60% OFF! Steam Winter Sale and development news.

60% OFF STEAM WINTER SALE!

For the first time ever, Metal Heads is 60% off as part of the Steam Winter Sale until January 5th, 2026 at 10am Pacific time. If you're on the fence about supporting the development, now is going to be the cheapest it'll be for a while.

NEWS/DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS

For those who have been following development, you'll know that I have been working hard on creating bots for the board game and mini-games.

So far, the board game is mostly functional with bots, and in the last news update, roughly half of the mini-games had bot support added to a point where it was "playable".

Since the last update, I'll admit, I haven't made the progress I had hoped to achieve. I have been stuck with creating bots for certain mini-games that are very complex, that have a lot of moving hazards and platforms in them.

Additionally, whilst working on bot support, I have been improving my knowledge of how to program the AI, which means updating mini-games that already have "monster" AI in them such as Creeping Creepers, Dark Dangers and the Boss Fight mini-games.

Currently, I am working on making AI for the Knock-Off mini-game, this is proving to be a significant challenge, but I am making progress, and that's the most important thing.

Here's a colourful GIF showing some of some handy "Safety Nodes" that bots are able to use to determine how safe an area on the level is, and to help them navigate to safety. (Looks in right in the theme of Christmas).

For the most part, the AI does a DECENT job avoiding certain types of danger, but they just don't navigate correctly across those colourful nodes you see just yet, they will make a B-Line straight across danger currently, which results in their demise. Effectively, I need to play a game of "join the dots" for the bots to know what is a safe path and what isn't. The AI that is built into Unreal Engine 4 isn't really designed for this complexity so I effectively need to make my own system.

I have also started adding AI to Dark Dangers, Falling Apart, Creeping Creepers, Tap Out, Pipemare and Cognitive Collection, each presentive significant challenges in creating smart bots for, but I am determined and I am more and more excited with every step forward towards completing bot support.

I wish that this news post would be an actual game update post, but such is the way of game development. Rest assured, progress IS being made, even if it's slow, and I feel like bot support will breathe new life into the game. I love bot support in pretty much ALL games, so I think it's absolutely critical for a game like Metal Heads.

What I am most excited about is what comes AFTER the bot support. NEW BOARDS! (NOTE: GIF's show a VERY work in progress version of 2 more board game maps)

I have wanted to work on new boards for years now, and I even started working on them a few years ago, but due to the board game being terrible at the time, there wasn't much point in making new boards for a game mode that wasn't fun. With the board game customization and overhaul, I am confident to move forward with the new boards once preliminary bot support is added.

THANK YOU ALL

For now though, one step at a time, no matter how slow, progress is progress, and I thank you all for being patient and supporting the development. Ideally, one day Metal Heads is making enough money that I survive off it financially and then I can work full time on it, but for now, I'll keep plodding along while working my day job in the hopes that one day....one day I'll get there.

I have quite a few days off during the holiday period, so I'll be spending a lot of time doing my best to ensure that Metal Heads has the bot support it desperately needs.

I wish you all the best for Christmas and the holiday season, and I look forward to moving into the new year with you all.

ROCK ON!