A quick hotfix fixing a bug with the nick feature, it now consistently work throughout the entire game

Matchbox 0.9.7 - Community Edition! 🎉

Today we are shipping Matchbox 0.9.7 as a stable release.

This update focuses on three things:

• Better map setup flow for admins and map makers
• Stronger session observability for debugging and integrations
• Higher production confidence through test and CI hardening

Highlights

• New world-local setup workflow centered on setup commands
• Structured session flow logging for game lifecycle visibility
• Session statistics and timeline access improvements in the API
• Deterministic role assignment extension points
• Session-scoped ability handler extension hooks
• Documentation refresh across setup, operations, and release-readiness guides

Admin and Map Maker Improvements

• Setup flow now supports map initialization, validation, spawn setup, and seat setup in a more guided process
• Map geometry is managed with world-local configuration for cleaner multi-world operation
• Setup diagnostics and validation are easier to run before opening games to players

API and Integration Notes

• API surface has expanded around game logs, session logs, and game statistics snapshots
• Extension seams were added for custom role assignment and ability handling
• Session behavior is now easier to inspect and reason about during active matches

Quality and Stability

• Full build, check, and coverage verification gates are green
• CI pipeline is aligned with Java 21 and release flow expectations
• Deprecated API usage was cleaned up in core areas to reduce maintenance risk

Release Status

Matchbox 0.9.7 is marked stable and ready for production servers.

If you are updating from earlier 0.9.x releases, we recommend:

• Reviewing your map setup process with the setup tooling
• Running setup validation once per map world
• Confirming your admin command routines against the current docs

Thanks to everyone testing, reporting edge cases, and helping shape this release.

Matchbox 0.9.6 - Nick System, Sign Mode, Skin & Stability

Nick System

Players can now compete under custom nicknames that activate when a game starts and are removed the moment it ends. Nicks are session-scoped, unique per session, and persist as a preference across restarts.

• /mb nick <name> - set a nick (3-16 chars, letters/numbers/_/-)
• /mb nick random - generate a realistic-looking random username
• /mb nick reset - remove your nick
• Admins (matchbox.admin) can set, randomise, or reset any player's nick
• Action bar reminder shows your active nick while outside a game

Sign Mode

When sign-mode.enabled: true, players communicate by placing signs during the swipe phase instead of typing in chat. Each player receives a sign kit at swipe start; all placed signs are automatically cleaned up when discussion begins or the game ends. Normal chat is suppressed while sign mode is active.

Skin & Visual Changes

• Skin rendering upgraded to use ProtocolLib player-info packet rewrites for more consistent updates across clients
• Steve fallback improved - all players receive a consistent classic Steve skin when lookups fail (offline mode or API unavailable)
• Paper compatibility raised to 1.21.11

Bug Fixes

• Eliminated players no longer appear in game chat (cache was not cleared on death)
• Arrow tracking is now per-session - a round reset no longer affects players in other concurrent sessions
• Players with failed state backups are now excluded from the game entirely rather than being left in a broken state
• Win screen now correctly shows the Spark's display name instead of their UUID on disconnect
• Delusion decay timer is now cancelled on session end
• Random skin preloading no longer silently fails on malformed UUIDs
• Hologram cleanup is safe during plugin shutdown - no new scheduler tasks are created while disabling
• Session player limit fixed - min/max validation now accepts the full 2-20 range
• Default config spawn world corrected from m4tchb0x typo to m4tchbox

Matchbox Update: v0.9.5 is here!

This is a safe, behind-the-scenes update no gameplay changes, just better stability and new tools for the future!

Updating is 100% safe and recommended.

What's new in this release:

• New Matchbox API – lets other plugins connect smoothly (big step for future features!)
• New Javadocs + Public Docs – grab the JavaDocs JAR from the repo or view the live docs at https://ohacd.github.io/MatchboxPlugin/
• Better spectator chat – alive players & spectators now have separate chats
• Fixed arrow hits – decorated pots are now fully protected during games
• Improved stability – faster sessions, better error handling, and heavy testing

Full changelog in the project's repo.

Thanks for playing!

[0.9.4] - Latest Release (Ability System)

This stability release marks the end of the rapid iteration phase for the plugin. It's mostly an under-the-hood update, modularizing the project and extending the last update's Spark ability system to also fit the medic (supporting future ability additions).

There is also a new ability for the spark Delusion, which is a fake infection that stays for 30 seconds after application, that the medic can see.

Other additions mainly focus on stability and ensuring the game is fully playable with all features working as intended (The infamous buggy Steve skin override).

Lastly, there has been an update to the default config, setting the random skin toggle to false by default and setting the Steve skin toggle to true by default.

Added

• Medic Secondary Ability System: Medic now uses the same ability system as Spark
  • Healing Sight is now tracked as a secondary ability (preparing for future abilities)
  • System modeled after the Spark secondary ability system for consistency
  • Configurable via medic.secondary-ability in config.yml
  • Options: "random" (default), "healing_sight"
  • Ready for future medic abilities to be added
• Delusion Ability: New Spark secondary ability that creates fake infections
  • Spark can activate an 8-second window, then right-click a player to apply a fake infection
  • Fake infections appear identical to real infections to the medic (same particles)
  • Medic can see delusion infections using Healing Sight alongside real infections
  • Medic can cure delusion infections, wasting their cure on a non-infected player
  • Delusion infections automatically decay after 30 seconds
  • Delusion infections do not cause elimination when discussion phase starts
  • Configurable via spark.secondary-ability in config.yml
  • Options: "random" (default), "hunter_vision", "spark_swap", "delusion"

Changed

• Medic Ability System Architecture: Refactored medic abilities to match Spark's system
  • Created MedicSecondaryAbility enum for ability tracking
  • Added ability selection logic in GameManager
  • Updated InventoryManager to handle medic abilities dynamically
  • MedicSightListener now checks if ability is active before allowing use
  • System is now extensible for adding new medic abilities in the future
• Config steve skin override: Default config now comes with steve skin override as true by default
  • Random skin toggle is now set to false by default
• Debug command: Fake infected (Delusion infection) is tracked by the debug command
  • Added the fake infected param to /matchbox debug command

Fixed

• Steve Skin Override: Fixed inconsistent steve skin application
  • All players now consistently receive steve skins when enabled
  • Skins are reapplied at the start of each new round to ensure consistency
  • Fixed issue where some players would get alex or random skins instead of steve
• Invalid default seat locations: Fixed an error where default seat locations weren't loading correctly when used with the m4tchb0x map
  • Default Spawn/Seat locations are no longer linked to a world folder named world
  • Now linked to a world folder named m4tchb0x