Hello! Today's 20XX patch adds a lot, including online multiplayer. It's currently restricted to 2 players, one per machine. Read on for the full notes.
Disclaimer: 20XX is in alpha. As we develop the game, we may make changes that require us to invalidate or wipe your 20XX save files, Steam Leaderboard info/achievements, and other save-y stuff like that. Be aware!
Note: The current price of 20XX ($9.99) will increase to $11.99 when the netplay is stable. This will likely occur in 2-4 weeks (1-2 patches). We want players to be happy with what they're buying; while the game is incomplete, we charge an incomplete price. The closer we get to release, the closer the price will get to our planned Full Release price of $15.
TL;DR for today's patch: Netplay! Lots of boss changes. Performance enhancements. New Agnisort chunks. Chunk variability system.
For the next patch or two: Boss work, more level variability, safehouse rework, UI rework.
On the horizon (extremely subject to change): ????
As always, let us know if anything's busted or if we missed some changes.
BIG CHANGES:
- Netplay is live!
- It is still in a VERY early state. It will have bugs.
- Probably lots of bugs.
- Current Netplay User Friendliness Rating: 0/10
- We've fixed most of the bugs we know about, though, so tell us what you find!
- Please report bugs in this community thread.
- Netplay is currently 2P only (one per machine).
- Netplay currently supports two modes; invite a Steam friend, and find a random partner.
- Random partner finding will see if anyone's waiting for a partner, and if not, will have you wait for a partner. This lobby shouldn't time out, but it's our first release, so if you don't find anyone after a few minutes, try again.
- The Daily Challenge/Hardcore are unavailable while networked with another player.
- All multiplayer stuff is now handled at the Multiplayer portal (teal) in the Safehouse. Accordingly, the two Main Menu options for single/multiplayer have been merged into one Play option.
- Several bosses have new art and new/modified mechanics:
- The Twins have new art/animations. Their Flameshield ability now only affects one of them per cycle, and times out before teleporting. If encountered after level 4, killing one will cause the other to enrage.
- Rollster has new art, a new ability, and his room has been changed.
- Flowery Death (Lotus Boss) has been super reworked.
- Svalinn Gamma, Shield-Summoner-y boss, has been replaced by Arach, the Predator. It still currently drops Force Nova.
- We've made a major enhancement to the way we process some animated level pieces; some players will notice better performance. We're still working on this.
- This patch contains the beginning of a major level variability rework. Eventually, all chunks will have more room for hazard variability depending on where in the game they're loaded. Today, some chunks have this, many don't.
- Several new level chunks have been added for Agnisort, all of which have the new chunk variability setup.
SMALL CHANGES:
- Added a new Agnisort platform, a thin (drop-through-able) moving platform.
- Energy Armor reworked; no longer absorbs damage at the cost of HP - now restores some energy upon taking damage. The previous version of the item ended up being pretty negative in the late-game, as just a few hits would completely deplete the user's energy bar.
- Altered Forest Spirit's aggro radius to prevent players being blasted from offscreen in some starts.
- Added black dropshadows to most text, making it easier to read. (Goodbye, white-on-light-color text.)
- Main menu's options are now normal text. We're replacing them pretty soon anyway -- pardon the dust.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug occasionally causing moving platforms to desync in singleplayer.
- Fixed a bug with the new control rebind scheme that could cause the game to incorrectly detect your input device on first boot, causing any control reassignment to hang the game.
- Fixed a bug where bosses weren't using their alternate abilities properly.
- Fixed a poorly-designed-control (not a bug!) that occasionally caused control-rebinding players to discover the L key, which reloaded our shaders for debug purposes but gave no indication of this, instead just making it look like the game hung for a few seconds. The L key no longer does this, and the developer responsible has been sacked.
- Fixed a few issues involving sound effects (armor pickup, Frostor freeze targeter).
- Reinstated the above sacked developer after remembering that it was me.
Thanks for reading!