Awesomenauts Message Board

Awesomenauts Assemble breaks down the MOBA genre's walls and invites everyone to join the multiplayer madness.

An early version of Ronimo Games' Starstorm expansion for Awesomenauts will be available on Thursday. The developer earned $345,835 in September on Kickstarter to fund the expansion, which will feature five new characters and a map for the arena battler, in addition to a new spectator mode and replay system.

Thursday's expansion is the first of many updates for the game, and focuses on one of the five playable Starstorm characters, Ted McPain, "one of the great heroes of the first AI Wars." The pants-less character comes with a transformable weapon, which switches between a shotgun and a rapid-fire machine gun. The developer says that Thursday's early access DLC also includes the first set of custom game settings, including a new deathmatch game mode.

The full Starstorm expansion is expected to be be complete by the end of 2014, and Ronimo Games will continue to launch pieces of the DLC in multiple stages over the coming months.

Ronimo's Kickstarter campaign for the Awesomenauts: Starstorm expansion opened a revenue lane worth $345,835. The expansion originally had a goal of $125,000, which it achieved in seven days, and went on to tick off several stretch goals. It has already achieved goals for adding a new character, replays and a spectator mode.

Since Ronimo is also taking direct PayPal pledges, the actual campaign total for Starstorm is around $408k.

"Ronimo's own page will remain open for a short while longer, although all physical rewards have been removed," the company mentioned in a prepared statement. "And since Ronimo's own crowdfunding page is still open, the next stretch goal might also be met. At $415k a fifth character and third song will also be built!"

As things stand now, when Starstorm eventually drops, it will include four new Awesomenauts, new map, two new songs, "full spectator mode and replay system" and custom games setup, allowing fully customizable private matches.

Ronimo Games' 2D MOBA, Awesomenauts, is free to play this week on Steam, with the full game available for $3.39 (66 percent off) for those who like what they try. Awesomenauts will be free to play until Sunday. Different skins for the combatants are also 50 percent off during the sale, which ends next Monday.

The sale and free week come as Awesomenauts' Kickstarter for its "Starstorm" expansion enters its final week. The add-on already surpassed its $125,000 goal in late August, and is currently at $208,648 with 4,539 laning up to back it.

Awesomenauts has two main goals in its existence. The first is to defy all genre definitions with its blend of 2D RTS platforming and MOBA-like character selection and power usage. The second is, or was, to raise $125,000 on Kickstarter for the production of an expansion. This has been thoroughly smashed within just seven days, opening up a whole slew of stretch goals to now attain. This will pile on top of the already impressive promises of new characters, a spectator mode and more. Dev team Romino Games are understandably pleased with the situation and their slightly frenetic, totally adorable announcement video is below.

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Ronimo Games has surpassed the $125,000 Kickstarter goal it set to create an expansion to its 2D online battle arena game Awesomenauts. With 2,587 backers pledging $128,691 (as of this writing), Ronimo still has 23 days to hit stretch goals.

The expansion, as of now, will add three new heroes, a spectator mode, global chatrooms, a twin-stick control scheme and more music. The next goal of $200,000, which will add a new map and more music, followed by a custom game mode and "replays and infinite spectator mode" at $270k and $380k, respectively.

If you want to hear more about how the Kickstarter is going (has went, will go?), check out our Super Joysitq Podcast special from day three of Gamescom. Around 17:52, Ronimo head Jasper Koning discusses the expansion's Kickstarter, before the conversation twists into designers losing to players of their own games.

Awesomenauts, the 2D online battle arena game by the Dutch developer Ronimo Games, is coming to PS4. It's already out on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.Read more...

Awesomenauts, as we've discussed, was created to resemble Saturday morning cartoons of the 1980s. Now, developer Ronimo Games is trying to blur the line between the video game and its imaginary cartoon counterpart with a very real toy.

Clunk, Awesomenauts' player-chomping, self-destructing tank, is getting his own figurine. The figure is available for pre-order from Game Toys for €23.99 ($30.82). The figure has to reach 1000 pre-orders before it will go into production, and is expected for a Q4 2013 release. Ronimo notes that if it fails to reach that number, orders will be refunded minus a 2% cancellation fee.

Awesomenauts is getting physical in the UK. Merge Games is giving the PC version the collector's edition treatment, tossing in a handful of goodies with a boxed version of Ronimo's excellent 2D MOBA. The collector's edition includes the Awesomenauts soundtrack, the Costume Party DLC pack, a sticker and a an extra gift key to share the game with a friend.

The Awesomenauts Collector's Edition is set to be released on June 28 for £19.95. It's available for pre-order now from Amazon UK and directly from Merge Games. Merge is currently offering a £2 discount and, incidentally, will ship the game worldwide.

Patch 1.20

New Features
New playable Naut: Ayla! This devious little girl is voiced by Ashly Burch!

Major fixes
- New players now get a lower rating and league in the leaderboards, so that they start in league 9 (or sometimes maybe league 8) instead of in league 5. This rating decrease gradually disappears in their first 30 matches. This counts total matches finished in ALL seasons, not per season.
- Since this changes the scores of all new players, a new Season is started, making the previous Season extremely short!
- Matches now update their league based on who is in the match. So if a match is started by a league 3 player and then a league 1 player joins, the match changes into a league 2 match, instead of remaining a league 3 match as before.
- Made some improvements in Season transition code, hopefully fixing the issue that some people were shown in the leaderboard as if they had played a very large number of matches and had a very low win percentage.
- Fixed that an incorrect leave penalty was sometimes applied.
- Fixed that anti-cheat code would sometimes incorrectly think there was a speedhack happening and would then quit the game.

Minor fixes
- Fixed some text errors
- Roof thickness of the core on Aiguillion is now the same as on the other maps
- When the bottom turret on Aiguillion gets destroyed you will no longer be shoved to the side when standing above it in the neutral zone

General balance

Raelynn
- Snipe and Timerift buttons wont slow down the run of Raelynn when they havent been purchased yet
- HC bomb second stage damage increase reduced from *4 to *3
- 1.21 gigawatt battery duration reduced from 4 to 3

Vinnie & Spike
- Smoke screen can not interrupt a dash anymore
- Smoke screen red bandana should not be interrupted anymore while being in the smoke
- Spike dive base damage increased from 30 to 35 damage
- The godfish damage increased from +2 to +3
- Spikedive cooldown reduced from 8s to 7s
- Withered president mask cooldown reduction reduced from -2s to -1.5s
- Rigged casino games cooldown reduction reduced from 1.5s to 1s
- Bag of goldfish now activates when the player has 150 Solar
- Bag of goldfish price increased from 100 to 150 Solar
- Alien abduction kit is now 25% of damage dealt and works in the spikes instead of the dive

Genji
- Fixed an issue where Genji wouldnt receive his own blessing
- The Last Pieridae Transformae doesnt have a delay on the droid spawn anymore
- Prefab cocoons wont randomly drop through glass platforms anymore
- Healing shots wont be reflected anymore by friendly Froggys

Froggy G
- Damage against turrets after activating mutant ninja worms should now be the same as normal damage instead of less
- Ice cubes stun duration reduced from 0.4s to 0.3s per stage
- Thornfish damage reduced from 3 to 2
- Thornfish price decreased to 280 Solar

Clunk
- Lifebite cooldown increased from 4.5s to 5s

Leon
- Cocoon works normally on clones now
- Leons own stealth now works better with the stealth powerup on Aiguillon
- Clones now show the stealth icon when killing an opponent
- Clones now show the right animation when doing a clover of honour hit
- Fixed that Clover Of Honour extra damage would not give additional lifesteal.

Derpl
- Cant perform knockback pulse when cocooned any more
- Cant shoot through the barrier anymore on Ribbit IV to hit the turret in toplane
- Traps now need 0.6s to arm

Lonestar
- Dynamite cooldown increased from 5s to 6s
- Mr TNT price increased from 110 to 130 per stage


Skolldir
- Rubber ducky stun duration reduced from 0.4s to 0.3s

Gnaw
- Weedling planting damage cant be reflected anymore

Ronimo Games has shared this video on the first anniversary of its latest title Awesomenauts, featuring a look at all of the game's iterations over its history. From early alpha builds to the release version and then the various skins and updates, you can watch the awesomeness increase in front of your eyes.

Ronimo promises more is coming to the world of Awesomenauts. Update 1.18 is currently in testing, and it will add a balance overhaul and a Leon Pirate skin into the game that will replace all of that character's audio. Admiral Swiggins, the winning character from the "Design Your Own Awesomenaut" contest, is also set to release soon.

Awesomenauts, a sort of side-scrolling platform-MOBA, is rather good. Science tells us that good things are made better by having free updates, and that’s precisely what has happened in the case of Awesomenauts, which gets a new map called Aiguillon and two new heroes. You can see these things of which I speak in the trailer below. Writing these article makes me realise we never WIT’d Awesomenauts, which seems like a dire oversight.

I am to blame. I will seek penance.(more…)

Awesomenauts' patch 1.17, now available on Steam, adds two new skins and a map called Aiguillon, which is the French word for "Sting." We're not sure why a map dedicated to a great English songwriter is outfitted with a stealth orb powerup and lots of insect imagery, but -- wait. We just got it.

Ronimo Games introduced its 13th character to Awesomenauts, and his name is Genji. Genji is one of the last living Entin, a caterpillar-like monk "on a pilgrimage to restore his faith in the great space butterfly."

He is also a support character that specializes in "shielding allies and banishing enemies." Ronimo tells us that Genji is being put through testing in closed beta, along with a sizable balance overhaul for the game, so there's no specific date for when the character will join the rest of the Awesomenauts crew. The official site for the game lists him as a Steam exclusive, though.

As promised the new character Raelynn has been added to the PC version of Awesomenauts. She packs a mean sniper rifle and a nifty eye patch and a just fabulous cape. You can scope out her abilities in this new trailer.

Version 1.8 of Awesomenauts will be released on PC next week, bringing with it a brand new character and some Halloween content. The new character, Raelynn, relies on her faithful pulse rifle, Cuddles, to deal out the bulk of her damage. Her special abilities include deployable cover and what sounds like a pretty devastating sniper shot. According to her description, the snipe ability is "able to zap any target over great distances, the resulting beam will take out most of the surroundings along with the target." Ouch.

1.8 also includes new Halloween content, which will redecorate the Awesomenauts arenas with spider webs and Jack-o'-lanterns. Spooky.

Yesterday saw part one of our brief history of the games which followed in the lanes of DOTA. Part two looks at what happened next.(more…)

Ronimo Games recently announced a new character for Awesomenauts, Skolldir the "terribly overweight space viking." Skolldir is voiced by Simon from The Yogscast gaming channel. Check out the announcement trailer and gallery for this large, melee-heavy character after the break.

Patch 1.5
19-9-2012

New features
- Added a Downloadable Content section to the Main Menu.
- Custom character skins can now be purchased in the Steam Store and used in-game. The following skins are now available:

?Voltar - Disco Voltar
?Froggy g - Grandmaster splash
?Lonestar - Officer Lonestar
?Yuri - Kosmonaut Yuri
?Coco - Coco Hawaii
?Gnaw - Bumble Gnaw
?Derpl - Hot Rod Derpl
?Leon - Musketeer Leon
?Clunk - Expendable Clunk

- Added an option to limit the matchmaking search area based on geographical location. There are 4 different settings:
Regional
Same or nearby region (Recommended)
Half way around the globe
Worldwide
- All characters will now issue one of several unique taunts when achieving a killing spree.

Character balance/fixes

Coco Nebulon
- Killing opponents with the effect of Super Conductor (Electrify) will now display the correct skill icon in the.

Sheriff Lonestar
- The position of Dark Matter Flashbang (Throw Grenade) and Rubber Sleeves (Throw Grenade) in the loadout screen has been switched.
- The size of the explosion effect from, Bull Charger (Hyper Bull) has been reduced by 20%.
- The price of Hyper Bull has been increased from 120 Solar to 135 Solar.

Gnaw
- The price of Spike Slime (Acid Spit) has been reduced from 290 Solar to 250 Solar.
- The price of Rotten Teeth (Bite) has been increased from 260 Solar to 290 Solar.

Derpl Zork
- The weight of Derpl has been increased. Derpl is now able to push other characters with more force and can no longer be pushed away by others.
- Damage from Solid Fist Bullets (Siege Mode) is now consistent with regular bullets and damage upgrades will now applied correctly.
- The price of Siege Mode has been reduced from 145 Solar to 135 Solar.
- The price of Solid Fist Bullets has been increased from 135 Solar to 225 Solar.

Voltar
- The added health from Energy Drink (Healbot) has been decreased from 20 to 10 per stage.
- The price of Energy Drink (Healbot) has been increased from 170 Solar to 205 Solar.
- The attack speed of Turret Add-on (Healbot) has been decreased from 240 to 200.
- The tooltip of Turret Add-on (Healbot) will now display attack speed.
- The visual effect of Turret Add-on (Healbot) has been improved.
- The price of Turret Add-on (Healbot) has been increased from 190 Solar to 230 Solar.
- The price of Hydraulic Sugar Dispenser (Healbot) has been increased from 140 Solar to 170 Solar.
- The price of Cortex Tank has (Healbot) has been increased from 140 Solar to 175 Solar.

Clunk
- The price of Vacuum Bite has been reduced from 155 Solar to 135 Solar.

General fixes: Major fixes
-Improved skill-based matchmaking by splitting all players into nine evenly-sized divisions based on their skill-level. The game will connect you to games from your own division as well as those one below and one above your level. If you are in the bottom division you will be able to join games 2 divisions up and if you are in the top then you will be connected to 2 divisions down. We are still making improvements to this system, and you will this feature being integrated further into the menus in future updates.

General Fixes: Minor fixes
- The behaviour of the flying droids on AI Station 404 has been improved.
- Added several platforms on AI Station 404.

Okay, so technically Voltar won't be more omniscient (is that even possible?), but he will be getting a nice buff in the Awesomenauts 1.4 update. Specifically, his healbot is getting a nice buff.

Furthermore, Coco will pick up some new upgrades, including a "blaze" effect for her lightning ball and homing electricity particles for her shock attack. The latter looks particularly nasty, dealing lots of damage up close.

Patch 1.4 will be released next week.

Today packs a double dose of news for Awesomenauts on PC. First and foremost, the previously announced new character, Gnaw, is now available via a free update. Gnaw features abilities such as gross, biological turrets and nasty, noxious vomit.

Developer Ronimo Games has also implemented a novel anti-cheating measure, a special "league" just for cheaters. The gist of it is pretty simple: Get caught cheating and you will be entered into a matchmaking system populated exclusively by other cheaters. Regular readers will recognize the system as similar to Max Payne 3's "Cheater Pool." Ronimo wishes all of the league's new members "GG."

After announcing a new character for the PC version of Awesomenauts almost immediately after launch, we asked developer Ronimo Games if the console versions would receive the character as well. "We're all for it and ready to do it," Ronimo's Jasper Koning tells Joystiq, "but it's up to the publisher of the console version, DTP." He added that the developer has "no concrete plans right now, but we're very hopeful."

The cost-prohibitive nature of updates on consoles - the Xbox 360 in particular - has been well publicized, especially given the recent drama surrounding Fez' latest patch, which has the potential to corrupt save files and which developer Polytron will never fix.

Also, while Ronimo is hopeful that the new character, Gnaw, will hit the console versions of Awesomenauts, history paints a grim picture of the possibility. Both Monday Night Combat and Dungeon Defenders, for example, have seen numerous updates and pieces of downloadable content on PC, while the PSN and XBLA versions have seen few updates, if any.

Patch 1.2
August 10th, 2012

Character Balance & Gameplay fixes
- Derpl will no longer be stuck in the jumppads in the middle of Ribbit IV
- Improved base health of Droids, and their health increase during gameplay
- Derpl:
- turretmode bullets range improved, base 7.4 > 7.6, upgrade 2 > 2.4
- trap snare duration upgrades changed 0.5 > 0.4, 1 > 0.8
- trap cooldown changed 5 > 6
- Coco:
- ball lightning range upgrade now also increases speed
- ball lightning blind upgrade buffed, 1.5 > 3 Seconds.
- ball lightning damage changed, base 25 > 35, upgrades 15 > 5, upgrade cost 205 > 180
- ball lightning cooldown changed, base 7 > 5.5, upgrade -1.5 > -1
- Lonestar
- grenades now always explode on contact after 0.3 Seconds. This is no longer affected by the bounce upgrade
- Clunk
- missile string with upgraded attack speed should now be correct
- attack speed upgrades fixed (order was incorrect: second tier was weaker than first)
- Leon
- crit upgrade split into two upgrades that add +10 damage each. Critchance remains 15%
- base attack speed reduced 150 > 136, upgrade cost 195 > 215
- Voltar
- healing speed changed 60 > 67
- drone cooldown reduction upgrade fixed
- fixed that Healbot knockback on blue team was inverted (pull instead of push)
- Froggy G
- dash cooldown upgrade cost 110 > 120, 180 > 190
- dash stun upgrade cost 130 > 140
- Shot attack speed upgrade cost 145 > 165
- Shot range upgrade cost 145 > 185
- Yuri
- fixed timing inconsistencies with healing bubble

General fixes: major fixes
- fixed a crash when switching control scheme while a popup is being opened or closed
- achievement Masters Of The Universe has been fixed
- fixed that only one wireless Xbox controller was usable at once
- fixed that non-Xbox controllers that output as XInput were read double, causing one controller to control two splitscreen players (for example Logitech F310)
- music now mutes when the game window does not have focus (on alt+tab, for example)
- instead of crashing, game now shows a message if videocard drivers are grossly out of date

General fixes: minor fixes
- fixed that some network packages were lost before sending. This is probably only a minor networking improvement
- number of Solar Bosses killed is now tracked in the stats screen
- descriptions for the "Hawk Wolf Puma Bear" fixed in Spanish, French
- fixed that second bottom turret in Ribbit IV could sometimes be attacked from the back without returning fire
- window now minimizes when browser links in main menu are clicked
- improved menu controls with some control schemes in some specific places
- removed mute button from scorescreen and controls scheme configuration screen (button didnt do anything)
- various other minor fixes to functionality and texts

Topics that didnt make it into this patch and that we are working on:
- new character Gnaw will come soon!
- some players get excessive lag or too many network errors. Less than 0.1% of players cannot enter an online match at all. We are working on this.
- we are still looking for a fix for some players with various Nvidia cards who can only run on Low graphics quality, or not at all.
- a couple of players with specific Asus laptops cannot start the game at all. We are still looking for a fix for this.
- some users claim that there are bugs in the Rankings calculations, so we have added additional logging to be able to research that. If you see things like that you win and then see your ranking decrease, then send us a log plus extensive description of what happened, so that we can check what is going on.
- besides new characters and various fixes, we are working on something Really Cool And New (tm). We will not yet tell you what that is. Muhaha!

The PC version of Awesomenauts has barely been out for a week, and developer Ronimo has already announced its first new character. In an update coming "very soon," Gnaw will join the rest of the Awesomenauts. According to Ronimo Gnaw is "a dirty doglike creature who likes to bite and spit poisonous ooze on his foes." The new trailer (above) shows off some biting maneuvers, stationary turrets and some rather caustic-looking vomit. Gross.

Gnaw will be playable at Valve's booth during Gamescom this year, so we'll be sure to check him out. In the meantime, we've contacted Ronimo to find out if Gnaw will be coming to the console versions as well.

Awesomenauts is obviously a great name. It’s also a 2D platforming RTS that’s now out on PC. And if you don’t like the song on the trailer below, then everything is wrong with you.

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Awesomenauts is Now Available on Steam!

Conflict spans the stars as huge robot armies are locked in an enduring stalemate. As the Awesomenauts, you must tip the balance to gain an advantage. Head out to the battlefields with your friends in this 3-on-3 action platformer.

Plus, pick up the game before September 5th and receive 3 Awesomenaut-inspired items to use in Team Fortress 2. These items will be available in the upcoming days. Pick up the 3-pack to play with your friends.

Back in March, developer Ronimo Games told us it was in talks to bring Awesomenauts, its 2D MOBA title, to PC. Now, a scant four months later, Ronimo has announced that Awesomenauts is indeed coming to PC very soon. Interested players will be able to grab the game from Steam "within a month," and a Mac version will launch "shortly afterwards."

Check out the announcement trailer above, which includes the first look at Awesomenauts' new PC interface. If you haven't been keeping up, you can also read our review, which was rather positive.

Awesomenauts sure sounds happy about its impending PC release, with guitars going widdly-wee while a man sings a tale of wonder and glory. For some reason I imagine he’s a centaur with a cleft chin and a flowing mane of golden hair, standing on top of a hill and ripping the heck out of a Les Paul. Whether that’s a factual description or not, he’s certainly not the only creature happy about the release of the side-scrolling action RTS thing. The announcement trailer contains quotes from people demanding the release, including a personal favourite: “I wanna it for PC”. Well now you’re gonna to get it for PC. Release should be within a month.

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It’s been about two months since Awesomenauts launched on PlayStation Network, and we’re thrilled to see that the community has grown to be so active and vibrant. Teaming up with Sony to make Awesomenauts part of May’s PlayStation Plus offer has really helped to get our multiplayer platforming-shooter off to a running start. And now, we’re almost ready to launch the first big update for our game!

In this update, we’ve addressed two key concerns that we’ve heard from the community: balance and content. After two months of solid playing, we can confirm that the balance in the original version is pretty good, but not perfect. With this patch, we’re taking a couple of steps to further improve this balance, and bring it closer to where we want it to be. We’ve buffed some characters, and nerfed those who deserved it.

This patch doesn’t just bring boring stat changes, though. We’ve got some new characters for you, too! Coco Nebulon and Derpl Zork will join the original six Awesomenauts very, very soon. What we haven’t told you yet though, is that they’re going to be free!

So, let’s talk about Coco Nebulon – our first female character. She’s a space-surfing chick who comes from the watery world of Okeanos. She is great at harassing enemies with her Ball Lightning, which moves through everything and can be detonated at the press of a button. Whenever the tables turn, she also has a great move to punish chasers: a trail of slowing, damaging lightning particles. Basically, she’s great against everything that moves (but weaker against enemies that stand their ground).

And that’s where Derpl Zork comes in. His primary special skill is to turn his Combat Walker into a static turret with a heavy cannon that deals massive damage. Of course, he’ll be stuck in place until he transforms back — so running away from him shouldn’t be a problem. That is, unless Derpl uses his other ability, which places ensnaring traps on the battlefield. Derpl usually sits around in a field of traps, ready to blast anyone foolish enough to run into him.

Finally, Derpl has one last ace up his sleeve against enemies that try to get within range: the Trap skill actually changes into a Nuke-launching ability while in Turret mode. A large, homing Nuke that deals massive AOE damage — what’s not to love?

Coco and Derpl are both a lot of fun to play, and they add a lot of new teaming possibilities with the original ‘Nauts. We hope you guys have a lot of fun devising new strategies and tactics with these new characters, not to mention all of the skill and item changes we didn’t mention here. And for anyone who needed even more encouragement, we’ve added 5 more prestige levels!

We’ll see all you on the online battlefields soon!

The Awesomenauts soundtrack, created by Sonic Picnic, is now available separately. The entire soundtrack can be sampled for free right here, and you can purchase a download of your own for the pay-what-you-want price of $2 or more. In addition, those who spend at least $5 will get a chance to win the Awesomenauts soundtrack on vinyl (as seen in the video above).

That won't be your only chance to win a copy of the vinyl soundtrack either. We managed to snag a few copies ourselves, so keep your eye on Joystiq for a giveaway soon.