Metal Heads
DICE!!!
[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/35549911/1aa4f10ac37ad29ea1bff7909850198d2885e954.gif"]
Now, the host can customise the board game mode to have a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 or d20 die!
This doesn't seem like a lot, and frankly...it's not a lot, but it's a lot of little things like this, that eventually make the game feel fleshed out and complete.
This is just the foundation for the newer dice, I definitely would love to expand upon this in the future with new items, new ways to customise the board game (perhaps choosing the dice type when selecting the move type?...or perhaps even having the ability for players to find smaller and larger dice on the board that they can choose from when it's their turn to roll?).
I'd even love to later add the ability to customise the appearance of your die, along with your custom character preset (when I add that too).
But I don't want to get too lost in feature creep just yet....or am I already lost in it?
That aside, you will notice the dice are rather silent, there's no audio for dice rolling and bouncing etc
This is something that will likely be added either over time randomly, or when I do a dedicated sound pass on the whole game.
And there's no ability to throw dice at one another and knock one another over for some silly ragdolls....worst game developer ever for not including this....yet.
Along with this update, I have also included some minor bug fixes, but because I am silly, I didn't write down those bug fixes yet. (Lets face it, I probably created some new ones without even knowing anyway).
The next focus, as explained in the last update, will likely be board game bot AI, and also new boards, with some more features and fixes along the way.
For those of you who are on the fence and haven't yet purchased Metal Heads, as you can see, it's 50% off for only a few more days, so if you want to support development, every single purchase counts, every demo download counts and every wishlist counts.
Now, the host can customise the board game mode to have a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 or d20 die!
This doesn't seem like a lot, and frankly...it's not a lot, but it's a lot of little things like this, that eventually make the game feel fleshed out and complete.
This is just the foundation for the newer dice, I definitely would love to expand upon this in the future with new items, new ways to customise the board game (perhaps choosing the dice type when selecting the move type?...or perhaps even having the ability for players to find smaller and larger dice on the board that they can choose from when it's their turn to roll?).
I'd even love to later add the ability to customise the appearance of your die, along with your custom character preset (when I add that too).
But I don't want to get too lost in feature creep just yet....or am I already lost in it?
That aside, you will notice the dice are rather silent, there's no audio for dice rolling and bouncing etc
This is something that will likely be added either over time randomly, or when I do a dedicated sound pass on the whole game.
And there's no ability to throw dice at one another and knock one another over for some silly ragdolls....worst game developer ever for not including this....yet.
Along with this update, I have also included some minor bug fixes, but because I am silly, I didn't write down those bug fixes yet. (Lets face it, I probably created some new ones without even knowing anyway).
The next focus, as explained in the last update, will likely be board game bot AI, and also new boards, with some more features and fixes along the way.
For those of you who are on the fence and haven't yet purchased Metal Heads, as you can see, it's 50% off for only a few more days, so if you want to support development, every single purchase counts, every demo download counts and every wishlist counts.
https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/35549911/a4576fddf6af2c3faabe12625a04a844d0a5fed8.png
Until next time everyone, ROCK ON!
50% OFF FOR STEAM SUMMER SALE! AND DEV PROGRESS.
It's time for one of the biggest Steam sales of the year, the Steam Summer Sale!
And as part of this sale, Metal Heads will be 50% off for the duration of the sale.
[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/35549911/2a0017f471d3057b92fe1c9711af004ebf37bedc.png"]Aside from a nice discount, I do have some development progress to share with you all.
CURRENTLY WORKING ON
If the artwork for this news post didn't give it away already, I am currently working on implementing various dice (die) types to the game.
There is a board game customization setting that allows players to choose the number range on the Move Wheel, but the option for Dice Type is not accessible currently.
Aside from various bug fixes, I have been working on these new dice by modelling, texturing and implementing them to the game. I am still in the process of setting up the numbers correctly on each dice type to standardized die formula's or layouts, and then just need to figure out how to dice flip (cycle through the sides of the die in numerical order on player command) to the correct angle for each number on the die (which has proved strangely difficult and not behaving correctly).
Then I need to ensure that the customization option is active for choosing the dice type, and that it actually works across server and clients, then I'll release this as a small update, hopefully
WHATS NEXT AFTER THE DICE?
I'll always be bug fixing, especially some bugs that are from years ago that I still cannot figure out to this day. However new content is necessary for the game to progress, so the next major thing I will be working on is a new board game map (or two).
I have teased these maps a few years ago (It pains me to say that), and I really want to be able to finish them off and get them into your hands so that you have something new to play around with, so these will likely be my biggest focus.
WHAT ABOUT OTHER STUFF?
I'd love to start working on board game bot AI soon.
This would actually help me with testing the flow of the board game maps, and the general gameplay loop without versing myself or trying to organise players.
I've also slowly been doing foley recording here and there to help make the game SOUND more alive and fun, so you may start hearing more and more of this over time if you're paying attention, but I expect this will be less obvious.
You all may have noticed that the default/main build of the game is updated now, if you are on the experimental build however, don't worry, it shares the same version number currently, and unless there is an update that requires extensive work that is functional, I'll update the main branch and the experimental branch with the same versions.
If I do release an experimental build, patch notes will be provided for this individually.
Aside from that, I need to get back to doing some work in the minimal free time I have, so enjoy the Steam Summer Sale, and I hope that both the new and old Metal Heads supporters enjoy these updates as they come.
ROCK ON!
[/p]
(Experimental build) MYSTICAL BOG #1.076 - Better navigation men & QoL changes.
UPDATE: Version: MYSTICAL BOG #1.076 (EXPERIMENTAL BUILD)
[p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/35549911/4f1a2310378448a6bfa758c79c1577dd30d007a0.gif"]
It's been a fair bit of work for something that would seem so simple, but I've implemented a quick navigation menu into the main lobby.
This will allow the host to quickly navigate to the various stages of the main menu quickly without navigating the hub world.
This will also allow players to change settings at any time in the lobby.
Depending on if the game is OFFLINE or ONLINE, different buttons will appear, and if it's ONLINE, the clients will only see RESUME, OPTIONS, DISCONNECT and QUIT.
On top of that, during ONLINE play, both server and clients can bring up the "Pause" menu at any time. Previously it only worked for the host, which was a bit annoying if you were a client player and wanted to leave the game, or disconnect for whatever reason. Along with these changes, I have updated the multiplayer menu in the main menu to include quick buttons, for example, in the SERVER BROWSER, players using an Xbox controller can press the X button to quickly refresh the list, and in the CREATE SERVER window, the host can press the START button on their controller to start the server without manually navigating down to the CREATE SERVER button.
It's only minor, but helps for players who like to get things set up quickly.
The board game mode menu user interface should behave better on clients now. Previously clients were able to interact with the board game menu, which was causing a mismatch between information saved on the client's version of the game mode, and the servers version. This should be resolved now.
There's also some other quality of life fixes for the lobby, in particular in regards to not being able to navigate certain screens, or press LB/RB or click on buttons. For example, the OPTIONS menu was very buggy, as was the MULTIPLAYER MENU.
Aside from User Interface stuff, I have also made improvements to the mini-game tutorial screen, it should now show the correct number of players, and players ready for those who have joined in late or rejoined the game. Previously, if there was for example 3 of 6 players ready, the client would rejoin the server, and the tutorial screen would show 0 of 0 players ready.
There are still some other issues to iron out on the tutorial screen, but nothing game breaking.
The board game also should now show the correct round number.
It was adding 2 rounds after a round would finish, this has been fixed now.
When bringing up the pause menu in the board game, it should also behave a lot better. There are still some minor bugs however, mostly to do with multiple local players on a PC while also playing online (couch vs couch).
There are still issues when players disconnect mid-turn, but I am meticulously noting every single bug I come across during testing and crushing them one by one. It's feeling much less janky now, which is a damn good feeling.
I hate that this update still doesn't have anything that gives you the "WOW THATS AWESOME" factor, it's just boring menu stuff, but rest assured that this is important in the lead up to working on the super cool pretty things, like new items, new customization settings, new maps, new mini-games etc.
These things shape the foundation on which the rest of the game is built on.
These things are what give players a good or bad first impression, and we all know how much a gameplay experience can be dampened when simple things, bare minimum features are an exercise in frustration or disappointment, I hate it, and I know you all do too, so I aim to continue to make it feel smooth, polished and as trouble free as possible before making it "pretty".
Metal Heads is under the radar for now, I'm happy to keep it that way until such a day that it feels smooth, it feels polished, and I can watch content creators play the game without face palming every 2 seconds from silly nuasance bugs, but it's getting closer my fellow metal heads, the day draws nearer and nearer to when you get the really juicy exciting stuff in the Metal Heads news feed.
Thank you all once again for your incredible patience.
Also, check out Lego Party if you haven't! Fellow Australian game developers SMG Studios (Moving Out) are behind it, and it looks absolutely amazing!
As much as it makes my stomach do a bit of a twist due to the monumental competition (Lego...), I love party games as much as you do, and I want to see more of them on PC. It's fantastic that LEGO are the ones to bring it, and with such a fantastic development team behind it too!
ROCK ON![/p]
(Experimental build) MYSTICAL BOG #1.075 - Exchange Fixes
Fixed issues related to the GIFT item.
Fixed issue where gifting an item would cause the camera to look at the world 0,0,0 coordinates rather than the player you are gifting to.
Fixed issue where gifting Plectrum Points would actually say "You gifted NONE to ", it now actually gifts the number of plectrums.
A visual effect for this is being worked.
Fixed some other issues related to the GIFT and THEFT items (Exchange wheel), these aren't necessarily obvious, but should help smooth things out, typically there were issues with clients not knowing who the target player was, therefore this would break the gameplay logic.
I haven't had a huge amount of time, but I'm just happy to iron out these little annoying issues that make the game feel broken and janky.
I hope you all have a great weekend!
ROCK ON!
(Experimental build) MYSTICAL BOG #1.074 - Jump Boots
Super quick little update, I've changed Double Jump to be called Jump Boots (more like Jump Anklets).
I've also added an untextured 3d model for these jump boots to the character model once they are equipped, and they no longer jump infinitely.
When using the jump boots (double jumping), there is a placeholder sound and particle FX.
For those in Australia who have a long weekend, enjoy!
It's my birthday tomorrow on ANZAC day so I'll be putting my feet up and actually letting myself relax for a change and doing some testing of Metal Heads locally with some friends and family over the weekend which will be great :D
ROCK ON!
(Experimental build) MYSTICAL BOG #1.073 - Quality of Life
Just a real quick one, it's not a lot, I've been very busy with my day job and some of the bugs I've tried to resolve took way more effort than I thought, for such minor online mp fixes.
- You likely won't even really notice a major difference, but there should now be better network replication for items and item usage. The Curse item should now actually show a particle effect for clients, and a placeholder sound.
- Fixed up camera movement when cursing a player, it should no longer flip behind them and behave strangely.
- I've tried to fix up teleportation a bit further as well, when attempting to teleport to a location that another player has just teleported to.
- Put in place further measures to prevent Swoopy Boi from hitting players who have reached their destination, but also are not the current player. This caused some visual glitches for clients.
OTHER NOTES:
I am continuing to work on bug fixes, the list is getting smaller and smaller, which feels great, but there's still a lot more work to do before I do a public release build and finally remove that annoying warning on the game page that says it hasn't been updated in 20 months.
I have also worked out some major plans for the next board game map, which has been briefly shown before, called Deadly Dunes.
I was stuck with how to deal with a major feature in the map, a metal pyramid where players can enter.
I didn't really know what to do with it, but now I do....but this won't be revealed until a later date.
Rest assured though, it will make the map even more interesting than I plan it to be.
For now though, I just have to keep on squishing these online bugs in the board game mode, and polish off some of the gameplay features for the board game customisation, for example, adding more Dice Types (D6, D10, D12 etc) and ensuring that all of the settings are actually working.
Until next time!
ROCK ON!
(Experimental build) MYSTICAL BOG #1.072 - UI and Quality of Life
I hope you are all having an amazing day! And hopefully this little experimental build update helps make it better.
- (FIX) When attempting to gift an item or steal an item and there were no valid player targets to be able to give to or steal from, the exchange Denial message would appear, and players other than the host could not press A to skip this. This is now fixed.
- (FIX) When teleporting to a destination that another player is already on, there was an issue where players would bounce off the other player's head, sometimes resulting in falling off the map, this would break the game. This is now fixed.
- (IMPROVEMENT) The board game user interface now replicates for clients, so clients can see what the host is selecting. The clients do not see buttons on the board game UI either, and cannot interact with this UI.
- (IMPROVEMENT) Custom mode icon no longer shows a big green A Button, a custom mode icon has been created. Later on, players will be able to create their own custom mode icons, button colour etc.
- (FIX) Fixed an issue where multiple board game UI's were being created, resulting in strange behaviour for the host player, for example, no mode buttons would appear and they seemingly could not interact with the UI in online play.
- (FIX) Can now navigate back from the Board Game Custom Mode settings back to the Board Game Mode Select menu.
These things were really annoying me and I felt were reducing the overall quality of online play for the board game mode, so it was important to fix these things up and improve them.
There are still plenty of bugs in the online board game mode, but it's getting better with each little update, which is making me more and more excited!
The next focus for me now is to minimize board game bugs, issues with items etc now and smooth out the jank!
Thankfully in April, I had a few more days off from my day job than normal, which means I will hopefully get more done. I'd love to be able to get this board game overhaul update released in the public build by the end of April...at least that's the dream, but with a full time job and very minimal time to work on Metal Heads, we shall see...I can't make any promises.
Also, if you hear fart noises, or other sounds like a "ONE", "TWO", or "THREE", it's just debug sounds that I used to help figure out where faults were occurring. I believe I got rid of most of them, but who knows, there may be a mysterious fart sound that awaits you all!
Thank you for your patience. You are awesome!
I hope you all have a rockin week!
ROCK ON!
(Experimental build) MYSTICAL BOG #1.071 - Gift, Theft and Inventory fixes
This is a small experimental build update that:
- The exchange device used for THEFT and GIFT items now works properly both online and offline.
This took a while to get working due to a few reasons, but mostly because I'm a bit of a durp sometimes!
There may be still some bugs and possibly crashes with the exchange device, but it SHOULD be working fine now.
NOTE: I have only tested this on 2 PC's (Server and Client, so there may be some bugs related to other clients not receiving information as well. - Detector now works on clients. There are some performance issues with the detector which may slow down performance, I am looking into why this occurs currently, as it can cause some pretty bad server lag due to poor general (non-network) performance on the host PC.
- Fixed issues with player inventory not updating correctly on the client, and some more inventory bug fixes. This was a bit of a nightmare to fix, but it's working to a playable state now and should no longer cause confusion, players also should not have invisible inventories now.
NOTE: I have witnessed on occassion the inventory selection to become offset (it highlights the item off to the right, rather than the item at the top of the wheel), I'm going to investigate this as I have footage of this occurring which should help me hunt down the issue.
Each update brings Metal Heads closer to the game it deserves to be. I know there aren't too many of you following these updates, but just know that every little thumbs up you give, brings a smile to my face and genuinely lifts my spirits.
You are all awesome!
I hope you all have a rockin week!
ROCK ON!
(Experimental build) MYSTICAL BOG #1.069 - Minor Fixes and Board Game Access
This is a small experimental build update that:
- The Board Game mode is unlocked for online play, however it is still incredibly buggy, most online features are not implemented yet, and some crashes may occur. If you play the board game mode in the experimental build online, do not report bugs as I am still working hard to transition all the new customization features to online play.
- Fixes some minor bugs within the server browser and server hosting.
To do this, hold CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+0 (zero) key, but please don't report bugs for the board game at this stage. - Fixed Pause Menu navigation. Previously, players could not navigate properly using a controller. This was due to a circular dependency that I had set up, which nullified the navigation from one button to another, and nearly always seemed random.
- Made some improvements to BLASTED online play, the smoke and bouncy bombs should now show correctly for clients, although I have witnessed that sometimes they don't....I will get to the bottom of this...
- Fixed incorrect bonus points being awarded when a player is affected by your trap/hazard.
The UI needs to better reflect why players are receiving the bonus points to avoid confusion, but at least it's appearing correctly now, even online :D
I'm really glad that I was able to get the board game mode functioning online fairly quickly with this update, even if there are still many broken elements (especially with the GIFT and THEFT items.
The item wheel also doesn't show for the clients, so this will be my next focus to fix up.
I hope you all have an awesome weekend!
ROCK ON!
(Experimental build) MYSTICAL BOG #1.068 - Online functionality
This is a small experimental build update that:
- Adds online functionality back to the game, this is only for mini-games at this stage until I convert the board game completely over to function online. If you wish to try out the board game online right now, know that it is very buggy. To do this, hold CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+0 (zero) key, but please don't report bugs for the board game at this stage.
- New multiplayer/online menu for server creation and server browsing.
This is way more intuitive than previously and controller friendly.
There's still a few minor bugs to iron out, but for the most part, it functions properly.
One big benefit of the server browser is that it shows the current game mode, whether it be the lobby, mini-game, boss fight or board game mode, but it also shows the current map, along with some other server information. - Blasted mini-game has a better camera, it no longer moves up and down, and is closer to the action by a fraction (see what I did there....yeah...ok it was lame).
- Fixed up inability to hold B to go back at options menu in the main menu.
One step closer to board game online functionality with the new features folks! WOOHOO!
I hope you all have an awesome week!
ROCK ON!
EDIT:
I had to do a very quick hotfix for the server mode filter, if "-" was selected, it wouldn't show any servers.