Solaroids News

Hello everyone! Needed to do a quick update to fix an issue with Mouse Locking that was being a little to aggressive in dual monitor setups.

A big thank you to twitch streamer Drakkett for tracking me down, bringing it to my attention, and working with me to isolate the cause. The result is not only the fix for the dual screen issue, but the full ability to turn mouse locking on/off (MS Windows only) from the option menu as well as a hot key (F5). I also added a hot key to toggle borderless window mode on and off (F6) in addition to the existing option menu item. Now dragging the Solaroids window to a second monitor and pressing F6 is a quick way to get it on a 2nd monitor.



Finally, I had made some additional progress of Vector mode, so might as well push it out to everyone, right? Vector mode is now in Color! The colors aren't finalized, and especially ship color isn't respecting each players choices, but it's starting to take shape. I'm also starting to work on converting parts of the HUD to vectors, so now the icons for the power-up prompts are showing up as well as your extra ships and active primary, secondary, and defensive weapons. With respect to those, they are showing up way to small, so I'll be tracking down the cause soon. It's still very much and experimental mode with score, fonts, and such needing the vector treatment, as well as refinement of the current vectors to make them more readable - especially in the case of power-ups.

If you miss the Asteroids Deluxe color scheme, don't fret. I plan on making it an option as Vector mode matures.

Come visit me in real-time on the (Solaroids Discord Server), and give me your thoughts about what would make the Best Asteroids Style Space Shooter on the planet. Also, don't forget to sign up on my Early Access Page to be notified at full launch across all platforms.

Cheers and happy blasting!

Chad (kiates)

Mouse Lock - Toggle locking of the mouse to the Solaroids game window while actively playing. It is availabe under the Video option menu, but can also be toggled by pressing F5.
Added F6 hot key to the borderless mode.
Options with hotkeys show the hotkey next to the option name for reference.
Experimental vector mode is now in color.
Power-up/tip icons now show in vector mode in the prompt area at the bottom of the screen.
Extra lives, and active power-ups now show in vector mode in the player HUDs.
Many other tweaks to vector mode.

• Fix issue where resetting mouse lock was only allowing movement on the primary monitor.
  

• Borderless window option is only implemented for Windows right now.
  
• Disconnecting an external audio device being used by the game will cause a crash/freeze on Linux/OSX.
  
• Some options and more recent prompts are English only or machine translated right now. If machine translated, they are indicated with an asterisk (*).
  

Hello everyone! Thank you to all the players that have tried out some of the recent updates and posted scores to the new Daily/Weekly/Monthly leaderboards.

It's been about a week since the update to add Daily, Weekly, and Monthly leaderboards and I see both some familiar names as well as some new ones. What do you think so far, yeah or meh?

Here's the top scores for the week!!



And for the month of March (partial month)!



Speaking of leaderboards. I think it would be fun to have a speed run leaderboard. For the current Campaign it would be through Level 10 possibly with intermediate ones for each level to track progress, and for Free Play mode it would be through a certain number of waves possibly with intermediate ones as well. What do you think?

In other news, work continues on the experimental Vector mode. I've converted more of the graphics and have been playing with simulating the look of a real vector display. Here's what it looks like with the Asteroids Deluxe colors -- as available in this EA V1.2.4.2 build. This still picture doesn't really do it justice, as the flicker effect adds a nice touch of authenticity.



I'm also playing around with adding color into to the mix. Here's a early sample of what it's looking like so far. What do you think? I'm thinking of making options to tune the vector mode to your liking. If I do it would probably include an adjustment for full-color vs a single color, line thickness, beam intensity, and flicker. Would you rather see these kinds of detailed options, or just a high level Monochromatic/Multi-color option where I pick the settings?



That's all I have for this update as far as the bigger changes, but there have been several other smaller tweaks, so see the patch notes below.

Come visit me in real-time on the (Solaroids Discord Server), and give me your thoughts about what would make the Best Asteroids Style Space Shooter on the planet. Also, don't forget to sign up on my Early Access Page to be notified at full launch across all platforms.

Cheers and happy blasting!

Chad (kiates)

Cycling leaderboards now cross fade as a transition.
Alternate main high score display layout with Daily/Weekly/Monthly tables at the top and Local scores at the bottom.
Always show Daily scores first at the end of a game.
Daily leaderboard will show your score for at least one day, up to two if your really early in the day.
Enhance vector mode to emulate an Asteroids Deluxe style look.
Tweak background transparency for Stage 1 graphics.
Fix initial zoom factor.
Suppress controller vibration when a player is not actively in the game.
Fix potential issue when forfeiting.
Restart soundtrack when entering the actual game.
More updates to German translations.

• Fix issue with local leaderboards not refreshing immediately when cleared.
  
• Fix issue showing daily/weekly/monthly rank.
  

• Borderless window option is only implemented for Windows right now.
  
• Disconnecting an external audio device being used by the game will cause a crash/freeze on Linux/OSX.
  
• Some options and more recent prompts are English only or machine translated right now. If machine translated, they are indicated with an asterisk (*).
  

Hello players! Round one of leaderboard enhancements is ready for prime time. Solaroids will now show Daily, Weekly, and Monthly scores.



During the EA V1.2.4.0 update last week that released the early version of the Vector mode, I also put in some behind the scenes work to start collecting scores for some additional leaderboards. This includes Daily/Weekly/Monthly boards that are like the First Credit and Any Credit boards that are already established, but also starts recording scores for Control Style specific leaderboards (not exposed yet in-game as I'm working out details on where and how I want to display them).

Anyway, this update allows the Daily, Weekly, and Monthly First Credit / Any Credit leaderboards to be displayed in game. They show up on the left side of the main leaderboard display where the local leaderboards show. That area now cycles between Daily / Weekly / Monthly / Local boards, switching every 5 seconds.



Come visit me in real-time on the (Solaroids Discord Server), and give me your thoughts about what would make the Best Asteroids Style Space Shooter on the planet. Also, don't forget to sign up on my Early Access Page to be notified at full launch across all platforms.

I hope you enjoy the new boards, and stay tuned for more tweaks related to leaderboards soon.

Cheers and happy blasting!

Chad (kiates)

Daily, Weekly, and Monthly leaderboards.
Updates to German translations. More coming soon.

• Per player leaderboard displays now correctly change between First Credit / Any Credit scores while playing.
  
• Improve handling of statistic and leaderboard refreshes.
  

• Borderless window option is only implemented for Windows right now.
  
• Disconnecting an external audio device being used by the game will cause a crash/freeze on Linux/OSX.
  
• Some options and more recent prompts are English only or machine translated right now. If machine translated, they are indicated with an asterisk (*).
  

Hello everyone! A little update with some new features mostly around options and to give you an early glimpse of the work-in-progress on the new Vector mode.



Yip, I couldn't resist getting your feedback, so I exposed an option to change the theme between the normal modern vector illustration style graphics and a more raw classic vector style. It's still very much a work-in-progress so be gentle. I still have to do work to swap out more shapes/symbols, particle effects (explosions/missile trails), fonts, and of course the main title, but I'm interested to hear what you like and don't like with the direction. Eventually I want to support additional themes too, so I can put in a nod to my old workhorses, the Commodore Amiga and C64, and hopefully some other classic systems as well. You can change the theme from the Effects menu, or for the brave, you can switch while in the heat of battle with the T-Key or DPad-Up, which are the default controls mapped to the feature.



There are also a few smaller updates focused on some usability enhancements requested from players and Youtubers. You can now fine tune the sensitivity of the thumb-sticks and triggers for the supported game controllers. This shows up as Thrust/Rotation Sensitivity options under the Controls option menu. In addition, you can also tone down the power of the thrusters if they're just to much for you to handle using the Max Thruster Power option. It's also fun to dial it down just for more deliberate thrusting experience and a different feel, but unfortunately, if you dial it down too much, you're bound to take a beating from random debris and bullets!!

Come visit me in real-time on the (Solaroids Discord Server), and give me your thoughts about what would make the Best Asteroids Style Space Shooter on the planet.

Also, don't forget to sign up on my Early Access Page to be notified at full launch across all platforms.

Cheers and happy blasting!

Chad (kiates)

Enable experimental Vector mode. Note this is really early-early-access. It can be turned on either from the Theme option under the Effects category, or by pressing the DPad-Up button or T-Key if keyboard is being used. The control used can also be reconfigured like other controls per Control Style.
Max Thruster Power option - Adjust the maximum thrust on a player by player basis. This is both useful to tune to your comfort level, and when taken to the extreme, makes for some fun times trying to change trajectory to avoid incoming debris!
Thruster/Rotational Sensitivity control options - Adjust the sensitivity of the controls used for thrusters and rotation when assigned to analog controls like thumb-sticks and triggers. At 100% it will behave as it has, while at 0% most of the control will be at the end of the pull/push, and at 200% most of the control will be at the start of the pull/push. This is also per player.
Reset Controller Layout option.
Display version and EA disclaimer on the in-game option screen.
Add Solaroids logo to the in-game option screen.
Use machine based-translations, denoted with a (*), as stand-ins for text that hasn't been proofread/localized by a native speaker. Yes I finally pulled the trigger on this one and actually put the machine translations in until I can get the real ones sync'd up.
Allow the viewing and configuring of player options and controls from the main menu, not just the in-game pause menu.
Move Autofire and Aim on Fire options from the Gameplay category to the Controls category. They are now configurable per player instead of global options.

• Fix title graphic style/size when starting up under a non-English locale.
  

• Fix regression in camera handling at the edge of the arena when Seamless Wrapping is off.
  

• Borderless window option is only implemented for Windows right now.
  
• Disconnecting an external audio device being used by the game will cause a crash/freeze on Linux/OSX.
  
• Some options and more recent prompts are English only or machine translated right now. If machine translated, they are indicated with an asterisk (*).
  

Hello everyone! Hope you had a great winter and holiday season. We're still buried under snow, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Not a lot of updates for Solaroids for Steam, so my apologies for that. I've been adjusting the infrastructure of the game to support multiple platforms, so mostly hidden work behind the scenes. I'm also working on the promised Vector Mode from the Early Access Roadmap, and Monthly and maybe Weekly leaderboards. I'll hopefully be able to wrap those up soon, but either way will share some progress as it gets more concrete.

With that said however, I was able to spend time to finish a set of Steam Trading Cards that Valve approved late December. So if any of you were wishing for some extra Solaroids "bling", those are available to collect. I tried to make them both showcase some of the artwork I created, as well as be useful for players. As such they include design notes and descriptions of the capabilities of some of the enemy types. They are English only for now, but I would like to commission localization where there is enough popularity and if Steam will let me add them. Here are a few samples from the set of five available.



For those into starry-scapes, in addition to the trading cards, I created several Steam Profile Backgrounds to go with the set. You can collect them while crafting trading card badges. Here's a preview from the set of five available.



There is also a set of Steam Emoji Icons in the Solaroids theme. Collect enough to spell out Solaroids before I do! (SOːsolaroidsLːːsolaroidsAːROIːsolaroidsDːS)

Thank you for supporting me on my journey to try and make the Best Asteroids Style Space Shooter. If you ever want to chat about Solaroids with myself or other players, or brag about your top scores and share tips, join the (Solaroids Discord Server). It's quiet there now, but maybe you can help change that!

I've also created a dedicated Early Access Page filled with, gifs, links, and a place where you can sign up to be notified at full launch.

Cheers and happy blasting!

Chad

Performance enhancements for Linux/OSX.

• Fixed issue where soundtrack wouldn't advance on Linux/OSX.
  
• Fixed issue with camera when Seamless Wrapping Mode is turned off.
  

• Change mouse cursor from "hand" to a cross-hairs.
  
• Balance volume of mine alarm sounds.
  
• Fix issue with camera on resolution change.
  
• Updates to core open-source libraries used on Linux/OSX versions.
  
• Default to Stage-2 graphics, can be changed from the options.
  
• Default to a maximum of 3-continues. Can be adjusted from the Gameplay options menu.
  
• Updated title graphic.