Sheep for the Stars has been out for almost a month now, so it's time for a 1.1 version with all the accumulated bug fixes and adjustments from feedback. Some of the stuff listed has been deployed in previous minor patches, but I'm consolidating all of the updates and details into this one post along with some other changes that went into this current version today.
As always, thanks everyone for all the feedback you've left through Steam Reviews, Discord, Reddit and even YouTube Shorts. That's right, I watch your shorts and look for feedback in there too! If you have any more feedback or thoughts and praises, feel free to continue sending them through all those channels!
Balance and Playability
If you tried the game early on in the launch, these changes might be for you! Since the initial release there have been a few tweaks made to the balance and difficulty of the overall single player experience.
Some S-Ranks near the middle of the campaign (World 3 was definitely a target) have had their time buffers increased a little. Nothing more than 1 or 2 seconds on any single level, but a few of the times required near perfect routing so this has been relaxed a little. We'll leave the perfect routing to the speed runners and Challenge Mode enjoyers.
Additionally, here's a quick list of some other things that changed in this category:
Fuel pickups have a larger collision radius that more accurately reflects the object size
Spike collision area reduced a little to make "near misses" more exciting
Hit-stop on fuel pickups (single player only) has been tweaked to avoid flow-state impact
Reset button re-enabled for levels you haven't beaten yet
Reset button changed to a hold (for half a second) to reset the current level
Multiplayer
Did you know this game has multiplayer? Well it does, and it's a blast. It takes all the rage of trying to complete challenge mode or S-Ranking harder levels, with the added chaos of PvP racing and player collisions. Joy!
What didn't bring joy however, was a whole slew of random Steam Lobby integration bugs / performance tanking party balls / and more. Here's the list of some stuff that changed affecting multiplayer:
Configurable score limit in the lobby settings
Celebration screen added once score limit is achieved
Level time limit configuration options added to help when you pick a level too hard for the group
Catchup mode enabled by default on lobbies because it makes the game feel better for everyone
Catchup mode improved to affect anyone who is behind the leader by 5 points of more (down from 7)
Fixed duplicate lobby in browse list bug
Fixed Quit / re-Host issue so you no longer need to restart the game
Added support to directly join from friends list when sitting at the main menu (may improve further later)
Significantly improved turn around times for re-hosting lobbies
Lobbies can change between Friends / Open with players currently connected
Better synchronization between clients with wildly different pings
Spectator camera enabled if you finish the level before your friends (ping sensitive, but working on better ideas)
More stuff I forgot or didn't write down
Customization
The game has a totally and completely optional cosmetic DLC that also helps fund improvements to this game and future games, awesome! It now has more than 10 "fancy" sheep shaders, a custom rocket, and the prestige of being honestly way too generous. You should not get it and flaunt your cosmetics in the multiplayer lobbies.
But that's not all! Here are some things that actually changed or were fixed in the sheep cosmetics department (customize screen), and these are in the base game and not locked behind some fancy DLC:
Feedback requests granted: Added pink and several greyscale options for base sheep colors
Improved controls in the customization widget to support clicking, mouse wheel, keyboard, gamepad, touchscreen
Improved a bit of the look around the visualization of the customize menu
Fixed issues with cosmetics not showing in multiplayer sometimes
Fixed celebration screen to now correctly show all player cosmetics... yes including the Cow skin
Fixed issue with saving player color if you love spam clicking
Huge thanks again to everyone who's reached out. I love this game and really enjoy seeing others laughing and having a great time listening to sheep bleats as they roll down huge hills. Keep the feedback coming. I want to hear about what you love, what has made you cry, what has made you cry but in a good way, what you hate, what you want to see the most. Maybe your best times in Challenge Mode? Leave your thoughts anywhere and everywhere.
See you in the next one!