Major 2020 Cloudbuilt Update!
Despite the previous post here, we actualy have some development news!
Cloudbuilt has just got a major 2020 update!
We’ve listened to all your feedback and updated the game to be more accessible while still staying true to its old competitive mechanics.
A large part of the update ended up being focused on the levels. We’ve made an alternative version of 34 of the core levels in the game, focusing on teaching the game and creating a more balanced progression, while also adding some twists for the veteran players. You are sure to recognize the levels, but don’t expect to just take the same old route! This is sure to be a fresh challenge for the top players too.
But the update doesn't stop with that. We’ve also touched up other aspects of the game. Improving feedback and readability while giving some areas a facelift too.
If you found the game a bit too tough or hard to learn, now would be a perfect time to give it another go. We’ve added a rebalanced new default difficulty to the game, aimed at players playing for their first time and are just playing to progress and clear the game. While the old balance is kept for competitive play.
We hope everyone enjoys this new version!
And for the really purists out there, we’ve also added a branch on steam where you can access the game exactly like it was before the update too.
GAME MODE CHANGES:
The game can now be played in two distinct modes. One intended for first time players, with a new reworked balance, and then a Competitive mode, intended for rankings, leaderboards and continued play after the first clear. You can select these modes when starting a new game, or it can be changed at any time, between levels.
"Competitive Mode" - This is the old default mode. Consisting of all the levels in their original release versions, with all their challenges untouched. The only addition here is the "2020 Mode", added to the challenge list of levels.
"Default Mode" - This mode uses all the reworked core CB levels and tweaks the game in various ways to be a little more accessible for new players. These tweaks includes:
Infinite retries. We scrapped the extra lives for this mode. We think there is a purpose for the original design, but as many players don’t seem to like it, we’ve listened.
No rankings or timer. You will have a simplified level clear screen, and you will never be ranked on your time and number of deaths. Play the way you want and just focus on beating the levels.
Less enemy invulnerability. We’ve removed the invulnerability state of almost all enemies, with only one exception, where we instead decreased the invulnerability time significantly. This makes combat much easier to understand and let’s players use clever snipes to clear out some sections in advance if they are creative. It does limit what can be done with some challenges, but it’s not an issue for this mode.
Less damage from lobbers. As the lobber enemy’s main threat is the throwback, we’ve enabled it to throw back players even when dealing light damage.
Throwback recovery has been made a little more lenient.
Extralife pickups now gives you a temporary boost to max HP for the rest of the level.
The weapon bullets travel a bit faster and weapon charge times have been reduced slightly.
Very slightly lowered game speed. The game in the original speed was just a little too fast for even taking in and noticing some aspects of the mechanics while making some parts very challenging. We’ve found that by just lowering the game speed with about 10%, it helps the handling a lot. It’s still very fast and demands high skill, but it’s a lot more manageable. Be fast, play freely, optimize and find shortcuts in this mode, just don’t expect to become the world record holder in this mode.
LEVEL CHANGES
Listing each stage’s changes individually would take ages, so In general the changes consist of a mix between:
Making the levels visually easier to navigate.
Reworking the difficulty of each section, with a more clear focus on what we want the player to learn, and experience.
Giving each level a stronger visual and game play theme.
GAMEPLAY CHANGES:
A new "Enemy alert effect" has been added, making it far easier to notice enemies.
Checkpoint pickups: Placeable checkpoints can now be picked up again and moved. Though at a risk. If you die while moving it, don’t say we didn’t warn you. (Each checkpoint can only be moved once and will not grant extra lives when placed again)Proper death animation for the player when dead on the ground. No more hovering and eye twitching when dead.
Added Steam Enhanced Rich Presence. See what your friends are up to in CB, right in your friend list.
MISC
Coilworks is now listed as the publisher of Cloudbuilt here on steam. We have a brand new publisher page— Check it out, and follow us for future updates!
A huge thank you to Rising Star Games for their help over the years!
This means we can now also sell the game on this website through the humble widget, where 95% of the sales goes directly to support Coilworks. So keep an eye out for that if that is of interest.
https://coilworks.se/cloudbuilt/
And last but not least, Thank You all for playing!
/ Gafgar & Bag - Coilworks.
