Early Access Update 3
build id: 2015-05-15_15-22-09
Hello all! We are happy to announce a new update to Space Beast Terror Fright.
Updated Mission Logs
We have added more information to the mission logs (lower left of the HUD) to include Datacore ids in download messages, Sentry ids in activation messages, and Coolant ids in disabled messages. Sentries will now also send messages when they are low on ammo (1/4th of starting ammo) as well as when they are out of ammo.
Sentries now start with more ammo
We have changed the starting ammo of Sentries from 250 to 500.
Infravision Toggle Prompt
When you have Infravision installed the HUD will now display the key used to toggle that powerup (TAB for keyboard / mouse input, and Y for gamepad input). Datacore emit textures are now fixed in Infravision mode, so you can more easily see that a Datacore has been downloaded without switching out of Infravision.
New Dual Input detection algorithm
We found a subtle bug that would cause Dual Input mode (switching between keyboard / mouse and gamepad if there are extra gamepads connected) to not work correctly. Hopefully this will work on all systems; as before the idea is to press any key / button on the device you want to use to activate it.
Improved bullet graphics
A real artist (not a programmer) has now worked on the graphics for all bullet types, resulting in a better aesthetic and a better transition between the leading energy ball and the tail effect.
Electronics Systems moved to simulation
All the Electronics Systems added in the last update are now part of the simulation as opposed to just being visualization effects. This is partly so they will be replicated correctly in multiplayer, but also has the benefit of allowing actual gameplay effects.
When you lose your Tracker / Map System all motion / proximity warnings are now disabled. This has dire implications for your mobility, as a primary source of Adrenaline in the game is currently the Hero characters reaction to these warnings. As a result you will not be able to outrun Beasts with damage to Tracker / Map.
When you lose your Weapon Display System you will no longer receive audio feedback for being low on ammo.
Seeder, Planner, and Ruler
We have restructured all the mission options to reside on the same screen. In local play you now choose number of players as well as Seeder, Planner, and Ruler.
A Seeder is an algorithm that generates a mission seed. Previously we always used a random seed for each mission, but now you have the option to specify an explicit seed yourself. These seeds are 32 bit unsigned integers, and the game now allows you input them as 8 digit hexadecimal numbers; for example DEADFACE, BAADF00D, or 1337FEE7 (cosmically we found DEADFACE to be especially hard). This means that you can replay any mission as many times as you like, as well as share your favorite seeds with your friends.
The Explicit Seeder will now display an ASCII-style preview of the map that the seed will generate, using the currently selected Planner. Use the mousewheel to change the individual digits of the seed and the map preview will update in real time. Note that the Random Seeder will NOT display a map preview, as that would be cheating. The post mission screen will now also show the settings you have just run; number of players, seed (if not random), Planner and Ruler settings.
A Planner is an algorithm that generates a mission (a Plan), possibly taking the specified seed into account. The only available implementation right now is called Crawlers, and is the one that you have all seen before, but have several others in development and expect to make them available soon. Crawlers obviously uses the seed created by the Seeder as input to the mission generation process.
One potentially interesting Planner algorithm that we want to create would be one that relies on user created Plans, which we want to implement an editor for in the game. This would probably be tied to Steam Workshop and Achievements.
A Ruler is an algorithm that generates Rules which are used in-mission to control things like Breach spawns, Beast spawns, and control of the Reactor systems. We have added more permutations now, with Easier, Hard, and the new Insane setting, all with fixed or random Breach positions.
We fully expect to expand the Ruler system with more Rules / game scenarios in the future.
Networked Multiplayer Part 1 : LAN
Our current implementation as of today is a peer-to-peer architecture. The reasons for this are both simplicity but also because this automatically (on a technical level) gives us support for replays and save games. It will also potentially be possible to support "continue" functionality, so that you could watch someone elses replay and choose at any point to continue playing the game yourself.
We currently only support LAN. This is because we have not yet started using Steam's stuff for lobbies and NAT-punch thru, which will be required to play over the internet as well as to find and play with your Steam friends. We have limited ability to test as there are only 3 of us at the office, so we want to take this opportunity to have the community help us test the core code. Remember that testing software can only ever prove that said software HAS bugs, not that it HAS NO BUGS, so lots of testing (on more machine configurations than we have ourselves) is required.
The next step will be to implement said Steam lobby and friend support and allow you all to play over the internet with the current peer-to-peer implementation. I highly suspect that the current implementation may not work well in a non-LAN environment, but I'd rather test it than speculate. If it indeed proves to be unsuitable for internet play we will implement a client-server architecture which may or may not be used for both LAN and internet play.
You can now toggle between fullscreen and split screen (team view) in a networked multiplayer game at any time (SPACE or gamepad B). The only current difference between this split screen view and the one you have seen in co-op is that the audio is localized to the local player. We expect to iterate on the multiplayer team view to make something that works a little better (for example picture-in-picture), as we find the current transition from full screen to split-screen to be a little jarring in practice. The view will automatically shift to co-op split-screen (with full audio) if the local player is killed.
There is also a small experimental team status indicator in the mid right of the HUD, showing hostname as well as alive / dead / moving / firing / interaction / adrenaline status for all players.
All of the single player mission options are available in LAN networked mode as well. The only thing that we are currently not supporting is any kind of character progression between missions, as there is more design work to be done there, and we did not want to risk messing with people's hard won local characters in networked games without first thinking all of this through. Rest assured however that we will figure out a satisfying approach to networked character progression in the coming updates.
LAN play is HIGHLY experimental at this stage, and we need all the help we can get to test it. We would like to hear your experiences in the forums, specifically if you are experiencing any problems with games diverging on different players machines, as well as any slowdowns or sync issues.
As always, thank you for your support and patience,
/nornware AB c/o johno
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