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Captains,
From the moment we decided to launch into Early Access, weve aimed to make our development process as transparent as possible and bring our players along for the ride.
A little over a month ago, we mentioned the so-called Nightly Builds in our patch notes, describing them as something we wanted to experiment with in the near future.
Today is that day!
For those unfamiliar, a Nightly Build is a development build that updates daily. Basically, if any progress toward an update has been made, that progress will be uploaded to Steam before one of the developers goes to sleep.
These builds are likely to be unstable, very buggy, and may not even work from time to time, but they can be very interesting for those who want to see how things are shaping up.
With Nightly Builds becoming a thing, there are now 3 Branches players can pick from. Let's briefly go over these:
This Update is sponsored by Pluto Burger - Almost as big as a PLANET!
Dear Burger Flipper Playtester,
Zynzu Entertainment here! First off, a huge thank you for playtesting our mobile game, Burger Flipper, as we prepare to launch it to the masses of Selaco. We're in the home stretch, and our best friends at Pluto Burger are eagerly awaiting the finished product.
Just one more obstacle ahead; surviving the upcoming review embargo! Be aware that one of the highlights in this build is the introduction of microtransactions, which will be hidden in the Review Build. As far as reviewers are concerned, they do not exist. So please keep quiet about them.
We're nearly there. Test, test, test! Alright?
Burger Flipper v0.3 Changelog
[An update for Selaco has been pushed to Steam. Burger Flipper v0.3 will be available on your Datapad after updating.]
Greetings captains,
The Spring Sale is here, and we've put the game on our biggest discount yet (again!). If you purchased the game at full price about a week ago, don't worryyou can request a refund for the price difference by contacting Steam Support. Just point them to this blog post as confirmation that were fully on board with it.
If you do not own the game yet, you can get it right below for 30% cheaper during the Spring Sale. And better yet... if you own Fallen Aces, Echo Point Nova, or Mullet Madjack, it'll be even cheaper for you!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1592280/Selaco/
Please consider reviewing the game if you haven't already. They help immensely and we do read all of them!
Let's dive into the State of Development before we go through the patch notes, as there's quite a bit to talk about.
Chapter 2 is where most of our time is being spent these days, and the majority of the team is dedicating their full development time to it. We're happy to share that things are coming along very nicely, and the number of roadblocks we've encountered so far has been minimal at best!
There's a lot to share and a lot we'd love to see reactions to, but we are going to hold off for now and save it for a trailer in the future. Instead, have a voxel chicken. One of the many new food items in Chapter 2.
And, fine, a Sniper. They will eventually replace the snipers we currently use in Chapter 1, as we're not quite satisfied with them and think they could be a bit more dynamic.
Selaco is a big game, and theres still plenty of work ahead before were ready to leave Early Access. To keep development moving at a steady pace, weve brought in some new talent to assist with programming!
Were excited to welcome Nick London to the team! He has a lot of experience working on game engines, including building his own from scratch for The Last Exterminator; a game you may have heard of before, and one we can highly recommend based on the demo alone.
If you're a fan of the game, rest assured that Nick's involvement with Selaco has no bearing on The Last Exterminator's development. In fact, it was one of the first things we talked about! I can also assure everyone that his game is coming along nicely.
Let's get a bit more specific below.
On top of many smaller endeavors, two big projects have been set in motion that aim to improve Selaco's performance significantly across all systems.
DEV NOTE:
Remember, in a future update you will be able to change most Mutators via Safe Rooms. However, the end game screen will highlight which mutators have been adjusted during the run
There were some instances where the shotgun doesn't end up killing a target when they really should have. This small buff should reduce the amount of instances where enemies survive with 1-5HP left from an almost perfect shot.
Hey everyone,
We have our next Game Update planned for March, but before this can launch, we are looking for some players to help us test one of the major changes.
Allow me to elaborate on what is happening.
Hello everyone,
We're still hard at work creating the next Mega Patch, which aims to be the most significant one yet, as it adds narrative elements, significantly amps up the worldbuilding of the game and updates almost every single level.
While this is currently in the works, we've been working on a number of fixes that we wanted to patch early. This patch is not as significant as the ones we did in the past, but its still a good step towards making Selaco a more stable, better game. After all, why would we delay bug fixes!?
Going in!
Hello everyone, Nexxtic here.
I hope youve all been doing well! As the year draws to a close, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the state of the game and the progress of our Early Access.
Ill summarize the major changes and improvements weve made so far, and give you a glimpse of whats coming next. Chapter 2 has been in full production since July, but in the meantime, Ive been dedicating time to maintaining the current Steam version with occasional help from other people in the team.
Let's get started!
If youre just here for the highlights of what we've done so far, or just want to see the future plans, feel free to skip ahead.
The decision to launch Selaco in Early Access was made about three years ago, shortly after we posted our Realms Deep 2021 gameplay video. With the story already written we quickly realized that, given its scale, starting 'small' was the only realistic path forward. This wasnt an easy decision, and we had long discussions about the best approach. The concept of Early Access isn't loved by everyone, and since we often play these type of games ourselves, we completely understand why some feel that way.
From the start, we aimed to make Early Access a meaningful part of development. Instead of releasing a small portion of the game and making players wait for new content (something that can take over a year), we launched with a 10-hour-long chapter to see how it landed among players. Then, as feedback rolled in, we apply course corrections where needed while simultaneously working on the second chapter. This approach helps us understand our own game better.
We looked at how Early Access was handled in its earlier days. Games like 'The Forest' and 'Dont Starve' stood out to me, as they were actively building the game alongside their community.
I think we've done a good job communicating with players across multiple platforms so far, and have no intent to change this. There isnt a single post on the Steam forums or Reddit that we havent read or acknowledged. The extensive list of changes below is a direct result of these dialogues.
We truly hope it shows!
Since our launch in May 2024, weve rolled out over 10 updates to improve the core game, fix bugs, and occasionally add new bits and pieces.
If youve reviewed the game in the past, please consider updating your review if your biggest issues have been addressed. As a small studio, reviews are crucial and help immensely.
Below is what we've worked on so far. Keep in mind that this is not everything we've done since then, only the most noteworthy changes.
Hey everyone,
As we actively work on the Story Update launching in February, we felt the need to address some issues in the current build of the game. As such, were releasing a quick update to improve stability and add a few new features. This update is now available!
The Winter Sale has begun, and weve put the game on another discount. Just like with our Autumn Sale, if you purchased the game earlier this week at full price, you should be able to get the difference refunded by contacting Steam Support. We're completely fine with you doing this.
Let's talk about some of the changes in this update!
Captains,
Hope youve all been doing well!
Were thrilled to announce that Selaco has been nominated as a potential Indie of the Year over at IndieDB! This news caught us by complete surprise, as being on here is not something we ever anticipated.
Indie games have been delivering incredible experiences this year, as they always have. Theyre a big part of why well always remain passionate about this industry. Being able to share a spot with such titles is nothing short of an honor.
Becoming Indie of the Year is no easy task, especially given the popularity and quality of the other nominees. However, we may stand a chance for the First Person Shooter category. This is what we are aiming for!
To make it happen, we need your vote! If not for us, vote for another game you love. No account is needed in order to vote.
Selaco aims for dynamic encounters where danger can occur in an unscripted fashion. While we always try to add checkpoints in safe locations, there is often no telling what the AI is up to. In order to avoid softlocks from bad checkpoints, we've decided to give a short period of spawn protection to allow players to evade if needed.
In the future, enemy sprites will instead be recolored to appear frozen. Due to one of our optimization efforts, the engine does not support Color Translations at this time.
DEV NOTE: A common critique was how weapons switched positions on the Weapon Wheel whenever a new weapon had been acquired, messing with the player's muscle memory. This change should solve that and make it faster to switch weapons from memory.
Elephant Rounds can now kill most enemies with a single shot to the head, but it comes at a cost; This is a hard weapon to use now! The recoil has increased and due to the added delay, players will have to track their target for a brief period before an actual shot is fired.
Apply a Cranial Rounds upgrade on top and you can start eliminating higher tiers, like Enforcers, with a headshot too
Shotguns now have full support for Special Ammo types. We will explore this further in Chapter 2!
The new Special Campaign mode is available in Beta for everyone who owns Selaco.
This is Selaco's answer to New Game Plus, albeit with a slightly different approach, hence the different name. Something akin to this has been frequently requested, and after playing around with the idea long enough, we figured we would do this now and not wait until v1.0 arrives.
This mode allows players to replay the campaign with unique endgame content and randomization, including new enemy types, a weapon rarity and trait system, random encounter mechanics, and more.
Our goal here is to make Selaco infinitely more replayable!
You can play the Beta Build right now! However, we highly recommend finishing a Standard Campaign first before playing this.
Once the beta has ended and Special Campaign becomes available in the Default build, this mode will have to be unlocked by beating the Early Access campaign.
You can enter the Beta by activating the Public Beta branch.
Hello everyone,
I want to take a very quick moment to explain what our plans are for the rest of the year.
If you've read the v0.85 Changelog Post, you've seen me mention how we are doing a patch later in the year that consists of both Story Content and the Randomizer Mode. The goal was to do this in a single patch, but we've changed our mind on this as it did not make a lot of sense.
Allow me to explain what changes and why.
DEV NOTE:
A common critique is how some players felt secrets ruined the pacing of the game. While we personally enjoy the number of secrets in Selaco, it's understandable how this is not something everybody likes. It is also a welcome accessibility feature for players who have difficulty moving on without a full completion first.
Mutator Menu Rework
The battery was indeed a bit too short, but we do want to briefly explain why we went with a limited battery.
1. GZDoom is not good at utilizing moving light sources, especially around richly detailed environments. We've taken steps to make the engine utilize cone-shaped lights better, but it's unfortunately still far from perfect. A more casual player is not likely to manage their flashlight usage, so they'll likely turn it on and never turn it off again. A battery ensures this wont happen and is the reason why the recharge time is almost instant.
2. Selaco relies heavily on atmosphere and lighting compositions. While it is, of course, up to the player whether they choose to keep their lights on or not, there's a solid chance players will never turn their lights off and potentially ruin some moody areas that benefit from being lit 'normally'.
However, if you want an infinite flashlight, we have created a mod for you that's safe to use and will not kill achievements:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3258941092
Space Bro
Good day everyone,
Nexxtic here. With Selaco having launched two months ago, it felt like a good time to talk about the state of Selacos development. I want to briefly talk about what to expect from the upcoming update, and what to expect from us for the rest of the year.
But first
Happy (almost) 1-month anniversary for Selaco!
The reception for the Early Access build has been amazing! Truly, seeing all the excitement and positivity surrounding the game has been extremely inspirational. We know things aren't quite perfect yet, and given the size of the game, we've missed a couple of rough edges that should not have been there.
The goal of this patch
This patch adds a bit more content to the game, improves navigation and signposting in some levels, balance changes, and adds a number of quality of life/convenience features to make the game more fun to play. The main goal here is to just make the game feel a lot better, and I think you will notice that right away.
To the people in our Discord, our Steam Forums, Twitter, and more: thank you for giving us valuable input. We always aim to make the game better, and you've been a great help!
Let's dive into the patch notes and talk about what has been changed!
DEV NOTE: This new system will make the patching process a lot easier. The reason we haven't been able to patch for a while is entirely due to GZDoom not being able to handle level adjustments without breaking saves.
This should no longer be an issue, provided no major issues are found.
Credits and Weapon Part UI Elements
DEV NOTE:
Players frequently asked us why the game doesn't have a New Game+. The reason is simple, we only just shipped Chapter 1!
End Game content is not a thing we want to worry about right now, we have to finish the chapters first! For now, Hard-boiled is a very fun stand-in.
New Mutator: Armor Up
DEV NOTE:
We fully understand people want a dedicated kick button for all weapons. We will be looking at our options soon.
Plasma Rifle
DEV NOTE:
Next patch will make it harder once more.
Admiral Difficulty
We have a bigger update planned in a few days, but we decided to launch this one early because it fixes some glaring issues.
This update is now live and should be fully Save Compatible! A much-needed stability fix that addresses some common issues we've kept hearing about.
A quick patch to address an issue that didn't make its way into Update 1
Captains, The first ever Selaco patch is now live! This patch focuses entirely on balance changes and bug fixes. We always intended for Selaco to be difficult, that will always the case, but we've taken some steps to make things more fair. Especially on lower difficulty modes which are meant to be more accessible. With the launch behind us, we are going to take it easy for a moment to get our bearings back. Once our little break time is over, we start working on the first major content patch that will arrive later this Summer. Thanks for the feedback everyone! Keep it coming. Please bare in mind that most Balance Changes will only be applied on a brand new save!
The 'Public Beta' branch is now live! First and foremost, thank you all for the valuable input! It's been fantastic to see so much love surrounding the game. There are some issues, but we are working on it. We have created a Beta where we can test new versions together befor making them available to the Default branch of the game. We are still slowly recovering from a very hectic launch period, so please bare with us before we start making more drastic changes to the game. They will come, do not worry! The current Beta aims to address some flaws and improve the Armor system.
Selaco is NOW AVAILABLE! on Steam! Can you believe it? We're finally here! Our friend ZlimBratSki has streamed a 2-hour long uncut gameplay video for you to watch if you're still on the fence. If the gameplay speaks to you, or want to dive into the game right away, you can get the game right here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1592280/Selaco/ Even better news? You can play it within minutes because we managed to squeeze in a ridiculous amount of content in just 1.1GB! Good luck our there, captain! - Altered Orbit Studios
Hello everyone! We need to take a moment to talk about the demo. If you prefer a TL;DR version, here is a Steam thread that's more straight to the point than this blog post! https://twitter.com/SelacoGame/status/1783947199795036514
Attention: At this time of writing, the Early Access store page is not live yet. We made an error and are awaiting approval from Valve! [previewyoutube=nUbF8Ytadx0;full][/previewyoutube] The Release Date is finally here! After lots of dedication towards the game, we're gearing up to launch a massive chunk of our work to the public. Before we dive in, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has been with us on this journey. We began working on this back in 2016, restarted the project multiple times over until we finally found something that worked to our satisfaction. In 2020, we announced Selaco with a screenshot from a build that was barely able to hold it together. The entire thing consisted purely out of prototypes and, in the distance, were visible placeholder sprites that were nothing but a string of text. Fast forward to today, and here we are, getting ready to launch something we feel is immensely fun to play, polished and dynamic. Never in our wildest expectations did we anticipate having the audience we have today. Whether you joined us from our very first tweet many years ago, or became a part of our community just recently; your support has brought us to this moment. Thank you for giving us time, encouragement and support. What to expect from the Early Access launch? Our goal is to start big and build from there. We always meant to release in Early Access and to make the initial launch worth the price of admission by itself. I'm sure you've heard that before, but let me prove to you that we are not exaggerating. Here is a summery of what to expect from the initial launch in May 2024:
Good day everyone,
We are thrilled to announce that we will be featured in the Realms Deep 2023 stream, where we will unveil our Release Date (finally!)
The trailer will showcase a variety of exciting new things, including new enemies, environments, weapons, and brand new systems. But, most importantly, a release date! After years of hard work, we are confident that we can reach a date that's both realistic and not too far away.
We know it took a while, but trust us that it's going to be worth the wait!
Tune in to Realms Deep on September 30th using the following Twitch link:
https://www.twitch.tv/3drealms
Additionally, we will be showcasing the trailer and the announcement on our own YouTube, Twitter, and Steam pages. So, keep an eye on those spaces <3
Wishing you all a fantastic week,
Altered Orbit Studios
Hey everyone!
It's been a while, hasn't it? This update wont be nearly as big as the one we dropped back in December, but we did want to apply some maintenance to our demo and fix some issues that we've had numerous reports of.
Change Log:
Hello everyone,
As the year comes to a close, we've decided to update the demo one last time. Weve challenged ourselves to come up with a (optional) heavily altered Selaco experience and gave ourselves 5 days to design and implement it. The result? The Christmas Challenge!
The goal was to make a Christmas Event that would require no alterations to the level itself. The level layout is exactly like how you remember, but a lot of randomization is now applied on top of the level, like snow piles and presents. This event will require you to be very resourceful since the randomizer may not give you exactly what you want. We'll explain the event further down below!
We are updating the engine and need your help! We are looking for a number of people to help us test an engine upgrade. After launching the demo, the most common complaints were performance related, primarily stutters, and we are taking steps to eliminate these. A large amount of these happen because GZDoom is a single-threaded game engine, meaning your CPU is not being utilized to it's fullest potential. We have made adjustments to the engine to better utilize multiple cores with the intend to eliminate as many stutters as possible. We expect this version to be ready later this year. This is still the same demo level, albeit with numerous upgrades to the engine side of things. Are you interested? Please join our Discord server and let us know in #Selaco-Lounge. We will assign you a Tester role and notify you with the version is ready. You can join the Discord using the following link: https://discord.com/invite/selacogame Once the test is complete, the upgrades will be rolled out to the Public version, but with more gameplay related changes. Requirements: - A PC that exceeds the Minimum Requirements. (See Selaco's Steam page for more information). - A PC that had stuttering issues in the current Demo version. This is a preference, but you are free to join if the Demo version ran smoothly on your machine. What are we looking for? Information on whether or not stutters have been eliminated in the Testing Version. A stutter means that the game freezes for a couple of milliseconds (sometimes even longer!) during gameplay. This often happens in combat, when a scripted event happens, or when destroying objects. Play the test version when it's ready and let us know if things felt smoother than before. We *do not* need framerate reports! We only need data on stutters. MINI FAQ Q: What about Linux? A: This Engine upgrade is for both Linux and Windows! Q: What does this mean in plain English? Why is it better? A: GZDoom only allows one task to be executed at any given time. When you run around the level, your computer is working really hard to execute all kinds of code. Almost every modern system has a CPU that uses multiple 'threads', allowing multiple pieces of code to be executed at the same time. GZDoom currently does not utilize this properly, so whenever a complex task needs to be executed, the game will freeze until this task is completed. The most common cause for these kind of stutters is when brand new assets are loaded during gameplay. This happens often while exploring the level or entering a combat encounter. This new multi-threading solution will ensure that these new assets are loaded on a separate thread, significantly reducing the load on the main thread. This will eliminate the stutter and keep the game running smoothly! Q: How do I know if I am part of the testing group? A: Click on your Discord name in this server. If one of your roles says ''Tester'', you are in!``` We hope to see you in our testing group!
On Monday, we launched the very first version of the Selaco Demo. To say that we are excited and happy with all the feedback we have gotten would be a severe understatement. Truly, thank you all very much for the love and the feedback about numerous things regarding the game.
Of course, like with any game that is still in development, a good amount of problems were found. The most recurring complaints were "Unfair difficulty" and "Visual clutter". We have addressed them both, but still have ways to go before we are completely satisfied with them. For now, we have made a handful of improvements that should enhance the experience of the game.
Summary
- Many changes to the visuals to improve navigation, improve encounters, reduce clutter and make things more 'natural' to look at. There is still a lot of work left here, we had to make do with the time we had, but the worst offenders should be significantly better!
- Additional rooms have been added to a couple of combat encounters to make them flow better.
- Big balance changes to combat.
- Ability to pickup and throw live enemy grenades.
- Map Controls are now visible on the automap. These will allow you to zoom out and pan around the map, as well as follow the player around.
- Performance enhancements, especially during combat.
- Quality of Life improvements
- Bug Fixes.
Added
- Added option for 'Reduced' Weapon Shake. This will not eliminate Screenshake when firing weapons completely, but will reduce the duration and amount.
- Added a warning system for future updates that will break save game compatibility
- Added additional information for the 'Smoke Quality' description
- Added the option to disable certain screen effects (Dirt, Healing effect, Armor Breaking and Dash Lines). You find these in Gameplay -> Immersion.
- Added an option to link mouse sensitivity sliders
- Increased Self Illumination to enemy spritework. This is a temporary solution, we will be redesigning the Rifleman enemy in the future to make them easier to pick out in combat
- Added the ability to pick up and throw enemy grenades
- Added the ability to slide kick enemy grenades into the direction of the sliding
- Automap now shows controls in the bottom left corner. Use these buttons to Zoom, Pan or follow the player character around.
- Added voice callouts for soldiers when Dawn loses her armor.
Balance
We've heard lots of great things here, but there are a couple of things that needed tweaking. We tried not to touch too much upon the higher difficulties because we feel like Captain and Admiral are (mostly) in a great spot, but lower difficulties could go with some improvements to make it playable.
Ammo Economy
- The amount of ammo dropped from enemies is now dependent on Difficulty. Lower difficulties have enemies drop more ammo. This means that exploration and discovery becomes more important as the difficulty level increases, while lower difficulty players can take a more simplistic approach without being required to explore too much.
- Increased amount of Machinegun Ammo from dropped Rifleman Soldiers (10 -> 15)
UC-36 Assault Rifle:
A well-liked weapon, but hipfiring was a bit too inaccurate and unreliable.
- (Hipfire) Weapon Spread has been reduced by 15%
- (Hipfire) Recoil has been reduced by 5%
Difficulty Changes:
All difficulties:
- Enemy damage decreased by 15% (Does not apply to Admiral)
- Additional ammo pickups have been added (Does not apply to Admiral)
- Headshots are far more likely to cause a stagger per shot. (70% -> 90%)
- All enemies are more likely to get staggered by regular gunfire on body shots.
Ensign:
- Enemies are much easier to stagger
- Enemy Damage reduced by an additional 10%.
- Increased the time it takes for Soldiers to begin firing after aiming at the player
- Enemies are far less likely to strafe and fire
Lieutenant:
- Enemy Damage reduced by an additional 10%
- Enemies are easier to stagger
Admiral:
The difference between Captain and Admiral was noticeable, but not nearly enough. We are giving the enemies some extra juice on this difficulty.
- Enemies are far more likely to strafe, and will be more likely to fire while strafing.
Melee Combat:
- Hitting props while sliding will no longer slow down your slide.
Rifleman (All types)
- Decreased weapon damage (4,5) -> (3,4)
Rifleman (Defending Stance)
- Defending Riflemen are far less aggressive and more likely to wait for Dawn to show up, rather than the other way around.
Rifleman (Attacking Stance)
- Same as above, except they are now less afraid to get close.
Engineers
- Damage per pellet decreased (5 -> 3) (Does not apply to Admiral)
Juggernaut
- Now takes 25% additional damage from the Roaring Cricket, which is a weapon with armor piercing bullets.
- Shotgun now damages the Juggernaut accordingly.
- Reduced Rate of Fire by 25% (Does not apply to Admiral)
Hardcore Mode
- Gwyn was not satisfied with the amount of money she gained from Saved Games and she has to stay in character. The Saved Game price has been bumped up from 600 to 800
- The game will now save right before picking up the UC-36 Assault Rifle in the patient room. This way, dying means you wont have to re-run the introduction again. You respawn right back into the first combat encounter.
Changed
- Explosions are a bit more performance friendly without sacrificing their visuals.
- Optimized enemy pathfinding to be more performant.
- Updated some texture work to contrast better with the rest of the environment
- Optimized enemy 'checks' to not happen 35 times a second anymore. They are more spread out and should result in far less strain on the CPU. This was a bad oversight from our end.
- End game credits can now be skipped by pressing BACK/ESC three times
- Quit To Title menu option added while in game
- Backspace can now be bound as a useable key in game
- An additional autosave has been added to Level 1-3. Apologies for everyone who had lost significant progress due to a poorly spaced out autosave.
- Low graphics preset disables texture caching for cards with low VRAM
- Low graphics preset now disables light shafts
- Destroying a window will now alert nearby soldiers
- Increased the volume of the UC-36 Firing sound to be more in-line with other weapons
- Removed 'Enemy Soldier deployed
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