In this week's photo you can see the Roman Ruins at Schönbrunn, which I've visited recently. Isn't it utterly inspiring? :D

But anyway, here is this week's changelog!

* Replaced intro and credits music in HQ1. Kind of tempted to alter the font a little in the credits, but that's a NiceToHave™. Please check out the band Sea of Trees, who are responsible for the new sound. They're fantastic.

* Replaced music in the house of HQ1. This is the one Lupusrex started and I added drums and midi instruments. I think it fits the area/fight very well!

* Replaced "Suicide is Painless" in Patience level. Another surprise waiting for you. :D

* Replaced "12 monkeys" violin in HQ2. Again, not spoiling all the fun. You'll have to hear it for yourself. (<

* Fixed a few issues in the game menu. New labels have been added with the latest HL version, and some of the buttons spelled out things like "#GUI_ButtonCancel". Seems like the "platform" folder was missing from the build, which fixed a few very important UI things.

* Added the folder s/a/d/i/s/m back into the mod because, uh, well HQ2 needs it :D

* I wanted to finally connect the training maps and add the new logo sequence to the starting area, but I played Hollow Knight instead because I felt really tired. XD But I will finish it tonight, hopefully.

* I spent some time brainstorming easter egg ideas. I'm going to have lots of fun with this. I think I will start by adding 5 to each mod, so 15 in total. We'll see how that goes.

* Lupusrex was kind enough to record new voice for the "Sadism Express" ad in Patience. I didn't have the original speech without the background music, and he already did the advertisements in HQS, so it was a natural fit! The background music will be a song by Vino, which I found when he posted it to twitter a few months ago, and it was perfect! I think he wants to add some finishing touches to the song, but I'll use the current version meanwhile. (AND keep the song and the voice as separate WAV files. :D)

* This leaves a few more music pieces to replace, which I'm not sure about: Blueberry Hill, Stayin' Alive, Baby One More Time (Britney Spears ending in HQA), and the HQ1 Somos boss fight music (which uses a reversed sample from a Mission Impossible remix CD). I'm not sure about copyright law but... if I really want to be 100% sure that this release won't get me in trouble, I probably have to replace those too, but I'm not entirely sure yet. What do you guys think? Are 5-10 seconds okay to use, especially in a satiric context for a free game?

Last but not least, I talked to a new friend over at VK.com (he made Electric Highways, which was influenced by HQA!) and I got new questions and answers, which I thought would be interesting to share.

Concerning difficulty: I will not change anything that affects difficulty, however I will remove the difficulty selection. Difficulties weren't implemented with a lot of thought, so I'll just make one difficulty that feels like a mix between easy / normal. It only affects combat situations anyway, so the puzzles will remain the same.

About textures for HQ1: On the greenlight page I said that I would replace some textures in HQ1, that's not going to happen. Originally, I thought it was going to be a standalone game, but now that Valve approved it as a mod, I'll just leave it as it is. It makes a lot more sense and the visual style remains 1:1 the same, which is good.

Wish you all a wonderful rest of the week!

To be continued... (<