We're back with a brand new beta as we prepare for update 6.
These past few weeks we've been working on new game modes. Two to be precise. You can find them in the Experiments tab as usual, so grab the beta and jump in.
A word of warning: they are work in progress. They are not finished. We would love your feedback.
Bull Run
The first mode is bull run. It's quite different from what we've done until now. The non-VR player takes control of one of four special rebel bull (I originally wanted to a do a 'cow run' but we don't have cow models yet...). They have to get back to the barn without getting caught (and eaten) by the gorilla. It's fun because everyone looks the same and things go crazy.
We are still working on the balance but would love your feedback on the direction.
It's also on a brand new map, which is for now only available in Bull Run. We hope the forest cover adds an interesting dimension to the 'hide and seek' concept.
The other game mode is called pretty plainly "Cross the City". It's our first attempt at adding more mission/goal-based behavior. We're using this game mode to help us prototype the systems we need to build more complex game modes. In this mode you basically have to cross the city 10 times before the gorilla eliminates 10 of you.
We've re-purposed the town map but there are still a lot of ideas to explore before this mode is super fun. Among which:
- Should we form chokepoints or force all traffic through one cross-road.
- What about multiple goals, having to reach 2/3/4 targets in turn or out of turn
- Go there and back
- How to make it fun for the gorilla without making it too easy for one side or another
- How to make the AI not drive off bridges
So it's still early days with this mode but we wanted to share our progress there too.
Improved AI
One of the side benefits of working on new game modes is that we also get to improve the AI in parallel. Short term, this improves the single player experience. Longer term, it helps automate our testing and populate the little worlds we are building to make them feel more alive.
Of course it's still got bugs and areas that we can improve but it's getting better with each update.
Future
These are the first new game modes we've prototyped and implemented since we've launched in Early Access in July. It's given us the opportunity to re-work a lot of our game mode code, make it easier to try out new ideas and fix a looooot of little bugs.
We are slowly chipping away at our backlog but there are still a ton more ideas to try out. Your support means a lot to us, thank you.
Update 5.1 - Minor Patch [Build 339]
Hello again,
Some small left overs from Update 5 that didn't quite make it into Friday's update. They're bug fixes and UI improvements but we really didn't want to leave this until the next major patch, so here you go.
Changelog - Build 339
Improvements
Update all button helper text (bring up with B on controller or H on keyboard)
Make help info bigger, more prominent
Better ammo placements for planes
Fixes
Remove duplicate floating helper that occasionally appears in Vive/SteamVR tutorial.
When you win on mission 4 of single player, show win screen instead of loss screen.
Update 5 is Live - Our Biggest Update Yet - New Content!
We're back with another major update. We're calling this one Future Foundations because, well, not only is it chockfull of good stuff, we've also laid a lot of ground work for future updates. It's going to be a lot easier for us to add new content (new maps and new game modes) in upcoming updates. We can't wait to share what we have in store the next few months.
Tank Controls Completely Reworked
Probably the biggest source of recent complaint was our tank controls. We heard you loud and clear and really focused on improving them (check out our dev diary and our Beta update for more details).
All vehicle controls have been adjusted significantly, primarily the tanks and cars now move fully with the left stick instead of the triggers (well cars can still make use of triggers too, for the tanks, they shoot). This has had a cascading effect on controls. The planes have also been slightly adjusted. And everything is smoother and more precise. We really hope you enjoy it.
NEW MAP - Snow Mountains
Our first real bit of new content. We've spent a lot of time setting up a new map. It's still not fully finished, but it's playable and gives you a taste of what is to come. We're still working without an artist at the moment so we are limited in what we can produce, but we invested in improving our content creation processes to understand the impact on the rest of the game. What we've learned (and the bugs we've shaken out while creating the map) will make it much easier for us to add more new content.
Check it out and please let us know what you think.
Game Mode Experiments - Disguise Power-ups
We experimented with a new game mode called Disguise Masters. This built on the Disguise power-up we quietly slipped into the last release. After extensive playtesting, we realized it's still too similar with the Last Man Standing mode. So instead we've reworked the Last Man Standing to have a lot more disguises. (You can still find the new Disguise game mode in the Experiments tab, we're just not ready to promote to a full-fledged game mode)
Like the new map, this is our first new game mode since launch and it's given us an opportunity to clean up a lot of the game mode systems and lay the foundation for future ideas. We're really looking forward to crafting more interesting and varied game modes with layered goals for both VR and non-VR players. We have a lot of ideas for tasks we can introduce instead of just "hide from the gorilla" or "kill the gorilla".
Visual Awesomeness
In our last update, we introduced the "Advanced Shaders" toggle for our new shader stack. We've done a lot of behind the scene work to tie various effects to the time of day behavior. Now we have really cool looking scenes at different times of day. We're limited in what we can accomplish visually until we have a proper 3D artist on board but playing with shaders is something we enjoy. We hope you like the new and improved look. No screenshots for now, just go enjoy it in-game
How to give us feedback?
We love to hear from you, just use your favorite medium:
Visuals: much better visual effects during time of day transitions
Disguise powerup behavior much improved (icon, feedback, countdown)
New experimental game mode Disguise Master (in Experiments tab)
Last Man Standing: added lots of Disguise Powerups
Powerup icons less shiny, fit art style better
Tank controls reworked completely (not just the button mappings but also the aiming behavior)
Car controls reworked, can now move forward/back with left stick as well as triggers
Plane controls tweaked: accel/break on should buttons, triggers fire, aiming controls are much more precise.
Can now reset tank view with L1 button
Improved scene transitions (nicer fades in and out)
Various audio improvements: sound effects, background tracks, just a lot of improvements and fixes
Translation improvements: more menu options, dropdowns, tutorial texts and helpers
Improved plane visuals: small flames out of exhaust, bigger flames when accelerating,
Plane trails (which also disappear when they die)
Seaport: background ships blend into scenery less
LMS and Hide and Seek AI: better hiding spots in all maps
Storing settings: AI Bots, Advanced Shaders, Powerups, Controller settings
Various powerup improvements
Game is now playable without a VR headset plugged in. You can in theory have tank and planes deathmatches. This is still WIP and used internally to make it easier for us to test, but could also grow into a full-fledged non-VR version of the game.
More hints to new players on how to open the Menu
Helpful visual blinking lights for the VR tutorials (Oculus and Vive support)
Can now disable Tanks and/or Planes for deathmatch multiplayer
New About tab
Fixes
Fixed Seaport map collision issues
AI in Last Man Standing hides properly
Generally AI is much more stable and improved
Aiming reticule jitters eliminated
AI Bot toggle works properly now
Tank AI navigation in Seaport fixed
AI cars tumble through the air more realistically (less air maneuvers)
Bridge from Valley map no longer appears in result screen
UI: In LMS, when you're a car, missile indicator no longer appears
AI: tanks no longer get stuck in Town map
Boost is no longer overpowered
Tank turret movement is no longer framerate dependent
Valley map: can no longer get vehicles stuck high on the mountain ledges when thrown by the gorilla. They just explode instead.
BETA branch - Improving The Tank Controls [Build 329]
We've heard you loud and clear that the tank controls are one of the weaker elements of our game (to put it politely). Thanks to your feedback, we've reworked the controls to be more in line with standard good modern tank controls. This has also had a rippling effect on the rest of our controls:
Tanks: now you use the left stick to move forward/back and rotate. right stick aim. Triggers to shoot.
We also added LB to reset your turret view to be aligned with your tank body.
Cars/Trucks: movement is now also controlled with the left stick. Boost remains where it is (on the A button)
Planes: the movement controls remain the same, but the boost is now on the A button and shooting is done with the triggers.
This might be a bit confusing at first for your muscle memory, but we really feel these control improvements lay a good foundation for the long term.
There are many other improvements in this build, including a sneak peak at a new map in progress, but we will detail all of this when we are ready to push out the full update.
Known Issues
Helper info is still mapped to old button structure
AI Bot toggle is broken
We would love your feedback on the new tank controls. Do they feel any better?
Update 4 is Live - The Community Feedback Edition
Thank you for all your support and feedback so far. It's been incredible to read your reviews and hear your feedback and better understand how you play the game and want to play it.
Your feedback is invaluable to helping us improve the game.
We've been working on various new features to improve the balance of the game (powerups!), improve the controls (better tank and plane controls, more instructions), fixing a lot of bugs related to the different game modes. Stability is much improved (but there's still more to do).
We went into a lot more detail in the Beta notes for this update:
http://steamcommunity.com/games/623540/announcements/detail/3210360883746483107
Turning Off The AI
One of the biggest requests on the forums is the ability to turn off the AI => that's now in too! We added AI Bots and the new Powerups as Multiplayer options you can toggle off/on. This is an example of something that is relatively easy to implement (well...it revealed some other issues we then had to fix, but for the better) but was nowhere on our radar as a task, simply because we didn't think of it. People requested it, it seems sensible, so it's in the next update of the game!
And of course, we continuously work on improving AI behavior. We know we've still got a long way to go, but to be completely honest, our focus has been first and foremost on the gameplay and controls for a fun local multiplayer experience. The single player experience is also important to us, but as a more secondary priority. We'll get there for both experiences.
A New Look
Finally, we also did our first tests towards dramatically improving the look of the game. For us, this is again something really important we want to work on, but has had to take a back seat to improving the core game experience. It doesn't mean we are not thinking about the look, and planning for it. We are laying the ground work for future changes which we think are going to be quite awesome both visually and content wise. We can't wait to share these with you.
In the meantime you can try out our new shader stack with a toggle in the Settings screen.
Changelog - Build 323
Improvements - AI planes are better at avoiding objects, do escape maneuvers, fly into inanimate object less often.
- Better dead zone for gamepad controls
- Toggle to disable AI in multiplayer
- Powerup system for vehicles, including speed boost, firing rate boost, restore health, homing missile, disguise.
- New shader stack (post-processing effects): Fog, bloom, ambient occlusion
- Improved French translations (thank you ZBufferR)
- Better car AI. A lot more to come on this front.
- Simple Tank Controls - you can now toggle between advanced (two stick) and simple (one stick) tank controls.
- Better vehicle instructions - we surface the control instructions a bit more often, fixed a lot of inconsistencies and show clear instructions for both keyboard and gamepad control.
Fixes - Lots of fixes to the single player, multiplayer, scoreboards logics.
- Much better management of humand and AI players.
- Steam Controller support
- Missiles don't hit invisible walls
Welcome to the latest edition of our BETA branch. Come check out a week early all the new things we've been working on.
Power-Ups
We've added (optional) power-ups for the vehicles. Speed boost, guided missiles, ammo. These can be turned on for any multiplayer game mode by flicking the switch (or checking the mark, flicking the switch is still on the backlog).
Simpler tank controls
We've been iterating on the tank controls like crazy (and incidentally breaking all the AI behaviors, what tangled webs we weave). The default tank controls are now more arcadey, single stick controlled, a la Halo. You can toggle the dual stick controls with the Left D-Pad direction. Keyboard controls have stayed the same. Let us know what you think!
Sh-sh-sh-shaders
We've been experimenting with our shader stack. It's still not tuned right yet, but if you want a sneak peak, check out the settings options.
More sensible plane AI
We've been told that our planes fly too often into inanimate objects. We're working on that. It's not perfect yet (and really, the AI is a bit suicidal as a ground trait), but the planes are trying out more escape maneuvers.
A lot of bug fixes
Like, a lot. And yes, we are aware there are still more bugs, but things should feel a lot more stable.
Please help us test the Beta build, we've touched almost every area of the game, and laid some ground work for future updates. Tell us what you think here or on the forums.
Update 3 Is Live! Cars, Tanks, Planes and Gorilla Controls
Hello hello!
Ready to drop a new update and this one is all about improving how you control the cars, tanks and planes. We had to give those puny humans a chance to take down that giant ape. The game should feel a lot more balance now.
If you're curious, we went into a lot more details in the beta notes for this update but to summarize: the vehicles should feel a LOT better and easier to use.
What else did we do? Well, there's better VR control options, more variety, the tutorial has been polished, the first bits of the translation system are in and tons of bug fixes.
Changelog - Build 315
Improvements - Camera no longer goes through floor when you look up with tank.
- Tanks gets less stuck going over objects
- Plane movement vertically and horizontally is consistent now. Camera always pans to better show where you're going and what you're aiming at.
- Clicking in right joystick shows rearview
- Aim indicator turns red when aiming at gorilla
- Car keyboard controls are much more responsive now. Accelerate, turn and brake are all better.
- Car boost is more controllable now can turn better.
- Hide billboards, bridges, basically every thing when doing the countdown for hide and seek and last man standing
- Countdown timer is now always visible.
- Head height toggle for standing/seated/kids mode.
- Initial translation system, with four languages partially supported (Polish German, French along with English).
Fixes - NPC cars are moving around the cities better, including in seaport and valley map
- Fixed plane missile damage to gorilla to be consistent from shot to shot (5% each time).
- Plane missiles don't go through billboard anymore
- Lots of fixes to the UI and test for the Hide n Seek game mode result screens.
BETA Branch - Better Vehicle and VR Controls [Build 315]
There are a lot of small things in this build: Vehicle controls have received a lot of love. Planes are easier to fly and aim. Tanks are easier to control and aim. Cars feel smoother. We also fixed a lot of keyboard control issues, the cars and tanks should be much more responsive now. And overall it's more consistent throughout (it was a bit of an inconsistent mess so far). Now: left stick move/aim, right stick (optional) camera control.
Still, we have room to improve and we'd love to hear your feedback on this. In particular we are experimenting with single stick control for the tanks, the dual stick move base, aim turret feels too complicated for the type of arcade game we are making. But we are undecided on a direction. Tell us what you think.
Also In The Beta
More VR button mappings options and nicer UI
A height toggle to make the game more friendly to people sitting (or small children!)
Basic localization system. We're still mapping a lot of the language strings, but if you want to help us translate the game to your favorite language, join us here.
Bug fixes galore. Too many to enumerate.
We're still experimenting in-house at what update frequency we want to proceed. Right now we're currently aiming for 3 week cycles (2 weeks new stuff, one week test and polish).
Also, the office is closed next week (Gamescom and/or holidays) so the next update is ~4 weeks away instead of the usual 3. We're roughly planning to work on improving the AI and NPCs and continuing to improve the various game modes (single player and multiplayer) but we're also listening to your feedback, so don't be shy. And you can always follow our latest plans on our roadmap.
First Major Update! Bigger Maps, Better Modes and UI [Build 296]
Hello!
Check out our first major update! We've been listening to your feedback and working hard on the game.
Bigger and Busier Maps
The Seaport map got a major revamp and is now 3 times the size! The Valley map has a lot more going on! Please check them out and let us know what you think.
Better Modes
We really spent some time polishing our Last Man Standing and Hide & Seek modes. We consider these modes more 'advanced' for a our group of players comfortable with the game and who know each other's tendencies. These modes involve cunning, daring escapes and outthinking your opponents. We've fleshed out the intro period so you have time to hide and we explain the rules a lot better.
UI Improvements
We're trying to make it as easy as possible to jump into a game and understand what is going on. We've spent the last couple weeks revamping our UI, our game mode intros, the result screens and in-game tutorials. There's still a lot more to do but as always, but things are a lot stabler.
The Settings screen has also had a makeover, with clearer options and better explanations
Behind The Scenes
There's so much going underneath the hood. We've revamped our build system to make it easier and faster to publish updates. We've put in the ground work for a localization system, which is coming in our next beta update (if you want to see the game in your native language, help us translate it!). We're laying the ground work for some new art and visual improvements. Are we investing a lot of time polishing the vehicle controls.
The whole team is excited about what's coming up in the next few weeks. As always, we are counting on your feedback to help us prioritize our focus. Our roadmap is available at roadmap.lateforworkgame.com
BETA Branch - Menus & Screens [Build 296]
Hey everyone,
Another week, another update to our Beta branch (which you can check out right now!) Thanks to your feedback we've been working hard to improve the overall flow of the game modes. Clearer menus, better intros and a lot of bug fixes make the game even easier to pick up and play.
Last week we introduced the completely revamped version of Seaport. The bigger map now feels a lot more open and dynamic, especially in Hide & Seek mode. We've also really improved this game mode (along with Last Man Standing). Check out the new setup and let us know what you think. We hope the battles are a lot more fair. Remember, you can always hide in a garage!
Stay tuned for our big update this week as we take these changes out of Beta.
And make sure to check out our roadmap and share your feedback, either on the forums or in a review.
