Articles - Myriavora

Myriavora keeps growing! In January I made six maps, eight clothing items, and a few improvements. The game now includes a total of 62 varied maps. The number of clothing items has grown to 57 and all of them can be customized using materials and pigments.

The defense of Camp Famis consists of three jump pads, each connected to a group of three fetchers. Whenever you use a jump pad, the associated fetchers are activated for one second. This is a delightful combination because the spiders get teleported right into the jump pad's blast wave.

There are no cooldowns, i.e. you can use the jump pads as often and for as long as you want. Just keep in mind that they don't protect you from taking damage. I recommend using each jump pad only once or twice in a row and then switching to a different one.

The mountainous terrain at Camp Pruniæ can be tough to maneuver. Fortunately, there are six powerful thermal turrets to support you. They activate upon entering and stay active for 10 seconds after leaving. If you're fast enough, you can have multiple or even all of them active at any one time.

Camp Vigilantia is defended by three small but very powerful resonators. Using them effectively isn't always easy, but when you do, they can be devastating.

If something goes wrong, you can try to get some distance from the enemies in the forest. But it isn't dense enough to get more than a few seconds out of it, so better don't rely on that.

Camp Nivium essentially consists of a sinkhole with an enormously powerful turret at the bottom. You activate the turret by entering it. It stays active for 60 seconds after you leave it.

The main strategy is obviously to lure the swarm into the pit and let the turret do its job. Just keep in mind that spiders can climb walls. So, don't worry, watching them die won't be your only activity.

There are six big traps at Camp Gladii, half of which are active at any one time. Every 15 seconds they switch over to the other half. Although the camp has no armament, it is easily defendable if you keep moving and watch the timers.

When testing Camp Gladii, I noticed spiders getting stuck occasionally. It was always at the same spot: near a tree that was suspiciously close to the wall of one of the traps. After some investigation, I realized this was no coincidence.

The problem was that traps were implemented as a kind of force field that pulls trapped spiders inwards when they try to leave. It's the only thing in the game that works that way and the spider AI isn't really prepared to deal with that. The algorithms are robust enough that it sort of works most of the time, but when it doesn't, spiders get stuck.

I contemplated improving the AI, but then I realized that changing the traps to work like actual barriers was a much better idea. That's because the AI already knows very well how to deal with barriers. It does so all the time as rocks, trees, and collisions between spiders are implemented that way.

Of course, it wasn't exactly trivial to change the traps. They don't work like normal barriers as they have to actually let in spiders and allow trapped spiders to roam inside. That's the reason I implemented them as force fields in the first place.

So, in the end it took me a couple of tries to get it right. But once I did, I immediately noticed an unexpected but welcome side effect. Since the spider AI is aware of barriers, it can now sort of "feel" the trap and tries to find a way out instead of banging its head against the wall. It's a relatively subtle change in behaviour and you probably won't see a difference unless you know exactly what to look for and take the time to do so. But at least I can see it, and like a proud father it just makes me happy to see my "babies" deal with their world just a little bit better.

Camp Successus provides six frost shocks for defense. They each activate 3 seconds after entering and have a cooldown of 50 seconds. Since there are so many facilities to choose from, the long cooldown doesn't matter much in practice unless you're really rushing it.

The delay, on the other hand, is something not to be underestimated. During test play, I experimented with different values and was surprised at how much I had to adjust my strategy each time.

In the heat of battle, every second feels like an eternity. Two seconds is already hard to bear, three seconds is simply torture. And yet I had a lot more success with three seconds! That's because a longer delay gives more spiders a chance to enter the facility and get caught by the shockwave.

So in the end I decided to go for a three second delay. Yes, it's more challenging to deal with and can be outright infuriating at times. But I guess that fits the game perfectly.

I've created a belt and wristbands that match the punk-style neck band from the previous update. As always, they drop with random materials and pigments, so you'll probably need to customize them to get the studded look as depicted. I'm using black rubber for the band and white crystal fabric for the rivets.

I've started to experiment with ideas that might add a sci-fi look to Myriavora's clothing collection. These "leg straps" as I call them are the first result. They probably wouldn't be practical or comfortable when made with contemporary technology, but I can easily imagine some high-tech to make them work.

They're also perfect for customization as they're compatible with most clothing. This means you can use them as decoration on boots, socks, and pants. So, feel free to mix and match.

I think, this is a promising concept and I will try to develop it further in the future.

I also made arm bands. The pair on the left fits the Milano gloves, on the right you see the London version. As with the leg straps, you can actually wear them together and with all gloves, shirts, and jackets.

Other improvements include:

• Defense units now have a grey name & outline when they are inactive due to cooldown.
• The reticle for precision turrets is now significantly larger so it's not as easy to lose sight of in the heat of battle.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented spiders from taking damage when they get teleported into an area attack (like energy flash, frost shock, blast wave, etc).
• Fixed a bug that made the health bar sometimes show an animation when you equip or remove Flash Healing.
• Fixed a bug that made the minimap place the range indicator for the aimed attack (red line) at a slightly incorrect position.

The game continues to expand! In December I was finally able to focus on content creation as I didn't have to fix a single bug. I was able to add nine maps and a new neck band to the game.

Camp Amoris has a large amplifier that can be targeted by any projectile attack. There are three small fetchers within its range, which are activated by entering them. The fetchers are pretty quick, so be careful when using them.

It's a powerful combination, but if you get overwhelmed, it can become useless out of a sudden. You can try to escape to the south edge of the camp, where you will find some forest. It offers only limited cover though, so don't rely on it. Instead, I recommend to bring either massive fire power or plenty protective skills.

Camp Medii has two large traps, each lined with four thermal turrets. The traps are activated alternately every 30 seconds.

If you've caught something big, the turrets come in handy. They are activated manually and shoot with extremely high firepower for 5 seconds. Their use must be carefully considered, however, because they have a fairly long cooldown of 85 seconds. But don't save them for later waves, because all timers and cooldowns reset each wave anyway.

Each of the two traps has only one main turret that can be operated directly, the other three are activated automatically when the main turret fires. Basically, each group acts as one big turret.

The defenses of Camp Fecunditatis consist of six fetchers grouped in three pairs. Each pair specializes in one type of spider: assault, elite, and regular.

The fetchers are activated by entering. Since they overlap per pair, you can influence the fetch speed, depending on whether you enter only one or both fetchers.

If you've gone too far with the fetchers and are overwhelmed by the flood of spiders, it's not too difficult to escape into the surrounding thicket. The trees slow down the spiders noticeably, so it's often surprisingly easy to shake them off.

The hilly terrain around Camp Insularum is defended by three thermal turrets and two transformers. Since the turrets remain active for 10 seconds after exiting, you can sometimes achieve combo effects, but that's not easy. You often encounter strong conquerors and throwers here, which makes it difficult to follow a fixed strategy. Instead, I recommend relying on flexibility and seizing opportunities wherever they arise.

Three thermal precision turrets and three transformers are available for defense at Camp Sanitatis. The turrets are relatively weak on their own, but if you use them to kill enemies in the transformers, they can achieve enormous firepower. It's not that easy in the fray, however, and it's often better to focus entirely on the transformers. Then again, the turrets are unbeatable when it comes to thinning out elite groups from a safe distance.

There is virtually no cover around Camp Odii. To compensate, there are two large defenses with high firepower: a frost shock and a thermal turret. Both are activated by entering and fire every 10 seconds.

The frost shock is often easier to use due to the frost effect, but the thermal turret has significantly more firepower. I often switch between the two facilities, depending on the type of opponent and the combat situation.

Camp Vaporum offers four time bubbles, each surrounded by six frost shocks. The time bubbles are activated by entering, but switch off automatically after 10 seconds. A bubble switching off, however, activates the frost shocks, which suggests two different strategies.

On the one hand, it makes sense to try to kill as many of the frozen spiders as possible. It helps that the time bubble needs several seconds to collapse, which slows down enemies pouring in. Still, this strategy is relatively risky because the time bubbles have a 35 second cooldown.

If you don't want to take this risk, you can of course jump to another time bubble. Unless you activate several bubbles at the same time, at least one should always be available. Leaving frozen enemies behind should give you a few seconds head start. Keep in mind, however, that frozen enemies get angry faster and, as a result, eventually become more dangerous.

The defense of Camp Lapidis is twofold. There are three traps on the west side, with two amplifiers placed between them. On the east side you will find three teleporters.

The traps are activated upon entry and remain active for 15 seconds after exiting. Since they overlap with the amplifiers, trapped enemies can be fought very effectively. However, you have to be careful, because the amplifiers are close to the cages and trapped enemies can still attack.

The teleporters are relatively large and have a short cooldown of just 20 seconds. They therefore encourage aggressive use. You just have to make sure that there are no poison puddles at the target point. However, this is not that easy, because the dense vegetation often blocks the view.

The defense of Camp Agri is controlled by three fetchers. One specializes in elite enemies, the other two work with all types of spiders.

All three are activated upon entering and remain active for three seconds after exiting. The timer resets when you re-enter a fetcher. This is important to know because two crucial things happen when they switch off.

For one, the fetcher remains inactive for a cooldown of 30 seconds. In addition, a very strong thermal turret that overlaps the respective fetcher is activated for two seconds.

This means that the point at which a fetcher is switched off should be carefully considered. It should also be noted that the turrets are so strong that it can, for example, be worthwhile to lure non-elite enemies into the elite fetcher.

I made a neck band with dots. As usual, it's fully customizable. If you use a glossy material (ideally crystal fabric), you can make the dots look like rivets, which is what I had in mind when making them. Just keep in mind that the item drops with random colors and materials (like every other item), so it may not look like "punk style" at all when you get it.

In November, I added five maps, four hairstyles, and two pieces of clothing to the game. I've also implemented a new feature and some improvements.

The open terrain around Camp Felicitatis offers no cover, so the defenses are very powerful to compensate. They consist of three thermal precision turrets that are triggered by resonators. Therefore, if an enemy dies in one of the resonators, you get additional firepower for 10 seconds from the associated turret. Each further activation of the resonator resets the turret's timer, i.e. in principle it is available indefinitely, provided the resonator receives sufficient supplies.

However, when a turret's timer expires, it shuts off for a 30 second cooldown. I recommend using the irritation pulse regularly to make sure you don't run out of enemies.

The high range of the turrets and the way they are activated enable interesting strategies. The obvious one is to stick with one of the resonators until its turret shuts off. This strategy is simple and safe because there are always alternatives available when you have to leave your position.

A more difficult and risky one is to use an active precision turret to fire at opponents in another resonator. This way you can activate several turrets at the same time, with a correspondingly higher firepower. The danger is of course that several turrets switch off, leaving only the weak resonators.

In Camp Itineris only amplifiers are available for defense. There are three in total and they're relatively small and weak. To make matters worse, they can't be used from far away, as you have to be within attack range.

However, this last limitation also comes with a huge advantage: this kind of amplifier can be targeted by any attack that fires projectiles. When you get close enough, your fan attack (orange projectiles) will start using the amplifier. Get even closer and the spray attack (white projectiles) will chime in as well. This is an enormous boost to your fire power!

But it gets better! Thermal decoy as well as ice shield will use the amplifier when in range. What happens when you aim a distance turret at an amplifier? Yep, that also works – from any distance due to its enormous range. Of course, you can also use ice missile and range extender, but that works the same with all other amplifiers.

However, there's a catch! To your attack systems, these amplifiers are just one more target, like any other. Which is to say, they don't prioritize amplifiers. When enemies enter your attack range, they'll absorb some of the fire power that was previously directed towards the amplifier. When you get overrun by enemies, the amplifier may receive little to no fire power and become ineffective. Pay attention to the amplifier's acoustic feedback to know when the time has come to leave.

In Camp Crisium, defense is concentrated at two points to the northeast and south, each with a small group of resonators and transformers. It's a powerful combination that can handle almost anything if used skillfully.

However, individual, very strong opponents are usually better dealt with by luring them into the teleporter on the west side. The cooldown time is pleasantly short at 15 seconds, so that the facility may be available for an emergency escape even when it is mostly used aggressively.

Camp Siccitatis has two lines of defense, one in the south and one in the north.

At the foot of a steep slope you'll find two jump pads that are coupled to precision turrets. Using one of those jump pads not only causes a huge blast wave but also triggers the turret it is coupled to for 20 seconds. This is a very powerful and flexible combo. The blast wave incinerates large swarms of small enemies while the turrets are very effective against elite and high-level enemies.

However, if you prefer a more cautious approach, you should head to the top of the hill. There are two time bubbles there that overlap with a transformer. The time bubbles offer excellent protection, at least against close combat opponents. However, if you also want to use the transformer, you have to stay near the edge of the time bubbles, where the protective effect is noticeably reduced.

The terrain around Camp Putredinis is hilly and heavily forested. Three jump pads and three teleporters are scattered across the area.

With the jump pads you can reach an enormous height, so they are ideal as an escape route after an attack. The teleporters, on the other hand, have a fairly short cooldown time of 15 seconds, making them suitable for aggressive use.

However, it also works the other way around, because the jump pads have a huge blast radius. If too many spiders survive the shock wave, you can use one of the teleporters to get to safety. You don't even have to rush because of the high altitude you get from the jump pad.

Both strategies are very effective and great fun. I've often used both in my tests, depending on the situation.

I've created four new hairstyles: an afro, two buzz cuts, and classic long, straight hair (as suggested by NatureBoy).

When I made the afro, I realized that my hair shader suggested smooth, straight hair, when a real afro needs curly hair, of course. So, I reworked the hair shader to include a paramter that controls its glossiness, or silkiness as it's called in the UI. You can find this slider right under the hair color options.

The default value is 50%, which results in exactly the same appearance as before. Below 50% you get a more matt or dry look, above you get a greasy or wet look. Very low values can also be used to immitate the look of non-natural hair dyes.

I also made shoes! The pair on the left is called "Milano", it's a type of low shoe. On the right we have a pair of sneakers with ornaments that can be customized separately (color & material).

So far there have only been boots as footwear, because I thought shoes weren't going to look good in the style of my game. I was wrong, they look great!

However, note that there's a little bit of sneaky trickery going on in the screenshots. I'm using leggings in combination with ankle bands as leg extensions. In order for this to work, the bands are made of exactly the same material and pigment as the leggings. The bands and the leggings have matching normal vectors in the overlapping region, so the seam becomes invisible when the pieces have the same look.

This is a feature of my clothing system and can be used for other things as well. For example, you can combine a tight shirt with leggings to make a jumpsuit. Or combine a halter top with a skirt to create a cocktail dress. As long as the pieces overlap and are made of the same material and pigment, the seam will always disappear.

Other improvements include:

• I improved some character transition animations.
• I improved projectile lighting performance, fixing occasional frame rate issues.
• The grass around the spawn point is now a little shorter in all camps so it doesn't obscure the view.
• The ears are now a bit thicker and no longer have any sharp edges when viewed from the front.
• Sweat no longer darkens the ears excessively.
• I fixed a couple of minor bugs.

The first ten players to beat my highscore by November 30, 2021 get my game for free!

This is what you need to do:

1. Get the free Steam demo. Note that the IndieDB version doesn't qualify for this contest, because it doesn't have access to the leaderboard.

2. Create a character. If you've played the demo before, you may use your existing character.

   

   
   

3. Play in doomsday mode. This is important! Infestation mode does not qualify for this contest! You get to choose the mode at (and only at) the beginning of a journey.

   

   
   

   If you're using an existing character and forget what mode you picked, check the top right corner of the character screen. If it doesn't say doomsday, you're in infestation mode. To change the mode, you first need to finish the journey. Alternatively, you could create a new character instead.

   

   
   

4. Fight battles! Survive! Get good at the game! Once your score on the character screen exceeds 14,128,851 points, you've beaten my highscore. It won't be easy and you'll probably need several runs to achieve that, but it is certainly possible. Further below are a few tips.

   

   
   

5. You'll need to upload your score to the leaderboard. Every time you beat your own record you're given the opportunity to submit your score along with a replay of your fights. You don't have to do that every single time, but when your score exceeds 14,128,851 points, that's when you need to upload it as proof.

   

   
   

6. Oh, you actually got more than 14,128,851 points? Congratulations! Post a comment to the Steam contest article to claim your prize! Make sure to use the same account that you used when playing the game. I will then verify your replay and send you the key via PM. If there are more than ten valid claims, the order of the posts will determine the winners.

   Note that my verification tool only checks for consistency of the replay data. It'll detect hackers and cheaters, that's all. On the other hand, taking advantage of an exploit (if you find one), is totally fine with me and would not disqualify you. Myriavora is a roguelike, you're supposed to experiment and be creative and I'm not gonna stop you.

This contest ends on November 30, 2021, even if not all prizes have been awarded.

If you have any question or run into a problem, feel free to post a comment. I'll try to respond as quickly as possible.

So, how do you improve your score in Myriavora? Here are some tips.

• You need to survive. When you die, your journey ends and your score resets to zero. When you play the game for the first time, not dying can be a challenge in and of itself. I've written a guide to help you overcome that hurdle.

• Use the irritation pulse multiple times per wave. The first pulse simply starts an incoming wave, but then every further pulse grants a score bonus, but also makes the spiders angrier and more dangerous. Each spider can only be "harvested" once for its irritation bonus, so at some point the pulse won't get you any more score. There's a display in the top right corner of the HUD that shows the aggro level (total score of angry spiders) and irritation bonus (total harvestable irritation score).

  

  
  

• Upgrade your gear! Every time you win a fight, you'll get some pieces of clothing. The higher the score you've achieved, the more and better loot you get. Drag it into your wardrobe to gain more skills for use in combat. There're 24 slots and each item can have up to 2 skills, so you can equip up to 48 skills. Try to max that.

  

  
  

• Sooner or later you'll prefer some skills over others. Swap items in your wardrobe for those that better fit your preferences. You can also dismantle an item and install its skill device into a different item. Right-click on an item to access its crafting menu.

• Make sure to use enough perk skills. They provide permanent bonuses that last until the end of the journey. You'll really need those for the harder battles later in the journey. The skills Upgrade (which provides super or ultra points) and Permanent Power Bonus are particularly important.

  

  
  

• You can watch my replay on the leaderboard to see what skills I equip and how I use them. However, keep in mind that I made a new character to set the highscore for this contest, so I didn't have perfectly optimized gear. I did it that way specifically to prevent myself from setting the bar unreasonably high. But that also means you shouldn't assume my replay to be the be-all and end-all of how to play my game.

• When you pick a battle, pay attention to the rewards you'll get. I typically prefer super point rewards for the first battle of a journey, and ultra points for all subsequent battles. Power or score bonuses are also nice to have. Health is usually not worth it unless you really need it.

  

  The demo has 12 camps in total, so often you're only given one or two battles to choose from. Make the best out of it.

• You'll need some luck. Myriavora is a roguelike (or roguelite to be precise) and heavily relies on randomly created encounters. You'll have good runs and bad runs, no matter how good you are at the game. Perseverance is the key to success.

• Eventually you'll always want to adjust your gear for the upcoming fight. Having multiple clothing bags can help with that. Occasionally they drop as loot, but you can also craft them. Point to a clothing bag and press W to switch your wardrobe to that bag. This way you can quickly switch between your favorite loadouts without the need to swap individual pieces in and out of your wardrobe. However, you'll need a lot of gear to fill multiple bags, so it may take a while until this becomes viable.

That's all for now. Good luck!

I made good progress in October. I've added six maps and five hairstyles to the game. I've also implemented some new features and improvements.

The defense at Camp Nimbi consists of two pairs of precision turrets. One pair is on a hill on the northern edge of the camp, the other in a wood on the southern edge. Each pair consists of one thermal and one ice turret. They are all activated by entering and remain active for 60 seconds after exiting. You can reset the timer at any time by re-entering.

Once at least one of these turrets is active, the spider you're aiming at gets highlighted by a white outline and a separate reticle. This is because precision turrets shoot at excatly this spider — at any range, even outside the camp border.

When all four turrets are active at the same time, you have enormous firepower available, which also scales with your power level.

But before you get too excited, remember that you have to keep an eye on the timers and switch locations when necessary. In addition, depending on the distance to the turret, the projectiles can take a second or two to reach the target. The fact that only one spider is shot at at a time doesn't make things any easier either.

All of this means that when in doubt, it's better to take cover than to rely on the firepower of the turrets. However, they are ideal for eliminating elite opponents from a safe distance.

Camp Veris is located in the middle of an eerie forest. Five small but very powerful ice turrets form the camp defense. You can activate them by entering. They remain active for 10 seconds and then switch off for 30 seconds. Therefore, it is best to keep moving and change location as soon as a turret switches off.

It's important to keep in mind that these turrets run on a fixed timer once they get activated. On the one hand, this is good because it means you don't have to stay inside them.

But on the other hand, it means you have to worry about premature activation. The spiders sometimes struggle with the trees and may not be as close as you thought. Try to slow down when you approach a turret and wait until a couple of spiders are inside its range before you activate it. Yes, this can be tricky to pull off.

Camp Frigoris offers two transformers, each surrounded by four ice turrets. The turrets activate for five seconds, when the transformer next to them harvests power from a dead spider. The timer resets every time a spider dies inside the transformer's range. However, once the timer runs out, the turrets enter a cooldown state for 30 seconds.

Of course, you don't want that to happen, so make sure to keep the transformer busy. It won't be long before you realize that the ice turrets are a double-edged sword in this matter. Yes, they help you kill enemies, but they also freeze them. Since they only partially overlap with the transformer, more and more spiders will inevitably freeze up beyond its range. Not only are they of no use to you there, they can also block other spiders from entering.

Therefore, make sure to keep the turrets clean and clear blockages quickly. I highly recommend the energy flash skill for this task.

Sooner or later, however, the turrets will switch off and it's time to move to the other facility in order to bridge the cooldown. But keep in mind that only the turrets switch off, the transformer is permanently active. So if the other facility is overrun by spiders or littered with poison puddles, then staying where you are is worth considering.

The main defense at Camp Procellarum is a thermal turret with decent firepower and huge range. The facility is on a hill to the west. Up there you not only have a beautiful view, but also a strategically advantageous position. However, the long range of the turret can become a problem if the firepower is spread over a large number of enemies.

Fortunately, there are four fetchers available for this situation. They each transport up to 30 randomly selected enemies deep down into the forest, granting them the opportunity to ponder life decisions for a while. The fetchers are activated manually (i.e. by clicking on them), which can be done from the top of the hill. However, they have a fairly long cooldown of 50 seconds, so their use must be carefully considered.

Camp Honoris is located between a forest and a steep slope. The defense consists of two powerful ice turrets, each supported by a thermal turret. All turrets are activated by entering them. But be careful with the ice turrets, because when you leave them they switch off for a 30 second cooldown.

If you get overwhelmed and have to leave the position, it is a good idea to glide down the slope. You will hardly take any damage there and you can easily fire at the swarm. But the emergency teleporter is hard to avoid, which can become a problem if there are poison puddles or dangerous enemies at the spawn point.

In this case, the forest may be the better choice. The thicket slows down the spiders noticeably and can give you a few seconds to breathe.

The defense at Camp Sal consists of three fetchers, one of which is activated in turn every 15 seconds. They can teleport up to 20 spiders into the target area, but each focuses on a different type of enemy: elite, assault, and regular. Being in the right place at the right time is of great strategic importance and you should therefore always keep an eye on the progress bars.

The fetchers can be used in two different ways. On the one hand, you can stay away from a fetcher that has just been activated and take advantage of the fact that the affected spiders freeze and are thus incapacitated for a while. On the other hand, there is of course hardly a better opportunity to actually kill them.

The 15-second rhythm is relatively fast and you will have to come to terms with the fact that you cannot always be there on time. But, of course, the one fetcher that could save you from a hairy situation always takes forever to activate. Take it easy and adjust your plans and strategies when necessary.

I've created five new hairstyles and added physics everywhere it made sense, including existing hairstyles. The only ones that don't have physics are "Bald" and "Ivy League" for obvious reasons.

Working with hair physics made me spot some bugs and less-than-ideal parts in the physics code. The fixes I made improved both hair and body physics. Most noticeable is that the physics code no longer generates unrealistically violent vibrations at high speed. In fact, it's so smooth now that I had to add artificial jitter to prevent the animations from looking lifeless.

You can now modify character settings whenever your journey score is zero, i.e. when you die, reach the happy ending, or manually pay out the journey bounty (in infestation mode).

When you meet the requirement, a new button will appear in the character menu that gives you access to all settings of the character designer. For example, you can try out the new hairstyles without creating a new character.

Thank you to RedAISkye for suggesting this feature!

Other improvements include:

• You can now adjust the thickness of enemy outlines. This was also suggested by RedAISkye, thank you!
• I reduced the thickness of various range markers to achieve a more consistent style.
• I improved the character dash animation.
• I fixed a couple of minor bugs.

It's been going well so far and I've been able to put out a content update every week. This is mainly because no serious bugs have occurred yet. Let's hope it stays that way. 😄