Hi everyone! Over the past few weeks I've been showing off what we've been working on for the next update.... And today I'm happy to announce that all of this is [b]available on the beta branch RIGHT NOW[/b]! If you're not sure how to access the beta branch but want to play right now, you can do the following: [olist] [*] Right click on the game in your Steam library. [*] Open Properties. [*] Click on Betas. [*] Select the "testing" branch. [*] That's it! There should be no code required or anything to access it. If you want to switch to the base version of the game, do the same thing again but select "default branch" as your selected branch. [/olist] Once we're sure that this update is bug free, we'll put it up on the main branch so [b]everyone will be able to play it[/b] without needing to adjust their properties! Either way, here are the patch notes, it's a huge one: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43508484/65c16b42662f66e89ccd07983bae4da06afce23b.gif[/img] [i]Showcasing a new addition - Metaprogression[/i] [h1]Beta 1.2.0 Patch Notes[/h1] [list] [*] Overhauled the map system and generation algorithm to make the choices much more interesting. [*] Shops no longer include both weapons and trinkets, there are now dedicated weapon shop and trinket shop nodes. [*] Shops no longer allow you to upgrade your weapons or heal, there are now dedicated campfire nodes. [*] All characters have a much higher regeneration stat to offset the fact that campfires are seen less often. [*] Adjusted the visuals for the campfire, weapon shop, and trinket shop screens to have more graphical variety. [*] Added a new character, Hanubat - A Wanted Shadow from another world. Dodge stat gains are multiplied by 2. [*] Added a currency that is kept between runs - Souls [b][u](metaprogression!)[/u][/b]. [*] Added the ability to buy weapons and trinkets to start with with souls. [*] Added the ability for each character to start with any weapon or trinket as long as you have bought it with souls. [*] Changed the previous starting weapons/trinkets to being "recommended". [*] Changed the victory and defeat screens to include soul gained information. [*] Reworked the whole game's spawning system to vastly improve performance by an estimated 40%. The new spawning system is used by enemies, coins, and damage numbers. The update will be applied to projectiles in the future, so there's even more space for performance improvement. [*] Extended all songs to run at double their previous runtime so as to reduce repetition. [*] Overhauled the character select and achievement menus to have character-specific artwork for more expressive design. [*] Lowered Ace's character unlock requirement. [*] Lowered Needle's character unlock requirement. [*] Increased the Burning Blade weapon's extra critical damage from 25% to 100%. [*] Slightly decreased the range on the Spell Swipe weapon. [*] Slightly increased the cooldown on the Axe Gale weapon. [*] Adjusted rendering settings and slightly improved performance. [*] Added a new logo to the main menu, and we now have new key art! [*] Fixed a bug that caused one enemy sprite's to incorrectly go in front when they should not. [/list] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43508484/6d6a758c25950af9b9bd305f797daaee47b1be03.png[/img] [i]Showing Hanubat, the new character, and the new campfire screen graphics[/i] I'm feeling really good about how the new systems encourage further experimentation of the game's deep systems, but there is still 1 thing that we have not touched much that [b]will have to change in the future - weapon upgrades[/b]. As they work now, weapons can be incrementally upgraded at campfires. This worked well with the previous systems as you could upgrade much more frequently, but now that this system is more sparse, you're not interacting with it very often. This is a problem given that the upgrades are quite incremental. Because of this, I have been trying to figure out how to make upgrades much more impactful despite happening less often and I have come to the conclusion that [b]the game needs a form of weapon evolutions[/b]. The current plan for the change is that all weapons will only be able to be upgraded once. However, these upgrades will be much [b]more unique and powerful[/b]. To give you an example, weapon upgrades only give statistical benefits at the moment. The proposed change would allow for some of the following upgrade examples: [list] [*] A melee weapon could also attack behind you. [*] Certain attacks applying special status effects. [*] Increasing stats specific to that weapon, such as the cooldown reduction per coin for the Explosive Coins. [*] The adjustment of behaviours, like the lightning strike always landing on you instead of randomly to help with predictability. [/list] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43508484/f1beefd9f5a59a95edeeb29ee4ea7a5a2903919f.png[/img] [i]Showing the new map generation and visuals[/i] I would love to get your feedback on this potential change to the upgrading system! It's [b]still open to change[/b], so if you feel that you have any ideas that may work within the design bounds of the game, feel free to suggest them as well! Another thing we've been up to is changing up the key art (as seen below)! We felt that the new one with the focus on a singular character and the map fit well with the game's vibe that we established throughout Early Access and I hope that you like it as well! Our key artist,[url=https://twitter.com/BrayanMenchuArt] Brayan Menchú[/url], has done a great job with it! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43508484/aba06f248c0c4c99018ce4c7dd4d967d622ed6aa.png[/img] You might've noticed that it's just been 10 days since the last update and it's [b]many, many times bigger than anything we've released before[/b], and that's because these updates have been in the works since August! We've put so much work into 1.2.0, and I hope that you can enjoy it and all future updates we release :) One last thing! You might recognize "Hanubat", the new character, if you've been following the Steam updates, and that's because it comes from our upcoming game - [b]Wanted Shadows[/b]! In short, it's a Bullet Heaven just like Soul Stalker, but it takes the [b]action to the max[/b]. You aim your attacks, click to shoot, have a dodge with stamina management, and more! [b]The game has a demo available right now[/b], so check it out while it's available! The game comes out super soon too, on the [b]31st of October, Halloween[/b]. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2491670/Wanted_Shadows Anyways, that's it for this update, and as always, [b]I would really appreciate it if you left a review[/b]! It's the best way to support the game! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1714240/Soul_Stalker/ - Conrad, Lead Developer