Welcome back for more patch notes!
This release brings yet more improvements and bug fixes. We're continuing taking on feedback and prioritising features and fixes, so please keep reporting bugs and making suggestions, and we'll keep doing our best to address them. We're most active in our Discord server, but we also keep up with our Steam discussion board and our [email protected] inbox.
On the gameplay front, we've made an update to the tutorial input display overlay to better indicate the intended timing for minigames that don't already have strong visual cues. Our intention is to help beginner players who are having a hard time interpreting some of the audio cues. If this proves to be useful, we'll also look at working this into an interactive tutorial phase to ensure players have understood the timing before letting them attempt it unassisted. Please share your feedback on this change in our Discord server or Steam discussion board if you find it useful, or if you're still struggling to understand something.
This release also brings two big updates for Polish players:
Firstly, you can now play Bits & Bops in Polish! The game should automatically match the language of your Steam client, or you can change the setting via Steam or in-game. We also have a Polish channel in our Discord server where you can give feedback and interact with fellow Polish players.
Secondly, we're adjusting the price of the game (and soundtrack) in Polish złoty. When setting the price for Bits & Bops, as most developers do, we set the price in USD and relied on Valve's recommended regional pricing. In general, as we're not experts in this area, we're inclined to trust Valve's judgement. However, due to the change in exchange rate since regional prices were last updated in 2022, we're adjusting the price as a one-off fix in line with many other independent developers. If and when Valve update their regional pricing again in future, we anticipate this change in exchange rate will be reflected, and we'll likely take their updated recommendation.
One final update on pricing: we're trialing a change to our Bits & Bops + Soundtrack bundle which will allow you to access the 10% discount on one of the items even if you've already purchased the other (whereas you were previously required to purchase both together). We'll be keeping an eye on this over the next little while, so if you enjoyed the game and were thinking of picking up the soundtrack to support us, now is a great time!
Game updates
The tutorial input display now additionally shows a timing circle
Bits & Bops is now fully playable in Polish!
Bug fixes
The credits sequence triggers properly after completing Final Mixtape (broken in 1.6.0, hotfixed in 1.6.1)
The "Almost" animation when braking in Molecano no longer has an unintenionally doubled frame
The video player buttons on the computer no longer show through the screensaver
The file select text no longer disappears in some circumstances when changing the language
The screen reader is now consistently re-checked when settings are reset to default
Accessibility improvements
There are now options to control screen shake and rotation (in addition to flashing)
There is now an option for macOS speech rate in preferences.json
Editor changes
Molecano now has an expanded ruleset to consistently handle non-aligned cues
Molecano now has an expanded selection of events to control visual effects
The Molecano moles have new sprites for braking with a hot background
Mouse clicks on the gameplay preview are no longer passed to the menus underneath
The editor no longer rejects music files with certain filename patterns
The editor now caps playback rate to a more reasonable range
The editor no longer crashes in some circumstances when changing playback rate
The hitbox for the timeline now registers clicks more accurately