Hello, dear basement escapees! Over the last two months I’ve been working a lot, especially resolving issues.
Even though I’m still an inexperienced developer I’ve learned a lot since publishing the game, and that’s why I’ve been polishing it as much as possible over time. While there’s still work to do, the game has improved significantly.
We’ve gone from version 1.0 to 1.1.9. I know I haven’t posted patch notes or updates since many changes weren’t permanent. But with the latest update I’m satisfied and ready to share everything I’ve done.
New Features:
- 18 new levels for Speedrun Mode
- 2 new mechanics: Spark and Fart
- New obstacle: Instant-kill metal spikes
- Improved pause menu with button tooltips
- Visual novel can now be paused
- Completion display for levels in Speedrun Mode
- Option to hide the timer
- Buttons to toggle Vsync and Anti-aliasing
- Buttons to reduce quality (resolution)
- New achievements for increased replayability
Improvements:
- Camera (view) that follows the character is now faster
- More reliable autosave system; saves after completing every story level
- Improved background image for the main menu
- Optimized various background processes to reduce unnecessary checks
- Improved font styles for better readability
- Visual novel navigation limited to specific inputs (left-click, enter, spacebar, or a designated key). Previously you could move to the next dialog with any key, and that was a problem.
- Optimized proximity system for enemies using rectangular collisions instead of constant distance calculations, improving performance
- Improved enemy sound system to avoid overlapping sounds
- Persistent invisible objects managing the game are now merged into a single object, streamlining code
- Fixed fullscreen and windowed mode issues causing screen distortions
- Improved character jump mechanics for better responsiveness. Remember that you can jump by holding the key as well.
- Improved the logic for the green blocks that die when step on them. These solid objects had numerous issues. While they weren't game-breaking bugs, they negatively affected the gameplay experience. When player crushes multiple blocks simultaneously not all of them would activate properly. Additionally, each block continuously checked for collisions with the character, which consumed a significant amount of resources (imagine 100 objects running unnecessary collision checks constantly). Now, they no longer consume excessive resources because the system has been redesigned more efficiently. I also fixed their interaction with the spark mechanic. Specifically, in Level 54 of Speedrun Mode there was a bug that prevented you from passing through the blocks, and that issue has now been resolved.
- Optimized the way levels are placed in the level selector for Speedrun Mode. You won't notice any difference visually as it looks the same but the design process has changed significantly. Previously I had to manually create and position each object representing a level... 18 objects per page. This process was tedious, time-consuming, and prone to inaccuracies. Now I've created a single controller object that automatically arranges the levels across all pages. The improvement is remarkable and has made the design process much more efficient.
Fixes:
- Fixed infinite jump exploit caused by extra jump additions at pixel-perfect locations (wtf)
- Corrected inconsistencies in levels, such as stuck enemies
- Resolution now adapts to the screen size, reducing graphical resource consumption
- Fixed multicolor alfajor to always reduce one life when consumed
- Optimized rotating blades. They were consuming excessive resources because, initially, the image of this object was static, and I used code to make it rotate. Now, the sprite itself is animated to rotate, and the object no longer contains any lines of code. This change has made it infinitely more efficient.
- Corrected interactions between various objects and invincibility potions to prevent exploits
One thing I can’t fix is the operating system. Unfortunately, Windows might cause stuttering issues. I recommend disabling graphic settings like "Optimizations for windowed games" and "Hardware accelerated GPU scheduling" in Windows advanced graphics settings. These can disrupt any game. After disabling them I never had problems again. My PC is good, and while my game isn’t perfect, it shouldn’t consume that many resources.
That’s all for now. I’ve worked hard and will keep improving. Now that I’ve addressed many issues, I want to focus on creating new content. I’ll make a new post soon to share future updates. Thank you for playing my game!
Epic fact (?): I’ve spent over 300 hours playing my own game. This helps me stay in tune with what players experience. I’ll keep enjoying and improving my creation. I’m not afraid of problems.
By the way, I made a new quick gameplay video. Check it out:
Watch on YouTube