- Update - Version 1.3 - 26 September 2023
Hi all, A few more fixes and another general engine update to keep it current. There have been some updates to the enemy scaling and difficulty. The difficulty levels have been set to Normal, Hard and Extreme now with some changes to the scoring. Updates Gamemaker engine updated to current. Input 5 module updated to Input 6. Steam integration updated to current. The Load button will only appear on the Assignment screen now if there is an autosave available. This is so that new players can identify the Connect button easier. The difficulty setting have been changed to Normal, Hard and Extreme with score multipliers set to x1, x1.5 and x2 respectively. Salvage and health has been amended on all enemies to reflect the scaling change. It should now be a bit easier on Normal than previously but Extreme now offers a harder challenge. Fixes Fixed an issue with enemies not being revealed at Sig…
- Version 1.2 - Small Screen Update - 21 June 2023
Hi all, This update brings a few fixes and a general engine update to keep it current, but the main highlight here is the ability for the game to scale the resolution down to smaller screens while maintaining its aspect ration. The main driver for this is that I would like to get the game verified on the Steam Deck. There's still a lot to do, so this is the first step in making that happen. Starlight: Defence Command is however playable on the Steam Deck right now. With the screen size able to scale down to the 1200 x 800 resolution needed and a community control layout you're able to enjoy this game out on the go - I have been all week. New The resolution now automatically scales for smaller screens below the native 1920 x 1080 that the game uses. (There's no change to the scaling used to push the resolution up for larger screens). The game will run on a Steam Deck. I would advise sett…
- Version 1.11 - Hotfix - 24 December 2022
Hi all, This is small hotfix to rectify an intermittent bug with the autosave while on a mission. James
- Key Rebinding Added - 22 December 2022
Hi all, This patch is for a small addition to the game to add in the ability to amend the Key bindings for the keyboard shortcuts. They can be edited in the 'Configure' area of the A.N.T. by clicking on the 'Keymap' button. I've also made a couple of improvements to the sliders used in both the configure area and in-assignment sound options so that they are not so 'sticky'. Both SFX and Music sliders should react properly now for their respective uses. I hope everyone is happy over the holiday season and for those that celebrate, enjoy the festivities.
- Leaving Early Access - 24 November 2022
Hi all, That's right Starlight: Defence Command has moved out of Early Access and has reached its version 1.0 milestone. If your game hasn't yet been updated, it should soon. The main highlights of the game are as follows: Dedicated in-game app for customising the towers in billions of possible combinations. Attributes can be tweaked e.g. Damage and Rate of Fire. Alter Projectile and Damage Types and grant various abilities to each of your towers. Player progression is determined by Mastery Points earnt and the Rank you have gained. Rank unlocks access to perks which Mastery Points can be spent on. Perks range from various buffs to new technologies that can be used during tower configurations. You can change the default targeting priorities for all your towers or individually, enabling them to be fine tuned. Master the use of the economy system and the abilities tied to it. Access abili…
- Version 1.0 Incoming! - 24 November 2022
Hi all, Below are the changes coming in tomorrows update, which will now bring the game up to version 1.0. As a result, Starlight: Defence Command will be moving out of Early Access and into a full release at the same time. Most of this update has been about ensuring everything is working as intended and adding the final touches ready for release. The final assignment is now in. It's the biggest map to date and requires longer than others to complete. From my point of view the size and content is equivalent to 2 normal assignments, so has taken a while to polish off. I hope you all enjoy it. Features Campaign Assignment 15 added, bringing the main story to a close. Updates Simulator Map 14 added. Simulator Map 15 added. New and additional sound effects added, with a better sound effect system in place. Many things that had no sound effects previously now do. Reduced the time between adv…
- Build 5288 Live - 25 August 2022
Hi all, Welcome to the penultimate update for Starlight: Defence Command. The last update will go live in conjunction with its version 1.0 release - more on that in a post soon. For now, the below are the following updates in the new release. Features Assignment 14 has been added. The penultimate mission in the main campaign can now be played, preparing the story for its conclusion. Updates Simulator Map 13 is now live. Defend multiple objects in the new simulator map. Some additional flourishes have been added so that it is more obvious when a tower is building or updating. I have made some significant improvement to the operation of the Tower and Enemy objects, improving overall performance of the game. NPC Towers now operate and look more like their player counterparts. Note: QRS abilities have not and do not affect NPC Towers. The recent text size options now affect the transition,…
- Build 5196 Live - 4 August 2022
Hi all, Next regular update is live with a handful of updates and the next campaign map bringing it up to 13 out of the 15 planned. These means that I am getting close to full release. Thanks all. Features Assignment 13 has been added to the game. Added warnings when trying to remove perks that are in use or try to start an assignment with invalid towers, due to perks that are no longer selected. Updates Simulator Map 12 added. Status effects on enemies and towers have been updated to be clearer and less intensive. Re-enabled AIDA popups on the tablet screen in the new format that adjusts for the accessibility settings. Map 1 has had two more tower deployment points added. Map 2 has had a number of tower deployment points added and flying enemies have now been introduced into this map. This is for both the Campaign and Simulator versions. Tower Costs have been brought in line with other…
- Build 5098 Live - 14 July 2022
Hi all, Next regular update is in with several fixes and a brand new campaign mission to enjoy. Continue the investigation into the unknown attacks. Updates Assignment 12 has been added to the game. The remaining enemy entries have been completed in the Academy app. Enemy bots have an improved fire rate. The Dismantler remains at 2 seconds, but other bots that can fire have gone from having 4-9 seconds to 3-6 seconds fire rates. Re-drew some of the planets to ensure they have the same look. Fixes Resolved an autosave crash in the Simulator. Minor changes to map 10 and 11 to reflect some story components. Updated dialogue text in first time use VTs. Amended dialogue in Assignment 4 to the correct statement. Post mission 5 dialogue amended. Should have said Sans Sapphire and not Rey's Promise. Fixed an intermittent bug that would cause the Simulator to crash when the autosave run at Alert…
- Build 5063 Live - 23 June 2022
Hi all, its been a long time. What originally started out as a project to improve the onboarding process, turned into a whole lot more. The ultimate goal became about trying to get what already existed into its final form and as a result there have been quite a lot of changes/improvements. To list them all in their normal format would be quite long so instead I'm just going to provide an overview below of what has been done for the latest update. Visual Update Pretty much every asset in the game has been reviewed and has either been updated or changed. This includes the tileset used to make the levels. A large part of the visual improvement comes from adding some depth to the top down view using shading and highlighting. This basically meant redrawing all the maps again which has been done. Another part of the visual update was ensuring the UI was standardised across the board. Some of…
- Build 2683 Live - 15 September 2021
The 11th Assignment has been added to the game, continuing the story. The last of the common enemy units have been added. The Dismantler actively stops and destroys your towers. Weak on their own but deadly if too many queue up. To help deal with the new threat, the last of the targeting abilities has now been added. From the Intel bar at the top, you can now tell all your towers to prioritise a particular unit. This works in conjunction with the existing targeting panel. I've also made a change to how the Defensive ability works, both for the QRS Panel and for the defensive tower ability. Previously they stopped a percentage of the damage taken, which meant that damage was always received. However, that has now changed to an actual reduction in damage which means that there are scenarios where you can stop the damage altogether - especially in the early game. Last of all, as I have bee…
- Build 2562 Live - 12 August 2021
The 10th Assignment has been added to the game. This mission has quite a lot going on in it and is probably the most complex one that I have built to date. A lot of moving parts and timings to work with. There's a new common enemy unit that disables towers (called the Disrupter) and also a new boss unit that cannot be killed by your towers (called the Annihilator). Both enemy units appear in the new assignment. Lastly, I have added a new support ability for towers. You can now add the ability to draw fire to a tower so that enemies prioritise that one over any others in range. Features Assignment 10 has been added. You have been tasked with rescuing an Originator from their home world that is under attack. Get them out of the level while being chased by an unstoppable enemy. The last of the support abilities has been added to Blueprints. Towers now have the ability to draw fire (a bit l…
- Build 2399 Live - 29 June 2021
This latest update has been focused on improving the new player experience with a bunch of changes designed to ease players into how the game works. This includes a new tutorial and quick start guide for those that really just want the bare minimum before they start playing. This also includes a new introduction when you sign into the game. This will run for everyone the first time, old players and new. On top of that, to get players into the core game quicker, new players will only have access to the assignments tab to begin with. As assignments are completed, more of the options will be opened up. As a result of these changes the first few levels have been edited slightly, as has the dialogue. Features There's now an introduction that offers players the quick start or tutorial when the game is accessed for the first time. This can also be skipped should you want to. Brand new tutorial…
- Build 2316 Live - 11 June 2021
The latest update mainly focuses on the tablet area adding some additional functionality and polish so that there's consistency across the different screens. I've also added in some more interaction with AIDA and fixed a few bugs that were found. See the list below for the full update. The next update cycle will be adding the 10th assignment in. I am also hoping to add some new gameplay videos to the new YouTube channel soon. Features AIDA now provides tips in the transition screens as you are about to go into battle. AIDA is more verbose and will offer advice at the bottom of the tablet screen like she was meant to, and you can now interact with her more directly through her 'Esc' menu. Updates The main tablet screens have been given a polish. Aside of some glow effects added to the neon, a lot of the areas have been properly boxed out and made consistent across the screens. Assignment…
- Build 2240 Hotfix - 1 June 2021
Minor patch to fix intermittent crash due to the new pathing.
- Build 2240 Live - 26 May 2021
The latest update is now live and as you can see from the notes below includes quite a few updates. Assignment 9 is added so the story continues, but most of the updates are around adding/amending functionality to the GUI when on Assignment. For the next update cycle, focus will be mainly on the tablet side of things adding polish and some additional functionality. The aim is to get AIDA up to scratch too so she functions exactly how she was envisioned - an ever-present presence. Features Assignment 9 added. Help protect a farming community from large terraformers turning the land to dust. Set mines in their path to stop them advancing too far. As usual, the map is also available to be used in the Simulator. An Event System has been added which will show icons round the edge of the screen to direct you to action that currently isn't in focus. At the moment this includes your damaged tow…
- Build 2167 Live - 10 May 2021
The latest update is now live which includes a number of new features set around the Steam integration. They are Online Leaderboards, Steam Screenshots and 65 Steam Achievements. For the next update cycle, I'm working on getting the 9th Assignment out. Features Can now take screenshots and upload via steam using F12. Online Leaderboards have been implemented. When you next complete an assignment or simulator run, it will push your current highest score to the online leaderboard for that map. Assignment and Simulator scores are separate. The Assignment screen has a small list in the previous score area, but all leaderboards can be viewed or accessed through the Simulator screen. 65 Steam Achievements have been added to the game. A number of them will work retroactively by utilising your current stats to trigger, however all the achievements for getting 3 stars at a particular difficulty…
- Build 2134 Live - 27 April 2021
The latest update is live which includes the next Assignment and other improvements. See details below. Next on the agenda is Global Leader boards, which should be live in the next update, along with other improvements. Features 8th Assignment added. Protect dropships while they rescue civilians from a city that's about to be overrun by enemy bots. Beware the Cloaker which shrouds other bots from your tower's targeting protocols. Updates Scores system has been updated. Points use to only be added to the score for destroying enemies. Now points are being added for completing relevant things in an assignment too. They're assignment specific and may not be relevant for all. For example the 1st assignment has none as its a straight introduction to the way Tower Defence works in Starlight: Defence Command. Some scores are also deducted for things going wrong in an assignment - again not rele…
- Simulator Hotfix - 18 April 2021
Small patch to fix an issue with adjusting the Starting Credits in the Simulator. Also updates the display of Starting Health and Max Health to display correctly.
- Build 2098 Live - 9 April 2021
The latest update has gone live including some requested features. Steam Cloud is now usable with the game; please see the notes below regarding that. There is also a Large picture mode that can be enabled in the config area of your A.N.T. The next update cycle will focus on the the 8th Mission, which you can expect to see in about 2 weeks time. We've also begun work on some online leader boards which we hope to get out in in the update cycle after that. Have a great weekend everyone. Features Steam Auto Cloud enabled. You can now turn on Steam Cloud to back up your saves. It meant a re-write on the save files to make this work as the previous ones were tied to your specific machine. I have created a conversion between the old and new formats that takes place when the game starts so please make sure you run the game from your main machine first (which you need to do to get the save file…
