0.11.3 Hot Fix Update
Fixed the issue where in rare cases game sometime fails to save session progress
Section 13 News
0.11.3 Minor Hotfix Patch Notes
Agents,
We have just deployed a minor fix patch (Ver. 0.11.3) to address one urgent issue.
For the list of fixes in this patch, please see below.
[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
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
DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | TWITCH
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2111870/Blackout_Protocol/
We have just deployed a minor fix patch (Ver. 0.11.3) to address one urgent issue.
For the list of fixes in this patch, please see below.
[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
- Fixed the issue where in rare cases game sometime fails to save session progress
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
DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | TWITCH
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2111870/Blackout_Protocol/
Dev Log #4: Rogue Mode Changes for 0.11.2 and 0.12
Hi there. This is Dongsoo Oh, Creative Director of Blackout Protocol.
Today I'd like to give you a quick rundown of patch 0.11.2, plus a sneak peek at some of our plans for patch 0.12.
[h3]#1: Changes in this Patch[/h3]
Our main focus in 0.11.2 has been adjusting the difficulty curve encountered in the first few hours of the game, as well as the probabilities involved with how new map variants are introduced. You'll notice these changes mostly in the first level (everything from the start of the game up to the level 2 lobby).
We've gone through early-game map variants with a magnifying glass, and made adjustments to spots that many new players were finding unapproachably or unfairly difficult.
We've also fixed an issue with weapon blueprint drops in the early game, to help ensure that even if players aren't making a ton of forward progress, they're still unlocking new weapons and can start their next run with more options.
Probably the biggest change we've made is adjusting how new map variants are introduced into the rotation.
Previously, the introduction of new map variants was dependent on various factors (mostly the number of sessions). Now it's tied primarily to permanent growth progression. To put it simply: the more upgrades you unlock with data nugs, the greater the chance you'll start encountering new, harder map variants.
This should hopefully smooth out the difficulty progression a lot, and cut down on those instances of players being abruptly thrust into high-difficulty scenarios they feel totally overwhelmed by.
Finally, we've also made a handful of miscellaneous quality-of-life tweaks in this patch, including:
[h3]#2: Upcoming Changes[/h3]
We'll be making more little iterative polishes like these as Early Access goes on. But we also recognize that a lot of players still find the overall difficulty pretty cumbersome, and addressing that will require some deeper changes as well.
To that end, we're going back to the drawing board, and will be adding difficulty options in patch 0.12(scheduled for September).
For the moment, we'll be keeping general difficulty in Squad mode (multiplayer) untouched. Playing with other human beings will always introduce a certain amount of chaotic swinginess in difficulty from run-to-run, which we feel is part of the fun, so we're pretty comfortable with where that mode is sitting at right now.
However, we'll be making some changes to Rogue mode (single-player). Specifically, we'll be creating two difficulty levels: Normal and Hard. Hard is basically the difficulty level currently in the game. Normal is a new, easier level of difficulty, which we feel better reflects the intended experience, particularly for first-time users.
Both difficulty levels will have all the same content and permanent growth progression, and will continue to share progression with Squad mode.
The game's general difficulty level, and whether or not to offer difficulty options, is something we've been getting feedback from players about since Closed Beta. And, honestly, it's something we've gone back and forth about internally quite a bit.
At its heart, Blackout Protocol is intended to be a top-down tactical shooter with an engaging level of challenge. When making changes that affect the difficulty level, our #1 goal is to always keep that vision in mind, and be cautious that we're not compromising the game's core identity. (Hence why adjusting that particular element has taken us a little longer than some others: to ensure we're making the right choices, and executing them well.) We appreciate your patience while we take the time to get it right.
We hope these changes will make the game a bit more approachable to new players, while preserving what existing players enjoy about it.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dongsoo Oh
Today I'd like to give you a quick rundown of patch 0.11.2, plus a sneak peek at some of our plans for patch 0.12.
[h3]#1: Changes in this Patch[/h3]
Our main focus in 0.11.2 has been adjusting the difficulty curve encountered in the first few hours of the game, as well as the probabilities involved with how new map variants are introduced. You'll notice these changes mostly in the first level (everything from the start of the game up to the level 2 lobby).
We've gone through early-game map variants with a magnifying glass, and made adjustments to spots that many new players were finding unapproachably or unfairly difficult.
We've also fixed an issue with weapon blueprint drops in the early game, to help ensure that even if players aren't making a ton of forward progress, they're still unlocking new weapons and can start their next run with more options.
Probably the biggest change we've made is adjusting how new map variants are introduced into the rotation.
Previously, the introduction of new map variants was dependent on various factors (mostly the number of sessions). Now it's tied primarily to permanent growth progression. To put it simply: the more upgrades you unlock with data nugs, the greater the chance you'll start encountering new, harder map variants.
This should hopefully smooth out the difficulty progression a lot, and cut down on those instances of players being abruptly thrust into high-difficulty scenarios they feel totally overwhelmed by.
Finally, we've also made a handful of miscellaneous quality-of-life tweaks in this patch, including:
- Clearer UI and audio feedback on weapon reloading, so players know exactly when a reload has finished.
- Faster weapon swapping, so players can respond more effectively to urgent situations, and are less likely to die because they're juggling machine guns. (This also makes using throwables mid-combat a little bit smoother of an experience.)Adjustments to how AoE damage is dealt from things like explosive barrels and grenades, to make them a little more consistent and predictable at various ranges.
- Various changes to projectile movement and explosion timing between players and enemies.
- Improved visibility on enemy throwables (e.g. the Calculator's psionic grenades), so it's easier to react to them.
[h3]#2: Upcoming Changes[/h3]
We'll be making more little iterative polishes like these as Early Access goes on. But we also recognize that a lot of players still find the overall difficulty pretty cumbersome, and addressing that will require some deeper changes as well.
To that end, we're going back to the drawing board, and will be adding difficulty options in patch 0.12(scheduled for September).
For the moment, we'll be keeping general difficulty in Squad mode (multiplayer) untouched. Playing with other human beings will always introduce a certain amount of chaotic swinginess in difficulty from run-to-run, which we feel is part of the fun, so we're pretty comfortable with where that mode is sitting at right now.
However, we'll be making some changes to Rogue mode (single-player). Specifically, we'll be creating two difficulty levels: Normal and Hard. Hard is basically the difficulty level currently in the game. Normal is a new, easier level of difficulty, which we feel better reflects the intended experience, particularly for first-time users.
Both difficulty levels will have all the same content and permanent growth progression, and will continue to share progression with Squad mode.
The game's general difficulty level, and whether or not to offer difficulty options, is something we've been getting feedback from players about since Closed Beta. And, honestly, it's something we've gone back and forth about internally quite a bit.
At its heart, Blackout Protocol is intended to be a top-down tactical shooter with an engaging level of challenge. When making changes that affect the difficulty level, our #1 goal is to always keep that vision in mind, and be cautious that we're not compromising the game's core identity. (Hence why adjusting that particular element has taken us a little longer than some others: to ensure we're making the right choices, and executing them well.) We appreciate your patience while we take the time to get it right.
We hope these changes will make the game a bit more approachable to new players, while preserving what existing players enjoy about it.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dongsoo Oh
0.11.2 Minor Patch Notes
[h3]Patch Schedule[/h3]
Agents,
We are deploying a minor fix patch (Ver. 0.11.2) to implement some changes and improvements to the game. As we continue going through the list of suggestions and issues, we will be deploying hotfixes and patches frequently until we can ensure players can all comfortably enjoy the game.
We also have another devlog from Dongsoo Oh, the creative director for Blackout Protocol, discussing his thoughts behind some of the changes in this patch, as well as a bigger patch down the road. Please take a look at it if you want to learn more about how your feedback is helping us shape the game!
For the list of changes in this patch, please see below.
[h3]Community-Requested Changes and Fixes[/h3]
[h3]Changes/Improvements[/h3]
[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
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
DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | TWITCH
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2111870/Blackout_Protocol/
- PDT: 3:00 PM, August 28
- EDT: 6:00 PM, August 28
- CEST: 12:00 AM, August 29
- ICT: 5:00 AM, August 29
- KST: 7:00 AM, August 29
Agents,
We are deploying a minor fix patch (Ver. 0.11.2) to implement some changes and improvements to the game. As we continue going through the list of suggestions and issues, we will be deploying hotfixes and patches frequently until we can ensure players can all comfortably enjoy the game.
We also have another devlog from Dongsoo Oh, the creative director for Blackout Protocol, discussing his thoughts behind some of the changes in this patch, as well as a bigger patch down the road. Please take a look at it if you want to learn more about how your feedback is helping us shape the game!
For the list of changes in this patch, please see below.
[h3]Community-Requested Changes and Fixes[/h3]
- Added the telephone booth in Rogue (solo) Mode to allow for changing characters outside Section 13
- The Exosuit-clear badge now fades out upon entering Section 13, in order to allow better visibility
[h3]Changes/Improvements[/h3]
- Made improvements to various elements that negatively impacted difficulty and difficulty scaling
- Note: As discussed on the dev log, the current difficulty level will be labeled as Hard mode in the future
- Further adjusted enemy HP in Rogue (solo) Mode to make it around 70% of enemy HP in Squad Mode (previously, it was at 80%)
- Adjusted the overall difficulty curve per progression
- Adjusted enemy spawn conditions to reduce cases of unintended, excessively difficult combat scenarios
- Increased weapon swap speed for smoother transition into other weapons and tactical gear
- Adjusted some enemy animations and moves
- Made improvements to the circular UI around characters, including having a better visible reload indicator
- Made improvements to various sound effects
- Added sound effects for each weapon to indicate when reloading is completed
- Reduced excessive damage-taken sound effects for damage-over-time
- Improved how damage from explosions are handled
- Adjusted the explosion damage per-distance for different types of explosions
- Adjusted explosion range for explosive barrels
- Adjusted the explosion range, cooking time, and damage per distance for Psychogen Bombs used by Quarantined Entities (QTs)
- Adjusted the bounce and explosion range for Grenades used by QTs
- Other various gameplay improvements
[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
- Fixed the issue that sometimes caused weapon blueprints not to drop
- Fixed the issue where the clip size increases (from weapon perks) did not apply properly and required a reload each time you picked up a Synaptic Enhancement
- Fixed the issue where the Arc Cannon did not properly track when firing through a fence
- Fixed the issue where your killer information did not show in the results screen, if the killer died before the run ended
- Fixed the issue where some gameplay data would not be properly saved
- Fixed the issue where certain weapon perks and Synaptic Enhancements would not work properly when combined together
- Fixed the issue where there was no delay or animation when swapping weapons, when it is triggered from one weapon going entirely empty
- Fixed the issue where the vending machine would not work properly under some conditions
- Fixed the issue where uncategorized Synaptic Enhancements were impacting proficiency
- Fixed the issue with the Arc Cannon’s “Type” text spilling out the UI
- Other miscellaneous fixes
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
DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | TWITCH
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2111870/Blackout_Protocol/
Ocean Drive Studio at PAX West 2023
Agents and ODS Community,
Today, we are announcing that Ocean Drive Studio will be in Seattle for PAX West 2023, happening on September 1-4 2023! You can find us at booth #2124, Level 0 in the Summit building.
[Sharing one of the earliest booth mockups, The actual booth will be quite different, so please look forward to seeing it in person]
It is exciting for us to bring Blackout Protocol to PAX West again, especially since last year’s PAX West 2022 was when we first announced the game! Within a year, the game has gone into Early Access with more content updates to come. Stop by our booth to get another taste of the game–whether solo or in a squad!
Also, if you’re like me who enjoys talking about lore and storyworld stuff, this would be a lovely opportunity to talk with awesome folks. We’ll have people like Dongsoo Oh (Creative Director of Blackout Protocol) and Brandon (Localization Editor for Blackout Protocol)!
Looking forward to seeing you there!
[Don’t miss your photo op next to our lovely Ravager (elite Skirmisher) sign!]
- ODS GeeK
DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | TWITCH
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2111870/Blackout_Protocol/
Today, we are announcing that Ocean Drive Studio will be in Seattle for PAX West 2023, happening on September 1-4 2023! You can find us at booth #2124, Level 0 in the Summit building.
[Sharing one of the earliest booth mockups, The actual booth will be quite different, so please look forward to seeing it in person]It is exciting for us to bring Blackout Protocol to PAX West again, especially since last year’s PAX West 2022 was when we first announced the game! Within a year, the game has gone into Early Access with more content updates to come. Stop by our booth to get another taste of the game–whether solo or in a squad!
Also, if you’re like me who enjoys talking about lore and storyworld stuff, this would be a lovely opportunity to talk with awesome folks. We’ll have people like Dongsoo Oh (Creative Director of Blackout Protocol) and Brandon (Localization Editor for Blackout Protocol)!
Looking forward to seeing you there!
[Don’t miss your photo op next to our lovely Ravager (elite Skirmisher) sign!]
- ODS GeeK
DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | TWITCH
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2111870/Blackout_Protocol/