Golfing In Aether News

This is another follow-up from the update a few days ago with additional fixes and a bunch more levels added.


These are a pair of mid-game levels making use of different mechanics to previous levels. 'What Goes Around...' features a pair of vertical orientated windmills to try make your way through to reach the hole. It takes some timing and choice of direction in order to get the hole in one.

'Curve It!' makes use of a large sloped wall where your goal is to control the angle of your ball's curve to make it down the central path to reach the hole-in-one. This has added difficulty when trying to accomplish this in 'Hard' mode as you have to be extra precise with curve you take.


This is an early level where your goal is to reflect your ball into the hole while controlling your power so you don't overshoot. This is another where it can be quite tricky in 'Hard' mode even if you find the easy level, easy.

So that brings total levels in the game to 23, with of course more to come! If you are enjoying playing the demo then please add the game to your wishlist :) The demo will go away on the 31st of this month as I move to a launch build for release next month.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1914980/Golfing_In_Aether/

[h2]General[/h2]

• Added three new levels, two mid-game and one early.
  
• Fixed the raise flag detection radius on various levels which wasn’t ideal placement in cases.
  
• Fixed an instance where you couldn’t reset on the Tee in practice mode since recent update.
  

[h2]Engine[/h2]

• Updated plugin for Steamworks.

[h2]Environment[/h2]

• Fixed a ramp mesh having overly close LOD changes.

Be sure to check out the official discord server with channels for Golfing In Aether and my other various projects.

This is a follow-up from yesterdays update with a few small fixes and some additions too. Included is a new mid-game level and some changes to how resetting works.


Added is a new mid-game level featuring the new mover obsticules from yesterdays update. Theres a handful of ways you can complete this one, but getting the Hole-In-One can be tricky.


A change made means you now have to hold the reset button for a few seconds in order to reset. There are rules to this, for instance you wont have to do this when already on the Tee (you also can't reset in this state, but I'll get to that in a minute) or in practice mode, which will remain as before.

Also added is a tweak to how resetting is handled when you are already on the Tee in a session. Instead of 'Resetting' and giving you a stroke penalty, it will now just reset your orientation/position. If you have moved from the Tee, then standard one stroke penalty will remain.

These changes don't effect practice mode and are just about giving visual feedback / tiding things up for people pressing buttons not knowing what they are doing.

If you are enjoying playing the demo then please add the game to your wishlist :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1914980/Golfing_In_Aether/

[h2]General[/h2]

• Added improvements to the reset button turning it into a hold-to-reset. This does not need to be held in practice mode.
  
• Added change to reset behaviour in non-practice modes when on the tee. You now cannot /reset/ when on the tee, but your orientation will be reset at no cost to strokes as you haven’t moved.
  
• Added new mid-game map “Drop To The Left…”.
  
• Fixed a potential back-end xp handling issue relating to the hole-out.
  
• Fixed a couple of paths relating to the particle effects.

Be sure to check out the official discord server with channels for Golfing In Aether and my other various projects.

Today’s update is a week earlier than planned due to progressing quite a bit ahead of schedule. Five new levels have been added, four of which feature a new type of mover obstacle. In addition, most of the existing levels have been reworked with various detail improvements and balance fixes.


A late game level featuring the mover obstables, multiple holes, and routes. This level has no less than four different route combinations; can you get a Hole-in-one?


These are mid-game levels that offer a fair level of challenge for thier size. Cliffhanger while looking relatively straight forward has you trying to stop yourself from careering off the edge with only the mover and good shot control to stop you.

Take a swing combines good shot reflection with the new movers; don't time or aim just right and you'll get pulled down the wrong path. The hole-in-one also takes good control of your power so you land just in the right spot of the hole area.


As the names suggest these are about figuring out the ideal angle of your shot so can reflect your way to the hole. These are both early levels and deliberately kept simple as potential game openers to get players into the idea of reflecting their shots.

Remember that players who wish for more of a challenge can turn off the sloped holes on all levels via 'Hard' difficulty.


Also in this update is a rework to the vast majority of existing levels with way more visual detail than previous. Some levels such as 'Tee Time' have had hole-in-one routes slightly tweaked for balance purposes.

As always, please let me know if you find any issues, however small or minor as these can be hotfixed. If you are enjoying playing the demo then please add the game to your wishlist as this really helps with how the game is ordered in the store and will help expose it to other players as-well :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1914980/Golfing_In_Aether/

[h2]General[/h2]

• Added five new levels; four of which make use of the new mover obstacles. The level distribution is 2 early, 2 mid, and 1 late.
  
• Added additional level randomization category for specifically first level. This narrows the selection of what the first level could be to ensure it’s among the more straight forward. An example of levels excluded from being first would be ‘Goofy Golf’ which is likely not best for brand new players to start out on, but is fine for randomly being chosen for hole 2 or 3.
  
• Added changes to categorisation of some levels. ‘You Feeling Lucky?’ moved to early from mid, but not the new first category. As this is a relatively small level its fine for the early game, just not first as I don’t want people getting too frustrated over the windmill.
  
• Added improvement to hole camera tracking behaviour. Some levels like ‘Go for it’ where the exit pipe was a corner could result in the camera jumping slightly for a split second as it returns camera to the ball, this has been fixed.
  
• Fixed main menu fps cap behaviour. Some more recently added features and menu’s this wasn’t behaving as it should and it has now been fixed. All in-game / playing portions besides ‘waiting for players’ will use the main menu cap option of 60fps by default. You can change this in graphics settings to any value you wish, including off. Bear in mind the menu may render at several hundred fps and max out your gpu without a cap set and it has no effect on gameplay.
  
• Added various improvements to physics collisions responsiveness.

[h2]Environment[/h2]

• Added rework to ‘Gentle Swing’ to give more visual detail.
  
• Added rework to ‘Tee Time’ by changing the path of the hole in one bamboo to take slightly longer (to balance scores better), as well as add in pond and rocks visual detail.
  
• Added rework to ‘You feeling lucky?’ by adding in small pond detail on lower section.
  
• Fixed various ground meshes to remove gaps between grass and outer wall pieces.
  
• Added rework to ‘Getting tee-ed off” by adding in water detail below the bamboo section.
  
• Added replacement to the placeholder water material in various levels along with various aquatic plants for visual effect.
  
• Fixed up some wall gaps on ‘midhole madness’.
  
• Fixed ground not being seamless with walls on several meshes.
  
• Fixed an overlapping triangle on 1 meter straights with holes.
  
• Fixed normal on various 1 meter hole meshes.
  
• Added minor optimization by reducing the number of track pieces used to make some earlier courses with no visual difference to them.
  
• Fixed some out of alignment meshes on ‘See you on the other side’.
  
• Fixed some corner wall meshes that were inconsistent.

[h2]Interface[/h2]

• Fixed weirdness where 10% was receiving two decimals in the stats menu which was effecting padding.

Be sure to check out the official discord server with channels for Golfing In Aether and my other various projects.

This update brings the Stat menu where you can keep track of your overall progression. There is also a session history where you can view previous scoreboards.


This menu will show your current progression and various stats. The top bar is your XP level which is currently capped at 6 in the demo.

The stats for Wins, Hole-in-ones and Average XP use rolling averages that take into account your previous 10 sessions. The linegraphs show stats in these 10 session increments up to the 40 sessions. These specific stats are only recorded after completing a standard game, practice mode does not count.

Other stats such as stokes, holeouts and time are total stats and not capped to a recent window. These stats can be increased by a successful completion in practice mode, but only the final result, and not stats prior to resetting or shot undoing.


This feature allows you take another look at the final scoreboard for the previous 40 sessions you played. Score and stats are available for every player.

Please note that any sessions prior to this update will not be visible and you will not be able to reach the session history menu via stats until you've completed at least one new session (the button will not be present). Stats are stored through a mix of the saved-game file and the Steamworks Stats api.

Let me know of any feedback you have about the additions in this update and if you are enjoying the game please don't forget to add it to your wishlist.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1914980/Golfing_In_Aether/

[h2]General[/h2]

• Added incremental stat tracking for strokes, hole outs, hole in ones, birdies, pars, bogeys and time. Strokes, holeouts and time are displayed on the new stat menu, others are used for a mix of global tracking and for achievements.
  
• Added averaged stat tracking for win rate, hole in one %, and average xp. These work over the span of your 10 most recent sessions.
  
• Fixed an issue with stat totalling in the scoreboard.

[h2]Engine[/h2]

• Updated plugin for Steamworks.

[h2]Environment[/h2]

• Fixed a bunch of ground alignment issues on ‘Hole In Fun’ after finding an overlapping ground piece.

[h2]Interface[/h2]

• Added functioning stat menu where you can view your progress. Please note you will not see stats or history prior to this update as it was only just added etc. Also these stats will likely not carry over to the launch game.
  
• Added session history menu, accessible via the stat menu. Here you’ll get a complete replica of the end of session scoreboard (final hole) of the most recent 40 sessions you played. You will not see sessions from prior to this update.
  
• Fixed an issue where scoreboard wasn’t receiving the correct scroll box theme color.
  
• Fixed a minor padding consistency issue with scoreboard. The lower stat containers were 1.2 pixels out of vertical alignment.

Be sure to check out the official discord server with channels for Golfing In Aether and my other various projects.

This is small update with fixes following on from yesterday’s update before I start on the next major update. I’m not aware of any outstanding issues at this point so do mention them to me either in a comment, on the discussion forum, or on discord as I can get them hotfixed right away.

If you are enjoying playing the demo then please add the game to your wishlist :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1914980/Golfing_In_Aether/

[h2]General[/h2]

• Fixed incorrect rich presence being displayed on the main menu. It was saying “Waiting for players” rather than Main Menu. All other rich presence appears to be correct.

[h2]Interface[/h2]

• Fixed when playing as a remote client to an online server, your local players, when disconnecting, wouldn’t be removed from the HUD.
  
• Added a backend performance improvement to removing local players via the HUD. Instead of the widget being rebuilt, only the selective part is removed. This is very minor gain, but still a tidy up to an early made element.
  

Be sure to check out the official discord server with channels for Golfing In Aether and my other various projects.