BOTSU News

I’m really excited to share this update, as it includes many much-requested features from the community! Thanks so much to all of you for providing this feedback, and please keep messaging me about improvements and content you’d like to see.

I’ve been working hard towards the full game's release, creating new content, including new locations, arenas, modifiers and costumes, but I thought it would be good to share the new systems with the loyal demo players! Thanks so much for the support and feedback on the demo, you are awesome! 😻 We’re nearly there…

[h2]🔓 Unlock Paths[/h2]

• New unlock system allows you to choose between themed unlock paths.
  
• Choose your active unlock path and track its progress via the brand new “Unlocks” tab in pause menu at any time.
  
• Progress through path stages by earning XP.
  
• Each stage of the path unlocks a new outfit part.
  
• Paths are unlocked by player level.
  
• Watch your unlock path progress in the rewards screen after a match.
  
• Many more unlock paths and outfits coming in the full game!
  

[h2]🗳️ Next Match Voting[/h2]

• You can now vote to choose your next match, after the rewards screen.
  
• New match generation system aims to give you matches that are different to the ones you have recently played.
  

[h2]🥳 Parties with Friends[/h2]

• The new Party system lets you join your Steam friends and stay together. Find it in the “Party” tab in the pause menu.
  
• • Party members stay together through matches, server changes and will return to home together.
  
• Join or invite friends via the steam overlay. Right click on the friend to join or invite.
  

[h2]🌍 Server Browser[/h2]

• New server browser kiosk next to the train lets you see and join any public matches being played, anywhere in the world.
  

[h2]🐞 Bug Fixes And Small Improvements[/h2]

• Lighting on outfit selection previews is more consistent now, across different times of day.
  
• Fixed selection outline not showing sometimes on outfit selection grids.
  
• Players can no longer be heard punching each other behind the rewards screen.
  
• Your player now dances in the rewards screen at the end of the match!
  

I’ve mainly been working on content for the full game, but this demo update includes a sneak peek into some of the new swimming and water mechanics that will make their way into matches for the full game. Hopefully some underwater sports, water polo and other levels coming in the future 😊

[h2]🌊 Pool Physics[/h2]

• 🤽Brand new swimming pool in the Home area for you to mess around with!
  
• 🛟New buoyancy physics mechanics for objects floating/sinking and receiving drag in the water. Will it float?!
  
• 💦 The pool comes with a host of new water effects so you can make a splash!
  

[h2]🏊 Physics-Based Swimming[/h2]

• 🏊 Swim around in 3D, on or under water, with new physics-based animations
  
• 🤿 Mix swimming with all other mechanics like grabbing, throwing, fighting and jumping
  

[h2]🐬 Diving Board Physics[/h2]

• 🦘 All-new, physics-based diving boards
  
• 🤸 You can bounce, flip, grab, fall and anything else you can think of!
  

[h2]👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🙌👏 Stadium Crowd Excitement[/h2]

• The stadium crowd now goes wild for Sumo and Stockpile gameplay moments like they do for BoxBall. (they’ve finally learned the rules….)
  

To celebrate Steam Dinos vs Robots Fest, there’s 3 brand new outfits to unlock, to fit the Robo/Dino theme. Even the bots have dressed up! I’m really pleased with how these outfits turned out, particularly the triceratops, so I hope you have fun bashing up these dinos.

[h2]🦖🦕 Dino Outfits[/h2]

• 🦏 Triceratops!
  
• 🦅 Pterosaur!
  
• 🐲 T-Rex!
  

[h2]✨🌟 Level Up XP[/h2]

• Reduced level 1 xp from 400 to 200
  
• Reduced per-level xp increase from 200 to 100
  

I’ve been busy building new arenas and content for the full game, but I had time to put in some improvements to the demo, too. Mostly focusing on signposting (literally!) to help players find features like matchmaking, inviting friends and joining the community.

[h2]🏪👥 Community Kiosk[/h2]

• Added a “Community” kiosk with dancing Discord Wumpus to help players find and join the BOTSU Discord Community (if you’re reading this and haven’t joined yet, what are you doing??!!)
  
• Moved Custom Match kiosk further away as it is not enabled in the demo. Community kiosk takes its place.
  

[h2]🎮🖼️ Controls Billboard[/h2]

• Added controls screen billboard to home space to help new players and show extra controls that are not in the tutorial.
  

[h2]🙋‍♂️🙋‍♀️ Play with Friends[/h2]

• “Connect” kiosk renamed to “Play with Friends”, shows how many are online, and now takes you to Steam friend invite screen.
  

[h2]🏪🚆Matchmaking Train Signs[/h2]

• Added A-board signs to tell players how to join an online match via matchmaking.
  
• Improved position and visibility of the matchmaking train sign.
  
• Matchmaking train sign now says “arriving” when the train is arriving, and “boarding” when it has arrived.
  

[h2]🖼️❤️ Wishlist Billboards[/h2]

• Added some billboards in the home space to encourage players to wishlist BOTSU on Steam. Thanks everyone who has wishlisted already! it helps others find the game, which really helps me out!! 🙏
  

💬Find out more behind the scenes on the BOTSU Discord or via social media: https://linktr.ee/botsu.game

[h2]⚽ Boxball[/h2]

• Boxball travelling explosion now destroys attached grappling hooks, so the travelling and grab times are enforced for grappling hooks.
  

[h2]🤼 Sumo[/h2]

• Increased sumo starting booster fuel from half tank to full tank.
  
• Fixed lava disappearing sometimes for joined players.
  

[h2]🥊Boosting & Grabbing After Taking Hits[/h2]

• Boosting is now interrupted by taking hits, for 0.66s.
  
• Boost cooldown time after taking hits reduced from 2s to 0.66s.
  
• Grab cooldown time after taking hits reduced from 1s to 0.66s.
  

[h2]🏠 Home Area[/h2]

• Added gadgets to home playground area. Can you find all 4?
  
• Added booster fuel to the home area.
  
• Added shadows for lights inside the train carriage.
  
• Train signs now say “Matchmaking” to make it clearer.
  
• Added a train sign when leaving tutorial.
  
• Train now comes out of a dark, dark tunnel.
  
• Fixed some missing collision on the train carriage doors.
  
• Upgraded beach ball.
  

[h2]🎬 Replays[/h2]

• Fixed corrupt replay recordings if joined a match (when not a host).
  
• Fixed bug where recent replay recordings do not get cleared from disk unless opening the replay menu.
  

[h2]💾 Player Progress Save Backups[/h2]

• Fixed bug where the game cannot start if the player save data had been corrupted due to a crash.
  
• If player save data becomes corrupt, it will now use very frequent backups, and a less frequent backup on startup to ensure that the player save data is recovered without losing a lot of progress.
  
• Added confirmation and error messages when renaming a player profile.