Hey everyone,
Here is the pre-release for version 0.13! Windows and Linux builds are attached to this post. Download and extract them to play! I will hopefully get the MacOS build uploaded soon as well. Since I'm releasing this later in the day than usual, I wanted to get these out ASAP. I recently got a new Mac Book (My previous one was no longer supported), but I haven't tried signing builds on it yet, so there may be some delays. Either way I didn't want to let the MacOS version delay the others!
As mentioned in the previous status update, this update adds stickers! Stickers can be found and then applied to the back of the You Can Think Pad (YCTP, your map) to activate unique effects.
The structure of stickers as found in this pre-release is as follows:
Collect sticker packets from Baldi by completing activities, buy them from Johnny's store, or win them from field trips.
Sticker packets collected in levels are not opened immediately. You will have to open them using the Packet-O-Matic in the pit stop, or by finding and using some safety scissors.
Watch out! Unopened packets will be lost if you lose a round!
Once you have opened sticker packets, you will find all the stickers you've collected on the back of the YCTP. You can access this screen by opening the advanced map and clicking on the arrow button on the lower right of the screen, or by pressing a new button which will open the sticker screen directly (The "N" key by default).
Click a sticker to pick it up, and then place it on one of the four slots to apply it. If you place a sticker on top of another, it will override whichever one was there.
You can apply stickers at any time, both while playing a level and while in the pit stop. In fact, certain stickers can only be applied in the pit stop, so be sure to check them before entering a new level!
That covers the basics! Please note that this structure is still subject to change however. To be honest, this is the first time I've felt uncertain about whether or not a new feature is being implemented in the best way possible. There are many potential design issues that I feel could result from this implementation, such as
If Baldi drops stickers when activities are completed, will this encourage players to wait around in every class room for Baldi to show up to easily grab the sticker? This could encourage boring strategies.
If stickers can be applied at any moment, will this break up the flow of gameplay too much? Will players stop too frequently to change their sticker setup?
These are just a couple concerns I have at the moment. There have been a lot of other concerns that I've had that I've tried addressing in one way or another, but ultimately I hope you all will help out by being honest with your feedback! If the current implementation isn't fun or encourages boring strategies, I want to know!
I should also mention that there are still some unfinished parts of this feature. Endless mode doesn't properly support stickers yet, and there is absolutely no balancing! All the stickers have the same likelihood of appearing, so it may be pretty easy to get some overpowered sticker combinations. Some sound effects are missing, there's no tutorial yet, there's some missing instructions, etc.
I will try to have everything sorted out in time for the public release next week. For now, I hope you all will have fun experimenting with this new feature! Again, I'm hoping to get a lot of feedback, and I'm also open to ideas on how stickers might be able to be implemented better!
A few notes about the pre-release:
Please be mindful of spoilers! It is a-okay to share photos and video of the pre-release, this isn't meant to be a big secret, but please do so in a way that people who want to be surprised by new stuff can easily avoid getting spoiled. For example, please don't put pictures of new content in thumbnails. Once this update has been released publicly, don't worry about spoilers.
The pre-releases will use a separate save location from the main game. You can manually copy existing saves over to the pre-release save location if you'd like to use an existing save.
I will most likely only release patches for pre-releases if any super serious bugs are found. Otherwise bug fixes will be saved for the public release version.
I do not have a changelog ready at the moment. I will post one when the public release goes live. Have fun discovering what's new!
Please do not post these builds publicly anywhere, they are meant for Patrons only. That said, I certainly won't mind if people share them amongst close friends who cannot become paid members for any reason.
Known issues:
Sticker packets cannot be opened in endless mode without getting lucky and finding safety scissors. The stickers you get in endless mode are limited to a select few.
Missing sound effects for stickers and related features.
Placeholder assets in safe room.
No balancing for how rare each sticker is.
This being a pre-release, bugs new and old are likely! Please let me know of any new bugs you encounter by commenting below or sending me an email.
Thanks, and have fun!