On Name Changes and Impersonation

We appreciate that this new name change facility is magnificent fun and it’s awesome to be able to call yourself cupcake mcdickinson, or to have a server full of peasants…

That said, anyone found impersonating developers or using the functionality abusively may receive a one-day ban while we figure out what needs doing in the long term.

We will probably not police this particularly fervently as it’s very, very subjective, but if you do something as blatant as jump on a server as “Geti” or “MM” and start trying to trick people into thinking you’re us, extorting money or similar, you can expect a short ban to think about your actions :^)

Max/Geti

Build 926 - Story behind the Build

It seems every game of KAG I play recently I have the same 3 nags :^)

• "pls geti add mor heads 4 me and i luv u <3333"


• "OMG I FELL THROUGH FLOOR!!! GETI FIX"


• "geti pls fix votekick its still broken plsssss"

Here’s the meaning behind these, and how I’ve addressed them this build:

• Even though each head is just 16x16 pixels with no gameplay benefit, apparently that means 16x16 pixels of joy to a lot of people. There are 6 new heads and the heads list has been rearranged to group them a little more sensibly. The new heads are Bomberman, a new “cut up” zombie head, a wounded knight from a distant land, a dubstep music man, as well as two new male hairs, female versions of the bandana and headband heads. A lot of heads have also been updated (check out the samurai head).
  Also: there’s a free slot in the menu just waiting for one last head before the steam release to be slotted in, if you see me ingame feel free to suggest something cool, as long as you get back to the game immediately afterwards ;^)


• We’ve had a look at two things that might be causing the physics bugs - if it’s one of them, there’ll be spam in the console about a limit being exceeded every time it happens, please pass that on to us if that is the case. If it’s the other, it should be fixed or happen much less frequently. Either way, one step closer to less weirdness and more focusing on the game - report back in the thread with any changes noted. The fix that has been performed is likely to slightly degrade performance, but we can’t have such strange bugs just in the name of the game running quickly.


• Votekick has been recoded entirely in scripts, check out the scripts for information on how to bind new buttons into the main menu (!!!) and how to kick players from inside a script (it’s as easy as a single function call!). You can now vote with just a quick click, and it should be a little more risky to abuse since if your vote fails you will be kicked out of the game. Vote next map has also moved to this new system as a simple example of fairly modular code - this means modded servers can use this system to make votes for anything they please - you could have a vote everyone turns into chickens if you really wanted! None of the legacy code should have any affect any more, if it does, please report it as a bug.

Hopefully this addresses those three main concerns directly and sufficiently; we’ll be looking into the next emerging concerns soon of course! (I expect performance to be the major one, sadly)

Other notable changes this build:

• Chicken colour in map changed to hex 8d2614 - if you have custom maps with chickens, please double check you update them correctly or there’ll be some red doors there :^)


• Can change your name - currently, only with /cl_name in the console. This is to facilitate the name changing feature in steam, we’ll have to figure out rules for abuse.


• Platforms and doors have rotated versions available in png loaders now, for those intricately complex maps you’ve always dreamed of.


• Script exceptions will not crash the game any more - they will show up in the console for debugging, but the script will be disabled and the engine will keep on trucking, resulting in “something weird” in game if something bad happens instead of KAG locking up.


• Steam integration starting to be visible/causing issues, haha. The steam API stuff should be off unless you run the game with “steam” command line parameter (including overlay, etc) but some of it may not be checked properly, be sure to report any issues with this!


• Lots of fixes, as always!

MM and Shadlington and FliesLikeABrick have all been working through the weekend and all this week on the steam stuff, it’s looking very close to ready, so that’s exciting. I’ll get MM to post more news as he has it since he’ll be better informed on exactly what’s going on than me.

Full Changelog in the previous post.

Max/Geti

Build 926 - New Voting, Steam news & Heads!

I’m sure Geti will add more info concerning this build when he’s online. Right now I’m in a hurry so excuse my brevity. Come back later for more news on this build :).

The way voting works now is “lazy kicking”. This might change cause it’s an experiment, post your comments. Voting is now in scripts so you can modify it as you wish and add main menu items (cool!).

Your character name can be changed with the /cl_name command in console. This is part of preparing for the Steam release where players from Steam will use their Steam persona names in KAG. Your username will be visible in paranthesis in the scoreboard

The known issues about mod downloads have been fixed. If not let me know!

if KAG is taking extremely long to startup goto /KAG/Base and delete the /old folder.

I scheduled Steam release for Monday November 4th. This might still change because we need to finish the trailer and make sure everything is working, first with testers and then with public.

That’s right - if you bought KAG you will get pre-release access to a Steam code and will be able to play KAG from Steam before the official release. This should ease things up for everybody and deadline slips won’t be so bad :). Stay tuned for when this will happen (hoepfully this weekend).

Have fun!
MM

Changes 921-926:
[added] 6 new heads + updated some past heads

[modified] rearranged heads

[added] debug message "box2d limiter breach" to check if this is the source of warping through things

[modified] box2d iteration count increased (may have been source of warping through things

[modified] kick delay is lower

[script][added] binds for void KickPlayer(CPlayer@ player) and void BanPlayer(CPlayer@ player, int time_seconds) with obvious effects (automatically takes seclevs into account)

[modified] map files updated by jackitch

[added] script exceptions don't halt the engine (debugger removed in release/test)

[script][removed] unsafe function config.saveFile(); - use config.saveFile(filename) instead (only saves to KAG/Cache)

[modified] clearer mod downloading messages and colors in console

[fixed] modded include file scripts not loading properly after download

[fixed] /Mods scripts not updating ever again (there's still an issue because they will only update in memory not in the files)

[script][added] scripted main menu items

[removed] hardcoded vote kick + next map stuff

[added] lots of features to the vote nextmap stuff

[fixed] builder can build on himself (thanks Verra)

[modified] builder must be inside building frame to build new shop

[added] some flags to shop for banning building any more things - wip for fixing double-shops

[modified] buildings destroy if they are overlapping each other too much

[added] can't double build from the same building frame

[modified] spawn shield protects from knockback and lasts a little longer (not instantly cancelled)

[modified] progress bar is hard-capped to at least one percent to help prevent rendering bugs

[added] JTG and Monsteri Sol Badguy twins unique, congrats

[added] allowed to change character name with /cl_name in console

[modified] more space for player names in scoreboard

[fixed] not spawning when username empty and clicked offline

[fixed] challenges not progressing on time end

There was meant to be Build 926 Today...

Instead, steam integration bugs that were merged into mainline have prevented release - while it isn’t essential to run KAG through steam, there have been a few integration points that have required changes to the “normal” behind the scenes stuff.

The funniest/most annoying of these currently is everyone’s name getting a 2 applied to it (locally and on net) as if they are the second to join. We had a good testing session with JTG2, sinnertie2, Monsteri2, Lieber2, Geti2, Mazey2 and bst Kouji (because clantags seemed to avoid the bug).

In a way it’s a good thing, because it means all the steam integration bugs are exposed to testers and can be fixed asap, but it’s bad because its another day without votekick, without modding fixes, without extra heads, and means that steam deadlines are again, quite dicey.

However, we’ve found that we’re able to give more or less whoever we want access to the game via steam, so we will probably do that this week for players who have already bought the game, to properly test the steam integration stuff before we launch it. We’ll tell you when and how you should request a key.

MM has set a tentative steam deadline for Monday, and these bugs shouldn’t prevent us from reaching that, though they sure to mean it’ll probably be a close shave.

Next build will have fixes or partial fixes for the 3 major repeated concerns I’ve been hearing from everyone:

• Not enough heads


• Falling through terrain


• Missing votekick

As such, I’m as anxious for a patch as the next guy, very disappointed we couldn’t get it out tonight.

More as it comes; figured we should keep you updated while we try to get this thing out; bear with us.

Max/Geti

Build 921 - Heads, Fixes, Maps

Of course, the most important news first ;^) 2 new heads have been added, templar heads that (while knight focussed) look cool on any class! Now you can enjoy your own crusade - minimising religious persecution, of course.

There have also been a nice plethora of misc fixes and tweaks:

• Crates change team when you grab them.


• Catapults don’t “steal” kills when you get fired out of them.


• Wrong menu sound being played (cut out early)


• Music slider bugs - not adjusting the music in real time (still a few potential bugs there), as well as a very big memory leak with music volume set to zero.


• Egg and other food making eating noises at inappropriate times


• Saw has on-off button to help prevent “oops”


• Pickup priorities rebalanced to avoid those “why am i holding this corpse instead of those bombs” moments.


• Warboat costs 130 coins, not 150.


• A few new maps for the cycle, retired a few older ones.


• Catapult and Ballista convert instantly when sat into.


• Catapult and Ballista don’t collide unless moving.

Steam update: MM tells me that we’re waiting on valve for the release, there are a few minor things to complete but the integration is “mostly done” and the store page is more than functional, with flashy promo images like the following:

We’re working as hard as possible on getting the game released there; the waits from valve are a setback but nothing we’re unable to overcome. The game will be released ASAP - when exactly that falls is anyone’s guess, but for all intents and purposes we’re “ready” and just waiting for the checklist to be looked over and the big red button to be pushed.

We’re not 100% on the date because as mentioned above, we’re waiting on valve for this, so it’ll be done when they’re ready. ASAP is as honest an answer as we can give - that said, hopeful estimates are early next week if they get their act together.

Full changelog for 921

[added] turning saws on and off
[modified] pickup priotities have a few per-class modifiers and de-prioritise corpses a lot
[modified] boulders are 35 stone
[modified] warboat costs 130 coins, not 150
[removed] rayne_liquidate and rayne_flarellbridge1 from default ctf cycle
[modified] removed koujimap from default map cycle
[added] 2 "templar" heads, one bucket, one egghead, both definitely badass.
[added] MonsteriCTF3 map
[added] NewTortuga map
[added] catapult and ballista convert instantly when sat into
[modified] idle/still siege engines don't collide with you
[modified] siege engines need a bit more speed before they hurt you
[modified] updated felleres map
      - named Fellere_FourRivers.png
      - hopefully less stalemate
[fixed] catapult "steals" kills of people shot out of it
[fixed] map key binding not visible
[fixed] music volume slider not adjusting in real time
[fixed] some sound functions still doing processing with zero volume
[fixed] wrong menu song used (cut out too early)
[script][added] hasTileSolidBlobsNoPlatforms function to omit platforms
[fixed] can't build backwall over platforms
      - note, this works like building stone "over" wood,
        the platforms still prevent building "through" them
[added] crate changes team when picked up
[fixed] egg makes chomp chomp noise when not eaten
[updated] kag icons on windows
[fixed] big leak when music slider set to zero, and awful sound when turned up again

Max/Geti

Build 919 - Fixes, Heads, Balance, Maps

Quite a few things, all of them somewhat minor but definitely worth mentioning:

• Added 3 new heads
  Diving helmet, Horse head, Alchemist head


• KAGGen generator functionality has been expanded with configurable caves and (simple) ruins.


• Sandbox mode has been re-added due to popular demand.


• (hopefully) Fixed the annoying buzzing sound on Mac and Linux


• Fixed WASD equivalents not working on AZERTY etc keyboards (should now listen for keybinds not the actual key)


• Fixed the flagbase not being tagged invincible - may have been causing it to die.


• (Re)Added the player light radius and config vars for it.


• Rebalanced coin costs.


• Made the warboat lightly more resilient


• Kegs are no longer able to be killed by teammates - no more accidental detonation by a teammate trying to slash the guys ahead of you! The explosion is still indiscriminate though.


• Improved chicken farming - can buy eggs from quarters/inn and can farm them in a smaller radius than before


• A few crash bugs fixed

Full changelog:

[modified] JTG Map changes:
  - boulder lake map has fewer boulders
  - removed bison from newgetisburgmines map
[modified] rearranged ctf mapcycle a little
[fixed] crash on null pointer in blobplacement script
[modified] kaggen has caves and ruins
[fixed] flagbase is not tagged invincible (may be causing it to die by other means)
[fixed] kaggen generates trees overlapping ruins
[modified] updated fellere valley map
[fixed] a few missing default variables in gamemode.cfg - caused crash on omission
[modified] sandbox map is kaggen
[added] player light radius (set in gamemode.cfg as player_light_radius) returned - default 32, limit 255
[fixed] sound glitch on OSX when jumping
[added] fire extinguish sound
[added] player_light_intensity to gamemode.cfg - range 0 to 255 , default 128
[added] kaggen ruins can have wood in them
[added] sandbox again
[fixed] wierd line through the sky in fast graphics mode
[modified] keg gets a team when picked up -> no more keg slashed off your back by friendly knights
[modified] coins for building wood blocks decreased to 1
[modified] coins for building stone blocks and structures increased to 4
[fixed] moving spectator camera uses keybinds for move left right up down instead of hardcoded WASD
[modified] floating islands now "allowed" at map design time
[added] sandbox uses default png loader
[modified] warboat has +50% hp
[added] 3 new heads - horse head, diving helmet, alchemist head
[added] JTF_FirstBadlands map
[added] undercooked egg to quarters for 30c
[modified] chicken breeding parameters a little

News on the steam release - as valve don’t work over the weekend, MM is currently slating the steam release for “Approximately Monday”. This is still subject to change, but we’re as anxious to get it on there as you are - trust me :^) We’ll keep you posted as things solidify, there have been some more frustrating issues on non-windows platforms. As usual, everything is just that little bit different.

Enjoy the build!

Max/Geti

Unused KAG gifs!

I heard two inspirational stories about gifs and indie games yesterday and decided to dig out some old unused gifs that were meant on our website. These aren’t as good as the ones on the web page but still cool I think.

enjoy
MM

The rest is on http://kag2d.com/

Oh and we’re coming to Steam some time after the weekend. If you buy now you’ll get a Steam code once it’s out! (and we get the entire cut instead of % for Valve:p)

Edit: Considering that buying direct from us gives you a steam key, if its possible for you to buy direct then we’d appreciate it - if it’s not then don’t fret too much about it and just enjoy the game.

Build 915 - More optimisations, CTF Balance Tweaks, More Maps

This build is another minor one as we’re mostly working on steam related stuff at the moment. That said, it’s always good to get a balance/tweak patch out before the weekend. Failing that, it’s good to do it at 2am on Saturday ;^)

Most importantly:

• Catas are a little more resilient
  Bomb arrows don’t quite 1 hit them any more and they’ll be a little less slash prone - we’re still figuring out the ideal parameters here.


• Coins for more things in CTF
  particularly building workshops and killing siege/boats will net you coins to buy goodies with.


• Optimisations
  Even more has been done to keep cata rock lag down, and particles in general should be even faster. Hopefully this will help deal with some of the “KAG Hates my computer” lag, but it’s not certain, of course.

Changelog:

[fixed] excessive particle spam from catapult rock
[add] coin from killing/hurting siege and vehicles
[modified] builder gets coin from building almost everything
        (ladders and backwall left out)
[modified] extra coin for building workshops
[modified] standard coin decrease during warmup (/3, rounded down)
[added] 2 more JTG maps
[modified] catapult can resist 1 bomb arrow (just)
[fixed] crash in server
[fixed] minimap crash
[fixed] nasty loadmap minimap bug
[modified] water doesn't treat the bottom of the map as solid
        - allows waterfalls if you're into that
[fixed] dirt backwall going missing sometimes (particularly bad on client!)
[added] chat console keeps last channel when you press enter
        - means you can hit Y once, and then use enter to team chat in the thick of battle
[modified] door sprite shows orientation a little better
[modified] more cata rock optimisations ... this shouldn't be so hard
[added] even fewer particle iterations and better cache performance
[modified] rock is even more optimised, avoids a lot of logic on client

Max/Geti

Last Day for Hat Voting

Realised a lot of these haven’t made it to the blog/news and that the last one would be good to go out with a bang :^)

Vote in the thread, basically 2 votes for the heads you want, and the ones that get voted in will get added to the game.

This is the last one for now and there’s only a few days left so get voting for your favourite head!

Also: new build will be out tomorrow, the build server is a bit sick at the moment but should be fixed by then. Changes include bug fixes, two new maps, and more coin where coin is due - from damaging enemy vehicles and from building things like workshops and doors.

Max/Geti

Build 912 - Catapult Optimisations and Changes

So, you know that slideshow thing that happens when the catapult fires sometimes? Hopefully that’s fixed. If it’s not, let us know in the thread and tell us if the parameters have changed at all (used to lag as the rocks hit the ground in busy games).

As well, cata damage versus tiles has changed a little, and the vehicles code has been completely reworked by MM today to require many fewer hash table/properties lookups. This basically means it runs faster, as confirmed by profiling - we’ll see how much of a difference it makes in public games though.

Particles have been optimised a little more - there’s still one possible optimisation there that will be turned to if they still pose a problem, but the focus at the moment is problem scripts :^)

Very glad to be done with B911 and its map problems.

Server owners, for the third time in 24 hours, get your patching hats on!

Full changelog:

[removed] hurt on collide etc from catapult rock
[modified] rock doesn't use collisions (wip)
[script][added] bind for Random::getSeed()
[script] major change to Vehicle scripts
[script] optimized vehicle script to use a structure isntead of properties
[fixed] fixed camera on gunner position
[modified] config files missing are warnings instead of errors
[fixed] chicken == flag mistake on JTG map
[modified] cata more effective on roof than wall, but doesn't "pierce" with normal rocks so much

Max/Geti

Hotfix for B911 - Server owners please patch

There was a bug in the map cycle pushed, this has been fixed but needs server owners to patch their servers! Build should be out in 30 minutes or so - thanks to JTG and the players of Donk CTF for “identifying” the issue :^)

Big apologies for any inconvenience caused, in particular any inconvenience related to falling to your death forever.

Max/Geti

Build 911 - Fixes, Optimisations, and Heads

This build is another quick one with a lot of incremental improvements - nothing groundbreaking but some more smoothness.

I should note that the owl head was super difficult to transfer faithfully to pixels - while I’m not quite happy with it yet I figured I shouldn’t spend too much time on it when there are other, more pressing things. A roundup of the new heads available:

• Dovahkiin Helmet - tribute to Bethesda’s great game Skyrim, unleash your inner Nord, or whatever :^)


• Owl head - If you really like being an uppity bird that eats rodents, this is for you!


• Ninja Headwraps - partly via JTG, these two heads (male and female) are for those interested in poisons, murdering, and saturday morning cartoons.


• Ushanka - Pay homage to russian heritage, or just keep your ears warm.


• Dragon Skull Helm - left over from the old whiter bear helm, this gives the player a fearsome look, with team colour trim!

Game modifications:

• Doors fixes
  Hitting the tiles behind doors shouldn’t happen any more.
  Doors also show persistent damage after being opened and closed (note that this had no affect on their actual health!)


• Fake techs in CTF cleared properly
  No more bomb bolts for free on nextmap!


• No coins on restart
  Should help the game “scale up” a little better - as it was it’s a little spammy, right out the gate.


• Anti-Siege and Sapping Bomb arrows
  Bomb arrows will now 1 hit kill a catapult, and take large chunks out of walls, allowing archers to carve pathways for their team and defend effectively against siege engines if they have the coin.


• Particle optimisations
  More on their way, as well as the much needed optimisations to catapult rocks!

Full changelog:

[modified] snatchmark map
[fixed] JTG_NewGetisburgMines map not loading properly
[fixed] fake techs in CTF not cleared on next map (note: requires adding UseFakeTechs.as to gamemodes where fake techs are used)
[added] updated monsteri ctf 2 map
[fixed] opening and closing door visually hiding the damage
[added] builder cant break door  backwall before breaking the door
[added] Verrazano unique head (congrats)
[added] owl head, dovahkiin helmet, animu ninja head, ushanka, and dragon skull helmet
[modified] heads settings box has 6 heads per row instead of 5
[modified] catapult cost increased to 80c
[modified] bomb arrow one hit kills catapult
[modified] no coins on map restart/join game of CTF
[modified] particle iterations drastically reduced
[modified] maximum particle count reduced
[modified] tweak in tutorial
[modified] performance optimizations to lighting
[modified] some optimizations in scripts

Have fun!

Max/Geti

Steam Delay - Don't Despair!

Hey, big apologies to all the people who were hanging on the edge of their seats all weekend and have been let down by no steam release yet!

Reality of the matter is that steam integration isn’t done yet, the trailer isn’t quite finished, and there are a few big optimisations that need to be made before we can comfortably pull the game out of beta.

As hopefully some consolation, here’s the video MM uploaded today about CTF and Challenges, so you have something to show your friends. We’re still here and working tirelessly on the game! It’s just taking a little longer than we anticipated.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D_0ab58GbY?feature=player_detailpage]

Current ‘realistic’ timeline is slated for next week - if it’s shorter then we’ll go ahead, but we don’t want to give false expectations (we never do! promise!).

On the game: a new build will be out tomorrow fixing the tech bug in CTF, bringing some map balance to CTF (still not perfect though) and giving a little more omph to bomb arrows. It’ll also contain more optimisations and some tutorial tweaks. Most importantly, it’ll have 5 new hats!

Max/Geti

B909 - Balancing, Fixes, Upgrades, Optimisation

This build is mostly small things, but some of them will make a difference for modders, and most of them will make a difference for players. Small bits of polish go a long way, and all that :^)

• Chickens don’t breed infinitely
  They’re limited to 4 chickens at most in one area (and 2 eggs at most in one area) - this means you’ll have to spread your chicken coops out to breed a larger number of them. We’re going to add some way to buy new eggs to start flocks of them, but that’ll come later


• Fake Rolling Optimised
  This is particularly important for the rocks flung from the catapult, but will also make a little bit of a difference with bombs, mines, and boulders - modders that have applicable objects can use CheapFakeRolling.as instead of FakeRolling.as.


• Less Particle Spam from Catapult Rocks
  This should help a little with the lag from them as well


• Upgrade Ballista to Bomb Bolts at siege shop
  This is built on top of a way to add “fake techs” to a team.
  There might be some bugs with this, particularly with techs “persisting” between rounds, keep a look out for anything skew so it can be fixed asap. EDIT: confirmed - the tech hangs over between rounds. This will be fixed as soon as we can, probably tomorrow.
  The terrain erosion caused by Ballistae will be looked into soon too, but wasn’t able to be worked into this release.


• Can purchase bolts for Ballista at siege shop
  which is pretty important for ensuring it remains useful.


• Chat colours come from the team config files
  This is very important for modders making >2 team games - the chat colours are no longer hard coded.


• Price changes
  Particularly with arrows, some of the prices have shifted a little. Kegs are also a bit cheaper, and tunnels no longer cost gold (pending that this doesn’t lead to them being spammed mindlessly).


• Anti-Siege and Anti-Structure bomb arrows
  Bomb arrows now simply detonate on impact, with a weak explosion. However, the explosion does extra damage to structures and vehicles, so it can be used for quickly disabling catapults and blowing holes in walls or breaching doors - as well as for sapping workshops quickly. This should give archers slightly more to do after they get into the enemy base.


• Some changes to building
  Building should be more tolerant, and breaking blocks requires less exact aiming.
  Ladders are team only and have a sprite that shows it - no more breaking your own ladders by accident as knight!
  Spikes have team colour layer so they’re easier to spot and you know the team in advance.

I think that’s about it for now, though there are some other miscellaneous changes and fixes. Here’s the full changelog:

[added] bomb arrow is rocket launcher - low damage vs actor (2.5 hearts on direct hit),
    	high damage on buildings and vehicles, and explodes on impact - can be used to bomb jump!
[fixed] double hitting from bomb arrow explosion
[added] drill is much more effective against constructed blocks (heats much slower for castle and wood)
[added] ladder has team (and sprite that shows it)
[fixed] runner can jump higher off ladders than ground
[fixed] scroll of midas (thanks norill)
[modified] scroll of midas affects thick stone too
[modified] tunnel costs 100 stone 50 wood (no gold)
[modified] 3 builder hits to break ladder
[modified] block placement is more tolerant
[modified] builder aim hitting tiles is "no bullshit" - will be ported to block placement soon
[fixed] chickens breeding infinitely in one space
[added] spikes have team coloured layer so now you can tell what team they are on
[fixed] first sign in the tutorial not below the player
[added] water arrows are 20 coins, fire arrows are 30
[modified] water arrows come in stack of 2
[added] wip "fake tech" system - allows techs in rules without any research system in place
[modified] pickup radius is a bit smaller
[removed] restartmap_onlastplayer_disconnect cause it causes crashed (will return once issue is resolved)
[added] requirements support "not tech" so that you can prevent double-buying upgrades at different shops
[modified] rock spams fewer particles
[added] JTG_NewGetisburgMines map
[removed] monsteri map 2 from the cycle til it's fixed
[added] 3 new maps from community - Fellere_newValleyMap, Skinney_Crypt, Skinney_Typhoon
[added] cheaper fake rolling script for applicable objects (only rotates one sprite, does no matrix multiplication)
[added] cheaper fake rolling to boulder
[added] more expensive fake rolling script only runs on server (rotation deltas are synced anyway)
[added] chat colour is from team .cfg file
[added] team chat gets asterixes around it  * team chat *
[modified] keg is 120 coins

Max/Geti

A Few Notes on B907

The chickens breeding exponentially is an issue - we’ll be releasing a patch over the weekend to address this asap; please farm chickens responsibly in the meantime (cull as needed, ideally flying birds contributing to overpopulation towards the enemy) :^)

The patch over the weekend will also include some balance changes to builder and archer - archer’s bomb arrow getting an overhaul, and builder block placement and destruction being more tolerant.

A summary of inbound changes:

• Fixed chicken breeding (accounting for overcrowding)


• Bomb arrow explodes on impact.


• Bomb arrow does 1.5 health explosion, 1 health arrow impact


• Bomb arrow explosion does very large damage to structures and vehicles.


• Bomb arrow only breaks 1 tile “radius” like bombs.


• Bomb arrow explosion hurts user.


• Builder aiming of placement and destruction is more lenient


• Ladder has team (and team colour) - no more cutting them accidentally as knight.


• Ladder easier to smash for builder (3 hits).


• Tunnel costs 100 stone, 50 wood


• Scroll of Midas fixed


• Drill much more effective against constructed tiles (heats at 1/3 speed)

Note that this should allow archers with bomb arrows to take on a sapper role - sinking boats, killing catapults and sapping workshops. It should also help “battle builders” a little - they’ll spend less time aiming exactly at the tile they want to break and more time breaking it - and their ladders won’t be smashed by team-mates every single time they put one down :^)

Should be out tomorrow, sorry for the delay on it.

Max/Geti

B907 - Chicken update!

First of all we gathered feedback after the last update about tutorials and improved them a lot. So this update is mainly about better tutorials. If you have a friend that just couldn’t get into KAG have him play the new tutorials, we can see if we can get him on to the KAG side now :).

Second, we added these lovely creatures into the tutorials as target practice (I think it’s cruel and I regret doing it). 

You can also find them on regular maps. Chicken can be farmed because they lay eggs. You can eat eggs for health. Also you can use chicken to create your own chickenwaffe or luftchickens or in other words your very own:

FLYING CHICKEN DEATH SQUADRON

Because by holding a chicken you can float and jump much farther especially combined with shield gliding. Imagine a team of knights floating knights attacking from air!

Third, some very useful changes and tweaks, please read the changelog.

Have fun,
MM

Changes b904-b907:

[added] zoom to cheat sheet

[removed] motion in fixed camera

[modified] keg doesn't take action 2 any more - allows shielding when holding keg.

[modified] only 50 coins and no carry over (by default) in CTF - see CTF_Trading.as for config options (should be moved to .cfg file tbh)

[added] both "rock" and "stone" are the same predefined gib

[added] warning for unknown "predefined" gibs
[added] dummy target practice to tutorials
[added] added chicken

[modified] tweaked parallax backgrounds

[modified] double slash is a bit easier to execute

[fixed] sign and fireplace in front of player

[added] mapcycle can use just directory instead of .cfg (sv_mapcycle = Maps/Challenge/Tutorials)

[added] new princess

[modified] archer cursor has one more frame (smoother animation) and a better indication of legolas shot ready

[modified] esc key icon is more legible (no overlapping glyphs)

[fixed] archer aiming cursor-arrow discrepancies

[modified] arrow launches slightly higher allowing to shoot easily over 1 block when standing next to it

[fixed] various fixes and improvements to tutorials

[fixed] typo in turtorials

B904 - Basics tutorial added

I’m generally not a fan of tutorials but since we’re pressed on time and we don’t have better options I decided to add a very simple, no bs. tutorial where you can learn the very basics of KAG. I hope this will make new players have a smoother experience from the start.

Be sure to help new players online! Let them see we have an awesome community :).

Also, the charge cursor for archer is back! I felt we really need it, especially since I can’t fix the charging sound bug yet.

Tutorials are available in the Solo menu.

MM

Changes 899-904:

[fixed] not loading mod downloaded scripts (still some issues)

[modified] tweaks to princess mode

[modified] improved bot difficulty

[added] shinier title

[added] 3 level basics tutorial

[fixed] research being in hall in Challenges

[added] archer charge cursor

Last day of Not On Steam sale

It’s the last chance to buy indie games with big discounts. Including 25% off for King Arthur’s Gold. So if you want it, get it for $7.49. Just follow one of these links!

Not On Steam Sale -> http://notonsteam.com/

KAG -> http://kag2d.com/en/buy

(if you buy KAG now you will get a Steam key once it’s released there)

B899 - Fixes and Eased Frustrations

(As a quick side note - Remember that KAG is on sale for $7.49 at the moment before Steam launch!)

This is obviously a fairly minor build, but it eases a few major frustrations people have had, mostly with building and digging.

• Builder can build on top of arrows, corpses and materials
  There may be unexpected side effects to this, but it should be nothing major in normal building, and removes some of the pressure when frontline building - no more clearing arrows or materials out of the way.


• Knights can dig through gold nuggets
  Like all materials though, they mats will be lost for good if dug by a knight - it just means they aren’t stuck if theres some nuggets in the way under a frontline wall.


• Sky less glaring, night less dark
  This is a somewhat minor one, but the sky is a little less glaring white, and night time isn’t completely pitch black. In light of this, a 15 minute day/night cycle has been re-added to vanilla Take the Halls mode. Note that you can change this per-server and per-gamemode in the standard gamemode.cfg, server hosts.

Full changelog:

[fixed] can build on open doors
[fixed] cant build on materials
[fixed] cant build on fired arrows
[modified] knight can dig gold
[modified] knight digging dirt stone takes same hits as digging constructed wood
[added] 6 stone from digging thick stone
[script][added] bind for CMap::isTileThickStone
[added] new sky gradient code - along with darker skyline overall for a little less "neon" and eye strain, and lighter night
[added] 15 minute day night cycle to default tth again
[fixed] archer rope sometimes renders off "to infinity"

Have Fun

Max/Geti

Not (yet) on Steam Sale!

To celebrate the time before we hit the Steam store we are making a 25% off sale for King Arthur’s Gold. This means you can play the new beta version for only 7.49$.

We are also part of a larger sale called Not On Steam Sale.
This is only until next Wednesday so hurry!

This is done by the guys that made recently the excellent racer Race to the Sun.

You can buy a variety of other indie games on that site that aren’t on Steam (yet) which you might not have heard of. So if it’s KAG or some other game spend a few bucks today to support indie devs :).

MM

Build 898 - Fixes, Changes, Balance

This is partly a “hotfix” type build, but also adds a few changes and balance tweaks. There are a few things that probably still need better testing, if there’s anything awry it’ll be patched again tomorrow.

The main changes are

• Kegs are more expensive in CTF but tear through structures doors, blocks, etc very effectively due to a few bugfixes there.


• Fire spreads from doors and platform tiles. This means door cases around the flag are quite a bit less effective, at least with normal wood doors. Kegs are still the ultimate breaching solution though.


• Knights take 3 hits to break wood tiles instead of 2.
  We’ll probably allow breaking other “natural” tiles as well, like gold and maybe thick stone, but with more hits and more feedback for each.


• Archer bow rotates visually to give better indication of charge state. This should help with some of the difficulties people were/are having with the archer.


• Fixed some camera bugs. There are still a few in, they’ll be fixed as soon as we can manage.


• Added a ding when hitting something that cant be damaged. This still needs some more filtering added, there are a couple of outliers like seeds and hearts which still ding cheerfully with every hit. This will of course be patched soon.

Understand that this build is a bit of a work in progress, but we figured that the gains of the fixes and balance tweaks outweighed the rough edges around a few of the changes. That said, there’ll likely be a build 899 tomorrow smoothing the majority of those rough edges.

Max/Geti