Tower Unite News

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for October 17th, 2022, detailing all the changes that have happened since October 11th, 2022. 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]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]October 2022 Condo Contest NOW OPEN[/h2]
It's Halloween month, so it's time to open up the submission period for the Halloween Condo Contest!

As usual, feel free to interpret that however you like! Whether you make a secret lab, grave yard, haunted mansion, or a fun Halloween party, anything goes as long as its related to the Halloween spirit! First prize is 2,000,000 units!

Learn how to participate here!

[h2]Halloween[/h2]
Now that the second phase of the Casino has been released, our next focus is on Halloween. A bunch of work is happening behind the scenes getting the game ready for the Halloween events, the Halloween themed Plaza, the new shooting gallery ride, and of course new items!

Johanna continued working on the Halloween plaza and working on the shooting gallery ride.

macdguy continued working on the shooting gallery ride, setting up various systems. Also worked on event related work, such as getting the new remains ready.

Madmijk continued working on the shooting gallery ride.

Nuclearxpotato worked on integrating the new Halloween items.

Sketchman continued working on programming for the shooting gallery ride.

Wheezwer worked on paintings and artwork for the shooting gallery ride.

Will worked on music and sounds for the shooting gallery ride.

[h2]Miscellany[/h2]

Johanna continued working on Plaza optimizations.

Lifeless continued working on gameworld maps.

macdguy fixed some bugs and continued working on VR support.

Nuclearxpotato continued working on the Virus map, Altar.

Sketchman worked on backend improvements and fixes.

[h2]Wrap It Up[/h2]
That about covers everything that happened since October 11th, 2022 at PixelTail Games.

---

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 October 11th, 2022, detailing all the changes that have happened since October 3rd, 2022. 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]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]October 2022 Condo Contest NOW OPEN[/h2]
Halloween is next month, so it's time to open up the submission period for the Halloween Condo Contest!

As usual, feel free to interpret that however you like! Whether you make a secret lab, grave yard, haunted mansion, or a fun Halloween party, anything goes as long as its related to the Halloween spirit! First prize is 2,000,000 units!

Learn how to participate here!

[h2]Halloween[/h2]
Now that the second phase of the Casino has been released, our next focus is on Halloween. A bunch of work is happening behind the scenes getting the game ready for the Halloween events, the Halloween themed Plaza, the new shooting gallery ride, and of course new items!

Johanna continued working on updating the loading platform for the shooting gallery ride. She also worked on getting the Plaza ready for Halloween.

JJosh continued working on new Halloween items.

macdguy continued working on the shooting gallery ride, finishing the timing and continuing to work on the targeting system.

Madmijk continued worked on optimizing the trajectory-following trains. This includes the monorail and the rollercoaster, and also extends to the shooting gallery ride.

Nuclearxpotato worked on integrating the new Halloween items.

Sketchman continued working on programming for the shooting gallery ride.

Wheezwer worked on paintings and artwork for the shooting gallery ride.

Will worked on music and sounds for the shooting gallery ride.

[h3]Halloween: Upcoming Items (Props from the Shooting Gallery)[/h3]



[h3]Halloween: Victorian Items now have a Clean variant[/h3]





[h2]Media Player Improvements[/h2]

macdguy worked on improvements to the Media Player system.

You can now interact with the wall that the Media Projector is projecting onto to access media controls and toggle the projector on/off.

The Media Player controls on the HUD have been enhanced. You can now see what you are currently watching and stop the media without having to go all the way back to the media player.

In addition, there's a new Media Remote Control item that allows you to toggle media players from a distance.

Media Players also got have also got some optimizations. The Media Player now takes into account if the player is looking at it, and will stop rendering if it is not in view. In addition, the performance of the dynamic media lights have been improved.

[h3]Condo: Media Projector Control Improvements[/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Condo: Remote Control Item WIP[/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Condo: Improved Media Player Controls HUD[/h3]



[h2]Miscellany[/h2]

Lifeless continued working on gameworld maps.

macdguy working on Workshop Sound Packs that let you create sound packs for custom sound effects using Ogg format and custom music using Mp3 format. He also improved the Dissector milestone to slowly cut through players instead of just passing through.

Sketchman worked on backend improvements and fixes.

[h3]Dissector Milestone Item Improvement[/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Wrap It Up[/h2]
That about covers everything that happened since October 3rd, 2022 at PixelTail Games.

---

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

Descend into the depths to clear the infestation inside this old underground toxic waste processing plant.







Changes

• New map! Virus: Corrosion!
  
• Virus: Hospital/Subway Level Design Edits
  
• Hospital: Added a view blocker to a long corridor to reduce sightlines
  
• Hospital: Made a broken window more obvious, so that players know they can run through it
  
• Hospital: Added a spawn to the raised area near the reception
  
• Hospital: Opened up the elevator in the reception area as another route to the raised area
  
• Hospital: Added a broken window into the cafeteria area
  
• Hospital: Fixed some visual bugs
  
• Subway: Reduced the size of the overall play area
  
• Subway: Made it much more obvious which ticket gates are open and closed
  
• Subway: Fixed some visual bugs
  
• Subway: Various small level design changes
  
• Casino - Roulette: Adjusted the UI for the payouts to be less distracting
  

Bug Fixes

• Ball Race - Summit Bonus Level: Prevented a spot you could get stuck
  
• Ball Race - Event Horizon: Fixed finish circles showing up in the blackhole
  
• Minigolf - Waterhole Hole 14: Fixed a small hole in the world
  
• Minigolf - Garden Hole 10: Fixed an area where you could be thrown off the course
  
• Minigolf - Alpine Hole 2: Prevented a hole skip
  
• Minigolf - Alpine Hole 4: Fixed an OOB issue
  
• Minigolf - Alpine Hole 4: Fixed a visual bug
  
• Minigolf - Alpine Hole 6: Fixed an OOB issue
  
• Minigolf - Alpine Hole 10: Fixed a visual bug
  
• Minigolf - Alpine Hole 18: Reduced chance of getting stuck on slide
  
• Minigolf - Alpine Hole 18: Fixed some broken lighting
  
• Minigolf - Island Hole 5: Fixed a bug where you could get stuck in the water areas
  
• Minigolf - Treasure Cove Hole 3: Fixed rocks sticking through the course
  
• Minigolf - Treasure Cove Hole 4: Reduced chance of hopping over hole after going through the HIO pipe
  
• Little Crusaders - Mystic Grove: Fixed some visual issues
  
• Little Crusaders - Mystic Grove: Fixed several areas you would get stuck
  
• Little Crusaders - Mystic Grove: Fixed many camping spots
  
• Little Crusaders - Mystic Grove: Fixed some broken spawn points
  
• Little Crusaders - Amphitheatre: Fixed a camping spot
  
• Little Crusaders - Amphitheatre: Fixed a hole in the world
  
• Little Crusaders - Amphitheatre: Fixed a few spots where you could get stuck
  
• Accelerate - Sunrise Isles: Fixed houses having missing collision
  
• Accelerate - Sunrise Isles: Fixed fences having a missing material
  
• Accelerate - Sunrise Isles: Fixed a spot where you could get stuck
  
• Minigolf - Emission Hole 16: Fixed a missing collision on the last barrier
  
• Accelerate - Bedzoom: Fixed two points where you could be spawned under the track
  
• Accelerate - Bedzoom: Fixed a missing material on the cupcakes
  
• Accelerate - Bedzoom: Fixed a spot where you could go out of bounds while still on the track
  
• Accelerate - Wishy Washy: Fixed a spot where you could go out of bounds but still drive a long distance before being reset in the wrong spot
  
• Condo - Suite: Made it easier to climb up the stairs when small
  
• Condo - Suite: Fixed the wooden beam under the stairs not being editable
  
• Condo - Suite: Fixed a lighting bug on the fishtank
  
• Casino: Fixed AFK prompt showing error, then succeeding afterwards
  
• Casino - Silver Saddles: Fixed some replication issues with the horses
  
• Casino - Bingo: Fixed being put back into the seat when leaving Bingo, also fixed not being able to leave sometimes
  

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 October 3rd, 2022, detailing all the changes that have happened since September 26th, 2022. 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]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]October 2022 Condo Contest NOW OPEN[/h2]
Halloween is next month, so it's time to open up the submission period for the Halloween Condo Contest!

As usual, feel free to interpret that however you like! Whether you make a secret lab, grave yard, haunted mansion, or a fun Halloween party, anything goes as long as its related to the Halloween spirit! First prize is 2,000,000 units!

Learn how to participate here!

[h2]Halloween[/h2]
Now that the second phase of the Casino has been released, our next focus is on Halloween. A bunch of work is happening behind the scenes getting the game ready for the Halloween events, the Halloween themed Plaza, the new shooting gallery ride, and of course new items!

Johanna worked on updating the loading platform for the shooting gallery ride.

JJosh continued working on new Halloween items.

macdguy continued working on the event system for the shooting gallery ride, spending time to plan out all the individual track events and timings.

Nuclearxpotato worked on integrating the new Halloween items.

Wheezwer worked on paintings for the shooting gallery ride.

Will worked on music and sounds for the shooting gallery ride.

[h3]Halloween: Shooting Gallery Ride Track Event Setup WIP[/h3]



[h2]General Optimizations[/h2]

Johanna has been spending a bunch of times on various optimizations.

The Casino - Phase 2 update included a wave of optimizations for the Arcade that made it much more performant on both the CPU and GPU. While not huge breakthroughs, they are significant optimizations.

In the upcoming Halloween update, there is slated to be even more optimizations, a second pass for the Arcade and one for the Casino that should hopefully help squeeze a few extra FPS here and there.

A big optimization she's been working on has been on "movables", specifically ambient moving objects like rotating signs and the gears on the ride building in the Plaza. This will dramatically increase the performance of the Pets system, and the effects of this optimization should be noticeable in Plazas or other areas with lots of players with pets.

Lastly, she's been working on optimizing condo items. As an example, placing 30 of a desk she just optimized will be just as performant as the same desk previously with only 10 of them placed.

So stay tuned for future updates coming soon that will include these optimizations.

[h2]Miscellany[/h2]

Lifeless continued working on gameworld maps.

macdguy continued working on fixing bugs in the Casino, as well as working on a proper menu for VR.

Sketchman worked on new achievement icons for the Virus map, Corrosion.

[h3]Corrosion Achievement Icons[/h3]



[h2]Wrap It Up[/h2]
That about covers everything that happened since September 26th, 2022 at PixelTail Games.

---

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 addresses several bugs from the new update, including improvements to the VR alpha.

Changes

• VR: Added a beam effect when you point at an item to Use it
  
• VR: Right A button now jumps, Right B button now crouches
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed games sometimes putting players back into seats even when they have left
  
• Fixed games sometimes not clearing player's activity status on the scoreboard
  
• Fixed a crash related to Casino
  
• Fixed a startup crash related to Discord integration
  
• Fixed a crash related to Discord Rich Presence
  
• VR: Fixed camera being on the ground
  
• VR: Fixed Right stick turning not letting you turn left and having bad deadzone (causing the camera to slowly shift right)
  
• Condo: Fixed Workshop Physics Item being blank when placing it down
  
• Condo: Fixed Canvas Doors not saving properties
  
• Condo: Fixed sound emitter repeating audio if you reopen the audio selector panel multiple times
  
• Condo: Fixed sound emitter repeating audio playback sometimes when loading the audio files in the selector
  

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