Patch 1.15

Deer Gamers... Boo!

It's October, spooky month ooo~

One Spooky thing is I updated Gamemaker Studio 2 for the first time since 2022 and had to update Reindeer Story to a new project type...

Which is fraught with terror, and the looming spectre of previously working code functioning differently... ooo~ ːsteammockingː

To be on the safe side I've done a full playthrough of Reindeer Story and tried to test as much as possible, the overworld, battles, menus, scenes, the quest system, endings work. So the update seems to have went fine!

I've also re-re-visited the Snowmobile! Making some further changes to make it easier to control. I reduced the speed slightly, but also this time made the acceleration more gradual, and limited the top speed while turning. This way when you do need to make strong turns the snowmobile speed is slowed significantly so make those high-speed turns more manageable!

But it's all well and good for me to say the Snowmobile is improved ːsteamthumbsupː... but the proof will be in the playing! So as always please let me know what you think of the change!

But lets check out full changes:

Quest/Scene Updates

• Added a new scene to conclude the"A Worthy Student" Quest in the situation where you start the quest during Chapter 4 and then do not complete it until later in the game (After Cool Cool Crossroads). Lux, Robin and Wendigo all must be present in the party to trigger this new scene.

• Adjusted the Opening Scene after starting a new game to fade out music as the bird appears, avoiding the abrupt cut to silence when the scene shifts to Tinsel Town.

Functionality Updates

• Running into a currently inactive checkpoint flag will restore party members HP to 50% of their max HP. Many areas with checkpoints have hazards and bottomless pits. (This is to reduce the chance of ending up with frequent game overs if you enter a room with hazards at low HP)

QoL

• Snowmobile changes: Changes have been made to the snowmobile to improve its handling, making reaching top speed more gradual and making turning in the snowmobile less frantic:

1. The Top Speed of the Snowmobile has been reduced by 8%

2. The Snowmobile now accelerates slower, taking longer to reach Top Speed from 0 (1.5 seconds from 0.66 seconds)

3. The Top Speed for the Snowmobile while turning on the ground is reduced by 33%. If you're travelling above this speed the snowmobile will start to decelerate to this speed. (If you're in the air the Snowmobiles Top Speed will stay the same)

• The Time required for the top ranks Snowmobile Rally and Snowzone Escape Minigames in Snowzone have been increased to account for the changes to the snowmobile.

• The Save menu on the pause screen will default to highlighting the slot you loaded the game from, or the last save slot saved during a current play session.

• To account for loading a game from the autosave slot, the autosave slot now also appears on the Save Game menu screen.

• Adjusted the collisions on Overworld hazards (Spike Sliders, Cannonballs, etc.) to better match the sprites.

• Added a checkpoint flag to the 1st room of the Gauntlet in Autumn Arena.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the title screen controls graphic position to be a consistent position regardless of screen size.

• Fixed a battle text prompt to mash/hold the action button not displaying correctly.

• Replaced a Checkpoint Flag in Magical Mysts Keep that erroneously spawns a snowmobile with a standard checkpoint flag.

Hope you all have a great Halloween! And hopefully enjoy Reindeer Story as we head into the colder months!

Thanks for Reading!

Azzie