We're fixing some new bugs introduced on out last update (sorry!) and a some older ones we couldn't get in on time. If the main menu's theme felt a bit too high volume it's because it probably was. We toned it down along with some other high-sounding sfx.
And that's about it for now. Patch notes are below. Be sure to join our Discord server if you want to chat with us and other players.
https://discord.gg/XcQgYYs
Cheers!
Fixed
Fixed crossbow arrow not animating when hitting walls on clients.
Fixed bannana bullet not dealing any damage on initial hit.
Fixed player number indicator failing to spawn correctly after a player had left the match mid-game.
Fixed host's hud not reacting to a player leaving the match mid-game.
Rebalanced some high sounding audio.
Fixed infinite loading screen when clients quit out of a lan match.
Added
Notification sound effect.
Transition sound effect.
Patch Notes - Update #12
Hi everyone!
We're updating the game to version #12. This patch is meant to fix lan and online syncronization issues, as well as improve how the game handles player connections and data. The specifics are below, but expect to see smoother gameplay and better latency in lan games. If you had issues with lan matches in previous versions please try again with this patch and let us know if anything breaks. We'd also like some feedback if the lan search feature is working correctly.
Thanks!
Full Patch Notes:
Fixed
Fixed issue where additional local players could join in a LAN match, breaking the game for remote clients.
The way the game handles players connecting and disconnecting has been reworked. It's now more straightforward and maintainable.
Network bandwidth has been greatly reduced when connecting clients.
The way the Lobby handles connections has also been reworked, with greatly reduced bandwidth use.
The Lobby now correctly syncronizes all player info to newly connected players.
Control type for remote players are now correctly shown in the Lobby.
Fixed issue where the controller type for remote players would reset to Mouse&Keyboard upon re-entering the Lobby after a match.
Fixed issue where connecting players would receive their own 'Player Connected' notification upon entering a match.
Fixed screen transitions not respecting aspect ratios other than 16:9.
Loading screens now wait until the Lobby has received and set all player data before fading out instead of waiting for the scene to load.
Fixed Bot running animation not speeding up with the Speed Powerup.
Fixed breakable boxes' explosions not syncing with clients.
Fixed bullet hit effects sometimes not appearing on clients.
Fixed HotDog bullet hit effects not syncing with clients.
Fixed issue where various gun graphic effects would not play correctly on clients.
Fixed lockers' shadows not being aligned with their sprites in the Bio Lab map.
Updated/New
Updated Unity engine.
Notification graphics have been updated.
Screen transitions animations have been updated. The old transition has been removed.
The round over menu now shows a crown for the current MVP player(s).
Canopy shadows in the forest stage are now animated.
The game now remembers your last chosen character upon re-entering the Lobby.
Fonts has been changed to Thinder and Renew.
Some performance improvements.
Greatly improved player position synchronization.
Greatly improved gun syncronization.
Greatly improved grenade position syncronization.
Lowered physics update tick to 30Hz.
Thinder and Renew are royalty free fonts made by Sam Keddy. http://samkeddy.com/
Dev Update - Happy New Year!
Hi everyone. A bit late but Happy New Year!
Id like to take some time and talk about 2017 and what it means for Guns N' Boxes. We have a lot planned for the upcoming months.
So let's start with connection issues and bugs.
The code that runs to set everything up so that what you see on screen is the same for every player in a match was poorly written. That was my fault, sorry. This all led to unnecessary steps and didn't really work all that good. Before we set out to fix latency issues we'll greatly improve how connections are handled and how the match lobby works. It's mostly done but there are a few issues left to fix before we can test it and later update the game. This will be Update #12.
Now for the lag issues.
This is a bit technical. Guns N' Boxes is made with Unity. For networked games we use Unet, Unity's new set of networking features. It's a fantastic tool but it has flaws. When playing online all players connect to a relay server, a middle man of sorts. Depending on where you are physically connected there can be a huge amount of lag due to data being sent to the relay server before reaching its destination/player. To fix this I'm switching to a new tool from Photon which lets players connect directly and provides better relay server latency. I dont have an ETA for this but porting the code shouldn't take incredibly long.
Powerups are only available on local matches.
There are a few syncronization issues that prevents me from lifting the powerup ban on networked matches. They are mostly graphics-related but since most powerups rely on visual queues it would give an unfair advantage for players.
Linux
I've been ignoring Linux for a while for very good reasons.
It's a platform I'm not familiar with, that we dont have the equipment to support yet (we need to get another computer) and it's the least used operating system on Steam (0.8% as of December 2016). Demand is low but we're not ignoring it.
A Linux version is on the way after we have a better working Windows and Mac build.
New content
We're planning a big fancy content update. This doesn't mean there wont be new stuff for a while. Alongside the previous fixes we'll also include small new additions.
UI
Our current ui sucks. Work is already being done on a complete overhaul but it will take some time. New content that gets added will still use this old version for now.
That's our roadmap. Again I'd like to that everyone for the support and suggestions as development continues.
You can always chat with us on Twitter and Discord: https://discord.gg/XcQgYYs
We'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
The holiday season brings with it a massive content update. We hope you like the new map and the addition of powerups. The storefront has also been updated with new screenshots.
Remember you can always chat with us on our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/XcQgYYs
This wraps up content development for the rest of 2016. With the holiday celebrations we'll slow down for a bit and work only on bugs and fixes. There's plenty planned for 2017, starting with new content in January. We're also working to make big improvements in online/lan matches and latency.
Full patch notes:
New:
The Bio Lab Stage has been added.
Stage Select menu has been added.
Powerups have been added for local matches.
Bot difficulty levels have been added.
Christmas event has been added (from December 22nd to December 31st).
Player number icons have been added at match start.
Powerups:
Added Shield.
Added Bounce.
Added Big Bullets.
Added Double Damage.
Added Double Shot.
Added Mirror Shot.
Added Fast Reload.
Added Speed Shoes.
Updated:
Boomerang now deals 2 hearts worth of damage.
The Critic's bullet speed has been increased.
Referee red card shot now insta-kills.
AI pathfinding has been updated to account for map objects being obstacles.
Fixed:
Fixed sub-pixel artifacting when shaking the camera.
Fixed issue where music & sound effects would mute when entering the Options menu.
Fixed issue where the Celsius fire would clip on 1 tile walls.
Fixed general issue where players could fire around corners by clipping long weapons into it.
Fixed issue where bullets and arrows would react to explosions as if they were walls.
Thanks for being here with us!
Development Update - New Content Soon
Hey guys.
These last weeks have been really busy here at the office. A lot of work has gone into big new features and content including a brand new stage: the Bio Lab.
We're still working on a few things and we'll need some time before releasing them. We're quite happy how they are shaping up. Stay tuned for more news next week!
For now here's a small preview of things to come.
We'll be showing part of the new content on Tuesday 13th at GameLab MVD. If you're in Montevideo,Uruguay make sure to come by and say hi.
Thank you for your support!
Patch Notes - Update #10
Hi everyone.
We've updated the game to version #10. Patch notes are below.
We've added support for Windows 32-bit operating systems. If you couldn't run the game because of an "Invalid Platform" error it should now be resolved.
We've also added Sudden Death rounds, a tie-break that pits all players with max score against each other with a single random weapon. Good luck!
Updated
Added 32-bit support on Windows
Sudden Death rounds have been added
Movement is now enabled for a short time before the round ends
VSync toggle has been added in the options menu
Screenshake slider has been added in the options menu
Added a small delay before the round over screen transition
Fixed
Celsius fire now draws on top of player sprites
LAN and Online matches can now be joined by clicking
Fixed online match connecting message position on the main menu
Thanks for the support. More stuff coming soon!
Next update delayed (for a bit)
Hi guys. I wanted to let you know we'll be taking a bit more time to work on the next update.
There's a lot that's already done for update #10 but we'll have to delay it a few days while we wrap up development on some of the bigger features.
More news very soon! :)
Patch Notes - Update #9
Hi guys. We've updated the game to #9. Patch notes are below.
This week we finished our level editor tool. This lets us easily prototype and iterate new maps. You can take a look at how it works here.
It also means we're already working on a new map!
Guns N' Boxes is a game that gathers participants and guns from all over the multiverse, and as such we're super happy to announce that the Gunboots from Downwell are making a special appearance! They are randomly dropped like any other gun.
Guns
Boomerang has been added.
Shooty Boot has been added.
Updated
Small changes to lighting in general.
Brightened minigun bullets.
Rebalanced some bullets' damage.
Changed Washington's death animation.
Brightened the AI's melee animation.
All maps have been updated to our new custom level editor's format. There's no visible change in-game.
Reduced brightness of forest firelies' lights.
Fixed
Minigun spawn effect.
Fixed half lambert lighting on both player characters and guns.
Fixed issue where players and AI would process input for 1 frame when spawned.
Enjoy!
Patch Notes - Update #8
Hi everyone! Update #8 is live.
We've added some new content and graphic improvements. Patch notes are below.
Come and chat with us! https://discord.gg/XcQgYYs
Guns
Minigun has been added.
Updated
Max health has been increased to 3 hearts.
Improved gun spawn effect.
Added canopy shadows to forest levels.
Fixed
Fixed issue where the round over music would play even if the music volume was set to 0%.
Enjoy!
Patch Notes - Update #7
Hi everyone.
Update #7 is up. Friend invites are now available!
Please note that until we improve the game's ui there's no ingame option to invite friends. In an online lobby simply open the Steam Overlay and make an invite from the chat window. If you receive an invite please check that you're not currently in an ongoing match before accepting.
Patch notes:
Added
Steam friend invites using the Steam Overlay.
Updated
Improved gun box pickup effect.
Fixed
Fixed online matches being listed as "test" (patch 6.a)
Fixed fx audio being over-compressed.
Corrected Celsius gun typo.
Bullet hit effects have been restored on clients.
Fixed an issue where the player AI would try to run in lan/online matches.
Fixed an issue where some AI portraits would appear heavily pixelated.
Sorry about the slight delay. Half the team was at a game development expo in Argentina and work slowed for a few days. We're aiming to update the game every week with new content, as well as smaller patches for bug fixes.
