It’s been an exciting week with the latest 5-day playtest recently coming to an end. The team has been thrilled to see old and new players enjoying the game again, experiencing the new content and systems, and giving some great feedback! If you played in the playtest and have feedback, please send it to us via the Steambirds Alliance Discord here or on the feedback forum thread, if you have access.
This is also a good time to point out that the forums will be closing soon, but the community lives on strong on Discord. You can find more info on this here.
Although the team would have loved to just play the game with all you feathered folks during the entire playtest, we have been hard at work on the game…
Art
In art, construction has finished on Meowza’s throne room, the fearsome Empress’ awaits in those halls command her workers to pump coal and fine tune her lazer gun. The Rebel Bird’s new pirate class is getting some blueprints drawn up, and in the process we’re learning it’s a bit more of a Bandit. In other dual-stick class news the non-mechs, such as the quad, are getting a generic rig so we can give them some simple animations and add more interest to the way they move. Last but not least, the UI to the game received some updates and polish, with more to come in the future after the feedback from the playtest!
Quests
- Hotkeys to cycle active quest (-) or toggle quest log (=)
- Updated quest UI to better differentiate complete goals from incomplete with a green checkmark and some text (de-)styling
- Deployed “Fuel Depot,” a setpiece quest where you blow up gas filled tanks while dodging bullets from many turrets
- Deployed “Coin Heist,” a setpiece quest where you break into an armed facility by killing guards in corridors and hacking doorways.
- Deployed “The Mine,” a setpiece quest where you dig through rocks while fighting a variety of enemies and ambushes
- Triggered quests: quests can be assigned to players even if nobody has them, and everyone gets the same triggered quest if it is recent enough.
Other
- Enemy launch pod animation, so new enemies can rocket into the action!
- Teleport has been tweaked slightly. You’ll probably notice the black screen when you teleport, but it should also fix the long-standing bug that allowed players to clip through walls.
- New health boost item with multiple charges and a quick use key (H)
- Store fixes and improvements for the playtest
- Workaround for black-screen issue when choosing the quad from 1st choice menu: the quad is always unlocked
- Many tiny bug fixes and improvements for the playtest