PogoChamp News

Surprise! In the last Weekly Progress Report I mentioned that I didn't expect to get very much done this week, and I'm happy to say I was very wrong! In the last few days I've added 5 new levels! Let me know what you think of them!



[h3]Leaderboard Replay Bugs[/h3]
I believe I've fixed the intermittent replay upload bug that I mentioned in last week's progress report. It turns out that some power users (like me and some speedrunners) were hitting the Steam Remote Storage cap that I'd set for the game. Simply going into the Steamworks settings menu and adjusting that number seems to have resolved the issue, which was great news. I did end up spending about 4 days over the last 2 weeks swapping to a different Steamworks C# library, but after realizing the change in the settings resolved the issue I scrapped that work. Let me know if you run into any other replay upload issues!

• FEATURE: Added new level: Slow Your Roll (Level 21)
• FEATURE: Added new level: Spin to Win (Level 35)
• FEATURE: Added new level: Push it to the Limit (Level 39)
• FEATURE: Added new level: Boxing (Level 62)
• FEATURE: Added new level: Push It 2: The Limit (Level 63)
• UPDATE: Adjusted Goal Zone hitbox so it matches the visuals better (slightly increased hitbox height).
  
• UPDATE: Added additional level entry points to the level select menu.
  
• BUG FIX: Fixed bug where trying to set Steam Rich Presence while not connected to Steam could cause errors.
  
• BUG FIX: Fix bug where Daily Challenge leaderboard would display an infinite spinner if not connected to Steam.
  

This week I actually ended up wasting a lot of time working on trying to integrate the Twitch API into the game. I got about halfway through adding support before I realized that it didn't really add anything to the game, and decided to just cut my losses and move on. This happens during game development, sometimes you think something is a good idea or will be fun, only to realize later that it doesn't actually add anything to the game.

I've also noticed that there are occasional bugs where leaderboard replays fail to upload under mysterious circumstances. In order to address this problem, I've decided to rework my Steam integration to use a different library that's more C# and less C++ focused. It's pretty scary to decide to "break" such a consequential feature, but I'm confident I'll be able to rebuild it better than it was before. I'm part of the way through the changes, and they're going well, so wish me luck!

For the next couple weeks I've got a friend staying with me and family in town for a visit, so I will probably have reduced productivity for a bit. I mainly work on PogoChamp in the mornings from 6-10am, and with someone staying in my guest room (where my computer is), I won't have as much time to work on it. Regardless, I hope to have the leaderboard replay fixes out soon, and then after that I'll be working on new levels (I finally have some new level ideas!).

This game update is the biggest yet! It includes:

• 2 new game modes
• 5 new levels
• 4 new achievements
• tons of bug fixes and other game improvements

• Standard: The old version of PogoChamp: beat levels quickly to earn stars and climb the tower.
  
• Survival: See how many levels you can beat with only 10 lives!
  
• Daily Challenge: 10 levels are chosen randomly, how many can you beat with only 3 lives! The levels change every 24 hours.
  

If you're looking to jump straight to the new levels, they are levels 42, 51, 54, 57, 58. I also reworked "Salmon" and it is now level 31. Don't forget you can use the "Quick Select" menu to quickly jump between levels (it's on the left side of the level select screen).

Can you guess what they are?

• BUG FIX: Prevent leaderboard uploads for offline Daily Challenges.
  
• UX: Add "time remaining" text to Daily Challenge start screen.
  
• UX: Disabled leaderboard UI when in offline Daily Challenges.
  
• BUG FIX: Changing leaderboard view type would load online records when viewing offline Daily Challenges.
  
• UX: Added previous and next buttons to Daily Challenge leaderboard screen.
  
• UX: Update various Daily Challenge leaderboard text to reflect that you might not be looking at today's leaderboard.
  
• UX: Disable "Start" button when looking at old Daily Challenges.
  
• FEATURE: Properly load leaderboards for old Daily Challenges.
  
• GAMEPLAY: Update demo level order so Maxi Golf is earlier.
  
• UX: Disable Survival and Daily Challenge modes in Demo builds.
  
• UX: Add text that explains that modes other than Standard are not available in the demo.
  
• UX: Don't show Rainbow Gems in game mode menu unless the player has collected all stars.
  
• DEV: Commonly used scenes are now stored in a ScriptableObject for easy reuse across objects / scripts.
  
• DEV: Add some helper methods for loading commonly used scenes.
  
• BUG FIX: Fix exception when clicking on Survival Mode leaderboard rows.
  
• FEATURE: Add support for replays that span multiple levels.
  
• FEATURE: Replays are now uploaded in Survival Mode and Daily Challenges.
  
• BUG FIX: Survival Mode leaderboard will now properly load after you submit a score.
  
• UX: Update Pause menu UI when watching Daily/Survival replays.
  
• UX: Add Next and Previous buttons to Daily/Survival mode pause menu.
  
• BUG FIX: Replay speed settings now carry over between levels when watching multi-level replays.
  
• BUG FIX: Fix bug that caused various playback issues in replays.
  
• UX: Remove Main Menu shortcut from Daily Challenge crashed UI.
  
• FEATURE: Survival mode replays now persist between loads, because you can exit and re-enter the same survival mode attempt.
  
• FEATURE: Survival mode replays are added to leaderboard entries.
  
• BUG FIX: Replays cameras now point in the proper direction when loading into levels.
  
• BUG FIX: Fix grid alignment on various levels.
  
• UX: Add error popups to Survival/Daily leaderboards.
  
• UX: Add "replay failed to load" popup to Survival/Daily leaderboards.
  
• UX: Daily Challenge menu now opens back to the page you were on when you come back from a replay.
  
• BUG FIX: Fixed bug where you could lose controller selection focus when returning to the Daily leaderboard while looking at old days.
  
• UX: Add page indicator dots to the Daily Challenge leaderboard screen.
  
• UX: Daily Challenge next & previous buttons appear different (instead of disappearing) when at the ends of the available viewable Daily Challenges.
  
• BUG FIX: Clicking the next or previous buttons no longer refreshes the leaderboard when you're already at the ends.
  
• BUG FIX: Daily Challenge personal bests were not being loaded correctly.
  
• BALANCE: Swap order of Zig Zag and No Floor, since No Floor seems easier.
  
• BUG FIX: "Downloading" popup in Survival/Daily leaderboard menu now properly covers the entire screen.
  
• BUG FIX: Daily Challenge Leaderboards were loading before player uploads completed.
  
• UX: Update text in crashed screen during Daily Challenges when you are out of lives.
  
• UX: Add new achievement and game mode menu icons.
  
• SYSTEM: Updated Steamworks.net version.
  
• BUG FIX: Exiting Survival Mode to the main menu after crashing could allow your life count to go below 0 without ending your Survival run.
  
• BUG FIX: Various other fixes to prevent Survival Mode runs from continuing with 0 lives.
  
• BUG FIX: Continuing survival mode from a previous save could result in starting with the wrong number of lives on subsequent retries.
  
• All of the changes from Weekly Progress Report #45
• All of the changes from Weekly Progress Report #44
• All of the changes from Weekly Progress Report #43
• All of the changes from Weekly Progress Report #42
• All of the changes from Weekly Progress Report #41
• All of the changes from Weekly Progress Report #40

The new update is almost here! This week I added lots of new features and bug fixes related to the new modes. There's still a few more things to fix, but I'm hoping to have it ready next week. Thanks for your patience!

• FEATURE: Survival Mode leaderboards now work.
  
• BUG FIX: Fix regression that caused options menu tooltips to display the wrong text color.
  
• UX: Hide Speedrun Timer and don't count time if you're in Survival / Daily Challenge mode.
  
• GAMEPLAY: Swap order of Salmon and Flying Fish now that Salmon is easier.
  
• BUG: Fix bug that caused the game to StackOverflow when you successfully beat a Survival or Daily Challenge mode run.
  
• GAMEPLAY: Reorder a bunch of levels around levels 30-50.
  
• FEATURE: Add 4 new achievements.
  
• UX: Update Level Select geometry & path positions.
  
• FEATURE: Daily Challenge settings are now fetched from a the PogoChamp server.
  
• FEATURE: If for some reason you can't connect to the server, will generate a local Daily Challenge.
  
• FEATURE: Add popup to Main Menu that tells you if your game is out of date.
  
• FEATURE: Added loading and error popups to Daily Challenge selection.
  
• FEATURE: Added a screen before starting Survival Mode or Daily Challenge that shows the leaderboard and your personal best.
  
• UX: Ranks are now included in Survival Mode leaderboard.
  
• UX: Flag current user on Survival Mode leaderboards.
  
• BUG: Fix bug where Daily Challenge personal bests were not loaded correctly.
  
• BUG: Fix bug where Daily Challenge scores were not uploading to the leaderboard.
  
• BUG: Fix bug where you could not navigate to the Survival Mode leaderboard with a controller.
  
• BUG: Fix bug where UI navigation focus could jump to Achievement notifications.
  
• FEATURE: Daily Challenge leaderboards will now be created automatically if none exists for the current day.
  
• UX: Change empty text for Survival and Daily Challenge leaderboards to be more encouraging.
  
• BUG: Fix bug where leaderboards were displaying global information even when you were in friend mode.
  
• BUG: Fix bug where leaderboards could display duplicate entries when you complete a level.
  
• UX: Survival Mode pause menu now displays properly formatted time.
  
• VISUAL: Fix grid alignment on Flying Fish & Slope Progression.
  
• BUG: Fix bug where mouse hover didn't select elements in Survival Mode leaderboard screen.
  
• BUG: Fix click hitbox on Survival Mode display type header.
  
• UX: Reduce minimum display time of achievement notifications in Survival Mode.
  

This week I continued to work on the new game modes. They're really starting to come together, and I've fixed a ton of bugs that adding them introduced. The biggest tasks remaining are finalizing the Leaderboard support, and doing a little bit of extra validation for Daily Challenge level selection and leaderboard uploads.



==== WARNING: Mild spoilers beyond this point ====

• FEATURE: Update Pause menu to support Daily Challenge mode.
  
• FEATURE: Running out of lives now ends Survival Mode & Daily Challenge runs.
  
• BUG FIX: Fix bug where times were doubled when you crashed in Survival mode.
  
• FEATURE: Add end screen to Survival Mode.
  
• IMPROVEMENT: Better handling of Pause menu edge cases during Survival mode.
  
• IMPROVEMENT: Adjust level select geometry to be less cumbersome on later levels.
  
• FEATURE: Survival Mode uploads scores to the leaderboard.
  
• FEATURE: Proof of concept Daily Challenge scores uploaded to leaderboard.
  
• BUG FIX: Fix bug in Bullet Hell where animations would continue to play on destroyed objects.
  
• BUG FIX: Fix bug where you could unlock stars while playing Survival mode.
  
• BUG FIX - REGRESSION: Fix regression where achievement notifications would not disappear if you changed scenes.
  
• BUG FIX: Fix controller / KB navigation in game mode selection menu.
  
• FEATURE: Implement "Reset Progress" buttons inn game mode selection menu.
  
• IMPROVEMENT: Resetting progress in the profile menu no longer resets achievements.
  
• FEATURE: Add confirmation message when resetting progress in game mode selection menu.
  
• IMPROVEMENT: Game Mode selection menu buttons now properly update after progress is reset.
  
• BUG FIX: Game Mode selection button text would display with the wrong color when it was selected after you reset your progress.
  
• BUG FIX: Survival mode stats would record in other mode, meaning your level and time would update even while playing Standard mode.
  
• BUG FIX: Time text on Survival Mode button was using incorrect number formatter.
  
• IMPROVEMENT: Survival mode leaderboard entries now include additional information, like level you got to, lives remaining, etc.
  
• IMPROVEMENT: Updated Salmon level so that each pool of water is about twice as large. The level is now a lot less cumbersome/frustrating now.
  
• IMPROVEMENT: The new Salmon level and the old Salmon level have separate leaderboard entries, to prevent scores from old versions of the game from conflicting.
  
• IMPROVEMENT: Added a warning sign to the legs on Jailbreak to make it clear that the legs can break.
  
• IMPROVEMENT: Added solid walls to Target Practice so that ragdolls don't clip through the "reset" zone.
  
• BUG FIX: The gain points SFX would trigger in Target Practice and Skee-Ball when your position reset even if you gained 0 points.
  
• BUG FIX - REGRESSION: Fix regression where the camera wasn't properly resetting in Skee-Ball.
  
• BUG FIX - REGRESSION: Revert other camera changes that resulted in the camera not moving properly in certain situations.
  
• BUG FIX - REGRESSION: Options Menu tooltip text was displaying with the wrong color.