Hey everyone! Hope your year has been well, weve been laying the ground work for a slew of new single player modes for Super Plexis, and that involves adding several new visual and backend updates to the game, most notably: our first 2 playable characters (Aria and Cleff), skins (for blocks / boards / characters), animated backgrounds, post-game stats, updated player cards in the lobby, and the ability to gain currency (Lumina) by playing matches. Read the whole change-list below!

PATCH 0.4.3 NOTES

Backend changes (highlights only)

- New "XP Data" service

- General support for server-wide progression systems

- E.g. In-game currency / lumina converted from in-game score

- Lumina & rewards backend

- Foundational support for mode-specific progression systems

- XP Data lobby streaming

- Real-time updates about remote player XP Data

- E.g. " ranked up!"

- Generic unlocks support for characters, block skins, and board skins

- End-of-game data flow

- Player stats

- Game results

- Rewards

- Player selections

- Support for selectable characters, block skins, and board skins


Client changes (highlights only)

- New characters: Cleff and Aria

- Characters react to gameplay events

- Characters also have unique combat sound effects

- New block skin: Fruit blocks

- Each type of fruit has its own unique block explosion!

- New board skin: Loftwood themed board

- Updated battle music

- Many visual improvements to Lobby UI, including Player Card revamp

- Show assigned team color

- Show selected character

- Show selected blocks & board

- Animated backgrounds

- Title Screen splash

- Loftwood Battle stage

- Smoother flow between Lobby and Gameplay

- Selection UI for characters, block skins, and board skins

- End-of-game results screen

- Proper "Continue back to lobby" flow

- Added a News splash

- Fix positioning bug with Share Invite "Copy to Clipboard"

- Fix animation bug when swapping smushed blocks

- Fix... meh, too many bugs to name. Lots of bug fixes :)

WHATS NEXT?

With these new systems and visual updates now in place, we will be 100% focused on developing single-player game modes, starting with:

• Stage Clear (aka Line Clear)
  
• 
  
• Score Attack
  
• 
  
• VS Yourself
  

Patch 0.4.2 just went live! We wanted to wrap up some of the quality of life tasks we didn't fit into 0.4.1, and also add some new features like the mapping of two buttons to one input and variable clear speed. Our next goal is more content focused, so expect to be hearing about new game modes soon!


Some of the new features in action!

Patch Notes (0.4.2)

- Added Clear Speed variable to game settings, this affects how fast blocks clear after being matched
- Added support for binding 2 keys / buttons to 1 input
- The Game Controls menu now features visual icons for each key / button set (instead of just text)
- Added a notification bubble to the friendslist to indicate new friend requests.
- Lobby leaders can now kick or promote other members in the lobby.
- Changed Full screen scale to Content scale in system settings, scale values are now displayed (1x to 5x scale options)
- Auto option in content scale now functions as expected (reduces scale to fit wider boards)
- Separated the Ready and Join Game buttons in lobbies.
- The game setting Gravity is now 5 separate levels (instead of the previous 30)

Special thanks
- @BusterBeachside, @doicm, @Naglfar for requesting the option to set a 2nd input
- @tehMorag for reporting the auto-scaling bug
- @gpbear4, @BusterBeachside, @ShotMissaLissa for requesting the friendslist notification bubble

Patch 0.4.1 is now live on Steam! We debated delaying this release, since we had scoped for more features to be included and wanted to get everything out at once, but there were also lots of fully finished stuff we figured you guys should have access to sooner than later. While were finishing cooking up those other new features (more info on those below) theres no reason to leave things like the max pressure fix, more controller support, and netcode optimizations sitting on the shelf.

The most noticeable update here will be the new in-game pointer, especially for gamepad users who can now navigate using the analogue stick like a mouse (D-pad functionality is also much improved, for those who prefer it). This should alleviate some of the awkwardness of switching from gamepad to mouse / keyboard, and is another big step forward to being able to offer full controller support. The other changes are QoL / bug fixes pulled from everyones feedback. Thanks again to all of you contributing to the #bugs-and-features and #game-design channels!

Patch 0.4.1 Notes

- Various controller fixes: game settings and other menus can now be navigated via gamepad inputs
- Added pointer control for gamepads using the analogue stick
- The Max Pressure game setting will now KO a player who touches the top of their board in 1 frame (instead of 15 frames)
- Added the ability to move the board cursor and attack target during countdown.
- Adjusted the visual presentation of getting KOd on the last swap frame
- Various netcode optimizations
- Chain tags no longer get blocked by garbage, which prevented certain intuitive chains.
- Fixed a bug involving chain tags not expiring when expected.
- The in-game timer no longer resets after reaching the 60 minute mark.
- The width and height of garbage is now based on the defenders board instead of the attackers (applies to games with various custom-board sizes)
- If a defender is KOd with an attack inbound, the game waits for the attack to end before switching targets.
- Fixed an issue with breaking garbage creating unpreventable chains (aka, garbage no longer produces free match-3s) - The pressure gauge will no longer change states during stop-time.
- The terms Local & Global in game settings have been updated to Player & Party

The following items were hot-fixed before 0.4.1 and are already live (listed here for archival purposes):
- Fixed a rare issue where multiple windows of the privacy policy / terms of use pages would open rapidly
- Fixed an Nvidia issue where a specific anti-alias setting would cause a black screen(edited)

Special Thanks (from our discord channel)

- @PoiZone, for finding a bug with keybinding: https://discord.com/channels/301218739947569153/808147393462665286/812506180654989313

- @Wakeman, for finding the max pressure bug: https://discord.com/channels/301218739947569153/428397229016088584/813161134609662042

- @kyon2570, for being the first to find and record a chain tag bug: https://discord.com/channels/301218739947569153/421179189077475339/812560989320904745

- @August/UltraX and @VGPaul, who managed to play a 1 hour and 12 minute game and found a timer bug: https://discord.com/channels/301218739947569153/808147393462665286/815417334504095755

- @ChaotixSpark, for finding a bug with the pressure gauge and stop time: https://discord.com/channels/301218739947569153/808147393462665286/816388613897977876

- @BusterBeachside, for suggesting moveable cursors during countdown: https://discord.com/channels/301218739947569153/428397229016088584/812563864776343573

- And anyone else who shared follow-up screen recordings / reports with us, extremely helpful and appreciated!

Whats next?

So thats everything in 0.4.1, up next well be wrapping up features that we didnt get to in this patch, most notably: binding 2 inputs to one action, true auto scaling, notification bubbles on the friends list, new custom game settings, dynamic difficulty scaling, and maybe more! Well share more info as we go, since things are subject to change in testing. As always, well be watching the #bugs-and-design and other channels for any problems / questions that arise.

Thanks again and see you all online soon!