29 JULY 2016
For the last month we have been working with Coatsink to implement online support in the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha build (published with this post). The information in this post summarise a number of the key differences between the 0.3.4 'unstable' and the 0.4.0 'unstable' builds.
The structure of the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha build has been significantly modified from the previous 0.3.4 'unstable' alpha build to include placeholder information screens and other planned content and some content is temporarily disabled, specifically the debug spawning commands, the ‘waves’ game mode, and the 'buoy', ‘chute’, ’containers’, and ’fans’ stages (this content needs additional work before it is restored).
In the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha build there are 4 online stages playable and 12 local stages, the online stages are:
- grind
- ring
- trucks
- subway
the local stages are:
- billboards
- blimp
- elevators
- girders
- gondola
- grind
- incinerator
- ring
- subway
- towers
- trucks
- wheel
The 'buoy', ‘chute’, ’containers’, and ’fans’ stages and the ‘waves’ game mode will be restored to ‘unstable’ builds in a coming build.
Downloading 'unstable' builds The instructions for updating from 0.3.1, 0.3.2, 0.3.3, and 0.3.4 builds to the 0.4.0. 'unstable' alpha build are:
- right-click on the Gang Beasts game name on the Steam library page
- select “Properties” from the window that opens from the Properties window select the “BETAS” tab and then the 'unstable' option from the dropdown menu
To revert to the default Early Access branch select 'NONE- Opt out of all beta programs' from the same dropdown menu.
The rest of this post is a series of paragraphs with current information and summaries on what progress has been made to date on content for the game.
Default game mode The default game mode in the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha has modified win logic for the default game mode (winning scenarios is currently set to 3 wins to test stage cycling) to let player play in all rounds, the old game logic will be restored in a coming build.
0.3.4 and 0.3.1 The 0.3.4 ‘unstable’ alpha build has replaced the previous default 0.3.1 alpha build, please move from the ‘unstable’ to the default branches to continue playing with the debug spawning commands, the ‘waves’ game mode, and the ‘chute’, ’containers’, and ’fans’ stages until this content can be restored to the ‘unstable’ branch.
Online Beta The signup process for the online beta ended at the start of July, the online beta itself is scheduled to end and be removed from Steam on Friday 5 August 2016 at 23:59 GMT (as support for online game modes is now included in the 0.4.0 Steam Early Access ’unstable’ alpha build).
Private Servers Support for hosting private servers will be released when the 0.4.0 build and server implementation has been tested and made stable in August.
Couch mode Support for playing online with 1-4 local players (players on the same system) has been tested internally and will be added for testing in a coming build.
Linux Support Currently there is no Linux version of the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha build, we plan to make a Linux build available in August.
Servers Currently the 0.4.0 'unstable' alpha supports servers in the following geographies:
- US East (N.Virginia)
- US West (N. California)
- US West (Oregon)
- EU (Ireland)
- Asia Pacific (Sydney)
we will be working to add servers in the following geographies in August:
- EU (Frankfurt)
- South America (São Paulo)
- Asia Pacific (Tokyo)
- Asia Pacific (Singapore)
- Asia Pacific (Seoul)
Xinput
There is no setting to enable or disable Xinput support in the 0.4.0 ‘unstable’ alpha build currently (this will be restored in a patch release soon). For reference the 0.4.0 build shares preference settings with the 0.3.4 build and defaults to the current XInput setting used for the 0.3.4 build and some earlier builds (a temporary solution for enabling or disabling XInput support is to switch to the 0.3.4 build and use it to enable or disable XInput then revert to the 0.4.0 build).