Deathground · build 22437795 · published
Since you last ventured into the Biomedical facility, Cooper has been checking in on the Bio-scanners. It looks like something's gotten itself trapped in one of the paddocks and it doesn't seem right to let it sit there and starve, so you’ll need to feed and release it.
Hi Operatives, Deathground's first sub-mission, 'Biomedical - Feeding Frenzy' is now available, alongside several mechanics updates and balancing adjustments. Please see the update and patch notes below for the full details.
This Sub-mission, like ‘Epoch’, has a shorter duration than the larger primary missions. Taking place in the basement of the Biomedical facility, where you’ll have access to a few new side-areas, the ‘observation deck’ and ‘morgue’ In Feeding Frenzy, you’ll need to search fridges across the basement to collect ‘meat’, which you’ll deposit into the observation room feeding chute. Be careful, the more meat you’re holding at once the more of a trail you’ll leave for raptors to follow…
In one of the observation paddocks sits a starving Allosaurus
Behind the glass of the observation room sits a starving Allosaurus
As part of this update, we’ve updated the raptors perception, specifically, scent. This was (is) a tricky sense to balance, for a few obvious reasons, including the fact that you, the player, can’t sense scents…because of this, raptors respond to scent trails, for example, meat being carried by a player.
After losing sight of a player, raptors will now search more thoroughly around the environment in an attempt to locate them; opening lockers, checking in barrels and under tables.
That’s IF they lose sight of you! We’ve also fixed a rather pesky bug which was preventing players from being spotted correctly after entering a hiding space within view of a raptor.
Compys have also been adjusted based on player feedback.
After spotting you, they become more aggressive the longer you spend nearby, and this aggression rises faster the closer you get to them - stay there too long or get too close and they’ll attack, either by quickly nipping at you, or by launching themselves at your face! Rather than attacking again right away, they’ll instead retreat to a safe distance and wait to see if you got the message.
Throwing an object, like a bottle or a brick, at the compy previously caused them to retaliate and attack, but now, instead, causes them to retreat for a short period, allowing you to gather your composure and plan your next move. Compys hiding in lockers and barrels have continued to cause chaos during development (and not in a good way!) but we hope to include these in an update fairly soon, we’ll let you know when you need to start keeping an eye out!
This mission's objectives are balanced based on player count, which is a fancy way of saying that if you have more players in your team, you’ll be given more work to do during the mission!
In the last few months, we’ve been tweaking missions and mechanics to account for these changes, so similar expansive balancing changes will be included in missions going forward, and added into existing missions over the course of the next few updates.
Clone-pods, respawning and player assists have also been reworked for this update. The spectator menu has been revamped, showing spectator mode controls, including a new ‘request respawn’ button, which will highlight the nearest active clone pod so that your team can bring you back from the dead.
We’ve also adjusted how many respawns players are given when starting a mission and when unlocking additional respawn rooms. This balancing change aims to make things a little more fair for solo players by granting them more respawns, and a little more challenging for teams by granting them fewer respawns.
Players can now help up teammates who are downed without needing a healing item, and crawling speed while downed has also been reduced to account for this change.
⚠ Important: Before launching, please ensure your PC meets the minimum system requirements and that your graphics drivers are fully updated! For reference:
NVIDIA users: Make sure you have the ‘NVIDIA app' installed and that the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver is updated under the drivers tab.
AMD users: Make sure you have the ‘AMD app’. It will automatically detect your hardware and guide you through updating to the latest driver version.
Please note: While our team is working to further optimise the game if your system does not meet the minimum requirements, your gameplay experience may not perform as expected.
‘BIOMEDICAL - FEEDING FRENZY’ Sub-mission added
New ‘Drop off chute’ and multiple ‘Fridge’ interactable objects added
Multiple new ‘Meat’ items added (Including carriable, single and stackable types)
A new collectable document found in the basement of Biomedical, during the Feeding Frenzy sub-mission
Updated artwork for some Biomedical assets
‘Biomedical - Feeding Frenzy’ requires completion of ‘Biomedical - Secure the specimen’ in order to be unlocked
‘Mission Control - Epoch’ now requires completion of all Primary missions to be unlocked
(Developer's Note: as part of general progression mechanics, going forward, you’ll need to complete specific missions and even optional objectives to unlock some content!)
Raptor perception additions and improvements
Raptors will now detect and then follow scent trails left by specific gameplay elements, such as the ‘Meat’ items found in feeding frenzy
Raptors can now detect and interact with ‘smart objects’. Currently, the selection is limited to hiding spaces, but additional interactable objects will be gradually added in future updates.
Fixed an issue where raptors would sometimes not correctly see players entering a hiding space - causing them to lose track of players when they shouldn’t
Compsognathus enemy rework
The compy now attacks less frequently, but deals more damage per attack and can also stop the player in place for a ‘grab’ attack.
The compy now roams the vents, rather than simply making its way to a player entering the vent
The compy no longer leaves immediately upon players exiting a vent, and will wait by the entrance to deter players from returning too quickly.
(Developer's Note: These updates aim to make interactable hiding spaces a location where you pause and wait for enemies to pass, rather than somewhere to jump in and hide, dodging the raptor completely. They also aim to make vents more viable traversal options for getting around levels, without immediately and relentlessly being chased by the compsognathus! We will continue to balance each of these elements based on feedback.)
Respawn Rework
New ‘Spectator’ Screen has been added, which displays keybinds for switching view, and the name of the player you are spectating
While on the spectator screen, you can now ‘request respawn,’ which applies a marker to the nearest set of clone pods to help guide teammates
Respawn quantities have now been adjusted:
1-Player: Starting respawns increased from 1 to 3
2-Player; Starting respawns unchanged from 2
3-Player; Starting respawns reduced from 3 to 2
4-Player; Starting respawns reduced from 4 to 3
Additional respawns granted from unlocking clone-pod rooms reduced to 1, regardless of player count
Players who are downed can now be helped up without needing a healing item. Using a healing item will still restore health and help players up faster.
Interactive items visual rework
Interactive items are now highlighted by a pulsing ‘glow’ effect, to help make them easier to spot, and more clearly interactable
To differentiate types of items, ‘distraction items’ and collectables blink once, ‘key’ items blink twice in rapid succession, and containers and buttons blink half as often
Additional visual improvements and optimisation for items across the board
General Optimisation and Performance Improvements
Updates to the bio-scanner mechanic, with more intended as part of an upcoming rework to the ‘Secure the specimen’ mission.
A ‘news carousel’ is now displayed on the main menu
‘Quick thrown’ items now follow a trajectory more central to the camera, making them easier to aim
The flashlight now lags behind the camera, both horizontally and vertically
The ‘tranquilliser rifle’ loadout item reload is now correctly halted while sliding
Adjustments to various UI elements and related assets
Fixed several instances where players could drop items out of bounds
Fixed an issue which caused some containers to become ‘desynced’ between host/client
Fixed an issue where a collectable in Agricultural - Spray the greenhouse was unobtainable
Fixed several visual issues related to clone pods, including clone pod doors becoming ‘blurred’ while opening / closing
Fixed an issue which caused players to become stuck on the spectator screen
Fixed an issue which caused healing/damage visual effects to remain on screen
Fixed a rare issue which caused incorrect animation blending when entering hiding spaces
Fixed an issue which caused interaction prompts for vaultable objects to display incorrectly
Fixed an issue which caused a crash when interacting with fuseboxes too early
Fixed players being able to equip an item whilst entering a hiding space
Fixed a multitude of issues introduced by the engine upgrade from Unreal Engine 5.2 to Unreal Engine 5.7.
(Developer's Note: This engine upgrade is part of plans to upgrade visual and animation fidelity, giving us access to multiple new tools and updated features - but man alive did it introduce a whole heap of issues as a result there are likely some additional issues we’ve missed in our testing, so we’ll be relying on you to let us know what’s broken via the bug reporting section of our discord server!)
Fixed several instances where players could become stuck in a hiding space, due to raptors not ‘spotting’ them correctly, or because of overlapping collisions
Fixed a rare issue which caused players to instantly be ejected from a hiding space by a raptor
Fixed several issues present in hiding space ejection animations and kill sequences
Fixed an issue which caused players attacked by a compy to sometimes clip out of bounds
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