Hello POSTAL Dude’s and Dudettes!
It’s been a hot minute since the last game update, so we wanted to take the time to let you guys know what to expect over the next few months.
First we’d like to apologize for the slow cadence of updates. To make up for this and lesson the annoyance in the future, we’ve decided to take advantage of Valve's new API features by making it easy to access our internal beta branches!
So while our official public updates will still be a good few months apart, anyone that’s interested to see how the game is coming along can join the cutting edge beta branch, right from the main menu.
We hope to have this feature ready for early next year, if not before, and after that we plan to update the beta branch every week or so.
So, what’s currently in our internal builds, which you guys will be able to access via the beta branches soon, and will make a public release in the new year?
Co-Op!
It’s been a long time coming, but we are finally on the home stretch with 4 player co-op support. It is now possible to finish the game from start to finish, so we are now testing for replication issues and also working on improving performance for the host PC. It really is a lot of fun and we can’t wait for you guys to be able to cause chaos in the streets of Edensin together.
For those of you who have no interest in playing with other people, we still have things in store for you!
Better checkpointing system for single player!
We’ve long been rightfully criticized for not implementing more meaningful consequences for dying while on errand missions, and we’ve worked to correct that. Now, when the player dies and gets sent back to a checkpoint, the game's state will be reverted to what it was when they went through that checkpoint (Health, enemy spawns, weapon and ammo count, etc). This means there are now actual consequences to dying and any progress the player had made with clearing out enemies or completing objectives will be reset. Don’t worry though, we will make sure there are enough checkpoints to mean you won’t lose so much progress that it’s frustrating.
This feature is pretty much done and undergoing testing right now.
Better AI!
We’re putting more effort into NPC AI, and how NPCs interact with each other and the world around them. NPCs have more situational awareness, meaning they will be less likely to do things like stop in doorways to have conversations, blocking the path for other NPCs. We’re also working to improve their general pathing, meaning they won’t wander up into areas you’d not really expect people to be loitering like in the middle of a grassy area when there are paths around (unless they are panicked), and they also are less likely to hug the side of the road and walk in a konga line. Work has been done to keep NPCs spread out across the map better, rather than bunching up into a few areas.
Finally, we’re improving their interactions with the world. More NPCs are now on schedules and will go around doing their jobs or living their lives. We’ve added a lot more animations and boltons too these events too. NPCs that are disturbed from their schedules will rejoin them, and also these schedules are often randomized so each visit to the area will give different results.
We’re working to make sure NPCs move into their interest animations more smoothly, and are polishing up other things such as making sure they look better when seated.
We’re about 30% done with these AI tasks but making quick progress now we’ve updated the code to allow more flexibility.
Tons of sound additions and improvements!
Far too many to list, but a lot of work has been done to improve the overall soundscape in the game, from the open world areas to errands.
Many bug fixes!
And probably a good few introduced too!
Thank you for your continuous support,
Running With Scissors Team