Beastieball News

Update: This testing phase is over and the experimental branch is now reverted to match with the default branch. Thank you everyone for testing and for your comments! We'll take some time to consider the new mechanics and decide what's next for Sadness in a future experimental testing phase.

We're testing a brand new status effect on the experimental branch and we've love your input on it!

This is a temporary test available only for PC users and only for a limited time. The experimental branch has no other balance changes except the addition of new mechanics detailed below. We aren't looking to adjust the current balance patch based on this test phase; instead we want to focus on the new mechanics and how they impact the meta of the game.

Notably, this is more experimental than any past experimental balance patch we've done. We may or may not introduce this status effect in the next balance patch, or any future patch, depending on the feedback at this stage.


[h3]👻 Effects of Sadness[/h3]

• A Beastie that's SAD won't feel the effect of 🔺BOOSTs and won't be able to restore stamina.
  
• SAD counts up after every offense turn much like SWEATY, but it goes away when the Beastie TAGS OUT.
  
• If a Beastie feels 4 SAD (or more), they will be overcome with sadness and instantly lose 100 STAMINA.
• If a Beastie that's SAD tries to feel JAZZED, the feelings neutralize each other. JAZZED won't be applied, but SAD will be cured. The reverse is also true; if a Beastie that's JAZZED has SAD applied to them, the SAD will not be applied but the JAZZED will be removed.
  
• SAD is blocked by RHYTHM much like SWEATY and NERVOUS.

[h3]🏃 Plays[/h3]
See the FAQ for info on how to access new plays.

• (Updated!) Numbshot - Mind attack, 65 POW. Target feels 1 SAD.
  
• (NEW!) Gloom - DEFENSE. Target feels 1 SAD.
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • (TBD)
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Orgella, Mistic, Wottle, Plumask, Squimage, Diabloceras
      
• (NEW!) Soliloquy - DEFENSE. Every fielded Beastie feels 1 SAD.
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • (TBD)
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Plumask, Hopra, Conjarr
      

[h3]📜 Theory and Intentions[/h3]
[p]This follows along with other recent balance patch changes in trying to generally slow down the pace of the game at high levels and create more space for mid-ground Beasties that aren't hyper-specialized for offense or defense. SAD creates more effective counter-play to damage-boosting and self-healing playstyles then we've ever added. If it works as intended, then it should further flatten out the effectiveness of different playstyles so that more matches hit the sweet spot of being competitive, tactical and interesting without ending in a hyperfast landslide or lasting forever.[/p][p]We've been testing and theorizing on this status effect behind the scenes since before our initial release into Early Access. We hesitated to add for a long time because we wanted to ensure it felt unique among all the other tools in the game, while still being impactful enough to matter in team building. It's actually something we thought would fit well to introduce when we add more Beasties for the eventual Far Out DLC; our main concern at this stage is that with the current count of Beasties, there's already such a density of mechanics and interactions that squeezing even one more in may make the game feel bloated and overcomplex. But we've developed Sadness to the point where we feel it has a potentially good place within the current meta and for such a major mechanic we want to have ample playtesting time with it so that we can confidently expand on it with future designs.[/p]


[h3]Is there any risk to my existing save data if I test this?[/h3]
No, there should not be. The only difference on the experimental branch is the addition of new mechanics. So your Beasties should not lose any data if you open your save on the new branch. If you are using new plays which are introduced on the experimental branch, they will be removed upon switching back to the default branch, but no other changes will occur.

[h3]How do I access the experimental branch?[/h3]
Right click Beastieball in your Steam library > Select "Properties" > Go to the "Betas" tab > Select "experimental" from the dropdown menu.

[h3]How can I access Sadness on the experimental branch?[/h3]
In this test build, all plays with the new Sad effect cost 0 SP to teach to Beasties via tutoring at the Academy. If you have Tower Tourney unlocked in the academy, you can access the tutoring menu by talking to Alessia > Select "Points Shop" > Select "Beastie Tutoring..."

[h3]How should I test Sadness?[/h3]
Build teams using the new plays and effects! The best places to test are in Tower Tourney or against other players in the SportNet "Find a Match!" menu.

[h3]How does playtesting on the experimental branch interact with players on the default branch?[/h3]
This experimental test is on a different balance patch than the default game. This has these effects:

• Players on different balance patches can't connect to the same private lobby and won't appear to each other in the "Find a Match!" menu.
  
• You can upload Away Teams and Rank Defense teams using experimental plays; however, if a player on a different balance patch downloads those teams, the plays will be removed or replaced automatically, so your Beasties may appear to be missing plays.

[h3]How should I provide feedback?[/h3]
Our favorite space for community discussion is our official Discord! We have a space there designated for discussion of SAD.

You can also submit your thoughts via the in-game feedback report button (F8), or post on Steam forums.

This weekend we held a BIGMOON BASH featuring spooky Beasties! Coaches had to use one of theme Beasties on their team (Collarva/Wormask/Plumask, Yueffowl/Albrax or Skulkapi) and their individual results were tallied up to determine which Beastie family would reign supreme. So, who was the Bash Champion this time around?
[h2]🏆 Final Results![/h2]


By a narrow margin The Albrax guild is the winner! We saw the results fluctuating wildly throughout the Bash - 24 hours in, Albrax had the worst winrate and was in last place. But it goes to show, every game counts! Albrax players rallied hard at the end and brought their score up just enough to ultimately win this spooky contest.

Now let's take a look at the coaches who scored highest this time around!
[h2]👑 Top-Scoring Players[/h2]

1. Juninha (The Valiant Hearts) | Bash Score: 2856
2. ArtemTotem (The Shining Stars) | Bash Score: 2840
3. MochaTeehee (The Hello Fishes) | Bash Score: 2796
4. Arc Tech (The Arcane Machines) | Bash Score: 2764
5. • Sabrewoif (The Has-been Dinosaurs) | Bash Score: 2756
   • Phoenix (The Flaming Birds) | Bash Score: 2756
6. N/A
7. Zonk (The Violet Enigmas) | Bash Score: 2744
8. Erin (The Nefarious Pants) | Bash Score: 2740
9. Dino (The Wayward Pirates) | Bash Score: 2732
10. Bz (The 100 Enigmas) | Bash Score: 2724
11. • GFZA (The Fun Pizzas) | Bash Score: 2704
    • Boolerex (The Big Flowers) | Bash Score: 2704
    • Score (The Jamming Ballers) | Bash Score: 2704
12. N/A
13. N/A
14. Matt (The Big Rally) | Bash Score: 2664
15. Darc Tech (The Arcane Robots) | Bash Score: 2660
16. HP (The Jolly Jokers) | Bash Score: 2652
17. Stardust (The Starbound Dinosaurs) | Bash Score: 2644
18. WebBowser (The Questing Beasts) | Bash Score: 2640
19. 99dash (The Golden Blazes) | Bash Score: 2600
20. Choc (The Ultimate Dinosaurs) | Bash Score: 2592
21. Bolimar (The Crimson Angels) | Bash Score: 2580

The median Bash Score this time was 1988. This is slightly higher than the previous median, but notably this time we're seeing a narrower range of scores at the top ranks - many more players scored well on average, but everybody took a few losses, even in the topmost ranks. With such a tight race between the representative Beasties, it follows that the competition between coaches was just as tight!

A big congratulations to all the top-scoring players!

[h2]📊 Beastie Usage Stats![/h2]
As has become tradition, we've collected a ton of data on Beastie usage during this event and we're happy to share that data with you for further investigation!
[h3]> Check out the STATS here![/h3]

In addition to these usage stats, this time around I thought it might be fun to share a little more insight into how teams were built for the different guilds. Let's look at the most common partners for the theme Beasties!

Plumask

1. Fetcham - 26.8%
   
2. Froofulks - 23.7%
   
3. Hopra - 20.7%
   
4. Mistic - 16.6%
   
5. Surgus - 16.0%

With Plumask, we're seeing a lot of spirit attackers as partners. Typically with spirit-focused teams you'd expect to see Rally especially with Plumask's Stagecraft trait raising their defense in the crowd. But in practice, the top 4 of these 5 Beasties aren't actually Rally users! Perhaps spirit users are finding success just focusing on attackers without a lot of Rally support.

Albrax

1. Mistic - 21.7%
   
2. Crabaret - 21.0%
   
3. Trat - 20.8%
   
4. Armantis - 17.0%
   
5. (Tie!) Platypulse, Garood - 15.5%

We saw more diversity on Albrax teams, perhaps demonstrating the way Albrax fits well into many different compositions. There's definitely a bit more of a Mind-type bent here.

Skulkapi

1. Armantis - 29.2%
   
2. Wottle - 20.7%
   
3. Daredillo - 17.2%
   
4. Illugus - 16.0%
   
5. Supilero - 14.8%

Skulkapi definitely had a perfect pairing which players honed in on in Armantis, who loves to occupy the net and can take advantage of Skulkapi's lane guarding abilities to more consistently proc Power Forward. Across the board, we saw more bulky Beasties here... it seems Skulkapi players liked playing a bit more slow and steady. It nearly won them the race, but alas, not this time!

[h2]🙇 Thank you!!![/h2]
This upcoming week will include the one-year anniversary of Beastieball's early access launch! We're still in between major balance patches/milestones, so don't expect any big updates this week... but we do have a new little something we've been cooking up that advanced players will definitely be interested in. Look out for an announcement in the near future with something to test in the experimental branch!

This Bash was previously intended to take place a week earlier but was postponed so we could do some technical maintenance!

Another BIGMOON BASH is beginning soon in Beastieball! During Bigmoon Bashes, coaches can challenge each other in open matchmaking for a limited time. During the event you'll have a Bash Rank, which will improve based on your performance. After it's over, you'll receive in-game rewards based on your participation, such as Social Battery and Sports Points.

When: Friday, November 7 @ 4PM PST to Sunday, November 9 @ 4PM PST
Guild Beasties: Albrax (+Yueffowl), Plumask (+Collarva, Wormask), and Skulkapi!

To compete in the Bash, coaches must have exactly one of the theme Beasties on their team. Your games will count towards that team's score, and after the Bash a winning Beastie will be crowned! If you aren't confident in your own Beastie team, you can use a randomly generated one instead - just go to Team Setup and set "Random Team" as your current team.

Players of all skill level are invited! All you need to do to participate is to play the game on that day and join the Bash on SportNet! SportNet is typically unlocked within the first 2 hours of your adventure, after beating your first Ranked boss.
[h3]Official Game Rules:[/h3]

• First to 2 Points wins
  
• Standard time limit on move selection
  
• No Undos allowed
  
• No duplicate Beastie species allowed
  
• Relationship Combos are disabled
  
• All Beasties are set to Level 50
  

* = added in patch on 11/02

We've got a spooky season update for Beastieball! This wasn't one of our 10 planned Milestone updates; we just really really like Halloween and we decided to squeeze an extra update in a little bit quicker than usual to release some spooky-themed stuff in celebration. This update ended up a lot bigger than we planned, though...

This update does not introduce any new significant balance changes. The only relevant balance changes are to correct some unintended interactions. We will release one more Milestone update at the end of the year with corresponding balance changes, but we want more time until then to observe player data and test things out.

This update introduces PUBLIC LOBBIES! This is a very major new feature we have been building and testing behind the scenes for a while now. With this, you're now able to find and match up against other players anytime, anywhere and not just during timed events. This significantly reduces the barrier to entry to PvP and means many more people can play at their leisure without having to be active in external communities or have any friends.

You can visit SportNet and view a list of other players that are currently online and made themself available for matches. You can then issue a challenge to any of them, and if they accept, you will be paired and sent to a lobby together. By default, players only appear in this list if they are currently browsing for opponents. But if you enable "Continuous Matchmaking," you will appear as online and available to accept challenges even while doing other activities in the game. You can do hangouts, hunt for raremorphs, play post-game challenges, or do whatever you want while awaiting challenges from other players.

This implementation is inspired by what we've seen in projects like Fightcade and Board Game Simulator. It would have been very "easy" for us to simply enable the anonymous matchmaking queue we use for Bigmoon Bashes 24/7. However, in practice that wouldn't work well for this game. Beastieball simply has too many different things for players to do, and most of them are single-player, so we needed to engineer a system that allowed players to find others while still enjoying single-player content. This system also scales well when the game has very few active players or very many. Having clear information about how many potential opponents are active and available makes it easier to know how long it may take to find a match, reducing frustration. It also lets you find opponents in whatever your custom rules are, accounting for the fact that different players have broadly different taste when it comes to time limits, game length, undos, etc. which all have to be static in anonymous queues like we have for Bashes.

This is the most exciting change we've ever implemented for player VS player interactions. We hope coaches around the world enjoy jumping in and challenging some new opponents!

For this update, we focused on Halloween-y Beasties! It's a smaller update than usual, but the nice thing for us is that it lightens the workload we had planned for upcoming updates.


• Yueffowl: Animation COMPLETE!
  
• Albrax: Animation COMPLETE!
  
• Skulkapi: Animation COMPLETE!
  
• Jellibat: Animation COMPLETE!
  
• Wisper: Animation COMPLETE!
  
• Mistic: Animation COMPLETE!
  
  
  
  The number of Beasties marked as complete has gone from 38 to 44.
  

• New Story Content!
  • You can now get contact information for Callisto and it is possible to max out your hearts with her
    
  • These hangouts are a bit different than most! Come prepared for a bit of a challenge.
• Environmental Improvements!
  • Check out Beastieball Academy for a suite of detailed new areas! Harlow lovingly put these together for players who spend their days grinding matches in the Tower Tourney or Draft Challenge.
    
  • There are some subtle new background details for Tower Tourney too. A wider variety of Beasties can appear when using Rally, and you may occasionally spot other characters in the background.
    
  • We also made some changes to models in Begonia and Attalea Path
• Team generation for Draft Challenge, Tower Tourney, and the "Random Team" setting in Sportnet has been overhauled greatly. Team diversity is much higher now, with many more Beasties and sets getting used than before.
  
• SP Rewards from Rank Defense have been overhauled, specifically SP earned passively.
  • Previously, you'd earn 5 SP anytime your Rank Defenders defeated another player. Now, you'll earn 2 SP anytime they challenge another player, and 8 SP if they win.
    
  • This means you'll see updates from your team much more frequently! Since wins are very hard to control, players will still earn passive rewards even if their team doesn't win very often. (And to be honest, most teams don't! Player VS AI is always statistically going to be very in favor of players.)
    
  • Awards will apply retroactively, so if you've been playing Rank Defense in past updates you can visit Marlin for a nice little bonus.
• Sweeping fixes and changes to improve stability and memory management, particularly texture management which was a growing issue as we added more animation. Fixed many underlying engine issues as well. The game now uses much less memory in general which should vastly reduce the number of "random" crashes and errors players can encounter.
  
• Many stability fixes that were previously only applied to PC builds are now applied to Mac as well. There is a downside to this... Mac builds are even harder to make now and we will not be able to update them as frequently.
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

• NEW TRACK: VS. The Magic Moons
  • This track has been added for a certain story encounter
    
  • Players who have already passed that point the story will have the new music available in Music Setup.
    
  • Get the updated OST on STEAM or Bandcamp!
• New Beastie voices added! We hadn't done a pass on these in a while. Listen out for new voices from these familiar friends:
  • Shooga, Supassum and Supilero
    
  • Opposur
    
  • Noizard
    
  • Musselbound
    
  • Druppa and Scauldra
    
  • Petula
    
  • Bindiva
    
  • Platypulse

BIGMOON BASH: SPOOKY BEASTIES!

A Bigmoon Bash is coming this weekend! This one is a contest between spooky themed Beasties. Jump into the game next weekend and challenge coaches around the world to help your favorite Beastie win the Bash!

• Various AI improvements and fixes; among other things, the notorious "AI uses stinky instead of tagging out" issue is fixed
  
• Adjusted sizing and positioning on Gastic, Wisper and Mistic to reduce bad overlaps in sport matches
  
• Changed Foggy trait to better interact with Contest/Snipe
  
• Direct damage (ie. via Nettle) now can wipe a shielding Beastie if they have only 1 stamina remaining as intended
  
• Fix for move selection not updating if a status effect is applied by an opponent Stirring Plumask on your offense turn
  
• Air bobbing tweens are now applied to flying Beasties when in static poses
  
• Fix for menu bugs when initiating a rematch with Callisto on Tuesdays
  
• If Ironman Mode is enabled, Ironman rules will be ignored during games that can reward EXP. This prevents desyncs in networked games for Ironman players and allows them to participate in post-game challenges normally.
  
• Changed Broslidon's level-up learnset to better match Leobro's
  
• Fixed missing collision in the Crown Stadium atrium
  
• Added more pop-ups for trait being ignored by Maverick
  
• Fixed some minor visual hiccups that can occur while AI is processing action during matches
  
• Beasties that are off the field no longer can appear to be Tractor Beamed
  
• Fixed display issues on the metamorph screen when Beasties have unusual color inheritance (most commonly players noticed this when checking the eye color of their Sprecko after it metamorphed).
  
• Adjusted the display size of bars in Beastie stat boxes particularly in Team Detail view
  
• The game no longer checks for a new Rank Defens eopponent when returning from a Rank Defense challenger match, preventing odd behaviour when a match is started before midnight and ends on the following calendar date.
  
• Adjusted a couple visual issues with floors in some areas
  
• Fixes for Mimic combined with Quick Tag in networked matches
  
• Adjusted some text spacing for big character reveal splash text in Chinese
  
• Fixed some camera pops and stutters when changing camera angles with low camera motion settings enabled
  
• Tweaked Beastie scale on a special endgame screen
  
• Improved menu flow for Tower Tourney difficulty selection etc.
  
• Various small stability improvements to lobbies corresponding to the new PvP features
  
• Fix for the wrong Beastie appearing on the "new recruit!" screen if the same specie is recruited multiple times consecutively
  
• Adjusted a story flag for Jack relating to commenting on your team title if the player encounters Jack before unlocking team titles
  
• Fix for duplicate plays in team edit menu
  
• Fix for Riven rematch hangout event not working if player hasn't finished the main story
  
• Fix for misaligned inventory text in Chinese
  
• Removed a buggy level load triggered by cancelling a certain in-story matchmaking menu
  
• Added extra collision to prevent players falling into a pit inside Rutile ballcenter at specific story points
  
• Fixed Dispel-like effects on certain Beastie combo plays
  
  
• Removed randomness from AI opponents in Sports Problems
  
• Fixed some collision in new academy rooms
  
• Broke and then fixed targeting with the Launcher trait
  
• Limited view scrolling in the map to prevent seeing stuff far out of bounds
  
• Tweaked the trait on one Bandicraft set in the Tower Tourney
  
• Added certain plays to certain coaches' favor lists (more accurately, fixed ids for plays that were intended to be there)
  
• Changed so all games played after the end of the story use organic shroom balls
  
• Fixed perma-wipe behaviour for expeditions
  
• Added missing SFX for when you get a PVP challenge
  
• Several lobby/quickmatch stability fixes for Bigmoon Bashes
  

Click here to visit the updated event with corrected dates.

Another BIGMOON BASH is beginning soon in Beastieball! During Bigmoon Bashes, coaches can challenge each other in open matchmaking for a limited time. During the event you'll have a Bash Rank, which will improve based on your performance. After it's over, you'll receive in-game rewards based on your participation, such as Social Battery and Sports Points.

When: Friday, October 31 @ 4PM PST to Sunday, November 2 @ 4PM PST
Guild Beasties: Albrax (+Yueffowl), Plumask (+Collarva, Wormask), and Skulkapi!

To compete in the Bash, coaches must have exactly one of the theme Beasties on their team. Your games will count towards that team's score, and after the Bash a winning Beastie will be crowned! If you aren't confident in your own Beastie team, you can use a randomly generated one instead - just go to Team Setup and set "Random Team" as your current team.

Players of all skill level are invited! All you need to do to participate is to play the game on that day and join the Bash on SportNet! SportNet is typically unlocked within the first 2 hours of your adventure, after beating your first Ranked boss.
[h3]Official Game Rules:[/h3]

• First to 2 Points wins
  
• Standard time limit on move selection
  
• No Undos allowed
  
• No duplicate Beastie species allowed
  
• Relationship Combos are disabled
  
• All Beasties are set to Level 50