Posted March 13, 2023 by Aru
#Update #Quality of Life #New Content
It's been almost a year since Project V released as a Bullet Hell Jam submission. The engine I was using, Shmup Creator, has received lots of updates and features since then, and I've also generally learned a lot about game design over the year.
For this reason, and even though Project V1 is a free, "finished" game, I've decided to come back to it for a moment and work on features that it sorely missed at release. Specifically - being able to skip cutscenes or select a specific level to play. This has now become possible, along with a couple more features/tweaks! Here is the full list of new goodies:
- Level Select! Hold C, or X on gamepad, at the start of Stage 1 to access it.
- Boss rush!
- Most cutscenes are now skippable! Press C, or X on gamepad, during an intro/level end dialogue scene and it will be skipped, with some exceptions.
- A tiny new hidden stage. Get 330000 points during Boss Rush to access it~
- If you want to practice the TLB: pick Stage 4 in level select, and hold Z, X, C, V at the same time while it's loading
- Vampire Laser button has been changed to V, or Y on gamepad. Because it's a *V*ampire laser. Duh. (and if you're a controller user - just call it Yampire laser from now on)
- True Last Boss tweaks - certain attacks with barely any dodge window have been tweaked. Specifically - first and sixth attack patterns are now easier and more consistent. Red bullets on the 7th pattern now hit harder, but disappear on hit, making them more consistent as well. I personally managed to no-hit the boss on first try after this change lol
- True Last Boss score requirement is now 1200000, down from 1600000
- Stage Wallpapers updated slightly
- Small changes to dialogue wording
- A certain easter egg on Stage 2 is now more likely to appear
- Overall the game should run better now, due to Shmup Creator's performance optimizations over the months.
Maybe now going for high-scores isn't going to be a snooze-fest of waiting through cutscenes at the end of every level. (Younger Aru has a lot to answer for, grrrrr)
Whether you're a returning score-chaser or a casual player, I hope you'll be able to enjoy this tiny Quality of Life update ^^ And if you've never played Project V1 before, then this is a perfect time to pick it up. Show those filthy meatbags what happens when you mess with the Fanged Gang!
Thank you for playing Project V1 ^^ While the next game I'm working on is a bit different, I hope you'll still enjoy it. Stay tuned for future announcements, and perhaps quite soon!