Mar 22, 2021

Sky Fleet - Danimal

Thanks to everyone who played during the beta test.

STATS

The weekend started with 6,162 people signed up. According to the Steam page analytics 77% of the visitors were from China and 5% from the US.

When I started letting players in Friday morning I had no idea what to expect. The game had never been tested with more than 7 players and I had no idea how many of the 6,162 would show up. In the end 840 people played and the game peaked at 27 concurrent players.

BUGS

Many bugs were found. Thanks for all the reports. There was one really bad bug that kept crashing the servers. It didn't leave any errors in the logs so it was really hard to track down. I spent most of the weekend trying to figure it out and am glad to say I finally know what the issue is and how to fix it.

FUTURE PLANS

Soon I'll be going through all the feedback and making a huge todo list. Also this week I'm going to look into crowdsourcing the translations. Multiple people reported that the current ones form Google Translate were not great. After the bugs are fixed and the feedback is addressed I'm going to work on the ships and how the upgrades work. Adding more ways to upgrade your ship and maybe even different ships.

THE NEXT BETA TEST

The next beta test will probably be in about a month. In that one I hope to have all the issues addressed and a few new features.

Again, thanks for playing! See you again in a month I hope!

Mar 22, 2021

News and Timeline Update

SCP: Blackout - Mahelyk

Hey all!

This is just a quick update to keep everyone interested in the loop. I had planned to release a massive Xmas update following the Halloween one, but I got a little burnt out after 2-3 months of non-stop work with all of my free time. My family was complaining, I was getting up early and sleeping late to squeeze in more time, and I was losing a ton of money taking days off work to work extra on Blackout for that Halloween update.

I thought I would be able to continue on and hit the Xmas update the same, but I just sort of fell out. Along with a bit of burn out, all this extra work and content doesn't actually bring in any extra sales or money, it's basically just for fun and for you guys. That being said, I realized I was waaay behind on bills, and then have had to spend the last months doing extra freelance work to catch up our bills. And compared to my old job as an electrician, doing freelance video game work all day actually makes me a bit more mentally tired to do my own personal video game work when I'm off sometimes.

But alas, I've finally been catching up on my energy and Jory and I have been diving back in to Blackout. Things are coming along well, though they make take a while. Since the entire first half of the game has been scrapped to be remade at the same higher quality as the rest of the game I can't actually release any updates until a basic level of gameplay is added back in. So as soon as the game is at least playable again, I intend to fix that VR issue that plagues some people, and then hopefully release a playable test version. After that I will go back and polish up and fill in the extras.

For those who like spoilers and details, here is the general game layout and plans.

1. Player starts in the prison, though the prison has been massively expanded in to it's own level with some subtle tutorial elements. This is mostly completed, just needs a little polish.

2. A new fancy Reception map to replace the lobby and act as a bit of a central hub for the semi open world game. This is completed.

3. An entire new Research Wing map, with it's own mini story to find and obtain the level 1 keycard, boss event included. This is where I currently am, and is almost completed. lots of polish to eventually add.

4. An entire new map for The Labs. This is where level 2 card will be, and will also have it's own SCP theme, mini story, and all that. Haven't started or planned all too much out.

5. A mostly new Maintenance map, with SCP-SEUK and others as the SCP theme, and it's own mini story to get through.

After that, there is only a bit more changes, but things flow in to the second half of the story where things got good. I do intend to rework Sublab 11 and give multiple endings, but I think I will do a different update for that so I can get the VR fixes out as soon as possible. All this stated is just the minimum I need to make the game playable again.

Mar 22, 2021

Fall Guys - Season 4 is OUT NOW

Fall Guys - MattN

Welcome, bean of the future, to Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout Season 4! Our stupendous neon-drenched update is available to play right now, so come stumble through time to a Blunderdome full of synthetic beats and fluorescent treats.

Astronauts, aliens and the funkiest looking Fall Guys this side of synthwave will bumble their way through a sci-fi inspired Season packed with seven new Rounds, oodles of challenges, costumes and delicious features!

SQUAD GOALS!

Season 4 is truly the Season of the Squad, with a slew of new features that elevate playing with pals. Our latest update brings meaningful new mechanics, Round types and currency that are laser-focused on making stumbling with your Squad strategic, rewarding and a whole heap of bean-based fun!

Squads Mode
Players can now qualify together as a Squad of 4—if any of your Squad win the final Round, you all share in the spoils of victory! If you know the familiar feeling of backing out because that one friend keeps getting yeeted into the slime...we hear you. Season 4 means your Squad sticks together, wins together and most importantly, embarasses themselves in unity.

Squad Race
The first of two fresh Squad-flavoured Round types for Season 4, Squad Race provides a collective twist to your mad dash to the finish line! Race as a team and the sooner you finish, the more points you earn for your Squad. The lowest scoring Squads get eliminated, so every Squad player’s performance matters. Go go go!

Squad Survival
Slime just got social! Squad Survival is all about keeping afloat as a team and racking up those precious points. The longer you stay out of the slime, the more points you earn for your Squad, so disrupting other beans is strongly encouraged! Lowest points? Bye!

A futuristic bounty of new Rounds!

We’ve unleashed 7 Rounds of futuristic fumbling for Season 4, optimised for the playful needs of all techno-beans...

Skyline Stumble
Our new 60-player gauntlet showcases a mega assortment of fresh futuristic obstacles, including Low Gravity Zones, Forcefields and Lasers!

Hoverboard Heroes
Set sail for slimy seas as players dive and stumble over perilous obstacles. Ride out the chaos on the cruising hoverboard ‘til the finish line or face elimination!

Basketfall
Team up to shoot some hoops in low gravity. This is the Fall Guys future, so prepare for a very silly number of basketballs, outlandish dunks and triple hoops!

Short Circuit
A new type of racing Round drops beans on the grid and propels them through lap after lap of gravity-defying, obstacle-strewn mayhem!

Power Trip
Stumble onto the future-funk dancefloor and light up those tiles in a battery-powered battle for disco domination!

Big Shots
Ever wondered what it’d be like to stand on a See Saw while inflatable stars, magnets, gamepads, and miniature Saturns were shot at you? Let’s find out.

Roll On
It’s Roll Out...but a race!? In this classic-themed Round, 60 players dash to the finish line over a series of rambunctious rotating drums. Don’t fall off! (You will probably fall off).

New rewards assured!

Season 4 introduces a brand new Challenges feature to reward our most eager beans, plus Crown Shards—the currency of the future!

Daily Challenges
Play a bunch of Fall Guys? Cool! You’ll now find a hearty selection of custom Challenges every day to test your bean abilities, with the opportunity to earn absolutely bundles of Fame and Crowns Shards! Wait, Crown Shards..?

Crown Shards
Yes! Victories with your Squad and completing Daily Challenges will now yield you a whole bunch of shiny new Crown Shards. Earn 60 of these and you’ll be the proud owner of a coveted Crown. You’ll be able to check your Crown Shard balance via the Show Selector screen, so keep an eye out.

More more more!

As always, we’ve kept an eager ear out for feedback from the (absolutely amazing) Fall Guys community and Season 4 will bring a whole host of fixes and improvements to ensure the smoothest stumbling possible. It is the future, after all.

Sturdier beans - We’ve improved our Fall Guys to be more resilient when it comes to taking hits, whether from fellow beans or obstacles. No more ragdolling just because another bean brushed you in mid-air!
Quit anytime after elimination - No more waiting for the next Round to load. Hit the slime? Leave in double-quick time.
Bug fixes and improvements - Changes sweep through the Blunderdome, including steps to address latency-related issues, visual tweaks and a fairer Fall Mountain line-up.

If you’d like to dig deeper into these fixes and improvements, tumble into our in-depth patch notes, delivered straight from the team. Plus, expect a vast selection of ultramodern fashions and cybertronic costumes, numerous nameplates and all manner of other cosmic cosmetics as Season 4 rolls out.

Exclusive Costume Packs!

Finally, we’ve got two new Costume Packs hitting the stores!

The Popstar Pack grants your bean true Blunderdome pop idol status, with three neon funk looks designed to win fans, hearts and Crowns!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1569400/Fall_Guys__Popstar_Pack/

Meanwhile, the Future Fashion Pack holds three fierce costumes to get you stumble-strutting on fashion’s slimiest catwalk.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1570380/Fall_Guys__Future_Fashion_Pack/

Before we go, a huge thank you to the Fall Guys community for your feedback, enthusiasm and inspiration. We hope you love Season 4 as much as we do (like, a lot) and we absolutely cannot wait to hear what you think!

Fall Guys Season 4 is playable NOW on PlayStation and Steam! You can also grab your Fall Guys fix on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, as well as joining your fellow beans on the official Discord server. Plus, sign up to our Mediatonic X Fall Guys newsletter! Welcome to 4041 and see you in the Blunderdome...