2.0 Patch - Preservation Update

Hi, folks! I wanted to tell you about a free update we’ve released for Starship Commander that focuses on three main fixes:

• The game no longer requires an Internet connection – All language processing now runs locally on your PC!

• The game’s accuracy and latency has been improved – NPCs feel more natural to speak to than ever before!

• Steam Deck support – Shoot down Ecknians with gyro aiming!

When we first launched the game in 2018, high-quality speech processing relied on proprietary tech, and more processing power than mid-range PCs could provide at the time. Today, we’re moving to a new speech detection tech that runs on your PC. This is a huge milestone for the game, as we’ve heard time and time again from all of you that you wanted a way to run Starship Commander offline. And because everything runs locally, there’s up to a 3x decrease in response times compared to the old version! Conversations are now snappier and even more accurate and natural than before.

As developers, we are passionate about game preservation. When we launched the game in 2018, Starship Commander: Arcade was the first VR title controlled entirely by voice—and one of the earliest to use AI in a virtual reality setting. At the time, our AI systems relied on multiple cloud services, which always left us with the uneasy possibility that the game could be shut down if those services were shut down. But we were never happy with the result of local speech recognition...until now. By transitioning to local AI, we’ve ensured that the game can now be played indefinitely, preserving the experience for the future.

Because we no longer need to pay for cloud services, you shouldn't either. We are permanently reducing the price of the game down to a fraction of the cost. You still get the whole game, plus the Passion At All Costs documentary. Nothing has changed in the package, it just costs less now.

We now support the Steam Deck, with gyro aiming and the integrated microphone. We still recommend headphones, as the voices in the game can feedback into the microphone at louder volumes. The new update also runs well on desktop Linux via Proton, with or without a VR headset.

We just want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who’s supported us over the years. The worlds of VR and gaming have changed a lot in the past seven years, but your encouragement and enthusiasm kept us going. That’s why we’ve brought Starship Commander: Arcade forward—to make sure it can live on, ready to play anytime, as a little time capsule of how technology can augment storytelling. We hope it continues to spark imagination and inspire the next wave of adventure games.

Thanks for playing. ❤️

And hey… somehow, no one has uncovered the crazy secret hidden in the game. We’re not saying it’s impossible. Just… very well hidden. 😏