Section 13 News

Hello, this is Jaeeun Park, Creative Director of Blackout Protocol.

One thing I'd like to mention first is that I will keep today's blog short, but be back with more news soon. Moving ahead, the plan is to share these dev logs more frequently. We’ll be sharing not only work we’ve completed, but where our development process stands and what choices we’re still mulling over, to keep the community in the loop as we move toward full release.

In our last dev log, our team shared the general news that Blackout Protocol will be making some big changes in the long-term future. Our entire studio has been having some intense discussions about changes to the game’s systems, overall design, and narrative presentation. A lot of that is still shifting, but we’re beginning to pin down some major elements, and hope to share more soon.

In today’s dev log, I’d like to briefly discuss one new system we’ll be adding soon.

One major point in our current discussions is how we can modify the core gameplay to bring a little more variety from run to run. For that reason, we’ve decided to give a new role to the medical equipment in the Safe Rooms, which currently just replenishes HP and panic meter.

The new system involves the addition of a new element we’re calling "Body Mods". These present players with a random mix of good and bad effects, to add some more of those interesting roguelite-y choices to how players customize their loadout.


We’ve also been working on adding some new features to Synaptic Enhancements that randomize their department and point values. For example, "Synthetic Gunpowder III" (which gives a big damage boost to weapons that deal physical damage) is one of the most popular choices among players, and there’s no real reason it couldn’t show as a Bionic department card.


Looking forward to bringing you more news soon!


- Jaeeun

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Hello Agents!

This is the first post of 2024 and it’s already the second month of the year. We’ve been a little quiet since the new year began, even skipping over our usual monthly patch. But please read on to understand why, and hopefully, you'll agree that the silence was worth it.

Over the last two months, we took the time to review and thoroughly assess everything we’ve done so far, alongside all the feedback we’ve gotten from the closed betas and Early Access. Despite a rocky start, the review showed us that we’ve made progress in turning Blackout Protocol into a game that is more enjoyable than ever before. You all pointed out a lot of pain points and suggested ways to make it a better game, and we feel privileged to have your time and feedback.


However, the review ultimately revealed that we needed to make a deeper, more fundamental change. While we've been addressing popular criticisms such as high difficulty level and unfair deaths, we had not shifted out of our narrow perspective that Blackout Protocol’s fun lies in overcoming challenging combat.

When we first set out to make Blackout Protocol, our goal wasn’t to make a difficult game. It was about making a game you can enjoy with your friends. Some of our co-op features like undefeatable friendly fire was incorporated only because we saw it as a playful element among friends, which is also why it has remained so far.

Returning to that mindset and broadening our perspective, we will now aim to provide a more encompassing experience for everyone. For all players, solo and co-op alike, our new goal is to add narrative elements, diverse level changes, more random factors to deliver a complete package of fun by official launch. When Blackout Protocol launches, every run will provide a different experience and different fun, and you will also unravel each agent’s mysteries one at a time. (Like, did you know Boy Scout suffers from gastritis?)

There’s also been a change in the team, with Dong Soo starting a new project at the studio and Jae Eun taking the creative helm. Jae Eun has been part of Blackout Protocol from its conceptual stage, so he knows all there is to know about it. He’s already hard at work planning out the changes and getting ready for the official launch.

That’s the report for now. Thank you all for your patience, please bear with us a little longer, and we promise to launch the best version of Blackout Protocol we can make. We will reveal a new roadmap as soon as it becomes available; we will not keep you in the black for long.

- ODS Team

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Agents,

2023 has been a big year for Ocean Drive Studio, but especially for Blackout Protocol. All the closed beta tests and the Steam Next Fest built up to our Early Access, and the major patches afterward helped further solidify the foundation for the game.

We wanted to express our gratitude to all of you joining us in our journey this year. Various members of the Ocean Drive Studio team recorded a holiday message per our tradition, but we also have a message from Blackout Protocol’s mastermind on the game's present and its future.

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We cannot emphasize enough how crucial your feedback and suggestions have been in shaping the game’s direction. We firmly believe, and are committed to, the open development approach where feedback from fans and community serves a critical role in creating the best gameplay experience. Sometimes, this process involves making tough decisions, like revising the development plan as Dongsoo mentioned in his message.

Based on your feedback, we focused primarily on establishing a stronger foundation and better core mechanics. To list some of those changes based on your feedback: we added solo mode, adjusted movement speed & roll dodge, made changes to weapon/Synaptic Enhancement balance, revamped early game experience, and so on.

Of course, we are still eager to bring Agents new content like additional weapons, levels, and enemies. We were able to introduce the long-awaited melee weapons in the recent 0.14 patch, which we consider the first step to all the new content to come! We will also be sharing a new content roadmap next year, as mentioned in the video.

Blackout Protocol would not be where it is now, if it weren’t for the suggestions and feedback from you. We thank every Agent for playing Blackout Protocol and sharing your feedback. We wish you a happy Holiday season, as well as a wonderful new year ahead--with us! Please look forward to more updates on Section 13 base in the future :)


- ODS Team

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Agents,

Merry Winter Sale!
Blackout Protocol will be on a 25% discount to celebrate the season.
Gift that special someone the joy of friendly fire and those "oops" moments by getting them a copy of Blackout Protocol. So in a way, it's a gift for yourself. ;)
Build out your team and challenge the Squad mode with your friends!

- ODS Team

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[h2]Patch Schedule[/h2]

• PST: 3 PM, December 20, 2023
• EST: 6 PM, December 20, 2023
• CET: 12 AM, December 21, 2023
• ICT: 6 AM, December 21, 2023
• KST: 8 AM, December 21, 2023

Agents,

We are deploying a minor patch (Ver. 0.14.2) to implement some improvements and fixes in the game. As we continue to go through the list of suggestions and issues, we will be deploying hotfixes and patches frequently until we can ensure Agents can all comfortably enjoy the game.

For the list of changes in this patch, please see below.

[h2]Improvements[/h2]

• Made it so that if the host is AFK in the session results screen, the room would not show in the Lobby UI
• Made tweaks to some parts of the Deep Storage map to prevent characters getting stuck

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed the issue that could cause the game to crash when using melee weapons
• Clarified the wording on the Flamethrower perk localization
  • This fixes the previous known issue from 0.14.0 patch notes: “For the Flamethrower weapon perk that reduces burn duration, we plan to edit the text for clarification for some languages”

[h2]Known Issues[/h2]

• When entering a room in the Lobby UI, it may take 2 key presses with the space bar (it will work fine with 1 press with the Enter key)
• In English, some settings text may display a variable instead of the value

Please note that if you are playing at this time, your game will not be interrupted. You will be prompted to download the patch the next time you open Blackout Protocol. It is possible for teammates to play with mismatched game versions, which could potentially impact gameplay. So please install the update as soon as possible for the best experience.


- ODS Team

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