Combat Bugs Fixes

Alpha v0.16.1

In the previous update, combat was changed considerably to allow us to implement the glitch system as an overlay of the main game rather than having to use its own scene. This involved a large number of adjustments and changes around the system so that combat was loaded, unloaded and reloaded smoothly and properly.

As expected, this also caused tons of bugs. This update fixed some of the larger ones. Though I’m sure there are many more. If you’d like to focus your bug-finding efforts, combat should be the main focus of this version.

Notable Bugs & Adjustments

• Fixed a bug that allowed the combat screen to remain loaded upon quitting and starting a new game.

• Fixed a bug that upon selecting “Retry” in combat, it would skip back to the previous song position and duplicate notes.

• Fixed a bug that allowed notes to persist across multiple attempts.

• Fixed a bug where the rhythm columns would overlay on top of the pause menu.

New Mechanic: Glitches

Alpha v0.16.0

Glitches

Added the Glitch system. Glitches are intractable objects around the world that can be fixed by playing a short song. There’s a placeholder glitch represented as a purple block. Interacting with it will start a test glitch sequence.

Glitches differ from regular combat in a few ways.

• No music is played during the glitch sequence. Instead, each note hit will play a sound, creating a short melody as the player hits each note.

• Glitches are only 10-20 seconds long.

• Getting a Miss or Bad will play a pitch shifted version of the note.

• No talents are in effect.

• There are no attacks in a glitch, meaning you take no damage and health is not used.

• The player must hit every single note to pass.

• An overlay of the rhythm columns appear wherever the player is standing.

• More extreme visual effects are used during glitch sequences. The columns may shift around, appear and disappear, become partially hidden, etc.

• Pausing is disabled in glitches.

Notable Bugs & Adjustments

• Fixed an issue that caused missed notes to be counted twice.

• Fixed an issue where choices were being shown even when they weren’t choices you could make.

• Slowed down the speed at which you can navigate menu buttons when holding down the key.

• Fixed an issue that caused item names to persist on the inventory screen once removed (such as when starting a new game).

• Fixed an issue that caused save data to be reset upon pausing the game.

• Fixed an issue where notes moving fast enough would not be counted as misses.

• The difficulty setting is now defaulted to Normal.

• The left column of the main menu and pause menu now loop vertically. If you press up on the top button it moves to the bottom button and vice versa.

• Fixed an issue where the sliders in the gameplay and audio settings menus were being rounded down a value on loading the menu, causing the handle to start in the wrong position.

++ many minor bugs and adjustments.

Menu Updates

Alpha v0.15.0

This is a small update for the menus based on feedback and bugs discovered in the previous build.

Menus

• The old pause menu, now only being used for combat, has been removed from the menu system and made a part of the combat scene, just like the game over screen. This fixes a previous issue with the combat menu not functioning correctly.

• The main menu is now part of the RPG menu system, which is now a more overall menu system.

• Play Game has been separated into two options.

  • The “Continue” option loads the latest save. This is disabled/grey if there are no valid saves to load.

  • The “New Game” option will load a new save and start the game from the beginning. This will not overwrite previous saves until the player saves at a save point.

• The Options menu has been reintegrated into the main menu thanks to it being a part of the overall RPG menu system now. This makes options available from the main menu once again.

• Added the “Submit Feedback” button above Data. It works the same as it did in the old pause menu.

• Added a dark transparent background to the RPG menu.

• You can no longer pause during a cutscene or dialogue.

• Implemented the Memories page in the RPG menu.

  • Memories are not a feature that will be available in the demo but has been added to the menu in preparation for implementation.

  • Added Ether as a collectible resource. Ether is used as part of the unavailable memories system.

  • The contextual info on the top right now displays the player’s current Ether in the memories page.

Notable Bugs & Adjustments

• Fixed collision gaps in Welcome Center waiting room and hallway that allowed you to clip out of bounds.

• Removed the auto-filled inventory in debug mode.

++ many minor bugs and adjustments.

RPG Menu

Alpha v0.14.0

This update includes the first version of an RPG menu system. As a result we have removed mouse control from the game. So don't worry when the main menu doesn't respond to your mouse. The game settings have all been moved to the in-game RPG menu.

Menu Controls
Open/Close: Esc or Tab
Navigating: WSAD or Arrow Keys
Selecting/Deselecting/Forward: E or Enter
Back: Q or Backspace

Known Bugs

• The combat pause menu options are no longer functional. Press ESC to close the combat pause menu.

Menus

• The gameplay pause menu has been replaced with an RPG menu system.

• Removed mouse control from the game.

• Status, Memories and Data just show “Under Construction” notices for now.

• Quit works the same as quitting from the old pause menu.

• Implemented a contextual info box on the top right.

• Added a contextual help text system on the top left.

  • Added help text for most of the left column categories.

• The inventory button will display a list of all items the player has in their inventory, with the quantity of that item displayed in parentheses. To test this properly, turn on debug mode (F1) then open the RPG menu and go to inventory. You will see example items.

• You can scroll through elements in the inventory and talents, and the scrollbar movement is tied to each menu.

• Completely implemented the Talents page of the RPG Menu. None of them currently have any effect, but they have descriptions and upgrades. They each have an energy and upgrade cost of 1.

  • Clicking on a talent will toggle whether it is being used or not, refunding or taking energy where necessary. If the player has no energy, it will not do anything. If they toggle it off and have an upgrade selected, the upgrade will also be toggled off and it’s energy will be refunded as well.

  • Clicking on an upgrade will try to toggle it on or off in the same way as talents. If another upgrade for the same talent is already selected, it will deselect that one and select the new one. If the talent isn’t even being used, it will try to toggle the talent on, then the upgrade taking energy for both.

  • Added currently used talents and current/total energy to the save file.

  • The contextual info at the top right shows the current/total energy.

  • The help text box at the top left shows the info about the currently selected upgrade.

• Completely implemented the options page of the RPG Menu.

• All sub-menu cursor positions are saved and left column’s current selection is saved.

• The Settings option in the main menu is now disabled for now.

• Custom buttons now only allow one button to be clicked per frame, preventing buttons in submenus from being clicked upon loading into a submenu.

• Implemented a custom slider system for simpler and more versatile options sliders.

• Implemented a custom scrollbar system for better flexibility and customization.

Note Pausing, Save Points and Camera Improvements

Alpha v0.13.0

This update comes a little delayed because some of our team have been away recently. I'm happy to say this build is far more stable than the last.

Combat

• Added a note pausing effect. We can set an interval at which all notes will stop moving and how many intervals they will stay paused. Notes adjust their spawn times accordingly so that they still reach the hit zone at the correct time.

• The current combo and note accuracy are now displayed just below the protagonist instead of on the right side.

Save Data

• The game no longer automatically saves.

• Created a save point system.

• Added a placeholder save point that's a yellow box in the Hallway of the Welcome Center.

Cutscenes

• Implemented camera movement during cutscenes.

• Updated the recording tool to also record camera movement for ease of creating cutscenes.

• Added a different version of dialogue text that's slightly larger and centered in the text box. This text is now used for system messages such as "Game Saved" and "Obtained X Item"

Menus

• Expanded the audio settings menu with Sound Effects, Music and Combat Music Sliders. Currently the game has no sound effects or music so the only setting that is testable is combat music.

Debug Tools

• "Erase Save Data" is now shown on the bottom right of the main menu when not in debug mode and is replaced with "Erase All Data" when in debug mode. This erases all save data and game settings.

• Moved the Map Tester and data erasure buttons to the bottom left. This also fixes the issue of the data erasure button being hard to click since it was being blocked by the help text.

Notable Bugs & Adjustments

• The column flare now correctly skips to the full frame upon press.

• The player can no longer pause during the combat game over screen.

• Fixed an issue where the game over screen was not intractable due to an element of the cutscene system blocking it.

• Note effects are now reset after combat to prevent their effects from lingering on subsequent encounters.

• If the player pauses while hit, the player's flashing and shaking effects will now properly freeze instead of continuing to animate.

• Notes the player did not attempt to hit are now correctly recorded as a miss.

• The "Erase Save Data" now actually works.

• Fixed an issue with the camera returning to the player's position that caused to sometimes lock up.

++ many minor bugs and adjustments.

New Room, Combat Animations, New Art, Cutscene Work

Alpha v0.12.0

This build has a few known bugs, some are quite game breaking, but hey that's Alpha for you.

Known Bugs & Workarounds

• When playing the combat test, the enemy attacks will not work the second time you play the song. You have to reset your save file to play the song for the "first time" again. To do this, quit to the main menu and press F1, you'll see an option for "Erase All Game Data". Click this button and restart the game. Warning: This also erases all your settings, such as difficulty and latency calibration.

• The menu that appears on death cannot be interacted with. You'll have to press Esc and select to quit.

• There's a place you can clip out of bounds. Have fun with that one!

Combat

We've moved the combat test location. To test combat you need to interact with the top right door in the waiting room. Shown in the image below.

Added new column art and column flare animations.

• The enemy now has a glyph below them.

• When the enemy attacks, the slash will now be displayed.

  • When the slash reaches it’s peak (frame 3), the player sprite will block and the block effect will play. It will play a success or failed block effect depending on whether or not the player has missed any notes.

  • Once the block effect is finished, the enemy and player will go back to their normal sprites.

  • Implemented damage numbers. When the player takes damage, the number will appear at the top right and float up, fading away. If they successfully block then it will instead say “Blocked!”

  • The player sprite now shakes left and right for half a second when hit.

  • The player sprite now flashes for half a second when hit.

• Implemented a note death animation for when you successfully hit a note.

World

• Added a new Welcome Center room; the Hallway.

• Implemented a script that allows doors to be unlocked.

• The locked door in the hospital waiting room is now unlocked when the player interacts with it while holding the keypass.

Cutscenes

• Implemented character movement during cutscenes.

• Added in a test for movement in cutscenes so you can check it out. In the waiting room, go to the locked door on the top left and interact with it.

• Created a character recording script to record player movement and play it back for ease of creating cutscenes.

Menus

• Added a splash screen to the start of the game that tells the player not to record gameplay. Clicking any key or the left mouse button will continue to the main menu.

Notable Bugs & Adjustments

• Fixed an issue where save files wouldn’t load because the game thought they were from an older version.

• Fixed an issue where the game would always end up loading the oldest possible valid file instead of the most recent.

• Fixed an issue with the dialogue box not going away for certain cutscene actions.

• Fixed an issue where holding a held note, then letting go too early would change the top part to the wrong sprite.

++ many minor bugs and adjustments.

Difficulty Modes, Cutscene Functionality with Dialogue Upgrades

Alpha v0.11.0

Menus

• Added difficulty options. Currently it slides between Normal and Hard.

• Combat will now check the difficulty and play the appropriate version of the song.

Cutscenes

• Completely revamped the dialogue system. Instead of simply being dialogue with some other features integrated, it is now a full-blown scene system that’s much more expandable.

• Added the ability for Combat to happen as part of a cutscene.

• The dialogue system can now parse text in-between square brackets as variables. So when we put [RhythmColumn1] it would replace that with the keybind for RhythmColumn1.

Notable Bugs & Adjustments

• The steam overlay should now properly pause the game during combat as well.

• The game no longer automatically freezes when not in focus.

++ many minor bugs and adjustments.

Save System Improvement, Menu Improvements

Alpha 0.10.1

Save System

• Saves are no longer stored in folders named after the current version, instead simply saving into a “Saves” folder.

• After creating a save file, the game now checks if there are more than 10 backup saves and if there are it deletes the oldest backup save.

Menus

• Added a button to submit feedback to the pause menu. It opens a web browser to the google feedback form.

• The “Settings” button has been removed from the pause menu while in Combat.

• Added an “Erase All Saves” button to the debug menu (press F1 on the main menu) which will erase the saves folder and create a new one, then reload the new save.

• The Audio Settings sub-menu can now be accessed.

• Moved Latency Calibration to the Audio Settings.

• Added new BPM options to the Latency Calibration and made 30 BPM the default option.

Notable Bugs & Adjustments

• Fixed an issue where you could bind the same key to multiple keybinds.

++ many minor bugs and adjustments.

Combat Dialogue, Settings Expansion, Steamworks Integration

Alpha 0.10.0

Dialogue

• Implemented dialogue in combat.

Menus

• Changed the sub-menu setup. There are now multiple sub-menus that house the options.

• Implemented a help text system. When you hover certain settings, the menu will display text describing what that option does.

• Video Settings

  • Added an option to switch between Windowed and Fullscreen mode.

  • Added an option to choose your aspect ratio. This doesn’t actually change anything, except what resolution options are given to you below that.

  • Added a resolution option that displays all resolutions their computer supports for the aspect ratio setting they’ve chosen. Keep in mind that the game is not set up to support all those aspect ratio yet. Resolutions in 16:9 will display properly, but other aspect ratios will just cut off parts of the screen currently.

• Gameplay Settings

  • Moved the keybinding options and latency configuration settings into this menu.

  • Added a note speed option with a slider.

  • Added a text speed option with a slider.

• Audio Settings: None of these are implemented, just an unusable button currently.

Steamworks Integration

• Set up depots and build settings on steamworks and made it easier to quickly upload builds to steam.

• Added an invisible pause state that pauses the game’s functionality and time without displaying anything on top of the gameplay.

• Set it up so that opening the steam overlay will invisibly pause the game, pausing functionality and time without displaying anything on top of the gameplay.

Notable Bugs & Adjustments

• Fixed an issue that was causing buttons to be activated twice quickly whenever the player clicked one with the mouse button.

• Fixed several issues with held notes that caused their mid-sections to not work properly in certain cases, especially during note speed changes.

• The main menu banner now displays the current version.

++ many minor bugs and adjustments.