Shield Cat

===== NEW =====

• The game now supports fullscreen borderless.
  

===== IMPROVED =====

• Optimized the loading so that it loads much faster, while also fixing the game not giving proper loading feedback for people without SSDs.
  

===== CHANGED =====

• You can now use both action buttons to dive in the River Challenge.
  
• The Minecart Challenge has been changed to use a Perspective FOV projection instead of an Orthographic one.
  
• This change actually was required because there's a bug introduced by GM 2023.6 with tilemap culling, but I think it looks better the way it is now, so whatever.
  
• While I was in there, I made the Minecart Challenge track a little easier, at least for the first half of it.
  
• The game now starts in fullscreen borderless by default (because of some changes, any previous display preferences from before this version are ignored.)
  

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug with the way displacement map effects were applied.
  
• Fixed a bug with the CRT shader where the blur/smear wasn't applied properly.
  
• Fixed a bug where the star collectibles in the Minecart Challenge didn't face the camera properly.
  
• Fixed a Marcus barrier in the Abandoned Mines that pushed Lance out in the wrong direction.
  
• Fixed a bug where the "Last Saved Point" glow would draw even if you had markers off or were looking at the list of Cat Coins.
  
• Fixed a bug where XBOX Series gamepads could register twice when wireless, causing issues.
  
• Fixed a bug where the dialogue box would sometimes draw on top of Lance when showing the "You got a treasure!" overlay.
  

===== NOTES =====

• Fullscreen Borderless/Exclusive Fullscreen only in Windows. In Linux, it's Windowed and Fullscreen Borderless (referred to as Exclusive in game.)
  

Thank you!

===== IMPORTANT =====

• Some of the changes made to this version of the game add or change existing collectibles and map tiles. For this reason, if you've gotten 100% on a prior save game and load it up in this version, it will no longer be 100%. Sorry!
  
• However, you can take this time to run around and check out the new stuff, or maybe replay the game if you so desire.
  
• I did a lot of behind-the-scenes changes to how dialogue is parsed. If you see something like "Error Dialogue Parser" anywhere in the game, please let me know!
  

===== Special Notes =====

• Enemies will now respawn when you leave a screen and come back. This was always the intended experience, but I couldn't get it to work before.
  

===== NEW =====

• Mr. Scaleman can now give you a hint on where a random Fish Scale in the stage that you haven't gotten yet is. Should make getting 100% a bit easier! (The hints aren't free though.)
  
• Added a new save point in the River Path.
  
• Added a new save point in the Autumn Grove.
  
• Added a new Train Station in the Deep Woods.
  
• Added a new Train Station in the Abandoned Mines.
  
• The game will now show a pop-up when you get all Fish Scales, Cat Coins, and 100% stage completion.
  
• A new option has been added to allow you to disable text animations in dialogue boxes.
  

===== IMPROVED =====

• The lighting system has been overhauled. Now, much richer lighting and colors are possible, and as a result, most screens in the game have been touched up and enhanced.
  
• Rewrote existing audio effects (like echo) to use the new built-in audio effect functionality of Gamemaker, as well as added new audio effects.
  
• Echoes have been added to one part of the minecart challenge.
  
• Audio effects have been added for when you ride the train.
  
• More water shine has been added to water (it was in the SAGE 2020 demo and I just somehow forgot to bring it back.)
  
• Particles have been added to waterfalls.
  
• Made some routing changes to allow for more shortcuts and overall make it easier to get around.
  
• Marcus and Mr. Scaleman both have unique markers on the map screen now.
  
• Train Stations will now be dark/unlit until you find Parker.
  
• Dialogue boxes now dynamically scale to their content.
  
• A notification is now shown when you find all Fish Scales or Cat Coins in a stage, as well as when you get 100% in a stage.
  
• The place where you last saved with Willow now has a glow around it to show where you'll start the game next time if you save and quit.
  

===== CHANGED =====

• The File Select menu has been changed. Instead of showing you a bunch of empty slots, it will now only show you save slots with files in them with a "New Game" option at the bottom.
  
• Because of this change, the "Copy File" dialogue will only allow you to pick the first available slot.
  
• If there are no more slots available, the "New Game" option will not be available, and the "Copy Game" option will warn you there are no free slots available.
  
• Removed the "Text Scaling" option. It caused some issues with rendering and also didn't seem like an option that was utilized much.
  
• The "Dialogue History" option has been removed, and now simply defaults to the longest possible.
  
• The "Stereo Sound Effects" option has been removed, since it didn't seem useful and also, the music is still in stereo regardless.
  
• All references to "Vibration" have been changed to "Rumble" in the options.
  
• Removed all social media links, except those to Discord, the store pages, and the game's website.
  
• Moved Mr. Scaleman to the center of the Autumn Grove to make it easier to get to him after you get all the scales.
  
• Moved Mr. Scaleman to a more optimal position in the Abandoned Mines (He'll show up after a specific story event occurs.)
  
• Moved Mr. Scaleman out of the train station in the River Path and put him more closer to the center of the area.
  
• Moved Mr. Scaleman in the Deep Woods to be in a more obvious spot for the player to meet him at the start of the game.
  
• Fixed some issues with the dialogue like pacing, as well as edited some dialogue for flow and clarity.
  
• Adjusted some Marcus' Adventure barriers to make it less obvious when they're blocking access to secret screens (thereby revealing the secret screen.)
  
• The visibility of the watermark in the bottom right has been reduced to be less distracting.
  
• Made some fixes to Lance's animations during the Mailbox minigame.
  
• Swapped out some signs for NPC interactions.
  
• Moved two fish scales in the Deep Woods to accommodate a new NPC being there.
  

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Removed the OpenDyslexic font, as Windows was saying that it was a virus for players.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Font Antialias function wouldn't work or only worked somewhat.
  
• Fixed the bug where map rendering didn't work on Linux under Proton in certain situations (including Steam Deck.)
  
• Fixed a specific spot in the Autumn Grove by the long vertical platform room where you could get Lance to respawn inside of the wall to potentially get out of bounds.
  
• Fixed a bug where loading to save locations could play music louder than intended.
  
• Fixed dialogue bugs that would cause the dialogue boxes to suddenly grow much larger than needed.
  
• Fixed several screens which had light bleed from adjacent screens on them. If you find any rooms with unusual light bleeding in from the sides, please let me know.
  
• Fixed a bug where the end demo music would sometimes not play.
  
• Fixed a bug where the platform snapping that helps you to not fall off of them was a little too aggressive.
  

===== NOTES =====

• Linux support for the game has been officially removed, and this time, it's not coming back. I'm no longer interested in maintaining a Linux version of the game, as it takes way too much time and effort, and it works well enough in Proton/WINE anyways.
  
• The Steam Cloud will be able to move your save files from the Linux version to the Windows version. If you're not playing the Steam version, you'll have to either move them yourself, or download the Steam version temporarily to allow the Steam Cloud to get your save files. I apologize for the inconvenience. However, all save files are compatible (except controller remappings.)
  

Thank You!

===== IMPORTANT =====

• In the previous version, a thick fog had been found to have covered one of the stages. This was a visual bug from upgrading Gamemaker, and was not intended. The fog has been removed again.
  

===== Special Notes =====

• Some of the changes mentioned in the notes below were applied in intermediary patches, but I didn't see the need to post a "patch notes" post over one or two changes.
  
• This version makes some changes to how spinning between/over platforms works. Please let me know if platforming is now easier! (Or harder, but I hope not lol)
  

===== IMPROVED =====

• Added an additional shine to the Big Key and Circle Keys on the UI to make them more attractive and hopefully remind the player that they indeed have keys to use on doors.
  
• Map markers will now draw on the edge of the screen when they're offscreen on the map screen. This should make it easier to keep track of quest objectives and markers you've placed, as well as where Lance is in the game world.
  
• Quest objectives and player-placed markers will now show on the Train Station select menu.
  

===== CHANGED =====

• Moved the position of one of the levers to make its usage in speedruns easier (I'm not telling you which one, you have to figure it out. I just adjusted it because you could do it, but only with analog controls, so now you can do it with the DPad/Keyboard too.)
  
• Adjusted the size of the gap in the puzzle on the right side of the Autumn Grove to make it more clear that you need to sprint spin to hit the bumpers.
  

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where the last build of the game didn't update the configuration properly so would reset the Text Speed and Skip Intros option on each run.
  
• Fixed some spelling issues and adjusted some dialogue for clarity.
  
• Fixed certain interaction prompts showing when the map screen was open.
  
• Fixed a bug with Lance's animations during the intro cutscene of the Autumn Grove boss.
  
• Fixed several gates that had question mark icons to now have lock icons instead.
  
• Fixed a bug where arrows hitting walls would suddenly gain a shadow that would show even if they were over a pit.
  
• Fixed a bug where getting a game over during Marcus' Adventure wouldn't actually reset the Marcus' Adventure, putting your game in a weird minigame state.
  
• Added missing drop shadows on text on the map screen (enhances clarity of the text.)
  
• Fixed a bug where the "onHover" event wouldn't run on menu items if you hovered with the mouse (ironically.) This meant that choosing a Train Station with the mouse cursor wouldn't show you the correct station, as it didn't update with the change.
  
• Fixed a bug where mouse positioning would be incorrect when using irregularly sized windows, or when Integer Scaling was enabled but the window was a different size than the game view.
  
• Basically, that means the mouse shouldn't be screwy anymore.
  

Thank you!

===== NEW =====

• Added a new sign in the Abandoned Mines that talks about a thing you can do in the game.
  
• You can now enable mouse cursor trails (little sparklies will come off your mouse when you move it.)
  

===== IMPROVED =====

• Puzzles which involve you throwing the Shield into a Bumper maze will now funnel the shield into the maze, so you no longer have to be precise with it for it to work.
  

===== CHANGED =====

• Made the magic platform's hitbox just a little bigger when it's in its unexpanded state.
  
• Removed SAGE 2022 references (as SAGE 2022 is over.)
  
• The map screen will now indicate when it's loading by saying "Loading Map..."
  
• Added more Grandfather Clocks so you can always know what time it is.
  
• Added a hitstop effect when Lance takes damage from regular enemies, rather than just heavy damage from bosses.
  
• Changed when the game will make backups of your save data, as well as the frequency in which it'll make backups, to prevent frame hitches and freezes during gameplay when the game autosaves.
  
• Adjusted a puzzle in the Abandoned Mines to make the objective clearer.
  
• Adjusted the timing of a group of magic platforms in the Autumn Grove to be easier to deal with.
  
• Also added a new path you can open up there so you don't have to do the magic platforms every time you go that way if you don't want to.
  
• Changed the text speed increment intervals to make them more balanced.
  
• Because the values are all different in this build, this version will automatically reset the value back to "Regular." You'll have to adjust it again from there (sorry.)
  
• Updated the Steamworks extension. Hopefully this fixes Steam functions not working in Proton.
  
• Reduced the color contrast in dialogue boxes to hopefully make them easier to look at.
  
• Edited some dialogue for better flow.
  
• Made the "Toughest secret in the game" a
• little* more visible, but not by much.
  
• Several small stage adjustments, tilemap fixes, and depth fixes across multiple stages.
  

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed the bomb collect sound being too loud.
  
• Fixed some platforms going at incredible speeds.
  
• Fixed some tileset issues.
  
• Fixed a bug where Willow's map marker indicating where you saved was sometimes wrong.
  
• Moved the position of one of the Treasure Chests in Abandoned Mines to prevent you from using it to get out of bounds.
  
• Fixed minor visual bug when entering River Challenge (game used wrong screen transition.)
  
• Barriers in the boss room for the Abandoned Mines should no longer appear again after you've defeated the boss.
  
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't keep the Shield+ after buying it and then saving and loading the game again.
  
• As compensation, players who load a save file from the previous version of the game who meet the criteria will get 25000 Pretty Petals automatically added to their total to make up for the difference. This may give free Pretty Petals to players who don't actually qualify, but it's the best I can do.
  
• The "Gamepad Vibration" options have been removed on Linux (as gamepad vibration isn't supported there currently.)
  
• Similarly, the "Enhanced Rumble" option has been removed when creating new files on Linux, or if Gamepad support is disabled/not available for some reason.
  
• Fixed references to Marcus "Diamonds" to now refer to them as "Crystals" instead.
  
• Fixed issue with the Button Prompt style option not actually doing anything (mainly in Linux, but could also happen on Windows.)
  
• Fixed several other related display issues with input prompts.
  
• Fixed a bug where new players may not be able to play the game using a gamepad on the first boot (Mainly affected Steam Deck using Linux.)
  
• Fixed a bug where extra long screen transitions could cause the video quality to go lower.
  
• Potentially fix a bug where the map wouldn't show up when running the game through Proton on specific machines (I couldn't reproduce it, so if this issue affected you, you'll have to let me know if it's fixed or not.)
  
• Fixed a bug where throwing magic cards at cylinders would crash the game.
  
• Striking gear arrow puzzle elements that aren't lit up by a light beam will no longer recalculate the puzzle.
  
• Fixed bug where question icons would draw over each other, which also made the hitboxes and overall spacing between questions larger when using small text (should be easier to click now, if you're using the mouse.)
  
• Fixed an oversight where you couldn't click and drag on screens that used the gridpane renderer to scroll (so you can now do this on screens like the achivements screen.)
  
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't close the notes pane with the right click button on the mouse.
  
• Fixed a bug where jumping off the minecart challenge track immediately at the start would softlock the challenge.
  
• You can no longer hop across the water in the minecart challenge like a stone skipping across the water.
  
• Fixed some bugs with the dialogue system.
  
• Changed the hitbox of one of the camera lockers to hopefully fix light leak. This may have unintended side effects, so let me know if the camera does weird stuff.
  
• Fixed a bug where the minecart minigame wouldn't make the "failure" sound if you didn't get to the goal in time.
  

Thank you!

• Six big stages packed full of collectibles, puzzles, and secrets!
  
• Many minigames for you to play!
  
• A whole load of cool characters for you to meet!
  
• Beautiful pixel art with modern enhancements.
  
• Spinning otter!
  
• And more!
  

===== Special Notes =====

• All stages should now have a unique transition (so no more "Default Transition.") If you still see the default transition somewhere, please let me know!
  

===== NEW =====

• The Quick Restart speedrun option has been reimplemented. However, it doesn't serve much use right now since you can't "beat" the demo.
  

===== IMPROVED =====

• You can now disable the Edge Blur effect without having to enable the Custom video settings.
  
• The transition animation between stages has been improved.
  
• The speedrun timer graphics have been improved and now fit in much better with the rest of the game.
  
• The Debug Overlay has been overhauled to make it much easier to use and understand.
  
• To this end, most of the panels have been combined into a single window, so you can just click around in that, rather than having a million panels all over the place.
  
• The Fish Scale and Cat Coin totals at the bottom have been changed to silver, and will now turn gold when you have 100% of either.
  
• The border of the minimap will now turn gold when you've gotten 100% visibility of all rooms in the stage you're in.
  
• Environmental sounds have been improved across the game, and screens which were missing environmental sounds should now have them.
  
• Environmental sounds have also been balanced and should fit in with the rest of the game now, without being too loud or too quiet.
  
• The rotating gear has received a major visual upgrade (new 3D model.)
  
• When collecting a Magic Vial and then stepping out of the screen, the Magic Vial will respawn immediately when stepping back into the screen, rather than making you wait.
  

===== CHANGED =====

• Moved debug options which were in the pause menu to instead be in the F10 menu.
  
• Removed the Speedrun Submenu on the Game Options submenu and moved all options to the Game submenu.
  
• The text in the bottom right corner showing the build info has been made much smaller.
  
• Removed the Dev Build message that shows up on the Pause menu.
  
• The Demo version of the game now has access to debug features (when enabled.)
  
• Made some small changes to Deep Woods's layout to keep the river that passes through all the stages consistent.
  
• The "Pixel Perfect" option has been added to the menu to allow easy access to the existing low-resolution rendering option that has been available, but without having to enable the custom settings.
  
• Reduced the amount of time that Big Keys and Puzzle Lock Keys can't be picked up before they can be.
  
• Changed the Big Key and Puzzle Lock Keys pickup animations.
  
• Changed the location that Lance starts when saving at the central Willow save point in the Forest Path, to accommodate for Willow's new position there.
  

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where breaking open a Mystery Orb would crash the game.
  
• Fixed a bug where getting the high score in the Mailbox Minigame wouldn't actually give you the achievement for it. (If you did this prior to this patch, the game will retroactively give it to you.)
  
• Fixed a bug where defeating all the enemies in the ambush room in the Forest Path didn't actually stick. If you already did the enemy ambush, you'll have to do it again to get it to stick and allow access to the Marcus' Adventure.
  
• Fixed a missing map tile on the supermap.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Red Gem would draw a shadow when it was over a pit.
  
• Fixed a bug where Lance would activate the Red Gem when he had fallen and was being brought back to land by the game.
  
• Fixed the reflections not being offset correctly for Fish Scales when collecting them over the water.
  
• Fixed a bug where you could make Marcus crystals respawn by just going through a doorway and then turning around.
  
• Fixed a bug where the game would show -150 Fish Scales on the pause menu in a new save file.
  
• Fixed a bug where music would play at the wrong volume when stepping into some screens.
  
• Fixed a bug with the assignment of Fish Scale IDs. This
• may* result in just a handful of Fish Scales you collected previously having to be collected again. Only 7 were affected by the bug.
  
• Fixed some text scaling issues with the intro screen text.
  
• Fixed a bug where some screen transitions would have scaling issues.
  
• Fixed issues with Lance not being able to respawn in certain places, or respawning way further away than he should have.
  
• Fixed some dialogue issues.
  
• Fixed a bug where some flags in the Lignum Village were accidentally assigned to multiple entities.
  
• Fixed a bug where boulders wouldn't set their flag for being destroyed until quite a bit after you destroyed them (if at all.)
  
• Fixed a bug with the screen transition used when falling into pits into secret caves and getting out of them.
  
• Fixed a bug where Marcus' map icon wouldn't show up in the Autumn Grove.
  
• Fixed a bug where the mouse cursor wouldn't disappear sometimes if the game was in fullscreen and the mouse was idle.
  
• Fixed a bug where health pots would sometimes not spawn health fish.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Pretty Petal display would sometimes either incorrectly draw added/removed petals or just flat out not draw it.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Petal countdown sound when spending money or getting Petals from minigames wouldn't sound in certain situations.
  
• Fixed a bug where the player would have full control of Lance after the mailbox minigame concluded.
  
• Fixed a bug where Skyler wouldn't actually give you the Pretty Petals after playing the mailbox minigame.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Combo multiplier would sometimes not reset once the combo time was over.
  
• Fixed a bug where the checkerboard rendering shader wouldn't draw right with certain video settings.
  
• Fixed a bug where the pop-up message box would sometimes draw the text overflowed with certain video settings.
  
• Fixed missing effects on the Big Key and the Puzzle Lock Key.
  
• Fixed a bug where some enemies would have incorrect depths when stepping back into the screen with them.
  
• Fixed a bug where one single arrow would fire during Marcus' Adventure (Normal) in the Abandoned Mines (even though I thought it was funny.)
  
• Fixed a bug where the Spiky Guy wouldn't despawn during Marcus' Adventure (Normal) in the Autumn Grove until you actually stepped into the screen.
  

Thank you!