We're currently finaling the build for our April 16th launch and we have some good gameplay changes, quality of life updates and bug fixes to push to the demo from that build! We like the idea of always keeping the demo up to date with the latest changes from the early access, so that everyone is always having the best experience they can.
While there are many more changes for features and content beyond the Demo levels, here are the changes that will affect demo players today:
Gameplay Changes
- Gaining buffs by clearing Sigils during Incursions will now display in the HUD the # of buff stacks and time remaining
- Washing any surface will now clear when you have a small number of pixels remaining (in addition to our regular check of having <1% of pixels to clear) - this helps clear very small washables or washables with a lot of stray splatter such as blood
- The Tab To Highlight action now points out remaining Washables and Items at 5 remaining, up from 3
- Added a hit effect when shooting an "Object Portal"
- Using the Line or Point spray against the "Object Portal" now deals extra damage (10% and 20% respectively)
- The size of "Object Portal"'s item pickup when killed increased by 20%
- Improved visibility of the sigil that surrounds Laser attacks in incursions
- Increased the air control of players significantly (was effectively none, now is more noticeable)
Audio
- New spraying sounds for each nozzle, as well as sounds when hitting a wall with spray. Overall spray sound is a little quieter, and all spray sounds' volume can be adjusted specifically in the audio settings.
UI
- A variety of font, alignment and ordering improvements to various UI screens
- New level complete screen that shows times required to get different scores
- New icons for all level scores, lobby status, and reward unlock status
- "Platinum" has been renamed to "Star Employee"
- Display "Peaceful" in the in-game HUD when playing on Peaceful Mode
Languages
- Playing in any language other than English will now display subtitles when viewing in-world text (such as the instructions in the Lobby). Erasing the associated washable will remove the subtitle.
Performance
- Precompile Shaders upon first start, which should help smooth out player framerate
Bug Fixes
- Improved the ability to detect the rare cases where an item has gotten lost outside the level, and then recover it
- Tab To Highlight action will no longer point out the player if they're holding a large object, instead will point to the object
- Fix for the "Object Portal" not consuming items when destroyed (broken in last demo patch)
Misc
- Increased the brightness of hazmat suit colors
- New blood splat textures when players are killed
- Improved the shadows for inaccessible areas of levels, when not using Lumen lighting
Looking forward to upcoming early access release!