Suit for Hire News

Hey everyone,

Last time we made a post was last month when we released update #11 where we mentioned that the next update would be a month from then. Well, it's been a month and you're probably wondering where the new update is, unfortunately it's been pushed back a bit due to a few things still needing to be completed.

We don't have an estimate but we're hoping 3-5 days from now we'll have the November update ready for all of you, in the meantime here's a list of all the things we worked on and what's to come!

Checkpoint System

A new checkpoint system has been worked on to improve respawning during levels! This should improve player's experiences while we adjust the difficulty curve of the game, and should also allow us to make larger levels without requiring loading screens to create save points.



Kickable Doors

As we continue to update the game and add more mechanics, we like to update the game environment to mesh well with the game's mechanics- in this update we've made it possible to kick down doors rather than simply opening them!

We'll have a video for you soon as we work on it.

Controller Support in Settings Menu

We've continued to add more controller support to the game as requested by the community, the settings menu should now completely work with gamepads. As always, once the update drops, please let us know if we missed anything or if something isn't working!



New Levels

A big issue we had with some of the levels in the campaign is odd transitions from one area to the next- we've made some changes to a few levels and we're currently creating new levels to fill in those gaps!



That's only the beginning, there's a ton of bug fixes, improvements in terms of gameplay and QOL improvements, audio improvements, and a big revamp to our music system!

We're excited to bring you this new update and we'd like to apologize for the delay, we're figuring out our bottlenecks and should hopefully be able to improve our workflow for the next monthly update.

Let us know what you think in the discussion hub and we hope you have a great start to your December.

Hey everyone,

First off, happy Halloween- we wanted to do a whole content update for Halloween but unfortunately we've been planning quite a bit for November/December. Nonetheless, we still got a bunch of stuff done including a new enemy that may terrify some players.

Ninja/Katana Enemy

The Katana-wielding enemy has been readjusted to have a much faster movement speed when running towards you, opening up some pretty tight situations where you have to quickly roll away from an attack or kill the enemy before the attack could ever happen.

We still have quite a bit to do to the Katana enemy such as giving them a unique character model, but we're excited to finally add some more unique enemies to the game. We've got tons of plans for adding more enemies which should be happening in the month to come.

There's more to come for the Katana enemy, but this is a start.

Feature Requests, Improvements and Bugfixes

• ADDED: Backstab UI Popup (when available)
  
• ADDED: Sound effect when the player dies
  
• ADDED: Added a setting to turn off the player flashlight [feature request]
  
• ADDED: Added a setting to auto-continue loading screens [feature request]
  
• IMPROVED: Shield enemies now ricochet bullets like the mirrors instead of right back at the player
  
• ADJUSTED: Brutes/shield enemies now turn a bit slower
  
• FIXED: Enemies clearing aggro after getting punched a couple times
  
• OPTIMIZED: We've converted some stuff into C++ from UE4 Blueprints to hopefully optimize some systems for the future
  
• OPTIMIZED: Electrical pole cables no longer use physics which should make levels run better where they're used
  

November Plans

Now you're probably wondering "Hmm, not much added this update around.", we've been hard at work planning and coming up with how we'll be tackling November- our plans for November involves doing one single big content update at the end of the month. If there's any issues/bugs that are relatively game-breaking due to this update, we'll make sure that's all fixed- but other than that we'll be working on the first big content update (finally).

We'll be releasing a roadmap post to discuss our goal for the end of this year, super exciting stuff to come!

Thanks again for all of the support, let us know what you think about this update through our Discord!

Hey everyone,

It's update day, this time we have some exciting stuff to show off. In this update we've completely adjusted AI perception, added a backstab system, and much more.

Let's get into it.

AI Perception

We've completely adjusted the AI Perception in Suit for Hire, for those that may not understand what this means; AI Perception is essentially how the enemies perceive things within the world using senses like sight and hearing.

Before, we simply had a sphere around enemies and once you've entered that sphere and they had line of sight of you (even behind them), they would become aggressive and run at you.

Now enemies use proper perception by using sight in front of them, alongside that we gave them some simple hearing to start with- once an enemy sees you, they'll call out to enemies nearby them. We imagine this may make the game harder as more enemies will aggro on players right off the bat, so please let us know how it feels as this is a pretty big adjustment.

There's still a lot to do in terms of enemy/AI perception, like being able to see dead bodies in front of them, etc. so we'll be working diligently on this aspect in the next few weeks.

Backstab System

The reason we adjusted the AI perception was to allow players to backstab enemies. This mechanic is still pretty early on and we still have to provide the player with an interface popup when they can do a backstab, but it works and gets the job done for now.

If you ever get the chance to get behind an enemy undetected, you can hit the Execute key behind them to do a backstab (which is essentially a free execution)- we plan on designing levels around this and opening up potential scenarios for this. At the moment, our level design doesn't fully support this as most enemies face in the direction where you come from, we'll work on this a lot in the next few updates!

Improvements and Bugfixes

Other than the AI Perception and the Backstab System, we've improved a few other things and fixed a bunch of bugs that you've submitted (thanks to everyone submitting reports/feedback, you're a big help in making this game better).

• Lowered the brightness in L9 Subway Entrance and L5 Office so it's not as blinding
  
• Fixed up more of the execution animations, making it better when blending back into gameplay
  
• Adjusted main menu movement to be smoother on gamepad
  
• Fixed being able to shoot while loading
  
• Fixed the timer in the ending screen
  
• Fixed gamepad button not showing over difficulty level buttons
  
• Fixed gamepad screwing up in the main menu (more improvements to be made, let us know if you experience any issues)
  
• Fixed an issue where caution prompts could appear multiple times if you're spamming input keys
  
• Fixed the caution prompt not having gamepad support for some scenarios
  
• Fixed an issue where getting a perfect dodge and then executing an enemy played both execution animations at different rates
  
• Fixed mercs being able to fire while being staggered/attacked
  
• Fixed an issue where the "Hold to Throw Weapon" UI got stuck on screen
  
• Fixed a rotation issue when countering and then executing afterwards
  
• Fixed being able to execute enemies while dying
  

That's it for this update, thanks again for all of the support, bug reports and feedback!

Let us know what you think of the new AI Perception and Backstab system through our Discord and Community Hub!

It's been a pleasure working on Suit for Hire and we're super excited to get more going in the weeks to come, we'll see you next week.

Hey everyone!

This week's update isn't a crazy one unfortunately due to holidays, but we've made sure to gather any bugs that were found in the last update and fix them ASAP.

We'll quickly cover all of the changes in one simple list so we're not wasting any of your time and you can jump straight into the action:

• Improved Gun Executions blending and placements, there shouldn't be any more flickering/laser issues when exiting a gun execution now
  
• Added UI popup when secondary weapon is empty (for throwing/dropping)
  
• Added loading screen tooltips
  
• Alongside loading screen tooltips, to stop the loading screen from disappearing too quickly, you have to manually close it by pressing any key (we'll be sure to add an option in the Settings menu to bypass this and auto-continue)
  
• Improved kicking objects in a direction, it also is based on the object's weight/mass
  
• Added sound effects to counter attacks
  
• Fixed the gate sounds in L1 not being tied to volume settings
  
• Fixed reloading not being tied to volume settings
  
• Fixed the overwrite menu not working with controller
  
• Fixed the reset key working on Legend difficulty (the R key will now restart the entire run for those in that difficulty)
  

That's it for this week's patch notes, we apologize for not getting more in- we have some new mechanics planned for this upcoming week though- stay tuned for that.

We also have a post coming about our music artist's progress on the soundtrack, that should be coming this weekend!

Thanks again for all of the support, we're working hard on getting more content planned and should have new things coming very soon™.

Hey everyone!

It's finally the weekend which means a new update for Suit for Hire. This update includes one of the most requested mechanics for the game, improvements for melee combat, and a ton of fixes and adjustments.

This should be an update that everyone can enjoy playing with.

Without further ado, here's Update #8:

NEW: Counterattacks [EXPERIMENTAL]

Some type of Counter-Attack was one of the most requested mechanics for the game, it's not perfect but we've come up with one that should help the combat flow a bit. Of course, this mechanic is Experimental since it's so new and fresh, so please let us know how it feels.

At the moment, it's not apart of the tutorial just yet, but essentially it uses the default Interact key as the binding (this can be changed in the Input settings), you press it right before you would get hit and it does a counter.

The counter gives you 25 Willpower which you can use towards executing enemies or going into Time Focus. It also stuns the enemy for a short duration, giving you time to do other things or engage another enemy.

Let us know what you think, we'll most likely adjust the counter throughout development but it'll generally stay the same in terms of how it works!

More Controller Support

As requested, we've added a bit more controller support to the game. We haven't put controller support for every menu (e.g. Settings menu) so we can't deem it as Full Controller Support, but you should be able to navigate the main menu with a controller now and get in the game.

Improved Melee Combat

We've improved the melee combat a bit in this update. The main thing we changed is how we detect who the player might want to lock onto, if you're in the process of attacking an enemy and then aim to swap enemies (maybe an enemy going in for an attack), you should be able to do this smoothly now without having to pause your attacks.

This is great for doing some roundhouse kicks into enemies now!

Additionally, successfully dodging attacks will give you a short duration of Time Focus, allowing you to do some cool moves.

More Additions

• Added a Revert to Defaults button in the Inputs
  
• Grunts now turn a bit during swing attacks
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the timer not updating properly after dying a few times or when leaving through the pause menu (let us know if this is working properly)
  
• Fixed the Reload input not showing in Keybindings (we're a little dumb and forgot to put it in the inputs, sorry!)
  
• Fixed shooting not working after doing specific actions
  
• Fixed the gun execute causing an instant reload when you have one bullet (now it gives you a reserve magazine)
  
• Fixed being able to navigate to the Level Select with a controller even when it's not unlocked
  
• Improved the brute hitbox (hopefully)
  
• Fixed shaders not appearing in games (you should see enemy outlines through objects again)
  

Let us know what you think of Update 8 through our Discord and Community Hub!

If your curious about the future of the game and what plans we have for it, be sure to check out our latest Status Update.

Thanks a lot for the support these past couple months, we hope to improve the game even further in the months to come- have a great weekend!