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!
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.