Zeepkist News

Season 6: Theme 4

[h3]THEME: Space[/h3]

Build a level set in outer space or on a celestial body!

Looking for ideas? How about a level set on the moon; flying between planets in our solar system; or on a distant alien planet.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the discussion thread of this news post! Good luck, and happy building!

[h3]DEADLINE[/h3]

• Your track should be complete and submitted by Sunday, 1st June 2025 at 18:00 BST
• Submissions will be combined into a single workshop item after the deadline above
  

[h3]SUBMISSION RULES[/h3]

1. You can only submit one level (you can modify or replace your submission as much as you like until the deadline)
   
2. Level collaborations are permitted (Maximum of 3 players per level. This counts as a level submission for each individual creator. Please name/mention collaborators when submitting)
   
3. Level author name MUST contain the submitters' Steam (or Discord) username
   
4. The name of the level MUST start with "ZSL - " (e.g "ZSL - My Level")
   
5. Your submission MUST be created within the 3 week building period. Please do not re-upload older maps—even if they fit the theme!
   

[h3]THEME RULES[/h3]

1. Set in outer space or on a celestial body (excluding Earth)
   

[h3]LEVEL RULES[/h3]

1. Scaling track pieces is permitted
   
2. Level MUST follow any theme requirements set above
   
3. Level MUST be under 4000 blocks
4. Level MUST have an author time above 20 seconds
5. Level MUST have an author time under 60 seconds
6. Level MUST have at least 3 checkpoints. Consider adding additional checkpoints for split timing or where it would prevent a cut, as cuts do not make for good tournament tracks!
   
7. Level MUST NOT have risky or hidden finishes/shortcuts (e.g blind shortcuts or using no-collision/invisible/logic blocks to hide a secret path that is NOT the intended route)
   

[h3]HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR LEVEL[/h3]

1. Join our Official Discord server
2. Upload the level to the Steam Workshop
   
3. Link the workshop item in the theme's thread in #level-submissions
   
   Don't have Discord? You can submit your entry by linking your workshop item in the comments section of this announcement post!
   

[h3]WINNERS & PRIZES[/h3]

• Up to 15 of the submitted levels will be used for the next Zeepkist Super League event
  
  
  • Players of all skill ranges should be able to finish your level.
    
  • The more playable your level is, the more likely your level will be chosen!
    
• The community will vote on their favourite maps from the theme once submissions close
  
• Top 4 in the community votes for Best Decor and Best Track Layout will each win:
  
  
  • A special soapbox cosmetic in-game.
    
  • A Level Contest Winner role (Discord only)
    
  • 3,000 chat EXP in our Discord server (Discord only)
    

[h3]BANNER CONTEST[/h3]
We're also hosting a themed banner contest for our Discord server banner image where you can win a special paintbrush soapbox!!

The theme is Space and ends at the same time as this level contest!! View the banner contest event details on Discord

- Akane

Patch 5:

- added experimental "Whole-Mesh Batching" which should improve fps in levels with many trees and stuff (Setting can be found in General, all the way down, under the "Experimental" header)
- fixed autosaves/backups not saving properly
- fixed gift counter not working for JSON adventure levels (A-01)
- optimized some wheel code on meshes with lots of polygons (fixed pants)
- optimized level loading
- optimized LOD calculations a little bit
- "simulate lofi" now also disables volumetric lighting
- fixed block counter on level loading being 0 sometimes
- fixed fans in fan blocks not going intangible when they were meant to
- fixed author times sometimes not showing up in editor
- fixed controller not being able to navigate to "reset shuffle"
- fixed tree gun pipette mode
- speed split deltas now show a decimal

Patch 3:

Thank you for your patience while I work through these v17 launch bugs :3

- fixed photomode sky objects being slightly misaligned
- removed excessive name sanitation from author names
- fixed sunflowers not looking at the sun
- small change to how splits with (f) scale
- fixed splits showing (f) even when no split was split
- fixed gift counter not showing up in JSON-based adventure levels

Patch 4:

- Fixed an issue with adventure level rendering in the adventure overworld

Patch 2:

- Maybe fixed issue with skybox objects having a weird offset
- Fixed not being able to paint beige concrete
- Fixed "Materail" spelling error
- Fixed skybox button having a wrong hotkey (it doesn't have a hotkey at the moment)
- Fixed freeplay splits not showing in online if that option was enabled
- Freeplay splits in online are now prefixed with (f)
- Fixed author names being formatted weird I think
- Awarded event cosmetics

Today it's time for some Zeepkist v17!!!!!!!!

THE SKYBOX UPDATE






IF YOU HAVE ANY MODS, THIS UPDATE WILL LIKELY BREAK THEM - IF YOU RUN INTO ANY ISSUES, REMOVE ALL MODS AND SEE IF THE ISSUES PERSIST




The skybox update is a pretty technically comprehensive update, because it doesn't just add cool skybox customization - it also completely rewrites the way Zeepkist handles levels.

Before v17, Zeepkist saved levels as csv files (Comma Separated Values). This had a whole bunch of drawbacks and I'm honestly not completely sure why I ever made it like that to begin with.

Anyway, NOW Zeepkist saves levels as json files!! This should give me a looot more flexibility when it comes to what I can save in the level file.

To demonstrate the power of this change, I made it so you can now make entirely custom skyboxes, using the exact same options I've had at my disposal when I made all the preset skyboxes.




All of your old levels will still work! I wrote the code in a way that Zeepkist is 100% backwards compatible with all pre-v17 levels. You can still load them in singleplayer, online, and the level editor.

Any level you save from here on out though, will be saved in the new JSON format! :)






In the level editor, you will see a new button that looks like a lightbulb:




This takes you to the Skybox Editor:




From where you have many many pages of all sorts of options allowing you to create the skybox of your dreams! :D




I am REALLY REALLY REALLY excited to see what insane skyboxes people come up with.




- Changed .zeeplevel file format from CSV to JSON
- Added a skybox editor
- Added a monthly automatic reboot to the Zeepkist servers, which should keep everything running smoothly. The reboot happens every first monday of the month. After the reboot, it may take a bit longer to load workshop levels, but this is normal and should resolve itself after a while.
- Added "disable block collisions" checkbox in the extended block properties panel
- Fixed code new roman doesn't support japan text
- Fixed servermessage text alignment issue
- Propbably fixed an issue with loading levels on game start
- Fixed a streetlamp rendering issue in level editor
- Added 3 new primitives



- Gift counter doesn't work on A-01 in online multiplayer
- Splits sometimes don't show up
- Level names don't show up in online multiplayer




I also made a new roadmap, for people that are interested in that sort of thing!!






As with any update, things are likely to break and I'll be hard at work over the coming time to fix any issues and bugs that pop up.

Things are especially likely during this update because it's such a technically intensive change.
- The entire savefile system got overhauled
- Save/load system got updated
- Server got updated
- An entire custom skybox system was added

So please be patient while I work through everything!! :D

If you notice any bugs, make a bug report on the Zeepkist Discord: https://steelpan.dev/zk-discord, making sure to follow the instructions in the #bugs channel!

I'll see you all around B-)

HAPPY ZEEPKISTING!!



- Fixed level names not working
- Splitscreen now also listens to camera settings