Update 8.1 Now Available! 50+ new items, major performance & visual improvements

Update 8.1 is finally out and ready to play! The biggest addition is more than 50 items, many of which were created by players in the workshop: This includes a brand new category of cosmetic item: ball reskins! Additionally a ton of improvements and fixes were made. The game will look better and play more smoothly than ever. Download the update and check out all the changes!

Features

Misc option added to enable / disable custom ball skins

Added link to official Discord server (Community / Discord Lobby)

Added new Misc option: Show Online Chat (on, off, or ‘default only’ like kudos, gg)

Players are announced when they join the room

Added safe mode & safe preset (all video settings off or as low as possible). Hit spacebar within 2 seconds of main menu launching to activate. Will show ‘Safe Mode Activated”. Good if you’re having technical issues or need to enter photosensitive mode

The Kudos key can be used to thank the player who assisted your last KO

Audio lowpass filter added to music while in spawn area, to make it seem like you’re standing outside a dance club

Performance Improvements

Many changes to ‘pool’ objects like player bots and explosions to reduce any stutter when players explode or respawn

Materials are smartly cached, shared, and re-used to increase overall performance

Better performance around powerup pickup spawning / collect

Fixed physics bug that was reducing effective framerate while moving & looking around, so players at > 120 fps will now have a dramatically smoother experience

Networked player movement is now much smoother

Dramatically improved performance of Aquarium level

Increased network message send rate for smoother movement and less lag for throws and KOs

Dodgeball physics are interpolated, meaning their movement is no longer capped at 120 fps and is overall less jumpy

Visual Improvements

Improved performance and appearance of ‘stun’ spark gibs

Added glowing rim around ball when it’s available to collect / catch

Improved ball visibility

New bot explode gibs FX

Death Spiral updates to match player color

Improved LightBike effect

Improved BlueFire effect

Improved Energy Shot effect

Improved box explosion effects

Made arena lighting more consistent

Default items show an icon in garage panel

Fixes / Adjustments

Prevented BBCode from being used in text chat (could be used for spoofing)

Removed extreme reflection glare in Reactor

Room Info button stays enabled after selecting a room and going back to the match search panel

Fixed back button on Workshop Dashboard bringing you to wrong options menu

Renamed Mouth category to Face

Rearranged customization category list

Removed mid-match level up notification

Added more AI pathways in Nexus into center pit

Default spawn shield duration increased from 3 sec to 4 sec

Video Replay quality defaults to ‘Off’ in the Low and Medium presets

Photosensitive preset also lowers brightness

Video Preset value will only change to ‘custom’ if you change a video setting that is determined by the preset

Fixed missing volumetric lights in Trifecta

Fixed typo: “Vote Passsed”

Rearranged 'Workshop' menu button under new 'Community' button, containing Follow / Forums / Discord link buttons as well

Fixed custom songs (from workshop or custom folder) not playing twice - and if your playlist consisted of only custom songs, having it very rapidly switch lighting programs

Light animations now work during custom songs

Fixed an increasingly CPU-taxing loop from occuring when consecutively playing many custom songs

Music player handles ‘all songs disabled’ situation better - doesn’t try to play a new song every udpate. And enabling one song will begin playback again

Remoted unused Trophy category from inventory panel

Thrown balls have a bit of angular velocity

Added more ceiling lights to Nexus

Held dodgeballs are always at normal size, even if you have the big ball powerup

Stopped Arcade from replace completed missions between levels, which was creating the impression that completed missions weren’t getting completion credit

Fixed bug where ending an Arcade match in a level without getting any kills wasn’t giving any credit for Arcade levels completed

Renamed ‘Force Drop’ mission to ‘Disarm KO’

Arcade boss shows ‘Stunned’ text when stunned

Fixed Quick Play matches having blank match settings menu