SCP: Secret Laboratory News

Today, we’re proud to announce that SCP: Secret Laboratory’s 12.0.0 update, ‘Mimicry’, is now in its public beta stage.
From overhauling the entire SCP team, to sweeping changes for the average round — Mimicry is at risk of being our biggest update ever.

It’s public knowledge that this update has been in closed beta for a while now, but we are extremely pleased with the amount of support and feedback that the community has brought forward for the duration of this stage.
A ton of work was put in by the Development team, but we wouldn’t be where we are today if not for your input. Thank you!

You can opt-in to the beta by right-clicking SCP:SL in your Steam Library, and then by selecting the Properties tab.

From there, select the Betas category, and finally, select the Public Beta option from the dropdown menu.

And now, without further ado, let’s get into the changes!

[h2]SCP-939 Rework[/h2]
SCP-939 has gone through countless balance changes, soft reworks, nerfs, buffs, and everything else that an SCP could possibly receive throughout its lifetime. With this update, we’re proud to announce a complete rework — both visually and mechanically, for SCP-939.

We’ve discussed the rework in a previous Steam post available here, which details the massive amounts of content and unique features that SCP-939 now holds.

[h2]The Operational Guide[/h2]
One of the most unexpected features to come from this update is our Operational Guide. For a long time, we’ve felt that SCP: Secret Laboratory had gone without a proper introduction.

The Operational Guide attempts to help relieve these issues, providing some overview and explanation behind the classes; alongside providing a ton of lore for the world of SCP:SL. Now available from the main menu, feel free to dive right in and potentially learn a lot more about the game.

We’ve discussed the Operational Guide in depth during SCP-939’s full rework presentation. If you’re interested in learning more about the guide, check out the latter half of the post here.

[h2]CharacterClassManager and Metrification[/h2]
Behind the scenes, a massive amount of changes were also carried out for the future of SCP:SL. We’ve spent time refactoring the Character Class Management (CCM) system, one of the core systems for the game.

The old CCM system resulted in a variety of issues and limitations, and as one of the oldest pieces of code in SCP:SL — it was a prime example of the word ‘technical debt’. In fact, as mentioned in a previous Patreon post, it was quite possibly the “worst-maintained script within the entirety of the video game industry”.
Thanks to the refactoring, we are now able to do new and extremely interesting things, an example being SCP-939’s new ability to steal voices. With this comes the possibility for incredible new features that were not possible before, so stay tuned for future updates!

Alongside this, we have now properly ‘metrified’ the game. Previously, our measurements did not match any existing metric standard. Although the resulting changes may go unnoticed by the majority of the general playerbase, we’d like to note that this has been a significant improvement to our backend systems, allowing us to properly create and implement content at a much more efficient rate.

[h2]SCP Soft Reworks and Improvements[/h2]
With this update also comes overhauls to nearly every SCP in the game!
Although SCP-939 was obviously the shining star for this update, we gave a bit of love to every SCP we could, ensuring that none of them were left behind in the dust.
Found below are some highlighted changes for each of the SCPs:

[h3]SCP-173[/h3]

• SCP-173 has received improvements to its backend systems. As a result, you should be seeing less desynchronisation, and improved quality in teleportation.
  
• SCP-173’s blink indicator now allows you to more clearly see when a target is in range. The indicator’s neutral colour has been set to red, but will turn orange upon being in range to kill a target.
  
• SCP-173 can now teleport near a window to break its glass. In addition, ramming into a piece of glass with the Breakneck Speeds ability active will now shatter it.
  
• SCP-173’s Hume Shield now scales with health — starting at a lower value, and increasing as his HP reaches critical values. This should provide a bit more longevity to the class.
  

[h3]SCP-079[/h3]

• SCP-079 has received its own soft rework. With this comes a new interface, improved mechanics, new abilities, and numerous quality of life improvements. You can read more about these changes here.
  

[h3]SCP-049[/h3]

• SCP-049 has received a soft rework of his own as well. With this comes new abilities, significant balance changes, as well as improvements to SCP-049-2s. You can read more about these changes here.
  

[h3]SCP-106[/h3]

• In line with the other SCPs, SCP-106 has also received his own soft rework. Of interest is a new core mechanic, Vigor, new abilities, removal of his bullet resistance, the removal of the Femur Breaker, and much more. You can read more about these changes here.
  

[h3]SCP-096[/h3]

• SCP-096 no longer automatically enrages once seen. Instead, after being looked at, players can now choose when to enrage, by pressing R. Following this feature, SCP-096 now has an easier to understand indicator that’ll display how long his rage will last.
  
• SCP-096’s ‘Try not to Cry’ has received improvements. Instead of only being able to use his ability on doors, you may now use it on any flat surface. Additionally, the audio has been improved upon, making it sound like SCP-096 is walking away when in use.
  
• SCP-096 no longer kills a target in one hit with either his melee attack or his charge ability, instead dealing high amounts of damage.
  
• SCP-096’s Hume Shield now scales with health — starting at a lower value, and increasing as his HP begins to dwindle.
  
• SCP-096 no longer has a ‘cooldown’ period after raging. Instead, he can enrage immediately after completing his previous cycle.
  
• SCP-096 has received significant number adjustments to his HP, Hume Shield, damage, and speed; all to be re-adjusted when appropriate, for the remaining duration of this beta.
  

[h2]Patch Notes[/h2]
Due to the sheer amount of content added within this update, we have decided to list only important or notable features here, specifically those not mentioned in any of the linked Steam posts above.

Gameplay Changes:
- SCP-1853 no longer increases stamina consumption.
- Spectator mode has been greatly improved. Not only have the missing UI elements been fixed — the mode now includes proper first person viewmodels, better syncing status effects, and better post-processing effects.
- Desaturated post-processing changes.
- Improved the role intro animations.
- Surface Zone has received some lighting changes to improve its visibility.
- Heavy Containment Zone and Entrance Zone layouts now have two checkpoints connecting one another.
- SCP-207 has received entirely new textures and animations.
- Improved decals performance by almost double the original amount.
- COM-18 has received an entirely new model.
- All human models have received new (temporary) third-person animations.
- Improved spawn protection UI.
- Modified SCP-106’s room to no longer include the lower section nor the femur breaker.
- SCP-939’s old room now has a ‘Death Pit’, and a side office. (Thanks to Dan for the idea!)
- Added the COM-45. (Thanks to Oberstrudel for the idea!)
- Adjusted lighting of Surface and Entrance Zone.

As a massive amount of code overhauls have been completed this update, it is virtually impossible to list the tremendous number of bugs that have been fixed.

Technical Changes:
- CharacterClassManager has been refactored, and its functionality has been split into several different scripts.
- Alpha Warhead Controller has been refactored, but its functionality should remain the same.
- The voice chat system has been completely rewritten. It no longer utilises Dissonance.
- PluginAPI has been implemented into base-game servers.
- The entire Facility has been scaled down to utilise metres as a scaling rule.
- The Discord Rich Presence system has been re-written, along with anything Discord-related.
- Some minor improvements to the Environmental Hazard script.


See you in the dark.
~ Northwood Studios

November has begun, we are now entering into the second month of the 12.0 "Mimicry" Patreon Beta!

The threshold to join the beta has been lowered to our Patreon's "Major Scientist" tier ($10 USD).

You can find our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/HubertMoszka

Hope to see many of you there and we hope you enjoy!

~ Northwood Studios

Hello!!

This Patreon post will showcase some of our biggest additions to SCP:SL’s 12.0 ‘Mimicry’ update! We’ll be detailing SCP-939’s full rework, SCP-939’s new containment chamber, and The Operational Guide.

SCP-939’s Full Rework

SCP-939’s full rework aims to move the SCP towards an ‘ambush’ role. It has received a variety of new tools to allow it to better perform this role.

SCP-939 retains its ability to switch between walking and sprinting. This time, SCP-939 will have a stamina bar, similar to that of human classes, though more limited. SCP-939’s base movement (walking) speed is slightly slower than that of a human, though its footsteps are almost entirely silent. By pressing the Shift key, SCP-939 will begin to use stamina and move significantly faster than its base movement speed. SCP-939’s stamina bar allows it to sprint for bursts of approximately ten seconds, before having to wait a further ten seconds for the stamina bar to begin recharging. The lower SCP-939’s stamina bar is, the shorter its range of vision becomes — more on this below.

Claw

SCP-939’s basic attack has been changed into a low-damage Area of Effect (AoE) attack, similar to SCP-096’s attack, though with a more forgiving hitbox. The basic attack (‘Claw’) deals 30 damage, with 75% armour penetration. SCP-939’s Claw key can be held down, allowing a continuous attack, with each attack taking 0.6 seconds to complete.

To put this in perspective, below are statistics on the damage this attack deals to differently armoured targets.:



*Time to Kill describes how fast SCP-939 can kill a target in ideal conditions i.e. no healing items used, no buffs on the target, and no missed attacks from SCP-939.



The current SCP-939 has a unique vision mechanic, using environmental sounds to determine surroundings. The rework keeps this mechanic, but improves it, making it more visually appealing. One of the biggest changes we’ve made is allowing SCP-939 to only see colour within a small range.

The area which SCP-939 can see normally represents SCP-939’s limited sight. In this zone, humans will appear as usual, and will vanish when they walk outside of this radius. Outside of this radius, SCP-939 can no longer ‘see’ humans. Instead, they are represented by the sounds they make. These are sounds such as walking, running, shooting, and using items. Sounds appear as red, expanding circles, emitting from the sound’s origin. Throwing items also produces sound, allowing human classes to distract SCP-939! Images don’t display this mechanic well, so please see the bottom of this post for a video demonstrations



To make SCP-939 more of a ‘hunter’, and to honour the four-legged SCP-939 model, SCP-939 can now retract into an ‘alert’ position on all fours, to prepare a devastating attack.

By pressing the CTRL key, SCP-939 begins to activate Focus. Over the course of two seconds, SCP-939 lowers on all fours, its movement speed crawls to a halt, and its Field of View (FOV) drastically widens. Once SCP-939 is fully Focused, it will be able to see sounds from up to double its original distance, allowing the player to find players to hunt easier. More information on this is below.

Being in Focus also enables a new attack for SCP-939: ‘Lunge’. As the name implies, SCP-939 pounces towards their intended victim. The human hit by this attack will be killed instantly. In addition, humans near the impact radius will take some residual damage. SCP-939 will take a moment to recover from this attack, potentially leaving it vulnerable to attack by militant classes.



Amnestic Cloud is a new ability for SCP-939. SCP-939 can now project a cloud of near-invisible gas that affects the minds of its victims. Humans who walk into this cloud stop being able to perceive SCP-939’s presence, allowing it to set up ambushes and kill a group of humans without them ever noticing its presence.

This ability is not without drawbacks, however. If SCP-939 makes an attack, or is shot by a human, it will become visible for a brief moment. This gives human classes time to react and defend themselves.

Finally, the Amnestic Cloud inflicts the, currently unused, status effect ‘Amnesia’. This status effect was previously inflicted upon receiving a bite from SCP-939, but was removed in an earlier release. 12.0 sees its return! Amnesia stops human classes from being able to perform certain actions, such as reloading, and using healing items.

Please note that this ability is not implimented in the summary video at the bottom of this post!



Our updated version of With Many Voices is our most ambitious ability yet. Previous versions of this ability allowed SCP-939 to communicate with its victims with no drawback. We appreciate the fun memories that have come from this version of the ability, but the old SCP-939 was uninspired, with it being our most ‘generic’ playable SCP. Whilst we have decided to move away from uninterrupted proximity voice chat, our team is open to adding a form of proximity voice chat to SCP-939, should the sub-abilities below feel incomplete. We’ll make our decision based on feedback from both this Patreon post, as well as from the upcoming Patreon beta.

By pressing the Tab key, SCP-939 opens a menu, similar to the inventories human classes have. Here, there are a few options each with their own cooldowns.

Firstly, it can set a Mimic Point. The Mimic Point acts as a set location for SCP-939 to project its prey’s voices for an indefinite period of time (more on this later). This allows SCP-939 to trick its prey, allowing it to ambush them more easily. Mimic Points are marked with an on-screen ping indicator, similar to SCP-079’s ping system. Mimic Points do not disappear with time, instead they are deleted once SCP-939 has moved more than 20 metres away from the point.

SCP-939 gains the ability to steal the voices of the prey it kills, uttering the last four seconds of speech made before death. This ability has a cooldown of ten seconds, and can be projected to Mimic Points. Please note that players have the opportunity to opt-out of this system. Anyone uncomfortable having their voice played by SCP-939 always has the option to disable the feature in settings. The system is voluntary, with information about it being displayed the first time a new user attempts to join a server.

SCP-939 can also activate Footstep Mimicry. Footstep Mimicry is the only type of mimicry that cannot be projected to a Mimic Point, as it replaces SCP-939’s footsteps with those of another class. This ability lasts for ten seconds, before starting a 20 second cooldown period.

Finally, SCP-939 can activate Playable SCP Mimicry. This allows it to mimic the sounds and footsteps of a currently alive SCP. This ability lasts for as long as the copied sound effect does, or, in the case of mimicking SCP footsteps, for a maximum of ten seconds. This ability has a separate 20 second cooldown, and can be projected to a Mimic Point.



With a full SCP rework comes the need to redesign said SCP’s containment chamber. SCP-939’s old containment chamber was a barebones relic of the past. The room is designed using old assets, was far too simple for what it was supposed to be, and does not appear as, or function, as a ‘containment chamber’. Suffice to say, SCP-939’s old containment chamber is the perfect example of what we want to avoid when redoing our rooms.

In contrast, SCP-939’s new chamber aims to fix all of these issues. Here are some images to show the new containment chamber:



Video explanations are at the bottom of this post, with a more in-depth look at SCP-939’s new containment chamber. Please note: some props are still subject to change, and may be rearranged in the final build. We plan to keep SCP-939’s old containment chamber in the game (possibly pending some changes), as it provides a degree of variety to the rooms in the Heavy Containment Zone (HCZ).

The new containment chamber fixes the aforementioned issues with the previous one. SCP-939’s old containment chamber featured a pit with a maze of slopes. The, seemingly, only use for the previous containment chamber was to hide and camp, causing frustration for all. The new containment chamber features possible loot locations, with a set of lockers, as well as the possibility for medical items to spawn. The room is also relatively small, being built in a normal HCZ ‘corner room’. This eliminates many of the problems the previous version saw. It can still be used to hide in to some extent, but it is nowhere near as good of a spot to camp than its predecessor.

As for being a ‘proper’ containment chamber, SCP-939’s new room now features a research facility, attached to a Foundation ‘Containment Cryopod’ to house SCP-939 for study. We believe this makes the room more lore-appropriate, featuring better fitting containment methods the Foundation would use. The opinion of the room being more visually appealing is down to the individual, but we think everyone will find this room far more interesting.

A Video Showcase is attached below.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



For too long, we’ve felt that the new player experience for SCP:SL was confusing. The game provides minimal direction about your goals and abilities. New players are introduced to a variety of weapons, anomalous items, and other game objects and mechanics they may not be fully understanding of. This is increased if they are not familiar with the SCP universe.

Whilst a full-scale tutorial would be unsustainable due to large changes the game sees between updates, we have elected to create an in-game information bank, known as The Operational Guide (OPG). Our goal is to improve first time user experience, whilst also providing interesting quality of life features for returning players. We plan to continue expanding this system with future updates. Adding new pages to the OPG is more realistic than updating a tutorial system every time an update is released. We won’t spoil all of The Operational Guide in this post, but the below images give a sneak peak of what’s to come:



Wait a second...



Each item page has the option to display the model in greater detail, allowing users to pan, zoom, and examine the model from any angle. We’ve also added a feature to each character page, to allow users to rotate the models. Military classes can be seen in different states, holding any weapon they usually spawn with.

We’ve also added some lore to every page of the OPG. We feel SCP:SL is at a point where we can start expanding on the narrative of the game. Perhaps you can piece together some interesting information about Site-02, or the Foundation? You’ll have to wait for the 12.0 Patreon beta to find out.

Without further ado, the video summary:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Thanks for staying with us ~Northwood Studios

Hello everyone.

We’ve made the Patreon post regarding SCP-049's ‘soft rework’ public! The post showcases upcoming changes to SCP-049 and SCP-049-2 in the 12.0 ‘Mimicry’ update.

SCP-049 Soft Rework Presentation
In the upcoming 12.0 update, players can expect major changes to SCP-049 and SCP-049-2. Unlike the SCP-106 rework, these changes focus on improving abilities, whilst keeping a similar feel and style to the gameplay. The primary goal of this rework is to make SCP-049’s Basic Attack less powerful, all in an attempt to make him more interesting to play. We have a similar goal in mind for SCP-049-2.



Health and Basic Attack changes
Currently, SCP-049 has a total of 2000 HP, with a passive 20% resistance to low penetration weapons. His maximum Hume Shield varies, starting at 200 and slowly increasing to a maximum of 500 (at low HP). SCP-049 retains his current base movement speed.


SCP-049’s Basic Attack has undergone major changes. The main focus is to remove his “instant-kill” mechanic, as it is believed to be the source of many of the character’s current problems. SCP-049’s Basic Attack has been renamed to “Cardiac Attack”. Cardiac Attack does not do a lot of immediate damage, instead it inflicts his victims with the Cardiac Arrest status effect.. Victims inflicted with Cardiac Arrest suffer from blurred vision, tripled stamina consumption, and lose approximately 8HP/s. Cardiac Arrest lasts 20 seconds. Victims suffering from this effect are killed instantly if SCP-049 attacks them again.


Cardiac Arrest can be overcome with the help of specific medical items. Victims who consume a medkit and two painkillers, or two medkits, gain enough health to outlast the status effect. Injecting oneself with Adrenaline or using SCP-500 will cure the status effect.



The first of SCP-049’s new abilities, Good Sense of the Doctor provides SCP-049 with better chase potential. SCP-049 focuses on the closest on-screen target when this ability is activated. This grants him additional movement speed. A HUD element allows SCP-049 to track the distance between itself and its victim, demonstrated in the summary video below this post.
If SCP-049 or SCP-049-2 kills a victim while SCP-049 is tracking them, Good sense of The Doctor goes on cooldown for 40 seconds. Should a tracked victim die in any other way, use SCP-268, or survive for the ability’s duration, Good sense of The Doctor has a cooldown of 20 seconds.

Victims who are targeted and killed by SCP-049 become an instance of SCP-049-2 with 600 total health. These victims will also be revivable one point five times the normal amount of time.




This ability rewards SCP-049 and instances of SCP-049-2 for playing as a team. The Doctor’s Call makes SCP-049 visible to all instances of SCP-049-2. Any SCP-049-2 within a small radius of SCP-049 begins to generate Hume Shield at a rate of 10/sec (up to a cap of 100). The ability lasts for 20 seconds and has a cooldown of 60 seconds. The Hume Shield does not naturally decay or regenerate.




This builds on SCP-049’s ability to resurrect players. Waste Not Want Not allows SCP-049 to rebuild its horde by reviving instances of SCP-049-2 that have recently returned to the grave. An instance of SCP-049-2 that has been revived suffers a permanent debuff, losing 10% of their maximum health. Instances of SCP-049-2 may only be revived twice.


Players have the option to deny being revived consecutively by following the prompt, “Press F to deny further resurrection”.


Changes to SCP-049-2
Many of SCP-049-2’s animations have been adjusted in 12.0. An added ability, Voracity, is directly linked to a new animation. We’ve also drastically improved SCP-049-2’s Basic Attack, making it feel more consistent. The changed attack features improved hit regisration, as well as the attack cooldown indicators shown in our previous SCP-106 rework.



SCP-049-2 can regain health by consuming the corpses of its victims. Upon activating Voracity, SCP-049-2 will devour a corpse over the course of seven seconds. In doing so, it regains 100 health. This ability can only be performed once per corpse and does not prevent SCP-049 from reviving a victim. SCP-049-2 is left vulnerable while using this ability, as it cannot be cancelled once activated.




Instances of SCP-049-2 can now hunt players they spot. We hope this makes SCP-049-2 more threatening and increases the depth of it's gameplay.

Lobotomized Bloodlust increases SCP-049-2’s speed while observing a human target. When a target is present on a player’s screen, it steadily gains a speed boost. After a delay of five seconds, the speed boost rapidly decreases if there is no target in sight. This effect does not stack when observing multiple targets and is capped at a total movement speed of five point five metres per second.



Attached below is a video summary of the presented abilities.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

That’s all for this time! Not quite sure which of two options we will be showing to you all next time, so we’ll elect to keep it a mystery for now.

Patreon supporters get exclusive access to future posts, as well as other benefits. Join our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/HubertMoszka

~Northwood Studios

On Saturday October 8th, at approximately 19:00 UTC, we will be releasing our Patreon beta for the 12.0 ‘Mimicry’ update! If you would like to join this closed beta, you can do so by subscribing to the ‘Zone Manager’ tier on our Patreon ($25 USD). ‘Zone Manager’ and above Patreon supporters will have exclusive access to the beta for at least two weeks. Further information will be given soon.


We hope to see many of you there! You can access our Patreon via the link below:

Subscribe to our Patreon here