Hello Operatives!

Today marks the release of Untrusted v.1097, and unless disaster strikes, this will likely be the last patch before Untrusted transitions from Early Access to the official release. The game is now complete with the features I envisioned, but that doesn’t mean development stops – there still needs to be improvement, bugfixes and polishing, but the game is certainly ready to be enjoyed. So, without further ado, lets have a look at what this patch offers, before moving on to dicussing future development.

New Class – Corrupt Detective

With this patch, we finally see a new class (it’s been a while since the latest class, the Rival Hacker, was introduced) called Corrupt Detective.

This class is a neutral field operation (despite the name) class that will win (among other conditions) as long as AGENT faction loses. It’s the neutral opposite class to the Rival Hacker, as the Corrupt Detective is essentially a NETSEC player. Players who spawn with this class will need to first use the ‘Steal Intel’ skill and then use ‘Upload Intel’ on any hacked node. If that was not enough, the corrupt detective must be in play at the end of the game (not dead and not arrested).

This class also have some interesting properties that will enhance and create an additional layer of paranoia in the game: doxx results will show this class as AGENT, however, if he gets lycnhed, the Operation Leader identity will be revelead. In addition to this, the Corrupt Detective can get bribes during the day, which have no impact in the gameplay but will increase their payout in case of a win.

This class has been in the development wishlist for a while, but was put on backburner due to rising priorities. It requires some testing and probably balance although it should be already fun and interesting having (or not having!) one in the game.

As an additional, small buff to Rival Hacker, whenever the Corrupt Detective uses ‘Bribe’, the Rival Hacker will gain important intel. Will you risk giving an opponent intel or will you just cash out and risk it?

Supporter Store!

You can now support the development and maintenance of Untrusted! You can check the Donate page for more information (as more ways to help are coming soon!), but in short, every month a new badge and an exclusive avatar will be made available for purchase for a small sum. The avatar will be some way of showing your support, and at the same time it’s a great way to ‘immortalize’ moments of Untrusted, as they are all inspired by particular events that happened when the badge was released, either an ingame event or something unrelated, such as a seasonal gimmick.

You will also gain a very small amount of ingame credits that you can spend however you like. Untrusted is still a game that everyone can play for free and I’d rather keep it this way with no paywall and just cosmetics/bragging rights in-game purchases.

By showing your support you gain bragging rights and the knowledge that you are helping Untrusted grow, as the money will directly proceed in maintaining the product (all costs including assets, server maintenance, etc) as well as its further development.

You can now purchase retroactively (until the end of May) the February, March and April supporter tokens, which will give you an exclusive badge and, respectively, the Heart of The community avatar (commemorating the Early Access release), the Mega Bug avatar (commemorating the server 100% cpu bug on /kick) and the Aprils’s Fish avatar (commemorating the April’s Fools event)

Untrusted is still a hobby project – there is some runway but ultimately, how long the server will stay up and the game developed/updated will depend on how much interest there is from the community

There will be more information available soon on what are the next step in development, so you can also get a better feel if you think you should be spending your money on Untrusted or not.

You can still help untrusted without reaching your wallet: keep playing and spreading the word to help Untrusted grow!

Future Development

There is quite some new stuff on this patch, so expect bugs and issues – always remember you can reach out in the official Discord Server or via email at root@playuntrusted.com

What’s in store for the future? Certainly more content such as badges and avatars, community events and of course, the usual balancing and bugfixing. Most importantly there are some network infrastructure changes that needs to be addressed in order to scale up better – the older system resisted to 90CCU back in early february (at the very peak) but started lagging early – the current system should at least hold that many (and possible more!) but in order to scale up even more, there are other network changes that need be addressed. As you can see, there’s still plenty more to do, but that doesn’t mean Untrusted isn’t ready to be enjoyed!

Other Patch Stuff

Oh right, there’s more! Below, the full changelog of this patch:

Untrusted – Early Access – v1.097 changelog

New Features

+ YOU CAN NOW SUPPORT UNTRUSTED! You can buy exclusive ‘supporter packs’ (avatar, badge, and coins) with real currency to support the development and maintenance of the game! Learn more at playuntrusted.com !
+ Added new exclusive supporter badge series, currently featuring three new badges and avatar – one new badge and avatar each month to show your support to Untrusted!
+ Added one new badge
+ Added 7 new avatars (Inmate series)
+ New class “Corrupt Detective” (field ops neutral class, NETSEC friendly)
+ New skills “Steal Intel” “Upload Intel” “Get Bribe” and “AGENT Scum” (all Corrupt Detective Exclusive)

Balance Changes

+ “Blackmailed Informer” has a new additional sinergy with the “Get Bribe” skill. Whenever a Corrupt Detective gets a bribe, if a Rival Hacker is ingame it will receive information about alive operatives.
+ “Install CCTV” does not lose the charge anymore if the action fails.
+ “Paper” consumable is back, revamped.

Client Changes

+ Added Supporter Store!
+ Added “Join Game” sound effect that triggers when the lobby is ready and the game starts
+ Miscellaneous minor improvements and bugfixes

Servers Side Changes

+ Fixed a bug where DOXX would circumvent frame and would show the real faction.
+ Miscellaneous minor improvements and bugfixes

Hello Operatives!

Server will go under maintenance Sunday March 21st roughly from 11:00 UTC to 12:00 UTC (possibly extending until 13UTC).

Among the bugfixes and improvements in both he client and the server, this patch will include two major balance changes. Lets see them briefly.

» New Alter Logs skill

Alter Logs is currently under-used as it doesn’t allow control over the logs that are faked. While this is currently good for the Rival Hacker (it is the best way to signal to agents that there is a rival hacker among the team) it is a bit difficult to be used effectively by agents due its random nature. It also stands to reason that agents should be able to target their alter log ability if they want to target a specific NETSEC operative.

From v.1093, “Alter Logs” will now present a dedicated interface, as you will be able to either:

– use it as usual, with a random amount of logs on a specific node

or

– target one fake entry (and only one) on a specific node

This change opens up a lot of new ways for agents to play and focus suspicion on a player, as well as allows agents to fake other classes (spearphisher, analyst or improvised hacker) as they can fake a download intel action.

This change may be rebalanced in the future. Initially, this feature would also allow to select the day of the fake log, however the feeling is that it would be too disruptive for NETSEC so while it is not etched in stone, the behaviour of Alter Logs will probably stay linked to the day of execution.

Unlike most hacking tools UI shown Untrusted, which are all real and fairly reproduced to mimic as best real software behaviour, Clogger does not exist, but is – I think – an amazing name for a fake log injector.

» Reworked Rival Hacker

The rival hacker is probably the most mistunderstood role in the game. Often hated by the community due to its lack of defenses against AGENTs (which would often mistake them for a real NETSEC operative) it is clear that the way the Rival Hacker should be played is probably something to put aside for a possible, future class.

For this reason, the Rival Hacker will be getting few changes that will change its play-style, making it more ‘passive’ and focused in slowing NETSEC progress, rather than proactive in investigating who the AGENTs are.

Namely, the upcoming changes are:

• Rival Hacker becomes a unique spawn (no longer 2x RH in the same game)
• “Rival Hacker” loses “Alter Logs”
• “Rival Hacker” loses “doxx and stalk”
• “Rival Hacker” gains “Harden Node”
• “Rival Hacker” gains “Jam Network”
• “Rival Hacker” gains “Topology Knowledge”
• “Rival Hacker” gains “Throw Under The Bus”
• “Rival Hacker” gains new passive skill “Blackmailed Informer”

The new skill, “Blackmailed Informer” is a new passive skill that will automatically pass on the Agent Leader Intelligence Informer intel to the Rival Hacker as well.

You have dirt on the informer that is helping AGENTs. He will relay to you his intel, whenever the Agent Leader asks for it.

» Sunday Stress Test?
It’s a great chance to try together these new changes, especially if you haven’t been playing Untrusted lately. Since this new patch, as simple as it is, should change a lot of dynamics, it would be great if we could also try stressing up the server a bit more. The new networking changes seem to have improved both client and server stability, but why not stressing this more? Lest play this Sunday – games will be going on for the whole day as usual, but if you have to pick a time, lets meet at 20UTC – and lets see how the server behaves 🙂

Hello operatives!

Today, with patch 1.092 (see here for all changelogs) also comes a new Community Event: the Cryptocurrency Heist Community Event!

From 18:00 UTC onwards today (and until there are codes available), you will be able to purchase ‘confidential information’ in the game store, and obtain clues that will lead you to the discovery of codes that will unlock an exclusive avatar and 20.000 coins each!

Make sure to join our discord for a more fun experience 🙂

Event notes:

– The event will last as long as there is at least one code available to be found
– Purchasing the confidential information will grant you one clue at the beginning of the game
– Clues are only visible to you and are not logged in the game web log – make sure to take note of it immediately!
– Max 1-code per person

Good news, everyone!

Untrusted is officially released on Steam and the early access event is live!

Click here to get Untrusted on Steam!

Share the following video with your friends 🙂

What happens during this weekend?

Untrusted will officially unlock on Steam for everyone, as a free to play Early Access game – to celebrate this milestone, we’ll have some fun on the weekend with some special events!

First of all, we’ll have some scheduled sessions to stress the server as much as we can:

Friday 29th January, 20:00 UTC
Saturday 30th January, 16:00 UTC
Sunday 31st January, 20:00 UTC

Of course feel free to hop into the server at anytime in addition to the scheduled games!

Everyone that will play a full game during the weekend (Friday, Saturday or Sunday) will get a “Steam Early Access” event badge – get it during this weekend only!

Additionally, all obtained xp will be doubled during this weekend!

Furthermore, there will be some new things coming (both during the weekend and after) that will allow you to obtain some exclusive avatars and extra coins. Check the Discord for more information.

An example? Sure! Stream a game of Untrusted over twitch from Jan 29th up until the end of February (and share your video on our Discord Server ) to unlock the exclusive “Early Streamer” avatar seen here!

Joining the Discord Server is strongly recommended especially for this event!