If you weren’t able to attend Halo Outpost Discovery it was a really memorable experience for Halo fans. Tech blog, Engadget, described it as “a 300,000 square foot, traveling amusement park packed with experiences from Xbox’s pivotal sci-fi series [Halo]”. One of the featured attractions at this event was – The Combat Deck – a big team battle, red vs blue laser tag experience with the look and feel of the Halo universe. Who better than Battle Company to take an iconic brand like Halo and bring it to life with our powerful hardware and EDGE Game Engine. No other provider in the industry is able to seamlessly blend video games and live action gaming like Battle Company. As the event traveled nationwide the Combat Deck quickly became a fan favorite, receiving raving reviews. Our staff’s hands-on participation in this high throughput attraction will benefit all of our customers as it inspired some of the new features in EDGE 4.3.

EDGE Terminal: Full control on the go!

For this release, EDGE Terminal reaches a major milestone in its development cycle. In past versions, Terminal allowed players to login while an active game was in session. However, you weren’t able to assign guns to those players until the active session was over…we changed that. With the new Terminal, you have the ability to assign available guns to on-deck players whether signed in as guests or with CallSigns. Using this feature ensures your operation will be ahead of schedule by having your next group logged in, briefed, and geared up with their tagger, all before the active game ends. As one group exits your arena, the next group is ready to go. This feature can improve your bottom line by decreasing down time and increasing throughput, especially during your busiest hours.

Other updates to EDGE Terminal include an improvement to its leaderboard function which gives you the ability to scroll player scores. For player login, you can now use both the front or rear camera of your tablet to scan QR codes from your customers’ CallSigns on their phones.

Battle Coin Revamp 

In our last update we introduced Battle Coins. The Battle Coin system enables your business to create upsells that you can offer to customers at the register. Based on feedback from our business owners, we modified the system to make this even more profitable for you. If you want to know more about how Battle Coin worked on release, you can read about it here. The current system allows you to add up to 3 items to an upsells, each item using one coin. However, instead of charging a coin per item we decided to implement a more favorable flat rate for our operators. Whether you are selling a simple weapon upgrade for $3, or go bigger and charge more for a custom character class that includes a voice profile, unique weapon, and bonus XP, your rate doesn’t change. Want to turn off upsells for a specific game in your session? Don’t worry, EDGE has you covered. Upsells can be activated per game type, saving you coins when you don’t need them and allowing you to maintain control over your experiences. You’ll find a special icon in both EDGE and EDGE Terminal on the games where upsells are active so you’ll know which games Battle Coins are enabled.

EDGE 4.3 minor updates include accessibility to the lighting tab even if the game engine is locked. If you are a mobile operator or often switch from light to dark environments, your staff will now be able to adjust the lighting without needing the password to your game engine. Some UI adjustments and bug fixes are also part of this update. EDGE 4.3 will be available tomorrow!

Behind the scenes, we’ve been working on some new products that are on the horizon as we make a push towards IAAPA 2019. Expect more news and exciting updates from Battle Company in the coming weeks.

How much more could you make from your laser tag business if your customers paid an extra $2, $4, $6, or more per session? With the release of EDGE 4.2, you can design Upsells with features such as custom voice profiles, unique or limited time weapons, and/or an XP booster. Each feature uses one Battle Coin per game per player and you have control over how you build them. Whether you mix it up with custom voices or throw in a 50% XP booster as a promotion, the choice is yours! Battle Coin enables you to use Upsells giving your players those individualized experiences they crave. These Upsells don’t stick to your player’s CallSign’s, they’re only for the active session. Offer them to every customer, every time and see how Battle Coin can add to your bottom line.

Upsell in quantity by enhancing those birthday parties and private events. You can offer the Upsells for the whole party to give them that extra premium feel. Differentiate your party packages and expand your messaging by talking about the custom options and let your EDGE system work harder to make you more money!

When your customers purchase an Upsell, give them a token so your staff will know which one was purchased (e.g. wristband, stamp, badge, poker chip). Your staff only need to check the token for the Upsell, scroll to the player’s name on EDGE Terminal, and simply enable the preset features. Still using guest accounts? No problem, Battle Coin upsells can be applied to guest accounts too!

So that you can get started, Battle Company operators are getting 200 free Battle Coins for you to experiment and devise your implementation. We’ll add the coins right to your EDGE account, all you have to do is request them by filling out our short survey form on the bottom of this page. Battle Coins will be sent to directly from our support team. If you find Battle Coins useful for your business you will be able to purchase more on our webstore. Each game, Battle Coins will be deducted from your account automatically as you collect more revenue on your laser tag sales. We’ll supply the virtual coins, you charge for the Upsells at your POS to maximize your profits!

If you’re not already an EDGE – Enemies Edition subscriber, there is never a better time! Enemies Edition will transform your laser tag equipment, enabling you to create linear walk-throughs, target shoots, and live experiences with storylines. All new ways to create profitable lines of revenue as you confidently venture beyond Red team vs. Blue team. Whether creating high-throughput, linear attractions like Ripley’s Believe it or Not, or a small-scale competitive target gallery, EDGE – Enemies Edition will empower the vision you have for your attraction.

EDGE Enemies has been used by businesses all around the world for unique shooting attractions. Subscribing unlocks the Enemies module in EDGE letting you program your headsets to emit and receive damage, independently from the gun. Once your headsets are in Enemies mode, place them throughout the battlefield and/or on your actors. Distribute guns to your clients and unleash them into your attraction. Shoot and eliminate the enemies but be careful, those headsets can fire back if you get too close! Your spectacle attraction will have people talking, and they’ll love checking their score when they finish. Didn’t make the Top 5 for the night? Sounds like a good reason to get back in line and try again! Many operators have already put these proven features to work, so what’s new with EDGE – Enemies in 4.2? When you program your headsets, you can now assign different point values for different types of enemies in your attraction. For example, shoot basic targets to get 10 points. Take down an actors to get 100 points. Or if you’re lucky, take out the boss and get 1,000 added to your score! 

And that’s not all! Past versions of EDGE had just two different enemy types to choose from when building out your enemy/target types. Both the “standard” and “boomer” type emit some value of damage to players within proximity of them. In this release we give you a third option, “Target” enemy type. With the Target enemy type, you can still customize all the normal settings like hit points, respawn time, and scoring but it won’t emit damage at your players. Put together a pre-game warm up attraction for players waiting in the lobby or in your party rooms. Consider installing a small-footprint, 2-player competitive shooting game for your lobby. Let your imagination can run wild with target gallery ideas, EDGE – Enemies Edition can help you make it happen! 

QR code scan for login

Faster login, easier processing, and a great reason for your customers to start using CallSign Live! Players with CallSign on their phones can open a unique QR code on the app allowing them to scan in at your EDGE Terminal stations. No need to punch in CallSign credentials anymore, that’s old-school. Just press the “Scan Code” button on the EDGE Terminal screen and scan in. “Beep” now you’re On Deck!

EDGE- multiple accounts connected to same e-mail address

If you have a group of younger players that don’t yet have an email addresses, mom or dad can now use one email to create multiple CallSigns for the kids. This feature enables every player to create a CallSign even if they are unable to provide their own email address during sign up. 

Callsigns can now contain special characters?

CallSign creation will get more interesting for your players with the introduction of special characters. If a CallSign is already taken, just have your player add curly braces around their name or add an exclamation point at the end to claim their favorite CallSign. As the CallSign database grows, more and more players with similar gamer tags will be able to keep their favorite name with a little help from the keyboard’s special characters including, ! ? ~ # @ _ – ] [ } { ) ( |.

Battle Company operators are great at providing feedback and giving valuable insight into how EDGE improves their businesses. Because of this, we’re able to refine features and improve the user experience. In this update, you’ll be happy to know we’ve added some of the features you guys have been asking for! 

EDGE Password Protection 

EDGE’s game engine gives you access to a robust set of features and control over advanced details of your games. Whether you tweak simple options or go deep into special rules, we know it’s important that your changes are protected. Because of this, we’ve added a lock screen to EDGE 4.2. This feature gives you the ability to deny access to sensitive menus in EDGE including the Game Engine, Message Center, Upsells, and more. Be assured, no one will be making changes to the brains of your system unless you have given them access. There’s no password required for the Game Lobby, ensuring your staff always have access to running games for your customers.

Stackable on decks

If you’ve been looking to add CallSign to your operation or just simply want to speed up the sign in process, then EDGE 4.2 is your answer. In addition to the active session, you now have 4 On Deck positions for players to login to their sessions. Whether you schedule sessions on the hour or run one mission every ten minutes, stackable On Deck will keep you well ahead of your players at the login station. Simply assign your EDGE Terminal tablets to a Deck position (e.g. Deck 1, Deck 2, Deck 3, Deck 4) and when your customers sign-in, they’ll queue in their assigned Deck. When you’re ready, call for the Deck and push them into the active game, gear up, and you’re ready to play!

Removed XP and Level from guest accounts 

We’ve removed the ability for guest accounts to accumulate XP. This prevents your guest accounts from gaining rank or unlocking rewards, these features are most suitable for your CallSign integration. 

Testers wanted

It’s always exciting to see a new release of EDGE go out to our operators. We know your commitment to implementing new features is as strong as our motivation for making them. EDGE 4.2 can be downloaded in the customer portal along with firmware for your guns, Utility Boxes, and headsets. 

For this release, you’ll see two versions of firmware in the portal. The first is part of the normal build, updated for compatibility with EDGE 4.2. The second is a brand new, Beta version and it’s built from the ground up! This new firmware gives us at Battle Company better version control and will become the dominant firmware in future releases. We’re asking our operators to give this new version a try and report feedback. We’re looking forward to your comments and excited to see how this new version performs for your business!

With every software update, our team is dedicated to refining EDGE, making Terminal more versatile, and adding value to the CallSign app for your players. As you know, EDGE comes preset with over 30 game modes with the freedom to create and modify settings to your heart’s content. For some of you “creatives” out there, this can result in a large list of games for you and your staff to select from. With EDGE 4.0, the Game Engine lets you create custom categories to more efficiently organize your games. Create categories like Core Missions, Missions for Kids, and League Night, then set a filter to quickly access the right games for your customers. By categorizing your missions, EDGE becomes even more user friendly for your staff and promotes smooth transition between games!

Ever wanted to reward your customers on the anniversary of their first game? What about sending an exclusive message to the top players on your leaderboard? How would you advertise your upcoming laser tag leagues to a specific group of players? Taking advantage of the new server capabilities, we’ve enhanced EDGE’s messaging features so you can take greater control over your marketing. You now have the ability to target specific groups of customers and communicate with them right through EDGE & CallSign.

If you are not using EDGE’s Messaging Center or haven’t told players about CallSign then now is the time! In our last EDGE update, we created the Messaging Center allowing you to send out messages containing text, images, videos, website links, and even Loot Boxes. For EDGE 4.0, we’ve upgraded messaging by adding push notification to your players’ phones and email reminders for them to visit their CallSign app. Push notifications help to drive engagement taking your marketing efforts further! Along with CallSign’s messaging enhancements, we’ve added account controls giving players email verification and password features to keep their profiles up to date.

EDGE Terminal has always been an incredible gadget for your business. Whether being used for creating CallSigns, player sign-in, or for your staff to administer games from the battlefield, Terminal is a valuable tool for your business. For EDGE 4.0, we’re giving Terminal new features that will enhance the gameplay experience. Utility Boxes and EDGE Terminal can now operate in tandem to create exciting interactive displays on your battlefield. By partnering a Utility Box to a tablet/iPad you can display an intuitive 3D graphic, box type, and other useful information right on the tablet screen; all of which matches the currently assigned function of the Utility Box.

There are over 20 different box types to choose from. Assign a tablet to your Utility Box and it will automatically display the proper graphics. Create a Weapons Box to see a rotating machine gun. Set an Armor Box and view a bulletproof vest on the screen. The display gives a clear presentation of the box type and lets players get the upgrade through a simple touch of the screen in addition to the usual Utility Box controls. By placing tablets throughout your arena, your battlefield will get an updated look and at the same time, your Utility Boxes will be more interactive for players.

We’ve heard operators requesting a way for players to have more time to view and compare scores after their games. If you’ve been looking for this feature, EDGE Terminal is your solution! Using your tablet/iPad you can now display a “previous game” scoreboard. Players can view their stats as they exit the battlefield even if a new game is already in session. 

EDGE 4.0 will be live on the customer portal next week and will be accompanied by its changelog. This will give you a complete view of the additional features and bug fixes included with the release. We wish you, your families, and your business happy holidays and a prosperous 2019. New projects are already in the works for this next year so keep a lookout for what’s to come! 

Calling All Mobile Laser Tag Businesses

Are you a mobile operator? Then we have good news for you! Before EDGE 3.1, you could run your games with EDGE but Terminal’s admin controls weren’t available for offline use. With EDGE 3.1, Terminal now works offline so you can take advantage of its great admin features. With the new update, you and your staff can move freely about the battlefield during gameplay which makes running your games easier than ever–no active internet required.

Scoreboard Enhancements

As you guys know, our 3.0 update added the Scoreboard functionality to Terminal so you could broadcast scores around your battlefield, like a jumbo-tron at a sporting event. In EDGE 3.1 your business gets more scoreboard options, like the ability to show scores for individual/multiple teams and players, in real-time.

So, How About Those Killstreaks? Utility Box Adds Streak Capability

Another one of those exclusive features that you would only find on a Battle Company system is killstreaks. While our last update unlocked the ability to create a true Call Of Duty like gaming experience, we wanted to take the idea one step further. With the new Streak Box, players can activate killstreaks right from your Utility Boxes so you can easily add these great features to your games. For example, make a nuke available in the last minute of a Domination game that could change the outcome and make the ending really exciting. Give players the ability to activate UAVs every minute or two. Take your time, play around with the killstreaks. You can use Streak Boxes to tweak your existing games with elements that will get your players excited about their strategies. Once again, the industry’s most robust game engine gives you even more powerful tools to create the most epic gameplay experiences for your customers.

Share what you’re doing

By the way, have your customers been nuking the battlefield over the past couple months? We want to see how you are implementing the new features, share your gameplay videos with us on Facebook!