Starblazer · published
In this exciting new patch, we bring forward an immense number of bug fixes, tweaks, and even a few new features to get ready for final release. We are one step closer to exiting Early Access and completing the full version of Starblazer. Check out the insane list of bugs that the community has helped us catch and address (thank you all! Especially Dave, he knows). We have an amazingly improved navigation system, AI features, and performance optimizations to make it extra smooth. Not to mention Leaderboards and Achievements! Honestly, it's so much that there's no video introduction or screenshots this time… I'm tired… need to go get some sleep. But not too much because we're almost ready to exit Early Access…
Just trust me. This patch is great. Go play it and find out for yourself. ;)
Love you Starblazers!
-Alexander
New Features:
• Achievements added! Good luck :)
• Leaderboards added and live! Who is the best commander??
• Targeting brackets are shown on enemy and ally ships that a user can attack or pair with.
• Users can drag and drop ship waypoints by holding down the trigger button.
• Pause the game with the menu now! Ships freeze mid-air like that movie Clockstoppers.
• A waypoint projector plane allows users to move ships in midair without pointing at a floor or ceiling.
• AI ships will now target the enemy captain when it is exposed.
• AI ships will get impatient behind a Bruiser and navigate around it.
• AI will specifically build ships to counter your ships.
• AI seeker prioritizes attacking Builders / Medics / Spectres.
• AI Snipers will find another ship to attack if they're blocked by the environment.
• AI ships can now prioritize close ships if they are nearby and in line of sight.
• Countdown timer added for Multiplayer matchmaking searches.
• Name of your challenger is shown before launching room in Matchmaking.
• Bruiser has a new voice! It will announce built ships and the process of starting to build a ship. Thanks RottRave for that amazing contribution and voice talent!
• Steam IDs are used instead of a manually typed in username.
• The map is shown for each level in Puzzle mode on the righthand side of the menu screen.
• Users can strafe in Locomotion mode. Aiming is with the controller, not the head.
• Smash Mode has a true end… ships only respawn if you get a combo.
• Text is added to each of the hints to provide more context to the user.
• Tapping the Quit button provides a hint to the user, making it easier for them to understand to hold down and quit.
• Arcade mode resets the ship colors and layouts every time the game is launched.
• Replay button added to Smash mode.
• Lightning noises added to the Seeker.
• The level numbers is added to each Puzzle level on the start menu.
• User can mute the music volume from Settings menu.
• Ships in Fleetbuilder will not blow up outside of the box, but now snap in place.
Bug Fixes:
• Demos will fire 100% of the time in Demo Room, despite AI logic to ensure completeness of a demo.
• Ships were retaining multiple speed effects when exiting hyperlanes. Now limited to a single effect that is removed upon immediately leaving hyperlane.
• Splitters had a UI glitch where they could show a decimal floating value instead of rounded integer.
• Players with the same name would encounter severe errors in multiplayer.
• Online play would stall if the user tried to search for a game before the game has connected to a server. Now the button is disabled until system is ready.
• Locomotion was too sensitive in WMR, adjusted values to add hysteresis.
• In WMR, users could accidently spin out of control with the touch pad.
• Spectres were completely invisible to user when highlighted, fixed with improved graphics.
• Locomotion had that sinking feeling…
• Ships had a change of sticking to the controller in Smash Mode.
• If you set a Waypoint, and then pair a ship, the last waypoint segment is left visible.
• Docking points were not being properly unregistered when a ship leaves the docked ship.
• Multiple Medics on a ship equates to weird errors.
• If a ship is destroyed while highlighting an enemy target, the reticle stays red.
• Ships were losing sync in Multiplayer, re-architecting for synced data on attacks by changing the Observe function to reliable.
• Demo Room completion not being properly checked if each station run.
• Transfers of saved data were accidentally marking some modes as completed.
• Live status of a room was not being updated in Matchmaking after the name of the room is edited.
• Trigger pull was not being shown on Oculus controllers.
• Ships were blowing up on hyperlanes due to the speed. Unintentional suicide bombers.
• Loading graphics were not being destroyed when a player canceled their selection.
• Loading icon from old build shows up in the background for Multiplayer games.
• Quit loading bar was not showing up in Arcade mode or Multiplayer.
• Reckoning could accidentally be loaded as a random matchmaking map.
• Game could be broken by naming your player Enemy X.
• Holograms could accidently be left spawned in combat if menu cycled too fast.
• Colors were being forced in Arcade Mode to red and black. Ew.
• Some of the buttons in Tutorial mode were not changing to replay.
• Players could accidentally collide with ships in Fleetbuilder.
• Bottom two Orbit emotes are broken in Orbit's repair room.
• Player can fall to infinite Death in Fleetbuilder by jumping off the side.
• Quit ring is off center for the player.
• Capacitance counter not showing red or yellow at the beginning of Fleetbuilder.
• If you change the color of the ships in Fleetbuilder and then add a new ship, the new ship is the old color.
Tweaks:
• Rings in Tutorial Mode glow and pulse to draw the user's attention to them.
• Orbit's voice has been equalized and optimized across all scenes and rooms.
• A glowing red ring shows up around loading buttons instead of the yellow circley sprite.
• Added a loaded sequence to Tutorial Mode loading buttons.
• Seeker only zaps and shows electricity when ships are within a radius.
• Improved graphics for Medic healing radius.
• Improved graphics for Spectre cloaking radius.
• Lights turn off on each Demo Station as you walk away.
• Increased agility on Snipers and Fighters so that they can turn faster.
• Spheres spin in Melody.
• All assets and materials were revamped and upgraded for a shinier look.
• When user highlights and selects another ship after Builder is selected, not only should Builder be canceled, but the new ship should also be selected.
• Added a physical collider to the hint console in Demo Room.
• Quit menu is opaque for readability on Demo Room and Melody.
• Orbit is less annoying in Smash Mode.
• Ships were launching out of the Builder. All animations optimized and fixed.
• Builder enlarged to more cleanly fit ships.
• All colliders cleaned up and tied to the mesh skeleton for more realistic animations and physics.
• Removed inappropriate voiceover from Orbit (no one complained, but I knew it was there. This game is for ALL people, so let's be inclusive).
• All start buttons are disabled when clicking and levels are loading.
• Auto-firing capabilities were sluggish and choppy.
• The new Builder Capacity counter does not show availability for each of the ships. Needs to gray out if inaccessible.
• Invisible ships will not activate self defense to keep from blowing their cover.
• If no support or offensive ships exist, then gray out the command cards.
• Dance floor solidified.
• Melody got some more color added - green to add to the stark white and black design.
• Destroyed world rings added to Reckoning map for aesthetic.
• Snipers were running into other ships, moved their sensors out in front.
• Allow user to teleport on benches in the Airlock.
• Adjusted AI navigation of Melody to keep them from always going through the rings instead of straight.
• Fixed the AI on Blossom so that they will take the hyperlanes to attack the user.
• Fixed the AI on Icarus so that they use the hyperlanes more liberally.
• Swapped Versus mode with Infinity to help users get into a game quicker.
• Medic no longer stutters when following the Bruiser. Ships follow at the same pace as the paired leader.
• Ships turn and face the ship they're pairing with before snapping to face the same direction.
• Modified Seeker to only routinely seek ships, not every frame, to optimize.
• Extended teleportation arc.
• Turn off the laser when teleporting.
• All highlights are yellow to match the menu system throughout.
• Added a '0' to the keyboard.
• Culling mask changed on cameras to limit draw calls and help performance.
• Docking distance algorithm optimized for performance.
• Materials functions optimized for faster loading.
• Ships blow up behind the barrier in Infinity Mode to catch cheaters.
• Ships were firing too soon on auto-fire and normal attacks.
• Updated Desktop icon.
• Polling rate of ship distances is periodic rather than every frame to help with performance.
• Ship UI updates on trigger driven events to help with performance.
• Optimized the following scripts for performance: Loader updates, MenuElements, Medic, ShipLocation, ShipNavigation, Referee.
• Fixed most overlapping fleets in Puzzle Mode.
• Standardized the enemy names for AI modes.
• Multiplayer shows that it's searching when searching for a game.
• Other menu elements disabled when searching for a game.