GET THE BUNDLE HERE
It's running for 21 days and there's a special launch price in the first 24 hours. With all the recent tweaks, fixes and improvements, there's never been a better time to jump into ERSATZ and put yourself to the test!!!
Ersatz
Get ERSATZ in the Doodle Heroes Bundle NOW!
GET THE BUNDLE HERE
It's running for 21 days and there's a special launch price in the first 24 hours. With all the recent tweaks, fixes and improvements, there's never been a better time to jump into ERSATZ and put yourself to the test!!!
ERSATZ v1.39 - Another Smattering (Win, Linux)
I've been continuing to work on the game, mostly smaller things here but important all the same
ERSATZ v1.39 Patch Notes
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-CONTROLS-
-Put in fixes for a bug where you'd sometimes not register as landing when hitting an upwards facing slope whilst moving. This would cause jump inputs to be "eaten" during the frames where this was in effect
-Changed settings for steam controller support template from 'none' to 'generic gamepad', this might fix a reported issue in Linux with steam controllers not being detected if you alt+tab out of the game
-If you change the escape key to be pause, backspace will now become the game's internal "menu back/cancel" key so that you still have access to a shortcut on keyboard
-Very slightly more lenient grounded detection when dashing off a ledge in Type Alpha
-LEVELS-
-Level 02 'REGULATION' - Further changes to slope geometry in room near end of level. Matched up lip lengths with other slopes for consistency
-Level 02 'REGULATION' - Changed bullet collision detection for both ice platform types so that they always melt when hit by one
-Level 03 'NUTRITION' - Changed geomtery under slope just before climb into Diamid to stop weird wall jumping behaviour
-Level 03 'NUTRITION' - Bullets inside the Diamid are now easier to see (they look similar to the shots fired by the Horusai Sentinels)
-BOSSES-
-CRYSTA BLOSS - Bullets that collide with its crystal now destroy so you won't get hurt whilst dashing into it
-GORJUNTER - Changed the timings for moving onto next part of its pattern so that there is more opportunity to save time. Previously some of these transitions could potentially create up to 8 beats of dead air if you were unlucky
-POLLUGEIST - The initial forces for the bounce bullet attack have been made much less random so it picks from two. This is much fairer for speedrunning
-POLLUGEIST - During the Smog Mirage attack, the random positioning of the real one has been altered so that it always goes to each spot once (but still in a random order)
-POLLUGEIST - Hopefully stopped very rare issue where, after it splits into 4 copies during the Mirage attack, hitting the boss the same frame it tries to throw a Smog Bullet at you would cause the boss to 'disappear' and force a room reset
-SYNTH RUSH-
-Fixed crash issue with underwater effect if dying on Razael Chase part of Synth Rush ALL
-Stopped in between room times for levels accidentally showing up in Synth Rush
-Fixed healing behaviour in Synth Rush for final boss so it consistently doesn't heal between phases
-MISC-
-Fixed issue where dashing when very close to a boss would cause you to take damage despite being in a dashing state
(NOW LIVE!) ERSATZ v1.38 - More of Everything (Win, Mac, Linux)
Been updating the game over the last couple of days. As the post title says, it's a smattering of everything here, including some more tasty optimisation!
ERSATZ v1.38 Patch Notes
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-MISC-
-On some machines/under certain circumstances a "double beat" would occur at the start of a room and cause two shots to be fired in relatively quick succession. This has been stopped by stopping shots being fired during the room transition
-The dash recharge wasn't being reset when restarting a room or level reset, creating discrepancies in behaviour
-Enemy sight line drawing optimisation for all enemies that have non-linear sight lines (circular and triangular), drastically reducing texture swaps in rooms with those enemies
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-LEVELS-
-Level 02 'REGULATION' - Changed internal geometry of some slopes in room near end that sometimes ate jumps. Actual layout unaffected
-Level 02 'REGULATION' - Changed the way the ice platforms draw their slight glow so there are much less objects in rooms with these in
-Level 05 'REPRODUCTION' - Crate destroy FX now spawn in the correct location
-Level 08 'SYNTHESIS' - Final Boss name now appears a little earlier
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-SYNTH RUSH-
-SYNTH RUSH ALL now correctly shows 'SYNTH RUSH ALL' on the end of run time display
-Beating SYNTH RUSH ALL no longer causes weird behaviour afterwards
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-UNLOCKS-
-Grade requirement to unlock the last level has been removed!
-100% unlock reward no longer crashes game
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-AUDIO-
-Audio emitters for 3D sounds weren't being destroyed for a number of objects which would eventually cause the sound to bug out during extended play. I have gone through every object with this now and made sure they destroy
-Fixed issue where restarting room from the pause menu would stop ambient background sounds
ERSATZ v1.36 & v1.37 - Massive Optimisation (Win, Linux)
The last two updates combined feature a big optimisation boost. I'm really hoping this makes recording and streaming performance much better, as well as make the game run much better on weaker PCs! Let me know if you see the difference! In addition, I've made some small improvements to a couple of visual elements as well :)
I'm only 1 sale away from reaching the first milestone of 100 copies! Whilst it's on sale, maybe you know a friend who might like ERSATZ? Help me reach this small but significant goal on my path to trying to make great games!!
ERSATZ v1.36 + v1.37 Patch Notes
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-OPTIMISATION-
-Enemy and object destroy effects have been optimised. Also been improved so that they bounce off the environment as was intended
-Number of texture swaps greatly reduced in all levels and menus
-Further significant particle & effects optimisation
-LEVELS-
-THE NEUTRALIZER - Possibly fixed issue with boss getting stuck idling forever at the start of the fight
-Level 01 'GROWTH' - Changed layout very slightly of section with the plant guns by the slide tunnel early in the level so that you should no longer get stuck in a falling/landing animation state
-Level 01 'GROWTH' - Possibly fixed issue where soft lock freeze could occur when getting hit by Grovelin enemies near a wall, needs further testing
-MISC-
-End level screen now appears correctly on its own again after bug introduced in v1.35
-Changed the way dash energy recharges between rooms so that it is a clear fixed amount no matter frame rate or individual loading times (Type Alpha: 1 dash block, Type Beta: 1/3 of your total energy, Type Gamma: Full Charge). This consistency is super important for speedruns but was something I hadn't realised had a variance even on the one machine or same room until recently
-Ambient environment particles now start "warmed up" when entering a level for the first time or new room
-Loading room's speed was accidentally set to 30 rather than 60fps
EDIT: Just updated again to fix an issue with a left over invisible object in level 01 from my tweaking
ERSATZ v1.35 - Major Optimisation + More Fixes
This full update applies to Windows and Linux. A number of the fixes and tweaks listed below are not fully implemented on the Mac version yet, although it has been updated. I should be able to update the Mac version to be in line with the Windows and Linux builds tomorrow.
ERSATZ v1.35 Patch Notes
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-GENERAL-
-Fixed issue where in some rooms there were infinite bullets if left to idle which would gradually tank the frame rate
-Changed the way almost all particles are handled in engine in a number of ways. Should remove a ton of small memory leaks & reduce memory load, as well as boost overall game stability. There is more particle & texture optimisation to come in a future update
-TYPE BETA-
-Fixed issue introduced in last update that stopped dashing up from working
-TYPE GAMMA-
-When dashing whilst facing down a slope you will now stay grounded as is the case with the other playstyles
-Slightly increased distance travelled per frame of the dash, increasing overall travel distance by 36 units
-Level 03 'NUTRITION' - The stack blocks now always correctly break when dashing into them
-Level 04 'RESPIRATION' - The cracked bits of ground that must be slammed to release the upwards currents have been tweaked so that they now always break in Type Gamma as they should
-HOW TO PLAY-
-Once the tutorial is done you can now skip all of the BASIC or ADVANCED parts of the tutorial when reentered, with the 'Pause' key/button
-How to play now always plays out in Type Alpha playstyle as it should
-JOURNEY MODE-
-Fixed display of time w/o penalties and what the penalties were on run complete. I believe this had no effect on your final time display & saving or what was uploaded to leaderboards
-LEVELS-
-Level 03 'NUTRITION' - The stack blocks now take twice as long before they fall
-Level 04 'RESPIRATION' - You can no longer repeatedly slam even whilst in a current when you first trigger a cracked ground up current
-Level 06 'EXCRETION' - The rolling smog has had the density of its particles reduced dramatically for performance reasons
-Level 08 'SYNTHESIS' - Fixed crashing issue at end of level related to new feature implemented last update
ERSATZ v1.34 - Important Timer Changes + Input buffering change (Win + Linux + Demos)
ERSATZ v1.34 Patch Notes
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Changed way game calculated its in game timer:
Before it used delta_time between frames which would adversely affect any run's time if they suffered a frame drop. This has been changed to a fixed amount of time being added every frame (approx. equivalent to real time 60fps) as per the standard in IGT speedruns.
Left & Right input has been altered, mostly only effect keyboard users:
Pressing opposite direction to one already being held will cause instant direction change with carried move speed, even if both keys are held together.
There is then a small window of 15 frames where the character will not change direction again if both keys continue to be held. Releasing either key during this buffer period will cancel it and immediately, allowing the player to move in the direction which matches what key is still being pressed.
The benefit of this is that perfect 1 frame momentum pivots are much more reliably feasible and players in general will probably have more consistent responses from the game.
ERSATZ v1.33 - New Feature + More Fixes (Win + Linux)
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-NEW FEATURE-
-When a new personal best is set on a level in Normal or Infinite mode, your current time in between rooms is now saved in a new file. On playing that level again, you'll now see how far ahead or behind whatever your best run was at at that point!
-PLAYER CONTROL AND BEHAVIOUR-
-Fixed behaviour with detection of being in a grounded state when jumping through or near certain objects e.g the game detected you being grounded when you weren't causing some odd physics behaviour or confusing animation states. This mostly effects the moving crates in Level 05 'REPRODUCTION', where if you were standing right next to them, even with a light tap of the jump button would often cause you to do a full height jump
-Fixed bug introduced in last update that meant you didn't enter a land state when landing on a slope and moving in the direction that takes you up it
-Further slope behaviour tweaking
-LEVELS-
-Level 02 'REGULATION': Slightly optimised snow effect. Hopefully stop fps dropping over time on this level
ERSATZ v1.32 (Win, Mac & Linux)
-Softlock w/ pause+game over further fixed. Could not recreate anymore on my end
-Further tweaking of slope behaviour with dash sliding this time
-Game crash when some slam effects could not find Camera object due to missing instance check
-Level 01 'GROWTH': Cave entrance room trigger altered so you can't "miss" it
-Level 03 'NUTRITION': Gorjunter boss now correctly flys down to eat each available antlion again after the change of their positions in previous update broke that
-Level 05 'REPRODUCTION': Fixed bug with pistons getting stuck in their outward position if the game was paused on the frame they are supposed to move back in
ERSATZ v1.31: Massive list of fixes and tweaks (Win + Linux)
The patch notes this time are pretty extensive and there's more to come, including one very useful feature for speed runners! So keep your eyes peeled and your fingers and thumbs ready, the competition is only just beginning to heat up :)
Apologies to Mac users for the delay on their version of this update. My ability to create the Mac build is dependent on irregular access to a Mac, but you should be up to date within the week (or jump straight to v1.32!).
As for the Demo versions of the game, those will be updated to reflect the current build by tomorrow (again with a delay on the Mac version).
Also as a quick side note, I've been informed that ERSATZ should be featured on a major site pretty soon :D
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ERSATZ v1.31 Patch Notes
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CHARACTER CONTROL + MOVEMENT
-You can now slide with the jump button as long as you are in a crouched state, meaning that once in a tunnel you only have to press one button to slide again. However this does mean that there is no way to control the length of your slide whilst passing through a tunnel. Please tell me how you feel about this.
-Made some changes to slope physics & behaviour which should hopefully stop rare instances of falling through slope and more common ones of snagging on the tops of them. In short behaviour is more consistent. Needs further testing
LEVELS + BOSSES
-Volume of the crashes/gongs etc that play when transitioning to a new part of a song has been halved across the board to be easier on the ears
-Level 01 'Growth' Tutorial screen sizes have been slightly increased to accommodate some binding word lengths
-At the end level screen for Level 03 'Nutrition' the button/menu prompts at the bottom of the screen now show up properly
-When attacked, Gorjunter will drop the antlion in its mouth sooner after the long stuck peck attack. It would sometimes not drop it when it looked like it should
-The 3 antlions that come out of the ground after the quick peck slam, now appear much more centrally every time, making it easier to get them + their hitboxes have been tightened to more accurately reflect their shape
-Player's grounded/airborne state is now correctly determined on the end level screen for Level 04 'Respiration'
-After beating the Central Assembly Computer, The Children part of the boss fight should now start correctly in time with the music regardless of dropped frames making out of sync
-Slightly altered the direction of one set of platforms in level 07 'Transport', hopefully resolving issue with them going the wrong direction
MENUS
-On first booting game you will now go to the title screen first, with the 'PLAY' menu being locked until you complete 'HOW TO PLAY'. This gives you access to the options menu before the game starts teaching you the controls
-Synth Rush title screen unlock description now matches Journey Mode's
-Fixed only getting the decryption key from the first level unlocking the messages menu
-When using arrow keys to go down on the options menu in fullscreen, the selection no longer jumps back to up to "FULLSCREEN"
-Added 3x and 4x to window size options when not fullscreen (1920x1080 & 2560x1440)
-When changing the mapping of a key/button, pressing up no longer lets you scroll whilst it's waiting for the new input
-When choosing an input to rebind, there is a greater period of time before it accepts an input. This stops accidentally entering the input used for menu selection as that action
-Can no longer select a gamepad input to rebind if you don't have a gamepad connected, which means you can't get stuck on this anymore
-When viewing the leaderboards from the level select menu, pressing a select key no longer selects the currently selected level
-Leaderboard selections for Type Beta and Gamma in different modes now appropriately show they are locked/unlocked && going back on any of the modes resets your cursor selection properly
-When using the pause key to select some menu items you could trigger the selection multiple times, usually only causing the sound to play repeatedly very fast. This has been fixed
-If the game was paused on the exact frame you died, you would get stuck in a softlock menu
ERSATZ now available for Mac! (v1.3)
And to celebrate the game being now available on Windows, Mac & Linux there's going to be a big sale starting 27/01/2018 at 10am PST (6pm GMT)!
Get ERSATZ on its own with 35% off OR get it with 'Functions', the original ERSATZ OST for a massive 50% off!!!
ERSATZ v1.3 Patch Notes
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-MAC OSX-
-Added support for Mac OSX platform.
Tested on OSX 10.10.2 and later, potentially compatibility issues with earlier versions of OSX.
-DEMOS-
-Demo has been updated to match v1.3 fixes as well as demo builds now available for Linux & Mac OSX
-MISC-
-Fixed minor issue with animation getting stuck looping when transitioning from slide to crouch. Known issue with OSX and possibly Linux
-Music starts at an earlier correct time every time when selecting 'Restart Room' from the pause menu