Hello everyone!
There's been so many new Bonerooms players lately and a handful of folks asking about the update, so I'm trying to at least squeeze in a bit of dev time on it on my weekends to try and get the update out!
Each playtest gets me closer and closer and closer, with the amount of new bugs getting smaller and smaller, and with last night's playtest, there were no more game-breakers or major issues! (Knock on all wood available)
With that, I'd like to give a more in-depth look at the new content that's coming!
NEW ITEMS
Defibrillator
The first new item is the Defib! The Defib costs a pretty penny, but is quite versatile! You can revive a dead player, murder a skeleton, and short-circuit electronics! Choose wisely though, you only get one charge!
Skeleton Mask
Next up is the Skeleton Mask! This cheap cardboard disguise will break enemy line-of-sight, meaning you can sneak by without them noticing you. If you're already being chased though, the mask can still work to give you a headstart on your pursuer forgetting about you!
Stun Gun
The Stun Gun is an interesting new item in that it deploys automatically! If you have one in your inventory and you get grabbed, it offers you a one-time-use instant escape that also knocks the enemy out for the rest of the round!
RPG
Finally, the RPG rounds out the list of new items. It's absurdly expensive, fairly rare, and incredibly dangerous. It offers players a direct way to kill other players, but the gigantic explosion radius is likely to catch careless players in it's wake, and the relatively slow rocket leaves you wide open for a retaliatory Swap Card!
NEW ENEMY
If your ears detect the dulcet tones of upbeat corporate music, it's time to check your corners!
The Boomba joins the enemy roster, and offers a bit of a different challenge to the skeleton mobs that wander the Bonerooms. It wanders harmlessly until it spots a player - after which it will begin aggressively accelerating towards you. If it touches you, it detonates immediately, spelling instant death for anyone nearby. While they will lose track of you the moment you break line-of-sight, they will maintain their current max speed, so you might avoid them at all costs to keep them from getting too fast ... or a player with Teleporters/Speedy Shoes might intentionally speed them up to screw over a less fortunate fellow player!
Emotes
Emotes will be coming to Bonerooms with this update! I've put together a small collection of little animations the player can trigger at any time. The emotes can be accessed from the same key as the Ghost Action wheel, and can be done in either third or first-person!
Supporter DLC / Cosmetics
With Bonerooms being completely free to play now, I wanted to have some way that players could still choose to support me, if they want! With that, I've put together a small batch of cosmetic items that players can equip to personalize their character. There are currently 14 different cosmetics to choose from, and the Cosmetics menu also allows you to customize your suit color if you want to have a custom color (outside of Teams VS).
The completely optional cosmetics can be unlocked with the Supporter DLC, which will carry the game's original $1.99 price tag. This DLC, again, is *completely optional* and just there for players who want to enhance the Bonerooms experience a bit and support me as a developer.
Players who purchased Bonerooms will receive this DLC for free when the update launches
Audio Polish / Identity Pass
Since Bonerooms was originally created as a little game-jam project, I didn't have time to establish much of an audio identity, so the overall audio design was a bit discordant, and the game vibe was stuck somewhere between trying to still be "eerie" in service of it's Backrooms flavoring, and being "goofy", as the game itself is... well, pretty silly at times.
With a bit more time, I revisited the audio design and tried to establish a more consistent sound across the game, which mainly involved establishing a core set of sounds/instruments for the new music, stingers, jingles, etc.
There's not a ton of music in the game still, but here's the new main menu/lobby music, which will give you an idea of the new vibe!
Updated UI
The menus and player UI have gotten a major polish pass! Menus are more consistent and responsive now, and the player UI has a new look as well!
In the below screenshot, you can see the new Stamina Meter and point counter, adjusted maze timer, new contextual control display for most items, and the new "Game Messages" that provide a bit more context to the game mode the host has selected.
Other Changes/Additions
There have been quite a few other changes made to the game since it's original launch - here are a few of them off the top of my head:
- Players can now drop dots in quantities of 10! This allows you to pool cash with your teammates to buy expensive items, or just take pity on players who are broke
- Mimics now properly record/mimic hosts / local players, so you'll actually hear your own mimics now
- Bones item now has a holdable alt-fire that continuously clonks in the same rhythm as a walking skeleton
- Smoke Grenades now cause a debuff to build-up if players/enemies stand in them, clouding vision, slowing movement, and preventing stamina regen.
- Slot machine can now be "sabotaged" with the Defibrillator
- Slot machine has a new "prize": an alarm that attracts all enemies in the map
- New win/lose logic to choose a winner in "draws" and discourage murder/suicides
- New UI transitions for match starts
- New on-screen messages for game type / goal when matches start
- Misc. balancing and bug fixes
I know this update is very, very late - I had originally wanted it to be done by the beginning of this year, but all of this new content took much longer than I was anticipating and was much buggier, requiring far more playtesting, and on top of that, I don't have much time to dedicate to Bonerooms since CULTIC is a bit behind schedule and demanding most of my dev time - BUT it's still coming along, slowly but surely, and I can't wait to get it released! It's such a huge improvement over the launch version and has been a blast to play with my friends/playtesters.
Thank you for your patience, and if you enjoyed Bonerooms, please consider leaving a review!