We spent the past year on this update and it is now publicly available on the main branch - no more beta codes or beta branches!
What's new
The biggest new features are raytraced audio, weapon attachment system and falling block destruction, but there's so much more that's new. I listed out every new feature In the Closed Beta post, as well in video form below, so I won't repeat it all here. Instead I'd like to shout out some new team members that made this update possible!
Punch Deck
Punch Deck has been composing music for us for the past three years, with the last year focused on an in-game underscoring soundtrack. We discovered Punch Deck back in 2018 from his track Fallen, which we used as the main menu theme back when the game was called 'Marked'.
Audio is a huge part of this update and it makes the game feel more alive, with:
All sounds travelling further, using a distance falloff model that mimics sounds in real life
Raytraced audio, which muffles sounds that aren't important to you. Enemies firing guns in line of sight are loud and clear, and explosions/footsteps/gunfire on the other side of a thick concrete wall is muffled
Underscoring, which subtly fills in the gaps and provides a rhythm that keeps the match moving. Everyone hears the same music at the same time, with more energetic tracks playing later into the match
So far Punch Deck has composed 21 underscoring tracks (totalling 53 minutes and 25 seconds!) with even more in the works. Some tracks are allegiance-specific and will only play on maps associated with that allegiance.
These tracks will be available on Spotify soon!
Juan Moreno
Juan reached out to us earlier this year and offered to create artwork for the game. He's based in Managua, Nicaragua and wanted to help bring some vision into the worlds we're trying to create.
We were blown away by what he made for us and ended up commissioning art for each map (with more in the works!)
When we first launched in 2020, Matt (Dusk) sent me an email saying "Hey let me know if you need any help with marketing!". I was clearing out my inbox a year and a half later and saw his email - thankfully Matt was still happy to help!
Matt joins us from The Bonfire Project, a creative agency whose focus is on telling stories that are authentic and meaningful to creators and their communities. His involvement in esports and gaming-related campaigns as well as just enjoying Sectors Edge itself made him a natural fit.
Matt's helping us primarily with developing and sharing content, connecting with the industry, and getting the good word about SE out there. On the servers you'll catch him stubbornly trying to make himself known for using the grenade launcher with the impact attachment.
Fora
In June 2019 I received a message out of the blue saying 'hey I hacked your game' and ever since Fora's been helping with security, servers, databases and more. He's automated server deployments, stress tested servers and set up metrics/logging/alerts. There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes and it wouldn't be possible without Fora.
Here's some fancy stress testing to make sure the servers won't burst into flames:
Community Mappers
This update has a few community maps in the official rotation, as well as a few more that are in the works.
Ancient Crossing by Blade
Soltec Plaza by Blade + Vhauss
Cold Harbour by TotallyPorff
We purchased Ancient Crossing and Cold Harbour for $400 USD each as part of the Map Maker Program, and they will be in the official map rotation from now on.
Translators
I uploaded all phrases/words used in the game to a repository on GitHub and we've had a few players help translate them into different languages.
Shout out to DoomerCy, Witness, Tilitaliboss, Temeski, Realkill_1111, nemelex, Decrare, Susul, Reekta, SSahin, Dunkelheyt and Margarinoslav for their contributions!
Localisation settings aren't available in-game yet as there are many phrases to translate. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Agamans
Unfortunately we weren't able to get the Agamans working in the new animation system for this Open Beta (they have four fingers and different arm/leg proportions) so that's next on our list. Until then I've renamed the Engineer Pack to the Block Pack and reduced it from $15 to $5, and anyone who purchased the Engineer pack in the past will be given a character token to unlock the Human Renegade or any other character if they wish.
Launch Discount
For the first week of Open Beta, everything in the in-game store is 50% off!
It may not show on the Store page, but it will have the 50% discount applied in the Steam Overlay.
Throwing Knives
New sharp grenade type
Server Downtime - Open Beta Preparation
Hey all, we're taking the game servers down as we prepare for the Open Beta.
See you in game soon!
Server Downtime - Completed
Hey all, we're taking the game servers down for about an hour to perform some database upgrades. I'll post again when this upgrade is complete :)
Servers are back up!
Shout out to Fora for all the work he's been doing behind the scenes on our servers and databases :)
Edit: we broke the servers, fixing now
Edit 2: all fixed!
Closed Beta - Week 1 Recap
Hey everyone!
We have had a great turnout in the Closed Beta with 414 players participating so far! It's refreshing to see so many new faces in game, if you haven't yet tried it out the code is september24beta:
Here are some stats I've tracked since the Closed Beta started:
We now have a Sydney beta server, and I've fixed a few issues with claiming custom lobbies and adjusting settings. All server locations will be moved across when the Open Beta starts, and we are performing a database upgrade at the moment. Thanks Fora!
Bots can now be adjuster per-team on the Custom Lobby panel. Bots are still heavily WIP but should work well enough on Control Shift on flat maps like Wasteland and Railway.
Inventory and Boosts
The inventory has a new design and boosts are now functional.
Proton and XP boosts have been combined into the one boost. If you had 30 3.0x Proton Boosts and 10 3.0x XP Boosts, you will now have 30 3.0x Boosts.
The status of your active boost is shown next to the inventory icon, and now only applies to time spent in game. This means you can use a boost and play a 15 minute match, then come back the next day and play for another 45 minutes, all while receiving extra Protons and XP from the one boost.
Graphics Presets
You can now create multiple graphics presets on the Settings > Rendering screen, which is handy if you prefer using certain settings in tournaments, or a maxed-out preset for taking screenshots.
Proton + XP Stats
The Protons and XP you earned are now displayed at the end of the match, as well as a breakdown of how many you earned from in-game points, peacekeeper, or your boost.
(Sin if you're reading this, block destroyed stats are stored in the Total > Destroy > Block category, or in Weapon > Orberator > Destroy > Block)
Checkout Fixes
I've fixed a few issues with unlocking/equipping characters and using character/skin tokens. Any errors are now displayed below the checkout window and a proper loading animation is now displayed:
Icon Transparency Settings
As the game doesn't have enough settings already, I've added a few options in Settings > User Interface that let you control the transparency of icons near the center and edges of your screen.
Optimisations
In the lead up to the Open Beta I've been optimising various parts of the game, such as falling structures, minimap rendering, and the way the game handles multithreading.
We noticed that the game lagged from 140 down to 60 FPS when dropping the central crane in Cold Harbour, and I found a few ways to optimise rendering the falling structure. I also noticed that part of this FPS drop was caused by updating the minimap when the crane damaged the map, and changed the way the CPU sends texture updates to the GPU. I now get 140 FPS with and without rendering the falling object, my next task is to fix the stutters when the crane damages the map and creates and creates a lot of particles.
Multithreading Improvements
The game engine is designed to run code on background threads in a 'lazy' fashion, meaning the background threads finish when they finish and the main thread won't stop and wait for them.
I found when under high CPU load in chaotic matches, this background work (updating animations and particles, meshing the map, raytracing sounds) was performed on the main thread, which caused FPS drops.
A fix for this is demonstrated in the video below - at the start the game is using 25% CPU, then increases to 90% as I schedule 1000 CPU-intensive background tasks. The players stop animating as all the background threads are busy, but the game runs at the same FPS!
Next Steps
The server still uses hitboxes from the old animation system (no support for jumping/swimming/falling hitboxes yet), so I'll be working on that next. I'm not focusing on any major features up until the Open Beta at the end of this month, just trying to get everything as stable and optimised as possible.
Thank you all for joining our Closed Beta, see you in game!
Full Changelog
Fixes: - The server list now updates correctly - Fixed an issue that caused players to appear as level 0 - Fixed an issue that stopped in-game music from playing - Quick Play will no longer attempt to join a claimed lobby - Redeploying no longer counts as a death - Fixed a UI glitch when filling up the progression bar after unlocking an Incarnate title - Servers now correctly reset and lobbies are disabled when all players leave - Fixed issues with claiming lobbies - Bots now leave when all humans leave - Fixed an issue that caused the game to not shut down cleanly - Crosshairs now render when customising weapons - Fixed minimap rendering when using a custom resolution - zepofan can no longer equip experimental weapons - Fixed weapon skin and proton key text in the transaction log - Players no longer spawn at the edge of the map when joining a cluster spawn that just expired (due to high ping) - The UI no longer hides when a dropdown menu is near - Fixed issues when starting up the game for the first time - Fixed victory UI display when joining right at the end of a match - The game now leaves when the party's over - Sydney servers can now be claimed - Fixed issues with entering password-protected lobbies - Fixed map collision issues when jumping up into a 2-block high gap when already crouching - Fixed weapon skin text on the transaction log - Fixed inventory icon backgrounds - The game now closes down properly - Fixed fake deaths when on less than 1 health - Bots can now join password-protected lobbies - update-fps and net profiling improvements - The Damage point category is no longer neither hidden nor primary - The game now loads from your settings folder first, then the backup folder second if the first load failed - Orb and plasma rounds are now the correct colour when another augmented orb is in flight - Players are now visible at the edge of the fog - Only four friends are shown on the home page - Custom maps no longer load twice in the background when testing them locally - Fixed camera position when first-person spectating - Fixed unlocking characters - Fixed character list alignment at less than 100% UI scale - Fixed issues with ping rendering - Minimap Icon Scale is no longer affected by Minimap Zoom - Quick play now works when all servers are empty - Fixed a crash when joining a server while a large structure is falling - matchmaking leave messages are no longer sent at the end of every round - Weather Particle Amount is no longer clamped to 50% minimum when restarting the game
Changes: - Rain particles are now spawned evenly around the map - The Auto Crouch setting is now two settings: Auto Crouch (feet) and Auto Crouch (head) - Reduced volume and duration of the ammo pickup sound - The error sound is now affected by the UI Volume audio setting - Changed the Show icons when ADS checkbox to an ADS icon opacity slider - Boosts now apply to time spent in a server, rather than flat time since the boost was used
Additions: - CPU and GPU frame graphs (WIP) are now shown on the info overlay. Hover over the bars to view their label - Settings on the Commands tab in the lobby claim window for controlling the amount of bots on each team - Weather Particle Amount setting - Sydney beta server - Leave/join messages are now sent in matchmaking - Show Death Icons UI setting - Customisable graphic presets on the Settings > Rendering tab - New moderators - Points HUD setting - Hit Feedback Volume audio setting - Hitmarkers HUD setting - Opaque icon distance, Focus radius, Peripheral radius, Focus icon opacity Peripheral icon opacity settings for controlling 3D icon opacity near the center/edges of the screen - Exit icon in the top-right of the screen - Your Protons and level are now shown in the inventory in the top-right of the screen - Protons + XP earned are now displayed on the end-match stats screen, as well as a breakdown of how you earned them (base, peacekeeper, boost) - Boosts can now be activated - Checkout errors are now displayed beneath the checkout window - Loading animations are now shown on the checkout window - Added a progress bar to the exit button - Inventory + boost UI is now shown in the top-right of the screen when in-game
Balancing: - Player health increased from 99.001 to 100.0 - Double Barrel projectile spread increased by 40% - Double Barrel choke projectile spread reduction reduced from -25% to -20%
Optimisations: - Background tasks no longer run on the main thread when under high CPU load - UI is no longer super slow when hovering over stat hierarchies - Stats at the end of a match are now processed on another thread (no more long freezes) - Removed lag when rendering falling structures - Removed CPU-GPU sync point when buffering minimap changes to the GPU
Sector's Edge - Closed Beta
Hey everyone, it's been a while since our post last Christmas and we have a lot to share!
We are planning to relaunch the game next month with an 'Open Beta' event and a new trailer. In the meantime we want to invite you all to participate in the Closed Beta.
To switch to the beta branch, enter the code january15beta in the Betas tab:
We play each day at 12AM and 8PM UTC and would love to hear your thoughts on the new update!
Now, time to tell you everything we've been working on. Don't like reading? I made an accompanying video!
Destruction System
Falling blocks now damage the map and players, where the damage dealt is based on the weight and velocity of the blocks.
Attachment System
Customise your weapons further with different ammo types, payloads, cores, magazines, grips, stocks, triggers and more.
Raytraced Audio and Proximity Voice Chat
You can now yell at your teammates! Raytraced audio runs on another thread and does not require an RTX card.
Hear echo in tunnels, muffled explosions on the other side of a wall, and directional ambient sounds.
New UI
New brighter design, replaced bitmaps with vectors for high-quality icons at any resolution. Improved settings UI with search functionality:
Crosshair Customisation
Customise your crosshair with the inbuilt crosshair designer. Display your ammo, blocks and health around the crosshair.
HUD Customisation
Resize and position the ammo, minimap, team score, match time, killfeed and chat HUD.
New Animations
First-person and external animations have been redesigned, with new animations for swimming, falling, jumping and sliding.
Engine Optimisations
Nearly every performance-critical aspect of the game has been rewritten, featuring a new multi-threading system, new particle engine, faster voxel storage and operations, faster map meshing, faster floating voxel checks, reduced initial startup time, faster shadow rendering, reduced networking bandwidth and more.
Animation updates, UI redraws, audio raytracing, meshing, particle updates and texture loading are performed on another thread to ensure stable frame rates when the game gets chaotic.
Lenient Input System
RSI was destroying my hands, so you can now hold keys to continually perform actions, such as throwing grenades and stabbing enemies. You can also hold left click to continually shoot semi-automatic weapons.
Also watch out for a player named Blade. He will stab you.
Soltrium Handling Licence
Each player now has a Soltrium Handling Licence, which is displayed to enemies on the killcam and on the podium at the end of the match. You can display your active Allegiance, a title, three statistics, and customise text/background colours.
New Stat Tracking
All stats are now tracked per-weapon and per-attachment and can be browsed in-game. Display up to three stats on your Soltrium Handling Licence!
New Maps
Wasteland now has buildings, and the super old Reactor map has been brought back as two separate maps: Subway and Reactor.
There are also 5 community maps currently in rotation: - Crossing and Quarry, created by Blade - Cold Harbour, created by TotallyPorff, - Laser Tag, created by Realkill_1111, - The Serene Cottages, created by Tilitaliboss
Ice Station has been extended out into a longer Control Shift map, leaving the old camp-heavy Salvage mode behind.
Scope Rendering
No more blurred backgrounds when using 2X and 4X scopes thanks to single-pass multi-perspective rendering!
Underscoring
23 new Punch Deck tracks (and counting) will play in the background, heating up as the match goes on.
Responsive Networking
Entities are now simulated on the client, improving responsiveness when throwing grenades or firing projectile weapons in high ping.
TTK, Projectiles, Recoil and Balancing
We've shifted from a slow-TTK / hitscan / high recoil system to a fast-TTK / projectile / low recoil system for two reasons: - Slow TTK required tracking targets for a long time, which was exhausting over time and frustrating for new players. Moleing was an additional problem, with players digging down when taking damage. - We appreciate the skill of leading shots more than the skill of controlling massive recoil. We've increased the damage floor from 30% to 60% to reward landing shots at long ranges
TTK is now displayed on the weapon stats sidebar:
Loadout Changes
The old 3-level armour modification system has been changed to a 2-level system, so you get more benefit for less points.
Utilities can also be equipped in your primary and secondary slot.
Reliable Blocks
The old game felt too paper-thin, with players not having cover they can rely on. The strength of all blocks is increased, leaving explosives as the best choice for destroying enemy cover.
Each block type has its own health value, with sand being the weakest and metal the strongest:
No Loading Screens and Faster Server Connection Times
Once the game finishes starting up, you will never be locked into a loading screen again!
The client also stores copies of maps locally, which greatly reduces loading times when joining high-ping servers. For me in Australia, this reduced Frankfurt joining times from 1 minute down to 5 seconds.
Smoke Grenades
Disappear in a cloud of smoke! Especially powerful when paired with a Scanner.
Lenient Movement
Now that TTK is faster we've lifted a few of the movement constraints. You can scope in quicker after jumping, jump out of a slide and jump into a slide. You can also slide up one block as in most cases you'll be sliding over rough terrain
Paired with the new lenient input system, you can hold shift and control to automatically start sliding again when your last slide finishes.
Improved Server List + Custom Lobbies
Filters and sorts will now be applied instantly. You can also claim and manage custom lobbies through a new dedicated UI panel.
Customisation
Rotate and zoom into your gun while editing skins, with additional options for scale + animation speed.
Improved Respawning
Left click to create a cluster spawn, press space to spawn near where you died last, or press control to join a teammate's cluster spawn.
You can also click and drag to move the camera around, and scroll to look underground.
New Map Making Features
Textures can now be recoloured with hue/saturation/lightness shifts. Maps and metadata are automatically reloaded when you make changes.
You can also set up particle spawners to bring maps to life.
Full Changelog
The entire changelog is way too big to send here, but it's available on our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/sectors
As a reminder, we play on the beta branch every day at 12AM and 8PM UTC. We hope to see you in-game soon!
Developer Update
Merry Christmas everyone!
I'll keep this post short as I've published everything we've been working on over the past month in this blog post. This next update is going to be huge!
Blog summary: - 6 new Allegiances - Weapon attachment system - Audio raycasting - Brand new UI - More character, weapon and killcam customisation - New art - New SFX - New music - Meteors
Attachment Beta - v1.4.0a Patch Notes
A huge thank you from Rocket and I to the 178 people who participated in the beta event today and to everyone that provided feedback, posted bug reports and participated in discussions.
We knew the beta wasn't going to be perfect from the start but we did not expect such positive first impressions!
v1.4.0a is now released, which contains a stack of fixes, and balancing changes, as well as the final touches on the Canyon map.
If you encounter any bugs, please report them on our new website at https://bugs.sectorsedge.com/
See you in game!
Full Changelog
Fixes
- Fixed server crashes - Fixed sneaky Agamans - Fixed starting ammo for C4+Disruptor - Fixed linear map zone display at the top-center of the screen on curved maps - Fixed desync that occurs when respawning and not pressing any keys - Fixed blue arms when throwing a grenade - Fixed melee Soltrium colour customisation - Fixed issues with joining the match while spectating - Spectators are no longer included in the player count in the server list - Bloom now renders on enemy digger beams - Grenade Launcher rounds no longer disappear when firing into a block that's near you
Changes
- Midi will now collect blocks by both damaging and destroying blocks - Removed the out-of-bounds limit on top of the Canyon map - Added the missing quarter of the Canyon map - Improved Canyon map spawning camerawork - Spawn regions are now green when you can spawn in them, and orange when the spawn timer is counting down (white + blue was too difficult to see on Canyon / Ice Station) - Tow projectiles no longer despawn when leaving the map boundary
Additions
- Blizzard effects on the Canyon map
Balancing
- Grenade Launcher cluster count reduced from 3 to 2 - Grenade Launcher clusters now explode 1200ms after attaching to a block (increased from 800ms) - Augmented Orberators now absorb 1.5x more plasma when shot - Multi-Orb player and block damage increased by 47% (i.e. 17 player damage up to 25 player damage) - Multi-Orbs now travel 15% slower than regular orbs - Rocket Rifle tow+fragmentation combination instakill range tightened from 3-6 blocks to 5.5-6.0 blocks distance from the explosion - Fragmentation payload block damage reduced by 40% - Tow ammo block damage reduced by 25% - Triple ammo player damage increased by 50% (e.g. 32.5 damage up to 48.75 damage for explosive payloads) - Kinetic rounds now gain 0.1 damage per 10 blocks travelled - Cluster ammo player damage reduced by 10% - Combat Shotgun damage per-pellet reduced from 15 to 12. With 9 pellets, this means its max body damage was reduced from 135 to 108, i.e. now if you miss 1 pellet you won't instakill to the body - Melee block damage increased from 5 to 12 - Reduced bot hearing quality - Increased Rocket Rifle starting reloads from 3 to 4 - Rocket Rifle explosive payload block damage increased by 20% - Plasma Cutter core block damage increased from 6 to 11 - Plasma Cutter core player damage increased from 5 to 8 - Scavenger mod changes: Level 0 - 80 blocks, 0 health, 1.00 magazine per ammo pickup Level 1 - 100 blocks, 5 health, 1.25 magazines per ammo pickup Level 2 - 120 blocks, 10 health, 1.50 magazines per ammo pickup Level 3 - 140 blocks, 15 health, 2.00 magazines per ammo pickup
Optimisations
- Particle system CPU optimisations
Attachment Beta Weekend
The Attachment Update will be available for beta testing at 6pm GMT on October 2nd!
This beta event will run through till 6pm GMT on October 9th. Watch the trailer here: [previewyoutube="lSqy4VQG8dc;full"]
Opting In
To opt in to the beta, right click Sector's Edge and click Properties.
Then, click BETAS in the left sidebar, type in the password attachmentbeta14 and click Check Code. The UI is a bit buggy here, I had to retry multiple times and restart Steam for it to work.
Bug Reporting
We have a new Sector's Edge bug reporting website created by The Noah, hosted at https://bugs.sectorsedge.com/. Please report any bugs you find here.
Notes for the Beta
On first launch, your main settings files will be imported and saved into the `attach14` folder
All attachments are unlocked by default in the beta and your career progress will be saved. Stats during the beta are saved and while the career UI isn't finished yet, you will be earning attachment points and tags. Attachment Points are earned per-weapon and you'll be able to spend them once the Attachment Update has released publicly
Weapon, midi and modification statistics are not shown on the loadout screen yet
Grenade UI is not functional yet
Agaman Characters are disabled
Hit registration may be off in places as the new animations are not used by the server yet
Most attachment stats are displayed on hover over the attachments UI. Some stats may be missing or slightly off
Skins are not set up for attachments yet
There is no way to save and reuse sight presets or skin presets yet
There is no way to set default crosshair/hipfire/trim colours yet
Weapon statistics are not set in stone, this update will require a lot of balancing
When starting the game, you should see this popup:
See you all in game!
Patch Notes
6:13pm GMT - fixed invisible Agamans. Server hung once but not sure why, still investigating.
6:44pm GMT - another fix for invisible Agamans, potential fix for server hang
v1.3.9 - Bot Update
Hey all, Verc and Rocket here!
For the past couple years Rocket has pestered me to add bots to the game, but I've always shrugged it off and said it's too difficult. A couple months ago I finally decided to give it ago and I have loved every step of the process. There's still a lot I'd like to improve but they are still a stack of fun to play against.
Playing Against Bots
One server in each region will now have 12 bots for you to play against. If the server is full and a human attempts to join, the server will kick a bot to make room.
You can also claim a lobby and send /botcap N in chat, where N controls the amount of bots (must be a number between 0 and 24).
Bot Mechanics
Bots operate via a 'memory' system. They are constantly scanning the environment around them via raymarching and are only aware of what they can see. Events they see - like enemies, enemy spotted pings and blocks being destroyed or built - and events they hear - like enemy gunfire and blocks being destroyed or built - are added to their 'memory'.
Bots then pursue the event in their memory that has the highest appeal. Event appeal is based on many factors such as:
+ appeal if the event is related to an enemy they have already dealt damage to / received damage from
- appeal as time passes since the event occurred
- appeal if the event is far away from them
+ appeal if multiple events are clustered together, e.g. lots of enemies firing or lots of blocks being destroyed/built
+ appeal as they commit more time to this event, if they have the committed personality
- appeal as they commit more time to this event, if they have the distracted personality
Bots will also engage enemies with the intention of dealing the most damage possible with the most appropriate weapon available to them, e.g:
Using a shotgun over a railgun for engaging a close enemy
Using a rail gun over an empty shotgun for engaging a close enemy
Reloading a shotgun rather than swapping to a railgun for engaging a close enemy
Swapping to a pistol after firing a shotgun for engaging a close enemy
Bots also have a 'bravery' characteristic, which controls how the appeal of dangerous events changes based on how low their HP is. Most bots will attempt to run away from enemies when on low HP, but some bots may experience bursts of stupidity.
Bots will also join cluster spawns to help humans spawn faster. Be careful hanging around the enemy spawn though, these clusters can be quite large.
We have just started experimenting with online advertising for Sector's Edge. We'll be figuring out what kind of ads and platforms perform the best, so that when the Attachment Update trailer is launched we can really push our marketing.
We may both be working full time, but we are still dedicated to providing the best for this game!
Community Spotlight
I'd like to thank Dusk for his help and advice with marketing the game. We're still marketing noobs but he's given us insights and advice that help us immensely.
Guess the map - we commissioned two art pieces from the concept artist Juan Moreno, check out more of his works on Instagram and ArtStation! If you use these as your wallpaper, post them somewhere with the #sectorsedge hashtag so we can see!
Attachment Update Progress
Slowly but surely we are getting the Attachment Update ready. Things are coming together which is an incredible feeling and I have been having a blast testing it locally with bots.
Here are some videos I've shared recently, showcasing incendiary rounds, cluster grenades, ricochet shotguns, rail pistol and more: [previewyoutube="2iTFOIMXfd0;full"] [previewyoutube="Z1O2Ou8CyfQ;full"] [previewyoutube="cXp4d9zAKeg;full"]
Recently I've experimented with increasing the health of all blocks by 3x, reducing the block capacity of the Midi and slightly increasing the block damage of explosions (to compensate for the stronger blocks). This surprisingly felt great to play with; I can rely on cover, I'm not spamming structures everywhere and I am re-using and building upon the towers and walls I built. It feels like a breath of fresh air from the chaos of the current build of the game and I am excited for you all to experience it.
We will be running the Attachment Beta event soon and will release an announcement video to let you know when it is.
Until then we hope you enjoy playing against the bots. Please leave a review and let us know your thoughts on the game!
Full Changelog Since v1.3.8
Fixes: - Fixed issues with clicking scoreboard buttons when joining a match mid-round - Fixed Soltrium Temple spawn area rendering - Fixed other player's automatic weapon fire not showing sometimes - Fixed localisation toggling not affecting some UI elements - Fixed autobalancing not taking into account current player KDR correctly - Fixed issues with window flickering when pressing Alt - Fixed fall damage kill display in the killfeed - The 'Close' button in the settings window works again - Localisation phrases for in-game announcements, spectator UI and rich presence - Fixed issues with joining custom lobbies - Fixed issues with projectiles + collision in FFA game modes - Fixed Trial UI issues - Fixed enemy flag carrier colour on the minimap in CTF - Fixed flag/bomb spawns in Laboratory - Fixed startup OpenGL issues that caused issues with rendering - The kill SFX now plays when killing the flag/bomb carrier - Autobalance messages no longer show when both teams are full - Loading Workshop maps in custom lobbies now works correctly - Fixed water rendering - The hurt SFX no longer plays loudly when picking up an ammo bonus with the Scavenger 3 mod - Fixed issues with diving and resurfacing SFX - The resurfacing SFX no longer plays when adjusting settings - Fixed player outline rendering - Fixed trial text rendering - Fixed player-map collision issues causing jerky player movement and teleportation - Fixed issues with shotgun spray patterns at certain angles - Bots now have the minimum possible influence over total team power (for autobalancing) - Players will now be correctly shown as holding a flag when joining mid-match - Fixed Salvage canisters spawning too low - Fixed autobalance not moving players sometimes - Fixed duplicate gun fire SFX sounds playing when another player starts shooting - Fixed Breakthrough zone rendering when testing maps locally - Fixed issues with floating structures not falling - Bots are no longer included in the online/active player counts - Fixed glass rendering in bare minimum - Fixed "+1 Magazine" text rendering when spectating - Fixed server listings showing incorrect bot/player counts - Fixed structure placement highlight rendering at the edges of maps - Fixed 'Return to Battle' text not rendering when inside the enemy team spawn on some maps - Voxel engine and networking stability improvements - Fixed voxel map edge brightness in bare minimum - Fixed explosion particle colour - Fixed outer scope blur effect lasting too long when firing the last round in a magazine - Fixed client freeze when the match finishes - Fixed render distance issues while spawning on maps with fog - Potential fix for dark maps - Falling snow now renders in local custom maps - Fixed particle flicker when it first starts raining - Rain sounds now properly stop playing when leaving a local custom map - Fixed OpenGL errors when generating snow particles - The team with less players now has slightly more influence when contesting a Salvage canister, scaled in a way that for example if Aegis has 3 players, Helix has 5, and all 8 players are in the canister region, the canister is evenly contested by both teams - Fixed muffled sound issues when finishing a match underwater - Fixed networking issues with fall damage and player health
Changes: - New and improved map JSON format and documentation at https://sectorsedge.com/workshop - CTF and Escort now support multiple flags/bombs per-team - Custom lobbies will reset 5 minutes after all humans have left - When un-selecting both 'empty' and 'full' server filters, only servers that have players and aren't full will be shown - Reduced the amount that bots build - When a human joins a match, they will join the team with the weakest human power - Reduced max match time from 30 minutes down to 20 minutes
Additions: - Bots! - Custom lobby owners can say '/botcap N' in chat to control the amount of bots - Announcement text now has a dark background behind it
Optimisations: - Multithreading optimisations and stability improvements - Voxel engine refresh and cleanup - faster floating voxel checks, block creation, block removal, explosions and structure placement - Engine optimisations (boring stuff like function calling and memory management) - Audio engine optimisations and fixes
Build v1.3.8e - Patch 1
Fixes: - Fixed client freeze when the match finishes - Fixed render distance issues while spawning on maps with fog
