Howdy Agents! (◕‿◕✿)
Special thanks to everyone who left a review since the last update. We're almost up to 500 for that juicy juicy overwhelmingly positive rating (っ˘ڡ˘ς) As always, be sure to join the discord!
Tonight I bring you update 0.8.8.1. Currently this update is only available for Windows, but will go out for the 2 of you on Mac and Linux if no critical issues are found. This update is brought to you by some artwork from Emett! Please go check out their new bluesky account here: https://bsky.app/profile/emett-b.bsky.social
Also follow me on bluesky while you're at it :>
This update has a couple of misc. fixes and adjustments. Update 0.9 is till in production, but is taking a while due to work eating up most of my time. That update will have some alternate endings, a new mission, new class, and tons of stuff, so stay tuned.
Some of these changes are long overdue so I thought I might as well upload a new build now. I feel like writing tonight so you're getting some lengthy justifications with a few of these whether you want them or not! Anyway here are da notes.
0. Agent AI now stops moving in ranged combat
Just some lazy programming on my part. AI could move in a random direction when firing a gun, but would keep doing so until the state ended, leading to lots of sliding and bumping against walls. AI will now hold position 1-2 seconds into this random movement.
1. Added a minimum reaction time to the AI for new targets.
AI in DDS currently has a long delay after first spotting a target, but effectively zero reaction delay when dealing with a target already spotted. This means AI can spot you, lose sight of you, and then instantly pop you if you peek back around a corner. This is intended behavior, as you're meant to flank enemies and take advantage of the same aim delay you the player has. However, this zero reaction time also applies when switching targets while in active combat, leading to a frustrating situation where the AI defeats a target, and then instantly pops you as you peek around a corner and become the new target, even when this is the first time you're seeing the AI. To address this, the AI now has a minimum pause of .15 seconds when switching targets. That's still pretty quick! But has largely resolved this issue in my own playtests.
2. There and Back Necromancer perk has a new downside, abilities can't be used when health is below max.
There and Back is a weird perk with some busted implications if you play your cards right, especially considering some of the new abilities and perks coming in 0.9. The old downside, spawning with half ego, was not interesting and outright overridden by other perks in the same class that add ego recharge. The new downside places you in a vulnerable state whenever your health is not maxed out where you want it to be, meaning agents will have to be clever about using other passives, or finding ways to restore health within the level reliably. I think the perk is a lot more interesting with this change so lemme know what you think.
3. Added a tasteful fade to the line of sight effect.
I've always wanted to do this but never found a way that was both pleasing and functional. I think the new effect is a decent balance between the two.
4. Fixed an issue where perks affecting the same skeleton resource could interfere with one another.
I think this is like 99% fixed now. Due to how things were loaded, perks could have different outcomes based on equip order (or just randomly), meaning your skeleton armor, ego, and slug wasn't consistent. There are probably some issues hiding out in the game still but I've fixed a lot of these interactions.
Other fixes.
- Fixed some dialogue cutoff issues.
- Fixed a bug causing the shop to show you a lower armor value than the purchased skeleton would actually have.
- Severance perk now correctly limits max ego when loading into an area.
- added freezer commands to auto complete so ez hackers can get the chiplet in there
- Fixed many bugs with the Make it Double guns akimbo ability.
- Bloodmage perk description was updated to specify that skills are effected, not perks too.
- Avatars now reset their barcode when moving without a target.
- Defensive Twirl perk now hides your player accuracy sight.
- Blimp ricochet ammo no longer bypasses their shield array and will bounce back and forth as intended.
- Fixed a bug allowing you to "edge" hackers by getting them trapped right at line of sight distance. This would freeze up their AI since they were close enough to see you, but not technically close enough to hack you.
- Fixed typos.
- Fixed issue with shower zombie spawning with wrong weapon.
Thank you all again for keeping up with Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum. 0.9 Is on its way and will be out by the end of December. After that it's just the roguelike mode and adjustments ahead of 1.0!