Woohoo! Finally, we got a visual update and some general cleanup. Here we go -
Themed Backgrounds
You can now select from "Neon Underground", "Quantum City", "Lava Core", "Synthetic Forest" and "Frostbite Cavern" to have a really cool theme for your levels
Adding the juice
Every death, slice and portal escape now include extra effects to add some much needed oomph to every hit - but mainly so it looked better when watching the game back ;)
Screenshake intensity has been doubled but default intensity is set to 50% now in the menu (if you're on the Alpha, you'll need to change this manually)
Null Blocks are here
Now you can annoy everyone who plays your levels even more with Null Blocks - pop a few down and watch as players Slices and Jumps ARE NOT refilled when colliding, making it even harder to climb your levels!
Counter-Clockwise Sawblade Arms
We CAN have it both ways! Added counter-clockwise sawblade arms so you can create a beautiful symmetry of hell
Level Editor Categories
With the addition of Null Blocks and Counter-Clockwise Sawblade Arms it was time to set up categories in the level editor. Now you'll see Required/Blocks/Sawblades/Spikes and Other tabs to make it much easier to use
Physics Tick 120
Previously, with the deterministic replay system locked to a fixed step of 1/60, leaderboard times could only vary across a handful of decimal steps (0.167 s, 0.333 s, 0.500 s, etc.). Increasing this to 120 ticks per second doubles the precision to 8ms per step, giving smoother replays and finer leaderboard timing.
Other nice side effects:
Movement and collisions update twice as often, so everything feels a bit smoother
Fast-moving hazards or slices are less likely to clip through surfaces
Inputs register more tightly with physics, making the game feel snappier
Slightly higher CPU cost, but worth it for the extra accuracy and feel
As with these changes we've had to wipe the previous scoreboards and replays (ouch, but that's what an Alpha's for!) so enjoy the free first place to anyone who runs it again!
Want to join in on the Alpha?
If you're on the sidelines and want some of the sweet, sweet slice and dice then just join the Discord and ping me (Diesel) a DM or ask in Chat. All Alpha testers will receive their name in the credits (if wanted) and also get the full game for free on release. All are welcome - the only request is that you give ANY feedback on different versions over various releases, and are having fun playing it*! *We cannot enforce fun but we will damn well try https://discord.gg/Jk6WkbS2pJ