Mitts 0.1.4445
Another deep round on the goalie, a big bot defense/forecheck rework, a full skater body and arm visual overhaul, and a wave of kit polish.
🥅 Goalie
- New: pokechecks — the goalie now jabs his stick out at a carrier skating straight at him with the puck out in front, a quick reach rather than a full movement. A miss only costs him the stick for a moment, not his position.
- Screening now genuinely blocks his sight — a body between the shooter and the goalie actually hides the puck from him, so he can't react to a shot he can't see until it clears, and a hidden carrier no longer falsely primes his anticipation. He'll still peek around a body that's off to the side, just not one planted squarely on his sightline.
- Rebounds off his stick or blocker now steer toward the nearest corner instead of squirting back out across the crease into the slot.
- Fixed him sometimes skating or shuffling his gear straight through a loose puck at his feet — he now covers it to kill the play, or sweeps it to the corner with his stick when an opponent would otherwise beat him to it.
- Fixed a real own-goal bug — his own pads, skate, or stick moving through a loose puck at his feet could push it over his own goal line. His gear now collides using its real shape and can't shove a puck in behind him; touching his gear also no longer strips the puck off a carrier on simple contact.
- Fixed his low crouch angling up and letting pucks slide underneath instead of actually sealing the ice with his pads, and fixed his standing stances occasionally staying tilted from a prior move instead of planting flat.
- Fixed his glove and stick hand lagging noticeably behind his legs' reaction instead of reacting just as fast, and fixed his eyes losing focus on the puck during ordinary stickhandling instead of tracking it smoothly.
- Fixed him popping up out of his crouch too early after a release, and fixed him failing to stay properly sunk backing into the net on a rush.
- Lateral slides now explode directly out of his stance instead of visibly dropping down first, his butterfly drop now seals the ice as he descends rather than after landing, and on a long or bad-angle shot he now skates to square up to its path before attempting the save.
🤖 Bot defense & forechecking
- Bots now forecheck only when they can actually win the race to pressure the puck — when they can't, the whole team sets up in a proper defensive shape instead of chasing hopelessly, and correctly recognizes a dump-in and starts pressuring from the moment it's released instead of waiting until the puck is already collected.
- In 5v5, teammates on a rush now fill whichever lanes the puck carrier isn't in — driving the middle or pressuring the far side — instead of blindly holding fixed left/right lanes regardless of where the carrier actually is.
- A point defenseman can now pinch down on a loose puck near the boards on his own, not just as part of an active forecheck sequence.
- Fixed a defender guarding a carrier along the boards stepping across to confront him even while standing to the inside, letting a fast carrier skate right past along the wall untouched to the net.
- Fixed a lone defender being unable to stop a carrier skating straight at the net while ignoring him — he now properly steps into the carrier's path or rides him for position, instead of hanging back a stick's length and getting beaten every time.
- Fixed a 5v5 defensive-zone rotation occasionally handing an open post to a forward way out of position instead of whichever teammate is actually closest to it, and fixed a defenseman racing back on defense losing his rightful post to a slower teammate due to a tie-breaking quirk.
🎨 Skaters, rebuilt
- Skaters now have one seamless body — shoulders, sleeves, collar, jersey, and pants flow into each other with no visible seams or clipping, on every skater, the locker mannequin, and the lobby figures. Should run a bit lighter too, since the whole body now renders in fewer draw calls.
- New grip and carry posture — you now grip the stick like a sword instead of a dagger, your chest folds forward over the stick with both hands out in front while carrying, and sweeping the puck to your forehand shows your top hand crossing further across your body. This is a visual correctness pass — your actual carrying range and pickup reach are unchanged.
- New gloves — left and right are now distinct with the thumb on the correct side, a padded back of the hand, and four separate curled finger rolls wrapping around the shaft.
- Skates rebuilt as one connected boot from the cuff down to the toe instead of visibly separate parts, with a more realistic curved blade and mounting hardware. New: pick how you wear your tongue — tucked in, flipped out over the laces, or under the sock.
- Fixed a knocked-down player lying on their side sinking unrealistically into the ice at the hip and leg instead of resting on their actual body.
- Fixed the goalie's stick blade visually clipping into his own body after the arm rework above.
🎨 Kits & UI
- A broad stripe and color polish pass across most of the roster, plus new stripe shapes (waved, zigzagged, peaked edges) showing up on several kits for the first time. Also fixed a color error on Dragonfruit's away jersey sleeve.
- Fixed the away team's lineup card showing mislabeled positions — a card headed "Right Wing" could actually be showing the away team's own left wing. Positions now read correctly from each team's own perspective.
🌐 Netcode
- Fixed a called-off slapshot's puck visually snapping or riding the raised blade back down instead of staying pinned where it actually was, for both other players online and in replays.
Compatibility
- Network protocol updated this patch (the slapshot puck fix) — everyone needs this build to play together.