Hello!
Finally we can play together, and it is much more than a solo game.
Cooperative mode added for story campaign (including secret levels).
Up to 4 players in one game.
More randomized combat with additional spawners and roaming squads.
Hard Mode (if you want similar experience in a solo game).
Smooth transition between levels with "Continue" button (to keep your party intact)
In-game ping and chat functionality for better coordination.
Panel house optimizations.
Cooperative mode.
All levels (including secret levels) are playable in cooperative mode.
The need to coordinate with your teammates (especially machine gun fire) makes the tactical aspect of the game incredibly rich - you have to follow the doctrinal way of small unit combat to achieve success.
You can search for any ongoing session in JOIN menu.
To play on specific level you can open CONNECTIONS tab for this level.
If you don't want to appear online - use Private / Public switch in the same menu.
If you want to play with friends - adjust maximum number of operators in the settings.
My personal recommendation:
Try level LOOP with two players - you have to carefully shift machine gun fire one after another, and guide your remaining troops through the openings using bounding overwatch - 10/10!
IMPORTANT: To have full coop experience, host must wait for players to join or activate Hard Mode in the settings.
You can determine that by looking at other players name in the bottom right corner on the loading screen (if they are grey - wait a bit. White or green - you are good to go.)
As soon as the name is white player is considered joined and coop mode is activated.
Continue button.
If you're dropping into ongoing session - no worries!
Host can just press "Continue" after the mission, and your next mission will be full coop.
This allows you to keep playing together without recreating the party for each mission.
(Yeah, I cheated in the Unreal Editor to make this screenshot - dev privilege).
Randomization and roaming enemies aka Hard Mode.
This is an important addition based on community feedback to make the game feel less static.
If you start the game in Hard Mode or in Coop mode you will be rewarded with additional enemies and roaming squads attacking you. (Remember to assign your security).
If you want to have similar experience while playing solo, you can go to settings and activate "Hard Mode".
You can also adjust maximum number of other drone operators for your session.
In-Game Chat and Ping
Press [ K ] to open Chat.
Press [ Middle Mouse] to ping.
Voice communication will come in future updates.
However, voice comms are crucial in realistic tactical games, please use TeamSpeak or Discord for a much better coordination experience. It's worth it.
Co-op achievements and leaderboard
A new set of achievements has been added for co-op and Hard Mode completions.
The co-op leaderboard is separate from the legacy solo mode.
Be the first one to claim a spot at the top.
Small note about drone controls in co-op
This feature is WIP, and until the next update only host can control drones from first person.
Multiplayer drone controls is next in the delivery queue together with Command and FPV Drones.
Have to stop somewhere to ship you this update. Sorry for inconvenience.
Yet, there are cool moments already.
On levels with Baba-Yaga drone (PUSH, BLOW) host can provide close air support, while the rest of the team pushes forward.
Optimizations and bug fixes
Panel houses are significantly optimized.
All panel houses are now using instanced meshes, and their navigation issues have also been fixed.
That applies to Level Editor too - you can have many more houses without impacting performance.
Urban combat level soon ;)
An unknown number of bugs was fixed in uncontrollable development frenzy while I was adding coop.
The most important change:
Grenade throws now have priority over sprint command.
Trees are replicated through determinism.
Some issues still remain:
Rocket gameplay could be better.
Tree collision with mouse is still a problem.
AI Navigation can be more explicit.
Steam Deck still does not support multiplayer due to some internal Proton shenanigans.
I am aware, and slowly tackling them in the background one step at a time.
However, please continue raising your feedback - it helps.
If you ever crash please "Send Report" - this way I can see your crash and sometimes fix the issue the very next day.
Thank you for reading this update.
Development continues, Co-op is a massive feature, and now I can focus on expanding the available content.
Next to be delivered:
Command drone and FPV drones.
UX fixes for trees and navigation.
Inventory system and more weapons.
Urban combat level and a couple more Frontline levels.
Multiplayer on Steam Deck.
PvP mode.
Delivering these features will conclude Early Access stage of Drone Perspective.
Remember, this game is completely independent from any external capital and influence.
Your support and reviews matter and allow me to have some budget to continue development.
Always yours,
Demetri