Section 13 News

Early Access Date Announced: July 19, 2023!

Agents,

We hope you are enjoying the demo and are eagerly looking forward to the Early Access as everyone at Ocean Drive Studio is. Today, we are announcing the Early Access date: July 19, 2023 PT (July 20, 2023, depending on your time zone)!

If you have played the closed beta, you probably saw some changes make their way into the demo. Guess what–more changes are coming with Early Access! We hope to have opportunities to highlight those changes as we draw nearer to the Early Access start date. For now, please enjoy the awesome trailer we made for today’s announcement:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Make sure you wishlist Blackout Protocol if you haven’t already. That way, you will know as soon as Early Access goes live. Can’t wait until July? Play the public demo from our Steam store page!

- ODS Team

DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | TWITCH

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2111870/Blackout_Protocol/

Demo Minor Hot Fix - June 9 2023

Agents,

We are releasing version 0.8.2.1 BuildNum 33 to address some issues reported to us.

The patch will be live at:

PDT: 2:00 AM
EDT: 5:00 AM
CEST: 11:00 AM
ICT: 4:00 PM
KST: 6:00 PM

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.

[h3]Change List[/h3]

Made changes to the difficulty adjustment feature
- Made the default difficulty setting to Easy
- For Easy difficulty, you will no longer lose Panic Gauge when you take physical damage while in the dark. We plan to continue monitoring the Easy difficulty and make further adjustments as necessary.

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

Fixed the issue where, if Scalpel wielding a Sawed-Off Shotgun with an empty mag used her active skill, she could not fire her weapon even after reloading (Reported on Discord)
Fixed an issue where the Nethercube description could show as untranslated text

Your CB3 Feedback

Agents,

Your efforts to regain control of Section 13 base during the last beta has provided us with valuable intel for our future missions. Your feedback counts–even if it’s feedback on the survey: the beta feedback survey this time was different from that in CB2, based on notes we received from you.

Some of the changes you asked for have been in the works, and we have been able to bring them to you in our demo on Steam. Other feedback, we will take careful note and plan further changes and improvements for our Early Access, coming this year–and it could be sooner than you think!

[h3]Re: Agents[/h3]
We saw more Agents experience Blackout Protocol for the first time in CB3 than in CB2.

[h3]Re: Matchmaking[/h3]
This time around, we saw a greater portion of Agents playing in duos. However, when asked what their most wanted group size is, most Agents told us they would like to play in a full group of 3. We are happy to find out that Agents agree that the Blackout Protocol experience is much enhanced when you have good teamwork with a full squad.

[h3]Re: Combat[/h3]
Even though quite a few of the CB3 Agents were new to the game, we saw that many Agents quickly picked up the various combat mechanics in Blackout Protocol.

We received similar feedback as CB2, such as difficulty and overall combat balance in various forms–friendly fire, character movement speed, reload mechanics, etc. Combat balance is something we are constantly monitoring and reviewing, so we will continue to make adjustments for Early Access and beyond.

[h3]Re: Permanent Growth and Roguelite Elements[/h3]
Many Agents found permanent enhancements and unlocks to be helpful, similar to previous betas. We will continue to work on improvements in this area as well. For example, we are working on improvements to the weapon perk system including UI changes, as well as reviewing new weapon perk options.

[h3]Re: Other Topics[/h3]
We saw that many Agents found each character’s appearance to match their background, which players found on the character selection screen. Lore and immersion is something that we’ve been working on diligently, so please look forward to seeing more of this. You can actually see some of that already in the demo, with the S2P Archives and new character selection screens!

[h3]Re: CB Feedback Implemented in the Demo[/h3]
We’ve been working on quite a few changes based on your feedback from all the betas, and some of them have made their way into the public demo for Blackout Protocol available on Steam! While it has limited amount of content, we wanted to share some changes you may spot:

The new character selection screen provides better lore and immersion of Agents, showing them “at work” before they came to the gate of Section 13
Make sure you check out their full idle & selection animations in the game!
The new S2P Archives menu, where you can get a better sense of your permanent growth, presented in a way that fits what you will uncover at Section 13 base in the future.
Right now, you have access to the Armory (for all weapons you unlocked) and the Nethersphere (for all permanent enhancements you unlocked).
The new Synaptic Enhancement selection UI, which is part of our effort to facilitate which enhancement to choose, especially with weapon perks in mind.
In addition to the 4 categories shown on the left, you now see information on the right that tells you your current weapons’ categories, as well as indicators for how many points you need for unlocking the perks on them. If getting a certain enhancement would unlock a perk, you’ll see that show on the UI as well.

Once again, thank you so much for playing CB3 and providing your feedback. We will continue to work on Early Access and bring more news to you. Don’t forget to play the demo!

- ODS GeeK

DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | TWITCH

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2111870/Blackout_Protocol/

Blackout Protocol Demo Is Live!

Greetings, Agents.

We are in the process of analyzing all feedback we received from the last closed beta, and plan to share our learnings with you soon.

Today, we’re here to open up a public demo for Blackout Protocol. The demo features limited content from the earliest parts of the game, in order to showcase what Blackout Protocol is about, as well as to identify and address any bugs or issues for a better gameplay experience during Early Access and beyond.

Below is what you can expect from the demo:

4 playable Agents
13 weapons (unlockable via blueprints) and 5 tactical equipment items
All weapons we currently have planned are available in this demo, but only their first few levels
The earliest 2 stages of the game (out of a total 6 planned for Early Access)
Alternate variants of those first 2 stages, which you'll encounter over multiple playthroughs
The first 3 tiers of unlockable Agent Upgrades (out of a total 7 tiers planned for Early Access)

We’d also like to note that localization has not yet been finalized in all languages, so you may encounter a few minor text issues. Another thing we're working on is adding VO to the full game, so more things for you to look forward to beyond the demo!

Please share your feedback and report bugs through Feature Upvote or our Discord server. Your feedback plays an important role in shaping the game.

We wish you the best of luck down in Section 13!

Thank You for Playing Closed Beta 3

Agents,

Our third closed beta has come to its end.
Thank you for your participation and feedback, which will serve an important role in shaping Blackout Protocol's future.

We are gathering and analyzing all feedback, suggestions, and bugs you shared with us. Once we go through everything, we will report back with our findings and share more information on what would come next, as usual.

If you haven't shared your feedback yet, or if you have more you'd like to share with us, please reach out to us through the following channels.
Your feedback is an essential part for our mission to provide the best gameplay experience we can, so don't be shy!

Closed Beta Feedback Survey
- Please take the survey to rate your experience with key features of the game and to share your thoughts
Blackout Protocol Feature Upvote Board
- Please share and vote for feedback and suggestions to make Blackout Protocol better, as well as report bugs and issues
Ocean Drive Studio Discord Server
- Please come to the dedicated #feedback and #bugs-and-issues channels; you can also reach out directly to our staff via the ModMail bot