Northwood Studios would like to present the first entry in our new 'Site-02 Transmissions’ series. The purpose of this series is to provide our players with better insight into the development process of SCP:SL.
Posts will include direct commentary from our studio’s departments, as well as general information detailing the internal workings of the studio.
The first entry of this series will be a longer read — primarily structured around the updates provided by our Programming, Art, and Game Design teams, respectively. These updates will consist of sharing each team’s progress in the recent months, along with their development plans for the near future.
DEV COMMENTARY
Programming Team:
Since doubling in size, the Programming team's been operating around the clock — working on a multitude of new features, and planning out the upcoming months alongside the other development teams. We’ve increased our work efficiency to a point where we’re able to work on two updates simultaneously without hurting development. These past few months, we’ve been actively working on the (now released) 13.2 update, Halloween, and the recently announced PEARS.
With the recent overhaul of the Translation team, we’d discovered that our current translations system was unprepared for essentially any systematic change. Our team has since made a number of major improvements to the system, effectively resolving this issue.
We’d like to commend our new programmers for being able to adapt to their new workflow as quickly as they have — allowing us to release our updates at a much quicker pace.
Art Team:
The Art team's been hard at work on several projects that we can't quite talk about yet!
The bulk of the work that was showcased in the latest Patreon post is complete, so we're turning our attention further to the future. While we can't share specifics at this time, just know that we're very excited for you guys to see what we're working on!
The process of creating assets for the game varies, depending on what exactly we're making. We'll usually work through a "concept art phase" if the asset is something fictional — like an experimental weapon, or the model for a playable SCP. Either way, once we know what we want the final model to look like, we start modelling. While the specifics of the workflow may vary from artist to artist, we'll typically create a ‘high-poly’ and a ‘low-poly’ variant of the model. The 'low-poly' is the mesh that's used in-game, while the 'high-poly' is a higher-res model that's utilised for texture detail.
After that, we texture the model, rig it, and animate it if need be — and it's ready for use in-game!
Game Design:
Game Design’s been hard at work on the (now released) 13.2 update, having finalised a number of patches centred around community feedback and input.
We’ve been working closely with the Feedback and Community Management teams to determine what the largest issues with the 13.2 update was, and have drafted some changes to ensure that the update does not negatively affect the balance of gameplay.
As of late, we’ve been looking more into the game’s current arsenal of weapons — more specifically, into each weapon’s state of balance, and their individual effect(s) towards the feel of gameplay. This involves examining whether or not a certain weapon meets our standards of how we want the game’s combat to feel — the biggest case study for this being the FR-MG-0, as we feel that the weapon is due to receive further adjustments from what it had originally received in the recent hotfix.
Looking towards the near future, Game Design is hoping to fix up a number of experimental game mechanics to ensure that they work within the current state of the game — as we feel that those elements have either become outdated, are not as fun as they could be, or are simply no longer viable in the current gameplay meta. We also hope to surprise you with some very spooky changes this coming Halloween!
COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS
Art by: Ferar
Art by: Jank
And that concludes our first entry. Thanks for reading!
We’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on our first ‘Site-02 Transmissions’ post. Your input is an essential step towards helping us structure future posts to the standards and expectations of our community.
As always, we’d like to thank everyone for their continued support.
See you in the dark.
~ Northwood Studios
The Experimental Weapons Rework Patreon Post is now public!
Hello everyone.
Our Patreon post on the upcoming Experimental Weapons Rework, is now available to the general public.
For a detailed overview of the changes being implemented to our experimental category of weapons in 13.3, you can take a look through the post linked below.
If you’d like earlier access to these posts in the future, you may want to consider becoming a Patreon! Post(s) such as these are just one of the many ways that we hint or showcase upcoming features/updates to our Scientists ($5) and above.
If you wish to upgrade to, or purchase, the appropriate Patreon tier — you can do so at: https://www.patreon.com/HubertMoszka
Art Contest — Public Voting now open!
Hello everyone.
Voting has officially begun for the 2023 SCP:SL Art Contest.
You can visit the Art Contest website here: https://art-contest.scpslgame.com and begin reviewing the incredible submissions put forward by our contest’s participants.
Not all submissions will be visible upon entering the website. To view the entirety of the submissions, make sure to scroll down so that they may load.
You will be permitted to vote once for each individual submission. Votes will be kept hidden until the event’s conclusion on the 30th of October — by when results will be made public, and the 2 winners will be announced.
We’d like to remind everyone that voting will close to the public on the Sunday, 29th of October, at 22:00 BST.
And that’s all for now. We’d like to thank everyone for their participation and continued support, and we look forward to announcing our winners relatively soon!
~ Northwood Studios
Note: To vote, you must login into the aforementioned website via the ‘Discord Login’ option provided. In addition, your current level in the Official Discord must be ten (Euclid) or higher.
SCP:SL Fourth PEARS Event!
Hello everyone!
We’d like to provide you with a relatively quick rundown of what our Patreon Early Rebalancing Session(s) (PEARS), actually is!
PEARS is an exclusive event which roughly takes place on a bi-monthly basis — where Patreons with the ‘Major Scientist’ tier and above will be provided with the opportunity to playtest features that have not yet been released on the public branch of the game.
The entirety of PEARS will be hosted on servers running on an experimental version of SCP:SL. The servers will remain open for a total of 72 hours. This is to ensure that every player from around the world has the opportunity to play, regardless of what their timezone may be.
The upcoming PEARS will begin on the 29th of September, at 20:00 BST — ending on the 2nd of October, at 20:00 BST.
Whoever participates in PEARS will gain exclusive access to a number of channels, in which they’ll be able to share feedback, and discuss their concerns or ideas with our development teams.
For any further information regarding PEARS and the upcoming session(s), you can subscribe to our Patreon, and join our official Discord.
Please note that the Patreon subscription refreshes at the start of each month.
As always, we’d like to thank you everyone for their continued support.
~ Northwood Studios
SCP: Secret Lab 2023 Art Contest
Hello everyone.
We’re excited to announce the return of Northwood Studios's annual Art Contest, officially opening today at 21:00 BST.
We invite all talented artists and non-artists alike to participate in this upcoming event and showcase their artistic abilities!
To participate in the contest, we kindly ask that you first complete the following Google Form here.
This form will ask for some general information, to help us better streamline the submission process.
Please note the following dates for the contest:
Access to Submission Form Period: Starting from today 21:00 BST until Friday 29th 21:00 BST. Ensure that you complete the Google Form within this timeframe to secure your spot as a participant.
Artwork Creation and Submission Period: After completing the access submission form, you will have 20 days to create your artwork, and to submit it on our official contest webpage. The submission deadline is Thursday 19th of October 21:00 BST.
Please note: Voting will officially open to the public on Tuesday 10th of October 22:00 BST, and will remain open until Monday 30th of October 22:00 BST.
You may also choose to include a title and a small paragraph describing the inspiration behind your art piece when submitting your entry.
A total of two winners will be chosen for this year's contest. Winners will receive the following awards:
Event Winner' tag on the official SCP:SL Discord.
SCP: SL Art Contest Winner 2023' in-game badges.
Their artwork will be incorporated into SCP: SL, where it can then be viewed in-game.
We look forward to seeing the diverse range of interpretations and narratives reflected in your submitted art.
We thank you for your participation and continued support. Stay tuned for further updates regarding the 2023 Art Contest.
Please note, to participate, you will need to be a member of our Discord server and have a minimum level of 10.
~ Northwood Studios
State of the Game - Feedback Survey
Hello Everyone.
Following the recent launch of version 13.2, we would like to gather a more detailed insight of the game's current status. In this survey, you'll find broader questions compared to those in the 13.2 survey.
We are genuinely interested in hearing your opinions about the game's current state, so please share your thoughts openly. Thank you for your time!
13.2 Feedback Survey
Hello Everyone.
We are excited about the new features 13.2 has brought and we would like to invite you to give your feedback on them. Feel free to share your thoughts openly.
Stay tuned for another survey coming soon about the current state-of-the-game.
We are looking forward to your responses!
Hotfix for Version 13.2
Hello everyone. Today we bring you a range of important bug fixes and balance adjustments for version 13.2.
Balance Changes
Removed the FR-MG-0 AP magazine’s damage bonus.
Decreased FR-MG-0 short barrel damage penalty to 3% (from 4%).
Increased SCP-939’s sprint speed to 7.0m/s (from 6.7m/s).
Decreased SCP-939’s maximum stamina to 13s (from 15s).
Decreased how far SCP-939’s growl can be heard.
SCP-939 now hears their own growls at a reduced volume.
SCP-939 is no longer revealed in an Amnestic Cloud when missing a Claw or Lunge.
Amnestic Cloud now deploys 20% faster.
Increased SCP-049’s HP to 2200 (from 2000).
Increased SCP-049’s initial and maximum Hume Shield by 100.
Increased SCP-049’s base movement speed to 4.4m/s (from 4.1m/s).
SCP-049-2 can now only damage one target at a time.
Updated SCP-244’s particles.
Decreased how high SCP-244’s fog spreads.
Bug Fixes and Miscellaneous Changes
Improved SCP-939’s hit registration.
Updated the PluginAPI build to use the latest release.
Fixed hearing SCP chat being toggled ‘on’ by default whilst in Overwatch mode.
Gun crosshairs are no longer extremely thin on lower resolutions.
Fixed SCP-096 not being able to destroy SCP-330’s door.
Thank you all for the bug reports. Have fun, and see you in the dark. ~ Northwood Studios
Version 13.2 has arrived!
Version 13.2 of SCP: Secret Laboratory has just been released! This update includes a new weapon, modifications to SCP-939, improvements to Mobile Task Force classes, bug fixes, custom hotkeys, and other game improvements.
SCP-939 Changes
SCP-939 has received some major improvements to their kit. Whilst we are content with its current gameplay, we’d like to make some detailed adjustments to SCP-939. These include balance changes, quality of life improvements, and more. We hope these changes improve the gameplay experience playing as and against SCP-939.
Claw Changes
Adjusted how Claw’s area of effect (AoE) is calculated.
The target closest to the crosshair will always receive 100% of Claw’s damage.
Further targets within the AoE will take 100% of Claw’s damage, split across the number of targets. For example, if five players are within Claw’s area of effect, the closest target will receive 100% of the damage, whilst the other four targets will each receive 25% damage.
SCP-939 is now able to damage players under the effects of SCP-268. Note: Lunge does not affect invisible players at this time. We are aware of this issue and will be correcting this error soon.
Developer Commentary: Following SCP-939’s rework in 12.0, we noticed a trend of SCP-939 killing large groups in undesirable locations, such as the Surface Zone (SZ) to Facility elevators. Combined with an Amnestic Cloud, this made for an unfair gameplay advantage. We noticed the problem was with SCP-939’s AoE having no limitations. We still want SCP-939 to remain threatening against tight groups, so whilst damage stays unchanged,, we’ve placed a soft cap on potential damage it can deal against larger groups.
Focus Changes
SCP-939 now emits a growling noise after it uses Focus. Initially silent, the growling will become more apparent over the following ten seconds after it uses Focus. Growling buildup will regress after five seconds of leaving Focus
SCP-939 can now hear its own growls.
Developer Commentary: Whilst SCP-939 can be heard in dead quiet situations, we noticed that in louder gunfights, or general Facility chaos, it is more difficult to figure out if it's behind a door or not. To further incentivise a ‘cat and mouse’ game, a louder ‘second stage’ to SCP-939’s audio cues have been added. This stage is slightly louder and more noticeable over time. We hope the new audio cue creates more tense situations whilst rewarding patience.
Here are some tips for SCP-939 players who may be confused by this adjustment: It's best to reposition frequently and utilise the Facility's background noise in addition to the Mimicry skill to remain hidden. This will help in potential growl buildup and gaining an advantage on players actively listening for you.
Ultrasensitive Changes
Players revealed by SCP-939 in close proximity no longer produce sound blips.
Humans that are jumping, sprinting, or firing a weapon within four metres of SCP-939 will now be revealed. Being revealed persists for a slight time after the action(s) ceases. This effect ignores SCP-939’s reduced visual radius from running low on stamina.
Humans within the SZ who fail to produce a sound blip naturally within 20 seconds will now begin to emit a sound blip every ten seconds. This effect will last until a sound blip is produced naturally.
Once the Alpha Warhead is detonated, all humans will be permanently revealed to SCP-939.
SCP-939 will no longer see sound blips from a user underneath the effects of SCP-268.
Developer Commentary: In an effort to reduce visual pollution during SCP-939 gameplay, we’ve decided on a change with how SCP-939 perceives sound blips. Humans who are directly visible to SCP-939 no longer emit any sound blips to reduce confusion and create a better visual experience.
Some of you might remember how SCP-939 behaved on the SZ before its rework. Previously, when SCP-939 was on the SZ, all human players present were visible no matter the distance to prevent prolonged games. When the rework was applied, we initially thought that Ultrasensitive’s mechanics were enough to replicate that old feature, however it became clear to us that it needs to be expanded upon.
Amnesia Changes
Amnesia, the effect caused by Amnestic Cloud, will no longer prevent humans from reloading or healing.
SCP-939 will now be made briefly visible to everyone underneath the effects of Amnesia when attacking, regardless of whether an attack is successful or not.
A player with the Invigorated status effect is now immune to Amnesia, as originally intended.
Developer Commentary: A number of players expressed frustration regarding a few aspects of SCP-939’s Amnestic Cloud. Allowing SCP-939 to miss attacks unpunished is not something we wanted to promote. Additionally, restricting weapon reload and use of medical items proved very irritating to fight against.
Miscellaneous SCP-939 Changes
Reduced SCP-939’s sprinting speed to 6.7m/s (from 7.2m/s).
Increased SCP-939’s base speed from 4.3 to 4.6.
Increased SCP-939’s stamina to a total of 15s (from ten seconds).
Players hit by SCP-939 are now ‘marked’ for five seconds. Marked players will still grant their voice lines to SCP-939, even if they are killed by another SCP.
Added an on-screen popup whenever SCP-939 successfully steals a voice.
Developer Commentary: From our observations on the reception to SCP-939, we noticed that a lot of players were being killed in unavoidable situations due to SCP-939’s incredible burst of speed, so we’ve reduced its maximum sprint speed. Whilst still faster than an average human, it is now much harder for SCP-939 to kill you without having a chance to react.
Gameplay Changes and Improvements
Another cornerstone of the 13.2 update are the variety of gameplay changes we’ve made. With the addition of a new firearm for the MTF Captain, Chaos Insurgency now counting as partial targets for SCPs, and MTF Privates and Sergeants now sharing a keycard, this update brings plenty of new content.
Added the FR-MG-0, a new LMG which replaces the MTF Captain’s rifle.
Added a new custom hotkeys system, allowing users the option to customise their own hotkeys and item drawing criteria.
Renamed the MTF Sergeant Keycard to MTF Operative Keycard.
Removed the MTF Private and Containment Engineer Keycards from standard play.
MTF Privates now spawn with an MTF Operative Keycard instead of an MTF Private Keycard.
Putting an O5 Keycard in SCP-914 on Coarse will result in a 50/50 split between receiving a Facility Manager Keycard, or an MTF Captain Keycard.
Putting an O5 Keycard, an MTF Captain Keycard, or a Chaos Insurgency Access Device in SCP-914 on Rough will result in a Guard Keycard.
Putting a Guard Keycard in SCP-914 on Fine will result in receiving an MTF Operative Keycard.
All other instances of receiving a Containment Engineer Keycard from SCP-914 have been replaced by a Facility Manager Keycard.
The Chaos Insurgency now count as partial targets for SCPs. Roughly 75% of a Chaos Insurgency wave must die before a round can end.
Upon Alpha Warhead detonation, the next respawn wave will be forced to a four minute countdown, regardless of the respawn timer prior to detonation.
Added the A7.
The Concussed status effect will now decay when standing still.
Added visible light flashes to all first-person and third-person weapon animations.
SCP-106’s containment doors can now be broken by a grenade.
Removed SCP-079 generator spawns from the Alpha Warhead room. A generator may now spawn in the hallway alongside the elevator.
Developer Commentary: On the Captain LMG, we felt that MTF operatives were lacking in weapon variety compared to the Chaos Insurgency. Seeing as both the Captain and Sergeants spawned with the same weapon, we thought it would be fitting to give the MTF Captain something unique. The FR-MG-0 is a 5.56 LMG that appears on MTF Captains, whilst also appearing in SCP-079’s armoury.
We’ve received endless reports of an enormous number of MTF operatives being trapped behind the Facility gates. To rescue these operatives from their fates, we’ve decided to give both Privates and Sergeants the same level of Keycard access under the clearance of a single MTF Operative Keycard.
One of the games largest issues over previous updates include the Chaos Insurgency. Countless reports, and suggestions triggered a campaign to be launched to get us to address these issues. Originally, we had bigger plans to incorporate Chaos Insurgency targets into a larger update to change team progress and survivability during a match. We’ve realised that this problem had to be corrected immediately, so, whilst we continue to refine that aspect of the game, we have decided to add a simple change that overhauls how rounds will flow.
Custom hotkeys are a new system that allows players to customise key bindings. As the second part of our settings rework, we hope that you’ll enjoy the creative freedom to tailor your hotkeys to your heart's content. We encourage you to experiment with the new system and see what you can come up with. Of course, for those not interested in this system, the defaults will remain untouched.
Miscellaneous Changes
Reduced the MTF-E11-SR FMJ Drum Magazine attachment ammo capacity to 60 (from 65).
Placing an MTF-E11-SR in SCP-914 on Fine will result in receiving a FR-MG-0 instead of an AK.
Placing a Logicer in SCP-914 on Coarse will result in receiving a FR-MG-0 instead of an AK.
Slightly reduced how far players can reach the Alpha Warhead panel. The distance is now similar to reaching for a door.
Added a setting to disable dropping items from your inventory with right click.
Added a setting to switch between toggle and hold-to-open inventory. Defaults to toggle.
Updated the glass materials found in SCP-939 and SCP-173’s containment chambers.
Slightly changed the rotation of the Surface Zone skybox.
All achievements related to escaping the Facility will now be awarded if a user is disarmed.
The sides of elevators now have a small box collider, preventing players from ending up on top of the railings when teleporting.
Adjusted lighting mesh renders in the Surface Zone admin tower.
Patched a few holes in the SCP-049/SCP-173 subsector.
Added Thai translations.
Added Vietnamese translations.
Added Romanian translations.
Added Lithuanian translations.
Added Portuguese (Brazil) translations.
Added Catalan translations.
Reworked the backend of all translations. If you use a custom translation, back it up before updating.
Bug Fixes
Respawn tokens are now properly ‘consumed’ when a respawn wave occurs, granting one per player respawned to the opposing faction.
Nicknames no longer parse escape characters across several UI elements.
Fixed an issue that occasionally reverted the game resolution setting after restarting.
Adjusted how SCP-106’s minimap views the Light Containment Zone armoury.
Fixed Ambient Occlusion not properly applying the right level consistently.
Command bindings created with the cmdbind console command no longer trigger when the console is actively open.
Fixed the Micro-H.I.D. shooting animation not being cancelled upon escaping.
The Jailbird’s name and description are now translatable.
SCP-049 and SCP-049-2 can now interact with frozen corpses.
Fixed SCP-049 not being able to use Good Sense of the Doctor in blacked out rooms.
Fixed SCP-049-2’s Lobotomized Bloodlust not activating in blacked out rooms.
Fixed SCP-079 being able to see its own camera model when on the Surface Zone.
Fixed the gate in PT00 automatically opening if SCP-173 spawned in a round.
Fixed a floating camera in SCP-173/SCP-049’s subsector.
Fixed SCP-049-2 being able to attack whilst consuming a corpse.
Fixed an issue in which Tesla Gates did not properly emit light whilst zapping.
Fixed crashes caused by a corrupted credits tab in the main menu.
Fixed multiple columns having an improper scale.
Fixed players occasionally being able to see their own models in first person.
Fixed night-vision scopes not properly being able to see in darkness.
Fixed SCP-106 door buttons not properly updating keypad colour when destroyed.
Developer Commentary: We’d like to thank members of the community for the constant stream of bug reports over the past few months. Without the help of our Community QA, we would be struggling to diagnose and fix many issues at hand.
If you are not aware, we have a public Trello detailing all of our identified and reported bugs within SCP:SL. This list is constantly maintained and a good place to check and see if a bug is posted to be fixed in a future update. Additionally, if you find a bug not reported on the Trello, you can report it on our website here.
Remote Admin and Technical Changes
Added a new Elevator Management section underneath the Map Control category.
Added ‘elevator teleport’ command.
The Remote Admin playerlist can now be sorted by classes.
The ‘stripdown’ command now requires the Permissions Management (PRM) node.
The ‘setnick’ command now displays a response if there are no players who match the request.
The ‘intercomtext’ (and alias ‘icomtxt’) commands now resets the text if there are no arguments supplied.
Added visible Godmode and Bypass Mode indicators when spectating players in Overwatch.
Added a new voice chat selector for users within Overwatch. This is toggled by using the ‘Inventory’ key (default: Tab) and replaces the Attachments Edit menu.
A server will no longer enter idle mode when the ‘exit’ or ‘restart’ commands are ran while players are connected to said server.
Fixed players crashing when requesting information for a player that is muted.
Fixed sphere primitives not having collisions on spawn.
Fixed LightSourceToy’s ‘LightShadow’ property not doing anything. Shadows will now appear on objects if the option is enabled.
Replaced the old ‘ItemType’ IDs with more up-to-date names.
‘ItemType.KeycardNTFOfficer’ is now ‘ItemType.KeycardMTFPrivate’.
‘ItemType.KeycardNTFLieutenant’ is now ‘ItemType.KeycardMTFOperative’.
‘ItemType.KeycardNTFCommander’ is now ‘ItemType.KeycardMTFCaptain’.
Anti-SCP-207 can now be spawned via the Remote Admin panel.
Removed System.Numerics.Vectors, as it is no longer needed.
‘custom_gamemode_server’ and ‘heavily_modded_server’ properties have been removed from server configurations and templates.
Cleaned up code responsible for handling stats such as stamina, HP, AHP, and Hume Shield. It now automatically generates synchronisation identifiers. SCP-106’s Vigor has been moved onto this new system.
A server will no longer try to drop items from deceased players when they disconnect.
Developer Commentary — A note on the MTF Private and Containment Engineer Keycards: Whilst being entirely removed from standard play, we have opted to leave them within the game. We understand that these Keycards are prime opportunities for developers to create modified access levels for plugins or server modifications. We hope that this decision aids the modding community and offers new opportunities to be utilised.
Thank you all for your continued support throughout these recent updates. This version brings some very large changes with it, with many not coming to fruition without your feedback. Keep your eyes peeled for a feedback form in the coming weeks.
Have fun, and see you in the dark. ~ Northwood Studios
July patreon post is now public!
Hello Everyone.
The July Patreon post has been made public!
To view all of the information about the upcoming 13.2 update to SCP: SL, follow the link below.
If you’d like to get more sneak peeks of future updates, upcoming content is frequently shown to our Patreon supporters. Our Patreon can be found at: https://www.patreon.com/HubertMoszka
