As always, all of details on the most recent changes can always be found in the ChangeLog.
A step towards internationalization
This update adds international support to the font and to chat (through IME). Now you should be able to see the names of our Japanese friends who have been playing quite a bit of Splody recently!
This also opens the possibility of doing localization in a future update. Do you want to see Splody in your language? Contact me via info@dashingstrike.com if you would be interested in helping with the translation of Splody - there's not much text at all, mostly just the menus, so it wouldn't be much work.
There have been a few other little features and fixes since the last major update, here are the interesting ones:
Major Features and Fixes
Font support for most international (European and Asian) characters
Add IME support for entering these characters into chat/edit boxes
Update to new Discord invite link ( https://discord.gg/dashingstrike )
Restored support for Windows XP
Fixed opening https links on Linux
Fixed copy/paste from chat
Note: The international font requires a GPU supporting 8K textures (common in GPUs made from 2006), so may not be available on particularly low-end systems. If this is actually a problem for anyone, let me know, we can find a workaround.
Hope you have a blast!
Jimbly
Splody Update 7 - Cross-platform Multiplayer With Console Version
PlayStation 4 version is now live!
The PlayStation 4 version launched a little while ago, and is fully multiplayer-compatible with the Steam version, so we've been having some good cross-platform battles recently! If you've got friends or family without Steam who you want to play against, have them pick up a copy from the PSN Store.
I've also been busy adding general features and making improvements, some of the more interesting ones are below.
Major Features and Fixes
New option: increase round time on "giant" mapsby an additional 30 seconds
New option: Flame Speed
New option: Flame Duration
Re-order Advanced Gameplay Options to have more interesting options at top
Add taunt sounds
Add some additional flair to the round victory/lose/draw screen
Add subtle fade transition to most state changes to make UI flow more smoothly
Startup speed optimizations
Support for some obscure gamepads that were not being recognized correctly
Make disconnecting from a server always instantaneous
Playing with 64 bots (A.K.A. "Screensaver Mode") now works better on all maps
Add delay on processing controller disconnects, allowing for them to be reconnected (within 5 seconds) without killing your player
Fix text entry on non-QWERTY keyboards
Fix framerate stutter on newer video cards/drivers when a round ends
Fix bug in online multiplayer where dead members of a winning team would not see the "Victory" text, despite their team winning
Fix achievement icons not showing on OSX
Fix amusing crash if you enter the last teleporter and there are no teleporters remaining (due to level closure) when you finish teleporting
I apologize for the lack of updates in a while, I've been hard at work on adding support for a PlayStation 4 version, and with that nearly wrapped up, you can soon look forward to an influx of new opponents in online games! Also to help find opponents for online games, this update brings with it Discord integration.
Discord Integration
Add Discord Rich Presence supporting sharing game details and inviting over Discord
Launched an Official Discord Server for Splody and Dashing Strike - gather here to say "hi" or coordinate some multiplayer games!
The Discord Server includes a bot that can notify whenever there are people in a public game looking for more players.
Major Features and Fixes
Cross-platform multiplayer features to handle the upcoming PlayStation 4 release
Significant performance enhancements - greatly reduced the performance impact of large levels and Bot players. Not sure who wants to play on a level with thousands of tiles and 64 Bots, but now you can!
Loading/start-up time enhancements
New Option: "TV Safe Area" for keeping the important part of the UI within the visible part of the screen
New Option: "Subtle" power-up sounds (suggested by FireVisor)
New Option: Play on (or start) servers which do not allow UGC (user-made levels or user-entered server names)
New Feature: Allow other players to force a match to start if the room leader is being unreasonably slow
New Feature: Ability to report offensive user-made levels and player names
Level Editor: Add graphics scheme preview and Delete option
Add graphical hints about controller or keyboard hotkeys to almost every screen, so it is clear you can press a button/key to exit a menu, etc
Add appropriate in-game icons when using PlayStation-family controllers on PC
Add filtering by platform (Steam / PlayStation 4) on the in-game leaderboards
With the release of Achievements and Trading Cards, the fifth major update to Splody is complete!
Major Features and Fixes
Achievements
Trading Cards and associated community items:
Trading Cards
Profile Backgrounds
Badges
Emoticons
New player spawn logic for more consistently even distribution of players, while handling more players on all maps
Hope you have a blast!
Jimbly
Splody Update 4 - Customizations Galore!
The fourth major update to Splody releases today, adding some commonly requested level editor featuers and game options!
Major Features and Fixes
Feel free to browse the ChangeLog, for all of the details, but here are the major things included in this update:
New series options:
Set initial power-ups that players start with (overriding map defaults)
Set power-up drop frequencies (overriding map defaults)
Adjust Game Speed for a more chaotic or strategic experience
New Level Editor features:
Set initial power-ups that players start with per-map
Place Teleporters, Conveyors, Tunnels, and initial Power-Ups
New levels made with these new features:
Polo - start with Kicker and Mount
Race - get to the outside first to acquire a ton of power-ups
Steam Cloud support for custom levels
Display player name and avatar of round winner under the "Victory" / "Draw" / "Lose" text
Hope you have a blast!
Jimbly
Splody Update 3 - Powering Up!
The third major update to Splody releases today, adding some commonly requested gameplay features!
Major Features and Fixes
Feel free to browse the ChangeLog, for all of the details, but here are the major things included in this update:
New powerup: Dashing Strike (double-tap movement to send a bomb flying)
New powerup: Dangerous Bombs (explodes in a square-ish area)
New powerup: Piercing Bombs (pierces through soft blocks and powerups)
New powerup: Bouncy Bombs (when kicked, bombs bounce instead of stops upon hitting an obstacle)
New "Custom" online game type that lets you change any options without having to run your own dedicated server
Hope you have a blast!
Jimbly
Splody Update 2 - Bombs EVERYWHERE!
The second major update to Splody releases today, adding support for Mac OS X and Linux / Steam OS, including cross-platform multiplayer. To celebrate, Splody is 40% off this week!
Major Features and Fixes
Feel free to browse the ChangeLog, for all of the details, but here are the major things included in this update:
Mac OS X Support
Linux / SteamOS Support
Windows XP Support, because, why not?
Bot Difficulty Options allowing for easier bots for new players, and even harder bots for experienced players
New rendering pipeline offers more performance and compatibility for these ports, as well as possible future console releases
New remote bomb options: unlimited and one simultaneous per powerup
Better SteamLink Support when adding/removing controllers from your SteamLink
Hope you have a blast!
Jimbly
Splody Update 1 - Blast to the Top!
The first major update to Splody releases today, combining a couple major features and a lot of little tweaks, as well as, of course, including all of the small improvements that were released rapid-fire since launch.
Ranking and Leaderboards
The feature I'm most excited about in this update is the addition of ranking and leaderboards. Most online games of Splody played will affect your Rating, and the people with the highest Rating are ranked at the top of the leaderboards, both on the web and inside the game (accessible from the Play Online menu). This feature has been added retroactively, so all games since sometime during the beta have been taken into account to determine players' current ratings! How do you stack up to the competition?
As well as an all-time Rating and leaderboard, there is a rating which resets each month that ranks you on the Monthly Leaderboard. The in-game Rating change display at the end of each round and series always refers to the all-time Rating, but you can still view someone's Monthly Rating and Monthly Rank in-game from the Stats button in the scores screen.
If you want to know more details and specifics on how the rating system works, checkout relevant section in the documentation.
Ghost Bombers and New Level Themes
Mechanically similar to the old "orbital bombers", the new Ghost Bombers look like, well, ghosts, and give a lot more feedback to both the ghost and other players as to what is going on - you'll see a clearer animation when you're summoning a bomb from beyond the grave.
Along with making the cute ghosts, the artists over at Buko Studios have also added two new level themes, the Forest and the Caves, which I think turned out pretty fantastic!
Bomb Tells
There is a new option for changing the animation style of bombs right before they go off. The new default adds a pre-explosion blink that gives you a little warning when a bomb is half a second away from exploding. New and experienced players alike seem to really like this, however the old, much more subtle, option is still available for people who want that classic "I had no idea that bomb was about to explode" kind of feel (set on a server and applies to all players). Also, on the topic of graphics options, there's a new option, oft requested by users, for making the characters appear 33% smaller.
Team Mode: Humans vs Bots
The regular team mode will balance the bots to keep equal numbers of players on each team, but this new team mode will put all of the bots on one team. Go ahead, grab some friends, add 32 bots, and see how you do against them! Note that team settings must be configured on the server for online games, and the Official Public Servers are set to Free for all mode, so you'll need to do a local multiplayer game or launch your own server for this.
A Million Little Things
As well as the big things, there have also been a lot of little changes since release. If you've not been paying attention to the ChangeLog, here are some of the most significant improvements in this update and added since launch:
NEW! On the series results screen, show all players that participated at some point in the series, not just those still connected
NEW! Steam Music Player integration, see docs for details
NEW! Add an additional 30-second countdown to start matches when the majority of players are ready, even if some are still outside the ready zone, or intentionally resetting the regular 5-second countdown
NEW! On the Choose Player screen, allow the Room Leader to kick players (either set them as a spectator if they appear to be AFK, or boot them from the server)
NEW! Add music track: Facemelter
NEW! Chat: Add timestamps, clickable URLs, copying to clipboard, server history
NEW! Audio: Replace Speed Up powerup sound that numerous people complained about
NEW! Bot suicide prevention fixes
Reduce load time and eliminate run-time stalls
Show recently placed and blocking bombs more clearly so you're never confused as to why you're stuck when trying to walk past a bomb
Add longevity to destroyed blocks for a more classic feel
Allow the audio/controls/graphics menus to be accessed during a game in progress
Work around various programs stomping on Splody's textures while recording/streaming
Lots of fixes for players with ridiculously long Steam profile names
As we wrap up the beta, I want to shout out a big THANKS to everyone who participated, especially those who reported bugs and played a bunch of online games with me!
Though the beta is over, this week will be an exciting week for Splody, as it will be at PAX East! Come stop by my booth, say hello, and compete in daily Splody tournaments.
A week after that, on the 21st of March in the year 2017, Splody releases on Steam. Though I've worked on many other games before, this is my first release since setting out as an independent developer, so I'm super excited for this! I will look forward to seeing new players online, and meeting more people much better at my game than I am =).
