ALPHA v0.10.9 patch release (possibly the last "ALPHA" build...)

[Mini Militia Classic Alpha Force]

[Hunter wrote this without supervision or editing... Prepare yourself for a minor update accompanied by a classic Hunter Formed Wall of Text ™]

Greetings MMC Alpha Force!

v0.10.9 is live for Google Play users (iOS users aren't getting much in this release they already got 98% of this release in v0.10.7)

We're hoping to call this the LAST ALPHA** build v0.10.9 the "The QOL Unification of disparate versions, i.e., Achieve Feature Parity in a single release..." release date to public [4/10/2023] +/- 24 hours ago. Everyone should have access to it now if not shortly. Honestly it's a mostly skippable update. Mostly...

**[HYPE] There is a greater than zero chance this is the LAST Alpha build.**

As per usual Google users may have to flush their Google Play app cache and/or reboot to get it to show up.

Apple users will get an email from TestFlight as per usual! BUT you may not  get one for this release because if v0.11.0 drops before review happens then... Why bother? We will just get the latest. There is a chance v0.10.9 never reaches the App Store in time. We will see. There is also a chance it drops, then v0.11.0 drops a day or an hour before... so we'll see. Just giving you a heads up and you aren't not missing much by skipping this update.)

A not so exciting release with a few minor changes to try out:
This is the merging and accumulation of the disparate v0.10.7 (iOS only) and v0.10.8 (android only) releases, bug fixes we had ready to go that don't need a new version, plus a few QOL tweaks. And we snuck in some RG6 improvements... but they were long needed ones... But read the notes below... mention about what's next (beta) below...

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https://www.appsomniacs.com/static/games/doodlearmy2/news.html
Release Notes:
Added a manual region reset button to wipe tracking previous existence of region nodes
Changed chat so non-signed in users are not able to chat more than two characters
Fixed crash caused by invalid Unicode glyph injection (this was v0.10.8 for Google Play users)
Fixed lobby screen where connection state was not displaying correctly
Fixed scope issue found in Training
Changed RG6 so its more effective (rounds explode on player contact and timing/placement adjustments to explosions affected by network speed, i.e., more better in lagged situations)
Fixed iOS 16 LAN issue not allowing games to be found (multicast network problem)
Attempted fixes for Scoring and Tracer issues (please confirm your reported issues as we are not able to recreate these in house, but we think we see what might cause the problem)
Adjusted text on the Custom Screen dialogs
Fixed Crash found using iOS Screen Record
Tweaked fire button labels
Fixed bug when exiting the settings screen the menu music track would play
Altered how user created content (text) is sent between clients and servers
Adjusted team validation code to start games more quickly
Changed room force start from 60 to 35s (that might mess with people working through a between game ad still... more on ads in coming releases... we want to improve that experience...)
Adjusted Attributes of the RG6 (to make it 'thwoomf boom' better)
Fixed crash associated with spectate mode

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Whew! You read this far... I specialize in walls of text...
Ok so  v0.11.0 is the next release and we believe our first BETA CANDIDATE.

We will test this in Alpha first before we enter the BETA period, hopefully bless it rapidly, then see if it works for everyone else THEN IF Google let's go into the open beta state with this build we'll do that on Google Play. We will likely have other releases to solve those issues. There will not be much in the way of game features. We expect the last bit to be updating partner SDKs, meeting legal and platform compliance (i.e., NOT GAME DEVELOPMENT... well it is part of publishing games... just not the fun stuff.)

Oh yah... This Group will close soon. No one else gets in... or out... (well anyone can get out... it's just a google group you can manage yourself... but you may want to stay.) It may go private at some point. We will start up a BETA group... or take over the OLD one... Oh... Whose up for a raid? :D I say we take that over. We are 60k strong... that old DA2 beta group has... like 5k~6k people signed up... anyway... we will advertise there in any case, but not till we're beta operational and publicly viewable.

If we have to go to v0.12.x to go beta we hit problems... it happens. But we don't foresee a large change of that.

**Understand that BETA does not mean DONE.**

Beta testing will be a journey too. A journey about tuning and trying out new and old ideas in similar and different ways to create new shared and solo experiences... Making sure we aren't missing something and the most unbearable bugs are squashed. We are even looking at updating our game engine!!! :O Seriously, that is a huge can of worms and introduces new bugs... and things are a bit different in that too. It's always an epic undertaking. But besides that we hope to be doing FAR less large system updates and expanding on what we have built up and make it better, maybe even right someday... (like working leaderboards, a leaderboard system that scales as we grow instead of just timing out. :P) 

We will also be updating the roadmap to mark out what direction we INTEND to head out in... but as you all well know, sometimes we get there as planned (it happens! sometimes!), but sometimes we have to adjust and go off-roading a bit.

Thank you all for your time and help. We hope you have gotten some enjoyment out of the (mostly) free access to the game as we made changes (thank you all for the feedback.) We've seen the payment system gently arrive (optional and not blocking play as planned) and introduced/tried economy elements (tokens, battle coins, not everything worked well, but we tried and now we know and have a better idea how to proceed.) You've got a taste for the different ways we will monetize. E.g., via ad view and pass gated services. Pass perks will be expanded as we grow our capability. There will be very very few intrusions by money into the game space itself by design. The only thing money will do is accelerate time (skip the grind, see no ads, etc.) and is not a pay to win model to pad your skills or give unfair advantages for a cash exchange.  You will still have to "get gud" on your own... and practice. True gaming, sprinkled from the outside with the need to pay those bills that keep us on the project and who knows... maybe we can grow this thing up to add a few more dedicated staff someday. All ideas on the table.

I think the last 2.5 years we have given you an idea of where we are going with this... We have two main missions. "Replace what was missing as close as possible while simultaneously preparing for what the future can be". We are on on our way... Now we march! (yes... MORE MARCHING! we aren't done, and you haven't seen the new stuff coming yet...  I am very excited for some of the cool things coming.)

Until then always have as much fun as you can!

There will be more on what to expect from the beta later.

From myself, Hunter, and I will also speak for Chad and the rest of folks giving time to make this thing float again:

We thank you.!

Truly in service,
Appsomniacs

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P.S. I write these things a few sentences at a time across multiple weeks... usually waiting for builds to finish, sometimes I add too much... this may be one of those times... and I hope its not too hard to understand... but if you have questions... ask! We will get to them and try to answer them directly or in an update if a lot of folks have the same questions!

-Hunter