Hey guys! Krayfishkarl here and welcome to another Droplet: States of Matter update! Early Access 1.43 is now available! This update continues the process of reshuffling atoms throughout the game.
First off, the Neo Kryptopolis level has received a second pass. While the level layout remains mostly identical to how it was before, you'll find it to be inhabited by several new enemies. Holograms have the ability to change their own state of matter to guard against your attacks much in the same way Duchess Cara Bonnie does. For example, if you are in cloud form, it will change itself to metal, and if you're in ice form, it will change itself to be transparent. Another new enemy is the Eye Laser. It protects itself with an impenetrable shell until it is ready to attack, during which time, it is vulnerable.
Neo Kryptopolis wasn't the only level to receive a rework. I've also given a second pass to the Weather Machine Test Site, otherwise known as the lost level that I rescued from a damaged hard drive. The changes to this area were far more extensive, with updated layouts and graphical improvements. A new enemy type has been introduced here: dark matter beings. These enemies are immune to all states of matter except for plasma form. Naturally, as this is the last level before the final boss, be prepared for a very challenging experience. You'll also find some entry logs from a certain scientist that conducted experiments here. If you choose to do so, you can stop to read them to learn more about the backstory of this area.
Lastly, I recently did a 100% playthrough of the game to evaluate where the game is at. It took me approximately 9 hours to complete, and that's factoring in how I already know where everything in the game is. I'm overall happy with how much content the game has, and I'm looking forward to finishing up the last few critical features.
That's all for now! And with that, thank you for following the development of Droplet: States of Matter!
Patch Notes
Gameplay
Layout update of Weather Machine Test Site.
New enemies in Weather Machine Test Site: Dark matter creatures which are immune to everything except plasma form.
New enemies in Neo Kryptopolis: Holograms and Eye Lasers.
Reshuffled atoms in Neo Kryptopolis.
Streamlined some of the puzzles in Neo Kryptopolis to be more speedrun friendly.
Minor tweaks to level layout in Arctic Rig.
Activated levers no longer deflect projectiles.
Fixed a bug where it was not possible to obtain a blue crystal in the final boss fight.
Cirrus Harbor time trial time made a little more generous.
Macro Kitchen time trial made more challenging.
Adjusted Gizmo Shop prices so that all abilities can be purchased when all atoms in the game have been found.
Graphics
Graphical rework of Weather Machine Test Site.
Updated graphics on Robot Form Changers.
Updated graphics on red lasers.
New burn graphical effect added. Player becomes scorched in appearance if touching certain obstacles.
Updated animations for bats.
Minor graphics updates in Neo Kryptopolis.
Fixed some background graphics that were clipping in Macro Kitchen.
Updated graphics for spikes in Industrial Junkyard.
Graphically updated barriers that require defeating a certain number of enemies.
Fixed bug where Kalofrioh’s volcano was the wrong color.
Fixed various misplaced graphics.
Text
Bug fix with intro cutscene showing wrong character name.
Fixed a typo in the Aragonia system description.
Updated some of the superluminal scanner hints.
Science Museum and more!
Hey guys! Krayfishkarl here and welcome to another Droplet: States of Matter update! Early Access 1.42 is now available! This update comes with numerous improvements across the entire game.
First off, the Science Museum has been graphically updated. As a location the player is very likely to visit early in their journey, I thought it would be an important area to give a makeover. Dr. Form Al DeHyde has been given a new look with new animations, taking inspiration from cephalopods. The previous krayfish design has been relegated to a new character who introduces you to the bonus time trial challenges. In addition, the pink crystal that used to be in this area has been moved to a new location elsewhere. I won't say exactly where, so I'll leave it to you to sleuth it out.
In other news, I've been going through the entire game and reshuffling all the atoms and collectibles. Next time you play, I would take another visit to the following areas: Crystal Quarry, Brimstone Temple, Sandswept City, Frozen Fortress and Radiant Reactor. While the number of atoms remains the same, they've been condensed and grouped together to make it a little less tedious going for 100% completion. Atoms in these areas are no longer randomly scattered across every nook and cranny, but rather, are more carefully placed in order to both guide the player and to offer some mini challenges to test their knowledge on the states of matter.
This will be the final update of 2024 as I'll be taking a short break for Christmas. However, come January, things will go back into full swing. Of the remaining tasks, there's a bit more atom reshuffling to do in some of the levels. Plus, there's the last two boss fights that I want to give a second pass to. While there's still a lot of work to be done, I feel the end of early access drawing ever closer.
That's all for now! And with that, thank you for following the development of Droplet: States of Matter!
Patch Notes
Gameplay
• Moves the pink crystal in the Science Museum to a new location elsewhere in the game. You’ll have to sleuth it out! • New NPC in Science Museum to tell you about Kray Times. • Adjusted time trial times and atom placements in Crystal Quarry, Brimstone Temple, Sandswept City, Frozen Fortress and Radiant Reactor. • Brimstone Golems now attack from further away. • Fixed jittering in rising lava in Brimstone Temple artifact challenge. • Tiger Fish in Frozen Fortress now chase you if you get close to them. • Shock Dogs now shoot their projectiles in an arc. • Radiant Reactor hidden boss now has new mechanics.
Graphics
• Graphical update to the Science Museum. • Graphical update to Dr. Form Al DeHyde. • Graphically updated all artifacts. • Graphical update to progress gates. • Added something that will only appear on Christmas Day. • Graphically updated genie enemies. • Small tweaks to knight sword graphics. • Updated graphics for Brimstone Golems throwing rocks. • Adjusted the max angles of the searchlights in Neo Kryptopolis to prevent clipping. • Graphically updated the Radiant Reactor entrance. • Updated animations and graphics for electric eels. • Updated graphics for circuit sparks. • New animations for Radiant Reactor hidden boss.
Audio
• New music for Science Museum. • New sounds for genies. • Tweaked sounds for Brimstone Golems throwing rocks.
Text
• Rewrote the descriptions of all artifacts. • Science Museum now has some extra in-universe lore that you can read about. You will unlock more entries as you progress through the game.
Yokai Gardens and more!
Hey guys! Krayfishkarl here and welcome to another Droplet: States of Matter update! Early Access 1.41 is now available! This update reworks three different levels, giving them another pass to improve player progression in the early game.
The level that has received the most changes is Yokai Gardens, formerly known as Bonsai Bathhouse. I felt the original version needed improvement in that it had to introduce the player to some sort of unique mechanic or test their knowledge in some way. What I chose to do was to make sure that they are up to speed on what enemy types are immune to certain states of matter. This is to make sure that they are adequately prepared for the encounter with Cara Bonnie, who uses a similar mechanic during her boss fight.
In Yokai Gardens, you'll find all sorts of enemies with special attributes. There's the nurikabe, a stone enemy resistant to cloud form. The ents, plant-based enemies immune to water form. And the newly introduced Yuki-onna, a ghostly enemy immune to ice form. Don't get too close, or you might just be chilled by its freezing breath.
You'll also find some other aesthetic changes. The level progresses through the four seasons, starting and ending with spring time. In the winter section, you'll default to ice form which might make our new spectral friends a bit tricky to deal with. But of course, that's part of the challenge.
In other news, the two other levels I reworked - albeit to a much smaller scale - are Mangrove Marsh and Waterworks. These levels both remain conceptually the same but I've spaced out the collectibles and platforms to give the player more breathing room. They are now more focused on the mechanics they're setting out to introduce. Mangrove Marsh helps to ensure the player knows how ice and cloud form react with bodies of water. And Waterworks introduces gratings that all states of matter, except ice form, pass through. In doing so, I'm aiming to make sure the player knows these crucial skills before facing much more difficult challenges later in the game.
That's all for now! And with that, thank you for following the development of Droplet: States of Matter!
Patch Notes
Gameplay
Renames Bonsai Bathhouse to Yokai Gardens. New layout. The area expands on the catfish temple and features subareas themed after the four seasons.
New enemy: Yuki-Onna. A ghost enemy that will freeze you if you get too close.
New enemy: Amemasu. Identical to piranhas from Mangrove Marsh in behavior though themed towards Yokai Gardens.
Kase-Obaka and Nurikabe have more health
Reworks Mangrove Marsh with a new layout.
Refresh on Waterworks level layout.
Lily pads no longer sink.
You can now deflect thrown weapons with a well-timed punch or kick.
Increased hitbox size of ents.
Ents now shoot more accurately.
Fixed some issues with boss outro cutscenes not playing correctly.
Small performance improvements to state changing platforms.
Graphics
Graphical overhaul of Yokai Gardens.
Graphically updated piranhas. Piranhas in Mangrove Marsh are now red, while the ones in Waterworks are blue and move faster.
Updated animation cycle of Mangrove Marsh’s flytraps.
Ents now have different colored leaves depending on their location.
Audio
Sound effect added when freezing Tree Frogs.
Salty Peter rework
Hey guys! Krayfishkarl here and welcome to another Droplet: States of Matter update! Early Access 1.40 is now available! This update reworks the Captain Salty Peter boss fight from the ground up. It is now a completely different encounter from before with brand new mechanics.
Found in the Xenon Lagoon hub world, Captain Salty Peter is the fourth boss fight in the game, taking place out at sea in the middle of a pirate battle. Stay alert, because the boss's tactics will change based on where you are in the arena. From afar, he will fire cannons at you, but if you decide to board his ship, he will instead take shots at you with his blunderbuss. However, that's not all. He's now got legions of scurvy dogs to throw at you. There are even stowaways on your own ship that will come out to attack you, so you better make sure you are on the move.
True to being named after one of the ingredients of gunpowder, Salty Peter also has some explosive surprises in store. One of his new attacks is to plant a TNT crate on his own ship. Try not to get blasted away to oblivion!
And the last major addition to the fight is that the water is now swimmable. As it is the open ocean, it is a big space to move around in. But don't stay in too long or you might just become shark bait.
This update, along with the previous reworks to Cara Bonnie and Sill E. Con are part of a larger effort to improve all the bosses in the game to be of a consistent quality standard. With this rework now out, only two mainline bosses remain. I am anticipating their completion around the end of December, leaving the early parts of 2025 to be focused on further quality of life improvements.
That's all for now! And with that, thank you for following the development of Droplet: States of Matter!
Patch Notes
Gameplay
Captain Salty Peter boss fight reworked with new mechanics.
You now recover health and ammo when picking up a time trial crystal.
Removes screen shaking from boss fights.
Fixed some misplaced water in Helium Valley.
Explosions from bombs now do more damage against enemies.
Graphics
Graphical rework of Salty Peter’s arena.
Graphical update to Salty Peter’s model.
Graphically updated the Megalodon’s that patrol the edges of some levels.
Graphical update to pirate ships.
Updated some animations on Charcoal Pirates and Scurvy Dogs.
Fixed minor animation issue when Droplet sprints and jumps from the surface of water.
Audio
Updated music for Autumn Hills and Borealis Vista.
New voiceover for Captain Salty Peter.
Sill E. Con Boss Rework
Hey guys! Krayfishkarl here and welcome to another Droplet: States of Matter update! Early Access 1.39 is now available! This update gives a second pass to the Sill E. Con boss fight.
Found in the Radon Industries hub world, Sill E. Con is the fifth boss in the game. It is a unique encounter in that you are locked to a 2D axis. Using the power of a dark energy-based weather machine, you must change to the appropriate state of matter to get past his defenses while avoiding his attacks.
While the Sill E. Con boss fight was positively received by players, I chose to give this encounter another coat of paint so that its visuals more closely fell in line with the game's narrative. Sill E. Con now wears a lab coat and glasses to better convey the fact that he's one of the lead scientists working for Lord Krypton. The background itself was also redesigned to indicate it as some sort of test chamber for a weather machine.
The 2D sidescroller mechanic is a remnant of a time during development when there were more sidescroller levels in the game. These were cut in 2022 when I had to descope the game, but given the fact that these systems were still fully functional, I thought I would keep it specifically for this boss to make it a more unique encount er.
That's all for now! And with that, thank you for following the development of Droplet: States of Matter!
Patch Notes
Gameplay
Changed some mechanics of the Sill E. Con boss fight to fit the game’s narrative.
Updated Sill E. Con’s movement path.
Sill E. Con’s nuke attack will now spawn ammo if you are low at the time it detonates.
Already collected green and pink crystals and artifacts no longer reward lives. Instead, they add 10 “atoms” to the 250 needed until the next extra life. (Dev note: This is to address some feedback about acquiring too many lives over the course of a natural playthrough.)
Tweaked some collision on the breakable boxes.
Audio
New music track for Captain Salty Peter’s pre-boss battle theme.
Tweaked the Deep Sea Mines theme.
New sound effects for Sill E. Con.
Graphics
Graphical update to the Sill E. Con boss and his arena.
Sill E. Con now has visible animations when firing projectiles.
Animation adjustments to TV Robots.
Fixed a bug where checkpoints would show the character in the wrong state of matter.
Graphically updated the dark matter weather machines.
Turrets that activate when in range are now gold colored, while those that activate based on surveillance cameras are now silver.
Texture update on Hint Board.
Housekeeping update
Hey guys! Krayfishkarl here and welcome to another Droplet: States of Matter update! Early Access 1.38 is now available! This is a housekeeping update that cleans up several different levels and touches them up with miscelleneous fixes. I'll rapid fire through the highlights.
Firstly, I made some graphical updates to the Industrial Junkyard level. The factory portion has received a visual makeover with new details. I've improved it in not only appearance, but also performance. In particular, I refactored the code for the conveyor belt objects to run a lot smoother. I also took the liberty to improve the general gameplay flow of the level, making it faster to run through each of the lever puzzles. Naturally, I've updated the required times for the time trials to accomodate these changes.
Next, I reshuffled some atom locations in a few levels so that they are more intuitive to find and more consistent with the rest of the game. This includes not only Industrial Junkyard, but also Arctic Rig and Macro Kitchen.
And lastly, I made some small changes to the Galactic Science Festival to address some feedback. A few extra landmarks were added and some of the cutscenes were tweaked to communicate information better to the player.
That's all for now! And with that, thank you for following the development of Droplet: States of Matter!
Patch Notes
Gameplay
Reshuffled atom placements in Macro Kitchen, Industrial Junkyard and Arctic Rig.
Adjusted time trial times for Industrial Junkyard and Arctic Rig.
Blowtorch lizard attack pattern has changed. They are also immune to cloud form given their metal face coverings.
Code optimization and physics updates for conveyor belts.
Removed ability to spin on top of spinning blades. (Dev note: As fun as this was, this had the risk of causing motion sickness to the player.)
Spinning blades will now damage enemies that happen to get struck by them.
Shock animation now plays when touching the laser beams in Arctic Rig.
The hammers in Industrial Junkyard now destroy debris on the conveyor belts. They also have slightly updated movement.
Removed an out of bounds crate in Arctic Rig.
Factory debris now drops more often.
Fixed a bug where life count would not display properly in some situations.
Fixed a bug where the cutscene just before boarding the Mendeleev could play twice.
Fixed a bug where the outro cutscene at the Galactic Science Festival would enter a loop under certain circumstances.
Updating timing for attacks by trolls and robot workers.
Graphics
Graphical updates to the environment of Industrial Junkyard.
Graphical update to blowtorch lizards.
Updated animations for Coriphant.
Material updates for robot workers.
Graphically updated spinning blades.
Graphically updated swinging pendulums.
Graphically updated and optimized the code for conveyor belts.
Graphically updated and optimized the code for the laser beams in Arctic Rig.
Fixed a bug where it could snow in interior areas of Arctic Rig after respawning to a checkpoint.
Minor graphical changes to Galactic Science Festival to establish better landmarks.
Fixed some incorrect geometry at the Galactic Science Festival.
New visuals during the dialogue that plays when the player enters the galaxy map for the first time.
Added sinks to the bathrooms in Radon Industries.
Fixed a bug where “Green Crystal Obtained” could linger on the screen under certain circumstances.
Audio
New music tracks for the Sill E. Con boss fight.
New sound effect for hammers and pouring buckets in Industrial Junkyard.
New sounds for the blowtorch lizards.
Fixed a bug where UI sounds in the galaxy map weren’t being affected by the options menu.
Fixed audio bug that occurs when skipping one of the cutscenes at the Galactic Science Festival.
Text
Fixed an instance where Ruby was incorrectly referred to as an Argon Guard.
Added some edge case dialogue if you go back to Eich-Tuo before going to Helios for the first time.
Krypton Estate rework
Hey guys! Krayfishkarl here and welcome to another Droplet: States of Matter update! Early Access 1.37 is now available! This update reworks the Krypton Estate hub world.
Krypton Estate is the second to last hub world in the game, the personal home of one of the game's main villains, Lord Krypton. It is also one of the strangest hub worlds with many unexpected twists and turns. You'll start out in a spooky forest before going to a manor with a hedge maze in the front yard. To be able to challenge Lord Krypton himself, you'll need at least 55 crystals to obtain some tickets for a front row seat to his show. While the rework for the Lord Krypton boss fight itself is a pending future update, some of the theatrics leading up to it are in place here at the manor. A b ouncer, whom you must present the tickets to, guards the entrance.
The manor itself has been greatly expanded from the original version. More rooms with more furniture and props have been added. To access the level's pink crystal, you'll have to find eight levers hidden throughout the mansion. Having them be in relatively secluded locations is an intentional design choice. I took great inspiration from the etymology of the word "krypton", which is derived from the Greek word for "hidden".
Krypton Estate is also home to some of the most bizarrely themed levels in the game. Two years ago, I reorganized the game's levels and spread them out across different hub worlds from their originals. As such, Krypton Estate received some portals that at first glance do not seem to be thematically in line with the haunted house theme. For example, the entrance to the futuristic city of Neo Kryptopolis can be found here. I chose to embrace these oddities to further lean into how enigmatic Krypton Estate and Lord Krypton himself are. So naturally, it only made sense that one of the rooms you can visit has a dance floor.
In other news, I've updated two other music tracks in the game. The Oganesson Labs hub world now has a brand new music track taking inspiration from synthwave. It is meant to evoke the feeling that you are in the final hub world, soon about to face the game's final challenges. Additionally, I updated the instrumentation of the Particle Accelerator theme to be more in line with my current composition capabilities. This one is more of a light remastering rather than a complete rework, keeping the same melody and structure but with some extra fine tunings.
That's all for now! And with that, thank you for following the development of Droplet: States of Matter!
Patch Notes
Gameplay
Graphically updates and expands Krypton Estate to have more areas to explore.
Adjusted crystal requirements to enter other areas.
Graphics
Graphical update on paintings seen in several levels.
Macro Kitchen updated to be consistent with Krypton Estate graphical updates.
Audio
New music for Oganesson Labs.
New Bonus Areas!
Hey guys! Krayfishkarl here and welcome to another Droplet: States of Matter update! Early Access 1.36 is now available! This update reworks some of the bonus areas.
Across the game, you can find hidden artifacts. When you return them to the Science Museum, you'll receive a reward of 2,000 atoms each. Naturally, these valuable items are well-hidden, and in the process of going through and polishing the game, I wanted to make these bonus areas interesting and invoke a sense of exploration. Some of them have been moved to different locations than they were previously. I've also decided to reduce the number of total artifacts you can find from 14 to 12 in interest of time. In doing so, I was given the opportunity to better flesh out the remaining ones.
Two of these artifacts have been moved to unique areas: the Lava Planet and the Ice Comet. I won't spoil how to find these locations in the game, but I can show you what you can expect.
The Lava Planet is a short, platforming gauntlet through an area that is so hot that you start out in cloud form. At the end, you'll find a lava monster boss armored with rock. It's a challenging fight, but I imagine it'll be equally challenging trying to find him the first place.
The other new level, the Ice Comet, is a frozen area where you'll find a unique mechanic related to floating moisture. In some levels such as Misty Canopies, these moisture platforms must be frozen with ice form in order to interact with them. In the Ice Comet level, these platforms actively move around to create a challenge unlike anything else seen in the game. If you manage to make it through, you'll be rewarded with an artifact.
In other news, I've made some tweaks to the Particle Accelerator level, a late-game stage just before the final boss. I've smoothed out the pacing and made it much more difficult, yet fair, in order to better take advantage of the skillset the player would have learned at this point. Best of luck as you try and survive the challenges in store for you.
That's all for now! And with that, thank you for following the development of Droplet: States of Matter!
Patch Notes
Gameplay
Artifacts have been reshuffled across the entire game. Some have been relocated, and two of them have been removed. (Dev notes: Their internal ID’s have been redistributed across the game for some backend consistency. You may notice that some artifacts you may have picked up already will be counted as uncollected. The reverse is also true where some artifacts you haven’t found yet will be marked as collected.)
New areas: Lava Planet and Ice Comet. These are hidden bonus areas you can find on the galaxy map.
Reorganized atoms in Particle Accelerator. Adjusted some platforms and the time trial times.
Reorganized atoms in Neo Kryptopolis. Flying drones in that level now drop atoms.
Adjusted bonus area in Frozen Fortress.
Shop prices have been adjusted to compensate for the decreased amount of atoms in the game.
Adjusted projectile aiming for Ice Elemental enemies.
Audio
New music tracks for the new Lava Planet and Ice Comet bonus areas.
Fixed various audio issues with enemy sound effects.
Menus
Reshuffled the status menu to change the pages where levels are shown.
Misc
Adjusted collision detection for platforms that sink.
Duchess Cara Bonnie rework
Hey guys! Krayfishkarl here and welcome to another Droplet: States of Matter update! Early Access 1.35 is now available! This update reworks the boss fight against Duchess Cara Bonnie.
Cara Bonnie is a fairy tale sorceress, one with a notorious temper and a hatred for anyone who dares to interrupt her tea time. Despite her smaller stature compared to the two-headed dragon boss of the previous hub world, she is not one to be trifled with. She can fire a variety of magical projectiles and even put up a shield to block your attacks. You will have to be in the correct state of matter in order to bypass her defenses.
While the original version of this boss was well-received, the primary purpose for this rework was for narrative reasons. I redesigned her character model to be more authoritative and intimidating, and I also implemented new voice acting which aims to convey her more threatening demeanor.
Her ability to change her defenses against the states of matter was also reworked to better distinguish her mechanics from the Sill E. Con boss fight later in the game. Rather than changing between water, ice, cloud and plasma forms, she instead changes between having a shield made out of either stone, plants or wind. This is to ensure that the player knows how the states of matter react to enemies with special immunities before facing more complex challenges later on.
To go along with these changes, I've graphically updated the arena to better match the aesthetic of the recently reworked Argon Town hub world. You'll now find yourself in a castle where several friendly guards will attempt to discourage you from disturbing the duchess. I've also added a new boss theme which takes inspiration from Baroque and Victorian era music. These additional details help to bring in a little extra worldbuilding and personality which I'm hoping to eventually include across the entire game.
That's all for now! And with that, thank you for following the development of Droplet: States of Matter!
Patch Notes
Gameplay
Reworked the Duchess Cara Bonnie boss fight with new mechanics.
Added town guard NPC’s to Argon Town that will greet you.
Ammo now charges twice as fast for the character you are not playing as.
The Hazard Recovery ability no longer protects you from Kalofrioh’s lightning. (Dev note: The previous behavior was unintentional. Hazard Recovery is meant to protect you only from falling out of bounds or in liquids/lava.)
Fixed bug where Helium Floaters would not stop shooting when the player exits the awareness radius.
Fixed a misaligned switch in Macro Kitchen.
Collision adjustments to Sobek character object.
Graphics
Graphical rework on Cara Bonnie’s arena.
Adjusted some tiling on an island in Arctic Rig.
Audio
New music track for Duchess Cara Bonnie boss fight.
Adjusted the distance at which you can hear shark torpedoes.
Text
Minor grammar changes with Duchess Cara Bonnie’s dialogue.
Misc
Fixed a bug where a softlock could occur if you paused the game at a certain moment while a hazard animation was playing.
Fixed some collision issues with the geometry in Abyssal Fissure.
Fixed camera collision with crane objects
Updated collision type for jungle trees.
Camera no longer clips through pits.
Fixed bug where seagulls in the Salty Peter fight were not properly despawning.
Added some additional safety checks for whenever enemy health reaches zero.
Summer Sale! 50% off!
Droplet: States of Matter is taking part in the Steam Summer Sale and is currently 50% off until July 11! The last update was winter-themed, but who's to say you can't celebrate Christmas in July?
