Starblazer
Ship Capacity Limiting and CCV1 Builder Tweaks | v0.909
Bugs:
- Stop the timer and save end time at the end for Infinity Mode, rather than letting run during AFK and get unnaturally high score.
- Door link in Orbit Repairs fixed to lead out to Fleet Builder.
- Capacity counter background does not change to white when a Fleet is cleared.
- Capacity Counter color doesn't change to red or orange when the initial fleet is loaded in Fleetbuilder.
- Cap limit can be breached with new CCV1 builder arm in Fleetbuilder, which loads all ships in game mode. Now properly caps like before.
- Players cannot load more than 500 cap ships into a game, blocked via the rule checker.
Tweaks:
- Added cost of ships to the new Cosmic Controller in Fleet Builder.
- Fixed Teleport fall through points in War Room.
- Increased Waypoint grip and drag mechanic sensitivity by 2.5x.
- Teleportation arrows moved from off center to centered in Fleetbuilder.
Grip and Lift Waypoint System | Patch Notes 0.907
1. First, we change up the Waypoint setting mode so that you can change the height of waypoints midair by gripping and moving the controller.
2. Second, we add a new UI to the Cosmic Controller that lets the player see what a Builder is building as well as the current progress.
3. Finally, we are starting to edit the flow of the game and how a user gets from one section to another. We start here by streamlining the flow from the Tutorial to Demo Room to Mini Battle and then the other game modes.
If you want to see all of this in action, you can check out the recorded YouTube video of the patch notes here:
[previewyoutube="27Q4luGTuOs;full"]
Tweaks:
• Fighters will now stop and fire at double the original distance, just to help with spacing of the ships.
• Some of the ships have been removed from the Mini Battle, as to not overwhelm new players.
• Orbit's Repair Room is now filled with objects that can be picked up and held by the new selection system.
Bug Fixes:
• Previously, a player could select their Builder, and then accidentally select the enemy Flagship. This would freeze selection and stop the gameplay. Now, it is not possible for the player to select the enemy Flagship unless targeting with a mobile ship.
• Maps 6-9 were on Icarus, not Saffron as they should be. Now all are Saffron maps for Puzzle Mode.
New Puzzle Mode!
Here is a video introducing all of the new features:
[previewyoutube="KnlmoFfqPt0;full"]
In order to track your progress, we are also storing information on each game in your player profile now. Curious who got a higher score in Infinity Mode? Take a screenshot and challenge your friend. Want to race and see who can finish Puzzle Mode the fastest? Now you're got proof. Additionally, You can also track all of the difficulty modes you were able to beat the AI on during 1vs1 combat. One warning.. Your fleet configurations will likely reset with this patch! Reach out to us on Discord and I will walk you through how to transfer if you're really attached to a fleet.
We also added a Tutorial mode to help out new users. Here's a video explaining why it was important to include this:
[previewyoutube="J3x2lFOaXvg;full"]https://youtu.be/J3x2lFOaXvg[/previewyoutube]
Finally, we changed up Fleet Builder by moving the ship building to the Cosmic Controller on your arm. We believe this will be more intuitive for new users, be easier and more accessible overall, and much more streamlined. Let us know what you think of the new experience!
Bug fixes:
• Fixed the hole in the roof of lobby (space rain might get in).
• Fixed the scaling of the victory / defeat washovers for high resolution (thanks Dave of Many Names!)
• The Flagship doesn't disappear and get clipped in Lobby when you look up now.
• Adjusted the lighting on Melody so that the user can see all of the holograms of ships clearly.
Tweaks:
• Players can replay any map from the Quit Menu.
• Player can now pick up the asteroid in Fleet Builder
• Smoothed out the Teleportation floor and "fallthrough" points in War Room (Lobby)
• Allow the user to teleport to the upper platform in War Room
• Increased all blaster sounds by 70%
• Scaled the explosion for Bruisers and Builders
• Flipped the Builder's CCV1 menu so that Fighter is more accessible
•We transitioned more of the object pick-ups to remove the hand pick-up and morphing. Now, a connection orb will magnetize and hold the object to the controller.
Melody (New Map Introduction) + New Player Hot Fix
[previewyoutube="xr-po9jFWO0;full"]
Today's shout-out goes out to one of our Discord users who goes by the name ROCKY. A week ago, ROCKY let us know about a strange bug seen in Demo Room where ships could not be selected that could have a variety of symptoms for new users. So thank you ROCKY! We've fixed the bug now, so new players should be able to have a great experience. If some reason you recently bought the game and saw any of these issues, please give it a second chance before you send a bad review :) We're working as hard as we can (note that it IS Christmastime even, but this patch was prioritized)
In addition to this fix, I added a couple other pieces of polish:
• Many of you complained about the repetitive ship noises. We took note and now I better localized the ship sounds. You will only hear ships crashing, firing, and building when within a certain radius, with a smooth dropout zone. Now the sounds should be more realistic and fall off when stepping away from the action. AKA less annoying :)
• Victory screens now trigger a blue wash-over to let the user know that they won the game.
• The laser pointer was disappearing behind the map menu UI, a layering sprite issue that I cleaned up.
• Medic speed increased to match Fighter so that it can follow more smoothly.
Infinity Mode | Starblazer One Year Anniversary
[previewyoutube="qUPhxhq9rN0;full"]
Additional Tweaks:
• Spectres are now forced to briefly appear every 10 seconds, allowing a 5 second window where they're vulnerable, even without a Seeker spotting them. This balances the game out and removes the possibility of a player now being able to ever find a Spectre (if both their Seekers and Builders were destroyed)
• Ships will now stop behind a ship if they're blocked, rather than clunkily push their way through.
• The player's screen is flooded in a red overlay when they've lost the game to clearly notify them that the game is over.
• Cannons now fire in reverse order on the Bruiser, starting with the inside cannons to tackle the immediate threat.
• Increased the damage of the front two cannons on the Bruiser.
• Orbit can flip herself right-side up if turned upside down.
• AI will no longer change its mind on a target if it has already been assigned.
• AI Builders will constantly build ships up to a cap determined by the difficulty level for Hard and above.
• Spectre cannot hide another Spectre, another game-breaking possibility.
• Ally ships can now longer dock in front of another ship (because it blocks their path).
• Docking points spaced out a little further for spacing.
• Modified the building tactics for the AI in each difficulty level:
○ Easy Mode builds only Fighters.
○ Medium Mode builds both Fighters and Bruisers.
○ Hard Mode builds all types of ships, including Medics, Spectres, Seekers, and Snipers.
• Enemy AI is a little bit more responsive in Easy and Medium game modes.
Bug Fixes:
• Orbit will now turn and face players again.
• Removed the 6-7 second gap between the launch music and standard background map music.
StarRaver Lounge
We made a club.
Don't ask me why, but we did. So enjoy. We're coming up on Starblazer's One Year Anniversary on Steam Store, so we decided to add some fun content just to celebrate. Play some of the games at the tables, go nuts on the Orbits standing around, practice the Orbit shuffle with the one true Orbit.
Do whatever your heart desires. Have fun. Film in Liv and then post it on Twitter / Instagram / TikTok ... #OrbitShuffle #StarRaver
Thanks ;)
[previewyoutube="5PPUNtzIoBQ;full"]
Flagship Highlights and Ship Selection Improvements [v0.874]
- In some cases, selection could get stuck when a ship that is selected and targeting Flagship is suddenly destroyed.
- Medics and Spectres were having troubles unpairing from ships.
- Groups of ships were being selected, rather than individual ships in that group (again, Spectres and Medics). Now, if an individual paired ship is selected, it can unpair just by specifying a new direction.
- All ships were able to pair to the Ally Flagship (which was kind of confusing).
- Flagships are easier to select from a distance using our special Spotlight algorithm.
Now, selection is snappy, quick, intuitive and bug free! (well, as far as we know)
We made a few other tweaks to make the game easier to play for first time users. Now, the Flagships are clearly marked Defend or Capture accordingly. No more poor newbs accidentally sending their Flagship across the map! In Arcade Mode, these ship UI markers will be up 100% of the time to make it easier to pick up and play.
Additionally, we have officially discontinued the user of the Waypoint switch mode (where the WayPoint can snap to your hand using the grip button). While some advanced users liked this functionality, most users didn't understand the interaction and could get stuck with the WayPoints snapping to their hands. And that's no fun! We just want them to enjoy the game :D
One small tweak includes the Sniper's stopping further back from their target, so that they don't get stuck spinning crazily in space.
Finally, we moved that pillar on Incomplex that starts off right in front of your face start of a match. Sorry, we got that out of your personal space now though.
Multiplayer and Liv Launch
In this update, we also included support for Liv - mixed reality game recording. Now you can stream yourself real-time playing Starblazer, whether you're smashing ships, chatting with Orbit, or crushing the competition in Multiplayer.
[previewyoutube="8E1ZPUw3ZXI;full"]
Tweaks:
- \
- If someone bails on a Multiplayer game, the person left in the game is awarded a victory. Boo!! No rage quitting!
- The AI will navigate around pillars and obstacles a little more smoothly.
- Enemy fleet boundaries now appear red during selection period to differentiate the two teams.
- Fleet selection buttons do not show up over the enemy's fleet bounds and area.
- We added back the fireworks at the end of a victory. Sorry that you all missed those! They're back now.
- You can now deselect the Builder from your Cosmic Controller, just like the other ships.
- There is UI during a game screen to quit mid-match on Arcade mode.
- In Arcade Mode, the ships will always be blue (allies) and red (enemies).
- Ships automatically fire back at an attacker if provoked.
- The Bruiser's buckshot radius is increased so that it can attack ships directly in the middle of it.
- The blast radius of the Fighter was also enlarged to catch the splitters that were slipping in between the cannons.
- The Start Menu will appear further away from the user's face so it's less obtrusive.
Bug Fixes:
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- If all of the assets were not properly loaded in Arcade Mode, then the user is not able to exit a game.
- In some cases, a mysterious third fleet is accidentally spawned in a matchmaking game. As cool as it sounds (Pirates, future DLC?), this was not good for gameplay.
- In multiplayer, the names of the two competitive players were not syncing across the network on the Scoreboard.
- There was a chance that the players could spawn on top of each other in Multiplayer. Now the spawn loading is more methodical and this can't happen.
- Outside users can no longer accidentally join a game that has already ended.
- Canceling a search for a multiplayer game was leaving it open. Now the player fully leaves the newly created room.
- Arcade UI will now adapt to any monitor size.
- Player was unable to quit to Start screen after changing from Arcade Mode to Full Mode.
- The ship building pedestal was out of range of the collision box in Fleetbuilder and blowing up people's ships. Boom.
- Fighter hologram was showing up backwards in fleet selection.
- The keyboard UI was layered behind the rest of the menu elements in Lobby.
- There was some shenanigans where selecting two different menu items in a row will break the loading process. Only one can be selected and loaded now.
- Spamming the load button could kill the loading process.
- Builders weren't showing up for the main player in Arcade Mode.
- Capturing the Flagship while an enemy seeker is active was causing a system crash.
- The sun boundary on Icarus was too unrealistically large.
- The Bruisers could not attack and destroy a Builder if approaching from the bottom diagonal angle.
- Left hand was missing a laser pointer on the Start menu.
[previewyoutube="DdmypbESlWE;full"]
Arcade Mode and Multiplayer Fixes [v0.863]
Here they are:
- In Arcade Mode, players are starting off with their ships being the same color. SUPER CONFUSING. For now, on a player's screen, they will always appear blue and the enemy red.
- Builders were not being spawned for players in Arcade Mode... yeah, good luck winning a game without those guys in there!
- Menu sequence initiates a lock state: Defeat -> Select a Unit -> Quit -> Stuck (Won't Quit)
- Load button if spammed (thanks to our hyperactive friend Brandon for finding this) causing load times to lock up and game will never load.
- Selecting a new menu item will double load whatever has already been selected.
- A player can get stuck in the Lobby for Arcade Mode, as there is no way to transition back to Start Screen, other than quitting the game completely.
- Fighter hologram is showing up BACKWARDS. (Yeah, how does that happen?)
- The UI layering of the Lobby Room Name is showing up behind the map designs. Just funky looking.
- Keyboard is also laying behind the maps when you rename a room. Oops.
- The ship builder pedestal is outside of the Fleetbuilder bounds... blowing up everything instantly upon spawn.
- Loaders are spawning players on top of each other roughly 50% of the time (silly race condition).
- There is no way to Deselect the Builder from the CCV1 (unless of course you know there is a button). I added a menu item for this on the CCV1 for first-time players.
- Arcade Mode UI scaling is all messed up on the flat screen.
- There is no way for the Arcade operator to quit the game for the player. Added a 2D Quit button to the flat screen.
- Increased the damage radius of Fighters so that they don't shoot past Splitters anymore.
Arcade Mode Update [v0.860]
With multiplayer now supported, Starblazer is about to go to the VR arcades! In order to make it easier for the people running the arcades, we implemented a new Arcade Mode. Arcade Mode brings a couple of things, including:
• Once Arcade Mode is selected from the menu, the game will always load directly into the War Room.
• Players will load directly in front of the game selection screen, rather than further back looking into the War Room. This way they can get started playing faster.
• Unnecessary rooms, like Fleet Builder and Demo Room are closed off, just to keeps players focused on the versus gameplay.
• Whenever a player is in Arcade Mode, 5 default fleet types are available as options instead of 5 custom fleets, as normally is the case.
• There is additional 2D UI available on the flat screen for arcade shop owners to help players get a game started. Without even being in the VR game, owners can quickly set up players with a map, game mode, and launch the game for players.
Improved Cosmic Controller
Additionally, while this is not Arcade Mode specific, we simplified the use of the Cosmic Controller Version 1 (CCV1).
Originally, the player had to flip their wrist like they're looking at a watch to activate the menu (it was pretty cool!). However, this has the negative effect that many users didn't even know that we implemented the feature. That's corrected now, with the CCV1 visible and available at all times during gameplay. This will also help first-time players during gameplay by giving them simple options such as Fire Everything, Deselect, Return to Flagship, etc.. We're constantly trying to simplify and lower the barriers towards people being able to play Starblazer. If there are other things you find difficult that we should correct, please just let us know on discord!
https://discord.gg/jDKWnmX
Major Bug Fixes
As we continue to emphasize, we won't stop improving and fixing the game, which is why I'm pleased to announce several major bug fixes that were tackled in this patch:
- Every now and then, the selection button can get stuck, leading to scenarios where the user is unable to select ships during gameplay. This lock-up was being accidentally activated whenever the player passes their selection controller through one of the buttons on the CCV1.
- There was a chance of a major crash at the end of the game whenever the player lost but still had a Seeker on the field. Yes, this is a very bad bug indeed. Good news is that we squashed it and are finding no more crash-inducing bugs.
- Sometimes there was a selection spasming, where the ships would rapidly highlight / de-highlight. Now selections are solid and consistent.
- The CCV1 cannot be accidentally selected by the same hand it's on (an issue specific to HTC Vive)
New additions and delighters added:
- Ships will now fight back! Whenever an idle ship is attacked, it will immediately start attacking the ship that attacked it first. It won't leave it's location, but it will respond with aggressive force.
- All players will now get a randomized default name when they first join Starblazer. There's some pretty creative options in there, so let's see what you get!
- Instead of the 5 default fleets being the same, users are treated to the five fleets used in Arcade Mode.
- Curious what all Orbit can do in the future? See her many functionalities in the Repair Room.
Other tweaks and improvements:
- Players now start in front of their fleets, rather than awkwardly behind them. This helps first time users start a game without even having to teleport and also makes selection of objects more visible and accessible.
- Enemy ships can no longer fly into the Builder and get stuck. They will be stopped outside of it.
- The teleportation path is limited now, due to user feedback that it was too sensitive.
- Splitter attack radius increased to avoid no-hit scenarios.
- Bruiser buckshot damage increased on the middle two cannons to avoid cases where a Fighter is stuck directly in the middle, not taking much damage.
- Bruisers and Splitters will start attacking the Builder at 2.5x the radius… eliminating cases where the Bruiser is stuck underneath the bottom of the Builder but not making any damage.
- Virtual ceiling lowered on Saffron to make it easier to play.
- Colliders for the ships were off from the rescaling, now they're much more realistic.
- The War Room real-time lighting wasn't being cast onto the ships, leading them to look darker than the rest of the room.
- Laser pointer was missing for the left hand on the Start Screen.
- Start Menu was moved further away from the user's face to make it easier to use with the laser pointer.
- Seekers can now target Flagships.
- The trigger boundary for the sun on Icarus had accidentally become static, blocking players. Make it passable again.
- Holograms were not the same size as the actual ships when they spawn.
- Finding a match versus creating a match will now give the appropriate prompt on the console menu.
- Orbit sounds reduced during gameplay to be more comfortable to the user.
- Background panels added to many of the menus for clarity and cleanliness.
- Less networking calls now made over the network to increased fluidity of online gameplay.