Apr 6, 2022
Builder Simulator - LMG_Lula
Hello Builders!

Your hard work during the playtests has to be rewarded 👑

We don't have much but we surely have shovels. So here we come with a surprise - a diamond shovel. You'll get it when you buy a full version of Builder Simulator 💕🎁



They say "diamonds are girls' best friends" and we believe this one is going to be builders' best friends 💎🔨🔧



Hope you will enjoy it and thank you once again! 💖🥰


Best regards,
Builder Simulator Team



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1120320/Builder_Simulator/
Knock on the Coffin Lid - MrDedSniper
Knock-knock, players! In update 0.4.15, we focused on fixing the bugs that you wrote to us about.


Bug fixes
  • Now the effect of the "No chance" card is summed up correctly and is triggered upon opponent’s miss.
  • Inflicting Exposed on the hero when playing the "Face-Off" card now works as indicated in the description.
  • The "Power of Gold" card (since the card is Ethereal) now burns if it isn’t used.
  • The “Complete Elimination” card now works correctly when enemies are reborn.
  • The constant buffs from difficulty modifiers no longer change the color of the changed damage in enemy intentions.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the animation speed setting not to work for some animations.
  • The “Thick Skin" card is now added to rewards only if there is nothing else to be added there.
Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/XrjERDH9Av
Yours, Redboon team!
Curse of the Sea Rats - RichAFK
Ahoy Rats, Rebels, and Renegades!

It's been some time since our last post but we're back with some big news! Firstly, we wanted to thank our community for their patience and to assure you that we have planned a regular series of developer updates that we'll be pushing out every few weeks from now until launch later this year.

You can expect more information on dates and milestones, key game features as well as progress updates and other fun behind the scenes content!

Kickstarter Backer Demo

A few weeks back we gave our loyal Kickstarter backers whose pledge level included 'beta access' a first exclusive look at the Curse of the Sea Rats demo. We can't thank our backers enough for supporting the project from such an early stage and hope that everyone is enjoying their time exploring the world of Curse of the Sea Rats.



Backer Feedback Changes

An important aspect of this backer demo has been gathering player feedback, and we've had a really positive response so far! We have implemented a number of key fixes in response to backer's comments and suggestions and today we are releasing an updated version of the demo for backers to play.

The change list is as follows:

  • Fixed issues with incompatible controllers.
  • Bussa blocking modified to be faster.
  • Fixed camera in Blacksmith intro.
  • Now settings presets work.
  • Visual improvements for the skill trees.
  • Fixed some chests that kept appearing in the minimap.
  • Other minor bug fixes.
To see these new changes please restart Steam and remember, this demo is only available on Steam and Windows.



What's Next?

As you know, the demo is a work-in-progress preview of the game, and content is therefore subject to change. One area the team are currently working on improving is the whole cinematic system so that the player can decide when text opens. Due to the technical complexity of this particular issue, we are sorry to say that this will not be implemented in the demo, but rest assured it will make its way into the finished game!

Elsewhere, one of the main focuses has been balancing the game to make it challenging, yet fair and enjoyable. All of the crew are working hard to improve the gameplay experience for the final version. The development of the game continues as planned and we expect to release the game in 2022, all being well!



How to Submit Feedback

The Curse of the Sea Rats crew is always grateful for feedback. If you’ve played the demo and would like to share your comments and suggestions, please feel free to fill out this feedback form.

Alternatively, our community in Discord is growing and you can join us in the specific demo channel only for backers and connect with all the pirates supporting the project.



Remember that if your pledge level allows, you will have free access to this beta version of the game until 22nd April 2022.



IMPORTANT: Content Creation & Embargo

We’ve received a lot of questions about posting on social media, sharing footage and screenshots of the beta, and just have a few rules concerning this:

  1. There is an embargo on content sharing in effect until 22nd April 2022. Please do not talk about the game, share any gameplay capture, videos or screenshots before that date.
  2. For any content that you do create, please include the disclaimer “This content was captured from an early preview build of the game and is, therefore, subject to change.”
If any content is posted before the embargo date, we will request that it be taken down (sorry!).

Enjoy the new version of the demo and please, report all the bugs you can find!

Thank you very much, pirates! We'll be back with another update soon!

Petoons Studio
Battle Bands: Rock & Roll Deckbuilder - Theodore Roosevelt
The continued response to Battle Bands has been amazing and the feedback invaluable, with it we have continued fixing issues and improving the game!

The third patch is focused mainly on fixing bugs and continuing the quest for balance, with a few quality of life improvements in there as well. We look forward to you playing more with Patch #3 and continuing to give us more useful feedback!

Bugs

Gameplay
  • "Dancing To The Groove" no longer discards entire opponent hand when it should discard no cards from opponent hand.
  • "Thunderous Cacophony" description fixed.
  • "Beasts Theme" no longer dodges protection.
  • "Drumline With The Crew" description fixed.
  • "Steal" Changed to "Copy" for cards that do not destroy the original when they replicate it on your side ie. "Mimicking Hook"
  • Band names no longer overlap with skip button.
  • Moments have more time before closing after the outcome is decided.
  • Removing cards using a moment no longer raises price of card removal at shops.
  • Modifiers added during a match do not stick around in the descriptions on following screens.
  • Self discard no longer leaves duplicate unplayable cards in hand. Now all discarded and exhausted cards disappear from hand properly.

Cosmetic
  • "Barely Beanie" clipping fix.
  • "Strands Sidepart" clipping fix.
  • "Shaggy Swoop" clipping fix.
  • "Just A Solid Kit" masking issues fixed.

Miscellaneous
  • Van no longer disappears from main menu.
  • Daily Store Counter no longer goes negative.
  • Keyboard Unlocks no longer show with guitar icon.
  • "Which Instrument do you prefer" Chat on band screen no longer 0 seconds long.
  • Claiming Challenges no longer cause last season unlock to pop up as if it is a new unlock.
  • Main menu van defaults to last used van skin.

Balance Changes

Bosses
  • Jackal Brothers: Hype Goal base lowered by 5, Tour Level 2&3 have one more "Howling Organ" each. Tour Level 7&8 have one more energy and one fewer "Reckless Rides."
  • Goo Fighters: Tour Level 1 have -1 card draw and one fewer "Oozing Lick." Tour Level 3 have + 1 card draw and max hand size.
  • Riff Rats: Tour level 1 has -1 Energy and +1 "Family." Tour Level 6 has +1 Energy.
  • Caper Crew: Tour Level 1 has -1 Energy and +1 "Retreat Beat." Tour Level 3 has +1 "Vault Keys." Tour Level 5 has +1 energy.
  • BardBarians: Tour Level 1 has -1 Card Draw. Tour Level 4 has +1 Card Draw and Max hand size.
  • Skidmarks: Tour Level 1 -1 Card Draw. Tour Level 4 +1 Energy.
  • Coin Ops: Tour Level 4 -1 card draw. Tour Level 5 -1 "Xtreme GPU." Tour Level 8&9 + 1 Card draw and Energy.
  • Real Good Boys: Tour Level 1 +1 Card Draw. Tour Level 2 -1 "Bad Dog" Tour Level 4 -1 Card draw. Tour Level 6 +1 "Bad Dog" -1 Energy.

Cards
  • "Pretty Motif" +2 Capacity.
  • "Patient Bridge" is now tier 3 from tier 2.
  • "Awesome Cymbal Tricks" no longer has "Jacked Up" upgrade, now has "Incredible" upgrade.
  • "Cymbalic Reminders" is now tier 3 from tier 2, +1 capacity and only modifies snares in hand.
  • "Steady Riff" renamed to "Steady Lick"
  • "Legendary Instructor" now exhausts.

General
  • Each Show in tour mode now gives $10 fewer then it did before.
  • Party Moment give $10 less for reward.
  • Contract moment gives $25 and $50 less respectively for small and big contract options.
  • Sponsorship Moment give $15 less for taking either option.
  • Time Traveling Phone Booth moment gives $15 fewer dollars.
  • Laundromat Moment card removals cost $15 and $20 more for 1 and 2 removal options respectively.

New Features

New Cosmetics!

  • "Fiery Solarpunk" Van available to all players to celebrate the first band the "Fiery Solarpunk Wheels" to earn the "Impossible?!" achievement.
  • "Side-Locs" hairstyle added to daily shop
  • "Custom Classic" guitar added to daily shop
  • "Thorns N' Roses" mask added to daily shop



Thank you all for playing Battle Bands! We hope you keep that feedback coming and have fun playing the updated Battle Bands!
If you have more questions, comments, or are just looking for awesome Battle Bands players, head over to our Discord!
ボクロボ ~Boxed Cell Robot Armies~ Playtest - Matsu Friends
  • 円滑なデバッグ作業の為、Steamの認証を一時的にオフにしました!
  • センチネルL・Rの説明文を正しいものに置き換えました!
  • 戦闘時のカメラ位置を、より全体を収めるように調整しました!
  • 戦闘時のBOSSのステータスを、より自然な大きさへ調整しました!
  • アナライズ画面でボクロボフォーカス時の、HP減少量目安が異なるバグを修正しました!
Apr 6, 2022
Elewder - Henley
Welcome to the Bath House Warlock! Remember the rules, no running near the pools, soap should not be used as lube, and wipe down any benches you fornicate on! This update is another massive one as new content comes rolling in. We are also going to be adjusting our pricing based on community feedback, as of today the price will drop to $7.99 USD from $14.99 USD. We hope you all spread the word about Elewder and help us grow!

The content in this build is focused entirely on the Bath House area, formally the Water Zone this has a distinctly Roman vibe to the minion and environment designs.







Along with the area theming, we have 5 new minions that make up the area.



From left to right:
Centurion: She uses her power to send powerful sword projectiles at you in groups of three. Dodge the best you can!
Gladiator: An arena combat specialist, she uses her special net weapon to lock you in place. When you can’t move you’ll be a sitting duck to all attacks!
Hoplite: Trained to fight behind a shield the Hoplite can only be damaged from the sides and behind. Do everything you can to get behind them!
Maiden: Magical creatures who’ve been captured and used as servants in the Bath House. They control the power to launch water traps around the room.
Zealot: Cleaning patrons with her skills, she can also lob bouncing orbs of water around the room.

We have also taken steps to finalize the entire Elewder soundtrack, the OST includes 18 total tracks. Each region has an exploration track, a combat track, and a boss theme. Along with the player area music and the miniboss theme. Plus one bonus track for the trailer music. Most of these should already be in the game along with the new music delivery system!

Version 0.1.4 Changelog:

- Added new music:
  • Player room
  • Bath House - exploration, combat, boss
  • Bordello - exploration, combat, boss
  • Menagerie - exploration, combat, boss
  • Foundry - exploration, combat, boss
- Fixed dynamic music system.
- Added new items:
  • Break-out bag - gives some gold, key, and bomb on pickup
  • Unrequited Love - heals 0.5heart on a finisher
  • EtherealPoison - deals 1 damage every 3s. More stacks faster tick
  • Infernal Incense - Temporary Damage On Kill
  • Inchastity Belt - Decrease lust penalty when getting hit
  • Alchemist's Boon - Chance for AOE damage on hit
  • Sound Advice - Chance To Spawn Half Heart On Crit
  • Dubious Distillation - Chance To Fire Magic Missile
  • Amusing Anecdote - Chance To Spawn Key On Getting Hit
  • Dangerous Notion - Temporary Fire Rate On Crit
  • Daemon's Skull - Temporary Fire Rate On Exploration
- Added new environment art for Bath House.
- Added 5 new unique Bath House Minions:
  • Zealot
  • Maiden
  • Hoplite
  • Gladiator
  • Centurion
- Added new animations:
  • 2 Finishers
  • 2 Boss finishers
  • 2 Failure animations
  • 2 Boss failure animations
- Added Big failure animations to the gallery.
- Added auto finish to the minigame.

Thank you all very much for being patient with us as we build Elewder to be the best dang game we can make it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1597710/Elewder/

Cheers!
Battle Cry of Freedom - FSE_Olafson


Welcome to Battle Cry of Freedoms' 5th regular update. As usual, we implemented a number of community-requested features and changes. If you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to join our Discord Server!

This weeks patch is rather small and mostly focused around Quality of Life changes, Regiment (Clan) additions and bug fixes. You can read the Full Changelog at the bottom of the Blog Post. As usual, here are some of the more important changes in detail:

Player position Desync and Melee changes
We have hopefully fixed an issue causing others players to heavily desync when bumping into each other. This patch should significantly improve this problem and should result in much better melee gameplay. In addition, we have also added a number of melee changes. Please take a look in the changelog for details.

Regiment Requested Features
Using the Modded Troops (Enable under Player Settings on Server), Regiments now will have access to two fully customizable placeholder units for the Union and Confederates. Regiments therefore will be able to use these placeholders to create their own uniforms with. The Confederates have access to various Butternut, Grey and EAC uniforms while the Union has access to Frock Coats, Sack Coats and Hardee Hats.

The placeholder Units provide standard Infantry bonuses, so they should be good to use in Linebattles too! Players can even edit the Display name of these Units by modifying the Moddable Troops.txt in the game folder.



Commander Conquest
As mentioned in an earlier Blog, we ran into some unforeseen issues with the new game mode and had to delay its release. We are still finalizing and testing the new game mode, and therefore have decided not to release it just yet. Instead, Commander Conquest will go live next Monday the 11th April!

To celebrate the addition of the new Commander Conquest game mode, Battle Cry of Freedom will be participating in a Weeklong Steam Sale from the 11th to the 18th of April.

For those of you interested in a preview of the new Commander Conquest game mode, Dinklebean will be Livestreaming a few rounds of Commander Conquest tonight at 9pm CET (3pm EST) (8pm BST) to his Twitch!

Check him out here: https://www.twitch.tv/dinklebean


Battle Cry of Freedom Sale!
From the 11th to the 18th of April, you will be able to pick up Battle Cry of Freedom for 25% off of the retail price of $19.99 (€19.99).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358710/Battle_Cry_of_Freedom/

Full Changelog
New Features:
  • Added 6 new Community request banners.
  • Added non-assigned key bind to make the mouse sensitivity in Scene Editor as low as possible while it's being held.
  • Added a setting to scale the compass/score UI.
Changes and fixes:
  • Hopefully fixed various desync issues relating to corrupted or missing packets.
  • Hopefully mostly fixed players desyncing when running into each other.
  • Fixed an issue causing some of the banners not to be displayed correctly.
  • Updated 2 Community Banners.
  • Decreased Gatling Gun turn rate by 10%
  • Apple trees should now fall to the ground when chopped down.
  • Fixed incorrect scabbard of the Pattern 1796 Light Cavalry Sabre.
  • Reduced backwards Walk and Run Speed.
  • Fixed an issue with player colliders, causing players bumping into each other to desync more often than they should.
  • Reduced musket bayonet melee downstab damage by 5%.
  • Fixed that the reload animation would not play when moving while reloading was enabled.
  • Added a cooldown to blocking and attacking after pushing.
  • When crouched and in melee mode, players now deliver 30% less melee damage.
  • After blocking an incoming attack, players now will have a 0.1 second long melee attack cooldown.
  • Fixed that you could push while executing a melee attack.
  • Decreased speed of block and attack direction changing slightly.
  • Slightly reduced the stun length of low damage hits.
  • Reduced the block cooldown after successfully executing a melee attack by 0.1 seconds.
  • You now take more damage from melee if you are hit while reloading.
  • Reload bonus and NCO bonus were increased to 10% from 5% per buff.
  • Calling out militia should no longer yell “Engineer!”.
  • Lieutenant now stands more to the left in the bot formation.
  • Lieutenant will now only fire at targets that are close.
  • Changed some of the code for randomly spawned props in the map editor.
  • You now get notified if a spawn is no longer valid
  • Added a new UI letting players know for how long they have to hold the Key-Cap in King of the Hill, Battle, and Commander Battle.
  • Added a small delay timer on your bots spawning after you spawn if spawned in late or no one is on the other team.
  • Made fog less likely to occur.
  • Removed hardcoded melee penalty for skirmisher bots and replaced it with a setting we can adjust on a per-company basis.
  • Server should no longer load large maps if there is a small playercount.

Are you interested in attending huge organized Linebattles with hundreds of players? Then join our Discord and enlist with one of the Regiments (Clans) hosting organized events!



Thank you! Stay tuned for next Monday!
/Flying Squirrel Entertainment
Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective - 小球球
Hello all!

Please accept our sincere apologies for the package issue! We received feedback from players that some of them are unable to download the game and play the game due to content missing error. We are very sorry about that and re-upload a new build to Steam today. This issue has been fixed now!
If you are encountered with this issue, please restart Steam and download the game again.

We hope this fix will help you enjoy your stay in Opera City more!
Apr 6, 2022
Fractal Space - Haze_Games
Hello, dear Fractal Space players!

After a large amount of work and time, the latest major update 0.594 for Fractal Space is now live on Steam!

This update brings a crazy amount of bugfixes, improvements and new changes, and a completely new introduction sequence to the game!

Currently, this update is only for Pre-Alpha players. The Public Demo on Steam and Xbox will only be updated in a couple of weeks - after the major issues have been fixed in the new changes and the new intro.

Players awaiting for a Steam Key: You will receive within 1 or 2 weeks, most likely after the next update is live, once major issues with this update are fixed.

Please click the !Reset Save! button in the Main Menu to reset your save and avoid various bugs with the new changes - At least, starting a New Game is strongly recommended.
CHAPTER 0 | Introduction
The new introduction for Fractal Space on PC is now finally ready!

Even though it feels like a short introduction, it was a significant amount of work to have this first functional version.

IMPORTANT | Notes
  • Please start a fresh New Game without Speedrun Mode and Cutscenes enabled, to see the new intro!
  • None of your Abilities are available during the introduction (intended)
  • Debug Mode is not allowed in Introduction (intended)
  • Custom FoV is ignored and NOT applied throughout the introduction sequence. This is intended, and will not change. It is only then correctly applied to desired value after the intro is finished.
  • There are no checkpoints in the introduction scene (intended, it’s very short)
  • There is a point in the introduction sequence, from which the “Restart” chapter button is temporarily unavailable (greyed out). This is intended, and it is restored again after the intro is finished.
  • It is intended that it’s not played when starting a New Game+, and start directly in Chapter 1.
  • Chapter 0 is entirely skipped in Speedrun Mode (because it does not impact Leaderboards, and contains 1 unskippable cutscene)
CHAPTER 1 | New Dialogs
This update contains many changes to Chapter 1's dialogs:
  • Most of the dialogs of Chapter 1 have been re-recorded from scratch, many were entirely re-written too. They are now of much higher audio quality, with better audio equipment.
  • IG’s voice now feels more like it is coming out of a speaker in the room, or a communication device (intended).
  • In general, the acting is also improved for most lines - some are still not good though, and we’ll improve them over time.
  • Many more dialogs are now different in New Game+. Since most of them are not played in Speedrun Mode, it’s recommended to play at least once NG and NG+ with Speedrun Mode disabled in CH1 (no changes in later Chapters yet) to hear them / check for bugs / subtitles issues.
  • Note of a story change: the character (you) is meant to “remember more” in NG+ compared to previous versions and Pocket Edition, this is also intended.
  • The last rooms of Chapter 1 (after the second lift) still have older dialogs, and some that are silent, please ignore those, because we didn’t have time to work on them yet - and there are planned changes at the end, that aren’t done yet.
Next Chapters’ dialogs will come later, as they will all also be re-written and re-recorded.

NEW
Let's talk about the new features and options that were added in this update.

LEADERBOARDS | In-Game Page
Finally! The game now has full support for in-game Leaderboards page! You can now check your Rank, Top 10, Top 50 and Top 100 of each Chapter, and the entire Cycle!



In addition, gamepad navigation is fully supported on this new page.

When this new page has been tested and all potential bugs on this new system are fixed, there will be a Leaderboard reset for all Chapters, and anti-cheat systems to avoid uploading scores from older versions of the game, and more - but this isn't the priority for this update.

CHAPTER 1 | Recordings & Tablets



Picked-up Recordings for the first Chapter have been re-recorded for better quality and acting as well. There are now also 3 new Recordings to pick up in Chapter 1!

New Tablets were added in the first Chapter as well. We'll let you find them :)
Some Tablets now have a different text in New Game+, so it might be worth to revisit them!
CHAPTER 1 | Accessible Rooftop
The rooftop above the Taser Room is now meant to be fully accessible (only in New Game+), when going to pick up the Taser, and when returning back from it. No buggy / forced skips should be possible:



Future updates will add more challenge to reach the item up there.

CHAPTER 1 | Lockdown Area
After getting the Taser, the room where you get the first Taser Ammo Pack ever has changed slightly, when you return to it on your way back (the lockdown moment). You’ll see ;)



In addition, IG will now react to activating the button manually instead of shooting at it (it's intended to be possible, but not the main path)
WATER | Option & Optimization
A new Water Quality option has been added. Default is Maximum, which enables dynamic reflections on Water. Setting it to Low disables the water reflections and other effects:



This allows you to disable environment dynamic reflections by setting Reflections to Medium (Static reflections only) or “Disabled”, but keeping dynamic reflections on Water by keeping Water option to Maximum separately. Maximum setting is quite expensive, but much less expensive than general Dynamic environment Reflections settings (as there are less water areas regular reflective areas).

In addition, dynamic water reflections (Water setting at Maximum) have been significantly optimized compared to previous versions of the game. Various rendering artifacts causing objects to blink / disappear in water reflections were fixed as well.

240 FPS SUPPORT | Framerate Options
This update adds official support for 60+ Hz monitors, and a Framerate Option, which can allow to disable V-Sync.

240 Hz Screens
The game now supports all monitor refresh rates! If you have a 75, 144, 240 Hz monitor, and a gaming GPU that can run the game above 60 FPS, you should feel the difference:



Monitor maximum refresh rate is automatically detected and the monitor’s refresh rate is used when starting the game.
Note: It is recommended to keep Reflections to Medium, Decals at Low / Medium to reach higher framerates (Dynamic reflections is the most expensive setting)
Framerate Option & V-Sync
You can now cap your framerate to a lower value than your monitor refresh rate:

In which case would you do that? If you have an older PC, and rarely hit 60 FPS on a 60 Hz monitor, it might be a good idea to limit it to 50 FPS, for example.



This will avoid substantial changes in framerate, and will automatically disable Vsync, which will slightly increase performance - so it might help to try and keep this framerate. Since the framerate is capped to that selected value, you will not experience screen tearing even without Vsync.

Vsync is always enabled if you select your monitor’s refresh rate as a framerate cap (max value). Otherwise, you are bound to experience screen tearing if you ever reach 61 FPS, which is bad for everyone's experience.

Unlimited framerate is not an option, as it will not have any advantages to go higher than your monitor’s refresh rate for this game, and will only introduce screen tearing and various other issues, and could result in potential exploits.
If you wish to simply disable V-Sync while still targeting max framerate, simply select the second-to-last maximum framerate option - it will disable V-Sync and sure no screen tearing will happen (best of both worlds), as the game will remain 1 FPS below than your monitor's refresh rate.
DYNAMIC REFLECTIONS | Rework
The Dynamic option for environment Reflections has been completely reworked in order to improve their overall visual quality, reduce the blur and associated jittering:



They also are now greatly optimized compared to the previous versions. Even with these optimizations, it’s still the most expensive option in the game, and is built for dedicated gaming GPUs, so do not expect to play smoothly on an old PC, or non-gaming laptop with integrated graphics.

They still cannot be perfect in all situations and have some artifacts in some angles; but it’s much better than previous implementations ;)
Note: They are now meant not to be present on all surfaces. It is normal that you’ll find various areas where you cannot see any Dynamic Reflections (intended for either performance reasons, or because they have not been implemented in this room yet, and sometimes because they would simply be too distracting).
VENT FANS & DYNAMIC LIGHTS
  • Shooting a dynamic light (blinking / color changing ones) will provoke it to flicker a bit temporarily (not the fully static ones, and this is intended. It’s acceptable as this is only a small cosmetic detail)
  • Vent Fans: Shooting vent fans will provoke them to stop spinning / jitter temporarily
ACHIEVEMENTS
A few new Achievements were added in this update:
  • New Achievement added for the very first room, only possible in New Game+. Won’t be detailed here to avoid spoilers, but you can see it after playing the new introduction, on the game’s page on Steam / Achievements.
  • New Achievement added for completing Chapter 1 while shooting only 1 Switch (the mandatory one during the Tutorial). Only possible in NG+ with upgrades (to my knowledge!).
  • New Achievements added for finding Tablets. They cannot be all completed yet, because not all Tablets are in the game yet (intended).
  • Stats: Current Chapter stats in New Game+, and Chapters page, now display Tablets found, and are taken into account for Chapter Completion %.

LIGHTING | Improvements
Most “light band highlights” on walls and grounds (blue, red, etc), now emit a faint (non-dynamic) light to surrounding objects:





It remains mostly visible in dark areas and corners, and adds a bit to the atmosphere and feels more realistic:



CHANGES
This update contains various changes - we'll list the most important ones here.

LOCALIZATION | Update Shortcut
  • Localization: Dynamic update of Localization has now been changed to Left Shift + L key combination
LEVEL | Changes
A non-exhaustive of various Chapters changes:
  • Chapter 2: ‘Don’t look down’ laser fall: Last blinking lasers are no longer instant-kill, meaning you can now survive them if you have enough health. This might be reverted in the future, but if so, it will have many more lasers to make it understandable that you cannot survive them.
  • Chapter 3: Terminal Override (musical hacking): Since the latest change (that made it harder by only failing when all 5 notes have been pressed), too many first-time players are stuck here. Piano notes sound quality and accuracy has been greatly improved to help with this. In addition, the first note now always fails instantly if it is wrong, to at least give away the first base note.
  • Chapter 4: Train Ride: Many of the challenges no longer allow you to simply fall below to skip them - it made it too easy, especially while speedrunning:
  • The ones in which you still can simply fly below, are still allowed, but most now require you to play then normally even while speedrunning - which makes it harder (intended). In addition, a few new changes were made to the Train Ride rooms. If you resume your saved game from the previous update without restarting Chapter 4 entirely, you will have various invalid bugs - please restart Chapter 4 from the start if you are not starting a New Game or not resetting your save.
  • Chapter 4: The Secret Passage area is now a fully enclosed, darker area (as intended).
JETPACK | Balancing
The latest update introduced smoother jetpack movement.

However, it was a known issue that the first few seconds of jetpack rise were too powerful.

It has now been reduced, in order to both feel smoother and prevent exploiting to jetpack almost indefinitely (as the jetpack rise of the first few seconds was too powerful, you could chain the jetpack and fly for much longer than intended).

PROP FLYING
Tablet Surfing / Cube Surfing / Prop Flying exploit (not really a bug per-say) has been present for a while, as it’s a complex one to solve. Finally, it has now been drastically reduced.

The idea behind this change is that Cube Surfing / Prop Flying should no longer be easy to perform to skip mandatory puzzles / challenges in New Game for a new player.

A Cube below your feet will still slow down your fall (intended), but won’t allow you to jump higher from it anymore.

In addition, whenever you try to perform it (or successfully manage to), the Cube will now be properly pushed downwards (as it should, because you are in fact, “kicking it down”), thus preventing you from chaining it easily.

This change should prevent many illegitimate skips in New Game.
Note: You can still perform it ‘easily’ if the cube currently has an upwards vertical velocity (intended).
TUTORIALS
  • All tutorial visual skins have changed for better readability.
  • Movement and Look Around tutorials are now present only in the intro, and only displayed if the player has not looked around or moved after a few seconds upon taking control in the intro. It is not a bug that they are no longer displayed in Chapter 1, and intended that they are never seen if the player knows how to move / look around on his own (the case of most players).
OTHER | Changes
  • Flames: Flames now push Cubes that are in the way (intended)
  • Crosshair: Center crosshair is now hidden when the player is carrying any object (intended)
  • Respawn: Cycle and Iteration now displayed at every death, even if cutscenes are disabled / Speedrun Mode is enabled
  • Speedrun Mode: Speed is now correctly updated while in Zero-Gravity
  • Skip Cutscenes: The “Skip” button has been moved to the top-right corner of the screen, to avoid interfering with subtitles readability. It is now also automatically hidden after 5 seconds.
  • Terminals: Upgrade Terminals and Room Control Terminals now show Sign in instead of Activate when looking at them.
  • Heal / Reload: Request to reload Taser / Heal while nothing left in the Backpack and Health / Ammo already full,, will now show “No healthpack” / “No Batteries” instead of “Health Full / Ammo full” (intended)
  • Health / Taser Backpacks: Moving naturally from a Chapter to another, will keep the current items from the previous Chapter (Health/Taser backpack count), but will properly be emptied if starting any Chapter from Chapters Page, or starting New Game / New Game+ (intended)
  • Performance Mode: Enabling Performance Mode now also reduces the quality of Dynamic Lighting on Recordings.
  • Code Changes: There has been many code changes to ensure many time-based events / User Interface animations / tutorial, etc are now fully independent from the time slowdown provoked by Hyper-Speed. For example, before this update, enabling Hyper-Speed while a Tutorial was displayed, could cause it to remain displayed for 30 seconds instead of 3 seconds. This was considered minor, but could cause other bugs that could end up being major. Most, if not all, important code is now independent from Hyper-Speed time slowdown (as intended).
BUG | Fixes
A large amount of bugs were fixed in this update - more than what will be listed here, but here's the list of the most important ones. Note that most in-game reported bugs should now be fixed as well.

LEVEL | Fixes
Here are the major bugs fixed in specific Chapters:
  • Chapter 1: Various relocation fixes have been made. The relocations for Taser Room have been modified to avoid certain skip/exploit situations (could sometimes relocate next to “first 2 cubes & laser cages room” instead of inside Taser Room, etc). Should now be fixed for all Taser Room relocations.
  • Chapter 2: Bridge Puzzle: If you were to instantly request Last Checkpoint within 1s after solving it, you would remain stuck in the Bridge Puzzle interface. Good find! It used to be a bug that could happen “often” and was fixed, to only be possible in that small timing window. Now it should be fully fixed!
  • Chapter 3: Various vents now open faster & earlier, to avoid getting slowed down by them while speedrunning.
  • Chapter 4: Train Ride: Various visual bugs (missing objects when backtracking) have been fixed. Maybe some still remain, to be tested. Various collision bugs were also fixed.
  • Chapter 4: Progress Room: If you were to go through the window of Progress Room (as intended), then went back up outside to the roof, you could then drop down into the Cameras room too early (not intended), and be stuck without the Hyper-Speed Suppressor Generator present. Should now be solved:
GAMEPLAY | Fixes
And now, here is the list of most important gameplay bug fixes:
  • Terminals: Fixed a bug that provoked Terminals to only be usable once, if the player had acquired every single upgrade in the game
  • Keypads: Fixed a bug that could cause a softlock on Keypad interfaces, in case you spammed keys while it is hiding / showing.
  • Gamepad: Fixed a bug that could cause gamepad right stick to not work to look around in some rare combinations of ALT+Tab and playing on keyboard/mouse while a gamepad is attached (not used).
  • Mouse Look: Fixed a bug that could cause mouse movement to not rotate the camera properly (only vertical or horizontal look movement was working). This happened with a complex combination of ALT+Tab and playing on keyboard/mouse while a gamepad is attached (not used).
  • Gamepad: Fixed a bug that could cause wrong control icons when often switching between keyboard/mouse and gamepad.
  • Performance Mode: Fixed a bug when Enabling, then Disabling Performance Mode during a cutscene, could cause it to be re-enabled when the cutscene was finished, but with the game considering Performance Mode to currently be OFF.
  • Room Control: Map labels for objects “Camera 1”, “Door 2”, etc. were not properly localized. Now fixed.
  • Room Control: Visual gauge to represent current Available Power has been reworked to ensure the “0” state is represented correctly with the bar placed fully at the left. Now becomes red when at 0.
  • Bridges: If the player is on a Bridge’s deployment animation path, he will now be pushed correctly by the deploying Bridge (bug also known as ‘Bugge’ for Bug + Bridge). You might be teleported above or below the Bridge (intended).
  • Tutorials: Changing resolution or Safe Area position while a Tutorial was displayed, could cause the tutorial to not be fully visible. It may now take 1s to update, but should ensure to adjust tutorial position to be fully visible, after changing resolution. This could mostly be noticed on 4:3 screens, rather than 16:9 / 16:10 screens.
  • Crouching: Crouch / Standing Up transition could be faster when running at higher FPS, and slower when running at lower FPS. This has now been fixed.
  • Flames: Fixed a bug that could cause flames to sometimes be ON or OFF incorrectly, while sometimes doing damage or not - they should now always be in sync properly with the desired state.
  • Cutscenes: Disabling Cutscenes option while a cutscene was playing, but was just already requested to be skipped right before pausing, could cause various strange bugs. Should now be fixed.
  • Moving Platforms: The rare, mysterious bug in which the player could “slide” while standing on a moving platform, should now be fixed. It was rare, because it could only happen if you were to play on a PC with a 144hz monitor and was actively running the game at 144 FPS. Official support for 144 FPS should now fix this issue.
  • Moving Platforms: Fixed a bug that caused a slight “player push” upon reception on an actively moving platform. Repeating jumps on moving platforms would gradually move you towards the edges of the moving platform, if the reception happened while it was still moving. Should now be perfect.
  • Headbob: Fixed a bug that could cause sudden camera mini-bump shortly after reception on a moving platform. Recentering (headbob stop) upon stopping requesting movement, is now smoother as well.
  • Aim Stabilizer: Fixed a bug that could cause it to aim next to the object instead of directly aiming at it. It should now be solved, but could create new ones - to be tested!
  • Physics: Some players could feel like the physics movement of objects, especially in Zero-G, could “feel laggy”. This was mostly noticeable when running the game above 60 FPS. It should now be greatly improved, as physics system is now update more often to result in smoother movement, based on the actively selected framerate in Options.
  • Pause Menu: Fixed visual bug that could cause the current Chapter Stats and Upgrades Stats text to sometimes overflow their box container visuals in some languages.
  • Pause: Pausing the game or ALT+Tabbing while on a moving platform could cause the player to be moved slightly forward/back in the moving platform’s movement direction. Should now be fully solved.
  • Lighting: Fixed unintended self-shadowing on some grounds (floors), that would show “black shadow bands” for no apparent reason.
  • Save System: Rare cases of saving during cutscenes that modified the environment (disabled Flames, lasers, opened doors, etc), could result in corrupted level state (lasers remaining ON when they should be OFF after a last checkpoint load, for example).
KNOWN | Issues
A short list of the known bugs or issues that aren't 100% sure to be fully fixed:
  • Bug 7482773931343 about somehow having a non-unlimited ammo during the Taser tutorial of Chapter 1 could not be reproduced, thus might still be active. If you find steps on how to reproduce, please report again with more information. Thank you!
  • Bug 231132669394050 about a probably incorrect relocation in Chapter 4 could not be reproduced, thus might still be active. If you find steps on how to reproduce, please report again with more information. Thank you!
  • Bug 4212816279831 involving an incorrect moving platform / switch state synchronization in Chapter 1 could not be reproduced, thus might still be active. If you find steps on how to reproduce, please report again with more information. Thank you!
  • The new “Chapter X” 3D display will not adjust localized language correctly if the language is changed while already displayed. This will be solved later. It is currently only used in CH0 / CH1.
  • Even though most cases of players unable to rotate the camera horizontally or vertically using the mouse, have now been fixed (happens after ALT+Tab out and back), there could still be rare cases of this happening. If it happens, please report with details of steps to reproduce. When it happens, simply moving your mouse significantly or Alt+Tab again should fix it.
THANKS | For Playing
Thank you again to all dear players for testing!

We'll continue working to fix the new reported major bugs from this update, in order to update the Steam and Xbox One Demo, over the next week or two ;)

When the Demos are updated within the next 1-2 weeks, we will send out new Steam Keys to players currently waiting.

Have a great day, and happy gaming!
LEAP - Laura
Hello to all our friends and fellow Mercenaries, today is the day we’re setting off on our first closed community playtest. This is an exciting time for us as we’ve been prepping for today in order to introduce our brand new game mode.



What the Horde is Special Operations Mode?!

We need your help! The ever malicious Agnicorp is once again up to something, and have enlisted the UEDC to protect their top-secret research. As an elite LEAP mercenary, you’ve been tasked with taking them down. Squad up into teams of four and fight to bring peace and stability back to planet earth!



Game Objectives

Team up with your friends or connect with players online as you face off against intense power as waves of UEDC mercenaries try to eliminate you! This game mode is full of brand new enemies not yet seen from our previous playtests and many different abilities to keep players on their toes.
There are objectives you will need to follow in order to secure your team with a victory; coordinates on the map will highlight your task, whilst you and your teammates take out all the UEDC soldiers that stand in your way.

Please take note regarding game mode difficulty which is set to Silver by default. This mode is fairly challenging and we suggest starting on Bronze to ease your way into the more difficult modes. Please check the graphic below where to change your game mode.



Powerful Enemies

Agnicorp spared no pennies in hiring the strongest UEDC soldiers to protect their top-secret assets; please take caution while engaging in combat, they will not go down easily.

Here’s a sneak peek at a few of the new enemies you will encounter:
Specialist - One of those sneaky snakes who like to hide and are equipped with a sniper rifle.



SpecOps - Stealth Assassin… Basically a guy with a sword who turns invisible. Yeah good luck.



Many more enemies await in the shadows, be prepared to give it your all in order to take them down.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are we allowed to stream/record the game? Is it under NDA?
You are 100% allowed and encouraged to stream the playtest and any LEAP content. You are not under NDA for this playtest. In fact if you do stream the game or record it please send it to us so we can review the footage for future updates.

I didn’t get a key, how can I participate in the closed playtest?
Keys were distributed to those who signed up to: playleap.com/playtest and were given out on a first come first serve system and we encourage new interested players to sign up for any future closed playtest content. We periodically hold small giveaways on our social pages, so please follow them if you’re hoping to get lucky. ;)

Patch Notes - 06.04.2022
  • Brand new co-op game mode
  • New cosmetic items
  • Updated player progression
  • World context pings
  • Improved level lighting and effects
  • Increased and improved player spawn locations
  • Improved player revive system
  • Improved server browser and menu experiences
  • Several areas of improved map art
  • Improved audio game-wide
  • Improved collision on many world objects
  • Improved overall squad communication and telegraphing
  • Many misc bug fixes
  • Many misc server and client performance improvements


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