Hey everyone, we’re back to talk about what we’ve been up to in April, what we’re going to get up to in May, and other topics!
May Events
We’ve got more fun events lined up for you all in May! Once again, be sure to let us know what events you want to see in the game. We really appreciate any input you all have on these. We’ve also made a thread to keep track of any suggestions you have here.
Makeship Campaign Over!
The Cornelius and Birb Makeship plush campaign was a success! You guys rock! We sold 726 plushes, and we are so grateful for everyone’s support with the campaign. They’re now being made, so if you bought a plush, keep an eye out for more info on shipping from Makeship in the coming months!
Keep an eye out for future merch collaborations with Makeship as well!
Bumper Cars Update
During April we were hard at work on the Bumper Cars update!
As Bumper Cars is a Plaza attraction, it was a tricky process to work on and test as we have to work on the large main Plaza level. Working on that level can often bring about issues with lighting and other parts of the game that are inter-connected, but Bumper Cars is finally released!
We’re so glad it’s finally out to you all, and its been awesome to see you all having fun with it. We also got a hot fix out to resolve any issues that popped up along the way.
What’s Next?
These are the big features on our minds post-Bumper Cars:
- Minigolf SDK
- Ball Race SDK
- Workshop Sound Packs
- New Workshop Rig
- Transit Station Optimizations/Art Pass
- Arcade, SDNL, & Game World Maps
Minigolf SDK
We’re shifting our focus to completing the Minigolf SDK, which will allow players to create custom Minigolf maps! It’s an ambitious feature, but it’s going to be fun for you all and also help give us streamlined tools when making Minigolf maps in the future!
During April, progress has been made on various features of the Minigolf: SDK, such as:
- curved ramp tool
- side shifter tool
- improvements and additional features for existing tools
- half pipe tool
- s-bend tool
We’re in the final stretch of creating all of the assets for the Minigolf editor, and just need to finish up some additional tools as well as setting it all up.
Like we’ve said before, these Minigolf tools require a lot more work than other Game World Map tools, and we have to balance what we’re working on between the different projects going on. But, we’re making a lot of progress with it!
Ball Race SDK
We are also working on getting the Ball Race SDK out, which comes with its own tools, such as a spline platform tool (Canvas Spline Mesh), custom music support (with ogg), and leaderboards for Workshop maps.
For leaderboards, we are planning a way to create staff-approved leaderboards for SDK maps which will work the same as our normal leaderboards but tied to the Workshop map. This process will be similar to the staff-approved unit payouts that both Minigolf and Ball Race will require. The staff-approved process will be done by us tagging a Workshop map as “Unit Approved” and then the unit payouts & leaderboards will be enabled for that map. This is planned so we can ensure maps are made fairly and not just for unit boosting.
Workshop Sound Packs
We’re really excited to share we’ve been working on Workshop Sound Packs. These will allow players to upload custom sound packs to the Workshop to use in their Condos and SDK Maps! This feature should be available in the next update.
Workshop Rig
We’re also very close to finishing a guide for the new Workshop rig and putting some finishing touches on implementing it in the game, and that will be coming out very soon as well.
Transit Station Optimization/Art Pass
We also wanted to share that we’ve been doing optimization work as well as an art pass on the Transit station, which will improve performance and visuals.
Arcade, SDNL, and Game World Maps
We’ve gotten started on implementing voice lines for SDNL, but, since working on the Boardwalk, we’ve also been talking about shifting gears and getting some work done on the Arcade as we discussed at the beginning of the year. These discussions have been about finishing games that have artwork, adding new games, and doing optimization work.
There has already been progress on that optimization work, mainly reducing server-side CPU calculations to help with server performance.
Game World Maps are still always in development and waiting for an opportunity for testing and release, and we’re experimenting with some fun ideas for upcoming ones that we’re excited to see come to fruition.
Backend Work / Organization
There’s a couple of things we wanted to touch base on in regard to backend work.
In previous Dev Updates, we brought up the Patron rewards as well as Dedicated Condos work. Patron rewards have had some delays as we were prioritizing a new ban appeal system that will better streamline our moderation process, and dedicated Condos have had delays due to Plaza Optimization work mentioned above. You should see progress on both soon.
We’ve also been working on more thoroughly going through and organizing our forum backlog of bug reports, crashes and other game issues, as well as suggestions. We may ask for some feedback from you all to help us out with narrowing down existing issues in a survey some time, so keep an eye out for that.
That’s gonna do it for this Dev Update, thanks for reading!
<3
PixelTail Games
