The team (yes, team) has been working hard on new levels, but those still need a little more time in the oven. In the meantime, a bunch of tiny changes have been made that may or may not have huge consequences when I read this week's bug reports. Let's get to it!
You may notice some levels looks a little different. Parallel aim logic has been updated to be more consistent, so if a parallel pattern is now wrong, let the level creator know so they can fix it. Also, bullets that disobey OOB rules now simply ignore the arena border, so they will continue "forever".
For level creators, there is a new purpose for text: always_on, which displays text even if the player has lyrics and commentary turned off. There is no idication/option to turn it off from Level Select.
A new clear type, stop, has been added that sets bullet speed to 0. If a bullet is stuck in the arena, it's your job to eventually remove it via gravity, a regular clear, or some other clever way. Super stops also exist, too, so you can have quite a bit of control.
Bullets now have a new advanced option: survive rewind. This allows them to be kept in memory when a negative timewarp sends them back to before they were fired. During this time, they are invisible, but can still be affected by twist and gravity, which almost makes sense. Once timewarp sends them forward in time enough to have existed, they are "fired" again.
That's it for now. Look forward to a giant content update next month!
Happy Dodging, ♥Bean
changelog BETA 0.5.2 Gameplay
Changed text in Seventeen & Something to be always_on (no longer lyrics)
Changed Phantom difficulty label from normal to advanced
Added minor patterns in init4cheapthrills (easy+advanced)
Changed minor patterns in Shared Buffer Memory (advanced+expert)
Changed minor text animations in Modular Origami (easy+advanced)
Fixed new practice point keeping camera unlocked when arena was large
Changed homing bullets to be affected by gravity when not actively homing
Changed bullets to animate their rotation when changing direction
Changed bullet spin animation to match speed changes from gravity
Fixed enemies not appearing when restarting practice after they left the arena
Editor
Added new purpose for text: always_on
Added stop clear (sets bullet speed to 0)
Added survive rewind to advanced bullet properties
Fixed error when changing a bullet type to one with fewer available colors than what's currently selected
Improved load time for editor (waveform displays gradually after loading)
Changed obeyOOB to also prevent bullets from interacting with the arena border
Reduced valid characters accepted in layer names to prevent odd behavior when reloading levels
Changed game visuals to update when extra marker is deleted
Fixed wrong pattern shooting from enemies when editor is lagged (e.g. by lots of text)
Misc
Added thumbnail preview when clicking thumbnail of active song
Hotfix 0.5.1
Didn't think you'd see me so soon? You must be new here. A few tiny things were addressed by our stellar discord community, and who am I to let them linger during the holidays? Details below!
♥Bean
changelog v0.5.1
Fixed practice points displaying inaccurate times for longer levels
Fixed levels unlocking before their requirement is met
Changed rubber bullets to invert their friction when rewinding
Reverted bullet amount change from yesterday's update
Updated init4cheapthrills audio
Added noto thin font. This is where those extra Unicode symbols can be found now.
Changed safety in the sun challenge text to be noto thin
Removed a hidden song no one found
Changed shadow clones to hurt player if they rest on top of it (5sec immunity at level start)
Editor: Improved inaccurate behavior of bullets when time jumping in a resource-heavy level
Update 0.5.0: New music, new levels, new bullet, new ways to practice!
Greetings Dodgenation,
It's been a long 2 months, but I am back again with another banger of an update, including 15 more levels for your dodging pleasure, along with the newest member of the bullet family: rubber bullet! Combined with some new tricks in the Editor and a more accessible way to practice levels, you won't even realize another couple months have gone by when the next update drops.
Speaking of which, I've mentioned before this game would reach 1.0.0 by "Fall 2022", and with only a few hours remaining of that window, let's just cut to the chase - Soundodger 2 will be delayed until next year. Rest assured regular updates will continue to be churned out. I decided this year to take my time, save some sanity, and still be able to make this game the best it can be. Cool?
There are no new artists introduced this time around, but the songs coming to you are no less amazing than usual. And the true Soundodger fans will no doubt recognize a few returning hits...
As always, the full story can be found in the patch notes below.
Happy holidays and happier dodging, ♥Bean
changelog v0.5.0 Gameplay
Added rubber bullet
Updated audio mix (and length) for Evening
Removed duplicate bullet in Shared Buffer Memory (expert)
Buffed powerups (radius +50% except for zip, duration +67%, cooldown -45% except for zip)
Added additional timer visual for powerups and made blast & zip borders dotted
Added practice point display when in practice mode. Use mouse wheel to jump between points (not in main levels yet)
Added audio previewing when idling in any area in practice mode choose
Changed blast powerup to also destroy disobeying clear bullets
Fixed cam tilt being off by default in new save file
Fixed dome spawning directly on player not pushing it out of the way
Fixed gameplay not fully pausing when paused (this hopefully fixes the memory leak too)
Fixed legacy levels not allowing bullets to rewind before when they were shot
Fixed enemies not reappearing after they left when restarting in practice mode
Fixed stream/multirow amounts not rounding correctly
Fixed ripple bullets being larger than they should be on frame 1
Fixed not being able to move to center during practice mode choose if there is a center enemy
Fixed restarting practice making DK bullets increase in size each time
Fixed rain bg still playing during results screen
Fixed player hitbox becoming distorted when pushed outside of the arena by a dome
Fixed player collision happening when using zip power up
Fixed heart not displaying inside player when "hidden" mod is turned on, even if mods are inactive
Fixed enemies appearing at start of level when they have nothing to shoot
Fixed incorrect visuals when finishing a practice level that was started via the pause menu
Improved animation of rain bg
Editor
Added shift+click on a second marker/anchor/bookmark to select all between (including layers)
Added support for additional Unicode symbols in noto font (25A0-25FF)
Added practice point toggle to bookmarks
Added dynamic event view to show large values. Toggle with Ctrl+E or via Settings > Visuals
Added display for bullet colors in bullet marker dropdown of marker deck
Changed filters to be able to stack simultaneously
Changed custom difficulty input box to hide in settings when custom is not chosen
Fixed create prefab button displaying within a prefab (and being able to create one via keyboard)
Fixed pasting bullet marker data to bullets within a prefab not updating looped icons as well
Fixed timeline zooming when scrolling mouse wheel in fullscreen preview
Fixed arrow keys selecting stuff and zooming when in fullscreen preview
Fixed overlapping UI when pasting a copied bullet while a bookmark is selected
Fixed distributing bookmarks evenly sometimes giving wrong results
Fixed softlock when deleting text marker while color picker is open
Fixed being unable to import legacy levels via settings
Fixed anchors with values close to 1 incorrectly displaying "1" on their labels
Fixed multiselected streams/filters/text/domes changing to same duration if an unrelated slider is changed
Misc
Added arena guide toggle to Options > Gameplay
Added Esc as a way to go back to the Title screen from the Editor Welcome screen
Changed Cam tilt and fx to be on same line in Options > Gameplay
Fixed locked level not unlocking when getting the exact score needed in Level Select
Removed Ctrl as input button across all menus
Hotfix 0.4.1
We've resolved an issue with certain players that would softlock their game when attempting to view the main levels. Should be fixed!
♥Bean
Music Update #3! (v 0.4.0)
Hello Dodge Fanatics,
Happy Soundodger Day! Both Soundodger+ and Soundodger 2 launched on this day, so I thought it would only be appropriate to celebrate with a music update.
We've added 15 additional levels, including music from new artists and maybe even some familiar tunes you've been humming to yourself for the last decade. With these 5 tracks, we've reached a total of 20, or roughly half of the planned content for the game. How exciting!
Joining the team of wonderful musicians are tiasu and 81.0x19, two very talented artists whose works are very different from each other, yet both fit perfectly into the Soundodgersphere.
Returning with her second track is Julie Buchanan, whose expertise with a piano will have you dodging black and white keys against your will.
And finally, 2 tracks from yours truly are returning to your ears once again, but this time with a little challenge at the end.
Please enjoy the new content, enjoy the dodge, and I'll see you next update.
♥Bean
changelog v0.4.0 Game
Fixed visuals in Illumination (easy)
Fixed softlock when trying to practice a legacy level
Fixed enemies with constant animation getting stuck when firing their final patterns
Fixed inconsistent player hitbox when at edges / movement challenges
Fixed touched hugs not colliding with hard domes
Fixed size event at final position of song crashing the game
Fixed centered bullets with speed 0 aiming up instead of centered
Changed hidden mod to not show heart when collected
Editor
Fixed even spread button not updating preview cones
Fixed forced powerup changing from shield to blast upon load
Fixed even spread not applying to slider 2 for stream patterns
Fixed extra layer names not loading
Fixed new projects carrying over data from previously played levels
Fixed new filter marker not displaying its name on the duration bar
Disabled shortcuts when in fullscreen mode to allow for keyboard input without doing stuff in the background
Fixed audio preview not looping when in Creator View
Fixed rapid mouse scrolling stopping screen grade from animating completely
Added support for audioPreview tag in legacy XMLs
BETA v0.3.3 Now Live
Hey Y'all,
A small update was just made for the BETA version only. If you'd like to check it out, please switch to the beta version in Steam. Thanks!
♥Bean
changelog v0.3.3 Game
Fixed incorrect/missing bullet patterns in certain levels when practicing (Can't Dodge My Love, Talk About It)
Fixed being unable to practice at 100% in certain levels
Fixed shadow clones continuing to emit particles at Results screen
Fixed shadow clone particles not resizing with player size
Editor
Fixed excluded enemies being visible until you play
Fixed Zip powerup dotted line remaining on screen for an extra second when expiring naturally
Fixed odd behavior when typing values into rows box of Marker Deck
Fixed odd behavior when pasting values into Marker Deck boxes
Fixed rows amount not updating when changing between values >1
Fixed mods being active when testing a level
Misc
Press F1 at User Level Select to see Creator View (displays stats and unlock requirements for current list of levels)
v0.3.2 (tiny fixes)
Hi, nothing major to see here. Just cleaning up a few pesky glitches that slipped through yesterday's big update. Have fun!
♥Bean
changelog v0.3.2
Fixed some main levels showing the incorrect thumbnail
Fixed camera movement when going to Color Editor window in Editor with a large arena active
Fixed hitbox inconsistencies when screen-wrapping
Changed trail and shadow challenges to be time-locked rather than frame-locked
Fixed large arena / large decoration lasers clipping through each other
Fixed Shift-clicking "restart" and "practice" buttons in Pause Menu firing off a powerup
Fixed arena angle events not working if they occur at 0.00s
Practice in the Shadows: v0.3.1 Now Live!
Greetings Fellow Dodgers!
This was meant to be a small update, but as you can see, a lot of business has been addressed. There's quite a bit of fun stuff here, so let's dive in!
Practice Mode You can now practice any level from any point in the song! This does not save your score, not even your play count, so enjoy a risk-free way to get really good at dodging those unfair parts of Seventeen and Something. To practice, either right-click the level itself from Level Select and select "practice", or pause during gameplay and choose "practice". Once in practice mode, you must first choose where to start and then click to instantly start there. Press [R] or restart from the Pause menu to restart from that point again (and again). You can also choose a new practice point from the Pause menu to jump around somewhere else. If you hold [shift] when clicking "new practice" from the Pause menu, the current spot in the level will become your new reset point, to make things a little easier. Enjoy!
Shadow Clones A new challenge has been added: shadows! These are kind of like trail clones, except they're a little further behind you, and they hurt. They don't hurt other bullets or collect hearts, and you can't graze them. You only get hurt when colliding into them, so if you stay still at level start, they will simply wait under you until you move.
Decoration Lasers Because of a very embarrassing glitch on my end, small lasers couldn't hurt the player. Level creators exploited this and made really cool patterns that couldn't hurt you. Because this is now fixed, I've added a special decoration toggle for lasers only. This makes them not hurt you, but you also can't graze them. They're also visualized as dashed lines to prevent confusion. Any older levels that had small lasers are automatically converted to decoration.
Test from Editor You can now test levels directly from the editor via a test button up top (next to save). This is different from playing from within the editor as it gives an accurate view of how the level will look and perform, including how the patterns end and lead into the Results Screen. Score and play count are not saved. Quitting via the Pause Menu or Results Screen will send you back to the editor. You can also enable practice mode via the Pause Menu to jump around.
Seventeen and Another Something I've added a 4th difficulty to the first song Seventeen and Something: normal. There was a bit of a jump between easy and expert, so this is a way to make the transition smoother without altering what's already there.
Ahh, Much Better For those who are nostalgic for a Soundodger Title Screen that isn't flashy or loud, type idislikechange at the Title Screen.
Ghost Toggles Lastly, I've added the ability to show ghosted Event lines while looking at other Events or even bullets/extras. Toggle them by clicking the ghost icon next to their names. This is saved between sessions, too. Be mindful of how much ghosting you're doing, as performance will decrease if too much is on screen.
And with that, I'm off to make new levels with new artists (and maybe some old ones, too)
Happy Dodging, ♥Bean
changelog v0.3.1 Game
New pause menu! Displays level notes if present
Added shadow clone challenge
Added practice mode. Enable via pause menu in-game, or right-click difficulty at Level Select.
Press [R] while practicing to instantly start from where you chose.
Added normal difficulty for Seventeen and Something
Changed Lost in Translation normal difficulty to advanced
Changed order of Outta Dodge and Seventeen and Something in list
Minor changes to text and patterns in Seventeen and Something (easy and expert)
Changed player hitbox to be more strict when moving quickly
Changed credits to become blurred in Pause Menu when additional windows are open (Options, notes, etc)
Shift-click "new practice" from Pause Menu to mark current spot as new practice point
"back to levels" button during Results Screen now says "back to editor" if in testing mode
Intro "woosh" sounds no longer play if enemies aren't visible at level start
Fixed softlock when trying to restart between end of song and Results screen
Fixed enemy warmup color sometimes being incorrect color for the bullet following a stream
Fixed powerup duration being affected by mod playback speed
Fixed levels with a bullet @0.0s not firing
Fixed plus bullets getting stuck in place when twisted
Fixed lasers shot from center sometimes being the wrong warmup distance and thickness
Fixed behavior of bullets with both negative speed and twist applied
Fixed bullets not spinning backwards with negative speed
Fixed behavior of plus bullets with gravity applied
Level Select
Added support for legacy XMLs within Soundodger 2 projects
Added support for displaying infinite difficulties in a level
Added [F5] shortcut for refreshing current list
Fixed menu music not playing seamlessly when navigating folders
Fixed "open in editor" being displayed for legacy levels when right-clicking
Fixed time display for levels longer than 1 hour
Editor
Added test button to top menu. Opens level in game without editor. You can also pause to enable practice mode to jump around.
Shift-click test button to open folder containing level XML
Added decoration option for lasers (in adv marker deck)
Added [R] shortcut during playback to instantly restart from where the playhead started
Improved seek time when using arena angle events
Added unique icons and colors for event anchors (none, smooth in, smooth out, both smooths)
Added ghost display toggles for any event, visible in bullets/extra tabs too. (cpu usage will increase dramatically if too much is displayed)
Added even spread button next to spread in marker deck. This will distribute the amount of bullets perfectly within a full circle without having to do the math.
Added warning to preview window when camFX are turned off in Options (visible only when in Events tab)
Old levels with lasers smaller than size 0.5 are automatically converted to decoration
Changed lasers to always collide with player, regardless of size (use decoration toggle to circumvent)
Changed scroll-flicking via middle mouse to stop scrolling when clicking
Changed line detail on smoothed event lines to have more detail at larger zoom levels
Changed row slider in marker deck to not update until you release the mouse button
Changed domes and text to not display when in Color Edit screen
Changed default unlock amounts to be 1 A, 1 heart, and 100 percent in Settings
Changed "needed" amount to be hidden when unlock is set to "none"
Changed playhead to start at custom start when loading level
Changed positions of bubble and homing boxes in Color Edit screen to match their order visually
Changed position of color picker window to not block homing and hug bullets
Fixed inconsistent arena rotation when first spin anchor isn't 0
Fixed hidden enemies not being visible until you play/pause (when closing settings)
Fixed appear enemies starting hidden when loading level
Fixed marker deck slider values not applying when sliding very quickly
Fixed extra markers gaining duration bars when multiple types are selected and a duration bar is adjusted
Fixed incorrect row amount displayed when switching between 1 and a >1 value
Fixed relevant camera effects being locked when turning off camFX in Options
Fixed tooltips not appearing for certain buttons
Fixed anchor value input box not updating when reversing anchor value
Fixed preview cones aiming the wrong way when parallel aim is enabled
Fixed centering of artist website input text box in Settings
Misc
Added cheat code to Title screen: idislikechange
Added master volume slider to Options > audio
Added mute on minimize to Options > audio (triggers when game loses window focus, applies to anywhere in game)
Added pause on minimize to Options > audio (triggers when game loses window focus, applies only when playing)
Updated sliders in Options to be bubble bullets
Fixed notes text going out of bounds
2nd Music Update is Out!
Howdy Dodge Fans!
Thanks for your patience, as these levels certainly take a while to put together! This time around, we have a new batch of 5 songs made by both new and returning artists to Soundodger. In fact, a couple of the new artists were inspired by the first Soundodger to get into music production, so this is a great way to say thanks to the community for truly being a part of development.
New Tracks
Disasterpeace - Outta Dodge
nitsua - Lost in Translation
Occams Laser - Illumination
azure aster - Evening
turingsghost - Sigilvitae
You may or may not also notice this is the first time in Soundodger history I did not make a level in the main campaign... :x
As always, check out the full changelog below, and happy dodging!
♥Bean
Changelog v0.3.0 Level Select
Fixed audio preview starting in progress when returning to menu from game/Title
Changed side buttons (URL, notes, lyrics, commentary) to be icons that expand on mouse over
Changed artist URL icon to a globe
Fixed incorrect audio preview playing when quickly scrolling through levels / folders
Fixed submit buttons selecting level when Mod window is open
Game
Added 5 new tracks and 15 new levels to main game
Added rain bg
Added 0.5s delay before music starts during level intro
Fixed zip powerup not allowing timewarps to update while active
Fixed bullets moving when paused if Shield powerup is active
Changed bullets with size < 1 to instantly spawn at their smaller size
Changed bullets to always fire the same distance from the arena edge (ignores squash animation)
Fixed Shield powerup not blocking lasers
Fixed laser hitboxes not shrinking when colliding with domes
Fixed homing bullets aiming at clone player when dome pushes players outside of arena
Changed classic bg to expand/shrink rings as arena changes size
Improved laser collision accuracy against domes
Fixed flares not disappearing when rewinding before they fired
Changed hidden center enemy to not be collidable (is that a word?)
Fixed soft dome on top of laser-shooting enemy preventing laser from coming out
Fixed bullets with 0 speed being treated like they have negative speed (mostly during gravity)
Fixed bullets being fired during custom length levels that existed before the custom start time
Editor
Fixed bookmark labels not showing up
Fixed enemies' outline changing to black when returning from the Editor Settings window
Added dots next to Event buttons to signify whether or not they contain data
Fixed playhead getting stuck at beginning if it plays to end of level
Fixed level spewing every bullet after playhead reaches end of level
Fixed inability to click paste button in Marker Deck for a homing+stream bullet
Fixed save prompt not appearing when changing song start/end/fade markers on time bar
Fixed save prompt not appearing when resizing prefabs
Fixed odd behavior when middle click dragging timeline and scrolling mouse wheel
Fixed Ctrl+C shortcut on multi-selected extras with different durations all becoming the same duration
Fixed deselection of multiple streams taking on the same duration when clicking one of them
Fixed lag when in halfspeed playback
Fixed dotted loop line in prefab preventing ability to resize prefab
Improved performance when looking at a lot of Event anchors (detail level now reduces when zoomed out)
Fixed Highway Gothic font name taking 2 lines in dropdown menu of text extra
Hotfix 0.2.9
Hi, nice to see you again so soon. A couple problems arose overnight, but now that we're all awake and have had some caffeine, they can hopefully be thwarted for good. Changelog below.
