notice there's an angry insectoid near you)
  • Insectoids can now jump across the holes in the walls at the Canteen and the Observation Chamber walls

  • Improved Mandrillian Bot aiming skills, especially in tight corners -this made them quite accurate, so I added a chance for them to actually fumble their attacks
  • Fixed Mandrillian Bots not behaving correctly when set on fire (they went to the vents and hesitated between healing powerups and never actually healed)
  • Fixed long standing bug with Mandrillian Bots that caused their attacks to not connect if the Robot was rubbing a wall
  • Drastically improved Mandrillian Bot behavior regarding vents -no longer will they insist on jumping up and down a specific vent while patrolling
  • Improved overall Mandrillian Bot navigation, making them be a little bit less predictable when chasing a Robot
  • Mandrillian Bots can now get overconfident and walk instead of run towards the Robot -they will quickly stop doing that as soon as they get hurt (they will also stop doing that as the match progresses and they get closer to losing)
  • Increased the chance of Mandrillian Bots to walk or sneak while patrolling, instead of them running 90% of the time
  • Mandrillians (both human and computer-controlled) no longer continuously grunt while on fire

  • Added actual ambient noises all over the main scene
  • Added a toggle for Music on/off at the Main Menu
  • Music is now a bit quieter than before

  • Flamethrower's sticky flames have been reworked: they can no longer be stacked infinitely if you keep firing at a specific point (there's now a small area where only a single damaging flame is allowed at a time)
  • To balance for this, individual sticky flames do 3x damage and last for a little bit longer; this should make them feel way more consistent
  • Flamethrower initial delay halved from 0.4 to 0.2 seconds
  • Mine blip now triggers between 5-8 seconds instead of 5-12 seconds
  • Added 1 extra meter to Mandrillian Aim Assist for the 3 point attack -this will keep increasing until morale improves

LITTLE MINE TWEAK
Small one here, made the landmines have a tiny light that flashes randomly every 5-12 seconds when armed. They are still very hard to see in the dark, but it rewards observant monkeys; it could be pretty annoying to get blown up by a landmine that was literally impossible to see in the dark even when you were being careful.

The old stealthy mine experience is still available as a cheat code toggle SNEAKYMINE, that will persist between sessions.

0.2.5 - MANDRILLIAN QOL
Added a new setting: Mandrillian aim assist. It is enabled by default but counts as a "preference", which means you can turn it off and it will stay off across sessions. The idea behind it is to both help with Remote Play input lag and to make it easier to onboard newcomers. I have set it up in a way that will allow for potential different aim assist levels in the future.

How it works: every time you release an attack, the assist will check if the robot is within a 80º cone in front of you. It will also check the distance (higher distance for stronger attack types), and if all parameters are met, it will steer the initial pounce at the handy "lead target" the VR player has that I've been using for the Mandrillian Bots.

The aim assist does not work on cloaked robots (unless they're leaving a smoke trail or have a flashlight on), and the Stealth Skin halves the assist angle in half.

I've also added a blinking light effect that flashes very 1.5 seconds for armed C4 charges.
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