Update Log

3 special worm awards to start! Check out the guide for details. Awards are displayed in the worm's trophy section.

worm race now has seasons in addition to the all-time race!!!!

this has been the goal for an extremely long time and i'm really pleased to have finally had the time to do it. i think this should make the whole experience more rewarding, especially if ur fav worm hasn't done well in the past!

the beta race season will run until the end of may, after which it will start a standard 3 month season cycle with summer 2026.

css adjustments

in addition 2 the obvious updates needed for the new features, u may notice some very minor visual changes on existing areas. nothing too jarring i think

future of worm race

the only big thing left to do, other than fix any bugs this update causes, is to make a trophy case for each worm to display a consolidated list of its wins. then i'll be fully shifting gears 2 other projects indefinitely - finishing the fishing minigame maybe?

arrow buttons to navigate between worm detail pages on mobile/narrow screen

worm fan leaderboard pages should also behave more appropriately with long usernames, and scores over 999 are rounded and condensed.

the old worm chat relied on an outside host (chattable), the new one is entirely locally hosted so I have more control & it should be more reliable! I can also make new chat rooms whenever, so if I want to add chats to other parts of the site I can do that. hooray

getting it to update on everyone's screens when a new message comes in was the most annoying part tbh. the solution I figured out is a little clunky but good enough for now. I also need to fix the page refreshing when you send a new message because it's unnecessary and creates a flash of content, but that's a problem for later

Game window is now transparent with sketched in foreground/background elements

Health potions added, worm movement has been adjusted, and larger fish species are prevented from spawning too close together. Also basic navigation buttons so you aren't trapped on the page!

Unfishing minigame for worms!

Obviously unfinished, but I'm having fun learning Godot. Surpisingly fast to make simple games in it actually. There's no in-game tutorial yet - just alternate the left and right keys to reel the worm upwards. Not mobile-friendly either, but I'll work on that once desktop is finished.

Bugs relating to the timer (recent feedings not appearing or people getting locked out unfairly) should be fixed! If anyone notices further issues, please reach out on Neocities or email us at admin@codecreature.net.

If anyone is wondering, I was accidentally using Greenwich Mean Time for some parts and EST for others, so everyone was perceived as feeding from the future. Oops.

big edits time!!

feed history

since i needed feed tracking 4 the new system anyway, u can now view the latest activity on the racetrack page. if u feed using an account, the account name will be included also (though im planning 2 add an option 2 keep activity private in the future.)

logged in users will have their total contributions saved 2 the leaderboards!

visuals

i rewrote the CSS from scratch because it was a huge mess. the look on desktop is largely the same, though there should be some improvements 4 wider screen dimensions. worm race mobile has been adjusted more heavily, with (hopefully) support 4 landscape mode as well!

nobody asked 4 this. there is something wrong with me

security and code

i have moved most functions 2 the backend (PHP and MariaDB) instead of where it was (frontend Javascript and random SQL3 databases.) this has several advantages, including ease of adding planned features going forward. ive also managed a 50% decrease in total file size 4 the game.

another thing this let me implement is actual security!! worm race was embarrassingly easy to bot spam in the past, and not only is that bad 4 fairness, it also puts a lot of strain on the nonprofit hosting service. on that note...

activity limits

worm race now limits simultaneous users to 2 per IP address (calculated based on item cooldown time.) it shouldn't affect most ppl, but if u play with a household (is anyone actually doing this..?) you can always log in so you won't be lumped in with everyone on ur router. all IP address data is cleared within 24 hours and is only used for this purpose.

what's next?

the new structure puts me closer 2 what has always been the goal - tournament-style races with a set end date. youll still have access 2 the total results over time, but the main races will last 1-3 months with trophies awarded at the end. each worm will have a trophy case showing their successes!

dedicated campaigns 4 a specific worm are only temporary right now, and some worms r so far behind they would struggle 2 catch up. once that update is out, it will be possible 2 get ur worm a trophy even if they have been unpopular in the past, which i think will make the game more rewarding! :3

the art 4 pretzel has b33n bothering me 4 a while bc it didnt match the line weight on the other worms. adjusted that a bit!!

Added a basic how to play guide for the worm race!

Also made it possible to jump directly to the racetrack without feeding a worm first - having it hidden made sense in the alpha version, but now it doesn't matter.

The dark orange color has also been darkened a bit for better contrast!

Poison is also now much stronger when health is at zero.