This release improves the Steam Deck experience:

• Fix lingering on grey screen after quitting on Steam Deck
• Fix graphical flickering during curtain-close animation on Steam Deck
• Fix 'Get Help' button on title screen not being controller-reachable

Past patches also included these unannounced changes:

• Save level downloads exactly as-is rather than re-exporting them, fixing corruption case
• Fix Rock Candy fully suppressing neighboring Polterguys

[ 2023-06-21 17:29:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Of course, Kid Hallow (and Robot Wants It All!) is on sale for the holidays. So buy it now if you forgot to do so earlier. But also....
The Winter Challenge has returned! I think the picture pretty much explains it. A bunch of new winter-themed levels are now available in Kid Hallow. You'll find them under the "Winter Challenge" button in the menu. Play them, do well, and you will win a Winter Medal!
The top 3 total scores on these levels will earn a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Winter Medal by their name, which will stay by their name until next year's Winter Challenge! Rub it in their noses all year! You have until January 12th to crush the competition. Good luck and happy holidays.

[ 2022-12-23 00:03:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Did you enjoy the Winter Challenge last year? Or do you have no idea what I'm talking about and wonder why some people have metal snowflakes by their names in the high score list? Well, let's solve all that with this year's SPOOKY CHALLENGE! From October 1st to November 1st, a special set of new levels will appear in Kid Hallow. You can find them by clicking "Spooky Challenge" in the game menu. They work just like any other level, but they have their own special high score list. This list ranks you by the combined total of your best scores on these special levels only. If you can be in the top 3 scores on those levels combined by the end of the challenge, you will receive a fabulous SPOOKY GHOST attached to your username until next year's Spooky Challenge when you'll have to defend your crown!
Questions? Here are some key facts:

• These levels will remain forever, they're not temporary. But they will be brand-new and appear all at once on October 1st.
• They're created by an assortment of skilled builders. In fact, visit our discord to discuss the rules if you want to be one of the creators! That'd sure give you a leg up in the competition! We are only going to include a small number of levels though, to keep the competition from spiraling out of control.
• The levels won't necessarily be the hardest to win - but they'll have lots of potential tricks to maximize your score, and getting the best score on them will be a whole lot harder than winning them!
• The Winter Challenge will also return (in winter, strangely), so prepare to defend your winter crown if you are the lucky holder of the Golden Snowflake!
• Got questions? Ask away!

[ 2022-09-24 16:48:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

This release fixes a few minor bugs discovered since the Sci-Fi Pack and Candy Quest release:

• Fix Glob being unable to jump while riding Hovercrates
• Fix multiple Yerfdogs inhaling guys simultaneously deleting some of them
• Fix the bottom crate in "Frankly, I'm Shocked" not reaching its intended destination

Additionally, these bugs were fixed in a series of small releases on the 1st and 2nd of June:

• Fix crash when running within the Steam Linux runtime (unnoticed in dev environment)
• Fix crash when playing a Quest level for the first time ever
• Upload Candy Quest star count whenever it changes, not just when username changes
• Fix menu flickering when clicking To Adventure!
• Disable Share button on successful import
• Update "Kid's Bag of Tricks" so you can't kill the mummy by accident before he hits the button
• Fix visuals when capturing Glob with Yerfdog or Witch
• Fix Glob being unable to stand on Hovercrates, and being crushed upon touching their sides
• Fix sharing maps while the multiverse is active causing the wrong universe to be loaded first
• Use "Time " and "Score " to accurately reflect the thresholds

[ 2022-07-06 05:59:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

With a gigaton of big changes, the Sci-Fi Pack and Candy Quest are now here in Kid Hallow. This free update adds over 150 new levels, an adventure mode to find them in, 3 new costumes, and a ton of new tiles, features, and weird insane interactions. Maybe most interesting is a whole set of new abilities for all of the existing costumes, thanks to the Power Pill which can upgrade your costume. I mean, you want Santa to have a gatling gun, right? Enough said - you can check out the many update videos that cover all the individual features if you want to see that, but I say just download and dive in! It's sci-fi time. [previewyoutube=-pd9btDcMsA;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2022-06-02 02:01:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 25 new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

BEWARE THE GLOB

[previewyoutube=C00BYe--mQY;full][/previewyoutube] The Sci-Fi Pack is almost here! This is our final video hyping it up, and we will leave the last few tiles as a mystery - they include the 'final boss' of the pack and various tiles to help it function. In this video, we get to see The Glob in action. This is far different from every other costume, as this one can just run straight up walls and stick to ceilings. It's tricky to get used to, but it's a slip-slidey good time, as you instantly consume any enemy you run into... unless you're already full. Candy Quest is also finished now, barring testing and tweaks (of which there continue to be many!). It has over 150 levels and I admit they get a bit tricky towards the end, but it's a long smooth curve to get there and I think it'll be a way better introduction to the game than anything you've seen so far. Even veterans are going to learn a lot of nice tricks - at the very least they'll learn about all the new stuff they've never seen before! Also in this video, I snuck in the new Buzzsaws (and Grooves, which guide the buzzsaws sideways). Nothing particularly special, just whirling blades of death as you would expect. You can use Chains (previously purely decorative) to guide your Buzzsaws vertically, or Grooves to guide them horizontally. Chains and Grooves also work to control Hovercrates in the same way, so you can now make nice little Hovercrate elevators and moving platforms without having to kick them off with electricity.

[ 2022-05-02 19:57:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

HOLOGRAMS, SNOWMEN, & PENGUINS

[previewyoutube=d7jNHn3PBFg;full][/previewyoutube] The Sci-Fi Pack is almost here! This is our second to last video (oh, I'm so glad...). Behold the snowman's apocalypse beam, and the flaming penguin of doom! Also a really cool hologram. And hey, is that a new Snowman song? Well, not super new - it's music from Dr. Lunatic. I've also been hard at work on Candy Quest (very hard - 143 levels are done so far!), and have nearly finished. I only have the Dumb Pack Power Pill levels left to do, plus the Vampire, and then any extra Challenge Levels I want to squeeze in before release. We are really finally getting close to this massive undertaking being complete. I'm glad I made Candy Quest for many reasons, but a big one is that it made me really test out the new features and abilities in real level designs, which led to an endless stream of tweaks and bug fixes before the features went live. Every day I make another few changes that would've been a nightmare if people had already made their own levels relying on the original way these features worked.

[ 2022-04-21 16:18:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 25 new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features. You may have noticed that it's been a while since the last Sci-Fi Pack update... well, we are a little bit delayed, but, it's because there is a gigaton of extra content being added!
When adding the 3 new costumes, I knew I would have to add training levels for them. However, we also have power pills for 18 different costumes, which really need training as well. And then on top of all that, I sent the game to a whole collection of streamers and got to watch them play... and let's just say that wasn't pretty. Kid Hallow is a game of thousands of complex interactions between various blocks and monsters. If you don't already know what does what with what, a level is just a mess of random pixels and you die for no reason. And our training levels were woefully inadequate - they'd introduce an ability, ask you to use it once, then immediately give you another (and still left lots of things out!). Nobody could remember all that. So we are introducing Candy Quest! It's a collection of well over a hundred levels, slowly introducing every single element and trick move in Kid Hallow. It starts off incredibly easy and ramps up to involve all the complexity you know and love. There's nothing forcing you to engage in it, but it is definitely the easy way into the game, and even veterans will enjoy the high score and low time challenges on each level. We also have a Candy Apple hidden in every level that usually requires some sneaky tricks to find. We're removing the existing training levels, so enjoy them while you can! There's an overworld to explore in Candy Quest too! And we're bringing back Farley The Ghost Bat! Yes, you can still disable him when he annoys you, just like in Loonyland.
I'm currently making level 112. I don't know how many there will be in the end, but I'm about halfway into the Sci-Fi pack stuff now (all other packs are done), so I'm getting there! I expect somewhere around 150 levels at the end. The big part is making sure we cover all of the Power Pill abilities.

[ 2022-04-08 16:15:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

PUSHBOT

A mighty new Sci-Fi enemy, the Pushbot is pretty tough to destroy, but that's okay - you might want to keep it alive, since every time it bumps into something, it tries to push it. It might just solve crate puzzles for you!

YERFDOG'S POWER PILL

[previewyoutube=wbptSfM82ZE;full][/previewyoutube] Yerfdog has an extremely unique Power Pill effect. It does nothing, except to give him the power to get powers when he inhales enemies and objects (makes sense, right?). Whatever he inhales, he inherits some portion of its power as long as it is in his mouth. There are some duplicates (like both Gargoyles and Bats give you the Air Yerf power), but there are still 35 different powers you can gain! It will be an interesting challenge for level builders to figure out exactly what to include since each new item means Yerfdog has access to one more different trick.

[ 2022-03-14 19:01:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

INSULATED WIRES

[previewyoutube=8j8dEPQpHo8;full][/previewyoutube] This one's simple enough, but it's still my WIRE OF THE YEAR! It's always been tough to build wire layouts in Kid Hallow just because wires will connect to anything around them that they can. With insulated wires, you have more control and you can make much more compact builds. They only go horizontally, but let's not get crazy or anything. Who needs vertical wires anyway?

SPACEMAN

[previewyoutube=a_iqvdp0czs;full][/previewyoutube] The Spaceman Costume offers some new things nobody else can really do. First of all, he has a laser which ignites things. He's not the first to do that, but he is the only costume that can set things on fire without using a Power Pill. Fire is very versatile, as you can see in this video. It can burn down normally invincible enemies like the Star Trees. As long as they're flammable! It can also burn up things like Crates which you might not want to burn up, so use with caution. Less flammable objects, like the Hovercrate in this video, get ignited but don't actually burn up. That allows them to ignite other things around them. He also has a Drone he can control to use as a platform anywhere you like. It's permanent and he can use it for his own reach, or to help out his teammates. With his Jetpack, he can fly quite a ways, but the fuel is limited (look closely at his helmet to see the fuel gauge!). The Jetpack can also light things on fire, incidentally, which can make platforming in wooden areas quite dangerous. On the plus side, the Spaceman's suit is fireproof! As is his drone. He also has an oxygen supply (I mean, he'd have to, right?), so he can stay underwater indefinitely. With the Power Pill, the Spaceman gets a menu when he presses Down+Action - from the menu, he can clip wires from the level, and place them anywhere else he likes (he has separate supplies of Wires and Insulated Wires, and can clip either one). It gives him a very unique capability to modify the level itself, and the potential for some very devious puzzles. The Power Pill has one other effect, not shown in the video: it makes the Drone produce pressure waves when it's close to the ground, which act almost like a wall. Enemies (or friends) trying to walk underneath it will be pushed back. I'm not entirely sure how level designers will use that, but I anticipate some tricky surprises to come. It definitely will be used to hold the Princess back from falling to her death, I know that!

[ 2022-03-02 17:31:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

MORE NEW STUFF

[previewyoutube=F-VlKdA3V2s;full][/previewyoutube] The pack is coming soon, but we still have weeks more previews to preview! So I'm jamming them in at high velocity, and here's your latest funjection(tm) straight into your brain. Security Lasers are pretty much vertical Dragon Statues, though how you deal with them is quite a bit different. They will vaporize anybody, and they don't have to recharge after doing so. But you can turn them off with electricity, or you can block the beam with something indestructible like a Crate. The Knight gains amazing new Golden Armor when he takes a Power Pill (plus... emerald weapons? I guess? Jade?). This protects him from one hit and gives him the power to drop his shield, which apparently was stuck with his normal suit of armor. The shield works as a bullet blocker, an electrical conductor, and of course as a handy stepladder. But of course you won't have a shield anymore until you go pick it up again! The Wizard actually gains two new forms of magic, making him one of my top 3 Power Pills! With Nature Magic, he can wrap enemies in vines permanently (one at a time), effectively turning them into crates, and he can summon Magic Beanstalks which are extra handy since any character can take advantage of them. Or even badguys. With Wind Magic, the Wizard can summon his own column of upward wind anywhere he likes (one at a time), and he has the ability to levitate in mid-air, calming all the winds in the level at once. This power is very niche, but it can be used to stop things from getting pushed around, or just to hover in place in order to time your fall into a dangerous situation. It can also stop your upward momentum to avoid hitting spikes, but that requires some serious speed (so you know level builders will definitely make you do it...). I am considering adding a "Wizard Limiter" to the level options, because once the Wizard gets a Power Pill, he can do just about anything, and it will probably be tricky for level designers to design around that. You can make a beanstalk, then make a wind column on top of that beanstalk, and end up miles high in the air (and then teleport sideways from that height!). So I think it might be nice to offer settings to define which powers your Wizard will have access to, if you want to rule some out. It seems a little strange to include level settings just for one specific costume, but if it means you can make better levels, tailored to specific wizard powers, it might be worth it. Plus it means the wizard costume alone is really 15 (slightly) different costumes! So that's something I'm mulling over right now.

[ 2022-02-21 20:18:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

STRAIGHT FACTS

[previewyoutube=r5Or1LLeMEs;full][/previewyoutube] The pack is coming soon, but we still have weeks more previews to preview! So I have to start jamming them in. No more fun, just straight facts. Check out the video to see all the action.

[ 2022-02-14 16:41:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi pack is closing in (see the other updates for details), but for now enjoy these fixes and tweaks:

• When searching, the ">>" and "<<" buttons have been replaced with "Ascending" and "Descending"
• When searching, if the minimum/maximum awesomeness/impossibility are the same, a small spread around that number is returned
• The pause menu now reads "Back to Menu" or "Back to Editor" instead of just "Quit"
• Fix the display name input in Options not actually saving

[ 2022-02-13 01:53:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

BOUAPHA AFTER DARK

[previewyoutube=PtE41vejKAQ;full][/previewyoutube] I'm sure everybody is familiar with Bouapha's late night talk show, but in case you missed this episode, I've pulled out a clip to show you info on Bouapha's Power Pill abilities, the new Light Switch tile (which is heavily featured during the talk show, in a sneaky way), and two new level modifiers which light the level up (or not) in different ways. Since the video is basically insane and mildly embarrassing for me personally, here's the deets: - Bouapha's power pill gives him two upgrades: triple hammers (that fly faster than normal), and skeleton keys. That means that any keys he picks up will be replaced by Yellow Keys, which open doors of any color. - The Light Switch is triggered by anybody touching it, or by electricity from a wire. Either way, what it does is very simple: it turns all Light tiles in the level to Dark, and vice versa. Lots of possibilities there for dark levels as well as Vampire funtimes/torture. - One new level lighting option is Line Of Sight, which is fully lit, but you can't see through walls (and items do not create any light - there's no way to see past a wall except for the Sonic Arrow the Ranger fires). - The other new one is Pitch Black, which is like the normal Darkness mode, except that your character doesn't produce any light. So they will have to use Light Switches, Candles, electricity, torches, fireplaces, and all sorts of things to see where they are going. Side story: in addition to having 4 lighting options, we've also upgraded the 2 camera options into 4, which I'm not going to make a video about since, you know, it looks the same, just bigger. We've now got 3x Zoom, and a different version of 2x Zoom that should be popular: it tries to capture all the Kids in the level at once, instead of focusing on one. If they got too far apart, it's not going to show any of them, but if your level is designed appropriately, this will let the player keep an eye on all their kids at once. Bonus story: this week I've sponsored a bunch of streams of Kid Hallow (search for it on Twitch and Youtube!), and one big thing I've noticed is that every one of them that tries the Bouapha training level asks "What is a Bouapha?" (only without being able to pronounce Bouapha). So I was inspired to make the Bouapha After Dark video, you know, to make it even more confusing! But look for those streams, it's pretty fun to see them gradually begin to understand the madness.

[ 2022-02-02 00:22:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

STAR WARPS

[previewyoutube=x85BYfmmEyI;full][/previewyoutube] I admit this is not the best of my Sci-Fi Pack videos... but it is definitely the best new Sci-Fi Pack feature! With Warp Gates, you now have the power to swap between two universes while editing. They can be completely different in every way if you like. But the player will be able to warp between them at the Warp Gate locations. Some fun facts and perhaps future FAQs:

• Placing or removing a Warp Gate in one universe affects the other one as well, Warp Gates are always in identical pairs.
• When the player is in one universe, the other universe is frozen. This can be useful in puzzles. For example: get a Gargoyle into position under a Warp Gate in one world, then swap to the other, making your way to that first Warp Gate, and dropping down onto the Gargoyle who will be right where you left him.
• If you have multiple Kids, you won't swap universes until all of the Kids have either exited the level or traveled through a Warp Gate to join you.
• You have to collect all the Candy Corn/Canes in both universes for Exits to open.
• Sorry, Princesses and Penguins cannot warp (neither can any monsters). Imagine if they could - they'd all just pile up on the gate, since the other universe isn't moving until you get there!
• Your level only has 2 universes if it contains Warp Gates. If you want the player to only use Ghost powers to swap between universes, you'll just have to stick a Warp Gate in a corner of the map they can't reach!

We also cover the Ghost Power Pill in the video. As you can see, he has 3 new powers:

• Gravity no longer affects him at all (and BOOing now kicks you straight back instead of up and back), which should make Ghost Mazes somewhat more relaxing. Somewhat.
• He can pass through walls, as long as they are only 1 tile wide! Just hold the Jump button and push against them to do that.
• And most importantly, if there is a second universe, you can simply hold down for 2 seconds to transubstantiate yourself over to it! This only works on the ground, in places where both universes are completely empty. Not even overlay tiles can be there. This allows builders to limit where you can do it without having to put anything solid in the way.

Hopefully the concept of the KHU multiverse is getting your brain juices flowing for all the insane level building possibilities! At the very least, you can make levels that are twice as big now!

[ 2022-01-23 23:35:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

ROBOT WANTS CANDY!

[previewyoutube=p_mm4pF5gXk;full][/previewyoutube] Robot, of Robot Wants It All fame, is Kid Hallow's newest costume! Robot plays in a totally different way than any other costume - initially, he can only move left and right (not even jumping!). But collecting a Power Pill doesn't turn him into a super beast like every other costume. Rather, it just gives him one new ability. He can collect up to 14 Power Pills to get all of his abilities, and the person who created the level has a way to decide the order in which you get abilities. Check out the video and see what Robot is up to lately! And by the way, if you find this costume intriguing, be sure to check out Robot Wants It All - 6 games in one, and in each one Robot has an entirely different array of abilities! And yep, he starts out only being able to move left and right (in the first game anyway).

[ 2022-01-14 22:25:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

Hovercrate

This began life as the idea of a crate that Frank can shove, which doesn't stop moving (and ignores gravity). But then I realized it was basically a moving platform, so I added the ability to trigger it via electricity, so you can do all the moving platform tricks you like in games. Make an elevator, a jumping puzzle, or a smasher. But remember that Frank (and some others) can undo all your hard work with one quick headbutt! [previewyoutube=oQy_phCGbOI;full][/previewyoutube]

Scary Santa

Santa has had enough of you flinging him to his death over and over, and he's not taking it anymore. [previewyoutube=87JIXsDWGMw;full][/previewyoutube] Obviously the best Power Pill of them all, and it doesn't need any explanation. Except maybe that the Stockings turning green is when Santa puts coal in them. If an enemy collects a Stocking filled with coal, they catch on fire, and you get double points, and a flaming present is dropped, which you can of course detonate at will.

[ 2022-01-07 20:16:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

This patch includes the Editor Upgrade, the Winter Challenge until January 10th, and also:

• Tweak distance of Wolfman pounce slightly down again, so it's still easier to cross 2-tile gaps but you won't hit your head
• When there are two Yerfdogs, the second one no longer instantly spits out any inhaled objects
• Spiffy up the forest background ever-so-slightly
• Fix crates sometimes falling through platforms when being spat out by Yerfdog
• Fix bug where portcullises cannot be placed in the editor
• Fix possibility for Frank to push a crate a second time before it finishes being pushed once
• Fix camera calculations so guys don't sometimes float off the ground by 1 pixel
• Fix candy cane poltergeists causing the level exit to never unlock
• Fix a theoretical issue where possessed guys could have sometimes skipped tiles due to their double speed
• Fix Kids emitted by Yerfdog or Witch creating a start marker when they shouldn't

[ 2021-12-22 18:09:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

So much big Hallow news today. First of all, in a couple of days, we will be releasing the Editor Update. This is a major overhaul of how the editor works to improve it all around. New features and changes include:

• Copy/Paste tool (pictured)! Select regions and paste them elsewhere.
• Flood Fill tool (you can see the button in the picture)! The usual, you know how it works.
• All the menus have changed to cuddly icons (pictured too! What a handy picture).
• Sound effects, fun!
• Background music (change it by placing any costume to hear that costume's music).
• Sound and music toggle buttons so you don't have to hear that stuff I just said!
• Hold SHIFT to draw a line from your last click. Something I instinctively tried to do all the time, now actually works.
• CTRL-Z to undo! SO handy!
• Smoother/easier gamepad controls. I don't think anybody is doing any editing on their gamepad, but it's better now than it was.
• The Grab tool ("G" key) is now smarter - if you grab a spot that only has an Overlay tile, it will switch you to that layer, or vice versa. Much easier to use.
• A "Friends" tab, which just contains Kid, all the costumes, and Baby Penguin and Princess. Easier to find.
• A "Recent" tab, which contains the last 25 tiles you used. Just handy for not digging through the menus to find what you were using over and over.
• And lastly, the cursor now shows you the tool you're using, in case you forgot!

This update is just for the builders and it should make editing much more user friendly and fun! So what update do we have for the players??
The Winter Challenge! I think the picture pretty much explains it. On December 22nd, a whole bunch of new winter-themed levels are going to appear in Kid Hallow, all at once. You'll find them under the "Winter Challenge" button in the menu. Play them, do well, and you will win a Winter Medal!
The top 3 total scores on that set of levels will earn a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Winter Medal by their name, which will stay by their name until next year's Winter Challenge! Rub it in their noses all year! You have until January 10th to crush the competition. Good luck and happy holidays.

[ 2021-12-20 22:25:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

Goo Valve

You know those levels in many platformers where you hop your way up a bunch of platforms, desperately avoiding the lava rising beneath you? It's time for that terror to come to Kid Hallow! [previewyoutube=288pi4zrUQQ;full][/previewyoutube] The good news is, as you saw in the video, Goo isn't actually immediately dangerous. It's just the same as water. But you still need to act fast because of course you can't stay in it for long without drowning. Unless you're the Penguin, then this is all just good fun. You can Monster Flip Goo Valves if you want the level to begin with them open (and it will also start filled with goo up to the level of your highest pre-opened valve, so you don't have to start with an empty level).

Radical Ranger

[previewyoutube=LPkYhiQMT4g;full][/previewyoutube] The bonus for the ranger was a pretty obvious choice that probably took me much too long to realize: a quiver full of trick arrows! I DID create this ability (but not this video!) before the Hawkeye series came out. You get: Rocket Arrows: Replacing your normal arrows, these work the same, but if you tap any direction during their flight, they instantly rocket in that direction (once). Their other feature is that they light stuff on fire when they hit. Fire is a new Sci-Fi Pack feature that several things use. As you might expect, it can spread (just a little though - we didn't want it to get insane), and it does damage over time. It also creates light, and if a burning enemy dies, the fire is left behind for the rest of its duration, so you aren't cheated out of your light (or the potential to ignite other enemies). And you may notice in this video that it can even burn up Crates! Very handy trick (unless you need the Crate, then it's not great). It can also burn up all those nasty tree enemies that have always been invincible. Zipline Arrows: They create a zipline from where you fire them to where they hit. It's just a handy way to cross wide gaps. And of course you can only go downhill on them, so while you can fire the zipline upward, you'll have to get up to that higher point in order to ride the line back down. Sonic Arrows: They reveal everything in an area for a little while. The coolest trick with them is that they will stick in enemies, so you can make an enemy carry your vision somewhere you can't reach! They're also supposed to confuse bats, but I haven't implemented that yet. In fact, I had forgotten about it until right now, so I'm making a note. Decoy Arrows: These just create an astonishingly accurate model of the Ranger to distract enemies. They won't prefer it to you, but they will attack whichever one is closer. While making this video I was quickly realizing that decoys do not survive enough damage! I think I'll be raising their health. Their best use is probably just holding down pressure pads for you, as using them as actual decoys is pretty difficult. You only get 3 of each arrow type (other than Rocket), but you can refill them at a Medbay, or you gain one of each type for each Candy Corn/Cane you collect. Use them wisely!

[ 2021-12-14 00:27:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

Medbay

I am often racking my brain to come up with ways to lean Kid Hallow more towards easier levels. There's not much I can do, since any new obstacle will always be used to its most evil possible purposes by our builders. But here's one thing I came up with - you can include it in your levels to provide a sort of checkpoint (only sort of - if you die, you're dead!). As players screw up, they can come back to the Medbay for a full refill to try again. [previewyoutube=oocCWYU8EZ8;full][/previewyoutube] Of course, it also has evil uses. The Medbay heals enemies just as effectively, so you can make semi-immortal foes. Another, sneakier, use is that the Medbay removes the effect of Black Hearts on enemies, so you could have an enemy with WAY too much health, and the player has to lure them to a Medbay to remove it before pummeling them. You can of course Monster Flip Medbays to start them turned off if you want the player to have to work for it. One thing the video completely skips, because you don't know about it yet, is that there are a couple of costumes which (in Power Pill form) use consumable resources (things like ammo). The Medbay also refills those.

Happiest Stick Ninja

[previewyoutube=IdxLYyfCXnw;full][/previewyoutube] For the first time, our resident ninja actually has a way to hurt enemies! And not just hurt them... Those backstabs and dives do 5 damage, which is more than enough to one-shot almost every enemy in the game! The backstab from the shadows was actually the very first move I came up with for the Power Pill. It's the basis of the whole idea that the pill gives everybody different new abilities. The Happy Place is another new ability - the thought here was that he had Stickman abilities (fitting through grates, walking on clouds) and Ninja abilities (wall jumps, stealth), but no Happy abilities. So now he has a teleport target you can place anywhere you like (press Down+Action to place it), and return to at anytime. Well, anytime you can find solid ground to stand on (Down+Jump teleports you back to it). Imagine the puzzle potential! And of course he has Air Dashes (Tap Action in midair). Classic ninjutsu. If you are concerned about being able to stick to the ceiling with this new ability, you can prevent Air Dashing by holding Jump or Up. It sounds complicated, but it's actually quite natural - holding Up+Action actually was how you stuck to the ceiling in the original Costume Party!

[ 2021-12-05 18:17:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

Junction Box

Wires have always been an interesting, and high-tech, aspect of Kid Hallow levels. But they're a little bit limited in what they can do. The Sci-Fi Pack seemed like the perfect time to spice that up, since, you know, technology and whatnot.
The junction box turns wires into a real puzzle: first of all, it only works in one direction (and you can use it just for that, if you want to stop electricity from looping back to your switches). Electricity flows in from the left side and goes out the right side. You can also Monster Flip it to make it work right-to-left. Then, if it gets a charge from below, it consumes that charge and switches, and now when it gets energy from the side, it sends it upward instead of sideways. So you can set up switches in your level that reroute electricity. What's it for? I don't know man, this is a deep cut for the hardcore level builders. Program a computer inside your Kid Hallow level!

Vicious Vampire

[previewyoutube=OktomR6dXqM;full][/previewyoutube] I'm really proud of today's video. Come on, that's a fun one! Behold the modern Vampire, with his sparkles and giant bats. To clarify a bit of what you're seeing: the bats normally seek out enemies and bite them up to 3 times, and then return to you. You heal up 1 heart for every 3 bites your bats have gotten. However, if the bats aren't smart enough for you, you can hold down the Action button to mind control your bat for a while, allowing you to engage in precision battery. I'm really looking to open the game up with new types of gameplay with these Power Pills, and this one is definitely doing that. This is not just a simple upgrade, it's a whole different set of problems and solutions, and as a level builder you can combine it with non-Power-Pill Vampires and all the other costumes in both forms to make an infinite number of puzzles and challenges.

[ 2021-11-28 22:09:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi pack is still in development, but in the mean time please enjoy fixes to a few bugs:

• Witch can now transform a tile she is stuck inside, to help avoid soft locks
• Slightly increase distance of Wolfman pounce to make crossing 2-tile gaps easier
• Tweak bats to turn around if they would otherwise be held in place by wind
• Add superheart, jawbreaker color, and 2x indicators on the right side of the HUD
• Allow scarecrows, gems, and candy corn to be flipped by the monster flipper
• Increase max number of sounds playing at once from 8 to 32
• Reduce volume of Gorka boulder noise
• Fix possibility to "miss" a level exit if you hit spikes on the same frame
• Fix secret passage over bricks looking the same as bricks in the editor
• Fix mouse cursor not being hidden during keyboard gameplay
• Fix Poltergeists losing their tile when captured by Yerfdog or Witch
• Fix spiders jiggling rapidly when colliding with a wall to their left/right
• Fix exits being stuck closed on maps filled to the limit with candy corn
• Fix bug where bats could sometimes go up through a trap door
• Hopefully fix bug where 1-pixel gaps could appear in the tile map on zoomed-in levels

[hr][/hr] Also, since these weren't posted to Steam yet, here's the past patch notes so far: Patch notes for Nov 7, 2021

• Uncap framerate of menus and editor
• Improve Yerfdog's manueverability on ice to match other characters
• Tweak editor gamepad shortcuts: LB/RB cycle tiles, LT/RT cycle tabs
• Invisible triggers are now easier to see in the editor
• Fix trap door animations
• Fix color blocks fading into existence too slowly in some situations
• Fix Wolf and Ranger getting an extra double-jump when walking off a ledge
• Allow Wolf and Ranger to double-jump even when already travelling upwards
• Fix H.S.Ninja sliding while stuck to the ceiling if he jumped off of ice
• Fix princesses and baby penguins not returning rock candy to homes and exits

Patch notes for Nov 3, 2021

• Add "Copy Link" button to level details
• Using "Recommendations" or "My Levels" no longer resets your custom search
• Reduce the volume of the water splash sound
• Set a generous maximum speed limit to help keep physics stable
• Make the Penguin's dash deal damage immediately, rather than after a wind-up distance
• Slightly improve the display of level rankings and award pop-ups
• Fix crates not crushing bats, grues, &c. in situations when they should
• Fix flipped Gorkas not having alternate timing when they should
• Fix Crows not bouncing early when their rider hits the ceiling
• Fix a possible cause of "Download Problem"
• Fix lava blocks only dealing damage on alternate frames
• Fix mouse wheel allowing access to locked tiles
• Fix floating upside-down crates causing homicidal plants to drift upward
• Fix a possible method for winning a level without rescuing all Princesses
• Fix a Poltergeist-possessed Kid counting for the "level has a Kid?" check when it shouldn't

Patch notes for Nov 1, 2021

• You can no longer jump when bouncing on shrooms (which could result in either a higher or lower bounce)
• Gargoyles/Crows/etc. should now work again
• Platforms now stop your sliding after ice
• Icicles now act more like reverse crates (fixes continuous splashing)
• Fix Wolfman pounce and dive animations having a janky final frame
• Fix Esc on level details so it goes back to results instead of quitting

[ 2021-11-24 03:45:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features.

Multipass (Red, Green, Blue)

Remember Pressure Pads? Ah, such fun. Well, at first a Multipass seems like the same thing:
Step inside the Multipass, stuff switches!
But it's called a Multipass for a reason! It's kind of the opposite of a Pressure Pad - instead of triggering when anybody steps on any of them, it triggers only once all of them are occupied (and untriggers as soon as anybody leaves). So it's about setting up a situation where you get somebody or something onto all of the Multipasses. Pressure Pads send a spark downward (if there's a wire below them) as soon as someone steps on them. Multipasses won't send a spark (upwards) until all Multipasses of the same color are occupied. Also, it goes in the Overlay Layer rather than the normal Tile Layer. It's not the most amazing and unique element, but I think it adds a couple new types of puzzles you can build. That's the goal with this pack, to create things that open up new level design possibilities instead of just more monsters to bite you.

Kandy-Kraving Kid

[previewyoutube=IqaiHZToZ3w;full][/previewyoutube] We got a full-on video for you today! The Kid may not be the biggest powerhouse in the game (in fact, he is definitely the weakest, by a mile), but with a Power Pill, he can actually start to do some stuff that nobody else can do. I made sure to stay true to his complete inability to harm anyone, but at least he can get a little pushy now.

[ 2021-11-19 16:33:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sci-Fi Pack is coming to Kid Hallow! It will be a free update with 20some new tiles/monsters/etc, 3 new costumes, new backgrounds and music, and some special features. Over the next... however long it takes... I'm going to reveal a new tile/element each week until it is eventually released! It is going to be a massive addition to the game with by far the coolest, most game-changing elements we've added since Costume Party came out in 2008. You'd think I'd start with the least interesting new thing, but I can't, because I'm going to share an element that is so game-changing, that I'm going to have to keep adding more information about it every single week!

Power Pill

Once you gulp down this unassuming medication, your whole world is about to change. The Power Pill will grant you fabulous new powers which vary depending on which costume you are using and completely change how the level plays out. The pill only affects the specific costume that eats it, so if you switch to a different one, that one remains ordinary unless it finds its own pill. So you may have interesting decisions about which costume to use to grab the pill, or you might find a level you have to travel through in ordinary form until you reach the pill and come back laying waste to everything. Because oh yes, the pill does make you powerful. Along with revealing a new item each week, I'll also reveal one of the costume upgrades you get with the Power Pill. This week, let's see what Frank is up to!

Frightful Frank

First of all, when Frank is upgraded, his headbutts deliver a devastating shockwave that rips through all bricks in a row. In case you can't tell from the animation, this is fun.
This of course applies to his vertical headbutts as well. And you can smash Pine Trees, all that good stuff.
But wait, there's more! If Frank avoids being hit for 4 seconds, he gains Super Armor, making him immune to the next hit he takes. Slow and steady wins the race.
Or more likely, evil level designers will require you to exploit the armor to maximum efficiency by diving into spikes regularly and getting out before you die (like normal hits, you get one second of invincibility when your armor shatters). And last but most amazing: Tapping down when you have Super Armor causes you to get struck by lightning from above! This consumes your Super Armor.
Don't worry, that's something Frankensteinses actually enjoy. It doesn't hurt you any, but it deals massive damage to enemies, as well as triggering any electrical devices in the path (or anything that can be triggered by electricity - like opening Doors and Chests, toggling Fireplaces, etc), and smashing any easily-smashed objects like Crumbly Bricks, Pine Trees, and Crumbly Platforms. There is however some risk involved: lightning is dangerous stuff, and it will also do 3 damage to any of your friends in its path (except the Knight, of course, who conducts electricity!). Be careful where you shock! So hopefully you're catching the vibe that this one item alone, the Power Pill, actually results in a whole world of new level designs, employing these new super powers. Also, I should add that none of this has been tested yet, so particular values and specifics are definitely subject to change. And the last thing I want you to take away from this is that, while I have written down ideas for every costume, I haven't implemented them yet, so if you have ideas for how the Power Pill should upgrade your favorite costume, share them in the comments! A lot of the cool new abilities added in Kid Hallow (from the original Costume Party) were actually suggestions (or sometimes jokes...) from the testers that sounded too cool to skip! What do you think could make for some really interesting new level designs? Update: This seemed like a no-brainer to add to him too! His normal crate bash just moves it one tile and it stops if it hits anybody. This is a brutal improvement:

[ 2021-11-13 23:56:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1767700/ or just gaze upon it on itch.io (they don't have wishlisting) Costume Party is back! With a new name, and a bunch of cool new features. Save and share levels both offline and online, enjoy new abilities for many of the characters, and deal with over a dozen new tiles and monsters that interact in a bunch of wacky new ways. Kid Hallow includes the original Costume Party as well as the Winter Pack, Dumb Pack, and Fantasy Pack DLC.

[ 2021-10-27 21:19:42 CET ] [ Original post ]