Tower Unite News

Hey everyone! 2019 has been a big year for PixelTail Games and Tower Unite - so we’ve decided to release a Year In Review - a look back on everything that’s happened this year, and what we can expect to see in 2020.

The 2010s have been a massive decade for us. We went from just a small group of friends making games together to a whole company - and there were some massive hurdles along the way. It's crazy to look back and see how much Tower Unite has evolved since its first preview on Indiegogo back in 2015. We appreciate your continued support during our Early Access journey.

We wouldn’t have been able to make Tower Unite what it is today without our community’s feedback and suggestions (over 4,900 of them!) in every step of development.

The world of Tower Unite continues to evolve, as we’ve been releasing updates all year adding new things to do:


Our biggest update so far came out in March - Lobby 3 - introducing a redesigned Plaza and faster loading times. The update (0.7.0.0) also included Achievements, EXP, Badges, Milestones, Leaderboards and RC Cars and Boats. We remember joining the final version of Lobby 3 for the first time and exploring where everything was, hearing “Sunshine Day!” once again. It was a huge moment for all of us.


In early April, we released version 0.7.1.0, featuring Event Horizon, a new map for Ball Race. We also added a bait shop and boat rental area in preparation for the Fishing update, which would come out in late May.


We released the Easter Event 2019 Update (0.7.2.0) in mid April, introducing a new Easter Egg Hunt event, as well as several Easter-themed items such as Bunny Ears, Plush Rabbit and Throwable Eggs. Update 0.7.2.0 also introduced PAK, a faster way to load the game (with a few tradeoffs).


Fishing was another big feature we released this year! With over 100 different fish and weird items, this update kept players trying to catch ‘em all. The 0.8.0.0 update also included a new Inventory UI, new Stores UI, a shared Wheel of Money jackpot and… the ability to become a dolphin?!


In July we released a… *ahem* TUbular Summer Update to celebrate the season. This update included 53 pool tubes, Chainsaw Deathmatch, Booze Bash and many summer related items, such as the pool noodle!


The Ball Race map, Grass World from GMod Tower was remastered and added to Tower Unite as Woodlands. Altitude was completed remastered.


Texas Hold’em/Poker got a total rework in update 0.8.3.0 - as the update’s name would suggest, you can now endlessly play Poker, and the UI was completely reworked to better show player actions. Also in this update, we scaled down the plaza by 15% to keep players closer together, added new jetpacks, added event teleporters, added a map and fast travel, updated the scoreboards, and updated the Condo settings menu.


Once again, we released a Halloween update including new and returning Halloween items. The Cauldron and the Remains came back, along with a new event currency system called Ghoul Coins. Update 0.8.4.0 also included a new Zombie Massacre Map: Village, as well as new monsters - Ghosts, Skeletons, Exploding Pumpkins and Werewolves were all new additions to Zombie Massacre. A user-requested Condo Map called Smooth Autumn also made its debut in this update.


Last month we released the Winter Plaza, where snow has settled in Lobby 3. This update also included optimizations, bug fixes and improvements, such as shiny new “Ready / Go”, “Fail” and “Bonus” HUD animations for Ball Race.


During all these updates, we've also been hard at work on the Arcade behind the scenes. We're excited to share and announce some really exciting developments in January. Arcade now has around 23 working machines and around 15 more in the works.



As always, we’re committed to delivering fun gaming experiences to our players, having transparency between developers and players, and regularly adding new content to the evolving world of Tower Unite.

We've also got some new developers on board this year that have been working hard on Tower Unite.

Maddie joined us in June and has been creating wonderful art and characters for the Arcade ever since. We're eager to show off her work in the upcoming Arcade update. Her favorite thing to work on so far for Tower Unite is the artwork for the Galaxy Police arcade machine.

Our Community Manager, Nath, joined us in August and has been honored to work with such an inclusive, wholesome and interactive community ever since. He’s made some great friends and memories in-game - so far, his personal favorite memory is The Board, a massive montage of our community’s avatars. We even had people join in-game, and this was the final screenshot:



Thank you to everyone that’s played, streamed, recorded and shared our game. We’re honored to have such a closely bonded community, seriously.


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 December 16th, 2019, detailing all the changes that have happened since December 9th, 2019. 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.


Work continues on getting the update containing Holiday Events for 2019 out the door! There are over 40 new holiday items for you to enjoy, along with some fun holiday events and visits. You can check on the current progress and all the upcoming features of the update here.

Johanna worked this week on decorating the Plaza for the holiday events.

Lifeless worked this week on decorating Nahnia for the holiday events.

JJosh continued working on over 40 new items, such as a nutcracker, jingle bells, wreath, new wearables, and many more.

Wheezwer worked on the holiday banner for the holiday events.

macdguy created a Targeter condo tool, a new item type string/ropes for christmas light string items. He also added a Face wearable slot so you can combine certain customization items. He also worked on new holiday items and the holiday events update.

[h3]Targeter Tool Demo[/h3]
A new tool was created called the Targeter, which allows for easier setting of targets for items that have targets to point to such as teleporters and the new string items.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Holiday String Decorations Example[/h3]
New holiday string items are included in the holiday events update, which feature a new item type that allows for dynamic string/rope items.



[h3]Holiday Customization Items Example[/h3]


[h3]Face Wearable Slot Example[/h3]
A new face wearable slot is being added, so you can combine certain customization items easier. The new wearable slot is currently used for cig, red nose, and cigar. It is based off the glasses offsets.



[h3]Holiday Items WIP[/h3]


Gloves continued working on animations for the arcade, fixing some animations for Whack-a-mole.

macdguy finished up ticket animations and other Arcade base work.

[h3]Fixed Whack-a-mole Animations WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
(sorry about the low FPS)

Sketchman worked on stabilizing the chat server so that it doesn't need to be restarted as often, and continued cleaning up some code used by both the chat server and the AGC.

Sketchman and Caboose700 continued working on improving moderation handling.

ThisIsntNath finished the Monthly Dev Breakdown for November 2019 video:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


That about covers everything that happened since December 9th, 2019 at PixelTail Games.


Most of us will be away during Christmas through New Year's, so this may be the last dev log for the year. We plan to have an end of year post and more. See you all beginning of next year!

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for December 9th, 2019, detailing all the changes that have happened since December 2nd, 2019. 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.


Work continues on getting Hotfix 0.8.5.1 tested and ready for release. You can read all about what is in this hotfix here.


We're conducting a Christmas Condo Contest on our forums! Submit your festive and cosy contest for the chance to win 800,000 units! You can check out all the details here.

Gloves continued working on animations for Arcade, working on improved throwing animations for "Little Birde Feeders" and "Ice Cave", along with creating a Basketball pickup animation. He also finished working on animations for "Salmon Says".

Johanna modeled "Ticket Heaven" (the ticket eater machine), along with decorating the arcade with various props. She also started reworking the "Wheely Rigged" model.

JJosh continued working on plushies for the arcade.

Madmijk continued working on "Captain Calypso's Planetary Piano", working on getting the demo gameplay completed, along with figuring out some replication issues.

Wheezwer worked on art for "Ticket Heaven" (the ticket eater) and the Token Machines.

macdguy finished the gameplay for "Mas Fuerte 2K", as well as completing the HUD feedback for when rounds start for both "Mas Fuerte 2K" and other machines that don't have physical screens.

For "Pluck-a-pal", issues with physics desyncing were resolved, along with, plushies spawning frozen, and restoring physics after playing being incorrect. Implemented different types of plushies other than just the turtle plush we've been using for testing.

He finished up gameplay for "Bug Bytes", also implementing the Multiplayer System and the Multiplayer Scoring System. He also improved and fixed some issues with the hammer system, which is used with "Whack-a-mole" and "Bug Bytes".

He created an arcade attract sound system that will handle attract sounds for multiple arcade machines while they are not being played, as well as implemented the Meteoroid Mania and Ice Cave music that Will created. Sounds effects for game timers were also added, so that the player has an audio cue for when a round is about to end.

Several optimizations and bugs were fixed which heavily improved FPS inside of the Arcade. Optimizations were done to the colliders, networking, overlaps, buttons, and to several machines themselves. One networking improvement was a system that keeps track of players around machines and only sending network updates to those players, to cut down on networking traffic.

Throwable physics objects in the Arcade now have a pullback curve, so it's easier for the player to understand where the objects will eventually end up.

Ticket models were created, resulting in models for a single ticket, multiple tickets, and stacks of tickets. Work has begun on actually animating the tickets as they come out of the machine.

Bonus support was integrated into "Ring God", along with the finished version of the screen.

Pluck-a-pal Gameplay WIP

More Arcade Plushies WIP

Token Machines WIP

Bug Bytes Multiplayer Gameplay WIP

Tickets WIP
1 ticket, 10 tickets, 30 tickets, 50 tickets.



Gloves continued working on emotes, making progress with "Face Splat".

Face Splat WIP
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Sketchman continued working on fixing issues with Unreal Engine 4.19 migration.


Lifeless is back from mandatory two week jury duty.
ThisIsntNath continued working on the Monthly Dev Breakdown for November 2019.


That about covers everything that happened since December 2nd, 2019 at PixelTail Games. See you all next week!

Brr, did someone turn down the thermostat? Snow has appeared all around the Plaza! Wrap up warm and check out Lobby 3’s winter look in this bite-sized update.

• Updated the Plaza for Winter
  
• Optimised the original canvas model, should reduce draw calls in condos with lots of canvases
  
• Optimised some appearance items
  
• Added Ghoulcery Store to Celebrations (so you can still spend your Ghoul Coins after the events)
  
• Plaza: Added ladders around the lazy river to allow players to get out easier
  
• Virus: Added "out of ammo" HUD notification next to the crosshair for better visibility when you're out of ammo
  
• Virus: Added "infected by Player Name" HUD notification
  
• Ball Race: Improved "ready go", "fail", and "bonus" HUD animations

• Plaza: Fixed various holes and collision issues
  
• Plaza: Fixed various doors not having solid collision
  
• Plaza: Fixed palm trees having wind in the Casino
  
• Plaza: Lazy river is less likely to make you collide onto the outside walls
  
• Plaza: Lazy river is now much faster
  
• Fixed ceiling fan item colliding with inventory traces
  
• Fixed an exploit with upgrades
  
• Fixed ball race orb milestone not loading workshop models or having animations
  
• Fixed issues when using the appearance editor while having the ball race orb milestone equipped
  
• Fixed an exploit with Condo items
  
• Virus: Fixed Plasma Autorifle sounds playing even if the weapon is out of ammo
  
• Virus: Fixed Plasma Autorifle sounds not playing after auto reloading
  
• Plaza: Fixed collisions with minigame arena, where sometimes players would clip through the center area
  
• Plaza: Fixed minigame pickupables (ex. food from Food Frenzy) spawning underground sometimes
  
• Plaza: Fixed inventory traces breaking in various places, preventing placement of fireworks on boardwalk, etc.
  
• Plaza: Fixed being able to enter minigame event teleporters with RC vehicles
  
• Minigolf - Alpine: Fixed hole 1 railing collision issue when going down one of the ramps
  
• Fixed AO not being enabled in Little Crusaders
  
• Fixed AO not being enabled for the third person camera in Plaza
  
• Minigolf - Sweet Tooth: Fixed HIO for hole 8
  
• Minigolf - Sweet Tooth: Fixed HIO for hole 2
  
• Minigolf - Sweet Tooth: Fixed hole 16 wedges saving the ball position as safe (will prevent golf balls getting respawned on the wedges)

You can follow our current developments on our Trello:
https://trello.com/b/6BwRMiPw/tower-unite-roadmap

You can follow our weekly developer logs here: http://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/devupdates/weekly-dev-logs

You can report bugs on our forums: http://forums.pixeltailgames.com/c/bug-report

Or you may also report bugs on our Steam community, but please expect slow response time.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for November 12th, 2019, detailing all the changes that have happened since October 28th, 2019. 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.

The Halloween 2019 Event is running until November 16th (PDT)! It’s your last few days to get those event exclusive items! Remember, a few items will still be available in Celebrations once the event ends. You’ll also be able to spend your Ghoul Coins after the events with Lil’ Pup in the Celebrations.

Over the weekend we released a hot fix with several bug fixes, and a major change to Virus gameplay.
You can read more about it here: https://steamcommunity.com/gid/103582791441305225/announcements/detail/1616157550887933037

macdguy worked on Arcade machine gameplay, as well as adding explanation screens for how to play each machine, the controls, improving networking/physics, and fine tuning the arcade systems. Work was also done on game type switching (difficulty settings, etc.).

Arcade items were defined on the item manifest.

Madmijk continued to work on Planetary Piano.

Will worked on Arcade music for Ring God and Avalanche.

wheezwer worked on logos for Arcade machines.

Josh made some Arcade plushies and additional items.



https://youtu.be/Iw4fIgfbxtE



https://youtu.be/CB75ybPNpmU



https://youtu.be/fdnXBPUDGwI



https://youtu.be/9h22cCVvtt4



Josh has been modelling Arcade plushes.











Work has begun on the mutator systems for Game Worlds. Work was done on the backend systems itself and networking.

ThisIsntNath’s Halloween Condo Contest 35 came to a close, and we gave away prizes to three winners. Take a look at the thread 35 to see all the spooky submissions.

Sketchman continued working on the engine upgrade (4.19) and fixing some bugs.

That about covers everything that happened since November 4th, 2019 at PixelTail Games. See you all next week!