Pup Champs News

We're back with a brand-new demo, available now on Steam, just in time for Next Fest which starts on Monday.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2978840/Pup_Champs_Demo/

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Since November we've been working hard on another major art overhaul for the game. One thing we noticed when Pup Champs was shown at various events and showcases was that the game looked good in motion but lacked energy when displayed via static screenshots.

This is why we decided to bring the game from pure 2D into 3D, skewing the perspective a bit to make the scene appear more dynamic, and give ourselves some camera tools for bringing more life to the backgrounds. The way you play the game remains the same (just better), but now everything should look cooler.

Aside from that we've got improved UI, new puzzles, two new story comics, a major animation rework and much, much more!

[h2]Patch notes for Pup Champs v0.5:[/h2]

• Pup Champs is now Steam Deck Verified!
  
  
• Reworked game camera from orthogonal into perspective,
• > This is a big art-related update that we started working on even before v0.4 was out - the game’s art felt flat on static screenshots, and we hope that this perspective change will make the gameplay feel more dynamic,
• Implemented new camera features,
• > Now you can move the camera around (middle-mouse / right stick on controller) and zoom in/out (mouse scroll / LT & RT),
• > Play around with them to see the updated level visuals too!
  
  
• Updated puzzles available in the demo,
• > Added all-new levels in Chapter 3,
• > Added bonus levels in Chapter 3,
• > Updated existing levels in Chapters 1 & 2,
  
  
• Added new mechanic - moles,
• > Moles occupy two spaces on the field, blocking one tile (head) and switching between them if the other tile (exit) is triggered,
  
  
• Added new mechanic - mud,
• > Whenever the ball lands in the mud, it can’t be removed from this tile without kicking it, creating a space that you need to be careful around!
  
  
• Pug is back with a new kick type!
• > This unit is able to kick the ball backwards by one tile, opening up a bunch of new design possibilities that weren’t there before,
• > This one is a work-in-progress animation-wise, but we really wanted to put it in your hands and see how it feels - let us know your feedback!
  
  
• Added two new story comics in Chapter 2,
• > Introducing a new teammate and an important in-game mechanic,
  
  
• Updated in-game UI,
• > We moved unit cards from left side to bottom of the screen to center the game’s layout and give ourselves more space for displaying horizontal grids, which make up the majority of puzzles in the game.
• > Also - we cleaned up fonts, input glyphs, sprites and other things while we were at it!
  
  
• Improved nearly all animations in the game,
• > Improved synchronization for animation playback,
• > Reworked animations when units pick up and move the ball around,
• > Reworked animations when units kick the ball,
• > Reworked animations when the ball hits the net,
• > Added new player unit reaction animations when scoring a goal,
  
  
• Added new sound effects and tweaked existing ones,
  
• Added extra ground detail decorations and fixed vertical grass stripe appearance,
  
• Reworked decorations on the sides of each level,
  
• > This is something that was enabled by our new camera settings - an additional multiplane with trees to make the visuals a bit richer,
• Fixed issues related to sprite layering and masking,
  
• > Sometimes certain things would show up in front of others when they shouldn’t; this issue should be improved now, but expect more improvements in the future,
• Reworked VFX when a player unit is able to finish the level,
  
• > The old VFX felt like a bit too much when paired with all the other art-related changes we made, so we toned it down,
• Refactored gameplay code to make it more stable and cleaner,
  
• Reworked demo end screen to make it look nicer,
  
• Reworked gamepad controls,
  
• Improved VFX when Monkeys bump into other units,
  
• Improved tutorials in Chapters 1 & 2,
  
• Updated visual palette in Chapter 3,
  
• Reworked visuals for Bushes and added a new VFX when entering them,
  
• Improved player selection / stamina marker,
  
• Improved visuals for ball trajectory shown before kicking,
  
• Improved fonts in main menu,
  
• Improved display for in-game shadows,
  
• Fixed issue where ball would sometimes reposition itself slightly when restarting a level,
  

Thanks for reading, and we hope you'll enjoy the updated demo :)

Cheers,
- Luke

After launching v0.3 back in mid-August we spent some time showing the Pup Champs demo to players around Europe - specifically at Gamescom and Poznan Game Arena - to see how they resonate with the game.

As a result we decided to make some core changes to how the game works in order to make it easier to play and more fun. Two big changes in this release are the reworked input, which should allow you to solve puzzles quicker and make the game feel snappier; and new sprites for all units to better show their current orientation. The latter one was an especially big pain point for demo players, and we hope this change helps improve that.

If you’ve played the demo in the past you might not feel like a lot has changed since there’s barely any new „content” (as in, puzzles) in this update, but hopefully our big under-the-hood changes will make Pup Champs better than ever :)

• Reworked player navigation to support instant movement,
• > This is an experimental feature - we’re super eager to hear your thoughts about this feature, and we have further tweaks planned in the future,
• > Previously, you needed to draw the movement line and release in order to perform navigation - now units start moving the moment you start drawing in order to make solving puzzles faster,
• > We hope this should be especially helpful for players using keyboards/gamepads :)
  
  
• Reworked unit path visuals,
• > We’ve done some tweaks to how the dashed line is displayed on the grid, but we’re not finished with it yet :)
• Reworked unit sprites to better show which direction they are facing,
• > Previously we only had a single set of sprites facing left or right, and we relied on an arrow marker to show where the unit is currently looking,
• > Now, each unit can rotate in each of the 4 directions (up/down/left/right) which we hope will help players confused by not being able to change their shooting vector while standing in place,
  
  
• Reworked line visuals showing ball trajectory while aiming,
• > After showing Pup Champs at events we noticed that some players were confused by the arrow and assumed that in order to launch the ball they need to perform the motion shown by it (swiping along the arrow); instead of just tapping on the target,
• > We’ve got some more visual tweaks coming for this feature in the upcoming releases,
  
  
• Reworked puzzles in Chapters 1, 2 and 3,
• > We noticed certain players getting stuck at various points during the campaign, so we shuffled the puzzles around and removed some of them for the time being in order to create a smoother experience,
• > While some of the hardest puzzles might no longer be playable, we hope you’ll enjoy the new ones we’ve added :)
• Reworked the kicking mechanic for Golden Retriever,
• > Previously the kick had a range limit (4) but you could decide where to stop the ball; now the kick is essentially limitless, but someone needs to intercept it or it needs to land inside of the goal,
• > This change was prompted by seeing lot of players solving level c2-3 in a specific way - by passing to the other unit instead of stopping it in front of the goal for a pass; after thinking about it we decided that the new mechanic should be more intuitive for everyone,
  
  
• Reworked the design for Monkey,
• > This ties into the instant-movement feature mentioned above - since player units now move immediately as the command is given to them, Monkeys needed to start moving in unison with them,
• > This change resulted in some of the pre-existing puzzles not being solvable anymore, so we tweaked some late Chapter 3 puzzles,
• > The design of this unit is not completed yet - expect further tweaks to the UX and rules in the future,
  
  
• Simplified keyboard/gamepad interaction when kicking the ball,
• > Previously, players needed to press the interact button once to enter the „kicking mode” and press the button again to confirm; now this first interaction is not needed and you only need to press once in order to kick the ball,
• > „Kicking mode” was necessary for handling Golden Retriever’s kicking, to allow you to select where to stop the ball; once we changed the kicking mechanic this mode also became unnecessary,
  
  
• Pug was benched from Chapters 2 and 3 for the time being…
  
• > In earlier versions of the game we felt the need to rush through introducing the full team of 4 units in order to construct bigger puzzles starting from the end of Chapter 2; after reevaluation we decided to spread them out a little bit more in order to focus on some non-unit-based mechanics,
• > The Pug will return after he’s done with training camp and has learned a new skill :)
  
  
• Units are automatically selected at the start of each level and cannot be un-selected,
  
• > This should make it easier to figure out who’s currently being controlled and make keyboard/gamepad navigation snappier,
  
  
• Reworked unit idle animations,
  
• > We felt that giving everyone sprite animations while standing idly was too distracting, so we opted for a simpler scale bounce animation,
  
  
• Improved tutorials in Chapter 1,
  
• > Added a new tutorial hand sprite to make it stand out more from the environment,
• > Added input icons next to tutorial hand when using keyboard/gamepad,
• > Added tutorials to levels d1-8 and d1-10,
  
  
• Added more character sprites to the Victory Screen,
  
• > This UI felt somewhat static, especially during the first batch of levels - 1-1 to 1-8 - where after every goal you had to look at the same Shiba pose over and over again,
• > Now each pup has 3 separate sprites which are cycled in order to make this screen feel better,
  
  
• Reworked undo to revert actions tile-by-tile instead of reverting the entire movement sequence,
  
• Updated color palette and sprites related to passing / receiving / kicking the ball,
  
• Updated sprites for bush tiles,
  
• Increased goal hitbox to make it easier to click,
  
• Added new ability icons for each unit,
  
• Added animation to unit stamina marker on the field when in use,
  
• Improved ball positioning when being held by a unit,
  
• Improved sprite reaction when Monkey is blocked from entering a tile,
  
• Replaced input icons for keyboard/gamepad prompts to make them fit the UI better,
  
• Fixed being able to scroll through comic pages too quickly when clicking on the left/right side before the button was visible,
  
• Tweaked gamepad stick deadzones to avoid unwanted moves in the other direction,
  
• Tweaked delay before showing the Victory Screen in order to show the ball actually landing in the goal,
  

That’s it for today - please enjoy this updated demo and let us know your thoughts!

Cheers,

The team at Afterburn

Hello!

We're coming back to you with some small bug fixes!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2978840/Pup_Champs_Demo/

[h2]Patch Notes for Pup Champs v0.3.1 Demo:[/h2]

• Fixed a bug that caused the keyboard or controller to stop responding, forcing players to switch to mouse input,
  
• Fixed a bug that caused music to not loop,
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the monkey's path not to reset after a unit change,
  
• Fixed an issue with the monkey unit outline,
  
• Fixed an issue with keyboard/gamepad glyphs not showing next to unit portraits,
  

Have a nice one and till the next time!
Pup Champs Team

Hi,

It's been a busy time at our studio - we've managed to ship a ton of improvements to our demo just in time for Gamescom! We've got new story artwork, puzzles, music and more!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2978840/Pup_Champs_Demo/


[h2]Patch notes for Pup Champs v0.3:[/h2]

• Added first three story comics to Chapter 1,
• >>> We've teased this in the July updated and it's finally here! These comics represent how we'd like to tell the story in Pup Champs' campaign and we hope you'll enjoy the pups' journey :)
  
  
• Added language support for: Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese-Brazil, and Spanish,
• >>> As always, don't expect a ton of text in an Afterburn game, but it should help you navigate the options menu!
  
  
• Added save game support keeping track of which levels were completed,
• >>> This should help alleviate the "after returning to the main menu I don't know which level I was last playing" problem that plagued the previous versions of the demo.
  
  
• Added a new music track to chapters 1 and 3,
  
• Added shadow to the cone obstacle sprite,
  
• Added a "Pup Champs" version watermark in the bottom right corner,
  
• Added a wishlist button to the game,
  
• Added a "clear save" menu,
  
  
• Updated puzzles in all three chapters of the demo,
• >>> We've reworked, removed and added new levels to make the overall progression smoother and help new players figure out the ins and outs of our mechanics - we're super eager to hear how you're enjoying these new puzzles!
  
  
• Updated player stats across all puzzles,
• >>> We've received feedback that changing unit kick strength between puzzles sometimes felt confusing to players, which is why we've decided to redesign it to make it consistent. Now you can always expect a certain pup to kick in a specific way - but their stamina will still vary from level to level to spice things up.
  
  
• Improved unit outlines and kick markers,
  
• Improved camera layout on all levels,
  
• Improved keyboard and gamepad input,
  
• Fixed issue with keyboard/gamepad navigation marker appearing in main menu when using mouse,
  

That's all for today as we're preparing ourselves for Gamescom - if you're around you can find us between August 21st and 23rd in Hall 4.1, booth C013g!

Cheers,
Luke from Afterburn

Hello!

We're coming back to you with a minor update—not as flashy as the backgrounds update introduced in the previous patch, but we're cooking!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2978840/Pup_Champs_Demo/

[h2]Patch Notes for Pup Champs v0.2.1 Demo:[/h2]

• Improved keyboard and gamepad input,
  
• Fixed a typo (whoopsie!) in the Wishlist button,
  
• Reworked all levels to feature consistent kick strength between pups (so if you're hungry for some new puzzles, give it a try!),
  
• Added a "Pup Champs Alpha" watermark in the bottom right corner of the in-game screen.
  

Have a nice one and till the next time!
Pup Champs Team