Kabonk! News

[p]Hello Kabonk-ers! We are happy to announce our first major patch since we went public and we are quite excited with everything so far![/p][p]First or all, a thank you... Most of our initial players are our friends and they have been really supportive![/p][p][/p][p]Check out this awesome gift we got at our 'release party'![/p][p]But now that other good stuff![/p][p]We added a new brick - meet, toggle![/p][p]A brick that is only temporary disabled. This can work both in your favor as against you. Use it wisely![/p][p][/p][p]Make it fun if possible - We increased the flow of bonus level 4.[/p][p]We have to admit something... We never were able to beat this level. Maybe we are not good enough but may it was either too hard or too boring. Or both. We fixed that.[/p][p][/p][p]We fixed a soft lock while entering the lobby - Thanks M[/p][p]We added a relax mode! - take it easy[/p][p]Original we had the idea of adding a Stoner Simple mode in the game. A more relaxing experience. What it does is making the balls not vary in speed. Relaxing. Shout out to streamer "Cerebral Palsy Gaming" for motivating us to add it.[/p][p][/p][p]Uff, I still suck at this level...[/p][p]We fixed animation for shoot and explosive brick - no more frame independent![/p][p]We added and improved some translations - and there is still more work to do![/p][p]We have improved level 41 and 45 with the new bricks - keep the boring parts out of the game...[/p][p]Fixed a issue where players were unable to beat Level 50 - the most important level... Thanks L.[/p][p]We fixed a issue where music stopped playing after turning of master volume. Thanks C![/p][p]Also, checkout the Kabonk!'s review by The Nerdy Type! It is a fun read.[/p][p]As always, until the next one![/p][p]Thanks.[/p]

[p]It has been a very exciting and amazing ride and we are really happy to tell you that Kabonk! is available to play! Please head over to the store and get yourself a copy![/p][p][/p][p]It has been a life long dream to release a full game and today that day is finally here. We are super proud and happy with the result and we hope you all enjoy the game as much we had in creating it.[/p][p]This is not the end, it is the beginning. We are way to invested in the game, the creation of our company and the absolute joy we get from designing and making games that this is just a start of a much larger journey. We will be working tirelessly to fix any bugs that may surface and working on hopefully many more updates and improvements as well new and exciting games.[/p][p]For now, please enjoy the game and as always, until the next one![/p][p]Download now![/p]

[p]We have added a few small changes to the game:[/p]

• [p]Improved the flow of level 37;[/p]
• [p]Fixes issues where some people crashed after resetting a level;[/p]
• [p]Added drops for Bonus levels 3-5;[/p]

[p]Thanks F.[/p][p]We also have a review from Higher Plain Games! Pretty awesome! And working on a improved website![/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Thanks for reading, and as always: until the next one![/p]

[p]We have made two fixes that happend to some users:[/p]

• [p]Fix bug where camera got stuck after resetting level;[/p]
• [p]Fixed crash when a big ball left a portal for the second time;[/p]

[p]We have also updated the demo with all improvements and updates from the live version.[/p][p]Thanks for those reporting those issues! - We learn and improve.[/p][p][/p][p]As always, until next time![/p]

[p]We've submitted our game for review, and after a round of feedback, Kabonk! has been approved! We're ready to smash that big ol' release button![/p][p]But hold your bricks: we're not launching just yet. The official release is still set for October 10th, giving us time to play-test relentlessly. Each iteration brings us a better version (or at least fewer bugs).[/p][h2]What is new in this iteration?[/h2]

• [p]Improved translations for smoother global brick-breaking.[/p]
• [p]Generated a shiny new font for our 3D in-game text*.[/p]
• [p]Revamped pause menu layout to better support localization*.[/p]
• [p]Increased the mass of physics bricks for more satisfying collisions.[/p]
• [p]Enhanced sticky-effect to work across multiple shapes.[/p]
• [p]Reduced tiling in Jungle levels for a cleaner look.[/p]
• [p]Improved collision detection in the default level layout.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where splitting bricks were splitting twice (oops).[/p]
• [p]Fixed ball respawn bug, no-one likes to out of balls in a brick-breaker.[/p]
• [p]Paused all effects when the game is paused.[/p]
• [p]Removed cheats: no shortcuts.[/p]
• [p]Refactored code for better readability (future us says thanks).[/p]
• [p]Fixed level 50 for not showing up.[/p]
• [p]Improved jungle lighting for that extra tropical vibe.[/p]
• [p]Added game pause on controller disconnect and Steam overlay activation.[/p]

[h2]*Fonts, localization, characters, unicode (warning: a rant)[/h2][p]At the start of this project, we had a wild (and very, very stupid) vision: create a fully immersive "in-game" experience with:[/p]

• [p]No interface (like game menus).[/p]
• [p]No written text (because who needs words, right?).[/p]

[p]We thought this would make Kabonk! accessible to everyone, including non-English speakers. Technically? Easy peasy "We’ll just make a literal exit door to quit."[/p][p]Theoretically? Even easier "What text does a brick-breaker game need anyway?"[/p][p]Oh, how wrong we were.[/p][p]Players want to quit games fast. No one’s hunting for cryptic signs. And if the music is too loud? You’ve got about three seconds before players are annoyed enough to jump ship.[/p][p]Remember this horrific monstrosity?[/p][p][/p][p]You even had to search for the "settings"-menu. Yikes.[/p][p]Fast-forward to today. Our menu is now quick and straightforward: press a button (Esc, right mouse, or "B" on a controller), and you can tweak music, effects, overall sound, mouse sensitivity, exit the game, continue, or adjust game quality. Basic, but effective. Sounds simple, right? Well, behind the scenes, there were some technical challenges but I wont bore you with that. The biggest headache? Fonts and localization. These are even more boring, so here is the rant.[/p][h3]The Font and Localization Fiasco[/h3][p]Every sensible developer would’ve done what sensible developers do:[/p]

• [p]Use existing tools.[/p]
• [p]Build a menu with standard interface widgets.[/p]
• [p]Use the engine’s built-in pause functionality.[/p]
• [p]Pick a runtime font with multi-language support.[/p]

[p]Not us. We went rogue:[/p]

• [p]Built a custom pause system that loops through all objects and pauses them individually, each with custom code behind it.[/p]
• [p]Created a 3D menu using the engine’s 3D toolset.[/p]
• [p]Ditched fonts entirely and generated a material from a font for a 3D text renderer in the menu.[/p]

[p]Oh boy.[/p][p]Did you know we translated all text into every language supported by Steam? That includes Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Thai, Arabic, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, and more. Did you know Chinese alone has over 100,000 characters? Yeah, neither did we. Why would that matter, right?[/p][p]Oh jeez.[/p][p]When you combine all those languages and turn them into a material, the engine generates every character as a texture and maps each Unicode character to a position on that material.[/p][p]Oh fiddlesticks.[/p][p]Impossible? Pretty much.[/p][p]So, what now?[/p]

• [p]Scrap translations?[/p]
• [p]Ditch our custom code and use the engine’s tools?[/p]
• [p]Skip some languages?[/p]
• [p]Revert to icons instead of text?[/p]

[p]Each option could ripple through the game. Fun fact: we spent two weeks making translations work across the game and Steam (store page, trailer text, achievements, you name it). Throw that away? Sometimes you have to... Sometimes.[/p][p]It’s complicated, but we did:[/p][p]We gathered all translated characters, stuffed them into a material, let Unreal work its magic, and now we have a material with only the characters we need for localization. See? Not that hard, right?[/p][h2]Gameflow[/h2][p]A little extra. Here is a simplified flowchart of our game. Pretty basic but it gives a good indication of all the things happening.[/p][p][/p][p]As always, until next time![/p]