v8.1 and onwards! Development Preview #7 | 19/01/23
Welcome back, we've got some news for you!
After the successful launch of the v8.0 Tempest update, it's time to give you a peek into what's next for the game!
Any information and images are Work In Progress (WIP) and may change drastically before releasing
Firstly we'd like to announce that Progression part 1; v9.0, will be the next major update, coming shortly after v8.1. The plan is to have this out as soon as possible and will include the new leveling system for players, as well as the long-awaited equipment upgrades for your investigations!
We've seen a lot of players' concerns about why we're doing a wipe, and what will happen to their current progression, so here are a few quick insights:
8.1 will provide the much-needed Custom Difficulty values overhaul. The plan is to reduce the maximum reward multiplier from 24x down to around 15x (the Apocalypse challenge requirements will also be reduced to match), making custom games much closer in rewards to our default difficulty counterparts. We can then remove the cap that is currently in place for those games, resulting in much fairer rewards, and less "feel bad" when not playing the most optimal settings to farm XP and money.
With the addition of Custom Difficulty, we've found that a lot of players love harder game modes, so it's about time to start thinking about a new official difficulty: Insanity
As you can see, this is one step further down the rabbit hole after Nightmare. One less piece of evidence and some smaller changes make it much tougher to narrow down those paranormal entities!
We're also adding a brand new system to Phasmophobia, a rotational difficulty: Challenge Mode.
Each week a different challenge will be present in this difficulty slot, offering unique custom modes that are hand-made by us. You'll be able to play these modes in any location, but if you complete them three times in the specified location, you'll earn a large chunk of money and experience!
Challenge mode comes at no risk too; equipment is provided for you for free, and you'll lose nothing if you die! You can also complete each week's challenge solo or in multiplayer!
An example of one of the simpler challenges:
As you can see, in "Lights Out" you will have no access to the fuse box, and flashlights are not provided, so you'll have to use candles and other equipment such as glowsticks if you want to see anything!
Some of the other challenges you can expect range from an official "Hide and Seek" game with the ghost or an audio-only contract focused on Paranormal Microphones and Sound Sensors. We hope these unique contracts give you a reason to hop back into the game each week, as well as provide a nice boost to your funds without the worry of losing anything!
You'll be happy to hear that both Insanity and Challenge Mode will be added with 8.1 very shortly!
Alongside the above additions, the shop will also be getting some much-needed improvements!
Currently, loadouts are the primary way to quickly get your equipment into a game, but we can understand that a few reasons are stopping this from being a perfect system:
So, with that information and some in-depth conversation with some users in the Official Discord, we've decided to make the following changes:
Firstly, the shop/storage page will now function like an online shopping cart. You can add your items to the list with the + icons, then choose to Buy, Sell, Add or Remove. Once you're done, you can clear your list with the Trash icon. This makes adjusting your added loadout or making a quick removal much faster than the current system.
Secondly, an icon has been added to each shop item, displaying how many have been committed to the lobby and will appear in the truck once you've loaded in. This should reduce the amount of jumping back and forth between the shop and the lobby screen.
A look at the proposed changes:
For Loadouts, we're adding an "Auto add" button, which will add your selected loadout to the lobby as soon as you join one. This should save even more time when joining different games in solo or multiplayer. If you die or don't have enough items, you will need to rebuy the missing items (which can be done with one button press!) otherwise they won't be auto-added. We're also adjusting a few labels on this screen to help with identifying each number when creating or using a loadout.
Lastly, we're adding an "All Equipment" loadout that is unlocked for everyone as a 3rd slot.
While developing 8.1, we noticed some strange runes in the warehouse lobby...
What could these mean?
Are there more?
Who knows...
That's it for Development Preview #7. We'll catch you with some more teasers soon!
If you experience any issues or want to give feedback, please join the official Phasmophobia Discord: https://discord.gg/phasmophobia
Thanks,
[h3]The Kinetic Games Team [/h3]
After the successful launch of the v8.0 Tempest update, it's time to give you a peek into what's next for the game!
Any information and images are Work In Progress (WIP) and may change drastically before releasing
Firstly we'd like to announce that Progression part 1; v9.0, will be the next major update, coming shortly after v8.1. The plan is to have this out as soon as possible and will include the new leveling system for players, as well as the long-awaited equipment upgrades for your investigations!
We've seen a lot of players' concerns about why we're doing a wipe, and what will happen to their current progression, so here are a few quick insights:
- The wipe is needed to make way for the new leveling system, including prestiges, and will fundamentally change how you progress through the game. You'll unlock equipment and upgrades in a specific order, and that needs to work from the start. Sadly we cannot translate the new system to the current one, so a reset is the only way to go!
- Money and experience numbers will be adjusted, you will no longer level up every 100xp. Now, each level will require more XP as you progress and upon reaching the end of level 100, you will unlock the option to prestige and reset your progress, with the reward of a new badge and title for your ID card.
- Your current level will be saved and in the future, we will give you a unique badge for your player character to show off how far you made it pre-wipe. These will have different colors and materials depending on how high your level was. This will be the only way to unlock this specific badge, so get going!
8.1 will provide the much-needed Custom Difficulty values overhaul. The plan is to reduce the maximum reward multiplier from 24x down to around 15x (the Apocalypse challenge requirements will also be reduced to match), making custom games much closer in rewards to our default difficulty counterparts. We can then remove the cap that is currently in place for those games, resulting in much fairer rewards, and less "feel bad" when not playing the most optimal settings to farm XP and money.
With the addition of Custom Difficulty, we've found that a lot of players love harder game modes, so it's about time to start thinking about a new official difficulty: Insanity
As you can see, this is one step further down the rabbit hole after Nightmare. One less piece of evidence and some smaller changes make it much tougher to narrow down those paranormal entities!
We're also adding a brand new system to Phasmophobia, a rotational difficulty: Challenge Mode.
Each week a different challenge will be present in this difficulty slot, offering unique custom modes that are hand-made by us. You'll be able to play these modes in any location, but if you complete them three times in the specified location, you'll earn a large chunk of money and experience!
Challenge mode comes at no risk too; equipment is provided for you for free, and you'll lose nothing if you die! You can also complete each week's challenge solo or in multiplayer!
An example of one of the simpler challenges:
As you can see, in "Lights Out" you will have no access to the fuse box, and flashlights are not provided, so you'll have to use candles and other equipment such as glowsticks if you want to see anything!
Some of the other challenges you can expect range from an official "Hide and Seek" game with the ghost or an audio-only contract focused on Paranormal Microphones and Sound Sensors. We hope these unique contracts give you a reason to hop back into the game each week, as well as provide a nice boost to your funds without the worry of losing anything!
You'll be happy to hear that both Insanity and Challenge Mode will be added with 8.1 very shortly!
Alongside the above additions, the shop will also be getting some much-needed improvements!
Currently, loadouts are the primary way to quickly get your equipment into a game, but we can understand that a few reasons are stopping this from being a perfect system:
- Some players don't like to use loadouts every time, and prefer to add equipment manually
- If you want to add or remove a few items quickly, you either have to use the current Shop menu, which can take too many clicks, or keep one loadout free for quick adjustments
- There is no way to tell what has been added to the lobby and what you may be missing
- Some of the details were confusing, and needed more context
So, with that information and some in-depth conversation with some users in the Official Discord, we've decided to make the following changes:
Firstly, the shop/storage page will now function like an online shopping cart. You can add your items to the list with the + icons, then choose to Buy, Sell, Add or Remove. Once you're done, you can clear your list with the Trash icon. This makes adjusting your added loadout or making a quick removal much faster than the current system.
Secondly, an icon has been added to each shop item, displaying how many have been committed to the lobby and will appear in the truck once you've loaded in. This should reduce the amount of jumping back and forth between the shop and the lobby screen.
A look at the proposed changes:
For Loadouts, we're adding an "Auto add" button, which will add your selected loadout to the lobby as soon as you join one. This should save even more time when joining different games in solo or multiplayer. If you die or don't have enough items, you will need to rebuy the missing items (which can be done with one button press!) otherwise they won't be auto-added. We're also adjusting a few labels on this screen to help with identifying each number when creating or using a loadout.
Lastly, we're adding an "All Equipment" loadout that is unlocked for everyone as a 3rd slot.
While developing 8.1, we noticed some strange runes in the warehouse lobby...
What could these mean?
Are there more?
Who knows...
That's it for Development Preview #7. We'll catch you with some more teasers soon!
If you experience any issues or want to give feedback, please join the official Phasmophobia Discord: https://discord.gg/phasmophobia
Thanks,
[h3]The Kinetic Games Team [/h3]
