September 2025 Recap

Progress on refactoring

Since we're still busy converting our code base to a different programming language, most of the progress we've made this month has been behind the scenes, focusing on technical improvements. The most important project we've worked on this month is our server abstraction layer system called "Omni". To give some context: while all of Xenyria’s public game servers run on our custom game server implementation, our internal build server still relies on Paper in order to take advantage of its ecosystem of building plugins. 

However, this situation creates a new problem where code written for PaintSquad's custom game server cannot be reused on the build server, since it depends on code that only exists within our own server software. That is where Omni comes into play. It essentially allows us to write game logic that runs seamlessly on both our custom server and Paper, making it possible to test certain gameplay elements directly on our build server. This has proven especially helpful for decorative objects like item models, props, and particle emitters that require a lot of fine-tuning.

News regarding Xenon & custom stage submissions

We've also started working on our new client-side mod, Xenon, which combines the features offered by XEEM and our internal staff tool "Forklift". Xenon exists primarily to support Project Sandbox, which is our response to the many requests we've received in the past for custom map submissions in PaintSquad.

Our goal with Project Sandbox is to give players the ability to design & build their own multiplayer stages, either solo or with friends. To make this possible, we're making parts of our internal level design toolkit publicly available through Xenon. Project Sandbox is similar to the track builder we had planned for Rush, but in a more technical form. Once a stage is completed, it can be submitted into PaintSquad's public stage pool or played in private battles.

To provide a bit more context, here's a short preview video demonstrating our workflow for decorating levels with props:

While most of Xenon's functionality is still in development, we plan to have a working version ready for the next PaintSquad playtest. Project Sandbox will take quite a lot of time to finish, so in the meantime Xenon will mainly focus on gameplay enhancements such as Discord Rich Presence, improved mouse button detection, and automatic camera mode switching (swim form camera in PaintSquad).

If you're interested in exploring Xenon's code, you can check out our GitHub repository here. And for developers: We have also set up a public Maven repository that hosts the latest version of Xenon's core library, making it easy to write plugins that interact with the mod on other servers in the future.

Regarding the next playtest

While we cannot make any promises just yet, our current target for the next PaintSquad playtest event is December 2025 / January 2026. Here's a rough outline of the features we're planning to include in the next PaintSquad playtest:

• Xenon-specific features: Improved shooting state detection, automatic swim form camera switching, Discord Rich Presence
• Regional servers & localization: Servers based in Germany & US, with more languages and regions planned for the future
• More content: New stages, weapons, game modes
• Gameplay improvements: Bot AI difficulty balancing, drone spawns, bug fixes, and optimizations
• Core systems: Reworked queue & lobby, friend list, and party system
• Technical improvements: shader bug fixes, improved compatibility with Intel GPUs, more reliable resource pack distribution

Please keep in mind that we might not be able to include all of these features in the next playtest due to our development resources being very limited at the moment. We're also planning to host our very first PaintFest, on this new version of PaintSquad, in the form of a special playtest event in early 2026.

Another new map...?

As promised in our August 2025 Recap, we have prepared another surprise for this month's recap post. Here is PaintSquad's sixth multiplayer stage:

Please keep in mind that this map is still in active development and will likely undergo a few more revisions before it will be available in a playable build.

What do you think about this map? Feel free to give us feedback on our Discord server. 

And with that we have arrived at the end of this month's blog post. October will be a bit quieter since I'll be recovering from wisdom teeth surgery (meaning development might slow down for a week or two), but I'll be back at it as soon as I can.

Thank all of you so much for your patience and continued support. See all of you next month. 🩵