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,