SURPRISE!
That's right, you read the title correctly, today we are very happy to announce you that...
HACKTAG NOW HAS A SINGLE PLAYER MODE!
We have kept the secret as longer as possible, only some very persistent folks twisted our arm to get this information from us on Discord, but now it's real.
You can now play the game on your own and get twice the stress just for yourself by instant switching between the 2 roles Agent and Hacker.
EARLY VERSION: We need your feedback!
The single player mode is still in development, but we decided to go ahead and let you play it so we can use your suggestions and feedback to polish it. If you have some ergonomics requests, balancing issues in some levels, please feel free to report it to us. After all, this is one of the best things about Early-access!
Considering that the single player mode doesn't contain a dedicated tutorial for now, here is a little recap of how it works:
PLAY THE AGENT AND THE HACKER
In solo mode, you still create and pick two characters, your agent and your hacker with their own XP and skills, just like in the co-op modes...But you will control both characters.
PRESS TAB TO SWITCH ROLE
You always start a game on the split-screen view and you can switch between the two roles by pressing TAB or LT/L2.
HOLD TAB TO CHANGE VIEW
Of course, the solo mode also allows to change from the split-screen view to a full screen when you hold tab or TB. In this view, you can also switch from agent to hacker, with a very cool animated split-screen effect just like in old Brian de Palma movies. (the older movie addicts among will know what I'm talking about.)
GIVE BASIC ORDERS TO 2ND CHARACTER
The communication system used to ping your partner when playing online will be used here to give a "go to" order to the character you're not controlling. That's pretty handy you'll see. Just beware of the enemy on their way! ;)
SWITCH ROLE WHEN YOU STEAL DATA
Pro-tip: When you hold USE button to steal data and switch role during the download, the character will keep stealing the data while you can move with the other one. We let you imagine the skill it needs to optimize your way into an open-space in order to loot all the data as quickly as possible. ;)
That's it! Now try it and give us your feedback
Again, since this is an early version of the game mode, we really need your help to improve it. Report us your suggestions and issues on Discord and the forum, we will make good use of them.
You'll quickly see that it is a pretty different approach from Hacktag's original gameplay, but it is really cool and it actually works far better than we expected! It is a really cool way to practice the levels, learn the patrol of guards and ultimately, dazzle your partner with your crazy skills when playing the co-op modes.
We had been playing with the idea of a solo mode for a long time, but it probably wouldn't have been possible had we not decided to enter Early-Access. So thank you Early-Access and thank YOU for playing it!
Of course, we will always consider the co-op gameplay as the core experience for Hacktag and we will keep working on improving it in the coming weeks. But still, we are very happy to add this new line in the Hacktag Steam store page!
Wait! There's more!
The update also comes with a new character creation and customization interface. We didn't have time to finish properly when the menu arrived during Winter hacker but here it is!
2018-01-12 Changelist - Early Access version v0.17
- New solo mode.
- New character creation and customisation interface
- New co-op mini-games ergonomy (can control both roles windows during solo mode)
- Textures optimizations in menu.
- Help and controls screens when pressing start have been updated
Have fun with this mode and beware that now, if you get caught, there won't be anyone to blame but yourself! ːsteamhappyː