Thank you!
Thank you for all the wonderful feedback during this year's Nextfest!
I've been listening to your critiques and put together a big list of things that will be improved before the full release. Additionally, these changes will be added to the DEMO as a final major patch sometime in the coming weeks!
Upcoming Changes
This is the current list of planned changes to various game mechanics for the next update. There are also a few QoL features that will be added.
Changes
• Time between boss waves will be increased for smoother item collection, along with there being an indicator of when the boss non-spell will start
• Counter spell timing will be made easier for all characters
• 6 continues in Normal (there is some bad programming that limits the potential of using multiple in one stage though, sorry)
• More lives in Normal
• Poly's collection line will be much lower to avoid accidental and frustrating deaths
• Speaking of Poly, she will be buffed, just in general...
• Double invincibility frames on hit for all characters
• Changing the (ugly) Boss Practice background to something cuter
• The secret stage will force you into Easy Mode to prevent annoying situations
• That one fake crash will be replaced with a hard reset (it keeps getting reported as a bug, lol)
• The music easter egg on the Practice Difficulty Select menu won't string you along as much (SPOILER: all it does is re-enable the secret stage...)
• Stage 3 as Esther, the pink fire spawner at the end of the stage will be more obviously dangerous to prevent cheap-feeling deaths for players who think it's an item to be collected
• More sprite readability adjustments?(??)
• UI readability adjustments
• Help Menu wording improvements for some stuff
• And probably more
Additions
• An accessibility option to turn off screenshake will be added
• More tutorialization for the player spell mechanic (such as a prompt on first getting enough power for the first time, etc.)
• Option to show your numerical power value (this is actually already a debugging feature)
• Replays will also save the game version
Bug fixes
• Fix for replay score desyncing issue
Potential changes that will only be present in the full game
• Timeout spells will turn the boss's health bar gray (these are much more prevalent in the last 3 stages)
• Tutorials for general bullet hell techniques such as a streaming tutorial
• Maybe another way to collect all items on screen(maybe connected to graze, not sure)(this one might be added to the demo as well if it happens)
• Might remove y value from score star calculation and just give you a flat value+tension bonus, because people keep hugging the top of the screen too much and it doesn't seem very fun, personally... And if I did remove y value from score calc., the item collection range would likely be doubled(as a treat)
• A counter spell practice room
• A streaming practice room(maybe??)
• Accessibility option for always showing your hitbox(?Maybe not... This idea is just for Esther players specifically)
My goal is to make NNFF as good of a game as possible (within reason). The next update, v3.0.0, will be the final major patch for the DEMO. Any additional updates will be minor bug fixes... Which means after this update, your replays and scores will no longer be affected by any other future updates!
Some thoughts...
The philosophy behind some of the changes is to make the game as accessible as possible to players new to this genre while also providing enough challenge to give veteran players a fun experience. One of the ways I am trying to do this is by keeping Hard Mode mean while making Normal and Easy nicer.
Something fascinating I found in the feedback was that the vast majority of you were heavily invested in the story and characters. Locking this behind extreme difficulty seems unfair, so a lot of the changes, such as changes to continue amount and making Easy even easier, are a way to let everyone be able to enjoy that part of the game!
Also, to the pro players who keep sending me feedback that the game is too easy, all I will say is, be careful what you wish for (spoiler: late-game Hard Mode...).
Have any more suggestions?
Have something you'd like to see changed or added that isn't listed above? Feel free to share your ideas with me here!
Future plans!
The goal is to have all or most of these changes added, tested, and implemented sometime in the next few weeks. Once everything is done, there will be another announcement to let you know when v3.0.0 is available to play!
Speaking of updates, there have been a lot of minor patches since the v2.0 release that were silently pushed out without any public announcement (they were only posted on a sub-page on the official website). In the future, all updates, even the small ones, will be paired with a Steam announcement, just as a way to let everyone know this game is still being supported! (which it is...)
Oh, and there's also one more exciting thing planned before the full-game-release. But that's going to be announced much later... So look forward to that! (hint: it involves prizes)
To see more development updates and announcements like this, make sure to wishlist & follow!