Which is why each infiltration mission is carried out by two operatives. Oftentimes you’ll never see the other operative, as they’re only for emergencies, backup, moral support and cookie dispensary.

But why am I telling you this? Agent Trif has been captured, yes, and it is up to me, FabiotheTurtle, to make sure our mission is seen through! And probably save him, but that’s later.

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes.

The devs are back from holiday! There was about three weeks between their last streaming session, but now they’re totally back in the development groove.

The last set of streams held near the beginning of July heralded some nice bits of goodies. I was there to witness the whole thing happening, but Trif was carrying the camera and all, and with the whole captured thing… I got no pictures.

What I can recount for you however, is that there is a lot more content to be coming along soon. For the mappers out there, this includes a bunch of new tilesets, functions and even a few actors or two. For the “playtesters”, this just means there’s more stuff to play around with!

Now, what specifically can I tell you about?

“Boss” Fights

Strewn throughout the main adventure will be various instances in which, in other games, would indicate maybe a large mech dropping from the ceiling, a sudden dramatic music change and perhaps the restriction of a core game mechanic. This is not the case, except maybe that large mech thing…

Certain actors are intrinsically more powerful than other actors, as anybody who’s faced off against several Ninjas or even a Metalface will tell you. If they’re sufficiently geared up, they become even harder to kill, requiring elaborate strategy and thought.

Here’s an example that segues nicely into my next topics. Strictly speaking, that picture was taken from the livestream that happened not long ago, and is possibly still happening right now. Frankly, there are a lot of things going on in this image, so let’s break it down.

That half-Metalface half–Porygon looking thing is called a Metaldroid. Metaldroids are similar to your run-of-the-mill Metalface, but lack the empathy and compassion that only human brains will supply. They are ruthless killer machines, capable of everything a Metalface can do, but more menacingly. Watch out for these guys. There are a few more actors to keep an eye out for as well, but you’ll have to wait for those.

Actor Piloting

The keen-eyed and mapmakers among you will notice that part of the Metaldroids actor data, it’s actor mode is set to “pilot.” In this image, the Metaldroid is the pilot of the Jetbike, meaning that it will spawn in the map riding the Jetbike. This is available to a vast range of actors, and there are a few different actors that can be ridden.

The complete list is unknown, but I will tell you this: Hamsters and Wasps are capable of being ridden. You may not believe me, but you weren’t there man. There was so much destruction, so much debris. I’d never seen so much oil. What’s worse, is both actors are capable of firing and targeting independently of each other. Keep that in mind!

I also hear there’s a way to tame wild Hamsters to let you ride them, but it sounds a wee bit dangerous to me…

New Items

In my surveillance of Agent Trif’s antics, I managed to see a small array of new explosives being developed. Whilst I only saw one in action, I can only assume the damage they do.

Molotov Cocktails are becoming a thing, and they seem to be the answer to the previously introduced Nitrogen Grenade. Upon detonation, they release a burst of flames along the ground into your unsuspecting foes feet, and heating them up. Dynamite is ready too, which probably creates a bigger boom than your standard grenade. Or maybe not! Who knows.

On top of that, item selection has an improved interface, in which upgrades now show the max amount that they can have.

Other than that, the developers have now officially entered 100% production mode, meaning new content is not really going to be created, but rather their full attention is being directed at Adventure Mode and it’s pending release.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go rescue Trif. Yell if you see anything.

Even top–class industrial intelligence thieves can enjoy a good summer vacation. As a result, the next Intel Report will probably be in the middle of August, after which they will return to normal schedule. Keep an eye on the official Twitter account and have a Cobalty summer, people of the Northern Hemisphere—and a chill winter to you southeners!