Party Animals News

First of all, we would like to apologize to our long-awaiting players. The game release, initially scheduled for the first half of 2023, has been delayed once again. We will explain the reasons for the delay and confirm the final launch date in the following paragraphs.
More importantly, we try to be more transparent and accurate in informing players about our plans leading up to the game's release.



[h2]Release Date[/h2]
The final release date is set for Sept 20, 2023 (4 AM PST). Initial platforms are STEAM and XBOX.



[h2]Reasons for Delay[/h2]
By the end of 2022, we had finished the development of in-game features and entered the testing and bug-fixing phase. Since this is our first game project, we wrongly estimated the time needed for bug fixes.
Additionally, some necessary approval processes also exceeded our expected timeline. This was entirely due to our overly optimistic estimates and lack of experience, for which we deeply apologize.



[h2]Pre-release Plans[/h2]
Firstly, the game needs to obtain final approvals from partner platforms and relevant regional authorities. Without these approvals, we will not be able to set up servers and release the game in certain regions.
Secondly, we need to conduct stress tests on our servers. Before the final launch, the game will undergo at least two full-interface server stress tests to minimize potential server issues.



[h2]Game Prices[/h2]
Standard Edition: 20 USD
Deluxe Edition: 30 USD
Both the Standard and Deluxe Editions include all game maps, with the Deluxe Edition featuring exclusive character outfits and in-game currency. We will disclose the content of Deluxe Edition in future Dev Logs.



[h2]In-game Currency[/h2]
In-game currency can be earned by playing or leveling up and is used to unlock characters or character outfits.
Different character outfits will not have any stats or functional differences.



[h2]Gifts for Demo Players[/h2]
All Steam players who participated in the Demo in October 2020 will receive 10 "Surprise Egg" vouchers in the game. Surprise Eggs contain various in-game characters, character outfits, avatar frames, and others.

It's a bit strange to peruse the list of the most-wishlisted games on Steam and see that among Hogwarts Legacy, Starfield, and Hollow Knight: Silksong is a game called Party Animals sitting firm at number five. Yup, more people are waiting to play Party Animals than there are for big ticket games like Ark 2. Incredible...
Read more.

The game is pretty much in the final stages of development, and our main task now is to fix bugs, optimize performance, and modify some content to comply with national policies and regulations.

This phase is a bit longer than we expected, so this will be the last Dev Log for a while.

Subsequent Dev Logs will be posted around the time of release: there's not much more to reveal about the game! And we want to still leave some content and some surprises for players to explore after launch.

Voices

In addition to polishing the game and fixing bugs, the development team is also working on the animals voices. This work is more fun than we thought it would be. The voice actors not only need to act out the types of animals, but also need to reflect the corresponding personalities without any lines.

Outfits

In addition to the base skin for each animal character, you can also unlock additional outfits through level rewards, item shop, Battle Passes, and achievements.



These outfits do not change the actual stats or moves of the animals, but only make them look more badass.

Characters from the Community

Remember in Dev Log 01 when we picked out two very fierce looking animals: Shark and Samurai Nemo?



Now we've taken those concepts and turned them into reality:



If you'd like to submit your own concept as well, you can join our Discord community at https://discord.com/invite/partyanimals

Hiring

As we move towards the end of development, we have started to expand our QA and operations teams.

We are currently recruiting for the following positions: Black-box QA Tester, Security QA Engineer, Game Operations Team Lead, and Console Port Development Engineer.

If you are interested in joining team Party Animals, please submit your resume to us at [email protected]

Q&A

Q: @sttttttop: If you are not release the game yet, how about some merch first[Cry][Cry]

A: Look what this is!




Q: TARDID: Played the trial version of the game (sry). The game looks really good, just want to say that this QE turning camera feels weird and the turning speed is too slow. If you have time, it is best to change a little [flowers][flowers][flowers][flowers].

A: With keyboard and mouse, you can use QE to turn the camera, or press the mouse middle to rotate the screen. You can also enable camera follow, so that your cursor movement will always control the camera rotation. Top-down view games usually do not encourage cursor-controlled rotation, as it is more likely to cause dizziness.


Q: Is it possible to add unique skills based on the characteristics of each animal?

A: Working on it. But ummmm ...... you guys still want the game released as soon as possible, right?

Current Team Status

Hardware Requirements

We are trying very hard to improve the game performance without sacrificing too much visual quality. However, the minimum hardware configuration might still be higher than what people first assumed.

Normally, the performance limitations for a game come from visuals, scripts, sound, animations, and physics. The visuals is usually the most expensive in terms of performance. This is not the case for Party Animals. Besides a complex physics system, we also have to consider the quality of complicated renders, like animal fur, numerous dynamic light sources, soft shadows and AO, etc.



There doesn't really exist any physics based game that has complex visuals. To take a few physics based game as examples: Human Fall Flat, Gang Beasts, TABS, Stick Fight. Visual quality, complex physics, and low hardware requirements. Most games could only choose two out of the three.

This is the biggest challenge we face during the development. Our team is gradually working through all the different modules to increase performance. Sometimes we spend months to refactor the code to optimize 1ms or even 0.2ms of process time. It's like trying to squeeze water out of a dry piece of sponge.

The recommended minimum configuration is Intel i5-7500/Ryzen3-3300X + Nvidia GTX1050/RX560, with 8G memory. This will allow you to play under medium graphics settings on 1080P displays. You will have a better visual experience if you have better hardwares.

We are still testing on hardwares with lower configurations. The goals is to eventually allow players to play with integrated graphics cards by reasonably lowering the visual quality.

Maps

[h3]0. Team Score - Balloon Money Safe
[/h3]

Players need to fight for the money safe in the middle of the map and carry it to their own base.

The money safe is attached to a balloon, so players have to hold on to it and move it like a swing.


[h3]1. Team Score - Ice Hockey
[/h3]

Players need to get the hockey into the opponent's gate to earn points.

Be careful, you might get knocked out by the hockey. The shield will make you a better gatekeeper.


[h3]2. Team Score - Trebuchet
[/h3]

Players need to use the trebuchet to throw bombs to the opponent's base and let it explode to earn points.

You can throw your teammates over to mess with your opponents. You can also stay home and throw opponent's incoming bombs into the river.

Q&A

Q: @给哥⼀⻆钱: I would much prefer knocking out all 7 people. I don't need teammates. I will fight everyone!

A: You can still theoretically punch out everyone in a game including your teammates :)


Q: Will there be mobile and Switch versions?

A: All our time are spent currently on PC and XBOX versions. If everything goes well after launch, we will then start to port to other platforms.


Q: What graphics performance will the Steam Deck have? 30 FPS or 60 FPS?

A: We haven't decided yet. It really depends on the optimization. But we will definitely make a lot of graphics adjustments on Steam Deck. There might just be two sets of graphics settings: standard and visual enhanced. This is probably the case for all consoles.

Usually smaller screens are less sensitive to framerate. So far, we think 30 FPS is acceptable for Steam Deck. There is just a slight increase in latency.

Don't forget Steam Deck is portable, so increased FPS will mean faster battery drain.

Maps

[h3]0. Last Stand - Strong Wind Warning[/h3]



Fight inside a wind tunnel.

When the wind starts blowing at its full force, animals not hiding behind wind barriers will be blown away and eliminated. Players need to manually raise the barriers and hide behind them.

Note: the handles for the wind barrier may break as they get used many times.


[h3]1. Team Score -Electroball[/h3]



This is a completely different type of scoring map from the previously shown Lollipop Factory or the Train: it is a ball game.

The goal of all ball games is to get the ball into your opponent's gate. The first team to reach 6 points wins.

Electroball is a bit like basketball for humans: aim, shoot.



Note: do not hold the ball simultaneously with another player. The ball will explode.


[h3]2. Arcade - Winter Bar[/h3]



Players are split into two teams. You need to throw your opponents out of the bar into the snowy outside to eliminate them.

The difference between Arcade and Last Stand is that you keep respawning back in Arcade mode, until all your team's respawn opportunities run out.

This is pretty much a standard Death Match map.

Sound System

Most games' sound effects are based on the sound triggering mechanism of the event state machine. If a button is pressed, an animation will be triggered and a sound will be played.

Party Animals is different. We use full dynamics-driven animations instead of traditional state machines, which results in smooth, immersive character animations. However, the uncertainty and uncontrollability of the movements made the audio team no longer able to solve the audio problem in the traditional way.

We developed a new physical sound system.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

This audio system can simulate the different sounds of dragging, scrolling, and collision. And the sonud is affected by all physical factors such as size, weight, material, speed, and the speed of time passing.

Q&A

Q：Why is the default 4 teams with 2 players per team instead of the default 8 teams with 1 player per team as before?

A：Because a game with 1 player per team can theoretically take up to 17 rounds. Even at 3 minutes per round, it can take up to 50 minutes of game time. 8 teams has a median time of more than 20 minutes. The reason for changing the default to 4 teams is that we want to have shorter games, with a median of around 10 minutes and a uppper limit of 30 minutes or less.


Q：What will you do about cheaters？

A：Our developers are considering adding an anti-cheat programs, but all anti-cheat will negatively influence game performance. We have added the a report button and we will have a support team to deal with cheaters.


Q：Can I play solo against AIs？

A：Yes. Just create your own lobby and add AIs.


Q：Will the game support Steam Deck？

A：Look！




Q：I don't think split screen is a good choice because it provides a narrower view.

A：It's a compromise made to accommodate larger maps. Also, without split screen, all local players will not be able to rotate the camera independently. This is a status quo in game development: we have to make compromises. We will try to improve the split-screen experience in the future.


Q：Personal opinion, could the UI maybe be designed a little cuter?

A：I have informed our designer about this. This particular designer has been doing UI for mobile OS before, that mobile company has since went bankrupt...... It's like a failed Thor fighter jet designer, unemployed and came back to design plush toys, it takes some time, hope you can understand :)