News & Updates

Hey BOTSU Brawlers!

It’s been a hot minute since we last updated you, but we promise we haven’t been slacking (unless you don’t count flinging robots across the arena as ‘work’, which, honestly, we do.)

As the title suggests, the BOTSU demo will be taken down shortly on Monday, April 21st, but don’t panic! We're cooking up something BIG behind the scenes.

What’s next? Well, we can’t spill all the beans just yet, but let’s just say the fun is only getting started and more chaos is coming your way soon. 🤖

Want to be the first to hear the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT? Make sure you’ve joined our Discord to get exclusive sneak peeks, updates, and also have a hand in testing an upcoming build 👀.

👉 Join the Discord!

That’s all for now, but we’ll definitely see you soon for the next phase of BOTSU madness! 💥🎮

BE THERE, BE SQUARE 🤖

Multiplayer Madness 3 was so fun, thanks everyone for joining, trying out the Beta and reporting issues!

This update has lots of fixes and improvements found during Multiplayer Madness 3, and there will be more updates soon to address the rest of the issues. Looking forward to it.

🤖 Bots

• Bot outfits upgraded to use some of the new unlockable outfits

• New bot: Jurassic Mark - Thanks Rolo

⚖️ Balancing

• Gadgets have a cooldown at the start of Sumo rounds now – Thanks Vlad + others

• Stockpile winning score changed to 21 so it requires minimum 3 boxes to win, not 2 – Thanks Rolo

• Impulse wave no longer in default sumo matches (too OP). Can still be used in custom sumo

🛠️ Improvements

• Sumo says “Next Point Wins” and “Blue Team needs one more to win” when one or both teams are close to victory – Thanks Fox

• Auto-Equip newly unlocked outfits disabled. Default is to not equip, unless you press to equip – Thanks Fox + others

🪲 Bug Fixes

• Fixed Pyramids map legs stuck in the floor at round start – Thanks Riftis, Chubs + others

• Fixed booster sound not looping in infinite boost matches – Thanks OverDen

• Fixed aerial ball throws not working when character faces the wrong way

• Fixed punch effects sometimes not attached to the player

• Fixed Sumo spinners podium camera moving through the central spinner post

• Fixed z-fighting flickering on some arenas under the lava

This is a small, targeted update, responding to initial feedback from the Beta, so we’re ready for Multiplayer Madness 3

Hopefully see you there at 8pm GMT (UK Time Zone)

💣 Sticky Bomb – Thanks Rolo!

• Massively reduced damage radius, from 8m to 1m, so it is fairer for Sumo

• Force radius is still 8m, different to damage now

• Force applied behaves more naturally now, based on surface area of the object

🏀 Hoops – Thanks OverDen!

• Basketball hoop goal enlarged, making it easier to score

• Backboard box size better represents best bounce area

• Reduced basketball bounciness

• Basketball goal hitbox improved

🪲 Bug Fixes – Thanks Fox, Rolo!

• Fixed XP not being awarded at end of match for some players

• Fixed rewards screen unlock path glitchy horizontal scroll

• Fixed being able to grab onto spinners in sumo mode

🤔 Known Issues

• Steam Deck version crashes when joining a game. The issue doesn’t appear to be from this update, possibly on Steam’s side, as older versions are affected too. Currently investigating.

• If this happens to you, please let me know on this Steam Forum thread

🪲 Bug Fixes

• Fixed players spawning in wrong places on the Next Match Voting screen and Trophy screen when players changed team or joined/left.

• Fixed stockpile crowd cheering constantly at full volume.

• Fixed floor and wall boundary effects not showing.

• Finally fixed the goal score effect that fills the stadium with the team colour!

I’m really excited to share this update, as it includes many much-requested features from the community! Thanks so much to all of you for providing this feedback, and please keep messaging me about improvements and content you’d like to see.

I’ve been working hard towards the full game's release, creating new content, including new locations, arenas, modifiers and costumes, but I thought it would be good to share the new systems with the loyal demo players! Thanks so much for the support and feedback on the demo, you are awesome! 😻 We’re nearly there…

🔓 Unlock Paths

• New unlock system allows you to choose between themed unlock paths.

• Choose your active unlock path and track its progress via the brand new “Unlocks” tab in pause menu at any time.

• Progress through path stages by earning XP.

• Each stage of the path unlocks a new outfit part.

• Paths are unlocked by player level.

• Watch your unlock path progress in the rewards screen after a match.

• Many more unlock paths and outfits coming in the full game!

🗳️ Next Match Voting

• You can now vote to choose your next match, after the rewards screen.

• New match generation system aims to give you matches that are different to the ones you have recently played.

🥳 Parties with Friends

• The new Party system lets you join your Steam friends and stay together. Find it in the “Party” tab in the pause menu.

• Party members stay together through matches, server changes and will return to home together.

• Join or invite friends via the steam overlay. Right click on the friend to join or invite.

🌍 Server Browser

• New server browser kiosk next to the train lets you see and join any public matches being played, anywhere in the world.

🐞 Bug Fixes And Small Improvements

• Lighting on outfit selection previews is more consistent now, across different times of day.

• Fixed selection outline not showing sometimes on outfit selection grids.

• Players can no longer be heard punching each other behind the rewards screen.

• Your player now dances in the rewards screen at the end of the match!

I’ve mainly been working on content for the full game, but this demo update includes a sneak peek into some of the new swimming and water mechanics that will make their way into matches for the full game. Hopefully some underwater sports, water polo and other levels coming in the future 😊

🌊 Pool Physics

• 🤽Brand new swimming pool in the Home area for you to mess around with!

• 🛟New buoyancy physics mechanics for objects floating/sinking and receiving drag in the water. Will it float?!

• 💦 The pool comes with a host of new water effects so you can make a splash!

🏊 Physics-Based Swimming

• 🏊 Swim around in 3D, on or under water, with new physics-based animations

• 🤿 Mix swimming with all other mechanics like grabbing, throwing, fighting and jumping

🐬 Diving Board Physics

• 🦘 All-new, physics-based diving boards

• 🤸 You can bounce, flip, grab, fall and anything else you can think of!

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🙌👏 Stadium Crowd Excitement

• The stadium crowd now goes wild for Sumo and Stockpile gameplay moments like they do for BoxBall. (they’ve finally learned the rules….)

To celebrate Steam Dinos vs Robots Fest, there’s 3 brand new outfits to unlock, to fit the Robo/Dino theme. Even the bots have dressed up! I’m really pleased with how these outfits turned out, particularly the triceratops, so I hope you have fun bashing up these dinos.

🦖🦕 Dino Outfits

• 🦏 Triceratops!

• 🦅 Pterosaur!

• 🐲 T-Rex!

✨🌟 Level Up XP

• Reduced level 1 xp from 400 to 200

• Reduced per-level xp increase from 200 to 100

I’ve been busy building new arenas and content for the full game, but I had time to put in some improvements to the demo, too. Mostly focusing on signposting (literally!) to help players find features like matchmaking, inviting friends and joining the community.

🏪👥 Community Kiosk

• Added a “Community” kiosk with dancing Discord Wumpus to help players find and join the BOTSU Discord Community (if you’re reading this and haven’t joined yet, what are you doing??!!)

• Moved Custom Match kiosk further away as it is not enabled in the demo. Community kiosk takes its place.

🎮🖼️ Controls Billboard

• Added controls screen billboard to home space to help new players and show extra controls that are not in the tutorial.

🙋‍♂️🙋‍♀️ Play with Friends

• “Connect” kiosk renamed to “Play with Friends”, shows how many are online, and now takes you to Steam friend invite screen.

🏪🚆Matchmaking Train Signs

• Added A-board signs to tell players how to join an online match via matchmaking.

• Improved position and visibility of the matchmaking train sign.

• Matchmaking train sign now says “arriving” when the train is arriving, and “boarding” when it has arrived.

🖼️❤️ Wishlist Billboards

• Added some billboards in the home space to encourage players to wishlist BOTSU on Steam. Thanks everyone who has wishlisted already! it helps others find the game, which really helps me out!! 🙏

💬Find out more behind the scenes on the BOTSU Discord or via social media: https://linktr.ee/botsu.game