Big Features!

• The Axiom Soccer Federation have rolled out new pitch surfaces for the Skyline Theater Arena, each with its own specific gamemode branding!
  - Green pitch and light blue highlights for Friendly and Local play.
  - Red pitch and green highlights for Axiom Academy.
  - Blue pitch and yellow highlights for Axiom League.
  
• New player profile icons! Represent your favorite Axiom Soccer Federation team with unlockable team badges. A small selection are currently available with more planned in future updates.
  
• Added an in match options menu! A much requested community feature, this adds the ability to adjust game settings without the need to leave a match.
  
• Further improvements to this menu are planned.
  

Arena

• Removed Claws and Firebrands logos from the pitches in favour of game mode indicators.
  
• Removed some of the team coloring from different ends of the pitch.
  

Competitive

• Based upon player feedback we have made Skill Rating changes in Competitive Play larger so you can progress through Divisions faster. No more 2 SR wins against equally ranked SR players.
  
• Added a welcome screen to Competitive Play.
  
• Updated all ui text to refer to Skill Rating.
  
• Competitive screens now accept control pad input.
  

Gameplay

• Vertical lookspeed is now the same as horizontal lookspeed! Keeping aiming more in line with other third person shooters.
  
• Crosshair Prediction can now be disabled to give you a permanent target marker in the middle of the screen. This can be done in the options menu.
  
• (This is our first prototype of changing the aim system, we are still looking into developing this feature)
  

Optimisation

• Extensive rework and optimisation of server CPU usage to improve gameplay stability and reliability.
  
• Further art reworks and optimisation.
  
• Added a ping counter in MS and an FPS counter to matches.
  

UI

• Nametags now turn transparent when the camera gets close to them.
  
• Added an in match options menu.
  
• Removed hole from the middle of the small player tag that appears over drones when viewed from range.
  
• Renamed Quickplay to Friendly.
  
• Updated news ticker at the bottom of the main menu.
  
• Added secondary team colors to Axiom Academy setup menu.
  
• Quitting a match in Competitive, Friendly and Local now returns user to the menu of those modes allowing you to get back into a match quickly.
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crash on entering matches.
  
• Fixed an issue where players would slide into place to take a penalty.
  
• Fixed an issue where the server browser could lock the game.
  
• Fixed an issue where selection audio would sometimes stop playing in the Garage.
  
• Fixed an issue where shots would bounce off the far wall in the Garage and block your camera view.
  
• Fixed an issue where a ‘clunk’ sound would sometimes play when entering Garage.
  
• Fixed an issue where sometimes an AI with no name would join a match.
  
• Fixed an issue where a random collision box was floating at the side of the pitch.
  
• Fixed an issue where the same AI would play in multiple matches in a row in Competitive.
  
• Fixed an issue where some shadows in the environment weren’t casting onto drones.
  
• Fixed an issue where Garage buttons sometimes didn’t accept inputs.
  
• Fixed an issue where win percentage wasn’t being calculated correctly.
  
• Fixed an issue where ammo tutorials wouldn’t stop showing.
  
• Fixed an issue where tooltip hint audio would play even with master volume lowered.
  
• Fixed an issue where corner bumpers would sometimes move very quickly to face in odd directions.
  
• Fixed an issue where goals were sometimes being counted twice.
  

Big Features!

• Dedicated Servers have arrived! This means that players will no longer be hosting matches, which should improve performance for everyone. Games will run more smoothly when playing online, your connection to matches will be more stable and you can now restart matches without having to return to the Main Menu. Check the Networking section for more details.
  
• (Custom Matches are still P2P for the time being, see Networking for further details)
  
• We’ve switched on our Competitive Multiplayer mode! You can access it through Play Online. When you play Competitive, you’ll be matched up against players of a similar skill level to yourself. If you win, you’ll gain Skill Points; if you lose, you’ll lose Skill Points. See if you can climb through all five Divisions and keep an eye on the Leaderboard. Check the Gameplay section for more details.
  
• The Main Menu scene has been given an overhaul to show off some of the new art in the Skyline Theatre arena!
  
• We’ve updated the Garage environment! You now get a little behind the scenes look at how your Drone is built and tested by the Axiom Soccer Federation. You can customise your Body Kit, your Goalkeeper Shield, Weapon Trails and more!
  
• We’ve added two new Drone Body Kits. The Volta Bolt and Mansa Hawk come complete with all the features of the Lacano Mark 1 but with a different style. We’d love to hear your feedback on the new kits on our Discord https://discord.gg/wtUFSXb ! Swing on by and help steer the direction of what our upcoming Drone Body Kits look like.
  
• We’ve added a Hints System to Axiom Soccer to help ease in new players. If you’re an experienced player you can turn these hints off in the Options menu, or if you want to view them again you can reset them by switching the hints off and then on again.
  
• Smart Glass panels have been added around the Arena walls! These panels countdown at the beginning of the match and celebrate when you score a goal. We’ve got more features for these panels planned in the future, and if there’s anything you want to see them give us some feedback on Discord!
  
• We’ve overhauled Axiom Academy to make it a stronger single player experience. Now, when you play in Axiom Academy mode, you’ll progress through a series of progressively harder bots. This is an experimental mode at the moment, so we’d love to hear your feedback on it early in development. We’re actively working on Axiom Academy, so expect more in the near future!
  

Gameplay

• Competitive Multiplayer is Here! When you play a match through Competitive (available in the Play Online menu) you’ll be matched up against players of a similar skill level to battle to see who’s the best Axiom Soccer player out there. When you start your Axiom Soccer Competitive Career you’ll be placed in Division Five and it’s up to you to climb from there! When you win, the amount of Skill Points you have will rise, and when you lose, it’ll lower. At the end of every week you’ll either be Promoted, Relegated or stay where you are based on your performance. We’ll be adding Season Rewards soon!
  
• You can change your position within a Division instantly, but you can only move between Divisions each Monday at 7 AM GMT. You can only move one Division at a time, but your progress carries over from week to week, so if you do well enough to move up two Divisions in one week, you’ll go up one, and next week you’ll only need to maintain your standing rather than increase it to go up another Division.
  
• Use the Leaderboards to see where you measure up against everyone else in your Division! You can also track your Promotion or Relegation chances by looking at the Competitive Multiplayer menu and checking out the graph which will show your progress from day to day.
  
• Once a match is over, after thirty seconds, the match will reset letting everyone play another match without needing to head back to the main menu. The match will enter a 90 second Kickabout phase while it searches for more players to add to the match.
  
• We’ve changed the name of Quickplay to Friendly.
  
• We’ve removed replays from online modes. We’re working on adding a new, much improved replay system which should be available in the near future.
  
• Removed ‘handball’ detection. You no longer get boo’d for hitting the ball with your vehicle.
  
• Increased range of all projectiles slightly.
  

AI

• We’ve created over a dozen AI profiles which you can play against. These AI all behave slightly differently and are designed to play at a skill level similar to your own. These AI even have their own customisation sets so you can tell them apart at a glance.
  
• AI now celebrate when they score goals and shy away when they score an own goal. These celebrations are based on what the developers do when they score goals, so see if you can spot The Windscreen Wiper.
  
• AI now leave matches to help balance things out.
  
• Bots in offline matches will now show what skill level they are with Level 1 being the easiest to beat and Level 9 being a serious challenge.
  
• AI will now take other AI players into account when attempting to balance matches.
  
• Renamed AI Demo to Demo Mode.
  

Art

• The Goal Net and Goalmouth have been reworked significantly. Before matches, a Blast Door will raise to prevent the ball from going in. When the match begins, the door lowers and the new Goal Net will appear. The Goalmouth has been remade and redesigned to allow the ball extra room to move. The Goalkeeper Arm is also more dynamic now and moves forwards and backwards inside the Goalmouth now.
  
• We’ve added a whole new ball for Competitive. This is the official Axiom League design.
  
• We’ve done a major optimisation pass on the game.
  
• The floor in the Skyline Theatre has been redesigned.
  
• We’ve updated the names of some Goalkeeper vinyls to better reflect what they look like.
  
• We’ve added shadows to the Skyline Theatre arena.
  
• We’ve added a special shadow to the ball which should be visible on all quality settings and no matter the lighting conditions.
  
• Removed downwash visual effect below drones. It was really hurting low spec machines; we want to bring in a cheaper version of it soon, though.
  
• Bollard triggers now flash when they’re shot.
  
• Added propulsion bottle to the underside of vehicle cannons.
  

Audio

• Made Garage audio more natural sounding.
  
• Lowered default volume of music in the main menu.
  

Networking

• Dedicated Servers are here! From now on, when you play a match Online in Friendly or Competitive you’ll join an official Earthbound Games server. This means that clients are no longer needed to host the game so every match should be more stable, more reliable and smoother. This is the first version of our Dedicated Server platform and we’re really excited to see how they perform.
  
• Friendly will attempt to put you into a match that’s available and has other players in it, regardless of your skill level. You can still use the server browser to look for matches that are open and available to join so you can team up with your friends.
  
• Custom matches are still available and can be created via the Create Match menu. These are still hosted locally so your game experience might be less than ideal.
  
• You can’t spectate matches on Dedicated Servers at the moment. This is something we’re looking to add in the future.
  
• We’ve changed the Server Browser to list Dedicated Server matches and Custom Server matches in seperate tabs.
  
• Removed kick for clients on high ping/bad connections.
  
• Updated some network error messages to be more specific.
  

UI

• Reworked server browser to show Custom Matches and Dedicated Server matches in different tabs.
  
• Renamed AI Demo to Demo Mode.
  
• Updated Load Screen images to show off the Skyline Arena and new goals.
  
• Updated Axiom Academy screen to bring it into line with Local Match setup screen.
  
• Updated in game messages that show when the user scores a goal, when a match phase changes and on countdowns.
  
• 
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Shotgun VFX wouldn’t show up when viewed at range.
  
• Fixed an issue where players would sometimes spawn in the wrong place during penalties.
  
• Fixed an issue where accuracy wasn’t being calculated correctly.
  
• Fixed an issue where some players couldn't’ ready up in Local Multiplayer.
  
• Fixed an issue where resetting to default controls in the options menu would change what the default controls actually were.
  
• Fixed an issue where a ball would spawn on top of your vehicle in Kickabout.
  
• Fixed an issue where spectator cam moved jerkily.
  
• Fixed an issue where AI could move after penalties.
  
• Fixed an issue where cycling between menus would make button selection sounds continually louder.
  
• Fixed an issue where button selections weren’t playing sound effects when using keyboard inputs.
  
• Fixed an issue where some keys couldn’t be rebound.
  
• Fixed an issue where the correct vehicle customisation wasn’t showing in replays.
  
• Fixed an issue where the sound effect for clicking ‘accept’ on EULA screen was cut short.
  
• Fixed an issue where players could change teams during the time between penalties.
  
• Fixed an issue where team colors could be very similar and still play against each other.
  
• Fixed an issue where crowd audio could desync or could sound strange when you were in the middle of the pitch.
  
• Fixed an issue where in game text was overlapping UI elements making both hard to read.
  
• Fixed an issue where AI players were retreating at the wrong time.
  
• Fixed an issue where the replay camera would look very jerky during replays.
  

Big Features!

• Garage features are here! To access, select Garage in the main menu and begin customising your Drone. This is our first version, so expect more options and more in depth customisation in the future.
  
• Players can now select their Strip, colors and squad number for both Home and Away Strips. Home Strips are used as a preference, with Away Strips being used when the color you’ve chosen is too close to the other teams color choice. You can also customise the pattern on the front of your Goal Keeper which will appear if you’re the first person to join a team in a match.
  
• We’ve added three new Weapon Trails! The Aircell-Hydro, Aircell-Pyro and Aircell-Vapor pack can all be demoed in the garage. These Trails will follow behind all shots fired by your Drone.
  
• Feedback is appreciated on everything in the Garage, so let us know what you think and what you want to see in the future by using #axiomsoccer or visiting us on our Discord at https://discord.gg/wtUFSXb
  

AI

• Adjustments to improve AI difficulty and playstyles to improve player vs bot games. Providing a greater challenge to seasoned pros and a friendlier challenge for those new to the game.
  

Art

• Visual improvements to Skyline Arena 2.0, making it even more futuristic and epic!
  

Audio

• Updated sound effects for in game menus.
  

Networking

• Network traffic optimisation for our interactive crowd effects, improving game stability and reliability.
  

UI

• Updated menus to use Skyline Arena 2.0.
  

Bug Fixes

• Added sound effects to close button on Known Issues page.
  
• Weapon fire audio should no longer be playing twice over network games.
  
• Adjusted number of times that vehicles can play their collision audio during a single collision.
  
• Fixed an issue where graphics settings weren’t being updated if you changed the setting and then force quit the game.
  
• Recharge zone now takes up the entire penalty box.
  
• Fixed an issue where smoke wasn’t behaving similarly for clients and hosts.
  
• Fixed an issue where mouse sensitivity wasn’t being properly saved between play sessions.
  
• Fixed an issue where music in the main menu wasn’t looping seamlessly.
  
• Fixed an issue where EULA screen was offset on non 16:9 aspect ratios.
  
• Spectators can no longer change teams.
  

Big Features!

• New Arena Added! Say hello to Skyline Arena 2.0! We’ve given the Arena a massive visual overhaul, with hugely increased texture quality and a significant boost in polycount. We’ve also resized the arena to be slightly narrower which should make the game less crossing-play focused. Skyline Arena 2.0 is our visual benchmark for Axiom Soccer going forwards.
  
  
• Every item in and around the arena has been given a significant overhaul; the corner bumpers, barriers, barrier activation triggers and goalmouth. Outside the arena, the vista beyond has been updated and is approaching the visual fidelity we want from Axiom Soccer.
  
  
• Added smoke effects to the Live Crowd! Now, during the kickabout phase, and during different phases in the match, team-colored smoke generators will start to put out dense smoke to cheer you on. You know what they say! No Pyro, No Party!
  

Gameplay

• Penalties now end earlier if the player misses the goal. If the ball is headed away from the goal for a few seconds, the penalty will end automatically.
  
• Goalkeeper now hits the ball away. It’s not quite as strong as a corner bumper, but it should clear the ball more easily now.
  
• Tweaked Grenade strength and made it more predictable.
  
• You can no longer have more than 3 players on a team.
  
• Swapped Q and E keys for ascend and descend.
  
• Added a semi-transparent barrier to the goalmouth to stop players from getting inside the goal.
  

AI

• AI can now ascend and descend. This was added in the last hotfix update but got missed in patch notes.
  
• AI now have more names that they’ll randomly select.
  

Art

• Updated the weapon smoke VFX set. Smoke should be thinner and block your view a little less. This is just the weapon trail, and we have plans for trail customisation in the future.
  
• Added a marker to the rear of the Pointer Drone. A black stripe should help you recognise which end is facing you a bit better.
  

Audio

• Added in-game volume controls. You can now control Master, Crowd, SFX, Dialogue and Music volumes.
  
• Added a new ‘Goal Scored’ sound effect. Feedback appreciated!
  
• Reworked collision audio with drones to make it more consistent.
  
• Corner bumper activation sound updated.
  

Live Crowd

• Reduced the number of flares that land on the pitch. They’re now also more evenly distributed and will land in a more spaced out way.
  

Networking

• Updated some networking stuff for the shotgun and the drone. Bad connections should see less difficulty in making the shotgun work for them.
  
• Big improvements made to the ball/drone collision code. This should make bad connections have a smoother time nudging the ball around.
  
• Pulled a lot of audio out from networking. This should reduce the load on Hosts significantly.
  

UI

• Added photosensitivity warning on the Welcome screen.
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where flares were causing bollards to drop. They should now bounce off ineffectually.
  
• Fixed an issue where flares were nudging the ball. They should now just go through the ball ineffectually.
  
• Fixed an issue where players other than player 1 were getting dropped in subsequent local matches.
  
• Fixed a case where grenades would occasionally apply their force twice.
  
• Fixed a case where grenades would occasionally ignore the upper limit of how much force they were allowed to apply.
  
• Vehicles with matte-black finish should no longer have a green reflective glow when viewed in the arena.
  
• The ball should now make a satisfying ‘thunk’ sound when it hits the ground again.
  
• Music will no longer get disabled if you unplug/plug in your sound device.
  
• 3-0 Forfeit should be awarded more consistently now. If you have a score higher than 3 and the other team quits, you should still get your 3 or more.
  
• Grenade explosion audio should now have a falloff distance, meaning it should be less all encompassing.
  
• Spectators will no longer kick AI players when they join.
  
• Attempting to fire a second shot in penalties should no longer play weapon charging animations or sounds.
  
• Fixed a case where grenades would sometimes go through the ball.
  

Big Features!

• New Drone Model! We’ve updated all the art for the drone; rebuilt from the ground-up, this drone has a frame that’ll allow us to start experimenting with even greater customisation for the drone.
  
• Networked AI! If you wait 60 seconds before the Match Start timer begins and no one joins, one of our improved AI players will join so you have someone to play against. If a human joins your match, the AI will get given the boot. If you’re in a 1 vs 2 situation, an AI will join your team to balance things out.
  Please note you can turn off AI in the Create Match menu!
  
• First version of the Live Crowd. Now, when you play the game, the crowd will be much more reactive to what you’re doing. They’ll sing, play drums, play music and even throw pyro onto the pitch if you’re doing super well. This is the first version of this feature and we’re really excited to get feedback on it. Expect more details and a richer feature set in the future.
  
• Post Match Stats screen now tracks how you played. This is a first version of it, so expect more to come in the future. Feedback welcome!
  
• Upgraded from Unreal Engine 4.19 to 4.20. This is a pretty major step in getting our replay system to a 100% reliable state and to getting us on lovely dedicated servers. It’s also given us better graphical scaling on our presets, so hopefully people on lower end machines can play more safely.
  

Gameplay

• We now track your stats in game so you can see how you did at the end of the match. Keep an eye on the player profile page for more work on this in the future.
  
• You can now collide your drone into other players drones! This gives them a bit of a shove. Feedback is welcome, and remember to play nicely. The Referee’s are always watching!
  
• Drone has been repositioned slightly. You might have to adjust your aim...
  
• User is now only able to fire one shot in penalties. We found that players were taking a huge amount of shots and it was becoming a bit of a spammy mess. We want to limit it and have penalties be a tense, skillful playmode.
  
• A ball per player spawns into the arena during the kickabout phase. Have fun with the multiball madness!
  
• The ball color flash length is now determined by the weapon that’s used on the ball.
  

AI

• AI now pays more attention to the amount of ammo that it’s consumed and will return to recharge more frequently.
  
• AI should spend less time waiting before firing now.
  
• Updated AI tactical positions to be closer to matching player behavior.
  

Art

• Added the new drone; this drone represents the graphical quality we want for the cosmetic items in the game, and for our upcoming arena. For the stats fans out there, we’ve doubled the polycount of the drone and given it a massive texture overhaul.
  
• Added the Live Crowd flare VFX.
  

Audio

• Added new vehicle audio. Feedback is appreciated!
  
• Added Live Crowd Chanting, Drums and Brass audio. They’ll sing when you’re winning, drum when you’re losing, and more.
  

UI

• Changed the Controls menu into an Options Menu. You can now change your keybindings, graphical preset, mouse sensitivity and more via the Front End.
  
• Spectator Hud is now fully hooked up, meaning you can live stream using freecam and get information about who you’re following. We’re planning on adding more features to spectator cam soon.
  
• Spectators now show in the list of players in a match with a special spectator tag. It was pretty weird that someone could be watching you and you’d never know.
  
• Server browser now shows the amount of people spectating a match.
  

Bug Fixes

• Added sound effects to error/popup message buttons.
  
• Players can now move around normally after readying up in local multiplayer.
  
• Increased low FPS tolerances in auto perf scaling.
  
• Spectator will now no longer collide with bollards.
  
• Fixed an issue where left mouse button couldn’t be rebound