Its been another month and time for an update from the developer - aka me :)
In case you missed it, Public Multiplayer Beta is open! https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/6242613536165636826
1 year of monthly Developer News posts
In January 2023 I started with these monthly Developer News posts. Already the calendar says January 2024, meaning its been a full year of monthly updates - yay!
I hope this format of monthly updates gives you something, because it have turned out to be the format that works the best for me at the moment.
It seems to be a good balance between informing you guys, without spending too much time on it, because writing this for me is time I could have spend working on the game :)
Earlier in the development (and recently in some newer formats) I tried doing Dev Logs on YouTube. I really like making them, however, it simply takes too much time to do compared to how few watch it. Therefore, to do some stuff on YouTube, I am live streaming "fairly often" and also do small videos/shorts when I have time and it make sense.
Anyway, enough about the post it self - I hope you enjoy it :D
Geforce Now Support
Over the years I have been contacted by a few players asking for Fireworks Mania be on Geforce Now. Recently I looked a bit into it and according to one player, it should now be possible to play on Geforce Now, if you own the game on Steam and somehow log into Steam on the Geforce Now. I haven't tried it myself, but I'm told it works. So for the few of you who wanted this can give it a try.
The reason I added this, was because I found out that I needed to check a checkbox and push a botton on Steam - so was easy.
When that said, for supporting stuff like this perfectly I need to save various stuff in the game in Cloud data on Steam. The game is not doing that now, meaning you start from an "fresh" game each time you play on Geforce Now as I understand it.
Tips for hosting a game in current version
As the game is still early and things are not well documented or described, I have made this little video to try and give some tips for when you are the host of a game.
This is all for now - need to get back to work on the next update :)
- Updated translations for various languages - Improved FPS in-game when having a lot of mods loaded
Fixed
- Fixed issue with title font artifacts when used in smaller font size
Keep in mind there is a multiplayer-beta you can switch to and test out if you want. You can switch back and forth between "normal" and "multiplayer-beta" version as much as you want: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/6242613536165636826
This is a small update but with HUGE impact on mod loading times! In short, mod loading times is roughly cut in half - you are welcome 🤓
Here is an example on my machine, 312 mods loaded: Old version: New version:
2 min. vs 48 sec. in the new one - times of cause varies from machine to machine and depending on what mods you have, however, should still be an improvement you can feel.
Talking about mods, just a reminder, it's NOT recommended to have all mods activated. The modding community is simply too productive, so there are way to many mods now to have all activated at once. So activate the mods you want for a certain game and have fun :)
Changed
- Mod loading times roughly cut in half - Removed Christmas decorations - Changed the "multiplayer-beta" button to a little video to spice things up a bit
Keep in mind there is a multiplayer-beta you can switch to and test out if you want. You can switch back and forth the between the normal and multiplayer-beta versions as much as you want: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/6242613536165636826
Its been another month and time for an update from the developer - aka me :)
Public Multiplayer Beta is open! If you didn't read about it before, read this and see what its all about and how to try it out: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/6242613536165636826
The focus on multiplayer continues and already I have added a bunch of new things.
Just for the fun of it I have added some Christmas props and some Santa characters, because it's Christmas time.
Pretty quickly after the public multiplayer beta opened, it was clear that spamming on public servers was an issue. Overtime I need to figure out a way to prevent it, while still not be too limiting. For now, I implemented a solution where the host can set a limit of how much each player can spawn. I tested that together with the community in a live stream a few days ago, was pretty fun :) Thanks for the ones you joined and the ones that tried, but ran into some issues.
Talking about issues. As you already know if you have tried the multiplayer beta, there are still a lot of issues, bugs, things to improve etc. That's why the beta will continue in all of 2024, for hopefully a full release in December 2024 - fingers crossed :)
New Years is approaching, so its also time for me to do a new 2024 cake as I use to. It should really have been out now, both in the normal version of the game and in multiplayer - however - I have been feeling kind of under the weather the last days, so the energy haven't been there for game dev after my day job :(
I'm still feeling kind of low on energy, but I try to make it and get it out as soon as I can.
It's soon fireworks seasons for much people with New Years around the corner, so you hope are enjoying some virtual fireworks in Fireworks Mania these days, either in the normal version or in the multiplayer beta version.
Some of you have been waiting for this since the release in 2020, some since January 2023 where I started on multiplayer and some of you have no idea what I'm talking about :)
Anyway, today is the day you can JOIN THE MULTIPLAYER BETA and play with your friends in Fireworks Mania!
As mentioned in a previous post the plan is to have the multiplayer beta running from now until release, which I currently plan to be in dec. 2024. So we will be in this beta stage for a year - assuming all goes well.
Keep in mind - It's a beta
When joining a beta you need to keep in mind that its an unfinished product.
Therefore, it is important that you join and play the game in this stage, with the right mindset.
You need to be ready to adapt to changes, because this version of the game change a lot and much more frequently than the regular version of the game. You also need to be ready to live with missing features and many more bugs than you would in the regular version of the game.
However, if you can live with the above you also get at chance to be a much more active part of the development of this game and be at the forefront of the development of the game.
Its due to early adapter like you that this game is what it is today and in the future. Thank you for that.
Remember to keep an eye on the News page
As I'm updating this version of the game a lot, I will not be posting patch notes here on Steam for each version. Instead, I have created a "News" page in the Main Menu in the game, where you can see changelog and other relevant information that you need to know.
Therefore, keep an eye on this page each time you start the game as it will change over time as there might be some really useful information there.
Known issues and bugs
First off, there are many bugs, don't worry, that's why its a beta, but as of writing, 1st of December 2023, there are two very important known bugs that I need you to know about.
First of all, for many people when they Quit the game, it crashes. I'm looking into it.
Secondly, and this is the big one, there currently is a bug in Unity, where the more audio files you have in the game the lower the FPS. The FPS will even go down overtime due to this bug. It's a REALLY annoying bug, as it's something internally in Unity that I can't do anything about. I'm in dialog with Unity about it and hope they fix it soon.
One way to minimize this bug, is to lower the amount of mods you enabled in your games at the time, especially fireworks mods. More fireworks means more sounds and the sooner you loose FPS.
Loosing FPS in a game, is almost the worst...so I'm really not satisfied with this! I'm doing what I can in dialog with Unity to get them to fix it, but I don't know when that will be. Again, keep an eye on the News page in game, because that's where news about this will be posted.
Not included in public beta
Mod Tools
There is a new Mod Tools in the works to support more multiplayer features and in general more features. However, its still to early to make public, so therefore, no multiplayer Mod Tools yet. I'll post in the Workshop part of the Discord once its ready to try out. However, right now I don't expect that to be before summer 2024.
Dedicated server
Once you start playing the multiplayer beta you might see a few "dedicated" servers in the server list. This is obvious because I'm also working on adding dedicated server support, however, that too is still to early to open up to too many people. So that will stay in closed beta for a while. However, you can still enjoy joining these servers, you just cannot host them yourself yet.
Submit mod to multiplayer beta workshop
Another thing you will notice when you start playing multiplayer beta is that the content of the workshop in the game isn't the same as in the regular version of the game. This is because I'm using the Test Environment on mod.io for multiplayer beta, as I need to separate the content in the workshop from the regular game to not confuse players.
Due to the above its not possible to create an account and submit mods on your own during the beta. It works a little different than normal, but this is only while its in beta, once this multiplayer is released the workshop/mod.io will work normally again. Keltusar have created a guide how to submit your mods (basically he have to do it for you) https://mod.io/g/fireworksmania/r/how-to-submit-a-mod-pack-to-the-multiplayer-beta
How to join multiplayer beta
To join the multiplayer beta you need to switch to the "multiplayer-beta" branch here on Steam.
Right click on Fireworks Mania --> Properties:
Click Betas and select "multiplayer-beta" from the dropdown:
Once you close the window, Steam will update your game to the right version and will look like this in the menu:
If you wanna go back to play the regular version, you just set the beta dropdown back to None and you are back.
Its been another month and time for an update from the developer - aka me :)
Public Multiplayer Beta is getting closer! If you didn't read about it before, see this: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/3779143176140155324
Anyhow, nothing much to say this time, other than I'm super busy working on multiplayer.
Therefore I'm spending all my game-dev-time on making multiplayer as good as possible for the start of the beta.
If you want some more randomly shared details on the progress you can look at my YouTube channel where I share videos and live streams.
Keep in mind, the 2nd of December is only the beginning :)
I'll keep the post short, as I need to move on with the game.
As some of you know we had a Public Multiplayer Alpha Test back in July 2023. That went really well! You guys had a lot of fun and I learned a lot to help improve the game.
Ever since I often see people asking on YouTube, Twitter, Discord and Steam about when they can play again - which is totally understandable and makes me happy that so many people still want to play my silly little game :)
Around 50% done
I started working on the multiplayer version of Fireworks Mania in January 2023. Back then, I estimated that it would take around 2 years to fully implement multiplayer in Fireworks Mania. I think that estimate holds up, meaning I expect there is around 1 year left for full release. Multiplayer is a huge task, just saying. :)
Now you might be thinking, "Ohh no Laumania, I can't wait another year for multiplayer!"
I know and I have it the same way. I'm also SUPER excited to see a lot more people play multiplayer! At the same time, I also want to provide you with a good and solid game that is entertaining to play.
As I'm only around 50% done, the game is obviously not completed and therefore not ready for official release. On the other hand, a lot of you have been patiently waiting for almost a year now...so what can we do?
Public Multiplayer Beta - No End Date
I have been doing some thinking and had some good discussions with the people in the private multiplayer testing group and I think we have a solution.
The official release of the multiplayer version of Fireworks Mania I still expect to be ready around Dec. 2024 if all goes as planned, lets see.
However, the current version of multiplayer is actually playable and good enough to have some fun in. Therefore I have decided to change things up a bit.
From December 2nd 2023 all players will be able to switch to a "public multiplayer beta" branch in Steam.
This means that you can play the multiplayer version, help test it, provide feedback or just have fun. Unless something goes completely wrong there are no plans to close this branch - it will stay open for all players to play until the official release.
DISCLAIMER: Keep in mind this is a beta. There are bugs, lack of UI feedback, missing error messages and a lot of stuff missing from the normal version. However, the beta will be updated over time as I continue the development to reach a state that can be released as the official version.
I hope you guys are as excited about this as I am!
I'm really looking forward to play with you guys, see videos and hear about you guys playing together.
I will make a post on the day about how to switch, what to expect etc.
See how excited these guys are to soon be playing with YOU :)
