Zeepkist News

Hello everyone!! It's finally happened!! Zeepkist Online Multiplayer is now LIVE!!

I'm so excited my head is going to explode. I dearly hope I haven't missed any major bugs, but I've been testing real hard & everything seems to be running smoothly!

I'm VERY excited for everyone to go try out the update!

I'll just go and start listing all the new stuff!




- Online Multiplayer
- New Level Editor Blocks
- New Skyboxes
- New Adventure Mode Cosmetics (+ Save File Update)
- Main Menu Music
- A Clock in the Main Menu
- Holiday-specific Theming in the Main Menu
- A Whole Bunch of Achievements + Associated Hats & Zeepkists
- Fixes and Optimizations



Online multiplayer works with a room system, every room can hold 16 players.



Inside online multiplayer, you will see chat in the bottom left corner, and a small leaderboard in the top right. For a bigger leaderboard, you can press Tab.



Every room has one "Host Client", who can set room properties, kick players, transfer host privileges, and create a playlist of levels.



You can play Adventure levels and Steam Workshop levels! If you want to play your own levels with friends, be sure to upload them to the Workshop and then subscribe to them!

Steam Workshop levels that you don't own will automatically be subscribed to, and downloaded!



At the end of each round, a podium is displayed with the top 3 fastest players!




There's a WHOLE bunch of new stuff in the level editor!

Wide checkpoints!


A podium!


Online multiplayer statue!


New roof pieces & a working clock!


Extra wallride transition pieces!


A whole frickin' helicopter!!


New skyboxes!




Now because this is a pretty big update (probably the biggest ever yet!) I'm also throwing Zeepkist a 15% for about a week!

Note that Zeepkist will at one point go up in price. We're probably only a few more updates out from that point!

Then, way later, the plan is to bump Zeepkist up in price again when it gets its full release.

So get it while it's still in Early Access & cheap! :D




On the topic of money: Running servers for online multiplayer is expensive, so I've been running tests on how to implement paid DLC. The tests worked, DLC integration wasn't really hard at all, so we can also expect our first bit of paid DLC in the future!

DLC for Zeepkist will only ever be cosmetic only. You will not go faster with DLC, you will not unlock new or special level editor blocks with DLC, I'm keeping all of that fair and on par with the base game. DLC will purely be restrained to how your Zeepkist characters and zeepkists will look.

To me that sounds like a fairly ethical thing to do, while still bringing in some more cash to run online servers!

So, to celebrate the implementation of DLC, I've made a free DLC that will only be available during Zeepkist's Early Access period!

Get it while it lasts, and enjoy flexing on newbies when Zeepkist releases fully (even though that's still a long while away haha).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1699070/Zeepkist__Early_Access_Testing_DLC/




Then!! One final thing!!

I'm running a FREE GIVEAWAY for Zeepkist Steam keys! This is apparently a good way to do marketing, so I'm giving it a shot!

If you want Zeepkist for free, feel free to enter! If you already have Zeepkist and you want your friend to get Zeepkist for free, then tell them! :D

Please enjoy & may the luckiest people win!

You can enter the giveaway here!!

Hello friends!!

As I mentioned recently, Zeepkist is getting Online Multiplayer!!

I've been VERY hard at work getting everything ready, all features are done, and I think I'm at a point where I'm confident that we're free of any game breaking bugs!

So to announce the release date, I've made a neat cool little trailer! Enjoy!!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Zeepkist Online Multiplayer Update is scheduled to launch on November 11th, 2021!

I'm still hard at work on the online multiplayer update! It's been about two months since I started working on it, but I think we're not far off now!

Most big systems work, but there's still some missing, and there's still some other bits and bobs that need attention before I can really push it live onto Steam. You'll hear about it soon!

For now:



As some of you might have noticed, I've replaced the "Play Zeepkist Alpha" achievement with a simple "Play Zeepkist". This is because it's been brought to my attention that there's quite a few people here on Steam who like to 100% achievements in games, and an achievement that can only be obtained during the game's alpha would make it impossible for people to 100% Zeepkist's achievements.

So this old achievement:


Is now this one:


But why is there a Zeepkist on the achievement? 👀

Because more than just looking neat on your Steam profile, I've coupled Steam's achievement system to actual in-game cosmetics! Meaning that for every achievement you get, you'll be able to show it off in-game to all of your friends! (or rivals, who am I to judge!)

Adding achievements is going to be an ongoing process, and for the online multiplayer update I'll be adding Zeepkist's first 7 achievements!

They are, in order:

Online Winner x1
It's an internet cable!

Online Winner x5
A satellite dish, useful for playing online multiplayer in outer space!

Online Winner x10
A cool British Racing Green racing helmet!

Online Winner x25
A neat top hat!

Online Winner x50
It's an internet cable but fast.

Online Winner x100
An orange traffic cone with a racing flag sticking out the top! This hat is positively huge and you will no doubt stand out in online lobbies!

Online Winner x1337
Hey, I didn't say getting 100% was going to be easy. In any case, I believe in you!

These cosmetics can only be unlocked by achieving these achievements, so ya'll best be ready to start achieving when the online update hits! 😋

That's all from me for now!

Next time you'll hear from me I'll hopefully be announcing the Zeepkist Online launch!!

- Yannic

It's been a while since the last update, so I thought I'd give ya'll an update on exactly what I've been doing. Because fear not, I've not been twiddling my thumbs waiting for the dollars to roll in. Oh no, instead, I've been very hard at work at the next Zeepkist update.

And ZEEPKISTERS, this one's EXCITING 😳😳🥵

So without further ado, I'd like to announce the plans of the next update!!



[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

For the longest time I've said that Zeepkist will most likely never get online multiplayer. I said that online multiplayer is extremely not easy to program, and because I am just one guy doing all of it. Online multiplayer (in my mind) seemed like a pretty impossible mountain to climb. So I shelved it and said "I'm not doing that, maybe it'll be fun for the sequel."

And yet here we are, announcing that Zeepkist is getting online multiplayer in the next update! So what changed?

A couple of things happened:

For one, implementing Steam Workshop support meant taking my programming "expertise" to a new level. I learned tons of new tricks and in general it boosted my confidence in my own abilities. Slowly but surely I started to think that, if I'd managed to implement Steam Workshop support, that online multiplayer might also lie within the realm of possibilities.

Secondly, I saw how Zeepkist was being played. I've gotten tons of very good feedback from the Zeepkist Discord and it made me realize that online multiplayer could be an extremely fun addition.

And those thought twirled around in my head for a while, until one day I figured that if I was going to do online multiplayer, I'd better do it sooner rather than later. And here we are!





So! Zeepkist is getting online multiplayer! But how will it work and what will it look like and when is it coming??

All of these are very good questions. I'll be going over them now!

[h2]How will Zeepkist online work?[/h2]
Zeepkist online will be integrated into the base game, and will be an entirely new way to play Zeepkist.

The plan is to have you first go into a lobby selection screen where you can pick a lobby/create one. From there you'll be dropped into online proper.

Once online, the gameplay itself will be very similar to what you're used to. You race down hills and try to set the best time possible!



However this time, there's also other players racing on the same track as you! You can't collide with each other or anything, so nobody will be able to get into your way. (also it's hell to code)

While you're racing and setting new times and all that, there's also a timer counting down to zero. The player that has the best time when the timer reaches zero wins!

A podium with the winners gets displayed, championship points are awarded, and the next level gets loaded.

Beside that there's also a spectator mode, for Twitch casters and people who just like to look at everything that's happening. Spectators will appear online as little Zeepkist people with jetpacks and a camera:



The current max amount of players per lobby is 16, but I might be able to increase that in the future.

[h2]How far along is development? When is the update coming??[/h2]
Online multiplayer has been in development for about a month and a half now. You can view some early test footage here.

And currently I've got most gameplay logic and code working. That means levels are being synced, loaded, times are being kept, points are being scored, and at the end of each round there's a cute little podium to show who's won the race!



What still needs to be done is the entire chat system, a lobby system, lobby host controls such as setting up playlists, time per level, kicking players, that sort of thing. Then I also need to integrate Steam Workshop so that everyone automatically downloads all the levels that are being played. And then I still need to polish everything up, add some more animations, and finally localize all of it!

So there's still a ton of work to be done! I expect all of it take about another month or two. This is still pretty long time to wait, yes, I know! 😢

But please do remember that I'm just one developer doing all of everything! 🤠



And that's about what I've been working on the past month or two! :D

Along with online multiplayer, the next update will also see a bunch more Zeepkists, and one or two or three new blocks, and maybe some more stuff! We'll see!

Have a good one, keep Zeepkisting, join the Discord, and tell your friends!! 🥰

Much love,

The developer,

- Yannic

- Gave the checkerboard material drift particles