Bits & Bops News

Welcome back for more patch notes!

This release brings a handful of new features that will make the game a more complete and polished experience, including pausing, input rebinding, and calibration options for players who are stuck using high latency devices. We've also made more fixes to the Custom engine which should enable it to run on more devices. If you're using the Fallback engine, you'll be switched back to the Custom engine automatically next time you launch the game. Please report any issues you encounter in our Discord server!

With the release of the input rebinding feature, we'd like to thank Nicolae Berbece (Xelu) for his Free Controllers & Keyboard Prompts pack! The pack is generously available in the public domain and saved us from spending a bunch of time drawing buttons. Thanks, Nick!

You can now also play the Bits & Bops demo in

• German - thanks to Drowzee!

We've also had substantial updates to many of our fan translations

• Chinese - thanks to Kirbysfan!
  
• Danish - thanks to Rapandrasmus!
  
• Korean - thanks to Big Jaekuk!
  
• Portuguese - thanks to Ghostabo and teu!
  
• Spanish - thanks to Valentin!
  
• Vietnamese - thanks to Trung!

Special thanks to all the translators!

[h3]Features added[/h3]

• Hit sounds can be pre-scheduled to enable latency calibration via the Settings menu
  
• Gameplay can now be paused using the Quit button (typically Start or Escape)
  
• Levels can now be restarted from the Pause menu
  
• Input is now rebindable via the Settings menu
  
• Keys and buttons are now displayed using glyphs appropriate for your input device
  
• After failing a tutorial, the game demonstrates the correct timing

[h3]Updates[/h3]

• Mouse input is now enabled by default in menus to enable WASD + left click menu navigation
  
• The "Hit X more!" text in Flipper Snapper no longer flashes on hit
  
• Tutorials will now cut earlier if the player hasn't successfully hit any cues
  
• Fading audio in and out now uses a more natural-sounding curve
  
• Error screens now ignore input for a short time to make them harder to accidentally dismiss
  
• Cursor locking is now configurable via the Settings menu
  
• The screen reader now consistently provides instructions to re-enable TTS when disabled
  
• The game will now automatically enable TTS if VoiceOver is enabled on macOS
  
• The game no longer automatically switches players to the Fallback engine on failure to initialise audio
  
• Autoplay can now be toggled from stage select via the Ctrl+A shortcut
  
• Mixtapes will no longer implicitly fade out if an explicit "end" block is used
  
• Error screens will now be read by TTS when it is enabled
  
• The game will now default to the user's locale for translation files for unsupported languages
  
• The in-game Discord links will now direct Thai users to the Thai channel
  
• The shared mode buffer size description setting no longer advises that it shouldn't be changed
  
• Switching to exclusive mode audio now requires confirmation to acknowledge potential side effects
  
• The custom engine now correctly handles more output formats, including the DualSense controller speaker
  
• The game now has generally faster and more consistent load times between scenes

[h3]Bugs fixed[/h3]

• The ocean sound volume in Flipper Snapper is now controlled by the Sfx setting (instead of the Music setting)
  
• The Flipper Snapper bubbling animation no longer leaves the last animation frame visible
  
• The mixtape unlock animation no longer plays when the file picker is cancelled
  
• Flash events in mixtapes can now be used in conjunction with the implicit ending fade out
  
• Audio no longer crackles when fading in or out on some devices
  
• Focus is now correctly lost and regained when clicking outside the window on macOS
  
• TTS no longer fails to read some dynamic menu items
  
• A rare TTS error no longer interferes with the game on macOS
  
• The screen reader is now correctly turned off when resetting all settings to default
  
• Flipper Snapper boat events for custom mixtapes now have a flag to check their lengths match the animation
  
• The fourth shelf and cabinet covers in stage select are now correctly aligned
  
• The game no longer uses the default font for some glyphs in some languages
  
• The game's title bar now correctly shows "Bits & Bops" on macOS
  
• Mouse input no longer fails after the first input on some Linux systems
  
• The game should generally run smoothly on more systems as a result of internal optimisations
  
• The game now generally outputs fewer warnings and errors under normal operation

As always, you can discuss the latest changes in our Discord server. See you there!

Welcome back for more patch notes!

This release brings some small quality of life improvements, along with lots of internal optimisations that should drastically increase performance on older devices. If you haven't already, you can head to the Video settings and try setting Queued frames to 1 (down from the default value of 2). If you're able to maintain a stable frame rate with this setting (which more devices should be able to with these optimisations), you'll experience a full frame less visual delay on your inputs. Wow!

You can now also play the Bits & Bops demo in

• Polish - thanks to Watercats!

Special thanks to all the translators!

[h3]Features added[/h3]

• The Ctrl+M shortcut to load custom mixtapes now also works on the stage select screen
  
• The custom engine on Windows now uses low latency shared mode audio by default if your audio device driver supports it

[h3]Updates[/h3]

• Flipper Snapper photos no longer incur excessive performance penalties when they are first shown and while they remain on screen
  
• Many internal optimisations should result in more stable frame rates, lower power consumption and lower load times on all devices
  
• On Windows, clicking the mouse in the client area to regain focus is now processed as a valid input

[h3]Bugs fixed[/h3]

• When using the default audio output device on Windows, the game will now automatically switch when the device changes (e.g. when headphones are plugged in)
  
• More keys (e.g. W/A/S/D/F/J) are now correctly handled on Linux
  
• When using the Fallback engine, volume changes now correctly apply to the in-game sounds
  
• Audio devices with more than 2 output channels are now handled correctly in more cases
  
• Animations no longer desync at the beginning of mixtapes
  
• Input is no longer locked in some cases for mixtapes that rely on implicit first game selection
  
• The save file is no longer able to become corrupted in cases of power loss or BSOD
  
• Custom mixtapes that show flashes on beat 0 will now have the starting flash colour extended to the first drawn frame
  
• Custom mixtapes that specify an explicit end beat will now cause audio to stop deterministically (independent of frame rate)
  
• The background clouds Flipper Snapper now loop properly in long custom mixtapes
  
• The sample mixtape no longer includes a meaningless duplicate flash event

As always, you can discuss the latest changes in our Discord server. See you there!

Welcome back for more patch notes!

We've received lots of great feedback for the screen reader support, and we've taken a lot of that on board for this release. If you're blind or visually impaired, please give it another go and let us know what you think in our Discord server! We've also included some translation updates for international players.

You can now also play Bits & Bops in

• Vietnamese - thanks to Đào Đức Trung!

Special thanks to all the translators!

[h3]Features added[/h3]

• The accessibility settings now include a "Narrate gameplay" option to enable additional narration during levels
  
• The custom audio engine now has a "Strict buffer" setting which can be disabled for compatibility with non-conforming output devices
  
• Linux now has basic screen reader support if spd-say is available (apt-get install speech-dispatcher)

[h3]Updates[/h3]

• Loading mixtapes now uses the native OS file picker, which is also accessible to screen readers
  
• Shortcuts on the disclaimer screen now also accept Shift in place of Ctrl
  
• The mouse cursor is only locked to the screen on valid mouse input
  
• The screen reader now describes more details on the title screen, stage select, tutorials and judgement screens
  
• The default Windows screen reader implementation now supports modern voices and configuration settings
  
• The Windows build now detects more running screen readers in addition to NVDA
  
• The default locale for Spanish has been changed to es-MX (from es-US)
  
• The X button can now be used in addition to the A button on controllers
  
• The custom audio engine now supports a wider range of audio formats to be compatible with more sound cards
  
• The custom audio engine now attempts to match your native device format for optimal speed and latency

[h3]Bugs fixed[/h3]

• The Japanese translation was mistakenly omitted and is now included in all builds
  
• Bubble pop events in Meet & Tweet are now consistently handled before bubble appear events
  
• The game no longer freezes in some cases on Linux when the audio device is in a bad state
  
• The custom audio engine now recovers from more invalid device state errors
  
• Screen reader pacing is now more consistent on non-Windows platforms
  
• Level names now use translated names in stage select if available
  
• The keyboard shortcut to enable accessibility (Shift+Win+A) now works reliably and is available on macOS (as Shift+Command+A)
  
• The game no longer crashes on Windows if text-to-speech fails to initialise
  
• The "sound check" text no longer disappears after changing language
  
• The modifier key for disclaimer screen shortcuts no longer sticks on macOS
  
• The "Screen flash" option now also disables the camera shutter on the Flipper Snapper title screen
  
• Clicking the mouse no longer interrupts the current screen reader dialogue
  
• Overlapping nails in Hammer Time customs now use consistent layering

As always, you can discuss the latest changes in our Discord server. See you there!

Welcome back for more patch notes!

This release brings Bits & Bops to even more users! In addition to several new fan-contributed translations, we've also added support for screen readers! This should be enabled by default if you have a screen reader active on your computer, or you can explicitly enable or disable it from the settings menu. If you're blind or visually impaired, please try it out and give us your feedback in our Discord server.

You can now also play Bits & Bops in

• Japanese - thanks to shiomichu!
  
• Russian - thanks to Lisenokk!
  
• French - thanks to Temulgeh and Romaing!
  
• Italian - thanks to Feder-28!

Special thanks to all the translators!

For macOS users, we noticed an oversight in the last build that meant users weren't being switched over to the custom engine by default. With this new release, you'll be switched over unless you've explicitly chosen the fallback engine in the settings. As usual, if you experience issues, please report them in our Discord server.

[h3]Features added[/h3]

• The game now supports narration with text-to-speech for blind and visually impaired users
  
• Custom mixtapes can now be loaded by pressing Ctrl+M on the disclaimer screen
  
• In-game volume controls now use a more natural-sounding curve
  
• Linux and macOS users can now explicitly select their audio output device in settings
  
• The mouse cursor is now locked to the screen during gameplay
  
• The in-game Discord link now points to the Polish channel if your system language is Polish

[h3]Updates[/h3]

• The kiss sound effect in Flipper Snapper now more closely matches the judgement timing
  
• Many fan translations have received updates from the contributors and our community
  
• The default game volume has been lowered for new players (but can still be increased in settings)
  
• The wren is now able to giggle for the last input of Meet & Tweet
  
• The Hammer Time "Cool" judgement text now ends with a full stop instead of an exclamation mark
  
• The custom engine now makes use of SSE2 instructions on Linux and macOS
  
• The bundled version of SDL2 has been updated to 2.30.0
  
• The included version of miniaudio on Linux and macOS has been updated to 0.11.21

[h3]Bugs fixed[/h3]

• The custom engine is now enabled by default on macOS
  
• The "Want more?" CD now animates in with the others on first play
  
• Photos taken in the Flipper Snapper tutorial now match the tutorial background
  
• The hammer no longer gets stuck if held at the end of the Hammer Time tutorial
  
• The in-game Discord link now points to the Chinese channel if your system language is Traditional Chinese
  
• Translations now use the correct title font on error screens
  
• The custom engine no longer preferences installed versions of SDL2 in /usr/local/lib over the bundled version
  
• The custom engine no longer fails to load SDL2 on macOS for some users
  
• Transitioning to the main menu from the splash screen can now be done with any button or key
  
• Unused audio settings are no longer present on macOS
  
• All randomised effects no longer exclude one of the choices for the first selection

[h3]Internal changes[/h3]

• Custom mixtapes with a large number of BPM changes no longer cause frame drops on some machines
  
• The camera now fades out consistently when quitting custom mixtapes
  
• Some missed judgement lines are now included in translation files
  
• The bubble animation in Flipper Snapper now scales with song BPM
  
• Reduce likelihood of block desync at beginning of Hammer Time in custom mixtapes
  
• Blocks used in Hammer Time outro animation in custom mixtapes are always the correct length
  
• Hit nails in Hammer Time can no longer become stuck on screen
  
• The exercise_2 bubble in Meet & Tweet customs now shows the correct sprite
  
• The canary's perch shadow in Meet & Tweet now scales with song BPM
  
• The sound effects and animations of speech bubbles in Meet & Tweet customs now match the main game
  
• Custom mixtapes no longer fail to load if open in another program
  
• Translation files now allow arbitrary grammar for the translator credit in the disclaimer screen
  
• Translation files can now specify a scaling factor for settings tab labels
  
• Translation files can now specify the separator used between option names and values
  
• Translation files can now specify the length at which audio device names are truncated
  
• Text bounds and overflow settings have been updated on multiple screens
  
• Decimals in numbers now use a locale appropriate for the chosen translation
  
• Where possible, valid content is used from invalid translation files
  
• Translation filenames are no longer required to match a list of known language names
  
• Judgement messages triggered by custom mixtapes can no longer bleed into the main game
  
• Several inconsequential warnings and errors no longer appear in the log file

As always, you can discuss the latest changes in our Discord server. See you there!

Welcome back for more patch notes!

This release brings Bits & Bops to the international community! We've had a whole bunch of new people discover the game, and a handful of dedicated fans have translated Bits & Bops into other languages.

You can now play Bits & Bops in

• Korean - thanks to Big Jaekuk!
  
• Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) - thanks to Kirbysfan!
  
• Portuguese (Brazillian) - thanks to Ghostabo and teu!
  
• Spanish - thanks to valentinmacc!
  
• Danish - thanks to Rapandrasmus!

Special thanks to all the translators!

We've also set up international channels in our Discord server, so if you want to talk about Bits & Bops in your language, now you can! If you like, you can also learn how to create your own translation and share it with your friends!

Finally, we've made some compatibility changes to the macOS build that should ensure the game runs on all supported devices. If you had trouble last time, please give it another go and let us know if it's still not working for you.

[h3]Features added[/h3]

• The game will now default to your system language if a translation is available for it (or you can select a language in the settings)
  
• The in-game Discord link now redirects users to the language channel that matches their system language (if there is one)
  
• Some text has been updated for simplicity and consistency

[h3]Bugs fixed[/h3]

• The custom engine no longer fails to load on some macOS systems
  
• Failure to load the custom engine now redirects users to the generic error screen
  
• The "Hit X more!" text fades out consistently in all tutorials
  
• All tutorials are now consistently skippable
  
• The "Want more?" card no longer produces a minor audio glitch when selected

[h3]Internal changes[/h3]

• Hammer Time mixtapes can now use more blocks before they start disappearing

As always, you can discuss the latest changes in our Discord server. See you there!