NOTE: This build is now live, thanks to everybody who helped out and provided feedback!
The upcoming update is now available via the "client_ptr" beta branch in Steam. We're making this build available ahead of the official release to gather more feedback on the changes and to help track down any major issues before pushing live. Please share any and all feedback on our official discord in #sv-feedback (📝sv-feedback)
Note: This build is a development build which has additional debug information to help us track down any issues / crashes and the like. Performance will be degraded compared to the official public build. The progress made with the test branch will not carry over to the public build.
Current changes:
Added night-time downtown and day-time powerstation variants in the unlockable timelines
Multiple AI have additional logic and fallbacks to ensure that they do not get permanently stuck outside of valid playspace (including Windup). Should address issues with Jarhead mission as well where sometimes all counted AI are not reliably engaging the players.
Experiment with a small double jump for all players before getting a jump power.
The dash melee attack will now trigger the basic version of any dash powers.
Experiment with a "Quick Run" option that shortens the timelines to provide a faster session. Additional juice and credits are awarded after the first room to help compensate for the missing power-ups that would be available in a longer run. Only available for solo currently. Disabling this for the moment to rethink a design that works better with UI / multiplayer.
Addressed a potential crash related to AI pathing as navigation geometry was being added/removed mid-session.
Improvements to all flying AI movement selection to ensure they properly engage the players even if beyond their ideal combat range, and avoid picking any points too close (or especially over top of the player). They are also more likely to stay closer within the eye level of the player instead of occassionally picking high points in the sky. (note: All flying AI is long overdue for an over-haul, and will be something to tackle in future updates.)
Fixed exploders not handling repeated movement failures correctly. They will now detect when unable to reach the player and will trigger the fallbacks to "unstick" themselves.
Experiment with allowing dash activation when about to land from a jump/fall, which will allow players to cancel out any potential fall damage if timed correctly.
Add option (found under gameplay options) to disable the auto-cover system
Backbone's damage immunity has been replaced with damage resistance so he can be minimally hurt with weapons/powers. Destroying the pustules is still the most effective method of taking him down quickly.
Backbone's reinforcements are smarter about joining the battle wherever Backbone is rather than the original spawn zone.
The recession took it's toll on the company and our Dutch shop, Dent Studios didn't find a way through. With Dent permanently closed we made sure everything is still in place and caters to our players, so we continue as 11000AD, a fully remote outfit based in USA. 11000AD was the name of our demoscene group, part of the past we're really fond of and perhaps we'll release some demos on Steam in the future, life/time permitting.
Hopefully this rebranding update for Covenant: Project Zero (which was a fairly simple re-compile and publish) won't prove to be a dramatic shift, or a game-breaking event (looking at a hyper-complex cow shader that... behaves... just as I'm writing this) - but we'll look over user feedback and try and stay on top of all the major issues down the line.
And of course - hope you like the o1D$k00l 11000AD l0g0!
