Hyperstacks Update 0.8.16

PATCH NOTES FOR 0.8.17
The new update also affects the demo these are the news!

Hello everyone!
I know, I know, it has been SOOO LONG without an update
Let me explain...


[h3]Current developer state[/h3]

Originally I didn't plan to update the game until 0.9.0 is ready (we still working on it), but I don't have as much time as I need
Because I work full time on another game for another enterprise in order to not starve, I do my best every day when I finish my job and get at home, squeezing until the last drop of time and energy.

For that reason, I post more content on weekends as I have more time for Hyperstacks!


[h3]But finally an update!![/h3]

Yes, it is NOT the 0.9.0 yet BUT its getting closer
So I just decided I had to do a little update because the game was getting really outdated, and this way would make it better for advance to the next phase

So let's start telling whats new in this new patch 0.8.17


[h2]WHAT'S NEW:[/h2]

• Better integration for Index Controllers
  Yes! we listen at your feedback and improved many things, for example now the experience with index controllers is better!
  

• Changed how the hp regen works
  Now coins don't heal anymore, just the Hearts
  Hearts have a different spawn rate and probability than coins
  Hearts only will spawn if you need more healing than current heals on the map
  (for example, if you have 9 of 10 hearts, there will not be more than one floating pickable heart)
  this will make combat a little bit more challenging, it has been also designed in this way to avoid the lets-accumulate-a-lot-of-floating-coins-so-when-I'm-low-on-hp-i-can-heal-easily exploit
  

• Lava Block!
  This is a new block made to get more OUCH in the game, you can put some together and they will be seamless
  You can almost swim if you move your hands on it, but its really hard and you will get much PAIN
  

• Party Blower!
  Give your levels more party feeling with this new thing that makes funny party noises
  As a creator, use it to reward the player when they do things good
  But if you are the player, you just should feel rewarded, yeah... just obey!
  

• NPCs in Levels
  Well, there is just one NPC... but the system is prepared for the next coming new NPCs!
  The system may seem a little tricky to use, but I promise it really easy and you can do many things with this.
  The new tutorial level is made entirely using the level editor, with this feature!
  A video tutorial coming soon on our Youtube Channel.
  Currently, the phrases the NPC can say, are limited to the ones created for the game, such as salutations and so!
  But In the future updates, you will have a customizable NPC for you, which you can use to create custom dialogs
  

• Water surface (WIP)
  It's like the Lava block but it doesn't hurt you,
  technically you should be able to swim on it, but due to lack of time, the water is not ready yet,
  But hey! you can use it for decorating the levels for now!
  I will make patches more usually after this update so it may be fixed fast
  

• Controller Messages
  This new item has been designed to teach the player how to use things in the game
  So you can put a controller message for grabbing,
  and when this is activated, the player will receive a notification in their controller telling him how to use something,
  this is mainly done for tutorial levels
  

• Player setup item
  This item was only for developers, but I decided to publish it also,
  This is an item that will let you change player properties, as if the player is immortal, or if it can move at all
  Currently, you can only change the "Can move" option
  But more options will come.
  Use it properly, you could make a player not be able to move,
  be sure to notify the player with a message or something if you stop their movement so they don't feel it weird
  

• Look At Activators
  A useful item that activates a point to look at when receiving energy, it also activates other connected systems when looked at.
  You can use it to tell the player something like "HEY LOOK AT THIS!!" but without texts
  Because nobody really likes reading, why are you even reading this!?
  

• New Tutorial Level
  Go with Lobb-E (The robot cat) inside a level
  while he teaches you how to do some of the hardest things in the game.... like... walking!
  

• New Training Levels in the Campaign Section
  Now the campaign section has the 5... I mean 4 levels you can play to test different modalities of levels
  This section has also the tutorial button if you want to test it again because you love the cat so much
  These levels are present in the Demo version, but this space is designed for the coming Campaign levels of the update 0.9.0
  

• 9 Languages Compatibility and Language Improvements
  你好! I hope I have said well... it's supposed to say "Hello"
  So yes, many new languages have been added and now the game has a total of 9 languages
  And now all the menus and text of the game have been translated (Except the level editor (yet))
  

• NPCs In Buildings
  Yeah right... the buildings are also something new (at least inside)
  Now you can see the interior of each building, remember those stills in development
  So we just gave just permission to look inside, you're welcome!
  Ahh also the NPCs of each building are inside, so you can see them, they do nothing but some animations,
  Let them relax while they can as update 0.9.0 gets closer
  

[h3]Coin system rework[/h3]

• Coin system is now totally different
  From now coins will be accumulated in your account forever
  This has been made this way to prepare the game for the coming Skin content and coin usage
  

• Now sometimes dark coins will appear
  Dark coins have no value, the more colored coins you collect in little time the more probabilities are for dark coins to spawn
  Dark coins spawn probability decreases at a rate of 100% hour
  this avoids farming coins in levels and filling the level selector with levels
  

• Only Verified levels can give coins now
  Also to avoid coin farming levels spam
  If you want your level to be verified it just has to be fun, with quality enough and should stay at 90fps in Quest2 (you can check the FPS graph in the Experimental settings)
  If you feel your level should be verified, let us know in our Discord
  There are plans for level creators to also get coins when people play their levels, stay tunned
  

• You can check how many coins you have at the Museum/Bank (that purple building)
  Where you will see MR.Snobble NPC, and also in front of him is a special floating card, that card represents your current money in the game
  GO GO PLAY AND GET COINS FOR THE FUTURE CONTENT!
  

[h2]IMPROVEMENTS & CHANGES[/h2]

• Better Level Lights Management
  Some good changes have been made to the lights
  now you can activate and deactivate the lights
  As there is a limit of 8 lights per level, some big levels with more than 8 lights get them flashing randomly, as the game tries to only render 8 lights, some lights just turn off automatically breaking the level visuals.
  So now you can manually turn On/Off lights on your levels using Green links, to reduce the number of active lights when these are not needed
  

• Light balls are now hidden by default for the player
  you can change its visibility using the visibility modifier of the Green Link mode in the level editor
  

• Added slight hand jitter filtering for level editor menus
  now level editor menus will see lees jittery, due they move more smoothly
  Go put that block in that pixel you ever wanted it to be
  

• Added a cooldown to the green target activators
  to avoid double activations which results in not activating the object when switch mode is enabled
  

• The Level Goal Teleporter for getting in and out of levels, or however that thing is called, Now has a new fancier effect than before
  Ahh right, this is because the goal is not an ugly ball anymore, now its a whole level Exit teleport, I don't know how to call those, in order to not make it easily confoundable with the coming teleporters for inside levels
  

• Zip lines are now thinner and yellow
  This helps to fit the color meanings of the game
  

• Hand menu is easier to spawn now
  usually, for opening the menu you needed to press A or X and then touch a "Menu" tab in the other hand, this has very counterintuitive and not beginner friendly
  So it's been changed how it works now.
  Currently for opening the menu you just need to hold A or X, it will just appear
  

• Other small rendering improvements...
  

[h2]FIXES[/h2]

• Activatable objects were not saving their state correctly
  You have may experienced, that manually enabled jump pads don't remain active when reloading the level,
  well, that was happening with every activatable object that can be manually activated, so this I Fixed now!
  

• Zip lines now store their positions correctly even if you don't modify the tips
  Sometimes when you reload the level you may have seen that the zip/grind lines were not where you left them
  This is fixed now!
  

• Light bridges fixed, now they stop where they should
  Sometimes they were trespassing walls and so, not anymore now!
  

• Pink Lasers are now Blocked by light bridges
  I think I don't need to explain anything here!
  

• Lasers don't receive light anymore
  There was a problem with lasers, that if you put a light next to a laser, it enlights the lasser
  it had no sense and its fixed now
  

• Fixed Laser texture transparencies
  Lasers' transparent textures were so big, and you could see lines on the edges when getting close...
  It's hard to explain, never mind it's fixed, why bother?
  

• Zipline grind particle is now correctly synced
  lately, the grind particle was getting behind you the faster you go on the zipline, now that particle is ok
  

• Other several small and big fixes
  Let's be honest, I don't have so much time for writing this,
  and I also fixed so many things that I don't remember what those are, so I will just say "Other several
  fixes"
  

Congratulations if you got here!
Now I will say thanks for reading and be good while we still working on this!

As this is a new patch with new content, there will be new bugs, so I'm PRETTY sure you will find some bugs be sure to report them in our Discord!
We are also really open for feedback in there, so don't be shy, just join, chill and give us your feedback... obey!