Hello all!

We've been working hard on getting online multiplayer out, and it's my pleasure to announce that we'll be making it publicly available next week!

Expect a proper announcement for that and the 0.5.0 update around the middle of next week.

Hello all!

A number of you have probably noticed that we've adjusted our Early Acces Roadmap. Previously, a preview for Online Multiplayer was slated for the end of August. Unfortunately we've had to delay it until October. I'd like to apologise for not updating the roadmap sooner; it's been hectic here and communication with our playerbase was regretfully sidelined.

So where is online multiplayer at? It's actually mostly complete. The internal networked build of Toys of Way plays well in a LAN environment, but needs more online-related polish before we're happy to release it publicly. Specifically, we're working to make connections more consistently achievable, as well as to integrate Steam/PS4/XB1 platform features such as friend-joining and lobby servers.

For the time being, we've also removed the 'community game mode' feature from the roadmap until we've fully delivered online multiplayer. We'll revisit it when we have time to devote it our full attention.

We hope you look forward to October when you can finally play Toys of War with your friends online!

Hello! Today we're launching a quick update to patch a bug so obscure we hope that no-one even knew it existed!

• Fix 3rd round never starting when a bot is locked in to any slot before a player (such as first and third slot locked as players, but second slot is an AI).

Today's update completes the first stage of our Feature Roadmap! 0.4.6 replaces all placeholder content with beautiful new art and videos, as well as further improving the new player experience. Bring on the patch notes!

• Replace placeholder game mode icons
  
• Replace placeholder tutorial stage instruction videos
  
• Greatly reduce text verbosity of most tutorial stages, in favour of video instructions
  
• Add Friendly Fire option to all game modes, turned off by default (previously friendly fire was always on with no way to turn it off)
  
• Remove Penalize Suicides option from Deathmatch-variant game modes
  
• Reduce Limited Resources fuel movement speed penalty (50% -> 40%)
  
• Swap Tour of Duty and Limited Resources game modes locations on selection screen
  
• Add 'advanced' warning text to Tour of Duty game mode description
  
• Change flow of game mode description screen to 'continue' rather then go 'back'
  
• Fix incorrect 'back' control buttons being displayed on the Options screen
  
• Fix lower AI difficulties being hesitant to fire the Gigalaser when playing Experimental Weapon
  
• Fix Bullet Hell end-of-round trivia text counting all enemy bullets instead of all friendly bullets

Here's a quick update to land some fixes to yesterdays 0.4.4 update.

• Add description option ('rules') to game mode selection screen
  
• Fix bot at the end of the tutorial not returning to its spawn position once it destroys you
  
• Fix all remaining pathfinding problems
  
• Disable 'hunker' player hint

It's time for our first Early Access update, just shy of a week after launch! 0.4.4 focuses on improving the new player experience, with numerous tweaks to the lower AI difficulties and significant additions to the tutorial. Here are the full patch notes:

• Slightly reduce vehicle collision radius (by ~14%)
  
• Add description screen for each game mode (show on first play, with menu access for later viewing)
  
• Fix intermittent erratic transitions between menu screens
  
• Add mid-round hint system, to remind players to aim and use Hunker (more hints to come)
  
• Fix mouse cursor flashing when not in use
  
• Add game mode preview videos (part of the roadmap for this month)
  
• Add input prompt to results intermission screen ('The War is Won')

• Change default AI difficulty from Moderate to Easy
  
• Improve AI unpredictability, especially in movement
  
• Reduce AI 'efficiency' (ability to perform perfectly depending on the situation) for each difficulty beneath Insane
  
• Fix AI getting stuck behind vehicle wreckage
  
• Fix most pathfinding inaccuracies (with one exception, where the Hovercraft can get stuck turning in circles)
  
• Fix Humvee AI attempting to charge through low walls

• Add tutorial stages for 'cooldowns' and 'drone sprint'
  
• Remove tutorial stage that required the player to die
  
• Fix Artillery not immediately skipping 'line of sight' tutorial stage
  
• Fix tutorial instruction popup sometimes fading incorrectly

You can check the progress on our buglist here, and any feedback or problems with this patch should be posted in our Bugs and Feedback forum.

It's time to launch Toys of War on Steam Early Access! It's going to be a long couple of nights, but the team here at 2Bit is excited people will finally be able to enjoy the game we've sunk over a year of blood, sweat, and often tears into.

Let's start with the current state of the game, including known bugs and areas of feedback-interest for us, as well as how to contribute to each of these. Once that's laid out, we'll go over our roadmap for the Early Access all the way to launch, including what you can expect over the next three-or-so months.

Toys of War is pretty much complete as a local multiplayer game. Online multiplayer will land shortly (~2 months) after launch. We have an active Known Bugs list on our Steam forums (which will no doubt grow in short order), as well as our Feature Roadmap with rough delivery dates. Note that these dates are estimates and are subject to change.

The only placeholder art in-game are the game mode icons/previews on the map board, and the instruction videos in the tutorial. If you find any other broken or sub-par art then please report it to us.

We're interested in all feedback, but specific areas of importance to us are:

• AI competence and difficulty
  
• Vehicle balance
  
• The ability of new players to pick-up-and-play

That last point of feedback is particularly important. We want the game to be engaging and challenging for experienced users, but new players have to be able to pick it up without feeling out of their depth. AI difficulty for new players and the intuitiveness of the controls are key points of focus in making that a reality.

If you find a bug or have feedback to discuss, head over to our Bugs and Feedback forum. Be sure to read the pinned guidelines before posting.

The estimated delivery dates for all of our planned features can be found in the previously mentioned Feature Roadmap forum post, but we want to elaborate a little on those dates and features here. Note again that these are rough estimates, and may change as we approach them.

The first milestone on the list is to replace the placeholder art assets - something that should be done by the end of this month. The game mode previews and tutorial instructions will all be videos, so this will inflate the download size of the game but not to an unreasonable level.

The second milestone is the long awaited Online Multiplayer. This will be rolled out slowly, but should be available for testing some time in August. We mean to make online multiplayer as similar to local multiplayer as possible, meaning that players can leave and join flexibly (as well as control) any screen of the game (including mid-play). We don't want Toys of War to be 'just another online lobby game', but instead focus more on a friendly couch feel even when you play with strangers. It's a lofty goal, but we hope to meet it and then some.

The final planned milestone is a community-driven game mode. We'll announce details of this once Online Multiplayer lands, but we aim to involve the community as much as possible when making our 12th game mode!

That's about all we have for you now. Thanks for all of your support so far, and we look forward to seeing you on the forums!