Become a Tester!
These patch notes are for the Pre-Alpha v.1.1.3 release that is available to all testers. If you have signed up to become a tester you should have already received your code for access to the Development build of Hexonomy. If you are interested in becoming a tester, you can contact us through our website or visit us on our twitter and send us a DM! There are only a limited number of codes available for Pre-Alpha testing so contact us to get your codes soon!
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New and Noteworthy
- Complete UI Overhaul. New visualizations for full information panels
- Created a chat system so players in lobby can speak with each other without VOIP. This menu now also hosts all in-game messages (filters will be added later)
- Localized a lot of font and color variables for customization at a later date
- Introduced a new context menu and tile selection ability
- Context menu will now always show the selected hex tile when hovering over other tiles
- Created Inspection menu for a detailed view of tiles and businesses' data
- Integrated a Toolbar for all menus related to in-game mechanics (i.e. business selection, searching, changing views, displaying certain information, etc.)
- Created new view types to change pertinent information shown in-game (will be expanded upon greatly in future updates) and added to Toolbar
- Changed the simple selection menu to be hidden or shown. Also moved menu to the Toolbar
- Placeholder for advanced selection menu in place. Will be added in next major patch
- Client stats were not being tracked. They were loaded from server stats, which increased net traffic significantly. Stats are now tracked on the client to reduce network load
- Scrapped the "End Game" screen and replaced it with a results and stats menu that can be accessed at anytime during the game to view
- Updated the transition screen to include hint text (will include hint pictures later)
- Integrated Cool-downs on tile and businesses being sold and purchased and created visualizations in the timers header
- Deprecated "Minor Suppliers". Businesses now only have "Suppliers"
- Added menus for global and player modifiers (will be expanded upon in future patches)
Bugs Fixed
- Players could not start a new session after leaving a game
- Context menu would get stuck being show and animations would not play correctly
- The top 1/3 of the screen would block being able to select businesses, place businesses, or interact with tiles
- When opening and closing menus in a certain order, game input would be disabled until options menu was opened or closed
- Context menu could not access certain data from businesses
- Dragging and dropping businesses onto tiles would be delayed because the mouse was consumed during the action. This caused the business to be placed onto a different tile if you moved the mouse too quickly after releasing the button. Calculation of mouse placement was updated to fix this issue
- Fixed a number of variables not being sent to clients as part of the network code
- Context menu was able to be opened through menus sometimes. This was fixed by limiting player input when menus are open (however, a new bug has been introduced and is in progress to be fixed in the next patch)
- Transition menu would close too early, showing the in-game objects being loaded onto the screen before the map was finished loading
- Fixed spelling and grammatical error of a number of text objects
Upcoming Bugs to Fix
These are bugs that have been identified and we hope to change in the next patch or a very close patch. We take priority with bugs over new content so that we can ensure the game is polished once we begin integrating new and more exciting content
- Game controls get stuck unless menu is opened and closed at certain times. Mostly prominent if game is started before all players have joined
- If the server host disconnects before all clients disconnect, client players still in lobby when the server host disconnects will not be able to create or join new sessions
- Version text is not lined up with current version
- Inspection menu on client side does not show any businesses because of a data issue
- Profile picture from Steam does not always load into the main menu because of a load order issue
- Progress bars are linked to frame rate, so if there is a drop in frames your progress bar may become out of sync with the timer. The timer however is linked to the network load and is always in sync with the server. This will be fixed so that the progress bars sync with the network load as well
- Joining a game after it has started or as a spectator (feature in development) does not load all objects in a current game properly due to a replication issue with the server
- There is a current issue with the way tiles calculate their view types which causes MAJOR frame rate drops when using certain view types will large number of businesses. Algorithm used for calculation will be updated to fix this problem
- Steam profile pictures don't show up properly in the results screen
Upcoming Long Term Changes in Future Patches
These changes will most likely come in many different future patches, but there are our next big target goals in no particular order.
- Implementation of a variety of settings for graphics, audio, key bindings, and other various options for personal client side player preferences
- Introduce new search feature and and recommendations for businesses in an advanced business selection tool
- Overhaul UI images to improve look and feel of UI. Also includes compressing textures to save on hard disk requirements
- implementation of global and player mods and their specifications. Includes huge overhaul of global and player mod menus
- Automatic matchmaking for quick play using "Classic" settings
- Creating settings for custom matches so players can host custom games and tweak gameplay to their liking
- Addition of a "Hexicon" so you can view all the business in more detail and create "business plans" before going into matches. These will act as a loadout of sorts when in game. A hexicon will also be available in game to quickly switch loadouts and view business in great detail
- Tutorials available from the main menu and help menus available in game
More updates to come soon! Check the top of this post for information on how to get your hands on an early copy of Hexonomy and become a Pre-Alpha tester! Can't wait to share our exciting development in future updates!
While we are still in development, if you are interested in supporting Starfish Studios while we create Hexonomy, check out our Patreon account as well to donate to our development efforts!
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