BETA 71

Yeah that’s right, BETA. After 70 “alpha” releases, I’m finally calling this thing a beta. To be honest, I probably should have done that a few builds ago, since the game has been feature-complete for 1.0 for awhile.

“But shouldn’t you call it Beta 1?”

Yeah, but I don’t REALLY want to start all the way back at 1, do you? I’ve spent a long time building up that meaningless number! It’s been 3 years and 4 months since Alpha 1 was released! When the game gets out of early access, I’ll probably just keep the number and call it “Version X” instead of “Beta X”.

This update’s Fortnight Discussion: Your Biggest Pet Peeves. Yeah, this is going to be a painful one.

Also, a little plug: Be sure to check out ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove when it releases tomorrow! Streets of Rogue got a healthy dose of inspiration from the original Sega release from 28 years ago. It’s like a wayyyy more laid-back sort of rogue-lite that your mom/kid brother/non-gamer significant other can play with you.

Beta 71

Graphics

• Fix for people not having bug eyes when electrocuted
• Fix for people not having angry eyes when being enslaved
• Fix for clones of custom characters having incorrect skin color on multiplayer client
• Fix for players who are shirtless or pantsless appearing with white skin on multiplayer client
• Fix for player’s body appearing over scenery if they possess someone while in Giant form
• Fix for NPCs not appearing to shoot water at wall fires and oil fires on multiplayer client
• Potential fix for cases where Cop Bot security beams could appear incorrect colors and stay after their death
• NPCs do not appear highlighted when they are being arrested or enslaved

UI / Controls

• Fix for game hanging when the user changes their save slot
• Fix for NPC health bars sometimes being inaccurate for multiplayer client at the start of levels
• Fix for red buttons on character creation not appearing red after loading a character
• Traits and items can be disabled in the home base while in local coop mode
• Fix for Mutators menu not updating properly for other players in coop or online games when a player makes a change
• Fix for lines on missions screen blocking mouse clicks
• Fix for certain UI elements sometimes not appearing during camera zooms
• “Operating…” bar will close immediately if the player dies or is otherwise incapacitated
• All interfaces will close if the player is teleported or falls in a hole

Playfield Objects

• Traversing broken windows costs only 7 HP instead of 15 with Low Health For All mutator activated
• Fix for Alarm Button hacks from multiplayer client not being effective

Items

• Syringes are available from the Item Teleporter
• Mood Ring does not appear in the game (it didn’t do anything)
• Melee and gun accessories will not appear as quest rewards when the No Melee and No Guns mutators are active
• Ghost Gibber does slightly more damage dependent on your firearms skill
• Ghost Gibber causes knockback when causing damage on NPCs who are not ghosts
• Ghost Gibber damages NPCs standing in water or on puddles
• Ghost Gibber ammo count starts at 250 instead of 200

Status Effects / Traits / Special Abilities

• Burning Bullets lights people on fire when they die from a bullet
• Random Reverence cancels out Fair Game and The Law properly
• Fix for cases in online multiplayer where player could possess an NPC and have 0 health
• Fix for invisibility not ending properly for NPCs with quest markers
• Loneliness Killer does not trigger when the player enters a level as a ghost
• Fix for not being able to enslave NPCs who are already in your party
• Fix for Shapeshifter’s Super Special Ability to not cause a depossessed NPC or the people nearby to become annoyed/hostile not working in local or online coop modes
• Fail-safe for cases where Jock could get stuck in a charging state

Sound

• Fix for “sell item” sound effect playing at double volume when using Sell-O-Matic
• Fix for “quest failed” sound effect playing after the game has ended

Stats / Unlocks

• Fix for players who arrest innocents with whom they are aligned not losing XP

Missions

• Player will not be assigned a Rescue mission if other people in the building of the questgiver are annoyed or hostile toward the person being rescued
• Fix for instances where NPC owners in mission buildings would not be considered guilty
• Fail-safes for rare cases where a quest item for an optional quest or the Mayor’s Hat would not register as having been picked up properly by a multiplayer client

Big Quests

• Wrestler can no longer be tasked with battling Slaves
• Fix for Jock’s big quest sometimes requiring him to destroy nonexistent objects
• When the player brings two slaves of the same class to the elevator for the Slavemaster’s Big Quest, only one of the slaves will exit the level
• Shopkeeper will not be tasked with selling Rocket Launcher when Rocket Chaos mutator is active

Mutators

• Arena Wrestlers will not receive Rocket Launchers during Rocket Launcher Chaos
• If the player has a mutator on the daily run, then quits and resumes their game, then dies, any mutators from the daily run that have not been unlocked will be removed

Level Generation

• Fix for bush clusters spawning in differing formations with the same seed - and by extension, NPCs hidden in the bushes spawning in differing locations
• Fixed a pathing issue in one of the Arcades
• Removed a switch trap from one of the Arcades

Artificial Intelligence

• Player cannot command NPCs to stand on conveyor belts
• Cannibals and Vampire will cease biting/cannibalizing if they are electrocuted, dizzy, or frozen
• Slaves will no longer attempt to equip new headpieces while wearing a Slave Helmet, since this would cause them to die
• NPCs will not wait by doorways for the player to come out when the player is invisible
• NPCs hiding in Bushes are considered Guilty even if the player hits them before they have a chance to come out of hiding
• Killer Robot can no longer shoot while tripping on a Banana Peel
• Player cannot interact with NPCs while they are listening to the player’s jokes
• If the player is interacting with an NPC and the NPC becomes Annoyed or Hostile, the interaction will end immediately
• Fix for player not being able to command NPCs to stand in spots where walls had been destroyed
• Fix for Loyal/Aligned NPCs in your vicinity remaining hostile toward people you are enslaving after you finish enslaving them
• Fix for NPCs not equipping weapons that they pick up from the ground if they already have that weapon in their inventory and have run out of bullets
• Fix for NPCs not getting annoyed at other NPCs who are Cannibalizing or Biting
• Custom character NPCs with Fair Game will not run from other NPCs with Fair Game, or be hostile towards them
• Fix for prisoners saying “I’m free!” for only a split second after being released
• Player can no longer command Upper-Crusters to attack due to their cowardice, unless they are enslaved
• When a Slavemaster NPC leaves a level through an elevator, their slaves will be freed
• During radiation disaster, NPCs freed from prisons and other people who don’t have homes will run to shelter instead of hanging around outside
• Fix for cases where NPCs would become hostile toward the player for starting fires when they had not seen the fire and the player at the same time
• Arena battlers will not leave the ring to investigate loud noises
• Fix for Cop Bots having difficulty pathing when a level is filled with Ooze
• Fix for all NPCs in a building sometimes becoming friendly toward the player when the player completed a quest for someone that had no relation to those other NPCs
• NPCs will not blame the player if the player’s slave dies and their helmet explodes, unless the player is responsible for the slave’s death
• If the player successfully tells a joke, the recipient will become Friendly toward the player’s party of NPCs, as well as other players in the vicinity
• Fix for cases where a crime was committed and an NPC would become hostile toward a player who was under a cardboard box, when the NPC was unaware they were under the box
• Fix for Zombies starting Friendly toward NPCs who are Likeable
• Fix for NPCs who are annoyed at the player remaining annoyed after being zombified
• If an NPC steps on a banana peel, they won’t get angry unless the player was in viewing range
• Player can pay the bouncer an entrance fee at buildings where guards are inside, even if the player is already friendly with the bouncer, in order to make the guards friendly
• Fix for cases where a party member would not teleport with the player immediately after joining their party
• Fix for Bouncers spawned from the Clone Machine having the Bribe option
• NPCs say dialogue when you play bad music on the Jukebox
• Mobsters and Cop Bots won’t continue to follow you if they are out of vision range
• NPCs will not pause to listen for noises while standing on train tracks
• Fix for Slum Dweller not causing a ruckus if you tell them to stand guard first

Text

• Additions to credits text on main menu
• Added special thanks section to credits
• Fix for chatlog text appearing in incorrect language if the player is in an online game with someone of a different language setting, and that player dies

Tutorial

• Fix for rare case where player could be hurt by second red laser
• Fix for tutorial NPC telling you the wrong number of people who had died if you knock out the bouncer and then gib him

Performance

• Fix for frame hitch when opening the minimap with space bar in local coop mode

Multiplayer

• Fix for cases where players appear as ghost on multiplayer client when they are not actually ghosts
• Fix for ghosts of players not always exploding on game over in online multiplayer games
• Fix for discrepancies in visible destroyed walls on client when another client destroys the wall
• Potential failsafe for players not respawning as ghost in online multiplayer games
• Improvements to melee combat on client side to make it feel more like offline combat
• Improvements to flying body discrepancies between host and client
• Potential fix for cases where a large number of objects would fail to generate on the client

Internal

• Lots of work on console-specific stuff

Beta 71b

• Fix for quests not failing properly if the NPC holding the item falls in a hole