Nov 29, 2019

SCP: Secret Laboratory - Hubert Moszka

Hello, everyone!

Megapatch Part II has now successfully completed the final testing phase and today we are happy to announce that it is finally available to everyone! With this update, we have focused on improving our core gameplay, along with some huge overhauls and minor improvements highlighted below. This update also includes huge backend improvements and code optimization, so overall performance should noticeably be increased.

Introduction

Megapatch II is our biggest update yet, and this changelog will be relatively long. As it took almost a year, we would like to announce that at this point we are skeptical about continuing the work on the Megapatch update format, and that we will most likely go back to working on smaller updates to push out more content on a more regular basis. For detailed explanation of the waiting time, please read "MP2 - Status Update" or watch our DevLog:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi3gRz0vxSo

New Lockers

Though it doesn't sound that exciting, our new locker system is definitely a significant improvement that will drastically change how rounds play out. This is the reason why we are putting it at the top of this changelog. With our new system, more items can be found on the map, so the players don't have to rely that much on SCP-914 and their spawning inventories. This change is even more principal by the fact that we have added, reworked and re-balanced many of the items in the game.

One of the most important changes is that all Class-D and Scientists no longer spawn with ammunition, so the pistol in LCZ will only have 12 bullets and can be used as a "fast and effective tool to increase your trading skills" instead of being a killing machine.

Bulletproof Locker №7 (a.k.a. "Pedestal")
• Amount: random (between 4-8)
• Keycard required: Major Scientist, Senior Guard or better
• Possible spawn positions: 10 different places in LCZ and HCZ
• Loot: new SCP Items

Wall-mounted Medkit
• Amount: random (between 3-5)
• Keycard required: none
• Possible spawn positions: nearly 30 different walls of LCZ and HCZ
• Loot: First Aid Kits

Standard Locker
• Amount: 3 + 50% for the fourth one
• Keycard required: none
• Possible spawn positions: 8 different places in LCZ and EZ
• Loot: keycards, flashlights, medical items, other generic items

Weapon Locker Type 21
• Amount: 1
• Keycard required: Armory 2 Access (Senior Guard or better)
• Possible spawn positions: either Alpha Warhead armory or SCP-049's armory
• Loot: grenades, ammo, tablets, pistols, SMGs, disarmers, medkits, etc

MTF-E11-SR Rack
• Amount: 1
• Keycard required: Armory 2 Access (Senior Guard or better)
• Possible spawn positions: either Alpha Warhead armory or SCP-049's armory
• Loot: one MTF-E11-SR and five magazines (125 bullets in total)

Video summary

Inventory limits

In Megapatch II, all items have been categorized and the amount of items of the same category will have limitations. This also applies to the ammunition. The limits depend on the item category and the player's class.

Treatment System Rework

Believe it or not, the current treatment system has not been changed since its release, so it is a good opportunity to introduce a thorough rework of it. We have added more medical items and new mechanics. Let's see what's new!

As you can see, the medkit model has changed, and there are two additional consumable healing items. All of them have different effects, so let's explain some of the terminology:

Time of administering - specifies how long it takes to use a certain item; in other words, it determines how much you need to wait for the applying animation to finish
Instant health - specifies how many health points you're going to get right after the administering animation is finished
Regeneration - quite self-explanatory; a slow increase of health over a set time
Artificial health - it is an additional health bar that temporarily stores "AHP" ("artificial health points"). AHP slowly decays over time and serves as a shield that absorbs 70% of any damage

With those defined, let's talk about the items themselves:

Medkit - 65 instant health, 4 seconds to administer
Painkillers - Only 5 instant health, but can be administered almost immediately (0.5s) and initiates a very slow regeneration process, that can give an additional 25-30 health after approximately 30 seconds
Adrenaline - Can be administered as fast as the painkillers and it adds 50 artificial health. Additionally, it initiates a quick regeneration process that can heal up to 55 HP. It is currently the most powerful medical item (except for SCP-500, which we will talk about later)

Table summary

Item

Administering time

Instant health

Artificial health

Regeneration

Medkit

4 seconds

65 HP

Painkillers

0.5 seconds

5 HP

25-30 HP after ~30 seconds

Adrenaline

0.5 seconds

50 AHP

45-60 HP in less than 20 seconds

Video summary

New SCP items

In Megapatch II we have added 4 new consumable SCP items. All of them spawn in pedestals. Let's make a quick overview of them!

SCP-268 (full article)

This is my personal favorite - its potential has been presented in our Megapatch II Official Trailer. This is a hat that makes its wearer invisible for a couple of seconds. Even though the trailer was scripted, we have had multiple similar situations during the beta tests. As you probably suspect, to balance it out we needed to add some limitations; for instance, it does not affect SCP-939 or SCP-079, and other players can still try blind-shooting you. While invisible, you cannot perform any interactions, such as shooting, opening doors, clicking elevator buttons, throwing grenades, etc. - doing so will immediately end the invisibility.

SCP-018 (full article)

A bouncy ball that increases its speed at each bounce. After a couple of seconds, it becomes so fast that it can deal damage and destroy windows or doors. When it reaches its maximum speed, it will explode like a grenade after a short time, dealing additional damage to everyone nearby. It is proven to be very effective in small rooms.

SCP-500 (full article)

The panacea. It removes all negative status effects and is treated as the fourth medical item, as it is able recover your full health and it initiates a quick regeneration if you happen to get hit after using it.

SCP-207 (full article)

Lets take a look what the official wiki says.

Mass spectroscopy and chemical tests have shown higher than usual concentrations of caffeine and sugars (both natural and artificial), along with [REDACTED]. The practical effect of this is when a subject drinks SCP-207-1, they will effectively no longer require sleep or rest, nor attempt to sleep or rest. This effect is not lessened by any soporific or medication yet tested on test subjects.

In the game, it increases your movement speed, but it also slowly drains your health. SCP-500 will cancel the effect early.

Video summary

Micro H.I.D. rework

Just take a look at the pure power leaking from that image!

The model isn't the only thing that has changed, we have also changed the mechanics. The old MicroHID could be fired only once and the shot wasn't able to be canceled - once you pressed the left mouse button, you couldn't stop it until the whole energy is drained or someone kills you. The new Micro however, can store a variable amount of energy - you can use it all at once, or you can split it into multiple shots. Additionally, you can hold the right mouse button to keep the Micro ready to fire without actually firing it, though this drains energy at a slow rate. It might sound confusing at first, but the video should clarify everything:

Details and Balance Changes

Developer Note: As part of Megapatch II, we wanted to address the ongoing balance of SCPs, room design and guns, especially as their current balance has become very clear with how long Megapatch I has had to ferment. These changes are experimental and subject to change, so let us know how they end up playing in-game. To give some insight on how our design team came up with each change, to some points we have added developer notes that outline our thought process when making these changes.

Gun-related:

Weapons now show attachments while on the ground, even ammo counter attachment will show how many bullets are in the gun
Class-D and Scientists no longer start with ammunition. It is still possible to find the pistol, but it won't end up with death of all representatives of the other team
Guns and ammunition spawn in more places
Many attachments were buffed or weakened, depending on how often they are used
Project90 was strongly buffed and it is now more similar to MTF-E11-SR with a short-range setup
Changed all MTF-E11-SR sights and scopes, so they have a cooler effect (more on that in our devlog)

SCP changes:

SCP-106
• Movement speed increased to 6 m/s (was 5.6 m/s)
• Attack cooldown increased to 2 seconds (was 1 second)
• Attack cooldown only activates on a successful hit
• Pocket Dimension damage ramps up over time on targets who longer there
• Targets can’t sprint in the Pocket Dimension
Developer note: We felt that 106’s primary draw was his mobility (phasing through doors and his sinkhole) but his actual gameplay was very frustrating, because his cooldown was severely punishing for what can amount to little reward. These changes should make it less annoying to catch someone while not making 106 imbalanced against groups. The changes to his PD provide a sense of urgency and panic, preventing people from simply using the new medical items to stay in the dimension for extended periods, and increases 106’s lethality.
SCP-049
• Movement speed increased to 5.6 m/s (was 5.2 m/s)
• Successful kills activate a 1.5-second cooldown
• Greatly increased how long a body can be dead for before resurrection is no longer possible (now 10 seconds)
• Resurrection can now be performed regardless of cause of death
• Resurrection time decreased to 7 seconds (was 10 seconds)
• Resurrection time no longer decreases with lost HP
• Introduced a text notification when attempting to revive players after their bodies are no longer usable
• Tweaked the HUD icon displayed while reviving players
Developer Note: 049 was an extremely powerful killer, easily capable of wiping out whole teams in seconds with good support from his teammates. However, his low speed and HP made it difficult for him to stay relevant outside of early game by forcing him to hide from firefights, and he often felt disconnected from his zombies. This change weakens his ability to team-wipe, but increases his power as a support class and allows him to catch up with his targets more consistently.
SCP-049-2
• HP reduced to 300 (was 400)
• Damage per hit reduced to 40 (was 60)
• Movement speed increased to 6.5 m/s (was 6 m/s)
• Attack wind-up sped up to 0.2s (was 0.65s)
• Attack speed and wind-up are no longer dependent on health
• 1s cooldown on all attacks remains in place
Developer Note: 049-2 often felt too sluggish and inconsistent to be useful, with his long wind-up making it difficult to hit any shots - especially against moving targets. This change not only allows him to catch up with targets, but consistently land hits and provide a genuine threat if allowed to swarm enemy players. This gives it the consistency it needs, rather than simply acting as a meat-shield, and hugely improves how fun he is to play.
SCP-939-xx
• Removed 25% speed boost when damaged
• Sprint speed increased to 7 m/s (was 6.5 m/s)
• Walking footsteps are silent; sprinting footsteps remain audible
Developer Note: 939 suffered immensely from door closing in chases, and could not properly punish people for sprinting. Its boost was also more disorienting than useful for a 939 player, and people fighting 939 would often choose not to shoot it, in order to prevent it from catching up. This change allows him to properly punish people in chases, but also doesn’t punish those people for fighting back. Because these changes *do* somewhat neuter 939 in direct combat, he’s been given an advantage in stealth gameplay, allowing him to prowl and set ambushes where they’re least expected.
SCP-096
• Now plays a new sound on kill
• Triggering time was decreased by 30%
SCP-079
• Recontainment sequence now begins automatically if 079 is the final SCP alive
• Now receives half kill experience when it assists in SCP-106 capturing a player
• Activation time of generators was reduced to 1 minute and 5 seconds.
• Generators can now be unlocked by a card with armory level 2
• Interface changes: some icons are grouped, more customizability in game options.
Developer Note: This first change is one that many plugins or server mods already enacted, and for good reason. When 079 is the last SCP, there’s very little that it can do except wait for the warhead or generators - which isn’t fun for anyone in the match. The change should help to bring a satisfying conclusion to rounds where 079 is the last SCP alive. To encourage folks to actually try the conventional recontainment sequence, the activation time of generators has been decreased and cards of armory level 2 can now also open them.

Room design:

The greenhouse has returned (officially presented in our trailer); it also features a door to a small room where random lockers have a chance to spawn
Fixed some missing lights in SCP-914’s room
Touched up the locked doors in the Class-D cells
As previously mentioned, added more lockers and items scattered throughout the facility
Added winning art entries from the 2018 art contest to the back of the Class-D cells
Fixed several instances of missing geometry throughout the map
Implemented new models and textures for server racks
SCP-106’s control room doors now close automatically after a few seconds (works like a checkpoint)
Added colliders to several spots to prevent exploiting room geometry, such as the windows on SCP-106’s containment chamber or the pillars in 939’s
SCP-012’s research supervisor card has been replaced with a zone manager card
SCP-096’s commander card has been replaced with a lieutenant card
The server room’s cadet keycard has been replaced with a scientist card
Multiple generators can now spawn in the same room

Disarmer Changes

The disarmer has undergone some important changes that we would like to share with you. First things first, inspired by many community-made mods, we have added a system that changes cuffed Class-D into Cadets once they escape. Escorted Class-D will now count like escorted Scientists, so even if all Scientists are dead, you can still try to cuff and escort a D-boy. The same situation applies to Chaos Insurgents, that can cuff and escort Scientists to count them as Class-D. This system can be disabled in the server config if someone soulless thinks that D-boys are supposed to die. Because they are.

Other than that, other people can now see you holding a disarmer, and you cannot cuff someone who's holding any item. This way, cuffing people isn't a way to attack, but a mutual agreement. Cuffed players will see a HUD indicator and they won't be able to interact with elevators, doors and items.

Miscellaneous Changes

Megapatch II also includes a number of small changes and other improvements that aren't always noticeable in-game, but are still significant.

Added a new UI menu that shows basic information about the player’s active class, abilities, and role, bound to F1 by default
Default starting inventories for some classes have been revised
• All NTF will no longer spawn with flashbangs
• Cadets will now start with a medkit and a disarmer
• Commanders will now start with adrenaline
• C.I. will start with painkillers and a medkit
Added a new mechanic, mentioned earlier, called artificial health, which provides a buffer against damage taken
• Granted by consumable items
• 70% of damage taken will be absorbed by artificial health
• If damage fully depletes artificial health, excess damage is dealt to normal health
• Artificial health decays by roughly 1 point per second and caps at 75
Re-added blood decals
C.A.S.S.I.E. has had some changes for MP2:
• It now features random audio glitching and hiccups to improve atmosphere
• Recontainment messages are reworded and modified, they provide much more information on the details of SCP deaths; for instance, when an SCP is killed by a non-NTF class, they’re described as “terminated” instead of “recontained”
• The announcements now reduce the volume of all other sounds while it is playing, instead of being excessively loud
• The amount of recordings in our word base has increased dramatically, mod creators and server providers should have much more freedom in making custom phrases for their servers
Flashbangs no longer affect the person who threw them
Almost all translations have received major updates
Speaking over the radio now has a different key than speaking normally (bound to V by default)
The player list now features an in-game report system next to the mute button and profile feature; reports filed here will be stored on our servers for our global moderators to look over
The main menu’s music and post-processing have been updated. It also features separate volume sliders and a submenu to customize gameplay preferences
Credits have been updated
Added new sounds for containment chamber blast doors
New remote admin commands:
• roundlock, which prevents the round from ending while active (also has the shorthand rl or rlock)
• lobbylock, which pauses the pre-round lobby countdown (shorthand is ll or llock)
• ping ID, so admins can see somebody else's ping
• roundtime, which tells you how long the round lasts (shorthand rt or rtime)
Players drop their ammo and items when they escape
Added interpolated command system to server name and player list in order to insert live data into the respective fields
All of SMod's name variables have been adopted into command form
Basic command sets have been implemented, such as mathematical and logical operations
The pre-match lobby has a new appearance
The Pocket Dimension has new lighting and ambience
SCP-939’s mimicking no longer plays over SCP chat
SCP-914 has been re-balanced and it now includes all items
Glass shaders have been reworked to look nicer
Glass in SCP-049’s armory is now breakable
Mug™
Optimized The Chair of Lag

Conclusion

Through Unity hiccups, bugs, and glitches - from our never ending Soon™ to release - we would all like to thank you for sticking with us during this massive journey. These past few months have been crazy, and it’s great to finally be releasing this update. We thank you all for being patient with us and believing in us during this long wait.

On behalf of everyone at Northwood Studios, we hope you enjoy the new update!

Hubert Moszka
Game Director and CEO