This update is the transition from the previous alpha demo to a beta playtest. Feature wise the game was complete at time of the removal of the demo but you will find several quality of life improvements and just general bug-fixes from the last couple weeks in the notes below. Please note that stats, achivements, leaderboards etc. will NOT be carried over to the release version of the game. [previewyoutube=oPHrEjACAGw;full][/previewyoutube]

Open Beta Playtest

Starting today and up till release on the 23rd there will be an open playtest for Golfing In Aether. All those of you who have already taken the time to request access as well as anyone this point onward should now be able to play. This is the second open test period for the game. The first was June till end of August. This betas focus is to look for any outstanding issues not caught. Please report any issues you encounter, however minor, be it a gameplay problem, a crash, or maybe a bit of the world that doesnt look right like a floating rock, or even if you find a game menu with incorrect text formatting or padding, dont worry about sounding critical, its all-important, please report it. You can report on the beta discussion forums here, the official discord here, and if you do not wish to report issues publicly you may also send an email to support@vetron.net. Turn-around for fixing issues will be quick and updates will be posted potentially multiple times daily. Do not worry about making duplicate reports, or not reporting the right way, whats important is any issues found get fixed. If you have suggestions or ideas then feel free to make them also. Please also don't forget to add the game to your wishlist :) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1914980/Golfing_In_Aether/

Patch Notes

General

• Added system to one-time reset to progression if you have an existing save game. A lot of the systems are handled differently to the demo so even for the bits that would still work this does just reduce the risk of issue starting fresh.
• Added changes to ghost leaderboard structure to fully make use of compression.
• Added improvements to session join behaviour in regard to handling of player counts and join checks.
• Added 12 achievements. Progress will not carry over to release.
• Added improvements to the hotseat inactive state in regard to being able to open the game menu. You can now open the pause menu when it isnt your turn, however local players (players other than player 1) will have to wait for their turn.
• Fixed replay strokes not being reset during a new hole.
• Fixed an instance where it was possible to earn 25 XP while sitting inactive till time runs out.
• Fixed 0 XP leaderboards being recorded.
• Fixed instances where local profile settings were not properly being recalled when editing local profiles.
• Fixed instances where local profile settings for camera movement was being overwritten.
• Fixed various instances where local profile settings were getting lost or not being recalled correctly when editing profiles.
• Fixed an issue with the hotseat play order, where if a player were to hole out the next player in queue would appear to skip a turn. This was due to an issue with the order of which player was removed from the start order and next player being picked.
• Fixed power accuracy meter appearing slightly incorrect when in local play and hotseat. You shouldnt see the accuracy part when you have no power selected, this has been fixed. This had no gameplay issue it was just untidy.
• Added a transparent white/grey arrow underneath the power arrow to help with orientation based on feedback. The size of the arrow is exact to the maximum power value. The arrow fades in over a second except upon a reset.
• Added setting for power overall sensitivity. This can be found under gamepad, keyboard and mouse, and local settings menu.
• Fixed an issue with sensitivity values greater than 200% not being set or recalled correctly.
• Added an improved late join state for when everyone has already holed out. In this state youll be shown the scoreboard immediately with correct timings till next round.
• Added late join state for when at least one player has holed out, but not all, or the round has already been going for longer than a minute. When this happens the player will become a spectator only for the duration of the round. Hotseat games behave slightly different in that once the round has started a player will join the next round and spectate for the duration.
• Added Spin City late game level.
• Added All Teed Up early game level.
• Added changes to level pools with more unique variety given to early game including notably first level.
• Fixed an instance where the focus flag could become locked on if you mashed buttons while resetting.
• Added Around the Bend mid game level.
• Added change to random level loading by saving the previous level selection to the primary profile during hosting or joining. All of these levels will be excluded from the next pick of levels chosen when hosting so you are guaranteed to have a completely different game to your last. This is to address some random selections that didnt feel very random.
• Added Now Where Do I Go? late game level.
• Added a first launch accessibility settings menu. This contains purely the basic settings to be sure you can actually read the screen and see the HUD. Full settings as usual found under the settings menu. You can re-open this accessibility menu by pressing Y on the main menu with gamepad.
• Added Whirly Fun mid game level.
• Fixed an issue where the gamepad camera could behave weird at over 200 fps.
• Added Rock Bottom late game level.
• Added Water Hole late game Level.
• Added Speed Bump early game level.
• Added change to end of round behaviour by opening a new level instead of reusing the existing. This means all data is reset besides a few specifically marked elements which will help with error prevention and mean each game is starting from a fresh slate essentially. Normal procedure would be to either just unload / load levels or do a seamless travel. However, I found a nasty performance bug when doing this for successive rounds thus this works instead by opening a new level and having clients reconnect. It will take a few seconds for everyone to reconnect, and thus I have the waiting for players menu at the start of the next round.
• Fixed a chain of states that could lead to holeout not working correctly.
• Fixed an issue where toggling Other Islands for a second time e.g. disable and then re-enable wasnt doing anything until the next round was loaded.
• Fixed an issue where joining quickly after server creation was putting you as a late join spectator.
• Added change to scalability so anisotropic filtering is increased for lower settings. Also disabled other islands for medium scalability by default.

Customization

• Added improvements to the backend system handling materials for balls and reduced the number of unique files.
• Added improvement to ball applying process to reduce the number of operations required.
• Added Battenberg ball, which comes in all colors.
• Added changes to Beach by adding purple instead of the white. Coloured versions of the ball will use the two tone color rather than their color and white (the exception being the black and white ball option).
• Added change to Stripe ball by renaming it Zebra.
• Added change to Swirl by changing its default thumbnail to be red.
• Added Stripe ball which is a 3 tone vertical stripe ball which comes in all colors.
• Added changes to the ball selection order.
• Added Weevil ball.
• Added Snail ball.
• Added Stinger ball.
• Added reorder of texture maps and indexes to reduce file sizes where possible.

Progression

• Added Burger, Beach and Snail to Level 2 unlocks.
• Added Zebra, Split and Monarch to Level 3 unlocks.
• Added Swirl, Battenberg and Weevil to Level 4 Unlocks.
• Added Melon, Stripe and Stinger to Level 5 Unlocks.
• Added level cap of 5. This will increase over the lifetime of the game with new seasons and meaningful content additions.

Environment

• Fixed all levels that didnt have their bounds cantered correctly.
• Added improvements to hit sounds when impacting some stone walls so even at the lowest of speeds there is a slight sound.
• Added improvements to the mesh of the hole in one route in go for it.
• Fixed behaviour of falling into water on Spin Cycle. Water was quite deep and view from camera wasnt pretty.
• Added improvements to sequence on levels Mind the Gap, Pick A Hole, What Goes Around, and Bogey Town. This fixes behaviour where the path wasnt starting exactly on the tee.
• Fixed an issue relating to tree collisions that could cause the power arrow to behave erratic on very specific spots if very close.
• Fixed a minor collision issue in Crazy Golfs hard variation.
• Fixed collision on one of the corner wall meshes that was beyond the visible bounds.
• Added change to how environment sounds are spawned for rotators such as windmills and water wheels. These sounds are now part of the actor rather than in the level similar to the behaviour of movers.
• Added performance optimization to planar water reflections.
• Added visual improvements to level Law Of Reflection plus set new thumbnail.
• Fixed some ground to wall gaps on various meshes.
• Fixed some floating blossom petals on Curve It!.
• Fixed some bamboo pieces causing camera collisions.
• Added improvements to Goofy Golf and Behind The Tee levels by placing more environment assets.
• Fixed some wall gaps on Stroke Of Luck.
• Added more detail to the back portion of Tee Time.
• Fixed a misplaced wall piece on the ramp on Go For It.
• Added several draw performance optimizations to various wall meshes.
• Added improvements to water reflections by reducing render cost by half.
• Added performance optimization to shaders by disabling a number of unused feature instructions.
• Added a triangle reduction of 50% to all distant islands.
• Added LOD meshes to replace distant island tracks reducing draw calls by >90%.
• Added improvements to performance from water/pond foliage.

Interface

• Added change to the ball customization menu so that when you have less than 7 items unlocked you will only see 5 buttons.
• Added background mechanics for handling unlocks.
• Added LEVEL UP! and New Items Unlocked! animation to the XP page of the scoreboard. This will show the items youve unlocked for your level up. This page has had its visibility extended by 1 second to fit in the animation.
• Added improvements to initial XP Screen setup by precaching some values so it appears more responsive.
• Fixed showing option for local players when joining as a spectator.
• Fixed clicking on a session in the session browser not working in similar behaviour to practice leaderboard.
• Fixed session info menu not appearing when accessing a session via the session browser.
• Added improvements to the state switching between join menu, session browser and session info. Back button will now work as youd expect.
• Added improvements to the responsiveness of the quick join session feature and given the whole back-end system an overhaul to improve reliability.
• Added Back button to the waiting for players menu. This gives a prompt if you really wish to return to the main menu and if hosting mentions it will end the session for other players.
• Added change to the button order on the stats menu. Session replays has been changed to X to be more consistent.
• Added Unlocks menu accessible via a button on the stats menu. This menu just shows what items you have unlocked and what items you can unlock in future levels.
• Fixed an issue in the choose players menu where if player 1 changed their customization from their loaded values, then any other local player went and created a new profile and saved it, a chain of events would lead to player 1s customization being reset to their initial menu state.
• Fixed replays having incorrect coloured buttons when the interface theme is set to dark.
• Fixed an issue where the game settings menu would call the incorrect menu theme to active widgets when applying.
• Fixed inability to navigate left and right on camera and HUD settings when editing a local profile with gamepad.
• Fixed edit local profile button not appearing immediately if a player joins that last used a local profile.
• Fixed a handful of minor padding inconsistencies on the choose player menu when transitioning to the create profile page.
• Fixed instances where its your turn wasnt appearing for the 3rd local player in a row.
• Added more specific icons for public and invite only sessions. Previously a controller icon was used, but now a padlock being unlocked or locked is used. This carries over to the next menu page where you select session preset.
• Added slight dimming to background when in main menu depending on theme setting to help with contrast and focus.
• Added a gradient darkening behind the lower button text to improve readability.
• Fixed a potential issue with XP level display on scoreboard.

Discord Server

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