This is the first maintenance patch in four years! SphereFACE was first released in 2015, and a lot has happened since that time. We're excited to take a trip down memory lane with you. While VoxelStorm no longer exists in its present guise, its spirit lives on in Armchair Software, started by the same founder. Most of VoxelStorm's old code has been released as open source (check out https://github.com/voxelStorm-Ltd/) and modernisations of these older projects are under way. The aim is to eventually release all VoxelStorm work as open source code for the benefit of the community! The changes to sphereFACE since the last patch have been fairly minimal; as time has passed, bit-rot has set in to a small extent, so it's taken some work to get the game building and running with more modern systems. We've dropped support for 32bit linux (keeping it 64bit only), and likewise for obsolete MacOS versions. A 32bit Windows build is still available. Various shared libraries used by sphereFACE have had many updates over the years, most notably VectorStorm - VoxelStorm's awesome vector maths library, now also open source! This release benefits from those improvements - bugfixes and performance boosts. There are also a couple of minor bug fixes, mostly around gamepad / joystick control. While sphereFACE was always intended to be un-demanding to run on low-end hardware, ten years later, it can safely be said to be able to run with full performance on pretty much every computer still out there. A testament to the foresight and longevity of the unique original custom-built graphics engine designed specifically for this game! Behind the scenes, the game is now built with a modern CMake pipeline, cross-compiling Windows builds on Linux. With continuous integration implemented on our back-end, future releases and incremental improvements should now be easier. To chat about these changes and the future of sphereFACE, and other VoxelStorm games, why not join the developers on Telegram: t.me/ArmchairSoftwareChat

New in this version: leaderboards for high scores, kills and planetary mass destroyed: http://steamcommunity.com/stats/485680/leaderboards/1992656 Improvements:

• New Steam API interaction layer
• Safe fallback that lets the game run even if no Steam dll is present
• Ship doesn't keep flying & shooting when the player wins the game
• Localisation improvements
• Improving robustness of memory layout for weapon levels
• Rendering announcements in front of everything else
• Added achievement for reading the help text
• Added "save-scum" detection and associated achievements

• Fixed crash when unbinding XBox controller weapon switch button
• Correct achievements for mass destroyed values
• Correct accuracy display in victory view
• Binding analogue controls to correct weapon number
• Stop gaussRIFLE playing charging sound when switching away from it
• Fix crash after loading savefiles
• Make reverse thruster control work correctly
• Allow spaceMINES to be jettisoned properly
• Fix crash when jettisoning weapons
• Fix crash when entering tunnel while being destroyed

New in this version: leaderboards for high scores, kills and planetary mass destroyed: http://steamcommunity.com/stats/485680/leaderboards/1992656 Improvements:

• New Steam API interaction layer
• Safe fallback that lets the game run even if no Steam dll is present
• Ship doesn't keep flying & shooting when the player wins the game
• Localisation improvements
• Improving robustness of memory layout for weapon levels
• Rendering announcements in front of everything else
• Added achievement for reading the help text
• Added "save-scum" detection and associated achievements

• Fixed crash when unbinding XBox controller weapon switch button
• Correct achievements for mass destroyed values
• Correct accuracy display in victory view
• Binding analogue controls to correct weapon number
• Stop gaussRIFLE playing charging sound when switching away from it
• Fix crash after loading savefiles
• Make reverse thruster control work correctly
• Allow spaceMINES to be jettisoned properly
• Fix crash when jettisoning weapons
• Fix crash when entering tunnel while being destroyed

Improvements:

• Added menu option to invert camera y-axis (mouse invert)
• Made weapons and ships logs achievements easier to get
• Red ship fragments no longer destroy other red ships
• Red buildings are now affected by the singularityCANNON and rocket blasts
• Allow multiple high score achievements to be attained in the same run
• Allow red buildings to have a velocity
• Slow down accelerated camera movement at the midpoint of the death transition so you can read the stats even if you skipped the fadeout
• GivenSwarms random acceleration capacity so they don't bunch up as much
• Added savescumming detection and corresponding achievements
• Moved inventory description closer to inventory list
• Given spaceMINES a limited lifetime
• Optimise mine graphics for performance outside the current sphere
• No longer announcing changes from a weapon to itself
• Reduced requirement for highest clear spheres achievement to 30
• Improved achievement graphics
• More debugging output for dynamic library loader component
• A few new achievements

• Correct Sawblade one-shot kill tracking
• Correct achievement API name for enemies destroyed over n
• Fixed typo in clear 10 spheres achievement
• Fixed armour not colliding with enemy buildings
• Fixed flakCANNON graphic incorrectly rendering on the player ship

Improvements:

• Added menu option to invert camera y-axis (mouse invert)
• Made weapons and ships logs achievements easier to get
• Red ship fragments no longer destroy other red ships
• Red buildings are now affected by the singularityCANNON and rocket blasts
• Allow multiple high score achievements to be attained in the same run
• Allow red buildings to have a velocity
• Slow down accelerated camera movement at the midpoint of the death transition so you can read the stats even if you skipped the fadeout
• GivenSwarms random acceleration capacity so they don't bunch up as much
• Added savescumming detection and corresponding achievements
• Moved inventory description closer to inventory list
• Given spaceMINES a limited lifetime
• Optimise mine graphics for performance outside the current sphere
• No longer announcing changes from a weapon to itself
• Reduced requirement for highest clear spheres achievement to 30
• Improved achievement graphics
• More debugging output for dynamic library loader component
• A few new achievements

• Correct Sawblade one-shot kill tracking
• Correct achievement API name for enemies destroyed over n
• Fixed typo in clear 10 spheres achievement
• Fixed armour not colliding with enemy buildings
• Fixed flakCANNON graphic incorrectly rendering on the player ship