Tower Unite News

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for April 27th, 2020, detailing all the changes that have happened since April 20th, 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.


We announced earlier today that, on May 4th, we'll be increasing the price of Tower Unite to $19.99. You can read more about the decision here.


Last week, we released another hotfix to fix some bugs and make general improvements and optimizations. You can read more about it here.

Johanna continued working on art for Pine Valley and Sunrise Isles.

Lifeless continued working on Bedzoom.

macdguy worked on gameplay systems, such as the Lap System, Drifting, Jumping, Boosting, Spinning Out, Throwing Items, Dropping Items, and Gamepad support.

Madmijk worked on a pathfinding system for homing items. In the video below, you can see a demo of the system where the item attaches itself to the predefined track that is the closest to the target player.

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


[h3]Accelerate: Bedzoom WIP[/h3]


[h3]Accelerate: Sunset Isles WIP[/h3]


[h3]Accelerate: Item Pathfinding Test WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Accelerate: Improved Camera WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Accelerate: Item Pickups WIP[/h3]


[h3]Accelerate: Holding Items WIP[/h3]


[h3]Accelerate: Multiplayer Testing WIP[/h3]


Johanna has been working on a new and improved Laser Tag arena. The laser tag arena is getting a massive overhaul that will make the arena much more fun to play in, with better gameplay overall. The layout and size of the arena have been drastically changed, with new corridors and flanking routes. The arena will also also be easier to see your way around, with significantly better lighting and graphics.

[h3]Plaza: Improved Laser Tag Arena[/h3]


Wheezwer continued working on Steam Trading Cards for Tower Unite.

[h3]Steam Trading Card WIP[/h3]


Sketchman fixed some issues with server moderation, fixed an offset bug with the networked synced time, and worked on smoothing the networked synced time to prevent hiccups and jerkiness in the moving platforms.


That about covers everything that happened since April 20th, 2020 at PixelTail Games. See you all next week!

This update addresses several issues that were recently reported.

• Added Arcade EXP badge to the Plaza scoreboard
  
• The Toy Stop and Songbirds (toy store and music store) now have themed item previews when shopping for items
  
• Disabled first person legs while playing arcade games
  
• Improved vehicle physics for Motor Scooter and RC cars (driving based ones)
  

• Fixed Game Port hosting issues with Zombie Massacre and Ball Race
  
• Arcade: Added various GPU optimizations to the arcade
  
• Arcade: Fixed the texture on Wheely Rigged having the incorrect number of tokens
  
• Arcade: Fixed Salmon Says kicking you off wrongly
  
• Arcade: Fixed Pluck-a-pal being empty sometimes
  
• Arcade: Fixed Ice Cave hit registration issues when throwing multiple balls
  
• More LODs for furniture items
  
• Fixed event teleporters not networking properly sometimes and causing desyncs which would cause players to fall into them and be teleported to the minigame area
  
• Fixed issues with Turret milestone
  
• Fixed Stealthbox showing up twice in first person
  
• Fixed RC dragon animation speeds being too slow, causing it to look like it's sliding all over the place.
  
• Fixed RC dragon bug when roaring and leaving the RC dragon, causing a soft lock
  
• Fixed Copy Cat tool copying scale of 0 when copying from surfaces to items
  
• Fixed Skull Mask, Fishbowl Hat, and Umbrella Hat offsets
  
• Fixed up Boomerang view model
  
• Fixed laser projector beams being flickery and made the beam opacity not affect the projected dots
  
• Fixed the front of the tower in the Plaza having a glowing circle of light on it
  
• Fixed door items not scaling properly
  
• Fixed plushy items not all being colorable
  
• Fixed store pedestals not automatically rotating
  
• Fixed toilet item not flushing
  
• Fixed globe item rotating off its axis
  
• Fixed button item replication issues
  
• Fixed computer item not being colorable properly
  
• Fixed a server crash
  
• Fixed several exploits
  

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 April 20th, 2020, detailing all the changes that have happened since April 13th, 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.


Last week, we released two more hotfixes to add some optimizations, fix some bugs, improve / change Arcade gameplay, and other miscellaneous changes. You can click these two links to see what changed in both Hotfix 0.9.0.2 and Hotfix 0.9.0.3.


Now that most of the issues have been resolved with the Arcade update, it's full steam ahead on Accelerate.

Johanna continued working on the art for the various maps, creating custom tree assets and adjusting lighting.

JJosh continued working on the Taxi.

Lifeless continued working on the map, "Bedzoom".

macdguy worked on getting the kart physics and handling down, while also creating systems to handle Kart Drifting, Boost Pads, and working on the overall game loop.

Wheezwer worked on a carpet asset for "Bedzoom", while creating a texture for the tree assets.

[h3]Accelerate Early Gameplay Test WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Accelerate Kart Physics WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Accelerate Kart Drifting WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Accelerate Kart Drifting w/ Boost WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Accelerate Boost Pads WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Johanna continued working on the new item previews that are themed for each store inside of the plaza.

[h3]Themed Item Previews for Plaza WIP[/h3]


Sketchman worked on improving some of the old achievement icons.

[h3]New Waterhole Achievements (Waterhole Completed & Waterhole Mastered) WIP[/h3]


Caboose700 finished setting up the code and infrastructure for the new Server Browser, getting it ready for it to be integrated into the game.

Johanna continued working on the condo item improvements.

JJosh fixed some bugs with various items.

Madmijk worked on bugs with Planetary Piano, and fixed an issue where Laser Projector beams would go invisible.

ThisIsntNath worked on an update trailer for Tower Unite which includes footage of the Arcade.

Sketchman worked on optimizations for Planetary Piano, fixed some internal bugs, and continued looking into lighting issues with Workshop Static Meshes.

Wheezwer continued working on the Steam Trading Cards.

Will continued working on music and sounds.


That about covers everything that happened since April 13th, 2020 at PixelTail Games. See you all next week!

This update addresses several issues that were recently reported.

Changes

• Achievements now show when you unlocked them
  
• To avoid confusion, all available upgrade items now display in the upgrade list. If you do not own an upgrade, it'll display as "not unlocked". Upgrades that are currently not available will display as "no upgrades available of this type at this time"
  
• Location now updates properly for Ball Race Orb milestone, Minigolf milestone RC cars, and vehicles
  
• New wood material for condo furniture now has a much wider range of color availability
  
• Ball Race: Started rework of moving platforms to help with clients desyncing

Bug Fixes

• Fixed crash in menu
  
• Fixed pluck-a-pal plushy stat displaying internal name on collection book
  
• Fixed typo in Arcade milestones
  
• Finished Arcade milestone icons
  
• Fixed location on HUD displaying after ragdolling/dying
  
• Fixed additional incorrect hat offsets
  
• Fixed additional underwater condo water issues
  
• Admin player name tag no longer overrides backer tag (separated the two tags)
  
• Arcade: Fixed a known exploit
  
• Arcade: Fixed Lonely Gun ammo issues (ammo was being reset every round, which broke Total Efficiency achievement)
  
• Fixed Stealth Box dequip not removing hidden state
  
• Fixed Midway Mania achievement description being the wrong value
  
• Fixed issues with Cat Protector achievement
  
• Fixed smooth rotation not always occurring on local client
  
• Fixed first person legs not appearing (even if setting was on)
  
• Fixed the colors not being properly editable on the Dining Table, Coffee Table, Office Table Short, Office Table, Office Table Long, OfficeShelfWithDoor, Modern Entertainment Cabinet, LongModernCoffeeTable, Large Fluorescent Table
  
• Fixed the color editable being maladjusted for the Computer Desk, Small Walnut Table, Room Table, Office Shelf, Short Table, Modern Reception Desk, Wood Glass Table, Victorian Table, waiting room chair, and Wooden Stool
  
• Fixed the TV Stand item having the wrong wood texture applied to it
  
• Adjusted Dizzy jackpot increase rate

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

This update addresses several issues that were recently reported.

Changes

• Arcade: Audio volume changes for Arcade. If you are a spectator, or playing the game, or hovered over it, it'll play sounds at full volume - otherwise it'll play at less volume to avoid overlapping audio experiences
  
• Arcade: Planetary Piano audio now only plays if you are looking at the cabinet you are spectating or if you are playing it so that you can hear each player individually
  
• Arcade: Meteoroid Mania now has 3 meteoroids
  
• Plaza: Implemented loading/unloading system for east and west plaza stores (Songbirds, Toy Stop, Central Circuit, Rob's Imports, and Sweet Suite). Improves frame rates when in main plaza
  
• Plaza: Created more LODs for plaza to improve frame rate
  
• Plaza: Improved planters behind tower to fix empty spots
  
• Plaza: Some minor plaza additions (new potted plants and benches)
  
• Plaza: Improved look of the sky in Plaza
  
• First chunk of updated "standardized" condo furniture
  
• You can now color the tricycle (and jump!)
  
• Improved LED tie
  
• Improved Jet Engine jetpack
  
• Improved first person view in vehicles
  
• Work in progress Arcade milestones set up (items don't have icons just yet and some items do not work, releasing these in full in the next hotfix)
  

Bug Fixes

• Improved Whirl-a-Fish, Meteoroid Mania netlag
  
• Optimized networking of Plaza games
  
• Meteoroid Mania: Fixed bug where the ball would not drop if the droppers were opened after the ball is rotating around
  
• Fixed underwater condo being filled with water
  
• Lonely Gun exploit fix
  
• Pluck-a-pal: Fixed an issue where sometimes a plushy farther away from the center of the crane would be grabbed, swapping with a plushy that is right at the center of the crane
  
• Pluck-a-pal: Fixed an exploit
  
• Pluck-a-pal: Crane grabbing is more reliable
  
• Pluck-a-pal: Made it a little more difficult to grab plushies, you need to be lined up a lot more now
  
• Pluck-a-pal: Fixed VIP achievement
  
• Pluck-a-pal: Fixed Friendship achievement
  
• Pluck-a-pal: Stabilized physics of pals just a bit
  
• Fixed Total Efficiency achievement
  
• Fixed Island achievements
  
• Fixed ram plush issues
  
• Fixed various hat offsets
  
• Fixed Pluck-a-pal leaderboard
  
• Fixed Dizzy leaderboard
  
• Fixed Wearable Units Sign not appearing
  
• Fixed throwable fuzzy die texture being corrupted
  
• Fixed LC dragon plushy colorable materials not working properly
  
• Fixed propeller hat icons being switched
  
• Reduced instances of grass clipping into the lazy river in Plaza
  
• Fixed ragdoll being invisible if you die while in first person
  
• Fixed jellybean cat plushy colorable being broken
  
• Fixed easter egg event eggs not spawning if you are in the arcade when the event begins
  
• Fixed Lonely Gun "nice shot" sound not adhering to SFX volume settings
  
• Optimized Planetary Piano networking, which should help with players disconnecting due to packet overflows
  
• Fixed dizzy not landing on the same spot for spectators as the player who is playing
  
• Fixed an issue with achievements and unit payouts
  

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