Cross Compatibility and Couch Co-Op

Bomb Bots Arena can be played with your friends and family in all sorts of ways that are not immediately apparent.

This page contains information and tips on the various methods of connecting with other players.

### **Cross-Compatibility**

As of the time of writing, Bomb Bots Arena is available on iOS, Android and Windows through Steam. (a Nintendo Switch port is also in development.)

All of these methods are cross-compatible, which means if you are using a windows computer and your friend has the game on their android phone and your sibling has the game on their iPhone or iPad, You can all play together without any difference in functionality.

### **Party Lobby**

\* `*(probably needs to link to a separate page with images and other information about it)*`

This is the primary way to play BBA with your friends.

The party lobby can only support up to 4 players at the moment, but custom games (explained below) can host up to 8 (including the host)

The main lobby primarily utilises the friends list. Make sure you and your friends have all signed up for a TinyID (The game will remind you to do so and offer you a free bomb box)

Then add each other (or just the person that is going to host the game)

And then as the host, add everyone into the lobby.

The host should see the other players in the lobby once they have accepted their invites.

Once the host has chosen the game mode and everyone has clicked the "Set Ready" button, the game will begin.

After every match you must all click the "Set Ready" button again for the next match to start.

### **Custom Game**

\* *`(probably needs to link to a separate page with images and other information about it)`*

Custom games allow you to set up your own rules to play with and unlike the party lobby, this game mode can can host up to 8 players at a time.

You can choose both maps for any amount of players- this includes more than 4 players on the brawl (4 player) map.

~~Please be aware that custom games are private to anybody that has the "Room Tag" and will not search for random people in the normal queue when the game is started.~~ *\* `(somebody verify this with the "online" option set to ON please?)`*

Also, although this game mode does not require you to add each other to a friends list, guests may **not** join a custom game, so please make sure you and your friends have all signed up for a TinyID before you continue (The game will remind you to do so and offer you a free bomb box)

~~if there are further complications such as a user having a friend with them in couch co-op (more than one person on the same machine) then you may instead want to perform a "Queue Sync" (detailed below)~~ \* *`(also need to verify if couch co-op players can join custom games)`*

### **Custom Game Rules**

There are many options to choose from, some are self explanatory but here is a list of their (known) functionality in the order they appear:

* Arena: `Stadium, Factory, [LOCKED)(for now)`

> Choose which map to play on
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* Players: `1 - 8`

> How many players you wish to limit the game to.
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* Wins: `1 - 10`

> How many times a player must win to win the entire match.
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* Online: `yes - no`

> `*\* Uhhhhhhh..... ... . .. .. yeh, i dunno. does this enable the normal queue?.. Someone edit this please.*`
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**Advanced Settings**

* Round Timer: `Infinite, 30, 60, 90, 120`

> How many seconds before sudden death (the red wall) occurs. Infinite will turn sudden death off.
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* Power Ups: `Bomb, Explosion Radius, Speed`

> Choose whether to turn a certain item on or off so that they will or won't appear in crates when you destroy them.
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* Abilities: `On - Off`

> Choose whether you would like special abilities (Such as shield or jump) to be enabled or not. If this is on, You may only use the abilities you have unlocked.
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* Ai: `On - Off`

> If there aren't enough human players to fill the "players" amount you have specified, the game will fill the remaining slots with A.I bots. Turn this off to disable A.I entirely.
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* Pinata: `On - Off`

> When a player dies, they normally drop their items like a Spanish piñata dropping candy when you break it. This option will enable or disable that functionality.
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* Draw: `On - Off`

> If the last players die at the same time and this option is enabled, the game will be considered a draw, otherwise if this option is off, the game will try to calculate the last person to die and declare them the winner.
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* Power-Ups In Every Crate: `On - Off`

> If this option is enabled, there will be a guaranteed item in every box you destroy. If the option is disabled, There will only be a 50/50 chance for an item to appear.
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* Destructible Power-Ups: `On - Off`

> If a player bombs an item and this option is enabled, It will stop the bomb's explosion radius like a crate/block does and the item will be destroyed. Otherwise, if the option is off, explosions pass through the item and do not destroy it.
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### **Queue Sync**

There may be awkward moments when you need perform a "queue sync" to get everybody playing with each other.

This is performed by verbally counting down the timer before the queue begins and on the word "go", anybody not in your party clicks their "Play" button to search for a match. If you're lucky, everyone will be put into the same queue, despite not being in a party together.

This might seem a little archaic, but it serves many scenarios. For example:

* If you have more than 4 players who wish to play and you want to play on the rumble (8 player) map but still want random players to potentially join (instead of bots)

* if someone in your party has a "couch co-op" player with them

* if anybody you wish to play with really REALLY doesn't want to sign up for a TinyID and wishes to remain a "Guest".

### **Couch Co-Op (or, "local multiplayer")**

\* `*(probably needs to link to a separate page with images and other information about it)*`

Bomb Bots Arena features "couch co-op" (also known as "local multiplayer"). However, there is one slight snag, couch co-op is only possible if you have multiple controllers connected to your device. (but this does work with phones and tablets too!)

Once you have your controllers connected make sure they're working correctly and check the settings for them

(you may need to set them up further in Steam(on windows) (using the "Steam > Settings > Controller > General controller settings ")

(and when you're done with that, check the other options in "Right click BBA > Manage > Controller Configuration")

Or

In your iOS or Android phone/tablet's settings (yeah, i dunno. This is a broad topic.) (Unfortunately that is outside the scope of this article, good luck with that!)

Once that's out of the way, *press buttons* *(yeah i really don't know, just.. press* all the buttons *on all the controllers..)* until players start appearing in the party lobby.

[picture goes here]

If you see players appearing then hopefully everything should be working correctly. (if not, that's when you should go double check those extra settings i mentioned)

Once your controllers are sorted out, you should be able to join a queue like normal with your couch-buddies. Their names will be "YourName (1), YourName (2), YourName (3)" And their wins and kills will not be counted towards your own. However, your own wins and kills still count towards season rewards.

### **A Quick Note About Steam Remote-Play**

Just thought i should mention this because it pops up when you open BBA on windows.

I don't know what circumstances you might have to warrant a need for this, because if you have a computer that is running steam, then you can just run your own version of BBA.. *(maybe.. if you're on linux?.. i dunno? (just run Wine or something?..)* *or.. maybe a chrome book?..* *is steam even available on a chrome book?*) but Steam allows you to share your game's screen with someone on steam and they can control your game too, (and i'm going to assume here because i haven't tested it fully), that they can play "couch Co-op" with their own connected controller if you are also using a controller. This is horrendously convoluted and seems like a last resort kind of edge-case scenario.. but.. hay. it's there.. if you mess with it, please report your findings by editing this page. (good luck!)