Changelog (Beta 0.2.5):
PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO AN UNFORESEEN ISSUE WITH STEAM, THE UPDATE IS ONLY AVAILABLE THROUGH: Right-Click game > Properties > Game Versions & Betas > "beta2.5" or "prev". Then wait for the download to finish!
Welcome to probably the biggest overhaul the game has ever received. Everything you see in-game is very close to being the intended vision of the final game, so I'm really excited to show off all that's new. If you'd like to head into this update blind, I highly recommend not reading past this point, and returning when you've played the game once up until the Security Override Puzzle/Event.
Ready?
Okay!
New Locations:
The House has received a complete overhaul, making it much more optimized. It also looks a lot better and features a slightly different layout with more location-based puzzles and some really cool looking rooms
The Tower has also received a complete overhaul. While working on it I accidentally made it almost 3 times bigger. This proved itself to be a challenge to get done but I prefer the larger size so that I can fit more of the ideas we had in mind into the Tower. Floor 3 has been removed, and Floors 5, and above are still not available yet. You can use a Keycard to get further into the Tower. While in the final version I want the same keycard to receive 'clearance updates', for now, there are two separate key cards to find in the game. One spawns after the other
The Warehouse area outside of the Lobby has received an uplift, considering there was almost nothing there last time. We now have clutter and it looks awesome
The Shipyard is a new area near the Warehouse Main area. It'll receive more substantial updates in the future but for now, it exists and it's a labyrinth in which you will hopefully listen out for enemies around the corners
Please note that some keys do not exist in-game yet, and not all locked doors are able to be unlocked.
Hands and Player Upgrades:
The player now has hands
They are stylized and animated for several items in game, although, at the moment, some animations are missing and WIP due to time-constraints
Two new upgrades were added, and the inventory upgrades are split into three different ones. One for storage, one for inventory, and the last for loot spots when looting containers
We plan to have upgrades spread across the warehouse, but for now, you can use your money to buy more upgrades
Feel free to give feedback on the hands and upgrades when playtesting!
Main Menu and UI Updates:
The main menu is completely different now and features a diegetic terminal screen along with updating enemy silhouettes and adaptive terminal colors
There's also camera movements in the main menu and it just looks a whole lot better now
The entire player UI has received an overhaul and changes color depending on the chosen terminal color (it also animates really nicely)
Some interactive screens in game have received UI updates as well for better legibility and better directions on how to use them before I overhaul some of them completely like Vending Machines, the Recyclers, and the Fabricator
Items now have icons that tell you more info about them (these icons cannot be hovered over for more info... yet). For now, you'll have to guess what each one means
More settings have been added to the Settings Menu
Blueprint Terminals received a massive upgrade and now display multiple blueprints to obtain from a list
Feel free to give feedback on the UI and suggest more settings to add to the game.
Enemy and AI Updates:
Some enemies are able to actively relocate to different parts of the warehouse to stalk the player. This means if the player moves from the House to the Tower, some enemies in the House will attempt to relocate at random chance
Enemies can now finally spawn into a shift after a certain amount of time. Originally they spawned at the beginning of a shift, guaranteed. Now, you speedrunners can stay relatively safe, unless you get unlucky and they spawn at the beginning of the shift anyway
Manny's code and animations have been improved: He will now attempt to go RIGHT behind you when attempting to take a bite, note that there's currently an issue where he can phase through objects and teleport behind you to do it so feedback is required
Security Bot now correctly takes your items back to a "nest"
A new enemy has been introduced and is particularly fond of lights
Heavy Recyclables and Shelves:
Shelves have been introduced with a chance to spawn loot. The loot that spawns is exclusively Heavy Recyclables
Heavy Recyclables slow you down and prevent inventory use when carried
Dropping Heavy Recyclables without holding the drop button will cause you to stumble and drop it harshly, losing its value
Some Heavy Recyclables are in better condition than others
Some Heavy Recyclables give you more resources than others
Heavy Recyclables can ONLY be recycled to give you base resources
Conveyor and Terminal Updates:
Removed Fast Conveyors
Added Slow Conveyors
Added "Z to Zone Out" feature: This speeds up the conveyor system by 2x, making waiting less boring. Please let me know if this is something you prefer or if it should be even faster than 2x
Added 'Spacer Conveyor': Spaces payloads out. Great for buffers, stalling certain actions, and making sure payloads don't crash into each other, like Frozen payloads (which explode when in contact with another payload)
Added 'Cannon Conveyor': Launches payloads over gaps for 4 tiles. Currently useless, but in Beta III, this will be required at times
Added 3 new modifier types: Warmed, Thawed, and Supercharged. These three are only required after reaching floor 4 in the tower. Read the descriptions in-game to see what they do, and how to get them, since they are not obtainable the normal way through a processor, but rather through special interactions. NOTE: These are all only available post-demo. Complete the final symbol event to receive these new modifiers
Added a new task modifier: Pre-modified payloads. They cause you to have to think about which tasks you've already done, and which ones you've yet to do. They also complicate certain orders of tasks. If you receive a pre-modified Heated payload, you might need to apply changes to it as fast as possible, so it doesn't lose its "Heated" status before being submitted
Placement Menu is now much larger and text is no longer cut off
Placement Menu can now be navigated with a mouse
Fabricator now sends an itemized list of what you've purchased with your resources to the log screen
In the future there will be more feedback from the conveyor screen through the terminal log screen
Bug Fixes, Misc. Updates and Optimizations:
Can't remember everything I fixed, and I probably added a couple bugs along the way but the most notable changes are:
Blueprints actually look normal now
Storage Containers now retain their items when previously there were issues with this and autosaves
Optimization issues have been fixed or improved massively. Some areas still cause frame drops currently but I'm working to fix this. Beta IV (final update) will be where most of these issues are solved for good though
Placement menu cursor now works as mentioned above
Inventory now forcequits when the player is attacked while the inventory is up
When logs not inputted into Terminal system, they used to be able to be duplicated if spawned loosely in 3D. Now they should not
Interactions should work a bit better (and they look sleeker too)
Added an actual game director card for the Security Bot. Before, I just manually placed him in the Tower. He is officially a real enemy now :)
Extra run cost now increases exponentially. After unlocking the Warehouse Main door, the player will notice that Extra Runs past the first one will cost $50, and then increase substantially
The player can no longer get jumpscared twice at once, although I haven't extensively tested this
Keys and Logs now have interaction parity: You must have the key or log equipped to use it with something
Light culling in certain areas is much better now
End Shift Screen features some small changes and upgrades. Didn't have time to add a dynamic health adder to show you how much health you received by the end of the night for passing it (starts at 30%)
Jumpscares are improved and look a bit better
Blueprint Swarm sequence in the House area has been nerfed slightly
Of course this isn't an extensive list. Please check the "Known Issues" Forum Board on Discord for a list of Known Issues since it's easier to update a list over there. Please enjoy this update, and enjoy breaking it for me, so I can get those bugs cleaned up by the end of development.
Take care everyone!
Nick