Hello! I'm happy to announce that my son Alexander was born last week and is happy and healthy. It's been a busy, stressful, crazy, and rewarding time for my wife and I. Everything does change but I'm looking forward to this new chapter in my life.
I wanted to take this time to thank all the players, whether you picked up the game in its alpha stage or one of the many who got it during the latest Summer Sale. Your support of this game has in turn enabled me to spend this important time to focus on my family and not have to worry as much about taking the time off work.
As I mentioned in the forums, the updates are going to slow down for a bit as I adjust and find a way to balance life and work. But I remain committed to the game and will keep putting out updates whenever possible. I've got a decent-sized update in the works that will include co-op challenges as well as 'Expert Rooms'. These server settings will lay the groundwork for more advanced modes & settings that will keep experienced players busy without interfering with the experience for new players.
So thanks again, and I hope to repay your support & patience with many more great additions to the game. Cheers!
- Erik
Bonus pic of kid & I:
Update 3.8 now live: new Arcade perks
3.8 contains a fix for players & bots sometimes spawning in the middle of the map with a shield that lasts too long. In addition, I added eight new Arcade perks:
Ball Magnet Attracts neutral dodgeballs to you when you are unarmed
Unlocked by cumulatively earning a score of 12500
Assassin Does double damage to bosses
Unlocked after dying 100 times
Air Brake Allows you to brake mid-air
Unlocked after 50 mid-air catches
Quick Trigger Bots will throw a ball as soon as they pick it up, at any distance
Unlocked after 50 quick draws
Dance Party Bots will jump whenever you do
Unlocked after 45 combos
Chrono Boost Time will slow down whenever you boost
Unlocked after 60 combos
Zombie Insurance Gives you a life back if you score a zombie KO
Unlocked after 250 catches
Harmless Catches Allows you to catch enemy balls without KO'ing the thrower
Unlocked after 25 godlikes
Update 3.7 now live
Players panel now has option to send friend request or view Steam profile of another player
Fixed big head mode only making faces bigger
Fixed hats being visible, obstructing view when looking up
Arcade bosses equipped with better outfits
Added 'Market' shortcut item in Inventory panel
Can equip items directly from inventory
Announcing the Winners of the Highlight GIF Contest
Ok I've gone through all the entries that were submitted and I have to say I am blown away by the crazy stuff you all accomplished. It was seriously challenging to pick favorites, let alone a top 3.
Since the entries overall were so good, I decided to expand the prize pool significantly.
So any player that had an entry selected as one of my favorites will have a random hat added to their inventory.
Any player that made it to my list of 'Honorable Mentions' (listed below) will win one rare item of their choosing and a DD key to share.
And the top 3 I chose will win, as promised, any Steam game of their choice, a unique Disco Dodgeball in-game trophy, any DD cosmetic item of their choice of any quality, and a 4-pack of DD keys.
It's a bit late here, so I'll send out all the prizes tomorrow. But for now, the results:
Favorites
To see the list of everything I favorited, you can go here: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198114323090/images/?appid=0&sort=newestfirst&browsefilter=myfavorites&view=imagewall
Honorable Mentions
These are clips that stood out in particular for one reason or another. I honestly think any one of these probably could have won, but they got just barely edged out based on my gut reaction.
"Very Far Away Multi Kill" by Sheepisaurus
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=451916338
This is from Horde mode, and just a beautifully lucky bounce across the entire Nexus arena to snag a multikill. I'm not sure I've ever seen a multikill at this distance.
"Boop" by Bukz
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=451444707
The comedic timing and luck on this is just perfect. A nice slow bounce that the enemy robot just walks into.
"The Juggler" by Uke
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=454881681
I've watched this 50 times and have no idea what happens. I think the Hunter bot is KO'd by the homing ball at the end, but there are two other friendly dodgeballs bouncing around? It's an insane ballet of flaming laser homing balls and worth watching over and over.
"Helicopter Alley-Oop Combo" by Karl With A C
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=455653748
"Godlike Multi" by Karl with A C
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=453267538
I love this duo of clips because they are beautifully framed and super stylish skill shots. They're so cleanly executed I think anyone who hasn't even played the game could appreciate the skill and timing involved.
"Not on my watch" by Remy
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=454564387
The KO itself is a normal shot, but the timing is perfect and kind of hilarious because it nails a jetpack bot a split second before they're about to grab a capture, and the cube falls harmlessly to the ground.
"Killing FlameBot in 1.60 seconds with just 1 ball" by Cherry Pie
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=453894903
I think it's safe to say we all hate FlameBot, so watching him get dispatched is always a joy. This is a crazy sequence of a mid-air KO followed by a rare double-dunk ricochet, causing FlameBot to blow up in short order.
"Package Protection" by Battle003333
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=451688041
This is a pretty rare combo - it's a mid-air Catch KO on the Super Ball carrier. This is very hard to do because it means you have to catch the regular ball that the target discarded in order to pick up the Super Ball. It looks like it took a weird bounce off a ramp, which Battle then grabbed mid-air and turned into a neat Godlike on another enemy player who was trying to grab the newly-dropped Super Ball.
"Lethal game-winning hoops shot" by xKirby
http://imgur.com/a/evhLO#7 (imgur link)
Ricochet hoops scores are always great to see, and this happens to be a game-winning zombie ricochet hoops shot which is exceedingly rare.
"Forcing a teamkill" by SeeBetterFromADistance
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=453684654
I absolutely love this shot, it's something I'm not sure I've ever seen. The throw bounces off an enemy block, then the ceiling, and nails another enemy standing next to them.
"Droppin like flies" by Kryzoid
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=452337796
This is a gorgeous sequence where three bots are taken out in quick succession. It's a Denied shot, then another shot is immediately fired off that bounces off a neutral ball and into an enemy for a Mid-Air, followed up by a slick catch.
NOTE:It looks like there's a limit on how many GIFS will render in-line, so you can continue reading from this separate discussion thread if you want: http://steamcommunity.com/app/270450/discussions/0/618463738396542757/
Kalaster submitted a bunch of totally insane shots and I couldn't pick just one so here are my four favorites. They're all some combination of four or five different skill shots crammed into one throw and crazy lucky timing.
Boncottled also created a huge array of amazing clips, usually focusing on an alley-oop and off-the-roof shot. I picked three that stood out for me as having great timing & composition.
The Winners
For one reason or another, these just resonated with me. I want to emphasize again how difficult it was to pick a top three, but I think you'll see why I decided to pick these. In no particular order:
"Calculated Again" by Yacobbb
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=455404363
The actual throw here isn't that remarkable, but it involves one-in-a-million luck, perfect framing, and I find it completely hilarious. The throw bounces off an enemy's held ball, then the roof, and then banks down onto the same unsuspecting target from above. I don't think this could ever be replicated. It's just simple and perfect.
"Pro Hoops" by Husa
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=454774411
There were a number of other Godlikes submitted, but this one is special - the mid-air catch happens to be a Super Ball shot that was going straight for the hoop. So it starts with a super-rare mid-shot catch. But then not only is that converted into a Godlike, but Husa manages to fit in a helicopter on the way. It's an extremely skillful sequence that can only be pulled off in very rare circumstances.
"Holy Triple" by Scigatt
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=454109340
This is just a beautiful sequence. It starts off with a mid-air catch, followed by a Godlike, but then the ball takes a lucky bounce off the bridge and is re-collected right at the maximum reach distance, which allows Scigatt to get a final Alley-Oop KO. So that's three KOs, two of which are super-rare, all in one tiny jump and maybe two seconds. Yes, it is assisted by the Arcade slow-motion but I actually think that improves the clip because it makes the highlight look fluid and dramatic.
So there you go! Thanks again everyone who entered and congratulations to the winners. It means quite a lot to me to see all this enthusiasm towards the game, and hopefully players will continue to share their awesome highlights with the rest of the community. Cheers!
Update 3.6 now live: Hats, bodies, wheels, throw FX - tons of new cosmetics added to game!
Disco Dodgeball just got a ton of new cosmetic content for you to mix & match to create the ultimate dodgeball machine. For the first time you'll be able to modify your robot's body, wheel, head, and hat - using content included in the first batch of curated Steam Workshop submissions.
Some of these items are super-rare, which will only drop for the luckiest of players. So get playing, trading, and crafting to get your hands on:
12 Hats (8 Uncommon, 4 Rare)
3 Wheels (2 Rare, 1 Epic)
2 Bodies (1 Rare, 1 Epic)
3 Heads (2 Rare, 1 Epic)
1 new Throw FX (Uncommon)
3 new Glasses (Common)
1 new Face (Common)
Common items will drop randomly during gameplay and can be converted to one random Advanced part. All the other items are crafted randomly from a set of 5 Advanced Parts. All items can be bought and sold on the community market or traded with other players for any Steam Inventory item.
Enjoy!
Announcing the Highlight GIF contest
I just added a new feature that lets you capture replay GIFs and now I want to see your most amazing, ridiculous, jaw-dropping highlight clips.
So I'm running a contest where you submit your clips and I'll pick the best 3 who will each win:
- Any Steam game of your choice (<= $60 USD)
- A unique Disco Dodgeball in-game trophy that can't otherwise be found or crafted
- Any Disco Dodgeball cosmetic item of your choice
- a 4-pack of Disco Dodgeball keys
To enter:
- Use the new GIF Replay Capture feature to record a highlight clip
- Share it on the game's Artwork page - Contest ends Friday, June 5th at 11:59 PM Eastern Time
If you need instructions on capturing and uploading GIFs, here's a guide for capturing and sharing GIFs: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=450230706
Other details / rule clarifications:
- You can enter multiple gifs, but I will select three different players as winners
- Any game mode is fine
- My criteria for picking winners is basically whichever clips show off the most skillful, lucky, or cool-looking gameplay sequence
- You can collaborate with other players, but the prizes will only go to the account that uploaded the GIF
- If you've already uploaded some gifs to the Artwork page, I will consider those as well if you ask them to be entered
- Ideally, you would capture in highest quality and then upload to the Steam workshop in a reduced file size (has to be under 10 MB). But, I know not all computers can handle high quality capture settings so I will allow and consider gifs of any quality
- If you win you'll provide me with the source gif so I can share it around or add to the Steam Store page
Using the Moments plugin, the game can now capture 4-second GIF highlight reels.
Here is a guide explaining everything in detail, but the short story is: Pick a Replay Quality setting in video options, do something awesome in-game, and hit F5 to get a GIF you can tweet or post to the game's Artwork section!
Bot Decals
I introduced a new cosmetic category - Decals. These were chosen from the Workshop decal section. Note: this first batch was commissioned specifically, but players can create and submit their own decals as well for future updates.
Decals will drop randomly just like crafting components, although more rarely. You can equip them in the Profile / Customize panel and they will show up on the back of your bot. You can also trade them with other players, sell them on the community market, or craft them into a random Advanced crafting part (circuit, piston, battery, motor, spark plug).
At some point I am hoping to create a decal collecting system, so you may want to hang on to them for a bit until I figure out exactly what I'm going to do there.
Other Stuff
Added separate video prefs for volumetric lights & laser lights
Fixed arcade bots getting bumped out of spawn and clustering for same target ball
Option to disable Clan decal downloading, may be causing timeoutDisconnects
Fixed rainbow ball trail not having icon showing
Fixed cosmetic items not showing their name in garage or crafting panels
Fixed visualizer and windowed mode starting with blank preference labels
Increased default score limit for random mode Team Deathmatch, increased for random mode FFA deathmatch
When you craft an inventory item, will unequip it if it's the last one of that type you own
Fixed game launching in fullscreen on first startup, even though default pref state is windowed
Please Note Your player prefs will be reset as part of this update because I had to move their location and wasn't able to migrate them. Your stats, XP, items, and achievements are safe. However your sensitivity settings, video settings and customization changes will be reset to defaults. So you will need to go back into those and re-configure to your liking. Sorry about the hassle!
Update 3.4 now live - Audio control hotkeys, unified playlist & track manager
Just posted a new update with some long-requested audio features and lots of minor bug fixes.
Added new Playlist Manager panel (Options / Audio / Playlist). Disable songs or change per-track volume
Built-in soundtrack, songs downloaded from Workshop, and custom audio files now merged into one master playlist
Added hotkeys for next track (N) and going back one track (B)
Game can handle mid-session inventory schema changes more gracefully
Fixed 'Training Over' menu having bad header layout
Fixed phantom throw not working until you collect a ball
Fixed pathing issue for bots on Chasm
Fixed clan tag not clearing if you switch back to no clan
Made catch cooldown happen in realtime instead of slow-mo time in Arcade (was causing missed catches)
Prevented arrows keys from also navigating buttons if you use them in a text entry field
More reliable downloading of leaderboard username info
Fixed checkpoint alert messages showing your last special KO type
Fixed checkpoint saying 'finish' in red text if restarting in same level
Fixed 'slo-mo catch' powerup window lasting way too long
Next update will include the first wave of Workshop content, so you'll have lots more unlockable cosmetics to craft & trade!
Huge Workshop/loot/crafting update and STEAM DAILY DEAL!
I'm extremely excited to announce a ton of great news for Disco Dodgeball today.
For the next 48 hours, Disco Dodgeball will be the Steam Daily Deal at 40% off. This includes the single copy as well as the 4-pack. So if you've been waiting to pick up the game or to invite your friends in, you should do that right now!
Along with this big sale I have released a massive 3.0 update to the game. This includes:
- Launch of the game's Steam Workshop, meaning you can now upload, share, and submit items for inclusion in the game (with the opportunity to earn revenue from accepted items). One of the coolest features is you can subscribe to submitted songs and have them included in your game's soundtrack automatically. For example, here's a song you can add to your game just by hitting 'subscribe': http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=434921120
The Workshop Guide can be found here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=425217999
- Launch of random loot drops and cosmetic crafting. As you play, you'll randomly collect scrap parts that you can combine into better parts or eventually cosmetics like special ball throw FX, on fire FX, sunglasses, and yes - HATS. Better still is you can buy, sell, or trade any of these items on the Steam Marketplace.
This is going to be a huge change for the game, and over the next few days / weeks / months I'll be adding tons more cosmetic items into the game, especially once I start accepting and integrating the items you submit.
Enjoy!
Major update 2.0 released!
For the past month I've been working really hard to get this update out - it includes an update to Unity 5 which has a dramatically different lighting and physics system, so there were lots of kinks to work out. In addition, there's a new game mode, clan support, and tons of minor fixes.
It's the biggest update since launch, and now that this one is out of the way I can move on to things like Steam Workshop support.
Enjoy!
Full patch notes:
New game mode: Kingpin. First player to get a KO is the kingpin and is only player that can score trick shot points. Any player that takes out the Kingpin becomes the new one. Available in Team and FFA modes
Can now select a Clan from your Steam groups. Clan logo will appear on your bot and tag will appear in your username. (Profile / Customize / Clans)
New Unity 5 lighting system. Uses Global Illumination for more realistic material effects
New Unity 5 physics system. Removed Wheel Collider and moved to a velocity-driven-sphere configuration. Should not get stuck on ramp edges as much or at all. Should have performance improvement as well
All levels retextured
Arena and Airborne map size increased
Fixed extra timer tick playing in Super Ball if KO occurred by winning team while close to score goal
Fixed being unable to turn antialiasing off
FFA match awards now show 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place positions
Fixed leaderboards not loading when starting challenge level
Fixed stale detail list being shown if switchig between challenges and bot match menus
Fixed arcade bot opponents gaining your upgrades
Stopped bots from targeting priority players still in spawn
Added in-game mods that can kick or ban without calling for a vote
Made scoreboard wider
Fixed dodgeballs turning neutral if they hit a double wall collider on many random surfaces
Fixed objective KOs not being tracked correctly, resulting in unpredictable 'Best Defense' award
Fixed bot AIs not passing dodgeballs to shielded teammates
