Hey!
Its been another month and time for an update from the developer - aka me 🤓
In case you missed it, Public Multiplayer Beta is open!
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/6242613536165636826
Release of "multiplayer" is getting close!
For the past 2~ years I have been working on the new version of the game that we referrer to as the "multiplayer" version.
This new version of the game is set to be released around dec. 2024 so we are getting very close.
Therefore my main focus from now on and until release, will be to get the game to a nice and polished state. This also means that for the next month or so, I won't be working on any major new features.
Getting the game to a little more polished state, fixing bugs etc. is in it self a big task, however further more I also need to spend time on marketing efforts, new Steam graphics and trailers, tutorials for new Mod Tools etc.
However, fear not, as you know if you have been following along for a while, I'll just continue on with the development after the release, exactly as I have for the past 5+ years :)
I have a lot of features I want to add, things to optimize and improve, however, the game is good enough now to be released to all.
Due to the above, you will see the things I mention in this Developer News being stuff that push the game to a more finished and polished state.
One last note I would like you to remember is that, if you are reading here you are most likely one of the more hardcore fans or players, meaning you might be playing the multiplayer-beta already.
For you there won't be anything new as such on the release, because you have been part of the journey. However, only around 7-8% of the players are playing the multiplayer-beta, so for the huge majority of the players, this update will most likely come out of nowhere.
It will be interesting to see what people think :)
For you the new thing will be a lot of new players in the hosts around the world.
So please help welcome them to the new world of online/multiplayer Fireworks Mania, be nice and help them with all the new stuff - I know you have it in you :)
Avatar selection UI
If you played the beta you know that we use to change character/avatar with the END and HOME buttons. This was made because it was fast to do as I then didn't had to spend time on UI for changing character.
As the game soon will hit a lot of players it of cause need to be more obvious how to do that.
Therefore I have now added a new tab, "Avatar", from where you can see all the avatars to pick from.
The avatars you see here is determined on what mods is enabled on the host.
PS: I'm still in doubt if I should call this tab "Avatar" or "Character"... what do you think?
Size filtering
Since Shells and Mortars became a part of the native game, you guys have been asking to get some way of filtering as it can be pretty hard to find the right size you are looking for.
Therefore I have added size filtering in the top of Shells and Mortars in the Inventory.
Happy Halloween
Again this year, Halloween is saved by the community! As you can understand I'm spending all my time actually making the game, so I don't have the time right now to do content stuff like this.
So again, the community saves the day - namely guanaco0403 and Keltusar this time.
Guanaco have updated his Halloween mod and you can now play it with others in the multiplayer-beta. Further yesterday he updated it with more content and a haunted house and more!
Be aware there are a few jump scares in there - you are warned :)
If you want to add a bit of more horror to it, you can also install Keltusars Halloween Characters mod.
Community Shout-out
The community keeps surprising me. Fireworks Mania is of cause about fireworks, but some players also have fun making nice looking decorations and setup of firework shops in various maps.
Saw these made by 1Princess in my Discord and thought it looked awesome.
Workshop switching
This section is really for the hardcore ones!
You can skip this section, unless you want a slight insight into what goes into making a game setup like this that you most likely never thought about.
..if you are still here, lets go!
Some of you might have have noticed "odd" things happening in the Workshop recently, both in the currently released "Singleplayer" version and in the "Multiplayer" version of the game - this is where I try to explain what and why.
Maybe it's too much info, as its irrelevant for 95% of you I guess, but here goes.
Before we continue you have to know that the game uses mod.io as it's backend service for hosting and handling mods. On mod.io you can create multiple public or hidden "games" that you can use to host and structure mods under.
So, until recently this was how the connection between the game and mod.io was:
The "Singleplayer" was connected to the real public "Fireworks Mania" game on mod.io.
The "Multiplayer (beta)" was connected to an hidden "Fireworks Mania Beta" game on mod.io.
This is how it have been setup for a long time. The reason is that some mods are only working on the new version, like characters, new shell and mortars etc.
So to save players from seeing mods they can't use, we have this separate "Fireworks Mania Beta" game on mod.io that we used while I was developing the multiplayer version.
As multiplayer is now soon going to be the "default" version of the game, I want that version to point to the real public "Fireworks Mania" game on mod.io as that's the one having all the download stats and ranking. We have over 10 million mod download on that - thanks to you players and modders!
You might see the problem now - because how are we going to solve this problem.
The challenge is we want the "multiplayer" to point to the public game on mod.io, so we can prepare it with all the mods specifically to multiplayer. At the same time, we want to do this while not confusing the players (which is currently the majority 94%) playing the "Singleplayer" version. So the mods cannot show up there.
There are multiple solutions to this, but I came up with a solution that solves all the above plus an extra challenge.
The extra challenge being - what if players don't want to play the new version? I know, its most likely very few that would actually do this, but you never know and with the solution I came up with, this problem was solved for free basically.
I developed a little tool that could copy mods from one mod.io game to another - a service mod.io don't have build in.
I then created a new hidden game on mod.io called "Fireworks Mania Singleplayer" and copied all the mods from the public "Fireworks Mania" game.
Once that was done, I could change the "Singleplayer" version of the game to point to this new mod.io "Fireworks Mania Singleplayer" game.
This "Fireworks Mania Singleplayer" is a hidden game on mod.io, so mods will not get updated (unless a mod specifically tell me to delete his/hers mod).
By doing it that way, I have just have this version as another Steam branch after we push the "Multiplayer" as the default version - this way players that want to keep playing the old Singleplayer version can do so.
It's this version all are playing right now, as I pushed the update that made this change the other day.
Once this was done, I could then change the "Multiplayer" version of the game to point to the real public "Fireworks Mania" game on mod.io so we could start preparing for the release, which is what is happening right now.
The update that made this changed was pushed the other day too.
When these switches have happened, the first time you loose your subscriptions as it's a new "game" on mod.io - and THIS is the confusion that some of you, hopefully a few, have discovered.
I told you it would be tough to get through, I warned you :D
Change log
I have pushed the following updates since last Developer News.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/4521143557837291872
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/4521142923100471809
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/4521142923101171286
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/4541408758389168961
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/4699033840165828155
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/4699033840154159576
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/4699033205918773770
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/4699033205915010574
This is all for now - need to get back and work on the next update and prepare for release :)
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- Enjoy!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1079260/Fireworks_Mania__An_Explosive_Simulator/