v1.3.0 ~ Global Leaderboards!! (& short progress update!)

Summary

Hello! It's been a little while... (I missed you!!)

In this update post, I would like to go over the big new thing that was just added as well as catch you up on the progress of the final remaining bonus features!

(NEW!!) Steam leaderboard support!

Due to popular demand, Steam Leaderboard support has been added! Now, all of you who have been grinding, routing, optimizing, and strategizing finally have an easy-to-access way to show off your scores to everyone else!!

To start participating in the leaderboards,you will first have to unlock the "1CC" achievement. Once you've done that, then you will be able to choose the new "Leaderboard" option on the main menu. And after accepting the prompts, you can start competing with other players for the top score! (...btw, the green scores are mine)

After accepting the prompts, all of your old scores will be automatically synced, and all future scores will be auto-uploaded too!

*Note: This menu option will be hidden if Steam is not open or if you are playing on the itch.io version.

You can also see the leaderboards outside of the game by viewing the Global Gameplay Stats page (link here!).

Full v1.3.0 Change Log...

Progress update on the final bonus features!

I want to give a brief update on the progress of the final planned bonus features!

The main features planned as of right now are...

Full boss practice mode

It's actually been fully finished for a while, but there's no UI for it yet. Soon? Hopefully?? (all the prototypes are ugly, aaa)

Replay desync fixes

Many of the causes have been diagnosed, but I still need to do more testing before fully implementing them so that existing replays are not just ruined over and over with multiple haphazard updates.

So far, it seems like input desyncing only occurs during Supernova, and the cause is likely due to the other character's position not being a whole number. As for the score desyncing, the specific causes have not been confirmed, but it most certainly happens during the final boss fight.

Despite the challenges, we're getting a closer to a good solution...

Translations

This has been the main focus recently!

All the text has finally been fully ported to an external format. Also, most of the non-dialogue text has been notated (yay!). Extra testing still needs to be done to guarantee nothing crashes and that everything works properly, though.

No specific ETA for when the translations will be finished, but they will likely be released long before the extra stage, and Chinese is highly likely to be the first one to be completed.

Extra stage

I don't want to give away much about this yet, but...

... I sort of wonder if this stage will be contentious due to some of the choices being made so far. But that's also what I thought about the other experimental sections of NNFF, and those seem to be a lot of people's favorite parts.

My goal for this is to add just a little more to the overall experience as a fun bonus.

Anyway, still no specific ETA yet for this update. It's the largest and most complex of the remaining bonus features, so it's currently on a "when it's out, it's out" release schedule to protect my sanity. I also don't really plan on posting too much about it until it is fully completed (to retain motivation and to keep everything a surprise).

Closing thoughts

It makes me really happy to see so many people connecting with and enjoying their time with this game! There's been a lot of really cool art, memes, ocs, and even fan theories made over the past few months. One of my goals as a creator is to make things that stick with people and inspire them, and seeing all this makes it feel worth it.

You may have noticed, but updates have slowed down a bit recently. It's partly because the bonus stuff that's left is very complex, but it's also because I have become much more busy as of late. The current goal is to slowly make all of these updates over the course of next year!

Anyways, thank you for playing No Need for Flowers! I hope you have fun with the new leaderboards!!

Have anything you'd like to see added or changed? Encountered a bug?.. Here are all the ways you can reach out!

To see more development updates and announcements like this, make sure to wishlist & follow!