Battlesnake Developer Update - January 2022
It's been a while since our last update, mostly because of all the excitement around wrapping up the 2021 Season, and then taking a well deserved holiday break. In all honesty, we were so busy making merry at the end of the year that we forgot the December update! So buckle up, we have some ground to cover in this one.
December 2021 Updates
We wrapped 2021 with our annual Winter Classic competition, where the top Battlesnake Developers from the 2021 Competitive season were invited to join us one last time, battling it out in a Royale 1v1 Tournament. If you missed the action, you can check it out both the Platinum and Elite Tournaments on Twitch.
Snake Customization data added to the API
Thanks to a feedback request from community member BoldBigflank, we have updated the data returned in the Battlesnake API to now include the customizations for each Battlesnake participating in the game. Check out the documentation here for where and how to find it.
Update on IPv6 Battlesnake URLs
Another great community feedback request from noveb asked about being able to use IPv6 URLs when registering a Battlesnake. Rob was able to investigate this, and we now offer support for IPv6 URLs for any Battlesnakes connecting through one of the Battlesnake regions in GCP.
Check out the Engine Regions documentation if you are interested!
Membership System Retired - Thank you for your support!
At the end of 2021, we decided to retire the Battlesnake Membership system. Brad had this to say about the decision:
As of December 2021 the Battlesnake Membership is no longer available.
We were humbled by the response from our community, and ultimately decided there are better ways to serve and reward everyone in the Battlesnake Community rather than limiting a few rewards to those able to support us financially.
Stay tuned for future updates as we implement these ideas and more!
January 2022 Updates
Having now rested, and being completely powered by seasonal cookies, we've hit the ground running for some major January updates.
Arena Updates
Chris has been very busy running experiments in 'Beta' Arenas, looking at ways to improve and tweak matchmaking, scoring, and the scheduling and frequency of games. Thanks to everyone who has joined a Beta Arena and given feedback - these experiments allow us to make informed decisions about how we make changes to Leagues, so we appreciate your contribution! If you'd like to keep up to date on all the latest around Arenas, be sure to join the #arenas channel in Discord.
The results of these experiments, and what decisions were made for the Spring League Arena are explained in the 2022 Competitive Season blog post.
Spring League 2022
Obviously everyone at Battlesnake HQ loves Leagues, so we are always excited about that, but this one is extra special as we have completely overhauled the entire user interface for our League events, updating everything from the tech stack it runs on to the user experience as a whole. This has all been made possible through the hard work of Sherri and Darcy, who are the defacto champions of style and good taste at Battlesnake HQ. The changes made are so significant that Sherri has agreed to guest on an episode of Deep Learning in March, to talk about the changes and how we approach UI/UX design at Battlesnake, so absolutely check that out if it interests you.
And if those visual treats were not enough, Spring League 2022 is also where we are introducing an entirely new game mode! Check out the blog posts on the 2022 Competitive Season for more details, and keep your eyes out for a future blog post dedicated entirely to Wrap Mode!
That's all for now. If you have any questions, reach out to us on the Battlesnake Discord server.