The Verdict on the SMG.

   In my opinion Ben pulled off the Sub Machine Gun or SMG pretty well. When the idea of more weapons was tossed around many feared it would unbalance the gameplay, people liked how trenches and cover were often built instead of the generic run and gun gameplay we often see in games today. Now I find myself using the SMG quite often, it could only be becuase it still has that new gun smell, or just becuase of how different the game plays for me when I use it. Instead of focusing my attack on players far off in the distance entrenched, I switch my focus to trying to destroy the enemies cover and at time going over the top and getting some kills. With the SMG you are able to quickly decimate enemy structures from a good distance leaving the opposing team bare and defenseless. I also find it very useful when working with a rifleman. The SMG soldier can destroy the blocks the enemy is hiding behind and the rifleman can quickly headshot the enemy. So, how do you like the new SMG? Let me and Ben know by voting in the new poll and replying to this post.

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Ace of Spades Beta 0.53 on the horizon

   According to Ben a new update will be available sometime today even containing a new weapon!

Ace of Spades Beta 0.53

-new weapon – sub-machine gun

-new votekick system

-frame limiter bumped to 60fps

-much higher raycasting precision (no more radar rings)

-ironsight recoil implemented

-server-side physics and hit verification

-greater memory allocation for larger maps

-reduced CPU usage with the Sleep command

    Its gonna be sweet.

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Are Custom Maps Any Good?

   This is the question I asked my self when I started Ace of Spades the other day, so I figured I might as well find out. I joined and tried out a few servers running custom maps. First off something I already disliked is how the server browser does not tell you if maps are running a custom map or not. So I had to just try joining servers until one had a custom map. Once I was in, it was great!

The Urban Map
   The first custom map I tried was the Urban Map. This map takes place in a large city like area. It gets it's point across with a quite a few detail less buildings that are mostly different size rectangular prisms with holes blown into corners and sides of walls. In between the building was just a relatively flat grass layer and craters. The water layer instead was dirt at the bottom of craters. The map could have been so much more had the creator spent time on it. Sure it was fun but image actual streets, buildings with interiors, staircases, and windows. Yet the map was created within 24 hours after the map creating software came out so for its time frame it is quite good.

The map with buildings behind it.

Relatively empty areas between buildings.

Bridge Wars
    Bridge wars brings a whole new spin to Ace of Spades. Instead of being able to take the route you want to the enemy intel you are now separated by a huge gaping chasm that is sure to kill you. Sure you could try to place blocks to make a bridge across it but chances are, you will die. When the map starts there is a half constructed bridge in the middle for both sides. The sides will duke it out as they try to build the bridge and steal the enemies intel. However both sides of the map are simply flat and boring land.

The map showing the bridges and flat land.

The giant chasm and bridges.

The flat land on both sides of the map.

Cave Wars
   This map is simple yet fun. It takes the idea of "What if the map had a huge mountain in the middle of it" and implements it. The mountain however has a few natural caves that go through it. Now players must adapt to a new environment to fight in as they work there way through natural caves.

The map showing the mountain in the middle.

The mountain from the ground.

Inside the cave system.

So the answer is, yes, custom maps are extremely fun when done right! They can make the gameplay feel refreshing and new! So, tell me, do you enjoy playing on custom maps? 

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This Poll in Review (What you would like to see)

   I created this poll with the original intentions of showing Ben what his community would like to see added to the game. In the end I was surprised by the outcome of the votes. I expected most to be relatively even, nothing too far ahead. Boy was I wrong. Weapons dwarfed all others coming in at first place with 236 votes. Thats more than 3 times the amount of votes for maps. Now, In my own opinion I must say.... I am worried about the implementation of new guns. The smallest mistake can unbalance the entire gmae and ruin the experience.

Maps 76 (14%)

Gamemodes 73 (13%)

Blocks 25 (4%)

Weapons 236 (44%)

Classes 70 (13%)

Mod Support 42 (7%)

Nothing 7 (1%)

    What kind of weapon would you want to see added first?

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I'm back! Updates 0.45, 0.46, and 0.47

  While I was busy I missed out on some awesome Ace of Spades info like the minimap and the higher resolution player weapons. This may mean the current weapon mods on the blog may no longer work, however most likely they are still compatible.  Nope, the update broke old model compatibility, looks like all the of the mods section needs to be redone! Along with 0.45 comes rifle block damage again. It was interesting playing with it off though, it seemed like bunkers and forts were more useful when someone couldn't just shoot a hole in it with ease. Although 0.45 was riddled with fixes and a little content 0.46 and 0.47 bring little to the table besides a few albeit important bug fixes.

Ace of Spades Beta 0.47

-floating block fix

-unexposed map edge fix

Ace of Spades Beta 0.46

-fixed name bug

-fixed map generator missing voxels

Ace of Spades Beta 0.45

-added minimap

-new weapon/tool models with higher resolution and better lighting

-new ironsight png (allows scopes)

-increased grenade throw distance

-default resolution reduced to 800x600

-restored rifle block damage

-server-side ammo count fix

-fixed grenade damage after death

-volume now adjustable when dead

-fixed bug in floating block detection

-fixed occasional no respawn bug

-server-side sanity checks on map edits

-default install directory changed to avoid UAC issues

-getcube function now works properly

-reduced grenade bandwidth usage

-color of map grid changed

-map grid spacing is now even

-better handling of exposed map edges in-game

 So, I'm wondering did you enjoy rifle block damage turned off or are you happy to see it back?

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Faster than the speed of light! Beta 0.42

   This is great! Sure, having to to update your game multiple times for bug fixes might seem like a bad thing but it isn't! This shows Ben is able to quickly respond to bugs and tackle them efficiently! Within an hour the game went from 0.36 to 0.4 to 0.41 and now 0.42.

Ace of Spades Beta 0.42

-fixed map radar bug

-fixed image tearing on fast rotation (may fix potential crash)

So, not too many fixes and no new features but still a worthy update.

In other news, people have already started working on maps! Here is a WIP image showing the map grid and a small custom map!

By Tark

Version 0.42 is available from the official website and our F.A.Q.

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Quick update Beta 0.41

After Ben made a mistake of not including a folder with the install called vxl he has quickly released another update.

Ace of Spades Beta 0.41
-vxl folder added to installer
-version fix test

Also wanted to mention a few more new things. Maps should now have a useful grid on them for cooridnstio with team mates. Also map editing is supposed to be relativley complex. Not as simple as Weapon and player editing anyway. Do you think you are going to try and create maps for AoS? I know I will!

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