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SpyParty screenshot
Genre: Simulator, Strategy, Tactical, Indie

SpyParty

Bugs and Holiday Cheer!



Toby and Damon are celebrating the fixed replays and memory leaks!



The big stuff:

  • old replays with Steam names no longer crash, oops
  • fixed a bunch of memory leaks so long play sessions shouldn't run out of memory
  • fixed the shoji bottoms to not disappear when doing Spy curbs, and improved their quality a bit

Happy start of the holiday season!
Chris

v0.1.6384.0:

  • code

    • fix problem reading v5 replays with display names...bad old header length calc
    • add another ps2 usb controller
    • don't play the over sound over and over while over the random cast button
    • fix a bunch of small memory leaks that built up over lots of games
    • output final game setup to log for easier game finding
    • handle silhouette links correctly when root is turned off due to curb bounds


  • content

    • fix shoji screen bottoms to stay when spy curbs activated
    • add shoji bottom contact shadows
    • misc shoji texture and lighting fixes
    • holiday spirit

Teien 庭園 garden venue!



It took way too long to get here, but it's finally here!



The big stuff, details below:

  • A beautiful new venue: Teien 庭園, with silhouette rendered randomized shoji screens!
  • Vastly improved gamepad support for up to 98.9% of controllers (according to Steam's numbers), including fightstick support, for which everybody has been clamoring.

Teien



Teien is set in a beautiful Japanese garden in the early evening, and was inspired by my visit to the Ginkakuji temple in Kyoto. Sliding shoji screens provide cover, and randomize between 8 different layouts on game start, but beware, your silhouette can give away a lot of information to the Sniper!



You can manually set the shoji layout in practice games so you can, well, practice. High- and low-lights don't show on the silhouettes, but if you target a guest you can see if they are lit. Of course, the Sniper can shoot through the shoji. Please ignore the huge and glaring bug that the guests are wearing shoes in the temple; the fix for that bug will have to wait for the outfits feature.

Teien is actually the first in a series of three venues exploring the theme of "occlusion", each in a radically different way...

Gamepads


I'm going to have to write more details about this later in addition to what's below in the release notes, but almost any gamepad should work well with SpyParty now on Windows standalone, Steam, and MacOS. I will just leave this image right here...



Oops, I didn't have the fightstick in the pic, oh well.

Oh, and the gamepads are all auto-detected and the correct button glyphs are rendered in the UI (including Switch Pro regular and flipped buttons support).



Enjoy, and let me know if there are bugs or comments here in the Steam forums or on the SpyParty discord!

Thanks,
Chris

v0.1.6370.0:

  • gamepad support greatly improved

    • not sure I should have spent so much time on this, but hey, now it's pretty cool

      • covering upwards of 98.9% of controller usage according to recent steam usage data post
      • 360/xbone/ps4/ps3/ps2/switchpro/dinput all autodetected and supported well, including with correct button glyphs

    • will need to write more detail about this later, including

      • documenting all the new settings
      • documenting custom layouts and how to make them, how to figure out what your controller is sending
      • tutorial on getting some of the more difficult controllers working on windows, steam, and macos

    • fixes and features

      • right stick (camera) scaling settings, helps with steam controller too
      • make a gamepad disable layout if you've got a weird accelerometer or something
      • custom layouts for unknown gamepads
      • autodetect or manual gamepad button glyphs
      • keep deadzone, layout, fightstick, flipped buttons, camera params, and button glyphs per gamepad instance in settings prop
      • nest keyboard remaps into keys prop in controls and add to print controls
      • fightstick mode...no, I have no idea why I did this either.
      • got button displaying in tutorial help instead of "Press X", still some places in UI with 360 button names


  • misc fixes

    • prevent some crashes
    • mirror custom quickplays correctly
    • handle mirror custom when one player has a qpg prop but not the other
    • fixed "arms too short to reach book" bug
    • don't show display name if same as username in stats
    • don't count /steam in test for whether mostly unicode
    • use case preserved string for command completion leaves
    • when eating characters don't tolower, hopefully fixing capslock bug
    • case insensitive sort in lobby names
    • don't hittest books when safety is off
    • don't crash if over header in replays and ctrl-
    • bail to main menu on failed steam login so we don't loop endlessly
    • robustify steamlogin on reconnect errors
    • tune HL and LL outlines and colors a bit
    • finally figured out repro for pax setup gamepad listbox crash, and fixed it
    • fix code page and utf8 bugs with windows usernames and directories with fancy characters
    • fix winxp issues by dynaloading vista-only function call, so winxp minspec is correct again

  • minor features

    • display steam id in /who
    • log window size in /fps
    • have helper write dump file name to log on close
    • log params --logflush and --lognogzip to make printing logs work on startup crashes
    • replay header v6 with venue variant int
    • don't display lobby list if redirecting to single new server
    • listbox scrollbar and mousewheel support, now I can have giant lists of things yay
    • add view last replay to match menu...some would say this isn't minor...
    • display in replay summary box if simplified game rules

  • game setup screen stuff for keyboard/gamepad usability

    • better keyboard/gamepad navigation of spy game setup screen, don't need to know about shoulder buttons/tab
    • better portraits drag behavior with cancel and layers
    • dossier info circle now a '?' instead of an 'i', which was actually a shortcut for /reply
    • expand venue preview on non-mouse focus for keyboard/gamepad for visibility
    • pop level icon listbox on nonmouse focus
    • now can mouse over venue preview to get info circle


  • content

    • fixing walking bug arm starting positions on group 4 characters
    • tune pathing edges in Moderne
    • change Terrace modes to 3 mins
    • add 30 seconds to Moderne quickplays
    • fix Veranda clock mesh flipped normal allowing you to see statues through the window
    • fixed the alpha sorting chracter highlight bug on veranda, garden, and courtyard
    • gamepad button glyphs, add arrows to ps4 options and share buttons since they're impossible to tell apart

Statues+Bar on Terrace!



It's our first Steam Update! Hopefully I'm posting these release notes in the right place!



This build has a ton of fixes, but the really big stuff is:

  • finally you're not just a number in the lobby, you've got your real name!
  • we added statues and a bar on Terrace, which will separate it even farther from the old Double Modern map and from Balcony, excited to see how the meta evolves on this map now
  • the post-tutorial new user experience should be a lot better...it's not where it needs to be yet but it should be much more clear now
  • see below for the big list of fixes and features!

Enjoy, and let me know if there are bugs!
Chris




v0.1.6134.0:


  • code

    • features

      • steam persona names displayed...utf8 chars are currently stomped to _ and if you have too many it defaults to your s76.../steam name still since client can't handle utf8 yet
      • much improved Beginner, Intermediate, Standard (nee Experienced) quickplay progression and UI clarity, level icon selector always visible, listbox text visible, disabled levels greyed out but teased
      • prompt for spectation or sniper playback in replays menu like in spectation
      • allow dragging spy portrait in tutorial on mouse down
      • allow invites to pop modal dialogs in practice and replays finally
      • better lobby disconnect notification instead of just returning to main menu
      • highlights and lowlights and book lights all have audio feedback now
      • resume auto-scrolling the replay timeline if haven't scrolled for 3 seconds
      • keep mission selections on mirror for fewer surprises
      • replay file v5 has displayname and num guests and start duration
      • incremental db writes on server so stats should be way more robust if server crashes
      • use all new art levels for menu background images
      • tooltips for how to drag roles on portraits until you've done it successfully
      • starburst to encourage people to push the Watch Replay button for the first time
      • custom groups required for quickplays, see file formats post
      • catch out of memory errors and just pop a dialog instead of crash
      • disable sticky/toggle/filter keys by default
      • /kick, /silence, and login message support
      • if / is first character typed in a message then rewind to command cycling
      • flirt always prioritized over check watch

    • bug fixes

      • don't reset the sniper camera on replay seek
      • don't change character in dossier on portraits click on game setup screen
      • misc minor portraits bugs
      • clear accept ui so not stuck, more bandaids for these ui lock bugs
      • if in spectation/replay setup and cancel, don't get stuck in ui when switches to loading
      • fix ui bug where if dossier is up and get invite then ui locks up...will this fix other bugs?
      • fix tooltip showing up wrong on dossier level icon selector
      • if you're the spy, you can put the briefcase down without any animation queueing now, be aware!
      • fix broken books bounding box for changing color as sniper
      • amba don't get stuck if can't put down briefcase
      • fix the insta-fade AT bar on ST bail after first bail
      • filter watch checks by non-spies in replay timeline
      • fix bartender getting frozen on edges of bartending zone sometimes
      • take the waiter out of pathing before trying to find spot
      • delegated purloin to book holder should still work and put the book away, basically try really hard to purloin if you're the delegate
      • fix matches not updating to client and to non-first-match-quitter
      • don't allow resurrecting old levels with qpgroups
      • try hard to make replay filenames shorter than MAX_PATH
      • fix teleport bug on gallery oh boy
      • fix library walking weirdness epsilon pathing raycast bug
      • fixed old replays, oops
      • fix dossier crash because not keeping track of which roles are actually needed
      • don't destroy the gl context and hope it fixes obs exit crashes?
      • fix crash with first replay note of a match
      • always use locally generated anonymous uuid for telemetry id and anonymize ip for gdpr privacy



  • content

    • gameplay

      • new terrace with statues and bar instead of waiter
      • fix statue pedestals for gallery so flirts are only between neighbors
      • new quickplay props for Beginner, Intermediate 1-3, Standard, and Old Art
      • darkened moderne kitchen counter a bit to make guestlist more visible
      • lowered the top railings a bit for sniper lean on library

    • animations

      • slightly exaggerated left hand cane side only bug for papa danger
      • smoothing out the right arm on mr. a walk, and walking bug smoothness fixes
      • more work on hide microfilm animation to make the green test less poppy
      • making sure all the hidefilm anims start after 30 frames to work better with action tests
      • fixed weighting behind the ears of many characters to prevent holes on head turns

    • aesthetics

      • lowering preview image of courtyard for the UI change so turing isnt cropped
      • extending wires of reception lights upward in gallery
      • moderne bar fixes, moved hard points back a little, backed up the bartender a little so he doesnt inner penetrate the bar as much, blocked in the bartender with hard colliders
      • some texture dilation work to help cover up seams while in med and low mode

    • pathing

      • gallery plant pathing clean up, centered targets on paintings
      • softening the colliders on the benches of library
      • rounded corners of soft colliders on moderne for smoother paths
      • made library railings a seperate layer with pathing off so that the soft colliders will make the pathing more forgiving

    • hittesting

      • making it so you can shoot thru the trees on courtyard
      • making library pillars and railing shoot thru-able
      • changing high-rise so that you can shoot thru the window dividers
      • adding ignore hit to the hard and soft collider layers of courtyard so that you can shoot people in the lower leg
      • changing colliders to hit ignore on library and moderne so you can shoot peoples feet through the railings and under deck chairs


These notes are for v0.1.6128.0 and v0.1.6134.0, the latter released a few hours after the former!

Tap, tap, is this on?

Getting this Steam thing working. Somebody told me Steam was an important place for showing off your video game, so I figured I'd try it out.