I've started working on this update by fleshing out the expanded design for the labs areas. At that point, labs were not much different from other locations, civilians and security, and one lab holding the event goal for timeline progression, the -REDACTED-, of course. There are three parts that I wanted to expand the labs in, these are adding the unique art and location generator, the unique optional gameplay with rewards and unique required gameplay for timeline. After I was done with sketching out the design, I realized that each of these has enough work in it to keep me busy for the amount of time I usually reserve for a single update. To make matters worse, I fell sick with cold for a week or so (in the middle of the hot summer, I know, but drinking much cold beverages daily does that easily for me). So I started work on the first part - the generator and finding unique art. iwanPlays supported me earlier with scientist tiles.
So after some weeks of work I got the basis of the new "buildings with indoors" generator working that will be used for locations like this. Actual windows, tables and doors are there. The clue spawning was revisited, too, the clues have more art in there and they spawn only on tables. Also labs have floor drains, the larger of these the parasite can use to get into the sewers if needed. The generator was slow enough in coming and after I was mostly done with it, my vacation came up. It'll take three weeks and I'll try working but it's unlikely that I will get much done (I intend to start writing ingame encyclopedia). I didn't want to keep the game without any updates for another month so I'm making an intermediate labs update with the intent on following with more. Hope you'll like the new look.
Note: I'm not fully confident that all savegames from the previous versions will load correctly, there could be potential cases where the game might not be completable due to the labs changes.
Changes:
- Facility (labs) generation
- New clue spawning in labs
- Readables (clues) in labs can be grabbed when near them
- Team members now look appropriately for the area
- Host turns left to live number is now shown in the HUD (takes into account evolution, body features growing if they're active, assimilation and other variables).
- In-world sounds volume is now modulated by distance to player
- Probe brain action is now colored if it will give you clues or skills
- Probe brain action is now repeatable through Shift key modifier. Repeating works only until all clues and skills have been learned (or until the host dies). If the host brain holds nothing of interest, the action will not repeat.
- Added tutorial hints about communications and host degradation
- Reduced maximum energy loss on habitat destruction on easy group difficulty
- Key shortcuts display styles updated to be consistent across the HUD and all windows
- Habitats left number will be hidden until you get the improvement
Fixes:
- Savegame loading fix for AI items and skills
- Loading fix for arrays like known items/objects
- Human AI names are now saved
- Hopefully the last ghost objects fix (ghost objects are the ones that you can sometimes see in the upper left corner of the game window)