Today is a very exciting day! This update brings new content and features to Cul-De-Sac. This has been a very long awaited update for me because up until this point, I've been in optimization purgatory trying to get the game in a stable state, running decently enough and functionally well in a multiplayer setting. Now we're on to the fun stuff that will flesh the idea of the game out even more and make the experience more enjoyable. Keep in mind, there will be lots of balancing and re-balancing of XP and currency rates, as well as how currency is spent throughout Early Access. Later down the line there may be an option to reset ranks back to level zero.

• New leveling system added! Every game you play you can gain XP to raise your level so that you can unlock equipment and perks to use in game.
  
• Death will grant you a base amount of XP, plus a fraction of the accumulated XP you gained during the round.
  
• There will be challenges you can complete to gain extra XP
  
• Small amounts of XP will be awarded based on certain actions you do during the game.

• New currency added! The amount of currency you gain Is directly proportional to the amount of XP you gain during a round. 1XP = $1
  
• The currency is used to buy items in the shop.

• New Gear shop! The item shop allows you to buy any amount of any items you have unlocked, provided you have enough currency.
  
• There will be limits to the amount of items you can bring on a mission, these limits are per player and not per match, so if each player can bring 8 cameras, at 4 players there can be a max of 32 cameras in the game.
  
• Items are now spawned in each backpack, and each player spawns with their backpack equipped.
  
• Items are now lost on death.

• New Perks! Added 4 new perks to the game, all of which are unlocked at various progression levels. Only one perk can be used in a round, but each perk has numerous benefits that can cater to a specific play style.
  
  • Hunter: Gain 25% more XP, Picking up burn materials has a chance to not raise the ghost power level.
    
  • Nomad: Longer sprint duration, no backpack speed reduction, deep breath instantly gives full stamina and a temporary speed boost.
    
  • Medium: The ghost has aura that can be seen through walls during a hunt. All items that the ghost touches has the aura.
    
  • Zen: Deep Breath ability recharges faster and automatically triggers if you're about to get hit with a phantom attack. If Deep Breath is fully charged when taking a fatal hit, it will be triggered automatically and keep you from dying.

• The map has had some changes, opening up some new areas, as well minor redesigns of existing areas to help accommodate the new features of this update.

• Players now spawn in a random location on the map, nearby a light source / somewhere you can see without a flashlight initially.
  
• Cabinets and drawers are now able to be opened if they have something inside (they only become highlighted when hovered over if they contain an item that can be picked up). Cabinets and drawers that have been opened close automatically after a few seconds.
  
• Previously, 10 burn materials spawned on the map, and you need 5 to burn the ghost item. The number of burn materials you need to find is still currently 5, however the amount that spawn will always be the exact number you need, so currently only 5 spawn on the map. To offset this, cabinets and drawers around the map that can now be opened have a small chance of spawning a burn material in addition to the ones already spawned on the map.

• New challenges to complete in mission to gain extra XP and currency!

• A random number and assortment of gear can spawn in the map, helping offset the difficulty of new players having limited access to gear early in progression. This gear needs to be found and can be in the open or hidden in drawers/cabinets. There are dedicated flashlights spawns in the open scattered around the map and you will be guaranteed at least 1 flashlight and 1 UV Flashlight. The spawned flashlights will show up on the map, all other randomly spawned equipment will not. Players do not keep picked up gear after the round is over.
  
• The UV Flashlight now can see fingerprints on touched items. Fingerprint color is directly correlated to how many times the object has been touched with the color turning more red after more touches, allowing a new way to accurately assess which item could be the ghost item. Fingerprints disappear after 30 seconds and only appear on items that are in close proximity of the ghost when touched.

• Added player names in game to help identify other players.
  
• Non-host players in a multiplayer game now must ready up.
  
• V-Sync has been added to graphic settings.
  
• Updated the loading screen to reflect some new game mechanic changes.

Today's patch will be continuing the focus on multiplayer improvements, as well as some general game optimizations not related to multiplayer specifically. With this patch I'm officially taking multiplayer out of "Experimental" and putting it into "Beta"! There will of course still be further improvements and tweaks to the net code but I think I'll be comfortable with calling multiplayer an official feature no longer in testing if this patch holds up well enough for a few weeks or months. I'd like to thank everybody who has helped test multiplayer with me, both friends and the few players who have purchased my game and supported me to this point. The game would not be in as good as condition if it weren't for everybody's fantastic feedback!

Unless there are game breaking bugs that I've missed in this update that needs to be addressed, you can expect the next update after this to be a content update to add new and fun features! Don't forget to head over to the official Discord to post your feature requests (and bug reports)! I'll be looking out for any suggestions and brainstorming new ideas in the next coming weeks.

• Item/Gear/Inventory changes under the hood.
  • Significant changes have been made in attempt to optimize and more accurately replicate client side changes to items, gear and inventory.
    
  • Placing items using left click (e.g. setting the camera up on the tripod) have been moved into local space, only updating the position server-side once placement has completed. This makes placing items more responsive, even when there is connection latency, at the expense of other players not being to see you actively place the item in the world.
  
  
• Client Authoritative Movement
  • Moved away from Server Authoritative movement in favor of Client Authoritative movement. As it stands, the game is early in development, but for the foreseeable future I don't see Cul-De-Sac being a PvP competitive game, nor are there any meaningful statistics/competitive leaderboards implemented, so for now I'd like to focus on making the game fun and smooth for everybody instead of worrying about people cheating their location in game while they're playing with their friends. The current Server authoritative system for movement is in a good spot, mostly just having issues with less-than-ideal connections and high latency/packet loss so later down the line when the game matures, I may reimplement it back in, or allow an option to turn it back on when/if public lobbies are introduced.
  
  
• Misc.
  • Turned off player collision with other players. No more blocking doorways!
    
  • Fixed an issue with the backpack collision on client side when dropping.
    
  • Fixed an issue with being able to sprint when running sideways or backwards.
    
  • Disabled 3rd person camera mode.

• Added a basic UI for the death screen to make it more clear that you can spectate other players.
  
• Removed "Experimental" from the multiplayer button on the main menu.
  
• When you receive a new note, you'll get a notification ping and info box in the top right corner.
  
• Updated developer notes in-game.