The cave area is here and it is complete. There's no avoiding it (especially since the gate key is in there (but you can't actually use it yet so you can still avoid the cave... for now))

Here's a list of things that are new in this version!

IMPORTANT

A critical bug was found with the way the game saves and stores event flags, causing serious inaccuracies. The code has been fixed, and Shield Cat *should* be able to load saves from the previous version. However, some progress might be reset and your Fish Scale progress may be inaccurate. Any files saved with this version of Shield Cat will use the new save format, and so you should have no issues after that.

"What does this mean?" Your progress may be inaccurate when loading an older save file in this version, and things you haven't done might be done and things you have done might not be done. For best results, just start a new save file. (Or see hacker notes below)

Special Notes

• The Items format of the save file was updated slightly from the previous versions of the game. The game will be able to convert save files from the old version to the new one (by simply deleting the old one, as you have not been able to get items up to this point anyways.)
• Lance's position is now more precise, which may cause issues. Let me know if you see any weird issues with him being positioned wrong on the screen.
• Linux Only: It seems the last version had difficulty resolving the location and names of save files. This has been fixed and you should now be able to save/load your game again. However, the game will no longer attempt to move files from any Prototype build of Shield Cat to this one. You will have to do this manually now if you didn't play the last update.

Hacker Notes

For serious people who like to keep their save files, going into the save file and removing the fish scale flag entries as well as the room flag entries (forest_room_2 and global_flags, specifically) will cause the game to reinitialize these flags. There's not much else to the save files right now though, so it might not be worth the trouble.

 ===== NEW =====

• You can now find fish in the grass! They can recover your health. Enemies also can have fish on them!
• This is very important, as Lance can now lose! If you run out of health, you'll get a game over. Please, be careful from now on!
• Willow will now allow you to load a saved game in addition to saving the game. (Don't worry, your game will be saved before it loads a different game.)
• A new Debug option has been added that allows you to disable drawing the gradient overlay for that play session.
• You can now use the Mouse Wheel to scroll through menus, if you're into that sort of thing.
• There are now pots in the cave area, so you're not stuck without health in there. They don't always drop stuff though...
• The game can now be run at 60fps, 30fps, 20, and 15fps, though I have no idea why you'd run it at that low of framerate.
• Added an option to show only Gamemaker's debug overlay, excluding the extra debug information that appears on screen, while using the debug overlay (the debug keys will still work)
• The cave now has music!
• There is a new indicator in the bottom right corner that tells you which abilities you currently have equipped (You can't change them though... yet)

 ===== IMPROVED =====

• Fish Scales now correctly hover over pits, rather than just bouncing off the ground that isn't there.
• Lance's sounds now originate depending on where he is on screen. (Let me know if you don't like this and I'll change it back)
• Other sounds have also been improved to bring a more *stereo* experience.
• Added a little bit of a sparkle when Lance is spinning fast.
• Improved the animation on the arrows that fire out of the wall.
• Improved the graphics of the bumpers by having bigger arrows at a high contrast that are easier to see.
• Lance's shield will no longer go outside of the area you're in when thrown (if it is redirected there by an ability bumper, it will be destroyed)
• All shadows have been generally improved.
• When loading an invalid save file, the game will now return to the title screen rather than just closing outright.
• Camera will no longer go absolutely wild if you're spinning and change directions quickly. This can help when trying to fight enemies but you miss due to Lance's speed.
• Since that was fixed, the camera now has better lookahead, as it doesn't cause the camera to go even more wild anymore.
• The camera now moves around slightly if you've stopped and you want to explore around a little where you've stopped.
• The moving platforms are no longer using placeholder graphics.
• Added a fade in/fade out animation to trees when moving between areas, so they don't just appear to pop in.
• The contrast on Willow's sprite has been improved so you can make her out easier, especially if the blur filter is blurring her.

 ===== BUG FIXES =====

• Fixed a glitch where entry blockers that were on an adjacent screen would activate if you paused and unpaused the game.
• Fixed an issue where using Lance's ability would cancel out him being redirected by a bumper (don't think any bumpers that Lance could hit were in the last build though.)
• Fixed an issue where the direction Lance's sprite showed him facing didn't quite match the direction he was actually facing (as internally, he can face any direction - not just the 8 you can move him in.)
• Fixed depth issues in the old Forest Room, if you can figure out how to get to it (No one has yet.)
• Fixed a bug where having too much speed and positioning yourself correctly could get you out of bounds in the cave entrance area (when going right)
• Fixed a bug where objects would show their "initial" state when you enter the screen and then "snap" into how they're supposed to be being displayed.
• The camera no longer shows any part of the area that you're not supposed to see during screen transitions.

 ===== Known Bugs =====

• Sometimes grass will cast a shadow on Lance, even after it has been cut.
• The Ability 2 Toggle currently doesn't work (for Lance's Shield.)
• If you played the previous build, some Fish Scales you collected will show up, and others that you haven't collected yet will show as collected. This is an issue with the way the game enumerates and assigns IDs to Fish Scales in the room, and can't be fixed.

Downloading

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Special Thanks to the following people, the rest of my patrons, and everyone else who supports me as I work toward creating the SAGE demo!

Accalia, Shadow8t4, Caliburn Absolute, Chris Badger, David Wolfpaw, Spyduck, Fao, Flake, FoxyDude, Nutalie Frost, GamerRat (Jan), Gri, Goronhead, Holly Hoppet, Hulex Fox, Kirbizard, Trash, LF, LexiTheTT, Luna, Durk Vash, Markus Joseph Kitsinger , Marlyn, Mello the Ferret, Leon P, Nenekiri Bookwyrm, NovaSquirrel, Ripp_, Rix, Otarine, Cam D'Arcy, Saiai, Saxxon Fox, Ansel Geisel, Susan Tolias, Vivee, jay jorts, Kazy, keeri, megaRammy, raine, SUSHiCLAWS