WORMHOLE News

v1.2.2

STEAM FUNCTIONALITY

[h3]STEAM RECORDING[/h3]

Integrated Steam Timeline API to show special events / clips on the Steam Recording timeline
See here for more details

[h3]STEAM RICH PRESENCE[/h3]

Let's your buddies know how bad you're doing
Shows current game mode, ability, stage, score, and time
See here for more details

STUFF YOU'LL FEEL (Design)

[h3]SECTOR MAP[/h3]

Sector Variants on the map now each roll their own perk table
Changes decision making / expands perk choices / varies runs more

[h3]WORMHOLES[/h3]

Wormholes now telegraph where they are going to go before they pop in!
Obstructed wormhole telegraphs will flash to indicate the worm needs to MOVE

[h3]STAGES[/h3]

7a-1: Fixed two separate stardust trails getting spawned as one
12B-1: Shifted walls down-left to give worm spawn point some breathing room

[h3]INPUT[/h3]

Worm no longer allows dangerous directional input right out of spawn
Greater fail proofing for u-turn buffered input
Improved claw perfect chomp input consistency

[h3]STAR TRAILS[/h3]

Dots now show up immediately upon spawning, allowing for instant collection without sync issues
Animation in effect still plays, but collection is no longer tied to it
Better edge case handling to hopefully allow you to get more Supernovas
Looser autopiloting, ensuring you can't be forced into collisions
Removed initial latching lock that stalled input
Disengaging from auto trails is more intuitive, requiring you to hold the direction you want to break into rather than a double tap (this often lead to confusion / accidental disengagement)
Yeehaw Specific: Trigger a full reload when completing a stardust trail

[h3]BONUS STAGE(s)[/h3]

Fixed alien spawn/movement desync on bonus stages (using the scripted game director)
Added Wormhole switching to bonus stages

[h3]GAMEPLAY SETTINGS[/h3]

CROSSHAIR
- Shows a crosshair for worms that "shoot" things. (Yeehaw and claw)
- Defaults: ON
GRID
- Shows a dotted grid on game screen.
- Defaults: OFF
TURBO CHOMP
- Repeats chomp input while button is held.
- Replaced "Turbo", is better suited for accessible play / works with "Directions Only" control scheme
- Defaults: OFF

[h3]PERKS[/h3]

Removed BAG OF WORMHOLDING perk, as the sector map perk implementation doesn't need this anymore (you will be missed!)

STUFF YOU'LL SEE (Visuals)

[h3]I'M BITING YOU I'M BITING YOU I'M BITING YOU[/h3]

Added biting animations to all worms!

[h3]GAME FINALE[/h3]

Even more polish
It's so cool guys
Beat the game

[h3]END GAME SCREEN[/h3]

Shows all stardust collected instead of just stardust trail completion (big number look cooler)
Added worm head next to score stat
Added hourglass icon to time stat

[h3]GRAPHICS SETTINGS[/h3]

Updated "Graphics Cost" text to "Performance Cost"
FRAME WOBBLE
- Makes frame dynamically wobble with game action.
- Defaults: ON
BACKGROUND STARS
- Shows stars and star effects on the game screen.
- Defaults: ON

[h3]OTHER VISUALS[/h3]

Cooler wormhole pop-in/out effects
Cooler stardust collection effects
Yeehaw cowboy worm tilts their hat back when shooting
Changed Juice perk icon to help with confusion between it and the Molasses perk

STUFF YOU'LL HEAR (Audio)

[h3]PERK VO[/h3]

Voice over audio announcements for each perk collected.

[h3]MARATHON MUSIC SHUFFLE[/h3]

In marathon mode music tracks are played on shuffle instead of one song on loop.

THAN'S BACKEND (Code)

Scripted game director to allow finer controls / timing for things that need it (ie. bonus stages)
Claw gameplay has been tightened to have more consistent timings / better collision detection
Marathon mode no longer halts energy / critter spawning on each stage increase
Better critter spawn distribution (prevents excess clumping)
Added retry limit to critter spawning so they don't try spawning forever / lockup up the system
Introduced seeding into weighted random class
Game no longer freezes when losing focus, instead just pauses the game
Porter chopper sound no longer starts too early

[h3]Lil bug fixes[/h3]

Fixed some entities resuming time during unpause countdown / level end
Fixed sorting on "Marathon Stages Unlocked" banner
Fixed star trails registering grid spaces before they are fully ready (previously caused issues if collecting before spawn task finished)

As always, please reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns! The fastest way is through our community Discord server, but we are also reachable here, via email ([email protected]), or across social media (links below).

WE'RE STEAMDECK VERIFIED!!!

It’s official! WORMHOLE is now Steam Deck Verified. Now you can finally officially play it on your Steam Deck… officially.

If you have been waiting for this to get WORMHOLE, now's the time! If you already have it, why not leave us a review to let us know what you think!

As always, we can be contacted here, on our community Discord server, or via email ([email protected]) with any questions, comments, or concerns.

See you on the leaderboards!

v1.2.1

[h2]Stuff you'll see (Visuals)[/h2]

Leaderboard entries that were game wins now have a lil star flair next to their placement
Time Bonus popup is more prevalent
Cleaner gameplay entrance
- Removed unnecessary UI sounds on enter
- Combo bar sliiiiiiides in all smooth like
Updated game finale to be more GRAND

[h2]Stuff you'll feel (Design)[/h2][h3]Combo Rebalancing[/h3]

Before this update combo scoring was calculated linearly as `score = combo
100`. This essentially meant that 2 small combos (ie, 2x25) were worth the same as 1 large combo (ie. 50).

Now it uses a more complicated function:

comboScore = (1 - cos((combo * PI)/(2 * maxComboNumber{100})) * maxComboScore{20000}

You can see a visual of this here.

If this freaks you out, all you need to know is that larger combos are now rewarded more heavily than multiple smaller combos.

[h3]Time Bonus Rebalancing[/h3]

Before this update time bonuses were very simple, complete the stage under 30 seconds you get 5000 points, under 60 seconds you get 1000 points

Now it's calculated using a linear function

timeBonus = min(maxTimeBonus{10000}, maxTimeBonus{10000} - (seconds - startTimeBonus{10}) * step{200}

You can see a visual of this here.

Simply put:
- Under 10 seconds = 10 000
- After 10 seconds = -200 points per second
- (So at 30 seconds = 6000, at 60 seconds = 0)

[h3]Claw BUFF[/h3]

Claw now also drops scatter bombs on BITE action while reeling in

[h3]Two new Gameplay Settings[/h3]

Simple Walls
Makes walls blank (avoids distracting patterns)
Slow Wormholes
Makes travelling through wormholes WAAAY slower

[h3] And then some...[/h3]

Made porters a bit more patient in end game instead of nopeing out immediately
Bumped bottom stardust trails on Zone 1-1 down one unit for better symmetry

[h2]Than's Backend (Code)[/h2]

Made stage hashing no longer generate every change in order to retain leaderboard identifier
You can now pause and exit the game finale without breaking your run
Lot of lil bug fixes
- Fixed bug where "CHOMP" button prompt was visible in pause screen / stage outro
- Fixed bug where some rumble effects would still go off even when config specifies no rumble
- Fixed bug where stardust trail score popup values (display only) would leaks into later score popups
- Fixed bug where stardust autopiloting was restricting movement in dangerous moments (this has been causing a lot of end game deaths)
- Fixed bug where directional input mode was not allowing forward eat actions while navigating stardust trail
- Fixed bug where entities being held by worm were not being destroyed on zone completion
- Fixed bug where porters would navigate off stage if travelling wormholes near the edges
- Fixed bug where Sector Select minimap was improperly highlighting the last sector visited
- Fixed issue on low end platforms where countdown (3 2 1) would be inconsistently timed

WORMHOLE IS OUT NOW!

[h3]Eat 'em all.[/h3]

WORMHOLE is now available for purchase! We're so excited to share it with you all and truly hope you enjoy playing. From us here at Pocket Moon Games, thank you!

As always, we can be contacted here, on our community Discord server, or via email ([email protected]) with any questions, comments, or concerns.

DEMO LEADERBOARDS ARE LIVE!

Just in time for Next Fest, leaderboards are now live in the WORMHOLE demo! Compete against your friends and players globally to have the highest scores in Regular and Marathon modes! Scores submit automatically upon completing a run, so you can focus on jumping back in and setting a new personal best.

We're very excited to be participating in our first ever Steam festival, so please help us make it a memorable one! We look forward to seeing you all beat our high scores!

Please contact us here on Steam or via our email if you encounter any issues with scores submitting.