EXOGEN LABS - SUBJECT ADVISORY
Feedback has been analysed and applied to the testing program. Trial modules have undergone reconfiguration and mopping, and new comm-links have been distributed to participants.
-- Exogen Trial Operations
Hello Test Subjects,
Now that we've finished our first open playtest, we want to share with you an update on what we’ve learned and what’s coming next for Killing Things With Your Friends.
Playtest Feedback
Thank you to everyone who jumped into the playtest!
We had over 9,000 people join the test and learned valuable information about how you play our game.
Thanks to you all, we found and fixed a lot of bugs, and are looking to add many QOL improvements and minor changes to improve both how KTWYF looks and feels to play, based on your feedback.
Bugs & QOL Changes
Incl. various minor bugfixes and improvements that are unlisted.
After we launched the playtest patch in the first week of the test, bringing loads of bug fixes and QOL changes, we discovered and squashed a few more bugs that were dashing your fun in the second week.
Sacrifice Challenge
Fixed the bug in 3-4 player lobbies causing enemies to stop spawning after making the sacrifices.
Upstairs Downstairs Challenge
Increased the timing window to get limbs into each grinder from 2 seconds to 2.5 seconds
Added a progress bar downstairs
Limbs
Fixed a bug that allowed the player to stack limb charge buffs to higher values than intended
Changed delimbing behaviour to increase the skill ceiling for catching falling limbs
Reduced projectile drop from Beetle blaster
Jumping Puzzle
We hear you! The jumping puzzle IS hard. After watching hours of streamers falling to their death on this little passageway, we’ve decided to change how jumping works:
Variable jumping
Players can now carefully dictate how long they’re in the air by tapping or holding the jump key
Check out this comparison between jump heights:
Timing remains a key factor in this challenge - if you jump on a tile when it’s red or about to turn red, you may just hear someone on the intercom insulting your skills...
Upcoming Changes
Finding your team
Players will soon have a marker to help guide them in the direction of their teammates
Progression
Gold, Body Config upgrades & buffs are receiving proper implementation alongside a new MVP system that rewards the most efficient player in each round
Level generation
Respawn pods and loot rooms will be updated to generate closer to challenge rooms, to avoid players running down long hallways only to find rooms they don’t need
Proximity Chat
Every social game needs a way to communicate to solve puzzles, and in Killing Things With Your Friends, we wanted to ensure we chose something that would add a whole new layer to playing the game.
Now you can hear the direction and distance your friends are yelling from - and laugh at their echoing screams when they fall to their deaths.
Along with proximity chat comes newly animated faces!
You now have a wavy digital mouth that moves as you talk and eyes that blink, with customisation options for these features already in the works.
Your face glitches out when you take damage, and your filling health bar is shown when you heal.
These systems are still works-in-progress, but we’re already having tons of fun playing with them in our own tests, with more proximity chat features on the way.
Challenge Room Contest
KTWYF is a game designed around procedurally generated trials, which means we need *a lot* of puzzles to ensure there's always something new for the players to encounter and learn.
So... we're asking you!
What challenge rooms do you think would be cool, fun, or just downright chaotic?
We’re giving away 2 KEYS and early playtester access for KTWYF to our favourite suggestions posted in our Discord!
If you’re one of our closed playtesters with 24/7 access to KTWYF, you’ll already be able to download the patch and test out these new features now!
We’ll continue cooking up new content as we push toward Steam Next Fest, so keep an eye out for the next update and you might finally learn about Exogen Labs’ latest abomination… think you can guess what it is?
Cheers,
– KTWYF Team