I've decided that the best way to support Linux and Steam Deck users is to actually remove the Linux builds and let Steam launch the current Windows build under Proton. Sound, anti-aliasing and various shaders will work better for all Linux users this way and it eliminates a lot of install requirements that could complicate things for new users. I put in a lot of work on that Linux port, but Proton works better and with less fuss. It's beautiful black magic. I've also added cross platform Steam Cloud support! I tested Cloudbase Prime thoroughly on Steam Deck and it runs great. The official controller layout works well, but I do recommend adding gyro as joystick on right trigger pull. I love gyro. I unfortunately had to uncheck the "Supports Linux" checkbox to get Cloudbase Prime to run via Proton by default. But it's such an improvement that it's worth it. Cloudbase Prime might have to wait a while to get that green "Steam Deck Verified" check mark. But if you've read this you already know that it works great on Steam Deck and Linux!

Cloudbase Prime is releasing on the Nintendo Switch TODAY! It's gotten a fair number of updates and fixes on its way there. But if you've already got Cloudbase Prime on PC, many of those updates are coming to you, too!

Also, the game is 50% off on all platforms to celebrate this update and the Nintendo Switch release.

• Updated HUD text to look sharper on 4K displays
• Controllers can now back out of UI easier, using whatever the cancel button is for that specific controller.
• Improved terrain highlight's memory usage, removing occasional frame stutters.
• Fixed death beam doing more damage the longer the player spent on a level. This made some boss fights way too easy.
• Fixed freeze effects causing enemy turrets to fall off their mounts.
• Fixed freeze effects breaking 6-Boss when used to destroy specific fuel tanks.
• Fixed freeze effects memory usage. This may have caused occasional frame stutters for people that really, really liked freezing things.
• Fixed friendly homing projectiles occasionally getting stuck in orbit around enemies.
• Fixed 1-1's starting checkpoint sometimes spawning players in terrain.
• Fixed extremely slow UI when EMPing with the skill menu open, or opening skill menu mid-EMP.
• Fixed grapple slams looking jittery for some frame rates.
• Fixed some sound/control options not applying until the next level was loaded or the options menu was reopened.
• Added combat death hints.
• Added more falling death hints.
• The in-game cursor no longer points in silly directions if you pause the game while looking down.
• Score attack now displays subtitles.
• Some subtitle displays have been altered to take up less screen space.
• Subtitle display now varies based on resolution for easier reading on televisions and 4K displays.
• Loading screens look slightly better.
• Increased the score threshold for 4-2 Score Attack
• Added Benny to the credits.

This update fixes the EMP-missile achievement and a few other issues. It also updated to a 64 bit version for Mac users! There have been reports of a rare startup crash on Macs even after this update. I've got a build that fixes that but it's still experimental. Check this forum thread for info on how to get that experimental build, and please post to tell me if you also have this problem. So far it's just been reported by one (very helpful) player. 1.0.7 - 1.0.8 change list:

• Fixed EMP missile achievement not activating when it should
• EMP'd missiles now deactivate and tumble to the ground, like they're supposed to
• Improved and updated auto-quality check at startup, fixing startup issues on some computers, especially newer Macs
• Mac build is now 64-bit

This update fixes some controls and sound issues. Happy holidays! 1.0.6 - 1.0.7 change list:

This update fixes some controls and sound issues. Happy holidays! 1.0.6 - 1.0.7 change list:

Hello primians
! I'm actually in the depths of some fairly big engine changes for Cloudbase Prime because I'm investigating some options, but I also found and fixed a few things that seemed worth fixing here, as well! 1.0.5 - 1.0.6 Change List:

• fixed bug that made "puzzle solved" effect on 3-3 less obvious, less beautiful.
• fixed bug where the help menu could get stuck open if the player died while clicking at precisely the wrong time.
• fixed tutorial text for the architect bomb saying the wrong fuel cost
• players can no longer pause while in a game over state.
• capitalizing level names in the "zone locked" UI to match the rest of the level picker menus.

Hello primians
! I'm actually in the depths of some fairly big engine changes for Cloudbase Prime because I'm investigating some options, but I also found and fixed a few things that seemed worth fixing here, as well! 1.0.5 - 1.0.6 Change List:

• fixed bug that made "puzzle solved" effect on 3-3 less obvious, less beautiful.
• fixed bug where the help menu could get stuck open if the player died while clicking at precisely the wrong time.
• fixed tutorial text for the architect bomb saying the wrong fuel cost
• players can no longer pause while in a game over state.
• capitalizing level names in the "zone locked" UI to match the rest of the level picker menus.

This update improves a few input issues, most notably the performance of Cloudbase Prime's d-pad shortcuts. On some controllers it was too easy to accidentally use two powers at once, or unintentionally cast a power while reloading. This was chiefly a problem on the Xbox 360 controller's d-pad, or any other controller with round/wobbly d-pads prone to unwanted diagonal inputs. Now all power/skill inputs block each other for a brief moment, fixing the issue entirely! Don't worry, it's really brief. You can still spam holo-tiles to your heart's content.
Full 1.0.4 - 1.05 change-list:

• fixed skill firing on inaccurate/noisy d-pads
• fixed bug that could result in xinput controllers getting grayscale button icons instead of colored ones
• fixed: pushing power hotkeys while the Strategy HUD was open closed it without firing any powers, orphaned a sad, lonely cursor into the player's HUD.
• added/improved support for a few controller types by updating the input backend.

This update improves a few input issues, most notably the performance of Cloudbase Prime's d-pad shortcuts. On some controllers it was too easy to accidentally use two powers at once, or unintentionally cast a power while reloading. This was chiefly a problem on the Xbox 360 controller's d-pad, or any other controller with round/wobbly d-pads prone to unwanted diagonal inputs. Now all power/skill inputs block each other for a brief moment, fixing the issue entirely! Don't worry, it's really brief. You can still spam holo-tiles to your heart's content.
Full 1.0.4 - 1.05 change-list:

• fixed skill firing on inaccurate/noisy d-pads
• fixed bug that could result in xinput controllers getting grayscale button icons instead of colored ones
• fixed: pushing power hotkeys while the Strategy HUD was open closed it without firing any powers, orphaned a sad, lonely cursor into the player's HUD.
• added/improved support for a few controller types by updating the input backend.

I just got back from showing Cloudbase Prime at PAX West 2017! It was excellent. Showing the game to people is a joy, and it's great to meet other gamedev folks. While demoing the game over and over and over, I noticed that the cannons in "Collect Fixbots" mode didn't have a sign saying "exit here!" ​after you collected all of the fixbots. Oops! They should. So now there's a patch fixing that issue. These exit signs should help people leave a little faster after they've gotten that last fixbot.
​ Full 1.0.3-1.0.4 change notes: ​

• Fixed: "Collect Fixbots" exit cannons now get an exit sign above them after you've collected all of a level's fixbots.

I just got back from showing Cloudbase Prime at PAX West 2017! It was excellent. Showing the game to people is a joy, and it's great to meet other gamedev folks. While demoing the game over and over and over, I noticed that the cannons in "Collect Fixbots" mode didn't have a sign saying "exit here!" after you collected all of the fixbots. Oops! They should. So now there's a patch fixing that issue. These exit signs should help people leave a little faster after they've gotten that last fixbot.
Full 1.0.3-1.0.4 change notes:

• Fixed: "Collect Fixbots" exit cannons now get an exit sign above them after you've collected all of a level's fixbots.

This fixes some rare and minor issues. Hopefully you didn't encounter them, but if you did: they're fixed now! Oh, and in case you missed them, the game has cards now:
That means you can now get Cloudbase Prime emots, badges, and profile backgrounds!

1.0.1-1.0.3 change log:

• Fixed level win possibly stalling if you had special ammo run out in the middle of the win cannon launch.
• Fixed possibly falling through the shield platform during 6-boss's factory segment
• Fixed enemies on 6-boss sometimes not despawning after the player died and respawned
• Fixed homing weapons like missiles and redeyes not disappearing when dying to a boss
• Fixed minor lighting issue during the ending cutscene
• Fixed "square primians" animation bug that could result in them making an accidental rude gesture

This fixes some rare and minor issues. Hopefully you didn't encounter them, but if you did: they're fixed now! Oh, and in case you missed them, the game has cards now:
That means you can now get Cloudbase Prime emots, badges, and profile backgrounds!

1.0.1-1.0.3 change log:

• Fixed level win possibly stalling if you had special ammo run out in the middle of the win cannon launch.
• Fixed possibly falling through the shield platform during 6-boss's factory segment
• Fixed enemies on 6-boss sometimes not despawning after the player died and respawned
• Fixed homing weapons like missiles and redeyes not disappearing when dying to a boss
• Fixed minor lighting issue during the ending cutscene
• Fixed "square primians" animation bug that could result in them making an accidental rude gesture

I started working on Cloudbase Prime in 2012. I've only been working on it full-time since September 2015, but it's been quite the ride! I'm very, very happy to say that Cloudbase Prime 1.0 is out now! There's a launch discount, so there's no need to delay buying Cloudbase Prime! Selling well helps Cloudbase Prime do better on the Steam front page, especially during this launch window. Even though the game's officially released, I'm still listening to your feedback! Feel free to drop by the Steam forums or the game's Discord server. The changes since the last release candidate are minor, but here they are: 1.0RC2 - 1.0.1 change list:

• Gamepad users only: Strategy HUD button binding was visible on-screen in an annoying fashion until the player unlocked their first power (probably on level 1-1).
• Strategy HUD UI misbehaved if the player paused/unpaused just after unlocking their first power.
• Game over menu buttons and cursor became less reliable if the player was riding a jet dragon, or other large moving objects.
• Rapid-fire clicking with the charge shot equipped sounded unpleasant.

I started working on Cloudbase Prime in 2012. I've only been working on it full-time since September 2015, but it's been quite the ride! I'm very, very happy to say that Cloudbase Prime 1.0 is out now! There's a launch discount, so there's no need to delay buying Cloudbase Prime! Selling well helps Cloudbase Prime do better on the Steam front page, especially during this launch window. Even though the game's officially released, I'm still listening to your feedback! Feel free to drop by the Steam forums or the game's Discord server. The changes since the last release candidate are minor, but here they are: 1.0RC2 - 1.0.1 change list:

• Gamepad users only: Strategy HUD button binding was visible on-screen in an annoying fashion until the player unlocked their first power (probably on level 1-1).
• Strategy HUD UI misbehaved if the player paused/unpaused just after unlocking their first power.
• Game over menu buttons and cursor became less reliable if the player was riding a jet dragon, or other large moving objects.
• Rapid-fire clicking with the charge shot equipped sounded unpleasant.

Chances are very high that this release candidate will simply get renamed and released as 1.0. Which is good, because we're very close to release :P! I've fixed some straggling annoyances and bugs in this release. None of them were terrible issues, but I'd rather push these fixes out now than after release. They're a nice bit of polish and testing is good. Come check out Cloudbase Prime's official Discord server! It's great if you want to talk about Cloudbase Prime, or just hang out with me on a chat server. I've been updating store pages, the website, and piles of other web stuff to get ready. It's annoying but exciting work. Also, the loading icons on cloudbaseprime.com are now crudely animated fixbots! Yesss.
Full change list: Fixed:

• player no longer shoots after respawning or loading a level
• going back and forth between the mouse and gamepad works in the options menu now (really helps Steam Controller users!)
• move tutorial text for gamepads/joysticks improved (no longer lists individual stick axes)
• in-game tutorials no longer enable the cursor before the actual tutorial opens
• Improved the 4-2 submenu in the level picker: buttons are more readable now, 4-2:score attack button now hides properly.
• increasing auto-quality requirements to be more in-line with beta behavior, cleared old auto-quality data (this will result in one slightly slower startup, but will be cached after that!)

Chances are very high that this release candidate will simply get renamed and released as 1.0. Which is good, because we're very close to release :P! I've fixed some straggling annoyances and bugs in this release. None of them were terrible issues, but I'd rather push these fixes out now than after release. They're a nice bit of polish and testing is good. Come check out Cloudbase Prime's official Discord server! It's great if you want to talk about Cloudbase Prime, or just hang out with me on a chat server. I've been updating store pages, the website, and piles of other web stuff to get ready. It's annoying but exciting work. Also, the loading icons on cloudbaseprime.com are now crudely animated fixbots! Yesss.
Also, I've made the "Recommended Gamepad + Mouse Aim" Steam controller configuration official, meaning it should be what's used by default for first-time users. If you're into gyro aim, I do recommend trying out the "Recommended Gamepad + Mouse Aim AND Gyro" configuration! I just suspect gyro aim isn't for everyone. Full change list: Fixed:

• player no longer shoots after respawning or loading a level
• going back and forth between a mouse and a gamepad works in the options menu now (really helps Steam Controller users!)
• move tutorial text for gamepads/joysticks improved (no longer lists individual stick axes)
• in-game tutorials no longer enable the cursor before the actual tutorial opens
• Improved the 4-2 submenu in the level picker: buttons are more readable now, 4-2:score attack button now hides properly.
• increasing auto-quality requirements to be more in-line with beta behavior, cleared old auto-quality data (this will result in one slightly slower startup, but will be cached after that!)

It's been a busy few days for me. I'm very happy to say that RC1 is out now! That means I this could be a build I actually ship as Cloudbase Prime 1.0! I'll wait and see how it performs in the wild, and I'll continue slapping it with vigorous tests on my end. I'm pretty excited about this, though! Things that will still change are Steam Achievement icons and Steam Cards, because those are separate from the actual game software. Mac and Linux both support the Steam controller now, but there was a bit of a trade-off for that. Support for other controllers is still good on those platforms, but yeah, it's a little worse. I've also made some pretty nice Steam Controller mappings for the game. I'll probably make one of those the default "recommended" layout for Steam Controller users in the near future. As always, your feedback is welcome! ---- I've released a couple betas since 0.15.1 while ironing out those controller issues, so I've actually got a few versions worth of changes here. Full Change List Since July 11: Improved in RC1:

• Hex fighters can now drop fuel.
• Lil' Chomper enemies now die en-masse more efficiently.
• Enemy damage sounds are generally more efficient now.
• New voice lines added for 4-2:score attack
• Level picker: zone stats now have black backgrounds to improve readability.

• Overly-generic gamepad button labels on mac/linux
• Using ammo types while another ammo type was still active left the old hand/charge effects instead of replacing them
• You could "lose" boost by landing on missiles and launched enemies in midair. Don't worry, you can still jump off them if you believe in yourself.
• Boost audio didn't respect the "sounds" volume setting
• Boost audio kept playing while paused
• Mouse cursor interfered with gamepad movement through the options menus
• Graphics options could not be applied with a gamepad
• Fuel drops and homing missiles chased the player while the win screen was displayed
• EMPing missiles achievement could be triggered without an EMP
• Fuel gauge wouldn't show itself if the first upgrade you found was special ammo
• In-game hint text could stay visible while paused
• Other various UI fixes

• SteamOS: game exited when USB devices were unplugged. (introduced in beta 0.15)
• SteamOS: no controllers worked. (introduced in beta 0.15)
• Mac: Steam controllers didn't work.

• "LB" buttons could just get the "L" icon
• Shield power-lines were being drawn before shields were activated.
• Key bindings text could possibly fail to display the correct key.
• Options menu: mouse cursor could stay visible and highlight buttons while the controller was using the same UI.

It's been a busy few days for me. I'm very happy to say that RC1 is out now! That means this could be a build I actually ship as Cloudbase Prime 1.0! I'll wait and see how it performs in the wild, and I'll continue slapping it with vigorous tests on my end. I'm pretty excited about this, though! Things that will still change are Steam Achievement icons and Steam Cards, because those are separate from the actual game software. Mac and Linux both support the Steam controller now, but there was a bit of a trade-off for that. Support for other controllers is still good on those platforms, but yeah, it's a little worse. I've also made some pretty nice Steam Controller mappings for the game. I'll probably make one of those the default "recommended" layout for Steam Controller users in the near future. As always, your feedback is welcome! ---- I've released a couple betas since 0.15.1 while ironing out those controller issues, so I've actually got a few versions worth of changes here. Full Change List Since July 11: Improved in RC1:

• Hex fighters can now drop fuel.
• Lil' Chomper enemies now die en-masse more efficiently.
• Enemy damage sounds are generally more efficient now.
• New voice lines added for 4-2:score attack
• Level picker: zone stats now have black backgrounds to improve readability.

• Overly-generic gamepad button labels on mac/linux
• Using ammo types while another ammo type was still active left the old hand/charge effects instead of replacing them
• You could "lose" boost by landing on missiles and launched enemies in midair. Don't worry, you can still jump off them if you believe in yourself.
• Boost audio didn't respect the "sounds" volume setting
• Boost audio kept playing while paused
• Mouse cursor interfered with gamepad movement through the options menus
• Graphics options could not be applied with a gamepad
• Fuel drops and homing missiles chased the player while the win screen was displayed
• EMPing missiles achievement could be triggered without an EMP
• Fuel gauge wouldn't show itself if the first upgrade you found was special ammo
• In-game hint text could stay visible while paused
• Other various UI fixes

• SteamOS: game exited when USB devices were unplugged. (introduced in beta 0.15)
• SteamOS: no controllers worked. (introduced in beta 0.15)
• Mac: Steam controllers didn't work.

• "LB" buttons could just get the "L" icon
• Shield power-lines were being drawn before shields were activated.
• Key bindings text could possibly fail to display the correct key.
• Options menu: mouse cursor could stay visible and highlight buttons while the controller was using the same UI.

Fixin' things, makin' things. Missing sleep. Beta 0.15 is out now! This is the last major beta! Hopefully it's the last beta, entirely. Cloudbase Prime's first release candidate is planned for next week. It seems a very realistic goal, given my current schedule and the state of the game right now. We'll see how that goes! As always, your feedback is welcome, but we're now really, really close to release :D. This release fixed a lot of issues, adds a new score attack level to 4-2, Steam achievements (I'll make pretty icons soon!), bossfight help, and a much-improved EMP story scene animation. Full change list below: Added:

• 4-2 score attack: the first score attack level with giant walkers!
• A fixbot will now offer to supercharge you in bossfights 1-4 if you die three times in a row. You don't get the fixbot if you accept this help, but you can move on to the next zone!
• Steam achievements
• Added an EMP story animation
• Legs now animate behind the player while boosting. Looks better, especially while swimming downward.

• Combust ammo icon is larger/more readable.
• Loading special ammo now pulses the HUD icon and makes an ammo-specific sound.
• Food chain enemy factories now have a death sound

• Enemy walkers would get confused and stick a leg up in the air sometimes.
• Fixed button icons for Xbox triggers not showing up correctly.
• Fixed score attack spawners sometimes not spawning as many enemies as they should.
• Tractor beams could cause exciting player yoyo situations if the player grappled into them.
• Ramp "launchability" text could be seen through almost everything
• Some "player sounds", like repair sounds, were tagged as voices instead of sounds.
• Auto-quality hardware detection should now recognize some more obscure setups
• Suit hands clipped into exit cannons at the end of the level.
• Keybinding notes for
• Alt/tabbing in and out of the game while a cursor was displayed used to leave the player with two cursors.
• Left hand didn't join the beam animation when using homing shots
• Grapple text hints didn't fit on narrow screens
• Second character's hand particles remained visible after fading to black
• misc. other bugs and performance improvements

So I've been wanting to rerecord some lines for controllers for a while, and have been utterly failing (the intro jokes about mouse and keyboard controls). Those recordings were made years ago, on very old hardware/software, and splicing in new recordings, or doing new recordings altogether, just wasn't working out. I liked the originals too much to mix them up with things that didn't match! But this morning I got my old recording setup going and there are now controller-specific audio/subtitles for that cutscene! I know it was confusing some people, and this is probably funnier, too. Hooray! ---- Also, while I'm here, I'd like to blab about beta 0.15's new "boss boost" system for bosses 1-4. If you die three times in a row on boss, you'll see this screen:
If you agree to that, then you'll respawn with the "SUPER CHARGED" rings spinning in your HUD, like at the end of most collect fixbots levels. You'll shoot giant exploding bullets and launch dramatically higher while moving large chunks of terrain at once. This tends to result in you winning the boss fight, but you won't get the fixbot.
I hope this will result in people still coming back to play and master the level later, perhaps after getting more suit powers. It's not a huge change, but I was really sweatin' it. I think this will let me keep the challenge most people like in the boss fights while not locking anyone out of the rest of the game just because they happened to get stuck.

So I've been wanting to rerecord some lines for controllers for a while, and have been utterly failing (the intro jokes about mouse and keyboard controls). Those recordings were made years ago, on very old hardware/software, and splicing in new recordings, or doing new recordings altogether, just wasn't working out. I liked the originals too much to mix them up with things that didn't match! But this morning I got my old recording setup going and there are now controller-specific audio/subtitles for that cutscene! I know it was confusing some people, and this is probably funnier, too. Hooray! ---- Also, while I'm here, I'd like to blab about beta 0.15's new "boss boost" system for bosses 1-4. If you die three times in a row on boss, you'll see this screen:
If you agree to that, then you'll respawn with the "SUPER CHARGED" rings spinning in your HUD, like at the end of most collect fixbots levels. You'll shoot giant exploding bullets and launch dramatically higher while moving large chunks of terrain at once. This tends to result in you winning the boss fight, but you won't get the fixbot.
I hope this will result in people still coming back to play and master the level later, perhaps after getting more suit powers. It's not a huge change, but I was really sweatin' it. I think this will let me keep the challenge most people like in the boss fights while not locking anyone out of the rest of the game just because they happened to get stuck.

It took a lot of tuning, but Cloudbase Prime is working well with controllers now! Even Switch joycons, if you pair both of them! Since you look up and down a LOT in this game, there are dedicated buttons to snap your look down/forward/up. A note on Steam controllers: I'm curious about your feedback here! Steam controllers emulate Xbox 360 controllers when possible! I do support that, but you're missing out on a good few Steam controller features then. You may want to use them in "mouse and keyboard" mode instead. There are a good deal of other changes in here, too. A pile of bug fixes, an easier food chain mode, and a pretty cursor for menus. Full change notes: Added/changed:

• Controller support!
• New options menu (now controller-friendly)
• Added hint text on how to throw balls and detach from grabbed terrain
• Updated look bindings, they can now be customized. I tried to keep mouse sensitivity identical: tell me if I didn't!
• Added snap look controls: up, down, forward. Only bound on controllers by default.
• Reload/interact are now the same binding
• You can now throw held items by hitting interact a second time.
• New cursor for menus
• Food Chain mode is now easier: collector has more HP, enemy factory stays vulnerable longer.
• Improved control help text in 1-intro: better text, colored control bindings.
• Added move help text to 1-intro.
• Lowered fall death height on all levels in zone 5.
• You can't change the direction of the architect while your hands are busy any more (caused animation bugs, confused people).
• Exiting the end credits now requires you to press a specific button.

• Improved corrupt save file handling, automatic loading of backups on failure.
• Exit cannon can no longer be disabled by enemy terrain destruction
• Fixbot voices are now consistently affected by the "voice" volume setting.
• 6-boss no longer becomes harder the more you die... sorry about that.
• Fixed duplicated subtitles, hand animation bugs in 5-intro.
• Enemy shield repulsor is no longer active during 5-boss's intro cutscene.
• Fixed Atlas's voice lines being too quiet in the intro to 6-boss.
• Fixed 5-1's starting checkpoint not consistently respawning the player.
• 5-1's food chain stuff no longer shows up outside of food chain mode.

Hey look, new store art!
Beta 0.13 is out! It focuses on tutorials/help, while improving player movement with a new boost ability and swapping "survival" mode for a more fun "score attack". With this beta release I now consider the game to be far friendlier to new players! I made this video to show off all of the new stuff in the game since it reached beta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz8J9exMPMk We're pretty far along now, so get that Early Access feedback to me if you've got it. Release is getting close! Full change list: added:

• Added a post-launch boost button (left ctrl by default!) to make level traversal faster and more fun
• Added help manuals to the pause and HUB menus
• Added/improved tutorials
• Removed survival mode, replaced it with score attack
• "Alternate" level modes are now locked until the primary mode is beaten
• Strategy HUD is now always unlocked

• Fixed bunny balls being gigantic while held, especially when playing as the second character
• Improved audio levels on some Atlas dialog in 6-boss
• Strategy HUD now looks better with few unlocks, hinting at how many unlocks remain
• The pause key binding now applies in the level picker menu
• Gave freeze ammo a proper model in the HUB weapons menu
• Empty strategy HUD text now reflects actual key bindings
• Hitting escape with the key binding menu can no longer unpause the game
• Hitting the strategy HUD key can no longer unpause the game.

Cloudbase Prime's beta now! The big thing here is that the game's story is now complete. It has end credits and everything! There's a new story level and a pretty hefty boss fight. Also, I apparently hadn't released the ice ammo yet. It's hidden somewhere in 5-1 if I remember correctly. These levels took a while. Complex story scenes really take a lot of effort, and 6-boss is my most complex yet. 6-2 was no slouch, either! I hope you enjoy the update and, as always, am looking forward to hearing your feedback. added:

• 6-2: get help to go and attack the tower's evil robot factory!
• 6-boss: the end boss!
• ice ammo
• win music! most non-boss levels now have win music that joyfully blares out your victory.
• fixbot heals are now more noticeable
• fixbots no longer talk every time you respawn
• powers are now introduced in 1-1's survival mode, too

• homing weapons no longer lock onto dead stuff
• fixed jump drop pod in 1-intro
• fixed fixbot names being at odd angles on 6-1
• fixed homing hands getting stuck in "lockon" mode sometimes
• fixed angled and extra-large terrain breaking grappling hook
• fixed grappling while on rails

This is hopefully the last in a flurry of alpha releases to get the current stuff in the game up to "beta" quality. Its main features are auto-quality and more in-game settings options! If anything's missing, please feel free to make requests. The game also now has a splash screen, but it shouldn't slow down your game bootups at all (except perhaps the first time, while the automatic quality check is running!) changed:

• auto-quality assignment on first run
• new in-game graphics and keybinding settings.
• sound settings now have separate settings for sound, voice, and music.
• a splash/loading screen
• tutorial text now reflects key bindings.
• increased minimum animation quality
• increased minimum lighting quality (tell me if things are too slow! seemed fine on my min-spec machine)

• fixed 2-boss's core model loading improperly.
• fixed charge shot possibly getting stuck on hand after closing the Strategy HUD.
• fixed giant lockon dot indicators while using the Strategy HUD

Fixed: angel spheres couldn't shoot bullets any more! That bug made angel spheres into pretty boring enemies :(. Sorry about this bug! I brought it about by fixing another bug where enemies couldn't hit themselves ever in alpha 0.11.2. So... you can do that now, too! They can't kill themselves, but it's a decent way to avoid homing missiles.

I've added a new Strategy HUD to the game! The upgrade pod for it can be found on 3-1. It lets you slow the game down while you use a radial menu to cast powers or change equipment. This is the only way to change weapons mid-level, so that's a thing you can do now! I'm a little torn about making this an unlockable. It could be especially useful for controller-bound users, so I'm a little nervous about hiding it away at all. That said, having something change the game this much while being casually hidden in a level is very appealing to me. It feels neat and provides a handy spot to introduce you to the controls. Enjoy your new slower, more strategic Cloudbase Prime.

This is a bit earlier than I was planning on, but the rest of the changes I have planned could take a while. I'd rather get this update in your hands right away! Your crosshairs will now change shape and color to give you a better idea of what your grapple will do when you fire it. It’s always been consistent that you swing towards terrain that’s above you and slam-attack into terrain that’s far enough below you, but this will help it be obvious at a glance!
Also, you can’t spam the grappling hook repeatedly to fly any more. Sorry ;). Full change notes: Added:

• Grappling hook status is now visible in the HUD.
• There is now a cap on how many mid-air grapples you can do before landing or grabbing onto terrain (2).

• Homing shots can now lock onto carrier maintenance hatches.
• Fixed poopbot’s beautiful face
• Fixed the level picker menu’s zone 6 fixbot counting issues
• 6-1′s exit cannon now points toward the tower.

This is a bit earlier than I was planning on, but the rest of the changes I have planned could take a while. I'd rather get these crosshairs in your hands right away! Your crosshairs will now change shape and color to give you a better idea of what your grapple will do when you fire it. It’s always been consistent that you swing towards terrain that’s above you and slam-attack into terrain that’s far enough below you, but this will help it be obvious at a glance! Also, you can’t spam the grappling hook repeatedly to fly any more. Sorry ;). Full change notes: Added:

• Grappling hook status is now visible in the HUD.
• There is now a cap on how many mid-air grapples you can do before landing or grabbing onto terrain (2).

• Homing shots can now lock onto carrier maintenance hatches.
• Fixed poopbot’s beautiful face
• Fixed the level picker menu’s zone 6 fixbot counting issues
• 6-1′s exit cannon now points toward the tower.

I'm excited to finally add zone 6 to Cloudbase Prime! You'll start your trip back to the tower and see a sunrise. Gradients! I'm planning a minor update soon to improve the HUD's feedback for grappling, and to make grappling less spammable, in general. Enjoy its exploitability in the meantime :). Change notes: Added:

• Added zone 6 to the hub (beat 5-boss)
• Added 6-intro and 6-1
• Added climbable/boardable hex carrier ships and hex fighters
• Body shadows/reflections for both characters
• New menu model for the second character
• 5-intro now mentions grabbing and jumping off of terrain while grappling
• Added a friendly explanation fixbot to 3-3 to help explain electric poop and rails
• Loading the game now returns back to the last played zone in the level picker instead of always selecting zone 1.
• Dying hex terrain now highlight in a different color when targeted by the player, and no longer highlight when entirely dead.

• Fixed a grappling bug that could result in the player being unable to move if launched mid-grapple
• No more slow grapples while falling: player velocity resets to 0 on grapple
• Fixed turret collider bug
• Fixed player and others being smashed by terrain they shouldn't get smashed by.

I'm very excited about this alpha! It has some great weapons/grapple improvements, neat story bits, a new food chain level featuring MEGABUNNY, and a wild new boss fight in zone 5. Here's the official change list: Additions/Changes:

• Improved 1-intro. The player actually rides the pod down in the beginning, a dude waves at you, and enemy spawn locations are marginally improved.
• Adding a foodchain mode for 5-1. Features the new megabunny and the ability to heal the collector!
• Adding 5-boss.
• BIG improvements to responsiveness and speed of fire for rapid-click firing of homing/charge guns. One normal shot fires immediately on mouse down now.
• Grappling hook now allows the player to hang onto terrain. The player can launch themselves from this position by moving said terrain.
• Grappling hook grapple and slam states should now be far clearer.
• Damage flash color is now orange, to help with player confusion when shooting enemies' glowing red bits. This may need balancing on orange-skied levels.

• Fixed missing arrow in 3-3 that confused some solving the tree puzzle.
• Player can no longer EMP while playing as the second character.
• Player grappling hook is now canceled/interrupted if the player is launched by terrain.

This also marks the release of alpha 0.9! You can check the full change list here.
Back to it, though: EARLY ACCESS! It's happening! Neat. I hope folks enjoy the game, and I look forward to hearing what you have to say about it. While major content updates will have a 6-8 week update schedule, I'll also release faster minor updates for bug fixes and gameplay tweaks, depending on your feedback! So, where to send that feedback?

• Gameplay feedback/discussion
• Bug reports