Assault Android Cactus+ news & patch notes

Last year we released Assault Android Cactus on Nintendo Switch as Assault Android Cactus+ with extra content that we were then able to bring back to the Steam version in our biggest content update since leaving Early Access. Not only was our Switch release a great version of the game, it made the Steam version better, so we hope some of you are excited to learn its escaped its digital confines and manifested in the real world! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/5074127/e31cb7cd804656b76d716f4adf9f1929aea9d15c.jpg We never expected to hold it in a box but thanks to Super Rare Games it now exists as a limited physical release! This is the perfect opportunity to own a boxed copy of the game, or a handy way to play when you're on the move, or a way to throw money at us if you got the game in a bundle without noticing but later realised it was amazing, or a gift for friends or family members who extremely tragically may not yet know what it's like to S+ a level or swear at a Daily Drive. There's only 4,000 copies so pre order yours now if you don't want to miss out! These are region free, come with a 20 page colour manual and three randomly chosen collectable cards. Update - sold out! There are apparently still some available in a three game bundle or you can take your chances that extra copies show up once orders have shipped and the dust has settled

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/c77abeacb13adc1df74a0f5869339e98e1ef3b7c.jpg In our biggest update since leaving Early Access in 2015, Assault Android Cactus has been upgraded with Campaign+, new costumes and a new aiming mode. To mark the occasion, Assault Android Cactus+ will be on sale, then move to a higher price point when the sale ends.

Campaign+

Each stage has been rebuilt with new enemy waves and dynamic elements, utilizing the game's full arsenal of enemies for new encounters and amped up boss fights. More than just a hard mode, Campaign+ is meant to give accomplished players a new experience, new leaderboards to climb and a fresh challenge for couch co-op players.

New Costumes

Beat stages with each Android to unlock a new look! https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/778ecd8554644222efe35ac9a557e6088213df98.png

Automatic Aim

Included under Accessibility Options, enabling Automatic Aim will take care of aiming when you don't use the right stick or the mouse, letting players concentrate on dodging and using weapons effectively. Preserving the core of the Cactus experience while reducing complexity, this is a game mode we think will appeal to those who struggle with the controls or anyone who wants to give their thumb a rest. The opt-in nature also makes it ideal for couch co-op sessions that involve players of different skill levels.

Other Changes and Improvements

• Added Movie Gallery under Collections for reviewing cutscenes
• Selecting an Androids costume is remembered and can be used for AI team members and cutscenes viewed through the Movie Gallery
• On knockdown, hold any button to Revive, at a slightly slower rate than tapping
• Added Revive Assist to Accessibility Options which will revive downed players without controller input (at a slower rate than tapping or holding)
• Fingerstyle+, the new version of the Android Select / Stage Select song for Campaign+ is in the jukebox and added to the Soundtrack DLC
• Animated Cactus silhouette on the loading screen is fun to watch
• Too many fixes, improvements and adjustments to list

Sale and incoming Price Increase

To celebrate Assault Android Cactus+ on Steam we are going on sale on the 30th! If you're considering picking up the game make sure you wait until we're 50% off! Not only is it a great price to grab the game at, once this sale is over we will be taking the unusual step of increasing the price. With the many improvements and features we've added over the years, and now Campaign+, we believe AAC+ is just a different and better game than what we released in 2015 and we want the price to reflect that. If you already own the game you are just receiving a free update, but we have given this a lot of thought and decided that this was the fairest way to bring content that was originally made for our Nintendo Switch release back to the PC. We hope you understand our reasoning and if you've been on the fence about buying the game, that you consider grabbing it while discounted!

You may have noticed Assault Android Cactus updating a few times since the last update - after such a long gap we ended up having a few issues that weren't caught in testing. We think we're done now though and thank you for your patience!

Fixes

• FXAA graphics option
• Boss spawns in the Campaign
• Lemon's rockets against Medulla's last form
• Weird issue that could leave a single Wasp unresponsive
• Missing audio in post credits scene

End of DX9 support

as mentioned in the previous update, due to game engine updates we no longer support DX9 on Windows, only DX11 and OpenGL. For anyone inconvenienced by this, you can continue using the previous build of the game by right clicking and choosing Properties > Betas and selecting Legacy from the dropdown menu.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/3982669324e8dc1764eb5de5cfbfcd8d87bd2cdf.jpg This update incorporates the beneficial changes and bug fixes that had occurred elsewhere since our last Steam release. In collaboration with feedback from some of our most dedicated players, we've given the Androids a tuning pass and overall higher scores can now be obtained, so attack those leaderboards anew! We have also added a Developer Commentary mode! Enabled via Audio Options in the Main Menu, you can now play through the campaign while hearing the three of us reminisce and shed light on the AAC development process.

Changes and Improvements

• The majority of Androids have received buffs to their Primary and Secondary weapons
• Lemon and Liquorice have received small increases to their Secondary AOE's
• The window for triggering the multi-kill bonus ('surge' bonus) has been increased, allowing it to be utilised by more characters under more circumstances
• The Time Bonus in campaign levels has been increased
• Developer Commentary can be enabled via the Options > Audio menu

Fixes

• Reinstated the Battery collection screen edge effect
• Layer 37 of Infinity Drive has been made less mean
• In Boss Rush, dying bosses no longer delay the spawn of the next boss
• Improved enemy behaviour on Centrifuge (zone 5 - 1)
• Many small improvements, fixes and tweaks

Known Issues

• DX9 support has been dropped - this may impact users of older Windows operating systems

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/7859802e2db2efa6622dc46e93851aa1bc0241b6.jpg

Changes and Improvements

• Daily Drive highscores have been migrated to Steam from the third party service we were using in the past. This is a backend change meant to work the same way as before but a side effect is an increase in responsiveness and being less prone to failing to save scores.
• Daily Drive now includes a Time Bonus like the Campaign levels to make the leaderboards more competitive.
• The Daily Drive now shows the date of the Drive you are about to play on the menu
• Final Boss Medulla has had hitpoint tuning intended to make specific phases slightly faster / easier. If you have struggled with Medulla's fight in the past, please try again now!
• With Pro Mode enabled (S+ Indicator or Auto-Restart) the Stage Clear screen will now display seconds with two decimal places of precision
• When Auto Restart is enabled, the in-game S+ Indicator turns purple
• Some older scores on Vespula, Venom and Medulla have been removed for no longer being possible to obtain with current scoring rules

Fixes

• Fixed shadow projection issues on Zone 4 Boss Venom stage
• Improved/consistant lighting on the background Genki Star in all Zone 4 levels
• Fixed the transition effect at the end of the Final Boss Medulla fight to slide under particles/effects as intended
• Fixed mouse controls not correctly driving volume sliders on Main Menu
• Main Menu Leaderboards now have navigation sound effects
• Esc key now backs out of Leaderboards in Main Menu (consistent with other menus)

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/7859802e2db2efa6622dc46e93851aa1bc0241b6.jpg

Changes and Improvements

• Daily Drive highscores have been migrated to Steam from the third party service we were using in the past. This is a backend change meant to work the same way as before but a side effect is an increase in responsiveness and being less prone to failing to save scores.
• Daily Drive now includes a Time Bonus like the Campaign levels to make the leaderboards more competitive.
• The Daily Drive now shows the date of the Drive you are about to play on the menu
• Final Boss Medulla has had hitpoint tuning intended to make specific phases slightly faster / easier. If you have struggled with Medulla's fight in the past, please try again now!
• With Pro Mode enabled (S+ Indicator or Auto-Restart) the Stage Clear screen will now display seconds with two decimal places of precision
• When Auto Restart is enabled, the in-game S+ Indicator turns purple
• Some older scores on Vespula, Venom and Medulla have been removed for no longer being possible to obtain with current scoring rules

Fixes

• Fixed shadow projection issues on Zone 4 Boss Venom stage
• Improved/consistant lighting on the background Genki Star in all Zone 4 levels
• Fixed the transition effect at the end of the Final Boss Medulla fight to slide under particles/effects as intended
• Fixed mouse controls not correctly driving volume sliders on Main Menu
• Main Menu Leaderboards now have navigation sound effects
• Esc key now backs out of Leaderboards in Main Menu (consistent with other menus)

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/0f48c3f7e29d266cc995aed597370fe53400f2a0.jpg

Changes

• mapped Q and Z to movement to better handle some European keyboard layouts
• brightened the energy tether on Fetcher Fidos and Justice's Grapple Balls and tinted the player blue when attached for increased visibility
• Improved look of Rocket trails on Lemon's Rocket Launcher
• Added more movement to Lemon's ponytail in-game

Fixes

• Fixed rare case where a framerate stutter or other large time step would cause Titan's to be unresponsive after spawning
• Fixed issue where music would play during the pause menu if the game was paused before the level music started
• Fixed issue where the grid of the Aethersphere would remain black instead of purple
• Stage Select scoreboards now show the correct leaderboard for the number of players
• Corrected discrepancies and interpolation of high score comparisons at the end of stages
• Fixed a few places where cultural formatting (based on language) wasn't applied
• Corrected minor hair clipping occurring on Cactus and Lemon's stage entry animations
• Fixed issue where enemy lasers could appear wrong for a frame on initialisation
• Fixed issue where Liquorice's Vorpal Blade range indicator would appear for one frame
• Tutorial markers follow target visual position for smoother results at very high framerates
• Characters slightly clipping through the floor no longer display floor silhouettes

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/0f48c3f7e29d266cc995aed597370fe53400f2a0.jpg

Changes

• mapped Q and Z to movement to better handle some European keyboard layouts
• brightened the energy tether on Fetcher Fidos and Justice's Grapple Balls and tinted the player blue when attached for increased visibility
• Improved look of Rocket trails on Lemon's Rocket Launcher
• Added more movement to Lemon's ponytail in-game

Fixes

• Fixed rare case where a framerate stutter or other large time step would cause Titan's to be unresponsive after spawning
• Fixed issue where music would play during the pause menu if the game was paused before the level music started
• Fixed issue where the grid of the Aethersphere would remain black instead of purple
• Stage Select scoreboards now show the correct leaderboard for the number of players
• Corrected discrepancies and interpolation of high score comparisons at the end of stages
• Fixed a few places where cultural formatting (based on language) wasn't applied
• Corrected minor hair clipping occurring on Cactus and Lemon's stage entry animations
• Fixed issue where enemy lasers could appear wrong for a frame on initialisation
• Fixed issue where Liquorice's Vorpal Blade range indicator would appear for one frame
• Tutorial markers follow target visual position for smoother results at very high framerates
• Characters slightly clipping through the floor no longer display floor silhouettes

We're part of this weekend's sale for Big Picture-Friendly Games

http://store.steampowered.com/sale/bigpicturegames/ Not only does Cactus work great with Big Picture mode, we've been a good fit for the Steam Controller from the beginning - you may remember our unexpected appearance in Valve's announcement trailer at around the minute mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fs2Yh1PFwM One cool thing about the Steam Controller is it can be customised, by anyone, and thanks to improvements made by HERO 01, we now have two Recommend configurations which can be reached by choosing Manage Game and looking for the Controller Configuration option. http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/dd863b29842e648a75ca7b6a4af7105e4da8c62a.jpg

• AAC Gamepad Aiming emulates a gamepad and is the easiest to get up and playing with, particularly for local multiplayer! Be sure to let your thumbs trace big easy circles towards the edge of the trackpad surfaces to get the full aiming accuracy the Steam Controller is capable of.
• AAC Mouse Region Aiming emulates Mouse and Keyboard and suited for players with a bit of experience. The right trackpad positions the aiming reticle directly, allowing for lightning fast adjustments and precision Helo movements. If you have a Steam Controller, give it a go as it's a fun and new way to play!

We've put these two profiles under Recommended to to make them easy to find and use, but take a peek in the Community section to see what other people have come up with!

We're part of this weekend's sale for Big Picture-Friendly Games

http://store.steampowered.com/sale/bigpicturegames/ Not only does Cactus work great with Big Picture mode, we've been a good fit for the Steam Controller from the beginning - you may remember our unexpected appearance in Valve's announcement trailer at around the minute mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fs2Yh1PFwM One cool thing about the Steam Controller is it can be customised, by anyone, and thanks to improvements made by HERO 01, we now have two Recommend configurations which can be reached by choosing Manage Game and looking for the Controller Configuration option. http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/dd863b29842e648a75ca7b6a4af7105e4da8c62a.jpg

• AAC Gamepad Aiming emulates a gamepad and is the easiest to get up and playing with, particularly for local multiplayer! Be sure to let your thumbs trace big easy circles towards the edge of the trackpad surfaces to get the full aiming accuracy the Steam Controller is capable of.
• AAC Mouse Region Aiming emulates Mouse and Keyboard and suited for players with a bit of experience. The right trackpad positions the aiming reticle directly, allowing for lightning fast adjustments and precision Helo movements. If you have a Steam Controller, give it a go as it's a fun and new way to play!

We've put these two profiles under Recommended to to make them easy to find and use, but take a peek in the Community section to see what other people have come up with!

this shirt is only available to order for the next two weeks http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/4c65c8a83519a313b03f0da72336271a76f653b0.png In the same style as the Holly t-shirt, this one has Coral on the front and the AAC logo on the back and is available on blue or dark grey. Get a look at all the colour and t-shirt options here There's a range of shirt types, suitable for men and women. I was really happy with how well the Holly t-shirt came out so I feel pretty good about this one! Last time people seemed sad to have missed out, so if you know any Coral fans, do them a favour and let them know!

this shirt is only available to order for the next two weeks http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/4c65c8a83519a313b03f0da72336271a76f653b0.png In the same style as the Holly t-shirt, this one has Coral on the front and the AAC logo on the back and is available on blue or dark grey. Get a look at all the colour and t-shirt options here There's a range of shirt types, suitable for men and women. I was really happy with how well the Holly t-shirt came out so I feel pretty good about this one! Last time people seemed sad to have missed out, so if you know any Coral fans, do them a favour and let them know!

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/77a74bcb170b78257936749471d8af658ef84d5d.jpg

Fixes

• fixed a visual glitch where a players Chain meter could fade out even though non-player kills had revived the Chain in time
• controller disconnect menu can no longer appear once a stage has ended
• Centrifuge (zone 5 - 1) animates more smoothly at higher framerates
• Helo spins down better on Stage Clear / Battery Depleted
• Aubergine's Press Fire text is no longer reflected by the floor in Zone 3

Also added a few new Avatars, including Liquorice and icon versions for characters that didn't have them! http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/11bdc33571a66ad32e9fc268e92d3a7052815366.png You can find them under Assault Android Cactus in the list of Official Game Avatars

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/77a74bcb170b78257936749471d8af658ef84d5d.jpg

Fixes

• fixed a visual glitch where a players Chain meter could fade out even though non-player kills had revived the Chain in time
• controller disconnect menu can no longer appear once a stage has ended
• Centrifuge (zone 5 - 1) animates more smoothly at higher framerates
• Helo spins down better on Stage Clear / Battery Depleted
• Aubergine's Press Fire text is no longer reflected by the floor in Zone 3

Also added a few new Avatars, including Liquorice and icon versions for characters that didn't have them! http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/11bdc33571a66ad32e9fc268e92d3a7052815366.png You can find them under Assault Android Cactus in the list of Official Game Avatars

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/42ba0dca694556e9f60697e4532f6eb81ceaec69.jpg

Changes

• minor animation pass on Keg enemies fall-in spawn animations
• consistently capitalised the term Section Lords in boss dialogues
• tweaked Drone movement physics processing

Fixes

• Fixed recently introduced bug that caused Aubergine's Helo Companion to not spin while attacking after a boss dialogue intro
• Fixed edge case where preventing a stage transition in Influx (zone 2 - 2) would cause blocks with no physics to appear in the stage
• Fixed bug in Boss Rush where using a Shutdown to defeat Justice before he used his laser attack would cause the music transitions to get out of sync
• Fixed Starch's lasers being able to fire through some walls when using Accelerate

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5074127/42ba0dca694556e9f60697e4532f6eb81ceaec69.jpg

Changes

• minor animation pass on Keg enemies fall-in spawn animations
• consistently capitalised the term Section Lords in boss dialogues
• tweaked Drone movement physics processing

Fixes

• Fixed recently introduced bug that caused Aubergine's Helo Companion to not spin while attacking after a boss dialogue intro
• Fixed edge case where preventing a stage transition in Influx (zone 2 - 2) would cause blocks with no physics to appear in the stage
• Fixed bug in Boss Rush where using a Shutdown to defeat Justice before he used his laser attack would cause the music transitions to get out of sync
• Fixed Starch's lasers being able to fire through some walls when using Accelerate

http://www.witchbeam.com.au/sheader/update1_5.jpg

Features and Changes

• Bosses attempting to drop a battery will now trigger an existing battery to expire, instead of just not dropping a battery at all
• Boss Venom's web ball splats had their effect range radius reduced slightly
• Boss Indicator Lights now remain visible through the flashing damage effect
• Indicator Lights have been tweaked to lose less saturation - enemies now have a more distinguishable blue, purple and red stage to their health
• Downed Androids will now vocalise battery status if there's no one else around to say it
• New texture for Shiitake's Propeller Mine weapon
• New textures for Justice's Capture Ball and Missile projectiles

Fixes

• Fixed issue where the multikill bonus could be incorrectly applied in boss fights
• Fixed issue where Medulla stage Vespula wouldn't spawn wasps if she was hit with a shutdown during her spawn animation
• Corrected geometry on Filament that could allow Liquorice to reach out of bounds on teleport dashes
• Fixed noticeable position pop when Boss Venom crawls onto the stage
• Fixed issue where Propeller Mines could be created at strange angles
• Fixed mistimed transition effect in Boss Rush mode
• Fixed reflections not updating when far away from stage center
• Added smoother movement to Justice's Capture Balls, Missiles and Drones
• Added smoother movement to Boss Venom (in his final phase) and Venom's Spider enemies
• Added smoother rotation and effects to Peanut's Giga Drill weapon
• Added smoother movement to Aubergine's Helo companion
• Added smoother movement to Tanks, Spectres, exploding crate debris and Venom's drill casings
• Fixed visual glitch on the Singularity where a shutdown effect would reveal the quad
• Fixed small visual pop on weapon position during weapon swap
• Fixed Helo not getting the correct silhouette colour when using Aubergine's metallic skin
• Fixed Shiitake's Railgun weapon not creating sparks at the center of certain enemy types
• Fixed Previous / Next highscore text appearing in the wrong colour on the Infinity Drive / Daily Drive battery depletion screen
• Fixed Infinity Drive / Daily Drive results screen not reporting the layer correctly if an EX mode that disabled high scores was enabled

http://www.witchbeam.com.au/sheader/update1_5.jpg

Features and Changes

• Bosses attempting to drop a battery will now trigger an existing battery to expire, instead of just not dropping a battery at all
• Boss Venom's web ball splats had their effect range radius reduced slightly
• Boss Indicator Lights now remain visible through the flashing damage effect
• Indicator Lights have been tweaked to lose less saturation - enemies now have a more distinguishable blue, purple and red stage to their health
• Downed Androids will now vocalise battery status if there's no one else around to say it
• New texture for Shiitake's Propeller Mine weapon
• New textures for Justice's Capture Ball and Missile projectiles

Fixes

• Fixed issue where the multikill bonus could be incorrectly applied in boss fights
• Fixed issue where Medulla stage Vespula wouldn't spawn wasps if she was hit with a shutdown during her spawn animation
• Corrected geometry on Filament that could allow Liquorice to reach out of bounds on teleport dashes
• Fixed noticeable position pop when Boss Venom crawls onto the stage
• Fixed issue where Propeller Mines could be created at strange angles
• Fixed mistimed transition effect in Boss Rush mode
• Fixed reflections not updating when far away from stage center
• Added smoother movement to Justice's Capture Balls, Missiles and Drones
• Added smoother movement to Boss Venom (in his final phase) and Venom's Spider enemies
• Added smoother rotation and effects to Peanut's Giga Drill weapon
• Added smoother movement to Aubergine's Helo companion
• Added smoother movement to Tanks, Spectres, exploding crate debris and Venom's drill casings
• Fixed visual glitch on the Singularity where a shutdown effect would reveal the quad
• Fixed small visual pop on weapon position during weapon swap
• Fixed Helo not getting the correct silhouette colour when using Aubergine's metallic skin
• Fixed Shiitake's Railgun weapon not creating sparks at the center of certain enemy types
• Fixed Previous / Next highscore text appearing in the wrong colour on the Infinity Drive / Daily Drive battery depletion screen
• Fixed Infinity Drive / Daily Drive results screen not reporting the layer correctly if an EX mode that disabled high scores was enabled

Check it out now, only one week left to order! http://www.witchbeam.com.au/images/holly_tshirt_preview.png We're running a teespring campaign, where orders are taken over a fixed period and at the end, they all get made and sent out to everyone. That means this may be your only chance to nab one unless there's enough demand to re-run this campaign. Reserve your Holly t-shirt now! Note there are six shirt types, three mens/unisex and three womens cuts, and the colour varies by shirt type, so check sizes and options carefully! Personally I'm really happy with the art and am looking forwards to getting my hands on one of these myself, but we're open to feedback, and I'd like to continue doing designs of all the other Androids if things go well.

Check it out now, only one week left to order! http://www.witchbeam.com.au/images/holly_tshirt_preview.png We're running a teespring campaign, where orders are taken over a fixed period and at the end, they all get made and sent out to everyone. That means this may be your only chance to nab one unless there's enough demand to re-run this campaign. Reserve your Holly t-shirt now! Note there are six shirt types, three mens/unisex and three womens cuts, and the colour varies by shirt type, so check sizes and options carefully! Personally I'm really happy with the art and am looking forwards to getting my hands on one of these myself, but we're open to feedback, and I'd like to continue doing designs of all the other Androids if things go well.

http://www.witchbeam.com.au/sheader/update1_4.jpg

Features

• when using the AI Players EX Option, Androids will randomly select from their unlocked costumes

Fixes and Changes

• Linux and OSX now use SDL2 for input (recommended drivers for OSX users with xbox gamepads are https://github.com/360Controller/360Controller/releases )
• Fixed minor visual artefacts that occurred when transitioning from the after tutorial cut-scene to Android Select with more than one player
• Adjusted Venom's hitbox to prevent cases where some weapons would not reach him correctly in some circumstances
• Fixed even more edge cases to Liquorice's teleport attack
• Made enemies in Centrifuge less likely to get delayed outside the game space on spawn
• Low graphics setting now disables reflections but leaves Image Effects on. Image Effects affect the look of the game and have a low performance hit, but can be disabled manually
• Fixed bug that could occasionally result in the leaderboard scores displaying incorrectly on the Stage Clear screen
• Restored the Witchbeam video on the Attract sequence in Linux (had been deliberately disabled in the previous release)
• Tweaked an environment texture in Zone 3

http://www.witchbeam.com.au/sheader/update1_4.jpg

Features

• when using the AI Players EX Option, Androids will randomly select from their unlocked costumes

Fixes and Changes

• Linux and OSX now use SDL2 for input (recommended drivers for OSX users with xbox gamepads are https://github.com/360Controller/360Controller/releases )
• Fixed minor visual artefacts that occurred when transitioning from the after tutorial cut-scene to Android Select with more than one player
• Adjusted Venom's hitbox to prevent cases where some weapons would not reach him correctly in some circumstances
• Fixed even more edge cases to Liquorice's teleport attack
• Made enemies in Centrifuge less likely to get delayed outside the game space on spawn
• Low graphics setting now disables reflections but leaves Image Effects on. Image Effects affect the look of the game and have a low performance hit, but can be disabled manually
• Fixed bug that could occasionally result in the leaderboard scores displaying incorrectly on the Stage Clear screen
• Restored the Witchbeam video on the Attract sequence in Linux (had been deliberately disabled in the previous release)
• Tweaked an environment texture in Zone 3

http://www.witchbeam.com.au/sheader/update1_3.jpg We're proud to now offer language support for French, Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese! To celebrate we're on sale for the next week so we'd really appreciate it if you spread the word! This update also integrates improvements made during Playstation 4 development, including improved art, clearer UI on Boss Battles and various fixes and tweaks. Our Demo has also been updated.

Features

• Language support for French, Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese - language will be set automatically if your Steam client is set to one of these languages and can be overridden with the per game setting. It can also be changed in-game using the options menu
• new Shiitake level enter animation
• Boss Vitality bars show damage taken and spark on hit
• Peanut has an unlockable hat
• All Androids have unlockable 'metallic skins'
• New audio for Holly's Mega Seeker weapon
• New texture for Holly's Cannonball weapon
• New texture for Aubergine's Helo control device

Fixes and Changes

• Fixed edge case were it was possible to break certain enemies if they were killed on the same frame their laser initialised
• Justice's shields have been given a different colour and don't flash on damage to better indicate their bullet blocking nature
• Improved Justice's cutting laser effect
• Improved smoothness of Starch's Micro Missiles at high framerates (60fps+)
• Improved blue Shut Down rings - now handle large and small enemies better
• Venom's fluid hazard in his final phase has a damage radius reduction
• Adjusted Holly's Mega Seeker behaviour in certain boss related situations
• Powerup icons are now visible through walls and characters
• Fixed edge cases where Liquorice's Vorpal Blade could leave her out of bounds
• Singularity distortion effect finally looks correct on Linux
• Increased controller support
• Overall performance increase, specifically in a number of bottleneck scenarios
• General bug fixes and improvements

http://www.witchbeam.com.au/sheader/update1_3.jpg We're proud to now offer language support for French, Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese! To celebrate we're on sale for the next week so we'd really appreciate it if you spread the word! This update also integrates improvements made during Playstation 4 development, including improved art, clearer UI on Boss Battles and various fixes and tweaks. Our Demo has also been updated.

Features

• Language support for French, Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese - language will be set automatically if your Steam client is set to one of these languages and can be overridden with the per game setting. It can also be changed in-game using the options menu
• new Shiitake level enter animation
• Boss Vitality bars show damage taken and spark on hit
• Peanut has an unlockable hat
• All Androids have unlockable 'metallic skins'
• New audio for Holly's Mega Seeker weapon
• New texture for Holly's Cannonball weapon
• New texture for Aubergine's Helo control device

Fixes and Changes

• Fixed edge case were it was possible to break certain enemies if they were killed on the same frame their laser initialised
• Justice's shields have been given a different colour and don't flash on damage to better indicate their bullet blocking nature
• Improved Justice's cutting laser effect
• Improved smoothness of Starch's Micro Missiles at high framerates (60fps+)
• Improved blue Shut Down rings - now handle large and small enemies better
• Venom's fluid hazard in his final phase has a damage radius reduction
• Adjusted Holly's Mega Seeker behaviour in certain boss related situations
• Powerup icons are now visible through walls and characters
• Fixed edge cases where Liquorice's Vorpal Blade could leave her out of bounds
• Singularity distortion effect finally looks correct on Linux
• Increased controller support
• Overall performance increase, specifically in a number of bottleneck scenarios
• General bug fixes and improvements

as indie developers we weren't expecting to see our game shipped out in a box, but here we are! http://www.witchbeam.com.au/sheader/boxart.png We've teamed up with IndieBox to bring Assault Android Cactus to meat space in March as a limited run physical Collectors Edition box, complete with printed colour manual, soundtrack on an actual CD, the game on USB as well as Steam Code for the Soundtrack Edition and exclusive physical collectables. IndieBox is a subscription service that sends out boxed copies of high quality indie games each month but you can sign up for just the one month if you'd like. Check out their site to see some of the games they've covered in the past and the sort of things they include in the box, but if you're after ours, make sure you get in before the 18th of March!

as indie developers we weren't expecting to see our game shipped out in a box, but here we are! http://www.witchbeam.com.au/sheader/boxart.png We've teamed up with IndieBox to bring Assault Android Cactus to meat space in March as a limited run physical Collectors Edition box, complete with printed colour manual, soundtrack on an actual CD, the game on USB as well as Steam Code for the Soundtrack Edition and exclusive physical collectables. IndieBox is a subscription service that sends out boxed copies of high quality indie games each month but you can sign up for just the one month if you'd like. Check out their site to see some of the games they've covered in the past and the sort of things they include in the box, but if you're after ours, make sure you get in before the 18th of March!

http://www.witchbeam.com.au/sheader/update1_2.jpg

Features

• Spectre texture improvements
• Embryo, Vespula and Justice interpolate their motion better
• Minor internal performance improvements
• Mouse and Keyboard users in co-op can locate their character with the Home key

Fixes and Changes

• fixed inconsistencies when Leaderboards are set to Disabled - local ranks are retained
• fixed rare case where certain enemies could get stuck in an unresponsive state immediately after spawning
• fixed case where Boss music wouldn't transition at the start of combat when HUD was disabled through EX Options and their dialogue was skipped

Known Issues

• Launching the game in Big Picture mode on OSX can result in a crash when the Steam overlay box first appears. Until the issue is resolved, the work-around is to avoid launching through Big Picture mode or disable the Steam overlay

Coming Soon

• Additional language support

http://www.witchbeam.com.au/sheader/update1_2.jpg

Features

• Spectre texture improvements
• Embryo, Vespula and Justice interpolate their motion better
• Minor internal performance improvements
• Mouse and Keyboard users in co-op can locate their character with the Home key

Fixes and Changes

• fixed inconsistencies when Leaderboards are set to Disabled - local ranks are retained
• fixed rare case where certain enemies could get stuck in an unresponsive state immediately after spawning
• fixed case where Boss music wouldn't transition at the start of combat when HUD was disabled through EX Options and their dialogue was skipped

Known Issues

• Launching the game in Big Picture mode on OSX can result in a crash when the Steam overlay box first appears. Until the issue is resolved, the work-around is to avoid launching through Big Picture mode or disable the Steam overlay

Coming Soon

• Additional language support

http://www.witchbeam.com.au/sheader/update1_1.jpg

Features

• Soundtrack now includes FLAC - anyone with this DLC will find an additional directory inside their game directory
• Credits are now earned on Battery Depleted (stage loss) during the campaign and when restarting / quitting stages
• Credit earning rate has increased slightly
• (Windows / OSX) Gamepad disconnection detection - the game will attempt to pause and offer a chance to reconnect the controller or migrate to a new control device
• In co-op, if a player other than Player 1 pauses the game, the pause menu will say who it is so you can yell at them to unpause the game and keep playing
• added an Accessibility menu under Options
  • Fire Mode - able to switch to Inverse fire. The character will fire their gun all the time and only stop when the fire button is held - intended for anyone experiencing discomfort from holding the trigger for long periods
  • Colour Filter - filters that may increase game readability for players with limited colour perception (this is an experimental feature)
  • Enemy Hit Flash - to reduce the intensity of the white flash effect on enemies
  • Screen Shake - to restrict screen shudder to Events (eg, stage transformations, boss introductions) or disable it completely
• Small adjustment to battery frequency and Boss hitpoints when in 3 and 4 player
• Small adjustments to Phase 4 of the last boss
• Added a command line workaround for Windows 10 users who are experiencing phantom controllers and are not in a position to fix the underlying issue. Adding -p:1 to SET LAUNCH OPTIONS... will restrict the game to a single player

Fixes and Changes

• Consistent enemy spawn rules for all screen dimensions. Extended resolutions (super wide screen) may experience enemy pop-in on some stages, but will now function normally without setting the -screens:# command line property (this command line argument can still be used to position the HUD better for multi monitor users)
• Failing Boss Rush will no longer present the enigmatic "Play Advice" text
• Attract Mode will no longer earn Achievements for you
• Restarting a level after being Battery Depleted will no longer sometimes mute the gameplay sound effects
• Fixed some cases where the Vorpal Blade could leave level bounds or place the character inside geometry
• Fixed missing sound on Autoturret in Control (5-2)
• On beating the game and watching the ending sequence through, the mouse cursor will no longer be hidden on returning to main menu when playing with Mouse and Keyboard
• Avatar silhouettes won't show during stage enter animations, even when the character clips the ground slightly in a totally-not-a-big-deal kind of way

Coming Soon

• Additional language support