Difficulty Tuning

• Many levels had their score goals slightly lowered to help players progress and to have aesthetically-pleasing targets. Most adjustments were small and don't deserve mention, but I will highlight a few that did get notable decreases for progression goals: [spoiler]Exaction, Flash, Ricochet, and Titanomachy.[/spoiler]
• Most all level score goals are well-balanced now, but if you like the game and are walled by a level, please mention it to me in the pinned thread on the discussion boards!
• Grenade bullets no longer hit the player prior to exploding. Given grenades often follow sudden and non-linear movement curves to position right, it feels more fair for them not to hit the player.
• I finished up some small boss tweaks to make a handful of fights a little easier:
• [spoiler]1-B: Grenades now release two fewer bullets.[/spoiler]
• [spoiler]3-B: All grenades are now gravity arc grenades, which makes the fight a little easier and keeps the visuals cleaner.[/spoiler]
• [spoiler]6-B: The first form now shoots one fewer torus bullet in the Encrypter shots. Note that grenades no longer hitting the player is an important nerf for this boss as well.[/spoiler]

Bugfixes

• Addressed some edge cases where the leaderboard wouldn't respond to stick input, or still respond after it was actively closing.
• Added bold to a few tooltips that were missing highlighting.
• Centered some UI elements in the main menu options that were slightly off.

After receiving more great player feedback, I have implemented the following upgrades:

QoL Improvements

• There are now sliders to adjust bloom and saturation in the graphics settings! These should help tune the visuals and gameplay for monitors where it may be too intense.
• There is also a new slider to reduce screen shake in the gameplay settings, if you do not enjoy the added effect.
• All ability power-ups get a tool tip, rather than just the first two, to help explain their mechanics and avoid player trial-and-error.
• NOTE: These new tooltips apply to everyoneeven if you have progressed far you will still have the them pop for the applicable power-ups. I apologize if this spends a charge poorly, but I had someone on the boards ask how [spoiler]Sword[/spoiler] works after having finished the game, so I think best to leave the new tooltips fresh for all.

Boss Rebalance

• [spoiler]1-B: The aimed clumps fired in the final phase are 15% slower.[/spoiler]
• [spoiler]2-B: The spraying gun in the first phase has 15% less bullet density.[/spoiler]
• [spoiler]3-B: The first phase has slower bullets and less density on the sniping shots. In the final phase, gravity slam is only triggered once you have taken out a limb. The grenades used throughout the fight fire more slowly and with less density.[/spoiler]
• [spoiler]5-B: Both patterns used by the turret limbs in the first phase have less density. The bullet patterns in the final phase fire more slowly and with one fewer bullet.[/spoiler]
• [spoiler]6-B: Both grenades used in the fight fire fewer bullets and in an easier to dodge pattern.[/spoiler]

Tweaks and Fixes

• In small ways, this list of levels have had their score goals adjusted to help players progress: [spoiler]Apogee I, Apogee II, Apogee III, Barcode, Binary, Boolean, Citadel, Clash I, Congruence, Convergence, Divergence, Flash, Gridlock, Haywire, Precision I, Quickdraw, Reboot, Rebound, Recompiler, Shockwave, Triangulation, and Trifurcation.[/spoiler]
• All settings in the main menu options now loop around correctly when navigating the lists.
• Byte trails are 5% dimmer and blink 2.5% less when close to disappearing.
• Fixed a rare null reference that could happen in world map if you rapidly moved around menus.

This patch is dedicated to the player who recently reached 100% completion.

Difficulty Tuning

• This large batch of levels have had their score targets reduced to help players progress in the campaign: [spoiler]Apogee II, Apogee III, Binary, Citadel, Clash III, Congruence, Convergence, Evolution, Exaction, Flash, Gridlock, Haywire, Hello World, Maelstrom, Network, Powercell, Precision II, Reboot, Ricochet, Riposte, Riposte, Sinkhole, Triangulation, and Trifurcation.[/spoiler]
• Given these reductions, some people will now have new levels unlock upon opening the world map!
• The late game boss with [spoiler]tentacles[/spoiler] has had a few of his attack patterns nerfed after they were over-tuned.

Bugfixes

• The player is now invincible upon landing the final hit on a boss, thus avoiding weird issues or frustration when dying after taking a boss down.
• Your score is always sent to Steam leaderboards upon level completion, so if you previously had network issues you dont need to beat your highscore to get a spot on the leaderboard.
• The game now quits out after booting up if OS issues cause FMOD to fail initialization. If the game is failing to boot or getting stuck on startupplease check the pinned threads on the message boards or start a new one!
• In co-op, if you dont revive your teammate while boss results are playing their ship no longer lingers helplessly into the results screen.
• Fixed edge case where rechargeable dash orbs could fail to correctly track how many rechargeable dashes you have.
• Upon losing a shield, the player always gets bounced in a sensible direction.
• The duration of the splash screen is one second longer on MacOS to match the other platforms.

Visual Balancing

• Bytes are now 3% darker, flash 5% less when being picked up, are 5% dimmer when in larger groups, and are 1.5% fainter on boss levels.
• Stationary photons are now 3% brighter.
• The rectangular enemy bullet is now 5% brighter to help the revenge of Jelly enemies have more clarity against bytes.

Improvements

• The splash screen now correctly does shader preloading when starting a new file. This helps avoid frame hitches on new enemy spawns when the game is first booted up.
• Bytes sent out by picking up a shield when you already have one are now equally dim to bytes from damaging the boss.

The two-player campaign experience has received a few key improvements along with a grab bag of other fixes:

Co-Op Improvements

• The camera is now 9% higher whenever you are playing co-op to help avoid gameplay feeling too herky-jerky.
• The camera also has 250% more zoom padding when you move to opposite edges so each player can see far enough ahead and never gets covered by the HUD.
• The sector Cubism now has better power-up placement with two players.
• The sector Boolean now has easier score goals, primarily for co-op but it applies to single player as well.
• Endgame bosses have had their shields fixed for co-op.

Visual Balancing

• Boss limbs now put out dimmer bytes when they explode. This helps a lot with visibility when taking down bosses, especially those against reddish color schemes!
• Bytes are now generally 3% dimmer to help refine gameplay clarity.

Bugfixes

• The rival score in the bottom right has been fixed to correctly load on small leaderboards.
• A boss that wields sabers has had one of his revenge patterns fixed after it was spinning too fast.
• A tiny bit more padding adding to the pathing of jelly enemies to help them avoid getting stuck in tight corners.
• Fixed potential looping sound effect when a Titan was killed by a player with the Invincibility power-up.

Bugfixes

• I have implemented a small change to the controller assignment code to help people who have duplicate controller inputs still play single-player without having to debug their setup. If you run into any controller issues now please head to the pinned thread on the discussion board!
• Tiny polish to animations relevant only for postgame.

Bugfixes

• Menu windows now never miss their shrink animation.
• Fixed edge case where Jelly enemies could miss a bounce.
• Tiny fix to Arc container spawn location on Consequence.
• Stats page no longer shows names of levels that have been unlocked but not unsealed.

As a thank you to all the players who've posted feedback or voiced their enjoyment of the title, I have implemented the following improvements, score target changes, visual adjustments, and bugfixes:

Improvements

• Per player request, when you restart a level it now begins half a second faster!
• You now see fewer tips on start when just replaying a single level.
• Audio rewind for instant replay in Versus mode has been restored.
• Some world map links now have nicer animations.
• A few bosses have had their level pictures updated to look cooler.
• All duel levels now have slightly better endings (without affecting score potential)

Level Score Target Tweaks

• Ricochet targets lowered.
• Riposte targets lowered.
• Precision targets lowered.
• Shockwave targets lowered.
• Rebound targets lowered.
• Evolution targets lowered.
• Recompiler targets lowered.
• Quickdraw targets lowered by a smidge.
• Surge targets lowered by a smidge.
• The Maw targets increased.

Visual Balancing

• Stationary photon brightness reduced 8%.
• Moving photon brightness reduced 6%.
• Byte trail brightness reduced 5%.
• Small pink bullet brightness increased by 4%.
• All teleport zone brightness increased by 5%.
• Byte trail flash-on-pickup reduced 8%.
• Dimming applied to large groups of bytes increased by 6%.

Bugfixes

• Extending lasers now re-extend correctly after hitting a wall.
• The player gravity circle reacts appropriately to edge case on-off scenarios like (Sword plus Invincibility).
• Circle-related power-ups no longer avoid a dashing player in Versus.
• A secret level had it's secret mechanic fixed.
• Checkbox options in the pause menu no longer flash for one frame.

Improvements

• Slightly easier score goals on levels Precision II and Binary.
• Some map links have better animation timing.
• I have briefly disabled sound effects in Versus mode instant replay as it was bugging on some machines. Fix coming soon.

Bugfixes

• Safer material access code to avoid null transform issues.
• Fixed edge case where thrown firewall getting exploded by switch firewall bugged level.
• Error checking on player level statistics code for future safety.

With the recent influx of interest and new players (welcome!), Ive implemented a few improvements and bugfixes:

Improvements

• Improved Apple Silicon supportspotted a crash report from an M1 user and hopefully patched the issue!
• Player circle reticle brightness reduced by 5% to improve readability on smaller screens.
• Better track looping when transitioning between world map zones.

Bugfixes

• Implemented a more robust save data process to prevent conflicts in the save folder.
• Fixed duplicate or null scores when downloading Steam Leaderboard data.
• Error handling for possibility of missing stats on level completion in certain cases.
• Improved level spawning logic to handle potential prefab load failures.
• Added error handling around the results screen continue button to prevent getting stuck.
• Error handling for potential controller disconnect issues.

Nearing Cyberpulse's two month anniversary, I have implemented a number of improvements and bugfixes from player feedback and critical reviews. I've also made a few tweaks to the visual balance to help gameplay read better when the action gets hectic!

Bugfixes

• Fixed a freeze if you triggered two tooltips at once.
• Game settings now appropriately save between sessions.
• Fixed certain option selectors populating duplicate choices.
• Mouse sensitivity options now work on all machines.
• Fixed uneven arrow spacing in the pause menu.
• Fixed an errant white pixel in the splash image.

QoL

• Slow time effect now has improved audio modulation!
• Keyboard is now re-assigned to player 1 if you unplug all controllers.
• Behind player circle option in versus now places circle twice as far back.
• 5% less camera padding to reduce zoom frequency in co-op.

Visual Balancing

• Sector background circuit brightness reduced 10%.
• Firewall circuit brightness reduced 15%.
• Player circle flash and size gain on hit both reduced 5%.
• Player circle reticle brightness reduced 3%.
• Stationary photon brightness reduced 5%.
• Moving photon brightness reduced 5%.
• Byte trail brightness reduced 5%.

Fixed issue with game text not displaying on Spanish language systems.

This patch is dedicated to the first player who has hit 100% completion!

Sectors

• Shockwave: Better ending waves.
• Fallout: Better ending waves and pacing.
• Pipeline: Slight enemy set tweak.
• Binary: Slight enemy set tweak.
• Penultimate: Easier score targets for second and third goals.

Bugfixes

• Clones can no longer be thrown (or killed with invincible) before they finish spawning.
• Fixed issue where Spiral Cache could temporarily disappear from certain camera angles.

QoL

• Better ordering in the statistics page.
• Improved formula for calculating completion percentage.
• Renaming of the Precision sector set.

It has now been a week since Cyberpulse's release and I've implemented significant performance improvements and sector tweaks. Here is a list of the key changes:

Performance

• All platforms now run in compiled C++, which should generally improve smoothness and FPS.
• Better shader preloading for enemy and boss shaders to reduce hitches on initial spawns.
• Better performance when rendering large autosizing text (eg. mode directions).
• Save state caching to avoid hitches during gameplay or menu navigation.

Sectors

• Hello, World: More delay to opening waves.
• Apogee II: Quicker timer on final switch.
• Clash II: Raised camera slightly.
• Binary: Improvement to level pacing.
• Haywire: Slightly higher camera, lowered spark score boundary.
• Rebound: Spawning overlap fix.
• Riposte: Firewall spacing fix.
• Exaction: Late waves enemy improvements.
• Ricochet: Removed invincibility from late waves.
• Rejection: Removed invincibility from late waves.
• Titanomachy: Improved spawning on final waves.
• Quickdraw: Improved spawning on final waves.
• Penultimate: Spark score boundary fix.
• Fallout: Later wave improvements.
• Apothem: Fixed issue with performance when still needing to pop photon tutorial.
• Fixes to a few misguided boss guns.

Gameplay

• Cubic Firewalls now score for pulsing player correctly.
• Titan enemies activate after being pulsed if you dont eliminate them while stunned.
• You can no longer pick up power-ups if you are dead.
• General improvement to potential invincibility jankiness.

QoL

• Improved font support to be able to display diverse Steam usernames in the leaderboards.
• The game now autosaves after every four level plays.
• Fixed a few typos here and there.
• Fixed the Survival Master Steam achievement not popping, and improved some achievement pictures.

• Fixed issue where Logs would be empty upon open.
• Fixed Force Titan not killing player trapped in gravity well.
• Fixed Invincibility killing enemies too early, and related bugs.
• All levels now have appropriate object pooling for more performant wave spawning.

All executables now run in compiled C++. Depending on the target machine, this should improve general smoothness of gameplay overall, along with better FPS in CPU-bound situations!

The first of three performance patches for Cyberpulse.

• Most levels now use better obstacle pooling for smoother waves.
• Significant optimization to spawning code for enemies, bullets, players, and bosses.
• Improved efficiency of lens flares.
• A handful of small spawning fixes and tweaks to early game levels.

The first of a number of patches aiming at improving game performance.

• Better performance in boss scenes when tutorials need to be shown.
• Better performance on world map open.
• Better performance on level restart.

• Auto saving after five level plays to avoid too much data loss on crash.
• Better performance around Bit Spring grid.
• Options menu fixes.
• Minor tweaks to enemy and player move speeds.

UI QoL improvements and bugfixes. Minor balance tweaks.

Hopefully this makes the game a little more accessible to those new to the genre, and still equally fun for experienced players!

• -5% to enemy and bullet hitbox size.
• -4% to all enemy move speeds.
• -2.5% to all projectile speeds.
• 7.5s more on Ricochet.

Fixed a number of performance issues caused by the saving system.

Minor UI bugfixes.