Hello woodland explorers!
A little something about myself: I've always loved and wanted to make co-op games. However, I planned Harmonicord as a single-player game so my first game would be a simpler project. But as it evolved, it seemed obvious to me that 2-player co-op would be a great fit. So I happily present you Harmonicord as a new cooperative experience!
That's far from the only thing in this update. Another addition is a must-have for any adventure; a map that fills in with the new areas you explore! I also spent a lot of time polishing the look and feel of the game, like adding decorations, animations, and controller rumble, to name a few things. Finally, I worked on improving user experience, like adding re-bindable controls and button icons for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Steam controllers.
Patch Notes
Added Couch Co-Op supporting keyboard+mouse with one controller, or two controllers.
Added a map that shows each new area and secret as you find it.
Added decorations like animated grass and new ground tiles.
Added re-bindable controls for keyboard and controllers.
Added PlayStation, Nintendo, and Steam controller layouts.
Added controller rumble (and option to turn it off).
Overhauled music-playing minigame.
Removed color codes from puzzle elements and instead move the camera to show what controls are doing off-screen.
New saved game selection buttons that display more useful and interesting information.
Stop player from dropping objects behind them if something is already in front of them, and instead show an indicator of the placement being invalid.
Added options for enabling/disabling input prompts, HUD, and screen shake.
Reworked speech bubbles to allow players to skip text appearing one character at a time.
Save icon is more visible.
Throwing aim now defaults to in front of player instead of straight up when using a controller.
Removed an area (for now) so co-op can be introduced sooner in the game.
New Animations/Effects
Motion trails.
Unique particles for each area like insects, leaves, and dust motes.
Particle effects on impact.
Particle effects and more animations for player and NPCs jumping/falling.
Turning animations for player and Theo.
Particle effects on player and NPCs walking.
Pick-up effect to collectibles.
Player animation for picking up objects.
Player "death" animation and sound effect.
"Speech" sound effects.
Bug Fixes
Player runs in slow motion properly during lasso bullet-time.
Game no longer crashes when unplugging a controller.
Player can now jump while looking down.
Lasso and rope bridges no longer flicker when they overlap.
Theo no longer tries to teleport to the player when there's not enough space, so he does not immediately fall to his doom (as often).
Player respawn is no longer blocked by an NPC being in the way.
Lasso tutorial is less intrusive and ends properly if the player skips it.
Player no longer drops through platforms while in lasso bullet-time.
Camera no longer jolts when lassoing moving objects near area boundaries.
Background layers are now properly scaled.
Speech bubbles no longer overlap.
Throw arc indicator now resets properly when the player respawns.
Major rendering problem causing frame drops on lower-end hardware resolved.
Other performance improvements.