Hey everyone!

While I've been hard at work on super secret 1.0 specific stuff, I found some time to release another small update for the early access. The focus of 0.14.3 is primarily to rework Student Shuffle as that event was problematic for numerous reasons. Aside from being way too chaotic (Which was, admittedly, pretty funny!) it was also horribly optimized and so it negatively impacted performance.

In 0.14.3, Student Shuffle now spawns one line of students instead of multiple. However this one line is really long, so it will still cover a lot of the map! In order to improve performance, I've also changed it so that each group of students is no longer an entity, except for the leader. They have been simplified as much as possible. Rather than relying on collision to determine how entities get pushed around by the students, the event now uses entity positions and checks that against the path the students are taking. Because of this, Student Shuffle is now entirely grid based. Audio is now also propagated along the path with a single audio source, rather than before when each group of students had its own audio source!

I've also made some improvements to the Techno Boots. Now, the Techno Boots will keep any forces that are pushing you in the direction you are trying to move and only ignore opposing forces (All forces will be ignored if you are not trying to move). This makes them a far more versatile item and fixes issues such as not being able to use the grappling hook while the boots are on!

Alongside those two changes are other misc. quality of life improvements. You can view the full changelog below!

Changelog

Additions

• Added special curtain doors that can be used by random events to spawn entities into levels. Now, Balders and students from Student Shuffle will enter and exit the level as needed through these instead of through the elevators. This helps prevent unfair scenarios where exiting a level is made extra difficult due to these entities so frequently being around elevators.

Changes

• Reworked Student Shuffle

  • Instead of many small lines of students spawning into the level, one big line spawns for the duration of the event.

  • There is now a leading group of students that carries a "follow me" flag. The line will follow this entity as it wanders through the level.

  • The line's pathing is entirely grid based. This allows for the pushing effect of the students to be grid based as well. This way, collision does not need to be used, which significantly improves performance during the event.

  • The crowd chatter noise is now handled by one audio source propagated through the entire line. This also helps improve performance during the event.

  • If the line wraps around back onto itself, only the students moving in the most relevant direction will be visible.

  • If the line is somehow broken (A door closing, the leader getting teleported, etc.), the students will form a portal bridging the gap. Any entities pulled into these portals will be teleported to the other side.

• Safe rooms now always use the hanging light instead of the level's default light.

• Quitting through the pause menu while in the pit stop will now save and quit your game.

• Entities now display a fast, bouncing animation when they are about to become unsquished.

• Adjusted the Techno Boots so that they only resist opposing forces. They will now maintain forces that are pushing the player in the same direction they are trying to move. They will ignore all forces if the player is not trying to move.

Fixes

• Made some major performance improvements to the new audio system introduced in the previous update.

• Fixed the pay phone not using propagated audio.

• Fixed an issue that would cause multi-posters to generate incorrectly in levels, such that portions of them were not actually generated.