This week’s update features a whole heap of balance changes, as well as a full set of translations, meaning every piece of text in the game is now translated to all available languages! Most of the balance changes are based on user feedback, so let me know if you like them, or if you think I screwed something up really badly!
The next build will be releasing off-schedule, since I’ll be away from home on the 27th. I may release it earlier, may release it later. Haven’t decided yet, we’ll see how things go!
This update’s Fortnight Discussion is about items you’d like to see added to the game post-launch.
Alpha 66
Localization
- Translations added for all text in the game
- Fixed a number of text sizing issues in non-English languages
Graphics
- Fix for visual special abilities (such as Water Cannon) on custom characters not appearing properly on multiplayer clients
- Fix for Leafblower particles not appearing the correct size
- Fix for Diminutive characters not always appearing as diminutive on multiplayer client
- Fix for issue where certain objects’ sprites can appear higher than they are supposed to if the player keeps playing for a long time, such as Vendor Cart
UI / Controls
- Loadout selection can be re-rolled at a cost of 5 nuggets
- Loadout selection is saved between games
- If the player chooses a loadout item, that item will be replaced in the loadout selection the next time he enters the Home Base
- Fix for “Connecting” screen taking a split second to appear when the player starts hosting a match
- Fix for slow motion not occurring as player uses Augmentation Booth
- Attribute upgrades at the end of levels typically appear at the top of the list instead of the middle
- Created alternate and more efficient solution for displaying lines on minimap
- Fix for starting player info buttons sometimes appearing on levels where they weren’t supposed to in local coop mode
- Fix for timer sometimes showing incorrect times between levels
- Fix for timer not disappearing when the player enters Home Base
- Fix for timer stopping when first player exits the level in a coop game. The timer now only stops when both players have exited the level
- Camera switch from full-screen to split-screen will always be immediate when a player teleports to another player
Playfield Objects
- It is now possible to traverse broken windows at the expense of health
- ATM can now hold up to 5 items
- Lockdown Walls are only triggered when law enforcement gets hostile toward the player, and not NPCs
- Lockdown Walls come down after a shorter amount of time
- Items in Loadout Machine are sold at a discount
- Goodie Dispenser base price is a bit lower
- Sell-O-Matic limit increases as you progress through the game
- Using the Augmentation Booth to swap “positive” traits costs significantly less than swapping negative ones
- An alarm sounds when Computer is destroyed
- Fix for Trap Doors spawning over conveyor belts and remaining permanently
- Fixed issue with ATM Machine button costs not always appearing correctly in Sandbox mode
Items
- Reduced value of Oil Container from $100 to $70
- Increased value of Rage Poison to $75
- Increased value of Quick-Escape Teleporter from $20 to $30
- Hacker now starts with Quick-Escape Teleporter
- Kill Profiter has a cap of $100 per floor
- Cologne’s effect on the player’s electability has been lessened
- Shurikens added to pool of potential in-game rewards
- Reduced the base cost of the Hiring Voucher
- Researching takes less time with the Scientist’s Research Gun
- Leafblower is capable of slowing down bullets
- Cube of Lampey now has limited uses, but Lamps will sometimes drop items and higher amounts of money
- Fud Processor and Ammo Processor now have limited uses
- Gas Mask offers general protection for your head in addition to protecting you from gas
- Placed a limit on how much armor can be lost on a single depletion event
- Cigarettes appear in trash cans less often
Status Effects / Traits / Special Abilities
- Trait upgrades have a chance to appear as choices at the end of every third level gained
- Special ability-related traits should appear more commonly at the end of every third level gained
- Traits at the end of levels will remain the same in different games if the same seed and character are used
- Bunch of other small adjustments to end-level Trait selections
- Reduced Character Creation cost of Moocher
- Reduced Character Creation and Unlock costs of Promise I’ll Return It
- Reduced Character Creation cost of Graceful
- Wall Walloper can only be used when holding a melee weapon
- Wall Walloper + re-added to the game
- Knocking down walls with melee weapons depletes the weapon’s durability by 40%, including with Wall Walloper
- Slippery Target + no longer causes enemies to have a 0% chance of aiming correctly at you
- Lock and Load no longer gives the player full ammo in their guns
- NPCs will not assume that players with “Scorching Savior” started a fire unless they actually see them do it
- Juggernaut causes the player to lose less health while charging, rather than making them completely invulnerable
- Tackler does not cause as much damage to enemies as before
- Bloody Mess appears only in character creation, and does not appear as an end-of-level reward
- Sleep Killer removed from the game, though it will still appear on custom characters who previously had it. I don’t think anyone will miss it much since Backstabber makes it pretty much irrelevant.
- Blocks Bullets removed from the game, though it will still appear on custom characters who previously had it. While I like the idea of it, it’s a bit too hard to get this working effectively and in a way that feels satisfying
- Moocher allows players to borrow money at a better interest rate
- Ideological Clash allows you to retaliate without facing repercussions from the Cops
- Class Solidarity makes people of your class Friendly toward you if they are initially Neutral
- Killer Thrower does 100 damage instead of 200
- Low-Cost Jobs is more effective
- Fix for weird stuff happening if Shapeshifter possessed a custom character clone in local coop or online multiplayer
Sound
- Fix for “jump” sound effect playing when players become a ghost
- Fix for menu sound effect not playing when starting or joining online games
Stats / Unlocks
- Firefighter unlock requirements can be satisfied by putting out fires in objects such as flaming barrels
- Player receives the same skill points for knocking out a rival as they do for killing a rival (150 for both)
- Player receives 75 skill points for knocking someone out instead of 100
Mutators
- SpeedRun Mode added - Places a timer on by default, loadout items cannot be brought into a speed run, Loadout Machines cannot be used, ATMs cannot be used to store or retrieve items
- Time Limit mutators now factor in the number of required missions
Level Generation
- Lots of changes to RNG to ensure that many more elements are generated the same when loading a saved game or using a seed. If you spot any elements of levels that are not being generated the same way, please let me know
- Fixed an instance where objects spit onto a conveyor belt did not reach the hole
Artificial Intelligence
- Killer Robot and Cop Bot explode when they die (how did I not think to add this earlier?)
- Followers are better at determining when it’s appropriate to fight on your behalf
- Fix for NPCs not helping friends who are being bitten by a Vampire
- Fix for cases where owners would chase a Thief out of a building and he would keep returning to that building
- Fix for NPCs not always going back to what they were previously doing after failing to Bite, Cannibalize or Pickpocket
Text
- Firefighter unlock description specifies that the fires must be extinguished with a Fire Extinguisher
Multiplayer
- Changes to how objects are destroyed on the client at the end of levels
- Fix for multiplayer clients who exited levels as ghosts appearing in the next level for the host before they had actually spawned
- Fix for potential networking issue if the player canceled out of creating or joining a game before the loading screen appeared
- The cost to revive other players is affected by the current level
- Fix for various errors when multiplayer client parries an NPC
Alpha 66b
- Fix for game sometimes not proceeding to the next floor after closing stats screen
- Fix for some of the Game Over screen text appearing too small and in the wrong position when using gamepad