It’s officially been one year since Project Winter was launched into Early Access! We’d like to give a massive thank you to all of the players and fans over this past year, whether you enjoy watching your favourite streamer play, or if you betray your friends on a daily basis, THANK YOU! We’ve come a long way since Project Winter looked like this…
We’ve had a great first year, from entering Early Access as a relatively unknown game, to showcasing Project Winter at DreamHack Dallas and Tokyo Game Show, and finally to the end of the year when we were voted as the second best Canadian made game in 2019 by Canadian Game Devs. We are excited to keep it going in 2020 by bringing you more content and bringing Project Winter to brand new heights!
As a special thank you to our player base, we will be gifting all current players with an exclusive item in celebration of our one year anniversary. This item will be released in an upcoming update, keep your eyes peeled for it!
Project Winter Housekeeping Update 3
Project Winter v.1.1.12091
Greetings, Winter Survivors!
Today we bring you another stability and bug fixing update:
We’ve made some general changes such as an update to the lag mitigation mechanic (see below for details) as well as some balancing changes like limiting the possibility of animal wave objectives to one per match only, among many others.
We’ve also fumigated the code and eliminated a fair amount of bugs while we were at it. See below for all the juicy details.
Thank you, Community! We hope you enjoy this update.
GENERAL CHANGES:
“Recent Players” list on Steam will now be populated at the start of each match played
Holiday decorations removed (by popular demand, the snowmen will remain outside the cabin)
Updates to lag mitigation mechanic: for more clarity on when a melee attack has successfully landed, all players will now receive immediate feedback when hitting another player in the form of an impact sparks visual and a weapon hit sound effect. If the attack is correctly registered by the player being hit, the blood visuals and pain sound will then play. The radius for valid hits has also been increased by 60% to make this mechanic more forgiving for players with average latency.
BALANCE CHANGES:
Animal wave objective will now be limited to one per match
Survivor roles will now be sorted on the traitor HUD element so they no longer correspond to the players list seen on the exile or esc menu players screen
[Blackout] Increased the number of points the yeti receives for completing their objective
[Blackout] Batteries for collection objective will no longer spawn on the traitor island
NEW STEAM STORE ITEMS:
Once more, we’re refreshing our Steam store items along with the update. This time around we have 7 new items and their color variations:
BUG FIXES:
Fixed players being able to interact with wave objective consoles while standing on top of them
Fixed items being dragged out of inventory from non-equipped slots using the old drop system. All items will now be dropped using physics, not just equipped items
Fixed issue where overlapping survival points could appear on the main menu after leaving the interactive lobby
Fixed the statistics tab on the game over screen not being scrollable when it had more score values than would fit in the panel
Fixed the camera view switching incorrectly for traitors sabotaging the mining bridge after dropping one or more items on it
Fixed several cases where batteries were not being reset correctly if dropped off bridges or other areas
Fixed custom lobby tooltip not being fully visible when hovering over lobbies near the bottom of the screen
Fixed case where player could fall out of the map after being exiled while in the hydro station
Fixed bonus objective requiring players to be trapped by landmines not working (has been replaced with a “deal X damage with landmines” objective, for added clarity)
Fixed grammar for certain bonus objectives
Fixed case where truth serum lab or power station could appear on top of a traitor hatch, causing players entering the connected hatch to get stuck
Fixed various clipping issues with cosmetics
Fixed contrast issue for selected items on permanent tab of item store
Fixed several terrain issues with the maps
Fixed issue where being ragdolled by landmine while in the cabin map camera could cause player nameplates to become hidden for the duration of the match
Fixed Double Agent achievement being unlockable over the course of multiple games
Fixed animal pathing around some of the newer escape objects
Fixed checkmark not appearing on “help open truth serum bunker” bonus objective when completed
Fixed case where entering the snowball fight on the main menu and immediately leaving the lobby could cause the camera to remain zoomed in and your character to become invisible until toggling away and back to the play tab
Fixed spacing of inventory controls UI to the right of the player inventory slots when player has no role ability
Fixed item swapping not working when attempting to swap two non-stackable items of the same type between the player’s inventory and a container
Fixed frame delay before ammo hud appears when equipping a ranged weapon
Fixed being unable to drop carried batteries while inside the cabin
Fixed floor platform being visible through certain opened reward crates on the main menu
[Blackout] Fixed issue in Blackout mode that was causing information such as player roles and global events to be inconsistent between players
[Blackout] Fixed several issues with the portal escape (backup can no longer be boarded without being called from the radio, cover in front of portal stone will now descend and ascend correctly, portal visuals will no longer reappear at the end of the portal closing animation until it is called a second time)
[Blackout] Fixed alien artifact consoles sharing the same cooldown timer when one is used while the other is on cooldown
[Blackout] Fixed case where players with single-use abilities could be prevented from using ghost abilities after dying if they had used their ability that match
[Blackout] Fixed Demon’s conversion prompt not disappearing after players recover from artifact stun effect until they move away from the Demon
[Blackout] Fixed case where player could avoid cold damage while holding a torch if standing in a certain location outside the cabin
[Blackout] Fixed conversion block percentage from rosary item not being synced correctly between players
[Blackout] Fixed “picking a side” achievement not unlocking correctly
[Blackout] Fixed “converted survivors” bonus from Whisperer not awarding the correct points to converted survivors
Project Winter Game + DLC 40% Off
Merry Christmas! Both Project Winter and the accompanying DLC Blackout are 40% off for a limited time!
"Naughty or Nice" Update
Project Winter v1.1.11877 Holiday Update
Hey everyone, we’re dropping our holiday update just in time to help you get into the festive spirit! This update brings several holiday themed cosmetics with both a new crate and a new progression tree. The map will also be decorated to match the season, and we have more surprises waiting for you in game. We’re also bringing in some new game features, such as additional objectives and a brand new store that introduces an entirely different currency system!
FEATURES
New Store: Introducing our new store which will feature a new type of currency that will be harder to obtain compared to our usual SP. This currency can be used to buy a selection of new cosmetics in the store, our monthly updated Steam store cosmetics, and special unvaulted items that will come from our catalogue of past items. Make sure to spend your currency wisely!
New Primary and Secondary Objectives: We’ve switched things up a bit :) Primary and secondary objectives now have a wider variety of different objects that can appear, plus the introduction of a new secondary objective in which survivors must hunt down three batteries to power up the escape.
New Holiday Event: The new holiday event includes decorations across the map, a limited time crate and a new progression tree to unlock.
General Stability and Bug Fixes: See the patch notes below to get all the information on our stability changes and bug fixes for this update.
Steam Store Items: We are also refreshing our Steam store items along with this update, we have 10 new items with colour variations!
BALANCE CHANGES
Poison Crossbow Changes: stun from vomit effect is now much quicker (approx. 25% of original duration) and only triggers when player is first hit, not randomly for the duration of the poison effect. Duration of poison effect also reduced from 20 secs to 15 secs.
Traitors now have a new HUD element displaying the survivor roles present in the current match, which replaces the icons being visible on the individual survivor nameplates.
FIXES
Fixed survival points not being awarded when quitting to main menu via results screen after dying
Fixed player being able to move before they should after opening a sabotaged crate or other object that opens an inventory UI
Fixed case where being knocked down on the same frame you started playing an emote could break your character
Fixed case where having the emote wheel open and dismissing it after your character gets knocked down could let you move before you should be able to
Fixed vomit pfx appearing from your character after taking a traitor hatch or disembarking from escape vehicle after being poisoned and having vomit trigger at least once
Fixed vomit effect no longer triggering if player takes a traitor hatch while poisoned
Fixed case where vomit effect for host player could stop triggering if they were poisoned and cured it with a medkit
Removed some redundant information pop-ups appearing in-game which are now covered by the tutorial
Fixed proximity voice indicators on player nameplates not being obscured when behind another object like the player name is
Fixed event cosmetic items not displaying the correct rarity colours
Fixed issue where pressing the escape key multiple times on the opening splash screens could cause an error popup to appear
Fixed results screen not appearing when the appropriate button is pressed on a controller
Fixed controller mapping screen labels not being localized
Fixed snowball sounds being audible on main menu when not in interactive lobby
Fixed cabin chest opening on its own when a game starts (causing the opening sound to play in the background)
Fixed various issues and added new optimizations for animal AI
Fixed contextual actions for a player corpse not immediately reappearing after performing the clothes swap action
Fixed issue with certain boot cosmetics where pants colour would reset when they are equipped
Fixed various cases where crates in bunkers could be accessed from outside
Fixed various clipping issues with cosmetics
Fixed potential discrepancy on custom settings panel if original lobby host left
Fixed some cases where items could be dropped inside bunker doors
Fixed various environmental issues with the maps
Fixed issue where dead animals could play their death animation again if the player takes a transport hatch and any are within range
[Blackout] Fixed yeti receiving bonus objectives that can’t be completed
[Blackout] Adjusted some UI elements to improve visibility on the darker background of the Blackout game mode
[Blackout] Increased radius of artifact effect by 250% to better match effect visual
Nominate Project Winter for the Steam Awards!
We're proud to announce we're entering Project Winter to be nominated for the Steam Awards under the category "Better with Friends"!
Please cast your vote today as it is the last day for entries to be counted.
We'd like to thank you in advance for making Project Winter the amazing experience that it is today! We hope you continue enjoying the game and the wonderful community that's been created around it.
Project Winter is the perfect game to back-stab your friends. Project Winter is an 8 person multiplayer game focusing on social deception and survival. Communication and teamwork is essential to the survivors’ ultimate goal of escape. Gather resources, repair structures, and brave the wilderness together.
As a small Thanksgiving offering, we’ve added a limited time ‘Thanksgiving’ crate to Project Winter. The crate will be available starting today at 7:30 PM UTC and will last until Sunday, December 8th, 7:30 PM UTC.
We also fixed an issue where players without Blackout DLC were able to join more than one free game per day.
Happy Holidays, Gang… we hope everyone has something to be thankful for this season.
The Project Winter Development Team.
Project Winter v1.1.11259 - Polish and Bug Fixing Update!
Hey guys! We hope you’ve been enjoying the new Blackout DLC! This month's update is on the smaller side - mostly polish and bug fixing :) Please see the list of changes below:
GENERAL CHANGES:
Changed item pickup range to be consistent for all items
Added markers to all items that display when you are nearby
Location indicators will now change size and opacity depending on the player’s proximity to the indicator’s target
Traitors will no longer be given radios unless there are multiple traitors in a match
Rank icons have been updated to better reflect their purpose
Cleaned up visuals and text spacing for the roles clipboard UI
Language setting on the host lobby screen will now default to your game’s language setting
Cabin Halloween decorations removed
[Blackout] Added 11 new achievements for the Blackout game mode
[Blackout] Nameplates will now be visible for ghosts during blackout event
BALANCE CHANGES:
Reduced crafting cost on first aid kit to 3 roots
Reduced crafting cost on trap disarm kit to 3 electronic scrap
Bears who patrol around bunkers will now react to a player who enters a zone near the door even if the player is not in the bear's line of sight
Bonus objectives changes: some objectives will require a minimum number of players, minimum number of traitors, or be unique to certain game modes
[Blackout] Reduced crafting cost on gatling stake gun to 3 logs & 1 mechanical scrap
[Blackout] Removed conversion decay for Whisperer
[Blackout] Increased likelihood of blackout and witching hour events occurring
[Blackout] Stake launcher now deals significantly less damage to downed players (in line with other ranged weapons)
[Blackout] Added a slight delay before blackout event effects will apply (nameplates being hidden, cabin locking)
BUG FIXES:
Fixed an issue where items could briefly appear in the cabin when another player opened a container or crafted an item
Fixed issue where crates could be interacted with behind bunker walls
Fixed issue where animals would sometimes disappear if the original host left the game
Fixed issue where hits would sometimes not be registered when attacking animals
Fixed issue where player could be freed early from a trap if they were poisoned and the vomit effect triggered while trapped (applies to bear traps and the hysteria animation)
Fixed radio button making a static sound when pressed as a ghost while a radio channel is active (+ fixed ghosts being able to communicate over radio in rare cases)
Fixed issue where a downed player could become stuck in place if they sent a message through text chat while being revived
Fixed case where player could initiate a throw while in the middle of a melee attack, causing their character to break
Fixed camera switching to outdoor view if player dies inside cabin
Fixed damage from polar bear displaying as “not found” on the timeline
Fixed bear cape unlock progression not tracking trapped caribou
Fixed progression tasks for trapping targets incrementing for thrown bear traps
Fixed issue where player could get stuck on the loading screen while loading into a match
Fixed various issues with map terrain where players could get stuck or where environmental objects were floating
Fixed Stitchers and Hackers not gaining charge from opening traitor crates
Fixed issues with applying resolution settings
Fixed certain cases where survivor points would not be awarded on game over screen if game crashed or was closed
Fixed some potential issues from systems loading out of order when game is launched
[Blackout] Fixed animations while holding and attacking with a torch
[Blackout] Fixed contextual action for Padre ability not displaying correct text
[Blackout] Hovering over the charge bar area as a Medium no longer displays an empty tooltip
[Blackout] Fixed various cases where a UI screen could be left open if the player died as a converted survivor due to the demon’s death
[Blackout] Fixed ghosts being able to fall into the DSRV pool
[Blackout] Fixed flashbang audio (much less painful)
Project Winter: Blackout
Hey everyone, we’re happy to announce the first DLC pack for the game… Project Winter: Blackout. This action packed DLC will bring you everything you need just in time for the spookiest day of the year. This includes a brand new game mode with unique roles for THE traitor, a whole new map that incites even more fear and paranoia, new survivor roles and brand new items and weapons! Project Winter: Blackout is available for download on the Steam store for a price of USD 6.99. Checkout the trailer below.
[previewyoutube="1tCnsVgf68o;full"] Key DLC Features
New Game Mode: A twist on the classic Traitor vs Survivors game mode, now there are the Demon and Whisperer roles for the traitor, yes THE traitor. One traitor per game and this game mode focuses on converting survivors to your team. The game is over once all survivors either escape, die or are converted.
New Traitor Roles: Play as either the Demon or the Whisperer.
The Demon: Has the ability to forcefully convert survivors to the traitors team once they are in a downed state.
The Whisperer: slowly converts survivors by infiltrating their midst.
New Map: A brand new map for Supernatural expansion games. Explore a new, smaller, nighttime map with new special locations, interactable objects, and events.
New Survivor Roles: Unlock new Survivor Roles exclusive to the DLC.
Medium: You are able to see but not hear the ghost of any dead players around you. This is a passive ability and any ghosts that are within your range of vision will be automatically visible to you.
Hunter: You are immune to conversion and have a single use ability to reveal a role. Gain charge by gathering resources, looting crates or helping with objectives. Use your charged ability on a player, this will secretly reveal their role to you.
Padre: You have a single use ability to boost one other player. The chosen player will have a significant stat increase but beware! Using the ability on a traitor will give the traitor an even larger boost. Gain charge by looting crates and helping with objectives.
Yeti: As the Yeti, you are immune to conversion and are neither a Survivor nor a Traitor. You can side with either faction or be on your own. Complete your yeti task and escape with the Survivors or stay behind and help the Traitors get rid of the Survivors.
New Items: New Items can be used in the DLC!
Torch: Melee weapon that gives out a small circle of light and regenerates some warmth.
Rosary: Prevents conversion from traitors. Against the Whisperer, it absorbs conversion points, breaking at full capacity. Against the Demon, it repels one conversion attempt and revives from the knockdown, breaks after one use.
Holy Book: Melee weapon that is more effective towards animals during the Witching Hour event.
Gatling Stake Gun: Ranged weapon that is more effective towards animals during the Witching Hour event.
Flash Bang: Lights up the area and blinds the other players for a period of time.
Build Notes:
New pondering animation which plays while using the roles clipboard in the cabin, claiming a bonus objective or looting a corpse
BUG FIXES:
Fixed player not initially appearing as a survivor in the playable tutorial
Fixed virtual cursor not appearing at end of tutorial for controller users
Fixed player being able to get stuck in the escape cutscene if disembarking right as the countdown timer runs out
Fixed case where other players could briefly see a player who took a traitor hatch at the wrong location, and the snow trail following them to the other hatch
Fixed bunker crates not playing a sound when opened
Fixed player being able to perform actions while playing an emote
Fixed player being able to get stuck if playing emote right before falling
Fixed next item in stack not being equipped if player is attacked while finishing deploying an item
Fixed case where player could break if initiating a throw on the same frame as finishing a melee attack
Fixed held item not being re-equipped if the hysteria event starts while the playing is interacting with an object
Fixed players being freed from a bear trap being released too soon if they immediately trigger another bear trap
Fixed several cases where a dragged corpse wasn’t being released when it should (when player is knocked down, hysteria event starts, playing an emote)
Fixed being able to click and drag an item from a container to your inventory while the container UI was no longer open
Fixed VTOL escape not using the correct icons
Fixed certain text overlapping on roles clipboard
Fixed several environmental issues on existing maps
“Spooktober” Event Starts Now! A horrifyingly awesome new progression tree and a new event crate with spoopy items are now available for all you social skeletons to unlock and purchase! Please remember that this is a limited time event. Once the event is over, you’ll be able to purchase and keep any unlocked progression items, but will not be able to make progress in locked items. The crate will also be buried alive, never to be seen again!
Get Into the Spirit! Halloween decorations adorn the cabin! Feel that dreadful cheer when playing modes like classic, role based, and the…
New Custom Game Mode! The scary fun is now customizable! You can choose a new game setting when creating a lobby. Select the “Gears” icon to choose from different options to change the mechanics of your game.
New options are:
Game Length: choose between 30, 60 and 180 minutes before the mega blizzard kicks in.
Minutes Between Events: set a range between 3 and 20 minutes for the time between global events.
Player Roles: turn player’s roles ON or OFF.
Traitor Red Radios: turn red radios ON or OFF in game (See ‘General Changes’ for more info on Red Radios)
Survivor and Traitor Health: choose between a range of 1% and 500% starting health for both traitors and survivors.
Animal Health: choose between a range of 1% and 300% for the starting health of all wildlife.
Min / Max Traitors: set the number of traitors between a range of 1 to 3. Please note that the max setting will always mirror the min setting by default. Max setting can only be set to the highest min setting.
Traitor Communication! Traitors will now begin the game with red radios. These radios cannot be obtained by any other means, giving the traitors private communication. These radios will be destroyed when the player who is carrying it dies so traitors cannot be confirmed by finding the red radio on their corpse.
Aim for Success! We have a new crosshairs animation for all ranged weapons! Once a shot is properly aimed and held, the targeting reticule will shrink into a bullseye to indicate an optimal shot.
Other Changes:
Paranormal Physics Phun: Explosions ragdoll blown up players… enough said! While in ragdoll state, players will not receive damage.
Gravedigger’s Storage increased: The storage capacity of the community chest inside the cabin has been expanded.
Role Changes: The medic no longer receives a recipe buff on medkits and the saboteur role has been retired ahead of further updates to the player roles.
Smoke Out: The time it takes to deploy a smoke grenade using LMB has been reduced.
Added a new toggle in the general settings screen to control whether contextual options will respond to the cursor or not (ie. hovering to select and clicking to perform the action)
Contextual actions are now swapped with up and down on the d-pad when using a controller rather than the right analog stick
Player corpses can now be trapped
Slightly fewer bunkers will spawn near the cabin
Updated to latest version of Vivox SDK
BUG FIXES:
Fixed case where the player’s aiming could break if falling off a ledge while playing reloading a ranged weapon
Scrolling the mouse wheel on the roles clipboard UI to go through the list will no longer scroll through your inventory as well
Fixed issue where the surprise bunkers were not always loading correctly
Fixed screen flash when quitting from escape menu while in-game
Fixed cursor disappearing on the main menu if it wasn’t moved for several seconds
Fixed herb bushes not contributing points to the resources gathered category
Fixed ordering of contextual options so that traps (poison, booby trap) will always be listed last
Fixed case where location indicators would display incorrectly if multiple indicators were present on screen at the same time
Fixed bear traps not playing a sound effect when placed
Fixed case where taking a traitor hatch could cause the player to get stuck in level geometry at the other end
Fixed being able to break movement lock while playing an emote by dropping an item
Fixed equipped item becoming invisible when taking a traitor hatch until it is selected again
Fixed the explosion from a disarmed booby trap not spawning in the correct location
Fixed Traitor’s Bluff bridge being sabotagable only for the host player
Fixed players being able to get stuck behind console near spherical bunkers
Fixed case where lobby browser could display “Lobby” as the status for an ongoing game
Fixed several clipping and placement issues with resource nodes on the maps
Fixed wolves being able to walk on the mining bridge
Fixed several issues with clipping for cosmetic items
Disabled collision for animals once they die to prevent cases where the player could become trapped in a bunker or other location
Project Winter v1.1.9978 - New Roles and Booby Traps!
Hey everyone, it’s time for our monthly update! This month we have a few new features as well as bug fixes. The major additions include booby traps as well as new roles. We have also balanced the scoring system to even out the amount of points given to survivors and traitors at the end of a match. Please see below for more details on our new features as well as a list of improvements and bug fixes!
NEW FEATURES & GENERAL CHANGES:
New Roles
Innocent: the innocent role replaces the default survivor role when playing with special roles enabled. Innocents will provide additional points to all survivors that survive the wilderness and escape!
Soldier: the soldier role has a unique bar on their UI which will charge over time to reveal the location of the armory. This role is only assigned to survivors.
Hacker: the hacker role has a new ability that, when charged, gives the option to open normal bunkers for the cost of 1 traitor credit. This ability has a small cooldown. This ability won’t usable on the Lab or the Armory, and is only assigned to traitors.
Booby Traps
Landmines can now be used as an interaction on trappable objects such as consoles, crates, repair objectives etc.
Poison can also be added to more varied objects
Only one type of trap can be active on an object at a time
Aiming Improvements
Mouse and keyboard: aiming arc will now change colour to indicate that you’re aiming at a valid target, environmental objects will no longer obstruct the position of the cursor and the cursor will now only change to a reticle when aiming at a target.
Controller: now functions more like a twin-stick shooter where the player uses the right control stick to aim in the direction they want to fire rather than moving a cursor around the screen. Holding the right control stick will also initiate aiming now, without requiring the left trigger to be pressed first (though it will still activate aiming when pressed as well)
Scoring System Improvements
The scoring system has been rebalanced to neither favour survivors or traitors
This includes ingame tasks such as escaping, killing survivors, time alive etc.
This bonus objectives have also been rebalanced to be more close in points, as well as not favoring survivors over traitors or vise versa
Energy drinks now show animation for number of traitor credits given when playing as saboteur
Various performance improvements from updating to Unity 2019
Network data optimizations and disconnect reductions
New SFX which plays when your role ability has fully charged
BALANCE CHANGES:
Extended the range on the trap disarm kit area of effect by ~17%
Removed normal crossbows from traitor crate loot
Player vocalizations (from taking damage or using emotes) will no longer play during the hysteria event
BUG FIXES:
Fixed issue where game over screen may not appear after a match finishes and the game over animation plays
Fixed some cases where players could end up stuck on the loading screen while loading into a match
Fixed some cases where VOIP would disconnect mid-match and not reconnect properly until another match is played
Fixed case where accepting a Steam invite to play could cause you to be forcibly disconnected from subsequent matches
Fixed issue where player could get stuck if knocked down while in the falling animation
Fixed shivering animation blending into walk animation when entering the cabin when warmth is low
Fixed issue where power station could be interacted with from outside its building
Fixed smoke bombs not being able to be dropped and set off by holding the left mouse button
Fixed profile page tracking for console overloads performed
Fixed unlock conditions for Little Red Hen achievement
Fixed case where bullet tracer lines could travel in the wrong direction when firing at a target from point-blank range
Fixed contextual menu options not reappearing after applying a trap to an object until looking away and re-targeting the object
Fixed post-processing colour changes applying too early when using a traitor hatch to teleport to another area
Fixed issue where “survivors remaining” banner shown after an escape leaves was not taking disconnected players into account
Fixed issue where audio in truth serum lab became very distant when entering the main chamber
Fixed several cases where emotes screen could be opened when it should be blocked while the crafting or inventory UI is shown
Fixed timer not stopping in the lobby browser for games that have ended but still contain players
Fixed stat boost animation playing again if a survivor had drank an energy drink and boards and disembarks from an escape vehicle
Fixed some cases where dropped items would fall through the terrain in certain areas
Fixed some cases where bears would roar too often and not pursue the player correctly
Fixed bears sometimes losing aggression on a player when they activate a console
Fixed progress bar in crafting menu not playing at a consistent speed for players with different framerates
Fixed wolves not being able to climb onto the bottom platform of the V22 helipad
Fixed some cases where the camera transition could fail when leaving buildings as a ghost
And that’s all folks! Remember to join our discord (www.projectwinter.gg) for any help with issues, or to join the community :)
