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2020 Year in Review



Hello once again, everyone!

To keep up the tradition of Year in Review posts, we wanted to compile an overview of everything we accomplished at PixelTail Games in 2020.

2020 was a long year for all of us, and we’re very grateful for all of the support everyone has given us throughout it. We wish you all the best in 2021, and we will continue work on getting Tower Unite polished, finished, and out of early access.

The post itself is very long, but it includes a timeline, a section for comparison pictures, and a bulleted list of major updates and the 676 bug fixes throughout 2020.

Checkout the 2020 Year in Review Here!

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Join our Discord for development updates and community fun! https://discord.gg/pixeltail
We love awesome people like you!

We're also active on Twitter! https://twitter.com/PixelTailGames

Follow our developments on our Trello in near real-time: https://trello.com/b/6BwRMiPw/tower-unite-roadmap

Take a peek at what's being worked on every week in our weekly dev logs! There's bound to be something interesting every week! https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/devupdates/weekly-dev-logs

Please report bugs & submit suggestions on our forums. We're active everyday & here to help.
For bug reports: https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/bug-report/18
For suggestions: https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/suggestions/7

Wishy Washy Waterfall Update (0.13.3.0)



Wishy Washy Waterfall

The Wishy Washy Waterfall update is here, introducing a new map for Accelerate! Race down a high-tech track through a valley of cascading waterfalls, maneuvering around tons of curves and boosts. This update also introduces new sound effects and drifting/boost mechanics for all of Accelerate, so check those out as well!




Virus Weapon Balancing

As mentioned in our most recent devlog, we also balanced several Virus weapons, including vastly improving the Sonic Shotgun. We added Dual Silencers, which replace the single silencer weapon, increasing your survival chances. The Sci-fi handgun now has automatic burst fire, and we also increased damage for the Tommy Gun and the Sonic Shotgun.

Workshop Editor New Additions

Also mentioned in the most recent devlog, we’ve added more options for material settings for Workshop creators.

Now included are:
  • Masked mode, which allows for transparent materials that still have lighting. This mode is useful for hair or things like fences.
  • Roughness, Specular, and Metallic variables for each material in the next update. This will allow workshop creators to add shininess to their models and create metallic objects or armor.


We are working behind the scenes on improving static mesh workshop models for Condos, such as improving the lighting on them, which will be included in a following update.

Arcade

Several games in the Arcade have been adjusted as we begin work on Arcade: Phase Two. Newton’s Apples, Bug Bytes, Ring God, The Offering, and The Ice Cave have all been changed, and work will continue on them and existing unfinished machines for the next updates.



Changes
  • Disabled vote kicking in Game Worlds due to extensive abuse
  • New Map: Accelerate: Wishy Washy Waterfall Track 1
  • Ended Holiday Events 2020
  • Little Crusaders Lighting Polishing Pass
  • Plaza: Daisy (the Seasons store character) got a complete character redesign
  • Plaza: Added music speaker to the boardwalk
  • Accelerate: Increased drift boost duration for second and third tier drifts
  • Accelerate: Increased kart turn angle when drifting
  • Accelerate: Reduced handling slightly when getting a boost from a drift (item boosts still have the same handling as before)
  • Accelerate: Drifting requires sharper turning to give a boost
  • Accelerate: Improved pickup visuals
  • Accelerate: Added sound FX and visual FX when you have upped in drift boost level as you are drifting
  • Accelerate: Adjusted Flux screen FX to not be as distracting, while also adjusting its overall look
  • Arcade: Newton's Apples apples no longer bounce
  • Arcade: Bug Bytes bugs now popup fast on game start
  • Arcade: Reduced bounciness of rings in Ring God
  • Arcade: Increased Ring God timer from 40 seconds to 60 seconds
  • Arcade: You can now hold 5 balls at once in the Offering
  • Arcade: Reduced bounciness for the Offering
  • Arcade: Reduced bounciness for Ice Cave
  • Nimbus is now tagged as medium difficulty
  • Condo: Rope/string items (Christmas garlands, light strings, etc.) now stretch to their targets exactly, so they won't not reach or overshoot their targets anymore
  • Controller: Right bumper now toggles third person on/off
  • Controller: Moved flashlight toggle to right thumb button
  • Controller: Face button top now will leave game seats / instruments
  • Controller: Virus - Secondary now works with the right shoulder button
  • Workshop Editor: Added Masked option (will allow for transparent materials that still have lighting effects on it. Useful for hair, fences, windows, etc.)
  • Workshop Editor: Added Roughness, Specular, and Metallic sliders to adjust how shiny/reflective a material is (useful for metal, armor, car paint, tiles, etc.)
  • Virus: Sci-fi Handgun is now automatic (and has 5 bullets per clip)
  • Virus: Increased Tommy Gun damage (from 15 to 22)
  • Virus: Reduced pitch of the geiger sound
  • Virus: Increased Sonic Shotgun primary damage (from 13.5 to 18). Reduced clip size to 4 from 6. Increased spread
  • Virus: Improved Sonic Shotgun airblast
  • Virus: Improved Sonic Shotgun shoot animation
  • Virus: First infected now starts with more health (from 100 to 150)
  • Virus: Infected respawn a tad bit faster (2 seconds from 3 seconds)
  • Virus: Added fully charged indicator and sound FX to the Sonic Shotgun
  • Virus: Sonic Shotgun air blast now has its own ammo of 10
  • Virus: Plasma Autorifle alt fire now has its own ammo of 10 shots
  • Virus: Added Dual Silencers (replaces the single silencer)
  • Settings: You can now adjust the game resolution up to 200% (for higher-end computers)
  • Items: New Piano note sounds


Bug Fixes
  • Fixed media player volume sliders overlapping when you have the media queue open. Also fixed media player volume slider not always being there sometimes
  • Fixed Plaza grouping feature not working
  • Fixed Virus radar not hiding when pressing F5 or using the camera
  • Fixed third person toggle button (default T) occurring while in instruments, which would cause third person to toggle while playing piano
  • Fixed Controller aim sensitivity not applying for Condo/Plaza
  • Fixed players fading while you are in a seat
  • Virus: Fixed Infected falling animations being weird
  • Virus: Fixed name tags not showing up sometimes
  • Virus: Fixed Plasma Autorifle charge status not being displayed on the weapon properly
  • Casino: Fixed players next to you fading out with the new fade system
  • Fixed players you are playing with in Bowling or other activities fading
  • Fixed long-standing bug where players sometimes weren't put into a seat (and also can't sit back down) but are still part of the game for Trivia (and similar Plaza games like Typing Derby)
  • Fixed emote camera going into first person with small player models
  • Fixed bone issues with workshop player model idle pose
  • Arcade: Fixed ticket machine repeating insert sound noise
  • Arcade: Fixed rotating games having laggy rotation. Games improved are: Wheely Rigged, Newton's Apples, and Whirl-a-Fish
  • Arcade: Fixed Bug Bytes bugs not all awarding the same point amounts
  • Arcade: Fixed weapons being usable in certain scenarios
  • Arcade: Fixed The Offering ending before the last ball has settled
  • Little Crusaders: Fixed ghost wavy shader issue
  • Little Crusaders: Fixed lantern not working in Mystic Grove if you selected Mystic Grove as the next map
  • Accelerate: Fixed drunk effects staying on forever sometimes
  • Fixed Wearable Fuzzy Dice being invisible
  • Fixed wrong LOD materials for reception desk at Rob's Imports




Join our Discord for development updates and community fun! https://discord.gg/pixeltail
We love awesome people like you!

We're also active on Twitter! https://twitter.com/PixelTailGames

Follow our developments on our Trello in near real-time:
https://trello.com/b/6BwRMiPw/tower-unite-roadmap

Take a peek at what's being worked on every week in our weekly dev logs! There's bound to be something interesting every week! http://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/devupdates/weekly-dev-logs

Please report bugs & submit suggestions on our forums. We're active everyday & here to help.
For bug reports: https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/bug-report/18
For suggestions: https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/suggestions/7

Weekly Dev Log for January 11th, 2021

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for January 11th, 2021, detailing all the changes that have happened since December 21st, 2020. Note: Devs that don't appear in the weekly log are not necessarily away or not doing work, but may be working on things currently not announced or backend work that doesn't need to be detailed.

[h2]Tower Unite is now available on GeForce Now![/h2]
We're happy to announce that Tower Unite is now available for play via GeForce Now.

GeForce Now enables players with lower-end computers or phones to play their Steam games on powerful gaming computers over the Internet.

You can check out GeForce Now here.

[h2]Update 0.13.3.0 (Wishy Washy Waterfall Update)[/h2]
We're working on hard on the next update to Tower Unite, Update 0.13.3.0, which will introduce the new Accelerate map, Wishy Washy Waterfall!

This update will also end the winter events and the Winter Plaza, while including changes to various gameplay elements across Tower Unite, and new polished lighting for all of the Little Crusaders maps.

The update features a bunch of bug fixes and gameplay balances for several games.

You can read all about this update here.

[h2]Virus Weapon Balancing[/h2]
In the next update, we also balanced several Virus weapon, including vastly improving the Sonic Shotgun. We also added Dual Silencers, which replace the single silencer weapon. The Sci-fi handgun now has automatic burst fire and we also increased damage for the Tommy Gun and Sonic Shotgun.

[h2]Workshop Editor New Additions[/h2]
In the next update, we'll be adding more options for material settings for workshop creators. These options include a Masked mode, which will allow for transparent materials that still take in lighting. The Masked mode is useful for hair or things like fences.

We also will be adding sliders for Roughness, Specular, and Metallic for each material in the next update. This will allow workshop creators to add shininess to their models and create metallic objects or armor.

We are working behind the scenes on improving static mesh workshop models for Condos, such as improving the lighting on them, which will be included in a following update.

[h2]January 2021 Condo Contest[/h2]
This month, we're running a Race Track themed condo contest! This contest runs through the entire month of January, ending on February 1st, 2021. First place winner takes home 1,000,000 units, and participants may be rewarded 75,000 units!

You can read more about the contest, as well as the rules here.

[h2]Accessibility Suggestions[/h2]
We've created a forum post asking the community for suggestions on how we can improve gameplay for players with certain conditions such as colorblindness, dyslexia, or anything else that might affect a players ability to use the standard presentation and controls of the game.

If you have any ideas or suggestions, and possible solutions on how to solve a particular issue, please check out the forum post here.

[h2]Minigolf: Dark[/h2]
Lifeless started finishing up work on the new Minigolf map, Dark. This map will initially launch with 9-holes, with the other 9-holes being released in the future.

[h3]Minigolf: Dark WIP[/h3]



[h2]Third-Party Arcade Plushes[/h2]
JJosh has been working on implementing third-party plushes. The latest plush JJosh has been working on is Fancy Pants Man from "The Fancy Pants Adventures" by Brad Borne.

[h3]Fancy Pants Man Plush[/h3]



[h2]Miscellany[/h2]

Johanna worked on polishing the lighting on all of the Little Crusaders maps. She also reverted the Winter Plaza back to the normal Plaza.

macdguy worked on bug fixes, made gameplay changes to Virus and Accelerate, and added mask options to Workshop Models (Roughness, Metallic, Specular).

Madmijk worked on fixing the rope based items actually stretch to the correct lengths.

Sketchman continued working on fixes and optimizations to the Workshop system.

Wheezwer continued working on Steam Trading Cards. She also started the next Condo contest.

[h3]Steam: Trading Card Progress[/h3]



[h3]Condo: Fixed String Items[/h3]

Rope/string items (Christmas garlands, light strings, etc.) now stretch to their targets exactly, so they won't not reach or overshoot their targets anymore.



[h2]Wrap It Up[/h2]
That about covers everything that happened since December 21st, 2020 at PixelTail Games. We'll see you all next year on January 11th, 2021!

---

Join our Discord for development updates and community fun! https://discord.gg/pixeltail
We love awesome people like you!

We're also active on Twitter! https://twitter.com/PixelTailGames

Follow our developments on our Trello in near real-time: https://trello.com/b/6BwRMiPw/tower-unite-roadmap

Take a peek at what's being worked on every week in our weekly dev logs! There's bound to be something interesting every week! https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/devupdates/weekly-dev-logs

Please report bugs & submit suggestions on our forums. We're active everyday & here to help.
For bug reports: https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/bug-report/18
For suggestions: https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/suggestions/7

Winter Holiday 2020: Part 2 (0.13.2.0)



We've added 29 new holiday items to celebrate this year's holidays!

Changes
  • New Holiday 2020 items added to Santa Claws: Carrot Nose, Christmas Tree Hat, Christmas Tree Star Hat, Corn Pipe, Hot Chocolate, Sleigh, Throwable Ornaments, Toy Train Hat, and Spirit Of Christmas
  • New Holiday 2020 items added to Celebrations: Elegant Fireplace, Fireplace, Snow, Snow Bleachers, Snow Bridge, Snow Flags, Snow Cabin, Snow Cabin Lamp, Snow Crystal Light, Snow Fence, Snow Fence Gate, Snow Fence Post, Snow Wood Track
  • Added Canvas Pile 1, 2, 3 to the D.I.Y. store
  • Added Openable Present canvas item to D.I.Y. store
  • Added 40 new condo materials to use, including snow and sand
  • Added Beauty Cone Plaza milestone
  • Presents now spawn around the Plaza area, instead of the beach




New Condo Materials Added
  • Snow
  • Ceiling Tiles Dark
  • Stone Path
  • Casino Counter Top
  • Casino Tile 2
  • Concrete Basic
  • High Roller Wood Floor
  • High Roller Wood Cube Floor
  • Red Plaster Wall
  • High Roller Wallpaper
  • Casino Walkway Carpet
  • Casino Ceiling
  • Casino Wall
  • Nightclub Wood Wall
  • Nahnia Cabin Wood Trim
  • Nahnia Cabin Wood Wall #1
  • Nahnia Cabin Wood Wall #2
  • Nahnia Cabin Wood Wall #3
  • Nahnia Cabin Stone Brick Wall
  • Snow Brick Wall
  • Nahnia Cabin Carpet
  • Pool Tile Floor
  • Nightclub Screen Wall #1
  • Nightclub Screen Wall #2
  • Prism Tile
  • Blue Star
  • Checkered Tile
  • Oasis Tile
  • Oasis Sand Wall
  • Oasis Marble Tile
  • Sand Brick Wall
  • Oasis Glyph Wall
  • Paradise Wood Wall
  • Woodlands Tile
  • Woodlands Marble Floor
  • Woodlands Wood Floor
  • Woodlands Acid
  • Woodlands Brick Wall
  • Woodlands Concrete Floor
  • Sand




Join our Discord for development updates and community fun! https://discord.gg/pixeltail
We love awesome people like you!

We're also active on Twitter! https://twitter.com/PixelTailGames

Follow our developments on our Trello in near real-time:
https://trello.com/b/6BwRMiPw/tower-unite-roadmap

Take a peek at what's being worked on every week in our weekly dev logs! There's bound to be something interesting every week! http://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/devupdates/weekly-dev-logs

Please report bugs & submit suggestions on our forums. We're active everyday & here to help.
For bug reports: https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/bug-report/18
For suggestions: https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/suggestions/7

Weekly Dev Log for December 21st, 2020

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for December 21st, 2020, detailing all the changes that have happened since December 14th, 2020. Note: Devs that don't appear in the weekly log are not necessarily away or not doing work, but may be working on things currently not announced or backend work that doesn't need to be detailed.

[h2]Update 0.13.2.0 (Winter Update Part 2)[/h2]
After finishing the Hotfix 0.13.1.1, work began on Part 2 of the Winter Update (0.13.2.0). This update is slated to bring some new holiday items, as well as some bug fixes. You can read about what's planned for this update here.

[h2]Update 0.13.1.0 (Karaoke Rooms) & Hotfix 0.13.1.1[/h2]
Last week we released Update 0.13.1.0, which brought back the Winter Plaza and Holiday Events, as well as introducing Karaoke Room, rent-able private Nightclub rooms!

We also released a hotfix (Update 0.13.1.1), which fixed some bugs and introduced some new features, such as complete player blocking.

You can read all about Update 0.13.1.0 here, and the Hotfix 0.13.1.1 here.

[h2]Accessibility Suggestions[/h2]
We've created a forum post asking the community for suggestions on how we can improve gameplay for players with certain conditions such as colorblindness, dyslexia, or anything else that might affect a players ability to use the standard presentation and controls of the game.

If you have any ideas or suggestions, and possible solutions on how to solve a particular issue, please check out the forum post here.

[h2]December 2020 Condo Contest[/h2]
This month, we're running a winter / festivity theme condo contest! This contest runs through the entire month of December, ending on January 4th, 2021. First place winner takes home 1,000,000 units, and participants may be rewarded 75,000 units!

You can read more about the contests, as well as the rules here.

[h2]Miscellany[/h2]

Caboose700 set up a status website for quick monitoring of the Plaza and AGCs, which can be found here.

Johanna worked on polishing the exterior of the Bumper Cars building in the Plaza.

JJosh worked on a Trash Can model, and finished up all of the NPCs for the Arcade. He's also working on finishing the Tool Glove and Arcade Prizes.

macdguy worked on releasing the Karaoke update and fixing some bugs with Billiards. He also started working on new Holiday items and fixing some long-standing bugs.

Madmijk continued working on a new condo "Transformer" tool, which will allow for the quick application of translation, scale, and rotation to individual items. He also is working on some new Holiday items.

Sketchman worked on optimizations for the AGC.

Wheezwer continued working on Steam Trading Cards, finishing the Arcade Trading Card. She also helped Johanna with the Bumper Cars exterior, and started working on the NPC for the Information Desk in the Arcade. She also finished the concept art for the Oasis NPC.

Will continued working on music for the Oasis store, and went through several levels and cleaned up their sound actors.

[h3]Arcade: Pizza Store NPC WIP[/h3]



[h3]Steam: Little Crusaders Card Art & Sun Emote WIP[/h3]



[h3]Condo: New Items[/h3]



[h3]Billiards: Fixed Shadows (Before / After)[/h3]



[h2]Wrap It Up[/h2]
That about covers everything that happened since December 14th, 2020 at PixelTail Games. We'll see you all next year on January 11th, 2021!

---

Join our Discord for development updates and community fun! https://discord.gg/pixeltail
We love awesome people like you!

We're also active on Twitter! https://twitter.com/PixelTailGames

Follow our developments on our Trello in near real-time: https://trello.com/b/6BwRMiPw/tower-unite-roadmap

Take a peek at what's being worked on every week in our weekly dev logs! There's bound to be something interesting every week! https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/devupdates/weekly-dev-logs

Please report bugs & submit suggestions on our forums. We're active everyday & here to help.
For bug reports: https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/bug-report/18
For suggestions: https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/suggestions/7