Hello, Cave Story enthusiasts!

I'm happy to finally announce that v1.2.0.0 is finally released!

It took a little more than 9 months to make it to this point (and I sincerely hope it won't break upon itself right after the release has been commenced), which means I can finally take a much needed rest after the hard work upon MASSIVELY improving the gameplay.

Changelist:

\/ ADDITIONS: \/

- New HUD style: Hearts.

- Gem's armor will now be displayed on his facepics.

-* Implemented elemental damage system. Depending on used weapon/secondary item's element you can deal more damage to enemies who is weak against it. But be mindful: some of them have resistances or can have some benefits from specific elements as well!

-* Implemented status effect system for Gem.

- New tile type: Platforms! You can fall through them by holding DOWN key/button for 8 frames.

- Two secret death animations.

-* New equipment type - Accessories.

- Third Blade's swing variation.

- Three new weapons.

-* New item type: Comsumables! Some items can be used upon their selection, restoring some HP, MP or even giving a status effect. Only usable on items that have "- Consumable -" note.

-* Implemented quest system: 

   * Upon getting, completing, failing or cancelling a quest you will get a corresponding notification about it's changed status.

   * (Almost) every quest status has it's own border color to differentiate them from each other.

   * Active quests can be viewed in Quests tab (form. Equip tab) of Inventory menu.

   * Any active quest can be selected to view it's additional info (can be updated upon reaching specific parts, signalizing through "Quest Updated" prompt).

- 11 new quests throughout the demo.

- 12 new enemies scattered throughout the demo.

- 3 new main gameplay and 1 secret bosses in some places of the demo.

- 2 new hazards in some places of the demo.

- 5 new music tracks.

-* New section to traverse through (and fight with (current) demo's final boss).

\/ CHANGES: \/

- Updated Gem's spritesheet.

- Updated facepics.

- Slight change to Sanctuary's stage layout.

- Slight change of enemy placement in Sanctuary.

- Nerfed Sanctuary Keeper's HP (500 -> 400).

-* Changed toolkit for compiling the game on both 86x- and 64x-supporting machines. That should mean players that use Wine on macOS/Linux operating systems should be able to play as well as Windows users (further testing required!).

- Added markings on walls in first Tutorial stage.

- Updated Rage flame graphic.

- Reduced Power Critter's contact (2 -> 1) and slamming (6 -> 3) damage.

- Changed item description typing in inventory to include smooth text appearing and drawing it's element icon.

- Buffed Grass Mantle's chance of reducing incoming damage (50% -> 75%).

- Updated equipment sprites (Worn Kimono, Grass Mantle, Blade) in inventory/shop.

-* Revamped inventory:

   * Weapons, Items, Armor and Accessories are located in one page.

   * Weapons and Armor have been divided into two groups.

- Changed Forest stage layout.

- Changed Blade's swing animation playback behavior (plays next animation upon constant attacking, resets after 8 frames of inactivity).

- Changed background for Forest stage.

- Changed confirmation string from "OK" to "Confirm" in control remapping menu.

- Many changes into dialogue text in various places.

- Nerfed hanging and circling bats:

* Damage reduced to 1.

* EXP drop reduced to 1.

- Reclassified Arms Shop to Grocery Store

- Buffed basic Sanctuary Statue's speed.

- Defeatable (non-fire) enemies can now be killed in lava.

- Little stage layout changes in East Yomi Valley and Temple Bridge.

- Significantly lowered Dandy's fire rate.

- Slight resprite of Dandy.

- Improved stage colored lighting.

- Technical improvements of shop system (allows multiple shops to properly load their contents and track which items have been bought individually).

- Changed default controller bindings. (mostly took Xbox controllers into account)

- Slight instrument change for Anzen Village's track.

- Extended melody for Yomi Valley track.

- Bats (hanging and flying) now have a consistent HP value (3 HP).

- Slightly changed secondary melody for Major Boss track.

- Renamed Sanctuary to Sanctuary Ruins.

- Removed ability to select weapons through confirmation button (because of the nasty bug I don't know how to fix). The weapon will equip automatically upon aiming on it with cursor.

- Slight graphical enhancement on Alter's overworld sprites.

- Changed map mark positioning routine from ID-based to TSC command-based behavior.

- Nerfed arrow damage upon max charge (15 -> 10).

- Nerfed Rage Mode Blade's regular slash damage boost (2 -> 1).

- Nerfed Rage Mode Blade's spin attack damage boost (7 -> 4).

- Nerfed Rage Mode Blade's drop dash damage boost (15 -> 4).

- Removed Rage Mode Blade's empowered phanton slash damage boost.

- Changed Rage Mode empowered drop dash attack.

- Decreased Alter bullet's hitbox.

- Slight increase of Alter's boss health bar length.

- Increased cost of Bomb Bag Lv.1 (75 -> 125).

- Slight change in Sanctuary Guardian behavior.

- Option strings upon death are centered.

\/ FIXES: \/

- Fixed Sanctuary Statue's visual duplication bug.

- Fixed incorrect background lamppost tiles in Anzen Village (Night).

- Ravil AI now resets properly after player's first death in second part of Tutorial.

- TSC scripts now executes properly for Japanese and English localizations upon picking up a Boss Key.

- Gem cannot slash while performing downward dash attack anymore.

- Fixed East Yomi Valley sign's text color oversight.

- Yomi Mountain track will now play after getting bombs upon revisiting from Sanctuary Entrance.

-* Attempted fix of sharing time/death count stats with other existing save files upon closing the game while selected save file is loaded.

-* Patched script error upon sleeping on bed in Old Man's House.

- Plantter projectiles now take proper angle before disappearing.

- Green Slime projectiles will not be able to go through walls anymore (because of aformentioned fix).

- Downwards dash is now able to bounce Gem off enemies correctly upon landing a successful hit (mostly, as hitting the enemy at either of far sides still allows Gem to hit the ground while dealing damage to entity on it's way).

- Localized action names in keyboard/controller rebind screens are now displaying properly for Russian and Japanese localizations.

-* Fixed bug where you can nullify your stats (death count, time spent, amount of Cions) upon starting a new game on top of existing save file then exiting it.

- Fixed oversight where drowning didn't save time/death count upon choosing "Give Up" option.

- Fixed bug, not allowing to restart the game if selected save slot didn't have any save file.

- Fixed bug, allowing to load an existing save file upon first death if the new game has been started to occupied save slot.

- Fixed bug, not allowing to load newly created save file upon revisiting main menu within a single game session.

- Fixed an inability for save file to save/load cursor position for all four item groups in inventory screen.

That is quite of a big list, for which I'm very sorry... ^^'

Have a good game!