Two Metalfaces walked into a bar.

We got a few sneak peeks at the upcoming main adventure mode in Radio Cobalt, but rejoice: I bring ye fresh treasure!

Uh, the other Metalface, you ask? Well, he’s… Invisible! Of course, he’s just cloaking. Always was a careful little fella.

It’s evident that the art monkeys have been hard at work here. Cobalt’s art seems to appear in bursts, and the Oxeye Labs’ very own surveillance devices proved exactly that: Not only does Kinten produce the graphical wonders, thewreck is part of the deal too! The routine seems to be that they find a theme which they wish to implement, collect a few truckloads of inspirational imagery, experiment on paper, and finally work on the sets of digital art to be included in the game. After perhaps a day or two of intensive crafting, the finished art is ready and rolling!

Art is interesting and all, but I sensed that there was more to learn from these screenshots. As I said, they’re straight from the upcoming adventure mode—Why is there a bar? Where is it? What is the solution to world hunger?

Feeling incapable of coming up with a reasonable answer to each of these questions myself, I decided to seek the enlightenment of a true master. Fortunately, the Duke was able to answer two of my questions, though he’s still working on the third:

“It was wise of you to seek me, fellow agent!
I see how it is. Obviously, some random general from somewhere figured that sending a ton of Metalfaces to an empty planet would be a good idea. Something fluffy… no, treasury! Something about a treasure only the leader knew about…
They didn’t find anything and the personality matrices in the Metalfaces got really bored, so they reprogrammed a guard thingy into a babbling bartender and built a bar in some old sewer ruins. Don’t ask. (And don’t tell Food & Health Inspection. Wait, never mind, robots can’t get sick that way. Duke knew that.)”

Is this theory of the Duke correct? We shall see for ourselves one day, and here’s the deal: Based on information classification values from the not–so–well–encrypted development database, that day might be soon! It has been known for a while that the game is soon entering the beta stage, and it appears that this milestone will introduce a portion of the adventure mode to the game! Leaving personal lab rat conspiracy theories aside, this will serve to give the community a taste of the full mode and allow players to influence the development of this story–oriented game mode.

The Cap’n Goes Down with the Ship

In the Duke’s idea of the backstory of the Zigma bar, he mentioned a treasure which they didn’t find. That might be because map maker Fenced01 found it first and put it in his map, Sunken Treasure, a Team–Strike map that will test your abilities as a certified treasure hunter—or perhaps just a killer robot.

Water has always been a bit hit–and–miss for me in this game, but it works quite well in this map! Going in the water gives you more paths to navigate through the stage, but as your rolling speed is heavily decreased, you cannot deflect bullets down there! See an enemy about to leave the water? Take him out from higher ground while he’s still defenseless!

The map is very asymmetrical and, as a result, imbalanced. However, given the half–time side switches in Team–Strike, this is not a problem—It’s fun! I really think th—

“No, Duke time now! As the super official Duke of Cobalt, I proclaim this map as awesome! Perfectly tailored for the Team–Strike game mode. Yours truly could easily see this map become a must–have! However, it needs a bit of polish. The details rock, but it lacks shadows, lighting, and some more… floomph? Not too much though! The Duke loves the barren look it so proudly displays. Duke away!”

I think a certain someone is a tiny bit obsessed with this ’spontaneous writing’ thing. He has a point though: The map has a great theme & layout, but it’d look a lot more dynamic and interesting with some clever contrast between lights and shadows. Remember that, potential map makers in training!

It’s been a pleasure writing for you as always, fellow players! Come back next week—Meanwhile, add a bit of treasure to your User Maps list by downloading Sunken Treasure on Cobalt Vault!