Soundodger 2 News

Hi Again,

I wasn't too long this time, was I? An update went live in the beta branch a few days ago, and now that my sanity has been confirmed, here is that same update for all players with a few more bugs squashed along the way.

If you missed out on 0.5.2's patch notes, please refer to this post.

See you next month for some new bangers!

♥Bean

changelog v0.5.3 Main

• Fixed bullets sometimes not disappearing when surviving rewind
  
• Changed OOB-disobeying rubber bullets to fulfill their bounce quota before leaving the arena "forever" (-1 bounce rubbers will continue to bounce forever)
  

Editor

• Fixed lots of odd behavior with stream bullets inside prefabs (dragging duration bar, changing pattern type, etc)
  

Happy New Year!

The team (yes, team) has been working hard on new levels, but those still need a little more time in the oven. In the meantime, a bunch of tiny changes have been made that may or may not have huge consequences when I read this week's bug reports. Let's get to it!

You may notice some levels looks a little different. Parallel aim logic has been updated to be more consistent, so if a parallel pattern is now wrong, let the level creator know so they can fix it. Also, bullets that disobey OOB rules now simply ignore the arena border, so they will continue "forever".

For level creators, there is a new purpose for text: always_on, which displays text even if the player has lyrics and commentary turned off. There is no idication/option to turn it off from Level Select.

A new clear type, stop, has been added that sets bullet speed to 0. If a bullet is stuck in the arena, it's your job to eventually remove it via gravity, a regular clear, or some other clever way. Super stops also exist, too, so you can have quite a bit of control.

Bullets now have a new advanced option: survive rewind. This allows them to be kept in memory when a negative timewarp sends them back to before they were fired. During this time, they are invisible, but can still be affected by twist and gravity, which almost makes sense. Once timewarp sends them forward in time enough to have existed, they are "fired" again.

That's it for now. Look forward to a giant content update next month!

Happy Dodging,
♥Bean

changelog BETA 0.5.2
Gameplay

• Changed text in Seventeen & Something to be always_on (no longer lyrics)
  
• Changed Phantom difficulty label from normal to advanced
  
• Added minor patterns in init4cheapthrills (easy+advanced)
  
• Changed minor patterns in Shared Buffer Memory (advanced+expert)
  
• Changed minor text animations in Modular Origami (easy+advanced)
  
• Fixed new practice point keeping camera unlocked when arena was large
  
• Changed homing bullets to be affected by gravity when not actively homing
  
• Changed bullets to animate their rotation when changing direction
  
• Changed bullet spin animation to match speed changes from gravity
  
• Fixed enemies not appearing when restarting practice after they left the arena
  

Editor

• Added new purpose for text: always_on
• Added stop clear (sets bullet speed to 0)
  
• Added survive rewind to advanced bullet properties
  
• Fixed error when changing a bullet type to one with fewer available colors than what's currently selected
  
• Improved load time for editor (waveform displays gradually after loading)
  
• Changed obeyOOB to also prevent bullets from interacting with the arena border
  
• Reduced valid characters accepted in layer names to prevent odd behavior when reloading levels
  
• Fixed parallel aim combinations giving inconsistent angles (this may break older levels)
  
• Changed game visuals to update when extra marker is deleted
  
• Fixed wrong pattern shooting from enemies when editor is lagged (e.g. by lots of text)
  

Misc

• Added thumbnail preview when clicking thumbnail of active song
  

Didn't think you'd see me so soon? You must be new here. A few tiny things were addressed by our stellar discord community, and who am I to let them linger during the holidays? Details below!

♥Bean

changelog v0.5.1

• Fixed practice points displaying inaccurate times for longer levels
  
• Fixed levels unlocking before their requirement is met
  
• Changed rubber bullets to invert their friction when rewinding
  
• Reverted bullet amount change from yesterday's update
  
• Updated init4cheapthrills audio
  
• Added noto thin font. This is where those extra Unicode symbols can be found now.
  
• Changed safety in the sun challenge text to be noto thin
  
• Removed a hidden song no one found
  
• Changed shadow clones to hurt player if they rest on top of it (5sec immunity at level start)
  
• Editor: Improved inaccurate behavior of bullets when time jumping in a resource-heavy level
  

Greetings Dodgenation,

It's been a long 2 months, but I am back again with another banger of an update, including 15 more levels for your dodging pleasure, along with the newest member of the bullet family: rubber bullet! Combined with some new tricks in the Editor and a more accessible way to practice levels, you won't even realize another couple months have gone by when the next update drops.

Speaking of which, I've mentioned before this game would reach 1.0.0 by "Fall 2022", and with only a few hours remaining of that window, let's just cut to the chase - Soundodger 2 will be delayed until next year. Rest assured regular updates will continue to be churned out. I decided this year to take my time, save some sanity, and still be able to make this game the best it can be. Cool?

There are no new artists introduced this time around, but the songs coming to you are no less amazing than usual. And the true Soundodger fans will no doubt recognize a few returning hits...

If you'd like a gander at some of the new stuff, I put together a little video to showcase them here.

As always, the full story can be found in the patch notes below.

Happy holidays and happier dodging,
♥Bean

changelog v0.5.0
Gameplay

• Added rubber bullet
  
• Updated audio mix (and length) for Evening
  
• Removed duplicate bullet in Shared Buffer Memory (expert)
  
• Buffed powerups (radius +50% except for zip, duration +67%, cooldown -45% except for zip)
  
• Added additional timer visual for powerups and made blast & zip borders dotted
  
• Added practice point display when in practice mode. Use mouse wheel to jump between points (not in main levels yet)
  
• Added audio previewing when idling in any area in practice mode choose
  
• Changed blast powerup to also destroy disobeying clear bullets
  
• Fixed cam tilt being off by default in new save file
  
• Fixed dome spawning directly on player not pushing it out of the way
  
• Fixed gameplay not fully pausing when paused (this hopefully fixes the memory leak too)
  
• Fixed legacy levels not allowing bullets to rewind before when they were shot
  
• Fixed enemies not reappearing after they left when restarting in practice mode
  
• Fixed stream/multirow amounts not rounding correctly
  
• Fixed ripple bullets being larger than they should be on frame 1
  
• Fixed not being able to move to center during practice mode choose if there is a center enemy
  
• Fixed restarting practice making DK bullets increase in size each time
  
• Fixed rain bg still playing during results screen
  
• Fixed player hitbox becoming distorted when pushed outside of the arena by a dome
  
• Fixed player collision happening when using zip power up
  
• Fixed heart not displaying inside player when "hidden" mod is turned on, even if mods are inactive
  
• Fixed enemies appearing at start of level when they have nothing to shoot
  
• Fixed incorrect visuals when finishing a practice level that was started via the pause menu
  
• Improved animation of rain bg
  

Editor

• Added shift+click on a second marker/anchor/bookmark to select all between (including layers)
  
• Added support for additional Unicode symbols in noto font (25A0-25FF)
  
• Added practice point toggle to bookmarks
  
• Added dynamic event view to show large values. Toggle with Ctrl+E or via Settings > Visuals
  
• Added display for bullet colors in bullet marker dropdown of marker deck
  
• Changed filters to be able to stack simultaneously
  
• Changed custom difficulty input box to hide in settings when custom is not chosen
  
• Fixed create prefab button displaying within a prefab (and being able to create one via keyboard)
  
• Fixed pasting bullet marker data to bullets within a prefab not updating looped icons as well
  
• Fixed timeline zooming when scrolling mouse wheel in fullscreen preview
  
• Fixed arrow keys selecting stuff and zooming when in fullscreen preview
  
• Fixed overlapping UI when pasting a copied bullet while a bookmark is selected
  
• Fixed distributing bookmarks evenly sometimes giving wrong results
  
• Fixed softlock when deleting text marker while color picker is open
  
• Fixed being unable to import legacy levels via settings
  
• Fixed anchors with values close to 1 incorrectly displaying "1" on their labels
  
• Fixed multiselected streams/filters/text/domes changing to same duration if an unrelated slider is changed
  

Misc

• Added arena guide toggle to Options > Gameplay
  
• Added Esc as a way to go back to the Title screen from the Editor Welcome screen
  
• Changed Cam tilt and fx to be on same line in Options > Gameplay
  
• Fixed locked level not unlocking when getting the exact score needed in Level Select
  
• Removed Ctrl as input button across all menus
  

We've resolved an issue with certain players that would softlock their game when attempting to view the main levels. Should be fixed!

♥Bean