EA Update #10

With five recent additions, the FlipScapes Soundtrack has reached its final total of 30 tracks. Some of them are part of the newly released levels.

New Level

Gliding Ice is located on the snow planet. Ready for some hockey?

(Edit: Updated version)

General

• Using a gamepad to move through menus feels more fluid, and new focus indicators are easier to read.

• Callisto's passive ability is now "Restore full energy upon collecting every letter."

• Aukai’s passive ability is now “Collect all letters to awaken Abyssal Fish.”

• Switching to "Bar control" from "Jump" now rewards you with +50% score.

• Power icon art has been updated.

Level changes

• The second tutorial level has been refined, and the game now halts briefly to give players time to read the instructions.

• The plant-themed levels have been refreshed with updates.

• Both old and new Micro Games have been added to many levels.

Bug Fix & Technical

• Updated Unreal Engine to 5.6.1

• Updated EOS SDK to version 1.17.1.3, compatible with the upcoming certificate signing change.

• Physics precision has been slightly enhanced. After the recent engine update, physics behaved unexpectedly, and the new settings aim to correct that. The ball’s physics body solver iterations for position and velocity are increased.

• Improvements throughout the UE 5.6 engine brought higher overall performance and also longer battery life on the Steam Deck, still holding a steady 60 FPS.

• The optional frame generation setting, when enabled, is further halving the load. Default is still set to off, prioritizing input.

• Frame Generation and the new ML-accelerated AMD FSR 4 upscaling algorithm are now within a single plugin. (FSR 4 includes FSR 3 Upscaling which is used when not running on an AMD Radeon RX 9000 series or better GPU.)

• The process of saving files to disk is now asynchronous for smoother operation.

• Fixed a bug that caused certain hardware having trouble loading. The read/write timing limitations are now accounted for.

• A compact widget now makes the Save and Load status visible, helping you notice failed uploads and follow retry attempts.

• Network status is visible as a small green dot in the lower left corner, signaling internet connectivity updates.

• Spinners now treat the ball’s physics body as having infinite mass, which prevents stuck issues.

• The size of the in-level character widget has been adjusted for each level.

• Jumping now responds faster to slight movements of the gamepad thumbstick.

• Flippers now display the "prediction guide" for every ball, including those in mid-air and those about to be hit.

• The Ace Score is now easier to achieve after fixing a related bug.

• New graphics options have been added: "Max FPS" and "Upscaler Quality". An indicator now also appears when a Steam Deck is detected, confirming optimal settings.

• Contextual hiding of the mouse cursor now works as intended for Mouse&Keyboard.

• Many UI widgets have been refined and optimized further. Dead zone for gamepad thumbstick navigation is updated.

• PSOs updated for both AMD and Nvidia.