Hey, folks, and Happy 3rd Anna-versary! Thanks for keepin' the game going strong these past 3 years!
It's been a while since the last update, so how about a sneak preview of the next one? Here's a few new features that will be making their way into the 1.7 update:
Sound Test
(Menu layout not final.)
Welcome to the one-stop menu for all your music and sound effect needs! Here, you can listen to any sound effects, music tracks, and voice clips for any events you've experienced in the game. Most are available right out of the gate, but a couple may need to be heard in other game modes, first.
Cutscene Theater
(Menu layout not final.)
Is there a particular cutscene you can't get enough of? Head on over to the cutscene theater and watch the introduction, epilogue, and all the intermissions to your heart's content! Snacks and beverages are not included with admission.
More?
These two extras are not all that's on the way in the next update. Other additions are not ready to be showcased currently but are in the pipeline - some huge, some tiny, but all fun! There is no definitive release date as of writing this, but I'm currently estimating to have things wrapped up and shipped before the end of the first half of 2024. Stay tuned for more information!
Ask Me Anything
I'll once again be hosting an AMA session over on X (or Twitter). Click here to go to the relevant post and ask me something! No guarantees I'll be able to answer every question, but I'll try my best!
Thanks for reading, and see you soon with more updates!
Version 1.6.2 Now Available
Happy Holidays, everyone! Another patch is going live today that addresses a few minor bugs from the previous 1.6.1 update.
It's been a while since the last "non-minor" update, but rest assured, more content is still on the way, and hopefully soon-ish. Thanks for sticking with me and the game!
Fixes
Fixed best times/overall times not saving properly
Fixed the "deadliest enemy" highlights not being attributed to the correct enemy
Fixed a few visual inconsistencies while the darkness cheat is on
Annalynn Trading Cards Are Here!
That's right! Annalynn is finally getting community items, which means special Annalynn-themed trading cards are now available for you to own! Collect them all and you'll also be able to craft a special badge, which also gives you a profile background and an emote!
You'll get one trading card for every 20 minutes you've played of the game, up to 3.
Thank you so much for the continued love and support for the game! Community interest is quite literally what made these possible in the first place!
Version 1.6.1 Now Available
Hey everybody! A new patch is going live today that fixes a few minor bugs with the 1.6 update. Hope you all continue to enjoy the update!
Tweaks & Fixes
Fixed a glitch where you could sometimes clip through the ceiling when jumping into them
Fixed an exploit with being able to go through some ceilings via ropes
Fixed the minecart bonus levels not showing up anymore after the first loop
Fixed the points for hitting a snake with a pickaxe displaying 250, when the player was actually receiving 500 points
Snakes hit with a pickaxe will stay knocked off for longer
Made some other tweaks to a few cheats/easter eggs
Version 1.6 Now Available!
Hey, everyone! The 1.6 update is finally here, at long last! This update contains two new cheats, as well as some new features to help you stay up to date on your latest runs. Read on to learn more!
New Cheat: Darkness
Are you afraid of the dark? This upcoming cheat might not be for you! Trek through the mines with nothing but your headlamp to guide you to safety! Blinding Rubies will be your friend now more than ever.
New Cheat: Flying Foods
Someone stop that runaway muffin!! If you thought the bonus items were too easy to go for, this cheat should make things a bit more interesting! Just be sure not to eat the wings.
Notifications
With all of the unlockables in the game, it can be a bit hard to tell right away when you've unlocked something new, so now you'll get notified about it when the game is over! You'll be able to see when you've unlocked new palettes, game modes, and more!
Other Additions & Tweaks
Revamped the records menu. The stat for total games played is gone, the game now keeps track of total time played when not in the menus, and the most deadly enemy you've encountered now shows a skull next to it.
The "no snake speed limit" cheat has been reworked into "speedy snakes" - snakes will get faster after every level instead of every three levels
Hard mode is now even harder!
The game now shows badges for the currently active cheats in certain spots in the menu to better convey when cheats are active
When beating the game with a cheat active, the game will now display a gem next to the respective cheat in the cheats menu
Bonus items stay on screen for slightly longer before disappearing
When pausing the game, the screen now darkens to show the options better
The game now counts time elapsed in frames instead of in seconds (essentially, the game no longer measures times in real time, so slower devices or devices with lag spikes won't get runs with a higher final time)
Removed the "end game option" from the options menu
Slightly tweaked how the overlay artwork gets drawn
Made a few optimizations for better performance
Bug Fixes
Fixed achievements re-locking themselves when meeting their conditions with cheats on
Fixed a bug where the game screen would be a pixel taller than it should be sometimes
Fixed one of the button prompts being invisible on the control rebind menu for gamepads
Fixed the snowflakes in Ice Grave coming to an abrupt stop when the wind stops
Two Years!
Hey folks! Can you believe it's already been two years since this game came out? Wild! To celebrate, I thought it'd be fun to once again do a little write-up on where things are currently at and where they'll be going in the future. Hope you enjoy!
Official Merchandise on Sale
In case you missed it, I've partnered up with The Yetee to deliver some awesome merchandise of the game, and as of today, you can save 20% on your order until February 5th! Please check out all the stuff here and do consider picking something up!
The Next Update
Been a while since the last update, huh? Worry not, for the next update is still being worked on! I don't have a proper ETA at the current moment, but I do have some upcoming features to tease. There will be two new cheats added to the game in this next update, and I'd like to give a sneak peak of them here.
Darkness
Perhaps a (slightly) more accurate look into a life in the mines, each level is now shrouded in a darkness that only your headlamp and the Blinding Rubies will be able to pierce. Proceed with caution!
Flying Foods
Someone stop that runaway muffin!! If you thought the bonus items were too easy to go for, this cheat should make things a bit more interesting! Just be sure not to eat the wings.
More to Come
Of course, this isn't all that's going to be in the next update. This update ended up being a lot bigger than I anticipated, and while it's closer to being done, there's still a lot more work that needs attending to before it's ready. Some of it's been very hard to keep quiet on, but hopefully it will be well worth the wait. As always, your patience is greatly appreciated!
Thank You
To wrap this up, I just want to take a moment to once again thank you all so much for your continued support for the game. The love and passion you guys have shown has been far beyond what I could have ever expected, and it's left a far bigger impact on my life than you might imagine! I want to keep making cool things with Annalynn and other projects later down the road, and whether you were here since launch day, or are first finding out about this game just now, I'm grateful all the same that you're here for the ride with me.
Thank you, and here's to a Happy 2nd Anna-versary!
Version 1.5.1 Now Available
Hope you guys are liking the 1.5 update so far! This minor update is just here to fix a few small quirks and bugs for features that were added in the last update. It also marks the first time the game has received a 1.X.1 update!
Tweaks & Fixes
Minimizing the window while the CRT filter is active no longer crashes the game
All assets for the Venom Den levels now properly become invisible during strange mode
Snakes are now slightly less likely to avoid being blinded while in strange mode
Fixed a minor glitch with how point text is displayed
Added an option in the cheats menu to disable all active cheats
Version 1.5 Now Available!
Hey, everyone! The next update is here at last, and there's a lot to unpack in this one! Plenty of options have been added to bring more replayability and quality-of-life to the game; so much that a lot of it needs to be split up into its own categories!
Arcade Mode
Grab your quarters! This mode was made in mind for being played in an actual arcade setting or for those who wish to play the game with an authentic cabinet. Many of the options are cut down, but there are several new ones designed to accustom a classic arcade experience. Toggle the game to require credits to be played, enable or disable continues, or tweak how many lives are available by default!
Also exclusive to arcade mode (for the time being) is 2 player swap mode! Two people compete with each other to end the game with a higher score, and swap control if a player loses a life or clears all the levels. This is not all that's in store for multiplayer, so look forward to future updates that expand on it more.
You can read more about how to activate arcade mode and its options by reading this guide.
Cheats
After beating the main campaign and unlocking practice mode and random mode, you'll now unlock a third additional menu option in the extras category: cheats! These can be toggled on or off to make small or large changes to how the game is played. There may also be some additional cheats hidden among the rest...
Turbo Annalynn: Make Annalynn run twice as fast! Stopping on a dime may be difficult.
Infinite Jumps: Up, up, and away! Take to the skies by continually pressing the jump button.
Snake Order: Lets you change the order in which the snakes will appear in the level. Multiples of the same snake are allowed! They won't change roles during cutscenes, however.
No Snake Speed Caps: The snakes become faster and more aggressive as you advance through the game, but eventually they'll reach a maximum threshold in random mode. Turn this restriction off and see just how fast they can get!
SN-4K3's Revenge: SN-4K3 wasn't too happy about getting trashed and is back for revenge! All levels now have SN-4K3 flying around in them. And there's no way to damage it, so... good luck!
Hard Mode: For those who somehow thought the game was too easy. Tweaks the AI for the snakes and the boss to be even tougher.
Strange Mode: Blinding rubies and bonus foods can cause weird things to happen in this mode. Not every snake may be blinded, the level could go completely dark, or all snakes might turn invisible while being worth double the points. Each level also gets an alternate color palette in this mode! (Also worth noting: getting a perfect score in this mode is straight up impossible most of the time, so "perfect scores" are not achievable when this is turned on.)
2016 Mode: Party like it's 2016! Tweaks Annalynn's design to appear how it did in the original prototype, and also adjusts the game's physics to play similarly to it. The bonus foods are also changed in this mode.
Voice Clips: Annalynn is a silent protagonist no longer! Turn this option on to hear her chitchat as she treks through the mines. Thank you to Elspeth Eastman for providing her with voice lines!
Achievements and high scores are disabled when certain cheats are active.
Other Tweaks & Fixes
Mike now has a consistent movement pattern during the first 10 seconds of a level.
Hitting snakes with a pickaxe in random mode now rewards 500 points instead of 250.
Minecart levels reward more points based on how many times the player has reached that specific minecart level. For example, the second time playing the mineshaft's minecart level in random mode rewards double the points, the third time rewards triple the points, and so on.
All menus can be exited out of more easily due to the addition of a back button to the controls. By default, this button is set to X on a keyboard and B on a gamepad.
Menus that can be scrolled up or down now have a scroll bar on the right-hand side.
The pause menu in practice mode has an additional option: quick retry. This provides a faster way to start a level over again.
"1 Player" is now labeled as "Campaign" on the main menu.
Added a CRT filter option in the graphics sub-menu. Credit goes to Vortex Game Studios for the use of their CRT shader!
Toggling fullscreen is now split up into its own option instead of being shared with window scale. Fullscreen is now also on by default when booting up the game for the first time.
Round 16 now displays "DEATHLESS!" text on the practice mode menu if it has been cleared without losing any lives.
Fixed a bug where the game can rarely take the player to a wrong menu.
Fixed a bug where the title logo disappears for a single frame during its animation.
Happy 1 Year Anna-Versary!
Holy cow, how's it been a year already?! Even all this time later it still feels surreal to me that the game is out. Nonetheless, the first anniversary is here, and I want to say thank you all for the incredible support; the response has been way bigger than I ever thought it would be, and I'm extremely grateful that this many people have been enjoying the game thus far!
Of course, Annalynn herself isn't going anywhere any time soon! Lots of things are in store for her and the pesky snakes, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to discuss a little bit more about what the future holds.
Future Updates
The game is getting closer to what I'd consider "complete," but I've still got a few plans for updates in mind. The next update still has a ways to go before it's ready, but most of the features for then will be focusing on more quality of life improvements, such as improving menu navigation and making some more subtle tweaks to the game to make it more enjoyable to play. There's some other things in the update that I don't want to spoil just yet, so look forward to it when it's ready!
Consoles
Probably the number one question I've been asked the most is if the game will be coming to consoles or other platforms at some point down the road. The answer is yes...eventually. It's going to take a fair bit of work to make sure everything in the game will function properly on consoles. I don't have as much free time nowadays as I used to, either, so I'd rather be dedicating that time to more of the core updates and future projects, so I appreciate your patience in this area!
Speaking of future projects...
The Sequel
Yep, a sequel to the game is now being worked on! I don't have any screenshots to show at the moment since it's fairly early into development, but this more or less is just stating that the project is now officially in the works. I can't give an estimate as to when I can reveal more, but hopefully I'll have something bigger to announce about the project relatively soon!
Ask Me Anything
As another way to celebrate the first anniversary of the game's release, I'm hosting an AMA session on my personal Twitter page! Got a question about what's in store for the future of the series? Wanna know how some parts were made? Or maybe you'd just like to get to know more about myself? Feel free to shoot me a reply and I'll do my best to get back to you!
That's all for updates for now. Thank you so much for your continued support for the game, and here's to another good year for Annalynn! Keep on mining!
Version 1.4 Now Available!
Hey, folks! Been a while since the last update, huh? Things have gotten a bit too busy for me to dedicate time to updates for this game lately (partly due to life getting in the way, but also partly due to new projects in the works), but a new update's here at long last! Here's what's been added since 1.3:
New Features & Tweaks
The game is now compiled with GMS2's YYC, which should make the game run significantly better on older hardware!
Minecart levels can now be played standalone in practice mode once you've played them at least once in random mode. When playing in practice mode, you'll see how many gold and platinum coins you've collected (as well as the total amount in that level) and how far along you are in the level
Eight new palettes have been added to the game! All of them can be unlocked through random mode. (Unfortunately, this means you'll also have to unlock these to re-unlock the Golden Girl palette even if you've already unlocked it. Sorry!)
You can now have up to 4 continues in random mode
Made some adjustments to how the Alien Ravine levels are played in practice mode to make getting perfect scores more forgiving
Slightly reworked some of the phrasing for palette criteria
Bug Fixes
Fixed some of the bottomless pits in Alien Ravine 2 not being aligned properly
When continuing in random mode, instead of being given 3 extra lives regardless of the starting lives option, you are now given the amount of lives you started random mode with
Fixed a bug where a selected palette would still be selected if the player deletes a part of their save data externally
