Dang, if I had just added 1 extra trait, this version number would have been super-appropriate.
Anyways, yeah, this week’s build includes a whole crapload of new traits, and significant changes to traits are awarded at the end of levels.
On most level-ups, you’ll receive a choice of three traits, as you would in the past. Two of these traits are now catered toward your character choice (or in the case of custom characters, the game will try to determine this based on your current build). The third trait is a wild card. In general, higher levels will receive more powerful traits. However, you might get lucky and get something very powerful early in the game.
Every 3 levels (3, 6, 9 etc.), you’ll get a choice between upgrading a special ability (if you have one), upgrading an attribute (speed, endurance, etc.), and adding a relatively powerful trait.
In addition, an Augmentation Booth has been added to the game, which gives you three options:
- Upgrade Trait - Upgrade many of your existing traits to an “augmented” version. Cost is based on the cost in character creation.
- Remove Trait - Remove one of your negative traits. Cost is also based on character creation cost.
- Swap Trait - Swap one of your traits for a random trait that has an equivalent-ish value.
These new changes haven’t been super well tested and will definitely get some tweaking in the coming weeks, so be sure to report any issues you find.
This week’s Fortnight Discussion: Suggestions for things I can add before the game gets pre-1.0-content-locked.
Alpha 61
Traits
Remember, many of these will need to be unlocked in the home base, so dig out those ancient nuggets! However, traits that require specific special abilities aren't currently available in character creation.
- Un-Crits - Damage inflicted on the player may not cause any health loss
- Prickly Skin - Melee damage inflicted on the player may also harm the attacker
- Knockback King - Cause people you hit to be knocked back further
- Block Breaker - When an enemy blocks your melee attack, it may count as a hit
- Block Bullets - Face the direction of incoming bullets to block them with your melee weapon
- Wall Walloper - Melee weapons can destroy certain walls
- Blaster Survivor - Explosions caused by the player, don't damage the player
- Blaster Master - Explosions destroy any wall or object
- Ammo Scavenger - Dropped weapons contain more ammunition
- Lock and Load - Weapons are reloaded at the start of new floors
- Burning Bullets - Bullets cause fire when hitting objects
- Penetrating Bullets - Bullets pass through objects and people after hitting them
- Bullet Breaker - Your bullets destroy other bullets
- Sneaky Fingers - People won't notice when your "(Doing something)..." bar is filling
- Teleport-Happy - Teleport anytime, regardless of location or danger
- Secret Vandalizer - Hitting objects and walls doesn't make any noise
- Intrusion Artist - Thieving tools may not break after usage
- Random Reverence - Random people are aligned with you
- Safe in Crowds - The more followers you have, the less damage you take
- Confident in Crowds - The more followers you have, the more damage you cause
- Homesickness Killer - Followers will always follow you to the next floor
- Share the Health - Health items you administer to yourself will affect your followers
- Cool with Cannibals - Cannibals will no longer attack on sight
- Friend of the Family - Mobsters are aligned with you
- On the House - Items purchased from vendors may be given to you for free
- Trust Funder - Receive money at the start of every floor
- Shop Drops - Upon being neutralized, vendors will drop one of the items that they normally sell
- Slinky - Camouflage doesn't end when bumping into people
- Vicious Chameleon - Camouflage doesn't end when attacking
- Sprinter - Charge faster
- Tackler - Charge has a more powerful impact
- Low Center of Gravity - Player doesn't fall down when charging into walls
- Juggernaut - Can't lose health while charging
- Fast Food - Bodies are Cannibalized faster
- Savorer - Receive more health from Cannibalizing
- Table Manners - Cannibalize doesn't bother nearby people, including law enforcement
- Eggshell Walker - Jokes never cause people to become Hostile
- Feature Act - Jokes have a higher chance of success
- Crooked - Less XP and Big Quest point loss for neutralizing/arresting innocents
- Impatient Lunge - Primal Lunge charges more quickly
- Speed Coder - Hacking takes no time
- Foolproof Hacks - Hacking never causes an alarm
- Cyber Nuke - Most hackable objects can be blown up
- Body-Swapper - Shorter cooldown after depossessing
- No Harm in Dying - No health loss when your host body dies
- Possessions are Peachy Keen - Possessing and Depossessing does not cause Hostility or Annoyance
- Benevolent Owner - Slaves don't become mutinous
- Destructive Deaths - Slave helmets cause a larger explosion
- Legal Enslavement - Enslaving random people is now legal for you
- Covert Crook - People don't notice when you pickpocket their friends
- Chipmunk Teeth - Bite more quickly
- Vein Tapper - Receive more health from Bite
- They're Just Kissing - Bite doesn't bother nearby people, including law enforcement
- Bottomless Stomach - Bite people even when your health is full
- Killing Time - Werewolf form lasts longer
- Restless Beast - Cooldown period after transforming back to human form is shorter
- Steady Head - No Dizzy period after transforming back to human form
- Swift Spitter - Phlegm attack charges faster
- Throat of Iron - Phlegm attack doesn't cause health loss
- Subduing Spree - No cooldown after using Chloroform
- Quick and Dead - All Zombies are faster
- Inhuman Strength - All Zombies are stronger
In addition to all of these, there are a number of augmented versions of existing traits, available through the new Augmentation Booth
New Objects
- Augmentation Booth
Sound
- A whole bunch of new sound effects added. There will probably be some changes to these and new additions in the coming weeks.
UI / Controls
- Fix for instances where player was unable to control their character at the beginning of levels
Playfield Objects
- Fix for Clone Machine hacking not always working properly
- Fix for security cameras detecting people in nearby buildings
- Fix for cases in multiplayer where interacting with the elevator could bring up the character select screen on clients
- Fix for player not being able to use Turntables if the DJ is dead
Items
- Fix for Slave Helmet Remover not appearing in inventory, which also caused an issue where the game would state that the inventory was full when it was not
Multiplayer
- Anti-hack stuff
Missions
- Fix for missions not failing properly in multiplayer mode if the NPC carrying a quest item fell down a hole
Text
- Fixed Werewolf “Super Special Ability” text when in Werewolf form
Alpha 61b
- Fix for freeze at the end of levels on some level-ups
- Fix for players being offered special abilities every level-up instead of every 3 level-ups
- Fix for players being offered special abilities that they already had
- Fix for players being offered higher-level special abilities too early, too often
- Fix for removing certain traits not always working properly
- Fix for certain trait names being missing
- Fix for Werewolf and Shapeshifter losing attribute upgrades after transforming back to their normal bodies
- Penetrating Bullets does not work with rockets
Alpha 61c
- Fix for level-up menu sometimes getting multiple of the same trait directly after unlocking that trait
- Fix for level-up menu getting traits that you upgraded previously
- Fix for getting traits during Augmentation booth swaps that are useless to your character
- Fix for being able to swap certain traits for free from the Augmentation Booth
- Fix for Shapeshifter and Werewolf regaining traits that had been removed after returning to their normal bodies
- Fix for incorrect alignments when gaining or losing The Law trait in the middle of levels
- Fix for Bullet Breaker affecting the player’s own bullets
- Game is slightly better at finding level-up traits for your character
- Replaced 192 kbps soundtrack file for floor 5-3’s music with 320kbps version
Alpha 61d (October 5)
- Fix for player receiving too few trait choices at the end of levels
- Fix for Shapeshifter not regaining traits that were removed on depossessing someone
- Fix for Shapeshifter getting non-augmented versions of traits in addition to the augmented versions after depossessing someone
- Shapeshifter cannot use Augmentation Booth while possessing someone
- Fix for Lockdown Wall sound playing repeatedly
- Fix for Cyber Nuke not working for custom characters
- Fix for Vocally Challenged still being in effect after removal
- Fix for Benevolent Owner not working
- Fix for Share the Health not working
- Fix for Shop Drops not always working properly
- Fix for Legal Enslavement not working for custom characters
- Fix for Wall Walloper not affecting Glass walls
- Fix for Slaves not blowing up properly when their helmet is hacked
- Fix for certain NPCs reacting with sound effects when the player removes traits like Suspicious and Wanted
- Fix for Clerks, Shopkeepers etc. not being annoyed at Shapeshifters after they depossess people
- Fix for buttons not always working after hacking things on online multiplayer client
- Fix for Cops attacking players biting other people when they had the “They’re Just Kissing” trait
- Fix for Security Cameras sometimes not appearing in buildings where they were supposed to
- Fix for Lock and Load reloading Oil Container
- Soldiers and Gorillas do not contain “Shop” items unless they are in the Mall, and Upper-Crusters don’t contain Shop items at all
- Player receives proper trait selection when leveling up more than once on a single floor
- NPCs hidden in Bushes and Manholes cannot be a secret Werewolf
- Changed “They’re Just Kissing” description to be more accurate
- Wall Walloper now affects Barbed Wire walls and Bars/Fences (when augmented)
- Confident in Crowds is much less effective (it was never supposed to do THAT much damage)
- Confident in Crowds and Safe in Crowds require the player to be not-super-far from the person in their party in order to be effective
Alpha 61e (October 6)
- Fix for items occasionally appearing on the ground and being non-interactable
- Fix (again) for repeating Lockdown Wall sound in Uptown
- Fix for chest and shop tooltips not always appearing when using gamepad
- Fix for Flesh Feast upgrade not having proper animations or sound effects
- Fix for Ammo Scavenger resulting in weapons that go over their max ammo limit
- Augmentation Booth mouseable area increased
- Augmented “Crooked” does not give the player XP when arresting or killing, rather it just prevents point loss
- Fix for Alarm Button hacking not always working properly
- Fix for Police Boxes remaining “hacked” when appearing in other levels or games
- Fix for questgivers getting annoyed at the player when they transform into a werewolf or possess someone with a trait like Suspicious
- Fix for player being offered non-augmented versions of augmented traits that they have as Swaps
- Fix for certain traits appearing during random swaps that would spell doom for the player, such as Jugularious (since they’d have no ability to bite people)
- Fix for Scientist Slayer, Blahd Basher etc. being removed at the augmentation booth and still causing hostility on future floors
- Ammo Scavenger applies when a player with this trait picks up a weapon, rather than when the weapon is first dropped
- Adding Endurance points to Werewolf at the end of levels will affect Werewolf form endurance as well
- Replaced “-” with “|” on augmentation booth buttons to make it less confusing
- Fix for “x has left the game” appearing when someone attempts to join a game with the wrong password
- Upgrades are generally a bit higher-priced
Alpha 61f (October 8)
- Fix for incorrect language appearing for Attribute level-ups for certain languages
- Corrected Banana Lover + description
- Banana Lover cancels out Jugularious and Strict Cannibal in character creation
- Fix for occasional errors when NPC Vampires bite someone
- Increased the cost of Wall Walloper, removed Wall Walloper +
- Increased the cost of removing and swapping traits
- Fix for NPCs appearing to get annoyed with Werewolf on multiplayer client when they transform back to normal
- Crooked no longer affects Supercop in any way
- Fix for one of the Satellite hacks not working properly on multiplayer client
- Fix for clients seeing incorrect game over message when “Continue” is active if the host chooses End Game
- Fix for effects of Shifting Status Effects sometimes having effects on attributes that they weren’t supposed to on the next floor
- Fix for Cool with Cannibals not working during War Zone
- Fix for various online multiplayer weirdness
- Potential fixes for fire weirdness
In Other News:
Check out my environment artist Matthew Weekes's new Kickstarter here, featuring this snazzy exclusive Streets of Rogue card!