Smelogs Playground News

Hey everyone, 👋
We’re excited to bring you another thrilling update just in time for the Steam RTS Fest! This patch introduces brand-new gameplay features, several quality-of-life improvements, and some much-needed bug fixes. Dive in and explore what’s new in *Smelogs Playground*!


Aztec Horde: Singleplayer Wave Defend Mode
Prepare to face the ultimate challenge in this brand-new game mode!
*Brace yourself as waves of relentless enemies close in. With each wave, the challenge intensifies—but so do your skills! Defend, survive, and unlock powerful abilities to crush the horde. How long can you hold your ground?*

This is the first version, and we’d love to hear your feedback. Let us know what you think!

AI Unlock Tree
Progression just got more exciting! This system allows you to unlock different AI difficulties and strategies, offering:
- More variety in gameplay
- A sense of achievement and progression
- The ability to experiment with new AI tactics

• Tog and Trap improved unblocking on upgrade
  
• Automatic upgrade cancelation if blocked by a map obstacle for Cave or Menhir
  
• Select All units functionality refined:
  - Will no longer select Base Smelogs
  
• Prevented larger buildings from upgrading when blocked by the map
  
• Custom Games now support up to 16 Spectators
  
• Various improvements to the Replay and Spectator HUD
  
• General performance improvements
  

• Fixed double-click checks when a different key was pressed in between
  
• Resolved hotkeys not displaying the first time playing
  
• AI no longer starts before the match begins
  
• Tutorial progression issues fixed
  

• Aztec Horde game mode
  
• AI difficulty and strategy unlock tree
  

🔍 Found a Bug? Report it! 🐞🤓👍

• Report bugs directly in-game
  
• Join us on Discord
  
• Or post here on Steam
  

Happy gaming, and enjoy the RTS Fest! 🙂

Hey everyone!
We've had a super productive two weeks and made a ton of improvements!

AI Love
The AI got some love and is way smarter now – you should notice a big difference in how it behaves.

HUD Updates
We’ve added new, easy-to-use ability buttons on the HUD and gave the radial movement menu a fresh new look.
Steam Achievements
Steam Achievements are here! 😁 We're not 100% happy with some of them yet, so they might change, and we’re planning to add more in the future, so stay tuned!

New Hotkeys
New hotkeys are in place to make it easier to select Smelogs and filter through them.

Trap Damage Adjustment
We adjusted trap damage since unit avoidance and collision are still turned off so traps were way too strong for now, so we toned them down a bit.



Full List of Changes:

• New Hotkey: Select all of type on screen
  
• Setting to disable double-click selecting all of type on screen
  
• Version mismatch indicator to notify players to update Smelogs Playground
  
• Guardian Strike now shows in post-match results under Crystal Codex spell history
  
• New Ability HUD buttons (can be turned off in Settings under Controls)
  
• Movement Order input mode can now switch between hold and toggle (Settings > Controls)
  
• Post Match Line Graph now displays player values
  
• Visual update to the radial movement order menu
  
• AI behavior improvements
  
• Filter selection for low health and damaged units
  

• Fixed an issue where Behavior Warning UI popped up after a match
  
• Matchmaking now pairs players with the same game version
  
• Hosts no longer see pings from other teams
  
• Guardian Strike can’t be cast while the game is paused anymore
  
• Fixed issue where learning spells in the Spell Tree was possible while paused
  
• Mouse hotkeys now work properly with modifier keys
  
• You can now set a hotkey to none
  
• Emotes display correctly now
  
• AI can now spawn Tog and Trap spells properly
  
• AI can produce the next squad as intended
  
• Overcharge indicator now shows for Menhir when using a skinset
  
• Unit Evade no longer cancels other movement orders
  
• Units now follow new orders correctly after finishing the previous one
  
• Fixed trap not dealing damage to Molten Golem
  

• Steam Achievements are live for testing!
  

• Trap damage adjusted: 100 >>> 75
  

🔍 Found a Bug 🐞 report it 🤓👍

• You can report bugs directly in-game
  
• On Discord
• Or here on Steam where you also can see a list of known bugs.
  

That’s it for now! Thanks for all the support, and let us know what you think!

Hey everyone
Get ready to experience more chaotic and thrilling battles as Custom Games now support up to 8 players! This update also brings numerous improvements to the AI, UI, and various gameplay mechanics. Dive into the details below!

In recent updates, we’ve focused on optimizing performance and refining base spawn logic to ensure smooth gameplay as we expand Custom Games to support up to 8 players. Our efforts also included UI adjustments to seamlessly accommodate the extra players. 😊

We’ve also made significant improvements to AI strategy profiles and behaviors, alongside various bug fixes. While there’s still room for perfection, this update marks a big step forward.


The HUD ability buttons need some attention—they’re currently too small and often overloaded.
Collision/Avoidance will remain turned off for now as we’re working on a better solution, which will take some time.



Here is the full list of updates:

• Custom Game now allows for up to 8 Players various UI Improvements and changes to support up to 8 Players
  
• Custom Games are now created with tags for game mode and rank. For filtering and will adjust lobby size on the creation
  
• AI Improvements Behavior and Strategy profiles
  
• Cannon attack range indicator
  
• Steampunk skin Baller rotation and z offset corrected
  
• Steampunk skin Cannon walk animation speed now matches the movement speed
  
• Particle Performance
  

• Same set of AIs after an AI game not correctly reapplied
  
• Units entering the cave lose their upgrade. Upgrades will now be canceled automatically and energy is refunded
  
• AIs not using the Trap Crystal Codex spell to build out their base
  
• AI not activating Watchtowers when an enemy unit in its attack range is attacking
  
• AI using Fire and Comet shower on Pansy
  
• Toggle Attack mode logic not working correctly for selected Watchtowers
  

• Guardian Strike Ability requires the final spell to be learned
  
• AI Medium Expander
  
• AI Hard Balanced
  

• None
  

Note: Unit avoidance will remain turned off in this patch.


🔍 Found a Bug 🐞 report it 🤓👍

• You can report bugs directly in-game
  
• On Discord
• Or here on Steam where you also can see a list of known bugs.
  

Happy Weekend and Enjoy 🙂

Hey everyone
After a while, we are finally ready with a new Patch with improvements and bug fixes to enhance your gaming experience! This update introduces new building spot indicators, crucial bug fixes, and several UI enhancements. Plus, we've made some balancing changes to improve 2vs2 matches and adjusted the health of specific units. Dive into the details below and see what's new!

Here is the full list of updates:

• Massive performance gains
  
• Improved visuals for the Crystal Codex Spell to make it more readable and to better indicate learned and unlearned spells.
  
• Various other UI updates
  
• Quieter startup video
  
• Subtle adjacent cave and menhir building spot indicators
  
• New base spawning locations
  

• Fixed an issue where Pansies would only spawn close to the center or in the corners. They will now spawn more evenly across the map.
  

• Buildup helper for beginners can be turned on in the controls
  
• Menhir 20 production queue cap
  

• 2vs2 Match Adjustments: In response to feedback about the difficulty in defending against hyper rushes targeting a single player, teammates will now spawn in the same color adjacent to each other. This change aims to facilitate teamwork and make it easier for teammates to assist and defend each other.
  
• Ranged Smelog health reduced from 200 >>> 160
  
• Baller health reduced from 140 >>> 130
  

Note: Unit avoidance will remain turned off in this patch.


🔍 Found a Bug 🐞 report it 🤓👍

• You can report bugs directly in-game
  
• On Discord
• Or here on Steam where you also can see a list of known bugs.
  

Happy Weekend and Enjoy 🙂

Hey everyone!
We’re currently working on an update featuring performance improvements, minor tutorial changes, a beginner helper option, and various UI and bug fixes. We've resolved most crash issues but need a bit more testing before releasing this update.

Thanks for your patience!
If you're looking for someone to play with, be sure to post on Discord.

We're also working on something new and experimental that will come to Smelogs in the future.
Stay tuned!