A New Era

Hey everyone, the time has come to enter the New Era. Kickabout League has been reborn. This has been a vision I've had for the game dating back to 2020. I actually talked to Mod Zeph (Creator of KAL) about it. Granted, my version is different than what he had in mind in 2009, of course, but nonetheless, single player now exists.

My initial idea was to have an option in the pregame lobby where you could 1v1 a bot. Maybe have different difficulties. That was it. Then it hit me one day, why have that when I can create an entire community? They can have their own "lives" on the game and make decisions like a human would. So I started planning heavily and looking into what was feasible. Here's what I came up with :)

I've been training a neural network behind the scenes. Each bot has its own "brain" and can make decisions for itself. They all have their own skill levels, play styles, and schedules. They can gain EXP, use the auction house, use different formations, etc., etc. Some are grinders and play a lot, some have membership, some quit the game, some use 4 tanks, some are going for Diamond Division. Kickabout now has an entire player base of bots that inhabit the game. This is my solution to our low player base. Now there are always "people" online. The days of sandbox are over.

Think of this as if Kickabout League just got released on day 1. Everyone starts fresh, the entire game is added, and there are always people online. For those who don't wish to start over, that's totally fine. You have the option to still play the game we have today.

Here are all the things I have added:

• AI bots with their own "identities" • Launcher to choose between Classic or Maxed • Everyone starts fresh, Pebble, empty auction house, etc. • Earning and spending money • Gaining EXP and leveling up • League points are now back • Rated is back with its matchmaking • Diamond Division winner each week • Player shop has been restored, adding new players with each new league • All trinkets have been added • Exhibition mode is back • Auction house is fully functional again • Orb Coins are back; you can spend them in-game now instead of going to a website • All 73 achievements are added • Tournament mode up to 8 players • Friends list and private messages are back • Fullscreen has been updated and implemented • Various bug fixes

The bots also have basic chat functionality as well. For those of you who do not like that, you can always type !chat and hit Enter. This will hide/disable them talking for you. To distinguish a bot from a real player, I changed their names to be orange. I'm sure there will be bugs, so please let me know if anyone encounters them.

Everything from the original game is now restored. It really comes down to sandbox mode vs. everything I mentioned above. I've seen the logs: someone logs in, nobody's on, gets off in 5 minutes. Same with new players. Now, they log in, and there's a whole "living" lol, world online, 24/7. You can always play the game now :)

This entire project has been nothing but pure passion. Hundreds of hours of work. I know everyone (that's still left) and future returning players just want to play the game they loved from their childhood, and I hope I was able to bring back some of that nostalgia. Even if you only play it once ;)

To update: open Kickabout League Reborn (it updates itself), close it, and open it once more. If you'd like to switch later, run Change-Game-Mode.bat in the game folder.

Note: The auction house screenshot and video are from a simulated future point in the game while I was testing.

- Z I B