Multiplayer beta is now available!

Multiplayer is here, as a beta on its own Steam branch!

Up to four octopuses in one store. Most of you are seeing this for the first time, so here is what it is, how the saves work and how to get on the branch, then the patch notes. If something breaks, please tell me in the Discord!

What multiplayer is

• One of you hosts their store. Up to three friends join it. Same pile, same shelves, same kittens.
• Everyone sorts. A tape you put away counts for the store, and the new CREW page on the terminal keeps score of who did what (and who was slacking).
• Points are shared, upgrades are yours. The store's sorted count earns points for everybody, and each player spends their own on their own arms, carry stack, cart and moves. Cats and the other store Curios are bought once, for everyone.
• The store wears the host's posters and furniture. You can put up something you unlocked in a friend's store. If they do not have it yet, it goes up as a gift with your name on it!
• Pick your octopus color on the SYSTEM page. Twelve colors, and your name tag matches.
• No chat needed. Z or the mouse forward button pings what you are looking at, V opens an emote wheel, and the GameMessage system says who joined, who finished a row and who found what. No pad button for the ping yet.
• The arcade works with friends. Watch each other play, and air hockey takes two! The second player hops in between matches.
• When the store is done, the awards are handed out to the whole crew together.

How saves work

• The session runs on the host's save slot, and only the host writes it.
• Every autosave, everyone else gets a copy. It shows up in your CONTINUE list as "<host>'s store, with <names>". Your own slots are untouched.
• You can keep playing that copy on your own, or host it yourself later. From then on it is your store.
• If you played a copy alone and the host later sends a newer one, yours is kept as a fork row on CONTINUE. Choosing it moves it into one of your own slots. Nothing gets merged, so nobody loses anything.
• Co-op stores do not post to the leaderboards, and a store stops being eligible the moment a friend joins. Custom tape names sit out co-op too.

How to get on the beta

• In your Steam library, right click Octbuster, then Properties, Game Versions & Betas, and pick multiplayer-beta. Everyone playing together needs to be on it.
• 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.

Back up your saves before switching. You can go back to the Default Public Version from the same Steam menu.

It is a beta

• Expect bugs.
• Your own throws and your cart run on your machine, but the pile itself and the kittens run on the host, so host on the strongest machine. I have not measured hosting on a Steam Deck yet.
• Guests get no tutorial, just the basics card once.
• Kitten names and hats are the host's. Guests see them but cannot change them.
• When the host leaves the store, everyone goes back to the lobby and waits for them to open another.

Patch notes: co-op

• PLAY TOGETHER on the main menu. Host or join, then only what that role needs.
• Join codes are eight characters and go through Steam, so no port forwarding. Steam invites and Join Game from the friends list work too.
• The host starts from the lobby. Guests see "waiting for <host> to open the store" and load with the host.
• Everyone has their own cart. Your throws land in the host's pile and knock it around like anyone else's.
• You see the other players' arms, legs, climbing and the stack in their hands.
• Other players' moves make the same sounds and comic bursts yours do.
• Kittens, the grump and the domino kitten are shared. Working Cats and Tame the Grump count for the whole store, and anyone can pet.
• The PA and the party are shared. Anyone can pick a jukebox track.
• Arcade seats take one player each, and a second player sees "<name> is playing". Air hockey takes two.
• Cabinet restoration is shared. Everyone's scrubbing counts, and the bubbles show for every scrubber.
• The milestone ladder scales with the crew size at New Game, so four players do not clear the upgrades in an hour.
• Challenge mode works in co-op. One open genre per player, and a joiner's genre opens when they arrive.
• A dropped connection tries to reconnect in place. "Connection lost" and "the host left" are different messages now.
• Quitting as the host no longer crashes the game. Quit to menu asks first in a session.
• Joining from inside your own store saves it first.
• Guests earn achievements too, counted from when they joined.

Patch notes: streaming in co-op

• Viewers can aim !drop, !cart, !dance and the new !emote at a crewmate by name, by CREW number, all or random.
• !party from a guest's chat plays on the host's PA for everyone.
• Store-wide effects like grumps and kittens run only from the host's stream. A guest's chat is told why.

Patch notes: everyone

• Octopus color on the SYSTEM page, in solo too.
• Tap the dance key to wave, hold it to dance. On a pad, the wave is HI! on the emote wheel.
• The loading screen's "press any key" line is in the header color.
• Challenge mode: the opening waits for a tape you can shelve, and a tape from a locked genre lights no shelf. Looky points you at the cart instead.

Have fun! -alex