Hello! Today's 20XX patch fixes up our new Vile Visage, introduces some changes to the way levels are generated, and much more!
Disclaimer: 20XX is in beta. As we develop the game, we may make changes that require us to invalidate or wipe your 20XX save files, Steam Leaderboard info/achievements, and other save-y stuff like that. Be aware!
We're planning on mucking around with the game's options/save data over the next patch or two, so this is a pretty real possibility.
Note: The closer we get to release, the closer the price will get to our planned Full Release price of $15.
NB: I'm going to be out of town without much internet access from July 30th to August 6th, so I won't be super available on the forums/by email. The August 3rd patch will still proceed as scheduled.
TL;DR for today's patch: VV polish (round 1) - level gen changes - menu changes - Defiant Mode - plenty of fixes!
For the next few patches: Frostor targeter changes (seriously next patch this time!), a little more end of level feel, Power->Level interactions (yes, you read right! Powers will do stuff in level environments), Options, Narrative!
As always, let us know if anything's busted or if we missed a change.
BIG CHANGES:
- Some changes to the way earlygame levels are generated:
- Level 1 is now somewhat longer.
- Level 2 is now slightly shorter. (Same length as the new level 1.)
- Level 7 is now somewhat longer. (Somewhat longer than 6, slightly shorter than 8.)
- In all Challenge modes, levels are no longer generated as "level 1" - the game treats level 1 as level 2 for purposes of difficulty. (The first level of a High Tide Challenge run is still difficulty 5, not 6.)
- Note to our Community readers and posters - this set of changes is the result of a long Community thread about level length from some time ago. The thread explored ways to keep the game interesting for veteran players and included a discussion on end-of-level rewards and the bonus timer - this is the result of that discussion. We aren't comfortable with adding sharp scoring metrics to each level of normal play based on damage taken, enemies slain, etc, since those are already incentivized by the game's rules. Instead, we've eliminated "level 1" from Challenges entirely -- the game treats any "level 1" as "level 2" for purposes of difficulty -- and smoothed out the level length gap between level 1 and 2 (by making 1 some longer and 2 some shorter).
- Lots of fight tweaks to our new Vile Visage! (More are actually coming next patch.)
- Repositioned the end of level and bonus timer chests, and gave them some new effects.
SMALL CHANGES:
- When exiting an air dash, players now enter the "dash jump" state instead of the "jump" state if the player is still holding down Dash.
- Hardcore Challenge teleporters in the hub now first pop up some details on the Skulls involved.
- The "Skulls" object in the hub has been replaced with the "Defiant" game mode.
- The functionality is effectively identical -- instead of turning on Skulls then starting a Normal game, you just choose the Skulls in Defiant Mode and play there.
- Toggling Skulls previously only affected Normal anyway, so this seemed a little more straightforward.
- When playing with Skulls on in Defiant Mode, Soul Chip yield is increased (by fidgety numbers we're not sharing publicly yet because they'll probably change).
- Marathon and Endless do not give increased SC yields. High Tide counts as 2 Skulls for determining SC yield, and Rock counts as 3.
- Eternal Star's Level 8 batbros are now 20% likely to spawn as exploders (down from 100%). They'll also be colored differently.
- Adjusted Eternal Star's boss room. It's a little more navigable, and Player 2's HUD won't block the bottom left corner anymore.
- The Purist skull now also disables Core Augs. (Core chests are replaced by normal Aug chests.)
- Changed the "Soul Foe" glow (pretty drastically) so they no longer appear almost invisible against certain backgrounds.
- Two new Augs!
- Some Menu changes (mostly cosmetic, for now -- the big Options Patch is probably next patch).
- Volume settings now adjust as you scroll, instead of on hitting Confirm.
- The end-of-level barrier is now much taller.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed Ace's Glaive not caring about boss invuln while in midair.
- Fixed the co-op Power re-map bug.
- (hopefully) Fixed a bug causing the occasional invisible enemy. (I think it was introduced in the same patch that added the various room teleporters.)
- Fixed a hilarious superjump glitch. (Thank you for tipping me off.)
- Fixed a few bugs that could cause clients in online co-op to get locked out of the boss room.
KNOWN ISSUES:
- (still) Some minor cosmetic issues with the new Lock icon. (Sometimes it doesn't display on Shop Teleporters when it should.)
Thanks for reading!