Golfing In Aether News

The fourth free expansion to Golfing in Aether is here, bringing ten new levels for all modes and themes as well as introducing the new "Dustbowl" level theme.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2577930/Golfing_In_Aether__Dustbowl


Above is a link to the free DLC (it should be downloaded automatically). The levels will work with all previous themes and in all game modes.


The level breakdown is as follows, one large late game level, one mid-game, and eight early. This brings the total number of levels to 70, with 10 being late, 30 mid-game, and 30 early, overall balancing out the random level selection more evenly.

Remember via custom sessions you can individually pick levels you want to play, as well as preset playlists such as 'early only' or 'mid and late' only depending on how you wish the play the game. All levels work with all existing themes so if you wanted to check out all these new levels in the winter level theme instead (with the seasonal holidays soon approaching) then its perfectly possible to do so!

As an additional note the new level theme will be made available to the demo version of the game but the same demo limitations such as only 18 levels and only able to reach XP level 3 are in place.


With this expansion release the game engine has also been move forwards to the latest version of Unreal Engine 5 so please let me know if you encounter any issues as I'll be doing hotfixes to any issues over the coming weeks. The primary reason for this engine version change is to keep overall support with newer devices and latest versions of SDK's. This includes the latest DLSS3, and FSR2 versions made available.

Enjoy playing the fourth free expansion and I welcome any feedback you may have.

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

[h2]Engine[/h2]

• Added migration to game engine from Unreal Engine 5.1.1 to 5.3.2.
  
• Added latest plugin versions for DLSS3 and FSR2.
  

[h2]Environment[/h2]

• Added dustbowl expansion assets and content.
  
• Added flipper obsticule as part of new levels.

[h2]Interface[/h2]

• Added improved theme select menu which will add support for additional themes. Scrolling to the right is where you will find the new Dustbowl theme and others in the future.

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

Today I want to show off the upcoming free expansion coming this November which you can find listed below as coming soon. It will include a new theme that works with all existing levels as well as introducing 10 new additional levels.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2577930/Golfing_In_Aether__Dustbowl/
Please note that this is work in progress and not due to release till November 14th so some visual elements could well change in between now and then.


For this theme it introduces a desert-like environment, with as the title suggests a lot of sand and dust has been thrown up, covering the otherwise grassy levels. You will also find the water areas dried up and lots of things normally found in the levels worn down compared to usual.

Beyond the reskinning you'll find a few new art assets such as animal skulls in some of the dried up water areas, and music specific to the theme. There is also a new obstacle type / mechanic which I will discuss later in this post.


The above screenshots are from existing levels 'Leapfrog' and 'You feeling lucky?'. All existing levels will be able to work with this new theme.


For this expansion I wanted to add some more earlier levels to help improve the balance when it comes to how levels are chosen as part of the random courses. Following feedback these levels also have more of an emphasis purely putting rather multiple holes.

While these levels are small they still do offer an element of challenge if aiming for a hole in one.


These next two levels I'm showing how they look with existing 'Spring' and 'Winter' themes, all new levels will work with previous themes adding to the overall diversity when it comes to playing a random course whichever theme you wish to play with.

The levels shown above also feature a new obstacle type know as the 'Flipper'. This behaves similar to vertical movers (barricades that go up and down) except in this case offers a ramp, which can be to your or advantage or not depending on the level. A few of the levels will feature this new mechanic in different ways.


Of course not all levels are small in this expansion and this is a late level included which includes a similar theme of maze-like behavior as found in some of the existing late game levels. There is about a half dozen or more possible ways to complete this one, so you'll have to find the best path to a hole in one.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2577930/Golfing_In_Aether__Dustbowl/

Just a reminder that this expansion is entirely free and will be available November 14th. If you wish to keep track of when this will be released then add it to your wishlist.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1914980/Golfing_In_Aether/
Golfing in Aether is currently on sale for 70% off till the 8th November along with a currently running halloween event ending on the 14th. Dustbowl will be the fourth free expansion released bringing the games included level count to a total of 70. More content is planned.


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

This is a small update that implements the Halloween Event content which you can read about in the event post below.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1914980/view/3701455448016933705

There are no other changes in this update besides enabling the event content but if you are aware of any issues then please let me know so they may be hotfixed.

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

[h2]Environment[/h2]

• Added pumpkins to the Autumn level theme for the duration of halloween event.
  
• Added pumpkins to all newer levels added to the game since previous Halloween event.

[h2]Interface[/h2]

• Added pumpkin hunt tracker to main menu for duration of event.

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

For update 1.6.1 we are bringing back our Halloween pumpkin hunt event from last year, we've also updated the two more recent level expansions to include the Pumpkins as well. Hunting 10 Pumpkins will unlock you three Halloween themed balls :)


[h2]What do I have to do?[/h2]
To hunt a pumpkin you simply need to hit them with your golf ball. There are 60 purple pumpkins in the game (one per level), but you only need to find 10 to unlock all the rewards. There is no reward for hunting the orange ones, but feel free to smash them to your hearts content.


[h2]What do I get from doing this?[/h2]
The above three golf ball designs are unlocked from completing this event. Each feature color options and an accompanying faceplate.

If you successfully hunted 10 pumpkins last year then this reward will remained unlocked.

[h2]How do I track my progress?[/h2]
A progress bar and counter can be found on the main menu below a description of the event.

[h2]How long will it take me to complete this event?[/h2]
This is not supposed to be a grind, and if playing as normal you'll probably complete it a couple of hours after playing a few different sessions. If were to do it solo in purely in practice mode you could probably do it in 10 to 15 minutes. Some levels will be harder than others to get the pumpkin, but theres enough of them that its just a bit of fun to enjoy the halloween theme rather than be an overall challenge.

[h2]Can I complete this in local play?[/h2]
Yes :) If any local players hits a pumpkin it will count for the primary profile so you can enjoy sort-of a co-op activity while you hunt them down.

[h2]How long does the event last?[/h2]
The event will conclude on November 14th at 10:00 AM PST / 6 PM GMT giving you more than a couple of weeks to complete it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1914980/Golfing_In_Aether/
[h2]Can I play this event using the demo?[/h2]
Yes - simply grab the demo from the store page and you play through this event with that. You can also join your friends who own the game in multiplayer while hunting for pumpkins.

If you enjoy playing the game then you'll find it on sale for 70% off till the 8th November! Any demo progress will carry over to the regular game too when you purchase.

The demo only comes with 18 levels (but you can join other players online sessions fine) and is locked to level 3 for regular progression.


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

For this update Japanese Localization has been added as well as several quality of life improvements.


Localization for Japanese includes all in-game texts, store pages, and achievements.

When playing by using the in-game quick chat these messages are all translated automatically (players see these messages in their local language) so you can play and communicate with players at a basic level without the language barrier.


Another feature is the on-screen keyboard when using this localization supports hiragana and katakana.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/4145017/view/3684558162504860650

Steam recently announced changes to how controller support is listed on the store page specifcally to list support for DualShock and DualSense.

There was already support for these controllers and you may of noticed the option to set the glyphs ingame but as part of this update we've added the ability to automatically detect and set the glyphs for them when Steam Input is enabled. When controllers are disconnected the game menu will appear with a 'controller disconnect' warning.


Its now possible to have controller vibration with various settings to adjust how it behaves. Firstly you can set it to be either 'On' with full surface feedback, or can limit it to just impacts and hits, such as bouncing off a wall. You also have the option to disable it.

We've set impacts only enabled by default - as this will work with the widest range of devices. Official controller types for the various consoles tend to have much better vibration than third parties or 'officially licensed' copies - to the point where having full surface feedback can be rather unpleasent and annoying. We've also given an intensity setting you can adjust as well.


As part of this update is a change to layout of the main menu and placement of online functions. Previously there was a general new game menu and then a join game menu but we've instead moved all online functionaliy behind the online button. This lets us have a clear dedicated offline section of the game, centalize online multiplayer to one spot and also offer us more space to implement additional functions in the future.


The online menu has buttons to either join sessions, or create a public or invite only session.

To create a custom session you select a base permissions type, and then press custom session on the next menu or after selecting which preset initially. The idea is you can go through the standard menu flow and only have to customize the final result if you wish.

The overall thought process behind these changes is to make things more straight forward for either playing offline with say singleplayer or local play, or when you specifically want to play online. Overall the same options are available and you can customize as you could previously could in the custom sessions menu.


Another small change is we've hid the third button on the customization menu for now (until such feature is implemented) and also when selecting no headware option you'll see a faint X rather than purely empty box.


This has been given some tweaks so the code is displayed to you in a 111-111-1111 format and when you go to enter it will automatically handling the seperation. The point of this being to make it easier to read as much easier to keep track of 3 to 4 number blocks than a ten number block.


A new option to game and accessibility settings is to adjust the scaling of the overall UI independent of regular DPI scaling. This lets you effectively zoom in the UI so it fills your screen, something that can be very useful when playing on a small screen such as a handheld device.

It also just makes everything a bit bigger if you have trouble reading the text and the default scale.




You'll find two new achievements - "Seasonal" for playing a session in each of the three seasonal themes, and "Levelling Up" for reaching Level 3 or 18,000 XP.

Both these achivements have had existing stat tracking so you may find yourself mid way through progress or even completed right away.

The reason behind these two is we can look at overall playerbase figures to get a good sense of feature utilization. All of this including existing achivements paints a picture of what players are using as a whole, where to focus our energy and any improvements we may need to make so players understand features.

We've expanded the deluxe edition with two additional ball options - firstly for the Sports Balls we added a baseball, and for the seasonal halloween content we added a Vampire ball (which goes pretty well with various hats). Also in the deluxe edition is a new hat the Capotain.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2138970/Golfing_In_Aether__Deluxe_Edition_Upgrade/

If you already have the Deluxe Edition, then you will get these new items automatically at no additional cost.

Note there will be a halloween event later this month so do keep an eye out for halloween ball items you can unlock in-game via that (these are different to the deluxe edition).


Check the full notes below for all the changes made, if you are aware of any issues then please let me know so they may be hotfixed.


A halloween event will be available sometime next week so keep an eye out for that!

Also as part of the 1.6.x series we are migrating Golfing in Aether to Unreal Engine 5.3 and also releasing a new free expansion sometime in November. We'll do seperate news posts about those nearer the time.

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

[h2]General[/h2]

• Added support for Japanese localization. This includes custom on screen keyboard support. Please share any feedback you may have.
  
• Fixed an issue where if you played a practice level with split screen enabled, then via the game menu selected ‘retry’, after the restart the other split screen players wouldn’t function correctly.
  
• Added controller vibration support.
  
• Fixed an issue where if an initial player were to time out in shared input the second player wouldn’t get correct camera until pressing camera button.
  
• Fixed a camera delay for the Level Sequence for "Around the Bend'.
  
• Added 'Vampire' and 'Baseball' balls as well as the Capotain hat to the Deluxe Edition DLC.

[h2]Platform[/h2]

• Added store page translation in Japanese.
  
• Added achievement translation in Japanese.
  
• Fixed some achievement global progress values.
  
• Added new achievement “Seasonal” for playing a session of each of the three seasonal themes.
  
• Added new achievement “Levelling Up” for reaching level 3 or 18,000 XP.
  
• Added some Steam Input API support to track disconnects and specific glyphs. We already have built in input remapping and support for various glyphs this change will just hook it up to Steam when enabled. Disconnects for player 1 will pause the game where applicable.

[h2]Environment[/h2]

• Added LOD models for falling leaves and petals.
  
• Added support for falling leaves and petals in ES3.1 mode.
  
• Fixed a physical surface inconsistency with Autumn and Winter themes.

[h2]Interface[/h2]

• Fixed potential issue where if you held the Thumbstick navigation while pressing ready up on the choose players menu it could be possible to hear ongoing navigation sounds.
  
• Added change to ‘Text contrast’ to instead name it “High Contrast” and give the options as “on” or “off” rather than the previous “medium” or “high” to make things clearer.
  
• Added change to ‘Highlight color’ and instead named it accent color. This is because its used in more than just highlighting.
  
• Added number prefix to level names in practice menu.
  
• Added small layout change to main menu to free up room for localization.
  
• Added new DPI setting for interface to replace previous DPI scaling. This is to solve the problem of ever increasing resolution handheld devices that still have small screens. With this setting enabled you’ll have the UI expand outwards to fill the screen, essentially remove the empty space. I’ve set a flag so if running a Steam Deck then by default this will get set enabled.
  
• Added significant improvements to UI scaling during split screen modes. Menus will now correctly factor in both vertical and horizontal minimum scaling, as well as auto hiding of HUD elements when absolutely necessary.
  
• Added additional options for configuring controller vibration. You have to option to set it to full surface feedback, hits and impacts only, or off. There is also a setting for intensity.
  
• Added additional prompt when naming a local profile that it cannot contain invalid characters (due to file names e.g. !
• @ etc.). This is existing behaviour as it wouldn’t allow you save previously, but now there is a message saying specifically why it won’t save.
  
• Fixed navigation and gamepad behaviour with enter invite code prompt.
  
• Fixed a potential issue relating to the animation for the flashing timer (< 30 seconds) on the HUD.
  
• Added a credits/legal menu accessible via settings menu from the main menu.
  
• Added improvement to the format of 10 digit invite codes. Codes will now be displayed and entered in 123-123-1234 format (- spacing) to make entry easier (you don’t have to type the -).
  
• Added improvements to how the holeout animations are played in various split screen modes, previously I felt they would be a bit small so I’ve cropped the edges and zoomed where appropriate.
  
• Fixed a navigation issue with returning to practice menu after entering a leaderboard.
  
• Fixed pressing back on a invite code entry being treated as entering a code.
  
• Added additional option to set glyphs to “Auto” in the gamepad and local settings menus. When set to this it will try pull the glyphs from Steam Input. You can set to any other value to override as you wish.
  
• Added improved handling of the level title at start of session where it will be hidden immediately should you open the game menu to prevent an overlap.
  
• Added a tweak so the 'waiting for players' menu does not occur when playing an exclusively offline session.
  
• Fixed D-Pad navigation of the achievements menu not working correctly.
  
• Fixed various minor navigation issues.

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