We've updated Dudelings with a series of features and fixes that should improve the gameplay experience! We're super stoked for this new client release as it's addressed a few long-standing issues and we're excited for your feedback. You'll find our changelog below. If you encounter an issue, sound off in the comments or join our Revolt server.

Updates

• Reorganized game assets to simplify the process of exporting them into the FOSS build of the game
• Made some upgrades to the games assets to reduce overall download/disk usage size
• Backported some features/assets of the Android build to the main branch
  • This included re-encoding the video files in the how to play and launch movie to lower bitrates
  • Removing the video file that played in the background of the Main Menu and replacing it with static images that were animated in Godot
  • Backported the custom virtual gamepad in the Android port to the main branch
• Added a link to our new Revolt server on the Main Menu
• Changed all links & references to our new canonical domain name: heavyelement.com
• Made some changes to the underlying code to unify the demo and retail codebase as much as possible
  • The demo features one map, one game mode, and some customization features disabled. It should be on Steam soon!

Bug fixes

• Fixed instances where game would randomly fail to launch on Intel graphics under Linux operating systems
• Fixed a glitch where the ball could get stuck between the left- or right-most Dudeling and get placed out of bounds
• Fixed an issue with unlocking Destination map where criteria was met, but the map didnt unlock until the game was restarted
• Fixed a visual glitch where labels for CheckButtons would disappear when in a hover state (thanks moocow1452)
• Fixed an issue where requests to the news endpoint failed silently
• Improved error handling for new news items on the Main Menu and in the Whats New submenu

Also, if you're a coder, we've got good news! We've launched the official Dudelings FOSS project on GitHub. This build was actually produced using the first release of our free and open source codebase. If you're interested in helping out, let us know!

Dudelings Demo

Finally, we've got excellent news! We've produced a demo version of Dudelings! Our goal is to get the game in front of folks, allow them to give it a try, and make an informed decision on if this game is worth $5. (We think it is). The demo is available for Linux and Windows, so give that a shot. The other thing about the demo is that it gives a free entrypoint into the open source version of the game. The assets are not licensed under the GPL, so if you want to get into development and you don't own a copy, you can download and extract the demo's assets for use with Dudelings FOSS!

[ 2025-03-28 19:15:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Dudelings: Arcade Sportsball just received its first major update, codenamed "2nd Base," featuring a massive collection of features, fixes, and improvements to help you get your sport on! So what's new? Where do we even start?

Presentation

The first thing you might've noticed is the brand new CRT filter! When designing the art for the game, we had always imagined it as a Super Nintendo title. This filter lends a bit more authenticity to the design (in that kind of simulacra way). But if a CRT Filter isn't your style, you can turn it off in Settings CRT Filter. Then, we've added a whole bunch of new jerseys designs to the game. Jerseys have always been purely cosmetic (meaning they have no impact on the gameplay), so we decided to move them to the Settings menu. Your jersey selection will persist across game sessions and you can even change them mid-match!

Announcers

2nd Base features the voice talent of some familiar voices. YouTube sensations "FanTheDeck" and "NerdNest" have stepped up to fill the Announcer role! Select either announcer pack in Settings Announcer Voice and enjoy the dulcet narration of some of your favorite YouTubers. Thanks again to FanTheDeck and NerdNest for joining the Dudelings cast!

New Game Mode

2nd Base introduces a new (and exceptionally fun) game mode that we're calling "Pins." The play field is littered with a symmetrical series of pins: six for each team. Hit the ball into your opponent's pins to knock 'em down. Once all six of their pins are down, you earn a point and their pins are reset. But watch out, because yours won't reset until they score a point on you!

New Rules

Dudelings has always had the option to customize your match rules. But 2nd Base introduces a brand new and exciting victory condition: Timed Matches. Don't worry, the traditional way to play Dudelingswith a fixed Match Pointis still available. However, Timed Matches bring a whole new frenzy to the game. And if there's a tie when the time's up, the game will head into Overtime where the rules change to SUDDEN DEATH! The next player to score wins! Now, Match Points haven't gone anywhere. In fact, they're still the default rule for most game types. However, an interesting change we've made is to how rules are applied. With this update, each Game Mode (Classic, Hoop, etc.) has its own default ruleset! For example, Pin games default to 5 match points, rather than the default 10. Volley now defaults to a 3 minute Timed Match. And Hoop now uses the Bowling Ball by default! Of course, you can change any of these yourself. Meaning Volley can be a Match Point game, Classic can be a Timed Match, etc. And you can tweak the other rules (like which pickups are allowed to spawn) just as before. Speaking of which...

New Pickups

There are two new Pickups that come with 2nd Base. The first is Switchup. When your ball touches a Switchup coin, it will flip to the other team's possession! Then, there's the Black Hole which works just like a portal to another dimension! When a ball touches this pickup, it will disappear for a moment before being teleported to a random position on the map! And stay frosty as the ball will maintain its momentum as it exits the Black Hole!

Steam Integration

For our Steam players, we've added new Steam integrations into this update! 2nd Base now supports Steam Rich Presence. There's also a button prompt to start an Online match using Remote Play Together. And we've even added Steam Achievements! In order to add Steam Achievements, though, we also needed a way to track your stats. And that's why 2nd Base now incorporates a Stats panel on the Main Menu. (Note that this is available to all players, not just our Steam customers!) This is all stored local to your device for maximum privacy. However, we have enabled Steam Cloud Saves which will back up your settings and your stats across devices!

Balancing & More

We've also taken the opportunity to balance the game, refine the controls, update the physics of the balls, and improve the player experience. (We've fixed a longstanding bug with popover menus closing their parent modal window.) And whole lot more! You can check out the absolutely MASSIVE changelog for the game here. And make sure you subscribe to our email newsletter where we do giveaways, show off behind the scenes stuff, and drop previews of our in-development work! If you already own the game on Steam, you can just start playing. If you have the game on Itch you'll need to download the latest update. And if don't own the game yet, get it here on Steam!

VERSION 1.2.0 CHANGELOG

Gameplay Features

• Added new game mode: Pins
  • Use the ball to knock down your opponent's pins. Once all their pins are knocked down, you earn a point and their pins reset!
• Added a new arena: Destination
  • Includes new stage music
• Added new match option: Victory Condition
  • Match Point: The first player to reach the "match point" wins
  • Timed Match: The player with the highest score at the end of the time limit wins
  • Overtime: if, at the end of the time limit, the teams are tied, the next player to score wins!
• Added two new pickups:
  • Switch Posession - when the ball touches this pickup, it will change to the opposing team's possession
  • Black Hole - when the ball touches this pickup, it will warp across the map!
• Added a "What's New" system
  • Added a "What's New" sub menu that displays all the new, cool stuff in Dudelings
  • Added a "seen_whats_new_version_x_x_x" setting
  • Added a button to the "Main Menu" that players can use to see the new stuff
• Added a full screen "CRT Filter" effect that's on by default. Use the Settings menu to disable the effect.

Steam Integration

• Added button prompt ("E" for keyboard, "Select" for gamepad) during team selection to start an online game through Remote Play Together
• Added player statistics for Steam Achievements (only the first human player has their stats counted)
  • Added the "Stats" menu
  • Player stats were not collected previous to version 1.1 so all stats start at 0
• Added Steam Achievements
• Added Steam "Rich Presence"

Balance

• Reduced chance the HARD and IMPOSSIBLE AIs will skip taking an action per AI think tick
• Reduced bowling ball's weight
• Refactored balloon's stats
  • Lowered the balloon's weight
  • Increased friction
• Reduced all ball's mass scale when in the LARGE state

Presentation

• Added Announcer Packs:
  • Bill from NerdNest
  • Rich from FanTheDeck & NerdNest
• Added new jerseys:
  • Rugby
  • Water Polo
  • Tennis
  • Hockey
  • Bowling
• Made jerseys a persistent "Display" option rather than a gameplay option
  • These can even be changed while in game from the Settings menu!
• Added a bird
• Made the mini dudelings on Stadium and Infield feel more organic in their reactions
• Reorganized the settings menu, added category headers
• Improved the match rules menu
• Enhanced sprite rendering and full screen support
• New since beta 1.1.2-gds
  • Updated pin goal sound effect to play chromatic scale
  • Added Emily's missing 'two min warning,' 'thirty second warning,' and 'overtime' announcer messages
  • Updated the game ball to add pitch shifting for collision sound playback

Improvements & Fixes

• Updated controller detection
• Moved Steam Notifications to the top right corner
• Added HTTP notifications to Dudelings to facilitate easier communication with our customers
• Made the ball in Hop mode explode when player scores
• Improved the music playback in game
• Improved match setup workflow
  • First, choose your team
  • Select the game type
  • Select the map
    • On this screen you may press "SELECT" (or "E" on your keyboard) to customize the match rules
• Made the stars in the night sky twinkle
• Fixed background animations on Beach
• Added shader effect to Beach
• Reduced chance that the sunset variant of Beach will be chosen
• Updated benefactor's ad branding per their request
• Fixed issue where the button context bar was empty when first entering the Player Setup menu from the Main Menu
• Improved Pause Menu styling. Added toggle to show/hide Match Info using the "SELECT" (or "E" on your keyboard)
• Improved controller navigation in menus including focus change wrapping in the following menus:
  • Main Menu
  • Settings Menu
  • Volume Menu
  • Pause Menu
• Improved asset import settings, all pixelart is now sharp and crisp
• Added pitch shifting for common sound effects to give a little more variety during gameplay
• Fixed issue with canceling option popups also closing their parent submenu
• Improved sound playback and audio bus settings

[ 2024-07-23 17:53:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

VERSION 1.1.2-gds

Gameplay Features

• Added new game mode: Pins
  • Use the ball to knock down your opponent's pins. Once all their pins are knocked down, you earn a point and their pins reset!
• Added a new arena: Destination
  • Includes new stage music
• Added new match option: Victory Condition
  • Match Point: The first player to reach the "match point" wins
  • Timed Match: The player with the highest score at the end of the time limit wins
  • Overtime: if, at the end of the time limit, the teams are tied, the next player to score wins!
• Added two new pickups:
  • Switch Posession - when the ball touches this pickup, it will change to the opposing team's possession
  • Black Hole - when the ball touches this pickup, it will warp across the map!
• Added a "What's New" system
  • Added a "What's New" sub menu that displays all the new, cool stuff in Dudelings
  • Added a "seen_whats_new_version_x_x_x" setting
  • Added a button to the "Main Menu" that players can use to see the new stuff
• Added a full screen "CRT Filter" effect that's on by default. Use the Settings menu to disable the effect.

Steam Integration

• Added button prompt ("E" for keyboard, "Select" for gamepad) during team selection to start an online game through Remote Play Together
• Added player statistics for Steam Achievements (only the first human player has their stats counted)
  • Added the "Stats" menu
  • Player stats were not collected previous to version 1.1 so all stats start at 0
• Added Steam Achievements
• Added Steam "Rich Presence"

Presentation

• Added Announcer Packs:
  • Bill from NerdNest
  • Rich from FanTheDeck & NerdNest
• Added new jerseys:
  • Rugby
  • Water Polo
  • Tennis
  • Hockey
  • Bowling
• Made jerseys a persistent "Display" option rather than a gameplay option
  • These can even be changed while in game from the Settings menu!
• Added a bird
• Made the mini dudelings on Stadium and Infield feel more organic in their reactions
• Reorganized the settings menu, added category headers
• Improved the match rules menu
• Enhanced sprite rendering and full screen support

Improvements & Fixes

• Updated controller detection
• Moved Steam Notifications to the top right corner
• Improved match setup workflow
  • First, choose your team
  • Select the game type
  • Select the map
    • On this screen you may press "SELECT" (or "E" on your keyboard) to customize the match rules
• Made the stars in the night sky twinkle
• Fixed background animations on Beach
• Added shader effect to Beach
• Reduced chance that the sunset variant of Beach will be chosen
• Updated benefactor's ad branding per their request
• Fixed issue where the button context bar was empty when first entering the Player Setup menu from the Main Menu
• Improved Pause Menu styling. Added toggle to show/hide Match Info using the "SELECT" (or "E" on your keyboard)
• Improved controller navigation in menus including focus change wrapping in the following menus:
  • Main Menu
  • Settings Menu
  • Volume Menu
  • Pause Menu
• Improved asset import settings, all pixelart is now sharp and crisp
• Added pitch shifting for common sound effects to give a little more variety during gameplay
• Fixed issue with canceling option popups also closing their parent submenu

Balance

• Reduced chance the HARD and IMPOSSIBLE AIs will skip taking an action per AI think tick
• Reduced bowling ball's weight
• Refactored balloon's stats
  • Lowered the balloon's weight
  • Increased friction
• Reduced all ball's mass scale when in the LARGE state

[ 2024-06-21 20:43:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Dudelings: Arcade Sportsball is now Steam Deck Verified! We passed the checks with flying colors and now we have a little green checkmark on our store page! We had no doubt we would get Verified as we designed Dudelings to be compatible with the Deck since day one. However, it's a rewarding feeling to have all that hard work pay off! If you already own a copy of Dudelings, you don't need to do anything as nothing really changes for you. However, if you've been thinking about getting the game, now's a great time to do so! Play on your Steam Deck, your Linux PC, or even on Windows that's your thing!
Just look at that shiny green badge!

[ 2024-06-10 21:04:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

VERSION 1.1.0

Features

• Added button prompt ("E" for keyboard, "Select" for gamepad) during team selection to start an online game through Remote Play Together
• Added player statistics for Steam Achievements (only the first human player has their stats counted)
  • Added the "Stats" menu
  • Player stats were not collected previous to version 1.1 so all stats start at 0
• Added Steam Achievements
• Added Steam "Rich Presence"
• Added two new pickups
  • "Switch Posession" - when the ball touches this pickup, it will change to the opposing team's possession
  • "Black Hole" - when the ball touches this pickup, it will warp across the map!
• Added a bird
• Added a "What's New" system
  • Added a "What's New" sub menu that displays all the new, cool stuff in Dudelings
  • Added a "seen_whats_new_version_x_x_x" setting
  • Added a button to the "Main Menu" that players can use to see the new stuff

Improvements & Fixes

• Improved the match rules menu
• Updated controller detection
• Moved Steam Notifications to the top right corner
• Improved match setup workflow
  • First, choose your team
  • Select the game type
  • Select the map
    • On this screen you may press "SELECT" (or "E" on your keyboard) to customize the match rules
• Made the stars in the night sky twinkle
• Fixed background animations on Beach
• Added shader effect to Beach
• Reduced chance that the sunset variant of Beach will be chosen
• Updated benefactor's ad branding per their request
• Fixed issue where the button context bar was empty when first entering the Player Setup menu from the Main Menu
• Improved Pause Menu styling. Added toggle to show/hide Match Info using the "SELECT" (or "E" on your keyboard)
• Improved controller navigation in menus including focus change wrapping in the following menus:
  • Main Menu
  • Settings Menu
  • Volume Menu
  • Pause Menu

Balance

• Reduced chance the HARD and IMPOSSIBLE AIs will skip taking an action per AI think tick
• Reduced bowling ball's weight
• Refactored balloon's stats
  • Lowered the balloon's weight
  • Increased friction
• Reduced all ball's mass scale when in the LARGE state

Known Issue

• The game will randomly fail to launch when trying to initialize the Steam API. Relaunch the game once or twice and it should work. We're debugging this issue right now.

To join the beta, right-click on Dudelings from your library, then select Properties. On the Betas tab, use the "Beta Participation" drop down and choose "beta_1_1_0"

[ 2024-06-02 00:15:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Gameplay

• Changed dashing to not cancel when button is released.
• Updated AI movements for Hard and Impossible difficulties.
• Updated Dudeling scroll movement to get canceled by other inputs.
• Added "punch missed" sound.

Menus and UI

• Updated How To Play menu.
• Fixed context bar flicker.
• Fixed context bar text spacing.
• Fixed issues with guessing controller type.
• Updated Player Options sub menu.
• Updated Splash Screen intro videos.
• Updated Main Menu video.
• Updated spacing for custom Dudelings font.
• Updated confirm message appearance.

General

• Updated scene switching speeds.
• Fixed controller vibration not always working.

[ 2024-05-09 17:59:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're so excited to announce that the Original Soundtrack for Dudelings: Arcade Sportsball (objectively, the best part of our game) is now available in high-quality MP3 and FLAC here on Steam! You can get Dudelings: Arcade Sportsball: The Soundtrack for 10% off! You might be asking: "why didn't you release the soundtrack the same day as the game?" Well, funny thing; we screwed up the metadata when we submitted the OST and that meant the soundtrack wasn't ready when it was time to publish the game. Oops. Our bad. But now that that's behind us, you can purchase an MP3 and FLAC version of the original soundrack and listen to 'em on your Zune or whatever.
Cheers! ~ The Heavy Element Team

[ 2024-05-08 00:53:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

This isnt your dads Pong Or his foosball either. Maines new media production company Heavy Element has released Dudelings: Arcade Sportsball for Steam Deck, Linux, and Windows PC. This genre-defining Sportslike throws players into the high-intensity world of athletics, but without the bumps, bruises, and baseless attacks on late night talk show hosts. Get the ball in the hole. Thats what most sports boil down to, right? (We dont know. Were asking.) In this hyper-competitive game, up to two players use the dudelings on the field to jump and hit the ball into the opposing teams goals, hoop, or over the net. Bask in the glory of 16-bit-style victory. Wallow in the sadness of defeat. Or just punch the nearest dudeling to you because slapstick will always be funny. We dont care how you play the game, just as long as youre enjoying it. Customize your Dudelings: Arcade Sportsball experience to your liking. Select your preferred sportsball arena. Deck yourself out in a jersey of your liking. Play in various modes, like Classic (get the ball in the goal), Hoop (get the ball through the hoop), and Volley (get the ball off the your opponents side of the screen). Now that youve got everything the way you want it, its time to play ball. Move left and right to choose a dudeling and press the jump button. When your dudeling connects with the ball, hell try to take a shot at the goal. He will automatically aim and throw, but only if theres a clear shot. Otherwise, the ball will just bounce off. When your dudeling touches a ball, it will change to your color. This indicates that its in your possession. By default, theres no own-goals in Dudelings, so a blue ball cant enter the HOME teams goal. First team to score 10 points takes all. And if the game itself isnt enoughand trust us, it isthe original soundtrack by the Brothers Nylon is jam-packed with earworms that could make even the most rigid among us break it down on the dancefloor. So, what are you waiting for? Grab a few controllers, sit back on your sofa, and enjoy the dulcet, competitive tones of Dudelings: Arcade Sportsball.

[ 2024-05-06 11:05:53 CET ] [ Original post ]