I bring you good news. The Secret Neighbor Beta is coming. You've probably seen updates to the "Alpha" branch, which is the one we'll be using for the actual Beta. It will be renamed once it goes live.
When is the Beta coming?
We're doing final testing and Quality of Life improvements. We expect the Beta will launch early August.
What's coming to the Beta?
Character classes.
The team has been hard at work putting together more varied class systems for both the Neighbor and player characters. We've done extensive work in adding abilities and balancing them together. You can expect reworked character classes.
We went away from configuring your own characters, and instead went for classes -- this includes the Neighbor. Otherwise you ended up with the "perfect" config for your character and stuck with it, while we want to encourage player experimentation and trying out different playstyles.
My favorite Neighbor ability right now is throwing down a smoke bomb, like a ninja.
Animations Character animations have been reworked. This was the biggest win we could do to make everything look and feel much better.
Quality of Life / User Flow We found it incredibly frustrating when lobbies fill up and players don't press ready. The flow was a bit off - since you'd configure your character after you've joined a lobby. Instead, we enable players to configure their characters before they join Quick Game. An automatic countdown starts once a lobby hit minimum amounts of players.
Meanwhile, in Custom Games, players can mess around with game rules and take their time with configuring classes in-lobby. The idea is that when you're in a custom game, odds are you know people you're playing with. So you can spend some time chatting and experimenting.
So Quick Game will actually be for quick games. Press one button, and you're in.
Neighbor's Command Room & Sonar Nerf In the Beta we decided to remove the "sonar" item from Neighbor's inventory and merge that with the Neighbor's Command Room. It's the room the Neighbor respawns in. Now you can enter it, and use it to teleport to multiple locations around the house. The sonar is now located there, allowing you to quickly scan the house and figure out where the players are.
Amongst other notable improvements, the Neighbor can now lock/open gates by activating a lever next to them. This used to be the sonar item's secondary ability and was a bit imbalanced.
Secret Neighbor will be launching this FALL. We are aiming for the Halloween timeframe and will confirm it after we run a SUMMER ALPHA. We also have a new E3 2019 Trailer for you. Here's your todo list
Sign-up for The Alpha
Alpha sign-ups are open at http://SecretNeighbor.com - be sure to sign-up to get into the final summer alpha happening soon.
We all know you're simply dying to sneak into your creepy Neighbor's house. Do we have news for you -- the Easter Alpha for Secret Neighbor is now live!
Here's a quick overview of the game and its current state:
We will be doing so during the whole duration of the Christmas Alpha
How long does it run?
The alpha will run from today December 19th until January 6th.
If I get in, how do I get access?
You will get a Steam key via e-mail. It will be for an app called "Secret Neighbor Alpha"
Now you all might be wondering, what exactly is included in this Alpha? We've done two of them so far. The first one was very limited with a few features, and then we expanded during Halloween. I won't bore you with the details, so here's everything you might expect.
The House with some procedural elements
The house has been fitted with a Christmas theme, but also expanded and improved. The house now has some degree of procedural generation - random doors will be completely blocked off.
Falling / Knocked Out Mechanic
Players can now get knocked out. You will get knocked out if you take fall damage, or if you take damage from other players or a bear trap.
You can slowly crawl around when doing so, and need a team mate to revive you.
The Items
NEIGHBOR'S ARSENAL consists of a few new additions. You can equip 2 items as the Neighbor, so combine wisely. You might want to get the Mask and Beartraps to lure unsuspecting players to their demise. Or maybe you want the smoke bomb and ability to turn into a gift box. It's up to you.
Mask Use it on other players to copy their look and nickname. This effect will vanish after transforming back into the Neighbor form.
Gift wrap Allows you to disguise yourself as a gift box. Best used for ambushes. Your gift box will have a fancy mustache on it. Smoke grenade Throwable item - creates a smokescreen which will last for 15 seconds blocking the vision of players. You will still see them fine.
Radar A player detector, and house remote control -- two in one! Reveals positions of players and can be used to open and close gates in any part of the house. Bear trap Cover the whole house with them! Bear traps will effectively stop players who prefer to act alone. It takes time to set up and can be easily destroyed if exposed. But the game designer forgot to put a limit on these.
Gift box A colorful, festive box with great aerodynamic characteristics. All boxes fly further and more precise than other items.
General items. Don't underestimate their value during the match. A well placed chair blocking the door might just save your life.
Flashlight Your best friend in the dark corners of the Neighbor's house. Can also be used to blind other players when aimed into their faces.
Chair Used to block doors. You can prevent the Neighbor from getting into your room or isolate your careless victims from their teammates. Blocked doors can be knocked out, but it takes a significant amount of time.
Chocolate bar Tasty and healthy! Eat it, and it will allow you to run a lot faster for several seconds.
Power Milk It makes you stronger and allows to throw objects much further for a limited time.
When does the game come out?
The short answer is we don't know yet. This Alpha will give us a clear idea of if we're headed in the right direction, and what features we need to focus on. Behind the scenes we have a ton of ideas, and the "pilots" for some of them are being tested this holiday season.
Make sure to follow & wishlist
Don't forget to follow and wishlist the game on Steam, and we're excited to see everyone's feedback on the forums!
Secret Neighbor is a Multiplayer Social Horror game.
Up to 8 players (subject to change) jump into a match where they need to sneak into the Neighbor's basement. Events take place between Act 1 and Act 2 of the main Hello Neighbor game.
The only problem is that one of the players is actually the Neighbor in disguise. His job is to gain trust of other players while sabotaging their efforts to find keys in the house, to unlock the basement door.
This creates a very tense social horror experience where you can't really trust anyone. Our early playtests are showing a lot of fun in terms of social engineering strategies players use.
The Neighbor player needs to be very careful about revealing himself, while others need to be cautious of trusting anyone. It's similar to the feeling of the card game "Werewolf" which we played a lot during the pre-production phases.
Yes, you get to play as the Neighbor and get special abilities.
We are currently in pre-alpha and will be hosting an Alpha test this summer. Everyone can sign-up for it at http://SecretNeighbor.com
More details will follow soon, and I hope you enjoyed the E3 announcement :)
Thanks a lot, and we'll be posting updates here frequently!