- Co-Op Fest is Almost as Cool as the Festival Inside Flock of Dogs! - 10 February 2025
Hello, Happy Co-op Fest! I bet there's going to be some great games. I set out on this project in 2016, in part, beacuse I was mad there weren't more co-op games. Now there's a bunch, which...maybe means my game in particular hasn't done as well, but..I'm looking to forward to Co-Op Fest nonetheless. While the title claims this is a "Major Update", I must confess this it isn't very spectacular. I've added a "flight report card" after every flight (aka run) and there's now a poster in the treehouse that displays your top 10 "highest flights" (aka high scores). There's a few bug fixes (but plenty of bugs left), aaand you can now name the whale. While I was hoping to do more in anticipation for Steam's Co-op Fest that starts tomorrow (the 10th), I've really lost motivation the last few weeks after I traveled to attended my grandma's funeral. Very strange the perspective death provides. It'…
- Flopdate #2! - 1 January 2025
Was busy this week with a little clay sculpting commission, but hey, it's nice to make a little money. If you got all your friends to buy Flock of Dogs, maybe I'd have gotten more work done this week :) Anyway, hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. - Fixed the submission feedback form losing focus, if you're playing with a controller - Fixed playing with multiple controllers on the Steam Deck Please submit logs or message me whenever you have map desyncs! (Or any bugs at all, ofc) One of the things I didn't realize when I decided to add online multiplayer when making this game was how hard it is to recreate network bugs, even if you know they exist. -Max
- Flopdate Dec 26, 2024 - 26 December 2024
Welp, I love my little game, but alas, the world does not. So Flop of Dogs it is. Can't say I didn't see it coming, but it doesn't feel great. I don't know how much more time I can justify working on Flock of Dogs, but I'll be making at least some efforts up until February's Co-Op Fest on Steam. Fixed some pretty serious bugs this week and was able to add in a fun "Flight Report Card", as I call it. Your "Flight" now gets a rank. I wonder if anyone will ever get the top rank... Anyway, here's a list of stuff I did. - Added "Flight Report" score card, so each run now gets a score, i don't track your high scores yet tho - Ramed 'Carnivore' to 'Monstervore', bc it's more funner - Fixed several issues with final boss! - Put sundial and ffwd button at festival to make it clearer how to fast forward time - Fixed dogs leveling up every time they eat a bone after getting 1 Big Bone - Fixed ui i…
- Fixed Chasing The Vile Intruders - 23 December 2024
This update really only fixes the inability to actually fight the final boss, which I screwed up. More fixes coming someday maybe. -Max
- Flock of Dogs 1.0 Release - 17 December 2024
Hello, It's a Tuesday afternoon. Look up and you might see a flying dog or three. -Max
- Flock Launch Delayed - 11 December 2024
Hello, You can now play through the game, reach the Festival, and experience something very much close to what I envisioned. And it's all available to anyone who owns the games or buys it now in Early Access. So you can go play now! You can reach the Festival! However, the frequency of bugs is just too high for me to feel comfortable releasing into 1.0. Just this morning I ran into a bug that would just end the game very early on. I fixed (I think, people have tested it and it hasn't reocurred). I've been working a long time on this game many years and it's very close, but I hate how inconsistent the experience is and it seems like I could get a lot done in the next few days or a week. If you're interested in group playtests, please join the Discord. Thanks for your understanding. -Max
- Narwhal's Favor - 28 November 2024
Fixed some things, did a good amount of work on the Festival. I've defined some new flower powers. The prettiest one is probably the Narwhal's Favor (pictured below). The narwhal horn let's you blow up moons. Spoiler alert. I made a bunch of icons for them. My favorite is the "fat and happy" whale. I've said that if anyone wants to get a tattoo of it, I'd pay. -Max
- Flock of Dogs 1.0 Launches December 10th (like...98.5% sure) - 19 November 2024
I swore I would release Flock of Dogs by the end of this year. So. DECEMBER 10TH....probably maybe most likely will be release day. I've been in quiet crunch mode for weeks. I've decided to convert the game to $9.99 with no DLC. This means all of you who had the free game in your librabry, you now own the full game! Please consider either gifting a friend a copy, buying the hat DLC, or buying some Flock of Dogs soap. https://shopofflockofdogs.bigcartel.com/product/floral-hand-body-wash-for-the-flock So, new build is now live and the demo is synced to it. You should be able to play with a friend who doesn't own the game, if they download the friend version (the demo) from the Steam page. Please please let me know if you try this and it doesn't work. I didn't mention this last time, but I shrunk the game install size down from 4 gb to just over 2 gb. Hurray. If I knew what I was doing, I'…
- The Flight to the Festival DLC Now Available in a Store Near You - 26 July 2024
Oh, hello there. So this is both a "Major Update" and a "DLC Release"! That's because I consider the Flight to the Festival DLC to really be the main game in Flock of Dogs. It is the co-op, roguelike experience I've been working for 7 years. The Minigame Park and the (all new) beginning area are still free. I did this whole Steam thing in a weird way, I know. Also, the game is still in Early Access, so the DLC is still basically also Early Access. What's new/mostly new/mostly finished are: New biomes New dog tricks New tool upgrades New bosses New clouds New beginning area/tutorial (I don't like calling it a "tutorial") New difficulty levels New poems It Comes With 1 Friend Slot Purchase of the Flight to the Festival DLC includes 1 Friend Slot. With it, you can have 1 friend join you at any time. They just need to download the free base game. For additional Friend Slots, my plan had bee…
- Weekly (Sorta) Update: Flashy Minimap, Literally - 30 October 2023
Hello, So, sure enough, although I never promised anything, my weekly build update streak ended. This is partly due to the fact I’ve been working on a new trailer and partly my failure as a human being. Also, this update isn’t terribly exciting either. I’ve shown my game at a few, small more in-person events in the last couple weeks and still felt like I needed to make some changes the beginning sequence to help players understand. I refuse to just put giant text chunks and instead, each time I see someone struggle in a way I don’t want them to struggle, I make inch by inch “concessions” in my “tutorial.” Anyway, build 0.4.155 is now available. - Minimap now flashes the first time you get on the whale’s saddle - New approach for dog damage that I may revert: when they lose their last heart, they buck their riders and auto fly back to whale and cannot be shot down out of the sky and are…
- Watermelon Tree(?) Maybe - 14 October 2023
Hello, I'm working on a new trailer for the campaign for Flock of Dogs, so that doesn't fit into a feature/bug list, but here's the other stuff I did: - Pumpkin patch started - Melon made - spig bug wings and improved line work - thinner slide - Regression grabbing double mops fixed - ForkTetro0 removed when coming back from fork to the grove - Level design redo at the fork (again again!) - Fixed lingering Show Hints cc for whale pilot - DashedLines permanently on now - Fixed no null check for nest dog - Pit always tries to summon old Flock - Better arrow nocking - Put balloon ring on festival - Preventing CATboxes from appearing when block buffet ends - Fixed "Injured" appearing on touch and also changed wording to "No Hearts" - "No Kiting Allowed" pops up at grove now midweek build (I introduced some pretty silly issues and pushed a build a few days after last Friday to fix them): - I…
- Some quick fixes - 9 October 2023
Fixed collision on the stones at the Fork and getting on/off the ladder from dogback at the treehouse. Fixed the loading screen overlay staying on after loading into game failures or timeouts. Some other reported issues about the black screen or transitioning out of bounds I couldn't reproduce yet, so those aren't fixed.
- Weekly Update: Digitally, Manually Made Manual - 7 October 2023
Hello, Alright, so, you'd be surprised, but people have, at times, been confused about how to play Flock of Dogs. So I created a Flock Manual and made it accessible from the menu at any time. I like it. Fun to draw. I also played a lot of StarCraft: BW and the alpha for Stormgate this week. Sorry not sorry. - New Flock Manual in menu - Restructured the Fork area yet again - Fixed some Build-A-Pup 3000 sounds playing at wrong time - Whale parking lot at Rossmoor Park - Plank Bridges are back! - Fixed issue with dead BlobWebs - Fixed leaky faucet - Fixed BlueBirther animation - Fixed BlueBirther loot spread - Fixed an issue with SwitchPro controller, but maybe there's still an issue? - Fixed issue with SkyTrack editing tools throwing a million warnings -Max
- A Week of Mostly Fixes - 30 September 2023
Hello, Build 0.4.143 is now available on the public branch. Kinda a boring week. - Fixed generalization of birther, rockden, thornyden hp - Fixed synincg DogHearts count animation state - Fixed joining players not disabling floaties of already playing players - Fixed jetengine CAT preventing whale lift off (sooo ironic hahaha) - Fixed backing out of gavel menu with mouse - Fixed faucet blocking input and droplets turning on when spouting - Fixed null ref error in solarstation topdown/profile view - Fixed EarEel dying RPC - Warnings and errors will now toss damage nums of "!!!" - Wrapped some other warnings - Hiding whale shadow when landing in cocoon - Slightly better whale HUD visuals - Fixed overriding cached preset keyboard maps - Fixed clouds around treehouse with too much water - Workaround for dogs dashing into giants at treehouse and breaking them - Fixed popup controls menu high…
- Hotfix for Actually Including CATs in the Trader's Wares - 23 September 2023
Version 0.4.137 (really should be perfectly compatible with ver 136) I didn't update the trader to sell the new (C)etacean (AT)tachments like the turbine, pencils, vacuum, faucet. Also fixed an issue with the "Retreat to Fork" option where everyone but the host would get dropped. Fixed a text wrapping issue. Defined a previously undefined color palette.
- The CAT System - 22 September 2023
Hello. The (C)etacean (AT)tachment (S)ystem (hereafter referred to as CATS) allows you to affix a (C)arrier (AT)tachment (hereafter referred to as a CAT) to your whale. It's existed for a long time, but now been much more fully fleshed out, including the abliity to swap them around, install duplicate CATs, and also some super cool new CATs. - Cannons save and load correctly with CAT system - ToolRack tools no longer lost - FestivalFlyer improved - JetEngineCATBox improved - Maybe fixed prep list - Some levelloading issues maybe fixed, but untested - Better treehouse island fencing - Made CloudVacuum CAT that eats clouds for water - Made Faucet CAT that lets you turn on/off water flow - Water numbers pop up in specific locations not just the middle of the whale - Made Pencils CAT that acts barbed defenses mounted on the whale - Made Turbine CAT that, you know, straps a jet engine to the…
- And We’ll All Float On, Okaaay - 15 September 2023
Dear Flock, Updates! Version 0.4.130: Floaties animations done! “Difficulty” menu option added, with limited capacity Minimap icons added in Blue Blobs Land Won’t get stuck using ToolRack from dogback anymore CarrierAttachment(CAT) boxes replacing the old attachment system Cannons now attached to whale through CAT box system Fixed whale reins flailing when transitioning levels Cloud colors are now biome specific New idle animations on players (very subtle, probably not worth the time heh) Restructured Minigame Park (brought minigames closer together, shrunk LazyRiver) Fixed pup null ref on Build-A-Pup 3000 Fixed BlueBirther pulsing animation Improved “how to fire cannons” tips Shelves can now be installed on either flipper Whale sinking now brings the group back to the Fork instead of forcing everyone back to title screen Can build nests midair now Can swipe the water bowl with your mop…
- Moonbones for the Masses - 8 September 2023
Hey everyone, It’s been a while, so I’m pretty excited/nervous to finally update the public build and share all the things I’ve been working on. As for other interesting news, I went to GDC and saw someone wearing a Flock of Dogs shirt! Then I came home and got COVID, then I broke my ankle playing soccer and had to have surgery. I would say those things delayed me a bit, but only slightly. (As I type this, I’m headed to physical therapy, got new running shoes, and am expected to return to soccer in about a month, so I’m in a good mood.) Here’s a recap of the features added since February 15th: Moonbones Reworked the tutorial/treehouse area/fork area Dog breeds have different starting stats now Holding down input no longer required on menu, if only 1 local player Support for controllers without triggers And a “simple aim” option, if you don’t have two thumbsticks Minigame Park has some p…
- Belated Valentine's Day Update - 15 February 2023
Feb 15, 2023 Many fixes. Network stuff, UI stuff, gameplay, etc. Added a controls menu and an in-game platform I call the "input switcheroo" to view controls and rebind controls, if you're using a keyboard. You can now start straight away at the Minigame Park, the Fork, or the Treehouse, which is cool. The big news is that you can now also go beyond the gate, into the Air River, and play a demo of the first two biomes. And the Flight to the Festival DLC page is now up on Steam. -Max P.S. Alright, so of course, many things are unfinished, so I won’t even bother listing those. I plan to release an official FoD Development Sky Map (aka road map) in my next update. I will mention some significant known issues though: If you venture beyond the gate, sometimes, after completing the two demo stages, some clients will freeze at a black screen. Sometimes, everyone freeze. Sometimes, the game rec…
- 3rd Week EA: All I Want For Christmas is Bug Reports - 22 December 2022
Merry Christmas! Santa's brought me only bugs, which I love, because I eat them alive. Also, you can now consistently, successfully kick people out of your game. The menus are prepped for future Friend Slotting. I've done away with the thorny brambles blocking the air layer. This always seemed weird to me, but I wanted some method of trapping the dogs in the treehouse area until they meet the whale. So I've reworked the giant tetris blocks a bit so they're damageable even by slow whale rammings. You can access emotes with 1 or with the DPad now. They're somewhat limited, but lemme know if there's some emotion you just must convey. Man, UI tweaking is so fiddly and takes so long. I'll just mention though that it's so nice that I no longer really clench up in fear that my game will break when I'm playing online with a friend and we're transitioning from are to area. So that's some progres…
