Good day everybody! It is fair to say that we're pretty sure 0.8 is on the horizon! My money is on today and several people have already said they'll eat their hat if it's not today. My hope is it's a helmet and it keeps them busy while I'm tripping the light fantastic on Scum's brand new 0.8 release.
For those of you not yet in the know, Scum is a survival game and the 0.8 release is a step closer to the full 1.0 release. The journey has been a long one. Early access to the game began in August 2018 and now, more than four years down the line, we're edging closer to the finish line.
But hey! What's the rush? Us Scummies are here enjoying the journey (so far, anyway) and are eager to know what this new release will have in store for us.
Here's what I can tell you...
FAME POINTS
The Fame Point system has been reworked. This means that it will no longer cost fame points to respawn when you die (that has moved to another currency... more later). It means you will need fame points to buy items at the traders, but that you will also earn them for selling items at the trader. It would seem that the system is not yet quite right as it doesn't tell you at the trader how many fame points are required for each item. It also doesn't tell you in the trader screen at all that you don't have enough points, it just doesn't sell you the item. Later, when you stop trying and back out of the overlay, you can see it has been telling you, but under the trading screen overlay. Just a head's up there, nothing we can't learn to deal with I'm sure.
BANK/CURRENCY
You are spawned (screaming and falling as usual) into the game holding a starter bank card - not quite sure why yet - maybe it will hold money when 0.8 is released? Who knows? Anyway... you should visit the bank and trade it in for a basic card (costing 100 scum dollaz) or a gold card (costing 500). This card allows you to withdraw money from your bank account at ATMs. The basic card has a 1 digit pin (so anyone stealing it has a 1 in 10 chance of guessing the pin and they get 3 tries at the moment). The gold card has a 2 digit pin and they also get 3 tries. Better odds!
Once you have a bank card you can convert cash into gold (I know, multiple currencies smack of free games on your phone, but hey ho...) You trade 1000 cash for 1 gold. Gold allows you to respawn when you die. You can get into debt to respawn but it only buys you limited time during which you must come up with the dosh or you get perma-deaded. Yes. Perma. Deceased. Start over, new character, all your boxes and cars are locked against you and I can assure you, the admins at Fully Loaded will not be popping over with our lockpicks to open them up for you again, so please... git gud!
NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
They put our very own Chernobyl onto the map. Yup, that's right! We have nuclear fallout going down complete with hazmat suits (two types - one bright yellow but allows you more inventory space and to wear more clothes with it, the other vintage, lovely dark green better for camo, less inventory space, no clothes with it), Geiger counters/scanners, a huge area to explore (it's spooky as shit) and apparently, incredible loot, although the main fascination initially was with the actual exploded reactor which of course meant death. I'm sure we'll find out a lot more about that in our own time.
MODULAR BUILDING
Modular building is finally here! This means you can build your base and not be restricted to the 3 sizes of cabin. It looks great, tbh, stairs can be placed meaning you can build as high as you like. Ramps are available so you can make your own garages and they are all upgradeable as per the old system. These modular parts are accessible via the new 'Building' tab in the inventory window. Coolio. Walls remain as they were before.
GARDENING/FARMING
Gardening has taken root.... it has been called farming but it isn't. In my book, if it takes place in a container, it's gardening, not farming. Of course, nobody has had time to raise a crop yet, so it's unknown how easy/hard/profitable it could be. There is a new skill for it though! In the intelligence section for some reason - although anybody who met Alan Titchmarsh could assert that intelligence is not required to rear you some lovely crops.
MODULAR VEHICLES
Finally, finally, modular cars. Ok... I get the idea this will be relatively easy once we get the hang of it, so here's what I figured out so far. You can find a car, it may not have all its parts. You can find parts for the car if you're lucky and install them yourself if you can find/buy a jack to raise the car on. Alternatively, you can take your car to the mechanic, drive it in, pop it up on his ramp and then buy the items from him. They will be installed automatically (I think). Don't buy the parts before you put your car on the ramp or you just end up carrying around a piece of car with no way of putting it on the car.
In the test server you can't see a car in the inventory window... what does this mean? Does it mean cars have no storage? Does it mean you have to buy storage for your car before you can see it in the inventory window? Does it mean you can't lock your car? Who knows, Scummies, who knows? I'm sure this will change or become clear once we're playing.
SUMMARY OF SCUM 0.8 RELEASE
Overall, it should be very interesting. Would it pee me off slightly not to be able to buy a sporran bag because I didn't have enough fame? Of course. Do I wonder what my reaction would be if I walked into Next in real life and asked to buy a bag and they asked how many Twitter followers I had? Oh yeah, baby, oh yeah.
The fact remains, I'm excited to see how this plays. Change can be scary but so is the nuclear fallout area and we're all looking forward to that, I'm sure!
I hope you enjoyed my little summary... would be good to hear your thoughts too. Either leave a comment (moderated, so skip the shite) or join our Discord and the conversation with the community... Fully Loaded Scum Server UK Discord Channel
If you want a lovely sneaky peek at one of the best godarn streamers out there to see what he got up to in the test version of Scum 0.8, go see Stuart at Phantom Control Gaming
