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Steam News29 October 20241y ago

NPC Collecting, Expanded Quickplay, Optional CPU Matchmaking

This patch allows players to earn rewards while enjoying their preferred game mode(s), with or without the pressure of human competition.

Full notes

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What changed

2 fixes5 additions9 changes1 removal
  • Events
  • Gameplay
  • Balance
  • Maps
  • Security
  • UI and audio
changedThis patch allows players to earn rewards while enjoying their preferred game mode(s), with or without the pressure of human competition. It also aims to promote quickplay usage to increase the likelihood of finding player opponents.
addedNPC CollectingAdded optional NPCs (CPUs) to quickplay (explained further below). NPCs vary in playstyle, difficulty, rarity, and appearance. NPC opponents are indicated with "(npc)" next to their name.
addedNPC Collecting(This means that players can now earn peanuts and progress on daily and weekly tasks even if there aren't any other players to match with).
addedNPC CollectingNPCs have unique names and appearances. Added several hairstyles and face accessories that NPCs can wear.
changedQuickplay MatchmakingThere are now 3 matchmaking modes: Standard , Player-only , and CPU-only .
changedQuickplay MatchmakingStandard is the recommended mode. It will prioritize matching you with other players, but will fall back to CPUs when a quality match cannot be found. (The other two modes are self-explanatory).

This patch allows players to earn rewards while enjoying their preferred game mode(s), with or without the pressure of human competition. It also aims to promote quickplay usage to increase the likelihood of finding player opponents.

NPC Collecting

  • Added optional NPCs (CPUs) to quickplay (explained further below). NPCs vary in playstyle, difficulty, rarity, and appearance. NPC opponents are indicated with "(npc)" next to their name.

  • (This means that players can now earn peanuts and progress on daily and weekly tasks even if there aren't any other players to match with).

  • There are currently 9 playstyle traits that NPCs can have. Some only appear at higher difficulty levels.

  • The difficulty level of NPCs that you match against will increase/decrease as you win/lose matches.

  • Higher rarity NPCs start the match with upgrades. Defeating these NPCs will earn you extra peanuts. (Note that rarity is separate from difficulty level).

  • NPCs have unique names and appearances. Added several hairstyles and face accessories that NPCs can wear.

  • If you like playing against a specific NPC, you can save them and spar against them whenever you want.

Quickplay Matchmaking

  • There are now 3 matchmaking modes: Standard, Player-only, and CPU-only.

  • Standard is the recommended mode. It will prioritize matching you with other players, but will fall back to CPUs when a quality match cannot be found. (The other two modes are self-explanatory).

  • You can now queue for any/all of the 3 game modes (Classic, Arena, and Hybrid), and earn rewards for all 3. You can queue for multiple modes simultaneously, and you will match against opponents who have at least one mode in common with you.

  • You can now "snooze" player opponents to avoid matching against them for the remainder of your session.

  • Scaled peanut values by 10x. All accounts have had their peanut balance increased by 10x, all prices are 10x, and rewards have been increased 10x, except for the following:

  • The peanut reward for match completion is now based on time played, rather than a fixed amount per match. Kudos are now worth 5 peanuts. These tweaks should reduce pressure to only queue for the most "optimal" (i.e. the quickest) mode, and should discourage certain behaviors such as win trading.

  • Note that NPC matches will reward slightly fewer peanuts than similar-length PvP matches, to make up for the consistency and speed of the CPU-only queue (and to encourage PvP!).

CPU AI

  • There are now 10 difficulty levels, 0 through 9. (Previously there were 7).

  • Improved CPU AI's ability to traverse gaps in non-standard stage layouts.

  • Made various other minor improvements to CPU AI.

Gameplay

  • Removed hidden exploit that allowed players to perform dash attacks directly out of shield and out of jab.

UI/UX

  • On/off toggle menu items are now represented with filled/empty boxes.

Bugs

  • Fixed bug causing occasional replay descyncs on stages with bumpers.

Source

Steam News / 29 October 2024

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