Merry Christmas, everyone! As a part of Christmas SAGE, I'm releasing an update to the BUDD demo!

Be sure to check out the 1.1 patch notes if you missed them! A lot of things have changed since the 1.0 release version at SAGE.

Highlights for Demo 2 include: Christmas Mode, Mirror Mode, Nightmare Mode, and the first Original Music tracks composed for the game!

EX Settings

• Added a new "EX Settings" submenu in Extras! These let you change things that would otherwise break the intended experience of the game, but I thought were fun to add. Some of these settings include:
• Christmas Mode - which redecorates the game for the holidays! It affects Eris, Rhea, the interface, Verdeo, MARI-XIII, and the Mizuli outpost.
• Mirror Mode - The world is flipped, including the map!
• Nightmare Mode - Enemies move at twice the speed! (With some... exceptions where it would've been literally impossible without taking damage.)

Audio

• Added several new original BGM tracks, courtesy of Ivelischpfuli!
  • The remaining placeholder tracks are now marked with a ! in the sound test.
• Getting an item will no longer force the current BGM to restart after the item jingle, it will now fade back in from where it left off.
• The BGM will also resume after certain doors and teleporters (i.e. the MARI-XIII shop)
• The BGM is now only briefly paused after falling into a pit.

Options

• Added a Damage Modifier setting. If you're struggling with an area and want help, you can reduce the amount of damage Eris takes. You can also Increase the amount of damage Eris takes, if you're feeling up to the challenge.
  • ...1HKO Nightmare mode is uh... theoretically possible. I beat the demo, and there's no reason you shouldn't be able to beat Habitat or Ludicrous World, but it's up to you if you want to inflict that on yourself.
• Added an option to disable the screen curve effect in MARI-XIII.
• Added some new palette cycling colors, just for fun

Interface

• If you're playing this demo in November or December, you'll be prompted if you want to enable Christmas Mode on a first boot of the game.
• The HP and BUDD Energy sprites on the UI bar were given a redesign.
• Shrunk Switch, Playstation 5, and Playstation 4 button icons to fit inside textboxes better.
• Added unlock notifications that appear when returning to the title screen. Art Gallery and Sound Test notifications are merged into one, so thankfully you won't get 20 notifications in a row.
• Replaced wobbling text with waving text, hopefully that should be a bit easier to read.
• The Sound test is now listed in order of appearance in the game.
• NPCs with multiple dialogue boxes will play their dialogue in sequential order instead of randomly

Gameplay

• Eris now starts with 4 HP.
• You now properly accelerate to your dash speed when you're in the air.

Level Design

• Made it more obvious you can't enter the Mizuli teleporter in the demo
• Made the platform in Habitat's tunnel slightly wider
• The slimes in Habitat were moved slightly
• Various tweaks to make sure Nightmare Mode is actually possible without affecting the base game.

Bugfixes

• Fixed Boxer occasionally being invisible when you reload a save in the same room as Eris' ship.
• You can no longer jump as you use a save station.
• Reworked garbage collection to be more frequent, especially in nightmare mode.
• Cracker Barrels in Ludicrous World are now properly deleted when they leave the room.
• Fixed falling into a pit not resetting the camera start position.

You can download it from the main page. Thanks again everyone for the support, and here's to a good 2024! (maybe!)