Hello everyone. It's Saturday, so that means it's time for Gnorp News. I'm still fatigued, and I think there is a valuable lesson to be learnt here: Don't crunch. But rest assured that I am really proud of my game, and that I am committed to being even prouder. You can read this Gnorp News here, or on the [url=https://gnorp.dev/news/13-Hard-Mode-Talk-%26-Hat-Results/]website[/url]. [h2]Hat Winners[/h2] First off, we had some winners of the previous rounds of hat voting. They will be implemented into the game as cosmetics that you'll unlock based on achievements. There is also more voting to be done, so if you are interested in that, check out the [url=https://discord.gg/Kf3ZWGVSDe]Discord[/url]! [h3]Winners of Absurdist Gnorps[/h3] [olist] [*] Dented Gnorp, submitted by @SleepyHead, who was inspired by @Ruthenium Chip Resistor's initial dented gnorp idea [*] Dorp, submitted by @MetallicSaladFork [*] Gnorp On Top Of Gnorp Gnorp, submitted by @semtimmy [/olist] [h3]Winners of Level-Up Gnorps[/h3] [olist] [*] Drill Gnorp, submitted by anonymous [*] Robin Hood Gnorp, submitted by @Goat [*] Bandana Gnorp, submitted by @zymosan99 [*] All-Seer Gnorp, submitted by @popgoes [/olist] [h3]Winners of Flower Hats[/h3] [olist] [*] Lei Hat, submitted by @Pumpkinburger [*] Leaf Hat, submitted by @MetallicSaladFork [/olist] Look at these guys. Amazing. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44722791/67a271f2863325d4181bcf0972b6fe2430d1d194.png[/img] [h2]Hard Mode Talk[/h2] With the coming hard mode, my goal is to get things really right. I want to avoid the idea that a higher difficulty means more tedium, as tends to be the case with higher difficulties in games. The idea with Hard Mode is to apply a few choice modifications to the game that will force you to adapt. Bloat is bad. Let's talk a little bit about the Hard Mode specification. Hard mode will feature "shard spilling", where shards will spill to the side when reaching certain heights relative to its neighbors. Here's how it looks, and pay attention to the columns to the left and right of the cursor: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44722791/2ce77e0844160931e7ba2510ce9183dac6b587c7.gif[/img] This seemingly minor feature will force you to rethink how you approach your damage and collection, and if the shards spill too close to the rock, it will reclaim them — uh oh! Hard mode will also change some talents, to better fit the mode. Big Pile is an example of this: Doubling the required height to reach compression events will make compression events, much, much harder than in Regular Mode, which necessitates some changes to the talent. Changed talents will be indicated in the talent tree, so that you know what's up. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44722791/1c6255a16f3fc8ba2faec1a2868d9096eeccd021.png[/img] Another change will be how reclamation works. In Regular Mode the speed at which passive reclamation occurs scales drastically with the height of the pile, but when you reach a compression event, that rate is reduced. This will change somewhat in Hard Mode, and the intent is to make compression something you attempt when you are ready to handle it. When Hard Mode is released, the update will feature a balance update that will also affect Regular Mode and Speedrun Mode. That's it for Gnorp News! Remember to join the [url=https://discord.gg/Kf3ZWGVSDe]Discord[/url] if you want to participate in the hat voting!