Early Access Update Trettiotre (33)
build id: 582783AB
nornware AB is happy to announce a new update to Space Beast Terror Fright.
Continued Development
I apologize for the length of time that has passed since the last update, but real life intervened and kept me from working on nornware and Space Beast Terror Fright for a number of months. This update however marks an increase in development pace again.
For the most part changes in this update are behind the scenes and related to general code base refactoring and performance boosts, but in the interest of getting back to continuous deployment it is important that everyone is running the latest version so I can more confidently make changes to the game moving forward.
Randomize All
I have implemented experimental support for a new Randomize All seed setting. This is partly in response to community request to introduce more variation and chance to the game.
With Randomize All selected the mission seed itself is of course randomized, but also all other options with the exception of the Rules setting (Salvage or Deathmatch). This means that you never know what style of map you are getting, whether there are Doors / Fences / Sentries, room styles, etc (Plan settings).
Perhaps even more interesting is the addition of mutating Rules while in-mission. Every 20 seconds all active Rules settings will randomly shift, which means that difficulty (spawn rates) will change on the fly, Breaches may spawn randomly or at the ends of corridors (or both), and Power Failures have an ever changing chance of happening.
While in Basic Party Config there is now a toggle to switch between Random (the previous default Seed setting) and Randomize All. Relevant user interfaces in the Advanced Party Config screen are disabled when Randomize All is selected, and this is also still the place to set up an Explicit Seed.
Randomize All is now the default setting, and I hope that this addition will make the game feel even more varied and unpredictable. I have certainly found myself in very interesting situations while playtesting this new feature, and considering that I almost always played with default settings (Random Seed / Corridors Plan with default settings) I'm seeing much more of my own game than I usually do. :)
Shotgun Experiment
I'm experimenting with the Shotgun not having ammo type fire rate penalties, meaning that no matter what ammo type is being fired the fire rate is that of the lowest ammo type (orange).
This balances out the experience of using the Shotgun somewhat, letting you time your shots better, and effectively gives it a much higher damage per second than any of the other weapons.
I have also changed the number of rounds fired from 6 back to the original 8, which means that the fire rate is slightly slower than before, but with more damage output. Again, the Shotgun will always fire at the same rate, no matter the ammo type.
Change to Mazes
The Mazes algorithm (Plan) has been revised to have an outer ring of corridors, in order to improve the flow of enemies through the space. You still get lots of mazey goodness and size, but the general experience is less static. This should also help to solve problems with players not having enough time to get from the Reactor to the Airlock in certain Mazes.
Changes to Breaches (aesthetic)
I have put some work into the (previously non-existent) visual effects when a Breach spawns; a big burst of sparks and smoke.
Live breaches will now emit a single spark 10 times a second rather than 16 every second, making them slightly more visible. They will however no longer emit sparks when a Power Failure is happening, which can be dangerous.
The cables hanging out of the Breach mesh are now also more colorful. These catch the light better and give better visuals cue to the existence of Breaches.
Miscellaneous
- Font textures are now power-of-two in order to increase compatibility with certain GPUs.
- More musical themes have been added, many of which are still works in progress, but I thought it would be fun to have the variation.
- Fences now reflect bullets in ALL cases when the bullet has energy remaining. This makes them more dangerous to Players, as Fences that are behind your target will reflect any stray shots back your way.
- Steam Overlay Fix: All user input is disabled for 0.5 seconds after the Steam Overlay is closed. This is intended to fix input crosstalk.
- Uniform Speed option has been removed, which means that players always move slower when moving sideways and slowest when moving backwards. This was the previous default setting.
- Direct3D effect parameter handles have all been cached, improving performance across the board.
- The Cassette format has changed to include integrity hashing every 256 ticks (roughly 4 seconds). This is intended to make sure that replays either properly play back a mission or otherwise break visibly.
- The reactor overload klaxon is now disabled when the escape menu is active.
- The space shader (outside the windows) now works properly when Infravision is active.
- Emit textures now properly modulate when Infravision is active.
- Infravision now properly shows heat in prop models.
- Tech sections in Plan are now generated before reachability checks. This fixes unreachable areas.
- Fixed Aim Assist and Pathfinder icons. Also reorded icons and text in the helmet HUD.
- Fixed bug in reading upgrades for obituary list, and also added Map upgrade icons to obituary list.
- Fixed crosstalk between player pulse trackers (each player now has their own state).
- There are now explicit buttons for creating Public and Friends only parties, for clarity. It is still possible to change the public / friends state of a party at any time.
Known Issues
- "In Memoriam" list may show broken entries for legacy characters. This is because the data format has changed. You can fix this if you like by deleting this file: C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\nornware\sbtf\dead.txt
- Deathmatch may be broken when Power Start is set to "off", as certain permutations will result in no Breakers being generated.
- Restoring Power via a Breaker will sometimes not correctly update lighting in networked play.
As always, thank you for your support and patience.
/nornware AB c/o johno
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