Tower Unite News

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for August 17th, 2020, detailing all the changes that have happened since August 10th, 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]August 2020 Condo Contest[/h2]
The August 2020 Condo Contest has been concluded! Congratulations to Suburban (1st), Aviarius (2nd), and Woofbyte (3rd)! Everyone who participated also received 75,000 units. You can check out all of entries to the contest here!

[h2]Update 0.10.3.0 & Hotfix 0.10.3.1[/h2]
Last week, we released Update 0.10.3.0 which introduced the new Accelerate map Sunrise Isles, as well as Continuous Play, which allows a new map to be selected at the end of a game world without having to go back to the Plaza or Main Menu. We also released Hotfix 0.10.3.1 which fixed some bugs with the initial release, as well as other changes. You can read about everything that was in Update 0.10.3.0 here, and Hotfix 0.10.3.1 here.

[h2]Accelerate Progress[/h2]
Johanna continued working on Track 2 of Sunrise Isles.

macdguy worked on a bunch of fixes for Accelerate that came up with Update 0.10.3.0.

Will continued working on music for NightCity.

[h3]Accelerate: Pine Valley Track 2 visible from Track 1[/h3]



[h3]Accelerate: Pine Valley Track 2 WIP[/h3]



[h2]Virus: Desertion Art Pass[/h2]
Lifeless continued working on the art pass for the Virus map, Desertion.

[h3]Virus: Desertion Art Pass WIP[/h3]



[h2]Rocket Jumping & Surfing[/h2]
macdguy implemented a community requested feature, Rocket Jumping, in Hotfix 0.10.3.1. After the update was released, he began refining the rocket jumping mechanic, and worked on implementing wall surfing.

[h3]Rocket Jumping WIP[/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Rocket Wall Jumping WIP[/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Rocket Jumping & Surfing[/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Miscellany[/h2]
JJosh continued working on the model for one of the Arcade NPCs.

macdguy worked on fixes for certain achievements that wouldn't unlock correctly, and finished the UI for Workshop Condos.

Madmijk continued working on the snapping system for items, and fixed issues with the Launcher Pad item.

Sketchman started working on the "Undo/Redo" system for Condos, adding undo logging for properties other than position, scale, and rotations, while also hooking up the logging for the copycat tool. He also fixed some iffy logic with the Gizmos, fixed an issue with Scale Lock in the Build UI, and fixed an issue where items would draw on top of the Gizmo. He fixed an issue with the moderation system, did some touchups to the Jetpack Ad in the Plaza, fixed an issue with network synch, implemented some networking optimizations when joining a server, and fixed a collision issue with the Radiator item.

Wheezwer started working on art for the Maze Spinner arcade machine and worked on the mural for the Accelerate Upgrades port.

[h3]Arcade: Ice Cream NPC Model WIP[/h3]



[h3]Plaza: Updated Outdoor Lighting[/h3]



[h3]Game Worlds Ports: Accelerate Mural WIP[/h3]



[h2]Wrap It Up[/h2]
That about covers everything that happened since August 10th, 2020 at PixelTail Games. See you all next week!

---

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

This update focuses on fixing various issues in the game, including achievements, net desync issues in Ball Race/Minigolf, and Accelerate bugs.

Changes

• Laser Tag: Adjusted HUD so chat text doesn't intersect with the game HUD
  
• Appearance menu will now automatically default its tab to the current Game World. For example, if you click on Appearance while in Accelerate, it'll auto select Accelerate from the tab list immediately
  
• Community Suggestion: Added rocket jumping to Firework RPG
  
• Accelerate Workshop: Added Skateboard and ATV workshop upload tags

Bug Fixes

• Ball Race: Fixed the ending of Khromidro course 5 being needlessly frustrating and difficult
  
• Ball Race: Fixed weird lighting in Khromidro
  
• Ball Race: Fixed Ball Race new best UI element displaying the time as Accelerate time style
  
• Ball Race: Fixed additional net desync issues
  
• Accelerate: Fixed items being invisible when late joining
  
• Accelerate Workshop: Fixed vehicle first person offset being offset by workshop player model scales
  
• Accelerate: Fixed Dragon powerup not using the correct player animations if the vehicle overrides the default animation pose
  
• Accelerate Workshop: Fixed driving wheel displaying in bike mode
  
• Accelerate: Fixed late join issues (getting stuck without a kart and having boost effects constantly)
  
• Accelerate: Fixed Sun and Homing Bowling ball items disappearing way too soon
  
• Accelerate Workshop: Fixed backleg for skateboard animations being weirdly rotated
  
• Accelerate: Fixed Sun item showing on minimap even if the Sun wasn't fired
  
• Accelerate: Fixed skateboard animation pose causing workshop player models to be offset/in the air if they have any scale set on them (i.e. smaller workshop models)
  
• Fixed a console message from popping up that said, "EVENT: HANDLED IN THE HANDLER"
  
• Fixed pool tube animations breaking when equipping weapons
  
• Fixed achievements that rely on friend look ups: It’s a Party, Get Together, Movie Night
  
• Fixed achievements that rely on visiting other Condos
  
• Fixed Rambo achievement
  
• Fixed Big Bucks achievement
  
• Fixed Condo shower door glass missing its material
  
• Fixed not being able to edit the surface of the Condo shower tiles

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

In this update, we've made changes to the end of Game World matches. Now when a Game World match is over, it'll display a vote map for the next map to play - all without having to create a new match!



We've updated the Plaza, improving the pool and jungle areas the most, and we adjusted the colors, lighting, and polish in general. We added optimizations as well!



The Game World Ports have been completely redesigned. The ports are now smaller and feature new artwork!



Accelerate now has leaderboards for each track, and we've added several new achievements.



We've added new vehicle types in this update: the skateboard and the ATV (a bike pose with 4 wheels). We also took in feedback and have made changes to the hover and no wheels options. The hover feature has been moved to support all vehicle types such as bikes. Now, you can create hover bikes! You can also hide wheels independently of the hover and vehicle type, and you have the ability to adjust wheel size!

Workshop developers: make sure you update your existing vehicles to take advantage of these changes!




[h3]Removed Low Bandwidth Branch[/h3]
In this update, we've made optimizations that improve download sizes for updates, removing the need for the low bandwidth branch. As we have disabled the branch, all future updates will be PAK, giving all users faster load times without worrying about large update downloads.




Changes

• New Accelerate Map: Sunrise Isles
  
• Continuous Game World Play - Vote For Next Map
  
• Improved Game World Voting
  
• Plaza Update
  
• Plaza: Jungle side of Island art pass
  
• Plaza: Pool slides area art pass
  
• Plaza: DIY store art pass
  
• Plaza: Sweet Suites store art pass
  
• Plaza: Condo store art pass
  
• Improved Game World Ports
  
• Accelerate leaderboards
  
• Accelerate achievements
  
• New Wowozela sounds
  
• Moved "report player", "mute player", and "block player" buttons on player profiles to be easier to spot and more intuitive
  
• Added a "how to report players" popup within the chat box
  
• Accelerate Workshop: Added ability to adjust first person camera offset
  
• Accelerate Workshop: Added ability to adjust handlebar width offsets for bike
  
• Accelerate Workshop: Added ATV type (bike animations with four wheels)
  
• Accelerate Workshop: Added skateboard type
  
• Accelerate Workshop: Removed Hover and No Wheels vehicle types (any existing workshop model that uses these will still function, but are strongly recommended to update) and instead added separate options to enable Hover Mode and Hide Wheels. This will allow workshop vehicle authors to have hover bikes/scooters, hover vehicles with hidden wheels, and bikes with hidden wheels.
  
• Accelerate: Added item hit feed so you know which items hit which players
  
• Accelerate: Bowling Balls now can take out bumpers, golf holes, and beer when they hit those placed items
  
• Accelerate: Players will no longer get caught in the railings in Bedzoom
  
• Improved Zombie Massacre zombie running animations
  
• Improved Virus infected running animations
  
• Added "number of cat pets on splash screen", store visit counts, and "workshop rates given" to stats display

Bug Fixes

• Accelerate: Fixed some workshop models blinking/derendering weirdly
  
• Accelerate Workshop: Fixed player scale metadata resetting when editing the player scale
  
• Accelerate Workshop: Fixed bike leg adjustment metadata resetting when editing it
  
• Accelerate: Fixed Triple Melon Boost item using all boosts at once when using the scroll wheel
  
• Accelerate: Netcode rewrite/optimizations for item throwing
  
• Accelerate - Pine Valley: Homing weapons will now properly travel along shortcuts and side tracks
  
• Accelerate: Fixed respawning system causing karts to be respawned into the ground in certain places in the levels
  
• Fixed stars not displaying in the skyboxes
  
• Workshop Editor: Fixed metadata and item list scroll bars causing the editor camera to zoom out on mouse wheel
  
• Fixed dropdown scroll bar lists scrolling down lists behind it
  
• Fixed casino machines intersecting with each other

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

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for August 10th, 2020, detailing all the changes that have happened since August 3rd, 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]August 2020 Condo Contest[/h2]
We're conducting another condo contest for August 2020! Our theme for this contest is Outdoor Hangout. The first prize winner will receive 1,000,000 units! Interested? Check out our forum thread for more details! Contest closes August 14th.

[h2]Update 0.10.3.0[/h2]
Work continues on getting Update 0.10.3.0 ready for release, we're hoping to release it sometime this week. As mentioned last week, this update will contain the new map "Sunrise Isles" for Accelerate, Leaderboards and Achievements for Accelerate, Server Travel, updates to the Plaza, along with many other fixes and changes. You can read about everything slated for this update here.

[h2]Accelerate Progress[/h2]
Caboose700 added the achievements for Accelerate to the Steam Backend.

Johanna continued working on Track 2 of Sunrise Isles.

macdguy upgraded the item system for Accelerate to reduce the amount of lag when using items. He also implemented the achievements and leaderboards, worked on a kill feed, and started working on preliminary mutator support, working on a "mirror mode".

Sketchman finished the achievement icons for Accelerate.

Will finished the music for Sunrise Isles.

[h3]Accelerate: Kill Feeds[/h3]



[h3]Accelerate: Leaderboards[/h3]



[h3]Accelerate: Mutator Support "Mirror Mode"[/h3]



[h2]Plaza Update[/h2]
Johanna completed all of her changes for Lobby 3: Phase 2.

macdguy created an updated version of the UI for the new Game Worlds Ports.

[h3]Plaza Update: Fishing Area (Before / After)[/h3]



[h3]Plaza Update: Event Bridge Area (Before / After)[/h3]



[h3]Plaza Update: Pool Area Entrance (Before / After)[/h3]



[h3]Plaza Update: Pool Area Size (Before / After)[/h3]



[h3]Plaza Update: Pool Slides Area (Before / After)[/h3]



[h3]Plaza Update: Oasis Store Area (Before / After)[/h3]



[h3]Plaza Update: Updated Game Worlds Ports[/h3]



[h3]Plaza Update: Updated Game Worlds Ports UI[/h3]



[h2]Miscellany[/h2]
Caboose700 helped test the update, built lighting for a bunch of maps that required it, and looked into optimization issues.

JJosh continued working on the model for one of the Arcade NPCs.

Lifeless started working on an art pass for the virus map, "Desertion".

macdguy reworked some virus posters.

Madmijk continued working on the snapping system for items.

Sketchman helped rework some virus posters and looked into optimizations to reduce networking load.

Wheezwer worked on concept art for the new Oasis along with concept art for the Oasis NPC. She also started working on language for tutorials.

[h3]Virus: Desertion Art Pass (VERY WIP)[/h3]



[h3]Arcade: Ice Cream NPC Model WIP[/h3]



[h3]Virus: New Posters[/h3]



[h3]Collection Book: New Stats[/h3]



[h2]Wrap It Up[/h2]
That about covers everything that happened since August 3rd, 2020 at PixelTail Games. See you all next week!

---

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

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for August 3rd, 2020, detailing all the changes that have happened since July 27th, 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]August 2020 Condo Contest[/h2]
We're conducting another condo contest for August 2020! Our theme for this contest is Outdoor Hangout. The first prize winner will receive 1,000,000 units! Interested? Check out our forum thread for more details! Contest closes August 14th.

[h2]Update 0.10.3.0[/h2]
Work continues on getting Update 0.10.3.0 ready for release, we're hoping to release it sometime this week. As mentioned last week, this update will contain the new map "Sunrise Isles" for Accelerate, Accelerate leaving Alpha state with Leaderboards and Achievements, Server Travel, updates to the Plaza, along with many other fixes and changes. You can read about everything slated for this update here.

[h3]Accelerate Progress[/h3]
Johanna continued working on fixes for issues found on Sunrise Isles during internal testing.

macdguy worked on the minimap and track nodes for Sunrise Isles. He also worked on new features for Accelerate's workshop support, adding an ATV vehicle type (bike pose with 4 wheels), a Skateboard type, various offsets, new hover mode that works with bikes, and different wheel sizes.

Sketchman worked on icons for the Accelerate achievements.

Will is very close to completing the music for Sunrise Isles.

[h3]Accelerate: Skateboard Workshop Vehicle Type WIP[/h3]


[h3]Accelerate: Workshop Vehicle Adjustable Wheel Sizes WIP[/h3]


[h3]Accelerate: Achievement Icons WIP[/h3]


[h2]Plaza Update[/h2]
Johanna finished most of her changes for Lobby 3: Phase 2. This phase includes the improved game world ports, an art pass for pool slides, an art pass for the jungle side of the plaza, an art pass for the DIY Store and Upgrades store, and new art for the improved game world ports.

Wheezwer worked on the lighthouse redesign for Lobby 3: Phase 3, as well as the mural for the Minigolf Upgrades store port.

[h3]Lighthouse Redesign Concept Art WIP[/h3]


[h3]Minigolf Upgrades Store Background WIP[/h3]


[h3]Plaza Jungle Area Art Pass WIP[/h3]


[h2]Condo Item Snapping[/h2]
Madmijk started working on adding item snapping support to various items, such as the building panels and canvases.

[h3]Condo Item Snapping Early Test Demo WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Server Travel[/h2]
macdguy finished functionality for the Server Travel feature, which will allow players to vote on a new map at the end of a game world, without having to start a new game!

[h3]Server Travel Vote UI WIP[/h3]


[h2]Miscellany[/h2]
Caboose700 added Accelerate achievements to the Steam Backend, helped test the new update, processed the macro reports backlog, and continued working on the OpenTDB rewrite.

JJosh continued working on the playermodel for one of the Arcade NPCs.

macdguy worked a bit on the Mutators feature and improved Virus and Zombie Massacre zombie run animations.

Sketchman continued working on player grouping.

[h2]Wrap It Up[/h2]
That about covers everything that happened since July 27th, 2020 at PixelTail Games. See you all next week!

---

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