Meet Washoi: Our First Public Alpha

Welcome to Washoi!

v0.9.33 is the first public alpha of Washiki Washoi!

An arena shooter in your browser. Wall jumps, crouch slides, rockets across a courtyard and a blade that lights up teal before things get personal. Built on our own SHAG engine, with a fixed 125 Hz authoritative simulation underneath.

If you have followed this devlog from the beginning, the first thing that engine watched was a plant in a pot. We have come a fair distance from checking whether it needs water.

The arenas, sound and learned bot routes came together in v0.9.32. This release opens the game to the public. There are considerably more explosions now.

Four Ways to Settle It

• ▸Duel. One opponent, map weapons and items to control. Learn the routes, watch the armor, and make the next fight happen on your terms.
• ▸Amphi. Best-of-three 1v1 deathmatch in a dedicated arena. Players and items respawn during each round; the higher frag count takes it.
• ▸FFA. Free-for-all chaos. Washoi DM2, DM5 and DM11 are all in the pool, and warmup waits for at least two active players.
• ▸Search & Destroy. Attack or defend the bomb sites on Concrete Strike. A placed bomb brings defenders in for the retake; a detonation takes pieces of the site with it.

Five Maps, Plenty of Trouble

The alpha lineup assembled in v0.9.32 has Washoi DM2, DM5 and DM11 for Duel and FFA, the restored Washoi Amphi1, and Concrete Strike as Washoi S&D1.

The bots have learned movement routes from recorded runs, including wall jumps. S&D's explosive structures come down on detonation and return next round. The new sound bank brings weapon reports, reload cues and player voices into the same release.

Behind the matches are the ratings, first-person demos and spectating built over the preceding releases. This is where that work meets its first public audience.

Closing the Workshop Door

The final release change is small on paper: developer mode stays disabled in production browser builds. Saved preferences and imported settings cannot turn it back on, and neither can the console. Developer commands and the SHAGGED editor remain available to development builds and headless tools.

A saved editor playtest-return flag cannot reopen the editor in the player build either. The public alpha opens into the game.

First Public Alpha, First Impressions Wanted

Now that the alpha is open, we want to hear about the corner that catches you, the shot that feels wrong, the bot that forgets the objective, and the screen that leaves you wondering what to do next.

Tell us the map and mode, what happened, and what you expected. A screenshot or demo helps us follow the same path. The game and engine manuals are linked in the site's Manuals section, and the community links are where to find us.

Thanks for following the work this far. Bring someone to fight, pick your mode, and help us build what comes next. See you in the arena.