MeowGun's version 24 update features some balance & level adjustments based on user feedback, as well as some silly extra gameplay modes you can challenge yourselves with.
Some of the bigger things are tweaks to the weapons: The Railgun couldn't quite match up to the Plasma Rifle, so we boosted its primary firerate. Also! The Railgun's alt-fire got an overhaul to have better synergy with the gun's primary function. The shock bomb stuns enemies even more effectively now and _doesn't_ scatter them everywhere, so you'll have more opportunities to line up really good multi-hit shots with the primary fire. You can combo the shock bomb with other weapons too of course if you really want to make excellent use of it.
The Vampire Sword "Murhamasa" got a hefty buff this time around too! First of all for clarity, we swapped the primary- and alt-fire modes on this thing. Second, the now primary melee swings are considerably faster, meaning you'll get a lot more hits in with them and lots of health back to use for the alt-fire energy shockwaves. And finally, we like when one can deflect things with swords in video games, so now the Vampire Sword can deflect certain projectiles back at the enemies with good timing. You do have to face those projectiles though and just holding the attack button won't guarantee deflections, so there's a little skill involved.
But hey, since we added more things for the sword, and people seemed to like it before already, how about a whole extra gameplay mode for it? When starting a new game using the Custom skill setting, you can choose "Vampire Mode" as a special mode to play the game with only the Vampire Sword, no other weapons besides limited support grenades, with slowly regenerating health, and most pickups replaced with armor items. It's pretty intense.
There are also similar challenge modes for using Cat Claws and lots of Grenades only, and for the Ripper Blade. Oh, and a "Sicko Mode" - You can go see for yourselves what it does, it's pretty stupid (fun).
We and many others felt the bosses in MeowGun went down pretty quickly, so we gave them better difficulty-based health scaling and some resistances to Fusion and Explosive weapons. They don't resist the big guns so much as to make them obsolete, but enough that they can't be _melted_ before they can finish their intro lines.
Finally, a lot of the levels got some balance adjustments with items, some gentle sequence break-proofing (we do want there to still be ways for that), and some cosmetic tweaks to better guide players, especially in some of the larger non-linear levels. Oh, also fixed the infamous floating grate in E1L2 which many of you noticed. Tee-hee.
Here's the full changelog:
LEVELS:
- Tutorial:
The Lost Kittens in the level are not counted to the total/rescued kitten count
- E1L1:
All the buttons are colored green to be better visible
A little more light to the red key area
- E1L2:
Fixed the floating grate after triggering the Rocket Stash secret
- E1L3:
Swapped Shotgun and Light Armor positions in the start area
The blue key button is right next to the grate, so it's more clear what it does
- E2L4:
Gold Key trap activates as soon as player picks up the key
It also spawns the Power Ammo in the area
- E3L5:
Added arrow lights to point to the keys and exit
All the bigger doors are button operated for consistency
Replaced one of the Railguns with an Invisibility
The ships in the hangar blow up if trying to escape with them after defeating the boss
Added a couple extra items to the boss arena
The power cores spin slower
- E3S1:
The power cores at the exit area can't be destroyed through the large wall blocks
The power cores spin slower
- E4L1:
Proofed the exit area a bit more so it's not possible to just jump around to skip to the exit
It's still possible to sequence skip with some grenade jumps
- E4L3:
Added exit signs to the green arrow lights so it's clearer where the exit is
Changed Thunder Spark to Flamethrower
- E4L5:
Changed Thunder Spark to Flamethrower
Fixed the Demon Overlord not attacking player if they were on the side walls
Added some more items to the boss arena
- E4S1:
Changed the missing voice line into a repeating center print trigger, so it's clearer how to get the Ruby Key
Changed Thunder Spark to Flamethrower
- Bonus 01:
Clearer message when the exit is open
- Bonus 03:
You only need to defeat the Cortex Mothers to open the exit
- Bonus 05:
Fixed one cheese spot
MONSTERS:
- Boss monsters take less damage from explosions and fusion weapons
- Fixed Mutant Cats being able to spawn multiple Lost Kittens
- Monster textures are a little lighter to make them easier to spot
PLAYER:
- Only player 1 says level start voice lines to prevent players saying them in chorus
Respawn lines can be said by all players
- Altered ammo pickup voiceline triggering logic:
Voicelines can trigger max 2 times per ammo type and only from big ammo boxes
- Added particle effects when rescuing Lost Kittens
WEAPONS:
- Power Meow:
Stuns enemies a little better
- Vampire Sword:
Swapped Primary and Alternate Fire, so now primary is melee and alternate shoots the projectiles
Primary fire is a lot faster (gain health with it, in case you didn't know)
Alternate fire does a little bit more damage (sacrifice health to shoot magic waves)
It is possible to deflect some monster projectiles when swinging it
- Railgun:
Primary fire is a bit faster
Alternate fire shock bombs stun better, but don't do as much damage, removed wall blast effect
- Plasma Grenade:
Removed the stun effect
- Stun effect now includes particles coming from the monsters
MEOWPEDIA & SETTINGS:
- Fixed Armor, Shotgun and Catnomicon descriptions in Meowpedia
- Gib Corpses is now named Gib Corpses in 20s
- Added a Screen Flashes setting to HUD & Accessibility menu
GAMEPLAY MODIFIERS:
- Added various Special Modes for Custom skill preset:
Claws Mode: Only have Cat Claws and 2x throwable bombs
Ripper Mode: Only have Ripper Blade with 2x ammo, 0.5x throwable bombs
Vampire Mode: Only have Vampire Sword, regenerate health, 0.5x throwable bombs
Sicko Mode: Only have Cat Claws and Fusion Blaster, 0.5x throwable bombs
