A Gentlemen's Dispute News

[h2]Major Changes[/h2]

- Restored classic ragdoll jump with improved physics and netcode

Like all things related to movement, this one may be controversial depending on how you liked to use the jumping mechanic. We feel the classic ragdoll jump (with improved physics and netcode so its not as janky as it was before) is closest to the heart of what AGD means to us and to players, and is just way more funny and fun to watch than a more traditional jump.

Of course, this also means that it will be much less precise of a movement tool as the old one was. However, as we move through updates this month, we'll be tweaking the force of the jump and adding perks and upgrades to allow the jump to stay the most fun it can be.

- Changes to lighting and art style

We've spend a lot of time this week iterating on the lighting and color balance in response to player feedback and our own. In general the game should be simpler to look at, less bright, and generally should look more appealing and easy to play and watch.

[h2]Minor Changes[/h2]

- Increased base movement speed
- Many small balance changes

On top of all this we've also got a ton of bug fixes and performance improvements.

Special thanks to our playtesters in our discord https://discord.gg/PTvpYGmtGK for helping us iron out this version before release!

Balance Changes:

Some items had not properly received damage adjustments in line with the player HP reduction from 200 to 100. The following have been adjusted to bring them more in line with the rest of the items and hazards:

- Shark
- Mine
- Cannon + Cannonball
- Big Bomb
- C4

Other Balance Changes:
- Reduced cooldown of first leap (with leapfrog perk) after leaping from the ground
- Slightly reduced vertical hit box of mines


Fixes:
- Fixed inconsistent leaping out of cannon
- Fixed issues with outer collision bounds of the garden maps
- Fixed cannon keeping its velocity in some situations after a player stopped driving it
- Fixed fire not properly igniting oil
- Fixed match counter in lobby not working
- Fixed invite button being visible in local lobbies
- Fixed bug where leaping players could get stuck on flat surfaces

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.