Upcoming changes and the way forward

[Solais]

---Introduction---

First I'd like to thank you for your continued support and reports!

After some thinking, we decided to take a slightly different method of communicating the update schedule of this game. From now on, we will be taking the following measures to keep everyone updated and to keep the updates hopefully a lot more bug free.

- From now on, between patches, either in this thread, or another, there will be a list of planned changes and fixes that will be coming in the upcoming patch. This way we can listen to feedback regards to the upcoming changes and adjust if really necessary.

- We will be slowing the time between patches and making the closed beta test period longer. This latest patch already took a month (as there are only 3 of us working on it), and that will likely be the norm from now on. We will also take likely up to a week of closed beta time, so we can find every new code-related bug that was likely introduced to the engine thanks to Fusion using the same branch as SS4.


---Upcoming Changes---


The next patch will hopefully contain the following changes:

- Flat-friendly mode will add a "recoil bar" to VR players, so they will have the same rate of fire as the regular player, without the weapon feeling weird. Flat-friendly and VR-friendly modes are also planned to be added to custom difficulty settings.

- There will be Serious difficulty rebalances to problematic areas. Regards to 400% increased health, we were thinking about adding SS1-style ammopacks to problematic areas, might happen, might not; it would easily unbalance the regular unmodified difficulties, which are of higher priority, so it's still in consideration. I do have to point out that those who play with such custom difficulty are around 0.1% of all players, so the priority of balancing that setting is miniscule.

- Will work on better telegraphing the Hard+ attacks; already got some ideas. There will be also a few changes to how and when the enemies will use them (not too close, etc.).

- Lots of bugfixes, as usual. Some level based ones are already fixed. Today we identified an embarrassing oversight that prevented the Russian voices to work, so that will be fixed too.


---The Way Forward---


Some might have already heard it, but this Fusion project originally started, when Croteam CEO Roman Ribaric (one of the main designers of TFE, inventor of the character and name of Serious Sam, the beheaded enemies and the voice of the kamikaze, among many other things) have proposed a list of changes to Serious Sam 3 to make it "more similar to the original games". This project was called the "Sam3 Remaster", and many of its changes already made it into the Fusion-version of Serious Sam 3.

However, as you might have also heard, SS3 had quite a problem with its console versions, so development on this remaster had to be post-poned until the so-called "Post-release" period.

With Fusion now covering all games, we were thinking about making changes to all of them, some smaller, some larger.
In general, we decided on three phases of Post-Release Remasters, which will be worked on as soon as we conclude the regular versions as "stable enough".

The three phases will all cover one (or two in case of SSHD) game. The order of which of these phases will be covered first is not yet set in stone, just as their planned features are yet to be set in that stone as well. (So don't take it as promises.)

The three phases are the following:


1. Legend of the Beast Redux


To be really honest here, I'm sure most of you didn't really like this DLC. It barely gave anything new, just three levels with questionable design. It really wasn't that fun.

- The levels will receive a rebalance; the new design will be comparable to Metropolis' difficulty and weapon loadout, considering that these levels take place after that one.

- There will be at least one new enemy type and a new weapon.

- Other potential additions that are not yet set in stone.


2. Serious Sam HD Remaster


- Graphics and Aesthetic Remaster: So there's this guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who said he might just redraw all those SD textures around the games that look kinda bad today. So that might be coming. Also updating some still SD models, enhancing the looks of some other levels. Also, Grand Cathedral should be epic again.

- Plot and Lore Remaster: Since SS1, the plot of the series have progressed quite a lot thanks to SS3, TLH and even SS4 and SS2R. Due to this, the plot of SSHD is full of inconsistencies. No other game is more guilty of this than TSE, where the plot pretty much ignores everything told in TFE and is full of holes. Rewrites to Netricsa entries will happen, and likely there will be also some extra added to the games, like collectible lore items.

- [Maybe] Cutscene Remaster: With TSE getting an updated story, with that will come a few new cutscenes (and an edited intro; don't worry, the original will be still kept as part of Demo Palenque). We are also looking into re-recording the most important TFE cutscenes so they can be played in Multiplayer as well. (Though this process will take some time, hence the "maybe").

- Misc. Remaster: Do you member those maps from the loading screens of SS1? We member.


3. Serious Sam 3: BFE Remaster


- Graphics and Aesthetic Remaster: Focusing on reverting the PS3 "optimizations", and even trying to take it further. It was always weird that a lot of models in OG SS3 were missing detail normal maps. Oh also, what about different times of day?

- Lore snippets: You might find newspapers and such to decode similar to graffiti to learn more about the actually quite established world of the Serious Sam Universe. (Well, established for us, at least.)

- Firecrackers and Bombers: Firecrackers and Bombers!

- More rebalance to the levels: More diverse enemy placement, more harpies, more blue biomechs. Firecrackers and Bombers!

- Other Misc. changes.

------

We will have more news about these Post-Release Remasters as we are closer to the Post-Release period. For now, we hope to deliver you more patches and fixes to the regular games!

If you have any sort of suggestions for both Post-Release and Pre-Post-Release, please post it below.

For now, Stay Serious everyone!

[The_GSD]

I very much agree with this new update format. Keeping close touch with the players is always important.

I just can't stay silent about the backpacks - I REALLY recommend not adding them in the normal game; all they do is disbalance the pick-ups. If you want to add more ammo in some of the areas, then scatter them around. The games have big open areas, so use that level design in accordance. Besides, modified difficulties don't have to be balanced - especially such extreme ones.

It's also sad to see the original SS1 and HD no longer canon. A little part of Serious Sam has died.

And finally, what's the point of making a game 'more like the originals' if said game was almost like the originals in the first place? This is not SS2 or SSXBOX we're talking about.

[SUGGESTION for SS HD]
1) Please add the classic Zorg voices. I hope that's fairly easy - Mercs could use the Classic voices, and the Commanders would retain the HD ones.
2) Appearantly there was a classic Zumbul model in HD with its classic blue rockets, but was scrapped. Would it be possible to have a chance, say 50-50, that a Zumbul spawns with either the Classic skin or the HD one?
3) Several skyboxes in The Talos Principle - like area C1 - have the SS HD skyboxes, just updated. Could it happen so you swap those old skyboxes with the new ones?

[Terepin]

Originalmente postado por Solais:

a lot less bug free.

I think you wanted to wrote a lot more bug free.

[PikaCommando]

I hope that new enemy/weapon type isn't just something taken from SSVR :V

[Jenny_MCII™]

LotB - Yes! Changes to that are welcome!

SSHD - Collectible items, removing plot holes and updating the story is really cool! Sounds like extended is alive after all.

BFE - Firecrackers and Bombers!

I have few small suggestions though:

Classic outfit is changed back to default one after finishing the first level please fix that.

Please add achievements for decoding egyptian tablets and collecting lore items.

Add ammo counter for revolvers you need to reload them would be nice to know when. ( BFE's desert eagle had it too)

Possibility to play all games (+DLCs) in one campaign in chronological order.

If you're going to add map loading screens for HD make ones for BFE (and DLCs) too.

Make possibility to skip/fast forward BFEs Netricsa messages.

Add BFEs Bonus DLC.

[Solais]

Originalmente postado por PikaCommando:

I hope that new enemy/weapon type isn't just something taken from SSVR :V

Welp, LotB Redux cancelled, we can all go home now! :V

(j/k)

GrandSecgend: I think what Roman originally meant "more arcade-like".

[artzpiip]

Colectible items are actually a good idea in SSHD! Makes you want to take those trap pills and side paths.

Firecrackers and bombers are a good idea. You can fight them out in the open, they combine well with other enemies and as enemy resource packs demonstrated, they actually add another aspect to the fighting. In fact, firecrackers make jumping in SS3 more useful during combat. I wonder what other enemies would fit well in Serious Sam 3.

[mphuZ]

Cool! Very pleased that you undertook to remake the single!
Do I understand correctly that all three games will be reworked and improved graphics ?

If you have any sort of suggestions for both Post-Release and Pre-Post-Release, please post it below.

Come to mind only two ideas:

1. To bet on the Vulkan and the performance of this API;
2. Please, if you gathered all the games to improve the graphics, do cut scenes, etc., then give the face and body of Sam to a common denominator! And I'm not just talking about existing, but about future games. It's still Sam Stone, not Lara Croft, who in every game has different faces, boobs and ass!!!

[Soulmyr]

Oh boy, I finally get to use my suggestions!

Here goes:

Gameplay changes

1. There’s no point to the Sledgehammer parkour secret at the start of the game. If you replaced it with a pistol it would be more worthwhile.
2. The first few levels of Cairo have a lot of empty garages and dead-end corridors with nothing in them. Put some health and ammo in those, maybe even another secret weapon.
3. Make the destructible crates worthwhile by putting some ammo in them, maybe slap on a stencil “EDF AMMUNTION/SUPPLY CRATE” on them.
4. The underground museum is a bit of a slog, put some shotgun ammo before the basement for clearing the spiders faster (or if you like my previous idea, just put shotgun shells in those)
5. It’s a bit annoying how shooting the spider eggs doesn’t actually damage the spiders inside. Either make it so you can destroy the egg and the spider inside with one shotgun blast, or have it so that a shotgun blast will destroy the egg and reduce the hatchling to 50% health
6. The Minigun in “The Silent Riddler” feels a bit pointless since there’s barely enough ammo for it till “The Dark Bride”
7. Even though the Sniper Rifle isn’t part of the main weapon roster in BFE, I think that can be easily rectifiable. For instance, at the start of “Under the Iron Cloud” where you have several harpies, you can put a sniper right at the start to show the player “This weapon is good against harpies”. As a bonus, you can have a werebull charge towards you, hinting that the sniper is also useful against it. After that I imagine it’s not hard to put harpies on ledges in open areas to justify having the sniper.
8. The Lasergun can still be a secret, but if you increase a cell to give +100 instead of +50 then it can also help break up the monotony of BFE
9. The Devastator having 25 rounds per magazine is just overkill. At this point why even have it reload? 20 rounds is MORE than enough, I would even knock it down to 10 to make it more balanced.
10. In “Unearthing the Sun” put a crate of C4 in the area in front of the pillars where you get one of the keys. That way you can have fun ruining the day of those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ space monkeys.
11. The Witch Bride is still a terrible enemy which just drags down any battles she’s in. Increase her vulnerability window so that it’s possible to kill her with two rockets without her disappearing.
12. The starting area in "The Last Man on Earth" is a bit awkward to navigate. Adding some torches that light up when you've pressed the switch would help a lot with orientation and avoid going back to rooms you’ve already been in.
13. The new HUD elements at the end of “The Last Man on Earth” is a nice touch, but I think you can do it better by having it say “X/8” cans, as well as whether or not you’re currently carrying a can
14. The Guardian of Time is a slog. Too many waves of just one or two enemies that go on for way too long, in a very washed-out and samey looking canyon that’s too dark at times. First off, where all the Minor Biomechanoids? Adding them in ANY wave would make the combat more dynamic. Adding in Gnaars and Harpies would also help break up the monotony. Or barring that, have more diverse waves. Throw in some kamikazes during Spider/Biomech wave, or some Gnaars in the initial Rocketeer wave, or a Khnum in the middle area.
15. Speaking of, the part in the middle with the Juvenile Arachnoids is pretty terrible. Hitscan in an open area is a bad idea, ESPECIALLY since the arachnoids blend in with the environment. Throwing in Technopolips and Witch Brides in that area is just too much. Replace those enemies with literally anything else and it would probably be more enjoyable.
16. Ugh-Zan IV is a bit unintuitive for a first-time player. Having Sam say something like “Let’s try some acupuncture” could perhaps hint at newcomers that you’re supposed to throw the pipes at Ugh-Zan.


Cosmetic changes (in no particular):
• While I like the Gibbing sound effect, a couple of variations on it would be nice
• The “bloody” weapon look when you kill an enemy up close is really weird and doesn’t even make sense at times. Like the single shotgun has the most amount of blood on the butt of the gun, even though you’re not bashing an enemy to death or anything.
• More skyboxes or more variation on the time of day would really help differentiate the levels. Since Under the Iron Riddler is set at sundown, maybe The Silent Riddler can be set at night.
• With Guardian of Time you could make it rain so that it ties into The First Encounter. Or better yet, have it gradually rain. Like how the music changes the further you go into the level. Hell, maybe change the rain WITH the music.
• Speaking of Guardian of Time, since it’s the final charge against Earth, maybe you could have Sirian Warships visible the sky
• When you go underwater in Jewel of the Nile it looks pretty bad. A blue-ish overlay would make it better

[Melody [Digital Harmony]]

Everything looks great, don't disappoint us!

[Melody [Digital Harmony]]

Originalmente postado por Zyklon B:

^So just make the game easier and more casual-friendly.

No.

That won't happen. Even though some developers/testers suggest noob-like mechanics, important CT people from the upper floors will still force the devs to keep the game the way they like. Even though there will be features and updates, I'm quite sure the "juice" of the game(s) will still remain classic.

[Form]

And this is why I love CROTEAM, keep it up.

[Solais]

Originalmente postado por mphuZ:

2. Please, if you gathered all the games to improve the graphics, do cut scenes, etc., then give the face and body of Sam to a common denominator! And I'm not just talking about existing, but about future games. It's still Sam Stone, not Lara Croft, who in every game has different faces, boobs and ass!!!

It's kind of a huge undertaking as the SSHD Sam uses different skeletons and some animations too than the SS3 one, so for now, they will have different boobs and asses.

[Melody [Digital Harmony]]

Originalmente postado por Solais:

Originalmente postado por mphuZ:

2. Please, if you gathered all the games to improve the graphics, do cut scenes, etc., then give the face and body of Sam to a common denominator! And I'm not just talking about existing, but about future games. It's still Sam Stone, not Lara Croft, who in every game has different faces, boobs and ass!!!

It's kind of a huge undertaking as the SSHD Sam uses different skeletons and some animations too than the SS3 one, so for now, they will have different boobs and asses.

Sam in SS3 is sexy, use him.

[Solais]

Soulmyr: I do recommend to play through Guardian of Time again with this version. Especially on Serious.

Also go underwater in Jewel of the Nile again. :V

[mphuZ]

Originalmente postado por Solais:

It's kind of a huge undertaking as the SSHD Sam uses different skeletons and some animations too than the SS3 one, so for now, they will have different boobs and asses.

You have so many gathered to remake, but you can not change the model of one character? It's sad.