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KAG Build 1741 – Mines and Coins

Hey everyone,

A smallish build this time, just adjusting a few changes that made it in last time without proper testing. There’s been quite a bit of work done behind the scenes on new menus, but they aren’t quite ready yet.

Coins per have been adjusted – the amount paid is now 10 coins for a kill, and 5 coins per heart of damage inflicted. This is a big increase on last build’s unexpected economy adjustment, and should ensure everyone can afford bombs, special arrows and all those fun things.

Mine timer has been reduced to 1.5 seconds but only ticks while the mine is on the ground, or in water. This means no tower-tossing mines into a battlefield for free kills, but should make it easier to set up mines on the front line in most other cases.

You may still have to be sneaky with your mines, but it’s not 3 seconds wait any more, and you should be able to afford them!

A few crashes have also been fixed, but many OSX issues are still there I’m afraid.

Full Changelog:
[modified] high dpi scaling disabled - a different solution will be looked into
[modified] re introduced coins on kill (10). coins per damage changed to 5.
[modified] mine only ticks while isOnGround() or isInWater() and reduced priming time to 1.5 seconds
[modified] ctf interface to have an extra null check.
[script][added] bool CHUD::hasCursor()
[added] file checking and exception handling to the news reader to help with osx crashes
[added] file matcher uses its own seeded RNG (not possible to set seed now but gives better distribution anyway)
[fixed] possible crash when pasting data
[dev] debug for keypress in osx
[dev] fixed shader not found spam for failed to compile shaders (just report error once and still add shader, keep shader off)
[script][added] DrawIcon with scaleX and scaleY params
[modified] filtermodded to "dont care" by default
[modified] gender is psuedo-randomly assigned at game initialisation time

Have fun!

Max

TR Build 8 – Medic and Commando, New Maps, First Costume, and More!

Hey guys and girls,

I’ve decided to keep the build info separate today as the KAG one isn’t through testing yet. TR has a few issues still, but has been moved across accounts on the USA server, and the improvements are still playable. Bear with us on the known issues.

Changes:

• Medic now starts a heal timer on anyone touched, which can be reset by any damage. This improves your chances of getting revived even with poor communication (eg: bots/new players) but reduces the medics ability to heal while under fire.
• Commando Flash Bangs are now a grenade that can be thrown at the enemy or dropped at your feet. There are some issues with these that need tweaking but they’re much better than the self-flash.
• Engineer crates actually do damage (engineer is still a contended design though – I’ll talk more about that on the forums)
• New maps for all biomes in Run, which should give it a little more variety.
• Coin GUI for win/loss in Run mode.
• Costumes in Lobby, available for purchase from the VIP bar. There’s only one for now (a simple super hero suit) but now that the code for it is working we can add more and more. We’re aiming for at least 16 different costumes as a base. They are not visible in-game for gameplay clarity and ease-of-development reasons. Costumes are persistent within a region (like coins).
• Default Gender is generated randomly at first launch. This determines your un-costumed appearance in the lobby, and can be changed with /cl_sex in the console or autoconfig.cfg.
• Fixed a bunch of exploits and small bugs that don’t really need repeating.

Known Issues:

• All coin amounts have been reset on USA. Sorry, this is as a result of the account switch over and we’ll try to avoid this in future.
• Leaderboards should be persistent and properly sorted, but dont seem to be rendering properly. We’ll fix this as soon as we can next week.

As always, you can get access to the online part of the game right now by purchasing at trenchrun.thd.vg for just $8, or get a 4 pack to share for $16 (half price). You can ensure the game runs on your machine by downloading the client and playing offline.

Have Fun!

Max and Michał

USA TR Servers Down Today, Updates Coming Soon

Hey everyone,

Regretfully, the USA TR servers will be down today in preparation for a new build. The EU servers will be available but we realise its the wrong time for them to be close to anyone awake. The USA servers are moving between accounts serverside so downtime is mandatory, and we’re going to use the chance to test some extra changes before we push them out to you guys.

Most of my day today will be spent updating servers and testing things are working properly, like this but with more coffee and terminal windows open:

The good news, of course, is that there’s a new TR build coming, as well as a new KAG build. Keep an eye out for more updates!

Cheers,
Max

TR Interim Build

Hey guys and girls, as some of you may have noticed there’s a new Trench Run build out, but no post!

MM had to get the build out in a hurry as things in the test build people were crashing upon joining a new server, but didn’t have time to make a post before leaving. We’ll be sorting out the hosting infrastructure properly over the coming weeks to avoid this kind of mess-up.

This build mainly features a full set of new maps in Run mode, Sniper changes (slower recycle and 10 shots of ammo) and more elaborate “login failed” messages.

It also apparently has some diagnostics for those having trouble entering things using the shift key on OSX, but MM wasn’t very clear about how that was supposed to work. You may need to run the game from the command line to check for debug output that looks like keycode (number) shift (number) – let us know if those numbers match when you press the shift key I guess? Sorry that I cant be more clear on this, I wasn’t left with much information.

There are a few crash fixes in the mix as well (in case anyone was trying to paste image data into the game and wondering why it crashed), though we’re still waiting to hear back on the OSX crash fixes.

Enjoy the build and let us know asap if there are any major issues you’re experiencing.

As always you can buy the game for only $8 at http://trenchrun.thd.vg/ – You’ll get download links by email once you link the key with your account.
We’ll make these easier to find soon, sorry for the hassle!

Have Fun!
Max

Trench Run Supporter Build Pilot

Hey Everyone!

Exciting news, today marks the pilot release of Trench Run!
This is a build for supporters that pre-ordered the game (you can still do that here!).
Some new features include:

• Play on  EU or USA lobby
• an initial implementation of coins economy
• drinking
• a band
• basketballs
• servers to support a symultaneous population of about 80 concurrent people having nonstop games.

If we start to see exceptionally high wait times, we can add more servers. By our maths that shouldn’t happen unless it goes seriously viral (tell your friends!).

Looking forward to meeting you in the bar!

We’ll be entering a more iterative development period as of this build. This means more regular updates with smaller changesets, to pin down any gameplay issues and bugs as soon as we can. While we’ll be less active over the new year period, early 2016 should be an exciting time for Trench Run.

For those that havent got a key, you can get one HERE!

Important limitations to keep in mind:

• If you skip reading this and then ask about something that’s already explained, you’ll look silly.
• Use your KAG or THD account or create a new one here
• This build has no free online play, though you can check that it runs and play offline without the need to log in. If the previous versions of Trench Run ran well enough for you, there’s no reason this one should be much different.
• Gameplay issues from last free test have not really been addressed (medic, engineer and commando actions will be improved!) with all the work to get the supporter release done. We will be addressing them as soon as we can.
• Some of the coin sync logic still needs work – as such you may not see your coin changes show up instantly. Coins are NOT shared between regions.
• Drunkenness is not synced properly at the moment – you will stay drunk as long as you keep the client open, with some limitations. Drink wearing off (and being re-applied if you try to get out of it early) will be implemented in later versions.
• We’re keeping it to one lobby per regions for now. We’ll be happy to add more once the game’s population can fill them.
• Skins are not currently available.

Despite these limitations, we hope the community will welcome a play-anytime Trench Run experience. We will be using the following weeks to gauge your interest and gather feedback on the game.

Please leave any and all feedback on the Trench Run Forums, which we’ll be reading carefully in the coming weeks.

Again – if you havent got a key, now’s the time to grab one HERE! (If something looks fishy about the website – try clearing the browser’s cache.)

Have Fun!
Max, Michał & Lucas

KAG Build 1714 – Resolution Fixes

Hey everyone!

This is a fix-only build for the rendering issues people were having using fullscreen and funny resolutions in 1711/1712. Please post on the forums if you have any more issues with strange rendering, with as much detail as you can to help us reproduce your issue. Logs, hardware, operating system and settings used would be a good start.

There is one known caveat to this – Windows High DPI rendering mode can cause the game to be cut off in fullscreen mode. The only fix at the moment is to instruct windows not to apply DPI scaling to KAG by right-clicking KAG.exe in your KAG directory, selecting properties, and disabling scaling in the compatibility tab, like in the screenshot below.

We’re looking into possible fixes from our side, but our build infrastructure and other compatibility concerns mean this will take a little more time than an afternoon.

Have Fun!
Max

KAG Build 1711 – Hotfix and Accumulated Changes

Hey Everyone!

Sorry about the server outages – turns out some of the holiday code was left in an unfinished state and as the day rolled around the servers started trying to load code that wasn’t there. This build fixes that issue as well as including all the accumulated changes since last build.

Overview of changes:

• Ladders crashing/lagging server bug should be fixed, but needs proper testing.
• Mines only ignore shields within the immediate area – so if you’re shielding and a team-mate steps on it, you can survive.
• Trampolines spawned from map can no longer be picked up
• Mine has slightly increased priming time
• Many scripts standardised to use SetDamageToCarrier
• Fixed “clbutt” issue with noswears
• Coins from damage are capped at full health, so the overkill weapons dont give extra money.
• Fixed Name Hover Offset in TDM

Sorry for the haphazard presentation of this build, we weren’t planning on making a release so soon but the crash issue has made it necessary. Thank you for bearing with us through this.

We’ll be checking the build’s stability as much as we can but most of THD is out of the office over the new year period. Let us know on the forums if you continue to have issues and we’ll deal with it as soon as possible.

Have Fun!
Max

Weekly Log – Hectic Month!

Hey everyone! Tis the season and all that, so we’ve been run off our feet with both work and personal life. Progress on Trench Run has been consistent though, and there’s a KAG build in the works as well. Sorry for the wait between posts!

General News:
Michal spent the last two weeks not working on Trench Run all that much because another game needed his attention. He’ll be working more on Trench Run in the weeks leading up to the new year. Max is having computer troubles and spent all of today migrating to an interim machine, but has made good headway on a lot of Trench Run features in the meantime.

Trench Run News:
After a less than inspiring turnout for the 2nd free preview, we’ve turned our eyes toward a supporter release. This release will have permanent servers and no time limit, but will require a payment to access. After that’s out the door and any (all?) issues are resolved, we’ll continue with free preview cycles.

The supporter release will be the first public release of a lobby with real content, including a bar, band, and coins to win from the games to spend. Depending on what sort of population we see, we may split each region into multiple lobbies. If the population remains modest, we’ll stick with one lobby per region to avoid splitting up players too much.

This week we got a heap of the lobby stuff working, including getting drunk (see the vine above). This will serve as a way for players to handicap themselves when playing with less skilled players, and in some cases to induce motion sickness.

King Arthur’s Gold News:
Verra and Skinney are both working towards a new version of KAG, but as they’re part time workers and it’s the holiday season, progress has been slower than usual.

Coming next build are much-requested changes such as mines not hitting through shields for anyone not touching the mine, fixes for ladders lagging servers to hell and back in certain circumstances, coin payment fixes involving overkill, and an end to the notorious “clbutt” when using the swear filter.

Have Fun!
Max/Geti

Trench Run Free Preview 2!

Hey everyone!

The next Trench Run Free Preview is here, this time for one weekend only – servers go down Monday 4pm UTC!

For this preview weekend the servers are hosted in EU. We weren’t able to get the backend set up on the USA box in time, sorry about that!

Changes since last time:

• More Servers! 2 skirmish and 3 run servers for dramatically increased capacity. Tell your friends!
• New Backgrounds and some colour tweaks.
• New Run Maps with a more easily defended “finish line” and simpler terrain. This means there should be much fewer run-by wins.
• Changes to Skirmish Maps.
• Run renders the distance for both teams (if its 150m or less) so you can see who’s winning the race.
• Experimental Commando Changes:
  • Spamming slash slows your movement speed to make more tactical stabbing required.
  • Flashbang is a small area instead, and you have 3 uses.
• Experimental Medic Changes:
  • Medic drops combined supply + medkit rather than healing with touch.
  • Medic gets one supply per 5 seconds
• Experimental Engineer Changes:
  • Crates are thrown in a straight line when moving rather than an arc.
  • Can jump off the rocket.
• Lots of minor bugs fixed!

Known Issues:

• Chat still sucks – we haven’t had time to get the 10-way chat system up yet, but its top of our priorities for next time around.
• Medic GUI sucks 🙂
• Medic Resupply seems buggy and has problems with healing the enemy
• Commando Flash is less useful – we’re considering a proper flash grenade if the area-flash is going to stay.
• Commando Flash is visible at end of round temporarily.
• Engineer Rocket is still “Laggier than your mother” – we’re working on a new firing system to make it lag-agnostic but it didn’t make it for this release, sorry!
• Engineer Crates still suck – we’re looking for good alternate abilitites. I’ll tell you about our plans soon to get your feedback.

Preorders:

• We’ll be putting up preorders once we have a supporter version ready for consistent play. We dont want to sell the game before we’ve settled 100% on a price and can offer something in return for the money – we’re still not 100% that this will all work at a larger scale.
• If you want to support us, there are some things you can do other than buying the game!
  • sharing the game on social media
  • getting cool gifs and screenshots for us to share
  • reporting bugs
  • getting excited!

  That should keep you busy until we can get something more permanent into your hot little hands. Lets just say we’d love to make it a Trench Run Xmas!

That’s it! Get your friends on board and see how those servers hold up!

Cheers,
Max and Michał

Trench Run – Free Preview Build Available!

Hey everyone! You can download the online preview release of trench run here!

This preview is in the EU region – there will be preview weeks in US and AU regions in future, but for this week we’re afraid most will have to deal with some lag. Pick the more ping-friendly classes: assault, medic, and commando.

Bring your friends or make new ones in the lobby!

Unfinished content:

• Menus, GUI, and Settings
  The menus and gui are a placeholder currently, and a lot of settings (most importantly your name on start) dont save themselves. This will be addressed in future versions, however the number of options is likely to remain very minimal in any future preview releases.
• Engineer
  The engineer in general leaves a lot to be desired. The rocket riding is fun but causes issues with hit registration a lot of the time. The rocket itself desyncs a lot. And the crates need a total rethink. In short, expect a lot of changes to the engineer.
• Medic
  The overall design of the medic class (defend, resupply and heal – hard support) is good, particularly when teaching someone else the game – but the GUI and presentation in general needs some love.
• AI
  The AI is borderline drunk in many cases. You’ll want a human 5v5 for best experience (though 2 players can still have a fun skirmish)
• Maps
  The current maps are just a single example of the kind of map we have planned for each biome. There will be multiple maps per biome, eventually.
• Chat
  The chat system is an interim measure just to get anything at all in there (the KAG chat doesn’t work, there’s not enough screen real estate). It will be replaced with a system based on the faces that appear at the start of a Run game.

Stuff that’ll only be in supporter releases:

• booze, cards, live band, and other lobby distractions
• character skins
• persistent coins
• multiple lobby tiers
• proper coverage of AU, US, EU regions
• offline play

Known issues: (incomplete list, but this is the major stuff)

• settings not saved (will be dealt with asap)
• rendering tearing/glitching
• pixel stretching when on non-default resolution
• engineer rockets desync and sometimes dont do damage
• clipping into walls with crates or rockets or very high speed from explosions causes problems
• possible to double-up classes in run with some latency on join
• sniper trail renders through tiles that it destroyed (with lag)
• players sometimes desync dead (looks alive, but moves “glitchy” and is dead on their screen)
• some sync errors in the lobby resulting in “weird” games – please report any exact circumstances you can find

Have fun!

Max & Michał