The first big update of the Early Access is finally here!
Special Discount
To celebrate that, the game will get a
10% DISCOUNT FOR 2 DAYS.
Get it while it's hot and tell your tactical savvy friends about it!
Note that this discount cumulates with the soundtrack bundle, so you can get the bundle for almost the regular price of the game alone.
If you've followed
the recent updates on the test branch, you are probably already aware of what is in this update but I'll detail it anyway for those who didn't.
The Map Editor Update
So, as the name suggests, this update is focused on the in-game map editor that you can use to make your own missions and share them with the rest of the community.
More than
5000 new map elements have been added to the map editor: new walls, buildings, furniture, vehicles, props, etc.
All of them have not been integrated in the skirmish missions and the map generation system yet, so you won't see them in the challenge, randomized and campaign missions either. I'll introduce them in the map generator incrementally as I'm improving it.
A big part of the game system had to be reworked to support all those new possibilities and the crazy ways I've seen them used in the community maps (like using walls as debris or props as walls for instance). It took me more time than I expected but it also allowed me to improve things that weren't initially planned. The most notable is the possibility to make maps with different heights for the walkable surfaces, passing under them, etc.
Quality of Life Improvements
I also wanted to highlight some changes unrelated to the map editor.
[h2]Reordering the game sections[/h2]
The first one is about the difficulty of the campaign. In your feedback and reviews, I often read that the game throws you a bit harshly from the tutorial to the campaign with a 8 characters team to handle and a bunch of new rules you didn't expect.
I've actually designed the skirmish missions with increasing team size, map size and difficulty to prepare the players for the campaign. The thing is most players launch the campaign as soon as they have completed the tutorial, probably because the way the main menu as been designed incites them to do so.
So I've changed the order of the different game sections and the home buttons to put the single missions before the campaign, hopefully it will change the default behavior of the new players.
I could lock the campaign until you complete some (or all) the skirmishes but I suppose it would be frustrating for those who feel up to the challenge... Let me know what you think in the comments.
[h2]Changing the timeline behavior when switching characters[/h2]
The second important change is about the way the timeline acts when you select a character. Until now, it would reset to the time of the character's last action. I've noticed in the different videos and streams of the game that it's often not the expected behavior and leads to planning mistakes.
That's why I've changed it so that
selecting a character doesn't change the position of the timeline anymore.
I've also added an option in the settings to switch back to the previous behavior in case you find it more convenient that way.
Full changelog
Below is an exhaustive list of the changes coming with this update.
I know there's a lot to take in, so I've done my best to highlight the most important ones:
[h2]New features and content[/h2]
- Added 5000+ new map elements!!!
- Implemented support for elevated grounds navigation
- Added the option to reset (or not) the timeline when selecting a character (disabled by default)
- Added primitive map elements (cube, sphere, cylinder, etc)
- Added the blood toggle option in Settings/Graphics
- Added the screen shake toggle option in Settings/Graphics
- Added an error message when clicking on the execute button and the mission objective is not complete by the end of the plan
- Added help sections for handguns, sniper rifles and weapon points Wait for the tutorial videos to finish before displaying the play button
[h2]Improvements[/h2]
- You can now rewatch completed campaign missions (only applies to missions completed after this update)
- Removed the map size limits in the map editor
- Removed the weapon point reward when completing a campaign chapter BUT added weapon point rewards to the challenge missions
- Disabled skill unequipping, clicking on an equipped skill now opens the skill shop panel allowing you to upgrade your equipped skills or unlock and equip new ones
- Disabled throwing grenades through windows
- Scroll the timeline using the mouse wheel (slowed by holding Alt, accelerated by holding Shift by default, see settings)
- Automatically saves cinematic configuration (camera shots)
- Display the next mission button in the game over screen of campaign missions, leading back to the chapter screen
- Improved the exit mission and replan mission button icons
- Increased the button backgrounds transparency
- Prevented weapons and grenades to overlap each other on the weapon rack
- It's now possible to rotate weapons and grenades on the weapon rack without having to drag them first
- Temporarily removed the ATMs from the possible map generator props
- Improved the light and material inspectors in the map editor
- Walls are now split in 2 faces, you can have different visuals on each side
- Doors are now separate assets, you can put different doors
- Improved the main menu buttons
- Added a new type of large interior window in the map generator
- Changed the order of the main menu headers
- Made the scale of the NPC Spawn Zone model independent of the zone size
- Improved the camera obstacle hiding system (increase the width of the hiding effect as you tilt the camera down)
- Improved the default placement of newly bought weapons and grenades
- Lowered the default mission settings object position
- The execution phase now starts paused, allowing player to configure the camera before launching the replay
- Wait for the video to end before displaying the play button in the campaign helps
- Improved the SFX when clicking a button that launches a mission
- Updated the translations
[h2]Fixes[/h2]
- Fixed the map size of the campaign missions
- Fixed delayed Steam achievements
- Fixed the map editor UI scaling on huge resolutions
- Fixed the objective translation in tutorial missions
- Fixed "Barrel_04" and "Barrel_06" props getting replaced by "Barrel_01" and "Barrel_02" when loading the map
- Fixed dead characters having their plan reloaded in campaign missions
- Fixed the completed campaign chapter icon resolution
- Fixed the light properties set in the map editor not being properly loaded
- Fixed weapons and grenades not selectable when placed too high on the weapon rack
- Fixed character spawn visuals getting corrupted when unselecting an object in the map editor
- Fixed weapons and grenades impossible to move in the weapon rack
- Fixed the planning scene being displayed when testing a new custom mission for the first time
- Fixed grenade collisions
- Fixed camera obstacles hiding in the planning scene
- Fixed lighting on randomly generated maps during the execution phase
- Fixed the mod details card not closing when clicking on the edges of the screen
- Fixed the grenade and waypoint sync tutorial missions
- Fixed the "full game" button icon size in the main menu
- Fixed camera move bounds
- Fixed some map assets planning version
- Fixed the character spawn and rest spots not always appearing in the map editor
- Fixed the character spawn orientation
- Fixed the character spawn spots orientation
- Fixed the enemy spawns not always appearing in the map editor
- Fixed the enemies' pathfinding
- Fixed loading of custom missions using certain doors
- Fixed missing assets in the planning view
- Fixed the character spawns orientation in the skirmish missions
- Fixed the character spawn orientation in randomly generated exfiltration missions
- Fixed missed shots hitting windows
