Project Winter v1.1.9582 - Improvements and Housekeeping!
Hey everybody, we are back with our monthly update! We have a bunch of quality of life improvements included in this update. This update is largely focused on improving existing systems and improving the overall experience as well as bug fixes. Take a look at the details below!
NEW FEATURES & GENERAL CHANGES:
Elapsed playtime for each lobby now shows in the browser
Player outfit sets: 5 save slots for equipping different sets of cosmetic items on the customization screen
Recycling system improvements: equipped items can now be recycled, and will be automatically selected when the recycle button is pressed (if the item is recyclable)
New sets of waves for the animal objective console
Traitors can now see one another's roles
Role icons will now display for all players on MVP screen instead of just traitors
New contextual action to free other players from bear traps when approaching them while they’re trapped
Changes to ranking system
Updated amount of points needed for each social rank
Added report info popup
Improvements to loading times in some areas
Improved transition from in match to main menu (now fades to a loading screen)
Ghost ability item slots are now colored
Various anti-cheat measures added
Added support for some additional unicode symbols in player names
BALANCE CHANGES:
Landmines will now deal significantly more damage to downed players
Respawn timer for berry bushes increased from 60 seconds to 150 seconds
Repair objectives can now require up to 3 unique resource types instead of 1
Wolves spawned through the wave combat objectives will no longer respond to meat
All consumable items will now be interrupted if the player is attacked while using one (applies to food items, medkits, etc.)
Increased movement speed reduction while applying a medkit from 10% to 30%
Melee attacks can now hit multiple targets in one swing
Blizzard warmth decrease will now ramp up towards the end of the warning timer rather than applying all at once when the timer runs out
Crossbow drops removed from traitor crates, added to bunker crates
Crossbow improvements: bolts travel slightly faster, aiming cone narrows quicker and ammo has been increased from 10 to 15. Crossbows don't suck as much now.
Ghost abilities will now activate slightly faster
Empty crates from the loot drop event will now beep and explode after a few seconds, dealing low damage to anyone in the vicinity
BUG FIXES:
Various improvements to the loading sequence to reduce issues that could occur if players disconnect or drop out while a matching is loading
Various optimizations and fixes for the maps to address misplaced objects and spots where the player could get stuck
Fixed case where players would be unable to use the cabin radio or board the escape vehicle
Fixed descriptions for bonus objectives with player requirements not syncing correctly between players
Hydro station will no longer display a white screen when entered after your player has been exiled
Adjusted collision on hydro station railing
Right-clicking while in an animal or player corpse inventory will no longer initiate a throw if holding an item in your selected slot
Reduced clipping for various cosmetic items
Fixed case where the host of a rematch lobby wasn’t able to leave and create a new non-password protected lobby
Fixed spacing of error messages on host lobby screen
Fixed some cases where voice chat channels wouldn’t be properly left when returning to the main menu
Fixed ghost teleport bringing you to the last location of escaped players (will only work for players who haven’t died or escaped now)
Fixed a bunker that was missing an interior camera
Fixed some localization issues in the settings menu
Fixed case where revive animation for standard male body type could play for longer than it was supposed to
Fixed red box getting stuck on tasks UI if the escape object was repaired while the timer was running out
Adjusted sizing of timeline entries slightly
Fixed issue where interrupted area of effect items/abilities could have their sound loop until they were used again
Fixed case where rematch lobbies could remain invisible in the server browser after all players had rejoined the lobby
Fixed issue where players kicked from a lobby were able to rejoin it via the quick match button
Fixed text wrapping for several main menu UI elements
Recycled success popup will no longer persist for longer than it should if the player switches to another main menu tab while it’s still visible
Emoting right before the mass hysteria event starts will no longer let you move around while the hysteria animation is still playing
Cabin radio will no longer lock if approaching it while another player is facing it already
Fixed issue where players remaining on the game over screen from a rematch could hear voice chat from the next match
Fixed cases where player names wouldn’t be removed from the lower left of the game over screen after they had left
Fixed issue where stats screen on game over screen wouldn’t populate under certain circumstances
Fixed large player models using the wrong animations on the game over screen if the game ended while the hysteria event was active
Fixed timeline entry for opened surprise bunkers listing the same player twice
Improved ranged weapon aiming in yellow flag areas
Fixed issue where helicopter would remain visible on helipad prior to the backup call for any players who escaped on it and returned to the helipad as a ghost
Fixed issue where contextual menu options would render at the wrong angle for a frame when first displayed
“Ensure first objective is not sabotaged” bonus objective will now be reflected properly on the timeline and stats screen
Fixed case where player dragging a ragdoll could be killed and not release the dragged body
Fixed players being able to move earlier than they should be if they emoted while being revived
Fixed bunker consoles occasionally not showing a green light once their respective bunker has been opened
Fixed case where objective timer could remain visible for a previous task on the task’s UI
Fixed issues with defector role ability: no longer consumes charge when reopening a previously opened traitor crate or airdrop, and should work more reliably on subsequent charges
Ghosts will no longer play the full landing animation when falling from a tall height and can move immediately
As a thank you to you guys for being an awesome community, we are hosting a giveaway to win some Project Winter swag! There will be one Grand Prize Winner, and four Runner Up Prize Winners.
The Grand Prize Winner will receive:
- Two Project Winter Game Pads
- Project Winter Print signed by the Dev team
- Project Winter T-Shirt
- Project Winter Hoodie
- Project Winter Toque
- Five Project Winter Steam keys
The four Runner Up Winners will receive:
- One Project Winter Game Pad
- Project Winter Print signed by the Dev team
- Project Winter T-Shirt
- One Project Winter Steam key
The competition will run until Monday August 12, so make sure to complete the checklist before then to maximize your chance of winning the bundle! :lunar2019smilingpig:
Project Winter Update: Let's Role Play
Project Winter v1.1.9248 Feature Set - Let’s Role Play! (BUILD v1.1.9248_Prod)
Welcome to Project Winter 1.1! We have an exciting update this month, which will include new player roles for both the survivors and traitors. These new roles will give the players special abilities unique to their role, such as healing other players or crafting certain items for a lower price. This update also includes animated emotes, a craftable backpack to increase the player’s inventory size, and a number of polish improvements such as a new hydro power station. Checkout the build notes to see all of the new content and fixes!
NEW FEATURES:
Expanded Player Roles Game Mode: A new gamemode is being introduced that will include expanded player roles for both the survivor and traitor classes. Each role will include a special ability that can be charged by achieving certain tasks in-game, such as opening crates and helping fix the objective.
Players now have the ability to choose between a classic game mode (Traitors and Survivors only) and Expanded Roles game mode.
Expanded Roles mode is now the DEFAULT game mode. In this mode, the players spawn into the game with a small chance of being one of four new roles.
Medic (Survivors): Able to craft medkits with only two herbs, and can heal other players once their ability is charged. This role has a 20% damage reduction against other players.
Defector (Survivors): A survivor with the ability to open a traitor crate or airdrop once their ability bar is charged.
Stitcher (Traitors): Able to craft medkits with only two herbs, and can heal other players once their ability is charged. The stitcher does not suffer a damage reduction like the medic.
Saboteur (Traitors): Energy drinks will reward traitor credits instead of increasing stats. Unlocks an ability to craft landmines with traitor credits.
A new clipboard with descriptions for all the new roles has been placed on the south facing table inside the cabin.
Hovering over your ability charge icon will pop up a short description of your ability.
When creating a new lobby, players have the ability to click a box to enable Classic mode if they do not want to play games with expanded roles.
When browsing available lobbies, players can differentiate which game mode the lobby is in by looking for the “Classic” mode icon on the far left of the lobby’s info row.
New Global Event: Loot crate storm! A roar of a low flying plane, thunderous crashes... you know that one of those crates might contains gear, food, and survival. But there’s a catch… check out the event in game to find out what it is!
New randomized global event added to the mix.
Find the crate with all the loot in the allotted amount of time.
Additional Inventory Slot: Craft a fifth inventory slot from in-game resources to carry all those hearts you’re collecting! (Recipe available from the crafting table menu)
New Emote Animations: Characters now animate when emotes are triggered! Two brand new emotes have also been added, a pointing emote and a beckoning emote, which increases the total amount of emotes to 8.
New Power Station Variation: The power station has received a makeover! The hydro station will serve the same function as the power station, but with a new aesthetic. Each game will randomize between the previous power station and the new hydro station.
New Falling States: When falling from a certain height, the player will now play a falling animation. For shorter falls you will be able to move immediately upon hitting the ground, for higher falls you will be briefly immobilized while a landing animation plays.
Better Traitor Picking: The weighting system is now based on the amount of consecutive times a player has been a survivor.
Discord Rich Presence: See which of your friends are playing Project Winter from their discord profile. You’ll be able to see if they’re in-game, how many players are in their match, and what their reputation badge is!
Outfit Randomizer: When selecting an outfit for your character you can now select the option to randomize what your character wears.
Slope Speed Slow Down: Players now move slower when going uphill.
New Cosmetic Crate Items: 50 new in-game crate items to unlock!
Lobby Search Filter: Find specific lobbies easier by using the new search filter in the lobby browser.
BALANCE CHANGES:
Medkit crafting recipe has increased to 4 herbs instead of 3 herbs
Mass hysteria event duration has been reduced by 30%
Being reported now has a bigger impact on your social rating
The power station and truth serum lab now have a greater minimum distance for placement to prevent them from appearing directly beside each other
Poisoned crossbow now applies a more potent poison effect which will cause vomiting faster
OTHER CHANGES:
Animals now drop a fur pelt item in addition to meat
Adjustments to the text wrapping for various UI elements so they look better in other languages
Player report menu is now accessible from the game over screen again
Various graphical optimizations to improve performance
Players not joining a rematch will no longer be kicked out of the game over screen when the rematch timer expires
Added an indicator for the cabin safe zone to the UI
Added VOIP status, reconnect button and monitoring button in the settings menu to help with troubleshooting voice issues
Cooldown for ghost teleport is now a circle timer instead of a text timer
Various visual improvements for the in-game text chat
Location indicators that appear around the edge of the screen are now fixed to the main outdoor camera and won’t reposition for alternate camera angles
Campfires no longer lock when targeted, and can now be refueled if other players are targeting them already
Improvements to ranged weapon aiming visuals
Updated Vivox libraries to the latest version
Event items can now be recycled for 200 survivor points each
BUG FIXES:
Fixed several UI text elements that weren’t localized
Fixed player names with non-English characters appearing invisible in the lower left proximity chat indicators
Fixed certain Japanese hiragana and katakana characters appearing as squares
Fixed various issues on the maps where players could get stuck or visuals weren’t correct
Fixed case where fewer animals than expected could spawn for the animal wave console
Fixed several rare cases where the player could become broken and unable to use items after switching items while aiming a gun or aiming a thrown item
Fixed one instance of the fulton spawning inside an ice wall
Fixed blizzard visuals resetting when switching in and out of the cabin map camera during a blizzard
Fixed a case where lobby names were being considered invalid while containing no profanity
Fixed gloves for mountie jacket being stuck as black
Fixed crate announcement reward giving only the first crate and not properly setting the badges
Fixed region name being cleared when entering the settings screen while the lobby browser is opened and “best region” is selected
Fixed case where escape vehicle sounds could continue to play after object was destroyed
Fixed camera getting stuck when taking an escape pod near a yellow flag
Fixed cases where camera could get stuck when entering and exiting bunkers
Fixed case where player could get stuck on closed helipad by jumping off the plane’s wing
Fixed positioning of wires from lab console to prevent the player from getting stuck on them
Fixed certain escape pod drop locations being very near the truth serum lab
Fixed case where players could be left on black screen during load if host disconnects
Fixed animals losing aggression when targeted player enters small hot springs
Fixed case where player could get stuck behind crates in a geo bunker
Fixed player scores briefly appearing as 0 on the game over screen results tab when other players select the stats tab
Fixed case where players could place fires underwater
Fixed issue where traitors leaving early would receive points for survivors stopped when the survivors were still alive
Fixed bonus objective for being exiled twice incrementing when other players get exiled
Fixed “Home Run” achievement unlocking by throwing an item at a dead animal
Fixed case where item icon could get stuck on UI and break a ghost ability if an item was being dragged when the player died
Fixed flickering blood particle effects in some cases when equipping the raw animal or human meat items
Welcome survivors to the new event: FreedomFest. Celebrating a joint event between Canada Day (we’re Canadian eh?) as well as our neighbours down south’s own Independence Day. We have a number of new items, a new crate as well as a new progression tree added into the game. These items are only available for a limited time so make sure you get them before it is too late!
Along with this, we have refreshed our cosmetic store. This is a special store refresh for us as we have teamed up with the College of the North Atlantic’s very talented Video Game Art & Design students who have created all the cosmetics for this month. Items were created as a capstone project by students Julia Cumby and Grace Blagdon, supervised by instructor Janice Hertel. The program offers an artistic approach to game development. More info: https://cna.nl.ca/program/video-game-art-and-design
All proceeds from these items will go to support Young Adult Cancer Canada. YACC is the national cancer organization providing resources for young adults looking for inspiration, information and support. Please visit https://www.youngadultcancer.ca for more info.
Now on with the patch notes! 1.0.8903
New Event: Freedomfest 2019!
New progression tree to unlock exclusive items
New limited time crate to purchase with Survivor Points
Event will begin about an hour after this update goes live.
Balancing Changes
Berries now respawn slower
Animal Wave Objective AI is now tougher and waves have a better difficulty curve depending on number of players
Time it takes to repair objective is now increased on Animal Wave Objective
Lobby Improvements
Passwords will carry over when you “rematch”
Users can lock/unlock the lobby while in the lobby
Misc improvements
Reporting removed from the Summary screen. Players can still report people via ESC>Players menu. This is to help mitigate salty players reporting people for no reason
Social Point “degradation” slowed down.
Bug Fixes
Animals should not spawn within the cabin anymore
“User that swapped clothes would retain the swapped name after becoming a ghost” Fixed!
“Escapes counting towards deaths” Fixed!
“Players getting stuck when loading into the game” Fixed!
Fixed issue where player had unlimited number of downvotes by exiting and restarting the game.
Fixed player names with certain characters appearing invisible in the lower left of the results screen
Player voice indicators will now revert to their original name when a player dies or escapes after swapping outfits
Social Rating Update!
Greetings Survivors! Welcome to Project Winter: The Social Update! For this update we have mostly focused on improving quality of life aspects of existing features. Here are the new things you can expect from this update:
Profile / Social Rating Page:
Players can now access a “Profile” page from the main menu UI where their social rating (see below) is displayed, as well as their lifetime statistics that track from today onward. This is the first part of a multiple iteration feature that will continue to improve in the near future
Social Rating system:
Players now have a social rating system that displays how well they do in the game and how cooperative they are. Details on the system are:
All players now have a badge next to their names that displays their social rating level.
Every Player starts with the same rating of ‘base’ positive (Bronze Badge)
You social rating is improved whenever a player gives you a thumbs up at the end of every match. The max positive social level a player can reach is Gold.
Your social rating is negatively affected when a player reports you. If your social rating degrades below the base “bronze” level, your name will display an exclamation mark badge next to it.
Rating inactivity will cause your social rating to reset back to base Bronze level over time.
Players can report other players a maximum of 3 times per day. This helps avoid abusing the system.
New Objective challenges! See what happens when nature teams up against your chances of survival.
Error messaging handling: “Player reported” and “Banned / timed out account” messages have more contextual information and options for affected players.
Trap disarming kit: Players can now find and craft trap disarming kits in game.
Rematch: Players can now choose to rematch their current team mates. The option becomes available at the end of every match.
Quick match: Click it, join a match, play.
Survival points balancing: We’ve made tweaks to the survival points system to emphasize cooperative gameplay. End of game goals are now prioritized for points over the single bonus objectives that can be claimed in game.
Housekeeping and bug squashing:
Numerous holes in the environment have been patched
Camera triggers have been optimized and should properly transition back to main camera without getting stuck (lower quality hardware might still see this issue)
General level optimizations and fixes for spawned object positioning
Added a non dx11 compliant version of the snow. Users affected with the “black snow and trees” issue should be able to play now
Players will now see a dynamic blurred background rather than a static ‘blurred’ image if they have post-processing enabled
Reduced initial cooldown of ghost abilities to 60 seconds from 180 seconds
Fixed issue with player corpses not being interactable when killed during hysteria event
Fixed case where activated traitor abilities could be different for host and clients
Animals will no longer continue to attack the space where a player boarded the escape pod after it departs
Updated visuals for player voice chat indicators in bottom left of screen. Ghosts now also display an icon to indicate who is speaking
Fixed landmine explosion graphic (will now play for its full duration)
Fuel bars for campfires will now hide when not being targeted by the player
Fixed overlapping/stuck error messages on host lobby popup
Fixed case where player controls could break when vomiting and firing a ranged weapon at the same time
Fixed collision for traitor crates
Update Discord and "Buy More Skins" buttons to open in Steam overlay browser to try to prevent the antivirus lock issue
Fixed "escape without eating berries" bonus objective not counting poisoned berries
Updated sort order of crafting items to better group item types
Fixed kicking multiple players from a lobby only preventing the first kicked player from rejoining
Optimizations to reduce network data sent for players and animals
Timeline entries on game over screen will now show survivor and traitor icons in front of player names for more events
Added timeline event for opening truth serum lab
Increased opacity of text chat background slightly to increase readability
Fixed "Exquisite Chef" achievement unlocking at 31 items instead of 30, and not counting pot pies
Added unique ammo icons for each type of ranged weapon
Fixed crossbow bolts not despawning after hitting certain surfaces
Fixed ghost nameplates sometimes appearing for living players
Fixed aiming reticle not appearing for snowball fight
Fixed various issues with Player profile tracking stats.
Content Update # 7 v1.0.8265 - 1.0 Launch and New features!
1.0 Is live! And with it are a few new features for you guys! Work together to open the armoury and find a cache of weapons to use to survive, or deceive. Two new ranged weapons have also been added, a crossbow and a tranquilizer gun. Poison the crossbow to apply the poisonous effects, or use the tranquilizer gun to slow the enemy down and stop their ability to speak to other players for a short time. Check below for some more details!
Armoury
Has a high chance of spawning ranged weapons inside
Only 1 per map!
Crossbow
Very quiet ranged weapon
Can be poisoned at the crafting station using the poison item
Tranquilizer Gun
Very quiet ranged weapon, does very little damage
Will slow the player when hit
Will stop the players ability to use proximity chat, text chat or radio chat when hit
New Maps!
3 new maps to explore
New places to sabotage
And of course, bug fixes!:
Fixed issue with pickup prompts for items not appearing from destroyed resource nodes in certain circumstances
Dead players will no longer disappear from the exile menu, and can still be voted for (their votes for other players will be removed, however)
Fixed a bug where players would get stuck in the interactive lobby snowball fight
Players outside of the interactive lobby should not see snowball impacts
Fixed aiming near submarine bridge
Polish for blizzard visuals in yellow flag views
Fixed the druid fires
Updates to settings/control mapping
Updates to fonts and localization
Fixed issue with a controller conflict with cycling ghost abilities and opening the stats screen
Added tab key indicator to all contextual interactions that can be cycled, not just active ones
Fixed player ragdolls bouncing in certain cases
Adjusted UI on inventory for controller scrolling
Optimizations to reduce network traffic
New Steam items added
Bug fixes for announcement system
Nvidia Highlights disabled to address crashing issues
Reveal Health traitor ability disabled for now (not working correctly)
Voice chat proximity range reduced slightly
General improvements for animal AI
Multiple attack animals can now be spawned from surprise bunkers
Updated surprise bunker prefabs to create smoother jump path
Animals will now lose interest in players after a few seconds if the player enters an area inaccessible to the animal
Tightened hit box on wolves
Fixed an issue where wolves could be led up a set of stairs, breaking their pathing
Bear will roar instead of stand to indicate you are getting close
Fix issue with loading failures
Fix issue where players could use the report system to report themselves
Invite button should activate when players leave a lobby, not just when they join a partially full one
Smoke bomb activation should cancel when entering a safe zone
Melee attacks have an increased hit radius
Axes are positioned differently to hit closer to the player
Fixed issues with some achievements not tracking correctly
Fixed an issue with the camera zoom when player dies during a blizzard
General UI improvements
Fixed an issue where the cabin map wouldn’t always update when the 2nd objective beacon was activated
Player proximity voice chat names on HUD will now update when swapping clothes with another player
Audio updates (new sounds added, some existing sounds fixed)
Added music to the game that gets more intense as things happen
Thanks to everyone who has supported us up to this point, and to all new players… welcome! The game is what it is today due to the support and feedback of the players. All Early Access players will have their two exclusive EA Items rewarded to them today, claim them from the announcements section! We hope you enjoy the latest update!
So what is 1.0? 1.0 is the team finishing all the features we originally wanted in Project Winter + some valuable feedback from the community.
What is next? We are not stopping at 1.0! We will be slowing down our content release schedule to monthly releases, rather than every two weeks as we have been previously. This will give us a bit more breathing room and make sure we release polished features. We will still be releasing bug fixing builds as needed, these will not necessarily be on a schedule depending on the severity of the issues seen.
Next content build will be scheduled for June 20th and we aim to include a lot of quality of life improvements on existing systems, all dependant on time, these features may include:
Quick match button
Stats / Profile Page
Social Rating
Iterate on repair objectives to make more interesting
Living ragdolls
Trap disarm item
As always, we look forward to your feedback and you can find us and other community members on our Discord (www.discord.gg/projectwinter)! Drop in and have a chat.
Project Winter FREE Weekend + 25% Steam Sale
Project Winter is having a free weekend RIGHT NOW! We will also be having a 25% Steam Sale on this weekend. The free weekend and the sale end Monday morning, so don't miss out!
The Project Winter Discord is a great place to find players, stay connected with the game community and interact with our QA and Dev teams. It is also the best place to go to report bugs, players, and give feedback and suggestions about the game.
This weekend will be the last chance to join our Early Access community, if you play before May 23rd you will receive two Early Access Club exclusive items when we launch into 1.0!
Content Update # 6 v0.1.7851 - Ghostly Abilities
Our last update before 1.0 is live! We’ve heard you guys and we’ve added some Ghost abilities so you can help or hinder the living! Ghosts now have the ability to light a Ghostly Fire, drop a Ghostly Feast, heal the living, or be traitorous and chill the living. These abilities have a global cooldown so make sure to plan out what ability to use when to use it! We have also included a few more things, please see below for more details.
Content Update # 5 v0.1.7581 - Poisonous Update!
We are live with our fifth content update! This update is a little smaller than the rest but has a couple of very exciting new items: Poison and Pot Pies! Players can find poison in traitor crates as well as bunker crates (very small chance) and use it to poison food. The Pot Pie can be used to regain a large amount of hunger as well as a small amount of health and warmth but beware! Someone may have added a secret ingredient. More details below.
Implemented Poison
Added Pot pie Item and recipe
Added Poison Effect
Poison Item spawns in Traitor Crates and can spawn in bunker crates (Very low chance)
Poisoned versions of cooked food can be made at the cooking station
Poison will cause players to vomit
As always we have fixed some bugs! Please see below:
Added ability to poison food
Animal corpses no longer have collision against players
Fixes to animal navigation
Can no longer craft gun parts
Traitor crate changes - more likely to get consumables and deployables, less likely to get gun parts
Pass on bonus objective reward values, mostly lowered overall
Fixed issue where players could climb on top of the Helicopter
Fixed Snow trail issue on some tiles
Fixed an issue with downed but not dead players not being counted towards the "Survivors remaining" banner
Fixed an issue where ghosts could fall through a sabotaged bridge
Fixed an issue where the traitor crate notification wasn’t appearing for the host
Updated Camo baseball cap to use the correct texture
Updated collision on the cabin to keep players from getting all up in our house.
Fixed an issue where dead traitors who left the game would get points for “Survivors Stopped” even if survivors were still alive
Fixed an issue where players could not get off the escape vehicle when using a controller
Fixed issue where players could not walk away from the Exile board once the menu was open
Ghosts now see proximity chat
Fixed issue where player bodies would sometimes rotate around
Fixed animation syncing between animals
New cosmetic items added to the reward drops
That's it everyone! Thanks for playing, and don’t forget to join our discord (www.discord.gg/projectwinter) for more news, updates and to become a part of our amazing community!
-The Project Winter team
Project Winter moving out of Early Access - May 23rd
We're happy to announce Project Winter will be leaving Early Access and launching into 1.0 on May 23rd, 2019! Check out our release trailer here!
Project Winter initially launched into early access on February 7th, 2019. The team took a look at the MASSIVE list of features we'd love to have in the game and organized them from absolutely necessary to "would be nice". The list as a whole could have kept the team busy for more than a year, maybe even two.
We decided early on that the last thing we would want is for this game to be perpetually in Early Access. The team had a clear vision for what the game was meant to be and we had a clear path to get there. The features we have decided that would make this game 1.0 was estimated at just under 3 months but of course the point of going into early access is to get feedback from the community! So we ended up a little late on our original estimate, but that was to ensure we were implementing the feedback as it came in.
We have had 4 major content updates and 2 major system overhaul/bug fixing updates since launch. We plan to have 3 more before 1.0 with a particular feature we've been working on for awhile coming in today :) .
Here is a brief overview of what has been added in the last 2.5 months:
Power Station
In place of the objective locator, we have now added a new objective system! The power station can be found on the main tile of the map; once discovered, players will need to work together to repair the power station which will restore power to the grid. Once restored, players can then move on to the escape vehicle and repair that to escape.
With the addition of the power station, we have also done an Objective UI overhaul to help with first-time user experience and clarity.
Truth Serum
Confirm if your fellow player is a friend or foe! Find the Professor's Lab and work together to activate the consoles, gain access to the serum, and reveal a player's true role as either a Survivor or Traitor.
Swapping Clothes
When a player interacts with a corpse they will now have the option to swap clothing.
Swapping clothes will only exchange the players' clothing and hair, the body type will stay the same.
After swapping clothes, the player will switch names with the corpse as well, and the player's role will be re-concealed to any player that had used a truth serum on them.
Mass Hysteria Global Event
We've added a new global event where all characters are transformed into bunnies so that nobody will be able to tell who is who. The event is accompanied by a special music track and a psychedelic screen effect. It lasts for 90 seconds.
Ghost Mode Overhaul
Teleport between living players, locate any traps that are placed, and switch between radio channels to hear the remaining players' conversations. Become a fly on the wall after you kick the bucket!
Survivor Airdrops
An emergency airdrop for the survivors! This airdrop will spawn when there are 2 survivors left in a game that started with 7-8 players or when there is 1 player left in games of 5-6 players. The survivor airdrop will contain repair supplies, survival supplies and guns to help the remaining survivor(s) reach their rescue point!
Console Overload
Traitors now have the option to overload a console instead of just helping the survivors use them. Once the consoles are overloaded they will emit a smoke PFX, and can't be used for 90 seconds. All of the connected consoles will be smoking so the traitor can't be immediately outed.
Server Browser
Join/Host a lobby
See open games that are looking for players
See games that are currently in progress
Easily switch regions
Set passwords for lobbies
Set language preference for lobbies
Kick/Ban players from your lobby
Hot Spring Overhaul
The hot springs can be activated to restore warmth or sabotaged to damage survivors.
And we still have a lot more work to do!
So what changes for Project Winter after 1.0 is released? Nothing really. The major change is that the team will be taking a bit of a breather and slow down on the release schedules. Up until 1.0, we have been doing major overhauls and adding brand new systems within a week then sending the builds to QA to test and bug fix for another week before release. This has been obviously quite stressful on the team and it has allowed bugs, exploits and unbalanced content to make its way into the game.
After 1.0, we will be selecting just one feature, completing it, iterating, and focus testing it to ensure it is not rushed and good for prime time. The future release schedule will likely be 3-4 weeks between feature updates.
If you are interested in the features we still have planned and wish to help us prioritize them you can check out this survey.
And as always, we want to hear any feedback and suggestions you might have so join us in our Discord to chat with us and meet new players!
