Good evening Wardens!

After a couple weeks of polishing and refinement, we are ready to update the main branch! Performance optimizations, fixes, layout tweaks, and a dedicated speedrunning mode are all included in this new update.

The changelog below includes a compilation of all changes since the last public build (1.0.11).

Thank you for your feedback and reports!

General:

- Player movement has been enhanced with memory optimizations, which should result in a notable performance boost in larger missions.

- Minor optimization and caching for physics objects which should further boost performance.

- Script processing for warp gates, card blocks, glass blocks, bomb blocks, and snow blocks has been optimized for improved performance on missions that have them.

- More resources besides particles will now be preloaded on bootup.

- Fixed the spawn animation for certain Golden Gears that were causing them to jump from one position to another.

- Adjusted the animation speed of Golden Gears that spawn without a slowdown effect.

- The camera should no longer stutter when moving downwards.

- Various camera optimizations.

- Fixed visual inconsistencies with the button prompt labels when switching input devices.

- Additional optimizations for player physics.

- Added \"Teleport Dive Cancels\" as a statistic that\'s tracked in the Records menu.

- Revamped the way that scenes are loaded so that the next scene is far less likely to be visible for a split second during the fade transition.

- After the game has been cleared once, a new \"Speedrun\" toggle will appear when pressing Select in the file options menu. Speedrun mode automatically skips cutscenes and displays the overall file time onscreen.

UI:

- Dialog boxes that display during gameplay (such as Marine\'s dialog on Battleship Aquamarine) will now automatically resize when the game is paused so that the menu does not overlap the text.

- In the Rewind to Checkpoint menu, the options have been swapped so that pressing the Cancel input will now move to Return instead of Rewind.

- When collecting a Golden Gear in a hub mission, the black screen should no longer blink out for a frame or two before the message is displayed.

- Switched pause delay to delta time to avoid unintended side effects.

- Fixed the input labels in the controller rebind menu displaying the wrong input.

Kronii:

- Aerial properties should now always be refreshed when touching the ground for one frame.

- Kroniicopter should now function consistently at low frame rates.

- Footstep sounds and sword trails should be more consistent at low frame rates.

The World Tree:

- Adjusted the size of the hitbox for any Kronie Phone positioned over spikes, such that players no longer miss it when it would seem like they shouldn\'t have.

- Adjusted a small bit of terrain in the Summer section that was causing first-time players more trouble than intended.

Magic Resort:

- Fixed a stray collision box under the water.

Castle Road:

- Fixed various minor collision issues.

Town Square:

- Slightly increased the number of dirt tiles that need to be cleaned in the second power washing segment in order for the thread to appear.

The Maze:

- Fixed an issue where the Friend Hint would often not choose the three nearest collectibles.

- When the player touches a Friend Hint, they will now be shown markers at the edges of the screen, in rough order from nearest to furthest. Each of these markers will be scaled to show relative distance to its target.

- Additionally, specific targets are designated as \"lower priority\" for certain Friend Hints, so the player will be less likely to be directed toward collectibles behind one-way gates.

- A handful of notes have been added to improve direction in specific areas.

Magitech Forge:

- Implemented object pooling for crates, dispensers and assembly line cranes to improve performance in this mission.

- Additional crate system fixes.

Ducky God Arcade:

- The background buildings are now a new sprite at the proper size instead of a smaller sprite that\'s upscaled.

Symphonic Gallery:

- Minor optimizations for the frozen time areas.

KFP Stadium:

- Adjusted level design in one area to make one the objective clearer.

- It should no longer be possible to skip the boss fight by exiting via the pause menu.

Case Closed:

- When the player reflects the Photon Torpedos in this fight, they will explode without being harmful to the player if the boss does not reflect them back.

Defending the Sancutm:

- Adjusted the camera in one specific area to communicate a puzzle\'s solution more effectively.

- Just below this area, removed one of the Clock Weights blocking the player\'s path to improve flow.

Solitude:

- Made some adjustments to the end of this level to improve sense of direction.

Gloom:

- Made several minor terrain changes to help this level flow just a bit more smoothly. Additionally, to improve sense of direction for some players, certain enemies have been moved from Brave to Proud only.

- Added a Slime Barrier in a specific spot to prevent casual players from putting themselves in a particularly sticky situation.

Despair:

- Fixed an issue where the music for the boss fight in this stage would not loop properly.

Tower of Darkness:

- The monitor that breaks at the end of a cutscene should now stay broken after the cutscene ends.

- Minor optimizations for the frozen time areas.

- Projectiles for the Clock Roach, Arc Sentinel, Spice Breaker, and Spiral Drake enemies have been optimized to interact with the frozen time areas more efficiently.

- Friend Hint adjustments to The Maze will now also apply to this level.

- Additionally, adjusted friend hints such that most of them will now point directly to their target treasure.

- Made a few minor adjustments to make certain parts of the level flow more smoothly.

- A few notes have been added to the Mumei room near the end of this level to assist in directing the player.

- The lock sign in the final antechamber has been updated for clarity.

- A few adjustments have been made to the Baelz section and its mechanics to help the final puzzle feel less finicky.

Steel on Steel:

- Fixed a visual issue where rewinding to the first checkpoint would not properly reset the background to its previous state.

- It should no longer be possible to drop through the bridge at the start.

- Fixed various minor collision issues.

Zero Seconds to Midnight:

- Fixed incorrect visual layering on the right wall of one of the arenas.

- Fixed various minor collision issues.