I was too nervous to read Heat Signature reviews for two weeks after launch. I was relieved to see the scores were great, and after 3.5 years of work, that was all I wanted to hear: I didn't want to know what their caveats were.
Once I calmed down and read them, though, I was delighted: they were not only very positive, but they told entertaining stories and made intelligent points. And almost every critique I read I thought was a fair point. Hence this:
The Fair Points Update. 5 new features and 3 new items, in direct response to review critique, designed to round the game out and make it more fun for more people.
We also added a gun that fires acid money to melt the flesh from your enemies and leave only chemically bleached bone. No-one asked us for that, we just kind of did it, and now here we are.
This post only explains the features themselves, read the blog version if you're interested in the design thinking behind it all.
Fair Point:
Missions with shielded or armoured guards can seem impossible without very high level tools
Feature: Guard counts
You're now told how many of each type of guard you'll encounter on a mission, so you can plan accordingly. You'll be able to tell: yes, I have enough tools to deal with this many shielded guards. There are also more missions with 3-6 bosses, which is very doable if you have just one tool that deals with their protection type.
Feature: Acid and Crash Traps
We're also adding two new item types to help you better deal with armour and shields. Acid Traps can be placed to strip the armour of any guard who walks on them, and Crash Traps will crash all of their electronic kit, shields included. You'll have to use some guile to set them up and lure the target into them, but they both come with a powerful advantage: they're always self-charging. That means even the common ones are endlessly re-usable, so there's no upper limit on how many armoured or shielded guards you can deal with - if you can lure them in.
Fair Point:
Permadeath encourages you to choose missions below your skill level, because so much is at stake
Feature: Glitchback Guarantee
Sometimes, one of the harder missions on offer will come with a Glitchback Guarantee. This means your client will teleport you out the moment you get hit, avoiding any permanent damage. So there's absolutely no risk in taking these missions, you can't lose anything no matter how badly it goes. It doesn't make the mission easier, though - if you have to be glitched out, the mission is canceled.
Fair Point:
if you can't manage Hard missions, progression is too slow.
Feature: Liberators
If you haven't liberated a station in a while, one of your choices on character select will be a Liberator: a randomly generated character with high-level gear, and a personal mission to liberate a particular station. They already have the intel and the kit to go out there and do this, so you can just pick them and head straight out.
Fair Point:
Stronghold liberations are too hard for some players
Feature: Stronghold Liberators
If you fail a Stronghold mission, you'll find a Stronghold Liberator in the bar. These are like the other liberators but even better equipped, so they should make Stronghold missions more viable and fun if you're not able to complete them with characters who started from scratch.
Fair Point:
I sometimes have trouble making things out
Feature: Simple Art mode
Under Accessibility Options, there's now a Simple Art Mode you can enable. It makes all ships use a simpler version of the Foundry ship look, which is already our clearest and plainest. We've clarified and plainified it a bit further in this mode: the traversible space is almost entirely blank, and the solid stuff is tweaked to all look identical. Hope this helps!
Feature: Explosive Guard Annotations
We now annotate explosive guards when they first appear on screen, since some people had trouble spotting those. You can turn this off in the options if you don't like it.
Fair Point:
I just hate permadeath.
OK, no reviewer said this. But one or two players did, and I think we can help them out without changing the game for the majority who like it.
Feature: A Cheat Option to turn off permadeath
We've added this under Cheat Options to be clear that it's not how the game is meant to be played - I don't want other players to feel like they're being asked to design how the game should work. This is a cheat. Play without it unless you need it.
When permadeath is off, anything that would normally permanently kill your character instead resets you to when you were last at a station.
Fair Point:
As it stands, there's no way to strip the flesh from my enemies with a corrosive form of currency.
That was an oversight and we're sorry.
Feature: The Fleshstripper
The Fleshstripper is a new unique weapon that fires the same acid used as currency in the Drift - extracted from those colourful nebulae you've been flying through. It belts out a heavy rain of the stuff, melting through armour and flesh alike, leaving only skeletons behind. Its ammo is your savings: it costs 1 acid-money to fire.
From the 22nd of Space November to the 6th of Space December, there's a shipment passing through the Drift carrying the Fleshstripper - that's your sure-fire way to obtain it. Regardless of whether you steal the shipment, it's also available to all players as a very rare random drop.
A note on Updates
Us: Here's a significant free update!
You: Great! I can't believe we get these regularly for free forever!
Us: Oh, geez. This is awkward.
This update is a one-off, we don't plan to do updates like this on a regular basis. We might add items from time to time, but only buy the game if you want the game as it stands - we don't make promises about future content.
Nominate us in the Steam Awards!
Heat Signature is all about player choice, so we would never try to influence how or when you choose to vote for us in the Steam Awards, in the 'Choices Matter' category for player choice, before the 28th of November, by clicking here. That would have to be your choice.
Either way, if you've played enough Heat Signature to know if you recommend it, we'd love for you to leave a quick review! As you can tell from this update, we like reviews.