Spark Five cover
Spark Five screenshot
Genre: Strategy, Adventure, Indie

Spark Five

Language Update

A new dawn, a new beginning, yet a long night awaits us all. 1.2.1 comes with an awesome night mode for all levels, a much needed new ability for the Nemesis Campaign and the game is now available in 8 new languages.

Localization
We are excited to announce that Spark Five is now available in 8 new languages. Apart from English we now have Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and Simplified Chinese. Steam store page has been updated accordingly.

The Shield Ability
The Nemesis Campaign now comes with an all new ability - Shield. Activate to equip yourself with a shield for 4-5 seconds. The shield protects you from incoming bullets only and has a cooldown of 30 seconds. The default key for this ability is 'Q', therefore the default key to place explosive charges on a bio-pod has changed from 'Q' to 'E'. Clicking the shield ability icon on the bottom left corner of the screen will also activate this ability.

Night Mode
A new ambient mode has been added to all levels of the game including the tutorial. Switch on the night mode to experience an all new post-apocalyptic sci-fi ambience. 4 lights (with 4 random colors) have been added to each room which turn on whenever this mode is activated. The night mode doesn't have any impact on the game mechanics but may alter the user's experience. The toggle button is available in the settings panel.

Autumn Essence: Season Change

Celebrating the advent of Fall and the fall of the Summer season. Version 1.2.0 witnessed some huge changes to the game, featuring a total makeover of the graphics, shaders, interface and overall experience. Yet here we are with more fine adjustments and iterations. Aiming to make the game a little more fast-paced and interesting, we present you with the changes listed below.

General

  • Added in-game documentation.
  • Minor changes to the tutorial.
  • Player stats now available in the Achievements section.


User Interface

  • Loading screen updated.
  • Menu panel inside all levels updated.
  • UI animations added to buttons and panels.
  • Clicking on ability buttons (bottom left corner) will activate the ability.
  • Time displayed after level ends has been re-adjusted.
  • Spark Campaign star achievements moved from level button to level description/briefing area.
  • Added icons to in-game elements in the tutorial. You can hover mouse cursor over to view object's name.


Game-play

  • Laser counter rotation speed reduced from 80 to 60 (both clockwise and anticlockwise).
  • Waiting time of guards in all levels reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
  • Movement speed of guards increased by a flat value of 0.8 (both run and walk speed). Animations have been re-adjusted accordingly.
  • Fire rate of some turrets in the Nemesis Campaign levels has been reduced back to 1 second.
  • Circular laser defense system has a new particle effect.
  • Time required to drop replicas, plant bombs, place explosive charges and switch on/off lasers have been reduced.
  • Changed explosion of cargo box.
  • Guards now have an icon to indicate that they are alerted.

Post Saavan Update

Version 1.2.0 Update



It has been a year since I started developing Spark Five. The game has received a major update. Whats new then? A lot has changed actually. Following are the major changes to the game.

GENERAL

  • Shader updated.
  • General theme shading of the game has been changed from orange-yellow to blue-cyan. Game icon hue has been adjusted accordingly.
  • Post-Processing re-adjusted. Colored atmospheric ambience has been removed entirely.
  • Tutorial updated. Text-to-Speech functionality removed from all levels.
  • In-game achievement icons updated.
  • Steam store page updated. New trailer and screenshots added.
  • All game elements (models, particle effects, etc.) have been updated, excluding cargo boxes and loot boxes. The basic map arrangement, overall objectives, item pick-ups, turret positions and number of enemy guards for all levels remain the same.




AUDIO

  • Ambient music for all levels including main menu updated.
  • New explosion sounds added.
  • Footstep sound corresponds to walking on metal as opposed to walking on grass.
  • Added new sound effects associated with various actions in the game.


UI/UX

  • Main Menu updated. Settings panel is permanently visible. Option to enable/disable post-processing has been added to the settings panel.
  • UI elements like boxes, buttons, text, fonts, etc have been updated.
  • Minimap support removed entirely from the game.
  • Perspective camera field of view increased from 50 to 60.
  • Minor script adjustments made related to GUI.




GAME ELEMENTS

  • Character models re-worked (main player and guards). Animations remain the same.
  • Spark form updated. Spark form is no longer a ball of lightning, rather a transparent glowing specter of the original character.
  • Rooms have been updated with new models and textures.
  • 4 types of turrets and associated bullets added. Type of turret has no impact on game-play.
  • Laser machine comes with a radar. A rotating radar indicates that the associated laser is on and vice-versa.


GAME MECHANICS

  • Movement speed of main player increased from 3.85 to 4.
  • You gain +30% bonus movement speed when in Spark form. The bonus is lost when you are reborn.
  • Enemy guards navigation agent radius reduced from 0.5 to 0.2.
  • Chase distance threshold of all enemy guards increased from 6 to 7, i.e. they will cease their pursuit if the distance between you and the guard is 7 units or more. (For reference, a room is 10 units X 10 units)
  • Re-adjusted detection boxes of enemy guards.
  • Time gained from picking up a Time Capsule increased from 23 seconds to 30 seconds.
  • Minimum fire rate of all turrets has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.
  • Turrets have limiters for bullets instead of time constraint. Bullets get de-spawned whenever they collide with the associated limiter or any other collider.
  • Speed of bullet varies randomly between 300 and 350 instead of a 300 flat value. Speed is calculated before bullet leaves the turret.
  • Spark Replicas can stop bullets.
  • All Nemesis Campaign levels have +60 seconds added to the starting timer and start with +1 bomb.
  • All Spark Campaign and Mercenarium levels start with +1 bombs and +1 replica.
  • Time required to achieve stars increased by 30 seconds for all Spark Campaign levels.


PARTICLES

  • New explosion effects added.
  • New effects corresponding to item pick-ups added.
  • Relevant objects colliding laser produces sparks.
  • New particle effect for circular laser defense system.

Christmas Update Version 1.0.1

What's New


Mercenarium - A new fast-paced game mode has been added where you play 10 custom scenarios against the consortium as a hired mercenary. All the levels are directly playable (they aren't locked). This mode comes with plenty of loot boxes that can be opened in-game. Every loot box contains either a replica or a bomb (50% chance), use them strategically to achieve the desired objective. Have fun and a Merry Christmas to you.



Major Updates


  • UI Changes - Added a basic in-game minimap which shows map elements within the player's immediate vicinity. Press 'M' to toggle minimap on/off.
  • Menu Updates - Minor UI changes to the main menu. Added a Credits panel and Controls Overview panel.
  • Models - Bomb model reworked. Added particle effects to Destination. Mercenarium mode opens up a new skin for the player (orange) and the guards (green).
  • UX Changes - Replicas and bombs can be placed by clicking on their respective buttons on the bottom-left corner of the screen. Pressing Escape opens and closes the in-game menu. Spark life extended from 20 seconds to 30 seconds.
  • Beta Controller Support - Game-Pad support has been added but is still in beta mode, and may have multiple bugs. It is therefore recommended to use a keyboard and a mouse to play seamlessly. Refer to the controls overview panel for more information. Visit this website for further help.

Minor Updates


  • Added in-game achievement notification.
  • Replaced Biomass achievements with Time Capsule achievements.
  • Time Capsule time gain increased from +20 seconds to +23 seconds.
  • Added text notification for game-play events such as collecting biomass, dying, re-incarnating etc.