On The Lookout

Chasers vs Runners for PEAK. Every leg, a few scouts become chasers and hunt everyone else up the mountain. Runners have to make it from campfire to campfire, and finally to the peak, without getting caught. A runner's best defence is to turn around and look at a chaser to freeze them in place.

New in 1.6.1: captures take only 0.4 s of holding interact. 1.6.0: chasers carry Scout's Initiative (a scout gem) instead of the napberry for their boost, captures take 0.75 s and the runner sees the capture bar, milk-protected runners can't be captured, regular luggage holds more runner items (milk, snowballs, brown berrynanas, energy drinks), snowballs push harder and are runner-only, role choices are re-sent so none get lost, and the host sees a hint for the host menu (+). 1.5.1: mandrakes scream 0.75 s after appearing. 1.5.0: a new role every leg (volunteer as chaser in the - menu at the campfire), captures by holding interact on a runner, the campfire lights itself after a 10-second role window, scout statues are off, chasers carry a reusable napberry boost, snowballs blind chasers, mandrakes start dropping at runners late in a leg, and plenty of balance changes. See the changelog.

Everyone in the lobby needs this mod (same version). The host runs the game: roles, freezes, captures and rewards are all decided by the host and synced to everyone.

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How a game works

1. In the airport, press - to choose RUNNER (pre-selected) or CHASER for the first leg. Chasers are drawn at random from the players who chose CHASER.
2. Wake up on the shore. Nobody can move or interact until everyone has woken up and loaded in, and interacting stays locked for a few seconds after (no grabbing items before the roles are out).
3. Roles are drawn and revealed. Each player sees CHASER (red) or RUNNER (yellow) in the middle of the screen. Everyone is frozen during the reveal. Chasers are picked at random from the airport volunteers, one chaser for every 4 runners at most; if nobody volunteered, one random player is the chaser.
4. Head start. Runners are released and get a 20-second head start with a big countdown, and a 3-second speed boost at the end of it. Chasers stay frozen and blind the whole time; their screen fades back in near the end.
5. The chase. Chasers hunt the runners up the current biome.
   • A chaser captures a runner by looking at them and holding interact for 0.4 seconds, the same way a hungry scout eats another one. The runner sees the same progress bar under their crosshair, so they know how close it is. A runner under fortified milk can't be captured at all. The runner dies with a bang.
   • A runner freezes a chaser by looking at them within 26 m, from outside a safe zone. The chaser can't move, act or fall and is blinded for 10 seconds, then is immune to freezing for 8 seconds.
   • The fog (and the rising lava in the Caldera and the rising gloom) starts 5 minutes after the head start ends, and rises 2.5× faster than vanilla.
   • From 3 minutes after the head start, a mandrake is dropped at every runner outside a safe zone every minute.
   • If no chaser is alive (all dead, or none at all, e.g. a host playing solo), mushroom zombies hunt the runners from 5 minutes after the head start (one wave at a time, 2 minutes each, 2-minute cooldown between waves).
6. The leg is won.
   • Runners win the leg when every living runner is in the next campfire's safe zone (15 m around it: no captures there, and runners inside can't freeze chasers).
   • Chasers win the leg when every runner is dead (passing out doesn't count).
7. Role window. Everyone, the dead included, is brought next to the campfire and frozen for 10 seconds. Press - to choose RUNNER (the default) or CHASER for the next leg. Food is laid out so everyone gets something to eat.
8. Next leg. The campfire lights itself, clearing everyone's negative statuses, and new roles are drawn: chasers are picked at random from the players who chose CHASER, one chaser for every 4 runners at most. If nobody volunteered, one random player is the chaser. Then the reveal and head start start again.
9. Win the game.
   • Runners win when every living runner reaches the peak. The chasers are brought up there and die.
   • Chasers win when every runner is dead on the last stretch, with no campfire left to go to.

Roles and choices

• Your choice in the - menu is private: only the host's game receives it. It stays until you change it, and resets to RUNNER when a run ends and everyone is back in the airport. There are no odds: the chasers are a random pick from the volunteers.
• The menu opens in the airport (for the first leg) and during the role window at the campfire (for every leg after that).
• Switching roles: a runner who becomes a chaser drops every item and their backpack, then gets the blowgun and the scout gem. A chaser who becomes a runner drops the blowgun and gem, gets a backpack if they have none, and gets the leg's runner item (and biome item) if they haven't had them yet.
• A chaser carries one blowgun and one scout gem at most; a second can't be picked up. The cooldowns belong to the chaser, not the item.
• Scout statues are switched off: no revives and no items. The dead come back at the campfire after each leg instead.
• Back in the airport the round and roles are cleared, so the airport plays like vanilla PEAK (only the role menu and its hint are there).

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Chasers

Perks

• 15% faster than runners, and 6% faster climbing (walls, ropes, vines).
• Blowgun with unlimited darts (30 s cooldown, counted down above its hotbar slot). It can't be dropped or thrown. A dart doesn't knock the runner out: it adds 18% drowsiness and marks them with flare smoke in their own skin colour for 7 seconds. Darts don't affect other chasers.
• Scout gem boost: chasers carry Scout's Initiative (a scout gem) whose own power is never used. Using it gives, 1 second later, a 2.25-second energy-drink speed boost plus unlimited stamina (the rainbow stamina bar; no drowsiness). It then has a 1-minute cooldown, starting when the effects wear off (counted down above its hotbar slot). Each use adds 8% petrification; each capture takes 5% away again.
• Capture rush: each capture gives a short +1% speed boost (5 s; each further capture during the boost adds +0.5%) and a full morale boost (extra-stamina bar).
• Tough: only half of every negative status (injury, cold, poison, drowsiness, …), only 1/3 fall damage (still scaled by the ascent; a big fall still knocks them down), immune to fog, ignored by mushroom zombies. Hunger works the same as for runners.
• Clown luggage is theirs: only chasers can open it, and it's full of food and healing items.
• Their body glows red for everyone, so they're easy to tell apart (PEAK's own status glow, like milk's yellow invincibility glow).

Drawbacks

• Can only pick up and use food and healing items (plus their blowgun), dynamite, mandrakes and cactus balls, and never energy drinks, lollipops, shroomberries or the Roots fungi (Bounce, Cloud, Shelf, Warp; the healing Remedy Fungus is allowed).
• Can only open clown luggage.
• Can't see ghosts, since a ghost floats around the runner it spectates.
• Can't see runners' name tags.
• Frozen and blind during every head start.
• Can be frozen by any runner who looks at them: they pulse icy blue so everyone can tell, and they're blinded (PEAK's blue-flower blindness) for as long as the freeze lasts.
• A snowball thrown by a runner blinds a chaser for 2.5 seconds.
• Can't use snowballs.

Runners

Perks

• Freeze chasers by looking at them (26 m, 10 s; no stacking, 8 s immunity afterwards), but not from inside a safe zone.
• Head start at every leg, with a 3-second speed boost at its end.
• Safe zones (15 m) around every campfire.
• 18.5% faster stamina regeneration.
• A backpack at the start of the round, one random item at the start of every leg (a snowball, a brown berrynana or a fortified milk), plus a biome item: a heat pack in the Alpine, a sports drink in the Caldera, an early worm in the Gloom, aloe vera in the Mesa.
• Snowballs blind chasers they hit, and every thrown snowball pushes 10% harder.
• Runners can't use the blowgun or the scout gem (those are chaser items).
• Regular luggage can also hold fortified milk, snowballs, brown berrynanas and energy drinks, every leg.
• Fortified milk protects you from being captured while it's active (milk is twice as heavy and its invincibility is 65% shorter than vanilla).
• First runner into each campfire's safe zone gets a fortified milk (not when the chasers won the leg).
• Leg and biome items are dropped at your feet and picked up for you, straight into your hands; if your slots are full they stay on the ground.
• A runner with a chaser closing in hears PEAK's own Scoutmaster chase music.

Drawbacks

• Fog, lava and gloom rise 2.5× faster (starting 5 minutes after the head start); the fog only hurts runners.
• Energy drinks last 65% less and make you 1.5× sleepier when they wear off.
• A blowgun dart marks you with smoke and makes you a bit drowsy.
• Mandrakes start dropping at your feet late in a leg.

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Rules for everyone

• Removed from the game: amulets (incl. Scout's Honor), gems, rescue claws, jetpacks/rocket packs, gliders, the golden Bing Bong, world blowguns and hidden test items that never appear in normal PEAK.
• Dynamite and mandrakes can be used by everyone.
• Shroomberries can be eaten (not by chasers), but their effects only last 1 second; the hunger they cure is the same as vanilla.
• No Scoutmaster. He would hunt the runner who's furthest from the group.
• No revival curse. Revived players don't get the curse or extra hunger.

HUD

• Role reveal and head-start countdown in the middle of the screen (translucent for runners).
• Leg result and the role window countdown (with the - hint) at the campfire.
• Chaser list in the top right, under the ascent label. Frozen chasers show in ice blue with their remaining time; dead chasers are crossed out.
• Blowgun and scout gem cooldowns in seconds above their hotbar slots.
• A capture bar for a runner who is being captured.
• For the host: PRESS HOTKEY (+) FOR HOST CONTROLS above their stamina bar.
• Short notices for captures and rewards.

Host controls

• + (the =/+ key, or numpad +): host menu. A PEAK-style menu with:

  • Restart at the airport: everyone goes back to the airport, where PEAK plays like vanilla. The next run starts a fresh round.
  • Restart at previous campfire: everyone back to the last lit campfire (or the start), the dead revived, statuses cleared, and a fresh leg begins. Roles are kept.
  • Teleport everyone to next campfire: moves every living player to the next unlit campfire.
  • Debug hotkeys: on/off (see below).

  The two restarts ask you to click again to confirm. Press = or Esc to close.

• F10: the same "restart at previous campfire" as a direct key.

• Debug/testing keys (F6 swap own role, F7 start/restart round with new roles, F8 freeze yourself, F9 freeze the player you look at) are off by default. Turn them on in the host menu or with DebugKeys.

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Installation

1. Install with a mod manager (r2modman / Thunderstore Mod Manager). BepInExPack_PEAK is installed automatically.
2. Every player installs the same version.
3. Host a lobby and start a run. The round starts by itself once everyone has woken up on the shore.

More players: works with lobby-size mods such as PEAK Unlimited (not tested together yet). Chaser count scales with RunnersPerChaser.

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Configuration

Settings live in BepInEx/config/codesycamore.OnTheLookout.cfg (or the mod manager's Config editor). Change them with the game closed.

Host-synced settings: only the host's values matter; they're sent to everyone when they join. Settings marked (local) are personal to each player.

1. Modules (local; needs a restart)

Setting	Default	What it does
EnableFreeze	true	Runners freeze chasers by looking at them.
EnableTag	true	Chasers capture runners by holding interact on them.
EnableSafeZones	true	Campfires are safe zones.
EnableFog	true	Faster fog that only hurts runners.
EnableItemRules	true	Chaser item restrictions and removed items.
EnableRewards	true	Reward for the first runner into each safe zone.

2. Round

Setting	Default	What it does
RunnersPerChaser	4	At most one chaser per this many runners (1 in 5 players, 2 in 10). Drawn from volunteers; nobody volunteered = one random player. Always leaves a runner.
RoleRevealSeconds	4	How long the role is shown at the start of each leg.
HeadStartSeconds	20	Runner head start (chasers frozen + blind).
AutoStartRound	true	Start automatically once everyone has woken up.
ChaserPreferenceEnabled	true	Players choose RUNNER (default) or CHASER in the airport and in the role window; chasers are drawn at random from the volunteers. Off = drawn from everyone.
RoleWindowSeconds	10	After a leg ends: everyone at the campfire, frozen, choosing their role; then the campfire lights itself.
SpawnInteractLockSeconds	7	No interacting on the shore until this long after the round starts.
ChaserSpeedMultiplier	1.15	Chaser movement speed.
ChaserClimbSpeedMultiplier	1.06	Chaser climbing speed (walls, ropes, vines).
CaptureBoostPercent	1	Speed boost (%) after a capture.
CaptureBoostStackPercent	0.5	Extra boost (%) per further capture during the boost.
CaptureBoostSeconds	5	Capture boost duration.
CaptureMoraleBoost	true	Capturing gives a full morale boost.
ChaserStatusMultiplier	0.5	Fraction of negative statuses chasers take (not hunger).
ChaserFallDamageMultiplier	0.333	Fraction of vanilla fall damage chasers take (ascent-scaled; big falls still knock them down). 0 = none.
ZombiesIgnoreChasers	true	Mushroom zombies ignore chasers.
ZombiesWhenChasersDead	true	Zombies hunt runners while no chaser is alive (incl. solo).
ZombieLifetimeSeconds	120	How long each of those zombies lasts.
ZombieSpawnDistance	15	How far from its runner a zombie appears (m).
ZombiesByPlayerCount	1:1, 6:2, 10:3	Zombies per wave by lobby size (minPlayers:zombies); each hunts one random runner.
ZombieWaveDelaySeconds	120	Cooldown after a wave is gone (killed or expired) before another can come.
ZombieStartDelaySeconds	300	Zombies only start coming this long after the head start ends (each leg).
MandrakeStartSeconds	180	Mandrakes start dropping at runners this long after the head start. 0 = off.
MandrakeIntervalSeconds	60	Then one at every runner outside a safe zone this often (s).
MandrakeFirstScreamSeconds	0.75	A dropped mandrake first screams this many seconds after it appears.
HeadStartBoostSeconds	3	Runners' speed boost (no drowsiness) at the end of the head start. 0 = off.
DisableScoutStatues	true	Scout statues do nothing during a round.
PeakChasersDie	true	When every living runner reaches the peak, the chasers are brought up there and die.
RunnerStaminaRegenMultiplier	1.185	Runner stamina regeneration.
RunnerBackpacks	true	Runners get a backpack at round start.
RunnerLegItems	Snowball, Brown Berrynana, Fortified Milk	One random item per runner each leg. Empty = off.
RunnerBiomeItems	Alpine:Heat Pack, Volcano:Sports Drink, Swamp:EarlyWorm, Mesa:Aloe Vera	Extra item per runner at the start of a leg in that biome (Caldera = Volcano, Gloom = Swamp).
FortifiedMilkWeightMultiplier	2	Fortified milk weight vs. vanilla.
FortifiedMilkInvincibilityMultiplier	0.35	Fortified milk invincibility vs. vanilla (65% shorter).
CampfireFoodItems	Marshmallow, Glizzy	Food laid out (one per player) when a leg ends. Glizzy is the hot dog.
ClearStatusesAtCampfire	true	Lighting a campfire clears negative statuses nearby.
NoReviveCurse	true	No curse/hunger after being revived.
EnergyDrinkDrowsyMultiplier	1.5	Energy drink drowsiness when it wears off.
EnergyDrinkDurationMultiplier	0.35	Energy drink speed boost duration vs. vanilla (65% shorter).
DisableScoutmaster	true	No Scoutmaster.

2b. Blowgun

Setting	Default	What it does
ChaserBlowgun	true	Chasers get an unlimited blowgun.
BlowgunCooldownSeconds	30	Time between shots.
TrackingSmokeSeconds	7	How long the smoke follows a darted runner.
BlowdartDrowsy	0.18	Drowsiness a dart adds (0.18 = 18%).
ChaserGem	true	Chasers carry a reusable scout gem that gives a speed boost instead of its own power.
ChaserGemItem	Amulet_SuperJump	The gem item (Amulet_SuperJump = Scout's Initiative).
GemBoostSeconds	2.25	Gem effect length: speed boost + unlimited stamina (s).
GemDelaySeconds	1	The gem's effects start this long after use (s).
GemInfiniteStamina	true	The gem also gives unlimited stamina (rainbow bar).
GemCooldownSeconds	60	Gem cooldown; starts when its effects wear off.
GemPetrify	0.08	Petrification per gem use (0.08 = 8%).
SnowballKnockbackBonus	0.1	Thrown snowballs push this much harder (0.1 = 10%).
CapturePetrifyRelief	0.05	Petrification a capture takes away (0.05 = 5%).
SnowballBlindSeconds	2.5	A runner's snowball blinds the chaser it hits this long. 0 = off.

2c. Chase effects

Setting	Default	What it does
ScoutmasterChaseMusic	true	Runners hear PEAK's Scoutmaster chase music when a chaser is close (under 50 m, louder under 25 m).

3. Freeze

Setting	Default	What it does
FreezeRange	26	Max distance (m) a runner can freeze a chaser from.
FreezeConeDegrees	15	How precisely the runner must look at the chaser.
FreezeDuration	10	Freeze length (doesn't stack or extend).
FreezeCooldownSeconds	8	Immunity after a freeze ends.
FreezeHoldGrip	true	Frozen while climbing: keep holding on.
FreezeLockStamina	true	Stamina doesn't drain while frozen.
FreezeBlindsChasers	true	A frozen chaser is also blinded while the freeze lasts.
FreezeSuspendInAir	true	Frozen mid-jump: hang in the air.
FreezeSuspendStiffness	10	How firmly a mid-air chaser is held.
FreezeZeroVelocity	false	Extra anti-slide while frozen.
FreezeBlockLook	false	Also block looking around while frozen.
FreezePulseFastInterval / SlowInterval	0.15 / 0.9	Icy pulse rate at the start / end of a freeze.

4. Tag

Setting	Default	What it does
CaptureHoldSeconds	0.4	How long a chaser holds interact on a runner to capture them (the runner sees it too).
TagMaxDistance	5	Lag tolerance: the host rejects captures from further away.
TagPassedOutRunners	true	Passed-out runners can be captured.
MilkProtectsFromCapture	true	Fortified milk protects from capture.

5. Safe zones

Setting	Default	What it does
CampfireSafeRadius	15	Safe zone radius (m): no captures, no freezing from inside; also when a leg counts as complete.
SafeZoneRequiresLit	false	Only lit campfires are safe.

6. Fog

Setting	Default	What it does
FogSpeedMultiplier	2.5	Fog, rising lava and rising gloom speed during a round.
FogStartDelaySeconds	300	Fog, lava and gloom start rising this long after the head start ends (each leg).

7. Items

Setting	Default	What it does
ChaserAutoAllowHealing	true	Chasers can use healing items.
ChaserAutoAllowFood	true	Chasers can eat food.
ChaserAllowedItems	Remedy Fungus, Cactus, Dynamite, Mandrake	Extra items chasers may always use (names, comma separated).
ChaserForbiddenItems	Snowball, Energy Drink, Big Lollipop, Bounce Fungus, Cloud Fungus, Shelf Fungus, Warp Fungus, Blue Shroomberry, Green Shroomberry, Purple Shroomberry, Red Shroomberry, Yellow Shroomberry	Items chasers can never use, even if they are food or healing.
ClownLuggageChasersOnly	true	Only chasers open clown luggage (food/healing inside).
ChasersOnlyOpenClownLuggage	true	Chasers can't open other luggage.
LuggageExtraItems	Fortified Milk, Snowball, Brown Berrynana, Energy Drink	Items that can also come out of regular luggage during a round.
LuggageExtraChance	0.383	Chance for each item a regular luggage spawns to be one of those (split evenly: about 9.6% each).
BanAmulets / BanGems / BanRescueClaws	true	Remove these items.
BanBlowguns	true	No blowguns in the world (chasers still get theirs).
AllowJetpacks / AllowGliders	false	Turn on to allow them again.
BanHiddenItems	true	Remove items that never spawn in normal PEAK.
AllowedHiddenItems	Napberry, Kingberry, Clusterberry, Shroomberry, Cactus	Never treated as hidden (name contains, so all colours count).
BannedItems	Weird Shroom	Extra items to remove.
BanGoldenBingBong	true	Remove the golden Bing Bong and switch off its invincibility shield.
ShroomberryEffectSeconds	1	How long a shroomberry's effects last (hunger cure unchanged).

9. Rewards

Setting	Default	What it does
RewardItems	Fortified Milk	Reward for the first runner into each safe zone.
RewardItemCount	1	How many.

10–13. Network, UI, Debug, Admin

Setting	Default	What it does
KickPlayersWithoutMod (local, host)	false	Kick players with a missing/different mod version.
ChasersSeeGhosts	false	Let chasers see ghosts.
ChasersSeeRunnerNames	false	Let chasers see the name tags above runners.
ChaserRedOutline	true	Chasers' bodies glow red for everyone.
ChaserGlowIntensity	0.8	Strength of that glow (vanilla invincibility = 1).
ShowChaserList (local)	true	Chaser list in the top right.
FreezeScreenFrost (local)	true	Frost on your screen while you're frozen.
CountdownOpacity (local)	0.35	Opacity of the runners' countdown.
CaptureSound (local)	true	Explosion sound on capture.
DebugKeys (local)	false	Host testing keys F6–F9.
LogLookChecks (local)	false	Log every freeze look check.
AdminKeys (local)	true	Host admin keys.
KeyRestartFromCampfire (local)	F10	Quick-restart key.
KeyHostMenu (local)	=	Opens the host menu (the =/+ key; numpad + works too).
KeyChaserOdds (local)	-	Opens the role menu (airport, and the role window at the campfire).

Item names: item settings accept PEAK's display or internal names (spaces and case don't matter). The log (BepInEx/LogOutput.log) lists every item name once per session, under [OTL][Items] all items.

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Notes

• Built for PEAK v2.6.b (build 25739797). A PEAK update can break mods; if a part of this mod can't hook into the game after an update, only that part switches off and the log says which ([OTL] lines).
• Bug reports: please include your BepInEx/LogOutput.log.

Credits

Made by codesycamore. Inspired by the hide-and-seek idea of Hide and PEAK by glarmer (no code reused). Built on BepInEx and HarmonyX with the PEAK modding community's project template.