Beta Changelog 2 - October 9, 2018

CHANGELOG OCTOBER 9, 2018 by Patches 

Here's a quick update about the most recent changes we made based on everyone’s feedback. If you have any questions/suggestions for how we should better use this #changelog-notes channel, please ask us in #q-and-a !

NOTE: This isn't comprehensive or anything, just wanted to let you know how your feedback has been helping us make the game better. :) (it really has!)

ALSO NOTE: If you played over the last weekend, you're familiar with this build. This is the one we pushed on Friday. (We had some issues with the weekend build... and so expect an even bigger update next time)

SHAPE FIXES
The "Shape is Targeting You" icon on the HUD should be consistent and not staying visible when The Shape has lost interest in you. (When does that happen?)
 * It doesn't, the Shape is now #### ######### ####### #### ## #### #### ###### ### #### ## ####. This means ######### Red Door will ### ## ##### ## ### and ##### #### ## the Shape.
 * Also, some new sounds for the Shape

GRAPPLE HOOK FIXES
The Grapple Hook should be easier to retrieve now. If you throw it somewhere it can't drop a long rope, it should fall back down. Several people had issues in a specific part of a specific #spoilers-and-speculation sequence which got them stuck. Hopefully fixed now!

FOOTSTEP AUDIO
Several people had issues with footsteps being inconsistent or too quiet or too loud. We did a pass on these to separate the way we treat player footsteps versus AI footsteps. Lots of work here. Let us know what you think!

CRASH FIXES
The thing about software is it keeps crashing in weird places until you fix all those edge cases. People found edge cases and we're trying to fix them! One in particular was happening at the beginning of missions and we think that's fixed now...

HARMONIZER CHANGES
The mission involving this item is changing so that the object only emits loud noise when you are moving. You should be able to stop now and it will get quiet. This should help solo players in particular who expressed difficult unfair predicaments with this mission scenario.

GAME BALANCE

 * We're adjusting loot drops a little bit
 * AI should be less likely to patrol too close to one another for long periods of time.
 * rebalanced Off The Grid and Lucky Loot minor powers to cost 2 instead of 1. They're too OP, it seems.
 * Lots of fixes to AI in various places (including ladders) which should fix them getting stuck in certain places (like ladders).

NEW SOUND FX TREATMENTS

 * Various sound effects and ambient sounds are getting polished and added in. Hopefully the overall ambiance is a little more immersive than before.

MISSION OBJECTIVE HELP TEXTS
Some mission objectives will now start with the Club sending you a photo along with the text. The photo will show you the objective you're looking for or maybe the house you need to explore. Interested to hear people's thoughts about this!
 * KNOWN ISSUE: These photos can be blurry depending on texture streaming. We have a fix in a future build.
 * KNOWN ISSUE: Not every mission sends you a photo yet.

VARIOUS OTHER LITTLE FIXES
I'm not going to list all the things, but a few that I can remember at this late hour include:
 * improvements to the way trip wires are placed on the ground
 * various scripting fixes to the intro (though not the deceiving lockpick-able door... yet)
 * crossbow tranq darts should properly go through open windows.
 * and more...

Hope that wasn't too much boring info. Thanks to Cashmaster for reminding me I owe our helpful testers another changelog! So here's an update on some of what we've done to take your suggestions to heart and hopefully keep trying make The Blackout Club the best game it can be!

If you have any thoughts on how this #changelog-notes channel can be improved, ask us in the #q-and-a.

If you do get to play in the next Beta Round, please remember NO RECORDING/STREAMING ALLOWED YET until we are a little bit further along. Thanks for being a tester and helping us make the game better! We look forward to hearing your thoughts on this next round in the #beta-feedback, #feedback-and-suggestions , and #bug-reports channels.

See you around the neighborhood!