Update notes for 27th August 2024

Hi everyone,

I'm back with probably the biggest patch Liberation will ever get! Liberation is meant to be just a small fun game that surprises and delights and that's the focus of this update.

The big changes are:

• New missions -- Mild spoilers follow: There are four and the purpose is to flesh out some of the story and provide variety and surprises.

• Police are OUT and Space Rats are IN. Before, if you attacked civilians the police would launch. The problem is that it would take forever for them to reach the scene of the crime! So I thought about it and decided to remove them. Instead there is an entirely different mechanism. Each system you enter you may encounter roving gangs of hooligans, known as Space Rats. It's just a bit more fun (hopefully) and that's why I'm here!*

One new mission of which I'm really proud happens about half way through the game in a big facility. The lights go out and for a few seconds you get some classic wireframe gaming.

Steam post image

Anyway, there's also lots of great little fixes and quality-of-life changes.

Finally, I am working on a new game! It's called "Cell Sword". Cell Sword is a 6DoF game like Descent (1995) set inside the human body. I'm going for Descent meets Inner Space meets Fantastic Voyage meets Omni Consumer Products from Robocop. The premise is that in the future, instead of playing video games, players remotely pilot microscopic craft to kill hungry nano drones left over from a war.

I've learned a lot making Liberation and I think Cell Sword is going to be different but in a good way. The steam page is up and there's a trailer too. Thanks for buying this game -- your support is making Cell Sword happen! Another way to help is to leave a review of Liberation... it would mean a lot.

Regards, Luke

• I don't want to trash talk other space games but I really loved the Krait silhouette from the original Elite (1983) so I was shocked when I saw what they'd done to my boy in Elite IV! The Space Rats are my attempt to put it right.

Add

• make galaxy map navigable with mouse

• allow keyboard to control pointer and zoom in galaxy map

• add keyboard remapping

• add keyboard remapping screen to menu

• allow rotate with mouse via a key modifier

• make primary mouse key apply precision aim (same as holding SHIFT)

• connect Nyria jumpgate to ZED Labs

• add third nurse to Boucher

• add secret stealth ship lab

• add new ship the ZED-12

• add new mission to destroy stealth ship labs

• add some new civilian ship names

• add data heist mission

• add SFX for talking

• add SFX for credit transfer

• add asteroid hug mission

• make billboards flicker when shot or flown through

• add search and rescue mission

• allow docking at mining ships

• on unlocked systems there is a chance of space rat activity

• add space rats as replacement for police

• add space rat article

• vibrate gamepads on missile impact

• add two new music tracks to battle sequences

• add "UI scale" option to Video Menu. When turning off retro graphics this will control whether to scale the UI and HUD or to use the native resolution.

• add option to turn off Star light in Video Menu. Some players report over-brightness on OpenGL drivers and this might help.

• add crosshair on external view

Change

• terminate docking computer via cooldown button if pressed

• buff Balaantra fighter by a lot

• give exit menu button focus after abandoning game

• only show chatter on non-essential ships if they are not behind player

• flash mission objective message

• release target lock for new players on Penryhn when guard scrambles

• update manual to include SHIFT key and clearer instructions

• give market focus when dialogues closed inside dock

• reorganise menu

• remove police, replaced with space rats

• reduce effectiveness of autotarget tech by about 10%

• buff nurse accuracy at Boucher

• make it so any type of hacking unit can be used in hacking mission

• make missing encrypted package message clearer when docking at Lostmon

• buff rookie squad accuracy

• switch location of Kaneel and Lostmon. Let's not go to Kaneel, it is a silly place.

• make save games use latest system description and coords

• make plasma turrets have longer gaps between rounds to make it more tactical on heavy fighters

• punch up some Quatermatter mission text

• add delay between end of Death Race and mission communications

• add explosion when game over

• buff raider accuracy from 0.4 to 0.55

• nerf raider plasma bolt cooldown from 2 to 6s

• speed up Endurance at Boucher from 0.8 to 1.0

• nerf autotarget to only work within a certain range

• reduce dimming on comms

• normalise the vector when calculating speed for NPC ships(this really affects NPC behaviour)

• make missions update mission control on load

• allow speed controls to work on external view

Fix

• stop shield booster forever boosting

• stop reactor booster forever boosting

• enable close comms button when messages run out

• stop player being able to use sold systems in duplicate slots

• stop shield bar continuing to boost when shield charge ends

• end laser sounds from exploding ships

• stop message history juddering after loading from save game

• fix spelling mistake on Etain system description

• stop The Endurance from always orbiting Lostmon when it is elsewhere

• stop missiles orbiting themselves if the target is stationary (this was hard to fix haha sob)

• make menu background fill screen on 4k resolutions

• remove blurriness on fonts when retro scaling turned off

• fixes for galaxy map when retro scaling turned off