• Tiny Toy trial added to Playground
  
• Three new outfits added to the reward container “Barbarian”,”Rockabilly”, and “Elf”
  
• New Tiny Toy pickups added throughout worlds, pick them up to become tiny
  
• Fixed cached jumping bonus from incorrectly triggering from a stand still
  
• New brightness option that prevents the game from looking washed out when used
  
• Added emotes sounds
  
• Update surf slope detection, surf velocity when looking up slopes is now more natural allowing for a complete deceleration of your speed before sliding back down the slope
  
• Update surf flick detection, surf flicks better detect when flicking away from a surf surface
  
• Most rock pillars are now marked as convex to reduce issues where players lose speed on them
  
• Optimized texture streaming
  
• Fixed some blurry UI elements
  
• Updated in-game Course Selection UI text layer sounds
  
• Fixed bug where any object could trigger the Basketball Hoop confetti effect. Now triggers with basketballs only
  
• Removed Bell sound from Checkpoint Trail Arrival effect. Too confusing to read what its purpose was
  
• Added new Save Checkpoint sound
  
• Fixed bug where players could get a big boost of speed when disconnecting from a handhold immediately after grabbing it
  
• Players should no longer respawn at trials they pass without activating them when exploring the overworld
  
• Prevent bad text when translation mods contain excessive poedit headers
  
• Reduce glitchiness when picking up pogo
  
• Fixed bushes in lava of Playground
  
• Collectible cards are now easier to see in game
  
• Optimized lighting in Tutorial for improved framerate
  
• Optimized lighting in Mastery for improved framerate
  
• Disabled some sounds on online players causing performance issues

• Fixed multi-part replays (e.g. Mastery and Pogo)
  
• Fixed missing item strings
  
• Fixed reward decal art
  
• Apply tiny toy soundscape to overworld tinytoy
  
• Don’t drop pogo/tinytoy when paused
  
• Fix wacky arms in buddy mode animation
  
• Fixed occasionally missing local player audio

New modkit build 303963 is live:

• Split modkit into two packages to make importing new updates faster
  
• modkit_readme.pdf updated with instructions for new import process
  
• Add MustLastSecondJump/NoLastSecondJumps skill tags
  
• Switch to Lava/Reality buttons put players into separate online “worlds” so players in lava world don’t see players in reality world
  
• Open workshop legal agreement URL in browser if user needs to accept it
  
• Prevent flood of errors after failing to connect to steam
  
• Fix “Upload” button is sometimes missing in “modify mod” screen
  
• Fix “Add ItemKeys” generating Grabbables that couldn’t be picked up (wrong layer)
  
• Fix “Trigger Volume Fixer” applying wrong layer to volumes

Tomorrow we are ending the current phase of beta and with that we will be closing sales for the game until the next phase is ready. We have received tons of invaluable feedback from the community that has had an immeasurable impact on the game. Our path forward is now clear and we need to take some time to make the changes required to make sure we deliver the best experience possible.

Development of Hot Lava will continue to operate as it has been and no significant changes to the development of the game have been made.

• Those that have already purchased will continue to own Hot Lava and be able to play throughout development, as well as the final game when it releases
  
• We will still provide periodic updates, allowing you to test the latest features and content
  
• Updates will have a general focus on overall structural and systematic changes, and will be less focused on player retention and marketing
  
• Sales will resume when we are ready to expand to a larger audience
  
• We still absolutely welcome your continued feedback and suggestions

I want to once again thank everyone for all the love and support you have shown over the open beta phase, and I can’t wait to show you what we are working on next!

-Mark

• Reset leaderboard and retired all times across all levels
  
• Added 60 presents across wholesale and school that lead to a special holiday award
  
• “A Sue Nami Christmas” book added to Collections
  
• Temporary holiday item: “Holiday Hat”
  
• New items: Cat Paw, Viking Shield, Robin Hood, Robin Hood Hat, Compass, Paper Crane, Throwing Axe, Watch
  
• You can now sell duplicate stickers and followers
  
• Revised surf logic:
  
  • Unified exit angle to allow for proper flicks
    
  • No longer punishes horizontal velocity when leaving a surf
    
  • Unified jump and flick exits from surf objects
    
  • Crouch or downward exits avoid jump logic
    
  • Energy preserving surfing
    
  • Minimum surf speed of 2m/s
    
  • Fixed audio on surf exists
• Added seasonal set dressing to Menu
  
• Holiday changes to School
  
• Re-tuned blown out lighting in courtyard of School
  
• Improved texture streaming, increased visual quality across different options
  
• Fixed issue with camera popping on some landing
  
• Slightly tweaked Grace Jump audio feedback
  
• Fix pause menu course list scrolling to work with gamepad
  
• Reduce amount of texture memory for UI
  
• Fix course timer getting stuck at 99:99.99.99
  
• Fixed object interactivity issue when dying while holding an object
  
• Replays no longer explode when a cooldown death occurs
  
• Pogos no longer show timer in lobby
  
• Fix bug allowing throwing in third person
  
• Make quit option on mod maps match action: “Quit To Menu”
  
• Make bottom buttons adapt to long translated strings in main menu and course complete leaderboard
  
• Disabled grab in taunts
  
• Fixed gamma popping bug
  
• Checkpoint effect disabled on restart
  
• Improved mouse sampling precision
  
• Blocked some lame shortcuts in Playground
  
• Tweaked trash can to locker jump in Middle School Mischief
  
• Tweaked rock to locker jump in Senior Trip
  
• Tweaked school pursuit locker placement
  
• Added force field to block players from entering cafeteria in Pogo #1
  
• Fixed floor tagging in Mastery Gym to sound like a Hardwood Gym floor
  
• Fixed wind tunnel exit logic causing sound and physics changes to stay active
  
• Collision fixes in mastery gym honors course
  
• Tune wholesale all course challenge time to be harder
  
• General performance improvements

• Fixed issue where those who collected presents were unable to play the game
  
• Presents now have more friction and are sticky like doggo when they land
  
• POI crash issue fixed
  
• Fixed z fighting with courtyard and hallway in school
  
• Fixed hole in floor in Soc class
  
• Fixed update timer
  
• Fixed missing kill trigger on new barbed wire
  
• Fixed incorrect ticket counts in wholesale
  
• Fixed issue where surf behaved differently for one jump when going through a teleporter (in Mastery)

• Fixed present collection strings to be more descriptive
  
• Fixed issue where some users did not redeem the presents for the award
  
• Fixed potential crash issue in Tiny Toy
  
• Fixed voice chat issue
  
• Increased friction of presents
  
• Fixed some instances of asphalt chunks killing velocity at high speeds
  
• Remaining cases will be fixed in next major patch

Hot Lava has two new exciting "construction" themed maps available on the workshop!

By: RUMMEE

RUMME returns with another awesome map- complete with overworld and multiple challenging courses. Put on a hard hate and head to the Construction Area!



https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1567270968
By: Nacho Penguin



More on the zany-side of things, Construction Site features some fresh takes on gameplay and hazard. Put on some steel toed boots and head to the Construction Site!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1562052055

• Added Full Course Marathon to School and Wholesale
  
• Added ‘Laser Knight’ item set
  
• Added intractable Pogo Sticks to various Overworld areas
  
• Fixed rocks crashing through doors in School Overworld
  
• Players can no longer boost while crouch jumping
  
• Reduced jump height when crouch jumping
  
• Optimized rendering to use LDR path with same visual quality
  
• Re-enabled texture streaming with improved settings
  
• Updated surface detection when surfing, surfing should be more consistent near edges. Players should no longer wrap around edges when leaving an object
  
• Flicking your camera vertically off surf objects should more reliably send you vertical again
  
• Prompt non-english users to find language mods after they click Play
  
• School: Added force fields to prevent skips in courses Senior Trip and Tiny Toy
  
• Fixed animation pop when leaving surf
  
• Fixed bug where the game would think you were falling when on certain steep angles causing the player to slip unexpectedly
  
• Added barbed wire to tops of chain link fence sections of basketball court in playground
  
• Fixed camera popping when crouch jumping
  
• Massively reduced shader variants, faster loading and reduced memory usage
  
• Revised Trial art to make Trial icons easier to see
  
• Courses in the pause menu are now in a scrolling list to prevent them from going off screen in mod levels
  
• Show "new" on collections when you have something inside
  
• Add translatable “big text mode” for comics
  
• Make Lava Facts translatable
  
• Make Collections screen translatable
  
• Fixed player death reasons to be translatable again
  
• Improve gamepad support in menus
  
• Fixed missing audio when trading in sticker sheets
  
• Fixed low res stickersheets in potato
  
• Fixed missing confirm dialog in main menu’s options
  
• Fire VFX optimization pass
  
• Explain what SSAA is when you turn it on to avoid unexpectedly bad performance
  
• Adjusted magnetism when leaving a surf object to prevent players from re-connecting to surf at extremely shallow angles
  
• Fixed multiple issues in playground structures that the player can get stuck in a crouch
  
• Optimized small bushes in School and Playground
  
• Fixed missing kill trigger in a section of the lava
  
• Better collision on small asphalt chunks in playground
  
• Blocked off boosting exploit in playground near second checkpoint
  
• Upgraded assets and new set dressing in ‘Coming Soon’ areas of Playground
  
• Show what you unlocked when you collect all the cards in a level
  Fix NameOverride to be optional again on mod maps (no modkit change required)
  
• Performance improvement (reduce garbage from timer)
  
• Lighting performance optimization in Wholesale and School
  
• Added audio to Pinny and Rusty
  
• Revised follower behavior logic
  
• Minor enhancement to player movement audio
  
• Fixed several pink “missing shader” issues with legacy mod maps
  
• This list was really long so I stopped adding things

We are planning on retiring times across all courses and trials (tentatively on Friday). The player controller and maps have changed drastically since Hot Lava's inception and old times are no longer comparable. This will let everyone compete on a more fair and even playing field.

• Fixed school portal not activating in courtyard

• Fixed some mod maps looking “blown out”
  
• Fixed Gamma slider not working
  
• Surf changes to make 'flicking' more consistent and satisfying
  
• Fix to correctly remove crouch boosts
  
• Pinny text fixed
  
• Pinny no longer spams a message every single time you die
  
• Fixed hole in terrain of Playground by the back of the level
  
• Improved performance when restarting a course
  
• Fix broken gamepad/keyboard navigation in pause menu course list
  
• Fixed issue with finish line checkpoints highlighting incorrectly
  
• General performance improvements
  
• Fixed bug with watching “all courses” replays
  
• Progress bar is now green instead of yellow in pursuit and all course modes

• Playground world added. Playground bridges the skill gap between Tutorial and School, providing a more free form and accessible experience to new players. One trial, one course, and card collections are available in this patch, 5 additional courses and several trials will be released over time
  
• Added sticker sheet trade-in. Collect full sets of stickers and earn special rare rewards
  
• Added readable comic art for School, Wholesale and (partially)
  Playground. These are earned by finding the six hidden comic pages in each world
  
• Increased player ground acceleration speed from 1 second to 0.8 seconds
  
• Many equipped items now show in first person
  
• Preserve character rotation interpolation for smoother rotations at frame rates above 60 fps
  
• Added two rare followers earned through the sticker sheet system, Rusty and Pinny
  
• Added new Vertical Spinnable climbable object type. This object is similar to the vertical pipe climbs in school, but you can spin around it horizontally like a fire pole
  
• Added texture streaming support. It should now be easier to play on higher quality settings
  
• Fixed surf bug where players would sometimes not move the direction they’re facing when jumping from a surf object
  
• Fixed surf bug where players could stack speed indefinitely by jumping.
• Players will now average their forward momentum with the jump height and regain it when landing back on a surf object
  
• Fixed news image compression on Potato
  
• Fixed trials not appearing in level select challenge lists
  
• Fixed several lobster traps and visual glitches in school
  
• Fix for replay models not having ghost shader applied after death
  
• Fixed lightmaps in Intro
  
• Fixed issue with missing atmospheric fog
  
• Smoothed out initial attach to climables. This fixes many deaths associated to attaching from a parallel direction
  
• Fixed issue where breakables would burn in lava after each death. This will reduce the likelihood of a deferred lag spike 5-6 seconds after dying
  
• Hands now properly IK to vertical climbables in a pleasant fashion
  
• Hands on vertical climbables are now spaced correctly for the width of the climbable
  
• School is now unlocked through progression
  
• Disabled Halloween event

• Fixed dark lighting in Medium and High Quality settings (Potato is still dark)
  
• Fixed several collision issues in Playground
  
• Fixed several instances of missing shadows in Playground
  
• Fixed issue with score ordering the first time you complete a course
  
• Removed ball in lava world that looked like you could jump on it
  
• Fixed menu rank vertical alignment
  
• Fixed player rank when playing offline
  
• Fixed issue where a sold sticker could still be equipped

• Disabled texture streaming for now- will re-enable after some tweaks
  
• Added collision to sand mounds when in lava mode
  
• Fixed up collisions on asphalt pillars (convex)
  
• Fixed flickering sidewalks
  
• Fixed sections of lava poking through concrete
  
• Fixed collision between asphalt and grass in overworld
  
• Enabled platform light for better visibility on top of platforms
  
• Fixed lighting errors (bad lightmaps)

• Fixed missing sidewalk in Playground
  
• Fix “!” on item you no longer own if you trade in the stickers before you check your toy shelf
  
• Fix placement previews for Pinny to look like Pinny instead of cube
  
• Fixed grass poking through Lava by lava falls
  
• Fixed lights being incorrectly disabled on potato mode causing poor performance or dark scenes
  
• Fix for double level load and nonstop out of bounds deaths
  
• Fixed dying while spectating to cause the camera to become detached and the players score reset

By: LavKib

Grab a candle- things are about to get dark!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1537536088

This map was made as part of a Hot Lava Discord community mapping challenge. Several other awesome Halloween themed maps are also available on the Workshop. So go get your spook on!

https://steamcommunity.com/app/382560/workshop/

• Players can now enable input display on the HUD through the gameplay setting ‘Display Input’
  
• Trials now count towards your player rank, your current rank will be adjusted accordingly.
  
• Completed Trials are now displayed in pause menu
  
• Worlds are now unlocked through player rank progression
  
• Fixed issue with jumping around while scrubbing through replays
  
• Fixed issue where watching a replay would reset your current run time
  
• Fixed issue where some objects did not bounce
  
• Updated to most recent version of audio engine
  
• Adjusting settings with keyboard/gamepad accelerates (you can turn up volume faster)
  
• Allow longer localized strings in Pause menu
  
• Allow translation of checkpoint and section progress
  
• Move “look who’s talking now” indicator out from under beta tag

• Added player rank (number of challenges completed) beside player names in game
  
• New multiplayer sync system dramatically reduces the amount of data sent to allow larger lobbies in the future
  
• Added new Angel costume
  
• Added SSAA anti-aliasing for high end graphics cards (1070/1080s)
  
• Fixed bloom
  
• Added new playset art
  
• Fix beakers misplaced in school atrium
  
• Workshop buttons (Custom Games and Languages) filter by their type
  
• Game defaults to Exclusive Full Screen for more performant default
  
• Fix rare error when pressing “G”
  
• Redesign or update football jersey, viking helmet, crossbow, dark star, laser sword models

• Updated modkit to use Unity 2018.2.8f1. You will need to download this version of Unity to use the latest modkit. For upgrading, I would strongly recommend starting a fresh project with the new modkit, and then copying over any scene or mesh data you want.
  
• Portals can select different game mode based on player’s held item. (Place GrabbableItem with KeyId=Red in world and add GameModeTweak with RequiredKey=Red to GameModeContainer.) This replaces how buddy mode used to work.
  
• Add named objects and NOT_PLAYER condition to ActivateTrigger

It’s that time of year. Pumpkins have been spotted throughout School and Wholesale. Smash all 100 for a treat!

• Upgraded core engine to Unity 2018. Major performance improvements
  
• Added checkpoint VFX that visually guides you to the next checkpoint
  
• Added new Devil outfit
  
• Thrown objects now bounce an appropriate amount
  
• Improved the consistency of surf by ensuring you leave the surface in the direction you are looking
  
• Added new distance fog on low-end graphics, greatly improves performance
  
• Fixed lava rocks in school that, at high speeds, caused players to abruptly stop
  
• Fixed angled mats in school gym causing movement issues
  
• Fixed floating mats in school gym
  
• Fixed jump animation not playing in low framerate situations
  
• School tweaks to reduce the difficulty in the acid section in course #5
  
• Lava world card in storage shelf of school kitchen is now easier to get
  
• Boost meter now has an effect letting you know when it has been maxed
  
• Players will exit surf in the direction they are looking more consistently
  
• Fix emote popup when selling duplicate emotes
  
• Fix no sound when clicking on emotes
  
• Switch between fullscreen modes in-game: exclusive, borderless, windowed.
  
• Fix course portal names were rarely untranslated
  
• Make more strings translatable
  
• Fix mixed up input axes strings
  
• Light map fix ups in School
  
• A touched pursuit object slows down if it gets too far away instead of killing you
  
• Add support for right-to-left translation mods
  
• Better translation mod error messages in output_log.txt
  
• Fix buddy not appearing in buddy replays (only fixes new replays)
  
• Leaderboards will now clean up removed friends after a short time
  
• Increased the LoD distance for certain grabbable items
  
• Fixed alignment issue when throwing items downward
  
• Hide items that are impossible to earn in Customize screen
  
• Checkpoint trail SFX
  
• Updated Boosting SFX

Hazard modeling the new football item set

As we are working hard on preparing Hot Lava for Early Access, I wanted to take some time to talk about some amazing things going on in the Hot Lava community.

Yesterday we added support for user created translations of Hot Lava, and in under 24 hours we have seen 'Russian', 'Spanish', 'Turkish' and even 'Pirate' translation mods appear on the workshop! If you are interested in helping translate Hot Lava to another language, details can be found on the Klei forums. To view translations as they are added visit the workshop

Through the Community Spotlight we have been highlighting some of the best and most accessible levels the community has been producing. But please know this is just the tip of the iceberg- the workshop is littered with plenty of other creative, surprising, and challenging maps!
View workshop maps

The Modkit is being updated today. Support for multi-course levels, game modes (like pogo), consistent export names (only retire leaderboard when you intend to), modkit friendly wall jumps and much more! It's strongly recommended that you install the modkit to a new project and port existing maps over to avoid corruption. We will continue to build on and improve the Modkit based on your feedback. The new modkit should go live in the next hour.

The speed running community for Hot Lava has become very competitive. Many world records have been secured by fractions of a second. A "Full School Run" tournament will be happening on the 22nd at 11am PST, 2pm EST, 7pm CET. The competition will be streamed on Twitch. If you think you have what it takes and want to sign up, or are just interested in following the competitive scene an event discord has been setup.

To show our appreciation towards the community we have added two award items. The Wrench and Crown. These items will be awarded for recipients of the Community Spotlight and the to the winners of select Community Competitions respectively. Those who were featured in previous spotlights have retroactively received this award. Thank you for helping grow Hot Lava through your contributions!


Klei hosts a weekly developer stream where we talk about on of our games- and this week (like, right now) you can catch us talking about Hot Lava. More details are available on the Klei forums.

If you are interested in becoming involved in any part of the Hot Lava community- or just want a chill place to hang out, please join me on the Hot Lava Discord.