Attention, All Personnel!
And welcome to our 12th Site-02 Transmission!
In this post, we will be revealing the progress we have made on 15.0 and what we have left before we can launch the much-anticipated beta and full release later this year.
This post goes over in order:
- Devlog #7
- Surface Zone
- SCP-953
- Misc Improvements
- Tutorialisation
- What is left before the beta
We invite you to read further, as we have much to cover in this report.
Devlog #7
Before we dive in, we have released a developer log on our YouTube channel that discusses what has happened between now and February involving the Surface Zone (SZ) rework, SCP 953, and other features in development.
Surface Zone
Since our last post about Surface Zone in February of this year, SZ has become almost unrecognisable from its current brutalist design found in-game.
The Surface Zone will retain its identity as a clandestine research facility operated by the SCP Foundation in the remote reaches of Greenland. It will also remain a persistent zone, possessing an identical layout in each and every round of Secret Lab. Surface Zone still contains spawn points for the military factions of Secret Lab (Site-02’s Mobile Task Force and Chaos Insurgency militants) whilst also being where the civilian factions must go to escape from the underground horrors roaming throughout the rest of Site-02.
However, Surface Zone has also gone through several updates to enhance the zone’s identity and place within the game.
In order to reinforce the atmosphere of Site-02 being an isolated research facility, Surface Zone has been majorly reworked to feature ambient weather effects, including a light snowstorm that covers the entire map. In addition, the skybox has been overhauled to be more realistic by featuring a crescent moon, dynamic stars which flicker in the night sky, the Milky Way spanning the length of the skybox, and other observable phenomenon for players to discover. All of these features have been extensively tested to ensure there is no significant impact upon performance for all players, whilst the snow’s presence and visuals are both subject to player feedback.
As part of the Surface Zone update, all of the buildings present across the map have been overhauled to improve their cohesion with aesthetic changes made across Site-02’s facilities.
Gate A
Gate A is now a decrepit office building which once saw better days in the Foundation’s past. The interior is filled with cramped and narrow hallways, exterior stairwells leading between Gate A’s floors, and offices which require careful navigation by players. All of these features feed into the desire to create a more dynamic and fast-paced environment for players to engage with. Additionally, multiple service elevators are now present throughout Gate A, facilitating quick movement between Surface Zone and the subterranean levels of the Entrance Zone.
Gate B
Gate B has been updated to be more cohesive with the updates present across Site-02’s interior. Even so, attention was exercised to ensure that it remains visually distinct from the grim, industrial aesthetic found throughout Heavy Containment Zone (HCZ). In direct contrast to Gate A, the new Gate B comprises an abandoned storage warehouse featuring a more open, expansive area where careful and deliberate gameplay is encouraged. The service elevator is covered by a large blast door capable of withstanding a possible nuclear explosion and leads to a unique entrance room connecting to the rest of Site-02’s interior.
Garage
The Vehicle Service Station squats between Gate A and Gate B, placed to interrupt lines of sight between the paired structures and provides an obstacle for the players that are inclined to immediately advance toward the gates.. Strategically positioned between the main road, Gate A, and Gate B, it serves to allow players breathing room before they head deeper into the facility.
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SCP-953
Implementation
Implementation of Secret Lab's next playable SCP has been progressing well, and she is finally reaching a playable state.
SCP-953’s model has been fully implemented into the game, which also includes an Inverse Kinematics (IK) system, similar to that of human classes. This allows outside observers to be able to see her looking around without her whole model turning at once.
SCP-953 is not the only SCP to receive this, as SCP-939 has been updated to utilise this system as well. In addition to IK, 953’s hair and tails have been given their own physics. Both of these features will allow SCP-953 to appear much more natural while moving around Site-02.
SCP-953 also has different voice lines depending on the situation she finds herself in. Due to her background, she will speak exclusively in Korean. As such, subtitles will not be provided to humans, so deciphering what she says will prove difficult (unless, of course, they speak Korean).
SCP-953’s Containment Chamber (CC)
For those of you who have read our post about SCP-953, you will be aware that she does not spawn in the same way as her teammates.
Despite that, she still needed to be contained somewhere before the breach occurred. Like her fellow SCPs, her containment chamber is located within Heavy Containment Zone. It is situated in a similar fashion to SCP-939’s CC, being in a corner room.
The containment chamber has two levels: an upper level on the same level as the rest of HCZ which contains a research and armoury section, and a lower floor that requires a short elevator ride to reach and is where SCP-953 is meant to be contained.
Multiple shelves filled with kennels line the hallway that lead to her chamber, as per her Special Containment Procedures.
Conclusion
If you would like to learn more about SCP-953’s different abilities and unique mechanics, you can read up on them on our Steam post that was released a couple months ago.
Misc Improvements
Phones
The landline phones present in the facility finally have a purpose!
You can interact with these phones by either ringing the other phones or joining an already-active call. The landlines are now present in almost every major room, including EZ Checkpoints, Containment Chambers, the Alpha Warhead Silo, and many more locations.
The phones are not limited to human use. Any SCP can interact with a phone to either join or start a call, and some even have unique interactions.
Weapon Improvements
Weapons are receiving general adjustments and immersive details. The visual recoil shake has been reduced significantly, which will help in maintaining aim profiles and reduce frustration due to visual clutter.
Several scopes’ zoom multipliers have been decreased to better suit the situations they will be used in. The current telescopic scope is mainly only viable on the current SZ where it is a long, straight, and open road. Night vision scopes will also have increased saturation, which will improve visual clarity while using them.
A new detail being added to guns is that empty magazines and ejected shotgun shells will now drop onto the floor when the player reloads.
For those worried about performance, fear not. The magazines are client-side only, so any new players joining will not see the magazines previously dropped by players. There is also a soft limit to how many magazines will spawn at one time, with the oldest ones above the limit decaying over the course of a few seconds.
Radios
Radios are receiving a change as well. Instead of having four different ranges, they will only have two. Short range, which is the equivalent of the current “medium range”, and long range, the equivalent of the current “ultra range”.
In addition to the range modification, you are now able to increase or decrease the volume of radios simply by scrolling the mouse wheel.
PEARS 5 Additions
PEARS 5 was a playtest held earlier this year where we overhauled the early game of SCP:SL. While none of those changes are guaranteed to be implemented into the game, some of the smaller and well-received changes will appear in Megapatch III:
- The SCP item limit for humans has been reduced from three SCPs to two.
- Human slow walk speed has been increased to 2.3 m/s from 1.6 m/s (for comparison, walking is 3.9 m/s & sprinting is 5.4 m/s).
- The Chaos Insurgency footstep volume and range has been altered to match that of the MTF’s footsteps. Note that the sound effects remain the same, but the range you can hear them has been equalised.
- A new security office is being added to the side room of PT-00 in LCZ, locked behind a Containment Tier 2 door. Inside of the room, a Research Supervisor keycard will spawn as well as an instance of SCP-500. The Zone Manager keycard has been moved onto a table further in the room.
- Scientists will now spawn exclusively in checkpoints. In addition to this, a Facility Guard spawn has been replaced with a Scientist spawn. As an example, in a match of three people, there will now be one Class D, one SCP, and one Scientist instead of one Class D, one SCP, and one Guard.
- Keycards have been given descriptions that describe what their specific uses are, which will help newer players understand its purpose.
- Elevator C has been added in LCZ. Light Containment will now have a third elevator system to leave the zone.
- A new room, VT-01, has been added to LCZ. This room resembles an older variant of VT-00, having the plants on both sides of the hallway.
- LCZ has been given closet rooms on some curved hallways and three-way intersections. These rooms can have lockers, medical cabinets, and weapon workstations inside of them, as well as provide a hiding place for humans.
Tutorialisation
Main Menu
A feature for 15.0 that we have been silently working on in the background is an updated User Interface(UI) and Main Menu.
(Content for Showcase Purposes & Does Not Reflect the Final Product)
The current game’s UI has not been touched in almost 6 years and has been found to be inconsistent. A critical detriment is it being unintuitive by opening poorly formatted news pages with outdated socials.
(Content for Showcase Purposes & Does Not Reflect the Final Product)
Furthermore, the main menu is difficult for programming, restricting the amount of features we can add to the menu in a reasonable timeframe.
(Content for Showcase Purposes & Does Not Reflect the Final Product)
The new main menu, however, is designed to be easy to understand along with better functionality. A noticeable change is the addition of animated backgrounds to the menu. While Acroamatic Abatement is shown here, we have the ability to set it dynamically to change the location depending on the update.
Hints
The hints system is a new feature we have developed to assist new players in understanding core mechanics of our game without needing to rely on a dedicated tutorial.
It also allows us to add contextual hints for certain scenarios such as upon dying in a specific way e.g., to a tesla gate or when encountering a specific room/item.
We also plan on expanding this feature over time, but for now we are happy to debut it in Megapatch III.
Outlines
One feature that we believe a lot of players will appreciate is the addition of item outlines and SCP outlines.
These outlines provide more visual feedback for the players and will appear whenever you hover over an item that can be picked up. SCPs are also able to utilize these outlines by way of their teammates’ outlines being visible through walls.
Certain SCPs will also see outlines when humans are under status effects, such as SCP-049 seeing an outline around a human who has Cardiac Arrest or SCP-106 seeing an outline for the Corroding effect.
These outlines will hopefully allow for better communication and feedback for players, especially for those without a microphone.
What is Left Before the Beta
The highly anticipated Private Beta for Megapatch III is rapidly approaching, but before we can launch the beta, there are steps we need to take first in order for the game to be fully playable.
These include:
- Surface Zone needs to be fully connected into the game. This means fixing any collision issues and connecting it to Entrance Zone by the lifts.
- Gates A and B in Entrance Zone need to be implemented in their greybox state.
- SCP-953 needs some of its final abilities to be implemented and to be fully tested for any gamebreaking issues.
- Some final tweaks need to be made to the main menu to ensure that it is all in working order for the beta.
With all that being said, we are confident that the beta will launch around early November. More information on how the private beta will proceed and when it will launch will be shared later.
Final Notes
Thank you for reading this Site-02 Transmission and for sticking with us! Megapatch III has been a huge undertaking for the team with almost a year and a half of dedication to reach this milestone. We are in the final stretch now, and as we move into the betas and eventual full release this year, we will continue to update you on further progress and developments.
But until next time, see you in the dark.
- Northwood Studios
