Tower Unite News

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for February 17th, 2020, detailing all the changes that have happened since February 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.


We're pleased to announce that we have released our first batch of merch for Tower Unite on Redbubble. We hope you all enjoy them, and we have a bunch of new designs being worked on for the next batch. Read more about this at the Merch Announcement or visit the store.





Work continues on the Unreal Engine 4.19 upgrade. We're working to address an issues with Workshop Items in condos, which is preventing the widespread release of the Unreal Engine 4.19 version of Tower Unite.

There are a couple of possible routes we can take to fix this problem, and we are currently pursuing one of them, but it is too early to tell if it will be successful. We're working as fast as we can to get this resolved and into the hands of our players, and it is just as frustrating for us as it is for all you guys.

While work on Unreal Engine 4.19 continues however, other developers are busy working on other aspects of the game.

macdguy worked on prizes, specifically several vehicles such as the RC Tank, RC Drone, RC Rocket, Pogo Stick, Voyager (hoverboard), and Tricycle, as well as some of the weapon prizes. He also worked on adding a boost mode to all the vehicles, and implemented wearables on characters that are on vehicles.

madmijk worked on prizes, specifically the Disco Ball prize, and is now implementing the wearable items JJosh created into actual wearable items.

Wheezwer started working on art for the "The Day the Corn Stood Still".

Will continued working on music and sounds for the Arcade, specifically for the "Wheel of Fire" machine.

[h3]"The Day the Corn Stood Still" Art WIP[/h3]


[h3]Disco Ball Prize WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]RC Drone Prize WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]RC Tank Prize WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Pogo Stick Prize WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Voyager Prize WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Tricycle Prize WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Skateboard Prize WIP[/h3]


[h3]Wearables now work on Vehicles[/h3]


[h3]Electric Scooter Boost Mode[/h3]


Johanna finished working on the HD remaster of Sandbar, now named "Island".

Johanna finished the art pass for "Waterhole".

[h3]Minigolf: Waterhole Art Pass[/h3]


Johanna started the art pass for "Forest".

[h3]Minigolf: Forest Art Pass WIP[/h3]


JJosh continued working on items for Cooking.

[h3]Cooking Items WIP[/h3]


ThisIsntNath created an updated version of the Plaza tutorial video.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

macdguy worked on a redesign of the Hotbar for Condos and Plazas.

[h3]Improved Hotbar WIP[/h3]


Sketch continued working on the Unreal Engine 4.19 upgrade.

Wheezwer continued working on designs for merch.

ThisIsntNath continued working on the updated Trailer.


That about covers everything that happened since February 10th, 2020 at PixelTail Games.

Hey all!

We are pleased to announce that our RedBubble store has opened up today, and we are now selling some Tower Unite merchandise!



Check it out here!

The designs, which we’ve based on your suggestions, should come up as available on t-shirts and hoodies. We’ve made some available on other items like stickers and tote bags as well, if you want to try searching through those.

Items Available:

• Shirts
  
• Sweatshirts
  
• Hoodies
  
• Stickers
  
• Mugs
  
• Coasters
  
• Pillows
  
• Phone Cases
  

[h2]Tips on using Redbubble:[/h2]

• Go to the store page.
  
• Use the filter to search for the design style you want. Ex: If you want a hoodie, click “Clothing” then “Sweatshirts & Hoodies.”
  
• Click on the available design.
  
• If you like the default design, check the color options in the bottom right of the preview image!
  
• If you want a different design, scroll down the page to the section titled “Also available on”
  
• This section will allow you to search through different designs.
  

We’ve worked on and proposed some more complex designs based on the merch suggestions thread, but we wanted to get these simpler ones out now and see if you guys are happy with them before proceeding.

If you buy anything, please let us know your thoughts on it in this thread! We want to listen to you all and make sure you’re getting something of quality.

If you need help with your order, RedBubble’s help page is found here: https://help.redbubble.com/hc/en-us/categories/200121739

If you want to suggest something for merch, check out our merch suggestion thread: https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/t/official-tower-unite-merch-suggestion-thread/35888

Thanks again for your patience, and we are excited to hear your thoughts,

PixelTail Games

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for February 10th, 2020, detailing all the changes that have happened since February 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.


We're still working hard on the migration of Tower Unite from Unreal Engine 4.18 to 4.19. We were hampered by a last minute bug which is preventing us from releasing the 4.19 upgrade. The bug, which affects workshop items in Condos, has proven to be quite difficult and requires a rewrite of the code. We're working as fast as we can to resolve this issue so that we can release the 4.19 upgrade to the public.

macdguy continued working on items for Arcade and finished player model/animation support for vehicles such as the Motor Scooter.

madmijk continued working on items for Arcade, creating logic for the Newton's Cradle, Whoopee Cushion, and Pedal Rocket.

Wheezwer worked on "How-to-play" instructions along with contributing dialogue for the Arcade NPCs.

Will continued working on sounds and music for the Arcade.

[h3]Motor Scooter (Arcade Item Vehicle)[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Toy Robot (Arcade Item)[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Pedal Rocket (Arcade Item)[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Whoopee Cushion (Arcade Item)[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Various Arcade Items WIP[/h3]


Johanna continued working on the new Minigolf map, "Sandbar".

[h3]Minigolf: Sandbar WIP[/h3]


Johanna continued working on the visual improvements to "Waterhole".

[h3]Minigolf: Waterhole Visual Improvements WIP[/h3]


JJosh finished various items for Valentine's Day. Initially we planned on having a small update to release some of these items for Valentine's Day, but depending on how long it takes to fix the 4.19 workshop item crash these might be out late.




In the next update, we've added above player's heads an icon when they are using an RC vehicle. The new name tag of the player controlling the RC vehicle along with their chat messages is now displayed on the RC vehicle itself.



ThisIsntNath created the Monthly Dev Breakdown for January 2020, quickly summing up everything that happened over the last month.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Wheezwer continued working on designs for merch.

ThisIsntNath continued working on the updated Trailer and the new Plaza Tutorial video.


That about covers everything that happened since February 3rd, 2020 at PixelTail Games.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Weekly Dev Log for February 3rd, 2020, detailing all the changes that have happened since January 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.


Over the weekend, we conducted a public beta test of the Unreal Engine 4.19 version of Tower Unite.

The main goal of the beta test was to test the networking fixes from the Unreal Engine upgrade, as well as the several optimizations we made ourselves, along with testing our new Plaza server infrastructure.

We're happy to report that the beta test was a success! With all of the improvements and optimizations we've made & 4.19 changes, we reached 64 players without any noticeable performance issues on the server. And, with all the optimizations we completed, we also had noticeable improvements to FPS, player movement, and physics games such as bowling!

To see how far we could get, we raised the limit to 80 players and were able to sustain around 76 players (until the server crashed - unrelated to the player count).

We're looking into the server crashes right now, but we're confident that with the new update we will be able to increase the player count of the servers running on our new infrastructure to 64 players!

You can read more about the results of the beta test here.

Besides the beta test, our main effort last week was getting everyone on the team setup with the 4.19 version of the Unreal Editor, as well as getting the new dedicated server hardware setup.




We've been spending a significant amount of time optimizing as much as we can for Plaza, in anticipation for the upcoming Arcade update. You can check out all the optimizations we've been doing here.

Most notably, we've managed to increase FPS and reduce network stuttering.

macdguy worked on new chat bubbles and improved player name tags for Plaza to help discover players in the Plaza more easily. We're aiming to get these out in the 4.19 update.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Madmijk and JJosh continued working on items for the Arcade.

macdguy finished up the code for all the arcade plushy items. He also worked on "How to Play" menus (and helped write). He also finished the arcade badges.

Wheezwer worked on the dialogue for the Arcade NPCs, worked on art for "Quick Service", and worked on "How to Play" menus (and helped write) for the various machines in the arcade.

Will continued working on music for "Lonely Gun 30XX", while also working on sounds for the remaining machines.

[h3]Arcade How To Play[/h3]


[h3]Arcade Badges[/h3]


[h3]New Arcade Plushy[/h3]


JJosh continued working on items for Cooking.

[h3]Cooking Items[/h3]


Johanna continued working on "Sandbar" and the polishing pass for "Waterhole".

Caboose700 worked on getting the first part of the new Plaza server infrastructure online, which was used for the 4.19 beta test.

Wheezwer continued working on designs for merch.

ThisIsntNath continued working on the updated Trailer, the Monthly Dev Breakdown video for January, and the new Plaza Tutorial video.


That about covers everything that happened since January 27th, 2020 at PixelTail Games.

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


We've begun the final stages of the migration of Tower Unite from Unreal Engine 4.18 to Unreal Engine 4.19. This engine migration allows us to take advantage of the major networking improvements that Epic Games made to Unreal Engine for use in Fortnite, among other things. You can view our current progress with the engine migration here.

Once this engine migration is complete, and initial testing is completed, we'll be releasing the 4.19 version of Tower Unite to the public as an update to look for more subtle things that may have broken during the migration. Once all the kinks are worked out, our next major update after the 4.19 migration will be Arcade Phase 1.

macdguy worked on finishing up the gameplay for "Lonely Gun 30XX", while also adding the top screen component and implementing the music created by @Will. He also added an animated hoop net to "Super Hoopers", while also preparing arcade items for implementation.

macdguy and Caboose700 finished creating achievements, stats, and leaderboards and uploaded them to Steam.

Madmijk continued working on "Captain Calypso's Planetary Piano", while also adding logic to the Modern Disco Ball item.

Sketchman started working on arcade achievement icons.

Will continued worked on music and sounds for the arcade.

Wheezwer finished up the upgraded "Wheely Rigged" art, and started working on art for another machine.

[h3]Lonely Gun 30XX Gameplay w/ Music WIP[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Super Hoopers Animated Hoop Net[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Modern Disco Ball Arcade Item[/h3]


Johanna began a polishing pass on the Minigolf map, Waterhole.

[h3]Minigolf: Waterhole Polishing Pass WIP[/h3]


Johanna began working on a HD Remaster of the Minigolf map, Sandbar from GMod Tower.

[h3]Minigolf: Sandbar WIP[/h3]


JJosh continued working on items for Cooking, including Sushi, Pies, Steak, and Juice.

[h3]Cooking Items WIP[/h3]


ThisIsntNath updated our official guide on Steam. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=656709494

Caboose700 worked on getting the new server infrastructure for the Plaza servers online.

Lifeless continued working on the new gameworlds ports.

Sketchman and macdguy worked on upgrading the engine to Unreal Engine 4.19.

Wheezwer continued working on designs for merch.


That about covers everything that happened since January 21st, 2020 at PixelTail Games.