Jan 12, 2019

Marble Combat - Kaan@Phantom8

Hello everyone. Below are the patch notes for the previous week and the to-do list for the next week.

[New]

Lobby System

A lobby system is implemented. Lobby system allows you to advertise your game online and allows anyone to join. You can create a lobby or search for lobbies in the Play submenu.

Bugfixes

- Fixed toy train set's vagons being invisible
- Many collision issues resolved
- Server side fixes for displaying the player count

[Next]

Known Issues

- Lobby system contains a few bugs. We wanted to release it in its current status as we believe the pros exceed the cons and it is usable other than a few convenience tools like kicking someone from the lobby. Lobby system also messes the party display slightly.
- Handshaking with the server is not resolved all the time. This is about steam, however we will be implementing a retry system so a handshake will be assured in a single run instead of restarting the game.
- Joining a game in progress (Post ability selection) via Steam interface can cause unintended effects. To overcome this, joining a game after this period makes new players to spawn as spectators.

New Cosmetics Display and Steam Inventory Integration

While this is rather a long term goal (1-2 months), we will be creating a new customization page that is (At least in our minds) quite cool but no spoilers at this point. To go with it, we will also be fully integrating Steam Inventory. While the new customization system might make it into the demo, the Steam Inventory requires you to own the game and since you cannot own it before it is released, even though it is free to play, the plan is to make it ready by the early access release.

Jan 12, 2019

v0.9.8.0 Major Content Update!

The Parallax Effect - Danstarr13

Greetings survivors,

The main update for this week is indeed massive. New clothing items, new graphical elements and a brand new mutant which is vastly different than any current ones in the game. Before I get into the details of what's new, I'd like to take a moment to officially recognise the 1 year anniversary since the games initial launch on Steam. I think we can all agree, the game has changed A LOT since January 1st of 2018 when you saw it for the first time. In the short period of just 1 year I've taken in a huge amount of criticisms and suggestions from the players, some who've come and gone and some who've stuck around to see where the game has got to. There's still a long way to go, but I think in time, I'll be able to get there with the support of you guys. So, thanks to everyone who's played and got in contact with me about the game, it's really made all the difference in getting this far. I hope you continue to stick around and see the game develop further.

Anyway, enough about that, I'm sure you're eager to hear about the new improvements. I introduced the character customisation system fairly recently and up until now there's really only been a couple of styles to choose from. I've finally finished some new content I've been working on in the wardrobe department and now you should find a slightly wider assortment of clothes to choose from. No longer will you have to go out with the same old tacky, brown shirt and trousers on. I'd also like to note, there are some cosmetic clothing items which (like the weapon cosmetic inventory) can be obtained via certain achievements and such. More details about those items will be released shortly.

Now onto the main part. The new guy in town. Up until now, there's only been three mutants in the game. In case you've been lucky enough never to have seen any of them, they only surface at night and are capable of hunting down players over a short period of time. The Reaper, The Harrow and The Split each have random chances to spawn each night and they each have various abilities and stats. Both The Reaper and The Harrow have really nothing too special about them except being freaky looking and capable of killing you rather quickly if they catch you. When The Split was added, quite a long while back, it brought the first unique ability of any of the mutants, it had the ability to clone itself which made killing it significantly harder.

Well, now I would like to introduce definitely the most unique mutant in the game. The Grim. A fairly spooky fellow capable of some otherworldly abilities. The Grim cannot move by foot but rather stands still hiding in the shadows. The way it moves is by means of teleportation. Upon it's arrival in the world, it will choose a particular player to hunt down. It will spawn somewhere nearby but not too close so as to give its position away. Every minute or so he will teleport again, this time closer. If you can find him, you are able to damage him and upon taking damage he will teleport somewhere out of danger. Don't get close though, if you get within arms reach of him, he'll be able to get you. If you don't find him, he will continue to get closer and closer until time runs out and he comes right up to you.

If The Grim gets close enough to you, instead of killing you, he will drag you into what he calls, his pocket dimension. A hellish labryinth of blood covered tunnels. Upon entering the pocket dimension, you will be placed in a sealed room and will need to solve a puzzle in order to open the doors which lead to randomly generated corridors and rooms each with various things inside of them. Beware of traps and most importantly be on the look out for the portal room. It is easily identifiable by a large, blue glowing block in the center. Stepping on this block will allow you to escape the pocket dimension and return to the overworld. Upon escaping, you are safe, for now. However, if you do not find the exit within a certain time frame, the pocket dimension will begin to collapse and you will be killed inside of it, your gear will be lost, forever.

If that hasn't spooked you, go try it out for yourself and see if you can escape. By the way, if you manage to kill The Grim before he gets close to you, you will score some highly valuable loot. Though, finding a dark shadowy character in pitch black darkness in the middle of a forest is not exactly an easy task.

Additions

Added The Grim
Added The Pocket Dimension
Added unique mutant sound effects
Added 28 new cosmetic clothing items (I would list them all but that would take a very long time)
Added Hockey Helmet (ID 279)
Added Hard Hat (ID 280)
Added Plague Doctor Mask (ID 281)
Added Welding Mask (ID 282)

Fixes
Fixed a bug causing a duplicate house to spawn in Ridgeworth (thanks to HamUnDo for reporting it!)
Finally fixed all the 'none' items spawning (hopefully!)
Fixed a bug causing the item in slot 1 to disappear upon salvaging another item
Tweaked armour values for all head gear