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!

v0.86c Patch Notes

Game Improvements

• Added in-game credits upon entering Level 3-2.
• Introduced new shotgun visual effects.
• Minor health nerf for Enforcers.
• Improved debugging information. This should make it easier to solve technical problems moving forward.

Special Campaign Improvements

• Added a 'Compensate Item Pickups' setting.
• Milestones are now available from the start.
• Earthquakes no longer break car hitboxes.
• Mammoth Turret is no longer affected by earthquakes.
• Fixed an issue where enemies would spawn inside doorways.
• Resolved a sloppy oversight preventing custom enemies from spawning. This ended up being more broken than anticipated. Apologies for that.
• Fixed the Vampire Trait not providing health correctly.
• Slug Generator now functions as intended.

Bug Fixes

• Prevented soft locks in Level 3-2b. An upcoming update early next week will see further stability fixes here.
• Pulling Metal Signs from walls no longer causes them to briefly clip through the wall behind them.
• In-game menus (e.g., Weapon Upgrade menu) no longer stay on-screen after a player death.
• Resolved accessibility issues where "Dim muzzle flashes" didnt work as intended.
• Weapon auto-switching is now forced when the player acquires a weapon while unarmed.
• Fixed flames having an unintendedly large damage radius.
• Adjusted the static crosshair to be non-additive, improving visibility in bright environments.
• Corrected an issue where enemies wouldnt react to taking damage.
• Tasked Zynzu Entertainment with fixing numerous bugs in Burger Flipper. They happily obliged as long as they may launch a feature update for Chapter 2!
• Fixed patrolling enemies lacking animations.
• Resolved spark effects spawning at incorrect offsets on metal signs.
• Fixed a progression issue with the Tychus Challenge not rewarding a Weapon Kit on repeat playthroughs.
• Attempted fix for a rare issue where the Cloning Plant Elevator Panel would no longer respond to input.
• Addressed multiple startup crashes -- please report any ongoing issues if you are still affected by this!
• Resolved Rifle Start taking unintended credits upon level entry.
• Dawn no longer takes damage when slide-kicking into dinner plates.
• Printers no longer display as an 'X' sprite when destroyed by explosions.
• Fixed a crash when punching Crawler Mines.
• Resolved a soft lock in Exploration Mode.
• Ensured "Selaco Must Fall" unlocks for players who completed the game in earlier builds.
• Medical Posters now display proper tags instead of "MedicalPaper2" or "MedicalPaper3."
• Fixed numerous typos throughout the game.

Public Beta Branch

Well perform another quick round of bug fixes before Christmas. If you believe something crucial is missing, let us know so we can address it. Perhaps in the comments below! Remember, our Public Beta Branch is available to everyone. This branch includes new content and fixes long before the Live Branch, providing an opportunity for players who prefer a quicker feedback loop over stability. Be aware that these updates are largely untested, so stability isnt guaranteed.

IndieDB's Indie of the Year Voting

We typically dont ask for votes, but after learning we might stand a chance to win the First Person Shooter category, weve started taking it seriously. For small self-published teams like us, an award like this is a tremendous honor. If you enjoy the game, please consider voting for Selaco or any other game you think deserves recognition. No account is required to vote, thankfully! Click here to vote!

Conclusion

Thank you all for your continued support and for reporting issues. Your feedback makes a significant difference here! Weve aimed to be highly active during Selacos Early Access period, and we hope our numerous updates over the last six months properly reflect that. While Selaco is still far from finished, the progress weve made is staggering! Bigger updates are coming, including a gigantic Chapter 2 update in the far future, but for now, we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the upcoming story update; which is still planned to launch on February 2025. Good luck out there, captains!

[ 2024-12-19 18:04:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

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.

• Click here to vote directly for Selaco
• Or use this link to see the full list and vote from there

Quick update: Were hard at work on the next big Game Update. This one places a heavy emphasis on world-building and story dialogue. We're very stoked about this one, hopefully you are too! Thank you all for reading and happy voting!

[ 2024-12-12 14:40:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Six-Month Selaco Anniversary

Hey everyone, Yikes, we've accidentally prepared a gigantic update... Again. It took forever to put these Patch Notes together so get comfortable. No, really, it's long! Maybe prepare a nice cold Arachnocola and listen to the Selaco Trailer Mix to elevate the reading experience. We've added some Chapter 2 teases all the way at the bottom so it's worth the time! First, let's celebrate a milestone: Selaco's Early Access release has already been six months ago, which is still quite hard to believe. Not only will we celebrate with a major patch, we are also putting the game on a 25% discount during the upcoming Autumn Sale, our biggest discount yet! If you purchased the game within the past week, you might be eligible for a refund of the difference. Contact Valve, and feel free to share this post as confirmation that were on board with it. Alright, onto the patch notes!

V0.86 Patch Notes

This patch once again adds and improves lots of different things. Here is a brief summary of what to expect before we go into more detail!

• Added Special Campaign - A mix between New Game Plus and Randomizer Mode. Here are some of the highlights:
  • A fully customizable campaign experience
  • ARPG-style rarity system for both enemies and weapons
  • Weapon Trait system where weapons can have new effects and behaviors
  • Random Encounter system where new enemies can spawn into the level in real-time
  • New unique enemy variants of existing enemies
  • Randomization options including shuffled pickup locations, randomized weapon spawns, mystery boxes, and more
• Added support for Steam Cloud and GeForce NOW
• Added Nextfest Demo for those who want to experience what Selaco was like 2.5 years ago
• Added new achievement
• Reworked Headshots
• Smart Tutorial Prompts
• Added behavior for shooting enemies in the legs
• Drastically improved Sound Design
• Added option to customize individual Mutators
• Added two new Mutators - 'Defensive Enemies' and 'Burger Flipper Tester'
• Improvements to Game Balance
• Improved numerous weapons
• Improved gun sounds
• Improved visual effects
• Added two new upgrades
• Added 'Custom Ammo' feature for the Shotgun
• Level reworks for improved flow, navigation, and immersion
• More stat tracking on your Wrist Codex
• Gore improvements
• Improved enemy behavior and added new abilities
• Melee Improvements
• Some art revisions
• Reworked upgrades
• Tons of bug fixes and optimization efforts

That's the summary. Now for the detailed notes!
Added Special Campaign (A fusion between New Game Plus and Randomizer Mode)

• New Game Special allows players to replay the campaign but with unique Endgame Content and Randomization
• Requires Chapter 1 to be completed
• The following options are available in New Game Special:
  • Random Encounters
  • Add Random Encounters
  • Weaken Random Encounter Enemies
  • Random Spawns The following options have 6 settings: 'None', 'Less', 'Normal', 'More', 'Way More', and 'Ridiculous'
  • Spawn Additional Enemies
  • Spawn Additional Traps
  • Spawn Additional VAC-Bots
  • Spawn Additional Item Crates
  • Spawn Additional Hazards
  • Spawn Additional Ammo and Items
  • Spawn Additional Health and Armor
  • Spawn Additional Clutter Objects
  • Spawn Mystery Boxes
  • Spawn Allied NPCs (Locked until Chapter 2)
  • Additional Spawns
  • Allow Squad Leader Spawns
  • Allow Zombie Spawns
  • Allow Robot Spawns
  • (Exclusive) Allow Nailgunners
  • (Exclusive) Allow Stinger Soldiers
  • (Exclusive) Allow Burst Rifle Soldiers
  • (Exclusive) Allow Crawler Queen
  • Weapons
  • Weapon Spawn Style [Vanilla, Swapped, Full Random]
  • Allow Heavy Weapons (Locked until Chapter 2)
  • Events
  • Allow Zombie Invasions
  • Allow Crawler Mine Ambushes
  • Allow Saw Drone Ambushes
  • Tier-Based Spawns Adds Action-RPG Style Rarity Colors to both Enemies and Weapons. Higher rarity types are less frequent but are more powerful.
  • Enabled Tiered Weapons
  • Enable Tiered Enemies
  • Tiered Progression
  • Additional Settings
  • Randomize Food Items
  • Randomize Enemy Types
  • Randomize Enemy Locations
  • Randomize Pickup Amounts
  • Shuffle Item Pickup Locations
  • Start with all Tech Modules
  • Earthquakes
  • Skip Opening Scene

Cloud Gaming

• Added support for GeForce NOW and Steam Cloud

Achievements

• Added 'Embrace The Chaos' achievement

Nextfest Demo

• The original Nextfest Demo can now be played by selecting `Nextfest 2022` as a Steam Beta.
• Important: This demo is outdated. It will work on Steam Deck, but has not been Steam Deck verified. Please do not report any bugs regarding the demo.

Save Protection

• Loading a Saved Game created by a Checkpoint will now give players two seconds of immunity against enemy attacks.
• This is exclusively applied to Checkpoints. Quick Saves will not offer Save Protection.

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.

Smart Tutorial Prompts

• Tutorial Prompts now only appear once. After starting a new Campaign, you will no longer get tutorials you've already seen before.
• Added option to reset Tutorial Progress in Options -> Interface. Use this if you prefer to get all tutorials again.

Improved Headshots

• Added unique visual and sound effects when hitting enemy soldiers.
• Hitmarker tweaks to make headshots easier to read.
• Headshots no longer cause enemies to enter their sideways Stumble animation.
• Added 'Enable Headshot Sounds' setting in the Sound Menu.

Melee Attacks

• The camera no longer sloppily snaps onto the target in a single frame. Instead, there is now a clean transition to make it more similar to the HALO series.
• Increased Melee Lunge Distance and Lunge Speed.
• Melee detection has been rewritten to be more reliable.

Frozen enemies

• Frozen enemies take increased damage from all sources.
• Added additional ice particles around frozen enemies.
• Added 'frost smoke' effects around frozen enemies
• Frozen enemies will now display an icon above their head to indicate that they are frozen. This is a temporary solution to make them easier to spot.

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.

Load Game Menu

• Added 'Campaign Type' information to the Save Game Description. This will show whether the save is for a Standard Campaign or a Special Campaign.
• Added Mutator List information to Save Game description.

Weapon Wheel

• The Weapon Wheel now always shows 10 Weapon Slots regardless of whether the player owns the weapon.
• SPECIAL CAMPAIGN: Weapon Wheel now shows Weapon Stats when selecting a weapon. 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.

Leg Shots

• Enemies now react to being shot in the leg.
• Shooting an enemy in the leg while they are moving has a very high chance to cause them to stumble. This is a pain animation that lasts longer than other pain animations.
• Leg Shots deal 25% less damage compared to bodyshots.
• Enemies are now less likely to trigger a stumble animation from body shots, but it's still possible.

Accessibility

• Added 'Reduced Explosion Volume' option

Sound Design

Continued trying to give Selaco the richest soundscape in an indie shooter, ever.
• Aforementioned Headshot improvements
• Improved door sounds
• Went nuts on the audio design for bullet impacts and whizzes
• All guns now have a unique dry fire sound effect
• Added sound effect when loading a saved game
• Added mechanical sound effect when shooting at Crawler Mines
• Added new sound effects for bouncing pieces of debris and metal
• Added additional delayed sound effects when walking over glass shards
• Improved oomph for Fire Extinguisher explosions
• Improved sound effect when walking over glass
• Some props have increased sound variants when shot
• Some weapons have their firing sound improved
• ...And so much more

Enemy callouts / AI

• Enemies now call out your flashlight usage.
• Enemies will now request status updates after losing sight of their target.
• Enemies now respond to sound when unalerted

Interaction

• Drawings can now be torn down with the Use key
• The portrait in Dawn's HQ can now be downloaded to your datapad in a higher resolution
• Brooms can now be pulled from walls with the Use key
• Dinner Plates are now thrown like a frisbee, knocking enemies over when hit

Effects & Details

• Added squeaky sound and effects when enemies stumble sideways
• Improved particle effects when destroying glass objects
• Some spark effects now shrink as they fade out
• Added maggot particle effects that some of the later enemies can spawn when hit or gibbed
• Maggots can crawl across the floor
• Bullets and projectiles now pass through Kids Doodles
• Ceiling Fans are now interpolated to appear smoother
• Added cork voxel when destroying wine bottles
• Added Perfume Sprayer voxel for destroyed Perfume Bottles
• Reworked explosions further
• Spark Effects have improved visuals

Other

• Items spawned from Wooden Crates are more scattered and no longer face the crate
• Items spawned from Wooden Crates are less slippery after hitting the floor
• Improved effects when firing Heavy Metal container-type decorations
• Pickupable prompts now fade out when holding an object for a couple of seconds
• Tweaked one of our book cover illustrations to look less like some disrespectful doctor.

Mutator Menu

• Reworked some UI elements on the Mutator Menu
• Added support for configurable mutators. This will be further expanded upon in the future

New Mutator: Defensive Enemies

• All Enemy Soldiers are more defensive than usual. They are more likely to keep their distance and surround the player, and less likely to push and be aggressive.
• This makes Selaco slightly slower-paced while still maintaining a similar level of difficulty.

New Mutator: Burger Flipper Tester

• Dawn starts the campaign with the Burger Flipper Test Build installed on her Wrist Computer
• Locked by default. Unlocked by finding Burger Flipper in level 3-2

Hard-Boiled Mode

• Added Customization Option: Decreased stagger chances on enemies is now optional (Default: ON)
• Now requires completing Chapter 1 on Captain difficulty or above. Players who already unlocked it in an older version do not have to unlock it again.

Hardcore Mode

• Added Customization Option: Hardcore Reloading has returned!
  • If you preferred the original approach where reloads would discard the remaining ammo of a magazine, it can now be enabled again. (Default: OFF)

Game Balance

Upgrading

• Most Weapon Upgrades now require 50 Selver Credits on top of their respective Weapon Parts. Chapter 2 will introduce more credit sinks and may see this change reverted

Slidings

• Increased Dodge Chance from 50% to 75%
• Added sound and visual effects when evading bullets while sliding
• Increased enemy knockback by slide kicks by 33%

Weapon Melee Attacks

• Reduced melee knockback by 25%.

Shock Damage

• Enemies hit by Chain Lightning have a much shorter Shock Duration. The initial enemy hit by Shock Damage remains the same as before
• Enemies in a Shocked state now have their hitboxes updated. Before, projectiles had a tendency to pass through their head and not connect

Weapon Balance & Improvements

Roaring Cricket

• Reworked Elephant Rounds upgrade
  • Damage increased 40 -> 50
  • Headshot Damage Increased (5% -> 110%)
  • Increased Recoil (2.5 -> 4.5)
  • Requires 500 Selver Credits on top of 350 Weapon Parts
  • Upon hitting the fire button, it takes 0.3 seconds until the shot is fired

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

ESG-24 Shotgun

• Improved weapon sounds
• Reworked Recall Upgrade: Killing an enemy at Point Blank range with a Shotgun will now disable Slide Cooldowns for 2.5 seconds, allowing for more slides.
• Added chance to spawn a cosmetic bullet tracer effect
• Re-rendered most of the sprite work to make them more appealing to look at.
• New Weapon Kit: High-Velocity Slug - You can find this upgrade in Level 2-1

Shotguns now have full support for Special Ammo types. We will explore this further in Chapter 2!

UC-36 Assault Rifle

• Added chance to spawn a cosmetic bullet tracer effect

24MM HW-Penetrator

Needed a bit more oomph to become more than just a mobile turret launcher

• Reworked gun sounds
• Increased Base Spread (395 -> 425)
• Increased Stabilization Speed by (0.6 -> 1.0)
• Increased Damage (32 -> 33)
• ZOOMING: Spread has been greatly reduced when zooming (0.75x -> 0.4x)
• ZOOMING: Fire Rate is now reduced when zooming, but nails traverse much faster.
• SHOTGUN MODULE: Increased spread by 25% to encourage taking a bit more risk when utilizing its power
• SHOTGUN MODULE: Added Knockback when firing, pushing you slightly backwards (firing while running backwards will speed you up)
• New Upgrade: Twin Barrels - While firing from the hip, an additional nail is fired. However, Rate of Fire is slightly reduced and the second nail does not inherit any of the Penetrator upgrades

Grav-VI Plasma Rifle

• Raised weapon sound volume
• Added Area of Effect damage when gibbing Enemy Soldiers. Dawn is not affected by this damage
• New Upgrade: Overblown - Plasma Bolt kills have 25% increased Damage and Area of Effect

Landmines

It felt like landmines were a bit too powerful, so we've decided to make a few tiny tweaks.

• Explosion Radius upgrade has its radius reduced (110 -> 60)
• Landmine Capacity reduced (3 -> 2). You can still get a capacity of 3 by finding a Grenade Bandolier

Levels

• Navigation in numerous areas have been reworked, especially Water Treatment
• Improved Courtyard encounter zone in Level 2-2
• Added path nodes to Level 3-2 to allow for combat during a Special Campaign
• A full resolution sample of the 'Dawn&Mom' portrait can now be downloaded to the Datapad

Statistics & Milestones

• Added 'Legs shot' statistic
• Added 'Target Dummies destroyed' statistic
• Added 'Heads kicked' statistic
• Added 'Walls humped' statistic
• Added 'Weapon Kits Collected' statistic
• Added 'Melee Hits' statistic
• Added 'Slide Kick Hits' statistic
• Added 'Enemies Shocked' statistic
• Added 'Junction Boxes Destroyed' statistics
• Added Jump Counter - Yes, you can now keep track of how often you jump.
• Added Milestone for collecting Weapon Kits
• Added Milestone for eliminating Snipers

Steam Deck

• Added option to reduce FOV all the way to 60. Due to the smaller screen, higher FOV's ended up making the game harder to read
• Numerous improvements to performance and stability

UI / Interface

• Weapon Kit prompts now show a label informing the player what their current Alt Fire is
• Added icons to the Settings menu
• Added brand new menu where players can select their Campaign Style (Standard Campaign, Special Campaign. In the future this will also include Incursion Mode)
• Fully redrawn Dawn's intermission illustrations
• 'Credits' and 'News & Updates' are no longer visible in the menu when playing a campaign
• Extended Bullet Casings is no longer considered 'Experimental'. It has proven to be very stable and not impact the framerate as much as we had thought
• Level and Chapter completion screens now have to icon to show the current game mode (Standard Campaign / Special Campaign)
• Added support for UI shake in intermission screens
• Fixed menu stuttering when switching graphical presets

Dinner plates

• Improved destruction effects
• Dinner Plates are now thrown faster and spin around like a frisbee, knocking over any enemy it hits.

Enemy Damage

• Added new bone pieces that spawn when gibbing enemies
• Added bounce effects for bone sprites
• Added more Bone Pieces when killing enemy soldiers with Acid
• Improved visual effects when shooting at Red Blooded enemies
• Improved visual effects when shooting at Robotic enemies

Linux

• Updated Linux Workshop Downloader binary

Source Code

• To reduce the file size, the Source Files are no longer included in the Steam Download. Instead, there is a text file that takes you to the download page.

All Enemies

• Improved patrol system.
• When the enemy no longer sees the player at their last known position, enemies will now enter Patrol Mode
• Enemies in Patrol Mode have a slightly reduced Field of View and wander around the encounter zone looking for the player
• Chapter 2 will further improve upon this system.
• Enemy Soldiers can now crouch
• Enemy Soldiers can now throw grenades at Player Allies (Turrets, allied NPC's, Nail Turrets and more)

Juggernaut

• Added Headshot Hitbox

Siegers

• Added Nailgun Death animation for Siegers

Engineers

• Now have more accurate shotgun reloading where they must insert the shells one by one (before they were inserted in pairs of two). Interrupting the reload after an engineer inserted two shots allows him to fire two shots.
• Audio changes

Crawler Mine

• Crawler Mines now flash a red dynamic light when they are about to explode

Squad Leaders

• Increased Damage Reduction for enemies buffed by a Squad Leader (25% -> 35%)
• Squad Leaders now prefer to fight from long range and will no longer rush to the player.

Plasma Troopers

• No longer have Frag Grenades
• Now have a Crawler Bomb. A grenade that spawns 2 mini-crawlers upon detonation.

New Enemy Type: Mini-Crawler Mines

• Spawned by Crawler Bombs from Plasma Troopers
• Mini-Crawler Mines are smaller and have less health

[Level 6 spoilers] [spoiler]

All Zombies

[/spoiler]

• Increased hitbox height

[spoiler]

Ranged Zombie

[/spoiler]

• Color Corrected their attacks

• Railgun Wallcrack in Starlight now has a correct hitbox, no longer requiring players to shoot slightly under it.
• Improved Wall Detection for brooms
• Fixed an error where Gwyn Machines could crash the game due to an out of bounds array reference
• Fixed a large number of errors where Juggernauts would trigger animations they did not have
• Fixed invisible screwdrivers
• Fixed an inconsistency where the DMR Extended Magazine upgrade description mentioned '6' instead of '4'
• Fixed Wall Paintings being far too slippery after being destroyed
• Fixed a floating rain sprite in Level 3-2. Thank you for reporting this at least 5 times a day! <3
• Fixed a bug where Red Blooded enemies would gib with purple fog
• Fixed Plant Debris always showing an incorrect sprite
• Fixed an error where enemies lost their headshot hitbox during their Taser animation
• Fixed a rare crash when shocking Crawler Mines
• Removed numerous debugs that were never meant to be shown in the console
• Fixed a rare bug where enemies killed by electricity would instead become invincible
• Chair feet no longer spawn smoke puffs when picked up
• Fixed a rare bug where Burrowed Crawlermines would become invisible during a chase
• Fixed a bug where picking up Weapon Parts at the same time as they were spawned would not despawn the gear decorations around it
• Fixed Whiteboard hitbox not matching the height of the voxel
• Fixed a crash caused by pressing START on Gamepad/Steam Deck before the game had time to properly initialize
• Fixed an error where left-sided lists were partially unclickable when the Interface Setting was set to 'Small'
• Enemy Speech Systems can now re-initialize when new voice lines are added, making older save files more stable.
• (Steam Deck) fixed missing symbols in On Screen Keyboard
• Fixed an error where Soldiers would consider a Pathnode as an enemy when failing to find a path
• Corrected more Keyboard positions to no longer appear under desks. If you find any more, let us know!
• Fixed a configuration error where the Steam download size was double in size of what it was meant to be
• Opening the Weapon Station for the first time with a UC-36 equipped no longer plays the Zoom/Unzoom sound
• Throwing toilets against enemies no longer crashes the game
• Fixed a bug where hitting Alt Fire during a Door Kick animation would result in an infinitely looping kick sound
• Fixed a bug where Starlight Purple's lipstick drawing could be torn by pressing USE
• Fixed an error where saves were improperly ordered
• Fixed Trashbins being more slippery than intended when pushed
• Fixed an error where enemies would be able to fire a shot when out of ammo. This would not spawn a projectile, but would spawn muzzle flash effects
• Corrected some questionable word choices for the Plasma Rifle AOE Invasion Tier
• Fixed an error where multiple Weapon Kits can be enabled at once on repeat playthroughs
• Juggernauts no longer turn into gigantic Riflemen when electrocuted by a Junction Box
• Removed lots and lots of Spawn calls towards actors that do not exist
• Dry firing while zooming with the Roaring Cricket will no longer unzoom the player
• Light Poles can no longer be picked up by the Gravity Manipulator
• Fixed a bug where the Shotgun Module would not spawn in the Safe Room Extension after beating the Tychus challenge
• Fixed a sound error where both 'Remove window' and 'Switch tab' sound effects were played when switching tabs on the Wrist Codex
• Fixed numerous z-fighting issues involving floor decals
• Fixed Water Bottle collision box being much smaller than intended
• Fixed an error where Paint Buckets crushed by a door became invincible
• Fixed an error where there was a very brief 1-tick delay before Paint Buckets got destroyed
• Fixed an error where Computer Monitor pieces had a spawn offset that was far too high
• Fixed Level 1-3 having an impassable desk that blocked objects.
• Fixed an error where picking up transparent voxels would be made fully opaque when dropped
• Fixed an error where Yellow Reagent barrels would be invisible when far away
• Fixed overlapping UI elements on Steam Deck
• Fixed yet another instance of a Brick Duplication glitch
• Walking over a large number of Paper Decals will no longer flood the audio channels with paper noises
• Fixed bug in Level 2-1 where the Yellow Crate would not spawn Yellow Paint Cans - ruining our joke!
• Fixed an error where ignition sounds would stack when an enemy kept getting burned
• Attempted fix for Plant Factory Elevator Panels moving out of position (We have been unable to reproduce this, but did find a quirk in the code. Let us know if it happens again!)
• Fixed a bug where two or more options at once would show up as selected in the Main Menu
• Fixed a crash caused by Paper Dispensers trying to reference a Toilet Roll that no longer exists
• Fixed a rare crash caused by walking on glass shards
• Fixed oversight where Slide Jump hits would register as a regular melee hit, eliminating the Slide Kick benefits
• Rephrased 'Bullets Evaded' to 'Shots Evaded'
• Fixed an error where Slide Jump Attacks were considered "Weapon Melee Attacks" and not "Slide Attacks"

Development Status

Early Access development remains right on schedule, but changes have been made in the order of which we approach things. We originally intended for New Game Plus-like modes to be explored somewhere between Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. But due to popular demand, we had to rethink this approach and decided to do it a little earlier. As such, development remains right on track but priorities have been shifted.

What has changed?

This new version was meant to be solely about the Randomizer Mode, but has now evolved into the aforementioned Special Campaign - something much bigger. As a result of this, the following has been changed:

• Story Content has moved from December 2024 to January/February 2025
• Special Campaign has been moved from Late 2025 / Early 2026 to Today - Although, in a beta state.
• Chapter 2 development continues to progress rapidly

I'm aware many of you were eager for the Story Content, and I apologize for having to push that back a little. Rest assured, it'll be worth the wait!

While it's still early, there are a few things I can share about Chapter 2!

• One of the levels takes place in a mansion
• New defensive items, including a deployable Mini-Turret which comes with its own upgrade tree
• Heavy Weapons. These weapons are extremely powerful, but cannot be stored in your inventory and are thrown away once depleted.
• Enemy Miniguns can be picked up
• Drop Pods that can result in unexpected encounters when venturing outside
• Friendly NPC's

Here is a tease for one of the new tools you get to play with:
We often post development blogs on Patreon where we talk about ideas we are exploring, Chapter 2, scrapped content and more. Consider supporting us there! https://www.patreon.com/PlaySelaco/
If you ran into any issues or simply prefer the old version, you can go back to an older version by rolling back using the Steam Beta features [olist]

Go to your Steam Library

Right Click on 'Selaco'

Click on 'Properties'

On the right side of the screen, press 'beta'

Click on the Dropdown Menu

Select 'v0.85'

Wait for the download to finish[/olist] You are now back to the old version of the game!

Phew, thats quite the list, isnt it? It took a lot of doing but it resulted in arguably our most significant patch yet. Which is saying a lot, given the scope of every patch we've launched so far! While its unfortunate that the Story Content had to be pushed back by two months, we hope the early launch of the Special Campaign makes up for it. This mode offers endless potential for long-term expansion, which were excited to explore further in our Early Access period. We might even dedicate an entire update to Special Campaign additions further down the line. Thank you all so much for continuously giving us your feedback, and a double thanks for everyone who participated in the Public Beta where we could test this update a little earlier. Let us know what you think of the changes. Either in the comments below, or through a Steam Review. If the update fixed any of the issues you've had, consider giving your review an update! Have fun, captains!

[ 2024-11-27 18:09:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

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.

• Right click 'Selaco' on the Library Page
• Click 'Properties'
• Click 'Betas'
• On the dropdown menu, select 'publicbetabranch'
• Wait for the Download to finish

While the Special Campaign is the meat and potatoes of this Beta, it also runs on a newer version of the game that is filled to the brim with improvements to the core gameplay. We will be launching a full changelog around November, as these changes are outside the scope of the Beta. For now, we are mainly interested in letting players experience the Special Game and getting your input! Later during the Beta, we will be applying a major engine update that adds roughly 3 years' worth of engine progress. We expect that this will not only improve performance but also improve the general feel of the game. Technical changes invite technical problems, so please keep an eye out for anything unusual once this happens. Well let you know both here and in-game when this update has launched.
Clicking on 'New Campaign' will now open a brand new menu where you can select the type of campaign you want to play. Click on Special Campaign if you want to help us test the new game mode. At the difficulty selection screen, make sure you click on Configure Randomizer if you want to tailor the experience to your liking. Keeping everything at 'Default' will result in the most balanced experience.

For this Beta test, we are interested in all kinds of feedback. The most important ones for us are bug reports and knowing whether or not you think the Special Campaign is fun and has potential. Additionally, we are open to ideas and suggestions on how to improve it further, as we plan to support Special Campaign for the long haul. We have opened up a new sub-forum on our Steam Forum page where you can give us your feedback. Additionally, you can also find us on Reddit and Discord.
Upon entering the Special Campaign menu, you are given the option to tweak parameters before beginning the campaign. The following options are available in New Game Special:

Random Encounters


Spawns additional new enemies in real-time
• Add Random Encounters
• Weaken Random Encounter Enemies

  Random Spawns

  
  Spawns additional stuff while the level is being loaded. The follow options have 6 settings. 'None', 'Less', 'Normal', 'More', 'Way More' and 'Ridiculous'
• Additional Enemies
• Additional Traps
• Additional VAC-Bots
• Additional Item Crates
• Additional Hazards
• Additional Ammo and Items
• Additional Health and Armor
• Additional Clutter Objects
• Spawn Mystery Boxes
• Spawn Allied NPC's (Locked until Chapter 2)

  Additional Spawns

  
  
• Allow Squad Leader Spawns
• Allow Zombie Spawns
• Allow Robot Spawns
• (Exclusive) Allow Nailgunners
• (Exclusive) Allow Stinger Soldiers
• (Exclusive) Allow Crawler Queen

  Weapons

  
  
• Weapon Spawn Style [Vanilla, Swapped, Full Random]
• Allow Heavy Weapons (Locked until Chapter 2)

  Events

  
  
• Allow Zombie Invasions
• Allow Crawler Mine Ambushes
• Allow Saw Drone Ambushes

  Tier-Based Spawns

  
  Adds Action-RPG Style Rarity Colors to both Enemies and Weapons. Higher rarity types are less frequent but are more powerful.
• Enabled Tiered Weapons
• Enable Tiered Enemies
• Tiered Progression

  Additional Settings

  
  
• Randomize Food Items
• Randomize Enemy Types
• Randomize Enemy Locations
• Randomize Pickup Amounts
• Shuffle Item Pickup Locations
• Start with all Tech Modules
• Earthquakes
• Skip Opening Scene

Changed your mind during the campaign? Most of these settings can be tweaked during gameplay and will take effect when loading the next level.
Q: How long will the Beta Period be? A: The Beta lasts until we think its ready enough to be updated to the default client of the game. We are targeting the end of November, but if we arent satisfied with the enjoyment factor or the amount of bugs, well briefly delay it to make tweaks. The Beta will stay available during this period. Q: Why do I have to download this separately? A: Too risky to be forcing everyone into this new build for now. There's a solid chance everything will work fine, but when it involves a public rollout, we'd rather be safe than sorry. Until all planned features are ready to go and the Beta has proven to be stable, well keep it separate. Q: How feature-complete is it? A: The fundamentals are all here. Weapon traits exist, enemies can have rarities now, randomization is fully functional, and more. There are a few bugs we still want to iron out, and I want to experiment with improved randomization for weapon traits to make them more interesting. Q: Once the Beta ends, does that mean Special Campaign is final? A: Far from it! Selaco is still in Early Access, so two whole chapters are missing. New chapters add new potential layers of randomization to the game that we can utilize with Special Campaign. It will likely stay in Betaalbeit very polisheduntil we launch in v1.0! Q: What is the updated engine about? A: Selaco runs on a modified version of GZDoom that started development roughly three years ago. Our version of the engine is made specifically for Selacos needs to improve performance and address some quirks. Its one of the reasons why Selaco can have so many objects in a level without draining performance too much. While we were working on this new engine, GZDoom continued development with updates we could never use due to compatibility with our own changes. We have started working on applying all the updates to our own engine, and it works but is rather unstable. We want to iron out some stability issues first before testing it publicly! Q: Will the Special Campaign remain unlocked even if I haven't beaten the campaign? A: For Beta purposes, everyone gets access to the Special Campaign regardless of campaign completion. After the Beta ends, it will require players to beat the Early Access campaign before gaining access. Once a new chapter launches, the Special Campaign becomes unavailable again until the new chapter is beaten. While that is a bit awkward, it's unfortunately a necessary evil during the Early Access period. Q: It crashes when I load the Beta, help! A: It might be caused by the mods you are using. You might be using a mod that isn't yet compatible with this build. If that doesn't work, reach out to us so we can take a look!
We originally intended to call this 'Randomizer Mode,' but as we developed it, we realized that the feature set went far beyond the scope of just randomization. So instead, we started designing it as a different type of New Game Plus mode and made some additions. We wanted to launch this in full today, but because of how much the scope has changed, we had to delay things. However, we did not want to delay the feature entirely because we did promise to have something new in October. So rather than a delay, we instead settled with a Beta. That way, players still get to enjoy the new mode, and we get the opportunity to gain feedback and make things better. After all, that's what Early Access is for! We hope you enjoy the Special Campaign. We strongly believe that this will have a positive effect on the lasting power and value of Selaco. If you have any questions, I'll be available in the comments below. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! - Nexxtic

[ 2024-10-30 19:02:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

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.

Changes

Randomizer Mode will launch earlier than originally intended

Including Randomizer Mode in a Story Update felt contradictory, as Randomizer Mode isn't very lore friendly and it disables Story Elements in favor of a very randomized gameplay experience. So instead, it gets its own update entirely that launches sooner than initially stated. With how big of a game mode this is, I think it's deserving of a spotlight anyway! We are currently Alpha Testing this mode with our Patreon Members and so far things have been going really well. It's a lot of fun and a very welcome addition to the game. As usual, this update will also include general quality of life fixes and other improvements.

Story Update plans remain unchanged

We are still targeting November / December for the big update that adds voice acting and story content to Chapter 1.

Randomizer Mode Options

Additionally, I really want to share the amount of options the Randomizer Mode has (so far). We're still testing so expect more options to be added when we launch. This mode can be as minimalistic or chaotic as you want it to be. Want a more vanilla run with small bits of randomization applied like a handful of extra enemies? Thats possible. Want to go insane and turn every room into a bloodbath? Thats also possible. Not recommended, but possible!

Conclusion

With two major patches left in 2024, there is plenty of stuff to still look forward to. Randomizer Mode is shaping up to be quite a blast to play and we hope you feel the same way when it comes out in October! Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any questions or suggestions, post them below and I'll try to get back to you. - Nexxtic

[ 2024-09-22 16:56:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Three-Month Selaco Anniversary

Happy Three-Month Selaco Anniversary to those who celebrate! Not only are putting the game on a chunky 20% discount (From August 30 2024 6PM UTC until September 6 2024 6PM UTC), but we're also launching the most significant patch to date, with tons of quality-of-life improvements, new features, and enhanced immersion. Some stats:

• 70,000 copies have been sold (!)
• 410,000 wishlists
• 2,500 Steam Reviews with Recent sitting at 94-95% for almost 2 months
• 8 Game Updates have launched since entering Early Access
• 0.2% Increased Purpleness on blood splatters

We are immensely proud of what the game has managed to achieve. We got here because of you guys, and that's not something we will ever take for granted. Thank you all so much! Let's take a moment to talk about what we have been working on and what we will be working on in the upcoming weeks. Some notes before we start: [olist]

Your saved games should be fully compatible. If you encounter any issues, let us know!

Some mods may have become incompatible. If you notice anything strange, please try disabling your mods [/olist]

v0.85 Patch Notes

This patch once again adds and improves lots of different stuff. Here is a brief summary on what to expect before we go into more details!

• Lots of Quality of Life improvements, including backpack reloading, 'Last Weapon' button and more.
• Added Smart Ammo Pickups
• Adjustable difficulty during a campaign
• Improvements to immersion
• Reworked Mutator menu with 3 new mutators
• AI Improvements
• Stagger Rework
• Weapon and enemy balance changes
• Further improved level design
• Vastly improved soundscape with more ambient noises, reworked sound effects, and more
• Rain reworks
• Fan Art Kit

Checkpoints

• Additional checkpoints have been added to the levels.

Last-Used Weapon Button A 'Last-Used Weapon' keybind has been added

• Keyboard / Mouse users: The default bind is 'T', but this can be customized.
• Gamepad / Steam Deck users: Tapping the weapon wheel button now selects the previous weapon. Holding the weapon wheel button opens the weapon wheel as usual.

Grenade Throwing
The grenade throwing system was old and a rather sloppy left-over from the days where Selaco was a small Doom mod. We have decided to rework this system to make it more snappy and responsive!

• Completely reworked logic for how grenade throws are detected.
• Grenade throwing now happens much faster with less windup time.
• Fixed an error where hitting the grenade button twice would throw another grenade after your previous one.

Backpack Reloading This is a system that many shooters have running in the background. Half-Life 2 is one example. We've added something similar to the game as well.

• Unequipped weapons will now automatically reload when not used for a duration of time.
• Backpack reloading is disabled for Hardcore Mode.
• Added 'Enable Backpack Reloading' option in Gameplay. This is on by default.

Smart Ammo Pickups

• Ammo pickups will remain if the full capacity of the pickup is not used. This allows for less ammo to be wasted when picking up ammo while nearing the ammo capacity.

Dodge Improvements In Version 0.84, we introduced a mechanic where making a Sideways Dash would momentarily have bullets phase through you. Visual feedback on whether a dodge was successful was lacking and had to be addressed. The following things have been added when players do a successful dodge move

• Added a bullet whiz sound effect
• Added a slight rolling effect to the camera
• Added a subtle screen effect
• Added 'Shots Evaded' stat tracker for the Statistics screen

Stagger Rework
On higher difficulties, the shooting experience became a lot less fun due to enemies being less likely to stagger. We have addressed this. However, as shown later in the changelog, we've made some difficulty tweaks to compensate.

• Removed per-difficulty Stagger Chances entirely. Weapons will no longer 'feel' weaker on higher difficulties.
• Enemies are more likely to stagger when shot by automated weapons.

Map Screen
Explosives Charges were rather easy to miss. So...

• Explosive charges are now visible on the automap once you have been close to them.

Adjustable Difficulty

• Added a 'Change Difficulty' menu that can be accessed during the campaign.
• The lowest selected difficulty during the campaign will be shown on the Chapter 1 completion screen (e.g., playing on Captain, switching to Lieutenant, then switching back to Captain will be considered a Lieutenant playthrough).
• The difficulty cannot be changed during SMF.

Healing Stations
In Selaco, all life is precious! The Allied Coalition for Expansion has taken additional steps to ensure Security Agents remain in healthy condition.

• All Safe Rooms now have a Healing Station installed which can be used for free (eat that, Gwyn!).
• Interacting with a Healing Station administers first aid to the player, restoring 10 HP.
• Healing Stations have a limited supply of first aid. When depleted, they cannot be used anymore.

Weapon Kits

• Taking weapon kits you already own will now give 100 Selver Credits. This should provide players with more money to spend on repeat playthroughs.

Menu

• Most menu descriptions now show the default value.
• Moved some things around in the Audio Menu. Volume controls are now on top and device settings are below it.

Other Stuff

• Health for allies is now displayed as a percentage instead of a flat number (e.g., "315 HP" is now shown as "100% HP").
• Added engine support for real-time pitch shifting on sound effects that are already playing. This is not used currently, but will be used in the future.

NEW MUTATOR: Extra Ammo

• All ammo pickups in Selaco contain 50% additional ammo. Powerful ammo types like Acid Shells, Railgun Slugs, and more are ignored.

NEW MUTATOR: Legacy Ammo Pickups

• As stated above, v0.85 introduces Smart Ammo Pickups. Use this mutator if you prefer the traditional approach to ammo pickups.

NEW MUTATOR: Half-Like

• Aims to make Selaco more seamless with fewer distractions that get between you and your goal.
• Removes the 'Secrets Found' stats and no longer informs you when a secret is found.
• The intermission screen is no longer shown when completing a level.
• The Chapter Completion screen no longer shows the secret counter.
• Entering a new level no longer prints the level number. It only prints the area you just entered.

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

• Given the quantity of mutators nowadays, a scrollbar has been added to scroll through mutators.
• Added category labels to improve navigation. So far, the categories are "Game Modes", "Booster", "Difficulty Modifiers", and "Misc".
• Added a 'NEW' label for Mutators that are newly added to the game.

• Added collision sound effects when colliding with common props (crates, barrels, etc.).
• Added an Object Bumping system. Small props will now get kicked out of the way when walking over them.
• Added Material-Based Body Impacts. Depending on the material an enemy dies on, different effects will spawn (e.g., wood on wooden surfaces, grass blades on grass surfaces).
• Improved footstep sounds and completely reworked ventilation footstep sounds.
• Boosted the volume of most ambient effects. They were too subtle and barely audible without headphones.
• You can now rip posters apart by interacting with them. This adds nothing of value to the game but it's fun.
• Hundreds of new sound effects have been added, and many outdated sound effects have been reworked to match our newer standards.
• Added true fall damage for props and decoration actors. For example, bumping a mug off a table will now shatter it once it hits the floor. Prior to this, this was only possible when the player threw them manually.
• Added vacuum cleaning sound for VAC-Bots
• Added proper death sound for Sentry Guns
• Added oil-like decals around the floor for killed robotic enemies

Muzzle Flashes

• Player muzzle flashes now fade out a little slower than usual. This makes them more appealing to look at in darker areas
• The Lighting Quality setting now determines the size of the muzzle flashes.
  • LOW and MEDIUM will produce a slightly smaller light effect
  • ULTRA will now produce a brighter light effect

Rain effects

• Added rain puddles.
• Added Sound Effects when walking over rain
• Added additional rain splatter effects.
• Added a 'Rain Quality' setting. Higher values add more rain and spawn additional effects.
• Added proper directional wind sound effects.
• Other smaller enhancements.

Explosion Effects

• Explosion effects now take the floor type into consideration. Explosions on a metal surface will spawn pieces of burned metal, wood will spawn plank pieces, etc.
• Added shattering wood sound effects when explosions happen on wooden surfaces.
• Enemies killed by grenades now have death animations and no longer always gib.

Bullet Impacts

• Greatly improved impact effects when firing at wood surfaces.
• Added a 'Metal Chunk' particle effect that occasionally appears when firing at metal surfaces.
• Improved particle effects when firing at reinforced windows.

Captain Difficulty

• Increased global enemy damage by 10% to compensate for the vastly increased stagger chances.

Admiral Difficulty The goal of Admiral is to provide a challenging experience even for veteran players of Selaco. Given the changes in v0.85 that make the game slightly easier, this difficulty needed some further tweaking to maintain its high challenge level.

• Enemies can now deal Critical Strikes. Every bullet has a 10% chance to be a Critical Strike, dealing 25% more damage than regular attacks. Engineers cannot deal Critical Strikes.
• Increased global enemy damage by 15% to compensate for the vastly increased stagger chances.
• Enemies are 10% more likely to throw grenades.

Juggernaut A while back we removed his explosive resistance. This was a bad idea and made them pushovers.

• Juggernaut now has 75% Damage Resistance against Explosive Damage.
• Juggernauts no longer take full damage from Ice Grenades. The main draw for Ice Grenades against Juggernauts is to cripple his movement abilities and reduce his rate of fire, not dealing damage.

Riflemen

• Increased enemy grenade chance by 5%
• Ammo Drop Chance reduced from 25 to 20

Hard-Boiled!

• Reduced chance for enemies to drop Weapon Parts.

UC-36 Assault Rifle

• Significantly reduced damage randomization. Damage now ranges from 24-32, rather than a dice roll selecting between 14, 32 or 48 damage. This makes the UC-36 more consistent and reliable.
• Decreased hip fire spread (320 -> 290).
• Very minor increase (0.1s) in reload time to make the animation look better.
• Added an improved sound effect when ammo for the UC-36 is running low.
• FRAMEWORK UPGRADE: Gives slightly more bonus damage (1 -> 2).
• INCREASED CALIBER: Gives slightly more bonus damage (1-> 2).

UC-11 Compact SMG

• Like the UC-36, reduced the amount of randomized damage per bullet to be more consistent.
• MAGNETIC ROUNDS: Increased damage against small robots from 30% to 60%.
• ZOOM: Improved zoom accuracy.

GRAV-VI Plasma Rifle
The plasma bolt hitbox was very small and did not match up with the size of the sprite, making it far too easy to miss targets. This has been fixed.

• Increased Plasma Bolt hitbox (7 -> 17)

S-8 Marksman Rifle

• DMR now respects the zoom/toggle zoom setting.
• EXTENDED ZOOM: Now requires the melee button to be pressed to zoom further instead of the Zoom button.

Roaring Cricket

• Knocking enemies over is no longer baseline.
• Added 'Knockback' Upgrade. This will be the first upgrade players can get in a Safe Rooms for 60 Weapon Parts.
• HAIR TRIGGER: Now requires 250 Weapon Parts instead of 60.

24mm HW-Penetrator
A powerful weapon with a near guaranteed chance to stagger enemies. However, given the Stagger rework, its value has dropped a bit. Upping the damage to compensate!

• Increased base damage (28 -> 33).
• NAIL BOMB: Decreased damage per nail (28 -> 23)

Landmines

• ANNIHILATION MODE: Explosion Range reduced (50% -> 15%)
• ANNIHILATION MODE: Explosion Damage reduced (25% -> 15%)

Flashlight It was a bit too short.

• Increased Flashlight Battery Capacity (100 -> 135)
• Increased Flashlight Battery Recharge Rate (10 -> 20)

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

• Removed difficulty scaling. Space Bro will now play identically across all difficulties.

Enhanced Grenade Throwing Grenade throwing logic for enemies has been improved.

• Soldiers can now throw grenades at the player's last known position. This allows the soldier to flush out the player if they choose to hide.
• Soldiers are much better at ensuring the grenade lands near the player.
• 'Hot Drops' have a slightly longer fuse timer to allow more time for the player to evade.

Stealth Kills

• Stealth kills are now more reliable, and melee kills from the back will now insta-kill the enemy.
• This will become more useful later on in development when enemies have a proper patrolling system.

NOTE: A large amount of stuff has changed. A lot of it unfortunately went undocumented. You may notice plenty of changes while playing through the game again!

• Moved Exodus Mall Gwyn Station to the entrance of the mall for easier access
• Fixed a lot of texture alignment errors
• Fixed numerous soft locks
• Continued to make improvements toward navigation, signposting, and the general quality of the game.
• ...And at least a hundred other things.

Performance

• Further optimizations have been applied to smoke and particle effects.

Misc

• Added controller rumble when running through glass.
• Improved visuals when throwing trash in dumpsters.
• Combat VAC-Bots are now replaced with a regular VAC-Bot when destroyed. However, their turret is gone.
• Picking up a Combat VAC-Bot will no longer have Dawn point the barrel towards her face. Instead, she will always point it towards the enemy.
• Added a proper voxel model for dropped miniguns.
• Added version number to the main menu.
• Added 'Steam Workshop' info screen to the main menu.
• Reduced the file size of the game by cleaning up unused assets. This may have saved a bit of VRAM too!

General Fixes

• Attempted fix for floors and ceilings being black. If you've used the 'vk_device 1' fix before and suddenly have this problem again, you may have to return to 'vk_device 0' to fix the issue again.
• Fixed an oversight where some secret items could not be picked up when Manual Pickup Mode was used.
• Fixed 'Stutter Stepping' problem with enemy soldiers.
• WorkShopDownloader.exe will now properly launch without Steam.
• Removed 'Fullscreen' setting on Steam Deck which caused the game to become unplayable.
• Fixed a bug where the DMR bipod would attach while zooming.
• Fixed a bug where the DMR bipod animation could cancel important animations.
• The 'Subtitle' option now actually works.
• Fixed an error where the Headshot Death animation for Siegers would not cause them to explode.
• Fixed an error where Siegers would not explode when something obstructs them on their way down.
• Fixed strange infinite-zoom glitch when exiting out of a slide.
• Fixed an error where the UC-36 Auxiliary Launcher would not fire without a loaded magazine.
• Fixed an error where dying with the Weapon Kit prompt open would lock your game.
• Fixed an error where one of the enemy voice lines would not play.
• Fixed scaling error where the keybinds on the automap would not show up correctly on 4:3 monitors.
• Burning people will no longer awkwardly run on desks and other pieces of decoration/furniture.
• Kickable doors no longer become unkickable after being lit on fire.
• Dawn can now kick doors while on fire.
• Fixed trash bin duplication glitch.
• Fixed an error where destroyed trash bins were very likely to clip into the wall when shot.
• Entering a new level while crouching will now keep you crouched.
• Fixed the achievement 'NotEvenRemotelyFair.wad' not triggering as intended.
• Fixed a crash when soldiers tried to call out a dead player without a squad.
• Fixed an error where fast weapons would cause Shooting Range targets to get knocked over further than intended.
• Fixed an error where Dual SMGs would miscount the 'Shots missed' stat.
• Fixed a crash when reloading the grenade launcher while on a ladder.
• Fixed a bug where Dual SMGs firing sound would keep looping when unequipped during firing.
• Fixed a bug where melee kills were not correctly displayed on the Stats screen.
• Fixed a bug where grenade launcher ammo would not properly return when leaving the shooting range.
• Shooting Range dummies no longer spin into the floor when hit at high rates of fire.
• Burning aliens no longer spawn red blood decals.
• Fixed a rare crash that happened when landmines exploded when the player was dead.
• Tweaks to sound engine to not play 'empty' sound effects.
• Fixed an error where throwables could 'sleep' unintentionally.
• Fixed a really silly bug where Iron Fury did not do anything.
• Fixed a visual error where the ''1'' in the upgrade menu was poorly aligned.
• Nailgun alt-fires now properly alert enemies.
• Fixed a bug where numerous gibs would spawn out of bounds.
• Removed Gas Mask breathing sounds when Dawn is dead.
• Fixed a typo in the credits (Sorry, Nick Palsmeier!).
• Combat VAC-Bots no longer shoot at dead targets endlessly.
• Fixed an SMF error where an entire encounter would refuse to alert themselves if the player attacked them from one specific sector.

• Tons of functions are now virtual, allowing modders to override them and/or make changes to the code for their mod.
• Modders can now add mutators and put them into categories

We posted this on Twitter a few weeks ago, but we might as well include it here. We've put together a Fanart Kit consisting of high-resolution art references! This includes character, weapon, and environmental art, as well as tutorial illustrations, key art, and the source image of the Burger Flipper icon. The assets belong to Altered Orbit Studios and are copyrighted. You can use them for any non-commercial projects, including mods and fan games. For anything else, please contact us for approval. You can access the Fan Art Kit here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1McPTDRhzzTy8W2we3ctF66pIW18mnUNk

Randomizer Mode & Story Content I (Nexxtic) will continue to work on the Randomizer Mode and the Story Update, both of which are still planned for the end of the year. The Randomizer Mode has gotten a little out of hand and has become a much bigger project than originally intended. It adds a ridiculous amount of replay value to the game, and it's not something I want to rush. The rest of the team will resume development on Chapter 2. Chapter 2 Speaking of Chapter 2, it's coming along really well and I strongly wish I could talk a little more about it. All in due time though! I'll slowly start posting some teasers on our Twitter page. Modding Documentation We're truly sorry this is taking so long. With this patch out of the way, progress on this will vastly increase. I'll post an announcement about this in the near future! Steam Cloud / GeForce Now support We are looking into this! I am not able to currently give a definitive answer on whether we will/can use it or not. New Pain and Death animations for the enemies Because variation never hurt anybody! AMD Vulkan issues A recent driver update has apparently broken Vulkan support. We have a lot of data on this and have began figuring out what is going on here. Once we have a fix, we will launch a hotfix. For now, please launch the game using OpenGL!
If you ran into any issues or simply prefer the old version, you can go back to an older version by rolling back using the Steam Beta features [olist]

Go to your Steam Library

Right Click on 'Selaco'

Click on 'Properties'

On the right side of the screen, press 'beta'

Click on the Dropdown Menu

Select 'version_v0.84 - Version before the 3-Month Anniversary Update'

Wait for the download the finish [/olist] You are now back to the old version of the game!

And.. That's it! We hope you like the list of changes we've made. As usual, if the patch fixes any problems you may have had, please consider updating your review! We work really hard to address valid critiques and aim to make Selaco a fun experience for you. If you have any suggestions for future ideas, let us know in the comments. We thank you all for your continuous support and for spreading the word about Selaco's existence. Us little developers wouldn't be here without you! Now, time to work on the anticipated Randomizer Mode and Story Content. Have fun! <3

[ 2024-08-30 15:55:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

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

Selaco has been Steam Deck Verified!

Happy to announce that, as of yesterday, Selaco has been verified on the Steam Deck! Getting the Steam Deck to behave according to Valve's quality expectations on GZDoom took a good amount of hard work, but we managed to get it done in the end. Major props to Cockatrice for being able to implement the required features so quickly. Please let us know how the Deck experience has been for you and report any problems you may find!

What will be in the next update?

One thing I want to get out of the way early: we will be very vague with our deadlines. Selaco is already jam packed with content and that's just for the Early Access release. For that reason, we hope you trust us to deliver something great and are willing to give us the time to achieve this. These Development Updates will be straight to the point and will inform you on how development is coming along. However, as you may have noticed, we will not be releasing an official roadmap. Roadmaps tend to have a negative effect on development/work. Experimentation with new ideas takes time, while roadmaps are schedule-focused and don't allow for such things. When something is in the works, we will let you know through these posts! Lets cover a few of the highlights in the upcoming update. We expect to launch this update in a couple of weeks.

- Backpack Reloading

This was a frequently requested feature. This is a system where, after not equipping a weapon for a while, the weapon will be automatically reloaded with a full magazine (provided there is enough ammo for it). This ensures that players will always swap to a loaded weapon in the middle of combat. This system is optional and can be disabled.

- Improved Immersion & Interactivity

The next update adds brand new visual and audio effects, improves rain to look more atmospheric, adds new interactables and more. If you like a world that feels believable and reactive, you will love some of these changes.

- Weapon Rebalancing

Another round of weapon balancing! This also includes making automatic weapons more consistent with their damage output. The current version on Steam has an oversight where there is a solid chance to roll low damage numbers consecutively, making some automatic weapons feel weaker than they are meant to be.

- Stagger improvements

Currently, enemies are less likely to stagger the higher your difficulty is. This ended up being a bad idea because it makes certain weapons lose their usefulness. The next update will address this and compensate with something more reasonable.

- Another round of performance improvements

A large amount of code is being optimized to reduce the amount of strain on your hardware, resulting in smoother frames and less hiccups.

- A slew of other Quality of Life Improvements

Vastly improved Grenade Throwing, new Map Icons, a DMR that respects your Hold/Toggle setting and more.

What else are we working on?

These are not likely to be included in the next update but are currently in development.

- Story Content

This is the big one. Selaco will get a major voice-over pass to flesh out Dawn as a character, the world of Selaco and the general plot. We unfortunately ran out of time to do this at launch, which made certain parts of the game feel more empty than we'd like. This is planned to arrive around the end of the year.

- Randomizer Mode

Another big feature is the Randomizer Mode. This aims to add tons of replayability to the game. It randomizes enemy spawns, introduces a Rarity System where some weapons and enemies are more powerful than usual, repositions ammo pickups and offers tons of customization to tweak the game to your liking. This mode is planned to launch alongside the Story Content update.

- Improved enemy tacticsI

Better Patrol modes, a goal system, cover system and more are planned for our AI. These will take a while, though, and may not appear until Chapter 2. Please bear with us as we give them an additional boost in intelligence!

- Adjustable difficulty during the campaign

We are looking into a system that allows players to drop the difficulty at any time during a campaign playthrough. We wanted to add this earlier, but it was quite a complicated problem to tackle and will need a bit more time.

- Customizable Mutators

We are working on a system that allows players to customize individual mutators before starting a new campaign. For example, tweak Hard-Boiled Mode to disable the additional projectile speed for the enemy, or play Hardcore Mode but with standard Weapon Reload behavior. Mutators that have been customized will show an apostrophe symbol at the Chapter Completion Screen

- Improved Safe Rooms

We are working on additional features to make Safe Rooms more interesting and useful. This includes a free one-time use Health Cache where players can refill their health, and an Armor Station where players can purchase armor. However, the latter might not appear until Chapter 2.

- Chapter 2 is coming along nicely

Chapter 2 introduces a large amount of new systems which we will talk about in a blog post closer to its launch.

Conclusion

Of course, these types of blog posts only cover a fraction of the things that are currently in motion. As newer features and mechanics are nearing completion, we will introduce them here. Ill ensure to post one of them every couple of months moving forward. I also want to give a quick shout-out to all the players who are actively giving us their feedback on the game. The Discord channel and Steam Forums/Reviews have been a fantastic source of information and we cannot thank you enough for these. Do keep them coming! And remember, do give us a Steam Review if you can (or update it if your problems have been fixed!) They are very helpful for the game. If you like these types of blog posts, please consider joining our Patreon Page. Here, we beta test new features and showcase what is currently being worked on; including early concept art, prototypes, openly discuss development obstacles and more. https://www.patreon.com/PlaySelaco/
Thank you for taking the time to read this! If you have any questions, feel free to comment below and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can. Have a great week! - Nexxtic

[ 2024-08-01 17:44:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

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!

Version 0.84 - The MEGA patch

(IMPORTANT: There is a bit of overlap in patch notes between 0.83e and 0.84, sorry about that!)

• The official soundtrack is now available on Steam!
• Added Steam Trading Cards and Points Shop
• Added "Resume Game" button in the main menu
• Added level versioning system
• Added "Hard-Boiled!" mutator
• Added "Armor Up" mutator
• Added "Extended Bullet Casings" graphical setting
• New weapon upgrades
• Weapon kit reworks
• Improved navigation in the earlier levels
• Improved general feel of the game
• Improved map screen
• Improved movement options
• Blood is now 0.2% more purple.
• VAC-Bot petting
• And more!

It's finally here! We decided to go nuts with this one and include a whole bunch of bonus stuff to make it even more worthwhile. Here is what's currently included:

• Full Chapter 1 Soundtrack
• Unused Tracks that did not make it into the game
• Bonus tracks like an alternate Menu Track, a remixed Intermission and more
• Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 tracks will be included for free once released
• Includes the option to download an uncompressed version of the soundtrack (FLAC)

As a token of appreciation towards Lawrence Steele's work on the Soundtrack, every single purchase will go towards him directly. We will not be taking any of it. There are two options. If you want to support the composer, get it through Bandcamp since it grants him the biggest cut (he worked really hard, he deserves it!): https://satsumaaudio.bandcamp.com/album/selaco-ost Or get it from Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3047790/Selaco_Official_Soundtrack/
Map Screen

• Added map icon for weapon kits. They will appear once you have been in their line of sight.
• Added map icon for secrets that have been discovered.
• Added map icon for friendly sentry guns.
• Added option to add textures to the map screen.

Steam Point Shop Not really a change to the game itself, but still worth mentioning!

• Added Steam Trading Cards. One card will be given every 30 minutes of play
• Added Selaco themed backgrounds, stickers and emoji to the Steam Point Shop

UPDATE: Apparently there is an error here. We are working with Valve to get it fixed! Save System

• Quicksaves and autosaves have been reworked to function properly with Steam Cloud saving. Previously, when using two different machines, some autosaves/quicksaves could be overwritten in the wrong order, which was very confusing.
• Save files will be migrated to a single folder. The first time you launch Selaco, all saves will be backed up and migrated into the program folder so they can properly be synchronized between platforms.
• Steam Deck/Linux and Windows should now be able to synchronize saves correctly.

Reworked Weapon Station Elements

• Some portions of the Weapon Station UI have been touched

Time Saving

• Added "Skip Splash Screens" options to go straight to the menu after loading the game

Level Versioning System

• This system allows us to update the game, including levels, while retaining full savegame compatibility.
• There are some limitations. Any level you have visited in your saved game will still be identical to the version from before the update. Level versioning is only applied to new levels that have not been loaded in your saved game before.
• While we have thoroughly tested this with our playtesters, errors may occur when traveling to previously loaded levels. If this happens, please let us know!

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

• Credits and Weapon Parts are no longer shown on the HUD at all times.
• Picking up Credits or Weapon Parts will now briefly show your total amount on the HUD.
• Hovering over purchasable items (Gwyn Machines, Purchase Panels) will briefly show the amount of credits.
• You can now see your currency at all times on the Datapad screen.

Updated Mutator Menu

• We've reworked the difficulty screen to now have a dedicated Mutator button.
• Added support for unlockable Mutators. This will be utilized more in the future

New Mutator: Hard-Boiled Unlocked by beating Chapter 1.

• All enemies are stronger with slightly more health, pain resistance, ability chances, and mobility options (strafe and flank chances).
• Dawn spawns with the highest possible Tech Module, making all upgrades purchasable right away.
• Killed enemies drop credits and/or Weapon Parts.
• Pathfinder Memorial's Saferoom is unlocked right from the start.
• Enemies will have other surprises that we will not spoil.

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

• Booster Mutator that increases armor durability by 25%.

Hardcore Mode

• Save price decreased from 400 to 300.
• Removed Hardcore Mode Mag Dumping. Rather than throw away all the ammo, it will now use the same approach as Traditional Mode. We understand that some people liked this approach, so we are considering adding it back as a separate mutator!

All Weapons

• Added ability to zoom in and out while firing.

S-8 Marksman Rifle

• Added distance-based headshot damage. Using the DMR at long range will now eliminate soldiers with a single headshot.
• Slightly increased reloading speed

ESG-24 Shotgun

• Added 'Quick Swap' upgrade for faster weapon switching to the shotgun.
• Added 'Improved Pump Grip' upgrade for faster shotgun pumping.
• Added 'backpack pumping'. Unequipping the Shotgun before pumping will now automatically load a shell after a few seconds of not being used. [This is disabled for Hardcore Mode]
• Double Barrel Mode tweak: The first shot has reduced recoil to make it easier to connect both shots.

UC-36 Assault Rifle

• Reduced maximum spread (5.2 -> 4.8) for improved sustained fire.
• WEAPON KITS:
  • Added 'Burst Fire (Hip)'. Replaces primary fire with a burst fire. This deals +1 damage per shot.
  • Added 'Burst Fire (Zoom)'. Replaces zoom fire with a zoomed burst fire. This has 25% increased accuracy.
  • Removed traditional 'Burst Fire'.
  • 'Scarab Mode' no longer carries over across new campaigns. This upgrade was never meant to be found without cheats.
• Added 'UC-36B Framework' upgrade. This is a free upgrade once you hit Tech Module 3.
• Auxiliary launcher now deals 25% additional grenade damage.
• Improved firing sound to be a bit more punchy.
• Reduced 'Increased Caliber' costs (500 -> 200).

Fists

• Added kicks! Hit the melee button when you have your fists out.

DEV NOTE: We fully understand people want a dedicated kick button for all weapons. We will be looking at our options soon. Plasma Rifle

• Increased base damage (43 -> 48)
• Increased stagger chance per shot (50 -> 70)
• Added sound and lighting effects when killing soldiers with the Plasma Rifle

SMG

• Added 'Mule Stock' upgrade. This will decrease spread but add a little bit of recoil that requires control.
• Added 'Magnetic Rounds'. This increases damage against small robotic enemies, making the SMG even more suitable for clearing Crawler Mines and Saw Drones.
• 'Extended Barrel' now reduces spread by 45 instead of 85. Combined with Mule Stock, you will be able to reduce spread further than before.
• DUAL WIELD: Slightly increased spread per shot

Penetrator

• Added an extra sound effect while reloading

Grenade Launcher

• Increased self-damage by 25%. It was never meant to deal this little damage to the player.

Dawn

• Added 'Invincibility Frames' while dashing. The first couple of frames while dashing will now make Dawn immune to bullets. Any other hazards (like Area of Effect damage or fire) will still hurt Dawn. This effect is brief, but if you can time this with incoming attacks, a lot of damage can be mitigated.
• With dashes being a bit more useful than usual, its cooldown has been increased by 20%.
• Reduced full slide cooldown (3.0s -> 2.5s) to allow for a bit more sliding

Armor

• Increased armor durability on Captain, Admiral, and Selaco Must Fall. With the significant increase in damage, they began to lose their worth.

Armor Shards

• Increased pick-up radius to be less clunky.

Selver Coins

• Added sound effect when credits spawn into the level (e.g from crates or Hard-Boiled kills)

Soldier AI

• Made enemies a lot more reactionary. They move around more and do a better job at wandering around the backline of combat

Riflemen

• Riflemen are now a bit more mobile, mostly in terms of strafing ability
• Their 'martyrdom' grenades that can drop when killed, now explode sooner. They were far too slow and barely serve a threat.
• Added visible grenade pin when a 'Martyrdom' grenade is triggered

Cloning Plant Enemies

• Melee Types have their health reduced (150 -> 120)
• Ranged Types have their damage reduced (8 -> 6)
• Ranged Types have their health reduced (130 -> 110)
• Dawn can now slide through Plant Enemies. This will allow players to evade when cornered.

Engineers

• Increased Turret Deployment Chance (4% -> 6%).

Air Drones

• They no longer look away before firing a rocket at you

Siegers Far too tanky with the amount of mobility and damage they could deal.

• Health Reduced (110 -> 90)
• Siegers are a bit more mobile than before.
• Improved visual spectacle when a Sieger explodes.
• Fixed an error where his explosion would not deal damage.
• Fixed an error where they would spawn more gibs than intended (4 arms or 4 legs)

Plasma Troopers

• Reduced Plasma Projectile Speed (30-> 26)
• Reduced Armor Penetration (-15% -> -25%) (Meaning Plasma Attacks deal an additional 25% less damage when using armor)

Juggernauts

• Increased Leap Explosion Damage (90 -> 110)
• Decreased Leap Explosion Area of Effect (380 -> 280)

Selaco Must Fall Too many players managed to beat it, which is not something we tolerate in this mode.

• (SMF) Sieger Projectile Speed has been increased by 2.5x
• (SMF) Siegers now gently move to different directions while firing.
• (SMF) Enemy Mines now spawn 3 crawler mines when destroyed
• (SMF) Crawler Mines may now fire an occasional Plasma Bolt
• (SMF) Added 10% chance for Engineers to fire a rocket instead of a regular shotgun attack
• (SMF) Enemy Landmines have a much smaller light on them and no longer have Self Lighting
• (SMF) Saw Drones no longer feel any pain
• (SMF) (Rare) Some enemies now spawn with 50% extra health (Juggernauts excluded)

DEV NOTE: Next patch will make it harder once more. Admiral Difficulty

• Increased Global Damage by 5%

Levels have been improved in many ways, not all of them are mentioned in this list. Pathfinder Memorial Hospital

• Streamlined the Lockdown Sequence before fighting Juggernaut. It should now be way easier to navigate through.
• Fixed some very unfortunate softlocks
• Tweaked objective labels to be clearer
• Removed an outdated shotgunner that spawned behind the player in Level 1-3
• Corrected Cabinet Card position. Both cards were always meant to be close to the two Storage Cabinets.
• Slightly raised the doorway before the first Crawler Mine Encounter to make it more obvious the player needs to slide under it

Water Treatment Plant

• Fixed an error where decorations could be brought into the Safe Room Elevator.
• Removed Glass Pane that required destroying in order to progress.
• Damaged Koalas are now valid for the Nailbomb Secret.
• Added a unique mechanical sound effect when the bridge lowers/raises

Parking Garage

• The Pluto Burger gauntlet has been enhanced and now lasts a little longer.
• (SMF) Fixed a gunner getting stuck in geometry.
• Fixed some fences not blocking the player.

Liancria Office Complex

• Minor encounter reworks to make combat more dynamic.

Sal's Lair

• Texture change for the Keypad that opens the door towards HQ.
• Fixed a broken midtexture.
• Fixed an error where 2 objectives were in the incorrect order.
• The Junction Box is now a little easier to spot

Plant Cloning Facility

• Added a brand new music track during the final gauntlet.
• Fixed a softlock on Floor B2.
• Added obstruction warning when closing the Plant Stamper machine with the barrel on the door.
• Fixed an error where Aos would repeat a structural integrity message when opening/closing a junction box.

Bonus Level: Starlight

• Starlight Green: Fixed an error where the blue keycard icon would persist.
• Starlight Green: Fixed an error where a shutter texture did not block the player.

Shooting Range

• Grenades are now infinite during a Shooting Range session.

Burger Flipper

• Fixed a typo.

Statistics The following stats have been added to the Statistics Tab on your Wrist Codex:

• Added per-weapon 'Shots Fired' stats.
• Added per-weapon Kill stats.
• Added 'Upgrades bought' stat.
• Added 'Squad Leaders Killed' stat.
• Added 'Signs Removed' stat. You can finally know how many signs you have pulled from the wall

Milestones We made an oversight; 2 enemy types were not added to the Milestone system:

• Added 'Gunners Killed' milestone.
• Added 'Squad Leaders Killed' milestone.

Gore System

• Applied more speed variations between different chunks of gore.
• Explosive Kills now apply more force to spawned gibs.
• Added more splatter and fog effects for moving parts. This is increased per Blood Quality level.
• Added 'Dense Purple Fog' clouds for Sieger Deaths.
• Made 'Armor Fog' darker. It was probably still using our old spritework where everything was brighter.
• Added more disgusting noises when gibbing enemies.
• Added sound effects when gibbing corpses
• Applied a bit more friction to enemy corpses to make them appear heavier

Minor Additions

• You can now press USE on a VAC-Bot to pet them, this can be done an infinite amount of times
• Added visible muzzle flash for Dawn's third-person sprite (visible in mirrors).
• Air Drones now have a water splash effect when colliding with a water surface.
• Delete Key can now be bound in the Controls menu.
• Added visible Grenade Pin when throwing Ice Grenades.
• Added 'Extended Bullet Casings' graphical setting.
• Added Custom, 35, and 45 FPS Settings (NOTE: Due to how GZDoom works, we cannot go below 35FPS).
• Shocked and Frozen Enemies now take 1.25x more damage.

Minor but noteworthy Corrections

• Added 'Smoke Density' setting
• Performance optimization for bullet casings.
• Fixed far, far too many typos.
• Your current Security Level is now visible on the Wrist Computer screen
• Fixed Shotgun Shell ejections looking weird
• Added ambient sound for Junction Boxes.
• Renamed 'Rifle Start' to 'Rifle Reset'.
• Gave Koalas a major health buff.
• Static Crosshair option now shows Throw meter.
• Revised artwork involving the house of a sponge.
• Ice Grenade HUD indicator now has a proper icon that no longer resembles a Flare.
• Fixed a bug where soldiers refused to move when they had lost sight of the player. This often resulted in enemies not appearing as dynamic as intended. Whoops!
• Tweaked Locked Door parameters to be far more likely to appear on the Automap once close.

UltimateSelacoBuilder (Level Editor)

• All enemies are now properly shown in the editor
• Added 'HOWTOUSE_SELACOBUILDER.TXT' to explain how to set things up. This is a temporary solution until we get something better going!
• Added 8 different types of Cardboard Boxes
• Added Kickable Door actors

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an error where 'Reset Defaults' in the Keybind menu did not have a proper description
• Fixed numerous instances where hitscan attacks were blocked by level geometry.
• Lab Equipment no longer 'slides' when shot.
• Fixed an error where 'Reduced Impact shake' resulted in more impact shake.
• Reduced Water Cooler step height to prevent it from climbing onto desks.
• Gravity Manipulator can no longer pick up Junction Boxes.
• Juggernauts no longer burn permanently. (Sorry Gianni!)
• Fixed an error where Vending Machine purchases were not tracked on the stats page.
• Fixed a bug where destructible Metal Bars would move without being destroyed.
• Fixed an error where dead ACE Security Guards could be picked up with the Gravity Manipulator.
• Fixed a mismatch where the Plasma Rifle's Projectile Velocity description was showing an incorrect value.
• Returning to Level 1 after Level 2 no longer prevents Milestones from displaying or accumulating.
• Fixed a number of instances where effects could accumulate in areas the player has left, causing the game to gradually slow down.
• Fixed severed heads not bouncing correctly.
• Fixed a freeze that could happen when a projectile targets itself (!?).
• Fixed Dawn getting stuck when transitioning from Level 1 to Level 2 and standing on the edge of the Planter.
• Bandoliers now count as a secret when picked up while having a full grenade supply.
• Fixed tutorial sizing when loading a savegame on a machine with a different screen resolution than when saved.
• Small props are now correctly destroyed under doors.
• Fixed a VM abort when punting the throwing knife.
• Punted knives now properly kill enemies.
• Fixed an infinite loop that could occur when crushing a broken trash bin under a door/ceiling.
• Fixed Rifle Start/Rifle Reset not removing weapons at incorrect times.
• Stat categories added in updates will now apply to old save files.
• Fixed a potential crash when pressing TAB in the train menu.
• Fixed an error where Completed Map markers would appear far too tiny on the map.
• Fixed added Recoil stats showing as green instead of red in the Workshop.
• Fixed some Workshop mods not appearing in the Mod list under Options.
• Fixed an oversight where the screenshake settings ignored the fist attacks
• Starting a new game will no longer create two autosaves.

Other updates

If you ran into any issues or simply prefer the old version, you can go back to an older version by rolling back using the Steam Beta features [olist]

Go to your Steam Library

Right Click on 'Selaco'

Click on 'Properties'

On the right side of the screen, press 'beta'

Click on the Dropdown Menu

Select 'v0.83e'

Wait for the download the finish[/olist] You are now back to the old version of the game!

Unfortunately, this will have to wait a little bit longer. We tried to get proper Modding/Mapping documentation out 2 weeks ago, but given how badly we needed to patch out some issues, all of our efforts went into the Mega Patch. We did include a quick ReadMe file in the UltimateSelacoBuilder folder that you can use to get up to speed! Mapping is largely the same as for Doom, so a lot of that knowledge carries over! Rest assured, proper documentation is still coming! We just need a few more weeks.
Next on the list is getting to work on the Randomizer Mode and the Story elements, as well as begin production for Chapter 2. However, we are going to take a short vacation first. I know we said that in the previous blog post, but we really wanted to iron out a whole bunch of the inconveniences that creeped their way into release so we decided to work for an additional 2 weeks before finally taking off. Which is now! Once more, thank you for being passionate about the game and giving us your thoughts. We hope the Mega Patch made the game even better for you. Have a great weekend!

[ 2024-06-28 19:26:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

We have a bigger update planned in a few days, but we decided to launch this one early because it fixes some glaring issues.

Selaco has sold over 50.000 units!

We launched the game 2 weeks ago and have already reached a milestone we didn't expect to hit until the end of the year. You guys are truly incredible, and we cannot thank you enough for this. Doing all of this on our own without help from major publishers has always been difficult, but we trusted that trying to make a good game would carry us forward through word of mouth. Despite the game having some issues that we are still addressing as we speak, it's amazing to see the amount of excitement from our community. The future for Selaco is looking bright, and we appreciate you for being on board this early on!

What are currently working on?

The first Content Patch is in the works! It adds new upgrades, Weapon Kits, a whole bunch of Quality of Life improvements, encounter improvements, extended gauntlets (the Pluto Burger encounter ended way too soon!), changes to level signposting, and more! We aim to have the Content Update ready in a couple of days. Hopefully, this week, but it depends on some engine hurdles we have to overcome first. Usually with GZDoom, level changes break saves, so we have to take some steps to ensure this will not happen. If we hit any bumps in the road with this engine change, we'll let you know about it!

Patch Notes

Quality of Life

- Added Map icon for secrets that have been discovered - Added Resume Game button in Main Menu - Added 'Smoke Density' setting to allow for more transparent smoke effects. Set this to 'Light' for more transparent effects, and 'Heavy' for thicker effects.

Save System

ATTENTION: It will take a moment for saves to sync. Selaco saves are big, especially if you play with 'Permanent Destruction' and 'Permanent Gore' enabled. - Quicksaves and Autosaves have been reworked to work properly with Steam Cloud saving. Previously when using two different machines, some Autosave/Quicksaves could be overwritten in the wrong order which was very confusing - Save Files will be migrated to a single folder. The first time you launch Selaco all saves will be backed up and migrated into the program folder so they can properly be synchronized between platforms - Steam Deck/Linux and Windows should be able to synchronize saves correctly now

Minor Additions

- Delete Key can now be bound in Controls menu

Minor Corrections

- Renamed 'Rifle Start' to 'Rifle Reset' - Gave Koalas a major health buff - Static Crosshair option now shows Throw meter

Shooting Range

- Grenades are now infinite during a Shooting Range session

Burger Flipper

- Fixed a typo

Bug Fixes

- Reduced Water Cooler stepheight to prevent it from climbing onto desks - Gravity Manipulator can no longer pick-up Junction Boxes - Juggernauts no longer burn permanently - Fixed a bug where destructible Metal Bars would move without being destroyed - Fixed an error where dead ACE Security Guards could be picked up with the Gravity Manipulator - Fixed an mismatch where the Plasma Rifle's Projectile Velocity description was showing an incorrect value. - Returning to Level 1 after level 2 no longer prevents Milestones from displaying or accumulating - Fixed a number of instances where effects could accumulate in areas the player has left that would cause the game to gradually slow down - Fixed severed heads not bouncing correctly - Fixed a freeze that could happen when a projectile targets itself (!?) - Fixed Dawn getting stuck when transitioning from Level 1 to Level 2 and standing on the edge of the Planter. - Bandoliers now count as a secret when picked up while having a full grenade supply

I want to use the old build

As with all of our patches, the option to roll back is included!

[ 2024-06-17 13:19:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

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.

Attention Steam Deck Users

As part of the Steam Deck verification process, Steam has made the unfortunately decision to default Steam Deck installs to using Proton and the Windows installation. This skips all of the optimizations we made for the Steam Deck, the custom menus and will make old save files not show in game. For the moment you can remedy this on your Steam Deck by running with the Linux Runtime compatibility option, which will launch the correct version of the game. Let us know if there are any questions about this. We are still working with Valve to get the game verified!

Patch notes

Minor Additions

• Let's start with the big one. Added chance for broken microwaves to have a burger inside of them
• Set default sound output rate to 48000Hz
• Added a dropdown option for audio sample rate

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Junk not being permanent with Permanent Destruction turned on
• Fixed an error that caused Soldier and Gunner sprites to look like Dawn when being pinned by the Penetrator
• Fixed a crash that could occur when gibbing an enemy with the Penetrator
• Fixed a crash caused by a broken reference to Blood Pools
• Fixed a VM abort that could happen when clicking a Burger Flipper upgrade
• Fixed a crash caused by kicking a park bench with the Railgun equipped
• Fixed a VM abort caused by BattleSquad when enemies re-acquire a target on Dawn
• Fixed a VM abort when changing levels while holding a Fire Extinguisher in Riflestart mode
• Fixed a crash when transitioning a Sentry Turret between maps in 05C
• Fixed Dawn possibly being on fire forever
• Added limiter to gore to prevent infinite spawns in the rare instance that certain gore objects get stuck
• Added some debug commands to clean up blood left behind by infinite blood spawns. If you are experiencing extreme FPS loss in one particular area, try the following command in the console while in the problematic map: "netevent debug_purplespot_delete"

Additionally, Selaco has reached a certain popularity threshold (not too sure what that means) where Valve allows us to create Steam Trading Cards and set up a Point Shop for emojis, animated avatars, and more. Which is really cool for a small team like us. Stay tuned for that, too! Thanks, everyone! Keep them coming <3

[ 2024-06-08 19:58:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

A quick patch to address an issue that didn't make its way into Update 1

Gameplay

• Increased Enemy Footstep sound volume by 30%. We anticipate that this will make it easier to pinpoint enemy locations and anticipate incoming ambushes

...Yeah, that's it! Time to work on our modding tools and slowly start putting our first major content update together!

[ 2024-06-06 02:29:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

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!

BALANCE

Armor

• Increased Player Armor durability by 20%, armor will now protect you for a fair bit longer.

UC-36 Assault Rifle

This makes the weapon behave a little closer to how it was in the Demo, especially after some additional upgrades.

• Decreased Spread Per Shot for improved sustained accuracy
• Increased Spread Recovery speed when the player is no longer firing

Difficulty Tweaks

Lower difficulties have been made a little easier.

• (Ensign) Further reduced Enemy Health by 25%, further reduced Enemy Damage by 20%
• (Lieutenant) Further reduced Enemy Health by 15%, further reduced Enemy Damage by 15%
• (Commander)Further reduced enemy damage by 10%

Enemy Soldiers

• Increased Stagger chances for most low tier enemies
• Reduced movement speed for Engineers, and Rifleman who got an Attacker role

QUALITY OF LIFE

Improved Autosaves

• Added system where entering older levels will create an autsave
• Fixed an error where the game would not autosave before the first Juggernaut Fight

Improved Keycards

• Drastically improved the Sight Range for Keycards, causing them to appear on the Automap much sooner. This was always meant to happen, but due to an oversight the distance was 256 units, instead of 1536.

Cloud Saving

• Corrected Cloud Save directory. Due to an error this was not working. Please let us know if it works now!

BUG FIXES

• Fixed a crash that could be caused by some objects failing to penetrate glass
• Fixed credits being invisible at the end of the Episode
• Fixed an infinite loop if a crushed soda can is crushed again by a door
• Added some missing Patreon backer credits
• Fixed a crash caused by Crawler Mines attacking a dead player
• Toolbox Drawers no longer have an overly generous hitbox
• Fixed typo where the Cricket Headshot upgrade mentioned 30% more damage instead of 60%.

I want to go back to the old build!

We will always include the option to revert to an older build of the game whenever a new update arrives! Just click on the version number in the Beta tab to get there. Any questions? Comment below. Have a fantastic week everyone! - Altered Orbit Studios

[ 2024-06-03 15:52:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

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.

HOW TO ACCESS:

- Right click 'Selaco' on the Library Page - Click 'Properties' - Click 'Betas' - On the dropdown menu, select 'publicbetabranch' The game will now download the newest version.

WHAT DO LOOK FOR

Please check if your saved games are still working! That's all we need for now.

VERSION 0.83A (BETA)

• - Increased Armor Durability by 20%. Armor will no longer break as easily. (IMPORTANT: This only applies to new saves! We will improve the backend ASAP where such balance tweaks are applied to existing saves as well)
• - Added Autosaving system that automatically saves when returning to previous levels that haven't been visited in a while
• - Fixed a broken autosave that was meant to appear before disengaging the Lockdown
• - Fixed a bug where the credits sequence would not appear when beating the game
• - Fixed a major performance issue that would cause when blood decals went out of bounds
• - Fixed an error where some backers were not credited accordingly
• - Fixed a crash when placing crushed sodacans under a doorway
• - Fixed a crash caused by objects failing to penetrate glass
• - (LINUX) Fixed a bug where Achievements did not work

We have slowly began developing the first major content patch for the game. We will announce more details as soon as we can! Early next week, we will drop another update that greatly improved the Level Editor and general mod support. Have fun!

[ 2024-06-03 00:15:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

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

[ 2024-05-31 14:00:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Introduction

With launch being a week away, it's about time we discuss what will be included in the initial launch, what our future plans are, and how much the game is going to cost. Thank you everyone for your patience and apologies for taking so long. Let's get into this!

What is included at launch?

A lot! Keep in mind that most of this will be further expanded upon as we work our way towards the full release.

• 31 Action-Packed maps
  • This is what we consider the entirety of the Base Campaign and covers the majority of the game
  • Not all maps are created equal. Some will take upwards of 30 minutes, others may only take 5 minutes.
• 11 Powerful Weapons
  • 8 of which can be equipped with unique and powerful modifications, including new functionality or improved stats.
• Weapon Kit System
  • Find items that completely change the behavior of your weapon. Such as a grenade launcher that fires rockets, a Nailgun that behaves like a shotgun, or an on-demand dual-wield button for the SMG
  • Weapon Kits are permanent upgrades, and carry over into new games
  • Additional Weapon Kits will be added in later content patches
• Modding support
  • Create new campaigns, new weapons, new enemies, mechanics and more
  • Selaco will have Steam Workshop support right from launch
  • We will actively encourage modding and provide support when possible. Maybe we will even do contests!
• Steam Achievements
  • Unlock Steam Achievements by completing challenges that are not bound to difficulty. Like escorting Wilson the Teddy Bear all the way to Dawn's house, or finding a way to spawn a Trash Tornado
• 14 Challenging Enemy Types
  • Including a faction that we haven't shown before!
  • Fight highly dynamic enemies who adjust their behavior based on your playstyle. The enemies will communicate, provide cover fire, flank, rush, defend and much more.
• Invasion Tiers
  • Face enemies who constantly gain access to new equipment and tactics as you progress through the campaign, resulting in increased difficulty without relying on simply increasing enemy health or damage
• Gameplay Modifiers
  • Hardcore Mode: More punishing, fixed saved points, no health regeneration
  • Item Scarcity: Fewer items, requires players to be more resourceful
  • Harsh Invasion: All enemies have access to late-game tactics and tools right from the beginning
  • Fresh Start: Start the game without any of your unlocked Weapon Kits
  • ...and more to come post launch!
• Train System
  • Seamlessly revisit completed levels to continue exploring and find more secrets and collectibles
• Bonus Mode: Selaco Must Fall
  • A difficulty designed to make Selaco nearly impossible. Replay the game with completely altered enemy spawns, traps around every corner, and encounter setups that are extremely difficult to beat. You will not win
• Shooting range, mini-games and other things we prefer to not spoil

Why Early Access?

As you can probably tell, there is already a whole lot here. So that begs the question of why we decided to go with an Early Access launch. The simple reason is that we have lofty goals for this game. There are still many ideas we want to explore, systems we want to flesh out, and game modes we want to add to make it even more replayable. With our roots being in video game modding, we feel perfectly comfortable releasing something big and making it bigger over time at our own pace. When we feel satisfied with the position the game is in, we will leave Early Access. Selaco is an ambitious project, one we refuse to rush.

When will you leave Early Access

The goal is to leave Early Access once Chapter 3 is done, but even that may depend on different factors. There could, for example, be a good chance that we will finish Chapter 2 and feel like the game is currently in a really good spot and leave Early Access slightly earlier. This, of course, will not mean Chapter 3 will suddenly be paid DLC. Our intent has always been for this to be a free update for Early Access players.

Will there be a roadmap?

There will absolutely be a roadmap! However, we are going to wait until shortly after launch. For now, we're putting all our efforts into getting the game ready for launch. Then, we will collate all the player feedback, evaluate what needs to be done, and go from there. One thing we are guaranteed to start development on early after launch, is the Randomizer Mode. We have a lot of fun ideas here, including a slider that allows you to adjust just how much randomization you want your campaign to have. A lower value may only change enemy spawn locations and item pickups, while a higher value may completely randomize the behavior of your guns, the enemies' guns, replace a medkit with a powerful Juggernaut, and replace a Juggernaut with a plastic chair. You control the amount of chaos you want your game to have. Chapter 2 will be worked on in-between Content Updates.

How much is the game going to cost?

Selaco will cost the following: $24.99 - USD 24.50 - EUR 20.99 - GBP There will be a 10% Launch Discount that will last 2 weeks and two additional chapters are included for free once they are ready.

At what time will Selaco launch?

Selaco launches on May 31st at 10AM EST, this is also when the review embargo lifts!

Conclusion

We are really close, and we're starting to feel the excitement both in ourselves and in the way the community talks about the game. Thanks for reading everyone. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the game. Now, time to head back and finish this game! - Altered Orbit Studios

[ 2024-05-25 22:21:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

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

What is happening to the demo?

We have made the decision to delist the demo from our Steam Page. However, preservation steps have been taken to ensure it will forever remain accessible. For starters, all three versions of the demo will soon be uploaded to Archive.org. This includes the initial Nextfest version, the patched version, and 'The Big Update' we launched six months after the demo's initial release. Additionally, anyone is welcome to distribute copies of the demo across the web. There is no DRM for the demo.

Why did we decide to do this?

There are many reasons, but let's discuss the two biggest ones: 1. The demo and full release have incompatible saves Because of how much the game has changed, saved games cannot carry over. This means that anyone who beats the demo before deciding to purchase the game, will have to immediately redo a (mostly) similar level. This is not how we want to introduce new players to the game, and it may potentially harm the first impression for many. It is worth noting, though, that the level has been reworked in many areas. If you've actively played the demo before, you will notice these differences right away! 2. It's outdated. Very outdated While we really love the demo and still find it enjoyable to play through today, it hasn't aged all that well. It is simply not a good representation of the game anymore. Many of the critiques we frequently received are problems we addressed years ago, and many of the suggestions to improve things have been implemented. I still hope to make a blog post in the near future to explain a bunch of these improvements! To put it bluntly, the upcoming release version blows the demo out of the water. Everything has been refined, portions of the demo map have been reworked, performance is better than ever, and our AI is now capable of much more. Everything feels a lot better. Nothing is left untouched. Having the demo out there doesn't make us feel as comfortable anymore because we know how much things have improved.

Why not update the demo instead?

We would love to! Unfortunately, updating a demo takes a significant amount of development time away from the full game, which is our current priority. In game development, it's often easy to underestimate how important every single day of development is. Maintaining a demo can easily take away entire weeks of progress from the full game. Perhaps once we are ready to leave Early Access in the future, we will consider launching a demo that's more representative of the final product. No promises here, but we would love to do it!

What difference does it make to keep it on Steam?

Having it front and center on the Steam Page means the demo will still receive a lot of attention, which could lead to the aforementioned issues. By making it a bit more obscure, we can minimize these problems without sacrificing preservation. For those who truly wish to play it, it will still be easy to find if you go out of your way to look for it! However, for the broader audience who can see the demo on Steam, we are concerned it may cause too many problems when transitioning to the release version.

Can I make a backup?

You can! If you want to make a backup, you can find all builds in the 'Betas' tab. 'None' is the most up-to-date version of the demo. While I am not entirely sure, I believe you get to keep the demo if you have it installed on Steam as well!

Conclusion

We hope you understand why we are doing this. We are not fans of delisting demos either, which is why we are taking so many steps to prevent this demo from becoming buried and forgotten. If you have any questions about this, sound off in the comments and I'll get to you!

[ 2024-05-07 01:31:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

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:

• 25 levels. For comparison, the demo had 3
• 11 weapons, 10 of which will be upgradable with new stats, abilities and Alternate Fire Modes
• Dynamic encounters with reactive combatants
• Heavy emphasis on exploration and worldbuilding
• A large number of secrets and unlockables
• Intense combat and effects taking inspiration from John Woo movies
• A wide range of environmental variety where no two levels look the same.
• Full modding support
• Gamepad & Steam Deck support
• A synth-heavy soundtrack composed to Lawrence Steele
• Very kind robots who clean up your mess you've created

We will elaborate further on some of these points further down In short, there's a lot. And we have a lot of plans to further iterate upon all the stuff mentioned above. Months after playing it you may suddenly be playing a version of the game where the enemies have a brand new trick up their sleeves! What can we expect from the other chapters? We plan is to make Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 a little shorter than Chapter 1. The honest reason here is that the game would otherwise end up being far too long. The story is fully mapped out, a lot of ideas are on the table and now it's just a matter of getting the design plan down for these later chapters. We will discuss more details when the time comes. What parts of the trailer will be in the Early Access release? Everything shown in the trailer is planned for Chapter 1. How is patching going to work? We care a lot about preservation in videogames, so whenever a new patch launches, we will be providing options to roll back to older versions. Basically, every available version can be selected from a dropdown menu. On top of that, there is no-DRM, so you get to keep it forever. Saved Games may not be compatible with new updates, but that depends on what has changed. We can safely add new systems, new effects, additional layers of polish, rebalance things and more while keeping saved games intact. But the moment we alter levels, a save starts breaking. Thankfully, since we allow players to roll back to any version they want, players can safely resume their run if that's the case. We will also be adding in-game warnings a few days (or even weeks) before a new patch launches so players can properly anticipate it. We already did this in the demo to great effect! Of course, ideally, saved games are always going to work regardless of what has changed and that is absolutely something we are going to try and fix. But unfortunately, not at our Early Access launch. It's a complex problem that is going to require some work with the engine. Is there an exact launch date? May 2024 is as exact as we can be right now! We want to remain flexible and avoid launching alongside gigantic games that have an overlapping audience. This allows us to launch a few weeks earlier / later as needed Gamepad & Steam Deck support In it's current state, Selaco fully supports a wide range of gamepads and our gameplay systems can be fully utilized with these! And we've improved it further since our Public Demo by adding a Weapon Wheel and an on-screen keyboard. For Steam Deck, we are aiming for Steam Deck verification. So far, all requirements should be met, but it's up to Valve to approve it when we are closer to launch. Modding Support Selaco is based on GZDoom (albeit modified) so adding support for mods is going to be easy and any of the tools modders have used for Doom, can be used for Selaco. To make it even easier, we've added an in-game menu to manage your mods. Modders are able to make completely new levels or even entire campaigns, add new weapons, add gameplay modes and much more. Honestly, there are no boundaries here given the open-source nature of the engine. Steam Workshop is planned but we have to work out some potential issues and ensure it's actually possible with the engine. To be continued on that front. What is going to happen with the demo? For the time being, the demo will be kept online. However, we may take it down closer to launch because it's becoming increasingly outdated and already doesn't reflect the quality of the final product. We may, however, launch a brand new demo after the launch that uses the newest build. But that remains to be seen. Thankfully, you get to keep the demo forever if it's installed on your system! Can you talk about what improvements have been made in regards to common demo critiques? Yes! We are doing this in a future blog post. We think it makes more sense to do this when everything has been finalized. Conclusion We are going to take a moment to celebrate the reveal of our release date. It's still hard to believe this news is finally out there, and that's pretty damn exciting! If you have any burning questions, we recommend hitting us up on Discord or make a thread on our forum page. Take good care and have a fantastic weekend! - Altered Orbit Studios

[ 2023-09-30 21:02:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

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

[ 2023-08-07 20:32:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

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:

• Significant improvements to Engine Stability
• Improved Steam Deck and Linux support
• Full Controller Support for SPACE BRO
• Improved Smoke performance
• Slight tweaks to Pathfinding (the full game will use a completely new system that is more reliable and more performant)

Extra info: We've been hard at work on the final game (which is going really well, btw!), but could not resist fixing a few issues that plagued the demo ever since December. Primarily for the Steam Deck and Linux users. For the most part, the December Update was a major success. Excluding all the improvements we've made in regards to gameplay, we've seen a significant increase in average performance and the number of reported issues regarding stutters has dropped tremendously. That's great! You know what isn't great? Crashes. Man, do we hate crashes. The Steam Deck got a firmware update shortly after our update launched that did not play well with some of our engine changes. This was on us. We made a very sloppy oversight in our code that was causing issues on the Deck and on a couple of Linux Distributions. Primarily AMD devices. We did not want to leave the demo like that, so we took some time to fix those issues. While we were at it, we managed to squeeze in a couple of additional performance improvements as well, but these are minor. It's worth nothing that our current in-development build runs miles better than the demo does. We considered adding these optimizations to this Demo Update, but quickly learned that will take far too much time and would slow the game's development down too much. It's important to keep moving forward and the full release took priority. Thankfully, we think the demo is in a good place right now, even performance-wise. Just keep in mind that things are only getting better! We also fixed a problem where gamepad support for our SPACE BRO minigame was completely broken. Also very important. If you have had any stability issues, we apologize for the long wait. It's really hard to actively maintain a demo while there is also a game you have to make. When the game launches, these type of problems will be patched much, much sooner. Thank you all for playing (and hopefully, enjoying!) our demo <3 Altered Orbit Studios

[ 2023-07-01 01:40:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

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!

How to play:

Ensure that you have updated the game! Upon starting a new campaign, the following option should be available. Tick the box and proceed as normally.

The Christmas Challenge changes the following:

• Selaco's indoor environments will be covered in snow, somehow! Don't ask, Christmas in Selaco is special.
• All item pickups are removed from the game. The only exceptions are keycards, Cabinet Cards and upgrades.
• Presents are spread around the level at random locations. Open them up for Weapons, Ammo and Tools.
• Enemies spawn at random portions of the level. You will encounter foes at locations you've never seen them before.
• Unwrap a total of 10 gifts to unlock the exit to the next area.
• Beat the demo to win the challenge!

We had a lot of fun working on this and we think it turned out great! Have fun and a very Merry Christmas from all of us at Altered Orbit Studios <3

[ 2022-12-24 18:23:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 0.4

Happy 6-month anniversary to the Selaco Demo! Phew, has time flew by these last couple of months! After we launched the initial Demo Version, we were immensely satisfied with the feedback we got. We have been working on this game for a long time but we were never quite sure whether or not the game would connect with our audience. During development, especially as a small indie studio, that always felt like a bit of a coin toss. Thankfully, the launch of the demo gave us some much needed confidence and put a lot of weight off of our shoulders. I can speak for the entire team when I say that the feedback we have received has been overwhelming in every positive way. There's a long road still ahead of us, and plenty of obstacles we have to overcome before the game is completed, but we're getting closer day after day. However, despite the positivity, the initial Demo Launch has some flaws. We had a very right deadline due to Steam Nextfest rapidly approaching, so we had to work quickly. We knew going in that we would have to release a demo that lacks the intended level of polish and features that we wanted to include, and promised the community (you!) that we would eventually launch a Big Patch that would update the game to something that is closer to our vision. The game is still in active development of course, so it's only going to improve further from here, but we are confident that you will love what we have been cooking up here. The Steam Forums have been a tremendous help. It gave us good insight on what we were doing right and what needed tweaking. This patch addresses a lot of the feedback we have received and aims to improve the game as a while. So grab a drink and get comfortable, because this will be a long read. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you; The Big Patch.

Quick Summary (Patch Note TL;DR)

• Significant Quality of Life improvements
• Added Steam Deck Support
• Added Gamepad support
• Challenge rework
• Drastic changes to levels, both in design and visuals
• Engine changes for better performance and smoother visuals
• Most Particle Effects have been migrated to our own Particle System, making performance smoother in combat
• Fully rewritten, better looking flashlight
• Brand new gore system
• (Vulkan) Added multi-threaded asset loading to combat stutters and improve gameplay smoothness
• Hundreds of new special effects and sound effects
• Improved AI
• Pacing changes
• All weapons rebalanced
• First phase for Translation support
• Over a hundred bugs have been fixed

General Improvements

Player Movement Starting with the one everyone will notice right away!

• Player movement has been slowed down a little and this one needs some explaining. Selaco was always meant to be a fast-paced title, but we felt like things ended up being much faster than intended as development continued. We were aware of this problem before the demo launched, but due to Steam Nextfest arriving earlier than we had anticipated, we had no time to properly test a tweaked movement system, until now. In this new build, you will still be fast, you can still Slide Jump, but running speed is slightly reduced. We are confident this makes combat more engaging and exploration more immersive. Do let us know your thoughts on the Steam Forums if you have the chance!

The Demo Level have been touched up and significantly improved.

• Lighting has been redone in most areas
• Additional rooms have been added
• Combat encounters have been partially redesigned to flow better and allow for more movement
• New effects have been added to all levels
• New scripting has been applied in some places

Performing slides and dashes are now much more responsive and triggers faster.

• The previous demo version has some errors. Holding the Dash button before moving would often not trigger, or players were unable to dash shortly after sliding. These issues have been fixed and improved upon.

Added Zoom Interpolation to GZDoom.

• Sliding, zooming and firing your weapon will now smoothly adjust the camera FOV without giving the illusion of the game running at a low framerate.

Fully reworked Roaring Cricket.

• See the "Balance" section below for more information!

Performance has significantly improved

• (Vulkan only) Added Asynchronous Asset Loading to GZDoom (Multi-threading). Audio, textures and sprites will now be loaded on a different CPU thread to eliminate a large amount of stutter. - Quick Saves will still cause a slight hiccup - For the time being, this is only supported on Vulkan. But will eventually support OpenGL - Some UI effects may still cause a short hitch when loaded for the first time (e.g Dirt, Damage Vignettes). This will be fixed in the full game
• Expensive alpha effects are no longer rendered inside reflections (both floor, ceiling and walls).
• Updated explosion effects to look juicier and more performant.
• Heaps of logic code have been rewritten for improved to require less CPU resources.
• Added Particle Limiter. In case extreme amounts are happening, to prevent stutters.
• Reduced CPU load for individual smoke effects.
• Drastically improved loading times when entering a new level.
• Complete rework for lighting effects. All lights attached to special effects like explosions and muzzle flashes perform better than ever before.
• Migrated most effects to our own Particle System for improved performance
• Added 'Shadow Quality' setting. This setting adjusts the amount of lights that cast a shadow. A lower setting means less effects casting shadows (e.g muzzle flashes, flashlight and more)
• Expensive AI tasks are now seeded, preventing stutters during larger battles.

Map Improvements

• The player icon has been made much more readable and is no longer a thin white arrow
• A couple of icons have been reworked
• Players can no longer shoot with the map open
• Adjust Default Zoom to keep things readable.

Added partial Translation support (~95% done).

• Language Packs have not been added yet, but fan translations are now possible. We will explore this further in the future! A couple of smaller things like Datapad Labels are not translatable yet, but will be the case before we launch the full game.

Heads-Up Display

• Some tutorial pop-ups have been made bigger for better readability on smaller screens / players sitting further away from the screen. This can be reduced.
• Reduced the default UI scale to make the HUD less big. To customize the HUD size, go to the Options Menu -> Interface -> ''UI Scale''.
• Reloading a Saved Game will now show you a reminder of your current goal / objective.
• Picking up new equipment now adds a description to your Datapad.
• Objectives on your HUD are now easier to read due to a different font size. Receiving a new objective has also been made more obvious through a new sound and text effect.
• Added Context-sensitive Death Tutorials. Getting killed by certain types of enemies will give relevant Tips on the death screen.
• 'Secrets' label in the Datapad has been renamed to 'Current area secrets' and 'Total Level Secrets.
• Applied some tweaks to the Customize Control menu. They are categorized better and Weapon Keybinds now show weapon names.

Challenges rework.

• We have removed challenges that required the player to use specific methods to kill enemies (Explosive Kills, Melee Kills, Headshots, Throwing Knives etc) and decided to only keep general kill challenges (Kill X amount of Y enemy type) and exploration challenges (Find X amount of Y, destroy X amount of Wall Cracks). The previous system forced players into playstyles they may not like or would or not offer a tactical advantage.
• Some challenges have increased requirements.

Gore Changes:

• Improved performance and less bloated code.
• Added Intestines when gibbing enemies
• Added brain pieces for headshots / full gibs
• Added slime pools for enemies who have been dead for a while.
• Brand new sound effects for gore/impact/combat related audio
• Additional severed arm and legs sprites
• The position of blood effects when killing an enemy is now relative to the point of impact
• Recolored the blood effects and adjusted the way they are illuminated by light sources, resulting in an overall more pleasing visual
• Fixed a bunch of gore related errors

Added Fall Damage.

• We've considered this for a while now but eventually decided to pull through with it. General fall damage is low, but high enough to give a slight penalty for recklessly jumping off a high ledge.

Added Safe Saving system.

• Players are no longer able to save when there is danger nearby (e.g Active Grenades, alerted enemies).

Armor has been made more important.

• Armor now absorbs more damage and deplete less fast. With how damaging the enemy can be, this armor change makes scavenging for armor more rewarding and important.

Full rewrite for the flashlight.

• The flashlight now uses a cone-shape, making it more like a real flashlight. This not only looks better, it's also much more atmospheric.
• Adjusted how lighting is applied to sectors ahead of the player. This improved flashlight performance
• AI is now more reactionary to your flashlight usage

Improvements to jumping

• Added 'coyote timer' to jumping, making platforming more responsive and less prone to failed jumps during platforming sections
• Slight reduction in Cooldown before being able to jump again

Slides / Dashing

• Dashes and Slides no longer share the same cooldown.
• Added Dash Cooldown indicator
• Hitting the wall while sliding will now cancel the slide, rather than awkwardly slide you backwards.

Added minor Hardcore Mode Quality of Life

• Completing Level 1-1 will now give you a confirmation box asking if you are sure about continuing on with Hardcore Mode. In case you feel like Hardcore Mode is a bit too difficult, you can revert to Traditional Mode.

Accessibility improvements:

• Finished Photosensitivity modes. ''Reduce Light flickering'' will eliminate most the light effects that last for a short duration of time, and ''Reduced Muzzle Flashes'' no longer kills the entire muzzle flash light, but rather makes them smaller and less strong; maintaining a power feeling weapon while still being more friendly towards the eyes.
• Added auto-climbing feature. Run up to a ledge that's within reach and climb automatically!
• Streamlined Screenshake intensity setting to be less overly complicated.
• Added 'Disable Camera Motion' setting. This will eliminate movement from the camera when using melee, sliding and other things.
• Added 'Censor gore' setting. This will reduce the amount of blood and gibs, as well as altered scripts to contain less depictions of violence.
• (Gamepad Only) Added Assisted Mode. On Commander Difficulty and below, Assisted Mode will provide additional guidance to lock-on to targets. Use this if you have difficulty aiming with a gamepad.
• (Gamepad Only, requires Assisted Mode) Added option to enable a Ringing sound. This is a sound queue that plays when Lock-on acquires a target, and when the target is inside your crosshair.

VAC-BOTS have actual AI now!

• VAC-BOTS now properly clean up trash that they can see
• Added VAC-BOT Emotion System. Their display will now portray how they feel and they will adjust based on circumstances. They will actively flee from incoming explosions, find a way to hide when shots are fired, look disgusted when cleaning up gibs and can get lonely if left alone for too long. If you want to keep them happy, give them frequent pets or stuff to clean up that aren't giblets.
• VAC-BOTS now utilize Pathfinding, allowing them to reach their destination better
• Added a cleanup effect when a VAC-BOT erases something from the map.

Gamepad / Steam Deck Support

• Selaco is now fully playable using a Steam Deck / Gamepad.
• Rewrote the majority of GZDoom's Gamepad input code. Setting it to modern standards and improving support on Linux devices.
• Added Steam Deck Optimized preset. This will enlarge certain UI elements for increased readability and optimizes graphics based on either Quality or Performance.
• Added Vibration Support to GZDoom
• Added Aim Acceleration to GZDoom
• Added support for both Xbox and Playstation button prompts. Visible buttons can be tweaked in the Gamepad Menu.
• Added 3 stages of Aim Assist; Weak, Default, Strong. This adjusts how much the Aim Assist is going to help you aim.
• Added 2 Aim Assist Modes. 'Moving Targets', which only enables Aim Assist on targets that are on the move, and 'Always, which applies Aim Assist to all enemy types regardless of movement.
• Added joystick button prompts that dynamically adjust based on the input device that is being used. Gamepad and KB/M are able to be used simultaneously.
• Added optional Lock-on mode for lower difficulties.
• Added squared stick input option for gamepad Look and Move, allowing for more responsive diagonal inputs.
• Gyroscope Aiming is not included natively, but should work perfectly fine when using Steam's Gyroscope mode. If you have any trouble with this, reach out to us and let us know!
• Redesigned portions of the Wrist Computer to make it easier to navigate with a gamepad

Economy:

• Now that Credits are harder to come by, ArachnoCola prices from Vending Machines have been reduced (5c -> 2c)
• Additional Credit Bags have been added to the levels.

Other improvements

• The menu has been partially overhauled
• Added 'Longest Headshot' statistic.
• Added option to increase Zoom Sensitivity above 1.0.
• Crouching behind flipped cover will now properly protect your head
• Explosions made by the player deal significantly less self damage. Standing close to the origin of the explosion will still end up dealing a significant amount of damage, however.
• Weapon Switching has been tweaked to feel snappier. It is now easier to switch weapons even during animations.
• 90 is now the default FOV. Remember to change this if you prefer something lower or higher!
• Grabbing objects now lowers the player's weapon to keep the screen free of additional clutter.

World / Presentation

• Updated Splash Screen when loading the game
• Re-rendered some of the sprite work to make them seem less out of place. Not all sprites are properly 'converted' yet. This will be an on-going process.
• Enemy muzzle flashes now properly follow the shooter and no longer clip through the sprite of the shooter.
• Smoke effects have a bit more transparency applied to them, causing less problems with visibility. (The RIDICULOUS setting of Smoke Quality uses the same thickness as the previous version)
• Added proper impact effects when shooting at Window Blinds
• Added impact effects when a shot down sign impacts the floor.
• Added voxel model for Blood Bags (decoration)
• Added 10 new variations for Wall Paintings
• All datapad entries now have proper dates assigned to them.
• Enemy footsteps now react to glass shards and leave footprints behind when standing on water, blood or slime.
• Added bullet whiz effect for tracers flying past the player
• Improved visual effects for Smoke Grenades
• Added new variations of Cardboard Boxes.
• All Pickup Items have been brightened up for improved readability.
• Added variants of impact sounds after landing from a fall. Additional grunts and effects have been added.
• Added a weight scale. No further elaboration needed.
• Changes to Crate destruction to make them a bit more satisfying to break.
• All weapon descriptions in your Wrist Codex have updated artwork
• Brand new effects when destroying window panes. This new system ensures that the amount of glass shard matches the size of the window pane. Longer windows spawn more glass, smaller windows spawn less.
• Added Breathing Frames for the Roaring Cricket.
• Dawn shields her eyes from explosions much faster.
• Cleaned up the Slide Entering animation, making it less jerky
• Added new death animations for all enemy types
• With subtitles enabled, the names of the opposing side are written in Orange.
• Most actors will now properly adjust to the slope of the floor
• Food now fades out when eaten, rather than disappear right away
• Bullet Brass code has been entirely rewritten to be more performance friendly and visually appealing.
• All weapons will now spawn a unique bullet case model when fired.
• Added brand new toilet voxels. Happy flushing!
• Added Toilet Cleaner voxel model.
• Dawn will no longer eat the flag of a burger.
• Level Names have been adjusted to be more clear. A "Level" is broken up into multiple "Areas". Every loading zone takes you to a new area within the level.
• Added 'Foot Slide' sound that often plays on top of footsteps.
• Added visual effects when sliding
• Shockwave effects from explosions are now smoother
• Drastic adjustments to the lighting of the levels to reduce visual busyness
• Retextured and redesigned significant portions of the demo level
• Walking on human blood will now leave bloody footprints behind
• Added transition effect when interacting with a Camera Feed
• Improved enemy readability
• Added splash effects when jumping into water
• All guns play a sound effect when the last bullet of a magazine is fired.
• Optimized ejected Weapon Magazine models. With the new optimization, we can keep them in the level for much longer. Playing with ''Effects Lifespan'' on Ultra, keeps them around permanently
• And a whole bunch of other improvements that we forgot to log...

Audio

• Completely remade the Intermission track when completing the demo. The previous one was outdated and no longer matched the tone of the game
• UC-36 and Shotgun have improved sound effects
• You will now be able to hear the mechanisms of the weapon when firing while zoomed in
• Added sound effects when hitting wooden surfaces
• Added unique sound effects per bullet casing type. Heavy sounds for big bullets, lighter sounds for machineguns.
• Added unique sound effects for paintings being hit, and new sounds for when they hit the floor
• New sound effects for Destroying Crates
• Added additional foley sounds for different player actions
• Brand new bullets impact SFX, making them sound more punchy and impactful than before.
• Added new sound effects for bouncing metal
• Added sound effect for paper debris touching the floor
• Added sound effect for bouncing ceramic pieces.
• Updated sound effects for player footsteps
• Added new sound effects for Metal floors
• Added new sound effects for walking on boxes
• Added squishy sound effect when walking on blood piles
• Security Camera sounds have been updated so it's no longer a stock sound
• Enemy soldiers now have their own footstep and foley sound effects for improved recognition
• All weapons now have unique (de)selection sounds
• And a whole bunch of other sound effects we forgot to log...

Difficulty Tweaks

Captain Difficulty and above:

• Various stat tweaks to enemy tactics and action speeds
• Portable Medkits now heal for 50, just like the other difficulties. We felt that 25 was not enough for such an uncommon item.
• Portable Medkits healing rate has been cut in half.

Admiral Difficulty:

• Given the slight tweaks to a certain number of factors, enemies deal 10% more damage to compensate.
• Enemies are much more mobile in this difficult setting.

WEAPONS

Roaring Cricket [rework]: While we always liked how much damage it dealt, its magazine capacity and recoil might have been too troublesome. We've made some changes to better balance this out and make it easier to use.

• Primary Fire Recoil reduced (1.5 -> 0.7). Alt Fire remains the same as before.
• Magazine capacity increased (9 -> 12)
• Damage per shot reduced (60 -> 48)
• Max ammo reserve increased (45 -> 48)
• Increased Roaring Cricket ammo pickup (9 -> 12)
• Roaring Cricket alt fire now works with less than 3 shots. It will deplete the rest of the magazine instead.
• Swapping speed is now nearly instant, making this the ideal weapon to switch to when caught with an empty weapon during a fight.
• Particle trail is now instant between player and target. The previous version made the Roaring Cricket look like a projectile weapon instead of hitscan.

UC-36 Assault Rifle:

• Headshot damage has been decreased (25% -> 15%).
• Increased damage per shot (13 -> 14)
• Changes made to the firing sound to sound more punchy
• Some sprite improvements when Zooming
• Changes to how recoil is handled, making it increase incrementally with each shot.

ESG-24 Shotgun: Shotgun is in a good place, but had some issues.

• Beefed up the firing sound of the shotgun
• Dawn will now pump the shotgun before starting to reload, in case the shotgun requires pumping.
• Added 'Chamber Empty' indicator when your shotgun requires pumping.
• Pressing 'Reload' with no shell in the chamber will now cause Dawn to pump the shotgun.
• Fixed minor stutter when firing the shotgun

Melee improvements:

• Quick Melee with your weapon is now much faster.
• Weapon Melee damage has been reduced
• Collision damage has increased. For maximum effectiveness, try hitting targets against walls.
• Improved wall collision detection. Hitting enemies against walls should be much more consistant and reliable.

AI

Added Strafe Node system.

• This will allow soldiers to dynamically adjust their strafing behavior based on player location. This results in soldiers being more intelligent with how they strafe. A confident soldier with high health will be more likely to stay within line of sight of their target, while a low health soldier is more likely to strafe towards nearby walls for cover.

Added intelligent reloading.

• When a soldier is low on ammo, there is a chance they will seek cover to reload their weapon.

Improved enemy pathfinding.

• AI no longer gets stuck in geometry
• Enemy are now able to chase you around the entire level
• Tweaks to Pathfinding to make it more likely for AI to flank your position

Misc

• Animation smoothing, logic performance improvements and other additional things have been added.

Enemy Rifleman:

• Increased mobility. Rifleman is far less likely to hold still. This increases per difficulty.
• 'Attacker' Rifleman now has a slight speed boost to have an easier time closing the gap.
• Rifleman now has less issue dealing with faraway targets.

Enemy Engineer (Shotgunner):

• Slight reduction in health (135 -> 125). This change should be enough to make it easier to take him down after he sets his sights on you.
• Engineers no longer fire at teammates.
• Added Suppression role. Engineers can now choose to not rush towards their target, but instead unload shotgun shells from a distance to keep targets suppressed.
• Engineer strafe patterns have been improved to make them more engaging to fight.

Enemy Juggernaut: We liked how fast-paced and lethal the Juggernaut is. It's an opponent that has a similar moveset as the player and requires the player to use everything they have learned so far. However, we also felt he was a bit too dominating. Here are some tweaks to make him a more fun opponent while still being a dominant presence. Remember that the Juggernaut is not a one-off bossfight. You will encounter him often during the full campaign and he frequently learns new tricks!

• Health Reduced (1200 -> 1000)
• Tracer Speed has been reduced (80 -> 70)
• Added a slight delay before the Juggernaut starts firing during a Sidewash dash.
• Increased Splash Damage Range after leaping (300 -> 390)

Energy Shields

• Energy Shields (that soldiers can deploy after reaching Invasion Tier 1) felt a little weak because their height was small enough to not cover the head of the enemy soldiers. We've added an extra piece on top that gives them a bit more protection

BUGS / MINOR TWEAKS

• 'Rifle Start' can no longer be checked. It is not supposed to be present in the demo because there's only one level, making a Rifle Start impossible.
• The Credits Track now fades in.
• Fixed a bug where the 'Open Codex' button would not work when '5' was one of the assigned buttons.
• Items can no longer be picked up through the walls
• Fixed an error where Dawn would make two grunts after landing from falling.
• Fixed an error where footstep sounds would play underwater
• Corpse hitboxes are no longer overly large, causing enemies to keep hitting corpses despite going over them.
• Players can no longer slide jump when there is no space to jump, preventing players from getting stuck
• Fixed a goof where the weapon sprites would show a breathing animation when underwater
• Soldiers no longer kill themselves with Smoke Grenades
• Fixed an error where Fan textures behaved like Concrete when shot
• Fixed an error where Dawn's underwater speed was much faster than intended
• Fixed a bug where the UC-36's firing sound would abruptly end without a proper tail sound.
• Fixed an error where smoke grenades used an outdated sound effect from way back in our modding days
• Fixed a bug where tracers would be blocked by plants. My sincere apologies to all ACE Security agents who used plants as armor. Adjusted the size of certain objects. The scaling was not very consistent. This includes enemy sprite work
• Applied a minor tweak to Interaction Prompts to make them update faster and seem more responsive
• Stationary Grenades are no longer shootable
• Fixed an error where enemies touched by a burning actor would lose their Self Lighting properties
• Fixed a bug where bananas would briefly turn into a sandwich when eaten
• Fixed a bug where crates would jitter around the level when hit by particles
• Certain smaller items no longer collide with the player
• Dawn will no longer shield her eyes from explosions when dead
• Fixed a bug where throwing fire extinguishers against enemies would sometimes not put the enemy on the floor, but would have them enter their Collision animation instead
• Fixed a bug where paper pieces would have a random angle upon touching the floor
• Fixed a bug where the hitbox of flipped cover was not high enough to fully protect a crouching player.
• Fixed a bug where keyboards could not get destroyed with melee attacks
• Fixed a bug where Dawn's legs would not go away when climbing after a slide
• Fixed a bug where Zoom Sensitivity would have an effect on the overall sensitivity
• Fixed an error where some areas of the game looked darker than intended on the Low graphics setting
• Fixed an error that forced XY Billboarding on enemy soldiers after hitting them with melee.
• Fixed a bug where picking up Health Injector would take your health away when on health above 100
• Enemies colliding with falls no longer damage the player when nearby
• Fixed a very sloppy error that added a one tick delay (one 35th of a second) before showing an impact effect on walls.
• Sliding away after being near an explosion will no longer cause Dawn to awkwardly shield her eyes too late, and temporarily get 3 arms.
• Fixed a bug where 'chair base' could not be picked up
• Fixed an error where the Shotgun muzzle flash was not properly aligned to the animation of the weapon
• Fixed a bug where a certain Easter egg progressed a challenge
• Fixed an error where Engineers their 'attack indicator flare' would flicker rapidly
• Fixed a bug where Fire Extinguishers could pass through rushing engineers
• Fixed Fire Extinguisher duplication glitch.
• Loading the saved game of an incompatible version will now display a proper error message. In the future, this will explain how to fix it as well.
• Sliding in a narrow tunnel that is of crouching height will no longer endlessly slide you forward.
• Zooming while reloading no longer causes the camera to 'jitter' to one game tick
• Fixed a bug where the 'end fire' sound would not properly play when a player stops firing a Zoomed UC-36
• Fixed an error in the Gameplay Menu where 'Automatic mode' and 'Manual Mode' were swapped around
• Fixed a bug where Engineers would spawn a severed arm after a melee death, despite the sprite showing both arms intact
• Fixed an error where HoneyComb Cases would not properly align to the slopes they were on
• Fixed an error where using iron sights showed an unintended crosshair
• Fixed a bug where floor paper decals would not spawn
• Pathfinder's alert sound now persists to Level 1-2. This was always intended but ended up broken
• 'Toggle Run' has been renamed to 'Toggle Walk', since Run is already the default speed.
• Flares carried by the player now correctly transition between levels
• Sliding Sounds now require the player to touch the floor. Once contact with the floor is removed, the sliding sound stops.
• Fixed a bug where the player could slide while crouching, making their hitboxes 1 pixel high.
• Fixed a bug where one corpse actor could not get gibbed.
• Fixed a bug where Strafe Tilting was still applied when dead
• Dying while holding an object will now properly drop the object
• Fixed a bug where bullet casings were able to climb staircases
• Fixed a bug where a couple of icons on the automap would disappear when getting far away from them.
• Given corpses some weight. They will no longer slide across the floor when shot.
• Fixed an oversight where ArachnoCola cans could not get kicked by enemy soldiers
• Fixed a bug where some footstep sounds were not playing correctly
• Fixed a rendering bug where Lightshafts would show artifacts at the bottom
• Fixed a bug where players could climb into very narrow surfaces and get stuck
• "Disable Hud" now properly disables the visor frame as well
• Fixed a bug where Selaco's movement code was ignored prior to opening a Keypad or Gwyn Station. This caused Dawn to slide forward like she was on ice skates.
• Fixed a bug where Slide Kicks would stack multiple times, sending enemies flying further than intended. (It was funny though! Will keep it in mind for a mutator >:) )
• Fixed an error where reloading an empty Shotgun would 'twitch' the weapon sprite
• Fixed a bug where reloading a weapon while being at max ammo reserve capacity would take too much ammo away
• (LINUX) Fixed ''SDL unsupported'' errors
• Fixed a bug where the game could keep playing during an Invasion Tier screen
• Water Coolers no longer keep buzzing after being destroyed
• Alt Fire can now be used to drop objects.
• Fixed a bug where Juggernauts left a 'solid ghost' after dying

Woah, you're still here!? Thanks for reading <3

[ 2022-12-16 16:49:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

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!

[ 2022-10-01 21:39:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

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 ' prompt. The visuals and dialog from the enemy was already making this obvious enough. - Rebalanced default audio settings to allow more dynamic range Fixed / Improved - Adjusted a string of text that shows underneath the crosshair when your weapon is about to run out ("LOW AMMO" -> "RELOAD") - Fixed an error where the Flashlight tutorial did not show up until after you leave a dark area. Whoops. - Fixed a bug where Teddybears could destroy the MRI Machine door. - Flares now work underwater. I am not so smart. - Fixed a bug where Camera Tilt was not properly applied when killed by Alien bullets. - The flare effect on a flare stick no longer flickers too quickly. - Fixed a bug where animated flares had incorrect offsets. - Fixed an error where plant hitboxes were overly generous. In the future, we will make it so that bullets go *thought* plants, rather than damage them. But this is not something we could fix within a reasonable timeframe. - Fixed a potential crash when sliding into cover objects - Fixed an error where the Door Breaching Sparks got unintentionally bright. - Fixed Dawn's "Get Well Soon!" balloon from despawning. - Fixed some ghost interaction prompts that would show up in 1-2. - Fixed a bug where enemies got confused and thought they fought alone, when they actually still had allies left. - Fixed a bug where Engineers who wind up their attack, just to realize they are out of shells. They are now competent at counting how much ammo they have left before engaging. - Addressed a good amount of texture and scripting errors in the levels. - UC-36 Rifle performance improvements, fixed stacking light effects. - Automap should toggle correctly now when bound to M. - Prevented accidental console spam from the Tutorial handler. - Dawn can no longer open her Codex while dead. Linux - Numpad keys can now be used for in-game keypads - Fixed crashes and issues related to dynamic-library clashes with steam-runtime - Fixed requiring wayland libraries on non-wayland systems - Fixed the game requiring newer OS than stated in the system requirements - Potential fix for audio issues == End of changes == What's next? - Armor rework. We understand that armor is currently a little underperforming and could use some more oomph. After all, armor is more often than not placed outside the beaten path so you should get rewarded for it. - Additional polish to the visuals. - Improved balancing - Add proper Player Icon on the Automap

[ 2022-06-18 03:21:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

[previewyoutube=ozxnmQyzll4;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2021-08-14 18:41:24 CET ] [ Original post ]