IT'S FINALLY HERE!!!
After a long delay, the multiplayer patch is now released! We've talked about it in detail in previous posts, so we'll save some time and summarize the additions in this one.
Also, hopefully this doesn't upset anyone, but we feel like the game is starting to really come together, so we'll be wiping a few save files and removing the beta buttons (unlock all levels, free shards).
Here's the save data that will be wiped, and some reasoning.
- Shards: SORRY. There's no clear way to tell who used the "give me shards" button, and who legitimately collected shards.
- Unlocked skin pieces: Unlimited shards meant unlimited skin pieces. Your loadouts will still have the same pieces, but don't switch them or else it's permanent (YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)
- Level progression: We'll be activating the level progression gates with this patch, which means you'll need to have earned some medals before progressing to later sectors.
- Ghosts + scores: Same reason we're doing a leaderboard wipe. New physics means all the old data is obsolete now.
Okay the grim stuff is out of the way, now here's the notes!
General
- Added three new game modes: Circuit, Battle, Free Roam
- All the settings have gone through a QA pass, everything should be fixed up now
- Keybindings page clean up, support added for mouse buttons
- Debug menu bound to F3 and improved (a little bit)
- Added input direction/force UI under the ball. Next patch this will be toggleable
- Updated loading screen look/content
- Updated the multiplayer pause menu to act as more of a control panel
Ball Controls + Physics
- Fixed the speed exploit
- Change the ball movement system significantly - before it was applying force on the horizontal plane to push the ball around, now it applies angular velocity (spin) to the ball. This should make it more responsive and handle inclines more realistically.
- Lowered jump movement - the amount you can move in the air is significantly reduced, rolling off the start is faster, and you can platform more accurately.
- Added a force follow cam button that will lock the camera behind you, this is default shift on a keyboard, and right bumper on a controller
Story Mode
- Sectors are now be locked behind a medal count
- Leaderboards reset and saved times have been cleared
- Level changes - Added small platform to 1-6 - Removed a light from the beginning of 1-9 - Tweaked wall run in Remains - Tweaked Past Mistake platform length
New Levels
- 3 Circuit levels
- 5 Battle levels (multiplayer only)
- 5 Free roam levels (four based off of story mode sectors, one in an alternate universe)
- Added procedural level prototype, super super rough - but you can find it in Extra Levels > Test
- Combat system added, with 6 weapons and 12 abilities (used mainly in battle mode)
Local Multiplayer (split-screen)
- Up to 4 players
- Play on any level
- Voting system to pick levels
Online Multiplayer
- Join a server of up to 8 players
- Hub based lobbies (have a fallback free roam level, if someone needs to AFK)
- Also uses the voting system to pick levels
Skins
- Models - Real Cube ball - it is really a cube - Cage - Tessellate - Classic car, this is a prototype of a non-rotating skin module
- Effects - Ghost - Wraith - Gargantua - Cape
- Textures - Flashy (pretty buggy)
Website
- New Studio Monolith site
- New Polyball site
- Fixed leaderboards
- We've also worked out a roadmap to v1.0, let us know what you think!
There will be a patch tomorrow with some big bug fixes/changes, which include:
- Circuit level's single player spawns
- Online multiplayer UI scaling
- Controller fixes in main menu + game UI
- Story mode level requirements and pars rebalance (your number of medals will automatically adjust to any changes)