Last Train Outta' Wormtown News

Howdy again!

As we get closer and closer to Wormtown's 1.0 release, there was a big laundry list of bugs, polish, and QOL features that needed addressing first. This update is a big "spring cleaning" patch, but with a handful of exciting changes and new features, too!

[h2]Steam Servers:[/h2]
We have now swapped over to using Steam servers for the network traffic. What does this mean for you?
+ Lag has been noticeably reduced
+ Joining/Inviting directly through the Steam Friend's list
+ Player panels in game are now associated with the Steam user, and clicking their name will show their profile

NOTE FOR FRIEND'S PASS PLAYERS: This required some changes to how the Friend's Pass was implemented, and as such, there is an updated version of the Friend's Pass available from the Store Page you'll need to download to play on this patch!

[h2]Gameplay Changes:[/h2]

[h3]Worm Ability: Armored Carapace Changes:[/h3]
Armored Carapace, while very effective in certain situations, didn't have many general use cases aside from that. Which has lead to the following changes:
+ Surfacing with Armor active now creates a Sand Blast at the Worms location. Pardners hit with Sand Blast will lose 30 Stamina and will be debuffed with 30% additional stamina consumption and bonus 30% damage taken (from all sources) for 15 seconds.
+ Armor has had a complete visual rework with new art, SFX, and shattering effects!

[h3]General Gameplay Changes/Balancing:[/h3]
+ Worm grab initial damage increased to 7 (was 5)
+ The Train Key, after being dug up, now has a large arrow indicator (similar to Heart Jars) when in inspection mode.

[h2]Lobby and Match Setting Changes:[/h2]

[h3]New Match Settings:[/h3]
+ Added Heart Jar Digestion Time to match settings
+ Added Digestion Time Per Fruit to match settings
+ Removed "Vanilla Mode". It was very rarely used and felt irrelevant now
Note: With these new settings, players can make games with the OG Wormtown respawn rules.

[h3]Team Management[/h3]
+ Hosts can now lock the teams in the lobby and manually move players to specific sides. Simply press Esc and use the new UI buttons to lock/swap players

[h2]New Cosmetics and Challenges:[/h2]

+ Added 11 new Halloween related cosmetics! (Had some delays getting this patch ready - whoops! better late than never, I suppose)
+ Added 5 new Challenges (and Achievements) related to the Mysterious Concoction and Coffee Kit items

[h3]Spectator Mode Improvements[/h3]
Spectator mode has always been notorious for it's bugs and desync issues, but the majority of those issues have been fixed! While it's still not perfect, objectives now sync properly, and spectators can see which objectives remain.

[h2]Misc. Changes and Bug Fixes:[/h2]
+ Pardners no longer briefly ping their location when they spawn in
+ Changed Dandylions colliders so they don’t roll endlessly
+ The copy lobby code button now also works when in a LAN game
+ Fixed the ghost push challenge not updating
+ Increased score gained from depositing scrap to 10, was 6
+ Spectated games no longer count as a “game played” for challenges
+ Players kicked from a lobby can no longer rejoin the lobby (The kicked players list gets reset when a new lobby is created)
+ After digestion, if a Heart Jar is directly spawned inside of the revive zone, it will be placed just outside the revive zone instead. Prevents Worms from reviving a Pardner and grabbing them immediately
+ Fixed some UI issues on cosmetic unlock grid
+ Fixed issue with unburrowing sand particles not being placed correctly
+ Increased the size of the signal fire igniting trigger, should be a bit easier to light them now
+ Can no longer join games that are building the map or in post-game (this caused the lobby to completely break). Players attempting to join during these phases can wait a few seconds and join again
+ Fixed the exploit where you could instantly Bodyslam without the upward leap first
+ Fixed players able to switch teams right as the game started, ignoring Worm limits
+ Zipline posts can now be moved by Worms (just slightly). This should help with players using the posts to block off the Train doors
+ Occasionally, Pardners can get stuck in an airborne state with very specific terrain under them (like in holes). I’ve added a system to hopefully detect when this happens and after a certain amount of time, will replaced the Pardner in a grounded location
+ Fixed Worm tutorial not showing the tutorial text, and also choosing all of the objectives to spawn
+ Added a symbol to the UI when the Snake Oil buff is active
+ Fixed Worm cosmetic eyes not spawning correctly in game
+ Added an Ace Pride flag cosmetic
+ Refactored Worm camera logic, should fix issues with non-stop spinning camera as Worm (Note: due to this change, the Worm camera sensitivity has been reset!)
+ Well water no longer visible to Worm underground (it looked weird)
+ Added a series of “Did you know?” game tips that appear at the bottom of the lobby
+ Updated the Worm Ability picker pop-up panels for each Ability
+ Fixed a few challenges/achievements that were unlocking at incorrect times
+ Increased the ambient brightness at Sundown during the Halloworm theme
+ Fixed visibility issues of the inspection mode “compass directions” for the different map themes
+ Unburnable objects, such as crates and Kit, are now pushed out of the Train furnace. This should help with players barricading themselves next to the furnace with crates
+ Added a slight wait before the “play again” button appears, hopefully fixing some lobby breaking timing issues
+ Can now press enter after typing a lobby code to join, instead of clicking the join button
+ Added a system to check for desynced objects, should fix the bug with floating objects on map spawn
+ Added particle effects for Worms impacting buildings, Worms eating Pardners, and Bilebomb spit
+ Added additional SFX and polish for various game elements and UI
+ Fixed the second hat not being “ghosted” in end game dioramas
+ When disabling a worm ability slot in the match settings, it no longer locks that ability from being chosen for another slot
+ increased the range of the hat tilt sliders, allowing for more placement options
+ modified the chances for [ Redacted ] to spawn


I hope you enjoy the update!

Stay safe out there, Pardner

[h3]Howdy![/h3]

The recent changes to Cactus Fruits in the Seismic Shift update had very split opinions on it. The ones who liked it simply *liked* it, while the players who disliked it *really disliked it*.

With that in mind, I wanted to try out a more middle-ground approach that still interacts with new digestion system, while also trying to minimize some of the original frustrations I was trying to solve.

[h3]A new balance patch is live on Steam with the following changes:[/h3]

⭐ Cactus Fruit Changes:
- Removed the 3 stacks and +move speed bonus for Cactus Fruits
- Cactus Fruit now heals for 15 health
- Each Cactus Fruit eaten adds +20 seconds to the digestion time of your next Heart Jar.
The additional digestion time ONLY resets when eaten by a Worm (and not from dying by any other means)
- Cactus Fruit spawns reduced back to 8 per game on normal settings. (they were doubled for the previous patch)

Note: One of the design issues was that a Worm could grab a Pardner many many times without them getting a kill, because the Pardner would escape and then heal off all the damage with Cactus Fruits. It felt very unsatisfying for the Worm player. These changes not only slightly reduce the healing, but also mean if a Pardner is healing over and over they'll at least be out of the game for longer once the Worm does eventually kill them off. It also adds another layer of strategy for more experienced players who want to weigh the pros and cons of healing vs taking a shorter death cycle and reviving, saving the cactus fruit healing for a later time.

Balancing Changes:
🌵 Base digestion time reduced to 60 seconds (was 90)
🌵 Coffee moved speed buff increased to 45% (was 35%)
🌵 Concoction health gain values reduced slightly

Note: with bringing consistent healing back and removing the move speed bonus with Cactus Fruit, it felt right to buff the coffee move speed up to a similar level as before and reduce the potency of the Concoction, especially considering the Concoction buffs can heal you past full health. While you're still slightly more likely for a worse outcome with Concoction, the benefits are worth the risk.


Thanks for all the feedback and support on the new update! If you feel like I missed the mark with these changes, please let me know in the Discord (Discord.gg/Wormtown)

[h2]The Seismic Shift Update is now live![/h2]

This update is aptly named, as it contains:
+ Reworks and significant changes to core mechanics of Wormtown
+ 2 New Pardners Kit Items
+ 2 Worm Ability Reworks
+ QOL features
+ more!

It's a doozy, so let's get right into it:


With this update, I wanted to focus on the core gameplay systems of Wormtown and how changes could fix a handful of the friction points players have with the game. While I know change is scary - and this patch has significant changes - I hope everyone can give it a fair shot before grabbing the proverbial pitchforks. The community has been testing these changes on the Beta branch for weeks now, and overall I'm confident it's solves many of the frustrations players had with the game.

Friction points this patch attempts to solve:
- Games were going on waaaaaaaay too long
- If you were eliminated early on as Pardner, you had to sit and spectate - or leave the game, which is what happened most often. (This being made worse by the long match times)
- Playing Worm felt static and less fun & satisfying than Pardner
- Healing was OP on Pardner side
- Some Objectives were vastly more easy than others
- Sandstorm... boy did every Pardner hate Sandstorm...

[h3]Heart Jar Changes:[/h3]
Pardners now always drop a Heart Jar on death and can be revived an unlimited number of times.

What's the catch?
- Every revive lowers the Pardners maximum health by 25%, with 10 Health being the lowest they can get down to.
- You can only revive Pardners at the Church when the sun is up. After Sundown respawns are disabled.

Note: A new match setting has been added for number of revives, where you can set the exact number to your liking, too!

[h3]Ghost Changes:[/h3]
Ghosts pushing abilities got a big buff this patch. They will now see a large aiming arrow when attempting to Ghost Push an object and can now charge up their throw by holding down the interact button and releasing. This makes ghosts great team medics and can revive others and themselves much more consistently than before! Fling those Heart Jars towards Church!


[h3]Sundown Changes:[/h3]
Sundown now is defaulted to 15 minutes (was 25), but the Worm is a bit less oppressive at night than before. Worm cooldowns are increased by 50% at night, instead of 150% previously.

The changes to Heart Jars and Sundown means games take less time, the action keeps moving, and players of all skill levels get to actually *play* the game and not be stuck on the sidelines.

[h3]Cactus Fruit Changes:[/h3]
One of the complaints with playing as Worm was you could grab a Pardner many many times and not get a kill on them. The Pardner would escape, and then simply chow down on their stockpile of Cactus Fruit nullifying your efforts.

So, Cactus Fruits no longer heal you. Instead:
- Consuming a Cactus Fruit gives you one stackable buff of +5% move speed and -15 seconds digestion time (more on that later!)
- Pardners can have up to 3 stacks for a total of +15% move speed and -45 seconds digestion time
- Stacks do not time out, but you lose one stack per death.



[h2]Worm Changes:[/h2]

[h3]Ability Cooldowns:[/h3]
The Worm now recharges their chosen abilities by gaining "Nutrients" and can store charges for their Abilities, storing multiple uses for the right time. Note: Innate abilities (Sonar Scream and Sinkhole) still work on timed cooldowns.

Nutrients are gained by grabbing Pardners, eating objects, and entering a new healing zone while underground. Grabbing a "Fresh" Pardner earns you more nutrients than a Pardner you've continuously grabbed over-and-over. This should alleviate some frustrations with Pardners being focused or "tunneled" by the Worm. (or at least be less beneficial for the Worm to do so)

[h3]Worm Movement:[/h3]
The Worm now has "free cam" style controls underground. It feels more like you're swimming through the soil than being stuck on a flat plane underground. The lower you swim before surfacing the higher your leap will be! Fly you majestic Worm dolphin, fly!

[h3]Worm Digestion:[/h3]
The Worm now digests the Pardners they eat, making their Heart Jars not spawn immediately after dying. Instead, it takes a base 90 seconds for the Jar to appear. After the digestion timer is up, the Jar will spawn at the tail of the Worm.

Both the Worm and the Pardner will see a new UI element on screen to show when the Heart Jar will become active.

Additionally, each stack of the Cactus Fruit Buff that Pardner has will reduce the digestion time by 15 seconds, taking it as low as half the normal time, 45 seconds.

[h3]And those are the big changes to the mechanics of Wormtown. I hope you try them out and, as always, let me know what you think in the Discord.[/h3]

[h2]Worm Ability Reworks:[/h2]
[h3]Sandstorm:[/h3]

If there's one ability that gets the most hate by the community, it's Sandstorm. It was very annoying to play against and was basically impossible if more than one Worm had it equipped at a time. It's now been replaced with a Sandstorm Tornado!

The tornado moves forward in a line from where you aim it and pulls objects and Pardners into it before flinging them out in a random direction. Pardners caught in the Tornado become visible to the Worm for a few seconds after.

[h3]Tar Wall:[/h3]

Tarwall, despite receiving multiple reworks in the past still is under performing with the general consensus being that it's too easy to escape.

Tarwall now creates large blocky outer walls with no spaces between them. After a second, the floor of the tar arena now fills with tar as well. Touching the tar drastically reduces your move speed for a few seconds.
With the removal of the global Sandstorm effect, the major "stalling" ability is gone, so I feel more comfortable pushing Tarwall into the go-to stalling ability.

[h2]New Pardner Kit Items:[/h2]
[h3]Coffee Tin[/h3]

- Drink to gain a whopping +35% move speed and -80% stamina consumption buff for 15 seconds
- Due to overly-caffeinated jitters, you'll also be visible to the Worm for 20 seconds

Great to use when trying to take attention off of a fellow Pardner or when you're confident you're safe from the Worm!

[h3]Mysterious Concoction[/h3]

- Drink the concoction to gain a random effect. It can heal, it can harm, it can teleport you randomly across the map! Drink at your own risk!

[h2]Pardner Kit Changes:[/h2]
[h3]Necronomicon[/h3]
- Necro now has unlimited uses, instead of the 1 it had previously.
- To balance this, Necro now burns 35 health from the user. (yes, this can kill you!)
- Necro still works after sundown and in games with limited revives! Making it a vital tool in those situations.

[h2]Pardner Objective Changes[/h2]
[h3]Train Key[/h3]
One issue with the Train Key objective was that it had no way of scaling with difficulty, making it one of the fastest and easiest ones to complete - especially in games with lots of Pardners.

There are now "dummy" dig spots that will ping your metal detector just like the Key spot does. When dug up, the dummy spots will spawn a new 1/1 junk item, the Horseshoe. More dummy/Horseshoe spots will spawn based on the Objective Difficulty setting.


[h3]Cattlebug Wranglin'[/h3]
Cattlebugs were also a bit too easy to complete, since they were one of the least "involved" Objectives.

Cattlebugs no longer run away from Pardners and instead are attracted to their favorite treat and new throwable Kit item, the Dandylion. Dandylion bundles can be found near the rear of the Train (where you bring Cattlebugs back to). Throw Dandylions and lure the Cattlebugs back to the Train!


Additionally, other Objectives received smaller balance tweaks to try and normalize them a bit.


[h2]Misc. Features and Changes[/h2]

[h3]Added Text Chat[/h3]
- Pressing Enter will enable/disable the text chat, available in lobby and during gameplay.
- Can fully disable the text chat in the options menu

[h3]Added LAN support[/h3]
- You'll find the LAN options at the bottom of the "Play" menu.
- Instead of Lobby Codes, LAN games use your local IP of your machine on your network, which will display in the top right of the lobby for you when hosting.

[h3]Added an Auto-Escape feature for the Worm Mini-Game[/h3]
- pressing your "drop item" key when grabbed by a Worm, it will put you in a timed auto-escape mode that will complete in ~5.5 seconds. While this is a bit slower than the average player manually escaping, it's a great option for those who dislike the mini game or have accessibility concerns.

[h3]New Worm Eating Effects[/h3]
- Out with that janky old shrinking effect when chomping an object, it's much prettier now!

[h3]Multi-Worm Ability Scaling[/h3]
- Multi-Worm games can be oppressive for Pardners, especially with their abilities. By default, the max number of ability charges scale with the Worm player count. With this, there's a new match setting to remove this scaling if you really want the chaos!

[h3]++ a bunch of bug fixes and smaller changes![/h3]

If you want to read every teeny tiny minute detail and change in this patch, you can also check out the Patch Notes channel over at the Discord (Discord.gg/Wormtown), but that about summarizes this huge update!

Thanks again for all the support for Wormtown, and I hope you enjoy the new gameplay changes! (and please, no pitchforks!)

Stay Safe out there, Pardners!

[h2]New Features:[/h2]

[h3]Player Progression[/h3]
Level up and Earn XP while you play and unlock a bevy of new cosmetics!

[h3]Challenges and Achievements[/h3]
150 challenges have been added to the game to complete! Challenges reward you with in game currency as well as Steam achievements! (Note: Don't worry, there are absolutely NO microtransactions)

[h3]Cosmetics[/h3]
On top of a bunch of new cosmetics for both Pardner and Worm, try out the new silly "Noise Makers", too!


This update took a bit longer than expected due to the number of new systems and art assets needed (not to mention I had to take a few weeks off to move!) - So I super appreciate the patience!

Player Progression has been on the roadmap for a long time now, so I'm excited to have it in-game so I can focus on more gameplay related content next. We're pushing closer and closer to that 1.0 release, but I have some fun and experimental ideas I want to play around with before then, so keep an eye out for that soon!

Stay safe out there, Pardner

[h3]Howdy![/h3]

I’ve been a bit quiet the last few weeks getting a bunch of behind-the-scenes stuff setup for the upcoming Player Progression update! This will include unlockable cosmetics, leveling up your player profile, completing challenges, Steam achievements, and rank rewards!

While there’s still a bit of work to do before the full update is out, there is a new patch on the Public Beta branch for testing now.

[h3]This test patch includes:
New cosmetics to unlock
A bunch of challenges to complete
Leveling your player profile[/h3]


To access the public test patch, Right Click on Wormtown in your Steam library → Properties → Betas → and select the public beta from the drop down list.


[h3]A few notes:[/h3]
- Anything unlocked/completed in the test patch will carry over to the full player progression update.
- Stats and Challenges are saved for Friend’s Pass users, but won’t be rewarded with XP or currency until running the full version of the game.
- This patch does not include the full list of challenges or cosmetic unlocks - we’re still working hard on the additional content for the full update.
- Every challenge will have an associated Steam Achievement. The Steam Achievements are not setup for this test branch, but will be for the full update. (which will automatically unlock if you’ve completed the challenge previously)

Additional Changes:
- Added Noisemaker cosmetics. Press H or Right on the D-pad to use them by default. *honk*

Aside from that, I do have big gameplay balancing and reworks in the pipeline as well. You can expect these changes after the Player Progression update. I know many players are excited for new gameplay changes, so I appreciate your patience!


Do expect a few rough edges and bugs with this test patch! We’re already aware and working on some tweaks. If you have any feedback or bug reports, swing on by Discord.gg/Wormtown and let us know!

Stay safe out there, Pardners