Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands cover
Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands screenshot
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Genre: Role-playing (RPG), Indie

Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands

v1.2.2 Patch Notes
So sorry again! Another small but important bugfix patch. A certain mysterious boss was sometimes broken after you defeat him, fixed now!

The 1.2 patch was so huge that a few bugs unfortunately leaked through. Hopefully this is the last!

(Amazingly we did 3 full 100% playthroughs on 3 different platforms and not once came across the bug. It ended up being an unpredictable 50/50 coinflip thing and of COURSE we got 3 "good flips" in a row ːkeefmadː )

v1.2.1 Patch Notes
So sorry about this! Just a quick hotfix. The UI was broken if your OS was set to languages other than English.

v1.2.0 Patch Notes
This patch doesn’t have much in terms of gameplay changes or fixes, but it marks a significant progress milestone for us on the technical end, hence the version bump up to 1.2 and the hefty update size. Most of the game’s asset organization, loading & packaging has been completely redone in preparation for console ports, and in so doing this also means the game is much better optimized for potato PCs too as a bonus. I know some of you are still gaming on those old IBM computers running OS/2, so this one’s for you.

By the way, the game is 33% off for the Autumn Sale (ends December 4th) WOOHOO!!!

CHANGELOG


  • Stopped Ian and Faye from weighing in on an incredibly situational conversation they’re not even around for.
  • Removed an invisible test warp that was accidentally included and could break the game if used.
  • Autosave text is more visible and occurs after screen fade instead of during.
  • Fixed Wither’s “increased Melody damage taken” attribute.
  • A couple of single target skills were doing ALL TARGET visual fx. Not anymore.
  • Fixed a bug that broke the camera if you skip a cutscene during a “camera follows target” moment.

1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY
Here's something to celebrate the occasion, feel free to use it for a desktop wallpaper!



HUGE thanks to everyone who spent time with this lot, We know they can be a bit of a handful so we appreciate it.

Thanks also to everyone who spread the word about the game, left a steam review, it all helps so much and means so much to us.



(In fact, it means SO MUCH that a couple of months ago I got a tattoo that keeps a tally of all the steam reviews for the game. I intend to keep it updated!)



Also let's HEAR it for you artists out there, look at all this sensational fan art, and a cosplay!! Receiving this stuff is always a huge day brightener so it makes sense to collect every single bit of fan art into a folder. Who WOULDN'T??

We're very flattered to see people still talking about this game a year on, funnily enough we've had more press coverage in recent months than we had on launch. If that's not a sign of QUALITY GAME, I don't know what is.

Lastly, the game is 33% off for the next 7 days! After all, what's an anniversary celebration without a TRIUMPHANT DISCOUNT??

Premium thanks from all of us.

- Dan, Kyle + Scott

v1.1.1 patch notes
After the WILD THRILL that was patch 1.1, this one might feel a tad uneventful. Just addressing a few little things that have surfaced since.

Also, thanks again for leaving all those lovely reviews, they've been wonderful to read.

UI


  • ALT_FX description text is no longer squashed. (It wasn’t a space typo I swear.)


MISC


  • Fixed pre-signup Tonewood entrance dialogue trigger.
  • Saeva note dialogue trigger in Hoho tent no longer clashes with Modpod interactable.

PATCH 1.1 HAS ARRIVED!
Hello and welcome to a particularly HEFTY patch update! So hefty in fact that Dan felt compelled to draw up comics depicting some of the changes, just for flavour's sake.

We've also discounted the game by 25% from now until the 27th to celebrate the occasion.

Anyway let's get into it:

REMAPPABLE CONTROLS



You can now remap both keyboard and controller bindings through the config menu. As a result, many of the alternate keys we defined for keyboard controls have been removed. Feel free to rebind them to your personal preference!

As a result of this addition, the default “Skip Cutscene” keyboard binding has been changed from ESC to Backspace. Feel free to change it in the config menu to your heart’s content!


INDICATING ENEMY WEAKNESSES AND STRENGTHS



“Weak” and “Guard” labels have been added to damage values to indicate how effective an attack is based on the enemy’s toughness and resistance stats. In addition, many enemies have had their toughness and resistance values adjusted to better emphasize these intended differences.

We realized a lot of players may have overlooked that there are differing attack types and feel this is a great way to highlight when players could be doing more damage rather than letting players assume the enemy just has high defense all round.


MODS



We wanted to take a look at some of the lesser-used mods and see if we could make them more attractive to use. Faye’s in particular suffered from an over-characterization of drawback effects. As the native Show-off, and her own clumsy personality, it made sense to see most of her mods having these kinds of effects. In reality though, this just led to a bunch of them being never used, and hampering her build possibilities. With these changes, we hope to see more build variety across the band.

Additionally, we made some adjustments to mods we felt needed a second look.

Faye

  • Dazzling Shred: Now has a 50% chance to strike a second time, additionally dealing minuscule melody damage to the target.
  • Dazzling Shred: Hype cost reduced to 90 / 45 (Previous: 100 / 50)
  • Dazzling Shred: Now generates 10 glam and 15 glam if both hits trigger. (Previous: 10)
  • Axe of Annihilation: Now deals massive melody damage normally and obscene melody damage if it triggers the sick version. (Previous: Heavy and massive)
  • Reckless Shredding: Now applies 1 measure of pain to the player’s bar. (Previous: 2)
  • Reckless Shredding: Now generates 6 glam. (Previous: 4)
  • BIG ANGRY RIFF OF FURY: Hype cost reduced to 80 / 40. (Previous: 120 / 60)
  • ALT_FX: Now applies a random negative measure effect onto the enemy’s bar for each enemy struck. (Previous: Applies a random measure effect)
  • ALT_FX: Hype cost increased to 100 / 50. (Previous: 80 / 40)
  • Fresh Twist: Now deals heavy noise damage to all foes. (Previous: Minuscule to single foe)
  • Fresh Twist: Now deals an additional 15% damage per negative measure effect on the player’s bar.
  • Fresh Twist: Inverts all 4 measures on the player’s bar. (Previous: Inverts 2 measures on the player’s bar)
  • Fresh Twist: Hype cost increased to 150 / 75. (Previous: 120 / 60)
  • Let Me Try Something: This skill no longer applies 2 random measure effects to the player’s bar and now only deals heavy noise damage to a single foe.
  • Let Me Try Something: Hype cost increased to 110 / 55. (Previous: 100 / 50)
  • Heartwarmer: This skill now either revives a defeated bandmate at a quarter of their max life (75% chance) or revives them at full health (25% chance). (Previous: Either revives a fallen bandmate at 100% of their max life (50% chance) or fails to revive them at all (50% chance).)
  • ugh: Now deals an additional 15% damage per empty measure on the player’s bar.


Ian

  • Beefy Double: Now generates 6 glam. (Previous: 4)
  • Hammer Jamming: Now deals moderate noise damage to all foes. (Previous: Light)
  • Hammer Jamming: Now generates 15 glam. (Previous: 10)
  • Hammer Jamming: Hype cost increased to 70 / 35. (Previous: 40 / 20)
  • Intimidate: Now additionally deals light melody damage to a single foe.
  • Poppin’ Off: Now generates 12 glam. (Previous: 6)
  • EVERYBODY BROKEN BONES: Now deals obscene noise damage. (Previous: Massive)
  • Twang Frenzy: Now generates 6 glam. (Previous: 4)
  • Palm Destroyer: This skill now also deals moderate noise damage to a single foe in addition to applying 2 measures of mad pain to both the player and enemy bar.
  • Dr. Tonebone: Now heals a single ally for a heavy amount. (Previous: Moderate)
  • Tribute to Babby: Amount healed by FISH abilities reduced by 16-25%.


Briff

  • Basketball: Can now score up to 10 points across 5 uses, increasing its maximum damage bonus to 200%. (Previous: 8 points across 4 uses, 150% maximum damage bonus)



PATCHES



Delayer’s knockback effect is now substantially reduced when using consecutive noise skills against an enemy before they’re able to get a turn. Once they’re able to take a turn, this reduction penalty will be reset. This penalty is incurred by consecutive noise skill uses, not consecutive hits via multi-hit skills.

Let’s face it, we all knew this was coming. We wanted to approach this adjustment in a way that still kept it valuable, but not completely game breaking.


EARLIER ACCESS TO FAST TRAVEL



  • Fast travel can now be accessed A LITTLE EARLIER, but at the cost of 300 bops per journey (unless you’ve done a certain sidequest).
  • Two new fast travel destinations have been added. Please do not question their practicality.



TREASURE LOCATOR



Bocks now offers help in narrowing down the whereabouts of unclaimed treasures during late-game (i.e. tells you how many treasures are left in Bopstead or Tonewood, etc). Perhaps this is their way of showing appreciation for winning the popularity tournament.


MERCH



  • Flipped Cap: Now inverts 2 measures on the player’s bar. (Previous: Inverts all 4 measures on the player’s bar.)
  • Flipped Cap: Stock cost reduced to 3. (Previous: 5)


With the big redesign to Faye’s Fresh Twist, we wanted the Flipped Cap to have some individuality and fill a gap missing amongst inversion skills.

BEATS



  • Starstrike now has a 33% chance to strike a second and third time.
  • Increased cost to boost Shrubbash from level 2 to level 3 to 1,500 bops. (Previous: 500)
  • Increased cost to boost Toot from level 2 to level 3 to 1,000 bops. (Previous: 500)


MEASURE EFFECTS



  • Empowered Slow now reduces speed by 40%. (Previous: 50%)


UI



  • Beat Booster: Selecting fully upgraded beats will now display their current information.


MISCELLANEOUS



  • The game’s credits can now be viewed from the title screen.
  • Saeva now leaves a note for Briff to let him know of her post-bus non-tent whereabouts.
  • Improved the visibility of one of the bottles in Claire’s Hair.


BUG FIXES



  • Fixed a bug that gave Briff a much higher base toughness stat than intended.
  • Fixed a bug that could allow for unintended player control when skipping a cutscene during the ending.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented the player from aggroing enemies after the boombox fight in Claire’s Hair.
  • Fixed a visual issue that caused the combat performance crowd to incorrectly appear overtop certain foreground elements on the bus.
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the sound created by kicking Who Cares to sound like a tent door kick. The game is now playable.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause certain music elements to persist upon quitting to the title screen.
  • Fixed a bug that caused a softlock in combat when counter attacking an enemy with a beat that overwrote a Harmony measure effect during the counter.
  • Fixed numerous issues with enemy attack elements and incorrect corresponding visual effects.
  • Fixed a UI issue that would cause certain measure effect icons to render incorrectly in shops.
  • Zee now only has a post-it face during the ending sequence if you triggered the necessary conversation prior.

Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands LIVESTREAM & CHILL!
Come watch our OFFICIAL DEV LIVESTREAM on our Discord!

https://invite.gg/deathbulge



We will be livestreaming the game demo via our Discord and maybe show off some additional content too, who knows??? Tune in to find out! While you're watching, feel free to chat with us too!

DEV CHILL & CHAT
Come chill & chat with the devs in our Discord!

https://invite.gg/deathbulge



Hang out, relax, kick ya feet up, CHILL, ask us questions, whatever you like! It'll be happening in the main #lobby channel, open to all!