Secret Neighbor News

Hello there, Neighbors!

The beta of Secret Neighbor is upon us. It will be the final playtest for the game as we gear up for a launch later this year.



We got a really cool animation studio on the project that did all of the new in-game animations, and they also did this amazing teaser trailer for the beta. Please watch it, leave a like, etc:

https://youtu.be/lNDc-b7OguE



The beta is coming this Friday and we have a separate Steam page up for it. You will be able to access it via that Steam page.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/999730/Secret_Neighbor_Beta/



Would you kindly click those WISHLIST and FOLLOW button on the Steam page for Secret Neighbor. We want to concentrate all attention on that page, and this post is a cross-post between our tinybuild publisher page, Hello Neighbor, Secret Neighbor, and Secret Neighbor Beta.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/859570/Secret_Neighbor/



Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tinyBuild
Follow us on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/franchise/tinybuild
Subscribe on Youtube - https://youtube.com/tinyBuildGAMES



Book your calendar. I will post a full devlog leading up to launch.

Greetings, Neighbors

I bring you good news. The Secret Neighbor Beta is coming. You've probably seen updates to the "Alpha" branch, which is the one we'll be using for the actual Beta. It will be renamed once it goes live.



We're doing final testing and Quality of Life improvements. We expect the Beta will launch early August.




Character classes.


The team has been hard at work putting together more varied class systems for both the Neighbor and player characters. We've done extensive work in adding abilities and balancing them together. You can expect reworked character classes.

We went away from configuring your own characters, and instead went for classes -- this includes the Neighbor. Otherwise you ended up with the "perfect" config for your character and stuck with it, while we want to encourage player experimentation and trying out different playstyles.

My favorite Neighbor ability right now is throwing down a smoke bomb, like a ninja.

Animations

Character animations have been reworked. This was the biggest win we could do to make everything look and feel much better.

Quality of Life / User Flow

We found it incredibly frustrating when lobbies fill up and players don't press ready. The flow was a bit off - since you'd configure your character after you've joined a lobby. Instead, we enable players to configure their characters before they join Quick Game. An automatic countdown starts once a lobby hit minimum amounts of players.

Meanwhile, in Custom Games, players can mess around with game rules and take their time with configuring classes in-lobby. The idea is that when you're in a custom game, odds are you know people you're playing with. So you can spend some time chatting and experimenting.

So Quick Game will actually be for quick games. Press one button, and you're in.

Neighbor's Command Room & Sonar Nerf

In the Beta we decided to remove the "sonar" item from Neighbor's inventory and merge that with the Neighbor's Command Room. It's the room the Neighbor respawns in. Now you can enter it, and use it to teleport to multiple locations around the house. The sonar is now located there, allowing you to quickly scan the house and figure out where the players are.

Amongst other notable improvements, the Neighbor can now lock/open gates by activating a lever next to them. This used to be the sonar item's secondary ability and was a bit imbalanced.



Don't forget to Wishlist Secret Neighbor

https://store.steampowered.com/app/859570/Secret_Neighbor/



Subscribe at http://SecretNeighbor.com to get into the beta



Join us at http://discord.gg/secretneighbor to get all your Secret Neighbor news and updates

Hello there, Neighbors!

We bring you good news today.

Secret Neighbor will be launching this FALL. We are aiming for the Halloween timeframe and will confirm it after we run a SUMMER ALPHA. We also have a new E3 2019 Trailer for you. Here's your todo list



Alpha sign-ups are open at http://SecretNeighbor.com - be sure to sign-up to get into the final summer alpha happening soon.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mgpuH-DABw



https://store.steampowered.com/app/859570/Secret_Neighbor/

Hello there, Neighbors!

We all know you're simply dying to sneak into your creepy Neighbor's house. Do we have news for you -- the Easter Alpha for Secret Neighbor is now live!

Here's a quick overview of the game and its current state:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uJs5A13iXc

Make sure to sign-up at https://SecretNeighbor.com for a chance to get into the Easter Alpha. It is live until April 30.

Also would you kindly Wishlist on Steam?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/859570/Secret_Neighbor/

Ho ho ho! The Nightmare before Christmas is upon us. Welcome to the Secret Neighbor Christmas Alpha!



https://youtu.be/KqAVXBBxs20



We are sending out random batches of keys to people who sign-up at http://SecretNeighbor.com

We will be doing so during the whole duration of the Christmas Alpha


The alpha will run from today December 19th until January 6th.


You will get a Steam key via e-mail. It will be for an app called "Secret Neighbor Alpha"

Now you all might be wondering, what exactly is included in this Alpha? We've done two of them so far. The first one was very limited with a few features, and then we expanded during Halloween. I won't bore you with the details, so here's everything you might expect.





The house has been fitted with a Christmas theme, but also expanded and improved. The house now has some degree of procedural generation - random doors will be completely blocked off.



Players can now get knocked out. You will get knocked out if you take fall damage, or if you take damage from other players or a bear trap.

You can slowly crawl around when doing so, and need a team mate to revive you.



NEIGHBOR'S ARSENAL consists of a few new additions. You can equip 2 items as the Neighbor, so combine wisely. You might want to get the Mask and Beartraps to lure unsuspecting players to their demise. Or maybe you want the smoke bomb and ability to turn into a gift box. It's up to you.

Mask
Use it on other players to copy their look and nickname. This effect will vanish after transforming back into the Neighbor form.

Gift wrap
Allows you to disguise yourself as a gift box. Best used for ambushes. Your gift box will have a fancy mustache on it.

Smoke grenade
Throwable item - creates a smokescreen which will last for 15 seconds blocking the vision of players. You will still see them fine.

Radar
A player detector, and house remote control -- two in one! Reveals positions of players and can be used to open and close gates in any part of the house.

Bear trap
Cover the whole house with them! Bear traps will effectively stop players who prefer to act alone. It takes time to set up and can be easily destroyed if exposed. But the game designer forgot to put a limit on these.

Gift box
A colorful, festive box with great aerodynamic characteristics. All boxes fly further and more precise than other items.

General items. Don't underestimate their value during the match. A well placed chair blocking the door might just save your life.

Flashlight
Your best friend in the dark corners of the Neighbor's house. Can also be used to blind other players when aimed into their faces.

Chair
Used to block doors. You can prevent the Neighbor from getting into your room or isolate your careless victims from their teammates. Blocked doors can be knocked out, but it takes a significant amount of time.

Chocolate bar
Tasty and healthy! Eat it, and it will allow you to run a lot faster for several seconds.

Power Milk
It makes you stronger and allows to throw objects much further for a limited time.



The short answer is we don't know yet. This Alpha will give us a clear idea of if we're headed in the right direction, and what features we need to focus on. Behind the scenes we have a ton of ideas, and the "pilots" for some of them are being tested this holiday season.



Don't forget to follow and wishlist the game on Steam, and we're excited to see everyone's feedback on the forums!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/859570/Secret_Neighbor/