Hi all,
A new update is now live with a rework of the third table, Cult of the Drowned, alongside improvements to flow on all tables, some physics improvements, bug fixes and some more balance changes.
Cult of the Drowned Rework
Based on all the wonderful community feedback, I have revised the flow and interactivity of the third table with an aim to give you more control over the playfield and a few more things to do. As with all the tables, I will continue to add and improve on this as best I can, but at least for now these changes should remove some frustration points and provide clearer goals when playing.
Layout & Flow Overhaul
Direct Ramp Exit: The right ramp now exits directly onto the right flipper, allowing for better shot setup after completion.
Upper Table Shop: I've relocated the Shop slot to the upper table area as it was very difficult to reliably hit.
Guard Rails & Bumper Contact: I've added some guard rails around the upper bumpers to keep the ball up there for longer and increase bumper hits.
New Mechanic – Ball Capture Slot: I added a werid-looking creature that grabs and holds your ball for a second then spits it back out towards the bumper area. After 10 grabs, it captures the ball and spawns a replacement next to the plunger. When your last active ball drains, instead of losing a Spare Ball, the captured one will be automatically released.
Ball Teleporters - Replacing the old Shop Slot is now a ball teleporter - get the ball into this pipe and it will exit at the very top of the table, firing directly onto the Ritual Altar and starting a series of ricochets against the other Bumpers. There is an additional teleporter behind the Shop slot as well.
Rerouted Lanes: The furthest right lane now feeds directly into the right ramp, while the furthest left lane feeds directly into the new Ball Capture slot.
Drain Protection: I've raised outer drain walls to prevent unstoppable side drains, causing some fairly regular and unfair losses.
Mission & Target Adjustments: I have also adjusted left target mission bumper count to 2 (was 3), right target mission count to 3, and set both ramp trigger requirements to 3. Added a new solo target mission next to the left lane entry.
Visual Polish: I've updated playfield art to reflect the new layout and added a bit more visual dressing throughout. I've also re-modeled the ramp pipes to get rid of some annoying low-poly visual artifacts when balls pass through.
Cult of the Drowned Boss & Bonus Changes
Clarity & Spells: Reduced the number of blocking rocks spawned during the boss spell by 50%.
Boss Despawn Fixes: Fixed a number of issues where defeating the boss too quickly caused it to instantly respawn, or to allow clones to persist across acts.
Bubble Immunity: While bubbled, the Boss is no longer immune to poison and burning effects. All other damage is still negated. This applies to the smaller Bubbled Bumper as well.
Bonus Table Adjustments: I've also shifted the bumper positions on the bonus table to make hitting the Bonus Blessing Bumper a bit more achievable.
Global Improvements & Save System
Increased Save Frequency: Resuming a saved run and finding your score had dropped massively isn't exactly ideal, so I've added some additional save checkpoints throughout a run: whenever a ball is lost or a ritual upgrade is selected. The game previously only saved on glyph changes and act completions, so this should minimize the impact on score/progress loss if you crash or close mid-run.
Improved Flipper Collisions: Some minor improvements in ball/flipper collision detection across all tables, this is an ongoing fix but the frequency of this should be largely reduced for now.
Table Drain & Ping-Pong fixes: I've raised the drain side walls on all tables and reduced the bounciness of the side blockers to try and limit side-to-side ping-ponging where you're just watching your blocker HP disappear.
Easier Early Game: I've reduced the target Bumper HP in Acts 1–3 so that players can get their builds going a bit faster, which left the early part of the game a bit lacking for new players.
Balance & Bug Fixes
Monarch Ball Adjustment: Rebalanced Monarch Ball base damage to 10% of current score (down from 100%). This was clearly OP even on Easy, and should only be a feasible choice when playing on the hardest difficulties.
Bubble Blockers: I've reduced the respawn timer for blocker Bubbles from 30s to 10s, and fixed an issue where the countdown timer would run when no balls were currently moving.
Glyph & Blessing Unlocks: Fixed some incorrect unlock triggers for glyphs and blessings tied to completed achievements, these should now be immediately available for players who have completed the requirements.
Act 31+: Fixed a bug where completing acts higher than Act 31 would return players to the main menu unexpectedly.
"On The House" Glyph fix: Fixed an issue where multiple instances would not stack properly.
Oracle Ball & Ritual Timers: Fixed an issue with the Oracle Ball where it's Ritual was not reliably triggering, and also addressed an issue with some Ball Ritual timers continuing to count down while on any Bonus Table.
Vertical Aspect UI: Fixed some cut-off text/panels in vertical aspect ratios.
Slow Motion Nudge fix: Fixed an issue where the nudge prompt slow-motion effect would not play when Slow-Motion effects were disabled in the settings menu.
Improved AFK Checks: Shortened the AFK popup timer and now returns to menu after 3 triggers.
Once again thank you for all the feedback and bug reports, and as mentioned in the Community Post at the weekend, I'll now be working on improving the other tables and generally adding some more lights and action wherever I can squeeze it in. I've also started on a larger balance patch to address and expand on some of the Roguelike elements in the game, but that will take some time but please know it is coming!
Thanks again and happy flipping!
Kenny
