Stellar Climax is coming!

The grand update for Stardust Galaxy Warriors is around the corner! The update is set for release on September 9th, coinciding with the console (Xbox One, PS4) release of the game! As the patch notes for the update are so long we thought we'd give you a week to read through them. So let's get started with the biggest addition to the game, Amber Fox!

TLDR; a lot of new and updated stuff. :sgw:

New character: Amber Fox

• Offensive support mech class
• Originally a discarded, non-functional prototype, the identity of Amber Fox’ pilot is unknown. The pilot does not talk, and always wears a stylised fox mask. The other pilots think he’s probably a clone of Archibald Stardust, but Archibald himself neither confirms or denies this. Regardless, having proven extremely useful on several critical missions in the past, Amber Fox is now an official member of Stardust Galaxy Warriors.
• Amber Fox’ Special Ability can absorb enemy projectiles into a ball of energy and release it as a powerful projectile. Overloading the energy storing capacitors will damage and stun Amber Fox.
• Amber Fox’ Distortion Technique, Foxfire, stuns all enemies on the screen as well as makes them more vulnerable to all forms of damage for the duration of the stun.

Gameplay

• New game+ -mode allows you to continue the campaign after beating it, with increased difficulty, but keeping all the upgrades from your previous playthrough. You can keep looping through the campaign over and over again, with ever-increasing enemy durability and damage.
• All-new boss behaviours in New Game+.
• Added checkpoints before every boss fight.
• Changed some enemy behaviours to be less annoying.
• Completely changed powerups to be a bit more interesting and powerful.
• In addition to the above, a completely new type of powerup was added: drone systems. These little helpers fire automatically, and pack a serious punch!
• Revised powerup spawning logic to be more consistent and conducive to nice gameplay flow.
• Added a combo score multiplier which increases on enemy kills, and resets on taking damage. Modified resource gain to compensate.
• Score is now tracked individually for each player in multiplayer.
• Added status effects: burn, acid, slow, damage amplification.
• Changed distortion tech triggers for Black Bear and Silver Wolf to use cooldowns instead of damage dealt
• Distortion tech bars accumulate at a higher rate when using special abilities
• Custom upgrade fixes and rebalancing. Price changes and ‘Stardust Emblems’ which become available when everything else is maxed out and give minor stat improvements. All custom upgrades also now become more expensive for a player every time they purchase one.
• Modified the way the upgrades in the upgrade store are randomized to provide less duplicates or redundant items, and more variety in general.
• The projectiles from the Grenade Launcher now release shrapnel.
• The Flamethrower now applies a burn effect on enemies, which makes them take damage over time and makes them more vulnerable to damage. This effect stacks with itself.

Visuals

• Visual improvements on all level backgrounds. Including, but not limited to, tonemapping each level so that enemy projectiles are easier to notice.
• Individual weapon chassis for each mech. No more gray boxes!
• Added emission maps for the mechs in the loadout screen.
• Bullet casings for certain player weapons.
• Depth of field effect added to various levels.
• Depth of field added as a display option.
• Texture quality removed as a display option as it was not working as intended.
• Changed starting screen and main menu graphics.
• Changed anti-aliasing technique from multisampling to supersampling.
• Changed Blue Falcon distortion tech missile trails.
• New projectile and trail visuals.

UI

• Added difficulty preset selector when starting a new campaign.
• Changed how the difficulty preset customization screen is accessed.
• Improved difficulty preset naming on keyboard.
• Scores are displayed for total level score and score in current stage. (Campaign only)
• Stage progress bar. (Campaign only)
• Achievement indicator on Mission Briefing screen to show which achievements are still available for that particular playthrough.
• Added UI animations to various screens.
• Improved menu button prompts.
• Revised ‘Loadout’ menu UI and environment.
• Revised Campaign selection menu.
• Added an indicator for the player who currently has the most score.
• Player HUD now actually shows the correct max health/shield.
• Added a warning before boss fights.

Misc

• Major performance improvements. The game is now playable on the weakest laptop in the office and boy is that a slow laptop!
• Updated the credits screen.
• Achievement ‘Stardust Galaxy Customs’ now triggers when you play a campaign level or a gauntlet round with a custom difficulty preset instead of when creating a preset.
• Achievement ‘Totally Not Random’ is now even more not random than it used to be. Now you can also track its progress.
• Adjusted achievement ‘Diversity’ to require also the use of Amber Fox. You shouldn’t lose the achievement if you already have it unlocked.
• Updated the engine to Unity version 5.3.5.
• Improved handling of added and removed controllers.
• Added a limit of 20 saved campaigns.

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where some users got stuck in certain levels with no enemies on screen due to enemy wave spawning not working properly.
• Fixed an issue with the boss of ‘Abyssal Wreck’ crashing the game if a player shot at it with a specific combo of Custom Upgrades.
• Fixed issues where boss behaviours could cause unreliable behaviour or crashing.
• Fixed an issue where players could still keep firing even after being incapacitated.
• Fixed an issue where it was possible to change gauntlet level or challenge even after selecting it.
• Fixed an issue where players could get wrong weapons after dying or restarting the stage/game.
• Fixed an issue where gun models could be different than the selected gun in the ‘Loadout’ menu.
• Fixed issues where some upgrades wouldn’t show in the shop after buying certain other upgrades.
• Fixed an issue where ‘Galaxy Invaders’ boss could disappear too soon.
• Tons of other small bug fixes. Every single major issue caught by the QA or our players has been fixed. Most of the minor ones have, too, apart from ones that are now features, or minor and rare enough to be a non-issues.

:bluefalcon: :redtigre: :silverwolf: :blackbear: