Matchmaking represents another big step forward towards release!
Note there are some known server stability issues we’re working to fix ASAP!
Official game modes & matchmaking overhaul
The way official matches and matchmaking works has been overhauled completely, as the player you now only need to set some basic preferences and a builtin matchmaker handles the rest.
Official matches can now have any combination of gamemodes and tiers
The allowed tiers in a match will dynamically change to make sure all players stay within 2 tiers of eachother, i.e. a T2 restricts a match to T1-T4, if then a T1 joins the range becomes T1-T3 etc.
When an official match ends the players get to vote on the next map and game mode, the game creates a selection of repeating the same match or 2 randomly generated alternatives.
A player can now override an empty dedicated server into their preferred game mode, that means we don’t need seperate servers for seperate game modes anymore.
Although not yet implemented the game is now compatible with a future matchmaking service that will take skill level into account
Minor changes
Defined new achievements and their icons, functionality is not yet complete
New graphics for end-of-match win state
Players will now get half the win reward for ending a match in a stalemate. Win rewards will be removed for matches shorter than 3 minutes and halved between 3 and 6 minutes.
Bugfixes
Fixed problem with UI anchoring of the first play / tutorial start overlay, also added a vignetted background to make it slightly more interesting
Tutorial getting blocked by the dialogue window blocking the shop buy button; the window is supposed to snap to another position to make room but this feature broke at the last second
Tutorial getting stuck if a person unlocks rocket tech or buys a new core before clicking trough the dialoge first, players will also start with 3 vouchers in case they accidentaly waste one e.g. by unlocking the wrong tech
Another attempt at making steam login more reliable (this is a bit hard to debug since the problem is hard to reproduce)
Resolved conflict with right-click hold to orbit the camera and right-click to delete parts, which overlap when using (the now default) simplified builder controls.
Fixed problem where the physics clone for a mesh collider would not be scaled and flipped properly leading to bad physics shapes for plain plates
Removed the Pinkwall AI build since hoverblade balance changes have made the design too difficult to control for the AI pilot
Fixed problem which caused raycasts to almost always miss on allies when they have their bubble shields up, making it difficult to continue healing them