We have a small update on the singleplayer progress. There's no update for the month as we're in mid development and no everything's set up and running.
In general, 4 out of 6 areas are playable and beatable with the 4th area being the least polished. It's what we're currently working on. We'll have more news to share soon.
In the meantime we'd like to share some stills. Note that they're very much work in progress.
March Development Update
Welcome back
We've just release Update 19. I you haven't checked it out simply follow this link.
With the patch now live it's time to talk about what we've been up to this month. We have some news to share.
Firstly, the singleplayer campaign is on it's way, at around 60% complete. We've got 3 out of 6 maps fully playable and development's progressing on the rest. This mode is our main focus at the moment, and the reason these last few months have been uneventful. We believe we'll have a public version up to play in the next couple of game updates. We're running internal playtests to balance the game and fix some of the bigger issues so that players get a quality experience when it first launches. Leaderboards will be a feature, with best times for global and friend rankings. These will mostly likely get reset as we add the remaining areas, and a final reset once the game goes into it's full release.
Expect more reliable performance in the future. For almost a year we've been locked to a single version of Unity, the engine the game's running on. At some point we'll be updating it to one of the latest versions, which should translate to better/more stable performance all around.
We'll be switching to dedicated servers. While we weren't planning this at first, Photon Thunder, the tool we use to run our multiplayer code is being deprecated. This means no future updates or support. This is bad news time-wise but will ultimately provide a smoother online experience once we make the switch. We've been looking into alternatives and we'll be switching to the server-based PUN platform. Dedicated servers will allow for lower latency and better match connectivity. Unfortunately the way it works means we'll be dropping LAN matches as a feature. You should still be able to play from a local network provided you have internet access. We'll announce when we start switching to the new platform. It will not affect the version of the game currently up on Steam.
There's been some more work behind the scenes that we'll be sharing at a later date.
Welcome to update 19. It is now live for Windows and OSX with the full patch notes below. There are a couple of new features on this update:
A new dash ability is now available. It's a new way to evade bullets and get around the map. We hope this addition makes the game even more fast paced and allows for higher level gameplay strategies.
Discord Rich Presence integration. Detailed info about what game mode and match types are now displayed when playing with discord open. There's no join match option just yet, but we'll be working on adding it at a later point.
We have been busy with the singleplayer portion of the game. We'll be talking in detail on how's progressing and what we can expect to show/release in the March Devdevelopment Update. It should be up shortly after this entry.
Cheers!
Mauri
Update 19 Patch Notes
Added V-Trigger gun
Added Discord Rich Presence integration
Added Dash ability to multiplayer. Use with Space or left trigger
Updated stage select menu
Optimized rain particles on forest night area
Fixed issue with the bow arrows not drawing on clients
Under the hood changes for the future singleplayer integration
Temporarly disabled arrow impaling players
February Development Update - Singleplayer progress
Hello!
I know I said on the last update that singleplayer would launch this month. Unfortunately that wont be the case, but I'd like to keep you all up to date on the progress.
The game truly needed a singleplayer mode. Playing against bots is fine but it's not captivating enough to get people to come back to play. With this is mind we're set to make a singleplayer experience that's fun and well worth your time. For a small team this means lots of work with limited resources.
Guns N' Boxes' singleplayer will feature a campaign mode with rogue-like elements, with brand new enemies to go against and random elements within each run. It'll also support global and friend time leaderboards, and a built in timer for those who like to speedrun.
At the time of writing we have aprox. 40% of the levels done and half of the planned features. It's fully playable but we feel it's not yet ready for an initial release.
We've updated the public Trello with what's currently in the works. We're not giving an exact date on when it'll be out but expect it to be soon.
Thanks again for the support.
Mauri
January Development Update
Hello!
This month's update is a short one. There hasn't been any announcements because we've been on a short break and making content for the singleplayer mode.
We'll be sharing more news next month.
Mauri
Happy New Year!
Hey all!
We wanted to take some time to say thank you for all the support over this year. Guns N' Boxes' development continues in 2018 in full force.
Happy New Year to you and yours from all of us at LightArrow Games!
ːsteamhappyː
Hotfix Update 18.1
Hi
Here's a bug update for Windows and Mac.
Thanks for the reports!
Mauri
Patch Notes:
Fixed CTD on startup on some versions of Windows and OSX.
Update 18 Patch Notes
Hello!
Update #18 is now live for both Windows and Mac. We've made some improvements to performance and brand new additions. The full patch notes are below. There's been progress on multiplayer ranks and singleplayer. Both will be coming to Early Access early next year.
The Mac version is now up to date. Ruby and Sapphire are now available, as well as all the content from the Anniversary Update onwards. Please report any bugs you encounter while playing this version and we'll get to fixing them.
Be sure to grab the image above as a wallpaper!
This is the last big update for the year. We'll be back in a couple of days for a end-of-year post, but aside from that we'll be off for a couple of weeks to spend time with our families.
From everyone on the team we'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Mauri
Update 18 Patch Notes
Updated powerup graphics
Added a charge bar icon to all charged weapons
Fixed error with Downwell's exp gem not finding a player when transitioning to a new round
Fixed issue where some game modes had a 1 second debug option
Testing new fix for infinite vibrations at end of rounds
Performance improvements during matches
Added a temporary framerate counter
December Development Update
Hello!
Welcome to another monthly update.
Continuing from our previous patch release, last month's focus was mainly in multiplayer content. Multiplayer rank progression is in the pipeline. Gain experience by playing online matches and unlock some cool content on the way. We still need a bit of time before we release it so please expect it to launch in early 2018.
Work has started on a singleplayer mode. A new way to play the game and hone your skills as you battle new and unique foes. We're gathering all the feedback we can for this campaign mode so expect frequent updates in the following months as we add creatures, bosses and other surprises.
With a couple of weeks left of 2017, the next patch won't include any new features but instead focus on bug fixes and changes made from feedback.
Remember to check out our public development board for an inside peek at what we're working on at the moment.
Join our Discord server at discord.me/gunsnboxes. Feel free to share the link :)
Follow us on Twitter for the latest news.
Stay tuned for Update 18 as well as a end-of-year blog post.
Cheers!
Mauricio
Update 17 Patch Notes
Hello and welcome to Update17
I know I said we'd be releasing it in December, but there's enough stuff done already to skip a few weeks and release it now. Just let me know if anything breaks.
This is the official Lobby Revamp update, complete with customizable match settings. It's a huge quality of life upgrade from the last version, plus some new visuals.
Patch notes are below. Please make sure to check our roadmap to keep up to date with what we're working on, and Twitter for all kind of announcements. If you'd like to invite people to play you can now use this easy to remember discord link: discord.me/gunsnboxes
Cheers!
Mauri
Update 17 patch notes
Added controller reconnection support
Added match settings menu to multiplayer lobby
Added a clickable discord join prompt to the online match menu
Updated multiplayer lobby design and graphics
Updated Territory mode splash graphics and effects
Updated bot AI
Fixed issue where the Carrot Launcher would not drop from crates
Fixed issue where you would be able to cicle through news before they loaded
Fixed a bug where bot pathfinding would sometimes fail
Removed gun: The Critic. It always sucked
Known Issues
High latency and low framerates cause players to stutter and teleport on network matches
Controllers may sometime keep vibrating until a new round is played
Arrows sometimes dont attach to walls correctly
On rare occations the game can softlock when attempting to load a map
On clients, some players may not show their name correctly on the lobby
