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:

[h3] ===== NEW =====[/h3]

• 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.
  

• 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.
  

• 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!
  

• 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.