Blade Ballet
Welcome Newbies!
Whether you downloaded the demo, got the game during the Fall Sale, or else stumbled across us some other way, we want to make you feel welcome in our spinny robot dimension.
A little bit about us: DreamSail Games is an indie studio located in NYC. Blade Ballet is our first released game, it's our little robot child we've developed over the past year after hammering out the spinning mechanic at PAX one night.
One of the best ways to enjoy Blade Ballet is joining our Discord server: that's where we devs hang out and where the majority of the community finds each other. It's also the best place to stick bug reports or give us feedback. [discord.gg/bladeballet]
Through the Discord you'll stay in the know about events that our community manager (booshumew/springknome) throws such as streams, tournaments, and giveaways. We also put these events on the Steam community hub event calendar so you get pinged when they start if you've followed Blade Ballet in the hub: [http://steamcommunity.com/app/460750]
To answer a few common questions/concerns:
-The matchmaking pool can be notoriously iffy. You may find it difficult to find a match if you just dive in any ol' time due to having a small player pool. This is of course something we want to change, and it will as we bring new people to the game, as you bring new people to the game, and as the community blossoms. So if you think the game has potential, grab some friends to download the demo and test it out!
-There is no single player mode yet, it's a local and online multiplayer game first and foremost and we think that's where it shines. The chances we add a single player practice mode of some sort aren't zero, but we want to be clear that there is no single player in the game as of now. This may be a dealbreaker for some, but as the player pool increases and matchmaking becomes more reliable we hope it'll become less of an issue.
-Soft Serve Vanguard is the best skin and no one can convince us otherwise.
tl;dr hope you enjoy our game, join the discord, tell your friends, spin on!
With much love to our fans both old and new,
DreamSail Games
PATCH 1.7 Released! Bringing you Team Modes!
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+NEW GAME MODES! Introducing: Team Robomination and Team Overclocked! Team up and take down your opponents in unison. Which bots will work well together? Which bots won’t? That’s up to you to decide!
+GAME DEMO! We’re launching a free demo of Blade Ballet that includes the full game, but limited bots. Try out Blade Ballet with Torque, Catbot, and Ruckus! This will be available starting November 22nd.
+NEW SKINS! We’ve added some goofy new skins *spoiler alert* that fluffy Torque tho OMG
+SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND! You can spin your bots in the bot select screen now. The devs added this without telling anyone. Thanks, devs.
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BUGS BUGS BUGS
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+Invisibility, no more. That invisibility bug that plagued us for so long is squashed. Even if you do somehow magically turn invisible, it will fix itself instead of bothering you for games on end.
+Can’t open skin box after quick teleporting to the ready platform - this is fixed!
+Non-winners respawn during win sequence in Overclocked if the point limit is hit
+Bunch of under-the-hood stuff for pushing team modes
Blade Ballet Demo Coming Nov 22nd!
The demo includes access to the full game with limited bots. You can play as fan faves Torque, Catbot, and Ruckus.
Anytime you unlock a skin, you will have the option to equip that skin and play as the unlocked bot - though if it is not one of the three bots including in the demo, you will lose access to it after the match ends. All your skins will save in that case you do decide to purchase the full version.
Game on!
Patch 1.6 released!
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PATCH 1.6
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+DISCORD INTEGRATION! What is that on the main menu? A bird, a plane? No...it’s Discord chat integration! You will now see a pulse of messages from the #bleep_bloop and #steam_looking _for_fight channels.
+MORE SKINS! We’ve added a number of new skins for each bot, including some bright ‘n popping streaming-themed designs.
+SCREEN OPTIONS! Now when you open the game, you’ll be prompted to make the game fullscreen, windowed, or borderless.
+REDUCED DISCONNECTIONS! We relaxed the timer on disconnects so even if a player’s connection to the server ain’t so great, they won’t be kicked from the game as frequently as they are now.
+GRAPHICAL FIXES! Sprinkled some finishing polish on Bitsburgh, plus many of the skins to make them perfecto.
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BUGS BUGS BUGS
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+The voice over in Soccer used to say “Start” instead of “Initialize.” That has been fixed.
+The UI got wonky at various smaller aspect ratios, we’ve gone through and fixed that.
+Not all the powerups had consistent text colors/fonts - how troublesome! That’s been fixed.
+The confetti position in match results was all goofed up so we decided to just replace it with stars, because why not? Now you’ve got sparkly stars that are much more elegant than any ol’ confetti!
+Abyss Steve had some crazy lighting that made him look more messy than cool, total ew. He looks a lot better now.
+Ruckus’ tail used to get caught in the air when he respawned which looked like some orange lightning striking the stage. This is fixed.
+Audio fixes: a variety of fixes to make things sound even better than they already do, including a fix for a horribly loud Ready platform noise caused by the sound triggering multiple times.
+The fan in Oa.sys no longer affects Nix’s illusion.
+Dropjaw exploit where newly respawned characters can be stunned has been fixed. Now invulnerability protects you from stun as well as damage.
+[PC Only] Fixed some issues with plugging/unplugging controllers, including seeing keyboard UI instead of controller UI even after a controller is plugged in, and having weirdness when equipping skins.
+[PS4 Only] Fixed a stutter on the Match Results screen that was caused by a dynamic text issue.
TOURNAMENT TODAY!
3:00pm EST bracket: http://challonge.com/bladeballet3pm
6:30pm EST bracket: http://challonge.com/bladeballet630pm
If you see your name here, please be present for your match! Make sure you are friends with me (booshumew) on Steam so I can invite you.
Looking forward to finding our latest champion :D
And don't forget! 1st place prize is (up to) a $20 steam game of your choice gifted to you.
The stream: https://www.twitch.tv/dreamsailgames
Blade Ballet Tournament!
Next Wednesday, 10/26, come join us for a very spoopy October tournament! This will be the same as our previous tourney, with three different time slots:
11:00am - 12:00pm EST
3:00pm - 4pm EST
6:30pm - 7:30pm EST
Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSderHSKo6g0usy8qs4TeTuTnq6HKKvx3kWWsUtmMu4RjaUHLw/viewform
1st place prize: $20 steam game
2nd place prize: $15 steam game
3rd place prize: $10 steam game
This will be a double elimination tournament. The three finalists (the winner of each time slot) will duke it out round robin style for first, second, and third place.
All participants in the tournament will get one Blade Ballet steam key :)
All matches will be streamed live on our Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/dreamsailgames
Make sure you have me (booshumew) friended before the tourney begins!
If you have any questions ping me in Discord (I'm springknome) or here on steam.
TwitchCon Ticket Giveaway today!
We're having a TwitchCon ticket giveaway during our stream today starting at 3pm EST! One winner will be drawn every 20 mins. TwitchCon is Sept 30-Oct 2 in San Diego. Come meet us IRL!
PLUS extra long stream today with two events! First hour is our Title Games event where players earn points and climb the leaderboard to earn titles in our Discord, the second hour is Beat the Devs where you can win Blade Ballet steam keys for your friends. Basically....no matter what, you should be watching/playing today from 3pm to 5pm EST: twitch.tv/dreamsailgames
New Event: Title Games!
Tune in to our stream: https://www.twitch.tv/dreamsailgames
And head to our Discord: http://bladeballet.com/discord
Patch 1.5: Skins, New Stage, Crossplay
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This is a big one, folks. We’ve got content additions, major feature fixes, and more.
+SKINS! We’ve added a skins system to Blade Ballet. Every bot now has a unique variety of unlockable skins. You unlock them by earning experience, and earn experience by winning games!
+NEW LEVEL! Once a useful mode of transportation, now a case of technology run haywire, Uploader has been added as a playable level. When the floor blinks….watch out.
+CROSSPLAY! PS4 and Steam will be separate in Matchmaking no more.
+MATCHMAKING FIX! No longer do you need a full group of four to start a matchmaking game, the minimum group is now 2 and the game will start after 60 seconds regardless of more people joining.
+POWER UPS! We made our power ups much, much more powerful. Become a spinning blender of death or a speedy robot of doom.
+TEAM SWITCHING! In Blade Ball, you can now manually choose your team. Who’s on for a game of 3 versus 1?
+ OA.SYS UPDATE! Players were getting stuck in the central area all the time and it was terrible, so we added a giant whirling fan to send bots flying into the air!
+TURBO CLUB UPDATE! Scoring goals now awards a random powerup, because getting nearly-infinite invincibility was silly.
+SPAMMABLE TAUNTS! Taunts are now more spammable, and therefore more awesome.
+Quality of Life updates, including: Audio updates, fixed HUD placement,and a variety of bug fixes.
Tournament #2 : Electric Bot-aloo
Our next tourney will be Tuesday Sept 13. I'm going to run this one a little differently so that the people in school, work, different time zones, etc will be able to take part.
HOW IT WORKS
*We'll have three different time slots for the tournament - 11am, 3pm, and 6:30pm EST - you can sign up for any one of them. There should be at least 8 players in each time slot.
*The finalists from each round will move on to compete in the Finals the following day at a time we find to work for all of us. As there will be 3 finalists, they will play round robin style: each of the three finalists will compete with each other and whoever has the most wins followed by the most kills in the case of a tie, will be crowned our first place winner.
*Like last time, the fights will be 1v1, single elimination, hosted by me, and streamed to Twitch.
*Sign up for the time slots can be found in our Discord (www.bladeballet.com/discord) in the Announcements channel so please head there to sign up
*The day before the tournament I'll make the brackets on Challonge
*If you do not show up for your match and don't notify me, you'll be disqualified and blocked from participating in whatever our next event is. It's not fair to your opponent when you don't show up, so please make sure if for whatever reason you can't make it you let me know before your time slot so I can reorganize the brackets.
*Prizes will be: 1st place - $20 Steam game, 2nd - $15, and 3rd - $10.
*If you have any issue with the Google form, you can friend me (booshumew) and message me or go into Discord and dm me your slot and username.
⚔ MAY THE BEST BOT WIN!!! ⚔