Secret Neighbor News

Hey everyone! Update 5 is live!

This time around we're tweaking the balance, most notably — buffing the Inventor. Here are the full patch notes:

v. 1.0.5b

• Fixed randomized item drop after the Neighbor’s death
  
• Leader’s Inspiration cooldown reduced to 20 seconds
  
• Increased blind duration from Confusion to 1.5 seconds
  
• A match no longer ends if the Neighbor leaves the game. Instead, a message that the Neighbor has left appears, and the players may either finish the match or leave
  
• Added a sound effect and highlighting for when a player mouses over a gear
  
• Key card doors can now be blocked
  
• Added a new type of saucepan: the flashlight saucepan. Durability: 2 hits
  
• Inventor can now craft the flashlight saucepan for 2 gears and the repair hammer for 1 gear
  

While part of our team was working on the gameplay side of things, others have been tackling much-requested features such as control remapping and further performance optimizations. Stay tuned, more updates to come soon!

Good news everyone, we fully changed the game again!

We noticed some players trolling quick games by killing off random team mates for no reason. So now knocked players in quick games will no longer die off if not helped, they will simply get back up.

Changelog:

• Kids now get up after being knocked down instead of dying
  
• Custom game mode allows to revert the aforementioned knock change
  
• Fixed a bug where a Neighbor could interact with objects through walls while disguised as a pumpkin
  
• Fixed a bug where a Neighbor could clip into the floor after taking damage while disguised as a pumpkin
  
• Collider for knocked kids is now smaller (used the be same size as for a kid that is standing)
  
• Help marker now disappears as intended after a knocked players leaves a match
  
• Neighbor’s metal gates are now in randomized positions (opened/closed) at the beginning of a match
  
• Added an option to inverse the mouse
  
• Kids can no longer be spotted with the radar while they’re hiding in a closet
  

We are working very hard on upcoming performance optimizations and control remapping. Stay tuned, the next patch is expected early next week!

Happy Friday! I hope you've all had a great fun night of Trick or Treating. While we're finalizing the results of the Pumpkin Carving Contest (check our discord for details), we've rolled out Patch 3.

• Fixed several bugs causing freezes on Quick Game loading screen
  
• State of mute is now applied to the entire session
  
• Fixed a bug where mute would disappear after a match
  
• Fixed a UI bug where you could mute an already muted player after they re-enter the lobby
  
• Removed sound distortions in voice chat on maximum volume
  
• Fixed help icon disappearing after a player leaves.
  
• Improved voice chat stability after disconnects
  
• Changed the relation of the voice chat volume to distance from exponential to linear
  

This patch is a series of ongoing improvements to the game. We are working on optimizing the game's performance alongside a series of updates in the coming weeks.

Hello Neighbors,

The second update for Secret Neighbor on Steam focuses on Quality of Life improvements. Next up are performance improvements.

There has also been a lot of work done in the backend, mostly focused on networking.

• Added the ability to interact with doors and bars while stunned
  
• Fixed the lag spike that occurred after a kid died in Neighbor’s hands
  
• Fixed the leaflets appearing under a kid’s shoes when that kid leaves the spectator mode
  
• Fixed bars randomization
  
• Brave can no longer hit items that are lying on the floor
  
• Fixed freezing that occurred when you would knock down a door while in pause menu
  
• Reworked sliding mechanic
  
• You can no longer climb on vertical surfaces or angles
  
• Reworked the Crow logic (now it shows the way either to a key or a keycard you need)
  
• Reworked Detective’s skill logic (now it shows the way either to a key or a keycard you need)
  
• Fixed the Crow disappearing after turning into the Neighbor (proximity to Neighbor at which the Crow disappears changed from 15 to 5)
  
• Fixed the Crow disappearing after a key has been successfully used
  
• Fixed Detective’s photos when playing with no keycards.
  
• Fixed a bug where a kid’s saucepan would disappear after they transform into the Neighbor
  
• Slightly changed player models’ interpolation to minimize cases where the Neighbor can catch kids from extreme distances
  
• Adjusted saucepan positioning for some characters
  
• Increased Neighbor’s fall damage
  
• Fixed the inconsistencies between torso and legs positioning when turning (characters twisting)
  

Howdy ho, Neighbors

Day 1 patch time!

It's been a day since we launched, and oh boy have we been listening! Thanks for the overwhelming amounts of feedback. Today we bring lots of changes that mostly revolve around the balance of the game.

The main one I noticed when playing is that new players -- when playing as the Neighbor -- wouldn't fully understand their goal, and start trying to kill off other players. Since the Neighbor player can't turn into the Neighbor, it came off as if some random player is griefing others. An all-round bad experience. So we now allow the Neighbor to take his true form in the beginning of the match, albeit with a cooldown at that stage. We've also removed 2 upgrade machines to counter balance that.

We heard you loud and clear on keycards. What we did now with the Neighbor in this update is essentially buffed him, and we also added more keycards. Now the spawnrate is higher, so let's see how this impacts the balance and flow of the match.

Also on the balancing side, we've nerfed the Scout. Now you get 10 nuts and 5 damage per nut.

On the lobby front, we've made sure only the lobby leader can kick players. You can now see who the leader is. And in Custom Games you will now get awarded with coins. To counter act farming, the amount of coins will depend on how many players are in the match.

And on the FPS front, we've added the option to uncap the FPS.

Finally, you can fully disable doors in Custom Games.

Full changelist:

• Scout nerf. You now get 10 nuts and 5 damage per nut.
  
• Fixed occlusion in several spots
  
• Improved Neighbor hints
  
• Neighbor now can turn into his true form at Level 1 (from the start)
  
• Removed 2 of Neighbor's upgrade spots to compensate for the buff
  
• Modified Neighbor's upgrade stats, modified for 4 levels instead of 5
  
• Reduced spawnrate of items in fridges
  
• Added a 15 second cooldown for Neighbor transformations in the beginning of the match.
  
• Added the ability to remove keycard doors in Custom Games
  
• Increased spawnrate for keycards, there will be more of them in the house
  
• Fixed an player model issue when items are equipped on player heads
  
• Fixed an issue with the glue item (it now spills only on the floor)
  
• Now you can see who is the lobby leader
  
• Only the Custom Game owner can now kick players in the lobby
  
• Added an option to uncap FPS, so you can go beyond 60fps
  
• Players will now get awarded coins for playing custom games. The amount of awarded coins depends on how many players are in the lobby.
  
• You can fully disable keycard doors in Custom Games
  

We're working on further fixes in regards to performance. Stay tuned on that. And we're actively listening to everyone on the forums, in the reviews, our discord, and other social networks.

Further updates will get beta tests from our Discord community, so make sure to join in - https://discord.gg/tinybuild