1.14 Return to Sender: Final boss, dialogue, new bullet patterns, and more!
New trailer, in case you missed it initially!
Additions
- Added 2 new bosses! This includes both the final boss of the main story (encountered at round 100) and a postgame secret boss!
I've chosen to exempt the boss designs themselves from the above image to keep the surprise. Have fun!
- Added dialogue to every main game boss!
- Added 6 new bullet patterns: "Cherry Blossoms", "Bananas!", "Clouds", "Delectable Fruit!", "Tomes", "Stars!"
- Added 18 new achievements! Take a look:
- Added dresses! This was a player-requested expansion to the cosmetics and there are 6 to collect, each with matching head attire!
Misc Changes
- Huge main menu overhaul! As stated in the initial 1.14 progress update, this was another long overdue change. No more eyesore UI!
Takes me back.
- You can now unlock unseen bullet patterns in practice using pumpkins
- Added new Alt Hitbox Mode option!
This option moves the player hitbox closer to the mouse cursor rather than the center of Brace's sprite, which may be more intuitive to some players. While this is technically a gameplay change, enabling this does not disable achievements or anything of the sort; it's purely user preference :)
Also pictured in the above image
- Reworked "Flyer's Feather" unlock -> Now unlocked upon first making it to round 11
Flyer's Feather is a very important meta-progression unlock and I was finding that the previous unlock method (beating 3 bosses, even including repeats) was still too steep for some newer players, such that they would drop the game before ever unlocking it. This change should help make the full game more accessible without implementing any universal difficulty changes (for those who don't know: the Flyer's Feather gives you the option to use points to skip to later rounds you've reached before)
- Revised some lore
- Gave better descriptions to some of the options in the settings menu
- Default game volume on a new save is now 50% for both music and sound effects
- Added sounds to various attacks that were missing them
- Rebalanced some sound volume overall
- Blacklisting now briefly mutes the background music instead of immediately playing the next round's track (this also fixes an issue where blacklisting an attack and then clicking a gold target during the animation could send you to a bonus round with incorrect music)
- Flyer's Feather will no longer let you skip to rounds past bosses you haven't beaten (a scenario that could occur by loading very old saves)
Balance/Bug Fixes
- Changed "Garbage Day" and "High-Tech Laser Trash" -> Trash bags should now spawn further apart. "High-Tech Laser Trash" also has a slower spawn rate (was 7.5 spawns per second; now ~6.66) and has a better beam indicator- Reworked "Fireworks!" slightly -> Fireworks can no longer spawn on the same half of the screen twice in a row. This is to help prevent unfair RNG that could rarely trap you in a corner
- "Leaf Storm" bullet indicators should now be much more accurate
- Reworked "Center Spinner" -> Now always spins enough to create gaps between the bullets. Targets in this attack now always spawn on the side you're on and spawn much further away from the center
- Reworked "Leaf Storm" to be a bit smoother and reduce bullet clutter while the wind is still speeding up
- Modified "Chains" to try to make it more obvious what's safe to touch
I noticed some newcomers struggling to figure this attack out, so hopefully this should be a bit more beginner friendly
- Buffed "Cherb" slightly -> The staggered homing bullets in phase 1 now accelerate when they start moving
Also gave her some new sprites for her attacks! The old bullets were pretty unremarkable and needed more personality
- Reduced hitbox size of droplet bullets by 2 pixels on each side
- Reduced maximal size of all (laser) beams by 3 pixels on each side
- Nerfed "Perfect Bloom" -> Slightly slower spawn rate (was ~3.16 spawns per second; now 3)
- Nerfed "Knives!" -> Slower spawn rate (was 12 spawns per second; now ~9.23)
- Nerfed "Cursed Knives!" -> Slower spawn rate for all projectiles (was 9 spawns per second; now ~7.83)
- Nerfed "Pipe Mines!" -> 25% slower mine movement speed, 10 pixel bigger gaps
- Nerfed passive special recharge speed in practice mode (was 10x normal speed, now only 5x)
Some specials were very spammable in practice, which just isn't helpful for actually practicing an attack. 5x in practice should be more sensible
Also keep in mind that this is only passive special recharge. In normal mode, points also contribute to recharging your special, which makes the overall difference between normal and practice mode recharging slimmer
- Fixed an issue where pressing the cosmetics reset button and then equipping any cosmetic would award the Sick Kicks achievement, even without wearing different shoes
- Fixed an issue where special targets would have the wrong sprite when fading out after timing an attack out
- Fixed an issue where you could unlock specials from bosses you haven't beaten yet
- Fixed an issue where presents were obtainable in easy mode
- Fixed a spawning misalignment with "Solar Flare" and added a sun graphic to it
- Fixed an issue where particles would spawn incorrectly and cause significant lag
- Fixed more occurances of miscolored particles
- Fixed an issue where some player weapon attacks would incorrectly despawn when outside of the screen region
- Fixed an issue where some tree particles had an incorrect color
- Fixed an issue where some buttons in the practice UI would overlap and allow you to click multiple different buttons with one mouse input
- Fixed an issue where a gold target could persist into Pandoria's fight
- Fixed a typographical error where the Heavens were described as "thousands of miles" off the ground in its lore
I honestly don't know how I failed to realize how far that is when I was first writing the lore. Like, if we use Earth as a reference here, even just 1000 miles is already well into space. wtf (way too far)
- Fixed a slight visual issue with the game's logo
- Fixed an issue where the "You missed!" achievement could be falsely awarded when using weapons
- Fixed an issue where the sound test button in the options menu would occasionally have inaccurate volume
- Fixed an issue where the "Whirlpool" sound effect was unaffected by in-game audio settings
- Fixed some cases where some ambient bullet sounds would persist indefinitely
And last but not least!
- Other changes I probably forgot to note along the way
Closing Notes
That's all for this update, and for the game in general! Being the last major update, this is the last planned round of content. Small fixes and patches may come out later if needed, but otherwise the game is content complete!Of course a game like this could always have more polish (there are still a couple of rough edges aesthetically); and some may wonder why I don't plan to iron out those remaining flaws. The unfortunate but obvious answer is that it's no longer practical. When I first released Endless Bullet Heaven in 2022, I was a high school dropout who created the game as a passion project to figure out the process of Steam distribution. Over time the scope of the game grew larger than I had ever imagined, making development take longer and longer to finish. Almost 3 years later, I've now been through university and need to start exploring future career options as I find my way through adult life
This doesn't mean I won't be making games anymore, but dedicating this much time to updating a game that is completely free is just unsustainable. If I make and release another game on Steam it would likely be monetized (as in an upfront price; I hate ftp/microtransaction models), and I would do everything in my power to make it worth its asking price on release. In fact, one thing this experience has taught me is that I would never want to release an unfinished early access game (which the development process of this game was very similar to; it was hell). Regardless, I have nothing in the pipeline at this stage
With that said, I'm still glad I undertook this project. It did exactly what it needed to do: taught me tons about what and what not to do when developing and releasing a game, while also being a great creative outlet. This, combined with my experiences doing game development in university, give me confidence that whatever game I make next will be even better! And besides, Endless Bullet Heaven itself has also turned out as about as good as I could realistically expect from a game that had no long-term planning for the vast majority of its development
There's so much more I wish I could say, but for the sake of brevity I'll cut myself off here. It's been quite the journey, and I want to thank you all sincerely for supporting me and the game over the years! Whatever comes next, I'll be sure to keep you all updated on my usual socials
Until next time!
If you want to reach me about anything you can find me on twitter ( https://twitter.com/Dracoraz ), bluesky ( https://bsky.app/profile/dracoraz.bsky.social ), or send an email to dracorazhelp@gmail.com ! I'm still open to fixing bugs if needed so don't hesitate!
Changed files in this update