Metal Heads
NOW the online menu is fixed...
Seemed that while things may work inside of the Unreal Engine editor, they don't work too well on Steam.
I did some very extensive and thorough testing this time around however, and I know this actually works, plus I've tested it on Steam before releasing the update.
I am staying up after another massive day to make this happen, because I don't want anybody missing out on the fun.
Now I can focus on the other bug fixes, in particular, Pipemare and it's dreaded missing pipe segments.
Thank you for sticking with me, I promise I'll smooth everything out as soon as I can..
For now, go grab the update by restarting Steam.
You will know if you got the update, because you should see "ALPHA DEMO" in the top right, and "StinkyFrog" down the bottom right of the screen in the main menu.
Menu HOTFIX
It also fixes navigation going from the online multiplayer menu back to the main menu.
Previously it would go to the mini-game menu, and then players couldn't go back from there without first going into a mini-game, then returning to the main menu.
Sorry about that guys!
ONLINE MENU IS FIXED!
There have been some noticeable problems with the server browser, and I'm happy to tell you they have ALL been fixed.
Here are the problems listed below that were destroyed:
- "Find specific server" search functionality was broken.
- Setting a password on your server wasn't actually stopping people from joining.
- Buttons were not clickable after refreshing, the server list.
- Server buttons were not clickable at all, making them pointless.
- It was hard to know if clicking a button was actually doing anything. Feedback has now been added to tell the player when refreshing the server or looking for a game etc.
- Mouse cursor now controllable by gamepad, however some areas it may not work at all. (Use the actual mouse if cursor does not work).
There are still MANY problems that are present in the the mini-games. Here's a quick list of some known issues in no particular order:
- Server not being able to go back to main menu after starting server, going into a mini-game, then returning back to lobby. This will be the next thing fixed as it's fairly significant, especially if the server breaks. (PRIORITY)
- In "PIPEMARE" there are segments completely missing for clients, making it look like huge empty gaps (PRIORITY)
- When returning from a mini-game, the server can't seem to click on any mini-games with the gamepad, they need to use the mouse.
- Player count is sometimes incorrect.
- Sometimes player 1 will go dark in the lobby when a player joins the server, and the new player controls player 1.
- When a player joins a server mid way through a mini-game, weird stuff starts happening and things start breaking. (sometimes hitting the START button and
- Player scoreboard is a "bit" broken.
And many more....
One last thing to note is that the controller not working, is still an ongoing issue and I am still waiting to hear back from valve in regards to them fixing it.
In the meantime, I will be spending some time each day trying to solve the problem myself. It could be solved quickly, or it may take some time, but I will fix this damn issue that is plaguing everyone.
I apologize for these issues, but rest assured, I am working non-stop to fix all these problems to make this as smooth an experience I possibly can.
You guys have been so damn awesome to me, and I appreciate that so much.
Thank you all for playing the Metal Heads demo and trying out the experimental online multiplayer update!
You ROCK!
WHAT'S IN THE DEMO?
This demo provides 10 of at least 30 mini-games that will be available when Metal Heads launches.
The mini-games provided are:
- COGNITIVE COLLECTION
- BLUE BALLIN'
- DARK DANGERS
- DODGY
- FALLING APART
- LASER LUNACY
- PIPEMARE
- WHEELY
AND THE 2 NEW MINI-GAMES ARE!?
- OH BALLS
- ???MYSTERY??? (HINT: It's inspired by weeping angels from Dr Who)
Each mini-game shares a similar theme of "Stay alive longer than everybody else", but ultimately offers a different challenge and a different play experience.
Along with 2 new maps also comes 2 new awesome, head bangin' music tracks from Andy Gillion of Mors Principium Est, HELL YEAH!
Something incredibly exciting about this demo is that as of this moment, it now has an early version of ONLINE MULTIPLAYER!
DISCORD
To make this an AWESOME community, there is now a Discord server set up for Metal Heads at the link below:
JOIN THE METAL HEADS DISCORD
So don't be shy, come on in to the Discord channel and lets have some fun with our fellow gamers and metal heads.
TWITCH
Head on over to the official Twitch channel for OTREUM GAMES where the developer will be streaming live during the Steam Games Festival.
TWITCH
Otreum Games supports other indie devs too! So be sure to check out some of the streams where other indie games will be shown off too!
OH NO THERE'S BUGS?!
Bear in mind that this is very much still the early testing version of online multiplayer and the game is still in alpha, so there may be some potentially game breaking problems and things may look a bit janky.
If you do experience any problems, such as a very well known issue where controllers simply are not working.
Head on over to the steam forums:
SUPPORT FORUM
ARE YOU A CONTENT CREATOR?
Are you interested in streaming Metal Heads on platforms?
Or are you interested in uploaded pre-recorded footage somewhere?
Show me your interest by filling out the following form, this will help me organize events with you, and gives you an opportunity to do live-streams where you can "play with the dev".
You may also get access to versions of the game that contain additional features and content that are otherwise not available to the public:
SIGN UP NOW
If you enjoy the demo, or just want to support Metal Heads while staying up to date, please consider wishlisting it here on Steam.
Thank you guys SO MUCH! You guys ROCK!
JOIN ME FOR SOME MINI-GAME MADNESS!
Join in on the fun in this live-stream, and many other live-streams during the Steam Games Festival where I will be playing the 10 mini-games available in the demo which includes the 2 brand new mini-games "Oh Balls" and "Creepin' Creepers".
I will be answering as many questions as I can during the live-stream too, so please feel free to drop in and ask away!
You can join in on the madness here!
TWITCH
DISCORD
To make this an AWESOME community, there is now a Discord server set up for Metal Heads at the link below:
JOIN THE METAL HEADS DISCORD
So don't be shy, come on in to the Discord channel and lets have some fun with our fellow gamers and metal heads.
Otreum Games supports other indie devs too! So be sure to check out some of the streams where other indie games will be shown off too!
OH NO THERE'S BUGS?!
Bear in mind that this is very much still the early testing version of online multiplayer and the game is still in alpha, so there may be some potentially game breaking problems and things may look a bit janky.
If you do experience any problems, such as a very well known issue where controllers simply are not working.
Head on over to the steam forums:
SUPPORT FORUM
ARE YOU A CONTENT CREATOR?
Are you interested in streaming Metal Heads on platforms?
Or are you interested in uploaded pre-recorded footage somewhere?
Show me your interest by filling out the following form, this will help me organize events with you, and gives you an opportunity to do live-streams where you can play with the developer.
You may also get access to versions of the game that contain additional features and content that are otherwise not available to the public:
SIGN UP NOW
If you enjoy the demo, or just want to support Metal Heads while staying up to date, please consider wishlisting it here on Steam.
Thank you guys SO MUCH! You guys ROCK!
DISCORD SERVER!
WHATS THIS!? A DISCORD SERVER?
That's right my fellow metal heads, we finally have a place to bang our heads together to the sound of ....ah man I couldn't make that epic, but you get the point!
I'm super excited that you guys can now join into this wonderful little community and help it grow into something bigger and more amazing.
When the online multiplayer update drops on the 16th in time for the Steam games festival (oh yeah...I should probably tell you about that ;) ), this will be a great place to organize social games with your fellow metal heads, and hang out with everyone while I do live-streams during the Steam games festival.
You can also come hang out with me while i'm online (which is...almost always).
Also it's a one stop location for events and important posts etc.
It sadly isn't a verified server since Discord has applications for those on hold at the moment during Covid-19, but the server is being built up to become something awesome.
Please bear with me while I organize the Discord server. I am getting the game ready, ironing out bugs and all that horrible stuff while also managing social media, and setting up Discord, it has been a wild ride!
But it's all worth it, because I can't wait to chat with you all and start building this amazing community :D
JOIN US!
Falling Apart mini-game respawn fixed!
Just a quick patch to fix up the respawn bug in the Falling Apart mini-game where under certain circumstances, a player would respawn a duplicate, or multiple duplicates of themselves, and thus break the mini-game.
This was a bit of an annoying bug to find, it took me about 3 hours to find out what was going on, but thankfully was something very simple in the end.
Obviously it's hard for just 1 person to test this, but I did find out how to cause the bug, and could replicate it 100% of the time. After the fix, I could not replicate the issue at all, but please let me know if it does occur and I will look into it further.
If any bugs do occur, please post them on the bug report forum below:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1132670/discussions/6/
Thanks guys! You ROCK!
ONLINE MULTIPLAYER live-stream on Twitch!
There will be a live stream on Twitch channel HourADayGamer showing off Metal Heads early version of online multiplayer that I have been working on like a mad-man.
I will be playing live on the stream and will be answering any questions, feedback, problems etc that people may have.
Andy Gillion, the musician behind the "METAL" in Metal Heads, will also be joining us live, however probably won't be playing as he sadly does not have a graphics card in his computer :(
We WILL however, try to allow him to play through Parsec, if it works, so fingers crossed you guys get to watch both Andy and I fail over and over.
This will be the first live-stream I have ever been part of, so it is a bit daunting for me, but i'm also incredibly excited to finally be able to play the game online and show it off live to all of you awesome people :)
There are definitely still issues with online play and still a LOT of work to do, but I think it's important that you guys see the progress made as it shouldn't be too much longer before you can all play online too.
Hopefully it all goes smoothly and there aren't too many embarrassing bugs, but I hope that you guys all understand that I wasn't even going to show online multiplayer yet and that this is a VERY early working version, so bugs are expected.
I hope to see you all at the Live-stream and cannot wait to do this!
Controllers not working? Try this.
It seems we have run into a bit of a hiccup!
Steam has done an update which has changed the way Steam Input is handled, and thus broken gamepad support for some users in some games (not just Metal Heads).
After troubleshooting for about 5 hours straight, I found a work-around, however this is by no means a permanent solution. I have contacted Steam support in regards to the issue, and will be looking at releasing another update soon to keep Metal Heads up to date with the latest Steam SDK.
PROBLEM:
The game does not recognize any controllers, either wired or wireless. Even Xbox controllers don't work! :O
SOLUTION:
1. Open Settings in Steam
2. Go to "Controller"
3. Click on "General Controller Settings"
4. Untick "Xbox configuration support"
I have tested this with both an Xbox one controller, and PS4 Dual Shock 4 controller with everything unticked except "Generic Gamepad configuration support" and it is working now on 6 different PC's where it had stopped working.
Please let me know if this works, or if you are running into any problems.
On a side note, I am working extremely hard to get Online Multiplayer support functioning. All mini-games work online, but there is a LOT of underlying work that needs to be done in order for it all to run smoothly, the spawn system in particular with drop-in/drop-out support, is no easy thing to get working unfortunately.
But I am confident I will get it done, and I will even be doing private online testing soon.
While there is no specific release date for the online update, I am aiming to have it completed within the next 2-3 weeks.
Thank you for your support, thank you for your patience.
I apologize again for the inconvenience this may have caused some of you, I don't want to let any of you down, because you guys are the life-blood to the success of Metal Heads.
Rock on!
DEMO UPDATE!
THE DEMO HAS BEEN UPDATED! WOOHOO!!!
IT'S OVER 1000!!!
Hello fellow Metal Heads, I hope you are excited, because I sure as hell am!
The Metal Heads demo has reached a significant milestone, 1000 downloads in roughly 1 month! (Actually 1014 now, because I'm slow).
Ok...I know it's not much, but for me, that is pretty amazing considering the lack of marketing, and it's all thanks to you guys, you bloody amazing people!
Thank you so much, you are the best :D
As a reward for this, I promised that for every 1000 downloads the demo hits, a new mini-game will be added (until there are about 10 mini-games), and more content would be added, and more content, you shall receive!
Initially, I was going to add just one mini-game, but I decided I wanted to give you guys 2 instead because you're awesome and I want you all to experience even more fun...hell I'd let you have all of the currently playable mini-games I have made, but that would be a bit too generous, I'm not THAT nice ;)
These mini-games are.... *DRUM ROLL*
TWO NEW MINIGAMES
Blue Ballin'
(Music is different to video)[previewyoutube="9iODEIlFil4;full"]
(Formerly named Keep Rollin')
Stay atop of this big blue ball as long as possible, earning points for every second you stay alive. If you fall off, that's ok, you will respawn, but you will miss out on points.
The alternate survival mode gives players only one life in this mode, and counts upward to see how long you can stay alive. The ball gets crazier as time progresses however.
Dark Dangers.
(Music is different to video)[previewyoutube="q088gNRCANQ;full"]
Inspired by the great PACMAN, this mini-game pits players into a maze of horror as 4 creatures seek out their prey (that's YOU btw...in case you were wondering). Earn points by collecting plectrum pickups and staying alive until the timer ends, either way, the last man standing wins.
When players are knocked out, they will respawn as a zombie, allowing them to try and catch other remaining players, so that you aren't left sitting around doing nothing.
In survival mode, the objective is to survive as long as possible.
The survival mode does not have a count down, and does not have plectrum pick-ups.
Zombie Metal Heads will spawn in the middle of the map every so often until it's practically impossible to stay alive.
NEW MUSIC FROM ANDY GILLION OF MORS PRINCIPIUM EST
Alright, so that was the longest title ever, but who cares, there's music from a dude who shreds so hard that he plays the guitar with his elbow stumps and still makes it sound awesome!
Currently, Metal Heads is using temporary music, either made by myself (you can tell what's mine because it's crap!) or purchased through the Unreal Engine Marketplace on the Epic Games Store.
While some of this music purchased is bloody awesome, I want Metal Heads to have it's own unique sound track.
It needs to be Metal, but it also needs to be fun for everybody (including people who don't like metal music) and so far, Andy has nailed it! (despite me giving him possibly the worst musical direction known to man).
Currently, you can hear Andy's music in the main menu, he has done the theme track, but his music is also in the following mini-games:
- Cognitive Collection
- Dodgy
- Pipemare
- Dark Dangers
- Blue Ballin'
The music tracks may not quite line up correctly with the game sequence just yet, but I will be working closely with Andy on this to ensure that his music is used the best way possible.
Andy has worked enthusiastically on new tracks in the last few days, and what he can create in such a short time with little direction is nothing short of awesome!
MORS INFO ABOUT ANDY GILLION
(No, this is not a typo... i dont meke thos)
If you would like to hear Andy's music outside of Metal Heads, please support him by listening to his bloody incredible music found on most major music streaming outlets such as Spotify, iTunes and Youtube.
His website is found HERE
His band:
Mors Principium Est
His recently released Instrumental solo album featuring Jeff Loomis from Arch Enemy and 666Samus:
NEVERAFTER
SPREAD THE WORD, AND REWARDED YOU SHALL BE
Please make sure to spread the word about the demo and the update, maybe don't go spamming it everywhere, but if there's an opportunity to tell someone in person or on social media, youtube etc, don't hesitate ;)
Tell your friends to come over and play it, or if you want to play online, use a program called Parsec until I get online functionality working.
Why should you tell your friends and spread the word? You will be rewarded with even more content, that's why, because I am a nice developer who does things good :)
Remember; For every 1000 downloads, the demo will get new content.
Every download counts, every wishlist counts, lets bring Metal Heads to the front page of Steam if we can and try and get it some more attention.
BE PART OF THE COMMUNITY
Please don't be shy, jump onto the Steam forums and let your voice be heard, theres a few sub-forums for you to post ideas in, feedback, suggestions etc etc, so make yourself at home and be part of this community :)
The only thing I haven't created is a sub-forum for discussing metal music....hmm (there's an idea!).
STEAM GENERAL THREAD
STEAM IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS THREAD
Also be sure to follow Metal Heads on social media to stay more up to date, it is significantly easier for me to post updates on Twitter and Facebook than it is to post them on Steam unfortunately, so be sure to give it a follow:
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WHAT'S NEXT?
EPIC MEGA GRANT
I am currently in the process of finalizing the game for submission for the Epic Mega Grant by Epic Games. As some of you may know, if my submission was successful, Epic Games would help fund the project to help it reach completion, which would be HUGE for the success of Metal Heads.
Sadly, this could take months to hear back from them, they receive thousands of applications, but I will do what I can to try and stand out and get attention to hopefully receive a grant before then.
This grant will be a life changer if I receive one.
Basically it means that I would be able to quit my day job and work on Metal Heads even more than I have been doing (which is a LOT, however I have slowed down recently because I don't want to have a heart attack!)
All I have left to do before submission is to polish up the board game mode functionality (I make it sound so easy) and fix up a few other minor issues in some mini-games, but otherwise, that's about it.
I probably should update the trailer too as the current one sucks, but it isn't necessary.
ONLINE PLAY
This is the big one that I absolutely cannot wait to get working, holy crap I just wish I could click a button and it would magically happen, but this is a major priority for me.
I want to get online functionality working so that I can update the demo so you guys can all play together :D
This requires a LOT of work, but I am confident I will get it done as quickly as possible.
DISCORD SERVER
Before releasing the online update, I will create a discord server for everyone to communicate in and organize games (If you don't use the server browser in game).
I intend to use it as a hub for weekly "Play with the dev" sessions too. I'm yet to work this out as I obviously can't spread myself too thin. I guess this would be a great place for me to discuss with you guys what you would like to see in the Discord server.
AND MORE
There's a tonne more work to do, and doesn't feel like a lot of time to do it, but I am absolutely determined to drive this forward to the finish line and beyond, so please stay with me, I do not aim to disappoint.
THANK YOU GUYS!
Thank you so bloody much!
You are each and all incredible, Metal Heads simply will fade into nothing without you guys, and you have so far made sure it does not do that!
Let's continue making Metal Heads the #1 party game to play on PC, or at the very least, a very well known party game.
I have no doubt, with your support, your feedback, and with you all playing it and sharing it, that will happen.
YOU GUYS ROCK!