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Suit for Hire News

Status Update: 1st month of Early Access

Hey everyone!

It's been nearly a month since we've released Suit for Hire on Early Access and oh what a busy month it's been.

We're super happy to see how much potential people see in the game and the amount of support we're getting to work on the game is next level.

Originally posted by Crimson
I was expecting a lot more unhappy people, but I'm glad I was proven wrong- thank you to everyone who's sticking with us as we work towards improving the game and adding more content/mechanics.

- Lead Developer, Crimson


In the past month, we've done a range of things to improve the game and its foundations:

  • Fixed ~33 bugs in total
  • Worked on ~35 QOL improvements and adjustments
  • Added widescreen support
  • Added Tutorial
  • Added explosive barrels
  • Added the ability to throw/drop your secondary weapon (even at enemies' faces)
  • Artstyle adjustments
  • Lots of controller improvements (and more to come)


This is only the beginning though, currently we're working on a reserve magazine which should be included in the upcoming update for Friday and many more fixes and QOL improvements!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

As you may have noticed, we haven't been particularly focusing on new content just yet- our goal at the moment is to flesh out some of the game's mechanics like the reserve magazine for example. That being said, we are starting to get to a healthy stage in the development where more content can be added.

We have a few plans on how we'll be adding more content and replayability to the game, including new mechanics. We'll be releasing a full roadmap soon, we're just fleshing out all of the details- for now here are a few things we have planned:

  • After adding and polishing the reserve magazine mechanic (based on player feedback), we'll be working on a counter-attack of sorts- this will be the beginnings of our Enemy Grapple system (we'll release more details on this planned mechanic in the roadmap)
  • A Challenge Mode which will be a big series of levels that are essentially smaller campaigns/single missions, this includes levels that may require you to survive waves of enemies, fight your way across a train, and much more. The Challenge mode will also have sub-challenges within each level so players can work towards gaining awards
  • Customization/cosmetics are also planned for the future, cosmetics will be gained through playing the game and completing challenges/achievements
  • More levels within the Campaign


This is a small part of what we have planned for the game, we'll be releasing a more fleshed out roadmap (hopefully soon) going through all of the details, please bare with us as we're getting all of these details written out- we want to make sure we're not giving blank promises but actual actionable promises for the community.

We hope that players continue to provide feedback and bug reports, we're always listening to what our playerbase has to say as we want people to have the best experience. Let us know if you experience any issues through our Discord or the Community Hub.

Other than that, if you're interested in seeing the development of the game live, you can tune in on Crimson's Twitch stream. That's it for this month's status update, we're excited to add more to the game and release a roadmap so all of you can be excited alongside us!

Update #6: Bug Fixes and Improvements

Hey everyone!

It's that time again for a new update, this time a little earlier than intended. We planned on releasing this update tomorrow (Friday), but there are some fixes in this update that we felt needed to be released ASAP.

Without further ado, let's get into the patch notes for Update 6:

New Loading Screens and Level Select

We've made some small changes to the loading screens and the level select menu- the loading screens will now show a small preview of the level you're loading, and the loading screens will show the same as thumbnails so you know what you're selecting.



Improved Weapon Throwing

In the last update, we added Weapon Throwing- a mechanic that allowed you to throw your secondary weapon at enemies or drop it earlier if you so wished. Of course, with any new mechanic being added to the game there were some issues, but in this update we wanted to make sure we fleshed out the mechanic further and improved some of the issues you may have encountered.

  • Improved the Animations for weapon throwing, this will change based on the size of the weapon you're holding or the type of weapon- for now they're all playing the new one set of animations
  • You should be able to now throw a secondary weapon right next to an enemy, the overall throwing/trajectory should be improved- let us know if you experience any issues with weapon throwing!
  • Fixed a bug where you wouldn't be able to fire your weapon if you throw your weapon while it being low on ammo or tried to throw it and died in the process
  • Added a simple trail when weapons are thrown


Aim Assist (again)

Aim Assist for controllers has been adjusted and should give a bit more snappy assist- as per usual when it comes to controller support, feedback from the community is crucial to give us an idea of how to improve it even further and bring it to the best spot it can be at.

If you're having issues with this, you can disable it in the settings menu- however please let us know what you think of it or how it gets you killed, etc. any information helps us figure out the best way to improve it!

Improvements and Changes

We've made some general improvements and changes to certain things as well that should make things better for players:

  • Readded a 7th enemy in the Intro for Clean Suit
  • Made it more apparent when you're abandoning mission/going out of bounds
  • Early access popup should only show up on initial startup now
  • Replaced the Restart Campaign/Run button with a Retry Level button in the Pause Menu
  • Increased the out of ammo sound effect for the protagonist's handgun
  • Improved the laser aiming a bit during trickshot pose
  • Added a splash screen (not at 100% volume, luckily)


Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with Time Focus causing issues while being inside of a camera adjustment overlap box
  • Fixed an issue with the final boss, if you kicked the grenade at the very last second, the boss wouldn't play the proper phase
  • Fixed some collision issues at the beginning of the Courtyard level
  • Fixed some camera issues/clipping in the first City level
  • Fixed a couple issues with the run time not showing the proper time


There were a few other changes that we haven't completely noted down, but we hope these changes improve the overall playing experience for all of you.

As per usual, please let us know if you experience any issues through our Discord or the Community Hub. We're always keeping an eye in those places and talking with the community!

Thanks again for all of your support, we'll continue to improve Suit for Hire so it can be the best it can be.

Update #5: Throwing Weapons and Artstyle

Hello players!

Hope you're doing well, we've been hard at work on the game as per usual. This time we've done some big adjustments that you'll most likely notice right off the bat including a new mechanic which includes the ability to throw your secondary weapon at enemies.

Without wasting any of your time, here are the patch notes:

Artstyle Changes

You may notice that we've made some small changes to the game's style, before this update we had a pixel texture style but we felt that wasn't the best for a game that's going for a comic-book/movie style look.



We've also enabled Anti-aliasing by default- this can of course be changed in the settings menu if you liked having that crisp look in prior versions, the other AA options are also exposed like MSAA and TAA.

We'll be playing around with the artstyle and trying to improve the overall visual fidelity of the game throughout Early Access, so be prepared for more updates to the visuals.

Weapon Throwing

People didn't entirely like not being able to put away their secondary weapon in the past game versions (e.g. Assault Rifle, SMG, etc.), so what better way to get rid of a gun than by throwing it in a merc's face.

We've always intended on adding this but we tried to get it out of the way ASAP, hence including it in this update. You may notice some issues with it, and if you do, please let us know as it helps us make the game better! The animations are also temporary and will be upgraded by our very own animator, Kyle.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Players can easily do this by holding G or the Face Button Up key on their controller while having a secondary weapon in hand.

This will also work great when we add melee weapons like knives, we'll be making it so throwing a sharp weapon into an enemy has a chance of sticking in them which will deal additional damage and stun them for a longer duration. Melee weapons aren't in the game yet though, we'll be working towards that.

Improvements and Adjustments

We've also made some improvements based on your feedback.

  • Placed explosive barrels where they should be, more to come
  • Improve the Rooftop environment to not have void gaps during the boss fight
  • Reduced the radius of explosive barrels from 450 to 350
  • Increased the rotation rate for mercs to better match how they aim at the player
  • The camera will readjust at the bottom of the elevator in L11
  • Adjusted the lighting of L11 to be more clear (hopefully)


Bug Fixes

  • Fixed mercs sometimes not shooting at you in some locations due to overlap boxes (let us know if this keeps happening)
  • Fixed melee enemies being able to hit you through corners/walls
  • Fixed the music resetting when you die/respawn
  • Fixed grunt enemies not dropping the grenade if they die while about to throw it
  • Fixed being able to... punch the money?


That's the patch notes for this update, let us know if you have any feedback or bug reports. We'll be keeping an eye out and improving the game more and more.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Update #4: Explosions and Directions

Hey everyone!

Hope y'all are having a great start to your September!

You know, it'd be perfect if we added dancing animations or something so that song could be more fitting...

Uhh, anywho- here's the patch notes for the fourth patch for the game, which should improve some of the experience for players, especially at the final boss.

Additions

  • Red barrels should now be actually explosive, sorry for Jebaiting everyone- let us know if they work well (there may be some levels with red barrels that haven't been changed, we'll be adjusting those and adding more explosive barrel locations around the Campaign as well)
  • Added an option to play music while alt-tabbed (or named Background Audio) in the audio settings
  • Added a sound effect that plays when you're on your last two bullets, let us know if this sounds good or if we should adjust it
  • Added an alternative close button in the settings menu
  • Added feedback when you're out of dodges/rolls
  • Added sound effects when rolling
  • Added indications to kick the grenades at the final boss, this should improve things for new players
  • Lots of surrounding environment art added to the rooftop, more to come


Bug Fixes

  • Fixed being able to continue game when on Legend difficulty- returning to main menu will now delete the save
  • Fixed being able to roll off the subway platforms and not die
  • Fixed a camera issue when executing an enemy in a spot where the camera changes
  • Fixed not being able to close the settings menu with Escape in the main menu
  • Fixed the willpower bar not resetting after death
  • Fixed a bug where activating Time Focus while having a Clean Suit caused the player to go at x2 speed (thanks Sodapoppin for finding that)
  • Fixed the merc not playing the aim animation while aiming to fire


We hope these changes improve your experience with the game, we have lots more to do but we'll get there one patch at a time.

Thanks a lot for playing the game and providing feedback/bug reports, we're excited to release more to the community in the weeks to come!

Release Week Patch #3

Hey everyone!

Hope you're having a great start to your week, we've worked hard these past few days fixing bugs and creating a Tutorial for the game.

We appreciate everyone who's been patient while we fix a bunch of new bugs that came up after the last patch.

This new update has been focused on improving the game flow and adding a whole tutorial to aid new players and existing players that are still having trouble with some of the gameplay mechanics.

Without further ado, here are the patch notes:

Tutorial

A Tutorial has been added and should be accessible from the Campaign menu, it goes through the basic mechanics that are currently in the game. The tutorial will be adjusted as the game grows, we'll let you know when it gets any changes.

For existing players, we'd appreciate if you tested the tutorial out so we can find any bugs or things that need adjusting.

Adjustments and Additions

  • Adjusted the execution so you can't get hit while executing an enemy
  • Kicking objects into enemies will now damage them
  • If you execute an enemy with ammo, it'll now randomize between a knife or handgun execution
  • Music now lowers itself when in the Pause Menu
  • Adjusted the Brute charge attack to have some more anticipation/warmup frames
  • Added a new Nutcracker finisher


Level Changes

  • Level 4 and Level 12 (the mansion and city level) are now split into two for more checkpoints
  • More grunts throw grenades throughout the game now
  • Level 2 should have an arrow pointing to the C4 after picking up the explosive
  • Piano in the corner of Level 4 should no longer be kickable
  • The couches and chairs in Level 4 shouldn't cause physics issues anymore with enemies


Bug Fixes

  • Fixed the janky spinning on controller/kb+m (let us know if this is actually fixed, might need more thorough cleaning up)
  • Fixed a bug where the player could die from kicked props
  • Fixed being able to bind the Escape key as a binding


As always, if you find any bugs or have feedback, please feel free to submit a thread on the Community Hub, we appreciate anybody taking the time to help.

Alternatively, you can also join our Discord to chat with our players of the community and the development team!

Thanks for the amazing support, have a great week!