Just wanted to let you all know that version 0.10.1 is now available. This patch fixes a handful of bugs. Most importantly, it fixes the nasty bug that frequently broke the game in the factory levels. So sorry about that one!
Here is the full changelog:
Bug Fixes
Fixed an error that would break audio, among other things, on the factory level under certain conditions.
Fixed the teleporter control panel not having collision.
Fixed Math Machines not rewarding any more YTPs after incorrectly answering it earlier in a round.
Fixed the outer labels in Johnny's Store being mixed up.
Version 0.10 is available now! PLUS New Limited-Time Baldi plushie from Makeship
Hello everyone!
I'm happy to announce that Baldi's Basics Plus version 0.10 is available now! This is a huge update that features a ton of new content. I'll get into all of that below, but before I get into spoiler territory I first want to show off the new Baldi Two-Sided Doughboi from Makeship!
This squishy pillow plushie has a happy Baldi face on one side and an angry one of the other so you can pick a face that suits any mood! This was a pretty goofy idea I had but Makeship did an awesome job working with me to make this happen. It needs to sell a minimum of 200 units by May 3 to be produced and it hasn't quite reached that goal yet, so if you want one be sure to make a purchase and help spread the word! If the goal is not met, no one will be charged so there's no risk in ordering early. You can check it out here!
Version 0.10
Now it's time to discuss the new update. Turn back now if you want to discover what's new for yourself!
The biggest new addition to the game in his update is two new levels, bringing the total of levels in Hide & Seek to five! I didn't just increase the level count though, I've also introduced new level types to the game! Previously the only level type was the school, but levels four and five can be one of three brand new level types: Maintenance, laboratory or factory. Each level type comes with its own unique set of structures that you'll have to master if you want to beat them!
The maintenance levels have a focus on stealth as you can control the lights in classrooms and hide near leaky steam pipes. You'll need to make sure the lights are on in any room you want to solve an activity, but be careful! Turning on too many lights at once will blow a fuse and send the entire level into total darkness!
The laboratory levels have a focus on teleportation, as they are broken up into four sections that you can travel between using a teleporting machine! You can also hop in the wormhole for a more chaotic way to get around, or use an item to sneak through one of the new faculty only doors.
The factory levels are focused on changing pathways and are full of lockdown doors, roto-halls and conveyor belts. Flip levers and press buttons to open and close doors, spin roto-halls and change the direction of conveyor belts!
Aside from the new mechanics, these levels also feature a higher overall difficulty than the previous ones as you'll encounter more characters and Baldi will be even faster than before. You'll need to strategize better than ever before to beat Hide & Seek now!
Aside from the new levels, there are some other big new things you'll find in levels as well. Locked rooms contain valuable items, such as the bus pass, and can only be entered if you can find the matching key (Or if you can find some other clever method of getting in). You'll also find students hanging out around classrooms. Return lost items to them in exchange for YTPs!
This update also includes several QOL improvements and bug fixes. I'll stop rambling now though, and give you the entire changelog below. This is a big one!
Changelog
Additions
Added levels four and five to Hide & Seek.
Level four contains seven notebooks and will either be maintenance, factory or laboratory. Baldi's speed curve becomes more aggressive in this level than in previous levels.
Level five contains nine notebooks and will either be maintenance, factory or laboratory.
Added three new level types: Maintenance, Factory and Laboratory. Each level type has its own unique combination of structures. Level types will never repeat in a run (Excluding the school level type).
Maintenance
Added power levers. These can be used to control power and lights in connected classrooms. Classrooms must be powered on to solve their activities.
Each power lever has a cable connecting it to its class room. You can follow this cable to figure out which lever controls which room. When a power lever is on, the cable will emit an electric humming sound. When flipping a lever, the room it controls will be discovered on the map if it hasn't been found yet and the room's state will be shown on the map as well.
Each power lever has a gauge next to it which shows how much power is being used. Turning on too many levers at once will blow a fuse and turn off all the lights in the level.
When this happens, the player must find the breaker and reset it to restore power to the level. The breaker emits a green light and alarm sound which can be used to easily find it.
Elevators cannot be entered or closed while the power is out.
Added steam valves. Leaky steam pipes fill surrounding areas with clouds of steam which can be hidden in, but reduce visibility. They can be toggled on and off with nearby valves.
Added the lightbulb testing room. This special room randomly toggles the lights off and on every ten seconds, creating potential hiding spots in unlit areas.
Added new wall and floor textures and light sprite for maintenance.
Factory
Added the conveyor belt room and new associated conveyor belt structure. This room splits the level into two halves and, when entered, randomly sends the player through a maze of conveyor belts which will send the player elsewhere in the level. This includes two belts at opposite sides of the level which move in opposite directions and can be changed with a button press. These are the primary means by which the player can get from one side of the level to the other.
Added new floor texture, swing door variant, light object and special suspended ceiling object for the factory.
Laboratory
Added teleporter rooms, the wormhole and faculty only doors. These structures generate in conjunction with each other to split the level into four distinct sections separated by the faculty only doors.
A teleporter generates in each section and can be used to get to any other section. Teleporters must cool down for 30 seconds after being used however, so be careful! When pressing a button and opening the teleporter, any entity that enters the teleporter will be sent to the destination, so it is possible for characters to be teleported.
In the center of the level there is a wormhole room. At the start of a round, this room is closed off, but when all notebooks in a section have been collected, that section gains access to the wormhole room by opening the lockdown doors. The wormhole room is a large room with a wormhole at the center that pulls any entity inside towards it. Any entity that enters the wormhole will be sent somewhere random in the level. When an entity is sent through the wormhole, an indicator appears at that entity's destination a few seconds before it arrives. If you see one appear near you, watch out!
Faculty only doors are a special type of door that allows all NPCs to pass through, but not the player. The doors only close when the player is detected however, so it is possible to pass through by using certain items or scenarios to your advantage.
Added new floor, wall and ceiling textures for the laboratory level.
Added locked rooms. These are special faculty only rooms that generate with a large lock over the door with a shape on it. In order to remove the lock, players must either find and use the matching key item on it, or access the room by some other means. Locked rooms typically spawn with very valuable items inside. On level two, the locked room will always contain the bus pass.
Added students. These NPCs spawn around classrooms and only wander around nearby areas. Each student that spawns will also cause an associated lost item to generate somewhere else in the level. Standing near a student will cause them to show you what item they are missing. Return the lost item to them in exchange for YTPs. The amount of YTPs you earn for this increases for each student you return an item to in a round.
Added status effect gauges to the HUD. These indicators are used to communicate which effects are active and how long they will last. Some items have been updated to use this instead of their own, unique indicators, such as the Techno Boots and the Faculty Nametag.
Added push pins to the advanced map. These are a special type of marker that are placed in pairs and can be used to marked connections between points on the map. These are useful for marking where vents lead or what buttons control for example.
Changes
When a controller is disconnected, the game will now be paused.
Baldi will now pull players out of the lockers if he hears them hide inside one. This is accompanied by a new voiceline. Baldi won't tag you while he's speaking so you can use this as a chance to escape!
Changed Big Ol' Boots to Techno Boots to more clearly communicate their behavior. Boots now prevent being pushed by forces in addition to movement modifier values. When being moved by an outside force while wearing Techno Boots, the player will move very slightly in the pushed direction to make the effect of the boots more obvious.
Reduced the volume of Beans' voicelines.
Gravity flippers now freeze time while the player is getting flipped. This helps prevent confusing control scenarios.
Gravity flipper shader is now transparent.
When reduce flashing is on, the gravity flipper animation is skipped.
Item loadouts are no longer seed dependent. Both the items that spawn and where they spawn will change every time a level is loaded. This increases the difficulty of repeat attempts at a level.
All entities now become invisible in total darkness to match the player's ability to become hidden to NPCs in total darkness. In this state, the entity can only be seen once it is close to the camera.
Chalk eraser clouds now make all entities invisible, not just the player.
Improved the appearance of chalk eraser clouds.
Changed rooms to use more consistent texture types. Faculty only rooms now all have the wood panel walls for example.
Reworked The Test. The Test is now more of a useful tool than a threat, but players must still be careful.
Looking at The Test will cause time around the player to dramatically slow instead of stop entirely.
Looking away from The Test will cause it to teleport to a random hallway cell in the level instead of chasing the player.
Looking at The Test for too long will cause it to start shaking. Once it begins shaking violently it is very unstable. Look at it for much longer and it will explode!
Once The Test explodes, time around the player will speed up significantly for a little while. This means the player will still move at normal speeds, but NPCs, other entities and level objects will be sped up.
The Test will not respawn until another round is started.
Updated The Test's poster description to match its new behavior.
Lockdown doors are now controlled by levers which provide an instantaneous response based on the lever's position. Up means the door will be open, and down means the door will be shut.
Propagated audio managers now have a minimum distance.
Missing a jump in jump rope will now make a sound Baldi hears.
Mrs. Pomp no longer freezes the player and stops the environment when informing them about her class.
Audio from propagated audio managers is now pitch shifted based on that object's corresponding time scale.
Pre-release Changes
Adjusted level 5 map price and total items in shop.
Made some relevant items more likely to spawn in factory and laboratory levels.
Made it so late game locked rooms will usually contain high end items.
Reduced the max item values in late game levels a little bit.
Chalk clouds are now culled.
Power levers are now limited in how far they can generate from the room they are powering.
Changing the state of a power lever now reveals the connected room on the map and updates the appearance of the room on the map to reflect whether or not it's currently powered.
Changed placeholder power lever cables with colored cables that can be followed more easily.
Created a proper model for the power gauges.
Restored characters rewarding YTPs.
Mrs. Pomps YTP reward now varies based on how long it takes to reach her class.
Losing Reflex's test no longer makes noise.
Reduced the speed at which the faculty only doors close to enable more ways to pass it (Such as using a 'Nana peel).
Each section of the Laboratory now contains posters that label each one with a number.
Teleporter rooms now show their corresponding numbers on the map.
Increased initial Student YTP value.
Now when a level generation error occurs, the player's game is saved with the seed changed and they are given the option to return to the main menu. The game can then be loaded and continued.
Buffed the test a little bit by increasing the amount of slow down and the time it can be looked at before exploding.
The Test now has a crumbled sprite for when it explodes.
Bug Fixes
Fixed characters who cannot open locked doors being able to navigate and pass through them.
Fixed the dither screen transition being tied to the framerate, which caused extremely slow transitions on lower-end hardware.
Fixed a rare level generator error where it would attempt to build a special hall formation outside the bounds of the level.
Fixed Hide & Seek options not saving immediately upon being changed. This resulted in settings reverting to a previous setup in some scenarios.
Added a buffer around the math machine in Room_Class_MathMachine_2 to try preventing balloons from getting stuck between it and the wall.
Fixed NPCs not targeting entity safe cells when traveling through open areas with no valid exits aside from the one they used to enter.
Extended the second conveyor belt in the tutorial such that it extends through the entire hallway.
Fixed Rewired input mapper calibration window. It previously was not modified to work with the OS themed sprites and text was unreadable.
Fixed issues with particle effects not being affected by things like lighting and fog.
Mrs. Pomp will now assign a class to go to even if she cannot navigate to any at the moment she attempts to do so. After this she will wander randomly until she is able to find a path to the selected room. This prevents her from breaking in this scenario.
Playtime can now only start jump rope if she can see the player.
Fixed rooms not being found in their entirety when entered instead of only finding open areas.
Fixed conveyor belts not being affected by the environment time scale.
Pre-release Fixes
Fixed a bug caused by an outdated door position outside the bounds of the lightbulb testing room which caused swinging doors to rarely generate in an adjacent room.
Fixed trap detection not working reliably due to it not counting already blocked off cells as neighbors to check path finding against.
Belt constructor now blocks off belt cells in all directions during level generation. This fixes softlocks in the factory level.
Fixed lockdown doors that start closed not blocking paths during level generation, resulting in softlocks in factory levels.
Fixed extra doors on locked rooms changing the other room's cell room to its own room.
Fixed Baldi saying "nine notebooks" instead of "seven notebooks" on level 4.
Fixed room group lights not being implemented.
Fixed class rooms in levels 4 and 5 not using the wall with molding texture.
Fixed tutorial doors being able to be closed.
Fixed tutorial doors using levers instead of buttons.
Power lever cables now stop at classroom doors and connect to lever walls.
Increased the size of the game lock collider so that principal's keys cannot be used on the door.
Fixed the jump rope failure sound value being lower than that of doors.
Blocked all the walls in the belt room so that buttons and similar level objects will not generate inside them.
Fixed missing controls for lockdown door in Stealthy Challenge.
Cells that are blocked by objects in the teleporter room are now marked as blocked so that objects cannot be generated or placed on those walls.
This update took a lot of work, and I still am not quite done with it! Endless mode for example has not been updated with the new level types yet, so I will be making some improvements there soon. I also want to flesh out the new level types with new decorations and faculty rooms among other fine details, so expect that kind of stuff in the near future.
As I've mentioned in previous updates though, major updates will become smaller in scope from here on out as I will begin shifting my focus towards the development of stuff for the distant future of Baldi's Basics Plus, much of which will not be seen until version 1.0 releases. With that in mind I'm glad I was able to make this last fully-focused early access major update a big one! With my attention split it may seem like things are slowing down, but rest assured this is a necessary change in getting this game finished.
Lastly, thanks to everyone who continues to play Baldi's Basics Plus! Special thanks to all the Kickstarter backers and Patreon members who provided feedback on the early access release. There was a lot of great feedback which has resulted in a much better update and will continue to help make further improvements!
With all that said, I hope you enjoy Baldi's Basics Plus version 0.10!
Version 0.10 Is Delayed One Week to April 21
Hey everyone,
Unfortunately, as I said might be possible in the previous status update, I've made the decision to delay the release of version 0.10 by a week. This means the pre-release will now release on April 14, and the public version will release on April 21. My apologies for the late notice on this- I kept telling myself that maybe I could make the previous dates work, but I've realized the update just needs a bit more time before it's ready. It was reaching a point where I was considering excluding some content that just isn't ready yet from the pre-release and saving it for the public release, but I feel like that would defeat the purpose of a pre-release!
A big reason for this delay stems from my trip to the Game Developers Conference. (Which I mentioned on my socials, but yeah, I went to GDC this year if you didn't know!) That trip was extremely important for Baldi's Basics Plus in the long term, but it also took over two work weeks out of my usual development schedule. The week prior to the conference was spent making preparations and the week of the conference was spent traveling and, obviously, being at the conference. Several days after arriving back home were just kind of weird as my regular schedule had been disrupted and my body needed more rest than I'd anticipated. This was my first time flying, and even leaving the East Coast, so I had no idea what to expect.
With the initially proposed dates I felt like I was properly accounting for that lost development time, but in hindsight they were just a bit too tight. One more week ought to be enough for me to get this update pre-release ready in time for that and cleaned up for the public release on the 21st. Again, I apologize for the delay, but I think the wait will be worth it!
Version 0.10 Status Update
Hello everyone!
I wanted to post a quick status update on how development of version 0.10 is coming along! Between how much work I've been putting into this update and some other business related stuff, I've got a lot going on this month, so I'm going to keep this update short and sweet.
So far, I have finished programming and designing pretty much all of the new features I had planned for this update! At this point all that's left to do is create and implement all the audio/visual assets and fine tune/balance everything. I'm very happy with how much I was able to get done in February and can't wait for you all to be able to play this new update
For this update, partly to keep it short and partly to keep the new features a surprise, I'm just going to post some WIP screenshots of some of the new stuff. Just a few teasers of things to look forward to! Please keep in mind that there are still plenty of placeholder assets in use in these screenshots, so the new stuff will mostly look very different in the release version.
Currently, I'm aiming to release the pre-release of this update on April 7 (Pre-releases are available via my Patreon) followed by the public release on April 14. However, audio/visual work can take an unexpectedly long time sometimes so don't be surprised if I have to push it back another week. I will certainly try to avoid delays though!
One more thing before I wrap this post up. I want to remind you all that, while 0.10 will be a pretty sizable update, 0.11 and onward will be smaller overall as I will begin shifting my development focus so that half of my efforts will be spent on content for immediate release and the other half on stuff that will be reserved for the future, primarily version 1.0. You can read more about this plan in a previous staus update I posted here, but the TLDR is that I want to get the game's planned structure (All the key moments I have planned from the beginning to the end) up and running by the end of the year. This stuff will not be a part of the early access, but having those things in place and somewhat functional internally will, I believe, be a huge help in finishing the game.
All that is to say, don't be surprised when 0.11 releases and seems significantly smaller than 0.10! It won't be because I'm slowing down, just due to me shifting my focus.
With all that said, I hope you all look forward to the release of Baldi's Basics Plus version 0.10!
Version 0.9a Hotfix
Hey everyone, I'm just letting you all know that I just released a super minor update to fix an issue where finishing the tutorial would not switch Steam Input to the "Interface" action set, which made it impossible to close the tutorial results screen and continue to the main menu when using Steam Input (This was most noticeable on Steam Deck where Steam Input is on by default). Since the first thing most new players will do now is play the tutorial, I didn't want to leave a bug that would require some to force close the game after completing it, so I went ahead and fixed the issue now. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this issue may have caused, and thanks to those who reported it!
Version 0.9 is available now!
Hello everyone!
Previously I had announced that 0.9 would be focused almost exclusively on bug fixes. However, before I got started on that I decided to do some work on the tutorial level I have been planning for a little while, and that ended up taking most of my development time in January. So unfortunately I did not get around to fixing many bugs, instead opting to work on some other important, albeit unexciting, improvements to the game. I definitely still want to dedicate a good chunk of time to fixing bugs sometime soon though!
Alongside the new tutorial I added an in-game keyboard to make creating a new file easier with controllers, and a new Hide & Seek menu where the play style and challenge options can now be found. Explorer mode is also here now as its own play style.
There are a handful of other tweaks which you can see in the changelog below. So overall this is a very small update, but I've already started working on 0.10 and if all goes to plan that one should be very exciting! I hope you all will look forward to it, thank you for your patience!
Changelog
Additions
Added an interactive tutorial level. This tutorial teaches players about the game's core mechanics.
Players on files that have never been prompted before will receive a prompt to play the tutorial when clicking the play button on the main menu.
The tutorial can be accessed by clicking the new tutorial button on the mode select screen.
The tutorial features chalk boards which display the currently set inputs for game actions. These chalk boards will refresh whenever the game is un-paused to reflect any changes to controls made during the tutorial.
The tutorial includes a new placeholder music track created with Microsoft Music Producer.
Added tons of new Baldi voicelines for the tutorial.
Added a dedicated Hide & Seek menu.
Play Style, challenge options and seed input have been moved to this screen.
Explorer mode has been moved to this screen. It is now a play style option.
When there is a saved game, there is now a button which will allow players to start a new game alongside the continue button. Pressing this button will prompt players to make sure they're okay with losing their current saved game before starting a new one.
Added an in-game keyboard for entering new file names.
If there are no save files, players will be taken directly to this screen when starting the game.
Gave Baldi a new speaking animation which automatically lip-syncs to his audio. This is used in the tutorial and when correctly completing activities. Added lockdown doors which cannot be closed after being opened (Currently only used in the tutorial).
Added the Anim8or Community Discord to special thanks section in the credits.
Changes
The new file button is now always visible on the file select screen if there is an unused slot available, instead of only being visible on Steam Deck.
Certain structure builders can now be used to populate premade maps. This is used to generate lockers, water fountains and plants in the tutorial map.
Tweaked Baldi's file select screen voicelines to accommodate for the changes made to file creation.
The save and quit poster in the pit stop no longer mentions that players cannot save in explorer mode. That information is now shown on the play style tooltip.
Bug Fixes
Fixed volumetric audio sources, such as that of conveyor belts and Cloudy Copter's wind, not being propagated.
Fixed, for realsies this time, BSODA not properly pushing entities through conveyor belts/wind when they enter the triggers of those objects after colliding with the BSODA.
Fixed a few old typos.
Pre-release Changelog
Added a third class room to the final section of the tutorial to prevent it from being completed too quickly.
Fixed a bug that caused all modes to use whatever challenge and playstyle settings were selected in the Hide & Seek menu.
Fixed a bug that caused saved games to be erased when playing any mode, not just starting a new game.
Removed the window between the first hall and the principal's office in the tutorial.
Posters in the tutorial principal's office are now spread apart.
Fixed a bug in the tutorial that caused Baldi to repeat instructions when placing a BSODA in the storage locker and taking it out again. Now Baldi will only repeat the instructions to spray him with the BSODA when using the quarter on the BSODA machine.
Increased the prices of items in Johnny's store in the tutorial.
Re-enabled the ability for Johnny to let players buy items they are 100 or fewer YTPs short of affording in the tutorial.
Fixed a bug that allowed buttons behind the tutorial prompt to be clicked on.
Updated the copyright year to 2025.
Fixed an oversight that caused level 3 to be labeled as level 2 in Steam Recorder.
Fixed an bug that caused Baldi to become stuck on his praise sprite in some scenarios.
Fixed a bug that caused the item icons of items in slots that had previously been lost via the shrinking inventory challenge to not appear when losing and reloading.
Reduced the volume of the tutorial music track.
After Baldi finishes counting down, he will briefly switch to his smiling sprite before changing to the normal ruler sprite.
The plan for Baldi's Basics Plus in 2025!
Happy New Year everyone!
As we begin a new year, I thought it would be good to discuss my thoughts on how 2024 was for Baldi's Basics development and how I plan on tackling things in 2025!
2024
In 2024, I managed to release five major game updates, starting with 0.4 and ending with 0.8. Though there were a few delays, I managed to stick pretty close to the plan on releasing a new major update every two months, and I'm very happy with how that worked out!
That said, going into 2024 I explained that my plan was to essentially just work on stuff and then release whatever was finished when it came time to release a new major version. Despite my intentions however, I often didn't end up developing things that way. Instead I often found myself trying to cram certain features into the game in time for updates or working on new features that were so time consuming they were all I had been able to work on between updates and so they had to be completed within that time frame or else I'd have nothing to push whenever the next update was due to release (This mainly happened with 0.7's field trips). For better and for worse this led to occasional crunching.
Near the end of the year I did experience a bit of burnout, but now that I've had some time to reflect on things I feel that burnout stemmed more from lost development time (Largely due to some IRL issues such as mice and carpet beetles showing up in my house around November which I, admittedly, allowed to distract me from my work way more than I should have) and the stress I felt as a result of falling behind.
2025
With those lessons learned I'm making some lifestyle tweaks going into 2025 to help me work more a bit more consistently than in 2024, put less unnecessary pressure on myself, and make better use of my spare time so I can better recharge my batteries for work hours. I'm pretty happy with my work/life balance, but I think it will be even better in 2025!
To get more specific about Baldi's Basics Plus plans though, I want to outline my plans for the next couple of major updates and then discuss some changes I'll be making to my approach to updates afterwards.
0.9
As I took off work for most of December, I'm just now getting back into the regular development cycle. Instead of pushing 0.9 into the beginning of March to give it a full two-month development cycle however, I still plan on releasing it in about a month from now to maintain a two month gap from the release of 0.8. With that in mind, 0.9 will be mostly, if not entirely, focused on bug fixes. The list of known issues has gotten quite large and I don't want my desire to add new content to overshadow the need to fix bugs, and now seems like a good time to squash them. So, while 0.9 will not be very exciting, it will still be a very important update.
0.10
Version 0.10 however... Well, I'm not going to get into specifics, but my hope is to make this a relatively large update! There's some new content I have planned that I've been very excited about for a while, and I think things are likely to line up to allow me to finish it all in time for 0.10. All I'll say about the update right now is that, if all goes according to plan, conveyor belts will return, but as part of something that will totally change the game. Make of that what you will!
0.11 and Beyond
Once I finish 0.10, my plan is to change up the way I develop updates. As I mentioned above, I ended up falling into some needlessly stressful development habits in 2024. In 2025, after version 0.10 is released, I'm going to more closely stick to my plan of just releasing what is finished when it's time to release new major updates, without worrying about the size of updates. I will still plan on releasing a major update every two months, but to better achieve this goal I will be breaking up the time between updates into two types of development: Immediate and future.
Immediate development time will be focused on developing smaller, self-contained pieces of content that, once finished, can immediately be queued for the next update. Future development time, on the other hand, will be spent developing stuff that is not planned to be released any time soon, or stuff that may take longer than a single update period to finish.
So, once version 0.10 releases, I'll spend about a month working on relatively simple, new content for version 0.11, while the next month will be spent working on stuff such as new/reworked game systems, end-game stuff, secret levels, etc., much of which will not appear in the game until the 1.0 release. This pattern will continue as long as I keep releasing early access updates.
With this development pattern, I believe I'll be able to more consistently provide cool new stuff for each major update, while also getting a chance to work on stuff that will allow me to get closer to wrapping up the game. I still have no idea what version 1.0's release date will be, but for the first time since I started this project I feel like I can see a tiny bit of light at the end of the tunnel... In fact, if all goes well I hope to have an internal build that closely represents the structure of the finished game by the end of the year. This does NOT necessarily mean that I will be close to finishing the game, just that I hope to have reached a point where I can start a new game, play through all the planned levels, and reach something of a real ending. This build would still be crammed full of placeholders and be missing a ton of content, but I'm reaching the point where I think having a complete structure to build off of and refine is important. To be clear, this goal is entirely an internal one. This hypothetical build would not be released publicly or as part of the early access, it's just a development milestone.
I also plan on making some real attempts to get some other folks involved in the project this year. There are certain aspects of the game I know I'll need help with and I'm also still interested in seeking out a publisher. I've already got some concrete plans regarding this this year, so here's hoping I can find some help and speed things up even more!
Conclusion
Just as last year, I think 2025 will be a super exciting year for Baldi's Basics Plus! I hope you all will look forward to what's coming. Thank you all for the support and patience, without which I'd never be able to do this.
Version 0.8.1 is available now!
Merry Christmas everyone!
This update is just a quick patch fixing a few major issues that were introduced in 0.8, mainly issues with certain functions not being called when exiting rooms via vents.
However, due to popular demand, I've also re-added the time limit test option from the pre-releases as a challenge option which you can find in the game settings menu! On top of that, I've also added two additional challenge options! One which disables the map and one which causes item slots to disappear when using items. Think of these as a little Christmas gift! If you've been looking for some extra challenge, these settings will definitely help.
Added new challenge options accessible in the game settings menu.
1 Minute Limit: Sets the time limit on every level to one minute. Hurry up!
No Map: Completely disables the map. Pay attention!
Shrinking Inventory: When using an item, you will lose a slot for the rest of the level. Think carefully!
Bug Fixes
Fixed Strict mode being labelled as "Intense"
Fixed a bug that caused room exit functions to not be called when a player/NPC/entity exits a room via vents.
This fixes the game staying muted when leaving a library via a vent.
This fixes Chalkles continuing to charge when leaving the room via a vent.
Fixed missing captions for the time out bell.
Fixed walls forming inside the pillar in the special hall formation with the pillar, which could trap players inside. There are still some generation issues with this pillar, but players should no longer be able to get trapped if they end up inside (Except in very rare cases where lockers or other objects trap the player).
That's it for this update. I hope you all have a merry Christmas!
Version 0.8 is available now! + New Principal Plushie!
Hello everyone! I'm happy to announce that Baldi's Basics Plus version 0.8 is available now!
This update brings a mix of different new features, the biggest of which is the new time limit! Each level now has a time limit and when that runs out the school begins to shut down and the game begins to get harder. Lights will go out, Baldi will begin to get faster and Principal of the Thing will send you to detention if he sees you in school after-hours. You'll still have plenty of time to explore each level, just be sure you're not wasting it!
Thankfully, if you ever do find yourself taking too long to complete a level, there's another new mechanic that will come to your aid: You can now hide in the dark! If you stand on a cell that is as dark as possible, you will become hidden, and NPCs will not be able to see you. You'll need to take advantage of dark areas if you want to survive as Baldi gets faster and faster!
This update also includes an upgraded advanced map that allows you to place markers. These markers are not only visible on the map, but also at the corresponding location in the level when viewing the quick map. With these you can mark the location of important points like the storage locker, an area you used WD-NoSquee on, a room you left an important item in, etc. You could also use them to plan a route or to note the status of a structure. The possibilities are endless!
The last big new feature of this update is a new structure: Vents! Vent entrances can now be found in some rooms in level 3. Any entity that enters these will get sucked in, pulled through a series of ducts and then dropped through an exit in the ceiling somewhere else in the level. Vents are a great way to quickly traverse large distances in a level, but beware! Other characters can also wander into vents or follow you in if they are chasing you! If you're inside a room with a vent on the ceiling, keep your ears opened. You might just hear slapping coming out of the vents, in which case... get out of there!
Alongside the new structure I've also made several improvements to the level generator. Halls no longer generate with unfair dead-ends or bottlenecks, and I've streamlined the systems used to generate structures in order to pave the way for future structures. I've also made several tweaks to level generation parameters to try and reduce the frequency of empty areas appearing levels.
Those are all the major changes in this update, but before getting to the changelog I want to announce that Makeship and I have partnered once again to release a new Principal of the Thing plushie! You can check it out here.
Principal of the Thing was a very challenging character to transform into a plushie, but I'm very happy with the design I and the team at Makeship ended up with! It will be available to purchase until December 28, so if you want one be sure to grab it before the deadline. As Principal of the Thing once said, "No buying the Principal of the Thing plushie after the deadline in the halls!"
With all that said, I was hoping that this update would be much bigger, especially since it was delayed. My apologies to anyone who was expecting more in this update. Unfortunately life got in the way quite a bit and my productivity took a hit. To be honest, I feel like I may finally be experiencing a bit of burnout as well, but considering this is probably Baldi's Basics Plus' most productive year I guess I shouldn't be surprised! Because of this I will be taking most of the rest of December off and getting back to work, hopefully refreshed, in January. Version 0.9 will be mostly if not entirely dedicated to bug fixes as the list of known issues is getting pretty big and since that will be a good way to warm back up after my break. I'll post a status update around the beginning of January to discuss my 2025 plans beyond version 0.9! As always, I thank you all for your patience.
Now, on to the changelog. Please note that no new features will be covered by a spoiler bar, so don't continue if you don't want to know what the new structure is!
Additions
Added time limits. When time runs out, a special event activates which causes changes in the game and level. Each level has its own time limit. Level 1 = 5 minutes, level 2 = 7 minutes, level 3 = 9 minutes. The time out event does the following:
Baldi begins to get faster and faster over time.
The player will become permanently guilty for being in school after-hours. If Principal of the Thing sees the player in this state, he will chase them and send them to detention.
Individual lights in the hallways begin to dim until all have dimmed.
Principal of the Thing will turn out the lights in rooms with the exception of rooms with incomplete activities. Rooms with bonus questions do not count as incomplete activities.
A new music track will play. This track is a placeholder created using Microsoft Music Producer.
Added timers to elevator areas that display time remaining in a level.
Added decorative items and an exit sign to elevator areas.
Open elevators now act as light sources. When all notebooks have been collected and all elevators re-open, they will light green to make them easier to find.
Players can now hide by standing in cells that are as dark as possible.
Added map markers. Map markers can be placed by clicking the new map marker buttons on the advanced map and removed by clicking on placed markers on the advanced map. Map markers can be seen at their corresponding position in 3D space when viewing the quick map.
Added a new structure: Vents!
Vents generate in levels as an entrance in a wall connected to an exit in the ceiling elsewhere in the level via a series of winding ventilation ducts.
Any entity that enters a vent entrance gets sucked in and pulled through the ducts, eventually being ejected out of the exit point.
Vents apply a reverb audio filter to any entities with propagated audio while inside.
When the player is outside vents, entities with propagated audio will have their audio propagated from the vent entrance or exit, depending on how close the entity is to either.
When the player is inside vents, the player will hear the audio of all entities with propagated audio that are currently inside the vent regardless of position.
When the player is inside vents, they will hear audio outside the vents from the position of either the vent entrance or exit, depending on how close they are to either.
When any entity hits a turn while traveling through vents, a metallic bang sound will be produced. This can be heard from both the entrance and exit of a vent regardless of the position of the entity that triggered the sound's position in the vent.
When the player exits a vent, the exit will make a noise Baldi hears.
Added new Play Style option. This option controls how lives work.
Normal (Default): You start each level with three power tubes.
Arcade: You start with three power tubes, but do not get any more each level.
Strict: You only get one power tube per-game. Lose once and that's game over!
Changes
Made several changes to the level generator.
Halls now generate more intelligently and avoid forming dead-ends and bottlenecks.
Structure generation has been reworked and streamlined.
Swinging doors should now generate such that there is only one per-hall.
When controllable lockdown doors are added to a level, there can now be more than one.
When roto-halls are added to a level, there can now be more than one.
Some structures that were previously only generated in halls, such as storage lockers and vending machines, can now also generate in rooms at pre-determined safe positions.
Phones can now only generate in rooms.
More plants now generate in levels.
Level size in Hide & Seek levels is no longer random. As a result, levels are a more consistently compact with less wasted space.
No special halls are placed before hallways are generated. Now, special halls are only placed after halls are generated (Previously, special halls were placed both before and after). This prevents issues with inaccessible areas of levels being generated.
There are likely other small, unintended changes due to the structure rework.
Activities can no longer be completed if a room is not powered. This means bonus questions cannot be answered if Principal of the Thing has turned off the lights in the room. If a room is not powered, all lights on the Math Machine will be off and it will not indicate that it is clickable.
Changed advanced map interface. It now features on-screen zoom and scroll buttons, marker buttons and a timer display. The on-screen size of the map display has been reduced to make room for these new buttons.
Made changes to shaders to improve lighting in darkness. Textures no longer become totally black and there is now a much more noticeable increase in contrast in dark areas.
All three Hide & Seek levels now use the same lighting method in order to accommodate lights going dark once the time limit has expired.
Removed the detention HUD element that displayed detention time and replaced it with a timer that sits above doors in the principal's office.
Detention no longer uses real seconds and time counts down at 1.25 times the normal speed.
Cloudy Copter's wind will now affect other Cloudy Copters (This scenario is currently only possible via modding).
Removed
Conveyor belts have been temporarily removed as they are in the middle of being reworked. They will return in a future update!
Bug Fixes
The elevator gate can no longer be seen in the playground in the endless medium map.
Fixed Mrs. Pomp crashing if there are inaccessible classrooms when she tries sending the player to a class.
New Known Issues
Getting flipped due to Gravity Chaos starting or ending while traveling through a vent causes the camera to move outside the vents.
The lighting of entities traveling through vents appear to flash frequently due to using the grid-based lighting system.
Due to the way vents can crisscross, entities can occasionally be seen clipping through the walls of vents.
Time limit ticking and bell sounds are missing captions.
Pre-release Changes
Thanks to everyone who played the pre-releases and offer feedback! I was able to fix a lot of issues and oversights with vents and some other new features thanks to y'all.
Updated Baldi's placeholder time out line with finalized line.
Added sound effects to vents.
Added above mentioned audio mechanics to vents.
Fixed NPCs being able to see the player (And Principal seeing the Bully) while in vents.
Fixed Dr. Reflex being able to hammer entities while inside vents.
Fixed Mrs. Pomp being able to grab and drag the player while inside vents.
Fixed being able to see entities traveling through vents the player is not in.
Fixed vent exits being able to generate in Playgrounds.
Fixed vent entrances being able to generate in the principal's office and in playgrounds.
Updated and re-enabled pre-made maps.
Fixed vent exits being able to generate over lights.
Fixed being able to see lockdown doors and elevator gates inside vents.
Fixed room functions triggering when entities are traveling through vents.
Fixed issue where vents would sometimes generate with a segment near the end that reverses 180 degrees in order to ensure it connects to the selected destination point.
Fixed an issue which allowed vent exits to generate too close to vent entrances.
Fixed levels generating with inaccessible areas.
Slightly reduced time limits (Okay but actually after testing these adjusted time limits I felt they were a tad too tight, particularly level 3 without a map, so I meant to set them back to where they were but forgot WHOOPS. Hope this update isn't too hard!).
I think that's everything. I hope you all enjoy version 0.8!
Version 0.8 Status Update
Hey everyone!
I hope y'all are doing well. I'm back with a new status update all about version 0.8 of Baldi's Basics Plus! Let's start by discussing a couple new features that will be in the next update.
Play Style
This first one is pretty simple, but I think it will be an addition welcomed by many of you. I've added a new play style option that allows you to change how lives work to make for a harder or easier experience. The options are:
Normal - You start each level with three power tubes (This is how the game has worked since launch).
Arcade - You start with three power tubes, but do not get any more each level.
Strict - You only get one power tube per-game. Lose once and it's game over!
If you've found the game to be a bit too easy, or are looking for a more typical roguelike gameplay experience, this option can be adjusted to your liking! Normal helps balance the sometimes unfair chaos of the game by giving you a chance to learn levels and adapt accordingly, arcade still offers some leeway, but makes losing much more punishing, and strict won't let you have any second chances. Choose whichever option you think makes the game more enjoyable!
Note that this option won't impact the power bonus. The power bonus will be based on the number of attempts it takes to beat a level. So on the Arcade setting for example, if you go into a level with one power tube and beat it on your first try, you'll still get a 3X power bonus.
With that explained, let's talk about a much bigger new feature coming in the next update.
Hurry Up!
Recently I asked on Twitter what y'all's average times were per-level. I wanted to know to help balance a mysterious new feature. Well, I'm ready to reveal what that new feature is!
Time Limits
Yep, in version 0.8 you'll want to make sure you don't spend too much time in a level because school is only going to be in session for so long! This is a feature I've been planning on adding for a long time and I think it will add a good sense of urgency to the game. Finding good places to hide will still be important, but you won't want to hide forever!
With this new feature, once the game begins, you'll be able to see how much time you have via a timer near the elevators. I also plan on making the time viewable via the map. As time runs out, the Baldi TV will occasionally notify you as well. Once the clock hits zero, school is out! Things will start changing fast!
First off, Baldi will begin speeding up over time. The longer you stick around, the harder it will become to avoid getting caught! Principal of the Thing will also try to send you to detention for being in school after hours. Even after getting sent to detention for this reason, you will remain guilty in his eyes so be sure he doesn't see you again!
Lights Out
Characters aren't the only things that change when school is out though. The level changes as well! As soon as time is up, lights in the hallways will start dimming, and the Principal of the Thing will turn out the lights of rooms he exits. Things will get pretty dark fast, and you'll need to take advantage of this if you want to survive as Baldi gets faster and faster!
How can you take advantage of the lights going out? Well, this update will add a new mechanic that allows you to hide in dark areas! If you are standing on a tile that is as dark as possible, you'll become hidden and NPCs will not be able to see you. You'll need to find dark spots to survive and finish the level as Baldi begins reaching terrifying speeds.
In the future I plan on adding more content that utilizes lighting, but for now this is all I've implemented. To accommodate these changes I've also slightly reworked the lighting system to make super dark areas easier to see in. There is now a much more noticeable contrast when objects are in dark areas, and the minimum brightness is now limited so not everything becomes pitch black.
I may adjust lighting further to ensure things don't get so dark it's too hard to see.
I might add more effects for when you run out of time, but for now this is what I've implemented. In my testing I've found that trying to survive after time has run out is super intense, so it should be a lot of fun for those rounds that take a bit longer to beat than usual! Of course, I'll try to balance the time limits to make sure there is still time to thoroughly explore levels, you'll just have to be sure not too much time is wasted.
Level Generator
Aside from those new features, I've also dived back into the level generator to tackle several issues that have been on my to-do list for a while.
One issue, which I've now successfully solved, is eliminating dead-ends and bottlenecks in hallway generation. In previous versions of the game it has not been uncommon for huge, unpredictable dead-ends to form in levels which can unfairly end a round. Another issue was bottlenecks, where certain areas of a level could only be accessed via a single hallway. I created a new algorithm to more intelligently generate halls and avoid these issues. This will allow me to, in the future, be intentional about dead-ends generating in levels and better balance the risk involved with them.
Another issue, which I am currently working on, is that of open areas. When a level is generated the game scans it for open areas. Open areas are any parts of a level that have a 2x2 or larger group of cells connected to each other. Rooms are mainly where open areas are found. In order for NPCs to be able to navigate these spaces and avoid colliding with objects in them, the game generates a NavMesh and other data which makes this possible.
The blue grids are NavMeshes which have been generated in open areas.
The issue with the way this has worked in previous versions is that this data is only generated once when the level is first generated. If the level layout changes to change the shape of an open area (For example, it multiple portal posters are placed next to each other) none of that open area info is updated.
So, I'm currently reworking this system to make it possible to update this info as the level layout changes and to optimize it so that this can be done with very little performance impact. It's proven to be pretty challenging, but I've made good progress and I'm pretty confident I'll be finished with this soon. Perhaps not in time for 0.8, but this is high on my priority list for now.
Aside from that I'm also improving the way structures (swinging doors, conveyor belts, roto halls, etc.) are generated/loaded to pave the way for new ones! I really want to get some new structures in the game for 0.8 to really spice up the level generation since it's been a while since that aspect of the game has seen any new content. With that said...
Slowing Down
I've decided to delay the next update by a month. I plan on resuming the two month schedule again afterwards, but for a number of reasons I feel like it will be best to give 0.8 some more time in the oven. So the plan now is to release 0.8 in early December.
My main reason for delaying the update is that, due to how much time has been spent working on technical aspects of the level generator, I haven't had much time to actually create new content. I don't want 0.8 to just be the time limit and a new option so my plan now is to try wrapping up all the technical work I'm doing by the end of October and spend the entirety of November creating new structures and other content for the game.
Another reason for the delay just comes down to the fact I probably won't get a ton of work done in December due to the holidays, so it makes sense to crunch a little bit at the end of November to wrap up a big update and then be able to relax in December. With that in mind, 0.9 (Which will likely release at the beginning of February) will probably be focused on bug fixes since the list of known issues getting quite large and that will be a good way to warm back up after taking a short break.
Oh, and just a note since there seems to be some confusion regarding version numbers; Baldi's Basics Plus is using semantic versioning, so after 0.9 will come 0.10, 0.11, etc. I wanted to clarify this since I've seen that some people think 0.9 will be the last early access version of the game. I don't currently know what the last early access version will be, but it will be well beyond 0.9!
Conclusion
I think that pretty much covers everything that's going on regarding version 0.8 at the moment. I hope the delay doesn't come as too big a disappointment, but I will try my best to make sure the wait is worth it!
