Hopefully you got your fill of playtestin' over the past week, because it's time to shut 'er down. Between PAX East earlier this month and Meat Lab 5 this past week, it's been a bit of a whirlwind! Watching you play the game, screaming the word "MEAT" at you, apologizing for screaming at you... sorry, got distracted. The point is, we've learned a lot about our game and your notes have led to lots of new updates and changes over the past couple weeks. So... how did we do? What were the best parts of the game? How much did you notice the tweaks we made over the course of the week? Which meat piece did you beeline to every time you saw it drop? (I'm already missing my beloved Spider legs zoomies.) Thanks again for joining us, both in Boston during PAX East and here during Meat Lab 5. You've given us not only a boatload of invaluable feedback that's helping make the game better, but a reminder that this weird thing we're making is freakin' fun. The playtest may be over... but we're just getting started. Thank you once again, and stay tuned for more SWAPMEAT news as we work toward launch later this year. Until then, swap on by our Discord server, grill the team, and meat some new friends.

ONE DAY LEFT!

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where events that do not provide rewards would reduce the Hunter Threat Level
• Fixed an issue where Hunters that are incapacitated would respawn and play their banish animation
• Fixed a crash caused by exiting to the main menu while playing the launch sequence cinematic
• Fixed the wrong animation playing for Ninja Torsos Mandible Ripper (Katana) swipe
• Fixed broken animation playing on Meat Zord Torsos Mandible Ripper (Katana) swipe
• Fixed a bug where you would receive no items on level-up (usually after level 10) if your build didnt use many elements.
• Fixed potential cause of the screen turning completely black with UI elements displayed on top
• Fixed being unable to navigate to the 3rd tab of items in the item registry
• Fixed a bug that would allow the harvester core to be destroyed before the event event started
• Updated the text scroll for start and end of each solar system with grammar fixes and updated proper nouns for places, people, and things in SWAPMEAT
• Fixed training dummies being able to die. Thanks for the report, Delirium!

Gameplay

• Added drunken rocket squirrelly-ness to the Rocket Swarm rockets, and slightly decreased spread for easier aiming.
• Increased rocket damage radius on Rocket Swarm Ability by 50%
• LIV-Mas Tier 2 (green color) now has an additional laser sweep attack
• Increased radius of Gravity Well 4m 8m
• Renamed Mutant Meridian to Ol'Tangus system
• Renamed Extraterrestrial Expanse to Dangerous Night system
• Renamed Automated Abyss to Silicon Graveyard system
• Renamed Protein Paradise to Meat Heim system

Balance

• In an earlier update we changed Event XP to not be reduced by player count and added an XP reduction on enemy kills as the number of enemies scales with players but the number events do not. To compensate for this, we have increased the XP requirement for each level by 12%. With these changes, solo players and larger squads should now be roughly the same level when they reach the final planet of a solar system around lvl 30 if you complete most of the secondary objectives on all three stages
• Increased by 50% the number of scout enemies that spawn over time and follow you

UI

• Health bars in the event status display should stay around for important event objects, even if the object reaches zero hit points. Hopefully this makes overall status more clear during events like the Payload escort and Harvester extraction
• Updated Mutation / Hit Effect / Buff icons to ensure the applied buffs match the source from which they are applied

Animation

• Added animation to Rocket Swarm Ability

Audio

• Added SFX to Rocket Swarm Ability
• Adjusted mix level on Rocket Bots missile attack to help it punch through a little more and warn the player

Ahoy there -- new patch notes incoming! There are only a couple days left in Meat Lab 5, so keep the feedback coming over in our Discord server.

Bug Fixes

• Invulnerable enemies wont be targeted by Aim Assist (on controller) or player-deployed turrets anymore
• Typo in the games opening text crawl has been fixed: ~~Sausage Spiral~~ Frankenstar System
• Fixed certain projectiles and lasers from shooting in the wrong direction after leveling up
• The Payload event now displays a marker on the control panel used to start the payload moving
• Thruster VFX on non-host bolt burgers will now show up in the mission start sequence when they fly out from the ship.
• Fixed missing audio when Ringo is incapacitated and teleports
• Fixed in world markers not going away after defeating the alien snipers in the sniper nests event. Thanks for the report @inaudible!
• Fixed not being able to fire after reloading when mashing the fire button. Thanks for the report @harmeson!
• Fixed the hunters not being able to access an area of the map on Tibblers Run. Thanks for the report @tangent4033!
• Fixed an issue where currency icons were invisible upon completing an objective

Gameplay

Hunter Updates

Hunter Threat System (Arrival & Delay)

• Removed Hunter Primary Objective Delay time from Hunter Protection 1.1
• Increased base Hunter Delay Time on Hunter Protection 1.1 180s -> 240s
• Changed Starrs behaviors so that he goes away like Ringo, instead of healing slowly
• Both Hunters are gone/incapacitated for 60 seconds after their health hits zero

Managing Hunters

• If you deplete Ringo or Starrs health pool they will be incapacitated, disappearing into the ground, and respawn after 60s
• While your Threat Meter is at WET PANTS NOW the Hunters will gain a stack of Meatlust every 30 seconds until they are banished
  • Meatlust: +30% Move Speed, +30% Attack Speed, +6% Hunter Health
• Completing an objective will lower your threat level and cause the Hunters to be banished back to the Meathedral

UI

• Fixed several issues with scrolling in Join Game list

Art

• Enraged vfx added while Hunters are in their enraged state
• Cosmetic updates to the Hunter Threat Meater.

We're monitoring the game feedback, bug report channels, and general chat for areas of improvement as we continue to balance and flesh out these systems. Here's some updates for tonight @Playtest News

Gameplay

• Breakable armor pieces (and the Butchers legs) can now get hit by all weapon types.
• Ringo waits a little longer for smoke to clear after spawning before starting to move.
• Made some changes to aim assist which should allow it to help, but at a lower level of effectiveness, while in the recovery phase of weapon recoil. Previously, it would remain inactive until recoil was entirely recovered.
• Increase Duration of Sentience Buff 10s 30s

Adjust Carl's Hunter Protection Quests

• Combine Hunter Protection 1.2 into Hunter Protection 1.1
• Increase Hunter Delay on Hunter Protection 1.1 60s 120s
• Remove Hunter Protection 1.2
• Increase Hunter Arrival Time 150s 180s on Hunter Protection 1.1

Adjust Rewards for Carl Quests

• Adjusted Carl Rewards to grant a percent increase instead of a flat amount
• Ancient Meat Knowledge Now grants +5% Meat Ability Damage
• Fish Meat Knowledge Now grants +5% Meat Ability Damage
• Rock Meat Knowledge Now grants +5% Meat Ability Damage
• Franken Felled Now grants +10% Permanent Health
• Spiral Spine 1.1 Now grants +5% Head, Torso, and Leg Meat Durability
• Spiral Spine 1.2 Now grants +5% Head, Torso, and Leg Meat Durability
• Toily Tumbled Now grants +10% Permanent Health
• Mutation Terminal Now discovers @ Employee Rank 2
• Artifact Terminal Now discovers @ Employee Rank 3

Enemies

• The hunters now play awesome animations to go back home when you complete a prime directive while they are present

Hunter Balance Changes

• Scale Ringo & Starrs Health +2% per 10 seconds spawned
• Reduce Starr's Sprinting Melee Attack Damage 100 50
• Reduce Starr's Melee Attack Damage 100 25
• Reduce Ringo's Health 2000 1800
• Reduce Ringo's Grasp Attack Damage 40 30
• Increase Starr's Incapacitation Time 15s 30s
• Increase Ringo's Incapacitation Time 30s 60s

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug if Ringo had been channeling her grasp attack on the player while despawning the debuff would persist until the player died
• Fixed VFX and SFX bug with Starrs healing ability; the visuals and sounds now loop for the entire 30 second state
• Fixed whack a mole event being uncompletable if the leg ability slot was mutated. Thanks for the reports @s1toast
• Fixed some bugs where some VFX tied to the Mutant Tag Team bosses were not rendering properly on clients
• Fixed pathing bug where Hunters couldnt reach spawn position in Tibblers Run
• Fixed pothole in Tangus town, sorry Rebecca!

Gameplay

Abilities

• Turbo Boost
  • Increased Turbo Boost Damage 75/125 110/125
  • Added Stagger to Turbo Boost

Enemies

• Increased Starr's HP 800 1600
• Increased Starr's Healing State from 4s 15s; you will now have 15s after incapacitating Starr to complete your objective for more time
• Increased Hunter Enrage per 10 seconds spawned from +6% Attack and Movement Speed to +10% Attack and Movement Speed

Items

• Molten Core is no longer super broken
• Reduce trigger chance of Molten Core 100% 25% per stack
• Cap stacks of Molten Core's buff to 5
• Reduce Molten Core buff 20% 10% per stack

Bug Fixes

• Fixed description of Overload Artifact Thank you @thejodake!
• Added required "Artifact" Tag to Beef Scampi and Supermarket Sushi
• Fixed an issue where aim assist was being triggered during Active Reload
• Fixed a number of crashes; thank you everyone for your patience and continued support. When you encounter a crash during testing it helps us improve SWAPMEAT

Meat Lab 5 2025-05-18.a

Gameplay

• Hunter Protection 1.1 - Reduced Hunter Arrival +180s +150s
• Hunter Protection 1.1 - Reduced Hunter Delay +90s +60s
• Hunter Protection 1.2 - Reduced Hunter Delay +90s +60s

Art

• Updated lighting and environment for the Mutant Boss Arena

Audio

• Added a sound for when your Artifact is fully charged

Bug Fixes

• Fixed description of Overload Artifact Thank you @TheJodake!
• Added required "Artifact" Tag to Beef Scampi and Supermarket Sushi
• Fixed an issue where aim assist was being triggered during Active Reload
• Fixed a number of crashes; thank you everyone for your patience and continued support. When you encounter a crash during testing it helps us improve SWAPMEAT

Hope you're hungry! The SWAPMEAT playtest is now live until May 22, so get in there and gorge yourself on all the new upgrades and updates we've implemented since Meat Lab 4. Once you've gotten a few runs in, we'd love to hear what you think! Head over to the MeatLab section of the Discord server and leave your feedback, report bugs, or just trade notes with fellow playtesters. Don't have access yet? Hit playswapmeat.com for your ticket to the Meat Lab. Now for the fun part: Patch notes!

Meat Lab 5 2025-05-15.a

Summary

• Welcome to Solar System 2
  • Take on an all-new Mutant Boss for the Mutant Space Wrestlers in Space Federation Championship Edition Belt
  • One new biome and three new planets
  
  
• A fancy new-and-improved HUD
  
  
• Spicy new combat changes
  • Weapon Switching
  • In-Run Weapon Upgrades
  • Updated Active Reload system
  • Elemental Damage & Status Effect revamp
  • Improvements to many Abilities' overall feel
  • Lots of Ability, Weapon, Mutation, and Artifact balance
  
  
• Gathering Youll now encounter Fish Rifts, Mineral Veins, and Ancient Technology that can be harvested to unlock and upgrade things on your ship. Careful, though, you will need to successfully extract from the planet if you intend to keep your haul
  
  
• Materials Trader Trader Mike will join you on your ship early on in Solar System 1 to offer you deals, purchase your extra goods, buy your fish, and ASK ABOUT YOUR EXPENSES
  
  
• Employee Rank - Show your dedication to Rangus by climbing the corporate ladder

Gameplay

• Killing an enemy with Melee grants a +100% Meat Drop Chance
• Players will now be able to double-jump regardless of what Meat they have equipped. Consequently, all meat that granted additional jumps now has one less
• Projectiles now inherit falling velocity, so when falling from a jump pad and shooting rockets it should feel more correct
• Performance Review will no longer multiply currency rewards
• The Cave Ambush event will now scale with player count
• Reduced cost to acquire Franken Felled from 3 to 1
• Increased base movement speed of Hover Alien Legs +15% +30%
• Scaling Difficulty has been modified to create a "cliff increase" on each new stage, favoring players who spent their time on the previous stage increasing their power level to be ready for the increased static power level of the following stage
  • Remove Challenge Level Increase over time
  • Increase Challenge Level impact per Stage
  • Increase Challenge Level based on Solar System difficulty
• Reduced the overall XP requirement to reach level 30
• Players will now spawn with your Rangus Meat when transitioning to a new stage
• When respawning the player is granted a Fresh Meat buff which grants +50% Meat Drop Chance and +15% Movement Speed. This is not granted in Boss Arenas.
• Renamed Power Cores to Data Points
• Renamed Genetic Samples to Carl Coins
• Reduced Meat Loss Invulnerability Window on Meat Loss from 4s -> 2s
• Reduced Stun Lock Timer on Meat Loss from 1s -> 0.75s
• Increase Health Recovery on Prime Directives 3x

• Weapons now only gain 1 stack of reload bonus
• Weapon reload bonuses have changed
  • Pistol - Increased Magazine Size
  • Rifle - Increased Attack Damage
  • Plasma - Increased Explosion Radius
  • Grenade Launcher - Increased Direct Hit Damage
  • Magnum - Fire 2 Shots
  • Railgun - Weak Point hits boost damage dealt
  • Rocket Launcher - Increased Critical Hit Chance
  • SMG - Increased Weak Point Damage
  • Shotgun - Adds Stagger Chance

• The second chapter starts at a higher Challenge Level, and it increases more per stage.
• The first chapter has reduced difficulty compared to Meat Lab 4.

• Increase Health and Health Regen of Event Structures, Bosses, Hunters and Mini Bosses based on Challenge Level.

• Players can now equip two ranged weapons and a melee weapon, and switch between them using V (keyboard), mouse wheel, or Y (face button top) controller
• All Secondary Weapons have been removed
• Added a Melee Weapon slot
• All Melee Weapons are now unlocked by default

Abilities

• Ninja Torso has a new ability that does multiple rising AOE slashes.
• Ninja Legs ability has been updated, it now buffs melee damage and applies elemental status effects based on the mutation element.
• Ninja Head has a new ability, throw shurikens out in an arc, each one that deals damage grants an attack speed and ability recharge speed buff up to 5 times.
• MuscleMan Torsos Whirlwind has more polished animation and camera for a better feel. It pulls enemies closer if they are inside the damage radius.
  • Its also been updated to allow for other abilities to fire during it, players just cant shoot during it.
• SquatDaddy Legs' Giant Leap now can be held as a charge indefinitely until released to leap. It also has a more vertical leap than horizontal for better setups on the butt slam. Butt slam has a better camera shake on it.
• Meat Zord Torsos Zord Beam ability now has animation, camera and vfx polish. It should be feeling better, but were stilling working on things to push on it more.
• Wasp Torsos Aerial Dash now has animation and camera polish and has some passive abilities for some wild fun:
  • x1.25 jump height
  • x2 air move speed
• Meat Zord and Duckstone Torso abilities now disallow weapon input during them, but still allow movement and other abilities to be fired.
• Rangus Legs' Slide ability has some small camera polish to make it feel a little better
• Many of the grenade-like head abilities were updated for a better feel and more natural aiming, by adjusting speed and arc of the projectiles, adjusting animation and timing of release, and adding some fx on some here and there:
  • Grenadier Head, Moleman Head, Butcher Head, Fireman Head, Gobble Gazer Head, Monolithic Head, Muscle Man Head, Wasp Head
• Some abilities will now reduce the players used jump count by 3, allowing them to stay in the air and travel greater distances
  • Jump Count Reduction granted to Stellar Chef, Spider, Unit-G88, and Ninja Legs
  • Jump Count Reduction granted to Wasp and Duckstone Torso

Artifacts

• Artifact charge has been increased 4x on damage dealt to encourage more aggressive play. All Artifacts have had their recharge timers adjusted to compensate for this change
• All Artifacts have had their overall effectiveness increased
• Armor of Slime is now Armor of Chill
• Enemies caught in Gravity Well will now be stunned periodically and held in place more reliably
• Added Big Bee Boy Summons a Large Minion that follows you for 90s and damages enemies

Controller

Enemies

• Hunters now arrive after a much shorter time, but can be repelled by completing a Primary Directive which will add more time to the clock.
  • Hunters coordinate their behaviors again. When Ringo has a player in her tongue trap, Starr sprints toward them and has a more aggressive melee attack thats harder to dodge.
  • Hunters will now become more powerful every 10 seconds after they have spawned
  • Increase Hunter Movement Speed by 6% every 10s after spawn
  • Increase Hunter Attack Speed by 6% every 10s after spawn

• Wheelies now stay on the ground for 10 secs when they are either staggered or they miss the player in their charge attack.
• Dirtbags shockwave attack now damages enemies as well; want to see if this adds an interesting expert maneuver to kite Dirtbag around and hit the hordes (but dont get hit yourself!)
  • It also has Player Knockback now when hit by it
• Mini-bosses can no longer be staggered
  • Broadside can no longer be staggered
  • Meat Zord can no longer be staggered
• Alien enemies have more projectiles overall and may be more like a bullet hell, but its still very much In-progress
• Alien enemies have been assigned thematically appropriate names
  • Little Buff Alien LBA-Nasty
  • Lanky Alien LIV-Mas
  • Jet Pack Alien C-Cap
  • Hover Alien Unit-G88
  • Alien UFO UA-Peter
  • Alien Sniper C4M-PR
  • Alien Dropship Fridgeraider
• LBA-Nasty no longer wander for 5 secs before acquiring a target
• LBA-Nasty hitboxes are larger making them easier to hit
• LBA-Nasty health has been lowered making them quicker to defeat
• LBA-Nasty now explodes quicker when killed
• Reduced LBA-Nastys attack speed from 0.5s -> 0.15s
• Unit-G88 Will no longer steal Meat when its attack has completed
• Gobble Gazers will abort their scan if players move >7m away from them
• Fridgeraiders now spawn into an invulnerable Spawning state while they warp in
• More work has been done for Enemy Knockback so that things feel a bit more impactful and calibrated across the different enemies and how they respond to weapon and ability impacts and attacks. This is still in progress, but hopefully feels a little more satisfying and easier to control them by knocking them around a bit more
• Reduced the difficulty of Broadside
  • Reduce Damage of Broadside's Mines 100/200 -> 30/40
  • Add Fire Damage flag to Broadside's Mines
  • Allow Broadside's Mines to be detonated by and damage enemies
  • Reduce Broadside's health from 5000 -> 4000
• Increased the number of Monolithic Wheelies from 1 4 during Franken Beans' elite spawning attack
• Moved the spawn locations of the Monolithic Wheelies to around the arena more evenly, they should be easier to see when they spawn regardless of which of Frankens Stalks players are facing
• Remove Critical Chance and Critical Damage from all enemy attacks, these were typically on ranged attacks where the enemy was firing a weapon
• Added Melee and Elemental damage flags to all enemy melee attacks
• Reduced some enemy damage ranges to bring their base values more inline with the player's starting durability and health values

Items

• All Epic and Legendary Items have had their chance to trigger increased by 2x and stacking count reduced by 2x. This means that it will now be easier for players to specialize their build with Epic & Legendary Items since they will now need to see them less often in their upgrade choices
• All Legendary Items will now only appear a maximum of 1 during a run
• All Epic Items will now only appear a maximum of 2 during a run
• All Rare Items will now only appear a maximum of 4 during a run
• All Uncommon Items will now only appear a maximum of 5 during a run
• Removed Legendary Items from Level 1 - 10 loot table
• Increase Range of Inferno Crown Effect from 6m -> 12m
• Increase amount of Barrier added by Mucus Maw 10 -> 20
• Increase damage from Static Charge from 2 -> 15
• Increase Trigger Effect Chance on Firebrand Talons 25% -> 50%
• Increase Trigger Effect Chance on Inferno Crown 20% -> 40%
• Increase Damage of Jagged Metal Cereal 5% -> 10%
• Increase On Melee Kill effect from Seattle Dog from 20% -> 100%
• Removed the Trigger Chance from most Items; we will now scale their effectiveness instead of their chance to trigger with stacks of the same item
• Reworked Fishing Rod & Fishing Net to add a buff that grants a base damage bonus
  • Always apply Short Range and Long Range Damage flags when the player deals hitscan damage to an enemy at the appropriate range, even if damage is not applied

Mutations

• Reworked all ranks of A Pirates Life for me
  • Gain 50%/100%/150% Ability Recharge Rate for 10s after a successful Active Reload
• Reworked all ranks of Ninja Gaiden
  • Gain 10%/20%/30% Attack Speed for 5s after dealing Weak Point Damage
• Reworked all ranks of Sentience
  • Gain 15%/25%/35% Attack Speed for 10s after a successful Active Reload
• Reworked Rank 1 of Far Out Man
  • On Kill: Increase Accuracy by 30% for 12s
• Rework Rank 2 of Far Out Man
  • On Kill: Increase Accuracy by 30% for 12s
  • On Fast Reload: Increase Long Range Damage by 40% for 12s
• Rework Rank 3 of Far Out Man
  • On Kill: Increase Accuracy by 30% for 12s
  • On Fast Reload: Increase Long Range Damage by 40% for 12s
  • On LongRangeBonus Weapon Kill: Increase Critical Damage by 50% for 12s
• Remove Rank 4 of Far Out Man
• Updated Rank 1 of Psychomagnotherem
  • On Weapon Switch: +10% Minion Damage and +10% Minion Health for 12s
• Updated Rank 2 of Psychomagnotherem
  • +10% Slimed Effectiveness
  • On Weapon Switch: +15% Minion Damage and +15% Minion Health for 12s
• Updated Rank 3 of Psychomagnotherem
  • +20% Slimed Effectiveness
  • On Weapon Switch: +20% Minion Damage and +20% Minion Health for 12s
• Scaled Combust Damage on Pyroclasm
  • Increase Damage of Combust from Pyroclasm Rank 1 from 15 to 80
  • Increase Damage of Combust from Pyroclasm Rank 2 from 15 to 120
  • Increase Damage of Combust from Pyroclasm Rank 3 from 15 to 160
• Scaled Chain Lightning Damage on Tempest
  • Increase Damage of Chain Lightning from Tempest Rank 1 from 15 to 20
  • Increase Damage of Chain Lightning from Tempest Rank 2 from 15 to 40
  • Increase Damage of Chain Lightning from Tempest Rank 3 from 15 to 60
• Increase Chilled Duration 6s -> 12s on Glacial Veins

Weapons

• Increased Magnum Effect Trigger Scalar 1 -> 1.75
• Increased Pistol Effect Trigger Scalar 1 -> 2
• Increased Plasma Gun Effect Trigger Scalar 1 -> 1.25
• Increased Rail Gun Effect Trigger Scalar 1 -> 1.5
• Decreased Rifle Effect Trigger Scalar 1 -> 0.75
• Increased Damage of all SMGS 12/22 -> 16/24
• Increased SMG Effect Trigger Scalar 1 -> 1.25
• Increased Shotgun Damage 8/12 -> 12/20
• Increased Shotgun Effect Trigger Scalar 1 -> 1.5
• Increased Sniper Effect Trigger Scalar 1 -> 1.5
• Reduced Gravity Delay of all Rocket Launchers from 2 -> 1. Rockets will now travel about half as far before falling and detonating on the ground
• Increased power of Spinach Spitter
  • Decrease usage delay of Spinach Spitter 0.5s -> 0.25s
  • Increase Spinach Spitter projectiles per shot 3 -> 4
  • Increase damage of Spinach Spitter 10/30 -> 10/15
• Reduced the muzzle climb and recovery of SMGs
• Reduced the muzzle climb and recovery of Magnums
• All Melee weapons share all of the same properties except for Damage Type
• Reworked My Name Jeff into the Eletcric Plasma Gun
• Added the appropriate VFX and explosion effects to Fire, Ice, Kinetic, and Slime Plasma Guns
• The Sniper Rifle weapon family has been removed and merged into the Rail Gun
• Increased all Magnum Magazines from 6 -> 8
• Increased Burst Delay of Magnums from 0 -> 0.15
  • When firing with the Active Reload Bonus it should now be much more apparent
• Reduced the range of damage on all Kinetic Weapons
• Added a light Muzzle Climb & Wobble to all Rail Guns

Animation

• New Hunter Intro and Arrival scenes.
  • The first time you see the hunters now introduces them in a cutscene when they arrive
  • All other times that they arrive, they fly in as meteors, slammig into the ground
  • Presentation has been polished to that its more obvious when they are about to arrive, and when they arrive: Lighting change, Meathedral appears in sky, meteors fall with vfx and audio stingers
• Animation & Dynamics pass on Ringo and Starr
  • Tweaked poses for Ringo's attacks in small ways for readability
  • Added a new sprint animation to Starr for when hes aggressing toward the player while trapped by Ringo
  • Reworked Starrs melee attacks a bit to clarify the normal vs aggressive
  • Added dynamic bone setups on both for meatiness
• Minor QOL tweaks to Narrative timelines
  • Game Intro & Frank Defeated scenes are both slower and allow the full texts to be read without speedreading
• Little Buff Aliens have a self-destruct animation for when they die
• GobbleGazers face armor was adjusted upwards to look better.
• Jet Pack Alien has a new shooting animation for its attacks
• Whirlwind ability animation polish now shows open hands, and is scaled up a bit for clarity. Slap em around!
• Updated foot fall sounds on enemies
• Mirrored all player firing and idle animations in support of the new weapon swapping, and to make things feel more natural on controller. Some odds and ends are less polished for now, due to the animations not having been crafted for right-handedness, but they are mostly solid and will be polished more as we go along.
• Ability polish work for Meat Zord Torso, Grenade-like Head abilities across the board, Muscle Torso and Legs, Wasp Torso
• Lots of minor polish bits and spot fixes on the animation side overall. Too many to list, but hoping that things look and feel better

Audio

• Added a celebratory stinger to Frank Defeated scene (borrowed from Spellcraft)
• Lots of Game Mix updates and refinements
• Combat Music stems now working in a new, simpler system; should result in the feel of Im fighting so the music has more drums now
  • Based on having recently shot an enemy OR taken damage
• New dynamic Biome music for Alien and Machine planets has been added
• Audio pass on Hunters for mix and also newer elements from the updated animations (ex. Starrs roar after his aggressive attack)
• Some more VFX polish and mix passes have gone in, covering some general ground

Narrative

• More work has gone in to support the Narrative of System 1 and System 2. Its still a lighter touch, but hopefully clear enough to get the idea. We look forward to your feedback on it.

Environments

• New Space Freighter map in system 01
• Tangus Town has moved to the start of system 02
• New Tiger Mountain map added to system 02
• New Moon of Tangus map in system 02
• New Wrestling Arena for the boss battle in system 02

Bug Fixes

• Fixed clients being unable to interact with health terminals if the host had previously interacted with it
• The Electric Magnum will now correctly deal Electric Damage
• The Kinetic Magnum will now correctly have a 20% stagger chance on damage
• Goggle Gazers shine their spotlight on the player properly again
• Fixed an issue where some foot fall sounds were missing after we switched to the animation event payload system
• Franken Beans' laser stalks can no longer be jammed by the Franken Stalk Heads Beam Ability
• Added Hitscan damge flag to all Hitscan weapons
• Added Melee damage flag to all Spatulas
• Added missing VFX to all elemental weapons

Meta Progression

• All non-boss planets now have resource nodes spawned on them.
• Rift Fishing, Mineral Gathering, and Chainsaw Operating Licenses now appear at Carl after extracting a planet for the first time.
• When playing in a group, players should receive credit for all resources gathered by other players as long as they also have the corresponding license unlocked.
• The Currency Trader has a tab where you can sell fish for Glizzies once youve unlocked your Rift Fishing License at Carl.
• Upgrades at the weapons terminal now have ranks which utilize gathered resources.
• The employee information terminal now has a tab to display resources, which as a group all require successful planet extraction in order to take back to your ship.
• Rangus employees now receive special employee XP for completing prime directives and for each star earned during a run. This allows players to rank up to higher tiers and eventually promotions within the organization.

UI / UX

• Bottom left hud rejiggered to have 110% more numbers, plus magnified so you can actually read it!
• Increased clarity of ability cooldowns
• Added Inspect screen for more details of meat, weapons, abilities, and items during runs.
• Killing blow is mentioned on death screen
• Replaced the phrase Proc Chance with Effect Trigger Chance. Players who have not played Everquest may now hopefully understand what this does? Let us know.
• Added Buff & Debuff Indicators to the bottom left of the HUD
• Added Weapon Switching Indicators to the bottom right of the HUD

What's up, taste buds? Hope you're ready for the next SWAPMEAT playtest -- it's almost time! Dive into Meat Lab 5 starting this Thursday, then join our developer livestream Friday, May 16 at 4pm Pacific and grill the team with your juiciest questions.
Hang out in chat, watch us show off some of the new updates and upgrades we've made for Meat Lab 5, and pick up some top tips from the meatheads making the game. We'll be streaming for around an hour, so don't be late! Follow us on Twitch, turn on notifications, and we'll see you later this week.

Greetings, returning and aspiring Meat Scientists!

Meat Lab 5

Thanks for joining us in our latest SWAPMEAT playtest. Meat Lab 4 was our biggest one yet, and we've already made a laundry list of updates and fixes based on feedback from our Discord community. Got questions now that you've gotten your hands on the game? Join us in Discord Friday, March 14 at 3:30pm PT, where we'll look back on Meat Lab 4, talk about some of those changes mentioned above, and take your juiciest queries coming out of the playtest. We can't wait to see you there. Until next time!

Good news, everyone!

This SWAPMEAT Playtest will remain open until 5pm PT on Thursday, March 13th!

Good news, intrepid and aspiring Meat Scientists: SWAPMEAT's next playtest draws near! We're just tightening a few nuts and bolts, but we'll fling the Meat Lab doors open on...

March 6th at 10am Pacific!

• Two new factions: Mutants and Aliens
• An all-new biome to explore / ravage
• Merit Badges: Track your progress through the game's story and net new inherent powers
• Mutated Abilities: Modify your Meat to optimize your build
• Controller support, for the WASD-averse

That's A Wrap

Help An Indie Meat-Based Lifeform Out

Tell a friend (or 2, or 10,000) about SWAPMEAT - If you have a friend who you think would dig what we're building here, it'd be awesome if you shared the gift of SWAPMEAT with them. Here's a handy link to our trailer if your friends aren't strong readers. [/olist]

Reminder: Play SWAPMEAT, Get Stuff

We've extended our SWAPMEAT mega contest to run beyond this playtest. There's still plenty of time to get your entries in to win.
As a reminder: We're giving away 20 one-month subscriptions to Butcher Box, a leading purveyor of meat, delivered right to your door.

Until We Meat Again

Once again, thanks so much for playing over the past week. Your feedback has been incredibly helpful, and getting to hang out with y'all in Discord has been awesome. So awesome, in fact, we're gonna run it all back and have another playtest soon. See you in 2025! -Rodd, VP of Humanoid Resources and Diuretics, Rangus Corp.

[ 2024-12-23 19:34:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, Meat Scientists! To celebrate our Super Size Meat Lab playtest, were giving away the most appropriate prizes we could think of: MEAT. Thats right, weve got 20 ButcherBox boxes* chock full of quality meat products to give away, and there are a bunch of ways to earn chances to win:
[olist]

Greetings, Meat Scientists! Mark your calendars: the Super Size Meat Lab playtest begins on December 16th at 11 AM Pacific Time. Itll run through the 23rd at 11 AM PST. But wait theres more! Weve been cooking a mouthwatering new trailer, and the fine folks over at IGN (only the beefiest gaming media outlet this side of the galaxy!) have agreed to debut it exclusively on December 10th!!! How can you get in? If you already played in a previous Meat Lab, youre still in. If this is your first Meat Rodeo, then just refer 3 friends and your whole squad gets in (while supplies last*). Otherwise, wishlist the game, fill out the questionnaire, and look for more ways to get access. *If we exceed our expectations of players invited, well close this deal down, so be sure to get your friends in ASAP! Be on the lookout for even more news surrounding the playtest soon, including: a slate of killer content creators with only the finest taste in videogames wholl be joining the action, some meaty contests with were cooking up (with even meatier prizes), a big ole update on whats changed and improved in the game, and more. In case you missed it, check out our animation director Rockys story about how weve been pushing meat swapping animations to be even juicier Reddit and TikTok both liked the taste.

Greetings, Meat Scientists! Mark your calendars: the Super Size Meat Lab playtest begins on December 10th at 11 AM Pacific Time. Itll run through the following Monday the 16th at 11 AM PST. But wait theres more! Weve been cooking a mouthwatering new trailer, and the fine folks over at IGN (only the beefiest gaming media outlet this side of the galaxy!) have agreed to debut it exclusively on the same day. Check our announcement vid for a tiny teaser: [previewyoutube=CLUU4NCORMU;full][/previewyoutube] How can you get in? If you already played in a previous Meat Lab, youre still in. If this is your first Meat Rodeo, then just refer 3 friends and your whole squad gets in (while supplies last*). Otherwise, wishlist the game, fill out the questionnaire, and look for more ways to get access. *If we exceed our expectations of players invited, well close this deal down, so be sure to get your friends in ASAP! Be on the lookout for even more news surrounding the playtest soon, including: a slate of killer content creators with only the finest taste in videogames wholl be joining the action, some meaty contests with were cooking up (with even meatier prizes), a big ole update on whats changed and improved in the game, and more. In case you missed it, check out our animation director Rockys story about how weve been pushing meat swapping animations to be even juicier Reddit and TikTok both liked the taste. [Embed Discord Event]

Greetings, Meat Scientists! We've been hacking away at Meat Science over the past few months, and have some bleeding edge footage of meat swapping from Rocky, our Animation Director, here at One More Game. [previewyoutube=BnA_u-_gcd4;full][/previewyoutube] We wanted to make swapping meat feel iconic, organic, and fun. Rocky was inspired by the slow motion accordion footage you see in fast food commercials. We're still refining the animation, but wanted to show you how it's going so far.

Greetings, Meat Scientists! We've been hard at work and SWAPMEAT's feeling beefier than ever. We can't wait to invite everyone to our next playtest, so stay tuned. In the meantime, whet your appetite with a little behind-the-scenes story time. You see, the most common question we hear from players we meat at conventions or chat with on Discord is: "how the heck did you come up with this crazy meat swapping mechanic?!" Well, lucky reader, we've got the History of Meat Swapping for your viewing pleasure: [previewyoutube=mLz7I0SWN7A;full][/previewyoutube] Our art director, Jason Stokes, was running his own solo indie studio prior to joining forces with the One More Game team. Inspired by classic over-the-top games like arcade cult classic Time Killers, Jason was working on a Contra-like co-op action game called Blood Brothers, and he thought it'd be funny to have a mechanic where your head or legs might get blown off in combat, forcing the player to hop around spurting blood as a set of legs, or roll around as a torso. Soon, the mechanic evolved into 'meat mixing' -- stealing body parts from your enemies would also imbue you with their weapons and abilities. Boy howdy, that sounds familiar! Cut to several years later -- OMG is exploring concepts for tour next title, and had zeroed in on roguelites as something the team was passionate about. Jason had an epiphany: meat mixing was a perfect fit for the genre, with the ever-evolving build, where every run is different -- why not make your character dramatically different throughout a run, too?! AND we can make the visuals over-the-top and absurd?!?!? SIGN US UP! The rest is history: we've gone through a few iterations of the meat swapping system and found the fun and strategic depth, and now we're putting in the reps to make sure the game's got the right amount of content, the right performance, and half-decent balance -- all informed by your wonderful feedback. Speaking of which, if you haven't signed up for the playtest, go do it now!

Thanks so much to everyone who gave feedback after playing in Meat Lab 2! 93% of you said you'd recommend SWAPMEAT to a friend, which, if they were Steam reviews, would give us a "Very Positive" score! We wanted to share one big system change we're considering based on a lot of feedback we heard and observations during the test! We're working on it now to try it out internally, but we'd love to hear what you think about the proposal! [previewyoutube=c0eqdtXPZJI;full][/previewyoutube] Here's the new system we're gonna test: Youll no longer have a 15 minute time limit on a planet. Instead, things will get more difficult over time, with more and harder enemies, more aggressive dropships, and other challenges. At the end of the run, your squad will get a star rating from 0-5. The star rating will be a multiplier that will dramatically increase the rewards you got for completing missions and events. Your star rating will be based on how many events you completed, the health of the Harvester and its nodes after extraction, how many times you died and had to respawn, and how long you stuck it out planetside as the risk level grew. If your squad dies before extracting, youll get 0 stars. Youll still keep the rewards you got for completing events, but no bonus, because you died! This aims to encourage players to complete as many events as possible, and should offer interesting risk/reward choices as players push their luck chasing a higher star rating on increasingly dangerous runs. It also allows players to enjoy some progression even if they fail a stage because they're new to the genre or bit off more than they could chew. We'll let you know how it plays from our perspective once we get it implemented and get our mitts on it. But do share your first reaction to this system! Watch a quick vid covering the proposed change on your short-form content platform of choice:

• TikTok
• [strike]Twitter[/strike] X, the everything app
• Instagram
• YouTube

Patch Notes 2024-09-06, ~18:00 Pacific Time: The Basting Patch

Bug Fixes

• All Grenade abilities will now have their radius scaled with the Explosion Radius modifier instead of Support Ability Radius modifier. This means Grenades should blow up more good and do other things good too.
• Gobblegazer no longer knocks folks through the ground. Sorry.
• VFX particles added to gobble gazer death. This ain't your daddy's flying turducken.
• Invisible equipped meat shouldn't [strike]appear? Be visible? Show up?[/strike] It's not going to be a problem anymore.
• Objects should take longer to be destroyed.
• Mines should explode more reliably.
• Beatrice (your Army of Bee friendo) will reach her enemies more often now.
• The game won't break if the land shark spawns now. Be wary, land lubbing Meat Scientist!

Weapons

Pistol

• Buff: Increased Min Damage of Pistol 30 -> 35
• Buff: Increased Max Damage of Pistol 35 -> 40

Rifle

• Added Rifle to initially unlocked weapons.

Gameplay Changes

• Buff: Increased stacks of Burning on Sizzling Meat Missile from 1 to 3
• Buff: Increased stacks of Chilled on Frosty Meat Missile from 3 to 5

Art

• Added rotation to Fire & Ice Grenade ability projectiles
• Added rotation to all Meat Missile ability projectiles

From the Desk of Game Director Reset

Improved Events

Mutation

AI Improvements

Balance

Elemental System

• Fire applies stacks of burning (damage over time) which can be consumed with Combust to deal a large amount of damage to the enemy
• Ice applies stacks of movement and attack slowing effects. This has been made more effective by reducing the amount of stacks required to completely slow an enemy from 5 to 3
• Slime applies a stack one debuff which removes all armor from an enemy
• Electric applies a stack one debuff that increases damage taken by 25% from all sources. This can be consumed to Electrify the enemy causing a long stagger

Combat Readability

Patch Notes

Gameplay

• Spider enemies are smaller, faster and more numerous
• Wasps now fire Slime projectiles as their primary attack instead of a short ranged melee attack
• Killing a Cerebral Hopper after it has stolen your meat will cause it to drop on the ground unless it has had time to digest it
• Increased range of Meatzords melee attack
• Added one Super Sample reward to each infestation event to ensure folks having difficulty identifying the location of the events which do reward Super Samples could still progress, albeit much slower
• Projectile collision has been updated. Hitting enemies with projectiles especially flying enemies should be much easier
• Reduce Rocket Launcher max active reload buff count from 5 3
• Reduce overall health of Harvester
  • Reduce Health of Harvester Nodes 2000 500
  • Reduce Health of Harvester Core 2500 750
• Rework Harvester Upgrades
  • Harvester Upgrades applied based on highest player level
  • 50 HP per Harvester Level; no percent boost
• Chain Lightning will now deal Electric damage
• Elemental Abilities and Elemental Damage should now be more pronounced
  • Added VFX and SFX to Combust (Fire)
  • Added VFX and SFX to Electrify (Electric)
• Players being hit by the Cerebral Hoppers tongue attack will now be slowed by 90% while the ability is being channeled
• Assigned Banner of Alacrity to Ninja Torso (previously Safety Vest)
• Assigned Safety Vest to Butcher Torso (previously Banner of Alacrity)
• Renamed Spider head to Wasp head

Invading Enemy Drop Ships

Mutations

A Pirate's Life for Me

• 15% chance on successful Active Reload to gain 100% ability recharge rate for 5s
• 15% chance on successful Active Reload to gain 150% ability recharge rate for 5s
• 15% chance on successful Active Reload to gain 200% ability recharge rate for 5s

Blood Sucking

• Bloodsucking I - Precision hits have a 5% chance to heal 1% of max health
• Bloodsucking II - Precision hits have a 5% chance to heal 2% of max health
• Bloodsucking III - Precision hits have a 5% chance to heal 3% of max health

Bugging Out

• Bugging Out I - 15% chance on kill to grant 50 Armor for 10s
• Bugging Out II - 15% chance on kill to grant 100 Armor for 10s
• Bugging Out III - 15% chance on kill to grant 150 Armor for 10s

Demolition Man

• Increase radius of area damage by 50% and 15% chance on critical damage dealt to deal 50 Area Fire damage
• Increase radius of area damage by 100% and 20% chance on critical damage dealt to deal 100 Area Fire damage
• Increase radius of area damage by 200% and 25% chance on critical damage dealt to deal 150 Area Fire damage

Ninja Gaiden

• 15% chance to gain Alacrity I on precision damage dealt for 5s
• 15% chance to gain Alacrity II on precision damage dealt for 5s
• 15% chance to gain Alacrity III on precision damage dealt for 5s

Meat Lovers

• Increase Magazine by 10 and +5% chance per reload bonus on damage dealt to deal 25 Fire damage
• Increase Magazine by 20 and +5% chance per reload bonus on damage dealt to deal 50 Fire damage
• Increase Magazine by 30 and +5% chance per reload bonus on damage dealt to deal 75 Fire damage

Meat Your Maker

• Meat Your Maker I - Defeating enemies boosts your damage by 1% for 30s up to 100%
• Meat Your Maker II - Defeating enemies boosts your damage by 2% for 30s up to 200%
• Meat Your Maker III - Defeating enemies boosts your damage by 3% for 30s up to 300%

Sentience

• 15% chance on kill to gain 15% Attack Speed for 10s
• 15% chance on kill to gain 25% Attack Speed for 10s
• 15% chance on kill to gain 35% Attack Speed for 10s

Item Changes

• Brawndo has been disabled

Art

• Spider Animation and Scale update:
  • New animation for Web Attack; updated animation for Melee Attack. Should read much more clearly
  • Scaled down by 25% so we can spawn more of them around you
• Scaled up Plasma Gun so it looks a little beefier
• Animation pass on Broadside Miniboss: Idle, Run, Cannon Attack, Slide
• Muscle Man Slide_R anim (was missing one and using Left variant for right slides)
• Lighting in the lobby changes to denote whether you are currently in a run or not
• New Shark Anims for Swim and Attack
• Gobble Gazer animation update, also with new scanning colors for more clarity

AI

• Wasps, Jetpack Robots and Butchers no longer orbit around the player, instead each moving in a unique pattern
• Spiders have an updated movement pattern too
• Enemy creatures will no longer attack each other unless attacked first, or after the baby has been rescued
• Frog enemies won't jump on the spot after you hit them anymore
• Meat Monster will use its laser attack more consistently
• Glizzy Gliders will use white spotlight when approaching a random drop point (while using red for player targets)

Audio

• Adjusted the sound attenuation of the Wasps' buzzing so they dont get loud so far away and align more readily to their awareness and combat parameters
• Mixed some sounds around Reload Minigame and Meat Loss; these should stand out a bit more during Combat
• Bumped the volume of empty meats audio
• Changed XP gain sound so its not as overwhelming (due to the sound being heard over and over as each XP pip was collected)
• New sounds for a number of Enemies: Sharks, Meatboys, Gobble Gazer, Broadside, Wasps, Beatrice (Army of Bee), etc.
• We now only play the event success fanfare sound if rewards were given to the player
• Added new sounds for Meat parts
  • Butcher Legs
  • Empty Legs
  • RangusEmployee Head
  • RangusResearcher Torso
  • RangusResearcher Legs
  • Empty Torso
  • Belly Grinder Torso
• Connected sound events to the Reload Minigame
• Meat Loss has new, louder sounds

Networking

• Disconnected players are automatically removed from the game and their slots are freed at the start of each new run
• The Host now has the option to kick players and free up their slots from the Main Menu Multiplayer menu
• In-game prompt to switch games if a player accepts a Steam invitation while the game is already running

UI / UX

• Moved Invite option on Main Menu into the Multiplayer submenu
• Controller UI Navigation improvements
  • Most buttons now have a consistent active, disabled, hovered, and focused color
  • Most menus will have a default button focused when they are opened
• Healthbar flashes when players take damage
  • If part is missing, healthbar flashes red for missing part
• Added Windowing options to options menu

Bug Fixes

• Fixed animation jitter of attached heads when Rocket Bot Torso is equipped
• Fixed an issue where damage types from weapons were not being correctly calculated and applied to damage dealt
• Fixed an issue where elemental damage dealt would not cause OnHit Effects triggered by elemental damage from being executed
• Fix issue where additional Disgusting Gelatin Salad items would not stack
• Gravity Well is fixed and pulls in enemies again
• Cheats are no longer exposed in live environments
• Projectile weapons should properly interact with the reload buff system, previously they did not count as dealing damage
• Equipment loadouts are properly saved between sessions
• Scale effect radius of elemental grenades on Explosion Radius
• Glizzy Gliders no longer drop meat when despawning after a successful drop
• Fixed an issue with aim at target logic, affecting spotlights and enemy aiming
• GMO Mutant Super Samples werent dropping in the Spiral Sausage galaxy. Theyve been added as a reward to the new Research Facility event
• Machine Super Samples werent dropping in the Spiral Sausage galaxy. Theyve been added as a reward to Stage Time
• Fixed issue where enemies were not taking damage from burning sources
• Players that are slowed from movement slowing abilities will now be able to use their movement abilities

We'll see you planetside!

SWAP/MEAT WORLD TOUR

What's up, Meat Scientists?

Some big news for ya:

The next SWAP/MEAT playtest goes live September 6!

That's right, Meat Fam. We goin' live again, and want to play with you. This update is all about more. More content, more progression, more MEAT. Questions? We have the answers you crave:

I played last playtest. I want - no, I need - to play again. How I do dis?

I want in but I'm not in. How do I get in so I can get in?

When, exactly, does everything start?

Why "around 11:00 a.m."?

What's that cosmic conspiracy from all your amazing TikTok videos all about?

See you after PAX!

Hey meat fam! We've got some exciting news to share with you: We're holding our first SWAP/MEAT playtest on July 19th, and we want to play with you! There's one way to guarantee you and your friends can play on the 19th. Just check out this here handy video to learn more: [previewyoutube=neFANrmxf-c;full][/previewyoutube] Pretty easy, right? Just visit https://meatlab.playswapmeat.com/dashboard/invites to get your unique referral links to share with your friends. (If that link asks you to log in with Steam, click this link here, and sign in again. Make sure to use the email you originally used to sign up.) You can refer up to three friends, and if all three sign up for access, you all get in! Are you, like me, forever alone and don't have any friends to invite? No worries, you still have a chance to get randomly selected to play. Here's the breakdown:

• When: July 19th, 2024 at ~11:00 a.m. Pacific
• Who: You and your three best friends. Or just you. No judgment.
• Where: Steam/Discord [links]
• Why: This meat ain't gonna swap itself.
• How: We have an advanced machine that forces meat through the series of tubes that connect your computer to your favorite doomscrolling platform. Rather than serving up despair, you get SWAP/MEAT!