Hello everyone! We’re back for the July Dev Update!
Funding/ Makeship Campaigns
Hey everyone, we’re here again for our Monthly Dev Update! This is a big one! First off, since you guys are awesome and funded our previous campaigns, we were able to start two Makeship campaigns on June 28th!
The Minigolf map editor is planned to be the next update now that Eruption is out! During June, progress was made on the Base Height Settings and S-Bend tool. These are tools that will help with the shape and style of courses players make.
Features still in progress include the Ramp tool and the Holes tool. For the Ramp tool, progress has been made on Steepness settings and Ramp Type variations. We’re still working on Curve Tightness settings, the Flat Base setting, Base Height setting , Wall Variations, and Wall Height settings. For the Holes tool, we’ve been working on the Hole Type setting and the Dip setting.
Ball Race Map Editor
Lots of progress has been made on the Ball Race map editor! We’ve completed options to hide Bumpers and Trampolines, we’ve made a spline mesh for platforms, and we’ve finished making Start Tubes, Arrows, Spikes, Buttons, and a tool to test the ball. We’ve added Tubes, a Ball Launcher, Drums, Gongs, and Boost Volumes as well.
Plaza Optimizations
In the mean time, progress was made on Plaza Optimizations. We’ve finished up work on the art pass and optimization of the Transit Station and have moved on to optimizing stores (and doing some art improvements)!
These optimizations will not only help with performance inside these locations, but they will also help with performance in the surrounding areas in the Plaza, so we’re excited to get them all out to you.
These changes will be included in an upcoming update.
Moderation Tools
We’ve implemented a new ban appeals system which will greatly streamline ban appeals.
In short, you will now use this ticket system for appealing bans and will no longer appeal bans through our email.
This will allow for easier resolutions of appeals as well as informing appealing users of the status of their appeal in a more timely fashion.
After the Minigolf and Ball Race SDK are out, we plan to release an update for Dedicated Condos, the Workshop 3.0 Rig, SDNL, and some more new maps!
Workshop Rig 3.0 Preparations
In regard to Workshop Rig 3.0, right now we are preparing the SDK Importer and creating a tutorial for the rig. Once that’s done, we’ll release another update where this new rig will be usable.
SDNL Update
In June, progress has been made on the SDNL update we’ve mentioned this year.
We’ve been organizing and implementing the Announcer voice lines that were recorded last summer by the voice actor Gianni Matragrano, along with getting work done on some additional sound effects!
If you don’t remember, the SDNL update will include Announcer voice lines as well as changes to Container Ship and the release of SDNL: Lookout. Lookout is a rework of Zombie Massacre: Acrophobia for SDNL, giving you an opportunity to see that map from a whole new perspective!
Dedicated Condos
Due to Canvas and Workshop issues, there hasn’t been more progress on Dedicated Condos this month, but it’s still in the plan. We should be able to get to work on this in full swing in the coming months, so keep an eye out for updates.
We have also had some discussions this month on how to better advertise Dedicated Condos so more people can understand the concept by giving it a flashier name. Community Worlds was one we came up with, and we’re still brainstorming others.
For reference, our current progress on Dedicated Condos can be viewed here.
Arcade Update
We love the Arcade as much as you all do, and we’re always itching to get back to it. We have a fun Arcade update planned for the future that will bring in some new games. We’ll be getting to work on this very soon. Like Dedicated Condos, just keep an eye out for this in the future.
Map Work
In the world of Game World maps, progress has been made on a new Minigolf map! We aren’t ready to dive into the details of it yet, but know that more than half the holes have been completed!
VR Support
We also wanted to share that we recently had a breakthrough with getting motion controllers working again! With that issue out of the way, work can continue on VR Support.
July Calendar
Here is the calendar for July events! If you want notifications, we have the events set up on our Discord here. If you would like to make a suggestion for events, do so here. That’s gonna do it for this Dev Update! Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next time.
<3 PixelTail Games
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Join our Discord for development updates and community fun! https://discord.gg/pixeltail We love awesome people like you!
The Kalleira Plushie and TU Pins Campaigns have both started on Makeship!
The campaigns will be up for a limited time (21 days), so check out the store pages to see how it all works and get them for yourself!
If there’s enough interest, there could be more awesome stuff like this to come in the future!
Eruption Update (0.17.13.0)
Ball Race - Eruption!
Race through fire, flames, and face heat itself! Careful not to catch fire and burn away in the dangerous lava fields. This is a hard difficulty map that focuses on speed and quick reactions, with a flare of the dramatic!
We've also added a new fun item that you can place in your Condo to take pictures with you and your friends. Use this timed camera to take screenshots in various poses using your emotes!
Canvas Loading Changes
Due to changes with Discord's image hosting policies where images will expire after 72 hours, and to help with canvases failing to load, we have disabled Discord image support. You will have to rehost these images elsewhere and you can do that by copying your Discord image links into a private discord server (to get the image) and save and rehost to another image host.
Upcoming Updates
Stay tuned for more information on what we're cooking up next, we'll be posting our July 2024 look ahead and monthly status update soon! We're hard at work on the Minigolf and Ball Race level SDK.
Changes
New map - Ball Race: Eruption!
Workshop Sound Packs now sort alphabetically
Workshop Sound Packs now shows options to let you vote up, favorite, or uninstall a sound pack while in the sound pack browser
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for June 24th, 2024, detailing all the changes that have happened since June 17th, 2024. Note: Devs that don't appear in the weekly log are not necessarily away or not doing work, but may be working on things currently not announced or backend work that doesn't need to be detailed.
Hot Fix #2 0.17.12.0
Last week, we released another hotfix to fix some outstanding issues with the initial 0.17.12.0 release.
Johanna continued working on finishing the Minigolf SDK, as well as the Plaza optimization pass.
Lifeless worked on getting the Ball Race map, Eruption, ready for release. He also worked on getting the SDNL Voice lines integrated, as well as other QOL changes.
macdguy worked on finishing the Minigolf SDK, working on the camera system and physics spawning for map objects like barrels.
Nuclearxpotato continued working on a new Minigolf map.
Sketchman worked on bug and crash fixes.
Wheezwer continued working on an art pass of the arcade cabinets, along with other art related tasks
Will continued working on music.
Wrap It Up
That about covers everything that happened since June 17th, 2024 at PixelTail Games.
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Join our Discord for development updates and community fun! https://discord.gg/pixeltail We love awesome people like you!
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for June 17th, 2024, detailing all the changes that have happened since June 11th, 2024. Note: Devs that don't appear in the weekly log are not necessarily away or not doing work, but may be working on things currently not announced or backend work that doesn't need to be detailed.
Workshop Sound Packs - The Big Summer Update! (0.17.12.0)
Last week, we released Update 0.17.12.0, which brought with it Workshop Sound Packs, a new Emote menu, optimizations for the Arcade, fixes for Workshop on Linux and Steam Deck, a new Workshop Rig, and much more.
Additionally, we released a hotfix over the weekend to fix some bugs, which you can see here.
We're currently working on another hotfix to address other issues, like server stability. You can see the progress on that hotfix here.
Updated Transit Station
Johanna has been working on an updated transit station, working to make the area more inviting and less overwhelming. The updated station is based on the original Lobby 2 transit station, but completely remodeled from the ground up, with the aim of it being incredibly optimized.
It also features fully functional and animated escalators!
Updated Transit Station
Miscellany
Sabrina worked on putting the finishing touches on the web based ban appeal system.
Johanna worked on finishing up the Minigolf SDK.
Lifeless continued working on the Ball Race map, Eruption, while also working on other quality of life features.
macdguy helped release the update and the accompanying hotfix.
Nuclearxpotato continued working on a new Minigolf map.
Sketchman worked on various optimizations and bug fixes, along with helping release the update.
Wheezwer worked on an art pass of the arcade cabinets, along with other art related tasks.
Will continued working on music.
Minigolf SDK: Cannon Items WIP
Wrap It Up
That about covers everything that happened since June 11th, 2024 at PixelTail Games.
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Join our Discord for development updates and community fun! https://discord.gg/pixeltail We love awesome people like you!
Workshop Sound Packs - The Big Summer Update! (0.17.12.0)
Workshop Sound Packs
Workshop Sound Packs are here! Now players can upload custom sound packs to the Workshop to use in their Condos and SDK Maps.
Sound Packs are a collection of sound files that can be placed in your Condo and shared with others. A tutorial on how to get started can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3266039265
We also added a bunch of new sound features:
Playlists - play multiple sounds in an order
Sound Volume - a new volume that handles playback of sound emitters (clientside) based on if you are inside the volume or not. Has options to mute outside sounds as well
Game World Music Manager - override gameplay music for your custom levels
New IO inputs: "SetSound", "SetPlaylistID", "FadeToPitch", Fade duration
New Emote Menu!
We’ve jazzed up the emote menu with some custom icons and a larger UI! You can now set up emotes on your keyboard shortcuts for easy access!
Arcade Optimizations
This update includes Arcade physics server optimizations, which have been in progress for a few months now! They were tough to work on due to the many unique physics for each Arcade game, as well as a major cleanup of the code. What this means for players is that we’ve improved the networking and reduced the amount of work the simulation has to do so it’ll execute it faster - putting less strain on the Plaza servers.
Item and Inventory Changes
You can now see quick results as you type in the inventory search bar. This will allow you to get to your intended items quicker and to have a better view of your inventory as a whole.
Internally, we also optimized how items are queried in the system to make improvements to the inventory UI and you’ll see an FPS boost for large inventories.
Workshop Linux & Steam Deck Fixes
We’ve fixed the issue with Workshop Models not appearing on Linux machines. The change required us to rework how Workshop models are installed, and, with the added sound packs, the pipeline had to be gutted and refitted. We’re very happy that Workshop will be working again for Linux & Steam Deck.
Workshop Rig 3.0 & Animations: Phase 1
This update introduces phase 1 of the new Workshop rig! This new rig allows for more fluid animation of player models, IKs, modifying proportions of a model, and massive improvements to the process of rigging player models. We’ve retargeted the old rig to work with the new rig (and existing player models) without any changes needed. That means that legacy Workshop player models are compatible immediately. All the animations have all been overhauled and improved in many ways.
This change was extremely challenging, so we are going to be doing this in phases. This first phase is just implementing the new rig into the game and updating all the animations for it, while also starting to implement IK features for Arcade games (such as on Wheel of Fire).
We are currently getting the importer SDK updated with the 3.0 rig. In phase 2, you will be able to use it for importing your own player models. We are also creating a new updated guide.
New Accessibility Options
As we mentioned in our May Dev Update, we’ve been working on organizing our backlog of bug reports, crashes, and other game issues, and accessibility suggestions have been a part of that! We’ve been able to get a better overview of these suggestions and get a good chunk of them in the game in this update.
All of the accessibility changes in this update were suggested by players. These include various changes to improve general visual and audio experience, changes to reduce eye strain and nausea, changes to controls for easier interactions, and improvements to existing accessibility settings, among other changes. Plaza Minigames, Arcade, Minigolf, Drunk Effects, Condos, Stores, Controls, and other parts of the game all had accessibility changes, so be sure to check out what’s new in the change log below.
And, if you have an accessibility related suggestion or feedback to improve any existing accessibility options, please drop a post in our Accessibility Related Suggestions Megathread: https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/t/accessibility-related-suggestions-megathread/40333
Condos
Canvas URL Replacer Tool
Big features in this update have had a connection to Condos, so other work has been done on our building tools as well. There are some accessibility additions such as a 3D grid visual and more editor options such as Noclip Speed Adjustment.
There’s also a new Replace Canvas URL tool and Find Canvas tool that will help out with quickly fixing dead image links in a Condo, as well as updating URLs quickly.
Changes have been made to the inventory system, grid snapping, organization, I/O options, and much more.
Condo Snapshot Improvements
And that’s not all! We also massively improved the time it takes to reset your Condo and load Condo snapshots. For builders, you’ll see immediate improvements to these systems.
Condo IO Updates
There’ve been quite a few updates to Condo I/O, but here's some of the highlights:
Volume Shapes
We’ve added Cylinder and Sphere shape types for Volumes!
Logic Gates
Logic Gates are now working! AND, NOT, OR, XOR, Boolean Switch, and Compare are all available to help your IO logic
A new "Relay To All" module was added which lets you call inputs to all items connected to it at once, allowing you to set properties on multiple items with just 1 input
We also moved some items to be I/O items; Sound Emitter, Floating Text, Floating Dialogue, Hidden Seat, Aquarium Volume, and Sound Emitter are now I/O items (no unit cost).
Libretro
We’ve made some improvements to Libretro support, too. These improvements include automatically positioning the camera for Arcade cabinets (allowing for easier play with controllers) and Fullscreen support. Fullscreen also comes with lightgun and touchscreen support!
You can also disable automatic save states and we’ve added hot keys for save states (F3, F4 keys).
Changes
New Feature: Workshop Sound Packs!!
New Player Emote menu! Emotes now have icons and you can bind hotkeys to each player emote. Hotkeys can be assigned by hovering over the emote and pressing the corresponding weapon key (1-9) and can be used by pressing C + the hotkey (ie. C+1, C+2, etc.)
Added new player emotes: Wave (far), Wave (near), Peace, Clap
Floating Text, Floating Dialogue, Hidden Seat, Aquarium Volume, and Sound Emitter are now IO items (no unit cost)
Updated high quality shaders setting to "Shaders Setting" with low, medium, and high options
Added setting to disable Workshop Player Models in SDNL (separate from the existing Game World setting)
Plaza - New Minigame: Robot Rumble
When the game is not focused, controller inputs will now be ignored
Zombie Massacre: Time is larger and at the top center of the screen now
Zombie Massacre: Weapon info now follows the nearest weapon pickup, making it more noticeable and useful
Virus: Improved Plasma Autorifle weapon animations and effects
Added Workshop Sound Emitter settings to disable, adjust volume, and enable only for your friends only
Store UI: Added +5/+10/+100 buttons when adding things to the cart
Store UI: Capped how many items you can place into your cart to 100 (checkout was always capped to 100, but cart could go above 100 for some reason!)
Store UI: Added remove all button next to items in checkout
Collection Book UI: Plaza Activities and Game Modes are now in alphabetical order
Plaza - Minigames: Increased collision radius of booze in booze bash (should make it easier to play)
Plaza - Minigames: Increased collision radius of fruit in Fruit Frenzy
Casino - Blackjack: Previous bet amount is now remembered for next round
Casino - Roulette: Previous bet amount is now remembered for next round
Casino - Bingo: You can now leave Bingo at any time, but it'll forfeit your cards if you had any
Laser Tag: Reduced waiting for players timer from 30 to 15 seconds
New Items
Added Workshop Sound Emitter (IO item)
Added Sound Volume, which is a new volume that handles playback of sound emitters (clientside) based on if you are inside the volume or not. Has options to mute outside sounds as well
Added Modern TV Stand, Teapot, Mortar And Pestle, Kitchen Plant, Kitchen Decor Plant, Modern Pot Plant Tall, Modern Pot Plant Small to Sweet Suites Furnishings store
Added Security Keypad Plastic to DIY store
Added TV Modern to Central Circuit store
Added Plane TV (a flat plane media player) to Central Circuit store
Added Plane Arcade (a flat plane libretro) to Toy Stop
Condo
Inventory: Search is now instant and shows results as you type
Added "Allow Melee Weapons" condo rule
Added "Replace URL" feature to canvas URL menu, which will replace a given URL with a new URL and apply it to all canvas items that are using that URL
Added "Find" feature to canvas URL menu, which will highlight all items that are using the same selected canvas URL
Added "Check URL" feature to canvas URL menu, which will test download the image so you can check if the link is working
Canvas URL menu now splits the Libretro artwork into its own tab
Added Inventory Icon Scaling: Small, Normal, Large, Very Large (Independent of UI Scaling)
Surfaces (built-in condo walls) now have a glow setting
Inventory: Added "Primitives" section to the category tabs
Inventory: Combined Animation & Story IO category tabs
Inventory: Added icons to the IO category tabs
Editor: Added grid snap settings to the inventory settings UI, so you can change your grid snap amount directly instead of just the hot keys
Editor: Added visual 3D grid while dragging/placing or moving items (Gizmos) or copying items (Copycat) while in grid snap mode
Editor: Defaulted grid snap values on placeable inventory, gizmo editor, and Copycat to 25 units
Editor: Added decimal support to grid snapping
Editor: Added "Ignore Z" setting to grid snapping, which will make grid snapping not snap on up/down placement (Z axis), making it easier to use grid snap while dragging items around
Editor: Each gizmo (translation, rotation, scale) now has its own grid snapping mode toggle, which means if you enable grid snap in translation mode, it won't enable grid snap in rotation mode unless you also toggle grid snap in that mode as well
Editor: Inventory outlines no longer draw tinted color of items behind other items
Editor - Advanced edit mode: Item Finder now remembers if it was open or closed when toggling
Editor - Advanced edit mode: When closing out of advanced edit mode, the gizmos and edit item menus will automatically close
Editor: Translation grid snap mode and grid snap scale are now synced across all actions - gizmos, copycat, and dragging (meaning if you are in grid snap while dragging, you will also be in grid snap while using copycat)
Editor: Added ability to adjust noclip speed within the inventory settings UI and also with CTRL+Scroll Wheel
Editor: Added current player coordinates to the top left of the screen when holding the inventory button (only for players who have build permission)
Added scroll bar to text entry UI elements such as editing Notebooks, Floating Text, etc.
Condo IO Changes
Added Shape types to Volumes, allowing for Cylinder and Sphere volume shapes (excluding Water Volume)
Added new "Relay To All" module. This module will call inputs to all items connected to it at once, allowing you to set properties on multiple items with just 1 input
Logic gates (AND, NOT, OR, XOR, Boolean Switch) now function. Works with specific items such as: Toggle Module, Switches, Physics Slots, Doors, Lights, and Laser Receiver
Added "Hidden Player Launcher Volume" which works just like the player launcher only without any visual model. Sound can also be muted
Added "Logic Compare" module. This module will compare a counter value if it is equal to the value you wish to compare. Also supports >, <, >=, <= comparisons
Floating Text now supports special keywords such as %name%, %time%, %date%, %health%
Counters can now be connected to Floating Text, which floating text can display their values by using the keyword %c0%, %c1%, etc. for each counter connected to it
Keypad now supports 0
Sound Emitter: Added "SetSound" and "FadeToPitch" IO inputs
Sound Emitter: Added "OnSoundEnded" IO output
Sound Emitter: Added duration to "FadeOut" and "FadeIn" IO events
Sound Emitter: Added "SetPlaylistID" IO input to Sound Emitter
Level SDK Changes
Added Game World Music Manager module that lets you override game world music through sound packs for your custom level. Has overrides for Waiting Music, Round/Level Music, Intermission Music, Post Game Music, and Bonus/Boss/Last Survivor/Intro Music
SDNL: Added "Health Amount" and "Armor Amount" to armor and health pickups
Item Changes
Sound Emitter: Added Playlist Mode. While enabled, you can add multiple sounds that will play one after another and can be used for Workshop Sound Emitters
Sound Emitter: Added 2D setting (default 3D) which plays the sound in 2D audio space (i.e. not spatialized)
Sound Emitter: Added Infinite Range setting which will allow the sound to emit across the entire map (compatible with Sound Volumes)
Added new Party Decorations, Particles FX, and Party Pals categories to the Celebrations store, which will display previously hidden items such as: Balloon, Confetti, Cupid Catsack, Festival Booth, Foil Balloon, Loose Balloon, Paper Lantern Catsack, Sparkle Fountain, Sparkle Fountain Extravaganza, Sparkles, Starfield, Starfield Flowing
Added new "Fans", "Clocks", "Outdoor", and "Laboratory" categories to Central Circuit, which will display previously hidden items such as: Ceiling Fan, Clock, Jacob’s Ladder, Modern Tesla Coil, Satellite Dish, Small Air Conditioner
Moved Toilet and Wood Toilet items from Central Circuit to Sweet Suites store
Added new "Snacks & Drinks", "Cooking Ingredients" categories to Fresh store, which will display previously hidden items such as: Binary Bytes Cereal Box, Butter, Flour Bag, Marshmallow, Peanut Butter Jar, Soy Sauce, Sugar Bag
Updated tags for Cinderblock (Physics), Eye Wash Station, Hospital Gurney, IV Stand so they show up in the proper categories at Rob's Imports
Added new "Studio Equipment" category to Songbirds, which will display previously hidden items such as: Headphone Stand and separate effect making machines better
Added new "Outdoor" category to Sweet Suite Furnishings, which will display previously hidden items such as: Open Outdoor Trashbin, Outdoor Floor Light, Outdoor Light, Outdoor Trashbin, Outdoor Wood Lamp, Tall Outdoor Light
Updated Coffee Mug tags to display it in the Kitchen category in Sweet Suite Furnishings
Added new "Drinks" category to Tower Theater Concessions store
Updated tags on Theater items, which will display previously hidden items such as: COLD Slushy, Holdable Aesthetic Chips, Holdable COLD Slushy
Updated name of "Popcorn" to "Holdable Popcorn"
Updated "Instruments" category of Asteroid Belt to include the Drum Machine, a previously hidden item
Updated Barcode Scanner to show up in the "Weapons" category of Asteroid Belt
New Keypad model, with 0 support
Accessibility Changes
New Accessibility Settings Menu added to easily access all accessibility options at once
Graphics Setting: Added Colorblind Mode (Heavily WIP, will be added to over time)
Colorblind Mode: Minigolf Arrow Power Indicator Color Changes
Colorblind Mode: Minigolf Flag Color Changes
Candy Cane, Crossbow, Ghost Blaster, and Snowball can now be fired by holding the mouse button rather than having to spam
Plaza - Minigames: Balloons are now emissive for better night time play
Plaza - Minigames: Gold Balloon blinks less
Plaza - Drunk System: Requires more drinks to start movement
Plaza - Drunk System: Added cap for movement shake and FOV rotation
Plaza - Drunk System: Decreased maximum FOV zoom in
Gore Setting: Beating Heart will now hide when gore setting is turned on
Gore Setting: Basic ZM zombies now hide their blood textures when gore setting is turned on
Vomit now turns off entirely when setting is off
Plaza - Dark Voyage: Changed Dark Voyage Gun reticle to be easier to see
Casino - Bingo: Raised volume of Bingo calls
Reduced shine on Metal Detector
Arcade - Bug Bytes: Made Hammer Location easier to see
Little Crusaders: Increased the color saturation of players ranks on the scoreboard, as well as added a letter representing their rank name
Typing Derby now uses the OpenDyslexic font
UI Scaling can now go up to 130%, previously 120% (Higher chance of overlapping UI, however)
Controls Accessibility: Sprint Toggle Option
Controls Accessibility: Walk Toggle Option
Controls Accessibility: Crouch Toggle Option
Controls Accessibility: Scoreboard Toggle Option
Volume Settings: Added setting to adjust volume of weapons
Volume Settings: Added Toggle for Achievement Unlock Sound (Sunshine Day)
Volume Settings: Added setting to adjust volume of the achievement unlock sound
Libretro Changes
Libretro: Added fullscreen mode (F6 key or through the menu)
Libretro: Added new hot keys: F3 - Save State, F4 - Load State
Libretro: Added lightgun/touchscreen support to fullscreen mode (F6 key or through the menu)
Libretro: Added setting to disable automatic save states (in Game/HUD Settings)
Libretro - Arcades: Camera now will reorient towards the cabinet's screen
Libretro - Arcades: Updated some settings to be clearer. Joystick mode is now labeled "Set Joystick To Keys" or "Set DPad to Keys", Keyboard Mode is now labeled "Full Keyboard Input"
Optimizations
Inventory optimizations
Inventory UI optimizations
Improved item stashing (much faster)
Improved reset condo (much faster)
Improved condo snapshot load time (much faster)
Optimized Arcade server side physics to lessen strain on Plaza
Bug Fixes
Workshop: Fixed workshop player models & models not installing on Linux & Steam Deck
Potential fix for AMD cards crashing in Hell on Dark Voyage
Fixed translucent items/materials/player models becoming opaque when sitting in seats
Store UI - Moved Version Added down a line to prevent store pages unnecessarily resizing when scrolling
Ball Race: Fixed glow effects being missing on melon pickups
Virus: Fixed infected model shoulders getting crushed when crouching
Casino - Bingo: Fixed not being able to leave mid-game or before a game has started (will warn players they will forfeit their cards)
Casino - Bingo: Fixed leaving the seat not actually leaving you out of the game properly
Fixed toggle third person button (T) not working
Media Player: Fixed fullscreen mode not fitting/scaling media well with ultra wide resolutions or square resolutions
Cat pets no longer say "Arf!"
Fixed Slimy variant plushes being louder than other plushies
Fixed food items being really small while using a workshop player model
Bug Fixes - Condo
Canvas: Fixed canvas textures not loading their saved tiling settings on map load
Editor: Fixed highlighted items sometimes not de-highlighting
Editor: Advanced edit mode - Fixed placeable inventory closing when a gizmo is shown
Editor: Fixed drag snapping info HUD element not showing sometimes or when the placeable inventory is closed
Editor: Fixed Sound Emitters being completely hidden when "Show Sound Emitter Ranges" is disabled, now will properly hide just the radius, not the sound emitter itself
Editor: Fixed drag copy with IO items not continuing grab of the translation gizmo (like normal items do) (for both normal and co-op condos)
Editor: Fixed drag copy with IO items not restoring their grouping
Editor: Fixed grid snap size changing when toggling grid snap with gizmos
Editor: Fixed drag copy with IO items not continuing grab of the translation gizmo (like normal items do) (for both normal and co-op condos)
Editor: Fixed drag copy with IO items not restoring their grouping
Co-op Condo: Fixed Copycat not allowing copy from an item you already have copied from after holstering the tool
Co-op Condo: Fixed Connection Tool oftentimes already being in wiring mode after holstering and unholstering the tool
Co-op Condo: Fixed Notebook editing not working for clients
Fixed Hidden Seats not letting you use buttons/interact with items while in the hidden seat
Fixed Copycat not copying surface tile size or offset to other surfaces
Fixed Toy Train item desyncing for clients
Fixed Water Volume flickering when above them or on the edges of the volume
Bug Fixes - Condo IO
Fixed Random module not passing through activator causing things like Global Message to not print out player names
Damage Heal Volume now properly applies damage/heal effects to players who are currently inside of it, if deactivated and activated again
Fixed Weapon Strip Volume not stripping newly created weapons while a player is inside it
Fixed Sound Emitter's SetVolume and SetPitch IO events not actually changing volume or pitch if the sound is currently playing
Fixed Damage Heal Volume not working with delayed IO outputs
Bug Fixes - Libretro
Libretro - Arcades: Fixed error screen saying on forever and not returning back to idle screen
Libretro - Arcades: Fixed players who are in third person while entering machines staying in third person, now it will first person your camera for you
Libretro - Arcades: Fixed entering game while crouch not un-crouching you
Libretro - Arcades: Fixed gamepad users accidentally entering keyboard mode in settings (keyboard mode and other key only settings will no longer show up on settings)
Libretro - Arcades: Fixed leaving machine with gamepad causing you to jump as well
Fixed workshop models fading out when using libretro based items
Known Issues
Arcade - Pluck-A-Pal is still very unstable/not in a place where we want it to be. We will be reworking it for a future update.
Items that have been moved to IO will be refunded in the future, we recommend players to NOT sell these items (sound emitters for example) and await for further instructions on how refunds will be handled.
Billiards still has issues after playing one game. We are working to resolve this. In the meantime, if a game gets broken, leave the billiards table and re-enter it to help resolve the issue.
Bingo sometimes has known screen issues, but if that occurs, you can now leave it and re-enter.
There may be some odd animation related bugs under very specific circumstances, we will be addressing these issues as they come up.
Join our Discord for development updates and community fun! https://discord.gg/pixeltail We love awesome people like you!
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for June 11th, 2024, detailing all the changes that have happened since June 3rd, 2024. Note: Devs that don't appear in the weekly log are not necessarily away or not doing work, but may be working on things currently not announced or backend work that doesn't need to be detailed.
May/June 2024 Condo Contest - RESULTS ARE IN
Hey everyone, voting is over and the results are in. There were 222 responses this time!
Everyone else will get 150,000 Units for their participation this time! Thanks again so much for participating in the contest and the vote.
You can see all the submissions to this contest here, and stay tuned for future contests!
Improved Emotes Menu
We are hoping this will help give emotes more life and make them easier to use. The menu now has icons for each emote and bindable hot keys. To assign a hot key just hover over the emote and press the number key you want to bind it to. You can remove a keybind with delete key. To perform an emote shortcut use Context + the number key you bound (ie. C+1, C+3, etc.)
Improved Emotes Menu
Condo I/O
Relay to All
Tired of connecting 8 things and having to setup 8 different events to set their property (such as color)? With the new "Relay To All Module", you can wire multiple items to the module and the module will replicate all inputs to it to all the items it is connected to. It'll automatically populate the IO inputs available based on the items connected to it. Basically, tell the module to SetColor and it'll SetColor on all 8 buttons at once in one go.
Logic Gates
Finishing up logic gates, got them stringing together now.
Misc Improvements
Floating Text now supports special key words just like Global Messages does.
You can also now connect Counters to Floating Text.
Logic Comparison for Counters.
Minigolf SDK: Spline Tubes
Not that pretty looking yet, but Minigolf SDK now has spline tubes you can setup for your custom maps. Spline meshes for ball race platforms coming next.
Minigolf SDK: Spline Tubes
Miscellany
Johanna continued working on the subway station overhaul, while also finishing up the Minigolf SDK.
Joshua continued working on animations for the new rig.
Lifeless continued working on the Ball Race map, Eruption, while also working on other quality of life features.
macdguy worked on getting the update ready for release. Retooled some boardwalk games, specifically Balloon Pop so it doesn't use physics anymore. Worked on I/O Logic gates, pipes for the Minigolf SDK, and other misc SDK related tasks.
Nuclearxpotato continued working on a new Minigolf map.
Sketchman worked on various optimizations and bug fixes, along with getting the update ready for release.
Wheezwer worked on an art pass of the arcade cabinets, along with other art related tasks.
Will continued working on music.
Zombie Massacre: HUD Changes
Small but really helpful change in ZM. Weapon pickup info now follows the physical location of the weapon so you can actually tell what you are about to pickup through all the chaos.
Improved Aiming Animations
Thanks to all the hard work on the new player model rig, animations are smoother and we now have better full range movement for players aiming.
Wrap It Up
That about covers everything that happened since June 3rd, 2024 at PixelTail Games.
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Hey everyone, we’re here again for our Monthly Dev Update! This is a big one!
Update Progress
In the last dev update, we were wrapping up the Bumper Cars update, and we gave an overview of what we were working on, such as Minigolf & Ball Race SDK and other projects. Since then, our plans were to release an update with the new Workshop rig, Workshop sound packs, some Arcade optimizations, and accessibility changes.
However, this update’s been having some technical challenges that are both complicated to resolve and to complete. And, as you all probably know, we’re a small team, so it’s taken a lot of work to resolve these issues.
Basically, we’ve been having a very busy month, and this update is jam-packed with stuff, so let’s just get into what we have going on!
Reconstructing Core Code
So, sometimes when you fix something, something else breaks, or you find another issue or a flaw in the system. With many interconnected parts and a long development history, it’s easy for this to happen with Tower development. This has been happening a lot with this update. We’ve had to reorganize and refactor a lot this month. The issues have not been ones we can just let slide, either.
So, as you read through all of the following tasks we’ve been working on, know that it was probably juggled with fixing a frustrating regression. But we’ve been getting it done and working on ways to not cause these issues in the future.
Workshop Sound Packs
Workshop sound packs are a highlight of this update, adding the ability for players to upload custom sounds! We’ve also introduced new options for playlists, sound volumes, Game World Music override Manager, and “SetSound”, “Fade”, and general improvements to the sound emitter. You’ll be able to upload sound packs to Workshop, and we’ve made an easy to use editor in the Workshop editor for these. These tie into other I/O changes that will be explained more later on.
Workshop Fixes
A major issue we’ve been trying to resolve is a bug with Workshop models not appearing on Linux machines. This is notable as it affects Steam Deck users as well as any PC Linux users. Since work is being done on various areas of the Workshop, and this is a big issue, we have been tackling this and have resolved this issue after weeks of work. The change needed required us to rework how Workshop models are installed, and, with the added sound packs, the pipeline had to be gutted and refitted. We’re very happy that Workshop will be working again for Linux.
Workshop Rig 3.0 & Animations
Implementing the new Workshop rig has been an arduous task, but it’s been having great payoff. This new rig has allowed for more fluid animation of player models, IKs, and easier options for modifying proportions of a model, and massive improvements to the process of rigging player models. We’ve retargeted the old rig to work with the new rig (and existing player models) without any changes needed. That means that legacy Workshop player models will be compatible immediately. The animations have all be overhauled and improved and many ways.
We’ll have more information on the new SDK 3.0 very soon. But first, we’ll be releasing the updated animations and new rig support next update.
Accessibility Options
We’ve been hard at work implementing accessibility suggestions requested by players.
These include various changes to improve general visual and audio experience, changes to reduce eye strain and nausea, changes to controls for easier interactions, and improvements to existing accessibility settings, among other changes.
Plaza Minigames, Arcade, Minigolf, Drunk Effects, Condos, Stores, Controls, and other parts of the game all had accessibility changes, and you’ll get a full overview of the changes in the update change log (or on Trello).
Arcade Optimizations
Arcade physics server optimizations have been in progress for a few months now, and we’ve been working hard at getting the Arcade into a better state. These optimizations involve arcade physics which are a very finicky thing to work with due to the amount of machines that have unique physics to each game.
We had to refactor our code so the physics simulations would run as a system instead of independently on each machine. This required us to take the existing code and port the majority of it to C++. Server-side optimizations were made and a massive cleanup of the code was done. We improved the networking and reduced the amount of work the simulation has to do so it’ll execute it faster.
Item and Inventory Changes
We’ve made some updates to how items are categorized in the inventory. This has allowed for some previously hidden items to come out of the woodwork, as well as improving the search experience.
Speaking of searching, you can now see quick results as you type in the inventory search bar. This will allow you to get to your intended items quicker and to have a better view of your inventory as a whole.
Some items have been moved around to the appropriate stores or categories, and some items have had their names adjusted to better reflect their purpose.
Internally, we also optimized how items are queried in the system to make improvements to the inventory UI and you’ll see an FPS boost for large inventories.
Lastly, our item editor was bogging down development time and making it harder for us to continue to add new items. So, we improved our own item creation tools, which has already immensely helped us create items faster than before.
Condos / SDK
Big features in this update have had a connection to Condos, so other work has been done on our building tools as well. There are some accessibility additions such as a 3D grid visual and more editor options such as Noclip Speed Adjustment.
There’s also a new Replace Canvas URL tool and Find Canvas tool that will help out with quickly fixing dead image links in a Condo, as well as updating URLs quickly.
Changes have been made to the inventory system, grid snapping, organization, I/O options, and much more.
And that’s not all! We also massively improved the time it takes to reset your Condo and load Condo snapshots. For builders, you’ll see immediate improvements to these systems.
Condo I/O
There’ve been quite a few updates to Condo I/O, but some of the highlights are that we’ve added Cylinder and Sphere shape types for Volumes!
We also moved some items to be I/O items; Sound Emitter, Floating Text, Floating Dialogue, Hidden Seat, Aquarium Volume, and Sound Emitter are now I/O items (no unit cost).
Co-Op Condos
We’ve also implemented some fixes for bugs with co-op Condo building. These include fixes for Copycat, Connection Tool, and editing Notebooks. We also fixed drag-copy for I/O and grouped items.
Libretro
We’ve made some improvements to Libretro support, too. These improvements include automatically positioning the camera for Arcade cabinets (allowing for easier play with controllers) and Fullscreen support. Fullscreen also comes with lightgun and touchscreen support!
You can also disable automatic save states and we’ve added hot keys for save states (F3, F4 keys).
God, this update is inconceivable! When’s it coming out?!
We are in the late stages of testing the update! We are resolving more issues with the Arcade physics rewrite but the majority of the other features mentioned are ready to go! So, as soon as possible. We’re really working as hard as we can to get this out to you all.
Future Update Progress
In any downtime we’ve had while working on the next update, we’ve been making progress on various features that will be implemented in future updates.
These include:
Minigolf SDK Progress
A lot of exciting progress has been made on the Minigolf Map editor. We’ve set up the settings menu and customization options for course pieces. We’ve finished up work on the loop size setting, base settings, wall variation and height settings, corner shape and magnitude settings, fill settings, the corner tool, path-curve tool, ramp settings, the half-pipe tool, and intersection tool.
Additionally, there have been some updates to I/O for Minigolf. These include the course pieces being considered I/O items, an Out of Bounds Volume, In Bounds Volume, a Friction Override Volume, Boost Volume, and a Putt Zone Override Volume.
We also have made progress on Pipes, Cannons, Launchers, and Camera Volumes.
The testing tools have also been completed and you can quickly test Minigolf courses by interacting with the start pad and it’ll automatically put you into a golfball.
Ball Race SDK Progress
For Ball Race SDK, progress has been made on Finish Goals, Finish Volume, Attractors/Repulsors, Bumpers, Boost Volume, and of course Melon pickups.
The testing tools have also been completed and the editor now can run custom Ball Race maps.
We plan to roll out both the Minigolf SDK and Ball Race SDK out at the same time after the 0.17.12.0 update.
Transit Station Optimization and Art Pass
Along with Arcade Server Side Optimization, we’ve been working on optimizing the Plaza Train Station area as we found through profiling that it was impacting performance across the entire Plaza. Doing this required aggressive modeling work, which led to… a complete overhaul of the artwork of the transit station! Fans of Lobby 2 will be happy to know that the overhaul takes notes of the best parts of the transit station and the escalators actually work this time!
If you want to follow along with the update, check out the “Next Releases” section on our Trello.
June Calendar
Here is the Tower Unite calendar for June! If you’d like to give feedback on bonus events, please do so here! That’s gonna do it for this Dev Update! Thanks for reading. <3 PixelTail Games
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