Escape: Sierra Leone

[Asid]

First Update of the New Year! Build 0.5.2.3.
Community Announcements - Slayer_2

Happy New Year everyone, here's the first of many patches in 2017! See the change log below for more information. Let me know what you think about the new AK-47 sound effect!

Change Log

•   NEW FEATURE: Field of View slider in the Visual Settings tab that allows you to set the player FOV from 70 to 110 degrees (default is 90).
•   Added the new real AK-47 SFX into the game. Let me know how you like it.
•   Reduced the volume of enemy weapon SFX at range. Previously it didn't start dropping off till about 60 meters, now it drops off any point past 10 meters.
•   Reduced all gun recoil amounts. Some are reduced as much as half, others around 10-40% lower.
•   Greatly reduced the range you can hear bullet impact SFX from. Was about 100 meters, not about 20 meters.
•   Now the invert mouse feature affects the cameras in the boat and humvee. Wasn't sure what to do with the camera for the heli since it's already inverted and tied to the controls.
•   Nested the weapon code and did some cleanup that should very slightly improve performance.
•   Fixed an issue where enemy AI might lose track of you, particularly in a vehicle, even if you were right in front of them.
•   Fixed a bug where you could hear a rattle sound if you walked while entering a humvee.
•   Fixed a possible issue where it may be possible to drown while in a boat, even while it's about the surface of the water.
•   Fixed a bug where you could hear a rattle sound if you walked while entering a helicopter.
•   Reduced the walk rattle volume by about 40%, hopefully it's less annoying now.
•   Fixed various tree collision assets.

[Asid]

Version 0.5.2.4 Uploaded!
13 JANUARY - SLAYER_2

Hello everyone, it's been just over a month since Escape: Sierra Leone released as Early Access, and I'd like to thank everyone who got on board early and helped support the project. Your feedback has been invaluable in shaping the project into what it's becoming now. To that end, I have a shiny new update with some highly requested features and fixes. See the full log below!


Change Log

•   NEW FEATURE: Upon starting a new game on Easy or Normal difficulties, you start with some supplies in your inventory.
•   NEW FEATURE: Loot crates that are washed up on the beach and will provide you with a few small loot items to help keep you alive (they will only provide these if you are in a bad way). If you're in good shape with lots of supplies, they'll be empty. They also restock after a random amount of time.
•   Greatly improved the brightness of the sniper scope. Now you can actually use it during dawn/dusk.
•   I tweaked the start values of the player stats. Depending on your difficulty setting, you'll start a new game with different levels of calories, hydration, and mental state.
•   Fixed a bug which allowed you to open the ammo case while in the inventory.
•   Added some more loot to some of the outlying islands.
•   Fixed a bug where you needed 100L of fuel to escape in a boat, instead of the 90L it should be (three quarters of a tank).
•   Fixed an illusive bug that would duplicate a picked up item. This would only happen after you'd unloaded a gun's ammo with a full inventory.
•   Fixed a bug where you could starve to death/dehydrate while in the initial main menu if you idled the game extensively, this would cause a host of issues.
•   Now if you flip a boat, the engine will stall and won't start until you get out and right it. No more submarine-ing.
•   Fixed a bug where the water level in the Water Catcher wouldn't update after drinking or refilling bottles, so it would look full despite being empty.
•   Fixed an issue where you could move the player while rebinding keys in the initial main menu. This would let you potentially drown the player, trigger the Early Access message, or other annoying bugs.
•   Changed the sounds of weapons chambered in 7.62x51mm (M40A1 sniper rifle and the G3A3 battle rifle). They are replaced with the real deal recordings.
•   Changed the SKS firing sound to the new real SKS rifle sound.
•   Added an on screen message when you right a boat that has been flipped over.

[Asid]

Version 0.5.2.5 Is Live!
Community Announcements - Slayer_2

Hey everyone, happy Thursday! I have another patch for you. A couple cool new features and tweaks, most importantly are the binoculars, which will hopefully prevent people from having to use the sniper scope to scout areas.

Also, while I have everyone here, do players playing on Easy find the enemy AI too challenging, too dumb, or a happy middle that is satisfactory? If you're playing on Normal or Hard you clearly want a challenge, so this doesn't really apply to you.

The full change log is below:

Change Log

•   NEW ITEM: Binoculars. These can be found around the world (a new game start is required for them to appear). They allow you to zoom in 4-12X and scout areas from a safe distance. They also have a rangefinder built in that you can use with the Fire button. They are small enough to fit in the backpack and have a much more clear visual than the sniper scope.
•   NEW FEATURE: You can now bring up the quick map while driving a humvee or fishing boat. I didn't add this to the attack heli as it would probably prove fatally distracting most of the time.
•   There are no longer any enemy APC's when playing on Easy mode. You will need to start a new game for this to take effect.
•   Greatly reduced the amount of shots it takes to destroy door locks. Used to be somewhat random, now there is a whole health system that means the maximum it should take is 10 small caliber shots, but it could takes as little as 4. High caliber weapons like the G3A3 or .50 cal will blow the handles off with one shot.
•   Added backpack full warning messages when trying to pick up stackable items, previously these only appeared for single stack items.
•   Added a new sound for the mounted M2 browning .50 cal machineguns. Let me know how you like it. I think it could be better, but getting the real gun to record is hard, haha.
•   Increased the torch light radius by 4x, should be a lot more useful now.
•   Fixed a bug where refilling canteens from a water catcher didn't actually take any water.
•   Reduced the number of sound channels for automatic weapon fire from 16 to 8, should give slightly better FPS during sustained automatic fire.
•   Fixed a bug where certain large slot items didn't display in the workbench "Item in Hand" box.
•   Added an on-screen warning message when a player attempts to light a torch without matches in their inventory.
•   Fixed a bug where a strap for MAC-10 would sometimes appear, it shouldn't show ever.
•   Added an on-screen warning message when players attempt to use the quickmap function without a map in their inventory.
•   Tweaked the workbench model to look less like it has useable items on it, and more like a messy workbench with a variety of tools and supplies.
•   Fixed a bug where one deer was stuck and would run in place, unable to move.

[Asid]

Version 0.5.3.0 Is Live!
30 JANUARY

This update, I've been working on overhauling the AI system with the focus of making them less accurate on easier difficulties and making the morale system affect their aim even more. Another big feature worth noting is the addition of a new difficulty setting "Pacifist" that removes enemy AI from the game, for those who want to explore without being shot at. Also, the lockpicking mechanic has also been simplified quite a lot on Easy mode. Read more details below.


Change Log
•   The AI system has been overhauled to tweak a few critical areas. The enemy accuracy has been drastically reduced, particularly on Easy and Normal difficulties. The AI aiming system is now based more on the enemy morale than on sheer luck, although it is still a combination of both. With the 0% morale, the enemy point of aim (POA) will be off target by up to 10 meters on Easy, 6 meters on Normal, and 4 meters on Hard. Previously these values were 8, 5, and 3 respectively. The biggest change regarding accuracy is regarding when the enemies are close to 100% morale. Previously it was a flat 0.2 meter spread for their POA (regardless of difficulty), now it's 1.2 on Easy, 0.8 on Normal and 0.5 on Hard.

•   Enemy AI now gain morale at different rates dependent on your difficulty setting. On Easy they gain half the morale per shot fired that they used to, and on Hard they gain 50% more per shot. Normal is unchanged.

•   New difficulty mode: Pacifist. This removes all enemy AI from the world, but increases the hydration and calorie drain by 50% over Normal. This is good for people who want to explore without getting shot at, or who want to get the basics of the game down in a more safe and forgiving environment.

•   When playing on Easy or Pacifist mode, lockpicking is now significantly easier (the tension side of the minigame is removed). REQUIRES A NEW GAME START TO TAKE EFFECT.

•   Fixed a bug where having a sniper rifle in your vehicle would create odd visual artifacts on the vehicle's texture.

•   Added a warning message when attempting to refill a boat with the wrong fuel, hopefully this helps reduce confusion with newer players.

[Asid]

Version 0.5.3.1 Is Online Now!
Community Announcements

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the delay with this build, I was in Hawaii for a week so it took a little longer than usual. Anyhow, I'm back on my grind now, and I just uploaded the latest and greatest version. The feature I'm most proud of here is a small, but key one: gradual increases in health, calories, or hydration when using a medkit or food item. Instead of instantly applying like they used to, it now takes several minutes for the full effects of food, drink, or meds to hit your player. There are also now lanterns at every safehouse that you can craft fuel for and light with a match. Read the full change log below!

Change Log

•   NEW ITEM: The lantern. These can be found in each safehouse, they can be lit using a match and consume a small amount of fuel. You can craft the fuel at the workbench. This should help make your safehouse more useable during dark nights. A new save game is required for them to show up.
•   NEW CRAFTABLE ITEM: Lantern Fuel. This can be crafted at the workbench with 0.5L of fuel and 500mL of motor oil. One tub of fuel is good for about 24 hours of light.
•   Completely overhauled the food, drinks, and medical items. They now apply their effects over time. No more instant healing or calorie gain when using an item. It adds up slowly over time. The same applies for becoming sick from dirty food/water.
•   Some food/water/medicine values have been tweaked.
•   Added a new feature where your health will regen if it's less than full, but greater than 70%. However, you need to have at least 85% of both calories and hydration for this to happen, and it does consume quite a lot of each. This is to simulate healing from small injuries over time, without having to waste a first aid kit on it.
•   Updated a couple of the item descriptions to be more accurate and fixed some grammar issues.
•   Changed some items use sound effects from 2D to 3D environmentally effected sounds.
•   Added a lot more matches to the world, so you won't have to be so stingy with them. Note that a new save will be required to see this change.
•   Tripled the volume of the sound for using antibiotics.
•   Tweaked some HUD warning messages to be more helpful.

[Asid]

Big News, 0.6.0.0 Now Live!
Community Announcements - Slayer_2

Hello everyone,

I've been busy working away on 0.6.0.0 over the past two weeks. I wasted nearly half that time trying to update the game engine from 4.13 to 4.14, but sadly it was crashing too much to be used. This means achievements are gonna have to wait even longer until I can figure this out.

Now the good news, there are a lot of huge changes in this version. You can check out the change log below if you want to see them all, but what I'm most excited about is laying the foundation for a fishing system that will allow the player to go fishing. Note that this is not in the 0.6.0.0 build, but it will be coming in the next patch. For now there are some pretty new schools of fish to look at. Also, from now on I'm doing all builds without packing the files, which allows for much faster update times, and also for mod support (something I'm a big supporter of). It also is one more step to me going completely DRM free, which is another goal of mine.

Now the downside of the update, it is a fair size at about 2GB. Also your old save games may not work. I recommend starting a new game to enjoy all the new features and fixes.

Change Log

•   NEW FEATURE: I changed the build settings for the game. Now the files are unpacked, which I think should allow modding/user content. Note there is no workshop support for this yet, but it will be coming eventually. Another big upside is that updates will now be far quicker, as before they took forever because the .pak file had to be edited.
•   NEW FEATURE: you can now pour gas from one canister to another by looking at them and holding left mouse button.
•   NEW FEATURE: when you get too sick you start coughing, which creates noise and can give away your position.
•   NEW FEATURE: added a bunch of fish to the ocean and more coral and rocks underwater. I also laid the foundation for a fishing system that will allow you to craft a rod and go fishing. That will be coming in the next update.
•   NEW FEATURE: you can now boil dirty water at camp fires to turn it into purified water.
•   Added some more points of interest to the world, including a sunken submarine and WW2 airplane. Both have some good loot near them.
•   Finally found an unarmed jump animation that looks half decent, I think we can finally tick this one off the list!
•   Made the gas pouring sound 3D and affected by game pauses.
•   Tweaked and improved the placement of various bits of loot at several points of interest.
•   Fixed up some collision boxes for a few buildings to be more accurate and to let you shoot between some gaps in the wood planks.
•   Fixed a bug where several enemy AI units were still present in pacifist mode, unfortunately a new game start will be required to fix this.
•   Removed the delay for when the Early Access intro message appears when you start a new game. Timing this with interacting with other UI could cause potential issues.
•   Added a branch to the use function after initial line trace, to confirm a hit happens, and to stop the trace if not.
•   Removed some placeholder code that would injure you if you pressed J.

[Asid]

Version 0.6.1.0 Is Live!
Community Announcements

I've been busy working away on fixing a bunch of bugs reported by my awesome community. This update is mostly bug fixes, although a few new things have been added. The biggest item of note is multitude of new pathways through the jungle. This should make navigating the islands a lot easier, and make the location of several key areas more obvious. Check out the full list below!

Change Log

•   NEW FEATURE: I added a lot of new paths between various points of interest/the beaches. Hopefully this helps people find more hidden areas. It also didn't make much sense to me how so many places weren't connected in any way to the outside world.
•   Fixed a bug where enemies could drop an AK-47 with negative ammo counts.
•   I updated the STANAG magazine to specify which guns accept it (M4A1 and AK-5C).
•   Fixed a bug where fatal falls wouldn't actually kill you on Easy mode (due to the damage reduction).
•   I made the bullet impact/flyby sound effects all in the SFX category, previously half were master and half were weapons. This meant the bullet whizz SFX would be very loud if you'd turned all your other SFX sliders down except the master one.
•   Updated item descriptions referencing exact calorie counts, replacing them with more general terms. Your player isn't a calorie counter.
•   Renamed 7.62x51mm to .308 FMJ, several people were getting confused about the difference between 7.62x39mm and 7.62x51mm, so now it should be easy to tell them apart, especailly with the different colored boxes.
•   Added a few more landmines to the hilltop base.
•   A couple lanterns in the world started on, so they'd burn all their fuel before you even got there. I turned them off.
•   You can no longer save while in a boat or on a beach, you need to find somewhere more secluded and safe to sleep.
•   Updated the Game Guide on lockpicking on easy mode and campfires.
•   Greatly increased the size of the door handle hitbox, I found a lot of people were shooting the lock instead of the handle, so now either will work.
•   Attempted a fix for a bug where the lockpicking minigame sometimes didn't work for certain players. Due to the fact I could never reproduce it on my machine, I'm not sure if this is fixed or not.
•   Increased time that camp fires set by the AI last.
•   There was a landmine floating several feet in the air, I put it back in the ground where it belongs.
•   Deleted a bunch of prototype and garbage levels that took up a bit of space.
•   Deleted an M4A1 and a Glock 17 pickup that was placed for testing purposes and I forgot to remove it.

[Asid]

Version 0.6.2.0 is Uploaded!
Community Announcements

Since the last update was kind of light on features, I felt bad and got this baby ready for you guys. The most important new feature is the fishing system which allows you to craft or find a fishing rod and catch fish from the reefs around the islands. Another big change is you can now swim or climb ladders with small items in your hand like pistols or binocs. Full change log below!


Change Log

•   NEW CRAFTABLE ITEM: Fishing rod. If you start a new game, there are a couple of these in the world. You can also craft this at a workbench. To use the rod, hold the fire button with it equipped to wind up your cast, release and you'll launch a lure. Watch the lure, a fish will approach if it is cast in an area with fish. When a fish is nibbling at the lure, press fire again to reel it in. If there is a big splash, you successfully caught the fish and it will appear in your inventory.
•   NEW FEATURE: You now only drop large items when swimming or climbing a ladder. Small items like binocs, pistols, etc. should stay in your hand. Note that this may cause some funny clipping issues when swimming.
•   Fixed a bug where exiting the vehicles while their inventory screen was open would leave the player unable to look around or move, and with the mouse cursor stuck on the screen.
•   Added more sharks into the world! Yay!
•   Optimized the fish system a bit, this should net a 2-4 FPS gain depending on your system.
•   Increased the village attack audio volume by 2 times.
•   Added a couple more scrap cloth items into the world since more crafting items require them.

[Asid]

Version 0.6.3.0 is Uploaded!
24 MARCH

Hi all,

This patch is mostly bug fixes, but we have a new feature as well. Check the change log for all the updates. Thank you for all the feedback!

Change Log
•   NEW FEATURE: On Easy or Normal modes enemy gunfire makes a much brighter (if rather unrealistic) muzzleflash that will give away their position quite well. This should help newer players find targets when fighting in the bush.
•   Added an icon for the fishing rod, so you now actually know what is in your inventory. Handy!
•   Applied CCD to the fishing lure so it should have more accurate physics collisions now.
•   Lowered the inventory full rattle sound volume by 60%.
•   Further decreased AI accuracy, especially when they're suppressed.
•   Shotgun spread was increased by about 20%, and pellet speed loss over distance was doubled, this should reduce their lethality at long range a bit, while still keeping it realistic.
•   The "Crouch" keybinding was renamed to "Crouch/Swim Down".
•   Added a "KMPH" designation to the Humvee speedometer, some people assumed it was in miles per hour!
•   Added Epic Games to the credit page, they more than deserve the nod for their amazing work with Unreal Engine 4.
•   The "Sprint" keybinding was renamed to "Spring/Focus Sights"
•   Drinking cola now gives a small amount of calories.
•   Added some legalese to the Credits page.

[Asid]

Version 0.6.4.0 is Live
Community Announcements - Slayer_2

Hello all,

Got another hot and fresh patch for everyone. This one has some fun new features and the framework for a new crafting system item in the next patch. You'll finally be able to siphon fuel from vehicles! For now though, check out the features that made it into this update:

Change Log

•   NEW FEATURE: End of game stats will now actually work properly. Note that you will need to start a new game to see accurate stats at the end of the round.

•   NEW FEATURE: Redneck fishing. You can now use explosives in areas with lots of fish to try and kill a few and force them to the surface where you can collect them.

•   NEW ITEM: Surgical Tubing. You can use this to craft various items at the workbench. A new craftable item will be in the next patch, a fuel siphon.

•   You now need surgical tubing to make fishing rods now. Also it only takes 12 rags instead of 15.

•   New real weapon firing sound for all 9mm weapons (Glock 17 and MP5).

•   New real weapon firing sound for all .45 weapons (M1911 and MAC-10).

•   Added the difficulty played and first aid kits used to the end of game stats.

•   Fixed shark AI, they hopefully won't get stuck anymore. Let me know if you see anymore getting stuck.

[Asid]

Version 0.7.0.0 Is Up!
Community Announcements

Hello everyone,

Today is a big day and there are some big changes. Particularly in how falling in the water is handled when you have a large item in hand. Now it no longer forces you to drop your weapon, but will instead make you swim slower and drain 3 times more stamina. This will cause you to drown quite quickly if you try to go for a long swim, but prevents "losing" your weapon to the ocean. Check out the change log for the full list, as this is but one of many changes.

Change Log
•   NEW FEATURE: Swimming with a large item in hand no longer drops the weapon in hand, instead it slows you down and increases stamina burn significantly until you drop the weapon or holster it.
•   NEW CRAFTABLE ITEM: Fuel Siphon. This does pretty much what you'd expect. Use it with a jerrycan in hand to fill that jerrycan with fuel from a nearby vehicle. Make sure you have the right type of jerrycan in hand or else it won't work.
•   NEW FEATURE: You can now climb ladders with a large item in your hand. However, it will slow you down so you can't sprint up ladders with your hands full.
•   NEW FEATURE: By request there is now a "Mouse Sensitivity" slider in page 2 of the keybindings page.
•   The "Mental State" stat is now "Fatigue". This is inverted, so it behaves the same way as sickness (less is better). People were often confused as to what Mental State entailed, so hopefully this makes it more clear.
•   Fixed a rather illusive bug where people who bound their Interact/Use button to E would be unable to pick locks. Shout out to Dulakaba for reporting this issue, I've been hunting it forever and never thought to try that.
•   Added more surgical tubing pickups throughout the world (requires a new game start to see these).
•   Added another fishing rod to the game.
•   Added more scrap cloth pickups to the game.
•   Added another sleeping bag pickup to the world.
•   Lowered the amount of oil you need to craft a fishing rod to 500mL from 1000mL.
•   Fixed a small bug with the end game stats screen where it would say N/A for the last two stats as well as the numbers.

[Asid]

Version 0.7.1.0 Is Live! Big News!
14 APRIL

We've got some exciting updates this time around. The main attraction is I've opened up the "Operation Freetown" map to everyone. It's extremely work in progress, but will eventually be a more shooter FPS-type close quarters level that will let you play with all the fun weapons in E:SL without having to worry about losing all your progress or wasting precious rounds (there are tons of ammo and guns). A great place to experiment with fun things like RPG's, bullet penetration, and grenades, without affecting your progress in the actual game. You play as an ECOMOG soldier and are given a nice array of some fine hardware. including a G3A3 rifle and the M1911. The save file is separate so don't worry about it messing with your main game progress. OpFreetown will be developed in my spare time along the actual game, it may end up being a finale of some sort for the main game, or just might remain a "Free DLC" spinoff that will serve to let people try out the combat risk free. The full changelog for the rest of the patch can be found below!

Change Log

•   Bullet hole decals are now far more visible and look less transparent.
•   Fixed a bug where decals such as blood splatters could appear very faint in shadowed areas.
•   Increased the darkness of blood splatters, before it was very paint-colored red.
•   Fixed a bug where you could get stuck at the top of the ladder in the temple.
•   Changed the timing of the death groan, previously it was a bit delayed.
•   Fixed a bug where the muzzleflash effect could play once on the death on an enemy.
•   Added a Check for Valid branch to the shrapnel BP.
  15  Rate up

[Asid]

Build 0.7.3.0 Is Uploaded
9 MAY - SLAYER_2

It's a lovely Monday, and what can make a Monday better than a patch? I spent a good chunk of time refining the Operation Freetown expansion. I tried working on the AI and improving it to suit urban operations more. Also I created a "new" item that will have people excited for sure. There are now scripted AI spawn areas where enemies will spawn and assault your position. These come in handy to keep the action going in Freetown, but also have been placed in a couple locations in the standalone game. Let me know how you like them! The full change log is below.

Change Log

•   NEW FEATURE: AI Spawn zones. Okay, so it's not the most revolutionary feature. But it does add some more excitement to the game. In both the regular game an Op Freetown, some enemy forces can now respawn and attack the player's position. Right now this is not fully implemented, and more will be added as I see fit while maintaining balance in later patches.
•   Fixed the physics collision asset for the ECOMOG soldier you play as, so when you get ragdolled/die you don't spaz out and fly around the level.
•   You can now exit the lockpicking minigame properly, you used to have to use the E key no matter what your use key was bound to.
•   Added a delay when you die in Op Freetown so the menu doesn't just instantly appear.
•   Added a loading screen for switching between op freetown and E:SL.
•   Did a lot of work on the main menu UI Op Freetown.
•   Added a stats screen to Op Freetown, this can be found in the main menu pause screen when playing.
•   Halved the time impact smoke/dust lingers, it was a little excessive before.

[Asid]

Optimization Test Build Live Now
Escape: Sierra Leone - Slayer_2

Hey everyone,

There is an optimization test build live now that I want people to test. Let me know if it gives you better performance in any noticeable way. I get about 2-5 FPS better, but I think it looks quite a bit worse. Let me know your opinion. Thanks guys!

[Asid]

Build 0.8.0.0 Released And 6 Month Post-Mortem
14 JUNE - SLAYER_2

Hey everyone!

So some big news. June 5th marked the 6 month date since Escape: Sierra Leone hit Steam as an Early Access title. So far I'm more or less on target for a Q4 2017 full release later this year. The next update is gonna be a big one, but could easily take over a month. 0.9.0.0 is going to introduce a lot more non-hostile NPC's, more story elements, and another method of escape or two. I may have an interim update in there as well, if serious bugs are encountered, or I have pressing new features I want to push out ASAP. Thanks everyone for all the support so far, I'd like to think I've had good progress for someone working solo with two other jobs, and the feedback I've been getting has been a big part of that. At some point soon I'll be holding a contest where you can win Steam wallet cash and/or free Steam keys to give to friends in return for your feedback on a survey. Thanks again, check out the change log for the new build below.

Change Log

•   Worked more on Operation Freetown, added new items, buildings, vegetation, etc.
•   Various performance tweaks and upgrades to hopefully increase the FPS.
•   Attempted a fix where lockpicking pins wouldn't sit correctly on re-entering the lockpicking minigame.
•   Changed the weapon sound attenuation curve from Logmarithic to natural. Also reduced the max range from 600M to 500M, this should make distant shots sound more realistic.
•   Added a loading screen for going from Op Freetown to the main game again. Now it won't just look like your game froze.
•   Reduced the cull distance on underwater vegetation.
•   Fixed a few minor grammar issues in the main menu.
•   Attempted a fix for a large section of cliffs that would LOD out weirdly near the north end of the island.
•   Added Marcin Mazurski to the credits for his help with optimization work.