062623 Cosmogelica Build

Howdy! Coming at you with another Cosmogelica build, if you can believe it! This one focuses mainly on more balance tweaking, as well as a bunch of improved graphics and QoL stuff to make the game easier to understand and more fun to play. Please see the patch notes for details!

Before that though, I wanna put it out there: I've gotten testers for the game, but I haven't really gotten any testers playing in 2 player mode. So, if you and a friend/neighbor/sibling/parent/guardian/child/enemy wanna test it out, follow the instructions here. (it involves going in my Discord, but only one of you needs to do it.)

On to the patch notes!

===== IMPORTANT =====

• I'm testing out fuel mode being available in 2 player. I have no idea what the balance is like, so you and a friend may be in for a good time or a miserable time.

===== NEW =====

• A new option has been enabled that'll allow you to "smooth" out sprite flickering for transparency by using true alpha transparency, rather than just flashing the sprite every other frame.
• New notification popups appear above the status bar whenever you pick up powerups, missles, etc. If you don't like the new popup, you can turn it off.

===== IMPROVED =====

• In 2 Player mode, the conditions for a player who has been defeated to return to the playfield have changed. Now, after a short amount of time, the defeated player may press the Fire button to return to the game. This will take one chance away from the surviving player. You may not do this if the surviving player has no chances left.
• An animation has been added to the status bar at the bottom whenever you pick up a new shot type or special move.
• The menu has had improvements to color palettes, animations, and graphics.
• Redid the contact page so it's easier to look at. Also, the game can now open links to various sites (with your permission.)
• Enemy bats have a new sprite and animation.

===== CHANGED =====

• Difficulty is now represented by stars in the menu.
• Adjusted the UI to account for the meters that were taken out.
• Adjusted the fuel bonus a little to give just a little more when you're lower on fuel (My intended balance is you having between 25-35 fuel in each phase.)
• I've added a difficulty floor that the game will never drop below, with a modifier of -1 for now. What this means is, if you start in difficulty 9, the dynamic difficulty will never drop below 8.
• The dynamic difficulty has been un-nerfed a little, and should now ramp up a little faster if your skill level is very obviously too high for what the game's throwing at you.
• Adjusted animation for fuel bonus so you have more time to see it.
• Added some input buffering to the Deflector move, meaning that it wont eat your input if you're mashing it and press it a little too early.
• Updated some of the dialogue and menu item labels.

===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a bug where player 2's lives weren't drawn with the correct color.
• Fixed a bug where you could beat the Fuel mode at the last second and get both a fuel bonus and a game over. (The game internally now gives you the fuel immediately, despite what the animation might say.)
• Fixed a bug where, when you lost in fuel mode, the display would temporarily show NAN.
• Fixed a bug where the deflector was only active for 40% of the animation (supposed to have been 60%)
• Fixed a bug where a defeated player would still have their UI drawn on the status bar.
• Fixed a bug where you can pause on the credits screen.
• Fixed a bug where a gamepad player would receive vibrations for the keyboard player interacting with the menu. Now, only the interacting player should receive the vibration (even in 2 gamepad mode.)
• Fixed a bug where pressing the "Confirm" button on a menu item that had no action configured for this would cause it to make a sound regardless.

Thank you! Now I gotta get back to commissions for reals this time 😳