MicroWorks cover
MicroWorks screenshot
PC Steam
Genre: Indie

MicroWorks

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED
Ahem ahem. You are hereby, cordially invited to the annual and exclusive Agiriko end-of-year party! Join us on Saturday, the 23rd (at 7PM GMT), as we celebrate the end of the year together!

For this special occasion, we've expanded a *lot* on MicroWorks' modding capabilities. We've added support for custom levels and custom gamemodes, and for this event, we'll be playing the GunGame mod alongside a bunch of other fun stuff. Make sure you are prepared by subscribing to this mod collection:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3114798873

(yes, we promise modding guides are coming real soon! ːsteamhappyː)

We will also be giving away Party Pass keys to players who join and don't already have it! Tis the season for giving, right?

The event will take place in our Discord server. We'll be there, and we're looking forward to seeing you there too!

Kaismas Month RETURNS
It's that time again! With holiday festivities imminent, the Kais are back into the holiday mood, decorating the Nexus and fitting it for all your cheerful needs.

THE EXCLUSIVE CHRISTMAS EVENT RETURNS, ACTIVE NOW FROM THE 1ST TO THE 31ST OF DECEMBER!



Enjoy fresh new takes on the nexus, new music, new weapon decorations, and more goodies to fit the season!

You can choose to opt out of seasonal events by navigating to Settings -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Disable Seasonal Events. The game will return to normal on your next level load.





- DECEMBER HOTFIX -


We've updated the game with minor bug fixes, and more notably, a fix for trivia questions not loading.

For our French players - the French localization has been greatly updated and improved, courtesy of DynamoRed!

- PHYSICAL RELEASE STATUS -


Sales for the physical edition of MicroWorks are now closed - thank you to everyone who bought a copy!

The copies will be shipped within a couple of days. You will receive an email notification with your tracking number once they are on their way.

Merry Christmas, friends!

Limited Edition Physical Release
Well, you guys asked for it, and we've been wanting to do it for a long time. We're happy to open up sales for a limited physical release of MicroWorks!

Included in the physical edition are:



  • Game Box + DVD Disc, with a steam installer, original soundtrack, and wallpapers.
  • 3x Party Pass keys to share with your friends and yourself!
  • Sticker collection of Kais and their silly shenanigans.
  • And a personal thank you card, signed by yours truly <3


And it all comes at the miniscule price of $9.99 (+$4.99 for shipping). So for this upcoming holiday season, treat yourself or your loved ones to the small humble gift of MicroWorks.

Get your copy today!


https://store.shinolabs.com/l/microworks-physical


Sales close December 1st, and will be shipped the following Monday.
For any questions, feel free to ask us on our Discord server.

Ukrainian Localization Now Available
What's this? Another weekend drop off?! This time, we are happy to welcome Ukrainian as the 17th language supported by MicroWorks, courtesy of Mykyta "NICHNIKK" Drozdov! This includes full localization for the entire game and Steam components. Thank you so much!

We love working together with the community to bring additional localizations into the game, and the support we've gotten for it has been incredible. If you feel like contributing, please check out our localization guide, and hit us up either on the Steam forums or on Discord! 🤘

Italian Localization Now Available
Hi everyone, quick weekend drop off! We're happy to welcome Italian as the 16th language supported by MicroWorks, courtesy of Matteo Amici (MattX99)! This includes full localization for the entire game and Steam components.

Belarusian has also been updated for the 1.10 patch, courtesy of Nikolay "Kolzar" Zarovskiy.

We love working together with the community to bring additional localizations into the game, and the support we've gotten for it has been incredible. If you feel like contributing, please check out our localization guide, and hit us up either on the Steam forums or on Discord! 🤘

MicroWorks Patch 1.10: [LEVEL UP-DATE]
Welcome to the big 10th update of MicroWorks. This update is a bit different from the rest - I would dare call it, pretty controversial, even. We've been listening to feedback and ticking off things from the bucket list, including ones we've had to give a lot of thought for, but ultimately deemed necessary to provide the best experience for everyone.

Because some of these changes require deeper context, we'll be going over some of them in the later section. But for now, without further ado... drum roll please!

UPDATED:




  • Server levels: a new server metric that calculates the average level of all players in the server. This is used to improve matchmaking and to provide you with valuable info about the server you want to join.
  • New "Even Playfield" server setting allows you to filter out players that are not in range of the average server level, to ensure you only play with people who are in the same skill group as you.
  • DLC requirements will no longer apply to joining servers. This means, Party Pass is now only required to host private/mutated/boss rush servers, but not required to join them.
  • Vote kicks and vote bans can now only be initiated by Party Pass owners. Free users can still participate in votes.
  • "Public" server setting has been reworked into "Private / Hidden", to better emphasize the meaning of the setting.
  • "Streaming" settings menu has been renamed to "Privacy / Safety", and expanded upon with new settings.
  • Integrated Steam's profanity/slur filter with the game chat and server browser:



  • Player XP levels will now always be known, regardless of Steam profile privacy status. You can still, however, choose to hide your XP level from others from within "Privacy / Safety" settings.
  • Quickmatch improvements - you can now select between 3 different methods of quickmatching (best suited for your skill, highest amount of players, or server with best ping to you).


WHY (some of) THESE CHANGES?



DLC requirements will no longer apply to joining servers.



We've heard this complaint ever since the release of the Party Pass, and we've seen many people get confused, even angry, as to why their friends can't join them when enabling mutators, or selecting Boss Rush (despite our best efforts to make that clear).

Ultimately, we've decided that making the Party Pass a requirement from everyone, has more negatives than positives. In an effort to allow you to enjoy more of the game with your friends, without having to force everyone to pay, we've made the tough decision to remove the requirements to own anything, to join anything. Everyone is free to sail whichever server they wish - go nuts!

Vote kicks and vote bans can now only be initiated by Party Pass owners.



The vote kick/ban feature has always had one purpose - to allow players to combat bad actors. Unfortunately, since the F2P update, this feature has been weaponized and abused in a manner we don't condone. Kicking players who are doing well, kicking players who are winning, or free users kicking everyone who joins their game to avoid paying for the party pass (you guys have some dedication...)

Because of this, we have decided to limit this feature to paying users only. In exchange, to keep the playfield fair and square, we have introduced the server levels metric, assigning each server a "performance score" that should give you an idea on how good the players in the server are. Wanna play only with players inside your skill group? Turn on "Even Playfield" when creating a server, and anyone who'd otherwise crush your game will not be allowed to join.

We also want to remind you that you can always block and report users who are misbehaving - we take these matters seriously and make sure they don't get to ruin any parties again.

Only users with a Party Pass can host a private server - no way around it. If you want to play privately, please consider having one of you get the Party Pass. Otherwise, don't be so anal about playing with other people - MicroWorks is best enjoyed with many players!

"Public" server setting has been reworked into "Private / Hidden", to better emphasize the meaning of the setting.



We've often see people confuse the meaning of "Public" server setting. When they want to host a private game, they instantly assume that they should turn off "Public" - but the reality is that turning off this setting not only hides the server from the browser, but everywhere. Your friends won't be able to see your server, and won't be able to join you. The only way to join a non-public server is through an invite from the host, and most of the time, a password protection alone suffices.

Since a lot of people didn't quite understand why they couldn't join their friends due to this, we've renamed the setting to "Private / Hidden", with a more detailed tooltip, to hopefully provide better understanding of this setting. Private REALLY means private.

HALLOWEEN SALE



The spooky Halloween in-game event marches on, and for the next 2 weeks, the Party Pass will be 50% off! With all the new changes and additions to it, it's a pretty good time to get it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2355460/MicroWorks__Party_Pass/

Thank you, as always, for providing us with your feedback and issues. We hope this update helps everyone enjoy the game better, including our dedicated fans, and those who are just stepping foot for the first time in the MicroVerse. Get that 100%!!!!!

Spookai Month RETURNS
It's that time of year again - the blood moon rises over the nexus once more, to enchant the simulation with terrible spirits and corrupt the Kai units in an extraordinarily spooky manner.

THE EXCLUSIVE HALLOWEEN EVENT RETURNS, ACTIVE NOW FROM THE 1ST TO THE 31ST OF OCTOBER!



Enjoy fresh new takes on the nexus, new music, new player models, and more goodies to fit the season!





PLEASE NOTE: During the Halloween event, skins will be unavailable (skeletons don't have skin, after all!).

You can choose to opt out of seasonal events by navigating to Settings -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Disable Seasonal Events. The game will return to normal on your next level load.

Have a happy Halloween, folks!

Happy Birthday, MicroWorks!
September 2nd, 2022 - After a long, difficult development cycle, MicroWorks was released out into the wild. This being our first video game ever, I can still recall what a terrifying experience that was, not knowing how the game will be perceived, and whether anyone will enjoy it.

And here we are, a year later already (that was fast...). Our fears laid to rest, wrapped by the most welcoming and supportive community we could ever ask for! Even a year later, MicroWorks continues to attract new faces every day, and if we were to tell our past selves all that has happened throughout the year, they'd never believe us. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. <3

In celebration of this milestone, we're putting the Party Pass on sale for the next week, from September 1st to the 10th!.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2355460/MicroWorks__Party_Pass/

So,

how far has the game gone since its release last year? We haven't been slacking off, and focused on periodic updates with deep focus on what was bugging players during each period.



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Patch 1.01: SWEEP THE BUGS - September 5th, 2022



It is written that no game releases bug-proof, and our first priority was to squash as many as we could.

Notable changes in this update were nerfs to "Reach The End" and "Jetfrogs", new gameplay hints, and improvements to input-based microgames (before this update, if you happened to be moving when a microgame like "Type The Word" showed up, you'd quickly fill up your input with "wwwwwwwwwwwwww").

Patch 1.02: WAIT, DID I MISS A SPOT? - September 9th, 2022



Although this update's focus was originally planned to be on game balance, there were a couple of issues that nagged us too hard not to release earlier. And so, this was released as a complimentary update to the previous one, completing the last batch of fixes for "important" issues. (hence the title!)

Notable changes in this update were new team indicators and off-screen indicators for objectives and obstacles (like the ghost trains), the addition of the Croatian localization, voice chat improvements and many (but not all) game balance improvements.

Patch 1.03: BALANCE IT! - September 13th, 2022



1.03 was the complimentary update to what 1.02 started, rounding off the last batch of balancing issues we wanted to fix. This marked the final update from the "intensive post-release fixing" period, and we could start focusing on other things beyond just bugs and balance issues.

Notable changes in this update were improvements to double jumping (no longer hindered when falling down), Trivia Mastermind spectator support, and many balance changes across the board, such as removing score penalties when dying in Falling Platforms and adding danger indicators to Jump The Rope. Also Standoff finally stopped breaking! A-Almost.

Patch 1.04: ACCESSIBILITY UPDATE - September 23rd, 2022



When initially designing the game, we didn't put certain important things into the equation, and one of them was how people with color blindness or other disabilities can fair with the tasks. This update sought to correct our mistake, adding a new "Colorblind Mode", and an "Enlarge Small Texts" option for people who struggled reading the arguments.

Notable changes in this update were the addition of accessibility options, important bug fixes, and more balances changes to weapons like making the laser pistol faster and increasing the range on the laser pointer.

Patch 1.05: SPOOKAI UPDATE - October 21st, 2022



Our first big update with a spooky twist, 1.05 was a Halloween celebration, transforming the game's environments fittingly for the season for a limited period of time. Kai's shell also melted under the blood moon, revealing the scary skeleton that resided in him all this time. The Halloween event returns this October as well, for the entire month!

Notable changes in this update were the addition of the Halloween event, the Boss Rush gamemode that allowed you to play boss stages exclusively without microgames, big improvements to dynamic difficulty, an entire rework of "Don't Fall" (fixing a lot of the bad design choices that rewarded idling more than playing), and a fix to a beloved bug that allowed players to carry over dodgeballs into the nexus. It was fun while it lasted...

Patch 1.06: KAISMAS UPDATE - December 21st, 2022



Admittedly, the Halloween update didn't do too well, and the decision was made to focus on much more important things. But man, it's Christmas - we'd be forever regretful if we were to *not* celebrate it. And so 1.06 came out with a special Christmas event, adding festive holiday cheer throughout the nexus! The Christmas event, too, returns this December for the entire month!

Notable changes in this update were the addition of the Christmas event, major optimizations and fixes for lower-end hardware, and QoL improvements like visual effects for "Grab a Crab" and for shooting too early in "Standoff".

Patch 1.07: CALIBRATION UPDATE - March 10th, 2023



1.07 was part 1 of our "master plan" for the game. We had to come to terms with the fact there is a major entry barrier issue with the game, and despite our best efforts to teach the game as you play it, MicroWorks just isn't suited for that type of design philosophy. We've spent a LOT of time creating a comprehensive and entertaining tutorial that players can choose to go through before entering the game, and practicing its mechanics before being thrown out into the wilderness.

Notable changes in this update were the addition of the game tutorial, the addition of the Belarusian & Korean localizations (kindly provided to us by the community!), and a whole bunch more QoL additions, like adding health bars to certain breakable objects, and weapon input buffering.

Patch 1.08: FREE 4 ALL UPDATE - May 25th, 2023



And here's part 2, with what is likely the biggest and most important update we've made to the game. "Dead game" was an issue repeated so many times, ever since the game came out, it was ringing in my ears. It was hard to find active servers that weren't password protected or had more than 1 or 2 players in them. It was a difficult dilemma for us, knowing we do not possess the ability to grow the game more than we already did with our limited budget and almost no man power. So we sat down and started mapping out the road that would lead to MW's F2P debut.

This was the scariest, riskiest update we've done, and we were panicking for at least a couple of days after it came out, unsure whether we made the right decision. Today, I can very, very safely say, this was the best thing that happened to our game. In just 2 months, the amount of players grew 20x times, and these complaints evaporated into the wind, while still allowing us to continue turning a profit to re-invest into the game! This update was also, understandably, controversial, as we had to make the brave choice to lock private hosting behind the party pass, to encourage more people to play together. But I do strongly believe that it was the right thing to do, for both ourselves and our players.

Notable changes in this update were the free to play transition, the new leveling and progression system, skins & auras, custom emotes, and a whole bunch of big QoL changes and networking improvements!

Patch 1.09: TAKEOVER UPDATE - July 20th, 2023



And here we are in our latest update. With the big surge of players in the F2P update, a lot of *new* issues started popping up that we haven't accounted for before. For example, full servers kept getting disbanded by a single host, which was understandably upsetting. A lot of toxic people were starting to flood the game, and we were missing ways of fighting them. Therefore, this update focused on improving server experience, making sure that your public game experience is the best it can be!

Notable changes in this update were host takeover (making sure servers persist even if a host quits), moderation system & mutes/bans for players who misbehave, voting system improvements, and more cool QoL stuff like new UI for "Press All The Buttons", a "Double XP" special round, or exposing players' backs in "Robot Rumble" when they're blocking, so it's not just a "god mode" button.

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Phew! And this is only a quick summary of each update, skipping over a lot of the fine details of what they added and improved.

Compared to a year ago, at its release, MicroWorks is a VERY different game. We're lucky to have been able to continue to support it this long and transform it into a game that can be enjoyed by everyone, and we couldn't have done it without everyone else's support.

And aside from just that, making a game was our lifelong dream, and is an incredible achievement for us. There's a saying that goes "every game that gets released is a miracle", and it's true. MicroWorks is Agiriko's miracle, and we'll forever be thankful for this opportunity. We can't wait to find out what other new games lie ahead in our future...?

So one last time:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICROWORKS, AND THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!!!!!!!



MicroWorks Patch 1.09: [TAKEOVER UPDATE]
Youkoso. Welcome, to another MicroWorks update. In this update, we've focused on improving overall server experience and stability, as well as additional methods to fight off bad actors.

We've also got your usual batch of fixes, QoL improvements, and even some rebalances! You can read all about it in the changelog below.

UPDATED:




  • Host takeover! When a host abandons a public match, the game will find the next best possible host and move the server to them, with all previous players and progress in tact.
  • New moderation system: You can now report other players who are being abusive or acting inappropriately. Bad behavior may result in a permanent ban from the entire game, so be nice to each other!
  • Reworked and improved the voting system:

    • The threshold to passing a vote has been reduced from 75% to 70% of votes from players in the server.
    • If a vote times out without reaching the threshold, it will compare the amount of votes on both sides, and, if the yes vote count is substantially higher, it will pass it (instead of just always picking "No").
    • Added the ability to initiate a vote to skip a boss stage (from within the player list).
    • Added a 60 second cooldown period before you can initiate a new vote.
    • In order to combat abuse, initiating votes will be limited to players who finished at least 7 games. Party Pass owners are exempt from this limit.
    • Increased vote timeout period from 30 to 45 seconds.
    • Fixed inaccurate display on the vote count fill icons.

  • Added "Double XP" special round.
  • Jetfrogs rebalances and fixes:

    • Increased score payouts from 500 to 750
    • Opened up and de-cluttered the starting area
    • Moved starting checkpoint closer to the obstacle, rather than the very beginning
    • Straightened out and improved collision on the final bridge
    • Fixed a bunch of spots you could get stuck in
    • Improved collision in a bunch of different spots
    • Minor performance improvements

  • Robot Rumble rebalances and fixes:

    • Blocking now only protects your front - hits from behind will still count.
    • Slightly reduced boxing gloves damage output.

  • Added new UI to "Press All The Buttons" microgame.
  • Renamed Airblast microgame to make the objective clearer.
  • The text size in the "Shrinked" argument will now adjust according to your display resolution.
  • (Slightly) increased special round odds.


FIXED:




  • Fixed a bunch of server connection issues.
  • Fixed quickmatcher matching you into servers you were banned from.
  • Fixed certain achievement icons not displaying properly in the achievements display.
  • "Scratched" argument microgames will now display the unscratched text at the end of the round.
  • Fixed an issue where custom emotes uploaded from .jpg files could not be edited after being submitted.
  • Fixed an issue where the Jetfrogs icon would persist even after the boss ended.
  • Players will now properly receive score if their opponent in Standoff shoots too early.
  • Fixed an issue where if a player who is inside the ring/up next to join the ring in Robot Rumble were to leave the game, the boss would not end.
  • Fixed mutators not working in the Boss Rush gamemode.
  • You no longer need to have any microgames enabled to start a mutated Boss Rush server.
  • Fixed "Unfreezable" achievement being achievable while spectating.
  • "Lucky Guess" achievement can now be earned inside Trivia Mastermind too.
  • "Bonus life" argument should no longer appear in Last Player Standing.
  • "Don't Blow Up" microgame will now only count failure if you died from a barrel, and not from a player.
  • Fixed "Shooting Stars" special round not awarding score upon picking up the star.
  • Fixed "Megapush" special round not applying for late joiners.


Developer Projection



With the F2P update, many of you came flooding in and filled our niche little game with life - we are incredibly thankful. Unfortunately though, a few people also took to souring other people's experiences, spouting disgusting things in the chat, harassing players, abusing features like the vote kicking/banning, and more.

With this update, we are making a clear statement:
Toxic behavior is not welcome here, and you will be banned!

The Nexus welcomes everyone, and every user should feel comfortable and safe while playing our game. If someone is harassing you or is acting in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, you can now report them and bring them to our attention by holding Tab in a game to bring up the player list, selecting the offending user, pressing on "Player Details", and pressing on "Report".

That's all for now! As always, thank you so much to everyone who's playing our game and supporting it. It means the whole world to us.

Summer Time
Summer's greetings from Agiriko! With vacations around the corner, it's the perfect time to relax, pop a cold one, and get together with your buddies for the most relaxing gaming session available on the market. That's what MicroWorks is, right?

It's also time for the Steam Summer Sale, which should be live right about... now! And the Party Pass is participating in it, being 50% off for a total of just 4.99$. I honestly think the original price is enough of a steal as it is, so this is practically a robbery.

If stuff like custom cosmetics, emotes, private hosting, and a bunch of other perks sound like a fun thing to own, now would be a pretty good time to get it! God knows this game's workshop is... interesting, to say the least.



https://store.steampowered.com/app/2355460/MicroWorks__Party_Pass/

We've also been listening closely to feedback since the F2P release, and we're aware of a bunch of issues and inconveniences that arose. Most notably is the whole hosts disbanding games and dissolving full parties, which is validly an experience breaker.

Although we've both unfortunately been really busy dealing with real life (health issues, education, you know the drill), we are still doing our best to amend that problem, and although the lead developer asked me not to make any promises (so don't tell him I said anything!), we are experimenting with host switching functionality and even dedicated servers, so that next time your host decides to disband a 16 player game, the crown will be moved to the next best possible host. No ETA's yet, but this is more to let you guys know we're on it!

Remember that we're both always active on our social medias and the game's forum, so for any questions or any issues you're having, don't hesitate to ask.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1233410/discussions/

Anyway, that's practically it. Have a good summer break, everyone!

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