18 Mar 2020Developer postOriginal post (opens in a new tab)

Levelhead Patch 0.77.11: The End of the Beginning

Release... is Coming!

HEY, Levelheads! As you may have seen yesterday, we now have an official launch date of April 30! That's about 6 weeks from today, and today's patch represents the final patch of Early Access as we prepare everything for launch. As such, this patch is pretty light in terms of new stuff, but does contain quite a lot of miscellaneous improvements and fixes.

Localization!

For starters, this is our first fully localized patch. With our previous release schedule, we would simply release content whenever that content was "finished," and localized text would just catch up to that content at sporadic points, in batches. That meant our non-English players would often end up with partial or out-of-date translations. But now that we are releasing worldwide on 7 platforms, we are updating our strategy. Going forward, we don't consider content to be "finished" until all of our players have the ability to engage with that content, no matter what language they speak.

This does mean that we will be unable to just make a feature and deploy it the next day, if that feature has any text involved (which it usually does). Instead, there will be a lag between the time a feature is made, and the time the feature gets into the public's hands.

If you're still looking to be on the bleeding edge of features, though, you can still hop into the Steam beta channel! As soon as we begin the process of preparing a patch for release, it will go into that channel, even without full localization. So if that's your thing, we've still got your back!

Multiplayer Controller Management

I mentioned in a previous developer blog that we were doing some updates on the way the PC version of Levelhead handles multiplayer. Well, IT'S HERE!

I won't go into great detail, since that's already covered in the Developer Blog, but the short story is: You won't accidentally lose progress in a level when you connect (or disconnect) a controller. Hooray!

Controller Updates

To prepare the game for its console debut, this patch updates many of the Editor controls, allowing you to much more easily edit using a controller. We've also updated the default "Grab" hotkey to use the Right Trigger instead of the "X" button (on an Xbox controller), which feels a lot cooler and opens up some easier movement tech, but will take some getting used to for our more experienced players!

Because of the control schema updates, some of you may get hit by a note on boot-up that your controls have been reset due to conflicts. If that's you, you can always pop into the Controls section of the settings and update your keybindings back to whatever you want!

What's next?

We're working hard on the 1.0 launch, which is going to span 7 platforms at once. There are a lot of dominoes to set up before we kick this thing out the door, ranging from marketing, to testing, to bug fixing, UX touch-ups, localization, optimization, and feature development.

We've also been taking a hard look at our analytics to find weak points in the game's overall stickiness. We've used that information to build a fully-featured tutorial that will be available at launch. And to top it off, we're finalizing all the aspects of the game's Training, including some fantastic new art, new music, a bunch of new Presentations, and even some new levels!

Mobile Testing THIS WEEKEND!

We'll be aiming to host a mid-sized Mobile beta test this weekend. To get in on the Mobile beta, sign up at this form. We'll close the form down by end-of-day Friday, so sign up as soon as possible for your chance of getting selected!

We also recommend using a device with more than 2GB of RAM, as we have found that once you go down to 2GB or below, Levelhead's performance can be sporadic. Although we are working on optimizations, Levelhead is a pretty big game for mobile, so it's going to take a bit of heavy lifting to run it well (or in some cases, at all)!

A note on the Pandemic

On a more serious note, I want to take a minute to talk about the spread of COVID-19, and how it's affecting the launch of Levelhead. We've taken measures to try to keep ourselves safe and healthy during this crucial time, so we can deliver this game to our players. We're all working remotely now, and we're building a bit more slack into our launch plans in case something goes wrong along the way. So as of right now, everything is on target. If anything changes on that front, we will announce as soon as possible.

We'll see you at launch!

That wraps up Early Access! We won't have any Developer Blogs in the coming weeks, since we are preparing for 1.0 and are keeping things somewhat under wraps. The Community Spotlight will continue every Friday, and if there are any announcements to be made about the game, the launch, or anything else, we'll post them here!

We want to thank everyone who took the leap of faith to buy the game during Early Access and gave us feedback. It has truly been humbling to have such a great community, and we couldn't have gotten the game to such a great state without all of your passionate support.

We'll see you at launch!

0.77.11-rc.13 Patchnotes (since 0.76.25-rc.0)

See the full patchnotes.

New Features

Mobile

Android and iOS should now be able to copy and paste level sharecodes.
On iOS and Android, if the player has played for more than 90 minutes total and has played in the current session for more than 5 minutes, they will be asked on the main menu if they would like to leave a review. This will only occur once per player.

Multiplayer

The system for adding and removing controllers has been rebuilt. Now, when you connect a new controller, a Multiplayer Manager popup appears that allows you to add or remove players. If you have changed the number of players during gameplay, a warning will tell you that the level will restart.

Improvements

Developer

The Multi-Screenshotter has been updated to allow for cycling through languages without taking screenshots, for spot-checking.

The "Pullstart" sequence at the beginning of the game will now respond to any button press, and will happen whether you hold the button or just press it.
If you are about to play a delisted level from its Level Card, you will get a confirmation dialogue warning that the creator probably doesn't want anyone to play it.
You should no longer see the same loading tip twice in a row, and you should no longer hear the same snarky presentation exit voiceover twice in a row.

Editor

The multiselect hotkey (with controller or keyboard) will now begin multiselecting at your cursor's location when pressed, instead of requiring you to first select the Multiselect tool and then click.
You can now grab items in the editor by just hovering over them and pressing the "Grab" hotkey, instead of needing to change to the Grab tool first and then clicking on them.
Updated the Editor to have all tools be bound to keys, even when using a controller.
For consistency, Switch start states have been changed from "On/Off" to "Active/Inactive" in the item properties window, and those states have been color-coded to match the "Switch Requirement" colors for receivers.
GR-18 now blinks in the Editor.
You can now place Squished Scrubbs and Squished Oculas in the Editor.
Updated the visuals for the "Copy" cursor to no longer use the Eyedropper icon, and changed the "Copy" button to gold instead of blue.
You can now open item properties when using the Grab tool.

Optimization

Removed some old, unused textures that were taking up space. Get outta here!
Removed some unused audio files.
If you paint bucket a large number of switches, the game should no longer hitch for a long time.
Optimized Pressure Switches so they consume less CPU per frame.

Visuals

The Fuchsia GR-18's face is now a lighter pink color, since it was eerily dark compared to the rest of the GR-18 faces.
Idle GR-18s will now whistle music notes that match their face colors.

Training

Deliver the Package, GR-18 has been updated with mobile tutorial controls.
Package Jump Temple's hardlights are now green, its signage has been updated, and its start position moved to prevent a silly soft-lock.
Bomb Traveler will now zoom-out if 2+ players are in it, to make rapid movement easier.
Fly, GR-18! is now zoomed out during all Ripcord sections, to assist in co-op.
Tempswitch Rush now zooms in on the players as the enter the spike tunnel, for reasons.
Updated the "Headphones" suggestion before the opening presentation with a better background.
Rebuilt the opening presentation to use the new Presentation system, making it skippable via the same means as the others.
Added voiceovers if you exit a Training presentation.

Multiplayer

The "Start" button is no longer used to disconnect controllers. Instead, you can either turn the controller off, or go to the pause menu or the Settings menu. These interfaces have had a "Controller Manager" button displayed if you have multiple players connected, and this button summons the new Multiplayer Manager interface.

Controller

Previously, whenever you used the keyboard or mouse without Keyboard Co-op mode active, all controllers would be removed, putting you back in "Single Player Mode." Now, if you aren't in Keyboard Co-op Mode and have multiple controllers connected, using the keyboard & mouse will simply replace Player 1's control method, and not disconnect the remaining players.

Gameplay

Updated default "Grab" key to be Right Trigger (or right bumper if using a single Joycon).

Confirmation windows now use "A" or "B" with a controller, instead of "Start" and "B".
Stacked the "Random Playlist" and "Tower Trial" buttons vertically instead of horizontally in the Tower, so that in certain UI configurations they won't overlap with the level cards.
Updated the text above the Workshop cloud levels to be more explicit that they are going into the Rumpus cloud and are associated with your Rumpus account.
Updated the Publish Level confirmation message to be less alarmist.
Added a loading screen tip about being able to add a powerup to GR-18 in the editor.
Added popup text when you change your Exposure Bucks tip amount.

Settings

Settings can now have different names depending on the platform they are on, to adhere to certain certification requirements.

Localization

Updated icon names to have a higher character limit for translation.

Mobile

Added a scene before the first presentation starts on mobile, recommending that you use headphones or have sound on.

Web

The default message for a login failure has been updated to state that we had difficulty communicating with Rumpus.

Fixes

Localization

Loading screen tips weren't being translated, so they are currently not being shown unless the language is set to English. When we get them translated, they will be shown in other languages!
When you change languages, the next time you hit the Main Menu, you will pull down the proper text for Perk names and descriptions. You will generally only see these when clicking on icons that you haven't unlocked yet. For now!
Fixed an issue where certain text could overlap in Spanish in the Settings page.
The automatic localization system will no longer upload Training Presentation text that is just an empty space.
In some languages, in Full-Bodied UI Mode, some item property names would overlap with the value text. This was most noticeable in Spanish with the translations of "Switch Requirement" were quite long. Text in the properties window should no longer overlap.
A font update rendered our Russian language characters invisible. This has been fixed
Updated fonts to include "Ёё" for the Russian language. (thanks to Wailer)

When using Keyboard + Controller Co-op, player 2+ could not activate some Editor buttons with the controller. This has been fixed.
Leaving the Level Details page would put you into a weird state where some of your Editor keys wouldn't work. This should now be resolved. (thanks to Spekio)
You can now once again use "Start" on the controller to close the pause menu.
Rumpus confirmation windows now display Controller key binds.
Some confirmation windows had empty buttons. Now they don't!
Due to an issue with the new input system, the "Delete" and "Path Node Delete" buttons became both active in the editor at the same time. This should now be fixed.
The frame rate display now has its own housing and is off to the side in the editor, preventing it from clashing with the level name. (thanks to Wumpamber Zowazippee)
If you hit "Back" when looking at someone's profile with an empty page on it, you would see the name of the profile you are going "Back" to on that page for a moment. This should no longer be the case. (thanks to DNin)
Fixed some spacing issues under the header in the Profiles page.
There was a bit too much empty space in the Marketing Department beneath the explanation text and above the levels. This gap has been enshrinkened.
If you played through a playlist and had the top score or time in a level, the score or time on the playlist summary page would be shown in gold even if you hadn't set that record during this particular play through. Now, it should only be gold if the record was set during the current Playlist playthrough.
"Eyedropper" has been replaced with "Copy" in the key bindings page.

Editor

The Editor Grid Ruler now draws values when you are holding hotkey buttons. (thanks to TalkGibberish)
Fixed an issue where relays were failing to read states from inactive switches on first spawn. (thanks to Spekio)
Fixed an issue where using the Eyedropper hotkey would copy the properties of the path you had selected, not the path you were hovering over.
Fixed an issue where controller inputs weren't being registered on the Cheese Details page.
Fixed an issue where player 2+ couldn't use the new "click and hold" tools in the Editor.
It should no longer be possible to use Multiselect in the Editor's Path Mode, since... it doesn't work there. Yet.
When holding a button (such as grab or Multi-select), the Editor camera will now respond to your cursor being at the edge of the screen.
Prize Blocks now draw their correct image when being dragged if they have a Receiver ID.
In some cases, placing solid-requiring objects using multi-drag or multi-paste would delete the solid item instead of filling in the solid areas above or below it. This has been fixed. (thanks to TalkGibberish)
Clicking the "Grab" tool in Path Edit mode would select your most recently selected item, putting you into a weird state. Now, the Grab Tool in Path Edit mode works like the rest of the path tools -- clicking it when you are already using it does nothing.
When "Show Editor Hotkeys" is disabled, you will no longer see controller key bindings in the Editor.
If you right-click or use the Copy tool via a hotkey while dragging something, it will no longer copy. You have to put down the thing you are dragging first! (thanks to TalkGibberish)
Changing to the Path Editor once again selects a path tool instead of an item.
Changing to the Path Editor and back, or playtesting your level and going back to the editor, will now keep your previously selected item.
If you are in the middle of dragging a path node and then hit "Escape" while you are still dragging, the path would enter a weird visually bugged state until you played the level. This has been fixed. (thanks to Crushnoil Varkzapee)

Gameplay

If you are holding a button and then alt-tab, the button will not continue to be held. (thanks to Rompylol Quietguy)
If GR-18 flew outside of a level's bounds and there was an enclosure against the bounds, the enclosure would be revealed. This is no longer the case.
If you hit a checkpoint and Jems were flying at you but you hadn't collected them yet, when you respawned at the checkpiont, the Jems would have returned to their original spot and not get collected. Now, the "magnetized" state of Jems is properly restored at checkpoints.
Squished Oculas are once again affected by item purge gates.
If you pressed and held "Jump" Before bouncing off an enemy's head and then touched a wall within 0.2 seconds while using the Tiptow, you would perform a wall jump. Now, the "jump" input timer gets consumed when you bounced off the enemy's head, so the unexpected wall jump will no longer occur. (thanks to Intuition?!)
Tempswitches would retrigger and make a sound when you resumed the game. Now, when the game is paused, their state should not change. (thanks to Crushnoil Varkzapee)
Colorblind assistance icons were missing from Hardlights in Low Graphics mode. This has been fixed.