Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Simulator, Strategy, Indie
8-Bit Armies
8-Bit Armies Update #19 - 07/26 @ 17:00 (PST)
Let's play some LAN games!
Well, it required a bit more effort than we originally planned, but today we're very happy to release LAN support for 8-Bit Armies! It's beta, but our internal testing shows that it's stable and working with just a couple minor issues we didn't want you to wait on. Please give it a try and let us know if you encounter any errors.
We're also making a change to our Featured Community Maps. Some of you didn't want to auto-subscribe to 3 new maps each week - and we agreed. Therefore, we've modified our back-end so that auto-subscribing is no longer necessary. Again, let us know if you spot anything out of the ordinary.
As always, we appreciate your feedback and hope you enjoy the new features!
-8Bit
NEW FEATURES:
LAN mode support (BETA).
- (Known Issue: Rally point lines missing)
- (Known Issue: Ready boxes are slow to update from players other than host)
Featured Community Maps no longer auto-sync/subscribe. Players will only auto-subscribe if they host using a community map
Major Announcement! -- 8 Bit Hordes is Coming!
Hi everyone!
We originally released 8-bit Armies on April 22nd and thanks to your ongoing support we’ve been able to provide substantial gameplay and content updates over the past 16 weeks. It’s been a wild ride as we simultaneously juggled working on our next game in the 8-Bit series as well as short-term weekly patches. Some of the features and content we’ve made available since launch include…
A new military faction with new units and structures
More multiplayer maps
New Co-Op campaign missions
Performance upgrades for multiplayer
A new multiplayer gameplay mode and additional game setup options
Our development Terrain Editor map creation modding tool
Steam Trading Cards
More AI personalities and difficulty settings
Mod support for custom voice responses, music tracks, and text in the game
And finally, a BUNCH of smaller balance changes and improvement requests to UI and general gameplay that were requested by the players.
Everything we have done has been toward the goal of making the game better and growing the community. As an independent developer it’s been tough to get the word out so we appreciate all the help we’ve received from you guys, as well as sites like ClanWars and GameReplays that host leaderboards for 8-Bit Armies.
WHAT’S NEXT
As many of you recall we had a “Coming Soon?” link on our main menu that hinted at a bold fantasy and military faction mash-up. From that one image, we received many suggestions on what our next faction release should be. When we looked at the production schedule, we realized that we didn’t want to go completely dark while players waited for the planned fantasy content. So, some of the team took a slight detour and launched our free GUARDIANS faction while the rest continued working toward our original goal of creating a retro RTS mash-up that hasn’t been done before. We have achieved enough progress now that we are ready to talk about our next title!
In Mid-summer 2016 we will be launching the 8-Bit Armies successor - a retro-themed fantasy RTS called 8-BIT HORDES! It will be fully inter-operable with 8-Bit Armies so that the factions can both play with and against each other. Our plan is to launch 8-Bit Hordes with TWO factions, a 20+ mission single-player campaign, a new Frank Klepacki soundtrack, all-new maps, and a new co-op campaign. Pricing will be similar to 8-Bit Armies and a launch-day discount is also expected. Most importantly, for all of those of you that have supported us and already own the current game, we are working with Steam to make the game available at a substantial discount reserved exclusively for our current players.
As always, we couldn’t do it without your support, feedback, and enthusiasm! We check the forums daily and do our best to respond to everything that looks like it needs our attention – or we pass it along to our team if they haven’t already seen it. 8-Bit Armies development will continue as we work on further improvements that you have asked for. LAN support is just around the corner and other multiplayer features are in the queue.
And finally, here’s a link to the Steam page and official trailer for 8-Bit Hordes. We’ll announce Beta signups as soon as it’s possible to do so – stay tuned!
It's Friday, and that usually means there's another patch for 8-Bit Armies coming. ːsteamhappyː
Today's update is a maintenance patch to handle some things that were reported to us over the past week. If you spot something that needs looking into - please let us know!
Many of you have asked us "What's coming next!?". We're getting close to making a big announcement soon so stay tuned and check in with us frequently. As soon as we're all ready we'll post it here first.
Thanks!
-8Bit
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS & FIXES:
Fixed issue preventing the AI from firing their superweapons
Enter now always opens the chat box in team mode (except when there are no allies); shift enter always enters it in all chat mode
Made the notification for generating default passability more clear about replacing any existing passability
Added hints to the debrief screens (Not yet translated)
AI Fix to harvesters not returning to harvesting resources after dodging a superweapon
Map Editor: Integrating Map Editor textures fix when opening the map properties dialog
Fixed issue with joined player's star count not going away if they leave the lobby after already playing a previous coop game
Fix for teams not showing up properly in non-random case on loading screen
Fixed a series of German translations that were incorrect in the first release
8-Bit Armies Update #17 - 07/6 @ 17:00 (PST)
Hi everyone,
Just a small update today to fix some German localization issues and tweak the balance of a couple air units.
As always, thanks for all the great support! We want to especially call out MrFreaktal and Cr4zyPi3t for all the localization help. Thanks guys!
-8Bit
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS: <*>German Localization: Fixed several grammar issues as reported by users
<*>Custom Maps not published to the Steam Workshop should now be available again
<*>AA Drone Balance: Reduced attack range by 20%, Reduced base move speed by about 30%, Reduced health by about 15%
<*>Heavy Drone: Reduced DPS of both weapons by about 15%, Reduced move speed by 15%, Reduced health by 20%
8-Bit Armies Update #16 - 07/1 @ 16:00 (PST)
We have been really looking forward to releasing today's update! For a while now, we have been wanting to call out the best maps and make them easier to get to. Our latest new feature places these maps that have been hand-selected by the design team into the multiplayer map listing so everyone can see the great work that has been done by the players.
We are also happy to announce that the game now supports all our German friends in their native language! We have done a lot of testing on our side, so we're hopeful that it's fantastic right out of the box. If you do spot an issue with a mis-localized word or maybe some UI that looks out of whack - please let us know!
As always, thanks for all the great support! We hope you have fun on the latest build! ːsteamhappyː
NEW FEATURES:
German Localization: This should be considered "BETA" and we are looking forward to getting any bug reports or UI alignment issues reported to us so we can get them fixed and dropped into our next patch.
Featured Player Map Integration: We will be frequently adding the best player maps into a special section of the multiplayer setup screen. When choosing which map to play on, please give these a try!
Random Team Generation: Players can now choose to have our servers drop them into teams randomly.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS: <*>Aircraft should now fly at least 200 units above the ground. This fixes issues on some of the custom maps that were being created.
<*>Units in production cannot reveal stealthed units
<*>Fixed an issue related to units that pop out of random crates
8-Bit Armies Update #16 - 07/1 @ 16:00 (PST)
We have been really looking forward to releasing today's update! For a while now, we have been wanting to call out the best maps and make them easier to get to. Our latest new feature places these maps that have been hand-selected by the design team into the multiplayer map listing so everyone can see the great work that has been done by the players.
We are also happy to announce that the game now supports all our German friends in their native language! We have done a lot of testing on our side, so we're hopeful that it's fantastic right out of the box. If you do spot an issue with a mis-localized word or maybe some UI that looks out of whack - please let us know!
As always, thanks for all the great support! We hope you have fun on the latest build! ːsteamhappyː
NEW FEATURES:
German Localization: This should be considered "BETA" and we are looking forward to getting any bug reports or UI alignment issues reported to us so we can get them fixed and dropped into our next patch.
Featured Player Map Integration: We will be frequently adding the best player maps into a special section of the multiplayer setup screen. When choosing which map to play on, please give these a try!
Random Team Generation: Players can now choose to have our servers drop them into teams randomly.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS: <*>Aircraft should now fly at least 200 units above the ground. This fixes issues on some of the custom maps that were being created.
<*>Units in production cannot reveal stealthed units
<*>Fixed an issue related to units that pop out of random crates
GAME UPDATE #15 - 06/24 @ 11:15 (PST):
GAME UPDATE #15 - 06/24 @ 11:15 (PST):
Welcome to all our new players arriving from the Summer Steam Sale!
This week we're releasing a new feature that has been highly requested by some of our competitive players - Quickmatch! This week's patch is also a maintenance release in order to prepare for our German localized version of the game which we should have ready very shortly.
As always, please let us know what you think of the latest update and let us know if we're missing something or you spot a problem.
-8Bit ːsteamhappyː
NEW FEATURES:
Quickmatch (Player Requested): Multiplayer now provides an option to randomly match against another player of an equal skill setting in 1v1 using our internal Elo rating system. Maps are randomly selected from an approved list selected and updated by the design team. All matches use standard victory condition, with 10k resources, and crates turned off. Players need only select Quickmatch and then choose their faction.
Added support for downloading of custom maps when using the Steam Invite System
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS: <*>Fix for issue in which infantry were still playing their run sounds even while being transported
<*>Removed delay before playing the movie when surrendering or while in the tutorial
<*>Fixed issue related to the AI firing a superweapon after the relevant structure had already been destroyed
<*>Font support for German language characters Ä, Ö, Ü, and ß for upcoming translation release
GAME UPDATE #14 - 06/17 @ 14:15 (PST):
We've been really busy working on the next faction as well as improving the core game. We have some new stuff for you to try out this week - including a host of new requested features and options.
Work on both the original game and the new content has kept us very busy but we still find time to keep up with all the discussions on the message boards. Please let us know what you think of the new features and
let us know if we're missing something or you spot a problem.
-8Bit
NEW FEATURES:
Added double-size (64x64) mouse pointer cursors for 4K or visually impaired players
MODS: Added ability to load loose mod .TTF fonts from the Mod Text directory
MODS: Players can override music scores per faction (via MP3 files).
New Game mode for Skirmish & Multiplayer! In this mode, players will be given a victory-condition character they must keep alive. The last player with their “hero” alive wins the match.
Crates checkbox changed to slider. Players can choose to have anywhere from 0% to 100% crate release when buildings are destroyed. This creates a completely different gameplay scenario in multiplayer.
Replaced the old “Coming Soon” button in the lower left with a Current News panel to keep players better informed if they’re not visiting the game forums. Information about upcoming improvements/factions/games will be made available through this new button.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS: <*>MODS: Updated voice mod notes by adding all Faction 2 units plus new Faction 1 Heavy Tank
<*>MODS: Fixed the file reading method of the mod CSV file so that it will not prematurely think it hit EOF with certain characters (Thanks to WWWorm for pointing this out!)
<*>Stealthed units are no longer stealthed when you have no structures left, so total annihilation victory condition works better
<*>Adjusted Guardians Missions 07 & 11 to track the correct engineer crates
<*>Fixed incorrect tooltips for some units like the Air Transport and Heavy Tank
<*>AA Drone: Balance: Default move speed and explosion damage both reduced by 20%
<*>Harvesters will no longer consider under-construction refineries when looking for a nearby refinery
<*>Added a “stealth broken” color and icon above unit health bar to distinguish when someone has detected your stealthed units
<*>Fix for unpaid for structures (which are not targetable and are invulnerable) still counting as victory relevant objects
<*>More than one player can use the "random start location" in multiplayer lobbies now
<*>Corrected displayed rank for campaign debrief screen if playing Guardians campaign
8-Bit Armies Update #13 - 06/10 @ 15:00 (PST)
GAME UPDATE #13 - 06/10 @ 15:00 (PST):
Hey!
Just a quick update to bring our ARCTIC ASSAULT map from the campaign into our multiplayer and skirmish maps menu. We're also making available unit voice response mod support for the GUARDIANS faction, as well as game text customization / localization modding!
Have fun!
NEW FEATURES:
Support for Arctic Assault map in multiplayer / skirmish
Mod support for custom V/O using the Guardians Faction
Mod support for custom game text (see 8-Bit Mods & Map Development)
-8Bit
8-Bit Armies Update #12 - 06/08 @ 14:00 (PST)
GAME UPDATE #12 - 06/08 @ 14:00 (PST):
Hey!
Another update based on your ongoing feedback. We made a number of balance changes with the emergence of our second faction THE GUARDIANS, and now we're implementing some additional balance changes based on the gameplay and game reports we've been receiving.
Give it a try, and let us know what you think. And if you're having any problems (bugs, crashes, or whatever) - please let us know! We're here for you guys and want to get you up and running whatever the issue might be.
-8Bit
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS:
Hooked up hard objective star textures so you have a visual indication if you complete missions on hard difficulty
Fixed several Guardians tooltips that referred to “Air Control” instead of “Drone Center”
When setting default factory via setting the rally, set the default factory to the closest factory of each selected type
Improved error handling for invalid maps
Handle maps that are already in the process of downloading correctly
Fixed issue on Arctic Assault map preventing ground direct-fire units from firing across water areas
Adjusted the low pitch on the burning death scream SFX to be normal, so samples would not be as long and drawn out
Reduced the audible range a bit from "large" to "medium" (These are still audible in fog of war)
Potential fix for attack moves stopping too early
Server-side improvements to handle even larger player armies
Adjusted crates in campaign to give engineers that are of the same type/faction
Fixed save/load issue related to stealth tanks and drones
BALANCE IMPROVEMENTS:
ROCKET CAR: Health reduced by 25%
RENEGADES ARTILLERY: Damage vs. vehicles reduced by 25%
AA DRONE: Health reduced by 40%, Build cost increased to 60 (was 50)
GRENADE INFANTRY: Damage vs. vehicles increased by 50%, Increased projectile speed by about 20%
