Valve explains Dota 2’s most explosive bug

pcgamesn.com:

Dota 2 is a huge game with hundreds of characters, played by millions of people every day, so it’s not too surprising that Dota 2 bugs pop up from time to time. Valve is usually pretty good at staying on top of them, but some are more dramatic than others. One of the most fun and explosive slip-ups to make its way into the MOBA this year is the Dota 2 Techies Sticky Bomb bug, and now the team explains how it came about.

In a new recurring feature called ‘Between the Lanes,’ the Dota 2 team discuss “some of the challenges, bug fixes, and happy accidents we encounter while working on a game as unique as Dota.” First up is the Techies Sticky Bomb bug, which let players using the game’s most infamous hero create a veritable army of Sticky Bombs, which they could then control and move around the map to overwhelm foes with the swarm’s explosive payload.

This actually dates back to the big Techies rework in 2022, which Valve says “created a bug where Techies’ Sticky Bombs didn’t expire, and in some cases became controllable by the casting player.” However, this wasn’t actually a problem at the time, because “there were no circumstances where the bug could actually occur in a match.” That all changed with the massive Dota 2 New Frontiers update earlier this year, however.

Simply put, Valve explains that Sticky Bombs were based on the original Remote Mines used by Techies. Because these could be manually detonated, they were designated in the game’s code both as able to use abilities, and as a controllable unit for the person playing Techies. However, the sequence of actions taken by the Sticky Bombs meant they were never in a position to actually receive or act on those orders.

This changed with New Frontiers because of the