5 August

Patch notes for the Gang Beasts 0.4.1 “unstable” build

The list of modifications and fixes made in the 0.4.1 "unstable" alpha build are:

• fixed Yogscast Charity DLC costumes
  
• fixed an issue with characters not spawning randomly
  
• fixed an issue with the placeholder loading screen not dismissing when joining a game as a spectator
  
• modified the default game mode to 3 round wins (to win the stage)
  
• modified the game architecture to improve stability
  
• modified the placeholder loading screen to show the keyboard input reference if mouse inputs are used to start the game
  
• modified the spectating system to spectate until the the current stage ends (spectating players join the game when the current stage ends)
  
• modified the master server to prepare support for additional server geographies (in Asia Pacific, Europe, India, and South America)

Please note there is no "stable" alpha build release with this post (the next stable release will be published when more optimisations and fixes have been made to the 0.4.x builds).


To download the ‘unstable’ branch on Steam right-click on the ‘Gang Beasts’ game name on the Steam library page and select 'Properties' from the window that opens, from this window select the 'BETAS' tab and then the 'unstable' option from the dropdown menu (the menu labelled 'Select the beta you would like to opt into:’. To revert back to the last 'stable' branch select 'NONE- Opt out of all beta programs' from the same menu.

For reference switching between 'unstable' and 'stable' branches of the game forces the selected build to download to the Steam client (replacing the previously selected build).

29 July

Information on the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha build and the end of the online beta

For the last month we have been working with Coatsink to implement online support in the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha build (published with this post). The information in this post summarise a number of the key differences between the 0.3.4 'unstable' and the 0.4.0 'unstable' builds.

The structure of the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha build has been significantly modified from the previous 0.3.4 'unstable' alpha build to include placeholder information screens and other planned content and some content is temporarily disabled, specifically the debug spawning commands, the ‘waves’ game mode, and the 'buoy', ‘chute’, ’containers’, and ’fans’ stages (this content needs additional work before it is restored).

In the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha build there are 4 online stages playable and 12 local stages, the online stages are:

• grind
  
• ring
  
• trucks
  
• subway

the local stages are:

• billboards
  
• blimp
  
• elevators
  
• girders
  
• gondola
  
• grind
  
• incinerator
  
• ring
  
• subway
  
• towers
  
• trucks
  
• wheel

The 'buoy', ‘chute’, ’containers’, and ’fans’ stages and the ‘waves’ game mode will be restored to ‘unstable’ builds in a coming build.

Downloading 'unstable' builds
The instructions for updating from 0.3.1, 0.3.2, 0.3.3, and 0.3.4 builds to the 0.4.0. 'unstable' alpha build are:

• right-click on the Gang Beasts game name on the Steam library page
  
• select “Properties” from the window that opens
  
• from the Properties window select the “BETAS” tab and then the 'unstable' option from the dropdown menu

To revert to the default Early Access branch select 'NONE- Opt out of all beta programs' from the same dropdown menu.

The rest of this post is a series of paragraphs with current information and summaries on what progress has been made to date on content for the game.

Default game mode
The default game mode in the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha has modified win logic for the default game mode (winning scenarios is currently set to 3 wins to test stage cycling) to let player play in all rounds, the old game logic will be restored in a coming build.

0.3.4 and 0.3.1
The 0.3.4 ‘unstable’ alpha build has replaced the previous default 0.3.1 alpha build, please move from the ‘unstable’ to the default branches to continue playing with the debug spawning commands, the ‘waves’ game mode, and the ‘chute’, ’containers’, and ’fans’ stages until this content can be restored to the ‘unstable’ branch.

Online Beta
The signup process for the online beta ended at the start of July, the online beta itself is scheduled to end and be removed from Steam on Friday 5 August 2016 at 23:59 GMT (as support for online game modes is now included in the 0.4.0 Steam Early Access ’unstable’ alpha build).

Private Servers
Support for hosting private servers will be released when the 0.4.0 build and server implementation has been tested and made stable in August.

Couch mode
Support for playing online with 1-4 local players (players on the same system) has been tested internally and will be added for testing in a coming build.

Linux Support
Currently there is no Linux version of the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha build, we plan to make a Linux build available in August.

Servers
Currently the 0.4.0 'unstable' alpha supports servers in the following geographies:

• US East (N.Virginia)
  
• US West (N. California)
  
• US West (Oregon)
  
• EU (Ireland)
  
• Asia Pacific (Sydney)

we will be working to add servers in the following geographies in August:

• EU (Frankfurt)
  
• South America (São Paulo)
  
• Asia Pacific (Tokyo)
  
• Asia Pacific (Singapore)
  
• Asia Pacific (Seoul)

Xinput
There is no setting to enable or disable Xinput support in the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha build currently (this will be restored in a patch release soon). For reference the 0.4.0 build shares preference settings with the 0.3.4 build and defaults to the current XInput setting used for the 0.3.4 build and some earlier builds (a temporary solution for enabling or disabling XInput support is to switch to the 0.3.4 build and use it to enable or disable XInput then revert to the 0.4.0 build).