Patch notes: a cosy new clubhouse, a better first game and smoother phones

Since the last patch notes we have mostly been watching how new players get through their first few minutes, and fixing whatever got in the way. Along the way the clubhouse got a complete makeover. Here is everything that is new.

A cosy new clubhouse

The clubhouse is no longer a set of flat rooms: it is a warm, hand-painted place, with fairy lights that twinkle, lamps that glow, a PARTY NIGHT sign that shimmers and a lava lamp that actually bubbles. And there is more to do while you wait for friends:

• Take a seat. Tap a sofa cushion (or press E next to it) and your character sits down. Move or hop to get up again. There are two cushions, so bring a friend.
• Dance. Step onto the dance floor between the two speakers: your character starts dancing and the tiles light up under your feet.
• Kick the ball into the goal in the back wall. The coffee table and the speakers are solid now, so you walk around them and the ball bounces off them.
• The arcade cabinets face you properly, with each game's name on its marquee and a preview on its screen. Click one for the game's card.
• Hide behind the plants. The big leaves in the corners are in front of you, so you can play hide and seek. Your name stays visible, so it is not very good hide and seek.

The other two rooms got the same treatment. The Playground now has four bounce pads: walk or tap onto one, and steer towards another while you are in the air. You can still throw foam darts at the target dummies, and you can feed the chickens, who come running for a few seconds. In the Games room there is a bell on the desk: ring it and everyone in the room gets a shower of confetti.

To change rooms, walk into one of the doorways at the sides, or use the room tabs at the top. The next room slides in right beside the one you are leaving. The new rooms are light to load: your first visit downloads one picture of about 190 KB, and the other rooms load quietly in the background later.

Your first minutes

A lot of new players pressed Play now and then left before their first game started. So we rebuilt the first few minutes:

• Your name first. The welcome asks what we should call you. You get a random guest name, ↻ rolls another one and That's me keeps it.
• One big button. Until you have finished your first minigame, the clubhouse shows just the arcade and one big Play now. The Playground, the Games room and the arcade cabinets open up after your first game.
• Play now plays. No more waiting in an empty lobby. If a Play now party is already running, you take over one of its bots, with its points. Otherwise your own party starts straight away, with bots in the empty seats.
• Easy starters. A Play now party opens with games that are easy to pick up: one stick, one button. Your very first party is all starters and opens with Pattern Panic, and your first room gets Easy bots.
• The briefing waits for you. For your first five minigames in a public party, the briefing before each game waits up to 25 seconds so you can press Practice to try the game, or I'm ready ▶ when you are. On phones those buttons now sit right under the game's name instead of below the fold. There are no chaos twists in your first games either.
• No forgotten lobbies. Someone who left a lobby open in a background tab used to catch every Play now. Lobbies where nobody has done anything for a minute are now skipped.

Skip a game you don't fancy

On every party briefing there is now a Skip this game button. When half the players vote for it (or just you, if you are playing with bots), the next minigame is swapped for another one, and Ed announces the new pick. A skipped game stays out for the rest of the party. A Quick party has two skips, so use them wisely.

Butcher Blitz is about skill now

Butcher Blitz used to be six players in a shrinking ring of fire, swinging at everything. It felt random, so we rebuilt it as a game of duels:

• The burning ring is gone. The arena is open, with four pillars to duck behind.
• Two plain hits splat a rival. A backstab, or a punish (hitting someone who is still recovering from a missed or dodged swing), splats them at once. An OPEN! ring shows who is punishable.
• Your swing follows your aim while you wind up, so it no longer whiffs just because someone stepped aside.
• The clear leader wears a bounty crown: splatting them scores double.
• You respawn on the free spot furthest from everyone, and bots pick their duels instead of piling on.

Smoother on phones

• Spiky Wi-Fi no longer stutters. On some phones the game hitched about once a second when the Wi-Fi hiccupped. The game now smooths out late updates, so everyone keeps moving.
• Slow phones adapt. When a phone cannot keep up, the game first turns off some glow effects and then lowers the sharpness a little, until it runs smoothly again. After 30 smooth seconds it tries to go back up.
• A d-pad replaces the stick in Crate Carnage and Cash Muncher, which move square by square.
• A faster start. Instead of four half-built screens flashing by, you now see one loading screen and then the clubhouse. On 144 Hz monitors the clubhouse runs at 72 fps instead of 48, and the announcer's lines load when they are needed instead of all at once.
• Install Party Night as an app. After your first game we offer an Install card, and it is also in Menu → Settings. On an iPhone we show you how to add it to your home screen.

Smaller fixes

• Double speed and Speed ramp no longer make a minigame shorter: the timer counts real seconds again.
• Quick Draw bots now react according to their skill. Easy bots used to fire 0.23 seconds after DRAW!, faster than any human.
• Whack-an-Auditor is no longer one of the starter games.
• The Founder's party hat stays gold in the new art.
• The music and effects sliders under 🔊 now really reach 0% and 100% at the ends of the bar.

A note on privacy

If you found Party Night through one of our ads, we now ask you once, after you have played, whether we may tell Google that the ad led to a game. Allow and No thanks are the same size, nothing is shared unless you allow it, and you can withdraw under Menu → More. The privacy page has the details.

Thanks for playing, for voting 👍 and 👎 after your games, and for telling us what felt off. Missed the last round of changes? The previous patch notes cover the Career Ladder and ten new minigames.

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