The site now has an actual face: this dev log, an About & FAQ page, and a full Player's Guide covering every system — including the tips the in-game tutorial is too polite to mention.
The homepage describes the game before it loads, instead of greeting crawlers and slow connections with an empty shell.
October 1, 2026
Heat gets teeth, cameras get smashed, walls get bricks
Progression resets: hitting 100% Heat or Dependency now re-locks every target above the bottom tier until you rebuild your job count. Consequences are the content.
Smashable cameras: stand under a camera to destroy it — loudly. Every camera left running adds +10 Heat after the job, even a clean one.
Security scales with Heat: +1 watchman on every site per 25 street Heat (up to +3). Fence prices rebalanced so The Magnet is a genuine gamble: 0.14 Heat per pound.
Any-side digging: wall stashes can now be dug from any touchable side — and the map generator guarantees every side is inside guard coverage (1,600-map verification, zero leaks).
Art: hand-made K-9 unit sprites, brick wall / copper-vein / breached-wall tiles, a copper wire coil pickup, and a crisp HTML HUD replacing the blurry canvas text.
Back button on the heist briefing (refunds your energy), transparent favicon.
September 30, 2026
Launch week: from nothing to playcopper.io
The game ships: eight targets, playable stealth heists with raycast vision cones and patrol pathfinding, the Dependency and Heat meters, three fences, housing and equipment ladders, six hireable crew with morale and upkeep, random events, chiptune sound, achievements, and the Go Legit prestige loop.
Heists deepen: alarm lockdowns with chase AI, throwable bottle distractions, heist partners who carry extra (and can be lost for good), dogs that hear through walls, sweeping cameras, wall stashes dug out in real time.
Consequences arrive: getting caught without a Floor Safe costs everything you own; the safe (motel required) protects your bankroll.
Original art: hand-drawn drifter and security guard sprites with directional facing.
Launch: the game goes live at playcopper.io behind a human-verification check, with a first-run tour, guided tutorial heist, accessibility pass (WCAG AA contrast, keyboard-only play), and privacy/terms pages.