Howdy!

This update brings a handful of new mechanics and reworks to the game, as well as engine and netcode updates to fix some lingering issues.

Sunset:
Pardners not gettin’ a move on? The sun slowly sets in Wormtown now. Once nightfalls, the Worm’s scream will detect Pardners globally, as well as having their ability cooldown reduced.

Design insight: One of the biggest issues I’ve seen lately is Pardners not having a time constraint, which can lead to very slow and passive playstyles. I wanted a way to incentivize the Pardners’ completing their tasks quickly, without it being a strict “the game is over when the clock hits zero” kind of timer. This is the first iteration of this mechanic, so expect changes based on player feedback! Note: Time until Sundown can be set in the match settings. (10 min/ 20 min/ 30 min)

New Worm healing mechanic:
When being injured as the Worm, you’ll heal automatically over time, but you’ll heal faster the further you get from the place you took damage. The 3 purple rings on the ground below you will show the different healing speed regions. Simple move outward from where you burrowed to heal faster. You’ll also see a number of arrows on the filling health bar to indicate which region/how fast you’re healing. This description may sound confusing, but it’s fairly easy to grasp once you see it for the first time in game!

Design insight: First off, the collecting orb mechanic wasn’t great. It was far too random to accomplish what it was intended for. Which is, to guarantee time for an escaping Pardner to get to some sort of safety before the Worm resurfaces. The randomness of the orbs meant a Worm could easily resurface a second later or 10 seconds later. This new variant guarantees a minimum time before the Worm can resurface, while still giving some strategic planning for the Worm while underground. It also disincentivizes “tunneling” or focusing on one player, which can be frustrating for Pardners.

Changes to Train Cars:
Both the main train’s caboose and the blocker trains have now been redesigned so they aren’t 100% safe. The back door of the caboose (not an innuendo…) cannot be entered by the Worm, but the front and side doors have been widened, allowing room for a Worm to dive inside. The blocker trains front and back entrances have been removed, allowing Worms to dive completely through, and their side entrances have also been widened.

Design insight: Standing inside the train was supposed to be a brief respite from the chaos, but many Pardners would simply camp inside the train, waiting for the Worm to move… while the Worm would be waiting for the Pardners to leave the train… it’s a complete stalemate. These changes, as well as the Sunset mechanic, are to aggressively target these boring stalemate situations and keep the games moving. Note: If the Worm dives inside the caboose, it can take a few seconds to wiggle their way back out, so use this time to run from the train!

Camera fixes:
- Removed mouse acceleration. Moving the camera should feel much more responsive and accurate now.
- Fixed the over the shoulder camera being the jankiest thing on the planet. No more wiggly camera!

Engine and Netcode updates:
I updated to new engine and netcode versions, which will help with general stability and rare networking issues. For a small number of players, they were unable to join, host, or even play the tutorial. This should resolve that issue!

Smaller Changes and bug fixes:
- Added additional cleanup of burned objects. This should hopefully fix the late-game lag issues.
- The “failed to join server” pop up will now give you a reason why you couldn’t join.
- Fixed an issue where occasionally the Worm could see floating backpacks on hidden Pardners.

I hope you enjoy this patch! There’s a handful of new changes, so as always, you can post your feedback below or in the Discord.

I’m still working on a large content update featuring more Worm abilities and special Pardner equipment. So stay tuned for that!

Cya in Wormtown, Pardner.
- Vyv