Welcome to the 9th update to The Blackout Club! With this update lots has changed as we get closer to release of 1.0. We have totally overhauled the reward system, implemented LOTS of big performance optimizations, and done a lot of polish work on the neighborhood.
So lets get into the details!
ECONOMY AND REWARDS
SNACKS
Rewards have been changed to introduce a new reward type on mission complete: Snacks. Snacks are traded in the new store located on the customization menu for character and hideout customizations (more about those below). You can only get snacks by completing missions, they are never purchased with real money, so this is not introducing microtransactions.
At the end of a mission you earn a badge based on the percentage of the possible XP you earned. The higher the badge, the more snacks you will receive. This means that to really get the most snacks, bonus evidence is important. In addition, as you level up, snacks and XP rewards will also rise to account for the bigger level (more ground to cover) and increased difficulty. Along with this the level curve has been adjusted to be less grindy.
THE STORE
With the addition of snacks comes a store where you trade them for customizations. The store has a weekly stock and a daily special. The weekly selection updates every week, and the daily every day (probably obvious).
HIDEOUT CUSTOMIZATIONS
You can now purchase customizations for your hideout with snacks! These come in the form of props and posters. When you purchase one you choose where to place it in the customization menu. In addition, when joining another person's game your customizations will come with you as long as the host doesn't have anything already in that slot!
SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEW SYSTEM
- We have added lots of items to the "Accessories" category of customizations. These include a variety of masks, bandanas, and some other surprises.
- More clothing options have been added to the other categories as well.
- NO MORE DUPES! Since you choose what rewards to spend snacks on you never get duplicate items. They are no longer randomly dropped on mission complete.
SUPPLY DROPS
You can also now use snacks in missions for special favors from club headquarters! New Supply Drops have been added to the game in the form of Firework Stations - above ground and Contraband Lockers - in the maze. For some snacks you can request a specific item that you really need and the club will air drop it or send you the code for the locker! For when you REALLY need that tranq!
PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATIONS
We have done a lot of work with this update to improve performance across the board, both for CPU and GPU. Almost everyone should see a pretty big performance boost, especially hosts.
WORLD POLISH
We have done a lot of work on the neighborhood to give more of a sense that people LIVE HERE. Each home now has more personality that tells a little more about the inhabitants, and when reading journals you might be able to connect some dots! We also did a fair amount of general polish on them as well.
LOCALIZATION
With this update we now have subtitles for German, Spanish, and French. There is still a little more polish work to do on these, but we believe it is fairly complete and playable. Please let us know!
TWO NEW MISSION TYPES
- Record Behavior - In this mission you are required to set up a special circle that compels the enemies to engage in strange behavior. Set the trap, lure an enemy in, then record it as evidence!
- Follow the Trail - this is a high level version of the rescue club kid mission, but you don't know where they were taken. You have to go to where they were abducted, record evidence in the area, then follow the trail that was left to where they are now. You won't know if they are OK until you find them!
There is lots more in this update including lots of bug fixes, the ability to increase the filter distance on available lobbies, and other surprises (what are those sleepers doing?) so keep a look out when playing. You can find additional details here. In addition we have done a lot of work preparing the next large above ground region, which will be unlocked with the next major update. As always thanks for playing, see you in the neighborhood!
-Question
UPDATE: Hotfix 6/2 for a few bugs, details posted in the change list