This functionality is available via the Custom Games button on the main menu and this button will be activated for a thousand users at a time in a gradual rollout over the next 24 hours. As we discussed in Mark’s Dev Jam earlier this week, this gradual rollout means that we won’t have to take down servers if Custom Games causes stability issues for the rest of the game.

If all goes well, we hope to have Custom Games Mk.1 rolled out to everyone within the coming days. If you don’t happen to be in the first 10% of players who are randomly selected to be part of the launch, please be patient; we’re doing all we can to get this launch right for everyone.

NEW:

• Custom Games Mk.1 Alpha added

Custom Games has taken a LOT of development effort to support. We’ve had to rework our entire server infrastructure and lobby code to enable it. We have tested it internally as much as we can but it is hard to predict how popular the feature will be, how users will use it, and therefore how the infrastructure will cope when it’s launched. For these reasons we have decided to do an Alpha launch that we rolled out with this update. Here’s how it works:

• In today’s update the feature was added, but the Custom Games button in the Play Menu was initially disabled

• We will then enable it for a random % of users and check everything is stable

• If any issues arise we will switch it off again, fix the issues, and then enable it again as quickly as possible

• We will increase the % of users who have access to the feature step-by-step and as fast as possible until 100% of users have access to the feature

• When all seems stable, we will promote the feature to the users who aren’t paying attention to the website and may want to come check it out

We’re releasing Custom Games in four stages. The first is the MK1 Alpha release which started today. The reason we’re splitting it up like this is to get the feature to you as quickly as possible, by doing it in steps we can get it to you faster and get it stable faster and learn from the way you are using the feature and feedback on the feature when it’s live. In Custom Games Mk1 you can invite 2-10 players to play private games, choose game mode, choose map, and host a private custom games chat channel

To find out how Custom Games Mk1. works, watch our 60 second overview video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKqVuaYn7qc

For more information on what’s planned for Custom Games, read our recent Dev Jam.

BUG FIXES:

• Fixed a bug which prevented players from seeing their own or others pings when hidden behind terrain/objects on the lowest quality setting

• Fixed a bug that displayed the wrong error message when a user logged into the Robocraftgame.com website with an email address

• Fixed a bug which prevented Battle Arena players from receiving rewards when they only gained a score through capturing points, destroying crystals or the Protonite Core (ie. no kills in battle)

• Fixed a bug that allowed players to start a party using the /partyinvite command while they had a pending invite