New Build Patch #8 - (Test Branch)
Hello again hackers. Here's very overdue update. Today we have one sizeable feature, an update to how food is procured, and a spattering of bug fixes. Originally, this update had a new contact, new perks, and new subroutines, unfortunately, they need a bit more time in the oven.
Hello again hackers. Here's very overdue update. Today we have one sizeable feature, an update to how food is procured, and a spattering of bug fixes. Originally, this update had a new contact, new perks, and new subroutines, unfortunately, they need a bit more time in the oven. Instead of pushing the update even further down the road, I decided to stitch up what I have and release an update today.
Changes
Original post - Added restaurant and vending machine to purchase food an beverages, and removed the menu from the Rest screen when interacting with the bed. The tutorials have been updated to reflect the change.
- Added Ravencore career path and basic mechanics. While working for Ravencore, you will earn no money from completing contracts, but will earn a salary that is paid out every Friday. Ravencore specific perks and company features will roll out in a future update along with the Ravencore Operations. I wanted to include them in this update, but we are already waaay past the day I wanted to have this update out.
- Added day of the week to the status screens.
- Tweaked the IC status screen, so IC names wouldn't be cut off.
- Fixed the running sound that was loud and jarring,
- Fixed a bug preventing the initial batch of contracts from populating after intalling Workhop.exe.
- Probably a dozen other things I forgot to write down in my notes.
Stealth and System Security
The way the game deals with system security, stealth, and IC has been reworked.
Masking tests are no longer RNG, and they no longer trigger in response to actions you take, such as executing a program. Instead the HOST sweeps the system every 3 seconds. During these sweeps, if the System Heat + (HOST rating x 2) exceed your Masking + Cyber Stealth, you will gain one Tracking Tag. After a Sweep, the System Heat drops by an amount equal to the HOST rating. Tracking Tags no longer decrease your Masking, they simply represent the HOST narrowing in on your location.
With the new mechanics, systems with have three alert levels: No Alert, Passive Alert, and Active Alert.
Along those lines, I now have a male and female main character that players can choose during character creation.
In the future, I'm hoping to add more options for Avatars and real-world character options, but it's sort of on the low-priority side of things right now.
The Net
This is probably the biggest and most impactful change.
In the previous iteration of System.Hack, the systems were randomly generated and discarded after use, with a few exceptions.
In the new version once a system is generated, it becomes part of the game Net and can be hacked in the future. When contracts are generated there is a 50/50 chance they will use an existing system or generated a new one.
The other big change has to do with the people in the world. Before they were basically just the name on the file, generated when the file was generated. There was no depth.
Now each person you see has 14 hidden parameters: Real Name, Gender, Phone Number, Person Private System Address, Bank Account Number, Email Username, MACid, Work System Address, System Admin (True or False), Messages, Subscriptions, Corporate Affiliation, Company Tier, Employee Rank, and Citizen ID Number.
These are all important for a number of reason, but the idea boils down to trying to simulate as much of the world as possible to promote emergent game play. Every citizen is going to be connected to at least five different systems, which are all connected to other citizens in a sort of web.
With the new mechanic, contracts can get a lot more complicated. The basic contracts will remain unchanged: “Get provided with a system address, go there and do something”. More complex contracts will be the available in the mid and late game. Players will be provided with a few breadcrumbs to get started, and it will be up to them to figure out how to get the job done. More importantly, they will have the tools to try and get the job done multiple ways.
For example: The players are told “I need a file. The name of the file is unknown, and I don't know who currently has it. What I do know is that it was emailed by an Eleanor Dodson to an unknown recipient Saturday afternoon.” That's it. Now the player's only lead is a Real Name and that it was emailed. So the player's can run a search on Eleanor Dodson in an attempt to gather some of her basic info. Generally this is only Company Affiliation, but may include Employee Rank (worker, manager, executive). Now the player knows she is a manager employed by Monarch International. So they hack the Monarch email system. Using the name Eleanor Dodson, they uncover her username. Which they then spoof the password and get access to her Messages. From here they look at see the username of who she sent the file to on Saturday. Then they hack that person's profile, and track them down through a variety of means, eventually finding an downloading the file.
Some systems are going to be very difficult to simply muscle your way through. Which means you will have to put in some extra legwork to make the hack easier, such as gaining extra credentials, figuring out what IC you may face and arm yourself accordingly, or pre-hack the system and install a Backdoor.
Backdoors allow you to “jump” to the node you installed it in, bypassing a bunch of security that could wear away at your resources. Backdoors last until you trigger an active alert, and are saved with the system data. Because the systems are now persistent, and future contracts can send you back to existing systems, they can be very helpful.
By keeping the systems and the people persistent, it allows for some interesting things other than just Backdoors. For example if the player's know Eleanor Dodson is a manager for Monarch, they can decide to poke around after their current contract is done. They eventually gain access to her Personal Private System (PPS), copy her credentials, and checking her system log, find the address where she is employed. Now armed with valid credentials and admin privileges, they hack Eleanor Dodson's work system and swipe a bunch of pay data. Maybe install a Backdoor for next time. Now if they don't trigger an alert, those credentials won't be voided, which means if the players catch a contract to hack that system in the future, it will make their job much easier.
In case you are wondering how the nuts and bolts work: When a system is generated, it also generates 20 employees, assigning their Company Affiliation, Employee Rank, and Company Tier. The rest is basically randomized. Their bank account starting value is based off their Company Tier and Employee Rank.
Systems that have a “Subscribers” or “Client Information” node will populate that list from existing citizens.
I think I have touched on it in a previous post or two, but I have decided to go along the veins of old school Shadowrun, and focus on Nodes, and not the space between. This will allow me to make each Node a micro level instead of a simple cube or sphere at the end of a hallway. The upsides mean the levels are easier to generate, but more importantly I can focus on making the nodes as interesting as I like.
When navigating systems, hackers will need to unlock each node to access the nodes behind them. The following is a sample system that is unexplored. You will note that the only node that isn't a generic cube is the one in the bottom middle. This is the System Access Node (SAN), and is the only node you can enter when you first connect to a system.
After working your way through the system, it will look something like this.
And as a bonus, this is a screenshot of the interior of a basic node.
Well I think that's everything for now! Before I release this new iteration I still need to check a couple things off the list. Namely to finish porting over the hardware mechanics, rebuilding the mechanic behind swapping chips from the ground up to finally squash the the-bug-that-won't-be-named, and to finish the contract generator.
Once those two things are done, we should have a playable game. Then it's just a matter of fleshing out content, plugging in a couple more features (like Overwatch).
Wow 2100 words. I really did write an essay. Please comment with any questions, concerns, or whatever. I love the feedback!
Running the program is functionally identical to the old version. Click the hotkey, and it fires the program from the hotbar. You do not need to do any typing like with Root Access. You just click and let the program work.
Now as for Oracle, as you can see from the image above, there are a few new parameters that are shown. Namely: RAM, Programing Time, Compiling Time, Program Instability, Rig Processing Power, Cold Processing Power, and rented Processing Power.
-RAM is how much of your active memory to taken up by this program until it's terminated. RAM is also a new type of chip. Players can design programs that are loaded into active memory to create buffs, debuffs, traps, weapons, and more. This value is of no concern for one-shot programs, like the Nuke examples above. Although you could write a program that does what those programs do, but instead of being triggered on execute, it's triggers whenever the player's Firewall is damaged. In which case RAM would be an important parameter.
-Programming Time is exactly what it sounds like. This is how long it takes you character to actually get this program ready for the oven. It's determined by the Program Complexity and your Programming skill. Time will fast forward until this is done.
-Compiling Time is how long the program takes to actually finish cooking after you are done programming it. You are free to do other things while you wait. The time is determined by the Program Complexity, and how much Processing Power you are able to throw at it.
-Program Instability is how likely there are to be bugs in your program. If the instability is above 30% it won't let you try and compile it. At less than 30% it will always compile but you may run into bugs when using it, such as Heat Spikes, longer execution times, random crashes, etc. This is determined by the Program Complexity and your Programming Skill.
-Rig Processing Power is how much power you are assigning the compiler from your RIG. This is all or nothing. When you are using your RIG's power to cut compiling time, your processing power is treated as 1 when hacking. If you choose not to use your RIG processing power, you can hack without penalty while the new program cooks.
-Cold Processing Power is from Processor Banks you can purchase for your safehouse. This cuts compiling time, but has no effect on your RIG in cyberspace.
-Rented Processing Power is the only financial cost associated with building programs now. Basically it allows you to boost your processing power to compile the program faster, but you pay for the service. In the new economy, time isn't "free", and complex programs can take a long time to compile. I expect this to be used regularly, but frugal players now have the option to abstain.
Now with that all being said. This might not be for everyone. My original version of Oracle also used a very basic pseudo-code and the player base was split on whether it was annoying or it was amazing. This time around, players with no interest in all this coding stuff will be able to buy pre-built programs and effectively ignore the feature all-together by spending some creds.
One of the things that excites me the most about this new programming mechanic, is the incredible power and versatility. I am able to add new variables that can be referenced by actors in the world, and new subroutines or other commands to interact with them. For example; I could tie the brightness of some lights to a variable, and then have the players be able to access that variable with a line of code in a program. Maybe this could be a program used to kill the lights in the street? Or maybe the program won't run if the lights are too bright or too dark?
The goal of this new program system is emergent gameplay. I will keep adding on new subroutines and variables that can be checked and modified, and enjoy watching the wild programs that players come up with.
There's a lot to still talk about, but this post is already getting too long. If you have any question, feel free to ask!