Hi Pins, Sep here!

It's been a while since Quint and I updated the BOWLOUT Playtest to v0.8 due to continuing or finishing our studies. As I finished mine recently, I've had some time to work on enough features and improvements to finally release BOWLOUT v0.9. It includes features I have wanted to include for a very long time, so I'm happy to finally lock these in.

As mentioned before, this is planned to be the final update to the free-to-test version of BOWLOUT. Once we feel confident in BOWLOUT as a paid release, we'll announce a price and release date alongside the closing date for the Playtest.

Now, onto the features!

MAIN MENU REWORK

The menu now features more dynamic environments that change depending on the currently selected level or last played level. The selections showcase each pin in order of appearance while demonstrating their characteristics.
Furthermore, the layout has changed: moving level checkpoints to its own 'Play Game' submenu made room for 'Settings', 'Achievements', and 'Credits' options on the main screen.
Finally, menu buttons, including settings-sliders, have been reworked to be more reliable to use, while the new font improves readibilty.

BREAK SCREENS

At long last, the TV and Arcade cabinet screens can be smashed by throwing a ball or pin at 'em! In the full game you may even get an achievement out of it.

GERMAN LOCALIZATION. 'Jawohl!'

The English and Dutch versions of BOWLOUT were translated by us directly, but German required some online tools. If you notice any possible improvements, please let us know.

IMPROVED CONTROLLER SUPPORT

Controller Rumble
Controller haptics will now activate upon hitting an enemy or getting hit by one. The intensity options are: 'off', 'light', 'medium', and 'strong', which can be chosen in the settings menu. I really like how much more impactful it makes your attacks feel.

Button Glyphs
Input prompts now feature button glyphs, which will show a visual of the button to press depending on your current controller. This feature supports the following manufacturer's controllers: Nintendo (Switch), Sony (Playstation), Microsoft (Xbox), Valve (Steam Deck). Note that any unsupported controller will default to the Xbox button glyphs.

Note: I was only able to test the new controller features with a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller and Dualsense. Let us know if any issues come up.

CREDITS SEQUENCE

The game's final boss will now explode upon defeat, followed by a short credits sequence. This can be skipped through with the escape key or start button on controllers.

MORE

- Replaced the effect on the melee attack's swing animation.
- Replaced the melee attack durability indicator.
- White pins now cower in fear when close enough to get grabbed.
- Pins defeated by bowling balls now cross their eyes in pain.
- Made the player's 'hurt' state more noticeable
- Settings sliders' thickness is now consistent.
- More menu items, such as sliders, now emit sound when interacted with.
- Now, only settings in the 'Graphics' section require you to 'apply'.
- BOWLOUT now first loads a 'boot' scene to initialize systems. Does not affect gameplay.
- Fixed a bug where menu items would infinitely play their 'selected' animation when just barely hovering the cursor over them.
- Fixed an oversight that prevented SFX audio to adhere to the SFX Volume setting.

You may notice that your savedata and settings have been reset. This is because I've reworked the saving system to fix bugs where it wouldn't properly be read or applied in-game. If this caused any in-game issues, please let us know.

OPTIMIZATIONS

The following game elements have been adjusted to improve performance and reduce the amount of potential lag spikes.

• The silhouettes that spawn from the Totem.
  
• Hit detection for Laser projectiles.
  
• Final Boss area (Textures and lighting).
  
• The way achievements are tracked.
  Note that achievements will be available in the full release of BOWLOUT.
  

THAT'S IT

Quint and I are really excited to finally get some more BOWLOUT content out there and get one step closer to a full release. Please wishlist the game on the store page and share it with anyone who may be interested. It's a big motivator. For any questions or feedback, we'd love to hear about it in our Discord server, on Twitter, or on a Steam blog post!

- Sep