Titan City

Over the past few months I've been hammering out more game mechanics and polishing existing elements to try to make the Titan City Demo a more polished experience. Having said that there is a huge amount of changes that have been made so prepare yourself.
Of all the things that have undergone an extensive re-haul, there are still some areas that the community has voiced concerns about that I have yet to implement in this update. The main quest lines and story still need work, and the combat system outside of the web needs more flare. In this update I tried to approach the quest lines a bit more, but still need to work direction. I have been working on combat mechanics and ideas for Street Combat, but haven't implemented them yet. This will be where I place my attention for the next update. If all things go as planned then Street Combat will have much more depth in the types of enemies encountered and what kind of actions they use in combat.
In the mean time here are some patch notes for today's update:

Due to extensive changes in the game, old saves will be broken for players. It is reccommended that if you download the update that you start from the begining.

Patch Notes
Attunement: players need to attune to their cybermodems to receive benefits and to upgrade a modem. Players can only be attuned to one cybermodem at a time.

1. First players will now have to become 'Attuned' to the cyberdeck that they want to use. The story for this in the game will be to ensure that players don't suffer feedback and negative effects for hacking with a new cyberdeck system that isn't ready to work with their biometrics and brainwave patterns. It's fancy lingo stuff that basically says your gonna hurt yourself if you don't do this. Here is a breakdown of 'Attunement'.

A. Attunement is free and available at chop docs and hospitals all over Titan City.
B. You can only be attuned to one cyberdeck at a time.
C. There is no limit to the number of times you can be attuned.
D. To attune yourself to a cyberdeck you must first un-equip it and have it in your inventory.
E. You don't have to be attuned to a cyberdeck to upgrade it, but you will not receive the upgrade effects to that cyberdeck unless you are attuned to it.
F. You do not have to have a cyberdeck equipped to hack with it.
G. A player can hack without being attuned but will suffer massive penalties.
H. A cyberdeck can only be upgraded if you own one and it is in your inventory.

2. You will be able to upgrade 3 different components to a cyberdeck.

A. CPU Cores: each core will add +3 to damage output in web combat
B. FireWalls: Each FireWall will add +1 to defense in web combat
C. HardDrive: Each improvement to a HardDrive will increase the number of files you can download during a run by +1.



With the final note on HardDrives I have also completed work on how many files a player can download during a blitz. For example: The NextTech Modem 1-101 has a starting HardDrive value of 5. Its max HardDrive value can be 7. This means that at its top performance I will only be able to download 7 files during the course of a blitz (files include: Data File Nodes, Blue Data File Nodes, Encrypted
Data File Nodes, and RAM Nodes at this time.). During some blitzes a player will be able to download all the files in the mainframe in one run, for others the player will be required to log out of the mainframe (the files will automatically be converted and the HardDrive wiped clean) and return to retrieve the rest of the information. So get out there and upgrade that cyberdeck chum.


-Added a new blitz: The 11th random blitz highlights a majority of the programs a hacker can come across in the web. (The Demom is the only program not in any blitz's at this moment)

Here is a breakdown of new/improved programs and skill that shows how they act in the web:

-new web enemies: Bloodhound - bloodhound uses a trace program to find the players origin of connection and closes it which forces the player out of the web. Leaving a run allows a system to reboot itself which means defeated program will reappear. Accessed nodes are not affected by this sudden dump.
-new program skill: Mask - Masks the users internet connections making it harder to trace. adds time to trace clock.
-new program skill: Malware Away 1.0 - Returns the player to normal walking speed in the web.
-New skill costs: Further work on skill development. Skills now cost a number of IP equal the level you wish to attain. (I.E. Level 2 handguns will cost 2 IP)
-Removed bows, crossbows, and melee skill tree
-Heavy Weapons are now called Chain Guns
-weapon skills have been remodeled. Each individual weapon skill type now has 10 trainable skills. Up from 5 each and no longer increase damage output. Instead each time a specific weapon skill is trained the player gains a new skill to
use in combat that is tied specifically to that weapon type (some of the more powerful skill tree abilities can be used no matter what weapon the player has equipped)
-Added new skill trees: Light Weapons, Medium Weapons, Heavy Weapons, hand to hand, Edged Weapons
Light weapons: will grant +3 damage to hand guns and machine guns for each level
Medium Weapons: will grant +3 damage to Rifles and Shotguns/level
Heavy Weapons: will grant +3 damage to Sniper Rifles, Chain Guns, and Energy Weapons
Hand to Hand: Grants +5 damage with brawling and Kung fu skills
Edged Weapon's: grants +3 damage with Swords, throwing knives and throwing stars
-Made Hammer Turf accessible. This area is still under development, but highly functioning.
-Prophet turn is accessible. This area is still under heavy development.
-reduced the number of encounters in some System Mainframes.
-improvements made with sleeping in the bed and automatic payments made for rent. You're keycard will now properly deactivate if you can't pay for rent. If you so choose you can return to the Safe House and reactivate your keycard by renting a room again once you have the money.
-changed the icon for the Format Skill
-removed 'Reflect' ability from CPU AI in Web Combat
-system message from using format displays correctly
-fixed bugs with weapon skill trees not properly linked to their weapon types.
-player is sent to the proper opening sequence when creating their own character
-fixed bug that was not properly displaying the level of skill training with light, medium, heavy weapon skills during character creation
-fixed a possible bug that could allow the player to leave an area after they reset their character points without distributing the points
-more houses/map are accessible in Neutral territory, but not entirely fleshed out.
-programs have specific abilities/functions
-hound/pitbull - Attack program (Random/engages Player) -Staight forward attack programs.
-ICE - Defense program (Fixed) -ICE programs put debuffs on the player to lessen their effectiveness.
-Demon - Defense program (Fixed) -They are capable of uploading additional programs to help in fights.
-AI - Core (Fixed) -A.I.'s are the core behind a system mainframe. Taking it down results in severe breakdown in system defenses.
-Bloodhound - Utility program (Patrol/engages player) -Can trace the hackers origin of call and disconnect them from the mainframe.
-Phantom - Assassin Program (Random/engages player) -Hard to see with high initial attack strength programs
-Reaper - Attack program (Random/engages Player) -Can summon either Attack or Defense programs
-Worm - Defense program (Fixed) -Will delete information from players hard drive the have acquired during their hacking run. easy = cheapest items. medium = random. hard = most expensive items
-Shaman - Defense program (Summoned) -Reconstructs other programs. removes debuffs. weak with high healing effects
-Patron - Defense program (Summoned) -Creates barriers to protect other programs
-Warlock - Attack program (Patrol/engages Player) -Centers on putting debuffs on the player to weaken/kill them in combat.
-Watchdog - Attack Program (Patrol/engages Player) -Watchdogs are programs used to defend more sensitive data and are mainly attack programs that replicate themselves to overwhelm hackers.
-Operators - Coming Soon! -Equivilant of police for the Web
-Hackers - Coming Soon! -Pit your skills against other hackers from Titan City.
-Due to an increase in difficulty to hacking more escape options have been given to all fights that occur in the web. This was not always available.
-Revised the options given to the player for certain hacking programs to automatically call on the best software available instead of listing all options.
-Revised CodeGate function when hacking. Codegates no longer have power levels. Instead the Codebreaker software used to take down Codegates have power levels. The higher the level of your codebreaker software the more codegates you can remove within a system at a time.
-The -Interface- Skill set is now always accessible. The skills will only work in the Web, but now players can see what software they have to help with their purchasing decisions.
-Made a number of changes to quest lines and dialogues to improve the main story line.
-Added some random quests in Joker territory that will become available after a certain portion of the main quest line has been completed.
-Fixed a bug at the start of the game that prevented players from using web based attacks while hacking into the security door.
-Fixed a bug that turned the screen black if you left the prison facility before completing the quest inside.
-minor map improvements
-a number of tweaks to player skills. I should have kept better track of what I did. Sorry, there were a lot of changes. Most were a reduction to skill costs with an increase to skill functionality in some form. In some cases it was to fix bugs and/or make skills work as intended.
-Added a vendor that will sell a variety of programs. He becomes available as you progress through the main story and remains available after your first meeting with him in Neutral Territory.
-Safety Protocals are now active! - A new player program is available called SledgeHammer. SledgHammer offers the player a chance to retrieve data from nodes without a fight. Be warned, if the attempt fails safety protocals will be activated and the Worm program will seek out the player. During these fights
the worm randomly attempts to delete files that you have downloaded from the current mainframe.
-Ronin program is now active! - Ronin is a program that helps the player during web combat. It acts as a player and has its own set of skills and stats. Ronin lasts until the end of combat or it is derezzed. (other versions of this program are in the works)
-Players can now track their reputation with factions in the menu via - Repuation
-Special thanks to KeanesPark for his contribution in making animated sprites for the web nodes.