New Cosmogelica Build + Invitation For Prototype Testing (Patreon)

Edit: People found a lot of weird display quirks with this build, so I've updated it to fix them. I also rewrote how windowed/fullscreen is handled. Please make sure you have the newest build from itch, thank you! Original text follows:

Howdy! Coming at you today with a new Cosmogelica build. This one has the new Freedraw feature you may have seen me posting about, as well as some changes to how health is handled + enemy behavior. I have the patch notes below, but I first need to talk about...

Prototype Testing

I'm looking for people who want to help me test out Cosmogelica! It's in its prototype phase still, so many elements are either unfinished or simply absent. However, it's a good time to pass this along to people to see what they think, because it'll be a lot easier to course correct now than later.

This is not a demo and it should not be treated as such. This is just for me to get feedback and for people to say "oh yea this is neat I'd love more of this" or "I don't particularly like this aspect, it'd be nice if you changed it."

How To Get In

If you want to get into the Prototype Test, then follow these instructions:

• Join the Discord Chat here: https://discord.gg/shieldcat
• - If you're already in the Discord Chat, check "Channels & Roles" and find "Cosmogelica Prototype Test."
  - If you're not in the Discord Chat, you'll be prompted to select this when doing the Server Onboarding.
  - If you think I'm a big hypocrite for making this Discord only, please see "Why Is This Discord Only"
  - Can you believe Patreon doesn't do nested bullet lists? This is why I made my own site for blogs.
• You should now be able to see #dev-test-zone. Check the pinned message there for the download link. You can also use this channel to give me feedback on it.
• See #cosmo-proto-info for more information!

What Are You Looking For?

I'm not really looking for bug testing or anything like that (though bug reports are appreciated too!) What I'm mainly looking for is feedback about how the game is currently, and what you like/don't like about it. This is a formative time for the game, and I need your help to make it the best it can be! Don't be afraid to tell me "I don't like the way this works" or "I think it would be better if it was like this instead." This test is mainly for me to make sure I'm headed the right way with this.

How Long Will This Be Available?

Only for a little while while I iron out the features of the game and the direction it's heading. So, if you want to try it out, now is your chance! Also, I would only like people from this server to test it out (so I can get direct feedback about it.) It's important to say again that this is not a demo. I just need some more people to look at it and tell me what they think.

Why Is This Discord Only?

I'm sure some people are searching my Mastodon right now for the numerous posts I've made about limiting content only to Discord. However, this is a prototype build, and it's very, very important to get direct feedback on it. As stated above, it is not a demo, and I do not wish to give a false impression that it is by just posting it online for all to see. It is not ready for distribution like this, sorry! If all goes well, hopefully there will be a demo before too long.

Patch Notes

Alright, with all that out of the way, I can now present the patch notes:

===== NEW =====

• A new Freedraw Mode has been added, allowing you to create your own art! It's currently in beta, so if you make something really cool, be sure to back it up! You'll find the option under the single player menu.
• You can now adjust the rotation of the analog stick to match the rotation of the game (though the game will automatically rotate the analog stick input to match the display now - this option is simply if you need further adjustments.)
• A new screen border has been added with Monica on it! This has been set as the default (If you never changed the setting.) You can go to Options->Game->Border to change it.
• I've also added a "None" border option, in case you don't like graphics on the borders or are playing on OLED and don't want Monica stuck on there forever.
• You can now adjust the brightness of the border graphics.

===== CHANGED =====

• I'm further testing out how the health system works, so it works differently from the previous build. This is still quite the experimental phase!
• Enemy behavior has been adjusted. Now, they'll slowly scroll down the speed (depending on the speed of the playfield in general.) If you don't handle them quickly, they'll be on your side of the playfield in no time!
• If you don't destroy an enemy without a certain amount of time (differs for each enemy type) eventually they'll just leave and you'll get no coins for them.
• Increased the scrolling speed of story mode.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where some random assignments were broken (for example, out of the two available shot types, it would only ever choose the spread shot.)
• I forgot to mark one of the music files to be compressed, unnecessarily increasing the install size by 7MB. Oops!
• Story mode now starts at the correct offset, instead of below the stage.
• Fixed a bug where enemy bullets didn't correctly scroll with the stage.
• Fixed stars showing up in story mode when they shouldn't have.
• Fixed the bat enemy's hitbox being wrong.
• Fixed a bug where some of the hard-coded playfield dimensions were wrong. This may cause minor gameplay/logic bugs later, but I haven't spotted any yet.
• Fixed some enemies not being cleaned up properly when going offscreen.
• Fixed a bug where gel close to each other could appear as filled, even if internally it wasn't filled. The game will now automatically fill these gaps internally to match what is being shown on the screen.
• Fixed bug where menu wasn't drawing shadows behind certain elements correctly.

Thank You!

Thank you to these people and everyone who makes this possible:

11Natrium, Ahty, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, AshiPaws, Barbara Fregia, BenTheDragon, Boozel, Brandt Howard, Spyduck, Cactus Bat, Caliburn Absolute, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, Colonel Sandwich, Daniel Rotwind, Dare Looks, Darkonius Mavakar, DimSumthing, Dizmus, DoricDream, EZGames69, EveryZig314, Fábio Fontes, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, Flaki, FoxyDude, Galuade, Gri, GloopQueen, Goronhead, Goupilleau, Gray Bell, Hazel Stagner, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, Jack O'Connor, Jammy, Jo Polaris, Joanna Jones, Jyrki, Kabit, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kohaku Katou, Krazinsky, Kulkart, Trash, Legiayayana, Lorxus, Lulla, Luna Moona the Little Kahuna, Maniko, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Marlyn, Maxine Red, Mello the Ferret, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Okesska, Piper Malone, Raegal Boggart, RawrParty, Rhaen, Vinyl, Roger Tyranny, Ryunohito, RAVE_R0Ak, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Sharb, Some Egrets, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarocco, Tigersonalex, Touku, Upscale Furry Trash, Vectrobe, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Xkeeper, darkwitchclaire, green, caseJackal, Luka 'Lumia', meerm, morgan `indrora` gangwere, raine, rainedoe, Foxxhoria, ubuntor, sol

Hope to see you in there to test it out, and if not, I hope you're excited regardless!