Overview
Version 1.5.4 focuses on polish, clarity, and stability improvements. This update brings major gameplay changes, visual enhancements, quality-of-life improvements, and numerous bug fixes based on player feedback and playtesting.
One of the biggest changes is the addition of Sentry remote error reporting that reports errors and crashes with the godot console log attached to help us immediately start to fix issues and push hotfixes.
In my test lab I use 7 different Windows desktop and laptop environments for testing, we are still having issues reported that we can't reproduce that require us to gather logs from users and then send builds out to them for validation.
Key Highlights for v1.5.4:
Unit specializations changed from time-based to click-based progression
New loading screen with tips and progress bar
Collapsible left sidebar for more screen space
"Patron" mechanic rebranded to "Supplier" for clarity
Ships now fly past the station during rush hour events
Middle mouse button camera panning
60+ bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements
Major Changes
Unit Specialization System Overhaul
Based on playtester feedback, unit specializations are now earned through brewing actions instead of waiting for time to pass!
Click-based progression replaces time-based system
Lower deck units require fewer brews (30 for Deck 1)
Higher deck units require more brews (up to 150 for Deck 6)
Stats menu now shows "X/Y brews" progress toward specialization
Floating XP indicators appear every 5 brews showing progress
More engaging and rewarding progression system
Patron to Supplier Rebrand
Based on player feedback, we've renamed the "Patron" mechanic to "Supplier" throughout the game. This better reflects what these units actually do - they supply resources to your station rather than being customers.
All UI text updated from "Patron" to "Supplier"
Tutorial references updated
Internal code renamed for consistency
Rush Hour Ship Animations
Rush hour events now feel more dynamic with ships flying past your station!
16 new stylized ship sprites added
Ships animate past the station during rush hour
Adds visual excitement to busy periods
New art style for passing vessels
Visual Feedback Improvements
Coffee Machine Click Feedback
Floating credit values now appear when clicking coffee machines
See exactly how much each click earns
Satisfying visual confirmation of your actions
Supplier Delivery Indicator
Visual indicator shows when suppliers are delivering resources
Better feedback on resource flow
Tutorial Improvements
Skip confirmation dialog - Prevents accidental tutorial skips
Resume functionality - Continue tutorial from where you left off
Step indicator - Shows current progress through tutorial steps
Fixed tutorial system conflicts for smoother experience
Rush hour tutorial replaced with smaller notification (less intrusive)
Consolidated introduction tutorial with tongue-in-cheek world-building
New portrait artwork for tutorial character
UI Improvements
Loading Screen
New loading screen with progress bar and rotating gameplay tips
Tips glow and cycle to keep you informed while loading
Smoother transition into gameplay
Collapsible Left Sidebar
Toggle button to slide sidebar in/out for more screen space
Perfect for players who want a cleaner view of their station
Easy access when you need the sidebar back
Run Modifiers Tutorial
New tutorial explaining run modifiers after first prestige
Helps players understand the prestige mechanic better
Fixed run modifier collapse arrow direction (up/down instead of right)
Panel Styling
Unified colors for Next Goals and Run Modifiers panels
Panels start collapsed by default - Next Goals and Run Modifiers begin minimized
Consistent visual design across UI elements
Improved collapsed modifier panel styling
Styled Prestige menu buttons consistently (History, Stats, Close)
Removed emojis from Units help guide
Removed "Rush hour incoming!" notification (redundant with progress bar)
Camera Navigation
Middle mouse button panning - Click and drag to pan the camera
Zoom-aware camera bounds - Camera can move lower when zoomed in
New sci-fi themed SVG icons for camera controls
Better visual integration with game aesthetic
Gameplay Tweaks
Morale inspiration boost duration increased from 20s to 30s
Reduced Jovian Barista movement speed for better visual clarity
Achievements now sorted with unlocked achievements at the top
Pachinko minigame now starts with 25 balls (max 100) for better balance
Rush hour ships now follow smooth sine wave flight paths
Bug Fixes
Critical Fixes
Save System
Fixed infinite save spinner - Added timeout recovery and proper error handling
Simplified save system - 60s auto-save interval, removed complex verification that caused hangs
Improved save indicator animations with defensive guards
Save operations no longer get stuck indefinitely
Fixed save timeout by removing blocking Steam Cloud writes
Fixed false save failure warning by preventing auto-save before initialization
Simplified SaveManager to local-only operations for reliability
Crash Prevention
Added is_inside_tree() guards throughout the codebase
Prevents crashes during scene transitions
Comprehensive defensive null guards added
Supplier System
Fixed supplier purchase failures - Resolved unit type naming mismatch
Purchasing suppliers now works correctly
Completed patrons to suppliers refactor across entire codebase
Fixed get_patron_stats function to use renamed get_supplier_stats
UI Fixes
Fixed hide UI button - No longer hides itself when toggling visibility
Fixed left sidebar collapse - Sidebar now fully hides when collapsed (dynamic based on width)
Fixed Next Goals collapse icon - Now shows up arrow when collapsed
Fixed Run modifiers panel - No longer shows empty when collapsed (hides if no content)
Fixed tutorial highlight - Now follows correctly when scrolling
Fixed coffee machine deck sprite - Corrected sprite path mismatch
Fixed MultiplierService error - Resolved null return causing type errors
Fixed auto-save indicator - Moved to lower-left with proper centering
Fixed bottom bar buttons - Proper sizing and centering for all buttons
Fixed PRESTIGE SHOP and pause buttons not visible in top bar
Fixed minigame icons, modifier bar icons, and sidebar animation
Fixed RUSH HOUR and MACHINES text to use Neuropol font
Fixed modifier arrow visibility and sidebar slide animation
Fixed sidebar visibility not persisting after game restart
Fixed unit sidebar to use offset-based sliding for anchor layouts
Fixed daily reward notification style to match UI theme
Fixed income tooltip styling and missing translation key
Fixed XP indicator display format for clearer progression feedback
Removed emojis from stats panel production breakdown
Fixed UI loading bugs - Parse error and ugly loading frame resolved
Fixed toggle button tween_method argument mismatch
Settings & Navigation Fixes
Fixed monitor detection - Uses primary monitor on first launch
Removed flag emojis from language selector in settings
Renamed "Game Customisation" to "Accessibility" in all languages
Set framerate limit default to off
Hidden non-functional leaderboard button
Steam button now links to Starbrew news page
Hidden brightness/contrast controls (not implemented yet)
Controller & Menu Navigation
Added focus management for controller navigation
Changed Help menu "Close" to "Back" button
Fixed Help menu focus restoration when returning to pause menu
Fixed Main Menu initial focus on start button
Added Tab navigation support for main menu buttons
Fixed help menu translations and improved pause menu settings UX
Gameplay Fixes
Fixed frozen floating units - Units now drift off screen while fading instead of stopping movement
Fixed Clear game data error - Resolved "Invalid assignment of 'unit_counts'" crash
Fixed tutorial auto-refund - Supplier units correctly refund during tutorial
Fixed pause menu stuck when tutorial is active
Fixed overlays persisting after game data reset
Disabled game data reset in main game scene to prevent errors
Added missing rush_hour_tutorial_shown proxy property to GameManager
Warning & Dependency Fixes
Fixed GameWorld not found warnings in DeckEffectsManager
Fixed RushHourShipManager - Now finds GameWorld lazily when rush hour starts
Fixed NextGoalsPanel - Resolved missing game_state_query dependency
Fixed DecorationsScreen - Resolved dependency warning during initialization
Fixed Accessibility containers - Added missing unique_name_in_owner
Fixed get_path() conflict - Resolved method conflict with native Node.get_path()
Fixed TypedArray validation error in _cleanup_finished_ships
Fixed typed array assignment error in DeckManager reset
Fixed undeclared economy_query variable in TutorialManager
Fixed has() errors in TutorialManager
Audio Fixes
Fixed missing power_down sound - Added to audio_streams
Tutorial Fixes
Fixed tutorial UI visibility - Restored inner control visibility after wrapping
Fixed tutorial overlay - No longer blocks sidebar clicks (reduced opacity)
Fixed morale tutorial flag - Corrected incorrect property name
Improved offline notification and fixed sidebar slide
Technical Improvements
Error Reporting
Sentry SDK integration - Crash and error reporting to help identify issues faster
Automatic error capture for faster bug fixes
Fixed Sentry initialization issues
Disabled Sentry debug logging for production (cleaner console output)
Code Quality
Renamed patron_production_multiplier to supplier_production_multiplier
Updated translations for units and UI consistency
Gemini API key now read from environment variable
Accessibility settings infrastructure improvements
Compatibility
Save Compatibility
Full backward compatibility with v1.5.x saves
No save data migration required
All progress and achievements preserved
Community
Thank you to everyone who submitted bug reports!
This update addresses issues reported through:
Discord community feedback
Steam discussions
Sentry crash reports
Direct player feedback
Your reports help make Starbrew Station better for everyone.
The Story Behind Starbrew Station
A personal note from the developer
My son Kobi was born 25 weeks premature in late November of last year, weighing barely 1 pound. Over the past year in the hospital, he's grown from 1 pound to over 20 pounds, and he's still in the NICU, but he is so much stronger.
In the US, you only get a little bit of time even in circumstances like ours, and then it's back to work. Luckily I can work remote in the hospital for much of the week.
During my time at the hospital this year, I picked up a two pot a day coffee addiction and spent hours day and night reading to him, even before he was big enough to hold.
We read mostly sci-fi and horror, a lot of the same stuff I read growing up like the Darren Shan Chronicles, Artemis Fowl, Animorphs, The Things, Micro, just a lot of good 1 year old stories, right?
Anyway, one book that stuck with me was an alphabet picture book based on Ridley Scott's Alien, just made cuter for kids, and somewhere between the caffeine and the xenomorphs, this idea started brewing.
I started Starbrew Station over the summer as a way to experiment with making a game that had more numbers and simple fun and less story writing / plothole fixing than my previous game Spud Customs, working on it when my son was konked out after too many Clarkesworld sci-fi short stories, and too many drum and bass tracks.
For some reason, I thought another simulation game with even more numbers would be easier to manage and be more about the gameplay, and here a half a year later I've learned just how much math and design consideration goes into even simple incremental games as we pass 2,127 code commits on Starbrew.
Over 10,430 players like you have helped shape Starbrew Station this year. You're voting on features, submitting feedback, joining Discord, providing crash logs, filing bug reports, streaming the game, and recording YouTube videos.
Thank you for your feedback, your patience, and your interest in our fantasy about hyped up aliens in space. Every bug report, every suggestion, every kind word has meant more than you know during this journey.
Sincerely, and happy holidays,
David (HeartCoded) and the Lost Rabbit Digital crew
How to Report Bugs
Found an issue? Let us know:
1. Note your game version (check main menu)
2. Describe what happened vs what you expected
3. Include reproduction steps if possible
4. Add screenshots/video if it's a visual issue
Where to Report:
In-Game / Discord: Fastest response
Steam Discussions: Good for general issues
Ok, What's Next?
We're continuing to work on stability improvements and new features based on your feedback. Hotfixes will be deployed based on crash reports throughout December until y'all can't figure out ways to crash it anymore.
Stay tuned for more updates!
Brew on, Commanders!
o7,
David (HeartCoded)