- Bot Land version 1.5.0 - 4 February 2020
Major changes Greatly simplified Blockly snippets. It used to be that Blockly snippets contained 3 blocks in general: an if statement, a condition for the if, and a terminator to run inside the body of the if. Those snippets still exist in the "Advanced" menu, but the primary way of interacting with the game will be with the new, one-line snippets that simply say something like "try to fire lasers". These new snippets act almost exactly like how the old ones did, but they're much clearer to use and customize. The tutorial and campaign missions now solely use simplified snippets. As a result, a couple of the missions are significantly easier than they used to be. The Battle Log page has been completely revamped! All major features in Bot Land now have their own distinct buttons. This should make everything easier to find and should also cut down on the number of clicks it takes to naviga…
- Bot Land version 1.4.4 - 21 January 2020
Major changes Improve tutorial and campaignTrimmed some extra words here and there. Removed the script from your bots in the third tutorial. Increased the size of the very first Arena so that there's some breathing room. If you come back to Bot Land without having done the introductory tutorials, you'll now be given the choice to restart them rather than just resuming them. The fanfare now plays when you beat a tutorial mission. Fixed a major bug preventing you from completing the fourth mission. Clarified what "minimum range" means in the 4th mission (in the mission tips). Cut out "Premade scripts" and "Advanced" categories from the Blockly toolboxes of the 4th and 5th missions. Clarified some hardware descriptions that show in tooltips (Artillery, Inferno Lasers, Stunning Lasers, Vampiric Lasers, and EMP). Changed title text in the blueprint selector to include the word "blueprints" a…
- Bot Land version 1.4.3 - 21 January 2020
Major changes Improved the campaignSimplified I Need a DoctorCut number of tiles down from 24 → 18. When you lose, the "Retry" button is now "Edit script" instead. Originally, you had two bots that could shield and only one that could attack, which meant that it could be confusing which bot was doing the shielding and which one was being shielded. Now, there's only one bot that can shield. Simplified A Bag of ChipsYou don't have to pick a weapon any longer; you're given Missiles lv. 3 by default and you can't edit your blueprint. When you lose the mission, the "Retry" button is now "Edit script". Changed the wording a bit on the mission (e.g. remove a reference to "Blockly", which players may not be familiar with). Simplified In the ShadowsGot rid of Zapper since you have Inferno Zapper anyway Made enemies taunt when they take damage Repositioned enemies so that the visit-every-tile str…
- Bot Land version 1.4.2 - 17 January 2020
Major changes Improved bot and chip relocation. Previously, you had to long-press a bot or chip in order to enter relocation mode, but the length of this long-press was much longer than most people would try. Now, any drag action starting at a bot/chip that you own will enter relocation mode. Panning the Arena is also done by dragging, but you have to start from a blank space. Fixed a bug in Campaign Mode where winning gets you stuck in a loop. Replaced the tutorial GIF by mp4 videos. These are also much higher resolution.
- Bot Land version 1.4.1 - 15 January 2020
Major changes The new victory effects (the fanfare and confetti) now show when winning in any mode, not just Campaign Mode. Fixed a bug where the campaign-victory screen would show when it wasn't supposed to. Changed confetti cannons out for a new one. 🎉 The new one should be slightly more performant.
- Bot Land version 1.4.0 - 15 January 2020
Major changes Added a proper victory screen to Campaign Mode. There's confetti! 🎉 Fix critical bug where you couldn't continue while on a guest account due to a hidden EULA checkbox being unchecked. Simplify A Bag of ChipsArena size in tiles: 63 → 6 Max turns: 700 → 60 Enemy bots: 7 → 1 We also place your single bot for you now. Simplify Out of OrderWe now place the bots for you since there was already no choice in positioning. When you retry, we put you back in the script editor. The quick-edit-blueprint button is now disabled since you can't edit your hardware anyway.
- Bot Land version 1.3.9 - 14 January 2020
Major changes Repackaged the guest experience slightly. Making a guest account is now the default experience so that players don't have to provide a username or email address. Simplify tutorial and campaignSecond tutorial - added a GIF demonstrating how to drag Blockly blocks into the canvas. The Floor is LavaShrank the Arena from 98 tiles → 33 tiles. You no longer have to destroy the CPU, just the enemy bots. This allowed for many other nice changes:Deleted a bunch of boilerplate Blockly, so the script only has to contain a single comment now rather than a function, a bunch of comments, and code that you weren't supposed to touch. Got rid of Melee on your bots. Disabled the quick-edit-blueprint button since you only need to modify your script. Changed the "move" part of the script to be a single block rather than a snippet. Stopped highlighting the mission tips since no one really clic…
- Bot Land version 1.3.8 - 10 January 2020
Major changes Improved the tutorial/campaign.Increased the size of the very first battle to give new players an idea of how Bot Land can look outside of the tutorial! Cut down on text in many places. Disabled the quick-edit buttons in the first tutorial. Simplified the second tutorial so that players only have to add a single snippet for reflecting. Fixed a critical bug in the tutorials/campaign where exiting wasn't possible. Retrying the second tutorial puts you directly into the scripting view since that's the only place where the user can make a mistake. After 6 seconds of having a tutorial dialog on the screen, the background will become darker so that your attention is drawn to the dialog rather than the rest of the screen. Fixed a Blockly bug where dropdowns would sometimes automatically make a selection as soon as they were opened, which essentially made the campaign unbeatable f…
- Bot Land version 1.3.7 - 8 January 2020
Major changes Overhaul tutorial and campaign experience.Overall, scripting is now covered much earlier. The non-scripting missions were revamped. Many frustrations have been addressed, e.g. large Arenas were made smaller, instructions should be clearer, and there should be better help when you fail. In general, the tutorial should be much faster now. When you try to leave a campaign mission by clicking the ✖ button at the bottom, you'll now see a prompt asking if you're sure you want to leave. Many users lost progress because they had accidentally clicked that button. Adam, the creator of Bot Land (and person writing these messages to you!), will now show up in the Streams tab for his development streams of Bot Land. You can watch him there on most weekdays! 😄 Minor changes The Steam version on Mac should no longer warn you about incompatibility on launch. Prevented pressing the browse…
- Bot Land version 1.3.5 - 31 December 2019
Major changes Allowed starting Test Mode with fewer than the maximum number of bots. This should make it easier to run quick tests. Tutorial and campaign improvementsShrunk the width of the Arena in A Bag of Chips by 5 tiles. Adjusted flavor text of some missions. Decreased the maximum number of turns from 4000 to 700 for A Bag of Chips so that battles don't take forever to simulate. Added a warning in A Bag of Chips for when you lose due to not having any weapons equipped. Changed wording in Blockly script of The Floor is Lava to make it clearer that you have to attach blocks to the comments, not just place them anywhere. Minor changes Artillery now lists its minimum range (5) in its tooltip. Made the Landmines bots in Challenge Mode actually use their Artillery. This should make Challenge Mode ever so slightly harder. Stopped asking for guest feedback during tutorial or campaign. This…
- Bot Land version 1.3.4 - 31 December 2019
Major changes Fixed a critical bug where you couldn't save your defense or attack someone due to an error about "blueprint list order". Campaign Mode improvementsThe Floor is Lava (mission #3)Enemy bots now always move left when they can't see you, that way they don't wander around. We now show a picture of Blockly at the end to give players an idea of what their script should look like. Renamed your bot in The Floor is Lava from "💣" to "Bombs Away", that way it doesn't look like the bomb is a button. Out of Order (mission #4)Cut down the number of correct solutions from 2 to 1 (out of 6 possible options). Shrunk the Arena greatly to cut down on wandering. Removed enemy Melee bots completely. Magnetic Shutdown (mission #5)Reduced number of player bots from 3 to 2. This should actually make it easier even though you have fewer bots because you'll realize that you don't need a third bot.…
- Bot Land version 1.3.3 - 27 December 2019
Major changes Blueprints can now be reordered or deleted directly from the Arena view! Use the pencil icon at the top of the blueprint selector. Competitive-season improvementsAdded proper UI for viewing statistics. When you click the ranking flags on the sides of the Battle Log page, you'll be brought to the leaderboard as usual, but now there are two more tabs: "Current season" and "Last season". These show reward information, your lowest/highest attained leagues, and the season's start and end times. If you participate in a season by completing all of the placement matches and then log in during the next season, you'll now be told that a new season has started (and you're given the option to go directly to your statistics!). Previously, there was a tremendously vague dialog that would pop up. 😒 The campaign and tutorial now have fast-forward and pause capabilities. In-game documenta…
- Bot Land version 1.3.2 - 13 December 2019
Major changes Added a new campaign mission named Out of Order. In the Magnetic Shutdown mission, each of your bots now has template scripts that you only have to change hardware for. If you haven't done at least 3 missions in the campaign, you'll see an entry in your battle log suggesting that you do them. The Blockly workspace is now cleared when you have an unassigned script. This way, you can't see an old Blockly script in the background. Minor changes When you can retry against another player, the button will show in the bottom bar on desktop instead of solely being in the match-results dialog. Greatly clarified the Magnetic Shutdown campaign mission.Removed hardware from enemy bots to make them easier to understand at a glance. Changed the mission tips to assume that you're going to edit two scripts rather than have to create them from scratch. Clarified the EMP Blockly block itsel…
- Bot Land version 1.3.1 - 10 December 2019
Major changes Improve Campaign ModeYou Sneaky SnakeThis mission was removed completely. It wasn't easy and it wasn't fun. Makeshift TurretsThis mission is now easier. There are only two blueprints to choose from instead of four. The Missiles bots will move after being idle for ~12 turns (down from ~30). The tips now mention that you can fast-forward a battle. The Floor is LavaThis mission is now easier. You have exactly two choices in the Blockly toolbox instead of having all of the normal ones (100+). Cleaned up existing Blockly comments to make it clearer to players what they're supposed to do and where. GeneralWhen retrying a campaign mission, any bots you had placed in the last attempt will be placed again in the new attempt. Fixed a bug where the scripting video couldn't be opened. When you complete the campaign, the options at the end (e.g. "edit defense", "attack a player") are n…
- Bot Land version 1.3.0 - 6 December 2019
Major changes: Remove rounds from Bot Land. Previously, there were three rounds per match, so you would have the opportunity to learn how the opponent's bots behaved and then change your strategy between rounds. Now, there is a single round per match, and you can retry the battle once if you lose. The retried battle will match the ranking type of your first battle, so if you lost a ranked battle, the second attempt will also be ranked. The attacker will get slightly more bots than they got per round before, but not as many as they used to get in the overall match. Note that the balance numbers will likely have to change after testing this out for a bit. Also, for an overly verbose explanation behind this change, check this out. If you lose a public-attack match, a "retry" button will appear. Minor changes: Fix bug where an error would appear if the guest-feedback dialog spawned while in…
- Bot Land version 1.2.0 - 29 November 2019
Major changes: Add Campaign Mode! There are seven missions so far, which should make for a much smoother introduction to the game for new players. Even if you're a returning player, you should find it fun. Plus, each campaign mission grants 750 Botcoin. The tutorial was shortened to accommodate adding Campaign Mode. Add importing and exporting Blockly scripts. These show up as buttons in the top bar of the Blockly editor. This will allow you to share Blockly scripts externally (e.g. via Discord). Allow users to get ranked matches sooner. Previously, if you attacked a player via a ranked match, you couldn't attack them again within 24 hours. Now, that time has been lowered to 22 hours. This should make it easier to play your ranked matches at the same time every day. Ask for email consent when you sign up or convert from a guest account. If you already had an account, it will ask for it…
- Bot Land version 1.1.0 - 14 November 2019
Version 1.1.0 is out! Major changes: Code editor improvements Add auto-completion for API and variable names. You can manually trigger this by pressing ctrl+space. Add status bar on desktop. This indicates whether you have errors, how long your script is, and your current row/column number. Auto-close brackets and quotes. Colorize brackets (both matching and non-matching). Allow continuation of block comments by pressing enter (e.g. typing "/*" and pressing enter). Highlight active line. Highlight all other instances of the currently selected text. Improve styles/colors, including for tooltips. Add a way to view "debugLog" output in the Steam version of the game (this may not be present for another couple of days though). Add toast notifications for completing missions. Add toast notifications for changing leagues. These show when you're promoted or demoted as long as you've finished yo…
- Vacation season - 25 October 2019
Just a personal note from the creator of Bot Land: starting tomorrow, I'll be on vacation for about 2½ weeks to visit my wife's family, then there'll be another vacation in December to visit my own family. Updates during this time will be lighter than normal (they'll probably be in medium-sized bursts rather than many small-ish updates). I'll still be checking the Bot Land Discord throughout, so feel free to chat with the community there!
- Bot Land version 1.0.10 (and 1.0.11 due to a hotfix) - 22 October 2019
Major changes: Add taunts to the game. Taunting takes a turn and shows an emoji for that turn (either 😂, 😡, 😭, 👍, or 👎). Fix bug where the game would crash if you completed Challenge Mode directly after the intro tutorial. Add system directly inside Bot Land for replying to user feedback. Now, after you log in, if we sent you a message, it'll pop up immediately and then show in the "News" tab for you for a month. Double allowed Blockly script max length. Show proper errors when exceeding Blockly script max length.
- Bot Land version 1.0.9 - 18 October 2019
Major changes: Fix revenge matches. It used to be that you couldn't start them at all. Fix issue where attempting to leave your defense when you had changes would result in two prompts instead of one. This had to do with creating/deleting blueprints. Fix how notification tab never showed in settings. No wonder only 20 devices were getting notifications sent to them. 🤦♂️ Add support for the back button on Android. Note that this is accompanied by an app update which should launch within a couple of hours of this changelog being live (so if it's not working, give it some time). Fix issue where the "Prevent multiple attacks per player" checkbox in the Settings dialog would always appear to be disabled. This was a client-side issue, but it made it very difficult to actually disable the setting after enabling it since you would have needed to toggle it twice in the same session. Minor chan…
