Build v0.99.9

Multiplayer is out of beta and in the regular build! Up to four octopuses in one store. Most of you are seeing it for the first time, so here is what it is and how to play together, as well as the smaller fixes since 0.99.3. The full game launches Tuesday, so please tell me in the Discord if anything breaks!

Multiplayer

• One of you hosts their store and up to three friends join it. Physics costs are shared between players. But, like most games, you should always host on the strongest machine.
• Points are shared, upgrades are your own. Everyone's sorting earns points for everybody, and each player spends their own on their own arms, carry stack, cart and moves.
• Saves fork. The session runs on the host's save, and after every autosave everyone gets their own copy on CONTINUE. Keep playing it alone, host it yourself later, and if the host sends a newer copy your version is kept as a fork. Nothing is merged, so nobody loses anything!
• Chat commands are shared. Viewers can aim !drop, !cart, !dance and !emote at a crewmate by name, and a !party from anyone's chat plays on the host's PA for everyone.
• No voice chat needed. Z or the mouse forward button pings what you are looking at, with a Looky in your color over it. V opens an emote wheel, and the CREW page on the terminal keeps score of who did what.
• Pick your octopus color on the SYSTEM page. Twelve colors, and your name tag matches.
• Co-op stores do not post to the speed-run leaderboards (yet!)

How to play together

• How to host/connect:
• Main menu, PLAY TOGETHER.
• The host picks HOST A STORE, sends friends the code (COPY CODE) or invites them through Steam.
• Host then presses CONTINUE or NEW GAME.

How to join:

• Main menu, PLAY TOGETHER.
• Friends pick JOIN A FRIEND, paste the code and press JOIN. Everyone loads in together once the host's machine is done loading the store.

Host on the strongest machine. Your own throws and cart run on your machine, but the pile and the kittens run on the host.

Since the beta

• The lobby shows who is here, their ping, and a KICK button for the host. The join code is hidden until you press SHOW CODE, so it is safe to host on stream.
• Only your own actions make sounds. (Every plop from three other players was way too much.) Finishing a genre is still a moment for the whole store.
• Rewards you earn as a guest (tokens, claw prizes, hats, cassettes) are saved properly now.
• Other players' idle arms walk on the floor, and their limbs blend with the body.
• A toppled domino line falls on every screen, everyone starts on their own spawn point, and aiming at a crewmate's cart no longer drives yours.

Tutorial and the cart

• The opening ends with a quick tour of the controls at the bottom of the screen.
• The opening no longer lets the cart fill up while tapes are still in your arms.
• Quitting to the menu mid tutorial and continuing no longer puts it in a bad state.
• The Roomier Cart's wheels sit on the floor instead of in it.

Store

• Tapes no longer end up inside the claw machine, behind the counter, on top of a shelf unit or in the gap between a shelf and the wall.
• Chonka has her own body now.
• You can pet the kittens at the end of a derby.
• Basketball tosses work at high FOVs.
• Air hockey: the mouse is less sensitive, and chat's kittens sit on the rails of Grumpy's half and swipe the puck instead of standing in the way.
• Fixed the frames of garbage some AMD cards showed when the terminal closed. (kaleidoscope glitch)
• Long mod descriptions scroll on the GET MODS screen.

Streaming

• The tape review is simpler. Every name goes on unless you reject it, with UPDATE NOW front and center. Custom tape names are on by default now.
• A rejected name is a ten minute timeout for that viewer, not a ban for the stream. Mods can type !tape reject and a name, or !tape reject all.
• Viewers can name as many tapes as they like, and can ask for a genre: !tape horror and the title.
• !kitten and a name renames your kitten. !kitten 2 and a name picks your second one.

Have fun! -alex