Hello, and welcome to the 14th progress update of Baldi's Fun New School Ultimate! In this update, I'll be sharing progress on some planned or under development features for the upcoming Beta 1 release of BFNSU. I hope you'll enjoy hearing what I have to say, and now it's progress update time!

It's Codin' Time! Custom Script Support!

Yes, you've heard that right! An experimental feature that I've been working on over the past week or so has been the addition of custom scripting support to BFNSU.

If this feature does end up making an appearance in the game at some point, it will allow players to load and apply custom scripts to objects in their custom floors in the floor builder. Such as applying a custom rotation script to a piece of furniture, for example.

To use this feature, you would begin by creating a script (that is set up properly and has a file extension of .cs) in the game's custom scripts folder. It would look something like this.

If your custom script makes use of any DLLs not included in the game's included DLLs for custom scripts by default, you would add them to a script DLLs folder, which would be set up something like this.

Then, when you go to the Floor Builder, if everything was set up properly, it should load the custom scripts and DLLs into the builder and allow you to use them by selecting the custom script you want applied to the next object you place from a custom script selection window, which is planned to be similar to the texture selector window if the feature ends up getting added.

I also plan on launching a dedicated custom scripting wiki shortly before the release of the update that custom scripting support gets implemented into (likely Beta 1). It's where players will be able to find documentation regarding how to create and use custom scripts, and it's also where players will be able to share custom scripts that they have created as well.

Before moving on to some more exciting news however, there's 3 quick things I would like to mention.

Shadows, Menus, And Computers

First off, Shadow Baldi's name has been changed to Phantom Baldi. And, some changes *might* be coming to Phantom Baldi as well to make him more unique, such as some potential new mechanics?

Secondly, the main menu for the upcoming Beta 1 version is planned to be changed back to a 3D explorable area like how it was in the Alpha 6 2 Floor Demo, as it seems a lot of players (and, I'll admit, myself included) seemed to like that kind of main menu implementation a lot.

Here's a WIP look at the 3D main menu, with an area in the starting "title screen" room that will bring you back to the computer lab when you enter it, similar to how the "Return To Computer Lab" button's functionality worked in the Alpha 6 versions of the project.

Lastly, I recently updated the Computer Lab's renders to look nicer with the addition of shadows and some updated/changed textures, and also to keep the appearance up-to-date with the latest changes to BFNSU, so here's a quick look.

I'm also thinking about potentially adding the computer as a placeable 3D object in the Floor Builder for decoration purposes. And if that does end up being the case, it would be available to select and place in custom floors under a "world decor" category in the builder.

Now, moving onto the next thing I'd like to discuss, the...

Funseum Ticket Redesign!

That's right! GrandGames has entirely redesigned the Funseum Ticket, which now looks like this!

That's what it will look like as an item, but what about the POP-UP ANIMATION that appears when collected?

Well, that looks like THIS now, with a spinning, higher-resolution version of the Funseum Ticket!

It looks very nice and extremely polished!

Now, onto the next feature that's been worked on! And this is one that I alluded to recently.

Pulsing Walls! For Those Bossfights...

The second thing I would like to share in this progress update is the addition of a pulsing wall shader created by SeenWonderAlex as his first significant contribution to the project's development. It should help with making NULL bossfight recreations more accurate, since, like what happens during the bossfight that originates from BBCR, the walls pulse to the beat of the drums in the Schoolhouse Trouble soundtrack.

Here's a look at a development video showing how it currently works in action. Note that the pulsing wall effect could end up being changed between now and when it is planned to become available to use in the Beta 1 update, but for now, I'm pleased with how it has turned out so far.

Modding Support Update

So, I have an update regarding the planned modding support as well. Mods are now planned to be called mod packs, and the paths are expected to be set up somewhat similar to the examples below.

Character mod packs folder structure - "Mod Packs" / "Characters" / "Baldi" / "NAME OF MOD PACK" (This is where you would put the name of your mod pack) / "Appearance" & "Audio" folders (inside of these folders is where the changed image and, if applicable, audio files for a character mod pack would go.)

Item mod packs folder structure - "Mod Packs" / "Items" / "BSODA" / "NAME OF MOD PACK" (This is where you would put the name of your mod pack) / "Design" & "Sounds" folders (inside of these folders is where the changed image and, if applicable, audio files for an item mod pack would go.)

A default mod pack would also be included for each character and item, and would be used as a starting point for creating your own mod packs, by coping and pasting the default mod pack folder for a specific character or item, and then changing the copied version to your liking for your mod pack.

Also, when changing the image and audio files while making a mod pack, the filenames and extensions would have to be kept the exact same as they were before, or a "fallback" mod pack would be applied instead.

As for characters that have animations (such as Baldi), there would be images in that character's "Appearance" folder that start with a specific namespace (such as "AngrySlap_" for angry baldi's ruler slap animation frames). When changing the images for those, you could add additional frames to the animation you want to be played from your mod pack by starting their name with a specific namespace (like what is shown in the example above).

So, if Angry Baldi's slap animation had 5 frames by default ("AngrySlap_Frame01.png" to "AngrySlap_Frame05.png") and you wanted to add 3 more frames to the animation for your mod pack that changes Baldi's appearance, you would just add images named ("AngrySlap_Frame06.png", "AngrySlap_Frame07.png", and "AngrySlap_Frame08.png"), and if you set it up correctly, the additional frames for the animation should show up when it is played. 

This would also work for removing frames from an animation as well. And there would also be a way added in game to browse and download mod packs (this would be done from some sort of "one-stop-mod-shop"), such as ones created by the BFNSU developers as well as other players. Note that the GameJolt post linked was posted before the modding support plan changes, but some things mentioned in that post are still planned at the moment to stay mostly the same.

Now, before ending this progress update off, there's one final thing I would like to mention.

Nebular Finds (And New JSP Merch) Store Has Launched!

Over the past few months, I've been preparing to launch a store for an online business, and today that day has come! The store is called Nebular Finds, and it's where you can purchase astronomy and spaceflight related products (such as poster prints of astrophotography images like the recent lunar eclipse that I've taken)!

Not only that, but I've launched some new JSP merchandise (which is available for purchase from the Nebular Finds store) as well! Since my YouTube channel's 6 year anniversary is coming up (which will be on September 26th), what better way to celebrate than by getting some new JSP merch? In the future, more merch (such as some Baldi's Fun New School Ultimate related items) is planned to be added to the store, so make sure to keep an eye out for when those items are made available!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this progress update, and thanks to everyone who has contributed, given suggestions, and has helped me out with the development of Baldi's Fun New School Ultimate. See you in the next one, which I'll be posting on October 26th, 2024 at approximately 1 PM EST!