Aether Drift cover
Aether Drift screenshot
Genre: Indie

Aether Drift

Play Online GUIDE (Aether Drift)

Do you want to play head to head matches but your buddy lives far away? Want to call on a friend for help beating the dreaded Zoa's Palace?

We've found a way to play Aether Drift online and want to share it with you!
Only one of the participating members has to own Aether Drift, so if your friend has never played- no problem!

Here's how to make it work.

Online Setup


Download and Install Parsec, a 3rd Party gaming application ( FREE )
https://parsecgaming.com/
You’ll have to make an account if you don’t already have one.

If you’re hosting, follow these steps to allow players to connect to your device.
The host should be the user with the best internet and computer power of all the connected players to ensure the best experience!
NOTE: Requires a USB controller to play online from at least 3 of the four players. Does NOT require all members to own Aether Drift, only the host!

Launch Parsec once you have it installed, and choose whichever method works best for your situation!
We recommend using Method 1 with strangers, and Method 2 with friends you already know.

Method 1- Party
1). Launch Aether Drift.
2). In Parsec, click ‘Create Party’.
3). Title the party how you wish, and restrict the party to Aether Drift.
4). Select ‘controllers’ for input. Only the host should be using Mouse and Keyboard, if they desire
5). Create the party, enter a lobby, and send the link to your party members
6). Tell your party members to click the link to connect. Make sure you're logged in on the web-app!
*NOTE: You must type a message before the join button will work! Weird quirk of Parsec, just be aware! *
7). Host should accept the party join requests
8). Press 'Start' on your controller to join the game once you see it!

Warning: Don’t let strangers use your mouse and keyboard through this method! Most people are trustworthy, but be safe out there!

Method 2 - Friendship
This will allow players to see your computer screen. Make sure to keep things you want hidden hidden!
Warning: Don’t let strangers use your mouse and keyboard through this method! Most people are trustworthy, but be safe out there!


1). Add each party member as a friend on Parsec.
2). Determine a host amongst the group
3). All non-host players request access to the host’s computer by clicking their username in Parsec, and selecting the PC that will be used to play
4). Have the Host launch Aether Drift
5). Press ‘Start’ on your gamepad to join once the game is visible!

If you have any problems, please be sure to let us know through Steam discussion boards or directly through twitter @1StupidRat. We’ll get to you as quickly as our schedules permit!
Enjoy online, and happy drifting!
-Rat

Aether Drift - MONDAY MOTIVATION BUNDLE (sale)

Do you want to get your hands on Aether Drift and 7 other indie games for as low as $3.49?
Head on over to IndieGala and purchase the Monday Motivation bundle while the offer lasts!

https://www.indiegala.com/monday-motivation-69-steam-bundle

This bundle is active from February 25th to March 11th.
Get it while it's hot!
-Rat

Aether Drift - V 1.25 RELEASE NOTES

Overview:
With the advent of our Discord Server, online multiplayer, and the IndieGala bundle sale, we wanted to make sure that we can put our best foot forward! We've revamped a couple core mechanics, added some sleek and shine to the Multiplayer Menus and polished a load of bugs! This is the best version of Aether Drift yet, we hope you enjoy!

New Content:



  • Entirely new Character Select Menu for Multiplayer

    • Includes new voice lines for the announcer
    • Makes navigation much smoother
    • Acts as a match-hub
    • Can now change Cheat Codes on Character Select Menu

  • Entirely new Item Select Menu ( easier item usage! )
  • Entirely new Level Select Menu for Head to Head modes

    • Allows easy selection of Arenas
    • Added a ‘Random’ button, for random maps!



Updates/Changes:



  • Made Drifting Fields slightly easier
  • Made it easier to reach the boss on both Mobius Sector and Zoa’s Palace
  • Gauntlet now requires only one crystal to unlock
  • Satellites can now be parried with good timing
  • Shield Guardians no longer deal contact damage
  • Improved the visuals of the level-up bar

    • Now shows overall level progress
    • Shows goals (crystals, medallions)

  • Lowered the HP of Mobius Core and Mobius Aether Dragon
  • Made it easier to reach Mobius on Mobius sector
  • Updated Satellite animations
  • Slightly increased the amount of HP that spawns on maps
  • In Head To Head, you can now adjust the healthpack Spawn Rate
  • Improved Display of FPS counter
  • Improved visibility of hitboxes for ‘show hitboxes’ option, all of them should appear correct now
  • Spike Traps, Homing Spikes, and Stationary Spike Traps all now can be dodged by going into the Phantom.
  • Spike traps will freeze in single player if you Aether Slip
  • Player Hitboxes are now circular, instead of rectangles. This makes multiplayer fights more consistent, and adds more room to maneuver in singleplayer.

    • The single player hitbox is still the size of your halo.

  • Added a countdown before multiplayer games start
  • Parrying a player successfully instantly resets the cooldown of Parry
  • Changed Parry from a ‘Step’ to a ‘Begin-Step’ on Player Attacks and Rourke’s Bullets

    "Essentially, parrying now checks before all player-damage checks, guaranteed. Sometimes players were being damaged even after a successful parry. You can now instantly parry again after successfully landing one too. This should make that much more reliable, and add the ability for more Mind Games!"

  • While inside a Phantom Wall in the Aether, the outline of the wall shows up

    Now you’re not getting lost in phantom walls while your slip is down!

  • Super Speed Powerup now can coast along walls if the angle of incidence is low enough, instead of instantly stopping
  • Point counters now are colored based on who got the points in Multiplayer
  • In stock Head To Head, if two players die within 5 frames of eachother on their last stock, the match will count as a tie
  • Random characters are rerolled if ‘rematch’ is pressed


The Big Hit Sound Split!

  • All players/enemies that had unique hit sounds before are now split into two categories: Impact and Weapon
  • Player hit sounds are randomized, to add variation
  • Wrong hit sounds no longer play when using powerups as different characters (ie bombs making quake hit sounds)
  • New Sound Effects!
  • New Shifter/Drifter Shifter sound effects
  • New Ambient Satellite Sound Effects
  • Updated Satellite Fire SFX
  • New Satellite charging their lasers SFX
  • New Ambient Laser Sound Effects / Laser Firing Sound Effects
  • New Ricochet Bullet SFX
  • New Chain Gunner SFX
  • New Moon Launcher SFX
  • Mine Arming and Placing SFX
  • Tank Firing SFX
  • Tank Spawning Enemies SFX
  • Pocket Moon SFX
  • Rourke Hit Sounds



Balance Changes



  • Increased the Hitbox sizes of Large Characters to make them more consistent
  • Players now can see a timer that shows the duration of stuns ( from parry, daggers, aurion pierce, etc ).

JHIN:

  • Strike Bomb hitbox is now circular to match the explosion radius better


KRAX:

  • Krax’s Whirlwind Blade now has a circular hitbox to match the effect
  • Krax can no longer drift

    “This would only ever be used by accident. It can be re-enabled by using the Pit Stop cheat code on Krax, which gives him 1000 Fuel. Otherwise, it’s just a worse dash that no one ever used.”


MING:

  • Ming can no longer reflect at her Chakram and her Body at the same time

    “This was a bug/oversight, but it definitely was there. Now it’s not.”



YOJIMBO:

  • Now has a larger hitbox, to fit his sprite
  • In singleplayer, Yojimbo now gains 4 seconds of invulnerability upon activating Birdzerk mode ( doesn’t happen in pvp )
  • Moved Yojimbo’s reflect hitbox out 35 pixels from his base

    "His new hitbox would sometimes just ‘poke out’ and get damaged by bullets before he could reflect them. Now he shouldn’t."



ROURKE:

  • Can Parry Golden Bullets back at Rourke
  • “Parried gold bullets used to just disappear. Now there’s the potential to hit Rourke with a well-timed parry, if you’re that good.”
  • Slipstream bonus from 5.5 to 5 spd
  • Grenade hitbox is now circular to match the explosion radius better
  • Grenades now bounce off of Phantom Walls

    • They’ll travel out of walls, but can’t enter them ( so Rourke can use them while inside a Phantom Wall )

  • Confetti (Gold Jester) now works in Multiplayer

    "Rourke’s mobility was just too oppressive. With all his options, he had the best kit for consistently staying away from any opponent, if the player was good enough. Hopefully this makes Rourke players stay on their toes."



QUAKE:

  • Now has a larger hitbox to fit her sprite
  • Fist wall friction scalar-per-frame from .95 to .97
  • Super Quake Punch no longer full-stops on slight wall touches
  • Quake can slide along walls when hit at an angle less than 15 deg
  • Quake can Super Quake Punch while in Phantom Walls
  • Quake can Super Quake Punch while in Spawn
  • Super Quake Punch can no longer break shields occasionally on impact

    • Quake users must now launch enemies as projectiles to break shields

  • Quake is now invulnerable while Super Quake Punching in Player Vs. Enemy environments. This invulnerability lasts for .5 seconds after impact. (doesn’t happen in PVP)

    "Quake had this problem where she just felt too clunky. Missing a super punch by a hair would instantly kill her momentum, and that was no fun."


LORD ZOA:

  • Fixed a bug where Lord Zoa used the wrong hitbox in Head 2 Head

    • Along with other Hitbox changes, his is still the smallest, although it’s twice as large as what the glitch made it appear as

  • Charge Timer from .3 seconds to 1 second

    • Now takes longer for Lord Zoa to charge his dash, where 2 damage is given

  • Dash Hitbox active time from 4 to 8 frames
  • Hitbox is now STATIC (won’t rotate after creation)
  • Fuel from 300 to 250
  • Increased max dash speed from 18 to 26
  • Baby Drifters now inherit Lord Zoa’s momentum when summoned
  • Baby Drifters can no longer target bullets
  • Baby Spawn Cooldown from 12.5 to 10 seconds

    "Lord Zoa has a weird place as a character. While not the most competitively viable he can still be rather annoying to deal with These changes make it easier to predict his attacks, and to hit him ( especially as Rourke, who had an awful time before the hitbox fix )"


Bug Fixes



  • Fixed crash related to camera not being initialized properly
  • Fixed Lord Zoa’s inconsistent Hitbox
  • Fixed using the Mouse with Lord Zoa in multiplayer
  • Fixed Yojimbo gaining Birdzerk off of Hammer Swings
  • Widened all phantom walls to accomodate for Yojimbo and Quake’s new hitboxes

    • Includes minor changes to the following maps: Rat Maze, Forgotten Skyline, Asteroids, Gyroscope, Crumbling Pathways and Halls of Menace

  • Moved some spike traps on Rat Maze that were unfair to large player hitboxes
  • Fixed Soft Lock on Basic Tutorial after completing reflect section
  • Fixed Reflect not being triggered sometimes
  • Fixed Bug where Ming could reflect from herself and her chakram at the same time
  • Fixed Frame 1 Ming Reflect being incorrectly angled, causing missed reflects to hit occasionally
  • Fixed bug where Quake didn’t update Quake Punch’s flames properly when hit
  • Fixed bug where sometimes Quake’s Super Punch didn’t knock back enemies far enough, or knocked them back too far
  • Fixed the Parallax Scrolling on Rifts finally, after the GMS update broke them
  • Made Rifts fade out of existence and shrink too
  • Level Game Over sends to wrong menu in MP
  • Have to reselect character on name-change
  • Fixed Charging Sounds persisting if parried while holding attack
  • Fixed bug where Attack hitboxes would decay if the game paused
  • Fixed bug where certain powerups deactivated if the game paused while they were in use
  • Now only one player can be using the ‘Sniper Rifle’ powerup at once. It caused very weird things to happen when more than one player was sniping.
  • Fixed bug where shield HP would regenerate on Aether enemies while in the phantom
  • Fixed bug where knockback would disappear while in the Phantom
  • Fixed bug where some shields could be broken from opposite dimensions
  • Fixed bug where Yojimbo’s crushing blow always played at max volume
  • Fixed bug where Aether Slip wouldn’t cooldown while a powerup was active in multiplayer -> caused unreliable Aether Slipping
  • Fixed Bug where using Custom Control Schemes would break multiplayer controls if a keyboard/mouse player connected
  • Fixed crash where beating Mobius Sector with a capture point live would crash the game
  • Fixed bug where Satellites could still attack after being killed
  • Fixed bug where Spinning Lasers would continue to rotate while paused
  • Fixed crash if the game was paused on frame 1 of a round starting
  • Fixed bug where clusters couldn’t be stunned
  • Fixed Drifter Shifters not fleeing properly from anyone but Jhin
  • Fixed particles only drawing to one player in NEON maps
  • Fixed Drifter Soldiers and Jug Drifter eyeballs
  • Shield Guardians can no longer target Phantom Lasers
  • Did NOT remove Lancers



Phew! That was a lot!
Enjoy the game, Discord Server will be coming soon
Happy Drifting~
-Rat

Aether Drift - V. 1.15 RELEASE NOTES

Overview:
There were some minor issues that arose from the latest Game Maker updates to the camera system- this patch attempts to remedy these issues!

Bugfixes



  • Fixed crashes related to Rainbow Bullet cheat code
  • Fixed Phantom Players appearing on each screen at an odd interval
  • Fixed Visibility of Pause Menu when using a controller
  • Multiple optimizations

Aether Drift - V. 1.12 RELEASE NOTES

Overview:
Ah, about two months after release here comes the first wave of balance changes, optimizations, and additional content! This Update is rather minor, and focuses primarily on reworking the Tutorial System and miscellaneous quality of life updates.

GAME / GAMEPLAY CHANGES:



  • BIG BONGO Parry Changes

    • Parrying a Drifter-Lancer will take its HP to 1
    • Parrying a Lancer the first time will deal half-HP to it, and permanently disable its shield
    • Parrying a Super Lancer the first time will deal ½ HP to it, and permanently disable its shield

      Devnote: "Even with the changes, these guys are still terrifying."

    • Drifter Lancer HP 3 -> 5
    • Drifter Lancer points from 95 to 115
    • ALL Lancer variants can't be parried once you've been hit by them. Resets each attack.

      Devnote: "This fixes the inconsistency on parrying, now you must respond to an attack, rather than get hit, and react by hitting reflect. Lancers now function exactly as other players do in Multiplayer."

    • Lancers now spawn with a shield active
    • Lancers now have an orange 'parry-me' shield variant

  • Changed Super Speed Powerup to launch in facing direction, not walking direction on keyboard. Stays the same on Controller gameplay

    Devnote: "Since we tested this mainly on controllers, we didn't realize how obnoxious it was to use for a keyboard player."

  • Made enemies spawn slower across the board

    • Crawl Timer From 19 seconds to 20 seconds
    • Slow Timer from 16 seconds to 17 seconds
    • Normal Timer: From 12.5 seconds to 13 seconds
    • Fast Timer From 9.5 seconds to 10 seconds
    • Normal Timer stays at 7.5 seconds
    • Made enemies spawn 2x faster if no enemies are currently alive
    • Timers are 1 second shorter on harder maps ( spike pit, zoa palace,d gauntlet )

  • Added Shield Cooldown visuals for all shielded enemies, just like the player's
  • Updated Tutorial Enemy visuals to reflect that they're alive entitites
  • UI updates to show powerup button in-game on overlay ( two versions ( keyboard, and controller )

    Devnote: "The button inputs for these are defaults, so they won't change visually if you have custom control schemes! Just be aware before swapping your controls."


MENU UI UPDATE:



  • ( surrounded in big-black-box, W/ white box selectors )
  • Added Version Number / Credits (bot-right)
  • Disabled ‘H’ key input during gameplay to disable/enable hitboxes ( must now be done on main-menu, in misc-settings )

    Devnote: "While we were testing, we could enable/disable hitboxes with 'H'. Obviously, this becomes an issue if some new player has 'H' in their name."



TUTORIALS SECTION:


Added a ton of new tutorials to the game, so new players have an easier time learning!

  • Created textboxes that tell you what to do in the tutorials!
  • Updated Basic Tutorials to include all game elements, and made them much clearer. Elements include:

    • Movement
    • Attacking
    • Dashing / Lunging
    • Shields
    • Lasers
    • Drifting
    • Phantoms
    • Phantom Walls
    • The Lurker
    • Reflect/Parry Tutorial
    • Powerups
    • Rifts

  • Added a Powerup Tutorial
  • Renamed Dash to Move-Dash and Lunge to Forward-Dash

    Devnote: "It seemed that Dash and Lunge were easily getting confused. Hopefully this makes it more clear what they do!"

  • Character-Specific Tutorials

    • Jhin Tutorial
    • Krax Tutorial
    • Ming Tutorial
    • Yojimbo Tutorial
    • Rourke Tutorial
    • Quake Tutorial


OPTIMIZATIONS



  • Added Graphics Option 'Graphical Effects' to disable some majorly intensive graphics operations (bg shader, aether shader) (USED TO BE 'PARTICLES' )
    ->Replaces Aether Shader ( for Phantom world ) with simple black/white shader. Should run better on bad computers now. Not guaranteed to fix multiplayer for bad computers, just might add 10-20 frames.

BALANCE CHANGES:


Yojimbo Changes

  • Increased Yojimbo's Base Movespeed from 6.25 to 6.5
  • Allowed Yojimbo to gain rage off of phantoms
  • Lowered Yojimbo's Charge Time from 2.5 seconds to 1.25 seconds
  • Decreased Yojimbo's Charge Duration from 25 seconds to 20 seconds

    Devnote: "Bird Buffs! Bird Buffs! Bird Buffs!"


Ming Changes

  • Lowered Ming's Charge Time from 3.2 seconds to 2.25 seconds

BUGFIXES:



  • Fixed Bug where Lancers 'Headsup' flashes would continue to animate while paused, desyncing the reaction for parrying them
  • Fixed multiple other sprites animating while paused. Includes: Quakebomb, Super Speed Effect, Player Dash Effect, Rourke Grenades, Powerups, Spawnpoints, Rourke Cards, Moons, and more!
  • Pocket Moons would just keep going when paused. Fun fact. They DON’T anymore.
  • Recompiled Entire Game to work with hidden camera/surface changes in GMS 2 v2.2.0 from v2.1.4 (Devnote: "Grumble grumble write better patchnotes next time pls grumble grumble" )

    • Fixed Lancers Arms being invisible
    • Fixed all players appearing invisible
    • Fixed Tutorial not working
    • Fixed Stunned Effect appearing underneath game
    • Fixed phantom player in top-left of game world
    • Fixed phantoms disappearing for no reason
    • Fixed random 200-300 frame drops for no apparent reason
    • Fixed Moons not showing up and not working at all anymore ( draw issue? )

  • Fixed Rourke’s Lightning damaging Mobius The Infinite
  • Fixed Training Dummies randomly being invincible
  • Fixed Character Direction Snapping Weirdly in Multiplayer ( increased gamepad falloff from .25 to .35 ) and fixed GamePad controllers thinking they were mice
  • Hopefully fixed Ear-Rapey nature of the Laser Powerup


Final Devnotes: "We're still unsure if everything has transferred over properly from old versions of Game Maker to this new version. Because the GameMaker changes were so vague, we're sure there's likely something there that we've missed. That being said, if you find a bug, please don't hesitate to tell us! We'll do our best to fix it! Otherwise, we hope you enjoy the best version of Aether Drift yet- good luck, and happy drifting!"

- Rat.

Aether Drift Giveaway - Hosted by GMS Reviews!

Hey everybody! The lovely people over at GMS reviews are giving away 5 steam keys for Aether Drift! If you want to snag one for yourself, don't hesitate! The Giveaway lasts from August 30th to August 31st ( today 'til tomorrow )

Check the link for details:
https://www.indiegala.com/giveaways/detail/493308

May the odds be forever in your favor~
-Rat

Hotfix v 1.02

- Fixed Ricochet Cluster appearing as Mobius Core
- Fixed Cheat Codes being unlocked on the wrong Arena

Aether Drift FULLY RELEASED! - Version 1.00

Aether Drift is live on the steam store as of August 27th, 2018.
Hope everyone enjoys it, and happy drifting!
-Rat

Hotfix v2.26!

-Multiplayer phantom visibility fixed

Was drawing invisible until a lurker spawned!

Aether Drift Beta v 2.25 - Patch Notes (CLOSED BETA)

New Content:
-Mobius got sprites

Balance / Changes:
-Yojimbo charges elbow grease 3x faster in mp
-Yojimbo base speed from 6.5 to 6.25
-The End Of the World is now truly 11-star difficulty
-Tutorial ‘Strike Bomb’ made slightly more clear
-Made Keybindings automatically adjust to ‘CUSTOM’ when changed
-Made Lurkers scarier ( in red now! )
- Fixed Miscellaneous Keybindings crashes
-Fixed a ton of multiplayer-related crashes

Bugfixes:
-Greatly increased efficiency of draw-steps for all enemies in multiplayer
-Fixed Rourke targeting w/ mouse
-Fixed Mobius Elite Targeting Stuff
-Fixed Quake Punch Angles
-Added Mouse Controls to most menus
-Many Many small miscellaneous changes
-Made Menus have darker Background in-game
-Fixed players moving slightly on a tilted axis inside phantom walls
-Fixed LZ not moving right inside phantom walls
-Fixed Mobius Elite Soldiers not drawing correctly where they were about to shoot
-Fixed Phantoms f-ing off in Tutorial when other characters than Jhin are played in SP. ( Also winning portrait can no longer randomly be Yojimbo )
-Fixed bug which caused controllers without L/R depression indices to crash when changing controls (Snakebyte custom garbage controller, Nintendo Switch Off-Brand USB Pro Controller, PS4 controller ) All should work now, theoretically
- Did NOT remove Lancers.