Field Report #7

It’s been a while since I last gave any significant updates. Progress has been slow because I’m constantly juggling my personal life with the development of Seclusion.

Seclusion is a passion project, and I want to turn it into the best game it can possibly be. That's what I'm going to do.

This field report is VERY long and goes into technical details, I won't cry if you don't read it all ^^

Feel free to skip the parts you're not interested in (obviously).

So let's talk about what's been cooking :

Why is Patch #3 taking so damn long ?

Like I said, giving time to Seclusion’s development has been a struggle lately, so progress has been slow.

But even then, it doesn’t really justify how long this patch is taking.

The truth is: Patch #3 is huge. It includes rewrites of multiple systems, a massive bugfix list, and a complete restructuring of Chapter 1 : Affliction.

Rewrites & Bugfixes :

Let’s be honest, Seclusion wasn’t really ready for release and should’ve had more time in the oven. For reasons I won’t ramble about here, I decided to release it early. That came with plenty of downsides, but also gave me something the demo couldn’t : real feedback from actual players.

I’ll talk about the rewrites later in the Explorer Mode section, since most of the systems are shared between both modes.

Complete restructuration of Chapter 1 :

The more I watched people play and listened to feedback, the more I hated the original chapter. Story Mode’s structure is flawed, and that kills its pacing and enjoyability.

The old setup was hub-based, split into three different levels separated by loading screens and clumsy transitions. The objectives and puzzle flow were also flawed. Too much boring backtracking: go from A to B, then back to A, then to C, then back to A again. Not fun.

The new structure follows the demo’s style : semi-linear progression with varied environments and occasional puzzles. The chapter now feels like a journey instead of a chore. On top of that, you’ll be able to choose different paths. They reconnect later, but it adds replayability, you can take a new route in your second playthrough and see different areas.

This makes the game a bit shorter and more condensed, but with more variety and less filler.

The entire chapter as one level :

The restructure removes level limitations. Now, the only loading screen is when you start a new game, load, or restart.

Chapter 1’s three levels are now merged into one seamless map with on-the-fly streaming. No more elevator loading screens. It actually runs better this way, so optimization won’t be an issue.

Here is a rough top-view picture showing the difference :

Steam post image (The hotel is missing in the "After" but the map keeps going at the bottom)

To put it simply : each chapter is now basically a semi-open world map.

Most puzzles have been slightly redesigned :

Most puzzles have been slightly reworked. They’re easier to understand, a bit less punishing, and more focused on tension and atmosphere rather than frustrating you.

Story/narration rework :

The original storytelling in Chapter 1 was bad. I knew it, and I fixed it.

Dialogues have been reframed, trimmed, or removed. The story now leans heavily on environmental storytelling rather than endless monologues.

When there is dialogue, it’s more descriptive and clear. Names have been added to differentiate between your character’s thoughts and other entities (similar to how the Prologue handles it).

Story Mode in co-op ?

The new systems are built to support multiplayer. That means adding co-op to Story Mode would be easier than before.

Story Mode is still designed for singleplayer, but I’m considering a bonus two-player co-op option. It would lock difficulty to Survivalist (still playable in Peaceful mode, though). Co-op would probably be chaotic and break immersion, but it might also be a lot of fun.

So here’s a poll for you:

• Add Story Mode co-op before Explorer Mode?

• Add Story Mode co-op after Explorer Mode?

• Skip Story Mode co-op completely?

You can Vote on the official Discord server.

Other various improvements :

Most systems, including the player character, are shared between Story and Explorer Mode. To learn more about the gameplay improvements, check out the Explorer Mode section below.

Any ETA for the release of the next patch ?

Patch #3 (which honestly feels more like a major update at this point) is about 70% done.

The new geometry and merged level structure for Chapter 1 are finished. Some areas have been reworked, but I still need to handle gameplay, optimization, and polishing.

I’m terrible at giving ETAs, so I won’t pretend. But the “hard part” is done, and the rest shouldn’t take too long.

Can we still play the old (legacy) version of chapter 1 after the patch ?

Probably, in the bonus tab in the main menu.

What's happening with Explorer Mode ?

I probably shouldn't have done that, but since patch #2, with the time I had, I worked quite a lot on Explorer mode rather than working on Story mode, which also Explains why Patch #3 is taking a long time to come.

So, The Issue with Explorer mode was that most of its systems were made when I was just learning multiplayer and networking, back then I didn't even know and struggled for days to make a proper pause menu for multiple players (yeah it was that bad).

So a lot of Explorer mode's foundations were buggy, messy, and unstable, leading to crashes and desyncs during playtests. Even though I fixed some of it, the base systems were still terrible.

And since Story mode also uses those systems, I had to make them work with both explorer mode and story mode, which made it even messier and buggier. Lol it was a damn mess.

That's why I've gone through multiple rewrites and redesigns, this time with a lot more skill, more knowledge, and a cleaner workflow.

Here's a breakdown of the features and systems that will be available in Explorer mode, some will be available at release, some other maybe later.

Some are already done, others are still work-in-progress.

I'm about to go pretty deep in the systems and how explorer mode works (There is a lot to uncover) so it might get pretty technical and boring, just skip to the next part if you're not interested ^^

Features and systems :

I experimented with a lot of procedural world generation systems. The one used in the last playtests is the one I’ve decided to keep, heavily improved.

I've rewritten once again the procedural generation system, and I gave it a really humble and fancy name :

The World Engine

World engine features :

• Advanced generation settings (If you want to custom how your levels are going to be)

  • Customizable world X/Y Size

  • Customizable Floors (Levels can now have multiple floors which is customizable) Yeah, vertical exploration is a thing now.

  • Multiple "Regions" (You can make your levels even bigger by adding adjacent regions)

  • Foundations for mod support

• Asynchronous Generation : Fast generation/loading, the loading screens are gonna be damn fast, and you'll be able to play quickly, but the first 30 seconds might be a little slow and heavy on your CPU while the level finishes generating/loading.

• Advanced Biome System : I decided to remove the separated "sublevels" and make it all fit in one single level, with the biome system, this already existed before but it has now been expanded.

• FixedLandmarksSome levels might contain specific landmarks, like exits or preplaced structures, either in fixed or random locations, while everything else remains procedural.

• Persistent levels : Generated levels are saved and can be revisited later.

• Persistence/Save system : The old persistence/save system was one of the messiest parts of Explorer mode, it was buggy, unstable and often causing desyncs.

  Now it's been completely rewritten :

  • Persistence System : Handles object replication, world persistence, and assists the save system, while being much easier to use and far less buggy.

  • World Persistence : Every loot, item, interactive object, and even NPC is persistent. Levels continue evolving even while unloaded. Events in one level can ripple into others. And it's optimized so you save files aren't going to be 5gb after generating 2 levels.

Explorer Mode uses the "Game Master" to handle dynamic events and gameplay. Think of it like a director that decides when and where to spawn entities, trigger blackouts, haunt a player, or create other events, all while adapting to the situation.

The old Game Master was unstable and crash-prone in multiplayer because the code design was terrible.

Game master rework (Explorer Mode Only) :

• Handles Spawning/despawning and Online/Offline simulation of NPCs with persistence in mind.

• The game master now has two modes : Standby (Waits for external Triggers) and Auto (Does its own thing, adapts to situations and regulates the world)

• Stronger "Scenario Adaption" : The scenario adaption will make the game master adapt to the situation of players, tracking their locations, groups, objectives ect...

• NPC coordination : The Game master can now group NPCs into dynamic Squads/Packs, so they can coordinate instead of acting individually.

• Dynamic Tick Aggregation (Optimization) : The game master also plays an important role on Optimizing entities, managing their ticks.

• Dynamic Actor Pooling (Optimization) : The Game master also handles Actor Pooling for entities, which means the dynamic spawn/despawn of entities probably won't cause stutters or freezes, Especially in high stress situations.

• Macro persistent Simulation :

  This is a big one, I'm gonna try to make it as simple as possible, to make it short : NPCs near players will run with their full AI as usual, but NPCs that are farther away will "despawn" and be added to the "Offline Simulation" where they will continue to behave according to their needs : exploring, hunting, fighting, migrating etc... (most of the AIs systems)

  When you return to those areas, you'll see the aftermath : Corpses, blood, maybe even destruction etc... And that's because it actually happened while you were away, not because I placed it there.

  This will work across levels too, for example : If an entry collapses in level 3, entities that had to migrate from level 2 to level 3 to find food won't be able to, creating food shortages, more aggressiveness etc...

  This will make the world feel alive and unpredictable, The "Ecosystem" keeps evolving in the background, making every run unique and opening the door to massive emergent gameplay. And yes, it all works in Multiplayer.

I'm not trying to turn Seclusion into "Backrooms Survival Evolved" but I am confident these features will turn Explorer Mode into a truly Unique Exploration-focused Survival Sandbox

Reworked AIs :

For the third (and final) time, The Entity/AI Systems have been completely rewritten from the ground up, in a more abstract, modular, optimized way both for FPS and Network.

(When I mention NPCs, I am most of the time talking about the entities simulated with their full AI and behaviors, but most features also concerns "Offline" Entities)

Core Improvements :

• AddedAbstract & Modular DesignThis means entities and AIs are built on much cleaner foundations, which will make it easier for me to create new entities with unique behaviors.

• Optimized for performance : Stable framerate even with many entities running full AI in real time.

• Scalable for multiplayer : Peer-to-Peer networking can now handle more entities at once.

New systems :

• AdjustedHorde SystemLarge groups of the same NPC type can merge into a "Horde", This would be a pretty rare situation but when it happens, Only a few NPC will run with Full AI, while the rest act as simplified followers until their full AI is needed again.
• AdjustedAnimation ReworkSmoother movements, reduced foot sliding, turn-in-place animations, feedback animations, contextual states etc... Entities should feel more grounded and believable.

• Physical Animations : Arms and limbs can react to the environement instead of clipping through it (example : The arms of a giant mannequin will slide along walls instead of clipping through them)

• Improved sound system : replicated properly, with distinct footsteps, breathing, transitions, and state-based sounds. No more chaotic overlaps or doubled-up noises.

Entity variety & Behaviors :

• Dynamic stats : speed, damage, and other stats vary per entity and can change over time (Example : a starving hound becomes weaker and slower overtime).

• Needs & routines : entities eat, sleep, and migrate if food is scarce. Hunger affects aggression. After eating, a hound might retreat to sleep before hunting again.

• Lair system : territorial entities can claim spaces. They drag corpses to their lair, break objects, and create filthy, bloody environments that you’ll recognize as “owned.”

• Variants & evolution

  entities can evolve based on conditions.

  Example

  a well-fed hound may eventually transform into a black hound variant.

• Squad system : entities of the same faction form dynamic squads, coordinated by the Game Master. Squads can merge, split, and optimize behavior in both full and offline simulation. (For example some hounds might form a "pack" instead of staying alone)

• Tunnels : some entities use hidden tunnels in walls, floors, or ceilings to travel quickly or ambush players.

Combat & Survival Mechanics :

• New combat system : damage now uses actual hit detection (did the claw/weapon make contact or not), making dodging and blocking possible.

• Grab attacks : special “jumpscare” style moves trigger when you’re low on health or occasionally at random.

• Cooldowns : no more spammy attack loops. Entities wait and moves between strikes.

• Death states : instead of instantly ragdolling, entities can be injured, bleed out, crawl to safety, or leave behind corpses that become food for others.

• Expanded senses : vision, hearing, smell, blood scent, and light sensitivity. Some entities can detect blood trails or hide in darkness.

• Fear : weaker entities assess threats and may avoid groups, stalk from a distance, or use hit-and-run tactics.

Ecosystem :

• New passive “prey” entities

  smaller, weaker creatures that act as food sources for predators.

  Some also affect the environment (Example

  bugs/moths that poison or irradiate areas, making them dangerous to cross).

These systems will also be taken into account in the "Offline" Simulation, making the world evolve with time and creating some kind of "Natural Selection", with time, when I release enough levels and many different entities, that's when these systems will truly shine, making entities naturally migrate, evolve and create a dynamic world where some entities will find levels that are best suited for them, maybe even proliferate in some places, and being regulated by the game master and other NPCs.

For example, you might find a lot of black hounds in levels that have a lot of activity because most of them are well fed and have evolved, while you might find much less hounds in other levels that are too hot etc... Some other entities that like hot environements might settle and proliferate in level 2 for example, and all of this would happen naturally, not because I forced a specific level to spawn only these kinds of entities.

At world creation (in the beginning), the "set" of entities per level would probably be fully randomized, so these systems can do their thing, making each run unique.

The game master would also sometimes "inject" more NPCs into the simulation to stimulate the world (for example when too many entities died, to avoid making it completely empty).

Is explorer mode just going to be a huge monster fest ?

Nope, Encounters are still occasional, you won't see entities everywhere everytime, but when you do encounter them, they feel alive, The AI has routines, needs, fears, and the ability to use and change the environment around you.

And also, yes, levels are going to be much bigger for this to work, but in order to not make it too boring, I found a few solutions. (See Gameplay/settings Section)

I believe this will turn Explorer Mode into the true Survival Sandbox I was talking about, where the world evolves on its own and forces you to adapt. And combined with the surrealist and unknown environements, you will never know what is going to happen, and you'll have to learn everything by yourself, making the fear of the unknown, even more prevalent.

Is explorer mode going to be released with all these features ?

Probably not, the downsides of these systems is that they need MASSIVE testing and balancing, which takes time and effort, both for the community and myself. I believe it might be smarter to release explorer mode with only the "Casual" Difficulty, which will make the gameplay simpler and where most of these complex systems won't run (or will run partially). Maybe I will wait until more levels are released before actually letting these new systems run free, I don't know yet.

For more details, see the Settings/Difficulty Section in Gameplay below.

So, all this is pretty cool but if the gameplay doesn't follow up, it's useless.

That's why the gameplay itself has been expanded and reworked (partially) to match all these new systems.

Movements & Animations :

Movements : The Player Characters now use a client-authoritative model, which makes everything smoother in multiplayer. This reduces lag and rubber-banding cause by the peer-to-peer bandwidth overload (sorry if I'm speaking chinese right there) Simply put, Movement is now more responsive and smoother overall.

Also, moving your character around doesn't feel like steering a truck anymore.

Camera & Animations : The player animation system has been rebuilt from the ground up. Camera animations are smoother and less nauseating, eliminating a lot of these annoying jitters/parasite movements. And also eliminates that damn bug where your head clips through walls from time to time.

Contextual animations :

• Hands : The left hand now animates when interacting with the environment, touching walls, reacting to damage, opening cabinets, taking items, being blinded by a flashlight etc...

• AddedBodyNew animations have been added for states like opening the inventory or a storage, being injured, waking up, taking hard damage, being exhausted, poisoned etc...

• Contextual IK : Hands now align with the environment instead of clipping through it.

• AddedEmotesPlayers now have access to various emotes, these can be unlocked/looted in levels, though some basic ones are available from the start.

• Hand gestures : Another form of emotes, which allows communication with other players with your left hand

Proximity voice chat :

The old proximity voice chat of Seclusion was so buggy that it only worked 1/5 times and could even cause crashes or destroy your ears because of loud bugs.

The new voice chat system has been completely rewritten, offering well-spatialized voice chat aswell as radio communications and even communication on static objects (for example talk in an interphone that will play your voice somewhere in the level or at multiple places at a time) The voice chat is also perceptible by entities.

It is more robust, more optimized and works better with settings so I also added more settings for voice chat and now you don't have to go to the settings to set the right microphone everytime you launch the game.

Inventory & Items :

The inventory system hasn't really changed, but it's been expanded a little bit.

Equipments : Items can now be equipped on the body, such has headwear, protective gear, or keepsakes.

Keepsakes : Rare anomalous objects that can grant powerful bonuses and maluses (a lost feature from old Seclusion coming back)

Trading : You can now trade items with other players through a simple UI.

Also a bunch of new items have been added, I won't go into details or list them, but here are some examples so you can have an idea of the new features and gameplay possibilities :

• Caltrops & Traps

• Spray Cans : Single-use tags

• Smoke bomb

• Horn

• Glass Shards

• Bottle of blood/bile

• Whistle

• Single-Use revolver

• And much more ^^

New multiplayer mechanics :

A few new mechanics have also been added, offering more fun in multiplayer :

• Push (Push other players)

• Dragging (Drag corpses or pull stunned/downed players)

• Slapping (Yep, slap other players in the face)

• Flashlight blinding (Mess with your friends by shining your flashlight on their face, though don't worry it won't make your screen go white, just raise your left hand up making you lose visibility)

• Trading

• Player outlines (When respawning, you will see the outlines of other players for a few seconds, so you won't spend 10 minutes trying to find them)

• Revive system (When in multiplayer, instead of dying you might fall to the ground and have to crawl around until your friends come to "revive" you. This won't work in singleplayer or for fatal damage (like falling in the void or being crushed by a ceiling etc...)

Expanded Interaction :

Interaction points can now have a list of different interaction that you can cycle through with the mouse wheel or gamepad arrows.

I also added a simple building/placing system, it is pretty barebones right now but it lets you place down objects or connect two objects together with a cable etc... Might be expanded later.

Combat system :

Sooooo yep, I decided to add actual combat to Seclusion, for both Story and Explorer modes.

Combat did exist in earlier builds, and also in existing builds, but it is rough and buggy, It's now been expanded and Improved.

So if you want to hit your friend with a hammer while trying to push them into a hole, you can !

Yes, Seclusion has PvP Combat. (Kinda)

Item-Based Combat : Some items, like hammers, can be swung with left click. Holding right click charges a stronger swing. Objects can be broken (boxes, doors, etc.), and entities or players can be hit.

Like I said, it did exist before but it's now much better.

Weapons & Shields : A variety of items can be used as weapons or shields, just a few for now but more will come.

Firearms : Firearms are being introduced slowly, They are rare, ammo will be even rarer, and they're loud enough to attract every entities that are nearby. Currently, only the single-use revolver exists, but the framework for more firearms is in place, so yeah, this is gonna be an experimentation for now, and if it doesn't break the game, I might add more firearms in the future.

This combat system adds a new way to actually defend yourself instead of getting instantly whacked by everything that crosses your path, turning the game into an actual survival horror and adding a bit more depth in the gameplay instead of just running away and pushing buttons.

Survival :

Survival & Exploration has always been at the core of Seclusion : loot, resource management, and even saving are survival mechanics. Explorer Mode pushes that further with a new system :

Mental Health & Dissonance :

Mental health is a long-term hidden stat that constantly declines.

Dissonance is a kind of invisible “mental radiation” present in some areas. Without protection or keepsakes, it eats away at your sanity.

There is no visible bar. Effects creep in slowly, forcing you to pay attention to how your character reacts instead of staring at UI.

Mental health can be stabilized with food, medication, and consumables, but it’s always under pressure.

If it reaches zero, your brain breaks, and you die, transforming into a wretch. (You don’t play as the wretch, you’re just... dead I guess.)

This makes mental health management just as important as looting and resource management, but without making it feel like a constant stat check. Every action has consequences for your sanity.

Mental health is an Explorer Mode Only feature.

Vehicles :

Large levels would be tedious on foot, even boring. Soooo.... I've built a new vehicle system.

Let me introduce to you... The Jester Van !

So, it's got 5 seats with extra storage in the back.

It does consume quite a lot of fuel, it is noisy, and isn't very fast.

It might also be hard to drive at first but I believe you can do it.

Also you can still use your items while sitting in it, so if you cant to throw stuff at entities while running them over, you totally can !

For now this vehicle will be available only in level 2 (The ducts) but might be used again in other levels.

Settings & Difficulty :

Explorer Mode now includes an advanced settings tab when creating a world, giving you the ability to customize the experience in details.

Also, there are additions and modifications to the main settings menu, but we'll get to that right after.

Difficulty settings have also been reworked. Instead of splitting Intensity and Survival difficulty, everything is condensed into a single difficulty slider with clear differences :

• Casual : Smaller levels, more loot, AIs are aggressive, and the game master pushes harder, best for fun, goofing around with friends, or simple action packed coop.

• Survivalist : Larger levels, loot is rare, AIs and Game master are moderately aggressive, a balanced "default" experience.

• Explorer : Huge levels, rare loot, aggressive & smart AIs, and the game master takes a more passive role, letting the world itself punish you. This is the true Explorer Mode Experience.

Peaceful mode : Removes entities entirely for a calm exploration experience.

Hardcore Mode : Extra challenge, you have to keep your saved save tapes with you, or your world will be erased upon death.

Also,

Multiplayer respects the host’s difficulty. If your world is Casual and a Survivalist friend joins, they play Casual. If you join their Survivalist world, you play Survivalist. The game doesn’t bend to you, you bend to the world.

I believe this design makes Explorer Mode flexible for many type of players : from casual explorers to hardcore survival masochists (My favorite ones).

General Game settings :

Camera Settings :

Camera settings now have their own submenu, and more settings can be adjusted, as :

• Dynamic FOV (On/Off)

• FOV (Slider)

• Camera Shake Effects (On/Off)

• Camera Rotation Effect (On/Off)

• Post-process effects Intensity (Slider)

• Gamma (Slider)

Graphics Settings :

Some graphics settings have been modified, some removed :

• Anti-Aliasing Method (Removed)

  Patch #3 will force everyone to use FXAA by default, No TSR anymore.

  For those worried about jagged lines and terrible Aliasing, I chose to force FXAA because I am tired of using TSR or Upscaling to have a blurry mess of a game, after some experimentations, I found that using FXAA with specific settings eliminates most Jagged lines at a minimal cost.

• Removed Upscaling/Framegen techs, No FSR3 or DLSS anymore.

• Removed "Disable Lumen" And "Performance Mode"

  Disabling Lumen wasn't really serving any purpose as the game would look Hideous without it.

• Removed "Reflections Quality" as modifying this setting wouldn't change anything performance-wise.

• Removed Framerate Limit

• Removed Motion Blur Intensity setting and removed Motion Blur Altogether.

Gameplay Settings :

• Added Controller Sensitivity multiplayer, a separate modifier for the sensitivity, only applied when playing with a controller.

Input Settings :

• Revised the entire Input Configuration Menu, making it clearer and easier to use.

Audio Settings :

• Added subchannels (You can now tweak the volume of Footsteps, Entities, Ambiance etc...

• Added More VOIP Settings

New general Optimizations :

• I stopped using Lumen GI and Lumen Reflections for Story mode, and switched to a classic static baked lighting method. This will Improve performance A LOT, and even probably enhance the visual quality for everyone, making Story mode available to a larger audience, less demanding and much smoother overall.

  Lumen will still be used in Explorer Mode though.

• Most Geometry now uses an advanced instancing system, reducing draw calls by a lot, and enhancing performance overall and loading times (Story & Explorer modes) This will even affect streaming performance in story mode, reducing/eliminating most of stutters and performance losses due to map streaming.

In conclusion :

It’s taken rewrites, crashes, and a lot of painful trial and error, but the systems are now stable and finally working as intended. More importantly, they open the door to emergent gameplay that will make every run unique.

This devlog was long, but I think Explorer Mode now has a clear, definitive direction. I’m excited to finally share it again after months of silence, and I’d love to hear your thoughts, what you like, what you’d tweak, what you want to see next.

Seclusion is still alive. And Explorer Mode will soon be ready to devour you.

See you soon... In between the walls.