Hey guys! Krayfishkarl here and welcome to another Droplet: States of Matter update! Early Access 1.50 is now available! This update refreshes all the animations for Droplet and Molly-QL.
You may have already noticed that Droplet looks very different. I updated his proportions to make his appearance more consistent with all the other characters in the game. And of course, based on some user feedback I couldn’t possibly ignore, I made him more handsome. For those of you who are fans of Molly-QL, don’t worry. I updated her model too with very subtle changes. The most outwardly visible of which are her repositioned eyebrows and the updated rigging of her skirt.
Naturally, with all these model updates, I went ahead and lip synced all of their dialogue, reorienting the cutscene camera angles along the way. Combined with updating every single movement animation to fit their new models, this was no easy task. Between the two of them were well over two hundred different animations to go through. Thankfully, the results paid off and are fully representative of my vision for the game. Both Droplet and Molly-QL are now more expressive than ever.
I’ve also added a short animation for collecting a star chart. I want to make sure the player knows the importance of these items for progression. Now, during the ending cutscenes of boss fights, you will see your character physically receiving the star chart with an accompanying celebratory jingle.
Now that all the cinematic updates are completed, you might be wondering what is left to do before the release of the game. Well, barring any last minute bug fixes and minor polish, the final major update before the game’s departure from early access will be the addition of Steam achievements and cloud saving. I also intend to have the game run on Steam Deck so I will be working on getting its compatibility verified. After that, the game will officially enter the release candidate phase.
That’s all for now, and with that, thank for you following the development of Droplet: States of Matter.
Patch Notes
Gameplay
- The player now always returns to the same location upon defeating a boss.
- Slightly moved some checkpoints in boss areas.
- Option to change sprint controls now appears in the start-up menu.
Graphics
- New model and animations for Droplet.
- Tweaked Molly-QL’s model and animations.
- Droplet’s and Molly-QL’s dialogue lip synced across the entire game.
- Tweaked a few existing dialogue lip sync animations.
- New cinematic for obtaining a star chart.
- Updated camera angles for cutscenes throughout the game.
- Updated animations for the opening credits sequence.
- Updated some logic for returning the camera to the player after a cutscene has ended.
- Fixed some issues where the player’s body might stretch when shooting projectiles.
- Repositioned notification prompt for collecting items.
- New splash screen for starting a new game.
Audio
- New sound effect for momentum breaking.
- Fixed a couple audio issues when skipping cutscenes.