KovaaK's News

Nothing to see here, really. But some cool stuff coming soon!

Hey there FPS fans,

We wanted to update you on the recent Steam Workshop issues many of you have been facing. First of all, we empathize with the unexpected difficulties brought on you and your training! As human aimbots ourselves, we completely relate to this.

These issues include:

• The game doesn't finish downloading the list of Scenarios from the Steam Workshop.
  
• Playlists can't find scenarios that used to work.
  
• Duplicate scenarios show up in the list of scenarios from Steam.
  
• Leaderboards don't always display properly.
  

As these are Steam issues, we cannot offer any fixes, but please be aware that this is a temporary situation that we are looking into as best we can. When we hear more, we will update the community soon on Discord.

In the meantime, do take a look at these solutions for any other issues you may also be experiencing in Kovaak 2.0.

Thanks for your patience!

Your favorite FPS training software is back with a brand new update! As we look to reset our leaderboard, we’ve also secured a game-changing collaboration with NVIDIA. So come train your aim for science!

We’ve got some other new features, including some new featured playlists, jump pads and teleporters as well as some smaller game-enhancing fixes. Check out all the key features in this release and what you can expect very soon.

[h2]LEADERBOARD RESET COMING SOON[/h2]
Our scopes are trained on a leaderboard reset! Though there’s no specific date for the launch of this, please note that the leaderboards will have fewer scores than before in the near future. The reasons for this are:

• Steam limits leaderboards to 10,000 and we recently found ourselves above that limit which forced us to manually remove old competition leaderboards from scenarios that are no longer on the workshop (you might have observed stuff like Steam sending the game client the wrong leaderboard while we were over 10K).
  
• A number of scores on the current leaderboards have been affected by old bugs that accidentally allowed users to get higher scores than humanly possible.
  
• The old leaderboards have had quite a few cheaters. To combat this in the new leaderboards, we will also be launching anti-cheat with the game simultaneously when it goes live.
  
• Once we have migrated leaderboards off of Steam, that opens up a lot of new functionality that wasn’t possible! The initial launch will most likely be a 1:1 copy of the Steam leaderboard functionality, but future patches will bring more
• winks.*
  

[h2]NVIDIA EXPERIMENTS MODE[/h2]
Train your aim for science! In collaboration with NVIDIA, take part in various scenarios and contribute to important esports research. The first two experiments feature one clicking and one tracking scenario. Check it out!

[h2]NEW FEATURED PLAYLISTS[/h2]
We're stoked to partner with N0ted to offer all his favourite scenarios in a special Valorant playlist!
Hone your Warzone game with an exclusive playlist from ItsIron.
We have two featured playlists for the new Apex season: one focused on clicking and one for tracking.
Check them out under “Local Playlists” - let us know what you think!

[h2]JUMP PADS AND TELEPORTERS [/h2]
We released these in a recent update and totally spaced on letting you know. Our bad. We now support jump pads, so get to work building your bouncy house of doom! Map authors: create a jump pad brush. It will take up a volume in 3d space and have a "target" that is a point in 3d space. When a character touches the jump pad, it looks at the character's gravity scale and calculates the vertical and horizontal velocity needed to send the character flying such that the peak of their jump is where that target point is, then it sends the character on that trajectory. Targets must be above the jump pad brush in order to work.

We now support teleporters too! Map authors: create a teleporter brush. It will take up a volume in 3d space and have a "target" that is a point in 3d space. When a character touches the teleporter, it will zip them to the target point. Neat, right?

[h2]SANDBOX[/h2]

• With our resized UI elements in the sandbox, you can now embiggen (or ensmallen) UI elements on the HUD as you wish when moving them around.
  
• The sandbox player score percentile now calculates from the actual rank instead of what Steam thinks it is. (Your percentile will be better, generally speaking).
  
• Scenario authors can now make bots that cycle through dodge profiles without the dodge profile order being randomized. Scenario authors can also specify that the bots randomizing dodge profiles will hit each entry in the list before re-randomizing the list. (This ensures a consistent short-term distribution of how bots dodge).
  
• Scenario authors can now make challenges end after a certain amount of kills or damage.
  
• We’ve added our smoking KovaaK 2.0 logo to the top of the sandbox too!
  

[h2]CHALLENGE STATS[/h2]

• We’ve added a “Recent” tab to show recent performances.
  
• Enjoy our nifty combo search box to easily get to a given scenario. This will automatically open to the current challenge if the user is in one.
  

[h2]MORE FEATURES AND FIXES[/h2]

• We’ve adjusted humanoid bot animations so that their heads stay in a relatively static position when a change in strafe direction occurs. (The hitbox still has the same behavior as before, but now the heads will do a better job of staying inside the hitbox).
  
• The opening video now 80% less ear-bleedy.
  
• A “Tracking Trainer Wrap-up Screen” that reverses the vertical direction for the horizontal graph for bots traveling down.
  
• The “Trainer Instructions” now have more spacing.
  
• “Flick Trainer” now gives credits for flicks that stop short of the target (i.e. under shooters).
  
• We’ve fixed an issue in which the wrong map and bots populate together when opening a scenario to edit.
  
• We’ve fixed an issue in which uploading or updating a scenario to Steam causes the client to freeze.
  
• We’ve fixed an issue with BG music not playing in the trainer.
  
• We’ve fixed an issue where a high score to a scenario would not be properly stored, resulting in each challenge completion being a “new high score!” and never uploading to the Steam leaderboards.
  
• We’ve fixed an issue with the movement-based scoring widget's visuals where it would use the wrong color for certain time thresholds.
  
• Various smaller bug fixes and enhancements.
  

We’d like to thank the community for the feedback and contributions that shape our game and its development. Please keep sending us your suggestions and reports to us on Discord here and share your screenshots with us too on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.


We can’t wait to share more exciting content with you all soon!

IMPORTANT CHANGES COMING IN A FUTURE UPDATE
We’re getting closer to the Leaderboards reset that has been discussed on and off for a while. While we don’t have a specific date for the launch of it quite yet, please do be aware that there will come a time in the near future when the Leaderboards will have much fewer scores on them than before. There are a few reasons for this:

• Steam limits Leaderboards to 10,000 per game, and we recently found ourselves above that limit which forced us to manually remove old competition Leaderboards from scenarios that are no longer on the workshop. (You might have observed stuff like Steam sending the game client the wrong Leaderboard while we were over 10K)
  
• A number of scores on the current Leaderboards have been affected by old bugs that accidentally allowed users to get higher scores than humanly possible.
  
• The old Leaderboards have had quite a few cheaters. To combat this in the new Leaderboards, we will also be launching anticheat with the game at the same time that the new Leaderboards system goes live.
  
• Once we have migrated Leaderboards off of Steam, that opens up a lot of new functionality that wasn’t possible. The initial launch will most likely be a 1:1 copy of the Steam Leaderboard functionality, but future patches will bring more :).
  

WHAT’S FEATURED IN THIS RELEASE
NVIDIA Experiments Mode!
Improve your aim, for science! In collaboration with NVIDIA, take part in various scenarios and contribute to important esports research. The first two experiments feature one clicking and one tracking scenario. Check it out!

New Featured Playlists!

• We're stoked to partner with N0ted to offer all his favourite scenarios in a special Valorant playlist!
  
• Hone your Warzone game with an exclusive playlist from ItsIron.
  
• We have two featured playlists for the new Apex season: one focussed on Clicking and one for Tracking.
  
• Check them out under “Local Playlists” - let us know what you think!
  

Jump Pads and Teleporters!
We released these in a recent update and totally spaced letting you know. Our bad. We now support Jump Pads, so get to work building your bouncy house of doom. Map authors: create a JumpPad brush. It will take up a volume in 3d space and have a "target" that is a point in 3d space. When a character touches the Jump Pad, it looks at the character's gravity scale and calculates the vertical and horizontal velocity needed to send the character flying such that the peak of their jump is where that target point is, then it sends the character on that trajectory. Targets must be above the JumpPad brush in order to work.

We now support Teleporters. Map authors: create a Teleporter brush. It will take up a volume in 3d space and have a "target" that is a point in 3d space. When a character touches the Teleporter, it will zip them to the target point.

Sandbox - Resize UI Elements in the Sandbox - you can now embiggen (or ensmallen) UI elements on the HUD as you wish when moving them around.

Sandbox player score percentile now calculates from the actual rank instead of what Steam thinks it is. (Your percentile will be better, generally speaking)
Sandbox - Scenario authors can now make bots that cycle through dodge profiles without the dodge profile order being randomized.
Sandbox - Scenario authors can specify that bots randomizing dodge profiles will hit each entry in the list before re-randomizing the list. (Ensures a consistent short-term distribution of how bots dodge)
Sandbox - Scenario authors can now make Challenges end after a certain amount of kills or damage.

Adjusted humanoid bot animations so that their heads stay in a relatively static position when a change in strafe direction occurs. (The hitbox still has the same behavior as before, but now the heads will do a better job of staying inside the hitbox)

Challenge Stats - Added “Recent” tab to show recent performances.

Challenge Stats - Added nifty combo search box to easily get to a given scenario.

Challenge Stats - Will automatically open to the current challenge if the user is in one.

Opening video now 80% less ear-bleedy.

Tracking Trainer Wrap-up Screen - reversed the vertical direction for the horizontal graph for bots traveling down.

Added more spacing for Trainer instructions.

Flick Trainer now gives credits for flicks that stop short of the target (i.e. undershooters).

Fixed an issue in which the wrong map and bots populate when opening a scenario to edit.

Fixed an issue in which uploading or updating a scenario to Steam causes the client to freeze.

Fixed an issue with BG music not playing in the Trainer.

Fixed an issue where a high score to a scenario would not be properly stored, resulting in each challenge completion being a “new high score!” and never uploading to the Steam Leaderboards.

Fixing an issue with movement based scoring widget's visuals where it would use the wrong color for certain time thresholds.

Added spiffy KovaaK 2.0 logo to the top of the Sandbox.

Various bug fixes and enhancements.

More cool stuff coming soon!

Hello, everyone!

The Steam Lunar New Year Sale is here!

As the year of the Ox rolls in, you can become the primary DPS of your squad, for less. KovaaK 2.0 is currently 20% off for a limited time, so get it while you can.

Get your 20% discount here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/824270/KovaaK_20

This special Steam Lunar New Year Sale is available starting Feb 11, 10 AM PST to Feb 15. So, be sure to take your shot right away before the limited time runs out.

When you get KovaaK 2.0 on sale, head on over to our Discord server! You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Remember, this special Steam sale is only available from Feb 11 to Feb 15, so better get that opportunity to train your aim right away.