- Update 0.9.9.1 - Modernized and restyled UI - 15 May 2022
This update modernizes all menus and UI-elements within them (buttons, text-boxes, drop-downs, etc.). The UI in Astrokill has largely remained unchanged for years, since gameplay has received the most attention. Previously, the UI was mostly implemented in Blueprints. I've nativized the UI (converted to C++) and added the ability to customize colors globally. Now, when you choose a different color-theme, the entire UI changes colors to match the in-game HUD! HUD Minimap now has double-lined border and a transparent inner region Reduced saturation of blue-tinted cockpit/HUD-elements Reverse "x" icon is now a "friendly" color instead of red UI Modernized menus by "ironing out" buttons and other widgets Increased transparency on all UI-elements to improved readability Buttons now support 3 different behaviors internally (normal, toggle, or slider) Redesigned sliders to be more readable and…
- Update 0.9.9.0 - Upgrade to UE4.27, new Beltor fighter, new asteroids, and more - 18 April 2022
This update brings ASTROKILL into the modern age with the latest UE4 version (upgraded 4 versions from 4.23 to 4.27). An upgrade to UE5 will happen in the next major update! In the meantime, this update leverages the latest atmospheric lighting features from UE4 to add planetary atmospheres and improved stellar (literally) effects. I've replaced all asteroids and fragments in the game with higher resolution geometry and textures suitable for 4k gaming rigs. There's also a new heavy fighter that's playable in the Snare level. This fighter comes equipped with 3 turrets of a new variety. It has more of a Star Wars-y visual style compared to the other fighters. More fighters and frigates matching this style are coming (unless it's not well received). The next update will take full advantage of the Chaos physics system, Lumen, and Nanite in UE5. With Nanite, I'll be able to eliminate most LO…
- Update 0.9.8.2 - Fixes to Steam-achievements, reticles, and more - 27 January 2022
This update improves reticle-recognition and fixes a long-standing issue with Steam stats and achievements not being updated properly. In addition to various stats, like kills and deaths, I'm now recording spawns as well. With regards to reticles, a solid line is now drawn from the target to the leading reticle. I've thickened the outline and scaled down most reticles to make aiming more intuitive and reduce visual clutter. The next update will have an upgraded engine and a live preview in the joystick-menu to make calibration much easier. UI Added a solid line drawn from target to leading reticle Doubled line-thickness on most reticles Leading reticle is now smaller and bolder (makes aiming more accurate) Re-animated leading reticle to make visually distinguishing it easier Fixed a scaling-issue causing reticles to be oversized when camera is zoomed in Fixed an issue with reticles not…
- Update 0.9.8.1 - Engine upgrade, redesigned HUD, optimized core, joystick fixes - 5 January 2022
This update marks a fundamental shift in how the game works under the hood. There are a slew of improvements that increase performance, improve joystick & controller support, optimize HUD space, and future-proof the game. Besides a beefed up architecture, the HUD has been redesigned to improve the 3rd person experience and minimize on-screen clutter. I did a visual polish on all the environments to depict a harsher, brighter atmosphere. A new fixed turret-system is now present in several missions. I'm very happy with the visual style of this new asset and want it to carry over into a new, playable faction. HUD Thinned out many reticles and gauges to reduce visual clutter & obstructions Rearranged gauges so that no gauge is obscured in 3rd person Implemented an animated leading crosshair to emphasize the location to aim at Added a flashing dot that is placed on the origin of the selected…
- Patch 0.9.7.1 - Ultrawide support, display fixes, gamepad fixes, and UE 4.21.2 upgrade - 3 March 2019
General - Ultrawide resolutions are now supported - Numerous display-issues have been fixed (vsync, windowed mode, etc.) - Gamepad support is greatly improved - Upgraded to UE 4.21.2 (from 4.21.1) Graphics - All graphics-settings are now saved using UE4's game-user-settings - Anti-aliasing is now off by default (on first-run) - Anti-aliasing setting is now saved properly between runs - Graphics-settings are no longer applied when opening the graphics-menu - Most scalability-settings (low, medium, high, epic) now use engine-defaults (cleaned up years of clutter in DefaultScalability.ini) https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F11892863%2Faad62ee81e8960d398be1c91ba943822135e0e05.png UI - Menus now auto-adjust to ultrawide resolutions - Cursor is now activated and centered when menus are opened - "Apply Display Settings" button is now larger and grayed out when not…
- Patch 0.9.7 - MASSIVE update (I'm back) - 20 February 2019
General - Upgraded to Unreal 4.21.1 - Redesigned entire HUD with customizable colors - Replaced all existing asteroids and debris with new meshes and textures (more varied and realistic) - Mission load-times reduced significantly - Added color-themes that affect the entire HUD and some menus - 4K displays are now properly supported (HUD-resolution scales up/down accordingly) - Desktop resolution is now used by default on first startup Gameplay - Created a new objective-system that displays major and minor objectives (and their progress) on the HUD - Relative movement is now shown in the center of the HUD with a colorized moving reticle - Added several more objectives to each mission - Rebalanced all missions and updated difficulty levels - Damaged frigates now display accurate hull-damage - Players are now warned as they near the edge of the playable area - Health-icons are now shown ne…
- Patch 0.9.6.1 - Increased VR resolution, re-textured Holliman frigate, and new achievements - 27 February 2018
Visuals - Re-textured Holliman frigate and turrets (as seen in Snare mission) - Re-modeled lateral thrusters on Holliman engine (increased detail) VR - Added resolution-selection to VR-menu (sets proper resolution-scale for selected headset) UI - Increased resolution-scale range to 140% in graphics-menu - Resolution-scale slider no longer updates while sliding (only after sliding) - Restart-button is now selectable after beating a campaign-mission - Updated Snare mission splash-image Steam - Added a "Colonizer" achievement for beating the Colonists mission - Added a "Firefighter" achievement for beating the Firefight mission
- Patch 0.9.6.1 - Increased VR resolution, re-textured Holliman frigate, and new achievements - 27 February 2018
Visuals - Re-textured Holliman frigate and turrets (as seen in Snare mission) - Re-modeled lateral thrusters on Holliman engine (increased detail) VR - Added resolution-selection to VR-menu (sets proper resolution-scale for selected headset) UI - Increased resolution-scale range to 140% in graphics-menu - Resolution-scale slider no longer updates while sliding (only after sliding) - Restart-button is now selectable after beating a campaign-mission - Updated Snare mission splash-image Steam - Added a "Colonizer" achievement for beating the Colonists mission - Added a "Firefighter" achievement for beating the Firefight mission
- Patch 0.9.6 - New fighter skins, improved VR, and faster load times - 18 February 2018
Gameplay - Added a new fighter variant (Sabre Quad) - Added a unique Sabre Medic skin (as shown below) - Decreased all level load-times and initial game load-time - Fundamentally changed VR support to improve playability and decrease motion sickness Visuals - Created a new Sabre model with 4 machine guns - Added "cinematic" quality to all quality-options - Added "low" option to shadow-qualities - Texture-quality now defaults to cinematic - Framerate now maxes out at 90 to reduce issues with excessively high framerates Core - Now using PAK files instead of loose files to reduce file count - Debug-files no longer included VR - Motion controllers are no longer used/required - Added "experimental" warning to VR-menu - VR-cursor now resets to center when menu is shown - VR-cursor can now be controlled with the mouse, keyboard (WASD), or gamepad Steam - Fixed issue with "flawless" Steam-stat…
- Patch 0.9.6 - New fighter skins, improved VR, and faster load times - 18 February 2018
Gameplay - Added a new fighter variant (Sabre Quad) - Added a unique Sabre Medic skin (as shown below) - Decreased all level load-times and initial game load-time - Fundamentally changed VR support to improve playability and decrease motion sickness Visuals - Created a new Sabre model with 4 machine guns - Added "cinematic" quality to all quality-options - Added "low" option to shadow-qualities - Texture-quality now defaults to cinematic - Framerate now maxes out at 90 to reduce issues with excessively high framerates Core - Now using PAK files instead of loose files to reduce file count - Debug-files no longer included VR - Motion controllers are no longer used/required - Added "experimental" warning to VR-menu - VR-cursor now resets to center when menu is shown - VR-cursor can now be controlled with the mouse, keyboard (WASD), or gamepad Steam - Fixed issue with "flawless" Steam-stat…
- Patch 0.9.5.1 - Larger fighters and improved joystick configuration - 5 February 2018
Gameplay - Increased size of fighters and interceptors by 50% - Decreased objective-capture time to 20s - Reduced difficulty of Menace mission and improved its level-scripting - Smoothed out automatic speed-limit braking - Lowered thruster-acceleration on interceptors - Raised thruster-acceleration on gunships - Equalized camera-orbit distance amongst all fighters (to give accurate sense of scale when selecting ships) Visuals - Removed visible black-seams from all fighters and waystations (regenerated ambient occlusion textures) - Ragdolls now collide with other ragdolls - Increased max draw-distance for fighters and small DOM-turrets - Added additional, small rear-thrusters to Scythe interceptor AI - Pre-determined line-traces now used in path-finding instead of random vectors (often improves chosen paths) UI - Added a dedicated joystick menu accessible from the controls menu - Added c…
- Patch 0.9.5.1 - Larger fighters and improved joystick configuration - 5 February 2018
Gameplay - Increased size of fighters and interceptors by 50% - Decreased objective-capture time to 20s - Reduced difficulty of Menace mission and improved its level-scripting - Smoothed out automatic speed-limit braking - Lowered thruster-acceleration on interceptors - Raised thruster-acceleration on gunships - Equalized camera-orbit distance amongst all fighters (to give accurate sense of scale when selecting ships) Visuals - Removed visible black-seams from all fighters and waystations (regenerated ambient occlusion textures) - Ragdolls now collide with other ragdolls - Increased max draw-distance for fighters and small DOM-turrets - Added additional, small rear-thrusters to Scythe interceptor AI - Pre-determined line-traces now used in path-finding instead of random vectors (often improves chosen paths) UI - Added a dedicated joystick menu accessible from the controls menu - Added c…
- Patch 0.9.5 - New missions, improved AI, and many gameplay fixes - 25 January 2018
Gameplay - Added new mission Fury to end of Dominion campaign - Added new mission Guardians to beginning of Outer Belt campaign (replaces mission Maki Transit) - Added "rearm" squad-command (squad-members can be directed to rearm) - Added a laser super weapon (available in the Fury mission) - Most missions now have clearly marked objectives - Homing missiles will now change targets in mid-flight (if a better target presents itself) - Dead pilots can now be shot multiple times before being vaporized - Less damage is taken from collisions with ships, asteroids, etc. - Increased muzzle-velocity of flak-projectiles - Increased homing-velocity of missiles - Decreased laser-ammo capacity in all interceptors - Rebalanced all missions to reflect their difficulty level - Improved placement and variety of initial ship-selection in all missions - Enemies are smarter in many different ways (see AI…
- Patch 0.9.5 - New missions, improved AI, and many gameplay fixes - 25 January 2018
Gameplay - Added new mission Fury to end of Dominion campaign - Added new mission Guardians to beginning of Outer Belt campaign (replaces mission Maki Transit) - Added "rearm" squad-command (squad-members can be directed to rearm) - Added a laser super weapon (available in the Fury mission) - Most missions now have clearly marked objectives - Homing missiles will now change targets in mid-flight (if a better target presents itself) - Dead pilots can now be shot multiple times before being vaporized - Less damage is taken from collisions with ships, asteroids, etc. - Increased muzzle-velocity of flak-projectiles - Increased homing-velocity of missiles - Decreased laser-ammo capacity in all interceptors - Rebalanced all missions to reflect their difficulty level - Improved placement and variety of initial ship-selection in all missions - Enemies are smarter in many different ways (see AI…
- Patch 0.9.4.2 - Engine upgrade, joystick fixes, and cloud-saves - 15 December 2017
Core - Upgraded UE4 engine from 4.18.1 to 4.18.2 - Game-progress, key-bindings, and other saved data is now synced to the Steam-cloud Input - Joystick-axis values are now shown in real-time from the controls-menu (helps with mapping axes to the correct controls) - Modifier keys (shift, alt, ctrl) are now allowed in key-bindings Bugs - Fixed issue with idle joystick-axis values reverting to -1 (causing uncontrollable spinning and other undesired behavior) UI - HUD is now automatically hidden when in-game menu is displayed (reduces visual clutter and increases menu readability) Audio - Reduced memory-footprint of larger audio-files (music, vocals)
- Patch 0.9.4.2 - Engine upgrade, joystick fixes, and cloud-saves - 15 December 2017
Core - Upgraded UE4 engine from 4.18.1 to 4.18.2 - Game-progress, key-bindings, and other saved data is now synced to the Steam-cloud Input - Joystick-axis values are now shown in real-time from the controls-menu (helps with mapping axes to the correct controls) - Modifier keys (shift, alt, ctrl) are now allowed in key-bindings Bugs - Fixed issue with idle joystick-axis values reverting to -1 (causing uncontrollable spinning and other undesired behavior) UI - HUD is now automatically hidden when in-game menu is displayed (reduces visual clutter and increases menu readability) Audio - Reduced memory-footprint of larger audio-files (music, vocals)
- Patch 0.9.4.1 - Linux fixes - 11 December 2017
Core - Disabled unused plugins (specifically Android plugins) to help resolve a Linux crash - Recompiled Linux UE4 with this fix for AMD drivers: https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine/commit/8bd35912ed384750ca8b3474f3ab806c6ddcf Gameplay - Tutorials no longer require all rings to be cleared (destroying large enemy vessel is enough) Bugs - Checking the joystick-bypass checkbox will now zero-out all internal joystick-axis values
- Patch 0.9.4.1 - Linux fixes - 11 December 2017
Core - Disabled unused plugins (specifically Android plugins) to help resolve a Linux crash - Recompiled Linux UE4 with this fix for AMD drivers: https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine/commit/8bd35912ed384750ca8b3474f3ab806c6ddcf Gameplay - Tutorials no longer require all rings to be cleared (destroying large enemy vessel is enough) Bugs - Checking the joystick-bypass checkbox will now zero-out all internal joystick-axis values
- Patch 0.9.4 - Unreal 4.18 upgrade, Vive support, and heavy optimization - 9 December 2017
Core - Upgraded engine from UE 4.17 to 4.18 - Drastically reduced texture-memory usage by optimizing mip-maps - HTC Vive should now work via the OSVR plugin (needs testing) - Eliminated many unused materials and textures to lower required disk-space - Joystick-input is now fed through the UE4 raw-input plugin - Reduced all texture-pool sizes (varies with texture-quality setting) - Lowered overall game-size by nearly 2GB (~50%) Controls - Angular drag is now customizable (very useful for joysticks and VR) - Joystick-buttons are now customizable from any control-mapping field (shown as GenericUSBController Button) - Up to 8 joystick-axes can now be mapped (must be manually set for now) - Steam Controller plugin is now enabled UI - Improved visibility of menu-text - Changed off-screen target-reticle to a simpler arrow-design - Added angular-drag slider and joystick-axes fields to the contr…
- Patch 0.9.4 - Unreal 4.18 upgrade, Vive support, and heavy optimization - 9 December 2017
Core - Upgraded engine from UE 4.17 to 4.18 - Drastically reduced texture-memory usage by optimizing mip-maps - HTC Vive should now work via the OSVR plugin (needs testing) - Eliminated many unused materials and textures to lower required disk-space - Joystick-input is now fed through the UE4 raw-input plugin - Reduced all texture-pool sizes (varies with texture-quality setting) - Lowered overall game-size by nearly 2GB (~50%) Controls - Angular drag is now customizable (very useful for joysticks and VR) - Joystick-buttons are now customizable from any control-mapping field (shown as GenericUSBController Button) - Up to 8 joystick-axes can now be mapped (must be manually set for now) - Steam Controller plugin is now enabled UI - Improved visibility of menu-text - Changed off-screen target-reticle to a simpler arrow-design - Added angular-drag slider and joystick-axes fields to the contr…
