Stripping away the layers of graphic detail that define modern gaming, this fragment challenges players to navigate a space devoid of visual cues, armed only with indicators of their position, rotation, and the identity of objects beneath their cursor.

"Grey Box" operates on the principle of implied presence, a concept where the essence of an environment is suggested rather than explicitly depicted. The soul of a space—its atmosphere, emotion, and narrative potential—can be conveyed through minimalistic means, and demonstrates how the absence of visuals can, paradoxically, make the environment more vivid in the player's imagination.

Environmental storytelling is the art of imbuing spaces with narrative significance without relying on direct exposition.

Creating an environment in the absence of visual detail requires a deep understanding of the other elements that make spaces meaningful. Sound, texture (conveyed through descriptions), and spatial design become paramount. "Grey Box" challenges game designers to think beyond the visual, to consider how spaces feel, how they sound, and how they are navigated. It's an exercise in using constraint as a creative tool, focusing on the core elements that make environments immersive and engaging.

Due to development availability, we will be hopefully making the game free for everyone, at least while it's still in early access, since we don't currently have the time to provide major updates!

This weekend we’re running a Stash Tab Sale! You can view the full selection of discounted tabs in-game by pressing M to open the store. The Stash Tab sale ends at 5pm on Monday, March 11th (PDT).

If you’re missing points for the sale, be sure to check out the new Core Supporter Packs!

Thanks for your support!

After tens of thousands of years, the ancient weapon Holly awakens, starting her revenge against humanity.
Ancient Weapon Holly Now Available!

From March 8th (Friday) 9:00 AM (JST) to March 26th (Tuesday) 2:00 AM (JST), we are running a 10% off launch sale!
The bundle version, which includes an art book, is also on sale!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2403260/

After tens of thousands of years, the ancient weapon Holly awakens, starting her revenge against humanity.
Ancient Weapon Holly Now Available!

From March 8th (Friday) 9:00 AM (JST) to March 26th (Tuesday) 2:00 AM (JST), we are running a 10% off launch sale!
The bundle version, which includes an art book, is also on sale!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2403260/

To celebrate the day of constants and pies, the Pi Day holiday week is now live!

During this week complete as many tasks as you can to unlock various rewards, among them the delicious Pie hat!
(Not all tasks can be completed by all players)

The event is active from March 8 to March 14

 
March 8, 2024 – March 22, 2024 at 9:00 AM UTC

March 27, 2024

• Select 1 out of the 3 in-game locations from the screenshots below.
  
  

  
  
  

• Capture a screenshot of your chosen in-game location with your character at the same spot in-game.
  
• Upload your entry to https://www.closersonline.com/forum/art-media?sub=66 along with your Closers Name and Character Name.
  
• Participants with accurate screenshots will be included in the random pool, and 5 of them will win 1,000 N-Coins each!

1. Choose 1 location from our screenshot selection and take a screenshot on the same location with your character (make sure the Character Name is visible & input your Closers Name and Character Name with your entry).
2. Log-in to your Closers account to our official website: https://www.closersonline.com/signin
3. After you're logged-in, click [Forum] > [Art & Media] > [Event] Tab
4. Upload the screenshot of your choice and post it to the [Event] Tab
5. Entries should be in PNG or JPG format only with image specification: Above 1080 x 1080 px / Less than 4MB.
6. Participants are allowed to edit or change their screenshot entries as much as they wish during the event period.

1. Location
2. Background

※ The characters and their outfits used in the entries won't be considered in the judging criteria, feel free to use any!

• 1,000 N-Coins for a total of 5 winners.
• The winners will be chosen with a random generator.
[/b]

1. Winners will be announced on March 27 (Wednesday) UTC through the website, SNS, and their screenshot entries will be featured on the Closers forums.
2. The rewards will be distributed during the maintenance after the winners' announcement.

1. Make sure that your character name can be clearly seen in the screenshot; otherwise, the entry will be invalid.
2. Make sure that the event mechanics and rules were followed accordingly (see Event Rules below).
3. You can only join once [1 Closers account = 1 Screenshot] during this event.

1. Only one entry is allowed per Closers account.
2. All entries must be made by the submitter specifically for the purpose of this contest.
3. All participants should include their Closers Name and Character Name when submitting their entry; otherwise, the whole entry will be invalid.
4. No explicit contents are allowed to be seen in the entry. Any entry that can make others feel offended or uncomfortable will be removed with or without permission from the Naddic staff.
5. Once an entry has been submitted, players agree to have their work published publicly on our official channels (Website, Steam, and SNS).
6. If you have submitted more than one entry, we will only refer to the first entry submitted.
7. If you need to change or edit your entry or post, remove your first entry, then re-submit it again before the event ends.
8. The Naddic team can remove unrelated entries or discussions.
9. The Naddic team is not liable for any violation of copyright or intellectual property. Any violations will be assumed by the event participant.
10. Contact https://www.closersonline.com/support/qna or support@closersonline.com for inquiries, concerns, or reports.

Hey Panda Peeps!

Did you know singing in the shower has been proven to reduce stress? It floods your body with a bunch of "feel good" and "lovey-dovey" hormones - you know the ones!

And you know what makes singing in the shower even better? When a charismatic (and nice to look at!) guy like Myx is the one doing it. Ooo, yeah…

We’re hardly going to keep a proven pick-me-up like that to ourselves, so that’s why we’re bringing back this glorious pin-up as a Limited Time Event! So make sure you're collecting your daily tokens and let us know - what do you think Myx's shower song of choice is?

Love you all so hard!


The Pandas

Active testing will be CTF 16v16 and CTF 7v7 Ranked
Time Trials, Shooting Range, Tutorial, and Custom Lobbies will remain active.

As we are working through the last couple features we plan on having for EA, some things in this playtest may be in an unfinished state and have some temporary functionality and/or assets! 

Loadout

• Increased player gravity by 1.6%. Adjust player jetpack thrust to match. 
• Reduced player throw power by 10%.
• Increased pickup range of Health Nuggets and Flags by 5%.
• Perks
• Sentinel
• Increased self knockback by 5%.
• Increased damage resistance by 5%.
• Pathfinder
• Reduced reach range by 10%.
• Juggernaut
• Increased mass by 20%.
• Weapons
• Self-knockback intensity is now determined by the distance a player is from the center of the explosion, which has the same scaling as damage falloff.
• Increased all primary weapon knockback by 10% to compensate.
• Added multiple zoom levels to weapons that did not have them.
• Sparrow
• Changed to Automatic.
• Lowered magazine cap from 15 to 12. 
• Shotgun
• Adjusted falloff to be much more harsh at range
• Chaingun
• Increased damage.
• Stormslicer
• Removed moving spread. 
• Shocklance
• Removed ADS.
• Ability and Grenade Packs
• Blink
• Range reduced by 5 meters.
• Stealth
• Added a speed cap - players will be revealed if they exceed 165 Km/h.
• Smoke Grenade
• Explodes on impact.
• Increased duration from 5 to 12 seconds. 

GAMEPLAY

• Server Merging
• Low population persistent servers will now attempt to merge together to reduce match fragmentation.
• Achievements 
• Completing achievement challenges will grant different titles, banners and icons.
• Many of these have temporary art and are still being worked on.
• These will NOT be kept when the game goes into Early Access. 
• Custom Matches
• Added a mutator to disable the Orbital Strike on the flag.
• Added a mutator for disabling Outposts.
• Added a mutator to disable flag autopass. 
• If there is only one team filled in a custom match, bots will fill the enemy team to match the player count.
• Shooting Range
• Removed time limit. 
• General
• Observation Posts are now called Outposts.
• Added player levels. 
• Added an End of Match Summary Screen.
• Flag icon is now scaled down at a distance. 
• Autopass will no longer auto aim toward players in Stealth or Phase Shift. 
• Players can no longer recall while in Stealth or Phase Shift. 
• Pressing recall while channeling it will cancel the recall.
• Scaled speedometers up to better match class speeds.
• Reduced Health Nugget bounciness. 
• Reduced Flag bounciness.
• Reduced the range for the flag autopass by 50%. 
• VGS now cancels ski input. 
• Dropped Health Nuggets will now change color when they are close to expiring. 
• Added a ground targetter decal when players are jetting above the ground.
• Rank now shows in the Lobby Queue Screen and on the end of match summary screen if in a Ranked match.  
• Turrets on the Outpost are no longer damagable while Neutral. 
• Movement
• Increased gravity scale by 1.6% and scaled jump and thruster values to match
• Reduced intensity of speed tethering while skiing above max class speed
• Raised Speed Limit threshold before Jet Deceleration kicks in

MAPS

• All Maps:
• Outposts
• We’ve gone back to the per map designs for Outposts, instead of the consistent building. Outpost positions and layouts have been adjusted in several maps as a result.
• Outpost teleporters now move and rotate players in a consistent exit direction, based on which entrance is used. This means if you hit the teleporter entrance going 200kph in any direction, you’ll correctly translate that 200kph in a safe exit direction (generally towards the enemy base!).
• Added more red/blue base team coloring to each map.
• Various art additions and bug cleanups.
• Raindance
• Added additional new hills to the outskirts (hills not originally in the classic).
• Increased boundary area by roughly 40%.
• Improved the towers and bases with new art.
• Added a conduit to the flagstand towers, inside the little room.
• Drydock
• Several updates to the map, including adjustments to the base layouts, and updating the layout and art of the “rotating dish” POIs.
• Hollow
• Substantially changed the base layout to be more open. The original felt too similar to Torment, and we wanted to give a cleaner read of incoming threats for defenders, as well as cleaner routes for cappers.
• Moved one turret to a more commanding position over the flagstand.
• Design changes to support the new Outpost location.
• CTF Dome Maps (IceDome, MagmaDome, HonorDome)
• The three small Dome maps have been added back in CTF format, and in custom lobby only. These are for players who maybe want to play a smaller match, or who want to practice with friends in a smaller setting where travel times are reduced.

FIXES

• Fixed an issue where players could gain accolades during the prematch phase.
• Fixed an issue where player score would continue to increase after a match finished. 
• Fixed an issue where the flag would be returned if it went into the generator rooms in Torment. 
• Fixed an issue where grenades would collide with flags when they were not supposed to. 
• Fixed an issue where turrets could pick up Health Nuggets. 
• Fixed an issue where the wrong music would play in Time Trials. 
• Fixed an issue where the in-game music would play at the wrong time or not at all.
• Fixed an issue where the Tutorial would end early if a bot would move through the ending force field. 
• Fixed an issue where the Proximity Mine would not play SFX or VFX on detonation.
• Fixed an issue where the Shotgun would sometimes infinitely reload.
• Fixed an issue where fully zooming in with a weapon and then zooming in with a different weapon would cause it to have the incorrect zoom level. 
• Fixed an issue where the Phase Rifle’s scope reticle would not use the set player reticle color.
• Fixed an issue where weapons would sometimes not have their zoom level toggled if the player switched weapons shortly after spawning. 
• Fixed an issue where damage while switching weapons would be incorrect.
• Fixed an issue where Observation Post could be captured from underneath platforms. 
• Fixed an issue where players could auto-pass the flag to a player above them at any distance.
• Fixed an issue where the Shotgun could not damage Base Structures.
• Fixed an issue where some grenades would not deal damage on direct hits. 
• Fixed an issue where the Gladiator would sometimes apply damage twice. 

Known Issues

• Players may see incorrect team labels when backfilling into matches.

Version 0.4.0 has been on the furnace for a while and it is time to finally push this version to live

This version includes a lot of new additions, QOL improvements, bug fixes and removal of some weapons.


So lets start now and go trough the list of changes!







The game has been receiving updates regarding it's look, changes improve visibility while reducing screen flashing caused by weapons




Characters will now have a visible skull behind the visor

Players can choose to have opaque visors that fully hide the skull or full on remove the visor to fully show them.




Raven has received a new set of armor, this armor set is based on her old design

And yes the armor can be equipped by players






Different materials can be selected for cosmetics.

These can range from a undersuit on the body to horns that can produce light.




Weapon damage has received a full rework

Weapons wont deal bonus damage to players as long as they have shields, this means that head shot damage wont apply unless a sniper rifle is used or player shields have been destroyed

Due to this, weapon time to kill has been increased

• Added bananas to some maps, can you find them all?
  
• First and third-person animation systems has received a major re-do
  
• Game now render outlines
  
• Player ragdolls have receive a major rewrite
  
• New animation system for dying players
  
• Added single player enemies
  
• Added WIP single player mission Insertion
  
• Added banana collectibles
  
• Added the ability to select materials for certain cosmetic items
  
• Added the ability for players to activate a low-ready mode for weapons
  
• Raven has received new armor
  
• Loading screens have been added to the game
  
• New weapon sounds
  
• Support for layered sounds on weapons
  
• Kill feed will now show weapon icons
  
• Added confirmation menu for destroying loadouts
  
• Characters will now have a visible skull trough the visor
  
• Added surrender emote
  
• Added med-shot weapon for single player missions
  
• Added new grenade weapon for single player missions
  
• Improved particle effects on jump pack
  
• Added notification messages for player made actions
  
• Chat messages will play a notification sound
  
• Added new customization options

It breaks my heart to announce the following

• Tactical weapon slot was removed
  
• Removed Nate announcer
  
• Removed mission control announcer
  
• Some music tracks were removed
  
• Arc sword was removed
  
• Engine sword was removed
  
• Toaster melee weapon was removed
  
• Claws melee weapon was removed
  
• Flamethrower was removed
  
• Heal cannon was removed
  
• Some placeholder arms were removed

• Weapon slots were rearranged
  
• Updates to UI
  
• Updates to several animations
  
• Major weapon re-balance
  
• AT Sniper no longer uses explosive rounds
  
• Increased time to kill on all the weapons
  
• Weapon FOV can no longer be adjusted
  
• Major optimization passes to increase performance
  
• Tweaks to raven's dialogue
  
• Music tracks got updated
  
• Improvements to weapon hit-scan
  
• Improvements to quick melee system
  
• Tons of changes to game-mode settings
  
• Improved mouse sensitivity when aiming weapons
  
• Improvements to customization system
  
• Improvement to character models
  
• Overall improvements to systems
  
• Armored shoulder piece can now change colors

• Fixes to origin rebasing issues
  
• Fixes Crash upon closing the game
  
• Fixed shield and health regeneration activating upon player death
  
• Fixed helmet HUD showing on the menu
  
• Fixes to player shields not showing properly
  
• Fixed spectator drone being able to grab weapons
  
• Fixed weapons floating on the world and not getting cleaned
  
• Performance improvements to weapon loading
  
• Performance improvements to player loading
  
• Fixed typos on UI areas
  
• Fixes to player management systems

Game wont run properly on old hardware
Game may suffer from initial loading stutter issues
Game may suffer performance drops with high player counts




Game development is our passion and every ounce of support helps

https://patreon.com/ToasterArena?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink