Dynamic Reflections
The latest updates of the
PC version now support a
new Dynamic level of Reflections in the
Graphics options:
[previewyoutube=JyqThxyS1YA;full][/previewyoutube]
Staticreflections are precomputed and
greatly optimized, so it
should be fine keepReflectionstoMediumorLoweven
with an integrated graphics card. The
main drawback is that
as the environment changes (a door opens, a screen changes color, etc.), these new changes
are not seen in the reflections. It is a
performance VS realism compromise.
The new
Dynamicreflections level uses
Screen Space Reflections and
solves the issue stated above. However, it is
resource demanding, and should be used
only if you already have a good framerate. It usually
lowers the FPS significantly on integrated graphics cards.
If you are on
integrated graphics instead and not a dedicated GPU, you should
keepReflectionstoMediumorLowlevel.
New Electrified Water
[previewyoutube=IiKRe5DlKoo;full][/previewyoutube]
The
Electrified Grounds were
only made of an electricity visual effect. We have
improved them:
- Optimized the electricty effect to have a lower impact on framerate - will be even more optimized later on
- Water has been added below them, with the associated sound effects
New Vent Doors
[previewyoutube=WAH0rzaQJSI;full][/previewyoutube]
Vent doors were
using a small regular door visual. This was
temporary. They now
all have been replaced with the new visual! They have been improved to:
- Look better from both sides
- New animation that avoids sticking out through walls and windows
Aiming Depth of Field
[previewyoutube=NWl-iX7W6sQ;full][/previewyoutube]
The
Depth of Fieldeffect can
simulate the blurthat can be observed by a
real-world camera, when it is
focusing on close or distant objects. If this effect is enabled, it will be
used in the following cases:
- Aiming Taser:Theaimed at pointbecomes thefocus. When aiming atclose objects,distant objects are blurred, and vice-versa
- Taking Damage:Thescreen becomes blurryfor afew seconds

This effect is
demanding;if you have an
integrated graphics cardand a
low framerate, it's
best to keep it disabled.
Reworked Taser Aiming
The
aiming laser for the
Taser -Gun has been
reworked significantly to fix the following issues:
- The laser was not always pointing at the exact position the shot would be performed
- The laser point was sometimes positioned wrongly to the left or right of the laser line's end
- With a high Field of View setting, the laser would not be aligned with shooting final point (with default FOV, it was working correctly most of the time)
- The laser line could be seen through some solid objects in some cases, making it hard to perform precise shots (ex: through pipes)
- Aim Assist on mobile and PC would use the center point of the screen, resulting in sometimes locking slightly next to the target (because the laser end point cannot always be at a perfect center of the screen depending on the distance and angle with aimed object). It is now using the laser's end point instead. This was much more complex to accomplish than it seems! Pfew!
You can see
the issue described above, in the
following image:

With the newly
reworked Taser aiming system:
- Aiming laser always points exactly where the shot will be performed, regardless of the conditions or current FOV value
- Laser point now has dynamic lighting: makes the Laser color from Taser Customization more visible, and allows easier aim in dark areas without having to turn on the flashlight
- Aim assist will always perfectly lock at the desired target, regardless of distance and angle with the target
Here's an image of the
updated version of aiming, with these
issues fixed:
Softlocks and Hyper-Speed
In the game, for quite a while, it was possible to
get on the wrong side of some doors as they were closing; this would result in being
softlocked, requiring to
reload from last checkpoint.
New Door Type: Hyper-Door
[previewyoutube=GZyj2YzLk4w;full][/previewyoutube]
Since we have introduced
Hyper-Speed in Chapter 3, there were
3 major design problems to solve:
- The player should not be able to skip all doors of the game by slowing down time using Hyper-Speed: only some that are intended
- The player should not be able to use Hyper-Speed to go backwards while a door is closing. By doing so, he can get stuck behind a locked door, resulting in a softlock :(
- If a door can be slowed down with Hyper-Speed, it needs to be clear to the player, using a different visual for doors that are Hyper-Speed proof. This way, the player can plan his action accordingly, and doesn't have to try skipping every single door with Hyper-Speed only to see if it will be slowed down by the ability or not
In order to solve the issues above, we have
introduced a new door type: the
Hyper-Door:
- It always closes or opens at a constant speed, even if Hyper-Speed is activated.
With this
new door type and
other changes to the door closing system, it is
now impossible to go backwards behind a closing door and remaining stuck. This means
many softlocks were solved.
If you find any
softlocks while playing,
let us know!
New Upgrades
We have
added 3 new upgrades to the game; the
upgrades distribution has also been changed to reflect the new upgrades and a few
new improvements were made:
- All playable Chapters have the correct amount of Upgrade Terminals per level, using temporary Work in Progress Bonus Rooms
- All work in progress Bonus Rooms have the intended Upgrade Terminal even if the rooms are not built yet.
- Associated Bonus Room screen will now reflect the state Incomplete or Completed if the upgrade in that room has already been consumed
- All Upgrade Terminals already consumed will now display the selected upgrade on this Terminal.
Upgrade 1: Scope
Allows to
zoom while aiming with the
Taser. Simply use the
scrollwheel or
Directional Pad Up/Down while
aiming to start using the
Scope. The
Aim Stabilizer is
disabled while using Scope to allow precision shots.
It has
2 levels of upgrade:
- Level 1: Moderate maximum zoom
- Level 2: High maximum zoom
Upgrade 2: Aim Stabilizer
Taser aim assistance module, which
automatically locks aiming to the closest aimed at target. It has 2 levels:
- Level 1: Only works while standing still. Any horizontal character movement requested by the player will prevent the Aim Stabilizer from locking to targets
- Level 2: Works in all conditions and faster lock on targets
As this upgrade
makes the game much easier, it is
only available from Chapter 2.
This system is
hard to make comfortable in all situations. At the end of this post, we have some
additional details on
how it works ;)
You can
see these 2 upgrades in action in the
following video:
[previewyoutube=-jO7PNcPzM0;full][/previewyoutube]
Upgrade 3: Safe Landing
This upgrade
informs the player if it's safe to land below him. It has
2 Levels of upgrade:
- Level 1: Displays a notification when a hazard is detected below the player
- Level 2: In addition, shows a view camera of what is directly below the player in realtime. This feature has not yet been implemented.
You can see this
Hazard notification at the
bottom of the screen:
[previewyoutube=6j4dB1LIBCQ;full][/previewyoutube]
Elevators
We have
reworked and improved elevators in all Chapters of the game:
- Ensure they open faster and earlier in case you are speedrunning
- Ensure they move much faster in Speedrun Mode
- Avoid elevator doors to "stick out" that could block you
- Avoid activating an elevator switch if you are not inside: prevents having the lift leave without you
Chapter 1: New Elevator Skip
[previewyoutube=z03hqM4Egt4;full][/previewyoutube]
We have
added a new Skip path in Chapter 1! It is located in
the very first lift, and is only accessible
after activating the elevator, using
Dodge in
New Game+.
The
first time you try it, you might
not be faster than the lift - however with a bit of training,
high Speed upgrade level and
Sprint ability, you will be able to
get up much faster than the lift ;)
In addition, this new skip path
contains a Bonus Room (currently empty), in which
you can acquire an additional upgrade.
Chapter 4: New Bonus Room
A
new Bonus Room has been
added to Chapter 4, just before the
Enhanced Camera. It allows you to
acquire an additional upgrade.

This is
one of the rare Bonus Rooms that will be
accessible on the first run and not only in
New Game+, as it
doesn't require a specific ability, and is
only protected by a Breakable Window.
Chapter 5
We have been
working a lot on the PC version of Chapter 5 in parallel. Progress is
slow, but steady. It's a
complex Chapter, introducing
quite a few new elements, similarly to
Chapter 4 on PC.

We
can't give you too many details as we
don't want to spoil your first experience with this new
Chapter when it's available to play. Here's what we can say:
- It will be quite surprising
- It will have a few new elements that you haven't seen in the previous Chapters
- It will start with new PC exclusive content, and end with a "similar logic" than Chapter 4 on mobile, but reworked and improved
Level Editor
In parallel, we have
also worked on the Level Editor, but we are still
currently focusing on Chapter 5 and mobile updates, so it's still
not ready to be tested. Here's a bit of news on the status.
We have started to
create a basic user interface (currently, all icons are the same) to add objects, and edit
selected objects, in addition to a
customizatble Quick Access hotbar:
Functional
- Placing/deleting objects
- Changing "floor": construct on ground floor, or at higher / lower levels to build vertically
- Placing walls, grounds, windows
- Placing doors, buttons, cubes, pressure plates
- Placing Lasers, Mines
- Customizable damage for lasers and mines, and option to make blinking lasers
- Saving/loading a work in progress level
- Hooking events to ensure buttons/pressure plates can interact with the environment
- Testing a level instantly: not perfect yet, a few bugs, but mostly functional
Not Functional - Required
Here's a list of what
we need to work on before a
first version can actually be tested or
shown:
- Checkpoints must also save while "really playing" a level
- Placing checkpoints, saws, invisible triggers
- Placing invisible killzones
- Placing collectibles: Taser Ammo packs, Healthpacks
- Placing Jetpack, Taser collectibles
- Customizing player spawn point, player stats (health etc) and if player starts with Taser / Jetpack and which upgrades
- Improving the user interface (many functions are only on hotkeys currently)
- Interface to load different levels (only 1 level supported right now)
When we will have
the features above ready, we will either
upload a video or livestream a demo of these basic functions before it can be tested by players ;)
Bugs & Crashes
We have
fixed hundreds of bugs in the last few updates; one major victory was made on
mysterious crashes some users were experiencing every time the game was
trying to reload the latest checkpoint.
Fixed Crashes
The
crashes upon
last checkpoint reload were linked to some
Graphics Cards not supporting some specific instructions.
After
a lot of work and testing of special development builds from these users
(thanks again for helping out!), they are
finally fixed and these users can
enjoy the game again without crashes!
Important Bugfixes
- Jump: If the character was standing on an edge (half on the ground, half in the air), he would sometimes refuse to jump
- Reflections: There was a bug that could cause LOW or MEDIUM level of static reflections to not be displayed
- Cameras: Destroying a camera while the room was in lockdown could result in a softlock. Other bugs were fixed with Cameras.
- Interface: Many interface elements adjusted to reduce pixelization, including Dodge Cooldown widget, center crosshair and objective markers
- Performance Guide: Has been updated to explain and describe the new Dynamic Reflections and Depth of Field effect.
- Steam Leaderboards: Were not updating properly in Chapters page
Aim Stabilizer Details
Here are
a few additional details about the
Aim Stabilizer system:
- Disabled while using Scope
- Works with both mouse and gamepad aiming
- Does not snap to breakable windows or breakable walls, as they are large targets - all other targets can be locked
- If you start aiming with a target next to the center of the screen, it will immediatly lock it
- If you move your aim next to a target while already aiming the Taser, it will start locking after a short delay (this delay is to avoid snapping to the wrong object while moving the camera to find your desired target)
- While locked to an object, shooting or moving the camera (a certain camera movement threshold is required) will cancel the lock. If a lock is cancelled in this case, it will not try to lock again until you aim somwhere else and then aim again at this object or release aim button (this is to avoid repeatedly lock an object you have just explicitly stopped aiming at)
- While aiming is locked to an object, any visibility obstruction will cancel the lock. Example: wall or moving platform coming in between
- However, in this case, it will auto-lock again to this target immediatly when it is visible again
That's it!
Thank you all for reading and see you
next time!
Happy gaming,
Charles from Haze Games[ 2019-10-28 23:28:02 CET ] [ Original post ]