GutBuster comes to Itch.io and Steam Jan. 27th + final beta v.0.9.6

Update 1/27/25: The game is now released on itch.io and Steam! Betas have been removed and update posts have been made public.

This is it: the final update before release in a few days.

GutBuster v0.9.6 is, more or less, the finished game, only just to get some last minute testing done.

Here's what's changed:

-Achievements! 39 of them in fact. All of them feature unique art! Most are from progressing through the game, but 5 are SECRET! They will be Steam achievements, but there's in-app achievements as well. There's a few things I should mention... First, I've place the accessibility options (cheats) behind an unlockable button: if you activate them, it DE-activates the achievements. You will have to START OVER WITH NEW GAME on the title screen to restore achievements and play the game as designed. Also, there's a new option on the main screen to see a scrollable list of all the achievements unlocked, but right now it's only usable with the mouse, and you have to hit ESC to exit. It will be updated to scroll with buttons in the final game.

-Slight visual tweaks: The new powerup side double-meter thing has been made into a glowing translucent green, and the Pizza, Burger, and Cookie levels had their background color adjusted to be darker and higher contrast. These upgrades should hopefully help out with visual clarity. Also polished the animations on the player character, added missing tails and such, plus now she stops running in place when the direction is released.

-Release date! GutBuster will drop onto Steam and itch.io on January 27th! It should be noted that this beta is going to be the last build I put on Patreon, so any future updates will require a retail version, which is $4.99 USD, but I do plan to get keys to everyone who's contributed at least once on the $3 tier or higher, since I started development in August 2024, at no additional charge. I can't guarantee they'll be available on launch day, however. I still have to work out how many I'll need (you have to send out a request through Steam and get approval) and I intend to give first priority to higher tier members. Please bear with me, as I kinda got myself into this without really knowing what I'm doing, but I do intend to get keys either through Steam or itch. You can still get a key at the reduced price if you join the $3+ tier before the game launches on the 27th!

-Other changes: Metabolism's max level was reduced from 20 to 15. And uh, I guess that's it. Say, did you know the demo is on Steam right now? And you still have time to wishlist the game if you still haven't!

-The Original Soundtrack: The OST, with original music composed by me, under my new musician name:  RoyalJellySOUNDwich! The soundtrack will be released for free, on January 31st! It will be included with the Steam version of the game, or available for download on itch, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and will be uploaded in video form on my YouTube channel!

Thanks to everyone for your support and help during this long project!  If the game continues to do well, I plan to put up free updates: I've got ideas for a new mode and hope to get it done within a few months.