Hi there. It's been a minute. Today is the start of Steam FPS Fest, so with that in mind, here's Box Party Demo v1.5. This update's purpose is to bring a bunch of features in the game to my 2024 standards, this may range from small tweaks to complete rewrites. Also, there's some new hats. :)

Alright so here's the changelog

• Added a brand new NewGameMenu, complete with new graphics, support for unlockable characters/levels, and even high score tracking for every individual character/level.
• Added 3 new hats, plus 1 secret hat. [spoiler]You must beat the levels without killing any foods to unlock the 3 new hats.[/spoiler] [spoiler]The secret hat is part of a pre-existing easter egg found "somewhere" in Level 3.[/spoiler]
• Replaced most fonts in the game with a new HD font, to improve text readability. Will add back the old font as an option later.
• Removed the Difficulty Select Level, as this has been superseded by the new newgamemenu.
• Replaced the demo end screen with a better one.
• Replaced the old achievement popups with my own custom unlock popups.
• Streamlined the Side Quest UI a bit.

• Added shameless ingame advertisements for the other game im making. I am not sorry.
• Increased score bonus for completing side quests.
• Fixed the incorrect Y-scaling of all weapons. (finally)
• The beach ball no longer deals damage. (sorry)
• The minimum version of gzdoom required is now v4.11.3.
• Improved performance of many particles.
• Some small improvements to how Hats are handled.
• Prevent the player from getting 1 million points from using cheats to kill monsters.
• You can no longer access gameplay modifiers until you beat the demo at least once.
• If you attempt to use the old side quest keybind, you'll get a message informing you to use the automap instead.
• Fixed the death message being offset incorrectly.
• Added a couple teasers for upcoming Full Version content.

Your saves from v1.4 are NOT compatible. Your hats and settings should be fine, though. New Stuff: -Paintings got reworked a bit. 25 new paintings were added. Some paintings only spawn in specific levels. It's much easier to add new paintings now. -Added 3 new secret hats. Added a new way to unlock the monthly secret hats. -Added a sound to jumppads and for when bosses get mad. -Added a new secret mechanic to the game. (hint: try not murdering stuff this time) (also: you can disable this mechanic via console commands.) Smaller Changes: -Fixed Pepper Boss not losing rage effects upon death, again. -Certain scaling effects can now also change the hitboxes for actors. (Large/small objects should now have more accurate hitboxes.) -Reduced performance by 90%. -Nerfed bonus points given via enabling the Enemy HP Multiplier. -You can no longer change the new difficulty modifiers via menus/console commands, without enabling cheats. -Fixed rare cases where you could pick up specific items but not get any of it's associated score points due to differences in hitboxes. -Changed the demo endscreen. -Added some new obituaries. -You can no longer carry trash bags across levels. -Fixed the boss hp bar fade CVAR not being ON by default. -The game now knows if you are playing on the demo version or not.

Well, this update's a little overdue at this point, wouldn't you agree? The last update to this game was in March, 5 months ago! But enough about that. I've made a lot of changes to the game recently, I think you're going to like a few of em. Let's go through some of the big changes real quick:
-Added new Side Quests to Level 3. Included with these new quests is a new area to explore as well. This may or may not include some kind of fishing minigame. My sources haven't been able to confirm this one yet...
-Replaced the Options Menu with a new one, which includes new tooltips to explain what every option does, and (hopefully) less confusion!
-Added the 2 remaining hats for page 1 of the Hat Menu. Now every hat on page 1 is unlockable! (Also added 2 new secret hats as well.)
-Added new difficulty options/modifiers to the game. You now have finer control over how easy/difficult your Box Partying will be. (Choosing modifiers that make the game easier will cause your score to drain over time.) And now here's the rest of the changelog, in no particular order: -Enabled Discord Rich Presence. (Box Party now requires GZDOOM v4.8.1 or above.) -Your glowstick now changes color everytime you use the altfire. -Added a new end screen when you beat a level that shows you some stats and whatnot. (Includes special support for multiplayer as well) -Added that neat little animated transition to some of the menus. -Replaced one of the fonts with a nicer looking one. -The game now autosaves upon defeating a boss. -Added some new visuals to all the onion enemies. -Added some brightmaps to some textures. -Replaced some signs in level 3 with a new flat version of the signs that can be put on a wall. -NPC's can wear more types of hats. -All enemies have a 1/1000 chance of wearing a hat. -Improved the Metal Detector quest a bit. -All "temporary" weapons from Side Quests now use a purple ammo bar to better differentiate them from regular weapons. -Changed some icons in the hat menu. -Burn Status Effect now burns faster. -Burn Status Effect will now quickly dissipate if the subject is submerged in water. -Enemies now take 25% more lightning damage when submerged in water. -Reduced particles spawned by certain enemy attacks. -Pizza Projectiles will no longer cause enemies to bleed. -THE HAMMER's dashing attack was tweaked a bit to try to prevent them getting stuck on terrain. -Your health/armor doesn't get reset each level anymore. -Added inventory bar to the HUD. (Useless, unless a mod adds inventory items) (Imported from another mod I'm working on) -Fixed some visibility issues with the oxygen meter and score meter. -Added the libtooltipmenu library, used for the new option menu tooltips. -Added pink text color. -Replaced some default keybinds. (Only applies to new players.) -Replaced the "RESET ALL HATS" script with a new one made in ZScript that's a lot more flexible. -Added new functionality to BOXHAT to also give "RESET ALL HATS" a list of extra CVARs that should also be reset with the hats. -Nerfed Bell Pepper's walking flamethrower attack. (Can no longer randomly switch directions while attacking.) -Pizza projectiles are no longer random, they're instead based on the current rotation of the pizza enemy. -Added new water explosions (for use with the onion enemies.) -Added a wet floor sign. -Inverted the Boss Exhaust bar. -Optimized the boss code a little bit by making all bosses inherit from a new "BoxBoss" actor. -Added 4 different types of fish. This may or may not be related to the ever elusive fishing minigame. -Added new bullet trails to big exploding projectiles. -Added option to not fade boss's HP bar. -Added 2 new types of melons. -Added a new sound for completing a quest. -Added 2 new secrets to Level 3. -Added 5 more fun.

Box Party's release has been delayed. It will not be releasing in 2022. I will not be specifying a new release date at this time. I will release the game when it is ready, and not a moment sooner. The reason for the delay is that I have been too busy to work on the game throughout the summer. However, I am now able to continue working on the game at this time. As a form of compensation to anyone who was looking forward to playing the full release of Box Party this year, I plan on starting a beta test for the full version content at the end of this year. If you go to the game's store page, you'll notice that the Developer and Publisher has changed. Don't worry, it's still me, I am just retiring my old username, "idiotbitz". I have used this username ever since teenage me came up with it in 2013, but I should probably stop using a username that could be viewed as an insult. As for the upcoming v1.4 update for the Demo, most of the originally planned content is done, however, I have a few new features that I would like to add, like a revamped main menu and options menu. Long story short, v1.4 will be the biggest update to the Demo so far. Stay tuned for more info regarding the v1.4 update and the upcoming beta test later this year.

Your saves from v1.3.1 are NOT compatible. Your hats and settings are fine, though. New Features: -You can now type "secret" into the console to get hints for how to find secrets and secret hats in the current level. Fixes/Changes: -Fixed side quest UI bugging out in multiplayer again, but in a different new fun way. -Fixed Boss Melon getting stuck in falling animation if an invincible entity gets under the boss while it is jumping. -Fixed hat unlock script sometimes not giving hats to players under certain conditions. -Fixed getting softlocked inside of the Fridge of Death in level 2. -Fixed some texture misalignments in the difficulty select level and level 1. -Improved compatibility with the Corruption Cards mod.

Your saves from v1.3 are NOT compatible. Your hats and settings are fine, though. Multiplayer is now playable in Box Party! Big thanks to emmyposs on Github for helping squash out a bunch of multiplayer related bugs. Look up guides for setting up multiplayer in GZDOOM if you're interested in trying it out yourself. New Features: -New burn status effect: Doesn't stun enemies, but deals damage over time. Has synergy with shock status effect. -All pepper enemy attacks can inflict burn effect on other enemies. (Except to enemies who are immune.) -Added 8 new secret hats. There are now 30 hats accessible in Box Party Demo. Fixes/Changes: -HUD shaking no longer causes desyncs in multiplayer. (thanks emmyposs!) -Side Quest UI now works and updates properly in multiplayer. (thanks emmyposs!) -Opening the hat menu no longer causes desyncs in multiplayer. (thanks emmyposs!) -Players now share keys in multiplayer. -Added more quit messages. -Improved compatibility with Xaser's DamNums mod. I will be implementing more QOL changes for multiplayer in the near future.

This is a quality-of-life update which adds a bunch of new rotation sprites for every enemy in the game. These new rotation sprites will help make it easier to tell which direction an enemy is facing, especially while attacking. These sprites took a while to draw so I'm considering this a major update. Saves from v1.2.1 might be compatible, but I wouldn't bet on it. Your hats and settings are fine. New Features: -Added back and side rotation sprites for the Jalapeno, Lemon, and Hammer characters. (Only Melon had these before.) -Added back rotation sprites for Large Pizza, Small Pizza, Large Onion, and Red Onion. -Added more dynamic lights to specific objects, like markers or enemies. -Added a decal for Laser Pointer's secondary attack. -Added 1 new secret hat. Fixes/Changes: -Tweaked melon's gib code a bit. -Fixed a bug where the melon would shoot "blood" up into the air way, way faster than it should. -Fixed some DIRT texture conflicts. -Timed secret hats are much easier to obtain. They now only require opening the menu on a specific month, instead of a specific day. Also quick note: This update was originally gonna be for adding side quests to level 3, but this update got large enough that it warranted it's own release. Level 3's side quests update has been pushed back to v1.4.

Your old saves from v1.2 SHOULD be compatible, but due to the nature of this specific update, there is a chance it could crash. New Features: -Added gibs to the pizzas. -Added 2 new paintings. -You can now change the maximum gib amount in the display options. -Added new and also very rare death animation to the melon. Fixes/Changes: -Automap Timer is no longer enabled by default, since the Speedrunning Clock makes it redundant. -The HUD now goes a lil transparent when looking at the automap. -Changed how the trajectory of melon gibs are calculated. -Removed a buncha old and unused code.

This is a major update that, among other things, adds side quests to Level 2 and new hats. All previous saves are incompatible. Your hats and settings are fine, though. New Features: -Added 3 new side quests to level 2. -Added the ability to get the level 2 side quest hat. -Added 4 new secret hats. -Added an option to hide locked hats in the hat menu. -Added some new dialogue to some NPC's to help out with quests in level 1 and 2. -Keys and Quests will now leave markers on the Automap. -Bosses will now drop 50% more ammo if the player has no ammo left. -Added a new optional area to level 2. -Added a marshmallow. -Added a metal detector. Fixes/Changes: -"Speedrun Clock" and "Show Exhaust Meter" are now enabled by default. Old players will need to manually change these 2 options. -Finding secrets and getting keys now give 500 points, instead of 250. -Picking up weapon or ammo pickups (not including those from enemies) are now marked as "items" and will now give 5 points each. -Fixed the elevator in level 1 getting broken, causing a softlock. -Fixed a plate spawner in level 3 being activated multiple times. -"Dead" glowsticks on the ground are now more visually distinct from glowstick ammo pickups. -Secret hats will now appear after all normal hats, thus preventing the placement of normal hats being disorganized. -Streamlined the system time detection code in the hat menu. -Removed some unused dialogue/items. -Increased Level 1 Boss's health by 200 points. -Level 1 Boss takes longer to get exhausted. -Level 2 Bosses get exhausted faster. -Fixed "dead" gibs not properly sticking to the ground on moving platforms.

Any save currently in Level 1 will be incompatible. this is a minor update that fixes a softlock in level 1 and also adds 2 new secret hats. (due to the nature of one of the secret hats, i needed to push out this update before new years.) New Features: -Added 2 new secret hats. Fixes/Changes: -You can no longer softlock yourself by preemptively activating the elevator in level 1 before it's unlocked. -Secret hats will now load in the hat menu AFTER all normal hats have loaded. Fixes an issue if multiple "BOXHAT" files are loaded. -Tweaked some code in the hat menu. some random dates that im putting here for no particular reason: -Jan. 1st -Nov. 3rd -Dec. 25th

this is a minor update to add a cool new secret hat. see if you can find it :) New Features: -the hat menu now supports secret hats, which are hats that don't appear in the menu if they are locked. -added 1 secret hat. ill add more over time.

this is a minor update to fix some smaller issues that other people have found. your v1.1.1 and v1.1 saves are 100% compatible. New Feature: -Added a player death message to the HUD, telling you to press "Use" to load a save. This can be turned off by disabling tutorials in the HUD options. Fixes/Changes: -Removed an unused keybind from the control settings. -Set the default gamma from "1.0" to "1.15". This only affects new players. Old players will need to update their gamma manually in the display options.

Minor update to fix pepper hat being unobtainable due to a bug. Saves from v1.1 are compatible. Fixes/Changes: -Made 4 paintings higher-res and added a border to em. -The pepper hat, which requires you to have a Jalapeno kill itself, was unobtainable because I had accidentally given them the flag that prevents Jalapeno's from hurting themselves. This is fixed now.

All old saves are incompatible. Your hats and settings will be fine, though. New Features: -Added 3 Side Quests to Level 1. Each quest will grant you 1500 points, and getting all 3 will grant you a hat. (Disclaimer: Quests for Level 2 and 3 will be added in a future update.) -You can now check your side quests by pressing "C". Only works in levels with side quests available. -Added 8 new paintings, plus 5 extra paintings made by some cool people. -Added a couple easter eggs. Fixes/Changes: -Speedrun Clock is now more precise. -Fixed HUD shake being broken if you have more than 200 health. (not possible without cheating) -You can now change the ":)" in the advanced box settings.

Any save from v1.0.4 should be 100% compatible. New Feature: -Speedrun Clock: Off by default. You can use this to easily keep track of the time when you're trying to get the speedrunning hats. Fixes/Changes: -Changed the wording of the speedrunning hats a bit to make it clear that you can unlock the hats before defeating the bosses. -Condensed the "Show Player Score" and the "Score Fade" options into a singular option, since there's no reason to enable score fade if the score bar is not on. -Updated the ZForms library to the latest commit, which is used for the Hat Menu. Also updated some code in the Hat Menu to work with the latest commit. (Didn't fix that one obscure crash though) -Removed a couple useless default settings. -Fixed a singular menu option being broken. -Added more quit messages.

WARNING: Any save currently in Level 3 will be incompatible! Changes: -Fixed a softlock in the Level 3 waves. -Made the big box lift in Level 3 more obvious. -The flamethrower attack from the Level 2 bosses can no longer pierce through each other in Beginner difficulty.

It's finally here! :) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1727350/Box_Party/ This DEMO contains the first 3 levels of the story, along with a decent amount of characters, enemies, weapons, NPCs, and more to find! Go download it now and tell all of your friends and family how cool you are for playing Box Party Demo :)

I am very excited to announce that Box Party Demo will be available to download for free on Steam and other platforms starting on December 6th!