Hi all,
Another new update this weekend with some big changes to Curses, ball physics, bumper visuals, scoring and more. As always, thanks to everyone for playing and giving their feedback, I'm working my way through it all as best I can however this felt like a good point to update the demo before moving onto the next batch of changes. Here's what to expect in v0.9.6:
Physics Rework - I've given the gravity setup, ball weight and flipper logic all a fairly major overhaul. This does make things a little harder as the ball does fall faster, however the flippers now offer much more control than before so it is possible to pull off accurate shots (once you've got the hang of it..)
Directional Nudge- alongside the automatic, move-towards-the-centre nudge, I've added fully directional nudging using arrow keys or controller left stick input. This makes it a LOT easier to hit the missions on either side of the table, so I might also rebalance those a bit in the future :)
please note that directional nudge has NOT been setup as a rebindable input yet, I'll sort that in a future patch
Curse Choices - Every third Act (second on Hard+ difficulties), you will now have to choose between two Curses, adding a major negative modifier to your run . Previously, there was no choice and not a lot of clarity, so I'm hoping this gives you more control over the run and a better understanding of what's going on. Oh, and now this happens instead of a Blessing for that Act, and Curses are generally much worse than before. Sorry.
Act VI HP - This is an ongoing balancing act, but basically once you got past a certain point it was really, really easy to win with a half decent build. After these changes, if you want to beat the final Act for a table you're going to need some proper synergy to your build, as the bumper HP is now a whopping 45,000,000. Best of luck.
Demo Glyphs - asking players to find good build synergies really requires them to be in the game though.. As such I've reshuffled the Glyphs in the Demo to include ones that work well together - you can now build a really strong build around any of the following:
a specific ritual
mission completion
mana held, or mana spent (or both)
spare balls
poison & fire
New Bumper Variants and Visuals - The bumpers in general were overdue a visual pass, so now they all much more unique, with different shapes, fx and animations. I've also removed the shielded and magnetic bumpers from the demo, and replaced them with one that has a respawning protective bubble and another that pushes the ball away when nearby.
Boss Tweaks - the Boss bumper also got a visual pass, but as part of a larger change to the boss fights that's still WIP, all the tentacles now show for all stages, with the respawn timer for each tentacle reducing between stages. There are some more challenging elements to come to this part so watch this space.
Scoring - As has been expertly pointed out, the scores in CoP really haven't been rewarded targeted play, and that keeping damage low and getting a lot of hits was a key way to getting a high score. This has been massively overhauled, so that now destroying bumpers, completing missions and triggering rituals are the main ways to boost score, with bumper hits offering only a minimal score reward. All scores received are multiplied by the Act you are currently on, plus a difficulty modifier so late game, high difficulty scores are key to topping those leaderboards (as it should be)
Blockers Immune During Multiball - Blockers dissapearing within seconds of triggering multiball? Less of an issue now (hopefully) as all Blockers are now immune to damage while the Multiball timer is running. Once it expires though, you'll still need to be careful.
Bug fixes and minor tweaks - Glyph limits now show on pause and purchase screens, fixes for custom resolutions not saving between plays and issues on vertical resolution.
There will be more changes to come as I continue to work my way through the feedback, so please keep all suggestions coming. I will be taking it easy on development for a few weeks due to personal circumstances, however I'm still aiming to have another update out at some point in November.
Happy flipping,
Kenny