Happy Wintery festivities Straibros. Hope you get many nice pinkies this Chrimbo! :]
Previous versions of Straima have been made in GameMaker v1 which has since been discontinued, so I spent a bit of time updating Straima to the latest version of GameMaker v2. Since I had to make some changes under the hood due to the engine differences I thought I might as well just generally go through the game tweaking bits and bobs.
The main additions are that now every level and the Infinni Runna game mode have Steam leaderboards and the level editor now supports Steam Workshop (which also have leaderboards). The Steam leaderboards have been incorporated into the menus, so for example you can just look at your chums times, or all of a planet's times. I wrote up a quick guide for the Workshop too which I recommend reading before uploading your weird levels which you can view here.
I wanted to add much more visual clarity and generally a bit of polish overall. So for example, objects, enemies, etc, now have a black outline and a black background blurred shadow so the important stuff stand out. The Adventure mode has also had improvements. Instead of a janky menu to choose your worlds to explore you now have a galactic map with some bells and whistles. Each of the special rooms also has a little theme, rather than them all being big chests (such as a friendly shopkeeper to buy the unlockable hats from).
And just some general niceities...
- FPS increased to 60.
- Added 8 new big background elements to the level editor (and added them to all the levels to spruce them up).
- 3 new music tunes and special room tunes. The game's soundtrack is now available in the Steam media player thingy.
- 5 new unlockable hats.
- Tweaked some levels (particularly in the last world).
- All game controllers should now just work whenever you plug them in and no matter their type.
- Added optional CRT screen shader for nostalgia feels.
- Can now change settings anywhere using the Escape menu.
- 12 new achievements to sign post the Adventure game mode.
Enjoy. And if you still want to play the previous version of Straima then that will now always be able available as a Beta Branch (version_5). :]
Visual Readables Update
Hi. :]
A few people now have mentioned the game's readability (or lack thereof) so thought I'd spend some time adding a whole bunch of new visual options. I also tweaked a few bits and bobs, such as the flickering colourful border around enemies has been replaced with a black shadow effect, the main walls now have a solid black background rather than being transparent, added greater control in the other visual options including making the background solid black, made some usability tweaks in the menus and tutorial, and tweaked a few levels.
List of new visual options.
Unsaturate Mode: This reduces the colour saturation and brightness of decorations, such as the back walls, plants, graves, etc. When the Fancy Backgrounds option is set to Static it also switches it to a less saturated and darker version.
Text Effects: This removes the flickering border effect around text and won't shift their colours too. It also stops the bobbing HUDs from moving (e.g. the time board at the top of the level).
Hue Shiftings: Usually walls and decorations slowly change colour, which this option stops. It also stops the alpha of the Ion Glass from slowly changing.
Dead Heads: Usually when you die a small floating skull is created and a big background face too, which this option can turn either one off.
Plantlife: Reduces or removes plant objects (grasses, top roots, trees, etc).
Door Wall: Reduces or removes the background walls and door arches.
Waterfalls: Reduces or removes the waterfalls and their effects.
Grave Chain: Reduces or removes graves and hanging chains.
Torch Bubble: Reduces or removes torches and bubble generators
Tentacles: Reduces or removes the tentacles from the side and bottom of walls.
Floaters: Reduces or removes the floating background animals (skulls, birds, bokeh particles).
Some comparison shots (it's a bit blurry due to Steam compressing them).
So if you're looking for something that's far more readable but retains a lot of the wordly decoration interest then I'd recommend the following settings (change pixel scale to your preferred size).
Enjoy. :]
Infinni 4-Way Update
Previously the Pinky Pursuit game modes were only available for 1-2 players, but now they can all be played with up to 4 players.
A new Pinky Pursuit game mode has also been added called Infinni Runna. It's based on the runner platform genre, were you must scurry along a randomly generated obstacle course pounding as many pinkies as possible until death consumes your soul. 2 Runna achievements have also been added.
Enjoy. :]
Adventure Mode + Cheats and Hats
A new 1-2 player game mode has been added called Adventure!
Previously in Pinky Pursuit you could freely choose which levels to play with infinite lives, the challenge being to earn trophies; this game mode is now called Free Play.
Adventure mode introduces a map system spreading the existing levels across 5 maps based on their difficulty. Initially maps are veiled but beating arenas reveal more of the map as well as uncovering specials areas. Adventure mode also has a separate system of lives, powers and jewels different from Free Play presenting extra challenge, including having to battle roaming nasties in randomised death battles.
You can also find unlockable cheats and hats on your Adventure journeyings. Cheats are for the 1-2 player game modes and just add a bit of fun, such as infinite flight or god mode. Hats can be worn in all modes to add extra distinguish to player avatars and can be changed in the Player Skins screen.
Have fun on your explorations, and there's 6 new achievements to achieve. :]
Two new Party Play game modes: Handball and Gunslingers
Two new Party Play game modes have just been added, Handball and Gunslingers. Handball is a classic team game, pick up the ball and hope your chums help you to lob it into the opposing team's dimensional net. Gunslingers swaps all your ninja powers with a variety of guns making it a much more chaotic and shorter lived version of Deathmatch.
