Hello Shield Cat fans! Today I'm posting to announce that my small project Cosmogelica now has a Steam page! I've been working on this small project in the hopes that I can use revenue from it to help fund the completion of Shield Cat, so please check it out and give it ye olde wishlist if you like https://store.steampowered.com/app/2598330/Cosmogelica/ As a reminder, Shield Cat is still on hiatus until this is done and I figure out how I'm gonna proceed with Shield Cat. In the meantime, I hope you like what you see with Cosmogelica! Cosmogelica shouldn't take much longer to finish, so please be excited for it!!

[ 2023-09-13 00:58:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

EDIT: A couple bugs were immediately found due to some last minute changes I didn't fully test out. If you've played the game and you see your save file says something like "Fish Scales: 300/0" you've got the bad version, so please restart your Steam client (if you're on steam) to fetch the latest version. Sorry for the inconvenience! This one also fixes a game crash in the video menu. Original text is as follows: No, you don't need to adjust your set, that says Shield Cat there. I wanted to update it before the Cosmogelica demo goes live, just in case people play that and want to check out Shield Cat too. This update introduces no new content and is only bug fixes UNLESS you didn't play the Chapter 1 update from January and ONLY played the SAGE 2022 demo. In that case, I did do a lot of QoL stuff in January, so feel free to check it out! The interesting thing about Shield Cat and Cosmogelica is that they share quite a bit of code, so bug fixes I did on code from Shield Cat I was able to backport back into Shield Cat. I also wanted to add Fullscreen Borderless, because Gamemaker didn't do it at the time I put the Chapter 1 update, but it does it now. This paragraph is for Linux players only! If you're not on Linux, you can skip this paragraph! The final thing I want to note in this segment is that the Linux version is back. If you're playing on Steam, and the game won't launch after updating, it may still be using the Windows version. Try uninstalling and re-installing it, and if that doesn't work, try going to the game properties and toggling "Use compatibility tool with this software" on and then back off (even if it's off anyways.) Updating the game to a version of Gamemaker that's like 8 months newer introduced a lot of bugs, so I think I'm just gonna do a runaround on the game every time I update Gamemaker just to see if it's broken anything or not. So, does this mean I'm working on Shield Cat again? No, I will be finishing Cosmogelica first. Please look forward to Cosmogelica's demo in SAGE 2023 on September 1st! I'm making this update to Shield Cat though to fix some bug reports I got from the Chapter 1 demo, to fix bugs I found from porting the code to Cosmogelica, to add the Fullscreen Borderless mode (highly requested feature) and just to let people know that yes, I still want to make Shield Cat. I didn't abandon it! Hopefully I will have some news for you guys after Cosmogelica. We'll see! Anyways, here are the patch notes:

===== NEW =====

• The game now supports fullscreen borderless.

===== IMPROVED =====

• Optimized the loading so that it loads much faster, while also fixing the game not giving proper loading feedback for people without SSDs.

===== CHANGED =====

• You can now use both action buttons to dive in the River Challenge.
• The Minecart Challenge has been changed to use a Perspective FOV projection instead of an Orthographic one.
• This change actually was required because there's a bug introduced by GM 2023.6 with tilemap culling, but I think it looks better the way it is now, so whatever.
• While I was in there, I made the Minecart Challenge track a little easier, at least for the first half of it.
• The game now starts in fullscreen borderless by default (because of some changes, any previous display preferences from before this version are ignored.)

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug with the way displacement map effects were applied.
• Fixed a bug with the CRT shader where the blur/smear wasn't applied properly.
• Fixed a bug where the star collectibles in the Minecart Challenge didn't face the camera properly.
• Fixed a Marcus barrier in the Abandoned Mines that pushed Lance out in the wrong direction.
• Fixed a bug where the "Last Saved Point" glow would draw even if you had markers off or were looking at the list of Cat Coins.
• Fixed a bug where XBOX Series gamepads could register twice when wireless, causing issues.
• Fixed a bug where the dialogue box would sometimes draw on top of Lance when showing the "You got a treasure!" overlay.

===== NOTES =====

• Fullscreen Borderless/Exclusive Fullscreen only in Windows. In Linux, it's Windowed and Fullscreen Borderless (referred to as Exclusive in game.)

Thank you!

I did a full playthrough of the game and didn't see any other bugs introduced by updating Gamemaker, but please let me know if you find anything weird or odd (especially in Linux!) See you on September 1st for Cosmogelica's SAGE demo!

[ 2023-08-25 22:05:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you today with - yes - a build of Shield Cat! I went back to the demo version and made a ton of quality of life improvements, to bring the game up to the standard I wanted for the SAGE 2022 demo, but did not have time. First thing's first: In this version, I've revamped the lighting system. Lighting on every screen has been tweaked and adjusted with the new lighting system, and I'm able to make much richer colors than I was before. You'll also see that visibility on some screens has been improved greatly, while still maintaining the vivid colors I was going for originally. Also, I improved the echo effects in caves to use the new Gamemaker audio effects. I've also made a lot of changes to the dialogue and cutscene system. Dialogue renders much more smoothly now, with better text box resizing to make it easier to read. Cutscenes have also been improved, with more dynamism to really sell the game's most crucial moments. Finally, I made general gameplay improvements, including several improvements aimed at making traversal and platforming easier. Next: I've made quite a few changes related to stage layout and progression. I've moved around a few things to make it easier to 100% the game, as well as added two new Train Stations to allow for more fast travel, making it easier to get around the current game world. You'll also find Mr. Scaleman in much more optimal positions, making it much easier to turn in your Fish Scales for the Cat Coin. All of these changes, however, mean that any file that was 100% in the prior build will no longer be 100%. Sorry! Speaking of Mr. Scaleman, he can now give you a hint as to where Fish Scales are! One of the most requested features of the demo was some sort of way to be able to track down the last few collectibles that you're missing, and I'm hoping that this helps you out! However, these hints don't come cheap, so only get the hint when you're ready to throw in the towel and just want to move on. As an aside, I'm sorry to say that the Linux version of Shield Cat has been discontinued, and subsequently has been removed from download. It was just too difficult to maintain a Linux version with it's many, many quirks, as a solo developer. However, you'll find that the game runs just fine in Proton, so you can still play it that way. If you're concerned about the map rendering bug that specifically affected Proton players with certain hardware, don't worry: I fixed that. I should note: This version is more or less the same as the SAGE 2022 demo, so if you're expecting a major expansion or to visit a new area, you will not find it here. Instead, I've gone back into the game and tweaked and updated a ton of stuff to bring it more in line with the original vision I had for the demo. I hope that you enjoy the updates and having a second run around on the game. And, if you didn't get round to playing it the first time, well, now is your chance! As always, here are the patch notes:

===== IMPORTANT =====

• Some of the changes made to this version of the game add or change existing collectibles and map tiles. For this reason, if you've gotten 100% on a prior save game and load it up in this version, it will no longer be 100%. Sorry!
• However, you can take this time to run around and check out the new stuff, or maybe replay the game if you so desire.
• I did a lot of behind-the-scenes changes to how dialogue is parsed. If you see something like "Error Dialogue Parser" anywhere in the game, please let me know!

===== Special Notes =====

• Enemies will now respawn when you leave a screen and come back. This was always the intended experience, but I couldn't get it to work before.

===== NEW =====

• Mr. Scaleman can now give you a hint on where a random Fish Scale in the stage that you haven't gotten yet is. Should make getting 100% a bit easier! (The hints aren't free though.)
• Added a new save point in the River Path.
• Added a new save point in the Autumn Grove.
• Added a new Train Station in the Deep Woods.
• Added a new Train Station in the Abandoned Mines.
• The game will now show a pop-up when you get all Fish Scales, Cat Coins, and 100% stage completion.
• A new option has been added to allow you to disable text animations in dialogue boxes.

===== IMPROVED =====

• The lighting system has been overhauled. Now, much richer lighting and colors are possible, and as a result, most screens in the game have been touched up and enhanced.
• Rewrote existing audio effects (like echo) to use the new built-in audio effect functionality of Gamemaker, as well as added new audio effects.
• Echoes have been added to one part of the minecart challenge.
• Audio effects have been added for when you ride the train.
• More water shine has been added to water (it was in the SAGE 2020 demo and I just somehow forgot to bring it back.)
• Particles have been added to waterfalls.
• Made some routing changes to allow for more shortcuts and overall make it easier to get around.
• Marcus and Mr. Scaleman both have unique markers on the map screen now.
• Train Stations will now be dark/unlit until you find Parker.
• Dialogue boxes now dynamically scale to their content.
• A notification is now shown when you find all Fish Scales or Cat Coins in a stage, as well as when you get 100% in a stage.
• The place where you last saved with Willow now has a glow around it to show where you'll start the game next time if you save and quit.

===== CHANGED =====

• The File Select menu has been changed. Instead of showing you a bunch of empty slots, it will now only show you save slots with files in them with a "New Game" option at the bottom.
• Because of this change, the "Copy File" dialogue will only allow you to pick the first available slot.
• If there are no more slots available, the "New Game" option will not be available, and the "Copy Game" option will warn you there are no free slots available.
• Removed the "Text Scaling" option. It caused some issues with rendering and also didn't seem like an option that was utilized much.
• The "Dialogue History" option has been removed, and now simply defaults to the longest possible.
• The "Stereo Sound Effects" option has been removed, since it didn't seem useful and also, the music is still in stereo regardless.
• All references to "Vibration" have been changed to "Rumble" in the options.
• Removed all social media links, except those to Discord, the store pages, and the game's website.
• Moved Mr. Scaleman to the center of the Autumn Grove to make it easier to get to him after you get all the scales.
• Moved Mr. Scaleman to a more optimal position in the Abandoned Mines (He'll show up after a specific story event occurs.)
• Moved Mr. Scaleman out of the train station in the River Path and put him more closer to the center of the area.
• Moved Mr. Scaleman in the Deep Woods to be in a more obvious spot for the player to meet him at the start of the game.
• Fixed some issues with the dialogue like pacing, as well as edited some dialogue for flow and clarity.
• Adjusted some Marcus' Adventure barriers to make it less obvious when they're blocking access to secret screens (thereby revealing the secret screen.)
• The visibility of the watermark in the bottom right has been reduced to be less distracting.
• Made some fixes to Lance's animations during the Mailbox minigame.
• Swapped out some signs for NPC interactions.
• Moved two fish scales in the Deep Woods to accommodate a new NPC being there.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Removed the OpenDyslexic font, as Windows was saying that it was a virus for players.
• Fixed a bug where the Font Antialias function wouldn't work or only worked somewhat.
• Fixed the bug where map rendering didn't work on Linux under Proton in certain situations (including Steam Deck.)
• Fixed a specific spot in the Autumn Grove by the long vertical platform room where you could get Lance to respawn inside of the wall to potentially get out of bounds.
• Fixed a bug where loading to save locations could play music louder than intended.
• Fixed dialogue bugs that would cause the dialogue boxes to suddenly grow much larger than needed.
• Fixed several screens which had light bleed from adjacent screens on them. If you find any rooms with unusual light bleeding in from the sides, please let me know.
• Fixed a bug where the end demo music would sometimes not play.
• Fixed a bug where the platform snapping that helps you to not fall off of them was a little too aggressive.

===== NOTES =====

• Linux support for the game has been officially removed, and this time, it's not coming back. I'm no longer interested in maintaining a Linux version of the game, as it takes way too much time and effort, and it works well enough in Proton/WINE anyways.
• The Steam Cloud will be able to move your save files from the Linux version to the Windows version. If you're not playing the Steam version, you'll have to either move them yourself, or download the Steam version temporarily to allow the Steam Cloud to get your save files. I apologize for the inconvenience. However, all save files are compatible (except controller remappings.)

Thank You!

Thank you very much to the following people, as well as everyone who supports me: 11Natrium, Ahty, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, AshiPaws, BabyPinkSnail, Barbara Fregia, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist, Boozel, David Wolfpaw, Brandt Howard, Cactus Bat, Caliburn Absolute, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, Colonel Sandwich, DJ Otters, Vix-N, DimSumthing, Dizmus, DoricDream, EZGames69, Cloud Hop, EveryZig314, Fbio Fontes, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, Flaki, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Galuade, Gri, GloopQueen, Goronhead, Gray Bell, Hazel Stagner, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, Jack O'Connor, JD Laclede, Jammy, Jennifer, Jo Polaris, Joanna Jones, Jyrki, Kabit, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kohaku Katou, Krazinsky, Trash, LF, Leo Gera, Lorxus, Lulla, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna, Maniko, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, Little Egg Basket, nattydo, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Okesska, PicoriKirby C.A.L., Raegal Boggart, RawrParty, Rhaen, Vinyl, Roger Tyranny, Ryunohito, RAVE_R0Ak, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Spyduck, Some Egrets, SplotchDoggo, Spoony Doodle, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarocco, Touku, Upscale Furry Trash, Vectrobe, ViveeFox, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Xkeeper, breakthetargets, caseJackal, Kazy, meerm, megaRammy, morgan `indrora` gangwere, raine, rainedoe, Foxxhoria, ubuntor, sol Now, to get back to commissions and Cosmogelica...

[ 2023-01-09 03:12:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you today with an update to the Shield Cat demo. This mainly focuses on bug fixes and QoL improvements to enhance the longevity of the demo. Here are the details:

===== IMPORTANT =====

• In the previous version, a thick fog had been found to have covered one of the stages. This was a visual bug from upgrading Gamemaker, and was not intended. The fog has been removed again.

===== Special Notes =====

• Some of the changes mentioned in the notes below were applied in intermediary patches, but I didn't see the need to post a "patch notes" post over one or two changes.
• This version makes some changes to how spinning between/over platforms works. Please let me know if platforming is now easier! (Or harder, but I hope not lol)

===== IMPROVED =====

• Added an additional shine to the Big Key and Circle Keys on the UI to make them more attractive and hopefully remind the player that they indeed have keys to use on doors.
• Map markers will now draw on the edge of the screen when they're offscreen on the map screen. This should make it easier to keep track of quest objectives and markers you've placed, as well as where Lance is in the game world.
• Quest objectives and player-placed markers will now show on the Train Station select menu.

===== CHANGED =====

• Moved the position of one of the levers to make its usage in speedruns easier (I'm not telling you which one, you have to figure it out. I just adjusted it because you could do it, but only with analog controls, so now you can do it with the DPad/Keyboard too.)
• Adjusted the size of the gap in the puzzle on the right side of the Autumn Grove to make it more clear that you need to sprint spin to hit the bumpers.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where the last build of the game didn't update the configuration properly so would reset the Text Speed and Skip Intros option on each run.
• Fixed some spelling issues and adjusted some dialogue for clarity.
• Fixed certain interaction prompts showing when the map screen was open.
• Fixed a bug with Lance's animations during the intro cutscene of the Autumn Grove boss.
• Fixed several gates that had question mark icons to now have lock icons instead.
• Fixed a bug where arrows hitting walls would suddenly gain a shadow that would show even if they were over a pit.
• Fixed a bug where getting a game over during Marcus' Adventure wouldn't actually reset the Marcus' Adventure, putting your game in a weird minigame state.
• Added missing drop shadows on text on the map screen (enhances clarity of the text.)
• Fixed a bug where the "onHover" event wouldn't run on menu items if you hovered with the mouse (ironically.) This meant that choosing a Train Station with the mouse cursor wouldn't show you the correct station, as it didn't update with the change.
• Fixed a bug where mouse positioning would be incorrect when using irregularly sized windows, or when Integer Scaling was enabled but the window was a different size than the game view.
• Basically, that means the mouse shouldn't be screwy anymore.

Thank you!

This is probably one of the last (if not the last) updates that will be done to the demo, so if you have a feature request or found a weird bug, please let me know! By the way, I'm aware that some people in certain configurations can't see the map screen. This is unfortunately not intentional but despite my best efforts I haven't been able to figure it out. Hopefully I can figure it out before the demo period is over, but it's looking unlikely, sorry.

[ 2022-09-21 00:31:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you today with a patch to the Shield Cat Demo! This aims to fix many small quirks and bugs that were found, as well as make balance changes and tweaks aimed at making the game a better experience. All in all, the launch was great, with minimal problems! I want to thank all the beta testers who made that possible, so thank you! Important to note, the version of the demo on Sonic Fangames HQ was just for SAGE, and won't be updated going forward (it's being left up for archival purposes.) If you downloaded the demo from SFGHQ, you'll have to download the update from the store pages for the game. Here are the patch notes:

===== NEW =====

• Added a new sign in the Abandoned Mines that talks about a thing you can do in the game.
• You can now enable mouse cursor trails (little sparklies will come off your mouse when you move it.)

===== IMPROVED =====

• Puzzles which involve you throwing the Shield into a Bumper maze will now funnel the shield into the maze, so you no longer have to be precise with it for it to work.

===== CHANGED =====

• Made the magic platform's hitbox just a little bigger when it's in its unexpanded state.
• Removed SAGE 2022 references (as SAGE 2022 is over.)
• The map screen will now indicate when it's loading by saying "Loading Map..."
• Added more Grandfather Clocks so you can always know what time it is.
• Added a hitstop effect when Lance takes damage from regular enemies, rather than just heavy damage from bosses.
• Changed when the game will make backups of your save data, as well as the frequency in which it'll make backups, to prevent frame hitches and freezes during gameplay when the game autosaves.
• Adjusted a puzzle in the Abandoned Mines to make the objective clearer.
• Adjusted the timing of a group of magic platforms in the Autumn Grove to be easier to deal with.
• Also added a new path you can open up there so you don't have to do the magic platforms every time you go that way if you don't want to.
• Changed the text speed increment intervals to make them more balanced.
• Because the values are all different in this build, this version will automatically reset the value back to "Regular." You'll have to adjust it again from there (sorry.)
• Updated the Steamworks extension. Hopefully this fixes Steam functions not working in Proton.
• Reduced the color contrast in dialogue boxes to hopefully make them easier to look at.
• Edited some dialogue for better flow.
• Made the "Toughest secret in the game" a *little* more visible, but not by much.
• Several small stage adjustments, tilemap fixes, and depth fixes across multiple stages.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed the bomb collect sound being too loud.
• Fixed some platforms going at incredible speeds.
• Fixed some tileset issues.
• Fixed a bug where Willow's map marker indicating where you saved was sometimes wrong.
• Moved the position of one of the Treasure Chests in Abandoned Mines to prevent you from using it to get out of bounds.
• Fixed minor visual bug when entering River Challenge (game used wrong screen transition.)
• Barriers in the boss room for the Abandoned Mines should no longer appear again after you've defeated the boss.
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't keep the Shield+ after buying it and then saving and loading the game again.
• As compensation, players who load a save file from the previous version of the game who meet the criteria will get 25000 Pretty Petals automatically added to their total to make up for the difference. This may give free Pretty Petals to players who don't actually qualify, but it's the best I can do.
• The "Gamepad Vibration" options have been removed on Linux (as gamepad vibration isn't supported there currently.)
• Similarly, the "Enhanced Rumble" option has been removed when creating new files on Linux, or if Gamepad support is disabled/not available for some reason.
• Fixed references to Marcus "Diamonds" to now refer to them as "Crystals" instead.
• Fixed issue with the Button Prompt style option not actually doing anything (mainly in Linux, but could also happen on Windows.)
• Fixed several other related display issues with input prompts.
• Fixed a bug where new players may not be able to play the game using a gamepad on the first boot (Mainly affected Steam Deck using Linux.)
• Fixed a bug where extra long screen transitions could cause the video quality to go lower.
• Potentially fix a bug where the map wouldn't show up when running the game through Proton on specific machines (I couldn't reproduce it, so if this issue affected you, you'll have to let me know if it's fixed or not.)
• Fixed a bug where throwing magic cards at cylinders would crash the game.
• Striking gear arrow puzzle elements that aren't lit up by a light beam will no longer recalculate the puzzle.
• Fixed bug where question icons would draw over each other, which also made the hitboxes and overall spacing between questions larger when using small text (should be easier to click now, if you're using the mouse.)
• Fixed an oversight where you couldn't click and drag on screens that used the gridpane renderer to scroll (so you can now do this on screens like the achivements screen.)
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't close the notes pane with the right click button on the mouse.
• Fixed a bug where jumping off the minecart challenge track immediately at the start would softlock the challenge.
• You can no longer hop across the water in the minecart challenge like a stone skipping across the water.
• Fixed some bugs with the dialogue system.
• Changed the hitbox of one of the camera lockers to hopefully fix light leak. This may have unintended side effects, so let me know if the camera does weird stuff.
• Fixed a bug where the minecart minigame wouldn't make the "failure" sound if you didn't get to the goal in time.

Thank you!

Thank you to these supporters, as well as everyone who makes this game possible: Ahty, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, AshiPaws, ctrlaltdog, Barbara Fregia, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist, Boozel, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, Colonel Sandwich, DJ Otters, Vix-N, DimSumthing, Dizmus, DoricDream, Sweep Dreams, EZGames69, Cloud Hop, EveryZig314, Fbio Fontes, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Galuade, Gri, GloopQueen, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, Jack O'Connor, JD Laclede, Jammy, Jennifer, Joanna Jones, Jyrki, Kabit, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kohaku Katou, Krazinsky, Trash, LF, Legiayayana, Leo Gera, Lorxus, Lulla, Luna, Luna Hyena, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna, Maniko, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, Little Egg Basket, OrobaSpyro, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Philip Garzieri, PicoriKirby C.A.L., Raegal Boggart, RawrParty, Vinyl, Roger Tyranny, Ryunohito, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Snout, Spyduck, SplotchDoggo, Spoony Doodle, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarocco, Touku, Upscale Furry Trash, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Xkeeper, breakthetargets, caseJackal, khr, meerm, morgan `indrora` gangwere, raine, rainedoe, Foxxhoria, ubuntor, sol If you haven't played the game yet, please check it out and let me know what you think! Everyone seems to really be enjoying it, and I'm happy <3

[ 2022-09-09 19:59:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! I just want to let you know that Shield Cat is 100% compatible with the Steam Deck! You can choose either to play it using Proton, or using the native Linux version - both work just fine, and your game saves will be available thanks to the Steam Cloud. Also, since the game's base resolution is 360p, it has a pixel perfect 2x upscale on the Deck's screen. If you DO happen to run into any issues while running it on Steam Deck (as this game is in active development) please let me know!

[ 2022-08-28 00:55:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

[previewyoutube=_6-1eOsYNuQ;full][/previewyoutube] Howdy folks! After nearly 2 years of hard work, Shield Cat is finally ready for a brand new demo! Features of this demo include:

• Six big stages packed full of collectibles, puzzles, and secrets!
• Many minigames for you to play!
• A whole load of cool characters for you to meet!
• Beautiful pixel art with modern enhancements.
• Spinning otter!
• And more!

There's also many different ways to enjoy the game, including retro video filters, different difficulties, speedrun options, and fully customizable controls. A full list of features and things you can expect can be found on the Store Page for the game! The Demo comes out on September 2nd, 2022, and will be available for everyone to download for free! I'm very proud of what I've done here, and appreciate everyone who has helped me to get to this point. I hope that you enjoy the demo!

[ 2022-08-26 22:57:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you with a patch build to the build I've uploaded last week. Actually, I've been updating the game here and there throughout the last week or so with minor fixes, but I decided it'd be more productive to just post about all of the changes at once, rather than to post individual changes. So, here are all the changes since the last build! Mainly I have been focusing on bug fixes, QoL stuff, and polishing up the game to get it ready for the next demo. Please let me know if you find any issues or anything that generally looks "unfinished" (except the intro story, I'm working on it!) As always, here are the patch notes:

===== Special Notes =====

• All stages should now have a unique transition (so no more "Default Transition.") If you still see the default transition somewhere, please let me know!

===== NEW =====

• The Quick Restart speedrun option has been reimplemented. However, it doesn't serve much use right now since you can't "beat" the demo.

===== IMPROVED =====

• You can now disable the Edge Blur effect without having to enable the Custom video settings.
• The transition animation between stages has been improved.
• The speedrun timer graphics have been improved and now fit in much better with the rest of the game.
• The Debug Overlay has been overhauled to make it much easier to use and understand.
• To this end, most of the panels have been combined into a single window, so you can just click around in that, rather than having a million panels all over the place.
• The Fish Scale and Cat Coin totals at the bottom have been changed to silver, and will now turn gold when you have 100% of either.
• The border of the minimap will now turn gold when you've gotten 100% visibility of all rooms in the stage you're in.
• Environmental sounds have been improved across the game, and screens which were missing environmental sounds should now have them.
• Environmental sounds have also been balanced and should fit in with the rest of the game now, without being too loud or too quiet.
• The rotating gear has received a major visual upgrade (new 3D model.)
• When collecting a Magic Vial and then stepping out of the screen, the Magic Vial will respawn immediately when stepping back into the screen, rather than making you wait.

===== CHANGED =====

• Moved debug options which were in the pause menu to instead be in the F10 menu.
• Removed the Speedrun Submenu on the Game Options submenu and moved all options to the Game submenu.
• The text in the bottom right corner showing the build info has been made much smaller.
• Removed the Dev Build message that shows up on the Pause menu.
• The Demo version of the game now has access to debug features (when enabled.)
• Made some small changes to Deep Woods's layout to keep the river that passes through all the stages consistent.
• The "Pixel Perfect" option has been added to the menu to allow easy access to the existing low-resolution rendering option that has been available, but without having to enable the custom settings.
• Reduced the amount of time that Big Keys and Puzzle Lock Keys can't be picked up before they can be.
• Changed the Big Key and Puzzle Lock Keys pickup animations.
• Changed the location that Lance starts when saving at the central Willow save point in the Forest Path, to accommodate for Willow's new position there.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where breaking open a Mystery Orb would crash the game.
• Fixed a bug where getting the high score in the Mailbox Minigame wouldn't actually give you the achievement for it. (If you did this prior to this patch, the game will retroactively give it to you.)
• Fixed a bug where defeating all the enemies in the ambush room in the Forest Path didn't actually stick. If you already did the enemy ambush, you'll have to do it again to get it to stick and allow access to the Marcus' Adventure.
• Fixed a missing map tile on the supermap.
• Fixed a bug where the Red Gem would draw a shadow when it was over a pit.
• Fixed a bug where Lance would activate the Red Gem when he had fallen and was being brought back to land by the game.
• Fixed the reflections not being offset correctly for Fish Scales when collecting them over the water.
• Fixed a bug where you could make Marcus crystals respawn by just going through a doorway and then turning around.
• Fixed a bug where the game would show -150 Fish Scales on the pause menu in a new save file.
• Fixed a bug where music would play at the wrong volume when stepping into some screens.
• Fixed a bug with the assignment of Fish Scale IDs. This *may* result in just a handful of Fish Scales you collected previously having to be collected again. Only 7 were affected by the bug.
• Fixed some text scaling issues with the intro screen text.
• Fixed a bug where some screen transitions would have scaling issues.
• Fixed issues with Lance not being able to respawn in certain places, or respawning way further away than he should have.
• Fixed some dialogue issues.
• Fixed a bug where some flags in the Lignum Village were accidentally assigned to multiple entities.
• Fixed a bug where boulders wouldn't set their flag for being destroyed until quite a bit after you destroyed them (if at all.)
• Fixed a bug with the screen transition used when falling into pits into secret caves and getting out of them.
• Fixed a bug where Marcus' map icon wouldn't show up in the Autumn Grove.
• Fixed a bug where the mouse cursor wouldn't disappear sometimes if the game was in fullscreen and the mouse was idle.
• Fixed a bug where health pots would sometimes not spawn health fish.
• Fixed a bug where the Pretty Petal display would sometimes either incorrectly draw added/removed petals or just flat out not draw it.
• Fixed a bug where the Petal countdown sound when spending money or getting Petals from minigames wouldn't sound in certain situations.
• Fixed a bug where the player would have full control of Lance after the mailbox minigame concluded.
• Fixed a bug where Skyler wouldn't actually give you the Pretty Petals after playing the mailbox minigame.
• Fixed a bug where the Combo multiplier would sometimes not reset once the combo time was over.
• Fixed a bug where the checkerboard rendering shader wouldn't draw right with certain video settings.
• Fixed a bug where the pop-up message box would sometimes draw the text overflowed with certain video settings.
• Fixed missing effects on the Big Key and the Puzzle Lock Key.
• Fixed a bug where some enemies would have incorrect depths when stepping back into the screen with them.
• Fixed a bug where one single arrow would fire during Marcus' Adventure (Normal) in the Abandoned Mines (even though I thought it was funny.)
• Fixed a bug where the Spiky Guy wouldn't despawn during Marcus' Adventure (Normal) in the Autumn Grove until you actually stepped into the screen.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following people and everyone who makes this possible: @buny, Ahty, Alex Stenzel, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, Barbara Fregia, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist, Boozel, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, Colonel Sandwich, Vix-N, DimSumthing, Dizmus, Sweep Dreams, EZGames69, Cloud Hop, EveryZig314, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede, Jack O'Connor, Jammy, Jennifer, Joanna Jones, Johann Pfaffinger, Jyrki, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kohaku Katou, Krazinsky, Trash, LF, Legiayayana, Leo Gera, Lorxus, Lulla, Luna, Luna Hyena, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna, Maniko, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, Little Egg Basket, OrobaSpyro, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Philip Garzieri, Raegal Boggart, RawrParty, Vinyl, Roger Tyranny, Ryunohito, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Snout, Spyduck, SplotchDoggo, Spoony Doodle, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarah Tamayo, Tarocco, Tarsus Endri, Touku, Upscale Furry Trash, DJ Otters, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Wulfy, Xkeeper, breakthetargets, caseJackal, Kazy, khr, meerm, megaRammy, morgan `indrora` gangwere, raine, rainedoe, Foxxhoria, ubuntor, sol Unless a major bug is found, this is most likely the last patch I'll put for a while. Hopefully the next patch will have Parker descrimblofied, but we'll see! I'm gonna be backing off from game development for a few days to try to catch up on my art, and then I'm gonna get started on Parker's whole thing and work toward finishing the demo. See you then! (Unless I see you sooner)

[ 2022-06-25 05:02:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! Coming at you today with a new build of Shield Cat! There's a few things I'm gonna talk about here, so let's do it! First, I've finally got Julie in the game. It took a while, but she's real and she's in there, and you can go talk to her! The minecart minigame is also in now, so you can go check that out too. Secondly, the Playtest build has been removed! If you were using the Playtest build and wish to join the Demo Beta, please contact me! People with the retail version of the game don't need to do this. It's only for Playtesters! Next, I removed the Steam Leaderboard functionality from the game for numerous reasons that are too extensive to cover here (but mainly have to do with cheaters.) I believe it'll be better for the game in the long run, though. Finally, this build should be feature complete in terms of collectibles. You should be able to do everything except find Parker and ride the trains. This means that you should be able to get 100% in every stage. If you're not able to, let me know! As always, I have the full patch notes below:

===== IMPORTANT =====

• Areas have been moved some to make for better map placement and make it easier to figure out where you are and where you need to go.
• New rooms have been added to bridge the gap between the areas, which additional collectibles. If you had 100% in any area, chances are you won't have it anymore.
• This also means that markers you've placed on the map will be slightly misaligned from the previous version, but should still be relatively nearby to where you placed them.
• This change was made to make the game easier to play, traverse, and understand. I apologize for the inconvenience it creates in terms of collectibles, but it'll be better in the long run.

===== Special Notes =====

• With this version, the Playtest build is no longer available! If you were using the Playtest build and wish to join the Demo Beta, please contact me via the Discord chatroom.
• You can't get 100% achievements or stages in this build, sorry! Please bear with me as I work toward the demo build.
• Speaking of achievements, you *may* get achievements for stuff you did previously if you load up an older save with this build. This is because the game checks what you've done before to see if it owes you achievements. It will give you the new achievements when you load up your existing game all at once. Don't worry! This is intended behavior.
• All screens should now have custom colors assigned when using the Retro shaders (so no default green.) If you find a screen that still uses the default green, please let me know.

===== Highlights =====

• Julie is in the game now! You can find her in the Abandoned Mines...
• Even though you can't get 100% of the new achievements yet, you *should* be able to get 100% stage completion on all 6 stages. If you're not able to, please let me know!

===== NEW =====

• The Forest Path is finished! Please check it out!
• New Achievements have been added! However, not all of them are obtainable yet. I appreciate your patience!
• The Minecart Minigame is finished. Please check it out!
• When scrolling on the menu, the menu will now make a special tone when it wraps from top to bottom or bottom to top.
• When scrolling on the menu, holding an input will now cause it to scroll in that direction without wrapping. You can then press the button again to make it wrap around.
• A new option has been added to the Accessibility menu that disables color highlighting during dialogue.
• Skyler will now give you a Cat Coin if you get a high enough score in the Mailbox Minigame. (The game will not retroactively give you this coin as it does with some other stuff, so you'll have to go back and get it yourself. Sorry!)

===== IMPROVED =====

• The map screen (and minimap) now respond to the Alternate Colors accessibility option, and will use colors that should be easier to see.
• The icon of the equipped ability will now show beside it's menu entry in the pause menu.
• More elements of the game have been adjusted to work with the "Skip Cutscenes" option. For example, O'Fox will now go right into the shop buy/sell dialogue, rather than talk a lot.
• Marcus' Adventure now has proper timer graphics rather than placeholder ones.
• More UI elements have been improved upon.
• The Fish Scale collect animation has been improved some and now makes it more obvious when you've collected one.

===== CHANGED =====

• The Combo time will now last a little longer depending on how high your combo multiplier is, making it easier to carry a combo between different enemies the more you keep it going.
• Made some changes to how the vibration feedback feels.
• Changed the colors of Lance's health and magic meter when the Alternate Colors mode is enabled to be better visible.
• Removed the "Drop" option from the "Items" menu, as there really isn't a need for it.
• Stuff in the "Items" menu you can't actually use are now grayed out to indicate you can't use them.
• Changed text on the sign by the first Shield Toss puzzle in the village to make it more clear what you need to do there.
• The books that are in Lance's house have changed. Now, they give more insight on the controls and information you need at the beginning of the game.
• The books that were in Lance's house previous have been moved to the library.
• Upon first entering the Lignum Village, if you go left (toward the post office and Abandoned Mines) instead of going right to check on Parker, the game will now gently nudge you in the right direction.
• This won't happen if you have the speedrun option "Skip Cutscenes" enabled, or if you've talked to Mr. Railway in a previous build, or if you've already visited the Abandoned Mines in a previous build.
• Ability icons have been changed to be full color, rather than just using the purple/gold look, to make them easier to distinguish from one another.
• Leaderboards have been removed from the game.
• Since Leaderboards were removed, and the anti-cheat functionality was solely to prevent leaderboard cheating, the anti-cheat functionality has also been removed.
• Pots with Fish Scales in them now have sparklies so you know they've got something cool going on.
• Renamed save location names to be shorter and more clear.
• The Rusty Trinket's sale price has been increased from 400 to 1000.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed some issues with the graphics on the super map.
• Fixed a bug where the minecart minigame started in the wrong spot, leading to obstacle timing inconsistencies.
• Gamemaker update fixed a bug where the update check wouldn't work in Linux (due to issues with http_get.) Now the Linux version can check for updates too.
• Fixed a bug where the mouse cursor wouldn't show the little grabby arrows that indicate you can resize the window when it would be perfectly fine for you to do so.
• Fixed a bug where pressing the map button during a dialogue sequence would open the map immediately after the dialogue sequence was over (and sometimes even when it wasn't over.)
• Fixed a bug where a room in the Autumn Grove was being shown when it shouldn't have been.
• Fixed a bug where Lance could end up infinitely falling and appearing out of bounds due to the game not setting his safe respawn location correctly.
• Fixed a bug where Lance wouldn't do the right animation when walking into cave entrances.
• Fixed a bug where music wouldn't resume after getting a game over and being revived with a Willow Cookie.
• Fixed a bug where you could start a conversation again with an NPC after they initialize a screen transition (Marcus' Adventure beginning, Roxy putting you across the gate to the Autumn Grove.)
• Fixed a related bug where the player could move Lance around during a transition to another area. Now, the player has to stay put as intended.
• Fixed a bug where the River Challenge would give you the achievement for completing it while getting all stars but regardless of if you did it in the time limit or not.
• Fixed some bugs with the map renderer drawing exits that didn't exist. (Fortunately there were no screens in which the bug occurred in any prior build.)
• Fixed a bug where enemies could lose health even if they were blocking Lance's attack. Now they will not take any damage (as intended.)
• Fixed a bug where dialogue would sometimes show the speaker label in the wrong spot.
• Fixed a bug where opening the Notes Pane would sometimes swap Lance's active ability.
• Fixed a bug where opening and closing the Notes Pane during dialogue would cause some objects to reactivate that shouldn't be activated during dialogue.
• Fixed a bug with some garbage graphics showing while looking at the leaderboards. (Of course, I removed this object now, so I guess it doesn't matter.)
• Fixed missing vibrations from the input mapping menu and message box popup menu (only happens when enhanced rumble is enabled.)
• Fixed a bug where certain NPC objects and triggers would get their hitboxes set to the wrong sizes after being in a dialogue sequence.
• Fixed a bug where walking over some triggers would cause Lance to momentarily pause and reflect on his life for a single frame.
• The game will now attempt to automatically resize windows who's precalculated sizes don't quite fit the actual dialogue. What this means is that dialogue box text should no longer escape the window.
• Fixed a bug with the fullscreen message prompts where pressing the Cancel button would do the same thing as pressing Ok.
• Fixed some spots where it appeared Lance would swim on land when he shouldn't.
• Fixed a bug where sometimes the collectible totals would become desynced and display incorrect numbers.
• Hopefully finally fixed the bug where map completion would show over 100% sometimes.
• Fixed a bug where you could, in certain situations, allow Lance to enter stage transition triggers by pressing the dive button even though you aren't actually in the water.

===== NOTES =====

• NPCs don't really react to the state change after beating Julie as I would like them yet. It's something I'm gonna work out before the next build hopefully, and definitely before the demo.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following supporters below, as well as everyone who helps me make this possible! @buny, Ahty, Alex Stenzel, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, Barbara Fregia, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist, Boozel, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, Colonel Sandwich, Vix-N, DimSumthing, Dizmus, Sweep Dreams, EZGames69, Cloud Hop, EveryZig314, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede, Jack O'Connor, Jammy, Jennifer, Joanna Jones, Johann Pfaffinger, Jyrki, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kohaku Katou, Krazinsky, Trash, LF, Legiayayana, Leo Gera, Lorxus, Lulla, Luna, Luna Hyena, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, Little Egg Basket, OrobaSpyro, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Philip Garzieri, Raegal Boggart, RawrParty, Vinyl, Roger Tyranny, Ryunohito, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Snout, Spyduck, SplotchDoggo, Spoony Doodle, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarah Tamayo, Tarocco, Tarsus Endri, Touku, Upscale Furry Trash, DJ Otters, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Wulfy, Xkeeper, breakthetargets, caseJackal, Kazy, khr, meerm, megaRammy, morgan `indrora` gangwere, raine, rainedoe, Foxxhoria, ubuntor, sol As is typical with build releases, I'm sure I'll be making a patch before too long, so see you soon!

[ 2022-06-15 22:10:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! Coming at you today with another patch to the game! This one fixes a bunch of bugs, as well as adds an overhauled map screen. Please let me know what you think of the higher resolution map! As always, here are the patch notes:

===== Highlights =====

• The map subscreen has been redone with higher resolution artwork in the hopes of making it easier to read and understand. Please let me know what you think!

===== IMPROVED =====

• The map will now indicate which Willow you've saved at, to let you know where you'll start the game on your next play session. I'll most likely make this functionality more obvious in the future, but this at least presents the information to you in a basic way.

===== CHANGED =====

• Balanced more sound effects that were too loud.
• Added a little screen shake when gates become fully open or slam fully shut.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed another bug with the game not showing the correct input sprite in certain situations.
• Fixed a bug where the game showed a ? on the map in the wrong spot.
• Fixed a bug where you could get the shield stuck in a certain spot and Lance couldn't throw another one until leaving the room.
• Fixed a bug where one of the rooms in the Autumn Grove had no map data.
• Fixed a bug where question prompts would show over dialogue boxes, instead of to the side.
• Fixed several bugs with dialogue box handling while using the mouse. Now you can use the mouse to progress dialogue as normal, except when a question prompt is being shown. At this time, you now need to actually hover and click the choice you like (game will no longer register presses outside of the option's hitbox.)
• Fixed a bug where Lance would vibrate continually in one of the caves.
• Fixed a bug where clouds would appear where they shouldn't in the River Path.
• Fixed a bug where Roxy would send you to the wrong minecart minigame stage (sorry!)
• Fixed a bug where collecting a bomb would show the wrong number (you had the right amount of bombs, it just didn't show right.)
• Fixed a bug where menu elements would overlap if the text was small.
• Fixed a bug where a bumper in the Autumn Grove would let you spin against it the wrong way.
• Fixed a bug where the game would spawn way too many Health Fish when you're low health. Now, when a Health Fish spawns, another one can't spawn for 5 seconds.

[ 2022-05-26 21:00:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

You know when I put a new build, a patch will soon follow LOL here it is. There are only changes and bug fixes in this one, but please make sure that you've got it as it does fix some input issues and a game crash. Here are the details!

===== CHANGED =====

• Moved a tree in the big pit room in Abandoned Mines to make it clear that you're not supposed to rely on it to stop you from spinning, but also still prevent you from spinning too far and leaving the area.
• Also adjusted the timing on the platform to make it easier to interact with.
• The platform in the shield toss puzzle in the top right of the Abandoned Mines was moved out more to make it clearer you're supposed to use the sprint button while throwing.
• Also added a sign nearby to make it clear to the player how to sprint-toss.
• The game now requires 7 buttons minimum of any gamepad you'd like to use with it. This shouldn't be a problem, but I just wanted to make that clear.
• Colors used for highlights in dialogue have been adjusted for clarity.
• Adjusted some sounds so they wouldn't be so loud compared to other sounds.
• Changed some dialogue signs to make what they say clearer and fit into the game world more.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where the game would suggest "A" if the input was not actually mapped to anything. Now it should say "Not Mapped."
• Fixed a bug where the game would show "Unknown Input" sometimes despite actually knowing about the input.
• Fixed a bug (hopefully) where Shield Cat would still accept some garbage input devices by adding further checks for them (Mainly affects Steam Deck, but I don't own one, so I can only put the code and hope for the best.)
• Fixed a bug where some parts of the code would skip the input verification routine and allow non-gamepad devices through (mainly an issue on Linux.)
• Fixed a bug where the Marker Placement subscreen on the Map Screen would show an input prompt it shouldn't have shown.
• Fixed a bug with Lance's interaction with the Mushroom Boss in Deep Woods.
• Fixed some depth issues with the roofs in the Lignum Village.
• Fixed a bug where the game would crash when going to the Minecart challenge (mainly on Linux.)

[ 2022-05-20 23:28:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! Coming at you today with a new build of Shield Cat! This one doesn't really add much in terms of new content, but it does have quite a few important fixes and improvements. Specifically, if you had trouble with input devices on Linux (especially remapping controllers) please try this build and let me know if it works now. As always, the patch notes are below here:

===== NEW =====

• More collectibles have been added to existing stages. If you had 100% collectibles in some stages and now you don't, it's not a bug!
• There are new Hexagons to collect! Grabbing them all within the given time will get you something nice...
• Some Fish Scales have learned how to camouflage themselves. You'll have to keep an eye out for these crafty collectibles.
• A new XInput display option has been added for generic/non-console specific graphics.
• A new Retro Preset has been added that reduces the colors significantly for that vintage console feel.
• A new song has been added to most of the small caves in the game.
• There are small enemy crabs on the beach now! You can target their weakpoint for a little damage.

===== IMPROVED =====

• Bumpers are now larger and easier to see and interact with.
• Social Media links have now all been organized into a submenu, as well as with new links to additional social media.
• The Debug Overlay (with F10) has been improved significantly.
• Color blending has been adjusted throughout the game.
• Adjusted some drawing routines to hopefully be more efficient.
• The River Challenge now has a custom palette when using the retro shaders.
• It is now better conveyed when you find a secret spot.
• Music handling has been improved when going between different screens. It will no longer cut off awkwardly as it did in certain scenarios (hopefully.)
• Music has also been adjusted and re-looped, which should remove fading issues as well as intro pops that sometimes occur.
• The Performance Information that used to draw on the bottom of the screen has switched to a different display with graphs on it.
• Updated the game's copy of the SDL Gamepad Database. I've written a script that keeps it updated so the game should now just come with the latest version at the time I put the build out.
• The game's app icon for the Steam page has been updated.

===== CHANGED =====

• Removed the hitstop effect when breaking open a Mystery Orb.
• Changed the drawing of the animation when getting a treasure from a Mystery Orb. Now it wont suddenly light up the screen when getting a treasure in a dark place.
• The functionality of the Escape key on keyboards has been changed. It will now open the pause menu, unless there's already a menu or something open, in which case it will bring you out of it.
• The "Escape" key continues to be a special key, however, and cannot be remapped.
• A warning message has been added if you attempt to open the speedrun options on the New Game menu without ever having played Shield Cat before, to discourage you from doing this.
• A similar message was added if you attempt to turn up the difficulty on a New Game without ever having played the game before.
• Lance will now always pick up bombs, whether or not he can actually use them (the amount he can hold is still capped at 10.)

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where you could open the Notes panel while getting an item from a Mystery Orb.
• Fixed a bug where the Debug Overlay could be accessed if you hadn't opted into it properly.
• Fixed a bug where the graphics auto-adjust would not adjust to the lowest possible preset, nor engage 30fps mode when the performance target still isn't being met.
• Fixed a potential memory leak when going between stages.
• Fixed a bug where map boundaries wouldn't be drawn on certain parts of the map.
• Fixed a bug where the Notes pane would sometimes draw text offscreen in certain graphics configurations.
• Fixed some bugs with Retro text rendering (still needs some work but unsure what to do with it at this time.)
• Fixed a bug where enemies wouldn't spawn right in higher difficulties. Now a big raven will come and attack Lance when he steps out of his house, as intended.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's reflection would draw very very very slightly on the grass (I bet nobody ever noticed it.)
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't move the map on the map screen all the way right or down.
• Fixed some screens not having echo when they should have it.
• Fixed a bug where analog inputs were too sensitive on the input remapping screen, only requiring a light tilt to register. Now, you have to tilt it pretty far to get it to register.
• Removed dialogue from a sign that says you can double-tap to run as, while this is true, the functionality is now disabled by default.
• Fixed a bug where Willow would show the wrong message for starting a new game.
• Fixed a sequence break where the player could obtain a key and use it on the wrong door in the forest path to get out of bounds easily (The area is still unfinish, but now you are blocked from exploring it, sorry.)

===== NOTES =====

• I've added a subsystem that allows the game to ignore input on specified analog axes, with the default having it ignore axis 5 and 6 (shown internally as 3A and 3B) to attempt to solve issues with the game reading analog input off the gamepad triggers when in a resting state.
• What this means in layman's terms is that, in Linux, you shouldn't have any issues using the input remapper anymore.
• You can use F10 and go to the Input tab to configure this, though most likely you shouldn't have to do this. Please hit me up if you have more input issues, especially in Linux.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following supporters and everyone who makes this possible! @buny, ARKYmouse, Ahty, Alex Stenzel, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, Barbara Fregia, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, DarkJoule, Vix-N, DimSumthing, Dizmus, Sweep Dreams, EZGames69, Cloud Hop, EveryZig314, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede, Jack O'Connor, Jammy, Jennifer, Joanna Jones, Johann Pfaffinger, Jyrki, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kohaku Katou, Krazinsky, Trash, LF, Legiayayana, Leo Gera, Lorxus, Lulla, Luna, Luna Hyena, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, OrobaSpyro, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Philip Garzieri, Raegal Boggart, RawrParty, Vinyl, Roger Tyranny, Ryunohito, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Snout, Spyduck, SplotchDoggo, Spoony Doodle, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarah Tamayo, Tarocco, Tarsus Endri, Tenma-arekussu, Touku, Upscale Furry Trash, DJ Otters, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Wulfy, Xkeeper, breakthetargets, caseJackal, Kazy, khr, meerm, megaRammy, morgan `indrora` gangwere, raine, rainedoe, Foxxhoria, ubuntor, sol I think I said before that I wanted Julie to be in the next build, and she's almost done! But I wanted to get these improvements out there because some of them are really important. You'll be able to see Julie soon though!

[ 2022-05-20 00:25:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you today with (hopefully) the last patch build for a while, so I can get back to implementing big things! This update focuses mainly on bug fixes and general improvements as I work on polishing up the game to be presentable for the upcoming demo. There's some important stuff in the patch notes, so please be sure to check them out!

===== IMPORTANT =====

• Lance will now always go into a backwards skid state if you press the opposite direction, no matter how fast he's going.
• This change was done because Lance would sometimes turn completely around and continue going the opposite direction at the same speed, making platforming really difficult.
• However, this means that pressing the opposite direction to try to save yourself from accidentally spinning into a pit will no longer save you. Please be careful!
• If you have a lot of issues with this version of the game in regards to spinning around pits where you didn't have issues before, please let me know.

===== Highlights =====

• High-Precision analog stick support is now in! Now you can 360 no-scope with Lance.
• This feature can be enabled or disabled using the Options menu (it is enabled by default.)
• When enabled, this will use the existing directions that have been configured already, so you don't have to re-bind any inputs.
• Please note that the default Analog Deadzone in previous versions of the game was a bit too high, so you may have to adjust the setting if you played a previous version of the game.
• Several UI elements have been redrawn, improved, and adjusted to create a more consistent UI style across the game.

===== NEW =====

• Lance's currently selected ability will now show above his head when you swap it using the ability quick-swap function.
• Lance now has an afterimage drawn when sprinting. Hopefully this will make it more clear when he is sprinting.
• A new Accessibility option has been added which allows you to use abilities without consuming magic.
• A glowing red border has been added to the edge of the screen when you are at low health.

===== IMPROVED =====

• Platforms that you're spinning toward will now (slightly) attempt to help you get on them better if you're off-center.
• Collectibles are now more attractive than ever.
• The input remapping screen is now a lot more user-friendly (hopefully.)
• Magic Platforms now have sound effects.

===== CHANGED =====

• The Analog Deadzone has been changed from 20% to 10%. If you've played the game at any point, you'll have to make the change yourself, as previous versions of the game will have (by default) set it to 20%.
• Music will no longer start playing at 0 volume when stepping into a stage that doesn't immediately start the song. Instead, it'll wait until it's time to play the song and then play it.
• Balanced the cloaked arrow shooting guys so they're not so difficult.
• Changed the timing on the Mushroom Boss. Now he will always hide in the ground for the same amount of time each time, with the time being reduced at lower health.
• Additionally, the time the Mushroom Boss spends in the ground has been overall reduced in general.
• Magic Platforms now last for 8 seconds when activated (up from 5.)
• Magic Platforms now have a wider hitbox, making it easier to activate them.
• The "Reduced Animations" Accessibility Option has been renamed to the "Reduced Effects" option.
• The strength of the visual effect used when Lance takes heavy damage from an enemy or defeats a major boss is now reduced when "Reduced Effects" is enabled.
• "Reduced Effects" now further reduces the flashiness of the animation used for light beam puzzles.
• Accessibility options that you enable for allowing infinite health/magic or changing the game speed will now persist across game sessions (but only on the save file in which the option was enabled.)
• Slightly increased the hitbox on bumper objects. I checked to make sure this didn't break any puzzles, but I may have missed something so let me know if you see anything weird.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where Lance wouldn't make the correct sounds when stepping on a platform (eg. no wood footstep sounds when stepping on the rotating bridges)
• This bug also fixes a lack of vibration when spinning over a platform who's type allows for vibration (enhanced vibration only)
• Fixed a bug where Lance wouldn't always make footstep sounds for both feet (mainly affected walking on wood)
• Removed some platform snapping code designed to help you stay on the platform, as it allowed players to clip through some barriers and otherwise was generally buggy.
• Fixed a bug where platforms could push Lance around even when he wasn't standing on them (it can still happen but the range in which it can happen has been reduced.)
• Fixed a bug where Lance's shadow would sometimes be drawn when he's fallen into a pit (despite him having fallen already so not casting a shadow.)
• Fixed a bug where, when the Analog Sprint function was enabled, Lance would quickly reverse direction instead of skidding into the new direction.
• Fixed a bug where input remappings would not save if you closed the game after closing the input remapping menu, but before closing the pause menu.
• Fixed a bug where the Notes pane would sometimes draw strangely (this was fixed by just rewriting how it's drawn.)
• Songs should no longer fade in slightly when starting after a period of no music.
• Fixed a bug where collecting Magic Vials and then pausing the game would not stop them from respawning while the game was paused.
• Fixed a bug where Magic Vials would draw shadows while over pits.
• Fixed a bug where some Magic Platforms would not pause when the game was paused.
• Fixed an issue where the camera would "jump" to the new position after doing a screen transition when approaching the side of the screen diagonally.
• Fixed an issue where clouds could appear in the cave between the Village and Abandoned Mines.
• Fixed a bug where you could start a Marcus' Adventure in the River Path and then walk right out of the stage to the south.
• Fixed a bug where Marcus' Crystals would ignore the player for a few frames after stepping into the screen for some reason.
• Fixed a bug where you could stand on a pit in the Autumn Grove.
• Fixed a bug where you could fall by a specific secret part of the Autumn Grove and be restored to your last standing position but the secret wouldn't be revealed again (obscuring Lance from view.)
• Fixed a bug where you could just fly off the platform in a secret part of the Abandoned Mines to either side when trying to land on it. Now, the collision is shaped like a cup to try to catch you and prevent you from flying off (but you can still fall.)
• However, I also fixed a bug in the same area where you could stand on the little platforms with the bumpers on them (which is not intended.) Now you just slide off them if you don't hit the bumper.
• Fixed a bug where remapping inputs would not update the prompts shown on screen until you either removed and re-plugged in the input, or restarted the game.
• Fixed a bug where sometimes Lance would appear to walk on top of entryways (mainly into caves.)
• Fixed a bug that allowed some enemies to move around when the game was paused or they were offscreen.
• Fixed a bug where walking into Parker's room would cause the wrong music to play.
• Fixed a bug where hitting enemies with the Shield would apply the wrong amount of iframes to the enemy.
• Fixed some bugs involving clouds showing in caves.
• Fixed a bug where getting to the end of the River Challenge while the timer was counting down could cause the "end results" screen not to display.
• Fixed a bug where getting an upgrade to a Passive Ability (for example, upgrading Magnet to Magnet+ or Magnet++) would cause it to become unequipped.
• Fixed a bug where rings in the River Challenge would give you a bonus even if you were underwater (this was not intended behavior.)
• Fixed a secret area not being colored as secret on the hi-res map in the Autumn Grove.
• Fixed a bug where the animations on the "How to Play" screen were really, really slow.
• Fixed a bug where the panels that slide to the right during the Mailbox Minigame would go too far right before despawning.
• Fixed a bug where you could fall into the pit when walking between two touching platforms.
• This also fixed the bug where Lance would do his wobbling animation when standing at a precise point between two extending bridges.
• Fixed a bug where, when creating a new game, setting speedrun options and then changing the difficulty caused the game to crash.
• Fixed a bug where some of the custom difficulty settings couldn't be changed when creating a new game.
• Fixed a bug where custom difficulty information wouldn't display correct in the bottom left corner in certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug where setting a custom difficulty on a new file could reset the custom difficulty settings in certain circumstances if you reset the game.
• Fixed a bug where a newly created game wouldn't actually save if you got into gameplay and closed the game without saving. (You still have to get to the part that's actually playable for it to save.)

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• There are several bugs relating to gamepad input on Linux that I'll hopefully figure out sooner rather than later (or not at all.)
• Specifically, I have noted that plugging in an XBOX Series gamepad causes the game to immediately crash. If you wish to use this gamepad, or have gamepad issues otherwise, you may opt to enable Proton compatibility to play the Windows version for now.

[ 2022-04-18 23:45:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Here again with another patch that mainly fixes bugs, but this one also improves some things too! Notably, the Mail Toss minigame now has a proper NPC and also has been improved to be more fun and engaging. Please try it out and let me know what you think! Also, Marcus' Adventure and the River Challenge now count up how much time you've spent playing the minigame, rather than counting down. You now have unlimited time to play the minigame, but you will only get the achievements, Cat Coins, and bonus Pretty Petals for completing it within the time shown. The extra time though will give you more time to practice difficult segments! Finally, a bug fix I did recently made small platforms a lot trickier than expected. I made them slightly bigger and also improved how the game handles your interactions on platforms to help you stay on them (see notes for details.) As always, here are the patch notes:

===== Highlights =====

• The way minigames work has been changed. Now, instead of counting down, they will count up.
• The goal time will be shown. If you don't meet the goal time, you can still continue to play the minigame, but you won't get any bonuses when the minigame has ended.

===== IMPROVED =====

• The Mailbox Minigame in the Lignum Village has been improved. Please check it out!
• The Minimap display has been improved. In addition, it now shows what button you need to press to open the full map screen.
• When stepping off platforms, if you stop just a little bit beyond the edge of the platform, it will now snap you back onto the platform. This also works when backwards skidding (turning around) and should help players to stay on the platform - especially if you accidentally press a direction.

===== CHANGED =====

• The size of the smaller platforms has been increased slightly to make it easier to get on them (a previous bug fix with their hitbox ended up making them too small to deal with.)
• When doing the Red Gem challenge, you now have 6 seconds to get the next one, instead of 5.
• Additionally, it will start warning you that it's about to reset 2 seconds before it does so, instead of 1.
• The path to Mr. Railway's house has been made much more obvious, to hopefully convey better that you need to go there.
• VSync is now enabled by default. If you've already played the game, you'll have to enable it manually in the Options menu.
• Entry to the Lignum Village train station has been blocked for now, as none of the NPCs who are supposed to be present in there are present.
• Made entrance to side path in Abandoned Mines more obvious.
• Made entrance to secret area in Autumn Grove more obvious.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• [hotfix April 9th] Fixed a bug where Mr. Riverman would say he was giving you Pretty Petals for completing the River Challenge, but wouldn't actually do it.
• Fixed a bug where opening the Steam Overlay would open the Pause Menu on the Title Screen.
• Fixed a bug where Mr. Riverman would say he was going to give you something "mighty fine" for getting all the stars in the River Challenge, even if you already had the "mighty fine" item.
• Fixed a bug where the ? for one of the Red Gem puzzles was in the wrong spot on the map screen.
• Fixed a bug where there were two bombs overlaid on each other in the river challenge.
• Fixed a bug where Marcus' Crystals were animating while the game was paused.
• Fixed a bug where a beach-side screen in the River Path had music when it shouldn't.
• Fixed a bug where returning from the River Challenge would play the wrong music in the village.
• Fixed a bug where going in/out of Mr. Railway's house would cause the wrong music to be played.
• Fixed a bug where the pause screen would mention turning off VSync for non-60hz displays (this VSync bug was fixed by Yoyo Games ages ago.)
• Fixed a bug where bombs would show up in the Items menu under "Surplus Abilities."
• Fixed where some dialogue still referred to "Thrown Abilities" (they are simply Abilities now.)
• Fixed a bug where some rooms were being hinted at on the minimap that were not supposed to be hinted at.
• Fixed a bug where the Graphics Auto-Adjuster feature would disable VSync.
• Fixed a bug where you could open the Notes pane just before the Leaderboard showed up when looking at the Leaderboards object.
• Fixed a bug where gates would squeak when entering a room with a gate in it.
• Fixed a bug where one of the secret rooms in the Abandoned Mines wasn't showing as secret on the HD map.
• Fixed a bug where stage exit arrows weren't being drawn in some instances on the minimap.
• Fixed a bug where one of the hidden treasures in the Abandoned Mines didn't draw a ? if you had seen it but hadn't gotten it yet.

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• There are several bugs relating to gamepad input on Linux that I'll hopefully figure out sooner rather than later (or not at all.)
• Specifically, I have noted that plugging in an XBOX Series gamepad causes the game to immediately crash. If you wish to use this gamepad, or have gamepad issues otherwise, you may opt to enable Proton compatibility to play the Windows version for now.
• Sometimes the Notes pane draws glitchy, but I can't reproduce it reliably. If you notice the Notes panel drawing strangely, keep in mind what you were doing recently and please let me know.

Thank you guys for continuing to try out and support Shield Cat! I have a feeling I'll be doing one more patch build before I get back to adding new stuff, so if you find any issues or bugs or have any ideas for improvements I can make to the game, please let me know!

[ 2022-04-10 23:55:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you with another patch because people found out you could easily softlock the game right at the start, and also because we might have linux back? I've been testing it out, and it seems to work great? Please let me know how it works for you! Here's a full list of what changed:

===== IMPORTANT =====

• Gamemaker's Linux export seems to be much improved now? So I've put a Linux build of the game, just to test it out. If you've been using the game with Proton, please turn off the compatibility to download the Linux version. If you have any issues, please let me know!

===== NEW =====

• An achievement has been added for completing a Red Gem challenge. If you already did the challenges, you'll have to go to one of the areas in which you did the challenge to get the achievement.
• An update check has been added which will let you know when you're playing an older build so you can go download a newer one. (For now, this is only available in Windows.)

===== CHANGED =====

• Disabled dialogue history during certain dialogue (such as for minigames.)
• Removed the "Exit Stage" option from certain stages (it no longer fits in with the new stage layout and I meant to remove it anyways.)

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where Lance would stop moving with platforms if you spun on one while standing still.
• Fixed a bug where pressing the notes button during certain segments would softlock the game.
• Fixed a bug where you could open up one of the barriers in the Abandoned Mines from the wrong side just by spinning at it.
• Fixed a bug where a question mark icon would remain on the map even after getting the Cat Coin in the Abandoned Mines.
• Fixed a bug where having "Skip Cutscenes" enabled would make the game not play any music until you stepped outside Lance's house.
• Fixed a bug where missing files in the installation folder could cause the game to softlock instead of telling you what file was missing.
• Fixed a bug where Steam Stats just weren't working at all.
• Fixed a bug where the game would not read save files if they had been converted to multi-line JSON files (ie. with an editor like VS Code, which allows you to format JSON files.)
• Fixed a bug where the game would mark that you got achievements on save files that you did not get the achievements on (does not affect Steam achievements.)

I'm sure I'll see you guys at least one more time before I start getting back into adding major stuff, but until then, see you soon!

[ 2022-04-08 00:51:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Oops, well! I knew I'd be seeing you guys again soon, but not so quickly! A game crashing bug was found so I had to update it very quickly. Sorry about that! I fixed some other stuff too while I was at it.

===== CHANGED =====

• The game will now make it more clear if Steam features don't initialize properly when booting up the game.
• Leaderboard Viewer objects will now make it more clear when Steam features aren't available.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where simply trying the River Challenge would crash the game. (Literally was just playing this yesterday, it's wild how fast bugs can show up sometimes.)
• Fixed a bug where INPT would sometimes show in the dialogue history.
• Fixed some graphics in the Autumn Grove using unfinished sprites.
• Fixed a bug where loading to the Forest Path save point wouldn't play the stage's music.
• Fixed a bug while navigating the map screen where it would flicker between multiple stages at one point in the map (near the center.)

I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon, but hopefully there are no more game crashing bugs! If there are, let me know please!

[ 2022-04-06 22:30:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! It's been a long time coming, but I finally have the new build for you! I've added and changed *a lot* since the last build, so I hope you enjoy it! I have several things to talk about, so please read on!

Shield Cat Expanded Playtest

The Shield Cat Playtest build has been going great, and I appreciate everyone testing it out as I work toward the next major demo (which will really show off what the game is.) In the last build of the game, I allowed people to explore the Abandoned Mines and River Path areas. In this version, these areas have been removed. Fear not though, as I'll be opening the Expanded Playtest soon enough. This will allow you to access these stages as well as others that will be in the demo. The River Path has been significantly expanded too, so there will be a lot more to explore! If you want to join the Shield Cat Expanded Playtest, please do the following:

• If you're not already, join the Shield Cat Discord: https://discord.gg/shieldcat
• Go to the #assign-roles-zone and get yourself the "Shield Cat Demo Beta" role.
• That's it! When I open it up, you'll be the first to know.

I am excited to open up the rest of the playable area for the demo for you guys and hope to receive a lot of feedback over it. I want to make sure that this next demo is the best that it can be.

Patch Notes

So many things have happened since the last build that it's difficult to pick out anything in particular to talk about, so here are the patch notes in full. Thank you!

===== IMPORTANT =====

• LANCE Letters have been changed out for Big Jewels. They follow the same convention (5 jewels to a stage.) This change was made to make it easier to keep track of them and calculate the total number of Big Jewels you have.
• The LANCE Letters you've collected will automatically be converted over to the corresponding Big Jewels when you load your save file with this version.
• On the title screen when loading the file, it will say you have 0 Big Jewels. Once you load the save file, this will be corrected by the stats calculator.
• If you find any part of the game that refers to LANCE Letters, please let me know!
• Also, in order to streamline how upgrades are acquired and change the way it all works, several ability upgrades have been removed. This most likely wont affect you, but if you have any of the removed abilities, they will show up in your items menu as "Depreciated Ability" and you may sell them to O'Fox.
• In this version of the game, your save position will be reset to Lance's house when you first load up the game. This is due to some changes in how the Playtest is being handled to prevent you from being softlocked.
• In the Playtest version, you will no longer be able to access the Abandoned Mines and the River Path stages. Please don't worry, as I'll soon be opening up the extended playtest which will allow you to go to these stages as well as others. Thank you for your understanding and patience!

===== NEW =====

• Much of the game's configuration information as well as instructions on how to play, controls, etc. have been consolidated into an Instruction Manual! This includes files that were included with the game, as well as information that was on the (extremely outdated) wiki. Please check it out!
• There's a brand new title screen with new animation! (I'll be making new music for it too eventually.)
• There's also a new intro cinematic. It's unfinished but should work to establish the story and what's going on.
• User markers have been added to the map screen. Now you can place your own markers on the map and (hopefully) never get lost.
• These markers will also appear on the minimap to help guide you to where you want to go.
• Mr. Railway is now in the game. Even if you have played the game already, it's recommended to talk to him.
• This version of the game will update your map screen accordingly so that you can progress correctly.
• Black bars have been added to the top and bottom of the screen during dialogue sequences.
• New icons have been added to show if you've applied any cheats and what cheats you've applied.
• An indicator has been added in the corner to let you and others know what difficulty you're playing at (doesn't appear in normal.)
• Echo effects have been added to certain screens (mainly inside caves) that give the space a bit more ambiance.
• However, if it doesn't work on your machine, causes garbled sound, or you just dont like it, a new option has been added in the "Audio" submenu that disables the echoes.
• An accessibility option has been added that makes the game run at half speed during gameplay. You can use it to get past particularly difficult segments, or if you just want to be like Neo from The Matrix.
• Another accessibility option has been added that reduces all damage you would take to 0.
• Boss characters will now show their health in the top right of the screen, along with an associated portrait of the boss.
• New speedrun options have been added that increase the speed of menus and transitions between screens.
• Please note that "Fast Transition" will not work when you're playing the Marcus' Adventure minigame.
• Also please note that, since the playable area intended for the demo is incomplete, there's not really anything to "speedrun" to yet. I'm just getting these options in in advance.
• A Dialogue History has now been added! You can view it by opening the pause menu and pressing the button shown in the bottom right of the screen, or during dialogue sequences. Use it to review what was just said, and don't miss anything!
• Speaker labels have been added to dialogue boxes for named characters.
• You can now adjust the contrast for the game image (requires graphics preset set to Custom and "Hi Res Rendering" to be enabled.)
• You can now adjust the brightness and contrast used for the Retro Palette filter (these are separate controls and will not affect the game's standard brightness and contrast settings.)
• You may now restart any Marcus' Adventure by using the pause menu and selecting "Restart Minigame."
• You may now toggle drawing markers on the map screen by using the Toggle UI button (Analog Stick press on gamepads, Ctrl on keyboards - the game will tell you on the map screen what button to press.)
• New Cat Coins have been added to existing stages. Please look out for them!

===== IMPROVED =====

• The map screen has been improved with higher resolution sprites when you're zoomed in.
• Additionally, map markers will no longer be drawn unless you're zoomed in (with the exception of Willow points, locked doors, ? spots, and Train Stations) with the intention of decluttering the map.
• Map Markers will also no longer show on the minimap (except those mentioned above, for the same reasons.)
• Improved loading time of 3D files by using caching.
• Improved loading time between rooms by caching tall grass generation.
• Improved blur to be much better looking at lower settings while still maintaining good performance (which has actually been improved.)
• Locks will now tell you what kind of key to expect (will be useful later when there are different kinds of keys.)
• "Teleporters" such as stairs and whatnot will now indicate where they take you to so you can tell where they are and where they'll take you.
• Additionally, "indoor" areas such as caves inside waterfalls and whatnot that you can't really "walk" to because they're in a different position on the map will now reveal their location to you. They are marked in gray to indicate that they're subscreens and you can't walk there.
• Made optimizations to the map screen drawing routine. It had the capability to cause lag spikes on lower end hardware when drawing/redrawing, but it should be much better now.
• The music for the Abandoned Mines has been re-arranged and enhanced.
• The Deep Woods now has a more detailed image shown when you zoom in on the map. Please let me know what you think about it.
• Added some lookup tables to the code to improve performance across the game.
• Added and improved NPC dialogue, as well as added additional NPCs.
• The map screen now has the total game completion percentage in the bottom right corner.
• Minigames involving Cat Coins (such as Marcus' Adventure) will now show if you have the coin or not right next to the prompt for starting the Minigame.
• Added some additional debug commands for enabling audio debugging, if you're into that sort of thing.
• There are also debug commands for showing details over Lance during gameplay.
• Made various tileset improvements.
• Improved the transition between stages by adding different graphics to the background depending on where you're going.
• Cylinder Light Beam puzzle elements will now show an indicator of their current status when offscreen.
• The Autumn Grove is more or less complete! If you have access to the state (Retail version only) feel free to check it out!
• Improved the update rate of objects on the River Challenge by making them more distributed. Should help increase performance on lower-end hardware.
• The Debug Console now has commands for finding out more information about flags, and will also tell you the name of which flag you've toggled (if the information is available.)
• Improved the animation for unlocking a gate.
• Circle Locks now have graphics matching the key that you put in them.

===== CHANGED =====

• The radius around Lance that he can see before the blur is applied in rooms that have blur around the perimeter of the screen has been increased (you can see more around you now.)
• The leaderboard view has a much more compact design now.
• Steam usernames have been removed from the leaderboards (you can still see them in the Steam Community.)
• Leaderboard viewer objects will not show up if you're playing in the "Custom" difficulty.
• Updated the SDL GameControllerDB (sorry I forgot to update it for a while, if anyone has any tips on how I can automatically update it on my computer let me know.)
• Credits for using the SDL GameControllerDB have also been added within the game itself.
• The game will now specify which version of the game you're playing (For now, it's the difference between the retail and Playtest versions of the game.)
• Changed the first Red X on the map to indicate the location of Parker's house instead of just inside the gate. (This is where Mr. Railway is.)
• Changed the physical location of Parker's house and two cave subscreens in the Lignum Village's Gamemaker room, which means that 9 scales were reset. You'll have to collect them again for it to count (sorry.)
• The River Path stage has been expanded significantly! However, you won't be able to access it in the Playtest build.
• The Autumn Grove stage has also been expanded and reworked slightly. If you have access to it, check it out! (It's not in the Playtest build.)
• The Quick Reset function (with F2) has been removed entirely.
• The old menu system has been removed from the game. All references to it have also been removed, but there's always a slim possibility that I missed something. If the game crashes saying about the unknown object "obj_menu" please let me know.
• All gameplay timers that keep track of time you've been playing the game have been switched to use real time passed instead of depending on the game's framerate (this does not affect minigame timers, such as Marcus' Adventure or the River Challenge.)
• Updated all copyrights in the game to say 2018-2022 instead of 2021.
• Removed Linux support. (I would love to have it back again but Gamemaker's current exports for Linux do not work for me, so it's impossible for me to make a build.)
• The "Dev Build" message no longer shows on the pause menu.
• Removed grass caching routine as it was too dodgy and also didn't provide any tangible loading improvements.
• Lance will no longer start moving if you initialize the spin while standing completely still.
• The game's "real time" counter will no longer increment during loading sequences (which can have variable times depending on the speed of your hard drive, etc.)
• A treasure chest which previous contained the Wave upgrade for the Shield has been replaced with a Cat Coin.
• The "Ability Upgrade" submenu for each ability has been removed.
• All "Ability Upgrades" have been depreciated. You can sell them at the O'Fox shop, if you have any.
• The "Dagger" ability has been removed. If you had it, you can sell it at the O'Fox shop.
• The "MoveTech" submenu has been removed. Lance will be sticking to spinning, at least for this game.
• Passive Abilities are now just standard upgrades and will be automatically equipped when you acquire them. They also cost 0 magic to equip.
• Passive Abilities that are stackable now have a more straightforward upgrade path. For instance, the Magnet ability will become Magnet+ when you get another one, rather than just showing two Magnets in the menu.
• Whenever you get an Ability for the first time (ie when you buy the Shield) the game will automatically make it your Active Ability.
• The areas accessible with the Playtest have been reduced in anticipation for the Demo Beta, which will allow you to playtest the entirety of the demo. Please see Roxy in the village for more information.
• Please note, the above does not affect players with the Retail version of the game. These players already have access to playtest the entirety of the demo.
• The speedrun options in the Game submenu have been moved to a Speedrun submenu within Game (I figure you won't be changing those as much during a game so they don't need to be right there.)
• Lance's idle and spin sprites have been adjusted to bring them more in line with other sprites (mainly on the eyes.)
• Mr. Riverman will now give you the Cat Coin directly when completing the River Challenge with 100%, rather than having to go fetch it yourself.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed inconsistent behavior in what happens when you collect bombs while Lance is already carrying the maximum amount he can carry. In this case, Lance will simply drop the bombs back on the ground.
• Fixed a bug where debug menu would despawn immediately in 3D stages.
• Fixed a bug where the leaderboard was configured incorrectly for the letter toss minigame. (Fixed 23rd of January, required a steam configuration change)
• The game now actually enforces what it says about not giving achievements if you use the custom difficulty.
• Fixed a bug where solving one of the light puzzles in a specific way actually caused it to not solve at all.
• Fixed a bug where the minimap would not update properly when going between screens in large rooms.
• Fixed a bug where Lance loading into a stage in the water would not immediately put him in the water, and there was a single frame in which you could spin.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's swimming audio wasn't being played positionally based on where he was.
• Fixed a bug where enemy destroy sounds weren't being played relative to where the enemy being destroyed was.
• Fixed a bug where supporter names did not properly fade out on the intro screen.
• Fixed a bug where circular lock pieces did not check if they had been collected before, allowing you to collect them again.
• Added additional checks to hopefully prevent the game from crashing with really, really weird input configurations.
• Fixed a bug where loading your game at the save point in the River Path stage wouldn't play music until you left the stage.
• Fixed a bug where the game would not give you the Cat Coin for collecting all the Jewels (formerly LANCE letters) in a stage, despite playing the animation.
• Related to the above bug fix, the game will now check when you enter the stage if you obtained all the Jewels but did not get the coin for it. If the game finds this to be true, it will give you the coin it owes you.
• Fixed a bug where the line puzzles initialized by hitting the raising cylinders would continually reset the line puzzle each frame (you couldn't see it, but your CPU sure could.)
• Fixed a bug where the game trying to prevent Lance and NPCs from intersecting with each other (Lance not standing in the NPC's hitbox) could cause the game to freeze as it's never able to resolve Lance's position.)
• Fixed a bug where the total game percentage was not recalculated until you went to a new stage. Now it is calculated whenever you open the map or stats screen.
• Fixed a bug where EnemyDamageMult was mispelled in custom difficulty files. (You will have to re-set it if you're using Custom Difficulty.) (Also I had spelled it as Damange and I have no idea how that happened)
• Fixed a bug where the minimap would incorrectly mark you as having visited the map screen in the top left corner of the stage, even if you hadn't been there. (Unfortunately there's no way to fix this for existing save files.)
• Fixed a bug where a few of the map markers were not correctly placed.
• Fixed a bug where pressing the button during a stage transition would cause the animation of sprites on screen to "skip" to a different frame.
• Fixed a bug where the game was loading the save file preview on every frame while the save file menu was open.
• Fixed a bug where the save file preview wasn't being shown.
• Fixed a memory leak where files which were loaded asynchronously (such as configuration files) were not properly cleaned up.
• Fixed a related memory leak where files which were saved asynchronously were also not properly cleaned up.
• Fixed a bug where the options list would offset your current choice weirdly when enabling the retro palette in the Custom settings.
• Fixed a bug where the Post Processing option segment for Retro Palettes did not have a header on it when using the Retro Presets.
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't buy bombs from O'Fox once you owned one.
• Fixed a bug where two treasure pots were using the same flag in the Abandoned Mines.
• Fixed a bug where Cat Coins given to Lance by Marcus would appear glitched before Lance collected them.
• Fixed a bug where Lance could stand beyond the edge of a moving platform, making him appear to stand in the middle of the air.
• Fixed a bug where the Gold Fish Statue spawned by the Mushroom Boss would not pause when pausing the game.
• Fixed a wall that you could get stuck on in the River Challenge.
• Fixed a bug where the minimap was redrawing more than what's necessary (it was like 6 times between rooms and like, yea nothing's changing then)
• (Hopefully) fixed a bug where the minimap wouldn't update properly after certain events took place. If you see the minimap not updating still, please let me know.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following people who support me as well as everyone who helps make this possible: @buny, ARKYmouse, Ahty, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, Barbara Fregia, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, DarkJoule, Vix-N, DimSumthing, Dizmus, Sweep Dreams, EZGames69, Erica 'digifox' Kovac, Cloud Hop, EveryZig314, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede, Jack O'Connor, Jammy, Joanna Jones, Johann Pfaffinger, Jyrki, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kohaku Katou, Krazinsky, Trash, LF, Lorxus, Lulla, Luna, Luna Hyena, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, OrobaSpyro, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Philip Garzieri, Raegal Boggart, RawrParty, Roger Tyranny, Ryunohito, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Snout, Spyduck, SplotchDoggo, Spoony Doodle, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarocco, Tarsus Endri, Tenma-arekussu, Touku, Upscale Furry Trash, DJ Otters, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Xkeeper, Legiayayana, breakthetargets, caseJackal, Kazy, khr, meerm, megaRammy, morgan `indrora` gangwere, raine, rainedoe, Foxxhoria, ubuntor, wulfy83, sol I have a feeling that I'll be making patch builds in the coming days as people find a million bugs with this build, so I'll see you very soon!

[ 2022-04-06 19:21:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you today with a small patch build of the game that fixes a few issues. Nothing major is in this update, it's purely focused on bug fixes. However, you can still read the changes below:

===== IMPROVED =====

• Improved prompt when being asked a question in a dialogue sequence.

===== CHANGED =====

• You can no longer circumvent restrictions on the Steam Playtest version of the game by modifying the executable.
• The game now requires a minimum of 6 buttons on your gamepad of choice or it will be ignored.
• When inserting a gamepad that's not recognized, it will now automatically assign buttons for the ability swap buttons (which is why the minimum button count went up.)

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Hopefully finally fix the bug where the map would show incorrect completion data.
• Fixed a bug where closing the stats menu with Escape would cause a ghastly sound (same kind of thing happened when opening the debug console while the pause menu was open)
• Fixed a bug where a bit of the dialogue would linger during the introduction cutscene.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's UI would show for a single frame after saving and returning to the title screen.
• Fixed a bug where a Cat Coin in the Autumn Grove didn't count toward the game's Cat Coins.
• Fixed a bug where signs would draw on top of certain menu elements.
• Fixed a bug where hitting a question mark orb would not center the dialogue or celebratory overlay on Lance.
• Fixed a bug where the minimap would draw weirdly on low graphics settings.
• Fixed a bug where the "Medium" preset would have slightly different colors when compared to the other modes.
• Fixed a bug where the "Higher" preset, when combined with the "CRT Blur" preset, would have slightly different colors.
• Fixed a bug where grass was not offset properly depending on Lance's position.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's shadow would not draw correctly when he was in tall grass.
• Fixed Lance's sprites having the wrong colors when in the water and attacking in the north east or north west directions.
• Fixed some cut grass being the wrong color when cut.

[ 2022-01-18 23:00:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you with a patch build today that focuses mainly on cleaning up a lot of rough spots in the game, as well as adding some additional QoL features! Here's a full list of changes:

===== NEW =====

• Minigames now keep track of high scores.
• There are now leaderboards for each minigame. The leaderboard is located nearby to the minigame. It will show the times for your friends, as well as global and your overall ranking.

===== IMPROVED =====

• A new Details pane has been added to the map screen. Scroll around the map, zoom in (if you're not already) and then press the button (Default Z on keyboard, A (Green) on XBox Gamepads) to open the details pane for that area.
• This Details pane will tell you all the Cat Coins you've collected for that area, and may give you hints for ones you haven't collected yet.
• You can also see scores for minigames on this screen. However, since the game was not keeping track of this before, they will show as if you had never done them even if you have. This is not a bug, I just can't time travel into the past to get that info.
• The Stats screen has been overhauled and now tells you how many Lance Letters you have across the entire game, as well as the game's completion rating (This one is accurate.)
• Red X Markers will now flash on the map screen to make them easier to see.
• Bumper objects now have a proper animation.
• The Gear Arrow puzzle element's animation and interaction has been improved.
• Made significant improvements to the "Show Controls" screen.
• Improved the transition animations between different types of menus. (aka the "scroll" menu won't just suddenly pop in when you've closed the map, input display, etc)
• The file select on the title screen will now show your LANCE letter totals and completion rating on that file.
• Improved the minimap updating routine for better performance.
• Improved several other screens that display text, such as the feedback or credits screen.

===== CHANGED =====

• The map screen controls have been changed slightly to accommodate for the new Details subscreen.
• Controls are now shown on the bottom of the map screen.
• More NPCs have been added to the Deep Woods, though you'll only see them if you haven't beaten the Mushroom Boss yet.
• A couple Fish Scales have been moved to accommodate for the new NPCs. You'll have to collect them again. For reference, they're in the Deep Woods by the big lake.
• Removed the debug function of listing directories because it didn't actually help anyone.
• Credits screen has been updated with a new layout and additional credits.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where the game was not keeping track of achievements internally. Now if you use the same save file between the Playtest and Full versions of the game, you should get any achievements owed as soon as you load the file.
• Fixed a bug where the combo multiplier would draw over certain menus, as well as the map screen.
• Possibly fixed all bugs relating to the Mushroom Boss not recoloring properly during combat for various reasons. Let me know if it still doesn't change colors.
• Fixed a bug where the map screen map wasn't drawing the entirety of rooms you partially visited.
• Fixed a bug where Red X destination markers would not show if you've never been to the area in which they're shown.
• Fixed a bug where the map screen would not show the area with a gold border (100%) completion immediately.
• Fixed a bug where the map screen would position weirdly if Lance was currently in part of the area that doesn't show on the map screen.
• Fixed a bug where running out of health during a Marcus' Adventure could cause issues with the game.
• Possibly fixed the bug where the map screen would sometimes show a map completion rating of inf%. If you still see weird percentages, please let me know because I was never able to reproduce this myself.
• Fixed a bug where deleting a save file and then starting a new game in that same save slot would cause some game data from the old save to carry over into the new game.
• Fixed a bug where the minimap would not update when breaking a boulder or solving some light beam puzzles.
• Fixed a bug where some supporters were not grouped into the correct group depending on how much they're supporting.

[ 2022-01-18 00:00:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Here's a small patch update to fix a few things as well as improve some things. Let me know about any other things that need fixing or improving!

===== NEW =====

• Achievement icons have now been added on Steam.

===== IMPROVED =====

• Moved some objects so you don't get caught on them while trying to do a Marcus' Adventure.
• Added additional time to all Marcus' Adventure modes.

===== CHANGED =====

• Several secret areas have been changed to be more obvious (without being too obvious.) The idea is that you can find them by looking, but don't have to rub against every wall to find them.
• Changed some lighting in some rooms to make enemies more visible in those rooms.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where opening the map screen in certain rooms would crash the game.
• Fixed a bug where Lance was not able to jump off certain ledges to the lower level.
• Fixed a bug where Marcus was not showing that he was present in the Deep Woods on the map screen after beating the Mushroom boss.
• Fixed a bug where Lance would do an edge wobble when standing on a specific bridge in a secret area.
• Fixed a bug where the minimap was still showing the boundary of the stage as a leftover from the old map drawing routine.

[ 2022-01-10 23:57:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you today with a new Shield Cat build. This one introduces a brand new mini-stage as well as a new minigame! There's also been a significant overhaul to the map, as well as a ton of small changes and QoL improvements. If you haven't checked out the game in a while (or even if you have) this update is worth checking out, I think! A couple more things to note here: First, I've made changes to the River Challenge. It now gives out more Petals for each run (detailed below) and also gives you bonus Petals every time you complete it while grabbing all the stars. If you find yourself short on Petals, it's not a bad way to build some up. The second thing is that I've made it so that collectibles *do not respawn* when going back to the stage. I made this change so it's easier to figure out if you've already gotten stuff or not. If you go to a place and nothing's there, you've cleared it out already! Because of the way the lighting is in some places, it was hard to tell for instance if you had already grabbed the Fish Scales in the sunlight or not. To counteract the fact you can't run through the stage again to build up Pretty Petals, each collectible gives you Petals for picking it up. Please let me know what you think about this new build, and also, for supporters there's a little bonus in there. Hope you find it! As always, here's the patch notes:

===== Highlights =====

• The map screen has been overhauled! Please check it out, or read below for more details.
• Marcus' Adventure minigame is now in! It's essentially a speedrun challenge through the stage. You can play it in a couple places, so be sure to check it out!
• There are new Achievements for the Steam version of the game associated with the new minigame.
• A new mini-stage has been added! See if you can find it.

===== NEW =====

• Marcus' Adventure minigame is now in! If you've already beaten the mushroom boss, feel free to go to Deep Woods again and try it out. You can also check it out in the new stage (if you can find it.)
• The game will now tell you how many Pretty Petals you've gotten recently.
• A red X has been added to notable locations that you need to go next (If you've already done a lot of stuff, you may not see any of the X's)
• A new accessibility option has been added which reduces flashy animations.
• Supporters can check out the Minecart Minigame prototype (you'll have to find it.) This currently is not available in the Playtest build.
• A Cat Coin has been added for defeating the Mushroom Boss. You can obtain it by going to where you got the key for the gate in the Village area (nearby where the angry gazelle was.) A ? indicator will also show on the map in this location.

===== IMPROVED =====

• The map screen has been greatly improved and will now show you the collectibles you have on the stage in more detail, as well as the name of the stage and the percentage of the map you've completed.
• You'll also be able to see other stages around you, and stages in which you've gotten 100% will have gold borders. (However it's only possible to get 100% in the Deep Woods at this time.)
• General tileset improvements to make tiles more uniform in style.
• Added stronger collision in the mushroom boss room, just in case.
• When in shops, the amount you spent will show in the bottom corner.
• It will also show how much you lost when you fall into a pit.
• Improved line puzzle and made it so it doesn't take forever for the line to update when you hit the gear arrow.
• A lot of lighting in the cave has been changed and improved to take advantage of the lighting engine improvements, mainly in the Abandoned Mines.
• Ravens and Bats now have additional indicators on when they're going in for an attack.
• Added additional dialogue to help newer players to get the hang of the game.
• Low health indication has been improved. Now Lance's portrait in the top left will flash and a (small) sound will play until you heal.
• The River Challenge will now give you additional Pretty Petals every time you complete the course with all stars.
• Additionally, Stars are now worth 20 Pretty Petals and Rings are worth 10.
• The speed at which collectibles are attracted to you when you approach them has been increased significantly.
• The animation for getting a Big Key has been improved.

===== CHANGED =====

• Removed individual stage totals from the Stats submenu, as this information is now located on the map screen.
• Collectibles like Fish Scales, LANCE Letters, and Cat Coins will no longer respawn in a ghostly form when you re-visit the stage. I made this change so that it's easier to figure out what collectibles you still need to get at a glance. If you find that this disrupts gameplay or think it isn't a good decision, please let me know.
• To offset this, Fish Scales, LANCE Letters, and Cat Coins will now give Pretty Petals when you collect them. (Fish Scales are worth 10 petals, while Coins and Letters are worth 50.)
• Pressing any button on the intro screen will now go to the next screen instead of skipping directly to the title screen.
• Lance's house has been remodeled and improved.
• Willow revives are now counted separately from Game Overs.
• Darkened and slowed down animation of line puzzle so it's not overly bright.
• Made changes to the cave so it's nearly impossible to proceed without the lantern.
• Added some hitstop frames when Lance takes major damage from an enemy.
• Some other hitstop effects have been added throughout the game sparingly to enhance the experience.
• There is now a small chance of surviving a fatal blow if you have more than 0.5 health when being attacked.
• The map screen will show a ? over the River Challenge building if you haven't gotten the Cat Coin there yet.
• Changed how many video options are displayed depending on your settings. Now, all the options will only show if you've got Custom mode enabled and can actually configure them.
• The price of the River Challenge has been increased from 200 to 300 to offset the fact that you get many more Petals from it per run.
• Because of the changes with the way the minimap works, as well as how collectibles are counted, the save file format has changed slightly. This version of the game will automatically upgrade your save file.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where pressing the button during the screen transition could cause the collectible animation to "skip"
• Fixed a bug where destroying some levers could cause the game to crash.
• Fixed a bug where collecting Cat Coins would sometimes not update your actual coin count until reloading the game or going to a new stage.
• Fixed a bug where Cat Coins for a stage were not enumerated properly (the maximum amount of coins available in a stage would be wrong.)
• Fixed some bugs with the dialogue engine. Let me know if any dialogue doesn't go as you'd expect it.
• Fixed a bug where money spent on minigames like the river challenge would not count toward overall petals spent.
• Fixed a bug where Lance didn't start with maximum magic when stepping into a new stage.
• Changed the position of a gate in the Abandoned Mines so it's not possible to respawn behind it after falling.
• Fixed a bug where opening paths blocked by boulders would not immediately clear the indicator on the map showing that something interesting is on that screen.
• Fixed a bug where collectibles that were told to go toward Lance due to being close to him would just take off right out of the game world if you had 3 Magnet passives equipped.
• Fixed a bug where Cat Coins collected by Lance could appear to be glitching out when collected.

Thank you!

Thanks to the following people as well as everyone who supports me on this game dev journey: @buny, ARKYmouse, Ahty, Ahundred, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, Barbara Fregia, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist, Better Days, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, DarkJoule, Vix-N, Panda, Dizmus, Sweep Dreams, Emoney Bromine, Erica 'digifox' Kovac, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede, Jack O'Connor, Jammy, Joanna Jones, Johann Pfaffinger, Jyrki, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kohaku Katou, Krazinsky, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Lorxus, Luna, Luna Hyena, Durk Vash, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, OrobaSpyro, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Philip Garzieri, Raegal Boggart, RawrParty, Ryunohito, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Sefris, Spyduck, SplotchDoggo, Spoony Doodle, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Susan Tolias, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarocco, Tarsus Endri, Tenma, Borgo, Upscale Furry Trash, DJ Otters, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Xkeeper, Legiayayana, breakthetargets, khr, meerm, megaRammy, morgan `indrora` gangwere, raine, wulfy83,

[ 2022-01-09 23:48:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you with one last patch build before I start adding new features! I've been taking a bit of a break from the game to work on art and whatnot, so I've been using this time to mainly focus on small bug fixes (this means any bugs you find now will take a while before I patch them, but I'm confident this build is pretty nice.) Here are the changes:

===== NEW =====

• The game will now pause when you open the Steam Overlay (only works if you could pause anyways at that point, as it just opens the pause menu.)

===== CHANGED =====

• The cycling order of the text speed options has been reversed for better clarity.
• The interactable "shine" animation has been adjusted to be less distracting and more evenly distributed.
• Adjusted stereo/surround sound positioning and separation.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug introduced by a bug fix involving not being able to talk to NPCs from behind walls.
• Fixed a bug where screen shaking did not happen if retro filters were enabled.
• Fixed a bug where going into one secret area would also reveal the location of a nearby secret area (the entrance method to one of them was changed.)
• Fixed inconsistencies in cycling windowed resolutions.
• Fixed some missing sound effects in certain rooms.
• Fixed a bug where loading into the game would cause the loading screen to draw strangely.
• Fixed a bug where a lever which had been activated in a previous run of the game would play the "puzzle solved" jingle if you hit it again on the next visit.
• Fixed a bug where Pretty Petals and Health Fish did not flicker properly when they were about to despawn.
• Fixed a bug where rather old save files wouldn't load into the current version of the game.

[ 2021-12-20 00:48:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Here's another small patch update to the build from a week ago. This one mainly focuses on bug fixes, including one that could despawn Lance right out of the room, so be sure to update! Some of the changes I made may cause their own issues, so please let me know if you encounter anything weird as a result of this update. The full list of changes is below:

===== NEW =====

• A shine has been added to objects that you can interact with.
• Holding the sprint button down in the menu will make the menu faster.
• Dialogue will now go faster when sprint is held (same as holding the OK button. If you hold both, it goes even faster.)

===== IMPROVED =====

• Changed the drawing routine of lights to be more efficient.
• Cam Lockers are managed much better now, reducing the likelyhood of high instance counts when going between screens.
• Improved the functionality of the free camera (debug mode only)
• There is now a sound effect and vibration associated with stepping on metal.
• The debug function for drawing hitboxes will now also draw additional information related to that object.

===== CHANGED =====

• Changed when Lance checks if he should go into the next screen/indoors/outdoors, which reduces the ability to pause buffer through entrances/teleport zones, or over gaps.
• Lance's wall collision checks are now more aggressive.
• Reduced the bass in a sound effect used in the mailbox minigame.
• Changed the descriptions for damage modifiers in the difficulty settings to be a lot more clear.
• Changed the "Tough" difficulty so Lance's attack against enemies and objects is 1.0x (instead of 0.8x)
• Cloud particles that come from mystery orbs upon being destroyed will no longer appear in front of Lance, blocking your view of his smug face.
• Changed the win conditions of a specific puzzle to make it easier to figure out what you have to do.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where enabling the CRT blur without enabling the CRT bend would draw the darkness on the edge of the screen anyways without bending the screen, causing part of the view to be obscured.
• Fixed a bug where objects trying to push Lance out of their collision could softlock the game if they're unable to find a free spot.
• Fixed a bug where Lance spinning causes a memory leak.
• Fixed a bug where Lance spinning toward an object he couldn't get to could cause his spin to never wind down.
• Fixed a bug where the game would guide Lance toward objects on the other side of walls, causing him to spin indefinitely but never reach the object. (Trust me this is a similar but not the same bug as the one I just said)
• Fixed a bug where levers were not truly destroyed when destroyed.
• Fixed a bug where causing Roxy to dematerialize and then very quickly speaking to her again could cause the game to crash.
• Fixed a bug where Lance could interact with NPCs through walls or otherwise from much further away than he should be able to (If you're not able to interact with some NPCs after this change, let me know.)
• Fixed a bug where terminating the free camera mode would not reset the size of the camera.
• Fixed a bug where overlays would not draw correctly when zooming in or out with the free camera.
• Using the scroll wheel will no longer change Lance's abilities while the free camera is enabled.
• The game *should* no longer crash if a dialogue box's calling object ceases to exist during the dialogue (due to other bugs.)
• Lance will no longer have more than maximum health when changing the game's difficulty and then going to a new stage.
• Fixed a bug where ravens would show at the wrong depth when stepping into the screen.
• Changing the difficulty in a stage and then reloading that stage (through various methods) no longer has the chance of crashing the game.
• Fixed a bug where objects would temporarily lose any scaling that had been applied to them when going between screens.
• Fixed a bug where obtaining the gold/silver fish statues on lower graphics settings wouldn't draw correctly.
• Fixed a bug where hitting the large gear arrows with the spin and one of Lance's abilities simultaneously would despawn Lance.
• Fixed a bug where Lance would still be realigned by corners of walls or by objects with collision while using noclip.
• Fixed a bug where bombs would not explode when hitting the gear arrow.

[ 2021-12-13 22:46:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you with a small patch to yesterday's build. Here's the details of what changed:

===== NEW =====

• Magic Upgrades have been hidden around the game! Please keep an eye out for them.

===== IMPROVED =====

• Improved drawing routine on the light beam glow in rooms with the light beam puzzle which significantly improves performance on lower end hardware.

===== CHANGED =====

• Lance's Magic has been changed back to how it was before, where it's a variable amount instead of a fixed amount. You'll need to find magic upgrades to make the bar get bigger.
• Removed a duplicate treasure and replaced it with a different treasure. You can collect the new treasure whether or not you collected the duplicate or not. (This is in Stage 1.)
• Added some clarity to Roxy's dialogue about Cat Coins.
• Magic Upgrades have been implemented properly, which means if you're still using the save file from the March demo you're going to lose any magic upgrades you got from Roxy (sorry.)

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed some incorrect lighting in some rooms.
• Fixed a question mark indicator not showing up on the minimap when the location of one of the collectibles had been revealed.
• Fixed a bug where the minimap would not update after obtaining an item contained within a mystery orb.
• Fixed small graphical bug with green arrow shooty dudes.
• Fixed a bug where the game would show a blank map with just Lance's position on it.
• Fixed a depth issue with the floor blockers.
• Fixed hitbox on geararrow puzzle elements to better match their sprite.

I will most likely be doing one more patch by the end of the week/beginning of next week, and then I'm gonna get back to working on all new stuff. Please let me know if you encounter any bugs or issues so I can fix them as soon as I can!

[ 2021-12-08 00:45:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you today with a new build of Shield Cat! This update focuses mainly on finishing up the Abandoned Mine stage, which is now complete (except for the boss is not yet present.) To celebrate, I'm letting everyone test out the cave! However, if you're using the Playtest Build, you'll have to fulfill some requirements in-game to get in. Speak to Roxy in-game to the west of the O'Fox shop to find out more. Again, if you're using the full version, you do not need to do anything extra! Here are all the changes that are in this build:

===== NEW =====

• There are now arrow dudes in the cave! They're more aggressive than other enemies I've put in so far, so be careful!
• A new puzzle type has been added! Keep an eye out for light-beam puzzles in the cave.
• The game will now attempt to validate it's install on startup. If a file required to run the game is missing, the game will produce an error saying which file is missing instead of simply crashing.
• Added a small jingle when you solve a puzzle, open a door etc, making my statement of "it's not Zelda I swear" even less valid than before.
• A debug function was added that destroys all enemies on screen.
• A new option has been added to disable extra visual effects. For now, it's limited to distortion effects on the screen as well as the glow on the new line puzzles.

===== IMPROVED =====

• Lance's interactions with diagonal walls has been fixed and modified to be more consistent with his interaction with straight walls.
• This change to wall collision also allows you to have more speed when spinning against walls than you did before. Walls will no longer slow you down by touching them.
• Opening and closing the map screen now has an animation to it.

===== CHANGED =====

• The cave has been expanded more. Please don't get lost in it!
• Changed how the minimap updates. Now it updates based on the center position of the camera, rather than where Lance is positioned.
• You now have 2.5 seconds (up from 2 seconds) to hit another enemy to keep a combo going.
• Lance's invincibility after being hit by an enemy attack has been reduced.
• Lance's hitstun time has also been reduced.
• Blur (of any kind) is no longer applied when using the palette-based retro shaders (it just made the edges of the screen look like soup.)
• Following this change and the addition of the toggle to disable special effects, special effects are now also disabled when using the palette-based retro shaders (for additional visual clarity.)

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where Lance could still attack enemies which were doing their death animation.
• Fixed a bug where the game would crash if you used the gamepad and then unplugged that gamepad while text-based control prompts were on screen.
• Fixed trailing NULL characters being written to configuration and save data (this version of the game will automatically remove them when they're saved again.)
• Fixed a bug where Lance's abilities could hit an enemy that was supposed to be invincible.
• Fixed a bug where hitting an enemy would initiate the pre-combo meter without initiating the countdown to reset it (allowing you to start a combo much later than intended.)
• An update to Gamemaker Studio 2 fixed a bug with text rendering on certain fonts at certain sizes.
• Fixed some drawing issues in the menu related to subpixel drawing.
• Fixed a frame stutter issue when going between certain stages from the game dynamically preloading language data.
• Fixed a bug where healing items would not actually heal Lance.
• Pressing the cancel button when talking to Roxy no longer has a chance to crash the game.
• Fixed a bug where the game would attempt to show a map in areas where there wasn't one.
• Fixed a bug where O'Fox would say he didn't have bombs when he was selling them.
• Fixed a bug where Fish Scales were not counted right on the file select screen or pause menu.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following supporters and everyone who makes this possible! @buny, ARKYmouse, Ahty Squeegee, Ahundred, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, Barbara Fregia, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist, Better Days, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, Vix-N, Panda, Dizmus, Emoney Bromine, Erica 'digifox' Kovac, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede, Jack O'Connor, Jammy, Joanna Jones, Johann Pfaffinger, Joo Marcos, Just Dave, Jyrki, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Krazinsky, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Lorxus, Luna, Luna Hyena, Durk Vash, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, Mewsterious Mew, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Alec M. / Ultimatum Warrior / Nova Crystal Inc, Philip Garzieri, Raegal Boggart, Ryunohito, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Sefris, Spyduck, Spoony Doodle, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Susan Tolias, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarocco, Tarsus Endri, Techfur, Upscale Furry Trash, DJ Otters, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Xkeeper, breakthetargets, khr, meerm, megaRammy, morgan `indrora` gangwere, raine, wulfy83, Now that the cave is done, I can turn my attention to the Autumn Grove and finishing up the village. We're getting closer to that Chapter 1 demo!

[ 2021-12-06 22:18:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Today I'm releasing a patch for the recent build which fixes numerous issues which were found with it. Because of all the core stuff I changed to make ASync stuff work, I expected that there would be bugs. Please note that this release is ONLY bug fixes, no new features have been added. Here's a full list of things that were fixed:

• Fixed a bug where, if you opened the gate but then quit out of the game without saving, the game would remember it took your key but not that you opened the gate, effectively softlocking you out of the gate.
• Fixed a bug where entry blockers would simply disappear if they had been deactivated, rather than showing as deactivated.
• Fixed a bug where the screen could flicker and show a frame of the game from 2-4 seconds prior when going indoors/outdoors (mainly on Linux.)
• Fixed a bug where Lance would sometimes flicker when going between screens (mainly on Linux.)
• The River Challenge minigame will no longer tell you you don't have enough if you have exactly 200 Pretty Petals.
• The game will now save your configuration if you changed any options in the Options menu when you close that menu.
• Video settings will no longer be unconfigurable if you had them set to "custom" prior to playing this build.
• Changing your video settings is now much snappier than before, as the game will more quickly apply the new settings.
• Clocks are no longer hidden under the stage.
• Circular lock pieces no longer freeze when going between screens.
• Lance will no longer start the game with the wrong amount of health on a new save file.
• You can no longer skip Willow's save dialogue by mashing the cancel button.
• Fixed a bug where talking to O'Fox too much would cause him to say his initial dialogue when you first talked to him again.
• Fixed a bug where autosaving could occur on cat coins before you actually get the coin, causing you to be marked as having gotten the coin without actually having the coin.
• Fixed a bug where pressing escape during a shop sequence would cause a brief flicker when you were done shopping.
• (The following bugs were patched on November 15th shortly after the build went live.)
• Fixed a bug where the last save slot was not readable by the game and would cause the game to crash if any save file was there.
• Fixed a bug where the game would crash due to a missing file if you hadn't already played the game at some point in the past. (The game now correctly initializes the file.)
• Fixed a bug where the camera would not move ahead to show a puzzle in a specific location.
• Fixed a bug where puzzle lock pieces would take off super quick when spawned.
• Fixed a bug where puzzle lock pieces could leave the screen you're in.
• Fixed a bug where, in specific circumstances, the game could give you more health than you actually have.

[ 2021-11-17 18:48:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy guys! Coming at you today with a new build of Shield Cat! This build brings *huge* changes to the graphics as well as many new and improved features! Without further ado, let's get right into it!

===== IMPORTANT =====

• Significant changes and upgrades have been made to a lot of the tiles in the game. Please let me know what you think about the upgraded look!
• Changes and improvements were also made to the dialogue engine. All dialogue should still work, but if you encounter issues let me know!
• Because of the aforementioned changes, NPC dialogue progress has been reset for many NPCs. Many apologies for the inconvenience, but NPCs now have new dialogue so please enjoy it!
• The shop dialogues have been improved considerably! Details are noted below.
• Also, you can now buy and sell items! Please see below for this as well for details.
• Many of the game's saving and loading routines have been switched to be asynchronous. This means that they should be much faster without interrupting gameplay, but issues may arise from this. I've tested it all out the best I can but let me know if anything weird happens!

===== NEW =====

• You can now buy items from the Caf! This means that the "Items" entry of the menu finally is being used. These new items will help you out when you get hurt or fall in battle.
• A "Magnet Strike" feature has been added. Lance will automatically snap to the closest enemy you can hit if you attack while close enough to the enemy. Now you can attack different enemies and build up a big combo bonus!
• A new font "Amaranth" has been added. This font has been made the default for most parts of the game.
• You can now use F10 to enable the debug overlay without having to enable debug mode. Usually you only want to do this if I instruct you to, but you can also feel free to check it out anyways.
• You can now disable debug mode by using "disabledebug" in the debug console. However, this will not reset the fact that you used any cheats on the save file.
• Added copyright information for the included Linux libraries in the Linux build.
• Added a "Feedback" menu item on the pause menu with updated information.
• There are now large boulders in the Autumn Grove. If you have access to that stage, be sure you have the bombs!
• A new minigame is available! See if you can find it... (Not available in the Playtest build for now.)
• You can now visit more houses in the Lignum village.
• A new option has been added that allows you to exit stages from the pause menu.
• The river challenge minigame now has music as well as proper UI elements (rather than just debug text)
• A small bit of confetti has been added whenever you grab a major collectible (cat coin or LANCE letter, for example) (but only if you haven't collected it already)
• When you first start the game, if your saved data was somehow deleted but a backup exists, the game will be restored from the backup.
• You can now sell items at the O'Fox shop.
• Bombs will now spawn in grass and from enemies if you've owned bombs at any point in the past. Currently, bombs are not available in the Playtest build (sorry!)
• The game will now show a small notification if you've picked up something to tell you what you've picked up.
• Offscreen indicators have been added to show the location of boss enemies as well as certain things like the ravens attacking you from off screen or objects that have been activated offscreen (like gates.)
• However, if you don't like them or find them distracting you can turn them off.

===== IMPROVED =====

• Graphics have been updated for the entry blockers to make it more obvious when they are raised or lowered.
• Several improvements to tiles, graphics, and tile placements.
• A new running animation has been added for Lance when he's running at full speed.
• Improved the loading time of the river challenge.
• Updated the documentation that is included with the game installation.
• Significant upgrades have been made to the dialogue system to allow for more immersive conversations with NPCs.
• However, I had to reset the flags that keep track of which NPCs you've talked to to work correctly with the new NPC system. This version will automatically correct any issues that may arise, so you don't have to worry.
• Though not required, there is some extra dialogue that can only be seen before you've beaten the mushroom boss. You may wish to start a new game to see it.
• Rewrote and improved the display of supporter's names on the title screen.
• The camera will now only move out to show out-of-sight things when you face toward the direction it expects.
• Improved the way water is rendered, adding an occassional shimmer to it.
• Read/Write access to the computer's hard drive has been significantly optimized.
• Better indicators have been added to show when the game is working in the background (ie copying files or saving your game using the menu.)
• Because of the new async saving, saving with Willow can be much faster than before.
• The shop menu has been upgraded significantly by porting it to the new menu system! This introduces new features (listed below) as well as fixes bugs.
• The shop menu will now show any item you can't buy for any reason as grayed out.
• Items in the shop are now grouped by category.
• The shop now shows the amount of magic a passive ability will take, as well as the current amount of magic you have (so you know if you can equip it or not.)
• This also means that all menus have now been upgraded to the new menu system.
• The combo system has been changed and improved. Now a small chime will play whenever you are building up the combo, but you have to strike different enemies to build it up (you will not get a combo bonus for hitting the same enemy over and over.)
• A "back" button has been added to the input remapping menu so you don't have to hold a button to go back if you don't want to.

===== CHANGED =====

• The amount of time you need to complete the river challenge has been increased by 5 seconds.
• Lance running when you fully tilt the analog stick has been disabled by default. This version of the game will also automatically disable the function when you first load it, but you can turn it back on if you like.
• Big enemy bat health has been reduced from 2 to 1.
• Adjusted a puzzle so you don't have to stand so close to the edge to see what you have to do.
• The default font has been changed. As long as your font settings are on "Default" you don't need to do anything.
• Changed some graphics for the input sprites.
• Adjusted the amount of whitespace that occurs in the menu.
• New installations of Shield Cat will now run in Windowed mode by default. You can change this to fullscreen later, and the game will start fullscreened.
• There is now a petal counting sound when you do a transaction involving pretty petals.
• Many file operations have been converted to async functions. This should make the game perform better (especially in menus) and should futureproof the code. However, this *may* cause some issues that I wasn't able to find myself during testing.
• Blockades have been added to the village in the Playtest build to better define the boundaries of where you can go.
• Debug functions are no longer available in the Playtest build.
• The upgrade path for older versions of Shield Cat have been changed. All necessary upgrades from previous versions will now be automatically applied without user input. If you haven't played Shield Cat in at least 3 months, the game will reset your input configuration. If you've been playing it frequently, you will not be affected.
• VSync is now enabled by default again. It will be turned on when you first load this version of the game, and you can use the menu to turn it off.
• The structure for storing items has changed in this version. If you had used debug features to test out the items, you'll have lost them and will have to get them again. (These items were otherwise unavailable prior to this build.)
• The Video AutoAdjust option has been moved to the top of the Video menu. It has been improved and thus, changing the graphics preset and VSync options will not be allowed when it is enabled. If you wish to change these options, you'll have to turn AutoAdjust to "Off."
• The time you can activate a combo has been reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
• The game no longer autosave so frequently (this was a bug.) Now, the game will be saved every 5 minutes, or whenever a major event occurs (grabbing a big collectible, opening a gate, going to a new stage) unless the game has autosaved in the last 10 seconds.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where the bomb explosion radius was really small when it came to hitting objects.
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't close the menu that you opened with escape by pressing escape again.
• Fixed the interaction between bombs and treasure chests. The chests will now blow up in one hit.
• Fixed a bug where loading into an unknown save location would unintentionally crash the game (fallback code was broken.)
• Fixed a bug where UI elements would show at the end of the river challenge when they shouldn't have.
• Fixed a bug where signs that just showed their text overhead when looking at them could draw off screen if they were too close to the edge.
• (Hopefully) fixed a bug where a random part of the stage could be shown during transitions between areas.
• Fixed a bug where the debug menu was still present in the minigame submenu.
• Fixed a depth sorting issue with the bumpers.
• Fixed a bug where NPCs would stop animating during dialogue sequences.
• Fixed a bug where Lance would become really wide sometimes after taking damage.
• Fixed a text rendering bug involving word splitting and newlines.
• Fixed a bug where a few supporters weren't being shown on the title screen.
• Fixed a depth issue with some scales in the Autumn Grove.
• Fixed a bug where the river challenge would not give you double petals if the Double Petals passive was equipped.
• Fixed a bug where some text in the menu was drawn using the incorrect font.
• Fixed several bugs relating to the shop menu (multiple menus, moving Lance around while in the shop etc.) by porting the menu to the new menu system.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's Tubular Twister (the spin) was technically not equipped.
• Fixed a bug where health fish and pretty petals would not go toward Lance correctly in certain circumstances.
• You can no longer have an obnoxious amount of bombs (sorry, I didn't want to fix this one but I had to.)
• Fixed a bug where you could get out of bounds in the Autumn Grove stage by simply walking into the out of bounds area (The floor mechanism to keep you out wasn't working.)
• Lance will no longer walk around to the back of fridges to interact with them.
• Fixed a bug where Lance would recover health by going to a new stage or going indoors/outdoors. (This was never intentional I just hadn't gotten round to it yet.)
• You can no longer break out of a cutscene (ie getting a gold fish statue) by pressing escape or pause.
• Fixed a layering issue with input prompts in the menu that indicate you can open a submenu.
• Fish scales will no longer appear to be "hovering" over solid objects such as moving platforms.

Thank You!

Thank you to the following supporters and everyone who makes this possible! @buny, ARKYmouse, Ahty Squeegee, Ahundred, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, Barbara Fregia, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist, Better Days, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, Vix-N, Panda, Dizmus, Emoney Bromine, Erica 'digifox' Kovac, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede, Jack O'Connor, Jammy, Joanna Jones, Johann Pfaffinger, Joo Marcos, Just Dave, Jyrki, Katie Durmeter, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Klara, Krazinsky, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Lorxus, Luna, Luna Hyena, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna, Durk Vash, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Markus Joseph Kitsinger, Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Alec M. / Ultimatum Warrior / Nova Crystal Inc, Philip Garzieri, Raegal Boggart, Ryunohito, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Sefris, Spyduck, Spoony Doodle, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Susan Tolias, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarocco, Tarsus Endri, Techfur, Upscale Furry Trash, DJ Otters, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Xkeeper, breakthetargets, erika, khr, meerm, megaRammy, morgan `indrora` gangwere, raine, wulfy83,

[ 2021-11-15 23:00:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Come at you guys today with a new Shield Cat build! In the title of this post it says I have a message, so let's get right to that.

Build Frequency

As I'm sure people are aware, especially those who have been following me or subscribing to my Patreon for a long time, I generally tend to do builds pretty frequently. Usually, I've uploaded builds every week or 2 weeks and have been adding new important features, such as the input remapper etc. However, in the current state of development I'm just about out of "core" features to add. From now on, most of what I'll be adding is just building off things I made before, or adding new enemies, stages, NPCs etc. What this means is that future builds will be less frequent and may take a month or more to come out (excluding patch builds after bigger release builds.) Because of this, it'll take longer before you're able to play with new stuff, but also, each update will be a lot more substantial and will have more areas to visit, people to talk to, and things to do. Basically, each update will be more worth your while to check out! The main reason I was pushing builds so frequently before was because I was creating major parts of the game and wanted to test them out and get feedback on them. Things like the way Lance moves around, collectibles, post processing features, menus, and just all kinds of stuff. The game was in a very formative stage and a lot of stuff was changing, which means a lot of stuff could break at any time OR a change that I made or a feature I added could actually be unfavorable. Now, however, the game is taking shape and so it's less necessary to be like "Guys I put the input remapper, I need everyone to test it out and make sure it works right." The other reason I was pushing builds so frequently is because I felt like if I didn't, people would think that I wasn't doing much with the game and would unfollow or whatever. I wanted to make sure people were impressed, and I think people have been impressed! But now I have all of the game that I have so far to impress people with, so people should know that I'm doing the work because they can download the Playtest demo or the retail version and see all the work I've done before. I work on the game nearly every day but I no longer feel that I have to "prove" it. In summary, builds will be less frequent, but will be more content packed. When I put a new build, most likely there will be a lot of new things or a lot of changes to check out. So, please look forward to this! I also suppose this is a good time to remind people that, after the Chapter 1 demo comes out, builds will be much less frequent and the Playtest demo will no longer be available. Only Patrons will have access to new areas, and they'll only have access once those areas are mostly complete. I know people will be upset by this, but as development progresses in the game, there will be more story elements and lore and I'd rather just release the major areas all at once so people have a lot to play with and discover. This has been the plan since the beginning, and I'll just have to trust all my supporters to know that I am indeed working on the game and that sooner or later they'll have something cool to mess with.

Patch Notes

Right! With all that out of the way, let's get to the patch notes. For people with a retail copy of Shield Cat, you'll be able to check out part of the new Autumn Grove stage! Otherwise, people with the Playtest demo won't have *too* many new things to check out, as the playable area for this demo version has not changed. Sorry! I've also been implementing several subsystems that aren't fully available yet, like Lance's items. Some of them do work, but some of them don't! I'm hoping to have them fully implemented in the next major build. Also please note! In this version of the game, I added a new input that shows your collectible totals for the stage without having to press pause. The game will tell you this too when you boot it up, but I figured I'd highlight it here too. For new installations of Shield Cat, the game should automatically map this button. However, for people who already have been playing it, you'll have to map it yourself. Apologies for the inconvenience! But, now that the game has the ability to map inputs within the game itself, it shouldn't be too big of a deal. Also, the button is not necessary per se, just more of a convenience. If it were game breaking, I would have made it so the game attempted to automatically assign it. However, that's a lot of effort that I felt wasn't necessary for a button that just slides up the collectible totals haha Alright! Here are the full patch notes below:

• IMPORTANT: A bug was found with the Steam cloud configuration. If you're having issues deleting or saving games, try uninstalling and reinstalling the game. This should fix it.

===== NEW =====

• Bats are now in the caves! They're not friendly, so be careful.
• A new option has been added that enables or disables text antialiasing, if that's something you want to do.
• The debug menu has become the debug console. You can activate it by pressing F9 if debug mode is enabled. This is a text-based console that will allow you to enter more debug commands than before, and will have more commands added as time goes on.
• To this end, the debug menu in the pause menu is no longer available.
• Map markers have been added to Abandoned Mines (stage 2.)
• A sound effect was added when you press Action 2 (Throwables) but don't have one equipped.
• The game will now automatically reduce the video preset if the performance of the game is subpar (not 60fps.)
• If you don't like this, there's a new setting in the video menu that allows you to turn this off.
• You can now show the UI (collected fish scales etc) by pressing the Analog Stick buttons (gamepad) or by pressing Control (keyboard.) Please note that this is only for *new* installations of Shield Cat or new devices you plug in. If you've already played the game, you'll have to manually assign it yourself using the in-game input remapper.
• You can now change the seed used for randomization by editing the configuration or using the debug console, if that's something you're interested in.
• The Autumn Grove stage is now available for preview, but only for people with Steam keys to the game. It is not currently available in the playtest build.

===== IMPROVED =====

• The CRT Filter has been improved to make it look more authentic but also make text more readable.
• General game drawing has been optimized and improved.
• The "Stats" submenu has been ported to the new menu system. It still is rather basic, but it gets the job done for now.

===== CHANGED =====

• Changed this version of the game to allow it to still run in the future, even if it becomes an outdated version later on. It will prompt if you'd still like to run it or not, rather than just quitting outright.
• Updated the description of the Player Damage/Enemy Damage modifiers to be more clear about what they do.
• Updated the debug overlay formatting and added a few more things to it.
• The Fish Scale buffer size was changed. This shouldn't affect your save data at all.
• Puzzles that involve throwing your shield to hit bumpers and eventually hit an orb will now stay permanently solved.
• Adjusted the shine added to objects which are blurred by post processing effects.
• Changed pop-up full screen messages to use a new window border and color scheme.
• Lance's idle animation will now play slower when he is at low health.
• Adjusted the width allotted to the list of supporters on the title screen to better fit all the names that are there now (thank you guys!)
• Adjusted the wavy text animation to be a little less wavy.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where the river challenge cat coin was displayed upside down.
• Fixed a bug where some progress was reset when loading the save file.
• Note that the two bugs above were fixed in a patch right after uploading the last patch.
• Fixed a bug where 30fps mode wouldn't invoke in certain low framerate instances.
• Fixed some weird collision on Lance's house's doorway.
• Fixed a bug where changing the Enemy Aggression level on the title screen when starting a new game would crash the game.
• You can no longer save and quit on the title screen.
• Changing the XINPUT display preferences actually works immediately now and does not require re-running the game.
• Fixed a bug where scrolling down in a long menu, backing out, and then opening that menu again would not show your cursor position until you moved the cursor again.
• Fixed a bug where Lance could make dust particles when walking or skidding on water.
• Fixed a bug where entering the fallback room (when the game didn't know where to send you upon going in/outdoors or between stages) would softlock the game.
• Fixed a memory leak involving the Debug Overlay.
• Fixed a bug where the game would not autosave after opening a lock with a key.
• Fixed a bug where LANCE letters did not have reflections in the water.
• Fixed a bug where certain objects would have lighting applied to them incorrectly (ie Lance)
• Fixed a bug where Lance's "Tubular Twister" ability was internally referenced in one part of the code as the "Shield"
• Fixed a bug where 30fps mode would not engage when performance was poor.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's abilities wouldn't move between layers properly.
• Fixed a bug involving mapping Control, Shift, or Alt.
• Fixed a bug where particles generated by having possession of a key or circular lock piece would draw above menu elements when the game was paused.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's last equipped ability wasn't being loaded into the game correctly, causing swapping abilities with the shoulder buttons to break when you first use it + other minor issues.
• Fixed a bug where the LANCE letters you collected in a stage wouldn't show until you paused the game twice.
• Fixed a bug where Lance would reflect incorrectly in the water when going between screens.
• Fixed a bug where some objects which were not supposed to reflect would reflect anyways, but also they'd reflect in the wrong spot.
• Fixed a depth sorting issue with the golden gate.
• Fixed a bug where the mouse would not properly line up with the text you're trying to select during dialogue sequences.
• Fixed a bug where dragging the window really, really slowly across the screen would cause the game to think that it's running at a really bad framerate.
• Fixed a bug where the game could dereference one of the surfaces used to draw the game, causing the game to crash.
• Fixed a bug where pulse effects would show a rainbow ring in certain situations.
• Fixed Lance's palette being wrong on certain older sprites (these sprites will eventually be replaced anyways.)
• Fixed a bug where the room state would not be reset properly when Lance got a game over.
• Fixed a bug where dying to the mushroom boss or its minions would leave particles behind when re-entering the fight.
• Fixed a bug where NPCs would continue playing their animations even if the game was paused.
• Fixed a bug where fish scales couldn't be collected if you touched them immediately when entering the room.
• Fixed a bug where ability bumpers that change direction weren't using the correct graphic until they did it at least once.
• Fixed a bug where ability bumpers would vibrate indefinitely if you changed screens or paused the game after they had just been hit.
• Fixed a text formatting issue with the supporters list on the title screen.
• When the game is at an odd resolution and you open the video menu to change the resolution, your current window resolution is now sorted properly in the list.
• Fixed a bug where treasure chests would attempt to spawn Pretty Petals when exiting a stage (not something you could see, but it played the sound when going between stages)
• Fixed a bug where Lance's footprints wouldn't show the right color when walking through tall grass that had been cut.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following people and everyone who makes this possible! @buny, ARKYmouse, Ahty Squeegee, Ahundred, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, Barbara Fregia, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Cay, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, Vix-N, Panda, Dizmus, Emoney Bromine, Erica 'digifox' Kovac, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, JD Laclede, Jack O'Connor, Jammy, Johann Pfaffinger, Just Dave, Jyrki, Katie Durmeter, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Klara, Krazinsky, Trash, LF, Lorxus, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Markus Joseph Kitsinger, Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Philip Garzieri, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Sefris, Spyduck, Spoony Doodle, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Susan Tolias, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarocco, Tarsus Endri, Upscale Furry Trash, DJ Otters, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Xkeeper, breakthetargets, erika, khr, meerm, morgan `indrora` gangwere, raine, wulfy83,

[ 2021-10-03 17:58:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! Coming at you today with a revised build from yesterday. A lot of people had trouble with the river challenge, including people with better computers than mine? It was really inconsistent and I'm not sure exactly what it was, but in this update I rewrote how all of the river challenge elements are drawn and it *should* fix the issues! Also, there *may* be a bug that's resetting progress? If you've already beaten the mushroom boss but you find that you can fight him again, or you don't have the extra health from him, please let me know! I'm not sure if it was me doing debug stuff with the flags or if it's actually a glitch. This build also fixes a few other issues, including a major memory leak that was able to take up gigabytes of RAM in just minutes LOL many apologies for that. As always, here's the full patch notes

===== IMPROVED =====

• Optimizations have been made to the river challenge to hopefully address performance issues.

===== CHANGED =====

• Changed the text that describes how the river challenge works for clarity.
• This build was made with the version of Gamemaker which came out just today, so it may introduce bugs that I didn't see in testing.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a major memory leak on the title screen when showing where you saved on that file.
• Fixed a memory leak caused by the game not cleaning up the menu properly when using it to go to a different area (save and quit etc)
• Fixed a bug where you could collect rings by touching the edge of them. now you have to be inside the ring for it to count.
• Fixed a bug where cat coin/fish scale totals would show on the pause menu of the river stage, which has no collectibles like this.
• Fixed a bug where you could pause at the end of the river challenge and put the game in an inconsistent state.
• Fixed a bug where light sources weren't being drawn on objects that should have them.
• Fixed a bug where recovery fish did not have light sources.

[ 2021-09-08 17:51:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you today with a new build of Shield Cat! There's two highlights with this build, the first being that the River Challenge is finally in! There's only one course for now, but there will be more as time goes on. Please check it out! There's an achievement and Cat Coin in it for you if you get 100% on it. The second highlight is that Linux builds are back! Please let me know how it works out! I've configured the Steam cloud to use saves from Windows and Linux, so if you were using Proton before, the saves *should* transfer. Oh yea also, this version adds a little cutscene to the beginning of the game, but to maintain compatibility, this version of the game will reset your save location to Lance's house so you can see it (otherwise it'll be invoked improperly!) My apologies for the inconvenience! Finally, I rewrote the title screen menu and the way it works. You'll see a preview of where you saved, but it'll look blocky. Rest assured, after you've played the game and saved again, the preview will no longer be blocky. Let me know if there are any issues. As always, here are the patch notes:

===== NEW =====

• A small intro sequence has been added to the start of the game to set the stage for the game's events. In order to make sure the game doesn't end up in an inconsistent state, this version will make you start at Lance's house so you can see it.
• The title screen menu has been completely rewritten. Please let me know if any issues occur!
• The river challenge is open! Head north in the Lignum Village to find it!
• The Linux version is back! Please let me know if you have any issues with it.

===== IMPROVED =====

• Updated the graphics of the minimap to make it more in line with the rest of the game's graphics.
• Save file previews have been changed in this version and may appear blocky/blurry. Loading the game and then subsequently saving it with Willow will correct this issue.

===== CHANGED =====

• Updated some of the stage design to make it less likely Lance will get caught on it.
• VSync now is off by default. If you've played a previous version of the game before playing this one, VSync will be disabled automatically. If you wish to use it, you'll have to turn it back on.
• You can now back out of the title screen menu to bring yourself back to the intro screen.
• The Build Date information is now on menus.
• The default amount of save slots has been changed from 19 to 20. If you've never changed this setting, this version will update it automatically.
• Collectibles no longer have light sources in dark places if you don't have the Lantern passive equipped.
• Steam Cloud Saving should be cross platform between Windows and Linux. Let me know if you have any issues!

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where you couldn't change the Retro Palette, even if the Retro preset was enabled, unless you had the video preset set to Custom.
• Fixed a bug where the grandfather clock wouldn't chime the right amount at 12pm.
• Fixed a bug where some doors would suck you into them and not actually send you anywhere.
• Fixed a bug where you could continually press "ok" when using Save and Return to Title to restart the animation over and over.
• Fixed a bug where leaving the mouse over the menu would cause the menu to ignore gamepad/keyboard input.
• Fixed a bug where UI elements like health, petals etc wouldn't show if you opened the map and then closed it by opening the menu.
• Fixed a bug where dialogue box text colors were being improperly reset to the wrong color.
• Fixed a bug where certain graphics settings would cause Willow's message box in the menu to be drawn offscreen.
• Fixed a bug where enemies would not be properly depth sorted when first entering the stage.
• Fixed a bug where certain objects would not initialize properly by forcing their initialization routine. This *may* cause issues but I haven't seen any yet.
• Fixed a bug where copying a saved game would not copy it's saved thumbnail.
• Fixed a bug where game controls could be drawn over menus. Now, the menu will draw over the game controls.
• Fixed a text formatting bug that occurs sometimes with dialogue boxes.
• Fixed a bug where you could control Lance after he ran out of health.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following people and everyone who makes this possible! @buny, Ahundred , Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Barbara Fregia, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist , Better Days, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Cay , Clover Arizona, Vix-N, Panda, Dizmus , Emoney Bromine, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede , Jack O'Connor, Jammy , Johann Pfaffinger, Jyrki, Katie Durmeter, Kaylex Deer , Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Klara, Trash, LF, Lorxus, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna , Durk Vash, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Markus Joseph Kitsinger , Marlyn, Maxine Red, Mello the Ferret, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky , NovaSquirrel, Philip Garzieri, Progamuffin, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard , Ansel Geisel, Sefris , Spyduck, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Susan Tolias, Swirlate, Tabby Cromarty, Tala Cuthbert, Tarocco , DJ Otters, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Xkeeper , erika, khr, meerm, megaRammy, raine, wulfy83,

[ 2021-09-07 18:43:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Usually I don't put two builds in a single day, but I had to fix several bugs that were reported, so here we go! IMPORTANT: With the previous build, there was a scale integrity issue where you lose Fish Scales randomly by going between stages. I think I fixed it, but if you go between stages and lose any progress, please let me know immediately! Also, this version of the game updates file names and cleans up some leftover data. If your game suddenly says you have no save data, do not touch anything and message me. Most likely the data is still there, just the game can't see it now. Here's the full patch notes:

===== NEW =====

• The preset "Low" has been changed to "Lower" to make room for a new low preset, which allows for hi-res rendering but uses the lowest quality blur (since blur rendering speed was improved in the last build.)

===== CHANGED =====

• Removed unused files from the game's data folder.
• This version of the game will automatically switch all save files and relevant save data to be all lowercase, for future cross-platform compatibility. This should NOT erase any save data, but if your save data disappears, do not do ANYTHING and reach out to me IMMEDIATELY. It most likely is still there, just under the old name.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where the game was erroneously writing INI files when reading them.
• Because of this bug fix, the game is configured to clean up the files it was accidentally writing. You may see an in-game message about this, but don't worry about it.
• Fixed a bug where opening the Tubular Twister upgrades menu with no upgrades owned would show an error message.
• Fixed a bug where you could interact with Lance's computer or Parker's portrait while going downstairs and carry the dialogue into the next room.
• Fixed a bug where Parker's portrait and the bookshelf in Lance's house would no longer be interactable if you investigated the fridge twice.
• Fixed a bug where pressing the button on Throwables with no throwable equipped would cause the game to crash.
• Fixed a bug where the shop would show untranslated language strings when attempting to buy.
• Fixed a bug where Lance could take damage and subsequently not be controllable by the player until he takes damage again.
• Possibly fixed a scale integrity bug that causes you to lose scales between stages. If you lose scales, let me know right away!

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• Setting video configuration is currently disabled on the title screen, as the title screen still uses the old menu subsystem, which is incompatible with the new options.
• A few menus across the game still use the old menu subsystem. These will eventually be replaced with the new one.

[ 2021-08-23 05:04:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! It's been a bit since I made a new build of Shield Cat, and I think the rather long patch notes below should reflect this LOL I decided to rewrite the menu subsystem, which took a fair bit longer than I expected, so I worked on other stuff while I was doing this. As always, if the update doesn't appear, please restart your Steam client. Here's the full list of patch notes!

===== HIGHLIGHTS =====

• The pause menu is completely revamped! Please check it out!
• There are still some places across the game that use the old menu, though. These will eventually be replaced/upgraded in a future build.
• Stage 2 is now open (except in the PlayTest build.) It's not complete, but you can walk around and see what it's like in there.
• You now get a Cat Coin for collecting all letters in a stage! (Keep in mind that only Stage 1 and 2 allow you to get all the letters right now.)
• However, in order to make this work, when you load up the game it will take away the L you collected in Stage 1. You'll have to go fetch it again to get the Cat Coin (sorry!)

===== NEW =====

• The pause menu has been rewritten completely! Several notes below pertain to this, but please check it out and let me know what you think!
• A new "Higher" preset has been added as an intermediary between "High" and "Highest," which also introduces a new blur level between "High" and "Extreme." If you're using custom graphics settings, you'll have to adjust your settings back to the Extreme blur.
• Retro Presets are now on their own selection, with an additional one available that combines CRT and Palette shaders, as well as one that looks like old DOS computers. This allows additional easy configuration without having to enable Custom.
• The FPS display now is available in the "Game" submenu, instead of being exclusively a debug feature. It now also shows how long each frame took to render.
• You can now mash the buttons between stages to hurry up the screen transition.
• Private testers can now enter the cave (stage 2!) It's very WIP in there but you can still check it out. (Public testers will gain access to the cave later when it's more finished.)
• When you load your game, it will now show you the collectible counts in the stage you're loading into.
• You can now select if you'd like sound effects to play in stereo or not.
• Some menus now have a "Restore Defaults" option to them.
• There's now an option to enable holding the button to automatically activate movetech abilities when they're finished.
• The game now keeps track of actual game play time. This value is accurate even if the game slows down, and also increments if you're in the pause menu. This is only shown when you use the game play time overlay.
• You'll now get a Cat Coin for collecting all letters in a stage. To allow you to get the cat coin, the game will automatically take away the letter L from the first stage. You'll have to go fetch it again to get the coin.
• Lance will now automatically start running if you move the analog stick far enough in the direction you want to go. You can configure the threshold for this, as well as turn it on and off.
• More dialogue has been added to NPCs.

===== IMPROVED =====

• Several sub-menus have been replaced with either horizontal sliders or options that you navigate through by pressing left and right.
• Menu options are now grouped into sections for ease of access and to make the menu less confusing to use.
• You can now switch between thrown abilities and equip upgrades to them much faster (most players probably won't be able to take advantage of this right now though.)
• Dialogue scaling is now shown as a preview directly in the menu.
• Menu scaling now also affects how many menu items are shown.
• Adjusted the palette selection when using the retro palette mode to shift between areas of the stage rather than per screen, to give a more consistent experience.
• It is now even more clear when you are going to a new stage and what collectibles you'll be expected to find in that stage/that you've already found in that stage.
• Redrew dust cloud and clash star sprites (they've been the same since I drew them 2 years ago as placeholder LOL)
• Blur has been improved across the entire game, both in quality and efficiency (as always, let me know if this build actually runs slower on your computer.)
• Adjusted the sprites on the UI some for clarity.
• Added a small flickering effect to rooms that use light sources.
• Improved animation timing of color shifting effects when moving between screens.
• The debug overlay now shows the amount of Data Structures and Surfaces are active at any given time.
• Magic costs for passive abilities are now shown directly on the menu itself, rather than having to hover each ability to find out it's magic cost.
• A new meter at the bottom of the Passive Abilities menu now shows how much you've got equipped currently (both as a number and as a bar) as well as how much the currently hovered ability takes from that bar (if it's equipped) or would add to the bar (if it's not equipped.)
• Added an animation to the Pretty Petal count when you collect them.
• Voice blips for NPCs have been improved.
• Transitions between screens will now show the LANCE letters you don't have in grayscale.
• LANCE Letters will now show up semitransparent in stages they were collected in before, and can be collected again for 50 Pretty Petals. This brings them in line with the other collectibles.

===== CHANGED =====

• Made several lighting adjustments to the Lignum Woods hub and Deep Woods stages.
• All changes you make to any options in the menu will now take effect immediately.
• The menu is no longer recolorable (will be added back in in a future update.)
• The transition time when going indoors/outdoors has been reduced.
• Places where you stand and have the camera focus on a distant spot will now wait for you to stand there a bit before moving the camera (this prevents the camera from jerking around and making people sick.)
• The FPS overlay now shows the percentage of rendering overhead there is, rather than theoretical FPS. The higher this number is, the better.
• Reduced the amount that Lance can see around him without the Lantern passive enabled.
• The bumpers now have a pulse effect on them when hit.
• Lance's after-images when going fast have been adjusted slightly.
• Willow now has a pulse effect around her.
• Reduced the transition time on various debug functions.
• "Escape Key" menu has been replaced with the new menu system.
• If you have the "Radical Spin" passive from the March 2021 demo, it now restores the classic "spin to win" where Lance goes really fast. Watch your magic meter!
• Changed the color of the stones on the ground from purple to gray to make them less distracting.
• Instead of trying to disable VSync if the game is not achieving a proper framerate, the game will now go into "30fps mode." You'll still have to make adjustments to your settings, but it should be easier to do so.
• The color of hover text over signs is now more consistent with other signs in the game.
• Lance's behavior when falling into pits is now consistent (before, the animation would be different if it were a single screen room.)
• Menu text now uses language strings for future translation compatibility (or if you want to hack the game and make the menu just say "butts."
• The rotating bridge will no longer attempt to grab you and take you away if you're not actually standing on it most of the way.
• The game no longer reloads the entire stage when going indoors/outdoors. This *may* cause issues, though I think I fixed them all already.
• Increased the maximum time cap to 999 : 59 : 59.983.
• The function that shows your current game play time now has higher precision for milliseconds.
• The speedrun counter will now show even when the game is paused.
• Lance's basic spin time has been reduced to 8 frames (down from 10.)
• The code that attempts to save you from falling into a pit if you're spinning across gaps no longer runs if you're not sprinting.
• Made some adjustments to the room where you learn how to sprint to really make sure you learn how to do it.
• More scales have been added to Stage 1.
• A new sign has been added in Stage 1 that talks about health fish and what they do.
• Changed how the Distance Traveler upgrade works. Now, it increases your top speed (you'll have had to gotten this during the March 2021 demo.)
• You can now throw magic cards even when you're out of magic. However, the amount of magic cards you can throw is significantly reduced.
• The ability to customize the theme of the menus has been removed.
• Adjusted position of gear in Stage 1 to make it less likely to try to hit it and accidentally read the nearby sign instead.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed the exit from the secret cave and Lance's house pushing you weirdly under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug in which Lance's portrait would have a white rectangle when he fell.
• Fixed a bug where collectibles and Lance's abilities would not have light sources applied to them.
• Fixed a bug where light sources would not properly clear when stepping into screens that aren't supposed to use them.
• The lantern passive actually works now.
• Lance no longer has a chance to come out of south facing doors sprinting.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's portrait and other UI elements would draw really big on the lowest graphics settings.
• Fixed a bug where rapidly changing menu options would cause a "Game is running under 60fps" error message to appear.
• Fixed a bug where you could potentially unpause the game while the input remapping screen was open.
• Fixed a bug where the mouse cursor would flicker sometimes when hovering over the menu or other things that you can interact with with the mouse.
• Fixed an issue with light sources where pixel shimmering would occur when enhanced drawing mode was disabled (by simply disabling the animation for light sources)
• Fixed a bug with drawing text on the intro screen.
• Fixed a bug where the game would sometimes show the "New Stage" information panel with the text "Undefined" when moving between some stages.
• Fixed a bug where saving and returning to the title screen would show an "Instance count is high" message at the top of the screen.
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't skip the stage transition animation in certain circumstances.
• Fixed layering on the roof of Lance's house.
• Fixed an issue where you could get out of "Save and Return to Title" and "Save and Quit" on the Escape menu by pressing "Cancel" or Escape.
• Fixed a bug where the combo multiplier would count down during screen to screen transitions.
• Fixed water being drawn below the sign outside Lance's house.
• Fixed a bug where objects with small hover prompts (ie some signs or clocks) would show even during dialogue sequences.
• Fixed a bug where objects that were attracted to you are not collectible if you go to a different layer.
• Fixed depth sorting issues with some objects.
• Fixed an issue with music loop points in certain songs.
• Fixed an issue with music swapping inconsistently when going into/out of the village area.
• Fixed a bug where pausing on the same frame a mushroom minion bounced against the boss would cause a terrible ruckus.
• The game no longer freezes for a few frames when closing the menu.
• Fixed a bug where Lance could recover from attacking enemies to attack them again way too quickly in certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug where collecting the second Cat Coin in the Deep Woods would clear the marker for the first Cat Coin, if you hadn't collected it already.
• Fixed a bug where the game would say "Instance count is high" in between screens where both screens have a large instance count.
• Petals and Health Fish that spawn too close to the wall will no longer get stuck inside the wall.
• Fixed a bug with scales appearing too close to walls, which unfortunately caused a few of the scale's IDs to be reset. You'll have to go collect them again. Sorry!
• Fixed some issues with music fading in/out inappropriately in certain situations (mainly going between stages/indoors/outdoors)
• Fixed a bug where grass and collectibles would reset when going indoors/outdoors.
• Fixed a memory leak caused by birds being on screen.
• Fixed a memory leak when going between stages.
• Fixed a bug where Roxy wouldn't repel you properly when spinning.
• Fixed a bug where game play microtime would loop continuously if it had reached the time cap.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's magic meter would go down even if you were using a basic spin (not running.)
• Fixed a bug where sign posts would show their message even when the game was paused.
• Fixed a bug where the total number of LANCE letters in the entire game was being counted wrong.
• Fixed a bug where the analog deadzone threshold was hard-coded in some parts of the code.
• Fixed a bug where pop-up messages could be invisible if you were using a certain retro palette preset.

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• Setting video configuration is currently disabled on the title screen, as the title screen still uses the old menu subsystem, which is incompatible with the new options.
• A few menus across the game still use the old menu subsystem. These will eventually be replaced with the new one.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following supporters and for everyone who supports me: @buny, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Aode (Lion), Barbara Fregia, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist , Better Days, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Cay , Clover Arizona, Vix-N, Derick Jeater, Dizmus , Emoney Bromine, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede , Jack O'Connor, Jammy , Johann Pfaffinger, Jyrki, Katie Durmeter, Kaylex Deer , Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Klara, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Lorxus, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna , Durk Vash, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Markus Joseph Kitsinger , Marlyn, Maxine Red, Mello the Ferret, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky , NovaSquirrel, Pascal Schmidt, Philip Garzieri, Progamuffin, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard , Ansel Geisel, Sefris , Spyduck, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Susan Tolias, Swirlate, Tabby Cromarty, Tala Cuthbert, Tarocco , Touku, DJ Otters, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Xkeeper , erika, khr, meerm, megaRammy, raine, tanukisan , wulfy83,

[ 2021-08-22 22:25:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Tried out the Shield Cat demo and liked it? Want to see how the development is going lately? Now you can! All you have to do is go to the store page, scroll down to "Join the Shield Cat Playtest" and click "Request Access" and you're in! Please keep in mind that the builds you'll be playing are development builds and are not feature complete. They are simply to preview the game and provide feedback as I work toward the Chapter 1 demo. Please feel free to check it out and let me know what you think, thank you!

[ 2021-07-31 03:08:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Do you want to help me test out new builds of Shield Cat? Now you can! You can now test out builds that are newer than the demo for free as I work toward the next demo (that will be a lot bigger.) You'll be able to give feedback and suggestions and help me work on the game! Please note that these builds are not as frequent as builds I offer to Patrons, and are meant to only be preview builds of what to come.

Instructions

Currently, I am running the beta test through my Discord server. This is so that I can get real time feedback and respond in real time. [olist]

If you're not already in my Discord server, please join it: Discord Link

Once you're in there, head to #assign-roles-zone. At the bottom, you'll see a message to unlock access to the beta tester channel.

Once you're in the beta tester channel, please check the pinned message. Further instructions are there!

All beta builds will be released through the Steam client in a beta branch. Instructions on how to access it are in the Discord chat.

If you haven't played the demo yet, please play it before trying out the new build! [/olist] If you have any trouble, please let me know. Thank you!

[ 2021-06-16 19:17:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! I've created a survey about the Shield Cat demo! In the survey, I ask about what you like or did not like about the demo, as well as your thoughts on some potential changes in the future. The survey will take about 5-10 minutes to complete, and is all multiple choice (with some optional text fields.) Please fill it out if you have the time, it will help me out a lot! I've split the survey into different sections, with each section just having a handful of questions, to hopefully make it easier to fill out. Thank you for your feedback! https://forms.gle/7fJGZ2mFrovLhmx49

[ 2021-04-25 19:03:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! Thank you to everyone who tried out the demo! A lot of people really liked it, and I'm glad! Today I'm bringing you the Final Demo Update which adds fixes and Quality of Life changes that will help the demo last for a long time until the next one. Unless game-crashing bugs are found, no more features or changes will be being added to the demo. Here is a list of changes!

===== NEW =====

• Roxy will now deflect all attacks.
• There is now a small preview of where you saved that's shown when loading that save (for save files from older versions of Shield Cat, no image will be shown until you actually play that save file - it will be created as soon as you load the game.)
• A minimap has been added to the top right corner of the screen! Now you can know where you've been and where you need to go.
• Text scaling options have been added that allow you to adjust the size of text in menus and dialogues.
• You can now configure the sprites and text you'd like to use for XInput gamepads to better reflect what device you're using (Windows only.)
• Steam Screenshots now work properly (default F12)

===== IMPROVED =====

• Lance's pathfinding logic for locating a good spot to stand when talking to NPCs or reading signs has been improved.
• The mouse cursor will now turn into a hand when moving over stuff that you can click.
• An anti-cheat measure has been put into place to prevent people from cheating on the leaderboards (Steam version only)
• Lance's states are now shown on the debug menu to help with uncleared substate debugging.

===== CHANGED =====

• The way the Magnet passive attracts collectibles has been improved: now, once Lance gets close enough, they will continue to travel toward him.
• Additionally, Lance's Magnet passive works even when he has none equipped, but only in a very small radius around him.
• However, the Magnet passive no longer draws in Fish Scales, Cat Coins, or Big Keys unless you're already nearby to them anyways.
• It is now clarified in Willow's dialogue that she is a fox (sprite improvements will come later for this.)
• The lighting has been adjusted in Lance's house.
• The Android version of Shield Cat has been canceled.
• The sound the golden gate makes has been quieted down.
• The lever will now be destroyed and drop Petals and Fish if you strike it enough.
• Locks can no longer be opened using Lance's abilities (as concerns were raised over accidentally using keys during combat.)

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where having 4:3 mode enabled would mess up the title screen alignment.
• Fixed a bug on the Magic Vials where the hitbox was not big enough.
• Fixed a bug where the menu would do the flip animation after buying something from Roxy, where it is not supposed to do so.
• Fixed a bug where game UI particles would be drawn on the screen when a full-screen message was being displayed.
• Fixed some spelling errors.
• Fixed an issue where you could open the "Debug Mode Enabled" dialogue multiple times.
• Fixed a bug where Pretty Petals were immediately attracted to Lance when spawned, making them too easy to collect (especially after falling into a pit)
• Fixed a bug where having the Dagger's "Explosion" upgrade equipped and causing an explosion to happen nearby to a vase would case the game to crash.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following supports and everyone who makes this possible, and everyone who tried out the demo! Accalia, Shadow8t4, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist , David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Chris Badger, Clover Arizona, DimSumthing, Spyduck, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede , Jyrki, LanceCharge, Kaylex Deer , Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kaypar, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Lorxus, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna , Durk Vash, phantomsqueaks, Markus Joseph Kitsinger , Marlyn, Maxine Red, Mello the Ferret, Midori, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky , NovaSquirrel, Otarine, Ripp_, Cam D'Arcy, SUSHiCLAWS, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard , Ansel Geisel, Susan Tolias, Tabby Cromarty, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Kazy, meerm, megaRammy, raine

[ 2021-03-28 00:42:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! Coming at you with a new update to Shield Cat! I want to make it clear that this is for the retail version of the game, NOT the demo (final update will come later) so you'll need to be a Patron or otherwise own a retail copy to see it. Here are the notes:

===== NEW =====

• Roxy will now deflect all attacks.
• There is now a small preview of where you saved that's shown when loading that save (for save files from older versions of Shield Cat, no image will be shown until you actually play that save file - it will be created as soon as you load the game.)
• A minimap has been added to the top right corner of the screen! Now you can know where you've been and where you need to go.
• Text scaling options have been added that allow you to adjust the size of text in menus and dialogues.
• You can now configure the sprites and text you'd like to use for XInput gamepads to better reflect what device you're using (Windows only.)

===== IMPROVED =====

• Lance's pathfinding logic for locating a good spot to stand when talking to NPCs or reading signs has been improved.
• The mouse cursor will now turn into a hand when moving over stuff that you can click.

===== CHANGED =====

• The way the Magnet passive attracts collectibles has been improved: now, once Lance gets close enough, they will continue to travel toward him.
• Additionally, Lance's Magnet passive works even when he has none equipped, but only in a very small radius around him.
• However, the Magnet passive no longer draws in Fish Scales, Cat Coins, or Big Keys unless you're already nearby to them anyways.
• It is now clarified in Willow's dialogue that she is a fox (sprite improvements will come later for this.)
• The lighting has been adjusted in Lance's house.
• The Android version of Shield Cat has been canceled.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where having 4:3 mode enabled would mess up the title screen alignment.
• Fixed a bug on the Magic Vials where the hitbox was not big enough.
• Fixed a bug where the menu would do the flip animation after buying something from Roxy, where it is not supposed to do so.
• Fixed a bug where game UI particles would be drawn on the screen when a full-screen message was being displayed.
• Fixed some spelling errors.

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• The exact scale you've collected can change between builds if the stage was updated and more scales were added.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following people and everyone who makes this possible: Accalia, Shadow8t4, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist , David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Chris Badger, Clover Arizona, Spyduck, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede , Jyrki, LanceCharge, Kaylex Deer , Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kaypar, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna , Durk Vash, phantomsqueaks, Markus Joseph Kitsinger , Marlyn, Maxine Red, Mello the Ferret, Midori, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky , NovaSquirrel, Otarine, Ripp_, Cam D'Arcy, SUSHiCLAWS, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard , Ansel Geisel, Susan Tolias, Tabby Cromarty, Vivee, Kazy, meerm, megaRammy, raine

[ 2021-03-21 00:44:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! Coming at you again with some more fixes and QoL improvements! Here's what has changed:

===== IMPROVED =====

• Temporary collectibles like Pretty Petals will now respawn if you step back into the room you've just left, but you gotta turn around right away and get them!
• A border has been added around the speedrun clock to allow it to be more easily visible.
• Collectibles which have already been collected now more strongly indicate that they have already been collected.
• General improvements have been made to the UI including animations and particle effects.
• Indicators have been added when more menu pages are available than the one you're currently looking at.
• Roxy now has a shop sign to make it clearer what she's doing there.
• Some dialogue has been changed to for clarity.
• The dialogue text colors have been adjusted for easier reading.

===== CHANGED =====

• The grandfather clock in Lance's house no longer stops when you're reading books etc.
• Text formatting has been changed on the info panel for the difficulty settings.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed bug with music when leaving the end demo screen.
• It is no longer possible to try to select question responses with the mouse during dialogue sequences.
• The Cat Coin counter at the bottom of the screen now correctly shows what coins you have when you next start the game.
• Fixed bug where VSync message would come up if you continuously went through doorways (aka entering and leaving Lance's house multiple times in a row.)

Thank you!

[ 2021-03-15 23:06:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! Coming at you today with some small fixes and improvements to the game. Here's a list of changes:

===== NEW =====

• Nothing!

===== IMPROVED =====

• Menu navigation has some visual polish on it now, where it'll flip into view as well as flip for different menu pages.
• The game will now automatically disable VSync if it detects it's not maintaining 60fps. A message will be shown if this happens.
• You will now be locked in the room that has the locked gate until you unlock the gate.
• A message will now be shown if you insert a gamepad that the game has no configuration for to let you know that it couldn't be automatically configured.
• When the option to reset the speedrun with F2 is enabled, the game will now automatically ask whenever you get a game over if you want to restart.

===== CHANGED =====

• A Mouse Mode option has been added under Keyboard input. You can choose to have the mouse either control Lance's abilities or move Lance around.
• Any input from the mouse will now switch on-screen input suggestions to Keyboard.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where the game would softlock if you used any menu while Lance was falling.
• Fixed a bug where VSync settings were not being applied properly.
• Fixed a bug where dropped petals would count twice if the Double Money passive was enabled.
• "Skip Intros" will now properly prevent skipping the intro if trying to load a file from a future version of Shield Cat.

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• The exact scale you've collected can change between builds if the stage was updated and more scales were added.

[ 2021-03-14 23:16:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

[previewyoutube=YyVl2qSPM5k;full][/previewyoutube] Shield Cat is an Action Adventure Collectathon game where you spin your tail and go go go! Check it out and be sure to join the Discord and let me know what you think! https://discord.gg/NdYQXJUwRd

[ 2021-03-11 21:16:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Bringing a small patch that fixes some bugs and adds leaderboards!

===== NEW =====

• Leaderboards are in, but only for the Steam version. Also, Demo and Retail versions have different leaderboards (this is a limitation of the API, sorry!) Still, you can compete for the fastest time in Any% and 100%.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where achievement wasn't being given for getting all Cat Coins in the forest.
• Fixed a bug where sometimes you could get rid of the title screen menu.
• Fixed a bug where the fullscreen switch option in the menu wouldn't work.
• Fixed a bug where you could pause during screen transitions or while Lance was receiving a game over.
• Having the Dagger ability equipped will no longer interfere with other abilities.
• Fixed an issue where the red dialogue arrow would show for one frame on dialogues that had questions attached to them.
• Fixed an issue where the title screen menu could be interacted with after loading a game.

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• The exact scale you've collected can change between builds if the stage was updated and more scales were added.

[ 2021-03-10 23:35:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here we go! The final demo build that I will be presenting in a few days. Unless any major bugs are found, this is it! I wont be adding any new features or anything until after the demo. I hope everyone likes it! Here are the patch notes

===== NEW =====

• There is now an option when changing the font to reset the font preference to its default value.
• Video Presets are now available to make video configuration much easier.
• Lance's portrait on the top left has been revamped and now has the full range of expressions it had before.
• The ability indicators in the bottom right actually indicate what ability you have equipped now.
• Stream/Content Sharing message has been added to the game, as well as game credits.
• There is now an option to show controls. While it is open, press a direction on any input device to show input for that device.
• There is now a title screen graphic! I'll replace it sometime in the future but it's nice to have one.
• Enhanced rumble has been added! If you have a supported gamepad, you'll be able to feel the difference.
• Lance can now go into his house and go to bed and go to sleep.
• There is now a Cat Coin counter on the UI that shows how many you have in the current room.
• A font preview window pane has been added in the bottom right corner so you can see what a font looks like before picking it.
• Lance's stats and current play time have been added to the main menu in the bottom right corner.

===== IMPROVED =====

• Debug Text now draws upscaled depending on how large the display is.
• The way blur is configured is now different. You can now control the blur level for ALL blur used in the game, and enable different effects separately. This also allows you to use the CRT Blur shader at lower quality
• Changes to the blur shaders have been made to make them a lot quicker.
• If Escape is pressed while a menu is open, it will now close the menu.
• Button prompts will now only show when you can actually interact with an object.
• Dialogue boxes have been enhanced with additional sounds and visuals.

===== CHANGED =====

• Birds have been quieted down some.
• Music and ambient sound settings have been changed for some areas (notably, at the end of the demo where Roxy is)
• Changed Debug Overlay enable message to show inside the game, instead of popping up a separate message box.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed an issue where some environment data was missing.
• Adjusted environment collision map to prevent falling into a pit hidden by a tree.
• Fixed a bug where causing a vibration that is received by the gamepad and then immediately switching to keyboard input would cause the gamepad to vibrate indefinitely.
• Fixed screen transitions in 4:3 mode.
• Fixed scroll wheel not cycling choices in dialogue question prompts.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's sub states were not cleared properly when falling into a pit.
• Weird dialogue quirks regarding text showing from previous lines or text not scrolling properly have been fixed.
• Fixed a bug where pausing while in the Dagger Throw Prep state would cause Lance to keep the pose and not ever throw the dagger.
• Fixed an issue where keyboard input could linger after the window lost focus.
• Fixed issue where game window would re-center itself when moving between areas (mainly on Linux.)
• Fixed an issue where keyboard input could linger if the window changed size or position.
• Fixed a bug where the game would increment play time during screen transitions, when it is not supposed to.
• Fixed a bug where abilities were still being processed when hitting enemies who had already recently been hit.
• Lance's chimney now shows outside his house properly.
• Fixed a bug where Lance couldn't throw a shield or dagger if cards were on the screen.
• Fixed a bug where reading a sign and getting hit by an enemy would allow you to walk around while time is frozen.
• All object reflections should now be fixed and should no longer flicker (let me know if you see any misaligned reflections or flickering reflections, or objects that do not reflect.)
• Fixed bug where Lance's backward skid over certain environment types wouldn't produce a vibration.
• Fixed bug where Lance reappearing after falling into a pit doesn't vibrate.
• Fixed a bug where hovering with the mouse could allow you to highlight dialogue question options that don't actually exist.
• Lance can no longer take damage after getting a game over.
• Fixed improper screen transition after Lance gets a game over.
• Lance's state is now properly reset when going in and out of his house.
• Birds can no longer spawn inside of walls.
• Formatting of save data on the title screen has been corrected.
• Fixed an issue where the font selection menu wouldn't highlight the current font by default, nor would it remember your position on the previous menu.
• Fixed bug where you could open the debug menu on the title screen.

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• The exact scale you've collected can change between builds if the stage was updated and more scales were added.

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who's been testing the preview builds to get this demo ready to go and help me make sure everything can go as smoothly as possible! Also thank you to the following supporters and everyone who supports me: Accalia, Shadow8t4, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist , David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Chris Badger, Clover Arizona, Spyduck, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede , Jyrki, Kaylex Deer , Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kaypar, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna , Durk Vash, Markus Joseph Kitsinger , Marlyn, Maxine Red, Mello the Ferret, Midori, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky , NovaSquirrel, Otarine, Ripp_, Cam D'Arcy, SUSHiCLAWS, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard , Ansel Geisel, Susan Tolias, Tabby Cromarty, Vivee, meerm, megaRammy, raine

[ 2021-03-10 01:06:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

EDIT: A game breaking bug was found when pausing and unpausing the game. A patch has already been issued that corrects this. Sorry! Howdy! Coming at you today with a new build of Shield Cat as I work toward the March 12th demo! Here are the changes this one brings:

===== NEW =====

• Lance's thrown abilities now affect more objects, like the gear that extends the bridge.
• You can now investigate things in Lance's house.
• A new Grayscale mode has been added to the post processing effects.
• A new Retro Palette option has been added! Now you can play the game in limited color glory. Several color schemes are available so be sure to give it a look!

===== IMPROVED =====

• The game now closes a lot faster when you close the window.
• The CRT Filter has finally been fixed. Check it out!!
• Post Processing effects now stack as you would expect. For example, you can use the Bit Crush to reduce the color depth of the display, and then blur it using the CRT Blur effect.

===== CHANGED =====

• Moved Discord and Twitter links to the title screen menu.
• Menu controls now only show on the title screen, as by the time you get into the game you be aware of what buttons do what.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Adjusted the hitbox and related collision code on the Shield to fix issues when using the "Wave" upgrade.
• Prevent Lance's dropped petals from counting again and artificially boosting the total Petal count.
• Fixed an issue where inputs would become stuck if the window was inactive, causing the game to act as if it's still receiving the input.
• Fixed a memory leak issue where the game would not properly clean up dynamic resources when leaving a stage, causing them to build up and eventually crash the game.
• The camera in Marcus' Adventure works correctly again.
• Fixed pausing issue in Marcus' Adventure where sprites were still being drawn.
• Fixed an issue where the water in the Lake Challenge minigame wouldn't be drawn in certain scenarios.
• Fixed an issue where Supporter text on the intro screen could be confined to a very skinny column on hi-res monitors.
• Fixed an issue where Lance would wobble when standing between two fully extended bridges.
• Fixed display of the current brightness value as well as default selected when going into the submenu to change the brightness.
• Fixed a bug where Lance would receive a much larger offset when walking into corners than he should have when not using Movetech abilities (sorry speedrunners)
• Fixed a bug where Lance's increased walking speed wouldn't be reduced when walking directly into a wall.

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• The exact scale you've collected can change between builds if the stage was updated and more scales were added.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following people and everyone who supports me and makes this all possible! Accalia, Shadow8t4, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist , David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Chris Badger, Clover Arizona, Spyduck, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Gri, Goronhead, Holly Hoppet, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede , Jyrki, Kaylex Deer , Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kaypar, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna , Durk Vash, Markus Joseph Kitsinger , Marlyn, Maxine Red, Mello the Ferret, Midori, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky , NovaSquirrel, Otarine, Ripp_, Rix, Cam D'Arcy, SUSHiCLAWS, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard , Ansel Geisel, Susan Tolias, Tabby Cromarty, Vivee, meerm, megaRammy, raine

[ 2021-03-03 19:38:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Coming at you today with a new build of Shield Cat! This build focuses primarily on fixing bugs and adding features as I prepare to release the Mini-Demo. I added Active Ability upgrades as well as a few more Passive Abilities. Here's the details for all the changes

===== NEW =====

• Added 4:3 mode for that classic CRT experience.
• The game can now keep track of the overall amount of Pretty Petals you've collected (When loading older save files, it will simply set the initial value to however many Petals you have at that time.)
• Lance can no longer stay underwater indefinitely. If you stay underwater too long, it's game over!
• The game also now keeps track of how many times you've received a game over.
• Ability upgrades are now available to purchase and use for all available Active Abilities! Be sure to try them all out, if you can!
• You can now show the play time at the top of the screen, useful for speedruns. You can also set this when creating a new file.
• There is now a victory screen intended to be used at the end of the demo. Be sure to check it out!
• Roxy can now tell you more about how the different abilities work and how to equip them.
• More Passive Abilities have been added to the shop.

===== IMPROVED =====

• The game will now show a preview of the camera shake strength in real time while selecting it.
• The music for the forest stage has been improved significantly.
• Any screen shake effects are now applied to *all* elements drawn on the screen (including UI elements)
• Sprites for tall grass have been improved significantly.
• Pretty Petals will no longer go into doorways or through NPCs, causing them to be unobtainable.

===== CHANGED =====

• Some changes were made to comply with Steam's policies.
• Changed the layout of font selection menus to fit better within the given space and prevent text from drawing on top of each other.
• The spiral transition animation has been adjusted slightly.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Text drawing issues at high resolutions have been fixed.
• Fixed magic meter not drawing in the correct spot at high resolutions.
• Made it so build info on the title screen can no longer be blurred by the blur filter.
• Fixed a spelling error where CyanSorcery was spelled "CanSorcery"
• All letters on Patron names should now be aligned properly.
• Fixed issues where sometimes mouse clicks wouldn't let you move through dialogue.
• Fixed an issue where, if your mouse was idled over an on-screen menu, it would interfere with regular menu navigation with the keyboard or gamepad.
• Unfortunately, changing fonts seems to make the game crash on Android and so it was removed on that platform.
• Yellow vertical lines will no longer show up on the grass when the camera moves.
• Fixed where the game would crash if an input prompt was showing on screen and you unplugged the source of the input it was showing (aka if it showed XInput and you unplugged your XInput gamepad.)
• Fixed an issue where scales were not being enumerated correctly, making it impossible to collect all of them.
• Fixed issue where Lance's sprite wouldn't be drawn in the right spot if you paused during certain animations.
• Fixed issue where Lance's swimming sound would still play, even if the game was paused.
• Fixed issue where, if Lance spun immediately after entering a room, he could be sent back to the room he was in before.
• Fixed issue where Pretty Petals and Recovery Fish were not properly cleaned up when leaving the area.
• Fixed issue where using Magnet to pull in collectibles could cause some of them to not draw at the right depth.
• Fixed issue where, when Lance ran out of health, his substate wasn't properly reset.
• Fixed an issue where the trail left when Lance does a backward skid wasn't properly drawn.
• Fixed a bug where having owned an ability but no longer owning it could still cause it to show in the menu.
• Fixed an issue where sound/music could be garbled when closing the game.
• Fixed an issue where going to pick any kind of Dialogue font would lock you into it and prevent you from going back.
• Marcus no longer gets stuck on walls.
• Fixed an issue where spinning and then immediately throwing the shield would cause Lance to get incredible backward speed (sorry, I had to fix this one despite how funny it is)

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• When going to Marcus' Adventure and then to the Mode 7 Test Room, the floor is no longer drawn.
• Marcus' screen transition doesn't work in certain scenarios.
• The CRT Glow is broken in certain configurations.
• The exact scale you've collected can change between builds if the stage was updated and more scales were added.

Thank You!

Thank you to the following people and everyone who supports me and makes this possible: Accalia, Shadow8t4, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist , David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Chris Badger, Clover Arizona, Spyduck, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Gri, Goronhead, Holly Hoppet, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede , Jyrki, Kaylex Deer , Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kaypar, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna , Durk Vash, Markus Joseph Kitsinger , Marlyn, Maxine Red, Mello the Ferret, Midori, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky , NovaSquirrel, Otarine, Ripp_, Rix, Cam D'Arcy, SUSHiCLAWS, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard , Ansel Geisel, Susan Tolias, Tabby Cromarty, Vivee, meerm, megaRammy, raine

[ 2021-02-23 19:37:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! Coming at you today with a pretty big update! In this update, you can now use all those pretty petals you've been collecting to purchase Lance's abilities. That's right, there are 2 new Active Abilities waiting for you and *several* Passive Abilities! This is the first time Lance's Passive Abilities have been implemented into the game. I hope you enjoy them! All of this work is going toward releasing a public demo, which should be ready by next month. At this point, all I have to do is fix some bugs and fix whatever bugs people find in this build, and get stuff ready for the demo release. Please keep an eye out for that! Here are the changes in this version:

===== NEW =====

• An on-screen guide to available controls is now presented in certain contexts (for instance, when opening the menu, the game will show how to navigate it.)
• The game will now show you how many Fish Scales you have whenever you collect a Fish Scale.
• You can now see some basic stats about Lance, the stages you've visited, and the game itself.
• Roxy can now sell you stuff! You'll have to find her though, but she's not hard to find.
• Lance's passive abilities are in! You don't start with any, but you can buy them from Roxy once you find her.

===== IMPROVED =====

• Improved the menu's compatibility with Marcus' Adventure.
• Willow's Save dialogue is implemented properly now.

===== RESTORED FEATURES =====

• The start screen menu now has music again.
• The option to change dialogue text speed has been restored.
• The option to change the font used for dialogue boxes has been restored.
• The option to enable different colors for health and magic to help color-blind people has been restored.
• Collected Fish Scales and LANCE letters now show on the screen (however, LANCE letters are not available to collect yet)
• Dialogue sounds have been restored.

===== CHANGED =====

• Objects you can inspect/talk to will now wait until you're closeby to show their button prompts.
• Changed the way that previously collected collectibles are displayed to make it easier to see them and also know they're already collected.
• Recovery fish found in the grass and dropped from enemies will now recover magic as well as health.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Dialogue is now still properly drawn when resizing the window or minimizing it.
• The game window can no longer become bigger than the display (mainly on Linux.)
• It is no longer possible to crash the game by throwing the shield on the same frame as invoking a screen transition.
• All audio menus now work again.
• Fixed text not drawing properly on the intro screne if Internal Upscaling is disabled.
• Fixed screen transitions not drawing properly if Internal Upscaling is disabled.
• Fix grass randomization routine not running in certain scenarios.

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• Marcus gets stuck on walls and can't smoothly walk along them.
• When going to Marcus' Adventure and then to the Mode 7 Test Room, the floor is no longer drawn.
• Marcus' screen transition doesn't work in certain scenarios.
• The CRT Glow is broken in certain configurations.
• The exact scale you've collected can change between builds if the room was updated and more scales were added.

Thank you!

Thanks to the following Patrons and everyone who supports me and helps make this possible: Accalia, Shadow8t4, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist , David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Chris Badger, Clover Arizona, Spyduck, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Gri, Goronhead, Holly Hoppet, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede , Jyrki, Kaylex Deer , Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kaypar, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna , Durk Vash, Markus Joseph Kitsinger , Marlyn, Maxine Red, Mello the Ferret, Midori, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky , NovaSquirrel, Otarine, Ripp_, Rix, Cam D'Arcy, SUSHiCLAWS, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard , Ansel Geisel, Susan Tolias, Tabby Cromarty, Vivee, meerm, megaRammy, raine

[ 2021-02-19 02:25:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Howdy! Today I'm coming at you with an update that has shorter patch notes, but actually brings quite a bit to the table. With this update. the refactor of Shield Cat is complete! Now I can focus on all new content, so please keep an eye out for that. Several things have been added or changed in this update, so please take a look at the notes:

===== NEW =====

• You can now hold the button to auto-use certain abilities instead of having to mash the button.
• You can now change what active abilities Lance is using! As more are implemented, you'll have a wider range to choose from...
• Several features have been added to the Debug Menu. Use Ctrl+Shift+F10 to enable debug features, and then you'll find the options on the pause menu.
• A font picker has been added so you can change the font used on the menus.
• You can finally read the signs! On-screen prompts will tell you what input to use.

===== IMPROVED =====

• The menu graphics have now been improved!! It's got the same aesthetics, but everything is nicer and higher quality.
• Menus will now remember what selection you had hovered when you return to them (reset when you close the menu.)
• The gamepad(s) not involved in input will no longer vibrate (for instance if you're primarily using the keyboard.)
• The mouse hover function no longer runs on mobile (game mistakingly takes the last place you tapped as a hover, causing weird menu issues.)

===== RESTORED FEATURES =====

• Lance can now get a game over. Now you have to actually play correctly.

===== CHANGED =====

• Changed the menu confirm sound after some feedback.
• Changed enemy spawn rates and position depending on difficulty mode to ease up difficulty spikes.
• Lance can now slightly adjust his angle when doing a backward skid.
• Evil Squirrels now have improved animations!
• Previously collected collectables will now reappear when re-entering a stage, and will grant Pretty Petals if you collect them again.
• Some screens/areas can be marked as "peaceful" and Lance will not be able to use abilities there (for towns and whatnot, but for now only works in Lance's house.)

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed an issue where the game crashes if you throw Lance's shield by a door.
• Fixed an issue where the hovered selection in the menu wasn't updated properly when using the mouse/touch input.
• Fixed a bug where the prompt for deleting a saved game could sometimes not actually present an option to delete the saved game.
• Fixed an issue with the Steam version on Linux where the game wouldn't launch due to an incorrect configuration (this was fixed and pushed through prior to this update's release.)
• Fixed an issue where the game recalculating Lance's stats and/or healing him could limit his max speed unintentionally.
• Fixed a bug where the game could automatically load save files from newer versions of Shield Cat from the older version, causing data loss, when the debug option "Skip Intros" is enabled. Do not play the old version after updating to this one.

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• Marcus gets stuck on walls and can't smoothly walk along them.
• When going to Marcus' Adventure and then to the Mode 7 Test Room, the floor is no longer drawn.
• Marcus' screen transition doesn't work in certain scenarios.
• When Lance is moving between screens, certain animations don't play correctly.
• The CRT Glow is broken in certain configurations.
• The exact scale you've collected can change between builds if the room was updated and more scales were added.
• Sometimes the grass randomization routine doesn't run.

Special Thanks

A special thanks to the following Patrons and everyone who supports me: Accalia, Shadow8t4, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist , David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Chris Badger, Clover Arizona, Spyduck, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Gri, Goronhead, Holly Hoppet, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede , Jyrki, Kaylex Deer , Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kaypar, Trash, LF, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna , Durk Vash, Markus Joseph Kitsinger , Marlyn, Maxine Red, Mello the Ferret, Midori, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky , NovaSquirrel, Otarine, Ripp_, Rix, Cam D'Arcy, SUSHiCLAWS, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard , Ansel Geisel, Susan Tolias, Tabby Cromarty, Vivee, meerm, megaRammy, raine (Are you a patron but your name isn't on the list? Message me!)

[ 2021-02-12 01:50:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Shield Cat is on Steam now!! Thank you to my Patrons and everyone who supports me and makes this all possible! Here are the patch notes compared to the previous version of Shield Cat (prior to being on Steam)

===== NEW =====

• You can now go into Lance's house!
• There are now ambient sounds in the game. There is a new audio configuration index for these environmental sounds!
• There's now a menu! It's very basic, but it works, and that's the important part! Pretty much all available options are in the menu now (Except gamepad/keyboard remapping, which will come later) so it is no longer necessary to edit main.ini
• The menu is themeable! Several themes created by the community are included. If you come up with one, please let me know!
• You can now adjust the game's brightness (in the PostProcess settings)
• All other options which were previously only available by editing main.ini are now in the menu.
• You can now adjust the game's difficulty! Stats for Lance and enemies as well as enemy AI change depending on the difficulty level, as well as drop rates for petals and health.
• You can now have the game draw hitboxes by enabling the Debug Overlay and pressing F1. They'll continue to be drawn even if you close the debug overlay.

===== IMPROVED =====

• Lance will now respawn faster in areas that are a single screen in size.
• Lance's footstep sounds for dirt and stone have been replaced with less intrusive sounds.
• Add additional checks for the game to try to ignore non-gamepads (mainly for Linux.)
• Input debug screen now shows input and strings for the keyboard as well.
• Audio fades in and out properly when going indoors/outdoors.
• The reflections are complete now! Parts of the environment like tall trees and whatnot can be viewed now, and the reflection is also animated.
• XInput players are now set based on the XInput player slot they're assigned to (0 through 3) instead of the configuration for the controller.
• Audio balancing is now much improved for people with surround sound setups.

===== RESTORED FEATURES =====

• Moving platforms have returned! Now you actually have to time your spins across gaps, because I marked them all as pit environments.
• Lance will now correctly drop petals when he falls.
• Lance's Mini Meter is back. It will show up whenever Lance loses health or magic.
• Small birds are now back! They hop around, but if you approach them quickly, they'll fly away.
• The grandfather clock returns. Now you can know what time it is while playing.
• Vibration is now back! You can adjust the strength for individual controllers or disable it entirely by editing the config files for now.
• The bumpers are back! However depending on how far along I get in development before I put a new build, you may or may not see them. If not, just know they're there heh
• Gates and levers are back! Now you actually have to play properly, sorry.
• However, saving and loading is back! Currently it defaults to slot 0, which you can change in the INI file. The game will currently automatically save and load, since Willow doesn't have dialogue scripts yet.
• The game will remember which scales you've collected, as well as how many petals you've collected and which gates you've opened.
• You can quit the game by pressing the Escape key.
• The forest room music from the SAGE demo is now back! It's not the intended music for this area, but at least it's nice to hear some music in the game again. (I'll be putting the intended music when I'm done composing it)
• Health fish now appear in the grass and drop from certain enemies.
• Locks and keys are back! If you encounter a lock, try looking for a key!!

===== CHANGED =====

• The indoors/outdoors transition has been improved and is now the spiral transition I've been wanting to do forever but didn't know how to.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Removed debug function that was accidentally left in (Pressing P attempts to teleport you to a different area.) Related but the teleporting function works now, so debugging is not necessary.
• Squirrels can no longer run over pits.
• Fixed both parts of extending bridge not extending when gears are hit.
• Fixed ravens dropping petals (as they can drop petals out of bounds.)
• Fixed Lance's spin costing magic on the first spin when it's supposed to be free.
• Fixed Lance's spin animation making it appear as if he's spinning in reverse (spin also now speeds up relative to how fast he's going.)
• Fixed Lance not making any footstep sounds when stepping on stone.
• Turning off gamepad input actually turns off gamepad input now.
• Fix grass not being able to be cut after going into and leaving Lance's house.
• Game will no longer forget all the gamepads connected when going between rooms.
• Fixed where the game wouldn't recalculate its display configuration after reloading main.ini at runtime.
• Objects will no longer animate the first time you step into a new screen prior to the screen transition completing.

===== KNOWN BUGS =====

• Marcus gets stuck on walls and can't smoothly walk along them.
• When going to Marcus' Adventure and then to the Mode 7 Test Room, the floor is no longer drawn.
• Marcus' screen transition doesn't work in certain scenarios.
• Lance's shield does not attack enemies.
• When Lance runs out of health, nothing happens.
• When Lance is moving between screens, certain animations don't play correctly.
• The CRT Glow is broken in certain configurations.
• The exact scale you've collected can change between builds if the room was updated and more scales were added.

Thank you!

Thanks to the following Patrons and everyone who makes this possible: Accalia, Shadow8t4, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist , David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Chris Badger, Clover Arizona, Spyduck, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Gri, Goronhead, Holly Hoppet, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, Jyrki, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kaypar, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Lorxus, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna , Durk Vash, Markus Joseph Kitsinger , Marlyn, Maxine Red, Mello the Ferret, Midori, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky , NovaSquirrel, Otarine, Ripp_, Rix, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Ansel Geisel, Susan Tolias, Tabby Cromarty, Vivee, meerm, megaRammy, raine, SUSHiCLAWS

[ 2021-01-22 20:51:58 CET ] [ Original post ]