0.6.1 Squad Operation Update

Briefing

It's been a long while, agents of the U.R.C.

As the Steam Next Fest draws near, U.R.C. has granted temporary access to cooperative expeditions in this version of the demo. All agents with access to the testing field will be able to explore Dimensional Fragments with each other in this version.

During the period of the previous test, the R&D Department re-evaluated the environment within the Dimensional Fragments. We were able to adjust the explorational pace for some areas, optimize combat and interactions, and several anomalies that might influence operational stability. Although these might not be able to completely nullify the uncertainties within Dimensional Fragments, they will make life easier for agents in the field.

The most important content of this update, is the further opening up of the Short-Range Communication Protocol. From now on, agents will not be limited to exploring the unknown by themselves. Through the new multiplayer mode, you can form squads with other agents and work together to face the threats. Beware that operating in squad might not lead to a decrease in threat level. Instead, it might further complicate Dimensional Fluctuations, hostile operations, and rescourse distributions.

But at least you will not be alone.

This demo is the first step for the U.R.C. to open Collaboration Exploration Protocol. We wish to gather more feedback during the Next Fest, please report anything you find during gameplay and we will investigate them one by one.

If you participated in the previous Playtest, your previous save files will be transferred to the Demo version.

The save files for the Demo version will be partially transferable to the release version, including characters and stock items; mission progress might be reset for the release version. As save files from earlier Playtest versions may cause unknown issues, it is recommended to start a new save for the Demo.

If you encounter any issues during gameplay, please help us fix it by reporting it through our official Discord server, the link is on the main menu and pause menu of the game, or you can report it in the bug report section of our Steam discussion board.

New Features & QoL Update

• [Volumetric Fog] can now be toggled off from setting. This will greatly improve the game's performance if running on an older rig.

• New visual presentation for item tooltips

• Also added the ability to compare items, you can hold [ALT] to show the comparison of the currently selected item and the currently equipped item, and switch comparison target with mouse wheel.

• We found the batteries for laser sights, they can properly function now.

• The Safe House has been "renovated" and slightly expanded.

• Added a white outline to search points in proximity.

• Agents can now customize the name and icon for their crates and boxes, also comes with different colors.

• The shortcut keys in the inventory UI now have proper zooming to display in a clearer fashion.

• The map now shows the coordinates of where your mouse hover

• Through collaboration with a really impressive sound studio, we renewed most of the sound effects in the game, especially for the guns. Now the standard firearms should sound more authentic than pop guns.

• We optimized the global illumination effect, bringing better presentation of depth of field and spacial awareness; we also added gradient effect for elevations within the map, which should convey height better.

• The introduction map received some trimming in overall length, but there are more to be seen in the scene.

• Added effects for when agents receive a buff or debuff to make the icon more obvious.

• Added new scope image for nearly all guns and scope, this should make them feel much better.

• Reworked the animation of daggers, this is a preliminary test for future iterations.

• Optimized several parts of localization for English and Russian. We are also working on supporting more languages.

New Content

Enemies

Agents will encounter more variants of Cookie Crumbs in the field. Some of them might be equipped with much more powerful gear than their peers.

Certain special enemies can now be found in fixed locations, some items can now only drop from them.

Items

Legendary Equipment

Now there's a new category of equipment in the game, the Legendaries, these equipment can be acquired as drops from specific enemies or through certain special means. Legendary equipment will have one extra unique perk and can be Corrupted as well.

Some existing equipment are now Legendary Equipment

• "Veteran-Calibrated" RS Veteran M

• "Forester's" RS M1891

• Rusty Teeth's Scrap Submachine Gun

• Iron Scab's Scrap Machine Gun

• Highlander's Axe

Multiple Save Slots

Through tear, sweat, and elbow grease of our collegues in R&D and Support Department, we are finally able to monitor the vital signs and operations of multiple agents. Of course you can stop the observation for any agent immediately by deleting their corresponding file in the system.

Character Customization

Now you can choose the agent's appearance in the currently limited options. We have more than enough candidates, if you don't like them, there's always someone else.

Multiplayer

At the cost of increasing rate of balding, R&D managed to improve the short-range communication capacity within Dimensional Fragments, agents operating within the same region can finally meet each other, a monumental step in further exploring the Fragments.

Agents can now choose to host or join a multiplayer lobby. The Multiplayer function supports LAN connection or P2P via Steam.

Changes

Map Optimization

• Optimized some map assets in the Burning Grove.

• Optimized the lights and lighting effects in all maps.

• The Arriero black market merchants now reside in their shops with much more comfortable poses.

Changes to Corruption Related Mechanism

Corruption Stability

The stat reduction caused by losing a stage of Corruption Stability has been lowered from 20% to 10%, the lowest stat a Corrupted equipment can have is thus raised from 20% to 60%.

*Corruption Stability is shown by the 5 dot indicators on any Corrupted equipment, each missing dot indicates 1 lost stage.

Revertor

The Revertor and [Revert] mechanism has been reworked.

[Revert] function of the Revertor now requires [Reverse Mote], but the [Stabilize] function remains free to use at any time. [Reverse Mote] can be acquired from the Burning Grove.

[Revert] now requires manual confirmation to activate, it can have different results: Failure, Success, Major Success.

When [Revert] fails, the equipment will lose 1 stage of Corruption Stability; if the Corruption Stability drops to 0 during the process, the equipment will be fully destabilized into [Dimensional Residue]. When [Revert] succeeds, the equipment will gain 1 stage of Corruption Stability, up to fully stabilized at 5. And when [Revert] hits a major success, the equipment will be fully stabilized immediately.

*Both Failure and Major Success are low-possibility events.

Decoherent Reactor

Corruption gained from Decoherent Reactor will also make the equipment gain a random Corruption Stability stage (1-5)

Changes & Fix

Drop Rate

We increased the drop rate for some items, such as a very heavy container, an also very heavy musical instrument, and a (relatively) not-so-heavy power source....

Weapons

We've had this panned out for a long time, but haven't had the time to fine tune and polish the Gunsmith system. Some elements of our early design diminished the differences between the firearms in the game other than damage, and most of the attachments are either ignored for offering the exact same thing or ignored for offering too little. That, will change today.

However, this change log is too long to be included here, we will post another dedicated patch note for this matter later.

Localization

• Changed the translation for several terms.

• Fixed that [Shoulder Pad] was mislabeled as [Chin Pad].

• Fixed that [Slide] was mislabeled as [Holster].

• [Shooting Spread] is now named as [Recoil], the previous [Recoil] is now [Kickback] and hidden from stat panel.

• Renamed [RS Elite 77 Athlete Barrel] to [RS Elite 77 Standard Barrel].

• Renamed [RS Gerasim 33 Receiver] to [RS Gerasim 33]

• Renamed [Pioneer Machete] to [AD Pioneer Machete]

Summary

This update for the Steam Next Fest will open the demo of the game with support for multiplayer mode. Agents can connect with each other via LAN of Steam P2P, explore the Dimensional Fragments together.

Meanwhile, we implemented a large scale update on various contents across different aspects of the game, including multiple save files, character customization, safe house adjustment, better item tooltips, interaction highlights, sound and visual, introduction level, sights for guns, localizations, and a whole lot of other things. Guns and attachments are getting a full overhaul in this version, opening up opportunities for more choices.

As the multiplayer mode is still in early development, agents might encounter issues related to connect ability and stability or balancing issues. If you encounter any issues, please leave us your feedback via our official Discord, link in the main menu of the game. We will keep watching on how the game performance and make timely adjustment base on the feedback.

We thank you for playing our game and helping us improving it. Agents, welcome to the demo of No Such Place.

--From all members of the Crit Team