1. Invites - fixed issue where players that weren't playing multiplayer may not get invites
2. AI - Fixed issue where Hall of Fame AI's could blow themselves up
3. Loading Sequence - Credit is given to Unity, Playfab, and Fabric Audio
4. Various small fixes
Another Big Update!
Here are the latest updates for Blast Zone! Tournament:
1. Scoring Algorithm
With the help of feedback from the BZT community, we further refined the scoring algorithm to ensure the proper bomber gets awarded each kill
2. In-game Scoreboard & HUD
Moved to a title-safe position so it is visible on all TVs
Renders behind characters now
Hide pause button when primary user is using a gamepad
3. Good Neighbor Achievement
Now can obtain it much easier
4. Smarter AIs
AIs more strategically go after powerups
Better navigation during "sudden death" falling blocks - for revenged and on-board AIs
5. 2x Portuguese
Split European and Brazilian Portuguese
Both languages are available within the Setting Page
6. More robust networking
Scale testing past 100,000 CCU
7. Smoother frame rate
Warm up all shaders in the load sequences
Avatar customization caching
8. Parties
Better handling of guests joining and leaving parties
9. Improved audio
Reduced the number of simultaneous explosion sounds to keep audio from clipping at the start of 32-player Battle Royale matches
10. Additional bug fixes
Fixed various small bugs to further refine the user experience
Score, Kick/Punch/Throw, Network, and a LOT more improvements!
Scoring Kills - Expert Players are Awarded!
When a bomber is caught in a multiple bomb explosion chain, here is how we now determine who is awarded the kill:
1. Find the closest in-range bomb in the chain, on the same X or Z as the hit bomber, with an owner on a different team. That bomb's owner is awarded the kill.
2. If (1) doesn't award a kill, then find the closest Hamiltonian distance bomb with an owner on a different team. That bomb's owner is awarded the kill.
3. Otherwise, the owner of the 1st bomb in the chain to explode is awarded the kill
The result is that using punch, kick, or throw to trap or stun kill bombers results in the correct killer being assigned. Also, significantly less kills are deemed suicides or team kills.
Punch, Kick, & Throw - Improved!
You can now drop a bomb on one tile, then move onto an adjacent tile (and up .4 meters onto it) and still successfully punch, kick, or throw the previously dropped bomb that is behind you and on a different tile.
1. Fixed rare cases where it was possible for invisible blocks to remain after bombs exploded
2. Fixed rare cases in which invisible or ghost powerups could be created
3. Fixed rare case where bombers could disappear or flicker while running
4. Successfully landing a Revenge Kill looks nicer
5. Additional code to ensure the board remains 100% in-sync even if someone has a high degree of packet loss and 500ms+ latency
UI Cleanup
1. Snappier button clicks
2. No longer need to click on a bomber to rotate the lobby screen
3. All popup dialogs close when a match begins
4. Lock out UI tabbing when popups are displayed
5. UI behind a popup cannot take focus in any manner
6. In the lobby, disable bomber selection and rotation in all necessary cases
7. In-game quick chat button maps now display correctly for all players on each machine
8. More text scaling adjustments for Asian languages
9. Additional UI-related improvements
Additional Bug Fixes
1. Treasure Mode - Coin drops are no longer throttled in online games
2. AIs use Quick Chat more intelligently
3. Fixed black screen on 1st run that was due to a Steam Client update
4. Improved level 3-1 dialog text
5. Lots of Kings Mode improvements!
6. Lots of Zombie Mode improvements!
7. Additional AI improvements
8. Lots more!
Massive Update - Live Now!
Bomber Speed Increase
Faster bomber at all speed levels (1 - 9)
Thanks Nougat and others for the very helpful suggestions; we playtested these new speed values in numerous multiplayer matches and believe that these values should feel great for a wide range of players
NOTE: Setting Speed to 170% on Mutators Page continues to 100% match Bomb Buddies
Full Controller Support
Totally revamped chat (see below)
“Quick chat” for lobby, in-game, and at end-of-game
Keypad for password entry
Totally Revamped Chatting
Chatlog style chatting
Ability to press "Enter" key to open chat even when using gamepad
Press "Start" on gamepad to toggle chat log
In-Game Quick Chat
These messages are automatically translated; talk with players around the world!
16 in-game quick chat messages
Pressing any one of the 4 shoulder buttons on a gamepad offers 4 unique chat options
See settings page for the remappable in-game chat key bindings for keyboard 1 & 2
Lobby & End-of-Game Quick Chat
These messages are automatically translated; talk with players around the world!
100s of in-lobby quick chat options
Pressing X button opens Lobby/End-of-Game chat quick chat wheel
Pressing X button continues message, use A button to complete the chat message
Only available when using a gamepad
End-of-game Improvements
In multiplayer, see all players info before seeing your EXP increase screen
Extended time from 10 to 15 seconds
Tons of AI Improvements
More intelligent bomb dropping
AIs use quick chat
Lots of UI Improvements
Added a "Restart" button to the in-game options menu
On social page, selecting a bomber and then going back to a bomber list will preserve the selected bomber
Clicking on any bomber in the lobby will go to the correct bomber even if its customization data hasn't been fetched from the server yet
Localization Improvements
Lots of improved text lines in various languages
Hope you have a blast!
--The Blast Zone! Tournament Team
Brazil Dedicated Server - Live! And, more.
The new version is now live:
1. Brazil now has a dedicated server (set region to Brazil)
2. Powerups in multiplayer matches (BIG REBALANCE)
* Better recycling of powerups so the end of the match is more fun
** There are more powerups available toward the end of the match
* Drop rates for all powerups have been adjusted to make gameplay better
** For example: Remote Bomb is a very rare drop now
* Burned powerups don't permanently disappear
* Total # of powerups in each match has been increased a bit
* Revenge Remote Bombs don't burn powerups anymore
3. Higher level AIs are now willing to drop significantly more bombs
4. Rank up/down arrows are now correct
5. Various audio improvements, music compression quality has been increased
6. Lots of additional fixes: 2nd player can remap their emote button, Asian languages notifications are improved, ...
Here is what will go into the next patch:
1. Chat log style chatting
* Press Enter (gamepad or not) to open chat log and be able to type
2. Full Controller Support (no need for a keyboard)
* Robust quick chat interfaces for in-game, end-of-match, and in the lobby
* Adding a password keypad
3. Adding a Restart button for Single Player
* Quickly restart the current level without having to go to the end-of-game screen or returning back to lobby
4. Tweaking end-of-game sequence in multiplayer
* Default to the multi-user results screen & giving more time to look at results
5. Multi-kill translation in Portuguese is too long
Next patch - what's in it
Here are the features we intend to have in the next patch:
1. Powerups in multiplayer matches (BIG REBALANCE)
* Better recycling of powerups so the end of the match is more fun
** There are more powerups available toward the end of the match
* Drop rates for all powerups have been adjusted to make gameplay better
** For example: Remote Bomb is a very rare drop now
* Burned powerups don't permanently disappear
* Total # of powerups in each match has been increased a bit
* Revenge Remote Bombs don't burn powerups anymore
2. Brazilian servers will be turned on a few days after the build is determined to be stable
3. Higher level AIs are now willing to drop significantly more bombs
4. Rank up/down arrows are now correct, various audio improvements, and lots of small fixes
What's in the new build?
Here is the list of improvements in the new build:
1. Parties in all regions show up in the party list
* You can choose to join parties that are not in your region
2. Optimizations in preparation for adding a LOT of new players
* Memory optimizations
* More render optimizations
* Server optimizations
3. Stability improvements and bug fixes
* Lots of fixes to ensure the game plays better for folks around the globe
Improved frame rate, faster loading, and up to 8 game pads on a single PC!
Hey everyone,
The new build is up and with a bit of testing help from CenoonN and Speedzinho (thank you), should run well for everyone. :)
--BZT Team
Next Week - Performance Update
Hey everyone,
Our desire is to make the game run smoothly for as many players as possible. Next week's version update is solely focused on increasing the frames-per-second of BZT. The new version is already working, we are just testing to make sure we didn't break anything with this large change.
NOTE: The performance improvements will not hurt render quality.
We really appreciate all the feedback you have been giving and have a few things to ask! :)
1. Please check your FPS (and resolution) with the current version of BZT
2. After you install next week's update, check your FPS again (and resolution)
3. Next week's update required us to change a lot of gamepad-related code. Everything seems to be working here, yet there are 100s of gamepad types on the market. If the update affects your gamepad(s) in a negative manner, let us know. We'll need to know the make/model of gamepad (Microsoft / official 360 for example) and how many you are using together.
--BZT Team
New Version Live - Private Chat, Invite to Party, Voice Chat, ...
Here are the new features - please update your game:
NOTE: Private Chat, Online Status, ... are only available for Steam Friends. Please add any BZT-only friends in Steam. Going forward, all BZT friends are Steam friends as we now use the Steam Friend system whenever both users are on Steam.
Click on a friend's avatar
* Private Chat - available on friends
* Add Friend / Remove Friend - now use Steam's friend list
* Invite to party up (from Social Page)
Clicking on your own avatar
* Steam groups can be accessed via "Group Chat"
* Your friend list can be opened "Friends [34]" the # is the number of online friends
* Invite Friends - invites all online friends to party up
From your friends list in Steam
* You can invite friends to your network party
Social Page
* Friends, Recently Played, ... lists now have online status indicators for friends
* There is a link to the Blast Zone! Tournament community page right on the social page
Additional improvements in build
* Improved chat bubbles in lobby
* Rank up/down notification has been improved
* We've reduced the memory required for the game
* Fonts sizes will better match between western and Asian languages
* Level 20+ EXP issue has been resolved
