4 Player Testing Branch Continues (All Platforms)
Resuming the Testing Branch after working on 4 player changes for awhile!
EDIT 10/21 7:49 PM PST: New build up, using the retail saves. We have some extra content we haven't put in yet, but we will launch that for a mini-update after this update launch. One of these things that will have to wait is new ways to allow other players to be the leader, below.
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The big new thing is changing how choosing the Leader works, and adding new ways to allow other players to be the leader. This is to avoid constantly having Player 1 resume control when they die. There's still more work to do here.
Let us know how this works for you, and any other suggestions you have for improving the local multiplayer We'll be adding a little bit of new content to this after we finish the multiplayer changes, but mostly we really want to get this update out.
INSTRUCTIONS
IMPORTANT NOTE: The testing branch and the retail version use different save files! Testing Branch saves also get cleared out on occasion, usually with new updates.
HOW TO INSTALL: Right click Death Road to Canada on Steam. Go to Properties. Go to Betas. Select Testbranch, no password necessary.
10/21 Build
- OPP Mode ending is now twice as long in the final wave
- OPP Mode has slightly more zombie waves than most modes in the ending
- Various checks put in to make sure the game doesn't emit smoke and explode in the final level for OPP Mode's higher than ever difficulty
- Final build up for Windows, using Retail saves for now (not Testbranch saves)
10/20 Build
- New modes fully implemented, with stat and streak tracking, ending lines, and so on
- The new modes are now locked, with unlock conditions like most other modes
- Endless Mode now tracks your highest day reached in the game mode select screen
- Some extra stuff for Endless
10/18 Build
- Linux and Mac builds now up
- The wait time between the leader dying and being able to pick a new character has been reduced to one second, from 3 seconds. Let me know if this feels too short
- Fix for the walking event with the yelling car, which would have a reveal error if you had an Oblivious character
- Car Detour event no longer nukes your gas if you're in a 0 gas consumption car
- The despair event where a high loyalty character leaves a note will no longer have that character take their weapons with them
- Unlock Town Blue Robot in testing branch now requires a confirmation to give you 99 ZP
10/13 Build
- Player controller characters will now warp to the leader's room if they're offscreen. This currently takes one second, but doesn't work if the player-controlled buddy is currently grabbed. Let us know if this is too exploitable. I'm considering increasing the time it takes, though I like this for making multiplayer have less pauses as you wait for characters to walk into the room.
- Removed the "pick a new character" text event if the leader is killed. Now it works similarly to how joining in as a multiplayer buddy would work, meaning you should be able to choose a new character more seamlessly.
- Event Picker Cursor splits into P1 through P4 cursors as players join, all can be used.
- Players 2-4 now have more control over menu choices. Whoever picks first makes the choice.
- If the leader dies and there is another player, the leadership will go to that player. Camera will swap over, they will get pause menu control, and the Leader crown will pop over their head.
- Moody will no longer use his Rocket Launcher if he's controlled by the AI. I did NOT agree with this change, but did it grudgingly.
- Endless Mode now shows what day you're on, instead of trying to show "days left".
- Changed Endless Mode driving screen to show how many days have passed, instead of what day you're on.
- The game will now run a check to see if your settings are incompatible with the new 4-player changes, then reset them if they are. There will be a pop-up on top of the screen to tell you this if it applies.
PREVIOUS CHANGES
- The game now supports 4 players at a time.
- Camera support for 4 players
- Joystick can now be unassigned from Player 1 and assigned to Player 2 instead.
- The ability to press escape to quit a menu added to more menus, for now mostly the supply and weapon traders.
- Menus that let you press escape to leave now have a special icon for the EXIT option: a backwards arrow
- Fixed a bug with OPP mode that occured if you started solo.
- Removed nodeathdrop from Rambeaux
- Changed .trademarkwep word to be more efficient
- Changed effect of camp2-zwatch for Sound Sleepers that have no loyalty
- Text adjustments in camp2-bwatch and camp3-trap for Sound Sleepers
- Weegee event now gives a different effect for the fire result if Fireproof
- 3 new gameplay modes added! All don't require any unlocking for now, and are labelled as BETA TEST instead of having a win counter.
- Endless Mode in. Let me know how far you get!
- Over Powered Party Mode added. This lets you start in a special map that lets you recruit any rare character in the game.
- Quick Death Mode added. It's Short Trip to Heck, but with the difficulty tripled.
- Branchname changed to HUMERUS
- Endless Mode difficulty scaling made slower, previous faster rate was for testing. The difficulty gain stays near the same for the first 50 days, and then slows down to roughly half. Let me know what you think of the new difficulty!
- Irritating Trademark Weapon is now a recharging Air Horn
- IRRITATION HORN has 20 charges for maximum cooling it
- OPP Mode now only lets you recruit 4 people
- OPP town no longer lets you back out at last moment if group is full
- Genie and Mechamountie now warn you that they're buggy
- G*rf, Gordon, Fairy Queen, Panda, George added to OPP town
- Mecha Mountie named properly in OPP
- News check disabled (unless we have something new to announce for August)
- Changed all the nodrops to the correct "1" instead of a weapon name. The old method still worked but was completely unnecessary.
- The 3 new modes put into Car Stats
- Endless Mode displays days in, instead of days left
- Temporary ending stubs for the new modes
- Revamped recruit system on recruit-yes and recruit-replace, now most will give "pick more" with a full group and let you cancel the recruit.
- Exceptions to above: Familiar Face recruiting, which uses a different system that would have problems with this. Recruiting dogs by feeding them and recruiting rare camp recruits, which have food costs, so the game forces you as to not waste the food.
- Jerk recruiting uses the new system, but it probably shouldn't? Not sure.
- Changed two recruit1 events to no longer use the old "3 choices or leave behind system", as the new system makes this even more obsolete.
- Buffed Ninja-countdown from 4-5 to 6-8
- Added a new-familiar-recruit word for forcing a familiar spawn
EDIT 10/21 7:49 PM PST: New build up, using the retail saves. We have some extra content we haven't put in yet, but we will launch that for a mini-update after this update launch. One of these things that will have to wait is new ways to allow other players to be the leader, below.
------
The big new thing is changing how choosing the Leader works, and adding new ways to allow other players to be the leader. This is to avoid constantly having Player 1 resume control when they die. There's still more work to do here.
Let us know how this works for you, and any other suggestions you have for improving the local multiplayer We'll be adding a little bit of new content to this after we finish the multiplayer changes, but mostly we really want to get this update out.
INSTRUCTIONS
IMPORTANT NOTE: The testing branch and the retail version use different save files! Testing Branch saves also get cleared out on occasion, usually with new updates.
HOW TO INSTALL: Right click Death Road to Canada on Steam. Go to Properties. Go to Betas. Select Testbranch, no password necessary.
LIST OF CHANGES
10/21 Build
- OPP Mode ending is now twice as long in the final wave
- OPP Mode has slightly more zombie waves than most modes in the ending
- Various checks put in to make sure the game doesn't emit smoke and explode in the final level for OPP Mode's higher than ever difficulty
- Final build up for Windows, using Retail saves for now (not Testbranch saves)
10/20 Build
- New modes fully implemented, with stat and streak tracking, ending lines, and so on
- The new modes are now locked, with unlock conditions like most other modes
- Endless Mode now tracks your highest day reached in the game mode select screen
- Some extra stuff for Endless
10/18 Build
- Linux and Mac builds now up
- The wait time between the leader dying and being able to pick a new character has been reduced to one second, from 3 seconds. Let me know if this feels too short
- Fix for the walking event with the yelling car, which would have a reveal error if you had an Oblivious character
- Car Detour event no longer nukes your gas if you're in a 0 gas consumption car
- The despair event where a high loyalty character leaves a note will no longer have that character take their weapons with them
- Unlock Town Blue Robot in testing branch now requires a confirmation to give you 99 ZP
10/13 Build
- Player controller characters will now warp to the leader's room if they're offscreen. This currently takes one second, but doesn't work if the player-controlled buddy is currently grabbed. Let us know if this is too exploitable. I'm considering increasing the time it takes, though I like this for making multiplayer have less pauses as you wait for characters to walk into the room.
- Removed the "pick a new character" text event if the leader is killed. Now it works similarly to how joining in as a multiplayer buddy would work, meaning you should be able to choose a new character more seamlessly.
- Event Picker Cursor splits into P1 through P4 cursors as players join, all can be used.
- Players 2-4 now have more control over menu choices. Whoever picks first makes the choice.
- If the leader dies and there is another player, the leadership will go to that player. Camera will swap over, they will get pause menu control, and the Leader crown will pop over their head.
- Moody will no longer use his Rocket Launcher if he's controlled by the AI. I did NOT agree with this change, but did it grudgingly.
- Endless Mode now shows what day you're on, instead of trying to show "days left".
- Changed Endless Mode driving screen to show how many days have passed, instead of what day you're on.
- The game will now run a check to see if your settings are incompatible with the new 4-player changes, then reset them if they are. There will be a pop-up on top of the screen to tell you this if it applies.
PREVIOUS CHANGES
- The game now supports 4 players at a time.
- Camera support for 4 players
- Joystick can now be unassigned from Player 1 and assigned to Player 2 instead.
- The ability to press escape to quit a menu added to more menus, for now mostly the supply and weapon traders.
- Menus that let you press escape to leave now have a special icon for the EXIT option: a backwards arrow
- Fixed a bug with OPP mode that occured if you started solo.
- Removed nodeathdrop from Rambeaux
- Changed .trademarkwep word to be more efficient
- Changed effect of camp2-zwatch for Sound Sleepers that have no loyalty
- Text adjustments in camp2-bwatch and camp3-trap for Sound Sleepers
- Weegee event now gives a different effect for the fire result if Fireproof
- 3 new gameplay modes added! All don't require any unlocking for now, and are labelled as BETA TEST instead of having a win counter.
- Endless Mode in. Let me know how far you get!
- Over Powered Party Mode added. This lets you start in a special map that lets you recruit any rare character in the game.
- Quick Death Mode added. It's Short Trip to Heck, but with the difficulty tripled.
- Branchname changed to HUMERUS
- Endless Mode difficulty scaling made slower, previous faster rate was for testing. The difficulty gain stays near the same for the first 50 days, and then slows down to roughly half. Let me know what you think of the new difficulty!
- Irritating Trademark Weapon is now a recharging Air Horn
- IRRITATION HORN has 20 charges for maximum cooling it
- OPP Mode now only lets you recruit 4 people
- OPP town no longer lets you back out at last moment if group is full
- Genie and Mechamountie now warn you that they're buggy
- G*rf, Gordon, Fairy Queen, Panda, George added to OPP town
- Mecha Mountie named properly in OPP
- News check disabled (unless we have something new to announce for August)
- Changed all the nodrops to the correct "1" instead of a weapon name. The old method still worked but was completely unnecessary.
- The 3 new modes put into Car Stats
- Endless Mode displays days in, instead of days left
- Temporary ending stubs for the new modes
- Revamped recruit system on recruit-yes and recruit-replace, now most will give "pick more" with a full group and let you cancel the recruit.
- Exceptions to above: Familiar Face recruiting, which uses a different system that would have problems with this. Recruiting dogs by feeding them and recruiting rare camp recruits, which have food costs, so the game forces you as to not waste the food.
- Jerk recruiting uses the new system, but it probably shouldn't? Not sure.
- Changed two recruit1 events to no longer use the old "3 choices or leave behind system", as the new system makes this even more obsolete.
- Buffed Ninja-countdown from 4-5 to 6-8
- Added a new-familiar-recruit word for forcing a familiar spawn
