Uberlaufer
Small Update
- The way data is stored has been completely refactored to fix a rare "crash on start" bug.
- The skull photo objective has been temporarily removed due to a bug preventing the objective from being completed.
Update Notes 08/17/2022
- Schnitzel cries less in the start area
Summer Update Released to All
The update with a number of new features and fixes is now available to all. Thanks for feedback in BETA.
I'll be reviewing feedback on this new version and expanding the dog companion with some new features soon, but wanted to get this out in time for the Steam VR event. Please leave feedback in the forums. It's been a very busy 2022 for me, sorry for the delays.
Once I get feedback from the community and shore up any issues, I'll be posting a poll on what features / changes I tackle next that you can vote on. Have ideas for new artifacts? I'd love to hear!
Known Issues
Schnitzel will slide around a bit sometimes, particularly when sitting and a guard approaches. He also looks a bit off going up/down stairs. Looking to improve Schnitzel in the coming weeks.
Improvements since BETA
- The cost of perks has been reduced, especially items that are not easily found in the dungeon.
- The dungeon start collapses behind you when you enter
- Schnitzel is always in his cage when you start now, but will escape and can be found in the dungeon if you do not purchase him as a perk.
Artifacts
I’ve had several requests for special perks or gameplay modifiers that can be reused without purchasing them each dungeon run. Artifacts fill this role. The Third Reich was notorious for stealing or obtaining artifacts from all over Europe and Africa. If you discover one of these, it provides perks that will always be available to use when you start the dungeon and not cost anything. The catch is, you can ONLY select one artifact to gain its perk when you start a dungeon. Combining these with standard purchasable perks can help people with different strategies and gameplay preferences. After discovering them, there is also some historical background on the artifact at the start of the dungeon.
Artifacts are only behind one breakable wall in each dungeon so you will have to search for them.
There are currently three artifacts:
Nefertiti Bust
Allows you to see the approximate locations of all your inventory objectives on the map. This will not necessarily be the location of the closest object.
Discobulus Statue
This artifact prevents your enemy alertness from increasing for the first five minutes of the game. This is designed for players who want to play the game a bit more aggressively without worrying about SS. Use those five minutes wisely.
Aphrodite Statue
Shows the location of wells on the map in your soldbuch and vastly increases the odds of finding an item in them.
More artifacts coming soon based on player input! If you have ideas for artifacts, please post on Discord or Steam.
Secret Passageways
Secret passageways can connect two different rooms. You can spot them by looking for a crack in the wall you can peer through. These provide a way to bypass some areas to avoid or surprise a guard.
To break the wall, hit it three times with something like your gun, brick, helmet or even a body. If you are in a firefight, it is possible for enemies to even collapse these as they fall or move around..
Passageways may also contain medieval remains that are required to complete an objective.
New Rooms
There are two new room types which are now complete. These include an infirmary and a classified area. These areas are locked, so you must find a key on a guard to enter them. There are times where there is an objective you need to complete in these rooms, but there are other reasons to seek these areas.
The Classified Area has a random large weapon you must sometimes photograph but always contains additional ammo for all weapons on a second level within the room. So, if you are low on ammo seek it out. I’ll leave the weapons you can photograph a surprise for now.
The Infirmary always contains food and drugs, so if you are low on health, target this area. An additional drug, D-IX, has also been added. D-IX was a real experimental concoction of various drugs. In the game, it will give you a couple of minutes of full health before reverting to your previous health stats. The catch is that this drug causes hearing loss, so everything is muffled which makes hearing guards, prisoners or your dog much harder.
You can take this drug multiple times if you stock up on them, but your addiction trait will increase which will eventually influence your soldier’s outcome. Repeated use of this drug can also cause permanent hearing loss even after its effects wear off.
In the infirmary, you will also have a chance to find deceased soldiers with generated medical charts detailing their demise. As always, you can search their bodies. The medical chart summaries are based on real cases I uncovered during historical research.
Dog Companion
Schnitzel is a German Shepherd you can find locked in the dungeon. Once you find and free him he will start following you. In addition to gaining an increase to your empathy trait that will eventually impact the outcome of your character, he also brings a passive ability. He will growl when there is an unalerted guard nearby which is helpful when storming into a room or through a collapsible wall. He also barks if there are any guards who are actively attacking you.
You can make Schnitzel stay or come by simply placing an empty hand to your face and pulling the trigger to whistle. Make him stay to pet him or keep him in front of an entrance to guard.
Schnitzel cannot die.
Once you find and free Schnitzel five times in the dungeon, you will unlock an achievement and his location will always be shown on your map. You can also bribe a guard at the beginning of the dungeon if you want to start off with Schnitzel by using your earned coins.
Movement, Stealth and AI
Adjustments have been made to some gameplay elements to improve some of the stealth/gameplay mechanics and AI.
- Evasion has been totally reworked. You can escape regular guards by running into a hole after being out of their site for a couple of seconds. Guards will investigate your last known position after you evade them and you will be notified in your HUD (if this option is not disabled). The run speed of enemies was slightly reduced to make it a little easier to escape them. Keep in mind running from an enemy may just land you in front of another. Keep a mental note of hiding spaces so you know where to escape to.
- The player now has a faster max walking speed for those long hallways and to get the jump on guards before they can retrieve their weapon. This should make taking down an enemy a little easier as they come around a corner or you are coming up behind them.
- Previously, when nearby guards heard gunfire they would automatically home in and follow the player even if they did not see them. Now, they will investigate the source of the gunfire but will not automatically unholster their weapon or know the player’s location. This will give the player a little extra time time to react or hide. Guards that see another guard firing will still automatically unholster and home in on the player. SS (Schutzstaffel) still function the way they always have. They are relentless and will find you anywhere.
- When a guard spotted the player, the enemy alertness meter would immediately increase. This did not give the player a chance to knock them out before increasing alertness which leads to the SS being spawned. Now, the alertness meter will not increase if you take out the guard within a couple of seconds.
- Added HUD messages when guards hear a noise, discover a body or are evaded. This setting is now on by default, but can be turned off in options.
Play Enhancements
New Book / Larger Map
The Soldbuch has been redesigned to show more information including a more detailed biography, personality traits and images of your objectives. The map is now separate and much larger with a legend. To cycle through the Soldbuch views simply pull the trigger.
New Radio Broadcasts
There is additional music that plays on the radios now. These are compositions by the Austrian composer Mozart. In addition to German operas, there are some Italian librettos I included because they really lend themselves to the mood of the game. These include his requiem death mass and his opera Don Giovanni. These also happen to be two of my favorite compositions by him and I was able to acquire recordings of these performances from the time period!
Other Stuff
- Grabbing velocity tracked objects no longer as jittery. Wont break nearby objects when grabbed.
- Radios can be thrown and smashed to turn them off or you can use them as a melee weapon (once).
- Hiding Spots are larger making it easier to get in and out of and optimized for performance.
- Personality traits empathy and addiction are now tracked. They will be used to help determine outcomes in a future update. Empathy is increased when you free prisoners or free the dog. Empathy is slightly decreased when shooting guards instead of knocking them out. The addiction trait is increased when you take stimulants/drugs. It cannot be reduced.
- Added more tracked game stats to the player’s soldbuch related to the new features in this update.
bHaptics Native Support
bHaptics Vest, Arms and Face are supported in the game. This really adds to the immersion and allows some neat effects for key player states and special actions.
Here are a list of the game events that use bHaptics:
- Firing Pistols
- Reload Weapon
- Pickup/Grab an Object or Body
- Turning Key in Locked Door
- Taking a photo with camera (shutter click)
- Grabbing/dropping item from/to back: Feel item drop behind back
- Grabbing or putting weapon away
- Hit Secret Walls with Held Object
- Hit Enemy
- Searching Grabbed Enemy
- Opening Door / Chest
- Smashing through a wall
- Getting Hit by Boobytrap/Grenade
- Clip Wire
- Taking a Drug (Feel Heartbeat while effect lasts)
- Wearing Uniform (Feel Heartbeat while effect lasts)
- Falling into a Floor Trap
- Air Raid
- Climbing a ladder
- Extinguishing a Torch with Welding Glove
- Fire MP40 / One or Two Handed
- Placing Helmet on Head
- Helmet Shot off
- Eating Food
- Getting Hit By Bullet (Feel Correct Direction)
- Pulling Lever
- Petting Dog
- Surrendering (fast heartbeat)
Summer Update Available in Public BETA
The update with a number of new features and fixes is now available in the public BETA branch. To try it out, opt in to the BETA via Steam.
I'll be reviewing feedback on this new version and expanding the dog companion with some new features, but wanted to get this out in time for the Steam VR event in July. Please leave feedback in the forums. It's been a very busy 2022 for me, sorry for the delays.
Once I get feedback from the community and shore up any issues, I'll be posting a poll on what features / changes I tackle next that you can vote on.
Artifacts
I’ve had several requests for special perks or gameplay modifiers that can be reused without purchasing them each dungeon run. Artifacts fill this role. The Third Reich was notorious for stealing or obtaining artifacts from all over Europe and Africa. If you discover one of these, it provides perks that will always be available to use when you start the dungeon and not cost anything. The catch is, you can ONLY select one artifact to gain its perk when you start a dungeon. Combining these with standard purchasable perks can help people with different strategies and gameplay preferences. After discovering them, there is also some historical background on the artifact at the start of the dungeon.
Artifacts are only behind one breakable wall in each dungeon so you will have to search for them.
There are currently three artifacts:
Nefertiti Bust
Allows you to see the approximate locations of all your inventory objectives on the map. This will not necessarily be the location of the closest object.
Discobulus Statue
This artifact prevents your enemy alertness from increasing for the first five minutes of the game. This is designed for players who want to play the game a bit more aggressively without worrying about SS. Use those five minutes wisely.
Aphrodite Statue
Shows the location of wells on the map in your soldbuch and vastly increases the odds of finding an item in them.
More artifacts coming soon based on player input! If you have ideas for artifacts, please post on Discord or Steam.
Secret Passageways
Secret passageways can connect two different rooms. You can spot them by looking for a crack in the wall you can peer through. These provide a way to bypass some areas to avoid or surprise a guard.
To break the wall, hit it three times with something like your gun, brick, helmet or even a body. If you are in a firefight, it is possible for enemies to even collapse these as they fall or move around..
Passageways may also contain medieval remains that are required to complete an objective.
New Rooms
There are two new room types which are now complete. These include an infirmary and a classified area. These areas are locked, so you must find a key on a guard to enter them. There are times where there is an objective you need to complete in these rooms, but there are other reasons to seek these areas.
The Classified Area has a random large weapon you must sometimes photograph but always contains additional ammo for all weapons on a second level within the room. So, if you are low on ammo seek it out. I’ll leave the weapons you can photograph a surprise for now.
The Infirmary always contains food and drugs, so if you are low on health, target this area. An additional drug, D-IX, has also been added. D-IX was a real experimental concoction of various drugs. In the game, it will give you a couple of minutes of full health before reverting to your previous health stats. The catch is that this drug causes hearing loss, so everything is muffled which makes hearing guards, prisoners or your dog much harder.
You can take this drug multiple times if you stock up on them, but your addiction trait will increase which will eventually influence your soldier’s outcome. Repeated use of this drug can also cause permanent hearing loss even after its effects wear off.
In the infirmary, you will also have a chance to find deceased soldiers with generated medical charts detailing their demise. As always, you can search their bodies. The medical chart summaries are based on real cases I uncovered during historical research.
Dog Companion
Schnitzel is a German Shepherd you can find locked in the dungeon. Once you find and free him he will start following you. In addition to gaining an increase to your empathy trait that will eventually impact the outcome of your character, he also brings a passive ability. He will growl when there is an unalerted guard nearby which is helpful when storming into a room or through a collapsible wall. He also barks if there are any guards who are actively attacking you.
You can make Schnitzel stay or come by simply placing an empty hand to your face and pulling the trigger to whistle. Make him stay to pet him or keep him in front of an entrance to guard.
Schnitzel cannot die.
Once you find and free Schnitzel five times in the dungeon, you will unlock an achievement and his location will always be shown on your map. You can also bribe a guard at the beginning of the dungeon if you want to start off with Schnitzel by using your earned coins.
Movement, Stealth and AI
Adjustments have been made to some gameplay elements to improve some of the stealth/gameplay mechanics and AI.
- Evasion has been totally reworked. You can escape regular guards by running into a hole after being out of their site for a couple of seconds. Guards will investigate your last known position after you evade them and you will be notified in your HUD (if this option is not disabled). The run speed of enemies was slightly reduced to make it a little easier to escape them. Keep in mind running from an enemy may just land you in front of another. Keep a mental note of hiding spaces so you know where to escape to.
- The player now has a faster max walking speed for those long hallways and to get the jump on guards before they can retrieve their weapon. This should make taking down an enemy a little easier as they come around a corner or you are coming up behind them.
- Previously, when nearby guards heard gunfire they would automatically home in and follow the player even if they did not see them. Now, they will investigate the source of the gunfire but will not automatically unholster their weapon or know the player’s location. This will give the player a little extra time time to react or hide. Guards that see another guard firing will still automatically unholster and home in on the player. SS (Schutzstaffel) still function the way they always have. They are relentless and will find you anywhere.
- When a guard spotted the player, the enemy alertness meter would immediately increase. This did not give the player a chance to knock them out before increasing alertness which leads to the SS being spawned. Now, the alertness meter will not increase if you take out the guard within a couple of seconds.
- Added HUD messages when guards hear a noise, discover a body or are evaded. This setting is now on by default, but can be turned off in options.
Play Enhancements
New Book / Larger Map
The Soldbuch has been redesigned to show more information including a more detailed biography, personality traits and images of your objectives. The map is now separate and much larger with a legend. To cycle through the Soldbuch views simply pull the trigger.
New Radio Broadcasts
There is additional music that plays on the radios now. These are compositions by the Austrian composer Mozart. In addition to German operas, there are some Italian librettos I included because they really lend themselves to the mood of the game. These include his requiem death mass and his opera Don Giovanni. These also happen to be two of my favorite compositions by him and I was able to acquire recordings of these performances from the time period!
Other Stuff
- Grabbing velocity tracked objects no longer as jittery. Wont break nearby objects when grabbed.
- Radios can be thrown and smashed to turn them off or you can use them as a melee weapon (once).
- Hiding Spots are larger making it easier to get in and out of and optimized for performance.
- Personality traits empathy and addiction are now tracked. They will be used to help determine outcomes in a future update. Empathy is increased when you free prisoners or free the dog. Empathy is slightly decreased when shooting guards instead of knocking them out. The addiction trait is increased when you take stimulants/drugs. It cannot be reduced.
- Added more tracked game stats to the player’s soldbuch related to the new features in this update.
bHaptics Native Support
bHaptics Vest, Arms and Face are supported in the game. This really adds to the immersion and allows some neat effects for key player states and special actions.
Here are a list of the game events that use bHaptics:
- Firing Pistols
- Reload Weapon
- Pickup/Grab an Object or Body
- Turning Key in Locked Door
- Taking a photo with camera (shutter click)
- Grabbing/dropping item from/to back: Feel item drop behind back
- Grabbing or putting weapon away
- Hit Secret Walls with Held Object
- Hit Enemy
- Searching Grabbed Enemy
- Opening Door / Chest
- Smashing through a wall
- Getting Hit by Boobytrap/Grenade
- Clip Wire
- Taking a Drug (Feel Heartbeat while effect lasts)
- Wearing Uniform (Feel Heartbeat while effect lasts)
- Falling into a Floor Trap
- Air Raid
- Climbing a ladder
- Extinguishing a Torch with Welding Glove
- Fire MP40 / One or Two Handed
- Placing Helmet on Head
- Helmet Shot off
- Eating Food
- Getting Hit By Bullet (Feel Correct Direction)
- Pulling Lever
- Petting Dog
- Surrendering (fast heartbeat)
DevLog: New Rooms and Development Update
New Rooms
The update will include two new room types which are now complete. These include an infirmary and a classified area. These areas are locked, so you must find a key on a guard to enter them. There are times where there is an objective you need to complete in these rooms, but there are other reasons to seek these areas.
The classified area which has a random large weapon you must sometimes photograph always contains additional ammo for all weapons on a second level within the room. So, if you are low on ammo seek it out. I'll leave the weapons you can photograph a surprise for now.
The infirmary always contains food and drugs, so if you are low on health, target this area. An additional drug, D-IX, has also been added. D-IX was a real experimental concoction of various drugs. In the game, it will give you a couple of minutes of full health before reverting to your previous health stats. The catch is that this drug causes hearing loss, so everything is muffled which makes hearing guards, prisoners or dogs much harder.
You can take this drug multiple times if you stock up on them, but your addiction trait will increase which will eventually influence your soldier's outcome. Repeated use of this drug can also cause sudden hearing loss even after its effects wear off.
In the infirmary, you will also have a chance to find deceased soldiers with procedurally generated medical charts detailing their demise. As always, you can search their bodies.
Movement and Stealth
A number of other tweaks have been made including a faster max walking speed for those long hallways. I am still adjusting this and may make your speed directly impact if you are heard or not. Adjustments to some of the stealth mechanics are my next task before releasing.
New Radio Broadcasts
There is also additional music that plays on the radios now. These are all pieces by Mozart mostly in German, but there are a couple of them that are in Italian. I included those because they really lend themselves to the mood of the game, including his requiem death mass and his opera Don Giovanni. These also happen to be two of my favorite compositions by him and I was able to get recordings of these performances from the 1940s royalty free!
Other Stuff
Lots of other enhancements including new achievements, performance improvements, sound improvements, additional graphics options, etc. which I will detail in the update notes upon release.
It's been a busy spring with lots of distractions, but I am working on the game a little each day. With this new release, I will probably do a little more marketing of the game since it has evolved a great deal.
DevLog: Development Update and Pet Companion
Development of the new update is progressing nicely. Collapsible walls that reveal secret passageways and the new artifact perks are complete and working well. Before I tackle the AI stealth mechanics and new rooms, I wanted to work on Schnitzel and make him an option as a companion with his own perks.
For those who have not gotten this far in the game, there is a dog named Schnitzel at the start of the third dungeon if you make it that far without dying. Today he just appears at the dungeon start as a tease, but in the upcoming update you will be able to find and free him where he will start following you. In addition to gaining an increase to your empathy trait (also a new feature) that can impact the outcome of your character, he also brings a passive ability. He will growl when there is an unalerted guard nearby which is helpful when storming into a room or through a collapsible wall. He also barks if there are any guards who are actively targeting/attacking you.
In the future, I may add more active offensive capabilities with Schnitzel including ways to command him. I'll post some polls to gain interest on expanding his features but I think you will find him fun to have with you instead of tackling the dungeon alone. For testing purposes I have him starting off with me in the dungeon, but you will be required to find and free him in each dungeon. Making him available on start might be a good perk for a future artifact?
Right now I am working through some animation challenges (particularly navigating stairs...ugh) but I expect to wrap him up in the next two weeks. Once that is done, I will work on the new rooms which should not take too long followed by revising some of the AI mechanics based on user feedback. I'll start with small iterative changes to the AI, get more feedback and keep iterating.
I expect the big update to be in BETA around 8 weeks from now or so. Thanks for being patient. Lots of stuff going on with my regular software engineering job and lots of distractions at home lately, but I work on it a little each day.
Schnitzel is actually named after my sisters dog, but is inspired by one of our rescue dogs Diogi ( pronounced D-O-G). You can see him below. He is contributing some of the sounds in the game as well. He is part German Shepherd, part Malamute and likes to follow us around just like his in-game counterpart. :)
DevLog: Collapsible Walls and Artifacts
Collapsible Walls
I am coming up with a plan to make iterative improvements to some e of the combat and stealth elements of the game. While I think there are plenty of things I can do to improve those areas, I am very happy with the dungeon complexity in the game. I'd go so far as to say the dungeon layouts generated dynamically are more complex than most other Roguelike games I've played in VR. Navigating the dungeon is as much a part of the game as combat and how you approach enemies. I wanted to further the variability even further.
I am adding some new room types for the next release which I will talk about in a future new update, but right now my focus is on collapsible walls for alternate routes and discoverable artifacts.
These walls consist of two types.
Secret Room Connections
As you explore the dungeon, you may see a wall with cracks in it and a broken part you can actually peek through. These provide a way to jump between different rooms, hallways or cells. They are great for avoiding an enemy, a quick escape, avoid using a key for a locked cell or surprising an enemy. Because you can peer through the wall without being spotted, it can allow you to get a jump on them if you have good aim once you break through. You do NOT have to use these walls to escape the dungeon. They do make noise which can attract a guard, but they are a lot of fun. These shortcuts do NOT show up on the map.
To break the wall, hit it with something like your gun, brick, helmet or even a body :) If you are in a firefight, it is possible for enemies to even collapse these as they fall or move around.
I actually have this working pretty well, but need to make sure I haven't missed any weird side effects. I've even seen some secret connections lead to a second floor tall room you had to leap down from which was a pleasant surprise.
Secret Artifacts
The second type of collapsible wall is a secret area. The only way to identify these are visible cracks on the outside in tight passageways. There is no hole to peek through. Finding these is also not required to escape the dungeon, but they are the only way to have a chance of discovering artifacts.
I've had several requests for perks that can be reused without purchasing them each dungeon run. Artifacts fill this role. The Third Reich was notorious for stealing artifacts from all over Europe and Africa. If you discover one of these, it will always be available to use when you start the dungeon. The catch is, you can ONLY select one artifact to gain its perk when you start a dungeon. Combing these with standard perks can help people with different strategies.
The buffs these artifacts provide is something I am still contemplating. I am reasonably sure one of them will provide clues on your map to where one or more objectives are located. I expect to be working on these features through the end of the month. If you have any ideas or feedback on artifact effects, please let me know in the forum.
Technical Stuff
Putting these things in a game with static maps is relatively straightforward, but in a procedurally generated game where the dungeon is built dynamically every time you play it is very tricky. There can be interference between different objects, connections to rooms that the player should NOT be able to shortcut, etc. So, it is definitely a lot of work, testing and retesting.
Next Month
Next month I'll talk a little about the new room types and health objects in the next release. If you are enjoying the game and vision, please consider leaving a positive review. It does help with Steam algorithms and so on, but more importantly the positive feedback helps motivate me :)
Toggle Grab and Helmet Features
Early Access Launch Version 0.958
Thank you so much for supporting the Early Access version of the game. This is a solo developed title and I am very interested in feedback and ideas. Feel free to participate in the Discord or post something in the Steam discussion forums. When I started creating this game, it was really about creating a game I wanted to play in VR that did not exist. Thanks for all the encouragement and support! Please be patient as it takes a while to make changes and do adequate testing as a solo developer. My current list of priorities are listed at the end of this update below.
It's only been about 20 days since the last update, but I wanted to get this smaller update out before I tackle some bigger items in a larger release (looking at end of March).
Enhancements / Revisions
Toggle Grab
The primary purpose of this release was to add a toggle grab feature. This can be enabled in the settings. This allows you to toggle grab so you do not have to constantly hold items. This option is intended and only recommended for controllers with grab buttons like the quest and Vive.
If you use this feature with the Valve Index controllers, the grip force sensitivity is taken into account so it is not as easy to trigger but I think not enabling toggle grab for knuckles controllers is better. Let me know if there is anything I can tweak to make this better on different controllers. This took a lot longer than I wanted, thanks for your patience.
Enemy Helmets
This update also introduces separate meshes for enemies and their helmets worn in the game. Enemy helmets can now be shot off or knocked off. Enemies wearing helmets have a chance of deflecting one of your head shots before it flies off. Some enemies may not wear a helmet at all.
Helmets that fall off enemies will randomly be damaged or undamaged. All helmets can be used as a melee weapon or to cause a sound to attract enemies.
Undamaged helmets can also be worn by simply placing it to your head. Wearing a helmet does two things:
- Has a chance of deflecting a shot at which point the helmet breaks and disappears.
- Will protect you during an air raid if you cannot find cover at which point it breaks and disappears.
It is more likely a helmet knocked off an enemy will be undamaged than shooting it off.
Misc
- The perk shop area has been modified to now show more detailed descriptions of perks once they are purchased. These are now displayed in world space, rather than the wrist to avoid interfering with your wrist inventory display.
- The perk shop now shows the name and photo of unlocked perks so new players have an idea what they can unlock with further gameplay.
- Performance Improvements
Bug Fixes
Misc bug fixes
Priorities
I have a lot of stuff planned for the next update, but it will take around 8 weeks. The next update will introduce some new dungeon architecture and I will hopefully have some of the stealth elements tweaked.
Bug fixes / General Game Enhancements
Improve enemy behavior when eluding them / AI
Improve ladder grabbing
Rebalancing shop cost based on changes and play data
Reinvestigate modifying play rig to not push back and allow leaning over objects without cheating
New Room Types (infirmary and bathroom), Objects and New Drugs
Breakable walls, secret corridors between rooms and discoverable relics / artifacts with special abilities that can be reused without buying them every time including clues where objective items can be found.
Personality traits based on gameplay affecting outcomes
Pet companion
Update Notes for Version 0.955
Thank you so much for supporting the Early Access version of the game. This is a solo developed title and I am very interested in feedback and ideas. Feel free to participate in the Discord or post something in the Steam discussion forums. When I started creating this game, it was really about creating a game I wanted to play in VR that did not exist. Thanks for all the encouragement and support! Please be patient as it takes a while to make changes and do adequate testing as a solo developer. My current list of priorities are listed at the end of this update below.
Enhancements / Revisions
- Wells may now appear in the dungeon. Wells can be used to dispose bodies but you can also throw coins in them for a chance to find something (with a twist). Each time you throw a coin in, you have a chance of getting a random item, nothing at all, or LOSING an item (a 5% chance.) You can keep throwing coins in till you win or lose, then it can no longer be used for luck. You can even get items that you do not have unlocked yet like uniforms as well as key objective items like dossiers or gold keys. If you are unlucky and lose an item however, the item will spawn in front of you and drop into the well to let you know what you lost. An achievement has also been added related to wells.
- Broken columns now appear in rooms which can be used for cover.
- There are a new set of tutorials that appear in 3D space in front of different key objects to help educate players. I added this after watching videos of players who did not understand certain things. They only display once. I will continue to add these as new features are implemented.
- The spoken narration on the start/help book only plays once per dungeon, not everytime you grab it.
- It should be easier to reload as the contact grabbing has been enhanced
- It should be easier for seated players to grab items as the distance grab has been extended.
- Hiding spots are now much darker inside
- Enemies wander more frequently
- Regular enemy stopping distance has been greatly reduced. This is how close the enemy gets to you if their view of you is obstructed. SS will still keep their distance.
- User presence is no longer used to auto-pause the game while you are actually in a dungeon. If you take your headset off, be sure to pause the game yourself. This fixes a problem that made taking SteamVR screenshots very difficult, and fixes some issues with overlays on the Quest causing various problems. I may re-enable this later, but I've noticed other OpenXR games doing the same thing for now.
- American equivalent of German rank now also displayed on start bio screen as this will be a little more relatable to most in the United States
- Some changes have been made to the Soldbuch that now display passive effects you might have gotten as this will be important for future updates. Passive effects displayed today are Uniform, Pilot's Salt, Welding Gloves, Trap protection, Silent Fingers and P08 damage boost. An upcoming version will have stolen artifacts/relics you can find in the dungeon that apply passive effects as well. I will need to figure out a new way to design the Soldbuch because there is simply not enough room to display everything for the future content I have planned.
- The standard P08 now has the tactical light unlocked at start and does not require an achievement. The suppressed P08 still must have its tactical light unlocked via an achievement. This is to help players who are having problems seeing, but be warned light can alert guards. Switch it on and off for best results.
- A thud sound is played when enemy bodies hit the bottom of the pit.
Bug Fixes
- Enemy obstacle radius increased to help eliminate bodies sticking
- Tight corridors have been widened to prevent AI having avoidance issues
- There was a bug that prevented players from throwing coins they had earned within a session as a distraction. This was most noticeable to new players who did not have a lot of coins.
- There was an annoying gap between floors which was very visible when climbing ladders
- It was rare, but possible for guards to appear to float high in the air or sink into the floor. This was a dynamic navmesh problem that has been fixed.
- Prevent torches from spawning on poster in the start area.
- Prevent hiding spots from spawning in the start area
- Fixed bug preventing uniform from spawning in secret stashes
- Adjusted tables so they are not culled (made not visible) too close to the player
- Fixed a bug that allowed the gun magazine to be grabbed while it was still in the gun with no hand holding it
- Glitch that would shift position of movie reels when attaching them has been fixed.
- It was possible for the game to not launch if the user's steam session auth ticket never arrived due to expiration or Steam being down. This will now timeout after 15 seconds and force start the game without leaderboard connection.
- Fixed bug that would allow you to eject a magazine when there wasn't one in the gun
- Dossiers have been reverted back to completely random instead of favoring the newer dossiers people were missing for the achievement. If you are trying to get this achievement, whatever you are missing will eventually turn up.
- When you ejected a magazine, it would not show bullets in it even if it was not empty. This was just a visual bug and was fixed. Ammo worked properly.
Priorities
- Bug fixes / General Game Enhancements
- Toggle Grab (It's coming...working through various issues so its not quite ready yet)
- Improve enemy behavior when eluding them.
- Improve ladder grabbing
- Rebalancing shop cost based on changes and play data
- Reinvestigate modifying play rig to not push back and allow leaning over objects without cheating
- New Room Types (infirmary and bathroom), Objects and New Drugs
- Breakable walls, secret corridors between rooms and discoverable relics / artifacts with special abilities that can be reused without buying them every time including clues where objective items can be found.
- Personality traits based on gameplay affecting outcomes
- Pet companion