POSTAL 4: No Regerts News

This is THE UPDATE many of you have been waiting for - A SIGNIFICANT PERFORMANCE UPDATE! Our work in this area is far from done, but many of you will enjoy a framerate boost of around 10-20fps in some of the worst affected areas. We will continue to improve performance throughout the rest of the project.

Related to performance - we’ve rewritten the mouse movement code so in the event the game does hitch, you will no longer end up facing the wrong direction, making remaining performance drops far less intrusive.

Beyond that, this update improves kicking behaviour and animation. It’s now far easier to kick around physics objects and ragdolls. Oh, and you can also kick cars when using Vitamin X, too!

Prefer projectile based combat to melee? We have you covered! Introducing a new weapon - The Flare Gun!

Our ongoing work to improve the cinematics continues with the Tag Turf, Bellow and Cat dude Intros all getting a pass.

We’ve fixed up a ton of crashes, and a laundry list of other things you’ll find listed below.

Thank you all so much for your continued support, believing in our vision and providing us with so much useful feedback.

Running With Scissors Team





Mariachi NPCs in Mexico

More NPCs in the new tiles

Flare Gun!



Separate ammo type for M16

Cat Silencer support for Ingram

Ability to kick vehicles during Vitamin X

Hostile Shopkeeper to Dinky Nozzle (‘Get Milk’ errand)

New FirstPerson kicking animation

A hint about changing paint color with alt-fire

Cutscene for Spike poisoning





Overall performance improvements!

Mouse aiming should now be more consistent and stable

Improved the kick's hit detection and locational damage code

Removed Scythe model which was blue balling players into thinking that it’s an actual working weapon they can use

Prison codes are now randomized

Improved interior of La Casa Grande

Improved the Pet Shop and Tag Turf and Bellow's cinematics

Improved audio in various cinematics

Scaled up a few vehicles

Tweaked the collision on shell casings and thrown Ingram prop

Adjusted the Hose firing animation not syncing correctly

Removed extra front sight on M16 mesh

Improved Prison loading! The unnecessary maps will no longer stay loaded which will result in better performance during the Prison Guard errand. Warden doors will also close properly after the errand

Dude location icon on map screen





Certain meshes using default textures

Added vehicle blocker to Border Smuggler to prevent breaking the cutscene

NPC made out of denim aka. The notorious Denim Man (You will be missed)

Floating cars

Being able to pick up the Scooter

Body fire on Mutant Rats being way too big

Weapon fire no longer gets stuck when phone is brought up

Lightbulbs will now be removed from the player’s inventory after Sewer errand

Boarded up Book Repository

Collision on various meshes

Zap zone signs facing the wrong way between Retail and Border Land tiles

Many mapping bugs that were reported on our Steam and Janky forums

‘The Thingy’ area not staying loaded after going through a zap zone

Weapons will now immediately 'Fire' after being Equipped / Reloaded if the player is holding the Fire key

Removed Bell from Monday’s Motel which could trigger the ending cutscene again causing the game to crash

Weapon loop start animation

Crash where the Spray Paint is firing when opening the color wheel

Left hand weapon when dual wielding not using the right ‘Weapon position’ settings

Prison zap zone activating even if complete

Prison Warden doors will now close properly after finishing the errand

Scooter when going through a zap zone

Weapons floating in front of The Dude during cinematics

Border Patrol NPCs not attacking the player

Addressed various crashes that were reported on our forums

Tag Turf errand will now complete every time after tagging all billboards

The Meet Associate cutscene can now be skipped properly

Dude Cat’s paws clipping through the world

Spray paint breaking windows

Lockdown announcement in Police Station no longer replays when returning to the station or loading a save

Gamepad settings not updating when changed in-game

Slingshot now respects Fire input bindings

NPCs should no longer pickup dead animals

Dude Cat Pounce momentum sticking on cat ladders

Some bugs with the Gas Can match setting inflammable animals

POSTAL: Brain Damaged, the retro-styled FPS spin-off from Running With Scissors’ outrageous series enjoyed by millions, will deliver crude and immature humor, ridiculous weapons, and old school challenge to PC and consoles in 2021. Developed by Hyperstrange (developers of ELDERBORN) and CreativeForge Games to be published by Running With Scissors, POSTAL: Brain Damaged gives a tantalizing taste of the madness to come in its debut trailer, revealed today at Realms Deep 2020.

One too many hits to the head (and hits off the pipe) has everyone’s favorite bathrobed anti-hero, The POSTAL Dude, reeling from brain damage. When he closes his eyes in a drunken, drugged-up stupor, he awakens in a psychedelic, grotesque, utterly twisted dream world. Asylum patients with dildo arms charge ravenously. Serial killer grandmas wield walkers in cut-throat combat. Beware probe-happy aliens reaching for the backside of The POSTAL Dude’s bathrobe.

Shoot through stages of escalating insanity, beating back the nightmares with bullets and urine. Strafe, dash, slide, and bunny hop through massive retro-styled stages, including a grungy asylum, comic convention, Area 69, and more. Each of The POSTAL Dude’s twisted fantasies offers new challenges and a characteristic flow — from corridor shooting through secret passages to blowing up large, open spaces with perfect twitch reflexes — but the hardcore spirit of badass ‘90s shooters bleeds from every orifice.

With a heaping arsenal of nostalgic, bombastic weaponry, POSTAL: Brain Damaged delivers a pure boomer shooter experience. Eviscerate enemies with the double-barreled shotgun, remove flat-earther heads from afar with the devastating railgun, and attach the cat silencer to blast aliens and military zombies with feline style.

POSTAL: Brain Damaged boasts the series’ beloved over-the-top parody and satire of pop culture, politics, and modern society. Escape from reality and unwind while beating back hippies, fleeing from flying fluids, and wiping out enemies to your heart’s content while pixelated blood spurts forth and a thrashing old school soundtrack thumps with every gun blast.

“They just don’t make badass shooters like they used to,” said Vince Desi, founder of Running With Scissors. "Brain Damaged takes the torch from all the pretenders while excreting everything fans want to see from the series that once birthed “The Worst Game Ever™”. The Dude is back and dirtier than ever!”

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

POSTAL: Brain Damaged launches for PC and consoles in 2021. For more details in the days to come, check out the official website and follow Running With Scissors on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Discord.

About Running With Scissors

Founded in 1996, Running With Scissors is one of the oldest indie studios in the game industry. RWS focuses on creating socially conscious games that offer signature experiences focused more on making people laugh that making sure everyone is comfortable.

For more information on POSTAL games and gear, visit www.gopostal.com.

About Hyperstrange

HYPERSTRANGE is an independent game development and publishing studio based in Warsaw, Poland, founded on the day of the 2015 Solar Eclipse. Its debut title - ELDERBORN - brought about a whole new level of brutal FPP melee combat in 2020. Drawing inspiration from heavy metal, 90s pulp pop culture, and classic boomer shooters, the loud and proud studio strives to make everyone’s gaming life a little stranger.

To learn more about Hyperstrange please visit their website at hyperstrange.com.

About CreativeForge Games

CreativeForge Games is an experienced indie games developer and publisher listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. They place priority on reaching out to gaming fans worldwide with fun and creative productions.

To learn more about CreativeForge Games please visit their website at creativeforge.pl

Make sure to wishlist POSTAL: Brain Damaged on Steam!

This is simply a small update to fix a persistent hitching issue that around 50% of users were getting, where there a was frame hitch every 3-5 seconds happening consistently. Sorry it took so long to sort this out - this bug was elusive and took us a lot of trial and error to track down, but it has been our priority as it pretty much made the game unplayable for a huge number of you.

We wanted to make sure this fix was added as soon as possible so did not add in anything else that that will need further testing - but bigger overall performance update, along with plenty of new content, will be with you around the time of Realms Deep!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



Three new zones

Border Land

Overview:

The “Border Land World” is located in the southwestern-most part of town. This tile is part of the Commercial District zone where many of the larger businesses are situated. It also includes the portion of the town located in Mexico, hence the name of the tile.

Since this tile is on the border and includes the Mexican portion of the town, of note is the border crossing and its trademark landmark, The Wall. It serves as the sole entrance into Mexico in the game.

Visually, there’s a contrast between the US portion north of the border and Mexican portion south of the border. However, the south-of-the-border area of town nonetheless functions in a largely identical manner, albeit with the Mexican visual twist.







Retail

Overview:

The “Retail World” is the southern-middle part of town. This tile is part of the Commercial District zone where many of the retail shops and larger businesses are situated. Some commercial offices are found here as well. Covering the entirety of the border along the southern edge is The Wall.

Of note is that this tile, true to its name, contains the most highly concentrated number of business establishments.





Ghost Town

Overview:

The “Ghost Town” is located in the central westernmost part of town. This tile is part of the Historic District zone where the town’s aforementioned ghost town is located. This is also where the poorest of the town’s poor congregate in the dedicated shanty town/ghetto.

In keeping with the old west theme established by the ghost town, this area is distinguished by its dry, dusty, desert atmosphere, even more so than the rest of the town’s desert areas. Expect to see tumbleweeds and dying, yellowed shrubbery.







New missions!

Meet Associate

Errand description:

Tuesday's Meet Associate errand is immediately assigned at the beginning of the day and sends the player to meet his new boss-of-the-day following Bellow. You will have to take an underground detour using the town's now newly (re)opened subway system (Using a placeholder location at the moment) which conveniently has available stops between these two districts. Come Wednesday, the rest of the stops will be available, making four total between the four districts around town.

Aside from that, the other major part of this errand is the cutscene where we meet the new boss and his faction: El Plago and his Los Oscuros cartel who operate out of Edensin's South-of-the-Border Land.

Border Smuggler

Errand description:

The short of the errand is that the featured Border Slingshot acts a mounted turret you can aim and fire with your "ammo" being the American immigrants you're launching over The Wall border into Mexico. The task here is set up as a target range challenge where you must successfully aim at floating holographic targets. If you miss a shot or fire an immigrant which is spotted by the Border Patrol, you still need to launch more immigrants over The Wall, but at this point hostile Border Patrol officers will also be spawning in waves to fight you.

Tag Turf

Errand description:

The one special gimmick in this errand is the use of the new Spray Paint Can weapon on the designated Billboards (You can activate the color wheel by holding RightMouseButton). The majority of this errand features combat against a new group, the Sensitive Hipsters.

Here's a short preview of the new Spray Can:



Pet Shop Delivery

Errand description:

On Tuesday, after his meeting with the Mexican Luchadores boss El Plago, the Dude is sent on a delivery mission to bring a nondescript package to a local Pet Shop. Upon his arrival and descent into the building’s undisclosed underground storage facility, he discovers the place is actually a front for a drug lab. Not one to be remiss in his duties, though, the Dude braves the toxic fumes swirling through the air to complete his delivery, only to pass out on his way back to the exit. In his fume-addled hazy mind, he hallucinates himself having turned into a cat, suddenly believing himself to be completing a day’s list of feline-based Mini-Errands. Cat-based catastrophes ensue.

After turning into a cat, Dude (or Dude Cat) needs to complete three mini-errands.

Pay Fine

Errand description:

Here, the player is offered two branches to follow: Pay the fine by performing community service as a Meter Maid or manually dropping his ticket into the conveniently located drop box. Taking the Meter Maid route means roaming the town's free roam areas looking for illegally parked cars to ticket to meet your fine quota. Upscale cars can be ticketed more, but the vehicle's owners will respond with hostility. Going with the drop box route happens to trigger the station's lockdown mode, and the player will need to head to the Lockdown Terminals in the Security Offices to manually disable it. The station's Armory can be unlocked as a bonus!

The gameplay mechanics employed here aren't just for this errand. The Meter Maid will become available later in the week as an optional job/Side Quest to earn more cash. The lockdown mechanic in the Police Station remains a constant in this location, acting as the regular challenge to doing things like stealing from the evidence room, stealing from the Armory, gaining access to the Super Evidence Room, and so forth.

New P2-style shovel! (Blood masks will be added later)



Ingram



M16



New sounds for the Intro sequence

Footprints

Cutscene movie volume slider

Interior sounds to various buildings

Dual wielding crosshair (Borderlands 2 style)



Facial animations for dead pawns

New sound effects for Tazer Baton




Improved Combat AI:

• NPCs not firing at long range distances
  
• Melee enemies should now spread out a little when chasing you
  
• Enemies will also no longer crouch when attacking with a melee weapon
  
• Ranged enemies should no longer run up to your face before attacking
  
• Enemies that lose sight of you no longer stand in place waiting for you to walk up to them
  
• Cops shouldn't get stuck on the border of the Chase/Arrest radius anymore
  
• Changed how enemies react to pointing a gun at them so they don't immediately attack you even if they're panicking
  
• NPCs shouldn't freeze in place when entering Reload state anymore
  
• Refined NPC weapon spread so they don't deal as much initial burst damage
  

and more!


Optimized vehicle and bystander models

Cars will now exploded when set on fire with Gasoline

Improved distance quality of foliage models

Reduced health on Cop NPCs

Greatly improved the look of various cutscenes

Sonic and Sanic cheats now apply to flying

Added more pickups across all levels

Weapons that use time based ammo consumption now consume 1 ammo at the start

Smoothed the AK firing animation to be less erratic. Reduced the recoil on the AK to make it a bit more manageable

Decreased AI Revolver fire rate from 0.3 to 1.0

Reduced frequency of ambient hawk screeching

Game now autosaves once instead of twice when going through zap zones

All Characters should now drop their Weapons when they die

Tweaked the walking animations

Camera will now pan to errand as the giver talks about it, and zooms to default zoom




A TON of mapping bugs

Crash that could occur after throwing many Pigeon Mines as well as when standing in a queue / interacting with the cashier. And many others!

Collision on a vast amount of assets

Grenades and Molotovs not colliding with doors

Broken interactables

Various issues with Prison

Car explosion sounds playing when master volume was set to 0

Video Menu “Show Outlines” text not matching checkbox

Player taking lethal headshot damage from the Revolver and Shotgun

Implemented fixes for the Dogs and Cats when transitioning back to normal movement

Beggar Sign “nag” dialog lines playing when a sign has already been constructed

Player facing the wrong direction when exiting the Scooter

Map screen panning off to Narnia when finishing errands

"Show Pickup Messages" menu option not working/Hide HUD not hiding pickup messages

Slugs not using any HUD icon

Hey there POSTAL fans!

You’re probably wondering why the game updates have slowed down in recent weeks! It's because we are working our asses off towards POSTAL 4’s biggest single update to date: The addition of Tuesday!

This update will almost double the size of the playable area and give you 4 new errands, all of which are VERY different than the ones found on Monday. Those of you that feel the Errands on Monday were not outrageous enough for a POSTAL game just might cream your jeans at what's coming!

Due to the amazing Early Access response, we have been able to invest significantly more into development and grow the team - we’re now almost 30 members strong having taken on 8 new members in the last month alone, some coming directly from working with AAA studios! Most of their work is tied up in the Tuesday update so it has yet to filter through to you guys - but it’s CUMMING!

Finally, we just want to reassure everyone that once Tuesday hits, major updates (Wednesday) will not take nearly as long and we will NOT be in Early Access forever. When we launched POSTAL 4 in Early Access we had a much smaller team and had a lot of work to do to implement many fundamental features that were missing at launch. We have a STRICT ‘no crunch’ policy at RWS and this means things will take longer than they would if we were uninterested in the welfare of our staff, so we thank you for your understanding and patience.

As always, thanks for the support and for being an excellent community for us to work for. Stay safe out there, and USE A BIDET! Remember - A Clean Ass is a Happy Ass!

The Running With Scissors Team

P.S Allow us to pimp our warez while we have your attention!
Check out https://p0st.al/shop and pick up some swag to help further support our efforts in making P4 the best ‘Worst Game Ever™’!