Whew! This morning we quietly released a giant update to Spelunky 2 on Steam that included online multiplayer and we were hit with some good news and some bad news! The good news is that matchmaking works as intended and it seems like the improvements BlitWorks has made over the past month have mostly paid off - players are having a great time teaming up with random players and going on adventures together.
The bad news was that invites seemed to be broken for quite a few players, forcing them to try and find friends through matchmaking! This did not come up at all during the closed beta, and we suspected that the addition of multiple servers in preparation for the (much larger, more global) public beta might be related to the issue. Reproducing these kinds of bugs can be tricky, but thankfully we were able to find a case of the bug to test and then put out a patch that seems to have fixed it for a lot of affected players!
What's next? Work will continue for the rest of the year and into next year to fix bugs with online multiplayer, as well as solve some of the unique design problems that have come up (hence, why we're calling this a "public beta" even though it's possible to play through the entire game online). As always, it's your support and your feedback that makes this possible at all. With that in mind, here are some of our other thoughts and plans surrounding online that may answer some of your questions about the future:
- Cross-play with PS4 and other QoL improvements will be added in the first half of 2021.
- This month's planned update for online multiplayer on PS4 is still being worked on.
- Online Arena Mode will be worked on after cross-play is added and all the basic features of online multiplayer are extremely solid.
- An alternative way to invite friends will be added in the future so that you can invite through Twitch, Reddit, Twitter, etc.
- During the beta, some or all of the servers may suddenly go down for improvements.
- We currently have a decent fleet, with servers located at Madrid (Spain), Beauharnois (Canada), Warsaw (Poland), Gravelines (France), Sydney (Australia), London (United Kingdom), Strasbourg (France), Frankfurt (Germany), Singapore (Singapore), Moscow (Russia), New York City (United States), Miami (United States) and Santa Clara (United States). We will more than double the fleet by adding servers in other locations everywhere (but mostly in Asia, South America, and the US West Coast).
- Other multiplayer options more fit for LAN parties and offline situations will be evaluated later next year.
If you still have questions about online multiplayer or feedback about your experiences, we'll be monitoring the Steam forums and our official Spelunky 2 Discord as usual! Thank you!
ːspel2caverːːspel2caverːːspel2caverːːspel2caverːːspel2ankhː
How to Invite Friends to Play on Steam!
1. First of all, you need to be in the game, in the online lobby. You can go there by selecting "Online" from the Main Menu. Make sure you're on at least version 1.19.7a, which has the invite fix. You can see the version number in the upper-right corner of the title screen.
2. From there, you can invite through Steam or Discord.
3. Inviting from Steam: From the lobby, press the key (displayed on the screen) to initiate an invite. That should open up the Steam Overlay and your friends list. Right-click a friend on your friends list and "Invite to Play".
If you do not see the "Invite to Play" option, try right-clicking on your friend from the FRIENDS menu on the left side of the Overlay instead (above SCREENSHOTS). Select "Invite to Game" from there.
If you do not see the FRIENDS menu on the left side of the Overlay (above SCREENSHOTS), exit and launch again steam.
4. Inviting from Discord: From the lobby, tab out to Discord and DM a friend or find the matchmaking channel in our official Spelunky 2 Discord. Next to the message prompt, you should see a "+". Underneath that, it should say "Spelunky 2 supports game invites". Click the "+" to send an invite.
Note that in order for Discord invites to work, your Game Activity needs to be visible. You can set this by going to "User Settings" (the cog to the right of your name), then "Game Activity".
Patch Notes (1.19.6a, 1.19.7a)
- Added online (public beta)
- Fixed case where Olmec could get stuck to a wall in his second phase
- Fixed glitch when Olmec's UFOs try to spawn inside walls
- Fixed issue where mounted players could still toss bombs and ropes while inside pipes
- Falling platforms should now be a lot less likely to crush items when falling
- Prevented vendors from enraging on breaking a shop tile if they are already dead
- Prevented merchant from angering when she is dead and the player sneaks into a challenge
- Fixed case where vendors were not enraging on being killed while frozen
- Prevented vendors and NPCs from widening without limits on receiving damage continuously
- Prevented vendors from blaming players when they die due to spikes, lava, or thorn vines
- Increased sword-like weapons' shape
- The second jump of Axolotl can now be shortened if the player releases the jump button
- Player will now correctly stomp while hanging from a falling platform or any other floor
- Fixed another case where the player was receiving falling damage after being slowed down by the water
- Fixed case where a player was receiving falling damage after riding a mount
- Fixed case where a revived player that died while being cursed was being revived with one HP
- Fixed mole state on being flashed when is about to dig
- Prevented revived sorceress from immediately attacking after reviving if she had died on attack mode
- Fixed gravity for pitcher's mitt thrown entities on whipping them
- Parachute will now disable if the player goes underwater or enters into quicksand
- Fixed door transition when a non-cursed player is crossing a ghist's door and the cursed player dies
- Fixed money recount when a Hired Hand deposits the idol on a door
- Fixed grub state on being blown up by a player ghost
- Fixed axolotl buoyancy when it is stunned, killed, or frozen
- Fixed crash when a secondary player carried a gold monkey through the ending
- Fixed issue where large spear traps could spawn immediately to the left of arrow traps, rendering the last one almost useless
- Prevented unlockable characters from unlocking in the journal when the player is killed by a mate on an online game
- Tikimen can now pick up torches
- Fixed player state on being stunned by a sticky trap while riding a mount
- Prevented buyer player from auto picking up a bought power up when they already have it (in multiplayer)
- Added special message from certain King to certain playable character
- Added special message from certain thief to certain playable character
- Added "Cheater" message on rolling the same die twice
- Prevented ankh from triggering during the tunnel
- Added some items in the settings menu to preview the brightness setting
- Fixed sliding wall ceiling rubble in certain world
- Added custom rubble to Tide Pool spikes
- Fixed Imp's pot-holding animation
- Fixed numerous little artifacts, glitches, mispositioned sprites, etc., in the textures
- Added further decoration to jade ushabti to differentiate it from gold ushabti
- Darkened shop price background
- Fixed more blocked paths
:goldidol::spelunky: