Fling to the Finish news & patch notes

Heyho Flingers!

Starting September 4th, you will be able to play Fling to the Finish on Steam, Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, the PlayStation 4/5, and Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. As a Steam user, this may not seem like big news. Perhaps it may seem like small, unimportant news. You may feel that this is of note only to plebeians who do not have the sense to play on this platform and should finally use a PC like you've been telling them to all the time. If that's the case, the actual big news is that these releases include crossplay, meaning that your misguided friends who are on consoles can now play with you! We now have the technology to fling our friends on completely different hardware. Exciting stuff. These simultaneous releases will also bring an influx of new players to race against online, so even if you're a veteran player this could be a great time to use your advanced flinging skills to win races against the hordes of newbies joining the game.

We also have some upcoming Discord events to look forward to! Over the next couple weeks, we will be announcing some community events that will be taking place on our Discord server to coincide with the release of crossplay. Please join us there to celebrate the release of the game, race some other players, and chat with the developers. We will also be on the lookout for bugs, so any new reports that come in with this update will be appreciated.

Bugfixes:

• Fixed falling meteors in Perilous Paradise level for non-hosts (non-master clients)

  • Fixed meteors not spawning

  • Fixed meteors not moving sometimes

  • Fixed meteors colliding but not exploding

  • Fixed explosion effects playing but not bouncing players around

• Fixed falling dice in Clams Casino in online mode

  • Fixed dice not spawning

  • Fixed out-of-sync dice

• Fixed out-of-sync falling balls in Pete’s Playhouse in online mode

• Fixed out-of-sync falling bowling balls in the Bowling level in online mode

• Fixed cork not popping for everyone in online mode in Wet Willy’s Waterpark and Sunny Heights

• Fix worm’s teeth not breaking for everyone in online mode in Worms in Space

• Fixed an issue in online mode where the rope would get immediately after a respawn, but not trigger a second respawn, leaving players in a permanently split state until falling off and respawning.

  • This bug was most obvious in “They’re Here”, at any of the laser platform sections. If players stick to the laser platform after getting the rope cut, the rope would get cut again on respawn but not respawn a second time. This is now fixed.

• Fixed a bug in the banner customization screen in the main menu, where after playing an online race and returning to the main menu, the selected banner would not update on the customization screen until after closing it and then re-opening it.

Fixed a bug where the "3..2..1...GO!" Countdown timer music would get louder and louder on every return to main menu and then new level start. Best Regards, SplitSide Games entangled with Daedalic Entertainment

• Fixed the major bug where no more than 3 players could join an online lobby.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes objects like trees and worms would be invisible.
• Fixed the bug where the Bomb Run timer would freeze.
• Fixed the bug where the large elevator in Winding Woods would not spawn after pulling the lever.
• Fixed the bug where the falling pinball bumpers in Pinball Panic were missing
• Fixed the bug where unlocks were not properly showing in the main menu.
• Fixed the bug where usernames wouldn’t show in the main menu.
• Fixed the bug where player levels weren’t synced up correctly.
• Fixed issue where a few of the new characters were displaying incorrectly.

• New level: “They’re Here”. Who’s here?!?!
• New campaign level: Kickstarter Playable Credits
• Local split-screen support increased to 4 screens. You asked for it. Let the chaos ensue!
• New achievements added. Can you unlock them all?
• Many bug fixes!
• Major optimisations. We’ve worked hard over the past year to optimise every aspect of the game: physics, graphics, online, game file size!

• The Bomb Run and Coin Frenzy gamemodes have been added to Perilous Paradise.

• We’ve improved the visuals of Pete’s Playhouse. Keep an eye out for the new mascot Pizza Pete!
• In Sunny Heights and Wet Willy’s Waterpark, the corks now POP when a player pulls them out. Along with being more fun, this helps the cork get out of the way so they don’t get stuck back in the whole.
• The blue and red speed boost pads now have visual effects and sound effects when a player uses them.
• We’ve identified levels that have been frustrating players and made them more enjoyable to play through! We altered many obstacles with this goal in mind in the following levels:
• Worms in Space • All Worm bridges are wider. • The section where the worms are biting onto the rotating asteroids has been simplified. • The final section before the finish line has been altered. • The obstacle order has been rearranged so that the difficulty scales more smoothly. • Many platforms are larger and easier to land on.
• Winding Woods • The two large ferris wheels have been changed so that the players stick to the gears themselves. This is more straightforward while being more fun to try to go fast. • The golfing section has been made slightly easier by filling in the pit on the left. The nails that block the ball’s path have also been rearranged. • Changed the shape and placements of the acorn platforms • Many logs that the player climbs over are wider.
• Loony Lanes • Improved the placements of the vinyl discs so that the player doesn’t get caught on the edge of them. • The starter bowling lanes are now harder to fall off of. • The conveyor belt with the pins on them is now slower. • The last pins that the player must ride on now slow down a little where the player attaches to them.
• Mushy Mushrooms • In the final section, the bumpers have been removed from the bottom of the mushroom vines. • The golf section is made slightly easier by covering the pit on the right. • Some platforms have been made wider so they’re easier to land on.
• Pete’s Playhouse • Some lasers in the laser maze have been rearranged so that it’s easier to navigate. • Added a checkpoint in front of the shape puzzle for players who accidently fall off in this area.
• Pinball Panic • The major catch-up obstacle has been changed so now there are only two buttons instead of four. • On the rotating bumper pole obstacles, two of the four poles have been removed so there is more time and space to jump between them.
• Sunny Heights • Removed the TNT from the long ziplining section. • Rotated one of the poles in the long ziplining section so it’s easier to navigate around. • The catch-up cork obstacle is easier to pull out and POPs out of the way when pulled.
• Kooky’s Canyons • In the final section, some TNTs have been removed and re-arranged. • One of the Laser UFOs have been removed in every gamemode except Race. • The road platforms have been made slightly wider in the final section.
• Wet Willy’s Waterpark • The slide pieces that are shaped like quarter pipes are now longer so the gaps between them are smaller. • The catch-up cork obstacle is easier to pull out and POPs out of the way when pulled.

• In Campaign Mode, all the time requirements to receive ducks have been balanced in every game mode. They now use real statistics from the Steam Leaderboards so that the true difficulty of each level is reflected in every time requirement.
• We’ve adjusted the duck requirements to unlock new levels so that it is more consistent.
• We’ve changed the order in which gamemodes are unlocked in a way we believe will be more fun to play through. • This includes adding the gamemode “Fling’damentals” which is a simple vanilla version of the map that must be completed first before the other gamemodes.

• We’ve made the animations for unlocking new levels and gamemodes in Campaign much faster. • You can also now hold a button to speed through these unlock animations. • We’ve removed the overarching “Worlds” in Campaign so now there are just Levels. This is easier and faster to navigate through.
• How many Ducks you’ve received is now displayed in the results screen for every campaign gamemode. They are also displayed in the leaderboard screen for the Duck Hunt gamemode.
• We’ve gone through the Steam Leaderboard times in all the game modes and removed times that used old glitches. These glitches are no longer possible so it was unfair for players trying to beat those times.
• There is now a sound that indicates that the Team Setup screen is about to end.

• Steam Leaderboards for Duck Hunt now include how many ducks were actually collected. This eliminates the issue where players could post faster times by avoiding picking up the Ducks. Steam Leaderboards for Duck Hunt have been reset due to this.
• We’ve improved the syncing of many objects that are essential to the functioning of the different game modes. Some of them include: • The Bomb in Bomb Run • The Anvil ability in Race • The Golf Balls in levels with golfing

• Fixed an issue where the prompt to remind players how to stick to buttons in the main menu would not show up.
• We’ve adjusted the hitboxes for many checkpoints that would sometimes be missed if a team got an ability that put them higher in the air than expected.
• We’ve adjusted many deathzones to avoid times when players are falling to death for longer than expected.
• Fixed an issue where the Undead Hands would be caught going into the ground during the intro animation in Haunted Highway.
• Rotated the boat the players start on in Perilous Paradise to increase framerates at the start of the level.
• Fixed some graphical issues in Pharoah’s Freeway like the waterfall shaders and intro camera animation.
• Improved some background images that were blurry.

Team Snowman has won the Winter Season once again!

• Players that chose Team Snowman will receive an exclusive skin for the Chimpy-Monkey character where he’s wearing a holiday sweater!

• Fixed a bug where the Elevator in Winding Woods wouldn’t show up to players who are playing online but aren’t the host.

• 1 Character: Snowman
• 5 Alternative Skins
• Team Stickers and Banner

• 1 Character: Jolly Jingle
• 5 Alternative Skins
• Team Stickers and Banner

• Players on the winning team will automatically receive an exclusive skin, sticker and banner.

• The levels and main menu have been de-spookified. There are no longer Undead Hands and Enchanted Brooms in every level.

• Fixed a bug where loud noises would play when a level is first loaded.
• Improved the online syncing of the UFO ability.
• Fixed a bug where the players would temporarily lose control of their team after exiting the UFO ability.
• Improved the physics of the UFO ability so it’s movement isn’t jarring.

• 1 Character: Sugar Skull
• 4 Alternative Skins
• Team Stickers and Banners

• 1 Character: Jack-o’-lantern
• 4 Alternative Skins
• Team Stickers and Banners

• 9 levels have Halloween decorations, moody lighting, and spooky fog.
• When playing the Race gamemode, levels have additional Undead Traps to hinder teams and Witch Brooms to help teams that aren’t in first place.

• Players on the winning team will automatically receive an exclusive skin, sticker and banner. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34767207/a83f8c22c1325d5ed041efd767feed0a0edd7b0e.png

• The speed-boosting rings and javelins have been removed from the multiplayer race and tournament modes. Ring-a-thon itself will continue to be a permanent gamemode in the campaign. (If you enjoyed the speed-boosting rings and javelins in multiplayer races let us know because they might be returning as an optional feature).
• The Fling-a-thon event art and music has been removed from the main menu.

• Reduced the overall XP gained from playing matchmaking tournaments
• Increased the overall XP gained from playing private or offline tournaments

• Fixed: pedestal screen shows rogue/extra player banners with the name “Gettin_Jiggy_35” and overlaps all other menus if the pedestal screen is opened after completing a tournament where one or more players disconnected
• Fixed: non-hosts are unable to exit out of the customization screen if the host leaves the unlockables menu
• Fixed one instance of the infinite black screen on launch issue which happened because some devices failed to play the intro video and kept retrying to play it indefinitely

• Players can now return to the previous menu by holding a button on their controller or keyboard instead of physically moving to the back button and sticking to it
• 3D menu buttons that have an alternate hold input now take less time to activate when that input is held

• Improved the tutorial before the main menu to better explain all the different ways you can create a team online and locally.

• Reduced the size of many textures in Perilous Paradise which were increasing the game’s download size unnecessarily.
• Fixed an issue where multiple cameras were rendering on top of each other during level cinematics. This will improve performance on medium and low end machines.
• Optimized all Water and Fog shaders which should improve performance on low end machines.

• Fixed a major issue where the level loaded after Perilous Paradise would become unplayable online due to desync.
• Fixed a major issue where Worms in Space would become unplayable online due to desync.
• Fixed many levels which would sometimes become unplayable due to online desync (Pharaoh’s Freeway, Pete’s Play Palace, Haunted Highway, Winding Woods, Perilous Paradise).
• Fixed a major issue where returning to the team setup screen would break if a player left during the race.
• Removed many game breaking shortcuts in the Perilous Paradise level.
• Fixed issue where a series of random letters will appear over another player’s head instead of their Steam username.
• For new players, settings in the Online Tab will now start at their correct defaults (displaying names over other characters is now the default).
• In the Demo, the time left in the demo will be displayed in the main menu again (this was accidently removed during the original 3D Menu update).
• Your Username will no longer appear in your own friend’s list.

• Perilous Paradise: 1 race mode and 2 campaign modes.
• New Character to be unlocked in Campaign Progression.

• New and improved Game Invite screen
• User interface visual improvements.
• Your steam friends are now organized based on whether or not they are currently playing Fling.
• The mouse cursor now only displays when you start moving the mouse. This avoids a lot of annoying scenarios where it was getting in the way.
• Room code can now be copied by clicking on it or by pressing CTRL + V. This works even if the room code is hidden which is useful for streamers.
• Added a new Online tab in the Settings screen
• Added option to toggle other player names over their characters in levels
• Added option to toggle the current player's name over their characters in levels
• Added option to toggle an arrow indicating the current player's characters in levels
• Moved Room Code Visibility option from General to Online settings
• Moved Server Region dropdown option from General to Online settings

• Upgraded Unity version from 2019.4.29f1 to 2019.4.30f1 to fix a Unity sided crash on launch issue on certain dual screen setups (more details here: https://issuetracker.unity3d.com/issues/build-crashes-when-launching-via-cmd-with-monitor-2-while-the-two-monitors-have-different-monitor-scale)
• Now more Graphics APIs can be used depending on your device: DirectX11 (previously the only available API), OpenGLCore, OpenGLES2, OpenGLES3, and Vulkan. Unity will automatically determine the best Graphics API to utilize for each device. This change should not make any difference, but it may fix level loading issues reported by a few players.

• Kooky's Canyon
• Haunted Highway
• Fling Park
• Clam's Casino
• Pinball Panic
• Wet Willy's Waterpark
• Worms in Space

• New Level "Haunted Highway" with 4 campaign modes and 1 race mode
• 3 new Haunted Skins (1 for each character - Candy, Slime and Appleworm)
• 1 exclusive community event winner skin for team Jack-O'-Lantern

• Character Select - Fixed bug where some unlocked skins would not show up while selecting characters and skins