Version 0.8 is available now! + New Principal Plushie!

Hello everyone! I'm happy to announce that Baldi's Basics Plus version 0.8 is available now!

This update brings a mix of different new features, the biggest of which is the new time limit! Each level now has a time limit and when that runs out the school begins to shut down and the game begins to get harder. Lights will go out, Baldi will begin to get faster and Principal of the Thing will send you to detention if he sees you in school after-hours. You'll still have plenty of time to explore each level, just be sure you're not wasting it!

Thankfully, if you ever do find yourself taking too long to complete a level, there's another new mechanic that will come to your aid: You can now hide in the dark! If you stand on a cell that is as dark as possible, you will become hidden, and NPCs will not be able to see you. You'll need to take advantage of dark areas if you want to survive as Baldi gets faster and faster!

This update also includes an upgraded advanced map that allows you to place markers. These markers are not only visible on the map, but also at the corresponding location in the level when viewing the quick map. With these you can mark the location of important points like the storage locker, an area you used WD-NoSquee on, a room you left an important item in, etc. You could also use them to plan a route or to note the status of a structure. The possibilities are endless!

The last big new feature of this update is a new structure: Vents! Vent entrances can now be found in some rooms in level 3. Any entity that enters these will get sucked in, pulled through a series of ducts and then dropped through an exit in the ceiling somewhere else in the level. Vents are a great way to quickly traverse large distances in a level, but beware! Other characters can also wander into vents or follow you in if they are chasing you! If you're inside a room with a vent on the ceiling, keep your ears opened. You might just hear slapping coming out of the vents, in which case... get out of there!

Alongside the new structure I've also made several improvements to the level generator. Halls no longer generate with unfair dead-ends or bottlenecks, and I've streamlined the systems used to generate structures in order to pave the way for future structures. I've also made several tweaks to level generation parameters to try and reduce the frequency of empty areas appearing levels.

Those are all the major changes in this update, but before getting to the changelog I want to announce that Makeship and I have partnered once again to release a new Principal of the Thing plushie! You can check it out here.

Principal of the Thing was a very challenging character to transform into a plushie, but I'm very happy with the design I and the team at Makeship ended up with! It will be available to purchase until December 28, so if you want one be sure to grab it before the deadline. As Principal of the Thing once said, "No buying the Principal of the Thing plushie after the deadline in the halls!"

With all that said, I was hoping that this update would be much bigger, especially since it was delayed. My apologies to anyone who was expecting more in this update. Unfortunately life got in the way quite a bit and my productivity took a hit. To be honest, I feel like I may finally be experiencing a bit of burnout as well, but considering this is probably Baldi's Basics Plus' most productive year I guess I shouldn't be surprised! Because of this I will be taking most of the rest of December off and getting back to work, hopefully refreshed, in January. Version 0.9 will be mostly if not entirely dedicated to bug fixes as the list of known issues is getting pretty big and since that will be a good way to warm back up after my break. I'll post a status update around the beginning of January to discuss my 2025 plans beyond version 0.9! As always, I thank you all for your patience.

Now, on to the changelog. Please note that no new features will be covered by a spoiler bar, so don't continue if you don't want to know what the new structure is!

Additions

• Added time limits. When time runs out, a special event activates which causes changes in the game and level. Each level has its own time limit. Level 1 = 5 minutes, level 2 = 7 minutes, level 3 = 9 minutes. The time out event does the following:
  • Baldi begins to get faster and faster over time.
  • The player will become permanently guilty for being in school after-hours. If Principal of the Thing sees the player in this state, he will chase them and send them to detention.
  • Individual lights in the hallways begin to dim until all have dimmed.
  • Principal of the Thing will turn out the lights in rooms with the exception of rooms with incomplete activities. Rooms with bonus questions do not count as incomplete activities.
  • A new music track will play. This track is a placeholder created using Microsoft Music Producer.

• Added timers to elevator areas that display time remaining in a level.
  
• Added decorative items and an exit sign to elevator areas.
  
• Open elevators now act as light sources. When all notebooks have been collected and all elevators re-open, they will light green to make them easier to find.
  
• Players can now hide by standing in cells that are as dark as possible.
  
• Added map markers. Map markers can be placed by clicking the new map marker buttons on the advanced map and removed by clicking on placed markers on the advanced map. Map markers can be seen at their corresponding position in 3D space when viewing the quick map.
  
• Added a new structure: Vents!
  • Vents generate in levels as an entrance in a wall connected to an exit in the ceiling elsewhere in the level via a series of winding ventilation ducts.
  • Any entity that enters a vent entrance gets sucked in and pulled through the ducts, eventually being ejected out of the exit point.
  • Vents apply a reverb audio filter to any entities with propagated audio while inside.
  • When the player is outside vents, entities with propagated audio will have their audio propagated from the vent entrance or exit, depending on how close the entity is to either.
  • When the player is inside vents, the player will hear the audio of all entities with propagated audio that are currently inside the vent regardless of position.
  • When the player is inside vents, they will hear audio outside the vents from the position of either the vent entrance or exit, depending on how close they are to either.
  • When any entity hits a turn while traveling through vents, a metallic bang sound will be produced. This can be heard from both the entrance and exit of a vent regardless of the position of the entity that triggered the sound's position in the vent.
  • When the player exits a vent, the exit will make a noise Baldi hears.

• Added new Play Style option. This option controls how lives work.
  • Normal (Default): You start each level with three power tubes.
  • Arcade: You start with three power tubes, but do not get any more each level.
  • Strict: You only get one power tube per-game. Lose once and that's game over!

Changes

• Made several changes to the level generator.
  • Halls now generate more intelligently and avoid forming dead-ends and bottlenecks.
  • Structure generation has been reworked and streamlined.
  • Swinging doors should now generate such that there is only one per-hall.
  • When controllable lockdown doors are added to a level, there can now be more than one.
  • When roto-halls are added to a level, there can now be more than one.
  • Some structures that were previously only generated in halls, such as storage lockers and vending machines, can now also generate in rooms at pre-determined safe positions.
  • Phones can now only generate in rooms.
  • More plants now generate in levels.
  • Level size in Hide & Seek levels is no longer random. As a result, levels are a more consistently compact with less wasted space.
  • No special halls are placed before hallways are generated. Now, special halls are only placed after halls are generated (Previously, special halls were placed both before and after). This prevents issues with inaccessible areas of levels being generated.
  • There are likely other small, unintended changes due to the structure rework.

• Activities can no longer be completed if a room is not powered. This means bonus questions cannot be answered if Principal of the Thing has turned off the lights in the room. If a room is not powered, all lights on the Math Machine will be off and it will not indicate that it is clickable.
  
• Changed advanced map interface. It now features on-screen zoom and scroll buttons, marker buttons and a timer display. The on-screen size of the map display has been reduced to make room for these new buttons.
  
• Made changes to shaders to improve lighting in darkness. Textures no longer become totally black and there is now a much more noticeable increase in contrast in dark areas.
  
• All three Hide & Seek levels now use the same lighting method in order to accommodate lights going dark once the time limit has expired.
  
• Removed the detention HUD element that displayed detention time and replaced it with a timer that sits above doors in the principal's office.
  
• Detention no longer uses real seconds and time counts down at 1.25 times the normal speed.
  
• Cloudy Copter's wind will now affect other Cloudy Copters (This scenario is currently only possible via modding).
  

Removed

• Conveyor belts have been temporarily removed as they are in the middle of being reworked. They will return in a future update!

Bug Fixes

• The elevator gate can no longer be seen in the playground in the endless medium map.
• Fixed Mrs. Pomp crashing if there are inaccessible classrooms when she tries sending the player to a class.

New Known Issues

• Getting flipped due to Gravity Chaos starting or ending while traveling through a vent causes the camera to move outside the vents.
• The lighting of entities traveling through vents appear to flash frequently due to using the grid-based lighting system.
• Due to the way vents can crisscross, entities can occasionally be seen clipping through the walls of vents.
• Time limit ticking and bell sounds are missing captions.

Pre-release Changes

Thanks to everyone who played the pre-releases and offer feedback! I was able to fix a lot of issues and oversights with vents and some other new features thanks to y'all.

• Updated Baldi's placeholder time out line with finalized line.
• Added sound effects to vents.
• Added above mentioned audio mechanics to vents.
• Fixed NPCs being able to see the player (And Principal seeing the Bully) while in vents.
• Fixed Dr. Reflex being able to hammer entities while inside vents.
• Fixed Mrs. Pomp being able to grab and drag the player while inside vents.
• Fixed being able to see entities traveling through vents the player is not in.
• Fixed vent exits being able to generate in Playgrounds.
• Fixed vent entrances being able to generate in the principal's office and in playgrounds.
• Updated and re-enabled pre-made maps.
• Fixed vent exits being able to generate over lights.
• Fixed being able to see lockdown doors and elevator gates inside vents.
• Fixed room functions triggering when entities are traveling through vents.
• Fixed issue where vents would sometimes generate with a segment near the end that reverses 180 degrees in order to ensure it connects to the selected destination point.
• Fixed an issue which allowed vent exits to generate too close to vent entrances.
• Fixed levels generating with inaccessible areas.
• Slightly reduced time limits (Okay but actually after testing these adjusted time limits I felt they were a tad too tight, particularly level 3 without a map, so I meant to set them back to where they were but forgot WHOOPS. Hope this update isn't too hard!).

I think that's everything. I hope you all enjoy version 0.8!