Early Access Update 10
build id: 55C1FB06 55C268FC
UPDATE: The missing texture issue has been fixed in build 55C268FC.
Hello all! We are happy to announce a new update to Space Beast Terror Fright.
New Enemy Type: Astro-Creep
We have added a new enemy type, the Astro-Creep, borrowed from our game UfoPilot : Astro-Creeps Elite. Our intention with this new enemy was to introduce a very different mechanic to the game; the Astro-Creeps are completely harmless by themselves, but combined with the Space Beasts things can get dangerous, and the total level of chaos in missions has increased markedly.
Astro-Creeps do not attempt to interact with the player unless you get too close, at which point they will literally "get in your face", blocking visibility and creating extremely dangerous distractions to the true threats. An Astro-Creep can be killed with a single shot.
We were happy to discover a large number of emergent behaviours when Astro-Creeps were added to the mix. For one thing they become a drain on ammunition. Sentries also become even more dangerous to the player, as they will attempt to fire upon Astro-Creeps who have a completely different movement pattern as compared to Space Beasts. As a result we are experiencing even more friendly fire incidents than before. Both these issues tie into the changes we have made to core types.
Astro-Creeps also add significant "noise" to the motion tracker display, and while they are smaller than Space Beasts player definitely need to use both the tracker and the actual 3d display to properly sort out threats. This is of course intentional. Astro-Creeps are also targeted by the Auto-Targeting upgrade.
We speculate that some people will not like this addition / change to gameplay (and the resultant chaos). We have added the option to completely disable Astro-Creeps (under Rules / Breaches options in the advanced party screen) which are enabled by default.
Redesigned Cores / Interactive Objects
As the addition of the Astro-Creep changed gameplay, we realized that we needed to address all the emergent issues.
The need for more ammunition was one thing, and that naturally tied into the illogic of "downloading ammunition" that some people really dislike. We went back and forth on that for a while before figuring out the balance, and the result is that we are happy to announce the addition of Armory cores which allow you to manually reload your weapons. You interact in a similar manner to Datacores or Sentries, but ammo reload happens at a fixed rate regardless of your upgrades, and is always aborted if you begin firing your weapon while interacting with the Armory. Each Armory has 500 rounds, and ammo types are randomized per Armory instance.
In response to the increase in friendly fire indicents due to Astro-Creep activity, we have also added a dedicated Repair station. Datacores will no longer repair electronics systems damage, but Repair cores allow you to repair as many systems as you like without limit (they will never deactivate). Each damaged system must be repaired separately, but the speed of repair is currently tied to your data rate / download time upgrade.
Sentries have been also modified to have a slimmer profile, but functionally work the same as before except for the fact that Sentry ammo has been reduced from 500 to 400 rounds.
The addition of two new core types has forced us to re-evaluate our color palettes for the 3d objects as well as clarify the map icons and pathfinders:
- Datacore - light blue / cyan
- Sentry - green
- Armory - orange / yellow
- Repair - red / coral
- Coolant - dark blue / purple (this also affects the reactor shields)
- White - Airlock (updated shape and now also spins)
- Doors / floors / disabled cores are now all gray, with broken doors in red.
Heads Up Display Improvements
We have consolidated all of the mission event logs so that all team members now receive the same messages; we envision the log to be a global information channel. We have also added many more messages related to things that happen in the mission.
The (rather arbitrary) text that was displayed when the user interacted with a core has been removed, and has been replaced by icons and progress meters intended to clarify that the user is indeed interacting with something. We hope that this will improve the legibility of the user interface as a whole.
HUD icons now use procedural text as opposed to having text baked into the art.
Practical Leaderboard Reset
Due to the way that unique leaderboard ids need be generated (since there are billions of maps that have lots of options) in the game the leaderboards have again been reset. The old scores are technically still there, but the output for a given seed and algorithm has changed, so in very many cases the maps are again completely new and combined with the options they have new identities. This is also affected by our addition of new interactive core types; these also affect the output of the map generation process.
We are at this point a little unsure of whether or not leaderboards have very much traction in their current state. It is our observation that so long as players manage to complete a level they will have very similar scores. We either need to change the calculation (there is lots of theory to this effect in the forums, thanks for that) or simply use these kinds of statistics to keep track of which maps are popular and use that to drive user interfaces that help people find good maps. Suggestions along these lines are welcome.
Miscellaneous
- There is now only a single 4:3 aspect obituaries display that shows rank, name, upgrades, experience, missions, and total mission time. This is because we have added more statistics and they will no longer all fit even in wide screen layouts.
- We have fixed the bug where you could start interacting with a core, move to an adjacent core and have the interaction switch to the second core. Now you will properly disconnect if you move out of range of the core you began interacting with.
- In an effort to fix the problem of some mission layouts having excessive distances from reactor to airlock, the reactor overload sequence now also affects your adrenaline level. The closer the reactor is to overload, the faster you will run. Also, we think this just feels pretty cool. We were worried that this would make escape too easy, but now instead of worrying about beasts chasing you, you now have to worry about running around a corner and smacking into them instead.
- We have double mapped both TAB and MOUSE WHEEL to toggle Infravision.
- Q/A/Left Arrow now strafe left, while E/D/Right Arrow now strafe right.
- We have added an option for preferred music. When enabled only the theme you have selected will play as opposed to depending on the seed of the mission.
- We have added rank insignias to the backs of the marine 3d models, as well as the last name of the character.
- The map preview (advanced party screen) now has a color coded corresponding legend. The colors match what you will see in-mission / on the tracker / map.
- The Infravision shader now only affects things "outside" your helmet.
- The post-mission stats screen now also properly shows the seed and leaderboards for random seeds as well as explicit seeds (you still do not see the random seed / map you will play pre-mission).
- We have added a couple new random ambient sounds to the game.
As always, thank you for your support and patience,
/nornware AB c/o johno
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