🎮 Update v0.6.6 – Multiplayer, Bot & Gameplay Improvements

A new update is now available! 🎾

This update focuses on improving the multiplayer experience, bot behavior, camera tracking and match scoring, along with several fixes and improvements.

🤖 Bot Improvements

• Improved Bot Performance: Bots now first determine which player should chase the ball before performing the more expensive trajectory and shot analysis. This reduces unnecessary calculations and improves performance, especially on lower-end PCs.
• Improved Lob Frequency: Bots now have a slightly higher chance of choosing lob shots during rallies, making their behavior more varied.

🌐 Multiplayer Improvements

• Improved High-Ping Movement: Character movement should now feel smoother and less jittery when playing with higher latency.
• Ball Lag Compensation: Fixed an issue where balls could incorrectly go into the net during online matches due to network delay.
• Ping Indicator: Added an on-screen ping indicator so you can easily monitor your current connection latency.

🎥 Camera & Gameplay

• Improved Ball Tracking: When Ball Tracking is enabled, the Player Camera now reduces its tracking when the ball moves behind the character, preventing the camera from turning too far backwards and making the player easier to keep in view.
• Serve Improvements: Fixed an issue where the Serve Force Bar would not appear if the player started charging the serve before the UI appeared.
• Serve Movement & Ball Tracking Fix: Fixed an issue where players could not run and Ball Tracking would remain disabled after serving.

🏆 New Scoring Modes

Added two new scoring modes:

• Golden Point – At 40–40, the next point wins the game.
• Star Point – Allows up to two advantages before moving to a decisive point.

These can now be selected from Match Configuration.

🐛 Fixes & Other Improvements

Improved bot decision-making around balls that are rising too quickly after a powerful shot, preventing unrealistic instant volleys on certain shots.

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🎾 Public Demo Available Now!

Starting today, SliceShot Padel will be available as a free public demo for everyone until the end of October!

Until now, access to the game was mainly through the Playtest and required an access key. From today, anyone can simply go to Steam, download the demo and start playing.

The goal of this public demo is to bring SliceShot Padel to more players, gather more feedback and put the multiplayer experience to the test with a larger community.

Having more players also means it will be easier to find opponents, organize matches with friends and grow the community around the game. 🎾

So if you've been waiting to try SliceShot Padel, or you want to play with a friend, there's no need to request a Playtest key anymore. Just download the demo and jump in!

🧡 What's next?

This public demo will be available throughout October while I continue working on the game and preparing the next stage of development.

I'll be sharing more information about what's coming next closer to the end of October.

Thank you to everyone who has been testing the game, reporting bugs, sharing feedback and helping SliceShot Padel get to this point. ❤️