Seconds Till Destruction News

[p]Hello![/p][p]After way too many delays and technical issues, the long awaited Leaderboard update is finally here![/p][p]Who's #1? It's not actually me.[/p][p][/p][p]See how you stack up against other players on the global leaderboards! [/p][p]At launch, there are two leaderboards available to show off your skills: Classic (No Mutators) and Mutator Roulette. Mutator-enabled leaderboards will be coming at a later date, whenever I'm able to work out the technical issues with them.[/p][p]You can also challenge other players, which will copy their run settings and give you a chance to beat their high score! If you want to read more about how challenges work, check out this post:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]For Supporter Pack owners, you'll be able to flex your Supporter status on the leaderboards with a gold name! It won't make you any better at the game though.[/p][p][/p][p]Always believe in your soooooul.[/p][p][/p][p]If you want this and some other optional goodies, you can grab the Supporter Pack here:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]Finally (and unrelated to leaderboards), I also added Ricochet Rounds support for the Laser Gun:[/p][p][/p][p]I used this gif in a previous announcement so I'll make the most of it.[/p][p][/p][p]Working on this update alone has been incredibly challenging, so I wasn't able to squeeze in much else with this patch. Hopefully, I'll be able to add some things here and there more regularly in the future.[/p][p]But anyways, here's the rest of the patch notes![/p][p][/p][p]Size: 4.7 MB[/p][h3]Tweaks & Additions[/h3]

• [p]Added Leaderboards![/p]
  • [p]See who the top players are in the Classic (No Mutators) and Mutator Roulette leaderboards.[/p]
  • [p]Challenge other players to copy their run settings and beat their high scores.[/p]
• [p]The Laser Gun can now ricochet with the Ricochet Rounds mutator enabled.[/p]
• [p]Updated the localization files.[/p]

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed being able to softlock the Game Over screen by pausing exactly one frame before you died. (I have no idea how Tryx managed to do this.)[/p]
• [p]Fixed the Ricochet Rounds mutator not applying if a projectile hit a wall too early.[/p]
• [p]Fixed icons on the Play menu blocking mouse focus and input.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue with Mutator Roulette's duplicate protection that could cause runs to differ even with the same seed.[/p]

[p][/p][p]As always, thank you for playing the game, and an extra thank you to the playtesters who helped me catch some bugs with the Leaderboards![/p][p]Zdann[/p][p][/p]

[p]Hello![/p][p][/p][p]After way too many delays (and some unfortunate news I'll be mentioning later in this post), the Leaderboard update is almost upon us. [/p][p][/p][p]I'm still doing some more polishing and testing, but in the meantime, here's a preview of the Leaderboard Challenge feature![/p][p]Bet you can't beat my score.[/p][p][/p][p]The way it works is simple: find someone with a high score, then tell 'em you can do better than that by hitting the "Challenge" button in the bottom right corner:[/p][p]It's not too late to turn back.[/p][p][/p][p]Once you've hit OK, you'll start a run with their exact same settings, including their seed and unlocked weapons. You'll also see the score you have to beat in the corner of your screen, in case you forget:[/p][p]Having second thoughts?[/p][p][/p][p]If you don't beat their score, you can either try again, or live with your failure and walk away in shame:[/p][p]Told you.[/p][p][/p][p]But should you succeed, you'll feel pride and the sense of accomplishment. That is to say, you don't get anything at all. Maybe I could add an achievement?[/p][p][/p][p]Now that this feature has been properly shown off, I can get to that "unfortunate news" I mentioned earlier:[/p][p][/p][p]On launch, you won't be able to upload scores to the leaderboards with Mutators enabled.[/p][p][/p][p]Steam's Leaderboards normally allow for only 256 bytes of data to be stored; I use this to store information like the run seed and player level so that you can challenge other players and copy their run. [/p][p]Mutator information is currently too large to squeeze within those 256 bytes. In the worst case scenario, a player could have 15 different mutators enabled, most of which have tweakable settings that also need to be stored.[/p][p]However, there is a workaround: you can store additional data on the leaderboard in the form of a (hidden) Steam Workshop item. Sadly, this functionality is broken in the current version of GodotSteam, and the patch that would've fixed it was delayed due to the lead developer losing their progress on it.[/p][p]I don't want this patch to be delayed any further due to circumstances outside of my control, so it will be shipping without Mutator support. Sorry to anyone looking forward to setting ridiculous high scores with a silly Mutator combo.[/p][p]That being said, I will be exploring alternative ways to store Mutator data more efficiently, and also praying for the GodotSteam patch to come out.[/p][p][/p][p]On a lighter note, you might've noticed that my name on the Leaderboard is gold. This is an extra perk I'm adding to the Supporter Pack, which does absolutely nothing besides making you stick out. I hope you enjoy it.[/p][p][/p][p]As always, thanks for reading![/p][p]Zdann[/p]

[p]Hello! [/p][p][/p][p]Not too much to share this time, but I just wanted to let everyone know I'm still working on things![/p][p][/p][p]I didn't give a concrete release date for the Leaderboards update (besides saying eventually™), but admittedly it's progressing a bit slower than I wanted. This was mostly because I was terribly sick for 2 weeks and couldn't get anything done, but also because I was still trying to figure out Steam's Leaderboard API.[/p][p][/p][p]I have a pretty good idea of how things work now, so I have the functionality for uploading/downloading run info implemented. But I'm currently waiting for the next GodotSteam update coming out sometime this week; it fixes an issue preventing me from storing some extra info on the leaderboards.[/p][p][/p][p]Since I can't exactly show the functionality, I'll just show off some other things instead.[/p][p][/p][p]First off, another slightly adjusted mock-up of the Leaderboard UI, with some buttons re-arranged and added:[/p][p]It's actually a partial mock-up since some of it is functional. I have a debug UI to populate the leaderboard info from the API, but it's not shown here.[/p][p][/p][p]I also got some feedback that the Laser Gun not working with the Ricochet Rounds mutator was, quote, "heartbreaking". Thankfully, this terrible oversight will be addressed in the next patch:[/p][p][/p][p]Biu biu biu.[/p][p][/p][p]That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the feedback![/p][p]Zdann[/p][p][/p]

[p]Hello! [/p][p]In lieu of an update (and because I'm sick at the moment), I decided to give a sneak peek at something I'm working on.[/p][p]I've gotten a couple of requests to add Leaderboards so you can gloat about your high scores to the entire world, and I'm happy to say they will be coming eventually™.[/p][p][/p][p]This is just a mock-up of the UI.[/p][p][/p][p]Here's how I want the Leaderboards to work:[/p]

• [p]There will be three different Leaderboards: Classic, Classic (No Mutators), and Mutator Roulette.[/p]
• [p]The Leaderboards are sorted by High Score, but you can also view other info like the run seed or which Mutators a player had enabled.[/p]
• [p]You can "Challenge" a player to beat their high score, which will start a run using their exact settings (such as unlocked weapons, Mutators, and seed).[/p]

[p]This is still very early in development, so I can't say when this will be releasing.[/p][p]If you have any thoughts or suggestions, feel free to share them.[/p][p][/p][p]Thanks for reading![/p][p]Zdann[/p]

[p]Hello![/p][p][/p][p]Turns out fixing issues with the window size not being saved led to even more issues, like the window being positioned off screen. But this patch should fix the issues caused by the fix to the previous issues. Such are the joys of game development.[/p][p][/p][p]I've also done a few tweaks to hopefully improve performance for people on lower end hardware. You might think a 2D pixel art game wouldn't need any optimization. I thought so too, until I got a report from someone running the game under the minimum requirements getting 8 FPS. The horror![/p][p]While there wasn't too much I could do, I did do the following:[/p]

• [p]Did an optimization pass on the HUD so it isn't using layers upon layers of CanvasLayers (that's a lot of layers). The individual elements like the weapon and score should all be rendered on the same layer now.[/p]
• [p]Reduced shader compilation stutter by loading some assets when the game is initially booted. The version of Godot we're using doesn't support precompilation, so this is a workaround for that.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Finally, I added in a new room layout, because a patch with only fixes would be boring.[/p][p][/p][p]It was supposed to be a courtroom because I've been binging the AA Trilogy. But it kinda turned into a crying face instead.[/p][p][/p][p]Size: 4.1 MB[/p][p][/p][h3]Tweaks & Additions[/h3]

• [p]Did not update the localization files. Sorry.[/p]
• [p]Added a new room layout.[/p]
• [p]Optimized parts of the HUD by reducing the use of CanvasLayers.[/p]
• [p]Reduced shader compilation stutter by loading some assets on boot.[/p]

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed the "Fullscreen" option not displaying correctly. (The button could be toggled off but the text would say On.) [/p]
• [p]Fixed the window title bar sometimes being positioned off screen. (This was caused by the window centering code. Now the game won't try to center the window if the vertical resolution is above a certain size.)[/p]
• [p]Fixed the Flamethrower and Molotov incorrectly granting the "Collateral" score bonus.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Thank you![/p][p]Zdann[/p]