VERSION: "SUDDEN DERP #1 (public)"
(This is the version number you will see in the bottom right of the main menu.)
WHAT IS IN THIS UPDATE?
Let's get the big one out of the way first!
Many players are playing the game and are confused about the scoring system.
It was designed so that those who survived the end of the timer, win, even if all 8 players survived, but then how do you determine the winner out of those 8 players? With points, that's how..
But this was never conveyed properly and many people just didn't understand what the purpose of points were, so I had a few options, but ultimately decided on this:
SURVIVAL MINI-GAMES:
The timer no longer counts down, it is last player alive wins.
If there is just 1 player left, SUDDEN DEATH mode kicks in, the music will change, and the gameplay difficulty will be increased significantly since that player has already won and it's really just allowing that player to show off a little bit while everybody else laughs at their attempt to survive.
POINT BASED MINI-GAMES:
Any mini-game where players need to collect points (none in the public demo right now), and there is a tie breaker when the timer runs out, SUDDEN DEATH mode will kick in, which extends the round and pretty much creates a point collecting bonanza for a short period of time (10-15sec) then a winner is decided. If there is STILL a tie breaker, then more extensions are given until there isn't a tie breaker.
ROUND BASED MINI-GAMES:
These don't need any adjustments, this is simply a case of "Best to 3 points wins", however something that isn't explained is why when there's more than 4 players, it's "Best to 2 points wins".
This is because during testing, games could go for a rather lengthy period of time when it was best to 3, especially with 8 people playing.
In time, once I add in some gameplay customization options per mini-game, you will be able to modify these settings to your liking before playing the mini-game. So if you don't like SUDDEN DEATH, you can turn it off, or you could change it to trigger when there are x amount of players left for example.
Same goes for Point Based modes and round based modes.
There's still more work to do with SUDDEN DEATH mode, but I will be working on that over time.
BUGS BUGS BUGS!!!!!
Many of you have been playing the game and putting up with some really nasty bugs, many of these are addressed and some of them I simply cannot replicate or simply will not be able to fix.
The best thing to do is ensure you have an Xbox or Dual Shock controller if you have problems.
INPUT/CONTROLLER BUGS
Some players have run into input problems, where there is a loss of Input from the controller, buttons being switched around, or simply not getting any input in the first place.
Here are some reasons these problems exist:
1. You are playing with a keyboard:
Metal Heads is designed for controller, however I have tried to implement keyboard support over time.
It is experimental and has been fairly broken, thus causing many issues, especially when playing online.
Heck you couldn't even drop into a game in progress with a keyboard (that is fixed now).
2. You are using an unsupported 3rd Party generic gamepad.
Metal Heads is designed to be used with Xbox one controllers and Dual Shock controllers, however due to using RAW Input, most controllers will work, even Joysticks.
ALTHOUGH, some controllers simply don't work, or don't work well. Especially controllers that have "modes" on them.
Typically these modes are designed to switch between Direct Input, XInput and/or RAW Input, but switching these modes while in game WILL break the gameplay, it will identify as a brand new controller and could potentially mean creating a new character on the same PC.
IF you are using one of these controllers, find a mode that is most functional, and leave it on that mode.
3. You are using a 3rd Party controller driver
Whether it is for emulation or another reason, these drivers are great, and necessary for a lot of people to use emulation software, however they can actually break your game's input.
4. STEAM/VALVE are working on new controller drivers of their own.
That's right...Steam/Valve are working on their very own controller drivers to allow all types of controllers to work with Steam, but I believe that you need to opt into the Steam beta client in order to access these drivers.
HOW TO ACTIVATE STEAM BETA
CHANGE LIST:
- Reworked scoring system, it should work more accurately now. Players with the same scores however will be broken and show 4th, 5th, 6th for example rather than all 4th.
- Slow connection players were sometimes not lighting up when returning to lobby/character screen after a mini-game, this is now fixed.
- FORCE START now actually works in the lobby and tutorial screens.
- ALL Characters should now respawn properly in round based modes like Oh Balls and Termination Trail.
- Players should no longer lose input after a mini-game is restarted.
- Oh Balls characters should no longer have input on round start (although sometimes there is minimal movement, so I need to try and brute force the balls to stay put)
- Termination Trails now are actually removed between rounds. Previously some trails would stay on the level.
- Players in OFFLINE mode should now appropriately be named P1, P2, P3, P4 etc
- Tap Out movement should now be fixed up and nice and smooth while playing online.
- Deadly Disco lights now actually function for clients.
- Updated most of the tutorial videos.
- Fixed up some audio problems where clients couldn't actually hear all of the characters dying, jumping etc.
- Dark Dangers camera is now a dynamic camera, but may be changed back to being static again.
- Ghost's capes now are transparent as well.
- The Roman and Gladiator heads now are coloured to match the player colour
- Clients can now actually exit to the main menu from the character select screen, where-as they previously couldn't.
- Improved drop-in/drop-out functionality. There are only some minor bugs regarding late joining players.
+
A whole bunch of work on other unreleased content that will be hopefully be released for Early Access.
This other work is what has taken up a lot of time, and I'm also helping do renovation work for a house that my girlfriend and I will be moving into once renovation is complete and this is exhausting work, especially during Summer (in Australia). This renovation work generally depletes me of my energy and it takes a while for me to get the focus and energy to keep doing game dev afterwards.
WHATS NEXT?
I need to do more testing for major bugs, but I will be working towards overhauling the tutorial screen in the next few days before the end of the month, and then when February starts, I'll be dedicating almost 100% of my time to making the board game mode work properly and actually be fun.
It's no simple task, especially with drop-in/drop-out multiplayer, but I'm confident that I will get it done!
Aside from the board game mode, I'll also be working on the boss fight since they go hand in hand.
Thanks guys!
If you have any questions, feedback etc, do not hesitate to ask on the forums, or on the Metal Heads Official Discord server:
OFFICIAL DISCORD SERVER
YOU ROCK!!!
