- Element v2.3 released! - 10 May 2020
We disintegrated some space junk and Element v2.3 'Lunar' is available now! This update removes some obsolete cold-war era 32bit tech and adds a couple of shiny modern privacy controls. The Mac version now supports macOS 10.15 Catalina with a hardened runtime and fancy notarisation. There's also an upgraded Unity engine thrown in to sweeten the deal. Element is available on the App Store for iOS and for Nintendo Switch. An Android version will finally be out soon! Please let us know what you think - leave reviews, start a thread or leave a comment in the discussion forums, or tweet @flightlessnz. Enjoy. cheers, Greg & John Flightless Element v2.3 'Lunar' Changes Plumbing Added privacy settings for GDPR compliance. Added support for macOS 10.15 Catalina with hardened runtime and notarisation. Removed Windows and Linux 32bit support. Removed obsolete macOS install script. Updated to Unity…
- Element v2.2 released! - 10 December 2018
Our advanced tech supplies have landed and Element v2.2 'Blazar' is available now! The coolest new feature in this update is the addition of a 'Super Missile Supply Crate'. This advanced supply crate can be picked up using a supply drone, just like a regular supply crate. After your drone picks up the crate it will launch a huge missile attack at the enemy. The new advanced supply crates are not available to the enemy so you can decide exactly when to use them. The supplies also become more frequent and more powerful as the game progresses and will help tip the game in your favour or get you out of a tricky spot, particularly on the outer planets. This update also includes some more awesome music by our longtime collaborator Jeremy Cullen. There are a couple of new tracks used dynamically in-game. There is an ambient first part and later a second part kicks into gear based on events as…
- Element v2.1 released! - 17 October 2018
Our transmissions are tuned and Element v2.1 'Quasar' is available now! This update adds some highly requested features: menu music, in-game dynamic music, and a quick way to return to your base during the game. We added some more awesome music by our longtime collaborator Jeremy Cullen. There are a couple of tracks used in the menu and all of them are used dynamically in-game. There is an ambient first part and later a second part kicks into gear based on events as the game progresses. Music volume can be adjusted or turned off using the in-game menu. The volume preference is saved and respected in the menu and the game. To return to your base while playing or paused just click on the energy or base graph on the right side of the screen, use the 'B' key, or press either of the analog stick buttons on your game controller. There are a few other changes under the hood in this release too…
- Element Release! - 27 July 2018
After four years in development, we are happy to announce the full release of Element v2.0 "Lagrange" today for Windows, Mac and Linux. It has been quite a long journey for us and the game through Early Access. We have exhibited Element at PAX Australia and GDC, entered quite a few indie festivals and competitions, attended various games conferences, and met plenty of friendly players and amazing developers along the way. A massive thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement. Included in our final release are months of updates and improvements to the Early Access version - new stuff, fixed stuff, tweaks, balances, engine updates, UI updates, effects updates, input updates, and an icon update. There are brand new planets, new intro and epilogue animations, and localisation for quite a few languages. Element is also available today for Nintendo Switch in Europe, Australia and…
- Full release inbound! - 23 July 2018
We are extremely happy to say that Element will be kicked out of the Early Access airlock and released for Windows, Mac and Linux on Steam this week! Element v2.0 should be available on Friday 27 July, 2018. There are months of updates included - new stuff, fixed stuff, tweaks, balances, engine updates, UI updates, effects updates, input updates, icon updates, and brand new planets, intro animations, epilogue animations, and localisation. We will include a more detailed feature and update list in the release post. Element will also be released this week for Nintendo Switch in the Europe / Australia / New Zealand and US / Americas regions. A Japanese release is also on the way. We are hurrying up and waiting for the launch window to open. Thanks very much to our Early Access players for your support and encouragement. cheers, Greg & John Flightless
- Element v1.5.1 update. - 6 September 2017
Our labs have torn down and rebuilt a bunch of junk and Element v1.5.1 'Pulsar' is available now. Nearly all of the changes are under the hood, with some big refactorings of our plumbing and difficulty systems to prepare for future v1.6 updates. On the surface everything should play the same so please let us know if anything is misbehaving. We have also updated the Steam, input, sound, and JSON libraries which should be seamless. There are a couple of shiny bits amongst the mundane library update waffle, including a small unit spawn animation, some updated explosion effects, and a new epilogue animation. This update also removes the Linux rendering workaround we had in place to fix some camera compositing issues. We had reports that v1.5 was working as expected in full quality mode, so this update restores full quality by default. Remember to check out the full v1.5 updates from a few w…
- Element v1.5.1 update. - 6 September 2017
Our labs have torn down and rebuilt a bunch of junk and Element v1.5.1 'Pulsar' is available now. Nearly all of the changes are under the hood, with some big refactorings of our plumbing and difficulty systems to prepare for future v1.6 updates. On the surface everything should play the same so please let us know if anything is misbehaving. We have also updated the Steam, input, sound, and JSON libraries which should be seamless. There are a couple of shiny bits amongst the mundane library update waffle, including a small unit spawn animation, some updated explosion effects, and a new epilogue animation. This update also removes the Linux rendering workaround we had in place to fix some camera compositing issues. We had reports that v1.5 was working as expected in full quality mode, so this update restores full quality by default. Remember to check out the full v1.5 updates from a few w…
- Element v1.5 released! - 9 July 2017
Our labs have completed their latest research and Element v1.5 'Pulsar' is available now! This update includes a new Supply Drone that can be used to fetch bonus Supply Crates appearing on the surface and in orbit. To accommodate the Supply Drone, the 'Repair' menu has now become a 'Drone' menu. The Drone menu will context-sensitively launch a Supply Drone or a Repair Drone depending on if your current target is a Supply Crate or one of your units in need of repair. We have also added voice control input for Windows 10. This is considered experimental and we are still working on adding some UI to manage the preference. If you enable your microphone you should be able to use the following English voice commands in-game; Menu Navigation "resource", "attack", "defence", "missile", "drone". "fire" and "repair" as aliases for "missile" and "drone". "back" to close a menu. Menu Actions "level…
- Element v1.5 released! - 9 July 2017
Our labs have completed their latest research and Element v1.5 'Pulsar' is available now! This update includes a new Supply Drone that can be used to fetch bonus Supply Crates appearing on the surface and in orbit. To accommodate the Supply Drone, the 'Repair' menu has now become a 'Drone' menu. The Drone menu will context-sensitively launch a Supply Drone or a Repair Drone depending on if your current target is a Supply Crate or one of your units in need of repair. We have also added voice control input for Windows 10. This is considered experimental and we are still working on adding some UI to manage the preference. If you enable your microphone you should be able to use the following English voice commands in-game; Menu Navigation "resource", "attack", "defence", "missile", "drone". "fire" and "repair" as aliases for "missile" and "drone". "back" to close a menu. Menu Actions "level…
- Element v1.4.2 update. - 11 February 2017
We have verified some internal telemetry and Element v1.4.2 'Nebula' is available now. This update includes a completely replaced text renderer to prepare for future localisation, updated UI layouts and copy edits for the updated text renderer, and an updated input library. Every piece of text in the game has been changed so please let us know if anything has gone astray! Also, remember to check out the recent v1.4.1 updates from a few weeks ago; Element v1.4.1 release notes. Please let us know what you think - leave reviews, start a thread or leave a comment in the discussion forums, or tweet @flightlessnz. Enjoy. cheers, Greg & John Flightless Element v1.4.2 'Nebula' Changes UI Completed replacement of text renderer throughout the game. Updated some UI layouts and text copy for updated text renderer. Plumbing Updated input libraries. Element v1.4.1 'Nebula' Changes Performance Enabled…
- Element v1.4.2 update. - 11 February 2017
We have verified some internal telemetry and Element v1.4.2 'Nebula' is available now. This update includes a completely replaced text renderer to prepare for future localisation, updated UI layouts and copy edits for the updated text renderer, and an updated input library. Every piece of text in the game has been changed so please let us know if anything has gone astray! Also, remember to check out the recent v1.4.1 updates from a few weeks ago; Element v1.4.1 release notes. Please let us know what you think - leave reviews, start a thread or leave a comment in the discussion forums, or tweet @flightlessnz. Enjoy. cheers, Greg & John Flightless Element v1.4.2 'Nebula' Changes UI Completed replacement of text renderer throughout the game. Updated some UI layouts and text copy for updated text renderer. Plumbing Updated input libraries. Element v1.4.1 'Nebula' Changes Performance Enabled…
- Element v1.4.1 update. - 28 January 2017
After a short break to realign orbits Element v1.4.1 'Nebula' is available now. This is a systems update for Steam, input and sound libraries, and Unity. We have also made some rendering optimisations using gpu instancing and updated shaders, optimised some of our model data, and reduced loading times with assorted memory trickery. There are also some changes under the hood to address problems with deferred rendering on Linux using Unity's new graphics APIs. Windows and OSX platforms will continue to use the primary deferred renderer that enables lighting and post-processing effects as normal. We are experiencing a few problems compositing multiple deferred rendering passes on Linux, so on Linux platforms we instead use the alternate forward renderer with reduced effects. The graphics detection can also be overridden for all platforms using a commandline option. Edit the Element launch…
- Element v1.4.1 update. - 28 January 2017
After a short break to realign orbits Element v1.4.1 'Nebula' is available now. This is a systems update for Steam, input and sound libraries, and Unity. We have also made some rendering optimisations using gpu instancing and updated shaders, optimised some of our model data, and reduced loading times with assorted memory trickery. There are also some changes under the hood to address problems with deferred rendering on Linux using Unity's new graphics APIs. Windows and OSX platforms will continue to use the primary deferred renderer that enables lighting and post-processing effects as normal. We are experiencing a few problems compositing multiple deferred rendering passes on Linux, so on Linux platforms we instead use the alternate forward renderer with reduced effects. The graphics detection can also be overridden for all platforms using a commandline option. Edit the Element launch…
- Element v1.4 released! - 26 October 2016
We have finished observing space dust and are happy to announce that Element v1.4 'Nebula' is available now in time for PAX Australia! This update includes a brand new tutorial, a redesigned and refined game UI, a bunch of visual changes, new narration and in-game dialog, improved native input, and updates to sound, effects, Unity, and assorted bits of plumbing. Thanks for all of your feedback and support, particularly those who helped test our new tutorial. The new tutorial is a more refined experience compared to the older one in v1.0, if anyone remembers it. The overall approach is much more interactive and does not take away the basic world control from the player which was a common complaint for us. We added full narration and changed the pacing to give players a chance to learn the basic controls before being guided through the game objectives, the units, and basic UI. In-world UI…
- Element v1.4 released! - 26 October 2016
We have finished observing space dust and are happy to announce that Element v1.4 'Nebula' is available now in time for PAX Australia! This update includes a brand new tutorial, a redesigned and refined game UI, a bunch of visual changes, new narration and in-game dialog, improved native input, and updates to sound, effects, Unity, and assorted bits of plumbing. Thanks for all of your feedback and support, particularly those who helped test our new tutorial. The new tutorial is a more refined experience compared to the older one in v1.0, if anyone remembers it. The overall approach is much more interactive and does not take away the basic world control from the player which was a common complaint for us. We added full narration and changed the pacing to give players a chance to learn the basic controls before being guided through the game objectives, the units, and basic UI. In-world UI…
- Element v1.3 released! - 13 September 2016
We have finished harvesting asteroids and are happy to announce that Element v1.3 'Kuiper' is available now! As always, thanks for all of your feedback and support. This update includes some new content, a few UI and visual changes, improved native input, and updates to sound, effects, Unity, and various bits of plumbing. There is now debris around each world, including orbital asteroids and incoming meteors of various sizes. They are automatically targeted by defence units and can be manually targeted using attack missiles. Debris collides with everything and inflicts a lot of damage so you'll need to balance your defensive efforts against it. The enemy also has a shiny new orbital laser unit which it will deploy to remove your units from the face of the world with ruthless efficiency. The orbital laser orbits higher and slower than other air units so you will need to carefully determi…
- Element v1.3 released! - 13 September 2016
We have finished harvesting asteroids and are happy to announce that Element v1.3 'Kuiper' is available now! As always, thanks for all of your feedback and support. This update includes some new content, a few UI and visual changes, improved native input, and updates to sound, effects, Unity, and various bits of plumbing. There is now debris around each world, including orbital asteroids and incoming meteors of various sizes. They are automatically targeted by defence units and can be manually targeted using attack missiles. Debris collides with everything and inflicts a lot of damage so you'll need to balance your defensive efforts against it. The enemy also has a shiny new orbital laser unit which it will deploy to remove your units from the face of the world with ruthless efficiency. The orbital laser orbits higher and slower than other air units so you will need to carefully determi…
- Element v1.2 released! - 20 July 2016
After a few months of hard work in the mines, Element v1.2 'Corona' is available now! Thanks once again for all of your feedback and support. This update includes a whole lot of visual changes, a new native input system, and updates to sound, Unity, Steam, and various bits of plumbing. This update clears the way for our plans for additional game content in the upcoming releases. The biggest change is an updated renderer. The new deferred renderer allows for enhanced lighting and effects, and combined with the update to Unity 5.3 brings vastly improved batching, multithreading, and more efficient rendering. We are keeping support for the existing forward renderer for some platforms and will look to make this an option in a future update. We have added post-processing effects for antialiasing and bloom which can be enabled and disabled in the settings screen. There are also improved light…
- Element v1.2 released! - 20 July 2016
After a few months of hard work in the mines, Element v1.2 'Corona' is available now! Thanks once again for all of your feedback and support. This update includes a whole lot of visual changes, a new native input system, and updates to sound, Unity, Steam, and various bits of plumbing. This update clears the way for our plans for additional game content in the upcoming releases. The biggest change is an updated renderer. The new deferred renderer allows for enhanced lighting and effects, and combined with the update to Unity 5.3 brings vastly improved batching, multithreading, and more efficient rendering. We are keeping support for the existing forward renderer for some platforms and will look to make this an option in a future update. We have added post-processing effects for antialiasing and bloom which can be enabled and disabled in the settings screen. There are also improved light…
- Element v1.1 released! - 10 March 2016
We are happy to announce that Element v1.1 'Aurora' is available now! Thanks for all of your feedback and support. This is a big update and we have been working hard to refine the UI and gameplay, update the content and tech, and streamline the overall experience as we prepare to add more features and content. Please let us know what you think - leave reviews, start a thread or leave a comment in the discussion forums, or tweet @flightlessnz. Enjoy. cheers, Greg & John Flightless Element v1.1 'Aurora' Changes Game Objectives You are now mining in direct competition with the enemy. To win, simply mine more element than the enemy and destroy them. (No more minimum element requirement for each planet.) Any element remaining on the planet when you defeat the enemy is now awarded as a bonus based on the number of mines you have. (No more waiting around to mine more element for a higher score…
