Steel Seraph
Version 1.11.0 available on Windows, Mac and Linux to follow soon.
Adjusted part of Spaceport Alpha to solve an issue with landing on the southeastern side of it and ending up in a mountain, if the player is at the bottom of the screen when they land, as well as general air to ground/vice versa transitions.
Added more metal shards to 2-F air (Spaceport Alpha approach) to minimize dead air.
Added a "Death Claw" pickup in Entreprises Fauconvert 1F, in case the player forgets to pick it up after defeating Pandora.
Fixed visual bugs involving absent portraits on some conversations, particularly in acts 3 and 4.
Fixed a bug in 2-D that caused framerate drops when Vucub's orb damaged the quarantine room in 4F of the Angel of Mercy hospital
Fixed a region bug that caused some zoning regions (ones that prompt you to zone by holding the fire button) to be misaligned, leading to 'blind' spots where the prompt didn't show up despite being in the region to zone.
(Next: Spaceport Alpha common area, orbital elevator, summit airlock)
Improved most of the bullets in the game, courtesy of @Wht_Dragon (Twitter handle)
Blue bullets are destructible, Red ones are still reflectable with (CJ-Bat), and Green ones have already been reflected in this way.
Linux and Mac now updated to 1.10.0
Added 4-B air and ground, including several EX bosses (and the Gravity Generator), which took some time to do.
Added 4-C air boss (Beacon Guardian) and completed air boss rush (with the guardian at the end.)
D11, 12, 13 edge cases where tiles can be hidden fixed
Manananggal healing no longer adjusts its invulnerability to 1 (an edge case because I forgot, at the time, to explicitly allow only the PC's post-hit invul to 1 after healing. A latent issue)
Fixed some issues where going to certain crisis trigger or dodge tool stages and then returning to the room where you select on still leaves you in trial mode (limiting your equipment temporarily and giving you a seperate, trial-specific score value.)
Added an extra air checkpoint to 2-A (non-poisoned timeline) after the Quetzalcoatl passes through and escapes for the first time, if it lives that long.
Sometimes when you died after facing Koschei, the game crashed. I put a conditional to check whether the PC is alive before tracking Koschei behaviour in response. Also, the Sulfurous Blast technique it has did damage on its tell due to me not setting a conditional on the ability that only allowed damage on the flame or the scorch mark. The conditional has been added now.
Cybele occasionally survived at 0 hp if there was another insect on the screen. No more.
Seraphine is invulnerable for 1 second upon entering a zone.
Windows updated to 1.10.0, Linux and Mac to follow later this month.
D11, 12, 13 edge cases where tiles can be hidden fixed
Manananggal healing no longer adjusts its invulnerability to 1 (an edge case because I forgot, at the time, to explicitly allow only the PC's post-hit invul to 1 after healing. A latent issue)
Fixed some issues where going to certain crisis trigger or dodge tool stages and then returning to the room where you select on still leaves you in trial mode (limiting your equipment temporarily and giving you a seperate, trial-specific score value.)
Added an extra air checkpoint to 2-A (non-poisoned timeline) after the Quetzalcoatl passes through and escapes for the first time, if it lives that long.
Added 4-B air and ground, including several EX bosses (and the Gravity Generator), which took some time to do.
Added 4-C air boss (Beacon Guardian) and completed air boss rush (with the guardian at the end.)
Sometimes when you died after facing Koschei, the game crashed. I put a conditional to check whether the PC is alive before tracking Koschei behaviour in response. Also, the Sulfurous Blast technique it has did damage on its tell due to me not setting a conditional on the ability that only allowed damage on the flame or the scorch mark. The conditional has been added now.
Cybele occasionally survived at 0 hp if there was another insect on the screen. No more.
Seraphine is invulnerable for 1 second upon entering a zone.
1.9.0 updated on Windows, Linux and Mac
Demeter battle made more forgiving, spore pods, Persephone spawns and spore clouds less oppressive.
Minor bugs and timing hiccups removed, particularly in the XCLIME area (2-B), which had occasional framerate drops before exiting it.
Unequipped dodge tool has the smallest cooldown before dodging can be done again (0.1 seconds)
Death Claw sidequest stage (FWS Nocturne) added
4-A Orbital Elevator stage added
On the whole, this update is a few major things rather than a lot of small ones.
Here is a YouTube supercut of the game, mostly comprised of highlights from live playtesting on Twitch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kjiuGWIEAs
Update 11/14 10:54pm: Linux updated to 1.9.0
Update 11/17 1:18pm: Mac updated to 1.9.0
1.8.0 Major changes to presentation and gameplay- Windows and Linux now updated
1- Walking movement accelerates to posted speed in 0.2 seconds rather than immediately going to that speed.
2- Text box and menus have a monitor-like appearance, menus have been massively adjusted for presentation.
3- Controls have been changed.
S- Strafe
D- Dodge
Z- Repeater
X, C, V- Special 1/2/3
A- Strafe + Repeater
F- Special 1+2+3 at the same time
F3- Language Filter
F4- Strafe Toggle
F5- Visual options
F6- Audio options
F7- Gameplay options
F8- Key config + control options
F9- Load
F10- Save
F11- Quickload on previously used slot (send 'game not previously saved' interface message if this is null)
F12- Quicksave '' '' '' '' '' ''
Console Buttons are unchanged.
4- Floor tiles are less griddy.
5- Explosions are more impactful, look better.
6- Boss explosions centre the boss for a while as it does multiple booms, then recentre Seraphine.
7. Used multiple layers for certain blocking tiles, and have those tiles interspersed between those layers, depending on stage context.
8. Added the remaining "modernized" versions of tracks that previously didn't have them.
9. Gradualized as many sounds as needed it.
10. Change the basic enemy bullet to be more comparable to the Blaster Master 0 bullet, only at the size the basic bullet is at now.
11. Equipment now autoequips to an available blank slot if you get it while you have blank slots.
12. Sped up the tutorial flight stage to match other act 1 air stages.
13. Condensed tutorial text immensely.
14. Zoning is no longer automatic. Hold the repeater key or button to zone to a new stage.
15. A few points of general confusion have been clarified, with more explicit instruction and signposting in those specific areas.
16. Missiles L1 in a more obvious location after fighting the Minotaur
17. Solved Pause + Strafe oddity where holding strafe while pausing would lock Seraphine's position as if strafe toggle was on, even if strafe was still triggered by 'holding'.
18. F11 and F12 require a second press to confirm quicksave/load, to minimize accidents
19. For now, dodges will have a cooldown between 0.2 and 0.5 seconds depending on the dodge tool. May revert.
20. Minimized prompts overrunning the text box.
21. Autosaving happens between scene changes, on the last save slot the player saved at.
22. Widened the manual zoning width and height (depending on zone), to minimize rare cases where 'sweetspotting' Seraphine's location was required.
23. Constrained, aggressively, the boss cam explosions. They would repeat excessively in some areas.
24. Solved discrepancies between weapon highlights and weapon icons that could trigger when navigating the equipment menu in some rare cases..
25. Addressed hazard death crashes in all areas.
26. Addressed the problem of typos coming from certain letters being ignored.
27. Added "Direct" and "Narrative" dialogue modes as options. Direct condenses dialogue to the most essential elements while still sounding like a conversation. Minimal skips all dialogue not triggered via an interlude/cutscene (which can be skipped) or talking directly to an NPC.
I will have a sale on this game for 50% off for the duration of the Summer Sale (4 days.)
1.7.1 updated on Windows and Linux
Changes:
-Bugs related to certain kinds of controllers removed (PS4 in particular suffered)
-FWB Maginley 20th floor transition icon and transition regions now functional
-Rocket Level 1 buffed to 40 instead of 15 damage, obstacles requiring rocket destruction have 40 health but must receive that much damage in one hit to be destroyed. Things stronger than rockets in terms of raw damage can also destroy those obstacles, but at the time you get the rocket, it is the most damaging weapon you have shot for shot.
-Ice blocks in the Hydro Plant that require Plasma Sphere are given a dark blue tint.
-Explosions are more prominent.
-Clarifying text added, pertaining to Gorgons at Red Sector A requiring Rocket level 2 or something at least capable of 90 damage to destroy.
-Clarifying text added, pertaining to optional boss Koschei at the experimental climate area (XCLIME Area), if you end up attacking its phylacteries and attempt to shoot Koschei itself.
-The vast majority of air enemies have only 1 HP, and can be destroyed immediately by any weapon.
#GameDev #MadeInStencyl
In addition, I am planning a 50% off sale starting March 8, and ending on March 22.
Thank you all for your patience. I will continue to look into the Mac problem.
Version 1.7.0 of #SteelSeraph is available on Windows and Linux
Changes:
-A new and improved HUD
-Two act 4 sidequests (Hell Off Earth, Argos Panoptes) with endgame subweapons
-A fully implemented final version of the microjet (All tiered, non-optimal weapons upgraded to level 3, all Crisis Triggers and Dodge Tools acquired even if missed previously, a 'Shield Crash' ability that empties the shield and forces a crisis trigger (at an improved version) if you hold Strafe and Dodge for 5 seconds, and a new look.)
-Flow improved throughout, particularly in levels like X-Clime (Act 2-B) and Jeong Island Cave (3-A).
#GameDev #MadeInStencyl
Steel Seraph version 1.6.1 now available
1.6.1 Changes:
At the fringes of scenes without direct transitions to other scenes, the game prompts (Map) for Fast Travel, as a reminder of how to zone between distant locations. If Map is prompted this way, map level is set to 3 (whole-world) immediately.
Tumble dodge tool only has normal startup (0.1 seconds) instead of 0.2.
Key button prompts are now -specific- to the controller type.
Game now prompts (Repeater) for talking to NPCs you're in proximity to.
Added balloons to all characters capable of granting and clearing objectives.
1.7.0 will be about expanding act 4's content, something initially planned for 1.6.1 but not fully ready.
1.6.0 Update
November 1 (1.6.0) Changes:
Act 4 prologue added (briefing before going into any stages.)
Demeter Battle changes
-Persephone health nerfed from 1000 to 500, speed nerfed from 20 to 15.
-Spore pods face the player and fire 3, rather than 5, bullets per second. They can fire from off screen, but the bullets are slow enough to dodge.
-Spore pod clouds form on spore pod death. If the spore pod times out rather than being destroyed by Seraphine, the post-death cloud radius doubles.
-Gas collision damage nerfed from 400 to 100 (10/24)
-Air mouse movement speed now matches regular air speed. (10/26)
Windigo changes
-Changed how the pre-Windigo scene works (interlude cooldown instead of page advances)
-Instead of immunity, half damage on weapons used too often
-Minimized animation timing inconsistencies both before and during battle.
Nymph changes
-Nerfed Kirin bullet speed (50 --> 30) (10/26)
-Disable mouse and halt mouse movement when the mouse is not onscreen (10/26)
-Allow both d-pad AND joystick movement in all stages. (10/26)
Minotaur arrows now clear on defeat.
-Nerfed Nymph health from 15k to 10k
-Nerfed Pragmatichorisis enthrallment hazard slightly (15% less when Seraphine has 0 shields)
-Psychikravgi telegraph moves around while charging, shakes screen and turns white when it activates.
-Nymph 80%+ enthrallment sound distortions now take the form of 10 different 'wrong' sounds.
General
-Seraphine and her weapons will move approximately 33% faster
-Signposting improved in areas where it was found to be unclear. For example, at the start Seraphine is warned to rescue the engineers if she attempts to enter the second floor of Fauconvert before she has taken out the Golem in District 13 .
-The Hera City theme has a different instrument for its main melody, one that's a bit smoother.
- Use Right Stick- On by default instead of off. (10/26)
-Gamepad is now stable, and bugs related to sticks, buttons as well as inputs have been fixed.
-Shutendoji is defaulted to left facing.
-Prevented entry into other areas during Doji fight. Lengthened the long form dialogue box significantly.
-'Black box' glitch eradicated in areas where found.
-Made it so that in menus that allow for it, the down face button (A on Xbox, X on PS) is confirm, and the right face button (B on xbox, O on PS) is cancel. Fix quick key config, for the interface and to make sure confirming makes everything work. CJ-Bat is now 40/120/360 damage per swing. In addition, swinging the bat holds Seraphine in place for a half second. Changed how mid-conversation scene changes work, slightly (The moment the time scale becomes 1 again, it triggers. Formerly, they was based on page advance button presses.)
Gauges for ammunition and crisis trigger duration (when active for Awareness, Mercy, Patience) are more visible.
Eliminated a narrow area in the east part of D-12.
Removed 'mid-game zoom', as it caused problems with visibility and refuses to work with Linux.
In most cases, especially on ground, enemy bullet speed has been capped at 30 unless heavily telegraphed.
Forced a .5 second message timer cooldown after getting equipment.
Added a zoning cooldown of 1 second that requires you not to fire in order to tick down, before entering a new area. Also, require a button press (clearly marked) to enter an area.
Maintained speed while strafing on the ground.
Long-term plans for the game
Seraphine and her weapons will move approximately 33% faster
I plan to have destructible rubble in some areas that can be taken down with any weapon.
Signposting will be improved in areas where it was found to be unclear. For example, at the start I intend to close off areas like the second and third floor of Fauconvert before Seraphine has taken out the Golem in District 13 (unless there are any objections to the idea.)
The Hera City theme will have a different instrument for its main melody, one that's a bit smoother.
Whole-scale war on bugs, even the most latent, hard to find ones there are. THE GAME WILL NOT BE UPDATED UNTIL THE BLACK BOX BUG IS CONFIRMED SQUASHED.
A continued call to streamers and reviewers who are interested in indie/early access/games from untested developers.
Thank you for your patience.