Greetings all,
As you may have noticed, we unfortunately missed the September 30th launch on Early Access. On the bright side, we made this decision based on the excellent feedback we received during our live Playtest (thanks again to all the testers!). The consensus is that Bot Colony _Redux has potential, but needs more polish. Some points we're addressing:
Better objectives tracking and checkpoints:
Game objectives were not visible, as our mission tracker interface - inside the PDA - wasn't implemented in time for the first Playtest. When we return with the next phase of Playtest, we'll have the objectives tracker ready to go after you receive your PDA. Our core mechanic is language, and when you can say anything and get a reply, knowing your objectives is critical.
Checkpoints! We're in the process of integrating a robust checkpoint system for each episode that saves all steps of your hard-earned mission progress. You'll be able to resume the game from your last checkpoint the next time you play (or after you die), as to be expected.
Dialogue training before the campaign begins:
The recent Playtest featured gameplay from Episode 3, which starts with the Hunter Bot flying to the oil rig and hunting insect robots in an action sequence. This confused some testers who signed up expecting immediate conversation-based gameplay. Then after, we threw players into dialogue without giving them the tools to truly excel.
To that end, we've decided to add a Garage 'prologue' level with an interactive tutorial, which uses our main mechanic - unconstrained dialogue - to familiarize players with chat controls, how to get help, and using the Dialogue History to keep track of current and past conversations. Training in the garage with live dialogue partners will give players the knowledge they need to become masters of robot communication (and it's pretty fun!).
A new Intruder will make its debut:
Episode 1 "Intruder" has been rebuilt and remastered in UE 5.6, adding beautiful real-time lighting. In addition, all the family members in Intruder are now detailed Meta Humans, enhancing the quality of the Visual Memories you'll discover during gameplay. The memories feature Japanese voice acting (with English subtitles) for added authenticity. We're excited to announce this revamped Episode 1 will be available in the next Playtest!
Besides the aesthetic upgrades mentioned above, Intruder now offers new gameplay paths, with selectable mission settings and modes. We've also overhauled our robot commands system. Jimmy the domestic bot still manipulates objects in the house based on English commands, but there will be much greater flexibility in formulating those commands. This technology of commanding characters using language is the basis for the Perla project (see the North Side Inc. website for more details).
The airport will be open for business soon:
We're also preparing Episode 2 "Arrival" for the upcoming Playtest. Episode 2 has been given a comprehensive visual makeover and now includes new secrets to discover as you explore Agrihan Airport and try to foil a nefarious plot.
We've converted gameplay for the entire episode to the more open-ended, unconstrained dialogue style that players expect. Compared to the original Arrival episode released in the past, the airport's robots now understand anything you say, and each character has loads of unique personality.
Refactoring the Riot:
As Episode 3 "Riot" gets closer to feature complete, players can look forward to adventures beyond the Insect Bot Factions to other tense encounters in previously unseen locations of the rig. We're excited to get that new content into players' hands. However, when we return for the next Playtest phase (coming soon), Episode 3 might be absent at first.
Based on tester feedback, we're making a slew of adjustments to Riot, most notably in the Humanity Test. The overall feel of the interrogation will change, with more surprises and dialogue flexibility, improved server response, and we hope to add lipsync to Hades and Angel (the interrogators) to compliment their other facial and gestural animations. As a cornerstone of Episode 3's story, we won't rest until the Humanity Test delivers the drama, thrills, and one-of-a-kind experience we've promised.
Other feedback we're addressing:
Frame-rate was a problem. The game was overhauled with many tech and art changes, and this flurry of upgrades caused a hit to game performance in the first Playtest. Some much needed optimizations will make their way into the next public build we ship, so players with lower PC specs can look forward to better performance.
It was a very nice surprise to see that the game can actually be played in many languages (we had players who tried it in German, Russian, Japanese, French). We're aiming for full localization to several languages later during Early Access, but in the meantime we're adding improved multilingual detection to all dialogue characters in the game.
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for news of the game's return to active testing. Nakagawa's robots are looking forward to chatting with you again!
Kind regards from the entire team at North Side