Starlight: Eye of the Storm News

Another week, another update. We're doing our best to address all the feedback you've kindly provided us with and this week, we'll be bringing you some features, bug fixes as well as admission to some existing issues that you might face.

P.S. Next week will be an exciting week as we welcome everyone to preview the new game mode known as Duel PvP. Yes you got it right - it's a PvP mode where 3 players can come up against each other. This build will be special and won't be available yet to everybody (therefore a preview). However, you should be able to join us, the developers in experiencing this new mode! More information will be released once we're cleared to do so.

[h2]Known Issues[/h2]

This segment will now address any issues we've found that can crash the game but we aren't able to fix it in time. These issues shouldn't cause any immediate concern to those who just play the game as per normal but will under circumstances, crash the game for now.

1. If a custom fighter is subscribed, played, and game saved, then you unsubscribe and delete the SLF file from the mods/assets/customShips folder and then you restart Starlight and try to continue game, the game will crash. This is because the required fighter can't be found and we'll need to figure out how best to approach this issue. Any feedback will be welcomed.
   

[h2]New Features[/h2]

1. Added Finesse Sensitivity option that you can adjust accordingly. For players who wish to finesse around bullets, you may want to lower the % so that the fighter accelerates slower.
   
2. Added Joystick Sensitivity option to help address joystick-related issues especially with older analog joysticks. To a certain extent, it'll also affect newer joysticks that uses a yoke or stick as well.
   
3. Added Steam Rich Presence to inform everyone automatically which part of the game you're currently in.
   
4. Added "Browse Steam Workshop" option in the main menu to help you open the workshop to subscribe to new custom fighters with ease. Once you've closed it, the game will automatically download and refresh the total fighter list to make your new subscription usable immediately.
   

[h2]Changes[/h2]

1. Options menu now have a dirty-flag mode for Graphics, Sound and Gameplay options whenever they're changed. This is to help players through should they accidentally press BACK and revert all their changes.
   
2. Adjusted the impact particle for enemy's plasma napalm weapon. This is because the original version causes the screen to over-saturate with bright lights, making it harder to see other projectiles. Now upon impact, it emits a reddish flame instead.
   
3. Adjusted the Archangel engines to be smaller because the original size gave the impression it's low-res.
   
4. Major mechanic change: If you've mapped FIRE and SPECIAL to the same key, the special powers will charge up as designed ~1 to 1.2 seconds. However, if both keys are different then the charge-up requirements are reduced by 75%. The reason for this change is because since they're different keys, you'll have to shift your finger over to press the SPECIAL key/button. The time difference penalizes the player unnecessarily and can be costly. The reason why SPECIAL isn't press-triggered is because we still don't want players to lose 1 whole bar of special power unnecessarily. The slight charge time is reasonable and is enough to prevent unwarranted triggers. Also, this will reduce any ghosting from keyboards that cannot take too many concurrent key presses.
   

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

1. Fixed a regression bug when returning from Steam Overlay while in the weapon shop with a custom fighter. In 0.74, the game blindly reloads all custom fighters, causing the player's ship to be unloaded inadvertently.
   
2. Fixed a regression bug introduced in 0.74 where stage meshes do not render shadows even when shadows is turned on. There's also another potential issue with dynamic lights. Teething issues.
   
3. Fixed the weapon description of Standard Mass Driver weapon. It does NOT penetrate. Instead, it perforates. That means, if it can kill a weak enemy, it will and weaken itself as a result. It'll penetrate destroyed enemies without being absorbed but will be neutralized should it encounter another enemy strong enough to withstand whatever damage that's left in it.
   
4. Fixed a slight mistake in hints where "Graphics Adapters" is used. It should have been "Graphic Adapters".
   
5. Fixed several delays in several stages where the game waits too long before declaring victory.
   

It's thanks to you that we can improve the game so much since release. We're looking forward to make more improvements based on your feedback.

Please help us by leaving a review if you've enjoyed the game. And we'll look forward to seeing you next week!

P.S. Some feedback weren't implemented in this patch because it didn't make it in time. This is because we do not want to introduce too many regression bugs that could damage your playing experience. Therefore, every bug fix, changes and new features are tested across several scenarios, play-throughs and so on before they reach the final build.

The next patch will involve some major changes to the canonical fighters themselves. Stay tuned!

Thanks again for your support!
Jeremy

First of all, sorry for the delay as the patch has some serious testing to be done in order to test the efficacy of the performance fixes.

To begin, we're genuinely concerned about how some systems, especially laptops that is within specifications can't run the game smoothly.

We've therefore identified a few heavy duty areas and done thorough investigations on why they were slowing down the game and the potential bottlenecks and so on.

This patch will solely be focused on optimizations, bug fixes and some minor changes to gameplay.

[h2]New Features[/h2]

1. Added new Graphic Options > Dynamic Lights. Turn it off to improve game performance. Dynamic Lights are also automatically turned off should LOD be set to LOW.
   

[h2]Changes[/h2]

1. The game will now require slightly more VRAM due to 3D textures being transferred over from 2D textures. We believe one of the original issues was due to texture hogging.
   
2. Ship editor will now allow a complete replacement of the fighter's source picture. This will no longer cause a reset of the ship's statistics, turrets or engines.
   
3. HARD and EXPERT (Bullet Hell) modes will now have a wider spread of bullets and higher bullet count for 360 degrees, arc of fire, aimed arc etc. This is adjusted to allow the players to feel challenging rather than punishing. Expert difficulty is definitely playable albeit much harder to survive.
   
4. Improved the target system for drift mode. If you've upgraded the targeting system, when you are attack an enemy and you drift, the drift AI will not pivot away from your current target but instead, will pick that as the target since you might be attacking it based on your own intentions.
   
5. Optimized 3D meshes rendered in the game, including meshes that are shadowed.
   
6. Optimized secondary particles such as missile trails to never be emitted if the missile goes off-screen
   
7. Optimized the pacing for the following:
   
   • Stage 3 where there's a huge delay between the bonus ships and the wave that came after
     
   • Stage 9 where the final boss doesn't come until much later
     
   • Stage 10 where there's long break between the bonus ships and the enemy ships that came after
     

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

1. Fixed a bug with ship editor where workshop description will be overwritten with default description.
   
2. Fixed a bug where the custom ship list wasn't refreshed when exiting the ship editor
   
3. Fixed a bug where going into the steam overlay, then the workshop, then subscribing to a custom fighter and it doesn't reflect when you return to the game. This is now changed to reload the custom fighter manifest again.
   
4. Fixed a bug with custom fighters set with distortion engines appearing in the editor but not in-game
   
5. Fixed a scenario where returning from the steam overlay doesn't unpause the game, causing the game to go into a limbo.
   
6. Fixed a bug in the weapon shop where if you upgrade the power stock in stage 2, since power stock level 3 isn't available, the whole inventory darkens. This is incorrect; only power stock lvl 2 should be darkened.
   
7. Fixed a bug in stage 1 / arcade tutorial where if you skip the tutorial very quickly, the game begins with the fighter(s) forever invulnerable for the rest of the stage and doesn't accumulate any power in the power gauge.
   
8. Fixed a potential memory leak with per-pixel lightning. This error was available in 0.73 where the light stays on with the mesh and isn't removed. Also a possible reason why the game was slowing down.
   
9. Fixed a small problem where power stocks in the in-game UI will appear above the options menu black layer.
   
10. Fixed a bug where a segment of stage 8 boss doesn't fire at you at all.
    

As always, we've been collecting feedback, asking for machine specifications and gathering information on how we can improve the game in terms of gameplay and performance.

We'll continue to optimize the game. However the next patch will be focused more on quality of life issues reported by you guys! Of course, by then, work on the full release would have started in full swing already!

We thank you for your continued support and look forward to hearing from you soon in our discussions. Your input will help shape the game towards the full release!

Thanks,
Jeremy

For the first few weeks, we'll be focusing mostly on performance issues on slower machines or machines with certain hardware restrictions.

Yes, we've put recommended specifications based on our information collected from various testers, friends and fans, but there'll always be some situation that we cannot control.

The following situations can cause the game to slow down terribly based on Patch 0.73 onwards.

1. Schedule defragmentation session that coincide with you play.
   
2. Anti-virus or windows defender doing a schedule scan
   
3. Graphics Card Drivers being updated as you're playing, you may encounter flickers or even crashes.
   
4. Running other applications that consumes high amounts of CPU and RAM. This is acceptable for high-end machines but on lower end rigs or laptops, this may be an issue.
   
5. Power management set to Battery Saving, causing the entire machine to be slow.
   

This being said, we're also aware of certain "bottlenecks" at certain parts of the game that causes a sudden lag. Rest assured that we're actually onto it and will be improving the high-level rendering pipeline by patch 0.74.



Here you go!


This is the Full Release's Campaign Map!

Intended functionalities:

1. Selecting your mission
   
2. Selecting your fighter
   
3. Entering weapon shop based on current tech level
   

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]

This is a weekly update to let everyone know that WE ARE WORKING HARD on Full Release. Weekly patches or bi-weekly patches are in the pipeline while the full release campaign mode is being built!

Stay tuned for more updates! Again, please help us by leaving a review after playing. Your support is very much appreciated!

Have a great weekend!
Jeremy

Thank you for supporting us during early access! We've gathered some feedback and implemented some changes to the best of our capabilities. If your feedback isn't implemented, please don't think we didn't listen but rather the implementation is likely slated for a later patch instead.

Patch 0.73 is marks a significant shift in our approach and a slight change to using an "early access" version of StridesLib 1.3a. That meant that performance is improved in certain core areas which greatly impacted the game as a whole - positively. However, in order to make sure we don't cause any regression errors, we'd to test it over several days to make sure.

For starters, all patch announcements will always be in the following format:

1. New Features
   
2. Changes
   
3. Bug Fixes
   

This is to help differentiate the issues and make it easier for you to find if your feedback has been implemented.

[h2]New Features[/h2]

1. GFX card used is now printed alongside the version information in the main menu. This will help you ascertain if you've used the right card to play Starlight: Eye of the Storm,
   
2. By right, from patch 0.73 onwards, Starlight will automatically use your best available GFX card.
   
3. New assets management in the underlying engine which improves performance up to 20%.
   
4. Capsules earned from kill combos will now show a string of capsules heading towards your user interface. However, the award is instantaneous still.
   

[h2]Changes[/h2]

1. Standard Mass Driver explosion is now adjusted to reduce in-game convolution. (ie, too bright and blocks out everything else)
   
2. Adjusted in-game UI as suggested to increase the amount of playing space. Now PRESS START and CREDITS are flushed lower.
   
3. All canonical fighters are improved slightly to highlight the vulnerable spots clearly.
   
4. Player fighters and all bullets are now rendered above in-game UI. That'll allow players to see more clearly. (the only exception are Micron Lasers because they always hit regardless)
   
5. Adjusted end-game credits height for some credits incorrectly placed.
   
6. Improved the point-to-hit effect. That means now when you hit a surface, the explosion will not go much higher/further away than the projectile that hit the surface.
   
7. Combo hits and kills reward text is now the same as the combo counters, all in italics.
   
8. Archangel's special powers Angelic Assimilation has been changed to always pick the weapon with the highest damage.
   
9. Adjusted Stage 2 and 9 pre-boss sequence delays so that the boss fight will begin as soon as the screen is clear of enemies.
   
10. Adjusted Stage 9 post-boss delay to be shorter.
    
11. Adjusted all Stream Laser's impact particle to be smaller as it's causing convolution - in some cases, covering the entire target.
    

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

1. Fixed a small issue with all space debris where they in some cases, spin extremely quickly for no reason.
   
2. Fixed a bug in the arcade tutorial where your warheads aren't return to 2 after completing the tutorial.
   
3. Fixed a bug in the arcade tutorial where doing a hits or kills combo, and then cancelling the tutorial, will lead to the system rewarding the players DURING stage 1 itself.
   
4. Fixed a bug where you'll have to wait quite a long time in Stage 7 after the boss is killed before the game wraps up.
   
5. Fixed the hints saying the unlockable fighter Vendetta is unlocked after playing 2 hours. This is wrong. Nova is the fighter that is unlocked instead. And also, Vendetta is unlocking if you complete Arcade mode without using any continues
6. Fixed a bug where you can see a 4th joystick being connected but the game doesn't tell you it's not supported. It is unsupported.
   
7. Fixed a bug if you open the console window in main menu right after starting a new arcade game, and the game proceeds into the Fighter Selection menu, you lose all control and cannot close the console window.
   
8. Fixed a bug during the arcade mode tutorial where the console window is opened and pressing a start key ie, '1' isn't blocked by the console, causing the tutorial to be skipped inadvertently.
   
9. Fixed a bug where guided mines do not guide towards the hit box of the player's ship. Now they do.
   
10. Fixed a bug from the announcement text potentially blocking the player's view from their ships and incoming bullets.
    
11. Fixed a bug where a non-functioning depth map is produced whenever a screenshot is taken with the PRINT SCREEN key. This is a default feature separate from Steam's F12 key. No depth map is taken as it's not fully supported as of now.
    
12. Fixed a bug where using a custom fighter armed with weapons that are not available for the turret ie, Main turrets, will cause the weapon shop to hang during visit. This is only possible with custom fighters. The fix has done away with the hang; you'll still not be able to find your weapon in the inventory, but you can still upgrade the weapon directly if it's available.
    
13. Fixed a bug where in certain scenarios the game will NOT UNPAUSE, causing the game to totally stop functioning. This involves a sequence that includes the steam overlay and has since been fixed.
    
14. Fixed a bug where if you start the game in Full-screen Windowed mode, then switch to Full-screen Exclusive mode (ie, Windowed Mode: False), then you press Alt+tab, the game doesn't allow you to switch out. It'll always attempt to auto-restore itself to the front.
    
15. Fixed a bug where 2X damage bonus doesn't apply to Micron Laser Beams. This has since been fixed and also the purple nova is added wherever the beam hits to depict 2X damage.
    

As you can see, we've been extremely busy working on the game and therefore sometimes not appearing to be very active on the store page and community. We apologize for that and hope that you'll understand.

Also, there're still some outstanding issues we intend to fix or implement over time. Please understand that some issues will take an extensive amount of analysis before implementation; we simply do not implement features on a whim without considering the potential negative side-effects of it.

We thank you for the continued support and hope that you'll continue to provide feedback and suggestions on how we can improve your game.

[h2]Appeal for User Reviews[/h2]

We understand you may not want to review the game despite having enjoyed it but as developers we're in need of it so that we can bring the game further to a bigger audience. If possible, please leave a review - that's the greatest support we can get from you already!

Thank you! We hope to hear from you soon!

Jeremy

Dear all, Starlight: Eye of the Storm has been launched for slightly more than a week on Early Access. The first few signs are encouraging and an affirmation to our hardwork and love put into this project.

As we gather feedback and assess the best available solution for improvements, we'll also like to keep everyone as updated as possible.

[h2]What's coming?[/h2]

The reason why this patch is taking such a long time is due to the impact the changes had across the entire game and even, the game engine itself. The final bits of optimization required some rewiring of the engine and its processes to cooperate.

This led to a much larger area of impact that we have to test to ensure that there's no regression in the game. Meaning, we improve one aspect and cause another aspect to become buggy.

But here's a rough list of what to expect in the next patch:
1) Optimized CPU-heavy work which means you can experience a continuously high fps experience with very little jerks and lags.
2) Various bug fixes - details to be announced when patch is deployed.
3) Slight improvements to UI
4) Slight improvements to targeting system for drift

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]

We thank you all for your support and feedback. Please keep them coming! And also, if you like the game, please leave a review or engage us in a discussion! We'll love to hear from you soon.

Regards,
Jeremy