Galactic Thunderdome Closed Beta Version 0.5.0

Greetings, Galactic Contestants!

Welcome back, Galactic Contestants! Thanks to all our dedicated playtesters for your invaluable feedback. Version 0.5.0 introduces thrilling new features, gameplay tweaks, and essential bug fixes to enhance your brawling experience.

Join our Discord community to become a playtester and access the full version!

Here's what's new in version 0.5.0:

Features

• New Emotes: Emotes with sound added for more expressive gameplay.
• Last Stand Mode: Prepare for the ultimate test of endurance and strategy in our brand-new game mode: **Last Stand**! In this thrilling survival challenge, you can play solo or team up with friends as you face waves of relentless enemies in a highly defensible position. Your objective is simple: survive as long as you can. Enemies will spawn endlessly, testing your skills and tactics to the limit. Each wave will become more challenging, pushing you to adapt and strategize on the fly. Use your surroundings, manage your resources wisely, and hold your ground against the onslaught. Compete for medals that denote your achievements based on the number of kills and how far you progress. With 8 unique maps, each featuring different defensive positions and strategic opportunities, every Last Stand experience will offer a new challenge. Do you have what it takes to make your Last Stand? Jump in solo or with friends, and prove your mettle in this intense, action-packed survival mode!
• New Last Stand Levels:
• Added 7 new levels: Barbican, Hedgehog, Brawl Vault, Slaughterhouse Delight, Juggernaut Defence, Tectonics, and Caldera.

Game Modes

• Gauntlet Mode:
• Easy mode now has 60% more lives.
• Special weapons bug fixed (not fully replenished on revive).
• Medal display in the menu fixed.

Treasure Hunt :

• Added new level: Heist.

New Level Elements :

• Created several new elements: lava lakes, meteor showers, railguns, sliding machinegun batteries, murder holes, portcullises, gas roulettes, spinny turrets, deployable fans, hwachas, punchy bricks.

Gameplay Changes

• General:
• Arrow projectiles now become physical objects if they slow down enough.
• Decreased player rotation in low-gravity environments by 1/3.
• Item pickups now disappear after 60s if not collected and after 5-10s if stuck in the ground.
• Bees drop from the air at the end of their lifespan and die upon ground collision.
• Removed daze effect from bees.
• Removed underhand throws, simplifying the throw mechanic to prevent confusion and misuse of grenades and mines.

AI Improvements :

• AI players now face the direction they move when they cannot see their target.
• Ability to override AI player smooth damp time for movement vector.

User Interface and Quality of Life Improvements

• Menus and UI:
• "How to play" in the main menu now shows controls.
• Language selection includes flag images for easy identification.
• Game Over screen displays winner's color and name (if online), or just color (if AI).
• Returning to the main menu from an online game injects the lobby into menu history.
• Loadout menu level name buffer moved to the right side, no longer visible when exiting or layered in front of the pause menu.
• Fixed loadout menu showing wrong name.
• AppData saved on Steam Remote Storage for cross-computer awards.
• Visible controls in the loadout menu appear only when clickable.
• "Enable UI" setting now works in Last Stand mode.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed shot arrows not connecting to the proper object.
• Fixed a sound bug having to do with Gauntlet mode's item prizes.
• Fixed a placement bug with UI arrows.
• Added yellow UI arrow in Stage Mode after 40s making it more clear that players need to choose an item.
• Fixed sorting order of player character sprites.
• Fixed stains and spawn effect being misplaced on the Merling character.
• Fixed special weapons fully replenished on revive in Gauntlet.
• Fixed Haelstrom ice ball line trim and layer.
• Fixed Game Over winner picture not shown.
• Fixed rock destruction optimization.
• Fixed remote play host losing privileges during flash disconnect/reconnect.
• Fixed remote play allowing re-invites after decline.
• Fixed Game Over edge case.
• Fixed sorting order of player character sprites.
• Fixed fire and gas visuals passing through the sides of wind tubes.
• Fixed dynamite fuse sparks going erratic when blown by wind.
• Fixed crushers dealing unreliable damage to crushed players and other related issues.
• Fixed blood stains flickering on the edges of walls.
• Adjusted blood effects from shotguns for improved visual clarity.
• Increased corpse burn rate to prevent infinite corpse accumulation.
• Fixed bullet smoke trails appearing incorrectly in certain situations.
• Improved the Locksmith mechanism to start slow and gradually increase speed without manual control buttons.
• Adjusted Gauntlet camera zoom for better visibility.
• Balanced gravjelly gun and bomb deployment for faster action.

General Improvements

• Troubleshoot page now shows remote play info as the primary page.
• Added more tips to the loading menu.

Keep the feedback coming, and together, we'll continue to refine and perfect this cosmic showdown!

Thank you for being part of the Galactic Thunderdome community!