Good Afternoon, Battlers!

Scrumbo here with the first TRUE update for the steam version of Ooga Booga Battle!

Before we get into the changes, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has played, reviewed, or otherwise supported Ooga Booga Battle! This is my first steam project and a big step forward for me personally. Seeing the outpouring of support and love for this silly little game of mine means more than you could possibly know. So, if you're reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Alright, I'm done getting all sappy for a while, here are the changes for this version:

• Added a resolutions dropdown selector to the main menu pause screen.
  
• Fixed a bug where boss enemies don't give score and combo points as they should.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Mothman achievement wouldn't be awarded when the player evolved into him.
  
• Changed some bestiary lines for clarity and narrative cohesion.
  
• Adjusted the spawn timer for enemy waves, now being a variable 7.5-10 seconds in between waves instead of a hard 10 seconds.

That's about it! These changes are live at the time of writing this. I decided to tackle the biggest issues that have been giving players trouble first, before I go about making any sort of big changes or additions. Is there something you still want to see? Let me know in the feedback forum! Many of today's fixes have been sourced from the feedback presented there from players like you! Thank you!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Keep on Battling!

OOGA BOOGA BATTLE IS OUT NOW!

Hey there everyone!
I’d like to take a moment before we get into the nitty gritty to thank everyone who’s followed the development of Ooga Booga Battle thus far! Thanks to the support of players like you, Ooga Booga Battle was one of three audience choice winners at Chicaghoul 2024! I’m beyond floored by the reception, enthusiasm, and feedback that has been pouring in! I cannot put into words how happy it makes me to see people get so much enjoyment out of my silly little game, it genuinely means the world to me.

For those who may not have known, the Original version of Ooga Booga Battle was developed in 3 weeks as apart of the aforementioned Chicaghoul Game Jam hosted by Indie City Games. As many jam games tend to be, the game was admittedly a little rough around the edges, but all around ended up being a project that I’m very proud of. Many attendees and players suggested I turn the game into a Steam release, and now here we are!

Finally, I am unshackled by pesky time constraints! That's right! The training weights are off- Rock Lee style baby! this is pure, unadulterated, full-power Scrumbo! I paid close attention to player feedback from some early demos and showcase attendees to create my very first official patch as a dev! And of course, with a fresh patch comes a freshly baked set of patch notes to go with it! I’m over here kickin’ my feet in the air as I type this. I’ve always wanted to be the dude that writes silly little quips and jokes in the patch notes… and now I can!!! Tee-hee!

All of these changes are live as of the game’s launch on Tuesday, January 21st!

Let’s start with the most important stuff:

THE BIG ONE - Flatwoods Monster Buffed!

The changes to the Flatwoods Monster are as follows:

• The Flatwoods Monster’s attack interval has been halved.
  
• The Flatwoods Monster’s beam now pierces enemies as it travels until it is despawned.

From the beginning, Flatwoods was always seen as the beginner pick. Because of the way the evolution requirements work, about 80% percent of first time players evolve into Flatwoods. The issue is, Flatwoods was maybe a little undertuned. Now, I wanted each character to have their own strengths and drawbacks, but It’s clear that Flatwoods had the shortest end of the stick- so much so that she didn’t have NEARLY the same high-score potential as the other two playable characters. Flatwoods took the news personally, and decided to hit up the shooting range to change up her technique. Now, she’s shooting faster than a police officer with his body cam turned off!

The aim of these changes is to give players who evolve into the Flatwoods Monster more survivability, allowing her to battle with the ooga booga best of em’!

On the other hand…

SORRY GUYS - MOTHMAN NERFS

The changes to Mothman are as follows:

Mothman’s Attack interval has been increased

Player feedback indicated that Mothman was the strongest character by a pretty wide margin. He would be able to decimate enemy waves without having to reposition much at all, making him far and away the best character in the game. In order to level the playing field somewhat, Mothman’s attack interval was increased, lowering his rate of fire. This change forces players to play around the enemy wave more often instead of being able to just stand in one place and pop baddies as they come near.


Hopefully, with these changes, the three playable cryptids all have similar high score potential. Go out there and show me what you can do!


By and large, the raising phase has remained the same, but there have been a few changes to make the experience tighter overall.

HEALTH TRAINING MINIGAME OVERHAUL:

• The number of lanes in the training phase has been reduced from three to two.
  
• The interval between obstacles spawning has been increased slightly.

The health training minigame has been altered to have three lanes instead of two. Because of the way that random generation works, many players would be able to just stay in a single lane for most of their training session, which wasn’t as engaging as I had hoped. With only two lanes to hop between, the player has to move around more on average, making the health minigame more exciting.

OTHER CHANGES TO THE RAISING PHASE:

• Added more text to the tutorial
  
• Changed the graphic for the marker in the attack minigame.
  
• Hunger meter now flashes when at one segment to help alert the player when the hunger meter is low.
  
• Added WASD support to training phase, so the player can use either arrow keys or WASD.

BATTLE PHASE CHANGES

The battle phase has also only seen a few changes from the demo, based on player feedback. The combo system added an interesting layer of complexity to the score attack style gameplay of the game, but a few additions have made the gameplay loop a lot more interesting.

• pieces of woodland foliage are randomly generated around the map.

The foliage around the map have hitboxes, and will impede the player and enemies from moving through them. But, the player is able to attack through them just fine! The foliage is as much of a tool as it is an obstacle. Clever use of positioning can help rack up an insane combo!

OTHER BATTLE PHASE CHANGES:

Added a barrier to the play field to define the play area
Changed the combo timer meter to have a much more clear handle.
Changed enemy “weight” so that the player can push away enemies easier when needed
Added a screen shake when the player gets hit
Added a second of invulnerability when the player gets hit

OTHER CHANGES AND BUG FIXES:

• Font has been changed to a free use font (with lowercase support!)
  
• Added Steam leaderboard support
  
• Added Steam achievement support
  
• Added staff credits to the title screen
  
• Added a main menu button on the pause screen in case you want to restart!
  
• Fixed a typo where the button on the game over screen said “SUMBIT” instead of “SUBMIT”... OOPS!
  
• Fixed a bug where the meters in the training phase were interactable
  
• Fixed a bug where the health minigame would break if the player closed the panel after getting hit.

That’s just about everything for now! This is my first Steam release, so this is a very emotional and exciting moment for me. It’s been a crazy journey thus far, but we’re just getting started! Is there something that you’d like to see that isn’t in the game quite yet? Go ahead and let me know on the official feedback thread in the discussions! I’m planning on pushing hotfixes to bugs that players may find and report in the coming days, so be sure to keep an eye out!

Thank you for your support, and keep on battling!