I can't describe how happy I am to write this changelog. After 2 years and a half, it's here, the full, freaking final release build!

It comes with around a hundred changes, so I can't list'em all, but let's talk about some of the most important ones.

>> To make it short, if you played the early access before today, please give it a fresh spin! <<
(Starting a new game won't erase your Steam achieviements.)

Oh, before that: As you may have guessed, making a game alone leads pretty quickly to a lack of perspective.
So I'd like to sincerely thank the Steam community one more time, your feedback has been super helpful during this early access.
Thanks a bunch, mysterious and kind people from the internet <3

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WHAT CHANGED SINCE THE FIRST EARLY ACCESS BUILD?
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- difficulty rebalanced, tons of tweaks.
- NEW solo content (Time trials forcing you to combine all weapons, score based minigames)
- more options (french and italian languages, scanlines effect...)
- NEW local 4P Multiplayer mode. You can even play with 4 friends on the same keyboard!

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WHAT CHANGED SINCE LAST WEEK? Changelog V1.06 > V1.07
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STORY MODE:

- Less punitive collisions between the ship and CPU ships.
- Sirens race, Arachne boss rebalanced, Kharon's tracks unzoomed. (still pretty challenging, though)
- Final bosses rebalanced, no more sweet spots, more random added.
- tons of small tweaks and bug fixes.
- italian translation (thanks, Allessandro!)

4P MULTIPLAYER MODE:

- new tracks ("Magnetic Cogs" and "Minefield")
- tons of small tweaks and bug fixes.
- very important feature but kind of hidden: horns to annoy your friends!

SCORE and TIME TRIAL MISSIONS:

- Casino > much more progressive, a bit easier, tighter controls.
- Timetrial > No more OOB
- tons of small tweaks and bug fixes.

GENERAL:

- small performance improvements.
- Added an "old tv shader" activation/ deactivation when pressing F10 for scanlines enthusiasts.
- in case of very low FPS, a pop-up will appear asking you to low your graphic settings so the game doesn't miss an important trigger at some point.
- A kickass release trailer made in 36 hours because oh snap! I totally forgot the trailer like a champ!


That's it for today!
Let's celebrate! Oh, and please tell your friends, even if you can't buy the game, this is a very good way to support niche titles like this one.
You'll find some ammo below if you feel like spreading the word.

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ARTWORKS, GIFs, PRESSKIT here! -> the-next-penelope.com
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See you on twitter (@AurelRegard) or on the Steam forums!

Aurelien.

(The update is only live for PC right now, Mac+Linux coming this week as I got to doublecheck some things first for these versions)

New this buid:

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- Local 4 PLAYER MODE (BETA)
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Note:
> your friends don't need to know how to play "The Next Penelope" before joining you.
> Handling and rules are slightly different from the solo mode, so everyone is on par at first try.
> solo mode and multiplayer mode don't share any code, so we're sure I didn't break anything in the story mode or in bonus missions with these last changes.
> This mode can be played using gamepads, or even with 4 players on the same keyboard.
> Have fun! Also, more tracks coming in the very next days.

Oh, also in this build:

- various minor tweaks/bug fixes/exploit fixes
- no more sound fx preload. This should help the game to start faster on some tricky configs.
I checked on a wide range of machines and it should be transparent for you guys, but please tell me if you notice some sound fx hiccups on your side.
(It isn't an important optimization and can be reverted at any time.)

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TO COME IN THE NEXT UPDATE (ETA: next week)
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- 3 more tracks for the multiplayer mode
- "1992 TV" shader graphic option
- italian translation
- more bug fixes / final tweaks for solo mode (still got a few ones from the bug thread to address)
- more bug fixes / final tweaks for multiplayer mode

Thanks for reading!
And thanks again for all the kind messages I get lately.
You can't imagine how it helps to push harder to get something great for the full release (very end of the month).

Cheers!


Aurelien.

New this buid:

The Next Penelope is now available for Windows, Mac and Linux (Ubuntu)
*** Also, the Original Soundtrack is now included for free for a limited time! ***

Reminder: Please don't be afraid by the early access tag, the game already features the whole Solo Adventure + Bonus missions based on scoring and time trials.

Also, you can play in English or French thanks to this 1.05 update.
See you in a few weeks for the last major update: Local 4 player mode!

Note: The full release (no more early access!) is coming soon now, so get the game -30% off before it's too late! :)
(ETA for full release featuring the local multiplayer mode: may 2015)

Hey everyone :)
The new Penelope update is live, bringing the Bonus Missions to the game!

- Bonus Missions added (based on scoring or time trials, will ask you to use ALL your weapons in the same level!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JaGB4tHnDk

- Position indicator (POS 1/5 etc...): there are now a lot more of invisible triggers in the levels, which leads to a better position tracking.

- Difficulty balance:
> Arachne made slightly weaker
> Minotaur world tagged as Medium
> Mines race made (again) slightly easier
> Poseidon's guardian made slightly easier
> Final boss made slightly harder

- Tons of tiny bugs fixed

Have fun, and thank you again for your feedback. A lot of stuff in this changelog directly comes from this :)

Aurelien.

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CHANGELOG THE NEXT PENELOPE 1.03
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[BUGFIX: STREAMING]

Hiccups and strange behaviours during streams should now be gone.
Streaming + Recording the game can be very demanding,
please be sure to adjust your graphic settings accordingly.

[Minor Bugfixes]

- The ship could be moved during «danger intro» in Minotaur bossfight.
- If paused/restart, Poseidon bossfight could display wrong patterns sequences.
- «3,2,1,Go» SFX wasn’t properly cut if game paused.

[MAC VERSION]

Trying to maximise graphic cards compatibility messed with
alpha blending on some graphic ressources (worldmap grid). Back to normal.

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NEXT UPDATE
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Next update will be the last one without new content!
It will try to fix the very last bugs, like 1/2/1 positions updates during some races.
Then I’ll work hard on the first new extra hard missions.
Thanks for reading!

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CHANGELOG THE NEXT PENELOPE 1.02
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[BUGFIX: SPRINGBOARD/JUMPS]

Springboards should behave the same way at 20fps, 60fps, or even 120fps.
They have been recoded from scratch. This should fix all funny behaviours like giant ship on screen. Also, to the few people who were getting stuck at the end of a jump due to inconsistent framerate, you are safe now.
BUGFIX: Pause > restart could sometimes go bananas in tutorial level. Fixed
BUGFIX: GUI > Interface elements displayed at wrong angle on few hardware. Fixed

[GAMEPLAY: SPACE RUINS RACE MADE A BIT EASIER]

A bit. Still not easy.
Opponents are a bit slower (-5%). ONLY on this particular race...
All opponents are now blocked the same way by moving rocks.

[GAMEPLAY: THE LAST OPPONENT IS NOW TAGGED AS "LAST" ON SCREEN]

This should avoid confusion when you pass him twice in a race.
(is this the first one i just passed or...?)
GAMEPLAY: faster restart on collision with lasers on the "KHARON" planet.

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NEXT UPDATE
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Urgent work on camera so people STREAMING
the game and RECORDING it at the same time get a smooth experience.
It won't be long, next update in 1 or 2 days!

Thanks for reading!