Hello, Robot Arena community. Today we are launching our first update for Robot Arena III. This patch includes both fixes that were already planned, as well as fixes suggested by the community. Obviously we couldn’t address every single issue mentioned by the community in the span of one week, and a number of issues still remain. But, we do think you’ll view this new build as an improvement and, of course, we will continue to make improvements to the game.
This update includes the following changes:
1. Four-player multiplayer is now available but is still a work in progress. We are aware of random instances of desynchronization, which may cause players may to lose their connection. However, it is stable enough to let the community start playing it and sending us feedback.
Important Note: While we work on improving network stability, the motion smoothing between network updates has been deactivated. This will make bots look like they are "stuttering" instead of moving smoothly in some instances. This will be addressed in upcoming builds.
2. The 'Snap to Grid' feature was improved in this build. Now you can use the 'Snap to Grid' feature to raise and rotate your components to synchronize their placement.
3. Now you can use the keyboard to choose the right camera view:
• F1 - Follow Camera (Default)
• F2 - Shift between random Arena Cameras (varies per Arena)
• F3 - Cycle the various Drone Cameras on your bot
• F4 - Switch between random angles of the Director (TV) Camera
4. The ‘Follow Camera’ view is now the default camera view.
5. Hazards in the Arena will cause damage to you and your opponents. We are still adding improvements to the train hazard in the Subway Arena. Right now the train will only destroy the first bot that falls onto the tracks, and will not return to destroy any additional players.
6. In the Bot Lab, you cannot add components outside of the grid area. This fix should prevent you from adding components beneath the table.
8. This build includes improvements to the Multiplayer lobby, which is still a work in progress.
9. Improved Bot Entry in multiplayer. No more bots bouncing all over the map!
10. Dramatically reduced jitter of components in networked bots
11. Improved the Paint Shop feature, which is still a work in progress. New decal layers have the aspect ratio pre-adjusted to look better on larger bots.
12. Added Previous and Next page controls to scroll through Workshop content.
13. Tweaked power supply/consumption values.
14. The UI now adjusts better to resolution/aspect changes
That covers the major items in this update. As we mentioned at the start, many of these fixes were already planned. Others were “low-hanging fruit” that were easy to fix quickly – we know some of you may wonder why some relatively small items were improved before larger issues. We will continue to work on all known issues, including those you in the community have shared with us, and we’ll have another update for you next week.
Thank you,
- The Robot Arena III team