Todays update brings several quality of life improvements from a mix of feedback and continued playtesting. Most notably I've added in-game music and improved the flow of some levels. Before I give a run down of whats in this update, I want to make a quick mention of both the simultaneous open-beta for Linux support and the development of Autumn expansion teased last week. You can read about both of these below, I'll have another developement news post hopefully tomorrow for the Autumn Expansion as I was able to get another four levels completed over weekend. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1914980/view/3296096514954667078 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1914980/view/3296096514940897017 As always, if you have feedback, suggestions, or ideas about the game Im always happy to hear them :)

Music

The trigger is when you launch your ball. Originally I was picturing how a new player might first play the game, and I thought it would have a better kick-in effect to start up the music when they actually launch the ball. Let me know what you think of this :) This comprises of more than half a dozen different background tracks that will spawn based on the season you are playing in as well as the stage of the level. There is random variation too on top of this. New games will be a bit more energetic but begin to slow as later large levels are played. Of course this can be disabled independently of all other music in sound settings as youll probably want to do this when making videos if you are talking over stuff or plan to do clips.

Sequence and Level Flow Polish

I identified two levels that had sequences that could do with some very minor tidy ups, this was Tee Time and Gentle Swing. Specifically there was very small parts of the path that looked tad wonky and fixed that. The second thing is to do with how levels flow, and one unnecessary stopping point I identified was the square hole sections. These are ones youll typically encounter if you roll off a ramp or ledge, or maybe bounce up into in levels like See you on the other side. Anyway, previously these were square sections with a round slopped hole in the middle but otherwise flat in the corners. If the ball got into the corners was a chance of it stopping, and youd need to take an extra shot. This isnt really what Id consider difficulty or a good use of gameplay, so Ive given those corners a bit of elevation so the ball should roll into the hole easier. Another area that Ive targeted improvements is some specific pipes on various levels that were a bit slow or simply could be better. One specifically was on Waterhole where Ive made a whole new model for it that will make things better. 'Speed Bump' has had its pipe sped up a bit as it was a little slow previously.

Restart Level Button Changed and Added Scoreboard Switch Stats Button

I added the restart level button in a recent update for Practice, there was already a full reset system, however this let you restart a level from the XP screen after completing it. Anyway, the button was X same as Skip typically in regular sessions. After playing this more I found moving this to the same button as reset would reduce pressing by mistake. For mouse only users this makes no difference as its only the key press thats changed. Also, did you know that the scoreboard actually had 3 pages of stats? No? Well probably not surprising as there was no visible button glyph to indicate what to actually press. Ive fixed this and also added a button mouse users can click.

Extra Holeout animation

I went and added an extra animation for the Eagle with the text swooping down and almost catching your golf ball as I thought this would give a bit of added variation. You can see this animation in the gif above. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1914980/Golfing_In_Aether/

Patch Notes

General

• Added some ambient music to the game that fades in gradually after the sequence finishes. There are several different tracks that spawn based on conditions such as level stage and season. You can disable this music independently in the sound options. This would be useful if you are creating a video and plan to cut and edit clips, so dont want this background music.

Environment

• Fixed wall gaps on Waterhole.
• Added new hole in one pipe for Waterhole as the old one was a bit slow.
• Added a rework of the square hole areas you drop into. Previously the hole was sloped rounded in the middle which left a chance of you getting stopped I the corners and disrupting the flow of the levels. Now youll always roll into the hole when in these areas. Note these are the holes you find when you roll off an edge, or perhaps manage to bounce your ball into on top of towers like in see you on the other side and not the actual main level holes.
• Added tweak to the pipe in Speed Bump so it moves the ball a little faster.
• Fixed a small wall gap on Take a swing. Fixed quality of sequences for Gentle Swing and Tee Time. This is just checking the path doesnt have any wonky angles in places, other than that its the same. These were some of the first levels made.
• Added tweak to a pipe in 'Crazy Golf' being a little slow.

Interface

• Added additional option to Sound Settings to disable new ingame music.
• Added feedback sound to navigating left or right on scoreboard to view different stats.
• Added visible onscreen button and glyph for switching stats page on scoreboard.
• Added change to the Restart Level button by changing the button and glyph to the back button which is whats used for reset in game. This is to avoid players clicking too quickly before differentiating between Skip and Restart etc.
• Added slight change to intro small legal text to give credit to creators of music added. While not required, I do like to give credit to any other creators work used in this project where I can. For reference all 3D assets and most of the stuff in the game is entirely my own work, the exceptions are a few things like music and the emoji icons which are used under licence.
• Added back-end support for additional onscreen glyph types.
• Added additional holeout animation for eagle.

Discord Server

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