Hello and welcome to the 2024 State of the Game for Tower Unite!
This State of the Game post will include some of our plans for the game in 2024 as well as an overview of what developments were made in 2023.
STATE OF THE GAME
We want to get to the fun parts, but it’s important to mention that we are in need of financial support to keep the game going!
We’ve made a post about financial support as well as an upcoming increase to the price of the game.
This post can be found here.
That being said, we have some fun stuff on the road ahead for 2024!
This year we want to hone in on some areas that will keep Tower Unite around for years to come, and we want get to work on the next long-awaited projects!
So this year, there’s a focus on some popular favorites, user generated content, and other goals we’ve been working towards.
Some of the areas of the game that are at the forefront of our minds as we start this year are:
- Minigolf Maps
- Workshop & Modding Tools
- Bumper Cars
- Arcade Games
- Weekend Events
- VR Support
- Dedicated Condo Servers
- Horror Hill Development
- In-Development Projects
Note: We’ll be linking to our Trello pages which will be updated with more accurate information in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for that.
Some more information on where we are with some of these:
New Minigolf Maps!
Minigolf is a favorite of Tower Unite players and we have been wanting to get back to developing maps for it for a while. Based on the positive player responses from the survey, the 18-hole release of Mushroom Wood was an awesome start last year!
With the new year ahead, we’ve buckled down and started development on a new Minigolf map, Minigolf: Nostalgia. There’s already been substantial progress on the map, and you can follow along with development here.
Any further map ideas are still behind the scenes!
Workshop & Modding Support
This includes:
- Workshop maps for Game Worlds
- Workshop Custom Sounds
- Custom Workshop Items (colorables, media player, Libretro support)
With SDNL’s release last year, we tested the waters for user-generated Game World Maps by giving players access to the Workshop Map SDK.
We were not surprised to see the awesome, creative content that popped up from it! Any participation helped us figure out how this feature can be feasible.
This year we are getting to work on fleshing out Workshop Game World map creation past this very early state, expanding it to more Game Worlds, and releasing it in a more proper update.
We are also planning on expanding the TU Workshop to offer other features such as custom sound packs and more complex item types!
Arcade Development
We’ve been doing some planning for the Arcade, and we’d like to get out some new games in smaller updates, rather than a full “Phase”.
We’re still ironing out the details on what games we want to jump in to, and some planned games may get scrapped, simplified, or otherwise reworked in order to accommodate our abilities as such a small team.
Some of the next Arcade games we’re thinking about developing include air hockey, the standalone Shooting Gallery, some of the 2D games, as well as unannounced games.
We’ll keep you posted in the dev logs with more info!
Dedicated Condo Servers
We’ve started development on dedicated Condo servers!
This means that Condo hosts will be able to leave their Condos up for others to join at any time, even if the host isn’t actively in the server.
If other players have permissions, they will even be able to edit and decorate the Condo as though it was a normal Co-Op Condo!
More Weekend Events
This year, expect to see some more variety in the weekend events, such as more Game World specific events, more Plaza events, and more themed map events.
We plan to start rolling these out as soon as we can. There are only a few more tasks that need to be done to make this happen.
Bumper Cars & Boardwalk Games
The 2023 Boardwalk updates have gotten us that much closer to focusing on Bumper Cars, a feature promised on the original TU Indiegogo campaign!
And development is on-going! You can check out the Trello page for it here.
We also have plans for several more Boardwalk Games to be added!
VR Support Progress
VR support has always been a hefty side project, and we won’t stop development on it!
If you’d like to see the current progress for VR, check out our Trello here.
Horror Hill Development
With SDNL finally in the game, the next game world we will work on is Horror Hill.
It’s in the planning and concept stage at this point, but, as we knock out some of these other projects, we’ll soon be at a point where it will be our main focus!
One thing we are very excited for is our plans to have Workshop SDK support for creating your own monsters!
If you want to see Horror Hill progress, here is its Trello page.
Other In-Development Projects
We know there is a lot going on in the development of Tower Unite, and we have not at all forgotten about the projects that are already in development that may not have been mentioned here.
Although we are shifting gears to certain areas of the game at the start of this year, development will still continue on other projects.
Still expect map updates, bug fixes, implementations of backlogged content, and all of the other usual stuff that comes with Tower Unite.
We have a lot of stuff that we want to get into the game and are getting our bearings as we start this year, so we appreciate your patience!
Now, let’s look back at 2023!
In 2023, Tower Unite had 28 releases, including 15 major updates and 13 hot fixes!
Below is a summary of the major releases over the past year! Full lists of changes can be found on the change logs for each update.
Cardboard Castle and Condo I/O Phase Two
To kick off the year, in January, we released a new toy-themed map for Little Crusaders, Cardboard Castle!
We added new Condo I/O features such as:
- the ability to activate variables
- the toggle module
- counters
- timers
- and color palettes!
Box Selection was added to Condos, allowing players to more easily select multiple items at once.
Tower Unite x Libretro + Lightguns & Touchscreens
In February, we were able to release a feature we’d been keeping under wraps for a while: Libretro support for Tower Unite!
This release added 19 gaming console items into Tower Unite, all of which have Libretro support that allows a player to emulate games within their Condo!
The items include handheld devices, home consoles, and arcade cabinets. The arcade cabinet items have lots of Canvas capabilities so players can display images to make realistic looking arcade cabinets with custom art!
In March, lightgun, touchscreen, and keyboard support was added for items using Libretro, as well as 6 more compatible console items and other changes!
Mushroom Wood Update
Also in March, we released the updated, 18-hole version of Minigolf: Mushroom Wood (formerly known as Dark)!
More work on the very early stages of VR support, such as the VR menu and some SteamVR input support, was implemented in this update.
Tower Unite Anniversary Events Update
April marked the return of the Anniversary Celebrations events! New items were added along with the event festivities, and Accelerate and Little Crusaders payout increases were implemented!
Catzek Temple Update
April also brought the release of the the Virus map Catzek Temple! It’s the largest map so far in Virus, and offers interesting ways to strategize against your opponents, including the addition of jump pads!
Heavenscape Update
Towards the end of May, Ball Race: Heavenscape released!
The update came with with various changes, including the Condo quick-save button and updates to the server browser and server lists.
Summer Cleanup Update
In June, we released the Summer Cleanup update! This update brought changes and fixes to various areas of the game, including:
- Improved Netcode and Prediction & Animation Optimizations
- Changes to drifting, turning, and the camera in Accelerate
- Media player connectivity
- Custom spawn points for Condos
- Canvas/Surface rotation
- and more!
SDNL (Slaughterday Night Live) Beta Release
One of our major goals this year was to wrap up development on and release a new game world, SDNL, and it finally came out at the end of August!
It’s a fast paced arena shooter with 12 different game types to play, each offering different gameplay.
It released with 3 maps:
Frostbite
Meadows
and Hinderance!
With this update, there were several SDNL balancing Hot Fixes, as well as the addition of the Water Volume for Condos!
Decommission Update
In late September, SDNL: Decommission released! Decommission is a rework of the Virus map Corrosion designed for SDNL.
Among other things, this update also added Condo sounds and lasers! Over 50 new sounds were added, as well as laser beams that can be activated through Condo I/O!
Halloween 2023 Events + Boardwalk Carnival Expansion
The Halloween 2023 events started in October with the usual festivities and some new items!
A second update brought with it the long-awaited Boardwalk Expansion, the Haunted Catsack, more new items, and the Dark Co-Op weekend event!
Container Ship
In November, SDNL: Container Ship was released! On this beached freighter map, players can maneuver through (or over!) shipping containers to fight their way to the win!
There were also some changes to achievement payouts and other fixes and optimizations in this update!
Winter Holidays Update 2023
December brought the Winter Holidays update for 2023! This was a huge update that expanded on the existing Winter Holiday events, added MIDI support, introduced the new boardwalk renovations, and a lot more!
Holly Jolly Highway Update
The final update of the year was the Holly Jolly Highway Update! It added a new festive and snowy map to Accelerate, as well as much needed optimizations, bug fixes, and other changes.
That concludes the State of the Game post for this year!
Be sure to keep up with developments on our Trello, Steam, and Dev Logs!