Tri-monthly Newsletter
January - March
What happened throughout January, February and March 2024 with xSnipez Games?
Newsletter
January News
Throughout January 2024, we saw lots of new game content as promised in the New Year's video published on the 1st of January, 2024. Later throughout the month we also saw some much-needed website updates!
Game Updates
We saw the release of 7 game updates to the xSG Hub! The updates were as follows:
This update brought "Minecraft Quiz" into the xSG Hub world, a quiz designed to test your knowledge of Minecraft! In this version, the "General" topic was added to the game. Players could access this game right from releasing the first topic ("General"). It was also in this update where the "Hall of Fame" got the statistics for "Minecraft Quiz". There were also 22 different fixes made! Nine of them were thanks to our lovely play testers!
This hotfix was released shortly after update 1.4.0 and fixed 3 core issues with the "Minecraft Quiz" game, how cool!
This patch introduced the long-awaited armour trims to the hub store! 12 new trims were added to "Helia's Smithy". There were additional quality-of-life features added too... additionally, a bug that caused the game to be confused about player locations was addressed, amazing!
Just when you thought the "Minecraft Quiz" game couldn't get any cooler, a new category was added to the game which introduced 50 new randomised questions and over 100 custom sounds! The "Hall of Fame" got smarter too as it now knows which category you last played and can tell you the statistics for each category. Finally, we got to see 6 fixes to the game as well!
Quizzes, not your thing? Well, that's fine because in this update a new game called "Block Race" was added to the xSG Hub. "Block Race" is a game focussed around getting from one end of the pit to the other. The first player to reach the other side wins! You have infinite blocks and the ability to give the other players a shove friendly nudge. The "Hall of Fame" can tell you the statistics for this game now, as of this update. What's that? A secret area? Oh yes! [Redacted] was also added too. Finally, we saw 14 fixes/changes. Seven of them were thanks to the play testers!
This patch added sound effects to both the "Hall of Fame" and "Block Race" game, immersive! There was also 4 new fixes/changes...
In this patch we saw a system added to "Block Race" which fixes players who left/disconnected from the game whilst playing. Additionally, we saw 1 sneaky little bug get addressed and a change to the "Block Race" game which made it correct the grammar used depending on specific circumstances, smart!
Links to relevant game information: Minecraft Quiz, Block Race, Hall of Fame
Website Updates
We saw the release of 2 website updates to the xSnipez Games Wiki! The updates were as follows:
The first update...
In the first website update for the month we saw some significant changes to the navigation of the website. The tutorials page was updated to look nicer and feel more like you're in a library. We also got a few new pages! These are listed below. With our new "Other" page, we are able to store all our pages that don't require a specific category all in one place and not have them take up all that valuable navigation bar space. The renamed "bot" page was moved into here. We also added our "Supported Causes" page! We care about lots of issues, but more specifically we care about mental health and the state of our planet. These two things mean a lot to xSnipez Games and more information about both can be found here, on our new "Supported Causes" page.
Links to pages that had edits: Tutorials, Discord Bot (Billy), Other, Supported Causes
The second update...
In the second website update for the month we added some more accessibility to our website. Every single image on the entire website got some alt text to allow for users who access the website with a screen reader to find navigation a lot easier (especially because a lot of the navigation utilises image buttons). Also in this update, we saw lots of new information added to the "xSG Hub" page due to new features being released throughout the month; you can find a link to this page below.
Links to pages that had edits: xSG Hub
Want the full patch notes for website updates? You can find them in the xSnipez Games Discord!
If you're like to apply to join the Discord, you can select a place to apply using the buttons below:
February News
Throughout February 2024, we saw lots of plenty of streams and even a major update to our beloved Billy bot!
Bot Updates
We saw the release of 1 major update to our beloved Billy bot! Changes are as follows:
The entirity of Billy's code was completely restructured...
With this change, it allows not only quicker response times from the code compiler Billy uses, but also makes it much easier for me to keep updating Billy!
Billy now knows how to remove messages...
That's right! Billy now understands how to remove messages to make using tags and stuff a lot cleaner (no more random messages left behind...)
Billy can now purge messages...
If deleting 1 message wasn't enough, Billy now understands how to purge a whole bunch of messages! Of course, only myself and moderators can use this feature... but yay Billy!
Billy got more confidential...
Previously, Billy would store Discord User IDs in the main code of the compiler. This is no longer done! Billy now hides them so you don't have to worry about your Discord User ID being anywhere but in Discord.
Billy is learning not to double answer...
For those users that would ask billy a question that was already preprogrammed to have responses (e.g. "Billy do you love me?") and also add the "yes or no" phrase onto it would cause Billy to answer twice... Billy is now smart enough to recognise the phrase and ignore the "yes or no" in these cases.
Billy is also learning mathematics?!
Got a sum that you need answering and can't be bothered to pull up your calculator? Type "billy" followed by your basic mathematic equation and Billy will tell you the answer, clever Billy! Billy will follow the basic BIDMAS rules (Brackets, Indices, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction). Currently Billy is confused about Brackets and Indices and will just ignore them, but we'll get there eventually... not so clever Billy...
Billy knows how old she is?
I know what you're thinking, "didn't she already know this?"... the answer is yes and also no. She only knew because I would go into her code every month and update her response. She now can calculate the age herself. It can sometimes be a day or two off, but she's pretty much got it in the bag now!
Billy knows your birthday...
At least, she does if you want her to... You can now request your birthday to be saved into Billy's code (just ask me) and if triggered, Billy will wish the birthday user a happy birthday!
You can view all of the information about Billy here.
March News
Throughout March 2024, we have seen 1 game update and 1 major website update this month.
Game Updates
We saw the release of 1 game update to the xSG Hub! The update is as follows:
In this patch we saw a system added to "Block Race" which allows users to vote for the two newly added maps that also arrived in this patch! As of this update we now have 3 maps in this game in which you can vote between in the voting system mentioned above. The maps are called "Original", "Crossover" (new) and "Bridge" (new). We also saw 7 new statistics, a system to sort players who disconnect during a vote and playtime statistics added to the Hall of Fame for each of the games available (meaning you can see this without entering the game). Additionally, if that wasn't enough, we saw 3 new changes/fixes too (view the patch notes for the full details).
Links to relevant game information: Block Race
Website Updates
We saw the release of 1 major website update to the xSnipez Games Wiki! The update was as follows:
The major update...
In this major update for the website, we saw a lot of changes to the overall look of the website and mainly changes to our website home page. I want users who utilise the website to be able to navigate through it with ease and find everything they want quickly. The "Links" section of the home page was changed to be more organised (splitting internal links, external links and links to the feedback and applications). It is now possible to fill in feedback forms and applications in the website itself! Now you can stay here if you want to... Remember this symbol (✦)? It was used in a lot of bullet points throughout the website but it isn't actually supported. They've been swapped out so the information can remain structured and organised; helpful for long patch notes! There's been a redesign on the "Supported Causes" page to make it look nice, check it out! We also added all the information regarding the new Block Race vote system introduced on the xSG Hub game. All this and other crucial changes to make the website cleaner and overall looking snazzier. View the full patch notes on the xSnipez Games Discord.
Links to pages that had edits: Home, Supported Causes, Skyblock Remastered, Gold 'n' Glory, xSG Hub, Other
Highlights
Shall we take some time to review some highlights throughout January, Februrary and March 2024?
Screenies
Clips
Highlight Clip 1
"What is going on here..?"
Highlight Clip 2
"Good fight!"
Highlight Clip 3
"As you do..."
Highlight Clip 4
"Block Race!"