Hello again everyone!
Today we're back with another update for SHALTER-03, bringing a huge gameplay polish update filled with new mechanics, visual improvements, quality-of-life changes, and plenty of bug fixes.
As always, if you encounter any issues or have suggestions, please let us know through our Discord or QA channels. Your feedback continues to shape the game and helps us improve every update.
This patch focuses on expanding puzzle interactions, improving animations, polishing accessibility systems, making multiplayer communication more reliable, and delivering overall performance improvements.
Thank you all for your continued support, and we hope you enjoy the update!
NEW FEATURES
New Pushable Box System: Pushable Boxes have received a major redesign with brand-new models and improved interactions. Boxes can now be matched with their corresponding colors to activate various mechanisms throughout the level, creating more interesting and intuitive puzzle gameplay.
Expanded Potion System: Every potion now has its own unique visuals and materials, making them much easier to recognize during gameplay. We've also added proper holding animations for potions and... let's just say you might not always want to throw them away anymore. 👀 Several potion visual effects have also been upgraded with smoother and more dynamic materials.
Character Interaction Animations: Many interactive objects now have dedicated animations, including Potions, Valves and Eggs. Additional interaction animations are already in development.
Voice Communication Improvements: The voice chat system has been significantly improved. You can now easily see who is currently speaking through the in-game interface, making team communication much clearer during cooperative gameplay. Several new voice effects have also been added and will continue to appear in future updates.
IMPROVEMENTS
Accessibility Improvements: The character assignment system has been improved and is now much more reliable. We've also continued refining the Blind character's vision based directly on your feedback from the previous update.
Better Multiplayer Experience: Player names are now displayed above teammates, making it much easier to identify your friends during gameplay. Voice settings are also more reliable, and microphone sensitivity can now be adjusted directly from the settings menu.
Inventory & UI: Selected inventory slot color changed from red to white, the keybinding menu has been redesigned and is now much more flexible, various settings menu bugs have been fixed, and the gamepad interface continues to improve.
Visual Improvements: Added new metallic materials throughout the game, improved various environmental materials, and the demo map now includes additional potions and greater visual variety.
FIXES
Fixed multiple issues with disability role assignment.
Fixed Pushable Boxes teleporting to incorrect locations.
Fixed walking animations while pushing boxes.
Added separate pull-back animations when moving boxes backwards.
Fixed Power Boxes occasionally never running out of energy.
Fixed audio settings sometimes resetting to 100% volume.
Fixed voice chat not transmitting correctly at low volume levels.
Fixed several settings menu issues causing incorrect graphics options to appear.
Numerous multiplayer and gameplay stability fixes.
We're also aware of a few remaining Pushable Box issues and will continue improving the system in future updates.
PERFORMANCE
Continued optimizing DLSS support for improved stability.
DLSS Frame Generation can now provide up to 2× higher frame rates on supported hardware.
Reduced unnecessary audio ranges for certain interactable objects to create a cleaner sound experience.
General optimization and stability improvements across the game.
LEVEL DESIGN
Demo level updated with additional potions.
Puzzle interactions improved.
Added more environmental material variety.
Improved overall level readability.
DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
Development continues toward Early Access with a strong focus on polish, accessibility, multiplayer improvements, and expanding gameplay systems.
We're currently continuing work on:
Full Gamepad support across every puzzle.
Additional interaction animations.
More potion abilities.
More environmental sound effects.
Continued optimization and multiplayer improvements.