Hey everyone! The Royal Rumble update for ZomB Battlegrounds is now live and available to download on GameJolt, Steam, and itch.io!

I know it's not August 8th yet but I had pretty much all my behind-the-scenes stuff done early so I decided to release the update early too!

I have also renamed the paid version of the game to "Supporter Edition" since I have also launched the Supporter Edition of the game on itch.io including a DRM-Free build of the game including the Tutorial video, as well as a free Steam Key so you can earn Steam Achievements. Sorry I didn't release the Supporter Edition on GameJolt, I wanted to include a Steam Key and couldn't find a way to include it here so it will only be available on Itch for now.

I had already mentioned all the major improvements in the previous post, but for those who missed it, this update comes with lots of big additions and changes, including a new map, reworked maps and weapons, graphical improvements, and lots of bug fixes.

The full patch notes will be below. These notes will include both the 5.0.0 and 5.0.1 build's patch notes as I did make another smaller update in between finishing 5.0.0 and now:

Update 5.0.0 Patch Notes:

New Additions:

- Added new map: Castle

- Added new map: Stormy Castle

- Overhauled the Firing Range

- Overhauled the Team Deathmatch map

- Added new ADS images for the following weapons: WWII Rifle, FK-SMG, AK-47, SMG, Pistol, Shotgun, Hunting Shotgun, & Magnum

- Added new main menu music

- Bump maps added to the terrain of all maps

- Added materials properties to the terrain for the following maps: Rainy Desert, Forest, Rainy Forest, Mountains, Snowy Mountains, Rainy Zombieland.

- Added environmental detail added to Forest

- Added Motion Blur

- Introduced Baked Lighting

- Added some new reload sound effects

- Added Hitmarker sounds

- Added intro logos when you startup the game

- Added new Victory Screen background

- Added new Victory jingle for when you win a match

Improvements:

- Vastly improved fog in all Rain & Snow maps

- Removed the MSAA system and replaced it with TAA which should result in better performance compared to MSAA

- Replaced the images used for the main menu buttons with screenshots that more accurately reflect the new look of the game

- Replaced the map thumbnails in the map selection screen with screenshots that more accurately reflect the new look of the game

- Adjusted shadow render distance and tree render distance.

- Improved Ambient Occlusion

- Updated Credits

- Improved the UI used for the first time experience

- VASTLY improved the timing for movement, meaning it no longer updates at just 50hz. Players using higher refresh rate monitors should notice MUCH smoother movement as a result.

- Improved the minimap images for some maps

- Improved some UI & text elements

- Replaced the loading screen image with a screenshot that more accurately reflects the new look of the game

- Rebalanced some of the weapons including: M4, AK47, SMG, FK-SMG, FN-SCAR, & Pistol

- Improved AI bot navmeshes on Mountains

- Minor graphical improvement to the background of the main menu

- Improved material for the FK-SMG, WWII Rifle, & FN-SCAR

- Improved material for some of the barrier objects in Desert

- Improved House material

- Improved UI Scaling

- Reduced pre-match timer from 30 seconds to 15 seconds

- Improved shadows on Desert

- Improved UI layering, so things like the crosshair and HP bar shouldn't be displaying on top of most other UI elements anymore

- Fixed an issue in Zombieland where some textures were lower resolution than they were supposed to be

Other:

- (SUPPORTER EDITION ONLY) Completely remade tutorial video, including subtitles, new and extended tips, and new video footage that more accurately reflects the new look of the game.

- (SUPPORTER EDITION ONLY) Fixed an issue with the tutorial video that caused it to stretch if viewed using an aspect ratio that is different from 16:9. It will now display black bars at other aspect ratios to protect the video from stretching

- (SUPPORTER EDITION ONLY) Added two new achievements for the new maps

Update 5.0.1 Patch Notes:

Improvements:

- Improved the skybox for Team Deathmatch & Firing Range

- Improved lighting in Rainy Forest

- Fixed the interaction text for some doors

- Fixed UI button colors for some buttons

- Improved render distance for Zombieland

- Fixed some typos in the Victory and Defeat screen

- Added some extra grass in Firing Range

- (SUPPORTER EDITION ONLY) Compressed the Tutorial Video to get the file size of the game down