Clone Drone in the Danger Zone News

Happy Friday!

After a fun morning of playing your workshop levels I'm happy to announce that we have 4 gems temporarily joining the official Last Bot Standing rotation!



This amazing looking level has an even more amazing Final Zone.
Survive until the end, and you may encounter... THE BEAST!



Why fight in buildings when you can fight ON them? Roof Top delivers a fun experience for all city loving humans.



A tight design delivering fun battles with a high tempo! The Maze Below impressed us with its gameplay.



Turn into garbage and experience Fireworks! The sloped design of this level felt simple and surprisingly fresh.

Thanks to everyone who submitted levels and participated in the playtest!

We're working hard on Chapter 4!
Here is another little preview of what we're doing.

Warning: Mild spoilers below.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDS__k5Shv8
Do you enjoy DRAMA??? Prepare for a very dramatic story chapter, built on the foundations of our brand new Animation System.

When Chapter 4 launches you'll be able to create animations directly in the Level Editor.


A fun thing we're exploring is the ability to transfer your mind into whoever killed you.
This will be a thing both in Chapter 4, as well as in a brand new Endless Challenge.



Initial testing suggests this is really fun! :D


Do you love making levels? We're holding another playtest session for Last Bot Standing levels on Feb 15th, 10am PST.

No theme this time so make whatever you want!
The most awesome levels will be added to the main level pool.

Don't forget to peek at our awesome guide for making fun levels!


We're aiming to release it in March sometime. :)
More info when we know more!

This past weekend we held another Last Bot Standing playtest, it was a lot of fun! Thanks everyone who came to the stream to play test the levels.

In the spirit of the season, we've added FOUR new maps to the Last Bot Standing rotation today, and may add one more over the holidays pending a couple of small level tweaks.

We mentioned for last playtest that our level themes are just suggestions to inspire those who don't have an idea to start with, so you'll see non-METAL-CHRISTMAS-themed maps sprinkled in we think you will still enjoy! So if you have an idea for our next Last Bot Standing playtest, no need to wait for the next theme, you can start building now!







Ho-ho-ho-ly mother of Christmas decorations! Lots of nice Christmas touches throughout this map. Grab a gift from on top of one of the gifts. The combat area is cozier than most maps, so watch your back!






If you like lore, you're going to love this level's background story. This level's unique layout and stylish jump pads make for a fresh new environment to battle in. Watch your step and survive the harvest!





This level has so much character and hilarious elements, we really want to add it to the rotation, so we're circling back with a few tweaks needed to get it ready for prime time. There were many deaths during the playtest caused by gawking in awe of the hilarious level elements.

And in the corner, what is this?! A gift, for me, from Doborog?!?! Aww, you shouldn't have.







You really don't see enough laser-sword-robots hanging around castles these days. This blast from the past level sports a dangerous courtyard surrounded by places enemies could jump down from. This results in a very different feeling combat experience.







I mean, doesn't the name here say it all? (radio) GIFT HAS BEEN PLANTED.



There were a bunch of other fun METAL CHRISTMAS-themed levels we had fun playing on Saturday! These levels were very close to being included as well, and deserve to be mentioned:

• Santa's Lair by Sir Kotok - awesome Christmas decoration!
  
• DannyBot & Clones Salvaging Co. by fencing_vogel - featuring some mega compound-traps that are really fun to destroy your robot body with
  
• Long Live Metal Christmas by niekalexander - this level's layout elements call to mind pixel art and voxel games like Minecraft. Beautiful work!
  
• Christmas Fight: Day Version by Sir Kotok - includes a fun factory to battle on!
  

Thanks everyone for making such cool levels and participating in the event!



These playtest events have been a ton of fun, so we're gonna keep doing them! Some have asked that we give a bit more time between playtests, so we'll be doing the next one in about a month. We'll announce the next theme in an upcoming blog post, so watch for it!



If you missed our last update post, Erik has been building a brand new weapon and enemy for Story Mode Chapter 4. Watch for another post in the not too distant future on a neat level editing tool he's adding to make the chapter even more dynamic than the others.

Brian's been adding controller support to the game and UI, and some say it might feel even better than playing with a mouse + keyboard (sacrilege!). That will be shipped alongside a change to our multiplayer system to support more regions to hopefully improve pings for those of you in US-West and possibly other regions.

Watch for our next update, and have a very happy holidays & new year!

We're currently hard at work on Chapter 4!
Here's a little peek at where things are at. :)


The game gets its third melee weapon: The Spear!

Paired with a shield, it focuses on precise stabs with a solid defensive barrier.
Here is what happens if you put it in the hands of some high level enemy bots:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYwTMUqXEcc

Note: All spear, shield and enemy models are temporary placeholders.


Gary has been exploring what the hallways of the robot Battlecruiser might look like!

Below are some high definition mockups that will likely mutate and change as we figure out how to break them down into reusable level elements:









Chapter 4 is going to be pretty. :D


Most of the work still lies ahead of us. We're still in the planning and exploration stages, but we'll likely move on to level design in January and start putting the chapter together!

It's too early to tell exactly when this thing launches, but we're aiming for sometime around February / March.

In the mean time, join us tomorrow as we play test Metal Christmas levels from the workshop. And watch for a mini-update in the next couple of weeks related to controller support and server regions!

The second Last Bot Standing playtest is over, bringing us six fresh new levels!
Thanks to everyone who participated!

Next event is Saturday Dec 15th with the theme Metal Christmas!

Here is why these levels were a blast to play, and are now available:





Simple and fun! Everybody liked this level when we played it.
Jump around in a kitchen, like a little ant with a giant laser sword trying to kill the other ants instead of collaborating on whatever it is ants do!



Yay! What a fun level! With some beautiful toys and playful upgrade drop scenarios, the Kid Zone made us feel childlike joy. :)



The light shines brightly in space! Really cool level with a lot of vertical jump pad action.



Probably the level with the most innovative mechanics and theme of everything we played!
Experience the chaos of spawning in a prison full of murderous robots. If you survive the first few seconds the rest of the level is also really neat!



Don't smelt, little human! Running around this level is a ton of fun. The upgrade drops had some really unique configurations, giving this level a good balance between danger from hazards and your fellow contestants.



Epic and beautiful, this level lets you die inside a glorious cathedral. Inspiring use of light and shadow!


These levels were very close to being included, and deserve to be mentioned:

• Neon Baths (fencing_vogel) - Pretty and fun to play! We decided not to include it due to the lack of clarity around the neon blue things actually concealing lava.
  
• Beacon in the ocean (Sir Kotok) - This level was super cool, but also suffered from lava that did not look like lava. Perhaps we should add color variants to lava... :)
  
• Dragon Ball Super Tournament of Power Arena (Destroyed) (Silva 01) - This level was really good looking, but a really hard to get to Final Zone made us reluctant to add it.
  

Thanks everyone for making such cool levels and participating in the event!


These playtest events have been a ton of fun, so we're gonna keep doing them!

The next theme is: Metal Christmas!
We want to see levels that capture that holiday spirit of cutting up your festive friends, and letting their robot bodies rain down upon you like snow!

Join us on Saturday Dec 15th, at 10am PST!


And just so there is no confusion, we are currently working on Story Mode Chapter 4.
Keep your eyes out for some early weapon exploration footage in an upcoming blog post! :)