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Changelog

Recent changes to the game

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Builds

What the game is built from
Build Version Commit Built
Game build 7b35702b-facc97e4e48b 7b35702b
Engine hogdot cg-v4.7.2-r19 8927aa079 not reporting yet
Relay not reporting yet 7b35702b
Website not reporting yet 7b35702b

  1. 0.5.3

    Steadier releases

    Changed

    • The changelog on the site updates when a release reaches the playtest, not before
    • Each release is announced in Discord once

  2. 0.5.2

    Faster, safer updates

    Changed

    • Updates are staged and checked on a test server before they reach the playtest
    • Every playtest release now has a version tag and a Discord announcement

  3. 0.5.1

    Hotfix: Slow-connection joins and housekeeping

    Changed

    • Joining a server downloads its map before you connect, with progress on the loading screen
    • Lower memory use while a map downloads on the web
    • The network overlay’s Interp line shows the real playback delay

    Fixed

    • Joining Downtown on a slow connection timing out before the map finished downloading
    • Waves in canals and other multi-part water drifting apart from where you swim
    • Crates and bike wheels falling through some one-sided map surfaces
    • Objects sometimes sinking slightly into detailed map ground
    • Other players stuttering on a server that had been running for a few hours
    • Grabs and throws on slower connections being judged against the wrong moment

  4. 0.5.0

    Release: Performance, QoL and visual improvements

    Added

    • New map, Downtown, with working doors, lifts and buttons, respawning bikes and crates, and its own ocean and sewers
    • Rewritten server backend & API in Rust
    • Menu UI/UX redesign
    • Lighting & water quality settings
    • Configurable world border
    • Ability to import/export cosmetics as PNG files
    • Overhauled pixel brush / mouse input handling
    • Debanding and film grain filters
    • Spawn protection effects for players

    Changed

    • Downtown is now the server’s main map
    • Faster map loading and map switching on the web
    • Smoother water waves
    • Improved player shadows & lighting
    • Tons of rendering optimizations
    • FPS cap now matches your monitor
    • Made the death screen less grating
    • You can now see other players charging prop throws

    Fixed

    • Wonky shadows on players
    • Player shadows invisible in first person
    • Violent and glitchy bike ragdolling behavior
    • Bike reverse controls becoming inverted midair
    • Ambient occlusion switching itself off after a long load

    In my testing on a lower end machine, this update resulted in 20% better frame times, 380% higher FPS in a 48-player lobby, 28% faster loading times, and 19% less VRAM usage.

  5. 0.4.3

    Hotfix: Loose ends from the Box3D migration

    Changed

    • Improved warning messages for users who are using VPNs or have their connection fall back to WebSockets
    • Dying no longer closes chat or clears typed messages
    • Passengers in vehicles can now collide with map geometry
    • /afk no longer immediately un-AFKs you

    Fixed

    • Additional bugs causing other players’ VFX to not render
    • Yet another issue causing grabbed crates to drift away
    • Getting hit by another bike’s drift not rendering correctly
    • Other players’ bike tires slightly clipping through ground
    • Unpredictable behavior when standing on bikes
    • Alt tabbing causing inverted movement keys
    • Rubber-banding when exceeding the bhop speed limit

  6. 0.4.2

    Hotfix: Jolt NUKE

    Changed

    • Ported over remaining Jolt physics code to Box3D
    • Optimized client and server builds

  7. 0.4.1

    Hotfix: Responsiveness & netcode improvements

    Changed

    • Improved responsiveness of entity interactions
    • Improved stability of physics and collisions
    • Increased reach and timing window for grabbing props
    • Physics objects now react to collisions quicker
    • Swinging a prop into someone now inflicts damage
    • Explosions no longer eject tank passengers
    • Improved handling of VFX and particle draw distance

    Fixed

    • Entities disappearing, rubber-banding, desyncing, and clipping
    • Static physics objects reacting to collisions with a delay
    • Grabbed props drifting away from the crosshair
    • Players freeze when jumping into ceilings
    • Players getting stuck on geometry + having their FOV increase infinitely
    • Dummies mimicking the player
    • Thrown props not connecting with or passing through victims
    • Particles incorrectly emitting at world origin
    • Standing on a physics prop hurting players
    • Stuck ⌘ or Ctrl keys while moving
    • VFX not rendering for other players
    • Bikes clipping into floor and shaking uncontrollably
    • Bike passengers facing the wrong direction and being damaged by jumps/drifts
    • Wet entities dripping while underwater and not causing surface ripples

    The bulk of these fixes addressed issues that were exasperated by latency, so the game should hopefully feel more responsive (especially those with slower connections). It’s still far from perfect, but it still should be a noticeable improvement for most players.

  8. 0.4.0

    Release: New name, Box3D physics, and a Rust rewrite

    Added

    • New physics and prediction core in Rust that allows for up to ~150 players (hypothetically)
    • Switched from Jolt to Box3D physics
    • Ropes, vehicles, and player movement has been rewritten from the ground up

    Changed

    • Changed the game’s name and URL to commongrounds.fun
    • Explosions actually affect the world now
    • Other players move more smoothly, updated twice as often
    • Ropes stay steady online and drape over whatever they cross
    • Guests can no longer interact with cash
    • Improved hit effects and damage system
    • Modified or outdated clients are now refused entry to the server

    Fixed

    • AFK detection now works correctly
    • Various other small fixes

    This is easily the biggest update to the game so far, but most of the benefits aren’t super noticeable for actual players. Everything should largely feel the same, just smoother and more responsive, especially when tons of players are online.

  9. 0.3.0

    Release: First playtest improvements

    Added

    • A second player can ride on the back of a bike as a passenger
    • A 25% resolution scale, useful in fullscreen on a high-density monitor
    • A prompt to refresh when the server is running a newer build than your tab
    • Profile pictures showing a headshot of that player’s own drawn character
    • A typing indicator above a player’s head while they write a chat message
    • 1px and 3px brushes in the face editor, switched with the scroll wheel or a trackpad
    • Onion-skin previews of the other angles while you draw, toggled from the Front/Side/Back buttons
    • Scattered respawn points and ten seconds of protection
    • Protection during the initial load that ends when you attack
    • More bikes and crate stacks and roped props near spawn in bigcity

    Changed

    • The loading screen now waits for the game to be ready instead of a fixed two seconds
    • The map’s shaders are prepared before you drop in, so joining stutters far less
    • A new build no longer throws away the previous one, so updating re-downloads less
    • Roughly 3 MB less to download, because unused art no longer ships with the game
    • Players from every country can play again
    • The face editor’s grid is one square per pixel at every brush size
    • Number of baby and UFOs during events scale with online players
    • Automatic quality is now a setting you turn on, and starts off for everyone
    • More nearby slam effects during events
    • You can steal props from another player
    • Stricter server limits for bike flight, drift charge and hit claims
    • Smoother movement for other players on bikes and for players who stand on a moving bike

    Fixed

    • Ropes sinking through floors and other geometry
    • Roped props near spawn vanishing for good once someone broke one
    • Long shader compilation and heavy stuttering when joining, on slower machines
    • Invisible dropped cash piles
    • Players stuck in a crouch after death and respawn
    • Crates that jump above your head or jitter during prop surfing
    • Overlapping walls and flickering windows in bigcity
    • Players stuck as AFK after they return to the game tab
    • Rubber banding during fast bhops
    • Sideways bike riders, missing rider hitboxes and tank hitboxes that lag behind
    • Player profiles that you cannot open on bikes, and outlines that ignore F1
    • Newgrounds login hangs, stale sessions and broken retries
    • Brief connection failures when joining the server
    • Unexpected prop damage and delayed reactions between crates
    • Missing water depth colors and water effects that stay after you leave
    • False bike corrections and rejected hits around props or after remounts
    • A blank screen on Safari, which refused every shader the game needed
    • A passenger on your bike pushing your own camera in toward your back

    Removed

    • Newgrounds profile pictures, their downloads and stored image data

    This release collects the first round of fixes from the public playtest, plus a round of work on how long the game takes to start.

    The game now measures its own start-up and reports it once when you join. That report carries timings, your browser and your graphics adapter, and nothing that identifies you. It exists because every performance number this project had was measured on one machine, which is why the stutter so many players hit went unseen for so long.

  10. 0.2.0

    Release: Player customization and guest access

    Added

    • Customizable cosmetic system, currently you can draw your own face
    • Main menu and client-side settings menu (escape)
    • Guest rank for players without a Newgrounds account
    • Creative rank with sandbox commands (e.g. /summon)
    • Baby entity
    • Baby event
    • Summoning rules to restrict what ranks under moderator can spawn
    • Server gamerule that allows guests to chat
    • Screen-space ambient occlusion

    Changed

    • Guests can no longer chat by default
    • Guests can now be IP banned
    • Bikes, crates and the other map props come back after players destroy them
    • Made it so you dismount bikes behind it instead of beside it

    Fixed

    • Tabbing out no longer immediately marks players as AFK
    • Scroll wheel now switches first and third person while you ride a bike
    • The underwater view on a bike follows the camera, same as on foot
    • Drift sparks no longer flicker or stop lighting the ground
    • A thrown prop no longer stalls in the air and jerks backwards

  11. 0.1.0

    Release: The first public playtest

    Added

    • Browser client that runs on hogdot (WebGPU), with nothing to download or install
    • A loading screen that pre-bakes shaders to shorten the first load
    • A WebTransport relay written in Rust, with a WebSocket fallback
    • Dedicated server netcode
    • Newgrounds sign-in and authentication system
    • Cash, faces and ranks saved to your account via a persistent database
    • bigcity and gridworld prototype maps
    • Day/night cycle, time based on Philadelphia
    • Dynamic water that reacts to the environment
    • 18 surface materials, each with its own footsteps and impacts
    • Ambience & positional audio system
    • Sourcelike movement with crouching, strafing, bhopping, etc.
    • Camera system with first and third person via scroll wheel
    • Health, damage, death and respawn
    • Billboarded players, customization, and ragdolls
    • Physics props you can pick up, carry and throw
    • Ropes you can tie between two things via ropes
    • A rideable bike, tank and UFO
    • Cash you can find, drop and pick up
    • World event system
    • Text chat and command system
    • A player list on Tab
    • Ranks, which decide the commands you see
    • This site, with the controls, the rules, an FAQ, a roadmap and a feedback form
    • A status page for the client, the server, the relay, sign-in, the database and the site