Beastieball News

We owe our players an apology. We released Beastieball with a critical issue. In the version we launched with, Beasties played sports and humans coached them. But everyone knows animals can’t play sports… humans do! We’re very sorry for leaving this issue unaddressed for so long. Thankfully, it’s finally fixed.

We’d strongly encourage you to take the time to check out the game or the free demo today and enjoy Beastieball as it always should have been.

* NOTE: This update is purely cosmetic. The game looks different, but the underlying data is still the same as before. Your save data is safe and sound!

* If you want to play the unmodified game, you can access the experimental branch by right clicking the game in your library > select "Properties" > go to the "Betas" tab > select "experimental" from the dropdown menu.

* If you want to enjoy this modified version of the game after today, it will be available in the same menu as above in the "april-fools" branch.

This weekend we hosted yet another BIGMOON BASH in Beastieball, a timed PvP event! This particular Bash was special for a couple reasons. One, we just released a pretty big balance patch adjusting a lot of Beasties’ statistics, traits and playbooks. Two, this Bash had no teambuilding theme - players were allowed to use any combination of unique Beasties they wanted! We collected a ton of data from this Bash, and we’re going to share more here than we ever have before!

But first—let’s honor the coaches whose Bash Scores shined brightest.


1. Ket (Bash Score: 3835)

2. Dino (Bash Score: 3681)

3. Figgy (Bash Score: 3365)

4. Zonk (Bash Score: 3276)

5. Satoros (Bash Score: 3273)

6. Arc Tech (Bash Score: 3198)

7. Pyopyo (Bash Score: 3149)

8. Wallmonger (Bash Score: 3123)

9. Litt (Bash Score: 3017)

10. Venn (Bash Score: 2979)

It’s exciting to see some old and new names in this list! I played in this Bash too, but I could barely crack a score of 2300… Looks like I have a lot to learn from our players.


I know that some players really, really, really like to look at stats after every Bash. So do we! And rather than just report on the top or bottom few Beasties, I figured I may as well just let you all pick through all of it. (Note: Stats are not collected from players who have analytics disabled.)

[h3]Click here for ALL THE STATS![/h3]

There’s a few things I want to highlight, reflecting on how this compares to previous Bashes and reflects our recent changes.

1. Spirit offense is on the rise! We saw a surge in usage for Beasties like Skulkapi, Opposur and Cherrily this time around. With lots of new spirit offense added to the game, it makes sense that players were excited to try out the shiny new toys. But it’s always exciting to see past-neglected Beasties suddenly getting more attention and play.

2. Team diversity is higher than ever. If you compare the top usage stats to our first Bash just 2 months ago, you’ll notice that usage is less centralized around the top most popular ones. Of course some Beasties like Bandicraft, Illugus and Noizard are here to stay, but it’s nice to see a closer race between the most popular species.

3. Trat, Blitzwift, Musselbound and Grazada are being neglected. At this point we shouldn’t be surprised to see Blitzwift and Grazada here, but seeing Trat at the bottom of usage was quite surprising. Perhaps all the Trat fans were on vacation this time. Also, interesting to see Hydrolm drop from top 10 in the first Bash to the bottom 5. But 2.74% isn’t dire usage by any means—in Hydrolm’s case, it may just be a sign of how much usage has spread out among many other species.


We’re going to try something a little bit different. There won’t be any Guilds, but the top 5 most-used Beasties from this Bash are going to be banned! That means these 5 species:

Bandicraft, Noizard, Surgus, Illugus, Hopra

The date for the next Bash will most likely be April 18-19, in 3 weeks. But I will delay officially announcing the date for a little while, in case anything comes up we need to address on the development/update side. I’m giving you all an early heads up so that you’ll have time to rethink your teams, since this theme is going to impact a large portion of our players. It may be challenging, but I hope it inspires even more creativity :)

Happy Bigmoon!

We're back with a few more things squeezed in before the Bigmoon Bash! This update is going live on PC now, and will be live on Mac in 12 hours or so in time for the Bash to begin. This update includes a fixes for existing game mechanics. As such, PC and Mac players won't be able to play together online until the Mac version updates. We will leave the previous version on experimental, so if a PC and MAc player want to play together, the PC player can do it by switching to experimental for now.

[h2]Beastie Art Updates[/h2]
Note: Much more is in production than what is reflected here.

• Wottle: Cleaned up design and sketch poses added. (Also update to Visual Studies)
  
• Platypulse: Finalized in-game design.
  
• Conjarr: Alternate pose when found in the wild
  

[h2]New Features[/h2]

• Challenge Mode Playbook Updates: We updated playbooks on many Beasties in post-game challenge modes to reflect recent balance changes!
  
• Settings Menu Update: Settings are now re-organized into tabs for easier browsing.
  

[h2]Fixes and Other Changes[/h2]

• Adjusted the size of the "End Defense" button when in "Detail View," so Beastie stats are obscured less often.
  
• Fixed an issue with clothing display colors in the outfit change menu
  
• Plays which require a target on the player's bench are no longer selectable if the player has no benched Beasties
  
• Fixed an issue where Angry applied from an ally Beastie during offense would be ignored (this is now possible using Trait Dance on an allied Clamor-trait Beastie)
  
• Fixed an issue with post-game dialogue in Crown Farms
  
• Fixed an issue with blurry team titles text on Away Team Beasties
  
• Conditioning passes are now unselectable in the Gym if the Beastie is 100% coached
  
• The player can no longer receive phone calls while in a post-game challenge, reducing the chance of strange interactions/bugs.
  
• Captain Beasties using Juggle now move their ally to the net, as intended
  
• Fixed issues with the play "Juggle" not showing a proper pass animation
  
• Fixed issue with highlighted text covering a large section of a textbox, such as when displaying team titles, or "Platinum Sponsor"
  
• "Hold to Run" option is now a global setting, like other controller config settings, rather than a per-savefile setting.
  
• Updated some player hair assets
  
• Fixed issues with ranking calculation in the story if the player defeats additional Ranked Bosses after completing a certain story event. Also fixed obscure issues with post-boss scene orders related to this.
  
• A sound is now played when a player joins a private lobby
  
• Fixed a couple potential issues where AI processing could cause a Beastie to become visually highlighted during their selection/processing.
  
• Fixed an issue where multiple Squimages in the player's party could have a certain event occur to them when only one accomplished the conditions for it
  

This update brings the game balance up-to-date in time for the open format Bigmoon Bash next weekend! We've also updated a few Beastie sketches and added a few new requested features. If you've kept up with Experimental Changes, not much will be new to you here, but we did make a few more adjustments to balance before wrapping up this update.

Note: As of posting, these updates are not yet out on Mac; they will be coming ASAP.

[h2]Beastie Art Updates[/h2]
Note: Much more is in production than what is reflected here.

• Crabaret: Cleaned up design. Also added a unique feature where every Crabaret is now either left or right-handed, and they do not turn around like other Beasties do as they are always facing sideways.
• Heliath: Cleaned up design and sketch poses added
  
• Skulkapi: Cleaned up design and sketch poses added
  
• Grazada: Cleaned up design and sketch poses added
  
• Druppa: Cleaned up design and sketch poses added
  
• Platypulse: Cleaned up design and sketch poses added. This design is still incomplete, but we are releasing it as-is since it is an improvement on the sketch previously in the game.
• Albrax, Leobro, Supilero: Updates to their Visual Studies in the Beastiepedia
  

[h2]New Features[/h2]

• Coach Vibe Selection: In the character creation menu (accessible when starting a new game, or by choosing to "Change Outfit" at any clothing shop) you can now choose your coach's default standing pose! Give your player character more of their own unique personality!
  
• Raremorph proximity hint: When a recruitable raremorph Beastie is nearby, your Beasties will occasionally react with a "sparkle," giving players a hard-to-miss visual indicator
  
• Raremorph display in the Beastiepedia: You can now press a button to change which palette is displayed on an individual Beastie's entry in the Beastiepedia, allowing you to more easily view alternative palettes
  
• Text Resolution Improvements: Text has been updated across the board to use a cleaner, higher-resolution render method. This means less blurriness on large text, and also less texture usage, surprisingly!
  
• Patch Notification: You'll now get a phone call from Craig when loading an old save file if your Beasties' plays have been altered due to a balance patch
  
• Added a very small amount of new dialogue available in the Crown Farms area after finishing the main story
  

[h2]Balance Changes[/h2]
There are many tweaks! This update features a collection of brand-new attacks as well as adjustments to many plays and traits which were a bit too easy to abuse. We particularly aimed to give better tools to Beasties that were struggling or seeing less usage than others.

[h3]Field Effects[/h3]

• Trap
  
  
  
  • Max stacks reduced to 4 (from 5)
    

[h3]Traits[/h3]

• Shanty: Sets RHYTHM when this Beastie uses a BODY attack
  
  
  
  • Given to Tortanchor in place of Groove
    
• Groove:
  
  
  
  • 1.2x damage (from 1.3x)
    
• Foggy:
  
  
  
  • Only ignores opponent’s buffs (previously ignored debuffs as well)
    
• Trapper
  • New effect: Adds +1 trap to opponent field at the end of every turn
    
• Clamor
  • New effect: When tagging in, feel NOISY and ally feels +1 ANGRY

[h3]Plays[/h3]

• (NEW!) Splinter - Mind attack, 70 POW, lowers target mind DEF by 2
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • Crawlurk
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Plumask
      
    
    
• (NEW!) Flight - Spirit attack, 70 POW. Always targets straight ahead. User TAGS OUT with selected benched ally.
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • Zefyre, Blitzwift
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Froofulks, Skiffrig, Conjarr, Skulkapi
      
    
    
• (NEW!) Scream - Spirit attack, 95 POW, target becomes NOISY 2
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • Noizard, Grazada, Jellibat, Froofulks, Plumask
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Skiffrig
      
    
    
• (NEW!) Cook - Spirit attack, 60 POW, lowers both opponents spirit DEF by 1
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • Xiphosaur, Scauldra, Conjarr
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Heliath, Diggum, Duggout, Squimage, Diabloceras, Froofulks
      
    
    
• (NEW!) Rattle - Mind attack, 50 POW, target becomes Stressed 2
  
  
  
  • Via level up
    
    
    
    • Noizard, Gastic, Wisper, Mistic,
      
    
    
  • Via friendship
    
    
    
    • Troglum, Varkabond, Yueffowl, Albrax, Crawlurk, Collarva, Wormask, Plumask, Rookee, Garood
      
    
    
• Introduce
  
  
  
  • Removed from
    
    
    
    • Diggum, Duggout
      
    • Jellibat, Froofulks
      
    • Noizard
      
    
    
• Dramatic Exit
  
  
  
  • Removed From
    
    
    
    • Noizard
      
    • Maraptor
      
    
    
• Drum
  
  
  
  • Added to
    
    
    
    • Noizard
      
    
    
• Muscle Memory
  
  
  
  • POW to 80 (from 70)
    
• Ego Blast
  
  
  
  • POW to 85 (from 70)
    
• Assess
  
  
  
  • Complete change to new effect: -1 Mind DEF to both enemies
    
• Overthink
  
  
  
  • User feels Tired 1 (no longer makes you stressed)
    
• Juggle
  
  
  
  • Only boosts Body POW if ball is hittable
    
  • No longer moves user to the side
    
• Challenge
  
  
  
  • POW to 90 (from 100)
    
  • Target feels 1 ANGRY
    
• Pierce
  • POW to 60 (from 50)
• Demanding Set
  
  
  
  • Complete change to new effect: SHIFTs ally to net. BODY, SPIRIT, MIND POW +1 to ally. Ally feels 1 STRESSED.
    
• Turnabout
  
  
  
  • Complete change to new effect: 55 POW, POW x2 when stamina is below 34
    
• Raw Fury
  
  
  
  • Always goes where it is targeted
    
• Supercommit
  
  
  
  • Removed from
    
    
    
    • Jellibat, Froofulks
      
    
    
• Freezer
  
  
  
  • Changed name to Freezeray
    
  • POW to 80 (from 40)
    
  • Removed from
    
    
    
    • Plumask, Noizard
      
    
    
• Richochet
  
  
  
  • Can be used without volleying
    

[h3]Beastie[/h3]

• Plumask
  
  
  
  • Plays Removed: Floater, Prepared Attack, Jammer
    
  • New plays added (noted above)
    
  • Level-Up moveset tweaked
    
• Fetcham
  
  
  
  • Plays Added: Comeback
    
• Shloom
  
  
  
  • +10 BDEF
    
  • +10 SDEF
    
  • +10 MDEF
    
• Albrax
  
  
  
  • -5 MPOW
    
  • +5 BDEF
    
  • +5 SDEF
    
  • +5 MDEF
    
  • Plays added: Assess, Lock Target
    
  • Level-Up moveset tweaked
    
• Bandicraft
  
  
  
  • -10 BPOW
    
  • +5 BDEF
    
  • +5 SDEF
    
• Riplash
  
  
  
  • +10 BDEF
    
  • +5 SDEF
    
• Squimage
  
  
  
  • Plays Added: Juggle, Pump Up, and Heart Harden
    
• Opposur
  
  
  
  • -5 MPOW
    
  • +5 BDEF
    
  • +10 MDEF
    
  • Plays Removed: Spike
    
  • Plays Added: Vigor Beam, Raw Fury
    

[h2]Fixes and Other Changes[/h2]

• Added a short delay after turn changes where the "Skip Defense" button can't be clicked, preventing players from accidentally mashing through it. Also added more strict enforcement of selection position so that the player's first Beastie is always highlighted when new turn selecton begins.
  
• Away Teams no longer are summoned while the player is on Expeditions, preventing random low-level ones from appearing.
  
• Changed the game's texture page size from 4096 to 2048. This means that the game will load textures more frequently, potentially reducing performance, but it also means loads will be smaller in size, which should reduce many crashes due to memory allocation failure.
  
• Fixed an issue where clearing inputs in the Keyboard Config or Controller Config would clear inputs for both input methods. This bug also prevented custom controls from being saved unless both control methods had their inputs manually edited.
  
• Fixed various issues with the "VS" splash screen before a multi-point match sticking on the screen if a story scene or trait activated shortly after the match began.
  
• Fixed an issue with displays larger than 4300px not being recognized in the game's resolution settings
  
• Fixed Away Teams displaying in the wrong location on the map when appearing in the Chroma Sea
  
• Players' online name will now be updated to their in-game name if it is updated, so that Bash Results in newsletter etc. display the correct names.
  
• A potentially large fix for netcode; previously, large messages were not handled correctly, which led to some messages being dropped (most notably this would manifest as failing to join a lobby for no apparent reason)
  
• Improved selection of Beasties when selecting a target to tag in, in Field View, when one Beasties is offset due to floating in the air in front of another
  
• Fixed shadow on Diggum tails on their hills
  
• Fixed shadows on ropes which can be lowered (for real this time)
  
• "Maverick" trait no longer ignores opponent Traits when using some non-ball attacks (Cyclone was the primary offender)
  
• "Treat" trait now triggers when applied via Trait Dance
  
• "Chill" trait no longer prevents them from being made ANGRY by allies (this matches our intention, and the description of the trait)
  
• Added a missing "-" character to the font that displays team titles in the team title edit menu
  
• Beasties in inaccessible sections of certain areas will no longer spawn to avoid an unrecruitable Raremorph appearing somewhere
  
• Deprecated news post images are now automatically deleted on game start
  
• More safety checks to prevent players from exiting Expedition mode by mashing the "back" button, and some auto-reporting to help us find if and how this interaction might still be possible
  
• Fixed an issue with the wrong item being selected when navigating to a deeper layer of the Info menu
  
• Beasties traits and boosts now reset at the end of every turn while on the bench, correcting rare interactions with Beasties being moved off the field at strange moments during the offense turn
  
• Beasties recruited from Expeditions now remember special plays they learned during Expeditions. They also remember their recruitment location from the Expedition, and will have an event/memory of their journey to the summit.
  
• Added Ball shrooms to an area of Quartz Canyon which was missing them
  
• Attempted fix for an obscure crash that could happen after matches when certain scenes triggered after certain events
  
• Beasties with the Self-Assured trait will no longer yearn to be BOOSTed.
  
• During Bigmoon Bashes, win counts now don't update until they are collected from the server, preventing accidental double-counts and incorrect displays.
  
• The Superorganism trait now checks whether the Beastie is wiped when the trait resets, so that Trait-Danced Superorganisms still recover from WIPED correctly.
  
• Fixed text display issues during the credits sequence
  
• Adjusted spacing on a few menu screens to fix badly wrapped text or improve readability
  
• Adjusted layout of a couple areas
  
• Improved Combo Play generation combining "full restore" effects with "heal" effects
  
• Alessia's interaction no longer reads "Tower Tourney" before the challenge is unlocked
  
• Fixed a rare issue where certain Riley "reaction" scenes could double-trigger
  
• Adjusted Marlin's tutorial AI to de-prioritize attacking open lanes
  
• Fixed typos
  

Another BIGMOON BASH is beginning soon in Beastieball! During Bigmoon Bashes, coaches can challenge each other in open matchmaking for a limited time.

When: March 29, 2025 00:00 UTC to March 30, 2025 00:00 UTC (equivalent to March 28, 4PM PST to March 29, 4PM PST) Theme: NONE! All Beasties are allowed!

During the event you'll have a Bash Rank, which will improve based on your performance. After it's over, you'll receive in-game rewards based on your participation, such as Social Battery and Sports Points.

Players of all skill level are invited! All you need to do to participate is to play the game on that day and join the Bash on SportNet! SportNet is typically unlocked within the first 2 hours of your adventure, after beating your first Ranked boss. And if you aren't confident in your own Beastie team, you can use a randomly generated one instead - just go to Team Setup and set "Random Team" as your current team.

[h3]Official Game Rules:[/h3]
First to 2 Points wins
Standard time limit on move selection
No Undos allowed
No duplicate Beastie species allowed
Relationship Combos are disabled
All Beasties are set to Level 50

[h3]Notice: Upcoming Balance Patch![/h3]
Balance changes are imminently coming to the game in advance of this Bash! Get ready for some new plays and tweaks! We intend to update the main branch with these changes over the weekend, but if you want a sneak peek on what to expect, you can check our update on the Experimental Branch.