Early Access Update #7 - Build 0.75b - Sandbox 2.0
Welcome Engineers to another edition of Poly Bridge!
Sandbox 2.0
The new Sandbox 2.0 is finally here! The level creator has been overhauled with dozens of new features including the highly requested checkpoints, a completely new visual style, a node-based event system, custom objects, unbreakable contraptions, and more! We've also included the ability to tag your Workshop submissions with a difficulty rating or as an Autoplay level as detailed below.
Node-based Event System
The event system has been completely overhauled, and level designers can now create multiple branching event paths and special groups that trigger when a vehicle hits a specific checkpoint, adding much greater depth to the puzzle making aspect.
Hydraulic Controller
The hydraulic controller allows players to set whether or not any particular hydraulic will activate during any given hydraulic phase. This feature can be enabled in the Sandbox and can be part of any Workshop item submissions; we plan on integrating this feature into some of the Campaign levels in the near future.
Check out this bridge design by bolt986:
Autoplay and Difficulty Tags
When uploading a Sandbox level to the Steam Workshop you may now tag the level with a difficulty rating from Easy to Insane. You can now mark a level as Autoplay; this loads the solution bridge for the player when starting the level. To compliment this you can tag your Workshop level as 'Art', a 'Replica', or a 'Contraption'. Players will be able to search for Workshop levels in-game with the above tags in the next patch.
In-Game Workshop Browser
You can now rate a Workshop level from in-game and we've provided Steam Overlay links to follow an author or comment on the level. We've also added a new 'Following' tab to the in-game browser so you can search followed authors portfolios.
Longer GIFs
GIF capture duration can be increased to a max length of 30 seconds, defaulting to 10 seconds. Warning: This may cause the game to crash if your video card does not have enough VRAM to capture the full time.
New Features
Node-based event system
Checkpoints (Stop, Reverse, Change Speed)
Hydraulic Controller, fine-tune which hydraulics get activated when
Workshop Level Tags
Split Joints can now connect to any other Split at the end of a Hydraulics Phase
Custom shape creator in Sandbox
Time delays can be set for any event
Unbreakable mode added to Sandbox
Replay Folder now settable in Settings
GIF recorder settable to 30 seconds, defaults to 10 seconds
You may now skip the tutorial by exiting to the campaign
Workshop: Rate levels in-game
Workshop: Follow author (opens Steam Overlay)
Workshop: Search by authors ‘Following’
Workshop: Comment on items (opens Steam Overlay)
Bug Fixes
New players can now split joints properly in Alpine Meadows
Grid is now infinite
Hotkeys now swap appropriately
Space no longer starts simulation while typing in a text box
Various minor bug fixes
Hotfix 0.75b-p1
Fixed issue with Event Retriggers not loading correctly in Workshop
Fixed issue with Custom Shapes showing vertices in Workshop
Fixed issue with Checkpoint Reverse modifier on a flipped vehicle
Next Update
Our lead Artist, Javier, is currently busy doing a big overhaul of the art style and colour palettes, as well as creating further themes for the level designers to make levels in, who are also keeping busy these days creating new levels for everyone to enjoy.
Adrian Talens, the musician, has been improving the sound effects and engine sounds to be used for each vehicle, so you should be hearing improvements in that area too.
As always we will keep fixing bugs and implementing new features that our players request.
Suggestions
Please help us improve the game by reporting bugs and relating your feedback and suggestions. You can do so via the in-game Feedback tool, on our Steam Forums, on our subreddit, or by email.
Every bridge needs support, thank you for supporting us during Early Access!
Early Access Update #6 - Build 0.74b
Welcome back Engineers!
New User Interface
We've completely redone the User Interface. The tool wheel has been removed and new icons have been integrated throughout the UI, complete with tooltips. As a result, the Tutorial has had a complete overhaul and expansion. New features are explained as well as a few existing concepts. Access it from the World Map, we highly recommend you give it a play through.
Suspensions Reincarnated: Tracing Tool
Suspensions have been replaced with a new stronger Cable, old-cable has been renamed to Rope, perfect when used in conjunction with the new Tracing Tool. As requested by the community, we’ve added a Tracing Tool to make it easy to draw perfect arcs and curves and snap onto them while placing bridge parts.
Boats and Planes
New boats have been added to the Sandbox including the Houseboat, Yacht, Cargo Ship, and Hoverboat. We've also introduced planes: the Biplane, Helicopter, and Blimp.
Soundtrack
The full soundtrack by Adrian Talens (@AdrianTalens) has been completed and is available as DLC on the Store Page. Includes 18 tracks of gentle fingerstyle guitar music.
"Imagine going on the most relaxing road trip, let this soundtrack perfectly accompany you on your happy travels."
New Features
Ropes now sag appropriately
Added Camera Angle presets
Redo function added
Split Joint Pop-Up
1 New Level (Snow Drift: Monster Jumps)
Draw Tooltip (Cost, Length, Angle)
Arc/Tracing Tool added
New Boats: Houseboat, Yacht, Cargo Ship
New Planes: Biplane, Helicopter, and Blimp
Bug Fixes
Steel and Rope collide with Boats and Planes again
Spaces now allowed when searching Workshop in-game
Camera no longer breaks when you rotate it really fast
Fixed a startup crash that was affecting some users
Fixed a problem with Boats breaking Roads too early in Sandbox
Many other small bug fixes
Improvements
Cable renamed to Rope
New ‘Cable’ material to replace removed Suspensions
Removed Cowboy’s speech on the first campaign level
Steam Achievement icons added
Vehicle/Material intros have been hidden for now
Grid Crosshatching at 1m and 5m added
Speed Controls adjusted and added to key config
Added Cut, Copy, Paste, Flip Vertical and Horizontal to key config
Upgraded game engine to Unity 5.3.3
Next Update
We’re hard at work on a complete rewrite of the Sandbox: with checkpoint flags, events branching, and a whole new interface.
Suggestions
Please help us improve the game by reporting bugs and relating your feedback and suggestions. You can do so via the in-game Feedback tool, on our Steam Forums, on our subreddit, or by email.
Every bridge needs support, thank you for supporting us during Early Access!
Beta branch update - 0.74b
The beta branch has been updated!
For instructions on how to enable the beta branch please read this post.
We’ve revamped the tutorial, added an arc tool, and brought in some new assets to the Sandbox. We’ve also updated the UI with some new icons and tooltips.
Your reports help improve the beta and we do appreciate them. Please leave any bug reports or feedback for the beta branch you have by replying to this thread.
Thanks for supporting Poly Bridge, we couldn’t stand without you!
We're very excited to bring you another update to your favorite bridge-building game, and this is a large one so make sure to read all the juicy details!
You can also view a video where we talk about the major features and improvements of this update https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX9r5zoX_b4
Cut, Copy, and Paste!
Cut, Copy, and Paste commands are now available! Finally you can build that mega-structure you've been dreaming about!
Use right-click (or Ctrl+left-click) to select or drag-select the desired bridge pieces, which you can then Delete, Cut or Copy.
Once you have items in the clipboard, you can flip them horizontally or vertically and stamp them onto your bridge multiple times.
New Worlds: Snow Drift and Zen Gardens
There are two new worlds with 25 new Campaign levels! We've added some more traditional levels and a few unorthodox ones, all brought to you by our wonderful community level design team. We also snuck a new level into Ancient Ruins, more on that below.
Level Reorganization
We did a complete rework of the order of the current campaign levels. This was to smooth out the difficulty curve, especially on the first two worlds. Alongside that we removed one duplicate level and replaced it with ‘Nice Landing’ in Ancient Ruins.
Sandbox/Workshop
We've streamlined the Steam Workshop submission process from the Sandbox, making it much more intuitive and easier to submit new levels and update your previous ones.
We’ve also added an in-game Workshop Browser, so you never need to leave the game to find more levels to play.
New Features
Improved Split Joints, you can now choose sides! Zoom in to access
Copy, Paste, and Flip Clipboard
Selection and Delete have been revamped to work with Copy/Paste
7 new tracks added to the in-game Soundtrack
Unlimited Budget Mode; unlocked by completing a world
Unlimited Materials Mode; unlocked by completing a world under budget
Delete Campaign Progress button, with ‘Are you sure?’ dialogue, included in Options
Level Progression Indicator; displays how many levels you have completed and completed under budget on the World Map
New vehicle: Wrecking Ball. Swinging ball of destruction paired with the heaviest vehicle yet! Weighing in at a staggering 16 Polygrams it’s sure to add a challenge to even the simplest bridges
Improvements
Correctly save your bridge designs when playing Workshop levels
Sandbox files are now paired with bridge design save-files in the Sandbox/Build modes
Boat outlines now display more accurately where a boat will be traveling
Upgraded game engine to Unity 5.2.2, this hopefully will resolve the known issue with switching windows as detailed in the previous patch notes
Sandbox UI brought in-line with other UI elements
Increased size of Hydraulic arrows making them easier to click on
Grid toggle unlocked once tutorial complete
Removed drawing restrictions on non-road materials; draw from far away for easy straight lines
Platforms have been adjusted to always be on grid; this makes them easier to align with red static joints. Existing platforms in Sandbox need to be resized or remade to snap to grid
Order of events displayed in ‘Level Info’ for each campaign level
Vehicles on the same phase will now display as A1, A2, etc...
Added a tooltip explaining Colourblind Mode
Removed warning about needing split joints
Budget on ‘Collision Course’ set to $200,000
Level numbers now displayed
Many typos fixed
Bug Fixes
You can now delete phases in Sandbox
Fixed a seemingly random break occurring on some hydraulic levels
Level transitions should now happen cleanly
Adjusted the default simulation angle on ‘Downward Tube’
Fixed Mac Retina Display resolution issues
Many small fixes, too many to mention
Next Update
Next update we plan to include a New World even more difficult than Zen Gardens, look forward to that! We also plan to revamp and slightly expand the tutorial to include the newest features. Finally we’re going to implement Checkpoint Flags, increasing the flexibility of the level possibilities! Of course there will be plenty more new features and bug fixes, as always.
Suggestions
Please help us improve the game by reporting bugs and relating your feedback and suggestions. You can do so via the in-game Feedback tool, here on the Steam Forums, on our subreddit, or by email.
We support triangles! Thank you for supporting us during Early Access!
Opt-in beta for 0.73b
It's that time again, a new update for your favorite bridge-building game, Poly Bridge!
We have:
2 new Worlds, 25 new Campaign levels!
Cut, Copy & Paste
Split Joint chooser!
In-game Steam Workshop browser
Major overhaul of the Sandbox and Workshop submissions flow
Hundreds of bug fixes and other improvements!
Head over here to read all the patch notes for this opt-in beta.
We'll keep this update on the opt-in branch for a few days before we roll out to default, so if you find any issues please let us know!
Thanks,
Dry Cactus
Early Access Update #4 - Build 0.72b
Welcome back for another update of Poly Bridge, engineers. We have a lot of great new features and bug fixes for you so let's dig in!
Opt-in beta adopters: This build fixes a number of issues found during the beta-testing period of 0.72b, thanks for helping us!
New World: 80s Funland
We've unlocked 12 new levels with some challenging puzzles. Many of these levels aren't traditional bridges, but we feel a large portion of the fun of Poly Bridge is about having few limitations and supporting unique challenges. We have more levels in development, expect new worlds soon! Also, the decorations are currently all the same between levels, we're going to be adding a few more layouts before we push the build public.
Sandbox/Workshop
Many sandbox bugs have been fixed as detailed below. One important thing to note; if you'd like to update your current Workshop Level you will have to submit it again and delete the old one to remove your solution from the thumbnail and ensure the budget, materials, and event orders are saved properly. We are looking to integrate the Steam Workshop in-game browser in the near future to make this process smoother.
New Features
Campaign: Online Stats! Histograms! See how well you fared against the crowd.
Name (and rename) your save files!
Pause the simulation by dragging the speed slider or with the 'P' key.
Five new Sandbox vehicles: Taxi, Police Car, Tuk-Tuk, Sports Car, Little Bug
Guide: Plenty of useful tips and tricks. Hosted here and viewable in-game with the Steam Overlay.
New Option Toggle: 'Colour Blind Mode': Stress Colours appear as White-Grey-Black instead of Green-Yellow-Red.
Bug Fixes
Replays: Changed aspect ratio to 16:9 and fixed Mac replays coming up as grey.
Hydraulics: Hydraulics no longer move out of order.
You can no longer both fail and succeed a map simultaneously.
Migrated progress to Steam Cloud; this should now carry over between computers with the same SteamID.
Sandbox: Removed solution thumbnail from new Workshop submissions. Now displays level without solution as expected.
Sandbox: Fixed save bug caused by deleting objects and a related bug where the win screen wouldn't always appear.
Sandbox: Workshop maps will now load material/budget limits and the order of events correctly.
Sandbox: Lots of small things, more to come!
Improvements
Upgraded game engine to Unity 5
Added option to reset controls to default and erase all Campaign progress
Camera remembers last positions now!
Removed Sandbox and World locks. Play how you want.
Suspensions: Improved stability overall and added functions to change parameters on suspension cord's shape.
Increased strength of Suspension by 50%.
Raised the budget of 'Ancient Ruins - 24m Low Budget Overpass' slightly.
Increased transparency of water.
Increased speed of boats.
Swapped '14m Double Jump' and '40m Double Monster Jump' levels. See Next Update section below for more info.
Tweaked hydraulic % display, hopefully for the last time!
Increased the weight of the Ice Cream Truck by almost 15%.
Known Issues
There is currently a known issue with Unity 5 that causes the UI to disappear if you adjust your resolution in game. After setting your resolution, make sure to press 'Enter' on your keyboard to confirm the new resolution. You can then exit the game manually with Alt+F4 (or Command+Q on Mac). Load Poly Bridge again and your resolution should be updated. If you need to manually adjust your resolution instructions can be found here.
Next Update
As you can see above we swapped two level's positions on the World Map. We did this because we received a great deal of feedback about the difficulty curve suddenly increasing on '14m Double Jump'. Next update we're looking to do a complete re-organization of the existing levels as well as implementing at least twelve new levels. These changes should not impact your save files or each levels Completed/Under Budget status. We are aiming to make the difficulty curve more gradual and less jagged.
We also look to include the clipboard you've all been waiting for. Yes that's right: copy, paste, and flip! Build massive structures with ease.
Ongoing work will be done in the Sandbox/Workshop area, adding more content, implementing player requested features, and overall improving the experience of sharing levels across the Steam Workshop. And, as always, more bug fixes coming with each patch.
Suggestions
Please help us improve the game by reporting bugs and relating your feedback and suggestions. You can do so via the in-game Feedback tool, on our Steam Forums, or by email.
Every bridge needs support, thank you for supporting us during Early Access!
Opt-in beta for 0.72b
* For details on enabling the beta, please visit this page.
Welcome back for another beta patch of Poly Bridge, engineers. We have a lot of great new features and bug fixes for you so let's dig in!
New World: 80s Funland
We've unlocked 12 new levels with some challenging puzzles. Many of these levels aren't traditional bridges, but we feel a large portion of the fun of Poly Bridge is about having few limitations and supporting unique challenges. We have more levels in development, expect new worlds soon! Also, the decorations are currently all the same between levels, we're going to be adding a few more layouts before we push the build public.
Sandbox/Workshop
Many sandbox bugs have been fixed as detailed below. One important thing to note; if you'd like to update your current Workshop Level you will have to submit it again and delete the old one to remove your solution from the thumbnail and ensure the budget, materials, and event orders are saved properly. We are looking to integrate the Steam Workshop in-game browser in the near future to make this process smoother.
New Features
Campaign: Online Stats! Histograms! See how well you fared against the crowd.
Name (and rename) your save files!
Pause the simulation by dragging the speed slider or with the 'P' key.
Five new Sandbox vehicles: Taxi, Police Car, Tuk-Tuk, Sports Car, Little Bug
Guide: Plenty of useful tips and tricks. Hosted here and viewable in-game with the Steam Overlay.
New Option Toggle: 'Colour Blind Mode': Stress Colours appear as White-Grey-Black instead of Green-Yellow-Red.
Bug Fixes
Replays: Changed aspect ratio to 16:9 and fixed Mac replays coming up as grey.
Hydraulics: Hydraulics no longer move out of order.
You can no longer both fail and succeed a map simultaneously.
Migrated progress to Steam Cloud; this should now carry over between computers with the same SteamID.
Sandbox: Removed solution thumbnail from new Workshop submissions. Now displays level without solution as expected.
Sandbox: Fixed save bug caused by deleting objects and a related bug where the win screen wouldn't always appear.
Sandbox: Workshop maps will now load material/budget limits and the order of events correctly.
Sandbox: Lots of small things, more to come!
Improvements
Upgraded game engine to Unity 5
Camera remembers last positions now!
Removed Sandbox and World locks. Play how you want.
Suspensions: Improved stability overall and added functions to change parameters on suspension cord's shape.
Increased strength of Suspension by 50%.
Raised the budget of 'Ancient Ruins - 24m Low Budget Overpass' slightly.
Increased transparency of water.
Increased speed of boats.
Swapped '14m Double Jump' and '40m Double Monster Jump' levels. See Next Update section below for more info.
Tweaked hydraulic % display, hopefully for the last time!
Increased the weight of the Ice Cream Truck by almost 15%.
Known Issues
There is currently a known issue with Unity 5 that causes the UI to disappear if you adjust your resolution in game. After setting your resolution, make sure to press 'Enter' on your keyboard to confirm the new resolution. You can then exit the game manually with Alt+F4 (or Command+Q on Mac). Load Poly Bridge again and your resolution should be updated. If you need to manually adjust your resolution instructions can be found here.
Next Update
As you can see above we swapped two level's positions on the World Map. We did this because we received a great deal of feedback about the difficulty curve suddenly increasing on '14m Double Jump'. Next update we're looking to do a complete re-organization of the existing levels as well as implementing at least twelve new levels. These changes should not impact your save files or each levels Completed/Under Budget status. We are aiming to make the difficulty curve more gradual and less jagged.
We also look to include the clipboard you've all been waiting for. Yes that's right: copy, paste, and flip! Build massive structures with ease.
Ongoing work will be done in the Sandbox/Workshop area, adding more content, implementing player requested features, and overall improving the experience of sharing levels across the Steam Workshop. And, as always, more bug fixes coming with each patch.
Suggestions
Please help us improve the game by reporting bugs and relating your feedback and suggestions. You can do so via the in-game Feedback tool, on our Steam Forums, or by email.
Every bridge needs support, thank you for supporting us during Early Access!
PAX Prime 2015
PAX Prime 2015 is happening in just a few days in Seattle, WA.
We'll be exhibiting the game as part of the Indie MEGABOOTH, showing Poly Bridge in the Minibooth on Friday and Saturday only! (August 28-29)
Contest time!
To celebrate our first public showing of Poly Bridge, we'll be running a competition to win a unique hand-painted miniature of the Surfer's Van, only one exists in the world so here's your chance to grab a piece of history in the making!
The contest will be in the form of a "lowest budget" competition, giving each participant 10 minutes on a never before seen level to come up with the cheapest design that can get the vehicles across.
We also have a bunch of t-shirts to give away, and of course you'll get to meet some of the members of the team, so come say hi!
Artisan made 3D print, hand-painted and enclosed in an acrylic display cube
Update Delayed
Greetings Engineers!
It has been an amazing two months! We've put out three patches so far and we're working hard on the next. We know many of you were expecting a new patch around now but we've had a few hiccups that have set us back a little. We don't want to release a new patch until we're certain everything is ready for you. Don't worry though, there are lots of great new things to look forward to.
Upcoming
Next Patch
New Campaign World: 80’s Funland, with twelve new levels!
A guide with plenty of detail and tips.
Most major Sandbox issues fixed.
New Vehicles.
No more 'Online data not available', see how you did compared to the crowd with fancy histograms!
Coming Soon
More tools: Measuring tape, copy, paste, and mirror.
Sandbox overhaul with new assets and more functionality
Ongoing bug fixes.
And more!
PAX Prime
We're on our way to PAX Prime in Seattle Aug 28-31 where we'll be running a competition to win a very special one-off hand painted Poly Bridge miniature.
There will also be t-shirts, and of course you'll get to meet some of the members of the team.
More details to follow soon.
Thank you
Thanks so much to our great fans who have been very by helpful reporting bugs and giving us ideas and feedback. Please keep them coming on the Steam forum or on reddit at r/Polybridge.
May your bridges be sturdy,
The Dry Cactus Team
Early Access Update #3 - Build 0.71b
Time for another update!
This update focuses primarily on some key features and changes that players have requested, as well as fixing many of the recurring bugs you might have been seeing.
Important!
The default control scheme has changed! You can view and change the controls in the Options menu at any time.
Toggle Simulation = Space Bar Toggle Tool Wheel = T
New Features
Hydraulic Controller: Allows you to set how far a hydraulic piston contracts or extends
Steam Cloud: All save files are now using Steam Cloud so they are shared across devices
Customizable Keys: You can now customize your own key mapping
In-range Joints Visualizer: You can now see which joints will be in-range of a newly created joint at the current mouse position
New track! Our awesome composer, Adrian Talens, has just finished work on another track, it's in-game and you can also listen to it now on Soundcloud.
Bug Fixes
Level loading transition bug (aka: double-level bug), which would also cause the UI to disappear
Under-budget levels not marked correctly in some cases
Under-water exploit (sorry, no more driving under water!)
Static Joints move exploit
Infinity road exploit
Save files sometimes not working
Improvements
Joint Stress colors improved, now using HSV and not RGB
Ability to delete save files
GIF replays now look much nicer (if you have anti-aliasing enabled)
Online Gallery
We've also done more work on our new Online Gallery website, which you can view at http://gallery.drycactus.com/
Any new submissions will go to the new gallery, as the old one is being phased out.
You can now log-in with you Steam account to view your own submitted replays, and to comment and vote on yours and others submissions.
The Online Gallery now also stores the stats of the replay, such a level, max stress, budget, etc.
We'll be doing more work on the Online Gallery to implement player requested features, such as Official Competitions, and storage of the actual save-files so that you can "import" a bridge design into the game from a user submission and mess around with it.
Next Update
Just so you know what the plans are for the next update, which you can expect before the end of August, we're now hard at work on drastically improving the Sandbox, as well as knee deep into level design, so expect to be challenged by some more crazy levels soon!
Suggestions?
As always, please help us improve the game by reporting bugs and giving us your feedback and suggestions.
You can do so from within the game's "Feedback" menu, or here on the Steam forums, or even by email if you prefer.
Thank you very much for your support during our Early Access period!
