A Gentlemen's Dispute News

This is the first of several massive updates for A Gentlemen's Dispute as we gear up for this February's Steam Next Fest.

[h2]Dedicated Servers[/h2]
A Gentlemen's Dispute now runs on dedicated servers!
Enjoy a vastly improved game experience with support for many more items and much more chaos.

When you create a game, you may need to wait a few seconds for the server to start before you join the lobby. Players playing in the first few hours of the update may need to wait up to 30 seconds to start a game. Once the update has been out for a few hours it should take only 5-6 seconds.

Future updates will expand on this system, including matchmaking and team play.

Players in the same server can now chat with one another by pressing enter.

[h2]New Abilities[/h2]
All Gentlemen must be trained in glove to glove combat!
If you press the use button without any item in your end you will now let loose a slap, knocking over players in range. Use this to defend yourself if you are out of options!

Additionally, you may now pick up downed nearby players and hold them over your shoulder. You have a few seconds to carry them around or press use to throw them in front of you. Players being carried can mash to escape so don't dilly-dally!

Cannons have now been expanded, allowing you to roll them forward and backward. You now use your look controls to rotate and angle the barrel.

[h2]Maps[/h2]
- Metro
- Overhauled Ballroom

[h2]Items[/h2]
- Flamethrower
- Dance Grenade
- Molotov
- Airplane

[h2]7 brand new (plus 1 fan-favorite returning) perks for you to discover![/h2]

On top of this, there are a mountain of fixes, performance improvements, UI improvements, and general goodness included in this update.

Happy Disputing!

This patch brings high-quality technical improvements to the game, taking it to the next level of performance, stability, and polish. We've also tweaked the balance of some perks and items to make them more stable and fun to play. Finally, we've made some major improvements to how the game sounds.

The technical improvements have allowed us to put together our best-looking trailer yet! You can watch it now on our Steam Page!

As always, you can leave us feedback and find many distinguished gentlemen seeking to dispute by joining our community on Discord: https://discord.gg/E8BP3yWV2u.

Thanks for playing! See you disputing soon!
BFG


[h2]Changelog[/h2]

[h3]Major Performance and Stability Improvements[/h3]

• Eliminated network performance loss after spawning many oil splatters.
  
• Reduced graphical impact of oil splatters.
  
• Broadly reduced graphical workload of the game.
  
• Reduced cost of rendering many bear traps and mines.
  
• Eliminated slight jitter of character at high frame rates.
  
• Fixed various bugs related to C4 positioning.

[h3]Perk Balance[/h3]

• Decreased rate of increase for doubling cannons and traps after a certain point. The number has no cap but it will stop doubling and start increasing linearly after a certain point.

[h3]Item Balance[/h3]

• Increased size of hitbox for the Bat.
  
• Bat will only be consumed after three misses. Always consumed after a hit.
  
• Increased speed and size of hitbox for the Spin Kick.
  
• Fixed issue causing very slow item spawning if only rare items are selected in the game settings.

[h3]Sound Improvements[/h3]

• Major improvements to spatialization (where things sound like they are coming from).
  
• Several new and improved sound effects.
  
• Fixed issue relating to sound reverb not being affected by volume sliders in settings.

[h2]Hello Everyone! A major update has just been released![/h2]

See the full list of changes at the bottom of this announcement.

While we made a ton of technical and visual improvements in the major update last month, there were a few aspects that felt like a bit of a step back, and that mainly manifested in the feedback that the game had slowed down.

This update is designed to address that, and restore some of the chaos, speed, and insanity of the original demo version. Perhaps even going... further beyond...

[h3]What's New?[/h3]
We've eliminated the windup times for the jetpack, shotgun, and rocket launcher. We've restored the shark Rufus back to his former ever-present self, biting you as soon as you get too deep in the water. We've removed the caps on Extra Traps and Bigger Traps.

We've permanently included the C4 and Jetpack in the demo and added two new items that were previously locked, the Champagne Bottle and the Airstrike.

The biggest change is a complete rework of the leap mechanic. The new leaping is much more controllable and no longer turns you into a ragdoll. We've had a ton of fun working on this change and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did. We're looking forward to your feedback on this change since its probably the biggest gameplay change we've made since the demo was first made public.

There are also a ton of technical, sound, and performance improvements included in this update.

[h3]Community Events & What's Next[/h3]
This Saturday at 4pm EST will be holding an event with the whole dev team in our discord to play with everyone here and hear your feedback on the latest update. Join the server here: https://discord.gg/E8BP3yWV2u

This is the last update before our first major content update, coming very soon, which will include five new items and several new perks. We'll start showing sneak previews of this content next week!

Finally, with a ton new content coming down the road for AGD, we are looking to form a group of official playtesters who we will invite to regular playtests of prerelease content and get direct feedback from. If you are interested in signing up, please fill out this google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeVSwkU2QCRQoNr_LMi2CfXEZX0Tv0fPZWAtqEr0oAWKVi41w/viewform.

Thanks for playing! See you disputing soon!
BFG


[h2]Changelog[/h2]

[h3]Major Changes[/h3]

• Major improvements to netcode and performance. Character movement should be noticeably smoother and more consistent even under bad network conditions.
  
• Eliminated the windup time for the shotgun, rocket launcher, and jetpack.
  
• Made all new items permanently available in the demo, including the new Champagne Bottle and Airstrike items.
  
• Restored old shark behavior on the island level.
  
• Completely reworked leap to be a controllable arc instead of launching the character as a ragdoll. Players can also hold down the leap input to stay in a charged squat position before leaping.
  
• Eliminated brief invincibility window after taking damage. Multiple consecutive explosions will now deal stacked damage. Added damage falloff if taken from the same item in rapid succession.

[h3]Balance Changes[/h3]

• Slightly increased the hitbox of the Bat.
  
• Slightly increased the hitbox of the Spin Kick.
  
• Removed Extra Bullets perk.
  
• Removed caps for Extra Traps and Bigger Traps perks.
  
• Ghosts can no longer directly collide with players.

[h3]Sound[/h3]

• Addressed major issue causing volume of all sounds to inconsistent.
  
• Major improvements to destruction sounds.
  
• Various improvements to sounds and mixing.

[h3]UI[/h3]

• Smoothed slow-motion final kill camera.
  
• Removed ability to move cards in perk selection.
  
• Added indicator to leave cannon.
  
• Added notification when item is stolen.
  
• Added loading screen text.
  
• Improved damage number text.
  
• Reduced size of perk HUD.

[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]

• Fixed bug where jetpack model and visual effect would remain after being damaged.
  
• Fixed bug where shotgun visual effect would trigger when perk HUD activated.
  
• Fixed bug where Bad Influence and Item Thief would take effect on non-melee items.
  
• Fixed bug where using a C4 could delete a second C4 from the inventory.
  
• Fixed bug where ghosts would not spawn.
  
• Fixed bug where loading would occasionally take much longer than necessary.
  
• Fixed bug where loading screen would fade too early.
  
• Fixed bug where SFX slider would not effect certain sound effects.

Hello there!

We hope you're enjoying the major update we released last Friday. Over the weekend, we've made a quilt's-worth of patches that go live tonight!

Many of these fixes were suggested by the fashionable gentlemen of our community discord server, who'd be pleased to make your acquaintance. Join the gentle-party!

You can find the full list of changes below.

Until our next update,
BFG

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[h2]Changelist[/h2]
[h3]Performance & Smoothness[/h3]

• Improved performance on Apple Silicon machines.
  
• Improved performance for rendering mines.
  
• Improved smoothness of perk selection.

[h3]Settings[/h3]

• Added VSync option.
  
• Added setting to hide perk HUD.

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• Added overhead pointers to illusions
  
• Added a limit to the length of time cannons can fire.
  
• Improved how cannons handle firing players while firing cannonballs.
  
• Improved bat hitbox.
  
• Dealer’s Choice no longer has a chance of awarding Clown.
  
• Chef no longer appears in perk selection and is no longer awarded by Dealer’s Choice if there are only 2 players.

[h3]Stages & Appearance[/h3]

• Added steps to the pool on the Island.
  
• Added more sharks to the Island.
  
• Fixed issue with ground textures missing on low graphics presets on the Gardens.
  
• Fixed jitter for chandeliers on The Banquet Hall.
  
• Improved lighting on win screen.

[h3]Bugfixes [/h3]

• Fixed bug where items and players weren’t cleaned up after restarting.
  
• Fixed bug where perks were not filtered according to start screen settings.
  
• Fixed bug allowing players to duplicate item use.
  
• Fixed bug where if a player had a shotgun in their second inventory slot, the shotgun animation would play after using the item in their first inventory slot.
  
• Fixed bug where non-hosts would teleport backwards upon leaping, using an item that locked their position, or using leapfrog.
  
• Fixed bug where a player with both Oil Baron and Leapfrog would spawn oil from the position of their first leap for all subsequent leaps.
  
• Fixed bug allowing players to leap while using and items or use items while leaping
  
• Fixed Powder Keg grenades not copying the player’s suit color

[h3]UI[/h3]

• Fixed bug where streamer mode was not respected in lobbies.
  
• Fixed bug where players could continue customizing their character from the start screen.
  
• Fixed bug with perk HUD intro animation.
  
• Fixed bug where the placement of text on the win screen was resolution-dependent.
  
• Fixed bug where joining a lobby by pressing A on controller pressed the currently selected button.
  
• A warning is now shown in the bottom left when client ping is greater than 100ms.
  
• Improved win screen UI.

[h3]Sound[/h3]

• Fixed bug where footsteps play while descending with the jetpack.
  
• Revised cannonball explosion, shark bite, and damage sounds.
  
• Added additional sound to cannon steering.
  
• Mix adjustments.
  

[h3]Salutations My Good Sirs![/h3]
I'm thrilled to proclaim a major update for A Gentlemen’s Dispute’s free demo has arrived today! It brings fame, fortune, and…

[h3]Items[/h3]
A limited time preview of two never-before-seen items. Play while they’re available in the free demo!

• The Jetpack lets players rocket away from danger, then take pot-shots from the sky. Combine with the rocket launcher for a devastating combo!
  
• The C4 is a tricky, sticky, remote-detonated explosive. Plant as many as you can, then blow your opponents sky-high!
  

[h3]Perks[/h3]
Five brand-new perks!

• Grenadier lobs additional bombs, adding chaos to the fray.
  
• Chef cooks up delicious dinners to celebrate every victory. Feast upon your fallen foes to reclaim your lost health!
  
• Charlatan confuses with devilish dancing illusions.
  
• Bad Influence leaps into enemies to make them drunk and dizzy!
  
• Pick Dealer’s Choice to receive a random perk from the deck!
  

[h3]And More![/h3]

• Fully overhauled physics, now with new ragdolls and slippery-smooth netcode.
  
• New, entirely overhauled visuals for characters, perks, items, lobbies, perk selection, and three exquisite stages.
  
  • Play the day away in the all-new Nighttime Gardens!
    
  • Perks have been repackaged as an illustrated deck of cards. Which ones will you add to your hand?
    
• A slew of new and improved sounds.
  
• An all-new start screen allowing you to customize the items, stages, and perks included in each dispute.
  
• An all-new HUD showcasing your perks in as they take effect in real time.
  
• Controllable cannons! Enjoy aiming them at your enemies and destroying them with ease.
  

Each gentle-developer on the AGD team cooked out of their gourds to bring this update to life. I’m quite simply flabbergasted by their efforts and the fruits of their labors. We hope you enjoy disputing with what we’ve been up to!

Play A Gentlemen’s Dispute's free demo today!

Happy disputing!
BFG