Contraption Maker: Now with Multiplayer!

16 Desember 2013

Alpha 4 is out there and ready to go! This update's main focus is mainly one thing, but it's big. We now have cooperative multiplayer. This took a lot of effort from everyone involved, so things like more usability improvements had to take a little bit of a backseat this time. Also, Kevin is hard at work on some low level fixes that will allow some awesome, much needed features like cut & paste. This work isn't quite done yet though, so that will be coming in our next major update. Enjoy a bunch of new sound effects, new scenery pieces, and real time cooperative multiplayer!

This feature has been on our list for a long time, and it's so exciting to finally get version 1.0 out there. In this very first version of multiplayer, you can create or join a server and build cooperatively with people. This behaves almost exactly like the current "make" mode, but you can play together with up to 7 other people.

This is a very exciting first step. Sean and Keith put some amazing work into this over the last month, and their effort really shows. It may open up the door for future types of online play like puzzle solving or a versus mode. Join some friends, or build with fellow community members and let us know what you think!


Contraption Maker is now much less silent. New sounds have been added for the following parts:

• Whistle
  
• Solar panel
  
• Lawn mower motor
  
• Cat-o-matic
  
• Egg timer
  
• Generator
  
• Lasers
  
• Anti-grav pad
  
• Cannon
  
• Balloon pop
  
• Scissors
  
• Bellows
  
• Egg break
  
• Fish bowl
  
• Mechanical trampoline
  
• Ray gun
  
• Toaster
  
• Vacuum

A new winter themed set of holiday scenery has been added. Play around with snowballs, igloos, and candy canes.

In addition to a number of bug fixes that can be found HERE, a few new features are worthy of giving a little bit more attention:

• Auto-save backup: After you save a contraption for the first time in make mode, it will now auto-save every 60 seconds. If the game crashes, or you quit without saving, you will have a backup. When reloading a contraption, we check to see if there is a newer auto-save. If there is, you are given the option to load the new version, or your older saved version.
  
• Creatures: Adjustments have been made to Tim and his fellow animals. Waldo and Milton will now angle themselves with walls as they walk up them, creatures will now work correctly on conveyor belts, and Tim now has a faster running state that he can be set to. Some of these changes may affect how your contraptions with creatures behave, so be sure to check them out and make any adjustments needed.
  
• Official puzzle tweaks: Tweaks have been made to some of the official puzzles to remove some of the more crazy exploits.
  
• Text field improvements: You can now move around in text fields with the arrow keys. If you make a spelling error in the beginning of your puzzle description, you no longer have to delete everything in front of it.

Because of the heavy focus on getting multiplayer to work, there are sadly no new official puzzles in this update. However, there are starting to be a lot of really great community puzzles. I strongly encourage everyone to check out puzzles by community member Makies Okami. They are a puzzle machine, submitting over 50 awesome puzzles to the workshop so far. We will continue to create more official puzzles, but in the meantime, you can give Makies Okami's workshop a visit!

Contraption Maker Alpha 3 Released

14 November 2013

Alright, here it is: Alpha 3! Even more parts for you to play with, some new puzzles, and a lot of usability fixes to make building your contraptions a much smoother process. Grab the latest update from Steam, or buy the Early Access to start playing this awesome new build!

13 new parts have been added, a big portion of which are lasers and their associated parts.

• Egg: The egg can roll around and be thrown around your contraptions. If it falls too far or gets hit to hard it will break. Try to throw it as far as you can without breaking it.
  
• Egg Timer: Set a time and then hit the button on the top or bottom. When time is up, the hand will give a poke.
  
• Lawn Mower Motor: Attach a rope and pull the starter. The mower will run forever.
  
• Bellows: Hit the bellows with a ball to give a one time gust of wind.
  
• Steve the Crocodile: Steve just hangs out and eats whatever comes his way. If he can't eat it, he will toss it up in the air.
  
• Phil the Fish: Phil swims around in his bowl. If you break the bowl, it will attract Waldo.
  
  
  Lasers
  Lasers and associated parts have been added. This is the very first version of lasers, and they do not have final art, but they are functional.
  
• RGB Lasers: Standard lasers come in red, green, and blue. They must be plugged in to turn on.
  
• RGB Inverse Lasers: Inverse lasers turn on by default. If the sensor on the back is hit by another laser, it will turn off.
  
• Mirror: Bounce lasers around with mirrors.
  
• Splitter: This will split one laser into two.
  
• Laser Outlet: An outlet powered by laser input.
  
• Mixer: Mix two lasers to make a new color.
  
• Repeater: Extends the reach of a laser. It can also have a delay applied to how long it takes to turn on and off.

A smaller update than last time, but there are 10 new official puzzles. These are all categorized as easy. As we have watched many people play the game, they have asked for easier puzzles to help ease them into the game. We will add more hard puzzles eventually, but until then there are plenty of awesome, hard puzzles in the Workshop.


No new scenery sets, but the forest and underwater sets have had more parts added to them. Enjoy playing with new trees, cabins, shipwrecks, and more.


A number of usability improvements have made the game easier to use. The biggest change is how ropes and belts are handled. Ropes and belts can now be selected directly instead of having to first select the part they are attached to. Also, when holding a rope or a belt, all possible attach points are shown to make it easier to see what can be attached to.

This is just a small sample of what has been improved and fixed. Check out this FORUM POST for a full list of changes.

There were a number of part changes and physics changes that may affect how your current contraptions run. Some are simple, such as the fuse being moved on the cannon.

However, there were some changes made that fixed a number of physics determinism issues. These are needed changes which help make sure contraptions run the same every time on all sorts of different computers. There is a chance that it can affect some contraptions though, so it would be a good idea to run through your current contraptions to update them.