Welcome back for more patch notes! This release brings Bits & Bops to even more users! In addition to several new fan-contributed translations, we've also added support for screen readers! This should be enabled by default if you have a screen reader active on your computer, or you can explicitly enable or disable it from the settings menu. If you're blind or visually impaired, please try it out and give us your feedback in our Discord server. You can now also play Bits & Bops in

• Japanese - thanks to shiomichu!
• Russian - thanks to Lisenokk!
• French - thanks to Temulgeh and Romaing!
• Italian - thanks to Feder-28!

Special thanks to all the translators! For macOS users, we noticed an oversight in the last build that meant users weren't being switched over to the custom engine by default. With this new release, you'll be switched over unless you've explicitly chosen the fallback engine in the settings. As usual, if you experience issues, please report them in our Discord server.

Features added

• The game now supports narration with text-to-speech for blind and visually impaired users
• Custom mixtapes can now be loaded by pressing Ctrl+M on the disclaimer screen
• In-game volume controls now use a more natural-sounding curve
• Linux and macOS users can now explicitly select their audio output device in settings
• The mouse cursor is now locked to the screen during gameplay
• The in-game Discord link now points to the Polish channel if your system language is Polish

Updates

• The kiss sound effect in Flipper Snapper now more closely matches the judgement timing
• Many fan translations have received updates from the contributors and our community
• The default game volume has been lowered for new players (but can still be increased in settings)
• The wren is now able to giggle for the last input of Meet & Tweet
• The Hammer Time "Cool" judgement text now ends with a full stop instead of an exclamation mark
• The custom engine now makes use of SSE2 instructions on Linux and macOS
• The bundled version of SDL2 has been updated to 2.30.0
• The included version of miniaudio on Linux and macOS has been updated to 0.11.21

Bugs fixed

• The custom engine is now enabled by default on macOS
• The "Want more?" CD now animates in with the others on first play
• Photos taken in the Flipper Snapper tutorial now match the tutorial background
• The hammer no longer gets stuck if held at the end of the Hammer Time tutorial
• The in-game Discord link now points to the Chinese channel if your system language is Traditional Chinese
• Translations now use the correct title font on error screens
• The custom engine no longer preferences installed versions of SDL2 in /usr/local/lib over the bundled version
• The custom engine no longer fails to load SDL2 on macOS for some users
• Transitioning to the main menu from the splash screen can now be done with any button or key
• Unused audio settings are no longer present on macOS
• All randomised effects no longer exclude one of the choices for the first selection

Internal changes

• Custom mixtapes with a large number of BPM changes no longer cause frame drops on some machines
• The camera now fades out consistently when quitting custom mixtapes
• Some missed judgement lines are now included in translation files
• The bubble animation in Flipper Snapper now scales with song BPM
• Reduce likelihood of block desync at beginning of Hammer Time in custom mixtapes
• Blocks used in Hammer Time outro animation in custom mixtapes are always the correct length
• Hit nails in Hammer Time can no longer become stuck on screen
• The exercise_2 bubble in Meet & Tweet customs now shows the correct sprite
• The canary's perch shadow in Meet & Tweet now scales with song BPM
• The sound effects and animations of speech bubbles in Meet & Tweet customs now match the main game
• Custom mixtapes no longer fail to load if open in another program
• Translation files now allow arbitrary grammar for the translator credit in the disclaimer screen
• Translation files can now specify a scaling factor for settings tab labels
• Translation files can now specify the separator used between option names and values
• Translation files can now specify the length at which audio device names are truncated
• Text bounds and overflow settings have been updated on multiple screens
• Decimals in numbers now use a locale appropriate for the chosen translation
• Where possible, valid content is used from invalid translation files
• Translation filenames are no longer required to match a list of known language names
• Judgement messages triggered by custom mixtapes can no longer bleed into the main game
• Several inconsequential warnings and errors no longer appear in the log file

As always, you can discuss the latest changes in our Discord server. See you there!