This update adds some seasonal christmas items you can unlock as well as various bug-fixes and quality of life improvements.

Christmas Unlocks

Until the 14th of January you will be able to unlock some seasonal items just by logging into the game.
Firstly a repeat of last years reward which is the Candy ball which can be color customized.
Also new for this year in addition to the candy ball are two themed hats, an elf hat, and a festive bobble hat. These can also be picked in all typical pickable color options as-well. These are just some fun customizations to add to your seasonal game sessions.

New Social Menu

Also as part of this update is a new menu system that will expand upon the previous invite menu by letting you inspect recent players and managing a block list. When blocking a player you won't see any messages for them, their sessions won't show up, and they won't be able to join your session. This block list is independent to the Steam block list as it will support blocking players that are playing the game through potentially other networks (currently the game isn't available for sale anywhere else besides steam but crossplay with consoles is being looked at and the game was designed around it being a thing someday). As part of this new social menu it will now always be visible even during sessions where you lack invite permissions. Essentially when you go to select the invite button it will tell you that session doesn't allow you to invite, but you'll be still able to check out recent players and other menus.

Various bug fixes

Check the full notes below for all the changes made, if you are aware of any issues then please let me know so they may be hotfixed. I've been doing some extended testing of levels so have caught a bunch of minor things that you'll find fixed. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1914980/Golfing_In_Aether/

Patch Notes

General

• Added improved handling of invite menu in relation to game or waiting for players menu.
• Added improved friends list loading behaviour when visiting new social menu (will load much faster).
• Added Christmas event. This is a return of last years unlock event with the addition of two extra reward items, the Elf hat, and the festive bobble hat. Simply log in to obtain this reward.
• Added multiplayer server versioning so only servers that match your game version number will show up.
• Added support for player blocking. When blocked (via social menu / online service) the player will not be able to join your session. The blocked players hosted sessions will not show up to you either. If you join someone elses session and they also join, you will not see their messages.

Customization

• Added Elf hat as reward item for Christmas login event.
• Added Festive bobble hat as reward item for Christmas login event.

Engine

• Added various refactoring of network plugins.
• Added various refactoring of some internal networking references.

Environment

• Fixed a mover using the wrong type on Speed Bump.
• Fixed vertical 2-blade windmill using an incorrect material in dustbowl theme.
• Fixed one side of an inverted vertical mover using an incorrect material in dustbowl theme.
• Fixed the flag raising detection area for Drop to the Left, Zig Zag, and Turn Ahead.
• Fixed a physical material on the hole in one path for Sink Hole.
• Added a change to the hole-in-one pipe entrance area in Fork in the road to swap it to the more sloped kind to reduce ball coming to a stop there.
• Fixed an issue with the snow on walls in low settings on the level shortcut.
• Fixed the appearance of snow on the level Rebound.

Interface

• Fixed the theme select menu sometimes not cancelling highlight when hovering over a new button with the mouse following recent update.
• Fixed level up text description in Japanese doesnt fit the space.
• Fixed description for text entry (e.g. player names) not disappearing after recent engine update.
• Added new social menu which will be hub for the sending invites, friend requests or blocking players without having to leave the in-game interface.
• Added new recent players menus for sending a friend request or blocking.
• Fixed the Waiting for players menu not being removed immediately during returning to main menu.
• Fixed formatting of invite code entry when pressing buttons rather than typing.
• Added new blocked players menu where you can choose to unblock any players you previously blocked.
• Added a size increase to the waiting for players menu so you can see more players without scrolling. This also makes it consistent for size with the game and social menus.
• Added filter to restrict cross-network sessions. Enabling this setting would filter out sessions that would allow players from other networks to join.
• Added custom session setting to restrict session to players from the same network (Steam) only.
• Added change to invite menu displays, now the social menu will appear in its place and always be visible even when you cannot invite players. On this menu will the context specific options.
• Fixed various very small alignment issues with the game / pause menus (there was about one pixel of extra padding causing a visual inconsistency).
• Fixed invite menu not inheriting the custom UI scale setting.
• Fixed some localized level names.
• Fixed a scoreboard countdown issue where if playing multiplayer, one player skips the xp screen then triggers a skip, the other player would briefly see an out of sync countdown.
• Fixed an issue where skip wasnt always visible on the XP screen.
• Added improved contextual appearance for the bottom glyph buttons on scoreboard (e.g. details button will only be visible on the scoreboard page, not podium).

Discord Server

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