This update aims to refine the core gameplay and controls of the three playable characters. While the level itself remains mostly the same and there is no explicitly new content, there have been many changes and adjustments to player abilities with an emphasis on improving the overall flow of the game and making each move feel more useful.

Changes are as follows; you don't have to read all of them in advance, but the movesets have been reworked so I recommend at least skimming the ingame control guide pages if you're used to the controls of the previous version.

All Characters

• Increased air control
• Removed "Switch" input
• Removed "Parry" input (Parry, Flash Barrier, and Hook Flail have all been remapped to other existing inputs instead)
• Aerial abilities are replenished when hit in midair

Atien Ebrias

• You now refresh your Spiral Dash and Double Jump after destroying midair enemies
• Air Slash now snaps to nearby targets
• Fractallization:
  • Delayed hit now deals 3 hits of damage, and homes in on nearby enemies if it overkills its target
  • Disables after the first hit, so you can't queue multiple hits from one use
  • New visual effect
  • Using a Spiral Dash without hitting an enemy with Fractallize active causes a second delayed Spiral Dash if you are still in midair, also refreshing your double jump
  • Atheria point is refunded if the effect times out and the effects went unused, or if the extra Spiral Dash doesn't trigger due to being on the ground
• Spiral Dash:
  • No longer requires you to have sprint jumped prior in order to instantly activate it with Sprint + Attack in midair
  • Decreased Stamina consumption
  • Increased hitbox size and active duration
• Default sword now allows you to bounce off of weak enemies with a Down Strike
• Removed secondary sword
• Remapped Parry to Block + Attack on ground
• Easier to enter Sprint after a Parry
• Air Block locks rotation and has a shortened duration
• Prevented Lock On from targeting non-enemy targets such as crystals
• Down Strike now works identically when activated with Crouch + Attack alternate input

Efrix Aqiel

• Increased jump height
• Telescope:
  • Greatly increased projectile reach
  • Can now be targeted by enemies from further away to compensate for its longer range
  • Removed Burst mode; Ranged mode is now its only setting
  • No longer casts auto-barriers to intercept attacks from tagged enemies, but now automatically aims at the tagged target closest to the center of the screen
  • Now visually switches to wider stance when firing projectiles, and switches back to neutral stance when not actively firing
  • Fixed aim reticle getting stuck in incorrect "out of range" state
• Can now walk around while preparing to throw the telescope
• Slightly increased telescope throw height
• Midair Telescope Swing:
  • Rotates you to face nearby enemies and has a larger hitbox
  • Refreshes when you destroy an enemy
  • Decreased Stamina consumption
  • Fixed bug preventing the effect of collecting Atheria Crystal
• Barriers:
  • Remapped Flash Barrier ability to tapping Atheria input; placing full Barriers is still done by holding down Atheria input for longer
  • Full Barriers are now placed directly in front of Efrix in the direction the camera is facing, rather than being placeable anywhere
  • Placing a Full Barrier can now be cancelled with Attack or Throw inputs (or by jumping, since you must be on the ground to place them)
  • Full Barriers can no longer be placed in a way that overlaps with enemies or objects
• Bonks off of walls he glides directly into, making it easier to ledgegrab from a glide
• Prevents visual control rotation while doing the spin from gliding through a boost ring

Latra Nelaser

• Added Wall Run while holding Sprint
• Grapple:
  • Landing while swinging in a grapple now causes a brief slide instead of immediately halting your momentum
  • Now throws her hook a short distance directly in front of her if there are no highlighted lock-on targets
  • Entering a Grapple swing in a diving state and then releasing causes her to exit diving state
• Air Swing:
  • Remapped to Jump in midair, making it more intuitive as a Double Jump analogue
  • Reworked boost speed, ideally making it easier to use to make precise landings and preventing it from drastically destroying your speed if you're receiving a boost from an external source at the same time
  • Only propels you forward if you're inputting a direction or already moving fast enough; otherwise it goes straight up
• Pulling into Air Kick during a Grapple now keeps forward momentum past the enemy when possible instead of bouncing away, and now goes in a more consistent direction
• Hook Flail / Close Grab:
  • Remapped to Secondary when not grappling
  • Can now be used in diving state, which sets you back to normal fall state - this allows players to chain together consecutive Flip Jumps if they want
  • Improved collision detection
• Boost Portal:
  • Increased boost speed and added more upwards momentum
  • Increased total Atheria count by 1
  • Atheria regeneration timer is no longer reset when placing another portal, increasing Atheria regeneration speed in practice
  • Improved spawn placement so it's harder to miss it while falling
• Increased height of first jump
• Slightly decreased window to input a flip jump after landing, makes it easier to wait and do a normal jump when preferred
• Adjusted air control after wallkick, makes it harder to climb one wall infinitely
• Fixed losing ability to use certain moves if attacked while climbing up from a ledge
• Fixed cancelling throw resetting to default camera location when holding an aimable object
• Grapple hook visual now properly stays hooked to moving targets

Latra Held Objects

• Held Air Turret:
  • Upwards Boost is remapped to Primary input
  • Added an animation and slight delay for Upwards Boost
  • Player can fall faster by holding Crouch in midair
  • Fixed respawning Air Turrets not respawning if grabbed
• Held Burst Turret Head:
  • Greatly increased ammo
  • Melee attack is remapped to Primary input after ammo is depleted
• Held Line Turret Lens:
  • Can now be used to redirect laser beams from disarmed Line Turrets
• Crates:
  • Can now be grabbed and thrown by Latra
• Thrown objects (except crates) can now collect Secret Crystals, Vitality Crystals, and Atheria Crystals
• Adjusted damage done by thrown objects

Horizon Falls

• Adjusted lighting
• Added various items and geometry to ideally make a few sections more clear and engaging
• Added Something in a spot most people probably won't find

Enemies

• Decreased attack damage of all enemies
• Increased cooldown between shots for projectile-based enemies
• Changed Line Turret's range sphere color from red to teal
• Tweaked placeholder laser impact particle effect and reduced its duration

Objects and Hazards

• Flowing Water no longer puts characters in a "swept away" state, allowing players to retain better control and jump out of it easier
• Increased time before Ring Path resets its progress
• Shield Generators:
  • Added visual beams to their attached shields, making them easier to interpret
  • Can now be damaged by being pulled by Latra's grappling hook
  • Fixed rockets not destroying them in one hit
• Crates no longer highlight as grappleable targets for Latra
• Horizon Tower:
  • Fallen Horizon Towers can no longer be "re-destroyed" after reloading from a checkpoint
  • Latra can now swing on and zip into the weak point
• Fixed glitch that let players double-collect coins, which also left behind a perpetual looping sparkle effect
• Grapple Points no longer appear if not playing as Latra
• Fixed Training Dummy periodically looping the "stand back up" animation after being pulled over, and allows it to be attacked with Hook Flail while pulled over
• Removed collision from Drill Missile ports so players can't stand on them
• Launch Rings no longer block projectiles

User Interface

• Character Guide Overviews:
  • Updated descriptions to reflect new control schemes and mechanics
  • Replaced controller diagrams with screenshots of the described abilities
  • Added "Show [Controller / Keyboard] Input" toggle button
• Options:
  • Added Motion Blur and Vsync toggles
  • Added "Quit Game" button to Title Screen
  • Added "Exit Level" button to Pause Menu
  • Added color coding to menu buttons

Program

• Set a game icon and display title
• Disabled unused networking configurations

What's Next?

The road to Test Build 02 is going to take a more relaxed approach to optimizing and organizing the code I already have and gradually making new assets, so unless there are any game-breaking issues that somehow slipped by me, probably don't expect a new version nearly as quick as this.

I also feel I should iterate on a new version of Horizon Falls itself in the future, since I'm not entirely happy with its current layout. There is definitely fun to be had in it, but I feel like it is very unclear where to go at times and it falls short of any unique specialization by trying to be "fine" for all three characters. So, likely expect more varied levels tailored towards each individual character for the next Test Build.

I also aim to remodel the characters and make them more expressive at some point too, as well as reworking a couple of basic movement systems (improving the ledge slip and adding coyote time is something I wanted to do for this version, for example, but has specific interplays with how other moves work that I couldn't comfortably do so yet).

Anyway, feel free to tell me what you think of v0.001.1 in the meantime, whether it's in the comment section here or on my Discord. I hope you all have fun!