📝 Major Update — Multiplayer & Monster Overhaul | Update 0.2.2

Summary: Update 0.2.2 brings multiplayer back online, improves visual clarity and performance, and delivers a major monster overhaul with adaptive AI, escalating tension, and smarter encounter pacing.

🎮 Multiplayer Re-Enabled

🔑 Change🌟 Why It MattersSteam Sockets NetDriver is now compiled in and enabled by default.Provides secure NAT traversal and cross-platform relays while reducing median EU ↔ US latency by approximately 15 ms in testing.9999 ms Ping Bug FixedThe server browser now displays actual latency instead of the placeholder value produced by older drivers.Version LockVersion 0.2.2 clients only list 0.2.2 servers, helping prevent mismatched packets and incompatible sessions.

🌓 Visual Clarity & Performance

• Reflections Dialed Down: Screen-Space Reflection quality has been reduced to improve performance and reduce the distracting “hall-of-mirrors” effect. Mid-range GPUs can recover approximately 5–10 FPS.
• Brightness Pass: The auto-exposure upper limit has been raised by +0.3 EV, improving readability in darker environments without losing the mood.
• Updated Lumen Presets: Updated Unreal Engine 5.6 lighting settings provide comparable global illumination at a lower performance cost.

🧠 Smarter, Meaner Monsters

Enemies now use a Utility AI brain that evaluates their available actions every 0.25 seconds. A pacing Director then helps decide when enemies should stalk, ambush, pressure, or give teams a brief moment to recover.

Highlights

• Aggro Meter: Builds over time and increases further when players collect documents, then gradually falls when teams successfully escape danger.
• Dynamic Scaling: Enemy damage and hunter pack sizes increase over time to maintain rising tension throughout a match.
• Volley Combat: New attack montages trigger synced damage spheres mid-swing for clearer, more readable enemy attacks.
• Evade & Teleport Behaviour: Hunters can reposition when players kite them or spot them too early, helping maintain pressure and unpredictability.

We have two more AI iterations planned. Gameplay clips and player feedback will help us fine-tune stalk distance, flee triggers, volley size, and overall pacing.

🔍 Enemy AI — Under the Hood

Sub-SystemCore FunctionTL;DRPerceptionOnPerceptionUpdatedSight and hearing systems with a small 2% miss chance, keeping enemies threatening without making them perfect.Utility ScoringEvaluateUtilityEvaluates nine possible actions, from Idle to Evade, every 0.25 seconds.Aggro LoopUpdateAggroHandles time-based aggression gain, document pickups, decay, and Director-driven spikes.Volley AttackDoAttack / HandleAttackingPlays a random attack montage and fires synced damage spheres for up to five hits.Director HooksOnDirectorHintGuides the two closest active hunters toward lower-threat players to improve pacing and balance encounters.

📅 Roadmap

• Hint System UI: In active development. Director cues will connect to on-screen prompts, helping late joiners understand the current situation faster.
• Objective Overhaul: New layered tasks will go beyond simply collecting documents, adding more strategic decisions to each match.
• AI Polish Pass: Audio barks, death animations, further balancing, and encounter refinements are planned for the next two patches.

📝 Patch Notes — Version 0.2.2

• Migrated the core project to Unreal Engine 5.6.
• Enabled Steam Sockets networking by default.
• Fixed incorrect server browser ping reporting.
• Reduced Screen-Space Reflection quality and lowered reflection capture resolution.
• Raised exposure by +0.3 EV for better nighttime readability.
• Added a Utility AI brain, adaptive aggro, and synced attack montages.
• Memory usage remains approximately 40% lower following earlier texture optimization and pooling work.
• Added Director-controlled “lull” windows to prevent constant panic spikes.

🙏 Thank You

Thank you to everyone who has supported the game, shared feedback, and reported issues so far. Your feedback directly shapes every patch and helps us make Blood Moon Horror better.

If you run into any issues, please let us know—and stay tuned for the next updates.

— Blood Moon Games