Pummel Party Update Deep Dive: Enhanced Modding, Rejoining Online Games, and Quality-of-Life Improvements
Pummel Party, the chaotic and fun-filled multiplayer party game, continues to evolve with its recent updates, keeping its dedicated player base engaged and excited. With an average concurrent player count of 3,046, the developers have been actively responding to community feedback and adding features that enhance gameplay, modding capabilities, and overall user experience. In this article, we will explore the latest updates, Patch 1.14.1 and Update 1.13, highlighting their key features and what they mean for players and content creators alike.
Patch 1.14.1: Rejoining Online Games and Smoother Gameplay
Patch 1.14.1 is primarily a quality-of-life update that focuses on improving the online experience and technical aspects of the game. One of the most anticipated features introduced in this patch is the ability to rejoin online games after disconnection. Previously, if a player was disconnected from an online match, they would be replaced by a bot and had no way to reclaim their spot. Now, players can seamlessly take back control from the bot at the start of the next turn, provided they reconnect within 20 minutes of disconnecting.
This feature greatly reduces frustration for players who experience connectivity issues or accidental disconnections. Upon returning to the main menu, a prompt will appear asking if the player wants to rejoin their last game. Additionally, a reconnect button is available in the multiplayer menu if the prompt expires or is missed. Notably, this reconnection option persists even if the game is closed and reopened, offering flexibility and convenience.
Alongside the rejoining feature, Patch 1.14.1 also brings significant improvements to game saving and loading. Players can now save and load “Minigame Only” games, which was not possible before. This opens up new possibilities for practicing specific minigames or replaying favorite rounds without starting a full board game.
The update also enhances save/load functionality for modded boards. Changes made to board objects-such as moving, rotating, scaling, destroying, enabling/disabling, or coloring-are now preserved when loading a saved game. This ensures that custom boards retain their intended state, providing a more consistent and immersive experience for players exploring community-created content.
Moreover, the update improves the saving and loading of built-in boards by remembering more intricate details. For example, the layout of the maze in the Winterglow board, the direction of board connections in The Rift, and the state of walls in Overgrowth are all saved and restored accurately. The PummelTown Killer’s data is also better preserved, which means that gameplay elements tied to this character remain consistent across sessions.
Finally, mod installation and loading times have been optimized, resulting in faster mod discovery at startup. This is a welcome change for players who enjoy experimenting with custom content, as it reduces wait times and streamlines the process of jumping into modded games.
Update 1.13: Empowering Mod Creators and UI Refresh
Update 1.13 is a landmark release that significantly expands the creative potential of Pummel Party’s modding community. The update centers around new features for the mod editor, allowing board creators to design more dynamic and interactive custom boards than ever before.
One of the standout additions is the new “On Player Pass” trigger for the Board Space Event Component. Unlike previous triggers that activated only when a player ended their turn on a space, this trigger runs actions as soon as a player passes over a board space. This opens up a wide range of possibilities for custom events, traps, or rewards that activate mid-movement, adding layers of strategy and surprise to modded boards.
Another powerful feature introduced is the ability to enable or disable board space connections during gameplay. Modders can now control the flow of movement on the board by toggling connections on or off, either through the editor or dynamically via the new “Set Connection Active” action. This can be used to create shifting pathways, locked routes, or evolving board layouts that respond to player actions or game events.
The update also brings a new “Display Popup” action, which lets creators craft custom popups with speaker names, images, text, and up to four interactive choice buttons. These buttons can require players to spend keys, health, trophies, or items to select them, or they can be free choices. Each button can trigger a set of actions, including chaining multiple popups, allowing for complex dialogue trees, decision-making scenarios, or mini-quests within a board.
Beyond modding, Update 1.13 includes a comprehensive refresh of the game’s user interface. The UI has been redesigned to better utilize screen space, making text and other elements larger and easier to read. This is especially beneficial for players on smaller screens or those playing on a TV from a distance, improving accessibility and overall comfort during play sessions.
In addition to these headline features, the update also addresses numerous bugs and incorporates minor tweaks based on player feedback, demonstrating the developers’ commitment to refining the game experience continuously.
What These Updates Mean for the Pummel Party Community
With these updates, Pummel Party is not only enhancing the core gameplay experience but also empowering its modding community to push the boundaries of what the game can offer. The ability to rejoin online games helps maintain the competitive and social nature of multiplayer sessions, reducing the impact of technical hiccups.
Meanwhile, the expanded mod editor capabilities and improved save/load mechanics make it easier than ever for creators to build intricate, engaging custom boards that can be shared and enjoyed by the wider community. Faster mod loading times mean less downtime and more action, while the UI refresh ensures that players of all setups can comfortably dive into the chaos.
As Pummel Party continues to grow and evolve, these updates showcase a game that listens to its players and fosters a vibrant, creative ecosystem. Whether you’re a casual player looking to enjoy quick minigames, a competitive gamer battling friends online, or a modder crafting unique experiences, the latest patches bring meaningful improvements that enhance every aspect of the game.
With an active player base and ongoing developer support, Pummel Party remains a standout title in the party game genre, promising many more hours of fun, laughter, and mayhem.