Just like the title implies, the new build includes 100-ish bug and balance fixes. Not much more to say about this one!
No new Fortnight discussion this week, I’d rather people keep contributing to the current Fortnight Discussion, because there are a lot of good ideas in there. Please bear in mind that I probably won’t be implementing anything from these discussions into the 1.0 release unless it’s on the “very small” side, though I’ll still make note of anything I find interesting for post-release content.
And as a reminder:
Alpha 62
Notable Balance Changes
- Added a more powerful variation of the Goon, the Supergoon, who appears during Downtown and beyond
- Turrets in Downtown and beyond are replaced with “Mega Turret” which shoots at a higher rate and withstands more damage
- Continuously operating Crusher traps may appear in the Park levels
- Player receives more XP based on their current floor. Floor 2 has a multiplier of 1.075, floor 3 has a multiplier of 1.15, etc. This may need adjustment, we’ll see. The multiplier is higher when playing a Quick Game, the multiplier does have a cap on Endless games.
- Player receives fewer skill points for killing or knocking out innocents
- NPCs no longer drop money 100% of the time
- When selling weapons and armor, there was previously a “minimum price” that you could sell the item for, so if -- for example -- a Baseball Bat was at 1% durability and its base price was $20, you couldn’t sell it for less than $6 (30% of its original value). I’ve reduced that 30% to 10% to discourage min-maxing attempts.
- Items sell for a bit less money than before
- Projectile and melee weapons sell for less money than other items, again to discourage grinding for these and reduce the amount of money available
- Amount of money in the game world is adjusted based on the number of players
- Grilling Fud on barbecues has a 3-use limit
- Neutralize All missions are more likely to appear on higher levels
Graphics
- Fix for people who die and are resurrected while in the water on multiplayer client, appearing to walk on water
- Fix for shadows appearing under NPCs who return from Invisible state while in water Camera during credits list is more centered
- Fix for Shapeshifter appearing at normal size instead of Diminutive after Depossessing when Giant or Shrunk
UI / Controls
- Added new quick-chat menu for gamepad users. Hold Cancel during online games to use it.
- After switching from full- to split-screen mode, there is a delay before the camera can switch back to full-screen mode again, to avoid too-frequent switches
- Added messaging on multiplayer client stating that they are waiting for the host to generate their level
- Removed “Leaderboards - Coming Soon” text from Daily Run screen (it may still be coming, but not until after the game leaves Early Access)
- Removed “Seeds - Coming Soon” text from Home Base (same deal, look for it after Early Access ends)
- Fix for not being able to adjust Upper-Cruster and Supercop’s hairstyles
- Fix for minimap markers for players 2-4 in online multiplayer matches having incorrect colors
- Fix for Big Quest completion message remaining on the screen in the next level on multiplayer between-levels timeouts
- Fix for player being able to open the minimap while in the Home Base
- Fix for cursor graphic sometimes being incorrect on title screen after player is disconnected from online game
- Fix for incorrect Syringe sometimes being dropped when clicking and dragging to drop items
- Fix for player being able to press End Game on the main menu after the game is over
- Fix for keyboard player being able to use and close object context buttons after a second player had opened the Missions screen
Playfield Objects
- Fix for Lockdown Walls sometimes appearing partially risen at the start of new levels
- Getting party members by hacking the clone machine with a hired hacker works properly
- Fix for NPC hackers being able to successfully complete the hacking of an object after that object has been destroyed or made non-functional
- Fix for fires blocking the ending sequence from starting properly
- Fix for fires not being properly attached to burning giblets in factories on multiplayer client
- Fix for giblets being spit out of tubes before the level has started
- Fix for static fires being caused if the player shoots Mine Carts or Trains with the flamethrower
- Fix for issues taking damage from fire sometimes
Items
- Fix for banana peels being able to knock people out of chairs and beds, but they would still appear to be sitting
- Giving someone a cocktail increases electability
- Fix for Ghost Gibber not causing hidden enemies to come out of hiding
- Quest-related items are removed from the player’s inventory at the end of levels
- Items needed for missions cannot be given to NPCs (too many related bugs)
- Base price of Giantizer increased from $80 to $100
- Reduced price of Dizzy and EMP Grenades from $20 to $15
Status Effects / Traits / Special Abilities
- Teleport-Happy can no longer be used when the player is in immediate danger
- Confident in Crowds and Safe in Crowds cap at 3 followers
- Fix for Art of the Deal giving players better deals than indicated by the on-screen cost
- Wrestler in Home Base does not show “Resist Damage”
- Shapeshifter cannot possess other Shapeshifters
- Fix for Shapeshifter not leaving the body they are currently inhabiting when starting the ending sequence
- Fix for bug where multiplayer clients could become Werewolf permanently by turning into a Werewolf, quitting the game, and then returning
- Fix for bug where Shapeshifter multiplayer clients could quit the game and remain their most recently possessed NPC permanently
- Fix for Shapeshifter on multiplayer client not losing health when the host body dies
- Fix for Werewolf on multiplayer client not retaining traits after dying in Werewolf form
- Fix for No In-Fighting and Class Solidarity not functioning on NPCs that were killed for a mission and resurrected as Zombies
- Cannibalizing Zombies restores half as much health as cannibalizing non-Zombies. Not so tasty.
- Fix for G-P-Yesss not functioning on all objects for custom characters in the first level of the game
- If an NPC who has Resurrect is knocked out or arrested, they will lose Resurrect
- Crooked affects XP loss for stealing from innocents
- It is possible to Enslave NPCs who are Dizzy, Crazy-Dizzy, or Frozen
Combat
- Fix for the first melee attack from an NPC sometimes not colliding with other objects
Sound
- More sound effects added, updated some effects from last build
Election
- Ghosts no longer have a vote in elections
- NPCs spawned during War Zone do not have a vote in elections
- Electability does not increase from killing Zombies
- Players with Charismatic receive an electability score bonus from NPCs who were Friendly at the beginning of the floor, but it’s not an extremely large bonus, so you can still become un-electable by angering a bunch of people
- People being the same class as you does not increase your electability as much
- If a person exits a level via elevator, their opinion of you will still affect electability
Big Quests
- Fix for Wrestler being able to challenge other players to fights when they are in ghost form
- To avoid confusion, Generators at military outposts in the park must be destroyed for the Soldier’s quest
- Fix for Assassin big quest targets appearing on final level
- Slavemaster can escort Slaves to either the entrance or exit of the level, instead of just the entrance
- Cannibal won’t get “stuffed” when Cannibalizing people that are needed for the Big Quest
- Made Slavemaster text more obvious that you need to bring them to the entrance/exit
- Fix for Jock’s Big Quest progress not always appearing properly on Missions screen when multiple players are playing as the Jock
- Fix for Big Quest Completed message not appearing properly when using Supercop and Upper-Cruster
- It is possible to get Big Quest points for arrests, kills etc. on people with whom you are aligned
Disasters
- During Bounty disaster, if someone becomes hostile toward the player due to the bounty, he and his friends in the vicinity will become Guilty
- Lockdown Walls no longer go up during Zombies disaster, or when the Zombies mutator is active
Mutators
- Added No Custom Characters mutator, intended for non-password-protected online games
- New Character Every Level and Super Special Abilities now cancel each other out, as too many issues were being caused by this particular combination
Level Generation
- Shapeshifter NPCs appear more rarely
Artificial Intelligence
- Fix for NPCs not running away from player zombies after the first level
- Fix for Wrestler sometimes having two options to challenge the Mayor to a fight
- Fix for certain NPCs not running to see the player’s speech at the end of the game
- Fix for NPCs not tripping on Banana Peels properly when off-camera
- Fix for cases where NPCs could join the player’s party while annoyed or hostile toward them
- Fix for Cop Bots telling players with whom they are aligned to “Brace for death”
- Fix for occasional pathfinding issues with Crates spawned in for Scientist Big Quest
- During ending, English speakers in the crowd will be chosen to talk over non-English speakers, but if non-English speakers do have to talk, they’ll speak the proper dialog
- Fixed issue where the player could tell someone to leave town, and they would attempt to path through a locked door
- Fix for players being able to ask the Mayor for their hat before actually winning the election in online multiplayer mode
- Fix for questgivers becoming Friendly toward the player after they complete a quest, when they were already Loyal before this
Text
- Added ending text to account for the player arresting the Mayor
Multiplayer
- Fix for a networking issue that was causing problems sometimes when attempting to join games, typically indicated by a freeze at 37% loaded
- Added more descriptive messaging when client is disconnected immediately upon connecting to a host
- Fix for player not being able to start a multiplayer game at the Home Base properly after starting a normal game, returning to the main menu, and starting a Home Base game
Engine
- Unity engine updated to 2018.2.12f1
Alpha 62b
- Fix for everyone in Downtown and beyond being Supergoons
- Fix for many traits having incorrect names
- Fix for Enslavement not working
Alpha 62c (October 19)
- If the player attempts to exit a level before satisfying Big Quest requirements and doing so would make it impossible to complete the Big Quest for that run, and the player has gotten past the first level, a second warning prompt will appear and text will appear red
- Player can no longer remove traits via augmentation booth that have a cost of -5 or less in character creation
- Traits that have a point value of less than -5 or greater than 10 cannot be swapped at the augmentation booth
- Doctor’s Super Special character has been altered - Instead of having infinite Tranqulizer darts, darts can be refilled for free at Loadout Machines and Ammo Dispensers
- Fix for Scientist Big Quest not always spawning the Crate properly, and not providing correct instructions to the player
- Fix for various alignment issues when starting with a new character
- Fix for Random Reverence affecting everyone in the building of NPCs who were affected
- Reduced Random Reverence chance
- Fix for scroll bar sometimes briefly appearing on stats screen when it shouldn’t
- Fix for incorrect name sometimes appearing when holding space bar after a new NPC had spawned
- Fix for Threaten percentages often being too high on multiplayer client
- Fix for doors sometimes acting as Steel doors when they don’t look like a Steel door
- Fix for Shapeshifter NPC not always having money on them
- Fix for Cannibals eating living people who have been arrested. Player can’t do this either.
- Fix for objects making noise after being powered off from Power Box
- Fix for Crates and Switches sometimes appearing on multiplayer client that do not appear for host
- Fix for Super Special Ability information not appearing on character select screen for Supercop and Upper-Cruster
- Fix for Shapeshifter electability rating not being accurate when possessing someone
- 3- and 4-player character selection screen now includes text indicating that a character’s Big Quest has been completed
- Changed description of Super Special Abilities a bit to make it less confusing
- The “Ask to Leave Town/Threaten” options will not appear before other options when possible to prevent the player from accidentally taking a big-and-maybe-unintended action
Alpha 62d
- Fix for multiplayer connection issue
Alpha 62e (October 20)
- Fix for freeze during level load on multiplayer host, often in Industrial
- Various multiplayer connection fixes. More comin'
Alpha 62f (October 27)
- Bunch of network connectivity fixes and fail-safes
- Fail-Safe for instances where people are taking too long to come out for the end-game speech
- Fail-safe for when a player who has become the Mayor leaves the game during online play
- Police Lockdown no longer appears in Uptown
- Player receives electability points from people who are aligned or loyal at the start of the level, just fewer than if the player did something specific to earn their trust
- Players cannot command followers to attack them
- Fix for dialogue box sometimes being in the wrong position in multiplayer mode
- Upper-Cruster starts with a bunch of money instead of a bottle of whiskey
- Bullet Breaker does not stop fire, water, or Leafblower projectiles
- Barbecue now has 5 uses for Hot Fud grilling
- Fix for gamepad button resulting in mouse/keyboard player’s traits being selected on trait selection screen
- Potential fix for instances where Find Bombs missions could get stuck in online multiplayer
- Fix for Find Bombs missions where multiplayer clients could see quest markers on chests that no longer contain bombs
- Reduced Teleport-Happy price since it has been nerfed
- Fix for NPC hackers not being able to hack properly
- Fire Extinguisher doesn’t cause NPCs to get angry unless you spray them repeatedly
- Oil spill fires will cause people to leave the building in which they took place
- Lighting oil spill fires will cause the owner of the building to get angry at you, even if it doesn’t damage anything
- Fire Hydrants appear in Slums
- Removed “Halloween Week” code from the game that caused the first disaster to always be Zombies for the week of Halloween, and unlocked Zombie automatically
- Fix for LAN games not working when the client is not connected to Steam
- Increased nugget limit to 99
Alpha 62g
- Fixed a couple issues introduced in 62f