Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: Chris Hecker, Chris Hecker Games, SpyParty

SpyParty is Getting a Massive Update as It Enters Steam Early Access

SpyParty is a pretty simple game — it is exactly what it sounds like. There is a spy at a party, and they've got a job to do. You can either play as the spy, or the sniper who is attempting to identify the spy and assassinate them before they can complete their mission. The game has been in development for the last eight years, but is finally making it over to Steam Early Access on April 12th. To celebrate the Early Access launch, the game is getting a brand-new tutorial, matchmaking system, and an updated UI, as well as six new levels.  The new levels are already playable if you've got the game (or pick it up before Early Access hits).

Keep in mind, the game's price will take a pretty steep jump up in price when it launches on Steam, going from $15 USD to $25 USD. So if you're interested in the game but want to save a few bucks, you'll want to pick it up now. Everyone who already owns a copy of the game before the Early Access launch will be getting a Steam code, so really, there isn't much reason not to get it now. You can pick up the game (and find more information on it) over at SpyParty.com.

But the essentials of the game are this: SpyParty is a game about the minutia of human behavior. One player hides in plain sight at a fancy cocktail party, doing missions and trying to blend in. The other player is the Sniper, who can peer into the party from the outside, and gets one bullet to stop the Spy. Due to the PvP nature of it, the Spy reacts to the Sniper reacts to the Spy with very little interference from the game itself. It's an almost perfect player to player interaction, which adds an element of competition and randomness that AI just can't recreate.

It's a nice 1v1 PVP setup, though talking with developer Chris Hecker at GDC, he did indicate that he plans to add larger multiplayer modes to the game. One of the possible multiplayer modes Hecker mentioned was taking recorded data from Spies and matching them up with up to four snipers competing against each other. Sure, the Spy would be recorded data and not a live player, but it still has an element of human behavior and randomness to it.

Other ways to make the game multiplayer would include having multiple spies against a single sniper, or against multiple snipers. But the game mode Hecker was most interested in creating was basically SpyParty Bridge. As in, the card game. Because you've got an open communication line, two sets of pairs, who work together but cannot speak in code and must communicate in ways the other team can listen in on. So a sniper-spy pair against another sniper-spy pair, but only one global chat channel between them. The possibilities for how that would play out are fascinating, really.

We'll probably see the four-sniper mode come out first, as there are already ways to run it in game's current version. The rest will take some time. However, Hecker has not plans to stop working on SpyParty which should be great news for the players.

You can check out the new trailer and the new maps below.

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