SCP: 5K (Alpha Testing) News

Our Steam page may be going unlisted fairly soon. We were contacted by Steam, informing us that we are not allowed to give Alpha or Beta keys as part of an external crowdfund as a means to fund development - since Steam doesn't profit from that. You guys may have heard of similar situations elsewhere.

We do not believe our game is in a state for Early Access - and we intended on releasing fully whenever we chose to go public. But, Steam demands that we change our plans a bit. If we are to go into Early Access, it would be likely be pretty stressful for us, especially if we have people coming in that don't necessarily understand the goals or ambition of this project.

We have a couple of options here:

• Unlist our page and sell the game to those who get the link directly.

This can be a huge setback for us. We have a good amount of traction on Steam that has been actively growing our community, which generates financial support for us.

• Go into Early Access in a super early state to ensure we have enough exposure to help us get a good amount of sales.

This is actually our less-preferred option, but we have to make sure we can put food on the table and the project gets developed. We also now have investor obligations, so this may be more realistic than we'd personally like it to be. This is just a gamble in general, since it can lead to potential magical success that drives a bigger future for this game. There just is no telling with this one.

• Become survivors in the mountains

Wait, no...

We're just in a pickle here. It kind of sucks. We don't want to be a typical Early Access game that sucks. But, we may have to be to ensure the survival of this project... and our bellies.

Let us know what you think. Genuine thoughts. We really don't need sugarcoated words right now, we need honest feedback so we know what the best option is. We can't leave things as they are, unfortunately. :(

[h2]EDIT: We have decided to leave our page unlisted for the remainder of the Private Alpha, and we will be entering Early Access for the Beta sometime Early 2021.[/h2]

Our SCP-173-B, one of the first major SCP-173 alternatives made in 2018 is now re-considered for being used inside of our game. SCP-173-B was made by one of our very talented artists, Ivo Francisco.

Originally made for the original SCP: Ascension, we put 173-B to the side and "forgot" about it for a while. It felt pretty disappointing from how well received the design was/is and how much we personally love the design.

If we end up not fully pursuing it, we'll let you guys know. But, we're currently very adamant about making this addition sometime in the mid-late Beta period. There is still a bit of a way to go

[h2]Basic lore[/h2]
SCP-173-B is an artificially-made clone of SCP-173. It is en route to Area 14 to be used in attacks on civilian populations in the nearby regions (under the SCP-5000 canon). He is temporarily located at Area 12 for temporary holding in the logistics chain.

[h2]Design summary of 173-B[/h2]

• It's arms are completely dexterous (they are not stiff into the T and A poses). They will change position every time you blink or look away.
  
• It will kill you if it enters your near proximity.
  
• It cannot move if you are looking at it or not blinking.
  
• You will only have the blinking HUD effect if you are directly looking at it (current plan, anyway).
  
• It will only be in specific zones of Area 12.
  
• It may have a temporary containment cell in the map you can access.
  
• It will only attempt to attack you and your team on a timer.
  
• It will be the only unkillable entity in the game.
  

Also, thanks for your guys' heavy support for this. Sheesh, that's nuts. ;)



[h3]If you'd like to join us on Discord, you can do so here!

Otherwise, if you would like to support us and gain Alpha access (soon to be Beta), you can do so here! :)[/h3]

We would also like to issue a direct, semi-sincere apology to the Church of Peanut for our blasphemy in using a non-Peanut version of SCP-173. It has no legal restrictions... so that's a bit of a plus.

Love,
Affray

We want to be a bit more transparent now about our story for the Pandemic story. Overall in early development, we wanted the story overall to be intentionally a bit enigmatic - but, we've slowly decided to pull back the curtain a bit to avoid some initial confusion for those wanting to get into our game.

SCP: Pandemic has always been about GOC operators infiltrating an SCP black site (specifically Area 12), but we've always been shifting their motives and the scenario a bit in ways we have ultimately found to be imperfect and incredibly limiting if we wanted to stay loyal to the lore in what we wanted to do in gameplay design.

Our current decision is to put the game under the SCP-5000 canon. This is where the SCP Foundation (for arguably valid reasons in the lore) declares war on humanity and attempts to end the human race. SCP: Pandemic will be about the GOC intervening The Foundation's operations, in addition to obtaining any and all information they can.

If you would like to read more about SCP-5000 for more context:

(Article): Link (SCP Wiki) (Community breakdown): Link (Reddit)

Let us know if you have any questions or suggestions,
Affray

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Implemented a potential fix for the ‘cacophony bug’
  
• Fixed some situations where the player would spawn without arms in dedicated servers
  
• Fixed a bug where objectives would sometimes not show when joining a server
  
• Fixed some bugs with UI not fading properly on spawn and death
  
• Fixed some reflections being way too bright
  
• Fixed some post-process volumes not placed correctly
  
• Fixed not being able to lean near some interactables
  
• Fixed objective interactables being active before their relevant objectives were
  
• Fixed a bug where zombies could not pathfind up certain stairs
  

[h2]Gameplay/UX[/h2]

• Made the Mother Forklift easier to find
  
• Made Dave’s daughter easier to find
  

[h2]Audio[/h2]

• Added missing audio zones in some areas
  
• Made audio in some areas less ‘tangy’
  
• Fixed sniper shots not being properly spatialized
  

[h2]Servers[/h2]

• Fixed some collision inaccuracies on the server
  

[h2]Content[/h2]

• Added more of the updated server room assets
  

Don't use Discord? Contact us at [email protected]

EDIT (11.22.20 @ 4:42pm MT): A potential fix has been discovered. We will attempt this and push the results when we're able.

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed zombie pathing breaking after reaching the player’s previous location
  
• Fixed a bug where zombies could not hit you if you were walking away from them
  
• Fixed a bug where zombies would interpret switching weapons as firing
  
• Fixed a bug where levels would unload beneath you if you used the spectator cam
  
• Fixed a bug where the spectator cam did not update level streaming
  
• Fixed some areas which would unload the map beneath you
  
• Fixed a bug where looping electronic sounds would not load
  
• Fixed a bug where door sounds would become unsynced if the door was interrupted
  
• Fixed a bug where reactor lights were unbreakable
  
• Fixed multiple smaller bugs
  
• Fixed a crash that would happen when going to the main menu
  
• Fixed audio settings menu not working
  

[h2]Zombies[/h2]

• Modified zombie spawners to spawn out of bounds less and use verticality more
  
• Fixed some zombie spawners that would not spawn zombies
  
• Reduced zombie sight and hearing range to reasonable levels
  
• Added a loudness parameter to weapons to affect the range at which zombies hear their gunshots
  
• Added the ability for zombies to hear sprinting footsteps
  
• Reduced zombie hearing range
  
• Made bullets hit zombie ragdolls
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Gameplay/UX[/h2]

• Added testing objectives
  
• Modified spectator movement to be a bit less floaty
  
• Added Glock to Marksman loadout
  
• Made sniper silenced in Marksman loadout
  
• Removed weapons from spawn loadout
  
• Modified weapon swing to feel smoother
  
• Made screen resolution selection pick from available resolutions
  

[h2]Content[/h2]

• Added signs and general map flow indicators
  
• Added credits menu
  
• Updated the server room to use improved assets
  
• Added the ability to shoot sprinklers
  
• Added doors to the server room ventilation
  
• Added placeholder sounds to industrial doors
  
• Connected the storage room to the 'Infamous Area'
  
• Added Bepis vending machine
  
• Added Dave
  
• Updated blast door
  
• Added some extra details to multiple areas
  
• SERVERS
  
• Fixed server config loading
  
• Made zombie spawners reset after an amount of time to help with long-standing dedicated servers
  
• Made glowstick color networked
  

[h2]Performance[/h2]

• Made zombie ragdolls destroy themselves after an amount of time
  
• Made glowsticks destroy themselves after an amount of time
  
• Made glowsticks cull themselves at a distance
  
• Improved level streaming performance
  
• Improved electronic performance
  
• Improved the performance of zombies