We've been making progress with the multiplayer side of things this month. There's a lot in the works.
The territory game mode is getting some deserved paint graphics (screenshot) and we're revamping the multiplayer lobby to make room for match options. Having to quit a match to change game modes was frustrating.
We're making some behind the scenes changes to improve the general experience as well, tackling some of the spots we think the game isn't as good as it could be.
All of this is taking some time, so please expect the next update to arrive on the first week of December. It's very much worth it :)
Remember to check our trello develpment board . We keep it up to date on what we're working on and what's coming soon.
Cheers!
Mauricio
Update 16 Patch Notes
Hello!
We've updated the game today with some new stuff.
Introducing the Territory game mode. Paint your way as you move through the battlefield and by killing opponents. The player with the most ground covered at the end of the round wins.
The new round and round over menus have been reworked, and while they still use some placeholder graphics, they should be a nice upgrade. They also lower waiting times between rounds.
Starting with this update we're introducing some custom analytics events. We want to be as transparent as possible: We'll be collecting gameplay data and error logs to help us improve and balance the game. No personal information is being gathered.
Cheers!
-Mauri
Update 16 Patch notes:
Added
Added Territory game mode
Added trail to bow arrow
Added steam username & avatar on main menu
Added dust particles on castle map
Added game analytics and automatic error reporting
Updated the 'New Round' intro
Updated Round Over Menu
Fixed
Improved bow arrow starting speed
Made arrow buttons on menus easier to click
Reduced respawn invincibility time to 1 second
Updated bot difficulty settings
Gun boxes now despawn some time after being opened
Fixed issue where players would softlock when hit by an arrow after respawning
Fixed issue where bow arrows would go through obstacles
Fixed issue where bow arrows would not damage players
Fixed powerups not resetting for clients in network battles
Fixed issue where failing to join a lan match would not remove the loading screen, softlocking the game
October Development Update
Hello and Happy Halloween!
At this point this is more of a November update.
Welcome back! We've been busy this month. I wanted to get update 16 out last week but work's been taking some more time than we planned. Expect some new stuff next week or so.
We've got a brand new game mode and some more menu rework. For those of you who like to keep up to date with what we're working on (or be spoiled) we've set up a public development roadmap
That's about it for now. Spooky crates are active until the end of the month.
Cheers,
Mauricio
Update 15.1 Patch notes
Hello! I hope everyone's enjoying the update. Patch 15.1 is now live with some bug fixes.
Patch notes:
Fixed 404's death sprites having a white background.
Fixed issue where upon disconnecting from a match the initial fade screen would load instead of the main menu.
Fixed issue where the game would softlock upon exiting an online match as the host.
Fixed issue where the game would softlock if a local match was created and B was pressed while the transition was loading.
Fixed issue where the countdown counter would be incorrectly set in online matches.
Have a good weekend!
The Anniversary Update is Live
1 Year ago we launched Guns N' Boxes on Early Access. Today we're celebrating our first year on Steam with our biggest content update yet.
Welcome to the Anniversary Update.
There's a lot to talk about. The game has a brand new logo and ui. The old one needed a big improvement, and we're happy with the direction we're headed right now. There's still some old menus around but we'll get to update them eventually.
Ruby and Sapphire join the battle along with 7 new guns. Each gun is unique and offers new gameplay opportunities. Some of them are specially good for dealing with players behind cover.
The Countdown game mode has been added. Get the most kills in a set ammount of time to win. The match is played in a single round, with players respawning shortly after being killed without interrupting the flow of the game.
The Castle is now avaiable. A brand new map set in an old haunted castle complete with it's own music theme. Compared to previous maps it offers more room to move around and large walls for cover.
Multiplayer has also been improved. Online matches now run using Photon and NAT punchthrough has been added. Expect to see better latency all around, specially when playing against people closer to your location. Naturally new problems will arise with the change, so let ut know and we'll fix them.
There are lots of small quality of life improvements across the whole game. It should be far more stable.
A note for Mac and Linux players: we're having some issues with those versions so they'll be arriving at a later date. For now it is Windows only.
This update has taken us far longer than we'd have liked. Moving forward we plan on making them on shorter intervals, comunicate better how development's progressing and we'll make a public roadmap for the remainder of the game's Early Access period.
We hope you can join us.
The Anniversary Update is update #15.
Patch Notes
Characters
added Ruby
added Sapphire
Guns
added Sniper
added invisigun
added MoonWing
added Delta
added Ice Wand
added Light Bow
added Carrot Launcher
increased Tracker bullets to 5
Gameplay
added Countdown game mode
added Castle map
powerups are now enabled for lan/online matches
mouse is now confined to the screen on multiple display setups
added rumble support for XInput controllers on Windows
added a 3 second invincibility shield when respawning players
fixed issue where powerups would carry over to other rounds
fixed player soft lock when hit by a crossbow arrow while having a shield
fixed bug where changing guns would permanently tint them white
fixed bug where players would be destroyed as soon as the Quit option was selected on the pause menu
fixed rare issue where on level restart a player would hold a gun other than the starting pistol
Graphics & Sound
lowered game's max volume
added light tubes to Bio Lab
aim crosshairs are now colored coded
removed some old text fonts
player sillouette now shows a bit of color
greatly reduced breakable box debri smoke
fixed Bio Lab props lighting
fixed bot lights desyncing with it's sprite
fixed bug where a disconnection notification would appear when closing a player slot on a local game
UI
game logo has been updated
updated Main menu, match menus and settings menu
updated hud heart sprites and animation
menus can now be selected using the spacebar
added player names to ingame hud
added hud feedback for dead players
added news banner to the main menu
added timeout/disconnection handling
added match creation fail handling
added transitions back to the main menu when disconnected from a match
added error handling to the ui to prevent infinite loading screens
added color coding to game notifications
fixed issue where game would softlock when failing to join an internet match
fixed issue where a screen transition would not play when joining an online match
Multiplayer
multiplayer now runs on Photon Thunder
added NAT punchthrough for improved latency
added a game version check when connecting to a match
added a disconnection failsafe when joining a match in progress
boxes now open instantly even when playing with high latency
fixed bug where the host would freeze client players when pausing
fixed bug where client players would still be able to move when pausing
Bots
updated bot ai
increased wait times for bots before firing charged weapons
fixed issue where bots would not fire the Rail gun correctly
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
light arrows can go through obstacles
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
ui has no sound
controllers dont reconnect correctly
bots can see you when you're using the Invisigun
Announcing the Anniversary Update!
Next week marks 1 year since we released Guns N' Boxes on Early Access. It's a big milestone for us and we want to celebrate with something special.
Welcome to the Anniversary Update, the culmination of months of work and our biggest content update yet. Introducing a brand new look and feel to the game. Two new faces join the brawl, a new stage to battle in and a bunch of new weapons to try out. All sorts of technical issues have been ironed, and the game boasts an improved multiplayer experience.
We have lots of details we'll be sharing in the upcoming days. We hope you enjoy it.
Dev Update - May
Hey everyone!
It's been some time since we've updated the game. I wanted to share what we've been up to these past weeks with Guns N' Boxes and why the next patch is taking so long.
Update 15 has been delayed. We planned to update the game shortly after the Linux tests but we ran into a few roadblocks. The biggest one being an issue with online connectivity that we're working to fix. We want the next update to be as stable as possible so we're taking our time. The delay also means we're pushing more content into it. If you played the Linux preview you've seen a sneak peak of what's coming next.
Development time has took its toll as we're in the middle of relocating the studio and half the team. Once we've settled in things should go back to normal. In the meantime we're ironing out some of the biggest issues with the game and working on feedback from you guys.
We'll share news on what we've been working hopefully soon. For now we want to let you know that development hasn't stopped and we're excited to show what's coming up next.
Thanks for all the support <3
Dev Update - Linux Version Testing
Hello everyone.
It's been a long time since the last update and we wanted to let you all know what we've been working on. The next patch should be releasing soon, and with it we want to start supporting the Linux platform.
We're looking for players to help us test Linux builds and report bugs before the update goes live. If you have any Linux distribution installed and would like to help please let us know below and/or in our Discord server.
Thanks!
-Mauricio
Dev Update - Multiplayer & GDC
Hey everyone.
It's been a couple of busy weeks here at the office. We wanted to let you know what we're currently working on and what's coming to Guns N' Boxes soon.
Online multiplayer is getting a huge boost in quality. There are some issues preventing us from patching the game but once they're resolved you should see noticable improvements in latency and stability. We're really happy how it's shaping up.
New Weapons! We've been hard at work preparing new additions to the arsenal designed to provide new and inventive ways to dispatch opponents. Stealthy, explosive, fiery, short, and long-range eliminations await. Stay tuned!
Most of the team will be flying to San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference in the following weeks. If any of you are there, give us a hoot! We'd love to hear from you in person.
Patch Notes - Update #14
Hi everyone. Update #14 is now live.
Following our recent network patches we started working on reducing online latency. In the meantime we're improving our bots' behaviour and fixing some issues they had when we first launched them. Patch notes are below.
We'd love to hear some feedback. We're always working on ways to improve the AI and make them more fun to play against.
Cheers!
Updated
Improved forest canopy shadows.
Improved AI pathfinding.
Improved bot movement, aiming and shooting.
Improved bot aggravation.
Changed difficulty names to easy/normal/hard.
Fixed
Bots no longer stick to walls when moving.
Bots no longer move in zigzags.
Fixed issue where bots wouldnt show correct colors ingame.
Fixed issue where bots would fire in a direction they were not aiming at.
Bots now evade bullets while in slow motion.
Fixed issue where bots would flip to whatever side the mouse was on when playing with a keyboard & mouse.
