071421 Shield Cat Build (Patreon)

Howdy! Coming at you today with a new Shield Cat build! This one fixes a lot of bugs and makes several changes that should make the game better, and mainly just focuses on improving the overall look and experience of the game while I continue to work on the Lignum Village area. As always, be sure to restart your Steam Client if the update doesn't show yet.

Something I want to highlight in this build is that I changed the "Medium" graphics preset in this build, so if you had to turn down the game to "Low" and don't like the low res pixel grid being enforced, give "Medium" another try - it should work better now!

Below is a full list of changes that I've made:

 ===== NEW =====

• Added support for the NGS Phantom (contributed by Bizarre Machinist)
• Roxy has been added at various points in the game to answer commonly asked questions and to clear up any confusion that might come out of playing a development build.
• Custom message box styles for different situations (talking to willow, reading signs etc) have been re-implemented finally.
• There are now certain spots in the game where hidden petals are. Keep an eye out for any sparkles...
• There is now a debug function to draw environment collision on the stage (it will be reset when going between areas.)
• There is also a debug function to set individual flags to change various states of the game, but I HIGHLY recommend NOT messing with it unless I specifically tell you to as you can permanently mess up your save file!

 ===== IMPROVED =====

• A loading animation has been added to make it clearer you're entering a new area.
• The name of the new area will also appear on the screen.
• Lighting has been improved around all buildings.
• Additional signs have been added around the game to make it more clear what's where.
• Stage exits will now try to keep you out of them unless you're intentionally trying to leave.
• Traffic cones now have an "Under Construction" message that appears when you approach them.
• Several sprites have had their palettes swapped to fit in better with the current look of the game.
• You can now disable double-tapping to run, if that's not your thing.
• Updated terminology of actions on the input remapping screen for clarity.
• Objects are now interactable in Lance's house.
• Clocks can now tell you the time in digital format, rather than only showing the time in analog format.
• At the start of the game, Lance's controls will now be shown in his house.
• The music for the Lignum Village and surrounding area has been updated.
• The O'Fox Shop now sells more items, but they're at their actual prices now (no more demo prices.)

 ===== CHANGED =====

• Changed the save format some. The game should automatically update your save file, but it will be incompatible with older versions.
• The "Medium" preset now uses a faster upscaling method and may perform better than it did before on lower end hardware and laptops. Feel free to try it out!
• "Export INI" has been disabled for XInput gamepads on Windows because I currently cannot use them due to how Gamemaker reads XInput devices (I don't get a UUID off of them.)
• Steam Cloud settings have been changed some. This shouldn't affect your data or cause loss of data, but if it does, please let me know (Some folders were configured incorrectly so the most likely situation is simply that it's now looking in the right folder instead of the wrong one.)

 ===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed missing environment data in the village and Stage 1.
• Fixed a bug where a tree being too close to the wall caused collision issues.
• Fixed a bug where DirectInput devices would show "Unknown Input!" in certain situations while remapping.
• Fixed a bug where the minimap would draw on screens where there was no map data (resulting in a blank map.)
• Fixed a bug where collectibles like Pretty Petals could go into doorways and become unobtainable.
• Fixed a bug where the camera would go out of bounds if you paused it while it was moved forwards to give a better view of a puzzle.
• Fixed a bug where Lance could end up off screen when the camera was moved forwards to give a better view of a puzzle.
• Fixed a bug where the game would crash if you managed to step outside of the stage boundary.
• Fixed a bug where using the no-clip debug option would cause Lance to fall.
• Fixed tileset issues where Lance could appear incorrectly in front of objects.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's particles would appear underneath the extending bridge instead of on top of it.
• Fixed an issue where Lance's mini-meter was being drawn slightly to the left of where its supposed to be.
• Fixed a sign that was missing dialogue (it has dialogue now)
• Fixed a bug where petals would not scatter all over the place on enemy defeat and would all just sit in one spot.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's shield would go off in some other direction if you threw it near the end of his spin.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's shield/spin combined attack would not go off correctly when you weren't running.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's collectible totals weren't showing properly on the title screen or in the stats menu (they showed just fine in the UI during regular gameplay though.)

Thank you!

Thank you to all the people listed below and everyone who supports me!

@buny, Ahundred , Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Aode (Lion), Barbara Fregia, BeepSterr, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist , Better Days, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Cay , Clover Arizona, Vix-N, DimSumthing, Dizmus , Emoney Bromine, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede , Jack O'Connor, Jammy , Jyrki, Katie Durmeter, Kaylex Deer , Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Klara, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Lorxus, Luna, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna , Durk Vash, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Markus Joseph Kitsinger , Marlyn, Maxine Red, Mello the Ferret, Midori, Narg LeFlex, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky , NovaSquirrel, Pascal Schmidt, Philip Garzieri, Progamuffin, Cam D'Arcy, SUSHiCLAWS, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard , Ansel Geisel, Sefris , Spyduck, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Susan Tolias, Swirlate, Tabby Cromarty, Tala Cuthbert, Tarocco , Touku, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Xkeeper , erika, khr, meerm, megaRammy, raine, tanukisan , wulfy83, ☀️