Oh, hello there TUrbos. We didn’t see you come in. We know everyone’s been asking for more optimizations. So, we’ve answered your call. We’ve added an actual buttload of optimizations in this update, just for you! Everyone should see better performance in general, because we just love you guys that much.
This update may look small, but it’s actually incredibly complicated. Casino is coming up soon, and we’re still hoping to have it out this month. This update needed to come out before we do the Casino update.
You can watch our recent stream on Twitch to see the progress we've made with the Casino here:
https://www.twitch.tv/pixeltailgames/v/81983274
Major Changes:
- Minigolf: Fixed host FPS issue where the ball could not be putted sometimes
Developer notes: Foohy rewrote a lot of the golf ball code to make this system work a lot better. This change required us to mess with the ball physics a bit. There's still a few minor issues to work out with Minigolf in general and this is a step towards addressing them.
Miscellaneous Changes:
- You can now block other player's chat messages
Developer notes: When admins are not available, players can easily annoy other players. The blocking feature allows you to completely cut off communication with another player. You can block a player by clicking on their profile and hitting "Block Chat and Voice". As a bonus, the blocking system will remember who you blocked.
Optimizations:
- Optimized day/night sky (increased FPS by up to ~30 in some cases)
- Lighting and shadows are now cheaper
- Reduced draw distance of players and hats
- Added lots of LODs
- Reduced draw calls
Developer notes: Not all players will see the same big benefits these optimizations bring to our game. Those on older PC’s will notice a much larger change than those on newer PC’s. More work is still to be done for lighting specifically. The reduction of draw calls and introduction of more LOD’s is also more of a constant process as the game develops. These changes affect the Plaza and Condo performance.
- Implemented level streaming for Plaza
Developer notes: Level streaming is a way to load/unload pieces of the map in real time. This is not perfect yet, but it helps Plaza performance quite a lot. You might notice stuttering on the first load of an interior. Phase 2 of level streaming is going to come later, but for now, this will help immensely with performance. Noclipping isn't supported with level streaming at the moment.
Thanks for your support and for waiting patiently!
As always, you can follow our current developments on our Trello:
https://trello.com/b/6BwRMiPw/tower-unite-roadmap