DVD Screensaver 2: 30th Anniversary Survivors Edition news & patch notes

These are all the changes in DVDSSII v2.0.0.32

Additions

• Toggle Auto with \ button on gamepad

Improvements

• To prevent taking unintentionally high levels of damage, upgrade item Sawtooth does not cause knockback anymore. Sawtooth knockback tended to push enemies in front of player, only for player to hit them and take damage again, and again, and again...

• Landmines now start dropping instantly upon entering the correct color state.

• Made it possible to ignore the contents of chests.

Balancing

• Increased draw probability for upgrade item Magnetron.

• Increased draw probability for upgrade item Bounce XP.

• Higher crit chance for the AOE attacks of weapon Icethrower.

• Increased damage for the AOE attacks of weapon Flamethrower.

• Increased healing power for items Green Survivor and Data Steal.

• Increased melee damage of weapon Sawtooth.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused mini-bosses to stop spawning correctly after the first one. Mini-bosses drop coins, and can be identified by a little yellow dot next to their health bar.

• Fixed issue with bullets. Sometimes, when firing a bullet very close to an enemy, the enemy could be killed by the bullet, but still be able to deal damage to the player, making the consumed bullet feel kinda wasted. Enemies should now not be able to deal damage after being killed, and bullets should ignore killed enemies.

• Fixed issue where hitting two breakout blocks at the same time would destroy both, but only trigger one bounce event. Now only one breakout block will be destroyed when hitting direct neighbors

• Fixed issue causing breakout blocks to consume shield crystals

• Fixed issue that could cause XP to get stuck outside screen

Hello there,

The last couple of weeks I've spent reading through your feedback, and working on implementing as much of it as possible. The game should now run smoother, reward modchips at a more reasonable pace, and the HEAT system is now something you can opt into, just to name a few things.

I hope you like the changes.

Here are all the changes in version 2.0.0.23

Additions

• Gamepad support

• FUTURE RAY - Low damage penetrating BLU-ISH CYAN laser weapon

• Shortcuts - Select upgrades or shop items with keys \, \ and \. Exit shops with \

• HEAT - New HACK available in the WAREZ-menu after earning enough MODCHIPS

Changes

• Performance improvements!

• Edge Trace weapon more powerful

• Rebalanced scoring steps. Tuned the rank system to provide a more reasonable pacing of MODCHIPS and NEW ITEM rewards*

• During gameplay, screensaver specific OPTIONS have been made unavailable

• Universal ITEM level cap - All items and weapons will cap on level 10, unless another (usually lower) level is specified

• HEAT is now something you have to opt in to. To enable HEAT, spend MODCHIPS in the WARES-menu. The HEAT-mechanic is also properly explained in the hack description window

• When restocking in shops, dismissed items are taken out of the draw pool before drawing new items. The items are put back into the pool before visiting the next shop

• Damage resistance - Damage resistance have been reimplemented in order to be easier to explain in the short space available for item descriptions. Related items and hacks have better descriptions now

• Game now auto selects leave button in shops if you cannot afford anything

• Tuning of some item's rarities, and some abilities' luck and power stats

• Added an alternative way of discovering the secret 6th color

Fixes

• Fixed issue where game would end up in a black void after defeating last boss

• Fixed issue where DVDSSII Windows Screensaver would launch in last used windowed mode. Screensaver mode now forces fullscreen mode

• Fixed issue where player could get stuck inside final boss. Fixed it by redesigning the movement pattern of final boss

• Fixed issue where discounted items from shops could be bought, but not installed

• Fixed an issue where player could get stuck in Rewrite Screen gaining infinite level

• Fixed bug that in special cases caused shops to stop spawning during a run

• Fixed issue where breakout bricks consumed your shield

• Fixed issue where stat modifiers on color specific items were applied in the wrong way, resulting in unintended effects

• Fixed issue where bullets would get stuck on roman pillars

• Fixed issue where hovering over applied upgrades would present item info from wrong item level

• Fixed bug where land mines instantly detonated when being dropped close to a screen edge

• Fixed issue with DUAL LAYER hack. It now behaves as described, doubling only MAX MB while keeping starting MB at 4700

• Fixed an issue caused by extensive use of the TURN OFF item

• Fixed issue where HACK descriptions would not update when navigating the WAREZ-menu with arrow keys or gamepad

• Fixed an issue which made the secret 6th color unobtainable

*IMPORTANT NOTE

A result of the meta progression rebalance is that you will have less modchips to spend on hacks in the WAREZ-menu. After the update, if you don't have enough MODCHIPS to afford all your installed hacks, the game will automatically uninstall all, and you will have to go and install the ones you want to use (and can afford) again. Unlocked items and weapons will still be available.

If you encounter any other issues, please report them in our Discord or in the Steam forums.

Happy bouncing!

-Alex

It been five days and we've received a lot of great feedback! 🤩

You have shared some pretty insane builds with us the last couple of days, some of them completely breaking the game. While this is fun and all, we realize DVD Screensaver 2 still need some tweaks, both in terms of performance optimization and a little bit of gameplay balancing and straight up bugfixing.

We'll try and address as many of your reported issues as possible in the coming weeks.

Actually, the first update is already live!

Here are all the changes in DVDSSII v2.0.0.6

Changes

• Changed versioning number from 1.x.x.x to 2.x.x.x

• Reduced camera shake on Boss spawn slightly

Fixes

• Fixed issue with SHOP MAGNET that caused getting stuck in loop of exiting and entering when trying to use the "Come back later" option

• Fixed issue with the achievement Full Circle. Screensaver mode is not able to utilize Steam features, so the achievement would not unlock. Now it unlocks when starting the game normally after having run the game as Windows screensaver at least once. (On Mac it is awarded for playing in Auto Mode)

• Fixed description of NTSC REGION. Now it correctly states it makes you go faster while in color, not slower.

• Fixed timing issue with LASER ARRAY where it could not benefit properly from ranged count upgrades

Balancing

• Slightly lowered intensity of PIRATE stage

• Made BREAKOUT BRICK level 2 chance based

• Slightly lowered the effect of LUCK on causing CRIT

• Slightly increased frequency of ANTI SKIP melee attack

You can expect a new update real soon. The ones mentioned above were low hanging fruit so I thought I'd get them out of the way before I start on the bigger tasks!

If you experience any issues with the game or have suggestions for balancing tweaks or even new features, please let us know in the Discussions or on our Discord!

Keep on bouncing!

-Alex

Hi there, I'm Christer, one of the devs 👋

I like to tinker with electronics in my spare time, so for this game I thought it would be fun to try to play the game with an actual old DVD remote.

If you want to try to play this way too then this guide will help guide you through the process of doing so. If all goes well this is what it should look like in the end:

Okay, on with the tutorial! First a list of requirements:

🧠 Skills you need:

• Basic Arduino knowledge

🏗️ Physical things you will need:

• An old DVD player remote

• Arduino board with an 32u4 processor, such as the Arduino Micro or Arduino Leonardo (what I'll be using)

• USB cable to connect the board to your PC

• Some kind of breadboard

• Breadboard jumper wires

• 38 KHz IR receiver module for Arduino (like the IR 1838M, but most will do as long as they are the right frequency)

💽 Software you will need:

• Arduino IDE

Once you are sure you have everything you need, it is time to build the circuit and program the Arduino.

🛠️ Build guide:

The actual building is fairly simple, see the diagram below for how to wire up everything (Though be careful to wire the power the right way in, your specific reviving module might have different wiring).

🖥️ Programming:

Once everything is wired up it is time to program the Arduino to receive signals, and then, hopefully, output keyboard commands!

First step is reading your specific remote's commands. Every brand and manufacturer might have slightly different output signals so we will have to do a bit of research ourselves, but hopefully this shouldn't be too hard.

Step one is uploading the code below to your Arduino and opening the Serial Monitor tool in the Arduino IDE. Once we have established a connection we press the appropriate buttons on the remote (left, right, up, down, enter/select, return) to learn all their HEX codes and write them down.

#include

#include

#define IR_RECEIVE_PIN 7

void setup()

{

//Serial.begin(115200); // // Establish serial communication

IrReceiver.begin(IR_RECEIVE_PIN, ENABLE_LED_FEEDBACK); // Start the receiver

delay(500);

Keyboard.begin();

}

void loop() {

if (IrReceiver.decode()) {

IrReceiver.printIRSendUsage(&Serial); // Print the statement required to send this data

IrReceiver.resume(); // Enable receiving of the next value

}

}

So in the serial plotter this is what you should see when you press a button on the remote, "Send with: IrSender.sendNEC(0x0, 0x4C, );" or something similar. The part we care about here is the middle HEX code 0x4C in this case (which is left button on my remote).

So just go through the following buttons on your remote and write down the HEX codes.

Left arrow, Right arrow, Up arrow, Down arrow, enter/select and return/exit. These are all the buttons we need to play DVD Screensaver 2.

Next we use the HEX codes to hard code (there might be a smarter way of going about this but hey, this works) in specific keyboards commands to be triggered when the right buttons are pressed:

Left - KEY_LEFT_ARROW

Right - KEY_RIGHT_ARROW

Up - KEY_UP_ARROW

Down - KEY_DOWN_ARROW

Select/Enter - KEY_RETURN

Return - KEY_ESC

Final code:

#include

#include

#define IR_RECEIVE_PIN 7

void setup()

{

  //Serial.begin(115200); // // Establish serial communication

  IrReceiver.begin(IR_RECEIVE_PIN, ENABLE_LED_FEEDBACK); // Start the receiver

  delay(500);

  Keyboard.begin();

}

void loop() {

  if (IrReceiver.decode()) {

byte code = IrReceiver.decodedIRData.command & 0xFF;

      PressButtonBasedOnHex(code);

      IrReceiver.resume(); // Enable receiving of the next value

  }

}

void PressButtonBasedOnHex(byte hexCode)

{

  bool pressedSwitch= false;

  switch(hexCode){

    case 0x44: // Replace with your up arrow hex code here!

    Keyboard.press(KEY_UP_ARROW);

    pressedSwitch = true;

    break;

    case 0x40: // Replace with your right arrow hex code here!

    Keyboard.press(KEY_RIGHT_ARROW);

    pressedSwitch = true;

    break;

    case 0x48: // Replace with your down arrow hex code here!

    Keyboard.press(KEY_DOWN_ARROW);

    pressedSwitch=true;

    break;

    case 0x4c: // Replace with your left arrow hex code here!

    Keyboard.press(KEY_LEFT_ARROW);

    pressedSwitch=true;

    break;

    case 0x6: // Replace with your select/enter hex code here!

    Keyboard.press(KEY_RETURN);

    pressedSwitch = true;

    break;

    case 0x7: // Replace with your return/exit hex code here!

    Keyboard.press(KEY_ESC);

    pressedSwitch = true;

    break;

    default:

    return;

    break;

  }

  if(pressedSwitch)

  delay(50);

  Keyboard.releaseAll();

}

Just upload your edited sketch that matches your remote's HEX codes.

And with that, it should be done! Enjoy your brand new (old) way of enjoying our game! Hope this works out if you do decide to try it, good luck and have fun! 👨‍🔬

💀 Troubleshooting 💀

If you're not getting a signal from the remote there could be a number of things wrong.

• The remote doesn't emit 38khz IR signals - This one is hard to fix, as the remote and the receiver needs to be compatible. I found my remote for very cheap at a thrift shop, so if everything is connected correctly and the code has been uploaded to the Arduino correctly then I recommend trying to find a new remote.

• Incorrect Arduino board - The board needs a 32u4 processor to emulate an actual keyboard connected to your PC. Without this it will not work.

PS: Since we've basically been making a custom keyboard here, you can of course tweak the code to support playing other games than DVD Screensaver 2. If you find a game that benefits from this new way of playing, please do share them with us!