The final map for Lightphobe has now been added. This ended up taking way longer than I had anticipated... but it's finally here!
Military Base
The new Military Base map features buildings with interiors, which means that you can enter most of the buildings that you come across. The map's also been designed with verticality in mind, so beware of attacks from above!
Change List
A bunch of other improvements have also been added, which are listed below.
Gameplay
- Added coyote time to jumping
- Decreased sniper scope zoom amount
- Decreased firing rate of shotguns and sniper (extra 0.1 second delay between shots)
- Added toggle to switch third-person camera between left, right, and centre view
- Lightphobes no longer show on the minimap/radar if they're moving slowly
- Objects over 9 meters away on the vertical axis no longer show on the minimap/radar
- Changed lightsources, palisades, and revive points to be able to overlap each other when they're dropped
- Player movement is no longer frozen at the start of each match
- Added a temporary barrier around the Soldier spawn area at the start of each match
- Changed winning format back to best of 5 (first to 3 wins)
AI
- Decreased Soldier AI rotation speed
- Improved Lightphobe AI targeting behaviour
- AI can now use ladders
- Fixed some pathing issues in the Factory map due to holes in the navmesh
- Decreased turret cooldown time for switching back to its undetected state (Arena Challenge)
- AI-controlled Soldiers and turrets now react slower to human players
UI
- Revamped UI for hosting and joining a match
- Added a toggle to switch between online/offline play
- Updated input binding names inside the controls settings
- Added damage number hit markers
- Removed fade-to-black transition after playing starting cutscene in the Arena Challenge
- Fixed bug with objective directional UI sometimes not updating properly after respawning
- Added setting to show/hide player messages
- Added music and effects volume slider into audio settings
- Added UI indicator for when Push-To-Talk key is being held down (i.e. using mic)
Multiplayer Sessions
- Updated network driver to use Steam Sockets for improved security and reliability
- Added join codes and the ability to create private sessions
- Added a button for the host to immediately return everyone back to the lobby (instead of having to create a new session and invite everyone back)
Other
- Added diagonal movement animations
- Added sneak animations to Lightphobes
- Added camera shake effect to palisade explosions
- Added post process effect + sound DSP effect when waiting to be revived as a Soldier
- Added post process effect when damaged as a Soldier (in first person)
- Added ADS SFX
- Updated Lightphobe SFX when exposed by a light
- Updated how Lightphobes look
- Updated Enchanted Sword material
- Updated skybox on Factory map
- Added light shafts to the moon
- Custom player names are now only used for offline play (i.e. LAN and singleplayer); online play now always uses your Steam profile name
- Improved pooling system for better performance
Bugfixes
- Removed some floating grass in the Factory map
- Fixed some visual artifacts on light sources
- Fixed ragdolls not appearing properly in replays after rewinding
- Fixed Enchanted Sword SFX sometimes not playing properly
1.0 Release Plans
Lightphobe is now nearly ready for its 1.0 release. A concrete date hasn't been set yet, but I expect it'll happen sometime in either Q4 2025 or Q1 2026. Before the game fully releases though, I plan to do the following:
- Redo the tutorial to better explain how the game works
- Add Linux dedicated server support
- Run at least one more multiplayer playtest to get some final feedback and to check for any bugs that might've been missed
I'll be posting more details about upcoming playtests and how to join them later on in our Discord. Come join us if you're interested!