This month is a late dev-log. We have been working tirelessly on PA character creation, we aimed to have something production ready so we don’t have to revisit the core framework before early access release. We have achieved that, and currently the character creation tool is available for our top-tier Patrons for testing and feedback.
Character Creation
We aim to deliver a feature rich and expansive character creation experience, in our hope to stand alongside AAA titles within this area. Character creation is very involved, with lots of moving parts and things to consider, including pitfalls.
Last month we covered quite a lot of the character creation, we were still heavily in development back then, and we are at a stage now where we can put it down and move on. But we did want to tell you more about it. We didn’t talk much about the clothing last month, but now we have finished the framework that supports it.
Players at the moment can equip different clothing items for the under top, over top, legs and feet, but we will be opening that up to allow for eyewear, headwear and handwear. Our clothing forms with the character's body, so it will always fit. Players can also customize the colors of the clothing, and in the future, even choose between patterns and iconography for their clothes as well. We have built with all these things in mind, so adding new patterns/colors/logos is extremely easy, even adding new clothes doesn’t take too much time.
We have finished developing our skin shader, it's come a long way since last month. It now has built in makeup functionality, players will be able, as both male and female, to add eye shadow, liner, blush and lipstick. There are a dozens of different styles and players can change the colour, opacity and even shininess too.
Lastly, at the end of the character creation process, players will be able to choose a name, and pose/express their character for the ID’s picture. There is a range of expressions to choose from, and you can even blend them to a certain degree, players can also position the eyes as well.
In the future we aim to have a range of items and styles for players to choose from. This will be obtained through different sources, all with the intention of giving players all the tools to express who they really are, or express any fictional character they can imagine for their ghost hunting adventures.
Ghosts & Items
More work has been done planning and locking in ghost behaviors and how they will work within our haunts. Although our ghosts have a procedural nature about them, nearly all of them have something unique, or their own flair when doing things. Because of the amount of ghosts we have planned, and how dynamic they are we need to make sure that we consider every behavior and feature they possess against the players and the haunts to enable for a fluid and rich experience across multiple sessions. This month we have finished planning the Jinn, Itsuki, Ouni, Mare and Shinigami. More can be found about these ghosts and how we want to represent them on our Patreon.
In Addition to the ghosts we have planned out a few more items, these are spiritual items, the Poppet and the Crystal ball. Both are used to aid you in your investigation, like with the ghosts we like to plan everything out to make sure they work well and do not become a hindrance or make the haunts too easy. Going forward the items and equipment system will be a focus alongside the ghosts and haunts.
Moving Forward
As we mentioned in last months dev-log the characters are a huge part of PA, and now that they are actually finished to the point we wanted we can finally move on, its taken much longer than anticipated but now, after getting to this stage, we have realized why, there is so much going on, and making everything work with synergy has been very challenging. But we are happy that we can release a creation tool to our Patrons for testing and more feedback so we can better define the experience in the future, for now we have to move on to other important things, mainly getting the game playable, so we can iterate and work faster with more real time feedback.
We are so grateful for our community, who are so patient and supportive, we love you guys, and just want to deliver our best, so thank-you once again, for being so damn patient!
For the first time ever, we are proud to introduce Rainbow Packs! These packs guarantee an Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond AND Perfect Card! Fans have been asking for these for years, and we are delighted to bring them to you.
Plus! The twelfth version of our all-new "Spotlight Packs" are LIVE in Perfect Team! This week's Spotlight Packs and Rainbow Packs are available for less than 48 hours - from now until Saturday August 12 at 1 PM ET only. Spotlight Packs #12 include 1 Gold card guaranteed from the most recent content sets - including the 350+-card set that dropped on Monday as well as today's all-new Negro Leagues #3 set!
Each Spotlight Pack is set up where one card is fixed, pulled from a selection of recent content cards. The other 5 cards in the pack will be drawn from any non-live players, using the standard ratio of card tiers and odds. The fixed card in this spotlight pack will be guaranteed to be at least a Gold card.
Experience an out-of-this-galaxy pinball adventure coming to Pinball FX! Star Trek™: The Next Generation Williams Pinball Machine from 1993 will come to Steam on August 24.
Join Captain Picard on the U.S.S. Enterprise-D and fight against Romulans, Cardassians, and the Borg while listening to the original music and voices from the series! Warp through eight U.S.S. Enterprise-D Missions, fire photon torpedoes to defend the starship, and get ahead of the competition with the Warp Speed ball delivery sequence.
We are thrilled to introduce this table in the Pinball FX library, as we have enjoyed this masterpiece in our office for a long time for various reasons. Playing and analyzing its mechanism was the first step for our new designers to become seasoned veterans as they had to complete a test about how this table functions. On the other hand, we also had a lot of fun playing and competing against each other so we can’t wait to show you our digital version of this legendary table!
Reach Warp Factor 9.9 first and become an honorary Starfleet officer!
Join our contest on Twitter for a chance to win a key for a tinyBuild game of your choice!
How to enter:
👉 Follow us on Twitter 🔁 Retweet this post ✏️ Reply to the post with your answer to the question “What 3 things would you take with you to a cozy tropical island?”
We will pick the lucky winner on August 14th, so hurry up!
1. Fixes a bug where when your wingman is shot down the weapon load out menu for their helicopter appears.
2. Fixed a bug with the Smart Boresight targeting system where it would crash and lock up your MFD controls.
3. Closed the open mesh on the Stinger rack
4. Added an "EXPERIMENTAL" physics update option in the "Video Options" menu. This allows you to increase the update rate of the physics system from 50hz all the way to 100hz. Ideally you want it set to somewhere close to your actual FPS rate.
Increasing the speed will produce a smoother simulation at the cost of CPU power but also effects things such as the targeting pod's refresh rate and control surface response rate so you may need to adjust controls to compensate.
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I've also started building the new Gazelle versions (SOKO HN-42M GAMA / GAMA 2) which will be your 1st adversaries in the game.
The legendary sci-fi action FPS is enhanced and now available on modern platforms!
Take the fight to the Strogg with our enhanced re-release of Quake II, now available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch, in addition to PC platforms and Game Pass (subscription required). This re-release is our biggest effort yet with enhanced AI, gameplay improvements, presented in up to 120hz in 4K on supported platforms (see the below FAQ for details) and we even dug into the development archives of Quake II to restore elements that were cut from the original game’s conception.
Note: Steam users who already own Quake II will automatically receive the new version with a free download. Read the FAQ below for details on how to access the original version.
New Features and Improvements
Includes the original Quake II campaign plus both Mission Packs, The Reckoning, Ground Zero, plus the previously Nintendo 64-exclusive Quake II 64 and the brand-new Call of the Machine episode from MachineGames
Improvements to gameplay, including content restored from the original development, plus visual upgrades such as dynamic shadows, improved lighting, glow maps and more.
Play local split-screen and online across four Multiplayer modes with crossplay functionality:
Cooperative
Deathmatch
Team Deathmatch
Capture the Flag
Add AI opponents in Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes, explore the id Vault, enjoy improved co-op play and much more!
For a deeper dive into the technical enhancements we made in this re-release of Quake II, please check out this in depth article
The gameplay in Quake II has been shined to a polish to improve the feel of the game while keeping the original spirit intact. Weapon fire from players and enemies now have muzzle flashes to improve feedback and new damage indicators to better communicate to players where they are taking damage from. An increased tick rate ensures action is more responsive and hundreds of level and gameplay bugs have been fixed.
Upgraded AI
The forces of Stroggos are deadlier than ever with improved pathing, new attacks and new tactics. Enemies will hit the dirt to dodge shots and jump down off ledges to get a better angle, making enemy encounters more dynamic. Flying AI has been rebuilt to allow for better and more realistic navigation through the air. Watch out for the Berzerker’s new leap attack, restored from the game’s original development, and dodge Parasite tongue lashings which will now stick into the wall, temporarily stunning them.
Improved Lighting, Shadows & Models
Levels have been enhanced with improved lighting, along with updated weapon and enemy models. Dynamic shadows and lighting have been added to levels and weapon effects. New glow maps make computer terminals, power cores and other illuminated surfaces pop. These graphics settings and more can be customized through the in-game menus.
Includes Both Original Expansion Packs
This release of Quake II includes the original expansion packs, The Reckoning, and Ground Zero. All the AI enhancements from Ground Zero are now available in all episodes. Additionally, for the first time, Quake II 64 has been ported over, making this exclusive episode available in high resolution and high framerate with modern controls.
Brand New Episode: Call of the Machine
In the depths of Strogg space lies the Machine, a singularity capable of collapsing the fabric of reality. Fight across time and space to find the Strogg-Maker, destroy it and change humanity's destiny in the brand-new episode, Call of the Machine. Created by MachineGames, this follow-up to their Quake episode Dimension of the Machine is now available for both single player or in cooperative play.
Navigate With The Compass
Navigate your way through the vast hub-based worlds of Stroggos with a brand-new compass item that will direct you to your next objective, no matter where you are, with useful arrows dropped into the world.
Open the id Vault
For the first time, dive into the id Vault and explore concept art and gameplay footage of Quake II, including early versions of weapons, items and even playable levels from the game's original development.
Split-Screen and Online Multiplayer
Quake II includes 4-player split-screen local multiplayer on all platforms, with 8 player split-screen available on Xbox Series X|S and PC. Fight against your friends in Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, or team up in Cooperative games available for all five campaigns. Fill out your slots with AI bots for both Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes. For the genuine QuakeCon experience, LAN play is also supported across all platforms and Nintendo Switch players can frag locally through ad-hoc wireless multiplayer. Mix up your games with custom settings such as Instagib and random weapons to maximize your fun.
Crossplay
Play with friends no matter which platform they prefer. Crossplay is available on Game Pass, PC (with controller), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch versions of the game, so you can play Quake II with everyone. Join your friends quickly using our room code system for finding lobbies.
Enhanced Cooperative Gameplay
Save games are now supported while playing cooperatively and new rules have been added to improve Quake II's Cooperative modes. If all players die, it's game over and the level will restart. Respawn your teammates by clearing all enemies in the area or finding a safe place to hide. Teammates will spawn near you, letting you get back into the fight quickly. Create an additional challenge for you and your friends by setting a maximum lives limit or upping enemies' health. To help with communication, you can also ping areas in the map by using the “point” gesture that will be visible to all other players.
AI Bot Opponents
Quake II bots can be added to Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes in both offline and online matches. They are more aware of their surroundings, including danger, and can perform advanced maneuvers like rocket jumps. With six skill levels from Training to Nightmare, Quake II bots are fun for both beginner and experienced players.
ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES
With this release of Quake II, we are adding new accessibility features so the game can be enjoyed by even more players. For a full rundown of the accessibility features offered, check out this article.
Accessibility Options Notification
After installing or updating the game for the first time, you will be presented with an Accessibility Options notification. Read through the available options to make sure they are set to your preference. Once in-game, these options can be altered from the Options/Accessibility sub-menu via the Main and Pause Menus (Note: All Accessibility options default to ON during first launch after install, but can be easily toggled OFF/ON via Disable/Enable All Settings)
Accessibility Options
Read Chat Out Loud *
Enables synthesized voiceover of incoming multiplayer text chat.
Transcribe Voice Chat
Converts incoming voice chat into text in the multiplayer chat window
Speak For Me in Voice Chat *
Use text-to-speech on outgoing multiplayer chat, converting your text into a synthesized voice chat audible to other players Voice profiles can be selected from the Accessibility menu when connected to an online multiplayer session. Note that the number of voice profiles may vary by language.
* Text-to-speech features not supported for menu interactions.
High Contrast
Changes the default text field backgrounds to improve User Interface legibility
High Contrast OFF
High Contrast ON
Alternate Typeface
Changes the original in-game font for added legibility
Alternate Typeface OFF
Alternate Typeface ON
Screen Flash Amount
Decreases opacity of onscreen effects to reduce flash intensity
Center Message Time
Changes the display duration of center print HUD messages
Corner Message Time
Changes the display duration of corner print HUD messages
Maximum Lines
Changes the maximum number of onscreen corner print HUD messages
Chat Message Time
Changes the display duration of multiplayer text chat messages
High speed broadband connection required for online play
* Compatible display required
FAQ
I already own Quake II. How do I access the new release?
Previous owners of Quake II on the Microsoft Store, Steam and Good Old Games (GOG) will automatically receive the new version via a free update. It may have already updated by the time you read this!
How do I access the original versions of the game?
Users on the below PC platforms will be able to access the original version of Quake II as follows:
Steam users can use the launch options to launch the original versions of the games and the original files are still on disk in the same place
How do I play with friends on other platforms?
The easiest way to join a crossplay match with friends is using the room code system. The room code is a four-letter sequence that can be seen inside the pre-game lobby. Send this to your friends over text message, Discord or yelling very loudly and they'll be able to join through the multiplayer menu without having to search through the match browser or enter passwords. Note that on some platforms, crossplay may be disabled at the system level by default. Check if the feature is enabled if you have problems joining crossplay matches.
What input devices are supported?
Controller, keyboard and mouse peripherals are supported on all platforms, including consoles. Split-screen is available with mixed mouse/keyboard and controller support.
Is the Steam Controller supported?
Quake II does not support the Steam Controller.
Do I need an always-online connection to play the game?
Quake II only requires an online connection to play online multiplayer modes. Single-player campaigns and multiplayer via split-screen, LAN or ad-hoc multiplayer on Nintendo Switch can be enjoyed offline.
Are existing mods supported on PC?
Custom maps designed for the PC versions of the original Quake II should still work with the enhanced release of the game. We recommend installing custom maps into your Saved Games profile in your %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Nightdive Studios\Quake II\baseq2\maps folder.
You will need to create the maps folder yourself after launching the game for the first time. We have also updated the bot navigation editor to allow custom maps to make full use of our updated AI, including automatically laying down navigation nodes simply by running around the map.
The PC versions of the enhanced Quake II support mods. However, due to the move from 32-bit to 64-bit, existing mods are not compatible. Along with this release, we have made the source code for the game DLL available, allowing mods to be updated and new mods to be created supporting all the enhancements in our updated engine.
This unified codebase also contains all the additions from the two expansion packs and Capture the Flag, making it an excellent base for creating new mods based on expanded content. The updated source, with more detailed instructions for programmers, can be grabbed here.
KNOWN ISSUES
All Platforms
Issue: A phantom player character appears when loading a Cooperative Mode save made after completing a Call of the Machine unit. Is there anything I can do about this?
Resolution: If you encounter this issue, the phantom player character will depopulate upon map change or when another player joins you in Co-op.
Issue: For autosave to work after starting a Playable Demo, a manual save must first be created.
Resolution: If you start a Playable Demo and want to enable autosave functionality, you must first create a manual save.
Issue: While playing Team Deathmatch, if you change teams during the match, your score moves over to the other team; if you quit during Team Deathmatch, your score disappears from the results.
Resolution: Until we address this issue, we recommend you avoid changing teams or quitting during Team Deathmatch matches to avoid it.
All PC Platforms
Issue: Disconnecting headphones during cinematics can cause them to appear incorrectly.
Resolution: If you encounter freeze frame or black screen issues during cinematics after disconnecting headphones, restarting the game should resolve the issue.
Issue: Disconnecting wired USB headphones and reconnecting them can cause audio to stop playing correctly.
Resolution: If you encounter audio issues after disconnecting and reconnecting wired USB headphones, restarting the game should resolve the issue.
