Isles of Sea and Sky News

[h2]v1.2b - Oct 5[/h2]
Bugs

• Fixed an issue where air elementals were causing a hard lock when used on the incorrect shards in the Sanctum.
  
• Tidal Reef D3: Fixed an issue where a sapphire could respawn on old save files imported to the new version.
  
• Fixed an issue with the end credits not rolling after skipping certain end game cutscenes.
  
• Minor visual and tile fixes.
  

Gameplay

• Frozen Spire C3: Upper right star area tweaked to avoid being trivialized with the kite cloak.
  

[h2]v1.2a - Sep 25[/h2]
Bugs

• Fixed a crash that could occur on Lost Landing B0 with old save files.
  
• Fixed a bug that was causing arrow blocks facing each other to both open if either side was activated (rather than both sides needing to be opened as intended).
  

System

• An "Exit Island" Feature has been added to the pause menu. Use this function to teleport back to the entrance on the overworld you used to enter the island. Does not work at the start of the game before exiting the Ancient Island. If used after entering an island with the phoenix, the player is returned to that landing room.
  
• Gamepad glyphs added for Steam controller support.
  
• Bulgarian and Romanian language support added.
  
• All islands except for Serpent Stacks now have maps.
  
• The in game timer is now precise and tracks / displays seconds on the end game screen.
  
• The game now properly saves and restores window position from the previous session.
  

Gameplay

• Frozen Spire Albatrosses have been reworked.
  
  • A question mark appears above birds of paths that have not been traversed yet.
    
  • The map shows indicators of traversed and not yet traversed paths.
    
  • Taking an albatross flight for the first time takes the player to the end of the flight path as it did previously, but now both albatrosses are unlocked.
    
  • When the player uses an albatross that has been unlocked, they can now choose to fly to any other unlocked albatross on the map.
    

Developer note: The previous system was confusing and frustrating for most players. The goal was a sense of discovery and mapping out the paths of the island as a sort of meta puzzle. I think the new system achieves those goals without the frustration. Previously, using each new albatross could feel like a more and more confusing web of paths with no rhyme or reason. The new system however makes unlocking each albatross a reward and makes getting around the island EASIER instead of more confusing.

• Some puzzles and parts of puzzles that were trivialized by the Kite Cloak have been reworked.
  

Developer note: Although the goal with items is to absolutely make some parts of puzzles easier or solvable in different ways, there were some cases where puzzles were made too easy with the Kite Cloak.

• Puzzle Availability and Reworks: The following puzzles have been made more clear that they are inaccessible, and / or have been generally reworked.
  
  • Stoney Cliffs B4 Gopher Glove requirement made more clear.
    
  • Tidal Reef D2, new gem puzzle.
    
  • Raging Volcano D0 Salamander Shirt required to approach the puzzle.
    
  • Spire B3 reworked.
    
  • Spire D3 reworked to make more interesting and also avoid confusion about accessibility.
    
  • Spire B2 top right star puzzle slightly reworked.
    
  • E4 Tweaked slightly to communicate the cloak requirement for the key.
    
• Removed some confusing hints at future content.
  
  • Dead end overworld paths removed.
    
  • Mysterious pedestals on Serpent Stacks removed.
    
  • Rooms that are basically inaccessible / contain future content are now blacked out on the map.
    
  • Eastern Shoal: Temporarily removed the pattern puzzle and added a new reward to this island.
    

Developer note: This puzzle is one of my personal favorites and will most definitely be making a return, however I feel it doesn’t currently fit with the style of gameplay and puzzles for the basic stars required for 100% completion. It will return in a future update with a non-star reward.

Art

• An indicator of which big bells have been rung has been added to the large stone that blocks the Beast Ridge for clarity.
  
• Added effects to the Frozen Spire egg incubators when the correct egg is in the player’s possession.
  
• Doubled the speed of the water elemental copy animation when copying an air elemental.
  
• Rune Stone artwork and item available effect updated.
  

Developer note: The goal is to make it clear that the Rune Stones in the god rooms are immediately available to the player without any items or upgrades, and that they are an important key item required for progression.

Bugs

• Fixed several bugs and inconsistencies between elementals and various elements such as rivers and shadow twins.
  
• Fixed various soft and hard lock issues.
  
• The 30 star stone in Tidal Reef A2 no longer shows a cost of 1 after the tide is lowered.
  
• Moved one of the possible positions of the idol statues on the Raging Volcano which could be come obfuscated by the streamer mode window.
  
• Some fixes to missing secret indicators.
  
• Minor localization fixes.
  
• Various map fixes.
  
• Various visual, tile, and collision fixes.
  

Woohoo!! We are honored to announce that Isles of Sea and Sky has been nominated for ⭐Best GameMaker Game 2024!!!⭐

Please vote for us here! ⬇️
https://gamemaker.io/en/blog/gamemaker-awards-2024-voting


Thank you very much! 🙏

[h2]v1.0 -> v1.2?[/h2]
v1.1 Ended up becoming much larger than originally expected. This update is large enough that it warrants skipping ahead in my versioning system.

[h2]Feature Preview[/h2]
The full patch notes are available on Discord, and will be posted here on Steam when it is ready for release. In the meantime, here’s a preview of some of the major changes:

• An “Exit Island” feature has been added. You can now quickly exit an island onto the overworld from where you entered using the pause menu.
  
• Frozen Spire Albatrosses have had a major rework.
  
• Quality of life improvements such as clarity of puzzle accessibility (Whether or not a puzzle is solvable at the moment).
  
• All islands now have a map excluding the Serpent Stacks.
  
• Romanian language has been added.
  

For some reason, this has been one of the most exciting moments for me along this game dev journey. It's not necessarily that huge, but I am ecstatic to announce that Isles of Sea and Sky has been officially approved for the Steam Deck!



- Jason

We love pixel art games, and we know you do too! So, let’s celebrate together 🎉 We’re super excited to share that Isles of Sea and Sky joins PixElated Festival today! This festival is featuring some of the best pixel art games on Steam. From retro-style classics to contemporary indie gems all in one place!

Check out the official line-up and more information about the event here: http://pixelatedfest.com/