We've been working on some big changes. We changed the core gameplay of Co Operation..! Over the last we've been paying attention to playtests, observing how our great Discord community get on with each new update and asking them for feedback. It's clear that the main appeal of the game is in the sense of tactical mastery - of thinking about and then lining up a clever set of moves and then watching your plan work out well. If you're playing in multiplayer mode then that shared sense of mastery with your co-op buddies is even more satisfying.
In v0.8 we've added some features which lean into that feeling of mastery more. Healing patients now feels more tactical and you have to think about which patients to treat first more carefully. You can then buy and upgrade a range of items in the level hub which give you different benefits while playing each ward. The decisions you make in the hub will impact the tactics you chose in each ward. In each ward the possibility space is now bigger so the tactical element feels richer and also the strategic element of deciding what to do in the long term, across multiple wards, feels more satisfying.
I'm pretty excited about this update. This is def turning out to be the best game I've ever worked on..!
v0.8 patch notes:
- 🎲 Gameplay feels more tactical in each ward and more strategic as a “meta” game:
- Patients have e.g. 8/9 health (but this varies per patient).
- Medicines heal by +4 health points by default.
- You need to restore patient health all the way to their max health or over to heal them.
- Patients reward you with money each time they are healed.
- The reward value is based on how much health they have, multiplied by 2 or 3 if they are in an upgraded bed, which you can purchase in the level hub.
- You can upgrade your medicine dispensers in the level-hub, so they give +8 health points.
- Money earned is clearly visible in wards and in the hub.
- Some wards allow you to place more than 3 purchased/upgraded items in the pre-ward voting round.
- Game economy and progression tweaked so upgradable and purchasable items feel fun to collect and use in combination.
- 🎨 UI adjustments so you can see all the info you need about patient health and medicine healing points in order to plan out the most effective tactics in each ward.
- 🎨 Level hub looks nicer.
- 🎲 Level 8 changed to be more fun. Various other level tweaks to better fit with the improved gameplay.
🔧Network improvements.
🐞 Various bug fixes.
For modders:
- You can now add custom text meshes to level objects.
- New medicine health indicators can have their positions customised.
- Various improvements.
Cheers,
Shaz
Game designer & co-founder at Mind Feast Games