Hey again everyone!
This is going to be a little bit of a messy one, so ill do my best to explain what's up. My planned first update of 2025 was going to be a refresh of the tutorial levels in the game. This update would have been releasing around about now, if it wasn't for the fact that I got distracted by a few bugs that, although not super game breaking, were something that I did want to prioritise fixing.
I could have delayed the update, but I'm going away for 3 weeks starting the 7th of February, and really wanted to get the fixes into the game before I did, whilst also leaving enough time to fix anything else that may creep up as a result of the update, since I did have to dive pretty deep into some core parts of the game to fix some of the bugs.
So what exactly are you getting today? well... You are getting half of the tutorial update, and an overhaul to the Remix levels, as well as a few other fixes. Lets dive into them one at a time...
Tutorial Refresh
My initial goal was a brief overhaul to the tutorial levels. This would be mostly visual changes, like the addition of surrounding no-jump tiles etc. to bring them into line with the other newer levels of the game. Upon further reflection however, There were some additional changes I decided to make. Because of this, and the fact that I have yet to finish this update, you will notice a number of tutorial levels missing from the section. So, let's discuss...
Danger Ahead
Il start with "Danger Ahead"... I really don't like this level. Everything from the way it looks, to the general design, and then topped off with the fact that the WR route is yet another edge hit in the 8 tutorial levels... Then there is the fact that it doesn't really cover many of the hazards that exist in the game today, as they didn't exist when the level was made.
To put it simply, this level has been relegated to the "Bonus" section of levels, and will be replaced with a brand new hazard tutorial level in the future. And so begins my long list of IOU's for this update. :)
Instability
Unlike Danger Ahead, I do actually like this level, and I think the improved layout with additional black tiles etc. makes it look significantly nicer than it's former self. It does however suffer from a similar issue that Danger Ahead does, in that it no longer really reflects the number of platform types that exist in the game nowadays, which was the point of this specific level.
Because of this, the level has been moved into the "Easy" section of the game, sitting at a 2 difficulty. As an added bonus, this removes yet another uber-hard edge hit record from the tutorial set. And finally, This level will of course be replaced by a new platform-based tutorial level... Eventually (IOU#2).
Power Up
Unlike the two levels above, this level suffered from something different... Being too hard. I know what you are thinking... the level is suuuuper easy right? But your probably a hardened ball controlling veteran, so of course it is... I, however, have seen an unbelievable number of new players struggle with this level after completing the previous 7 tutorial levels with relative ease... It legitimately got to the point that I couldn't really justify not removing this level from the tutorial set.
For this reason, the level has been moved to the "Easy" set of levels, where it now sits at a 3 difficulty. Aaaaaand, naturally, I don't have a replacement for this level yet either, so I guess this is IOU#3... <3
Jump Around
In a bid to clean up the tutorial levels from the evil scourge that is the "edge hit", I have slightly re-designed this level to make it so the only fast route isn't so super hard and precise.
The original version of the level is still available in the "Bonus" set of levels, with all of its scores etc. still intact, though there is a good chance this will be moved to Remix in the future.
To Summarise...
All of the tutorial levels not mentioned above has been re-designed to include the more modern layout with black tiles etc.. The missing levels should arrive in the next game update, which should be some time in March (because I'm away for most of February).
Remix Revamp
What started out as a simple endeavour to figure out what was causing Remix replays to sometimes not upload correctly ultimately turned into a fairly substantial system update. Most of this update will go unnoticed by you, the player, but there are some fairly obvious changes you will notice, with the main one being the medal system used.
Remix levels are now classified the same as standard levels in the game, and so they have adopted the standard medal system (Bronze -> Diamond), as opposed to the pass/trophy system. All of the levels have been given a new set of medal requirements, though these are subject to change as feedback for them rolls in.
Although still currently unattainable, the achievement "Ultimate Challenges" which originally required 25 Remix challenge medals has been changed to now require 25 Platinum medals. Similarly, the achievement "Challenge Accepted" now requires a single Diamond medal. It is likely that I will change the name and image for both of these achievements in the future, since they reference the old "Challenge" name, and both pictures reference the old trophy medal.
Finally, Remix levels are now included in the global leaderboard calculation.
All Patch Notes
- Fixed issue where Remix levels were unable to be played online
- [Hopefully] Fixed issue with Remix levels not correctly uploading replay data when it should
- Fixed issue where resetting the level from the pause menu would respawn the the player with jump action stuck
- Certain achievement descriptions changed to reference "Bonus" levels instead of "Legacy"
- Remix levels now use the same medal system as other levels
- Remix levels are now included in the global score leaderboard calculation
- The maximum score from any individual level has been capped to 9,999
- Game mode and Global score rating leaderboards now show the total possible number of levels beside the number of completed levels
- "Smackdown" has been moved to the "Hard" level set
- "The Small Divide" has been moved to the "Bonus" level set
- "Instability" has been moved to the "Easy" level set
- "Power Up" has been moved to the "Easy" level set
- "Danger Ahead" has been moved to the "Bonus" level set
- "Jump Around (Legacy)" is now available to play in the "Bonus" level set
- All remaining tutorial levels has received some slight design changed
- Gems have has a slight changes in size