Cats are Liquid - A Better Place News

Special thanks to the Cats are Liquid testing team!

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed UI issues for certain aspect ratios.
  
• Fixed World 4 and World 9 challenges being a bit too eager about being marked as completed. (Thanks, Erik and Niko!)
  
• Fixed World 12 achievement not being a part of the room select achievement unlock check.
  
• Fixed certain item orbits causing issues in the editor during playtesting.
  
• Fixed improper clip check in editor for jumping spikes. (Thanks, Fen and others!)
  
• Fixed pausing interfering with the speedrun countdown. (Thanks, Redstoneboy1009)
  
• Fixed speedrun time comparison not being updated for the first room if the run was restarted. (Thanks, Erik!)
  
• Fixed some interesting UI bugs. (Thanks, Erik and others!)
  

Special thanks to the Cats are Liquid testing team!

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed control remappings not getting applied when the game was started, requiring a visit to the control remapping screen for them to actually take effect. (Thanks, Niko!)
  
• Fixed typo in World 2 and World 7 challenge descriptions. (Thanks, Spike!)
  
• Fixed effect prophecy causing the editor to not unload properly when closing it in certain situations.
  
• Fixed Steam Workshop uploads getting stuck on 0%.
  

Special thanks go to the Cats are Liquid testing team!

• Added speedrun mode (world specific, all worlds, also supports custom packs if the pack allows for it).
  
• Added world challenges.
  
• Added text history (available in pause menu).
  
• Talk prophecies that take away control can now be skipped.
  
• Added settings to the pause screen.
  
• Added liquid grates.
  
• Added option to allow the Companion to activate prophecies.
  
• Added a button prophecy which can be used to activate buttons.
  
• Buttons can now be automatically unpressed after a certain amount of time.
  
• Added item clip checks for certain items to prevent them from being placed inside room geometry.
  
• Added background floating stuff to title screen and a randomized theme (very important).
  
• Added new editor keyboard shortcuts.
  
• Added Discord rich presence.
  

[h2]Improvements:[/h2]
[h3]General:[/h3]

• Improved performance.
  
• Improved memory usage.
  
• Adjusted World 1, World 11, and World 12 themes.
  
• Adjusted fire dispenser fire spawn offset.
  
• Adjusted jump pad collider size and position.
  
• Ability ring now teleports the cat to the center if they're too far away by the end of the animation.
  
• Throwable items now get destroyed when going below the void line.
  
• Sped up cannon exit particles.
  
• Sped up button animations.
  
• Cannon build-up SFX pitch now matches the launch force.
  
• Adjusted NPC liquid sound falloff.
  
• Shortened hookshot SFX.
  
• Trimmed UI click sounds.
  
• Doubled throwable item receiver sound range.
  
• Optimized environment shape lines, world themes, lava shape, camera control code, environment shape decoration sprite rotations.
  
• Optimized certain interactions related to throwable items.
  
• Optimized performance of collision on certain items.
  
• Optimized fire and fire dispensers.
  
• Grammatical fixes and improvements.
  
• Added check to prevent unnecessary save file writes.
  
• Widened the playtesters section of the credits.
  
• Updated Discord logo.
  

[h3]Editor:[/h3]

• Creating a new pack now automatically gives the first world a default name (World 1).
  
• Expanded default new room.
  
• Lock-to-grid is now on by default in the editor.
  
• Having void line in a room is now mandatory.
  
• Moved pack sharing inside the editor and added the requirement to playtest the pack before sharing it.
  
• Certain sliders in the editor now show "infinite" as an option when applicable.
  
• Adjusted data editor button spacing.
  
• Updated textures for the prophet, NPC action, hint, and tutorial shapes.
  
• Editing a button that's connected to an item will now automatically switch to the connected item's page.
  
• Better button and hit item connection process.
  
• Buttons now draw a line to the item they're connected to.
  
• The editor now prioritizes items above shapes, and the spawnpoint above all else.
  
• Pack end doors now act like they end a pack in the editor.
  
• Toggleable platforms can now activate on collision.
  
• Increased cannon default force value. This will not affect older packs.
  
• Increased jump pad default force value. This will not affect older packs.
  
• Adjusted editor close button position.
  
• Adjusted void line handle position.
  
• Added singular spikes back into the editor.
  
• Added optional spawn delay for projectile dispensers.
  
• Added maximum world and room limits (both set to 25).
  
• Room editor now spawns in a spawnpoint if it's not present in a room for whatever reason.
  
• Items now spawn on grid when lock-on-grid is enabled.
  

[h3]Custom packs:[/h3]

• Added extra error checks for importing corrupted packs.
  
• Added community pack info UI.
  
• Adjusted community pack UI.
  
• Most recent packs now show up first in the pack list.
  

[h2]Fixes:[/h2]
[h3]General:[/h3]

• Fixed bug where item orbits wouldn't draw lines to the connected items.
  
• Fixed being able to jump and climb while activating the cat light ability.
  
• Fixed cat light ability not ignoring safe shapes.
  
• Fixed spores not changing color as they should.
  
• Fixed ability rings not switching the player to the default character when activated.
  
• Fixed beams not updating their end position when activated by a button.
  
• Fixed ice blocks activating doors even if the player wasn't in them.
  
• Fixed exiting to the title screen while the ability ring animation was playing causing the music to get muted.
  
• Fixed text prophecies stopping when an NPC died.
  
• Fixed non-matching mouth color when switching between characters.
  
• Fixed hookshot item line return indicator position not being reset properly.
  
• Fixed toggleble platforms sometimes not setting themselves into the proper state when switching characters.
  
• Fixed timed expression prophecies resetting when taking damage.
  
• Fixed the cat expression not returning to neutral after death.
  
• Fixed the cat sometimes having the wrong expression when starting a room.
  
• Fixed tutorials that were set to follow the player jittering when the player moved around.
  
• Fixed cat health expression not updating when switching rooms.
  
• Fixed lightning not doing proper distance checks in certain situations.
  
• Fixed the cat's face not acting properly after dying in a cannon.
  
• Fixed the cat not dying when being inside a hidden platform while it unhides itself.
  
• Fixed pipe exit not checking if the exit position was inside a wall.
  
• Fixed rare UI duplication bug.
  
• UI fixes.
  
• And many other bug fixes.
  

[h3]Editor:[/h3]

• Fixed certain reserved characters being allowed when creating a new room or world.
  
• Fixed world packs sometimes getting saved with empty GUIDs.
  
• Fixed rare bug where creating a corrupt item would cause editor to soft lock and not load the room properly.
  
• Fixed item lines forgetting what state they were supposed to be in.
  
• Fixed being able to move hookshot item line items in the editor.
  
• Fixed hookshot item line not spawning an item when first created.
  
• Fixed undeletable items being deletable if deleted along with other deletable items.
  
• Fixed being able to activate multiple ability rings at once.
  
• Fixed hookshotting into an ability ring allowing control during the animation.
  
• Adjusted which items can be put inside throwable items.
  
• Fixed camera not resetting rotation on editor mode switch.
  
• Fixed item duplication not being undoable in certain situations.
  
• Fixed item data editor staying open on editor mode switch.
  
• Fixed lights acting strangely in the editor.
  
• Fixed attaching a hookshot wall to an item line causing the wall to temporarily disappear.
  
• Fixed room editor not focusing on spawnpoint on room load.
  
• Fixed room info showing up in front of the item palette in the editor.
  
• Fixed renaming a room without saving afterwards causing a corrupted room.
  
• Fixed bug where editor creator name could be copied from a played pack.
  
• Fixed being able to connect certain items to lines and orbits that shouldn't have been able to be connected.
  
• Fixed hidden platform component not setting hidden state on duplication.
  
• Fixed very thin shapes becoming practically invisible.
  
• Fixed items on moving item lines not following curved paths properly.
  
• Fixed items with spinner components on them having their rotations effectively reset when a button connected to them was hit.
  
• Fixed bug related to empty talk prophecy text.
  
• Fixed theme prophecy causing an issue with auto pipes.
  
• Fixed interactable buttons not updating item rotation.
  

[h3]Abilities:[/h3]

• Fixed being able to spawn the Companion inside room geometry.
  
• Fixed cat ears and tail being left behind if the cat died in ice block form.
  
• Fixed ice blocks not doing proper horizontal space checks when spawning.
  
• Fixed getting stuck inside a wall if heading towards it as an ice block and changing direction just before the block was destroyed.
  
• Fixed the ice block being a bit too spammable.
  
• Fixed the cat sometimes getting stuck when transforming into solid form inside a grate.
  
• Fixed player being both inside and outside of a cannon if turning into liquid during a specific point in the cannon enter animation.
  
• Fixed being able to spam the cloud ability for unintended horizontal movement.
  
• Fixed dash cooldown visualizer not getting destroyed in certain cases.
  
• Fixed bug where the hookshot ability could sometimes be activated while the cat was dying.
  

[h3]Custom packs:[/h3]

• Fixed player being stoppable in an autopipe while the active prophecy prohibit control.
  
• Fixed community pack exit soft lock.
  
• Fixed buttons connected to pipes causing a soft lock.
  
• Fixed community pack room buttons not being positioned properly if there were more than ten in a single world.
  
• Fixed game not removing file remnants if a pack import failed.
  
• Fixed certain corrupted packs not being detected as corrupted.
  
• Added fixes for attempting to load corrupted packs.
  

(This is a modified version of a blog post from the Cats are Liquid Dev Blog.)

Let's start with the two biggest additions:



You can do world specific speedruns, or speedrun the entire game from beginning to end. The game gives you a timer and (if you've completed a speedrun of this specific type before) a live comparison to your previous time. Custom packs are also supported, provided that creator has marked it as supporting speedruns.




Each official world now has a challenge connected to it!

The difficulty of these challenges range from quite easy, to turning the room you're in into a giant puzzle where you need to think very carefully about your next move.

Challenges run automagically in the background, so you don't need to do anything special to start them. You'll also get an achievement when you complete a challenge!


[h2]New stuff for the editor[/h2]

There's liquid grates (kinda like those cloud grates, but they require you to be in liquid form to pass through), button prophecies (you can use a prophecy to activate a button, or multiple buttons), Companion activated prophecies, buttons that can be unpressed, and timed buttons. Oh, and some additional tweaks here and there too.


[h2]Skippable text[/h2]

Text prophecies that take control away from you can now be skipped! (Do note that this is just the text, the game doesn't just magically teleport you to the end of the interaction.) This is also supported in custom packs, provided that the creator of those has marked the prophecies as skippable. Skippable text is on by default in new packs.


[h2]A bunch of other stuff[/h2]

The changelog file I have is 175 lines long. That's pretty long.

Special thanks to the Cats are Liquid testing team!

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed dash / hookshot gravity not being reset properly at times.
  
• Fixed enemy lights turning off when the player entered a cannon.
  
• Fixed certain prophecies in specific circumstances causing corrupted packs in the editor.