Pre-Demo Update 2

Another day another update!

Thanks to everyone who got involved with the private early access launch yesterday, I just want to reiterate how helpful the feedback has been and how important it will continue to be! Today I wanted to cover a few main points, these will focus mainly on development and design decisions as well as some timeline of events type of things.

Hotfix 2

Hotfix 2 is deploying sometime this afternoon, this addresses a variety of bugs as well as balancing adjustments derived from your feedback. Here are the highlights 

• Difficulty 

  
  

  • Pathfinder is supposed to be hard, but it's also supposed to be fun. Based on a lot of feedback there have been some adjustments made to the game's difficulty. 
    • Level design changes 
      • Levels 1-3 and 2-3 now have fewer spikes, additionally, existing spikes have been moved to create a better learning experience in the early game. 
        • The goal here is to get players engaged without scaring them off, there are still plenty of evil levels but now you've got some more time to refine your platforming before you get there. 
      • Levels 3-2 and 3-3 have had several saw blades adjusted to feel more fair. 
      • This is going to be an ongoing endeavor, balance can be tough and player feedback is going to be a crucial part of that. I learned more in the last 24 hours about the game than I have in the last year of developing it! 

• Gameplay changes 

  
  

  • Let's talk coyote time 
    • Pathfinder is a platformer game with movement at its core, so it is only natural that the gameplay needs to feel responsive and fun. Today's update will implement coyote time frames to allow the player more forgiving jump windows. 
    • The goal here is to modify some of the difficulty rather than remove it. Players can now jump for a short window just after falling or walking off of platforms and surfaces. It doesn't sound like much but this really changes the way the player interacts with the environment. This will make many jumps feel much more achievable, and generally just feels better mechanically. 
    • This mechanic is fresh out of the oven, there may be bugs and it may need adjustment.
  • Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash!
    • Coins were previously available in level 1-1. For the time being, the coins and the UI element for them have been disabled. 
      • The system isn't going anywhere! Those were just in place to make sure they were working properly and that players wanted to collect them. 
      • Coins will be absent for the next couple of days as I work to add them to all 9 demo levels and fix a few small bugs. 

• User Experience 
  • New sound effects 
    • Coin collection (changed)
    • Level fail (not to be confused with dying)
    • Level pass (added)
  • Try counter 
    • Upon clearing a level in the advance screen you will now see how many attempts it took you to clear the level! 
  • Death and level advance animation!

• User Interface 
  • SPEED BAR REMOVED 
    • Gone but not forgotten. I've gone back and forth with this feature since I created it, and right now it just isn't working. For the time being the speed bar has been removed to clean up the UI and reduce player confusion. Its fate is pretty up in the air right now, I'm not committed to fully removing it yet but only time will tell. Keep an eye out in future posts for changes coming to that.
      • The speed bar exists to allow the player to keep track of their current speed as it is not a static number but decays when standing still and increases while running. Based on yesterday's tests people don't seem to see it or need it, so for now it's going away for a while to find itself. 

Early-access timeline

Looking ahead into the coming days and weeks I just wanted to lay out what things are probably going to look like. Over the next few days, I am going to continue working on fixes, changes, and features which will all be released and tested in the private access build. Anyone currently with access will continue to have access, and more people will be allowed in. Based on player feedback in the coming days I'm looking to open the pre-demo build to the public to get as much feedback as I can to prepare the game for the demo's launch hopefully next week. 

That's really it for now! A lot is happening and I've got to get back to work, keep an eye out here for more updates soon!