Changelog

• Temporarily removed battery puzzle and pipe puzzle randomisation due to consistent bugs -- we're currently investigating
• Fixed pathfinding in sewers
• Fixed pathfinding for trains
• Fixed ghost zombies when a player died
• Fixed ready screen not updating if the client enters first

Pathfinding should now be a lot more reliable across the board; some irritating bugs got past us in our previous zombie AI rework, but hopefully that's all behind us! Enjoy the patch!

[ 2025-04-17 10:53:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changelog

• Fixed an issue where the Sewers pipes would all be showing on rare occasions
• Fixed an issue where players could crash within the Twisty Tunnels shape puzzle
• Improved Water Balloon VFX
• Fixed bug where Player Ragdolls wouldn't fully dissolve and flash

Thank you to those of you who reported this over on our Discord! It was a great help. Enjoy the patch!

[ 2025-02-14 17:22:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! We were recently made aware of some game breaking bugs that were present in our most recent update. We've spent a lot of time fixing them and we're happy to finally report that the changes are rolling out right now in version 1.1.2. Changelog

• Fixed bug where killing a player at the same time as them hitting you would result in a disconnect/crash
• Fixed Twisty Tunnels puzzles issues (Levers and Batteries)

Other issues under investigation We're aware of a particular issue where zombies will not spawn in the Twisty Tunnels level occassionally. We've been unable to reproduce it and therefore fix it. If you happen to come across this issue, please report it to us so we can put a patch out ASAP! Thanks for your patience - and we hope you enjoy slappin' each other like never before!

[ 2025-02-12 17:49:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Player Ragdolls and PVP

When we first started making Slap-It Together!, the focus was never PVP. Whilst this remains the case, we found there is a lot of chaos and fun to be had with friendly fire enabled. Oh, we've also added Player Ragdolls which will appear upon a player's death! Gone are the days of vanishing into the air. PVP can be disabled by the host in their game settings, at any time.

Consumables

Consumables have had a pretty significant change. Not only are they much cheaper, consumables must now be picked up and used. We've also added some additional consumables including: Invincibility, Jump Boost & Speed Boost, to give this mechanic more love and focus. What drinks would you like to see?

Emotes

We teased this feature before release and finally, Emotes are now available to use! Hold B on keyboard OR Down on the DPAD for controller to show the radial menu and express yourself in a brand new way. Get ready to Point, Wave or Thumbs Up.

Bug Fixes and Improvements

We've pushed out a whole host of bug fixes and game improvements across the board. Firstly, we've taken some time to discuss the difficulty of the game. It became clear that the game was far too easy which provided for a less entertaining experience. We've made some changes to improve this side of things, which we anticipate will be an ongoing effort; let us know your thoughts.

• Improved zombie AI - all enemies feel more reliable in general + the Pitcher is much, much better!
• Bossfight balancing
• Reduced time it takes to complete hard mode (plus, hard mode is actually harder now!)
• Increased enemy speed
• Made the levels slightly harder and more correlative to the difficulty you select
• Crazy Cruise can now be completed by a single player as opposed to waiting for all players to enter

As well as that, we've majorly upgraded the multiplayer experience. Without getting too technical, our testing has shown a 25%+ latency improvement which is thanks to lots and lots of reworkings and rewrites. In addition, pickups will feel generally much more reliable. One crucial improvement that comes from this is the ability to join somebody midway through a game session, regardless of the level they're playing. Whilst we hope these fixes provide the polished multiplayer experience we are striving for, there are bugs that we will not have seen nor expected. Be sure to let us know if you encounter anything via any of our social channels or through our Discord server!

• General networking latency improvements (25%+)
• Improved pickup syncing between clients
• Added the ability to join somebody midway through a game

The following bugs have been fixed:

• Fixed bug where dropping an item that's being thrown would soft-lock players
• Fixed bug where dropping an item whilst aiming would not stop the animation
• Fixed water balloon (and buffed it up!)
• Fixed some pit wall colliders
• Fixed battery puzzle memory leak
• Fixed Armored Grunt armor not flashing on Death
• General performance improvements

Other changes include:

• Changed the way lighting interacts with players, zombies, pickups and interactions
• Improved pickup low health VFX
• Improved markers UI
• Improved some SFX

More will come

We are happy to say that this is not our last update; more updates will be coming. Whilst I don't want to promise too much, new levels and a traps rework are in development. We look forward to updating you on this when we're able. Until then, keep slappin' and let us know if you have any suggestions or questions!

[ 2025-02-07 17:09:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Thank you for playing!

For those who have purchased the game, thank you so much for supporting us. As a small indie studio, we thrive on community and it's been great to see some of you join our Discord with the intent of becoming speedrunners or just wanting to engage in community activities.

Looking Ahead!

Firstly, it has come to our attention that there are some balancing issues in the final level at that part. We're working on making that a little easier. We're also aware of a couple of bugs, that we will be fixing after our Christmas break. Additionally, it's clear that you want more content and we want to finish the game as proud as we can! So I am really excited to say that we will be releasing a couple of seasonal updates in 2025 to enhance the current experience and fulfil our initial vision. In these updates, you can anticipate:

• More Levels
• Player Emotes
• Combat Enhancements (more info coming later!)
• Multiplayer Improvements (including in-progress joining and general performance enhancements)

Is there anything in particular that you'd like to see? Let us know!

Have a great new year!

We've just headed off for our Christmas and New Years break so we'll see you in the New Year where we hope to shed some light on our next steps. 2025 is gonna be epic!

[ 2024-12-24 10:54:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Public Launch!

[previewyoutube=6T7UbYY9Bq8;full][/previewyoutube] We hope you're just as excited as we are for Slap It Together's 1.0 release! After 3 years of on-and-off hard work, we've finally launched the game and it's available to purchase. A lot of love has gone into this and we're excited to see what you all think.

Buy the game today!

In the meantime, the game currently has a 10% launch discount, expiring on December 19th - leaving you and your friends just enough time to get together and slap some zombies at a great price. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1520590/Slap_It_Together/

Next Steps

Whilst we feel done with most of the core experience, we are currently discussing the possibilities of post-launch updates. You can expect more levels, improved multiplayer and AI adjustments to heighten the game. Early discussions are being held but we feel excited at the prospect of fulfilling our initial visions. There will be information on this at a later date as we define what this looks like and what's achievable for our small team.

[ 2024-12-16 15:07:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Yep, you read the title right!

[previewyoutube=qNVjY9zI5Rs;full][/previewyoutube] Grab your friends, fight zombies and fill your pockets in Slap It Together Releasing on December 12th! We'll have a more in-depth blog going over what the release entails and some other goodies; but contrary to my previous post, we've been able to make some excellent headroom and we feel ready to launch at the end of this year. In the meantime, be sure to join our Discord server to take part in our Open Beta starting August 16th! See you soon, Contestants!

[ 2024-08-09 20:59:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello Contestants!! In this blog post, I'll outline the latest demo update (our biggest yet) and give you some background on where we've been and the dreaded release date plans...

The Demo Changelog

We last updated the demo content in November last year. Aside from occasional hotfixes, it has been very very quiet (more on this shortly). Thankfully, we've just launched a brand new update which includes a ton of features you'll never notice in addition to:

• UI Revamp
• Random Challenges (WIP)
• New Animations for Baseball Bat
• New Enemy and Enemy Variants
• Audio Optimisation
• Showcase mode video (shows after 60s in Main Menu)
• General Performance Enhancements

Known Bugs:

• Zombie clothing does not sync
• Light in the button puzzle does not sync

We're hoping to streamline the blog posting process so we can keep you updated on development more frequently. Be sure to join our Discord to give us feedback on what you think!

Where We've Been

It has been a long while since we last updated you all on development. Happy to report that we are still alive! (i think) Rest assured, we have still been working hard and we've got a lot of content to cover over the next few months. Hopefully this blog will shed some light on our progress. Last year, we focused heavily on seeking funding. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful which has resulted in multiple delays and a reduction in scope. With this, we've all taken up other employment to keep our personal lives afloat. Although this sounds really doom and gloom, we have more of an idea of what the game will look like and our plans as a team which has ultimately benefited our overarching vision.

Showcasing Shenanigans

As many of you will know, we've continued to attend multiple exhibitions across the UK. Most notably, our old friends at Insomnia (RIP) have invited us back each time. I personally just wanted to thank those of you who have returned to check out development - we're really putting our all into this and it's always refreshing seeing people with smiles on their faces as they slap our abominations. Last September, we were lucky enough to get the entire team together for the first time and showcase the latest demo updates.
It's thanks to these events that our design choices have been challenged and resulted in countless improvements. Thank you to anyone who has critiqued our work.

NEW LEVEL! Twisty Tunnels

There will be 3 spectacular levels at launch (with more conditionally planned for post-launch). Each level has a unique flair and host of ridiculousness. You've already seen the Rickety Rooftops over the past few years but we've also been hard at work putting together The Boat and the Twisty Tunnels... The Twisty Tunnels has been an idea before Slap-It Together had even existed. It's long been my dream to make a level with moving trains. This level is a real testament to our ambition and it pulls things off that we've never tried before.
Testing has been positive and we're just doing the final tidbits for the puzzles before we're ready to show it off. Stay tuned for an exciting blog post going more in-depth into how the entire process has looked for us.

How Launch Will Look

Aside from the features you already see before you, we're currently working towards a plethora of new cosmetics, enemies and gamemodes. Some of which will potentially become available post-launch. One aspect that won't be coming is a voiced antagonist and more story elements. As mentioned earlier, we just don't have the funds to pull something like that off. I've saved the best for last... When are we releasing? Initially, we were aiming for a 2024 release but our lack of a marketing push has left our numbers too low to justify it. Assuming this improves, we will be releasing in Q1/Q2 of 2025.

Thanks for Reading

Thank you for baring with us as we wade through these obstacles and I hope you enjoyed reading this blog. If you want to support us in any way, please do wishlist Slap-It Together on Steam and join our Discord Server. Cheers, Matt.

[ 2024-06-07 17:11:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Contestants! We're happy to celebrate over 2,500 downloads since our demo release! (getting to 5,000 overall downloads!). This is a HUGE milestone for us and we're so grateful for your interest. We've got a pretty chunky changelog today! How exciting! Changelog: - Polished/remade multiplayer player animations - Improved Crane Puzzle clarity and direction - Added clarity to the Garden puzzle button presses - Added lights to the Revive Center - Improved difficulty options and their impact (e.g. more money when playing on Easy mode) - Improved general Rooftops Level collision, reducing exploit possibilities slightly - Added VFX to destroying drones (BANG!) - Fixed Crane Puzzle exploit - Fixed multiple disconnection issues - Fixed players getting stuck in the revival booth - Fixed exit area collision issues (preventing players from skipping the level) - Fixed players getting stuck in zombie spawn areas - Fixed cardboard boxes breaking pathing in some circumstances - Fixed cardboard boxes not breaking on Clients - Fixed Crane Puzzle collision - Fixed a bug where the zombie kill count would increase after beating the level - Minor performance improvements Last week, we mentioned we were working on improving performance in the later waves. Progress has been made and we're hoping to have more patches out as and when we're able to. We'll keep you updated on this. If you encounter a bug of any sort, please send over an email to contact@headtiltgames.com or join our Discord. Thanks again, and keep on slappin'!

[ 2023-07-13 11:16:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Contestants! Firstly, thank you so much for giving the game a try and sending in your lovely messages. It has been really uplifting to hear that so many of you have enjoyed yourself. Thanks to this exceptional support, we've been able to squash a few pesky bugs and put this patch out today. Changelog:

• Leaving settings and going back now remembers which tab you were on
• Fixed players getting stuck after leaving customisation for a second time
• Fixed various controller navigation bugs
• Greatly improved controller reliability

We're working consistently to deliver a more optimised experience. We are aware of the current performance implications towards the later waves and I hope to provide you with an update on this within the next couple of weeks. As mentioned in our previous post, if you encounter a bug of any sort, please send over an email to contact@headtiltgames.com or join our Discord. Thanks again, and keep on slappin'!

[ 2023-06-28 11:44:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome, Contestants!

The show has begun I'm sure you'll be thrilled with the experience (or at least, my viewers will be, which is most important)... [previewyoutube=wzESXdHNSsg;full][/previewyoutube]

RELAX!

Enjoy the calm, soft and bouncy nature of The Pit, an area in which you and other willing contestants will prepare for the performance of your lives!

EXPLORE!

Scurry across the skyline and get that sweet $$$ for my little piggy bank! Oh, and dont worry about being lonely, my lovely green friends [strike](and past Contestants)[/strike] will keep you company, I promise!

THINK!

Of course, this show cant just be all about physical brawn! Viewers want to see those brains, literally and figuratively. Theres a few puzzles youll need to solve on your way to my piggy bank!

ENERGISE!

Dont worry! We know some of you Contestants nowadays cant go 10 minutes without an energy drink in your hand, so Ive made sure to leave some vending machines around to quench your thirst! I've also snuck in some fun little gizmos for your appeasement.

SMILE!

Youre stuck here, so you should smile for the camera!

Experience an all-new feel to running above the newly-renovated Uh-Oh City, battling my friends and solving my puzzles! I've also added ziplines for all you adrenaline junkies out there!
After my brilliant viewers sent in their feedback, Ive managed to implement my state-of-the-art revival booths to bring your weaker friends back from the brink!
Finally Ive unlocked a way out, much to my displeasure. Build up enough cash and the way out shall reveal itself, not that anyone ever wants to leave anyway.
This demo will be available for the duration of the project and will receive bug fix updates and occasional content updates. Technical Changes:

• Plethora of New & Revised Sounds
• New Loading Screen
• Difficulty Options
• Weapons Made, Revised & Rebalanced
• Improved Controller Support
• The Pit Improvements
• Bug Fixing
• Gameplay Optimisation

------------------------------------------------------------ Coming in Future Updates:

• Splitscreen
• Prologue (Tutorial Level)
• Animation Polishing
• New and Exhilarating Levels
• Plus much more!

Bugs, Glitches and Technical Support

While weve tried to make the gameplay as bug-free and polished as possible, there may be occasions that you encounter bugs or glitches that arent meant to be part of the game... If you find any issues with bugs, glitches or something that doesn't feel 'right' then please feel free to submit a report at contact@headtiltgames.com or hit the team up on Discord! All support helps us astronomically and we wouldn't be able to do this without you. Participate Today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1520590/

[ 2023-06-21 16:00:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

This post has been extracted directly via our website.

Hello Contestants!

We've been making tons of changes within the first part of the year. Read on to learn about our spectacular progress!

Slappy Socials

To begin with, we've had to revitalise our social media campaign and take it to higher level of quality. We're still figuring some things out, and we're by no means perfect but we're hoping this improvement will demonstrate our passion for Slap-It Together and our community! Feel free to follow us on: TikTok @headtiltgames Twitter @HeadTiltGames Instagram @headtiltgames

The New Pit Area

The Pit has had several iterations so far. Hopefully, this is the final one. This hub area is perhaps the most important aspect of the game and provides the utmost significance to the gameplay flow; allowing players to beat the game and roll the credits. As such, we took extensive time to get this functioning to a high quality. BEFORE


AFTER


All empty spaces within this area will be filled to the brim with fun activities and additional geometry. Stay tuned for more updates on this!

Upgraded UI

Additionally, our HUD/UI has had a complete rework. Integrating the game's branding and playfulness, we needed to create it all from scratch. We're so happy with this result and cannot wait to show off the additional updates we make to this! BEFORE

AFTER

Thank You

We're excited to show off the new Rooftops area, enemy improvements and the new customisation system. But you'll have to wait until next month for more details on that! Some of this blog post had already been touched on within social media posts so we strongly suggest joining our Discord server and following us on your chosen social media platform! Join the Discord TikTok @headtiltgames Twitter @HeadTiltGames Instagram @headtiltgames Speak to you later, Contestants! - Matt, Game Director.

[ 2023-03-02 14:51:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

This post has been extracted directly via our website.

Hello Contestants!

So... a year of development has passed and we're onto the next chapter. Let's go back in time and take a look at how far we've come as well as some behind the scenes looks that are usually only available via our Discord Server.

Start of the Year

We started off with very minimal direction. An idea, a ton of passion and a fractional vertical slice.

Our goal was to rival the zombie game genre and create a brand-new and engaging experience for almost anyone to play. A glaring issue was the lack of entry for new gamers and the general flow of getting into a game with your friends was not as easy as it could be.

Insomnia 68 & 69

We decided to apply for Insomnia 68, a national gaming event in the UK. We had no idea how people would perceive the title and really, this was a major turning point for us. If nobody liked the game in it's prototype-y state, we were going to pursue a different project. A lot was riding on this...
Luckily, to our bewilderment, we were met with smiles, laughter and curiosity. Whilst I was fixing the major multiplayer bugs in the corner, you guys were slapping, throwing and whacking your way to victory (although, at this point, there was no way to win!) Our team welcomed a brand new member, Liam, who visited the stand and was keen to work with us to help with production. His influence has helped to build up our business backbone and develop an effective production plan. A2Z Interactive approached us shortly after and proposed a co-dev deal, allowing us to elevate the game to where it now stands today.

Steam Next Fest

Using what we'd learnt from Insomnia 69, we decided to show our game to a wider audience. Whilst the game was nowhere near as polished as it should have been, we were met with wonderful critique, and lovely words of encouragement. In particular, we'd like to take this time to express our gratitude towards Mattathon and PastNirvana for streaming our game!
Thank you to those of you who took a look at the game throughout the event, it has really helped to shape our game for the better.

Recreating Major POIs

That (roughly) brings us nicely to where we are now. Over the last few months, we've been working hard to rebalance, recreate and revamp the core systems and areas. The Pit is the most crucial area of the game. Lore-wise, it's where contestants live and breathe. Whilst it's covered up to look homely and comfortable, the gameshow host will shortly plant you in front of an expansive audience that are yearning for any form of entertainment. Gameplay-wise, players can customise their character, play minigames and reach the end-game. As a result of these motives, we needed to once again recreate The Pit area to be readily explorable and exciting. (The following images are not final).


The Rooftops (the first level) is also receiving a much-needed recreation. I won't go into details of this yet. Stay tuned on here for further details in the coming months!

Thank You

From the bottom of our slappy hearts, we're extremely grateful to have provided you with a whacky escape to a hand-crafted, love-filled world. Regardless of where this game goes, we couldn't have asked for a more loving community. Thank you.

Taking a Short Break

This next year is going to be MASSIVE. We're rethinking our social media campaign, investigating publishing deals and looking to expand to the masses. A week ago, we started our Christmas break. We will be returning to work at the start of January. You can expect our social media to have a lot of changes by mid-January - including a Discord redesign, general improvements to Slap-It's image and much much more. I'll be keeping you all posted much more regularly from February so stay tuned for even more plentiful progress. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1520590/SlapIt_Together/ Support us on social media! Discord Server Twitter @HeadTiltGames Instagram @headtiltgames Website Have a wonderful break, and if you celebrate it, a fantastic Christmas! - Matt, Game Director

[ 2022-12-23 18:17:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Watch Matt and Mattathon livestreaming with questions answered, shenanigans had and chaos ensued! This is a replay stream from October 5th You can check him out over on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mattathon/

[ 2022-10-07 14:38:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello contestants! It's been another busy month (and a half) of churning out pure slaptastic goodness! I wanted to talk you all through expectations you should have going into Steam Next Fest whether this is Your First Time Playing or if you're Coming from Insomnia 69.

What the heck is this game?

[previewyoutube=engPJugiTlg;full][/previewyoutube] Slap-It Together is a pure labour of love from our team of internationally-based close-knit individuals. Coming straight out of education and into the field of game design! To put it simply...
Zombie fighting game where you are tossed into a game show and your only weapons are set pieces With a strong focus on casual gameplay and a less serious take on the zombie genre, our game aims to lend enjoyment to anyone looking for a chaotic, ridiculous experience with friends and family. We've taken the best elements of Call of Duty Zombies & Left 4 Dead to mould a truly unique, down-to-earth experience like no other. Meanwhile taking the playful inspiration of Plants Vs Zombies and the quick-game nature of Fall Guys. Whether you're playing alone or with friends, Slap-It Together will provide each player with a differently rewarding experience. Within the gameplay, you will notice the game become easier as you perform worse -- this is an optional feature if you pick hard mode...

Important Things to Note

Our title is roughly halfway through production with changes and modifications being made on a daily basis. With that being said, this demo does not represent the final product in it's entirety and love-filled changes will be implemented with suggestions from you being at the forefront. We strongly recommend joining our Discord to get the best support; and we'll be holding several events to celebrate this momentous occasion! Join Our Discord! Features include:

• Interactions with Levels & Items
• Vending Machines
• Online Multiplayer; making use of Steam's relays
• Dynamic Difficulty Scaling
• Character Customisation
• 4 Enemy 'Types'

Future changes:

• More Cosmetics
• Better player defeating polish
• Professional UI/UX Design
• More Enemy Types
• 3 More Levels with plans to introduce more post-1.0 release
• Further lore integration
• More accessibility options

Known Issues:

• Clothing Clipping
• Controller support within Menus may be slightly crooked
• Ragdoll Inconsistency on Clients/Players
• Levers sometimes do not function despite all being switched

Currently Fixing: The following issues are currently in the process of being patched. An update will be with you shortly.

• Joining in-progress game crashes player
• Money does not reset upon retrying
• Lever indicator lights are incorrect for clients
• Money Pot Target is not synced

Coming from Insomnia?

You may have seen our game at Insomnia 69! So, what has changed in that time?

• New Customisation System (FULLY MODULAR!)
• UI Improvements
• Sound Cues on Each Enemy Defeat
• Fixed several pathing issues
• Closest spawners (to the player) are the only ones used
• Green > Blue Stamina Cans
• Planks are now a weapon as well as a buildable object
• Various Rooftops tweaks including a puzzle reconstruction to accommodate further accessibility
• Vending machine interaction with consumables has now been improved
• It is now clearer on how to start the game
• The game is, on average, more difficult
• 3 Difficulty options
• Face rigging (blinking!)
• Better weapon throwing and general handling
• Weapon balancing improvements
• You can now see players through walls

Thank you!

Thank you for reading this blog post! I really hope that you adore this game as much as we do. Many many hours have gone into making the possible and I cannot wait to see what our future holds. If you don't happen to enjoy it, please let us know why! We're always keen to hear from the community to help shape the game's future and hopefully pave the way to it's success! - Matt, Founder/Game Director of Head Tilt Games https://store.steampowered.com/app/1520590/SlapIt_Together/ Join our Playtesting Party! https://www.headtiltgames.com/playtest It'd mean the world to us if you could support us on social media! Twitter @HeadTiltGames Instagram @head_tilt_games Website

[ 2022-10-03 18:58:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello contestants! It's been a while since we previously posted a devlog. Reason being, we've had an incredibly busy few months ironing out bugs, adding new features and adapting to a new workflow!

Firmer Art Direction

Throughout our prototype's development, we had used a screen-space shader to outline all objects. We didn't have much control over this behaviour and it wasn't adding anything to the game's art style. Lighting was another big issue for us, and we knew something had to be done to solve the lacklustre art direction. BEFORE:
AFTER:
Now that we had solved this glaring issue, we needed to revamp our hub area (AKA 'The Pit')
Revamped:
Our goal with this was to really hammer home on the lore of the game. The Pit is supposed to feel like a super-happy place with an underlying evil. To do this, we believed that making the players feel watched would communicate this to a degree.

Rooftop Drones

Whilst still in active development, we've been implementing a new addition that'll further enforce the gameshow feel. Drones will float around the levels and watch you intently..

Build Zones

A massive issue with our Insomnia 68 demo was that progression was dull. Whilst still not perfect, we've implemented 'Build Zones'. These zones require certain items in order to complete which results in any change us developers wish. For example, building a wooden bridge will allow players to walk over to another location. Or allow zombies to walk over to you!

Thanks for reading!

There's much more to come and we look forward to sharing more info on the game's development next month! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1520590/SlapIt_Together/ Join our Playtesting Party: https://www.headtiltgames.com/playtest Support us on social media! Discord Server Twitter @HeadTiltGames Instagram @head_tilt_games Website

[ 2022-08-03 10:43:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, Welcome to the FIRST devlog for the game. In these, I will be walking you through what changes we've made since the previous post (aiming to do one of these monthly).

New Zombies

You may have noticed in the cover image a small tease of the new zombie model we've implemented... Take a look at the work-in-progress shots here!
Head shot
Body shot Comparison (before/after respectively):
With these new zombies, we've also changed their animations. Enoch is currently working on more clothing options for them before moving onto a secret new model (stay tuned!).

Introducing Traps!

Now that we had new zombies, we needed more ways to defeat them! Mines can be placed down and they're primed after half a second. After that... well, just watch your enemies fly away!
Obviously the model is less than ideal and the user feedback is very very minimal but we're hoping to sort this when we finish traps off next month!

Code Refactoring

I know, I know, 'boring' stuff steambored but for those of you interested in a tech-y behind the scenes... [expand] Alongside all the fun and juicy stuff, we've also reworked some of the networking code-base. While it doesn't inherently affect performance, it will allow us to test the game with more ease as developers. Previously, our Network Manager (what handles the multiplayer functionality) used Steamworks (Steam API) in a hard-coded manner. This meant that it'd make porting to other platforms a lot harder in future as we progressed development (i.e. Itch.io, Epic Games, or even consoles). These new changes allow us to support any platform provided we have the Transport required for it (provided by Mirror, the open-source multiplayer networking solution we use). We've also made some alterations for implementing new types of pickups. This was increasingly important with the introduction of traps and healthkits (found in airdrops). This new method will provide the infrastructure for future items we may develop. [/expand]

Thanks for reading!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1520590/SlapIt_Together/ Join our Playtesting Party: https://www.headtiltgames.com/playtest Support us on social media! Discord (15 more people to reach 100 members!!) Twitter @HeadTiltGames Facebook @HeadTiltGames Website

[ 2022-05-14 18:31:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, I'm Matt, the Game Director of Head Tilt Games. We're a fully remote team based internationally, representing many cultures and personalities! (UK, US, Canada, China etc.) I will be writing most of these posts going forward so if you have any questions about anything that has been written then please contact me at mbull@headtiltgames.com

About Slap-It Together

Gameplay

"Set in a game show that only cares for the numbers; you and up to 3 online friends slap, throw and whack your way through hordes of enemies and hand-painted environments in this comedic zombie wave-based fighter." Players (the contestants) are tasked with lasting as long as possible in a humourous horde-based survival. With the ability to pick-up a wide variety of objects around the levels, contestants can arm themselves with wacky weaponry (Baseball Bat, Guitar). Alternatively, they're free to go bare-handed and slap their opponents.

Story

The first time anyone heard of the Slap-It Games was on a globally broadcasted ad. It showed off a brand new game show, where four random [strike](kidnapped)[/strike] contestants are dropped into a prepared location, and must escape. All while fighting off wave after wave of zombies with nothing but their bare hands and anything they could find lying around. Contestants are placed into a homey living space. Cameras are placed throughout the lounge, watching down on them. Once the contestants are prepared for their next trial, they can jump into The Pit (ball pit), and begin their fights.
Doctor Sir Rio Rascal [Game Show Host] is brilliant, charismatic, filthy rich and bonkers. He started the Slap-It Games because he loves watching others fail miserably, and gets upset when they dont. He rigs the games to appease his ego. To counter his mischief, contestants may receive Contestant Sponsors that have been smuggled in secretly. Alternatively, contestants may receive Game Sponsors who praise Dr. Sir Rio Rascal for his work, hindering the contestants' experience.

Playstyle Support

Slap-It Together is prominently an online co-op focused game. However, players will be able to play alone or locally (WIP) with up to 4 players. Furthermore, if you don't fancy teaming up and would much rather join the wonderful world of sabotage then players can be... less supportive. Next week, we'll be showing off some gameplay videos!

Links

Discord: https://www.headtiltgames.com/discord Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeadTiltGames Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeadTiltGames/ Join our Playtest: https://www.headtiltgames.com/playtest Website: https://www.headtiltgames.com

[ 2022-05-07 18:28:30 CET ] [ Original post ]