SCP: Secret Laboratory News

Hello everyone.


While we are hard at work developing 14.0, we’ve decided to release a quick patch to smooth out the changes made in 13.5. Additionally, we’ve included a section dedicated to developer insight at the end of the patch notes.

Enjoy!

[h3]Adjustments and Tweaks[/h3]

• Increased the speed bonuses granted by SCP-207. Health drain values have been left unchanged.
  
  • The first SCP-207 instance consumed now provides a 15% increase in movement speed (previously 10%).
    
  • The second instance consumed provides a 30% increase in movement speed (previously 20%).
    
  • The third instance consumed provides a 45% increase in movement speed (previously 40%).
    
• Reduced the volume of Anti-SCP-207’s background audio.
  
• Anti-SCP-207’s secret ‘life save’ mechanic now provides damage immunity for 1.5s (previously 0.25s). This effect is now audible to other players.
  
• Anti-SCP-207 now saves a user’s life from SCP-939’s Lunge.
  
• Anti-SCP-207 can now only be stacked up to two times.
  
• When at full HP, Anti-SCP-207 now generates additional AHP, up to 75. This will decay upon removal of the effect.
  
• Anti-SCP-207 now rarely spawns naturally within the standard No-7 lockers (a.k.a. ‘SCP item pedestals’).
  
• Added an Operational Guide entry for Anti-SCP-207.
  
• Jailbird now applies Flashed for 1.5s upon a successful hit.
  
• Updated role colours for Chaos Insurgency classes.
  
• Updated the role colour of the MTF Specialist class.
  
• Painkillers, SCP-500, and SCP-1853 display progress bars and can now be cancelled before usage.
  
• Adrenaline is now activated sooner after usage.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes and Technical Changes[/h3]

• Fixed an issue allowing players to damage 096 without becoming a target.
  
• Fixed unlockable main menu themes having inverted locking criteria.
  
• Fixed the Fog Status effect resetting when a different player lost the effect.
  
• Fixed the Chaos Marauder and Chaos Repressor role names being swapped in Remote Admin.
  
• Fixed some SCP-1853 danger events not unregistering properly.
  
• Fixed some Discord Rich Presence events not unregistering properly.
  
• Reverted changes to ICommand, removing ICommand.SanitizeResponse.
  
• The Remote Admin console will now automatically attempt to close all unclosed rich text tags.
  
• TCP_NODELAY option is now set on socket used for communication with LocalAdmin.
  
• Made improvements regarding LocalAdmin to SCP:SL communication.
  
• `snr` now takes an optional argument allowing server admins to redirect players to a different server upon round end.
  
• Fixed `rnr` not working when fast restart is enabled.
  
• Added the `nr` command, displaying any actions that will occur when the round ends.
  
• Improved server console command handling.
  
• Fixed predefined ban templates being duplicated when running `pm reload`.
  
• Updated the PluginAPI.
  

[h3]Development Insight and Commentary[/h3]
We wanted to offer additional insight concerning the ‘why’ of our recent changes to SCP-207 and Anti-SCP-207. No further gameplay changes will be talked about from this point forward.

We’ll start off with SCP-207. When we first implemented this item, features like stamina and prevalent medical supplies weren’t yet implemented, resulting in the item’s balance reflecting the then current state of the game. It was then left nearly untouched for years, despite the game evolving around it. Now, it’s hard to travel a few rooms without coming across some sort of healing item, be it medkits, painkillers, SCP-330 candies, etc.

SCP-207 was always designed to be a hazard to players. A ‘deal with the devil’ item that, while providing increased movement speed, would put your life on a short timer — use the item to run, escape, or die trying. Following the changes to speed and HP drain, we believe that we have achieved our goal of restoring the heavy risks provided. After receiving community feedback, we’ve decided to amplify the speed of the Cola across all tiers, providing a more fair trade for the health drain.

Moving on to Anti-SCP-207, this item was originally added as a low-cost development joke. It took a few hours at most, and didn’t detract from any larger projects that needed the time. It also allowed us to experiment with new systems that we could potentially pursue usage of in the future, such as the ‘life saving’ mechanic. Throughout recent updates, we’ve slowly improved the item such that we can integrate it into standard gameplay — this allowed us to make a low-cost experimental SCP item without needing to do all the work at once. According to the feedback forms we received, players felt the item was too difficult to obtain for it to be of any use. Now that we are more confident with the state of the SCP, we feel now would be a perfect time to implement the item as a rare specialty.

Thank you all! If you’d like to see further commentary sections in the future, let us know. Otherwise, keep an eye out for further changes to come.

Have fun, and see you in the dark.
~ Northwood Studios

Hello everyone!

It's been a hot minute since we last talked about some Patreon news here, so let's not wait any longer and dive right into it!

One of the things that have remained the same since the game’s initial launch are the human character models. This will change in the near future! You can read everything there is to know about the newly designed human character models in our July Patreon Post, which is now available for those who have subscribed to the ‘Scientist’ tier ($5) and above.

In April of this year, we also introduced our Patreons to a new project called Memorandums — revolving around a vast array of cut content that did not make it into the game. The first volume of Memorandums has been made public and can be found in the link below.
https://patreon.scpslgame.com/posts/view/e73737f6-13e3-4a4a-b64d-282282cacf62


Lastly, our Patreon Post from March, which contains information about the SCP-1853 Rework and Reinforcements, has been made public as well!
You can find this post at:
https://patreon.scpslgame.com/posts/view/d752bab8-92ae-4916-8941-b5a34c683a86




We wish you a nice summer, and we’ll see you in the dark.
- Northwood Studios

Hello everyone.

Following the recent release of the 13.5 Update, we're eager to hear your thoughts and opinions on the recent changes.

We invite you to share your feedback through the survey linked below.

https://forms.gle/xH1HHBcvuRuseuNr8

Thank you for your continued support!

~ The Feedback Team

Hello everyone.

We are excited to present the remaining SCP updates, as well as the anticipated 1853 rework and more in this latest release. Included in 13.5 are a number of significant balance changes for the remaining members of the SCP team. The following lists fixes and improvements to the gameplay experience of certain SCPs and those playing against them.

[h2]SCP Balance Changes[/h2]
[h3]SCP-173[/h3]

• Base health increased to 4500.
  
• Breakneck Speeds now starts on cooldown at the beginning of the round.
  
• Tantrum can no longer be used during the Sustain period. Note: This is the amount of time where an eye indicator is visible on screen.

Developer Commentary: We felt that SCP-173 was finding LCZ (Light Containment Zone) elevators in the early game too quickly. As a result, a cooldown is now applied at the start of the round for balancing. We also noticed that SCP-173 could teleport behind a target and immediately use Tantrum, leading to an unavoidable death for human classes. As this led players to have a negative experience, this behaviour has been corrected while maintaining minimal impact to SCP-173’s general ability to place Tantrum.

[h3]SCP-106[/h3]

• Base health increased to 2300.
  
• Maximum Hume Shield reduced to 600.
  
• Increased M1’s initial damage to 40 (from 30).
  
• Stamina will now drain when under the Corrosion status effect.
  
• Removed the ability for SCP-500 to remove Traumatized.
  
• Reduced cooldowns of Hunter’s Atlas and Stalk.
  
• Emerging from the floor is now 0.2s faster.

Developer Commentary: After reviewing our feedback forms, we discovered that additional buffs added to SCP-106 were warranted. Introducing stamina draining will reduce circumstances where SCP-106 struggles to close the distance between itself and a target during extended periods of pursuit. Additionally, Vigor now acts as SCP-106’s primary cooldown to allow for a stealthier gameplay style.

[h3]SCP-079[/h3]

• The ability to lock doors is now achieved at Tier 3.
  
• Updated Blackout.
  • Increased the cost to 40 AP (from 25). This cost is doubled on Surface Zone.
    
  • Decreased the duration to ten seconds (from 15).
    
  • Increased cooldown between zone-wide blackouts.
• Reduced Tier 4’s AP regeneration.
  
• Reduced Tier 5’s AP regeneration.
  
• SCP-2176 now stuns SCP-079 for ten seconds.
  
• Door-related buttons inside of the facility will no longer be visible to SCP-079 while the warhead is active.
  
• Increased the distance at which allied SCPs can view pings.

Developer Commentary: We found that SCP-079’s ability to lock doors had the potential to be too oppressive during the early game and resulted in unavoidable deaths for Civilian classes. Additionally, we felt that AP costs had negligible impact in the later tiers. Following feedback from the beta, we have decided to no longer reduce XP rates from termination assists. We will be maintaining close observation on how SCP-079 performs going forward.

[h3]SCP-049[/h3]

• Base health increased to 2300.
  
• Removed SCP-049’s innate armour bonus.
  
• Increased Good Sense of the Doctor’s movement speed buff.
  
• Increased Good Sense of the Doctor’s Hume Shield bonus upon resurrecting a target.
  
• Increased the Hume Shield granting radius of Doctor’s Call.
  
• Corpses now expire slightly faster.

Developer Commentary: SCP-049’s armour introduced complexity to the character that proved ineffective in creating a noticeable difference in gameplay.We decided to buff SCP-049’s health slightly to compensate. We have also improved SCP-049’s offensive capabilities to allow for more independent gameplay, and will be monitoring these changes closely.

[h3]SCP-049-2[/h3]

• Can now only be re-revived once by SCP-049.
  
• Instances with an HP bonus granted by Good Sense of the Doctor will now revive with more HP.

Developer Commentary: A single SCP-049-2 instance that was repeatedly revived resulted in a total effective HP value of nearly 1500 for that specific player. The consequences result in the game not containing enough ammo to combat even a few resurrected players.

[h2]Improvements and Backend Changes[/h2]
[h3]SCP-1853 Rework[/h3]

• SCP-1853 now grants the following buffs:
  • 50% increase in item pickup speed.
    
  • 20% decrease in weapon inaccuracy (ADS and Hip).
    
  • 20% decrease in weapon recoil.
    
  • 35% reduction in reload/unload time.
    
  • 20% reduction in ADS enter/exit time.
    
  • 20% reduction in use times of medical items, grenades, SCP items, and candy.
    
  • Removes speed and stamina penalties for held items.
• SCP-1853 now operates on a system called Danger, strengthening its effects when the user is experiencing a life-threatening situation.
  
• Danger caps at five, granting up to a 3x multiplier to its buffs.
  
• The following conditions grant increases in Danger for 20 seconds, accompanied by an audio cue:
  • Encountering SCPs grants one Danger (+0.5 for additional encounters).
    
  • Encountering SCP-049-2 instances grants 0.25 Danger per encounter.
    
  • Encountering armed enemies grants one Danger (+0.25 for subsequent enemies).
    
  • Receiving damage grants 0.25 Danger for every ten health lost.
    
  • Being underneath the effects of Cardiac Arrest grants two Danger.
    
  • Being underneath the effects of Corroding grants one Danger.
    
  • Being an active target of SCP-096 grants two Danger.
    
  • Alpha Warhead being actively engaged grants one Danger.
• Removed the ability to stack SCP-1853.

Developer Commentary: SCP-1853 gained an ‘underwhelming’ reputation for the majority of its inclusion. When we tested a potential rework in our Patreon Early Access Rebalancing Session and received very positive feedback, we were inspired to pursue further improvements. The result is SCP-1853 feeling much more reactive and engaging to use, along with a noticeable increase in strength than its previous incarnations.

[h3]SCP-207 Rebalance[/h3]

• SCP-207’s effect now caps after three consumed items instead of four.
  
• Updated speed and damage values across all stack values. Note: The mentioned damage values are that of a sprinting player — walking and sneaking reduces damage appropriately.
  • Using one SCP-207 now results in a speed increase of 10% and a damage rate of 1.5HP/s.
    
  • Using two SCP-207 items now results in a speed increase of 20% and a damage rate of 2.5HP/s.
    
  • Using three SCP-207 items now results in a speed increase of 40% and a damage rate of 4HP/s.

Developer Commentary: SCP-207 has been noted to provide among the most beneficial impact to gameplay for a considerable amount of time. When we first added SCP-207 in 2019, its power level was tempered by the lack of healing items throughout the map and the absence of a stamina bar in older versions. As the game has developed and healing items are now more prevalent, we revisited SCP-207 with the intention of introducing suitable and relevant adjustments— using the item should pose a risk rather than effectively containing no downside.

[h3]Anti-SCP-207 Rebalance[/h3]

• Anti-SCP-207’s effect now caps after three consumed items instead of four.
  
• Updated speed and healing values across all stack values. Note: The mentioned healing values are that of a stationary player — walking and sprinting reduces healing appropriately.
  • Using one Anti-SCP-207 now results in a speed decrease of 5% and a healing rate of 2.5HP/s.
    
  • Using two Anti-SCP-207 items now results in a speed decrease of 15% and a healing rate of 5HP/s.
    
  • Using three Anti-SCP-207 items now results in a speed decrease of 20% and a healing rate of 7.5HP/s.

Developer Commentary: Following the SCP-207 adjustments, we decided to update Anti-SCP-207 as well. Due to the speed-decreasing nature of Anti-SCP-207, we have increased its HP regeneration and, additionally, it will no longer be a one-to-one reflection of its counterpart.

[h3]Firearm Tweaks[/h3]

• Tweaked multiple aspects of the FR-MG-0.
  
  • Increased base weight of the FR-MG-0 to 9.2kg, previously 7.2kg.
    
  • Decreased the rate of fire to 720rpm, previously 750rpm.
    
  • Reduced the penetration of the FR-MG-0 to 60%, previously 75%.
    
  • Increased the damage of the FR-MG-0 to 24.4, previously 22.9.
    
  • AP Drum attachment now increases recoil by 15%.
    
  • AP Drum now increases penetration by 17%, previously 15%.
    
  • Short Barrel attachment now increases running accuracy by 20%.
    
  • Short Barrel now reduces damage by 6%, previously 3%.
    
  • Heavy Stock attachment reduces recoil by 16%, previously 33%.
    
  • Adjusted recoil pattern.
• Logicer’s Short Barrel attachment now gives a 25% hip fire accuracy bonus, previously 43%.
  
• The FSP-9 will now always become a COM-18 on Coarse in SCP-914.

Developer Commentary: As mentioned in our future update news post, our plans include large-scale adjustments to firearms. While these updates are still forthcoming, we are providing these smaller tweaks in the interim to assist in bridging the gap between these two updates.

[h3]Fixes and Improvements[/h3]

• Adjusted Adrenaline’s SCP-914 recipes.
  
• Adjusted the Epsilon-11’s SCP-914 recipes.
  
• Halloween and Christmas main menu theme options are now available year-round to players that have the achievement from participating in the respective Halloween and Christmas events.
  
• Added the ability to upload your own custom main menu music tracks.
  
• Reimplemented visual effect when a player is underneath Amnesia.
  
• Jailbird now applies the Concussed status instead of Flashed.
  
• SCP-096 can no longer acquire additional targets when actively charging.
  
• SCP-939’s Lunge and SCP-173’s Blink should no longer kill targets behind thin walls.
  
• Increased the Pocket Dimension’s music volume.
  
• The Sinkhole status effect is now applied to players within the Pocket Dimension.
  
• Fixed flashlight light sources appearing visually different between first and third person.
  
• Fixed an exploit allowing SCP-106 to teleport to the wrong side of an elevator.
  
• Fixed muted players becoming unmuted when reconnecting.
  
• Fixed revival indicators lingering after a player’s respawn.
  
• Fixed SCP-049 being able to respawn players in Overwatch mode.
  
• Fixed SCP-079 being able to close doors/gates in specific scenarios while the warhead is active.
  
• Fixed auto-nuke triggering at inconsistent intervals.
  
• Fixed a formatting error when using the ‘Request Data’ feature in Remote Admin.
  
• Cleaned up old code related to SCP-106’s Pocket Dimension exits.
  
• Fixed an exploit allowing unsanitized names and text to mess with certain visual elements.
  
• Fixed an occasional floating door button in the HCZ server room.
  
• Fixed an incorrect monitor hitbox in TC-01.

[h3]Technical Changes[/h3]

• 'AdminToyBase.IsStatic' property is now a SyncVar, allowing users to disable a 'PrimitiveObject' position updating.
  
• Selected filters for RA’s player list are now saved across sessions.
  
• Canceling the 'SCP106TeleportPlayerEvent' no longer grants SCP-106 a M1 cooldown. This can be overridden manually.
  
• Added the ‘danger’ command to Remote Admin, which returns information regarding SCP-1853’s effects.
  
• By popular request, added the ‘Fog Control’ status effect, granting the ability to change a client’s current FogType. Note: Not all fog types were made with this effect in mind. As a result, some fog types may not execute correctly when forced.
• Implemented GPU instancing for primitive objects, improving performance.
  
• Primitive objects now share materials when using the same colour.
  
• Added ‘PrimitiveFlags’ property, allowing the toggling of certain features such as collision and visibility.
  
• Removed the ability to set a primitive to a negative scale.
  
• ‘Cube’ primitive objects now use a ‘BoxCollider’ instead of a ‘MeshCollider’.
  
• Cleaned up other primitive related code.
  
• Added the Slowness status effect. This effect reduces movement speed by 1% per intensity, and can overflow into negative values.
  
• Added `FogControl::SetFogType(FogType)` method for easier access to update fog for specific players.
  
• Added rich text sanitization in all command responses. Note: commands may opt out of it by overriding `ICommand::SanitizeResponse`.
  
• Updated category for some status effects.

That’s all for today — keep an eye out for further changes to come in the near future.

Have fun, and see you in the dark.
~ Northwood Studios

Hello everyone.

Following the recent release of the 13.5 Public Beta, we're eager to hear your feedback on the proposed changes.

We invite you to share your thoughts through the survey below.

https://forms.gle/Gdd9mvLhajtdkJ4T8

Thank you for your continued support!

~ The Feedback Team