For the duration of Space Winter (21st to 31st of Space December), you can use the objective delivery chute and choose one item (per day) to give to your Steam friends.
When you see a 'Gift!' annotation on your stash, you'll find a box inside with a gift from a friend!
If you don't have any friends, or your friends are allergic to space or fun, you'll still sometimes get random presents from the citizens of the Drift, who appreciate you.
Stay Home!
Space Winter is a season for friendship, giving, and staying home so the Voidmother can't take your mind. Those who stray too far into the cold... they come back, but they come back wrong.
The Voidmother isn't real, of course, she's just a ridiculous story made up by people whose minds were taken by the Voidmother.
Sorry About The Colours!
Against vital safety protocols, independent stations have chosen to modify their long range beacon lights to emulate festive - or 'ugly' - colours. Thousands will die in collisions caused by the reduced visibility.
Everything For Everyone!
If you hadn't already unlocked the Everything Gun by playing at launch, it's unlocked to find for everyone now! It's still a unique weapon, so it's rare.
Sale!
If you have friends but they don't play Heat Signature, they should know that a) they're missing out on your funny item names, and b) we're 20% off in the Winter sale, crazy, such a deal, how can they do this.
New Patch: 2017.11.30.1
We've uploaded a new patch, here's what's changed:
2017.11.30.1
Fixed game locking after liberation mission completed. (Bug introduced in previous patch)
Remove liberators' personal missions if the station is liberated outside the mission.
2017.11.27.1
Fixed guard errand frequency.
Fixed retiring a character generating an extra liberator.
Fleshstripper no longer uses a bullet.
Fixed Strategy Map becoming non-interactive after a liberator is killed while liberating a station.
Fixed thruster sound playing after repeating practice mode.
If you'd like to get patches as soon as possible, the nextversion beta receives patches as soon as they're ready for testing.
If you have problems with any patch or beta, please fill our our Bug Report Form to let us know what went wrong!
The Fair Points Update
I was too nervous to read Heat Signature reviews for two weeks after launch. I was relieved to see the scores were great, and after 3.5 years of work, that was all I wanted to hear: I didn't want to know what their caveats were.
Once I calmed down and read them, though, I was delighted: they were not only very positive, but they told entertaining stories and made intelligent points. And almost every critique I read I thought was a fair point. Hence this:
The Fair Points Update. 5 new features and 3 new items, in direct response to review critique, designed to round the game out and make it more fun for more people.
We also added a gun that fires acid money to melt the flesh from your enemies and leave only chemically bleached bone. No-one asked us for that, we just kind of did it, and now here we are.
This post only explains the features themselves, read the blog version if you're interested in the design thinking behind it all.
Fair Point:
Missions with shielded or armoured guards can seem impossible without very high level tools
Feature: Guard counts
You're now told how many of each type of guard you'll encounter on a mission, so you can plan accordingly. You'll be able to tell: yes, I have enough tools to deal with this many shielded guards. There are also more missions with 3-6 bosses, which is very doable if you have just one tool that deals with their protection type.
Feature: Acid and Crash Traps
We're also adding two new item types to help you better deal with armour and shields. Acid Traps can be placed to strip the armour of any guard who walks on them, and Crash Traps will crash all of their electronic kit, shields included. You'll have to use some guile to set them up and lure the target into them, but they both come with a powerful advantage: they're always self-charging. That means even the common ones are endlessly re-usable, so there's no upper limit on how many armoured or shielded guards you can deal with - if you can lure them in.
Fair Point:
Permadeath encourages you to choose missions below your skill level, because so much is at stake
Feature: Glitchback Guarantee
Sometimes, one of the harder missions on offer will come with a Glitchback Guarantee. This means your client will teleport you out the moment you get hit, avoiding any permanent damage. So there's absolutely no risk in taking these missions, you can't lose anything no matter how badly it goes. It doesn't make the mission easier, though - if you have to be glitched out, the mission is canceled.
Fair Point:
if you can't manage Hard missions, progression is too slow.
Feature: Liberators
If you haven't liberated a station in a while, one of your choices on character select will be a Liberator: a randomly generated character with high-level gear, and a personal mission to liberate a particular station. They already have the intel and the kit to go out there and do this, so you can just pick them and head straight out.
Fair Point:
Stronghold liberations are too hard for some players
Feature: Stronghold Liberators
If you fail a Stronghold mission, you'll find a Stronghold Liberator in the bar. These are like the other liberators but even better equipped, so they should make Stronghold missions more viable and fun if you're not able to complete them with characters who started from scratch.
Fair Point:
I sometimes have trouble making things out
Feature: Simple Art mode
Under Accessibility Options, there's now a Simple Art Mode you can enable. It makes all ships use a simpler version of the Foundry ship look, which is already our clearest and plainest. We've clarified and plainified it a bit further in this mode: the traversible space is almost entirely blank, and the solid stuff is tweaked to all look identical. Hope this helps!
Feature: Explosive Guard Annotations
We now annotate explosive guards when they first appear on screen, since some people had trouble spotting those. You can turn this off in the options if you don't like it.
Fair Point:
I just hate permadeath.
OK, no reviewer said this. But one or two players did, and I think we can help them out without changing the game for the majority who like it.
Feature: A Cheat Option to turn off permadeath
We've added this under Cheat Options to be clear that it's not how the game is meant to be played - I don't want other players to feel like they're being asked to design how the game should work. This is a cheat. Play without it unless you need it.
When permadeath is off, anything that would normally permanently kill your character instead resets you to when you were last at a station.
Fair Point:
As it stands, there's no way to strip the flesh from my enemies with a corrosive form of currency.
That was an oversight and we're sorry.
Feature: The Fleshstripper
The Fleshstripper is a new unique weapon that fires the same acid used as currency in the Drift - extracted from those colourful nebulae you've been flying through. It belts out a heavy rain of the stuff, melting through armour and flesh alike, leaving only skeletons behind. Its ammo is your savings: it costs 1 acid-money to fire.
From the 22nd of Space November to the 6th of Space December, there's a shipment passing through the Drift carrying the Fleshstripper - that's your sure-fire way to obtain it. Regardless of whether you steal the shipment, it's also available to all players as a very rare random drop.
A note on Updates
Us: Here's a significant free update!
You: Great! I can't believe we get these regularly for free forever!
Us: Oh, geez. This is awkward.
This update is a one-off, we don't plan to do updates like this on a regular basis. We might add items from time to time, but only buy the game if you want the game as it stands - we don't make promises about future content.
Nominate us in the Steam Awards!
Heat Signature is all about player choice, so we would never try to influence how or when you choose to vote for us in the Steam Awards, in the 'Choices Matter' category for player choice, before the 28th of November, by clicking here. That would have to be your choice.
Either way, if you've played enough Heat Signature to know if you recommend it, we'd love for you to leave a quick review! As you can tell from this update, we like reviews.
New Patch: 2017.11.01.1
We've uploaded a new patch, here's what's changed:
2017.11.01.1
Fix incorrect module destroyed by the Foundry Brick's high-speed collision.
Intel missions no longer generated after personal mission cost reduced to zero.
Fix crash when selecting two dialog options simultaneously.
Fix negative living witnesses.
2017.10.30.1
Updated GameMaker to v1.4.1772
2017.10.26.2
Disabled sell/stash item in retirement menu.
Fixed client messages in liberation menu.
The previousversion beta branch now contains patch 2017.10.26.2. If the latest update has caused problems for you, you can switch to this by right clicking Heat Signature in your Steam library, choosing Properties > Betas and using the drop-down list to choose the previousversion beta.
If you'd like to get patches as soon as possible, the nextversion beta receives patches as soon as they're ready for testing.
If you have problems with any patch or beta, please fill our our Bug Report Form to let us know what went wrong!
Death is Canceled for Space Halloween
For the duration of Space Halloween - 27th of Space October to the 1st of Space November - life and death in the Drift will be a little different:
Removed: Death
Due to science, you cannot die during Space Halloween. Bleeding out, suffocating, or being incinerated in an exploding pod will permanently turn you into a living skeleton. Once Halloween is over, you’ll remain a skeleton but any lethal damage will finish you off. On the plus side, skeletons are undetectable by guard’s heat sensors, and can spacewalk indefinitely since they no longer need to breathe.
Actual Ghost Missions
When taking a mission with the Ghost Clause, you are now an actual ghost. As with real-life ghosts, you can still be seen but all attacks pass through you. You’ll return to normal once the mission is over.
Actual Skeleton Crew
Ships running a Skeleton Crew are now literally running a crew of skeletons. The skeletons are functionally the same as normal guards except that they can no longer feel hope.
Does That Mean I Could Potentially Become A Skeleton Ghost?
That’s a ridiculous question. Of course you can become a skeleton ghost.
Other Patch Notes
Unrelated to Space Halloween, we've also nerfed the Foundry Brick a bit.
Speed needed to break a module much higher: it's meant to be hard to target a specific module
Changes to how impact speed is calculated for hopefully more intuitive results
First module impact severely damages ship, repair mini-game will be max difficulty for future damage
Price increased from 40 to 60
If You Missed This
Look, honestly, we're just checking your system clock to find out the date. If you can mess with that, you may have the power to have your own little Halloween. :conwayheadscratch:
New Patch: 2017.10.16.1
We've uploaded a new patch, here's what's changed:
2017.10.16.1
Fix undefined behaviour in Legends menu button. (This is a possible fix for the retirement menu not opening for some players.)
Fix Strategy Map allowing unlocking any station.
Defection icons appear when liberations are available.
Fixed Fiasco dropping items when trying to sell during tutorial.
If you'd like to get patches as soon as possible, the nextversion beta receives patches as soon as they're ready for testing.
If you have problems with any patch or beta, please fill our our Bug Report Form to let us know what went wrong!
New Patch: 2017.10.13.2
We've uploaded a new patch, here's what's changed:
2017.10.13.2
Fixed trying to play a non-existant sound when guards drop items.
Better error checking for playing sounds.
Fixed crashbeams/subverters sometimes causing guards to panic.
2017.10.13.1
Better error checking for creating/destroying sprites.
2017.10.12.1
Pilots and autopilot try to avoid flying near enemy stations.
Save Capture Cursor and Pause in Background settings.
Fixed Mysterious Glitch Trap animation bug.
Fixed bug re-creating surfaces larger than needed.
Disabled Create Textures On Demand. (This is a possible fix for players that are experiencing crashes since patch 2017.10.10.1)
If you'd like to get patches as soon as possible, the nextversion beta receives patches as soon as they're ready for testing.
If you have problems with any patch or beta, please fill our our Bug Report Form to let us know what went wrong!
New Patch: 2017.10.10.1
We've uploaded a new patch!
This patch integrates the compatibility-test changes. If you're currently using the compatibility-test beta, you should switch back to the main branch and launch the game with Compatibility Mode.
Here's the full list of updates:
2017.10.10.1
Added Advanced Options menu with window and compatibility options.
Capture Cursor option.
Pause in Background option.
Vertex Buffer Method selector.
Sync Method selector.
Added Compatibility Mode launch option.
2017.10.09.1
Fixed Sharing Options UI.
Mysterious items no longer created from Unique items or melee weapons.
Fixed names for AP blades in stores.
Fixed guards passing through walls on the same frame that they're injured.
Fixed negative knockout counter.
Fixed a rare crash when boarding a station.
2017.10.06.1
Unique items are found more often.
Delete Galaxy shows a warning message.
Fixed galaxies sometimes not being deleted.
Fixed defector missions unavailable when liberations are available.
Collision Sensor now shows guards' heat signatures and hides annotations.
2017.10.05.2
Fix a crash when loading personal missions for new characters
2017.10.05.1
Fixed mission ships sometimes fleeing to independent stations.
Fixed drawing dead/captured characters' bodies on station.
Fixed one cause of random zoom-out while onboard a ship.
Fixed a crash when ships suffer both missile and collision damage.
Fixed a crash when a ship docks before its missile hits target.
Fixed Fiasco dropping items when trying to stash during tutorial.
The previousversion beta branch now contains patch 2017.10.03.2. If the latest update has caused problems for you, you can switch to this by right clicking Heat Signature in your Steam library, choosing Properties > Betas and using the drop-down list to choose the previousversion beta.
If you'd like to get patches as soon as possible, the nextversion beta receives patches as soon as they're ready for testing.
If you have problems with any patch or beta, please fill our our Bug Report Form to let us know what went wrong!
New Patch: Version 2017.10.03.2
We've uploaded a new patch, here's what's changed:
2017.10.03.2
Fixed a memory access violation in previous patch.
2017.10.03.1
Improvements to character saving:
Dead and Captured characters will be remembered, preventing duplicate names.
Friends' characters will not be available again after rescue or death.
Fixed guards having extra guns in Personal Missions.
Defector mission #066 now also gives you a Swapper and a longer time limit.
Defector mission GTR description now matches inventory.
Reduced memory allocation when entering a station.
Fixed leaking file handle when reading friends' item data.
We've also setup a beta branch called "previousversion" containing patch 2017.09.26.1. If a recent patch has caused problems for you, you can switch to this by right clicking Heat Signature in your Steam library, choosing Properties > Betas and using the drop-down list to choose the previousversion beta.
If you switch to the previousversion beta, please fill our our Bug Report Form to let us know what went wrong with the latest version!
Thanks!
Edit: added patch notes for 2017.10.03.2
New Patch: Version 2017.09.29.2
We've uploaded a new patch, here's what's changed:
2017.09.29.2
Fix a rare crash when arriving at stations.
2017.09.29.1
Fixed crash after switching galaxies.
Fixed player or guards passing through walls when moving at high speed.
Changed how we set fullscreen mode on startup. This should fix some problems with the game showing a white screen on startup.
