First Things First

This week has been an absolute whirlwind. Thank you all so much who have joined me on the Cloak and Dasher journey, it's a pleasure to have you on board. This past week I've spent a lot of time going over feedback from players on ways to improve the game. Much of the feedback, comes from the Discord. (which you should totally join!) Today's patch is the culmination of the first round of changes requested by you, the community. This patch does not contain every single from the feedback that I'd like to get to, but I think it's a good start until the next one!

Changelog

New Features

• Added a "Retry" button that kills the player when pressed. Check the Controls to bind it.
• Directonal, Dash and Jump buttons now buffer while the player entering a level.
• Dashing Grace Mechanics have been greatly overhauled. Should result in much kinder dash grace mechanics.
• Exit to level select menu from results screen in Level Select Mode by pressing Pause button.

Modifications

• All Time Attack levels are now set to have 50 minutes instead of their regular amount. This is to tide over players until Time Attack is removed altogether in the next patch, replaced with Adventure Mode, which will use a counting-up timer.
• The size of arrow Hurtboxes have been drastically reduced.
• While dashing, the player has a much smaller hitbox to better reflect the character's visuals.
• Platforms you can jump through will no longer block horizontal movement when approaching them from the side.
• Pressing Back button in main menu does not close game anymore.

MAJOR Fixes

• Memory Leak caused by not deallocating Player Input events. May help prevent microstutters over time.
• Trophy icon showing up even when you don't get a world record.
• Player is now invincible when reaching the door. This should prevent any posibilities of the player dying on the same frame they reach the door.

Minor Fixes

• Player animation logic which was preventing the "Landing" animation from playing properly.
• When the player changes control bindings, it updates the Respawn Message to be accurate.
• Exiting out of level in Level Select will focus the menu on the level exited out of.
• Unbound controls now claim to be "UNBOUND".
• The player should now remain grounded on level start, fixing double jump buffer errors at start.

What's Next?

Time Attack Removal

The biggest upcoming change will be the temporary removal of Time Attack mode. In retrospect, it is clear that Time Attack's feeling of continual time pressure goes greatly against the game's core principles. The game is meant to allow players of all skill levels to learn and get better as they play, but being forced to replay previous levels due to failure is far too punishing. In the next patch, Time Attack will be completely removed, replaced instead by a new "Adventure Mode". Adventure Mode will work in much the same way as Time Attack mode, except the timer will be counting up instead. Currently in this mode, gems will offer no real value to the player outside of achieving a 100% completion run. I do, however, have plans to give gems more meaning in the long-term with Adventure Mode, so stay tuned for that!

The Problem with Keybirds

Keybirds (or as you may know them, "those weird bats with the keys") are in an odd spot right now. They are framed as though they are an enemy, but they can't hurt you like an enemy. They are destroyed like an enemy, but their hitboxes are so strange. I am making it a goal in the next patch to make Keybirds feel better overall to the player. I still want them to function the same, in that I want players to be able to collect the key, get bounced up, and refresh double jump and dashing, but I want it to be able to do all of that without being framed as an enemy. This means, ideally, you won't need to "destroy" them to make all this happen. What this means? I honestly don't entirely know yet, but I'm going to work to resolve this game-feel issue.

New Levels

As promised, I will be working to put out new levels every single month in the form of free level packs. We've got some new mechanics in the pipe for this month's upcoming level pack, and I can't wait to show them off to you all! It is worth noting, however, that due to the number of much larger than expected changes I'm making to the game this month, this month's level pack may end up being a bit on the smaller side. I truly believe the new mechanics will help make up for that.

Last Words

I'd like to seriously encourage all of you to join the Cloak and Dasher discord! It is my primary means of communication with you all, and I'd like to with very closely with the community as this game develops. We've already made some fantastic improvements in just the 1st week of Early Access thanks to some outstanding community members, and I'd like you to be one of them. To those who are having fun with Cloak and Dasher, thank you so much for supporting the project. It's only going to get bigger and better over time, so let's keep going! Do not ever hesitate to reach out to me with your questions, comments, concerns and general feedback. I love talking with you all about the game. Happy Dashing, -Kevin