Dev Blog - Weapon Update and Demo FAQ (Patreon)

(Early sketch of Selaco's exterior level)

Lovely backers,

At this time of writing, the Patreon Demo arrives in 5 days. Seriously, holy shit, I still cannot believe we’ve finally reached this point! We’re hyped as hell to launch this demo and are excited to hear your thoughts on this. With this Dev blog, I would like to focus on a short little FAQ in regards to the demo as well as provide a status update on two of our weapons: The DMR and the Plasma Rifle.




The last couple of weeks involved tons of hard work to get the demo prepared and ready to go. This includes making a separate Steam client, iron out the most problematic bugs and, because of the setting change mentioned a while ago, replace a whole bunch of stuff that no longer makes sense in the current setting. Most of the references to the original Underground Mars setting have been eliminated, with only a few complicated ones remaining. In Friday's demo, you will still hear AOS’ voice mention ‘Mars’ at some point. Unfortunately due to a lack of time, we could not replace this in time. Just pretend AOS is confused a and needs her batteries recharged.


Weapon Updates

On to the guns! The DMR concept art is mostly finished, we’re planning to revise the purple ring a tad but that’s about it. We will begin modelling next month! Please let us know your thoughts.




The Plasma Rifle model has been completed! Here is a render:



Demo Faq

When the demo launches, we highly recommend joining our Discord server (discord.gg/qDvNcMmSee) in case you have a problem, want to let us know your thoughts or have any suggestions, that’s the perfect place to discuss it along with your fellow Patrons.

If you have any questions right now, comment it down below and I’ll get back to you as fast as I can.

Enjoy the demo everyone!


Q: When is the demo launching?

A: If you have signed the NDA, Steam Keys will be sent to your email on April 22.


Q: I have not received an NDA.

A: We have sent them to the email address that you provided to Patreon. If you have not received your NDA, please contact us at Contact@AlteredOrbitStudios.com


Q: Can I give my opinion on the demo publicly?

A: Absolutely. It is even encouraged! Tweet about it, tell your friends, let the world know your thoughts.


Q: How about footage?

A: You can share screenshots or video footage as long as the video is shorter than 30 seconds. We have many reasons for this, but it basically boils down to spoilers. We want players to have a fresh experience when the demo launches in June. Keep the clips as short as possible!


Q: So no livestreaming then?

A: Unfortunately not. But feel free to stream the moment the demo goes live in June!


Q: How about family-share? Can I have a friend play the game?

A: If the friend or family member is with you in the room and wants to play the demo on your system, then that’s fine. Sharing the demo over the internet however, would break the rules established in the NDA. Please keep the demo on your machine and on your machine only.


Q: Is this the same demo that goes public in June?

A: No, sort of. It will feature the same level except more features are complete and some additional polish has been added. Story-related content will be (mostly) absent in the Patreon Demo, but will be in the public June demo. Some story hints will be present, however.


Q: What can I expect from this demo?

A: The demo features the first level of the game, ‘Pathfinder Memorial’, albeit slightly altered for showcasing purposes (e.g some sections are made shorter or moved around). This version of the demo will be primarily a gameplay and world showcase. Expect lots of action, explosions and exploration.


Q: Do we get a taste of the story?

A: You get glimpses. It is mainly the dialog that is missing.


Q: I’m having framerate issues. Is performance final? What can I do?

A: Performance is not final and we expect the June build to have significant performance improvements. In case your framerate is low, it could be boiled down to a number of things. Ideally, it would be best to either join our Discord or email us about the issue so we can assist you. But in general, here are some things to try:

• Either reduce the resolution or reduce the ‘Quality Preset’ option. It is set to ‘High’ by default. With Selaco however, we feel like it’s a better choice to keep the graphics high and instead try to reduce the resolution to gain performance, since a low resolution can be considered aesthetically pleasing in a game like this; I often intentionally play on lower resolutions for the sake of it. If that does not work, reduce the graphical settings.

• Change the Graphics API from Vulkan to OpenGL. You can do so in the ‘Video’ menu.

• In case you only have frame drops in combat: Try reducing the Smoke and Particle quality settings.

Q: There's a micro-stutter from time to time. How come?

A: GZDoom caches sprites the moment they appear for the first time. For example, the first time an explosion occurs, there will be a very short hitch that only happens once. Some won't notice it, but others might, it really depends on the speed of the storage device Selaco is installed on. SSD users will have much less of a problem. Of course, this is not ideal and in a future version these things will be cached properly. This will make the loading times of a level slightly longer (which are already super short anyway!), but will at least ensure performance remains smooth. Just know that it is not your end, it’s on ours!


Q: Are accessibility options available?

A: Yes, you can find the Accessibility Options in the Options menu. Most features work, but Colour blindness is absent for the time being as it requires a bit more figuring out on our end.


Q: Gamepad/Controller support?
A: Not in this build. We expect this to be available in the June build of the game.


Q: The Wrist Computer has a couple of buttons that do not seem to work.

A: These are work in progress! The Wrist Computer is quite an advanced system that takes a good amount of time to pull off correctly, especially in this engine. We will try to get the Invasion Tier and Manual tabs working in time for June.


Q: Enemy seem to get stuck from time to time

A: This is a known issue. We will be fixing this.


Q: Why does Dawn look so happy in her mirror reflection?

A: Current player sprites are mostly a test. I expect them to be improved in an update somewhere in May.


Q: I do not like the HUD visor. Can it be disabled?

A: Of course! Go to Options -> Interface. You can disable a number of things here.


Q: Oh no, I have found a bug! What should I do?

A: Report them to us! It is encouraged to do this using Discord, but email is fine if that is your preferred method of communication.


Q: Can I run the demo without Steam?

A: After downloading it through Steam, you will be able to launch the demo without having Steam enabled.


Q: This game is difficult. I’m having a very hard time dealing with the enemies.

A: This could be related to the difficulty you have selected, but one thing we have noticed during playtests is that players are too aggressive starting out. This is absolutely a viable option, but requires more experience with the game. We highly recommend taking it slow at first. It is OK to stick closer to cover while you’re trying to get the hang of enemy behaviour. Once you feel more comfortable, start moving around a bit more. The skill ceiling in Selaco is higher than what most players expect and we’ve seen playtesters struggle at first and completely dominate the higher difficulties as they became more experienced.

Alternatively, there is no shame in dropping the difficulty down!


Q: I’m playing on the bonus ‘Selaco Must Fall’ difficulty that is described as being ‘intentionally unfair and unbalanced’,  and I keep getting my ass kicked. This is nonsense.

A: That’s what you signed up for when clicking on that button!


Q: Why is the blood purple?

A: [The developer got frustrated and left the blog post]