Hi everyone, Before I start, If you want to jump straight to the bit about feedback, scroll until you see a header saying "Feedback" I've been gone a while, not made an update, not said anything. I've been active recently in the discord (which if you haven't joined yet then click here to join) but still not on steam. However, that's changing. I want to do an update for Spectral Showdown, an update that will change the game and make it much better, an update that will (hopefully) get the game away from being buggy and a mess. I need your help though. As a developer, I can tell a lot about the game, but I'm also blindsided by my own mistakes and little things (and can also just miss details), I'd love to be able to not be biased in any way and I always try to, however I still need other people to give their thoughts to make sure I don't end up creating an update that doesn't make the game better. This is where you all come in!

Feedback

So, I would like to ask for your feedback to improve the game! If you've played Spectral Showdown (in update v1.4.0) then fill out the form linked below. If you haven't played, then get playing! Gather some friends and play and leave your thoughts in the form below! The form is entirely anonymous, this is so you can feel more comfortable writing whatever you want (as that's what I want). Write whatever you want, critical or not, don't be scared! Here's the form link! It may require a google login, just so you can save your progress. I hope you contribute to the form and to making Spectral Showdown a better game! I want to really make this game better and I hope that with all your help, I can make it better. Thank you all, - Archie.

[ 2023-01-15 17:30:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! I'm excited to bring you all a new update which brings more optimisations, bug fixes and new features!

Change log:

• Changed a lot of models for optimisation purposes. Any models not listed further down were done in the previous update. Some models have also been completely redone and have visual changes. They will be listed as well.
• Fixed an issue where AoE attacks were not launching creatures.
• Fixed an issue where AoE attacks (offline) were only occurring if you were standing right next to the creature (virtual inside) you wanted to attack.
• Fixed an issue where the minimap was updating slowly.
• Fixed an issue where the Show Minimap setting (online) wasnt working.
• Fixed an issue where you couldnt join games directly from inviting from steam.
• Added Keybinds.
• Added a Time Multiplier.
• Added a Speed Multiplier.

Now, let's talk about model optimisations and the list of models optimised. Models have many materials, however, optimised models have 1 material. Every time a model (in Spectral Showdown) had a different colour, it had an additional material for that other colour. Now, this is obviously not optimised and can be changed to use 1 texture for that material, rather than a bucket-load of materials. So, I set out to redo this and redid every model (not the creatures). There were also some models that had some vertices that weren't needed, and some models had a lot of vertices (even for a "low-poly" model) which also causes issues and ruins the feel of Spectral Showdown so you may notice some visual changes here and there. There's still more optimisation work to be done but this is the most I can give for now. Anyways, here's the list of models that were changed in this update.

• Cabin (remade)
• Candle
• Rake (remade)
• Pitchfork (remade)
• Pumpkin (remade)
• Tent
• Trees
• Scarecrow (remade)
• Firewatch Tower
• Campfire
• Doghouse
• Windmill

This should improve performance a bit and make the game just better as a whole! I'm sorry I couldn't bring controller support to this update, I'm working on another project and I'm busy with University so I couldn't dedicate enough time. Anyways, that's all from me today! I'll see you all later! - Archie.

[ 2022-10-09 21:42:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! Today I'm here bringing you a new update! I've overhauled AoE combat to balance the game out. If you want more, stay around til after the change log! Here's the change log!

• Lowered all default volume sounds to .5
• Fixed an issue where attacks occurred twice from the client.
• Fixed a fatal issue crash on creatures death (if possessed).
• Fixed an issue where you could activate the Main Menu UI before the Main Menu loads.
• Added a Public Experimental Branch.
• Added a complete rewrite of AoE damage.
• Added some slight optimisations.

So, there are two things I want to talk about here. 1) Public Experimental branch. This branch has now been made to release experimental updates to everyone, meaning I can do public tests! 2) The AoE rewrite. I spent a week writing all the numbers in an excel document and creating graphs to see damage and stamina compared to other creatures. This data didnt really show much but it did lead me to the fact that the Pig isnt so OP but rather the fact that AoE is OP. This led to the idea that AoE needs to be rewritten. So, this rewrite now makes it so AoE doesnt deal the same damage if youre just at the end of the radius, compared to being directly next to the creature doing the attack. This means youll take more damage next to the creature attacking and less damage further away. This should balance combat a lot, and if not, there will be more updates to make sure it is balanced. Anyways, that's all from me today! I'll see you all soon! Archie.

[ 2022-09-25 20:03:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Just done a quick reupload of v1.2.0 because it seemed to be on the development branch.

[ 2022-09-10 19:19:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Everyone! Today I'm bringing you all another update! This update is to fix some networking issues and bring some security to games! Along with some bug fixes. Let's get straight into the change log!

• Chicken attack stamina is no longer 2 (meant to be 10) and is now 15
• Dog attack stamina is no longer 15 and is now 10
• Fixed an issue where the Sheep (and possibly more creatures) would freeze after their attack.
• Fixed a potential issue where the Ghost Player wouldnt load in.
• Creatures now deal damage in offline games as the previous update broke this.
• The minimap toggle is no longer broken in offline games.
• Reduced network lag with rotating in Online games.
• The cursor no longer stays on screen after resuming the game.
• Creatures can now attack each other in offline play and on the menu screen.
• In offline play, player two no longer moves forward when trying to move backwards.
• Optimised the creatures to gain a slight performance boost.
• Can no longer join sessions that dont match your version.
• Can no longer join a session that is mid-game.
• The server browser now actually works.
• Can now press the pause button to unpause in an online match.
• Added pause sounds for pressing the pause button in an online match.
• Added password-protected games.
• Added a countdown for going back to the lobby once the game has ended.
• Added an animation to fade the blur in on the end screen.
• Added a fade to black when about to transition to lobby from game.
• Temorarily removed mouse keys being used for attack/possess.

I'm pretty sure this will make online matches feel even smoother. There are still a LOT more updates to come and more optimisations to come. I'm working hard to try and get these online matches to feel smooth. The next update will be the balance update. I'm looking forward to that and I hope that it makes the matches feel even better. Thank you all for sticking around, it means everything! Archie.

[ 2022-09-10 15:10:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Everyone! Today I'm bringing you all a huge new update that should fix a lot of issues with Spectral Showdown! Before I get into the changelog, I just want to apologise for how long this took and how broken the game was on release. This is not a common theme of mine and I tend to release updates pretty quickly. Spectral Showdown is a multiplayer game so it is significantly harder to test, reproduce issues and make sure it's all working. I am working on making sure I can make the process easier and faster so please do bare with me for a few updates! There has been a HUGE redo of some features to crack down on bugs, resulting in a lot of bugs cracked down and a bit of a performance increase. There have also been a few networking optimisations added to try and make multiplayer feel smoother and some QoL features to make the settings and the match settings feel a lot more customisable. Anyways, let's get to the change log!

Change Log

• Sound sliders are now 1-100 rather than 1-10.
• Game multipliers are now siders rather than combo boxes, allowing better match customisation.
• Increased Damage Multiplier Max to 2.
• Increased Health Multiplier Max to 2.
• Minimum Stamina Multiplier is now 1.
• Health decreasing and Stamina increasing no longer starts a second later than it should.
• You can no longer clip through the inside of the greenhouse.
• Chicken no longer reacts to traps differently (was taking damage incorrectly)
• Sheep animation no longer goes on for .5 seconds longer than it should.
• You can no longer start a match with one player.
• Matchmaking will now recognise the match when back in the lobby.
• Same-keyboard multiplayer is no longer bugged.
• The quit button in an online game now works.
• Waiting for players will no longer be an infinite wait. It will only occur for a max of 60 seconds. Everyone is sent back to the lobby if the game fails to load at least 2 players in.
• Creature attack particles no longer occur when knocked down mid-attack.
• Can no longer start moving whilst knocked down if you were mid-attack.
• Clouds no longer have a green tint in the lobby.
• Creatures no longer think theyre attacking when possessed during their attack.
• Damage Multiplier is corrected in offline play.
• Possessing will no longer sometimes leave you in a spectating state.
• Multiplayer now uses stamina for possessing.
• In online, the fox now hunts chickens (like offline).
• Client buttons in the lobby no longer have incorrect text formatting.
• Added a server browser.
• Added text next to sound sliders to show what volume you are currently on.
• Added Improvements to Attacking.
• Added a very slight performance boost.
• Added a Minimap Toggle in Match Settings.
• Mouse buttons are now allowed on the press any key to start.
• Added Multiplayer Optimisations.
• Temporarily removed the stamina bar animation (when you don't have enough stamina)

I really do hope this update fixes A LOT of issues that everyone has been having and I hope that the game seems more fun now with these issues fixed! There will be updates coming soon with balance, this was just a well-needed update. Before I finish up, I also want to say Thank you SO MUCH for 3k players! That's absolutely amazing and I can't thank you all enough! Anyways, I hope this update solves a lot of issues and I'll see you all soon! Archie.

[ 2022-09-04 19:16:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the support and love for Spectral Showdown, It's our first game on steam so hearing such great things about the game really means a lot. 750+ downloads (at the time of writing this) is amazing and I couldn't be happier! It really does mean a lot! Anyways, today I wanted to discuss some issues and upcoming features for Spectral Showdown!

The issues

So, quite a few bugs have appeared (to my surprise), and some of them are pretty game-breaking. Obviously, If these bugs came up in testing then I would have delayed, however, they didn't. This has left Spectral Showdown in a bit of a buggy state (which is not what I intended) and that's not good. I won't list the bugs but there are definitely more than there needs to be (and quite an embarrassing amount) but they seem to be very random on when they happen so there are quite good chances you can have a nice clean game and not run into any issues! Moving forward from this, there will be a major bug fix coming extremely soon, which leads to the next section.

Upcoming Update

The upcoming update will feature a major amount of bug fixes along with some improvements. Now, if you're sitting there asking yourself "why not release bug fixes before improvements" then remain seated whilst I explain. Some of the bugs require a major redo of some systems. This means I am going through and reprogramming a lot of features to make them work, however, reprogramming these features brings improvements and also optimisations so really it's 3 birds with one stone. So, to sum it up, you can expect a lot of bug fixes, improvements (new features) and optimisations in the upcoming update! That's all for now! I hope you're all ready for this update! You can expect it to arrive soon! Again, thank you SO much for your support, it is seriously amazing! Thank you, Archie.

[ 2022-08-21 18:45:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! I'm happy to announce that Spectral Showdown will be released this Monday at 10am PDT | 6pm BST! This news is a bit delayed (people in discord knew about this for a while, join using the link below) so this comes at short notice, however, I'm pleased about Spectral Showdown releasing and I can't wait for everyone to play! I hope you're all excited and continue to share this game with your friends! I'll see you all on Monday for the release of Spectral Showdown! See you soon! - Archie. Join the discord! Visit the website!

[ 2022-08-12 17:35:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everyone!

Spectral Showdown has been in the works for quite some while, and today, I can finally bring some amazing news that I know you've all been waiting for! On May the 24th (2022), I took over the game to publish to steam (as we previously worked on the game as a college project). At first, we were just going to publish it to itch, but I wanted to take it further and put the game on steam, even if it's not the best of games out there. So, I've been hard at work getting multiplayer working and making sure that the game is fun and enjoyable. It's my first steam game so there's quite a lot of pressure but I'm handling it pretty well! I'm confident the game is getting close to being in a release state so, today, I'm proud to announce that... Spectral Showdown will be released in August 2022! I'm extremely excited about this and I can't wait to bring you all an amazing game. I hope you all enjoy the game as much as I've enjoyed working on it. I'll see you all soon! - Archie jaskowicz

[ 2022-07-11 12:42:19 CET ] [ Original post ]