This week we've got a remake of Downwell, some spooky use of the new Rickety Wood tileset, and straight up armageddon. Remember to click the level names to bookmark them for play later on - LET'S GO!




Levelhead's switch system has been expanded massively in the last few weeks, and our Paragon of Contraptions, Joe Ah Oh, took advantage of it with Downwall. This build recreates the popular 2d title inside Levelhead, complete with procedural generation! Each play through is different, and you can even choose your preferred power-up style. All we can say is - WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!




In The World! It Explode!?, Jornker makes us feel a just a little bit closer to doomsday. What a way to kick off a weekend, eh?!




Level Hat But Short had us cracking up. TalkGibberish managed to collapse elements from all the campaign levels into one overarching level that rapidly (and in tiny fashion) walks new players through all the mechanics.




Running up to an elevator that's closing its doors on you is tough enough, but SleepyDoof's Up! Up! Up! Down? level has players fighting to keep up with an elevator that JUST WILL NOT STOP. This level is not only great for the elevator mechanic, but because SleepyDoof really took the time to make it look gorgeous. Check it out and get inspired!




In a seriously impressive mash of Levelhead's many elements, GroverSoup's Early Game Pursuit is a fantastically paced, clever level that'll have you grinning from ear to ear.




Rocket Rain made us feel like we were being chased down by voracious, subterranean creatures. MisshapenSmiley's level is mad, clever, and tons of fun.




Paragon Cprice's Levelcup is in its newest installment, calling for submissions of the Troll variety. Take a crack at making a level that confounds and frustrates players while making them utterly determined to finish it. It's a tough line to walk - let's see what you can do!

• Roedelpoes' Big Bad Battle is a lovable gauntlet
  
• Elverion's Tapis Roulant Et Broyeur pits players against increasingly difficult treadmill scenarios
  
• Jornker's Rickety Wood Nightmare Fort has us feeling those spooky vibes

Welcome to Patch 0.8, Levelheads! This time we've got a wild & weird hodgepodge of stuff, and there's certainly... a lot of it. With our Rickety Relay update, whether you're a contraption builder, a speed runner, a campaign cruiser, or a budding cinematographer, we've got something for you!


We love our context-aware terrain tile system, but we've always felt like it would be nice to be able to create more "Constructed" areas of levels -- parts of the level that feel like someone built them. Things like houses, shacks, sheds, towers, etc... And although we do have Kronkrete tiles for this, we wanted more variety. So we created a new tile set: RICKETY WOOD!



Rickety Wood also has the special power that its context-aware algorithm also looks for backdrops, so it will be able to discern whether it is indoors or outdoors. If it's a topper tile to an indoor space, it will even turn into a thatched roof! If it's an outdoor bridge, it will get ropes!

We also added Kronkrete backdrops, and a new "Window" tile that allows you to create indoor-feeling spaces that have visible backdrops, without necessarily just punching holes in the wall. Plus, this keeps the bugs out.


Once we started building cool houses out of wood, we realized it would be way cooler if we could show more of our creations. So we added a new item: the ZOOM-R! With the ZOOM-r, all you have to do is hook it up to a switch anywhere in your level, set the zoom level, and flip that switch during gameplay.



Now, you can create a tense, up-close moment, or zoom out to showcase some interesting structure you've built and create a sense of awe. It's these little cinematic touches that truly separate the good level builders from the great. We're pumped to see how you all end up using it!


Although our players have made flamethrowers, replicas of other games, and working calculators in Levelhead, we couldn't help but wonder... What if we made Levelhead's switch system even more powerful? SO WE DID, by introducing a new item: the Relay! Here's how it works.

Levelhead's Switch system involves "Sending" and "Receiving" channels. For example, a pressure plate might send a signal to Channel 1. Meanwhile, a door somewhere in the level is listening to Channel 1. So you push the pressure plate, and boom! The door opens.



The limitation of this system is that you can't have cross-talk between channels. That Channel 1 pressure plate can only ever influence items that listen to Channel 1. Well, with relays, we've fixed that problem!

Relays are, on the face of it, quite simple. They listen for a signal from one channel, and when they receive the signal, they send a signal to another channel. You can think of it as sort of "transferring" a signal across channels, like having your pressure plate on Channel 1 open a door on Channel 2.

That's the simple setup. But it turns out, Relays can be used for a whole lot more. Our beta testers have already figured out how to use Relays to create every kind of logic gate that exists. So we expect to see a full, working computer at some point in the near future, built out of these things.



*Image credit to Cammymoop @cgm03g*

Oh, and because we knew this was going to blow the lid off the switch system, we increased the maximum switch ID from 127 to 999. Hopefully that tides you maniac builders over for at least another two weeks! After that, we'll have to figure out how to get that fourth digit in there... and fifth...


OKAY, TIME TO GET DEEP INTO SOME MECHANICAL DISCUSSION!

One of the tricky things about physics-based gameplay is that sometimes, emergent mechanics appear that you don't plan for. In Levelhead, up until now, we've had the following mechanics in place:

• When you throw an object down while falling, you slow down but still continue to fall.
  
• You can stand on any falling box, as long as the box is also falling.
  
• You have a small grace period after standing on something where you can still jump.

These three systems combined to allow for advanced, but somewhat unreliable techniques:

• The "Infinity Leap." By continually throwing the package down, jumping off of it instantly, and then regrabbing it as you jumped up, you could traverse a gap of any length without falling to your death.
  
• The " Super Jump." By throwing a crate upward, then jumping shortly after, you could leap off the crate as it started to fall, and then re-grab it on the way up. This effectively gave you a super-high jump.
  
• The "Infinite Super Jump". By combining the above two concepts with some extremely precise inputs, you could ascend upward forever.

Although these techniques were hard to execute and pretty interesting (and fun to watch), they made it very difficult for level designers in Levelhead to make levels that could "contain" the player. Since advanced players could simply clear any gap or any height at will, the design side of Levelhead started to break down, and level builders had to keep trying to come up with ways to "de-cheese" their level to prevent these moves from being used.

So, after some long chats with our community and some soul searching, we have decided to tweak the game's physics in one small way, which would still allow the Super Jump, but disallow the Infinity Leap and the Infinite Super Jump. This means you can still clear a high gap once, but you can no longer ascend forever.

All we had to do was to modify how GR-18 gets pushed upward when kicking down. So now, it looks like this:



This solves the inifinite leaping problem, while also introducing some new tricks due to this little "double jump." For example, here's a new, weird way of skipping across solid spikes using a pickupable item:



We'll keep an eye on this change and make adjustments as needed!

As a final thought on this change... This is part of what makes Early Access really interesting. Levelhead isn't set in stone, and we (and our community) are always striving to come up with ways to make the game better. It was truly a pleasure having our wonderful players approach us to talk about this mechanics change with a... LEVEL HEAD. We appreciate the willingness of our community to wave goodbye to a mechanic for the long-term health of the game, even though it was pretty overpowered (and therefore... pretty fun).


For our final big highlight, we've got a bunch of nice visual improvements to the campaign in this patch, including curved paths!



Yep, that's right... We got rid of all those rough corners! Now you can smoothly glide that space ship all up and down those Bezier curves! Oooooh!

Plus, with the new Rickety Wood tileset and ZOOM-R in our back pocket, we refactored a whole bunch of the campaign levels to give them a much more rustic and cinematic feel. If you haven't been back to the campaign for a while, now is a good time to go scope it out!


This patch is LOADED with fixes, improvements, and features, so here are just a few more quick highlights before we get on to the RAW, UNFILTERED PATCH NOTES!

• There's a new "Variants" system that adds dropdown menus to items in the editor, so you can select other versions of that item.
  
• There are new search and sort options in the Tower, including a "Hidden Gems" feature that surface good (but underplayed) levels, and you can also search for levels by how long it takes to beat them (on average)!
  
• The Daily Build item set now includes more cosmetic items by default, so you can make more interesting daily builds!

All right, get outta here, and we'll see you in two weeks for patch 0.9! Though if you're still hungry for bullet points, carrry on! We've got tons of 'em!



See the full patchnotes.

New Features

Tower

• You can now filter levels by length (measured in average time per win).

UI

• Level cards now display their average time per win in terms of "Super Short", "Short", "Medium", "Long", or "Super Long". This should give players an idea of whether they are about to dive into a level that is going to take a long time, or whether it's a quick one.

Path Visuals

• Three new visuals have been added for paths: Wiggly Vines, Square Chains, and Alien Webbing!

New Item

• Introducing the Relay! Relays are simple items that can listen to a receiving channel, respond to that signal, and then send out a new signal on a different channel. For example, the simplest case would be a Relay that listens for a Pressure Plate on Channel 1, and when the pressure plate is held, the Relay sends a signal to Channel 2 to open a door on Channel 2. With Relays, you can now create much more fine-tuned logic gates and contraptions!
  
• Introducing the ZOOM-R! This is an item that can be placed anywhere in your level, and is controlled by switches. When active, it allows you to change the zoom level of the camera. You can zoom in up to the point where you see 80% of the normal field of view, or zoom out to where you see 140% of the normal field of view. This will allow you to create more epic or more calm moments by manipulating the camera! ZOOM-Rs are not visible during normal gameplay, much like the Camera Anchor.
  
• Rickety Wood! You can now build buildings and structures using our new context-aware Rickety Wood tile set. Rickety Wood tiles turn into walls, floors, bridges, knotted rope intersections, wooden chunks, and thatched roofs. This tile set is available in all biomes.
  
• Rickety Backdrop! You can place new wooden backdrops to go with the new Rickety Wood tile set. Rickety Wood tiles are context-aware with relation to other solid tiles and Rickety Backdrops. Rickety Backdrops are available to use in all biomes.
  
• Kronkrete Backdrop! That's right! Kronkrete now has backdrop tiles. These are available in all biomes.
  
• Window Backdrop! Want to make a space feel enclosed, while still giving it that outdoorsy feel? Now you can! Windows are available in all biomes.

Editor

• You can now directly place enemy droppables in the world, without requiring an enemy to be defeated first. These items are available in the "Carryables" section of the editor, and they become automatically unlocked when you unlock their associated enemies. These items can go on paths and can be given switch IDs. They float and are unaffected by physics (much like keys or batteries) until they are picked up.

Developer

• Internal Bscotch team members can now purge their reported levels list in the settings page, to make it easier to test moderation.

Item Variants

• The item selector bar at the top of the Editor is now capable of having "Variants" of items, available as a dropdown menu from the item that has variants. The dropdown can be opened by pressing "Down" on the Dpad with the item selected, or by clicking the item in the editor bar after selecting it.

Improvements

Visuals

• Relays now display whether they are set to "Any Active," "All Active", etc... (thanks to Spekio)
  
• Added shifting god rays to the Asteroid Tunnels biome backdrop (in development).

Campaign

• The following campaign levels have been updated to incorporated ZOOM-R technology: Boom Boom Pop, Dense Fog Ridge, 9 Second Marathon, Calculated Risk, Hide and Sneak. Whizblade Grotto, The Way is Through, Howl of the Lizumi, Battery Gauntlet, That's an Incredible GR-18, Switch Karma, Door Problem, Hollow Mountain Hike, Chamber of Magic, Go Go Rumble, Deliver the Package, GR-18!, Boombox Wonder, Fire Fall, Eek! Ow! The Lectroshield!, Pressure Puzzle, Fly, GR-18!
  
• The "Hyper Reactive" badge now includes the Relay item.
  
• The "Spoiler Alert" badge now includes the Kronkrete Backdrop and the Window backdrop.
  
• The "Downpour" badge now includes the Rickety Wood and Rickety Backdrop tiles.
  
• The "Electric Sheep" badge now includes the ZOOM-R item.
  
• A large number of Campaign levels have been updated to include the new Rickety Wood, Rickety Backdrop, Window, and Kronkrete Backdrop tiles.
  
• The campaign now has curved paths instead of hard corners.

Editor

• Added words to the name combobulator: Earth, Water, Bend, Manage, Flame, Inventory, Weather, Shelter, Cold. (thanks to Choyawp Cehappy, Spekio)
  
• Added words to the name combobulator: Cabin, Refuge, Outpost, Wood, Rope, Shack, Field, Wooden, Rickety. (thanks to Spekio)
  
• Sending and Receiving channels can now go up to 999, up from 127. While we were in the neighborhood, we increased the maximum IDs for Rifts to 999 as well.
  
• All of the enemy drop items now have UI Icons in the Editor, instead of rendering their tiny, tiny, normal sprites.
  
• The larger versions of Jems are now variants of the normal Jem, and are accessible via dropdown menu in the Editor.
  
• When doing the Daily Build, you now always have access to Jukeboxes, Boomboxes, Camera Anchors, ZOOM-Rs, and Relays if you have unlocked them in the campaign. Because these items are less mechanical and more cosmetic, we feel that it doesn't break the spirit of the Daily Build to always have them available, much like Signs or Arrow Holograms. To make space, the "Objective" items (GR-18, the Package, BUDD-E, and the Goal) have been broken out into their own category in Daily Build levels.
  
• Updated the visuals for the dropdown menus off of items in the Editor to have slightly rounded corners, and to have an updated visual for the arrow that signifies the dropdown is available.
  
• You can now toggle the path editor by pressing Tab or Left Stick. As a result of this change, only the Right Stick on a controller can be used to change the Editor's zoom level.
  
• Added words to the name combobulator: Protect, Defend, Sacrifice, Illusion, Assist. (thanks to Spekio)
  
• Added words to the Name Combobulator: Anything, Everything, Any, All, Nothing, For, Bitter, Salty, Troll. (thanks to Oopyerchie Landjunk)
  
• Moved Kronkrete into being a variant of the Environment tile section.
  
• Added word to the name combobulator: Canopy

UI

• The ending scoreboard now shows total Jem and total Enemy counts, and how many of each you acquired/defeated. (thanks to Spekio)
  
• You can now use the "Random Name" button when choosing your alias while using a controller by pressing "Y" on Xbox controller (or similar on other controllers).

Biomes

• Implemented the second music track for the Asteroid Tunnels biome (in development).
  
• Added the first music to the Asteroid Caverns biome (in development).
  
• Implemented the second draft of the Asteroid Tunnels biome (in development).

Optimization

• Updated texture pages for more optimized frame rates.

Gameplay

• The vertical speed impulse GR-18 gains from kicking objects downward has been modified. Previously, this impulse was additive, which means if you were falling past a certain speed, you would simply slow your fall by kicking an object down, but you would still be falling. Now, your vertical speed will be set instead of added to, which means you will always move upward after kicking an object downward, even if you were falling at maximum speed. This change opens up new movement capabilities for normal gameplay, since it effectively acts as a tiny "double jump" no matter how fast you are falling. This change removes the ability to perform the "Infinity Leap" or "Infinite Super Jump" techniques that would allow players to infinitely gain height or to traverse a normally impassable chasm by repeatedly jumping off the package.
  
• Eyeswitches now only ignore stealthed players if the Eyeswitch is not invisible. You can't stealth past something that is STEALTHIER THAN YOU ARE!
  
• You can now sneak past Eyeswitches by using the Tiptow. This will allow for the creation of some interesting stealth-style levels.
  
• Relays (in development) are now always invisible during gameplay.
  
• When a sign gets deactivated, it now depth sorts behind activated signs.

Tower

• Added a "Hidden Gems" sort feature to the tower, which will show you levels that have a high engagement factor but are underplayed in terms of how many people have seen them. (thanks to Choyawp Cehappy)

Fixes

UI

• The Tower Trial should once again only display the top 10 scorers and speeders.
  
• Fixed missing text on the keybindings page for the "Toggle Path Editor" line.
  
• The description text for items in the Editor will now shrink to fit the text box area. This was only an issue in some languages for a certain few items, and only in full-bodied UI scale, but it is now fixed!
  
• A level will now only enter your play history if you actually manage to successfully load the level and enter it.
  
• The "Back" button on the Settings page now properly changes size when you change the UI scale.

Gameplay

• Flipeggs and Lizumi Thorns can no longer be regrabbed once fired. Because these items defy gravity, they were able to be used to infinitely leap across open gaps or to infinitely jump upward with no limitations by repeatedly regrabbing them.
  
• The Wingarang (dropped by the Swoopadoop) now has a short cooldown (0.2 seconds) before it can be regrabbed again. This allows it to be caught when it returns to the player, but no longer allows it to be used to infinitely regrab to cross long open gaps.
  
• Relays will no longer change states when the game is paused.
  
• If batteries, keys, or bombs emerge from an enemy or prize block into solid ground, those items will now move upward through the solid ground until they emerge into open air, so they are no longer trapped. (thanks to Choyawp Cehappy)
  
• Enemy droppables should no longer last forever.
  
• If you kick a spring through a one-grid-tall tunnel, the spring now gets extra speed, similar to how the Package behaves.
  
• Pressure plates (and other objects that look for pressure application, such as boomboxes) no longer look for inputs when the game is paused. (thanks to Joe Ah Oh)
  
• Carryable items on paths that get teleported through a Rift and then fall off a cliff (or otherwise get destroyed) will now correctly respawn to the position on the path they were teleported away from, and resume moving on the path as normal.
  
• Swoopadoops and Blopfush should now go through Rifts. After going through a Rift, they will attempt to return to their original position. (thanks to Spekio)
  
• Carryable items on paths will now go through Rifts. When they go through the Rift, they will detach from the path and will be affected by physics from that point forward.
  
• If an item was already sitting on top of a Rift when you respawn at a checkpoint, the item will not go through the Rift. (thanks to Joe Ah Oh)
  
• If you are purged by a purge gate, any active powerup states will be properly cancelled, such as stealth, punching, gliding, or rocket boosting. This should also fix any animation issues that stemmed from going through a purge gate while performing a powerup ability. (thanks to Quickcloud Pangzow)
  
• Fixed an issue where countdown switches that are also receivers and that were restored at a checkpoint would end up with an inverted switch state. (thanks to Wumpybami Rampygop)
  
• Fixed some backward-compatibility issues with Spike Traps incorrectly mounting on paths on levels published on older versions of the game. (thanks to Kazayogga Kammacram)

Editor

• If you have a path set to a Receiving Channel, then that channel should now properly show up in white when you are setting up your switches. (thanks to Boppaslap Fancyangle)
  
• Enemy droppable items were being treated as "developer only," so you would be unable to publish a level if you used them. This has been fixed!
  
• Flapjacks are no longer excluded from the icons available in signs.
  
• When you change back and forth to and from the Path Editor, it should remember what item you had selected and what category you had selected.
  
• When you closed out of path edit mode after changing your Terrain variant, it would always default back to Terrain instead of the variant you had chosen. This no longer occurs.
  
• You should now always be able to scroll up and down in the variants dropdown menu using the Dpad or arrow keys, regardless of what variant you have selected.
  
• Fixed an issue where pressing up or down on the Dpad while in Path Edit mode would select items and allow you to place them.
  
• The Path Editor now always shows the "Delete Path" tool when you first open it up if the level contains paths.
  
• The "Low FPS Checker" in the Editor was also taking into account spawn times when you first booted up the level. This was making it so that people with extremely large levels would have a hard time getting over the minimum FPS, even if their level ran smoothly once it was loaded, which would prevent them from publishing their level. This should no longer be an issue.
  
• Rickety Wood tiles should now more reliably display its "Rope Intersection" tile style.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Editor's numpad, where it would incorrectly display numbers with decimals that started with a zero, for example displaying "1.09" as "1.9". (thanks to Kazayogga Kammacram)
  
• Fixed a rounding issue with the Editor's numpad, where it wouldn't always set the property to exactly the number you gave it, due to Banker's rounding.
  
• Purge gates no longer attach to paths. Previously, only their visuals would move, while they were still functionally behaving as if they weren't moving. Now, they just don't move!
  
• When you click a new path to select it, you will no longer hear the path node "drag" and "place" sounds being played simultaneously. The path node "I got moved" sound is now a more subtle click, and it only plays when you actually move a node.
  
• Path nodes sitting on non-active items were flickering. Now they aren't! (thanks to Spekio)

Audio

• Boomboxes have had their audio type updated, so they should no longer affect CPU clock times when playing. (thanks to RetrophileTV)
  
• Further reduced the volume of simultaneoulsy exploding things.

Crash

• Fixed a crash that could occur in the editor if you had a variant menu open, then went to the path editor, then went back.
  
• Fixed an issue where clicking the Eyedropper button would crash the game after the recent Variants system update.
  
• Fixed an issue where the game would crash if you pressed "Delete" with the Editor numpad open and ended up with only a decimal and no number. (thanks to Bupajie Impycloud, Edyup Nipoo)
  
• Fixed a crash caused by Clockswitches, due to the path attachment changes in the previous build.
  
• Fixed an issue where checkpoints that were storing huge amounts of data on giant levels would cause the game to crash.

Optimization

• The game should now load a bit faster.

Visuals

• Backdrops inside enclosures (secrets) are now darkened relative to other backdrops, to make it more obvious where the contours of terrain are.
  
• GR-18 no longer leans the wrong direction if sprinting while using the Ripcord powerup's abilities.
  
• GR-18 now leans forward instead of backward when moving while using the Ripcord's Helicopter ability, because the laws of physics must be obeyed.

Campaign

• The badge after Nope Cart should no longer require a GR-17, because there isn't one in Nope Cart! (thanks to Oopyerchie Landjunk)

Web

• If you changed devices, your save would download from the cloud after checking on your bookmarks. This would cause your freshly-downloaded save to overwrite your bookmarks list you just updated. Now, bookmarks will wait until your save sync is finished before being retrieved, so new bookmarks won't get lost when you change devices.

*Sephy made a bitey old mountain monster for the new Levelhead-Gifs discord channel*

This week we've got flamethrowers, tiny levels, and general astonishment from our dev team at what y'all are whipping up. As always, click a level name to bookmark it for later! LET'S GOOOO!




In Ripcord the Bird Trial, Egomouse sets up a single screen looper that has you launching off missiles and dodging saws like a maniac while the level gets increasingly dangerous. Tons of fun and jam-packed with good design.




Bmiclock took inspiration from the lava flows of last week's spotlight and created a new hellacious flamethrower in Fire Beam Canyon! WHY!? WHY MUST YOU DO THIS?!




In Trial of the Champion, Jornker pushes you to become your best self. The level moves through increasingly intense challenges that take advantage of many of each of the playstyles that Levelhead supports. Prepare to bop enemies, sprint over exploding spikes, and do some precise Clood jumps!




Spekio created Wonder Chamber for the Levelcup (vote on your favorite contest levels here) and dare we say got carried away. The restricted 13x13 tile space is intricately packed with switches, balloogs, and traps that turn off and on as the player progresses, creating a tiny level that's gigantic fun.




Sephy's newest creation,Flyblock Gulch, takes GR-18 for a winding, snakey ride. Be careful not to fall behind or you will be stabbed.

• Mrichston creates an fantastic head scratching puzzle in Mechanical Watch Puzzle
  
• Cprice makes us lose all trust in humanity with a new trap level, Trust 2.
  
• Muckgop Tintyjim inspires with a great mechanical exploration of the Ripcord in The Temple of Ripcord.
  
• ScuhBaum's Fly Away Island has clever secrets and feels like a wonderful adventure in the sky.
  
• BT83 creates an enchanting forest experience with exceptional design in Explore the Blopfush Forest.

That's it for this week - be sure to share your creations in the Levelhead Discord so we have the chance of including them in the

Another week, another set of outrageously creative levels from the community. Click on any of the level-names to bookmark these levels and check them out over the weekend. LET'S GOOOO!




Well, we didn't WANT y'all to do this, but Spekio managed it in such spectacular fashion that it deserves a mention. By using some clever switch triggering, Spekio created lava flows. The level may melt your computer, but Through Fire and Fear is quite the experience if your computer can handle it.




Not only did Lorossi recreate Darude's Sandstorm song inside Levelhead - the level is actually played to the beat of the music. It's hard as nails, but that's what Darude would want. Check out Sand Storm? and see if you can unleash your techno powers.




Some of our favorite builds each week are recreations or interpretations of other games inside Levelhead. Sephy is carrying on this tradition with Space Zonk, a ridiculously fun Space Invaders style level that makes use of the new missile level elements. DIE BLOPFUSH, DIE!




In one of the funniest levels we've played since the Trap Adventure style one highlighted a few weeks ago, Cammymoop's Get Back Here! had us busting up by putting a single switch on a path. GR-18 has to chase this switch down through a mad obstacle course, and all the time it's just STARIN'. GET BACK HERE!

• Play's 11 by 11 is a new type of level - exceptionally compact, precise, and puzzling.
  
• Following Play's lead, Paragon RetrophileTV built Sweet Little Death Box. The title is descriptive, so... proceed with caution.
  
• JanBanane's Langer Umschalter Dann Ziel mashes all styles of gameplay together into one intricate level packed with clever designs.
  
• If Dune Doom Dream's nightmares have faded from your mind, give RoedelPoes' Keep Up Canyon! a ride. It's an ode to the sidescrolling level.
  
• Temple of Whizblade by Espurrator is a wide-ranging, challenging level that feels like a great adventure.

First off, thank you all for being understanding about our shift to a two-week patch cycle! This has given us a ton of extra breathing room and space to experiment, implement bigger features, and put our focus where it counts.

ANYWAYS... We've got a REAL WHOPPER of a patch today, so we'd like to apologize in advance for delivering so much content. We know it can be overwhelming, but... just do your best. You've got this!


It's time to unveil our first new powerup since Early Access launch: The RIPCORD!



The Ripcord allows GR-18 to turn his little robot arms into rocket engines for a short time, after which he has to touch his feet to the ground (or an enemy's face) to replenish fuel. This will allow GR-18 to reach far higher places than were originally possible -- in some cases, up to 5 times the height!

On the way down after touching the sky, GR-18 can use the Ripcord's Helicopter Mode to slowly descend, while still maintaining full control over horizontal movement. This allows you to kill your fall speed and weave between enemies like a pro, or glide across long gaps that would otherwise be impossible.



We're excited to see all the wacky levels our community creates using this powerful new item!


Levelhead is becoming known for its robust and ridiculously flexible Switch/Receiver system, and with the set of switches we already have, our players have managed to create all kinds of ludicrous contraptions, including pinball machines, 3-in-1 arcade games, music boxes, and replicas of existing games of all kinds. BUT THAT'S NOT ENOUGH! We have more ideas for switches, and this patch, we've brought one of those new switch ideas to life. Introducing, the TEMPSWITCH!



The Tempswitch is the most versatile switch we have added to the game. At its most basic usage, it simply flips for a short duration, and then flips back. For an obvious use case, you can use it to create a temporary batch of Jems that the player has to collect before the time is up.

But that's not all there is to it! The Tempswitch has multiple behaviors, so you can have it be reusable for a more forgiving experience, locking so it can only be used once, or even have it explode when it expires, blowing up brittle rocks, bricks, and enemies, and launching the player and other items!



BUT WAIT. THERE'S MORE! The Tempswitch is the first switch in Levelhead that is both a sender and receiver. This means that, aside from just using the Tempswitch as a pressure plate, you can also trigger the Tempswitch via other switches in completely different locations in your level, of different styles.



Our hope going forward is to expand this concept even further, allowing numerous other switches in the game to be both senders and receivers. It allows for a huge amount of flexibility in building interesting triggers, events, and contraptions!


This patch also introduces a new type of projectile: Rockets! Rockets don't home in on the player like Homing Missiles do -- they just fly straight, and fast. They're also non-lethal. Instead of killing the player, they explode like a bomb, destroying breakable blocks, damaging enemies, throwing items, and flinging GR-18 across the level.



We'd tell you to be careful with these, but we know you won't. So... just try not to get killed too many times.

To unlock the Ripcord, Rockets, and the Tempswitch, we've added 11 (!) new levels to the end of the campaign. Have fun!


A new daily competition has opened up in the halls of the Tower! The Tower Trial is a daily batch of six player-made levels that our robots pull from the tower using the power of algorithms, science, and good old-fashioned elbow grease. You must -- and I cannot stress this enough -- routinely grease your robot's elbows.

Score Hunters and Speed Runners then compete to get the top scores and top times on beating all six levels in a row.



The response from our players on the beta branch has been super positive, and the Tower Trial will only get better over time as we adjust our algorithms to make sure we're only serving up the highest quality, piping hot, spiciest player-made levels.

Now, you might be saying, "Hey! I'm not a speed runner! There's no way I can get onto that leaderboard!" Well, don't worry! Our magic robots also choose a "Trophy Time" for every day's trial, which should provide a good (but reasonable) challenge for the average player to strive for.

The Tower Trial also has a fun edge for level builders, as well, since when you publish a level, there's a chance that level will end up in the Tower Trial, accumulating a big burst of plays and being forever enshrined in the Tower Trial's archives for future players to come back to. Levels that have been part of a Tower Trial will be permanently emblazoned with the golden Tower Trial icon, signifying just how cool they are.



And best of all, every Tower Trial is made permanently available. So if you miss a day's trial, you can always just go back and do it later!


Aside from all the new features above, here are some of the highlights we've added to make the game just a little bit smoother, better, and more convenient!

• We've overhauled how Background Tile placement works in your levels, so you can go crazy with it and not fear accidentally destroying parts of your level.
  
• Tons of bug fixes, including fixes for inconsistencies while moving on paths.
  
• You can capture screenshots using Steam's screenshot system!
  
• You can now lock pressure plates!
  
• A bunch of new words in the Name Combobulator!
  
• You can make big arrows!
  
• Some items can now go on paths that couldn't before!
  
• New icons and animations for the Sign!
  
• Overhauled scoring for in-game actions such as collecting Jems and defeating Enemies, to make score hunting feel more different from speed running. Get out there and claim those crowns!

There's a lot more in the notes below, so if you're really into it, go take a look! Thanks for playing, and we'll see you for the next patch in two weeks!



See the full patchnotes.

New Features

New Item

• Introducing the RIPCORD powerup! The Ripcord allows you to fly by turning your arms into rocket engines for a short duration, and you can also slow your descent by sprouting a helicopter rotor from the top of your head.
  
• Introducing the TEMPSWITCH! This is a versatile switch that sends a signal for a limited amount of time before flipping back to its original state. The Tempswitch normally functions as a pressure plate, but you can also tell it to listen to other switches, making it the first switch in Levelhead that can both send and receive signals. Tempswitches also have three different behaviors: Reusable (can be activated repeatedly), locking (can only be activated once), and exploding (can only be activated once, and then explodes like a bomb when its time runs out).

New Projectile

• "Rockets" are now available as projectile types for Lookannons and Cannons. "Rocket" style projectiles explode like bombs upon impact, launching items, destroying bricks and brittle rock, harming enemies, and flinging GR-18 across the universe.

Campaign

• The campaign has 11 new levels to introduce and unlock the Ripcord, Rocket, and Tempswitch.

Steam

• You can now capture screenshots by pressing F12 or "Print Screen." These screenshots will be automatically uploaded to your Steam profile. They will also be saved locally to your game's save directory in a subfolder called "Screenshots." (thanks to @jr527m)

Localization

• Updated translation for the settings menu, daily

Biomes

• Began prototyping the Asteroid Tunnels biome (in development).

Editor

• Prize blocks can now have Receiving Channels on them, so they can respond to switches. Prize blocks that are on switches cannot be invisible.
  
• You can now merge Arrow Holograms up to 2x2 or 3x3 sizes.

Tower Trial

• A new daily competition section has opened up in the Tower! It's called the "Tower Trial." Every day, six levels are pulled from the tower and turned into a playlist. Competitors in the Tower Trial compete for score and time across all six levels back to back. In this mode, the timer continues running across deaths (except when restarting the very first level of the Trial), and your total time is the amount of time it took you to clear the entire trial. The Tower Trial also has a "Time Trophy" available for anyone who clears the entire trial in less than the displayed time. This feature is still a work in progress, so please give us feedback!

UI

• When playing levels as part of a playlist, there is a new interface that shows each of the level orbs in sequence.

Improvements

Campaign

• Updated "Grand Theft Grotto" level to have more space during the Popjaw fight.
  
• Increased the space ship's maximum speed on the campaign navigation screen.
  
• Updated the ship's particle system on the campaign navigation screen to be more contiguous, and gave it a subtle sound effect while moving.
  
• Campaign instruction cards can now be attached to switches, so we can show them only when they are relevant, and not before.
  
• Bumper Ascent's final bumper room has had its bumpers shifted to be symmetrical. MILDLY INFURIATING, NO MORE! (thanks to @d29oze)
  
• Thorn Cloud Delivery's first spring has been more thoroughly enclosed so players don't fixate on jumping off it via forgiveness mechanics. (thanks to @ucjumj)
  
• The Heist now has a checkpoint and some updated decor (thanks to @h42985)
  
• Clockswitch Tower's second bug piece is now attached to a saw path. (thanks to @pkmng8)
  
• If you slip the portalfire on Pressure Puzzle you'll be able to escape the confines of the room you were previously trapped in. (thanks to @kc8n1q)
  
• Temple of karma's third checkpoint no longer soft-locks you if you too skillfully killed a gentle blopfush (thanks to @3w0c8j)
  
• Go Go Rumble's autoscrolling section now forces you to touch the checkpoint prior to the scroll beginning. (thanks to @bmy2wb)
  
• GR-18 in the Machine's coins will no longer disappear if you don't get them the moment you clear the second room. (thanks to @itozuu, @ya0lqh)
  
• The campaign overlay in the top-right corner now shows how many badges you have yet to unlock and how many levels you have left to beat, so the 100% number is now fully described by what you see there.

Editor

• Added words to the name combobulator: Rampage, Destruction, Destroy, Smash (thanks to @rmk4os)
  
• When you click a path node with a tool such as "Add Node" or "Insert Node", you no longer have to click the path once to select the path, and once again to begin dragging the node. Instead, the path will be selected, and it will begin dragging the node, both in the same click. (thanks to @g5w3g0)
  
• You can now control the volume of boomboxes.
  
• Sliders now respond to your mouse on a 1:1 basis, instead of a 1:2 basis. The previous slider sensitivity is no longer necessary, now that we have the ability to enter numbers directly via the editor Numpad.
  
• You can now make Blopfush, Swoopadoops, and Whizblades be "Stationary" as a movement style. Previously, the only way to do this was to put them onto an inactive path. This should save quite a bit of tedium! (thanks to @pkmng8)
  
• Added words to the name combobulator: Lab, Theft, Steal
  
• Added words to the name combobulator: Fury, Furious
  
• You can now place Flippy Longswitches on paths.
  
• You can now place Lockswitches on paths.
  
• You can now place Spike Traps on paths.
  
• Added words to the name combobulator: Rocket, Missile.
  
• Added "Jets" and "Propeller" instruction cards for usage in the campaign, for teaching how to use the Ripcord powerup (Developer only).
  
• Added "Jump" and "Grab" icons to the sign. (thanks to @77wdm5)
  
• Added three different beam styles with different colors to the Sweep Laser (in development). These beam styles currently don't do anything, but they will affect the world differently in a later patch.
  
• Added a new suite of icons to signs, including powerup references and specific enemy images.
  
• Updated the visuals of the Tempswitch (Still in development) to convey whether it is resuable, locking, or exploding.
  
• The Backdrop and Enclosure items no longer delete terrain when you place them. This should make it easier to wildly wave your hand around as you place backdrops without worrying about accidentally exploding some part of your level.
  
• If you have the Backdrop or Enclosure item selected and you click on that same item type in your level, you will enter "Delete Mode" for that item type. While in Delete Mode, you can delete Backdrops or Enclosures without fear of deleting the thing sitting on top of it. Note that if you enter "Delete Mode" with the Enclosure item selected, this will only delete Enclosures, while Backdrops will be unaffected (and vice versa). (thanks to @jzpvey)
  
• Added words to the Name Combobulator: Room, Awesome, Mist, Paradox, Lurk, Rail, Crypt, Tomb, Abandoned, Forgotten, Ancient. (thanks to @77wdm5, @sc4796, @3719xx, @0gfsfk)
  
• Item properties that have decimals will now always display to the hundredths place, so you know that they aren't stuck as whole numbers.
  
• Signs can now be placed on paths. (thanks to @2x7lcg)
  
• Added words to the name combobulator: Second, Interval, Moment, Marathon, Minute, Skyscraper

Audio

• Added hover sound effects to the social links on the main menu.
  
• Implemented new music and sound effects for the Tower Trial.

Optimization

• Optimized the new path physics, so they should stop making unnecessary calculations when using path objects that can't be stood on (like Jems).
  
• Updated the texture page entries of the game for a small improvement in frame rates.

Tower Trial

• Fixed text overflow problems on the Tower Trial's "Top Times" and "Top Scores" headers in non-English languages, and added the Ribbon and Shoe icons to those headers.
  
• Added cooler visual and audio effects to earning the Time Trophy in the Tower Trial.
  
• You can now view and compete in tower trials from previous days.
  
• Updated the Tower Trial description to be more clear about how scoring and times work.
  
• The Tower on the main menu has been updated to have the Tower Trial icon displayed where the "LH" used to be. This icon will flash slightly if there is a new Trial available. It will darken once you have beaten the day's trial, and it will be an aqua-blue color if you have earned the Time Trophy for the day.

Visuals

• Updated the animations of the Ripcord to make GR-18 lean in-air to make it feel more reponsive.
  
• Signs now snap open and shut when they change switch states.
  
• Updated the visuals of the Prize Block so it has only two colors instead of three, so it clashes less with other things' colors.

UI

• Updated the phrasing on the Tower Trial to reduce confusion about whether it is time-limited. (thanks to @rmyh5h)
  
• Updated the confirmation dialogue when publishing a level to no longer state that you can never make changes to the level. (thanks to @cpk3kz)
  
• There is now a Refresh button on your bookmarks page, which will allow you to force-update your Bookmarks list. (thanks to @cs9krq)
  
• Updated the in-game playlist UI to be smaller, so it doesn't crowd out the rest of the UI on full-bodied mode.
  
• You can now paste with a gamepad on the Lookup page by pressing "Y" (on Xbox controller, or equivalent on other controllers).
  
• When playing a playlist in-game, there is now an indicator at the top-center of the screen that shows your position in the current playlist.
  
• Player-made levels that have been selected for the Tower Trial will now display the Tower Trial badge on them.

Gameplay

• Purge gates now remove all powerups, including armor and temporary buffs such as the Dbot.
  
• Rebalanced score values of jems, enemies and dunking the package to be roughly triple what they used to be. This should make the strategies for score hunting quite different from the strategies for speed running, which should make score hunting more interesting. This change is retroactive across all previous levels, so get ready to steal some crowns!
  
• Updated the Tempswitch (in development) to have better audio cues, to only countdown when not being activated, and to have cleaner item properties.
  
• Rocket projectiles (in development) now explode on contact with enemies.
  
• Slightly reduced the cooldown on re-entering portals you just came from, to make it easier to pop back in.
  
• "Rocket" style projectiles now explode like bombs.
  
• Physics tweaks to the propeller and jet of the Ripcord powerup, to make it smoother to recover from falls, and to allow you to use your copter or jet after being launched out of a Blaster.

Biomes

• Implemented the second draft of the Asteroid Tunnels background concept (in development).

Multiplayer

• When you have "Players Share Powerups" set to "Yes", picking up an armor plate, Dbot, or Lectroshield will now apply that pickup to all players. (thanks to @p685gq)

Fixes

Web

• Level attempts should now be properly recorded on level stats when the player dies after a checkpoint. This fix will result in a fairly strong rebalancing of difficulty rankings of levels over time, and levels with checkpoints will start seeing a lot more attempts visible on their stats over time.
  
• Fixed an issue with parsing failed stat sending requests to Rumpus.
  
• The stats of the levels in your recent graduates list in the Marketing Department should now be kept up-to-date more reliably. Previously, a level would graduate to the Tower, but its stats in your Recent Graduates list would be stuck at whatever they were when you saw it last. (thanks to @ref0kg)
  
• Fixed an issue with handling stat sending errors that would cause a crash.
  
• You cannot play a level if the level reverter is currently running.

Audio

• Toned down the volume slightly on explosions, punching enemies, and lock switches.
  
• Updated the Level Publish jingle to be tied to sound volume instead of music volume, so you don't end up with a wildly flailing level orb in a quiet, unsettling void.
  
• Slightly reduced the volume on successive rocket and bomb explosions that overlap each other.

Editor

• The white path movement indicator in the Editor should no longer get stuck in place when you cycle past the "Stop" option for its ending behavior. (thanks to @3719xx)
  
• Items that can be attached to paths are now version-specific, so they don't break with older levels. Spike Traps, Flippy Longswitches, and Lockswitches on levels made before prior to patch 0.6.10 will not attach to paths in those levels, since that feature didn't exist at that time.
  
• Updated the Jukebox to default to "Disaster Manager" music instead of "Death Executive", since "Death Executive" is not unlocked until later in the campaign. (thanks to @cgm03g)

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where Swoopadoops and Blopfush that emerged from prize blocks would travel through terrain before popping out the other side, and then they would teleport back to their starting location. Now, they just stay at their starting location. Non-flying enemies still move through terrain when emerging from prize blocks, as intended. This change does not affect Swoopadoops and Blopfush on levels published before this version. (thanks to @26kmgd)
  
• Fixed an issue with Swoopadoops that emerged from prize blocks starting in weird places. Now, they always emerge right out of the prize block.
  
• You will no longer cause Dense Fog to break through walls by hitting the walls super fast. (thanks to @rmyh5h)
  
• When you strike multiple Prize Blocks or Brittle Rocks at the same time (with your head or the package), all of the blocks you struck will react, instead of just one.
  
• Sky Wigglers (fans) now have a cap for how fast they will accelerate an object.
  
• Fixed an issue with items on Switch-controlled paths not being properly restored via checkpoint respawns. (thanks to @3719xx)
  
• Slightly extended the cooldown on re-entering the same blaster. Players on low-end machines were getting sucked back into the same blaster they launched from. (thanks to @7n4fnm)
  
• Updated physics of spinning platforms to use the new velocity inheritance model, to eliminate random player flings.
  
• Refined the physics of platforms moving on paths, so that spikes in frame rates won't blast the player sideways like a missile when they land on a platform or jump off of one.
  
• Platforms moving on paths should now move more smoothly and not have any jittering to them.
  
• You can no longer fire your Ripcord jets while inside a blaster.
  
• Levels published prior to version 0.6.5 will continue to have the less predictable jump height for GR18 that was fixed in version 0.6.5. All levels published in version 0.6.5 or later will have the more consistent jump height.
  
• Fixed an issue where Blopfush or Swoopadoops that respawned from checkpoints after coming out of a prize block would no longer be at the correct location.
  
• Fixed an issue where bomb and enemy generators wouldn't explode if they were restored from a checkpoint and then ran out of respawns.
  
• Enemy generators on paths will now spawn Swoopadoops and Blopfush at the correct location, and the spawned enemies will not be attached to the path. (thanks to @cgm03g)
  
• Updated jump timers to remove inconsistencies where, at a full 60 FPS, random jumps would put you just enough pixels higher that you could barely clear one more tile. These random extra-tile jumps should no longer be possible.

Tower Trial

• If you report a level during the Tower Trial, you will exit that tower trial.
  
• If you attempt to play a Tower Trial that has a level in it that you have reported for a code of conduct violation, you will be met with a message stating that you cannot play this Trial.
  
• If you have reported a level in the Tower Trial, you can no longer play the Tower Trial for that day.
  
• Fixed some issues with displaying page change buttons at the bottom of the Tower Trial. (thanks to @rmyh5h)

UI

• Fixed an issue with long hovertext popups where they would temporarily display two lines of text and then go back to displaying one line of text. Now each hovertext toolip should consistently display the same number of lines of text no matter where it is at in its bouncy animation.
  
• Fixed an issue with display of level names in the Infostream when you report the level.
  
• Fixed text overflow in full-bodied UI mode in non-English languages in the headers of the profile page.
  
• Fixed text overflow on the Tower Trial and Daily Build buttons in non-English languages.
  
• When you change the size of the UI, the buttons in the top-left corner of the game weren't changing size to match until you left and returned to the level. Now they do. (thanks to @4tlntf)
  
• Fixed an issue where your Stolen Crowns list wasn't purging levels that you had retaken your crowns on.
  
• Fixed some issues with the Tower Trial interface sticking around after it is finished.
  
• When you aren't subscribed to anyone or have nobody on your buddy list, you will get messages explaining these facts when looking at those lists in your profile, rather than the cryptic "no results found" message, or nothing at all.
  
• If you weren't subscribed to any creators, then your Feed in your profile would load up whatever tab's content you were last looking at, instead of showing you nothing (like it should). This has been fixed.

Localization

• Fixed the text overflow issues for Chinese in the settings menu.

File Management

• Fixed some issues with handling of buffers. Should notice no change generally, but might fix some platform-specific bugs.

Campaign

• Badge counts on the new campaign interface were showing an incorrect number of badges. This has been fixed! (thanks to @kdkswt)
  
• Your campaign progress percentage will now update in real-time when you unlock a badge.

Developer

• Added a failsafe to keep from publishing levels with unfinished content onto the beta server.

Visuals

• Updated icon of Prize Block to reflect the new color scheme.

Text

• Fixed a capitalization issue on the confirmation window for reverting levels.

This week marks the 7th year of Butterscotch Shenanigans existing. We formed this studio during a long road trip from our hometown in Iowa to St. Louis. Back then our dream was to create a creative company that could house whatever zany things the three of us individually produced: Adam was going to make science apps, Seth was going to make games, and I was going to write stories.

Fast-forward a few years later and the three of us brothers found ourselves enthralled by the problems and opportunities in game dev. No matter how much we learned, it seemed there was always more to uncover. We've now got 6 games available, hundreds of thousands of fans, a weekly podcast, and our own little office with Shi (our platform specialist) & Sampada (our Operations Engineer) here in St. Louis! To all of you who have been part of our journey, big or small, thank you for letting us do what we do! WHAT A RIDE!






HOOHOO SEGUE'D! Spekio whipped up a sailing adventure for GR-18 in Jungle Top Ferry Ride (click any of these links for bookmarking!). Take yourself sailing this weekend and enjoy one of the fanciest hobbies there is, you fancy sailor you.




Taking inspiration from both Bob Ross and the Building with Sam youtube series, Play has been producing timelapse build videos with smooth, bassy vocals and chill music. His series tackles the Daily Build challenge, so if you've missed out on any of those and want to see what others came up with, this is a great place to start.




Community Paragon and resident speedrunner Retrophile has kicked things up another notch by successfully beating campaign levels while wearing a blindfold. What. How... just watch.




Making great use of sharps and a clever path system that allows for eight-notes, MeiDerMon's music level GR-18 Does Wildly Music is an impressive display of musical talent - so much so that we blared it from the office speakers repeatedly. Check out the Music Boxes tag in the Tower to see more levels like these!

• Gkar created a Pac-Man series, paying homage to an old classic bookmark
  
• Bmiclock, not to be outdone, created a thrilling Legend of Zelda level bookmark
  
• Ursagames got real creative with jem gates and package throws in this quick, fun platforming challenge bookmark
  
• Awesome Games made a level almost entirely out of invisible prizeblocks, creating a level-building-itself effect bookmark
  
• TalkGibberish's Fire at Blopfush had us feeling like a battleship commander bookmark

HAPPY THURSDAY, LEVELHEADS!

It's been six weeks since the launch of Levelhead into Early Access, and we've deployed a patch every Wednesday since launch. This rapid feedback cycle has allowed us to be extremely responsive to unforeseen problems in the game's design, fix bugs, and pump out little improvements here and there.

But now that we're past that initial batch of updates and the game has become more stable, we thought it best to take a step back and evaluate how we're doing. After doing some math on whiteboards and deliberating while gesturing wildly, we've learned that the weekly patch cycle is actually doing some harm to our development process, and that we need to change things up. So although this is about the time we'd be dropping patch 0.7 right onto your faces, like a mama bird feeding her weird, bulging-eyed babies, we're going to hold off on that. Instead, we're going to shift from a one-week dev cycle for patches, to a two-week dev cycle, which means patch 0.7 will come next week instead of today, and it will be much, much larger.

But don't worry! Although this means patches will be more spread out, this will enable us to do much bigger things with each patch. So as a player, this means you'll get more content over time than you previously would, in the long run. Curious about the HOW and the WHY? Read on!


Under the one-week model, we frequently had to pause large features and then come back to them later, so we could guarantee we had some batch of content to release. But that meant rushing things out the door at the last minute, which is not a great idea.

Plus, bouncing back and forth between working on major, unfinished features like this will increase the likelihood of introducing bugs or missing important aspects of the feature, and the compile times and switching times add up, too. So a large feature that might take three days to implement will actually end up taking five, and it'll be less stable and under-tested.

Last, with every Wednesday going into patch deployment, we lose at least a half-day of development every Wednesday, but typically more than that, due to things like final bug fixing, writing and proliferating blog posts about the patch, and monitoring community channels for any major problems.

The two-week model, by contrast will have the following benefits:

• Every other Wednesday, we can just continue developing for the full day, instead of deploying. This means we get nine days of dev time instead of eight, every two weeks. That's a 12% increase in pure dev time, which means more features, more bug fixes, and more improvements to the game overall.
  
• We can work on large features and get them finished and tested in one go, even if they take five development days, without having to stop work on them to rush something else out the door. These features will be more stable and get finished faster as a result. The kinds of features that take a long time are major UI overhauls, new biomes and tile sets, powerups, web features, and major new mechanics that change gameplay in interesting ways. Under the one-week cycle, we wouldn't be able to do as many of these things.
  
• We will have time to test new features more thoroughly, leading to more stable patches.
  
• We have breathing room to experiment and prototype new items, which is important for the long-term feature set of the game. We need time to try bad ideas, so we can find the good ones!

So, all in all, we should be seeing much meatier patches, with a better flow of content and updates in the long run. If you're curious about what we're working on and what's coming in the next patch, you can see the unreleased patch notes over at https://www.bscotch.net/games/levelhead/patchnotes.


It's been a wild ride so far, and the Levelhead community has been incredibly inspiring and understanding as we get our footing and figure this whole Early Access thing out. You have all given us the confidence to strive to make Levelhead into something truly great. Big things are ahead!

We'll see you next Wednesday for patch 0.7!

• Seth, the Game Programmer

Levelhead is a community game at its heart. The thing that makes it special isn't just the game - it's the unique collection of people who play it.

Today we'd like to cast a special spotlight on some select members of the Levelhead community, as we congratulate them for being the first cohort of Levelhead Paragons. You may have seen their names in previous spotlights - and for good reason!


A Paragon is a model of excellence. As Levelhead has grown since the start of Early Access, there have been several community members whose contributions to both the game and the community have gone above and beyond anything we anticipated. And, on top of that, they've been enduring sources of positivity for the community as a whole.

Beginning today, the following community members have been given a special role as Paragons on Discord, displaying their radness for all to see.

• Quantum Anomaly - for streaming to the Steam store page during our launch weekend and for pushing the boundaries of Levelhead's creative tools such that his creations have inspired others.
  
• 9joao6 - for pushing us, as a team, to further embrace the Contraption aspect of Levelhead, and providing us memorable highlight material in the form of Pokemon, an Arcade, and the first Levelhead Calculator
  
• RetrophileTV - for creating the Speedrunner's Guild and evolving it over time with deeper systems and a sustainable community-run model. May you ever be fleet of foot.
  
• Popdonk Baggycool - for creating the one and only Levelhead level review site and guiding new level creators in making better and better levels. Butterscotchrecommends
  
• Cprice - for starting the Levelcup community building competition (first challenge is still accepting levels) and pushing the dev team toward an open API for Levelhead.
  
• Trillionaire - for creating video of all campaign levels and keeping them up to date amidst all the changes of Early Access.

Thanks to all of you for making the Levelhead community what it is. We seriously can't wait to grow the game alongside you and see who else joins you in the hallowed halls of the Paragons!




Y'all have been suggesting we try out Parsec with Levelhead to see if it works well for online play. WELL, I'm pumped to say that we gave it a whirl from our homes last night and found it worked beautifully. For those who want to play Levelhead co-op but don't have someone nearby, grab Parsec and hop in the discord to fish up a friend to play with! (This has also been added to the Steam FAQ)


This week the community closed in on over 3 months of playtime on user-created levels, and more than 1500 levels published! We've got a handful of level highlights that made us go WOAAAAAAH, including our first Co-Op level highlight!




Using Parsec, Seth and I dove into this cave (bookmark)as a pair of rascals and emerged as a pint-sized Seal Team 6. It requires teamwork, precision, and very few mistakes. Kudos to MarioBoo for making such a solid co-op level. Grab a friendo and go for it!

BG's level playthrough is straight-up exhilarating to watch. You can bookmark it here: https://lvlhd.co/+jh5fcxd




In the spirit of Trap Adventure, Sephy created Unfortunate Adventure (bookmark). This one had me busting up in stitches as every single move I made was instantly rebuffed by a surprising, painful death. It's a troll level, but one that is remarkably sticky and fun to stumble through.




Recreating the Mission Impossible (bookmark) theme using boomboxes is impressive enough, but designing an entire level to feel like you're pulling off a heist - complete with slow descent package-grab - put this level by Stratonian over the top.




Contraptions are one of our favorite parts of Levelhead. Using the randomness generated by portals, TalkGibberish managed to recreate the classic memory game Simon Says as Vacrat See, Vacrat Do (bookmark)! Each run presents a different memory challenge, and the finale lets you do a fly-by of the off-screen logic required to make the contraption go.

It's been a whirlwind of a week over here, with more levels, more players, and more updates in the works. Thanks for playing and have a great weekend!

It's been a BOMBASTIC week here at Bscotch HQ! We have some big features cooking, but we still managed to squeeze in one or two teeny tiny changes into the game this week. Nothing major. You know... no big deal. Our focus for this patch was to give players more control over the general mood of their levels, and to take care of some higher-leverage things that we've been wanting to take care of for a long time. Let's dive in!


Have you ever thought, "Oh dang, it'd be great if I could make the music in my level get really intense during a boss fight!" Or, "I wish I could make this part of my level more relaxed"? Well, now you can, with the power of the JUKEBOX! Just drop this little buddy in your level, and activate it at any time using a switch for a dramatic mood shift!



You can have as many Jukeboxes in your level as you want. We've also made two new songs available through the Jukebox: "Disaster Manager" and "Death Executive". These songs are pretty intense, so... use them sparingly. Or just go crazy. It's your level, you can do what you want!


Along with the ability to control the music in your level, we wanted to give you more control over the visuals of your level as well. So this week, we are releasing the weather options for the Tree of Maarla biome (Rain) and the Aquadunes biome (Snow).



Between this and the Jukebox, we're pumped to see a FLOOD of new levels with cool and interesting vibes!


YEP. You didn't misread that. It's a thing.



ALL RIGHT. This one will take some explaining. Our number one player request since the Early Access launch has been the ability to unpublish or delete levels that you have published. We pushed back against this, because we are planning out some features that will essentially cease to function if we can't count on levels... you know... existing.

For example, one feature we're hoping to implement down the road is something called "Playlists." The idea is to allow players to compile levels together into playlists, and share those playlists with each other. However, if you made a playlist, and then half the levels in your playlist just vanished (because their creators unpublished them), then the Playlist feature is essentially broken.

However, we realized that we could solve this problem by taking advantage of the fact that levels spend the first part of their lives in the Marketing Department. If we allow you to unpublish a level only if it's in the Marketing Department, then we can integrate all of these future features -- features that rely on your level being permanent -- into the Tower. So, another way to think of it is, the Marketing Department is a pretty volatile place, where levels are popping in and out, while the Tower is a permanent archive.

A fair warning, though: If you Revert a level back to the Workshop and then republish it, it is effectively a brand-new level.


It's graduation week! And you know what that means. It means it's time to do a BETTER JOB of celebrating your levels when they graduate to the tower! Or at least, saying something about it.



Now, in the "My Levels" tab of the Marketing Department, you can see a list of your five most recent levels that have graduated to the Tower. You can even copy their share codes from there, in case you want to pass them around to your buddies!


We've got a whole bunch of other great improvements this week, all in the patch notes below! Oh, and be sure to read the part about Cromblers. That's going to be... something.




See the full patchnotes.

New Features

Workshop

• You can now revert your Marketing Department levels back to the Workshop, by visiting the "My Levels" tab. Any level reverted to the Workshop will be unpublished. All of its Exposure Bucks will lost, its stats and records will be lost, and its Lookup Code will cease to function. Effectively, the next time you publish it, it is a new level. Alternatively, you can just delete the level once it has been reverted into your Workshop, using the normal Workshop level deletion method. Once a level graduates to the Tower, it can no longer be reverted.

New Item

• Introducing the JUKEBOX! You can use it to change the music in the middle of a level. Jukeboxes are invisible during gameplay (like camera anchors), and they require being activated by a switch.

Improvements

Campaign

• Campaign levels with Bumpers have been updated to fit with the new Bumper physics a little better.
  
• New Badge "Hyper Reactive" in the forest region. This badge contains the Jukebox, the song "Disaster Manager" (for the Jukebox), and the Proximity Switch, which has been moved up from later in the campaign.
  
• New Badge "Downpour" in the forest region. This badge contains rain.
  
• New badge "Leadership Training" is now available after achieving 100% on Nope Cart. This badge contains the song "Death Executive" for the Jukebox.
  
• The badge "True Grit" has been renamed "Wind Chill," which gives the Snowstorm weather effect for Aquadunes levels.
  
• "Sandstorm" weather is now available after beating Dune Doom Dream.
  
• Firefall is now an Aquadunes-biome level.
  
• The Jukebox system for changing music mid-level has been integrated into more campaign levels, including Mad Vacrat Nest, Be Sneaky, Swoopadoop Gulch, The Way is Through, A Quick Delivery, Pow Pow Magic, and That's an Incredible Gr-18.

Gameplay

• Updated physics of wall jumping and bumpers to be more responsive to your control inputs, so you don't "drift" in midair when you don't want to.
  
• Bumpers now knock targets away in 8 directions (45 degree increments) instead of down to the single degree. This should make Bumpers more predictable and easier to play with.
  
• Cromblers now trigger pressure plates. (thanks to QuantumAnomaly)
  
• Pressure plates have had their detection width increased slightly, so they should detect blocks and objects toward their edges more easily.

Editor

• Added new words to the Name Combobulator: Sky, Space, Star, Hear, Arcade, Game, Listen, Deep, Change, Spend, Buy, Sell, Win, Lose, Forget, Trigger, Boom, Plateau, Island, Cavern, Cliff, Rain, Storm, Thunder, Blizzard, Blues, Play, Little, Bail
  
• Added the verb "Stop" to the name combobulator.
  
• Sproings can now be placed inside Brittle Rock, Prize Blocks, Enemies, and Hard Clay. (thanks to QuantumAnomaly)
  
• Cromblers can now be given a Receiving Channel, so they can listen to switches. (thanks to QuantumAnomaly)
  
• Cromblers can now have their cooldown customized in their properties.
  
• The minimum cooldown on Cannons and Lookannons has been reduced to 0.5 seconds, down from 1 second.

Web

• Logging in to Rumpus clears all previous timestamps for web operations, so you should be able to sync data more reliably after a login.
  
• Your Stolen Crowns now come in more reliably from the web, so you will be notified in-game fairly quickly after someone steals one of your crowns. Under the previous system, many stolen crowns were falling through the cracks. This change is not reverse-compatible, so you may end up seeing some different levels in your stolen crowns list than were there before, while others may be missing. Don't be alarmed! We're just cinching things up.
  
• Created a notifications checker system that will be able to more reliably pull down stolen crowns, and will know when levels you have made have graduated to the tower.

Workshop

• The Daily Build level list now shows all of the most recently-published Daily Build levels, instead of only the levels published that match today's build.
  
• There is no longer a limit on how many levels you can have in your workshop.

UI

• When you hover over a Rumpus lookup code on a player's profile page, it now changes color to indicate that you can click on it.
  
• Added a section to the "My Levels" part of the Marketing Department, to list your most recently-graduated levels that have been moved the tower.
  
• The number of coins in a level is now displayed in the top-right corner of the screen, even on player-made levels. (thanks to OneOfThreeNames)

Fixes

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where if you pressed jump right after coming off of a wall slide, your wall jump would send you straight up instead of off the wall.
  
• When you are hanging on a ceiling but going super fast (like after being shot out of a Blaster), it should now be much easier to get your speed under control. (thanks to Cammymoop Mowvary)
  
• You can now acquire coins and other pickups while inside a Blaster. (thanks to Egietje)
  
• Gently placing an object down on the ground will now put that object at your center, instead of weirdly off to the side.
  
• If a guided missile cannon was attached to a switch and was active right at the start of a level, the first missile would always shoot to the right. This has been fixed.
  
• Fixed some issues with collision detection of invisible Prize Blocks.
  
• The package will now trigger invisible prize blocks when it hits them from the correct angle.
  
• If you grab a Flingo after being fired out of a Blaster, you will regain control of your character.
  
• When Cromblers attached to switches start in an "On" state at the beginning of a level, they should no longer have a weird smear frame on their eyeball while the level is starting.

UI

• Fixed an issue where the marketing department would continue to flash to notify you that you have a new graduated level, even if you've already seen the level.
  
• Choosing tags no longer resets your sorting and filtering dropdown menu selections in the Tower.
  
• Fixed the display of the Joystick Deadzone setting to always show percentages.
  
• Fixed an issue where the name of a recent level graduate could overlap with the plays counter.
  
• Fixed an issue where the marketing department would keep telling you that you had a recently-graduated level, even though you've already seen it.
  
• You can now skip the Made with Game Maker splash screen with a controller by pressing Start.

Web

• Updated cooldown for notifications checking to 3 minutes.
  
• Made level reversion more robust and less prone to errors.
  
• Made the level publisher system more robust, to avoid problems with uploading stages and catch more failure cases.
  
• When you go to change your name, the game will load in your Levelhead alias instead of your Rumpus alias as the default.
  
• Made the save syncer more reliable in the event that you have to log back in after your credentials expire.

Editor

• Fixed some issues with entering numbers outside of bounds on the item properties Numpad. You can now enter whatever you want, but in the properties window it will be bounded by the min and the max.

Controls

• You now have to move the mouse 2 pixels or more to switch from Gamepad mode to Mouse mode, instead of 1 pixel. Some users have misbehaving mice that wiggle by a pixel every now and then, and this was pulling them out of Controller mode.

Loading

• Fixed an issue with loading of files containing non-ASCII characters, that would result in odd results being shown in search results from time to time.