[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//38973288/a29bf005f5db9e0d5de1f9416f2ebda20508886f.png[/img] Hello everyone, we've released a build you can opt into to play combat in co-op! Before I dive into the details: a big thanks to those in our Discord community who have helped playtest co-op thus far, a lot of the revisions and bug-fixes have been a direct result of your feedback. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//38973288/88b703a77aa61b72ab08fa1b6531bf1e88d306da.png[/img] The Combat Co-op Technical Test (which is a mouthful, but an accurate description) is designed for you to help us put combat co-op through its paces and stress how it performs to a larger audience - and have fun while doing so :) If you wish to play it, right-click the game in your Library and select "Properties", followed by "Betas". In the drop down list, select "[b]cooptest - Public Co-op Playtesting[/b]" and you should see the branch name appear next to the game in Steam. Once you're playing, the bottom-right of the main menu should display a build ID "[b]Co-op Playtest 0.7.25115[/b]" (or higher) Some important information to read before diving in: [list] [*]This is for combat only - [b]the full campaign co-op is in progress and will be released in a future test[/b]. [*]The demo takes the form of two levels that are randomly selected when you play: an updated Mess Hall and Logistics, which outside of playtests you wouldn't have seen before. We've picked these levels because between them they cover most level systems (death pits, venting, overhead cranes that drop explosive crates) [*]The co-op front end menus are very minimal at the moment, they test the underlying code which is the most important thing, and the proper menus will follow along with the full campaign co-op test. [*]This doesn't use your main game profile and saves, so it won't impact your campaign playthroughs. It's never a bad idea to back up your saves though! [*]The "Find Game" option is essentially Matchmaking and is for open play with strangers. [*]The "Private Game" option is for you to host. Choose the "Invite Friend" option to invite someone on your friends list who owns SENTRY to play with you. I've put the game on discount this week so you can tell your friends now is an ideal time to jump in :) [*]The in-game voice chat has settings to change. If you're using an external source like Discord you may want to switch off the in-game chat otherwise you'll hear it twice. [*]If one person disconnects, the other will too. In the full campaign it'll be different because there'll always be a host, so if the client disconnects the host will continue playing their campaign. [*]As this is a beta, please report any bugs/feedback in the [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1252680/discussions/0/]dedicated Steam forum[/url] or on our Discord. [/list] Oh, and because this is a standalone test please don't focus too much on the difficulty as the context of the full campaign matters a lot! It's why we're referring to this as a "Technical Test" - we want to know about bugs, or anything you feel that is missing from the experience (for example, one thing on our to-do list is to add a log so you know when your partner dies etc). We know that having standalone combat gameplay modes outside of a campaign is a highly requested feature, and we're planning on those modes being added at the end of Early Access. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//38973288/3c5c57ef9b7808d5336d601fa75e9410d29fca25.png[/img] As it's the end of the month, I thought I'd wrap our usual Dev Transmission into this post too - so here's what other stuff we've been doing in October: [list] [*]A new level called Storage: [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//38973288/780f5fefcf3daecbf4f07ff6e3f366c490ef6223.png[/img] [*]Tweaks from feedback on the recent new or updated levels and arting up those changes [*]The co-op test build is a snapshot of our latest changes, so it’ll have picked up a bunch of weapon and deployable balancing changes Sean has been making [*]You’ll also see that the early start bonus is gone. This was making people feel too under pressure, but will probably make an appearance in a new ship type for those that want it [*]There has also been some enemy balancing tweaks, with a lowered chance of soldier enemies throwing grenades. There's still a chance that grenade spam can happen, but it should be less frequent now (as much as I know some of you love “GRENADEGRENADEGRENADEGRENADE”…) [*]The Storm Warden’s hand cannon now has unique audio (it was previously using the alien shotgun sound effect) [*]With our sole programmer being wrapped up in co-op, Alex has been concepting up some future deployables and enemies to get ahead on future content – I’d love to show them as they’re very cool, however I don’t want to get ahead of myself quite yet just in case they don’t make the cut for whatever reason :) [/list] [h3]A retweeting favour to ask[/h3] I don’t normally ask for this sort of thing, but as we’ve been nominated for an award and I was writing this post anyway I figured why not? [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//38973288/ea36c9f17b36e45eeeaae77361c277ffcbcdade6.jpg[/img] Anyway – the award is essentially a popularity contest and as we’re the only self-published game in it I’d love to stick it to the games that have big teams and publishers (just kidding, I have buddies at those studios). Simply quote tweet [url=https://x.com/GUGamesFest/status/1851960171813130295]this post[/url] with the text: “[b]I vote for SENTRY to win the @gugamesfest Players’ Choice Award at #ggAwards24[/b]” Much appreciated! [h3]From the Community![/h3] We’ll finish off this post with some cool stuff from the community. Steam user Grinnij created their own render of the P9: [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//38973288/ab6b4bb55295789a3df3e4e22ef66fc6f30a27dc.jpg[/img] We always get a kick out of seeing this sort of thing, so please flag any fan art you see on your travels! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//38973288/3c5c57ef9b7808d5336d601fa75e9410d29fca25.png[/img] Feedback is incredibly important in improving the game, so please keep it coming! You can reach us on all these places: [list] [*][url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1252680/discussions/1/]Steam forums[/url] [*][url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6FGX1jCxMUqdlB_d6KsztQ]YouTube[/url] [*][url=https://twitter.com/FirebladeSoft]Twitter[/url] [*][url=https://www.facebook.com/FirebladeSoftware]Facebook[/url] [*][url=https://www.tiktok.com/@firebladesoftware]TikTok[/url] [*][url=https://www.instagram.com/firebladesoftware/]Instagram[/url] [*][url=https://discord.com/invite/TsHGWHquEH]Discord[/url] [*][url=https://sentrygame.com/newsletter]Newsletter signup[/url] [/list] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//38973288/3c5c57ef9b7808d5336d601fa75e9410d29fca25.png[/img] Thanks for the support, while we’re keen to resume work on the full campaign co-op, if there’s anything particularly urgent that crops up we’ll update the combat test build and let you know. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//38973288/d72b3dc65d188dfeb26c93a6e943e6e4a21274d0.png[/img]