- Added Flip-Flop (inverted) logic type
- Added gift checkmarks to level cards in adventure mode
- Fixed logic flip flops not resetting
- Fixed zeepguy bodies not being able to unlock gifts
Zeepkist
Zeepkist Beautiful Beta - Version 16, Patch 5
- Added Flip-Flop (inverted) logic type
- Added gift checkmarks to level cards in adventure mode
- Fixed logic flip flops not resetting
- Fixed zeepguy bodies not being able to unlock gifts
Zeepkist Beautiful Beta - Version 16, Patch 1-4
- Maybe fixed sounds not playing :)
Patch 2:
- Maybe fixed sounds not playing, again, I hope
- Fixed gift unlocks not animating while game is paused
Patch 3:
- Fixed "MaterialHolder must be instantiated using the ScriptableObject.CreateInstance method instead of new MaterialHolder."
I think the above caused crashes and may have been related to audio instability?
Patch 4:
- Further attempts at fixing instability.
Testing reveals patch 4 seems to have fixed most of the crashes?
Zeepkist v16 - The Sound Update
V16 – The Sound Update
Introduction
9 months ago to the day, I stopped work on v15 update patch releases, and opened a new branch in the Zeepkist Github repository: “Yannic-2021.3.10f-v16”
The first thing I did was work on the new reflections. They were already in place in some fashion, hidden in a secret menu and not really implemented all that well. So that was a low-hanging fruit.
From there I moved on to fixing S-Bends, and then I added the FMOD audio framework and ported all existing Unity sounds to that. Then Monorails, and from there, the development of v16 was well underway.
I added physics-based balls, icons to level editor block thumbnails, implemented a crude logic system (more on this later), a Netherlands-inspired set of train station blocks, then offroad wheels, a garage, flying, etc and etc and etc and etc. I’ll attempt to list everything in a changelog later on.
The issue with implementing all of these beautiful systems is that they needed to be supplemented with beautiful content.
The new Zeepkist mechanics needed new levels to showcase them, and the garage which allowed you to change them needed many many more cosmetics. It’s no wonder that the amount of cosmetics more than triples with v16.
The new cosmetics, to make matters worse, then needed a whole new way of being unlocked. So many many hours went into creating “gifts” you can find in levels, which unlock a cosmetic.
In the final few weeks of v16 development, most of that time was spent finding neat places in existing adventure levels to hide cool gifts!
But I’m not here to complain! I think the gifts mechanic will add a whole new dynamic to playing the adventure mode. And that’s not to mention you can even unlock the gifts in splitscreen and online.
So without much further ado, I have one more feature announcement to make & then it’s on to the changelog!
Logic Blocks
These balls:
...were not added just because I wanted to put balls in the game.
They serve a vital purpose, actually!
Namely: Physics objects trigger logic blocks.
Logic blocks are very very simple.
There’s one or two triggers. When a physics object hits those triggers, they do some very simple math. And depending on the outcome, a block opens (disappears) or closes (appears).
The double-input logic gates have all the common logical operations: AND, OR, XOR, etc. And the single-input gates can function as simple buffers, inverted buffers, or latches.
Then there’s a final special logic block, which instantiates a new ball whenever its trigger gets hit. This can be used for creating new “signals”.
It’s then up to level creators to design pathways for physics objects to move from gate to gate, or for the player’s zeepkist to interact with them.
Fans and boosters can be used to move things along, and when you find there’s too much friction in your levels, you can simply use ice versions of all the different ball types!
There’s actually 4 logic-based “Zeepkist Golf” adventure levels which use logic!
You need to put a small football into the golf hole, before you can access the finish. If you don’t put the football in the hole, a gate will block your path.
I’m extremely confident that people will find many creative ways to use these, and many more different ways to completely break the game with it.
So go out and dive into the editor and check them out!! They’re probably my favorite feature of all of v16.
And I’ve kept them secret for at least a whole half a year ;)
Changelog
Note: 9 months is a long time, and my record keeping is not extremely reliable! It’s very possible I’ll forget to mention one or two features/changes!
Fixed:
- Online shuffle now works nicely
- Particles are now more performant
- S-Bends didn’t fit together nicely
- Made D-07 author time easier
- Mouse sensitivity no longer tied to framerate
- Inspector Scrollbar is now twice as sensitive
- All paint particles now have correct color
- Editor movement gizmo now always faces camera
- Camera doesn’t move up/down anymore when going into grab mode in level editor
- Some Level Editor UI elements are slightly smaller now
- Level 01 (etc) are now called Level A-01 (etc)
- Various other things that were broken, probably
- Zeepkist is now v16 instead of v15
Added:
- FMOD Audio Framework
- A bunch of extra sounds
- A new garage
- Realtime Reflections (not raytracing, it’s old reflection-probe tech)
- New intro scene
- Monorail
- Train Station Blocks
- Offroad Wheels
- Paraglider
- Autosaves and Backups shortcuts in “Load Levels”
- Change Camera hotkeys
- A thing that pops up and says you have mods installed
- Letter blocks
- Icon Blocks
- “Count as Checkpoint” options on status-changer blocks
- Invert Steering block
- Invert ArmsUp/Braking block
- Free Play level select UI now accepts mouse input
- Level Editor loading panel can now sort by date modified
- Whole bunch of weird wallride/tube transitions
- More S-Bend blocks
- Logic Blocks
- Rounded Cube Primitives
- More Primitives in general
- More rock blocks
- Oversteer/Broken Wheels Indicator UI
- Speed is now shown alongside time at checkpoints
- Note Block
- Horns
- Level Editor now shows Block and Folder IDs
- Braking makes you stick to monorails
- Traffic bump blocks
- More block thumbnails now have icons
- Boosters now have options “Affect Objects/Soapbox”
- Removed the Zeeprooms
- More bricks paint
- Roof tiles paint
- You can now view commands online if you press F1
- Selection helpers when selecting boosters/fans
- Online name color setting
- More sub-headers in settings menu
- More rock paint
- Planks paint
- More soap paints
- Level Editor Music (Thank u Duncan <3)
- FOV Settings
- Various tree gun settings
- Particle emitter blocks
- “Disable Collisions” option for splitscreen
- A frog to some Zeepkist System Messages
- Frikandel paint
- You can click on people’s names online to go to their steam page
- Faster downloading of workshop levels in online (experimental, might need to be reverted if it breaks stuff)
- Level Editor now has options for scaling blocks (this was a lot of work :D)
- Block property toggles now have small numbers next to them
- More construction crane blocks
- A flat booster start block
- Rondpoint logo
- Insivible Spectate mode
- “Debug View” GUI in online spectate
- Gifts
- Secret paints
- More achievements
- Signs in adventure mode that show how many medals you have
- Signs in adventure mode that show how many gifts you have
- “Custom Light” blocks, with RGB properties exposed
- Nebulade Can Blocks
- A Death Block
- Kofi Button in main menu (if u think Zeepkist doesn't cost enough)
- Kofi Button for Duncan in Extras Menu (give my sound guy some love)
- “Vertical Split” splitscreen setting
- The TV now has a function
- Signs that explain flying
- 36 new adventure levels
- 1180 new cosmetics
- 662 new blocks
- “Awesome Alpha” is now “Beautiful Beta”
Well.
I hope that covers everything!
That just leaves me to say...
HAPPY ZEEPKISTING!!!!!
And I will see you all in the next update!!! <3
I hope nothing breaks!!!
If something does break, please let me know on my Discord! https://steelpan.dev/zk-discord
Zeepkist v16 - Release Date
HI EVERYONE
Zeepkist v16 has been in development for uhhhh about 6 or 7 months now, I've kind of lost track exactly. edit: I've just checked! v16 development started in October!! That's almost 9 months!!!!
But it makes it the biggest update Zeepkist has had ever!
Price Increase
It also happens to be the most important Zeepkist yet, because with the addition of a lot of sounds, I finally feel it's time to move Zeepkist from its Awesome Alpha stage into the Beautiful Beta stage! :D
And with that, as I've long promised, I plan to do a price increase. I'm not ready to reveal the exact sum yet, Steam is still verifying my price change proposal, but it's not going to be an insane amount either way. Along with the price increase will also come regional price adjustments based on exchange rates, which are today a bit different than they were 3.5 years ago when Zeepkist first launched!
It DOES mean, that Zeepkist is currently as cheap as it's probably going to be for quite a while!!
But for that price increase you'll also get something in return, of course!
Without going into details, Zeepkist v16 will:
- Go from 77 adventure levels to 113 adventure levels!
- Go from 1622 level editor blocks to 2284 blocks!!
- Go from 462 cosmetics to 1624 cosmetics! That's 1180 new cosmetics!!!
And not to forget, Zeepkist first launched at it's 10 euro price-point with only 24 levels, 130 blocks, and less than 100 cosmetics. A price increase was well in order :D
Of course, there's many many many other things Zeepkist v16 is getting, but I'm going to have to spend a couple of hours compiling a changelog for all of those...
I hope it will be able to sustain Zeepkist development for a long time to come, and many games beyond :)
Release Date
Enough talk of money! When is Zeepkist v16 going to be available??
WELL (In case nothing goes terribly wrong!!)
Zeepkist v16 is releasing on Monday, June 24!
That's NEXT WEEK
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D
Let me make that a bit bigger for anyone skimming over to find the good stuff:
Zeepkist v16 Release Date:
Monday, June 24
If nothing goes wrong!!
I don't expect anything to go wrong.
v16 has been in closed-beta testing for many weeks now and a lot of bugs seem to have been thoroughly ironed out. The whole thing looks very very stable from what I can see.
Duncan (my sound guy freelance guru) is currently working on finishing up the final few sounds v16 is getting, and other than that v16 is 100% ready to go.
If post-launch you do find any bugs, of course let me know on the Zeepkist Discord!
HAPPY ZEEPKISTING
I CAN'T WAIT TIL NEXT WEEK
WOOHOO V16 FINALLY
UPDATE 2 - Steam Deck Bug - Stuck at 100% Downloading
I recently made a post about a workshop bug people have been experiencing on Steam Deck:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1440670/view/4173225272335082654
And I've got another small update on how that's progressing!
As of 2024/06/07, it appears there is a Proton Experimental build that appears to have fixed the issue!
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Changelog
The official word of Valve:
Improved support for workshop levels in Zeepkist.
So a fix should now be available in Proton Experimental, and according to one Discord user they managed to play without issues.
So Steam Deck users, go get on Proton Experimental and let me know if everything works! :D
- Yannic
Zeepkist Super League - Fixed Checkpoints
When is the Super League tournament?
Timeslot 1 (1 Room, 64 player capacity)
- Sunday 16th June at 10:00 PT
- Sunday 16th June at 13:00 ET
- Sunday 16th June at 18:00 BST
- Sunday 16th June at 19:00 CEST
- Monday 17th June at 03:00 AET
Timeslot 2 (1 Room, 64 player capacity)
- Sunday 16th June at 19:00 PT
- Sunday 16th June at 22:00 ET
- Monday 17th June at 03:00 BST
- Monday 17th June at 04:00 CEST
- Monday 17th June at 12:00 AET
Super League Details
We will be competing on 15 of the 25 level submissions from the Fixed Checkpoints level contest held earlier this month. You can checkout all submissions on the Steam Workshop!
The rooms will open around 10 minutes before the event starts and is scheduled to last around 2 hours (7 minutes per level) with a rest period half way through. The first timed level will begin on the hour (~10 minutes after rooms open)
The leaderboards in all rooms will be tracked and will be combined into a single overall leaderboard post-event on zeepki.st/super-league!
Top 3 with the most points will receive a NEW special racing helmet IN-GAME, a Discord role and 3,000 chat EXP in our Discord server!
Who can join?
The Super League is open to all! Open Zeepkist and hop in to one of the Super League rooms hosted by Akane (Timeslot 1) or Kernkob (Timeslot 2). Rooms are filled on a first-come-first-served basis.
Look out for the following rooms hosted by either Akane or Socks242:
- Zeepkist Super League: Fixed Checkpoints
What tracks are we racing on?
The 15 tracks we're racing on have been picked out by our judges.
They are:
- Bergkäse by JobW + Maki
- Gartengitter by Renergy
- Drobos by Shadynook
- Rooted Outlook by Codewalt
- Foggy Mountain Trail by Lazy_Echidna
- Don't Look Back In Anger by icRS
- Ghost Lights by Lilly the Bun
- [BREAK TIME: FIXED CHECKPOINTS EDITION]
- Flower Power by Diabler
- Tattooine by OwlPlague + Sheriff + TheBamboozler
- Nothing strange here, right guys, uh guys, by Ionjig
- Citrus Twist by DeeDeeNaNaNa
- Moonlit Malachite Mine by Lexer
- Something's off by Hate Hater
- Rustmaw Ridge by reholmes92
- Spearmint by Kernkob + St. Nicholas
Download the level playlist at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JgRp3tF6KHrEsrIMQOIdUy90sC9otp8q/view?usp=drive_link
Save the downloaded playlist in "%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Zeepkist\Playlists" and load it inside an Online room!
Vote for the Best Layout & Best Track Décor
Voting is now open! The top 3 levels with the best layout and the top 3 levels with the best decoration will earn their creators the Season 3 & 4 builders hat cosmetic!
CAST YOUR VOTE HERE
- Akane
Level Contest - Video Games
THEME: Video Games
Build a level that reimagines your favourite levels or maps from a non-Zeepkist video game of your choice, from any era of gaming!
Looking for ideas? How about recreating a level or map from a classic arcade game from your childhood; a level racing through the eerie corridors of a survival horror game; recreating a side-scrolling platformer level; or a level weaving through the labyrinthine dungeons of RPGs!
DEADLINE
- Your track should be complete and submitted by Sunday, 30th June 2024 at 18:00 BST
- Submissions will be combined into a single workshop item after the deadline above
SUBMISSION RULES
- You can only submit one level (you can modify or replace your submission as much as you like until the deadline)
- Level collaborations are permitted (Maximum of 3 players per level. This counts as a level submission for each individual creator. Please name/mention collaborators when submitting)
- The name of the level MUST start with "ZSL - " (e.g "ZSL - My Level")
LEVEL RULES
- Scaling track pieces is permitted
- Level MUST follow any theme requirements set above
- Level MUST be under 4000 blocks
- Level MUST have an author time above 30 seconds
- Level MUST have an author time under 75 seconds (1m15s)
- Level MUST have at least 2 checkpoints. Consider adding additional checkpoints for split timing or where it would prevent a cut, as cuts do not make for good tournament tracks!
- Level MUST NOT have risky or hidden finishes/shortcuts (e.g blind shortcuts or using no-collision/invisible blocks to hide a secret path that is NOT the intended route)
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR LEVEL
- Join our Official Discord server
- Upload the level to the Steam Workshop
- Link the workshop item in the theme's thread in #level-submissions
Don't have Discord? You can submit your entry by linking your workshop item in the comments section of this announcement post!
WINNERS & PRIZES
- Up to 15 of the submitted levels will be used for the next Zeepkist Super League event
- The community will vote on their favourite maps from the theme once submissions close
- Top 3 in the community votes for Best Decor and Best Track Layout will each win a special hard hat cosmetic in-game. Discord users will also get a `Level Contest Winner` role and 3,000 chat EXP in our Discord server.
BANNER CONTEST
We're also hosting a themed banner contest for our Discord server banner image where you can win a special beret hat!!
The theme is Video Games and ends at the same time as this level contest!! View the banner contest event details on Discord
- Akane
UPDATE - Steam Deck Bug - Stuck at 100% Downloading
I recently made a post about a workshop bug people have been experiencing on Steam Deck:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1440670/view/4173225272335082654
And I've got a small update on how that's progressing!
The Proton team has tested Zeepkist and confirmed the issue, and have filed an internal bug report so that it can get fixed.
That's all the news I have to share for now. But I'm very thankful of how supportive Steam and the Proton team is, and I'll let you know when I hear more!
- Yannic
The Road to v16 - Zeepkist Devlog Part 6
Zeepkist Devlog
Hey everyone!!
If you've been following along on the Discord you may have been keeping track of some recent developments!
You may also have read the previous devlog and been waiting for more!
It's been a while since part 5 (I'm really bad at doing these at any regular interval), but work on the update has been steadily progressing. In fact, I'd say this update is about 95% done so we're getting really really close to the end!
So anyway I thought it was time for devlog 6!!
Scaling!!
SO, scaling has been a "hidden" feature in Zeepkist ever since it launched. Blocks, when saved, also save their size. This meant that by file editing, and later by modding, it was possible to scale blocks. No doubt you've played workshop levels with feature up or down scaled blocks!
With v16, scaling will be an official Zeepkist feature!
Blocks have a whole new menu accessed by this blue button in the top right.
In this menu you can change the block's Transform values (position, rotation, size), as well as quickly change a block's scale with the press of a few buttons!
One example of something that will now be really easy in v16 will be making signs!
Scaling also works on particle emitters and lights!
Speaking of lights... v16 gets a "custom light emitter" block!
And finally, when it comes to the level editor:
More Cosmetics!!
There's currently two majors things left to do for this update to be ready:
- Some sounds
- Add a whooole bunch of cosmetics
And adding cosmetics in and of itself is not that hard!
The issue I ran into was that Zeepkist is going to have more cosmetics than new adventure levels will allow.
So I had to get creative...
I will be hiding gifts in levels, which unlock cosmetics!
These will be hidden in all levels, not just the new ones, and there's still quite a few cosmetics I need to hide, so the eventual list will get pretty big!
I'm also going to give achievements to players for finding all gifts of a type, and I'll be awarding achievements for people who manage to get all medals in adventure mode!
So lots of good stuff coming all your ways!! Just a bit of work still to get it all done and polished up and presentable :D
The End
That's it for this devlog!! I hope you enjoyed the little behind-the-scenes insight and I hope all of you are as excited for Zeepkist Version 16 as I am!!
If you want to be even more up to date on Zeepkist development, you can join the Discord!
Happy Zeepkisting!!
Zeepkist Awesome Alpha - Version 15, Patch 78 & 79
- Hopefully fixed an issue where UNC paths instead of regular drive paths would cause the game to lock up