Trombone Champ News

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Order a plushie here: https://www.makeship.com/products/trombone-champ-plush

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Thank you for your support, and stay tuned for more Trombone Champ updates! We've been extremely busy patching, updating, and supporting the Nintendo Switch™ version since it released this month, but we have fun stuff coming down the pipeline for Mac & PC very soon...

Version 1.14 is live! This update mostly adds some nice quality-of-life features, but also adds the new track "Down By the Riverside!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq1_IwlR-B8

Please note: as always, some of the changes here may require users to update their mods!

Scoring has changed very slightly! We added new code that should make it much easier to play short, fast notes without "missing the gap." However, this means that a lot of tracks will suddenly get a bit easier, so we adjusted a few other variables very slightly in order to balance things out.

Full changelog:

• New track: "Down by the Riverside!"
  
• Scoring tweak: The game is more lenient in regards to "missing the gap" between notes. This change should be very noticeable in some tracks, such as "Hava Nagila."
  
• Scoring tweak: Each frame you miss a note now counts slightly more (value raised from 0.20 to 0.22), making gameplay slightly more difficult.
  
• Scoring tweak: Threshold to achieve any rank above F has been raised 1.5%, making achieving an S slightly more difficult. Getting an "S" shouldn't be that easy!
  
• New Settings: In the Settings menu, you can now configure which keyboard keys play the trombone. We recommend turning off all of the keys you don't use!
  
• New Settings: In the Settings menu, you can now adjust backing track volume.
  
• New Settings: In the Settings menu, you can now disable mouse clicks for tooting the trombone (this was in the last version but we forgot to add it to the announcement).
  
• Two new patterns added to Trombone Customizer, including the checkerboard ska thing.
  
• Adjusted input code so that a "gap" will be registered when switching between two keyboard keys during 1 frame. Previously, if you alternated keys quickly, there was a chance that a gap would not register.
  

Don't forget... if this update breaks your game for any reason, you can roll back to previous versions by right clicking the game in Steam, choosing "Properties," and going to the "Betas" tab.

• Default: The main branch, using the newest version. Please use this if you can!
  
• *Last_Update (NEW BRANCH): Use the LAST update rather than the newest one. Currently, this means you will get 1.13 instead of 1.14.
  
• Previous_Version: Uses a significantly older version of the game, currently 1.096A.
  

Stay tuned for more updates, and thank you for your patience!

-Holy Wow Studios

Version 1.13 is live! This update adds the ability to customize a trombone after beating the game, plus a new track: "The Barber of Seville!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUxSWFbnGBs

Some of the changes here may require users to update their mods! The custom trombone required tweaking how textures are applied to the trombone model, and the update to the song graphs may conflict with mods that load custom songs and create their own graphs.

Full changelog:

• Added the ability to customize a trombone after beating the game.
  
• New track: "The Barber of Seville!"
  
• Song graphs are no longer completely random and reflect the track's difficulty.
  
• The breath meter now goes down slower when Practice Mode is enabled.
  
• Very, very slightly adjusted the value of a variable related to CHAMP meter gain.
  
• Various minor optimizations and bugfixes.
  

We're also adding a new branch in Steam that users can opt into. If you right-click the game in Steam, go to Properties, and click the Betas branch, you should see the following options:

• Default: The main branch, using the newest version. Please use this if you can!
  
• *Last_Update (NEW BRANCH): Use the LAST update rather than the newest one. Currently, this means you will get 1.12 instead of 1.13. You might want to use this if an update suddenly breaks a mod that's critical for your use, and the mod does not have an update available.
  
• Previous_Version: Uses a significantly older version of the game, currently 1.096A. This branch should probably be renamed, but you can't rename branches in Steam and some users are currently using this one :-(
  
• Betatesting: Around a week or two before pushing an update live, we aim to have the update available here so people can test it out. If there's not an update in the pipeline, this will be the same as the default branch.
  

Apologies for the slowdown in updates... we're working on something big that we're excited to share soon! You'll know it when you see it! We also finished up a big chunk of work that should allow us to update Trombone Champ with more regularity.

Stay tuned for more, and thank you for your patience!

-Holy Wow Studios

Great news! Trombone Champ now uses different math to scroll the tracks during gameplay, which should lead to significantly smoother movement for most users. Apologies for not doing this sooner... This is really something we should have explored further before launching the game 35 years ago...

Previously, the game would read the "timestamp" of the song every single frame and move the track accordingly. In theory, this should work perfectly, but in practice it sometimes lead to jerky movement, most likely due to the game's framerate not perfectly syncing up with the elapsed time of the audio.

Now, the game moves the track at a smooth, constant rate, based on elapsed time since the last frame (delta time). Additionally, to make sure the track doesn't gradually de-sync for any reason, the game checks the audio timestamp each measure and re-syncs the track if it's more than 4 pixels off. In our experience, this smooth scrolling is much more precise than anticipated. It works really well and almost never needs to re-sync at all!

On the primary PC where we develop and test the game, scrolling feels significantly smoother. It's a very noticeable difference!

However, on the Macbook Pro we use for Mac testing, the game already scrolled extremely smoothly. We're not really sure why this is the case, but you may not notice a big difference if you're playing on a newer Mac laptop at 120fps. If you're playing on an older Mac at 60fps, you will probably feel the difference.

Please note: This new smooth scrolling is now the default. If, for some reason, you prefer the old scrolling, you can select it in the Settings menu, under "Gameplay."



Smooth scrolling is the biggest improvement in this update, but there's additional stuff:

• You can now disable the song previews that play in the Track Select screen by using the option in Settings if they annoy you for some reason.
  
• Visual appearance of settings has been cleaned up.
  
• Chosen character, trombone, and sound pack is now more visible in Character Select.
  
• Sound effects when unpausing are dramatically improved.
  
• Restarting a track is slightly faster.
  
• Control Testing Zone easier to find, looks slightly better, and displays current control choices.
  
• When paused, the player model no longer rotates in the background.
  
• Various code adjustments to catch potential bugs with custom tracks.
  
• BUGFIX: If your master volume is below 100, the game should no longer get quieter during gameplay / music sequences.
  

We hope this new scrolling makes the game more enjoyable for everyone! It really does change the feel of gameplay.

Stay tuned for more updates, and thank you for your patience!

-Holy Wow

[h3]We're holding a contest to see who can perform the best trombone solo in "When the Saints Go Marching In," the newest track in Trombone Champ![/h3]

One winner will receive a Trombone Champ t-shirt from iam8bit, an award certificate, stickers, and whatever other swag we can dig up! Two runners-up will receive stickers and runner-up certificates.



After we receive your solos, we'll hold the judging and announce the winners via a video with Christopher Bill, the classical trombonist and "most-subscribed brass musician on YouTube."

[h3]In order of importance, solos will be judged on:[/h3]

• Musicality: Does it sound good? Is it melodically and rhythmically interesting?
  
• Creativity: Is it original?
  
• Accuracy & Skill: Are the notes hit accurately? Did the performance require skill?
  

[h3]To submit your solo:[/h3]

1. (preferred) Upload a video to Youtube or Twitch and email a link to us at [email protected].
   
   • Please make sure your email is titled "Trombone Champ Solo Contest."
     
   • In the email, let us know under what name you'd like to be credited if your solo ends up being featured on our video. We don't want to read out your email address!
     
   • Please do not send us actual video files - linking to a hosted video is preferred!
     
2. Or, upload a video to YouTube or Twitch, and post it on Twitter with the hashtag #trombonechampsolocontest (make sure you spell it right so we can find it!)
   

Please note that whatever videos you send may be shared on social media.

[h3]Contest Rules:[/h3]

1. Only one solo may be submitted per user.
   
2. Submissions must be received by 12:00PM EST on June 28th, 2023.
   
3. The solo must be performed by the user in Trombone Champ, without using tools to assist in playing the trombone.
   
4. The solo must be original; not a copy of a pre-existing solo from another recording of "When the Saints go Marching In," or any similar jazz tune.
   

Is anyone able to make Trombone Champ sound good? We're excited to hear your performances! Good luck and have fun!