📢 OUT NOW - 1.0 Release after Early Access!

Dear friends,

today is the day!!! The official release day of ✨Astral Tracks✨ in its 1.0 version after Early Access! ❤️

In about a year in Early Access, we have learned, adjusted, changed, extended and improved the game to create the best experience possible. Check it out here on Steam and let us know what you think, share your thoughts and ideas – we are curious to hear what you think!

First, check out our brand new release trailer below:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Regarding pricing: Although we added new features, updated the existing ones and fixed a lot of bugs, we decided not to change the price of Astral Tracks and leave it at 9.99 USD. After all, we want as many of you to be able to enjoy it! And we've also decided to go for a big launch discount to set a low threshold for you to try out the game and hopefully set some highscores ;-)

Before we get into what changed and what was added, we first want to say THANK YOU! Thank you to everyone who supported us during Early Access, either by playing the game, giving us feedback, liking our posts or otherwise supporting us as a completely independent studio self-publishing this game. We hope the new features and content will only enhance the experience!

But let's get into the nitty gritty and have a look at what is new and improved in the 1.0 Release of Astral Tracks...

[h2]Change Log:[/h2]

[h3]New features & content[/h3]

Challenges: We added Daily, Weekly and Monthly Challenges to the game, each highlighting a specific track or several tracks from different stages and lengths. These Challenges should increase the level of competition and bring people together on the tracks. Additionally, the main menu was restructured to support the new layout of challenges. As rewards for ranking high on the leaderboard in the Challenges, we implemented virtual "trophies", which will be awarded to you after a Challenge has finished and can then be seen in the player stats.
Stage 3: We added a completely new stage with new level elements and new segments to the game. After playing a certain amount of tracks in the stage before, the new Stage 3 can be unlocked.
Track Decorations & Visuals: To make the world in Astral Tracks more vibrant and exciting, each track is now filled with planets, black holes, track pieces and more. The background of the tracks will "adapt" to the color of the sun or black holes. We tried to add a lot of variety to the different decorations and iterated over their spawn probability and combinations.
More Tracks!: During Early Access, the game only had a limited amount of tracks in general, now lots of new tracks have been added to each stage.
Control Remapping for Gamepad/Controller: Added the option for control remapping for the gamepad/controller instead of only mouse/keyboard in the settings menu.
Offline Mode: In order for players to enjoy the game also without an internet connection, an offline mode was implemented, which - while of course restricting e.g. up- and download of highscores - still allows you to access as many game features as possible.
Quick Play: No friend around to compete against? Try the new "Quick Play" feature to find a random, open multiplayer lobby and join it.
Track Timer & Next Match Timer: We added timers to the gameplay: The on-track timer starts in a multiplayer session as soon as the first player has reached the finish. This should give some more overview of your co-players as well as increase the competition and pressure! 😉 And the second timer, the Next Match Timer, starts in the track end screen as soon as one player has decided on an action (e.g. "Next" or "Rerun"). Then the other players get a time limit for also deciding on the next step, so the game can progress.
Co-Player Stats in the Lobby: In the PLAY menu, you can now hover over your character to get some player stats (trophies won, tracks run, ducks collected), and you get the same information about your co-players when inside a multiplayer lobby and hovering over their 3D characters!
Free Cam: Implemented as an internal tool, we decided to extend Astral Tracks with this "Free Cam" feature for everyone, which allows you to switch into a camera mode and move around tracks freely! You can access the Free Cam in the Spectator mode either via the pause menu while on a track or via the track end screen.
Lots more costumes and accessories!: We added a loooot of new accessories to the game! Check them out in the Customize menu and tell us which one is your favorite!
Effects on co-players and ghosts: Up until now, players were only able to see the effects of their own character abilities (Dash, Grapple, Wallrun, and so on). Now, you can also see and hear the effects of ghosts and other players! This will make the tracks feel more alive and make multiplayer runs more fun!
Session Codes: When opening a multiplayer lobby, you can generate a Session Code that other players can use to join your game, if it is not possible to do so through your Steam friends list or through the (also newly implemented) Quick Play feature. This will also come in handy if we decide to bring Astral Tracks to other platforms in the future, too... 😉
More Achievements!: We added a total of 5 new Achievements to the game, although we must admit that we removed one existing one for that... 😅 We took the existing "Getting a feel for it"-Achievement and split it up into 4 separate Achievements, one for each Stage (0, 1, 2 and 3), which should make obtaining them fairer. Aaaand we also added a new Achievement for the Challenges called "Multitasking", that can be unlocked by setting a highscore in all available challenges at the same time!

[h3]Improvements / Updates[/h3]

Implemented an option to toggle the visibility of the track progress bar on and off during runs.
Added descriptions for the newly added accessories.
Made several adjustments to the different track filters and sorting mechanisms (known/unknown, played by friends, most highscores, and so on) for hopefully even better results
Included additional people that worked on the game into the credits (one inside our team and translators)
Updated the accessory menu, so that now if an accessory is unlocked they automatically adjust their state without having to leave the menu for it to update itself - this allows you to use a freshly unlocked accessory for one hand immediately on the other hand as well, where before you had to exit and re-enter the Customize menu once
Updated the localization and made sure the game can now be fully played in all 10 available languages!
Created a new trailer, new Steam assets and screenshots for the Steam page

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

Fixed a bug that started a track before it had fully finished loading
Updated the Main Menu so that even during pop ups there is no controller input possible in the background
In some instances, the loading of the duck transition screen didn't end and players were falsely able to open the pause menu, this should now be fixed
The name for ghosts running the tracks should now always be displayed correctly
Adjusted the implementation of the unlock requirements for the achievement "He was the #1", now players should only be able to unlock the achievement once they fulfil the right criteria
Fixed a bug that the amount of tracks run and ducks collected under your name in the leaderboard didn't update, these numbers should now update live and without having to refresh a screen or go back to a menu
Fixed a bug where pressing Escape during a duck loading screen froze the game
Fixed a big where pressing R for Restart inside a Tutorial level resulted in characters not being able to move

We hope you enjoy the game! We would be happy if you leave a review, and if you liked it, recommend it to your friends!
And please feel free to share your thoughts, feelings and feedback in the Community Hub, or via our other social channels.

All the best and see you soon,
-LAB132