Shield Cat Playtest update for 9 January 2022

Howdy! Coming at you today with a new Shield Cat build. This one introduces a brand new mini-stage as well as a new minigame! There's also been a significant overhaul to the map, as well as a ton of small changes and QoL improvements. If you haven't checked out the game in a while (or even if you have) this update is worth checking out, I think!

A couple more things to note here: First, I've made changes to the River Challenge. It now gives out more Petals for each run (detailed below) and also gives you bonus Petals every time you complete it while grabbing all the stars. If you find yourself short on Petals, it's not a bad way to build some up.

The second thing is that I've made it so that collectibles do not respawn when going back to the stage. I made this change so it's easier to figure out if you've already gotten stuff or not. If you go to a place and nothing's there, you've cleared it out already! Because of the way the lighting is in some places, it was hard to tell for instance if you had already grabbed the Fish Scales in the sunlight or not. To counteract the fact you can't run through the stage again to build up Pretty Petals, each collectible gives you Petals for picking it up.

Please let me know what you think about this new build, and also, for supporters there's a little bonus in there. Hope you find it!

As always, here's the patch notes:

===== Highlights =====

• The map screen has been overhauled! Please check it out, or read below for more details.
• Marcus' Adventure minigame is now in! It's essentially a speedrun challenge through the stage. You can play it in a couple places, so be sure to check it out!
• There are new Achievements for the Steam version of the game associated with the new minigame.
• A new mini-stage has been added! See if you can find it.

===== NEW =====

• Marcus' Adventure minigame is now in! If you've already beaten the mushroom boss, feel free to go to Deep Woods again and try it out. You can also check it out in the new stage (if you can find it.)
• The game will now tell you how many Pretty Petals you've gotten recently.
• A red X has been added to notable locations that you need to go next (If you've already done a lot of stuff, you may not see any of the X's)
• A new accessibility option has been added which reduces flashy animations.
• Supporters can check out the Minecart Minigame prototype (you'll have to find it.) This currently is not available in the Playtest build.
• A Cat Coin has been added for defeating the Mushroom Boss. You can obtain it by going to where you got the key for the gate in the Village area (nearby where the angry gazelle was.) A ? indicator will also show on the map in this location.

===== IMPROVED =====

• The map screen has been greatly improved and will now show you the collectibles you have on the stage in more detail, as well as the name of the stage and the percentage of the map you've completed.
• You'll also be able to see other stages around you, and stages in which you've gotten 100% will have gold borders. (However it's only possible to get 100% in the Deep Woods at this time.)
• General tileset improvements to make tiles more uniform in style.
• Added stronger collision in the mushroom boss room, just in case.
• When in shops, the amount you spent will show in the bottom corner.
• It will also show how much you lost when you fall into a pit.
• Improved line puzzle and made it so it doesn't take forever for the line to update when you hit the gear arrow.
• A lot of lighting in the cave has been changed and improved to take advantage of the lighting engine improvements, mainly in the Abandoned Mines.
• Ravens and Bats now have additional indicators on when they're going in for an attack.
• Added additional dialogue to help newer players to get the hang of the game.
• Low health indication has been improved. Now Lance's portrait in the top left will flash and a (small) sound will play until you heal.
• The River Challenge will now give you additional Pretty Petals every time you complete the course with all stars.
• Additionally, Stars are now worth 20 Pretty Petals and Rings are worth 10.
• The speed at which collectibles are attracted to you when you approach them has been increased significantly.
• The animation for getting a Big Key has been improved.

===== CHANGED =====

• Removed individual stage totals from the Stats submenu, as this information is now located on the map screen.
• Collectibles like Fish Scales, LANCE Letters, and Cat Coins will no longer respawn in a ghostly form when you re-visit the stage. I made this change so that it's easier to figure out what collectibles you still need to get at a glance. If you find that this disrupts gameplay or think it isn't a good decision, please let me know.
• To offset this, Fish Scales, LANCE Letters, and Cat Coins will now give Pretty Petals when you collect them. (Fish Scales are worth 10 petals, while Coins and Letters are worth 50.)
• Pressing any button on the intro screen will now go to the next screen instead of skipping directly to the title screen.
• Lance's house has been remodeled and improved.
• Willow revives are now counted separately from Game Overs.
• Darkened and slowed down animation of line puzzle so it's not overly bright.
• Made changes to the cave so it's nearly impossible to proceed without the lantern.
• Added some hitstop frames when Lance takes major damage from an enemy.
• Some other hitstop effects have been added throughout the game sparingly to enhance the experience.
• There is now a small chance of surviving a fatal blow if you have more than 0.5 health when being attacked.
• The map screen will show a ? over the River Challenge building if you haven't gotten the Cat Coin there yet.
• Changed how many video options are displayed depending on your settings. Now, all the options will only show if you've got Custom mode enabled and can actually configure them.
• The price of the River Challenge has been increased from 200 to 300 to offset the fact that you get many more Petals from it per run.
• Because of the changes with the way the minimap works, as well as how collectibles are counted, the save file format has changed slightly. This version of the game will automatically upgrade your save file.

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

• Fixed a bug where pressing the button during the screen transition could cause the collectible animation to "skip"
• Fixed a bug where destroying some levers could cause the game to crash.
• Fixed a bug where collecting Cat Coins would sometimes not update your actual coin count until reloading the game or going to a new stage.
• Fixed a bug where Cat Coins for a stage were not enumerated properly (the maximum amount of coins available in a stage would be wrong.)
• Fixed some bugs with the dialogue engine. Let me know if any dialogue doesn't go as you'd expect it.
• Fixed a bug where money spent on minigames like the river challenge would not count toward overall petals spent.
• Fixed a bug where Lance didn't start with maximum magic when stepping into a new stage.
• Changed the position of a gate in the Abandoned Mines so it's not possible to respawn behind it after falling.
• Fixed a bug where opening paths blocked by boulders would not immediately clear the indicator on the map showing that something interesting is on that screen.
• Fixed a bug where collectibles that were told to go toward Lance due to being close to him would just take off right out of the game world if you had 3 Magnet passives equipped.
• Fixed a bug where Cat Coins collected by Lance could appear to be glitching out when collected.

Thank you!

Thanks to the following people as well as everyone who supports me on this game dev journey:

@buny, ARKYmouse, Ahty, Ahundred, Shadow8t4, Alicia Goranson, Arron Savage, Barbara Fregia, BenTheDragon, Bizarre Machinist, Better Days, David Wolfpaw, Caliburn Absolute, Circlingnugget, Clover Arizona, DarkJoule, Vix-N, Panda, Dizmus, Sweep Dreams, Emoney Bromine, Erica 'digifox' Kovac, Cloud Hop, Fao, FaultBat, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, Galuade, Gri, Goronhead, Holly 'Frinkel' Lotor, JD Laclede, Jack O'Connor, Jammy, Joanna Jones, Johann Pfaffinger, Jyrki, Kaylex Deer, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Kohaku Katou, Krazinsky, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Lorxus, Luna, Luna Hyena, Durk Vash, phantomsqueaks, Mark Cope, Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, OrobaSpyro, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, Axel Husky, NovaSquirrel, Nuck, Philip Garzieri, Raegal Boggart, RawrParty, Ryunohito, Cam D'Arcy, Saxxon Fox, Scylla-Leeezard, Ansel Geisel, Sefris, Spyduck, SplotchDoggo, Spoony Doodle, Carlis A. Moore., Stitch The626th, Susan Tolias, Swirlate, Tala Cuthbert, Tarocco, Tarsus Endri, Tenma, Borgo, Upscale Furry Trash, DJ Otters, Vectrobe, Vivee, William 'Kenku' Swiftfoot, Xkeeper, Legiayayana, breakthetargets, khr, meerm, megaRammy, morgan indrora gangwere, raine, wulfy83, ☀️