Hey guys! We released an update! Cool, right?.. well, perhaps not the coolest, seeing that we were going to leave Early Access within a month but are releasing this update 8 months later. There were a few reasons to this: [olist] [*]The game didn’t sell as well as expected. Or, to be precise, did not sell well at all. This can be written off as our own fault (for not finding a publisher), with the game also failing to receive basically any coverage by any major outlets, despite the efforts. Regardless, not a particularly motivating experience. [*]Partially as result of above, the game’s budget was successfully and fully exhausted. Not that we had that much of a budget to begin with, but expecting EA sales to at least partially cover the existing expenses and serve as a base for future expenses (additional art/audio assets) and having them cover neither was… not the most helpful. So both of us took on some additional work (Nick doing freelance programming and even a small retail position while Vadim took on more projects in need of online multiplayer functions being added/fixed) while the game waited for a bit. [*]Vadim ([url=https://twitter.com/YellowAfterlife/]YellowAfterlife[/url]) generally always works on too many projects at once, which meant that his parts of workload had seen some delays. [/olist] Regardless, despite the mentioned factors (and some other mishaps), the update is now done and released. Changelog follows, but first a few words about the name change. The game’s name was changed to avoid any possible confusion or anyone [url=http://steamcommunity.com/app/466770/discussions/0/343785380900112845/]getting upset[/url] about naming similarities. While developers of [url=http://store.steampowered.com/app/293780/]Crawl[/url] seemed to be the least concerned about this situation (their game launches on April 11 and is bigger and prettier than ever), we felt like the change was needed, and will better reflect the fact of game doing it’s own thing. Also, we have a new logo and a [url=http://ghost-croquet.com/]website![/url] [h1]Additions:[/h1] [list] [*]Added Linux support! [*]Added proper tutorial. [*]Added proper title screen, along with menu music theme. [*]New maps: forest, metalworks, and cavern. [*]Maps are now “locked” from the very beginning. You can unlock them by beating the previous map from both single-player and multi-player (local and online). [*]There now are additional challenges (i.e. stars) for each official map in single-player mode that include: - collecting all gems; - beating the map under par time; - not using any upgrades. [*]Added vertical fans. [*]Added two new achievements (plus, achievements’ names and icons overhaul). [*]You now can reroll shop's items for 1 crystal. [/list] [h1]New editor features:[/h1] [list] [*]Added undo. [*]You can now select areas to either move them around or delete. [*]You can now “ban” certain items which prevents them from appearing in shops. [*]Maps are now automatically converted to match current editor’s version. [*]Shift+F5 now runs the map in split-screen mode. [*]Better help file. [*]It's no longer possible to interact with invisible layers. [*]Maps are no longer expected to have a shopkeeper. [/list] [h1]Changes:[/h1] [list] [*]Arcade mode maps order is no longer random. [*]Various balance and design changes to all the maps. [*]Better and more intuitive controls sub-menu. [*]The game will no longer play the same track twice in a row. [*]Menu switching acceleration - you can now hold or to scroll through the items way faster. [*]You can now use gamepad shoulder buttons and to navigate menus. [*]Slime will now dash even if will cause him to fall from a ledge. [*]Sime will now dash more aggressively trying to predict hero’s movements. [*]Best times are now displayed on the map selection screen. [/list] [h1]Fixes:[/h1] [list] [*]You can no longer bump into invisible wall on the right edge of the map. [*]Placing a crate under the start location no longer causes it to fall on hero spawn. [*]Fixed workshop thumbnails not being assigned correctly. [*]Blocking mortars with elevators will no longer result in countdown freeze. [*]Birds will no longer kill each other with eggs while flying on the same height. [*]If an afk player leaves the game, it will no longer cause desync. [*]Fixed a bug with crystals counter sometimes not drawing in multiplayer. [*]Fixed menu drawing and responding to input outside the allowed area. [*]Fixed thumb' flash on map selection screen. [*]Fixed some power-saving mode issues. [/list] [h1]Future plans:[/h1] [list] [*][b]60fps. Or, more precisely, arbitrary framerate.[/b] While we have already experimented with this, maintaining consistent platformer physics (most importantly, jump height and distance) with non-fixed framerate requires some additional calculations. [*][b]Lag compensation[/b] We are still researching optimal approaches to making the game play nice even on poor internet connection. After multiple tests, we have settled on an approach slightly akin to what is used in high-end fighting games (“rollback”), but this does require substantial changes to the game and thus is not ready just yet. [*][b]Mac OS support[/b] OSX is another platform that we want to add support for before the full launch, but, much like Linux, it has it’s own challenges that we are yet to fully resolve. [/list] [h1]If you have suggestions or ideas, do tell![/h1]