This update is a big one! It includes a number of new features and changes that have been planned or in development for quite a while, as well as a ton of bug fixes as we get ready to leave Early Access.
One of the biggest changes is a complete overhaul of the bots. So much has changed with them that we’re giving them their own section in the announcement!
We are also happy to announce the game works great on Steam Deck!
Bots - Changes and Bug Fixes
- Bots do a much better job navigating around terrain and dangers. They actively avoid Kali’s wake, and react sooner to approaching dangers in levels that would be visually apparent to human players (such as the steam in the Ice Cavern).
- Bots are able to use their characters’ special abilities, and make decisions on when it is appropriate to use them.
- They are able to use all other weapons, and prioritize them based on what they can see within their field of view.
- Bots will lead their targets when aiming. They don’t have perfect aim, but it’s comparable to a skilled human.
- Bots now collect crates passively when attacking or evading, rather than explicitly seeking out crates.
- Bots aim their wrench correctly and no longer get stuck in a loop trying to fix their fan.
- Bot animations don’t react to human input.
- Bot AI/decision making is now multithreaded and distributed evenly across multiple frames, so there is no significant performance penalty for having more bots in a match vs humans.
- Most importantly - they’re actually pretty competitive now with all these changes.
Changes
Updated the game engine to take advantage of new features and improve performance.
UI
- Changed the description while searching for online games to be more obvious and helpful.
- Changed play options language and icons to better explain the options.
- Tutorial language has been tweaked for easier reading and understanding.
VR
- Updated Steam VR to make sure the game is compatible with newer hardware.
- Improved visual readability of the kill feed and item collection feed while in VR.
- We implemented a choice in firing modes. Players can now fire a gun in 2 different ways depending on their preference.
- Adjusted slingshot to allow for less pullback to reach full shot power. This is especially a problem with quest controllers that are tracked via the headset.
- Consolidated all VR controls to one screen regardless of the device the player is using.
Performance and General changes
- Improved performance for how the fan sound was implemented.
- Performance increase in how crates are spawned into the levels.
- Many small improvements to address performance spikes and increase minimum FPS.
- Immediately syncing baskets on respawn now to avoid any visual oddities.
- Improved lighting.
- Character inverse kinematic target changes for interactions are now interpolated relative to basket positions. Movements are now smoother at high basket speeds, especially for remote players and bots.
Weapons, Utilities and Abilities
- The shield crate now gives players a shield that lasts for a short time as opposed to disappearing after taking damage.
- Kalis' wake no longer damages friendly balloons. The color of the smoke now matches the player's balloon who activated it.
- Bird Blades now behave differently. They deploy, then immediately seek out an enemy target balloon to terrorize and then explode once they have done enough damage or have popped the balloon.
- Sicario’s invisibility now makes sure that any item you collect while invisible will not be seen by enemies.
- The launch velocity of an item launched from the slingshot now properly matches the pullback distance. Max velocity remains unchanged, but lower velocities are now possible and the visual trajectory guide is now accurate.
- Laser drones now only target enemies.
- Air mines and laser drones will no longer stop a basket if there is a collision while they deploy.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where the character’s head was offset incorrectly causing strange behavior when looking down.
- Fixed some trees and other terrain objects to improve performance
- Fixed an issue with the visual effect while respawning. There was a bug causing the black hole effect to not show sometimes.
- Fixed a bug where the drone could come up while the main menu was open in VR.
- Fixed the score screen sometimes laying out incorrectly at the end of a match.
- Fixed a bug where a player couldn’t bring up the menu while holding grip. If they are holding an object, they still cannot open the menu.
- Fixed the drone screen sometimes being stuck behind terrain. Now if you are too close to terrain when the screen pops up, you are pushed back slightly to make room.
- Fixed a bug with the way the UI buttons work in VR.
- Fixed an issue with any shootable weapon where it might hit your gun before leaving the basket if you were traveling fast enough. This would cause rockets to blow up in your face. While kind of funny, not really how they are meant to be used.
- Fixed a bug where the fan would become “unhinged” and result in the basket not being able to fly correctly.
- Fixed a bug where players would be stuck and couldn’t move after respawning and hitting a wall.
- Fixed a number of bugs related to grabbing interactions in multiplayer.
- Fixed Darwin's missile not always shooting from the gun in multiplayer.
- Fixed a bug that would cause unloading the slingshot to result in a bug where the item flies out of your basket and your character reaches for it and flies through the air trying to grab it.
- Balloon sounds are now fixed to play at the balloons position.
- Fixed an issue where Kali’s teleport could take a long time to complete if there was a basket collision during the teleport.