Spud Customs v1.2.0 - The "One Year Later" Update
A personal note from the developer:
My son Kobi was born 25 weeks premature in late November 2024, weighing barely 1 pound. He arrived ON the original release date for Spud Customs, and I'd been delaying the launch week after week as we entered the hospital leading up to his arrival.
Finally I decided to release what I could muster the willpower to finish for Spud Customs v1.0.0 while we were settling into the neonatal intensive care unit in early December.
Now, over a year later, he's grown from 1 pound to over 20 pounds. Last week he graduated from the NICU to the PICU, and we're still waiting for his lungs to be strong enough for a home ventilator so we can finally go home. During the quiet hours at the hospital in recent months, I've been working to bring Spud Customs closer to the vision I had before life took this unexpected turn.
A lot of the new content reflects feelings that mirror my experiences this past year. Viktor's rooftop grief, Murphy's sacrifice, the old queer couple's erasure, and the helplessness when faced with fighting a cold and uncaring system.
I watch every Spud Customs recording that pops up online, and I'm grateful to each of you who've taken the time to experience my strange potato world.
Over 2,000 people have played Spud Customs and joined us on this journey. Thank you for your feedback, your patience, and your interest in our little story of potato redemption (or armageddeon, if you're one of the chaos agent players).
I hope this game can bloom even a fraction as much as Kobi has.
This update is for you.
What's New
Minigames
Border Chase - Catch contraband items as they try to slip past with satisfying punt animations
Code Breaker - Crack codes with Wordle-style position-specific color feedback
Document Scanner - Scan and verify documents under pressure
Fingerprint Match - Match prints to catch imposters
Stamp Sorting - Sort stamps at lightning speed
UV Scanner - Reveal hidden details with improved feedback
Overhauled Tutorial System
Completely redesigned interactive tutorial with shader-based highlighting
Click-to-continue flow for better pacing
Improved panel positioning and readability
Tutorial progress indicator
Fixed tutorial progression blocking issues
Art & Visuals
Updated story art and character artwork
New minigame visual assets
Audio-reactive bloom effects on the main menu
Parallax mouse background effect on main menu
Dynamic scene visuals with progressive poster display
Brown/gold themed UI throughout for visual consistency
Audio
7 new custom music tracks for dramatic story moments
4 new background music tracks added to the rotation
Dynamic music switches during narrative sequences
Improved NPC audio
Better audio levels throughout
Quality of Life
Comprehensive controller support with visual glyphs
Tabbed Help Menu accessible from pause (includes Controls, Gameplay, and Lore)
Social media links (Discord, Steam, Twitch) on main menu
Language selector in main menu
Improved shift summary screen for story mode
Load game confirmation dialog
Minigames now appear more frequently as you progress through shifts
Improved law receipt with expired document notes
Readability & Accessibility
Bloom intensity reduced by 50% for better document readability
Fixed gameplay bloom being too high after cutscenes
Switched passport and rules labels to Noto Sans font for better legibility across all languages
Increased text sizes throughout for improved readability
Passport dates now display with localized month names in all 29 languages
Unified narrative summary window borders with level select UI styling
Twitch Integration
Connect your Twitch channel to have viewer names appear on potatoes!
Auto-collects viewer names from chat
Story & Narrative
Murphy's Sacrifice - New "Protocol HARVEST" sequence with Murphy badge memorial scene
Viktor Storyline - Full subplot with rooftop grief narrative
Chaos Agent Path - New story path allowing players to sabotage both sides
Sasha Ending - Now requires 3+ pro-Sasha choices with subtle hints throughout
Improved QTE narrative system with visual pane for story images
Enhanced loyalist path with dialogue fixes and better choice continuity
Achievements
In-Game Achievement Viewer - New panel accessible from pause menu showing all achievements
Toast Notifications - Achievements now display a toast when unlocked
Expanded achievement set tracking gameplay milestones and story paths
Fixed achievement tracking - all achievements now unlock properly
Bug Fixes
Stability & Error Reporting
Integrated Sentry SDK - Crash reports now automatically sent (anonymously) so I can fix issues even when I can't reproduce them
Fixed missile freeze bug that could lock up gameplay
Fixed multiple runtime errors during startup
Fixed volume interpolation errors
Fixed shader compilation issues
Gameplay Fixes
Fixed shift quota bug when skipping tutorial on new game
Fixed shift summary screen being skipped when player strikes out
Fixed stamp bar not closing when shift ends
Fixed passport stamp positioning detection
Fixed stamp overlap detection
Fixed document dragging issues during tutorial
Fixed game progression bug when replaying earlier shifts
Fixed shift summary spacing issues
UI & Menu Fixes
Fixed credits display issues
Fixed end message UI
Fixed passport text overflow with better font sizing
Fixed cutscene and menu bugs
Improved text readability throughout
Localization
Fixed untranslated help menu keys
Fixed malformed CSV translations
Added missing translation entries
Improved translation tooling
Fixed translation gaps for achievements panel and score values
Fixed Korean translation for continue dialog and version label
Fixed Score Attack and loading screen translations
Added localization support for tutorial system and passport labels
Added localization support for level select and story choices
Technical Improvements
Complete EventBus architecture refactor for better stability
Reorganized project assets for maintainability
Improved logging system
Better Steam integration checks
Updated splash screens with refreshed visuals
Sentry integration for anonymous crash reports
There's more in the works. Thank you for believing in Spud Customs, and thank you for being part of this journey. Every potato you've stamped, every border runner you've caught, every choice you've made, it all matters.
Now get back to work, Inspector. The border won't guard itself.
- David (HeartCoded)