This update coincides with the second anniversary of the game, and is probably our largest update yet. We have a brand new expansion, Cauldron which is free and contains new levels including a couple of new Volcanic levels. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2999530/Golfing_In_Aether__Cauldron/ In addition to that weve spent the last couple of months bringing several improvements to most areas of the game, with a lot of interface improvements, camera behaviour improvements, new achievements, better session lookup for multiplayer, controller remapping improvements, and a whole bunch of additional accessibility options. The list really does go on and Ill cover as many of the highlights as I can below, but do check the full notes for the long list of changes.

Free Cauldron Expansion

This features ten new levels, two of which feature a volcanic environment and others that feature new gameplay mechanics. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1914980/view/4188989767908120552 We first showed off the levels Cauldon and Scorcher a couple of months ago in the above article, but for those of you who didnt read about those here is a brief recap. The level Cauldron features a volcanic cauldron you have to navigate your way though and offers some distinctive scenery and hazards.

Upon reaching the first hole you will be transported to the lower portions against the lava flow. Upon finding your way through you have to make a large jump back out to safety, where you'll find the final goal.
Scorcher meanwhile features a river of fire you have cross. You can either make use of the floating boulders (which move down river) for a tricky shot or take safer longer ramped route.
The next bunch of levels are Bridge Over Par, Putt the Gap, Putt & Dunk. These levels use a new moving platform mechanic in various configurations. Shown above is the level Bridge Over Par which have platform bridges which move side to side in sequence.
Meanwhile in the level Putt the Gap has a singular bridge platform which moves. The goal with this level is to aim your putt power so it travels on the bridge in motion without rolling off before it reaches the other side.
Rail run makes use of rails we first introduced in the free autumn expansion. It has a pair of different routes you can take as well and offers a challenge to get that hole in one.
For players who prefer simpler levels that focus more on the basics of angling your shot we also have an additional variety of small levels as well.
The cauldron free expansion also brings two new dinosaur themed headwear options. These are available to use right away and each come with a selection of color options.

New Camera Behaviour

There are two parts to this, the first is that when in proximity to a wall or object the camera will now automatically put you into top camera, and then return after a short delay when sufficient space is available. We have prepared a short gif above which you can see this in action.
If you dont like this behaviour you can disable it via Game Settings menu. You can also adjust the distance to which it is triggered as well. We were finding a lot of players didnt know about the Top Camera and automating it can make it easier. The camera itself has also been improved slightly be raising it a bit higher to 3 meters and generally polishing the whole process.
The second improvement is that weve added some Smooth Camera options. Most notably a way to cancel out small bumps which weve enabled by default. This works by the camera automatically snapping to the ground if it is within a short distance vertically below. You can also disable this setting if you dont like it, and we have also provided additional options such as to lag the camera if you wish.

New achievements

We have three new achievements, the first is Recovery which is about achieving a par or better after going out of bounds. For Expert Navigator you have to complete 9 holes without going out of bounds. Finaly there is Consistent for getting a consecutive score across three holes.
These on the easier side to obtain but balance out some of our existing ones we think, and are just something extra to aim for during additional play sessions.

Improved Accessibility Menu

We have overhauled the accessibility menu that appears on first launch with several additional options. To start with you will find existing volume controls now here in addition to the sounds menu, but also an option to disable spatial audio if you require it.
For visual we have added a new high contract option shown above, this in addition to previous options. When enabled you will have a unique set of highlight colors specific to this mode and whether you are using light or dark overall theme. There are also additional input options which will talk about in the next section.

Improved Input Remapping

We now provide a more streamlined way of setting a single stick mode preset if you require it, we also allow several menu buttons to be remapped.
You will also find a new option to disable button holds in both the controller / keyboard menus and accessibilty menu. Button holds include having to hold the A button to launch or skip some sections for example. Instead this becomes a toggle, press to start the hold and press again to release the equivalent to hold. Additional options found in the controller menu include the ability to set the sensitivity of power up / down independently.

Keyboard only / keyboard camera

You can now play entirely with a keyboard if you wish, as-in, not require a mouse, by using arrow keys to control the camera. You can also remap these inputs as well as various others in the keyboard settings menu. All additions to the controller menu such as menu button remapping and no button holds can also be found here.

Pausing Improvements

You can now pause the level intro sequences while playing singleplayer or in offline local multiplayer. This will help if you need a bit of extra time to inspect the level you will be playing.

New difficulty options

We have made improvements to how the Custom Game settings menu is laid out when playing in offline gameplay. In particular we have split the settings into two sections, one for the game mode itself and another for difficulty.
You will find new difficulty presets that will control these settings a whole. But as an additional feature you may also set an override in game settings for all offline gameplay without having to use custom. Also in game settings is an ability to slightly reduce game speed by one sixth when playing offline. Level sequences and music will play at original speed in this mode still because those are synchronised.

Various other improvements

In this update you will also find various minor improvements such as water wheels having a basic water effect, the stone around some movies will now correctly have snow or ice on it. Some constructions such as windmills will have minor visible damage in the dustbowl theme but not in others too. Tree's have had their texture mapping improved in places, some rocks have been given better LOD models as well. ES3.1 mode in particular also got some improvements to shading and ambient occlusion. You'll notice especially around the flag pole this does look a bit more consitent with the regular graphics mode. This is a huge update so check the full notes below for the full list of changes. Also of note, Golfing in Aether will be on sale for the next week for 75% off if you haven't yet played the game - do note that a demo is available is if you wish to try it first (the demo will get all these improvements too). https://store.steampowered.com/app/1914980/Golfing_In_Aether/

Patch Notes

General

• Added new camera behaviour so by default you will automatically be taken into the top camera when the camera is too close to a wall or other obstacle (less than 60cm). Upon space being available after a few seconds it will revert again. This does not impact your ability to manually enter top camera. Hopefully this helps in some situations and especially when you are playing local play perhaps with friends or family members who arent aware of the switch camera button.
• Added a tweak to make top camera raise to 3 meters from 2.25 meters by default to help clear some obstacles. You can still use the zoom but as required.
• Fixed bobble hat black and yellow selection options being in wrong place.
• Fixed an issue where if you held the focus on flag then went to open the pause menu, you would be stuck in restricted input until then toggling the focus flag again.
• Added achievements Recovery, Expert Navigator, and Consistent.
• Added rate optimization to stat and friends list creation.
• Fixed a rare issue relating to top camera behaviour at the start of a level.
• Added improvements to custom inputs being loaded at game launch.
• Fixed an issue in hotseat mode where if playing with local players, all other local players have reached the goal, and then the remaining player were to go out of bounds they would become hidden.
• Added improved session join behaviour. Should an error occur after clicking on a session in the session list, this error will initially fail internally, a new search will be performed for that session and a second attempt at joining will be attempted. This can work to the extreme of a player starting a session, killing it, then creating another while you have yet to refresh the list and are clicking join on the original.
• Added some improved rate limit behaviour for friends and blocked player list queries.
• Fixed an issue where invalid player controllers may be referenced internally.
• Fixed an issue where crossplay preference wasnt factored in when creating a session via the no sessions found on join menu.
• Fixed an issue where offline achievement progress wasnt registered at game launch following successful login.
• Fixed an issue where some remappings of inputs didnt function.
• Added steady camera behaviour in two flavours. First is an option to help remove very small vertical bounces only (about 30 cm) by having the camera move to the ground when available. Second is a more indepth option that will also introduce camera lag, this means the camera will not track the ball exact, and instead at a slightly slower speed than the ball transition towards its position. This helps reduce pinball-like camera movements.
• Added no button holds setting. Instead of having to hold the launch button you will press it once to begin the launch and then press the button again at an ideal moment. Other holds such as reset, skip and focus flag will be toggle as well.
• Fixed a logic issue where if two local players were to start an offline competitive session. Player one times out, and then player two disconnects. In this situation the game detected an end of round situation twice because of the disconnecting local player.
• Fixed logic issue relating to timed out players that could be potentially be omitted from voting totals for scoreboard.
• Added ability to control the camera additionally with keyboard, by default mapped to arrow keys.
• Fixed a logic problem when selecting Early or Mid + Late for levels when youd already played all levels the game was unable to correctly pick a level.
• Added some improvements to balls entering holes in regard to camera. The camera will be kept out of the hole in more cases thus reducing clipping effect that can occur.
• Added improvements to invitation acceptance flow. A number of additional steps and checks are performed in the event of a failure to help bring you to the correct session.
• Fixed a memory leak that could occur when the game was minimised following doing alt+enter from fullscreen. When minimised the game will run at your capped menu framerate.
• Fixed an issue where if you started a hotseat game, playing by yourself with no other players, local or online, then immediately on your first shot launched the ball into some water it would go invisible until you took another shot.

Engine

• Added optimization to package size for future updates.
• Added refactor of various subsystems.

Platform

• Added support for platform blocked players which will match behaviour of shared friends lists.
• Fixed an issue that could occur with game versioning and multiplayer compatibility. This will enable ongoing hotfix releases without causing a version mismatch (with other platforms that might be slower to patch).

Environment

• Fixed a rock partially poking through the track on law of reflection.
• Added a change to the multi-holes on Goofy Golf so that the holes are easier to enter, and less likely to roll over the hole itself. The level layout itself is unchanged.
• Added a change to the ramp hole on Go for it to make it more accepting of the ball. The outer dimensions are unchanged (but the outer edges painted with grass), but the internal part is wider initially so it doesnt role back out so easily.
• Added water exiting pipes near waterwheels. This includes two different kinds for different graphical quality levels as well as added sound effects.
• Fixed some movers having a too low restitution in their physical material (ball wasnt bouncing off them sufficiently).
• Fixed an issue with the alignment of wall back faces on one of the ramps.
• Fixed various reflection issues after checking all water reflection volumes.
• Added various visual assets that will be used for the upcoming free expansion later this year.
• Fixed some collision profiles relating to red fences particularly the one on See you on the other side which was causing unwanted behaviour.
• Added baked ambient occlusion to the base of the flag pole, which will show up most prominently while running ES3.1 graphics mode.
• Added improvements to wall LOD colouring during winter in ES3.1 graphics mode.
• Added improvements to LODs of some rock models.
• Added a minor performance optimization to water wheels that are static.
• Fixed some parts of the hole in one pipe on pick a hole level so that the trajectory will more reliably send you into the hole. Given the difficulty of getting into this pipe, to then miss would be frustrating.
• Fixed an inconsistent material between base and wheel during winter for the waterwheel.
• Fixed some texture mapping on one of the cherry tree branch lower quality levels.
• Fixed a small wall gap on bogey town.
• Fixed an odd piece of behaviour where if the flag was raised due to being within proximity of it, and you re-applied some graphics settings, it would return to its default position until raised again.

Interface

• Fixed the scoreboard having potential to have bleed-through from the selection color between advanced scores at very low resolution / screen sizes.
• Fixed a couple of text strings.
• Fixed some Japanese localization that I felt needed improvement.
• Added option to set the distance at which the camera will automatically switch when in proximity to obstacles, off is also an option.
• Added a tidy up to game settings menu to get rid of some duplicated settings and make it more streamlined for ease of use.
• Fixed inconsistent shadows on achievement icons.
• Fixed an issue with scoreboard advanced details showing.
• Fixed incorrect level name and number showing when loading a replay.
• Fixed the display of some achievements during an offline state.
• Added the level info to list of widgets hidden when hiding the replay HUD, so you can now have a screen without UI for screenshots.
• Added changes to select profiles menu wording. Profiles is replaced with players and any reference to create is replaced set up. This is to avoid any ambiguity with the wording used on some platforms used for system functions.
• Added changes to language used on leaderboards. Instead of global it will instead clarify as cross-platform, and you will then have e.g. Steam Top Players when youve changed the view/filter. The same will apply for friends leaderboards.
• Added changes to language used in friends list to specifically say which is cross-platform friends and which is e.g. Steam friends (before it just said friends).
• Fixed some text strings relating to friends lists.
• Fixed an issue where the scroll bar wouldnt inherit the correct theme I the social friends list.
• Fixed an issue where you could press Y in the social friends list and bring up a invite code prompt when not in a session.
• Fixed some balls such as pool eight ball having unreadable activity message when joining a session, in the recently added pre-game lobby chat due to text being white on a white background. Normal messages had already been fixed but this is now fixed too.
• Fixed the text size of the level name that appears following the level sequence and being in three player split screen. Long text would sometimes go beyond the bounds of the screen.
• Fixed an instance where local players wouldnt initially gain access to quick chat following level start.
• Fixed some issues with input mapping for local players.
• Fixed an issue relating to interface scaling in some graphics settings menus.
• Fixed a potential text string issue when inviting a friend to a session.
• Fixed an issue with the level name appearing incorrect in hotseat session.
• Fixed the appearance of some menus opened by local players in a hotseat session.
• Added loading dots to player names in the pre-game lobby for when the player information is still being replicated.
• Fixed an instance where account name would not be visible in pre-game lobby.
• Added improvements to keyboard remapping by reserving esc key and allowing this as a cancel remapping function.
• Fixed an instance where credits menu could be accessed when button prompt was hidden in-game.
• Fixed an issue where remapping a keyboard input to an identical key wouldnt clear the icon for a duplicate entry.
• Fixed a behaviour issue where if a local player were to open the in game menu while its their turn the HUD wouldnt become hidden.
• Fixed a behaviour issue where if a local player were to disconnect from a hotseat session the HUD would potentially remain hidden in some situations.
• Added context sensitive string for the where it would normally say main menu in the ingame menu for local players. I.e. to disconnect them.
• Added improvement to recent players so only real players are recorded using their original account names. Local players will not be included in the list.
• Added improvements to friends list refreshing from actions such as accepting friend requests.
• Added a change to how some credits are displayed, for the music we licence we will only mention the company name and not the url to avoid advertising language issues on some platforms.
• Added a change to some terminology. All references to Gamepad are replaced with Controller to be consistent with platform terminology.
• Fixed an issue where the scrollbox in one of the gamepad settings menus wouldnt apply dark theme.
• Fixed an issue where one of the social menus was not displaying the correct side description text.
• Added improvements to the blocked player list to list both cross-platform and platform specific (i.e. Steam) blocked players.
• Added improved context to the player inspect menu when a player is blocked on the local platform. When this happens you cannot perform social actions to invite or add them, until they are unblocked on the local platform as this takes priority.
• Added context to hide/show the sound test button in sound options when only highlighting options that can make use of it.
• Fixed an issue where the host in a session would send an activity message (to themselves) when ending the session.
• Fixed potential issue where joining a session via the join menu quick join and backing out immediately could result in a duplicate menu prompt appearing.
• Added a change so menu scale is now 125% by default when starting a new savedgame. All options to tweak it as before remain.
• Added a slight change to the menu titles. The main text is reduced from 48 to 44, and shifted to the left by a few pixels. Right text is adjusted to remain aligned centre. The point of this change is accommodate longer player names in menus with long menu titles.
• Fixed an issue found where it would be possible to interact with the mouse or keyboard, release it, but gamepad prompts return, until moving again and then sticking to keyboard. Prompts will now persist correctly.
• Fixed an issue where it would be possible to join a session via invite code if either your or the host were on a different network and disallowed crossplay.
• Added a limit to the name length of additional player characters created for local players, this is 16 characters.
• Added improved behaviour to the scoreboard podium so a players account ID can be shown below their character name. Character names will better handle long strings and automatically be resized to fit.
• Added improvements to how player names are displayed on the scoreboard, there is now room for a few extra text characters. Plus when then player has a really long character name and a long account id, the account id will be placed vertically below the character name, and the character name set to same font size as the id.
• Added account id to the its your turn hotseat screen. Adjustments have been made to fit very long character names, such as 16 character using double spaced letters.
• Fixed the in game / pause menu player name clipping if the name was very long, names will be scaled if really long.
• Added a tweak to how Recent players is labelled. During an active session this menu will be called Players, and Recent players when not. When the menu is Recent players a sub-section for current session will be hidden as its not relevant.
• Fixed activity messages for players with long names clipping in some menus.
• Fixed an issue where it was not possible to endlessly toggle between shared and regular input in the choose players menu.
• Fixed an issue where the button text for shared input didnt change in the choose players menu.
• Fixed a navigation issue with the dpad only on the settings menu from a previous update.
• Added improvements to the accessibility settings menu with options for volume control, spatial audio, steady camera, center dot and no button holds.
• Added rework of the sounds menu to be consistent with accessibility menu order and added spatial audio control. Names for settings have been changed but the function they relate to is unchanged. Applause was renamed to Win / Loss, Effects is Action, Level Sequence is Level Intro, Interface is Menu and Environment is Ambient.
• Added ability to remap additional menu buttons.
• Added ability to adjust increase and decrease power sensitivity independently.
• Added ability to remap the pause button.
• Fixed an issue where triggers wouldnt be considered as a duplicate input during remapping due to both analog and digital states.
• Added new keyboard and mouse settings menu which also contains additional mappings for keyboard camera, pause, and menu functions.
• Added input function to keyboard menu that works in similar way to gamepad button, this means you can remap keys purely using the keyboard optionally without any mouse input.
• Added improved duplicate detection to keyboard settings.
• Fixed an issue where if you held the Thumbstick directionally and selected apply settings it were possible for navigation to continue while the prompt were visible.
• Added sound test functionality to volume controls now added to accessibility menu.
• Added a limit to 20 player character profiles being creatable as well as added an error prompt should there be insufficient storage space to store a profile.
• Fixed the delete profile button having an incorrect icon in the choose players menu when editing a profile.
• Added additional difficulty preset settings including a fixed override option found under game settings. When enabled any offline game you start will use these preset settings, these presets are also found under custom settings.
• Added optional reduced game speed option which will work when playing offline. When enabled gameplay will be reduced in speed by one sixth, this will not include the level sequences as the music is timed to match.
• Added improved contrast options with a new high contrast mode with existing option renamed to medium. In all settings various text that doesnt not have a background will have a faint outline to make it more distinguishable against really bright sky.
• Fixed ability to select a unused element on the choose players menu.
• Fixed an issue relating to padding when changing the view in lobby.