You who already follow us on twitter may already know we've got something special in store for this Halloween: A brand new game mode featuring our dearly beloved HR rep, ADAM.

Without further ado, let us introduce...


Ever felt like you just quite didn't get enough the first (two) times around?

Ever missed how the only time you felt truly alive was when the blood (or oil!) pumped through your veins as you waited for HR to finally drop you the verdict on your annual performance review?

Ever gone to bed at night, feeling empty inside, and yearning for the cold calculating hands of... errr... I mean warm embrace of of someone who truly wants to listen to how your day has been?

Well do we have good news for you! After a long session with HR we've finally heard reason, removed all safety measures and allowed ADAM free reign, putting him up close and personal, allowing him to more effectively evaluate your performance.

We're sure you'll achieve excellent things together.

~~~

ADAM Isolation is a sweet and heartfelt makeover of the original installment allowing both existing and new players enjoy the levels from Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency in a completely new light (quite literally).

In this new game mode ADAM will be an ever present threat as you move through the levels. Each corner could be the last as he mercilessly stalks you through the game until you reach the end. You will have to sneak, hide and run like never before as knives and arrows will have no effect on this lean, mean HR machine. Keep a level head and keep pushing forward. Oh, and good luck! You will need it...



There's no need to have played the first installment, jump straight into Budget Cuts 2 with ADAM Isolation.

We have something for you as well! Celebrate Halloween from within the Budget Cuts universe by playing the regular story mode with some chic seasonal decor! Check the brand new seasonal decor option have a taco party surrounded by candles and pumpkins!

Soon! Very soon! October 28th in fact! We've had so much fun further developing PTSD when making this game mode and can't wait to share it with you!

See you in one-to-two-ish days!

~~~

Your annual performance review is due. HR is ready. Are you?

It's that time of the year again! That's right: Patch Time!

Let's have a closer look at what kind of updates we're bringing you this time.

Due to issues with some anti-virus software, save files have been moved from your "Documents" folder to "AppData" (more specifically: '%USERPROFILE%\\AppData\\LocalLow\\Neat Corporation\\Budget Cuts'). Upon first launch after updating the game will automatically move any existing save files, so just sit back, relax and play as usual.

If you manage to play through the game without getting any robots killed, you'll be awarded with this achievement! Drones are excepted in the occasions when they fly into walls and accidentally kill themselves, but watch out for Supervisors accidentally shooting each other when they were aiming for you, that still counts!

Some older versions of drivers for AMD graphics cards caused issues with our new optimized stereo rendering, creating an issue where only one eye was rendering correctly. To solve this we replaced all previous uses of Unity standard shaders and it should now be running smoothly.

The throwing code has been updated to use a pose buffer, so that we can trace back to the accurate point in time when the player released the object. This reduces cases of objects getting launched downwards because it used to release the object a bit too late in general. It also allows us to get rid of the hack we used for throwing when using Windows Mixed Reality hardware, so now throwing is more realistic on all hardware.

General

• When restarting a level the game will only load the player's inventory so it acts like you just entered it from the previous level, for stability and consistency
  
• Vive Cosmos controller support
  
• Controller bindings more customizeable on Steam than previously
  
• Built-in deadzones for smooth locomotion and turning

Performance

• Reflection Probe performance boosts
  
• Physics performance improvements
  
• NPC animation performance improvements
  
• Decal spawning performance improvements
  
• Memory leaks plugged

General

• Valve Index hands rendering layer fixes & optimizations
  
• Locked doors no longer openable by pushing them with physics objects
  
• Corrected fragment-shader stereo effects in some shaders
  
• NPC dead body found reaction bugfixed
  
• Fixed a soft-lock in Roof Ops
  
• Fixed some mission objective bugs in final level
  
• Fixed some soft-locks in Efficiency Distributions
  
• Floating buttons in some scenes fixed
  
• Arrows are homing like knives when using mutator
  
• Pneumatic tube in credits scene actually brings you back to main menu now as advertised
  
• Supervisor aiming at portal fix
  
• Roof Ops fixed bug where player could get teleported to random location out of bounds

Achievements

• Game completion related achievements bugfixes
  
• Fixed "Tested" achievement
  
• Fixed "Lights are Also Obsolete" achievement

Movement

• Fixed a snap-turning related state bug resulting in soft-locks in some levels
  
• Smooth locomotion works on rugs again

We've worked together with the wonderful folks over at TheYetee to bring you this Budget Cuts t-shirt and sticker pack! Available only on TheYetee NeatCorp store![theyetee.com]

The sticker pack features all the wonderful characters from both Budget Cuts 1 and Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency (Can you name them all?? We sure can...... t)

We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Since we are a software company, we are able to support our devs in working from home during these times by providing software and hardware to help bridge the distance that we are all experiencing now. That way we can continue to provide games and experiences for people to explore worlds in VR that take them beyond their home.

During this period, we are very happy that we've been able to release content updates to Garden of the Sea, and performance patches to Budget Cuts and Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency
While it hasn't all been straight forward, and some of our workflows have had to change (or even slow down) in order to accommodate our new work style, we do consider ourselves very lucky to have a studio and team that supports us in being able to work from home during these times.

We made sure that anyone who didn't already have a VR capable PC at home could get their desktop sent home from the office, and that everyone got VR kits and hardware at home in order to continue work on our current projects - Budget Cuts for PSVR[www.playstation.com] (which will also get physical copies[www.amazon.co.uk] thanks to our buddies at Perp Games) and our (way too) early access game Garden of the Sea (which now also has its own merchandise over at TheYetee[theyetee.com]!).

Can you guess which setup belongs to which neatcorp dev?

We also delivered (from a distance) care packages to our developers which had snacks, supplies, and some fun projects that we could do together during our time off from work (like face masks for movie night, and snacks for an animal-crossing gaming evening!)

bonus neatcorp (neco! get it?) cats who are also "working" from home!

We are a group of VR gamedevs that live and work in Stockholm, and we now have a Creator Page on Steam! (wow yay!)

We believe that by being excellent to one another and embracing all the weird quirks that make us human we can create some neat games (hah see what we did there?), and hopefully have some fun while doing so! There's a huge passion for Virtual Reality at our studio, and many of us are die-hard tech enthusiasts who can't wait for the latest&greatest hardware to test and play with.

Although we've all individually made plenty of games and tools before we all joined Neat Corp, our debut title Budget Cuts is what brought many of us together for the first time. After that, it was inevitable that we would put our heads together and create Garden of the Sea and now Budget Cuts 2!

We couldn't have built all these games without all you wonderful VR gamers who believe in exploring worlds with the full immersion of virtual reality! Thank you!

We look forward to providing you with more updates on our games as we continue to build great experiences with you! Speaking of which, we would LOVE to get your feedback on our games, so please feel free to join our discord[discord.gg] and help us make these games the best they can be.

Cheers from all of us at Neat!

A couple of months back, we started a project to bring the performance of Budget Cuts (BC1) up to Budget Cuts 2 (BC2) parity. We soon realized that the most effective way to do this is to port the game to the BC2 codebase. This means that efforts made for one game can now very easily benefit the other, so BC2 also receives a hefty performance update “free of charge”!

(Pictured: a typical workday at Neat Corporation)

During the development of BC2 we made significant advancements regarding performance compared to BC1. Despite this, some users were reporting bad performance, so we started digging even further for this update. The primary problem has been CPU performance, so we’ve reworked a couple parts entirely in order to bring CPU usage down further, as well as utilize a rendering feature we had previously overlooked. We did also fix a few bugs and add a couple new mutators along the way.

We hope you enjoy this as much as we enjoy bringing it to you!

Budget Cuts 2 changelog:

• New Mutators!
  - Mutator: Smooth turning (replaces snap-turning when enabled)
  - Mutator: Unarmed Supervisors
  - Mutator: Fragile knives and arrows
  - Mutator: Translocator launch force
  - Mutator: Stealth Translocator (brings back stealth translocations from BC1)
  
  
• Windows Mixed Reality controller mesh
  
• Distance grabbing improvements
  
• Some distance interactions (swipe cards at a distance and more)
  
• Multithreaded AI vision system rewrite
  
• Single Pass Instanced Rendering
  
• Multithreaded custom physics force calculations
  
• Conductor scene significant performance improvements
  
• Skyscraper scene savegame bugfix
  
• Flattened hierarchies in scenes for performance boost
  
• Controller optimizations
  
• Physics optimizations
  
• Spectator screen no longer has a border and takes up the full screen
  
• Items no longer pile up at world origin on load (in certain scenes)
  
• Checkpoints now immediately save the status of the game, fixing various save game bugs
  
• Inventory stability fixes, no more invisible items
  
• Unarmed state improvements for Supervisors
  
• More accurate shot leading for Supervisors when using higher Aim skill mutators
  
• Unity updated to 2018.4.21 (brings draw call optimizations and more)

Major feature update for Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency is out now! The update introduces a custom settings panel called “Mutators”.

The biggest news here is the highly requested Smooth Locomotion mode. This lets players traverse the game in a similar manner to classic FPS games, using the left analog stick (or grip buttons on Vive controllers).

Other features include bullet time, the ability to use enemy guns as well as gravity modifiers and much more. Combine freely among the Mutator settings and you are in for some really intense and truly hilarious gameplay moments!

The Mutators can be accessed by simply clicking the “Mutators” button (either while in the main menu scene or by popping up the in-game menu while playing). Some Mutators will disable achievements while activated. However, if you use them to make the game more challenging, for example by making enemies quicker and better at aiming, you will of course still be able to get your achievements.

We hope you will have as much fun playing around with these mutators as we have!

Full patch notes below:

* Mutators system (customize your game to your liking, some will disable achievements)
* Mutator: Homing knives (aka aim assist)
* Mutator: Smooth locomotion
* Mutator: Infinite Stabby Crystals (Grab the air for a free sharp object)
* Mutator: Bullet Time (Triggers slowmo when shooting or getting shot at)
* Mutator: Paltkoma (Triggers slowmo when eating)
* Mutator: Gravity modifiers
* Mutator: Enemy aim skill
* Mutator: Enemy detection speed
* Mutator: Bullet speed
* Mutator: NPC animation speed
* Mutator: NPC health
* Mutator: Starting equipment
* Mutator: Guns (guns)
* Level select (select which level you start a new game from)
* Winta VO bugfix in end fight
* Fixed bugs affecting Collectibles
* Items no longer pile up at world origin on load
* Can no longer cheat items through walls using the bow
* Fixed tool select lagging behind when moving (such as elevators, smooth loco)
* Various small fixes

December 2019 patch out now!


Bugs are being squashed at a rapid rate, all major ones being fixed in this update! Full changelog at the bottom, but here are a couple highlights:

Checkpoints no longer save player as dead: A combination of a slight delay when checkpoints save the player's state, as well as the fact the game could save progress after death lead to a lot of players loading a save only to find themselves in the red death room, unable to progress. No more!
Unfortunately if you have a save game with the game in this state, you will need to select "Restart" from the menu to replay that level from the beginning, atleast knowing it won't happen again!

Thanks "_OhHiMark" for screenshot

Vive Cosmos now works: We accidentally messed up the Vive Cosmos bindings right before release, works like a charm now. Oops!

Can no longer run out of tacos: Who doesn't need infinite tacos in their life?

Changelog:
• Bugfixes for tagging with magnifying glass
• Tweaked checkpoints
• Stability fixes for spawning outside of level in Fabrications
• Weapons used to sometimes go through NPCs if you were unlucky. Consider yourself lucky now
• Trash falling out of the chute in Fabrications no longer hangs in the air
• The spectator screen is now using a wider aspect ratio to fill more of the screen. Note that the view screen will not vertically cover all the player can see in the headset. If you prefer the square aspect, you can resize the window in windowed mode
• Bow sight is now more visually clear
• Fixed a bug where the grabbing highlight of arrows lit up all nearby arrows, both in inventory and in the world
• Fixed a bug where flares showed up as large squares when your head or portal was in the green obstructed view
• Item in inventory grab priority fixes
• Can no longer run out of tacos
• Checkpoints no longer save player as dead
• Cable is easier to attach
• No more floating knives in save states when player killed NPCs
• Removed problematic cleaning cart
• Robots that are thrown off the train now stays off the train
• Winta no longer says multiple lines at once when cable is detached
• Lightbulbs are now sparkly when fresh
• Fixed a bunch of things not being properly collideable
• Hornets will stay dead
• No more crashing when grabbing arrows in Roof Ops
• Less buggy collectibles code
• Vive Cosmos now works!
• Updated lighting in lower tacobar area in Roof Ops
• Can no longer cheese the soda achievement

Merry christmas! Happy new year! See you in 2020 with maybe a content patch or two ;)

- Neat Corporation & Fast Travel Games