Edit: I shipped The Spectation Update on the 4th!  It’s pretty awesome, check it out!

They’re watching me fail to get this build out. And they’re amused by it.

Okay, I have been incrementally slipping this thing day-by-day for a week. The replay streaming system blew up in my face and took way longer than the other features.  However, I finally have a build that I can release. It has all the all the cool stuff in it. It all works pretty well, and is super awesome if I do say so myself. The big problem is that I’m completely exhausted, and it is going to need constant babysitting when it goes live because it’s such a gigantic change, so after my initial enthusiasm to launch it immediately, some reflection1 indicated it might be better to do it when I can actually fix any problems and have slept. Unfortunately, I have plans during the day and evening Monday, so:

The Spectation Update will go live Tuesday, August 4th, 11am, US Pacific Time

I’m pretty confident I can hit that, because I actually have the build done, but I would not blame you if you didn’t set your watch by it given how terrible I am at this video game development thing.

Replay Sets

One upside to the slip is it gave players time to make 6 neat themed Replay Sets for me for the launch.  I’ll add many more after things are stable, but here are the current ones:

• Guard the Ambassador by bloom
  Difficulty: Medium
  Headquarters has received Intel that an enemy agent will attempt to plant a bug on the ambassador while he is present at The Irene Adler. Your orders are to exclusively guard the ambassador and eliminate the spy without any civilian casualties.
• Known ALL by turnout8
  Difficulty: Easy
  In this great set for brand new snipers, the Spy must complete ALL missions available on the map. This means the Spy will be very active, rushing many objectives. Can you spot the Spy before all the missions are finished? Don’t feel bad if you can’t at first, the beginners that played these matches didn’t either. Use this set to practice watching one or two missions at a time, since you know for sure the Spy will do them all.
• Approach the Throne by krazycaley
  Difficulty: Hard
  KrazyCaley, undefeated King of the SpyParty Hill, winningest spy among top 10 players, and undeniably modest user of the third person, invites you to test yourself against 14 elite-level spy victories, all won against snipers from that same SpyParty top 10. Includes wins against Drawnonward, Virifaux, KCMmmmm, Scientist, Seizureman, Turnout8, WarningTrack, CanadianBacon, and Wodar. Hint – Though Caley’s opponents here are the best in the game, alter your playstyle to be different from theirs to win – Caley is counterplaying those playstyles with each opponent.
• Rush! by briguy
  Difficulty: Medium
  A “rush” in SpyParty is when a spy attempts to complete some or all missions in a short period of time before the Sniper is able to prepare and get their bearings. But if you know a rush is happening, can you counter it? Here’s a short set of replays that’ll be over before you know it.
• Down to the Wire by warningtrack
  Difficulty: Easy
  Be patient and take your time with these, because here we have 10 games where the Spies eat up almost all the clock to complete their missions, finishing with about 15 seconds or less to go each time.
• The Idler by bl00dw0lf
  Difficulty: Elite
  The Spy does no missions, but does take control from the AI. Can you spot them idling at the party?

I’ve played a bit of them during testing and they’re fun!

1. Admittedly initially caused by zerotka being in a game of Dota2 when I wanted to test… [↩]