Hi everyone! The patch notes for the version v0.6.04b6 are here! The major focus of this sprint was the Difficulty Director and the features that surround it! Items tagged as [COM] were changed based on community feedback.

READY, STEADY.. CLEAN!
We felt like Out of Space lacked a more controlled pacing to its difficulty. Whether the match is easy, hard, boringly harmless or completely impossible seems totally out of our hands right now and we addressed that issue.
Hence the Difficulty Director, an AI implemented in this update that both provides dynamic difficulty to the game and sets up moments of peace amidst all the chaos caused by the aliens. We want it to make the game challenging but not relentlessly so. We will be constantly interacting with its values based on the players feedbacks, but the should feel less tense and more interesting now.
THE VENTILATION SHAFT
Ventilation Shafts are an alternative way for dirt to spread in your space house. With a clear anticipation and in a totally preventable way, the ducts can eject dirt from the ventilation directly into that shiny floor of yours. Cautious players need not to worry, though. Keeps the ducts clean with a water bucket will keep your friends and your belongings safe =)
As of this version, it will get the floor and any worstation near it dirty from time to time if unattended. The frequency of that may vary depending on the dynamic and progressive difficulties of the game.
CHANGES AND ENHANCEMENTS
- [COM] You can now choose your character on the matchmaking screen! This long awaited feature is finally here. You can use L1/R1 (or equivalent) or Q/E to do so.
- The alien model was optimized to support more detailed and expressive animations.
- Enhanced animation for sleeping on couches, beds and on the floor. Transition animations were also improved to avoid weird moments like when a character floats away from the bed.
- Enhanced animation for opening doors, so that the character doesnt step outside the door area anymore. That makes it more consistent if the character is going to get dirty or not by opening doors.
- New animations for falling from hunger and for waiting to get fed on the floor. We used to have the same animation for both this and sleeping on the floor.
- Recyclers collider reduced to prevent it from blocking a door regardless of the position it was built in.
- [COM] Buckets animation is now more responsive and no longer delays before actually throwing the water. This should improve the players control over where it hits.
- New visual effect for the Fog that covers closed rooms. Now it has an animation and a variant opacity so the players can still barely see what is inside the rooms.
- Doors of abandoned rooms now get dirty regardless of alien interactions, turning into possible spawn points for alien eggs.
- Enemies no longer hide under appliances. They only interact with them for a while in order to get them dirty and then keep living their lives.
- The objects now have more thrust and gravity applied to them, meaning they will behave in a more believable way and boxes flying like cannonballs upon a Broom hit will no longer be seen all the time.
- [COM] Dirty system on the floor was enhanced to reduce the chances of invisible dirt and inconsistent feedback regarding the act of cleaning.
BALANCE
General
- Alien flee speed was increased from 2,5 to 4 and its flee distance was increased from 7 to 15, meaning it has now a higher chance of leaving a room and reaching other places in the house.
BUG FIXES
- [COM] Mop no longer flickers when players hold it.
- Rooms now consider the next rooms max alien number before spawning eggs there.
- [COM] The Pumpkin Garden can now be deconstructed anytime.
- The Pumpkin Gardens highlight doesnt apply to the particle visual effects.
- The Lamp now turns off its light when out of power.
- Television now behaves properly when out of power.
- Mixer no longer stops working when disassembled and reassembled in another room.
- [COM] Power Outlets are now more consistent, meaning rooms without energy or with a socketless outlet shouldnt appear as much as before.
- Alien Eggs that hatch on doors will no longer explode in dirt, to prevent it from affecting the other room as well as the intended one. This is a temporary fix that will possibly be reworked in the future.
- [COM] Water from the bucket no longer goes through the doors.
- Aliens have a new icon that shows when they are stored in Refrigerators.
[ 2019-06-07 18:57:14 CET ] [ Original post ]