Spelunky 2's online multiplayer, which was delayed in September following a rough debut on the PlayStation 4, is now in open beta testing on Steam. Developer Mossmouth said matchmaking is working properly and the improvements made over the past month "have mostly paid off," but it hasn't been perfectly smooth sailing: A problem with invites means that many players have had to rely on matchmaking to try finding their friends online.
"This did not come up at all during the closed beta, and we suspected that the addition of multiple servers in preparation for the (much larger, more global) public beta might be related to the issue," the developer explained. "Reproducing these kinds of bugs can be tricky, but thankfully we were able to find a case of the bug to test and then put out a patch that seems to have fixed it for a lot of affected players!"
The immediate plan from here is to continue fixing online multiplayer bugs and other issues that come up. Beyond that, developers hope to have cross-platform play with the PlayStation 4 implemented within the first half of 2021, after which the online Arena mode will get some work. New invite methods will be added that will enable invitations through external platforms like Twitch, Twitter, and Reddit, and other multiplayer options "more fit for LAN parties and offline situations" will be looked at later in 2021.
If you want to invite friends to play, be sure you've updated to at least version 1.19.7a, which includes a fix for the invite problem. Select the "Online" option from the main menu, and then use either the Steam overlay to send an invitation through the friends list, or pop into Discord and DM your pal or use the matchmaking channel in the Spelunky 2 server. Note that your game activity must be set to "visible" in order for Discord invites to work: Assuming it is, click "+" next to the message prompt to make the magic happen.
Mossmouth said it's already got a "decent fleet" of servers in place and plans to more than double it in the future, with a focus on Asia, South America, and the US West Coast. It also warned that servers could go down without warning "for improvements" during the beta test, however. The full patch notes for the latest Spelunky 2 updates (that'd be 1.19.6a and 1.19.7a) are below.
- Added online (public beta)
- Fixed case where Olmec could get stuck to a wall in his second phase
- Fixed glitch when Olmec's UFOs try to spawn inside walls
- Fixed issue where mounted players could still toss bombs and ropes while inside pipes
- Falling platforms should now be a lot less likely to crush items when falling
- Prevented vendors from enraging on breaking a shop tile if they are already dead
- Prevented merchant from angering when she is dead and the player sneaks into a challenge
- Fixed case where vendors were not enraging on being killed while frozen
- Prevented vendors and NPCs from widening without limits on receiving damage continuously
- Prevented vendors from blaming players when they die due to spikes, lava, or thorn vines
- Increased sword-like weapons' shape
- The second jump of Axolotl can now be shortened if the player releases the jump button
- Player will now correctly stomp while hanging from a falling platform or any other floor
- Fixed another case where the player was receiving falling damage after being slowed down by the water
- Fixed case where a player was receiving falling damage after riding a mount
- Fixed case where a revived player that died while being cursed was being revived with one HP
- Fixed mole state on being flashed when is about to dig
- Prevented revived sorceress from immediately attacking after reviving if she had died on attack mode
- Fixed gravity for pitcher's mitt thrown entities on whipping them
- Parachute will now disable if the player goes underwater or enters into quicksand
- Fixed door transition when a non-cursed player is crossing a ghist's door and the cursed player dies
- Fixed money recount when a Hired Hand deposits the idol on a door
- Fixed grub state on being blown up by a player ghost
- Fixed axolotl buoyancy when it is stunned, killed, or frozen
- Fixed crash when a secondary player carried a gold monkey through the ending
- Fixed issue where large spear traps could spawn immediately to the left of arrow traps, rendering the last one almost useless
- Prevented unlockable characters from unlocking in the journal when the player is killed by a mate on an online game
- Tikimen can now pick up torches
- Fixed player state on being stunned by a sticky trap while riding a mount
- Prevented buyer player from auto picking up a bought power up when they already have it (in multiplayer)
- Added special message from certain King to certain playable character
- Added special message from certain thief to certain playable character
- Added "Cheater" message on rolling the same die twice
- Prevented ankh from triggering during the tunnel
- Added some items in the settings menu to preview the brightness setting
- Fixed sliding wall ceiling rubble in certain world
- Added custom rubble to Tide Pool spikes
- Fixed Imp's pot-holding animation
- Fixed numerous little artifacts, glitches, mispositioned sprites, etc., in the textures
- Added further decoration to jade ushabti to differentiate it from gold ushabti
- Darkened shop price background
- Fixed more blocked paths
