Hello ladies and gentlemen! This is the patch note for SYF version 0.12.4.5, the first major update since the release of the Early Access. This patch brings a massive number fixes and improvements to the game, especially for online multiplayer. See the entire list below:
Features
Arenas, items, tournaments and cults now be unlocked by playing Arena Mode.
Various accessories designed by Kickstarter backers can now be unlocked. (Available for everyone)
Game balance
Increased the range of Dagon's Ominous Monolith
Increased the damage dealt by the tip of the Tentacle Whip.
Damage dealt by thrown weapons now properly scale with the throw's charge time
Visuals
NPCs roaming the main menu no longer have a ground decal.
The Elder Scale's color is now more vivid.
The Rune of Warding's model has been updated.
VSync settings can now be adjusted in the graphic options menu.
UI
French localization added. (Some entries are still temporarily in English)
Added support for Chinese characters. (A Chinese localization will be added shortly)
Fixed an issue that would cause the game softlock when accessing the help tab from the pause menu.
Story dialog boxes now stay visible during the entire voice line.
Fixed sound events timing in cutscenes.
Fixed the tooltips for Story lore pages.
Avatars' abilities are now displayed in the character selection screen.
Fixed the Elder Scale's localization.
Fixed some missing localized texts.
The tournament panel is now locked until at least one cup is unlocked.
Added a duration preview to the gamemode objective selection.
The key [Q] is displayed instead of (Y) over characters controlled by a keyboard.
Fixed the resolution box clipping through the view port.
In online mode, Arena mode is now properly selected instead of Story mode.
Online
Added support for Steam friends invite and join request.
Reduced the number of regions.
Host no longer needs to accept players joining a public room.
Tags now constrains the room setting.
Added a LockPlayer tags to close the room.
Fixed an issue that would cause damage to not sync properly.
Fixed items floating around.
Fixed some arena hazards that would not activate when the host is a spectator.
Improved the sync of cults' stress level.
Improved the sync of dynamites' explosions.
Improved the sync of cannonballs.
Improved the sync of item conditions.
Improved the sync of Conquest capture points.
Improved the sync of random events.
Improved the sync of player grabs (from hazard and Cthulhu's Ancient Grasp).
Optimized network map loading.
Fixed the lateral walls of Hidden Depth not breaking.
Fixed an issue where players would be incorrectly rotated at the start of a match.
Fixed random tournaments.
Added a notification when a player quits mid-game.
Added a notification when the room's host change mid-game.
Cancelled join requests are now properly removed.
Additional join requests are now added to a wait list instead of appearing all at once.
Fixed an issue where players would still appear in the character selection screen after leaving the room.
Fixed an issue where Nyarlathotep was constantly teleporting.
Changed server port.
Your feedback is invaluable and always appreciated! Join us on Discord [Link] and participate in the ongoing development of Sacrifice Your Friends!
Devs Mini-Tournament Live Stream
Devs from Astrolabe Interactive engage in merciless battle to settle once for all who's the best worst friend of the studio.
Join us on June 19th at 1 pm EST!
Welcome to Sacrifice Your Friends
Welcome ladies and gentleman to Sacrifice Your Friends, the universe's best, first, and thus far only lovecraftian party brawler!
It's a pleasure for us at Astrolabe Interactive to be part of the Steam Summer Festival! Our game's demo features 3 multiplayer arenas and 3 story missions. Try SYF either online or couch, or with a mix of both!
Sacrifice Your Friends is released in Early Access on June 18th, during the Summer Festival. For the first week of Early Access, SYF will be 20% off from the standard Early Access pricing, which is itself 20% off from the full release price!
We have two livestream events during the Summer Festival, so come and meet us!
Thursday, June 18th at 1 pm EST Friday, June 19th at 1 pm EST
About Us
Astrolabe Interactive is an indie game studio based in Montreal, Canada. Astrolabe started 2 years ago with 2 young game designers in a living room. We are now a team of over 15 designers, artists and programmers, and we are proud to release our first large scale video game project. We hope you enjoy our game as much as we enjoyed making it!
Steam Summer Festival is upon us! Meanwhile, Sacrifice Your Friends release on June 18th in Early Access. Join us for an hour as we play the game live and answers all your bizarre questions!
Our streams on Steam: Thursday, June 18th: Launch Event at 1PM EST
Friday, June 19th: Devs Mini-Tournament at 1PM EST
Play Sacrifice Your Friends' Demo
Sacrifice Your Friends is coming out in just a few days on June 18th in Early Access. However, if you want to be extra early, the Steam Summer Festival is here for you. Starting today at 1 pm EST and until June 22nd, you can try a demo of SYF for free before jumping into the Early Access.
Join us for the launch streams next Thursday and Friday on Steam at 1 pm EST!
Sacrifice Your Friends in Early Access starting June 18th
Hello everyone! After much deliberation, we can now officially confirm that Sacrifice Your Friends will be released in Early Access on Steam on June 18th 2020!
“Why Early Access?”, you may ask. In one word: COVID-19. Due to the current lockdown, our work on some of SYF remaining content has slowed considerably. We chose Early Access rather than further delay the release while we complete this missing content. We will post a detailed roadmap of future content in the next few days.
Get 20% off by purchasing SYF during Early Access! We hope to see you all in the arena! Join us on Discord.
DevUpdate - March 13
PAX East is already behind us, and Sacrifice Your Friends is almost ready for release. Meanwhile, I created a little virtual tour of the game’s main hub: the train station.
The station is the headquarters of Miskatonic Travel Co., a mysterious agency dedicated to offering occult tours around the world.
The Tour
The train station is located in Arkham, Massachusetts. The building’s architecture is heavily influenced by Art Deco. The style’s proeminent uses of luxurious materials, geometric patterns, and classical depictions lends itself well to an impressive look that remains faithful to the game’s 1930s setting.
The travel agency’s booth serves as one of the game’s menu screens. From this location, players can choose whatever they want to play story tours, arena games, tournaments, or simply peruse the game guide.
The back wall of the train station features the ticket booth. This is where players select their characters and choose their next arenas. The booth itself is flanked by two colossal statues of dread lord Cthulhu. For reference, these statues would be about 8 meters (26 feet) tall in real life.
Of course, a train station wouldn’t be complete without a train. This majestic machine is the Miskatonic Express, bringing you to your final destination in cozy comfort. The Miskatonic Express is powered by a mighty steam engine sporting a golden depiction of Cthulhu.
Speaking of trains, you may notice the departure board when entering the game. It is usually replaced by the option menu, but it is visible on the bottom left of the start screen. It changes every time you enter the main menu.
If we take a look upward, you will notice the station has glass ceilings. The glass is adorned with depictions of tentacles, a classic nod to lovecraftian iconography.
By the way, you may wonder if there is something behind the camera at the start of the game. Well, yes: there is an actual wall closing the station. There is no exit, however. (Except the actual quit button… or Alt+F4 for the villainous barbarians.)
Behind the scene
This was the tour of the train station, SYF’s main hub. I included below a couple behind the scene screenshots.
One of the things I personally do in Sacrifice Your Friends is lighting and postprocessing. To get an idea of what this is about, here is a shot of the station with what I usually call “Wal-Mart lighting”, which is typically what a scene looks like before I work on it.
Here, we have a shot of the station from outside the visible area. To scale, the entire surface is about 45m x 30m (150 ft x 100 ft). The ceiling is 12m (40 ft) high.
Comments or questions? Join us on Sacrifice Your Friends’ public Discord server!
I had a lot of fun writing this update. Next one is likely to be about one of the playable arenas. Hit me up on Discord if you have a specific topic you would like me to cover. Until next time!
By Non-Euclidian Overlord Game Designer, Astrolabe Interactive
DevUpdate - February 14
In the previous update, we talked about the context of SYF’s story tours. Now let’s have a look at why we are making a story mode for Sacrifice Your Friends.
All gameplay screenshots displayed in this update are from an early test version of the story mode. Everything you see here is likely to change before release.
Learning
The story tours of SYF are good at introducing the lovecraftian universe at the core of the game. However, it is also meant to reveal the gameplay secrets that make SYF such a fun game to play.
While we designed Sacrifice Your Friends’ controls to be simple and intuitive, there is still much newcomers have to learn. Noticeably, we have noticed players often struggle with key elements of gameplay, such as madness, transformation, item charging, and item throwing.
The story mode is the perfect opportunity to familiarize players with more arduous mechanics. This is not to say the entire campaign is one giant tutorial. Rather, we aim to provide enjoyable solo / coop gameplay challenges centered around a variety of already existing mechanics.
Unlockables
Mastery is good and all… but what about rewards? At the end of each mission, a rank is awarded to players based on their performance:
Bronze, which is fairly easy but is needed to move on to the next mission.
Silver, which generally requires a bit of smart play to achieve.
Gold, which often requires a well coordinated team and a good amount of skills.
There is even rumors of a mysterious fourth rank that can only be achieved through a truly hardcore level of efficiency.
Players earn unlockable elements upon receiving mission ranks. Note that we do not wish to lock gameplay related elements behind overly long or difficult challenges. As such, arenas, items, and cults can all be received by completing bronze level requirements. Players can discover all arenas and acquire basic skills before quickly jumping into competitive multiplayer.
For those pushing to the next steps, there are also plenty of customisation items to be earned by achieving silver and gold ranks. These include exclusive characters and accessories to show off your completionism. Unlike experience rewards from playing arena mode, story rewards are shared across all profiles.
In the end, SYF remains a competitive brawler at heart. While we don’t plan on creating a massive storyline for the game, we do plan on it being fun. The story tours should bring interesting context and challenges to the mix.
Comments or questions? Join us on Sacrifice Your Friends’ public Discord server!
Next update, I will discuss the game's main hub: the train station. There are a lot of cool little details going into it, so stay tuned!
By Non-Euclidian Overlord Game Designer, Astrolabe Interactive
DevUpdate - January 31
Sacrifice Your Friends has entered its last phase of development. Since the end of Closed Beta, we have been extremely busy with the last big feature of the game: Story Mode. Now that the story of SYF is starting to take shape, it seems like a good time to discuss what it entails.
The Context
Sacrifice Your Friends is set in the universe of author H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937). While Lovecraft’s work is highly significant in terms of supernatural horror, it's also an important part of modern pop culture.
Obviously, SYF has a much lighter tone than Lovecraft’s original work: we are aiming for ironic comedy, not horror. However, we do strive to be faithful to Lovecraft’s mythos.
One way this is achieved is by not directly following the plotline of existing stories. Instead, players are invited to explore the world of Lovecraft with the Miskatonic Travel Co., a shady travel agency. The agency offers a positive outlook on ritual sacrifices and malevolent cosmic entities.
The train station, which players will recognize as the game’s hub area, serves as the MTC’s headquarters. From this location, players can plan their occult world tours in all the cozy opulence they may desire.
The Shape
The Miskatonic Travel Co. will offer four to five guided tours, each going through four arenas. Each mission has custom objectives and narration. Players earns rank depending on the team’s overall performance. All missions are cooperative, and can be played solo. Mission difficulties and rank requirements change with the number of players in the game.
The tours are narrated by the Guide, a fully voiced character that will accompany the players as they progress through their occult getaway. We are currently finalizing talks with a professional voice actress for the role. An official announcement should come shortly.
This update is the first of two regarding the story of SYF. Next week, we will talk about the purpose of the story in the game. Until then, see ya!
By Non-Euclidian Overlord Game Designer, Astrolabe Interactive
Closed Beta Patch 0.9.1.4
New Arena : Gilman House The legendary Gilman House of Innsmouth is now an arena in SYF! As an added bonus, the management saw fit to add portals to the hotel rooftop, much to everyone's enjoyment. The Gilman House might be one of our favorite arenas yet!
Added Gilman House to the arena selection.
Gilman House is locked by default. Play other arenas to reveal it!
Arenas tweaks
House of Hunger: Added pickable and destructible props.
Temple of the Unseen: Updated columns’ models and textures.
Audio
Added Dash SFX.
Improved Death SFX.
Improved Spawn SFX.
Misc
Added an outline to players’ ground decals.
Fixed an issue that prevented extra players from joining an online room as spectators.
Some fixes and tweaks.
What’s next? These changes are not yet in the game, but they are arriving fast. Stay tuned!
Complete revamp of characters’ animation. (Almost done)
Online quickmatches. (Almost done)
New item: Miska-Tonic (Almost done)
New item: Pitchfork (in a week or two)
New item: Tentacle Whip (in a week of two)
New arena: Innsmouth Chase (in a week or two)
New arena: Cavern of the Elders (in a few weeks)
New arena: Iceberg (in a few weeks)
New arena: Mountain of Madness (end of the year)
New arena: Old Road (end of the year)
Arena revamp: Color from the Well (in a few weeks)
Solo/Co-op mode (end of the year)
New Cult: Nyarlathotep (in a few weeks)
New Cult: Dagon (end of the year)
New Cult: Shub-Niggurath (2020)
New Cult: Shoggoth (2020)
Your feedback is always appreciated! Join us on Discord [Link] and participate in the ongoing development of Sacrifice Your Friends!
