Balloonatics

About this game

Latest news

• Announcements·8 Nov 2023Official

  Flying into 1.0! Goodbye Early Access!

  Along with leaving early access, this update has some notable changes and improvements. Performance Increases Numerous physics and GPU optimizations. Level lighting. Some of the level light setups were heavier on performance with little to no visual gain. Lowered AI perception of the bots. Bots now only see about as far as the average human, and don't waste CPU cycles thinking about stuff happening on the other side of the map they can't even see. Remodelled/animated crates to improve their performance. Reworked Air Mines for better performance. Bug Fixes Fixed a bug on the challenge scoreboard. Fixed a few bugs related to remote player and object syncing in multiplayer lobbies. Fixed a bug where in target challenges the targets would stop moving.
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• Patch Notes·20 Oct 2022Official

  Balloonatics Big Update!

  This update is a big one! It includes a number of new features and changes that have been planned or in development for quite a while, as well as a ton of bug fixes as we get ready to leave Early Access. One of the biggest changes is a complete overhaul of the bots. So much has changed with them that we’re giving them their own section in the announcement! We are also happy to announce the game works great on Steam Deck! Bots - Changes and Bug Fixes Bots do a much better job navigating around terrain and dangers. They actively avoid Kali’s wake, and react sooner to approaching dangers in levels that would be visually apparent to human players (such as the steam in the Ice Cavern). Bots are able to use their characters’ special abilities, and make decisions on when it is appropriate to use them. They are able to use all other weapons, and prioritize them based on what they can see within their field of view. Bots will lead their targets when aiming. They don’t have perfect aim, but it’s comparable to a skilled human. Bots now collect crates passively when attacking or evading, rather than explicitly seeking out crates. Bots aim their wrench correctly and no longer get stuck in a loop trying to fix their fan. Bot animations don’t react to human input. Bot AI/decision making is now multithreaded and distributed evenly across multiple frames, so there is no significant performance penalty for having more bots in a match vs humans. Most importantly - they’re actually pretty competitive now with all these changes. Changes Updated the game engine to take advantage of new features and improve performance. UI Changed the description while searching for online games to be more obvious and helpful. Changed play options language and icons to better explain the options. Tutorial language has been tweaked for easier reading and understanding. VR Updated Steam VR to make sure the game is compatible with newer hardware. Improved visual readability of the kill feed and item collecti...
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• Announcements·7 Oct 2020Official

  Updates Coming Soon!

  It’s time to suit up and get ready to take to the skies once again. After taking some time to work on our other title, Groove Gunner, we are working on several big updates to Balloonatics that we hope to release in the near future. We’ll have a more detailed update soon but here a summary of what you can expect in the next few updates... Game engine update from Unity 2017 to 2019 LTS, and a rework of many parts of the game to support the new engine features. Updates to OpenVR/SteamVR libraries and support for external cameras and mixed-reality rendering. Support for LIV. Substantial performance improvements - Multi-threading, physics optimizations, and other changes that will improve the performance throughout the game and allow for larger matches with more players. A higher minimum framerate should also help mitigate performance related motion sickness issues on lower end systems. After we have that sorted out, our short term goals are… Additional performance improvements related to the models and physics of the baskets and fans. Fixing some outstanding weapon bugs Shader and special effects improvements A new match UI (before/during/after match) Brand new tutorial system for new players Improvements to comfort and accessibility of the game Additional behaviors and skills for the AI - bots will be more aware of their own characters’ skills and strengths and be able to better match the play of skilled human players. We will either scale the bot skill level to match the human players in a match, and/or allow this to be selected when starting a match.
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• Patch Notes·24 Jun 2019Official

  Patch 11

  https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31482738/8f02028634b9df012d705cfebb2c8cb89e3b5048.gif Usability Update for our VR Players We have included a way to rotate your playspace for all VR platforms. This will allow all VR players to play easily without the requirement of full 360 degree tracking, and will allow seated play for those who choose to or must play in a seated position.
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• Patch Notes·27 May 2019Official

  Patch 10

  https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31482738/9deb6aee2a8dc72c432003f657a2e5afc3e26480.png New Weapon - Fake Crate! The Fake Crate is the perfect way to set a trap for your enemies. Enemies will think they are getting rewarded with a weapon but will instead be damaged by the explosion as they hit the crate. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/31482738/1e69289b56ede7cf49cfa91f78eee31db33f324f.gif Weapon Select System We have implemented a weapon select system. No more looking at weapons and pushing E in non-VR. Instead, press 1, 2 or 3 to grab the weapon in the appropriate slot. Special weapons now spawn directly into your hand in Non-VR. This change was made to accommodate the weapon select system and to make it feel more natural for players.
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