StarVaders News

1.1 - Beach Episode ~ Our first major update is live!

[p]FYI we are gonna be in the Summer Sale with a 10% discount starting on the 26th.[/p][p][/p][p]It's finally Summer (in the northern hemisphere) and the pilots are enjoying a well-earned break after fighting invaders in countless timelines. Check out what's new in the 1.1 update below![/p][p][/p][p]We've also finally reached over 2000 overwhelmingly positive reviews at 98%! [/p][p][/p][p]It's honestly so insane to me, I never would have thought so many people would enjoy our very wacky, very specific design philosophy. I've thanked you all so many times already but you really don't know how helpful it is to us indie devs.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p]If you missed it, here's a recap of what we've done between 1.0.0 and 1.0.7:[/p][p][/p][h3]1.0.0 ~ 1.0.7 Notable Updates Recap:[/h3]

[p]Added Savescum Mode and Infinite Chronos assist mode toggles[/p]
[p]Buffed Roxy and Noel's starting decks[/p]
[p]Improved the clarity and balance of the True ending and Hemophage boss fights to make them feel better to play against[/p]
[p]Fixed dozens of bugs, crashes and localization issues of all types[/p]
[p]Much more! check out the full changelog of all updates in our previous news posts.[/p]

[hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]1.1.0 - BEACH EPISODE: [/h2][p][/p][h2][New!] Sandbox Settings[/h2][p][/p][p][/p][p]Adjust the game to your liking with the Sandbox Settings, a new menu to tweak the game with. [/p][p][/p][p]Notable features include:[/p]

[p]Optional customization of difficulty with new settings based on player suggestions.[/p]
[p]Ban specific packs and bosses from appearing during gameplay.[/p]
[p]We will continue to add to the Sandbox Settings based on player feedback and suggestions![/p]

[p][/p][h2][New!] Beach Pack[/h2][p][/p][p]Part of the magic of the "Pack System" is that it lets us add a lot more variety and mechanics without diluting the card pool as is often a problem in many deckbuilders with a lot of content. [/p][p][/p][p]We will be able to add as many packs as we can think of, and each one added will expand the variety of the card pool across multiple runs. And if you do not enjoy the new packs, you can always disable them in-game with the new sandbox settings! [/p][p][/p][p]The first new pack post-release is the Beach Pack, themed around "random" synergy. Randomness is not always dangerous, sometimes it can be harnessed and used to your advantage.[/p][p][/p][p]Use the Pocket Sand to strike random invaders while sifting through your deck, or throw the Beach Ball at other invaders with big splash damage. (Beach Ball is one of my new favorite Items to build around!)[/p][p][/p][p]This pack is designed to synergize with the existing card pool too. The Roadtrip card will return all cards that mention "random" from your discard pile to your hand, and the Lucky Dice artifact will improve the odds of ALL random-related artifacts and cards from other classes and packs![/p][p][/p][p]Discover these in-game after you unlock the Beach Pack through earning trophies![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2][New!] Buncha Artifacts[/h2][p][/p][p]We're adding a new neutral Legendary, and each pilot gets a new pilot-unique Common artifact that explores a bit more of their unique mechanics! [/p][p][/p][p]Some of these are references to content creators who played the game that we really enjoyed, try to guess who they are![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2][New!] Kaia Skin for the Supporter Pack![/h2][p][/p][p]There is a new beach-themed skin for Kaia in the Supporter Pack! (in addition to the 3 existing skins)[/p][p][/p][p]If StarVaders has been fun for you and you'd like to help us continue working on the game, the Supporter Pack is a wonderful way to show your support![/p][p][/p][p]We (Pengonauts) are a small and new 3-person studio based in Montreal, Canada. StarVaders is our first game, but we have many great plans ahead for both StarVaders and other games beyond! [/p][p][/p][p]We’re grateful for any help, but remember – buying the pack is entirely up to you, and your enjoyment of the game is what matters the most! The supporter pack is purely cosmetic and won’t affect the gameplay experience.[/p][p][/p][p]We've just created a new bundle, where you can get the supporter pack and the soundtrack at an additional 10% discount, check it out here![/p][p]StarVaders - Support the Team! Bundle[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Notable QoL Improvements[/h2][p][/p]

[p]On the Character Selection screen, there is now an indicator for the highest difficulty the pilot has won with.[/p]
[p]Challenges now show a different trophy when they've been completed with the True Ending (this is not retroactive so only new runs will update it).[/p]
[p]Regenerating Shield now has its own, more visible section in the description, and has been added to the bosses that it applies to that was missing that information.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Notable Balance Changes[/h2][p][/p]

[p]Zeke has been buffed to start with Echo on their Nova Bomb instead of a Heated. [/p][p][/p][p]Zeke has had problems with setup and early-game, which became a lot more apparent after the buffs to Roxy and Noel. Changing the Nova Bomb upgrade gives Zeke a strong AOE setup early and also helps showcase his ability to dismantle self-purging cards as an advantage.[/p][p][/p][p]It's not the biggest buff but it does give him the much needed early game tempo to be able to get off the ground easier and build towards something stronger. [/p][p][/p]
[p]Doom Ritual has been reworked to only activate if no other invaders are channeling Doom. [/p][p][/p]

[h2]Other[/h2][p][/p]

[p]Buffed Chant (from Dark Medal), now draws a card.[/p]
[p]Buffed Dawnbreaker and Nightbringer, now only increases cost of Sun/Moon cards by 1.[/p]
[p]Nerfed Hologram, now 1 cost instead of 0 cost.[/p]
[p]Added a countdown for when the Daily Run resets[/p]
[p]Orchids and other similar simultaneous doom + attacking invaders now attack before channeling Doom.[/p]
[p]Added animations for Min! (very important)[/p]
[p]Added whiff indicator to Static Wave[/p]
[p]Added more info tooltip for Robo-Parrot[/p]
[p]Added a toggle in the settings for increasing danger zone visibility on the grid.[/p]
[p]Buffed Gunner Assist!, now fires 2 additional rockets[/p]
[p]Ghosts can no longer gain immunity while they are channeling Doom.[/p]
[p]Added some modding-framework related changes to the codebase in preparation for modding[/p]
[p]Improved the clarity of a few boss descriptions[/p]
[p]Fixed several missing card tags[/p]
[p]Fixed bug involving entities floating above holes[/p]
[p]Fixed a few mouse-hover input related bugs where some entities are too close to each other[/p]
[p]Fixed Ultra Coolant crashing on a no-commons pool modifier run.[/p]
[p]Fixed missing 2x Legendary Special reward on a no Legendary pool modifier run.[/p]
[p]Increased Guide scale for better readability[/p]
[p]Fixed Visual overlap of completion star in more info[/p]
[p]Fixed Summon limit text overlapping with Bomb limit[/p]
[p]Fixed Summon limit text not updating when max Summon limit is changed[/p]
[p]Attempted fix on Nessie freeze when defeated[/p]
[p]Attempted fix on settings scene crash due to resolution errors[/p]
[p]Attempted performance improvements and fixes for memory leaking[/p]
[p]Many localization changes based on suggestions.[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][p]Hope you all enjoy! The update is live now![/p][p][/p][p]Other than any immediate bug fixing patches, the next big content update will be Update 1.2 around September / October. It will be very scary and have a bigger focus on new gameplay content! The beta for it will be up in the next few months, so stay tuned![/p][p][/p][p]- Axolotl of the Pengonauts[/p]

More Teasers & Future Updates

[p]Just wanted to update y'all that the 1.1 update is planned to release on June 24th! [/p][p][/p][p]We are releasing around that time to align with the Steam Summer Sale, during which we will have a discount - keep an eye out for it if you haven't gotten the game yet![/p][p][/p][p]Our Beta branch has been live for the last 2 weeks and the update is almost ready - we're finalizing localization and a few art assets as well as fixing a few remaining bugs.[/p][p][/p][h2]Some More Teasers![/h2][p][/p][p]Min Squish Animation[/p][h2] [/h2][p][/p][p]Play Volley Ball![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Egg[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]If you'd like to play the update early, feel free to join the Beta branch! Access information can be found in our discord server or in the QQ group.[/p][p][/p][h2]Supporter Pack[/h2][p][/p][p]There have been people asking for more Supporter Packs, we really appreciate the support and enthusiasm! But to clarify, our current plan is to continue to add additional skins to the current Supporter Pack. So you'll only need to buy it once but have all future skins available (like the upcoming Kaia skin for the 1.1 update).
[/p][h2]Future Mod Support[/h2][p][/p][p]On discord, one of our players (Slaith) has started working on a modding framework! It's still quite early but it's been great to see it grow. [/p][p]We're trying to support any modders in any way we can, feel free to join our discord if you'd like to help out or take a look! I'd love to see what players can come up with.[/p][p][/p][h2]Future Updates[/h2][p][/p][p]I'm also excited to share that I have already started working on the 1.2 and 1.3 content updates! The current plan is to have the 1.2 update for the Autumn Sale and the 1.3 update for the Winter Sale of this year, but our plans could still change over time depending on the circumstances and beta testing.[/p][p][/p]

[p]Timeline[/p]

[p]Content Update Plan*[/p]

[p]June 24th: [/p]

[p]1.1: BEACH EPISODE[/p]

[p]1 new Neutral Pack[/p]
[p]11 new Artifacts[/p]
[p]Sandbox Settings[/p]
[p]Bugfixes and QoL Improvements[/p]

[p]September / October[/p]

[p]1.2: ????????????[/p]

[p]????????????[/p]
[p]2 new Neutral Packs[/p]
[p]More Achievements[/p]

[p]November / December [/p]

[p]1.3: ????????????[/p]

[p]????????????[/p]
[p]????????????[/p]
[p]2 new Neutral Packs[/p]
[p]More Achievements[/p]

[p]*Our plans may change![/p][p][/p][p]???????????? means i know what it is but we're keeping it a secret for now! I'm really bad at keeping secrets though, I'm not even sure if I'm supposed to share this pseudo-roadmap yet, but i'm too hyped to keep it to myself.[/p][p][/p][p]As with 1.1, the next two updates will also appear on the beta branch early for testing. I'm really excited for the rest of the year, some of the planned content are gonna be very fun to reveal.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Big Thanks[/h2][p][/p][p]We're just on the cusp of 2000 overwhelmingly positive reviews! The reviews have all been so helpful, both positive and negative ones. [/p][p][/p][p]If you have any issues or feedback, please let us know! Even if it's not the majority, I do still listen to all criticism and would like to provide options if possible to help improve the game for every player (like what we're doing with the sandbox settings in 1.1 for example).[/p][p][/p][p]We wanna thank you all for the continued support, which lets us continue expanding the game! Not every first time indie studio is as lucky as us to have found such a passionate user base, thank you so much for giving us a chance.[/p][p] [/p][p]- Axolotl of the Pengonauts[/p]

Update 1.1 Teaser & Beta Announcement

[p]Hey pilots! Hope you are all doing well!

It's been exactly 1 month since our full release and we've been so happy to see the response from you all! A lot of gratitude for all the feedback and reviews you have left us, they've helped tremendously.

Following that, we're excited to announce that the game is doing well enough for us to continue improving it and adding more content with free updates, starting with the 1.1 update coming in two a few weeks! [/p][h2]Update 1.1: Coming Soon![/h2][p]
We've been pretty busy during release month fixing a lot of the major bugs and crashes that have been reported, but now that things have stabilized a bit better we will be slowling down our rate of patching to work on bigger content updates.

Here are some of the planned new content that will be available in the 1.1 update:

[/p][h3]Sandbox Settings:[/h3][p]
We've added a bunch of customization features since release based on player feedback (such as save-scum mode for example). To expand on that, I've decided to create a whole menu for more customization of the game.

Included in the new sandbox settings will be new options inspired by player feedback such as:

- Add more granular post-Apocalypse challenges with smaller steps in between each difficulty.
- Post-Apoc no longer shortens each act.
- Ban specific bosses from appearing (great for achievement hunting!)
- More...

Did someone say they want more ascensions??

Just to make it clear, the DEFAULT difficulties will not change, but we will be adding new options to customize the difficulty for players.

I'm personally pretty open to allow players to play the game the way they want to play, so if it's not too hard to implement I don't mind adding new options based on suggestions! Let us know what you'd like to be able to customize in game.

[/p][h3]New Cards and Artifacts:[/h3][p]
There will be a new, summer-themed neutral pack, as well as new pilot-unique common artifacts for each pilot!

Vamos a la playa!

I should warn that the new card pack might be based on a potentially controversial mechanic haha, but at least with the Sandbox Settings you'll be able to ban specific packs from appearing too, so if you don't like the new pack you can disable them from in-game!

[/p][h3]Beta Build[/h3][p]
We will be opening up a beta build (probably on Monday) to start playtesting the 1.1 update. More information about that will be shared on our Discord and QQ groups. The beta will also only be available in English and Chinese.

Starting from now, we will also likely be pushing updates and the usual patches to the beta first, before updating the main build. That should prevent some of those awkward hot-fixes for crashes i accidently introduce in the last minute, oopsie.

[/p][h2]Other Additional Notes[/h2][p]
[/p][h3]Steam Cloud Saves for Mac...[/h3][p]
We've tried to enable steam cloud-saves a couple times for Mac for the past few weeks, but everytime we did it, Steam decides it's ok to delete the entire save directory without warning, deleting all progress from Mac users.

We've even implemented a backup folder that is seperate from the steam cloud specified directory to avoid this specific problem, but apparently that entire backup folder gets deleted by Steam cloud too even though it's not in the path that steam cloud is supposed to update... So for now we've disabled Steam cloud saves for Mac and are waiting on a solution from Steam Support so that we can enable it without deleting any progress.

[/p][h3]Optimization Issues[/h3][p]
We've also gotten your reports on optimization issues, potentially some sort of memory leak as well on long playtimes. We haven't quite figured it out yet, but are working on it.

If you are experiencing strange amounts of lag or stutterring, please use the in-game bug report form if possible to send us a report! That'll help us figure out the cause, thanks!

[/p][h2]Thanks for everything - Pengonauts[/h2][p]
A huge thanks again for everyone. To wrap up this too-long news post, we wanted to highlight a few of the content creators that have believed in us, as well as some of the amazing fan-art created by the community so far! Check it out:

Celerity's full-day streams clearing ALL Pilots on Post-Apocalypse

Watch their Twitch VODs here!

Northernlion making bespoke Youtube content for us despite the algorithms.

[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]

[/p]

[p]
@jmaphis.bsky.social‬

@nat_toes on twitter

Long / longcx

[/p]

StarVaders is deck-building meets grid-based tactics and it's basically perfect

StarVaders from developer Pengonauts is a colourful and action-packed mix of a deck-builder with fast grid-based tactical combat and it's a thoroughly great time. I've never seen another game so smoothly blend these two together. I'm hooked on it.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/05/starvaders-is-deck-building-meets-grid-based-tactics-and-its-basically-perfect/

1.0.7 - Fixer Upper

UPDATE - I'm rolling back this update for today, there's a critical bug for new bootups. Will update when we figure out what's going on. Sorry about that!

UPDATE - Update is live again!

More bug fixes! And we've reworked some of the Hemophage as well.

[h2]Hemophage 2.0[/h2]

Based on feedback we're smoothening out some of the awkward parts of the Hemophage, and allowing more options to deal with it so it's not a pain to fight.

No longer becomes Immune while splitting (you can keep hitting it with repeated cards to deal more damage, but it will split into more Hemocytes)
In the "Final phase", no longer recombines with Hemocytes and only keeps 1 HP.
Added more text for describe the Hemocytes.
Reduced total HP again.
Delayed attacks (like Titan Rocket or Auto-Bombs) now correctly trigger before the Hemophage absorbs its Hemocytes.

[h2]Other:[/h2]

Fixed issue with our save backup system, wasn't working for certain OS versions.
Fixed bug where you reload into an empty hand
Fixed bug where some boss timers don't show up
Repeated self-drop cards now keep their rarity (like Claw Trap)
Pilot Album now unlocks correctly with Daily or Challenge wins
Fixed Sygyzy counting twice for Xenn's Relic
Fixed a couple softlock involving skipping cutscenes
Fixed a softlock involving pressing mutliple buttons at once during unlocks
Fixed Old Comet, now doesn't trigger when played.
Fixed bug where Nessie stops moving.
Nessie now heals the tile directly in front of it each turn on Phase 2.
Fixed bugs where Nessie's attack isn't correctly displayed when rerolling during an attack
Fixed generation error where you reroll into the same encounters at the start of an act.
Fixed True Ending working with dailies or challenge on Mac
Fixed Boss room not appearing if you have too many relics
Fixed Eclipse not ending when there are no more waves or enemies. (Eclipse now also ends early if there are only Echos left on its turn)
Fixed Task Engine crash involving repeated Raise Army on Bombs with Blast Legion
Fixed timer not showing up on pause/resu,e
Bombs with Blast Legion can no longer be stealth charged (to trigger Charge Fire).
Fixed visual bug where the Overseer fight is warped
Fixed Witch Fire counting cooldown of destroyed spells.
Made Death by a Thousand Cuts achievement count one less repeat (because it was confusing that you needed to see 11x in game)
Fixed softlock by getting stuck in Pause Menu on a screen outside of a run
Many localization changes

Keep the bug reports coming! Thanks!

- Axolotl of the Pengonauts