The Biggest Update is finally almost here! This post will cover the key Features arriving with 0.2.0.0. The full list of additions, changes, and bug fixes will be posted with the Major Update. April 9th marks 1 year sense I released Sketchy's to Early Access, so I was sure to make this update special!
READ THIS! Its important to know that due to the massive redesign of the progression system and how contracts are completed, ALL SHIP LOOT will be deleted with the first login of this update. Don't worry, you'll still have your cosmetics, suit level, and credits!
Now then, let's get into it:
NEW
- New Apartment Housing – Sketchy has decided to reward you all with a small apartment so you don't have to keep sleeping in the burger shop. There's even a designated storage room for you to leave loot in so you don't have to keep traveling around with a grocery cluttered ship!
- Over 50 New Furniture Cosmetics that can be unlocked through progressing to more difficult Contract Tiers (More on that in the UPDATES section). There's even Hidden Furniture to find on planets!
- New Placement Mode – This mode acts as a sort of “building mode”, preventing players from accidentally clicking on cosmetics. Additionally, Placement Mode allows you to highlight and reposition loot as if it were a cosmetic making easier to organize. Notice in the Gif below how I am accessing my furniture on fly rather than running back and forth to the bed? Convenience matters!
- New Storage System – 3 different crates are now available for purchase from the Store Droid with various storage limits offered at different Contract Tiers. Players can place items into the crate to consolidate space BUT the items cannot be taken out. So, instead of carrying 20 jars of pickles back and forth to the drop off, simply place them all into a storage container and carry that 1 container to the drop off. Keep in mind though, that you need to sell the storage container. Don’t worry though, they are cheap!
- New Player Title System – Rank has been removed and replaced with Titles. Player Titles are earned by completing contracts at different tiers. Higher Titles cannot be earned unless contracts are completed at the matching Tier Difficulty. Players gain a flat 25% XP toward new titles whenever they complete a contract. Failing a contract will NOT remove progress toward new titles i.e. there is no more “De-Ranking” system. Additionally, players who log in will have whatever ranks they earned before the update be converted over into titles. New Titles to progress forward may be coming with future updates.
- 16 New Weapons/Items unlocked through progressing to higher Contract Tiers
- Big Bang (Shotgun)- High AOE damage at close range, Low AOE damage at long range.
- Flame Thrower - Spews AOE fire damage dealing more damage the hotter it gets. At 99% heat, the damager is doubled but the player takes 2 damage per second until the trigger is released. Additionally, lights everything it touches on fire, dealing 10 damage per 0.5 seconds to non-player targets and 10 damage per second to players.
- New Storage Containers - stores 250, 500, and 750 quota respectively. Higher Storage unlocks with higher Contract Tiers.
- Better Boombox – When turned on, heals nearby players for 1.5% Health per second. Dancing increases healing to 4% Health per second. However, this boombox doesn't require BOOST! Enjoy infinite healing!
- Ultimate Boombox – When turned on, heals nearby players for 2.5% Health per second. Dancing increases healing to 5% Health per second and doesn’t require BOOST just like the Better Boombox. Additionally, creatures standing in the Boombox’s radius take 10 damage per second.
- Better Medical Generator – same as a basic medical generator but doesn’t require a player corpse ( Automatically teleports a random player corpse to the table and begins the revival process).
- Gathering Capsule – While the Gathering Capsule is in on your action bar (does not need to be active), all herbs and ore you gather are stored directly into the Capsule rather than your action bar. Once the capsule is full, gatherables will default to your action bar. Stores 250 Quota. Only1 capsule can be on your action at a time.
- Compact Gathering Capsule – Same as Gathering Capsule but can store 500 quota worth of gatherables.
- 6 New Enhanced Gathering Weapons - gold shovel, carbon pickaxe and more can be purchased at higher Contract Tiers and allows for gathering higher tiered gatherables.
- Big Bang (Shotgun)- High AOE damage at close range, Low AOE damage at long range.
- Slimes can be killed (I won't say how that way you can figure it out!). Once killed, slimes will convert into a new Lootable "Slime in Flask" with varying value based on the difficulty of the slime killed.
- Added Damaged Numbers. Disabled by default and can be enabled in the “HUD” settings in game menu.
UPDATES
Revamped Quota System - Tier Progression
- There are now 3 Contract Tiers with each tier providing a new set of weapons, cosmetics, and difficulty. Once Players reach a certain Quota, the Quota will freeze until they speak with The Manager and sign a new Contract. This allows players to progress through the game at their own pace because the game will not auto jump to a higher difficulty unless you specifically choose to do so. You can even sign old Tiers allowing you to jump back and forth between difficulties so long as you don't fail the contract. I know, its Genius!
- Tier 1: Easy – Basic gatherables, nerfed creatures, and weapons. Suit level limited to level 30.
- Tier 2: Normal – Better gatherables, stronger creatures, better weapons. Suit level limited to level 60.
- Tier 3: Hard – Best gatherables, evolved creatures, best weapons. Suit level limited to level 70.
- Creature Health no longer scales with the size of the Quota. Instead, scales based on Security Level and Contract Tier. Higher Tiered contracts have higher difficulty creatures.
- Some creatures have a new “Evolve “attribute which determines how that creature’s mechanics behave at different tiers. This means that some creatures have more advanced and dangerous mechanics at Tier 3 while some creatures might have nerfed/simplified mechanics at Tier 1. Some creatures might have no evolution. View Sketchy’s Data to read about a creature’s evolution.
- New Gatherables will be introduced as the quota grows which will require NEW TOOLS to gather them, but they are worth so much more. New Tools will become available for purchase once you meet the required quota.
Player Progression
- Suit Level Cap increased from 50 to 70.
- Players now earn a “Survived” Bonus XP each day they survive the Contract (being revived counts so be sure to revive if you can).
- Players now earn a “Never Died” Bonus XP each day they don’t die at all! (revive DOES NOT count toward this bonus).
- XP gain scales with Contract Tier, granting more XP at lower Tiers. Players can gain up to 1.5 levels per day between 1-30 allowing for a much quicker progression at early gameplay which increases player incentive and makes it easier for new players to get comfortable.
- Health RPG System – Health now increases passively as the player levels up, granting 10 health per level. This makes the Health Modifier more of an optional “extra health” rather than a necessary requirement to survive due to the lack of dodging and blocking that would make taking damage more manageable. This will also help new players when getting started at lower level.
- Health Suit Modifier has been reduced from 3 health per point to 2 health per point due to the new passive health gained at every level.
- Damage RPG System – Overall Damage now increases passively as the player levels up, granting 2% damage increase per level. There should be a clear difference in power between a Max level player and a brand new player.
- Melee and Range damage Suit Modifiers have been reduced from 8% per point to 5% per point.
- Increase action bar slot carry limit from 2 to 3. Reduced point requirement from 10 to 5.
- An additional Suit point has been added to even out the odd max level of points.
- When hitting Max Level, players will earn 2 suit points to even out the total number of points at max level.
Gathering Progression Update
- 4 new Herbs that require new Knives to cut.
- 5 New Ore that requires new Pickaxes to mine.
- 10 new Buried Loot to dig up some of which require new shovels to dig.
- The Higher the Contract Tier, the better the gatherables.
Dying in Sketchy's
- Dying no longer penalizes the player with 50% less XP if not revived.
- Dying no longer penalizes ALL players 10% credits for each body not brought back to the ship.
- Dying now drops a credits hologram containing a percentage of the player’s credits that can only be picked up by the player that died. The percentage of credits dropped depends on Contract Tier. T1 = 10% credits, T2 = 25% credits, T3 = 50% credits.
- Credits dropped via dying during the night shift will be deleted when the Night Shift ends if not retrieved. This increases the Night Shift risk.
- Auto reviving when Night Shift ends will revive players with 10 health.
- A new message appears on Team Wipe informing players that all loot prior to landing the ship has been lost.
- Tier 1 provides 3 Free revives after which a medical generator is required.
General Changes
- Level 2 Redesign – Level 2 is now a “Contaminated Zone” meaning that contamination is not confined to level 2 buildings but rather to a generalized area both inside and outside. This allows Level 2 areas to be more open with multiple entrances/exits and better player immersion with the environment.
- Suit Chargers now randomly spawn throughout Contamination Zones that act as small life reservoirs that could mean the difference between life and death. Keep in mind though that these special suit chargers do NOT replenish Night Vision. Additionally, O2 intensifies with Contract Tiers.
- Contamination Zones bring a new look to Sketchy’s as they can be spotted visually, consisting of a large haze and pollution particles.
- Boombox healing has been changed from flat rate healing per second to percentage-based healing. This makes the boombox more viable as your health increases so it doesn’t feel super weak once you get to a higher level (more health would eventually make boombox take forever to heal you if I didn't change to percentage).
- Echo lens – Hold Left Click to activate full screen mode.
- Medical Generator is now a single use, cost 150 credits and now revives players with 150 health.
- Port Coral Boats have been updated to Giant Flamingo Floaties!
- The ship bed is now a furniture cosmetic and is no longer an interactable for the Player Cosmetics Menu. Players can freely place the ship bed where they like or put it away to free up room in the ship. However, ONLY THE HOST can place down a ship bed as it is too large of an item to allow 8 beds.
- The Customization Menu is no longer available from the ship bed but is now part of the new Placement Mode. Pressing TAB while in placement mode will open the customization on the fly which removes the need to run back and forth when placing cosmetics.
- Updated Sketchy’s Data UI with new information called “Evolution” which gives information about creatures that alter their abilities based on certain Contract Tiers.
- Updated the layout of landing sites for Dark Wood, Treasure Island, and Port Coral to prevent the ship from landing/taking off at Angles which was causing players to clip out of the ship when heading back to orbit.
AI Changes
- Enemy Corpses now scale based on Security level and Contract Tier meaning that killing creatures at higher Security levels is more profitable than lower levels which justifies their increased level of difficulty as well.
- Increased Enemy respawn cooldowns from 25-40 second variance to 60-90 second variance.
- Elizabeth can no longer activate if the player holding her is in a Telephone Booth, Teleporter, Zero Gravity, or Swimming.
- Reduced range at which Subject 6 can hear players when crouched.
Performance and Optimization
- Improved AI performance and optimization.
- Improved rendering optimization for multiple AI that were eating up FPS.
- Improved Ship Transition logic to reduce FPS spikes when the ship is liftin off/landing (very noticeable during the night shift).
- Improved Optimization of ship Landing/Launching when lots of loot is attached.
- Improved Shader Optimization.
FIXES
A full list of fixes will be included in the 0.2.0.0 Release Update.
This is just the highlights of what's coming, there's so much more I didn't mention that I am super excited for you to experience! Thank you everyone for all your patience and support as I continue to prepare this exciting update.
Over the next 2 weeks I will be fine tuning and polishing various features, so some are still subject to change but not by much if they do.