What's up, dope fiends! Finally breaking a long silence to update you on what is going on with this final Dope Game patch, which includes a lot of fixes you all have reported since the last remaster patch. Please note, the patch is not live yet but is coming very soon for this holiday season!
First, this finally update will be dubbed "The Hot Dose Update" as it is going to inject a bunch of stuff I was going to cut for a variety of reasons and to give the game a final, deserved send-off. I will mostly gloss over the features being added but also want to mention that (I think) all of the reported bugs should be squashed and, sadly, some new ones introduced. Code Overhaul / Removing Localization Almost all of the code has been re-written. I have spent the last two months re-writing everything scene by scene. Mostly to tighten stuff up but to also remove the problematic language changing functions. I have no plans to localize the game into more languages due to cost and it has been causing issues with different sections so it got gutted. Makeshift Brewery A cut feature is coming back: Jenkins Makeshift Brewery. It is at the Starkham Docks and he sells various new items to enhance your playthrough. He cannot be killed but like the Shady Merchant will shut up shop if attacked. Oh, and he sells you new outfits. Henchmen Henchmen will now have avatars that randomly generate and can now be set at different locations to slang drugs for you. You can give them a small inventory and set a basic price rule. They will sell and collect money. However, they can be arrested by cops or decide to steal your stuff. Multiplayer This feature was also cut due to issue with syncing and such. However, during these last two months I figured out a way to kind of make it work. People will be able to now host lobbies, folks join, then the game starts. While you cannot directly interact with each other, you are basically going for the highest scores / most money made. The prices will sync across players per day and you will still mostly play like you do in singleplayer. You can, however, chat with other players while slanging. This was the best compromise I could make work currently. While I probably won't add more features to this, you never know. Also, players can customize their avatars now. More? More! There are some other goodies sprinkled in too. Use of your Steam avatar instead of the in-game one. Auto-resolve combat. Updated interfaces. Controller support. Steam Deck support. Etc, etc. My patch notes will be released with the update in case you are curious. I am hoping to push the update next week during the madness of the Steam Winter Sale so keep an eye out! I expect some bug fix patches after that too. Stay safe, happy holidays, and get ready for the big finale for The Dope Game.