Challenge mode is now called Mel's Map! It has a bunch of new features and bug-fixes. This post will have an overview of those changes, but before we get into that I'll address something you may be curious about...

Why am I updating a demo?

I'm still working part-time while doing this, but this is essentially my "quit my day job and have a go at my dreams" project. I first published it back in February to align with my first in-person showcase event at Game Anglia and it was met with the best indie game award at the show! Since then, I've had people gradually trickle in to play it via social media, the discord server, etc and I've received very helpful feedback. I'm attending my second showcase event tomorrow at GDLX, so expect another post about that soon!

One of the difficult things about this project is that it's not designed to be viral, so I'm trying to work with what I've got by making it as high quality as I can and continuing to post about it. BlueSky has been helpful for this, because it's a platform that seems to do well at highlighting smaller creators. If I can gain little bit of traction, I hope to get some kind of support to finish the rest of the game.

The timeline looks something like this:

Simple, right? I'm not a businessman at heart so I don't know how this project will turn out (this timeline is missing the alternative route where this project is abandoned), but I thought I should be transparent because some people seemed to be confused as to why a free demo is still getting updates. It's because it's still not there yet, and because I hope that more people can play it.

Updates

So, what's changed in this version? If you've looked at anywhere at the top of this page, you've probably noticed that the main feature is Mel's Map. This is something that existed in previous versions of the game as a way of allowing players to revisit older levels that they've completed in Story Mode. It was a bit buggy and not the best user experience, so I hope that these new updates make it more worth your time. One of the biggest changes that compliments it is...

The engine

Valerie has a custom-made platformer engine (I made a blog post about it here), and it was previously not really designed for being pushed to its limits. I've spend a lot of time re-working the physics to make things more consistent and forgiving, while also adding some new features such as:

Grounded boost

This is especially helpful for getting some starting momentum, which you can keep better by being in the air.

More useful bubbles

Boosting out of a bubble or a ring is now the fastest way to move, so you're encouraged to do that! As you enter a bubble or a ring there's a small wait time to let you choose your direction, but you can now bypass that by pressing the jump button.

There's also a new boost + bubble-gun combined ability, where if you hold down the attack button while releasing a boost you will shoot a bubble in that direction (as seen in the GIF below when Valerie enters the butterfly's bubble).

Better super-jump

When you super jump from a bubble, you'll be able to get much more distance than before. Even when you're not on a bubble, you can get much more distance from a super-jump if you're going in with enough momentum.

Mel's Map

If you've completed the story and you enter Mel's Map for the first time, it'll look something like the GIF below. All the levels past the first one are locked, and the requirement for unlocking them is to complete a number of challenges in the previous levels. This means that you can still get a sense of progression while you retread your footsteps from the story. It also means that I can put in fun challenges on each level!

The most recent addition to these challenges is Floor is Lava, where you'll take damage if you touch the ground. It's quite fun. It only exists in one level at the moment, but I'd like to add more if people like it.

I also made it so when you finish all of the challenges in a level, you unlock any trinkets that you missed when you played it in story mode. Trinkets can be really useful both for those that want a more fast-paced experience or just those that want to make the game a bit easier, so I think it's important that you don't need to replay the story in order to unlock them all here.

Those are the main features I'd like to highlight, but if you're still really curious, I've included a quite comprehensive list of changes below. It's essentially my to-do list copy-pasted, where I removed all of the ones that wouldn't make sense to include such as bug-fixes for features new to this version.

Full change list

MISCELLANEOUS

- Made the menu 'nope' sound not repeat with held keys

- Made the "exit to title" and "quit game" pause options have a second confirmation

- Fixed the number of herbs it tells you you found at the end

- Added GUI that shows you that you can heal

- Made unplugging your controller pause the game

- Made it so signal crystals don't appear in powerless mode

- Make it so you can't press pause again after dying in challenge mode

- Various level design changes

- Added the social media buttons

- Made skipping cutscenes during muted dialogue not keep it muted forever

- Added more checkpoints

- Made checkpoints check above them

- Added danger signs to certain places

- Changed the text at the end of the game to include more shilling <3

- Changed various bits of dialogue

- Fixed the bubbles staying on screen after respawning

- Made remedial herbs increase your HP by 1 in addition to your MA HP

- Various level design changes

- Added bubble select to all menus

- Changed menu sounds

- Added moving slider and map sound

- Trinket adjustments: cat adds wall run too, and frog costs less TP

- Add sound for pausing

- Add sound for 'are you sure' screen

- Made it possible to skip through text more easily by holding the dash or attack button

- Add an option for the blur effect

- Add an option for camera shake

MEL'S MAP

- Made the starting health 12

- Added 2 new levels

- Added another challenge mode - floor is lava

- Added a level unlock system here each level has unlock criteria

- Added faster walking by holding the dash button

- Updated what Mel says in the explanations

- Made it so you can't select the map menu (and break everything) during dialogue with Mel in challenge mode

- Made it tell you if you got a new record

- Made an arrow pointing towards your time in the level complete screen

- Changed all of the ranking times

- Fixed the order of record times

- Made Molvur's challenge powerless

- Made all objects freeze when you complete a level

- Adjusted the target positions in all target smash levels

- Made the GUI tell you the objective of the challenge during the countdown

- Adjusted the visuals of the map

- Added a buffer that lets you boost to the start

- Added sitting pose for when Valerie starts a challenge

- Added unlocking trinkets by clearing all challenges in a level

- Added a minimap to help with target smash

- Added tips to Mel's map

MECHANICS

- Added a 'momentum energy' system where the player is gradually able to build up more momentum each time they dash

- Made horizontal velocity more preserved when attacking or finishing a boost

- Made control stick 2 able to be used for the bubble-gun

- Made holding the attack button continuously fire the bubble-gun

- Made it possible to immediately boost out of entered bubbles/rings by pressing the jump button

- Made it possible to boost while on the ground

- Added cool-down for grounded boost

- Made it so you can buffer a grounded boost just before touching the ground

- Made momentum energy greatly affect super-jumps

- Made boost not cancel y momentum if moving downwards enough

- Made ducking less likely to be accidentally triggered (when dashing down, etc)

- Made it never able to go from ledge hop back to wall run

- Made it so you can't collect bubble clumps unless you don't have your boost

- Fixed the system to convert control stick into button inputs

- Made "coyote time" cancel jump squat into jump

- Added "coyote time" to falling off a ledge with a boost

- Made "coyote time" include velocity gained from moving platforms

- Made falling into the abyss simpler code

- Adjusted super-jump to add your 'momentum energy'

- Make boost jumping off a slope effective

- Increased the speed of crawling

- Added boosting underwater

- Adjusted the influence right and left has when super-jumping on bubbles

- Prevent the wall-jumping at bounds glitch

- Made falling off moving platforms smoother

- Changed the conditions for the F that shows you can dash

- Made boosting on the ground and falling off a ledge temporarily ease gravity

- Make moving platforms not take away from your horizontal momentum, only add to it

- Added a minimum charge time at which you can release your boost

- Adjusted ground-boosting off ledge fall speed

- Expanded bounce boxes of butterflies and wasps further downwards

- Reduced damage from abyss from 4 to 3

- Reduced damage of attacks from Molvur from 5 to 4

- Removed fish at the end of Molvur room (it was too mean)

- Redid the vector maths for bouncing

- Made the hitbox for the bubble-gun bigger

- Add a delay and fade to falling in the abyss and respawning

- Made ledge getup not happen with enough momentum

- Added combined boost + attack

- Made bubble-gun hitbox start inside you on the first frame

- Adjusted boosting while swimming

Thanks for taking your time to read! If this post was interesting to you, please check out the free demo of Valerie, the game I'm working on right now.

I have various socials, too:
Twitter - @Jole_says_hi
Bluesky - @Jole_says_hi