Beastieball News

We've been making small regular patches since the last major update! Here's what we've been up to.

Note that fixes are always delayed when coming to Mac versions.


Aaron Melcher, our assistant programmer who occasionally helps with low-level problems and handles our Mac porting, got source code access to GameMaker Studio (our engine) and fixed several bugs in it! He found areas in common functions that could very, very rarely cause memory corruption, which would then lead to unpredictable errors and strange game behaviour. We've noticed that players tend to play Beastieball a LOT, in VERY LONG sessions, to the extent that it's statistically anomalous among all games on Steam. These factors (unusually long game sessions x rare memory corruption issues) would eventually lead to unusual errors.

We also fixed several memory leaks in our own game code.

We hope this patch will substantially increase the game's stability over long sessions!


Several fixes and changes have been applied to match replays.
You can now save replays of games played online
Replays from older balance patches now are labelled as such and have a warning about possible wrong behaviour
Replays now correctly work with the "Level Cap" setting. NOTE: If you change the "Level Cap" setting during a match, replays of that match will be disabled.
Replays are disabled when random damage is enabled

Fixed an issue with team shares being blocked due to bad data on the server
The "Show/Edit Details" screen now shows Beastie stats as if they were level 50, so you can make more useful comparisons
Sligh cleanup of the details display and layering with Beastie art
Fixed softlock when both players in a lobby forfeit at the same time
Fixed issues with the "Ban Duplicates" setting checking your current party rather than your selected lobby team (this caused issues and, in some cases, crashes)


We added dialogue filling in a few specific scenarios where players reported expecting new text. Some of this is genuinely new, and some of it was written into the game but wasn't triggering correctly due to bugs. You may spy new text here:
Talking to Reese in Mythwood if you skipped getting sponsored
Talking to Marlin just before the story's final match
Losing a match to one of Elena's fans
Talking to Kaz after a certain hangout event
Talking to Riley after accomplishing some post-game story bits
Talking to Raymond when you have a #99 Beastie but they're away training with Gene
Elena reaction to your performance during a certain hangout

There are many more situations like this I still want to address, but I'm always balancing my time adding new things with handling new bug reports.

Added enforcement and warnings around recruiting your 1000th Beastie, preventing you from having more than that.
The "Armored" trait was changed to trigger when stamina is "full," rather than 100 or more, creating fewer interactions with high-stamina bosses in Randomizer mode or Mountain Expeditions
Seakit and Petula now metamorph by level when in Randomizer mode if their usual method is not available due to randomization
Corrected the description for the Crafty trait
Beasties at level 100 will no longer feel FIRED UP

Added safety checking for player inputs when loading a save file, preventing corruptions or issues that removed key inputs
Adjusted issues and missing assets in several hairstyles that were added in the December Update.
Fixed a crash that happens when backing out of the final reward in Grand Mountain Expeditions
Fixed an issue with the opponent ignoring WIPED if it was applied using unusual methods during your turn during a Grand Mountain Expedition
Fixed the message for recruiting every Beastie after a match
Fixed an issue with double-triggering certain post-game challenge modes if you were mashing the interact button
Removed the "Send Feedback" prompt on Steam Deck, so that the game may be Deck Verified
Updated one of the "sports problems" in a hangout with Kaz
Added many more safety checks to prevent user input during AI turn selection, preventing many possible bugs with AI and Auto-Mode in particular
Improved spacing on tooltips in the Settings menus
Improved spacing on large question/answer dialogue boxes
Improved spacing for large Beasties when they metamorph
Crown Series matches no longer count toward your Ranked career totals (causing a discrepancy between the title screen and the in-game coach menu display)
Fixed issues with serve damage preview being incorrect sometimes when the level cap setting is enabled
Fixed an issue with map icons selection audio/slowdown when in Randomizer modes (or potentially other situations)
Fixed volume on the GAME OVER musical stinger
Fixed issues with Randomizer modes breaking designs for "sports problems"
Added stronger enforcement ensuring that relationships between Beasties that are both on your current squad never break
Fixed a rare crash with building walls, potentially from certain combos and/or being forced to tag out by an opponent
Safety checking ensuring the player's rank is set correctly when loading a file that has skipped major sections of the game
Fixed an issue with Jack appearing floating in the air before a certain scene that can happen in the Solanum Weald
Fixed an issue with scheduled hangouts appearing on the map when that character isn't available for plot reasons
Fixed an issue in the description of combo attacks that force the target to tag out
The level cap feature is now disregarded during Grand Mountain Expeditions
Adjusted the layout of a couple areas
Changed the color used to represent Heliath for stamina bars and other UI elements
Away Teams no longer appear in some dungeons that don't appear on the map
Fixed an issue with Beastie statistics showing the wrong text for plays learned via favor
Fixed an issue with Reese giving the player a tutorial during bossfights if certain sequences were skipped
Beasties with the Plucky trait no longer get yearnings for feelings if they can't make themselves feel it
The pool of possible Beastie nicknames has an entry that was just "["
Corrected many typos

I still get dozens or hundreds of new feedback reports every day! I'm doing my best to keep up with it all while also trying to work on cool new things. :) Thank you to everyone for your continued support and patience with our tiny team doing big things.

Today's update brings a bunch of new features, changes and fixes to the game!


[h3]Updated Art[/h3]
Daredillo clean poses added
Noizard clean poses added
Opposur poses added
9 new hairstyles added to player customization
9 new options added for player face feature customization
11 new hats added to player customization (some are not available by default and can be found in shops) 11 new tops added to player customization (some are not available by default and can be found in shops) Riley character art cleaned up
We'll continue adding more art and animation throughout Early Access. Lots more stuff is actively in progress and on its way for future updates!

[h3]Level Cap Setting[/h3]
This is available in settings menu at any time, from the beginning of a new game or even in the middle of any match. This setting will artificially reduce the levels of your Beasties when they exceed the level of your opponents. They'll still receive EXP as usual.

Beastieball was intentionally designed with peaks and valleys of difficulty; we think there's great joy in venturing to difficult areas, growing stronger, and then returning to easier areas where you can win matches easily. But some players would prefer an experience that's more difficult, slow and consistent. By enabling this setting you can ensure that you're never "overlevelled" and always have an interesting strategic match whenever you encounter any opponent at any time in your adventure.

[h3]Random Team[/h3]
In Team Setup (available in Sportnet or during certain post-game challenges), you can save pre-set teams or download teams created by other players. There's now a "Random Team" option on this menu, which will generate a new random team for you at the beginning of every match you play. You can use this new option to quickly jump into high-level PvP matches without building your own team!

[h3]Mountain Expedition Redux[/h3]
This Roguelike post-game challenge has been particularly popular among players, and we thought it could use a little more TLC, so we spent some time adjusting it. In particular our goal was to enable a greater diversity of playstyles and better reward careful planning. The original version was great fun but pushed players towards using only a small handful of Beasties to succeed. The new version is completely reworked and a lot more strategic! We hope you enjoy it.

Note that records set in previous versions will have to be wiped if you want to continue playing Expeditions. We don't intend to wipe progress like this with every update we make, but in this case we felt it was necessary since we've changed how the mode plays and also how it scores a "win" for some Beasties.

[h3]Other Little Things[/h3]
After completing the story, players earn significantly more Social Battery from defeating Away Teams or their own reserve Beasties.
Tower Tourney and Draft Challenge now yield much more SP, especially after defeating bosses
You can now preview opponent Beasties' Free Ball


This is the first of what will be many adjustments to balance.

In general, our goal with these changes was to reduce the effectiveness of some combinations which could consistently create 1-turn 50/50 or no-win scenarios regardless of matchup. Combinations which were strong in the previous patch should still be strong, but slightly easier to play against, allowing for more diverse match dynamics. These changes are subtle and will only impact players deep in postgame or PvP, such as those competing in the upcoming fan-organized Bring the Heat! tournament.

We also aimed to better distinguish some Beasties' roles by adjusting their plays/traits/stats. Kassaleet and Broslidon now have clearer separate specialties, while other Beasties like Armantis and Musselbound have been given more options to expand their playstyles.

[h3]Core Mechanics[/h3]
Rival Combos: The power of some rival combos was mistakenly higher than intended. They’ve been adjusted to match their intended values. Some have also been made a touch stronger.
Across the board, text has been updated in Trait descriptions to better distinguish how damage is calculated by different factors. This goes hand-in-hand with the following damage calculation changes.
Jazzed: Now adds +50% to your POW instead of multiplying the resulting damage by 1.5. This change keeps Jazzed in-line with other similar buffs.
Rally: Now adds +50% to your Spirit attack POW instead of multiplying the resulting damage by 1.5. This change keeps Rally in-line with other similar buffs. Note: Mind attacks under Rally still have their damage multiplied x3/4

The difference between "+50%" and "x1.5" is subtle but meaningful. For example, in previous versions, if a Beastie was at the net (+50%) and jazzed (x1.5), their power bonus would be 100% + 50% x 1.5 = 225%. Under new balance change, where jazzed is +50%, the same state would yield a power level of 100% + 50% + 50% = 200%.

Effectively this means that power growth will be more linear rather than exponential when stacking certain effects.

[h3]Traits[/h3]
Avenger: Attacks are now 1.2x stronger when an ally is Wiped (from 1.3x)
Determination: Attacks are now 1.3x stronger when user has a bad feeling (from 1.5x)
Blocker: Name has been changed to “Power Forward”.
Performer: Defense is now increased 1.3x during Rally (from 1.25x)
(New for Armantis!) Monster Block: Using “Block” also makes the target feel 2 Shook.

[h3]Plays[/h3]
Juggle: Although its type is still "Volley," this play no longer counts as a "volley" for most calculations. This impacts many areas including relationship building, as well as interactions with certain plays such as Zigzag, which will no longer be strengthened by juggling.
Airblast: POW reduced to 115 (from 130)
Blaze: Spirit POW Boost reduced to +2 (from +3)
Hex: Tired inflicted increased to 8 (from 4)
Hyperspike: Tired inflicted on self increased to 3 (from 2)
Patience: Now grants +1 to user's DEF stats after clearing stat changes
Pump Up: Body POW boost reduced to +1 (from +2). The move now also advances the user toward the net.
(NEW!) Ricochet: Mind Attack with 80 POW. Used from net. POW x1.5 if user received the ball.
Shake Off: Stamina recovery increased to +20 (from +15)
Toppler: Damage multiplier increased to +100% POW for every boost on the target (from +50%)
Ultimate Attack: POW increased to 220 (from 200)

[h3]Movesets[/h3]
Armantis:
- Added: Ricochet, Spike, Quick Set, Distraction (now learned by level up)
- Removed: Mighty Yell, Roll Shot, Shake Off Skibble / Skarmok / Boldlur:
- Added: Ricochet Leobro / Broslidon:
- Removed: Quick Breath Calcroach / Debugly:
- Added: Numbshot
- Removed: Telekinesis Kichik / Ostrisigh / Kasaleet:
- Added: Smack Sefren / Zefyre:
- Added: Net Rush (now learned via level-up)
- Removed: Cut Shot Musselbound:
- Added: Patience, Grit
- Removed: High Five, Pump Up

[h3]Stats[/h3]
Broslidon:
- Body POW: Reduced to 100 (from 105)
- Spirit POW: Increased to 50 (from 45)
- Spirit DEF: Increased to 58 (from 53)
- Mind DEF: Reduced to 75 (from 80)
Armantis:
- Spirit POW: Reduced to 23 (from 27)
- Body DEF: Reduced to 75 (from 85)
- Mind DEF: Increased to 75 (from 60)

Fixed crashes that occurred for some players visiting the Team Setup menu or attempting to download a team
Fixed an issue with trash cans not appearing in Geo City on some operating systems
Beasties that come from trash cans don't float anymore
Fixed an issue preventing some Beasties from metamorphing via special conditions if their metamorph was rejected previously
Away Teams server logic has been updated to correct a few issues that caused incorrect teams to be distributed in some cases (spoiler Beasties, wrong level, etc).
Fix for issue where away teams would appear on the map before spawning in the game world
Away Teams that have been waiting for longer to find an opponent now get a boost in priority for spawning. This means lower-level teams may sometimes appear for players, but in general Away Teams should spend less time waiting to find opponents.
Fixed an issue/crash with loading/unloading Beastiepedia field sketches. This fix might have also fixed several other seemingly-unrelated issues with broken models appearing in some places and other random issues/crashes.
Fixed a softlock that was possible during an endgame story sequence
Fixed some control description UI not updating correctly to custom controls
Fixed an issue with mixing keyboard/mouse input on the name entry in the character creator, which would close the menu when a player typed a letter corresponding to a "back" button
Fix for render order on the crown of captain Beasties in captains mode
Fix for player face frozen on a concerned expression if they talk to certain NPCs in Rutile after getting their first jerseys
Fix to Riley being uninteractable during a particular hangout if it's initiated after registering for the Crown Series
On the file select, Beasties now render behind important labels noting ironman/randomizer settings
Beasties establishing a new close bond and breaking an old one are now ~500,000x more likely to break a relationship with a Beastie that isn't on your active lineup
The player can no longer clap while hugging
When booting up on Steamdeck, the game always sets itself to fullscreen regardless of ingame settings. This is to correct a potential issue with switching between devices; on a console like Steamdeck we expect players would never want to play windowed.
Stopped away teams from spawning in Cordia Lake as this is inconvenient
Enforced scenes that should be skippable which sometimes weren't. This was mainly impacting speed runs.
Adjusted/updated many Beastie encounter movesets to reflect the new balance changes
Added safety checks to prevent various other common crashes
Many typos and area adjustments


These first few weeks have been exhilarating for the team! Working on the game and adding all these things feels extra amazing thanks to the enthusiasm and encouragement of players. More to come!!!

This is a quick note that the post-game Mountain Expedition has been radically updated in the experimental branch. This new update will clear your past records to reflect the large difference in gameplay.

We don't want to punish players who found fun ways to play the Expedition previously, but we're trying out new changes in an effort to increase run diversity and make a greater range of Beasties/team comps viable.

We welcome any feedback on it as we continue to adjust the balance!

I've been updating the game regularly in the background for the last week amidst some days of vacation and celebration with the team.

[h2]Beastie Changes[/h2]
+ Trat now can learn "Whistle"
+ Crawlurk now can learn "Mark"
These plays were previously excluded because of an oversight; we always intended these Beasties to have access to these plays. Until our Mac build is updated sometime in the next 24 hours, PC and Mac players will not be able to play PVP together since they are temporarily operating on different balance patches.

[h2]Experimental Branch Features[/h2]
The Team Setup menu (used for online PVP and postgame challenges) now has a "Random Team" option. You can try this out in PVP lobbies to get a quick-made team without needing to build your own; the feature also may be fun/useful as an easy local multiplayer option.
Fixed the issue some players saw just after the patch last week that made save data appear to be corrupted on the experimental branch
Expanded the text explaining the experimental level cap feature a bit more.
I still have some reports regarding damage previews interacting with the level cap feature which I need to look into.

[h2]Yearning Fixes[/h2]
I fixed several issues related to Yearnings. Then accidentally added several new issues to Yearnings, and fixed those too... I think this covers the issues which players have reported which are now fixed
Jellibat no longer displays a blank Yearning at later levels
Beasties that are held back from metamorphing no longer display previously-completed Yearnings
Punkchirp, Petula and Seakit all get a Yearning at certain levels to help players figure out their metamorph condition. This was intended as a feature at launch but was missing due to an oversight. Kudos to players who worked these out without any hints! It's still possible to figure these out without hints, but this feature is intended as a safety net for players whose Beasties get to an advanced level without metamorphosing.

[h2]Expedition Changes[/h2]
Fixed an issue where it was possible to exit the Expedition with a mis-timed right click
Beasties now metamorph correctly from the "free" level ups you get after each match
You can no longer gain rewards from Seeded routes.
SP awarded by Gene has been reduced by 20%
We're really happy to see players enjoying this post-game challenge. We're aware of a lot of other feedback which we have yet to address, and have a some other ideas on how we want to expand this mode; for now these are just quick band-aid changes just to bring the economy balance a little more into line.

[h2]Speedrun Changes[/h2]
The cutoff time for certain story scenes swapping to their "Speedrun" version was made a little less strict in light of some routes not engaging with story until later
Added and then rolled back an AI feature intended to make Diggum easier to recruit early in the game for certain speedrun routes

[h2]Everything else...[/h2]
Selection ranges for highlighting Beasties using keyboard or controller during matches have been tweaked. This corrects a few reported issues of certain Beasties being unselectable in certain situations. These types of interactions are extremely difficult to resolve all of outselves due to the immense variety of Beasties sizes and positions which we need to account for, so we appreciate players reporting these obscure moments where menu selection doesn't work.
Certain post-game scenes were missing for a period of a couple days between patches, preventing Beasties from getting injured or recovering from injury if they were already injured; these are fixed now (apologies)
The ability to exit replays with ESC was temporarily disabled due to an oversight; this should be back in now (I forgot to test this one, oops)
Having a lure spray active now prevents reserve Beasties from appearing
Having a lure spray active now dramatically expands the color range of Bindiva which appear, regardless of current fashion trends
If a rareorph Jellibat metamorphs, Froofulks will now be marked as having its raremorph recruited as well in the Beastiepedia
Adjusted a commonly complained-about platforming section in a wintery post-game area
Wandering Beasties and away teams no longer appear on certain post-game areas that are sandwiched between platforming challenges
The player's Beasties now space away from blocking view of cutscene characters more aggressively, especially during certain scenes where this was a common reported issue
Attempted fix for the common issue on Mac where Beastie colors change during matches (will be live when the Mac build updates sometime soon).
Disabled fast-travelling during a brief moment in a lategame story section where players aren't meant to be able to fast-travel
Fixed a couple issues with Riley calling you during unintended story matches
Fixed an issue with the merch guy stopping you entering the Crown Series from the wrong elevation
NPCs on Gamboge now correctly vanish during sport matches
Tool no longer displays a lane target preview while the ball is airbore (previously it showed a lane visualization in a completely random places)
Reese's contact is now added to your phone in some story paths which unintentionally skipped this
Fixed an issue where Riven wouldn't challenge the player if you were partway through her story before finishing the Crown Series
Fixed an issue with not being able to complete Sunsoo's story in the post-game if certain interactions were skipped before the Crown Series
Fixed the Crown Series "Game Over" track overlapping with BGM
Adjusted control layers such that the "Run" button can overlap with "Left Tab"
Fixed a layering issue with a certain facial hair option and certain clothes
Fixed an issue with Player Beasties rarely erroneously displaying an Away Team name above their head
Fixed an issue with certain story phone calls happening in the Gamboge Beastieball arena when they shouldn't
Turned down certain SFX during the Legend of Office final boss
Wild background Webbounces no longer squeak during matches
Added another safety check to prevent softlocks related to standing on the wrong side of Jack during impassable matches
A certain character is now correctly recognized as being onscreen when making certain phone calls in the post-game
Fixed the %age displayed for research completion when sorting Beasties by research level in the Beastiepedia
Updated the render order of elements in the Research Complete screen
Proper message for trying to create an Away Team when you have If a raremorph Diggum has any Shooga-family Beasties on their team, they will use custom AI intended to make Shooga-family recruit conditions easier to meet.
Added one new gift in an oft-requested location
Many area layouts tweaked, including ball shrooms getting added to many more screens
A couple of Beasties in lategame encounters were assigned incorrectly and are now fixed
Fixed many typos
Some (very) minor variations were added to dialogue in the denouement to better reflect individual player choices
Extra safety checks preventing certain obscure crashes

Hi there! Here's a summary of changes and fixes that have come over the last couple days.
- Default gamepad inputs for "Tab Right" and "Left" have been adjusted to not overlap with the "clap" buttons
- "Superorganism" Beasties are no longer invincible in Captains mode
- Fixed/added a small scene handling the case where the player loses their very first encounter with Elena
- Updated Petula's Morphology art
- Set more Beasties to be considered "immature" so they can't become Sweethearts
- Entering o or O for a Team Code is now automatically corrected to 0 (team codes cannot contain O's).
- Added more safeguards to prevent softlocks around props that interact infinitely with ball shrooms
- Added safety guards to prevent a few obscure crashes
- Typos and area adjustments
- The details for Ironman Mode previously said that Ironman uses "harder Enemy AI." It would be more accurate to say it uses "different" AI which is better adapted for Ironman gameplay, but the "harder" wording made players erroneously believe that the standard game mode uses "easy" AI, which is not true. This has now been removed from the description to dispel confusion.

Changes for Ironman modes:
- Marlin no longer gives the player additional jerseys if you play the full intro
- Jerseys are now correctly awarded after every boss regardless of which story scene plays
- Fixed the progress blocking issue with a lastgame post-boss scene not clearing correctly
- Beasties on reserve no longer appear in the wild in Ironman mode, so that player's can't wipe out their own Beasties accidentally.
- The Sports King no longer calls you a virgin for playing Ironman mode

These changes are specifically targeted towards speedrunners:
- Transitions between screens can no longer be skipped
- The "Fastest" Sport speed is now a touch faster
- "Scenes" during sport matches can no longer be skipped
- Mashing during sports cannot make animations go any faster than they do at the "Fastest" Sport setting when playing any boss or mini-boss match
- These changes made some scenes unskippable when they should have been skippable; we have corrected those errors to our awareness with the latest patch this evening
These changes reduce the number of inputs required for runners to play optimally, reducing risk of RSI, and improving run watchability.

Lastly for now; we hear players asking for a way to increase the game's challenge and reduce the effects of overlevelling. To that end, there's a new feature in the Experimental branch which players can try out. It's available in the game settings and can be toggled on/off at any time; enjoy and let us know what you think!

I'll continue to fix more issues and monitor incoming feedback. I'm aware of many other issues we haven't addressed yet!