Its been another month and time for an update from the developer - aka me ????[/p][p][/p]
Overview
[p]Before I dive into details, I wanna give you an simplified overview of where I am with the game right now.[/p][p]So this is the big overview from beginning of year until now. Let me dive in a bit.[/p][p]
[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/c077d279894bcb609200982034e4f035b3de6f99.png"][/img]So first half of the year, not a lot of things happened as I was a bit burned out after the 2 years intensive work on the multiplayer updated version and was busy at work and family stuff. So first 6 months, was only a few minor updates really.[/p][p]
[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/991506da50a5df7303786f13c31715e4365086c5.png"][/img][/p][p]Version 2025.7.3 is as of writing the currently public released version, also called "default" or "main" version.
At the beginning of summer, start June I think, I branch out to start work on a bigger update of the game with the focus on a new "firing system" for the game. This feature have dragged other features in too, as they were needed or made sense to do in the same go.[/p][p]
[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/df2978434a885cf60f415dd1273157343d3cab82.png"][/img]Work on that firing system is still going on and I'm making good progress, even though I have been sidetracked with various features. More about the status on the firing system later, lets first look at some of the "side quests" and reasons I got sidetracked. Because, as you might know if you have followed along, there have been some technical limitations to what modders could build with the new multiplayer version, at least if they wanted it to work in multiplayer. Long story short, I ended up figuring out how to make it work together with Guanaco and Scott from UMod. Guanaco is still testing this out and we fixed a few bugs, but in general it seems to be working. So, for this to get out so that Guanaco and others, could start actually release mods and get feedback from players to fix all the bugs before New Years, I wanted to push this update to all as soon as I could. [/p][p]So I branched out from the "default" version to include these changes.[/p][p]
[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/c7a2276f61d951f29cb7209c8e92609618e944e6.png"][/img]So you would think this change, that actually ended up not being too much of a change to the game, as the majority of the changes is done in the Mod Tools, should be easy to just push out. Well, yes and no.[/p][p][/p][p]I'll spare you the technical details, because this is way too detailed and long already, but something with Unity versions and bugs, which had a memory leak bug, some new consent rules and a new diagnostics service from Unity - this version have still not been pushed to all yet.[/p][p][/p][p]However, it's not all bad, because it also means that I ended up putting some more features into this version, which is currently on EXPERIMENTAL in the form of version 2025.10.1.
Let me sum up this overview before we dive into some of these new features.
So, coming back to the bigger picture:
[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/2aa432433f5cb6ea853e6efee40e764768e2fb8d.png"][/img]The plan is to, as soon as it's stabile enough (and I need you guys help test that out on Experimental), push this version out to all, as shown above. The Mod Tool to support this new custom code for multiplayer will follow. I can then go back to focus 100% on the firing system, which will then go to "default" later this year. [/p][p]Before we look into the status on the firing system, lets quick take a look at some of the features included in this version that is "soon" coming to all, and currently on Experimental.[/p]
Unban UI
[p]Many have asked for some UI to unban players. That have now been added to the Host tab. Furthermore, you will now also get a prompt asking if you are sure you wanna ban a player, before you ban him/her.[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/a57651196390752a35685705f439cae746b353ee.png"][/img][/p]Windspeed command
[p]Amnestey have been punking me for years, literally, for a windspeed setting, that is not included, in form of a console command. Once it's been tested a bit more, I'll add it to the UI so it's easier to use for all.In this version you need to go to the console (F1) and type: fm-host-windspeed[/p][p]If you hit Enter on that, you get the current windspeed so you know it if you want to set it back. Else you just put in another value like: fm-host-windspeed 10
[/p][p]You should then see various particles/smoke be affected by the wind. This windspeed is synced in multiplayer, so clients should see the same. Only hosts can change the windspeed.
Players have already asked if they can control the direction too, so I'll look into that when I create some UI for this.[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/fee2f34a7c44c68fa518d6c48777cb54d0e239c6.gif"][/img][/p][p][/p]
Stability
[p]Another area where I put some time into is stability in this upcoming version. I'm trying to handle various scenario where things can go wrong a little better. [/p][p][/p][p]So I will be looking into a few more stabilization tasks that will hopefully be pushed to Experimental here over the coming week or so.[/p][p][/p][p]Now lets get to the firing system ????[/p][p][/p]Status on Firing System
[p]I haven't made a much progress as I was hoping on this, both because I had a few days feeling under the weather, but also due to all the above "side quests".[/p][p][/p][p]However, I have managed to get some stuff done, both offline and on livestream.Firing System Receivers, Controllers and Electric fuses is now saved/loaded via blueprints.[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/f1ef8fed657545ff7a00c3cc1990b262b7af47ce.gif"][/img][/p][p][/p][p]I also managed to create the logic and the first Firing System Receiver with multiple cues. It goes to 12 now, however the Firing System Controller only have buttons for 1-9 cues, so thats next on the todo.
[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/80c545dfc952c9990691893b24337a221084f35a.gif"][/img][/p][p]\[All about the Firing System is work-in-progress, so logic, models etc. will most likely change][/p][p]However, I don't plan to just add more buttons to the controller, because as I mentioned in the livestream, I think it make more sense to do it in a different way that scales better, so you are not running out of buttons like that. We will see what I come up with for next Developer News I guess.[/p][p][/p]
Its been 5 years!
[p]Wow, time flies when you are having fun![/p][p]2025 marks the 5 year milestone fore Fireworks Mania, as it was released on the 17th of December 2020.If you are curious to see how the game have evolved, you can now try the old demos. Just go to Fireworks Mania -> Properties -> Betas and select on the of the two beta's shown below here and the game will update to these first demos.
Lets take 5 more years ????????????????????[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/bc4214d333220e1f3d2d0c165a73a2d975186d5b.png"][/img][/p][p][/p][p]That's all for now ????[/p][p][/p]
