Voice volume in multiplayer
The original volume settings were a little low, they have been tweaked and should make the output for your friends sound a little louder by default. You can adjust Voice volume and your Mic gain in the settings, as well as the per player slider in the lobby. The monster's voice is different, too.
When playing Hunter mode, if you are the monster, your voice will be pitched down into something a little more fitting of a monster; the werewolf is a bit deeper with a 'growly' feel too it, the spider gets a dry whisper-hiss with the "s" sounds dragging out a little.
New Character models
Players spawn as one of four people - Kevin, Smith, Anna or Katherine - randomly assigned in the lobby, no two players in a lobby have the same model. Your character sticks with you across multiple rounds. Future plans to add more characters and allow players to select the model they prefer to play with. Walking, running and crouching animations were also replaced and reworked to move better. This should resolve all of the strange body rotations, knees bending outwards and toes pointing up.
Game end rule tweaks
Longer chance for everyone to escape
One person reaching the exit used to end the round for everybody with an 8-second countdown, stopping the game in its tracks: the water stopped rising, the monster stopped hunting, and a downed teammate could neither be revived or bleed out. Reaching the exit is now your escape, not the round's ending. When you reach the finish line, you go into spectator mode and and watch as your friends struggle to escape. The rest of the game goes on with the existing rules. Race to the finish is an exception, and its window is 30 seconds now (was 8) after the first person leaves. 10-minute round clock
Each mode was given a 10 minute timer, 2 minutes longer than the previous cap, giving you a little bit longer to find that exit. This also caps the Race mode, as it had no hard cap and could run forever. Escape the Flood deliberately has no clock.
The water rising already sets the limit, once the map is submerged, everyone should have escaped or been consumed by the flood.
Escape the monster hunt tweaks
Escape the Monster used to be one unbroken chase from the moment it found you. Now it attacks in waves.
It commits to you, then lets go. On a random timer, it marks one player anywhere on the map and comes for them, arriving near you - around a corner, or just outside your sight line - where its ordinary senses still have to do the finding. Breaking away is something you do. After a stretch of being chased, the monster becomes willing to lose you, but you have to do a little work, break line of sight, drop a flare or hide in a crouch tunnel and it just might lose interest and go investigate a different part of the map.
The monster bites and bolts. An attack used to be followed by the creature standing over you awkwardly for a few seconds. It now holds only as long as the strike takes, then returns to the darkness waiting for another opportunity to pounce.
Full controller support
Updated the on screen input tips to show the correct keys based on the last input type. So, a keyboard mouse user and a controller user should know exactly what to push without guessing.
The Score
Gold collected is worth 100% at round end (was 50%). Think twice about purchasing items from the vending machine, the money spent on a potion or key, could have been enough to get you the win.
Gold piles easier to see. Coin piles carry a faint ember glow in the dark, so a pile stops disappearing into the brown cave floor.
Every landed attack when 'injured' stuns you for five seconds, robbery or not. There was a bug that would not stun you if you had nothing to steal.
The top floors is completely connected. No more having to go up and down stairs, to find the exit. Once you reach the top floor, you should have a connection to the escape room and be able to leave with your loot.
Each key only opens 1 gate now, pick wisely, or stock up on multiple keys at once.
Hunter
You can volunteer. In the lobby, pick PREY or HUNTER - volunteers get picked first, preferring whoever hasn't hunted recently, and if nobody volunteers it's chosen randomly from the lobby.
Your monster pick stays swappable. The select screen no longer locks on the first press; you can switch between SPIDER and WEREWOLF right up until the blackout lifts. Pressing early still pulls your spawn-in forward, so swapping can't be used to stall.
No more being trapped in the den. We had some feedback that the Hunter was getting trapped in a small portion of the map, unable to leave its den, blocked by the Escape room 'ward' or crouch tunnels (which the hunter can not enter). The 'ward' has been shrunk and the map generator now checks to make sure the Hunter can leave before starting the round
Interface, sound and comfort
Escape the Flood has a water meter. A column on the right side shows the waters height as well as yours in relation to the map and the rising water with your clearance in meters under it.
Flares indicator was moved to the bottom-right with a count in the corner, and a regen bar along the bottom.
The exit emits noise further, to help you find the exit. Listen closely, as it starts very faint and gets louder as you get closer.
The Settings screen got a fixed width and no longer gets stretched on wider monitors.
Thanks for playing - bug reports and "this felt off" reports are equally useful right now. Please feel free to stop by our Discord and say hi. https://discord.gg/7nskn4gsEG