Small Changes for Build 2.0.4
-Players playing for the first time will be redirected to the Tutorial from now on.
-Default controls have been added ('WASD' for movement, 'Q' Primary/Replica, 'B' Secondary/Bombs, 'E' to toggle laser machines).

[h2]General Updates[/h2]

• Teleportation talent (Time Dilation) works in the Nemesis Campaign.
  
• English is the only language of the game now. All the other 8 languages have been removed.
  
• Flame-Guard talent cooldown reduced from 80s to 50s.
  
• Cuirass of the Nemesis talent cooldown reduced from 60s to 40s.
  
• Flame-Guard and Cuirass of the Nemesis talents have their cooldowns shown on each Spark Campaign chapter.
  
• Flame-Guard and Cuirass of the Nemesis talents, if active show orbs around your character representing shield points.
  
• New option added: Persistent Bodies. If kept on while playing the bodies of patrolling guards will remain till the end of the chapter. This includes your own droid.
  

Hello friends, I am back with the second part of the Major Update 2.0.0. This one contains some interesting changes you all might like. There is also a small bad news for people who don't speak or understand English at all.

[h2]General Updates[/h2]

[h3]Spark Campaign Act II: 5 new chapters[/h3]
Spark Campaign has been divided into 2 Acts. The first Act contains the original 10 long chapters that you are familiar with. The second Act, however, contains only 5 short fast-paced chapters that are more interesting to play. Expect to encounter a lot of flyovers, rotating lasers and turrets. Have a look!




[h3]New Characters[/h3]
Nemesis Campaign and Mercenarium Custom Scenarios now introduces humans as enemy patrolling guards, actually they are just heavily armed military men ready to obliterate your android. Have a look.

Nemesis Guards


Mercenarium Pirates



[h3]Enhancements: Introducing the Bio-Tech Lab[/h3]
Enhancements are talents that you can exchange for the biomass capsules that you have collected. Each
Enhancements costs you 15 capsules and once you have submitted all the capsules to the Bio-Tech lab, you will have completed the objective of the Spark Campaign. There are 12 Enhancements you might be interested in. Have a look!




With this we conclude the second part of the Major Update 2.0.0. Hold tight for the next set of updates.

It has been a while since I have released any updates steamhappy. Here is something that is going to make the game a little more interesting yet less challenging to play. I have divided the update into two parts, just for fun.

[h2]General Updates:[/h2]

[h3]New Menu[/h3]
The Menu has changed a bit. The lower panel has been removed and integrated into the vertical menu. The campaign buttons have been styled into a horizontal menu. Have a look!




[h3]New UI for the Campaign Panels[/h3]
Introducing a new way of arranging the chapter buttons. You can now directly see the map on the button. But it is quite small, so you can't predict stuff that is going to help you in-game. Have a look!




[h3]New lighting for all chapter[/h3]
Lighting has changed to make the game more interesting and sometimes challenging to play. There are four sets of lighting that corresponds to the four environments used throughout the game. Have a look!. That is a Martian sunset setting. The sun will always be setting in Mars.




[h3]Controls[/h3]
Last but not the least, PC controls are now customizable by the player. They are empty if you are playing for the first time, so kindly set them to your liking before starting a chapter.




With this we conclude the first part of the Major Update 2.0.0. Hold tight for the next set of updates.

A free playable version of Spark Five has been released on Steam. Now you can test the game beforehand and check out the game-play. The demo version of the game includes the tutorial and the first 3 levels of the Spark Campaign. The Nemesis Campaign and the Mercenarium mode is disabled in the free version.

Most of the settings are open with the exception of the "Night Mode" game-play. All graphic quality and post-processing levels are available in the demo along with all the 9 languages that the game was originally released in.

Although Steam Achievements are unavailable in the demo version, individual stats such as "guards killed", "bombs placed" etc. are still recorded and will open up the achievements in the full version once the stats cross the required threshold. This means that the demo version and the full version share the same "save game" files.





Thank you very much for your time and support, now you can check out the demo version and get a taste of what Spark Five has to offer.

Special Offer: Get Spark Five 60% discount.
Hello everyone, welcome to Spark Five. Hope everyone is enjoying this festive season. We are celebrating the winter holiday season 2019 with an amazing offer where you can get the game 60% off for the next two weeks.



Patch Release: Version 1.2.5
We have also released version 1.2.5 to celebrate a Merry Christmas with everybody.

• Minor changes to post-processing.
  
• Light count values increased for each graphics quality level (may affect performance).
  
• Added a dropship effect that activates at the start of a level before the main character spawns.
  
• Flamethrowers and turrets re-adjusted for certain levels.
  
• Language related Documentation errors fixed.
  
• Minor in-game bugs fixed.
  
• Resolved a performance issue for macOS Catalina.
  

Special Offer: Get Spark Five 70% discount.
Hello everyone, we are celebrating Spark Five's one year anniversary on Steam with a mega golden week offer, where you can save a massive 70% on the game. This is the biggest discount we've ever had, making this the best time to save humanity from A.I. controlled androids in a post-apocalyptic world.



Next month we will be releasing new story-lines, advanced game elements and a ton of challenging levels, due to which the price of the game is predicted to increase in the near future. So, grab the game now.

Offer ends 11 November.

Wishing everybody a very happy Halloween. Hope you are having fun. Version 1.2.4 is out and we have decided to make this Halloween a fiery one for you. Introducing a new game element: The Flamethrower.



The Flamethrower
It is a defensive asset that can be found mounted on pillars, their sole purpose is to burn everyone to a crisp. They are installed at various locations around the map and are meant to guard specific objectives or important elements similar to a laser. There are no means to turn these off and are lethal to guards also (which means you can lure them to their demise). They are turned on every 4 seconds and remain active for 2 seconds. Evade them at all costs.



Along with the addition of the Flamethrower game element this patch comes with a few more updates. Check them out.

General Updates

• Player movement speed increased by 12.5%.
  
• Objective indicators modified: A yellow flare indicates a collectible objective item whereas a blue flare represents a destructible objective item. They will not be visible if the "Enable Indicators" option is disabled.
  
• Movement speed of enemy guards increased by 0.1 (both run and walk speed).
  
• Flamethrowers added to all levels (for all campaigns).
  
• Slight changes made to the Evacuation point (Destination) model.
  
• Ship model size increased, rotation rate decreased and has a glowing particle effect at base.
  
• Minor changes to guard patrolling.
  
• Minor changes to maps.
  
• New store page screenshots and gameplay video added.
  

A general update for the month of October. Few more changes, additions and adjustments were made to enhance user experience. Check out the relevant updates for the patch.



General Updates

• Multiple bugs related to a number of levels were fixed.
  
• Steam username, profile rank and profile picture of the player is now visible in the main menu along with a profile panel.
  
• Game settings and achievements have been clumped together along with your stats in the profile panel.
  
• "Loot Boxes Opened" stat added to the stats panel.
  
• Mercenarium levels now grant achievement bonuses and stats (eg. guards killed, bombs placed, loot boxes opened).
  
• 8 new achievements added.
  
• Few adjustments made to the starting number of replicas and bombs for certain levels.
  
• Current system time, network status and battery status is shown in the main menu.
  
• New particle effects added to the Teleportation portal and canisters.
  
• Alert icon over guards has been updated.
  
• Removed the fourth type of turret. There are now 3 variations of turrets.
  
• Loot boxes probability to grant replicas and bombs re-adjusted. The random number is calculated at the start of the level instead of while opening the box.
  
• Minor graphics and resolution adjustments.
  

Autumn has arrived and the festive season is in full bloom. Spark Five is now available in SteamOS + Linux platforms. Finally, after months of tweaking and adjusting Spark Five has reached a substantially stable release state. Version 1.2.2 is up on air on Steam, check out the relevant changes for this patch.

General Updates

• Perspective camera field of view further increased from 60 to 62.
  
• Turrets stop firing if the player is more than equal to 30 units from it.
  
• Added Frustum Culling. Frustum Culling disables the renderers for objects that are outside the camera's viewing area.
  
• Shader saturation of all objects increased by 0.1.
  
• Graphics Quality settings re-adjusted, now has a total of 6 options (Very Low, Low, Medium, High, Very High, Ultra) instead of 3 (Low, Medium, High).
  
• Simple voices added to guards and the player (when detecting and dying).
  
• HighScore system added to the Mercenarium custom scenarios. Your best score (time taken to complete the level) for each will be displayed below the objectives in the campaign panel. You will need to successfully complete the mission to get a score.
  
• Minor map related bugs fixed.
  
• Steam Cloud Integration completed. Please note that your progress up till now may have been reset (apologize for the inconvenience), due to a new system of saving and loading game data being implemented. Your steam achievements will not be affected.
  
• Steam Username and profile pic are displayed in the menu scene. Hovering will show your current stats (guards killed, bombs planted, etc.).
  

A new dawn, a new beginning, yet a long night awaits us all. 1.2.1 comes with an awesome night mode for all levels, a much needed new ability for the Nemesis Campaign and the game is now available in 8 new languages.

Localization
We are excited to announce that Spark Five is now available in 8 new languages. Apart from English we now have Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and Simplified Chinese. Steam store page has been updated accordingly.

The Shield Ability
The Nemesis Campaign now comes with an all new ability - Shield. Activate to equip yourself with a shield for 4-5 seconds. The shield protects you from incoming bullets only and has a cooldown of 30 seconds. The default key for this ability is 'Q', therefore the default key to place explosive charges on a bio-pod has changed from 'Q' to 'E'. Clicking the shield ability icon on the bottom left corner of the screen will also activate this ability.

Night Mode
A new ambient mode has been added to all levels of the game including the tutorial. Switch on the night mode to experience an all new post-apocalyptic sci-fi ambience. 4 lights (with 4 random colors) have been added to each room which turn on whenever this mode is activated. The night mode doesn't have any impact on the game mechanics but may alter the user's experience. The toggle button is available in the settings panel.

Celebrating the advent of Fall and the fall of the Summer season. Version 1.2.0 witnessed some huge changes to the game, featuring a total makeover of the graphics, shaders, interface and overall experience. Yet here we are with more fine adjustments and iterations. Aiming to make the game a little more fast-paced and interesting, we present you with the changes listed below.

General

• Added in-game documentation.
  
• Minor changes to the tutorial.
  
• Player stats now available in the Achievements section.
  

• Loading screen updated.
  
• Menu panel inside all levels updated.
  
• UI animations added to buttons and panels.
  
• Clicking on ability buttons (bottom left corner) will activate the ability.
  
• Time displayed after level ends has been re-adjusted.
  
• Spark Campaign star achievements moved from level button to level description/briefing area.
  
• Added icons to in-game elements in the tutorial. You can hover mouse cursor over to view object's name.
  

• Laser counter rotation speed reduced from 80 to 60 (both clockwise and anticlockwise).
  
• Waiting time of guards in all levels reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
  
• Movement speed of guards increased by a flat value of 0.8 (both run and walk speed). Animations have been re-adjusted accordingly.
  
• Fire rate of some turrets in the Nemesis Campaign levels has been reduced back to 1 second.
  
• Circular laser defense system has a new particle effect.
  
• Time required to drop replicas, plant bombs, place explosive charges and switch on/off lasers have been reduced.
  
• Changed explosion of cargo box.
  
• Guards now have an icon to indicate that they are alerted.
  

Version 1.2.0 Update

It has been a year since I started developing Spark Five. The game has received a major update. Whats new then? A lot has changed actually. Following are the major changes to the game.

GENERAL

• Shader updated.
  
• General theme shading of the game has been changed from orange-yellow to blue-cyan. Game icon hue has been adjusted accordingly.
  
• Post-Processing re-adjusted. Colored atmospheric ambience has been removed entirely.
  
• Tutorial updated. Text-to-Speech functionality removed from all levels.
  
• In-game achievement icons updated.
  
• Steam store page updated. New trailer and screenshots added.
  
• All game elements (models, particle effects, etc.) have been updated, excluding cargo boxes and loot boxes. The basic map arrangement, overall objectives, item pick-ups, turret positions and number of enemy guards for all levels remain the same.
  

• Ambient music for all levels including main menu updated.
  
• New explosion sounds added.
  
• Footstep sound corresponds to walking on metal as opposed to walking on grass.
  
• Added new sound effects associated with various actions in the game.
  

• Main Menu updated. Settings panel is permanently visible. Option to enable/disable post-processing has been added to the settings panel.
  
• UI elements like boxes, buttons, text, fonts, etc have been updated.
  
• Minimap support removed entirely from the game.
  
• Perspective camera field of view increased from 50 to 60.
  
• Minor script adjustments made related to GUI.
  

• Character models re-worked (main player and guards). Animations remain the same.
  
• Spark form updated. Spark form is no longer a ball of lightning, rather a transparent glowing specter of the original character.
  
• Rooms have been updated with new models and textures.
  
• 4 types of turrets and associated bullets added. Type of turret has no impact on game-play.
  
• Laser machine comes with a radar. A rotating radar indicates that the associated laser is on and vice-versa.
  

• Movement speed of main player increased from 3.85 to 4.
  
• You gain +30% bonus movement speed when in Spark form. The bonus is lost when you are reborn.
  
• Enemy guards navigation agent radius reduced from 0.5 to 0.2.
  
• Chase distance threshold of all enemy guards increased from 6 to 7, i.e. they will cease their pursuit if the distance between you and the guard is 7 units or more. (For reference, a room is 10 units X 10 units)
  
• Re-adjusted detection boxes of enemy guards.
  
• Time gained from picking up a Time Capsule increased from 23 seconds to 30 seconds.
  
• Minimum fire rate of all turrets has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.
  
• Turrets have limiters for bullets instead of time constraint. Bullets get de-spawned whenever they collide with the associated limiter or any other collider.
  
• Speed of bullet varies randomly between 300 and 350 instead of a 300 flat value. Speed is calculated before bullet leaves the turret.
  
• Spark Replicas can stop bullets.
  
• All Nemesis Campaign levels have +60 seconds added to the starting timer and start with +1 bomb.
  
• All Spark Campaign and Mercenarium levels start with +1 bombs and +1 replica.
  
• Time required to achieve stars increased by 30 seconds for all Spark Campaign levels.
  

• New explosion effects added.
  
• New effects corresponding to item pick-ups added.
  
• Relevant objects colliding laser produces sparks.
  
• New particle effect for circular laser defense system.
  

What's New
Mercenarium - A new fast-paced game mode has been added where you play 10 custom scenarios against the consortium as a hired mercenary. All the levels are directly playable (they aren't locked). This mode comes with plenty of loot boxes that can be opened in-game. Every loot box contains either a replica or a bomb (50% chance), use them strategically to achieve the desired objective. Have fun and a Merry Christmas to you.



Major Updates

• UI Changes - Added a basic in-game minimap which shows map elements within the player's immediate vicinity. Press 'M' to toggle minimap on/off.
  
• Menu Updates - Minor UI changes to the main menu. Added a Credits panel and Controls Overview panel.
  
• Models - Bomb model reworked. Added particle effects to Destination. Mercenarium mode opens up a new skin for the player (orange) and the guards (green).
  
• UX Changes - Replicas and bombs can be placed by clicking on their respective buttons on the bottom-left corner of the screen. Pressing Escape opens and closes the in-game menu. Spark life extended from 20 seconds to 30 seconds.
  
• Beta Controller Support - Game-Pad support has been added but is still in beta mode, and may have multiple bugs. It is therefore recommended to use a keyboard and a mouse to play seamlessly. Refer to the controls overview panel for more information. Visit this website for further help.

• Added in-game achievement notification.
  
• Replaced Biomass achievements with Time Capsule achievements.
  
• Time Capsule time gain increased from +20 seconds to +23 seconds.
  
• Added text notification for game-play events such as collecting biomass, dying, re-incarnating etc.