A-Star Theft News

If you enjoy the game, consider leaving a review! It helps a lot!


This update presents an upgraded melee combat design for snappier and more visceral close-quarters takedowns. Logan is now equipped with a katana! Why? Because it's awesome, of course.

Store prices have been decreased to encourage more experimentation with different builds and play styles. Some graphical elements have been tweaked, along with minor AI improvements.

Please leave feedback in the comments when you have tried the new melee combat system.
I hope you enjoy the new update!

Changelog:

• Added new animations and sound effects for melee combat
• Reduced store prices to encourage experimentation
• Slightly improved AI behavior in combat with many enemies
  
• Changed sun bloom to not be visible during the player’s death animation
  
• Changed large electronic door graphics to better communicate its function
  
• Reduced stamina cost for door kicking
  
• Reduced screen blur during low health
  
• Fixed enemies sometimes shooting with their weapons holstered
  
• Fixed “Lootbag Full“ text sometimes appearing in a black color
  
• Fixed Remaster Demo stealth music sometimes not playing
  
• Fixed a rare bug where a player’s bullet hitting an explosive barrel after the player had died would crash the game
  
• Fixed cameras immediately triggering when spotting a dead body.
  
• Potentially fixed cameras sometimes triggering immediately after they start detecting the player
  
• Miscellaneous improvements
  

For questions or feedback, you can join the A-Star Theft discord server, or mail me at: [email protected]

If you enjoy the game, consider leaving a review! It helps a lot!


This update brings an assortment of changes I have been working on over the last month. The keycard mechanic has been made more clear by now only opening regular keycard doors. They can no longer open vault doors. Vault doors can instead be opened by using the keypad. Find code segments on the map and piece together the code to open the vault silently. Crew members are now rescued by finding them tied up on the map. This replaces the old system where you had to click on the user interface to make them respawn at your location, which was not properly communicated, not to mention a bit buggy. The lighting have been improved with a new sun bloom effect. This is affected by the time of day, and can make sunsets look very nice and warm. This is somewhat experimental, so please tell me if you like it or not!

I hope you enjoy the new update!

Changelog:

• Added keypads for opening vault doors
• Added a new system for rescuing captured crew members
• Added a new sun bloom lighting effect
• Added ability for thermite to destroy security cameras
  
• Added damage displays for shooting range targets
  
• Removed ability for keycards to open vault doors
  
• Removed the old system for capturing crew members
  
• Improved headshot precision even further
  
• Improved healthbar graphics for crew members
  
• Changed headshot effects
  
• Changed keycards to still function after the police has been called
  
• Increased intensity of sneaking vignette to increase clarity
  
• Updated the cocaine buyer’s visual design
  
• Reduced risk of weapons dropped by enemies getting stuck in walls
  
• Fixed the issue where players could repeatedly press F to start the mission by the van, making the fade animation restart
  
• Fixed infinite cable tie bug
  
• Miscellaneous improvements
  

For questions or feedback, you can join the A-Star Theft discord server, or mail me at: [email protected]

If you enjoy the game, consider leaving a review! It helps a lot!


With this update, I want to put a greater focus on actively using equipment during combat, and have therefore increased the effectiveness of several tools. To further encourage experimentation, access to the equipment store directly from a heist has returned, after previously being removed for compatibility issues with the driving mechanic.

I hope you enjoy the new update!

Changelog:

• Re-added equipment store access from inside heists (this was temporarily removed when driving was added)
  
• Added a new music track which plays on the Extrication heist
  
• Added ability to drive onto a van armor piece to automatically assemble it
  
• Added more gore
  
• Added cue balls to pool tables
  
• Improved user interface by showing electronic door switch connection lines from any distance
  
• Improved gamepad cursor speed consistency at higher frame rates
  
• Increased health for companions
  
• Increased effectiveness of human shields
  
• Increased thermite damage distance
  
• Increased liquid nitrogen slow effect distance
  
• Increased damage range of explosions on NPCs
  
• Decreased player knockback when hit by a bullet
  
• Tripled capacity of the health kit equipment and increased healing speed
  
• Doubled capacity of the ammo bag equipment
  
• Removed ability to use thermite to burn down vault doors in order to balance against the improved drill equipment
  
• Fixed police cars driving over and killing its own driver
  
• Fixed bullets sometimes not dealing damage when near a police car
  
• Fixed guards able to spot hostages from a distance farther than their sight
  
• Fixed ability to walk during minigames after a companion has kicked down a door
  
• Fixed absolutely ancient code in Bloody Hospital file cabinets which did not respect different key bindings
  
• Fixed camera guards investigating vault drill noise
  
• Fixed occasional incorrect explosion position when police drive through walls
  
• Fixed headlamp light visible while driving the van
  
• Fixed a headlamp crash
  
• Fixed a crash which could occur when a guard investigates a camera
  
• Some fixes and improvements to the Remaster Demo
  
• Miscellaneous improvements
  

For questions or feedback, you can join the A-Star Theft discord server, or mail me at: [email protected]

If you enjoy the game, consider leaving a review! It helps a lot!



The Story Remaster version 2 brings tons of improvements based on player feedback. Thank you for answering the survey after completing the demo, it truly does help!

The new demo has player choice at its core, and now allows the rescue segment to be completed with both stealth and action strategies. Both the rescue and arrest segments now encourage player exploration and allows weapons to be used from the very start, if you so choose to do so. Some of the dialog has also been looked at, to better emphasize a consistent tone. Thus, a lot of the more silly dialog has been dialed down and replaced with more appropriate dialog. Logan's narrations has also been tweaked in some places to feel less edgy. I am still looking for feedback on this, so feel free to answer the survey after completing the demo.

Remaster Demo changelog:

• Redesigned several parts of the Remaster Demo to support both stealth and action strategies
• Improved dialog in the Story Remaster
  
• Added ability to punch civilians in the Story Remaster (experimental)
  
• Greatly improved the Arrest segment of the Story Remaster
  
• Fixed a few bugs in the Story Remaster
  

Along with the Remaster Demo improvements, this update also includes many improvements for overall gameplay. Combat game feel has been improved with better visual effects, and a long-standing bug fixed that prevented headshots from registring if hitting an enemy's shoulder first. This meant that headshots were impossible when flanking an enemy. I have also made some difficulty tweaks for larger shootouts.

I hope you enjoy the new update!

Changelog:

• Added a new Hacking Minigame to replace to previous one
• Added recoil indicator on cursor
  
• Added knockback for destroyed fire extinguishers
  
• Made all sprite assets destructible (experimental)
  
• Changed how Low Health Invincibility works - you now must fully heal before regenerating this protection
  
• Increased impact of bloodstains and added more blood effects
• Increased knockback from bullets and melee damage for both player and enemies
  
• Improved companion AI for both stealth and action gameplay
  
• Improved hitbox size on enemies
  
• Improved screen effect for shooting and damaging enemies
  
• Improved civilian interaction interface
  
• Improved sound when tying civilians
  
• Tweaked gunplay camera shake to feel heavier
• Tweaked enemy AI to be slightly more aggressive
  
• Tweaked police drones to dodge bullets slightly slower
  
• Tweaked recoil for all weapons
  
• Tweaked shooting audio
  
• Reduced the size of crew revival texts
  
• Reduced natural health regeneration to encourage taking hostages
  
• Reduced sniper enemy damage
  
• Reduced the size of the intimidation symbol
  
• Fixed strange camera shake effect when in slow-motion
  
• Fixed headshots not registering if bullet hits an enemy’s shoulder first
• Fixed an issue where players would sometimes shoot twice after switching weapons
  
• Reduced frequency of enemies sometimes walking through walls
  
• Miscellaneous improvements
  

For questions or feedback, you can join the A-Star Theft discord server, or mail me at: [email protected]

It's finally time, the Story Remaster Demo is now available!

I am looking for as much feedback as possible, so it would be very helpful if you want to answer the survey after trying out the demo.

If you want to talk to me while playing, for an interview-style testing session, you can contact me on Discord or fill out this form. This way, you can provide nuanced opinions and allow me to observe your play style for analysis.

If you are wondering what this is about, you can read this post for more information.

The Remaster Demo is available for both the full game and the free version, so you do not need to purchase the game to play. Please share your thoughts!

[h2]SIGN UP FOR A PERSONAL TESTING SESSION[/h2]
[h2]PROVIDE FEEDBACK ON THE DEMO[/h2]


This update also has some smaller changes for the general game experience.

Changelog:

• Added new Freeplay hairstyles
  
• Added ability to stand on conveyor belts
  
• Fixed story characters not having their own proper hairstyles
  
• Fixed airport luggage transporters transporting bullets
  
• Fixed strange movement for gang members when escorting the player out of a building
  
• Fixed flying heads not having their intended skin color
  
• Fixed flying heads often splashing on the wrong side of the wall
  
• Fixed small interface artifacts when returning to the main menu while True Pixel Style is turned on
  
• Hopefully fixed dropped weapons sometimes getting stuck in walls
  

For questions or feedback, you can join the A-Star Theft discord server, or mail me at: [email protected]