Hello Marines, and Merry Xmas!

We've just released a small update that has added the following:

XMAS MAYHEM

• Marines and CTRs now have reindeer antlers and santa hats. These changes affect the Xmas Mayhem gamemode, Wargames, and all missions/challenges.
  

• Marines and CTRs now explode in a colorful display of glowing confetti particles to the tune of Christmas music upon death.
  

• The Sandbox map has been updated with a moving turret that fires a projectile at each of the display surfaces to show the differences of each individual surface. Please keep in mind that the turret can damage players.
  

• The Recon Drone can now be killed, and will spiral out of control upon death.
  

https://youtu.be/rcefnXSyVk0

Rundown:
Welcome to the 2nd annual Masters of Halloween Wargames! You are invited once again into the eerie bowels of Hell with plenty of spooks and scares awaiting you. This year were bringing back the Hell Week game mode (no respawns after the grace period) and introducing some thematic changes to spice up the event!

The event will take place on October 30 at 6:00 pm UTC.

Join us on Discord to chat with other players and find teammates. Participants are welcome to record or live stream the event and share it afterwards using #interstellarmarines.

Note: There is no sign-up. The server has room for 64 players total, so join the server quickly to ensure your spot!

Rules:

• Form a team of up to four players, or go at it alone if you don't fear the Hellbots!
  
• Join the designated Wargames server at the time of the event
  
• Enter Hell and exit out of Docking Bay at least once
  
• Be the first team with 30,000 Combat Points at once to win

• Team names on a screen in Hell
  
• Masters of Halloween Wargames 2019 Discord role

Hi everyone, good news! Were pleased to announce our new development roadmap for Interstellar Marines.
Weve decided on a 4 month development period, with a tentative deadline for each update and new priority system for WIP content/features.

The priority system will sort tasks into need, want, bonus categories. The Game Director will designate what needs to be done, what he'd prefer volunteers do, and bonus items that can be chosen by the volunteers themselves.

Anything that is not ready will be pushed to release in a later update rather than delaying the current update. Progress will be updated on our Trello page and social media, so be sure to check them out to see what is being worked on.

As a player, what does this mean for you?

The priority system will allow our Game Director Kim (ZPSHicks) to have more time to interact with the team and community, as he no longer needs to plan every little task and detail.

The team will also have more freedom with what they are allowed to work on, so you might end up with some cool random content or features.

The 4 month cycle means more frequent updates, and our current tentative deadline for Update 29 is September 1st.

ITO Testing

ITO Testing will continue as usual, and will take place before the deadlines with multiple builds including changes/additions according to player feedback. Once we feel were ready to release well lock an ITO Test Build as a release candidate.

To become an ITO tester join our official Discord server and post !Enlist ITO Tester in the role-requests channel. Then you'll receive access to the ITO testing announcements where youll find the code to unlock the beta branch in Steam.

During this process we will add reported bugs and include what is being worked on via our Trello page.

Were very excited to see where this will take us and we will continue to make updates as more progress is made on our social media.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your Team at Zero Point Software

Join our official social media and community groups to stay connected and chat:

• Discord Server
  

• Steam Group
  

• Twitter
  

• Facebook
  

• YouTube
  

• Twitch
  

• Trello
  

Update 28 - Engine Upgrade

Hello Marines, were very excited to announce Update 28!

First, we want to thank everyone who participated in ITO Testing - youre the best!

Update 28 has finally been wrapped up and released. In this update weve upgraded Interstellar Marines from Unity 5.1.3 (released August 2015) to 5.6.7 (released March 2019). This much needed upgrade allows us to utilize awesome new features and improvements, which includes increased performance/optimization, lighting improvements, shader upgrades, GPU instancing, PBR materials, API changes, deferred rendering, DirectX 11 support for Windows, and more.

These improvements will allow for Interstellar Marines to continue to be more immersive, enhance visuals, and set us up to begin adding new features and content.

Below is our brand new Update video which showcases the potential of the Unity upgrade and other cool features/content weve added to U28.

https://youtu.be/wtiOpE2LAYY
Update 29: Planning Phase

We haven't discussed and decided what we're going to do for U29 yet, so we'll post another announcement in the coming weeks with what we have planned.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your Team at Zero Point Software

Join our official social media and community groups to stay connected and chat:

• Discord Server
  

• Steam Group
  

• Twitter
  

• YouTube
  

• Twitch
  

• Trello
  

Hi everyone, we'd like to take a moment and answer one of the most frequently asked questions about Interstellar Marines:

There really is nothing we'd rather make than COOP missions and especially unique and exciting ones; but without more advanced AI, options for scripting and more advanced gameplay setup towards tactical sandbox gameplay with a story, we cant do that.

We want the next COOP mission to feel more immersive and unique than the previous missions. The Cooperative mode was built for Interstellar Marines from the ground-up to be a multiplayer gamemode where you could play unique and exciting missions with three of your friends.

However, if we decide to commit and go through the development process it would require to make another COOP mission like the Neurogen Incident, it would take months to do. With these COOP missions you play through them a few times and then wait for new content to release. It simply takes too much time and resources to create each new mission, make sure most of the substantial bugs are taken care of, then release it within a decent amount of time at the moment. The cost versus pay off just simply wouldnt be worth it, unfortunately.

If we decided to release new missions it'd simply be more of the same kinds of missions we've done in the past, and we dont want that. We want missions with a heavy emphasis on replayability, with each playthrough feeling like a new and unique mission.

For this to happen, the focus on adding/improving core gameplay mechanics, tweaking current content, patching bugs and glitches, and adding other content in the meantime will need to continue. For that very reason it makes much more sense to continue to focus on Wargames, using it as a testing ground for new features/content, improving AI, and eventually even possibly having the maps be used for new COOP missions.

Wed also like to make sure that we align all of your expectations with our current situation and progress with Interstellar Marines/Update 28:

Our game director Kim (ZPSHicks, and lone survivor of the original Zero Point Software team) currently works two jobs and has a limited amount of time being able to work on Interstellar Marines.

Currently we have two of our volunteer developers working on upgrading Interstellar Marines game engine (Unity) to the latest available version. This will take time, but will hopefully remove a lot of substantial bugs/glitches (for example, the infamous falling through the ground bug) and increase optimization.

For now, we are focusing on making small improvements to Interstellar Marines in general and the Wargames multiplayer gamemode.

Were not giving up hope on this, but development will continue at a slow pace until we can attract a publisher or somehow raise money for development. We have possible leads for publishers, but nothing is confirmed at the moment, so please dont get your hopes up.

Lastly, Id like to announce that I will be your latest community manager for Zero Point Software. Expect posts to occur much more frequently, and for communication to improve significantly. I will be keeping you all updated ;)

/CinemaBane

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software

Join our official social media and community groups to stay connected and chat:

• Discord server: discord.gg/interstellarmarines
  

• Steam group: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/interstellarmarines
  

• Twitter page: www.twitter.com/zeropointsoft
  

• YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/zeropointsoftware
  

• Twitch channel: www.twitch.tv/zeropointsoftware
  

• Instagram page: www.instagram.com/zeropointsoftware
  

Update 27 - To Hell and Back

Good news everyone!

Thanks to our wonderful crew of community volunteer developers, Update 27 has been wrapped and released! Going into the volunteer program we werent sure what to expect, but we knew development was much too slow and something had to be done, and we sure are glad we took a chance and accepted some help.

Now that we have a better idea what the volunteers are capable of and how to manage volunteers rather than regular employees, we plan on more frequent updates in the future.

Well need to upgrade the Unity engine sooner rather than later. Our current engine version is the 2 year old 5.1.3 released August 2015, and by upgrading well be able to utilize all the new and improved features, graphical and performance benefits of an up-to-date version of Unity.

Were also very focused on getting more weapons and tactical features into the game and we also really want to expand the AI of our enemy Combat Training Robots, to make them much more intelligent and challenging; with the AI teaming up playing SP/COOP/Wargames with strategy and tactics.

Well update Trello the second we know what well focus on for Update 28.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your small team and awesome volunteer army at Zero Point Software

Interstellar Marines - Update 27
(0.5.27 - Revision 1354)
Platforms available, 32-bit & 64-bit
Windows, Linux, OSX

Changelog for Update 27

What's New

ADDED 64 Bit support for all platforms.
ADDED Tactical Reload.
ADDED 2 light modes (dark/light) to GKBB controlled by a power box & other changes.
ADDED New AR03 Firing sound.
ADDED New OS-1 Pistol Firing sound.
ADDED Support for arrow keys bindings and quality of life changes to the skin menu!
ADDED 10 random Bullet Whiz sounds from Running Man into Marine 1P impact sound list, until we get a proper bullet whiz system implemented
ADDED CheckIfMinAndMaxValuesMatch to IntelligenceBase to eliminate unnecessary calculations
ADDED New Suppressor_2_A model iteration 1, added materials and created Suppressor_2_A.prefab
ADDED Support for CTR's spotting targets with their flashlights.

Improvements

UPDATED CTR defective, SMG and AR with changes made by Tanner, they're much more reactive and precise now
UPDATED HP for defective (melee) decreased so all CTR's will die if hit in the head, and done some general normalization of the HP on the body parts
UPDATED Movements speed of CTR SMG and AR, so SMG is faster in patrol (walk) and assault (run) and the AR is a bit slower in patrol and assault
UPDATED Get Killed By Bots map with more accurate Navigation mesh and CTR teams 1 and 2 is now White vs Black (no political agenda intended), it was just the two CTR skins most different to each other ;)
UPDATED InputManager.cs to fix the controller firing bug
UPDATED AR Aiming noise time increased from 0.75 to 0.8, equal with SMG
UPDATED SMG Recoil Aim scale reduced from 0.9 to 0.75, equal with AR
UPDATED SMG Breath/noise bob aim ratio lowered from 1 to 0.5, equal with AR
UPDATED Welcome Mission scene with adjusted suppressor pickup prefab and change so you only get one (to share between weapons)
UPDATED Sandbox scene with Arsenal locker + 3 suppressor pickup prefabs.
UPDATED All weapon prefabs to accept new Suppressor prefab
UPDATED Suppressor Pickup to present the Suppressor_2_A model
UPDATED CTR AR/SMG Accuracy values changed
UPDATED Fixed values related to spinning CTR, fixed reaction time
UPDATED Increased pistol ADS recoil scale
UPDATED Reduced AR reload speed to be more consistent with SMG
UPDATED AR and SMG prefab lurch values
UPDATED Made CTR's identification of targets less random and more consistent.
UPDATED CTR SMG/AR accuracy values making them more accurate.
UPDATED increased SMG ammo capacity to 32 and SMG ammo pickups to 32.
UPDATED increased SMG burst mode to 4 rounds.
UPDATED Get Killed By Bots with two different light settings to test CTRs new ability to detect/see players with their flashlight. (Cycle the light switch to re-illuminate red lights that get shot out).
UPDATED Skin menu with new quick select option (Select and stay in the menu or HOLD CTRL to exit as soon as you select a skin).
UPDATED SMG, AR and Pistol with slightly less FOV change for added realism (until we can simulate sight magnification)
UPDATED Recoil lurch V3 system.
UPDATED CTR's spotting targets with their flashlights.UPDATED SMG ammo capacity to 32, ammo pickups to 32.
UPDATED Minor tweaks in lens flare distance. (visible from a bit further away and close up)
UPDATED Lighter ammo and weapon crate interiors.
UPDATED Defective and Guard CTR damage values updated to correspond to player's.
UPDATED Defective CTR body and limb damage values halved, head shot now 1 hit kill.
UPDATED Weapon recoil values adjusted.
UPDATED Smaller camo patterns for purchasable ZPS created camo skins.
UPDATED Increased the length of the mouse setting scroll reticle so all options fit in all resolutions.
UPDATED NGI CTR medical cross to green, resolving a Geneva Convention compliance issue.
UPDATED Reload mechanics with CTR animation controller.
UPDATED Ammo counter sights optimization.
UPDATED Supply crate Pre-fab updated for more exact placement and new aligned pickup locations.
UPDATED Suit Systems to properly work with reload sound.

Optimizations

OPTIMIZED recoil view rotation calculations by disabling them unless weapon is being fired.(except in semi-auto mode it always calculates when fire button is hold down)
OPTIMIZED exhaustion view rotation calculations by disabling them when not needed

Fixes

FIXED canceling suppressor attach, when quickly hitting the key multiple times.
FIXED Ammo counter visible through everything.
FIXED Client not knowing it had suppressors.
FIXED Multiplayer suppressor bug when equipping and unequipping super-fast.
FIXED Revive attachment poof bug.
FIXED Semi-auto aim slow rise.
FIXED Random no recoil bug on burst mode.
FIXED Weapon swap with alpha keys.
FIXED Weapon swap using d-pad on gamepad.
FIXED UI not showing at certain resolution.

We will continue utilizing the ITO tester program to test progress on upcoming updates.

To become an ITO tester join our official Discord server and post !Enlist ITO Tester in the role-requests channel. Then you'll receive access to the ITO testing announcements where youll find the code to unlock the beta branch in Steam.

Update 27 - To Hell and Back

Good news everyone!

Thanks to our wonderful crew of community volunteer developers, Update 27 has been wrapped and released! Going into the volunteer program we weren’t sure what to expect, but we knew development was much too slow and something had to be done, and we sure are glad we took a chance and accepted some help.

Now that we have a better idea what the volunteers are capable of and how to manage volunteers rather than regular employees, we plan on more frequent updates in the future.

We’ll need to upgrade the Unity engine sooner rather than later. Our current engine version is the 2 year old 5.1.3 released August 2015, and by upgrading we’ll be able to utilize all the new and improved features, graphical and performance benefits of an up-to-date version of Unity.

We’re also very focused on getting more weapons and tactical features into the game and we also really want to expand the AI of our enemy Combat Training Robots, to make them much more intelligent and challenging; with the AI teaming up playing SP/COOP/Wargames with strategy and tactics.

We’ll update Trello the second we know what we’ll focus on for Update 28.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your small team and awesome volunteer army at Zero Point Software

Interstellar Marines - Update 27
(0.5.27 - Revision 1354)
Platforms available, 32-bit & 64-bit
Windows, Linux, OSX

Changelog for Update 27

What's New

ADDED 64 Bit support for all platforms.
ADDED Tactical Reload.
ADDED 2 light modes (dark/light) to GKBB controlled by a power box & other changes.
ADDED New AR03 Firing sound.
ADDED New OS-1 Pistol Firing sound.
ADDED Support for arrow keys bindings and quality of life changes to the skin menu!
ADDED 10 random Bullet Whiz sounds from Running Man into Marine 1P impact sound list, until we get a proper bullet whiz system implemented
ADDED CheckIfMinAndMaxValuesMatch to IntelligenceBase to eliminate unnecessary calculations
ADDED New Suppressor_2_A model iteration 1, added materials and created Suppressor_2_A.prefab
ADDED Support for CTR's spotting targets with their flashlights.

Improvements

UPDATED CTR defective, SMG and AR with changes made by Tanner, they're much more reactive and precise now
UPDATED HP for defective (melee) decreased so all CTR's will die if hit in the head, and done some general normalization of the HP on the body parts
UPDATED Movements speed of CTR SMG and AR, so SMG is faster in patrol (walk) and assault (run) and the AR is a bit slower in patrol and assault
UPDATED Get Killed By Bots map with more accurate Navigation mesh and CTR teams 1 and 2 is now White vs Black (no political agenda intended), it was just the two CTR skins most different to each other ;)
UPDATED InputManager.cs to fix the controller firing bug
UPDATED AR Aiming noise time increased from 0.75 to 0.8, equal with SMG
UPDATED SMG Recoil Aim scale reduced from 0.9 to 0.75, equal with AR
UPDATED SMG Breath/noise bob aim ratio lowered from 1 to 0.5, equal with AR
UPDATED Welcome Mission scene with adjusted suppressor pickup prefab and change so you only get one (to share between weapons)
UPDATED Sandbox scene with Arsenal locker + 3 suppressor pickup prefabs.
UPDATED All weapon prefabs to accept new Suppressor prefab
UPDATED Suppressor Pickup to present the Suppressor_2_A model
UPDATED CTR AR/SMG Accuracy values changed
UPDATED Fixed values related to spinning CTR, fixed reaction time
UPDATED Increased pistol ADS recoil scale
UPDATED Reduced AR reload speed to be more consistent with SMG
UPDATED AR and SMG prefab lurch values
UPDATED Made CTR's identification of targets less random and more consistent.
UPDATED CTR SMG/AR accuracy values making them more accurate.
UPDATED increased SMG ammo capacity to 32 and SMG ammo pickups to 32.
UPDATED increased SMG burst mode to 4 rounds.
UPDATED Get Killed By Bots with two different light settings to test CTR’s new ability to “detect/see” players with their flashlight. (Cycle the light switch to re-illuminate red lights that get shot out).
UPDATED Skin menu with new quick select option (Select and stay in the menu or HOLD CTRL to exit as soon as you select a skin).
UPDATED SMG, AR and Pistol with slightly less FOV change for added realism (until we can simulate sight magnification)
UPDATED Recoil lurch V3 system.
UPDATED CTR's spotting targets with their flashlights.UPDATED SMG ammo capacity to 32, ammo pickups to 32.
UPDATED Minor tweaks in lens flare distance. (visible from a bit further away and close up)
UPDATED Lighter ammo and weapon crate interiors.
UPDATED Defective and Guard CTR damage values updated to correspond to player's.
UPDATED Defective CTR body and limb damage values halved, head shot now 1 hit kill.
UPDATED Weapon recoil values adjusted.
UPDATED Smaller camo patterns for purchasable ZPS created camo skins.
UPDATED Increased the length of the mouse setting scroll reticle so all options fit in all resolutions.
UPDATED NGI CTR medical cross to green, resolving a Geneva Convention compliance issue.
UPDATED Reload mechanics with CTR animation controller.
UPDATED Ammo counter sights optimization.
UPDATED Supply crate Pre-fab updated for more exact placement and new aligned pickup locations.
UPDATED Suit Systems to properly work with reload sound.

Optimizations

OPTIMIZED recoil view rotation calculations by disabling them unless weapon is being fired.(except in semi-auto mode it always calculates when fire button is hold down)
OPTIMIZED exhaustion view rotation calculations by disabling them when not needed

Fixes

FIXED canceling suppressor attach, when quickly hitting the key multiple times.
FIXED Ammo counter visible through everything.
FIXED Client not knowing it had suppressors.
FIXED Multiplayer suppressor bug when equipping and unequipping super-fast.
FIXED Revive attachment poof bug.
FIXED Semi-auto aim slow rise.
FIXED Random no recoil bug on burst mode.
FIXED Weapon swap with alpha keys.
FIXED Weapon swap using d-pad on gamepad.
FIXED UI not showing at certain resolution.

We will continue utilizing the ITO tester program to test progress on upcoming updates.

To become an ITO tester join our official Discord server and post “!Enlist ITO Tester” in the role-requests channel. Then you'll receive access to the ITO testing announcements where you’ll find the code to unlock the beta branch in Steam.

Are you a competitive Interstellar Marines player whos found themselves hungering to return to the battlefields we all know and love? Or perhaps youre a new player, ready to prove themselves among the elites?

Whatever your motives are, long-time community member Five5staR is giving everyone the chance to compete in his standalone competitive league, the FIVESTAR Championship Series!

Join the action at their discord;
Signups are free and going on right now for the 2018 New Year Blind Pick Tournament (16+ players required). Message an admin at the FCS Discord for more information.

Are you a competitive Interstellar Marines player who’s found themselves hungering to return to the battlefields we all know and love? Or perhaps you’re a new player, ready to prove themselves among the elites?

Whatever your motives are, long-time community member Five5staR is giving everyone the chance to compete in his standalone competitive league, the FIVESTAR Championship Series!

Join the action at their discord;
Signups are free and going on right now for the 2018 New Year Blind Pick Tournament (16+ players required). Message an admin at the FCS Discord for more information.

We've been hard at work on Update 27 and have made significant progress. This includes tactical reload, a fix for falling through the map in need of testing, and weapon changes for you to provide feedback on.

X-Mayhem Status
Right now there is a bug which spawns the present over and over again in the same space up to millions of times in an attempt to maximize holiday cheer, making the game mode unplayable. One of our programmers is looking at it though, and with his help Santa might be able to save Christmas after all!

Development Status
Several of our volunteer programmers attend university; Understandably, theyre occupied with end of semester projects and studying for finals. Unfortunately, this means development has slowed down and were not sure exactly when U27 will be ready.

Interstellar Marines - Update 27 - ITO Test Build 4
(0.5.27 - Revision 1280)

Platforms available
Windows, Linux, OSX

Servers available
Co-op, Multiplayer

Changelog for Update 27 - ITO Test Build 4

ADDED Tactical Reload.
ADDED 2 light modes (dark/light) to GKBB controlled by a power box & other changes.
ADDED New AR03 Firing sound.
ADDED New OS-1 Pistol Firing sound.

UPDATED SMG, AR and Pistol with slightly less FOV change for added realism (until we can simulate sight magnification)
UPDATED Recoil lurch V2 system.
UPDATED CTR's spotting targets with their flashlights. (Test if CTRs can see you through the wall with flashlights)
UPDATED SMG ammo capacity to 32, ammo pickups to 32.
UPDATED Minor tweaks in lens flare distance. (visible from a bit further away and close up)
UPDATED Lighter ammo and weapon crate interiors.
UPDATED Defective and Guard CTR damage values updated to correspond to player's.
UPDATED Defective CTR body and limb damage values halved, head shot now 1 hit kill.
UPDATED Weapon recoil values adjusted. (How does it feel?)
UPDATED Smaller camo patterns for purchasable ZPS created camo skins.
UPDATED Increased the length of the mouse setting scroll reticle so all options fit in all resolutions. (Does it fit in yours?)
UPDATED NGI CTR medical cross to green, resolving a Geneva Convention compliance issue.
UPDATED Reload mechanics with CTR animation controller.
UPDATED Ammo counter sights optimization.
UPDATED Supply crate Pre-fab updated for more exact placement and new aligned pickup locations.
UPDATED Suit Systems to properly work with reload sound.

FIXED Ammo counter visible through everything.
FIXED Client not knowing it had suppressors.
FIXED Multiplayer suppressor bug when equipping and unequipping super-fast.
FIXED Players falling through the map.
FIXED Revive attachment poof bug. (Does suppressor stay on weapons after revival?)
FIXED Semi-auto aim slow rise (Does it go up slowly after youre done shooting?)
FIXED Random no recoil bug on burst mode.
FIXED Weapon swap with alpha keys.
FIXED Weapon swap using d-pad on gamepad.
FIXED UI not showing at certain resolution.

To become an ITO tester join our official Discord server and post !Enlist ITO Tester in the role-requests channel. Then you'll receive access to the ITO testing announcements where youll find the code to unlock the beta branch in Steam.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your small team and awesome volunteer army at Zero Point Software

We've been hard at work on Update 27 and have made significant progress. This includes tactical reload, a fix for falling through the map in need of testing, and weapon changes for you to provide feedback on.

X-Mayhem Status
Right now there is a bug which spawns the present over and over again in the same space up to millions of times in an attempt to maximize holiday cheer, making the game mode unplayable. One of our programmers is looking at it though, and with his help Santa might be able to save Christmas after all!

Development Status
Several of our volunteer programmers attend university; Understandably, they’re occupied with end of semester projects and studying for finals. Unfortunately, this means development has slowed down and we’re not sure exactly when U27 will be ready.

Interstellar Marines - Update 27 - ITO Test Build 4
(0.5.27 - Revision 1280)

Platforms available
Windows, Linux, OSX

Servers available
Co-op, Multiplayer

Changelog for Update 27 - ITO Test Build 4

ADDED Tactical Reload.
ADDED 2 light modes (dark/light) to GKBB controlled by a power box & other changes.
ADDED New AR03 Firing sound.
ADDED New OS-1 Pistol Firing sound.

UPDATED SMG, AR and Pistol with slightly less FOV change for added realism (until we can simulate sight magnification)
UPDATED Recoil lurch V2 system.
UPDATED CTR's spotting targets with their flashlights. (Test if CTRs can see you through the wall with flashlights)
UPDATED SMG ammo capacity to 32, ammo pickups to 32.
UPDATED Minor tweaks in lens flare distance. (visible from a bit further away and close up)
UPDATED Lighter ammo and weapon crate interiors.
UPDATED Defective and Guard CTR damage values updated to correspond to player's.
UPDATED Defective CTR body and limb damage values halved, head shot now 1 hit kill.
UPDATED Weapon recoil values adjusted. (How does it feel?)
UPDATED Smaller camo patterns for purchasable ZPS created camo skins.
UPDATED Increased the length of the mouse setting scroll reticle so all options fit in all resolutions. (Does it fit in yours?)
UPDATED NGI CTR medical cross to green, resolving a Geneva Convention compliance issue.
UPDATED Reload mechanics with CTR animation controller.
UPDATED Ammo counter sights optimization.
UPDATED Supply crate Pre-fab updated for more exact placement and new aligned pickup locations.
UPDATED Suit Systems to properly work with reload sound.

FIXED Ammo counter visible through everything.
FIXED Client not knowing it had suppressors.
FIXED Multiplayer suppressor bug when equipping and unequipping super-fast.
FIXED Players falling through the map.
FIXED Revive attachment poof bug. (Does suppressor stay on weapons after revival?)
FIXED Semi-auto aim slow rise (Does it go up slowly after you’re done shooting?)
FIXED Random no recoil bug on burst mode.
FIXED Weapon swap with alpha keys.
FIXED Weapon swap using d-pad on gamepad.
FIXED UI not showing at certain resolution.

To become an ITO tester join our official Discord server and post “!Enlist ITO Tester” in the role-requests channel. Then you'll receive access to the ITO testing announcements where you’ll find the code to unlock the beta branch in Steam.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your small team and awesome volunteer army at Zero Point Software

Thank You!

First off we'd like to thank all our friends in the Interstellar Marines community who have given us your support and confidence! We are humbled by the overwhelmingly positive response and are very pleased to announce

ITO Testing!

Our ITO Testing program allows us to post game changes on a beta branch in Steam for ITO players to test, without breaking things for the casual player on the main build. Up until now it's been an exclusive group that requires a signed non-disclosure agreement on file at Zero Point Software to participate but NOT ANYMORE!

We have opened enrollment to anyone who is interested, with no NDA required. Not only is there no NDA, but we encourage our testers to discuss things with other players outside of testing to keep them in the loop.

To become an ITO tester join our Discord Server and post in the roll-requests channel. Then you'll receive access to the testing announcements and the code to unlock the beta branch.

We won't make a public announcement for every iteration of a test build (we could have 10 a day) But we will announce major changes. If you want to follow progress on the game you can also visit our Trello Page we'll be keeping it updated with what we're working on better than we have been previously.

Development Team Update

We've added several new volunteer developers to the team and are VERY excited about our potential new capabilities, some of which have already begun to be realized. We'll be discussing this in more detail once everyone has gotten settled and we see where we're at.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Tanner (ZPSSpectre), Zero Point Software

Thank You!

First off we'd like to thank all our friends in the Interstellar Marines community who have given us your support and confidence! We are humbled by the overwhelmingly positive response and are very pleased to announce

ITO Testing!

Our ITO Testing program allows us to post game changes on a beta branch in Steam for ITO players to test, without breaking things for the casual player on the main build. Up until now it's been an exclusive group that requires a signed non-disclosure agreement on file at Zero Point Software to participate but NOT ANYMORE!

We have opened enrollment to anyone who is interested, with no NDA required. Not only is there no NDA, but we encourage our testers to discuss things with other players outside of testing to keep them in the loop.

To become an ITO tester join our Discord Server and post in the roll-requests channel. Then you'll receive access to the testing announcements and the code to unlock the beta branch.

We won't make a public announcement for every iteration of a test build (we could have 10 a day) But we will announce major changes. If you want to follow progress on the game you can also visit our Trello Page we'll be keeping it updated with what we're working on better than we have been previously.

Development Team Update

We've added several new volunteer developers to the team and are VERY excited about our potential new capabilities, some of which have already begun to be realized. We'll be discussing this in more detail once everyone has gotten settled and we see where we're at.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Tanner (ZPSSpectre), Zero Point Software

Community members close to me on our official Discord server, Steam Friends or Skype, should be fairly up-to-date on the details below.

Lone Survivor
I, Kim Haar Jørgensen (the primary creative force behind Interstellar Marines), am currently the only official developer working on the game. I can do almost everything, except programming, which I'm learning.

To be able to pay the bills at home, I'm currently working a full time job as "Respiratory Handicap Helper", which is both day and night shifts, allowing a fair amount of "free" time to work on Interstellar Marines.

At the moment there is not a lot of light at the end of the tunnel for Interstellar Marines, except the ultra clear ambitious vision of what Interstellar Marines will be once fully realized, some day.

I'll keep working on Interstellar Marines, until I go crazy or die trying or preferably manage to recreate, pickup, maintain traction, and conclude the game(s) envisioned.

Update 27
The next short term goal is to finally get Update 27 out. Update 27 is centered mostly around expanding our combat sandbox arena called Wargames and fixing as many of our bugs as possible. (You can check our Trello page for progress and more details).

In the long term the goals will be to get the game upgraded to Unity 5.6+ and make everything run smoother, be much more bug free, and prettier. This will allow us to expand in more interesting directions to chum players in.

It's also a clear goal to make sure future updates, although small, will release more frequently.

Moving forward
Lack of substantial progress in Early Access has resulted in a steady increase of negative reviews (understandably), which in turn have had a very serious effect on sales; creating a nasty downward spiral to the bottom of the foodchain.

With the current negative review scores it will be much more difficult to attract publishers/investors to our game; although we will certainly still try. What’s more important is moving forward (even if slowly) and when things become more positive, more options will become available.

I'll keep working on Interstellar Marines with awesome people interested in helping out, that's for sure. I've been very fortunate to get this small handful of awesome volunteer community members on board to help out from time to time. I’m also blessed to have my brother-in-arms (ZPSSpectre) helping out with game design, military advisory, and community interaction. Only time will tell how this "crowd sourcing" adventure will turn out.

I can totally respect if you could not care less about me or this game anymore, it really has been too long a wait with way too little progress.

If, on the other hand, you feel a sense of hope and power inside to keep fighting; I'll be honored and proud!

Show don't tell is what I'm judging myself on, and this is just text. Back to work!

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Kim (ZPSHicks), last original survivor of Zero Point Software

Community members close to me on our official Discord server, Steam Friends or Skype, should be fairly up-to-date on the details below.

Lone Survivor
I, Kim Haar Jrgensen (the primary creative force behind Interstellar Marines), am currently the only official developer working on the game. I can do almost everything, except programming, which I'm learning.

To be able to pay the bills at home, I'm currently working a full time job as "Respiratory Handicap Helper", which is both day and night shifts, allowing a fair amount of "free" time to work on Interstellar Marines.

At the moment there is not a lot of light at the end of the tunnel for Interstellar Marines, except the ultra clear ambitious vision of what Interstellar Marines will be once fully realized, some day.

I'll keep working on Interstellar Marines, until I go crazy or die trying or preferably manage to recreate, pickup, maintain traction, and conclude the game(s) envisioned.

Update 27
The next short term goal is to finally get Update 27 out. Update 27 is centered mostly around expanding our combat sandbox arena called Wargames and fixing as many of our bugs as possible. (You can check our Trello page for progress and more details).

In the long term the goals will be to get the game upgraded to Unity 5.6+ and make everything run smoother, be much more bug free, and prettier. This will allow us to expand in more interesting directions to chum players in.

It's also a clear goal to make sure future updates, although small, will release more frequently.

Moving forward
Lack of substantial progress in Early Access has resulted in a steady increase of negative reviews (understandably), which in turn have had a very serious effect on sales; creating a nasty downward spiral to the bottom of the foodchain.

With the current negative review scores it will be much more difficult to attract publishers/investors to our game; although we will certainly still try. Whats more important is moving forward (even if slowly) and when things become more positive, more options will become available.

I'll keep working on Interstellar Marines with awesome people interested in helping out, that's for sure. I've been very fortunate to get this small handful of awesome volunteer community members on board to help out from time to time. Im also blessed to have my brother-in-arms (ZPSSpectre) helping out with game design, military advisory, and community interaction. Only time will tell how this "crowd sourcing" adventure will turn out.

I can totally respect if you could not care less about me or this game anymore, it really has been too long a wait with way too little progress.

If, on the other hand, you feel a sense of hope and power inside to keep fighting; I'll be honored and proud!

Show don't tell is what I'm judging myself on, and this is just text. Back to work!

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Kim (ZPSHicks), last original survivor of Zero Point Software

Good Morning/Afternoon Dear Community,

This is the first update in quite some time, and we've all been waiting for it!

Update 26 introduce the first mission instance inside Wargames. A mission which takes place in the treacherous corridors of Operations in full lockdown. Hordes of defective and patrols of submachine gun wielding CTRs is all that stands in the way of you (or your team) and the loot filled treasures enclosed beneath ... oh yeah, and 5 power relays at random locations!

Update 26 also features a few minor bug fixes, several key improvements and various tweaks to e.g. HUD systems, foliage rendering, new loot crates, global messaging, increased performance in Wargames and more (Please check full changelog below for details).

The Annual XMayhem multiplayer gamemode is back once again; allowing you to unlock our two very special seasonal xmas achievements for the duration of the holidays.

From all of us here at Zero Point Software, wed like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for supporting the game!

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
ZPSHicks, last survivor of Zero Point Software

Update 26 - Changelog:

What's New

ADDED: Operations mission instance to Wargames
ADDED: System setup of mission crates, waypoints and access elevator platforms to gain access to Operations
ADDED: Steam leaderboards to the Wargames server browser menu
ADDED: Option for inviting players from chat lobby into Wargames (joining the same team and spawning close to each other)
ADDED: Backpack icon in Mission Overview at location of backpacks dropped with +500 CPs
ADDED: Chat announcement of CPs amount and zone location if player is killed with +500 CPs
ADDED: Overhead icon for team members in different zones in Wargames
ADDED: Revamped loot crates (model details, animation and textures) - Made by Hexe the Insane and Katrina the Insane (Thanks a million guys!)
ADDED: Dynamic thumbnails in Wargames server browser menu
ADDED: Support from streaming text and images from URL into menu
ADDED: Simple "falling out of map" trigger pickup setup to all zones in Wargames
ADDED: Cull groups and cull group triggers to all zones in Wargames except Jungle (20% boost in performance)
ADDED: Backpack beacon light and sounds to dropped backpacks
ADDED: Support for instantiating different waypoint icons
ADDED: SARA helmet announcements 60 seconds before a drop crate lands in Wargames
ADDED: SARA globally announces power state of Operations in Wargames
ADDED: Waypoints and power system to loot crates
ADDED: Defective CTR spawnbox to Sandbox
ADDED: Simple cardboard target setup to Sandbox
ADDED: Mission crate and small Operations access elevators system setup to Sandbox
ADDED: Containment field to Sandbox (good for testing suit system shutdowns)
ADDED: Respawn protection from CTRs in Wargames
ADDED: Main menu now shows how many achievements you have out of all
ADDED: Best Clan is now WaR-IM (Congrats guys!)

Improvements

UPDATED: Trees and foliage shader to work with Unity 5 (Removing black edges and receiving correct lighting)
UPDATED: Trees and foliage billboard shader to work with Unity 5 (removing ugly edge in fog)
UPDATED: Global chat log is kept when switching zones in Wargames
UPDATED: Increased player revive-able timer to 60 seconds (from 30 seconds)
UPDATED: HUD revive messages is only displayed for teams in Wargames, everyone else see them in the chat
UPDATED: Kill messages removed from HUD, except from team players in same zone in Wargames
UPDATED: HUD correctly shut downs all intended elements when suit is offline or helmet is open
UPDATED: Restyled Mission Overview and added Operations access icons to the map of each zone
UPDATED: Replaced Hell Week with Wargames theme across the game (screens, audio, text and UI
UPDATED: Stamina is regained 150% faster when fully exhausted
UPDATED: Lowered breath audio volume when fully exhausted by 25%
UPDATED: Increased HUD compass width by 20%
UPDATED: Wetlands night moonlight and ambience light color 50% more bright
UPDATED: Jungle dusk weather mode is now more viberant and red in tones
UPDATED: Removed windows from 90% of all buildings in Wargames
UPDATED: Rebaked navmesh in all zones for more accurate pathfinding
UPDATED: Retry count in mission/challenges menu selection
UPDATED: Playing Lone Wolf the HUD scoreboard says DELTA instead of Player
UPDATED: Backpack pickup speed 2x faster
UPDATED: Loot crate unlock speed 2x faster
UPDATED: Weapon pickup speed 2x faster
UPDATED: CTR and Marine 3p walk sounds 2x volume
UPDATED: Restyled global chat UI so chat messages is shown against the dark edge of the helmet for better clarity
UPDATED: Increased brightness of flashlights 1p/3p (from 1.6 to 2.5)
UPDATED: Drop crates in Wargames drops every 5 minutes in one random zone
UPDATED: Tweaked the vignetting image effect to be more realistic and darker edges when aiming weapon for increased immersion
UPDATED: Simplified emmisive mask (shown on combat suit of team players)
UPDATED: Removed low pass muffling of suit audio system (SARA and audio logs)

Fixes

FIXED: Invert mouse/gamepad Y-axis in input settings
FIXED: HUD Interaction brackets not showing when suit system was offline
FIXED: HUD WARN message was not turned off if opening the helmet when the suit is offline
FIXED: CTR reload sound radius
FIXED: Rocks in zone connection tunnels where not blocking "sunlight" flares
FIXED: Waypoints staying in Welcome to Project IM introduction mission

Known Issues

• Players may sometimes fall through the floor of a map (Unity 5 bug)
  
• The game will stop updating when switching out of fullscreen in Windows. If you are on a moving elevator or platform, this will cause you to fall through it. If you are in a Party, this will disconnect you from the Party
  
• View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks
  
• Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)
  
• The gamepad implementation is early and experimental, so may cause issues
  
• When viewed up-close, some CTR heads may increase in size
  
• Standing in a doorway when the door closes may result in the player being pushed vertically
  
• The HUD names and kill messages will be clipped on aspect ratios that are less wide than 16:10
  

Good Morning/Afternoon Dear Community,

This is the first update in quite some time, and we've all been waiting for it!

Update 26 introduce the first mission instance inside Wargames. A mission which takes place in the treacherous corridors of Operations in full lockdown. Hordes of defective and patrols of submachine gun wielding CTRs is all that stands in the way of you (or your team) and the loot filled treasures enclosed beneath ... oh yeah, and 5 power relays at random locations!

Update 26 also features a few minor bug fixes, several key improvements and various tweaks to e.g. HUD systems, foliage rendering, new loot crates, global messaging, increased performance in Wargames and more (Please check full changelog below for details).

The Annual XMayhem multiplayer gamemode is back once again; allowing you to unlock our two very special seasonal xmas achievements for the duration of the holidays.

From all of “us” here at Zero Point Software, “we’d” like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for supporting the game!

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
ZPSHicks, last survivor of Zero Point Software

Update 26 - Changelog:

What's New

ADDED: Operations mission instance to Wargames
ADDED: System setup of mission crates, waypoints and access elevator platforms to gain access to Operations
ADDED: Steam leaderboards to the Wargames server browser menu
ADDED: Option for inviting players from chat lobby into Wargames (joining the same team and spawning close to each other)
ADDED: Backpack icon in Mission Overview at location of backpacks dropped with +500 CPs
ADDED: Chat announcement of CPs amount and zone location if player is killed with +500 CPs
ADDED: Overhead icon for team members in different zones in Wargames
ADDED: Revamped loot crates (model details, animation and textures) - Made by Hexe the Insane and Katrina the Insane (Thanks a million guys!)
ADDED: Dynamic thumbnails in Wargames server browser menu
ADDED: Support from streaming text and images from URL into menu
ADDED: Simple "falling out of map" trigger pickup setup to all zones in Wargames
ADDED: Cull groups and cull group triggers to all zones in Wargames except Jungle (20% boost in performance)
ADDED: Backpack beacon light and sounds to dropped backpacks
ADDED: Support for instantiating different waypoint icons
ADDED: SARA helmet announcements 60 seconds before a drop crate lands in Wargames
ADDED: SARA globally announces power state of Operations in Wargames
ADDED: Waypoints and power system to loot crates
ADDED: Defective CTR spawnbox to Sandbox
ADDED: Simple cardboard target setup to Sandbox
ADDED: Mission crate and small Operations access elevators system setup to Sandbox
ADDED: Containment field to Sandbox (good for testing suit system shutdowns)
ADDED: Respawn protection from CTRs in Wargames
ADDED: Main menu now shows how many achievements you have out of all
ADDED: Best Clan is now WaR-IM (Congrats guys!)

Improvements

UPDATED: Trees and foliage shader to work with Unity 5 (Removing black edges and receiving correct lighting)
UPDATED: Trees and foliage billboard shader to work with Unity 5 (removing ugly edge in fog)
UPDATED: Global chat log is kept when switching zones in Wargames
UPDATED: Increased player revive-able timer to 60 seconds (from 30 seconds)
UPDATED: HUD revive messages is only displayed for teams in Wargames, everyone else see them in the chat
UPDATED: Kill messages removed from HUD, except from team players in same zone in Wargames
UPDATED: HUD correctly shut downs all intended elements when suit is offline or helmet is open
UPDATED: Restyled Mission Overview and added Operations access icons to the map of each zone
UPDATED: Replaced Hell Week with Wargames theme across the game (screens, audio, text and UI
UPDATED: Stamina is regained 150% faster when fully exhausted
UPDATED: Lowered breath audio volume when fully exhausted by 25%
UPDATED: Increased HUD compass width by 20%
UPDATED: Wetlands night moonlight and ambience light color 50% more bright
UPDATED: Jungle dusk weather mode is now more viberant and red in tones
UPDATED: Removed windows from 90% of all buildings in Wargames
UPDATED: Rebaked navmesh in all zones for more accurate pathfinding
UPDATED: Retry count in mission/challenges menu selection
UPDATED: Playing Lone Wolf the HUD scoreboard says DELTA instead of Player
UPDATED: Backpack pickup speed 2x faster
UPDATED: Loot crate unlock speed 2x faster
UPDATED: Weapon pickup speed 2x faster
UPDATED: CTR and Marine 3p walk sounds 2x volume
UPDATED: Restyled global chat UI so chat messages is shown against the dark edge of the helmet for better clarity
UPDATED: Increased brightness of flashlights 1p/3p (from 1.6 to 2.5)
UPDATED: Drop crates in Wargames drops every 5 minutes in one random zone
UPDATED: Tweaked the vignetting image effect to be more realistic and darker edges when aiming weapon for increased immersion
UPDATED: Simplified emmisive mask (shown on combat suit of team players)
UPDATED: Removed low pass muffling of suit audio system (SARA and audio logs)

Fixes

FIXED: Invert mouse/gamepad Y-axis in input settings
FIXED: HUD Interaction brackets not showing when suit system was offline
FIXED: HUD WARN message was not turned off if opening the helmet when the suit is offline
FIXED: CTR reload sound radius
FIXED: Rocks in zone connection tunnels where not blocking "sunlight" flares
FIXED: Waypoints staying in Welcome to Project IM introduction mission

Known Issues

• Players may sometimes fall through the floor of a map (Unity 5 bug)
  
• The game will stop updating when switching out of fullscreen in Windows. If you are on a moving elevator or platform, this will cause you to fall through it. If you are in a Party, this will disconnect you from the Party
  
• View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks
  
• Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)
  
• The gamepad implementation is early and experimental, so may cause issues
  
• When viewed up-close, some CTR heads may increase in size
  
• Standing in a doorway when the door closes may result in the player being pushed vertically
  
• The HUD names and kill messages will be clipped on aspect ratios that are less wide than 16:10
  

We've just released an exciting new video detailing our plans and opportunities. Watch the video on YouTube.

Dear Marines, friends, and family,

Interstellar Marines has come a long way since we launched on Steam Early Access. Every penny earned has been spent on development of Interstellar Marines and were finally ready to secure a completion deal with a publisher or other knowledgeable investor to wrap up the game, release out of Early Access, and expand onto PS4 and Xbox One.

We have made a new video to present our game to publishers and potential investors. We would love it if you would share it around and help us find the best partner possible, thank you!

Interstellar Aspirations: Time for a Dimensional Shift video on Youtube:
https://youtu.be/DW2-gz9zngE
We've uploaded a video source file to Dropbox (MP4 1080p 60fps 60Mbps + removed Kims intro), feel free to download and share the video around your channels.

Keep track of our progress with Publishers & Investors:



Click the image above to view our public Info/Status google sheet of potential Publishers & Investors for Interstellar Marines or visit this link.

Please feel free to share this public google sheet around as well.

We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress to find a Publisher or Investor to complete Interstellar Marines: Aspirations and release out of Early Access and expand onto PS4 and Xbox One.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software

We've just released an exciting new video detailing our plans and opportunities. Watch the video on YouTube.

Dear Marines, friends, and family,

Interstellar Marines has come a long way since we launched on Steam Early Access. Every penny earned has been spent on development of Interstellar Marines and we’re finally ready to secure a completion deal with a publisher or other knowledgeable investor to wrap up the game, release out of Early Access, and expand onto PS4 and Xbox One.

We have made a new video to present our game to publishers and potential investors. We would love it if you would share it around and help us find the best partner possible, thank you!

Interstellar Aspirations: Time for a Dimensional Shift video on Youtube:
https://youtu.be/DW2-gz9zngE
We've uploaded a video source file to Dropbox (MP4 1080p 60fps 60Mbps + removed Kims intro), feel free to download and share the video around your channels.

Keep track of our progress with Publishers & Investors:



Click the image above to view our public Info/Status google sheet of potential Publishers & Investors for Interstellar Marines or visit this link.

Please feel free to share this public google sheet around as well.

We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress to find a Publisher or Investor to complete Interstellar Marines: Aspirations and release out of Early Access and expand onto PS4 and Xbox One.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software

Good Morning/Afternoon Marines!
This latest update to Interstellar Marines increases the value of your Combat Points (CP) by offering unlockable skins allowing you to blend in, or stick out, as much as you’d like.

Update 25 also adds a shining new menu interface and we've revamped the Introduction mission to include some of our new features.

https://youtu.be/XREtCFZq7OE



We’ve added a new menu interface created with Unity 5's UI system and we’ve also managed to squeeze in the option to vote for map, gamemode and difficulty in both co-op and multiplayer.



In our brand new customization hub you’ll find a broad range of cool tactical skins, and you now earn Combat Points (CP) during missions, challenges and multiplayer to unlock them with.

Special thanks to our community members who helped with camo designs!

• Bourbon the Insane
  
• Ninja Cat
  
• ZundiePW
  
• Gater
  
• OG SWAT RV [LINUX]
  
• TmsFin
  
• Jackerino
  
• Rien Moeyaert
  
• Timothy Creitz
  
• Five5staR
  

• Scavenge wargame is 55 minutes long.
  
• Scavenged CP’s are collected when wargame ends.
  
• Unlimited respawns
  

Good Morning/Afternoon Marines!
This latest update to Interstellar Marines increases the value of your Combat Points (CP) by offering unlockable skins allowing you to blend in, or stick out, as much as youd like.

Update 25 also adds a shining new menu interface and we've revamped the Introduction mission to include some of our new features.

https://youtu.be/XREtCFZq7OE



Weve added a new menu interface created with Unity 5's UI system and weve also managed to squeeze in the option to vote for map, gamemode and difficulty in both co-op and multiplayer.



In our brand new customization hub youll find a broad range of cool tactical skins, and you now earn Combat Points (CP) during missions, challenges and multiplayer to unlock them with.

Special thanks to our community members who helped with camo designs!

• Bourbon the Insane
  
• Ninja Cat
  
• ZundiePW
  
• Gater
  
• OG SWAT RV [LINUX]
  
• TmsFin
  
• Jackerino
  
• Rien Moeyaert
  
• Timothy Creitz
  
• Five5staR
  

• Scavenge wargame is 55 minutes long.
  
• Scavenged CPs are collected when wargame ends.
  
• Unlimited respawns
  

This update brings some new features, some returning content, and fixes. The Annual XMayhem mode has returned once again with the special achievements unlockable only during the event. We also have a brand new map created by Auxsiren that’s a complete overhaul of Evacuation (Evac 1 will still be playable in the map pool). There are also now special camos for CTRs that you can see specifically per map, this is a big step to add in player skins. Included as well is a new party system included to help you team up with your friends, chat with them, and more. Finally there are fixes for bugs as well as the crashes from last update.

From all of us here at Zero Point Software, we’d like to thank you for supporting the game and we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your Team at Zero Point Software

What's New

ADDED: Winter XMayhem Game Mode on Mainline Winter
ADDED: New Evacuation 2 map to multiplayer
ADDED: Ability to add variable skins to CTRs. This is a major step to in-game player skins
ADDED: Nine CTR skins. CTRs now have map-specific skins, with many of them camouflaged
ADDED: Party system to team up with friends, audio/visual invite notifications, chat room + additional features
ADDED: Inviting friends into a Hell Week game will spawn them close to you in the same zone, and in your team
ADDED: Chat system to menu view when in-game (press ESC to access)
ADDED: Kill confirmed and Zone captured messages are stacked on top of each other
ADDED: Mission successful +XP message when completing a single player/coop/multiplayer mission/match
ADDED: Revive successful message when player is revived
ADDED: Warning messages for low health, team kill warning and revive needed
ADDED: Variable delay to TP popup messages

Improvements

UPDATED: The NeuroGen Incident with new spawn points for players joining mid-game. Joining during end game will place joining player as a spectator
UPDATED: Nucleus with additional check point spawns for players joining mid-game
UPDATED: Chat system with Spearhead, Best Clan, Dev icons, UI improvements, message notification improvements, button to open/close etc
UPDATED: Clicking a player name in chat will bring up the Steam overlay with their profile (need Steam overlay enabled to work)
UPDATED: In Hell Week, when players up for elimination have the same score, decision of who to eliminate is random rather than player-name based
UPDATED: XMayhem game mode to be compatible with the new additions from 2015
UPDATED: T-IM101 has 8 x health, and does 4 x damage, compared to regular Marine
UPDATED: Xmayhem gift announcer loop
UPDATED: If a revive is halted, player's bleedout timer is set to percentage of revive completed, if higher than bleedout timer
UPDATED: In Hell Week, if a player is eliminated by any means other than the elimination timer, bleedout timer is reset
UPDATED: Nucleus elevator with all onboard elevator trigger to prevent players being stuck, and grid to stop players falling off
UPDATED: Nucleus with cull groups, rather than disabling the sub level, when player reaches top level
UPDATED: Hit markers are accurate to the hit location
UPDATED: UI icons scale according to resolution instead of being a fixed size
UPDATED: UI icons counter-scale when zooming in
UPDATED: Changed neutral zone colour to be more visible, and best team colour to be light purple
UPDATED: Match Completed +XP shown at the end of a match, Match Won +XP shown for the winners
UPDATED: End of game horn + win/lose music play at end of Team Domination and Team Deathmatch games
UPDATED: Hell Week shows Survived Hell Week +XP message for surviving players at game end
UPDATED: Revive TP score is 25XP
UPDATED: Size of Team Domination corners increased for greater visibility
UPDATED: Deadlock capture zones have different capture/finishing beeps for clarity
UPDATED: Resort map with cull groups and new nav mesh
UPDATED: Multiplayer thumbnail in main menu for some Christmas cheer!
UPDATED: Browser ping and quick join systems temporarily removed
UPDATED: Supply crate icons updated and improved

Fixes

FIXED: "Crashing to desktop with no error log"
FIXED: "Negative HW score when collecting CPs just as the game ends"
FIXED: "Resetting of items in a Hell Week server now occurs correctly"
FIXED: "Map settings for correct ahievement progress on Colony, Nucleus and Operations"
FIXED: "Treasure Hunter and Fort Knox achievements"
FIXED: "Late-joining players seeing already-used waypoints"
FIXED: "Team scores in TDOM/TDM showing in wrong colour/wrong position"
FIXED: "Disconnected players no longer shown as connected in Mission Overview when moving to another zone"
FIXED: "Player icons randomly flashing on screen when player is joining"
FIXED: "Kill confirmed icons show when enemies kill each other"
FIXED: "Screen flashing white when entering a match"
FIXED: "Press space to spawn is no longer displayed when a player has been eliminated in Hell Week"
FIXED: "Reviving a player pauses the bleed out time"
FIXED: "Spectator mode correctly shows players, kill markers and zones"
FIXED: "Removed HUD instantiation from dedicated servers"
FIXED: "Two Deathmatch spawns in Mainline Winter"
FIXED: "Chat correctly scrolls to bottom when Player Joined Server, and You Have An Invitation messages are added"
FIXED: "Light handler issue, which caused the light handler intensity contribution to be overridden"
FIXED: "Nav mesh in Operations - Survival A"

Known Issues

The Welcome Tutorial achievement is not working (due to an incorrect setting in the map)
The gamepad implementation is early and experimental, so may cause issues
When viewed up-close, some CTR heads may increase in size
Some vegetation appears to have black edges
The number of players in the Friends Lobby may not update until the lobby tab is clicked on
Players may sometimes fall through the floor of a map
Standing in a doorway when the door closes may result in the player being pushed vertically
The HUD names and kill messages will be clipped on aspect ratios that are less wide than 16:10
The game will stop updating when switching out of fullscreen in Windows. If you are on a moving elevator or platform, this will cause you to fall through it. If you are in a Party, this will disconnect you from the Party
View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks
Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)
Player may sometimes spawn with no ammo in one or both weapons. Reloading fixes this

We now have a big hotfix ready for you guys. We heard all your feedback, bug reports, and are tackling the biggest issues of this update. Below is the changelog and we’ll be monitoring how the update is faring. There are still some issues we’re working hard on fixing like the random crashes and the occasionally clipping through the world. Those two issues are top priority for us and we’ll be trying to crack down on these specifically.

Thank you all for patiently waiting and we hope you enjoy it!

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software

Update 23 Hotfix 1
Version: 0.5.23
Released: 11th November, 2015

What's New
ADDED: Last 20 messages and message of the day to global chat
ADDED: Join button to global chat. When a player joins a server, a blue join button appears in the chat. Client-side only, and limited to max 3 at a time
ADDED: On/off button for XBOX controller added to menu settings
ADDED: Run/walk when strafing with an XBOX controller
ADDED: Chat log to global chat

Improvements
UPDATED: Industrial Hell Week map with restrictions to roof access
UPDATED: Weapons handling updated and tweaked
UPDATED: Removed CTR killed messages from Hell Week
UPDATED: Player colour in global chat to match in-game chat colour

Fixes
FIXED: "Steam leaderboards not updating"
FIXED: "Steam achievements not working"
FIXED: "New steam achievements"
FIXED: "Back packs not being correctly removed in Hell Week"
FIXED: "All aboard trigger not working in several coop missions when a player leaves the server when dead but not bled out"
FIXED: "Framerate drops caused by CTRs going into a loop which caused them to attempt to rotate at an infinite speed"
FIXED: "Assault on Starcrown Aerospace"
FIXED: "Excessively large servers logs which could cause server crashes"
FIXED: "Negative player scores in Hell Week"
FIXED: "Several HUD elements not visible in different resolutions"
FIXED: "Capturing a zone audio notification only audible when looking at the centre of the zone"
FIXED: "Max chat server clients set too low"
FIXED: "Chat server requesting unavailable RPC from client"
FIXED: "Audio notifications when firing at a friendly or enemy"
FIXED: "Number keys not switching weapons when XBOX controller plugged in"
FIXED: "Zoom not working correctly when XBOX controller plugged in"
FIXED: "Stuck in bleed out"
FIXED: "Randomly moving between players when spectating when dead in multiplayer. NOTE: this is untested"

Update 23 marks the 3rd update in our new monthly update cycle! Technically U23 should be released the first week of November for monthly updates, but you’re ok if we get an update out early right? Now we have a bit more time to work on U24 before the (fingers crossed) first week of December.

HUD/UI Improvements
We’ve added more useful information to your hud and made it all around cooler with hit markers, teammate status symbols, and keep the information on-screen even when you ADS. It's now fully converted to Unity 5 which means we can add effects like blurry vision from exhaustion or suppressed fire, emp grenade scattering in the visor etc. Lots of cool things we can do in the future.

Improved Hell Week with teammate revive to reward teaming up even more, points are now shared among teammates requiring less thought about whose turn it is to get that gold box, and we’ve also got VOIP working again! Remember the real-time voice porting demo you saw from forever ago? Well we got that working so now you’ve got team voip and can also open your helmet and talk to any player in proximity to you.

Ever since upgrading the game to Unity 5 our current foliage and vegetation assets have not been fully supported. Therefore we have now started adding new assets called SpeedTrees! First map to get tested is Rupture and over time we'll add them on all maps.

We have added a few details to the CTRs; when it is dark they will now hunt and blind you with their tactical light and they also use a laser sight to assist with aiming. Speaking of lasers, remember how it used to switch off whenever you aimed your weapon? Even though it didn’t switch off to other players in 3rd person? Well now it stays on the whole time, making the transition from laser aiming from the hip to ADS a little smoother.

We’ve also got a lot of general improvements. Spawns are now protected by shields to help mitigate the problem with spawn camping until we are able to iterate on this further. We’ve fixed some sound issues, and your weapon configuration is now saved for when you’re revived or respawned!

We’re beginning to add more visibility to the progression elements in the game in preparation for item unlocks and RPG/skill elements. Detailed patch notes to follow.

Game Roadmap
As many of you know the part of the game we are currently working on is known as Prologue, and follows the player through training to be an Interstellar Marine before getting into the “real” story. Some are concerned we’ve shifted focus to pvp, and don’t understand why we’re creating coop using pvp instead of coop. Short version; spoilers. It’s a means to an end type situation.

That is where the crux of the problem is, we want you to have the best experience possible and not ruin the narrative of the game by revealing the story before the supporting elements are in place. But we still need to put in new tech that will be needed for the campaign while giving players something to do.

Here’s our strategy. First we create the tech foundation while funding development through Early Access sales. Once we have the immersion right, the progression and customization systems in place, more weapons, and the unlocks all planned out, then we start on the big campaign. We’ll keep expanding prologue in logical ways to keep people occupied while we develop the campaign, and will probably deliver it in chunks. Chapters if you will.

We don’t have a specific timetable for progress, time spent doing a thorough analysis to come up with a realistic and accurate estimate is time better spent actually working on the game. We know where we’re going, we know how to get there, and we’ll take it one update at a time.

Thank you for hanging in there and supporting us through development. We know it’s taking longer than some would like, but we’d rather get things right the first time to give you the best Interstellar Marines coop campaign experience right out of the gate.

Patch notes are available here in full: http://media.interstellarmarines.com/media/interstellarmarines_changelog.html

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME
Your team at Zero Point Software

What's New
ADDED: Ability to revive players in Hell Week
ADDED: VOIP to Hell Week teams, when in same zone as other team members
ADDED: Hell Week ends when 3 teams are left. Note: a lone wolf player counts as a team
ADDED: Teams in Hell Week now share points between players
ADDED: Players respawn in new zone when killed during grace period in Hell Week
ADDED: Huge HUD update including a number of new icons, sprites and changes
ADDED: Three new Hell Week-related Steam Achievements
ADDED: Initial, very early, support for Xbox gamepad. This is experimental and likely contains issues/bugs
ADDED: TPs and TR info to right hand side of main menu (need to be over 1280 width resolution to see)
ADDED: Ability for coop servers to run the same game mode and game type on the same server
ADDED: Global chat in main menu. By default, press T to toggle
ADDED: Can no longer aim when crouched if blocked by an object
ADDED: Weapon settings are remembered after death, and on collected CTR weapons
ADDED: Speedtrees to Rupture
ADDED: AR CTRs use a laser when aiming, AR+SMG CTRs use laser when shooting
ADDED: List of team mates in the HUD when teamed up in Hell Week
ADDED: Numeric input for sensitivity sliders

Improvements
UPDATED: Weapons' FOV, recoil, damage, handling, dropoff, magnification etc. have been tweaked
UPDATED: Hell Week teams to have a max of 4 members
UPDATED: Spawn protection to all multiplayer maps
UPDATED: Quick join to add confirmation pop up showing game mode, and high ping if it is enabled in the settings
UPDATED: Operations audio with reverb in spawn tunnels
UPDATED: On-death fade-to-black screen
UPDATED: Respawn time in Hell Week grace period is now 5 seconds
UPDATED: Nav mesh on all Challenge maps
UPDATED: Several server stability fixes, especially on Starcrown
UPDATED: Wetlands with new nav mesh and other tweaks
UPDATED: Starcrown with several fixes
UPDATED: Operations Survival and MP maps with new modules and various fixes
UPDATED: Hell Week server browser now shows 'Server starting...' instead of join button when there is a time desync between server and client
UPDATED: Resolution screenshot with different sizes, plus button to open screenshot folder
UPDATED: Removed completing The NeuroGen Incident Steam Achievements on easy, normal and hard difficulties

Fixes
FIXED: "VOIP in Coop"
FIXED: "Picking items up in Hell Week should work first time the majority of the time"
FIXED: "Changed max number of players coop quick join looks for to 2 from 1"
FIXED: "CTRs to minimise them being stuck on items or terrain"
FIXED: "Most instances of server browser returning to the wrong server browser page"
FIXED: "Footstep audio looping when stood still"
FIXED: "Nucleus so the escape door is not locked by default"
FIXED: "Light handler and light intensity issues which were causing performance losses"
FIXED: "Crates which were in, or on, water in Hell Week have been fixed"
FIXED: "Games no longer return to the incorrect server browser"
FIXED: "Spawn bug in Team Domination"
FIXED: "Flashing flashlights no longer flash improperly"

Good Morning/Afternoon Marines! Today we have a big update to share with you! An updated UI, as well as a Quick Join update for COOP or Multiplayer having you join servers instantly.

Weapon Performance

The biggest change in this update, it completely redefines combat in IM. The damage has been increased, making single and burst fire more of a viable option, but recoil has increased as well bringing player skill more into play when firing in automatic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItbTh6PaCH8

Here is a more detailed look at the weapons by community member and YouTube personality PepperBelly.

https://youtu.be/VBlJxMNW5rQ

Teaming Up

Hell Week now enables you to team up with other players to create a more team-based experience. Here is the new Mission Overview used in Hell Week! You can not only see your location, but also track your teammates across different zones to meet up and dominate.



We’ve also added the deadly CTRs which greatly increases the number of threats on the map at any one time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRfha85mFGg

Supplies Inbound

ITO AI SARA will now announce the new aerial supply drops incoming and creates natural points of friction and focal points of combat for players and teams in hell week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIMP2id-twM

Join Us

These Hell Week changes with supply drops, CTRs, and teaming up imbue a coop feeling into Hell Week rather than just being the lone wolf free-for-all from previous versions. Come join us today on our TeamSpeak server ts3.speedgaming.pro:9987 @8PM CEST and @8PM EDT to chat with the developers and experience the awesomeness of U22 Hell Week for the first time! We’ve also got a lot of cool new features like CTR Corpse-stay, and CTR flashlight use so check out the change log below to see everything that’s new!

What's New

ADDED: Ability to team up with friends in Hell Week. Press M by default to access
ADDED: Ability to invite Steam friends into a Hell Week. Press F1 by default to access
ADDED: Combat Training Robots to Subarctic, Canyon, Industrial, Jungle, Mountain, Resort, Wetlands and Lunar Hell Week maps
ADDED: Supply drops to Hell Week, each drop contains 1,250 combat points and is visible across the map
ADDED: List of all players in the current Hell Week to mission overview
ADDED: Elimination warning message to HUD in Hell Week when you are the next player up for elimination
ADDED: Quick Join system for coop and multiplayer games to enable players to join a game faster
ADDED: Message on joining multiplayer and coop games, and button to quickly open friends tab (press F1 by default to open), to make it easier to invite a friend to join you on a server
ADDED: Compass to top of HUD
ADDED: Accurate pings to browser
ADDED: News pane to the left of the main menu, displays dynamic content and notifications of events and other info. Not visible for resolutions under 1024 wide
ADDED: Pane to the right side of the main menu, displays your next 4 Steam achievements. Not visible for resolutions under 1280 wide
ADDED: Quick tips and hints when Quick Joining a server
ADDED: CTRs now use flashlights in certain situations when hunting players
ADDED: CTRs now remain in their dead ragdoll position, minus physics effects, after death. Yes, you can build mountains of CTR corpses
ADDED: CTRs that are engaging, pursuing or repelling only reload if the magazine is empty
ADDED: Ability for CTRs to carry an inventory
ADDED: Performance tracker to manage the number of CTR corpses and flashlights left after CTR death
ADDED: In-game ping to debug menu for coop and multiplayer games. Press U by default to access
ADDED: Numeric representation on mouse sliders in main menu

Improvements

UPDATED: Significantly re-worked weapons shooting, recoil, damage and aiming mechanics
UPDATED: Converted in-game HUD to Unity 5
UPDATED: Mission overview in Hell Week with many new features. Press M by default to access
UPDATED: Several prefabs with correct shadow and static settings
UPDATED: CTR soil footsteps
UPDATED: Steam friends now updates every 2 seconds
UPDATED: Spectating is disabled for Hell Week and Deathmatch game modes
UPDATED: Mission overview visible when HUD is down
UPDATED: Stronghold with new nav mesh and CTR patrol paths

Fixes

FIXED: "Hell Week wins and CPs not recording in Leaderboards"
FIXED: "Cause of frequent crash when exiting the game"
FIXED: "NGI elevators killing players"
FIXED: "Parasol collision on Resort map"
FIXED: "Steam friends list not updating after client has been started"
FIXED: "Server sorting now works"
FIXED: "Server memory leak, may also increase performance and stability"

Good Morning/Afternoon Marines! Thanks to everyone who helped test the ITO/Spearhead pre-release builds, and we're happy to announce update 21 is now live! We’ve now added a grace period to Hell Week to make it a bit more forgiving for players and added pausing for Single Player. There is also falling damage now, so you can no longer exfiltrate Starcrown via roof ;) or jump off the 3rd deck in operations. We still need to tweak and balance it so please give us feedback on it. Below is the changelog with all new features, improvements, and fixes!

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME
Your team at Zero Point Software

What's New

ADDED: Grace period to Hell Week. If you die within the grace period you will respawn with an empty backpack
ADDED: Game now pauses in Single player when in the main menu (thanks Keavon! :))
ADDED: First version of falling damage, we'll tweak this as we receive feedback from the community. Note, exhaustion level and impact angle affect amount of damage sustained
ADDED: Jump pads to several maps to ensure players dropping out of spawns do not take falling damage
ADDED: Initial functionality to Mission Overview in Hell Week (press M to access by default)
ADDED: Backpack is not dropped in Hell Week if the player has not collected anything
ADDED: Zone markers in Deadlock have been reset back to their original versions
ADDED: Button to reset keybinds to default in Settings menu
ADDED: Debug info to Help menu (press U to access by default)
ADDED: Screenshot button which takes hi-rez screenshots. Note, this will cause a pause in your gameplay (press numpad * by default)
ADDED: Randomised exit point to Starcrown
ADDED: Randomised entry spawn point to Starcrown
ADDED: Chat in Hell Week now appears across all servers
ADDED: Error message to the log if something goes wrong recording your TPs
ADDED: Tutorial map is now locked to Normal difficulty

Improvements

UPDATED: To Unity version 5.1.3p1
UPDATED: Coop poster scene to include missing items
UPDATED: Water across all levels to work properly
UPDATED: CTR default names to CTR from Unnamed. Added 1 in 20 chance of the name being a dev, and 1 in 1000 chance of killing ZPS.Hicks
UPDATED: Slope height on stairs throughout most maps to ensure smooth movement
UPDATED: Mainline spawns raised to stop players from jumping into them
UPDATED: SMG, AR, Marine and other local sound reverb
UPDATED: Small amount of red in the red dot glass
UPDATED: Burst and Auto fire now use the single shot sound for the first sound
UPDATED: Arch to fix occlusion errors on railing cover plates
UPDATED: Assault Rifle mag to hold 21 rounds to accomdate burst fire

Fixes

FIXED: "Stamina being affected by ping time"
FIXED: "Jump to help smooth-out jumping on dynamic platforms"
FIXED: "Combat Points not recording after Hell Week matches"
FIXED: "Hell Week wins not recording after Hell Week matches"
FIXED: "If a player has collected pistol ammo in Hell Week, the ammo will be included in his dropped backpack"
FIXED: "Vertical bouncing on moving elevators and platforms"
FIXED: "Exploding ragdoll on Marines and CTRs"
FIXED: "Rock shader"
FIXED: "Particles disappearing when looking towards the ground"
FIXED: "Certain stairs on Rupture not working"
FIXED: "Server browser not sorting Multiplayer servers correctly after viewing Hell Week servers"
FIXED: "Survival challenges not correctly recording data to Steam achievements"
FIXED: "Multiple fixes across Starcrown, including AI, navmesh, stairs etc."
FIXED: "Meshes missing colliders on Lunar"
FIXED: "Tree missing textures in Welcome to IM"

We’ve recently launched Hell Week, a hunger games/battle royale style multiplayer game mode for our Early Access game Interstellar Marines and want to share the fun with everyone!

On Sunday August 23 at 8:00 PM UTC we are filling our Hell Week servers with Let’s Players and Streamers! The winner will be immortalised with an in-game statue bearing their name, and also receive 10 game keys to give out to their audience!



So please spam the internet... er… we mean share this... to make sure your favorite YouTube and Twitch Let’s Players can be in this event and you can watch them pwn, or get rekt!

Sign up details
There are only 64 spots available so if you have a YouTube or Twitch channel and would like to participate please email letsplayim@zeropointsoft.com before August 16th and if you get a spot we’ll send you the information!

Make sure the email address you contact us with matches one published on your Twitch or YouTube page to verify your identity, and please include in your email:

• A link to your Channel
  
• If you already own Interstellar Marines
  
• Any additional notes or comments

We now have the game running in Unity 5, allowing improved performance and visuals. Nucleus is now back for COOP play, and we were able to include the Linux version in this update. (We thought it would be delayed earlier if you didn’t know.)

For Update 20, we listened to your feedback about two things people really wanted: Improved performance and fixing Nucleus so to play with your friends in coop. We’ll be continuously listening to you in the forums, social media, and on our Trello page.

The next step we want to do is improve performance even more with Speedtree and boost the graphics even more with physically based shaders, global illumination, linear lighting and deferred rendering 2.0.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your Team at Zero Point Software

What's New

ADDED: Updated code base to Unity 5 from Unity 4
ADDED: OSM are now the number 1 clan after winning season 1 of the competitive league
Improvements

UPDATED: Nucleus map has been fixed, and coop servers are up
UPDATED: Enlisted profile name has been changed to Frontlinter
UPDATED: Hell Week main menu button moved to below multiplayer button

Fixes

FIXED: "Linux players can join password protected servers"
FIXED: "Dropped backpacks are now properly destroyed between Hell Week games"
FIXED: "Crates from earlier Hell Week games are now properly destroyed between games"

Known Issues

**SPECIAL NOTE** This update contains the upgrade from Unity 4 to Unity 5. We have fixed most of the bugs, and need your help to find any more. Please let us know of any bugs you find via our support email: support@zeropointsoft.com. Thank you!

• The mission overview is currently a place-holder, and will be completed in a later update
  
• When viewed up-close, some CTR heads may increase in size
  
• Rag doll physics, and CTR dismemberment on death, need fine tuning
  
• Water and some vegetation are not affected by fog, which can lead to them looking black from a distance
  
• When looking down, snow particles may disappear
  
• Hell Week combat points are currently not recorded in Steam leaderboards
  
• Some crates may require several attempts to open
  
• Players may sometimes fall through the floor of a map
  
• VOIP does not work on coop
  
• Game may temporarily freeze when players join the server
  
• Players joining within a few seconds of a Hell Week starting may get an error that they cannot join. This is due to out-of-sync clocks. Please wait a few seconds and rejoin
  
• Some new achievements and TP rewards may not work. We're investigating
  
• The HUD names and kill messages will be clipped on aspect ratios that are less wide than 16:10
  
• The game will stop updating when switching out of fullscreen in Windows. If you are on a moving elevator or platform, this will cause you to fall through it
  
• View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks
  
• Audio may cut off partially/completely on weapon/helmet sounds
  
• Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)
  
• When joining an in-progress The NeuroGen Incident game, additional waypoints may be visible
  
• Player may sometimes spawn with no ammo in one or both weapons. Reloading fixes this
  

OPEN DOOR DEVELOPMENT 2.0
We’re renewing our commitment to AAA Indie with ODD 2.0 you’re going to be able to see what we’re working on along with our progress towards the update. So check out our Trello Board! and watch as we progress towards each release date.



UPDATE 20
It’s finally time for the big Unity 5 upgrade! It was a big goal that kept showing its head with performance issues and now it’ll be answered. In addition to improved performance, we’ll be beginning new features and expanding on to Hell Week. We’ll be adding the unnerving killing machines (aka CTRs) into Hell Week, one capability that we can add in without destroying the framerate thanks to Unity 5! We’ll also be including a endgame for the final 4 Marines as well as DOORS! That last one may not sound as exciting but tactical shooters need doors unlike other games we won’t mention by name…

STORE PAGE UPDATED
Our store page hasn’t changed a whole lot since going on Early Access so using feedback from you guys we have made some adjustments to help people make the best buying decision for them. A big change that deserves special notice is the price reduction! We’ve lowered the price for Interstellar Marines to reflect market conditions with all the new games that have come up on Early Access since the old prices were set.

If you’ve purchased the Regular Edition of Interstellar Marines you now have the Frontliner Edition. We’re doing this to give people who buy in Early Access something special a little further down the road, and so we have the “Regular Edition” title available for use when we get out of Early Access with the full release.

We hope you enjoy all the new changes and (insert inspirational comment here)

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your Team at Zero Point Software

Morning Marines,

We have another Hell Week hotfix to share with everyone. We now added more information and warning for elimination as well as an ability to rejoin during late join. We also fixed some major bugs that you have given feedback to! We hope you enjoy this hotfix and hope to see you in-game!

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software

Update 19c - Hell Week: Hotfix 3

Version: 0.5.19c
Released: 26th June, 2015

What's New

ADDED: If a player leaves a Hell Week server, and has not been killed by another player or suicided, he can rejoin the game during the late join period
ADDED: Additional AI SARA announcements

Improvements

UPDATED: When elevators start to move up, any players spawning in will spawn next to the top of the elevator
UPDATED: Adjusted the join time and late join time for Hell Week clusters
UPDATED: The 'You are up for elimination' message to only appear once the elimination phase starts
UPDATED: In spectator mode dead players are greyed out
UPDATED: In spectator mode, the name for all players appear when in freecam
UPDATED: Numerous additional small changes and fixes to all Hell Week maps

Fixes

FIXED: "Inability for some players to connect to a Hell Week game when the join button is active"

Known Issues

• The mission overview is currently a place-holder, and will be completed in a later update
  
• Some crates may require several attempts to open
  
• Players joining within a few seconds of a Hell Week starting may get an error that they cannot join. This is due to out-of-sync clocks. Please wait a few seconds and rejoin
  
• Players may occasionally lose their inventory when moving between servers
  
• Some new achievements and TP rewards may not work. We're investigating
  
• The HUD names and kill messages will be clipped on aspect ratios that are less wide than 16:10
  
• The game will stop updating when switching out of fullscreen in Windows (known bug in Unity 4). If you are on a moving elevator or platform, this will cause you to fall through it
  
• View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks
  
• Audio may cut off partially/completely on weapon/helmet sounds
  
• Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)
  
• Potential to fall through elevator when moving
  
• When joining an in-progress The NeuroGen Incident game, additional waypoints may be visible
  
• Player may sometimes spawn with no ammo in one or both weapons. Reloading fixes this
  

Attention!

Today we have a new client-side hotfix adding new features and bug fixes. We also have a Steam Leaderboard for Hell Week here which tracks Combat Points globally, monthly, and survivors of Hell Week




We also have a new Hell Week server called Hell Week Finals. Hell Week Finals is a special event for those who survive Hell Week and have the most accumulated Combat Points. We’ll let you know more about the Hell Week Finals soon.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your Team at Zero Point Software

Update 19b - Hotfix 2

Version: 0.5.19b
Released: 18th June, 2015

What's New

ADDED: Combat points for Hell Week winners are recorded in the Steam Leaderboard
ADDED: Name and score to HUD
ADDED: Elimination warning to HUD
ADDED: Elimination warning to scoreboard
ADDED: Announcement by SARA when zone is full
ADDED: Elimination phase initiated message to helmet, and message over in-game PA to explain how the eliminations work

Improvements

UPDATED: Crates that have been opened in another zone are now seen as open by the player (fixes the "crate does not open" bug)
UPDATED: Scoreboard now shows full 64 players
UPDATED: Maps have had a graphics pass, with several hundred small fixes and improvements
UPDATED: Hell Week server button moved to top of server browser tab
UPDATED: Name of the map you are loading into when you join a Hell Week has been removed
UPDATED: Collision has been removed from bushes in Hell Week
UPDATED: Eliminations have been altered so after the first 30 minutes 1 person is eliminated every 2 minutes
UPDATED: AI SARA player elimination messages moved from helmet to in-game PA system

Fixes

FIXED: "Adjusted elevator spawn-in delay to ensure players do not spawn on a moving elevator"
FIXED: "Welcome tutorial door which did not open"
FIXED: "Suit HUD deactivates on 50% damage"
FIXED: "Dummy crates removed from Mountains"
FIXED: "HUD HP bug which indicated the player's HP was 12"
FIXED: "No weapon showing when playin another game mode after Hell Week"
FIXED: "Collider adjusted on crates in Hell Week to ensure players are not involuntarily catapulted out of the map"
FIXED: "Spawn elevator z-flickering and collision to prevent looking through the elevator walls"

Known Issues

• The mission overview is currently a place holder, and will be completed in a later update
  
• Some crates may require several attempts to open
  
• Players joining within a few seconds of a Hell Week starting may get an error that they cannot join. This is due to out-of-sync clocks. Please wait a few seconds and rejoin
  
• Some new achievements and TP rewards may not work. We're investigating
  
• The HUD names and kill messages will be clipped on aspect ratios that are less wide than 16:10
  
• The game will stop updating when switching out of fullscreen in Windows (known bug in Unity 4)
  
• View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks
  
• Audio may cut off partially/completely on weapon/helmet sounds
  
• Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)
  
• Potential to fall through elevator when moving
  
• When joining an in-progress The NeuroGen Incident game, additional waypoints may be visible
  
• Player may sometimes spawn with no ammo in one or both weapons. Reloading fixes this
  

Good morning Marines!

We have launched a hotfix to help alleviate the spawn bug in Hell Week. We understand the frustration that's been caused from this issue. This hotfix is server-side and will lead into a larger update later this week. We also urge you to not tab out of the game in the elevator so you don't fall out the maps.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software

Update 19a - Hell Week: Hotfix 1

Version: 0.5.19a
Released: 16th June, 2015

What's New

ADDED: Servers now start countdown to next Hell Week instead of showing "game in progress" when a Hell Week is complete
ADDED: Players joining when the elevators are rising at the start of a Hell Week will be paused and then added when the elevators have finished moving
ADDED: Several underlying fixes which will be added in a future client/server update

Improvements

UPDATED: Hell Week start times changed to ensure clusters are up more often, especially around peak times

Fixes

FIXED: "Correct number of player now spawn in per server node i.e. no more multiple players spawning in an elevator"
FIXED: "Message showing Hell Week is full when it is not"

Known Issues

• The mission overview is currently a place holder, and will be completed in a later update
  
• Some crates may not open, or require several attempts to open
  
• Players joining within a few seconds of a Hell Week starting may get an error that they cannot join. This is due to out-of-sync clocks. Please wait a few seconds and rejoin
  
• Combat points are not currently permanently recorded after a game of Hell Week. This will be fixed shortly
  
• On some occasions you may respawn with 12 health. You still have the correct health, it is just represented incorrectly in the HUD. This can be cleared by restarting the game
  
• Some new achievements and TP rewards may not work. We're investigating
  
• The HUD names and kill messages will be clipped on aspect ratios that are less wide than 16:10
  
• The game will stop updating when switching out of fullscreen in Windows (known bug in Unity 4)
  
• View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks
  
• Audio may cut off partially/completely on weapon/helmet sounds
  
• Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)
  
• Potential to fall through elevator when moving
  
• When joining an in-progress The NeuroGen Incident game, additional waypoints may be visible
  
• Player may sometimes spawn with no ammo in one or both weapons. Reloading fixes this
  

Good morning Marines!

Today we begin the first of our wargame exercises that will prepare you for actual combat. We like to call this one “Hell Week”. Be advised that the wargames training facility is considered to be in Phase 1 of completion and will be upgraded fairly soon.

In Hell Week you will face 63 of your peers in a dog-eat-dog fight to hone your skills and find which of you are the best. Equipped only with a pistol and 15 rounds of taser ammunition you will ascend an elevator in a random zone along with 7 other Marines. You are free to move among the zones, although there is a hard limit of 16 allowed in any one zone at any time. Once the 16th Marine has entered a zone all others will be locked out until the number drops below 16 again.

If you’re “killed,” you’re out of the exercise. So keep your head down and be on the lookout for targets of opportunity. You must eliminate the other Marines when possible, avoid elimination yourself, and collect weapons, ammo, and combat points from the map and backpacks of eliminated opponents. 30 minutes after the exercise begins ITO AI SARA will eliminate the 4 Marines with the fewest number of combat points every 5 minutes. This is not an exercise you will win by pitching a tent and hiding in the corner!

I advice you to stay out of the zone we fondly refer to as Hell. Other Marines will be the least of your concerns there as acid pools and violent geysers will pose a significant hazard to your health. But, if you’re extremely brave or extremely stupid and wish to exploit the area’s large number of combat points, you can go to Hell.

During the Steam Sale this training event will run every 4 hours, check the countdown on the ingame server list to see when the next event is set to begin.

Good luck Marines, you’ll need it!

Important notes discovered post release:

Update 18: Multiplayer Madness

For this Update we're taking multiplayer up a notch by re-introducing three multiplayer game modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and one of our favourite modes - Team Domination!

Update 18
Version: 0.5.18
Released: 22nd April, 2015

What's New

ADDED: Team Domination, Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch game modes to all multiplayer maps
ADDED: Admins can now change multiplayer mode from within the game
ADDED: Server browser can now filter by region, game mode and server type
ADDED: Sprint strafe
ADDED: Crouch sliding
ADDED: Sprint jump weapon animations
ADDED: Sounds are muffled when AI SARA speaks
ADDED: Additional AI SARA speaks to The NeuroGen Incident
ADDED: Steam achievements from Update 17 to in-game Profile tab
ADDED: Option to turn off auto-refresh for server browser and refresh using a manual button
ADDED: Check added to ensure TPs are not lost during a match
ADDED: Breath on inside of helmet visor when exhausted and HUD is offline
ADDED: Flashlight and laser are now toggleable per weapon
ADDED: New Spearhead bonus content, including 78 new images, audio logs and OTTO speaks from The NeuroGen Incident, and additional items

Improvements

UPDATED: Mainline now compatible with Team Domination and Deadlock
UPDATED: Mainline Winter now compatible with Team Domination and Deadlock
UPDATED: Dynacore now compatible with Team Domination, Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch
UPDATED: Sprint sliding toned down
UPDATED: Walk and run speeds now affected when exhausted
UPDATED: Jump height when exhausted adjusted to always allow jumping onto a railing
UPDATED: Sprint acceleration increased
UPDATED: Keep arms in correct position when sprinting up/down stairs
UPDATED: Head bobbing
UPDATED: Overall tweaks to Accuracy, Sprint and Stamina
UPDATED: Updated SMG, Assault Rifle and suppressor textures
UPDATED: Server sorting defaults to sorting by the number of players per server
UPDATED: Join button colour in the server browser has been changed for clarity

Known Issues

- When revived, player may be put into spectator mode. Killing and reviving the affected player corrects this.
- Some new achievements and TP rewards may not work. We're investigating
- The HUD names and kill messages will be clipped on aspect ratios that are less wide than 16:10
- The game will stop updating when switching out of fullscreen in Windows (known bug in Unity 4)
- View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks
- Audio may cut off partially/completely on weapon/helmet sounds
- Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)
- Potential to fall through elevator when moving
- When joining an in-progress The NeuroGen Incident game, additional waypoints may be visible
- Player may sometimes spawn with no ammo in one or both weapons. Reloading fixes this
- There may be an intermittent bug in Team Domination where one team always seems to have a player in the zone

Fixes

FIXED: "TPs should no longer be lost"
FIXED: "Keycard in crew quarters in NGI sometimes not appearing"
FIXED: "NGI servers crashing due to excessive logging"
FIXED: "Possible fix to Starcrown servers crashing excessively"
FIXED: "Weapon accuracy / recoil error (many thanks to Guilty for his work on this)"
FIXED: "No longer a 15 second wait to spawn in Playground maps"
FIXED: "Falling through hatch in crashed Megalodon on tutorial level"
FIXED: "Falling through hatch in Megalodon in the Megalodon level in the playground"
FIXED: "Being pushed through elevator floor at the start of the tutorial mission"
FIXED: "Missing glass panes in several locations in the tutorial mission"
FIXED: "Removed access to the separate training areas in the tutorial level"
FIXED: "Location of several occluders in the tutorial level"
FIXED: "Adjusted bounding box in tutorial level"
FIXED: "Boxes near start of tutorial level so players do not get stuck in them"
FIXED: "Spot in Starcrown where a player could exit the map"
FIXED: "Spot in the Mainline maps where a player could exit the map"
FIXED: "Patrol route on top of Mainline coop spawn building to ensure that CTR does not hide at the back where it cannot be shot"
FIXED: "Elimination challenges now rewarding TPs"


FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software

Update 17: Welcome On Board!

Every new year should blast off with something exhilarating, so for this update we're moving you along at a blistering speed with the addition of the new sprint movement mode AND a free week on Steam!

Update 17
Version: 0.5.17
Released: 6th February, 2015

What's New

ADDED: New Introduction Mission: Welcome To Project IM
ADDED: Early iteration of the Accuracy, Stamina and Sprint changes. These changes will be completed in Update 18
ADDED: Hell Week introduction video and sign up form to main menu
ADDED: Admins can now change multiplayer map from in-game
ADDED: Spawn locations of power boxes in Operations are now completely randomised
ADDED: Server browser is split into Coop and Multiplayer servers for easier and quicker browsing
ADDED: Chat is now logged on a per-server basis
ADDED: Warning message given to players joining a high-ping server
ADDED: New hit detection is default on servers
ADDED: Spearhead icon now shows for Spearhead players on singleplayer scoreboards
ADDED: Several new Steam achievements
ADDED: Several new TP rewards
ADDED: List of TP rewards in the Profile tab, removed outdated list from levelcam view

Improvements

UPDATED: The NeuroGen Incident re-built as version 3. Improved map, resolved several issues, improved performance, added mercenary bots to different team, reworked several areas of the map
UPDATED: Server browser filters are now expanded by default
UPDATED: In-game chat function now allows multiple lines
UPDATED: Several additions to stats tracking
UPDATED: Arch to ensure players cannot glitch out of the map
UPDATED: New reticule for the Assault Rifle

Known Issues

- Some new achievements and TP rewards may not work. We're investigating
- Not all new achievements have icons, we'll add next week
- New achievements do not show up within the in-game Profile tab. We will add these soon
- The HUD names and kill messages will be clipped on aspect ratios that are less wide than 16:10
- The game will stop updating when switching out of fullscreen in Windows (known bug in Unity 4)
- View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks
- Audio may cut off partially/completely on weapon/helmet sounds
- Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)
- Potential to fall through elevator when moving

Fixes

FIXED: "Keycard in crew quarter in NGI sometimes not appearing"
FIXED: "Inability to revive in multiplayer maps other than Dynacore"
FIXED: "Logs can only be played once in NGI"
FIXED: "Death skull now shows for bots in Playground maps"
FIXED: "No more floating bots at the start of Stronghold Coop"
FIXED: "No extraction marker on Starcrown"
FIXED: "No extraction marker on Colony if you leave and rejoin during a match"
FIXED: "Bots sometimes not appearing in single player"
FIXED: "The 'no run/crouch' triggers occasionally cause permanent 'no run/crouch'"
FIXED: "Multiplayer scoreboard styling"
FIXED: "Difficulty in single player sometimes incorrect after playing co-op"
FIXED: "Revived players experiencing black screens'"
FIXED: "Cargo elevators in NGI have crate shadows above them"
FIXED: "HUD difficulty text not going offline when HUD goes down"
FIXED: "Bots spawning and instantly dying in NGI research"
FIXED: "Exiting the coop poster now works"
FIXED: "Revive no longer completes if reviving player is killed"
FIXED: "Spawn time is now accurate when waiting to spawn in Deadlock"
FIXED: "Players not correctly first person spectating other players when dead"


FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software

Play Interstellar Marines for FREE starting now through Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time. You can also pickup Interstellar Marines at 66% off the regular price!*

If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play Interstellar Marines. If you don't have Steam, you can download it here.

*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time

Hotfix For Update 16

Today we've released a hotfix for Update 16. This introduces some performance improvements, fixes some minor issues, brings back The NeuroGen Incident servers and fixes some issues with the stats system.

Update 16a - Assault On Starcrown Aerospace
Version: 0.5.16a
Released: 9th January 2015

Improvements

UPDATED: Physics performance enhancements
UPDATED: Revive time depends on mode and difficulty setting
UPDATED: Xmayhem game mode put back in Santa's Christmas box, and Mainline Winter reverted to original version

Fixes

FIXED: "Incorrect Unity build setting creating issues with resizing screens and vsync"
FIXED: "Issue in The NeuroGen Incident (NGI servers are back up)"
FIXED: "Not being able to find the last bot in Elimination game mode"
FIXED: "Online stats are now being recorded. Some further work to be done for edge cases. Stats will be reset in future"
FIXED: "Occlusion bugs on Starcrown and Mainline"
FIXED: "Blocker added to Mainline to ensure players cannot leave the map"
FIXED: "Crate occlusion on Stronghold"

Known Issues

-The HUD names and kill messages will be clipped on aspect ratios that are wider than 16:10
-The game will stop updating when switching out of fullscreen in Windows (known bug in Unity 4)
-View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks
-Audio may cut off partially/completely on weapon/helmet sounds
-Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)
-Potential to fall through elevator when moving
-Sometimes bots will not appear in single player maps. Restart the game and they will appear
-Sometimes the first series of bots on Stronghold Elimination A will spawn mid-air
-Revive does not work on multiplayer maps except Dynacore
-Scoreboard sometimes goes out of alignment

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software