072822 Shield Cat Build (Patreon)

Hey guys! Coming at you today with a new Shield Cat build! The highlight of this one is that the demo is now playable from start to finish! Here are some things to keep in mind when testing out this version, and what I'm looking for feedback on:

• I haven't updated the NPCs in the village yet, so they will not react to your progress yet. I'll be doing that next.
• As this is the first version of the demo you can complete, I'm interested to see how the speedrunning aspects of it work. They should all work nicely, but you never know with these things.
• If you're speedrunning, the game should skip all cutscenes and cut down on most required dialogue (O'Fox will just open the shop menu, Parker will just open the train menu, etc.) If you find any part of the game that makes you go through a cutscene still, please let me know!
• Every area should be accessible and you should be able to beat the demo with 100%. If you're not able to due to some kind of bug or something, please let me know!

There's still work for me to do in regards to making more NPCs, making them update with the world state, polishing a few things, putting more objects in houses, etc. However, all of the important parts of the demo are finished!

As usual, here are the patch notes for this version. Please also see the note at the end!

 ===== Highlights =====

• The demo is now playable from start to finish! Some elements still need work, and missing elements need to be filled out, but you can play it from start to finish and get all collectibles.

 ===== NEW =====

• Added a little screen shake when hitting enemies and other objects. Let me know what you think.
• Also added a screen shake when Lance respawns after falling into a pit.
• A new option has been added when the "Quick Restart" speedrun option is enabled which allows you to teleport to your last save point, bypassing returning to the title and reloading the save file during a speedrun.
• The game will now keep track of speedrun events in the background and display them if the Speedrun Time is visible. Unfortunately, this is not retroactive, so existing game files where you already have done the required events will not have them.

 ===== IMPROVED =====

• Adjusted the input prompts on the menu screen and the start of the game to take up less space and be more visible.
• Redid the display of save files on the title screen to be more informative and colorful.

 ===== CHANGED =====

• Made some balance changes to the Autumn Grove boss fight.
• Increased the time of the Minecart Minigame from 40 seconds to 50 seconds.
• Adjusted the angle of the view in the Minecart Minigame to make it easier to understand.
• Adjusted brightness of supports in the Minecart Minigame to make it easier to tell what's a platform and what's not.
• The input prompt at the start of the game in Lance's house now waits until the dialogue is finished before showing up.
• The game will now recalculate the completion percentages on save files being previewed in the save menu. This means that save files that were 100% before, but aren't because there's more collectibles in this version, will be updated to reflect this.
• The intro sequence of the game has been cut down significantly and now only features the dialogue with Parker again.
• The game now keeps track of achievements in a global table. If you haven't gotten an achievement on a save file, but you've gotten it on another save file, a little star will show denoting that you've gotten that achievement at some point (just not on the current save file.)
• You may now also view achievements across all save files by using the new "Accomplishments" option on the title screen.
• The game will now play the "cancel" sound effect when choosing the option that it would choose if you pressed the "back" button, even if you highlight it and press "ok."

 ===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where quitting out of the Minecart Minigame would send you back to the wrong spot.
• Added the missing countdown timer in the Minecart Minigame.
• Fixed a bug where Lance would walk way far away from NPCs when talking to them.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's health and magic on the file select screen were never correct (they're correct now)
• Fixed a bug where the quick restart function wouldn't reset map progress.
• Fixed a bug where the fullscreen message prompt would become unusable by the keyboard or gamepad if the mouse was hovered over it.
• Fixed a bunch of tile depth sorting issues. If you find any more, please let me know.
• Fixed a bug where Lance's extended attack would process depending on his previous position in the current frame, instead of his current position.
• Fixed a bug where Lance could get stuck on very specific parts of the collision.
• Fixed a bug with the rotating bridges in the Autumn Grove sometimes snapping to a 45 degree angle instead of slowly unwinding into it.
• Fixed a bug where the "A" key wasn't defined for moving Lance left on new installations. If this affected you, you can use the input mapper to rebind it.
• While not really a bug, I finally restored interactions with objects in Lance's house.

Thank you!

Thank you to all these people who support the game, and everyone who makes this possible:

@buny, ARKYmouse, Ahty, Alex Stenzel, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, Barbara Fregia, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist, Boozel, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, Colonel Sandwich, Vix-N, DimSumthing, Dizmus, Sweep Dreams, EZGames69, Cloud Hop, EveryZig314, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede, Jack O'Connor, Jammy, Jennifer, Joanna Jones, Jyrki, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kohaku Katou, Krazinsky, Trash, LF, Legiayayana, Leo Gera, Lorxus, Lulla, Luna, Luna Hyena, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna, Maniko, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, Little Egg Basket, OrobaSpyro, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Philip Garzieri, Raegal Boggart, RawrParty, Vinyl, Roger Tyranny, Ryunohito, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Snout, Spyduck, SplotchDoggo, Spoony Doodle, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarah Tamayo, Tarocco, Tarsus Endri, Touku, Upscale Furry Trash, DJ Otters, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Wulfy, Xkeeper, breakthetargets, caseJackal, Kazy, khr, meerm, megaRammy, morgan `indrora` gangwere, raine, rainedoe, Foxxhoria, ubuntor, sol

Special Note

My current plans are to get feedback on this build and fix bugs while also polishing up the experience and adding more NPCs, and then put another build and fix any bugs found there. After that, I should be making the final Demo Build, and then I'll be ready to present it! I should have a solid date for you on when I'll be presenting it soon, so please stay tuned.........