Hi guys. Today’s update finally brings co-op multiplayer to the public build. Thanks for everyone’s patience while I worked through this one. MP has easily been the most requested feature since EA launch, so I’m excited to start getting some feedback and moving forward with the project.
Hosting:
For this first step, players are able to host their own games to play with friends (dedicated servers will eventually follow). Any host has 5 multiplayer profile slots (similar to singleplayer), allowing groups to shut down their server and resume any profile at a later date.
Note: In order for hosts to be seen in the game list, they may need to forward their Steam port (27015). For assistance with troubleshooting, please refer to the community forums, where many community members have been helping other players (thanks for all the help!).
Also, please be sure to set a password if you intend to play with only friends.
Co-op (PvP?):
Currently the game design is focused around co-op. Building and upgrading a base together, while surviving, fending off hunter attacks, and attacking hunter bases. While it is possible to kill other players, PvP is not a focus at this point.
When a player establishes a base, they can add/remove players as base-members from the ‘Players’ tab in the BCU. A base-member is able to open doors, build, move items etc, whereas non base-members are limited.
Hunter Aggression:
Just as in singleplayer, players can choose to enable/disable hunters at any point. If disabled then re-enabled, they will need to build up from scratch.
In co-op the hunter presence and aggression is greater than that of singleplayer. This is an attempt to balance the difficulty, as players will be able to better defend themselves in groups. Please note that this balance is something I’ll be continuing to iterate on. I’ll be listening to feedback and making changes accordingly.
Focus on fortifying your base walls with armor plating, upgrading your weapons and wearable armor to better resist the pressure from hunter attacks.
Some other changes/tweaks:
- Higher resolution skies and sunsets/rises. I’ve reworked the day/night cycle to have higher detail, as well as draw-out the length of transitions during mornings and evenings.
- Grenades now only require 1 sinew to craft (3 was way too much).
- Fixed audio glitch causing heavy splashing sound when entering/exiting lakes.
- There are now 5 single player save profiles. So if you’ve been meaning to try out a new build, you have 2 new slots.
- Eating most foods now depletes hydration. There wasn’t enough emphasis on collecting water, as too many foods gave a supplement of water. This change is subtle, but should improve the overall balance (let me know).
- Reworked the woodburner model and particle fx. The woodburner model was previously extremely high poly and suffered material artifacting (and flames that clipped through the model). The new model addresses these issues and has 20% of the poly count (so much better performance).
- Fixed bug where a phantom glowstick lights would appear in the world.
- Hunters now move at a greater speed when closing in on a target player base.
- Increased despawn time on fired arrows.
Thanks so much for everyone’s patience and support since the last update. The multiplayer netcode has required much greater work than typical feature updates. As this is the first step into multiplayer, please expect some technical issues while I iron-out the kinks. I’ll be working hard to resolve player issues. Also, a big thanks to everyone who have been helping with connection troubleshooting on the forums.
With this milestone passing, I’m hugely excited to start moving forward with new features and expanding on the gameplay and mechanics. There are many things I’ve been eagerly waiting to start on.
As always, keep me informed with issues or feedback on the new changes (I’ll be on the forums), and have a great week!
CG