Hello, and welcome to the 18th 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 update of BFNSU. I hope you'll enjoy hearing what I have to say, and now it's progress update time!

A New Look - The Computer Lab!

To start things off, in Beta 1, the Computer Lab is planned to receive some visual changes compared to how it looked in Alpha 6. These changes include improved lighting, sharper textures, some design tweaks to a few objects, and a new door design in the background of the render for the lab. For reference, here's how the Computer Lab looked in Alpha 6.

And here's how going up to the Computer Lab's monitor is planned to look in Beta 1. As you can see, it looks nicer and more polished now, with the contrast of the "off" render also being adjusted for better visibility.

The in-game Computer Lab will have other improvements compared to Alpha 6's version as well, such as on it's UI screens when you're creating, signing into, or deleting an account, and now it's time to discuss the new door designs, which will been seen in many more places than just the Computer Lab as you explore the Ultimate Fun Schoolhouse!

Open It Up - Redone Doors!

Something else also getting a change in Beta 1 are doors! The biggest change you'll notice between the doors in Alpha 6 and the Beta 1 doors will be new visual designs! That's right, the door designs that first appeared in the Alpha 6 2 Floor Demo and have been used in a lot of Baldi's Fun New School series entries and updates since (such as BFNS Remastered) are finally getting a revamp in Beta 1.

So far, 2 redone door designs (for Classroom and Computer Lab doors) have been completed, featuring a rounded arch design at the top of the door, some shading rendered into the door's texture, and corresponding colored door knobs, and while the animations on the redone doors shown below are placeholders, they're close enough to the final planned designs for Beta 1 to now be revealed.

And that's right, unlike the non-animated static doors in Alpha 6, these Beta 1 doors will have an animated looping texture on them as part of the door's design, with an icon and/or text indicating what kind of door it is similar to the previously used designs (notebooks for class doors, perhaps a warning sign for faculty doors, etc) so players can easily identify them.

Also, as shown in the development image below, these doors will be 2.5D (aka doors with depth), which means when you open the door, it will physically swing in and out in the world when it opens and closes rather than an open and closed door texture change like was used before, and as part of the planned Sound Awareness (SAS) system for Beta 1 as well, these doors are planned to have 2 ways to open them.

The first way being by right clicking on the door like before to "fast" open it, which would generate more noise, and the second way by holding down right click while hovering over the door, which would cause it to "slow" open after a couple of seconds, which would be quieter and generate less noise.

This planned change to door interactions is designed to let players be more stealthy and cautious about how and when they open doors (for example, it might be better to slow open doors when Baldi is nearby to help avoid detection, or fast open them when you know Baldi is chasing you to try and get away quickly or when he is far away and it's safer to quickly open doors), and as part of this change, while slow opening a door, the on-screen cursor will grow while right click is held down as an indicator of your progress in slow opening the door, which is why the cursor looks larger in the development image below.

Not only are doors getting a visual overhaul in Beta 1, but notebooks and a new interactable object are as well! Which leads into the next section...

Round And Round - Notebooks And Monitors!

In Beta 1, the designs of notebooks are getting a refresh as well. Compared to the Alpha 6 versions, they're planned to have more variety in their appearance, with icons on each redesigned notebook indicating the learning game you'll encounter when collecting it (math symbols on a red notebook for a math learning game, numbers on a blue notebook for a number based learning game, etc). 

Also, like First Prize's sprites, these notebooks are now directionally rendered, meaning when moving around a notebook, you'll be able to see it from it's front like before, but also from it's back and the other sides, which should add depth to notebooks you find while exploring floors of the Ultimate Fun Schoolhouse. 

For reference, some of the Alpha 6 versions of these notebooks are shown below, next to one of the updated Beta 1 versions. Compared to the other notebooks, the golden notebook is planned to have a unique, slightly different spin animation, since unlike the other notebooks which will only planned to play a spin animation once collected before shrinking and disappearing, golden notebooks are planned to always be spinning, even before you collect one.

Now, onto one of the new interactable objects planned to be introduced in the Beta 1 update, monitors! Yep, that's right, the monitor from the Computer Lab is now planned to make an appearance in other locations of the Ultimate Fun Schoolhouse as an interactable object planned to be used for accessing most screens in Baldi's Fun New School Ultimate.

The way these monitors are planned to work is that like the redesigned notebooks, they will use directional rendering as well, meaning you can view them from multiple angles, and when interacting with one, a turn on animation will play on the monitor, and then the screen (such as the player settings screen for example) will appear via a transition. When closing a screen, the monitor will turn back off, and interacting with it again will open the screen tied to that monitor once more. A development look at some of these monitor related animations is shown below.

One other thing about monitors I'd like to briefly mention is that as part of their directional rendering, to interact with a monitor to open a screen, you'll have to be standing in front of it so it's facing the way shown in the development image below. This could end up changing based on player feedback, but for now, this is how monitors are planned to work.

Finally, it's time for the final section of this progress update, which is a brief IRL update, because...

A Short Break - Vacation 2025!

So, like the last 2 years (2023-2024), I have a family vacation coming up this year as well, meaning during that time, which will be from July 12th to the 20th, I'll be on vacation and not working on Baldi's Fun New School Ultimate during that time (2024 was an exception as I did get some BFNSU work done during that year's vacation, although this year it's different, meaning that won't be possible). 

However, after I return, work will resume soon afterwards on Baldi's Fun New School Ultimate, and I should have more to share by the time of the release of the Progress Update 19 devlog, which will be coming out within a few weeks of BFNS Remastered's 4 year anniversary, which is coming up on August 5th, 2025 in less than a month from now!

Oh, and here's some Floor Maker development images (with some placeholders) as well since I didn't have time to mention it in this progress update due to the upcoming vacation in just a few days from now.

Anyways, work is progressing well on the foundational systems (including planned full controller support for not just gameplay but screen navigation as well, and a better input manager just to name a few other things I've been working on recently) for the Beta 1 update, and once those are complete, work on more of the "fun stuff" like what was teased above will continue, which I'm sure is what everyone is looking forward to seeing next month.

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 (#19), which I'll be posting on August 15th, 2025 at approximately 7:30 PM EST!