Hello! It's been a little while since SAGE and the first demo's release! I took a couple of months off working on Ball Stars to rest and recharge (it's important to take breaks to prevent burnout, especially when I work on this in my free time and have to balance it alongside a full-time job and other hobbies) but my friends and I have been hard at work through November on a new update for the game.

Important to note: all of these screenshots are a work in progress. Things shown may be subject to change before seeing any release.

A new, wintery map

The winter season tends to bring a lot of snow to the northern hemisphere. To reflect this, the winter update comes with a new snowy map. Located at a mountainside bus stop between two cable lifts, Snowflake Station features a layout focused on close quarters action. Send the ball through the sheltered pathways and into the lift stations, where the goal sits just in front of the loading areas.

Scratchy, (un)armed and dangerous

The next update isn't quite so on-the-nose (unfortunately, deers didn't enter the discussion until it was too late to switch focus) but our next focus is, uh... kangaroos... Australia... a treat for players in the southern hemisphere? I'm really trying to make a connection here.

Introducing Scratchy, the newest member of the Ball Stars crew! Despite having no arms, this marsupial menace can conjure multiple virtual tools for an extremely technical approach to ball controls. Whether it's swinging recklessly with the Spinning Bat to send the ball flying in unpredictable directions, or using the Sniper Rifle to nudge the ball from long range, it has a good tool for just about any situation. Just be sure you're committed to your plans; Scratchy's biggest weakness is its inability to adjust, leaving it a sitting duck when the field situation changes unexpectedly or a bat swing whiffs.

Other, smaller improvements

• To make the game easier to play with friends, the game will make use of NAT punching to connect players to lobbies. What this means is that hosting requires no special setup - simply start a lobby, and either host it publicly on the server list or send the room code to your friends to join.
• A few character tweaks are on the roadmap to help improve playability with the existing characters. With any luck, some of these should make it into the update.
• I located the missing flag on the blue team side of Sunset Cove, and when the update drops, the map will finally be symmetrical.

Release timeframe

I don't like to commit to release dates, since they place a lot of pressure on me to rush changes out, and this is no exception since I'd like to properly test things. Currently, I'm trying to shoot for a release some time in December. but the exact day is still up in the air, and things may get pushed back.

Thanks for reading!