Jul 12, 2024

Baldi's Basics Plus - Basically Games

I'm happy to announce that Baldi's Basics Plus version 0.6 is available now! This is a few days earlier than expected, but I'm going to be pretty busy with some IRL stuff for the much of next week so I figured it would be best to release this update now.

The biggest change in this update is the introduction of the tentatively named Pitstop. This is a small area that loads between levels/attempts where you can buy items, manage your items in the new storage locker and, in version 0.7, go on field trips! Johnny's store, which is now a 3D room, can also be visited in endless mode, where you'll be able to spend the YTPs you earn on items. The store will restock every so often so make sure you check in when you're in a pinch!

Unfortunately, as development of a third (And final) version of field trips is underway, I had to strip the game of the previously available camping field trip. My apologies for the inconvenience. My plan is to finish up this new version of the field trips in time for 0.7. Hopefully, the third time will be the charm and the changes I'm making will be a lot more fun and please everyone!

This update also includes a new item, the Diet BSODA! Diet BSODA is mostly the same as regular BSODA, except it only lasts three seconds. Since normal BSODA is a pretty overpowered item I wanted to find a way to balance it without ruining it, so I decided a good solution would be to introduce a weaker version of the item and make the original much rarer. Now you will find Diet BSODA about as often as regular BSODA showed up, while normal BSODA is harder to find, but more precious as a result. I'm hoping this change will make the game a bit more challenging without totally undermining existing strategies!

Aside from those changes I've also made several improvements to the interface and HUD. In particular, I've added several sound effects to certain interactions that were previously silent and polished out a few small quirks that I'd never been fully satisfied with. The game now offers players more feedback when they interact with it!

With all that said, here's the full changelog:

Additions

Added the (Tentatively named) Pitstop. This is a small rest area which loads between levels or before a level reloads after losing a life. In the Pitstop you can:
- Visit Johnny's store and buy items with YTPs inside a new 3D store.
- Manage items in the storage locker.
- Save & Quit
- In the near future, go on field trips.
- And in the further future, even more cool stuff!
Johnny's Store can now occasionally have items on sale at a randomized discount.
Johnny can, once per-game, lend a hand by letting you by an item if you are 100 YTPs or less short of being able to afford it.
Johnny's Store now appears in endless maps, and you can buy items with the YTPs you've earned. It starts out closed but will open once five notebooks have been collected, and will restock every five after that.
- All YTP values are multiplied by three in endless order to easily afford items.
- Johnny can now be robbed.
Added several new sound effects where previously there were none. These sounds are:
- Notebook pickup
- Item pickup
- Clicking menu items
- Using the dirty chalk eraser
- Inserting a tape in the tape player
- Using the swinging door lock
- Earning YTPs
- Unique sounds for picking up 25, 50, and 100 YTP items
Added the Baldi TV to the HUD to replace the event announcement text that would appear at the bottom of the screen. Now, when an announcement needs to be made, a TV screen will lower from the upper left corner of the screen and display relevant information. Usually, it shows Baldi speaking as he announces an event or tells the player that all the notebooks have been collected.
Added a tooltip box to the HUD which can appear to show item descriptions while in Johnny's store.
Added the storage locker.
- Appears in a random location in the halls of every level as well as the Pitstop.
- This locker can be opened and you can place up to three items inside, which will carry over from level to level. The contents are saved every time you finish a level or leave the pitstop, but will reset to how they were previously when you lose a round, just like the inventory does. You can use this to save more valuable items you've found early in the game for later without using up inventory slots.
- When it closes, it makes a loud noise Baldi hears.
- If you walk away from it while it is open, it will close on its own.
- Using it will get you in trouble with Principal of the Thing for looking in other people's lockers. The player will remain guilty until the door is shut, even if they are seemingly away from the locker (For example, if a wall is between the player and locker but the player hasn't moved far away enough for it to close itself).
Added the Diet BSODA. This behaves similar to BSODA, but the spray only lasts three seconds.
Added Diet BSODA vending machines.
Added a skip button to the elevator which will skip the pitstop and load the next level if the player so desires.

Changes

Made several improvements to the HUD.
- The staminometer needle no longer snaps to it's correct position when the stamina value makes a big jump. Instead, it quickly, but smoothly, slides to the intended position.
- When items are collected or lost, the item can be seen quickly sliding in and out of the inventory.
- The notebook counter in the top left has been simplified to just the notebook count and an icon, rather than displaying the text "#/# Notebooks. The icon plays a small animation when notebooks are collected.
- Improved the YTP information display when gaining or losing YTPs. Now, a display rises from the bottom of the screen and the amount of YTPs being earned will fall into the display. The display will then add up the earned YTPs before lowering off screen again. This display also lifts up while in Johnny's store so you can see how many YTPs you have.
- Many HUD elements will darken to indicate when you are in an "invisible" state. When invisible, NPCs cannot see you.
Field Trips no longer load in levels. When they return, they will be accessible in the Pitstop.
Updated the textures for red and blue lockers.
The fan favorite "nothing" item, which now appears in empty storage locker slots, now has a question mark sprite assigned as its large icon.
Made big optimizations to light generation allowing light data to be recalculated at runtime with no noticeable performance impact. With this improvement, light will now respond to changes in the environment. For example, when placing a portal poster, light will now propagate through it.
The Dirty Chalk Eraser cloud now sets the player as invisible in addition to preventing NPCs from seeing past it.
WD-NoSquee has been overhauled such that it now creates a quiet zone when used and can be used anywhere, rather than needing to be used on specific objects. This quiet zone spreads about five cells out from the cell it is used on and all sounds made within it will not be heard by Baldi or any other characters. The quiet zone is signified by sparkles that appear and lasts for five minutes.
The order and timing of random events is now independent of the seed, and will be different on every attempt of a level. The selection of random events to be used is still dependent on the seed, however.
Changed the event start notification sound.
Changed the Math Machine correct and incorrect sounds.
Changed the countdown voice for the Test Procedure event.
The payphone now plays a coin drop sound when using a quarter on it.
Tweaked some event timing parameters.
Added to and tweaked some info in the credits.
Reduced flood ambient volume.
The vending machines found in faculty rooms can now be randomized to other types of vending machines.
Regular BSODA is now much rarer, with Diet BSODA being about as common as regular BSODA used to be.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a typo in one of Johnny's captions.
Corrected a typo in licenses.txt.
Actually fixed the flood ambient sound playing at normal volume for the first frame. It now fades in properly.
Fixed being able to buy the map again for a floor it has already been purchased for.
Fixed several objects in the playground rooms not being culled properly.
Fixed the inventory saying "Nothing" when spawning even if an item is highlighted.
Fixed an oversight that made it impossible to get in trouble for using BSODA.
Fixed gum floating in place when the object it collided with is moved or disabled. It will now disappear if this occurs.
Fixed Chalkles' audio cutting out when flying outside the room the player is in.

Pre-release Changelog

Fixed a bug where, if a level ended while the Baldi TV static sound was playing, it would continue to play indefinitely.
Added a poster to the Pitstop signifying where to Save & Quit.

Known Issues

Note that many of the issues listed here have been reported by players, but I have yet to reproduce them myself, so the accuracy of them might vary.

Balloons occasionally clip into objects.
NPCs will often not try to flip themselves when they are oriented opposite the player during Gravity Chaos. This can lead to strange NPC behavior.
NPCs will occasionally appear to turn-around when entering open areas where a hallway bridges between two different parts of that open area.
Lockdown doors near spawn can be seen snapping into the open position at game start.
Dr. Reflex can squish NPCs even when they do not match his orientation during Gravity Chaos.
Captions are more likely to stack on top of each other and become hard to read due to the new sound propagation system. I plan on finding a way to prevent captions from rendering on top of each other.
There is no indication for when entities are about to become unsquished.
It is possible to see out of bounds while being rotated by a gravity flipper while squished.
On some screen resolutions, it is possible to see a gap through some elements on the elevator screen.
Some NPCs are very annoying when they are squished.
Wind and conveyor belt audio is not propagated.
NPCs will occasionally end up wandering into an area they should be fleeing from.
Dr. Reflex can sometimes get his hammer early while being pushed around by outside forces.
NPCs will occasionally get stuck on the merry-go-round.
NPCs can collide with other entities through walls, triggering their effects.
Math Machine balloons can rarely get stuck behind the diagonal math machine.
Principal, under some circumstances, can maintain his fast speed after using the principal whistle.
Whirlpools that spawn behind a closed elevator gate still pull on the player, and this can cause the player to get stuck if there are multiple whirlpools.
Dr. Reflex's sprite rarely getting tilted when pushed by multiple outside forces at once.
Holding the quick map open while opening the advanced map causes a small visual issue.
Arts and Crafters' echoes while attacking don't always match his orientation during the gravity event.
A seed is displayed when playing pre-made maps.
Held sprite objects, such as the math machine balloons, can be held into other areas such that their lighting noticeably changes.
Mrs. Pomp doesn't wander around class rooms in pre-made maps. She just stands in a corner.
Certain sound effects are delayed while the environment is frozen (Such as when Mrs. Pomp is asking the player to come to her class).
Maps from saved games of Hide & Seek from older versions of the game will fill out the areas found from the previous play session, even if it doesn't match new level generation.
Principal doesn't open office doors during detention while fleeing from a tape.
During the flood, hall swinging doors do not open, while swinging doors that lead into rooms do open.
NPCs can rarely end up stuck in the ground after the flood event. (A potential fix for this is lined up for a future update).
The speed at which items slide in and out of the inventory can be inconsistent. This does not affect the responsiveness of using items.