KickStarter Mechajammer (formerly Copper Dreams) - cyberpunk RPG from Whalenought Studios

[buffalo bill]

NEW ARMOUR ITEMS
NEW VEHICLES
MORE COMPANIONS AND QUESTS

How about less health regen?

 

[ArchAngel]

Seems like waiting for a finished version will pay off well. I waited a lot of years for this game, I can wait some more.

 

[OSK]

Seems like waiting for a finished version will pay off well. I waited a lot of years for this game, I can wait some more.

That's true for nearly all modern games.

 

[ropetight]

Ideally, you would not know a thing about modern games until they are on discount, fully patched and including all DLCs.
In reality, it is very hard to find golden mean between reading forums and development hell diaries for years and not knowing about indie RPGs at all.

 

[Jinn]

So anyone who played it at release going to take one for the team tomorrow and let us know if it has significantly improved? I've got no expectations that it has, but would love to be surprised.

 

[Jinn]

Well, seems worthy of a post here at least, especially considering this is the final update the game will get.

Mechajammer | The Refracted Update is Live!
The definitive Mechajammer experience is here...

Mechajammer: The Refracted Update
has arrived.

Back in December, when Mechajammer first launched, we had a good few things to get on top of — overpowered PTSD character flaws, anyone?

Since then we have released 8 patches for the game, introducing a slew of updates and improvements. During that time we have adjusted game balance, fixed many launch bugs players were facing, added many additional weapons, armour, vehicles and character customisation features.

Refracted - a mammoth 1.1 Update to the game - finishes our roadmap and aims to bring you the complete Mechajammer experience. There's new quests, skateboards, new vehicles, weapons and a lot of polish.

If you've been waiting for the perfect time to jump in: it's now.

Let us know how you find The Refracted Update over on the Mechajammer Discord! We have puzzle-solving and character sheet channels now! We have also written a new guide to accompany the Refracted release, with a wealth of new insights, details and solutions.

Here's the full patch notes:

Spoiler

1.1 Quests:

• Gang Quests
  
• Companion quests for Aldo, Raddo & Ivo, Dex, Gillis and Abram

Added:

• Merchants and clinics can be see on minimap and terminal (after receiving notes at the beginning of the game)
  
• Can radio for gang allies from Terminal menu
  
• More save slots on save/load screen
  
• Bribe random spawners to leave you alone
  
• Skateboards
  
• New Vehicles
  
• Merchants to Factus South
  
• Ammo icon next to weapon
  
• Player location shows on terminal map

Balance:

• Increased difficulty of Knockout rolls
  
• Faster bullets
  
• Removed luck roll when no dice in a skill
  
• Damage to weapon durability is a roll instead of a flat number
  
• Mutation damage procs exhaustion ailment, but happens less frequently
  
• Increased melee range for spears, clubs and chained items
  
• Social rolls to charm companions become more difficult with increased party size
  
• Hit roll bonus adds to damage (vs grace + occult + item deflector)
  
• Updated item durabilities, damage deflection, damage bonuses, and merchant costs

Driving - Fixed Issues:

• Will load game in car if saved while driving
  
• Car can disappear when player is driving
  
• NPC cars disappearing while driving
  
• Bug where you exit car but position remains inside of the car
  
• Character sprite flickering while driving fixed
  
• Character sprites on cars disappear when zoomed in
  
• Character head showing through auto-rickshaw
  
• Car lights are unpredictable and too dim
  
• Braking (default hotkey: x)
  
• Increased gravity for cars
  
• Sound effect missing for hitting civilians with cars
  
• Pickup items menu not updating while driving
  
• Cars on street do not change vehicle types between saves
  
• Van wheels not turning the correct direction
  
• Smoothed wheel turning
  
• No sound playing while reversing

FX - Fixed Issues:

• Bullets appearing too low from guns
  
• Shooting walls or object makes particles come out of a previously hit location
  
• ripple particles not showing when walking over water
  
• Plasma gun missing charge up particle effect
  
• Light left behind from fires but fire is gone
  
• Removed noise radius effects while driving
  
• Fixed stutters that happened while showing bridge raising/lower cinematic

Gameplay

• Adjusted camera to stay closer to the player while moving
  
• Fixed: Knockout still causing ailment even when roll failed
  
• Fixed: Combat not ending as expected when hostile NPC is outside sight radius
  
• Increased walk speed
  
• Increased blood effects on impact
  
• Fixed: Using vault generators is missing a cinematic like using bridges
  
• Fixed: Fires and spills from breakable objects remain between saves
  
• Fixed: Hackers missing trackball weapon
  
• Fixed: Bug with arrow hotkeys not working until settings menu is opened
  
• Fixed: Player does not face computer while using it
  
• Gang music plays when roving factions attack you
  
• Fixed: Bullets sometimes disappear without hitting anything
  
• Fixed: When people shoot a gun they are briefly in shadow after
  
• Fixed: Sometimes vagrants are in shadow when they should not be
  
• Fixed: Bug where aiming to weapon was resulting in no damage occuring or weapon breaking
  
• Fixed: Eating rations not healing character
  
• Fixed: Weapons stay loaded after you unequip them
  
• Fixed: Ammo does not load from saved games correctly
  
• Removed pop up dialogue for police
  
• Scanners only show visual effects when police are alerted to main player, not rioters
  
• Fixed: After dinner, Doctor pops between upstairs and downstairs
  
• Fixed: Vagrant companions not joining you correctly after dinner
  
• Increased camera pan speed
  
• Non-hostile NPCs do not start dialogue with you automatically, have icon above head indicating conversation
  
• Fixed: Parked cars save health and type
  
• Fixed: Player pathfinds through fire and spills
  
• Fixed: Spotlights move during turn selection pause
  
• Fixed: Can see NPCs in shadow when you get close to them
  
• Fixed: Cyberfreaks utility box triggering incorrect radio call
  
• Fixed: Extension Blade socket not adding correct distance to melee weapon

UI

• Fixed: Pressing W and S while driving moves game feed up and down
  
• Vehicle damage only shows in game feed when caused by the main player or done to damage of player's car
  
• Ammo always shows next to weapon
  
• Removed rioter info from game feed
  
• Generators only tell game feed that they need a key when you don't have one
  
• Can stack rations, fruit, med kits, repair kits, and various other items
  
• Ammo has higher stack maximum
  
• Removed deprecated chat messages on right side of HUD
  
• Removed sound effect that happens when new areas are uncovered during cinematics in intro
  
• Changed selection color on text on notepad to darker color
  
• Fixed: XP notice comes after fatal attack in game feed
  
• Character level shows in character sheet
  
• Fixed: Disconnected head in character sheet
  
• Fixed: Hexagon grid only shows walkable tiles
  
• Combined armor roll min and max shown when inventory is open
  
• Fixed: Can drag non-matching sockets onto shields
  
• Fixed: Sight cones for enemies inaccurate while player is in shadow or grass
  
• Fixed: Tooltips not always working for actions and items
  
• Fixed: Credit screen font size
  
• Fixed: Ammo not clickable after unequipping gun
  
• Fixed: Fire damage not showing in game feed
  
• Fixed: Procing damage shows up in game feed

Performance

• Reduced memory demand during gameplay
  
• Reduced some stutters in heavily populated areas

Art

• Fixed: Dead bodies scaled incorrect when returning to an area
  
• Fixed: Lights are not working for trash cans on fire
  
• Fixed: Stunned sprites clipping through floor
  
• Fixed: Utility box outside Miners trigger incorrect dialogue

Companions

• Companions can take pills
  
• Fixed: Civilian portraits don't save for companions
  
• Hovering on companion portrait show name, health, group, AI tag and directives
  
• Fixed: Companions do not attack target when they are in range group but cannot see target
  
• When directing companion from outside sight radius, companion takes time to travel to new location

Maps

• Fixed several issues with cutaway map visual
  
• Fixed: can see edge of water on big bridge between old town and factus
  
• Removed door in building south of old town plaza
  
• Added more chemical pools to Bottlers' compound
  
• Fixed: opening in garden maze at Collectors' Estate
  
• Fixed: Drivers near South Street that drive into building
  
• Added: Two clinics in Factus Core
  
• Two additional clinics in Factus Core
  
• Fixed: civilians in air in factus east main
  
• Fixed: Issue with bridge colliders while driving over them
  
• Fixed: Bug with miner's spotlights not turning off after using code
  
• Added: Lockers with item to Cyberfreaks base
  
• Shadows corrected in Faith Temple
  
• Fixed: Hole in geometry near Quinton Trains that could be driven through
  
• Fixed: Blocked path near Mole people
  
• Fixed: Incorrect utility box near Miners
  
• Fixed: Collider issues while driving on bridges near Wolffz Bay
  
• Fixed: Bottler spotlights moved away from street
  
• Fixed: Spotlight computer at Miner compound

We expect this to be the last major update to Mechajammer. We want to thank every player who helped us get the game to where it is now, for all the bug reports, feedback and kind messages. We want to shout out Rithin - the moderator on the Mechajammer discord for their help, Emo Tarquin for their Steam guide writing, to our discord resident poet Khazeet and all these players:

Andre
Aure
Craftian
Custer701
D I N G
Davinewrath
DonDon
Doomguy
EnthalpyFlow
FIN
Fimbulherjan
Floppy_Glass
GODHARVEST
GamleKorp
JC
Jabberwok
Jesse Raen
Jinn
Jordiii
Kanonite
Kay
Kolohe
Mac
Mr Mistersen
Munday
Murdergurl
N3tgh0st
Nameless
Nordicmonkey
Ocean Drive
PatternBlue
Polloajillo
Portentosa
Pull That Up
QueenMemory
Redglyph
Rithrin
Scramster
Shizuwolf34
Siegdarth
Spoonylegs
Syke_low
Tdsupreme
TheSHEEEP
The_Arbitor
Thewatersupply
Toupzy
Vaughn Whiskey
Vitamin B2
Watchersix
Wizardovoz
Xhazahh
borkenal
catmes
cosplaydiver
fugori
kormakrtv
net8floz
prestoppc
syke_low
yarow12


— Whalenought Studios & Modern Wolf

Hey, got on the thank you list! I think my contribution might have been the Increased Difficulty on Knockout rolls. But yeah, seems like Whalenought is moving on to other things. Unsure if they'll be continuing their relationship with Modern Wolf.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Viata]

seems like Whalenought is moving on to other things

I guess that onlyfans account has already started.

 

[OSK]

So is the game good now?

 

[mediocrepoet]

The trailer looks good at least. Hopefully they stitched things together into something fun.

 

[Jinn]

Decided to load it up and see some of the changes. Actually pretty impressed with a lot of the most basic changes to the UI. I particularly enjoy the combat hex mode, which makes movement and anticipation of enemy location much more precise. And of course the combat log with dice rolls - great and necessary to see why things are happening the way they are. The systems have been cleaned up a bit too, with the most noteworthy changes being the removal of pips when you acquire a new 1d6 on a skill when it is logical to do so, and the addition of the Experience Points mode, which I hugely prefer to the found enhancements. Both of these changes occurred in earlier patches, but this is my first time seeing them first hand.

Other things I like:

-Wounds seem to happen more frequently now, and I think they might have been straight up broken at launch for how few I received. And the wounds really fuck you up, particularly when they start piling on. It causes the health regen mechanic to make more sense. Still not sure how I feel overall about it, but it's a definitely improvement so far.
-Knockout is WAY harder to pull off. I rolled a character with no melee skills just to test this particular change out. Haven't been able to pull off a single one, whereas when I played at launch with a character with zero melee skills I could pull one off almost every other hit. This changes combat drastically for the better.
-Projectile speed has increased, and makes ranged attacks easier to pull off and plan out.
-Movement and environment interaction is much more smooth now, with hardly any of the awkwardness that was in the initial version.
-Haven't encountered any of the annoying bugs that plagued the initial release.

Besides that, haven't really gotten far enough to see how the actual content has improved, if at all. This is probably the thing I'm most concerned about, but will also take me the longest to actually be able to assess. Not sure if I'm going to keep playing on or not just now, as I have a couple other games I'm in the middle of playing at the moment. If I do end up getting a few more hours in, I'll try to give an update on anything I observe.

 

[Jinn]

So I was actually planning on playing something else tonight, but ended up feeling compelled to play some more of this. I got sucked in for a solid 3 hours and, um, I think this might be fun now. We'll obviously have to see the further I get in, but a lot of the issues that I was having on release have actually been resolved and improved upon so far by quite a bit.

 

[cyborgboy95]

An updated review from Mortisma Gaming

 

[Diggfinger]

An updated review from Mortisma Gaming

"video sponsored by Modern Wolf....publisher of Mechajammer..."


Great list of changes. Seems ready to play now!

 

[Jinn]

"video sponsored by Modern Wolf....publisher of Mechajammer..."


Great list of changes. Seems ready to play now!

Despite being a sponsored video, it's not particularly shilly. It's a very good overview of the updates and overall systems/mechanics. Particularly for those who played it at launch and want to know how it has changed. Though he did leave out a number of significant changes I've noticed so far.

 

[AetherVagrant]

I bought this, just like I bought SIS, but I've enjoyed neither beyond a few hours. I don't regret the purchase because I only intended to support the devs who have great ideas and accomplished much for a husband/waifu team.
(and damn she's a waifu)

But I cant get into it for the fact that it's more like the Sega Shadowrun as opposed to the SNES Shadowrun. Random quests random combat, random everything, I was hoping for more narrative, especially after the potential showed by Serpent.
So what the hell I'll probably keep buying their games and not playing them till they make an onlyfans account.

 

[Jinn]

Random quests random combat, random everything

Not sure what you mean by this. As far as I've seen quests aren't random and most encounters and mobs are hand placed with semi-scripted routes.

I was hoping for more narrative,

There's actually quite a lot more of this going on than first meets the eyes. Yeah, the game has a "show, don't tell" feeling to it, but there's a lot of people to talk to and information to find. Uncovering the setting and the stories going on within it has been a big part of the fun upon returning to it.

 

[AetherVagrant]

Maybe I didn't spend enough time with it.
Honestly I only played for like 3 hours and gave up.
Most people I talked to were generic npcs, quests were go kill this and bring back x.
But some games take a while to get going.
I have faith in this studio and I just read about the recent update improving the ui and combat.
I'll give it a year and come back, because these guys are really amazing devs, and SiS kinda sucked at first but they persisted in making it better.

 

[Jinn]

Maybe I didn't spend enough time with it.
Honestly I only played for like 3 hours and gave up.
Most people I talked to were generic npcs, quests were go kill this and bring back x.
But some games take a while to get going.
I have faith in this studio and I just read about the recent update improving the ui and combat.
I'll give it a year and come back, because these guys are really amazing devs, and SiS kinda sucked at first but they persisted in making it better.

Did you play it within the last couple days, or when it originally launched?

 

[AetherVagrant]

The demo, and then when it launched. Havent played the recent update.
But based upon what im seeing ill give it another update or two and have another go,
I HATE replaying the beginning of games over and over based on updates or character build mistakes and having to do it more than a couple times will just shelve the game.
So I'm glad it's improving, ill love to keep reading about it, because I really REALLY want to like this game and play through it. The art and mood is just killer.

 

[Jinn]

The demo, and then when it launched. Havent played the recent update.
But based upon what im seeing ill give it another update or two and have another go,

Yeah, just wanted to confirm because the update that came out yesterday is supposed to be the final major update the game ever gets.

But yeah, there aren't a TON of NPCs or anything, but if you increase your Social skill early on, you can get rumors out of the groups of vagrants around the city. They actually change color into a drab grey once you've gotten all the information you can from a particular group (to indicate they're maybe "old news" at that point). I've actually started to look at whole groups of vagrants as almost single NPCs to gather information off of. But beyond that, "normal" NPCs you can interact with are now much more clearly marked when you're in proximity to them, so you'll be finding these "named" NPCs more frequently than you probably would have before. You also get a lot of information through computer terminals, notes, and books.

Not sure if that will provide the narrative impetus you're craving or not, but I've liked the dialogue and general information I've been receiving from these exchanges and discoveries.

 

[Junmarko]

Yep...so about an of hour playing. Jumped into a vehicle, drove around the Jungle zone mowing down every mutant I could see...which started to feel like over a hundred after about 3 minutes of non-stop carnage.

Went from level 4 to 13 in that space of time and now have 11 "Skill Pips" or whatever they're called just sitting in my Stat window.

Lol righto...

 

[Jinn]

Yep...so about an of hour playing. Jumped into a vehicle, drove around the Jungle zone mowing down every mutant I could see...which started to feel like over a hundred after about 3 minutes of non-stop carnage.

Went from level 4 to 13 in that space of time and now have 11 "Skill Pips" or whatever they're called just sitting in my Stat window.

Lol righto...

Haven't been able to kill anyone by running them over without having to kick it in reverse and run over them again about 4 more times, but that is indeed ridiculous if that's how it worked out in your game.

Playing normally, I'm at level 18 at about 10 hours in with the XP system. The pip points you gain grant a very gradual progression unless you're pumping every one into a single skill. Basically 6 pips equal an additional 1d6 you can use for skill and attack rolls. Progression overall has felt surprisingly good. There have been a number of points where I've thought I was becoming overpowered, only to shortly find myself in a new tight situation.

That said, there's still a lot of bugs showing up the further in I get, and some questionable design choices throughout. I find myself strangely addicted to the game despite these problems, and might become one of the very few people to ever finish it as a result. I don't think a lot of codexers would be able to see past the flaws far enough to enjoy the experience, however.

 

[Saduj]

Is ranged combat fixed or is melee still the only viable option?

 

[Jinn]

Is ranged combat fixed or is melee still the only viable option?

Ranged is absolutely viable. Was the lack of available ammo in the launch version the biggest hurdle in that regard to you? I'm running Slug and One-Handed Blade as my two primary combat skills, leaning more heavily into Slug.