Cyber Knights: Flashpoint News

Demo Update #8 is rolling out as a follow-up to a fun and successful Stealth Fest here on Steam. With so many players spinning through the demo and posting feedback (thanks for the F10s!) we're working through the list, sorting, fixing and prioritizing everything.

As usual, our first move is an update :D

[h2]F10 Submissions going bump[/h2]
In some cases, the F10 reporter was saying that "submission failed". In these cases, we did get your F10s but we didn't get either the log file or the screenshot. We've made some adjustments that should drastically cut down on failure responses and have some steps we will take in the future to nuke them to 0%. Again, a big thanks to every player hitting F10!!

[h2]Stealth Fixies[/h2]
We had some players report odd AI behavior in which a patrolling agent would casually pass by a body of one of their own if it had been seen by someone else. This was a nice little hole in the AI reaction logic that has now been fixed! We also fixed a number of other decision points and barks the


[h2]Lootbox and Talent Improvements[/h2]
We've adjusted the size of the lootbox UI to make it easier to read, especially for more verbose items that were getting cut off. And in prep for opening up the training the class trees for a future demo update, we've added the highlighting to the Talent text which can show clearly which aspects - like Range, duration, and specific effect fields like buffing Evasion, etc - have been modified by your training choices.


[h2]Mission Polish[/h2]
The demo jobs now have more representative shapes in the mission planning tree, which is a minor touch but is a great feeling to see it coming togther. We fixed camera movement and cuts in the sequence of looking at the Command HQ, planning a Job and then picking your team to deploy. This is now much smoother without any jarring transitions. Finally, thanks to your feedback we fixed some transparency issues in the screen that could make it hard to read under certain screen sizes and mission setups.

[h2]If you haven't tried the demo yet, it offers:[/h2]

• Your first big heist to pull off! Find out how our turn-based squad tactics plays. See if you have the skills to use creative stealth, a variety of weapons, and the turn order itself to accomplish objectives in each map and get your crew out alive.
  
• Six squad members in your roster; each brings a unique set of talents to your crew. In the full game you'll have opportunities to recruit new members, as well as access to multi-classing, extensive skill trees, weapon modding, cybernetics -- everything you need to build out the perfect squads for your playstyle and the needs of the jobs you're taking on.
  
• A glimpse of your main character's origins as a Cyber Knight. These elites of our dark future's underworld are rare and highly sought after. Knights have capabilities no one else in this world does -- but it comes at a cost.
  
• A first look at your safehouse; in the full game you'll have access to base-building features to expand this underground hideout, providing more opportunities to upgrade your team and expand your capabilities to take on bigger jobs as you make a name for yourself.
  
• A preview of the choices you'll need to make in this shadowy world of mercenaries, secrets, and cyberpunks. How far will you go for a chance at a better life? What are you willing to risk for the extra credits or knowledge that could make a big difference for your crew? Who will you stay loyal to? Who can you trust?
  

[h2]v0.6.129 - 8/2/2023[/h2]
- Fixed issue with unaware/patrolling guards ignoring bodies that had been seen by other guards
- Fixed issue where F10 reports were sometimes getting "submission failed"
- Increased size of lootbox UI to make items easier to read
- Talents screen in roster is now highlighting specific Talent stats/effects that have been upgraded in training
- Improved mission planning visuals for missions
- Smoothed out camera transitions in safehouse / mission planning
- Batched repeated Sec AI messages to show more information faster
- Improved headshots of characters, fixing some characters with slightly open mouths
- Fixed transparency of panels where it should be opaque, like mission map
- Fixed some missing details in dialog for recruiting ex-Los Zagales Soldier
- Fixed/clarified tutorial text where it mentioned wrong corners, better described movement lines

Yesterday, we pushed a demo update to help improve the Heist Advantages that rolled out with the Stealth Fest demo update. While the original set of Advantages was pretty cool, the new set is even better!

[h2]Heist Advantages[/h2]
In advance of jobs and heists, as your team works to prepare for the hit, you can accumulate planned Heist Advantages. These Advantages can be the tipping point between a flawless heist and a mess of bullets and blood -- or just help you make sure it's all your bullets and their blood and not a mix at all.

The new demo update includes 4 updated Heist Advantages for the Haven Smokeout job - Violent Distraction, Sense-Net DDOS, Biochip Fritz and Unplug Cameras.

[h2]Getting Heist Advantages[/h2]
To gain heist advantages, you need to reach out to your underworld network, pay bribes, call in favors, lean on those you have leveraged or completing preemptive hacking tasks. These will either cost you money directly ($10K to bribe a traitor to pull the plug on the cameras) or Contact Favors (1 Favor to call in a local gang to cause a violent diversion to draw away Smokeout reinforcements).

[h2]If you haven't tried the demo yet, it offers:[/h2]

• Your first big heist to pull off! Find out how our turn-based squad tactics plays. See if you have the skills to use creative stealth, a variety of weapons, and the turn order itself to accomplish objectives in each map and get your crew out alive.
  
  
• Six squad members in your roster; each brings a unique set of talents to your crew. In the full game you'll have opportunities to recruit new members, as well as access to multi-classing, extensive skill trees, weapon modding, cybernetics -- everything you need to build out the perfect squads for your playstyle and the needs of the jobs you're taking on.
  
• A glimpse of your main character's origins as a Cyber Knight. These elites of our dark future's underworld are rare and highly sought after. Knights have capabilities no one else in this world does -- but it comes at a cost.
  
• A first look at your safehouse; in the full game you'll have access to base-building features to expand this underground hideout, providing more opportunities to upgrade your team and expand your capabilities to take on bigger jobs as you make a name for yourself.
  
• A preview of the choices you'll need to make in this shadowy world of mercenaries, secrets, and cyberpunks. How far will you go for a chance at a better life? What are you willing to risk for the extra credits or knowledge that could make a big difference for your crew? Who will you stay loyal to? Who can you trust?
  

[h2]v0.6.127 - 7/26/2023[/h2]
- Adjusted power levels for all Heist Advantages offered for Haven Smokeout
- Improved Advantage offers for bribes and favors
- Improved starting Contact set to be better positioned to offer these Advantages

Calling all ninjas, shadows, and ghosts in the machine -- Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is waiting to see just how stealthy you can be in our freshly-updated free demo.

As a tactical heist RPG, every heist and job for an underworld power-player allows you to tackle it with your own style and focus. However you go about it, the major pillars of your strategy will be stealth (cutting through enemy security and agents without a sound), combat (slashing, sniping, going loud at the right moments with full auto) and hacking (plugging the nano-wire from the back of your skull into a matrix host to descend into those glittering data streams -- not available in this demo but soon to come!).

Now this is Stealth Fest, so roll up your Vanguard, lock-and-load your shock mines and power up your Chameleon suit - it's time to kill quietly, move as a shadow, become one with the patrol routes. Blades and silent pistols are your weapons, speed and silence your friends.

We're excited to share this demo that takes you to the very start of your Cyber Knight's career: the night of your cyber surgery. In the underworld of New Boston, nothing goes down easy and everyone has an agenda. Can you keep your head up in these dangerous waters?

[h2]Back for more? The latest updates include...[/h2]
Your true adversary revealed!
Thoughts and actions of the level's Security AI are now displayed in a special end-of-turn highlight. On almost all of the heists you take on, the guards and security devices you'll need to overcome are managed by a facility Security AI of varying levels of sophistication. This Security AI coordinates the security response, receives reports from all the agents and devices in the field, and dispatches new agents to investigate or deal with known threats.

When the Security Tally reaches an inevitable Sec Level Escalation, the Security AI can play one of its major actions - such as enabling sleeping devices or minefields, turning security devices up to HI-POWER, or calling in reinforcements.

Depending on the facility and faction you are facing, you'll face different kinds of Security AIs. The aging Sigma 5 security package relies more on physical manpower for instance, while Sigma 7 is snappier and more reliant on technical responses and drones. A trust heister will come to know and anticipate the responses that these different Security AI are likely to bring in order to compensate or counter their strikes.

Access to pre-mission advantages.
One of the major ways a heist team can keep the enemy agents, security devices and their Security AI overlord in check is to earn some Heist Advantages in advance of going on the job. Heist Advantages are acquired during the Mission Planning phase by leveraging your network, acquiring rare items, paying bribes, calling in favors or preemptive hacking against the target.

Heist Advantages run the gamut of power including slowing down the Security AI's Tally increase, delaying Sec Level Escalations or buffing your squad at a clutch moment. They also can change the job itself -- allowing you to skip a starting stage altogether, or gain access to an additional stage such as a high-loot area that is otherwise locked. Or, you might bribe someone to slip you a Red Key, avoiding having to find or steal one in the mission itself to reach your objective.

Plan the heist, heist the plan. Profit?

Squad roster screens are now unlocked.
While the demo only offers pre-made characters for ease of play, and character customization is still locked as we complete work for the release, you're now able to see all the details of your crew's stats, traits, equipment, and more.

This also lets you review your potential recruits before giving them the offer to join your merc crew.

Tons of fine-tuning, fixes, and improvements from players' feedback!
All of the feedback we got from Steam Next Fest was super helpful in prioritizing improvements to the security tally's responsiveness, specific VFX & SFX, UI, and more. We read every bit of feedback submitted through the game's F10 system -- keep it coming; you can probably spot a change made based on something you shared with us in the full changelog below.

[h2]AND... we are closing in on a release window.[/h2]
Exciting news for long-time followers of the game. We have assembled the final burn-down list of tasks to complete for our EA launch! The timeline is just a few weeks longer than our last estimate, putting us near the start of Q4 instead of the end of Q3.

While estimates are always subject to change, this shift is a minor one and confirms we're on track for a strong EA launch. Launches are always a big moment in our player community, so join our Discord to be part of the fun from the very beginning and stay in the loop on special opportunities as the game's release approaches.

[h2]Cumulative Changelog; last update - v0.6.125[/h2]
- Security AI's thoughts and actions are visible between turns
- Roster is now unlocked to view characters (customization still locked)
- Check out recruits in the roster before hiring on to team
- Heist Advantages now available
- New UI for Victory/Defeat use the mission map from mission planning
- Improved SFX around moving
- Fixed bug where Sec Tally did not immediately respond to camera spotting
- Improved Rooftop level objective area
- Fixed issues that could cause hunting AI to skip turns at times
- Rebuilt mission victory and defeat screens
- Medkits and other healing effects show their effect in the target's HP bar
- Improved sensitivity of mouse rotation (right click, rotate)
- Damage from grenades is immediately visible as the mouse is moved to target them
- Improved colors in HP bars to make the damage done always visible every single frame
- Improved performance of mission map hovers - will never lag behind or skip off target when panning or rotating
- Cleaned up very small "skip" at the end of most character's movements
- Active Buffs and Debuffs have correct icons and duration shown in character and enemy hovers
- Improved visual clarity of potential damage in target's Health Bar, no frames where the value can't be seen
- Improved Cameras and Radar Array to be more accurate in their detection
- Improved logic as to which enemy agents can be called off their current duty by security events
- Combat logs for Cameras and Radar Arrays include the character name that was spotted specifically
- Fixed bug where enemy could take 3+ Overwatch shots in some situations
- Fixed bug with Vanguard's Overdrive Talent, guard who spots her might not stop moving immediately
- Fixed bug where engaging movement Talents like Cybersword "Lightfoot" did not update warnings about heard in movement path
- Fixed control issue where Talents like Cybersword "Lightfoot" would not allow you to toggle Sprint/Sneak
- Fixed bug causing aggro enemies to move to the far side of players when repositioning for attack
- Fixed bug causing aggro enemies capable of attacking a player to freeze and not move for the turn
- Fixed bug causing enemy agents to freeze in some security situations
- Fixed bug causing enemy agents to teleport in some security situations
- Fixed bug when reloading save, an enemy agent might start acting while cut-scene is running
- Fixed bug causing target circle to be hidden with Charged Attack / Conduit Edge melee attacks
- Fixed bug causing inconsitent "out of range" results when clicking an enemy vs. clicking Talent
- Fixed bug causing Hunker buff to automatically activate if player starts Overwatch or if player dies from enemy Overwatch
- Fixed bug where characters and enemies might start to float slightly off the ground after moving a few times
- Fixed bug allowing you to run through the doorframe of small doors
- Fixed bug allowing you to stand in the railing of elevators
- Fixed incorrect keybinding shown on ESC menu, fixed Enter is really "Delay or End Action"

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

The Steam Next Fest demo is still ready to play, Knight. Schedule your cyber surgery tonight and meet us on the rooftop at 3 AM to see if you can handle what the New Boston Zone can throw at you.

The demo will be up for a bit longer, so thanks to everyone for checking out, sharing this heist RPG with a friend and posting up feedback and bugs by hitting F10.

[h2]If you haven't tried the demo yet, it offers:[/h2]

• Your first big heist to pull off! Find out how our turn-based squad tactics plays. See if you have the skills to use creative stealth, a variety of weapons, and the turn order itself to accomplish objectives in each map and get your crew out alive.
  
  
• Six squad members in your roster; each brings a unique set of talents to your crew. In the full game you'll have opportunities to recruit new members, as well as access to multi-classing, extensive skill trees, weapon modding, cybernetics -- everything you need to build out the perfect squads for your playstyle and the needs of the jobs you're taking on.
  
• A glimpse of your main character's origins as a Cyber Knight. These elites of our dark future's underworld are rare and highly sought after. Knights have capabilities no one else in this world does -- but it comes at a cost.
  
• A first look at your safehouse; in the full game you'll have access to base-building features to expand this underground hideout, providing more opportunities to upgrade your team and expand your capabilities to take on bigger jobs as you make a name for yourself.
  
• A preview of the choices you'll need to make in this shadowy world of mercenaries, secrets, and cyberpunks. How far will you go for a chance at a better life? What are you willing to risk for the extra credits or knowledge that could make a big difference for your crew? Who will you stay loyal to? Who can you trust?
  

[h2]Visual Improvements[/h2]
We've taken a pass through the game's art, materials and character rendering based on player feedback and made some first pass improvements. There is always more work to do, but we're happy with the first step of results to improve some areas of polish. We've tweaked the materials settings for all characters, faces, hair and outfits to improve their look and reduce the plastic sheen.

We've also rebuilt the lighting stage setups for character interaction in the safehouse, these were a bit dark and dull.

Finally, we've addressed some issues where characters and enemies could float about 0.1 of a meter off the ground. This was most obvious in the disconnect between feet and shadows that would appear at times, or when you get into a combat shot camera you could see it clearly. No more floating, you must walk on the ground.

[h2]Props Fixes[/h2]
We've made some great improvements to cover rules for some of the props in the game, especially for some of the decorative side items on the rooftop like the large antennas and their concrete bases. Thanks to everyone using F10 to report such details, as we are able to very rapidly iterate the resolve.

Enjoy the demo, Knights!

[h2]v0.6.115 - 7/1/2023[/h2]
- Improved character face and outfit appearance, less plastic
- Improved light stages used during safehouse dialogs
- Fixed issue with some characters floating slightly above the ground
- Fixed some issues with props not fairly granting cover on rooftop
- Fixed all typos and smoothed out some dialog segments