The Pale Piper News

[p]Over the past week, the focus has been on bug fixes, softlock prevention, stability, and performance improvements. Many of them based directly on your feedback. Thank you for continuing to report issues and share suggestions.[/p][hr][/hr][h3]Steam Deck Verified[/h3][p]The Pale Piper got officially Steam Deck Verified ✅.[/p][p]Performance has been further optimized in this update, especially in larger areas that previously experienced minor FPS drops on Steam Deck. The game now runs at stable framerates across all levels.[/p][h3]Fixes and Improvements[/h3]

• [p]Improved overall performance and stability.[/p]
• [p]Controller hot-plugging (connecting/disconnecting controllers) now behaves and updates all prompts correctly, including on Steam Deck.[/p]
• [p]Save files created close to release could miss progression updates related to item pickups. This is now automatically corrected when loading the save.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the game could freeze after closing the Steam Overlay.[/p]
• [p]Resolved a rare softlock (previously hotfixed) and fixed another softlock discovered recently.[/p]
• [p]Slight adjustments to a few hazard and enemy hitboxes for improved consistency.[/p]
• [p]Minor NPC dialogue and behavior fixes.[/p]
• [p]Improved coin display near challenge unlock stations for better clarity.[/p]

[h3]Room Adjustments[/h3]

• [p]Tweaked several rooms that could feel a bit luck-based due to enemy setups. These sections should now feel more consistent and skill-driven.[/p]
• [p]Adjusted some enemy placements to improve flow in specific rooms.[/p]
• [p]Added new visual landmarks and refined certain decorations to improve clarity and navigation.[/p]

[h3]Thanks to the community[/h3][p]A big thank you to everyone providing feedback, reporting bugs, and sharing improvement suggestions. I read and consider everything.[/p][p]Some issues are quick fixes, others take more time, and a few may not fit the design direction. But all feedback helps make the game better.[/p][p]And thank you to everyone who has left a Steam review. It helps more than you might think. ♥️[/p][hr][/hr][p]As always, if you encounter any issues or notice something behaving incorrectly, please report it via the Community Hub or Discord.[/p]

[p]The Pale Piper is now officially Steam Deck Verified![/p][p]I built this from day one as a first-class Deck experience, playtesting every update on real hardware.[/p][p]You can check it out here,[/p][p]Deck optimization stays top priority for patches and content drops ahead.[/p][p]Thanks to everyone who tested and shared feedback. It made a real difference.[/p]

[p]Following several hotfixes in the days after release, this update focuses on stability, optimization, and input support, and lays the groundwork for further improvements and future updates.[/p][hr][/hr][h3]Achievements[/h3]

• [p]Over the last few days, multiple achievements that were not triggering reliably have been fixed.[/p]
• [p]With this update, all achievements should now unlock as intended.[/p]

[h3]PlayStation Controller Support[/h3]

• [p]Added native PlayStation controller support.[/p]
• [p]Button prompts now correctly display when using DualShock or DualSense controllers.[/p]
• [p]Xbox and Steam controller support and prompts were already available; this update adds proper PlayStation-specific prompts as an additional option.[/p]

[h3]Bomb Enemy Fix[/h3]

• [p]Fixed an issue where the bomb enemy could fail to explode under certain conditions.[/p]
• [p]This bug proved to be particularly persistent, so if you still encounter it please let me know.[/p]

[h3]Improved Visual Cue on Pipe Exit[/h3]

• [p]Clarified the visual cue that indicates how long rolling is possible after exiting a pipe.[/p]

[h3]Decorative Adjustments[/h3]

• [p]Corrected and cleaned up various background and foreground decorative elements.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some visual inconsistencies and misplaced assets.[/p]

[h3]Cleanup and Optimization[/h3]

• [p]General performance optimizations and internal cleanups.[/p]

[hr][/hr][p]If you encounter any new issues or notice something behaving incorrectly, please report it via the Community Hub or Discord.[/p][p]Thank you for all the feedback and support so far.[/p]

[p]This hotfix addresses several remaining issues and small inconsistencies.[/p]

• [p]Fixed an issue where the camera could remain zoomed out when teleporting from large rooms back to town[/p]
• [p]Fixed issues with the progress bar and progress counter so they now display correctly[/p]
• [p]Fixed two achievements that were not triggering consistently[/p]
• [p]Fixed several NPC-related bugs[/p]
• [p]Tweaked additional dialogue lines[/p]
• [p]Corrected and adjusted further decorative elements[/p]

[p]If you run into any new issues or notice something still behaving incorrectly, please report it via the Community Hub or on Discord.[/p]

[p]This update focuses on polish, fixes, and small improvements based on early feedback.[/p]

• [p]Significant file size reduction through asset and packaging optimizations[/p]
• [p]Improved wording and clarity in several tutorial lines[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where bomb enemies could trigger unintended chain explosions
  (If you still encounter this, please let me know)[/p]
• [p]Improved readability of several assets in High Contrast Mode[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the Bard NPC would not properly take items from the inventory[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug causing the Candle NPC to disappear[/p]
• [p]Fixed and adjusted additional decorative elements[/p]
• [p]Fixed the "Collect all coins achievement"[/p]

[p]If you encounter any new issues or regressions, please report them via the Community Hub or on Discord so I can address them quickly.[/p]