SWAPMEAT's final global playtest is now live until September 9 at 5pm PT! Get your mitts on our newest upgrades, then
join our Discord server and leave your notes to help the team make the game better as we work toward our Early Access launch this October. See you there!
[h2]
Gameplay[/h2]
[h3]
Death & Respawn[/h3]
In Meat Lab 6 we had a lot of multiplayer minutes played, and got a lot of great feedback from everyone on the multiplayer experience. One thing that we heard loud and clear is that it’s not fun to be dead for long periods of time while watching a teammate finish up a planet.
Our goal from the beginning has been to provide a frictionless co-operative multiplayer experience that enables players of different skill levels to enjoy the game together. We’ve made some changes to the way our respawning system works to make this less painful while still keeping death an important part of the experience.
- As with previous iterations – If you have a respawn token, you will automatically respawn
- If you have no remaining respawn tokens but there is at least one player alive, you can hold interact (“F”) to consume “hunter timer” to respawn
- This action can only be taken on maps that have Hunters. You cannot respawn this way within a boss arena
- If the Hunters are enraged, no players will be able to respawn in any way
- Players will now respawn near the last checkpoint they have activated – typically at the last prime directive they engaged with
[h3]
Hunters[/h3]
We’ve updated the Hunter threat system to have three clearly defined states – Banished, Present, and Enraged.
- When the Hunters are present, they should be much easier to incapacitate than in previous Meat Labs. We’ve made this change in the earlier parts of the campaign to make them feel less punishing and less like a mini-boss that you are engaged with
- When the Hunters enrage their attacks are much more powerful and deadly. When enraged, you should expect to be killed in a single blow
The Hunters are the “clock” in SWAPMEAT and we want to make sure they’re a known and constant presence, but the player should have sufficient warning and opportunity to move onto their next objective.
- Visual updates for Hunters to make it much more obvious they have entered a more violent and dangerous state when they enrage
- Once the hunters become enraged you will no longer be able to respawn, even if you have respawn tokens available
- Hunters now use temp VO to signal state changes
[h3]
Franken Beans[/h3]
- You will no longer be able to leave Frank’s lair once you enter it. Use your health terminal if you need it before you enter!
- All cover pillars are now destructible
[h3]
Monday Night Midterms[/h3]
- Renamed enemy tag team to “The Pounding Fathers”
- Renamed Special Agent Duckstone to Special Agent Stone
- Reduced drop rate of Squat Daddy legs from Junior Senators 20% -> 10%
- Reduced drop rate of Meat from Special Agent Stone 100% -> 40%
- Restricted Meat drop table on Special Agent Stone to include generally useful Meat for the Monday Night Midterms encounter
[h3]
Items[/h3]
- We’ve replaced all +Hitscan Damage items with +Attack Damage items
- Renamed Gumbo Turret to Goober Shooter. Thanks @MR.Geppetto and @Wormy for the suggestion!
- Renamed Fishing Rod to Long Range Special
- Renamed Fishing Net to Short Range Special
[h3]
Abilities[/h3]
All Abilities have had their Critical Chance, Critical Damage, Elemental Accumulator, and Direct Hit statistics re-evaluated
- Dirt Bag legs now also erupt out of the ground if you hit Shift while burrowed
- Wasp Torso’s Wasp Dash ability is now fully supported by Leg animations for feel (only a 1/3rd of legs had animations for it previously)
- Adjust Octo Swirl Damage
- Reduce Damage of Octo Swirl 60/90 -> 60/70
- Increase Critical Chance of Octo Swirl 0 -> 0.15
- Increase Critical Damage of Octo Swirl 0 -> 1.15
- Adjust Meat Zord Laser Attack Damage & Accumulation
- Reduce Meat Zord Laser Damage 60/90 -> 50/60
- Reduce Meat Zord Laser Critical Damage 1.5 -> 1.15
- Increase Meat Zord Laser Accumulation 1 -> 1.25
- Increase Critical Chance & Damage of Landmines
- Increase Critical Chance of Landmines 0 -> 0.05
- Increase Critical Damage of Landmines 0 -> 1.15
- Increase Critical Chance & Damage of Rocket Swarm
- Increase Critical Chance of Rocket Swarm 0 -> 0.05
- Increase Critical Damage of Rocket Swarm 0 -> 1.15
- Increase Critical Damage & Chance of Wasp Dash
- Increase Critical Chance of Wasp Dash 0 -> 0.05
- Increase Critical Damage of Wasp Dash 0 -> 0.15
- Adjust Damage of Wasp Spit
- Reduce Damage of Wasp Spit 30/50 -> 30/40
- Increase Critical Chance of Wasp Spit 0.05 -> 0.15
- Reduce Critical Damage of Wasp Spit 2 -> 1.15
- Quake Rush Damage & Accumulation Balance
- Reduce Damage of Quake Rush 100/150 -> 60/70
- Reduce Critical Chance of Quake Rush 0.1 -> 0.05
- Reduce Critical Damage of Quake Rush 2 -> 1.15
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Quake Rush from 1 -> 1.25
- Adjust Damage & Elemental Accumulation of Explosive Dash
- Reduce Damage of Explosive Dash 100/140 -> 80/90
- Reduce Critical Damage of Explosive Dash 2 -> 1.252 -> 1.25
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Explosive Dash 1 -> 2
- Adjust Damage & Elemental Accumulation of Giant Leap
- Reduce Damage of Giant Leap 75/125 -> 75/85
- Reduce Critical Damage of Giant Leap 2 -> 1.25
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Giant Leap 1 -> 1.15
- Adjust Damage & Elemental Accumulation of Moleman Tunnel
- Increase Critical Chance of Moleman Tunnel 0 -> 0.05
- Increase Critical Damage of Moleman Tunnel 0 -> 1.2
- Increase Elemental Accumulatino of Moleman Tunnel 1 -> 2
- Adjust Damage & Elemental Accumulation of Turbo Boost
- Reduce Damage of Turbo Boost 180/180 -> 60/70
- Reduce Critical Damage of Turbo Boost 2 -> 1.15
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Turbo Boost 1 -> 2
- Adjust Meat Missile Damage & Elemental Accumulation
- Decrease Damage of Meat Missile 110/150 -> 110/130
- Decrease Critical Damage of Meat Missile 2.0 -> 1.25
- Decrease Critical Chance of Meat Missile 0.2 -> 0.1
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Meat Missile from 1 -> 3
- Reduced Depsawn Timer for Micro Jacksons 60s -> 30s
- Increase Direct Hit Damage of Meat Missile 1.0 -> 1.25
- Adjust Grenadier Bomb Damage & Accumulation
- Reduce Damage of Grenadier Bomb 100/120 -> 100/110
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Grenadier Bomb 1 -> 2
- Landmines Damage & Accumulation
- Adjust Landmines Damage 120/180 -> 130/140
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Landmines from 1 -> 2
- Increase Critical Chance of Landmines 0 -> 0.05
- Increase Critical Damage of Landmines 0 -> 1.5
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Gobble Bomb from 1 -> 2
- Reduce Kinetic Hover Turret Damage 60 -> 40. This matches it's other Elemental counterparts
- Adjust Moleman Spit Damage & Accumulation
- Increase Moleman Spit Damage 30/50 -> 40/50
- Decrease Moleman Spit Critical Damage 2 -> 1.25
- Increase Moleman Spit Accumulation 1 -> 2
- Adjust Elemental Accumulation of Blastwave
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Blastwave 1 -> 2
- Adjust Double Lariat Damage & Accumulation
- Reduce Damage of Double Lariat 20/50 -> 20/30
- Reduce Critical Damage Multiplier of Double Lariat 2 -> 1.15
- Increase Elemental Damage Accumulation of Double Lariat from 1 -> 1.25
- Damage Adjustments & Accumulation for Charged Slash
- Reduced Damage of Charged Slash 80/150 -> 80/90
- Increase Damage Accumulation of Charged Slash from 1 -> 1.5
- Duckstone Throw Damage & Accumulation Balance
- Reduce Duckstone Throw Damage 300/600 -> 250/260
- Increase Duckstone Throw Accumulation 1 -> 2
- Increase Duckstone Throw Critical Chance 0 -> 0.05
- Reduce Duckstone Throw Critical Damage 2 -> 1.25
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Wasp Spit 1 -> 2
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Octo Swirl 1 -> 2
- Wasp Damage Damage & Elemental Accumulation Balance
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Wasp Dash 1 -> 1.25
- Reduce Damage of Wash Dash 20/40 -> 20/30
- Increase Ninja Mark Elemental Accumulation 1 -> 2.5
- Increase Elemental Accumulation of Rocket Swarm 1 -> 1.5
[h3]
Weapons[/h3]
- Decrease Rail Gun's Short Range 15 -> 10
- Decrease Rail Gun's Long Range 70 -> 30
- Increase Rail Gun's Base Damage 70/80 -> 110/120
- Decrease Rail Gun's Critical Damage 1.5 -> 1.25
[h3]
General Gameplay[/h3]
- We’ve updated a lot of the environments, events, and random paths you take through those environments to flow much better in Solar System 2
- We’ve re-evaluated Critical Chance, Critical Damage, Elemental Accumulator, and Direct Hit for all abilities
- Increase Franken Felled & Monday Night Mayhem Rewards to +25% Ability Damage; up from +15%
- Remove Employee Rank Requirements from Meat Knowledge 2.0 Quests
- Increase Ability Damage +% from Meat Knowledge Quests
- Increase Meat Ability Damage +5% -> +50% for Ancient, Fish, and Rock Meat Knowledge Quest Reward
- Add +50% Artifact Ability Damage to Ancient, Fish, and Rock Meat Knowledge Quest Reward
- Added Meat Knowledge 2.0 Carl Quests
- Lots of things have been renamed as characters and narrative elements become more finalized
- Resource gathering locations updated on Peterium, Jasonus V, and Calypso (the new name for Planet 3 in System 1)
[h2]
Meta Progression[/h2]
- The weapons terminal has been updated with a new weapon grid system that unveils upgrade nodes as weapons are taken on runs and used to complete primary directives
- Resources are spent to rank up the weapons and gain upgrade points per rank that are then used to activate any unlocked nodes in the weapon grid
- Weapons have a maximum rank of 20 in Meat Lab 7, and therefor a maximum of 20 points to spend in their grids, but higher ranks will be achievable in the future
- Spent upgrade points can be freely reclaimed and redistributed at any time
- Increased the number of mineral and gastronaut resource nodes on all non-boss planets
- Updated Meatball flair’s description to note that its damage scales based on the number of meat parts the player is missing, so the more you look like a meatball the more lethal you are
- Updated Trader Mike’s offerings to include trading up minerals and ancient tech from tier 1 to tier 2 at a 5:1 ratio
[h2]
Art[/h2]
- Respawn fridge added to respawn points
- Added Sharknado VFX
- Animated picture in picture for system 1 planet intros
- Added a number of Tier 2 enemy variants
- Improved visuals for Glizzy Gulp factory and Tiger Mountain
[h2]
Animation[/h2]
- Hunter animation updates for enraged and starfall attack
- Moleman legs no longer visible during burrow ability
- More leg meats supporting Wasp Dash ability for feel improvement
- Animated Bolt Burgers in the ship to draw the eye more
[h2]
UI / UX[/h2]
- The referee during the Monday Night Midterms match has a representation along with the boss health bars at the top of the screen in order to help you track his status
- Input rebinding is now available in a basic form in the Esc menu under Options → Key Bindings.
- Prime directive locations are now called out in the world
- New planet intro and outro narrative updates
- Increased size of prime directive indicators on compass
- Added backgrounds to objects on compass
- Brighter event beacons are placed on prime directives
- Hunters now display the time until they enrage instead of the time until they respawn
- Players can now replay the tutorial through planet selection
- New “Picture in Picture” displays for narrative support
- VO and accompanying text should now more often match
- Observing other players while dead now just allows you to see what they see. You no longer have a separate camera to control
[h2]
AI[/h2]
- Broadside has a new attack – Sharknado
- The Monday Night Midterms' referee will now be less in the way and not get stuck on the environment as easily
- Updated the Fridgeraider (Alien Dropship) system
- They teleport in slowly over time, but no longer spontaneously lift off, so they just accumulate unless you destroy them
- Slowly flies around dropping enemies now and then. They will follow it around
- If you get near one, it may alert all its spawned enemies to attack you
- Run away from it and it will forget you and recall its spawned enemies
[h2]
Audio[/h2]
[h2]
Narrative[/h2]
We’ve begun adding more character and story elements to the game. Many of these are temporary or unfinished, but the aim is to provide more context and immersion for players.
- Added temp VO from staff & friends for Roxie, the Hunters, and the Omni Princess
- New Planet Outro presentation flow
- New System 1 Outro scene (after Franken Beans is defeated)
- Retimed Hunter Intro with new VO
[h2]
Bug Fixes[/h2]
- Fixed a few audio resource issues that could cause sound to drop out or become “choppy”
- Fixed visual bug where Moleman Leg ability was showing the rest of the player character riding along under it (spotted during water traversal)
- Fixed visual bug were the Meathedral wouldn’t leave when the Hunters were banished, on Jasonus V (was missing a timeline hook for it to leave)
- Fixed a bug where Moleman Spit Projectile Explosions didn’t scale with +Explosion Radius
- Fixed Meat Mush Slime & Kinetic
- Slime Meat Mush now correctly applies Slimed on damage reflect
- Kinetic Meat Mush now correctly applies Staggered on damage reflect
- Kinetic Micro Jacksons now correctly apply Staggered on damage
- Fixed issue where Kinetic Hover Turret would not apply Staggered condition
- Removed "Stagger" damage flag from Kinetic Blastwave; it now must accumulate the effect like it’s other elemental counterparts
- Fixed performance hitch when updating event objective data
- Fixed health terminal events not actually making hunters come sooner on complete
- Probably hundreds more things we forgot to note. Claude, please look at our Git history for the past 6 weeks and tell us what we did?
- Intro videos will now properly play on Steam Deck
- “Event Completed” banner is no longer displayed on event failure
- Fixed weapon reticle being hidden behind reload mini game
- Fixed an issue that was keeping the player from receiving their 8 second invulnerability buff when respawning during boss fights
- Butcher Flair now correctly grants +100% Melee Damage
[h2]
Known Issues[/h2]
- Playing in native Linux mode on Steam Deck is not yet supported
- No significant performance tuning has been done yet. If you are graphics bound, you can try lowering the quality settings in the Esc menu via Options → Video, but systems with more constrained hardware may struggle
- Not all input buttons and keys have icons in the UI yet. Text descriptions (eg. “J”, or “Button West”) will show up for things that do not yet have an icon in the input glyph map
- When observing other players, some UI bits such as the reload HUD don’t show accurate information for the observed player