We've been cooking away in the development dungeons to bring you one of our absolute biggest updates yet. Grab your cue, get comfortable, and let's dive into all the shiny new goodness waiting for you in version 0.0.200!
Meet the Shadow Puppet Host: A brand-new character has officially taken up residence! While she’s still keeping her name a secret for now, she is easily one of the pool hall’s oldest remaining inhabitants (even if her memory is a bit foggy).
You will now find her hosting from her shadowy puppet theater at the start of each run, handing out starter rewards and dropping mysterious hints about the hall's forgotten history.
3-Act Story Sneak Peek: For everyone playing on our beta branch (note: not in the main demo just yet!), we’ve added a batch of brand-new environments laying the foundation for our 3-act story progression! While they aren't fully accessible in-game quite yet, check out below some exclusive preview screenshots!
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Our three act structure is shaping up quite nicely and we're keen to show more sneak peaks in the coming weeks
Lightning-Fast Loading Times: We heard your reports loud and clear—loading into the game scene felt a bit sluggish in the last patch while we prepped for the new environment art. Our little team jumped on this immediately! Environments now cleverly pre-load in the background during the main menu scene, putting an end to those pesky delays and restoring the quick load times you're used to.
Full Colorblind Mode Support: Color coordination between balls and pockets is key to winning your runs, so accessibility is a huge priority for us. You can now toggle Colorblind Mode directly in the Settings menu!
Pattern Recognition: Balls and pockets now feature distinct patterns to help identify them without relying solely on color.
Pocket Indicators: Pockets display a floating, patterned ball above them to signal matching types. Hovering over a colored pocket reveals explicit color labels.
Ball Identification: Hovering over any ball or activating Score Mode displays text labels detailing the exact color.
Localized Text: All color labels are fully translated across all currently supported languages.
Socky’s Cardboard Counter: Socky’s in-game shop got a massive visual facelift! Moving away from the old drab setup, Socky now sets up shop in a custom, fully animated cardboard storefront that unfolds as you arrive to sell you your run upgrades in style.
💡 Under the Hood Note: With this new host character in place, our character lineup is (maybe?) set for the near future! We're officially shifting gears to bunker down, polish the remaining rough edges, and do all our QA to bring Spooker across the finish line.
We couldn't do this without all your amazing feedback! Be sure to drop into our Discord server to let us know how the new colorblind options and loading fixes feel on your end.
Good luck on the tables, and we'll see you next week! 🎱