HOTFIX - Fixed up low graphics settings for clients
HOTFIX
Fixed up a bug where clients would appear to have their graphics reduced when playing a mini-game online.
This was due to a duplication in the tutorial screen on clients, which had it's own post processing settings, making the game look a bit strange, in particular on mini-games such as Coallateral, Cognitive Collection and games that have a lot of bloom or volumetric lighting.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!
ROCK ON!
END OF YEAR UPDATE - BOSS FIGHT OVERHAUL, NEW LOBBY, BOARD GAME CHANGES
END OF 2022 UPDATE
GENERAL FIXES AND CHANGES
[expand type="showmore"]
Fixed issue with host not spawning into mini-games.
Fixed a whole lot of audio issues. Most, if not all audio is assigned an audio class. Previously some audio, like the end round stingers.
Begun adding reverb volumes to levels
There were other fixes, but unfortunately I did not document them, they were mostly to do with online networking and such. But most of this update has been about content, rather than fixes.
A lot of work has gone into new mini-games, and a new board game map too, but those are things I will show more about in later updates. A LOT of that work has gone into making the Metal Ball Z mini-game. [/expand]
NEW LOBBY!
[expand type="showmore"] GAME MODE SELECT STAGE! [expand type="showmore"] When all players are ready, the camera will move to the game mode selection stage of the lobby, where the host player (or 1st player) can either click on one of the doors to go to the next stage, or run through the doors. If the host is using a controller, they can simply hit the START button to enable mouse movement with the controller. [/expand] GO DIRECTLY TO THE BOSS FIGHT [expand type="showmore"] You can now choose to play the boss fight from the lobby, rather than having to play through the board game mode first. Players can opt-in to play as the boss, however if nobody opts in to play as the boss, players will go up against an AI controlled boss! However the boss AI is fairly basic right now, a little bit janky, as I didn't have a lot of time to work on it before the update. I intend to improve the boss AI over time so that it becomes a formidable opponent. (NOTE: See the "BOSS FIGHT CHANGES" topic for more information on the boss fight updates). [/expand] MINI-GAME MENU [expand type="showmore"] Players can now run around ON the mini-game menu, allowing the host to get an idea of who wants to play what mini-game. I intend to improve this menu over time, such as allowing the choice of saved presets, quick game modes, continuous mini-games etc. [/expand] BOARD GAME CUSTOMIZATION [expand type="showmore"] Whilst this is still fairly basic customization, the intention is to expand upon the customization menu, allowing very quick board game mode selection, and more advanced customization options in time, but for now, the host can choose whether to play an unlimited amount of rounds (with a limited number of Golden Gears to collect in order to win), or play with limited rounds, and the highest score wins. There are some other tweaks such as cost of Golden Gears, Penalty cost for not reaching your destination, as well as starting points and movement mode (Move Wheel or Dice). I'm excited for the future of customization options, I believe in allowing you to play how YOU want to play, so I hope you are all as excited as I am for the plethora of customization options you will be getting in the future! [/expand] CROWD SURFING! [expand type="showmore"] Obviously a priority feature, players can now crowd surf in the character stage. Right now, this is only just a small sample of interactivity for the lobby that I want to add. Eventually, in the polishing stages of the game, I will add in musical instruments, and other things to mess around with, and maybe even allow players to fight one another with a basic punch/grab/throw/block fight mechanics, because I know you all would love to throw one another into the crowd. What would you love to do in this hub world style of lobby? Perhaps grab a microphone and the little metal head starts screaming death metal in high pitch? [/expand] [/expand]
BOARD GAME CHANGES! (AND DICE ROLL!)
[expand type="showmore"] FINALLY, THE DICE ROLL! [expand type="showmore"] This is long overdue, and I apologize for not having it in the game since Early Access launch, but it is finally in the game! Whilst this offers a more random style of gameplay, players still have the ability to flip the side of the dice block before throwing it, and aim where the dice block is thrown. When the dice throw movement method is chosen, players no longer need to land ON the Golden Gear in order to collect it, they simply need to run into it on the way to their destination, and will be prompted to purchase the Golden Gear. If players can't afford it, or for some reason don't buy it, or do buy it, players can continue running to their destination. There are other changes that have been made, or need to be changed in order to comply with the dice roll, such as the effect that curses will have on players, but in the future board game overhaul update, this will be addressed. (NOTE: Currently there's a minor issue where sometimes the Golden Gear will respawn on the same path and players can actually collect multiple Golden Gears if they can afford it, but ...maybe this could be a feature? What do you think? This is perhaps something I can make into a customization option later.) [/expand] CLASSIC GAMEPLAY LOOP [expand type="showmore"] In order to set the stage for the future board game overhaul update, I wanted to get rid of the terrible, unintuitive gameplay loop that I had previously, and opted for a more classic style of gameplay that everybody is familiar with already. This means temporarily disabling the trivia mode too. IF there is a limited number of turns, then players with the highest number of Golden Gears + Plectrum Points will become the winner after all of the turns have ended. IF there are unlimited turns, then the player who collects x amount of Golden Gears first, wins the game. The winners will still play as a boss in the boss fight of course. [/expand] A NEW TURN ORDER MINI-GAME [expand type="showmore"] Previously, the mini-game to determine who goes first, was ...confusing, and it just looked terrible, it was a placeholder. Now there is a new mini-game. It still requires some work to make it more intuitive, but I think it's much better, while also allowing skill to be used rather than pure luck. Later on when I do the board game overhaul, I will be adding in customization options however so players could choose multiple methods of determining turn order, including a quick start option which automatically assigns players randomly. [/expand] CUSTOMIZATION [expand type="showmore"] There are now some basic customization options in the lobby, where the host can adjust number of turns, movement type (Wheel or Dice), Golden Gear count (if turns are unlimited), Golden Gear cost, Failure penalty (for not reaching destination), and starting Plectrum Points. This will be expanded in the future board game overhaul update, where a huge focus will be on board game rule customization. [/expand] [/expand]
BOSS FIGHT CHANGES
[expand type="showmore"] The intention for this update was to overhaul the boss fight, introduce new gameplay and balancing mechanics, but admittedly, due to time constraints (due to my day job taking all of my free time), I didn't really get the boss fight to where I wanted it to be, but it's still an improvement simply because of the variety of boss attacks now, and that you can now choose to fight an AI controlled boss, even if the AI isn't complete just yet, it still is good practice. BOSS ATTACKS [expand type="showmore"] The boss now has 3 groups of attacks; Presuming that you were using an Xbox controller, there are 3 A Button, 3 X Button and 3 B Button attacks. The most basic of each type of attack is done by simply tapping the button, where the other 2 attacks for each button are done by holding down the button longer. I would like to add even more attacks by adding in the ability to hold down either LB or RB before tapping or holding A, B or X. Eventually, 27 attacks would be pretty amazing to have, and certainly spice the gameplay up a bit! (NOTE: I actually have started working on the rest of the attacks, but isn't a major priority right now) [/expand] RUN AND BURN! [expand type="showmore"] Players will no longer die when shot with the energy balls, however players will continually run forward and change turn direction, meaning your character will likely run off the edge of the stage, however you still have some control over your character to try and prevent this from happening. [/expand] OUTRO SEQUENCES [expand type="showmore"] The boss fight now has outro sequences that are relevant to who wins/loses. The poor boss will no longer explode, even if it wins. [/expand] [/expand]
REJOIN PROMPT
[expand type="showmore"] As mentioned in previous news updates, I have created a basic REJOIN prompt if there is a sudden exit from the server. This should help players get back into the game quickly if for whatever reason they are disconnected from the server, or they crash. I created this as I found that most people have absolutely no idea that you can join a game in progress, or rejoin a server. This is because drop-in/drop-out connectivity (aside from in a lobby) is not present in any party games to date (mainly due to how much of a nightmare it is to make and manage), so hopefully this will educate players on this little known, but much needed feature of Metal Heads. It's functional, but still fairly basic. When I do a UI overhaul, this will be improved in future. [/expand]
AESTHETIC CHANGES
[expand type="showmore"] During all of this time since the last update, I have been learning more about various game development magic, including the creation of transparent decals using a program called Substance Painter (which is what I use for all of the texturing), and so I created some industrial decals and as you may notice, I slapped those decals everywhere I could! Especially the Board Game map, which looks much improved. Previously over half of the map didn't have a textured floor, but now it does and looks significantly better. There's more work to do on aesthetics, but it's definitely going in the right direction. [/expand]
WHATS NEXT?
[expand type="showmore"] I will continue hunting for bugs, one such MAJOR issue is for whatever reason, when a client joins a server, and a mini-game is played, the client's graphics settings are set to the lowest. I'm yet to figure out why this is happening since graphical settings are only assigned when the game initially loads, not when a level loads.
Aside from this, I will be taking a little break for a week or 2, as I am working full time hours in my day job, and I've been working around the clock to get this update out, to the point where I'm completely exhausted. Yesterday I got up at 6am, worked on the game from 6:40am until 11am, got ready for my day job, worked 12-7pm, got home at 8pm, and continued to work on the update until 5:30am this morning...so I'm somewhat tired.
Once I recover, and the hours in my day job slow down (I hope they do), I'll be resuming development, with a PRIMARY focus on making the board game mode into a highly customizable experience, along with working on the new board game map. SECONDARY focus is on making the Metal Ball Z mini-game, and some other mini-games, with a major update targeted for FEBRUARY. However don't hold me to this, as my life circumstances (my day job) heavily influence how much energy I have, and how much development I get done. [/expand]
QUESTIONS?
[expand type="showmore"]If you have any questions, feedback etc, please don't be afraid to jump onto the forums, comment below or use the Discord server to share your thoughts. I am much more active on Discord and will generally answer within 24hrs, however since I don't get any notifications on Steam if someone posts on the forums, I may not see your post for a few days (or weeks in some cases) unless I get into a habit of checking every day.[/expand]
If you would like more regular updates, please head on over to the official Discord server and join.
Continuing on from the last live stream. I've renamed it to DEVELOPMENT STREAM rather than animation stream due to more general development being done.
When? 3pm AEST (+10GMT) on the 16th November. Where? On the Steam store page, and over on Youtube
What will I be streaming? This time I'll be working on the Metal Ball Z character charge up/power up ability. The animations are already done, so I'll be working in Unreal Engine 4 and Photoshop this time.
It's going to be a pretty chill stream, not high energy, but come along, come hang out, I'll be answering any questions you guys want to ask, and just hanging out with who-ever wants to come along.
Anyway, I hope to see you all there!
ROCK ON!
LIVE STREAM! - LETS ANIMATE! (Pt.2)
Continuing on from yesterday's animation live-stream, I'll be streaming again today,
When? 2pm AEST (+10GMT) (~1hr 45mins from now). Where? On the Steam store page, and over on Youtube
What will I be streaming? Character animation for the Metal Ball Z mini-game (un-released). And hopefully this time, going over into Unreal Engine 4 and showing how these new animations are pieced together and implemented into some gameplay.
It's going to be a pretty chill stream, not high energy, but come along, come hang out, I'll be answering any questions you guys want to ask, and just hanging out with who-ever wants to come along.
Anyway, I hope to see you all there!
ROCK ON!
LIVE STREAM! - LETS ANIMATE! (Pt.1)
I'm finally doing a live stream again!
When? 7pm AEST (+10GMT) (~1.5hrs from now). Where? On the Steam store page, and over on Youtube
What will I be streaming? Character animation for the Metal Ball Z mini-game (un-released).
It's going to be a pretty chill stream, not high energy, but come along, come hang out, I'll be answering any questions you guys want to ask, and just hanging out with who-ever wants to come along.
I haven't streamed in a LONG time due to a number of reasons, so I'm hoping that everything runs smoothly without any technical difficulties. (HA! Who am I kidding?).
I will be streaming more often, but probably won't be doing announcements for each stream, so keep your eyes open, subscribe to the Youtube channel and even the Twitch channel as I'll stream to Twitch whenever I do party streams with the Discord community.
Hello my fellow Metal Heads. It has been a while, so have a look around, and allow me to keep you up to date.
BOSS FIGHT OVERHAUL
[expand type="showmore"] The boss fight mini-game is getting an overhaul! In it's current state, the boss fight is...OK, but not only does the boss just look like a boring walking metal bucket, the boss fight is just not finished yet, so I've been working hard in my little spare time to ensure that the boss fight feels more finished, more polished, and more FUN!
Currently the boss UI is a place-holder, so the last few days, I wanted to change that. It's still not finished yet, but here are the results so far, along with a comparison of the old UI. NEW
OLD
As mentioned, the boss model also is getting an upgrade, and while it still needs textures and some finishing touches, it looks a hell of a lot better than before. NEW OLD
I also re-did all animations for the boss, and made new animations for the new actions/attacks. Here's a teaser of one of the attacks. For those wondering, there will be 3 attacks each for A, B and X buttons (or equivalent buttons/keys), and there are now indicators on the boss that show the level of attack (based on how long the button/key is held for), so that the boss player knows which attack they are doing, and metal head players have some idea also.
Currently, whether the boss wins, or metal heads win the boss fight, the same silly outro plays of the boss exploding and shutting down, which is super confusing for a lot of people, the whole thing feels unfinished and janky, so I went ahead and made a few relevant outro sequences that will be chosen based on how the round ends, for example, if a metal head is knocked off the edge of the platform, rather than dying on the platform, a different animation will play, I intend to do more outro's over time to add variety.
If players are coming from the board game mode, there will be a stats screen eventually too, but I don't think that will make it into the next update.
There are a bunch more gameplay changes I will be making to the boss fight and experimenting with, and testing with the Discord community, but not stuff that can easily be shown here, i'll mostly be balancing and testing the "fun factor".
Lastly, players will not have to play the board game in order to play the boss fight, I am in the process of making a menu option in the lobby/game mode selection where the host can go to, and players can opt-in to play as the boss or a metal head. If multiple players opt in to play the boss, then the boss player will be randomly chosen from those players. If nobody opts in, I hope to make some AI for the boss, so players can all team up against boss AI that HOPEFULLY proves to be a challenge. Whether the boss AI will make it into the next update, I'm not entirely sure just yet, I don't want to keep you all waiting too long for this update.[/expand]
BOARD GAME CHANGES
[expand type="showmore"] The board game mode is getting changed, I won't go too much into what changes are being made as I'm still coming up with ideas as I go, but I intend to make the board game into a much quicker, more enjoyable experience that feels way more polished. Some changes were included in the last public update that helps with the overall quality of the board game mode, but more changes will be coming, so that hopefully there will be less "ugh" and more "HELL YEAH!" when it comes to playing the board game mode. The next update will likely see some work in progress changes to the gameplay, but it won't be completely overhauled. I would like to progressively release updates for you all as currently the updates are MONTHS apart, where they used to be hours or days apart (back when I wasn't working full time hours at a day job). [/expand]
MOVING HOUSE...AGAIN
[expand type="showmore"] Again!? YUP! But it's for the best. There will be better internet at the new house, and SHOULD facilitate a better development environment for me with less distractions. The move is happening in 2 days from now, so for about a week or so, I won't be working on the game, I'll be too busy moving house, but then once I'm settled in to the new place, I'll be straight back into development again.[/expand]
DAY JOB, THE LIFE OF A SELF FUNDED SOLO DEVELOPER
[expand type="showmore"] So the last news update I talked about my day job, and that was when I first started it...it has been ~4.5 months since then, and the hours at the day job only increased. I applied for a casual position so I could continue working on Metal Heads, but due to a number of factors, I have been working full time hours since starting, which is great financially, but not so great for my time to work on Metal Heads, but more importantly, my energy to work on Metal Heads. Unfortunately the work-place is somewhat toxic, not just due to in store politics, but the actual air I breathe there, I think I breathe more dust and disease than actual oxygen, so even after 30mins, I am left feeling exhausted, but am working for 8 hours each day, so when I come home, I'm a zombie.
Thankfully the business is hiring more staff, so that should alleviate my working hours and allow more time to work on Metal Heads.
Other factors that slowed development have been pretty bad mental health due to some real nasty life things that occurred just after the launch of the game. It has taken a huge toll on my mental health, which slowed development to a crawl. I won't go into the details of it all, but what happened put me at rock bottom, to the point where a decision was made, and that decision was to live, I made the right choice. Thankfully, I bounced back stronger over time, I am happy to say that I am in a much better mind, I am focused, I am determined, I am back on track, and I feel great! I still have my down moments that drag me into a depressed state (we all do), but I am finding over time, they are becoming more and more fleeting. If you are suffering in silence, please speak up, please talk about it, seek help, and remember that no matter how crappy life gets, you are the ruler of your own world, you decide what life you want to live and lead, and life is absolutely worth living. Don't ever give up. [/expand]
WHAT IS NEXT?
[expand type="showmore"] For the next week or so, I'm moving house, then once I'm settled in, I will continue working on the boss fight, and get it to a point where it is playable, functional, fun and as bug free as possible, after that, I intend to work on the board game's gameplay loop and get it to a playable point as well, which I am hoping won't take too long, as I'm already almost finished with the new general gameplay loop for the board game mode, but it needs testing, online multiplayer adaptation and bug hunting before I do a major update. That is my main focus, getting the boss fight up to scratch, and the board game brought to the next stage of it's development. [/expand]
QUESTIONS?
[expand type="showmore"]If you have any questions, feedback etc, please don't be afraid to jump onto the forums, comment below or use the Discord server to share your thoughts. I am much more active on Discord and will generally answer within 24hrs, however since I don't get any notifications on Steam if someone posts on the forums, I may not see your post for a few days unless I get into a habit of checking every day.[/expand]
If you would like more regular updates, please head on over to the official Discord server and join.
HOTFIX: Online Laser Lunacy fix, audio fixes and other changes.
Hi all,
There are a lot of changes happening currently and not a lot of time to list them all, but the next major update will show the change list (there's a lot of things).
I discovered recently that Laser Lunacy has been having an issue where the hatches weren't showing up correctly for clients, causing some really strange and confusing behavior, this is now fixed.
WHAT IS GOING ON? I am still working on the game, however due to my day job, I have significantly less hours than I used to. Hopefully this will be balancing out soon as the business I work for is hiring more staff.
Aside from the day job hours taking up all my time, I have been looking at feedback from the Metal Heads community, from new players, content creators, refunds etc to try and determine what features need my attention most with the currently very constrained time I have, and am focusing my efforts less on "new content" and more on polishing what content I already have, making the foundation even stronger, which means that the Board Game mode is the weakest link in terms of the fun factor.
The board game mode is unintuitive, messy, janky and confusing. It feels empty and boring if I'm being real and blunt. I have been working on making it into a much more enjoyable experience, so hopefully sooner rather than later, I can bring out an update for you all.
I have also been working on the boss fight, creating a much better boss character model that also helps make the gameplay more intuitive and opens up more gameplay features that I've been wanting to implement for a long time to the Boss Fight, so the next major update will include the new boss fight features.
I am also continuing to work on bug fixes and major problems, in particular trying to polish up and tighten up the control system, In particular with regards to keyboard players (Controller is recommended for the best experience, keyboard support is secondary).
Anyway, there's a few other little things you'll notice in this hotfix which I'll list in the next major update.
ROCK ON!
HOTFIX: RANDOM ITEM Tile crash fix.
Just a quick hotfix here to address a crash when players would land on the RANDOM ITEM tile in the board game mode. This was again caused by a frustrating file corruption.
Aside from that crash fix, I have also updated the description text in the "DEAD STILL" mini-game so it makes a bit more sense on how to play.
It now says: "Go the furthest to win.
To move forward, HOLD the displayed buttons and use movement buttons at the same time. But don't try to move when lights are flashing!
SURVIVAL MODE: Buttons will not display, you need to guess them, good luck :)"
Thank you all for your patience and your support, and please remember to report any crashes or bugs you run into so that I can address them immediately.
ROCK ON!
NEWS (10th March) - LOTS of things happening.
Hello my fellow Metal Heads.
I want to start getting into the habit of keeping you all up to date on what is going on with development, especially because it seems I only keep you informed only when there is an update.
Firstly, I will preface this and say that if you want DAILY updates, please head on over to the official Discord server and join.
I've been fairly busy with life in general, as I've previously mentioned, but one of the more important things was to get myself a day job so that I can continue to support the development of Metal Heads financially (due to everything that happened about 9 months ago, any hype I built up, any momentum with marketing efforts suddenly fell flat, resulting in a huge drop in sales to the point where I've made almost nothing in the last 3 months, even at Xmas time, when I got a boost in sales, it was only enough to sustain development for 2 months). I succeeded in getting a day job after about a week of searching, and whilst this will take up my time and energy, it sure as hell beats being broke. It's a challenging job, but I'm enjoying it, and it's one HUGE amount of stress taken off my shoulders. Getting a day job, was the best thing I could have done given my situation.
BOARD GAME UPGRADES AND NEW CONTENT
In summary, I have been working on overhauling the board game mode, updating the UI, changing gameplay elements, and just all round polishing it up to be a much nicer gameplay experience. I have also been working on new items for the board game mode, creating and adding new character animations, character sounds, along with other audio to bring the board game to life, as right now, it's a bit of a dull experience to say the least. There is a LOT that needs to be done, and there's a long way before I will have it at a point that I am happy with it, but already, the progress made is great.
I have also been working on a new board game map, located in a desert oasis. I'm a huge sci-fi nerd, and I've always loved the idea of sand worms, sand sharks, Graboids etc, and so one of the cool features of the new map is that whilst players CAN run on the sand to collect plectrums for additional points, but they run the risk of being munched by the "Sand shredders" that lurk beneath the sandy surface, so players will have to run and jump across solid, non-sand objects to stay safe.
There are a few key features to the map, but that is one that I will be happy to finish off.
One other thing I have added to the board game mode is the ability to change the camera while running, to a traditional platformer style camera for those who prefer.
BOT SUPPORT
I started working on adding bot support and AI controlled players about 2 weeks ago, but since then I have been job hunting, and working at the day job. However the 2 days that I have worked on bot support, I've already made a LOT more progress than I thought I would in just 2 days. I won't get into the nitty gritty details of bot support, as there's a lot to it, but rest assured that I am working on bot support, and it's coming along nicely, so the next big update I do will hopefully include bots! :) Currently, all the the bots are a bit brain dead, all they know how to do is jump up and down on the spot, but the next time I work on them (today), I will begin giving them some life.
QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions, feedback etc, please don't be afraid to jump onto the forums, or use the Discord server to share your thoughts. I am much more active on Discord and will generally answer within 24hrs, however since I don't get any notifications on Steam if someone posts on the forums, I may not see your post for a few days unless I get into a habit of checking every day.
THATS ALL FOLKS!
ROCK ON!
40% OFF STEAM REMOTE PLAY TOGETHER SALE! (And other news)
40% OFF STEAM REMOTE PLAY TOGETHER SALE!
I have put Metal Heads on sale for a whopping 40% off for the Steam Remote Play Together sale.
If you are on the fence about purchasing, this is a great time to buy.
SOME NEWS
I once again have been silent for a little while, but that's not for lack of development. I took a small break at the start of the year, but then got back into a new plan, so I started planning the year out....not that anything ever goes according to plan anyway haha.
The reason for my silence is due to working on new content, but the new content has required a fair bit of learning, so I haven't really had much of anything to show off.
Regardless, I AM still working on the game.
Progress has been slow lately due to a number of reasons, one of which is that I have been trying to get a day job, so that I can support Metal Heads development financially. I will be starting a new day job this week, which is pretty exciting for me, as it means I will be able to purchase better equipment for the game development, and just relieve that ever present financial stress that has been looming over me for so long.
I won't go too much into detail, I will leave that for another post, but in point form, this is what I've been working on:
A new board game map in a tropical oasis.
Fun graphical things for that new board game map, such as sand deformation.
Water interaction
Sand worm
UI upgrades
Board Game mode Platformer Camera mode/Camera mode switching.
General gameplay changes in the board game mode
Bots!!!
General bug fixes and crash fixes
I understand that you, my fellow metal heads are wanting to see some new stuff, and I hope I don't disappoint, but I need to take my time, and do it right, and having a day job will certainly help me with that as I won't feel like I am fighting against the clock.
I hope you are all doing well, I hope you are all staying safe.
