Hot Lava News

Cooler weather means cooler features with Hot Lava’s new Winter Update! Along with the standard bug fixes and optimizations, we’ve added some sensational seasonal fun.

The first Jen Forcer’s Tactical Training Update delivers Snowstorm camo skins for each of the four G.A.T. characters. Check out the skins in the customize menu of your toy selection screen. If you look closely you may be able to see some seasonal decorations laying around to keep things festive in this frosty season.

[h2]NEW WORLD[/h2]

Straight out of everyone’s favorite Hot Lava cartoon it’s G.A.T. HQ! 

Featuring three new courses, including the “MOUNT VILE GAUNTLET TRIAL!!!” Prove yourself worthy to take on Lord Sludge’s trail of terror complete with swinging axes, hidden spikes, and (of course) a room full of lava. Complete all the trials to unlock some exclusive items and collect all the cards to gain a whole new follower: Cyborca!



[h2]NEW TRIALS[/h2]

For those seeking new challenges, we’ve also added ‘Chase’ trials in Playground and Wholesale and an all new grueling ‘All Course Marathon’ to Master Class. Test your skills and challenge your friends to beat your time.  

We’ve also made some improvements to the first time user experience with a polished up UI and a trimmed down intro, based on feedback we’ve gotten from users. Keep sending us feedback - we’re always super keen to hear what you guys have to say!

Everyone here at Hot Lava wishes you a happy holiday season and reminds you to stay cool, stay safe, and stay off the floor!

• Jen Forcer’s Tactical Training Update: New map GAT HQ along with higher rank and rewards
  
• Jen Forcer’s Tactical Training Update: New Snowstorm skins for GAT characters
  
• New Chase the Grade trials added to Playground and Wholesale
  
• New All Course Marathon trial added to Master Class
  
• Sue now runs alongside the player in Intro
  
• Hid timer on first-time completion of courses
  
• Added crouch jump animation
  
• New character level up sound
  
• Fixed animation issues on non spinnable climbs
  
• Fixed online character animation issues with Poizone and Sludge
  
• Fixed XP exploit in Chase your Sister courses
  
• Fixed weirdness when mapping buttons to gamepad triggers
  
• Fixed overlapping text on language select screen (esp. in Portuguese)
  
• Fixed selecting radicaldino_saxraptor gives you radicaldino_plesiosaur instead
  
• Fixed issues causing leaderboard times to appear as retired when they were not
  
• Fixed issue where mouse could cause gamepad to lose focus in main menu
  
• Fixed text not appearing in Pinny’s dialogue boxes
  

Originally posted by DanaS on the official forums:

It has been just over a year since Hot Lava launched on Steam and Apple Arcade and we wanted to check in with our amazing fans to say thanks and update everyone about some of the exciting things we have planned for the future.

[h2]Previously on… Hot Lava[/h2]

Our fantastic fan base was instrumental and inspirational in aiding the team to polish Hot Lava through the thrilling beta phase of development. Their heroic feedback pushed the boundaries of what this game could be and epically cheered us on as we equipped Hot Lava with bigger and better challenges. We cannot stress enough how crucial our fans were in this truly transformative time.

Along with our monumental release, a thrilling new audience appeared thanks to Apple Arcade! This new audience showed us that people were just as enthusiastic about jumping around in molten hot environments on mobile as on PC.

Over the past year we’ve been pummeled with a lot of positive feedback and some sensational suggestions about how to make Hot Lava more accessible to newer players and to seasoned pros.



[h2]And now...[/h2]

Our newest update introduced two T.O.X.I.C. new characters -- Lord Sludge and Poizone -- armed with two new movesets. Poizone’s double jump gives players a way to leap to some hard to reach spots and Lord Sludge’s slide moves provide an alternative to hitting those higher speeds previously only achievable by mastering our boost system.

Teaming up with these new characters is our amazing new progression system that introduced a whole new set of rewards: sensational new skins and character-specific items that are unlocked when players level-up their character and awesome new Action Files to fill you in on lots of G.A.T. and T.O.X.I.C. trivia.

Apple Arcade users with LiDAR-equipped devices also got an added treat in Hot Lava’s incredible new AR feature. Finally, people at home can enjoy the fun of having molten hot lava fill their living room without all the messy clean up.

We’ve gotten some great feedback on these new features, including suggestions on what you want to see. So, on that note, we’d like to let you in on what we have planned for Hot Lava: Year 2.

[h2]Next Time on Hot Lava...[/h2]

[h2]Jen Forcer’s Tactical Training Updates[/h2]

Our mission moving forward is to make the game more accessible to newer players while still challenging veteran players with four phases of fantastic updates we’re calling ‘Jen Forcer’s Tactical Training Updates’ periodically deploying throughout the coming year. Updates that fall under a few categories:

[h2]Menu and Early Course Overhaul[/h2]
We’re on a mission to improve our user experience. It’s our duty to leave no Hot Lava player behind, whether they’re hardcore veteran players or rookies who just jumped in. With this in mind we’ll be shining up and shipping out improvements to our menu system. Things like making it more apparent where your items and unlockables are and implementing a replay saving system that will bring videos of your runs front and center so they’re easier to locate.

Some of our early courses will also see some improvements throughout the year to make it easier for first time players, yet still challenging to those who want to push themselves to be the best that they can be.

[h2]New Characters[/h2]
Lord Sludge and Poizone were just the first in a slew of new characters we plan to unleash. While our lips are sealed on which characters are coming up and when, rest assured that some long rumored appearances from figures outside of the GAT universe have set their sights on future invasions.

[h2]New (non-Canon) Levels[/h2]
A brand new level made by one of our collaborators will arrive this winter, and with it will be some exciting new exclusive items to unlock. We also have an arsenal of community maps from our awesome modding community which we will deploy for future fun.

[h2]New Items, New Skins, New Content[/h2]
Keep a lookout for new content including items and skins and videos for everyone to enjoy. We’re hard at work making new content for the game and calculating ways to improve what we have.

As always we want you to send us feedback. So sign into the forums and let us know how we’re doing. We always read what you post and always look forward to dispatches from the field.

[h2]Stay cool, stay safe and stay off the ground.[/h2]


Jen Forcer’s Tactical Training Updates (Will be referred to as JFTTU)

[h2]Phase 1 - Winter 2020[/h2]

• New Level
  
• JFTTU 1:
  
  • Improvements to First time User Experience
    
  • GAT Bootcamp Skins
• New Items

[h2]Phase 2 - Spring 2021[/h2]

• Two New Characters
  
• JFTTU 2:
  
  • Improvements to Gym Class
    
  • GAT Bootcamp Skins
• New Items & Skins

[h2]Phase 3 - Summer 2021[/h2]

• New Level
  
• JFTTU 3:
  
  • Improvements to Menu
    
  • GAT Bootcamp Skins
• New Items

[h2]Phase 4 - Winter 2021[/h2]

• Two New Characters
  
• JFTTU 4:
  
• Menu Overhaul
  
  • Gym Class Overhaul
    
  • GAT Bootcamp Skins
• New Items & Skins

Hello all, we've got another group of fixes for you this week! Keep on jumping.

• Averaged out Poizones double jump speed. Slightly reduced walk speed while increasing the amount of speed she retains from double jumps.
  
• Fixed slight camera clipping issue when jumping out of slide with Sludge at high framerates
  
• Fixed player foley and boost jump audio being lost after watching some replays and spectates
  
• Fixed perfect jump meter dissapearing after spectating some players
  
• Fixed online players playing double jump animation when they shouldnt be
  
• Fixed online players sometimes playing multiple jump sounds
  

Hello everyone, got an update for you today that fixes a few issues reported over the weekend. Keep using the in game bug reporter to let us know of things you find!

• Fix for character level text going off screen on some non English languages
  
• Fixed accessories with incorrect rotations on Sludge and Poizone
  
• Fix rotation issue with hanging meat on low settings in Wholesale
  
• Fix missing vent collision in Playground
  
• Updated credits
  

A super-huge update for all our super-great Hot Lava fans! Along with the traditional assortment of fixes and optimizations, we have some exciting big additions.



Bring on the bad guys! The diabolical duo Lord Sludge and Poizone make their Hot Lava debut bringing with them a whole new heinous set of moves. With “Poizone’s Pounce” players can defy gravity with a powerful double jump while “Sludge’s Slime Surge” gives players a surf boost wherever they want. Plus watch Sludge and Poizone in action in a brand-new G.A.T. cartoon playing in the Basement world.

https://youtu.be/iTqdfID85Go



Take your characters to the next level by collecting our glowing lava crystals: hit checkpoints, finish courses, and collect the new XP shards scattered throughout the game. Leveling up each character unlocks brand new items and features, including exciting new full-body Skins and lore-filled Action Files so you quiz your friends on G.A.T. trivia. Each character unlocks unique content so be sure to try them all!


Take care, have fun, and stay off the floor!

• Two new characters each with their own moveset: Slide Jump as Lord Sludge and Double Jump as Poizone
  
• New G.A.T. cartoon featuring Lord Sludge and Poizone playing on one of the TVs
  
• All characters can now earn XP and level up for new rewards
  
• New item type: Skins can now be earned and set per character in Toy Select
  
• New item type: Action Files can now be earned and viewed in Toy Select
  
• Change default gamepad bindings
  
• Refine default input tuning
  
• Improve appearance of stickers and emotes on award screen
  
• Minor visual improvements in Main Menu
  
• Leaderboards current selection is more obvious and can now scroll with gamepad/wasd
  
• Optimizations in Wholesale
  
• Numerous rendering optimizations
  
• Fix resolution settings not respected in certain cases
  
• Fix for error causing third person with missing head
  
• Fix replay ghosts not playing
  
• New lighting system
  
• New audio on Emotes and Victory poses
  
• Fix wrong dog appears in Basement
  
• Made ending of Intro consistently fade to black before returning to Menu
  
• New Toy Select menu music
  
• Other minor audio bug fixes
  
• Upgraded to Unity 2019