Radiotext Demo Update 0.3.1 - Asynchronous Multiplayer

Alp here,

This new update introduces a new terminal connection called BuzzingBird. Which is an in-game social media where you can learn more about the cyberpunk world of Radiotext. Though this is a usual mechanic in games nowadays, I wanted to spice it up a bit more by making it asynchronously multiplayer. This way you can also become a part of the Radiotext world and leave messages to other players. Of course I am moderating the messages for all our well being and in the future (full version) plan to separate the acts of the story to individual feeds in order to avoid spoilers.

The main mistake I made while developing Radiotext was that I experimented with many things. Though I didn't think I overscoped at the beginning of the project, experiments quickly got tangled in each other and became a messy spaghetti. This update is about one of those experiments finally coming through. Which is BuzzingBird.

When I first started the project I've imagined a channel for the player to keep track of the world from either an in-game news channel or a social media. But as I was planning it, I kept thinking about ways to make it asynchronously multiplayer. I wanted players to be part of this social media as well but didn't have the necessary knowledge to do so at the time. Then as I was searching for Radiotext on itch I came across this little gem called Radio Bubble. Though I couldn't manage to get it working on my laptop I loved the idea and thought this might be the way for BuzzingBird. After a quick look through their devlogs, I've had a guide to follow.

There is something so compelling for me about Async Multiplayer games. I love it when someone from the other side of the planet is able to leave a small crumb of their humanity, a small crumb of evidence that there is life inside this weird place and I am not alone. Which makes the whole thing much more real.

Changelog

New Content

• BuzzingBird, new async in-game social media added

QoL Updates

• Trix's second riddle now accepts "liberty" as an answer as well

• Flynn secret answer about Audio Plugin Error now accepts "audio plugin" as well

• Flynn now mentions FreeDictionary when player mentions they have "heard about them" (cipher methods)

• Player can now skip the second puzzle tutorial from Flynn with dialogue option "I dont want to"

• Added PFAS and undercover to the FreeDictionary to avoid confusion and further clarify

• Additional saving checkpoints for Sky

• Reverted the gray/green background on 2D version

• When loading saves at game boot, individual tabs only beep once when the tab log is completed

• When loading saves at game boot, tabs are muted until player switches to them

Fixed

• A bug which doesn't let the new added characters inside the random connection pool if all the random connections were already made

• Flynn forgetting to save after becoming offline the second time

• Various lines not continuing the next line without input

• Credits misnaming the contributers while Display Tags toggle is on

Known Issues (I'm working on)

• In some cases if the player leaves while Sky is offline the first time, returning to the game results with Sky loading (jumping) to end of the demo instead of where she left off.

Small teaser and a spoiler for those, who decided to read this log, Thank you for reading. This is for you:

Inside games if you give players a numpad, they usually type out a well known number to check for easter eggs. Try to connect that number typed in the ordinary frequency format (???.??? sf?) . If you check the BuzzingBird feed after important events, you might see people reacting to them.

Expect 2 additional updates before June 15 (Steam Next Fest). While one of them is a content update for another character, one will be a technical, optimization/style choice for the 3D aesthetic. To stay up to date on Radiotext news, you can follow me on the socials below or read more detailed devlogs on my website. If you need help for the ciphers or puzzles in-game, try the Discord or Steam Radiotext Community.

Thank you for reading.

Bluesky

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