Thank you all for the amazing support you've given us since Descenders launched in May. We're here with the first real content update. The number 1 requested feature was 'I want to be able to play career with my friends' so that's exactly what we're introducing today. We've also seen that a number of people in the community have started hosting their own tournaments so we made a few improvements to spectator mode to accommodate for that a bit better as well.
That's not all however, this little update comes with some new items to unlock; Discord user Kingkrautz has been making some awesome gear based on nations and we're happy to include his gear officially in the game. Redeem code: 'NATIONS' and see if your country is there. If not it might be included in a next update.
Next update? Yes, we're still working on more to bring to Descenders. We are looking into workshop support so that people can download awesome custom maps through Steam. Another thing that's in the works is this BIG environment (16 times as big as a standard terrain) with lots of exploring. Stay tuned!
Much love,
RageSquid & No More Robots
Changes:
Multiplayer Career: - The 'Casual' option in the Game Modes menu has been renamed to 'Multiplayer'. The lobby now defaults to a career session but a casual session without health and unlocks is still available in the lobby settings. - Unlocks can be earned in this multiplayer mode. The rarity of the unlock is based on the average rep of all the players in the room. - When a player runs out of health they're forced to spectate until the rest of the group finds and finishes a Medic camp. This brings back the knocked out players in the following level.
New unlocks: - Added several new items of all rarities to unlock. This includes several items created by our lovely community members over on Discord <3
Spectate quality of life changes: - You're now able to start a lobby as a spectator. - Spectators can now see the leaderboards in the post-game screen. - Seed list games are now treated as a single session, scores no longer reset after each level.
Misc: - Sponsor office leave team button moved so it isn't pressed accidentally as easy. - Drastically lowered the multiplayer network traffic. - Lobby browser now shows which rooms are locked or password protected. - Inactivity timer in multiplayer session down to 90 seconds from 120 seconds. - The 'Descenders' track by T&Sugah added to the pool of songs used when the shuffle option is toggled on. - Bugfix: Team can now be left using the controller/keyboard in the sponsor office. - Bugfix: Volcano environment is now accessible in multiplayer sessions. - Bugfix: No longer able to pause/leave the game during the multiplayer level start countdown.
One of the most requested features of Descenders has always been a level editor where users can build their own levels to share with friends, and thanks to the amazing efforts of Mayhem and the modding corner of the Discord, you can now build your own levels, import them and share them with others!
You'll have to get to grips with Unity and some 3D Modelling software like Blender, but the results are amazing and we're so excited to see what people start to build. A few cool looking maps are already shaping up, like this one from Chicken666!
We'd love to keep supporting modding if enough people are interested in it, so this is your invitation to get stuck in and involved! The modding section has all the details you'll need to start importing and building maps as well as some helpful advice, streams and guides to building the map of your dreams.
1.0 is finally here! We're so excited to share the complete Descenders experience with you and we cannot wait to see you share it with your friends!
First off, a big thank you so much to all the folks who've been watching the game progress since we first launched into Early Access - your kindness, your passion for the game and your sick runs have been keeping our fires lit and pushed us through, we could not have done this without you!
So, what's new?
MULTIPLAYER IS HERE! Find other players from around the world in the new hub and career modes, or join up with some friends in a casual lobby! Race down the steepest tracks, chill out at the skate park or play a game of hide and seek, the nine worlds are now all yours to play with however you and your friends want to!
NEW WORLDS Mastered Peaks? Got that Volcano run down? Then it's time to jump into the FOUR NEW WORLDS complete with their own boss jumps! These are testing environments with some difficult obstacles, so make sure to bring your A-game! You can even get practising in the BRAND NEW HUB!
MORE GEAR It's time for a new colour scheme. Trust us. Maybe even a new handlebar companion, complete with totally not annoying noises. Perhaps a community built item (shoutout to the amazing designers in our Discord whose items made the cut <3) or a female rider? Don't worry, we've got you covered!
To celebrate all this new hotness, Descenders will be 25% for a whole week! There's never been a better time to grab some friends and jump in!
We're excited to ride alongside you and see you all at the bottom. This has been a wild ride for us, and we're glad you're right there with us.
After 15 months, and more than half a dozen major updates, Descenders is ready to leave Early Access. Thanks so much for taking this journey with us, and prepare yourselves for what the full Descenders experience has in store for you!
Here's what you can expect when The Multiplayer Update drops on May 7.
8 Player Online Multiplayer
Imagine this: You boot up Descenders, into the brand new central hub (more on this below). All of a sudden, a bike goes flying by... then another... and another!
When you boot up Descenders, and anytime you go back to the main lobby, your hub will be filled with other players. You can ride around with them, check out high scores, explore the outskirts of the hub, whatever you like.
When you dash off into a Career session, you won't be alone either. You'll encounter random riders, playing the same seed as you in real-time. There are no collisions so you can't smash into each other, but you can race through the world and explore together.
Lobby Up With Friends
If you're not a fan of stranger danger, you can choose to start a Casual Lobby with friends. Invite your friends via Steam, and they can join up with you, and race through any of the worlds in the game.
It's up to you whether you race, explore, compete for score, mess around together, see if you can line up 7 riders and jump over all of them...
How you play Descenders with your friends is up to you!
Four Brand New Worlds
Was five worlds not enough for you? How about four brand new worlds you've never played before?
Introducing CareerPlus Mode. When you've collected enough Rep, you'll unlock this mode which essentially gives you a whole new Career to play through, complete with four new worlds.
Check out the gifs for a sneak peek. And speaking of new areas...
New Central Hub
Whenever you boot up the game or finish a run, you'll be booted into the new central hub area. It's much, much bigger than the original hub, and features a bunch of really cool areas to explore.
You can still find The Shed, and your team's tent, but you'll also find other useful areas, like a giant leaderboard that updates to show your best scores.
Loads of Other Stuff
New music! New options! New sounds! New items! New bikes! New achievements! Play as a man or woman! New everything!
When the 1.0 Update hits on May 7, Descenders is going to feel like a very different game -- and we can't wait to share it with you.
- All 5 original Descenders environments. - A casual lobby mode in which you can ride with friends and randoms. - Or meet other riders while playing the regular career mode.
If you still want to join go ask us a key on our Discord:
Can you believe it's been one whole year since Descenders launched on Steam? What a ride it has been... and as we come to the end of that ride, with the upcoming 1.0 Multiplayer launch, we wanted to look back over the last year with you.
It's been a while since you've heard from us so we're here with a tiny Christmas special! This special is a small update with a winter themed overworld and several winter themed unlockables.
With this small update we'd also like to tell you our plans for Descenders next year. The full launch is getting closer each day and we wouldn't be RageSquid if we weren't planning to go out with a bang.
We're not spoiling everything but here are some BIG things:
At the moment we're working very hard on the multiplayer and several modes that come with that. It may not be a surprise but playing Descenders with a group of friends is a blast!
Rosie has also been working hard on several new environments which will also come with the full launch in some form. Some of these are really tough so if you want to nail these down you better get practicing.
Release wise it's too soon for us to set a date but you can expect an Q1 - early Q2 full release. Don't worry though, we WILL do some multiplayer testing in between! EXCITING.
We wish you all a merry Christmas and happy holidays.
Something we've been asked non-stop since the Early Access launch is if we could implement more tricks. Well, today is the day! We've worked on the animation system so that it can now handle tricks like No Handers, Supermans, Can Can, and others. While we were working on the animation system we updated bails and the character collision at the same time. Falling off your bike has never looked better.
For Xbox One players this update also includes the previous Steam update. (Replay system, Volcano Bonus level, and a new batch of unlockable items)
Changes:
Tricks: - Holding Left Shoulder Button (or C on keyboard) and point the Right Stick (Arrow keys on keyboard) to one of the 8 directions will trigger one of the new tricks. Tricks only work while in-air.
New Bonus level: - We've added a 5th bonus level. Each of the environments now has their own bonus level. It's the perfect place to play around with the new trick system, go find it!
New unlocks: - Added several new items of all rarities to unlock. This includes some special Halloween items.
Misc: -Character now has collision. Try not to bump your head on the Firewatched jump. -Bail system improved. -Advanced replay options (Steam only). Hit Start/Escape during a replay and enable the advanced settings from there. This enables keyframe and camera path controls. -Keybindings menu updated. -Several sound effects updated/added. -Shuffle music option. Currently the game has different music for each environment. Enabling the shuffle option in the audio settings mixes everything up. -Build crew persons added to the build crew selection/game over/loading screens. -Sponsor office leave team button moved so it isn't pressed accidentally as easy. -Bugfix (Xbox): Flow and Best Time leaderboards should work again. -Bugfix (Xbox): Friends/Global distinction on leaderboards fixed. -Bugfix (Xbox): Mph/Kmh distinction now added to the bonus objectives. -Bugfix (Xbox): On-screen keyboard doesn't cut off popups anymore.
Community If you want to keep up to date with the known issues and our current plans, join our Discord, or have a look at the Roadmap! As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts!