Major changes:

• Improve matchmaking, especially for new players.
  • Priority was already given to players in the Matchmaker who hadn't been chosen in the last 5 hours, but now, _all_ players will have priority in the Matchmaker at start-up (i.e. after a new version is deployed). The result is that some matches will be chosen based on priority instead of optimizing for the best rating even during the first 5 hours that the Matchmaker is online.
  • Only ranked matches go through the priority system now. This means that defenders won't "waste" their priority when they're chosen for an unranked match. This _should_ result in more experience for brand new defenders so that the time it takes to level up should take <2 days (as opposed to >2 weeks).
• Upgrade Blockly. This fixes some major bugs around renaming function parameters (like changing `x` `X` or removing the name entirely). It also adds features like shadow blocks, which show where a dragged block will connect before releasing block.
• On Android and iPads, there is now a full-screen button on the Battle Log page so that you don't need to download the app or pin the site to your home screen in order to get rid of the browser's address bar. This will not work on iPhones due to an unsupported API.

Minor changes:

• Add tooltip to the Botcoin text that shows in the match results screen. The tooltip explains how you earn Botcoin and what the limitations are.
• On mobile, when you have no blueprints, you will now see text explaining how to make blueprints (this was already present on desktop).
• Fix how the UI shifted when loading Blockly.
• Convert all sword icons to rocket icons.

[ 2019-10-11 21:28:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Do you like strategy games? Are you a regular human who still hasn't figured out how to move at the speed of light? THEN OH BOY IS BOT LAND THE GAME FOR YOU!

In Bot Land, all of your bots follow scripts (so you can snap your controller in half for all we care). You'll tell your bots how to perform actions ahead of time, that way they don't need a lousy human to control them mid-battle. This allows your bots to fight even while you're offline; they'll protect your CPU against other players' attacks.

Now, let's be honest... you're a great gamer—that's why you're reading this description—but even you might still lose a match or two. That's where replays come in handy. Maybe your opponent cloaked, bypassed your bots, and destroyed your CPU while your own bots were busy calculating prime numbers with a billion digits. You can use that information to improve for next time.

Then, after improving your defense, you can attack other players' CPUs in the same way. Maybe you've got a killer strategy involving LANDMINES or TELEPORTATION or OTHER BOLDED WORDS, the likes of which no one has ever seen before. You finally find the perfect chump on which to unleash this onslaught. They've got measly bots with artillery and shields, so you teleport behind them, misquote a meme, and punch them in their shiny metal backs. You're the top dog-bot now.

And when you win...? Oh, don't even get us started. You'll earn Botcoin, which, through a myriad of steps, roughly translates to fame and fortune in real life (the steps are really just a sense of satisfaction and a profound feeling of "the courage was within me the entire time!"; Botcoin isn't a cryptocurrency). You'll buy new items, make new strategies, teach a wasp bot how to love, ponder whether we're all just living in a simulation, and then look up how to remove wasp-bot stingers from your arm. It's great fun.