STARWHAL news & patch notes

http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/5664739/c481c3e49a900080ac0d845737c7f5de2f863c76.png Announcing Breakfall's next big thing: Pizza Titan Ultra! It's a game about delivering pizza in a giant robot - but it's also set in the same universe where narwhals battle through space! And guess what, Breakfall is giving a little something to our loyal customers. What's the connection between STARWHAL and Pizza Titan Ultra? In the 2050s, Earth is visited by 'WHALs, and they construct the planets first intergalactic spaceport! That spaceport is GALACTIC CITY, where the tech is outlandish and the pizzas are hot. Here's the thing, friends... You, as loyal Breakfall fans, are being invited to get in on the action with a 50% discount coupon, just for owning STARWHAL! You'll see this coupon appear in your inventory when we launch in late April. We love our fans and we hope you love our next title! After Pizza Titan Ultra we'll be getting back to multiplayer mayhem, but please check out this epic adventure in the meantime. -Breakfall

It’s never been easier to reach out and tusk someone! Enjoy STARWHAL at our new, LOWER, harmonized multi-platform pricing. Or, for the original price, download the super discounted game AND the heart-pounding, mind-altering, blubber-flapping original soundtrack. Over an hour of insane electro groovage so you can make the soundtrack to STARWHAL the soundtrack to your life. Upgrade your existence today! STARWHAL: $11.99 STARWHAL Soundtrack Edition: $14.99 Soundtrack: $7.99

It’s never been easier to reach out and tusk someone! Enjoy STARWHAL at our new, LOWER, harmonized multi-platform pricing. Or, for the original price, download the super discounted game AND the heart-pounding, mind-altering, blubber-flapping original soundtrack. Over an hour of insane electro groovage so you can make the soundtrack to STARWHAL the soundtrack to your life. Upgrade your existence today! STARWHAL: $11.99 STARWHAL Soundtrack Edition: $14.99 Soundtrack: $7.99

STARWHAL hit PSN for both Playstation 4 and Playstation 3 not too long ago! Own it on every system to become a master of space and time in a neon sea of the mind. To celebrate our ever-expanding universe of ‘whal, there will be an upcoming price drop on Steam! And we're working to get the epic, 1.3 hour soundtrack available in the Steam Store too! Stay tuned for more details!

STARWHAL hit PSN for both Playstation 4 and Playstation 3 not too long ago! Own it on every system to become a master of space and time in a neon sea of the mind. To celebrate our ever-expanding universe of ‘whal, there will be an upcoming price drop on Steam! And we're working to get the epic, 1.3 hour soundtrack available in the Steam Store too! Stay tuned for more details!

Version 1.1.1

We've been hard at work bringing space narwhal combat to other platforms, and in the process we've made lots of improvements to the game we want to share with our Steam friends! (Yes, YOU!) Balances/Fixes:

• Ice Blocks: The calculation to determine if and when an ice block should shatter has been modified. Now the angle of impact has a greater effect, so sliding along a piece of ice won’t break it as easily, especially in levels such as Frostburn and Ice and Fire
• Fixed an issue where multiple players could select the same color narwhal in the player select screen
• Fixed an issue in the Challenge levels Escalation and Wave where the player could potentially die on spawn
• Fixed an issue with team mode where sometimes the players don’t get assigned to the correct team
• Fixed an issue with the sludge in Challenge levels where the player could continue to die after the first death on a run
• Results screen: Fixed an issue where the Tag and Capture count were being incremented on a hazard hit
• Localization: Versus score screen had an error when playing team mode on Score Attack

Optimization:

• A lot of work has gone into optimizing many parts of the game including level geometry and collision, AI pathfinding, and hazards. Many levels should have significant performance boosts and should be capable of running much more smoothly on older machines!
  • Versus: Mobius, Amoeba, Perch, Tumble Dry, Squall, Giant Growth, Slippery Slope
  • Challenge: Escalation, Spin Cycle, Stream Sailor, Centrifuge, Factory
• The AI has been significantly improved on several of the Versus levels:
  • Classic, Mobius, Amoeba, Perch, Time Spiral, Pneumatic, Tarkus II, Squall, Giant Growth, Frostburn, Glacial Pass, Slush Puppy

Changes:

• XInput: Controllers can now use XInput on Windows PCs. Just go into the Options screen and you’ll be able to enable/disable XInput. With it enabled, you’ll be able to reconnect a disconnected controller without having to reboot the game, yay!
• Controller input is now locked as soon as a match is over

Costumes:

• Viking Squad Costumes! SKOL!! Check out the game here: Viking Squad

Let us know what you guys think of the update! Does it make you FEEL things, or give you visions of the future? Sound off in the Community Hub, or hit us up on the interwebz: STARWHAL Twitter STARWHAL Facebook

Version 1.1.1

We've been hard at work bringing space narwhal combat to other platforms, and in the process we've made lots of improvements to the game we want to share with our Steam friends! (Yes, YOU!) Balances/Fixes:

• Ice Blocks: The calculation to determine if and when an ice block should shatter has been modified. Now the angle of impact has a greater effect, so sliding along a piece of ice won’t break it as easily, especially in levels such as Frostburn and Ice and Fire
• Fixed an issue where multiple players could select the same color narwhal in the player select screen
• Fixed an issue in the Challenge levels Escalation and Wave where the player could potentially die on spawn
• Fixed an issue with team mode where sometimes the players don’t get assigned to the correct team
• Fixed an issue with the sludge in Challenge levels where the player could continue to die after the first death on a run
• Results screen: Fixed an issue where the Tag and Capture count were being incremented on a hazard hit
• Localization: Versus score screen had an error when playing team mode on Score Attack

Optimization:

• A lot of work has gone into optimizing many parts of the game including level geometry and collision, AI pathfinding, and hazards. Many levels should have significant performance boosts and should be capable of running much more smoothly on older machines!
  • Versus: Mobius, Amoeba, Perch, Tumble Dry, Squall, Giant Growth, Slippery Slope
  • Challenge: Escalation, Spin Cycle, Stream Sailor, Centrifuge, Factory
• The AI has been significantly improved on several of the Versus levels:
  • Classic, Mobius, Amoeba, Perch, Time Spiral, Pneumatic, Tarkus II, Squall, Giant Growth, Frostburn, Glacial Pass, Slush Puppy

Changes:

• XInput: Controllers can now use XInput on Windows PCs. Just go into the Options screen and you’ll be able to enable/disable XInput. With it enabled, you’ll be able to reconnect a disconnected controller without having to reboot the game, yay!
• Controller input is now locked as soon as a match is over

Costumes:

• Viking Squad Costumes! SKOL!! Check out the game here: Viking Squad

Let us know what you guys think of the update! Does it make you FEEL things, or give you visions of the future? Sound off in the Community Hub, or hit us up on the interwebz: STARWHAL Twitter STARWHAL Facebook

Just in time for the holidays, we've got the update online! Big stuff includes ROUNDS, 7 new music tracks, multi-language support (for French, Spanish, Italian, and German), a new level, and lots of smaller enhancements like new costumes, imroved UI, better menu navigation, and slight game tuning. Check out our previous announcement here for detailed patch notes: http://steamcommunity.com/games/263020/announcements/detail/132057769463529717 Sound off in the Community Hub to let us know what you think, how you're doing, or what you ate for breakfast.

Just in time for the holidays, we've got the update online! Big stuff includes ROUNDS, 7 new music tracks, multi-language support (for French, Spanish, Italian, and German), a new level, and lots of smaller enhancements like new costumes, imroved UI, better menu navigation, and slight game tuning. Check out our previous announcement here for detailed patch notes: http://steamcommunity.com/games/263020/announcements/detail/132057769463529717 Sound off in the Community Hub to let us know what you think, how you're doing, or what you ate for breakfast.

Hello sports fans! We've been hard at work trying to bring STARWHAL to other platforms. But we've got a bunch of features, fixes, and changes we wanted to share with you guys! The new update will be coming soon, but until then, check out the change log below:

1.1.0

New Stuff!

• Rounds - They have finally made their triumphant return. It took a bit longer than expected but it is definitely worth the wait! These are also customizable!
• Music - 7 new tracks, and each world in Versus now has specific songs for that world.
• Ghosts - You now can set the visibility of the ghosts in challenge mode in the Options menu. Control those phantasms!
• Languages - You can now set the game interface language to English, French, Spanish, Italian or German. Salut, Guten tag, and buongiorno, international amigos!
• New Level - "Giant Growth": There is a new special level designed by our Gigaballer Kickstarter backer. The level is massive so the narwhals will feel really tiny on this stage!

Changes:

• The STARWHAL logo got a cosmetic update. We've also dropped the subtitle from the game, so the game is now just called STARWHAL. To find out more about why we're doing this, please read our post about it here: http://breakfall.ca/content/starwhal-name-change
• Player Select - Flow has been changed a bit. When you join up, it now starts in the customize screen where you can change Color and Costumes. After that, you're brought to the menu where you can ready up, check controls, or go back to customization.
• Versus Results Screen - There's now a little bit of anticipation to see who won since all the podiums will rise together before revealing who came in 1st place!
• Menu navigation with gamepads is now more responsive.
• Options Screen - now split into 3 different sections (General/Audio/Visual)
• Challenge Mode: Leaderboard navigation is now done with only one button (Tab/RB) instead of the having a 2 directional navigation.
• Medals now have a slight shimmer to them. So shiny!
• More visual details added to menu interface across the board.
• Countdown - The timer in versus mode will now flash and play a sound for the final 10 seconds of the match. Now you can tell when the match is about to end even if you can't see the timer!
• Level rename: "Balls Deep" has been renamed to "Bouncy Ball Brawl"
• Score-based modes (Score Attack, Zones, Heart Throb) now have an indicator of what the maximum score is for that round. So instead of just showing your score (say 10 points), it now displays 10/30 to show how close you are to winning.

Balances/Fixes:

• Results screen: Each podium in the versus score screen will show a medal if there is a tie for 1st place
• Heart Throb - The speed dampening for the leader has been reworked. Instead of dampening all velocity and angular velocity of the starwhal, now the propulsion force is slowly reduced. This makes it harder for the leader to get away from getting hit and feels a lot more natural!
• Player Select - The riders now have a cute bobble animation for when they're selected!
• The pause screen can no longer be triggered right after a match is finished.
• Ambient sounds of worlds will no longer play on the title screen.

Costumes:

• A new challenger appears! The Toto Temple Deluxe rider from our friends at Juicy Beast!
• AI Costume: AI players will now all have a Monitor Head costume to show that they're out for blood! Resistance is futile! (This costume is reserved for AI players, so mere humans aren't allowed to use it)
• Wizard hat and beard - You can never have too many beard costumes, and this will let you say YOU SHALL NOT PASS.
• Tabard - Lets you get medieval on other players' posteriors! Designed by our Gigaballer as well!

Hello sports fans! We've been hard at work trying to bring STARWHAL to other platforms. But we've got a bunch of features, fixes, and changes we wanted to share with you guys! The new update will be coming soon, but until then, check out the change log below:

1.1.0

New Stuff!

• Rounds - They have finally made their triumphant return. It took a bit longer than expected but it is definitely worth the wait! These are also customizable!
• Music - 7 new tracks, and each world in Versus now has specific songs for that world.
• Ghosts - You now can set the visibility of the ghosts in challenge mode in the Options menu. Control those phantasms!
• Languages - You can now set the game interface language to English, French, Spanish, Italian or German. Salut, Guten tag, and buongiorno, international amigos!
• New Level - "Giant Growth": There is a new special level designed by our Gigaballer Kickstarter backer. The level is massive so the narwhals will feel really tiny on this stage!

Changes:

• The STARWHAL logo got a cosmetic update. We've also dropped the subtitle from the game, so the game is now just called STARWHAL. To find out more about why we're doing this, please read our post about it here: http://breakfall.ca/content/starwhal-name-change
• Player Select - Flow has been changed a bit. When you join up, it now starts in the customize screen where you can change Color and Costumes. After that, you're brought to the menu where you can ready up, check controls, or go back to customization.
• Versus Results Screen - There's now a little bit of anticipation to see who won since all the podiums will rise together before revealing who came in 1st place!
• Menu navigation with gamepads is now more responsive.
• Options Screen - now split into 3 different sections (General/Audio/Visual)
• Challenge Mode: Leaderboard navigation is now done with only one button (Tab/RB) instead of the having a 2 directional navigation.
• Medals now have a slight shimmer to them. So shiny!
• More visual details added to menu interface across the board.
• Countdown - The timer in versus mode will now flash and play a sound for the final 10 seconds of the match. Now you can tell when the match is about to end even if you can't see the timer!
• Level rename: "Balls Deep" has been renamed to "Bouncy Ball Brawl"
• Score-based modes (Score Attack, Zones, Heart Throb) now have an indicator of what the maximum score is for that round. So instead of just showing your score (say 10 points), it now displays 10/30 to show how close you are to winning.

Balances/Fixes:

• Results screen: Each podium in the versus score screen will show a medal if there is a tie for 1st place
• Heart Throb - The speed dampening for the leader has been reworked. Instead of dampening all velocity and angular velocity of the starwhal, now the propulsion force is slowly reduced. This makes it harder for the leader to get away from getting hit and feels a lot more natural!
• Player Select - The riders now have a cute bobble animation for when they're selected!
• The pause screen can no longer be triggered right after a match is finished.
• Ambient sounds of worlds will no longer play on the title screen.

Costumes:

• A new challenger appears! The Toto Temple Deluxe rider from our friends at Juicy Beast!
• AI Costume: AI players will now all have a Monitor Head costume to show that they're out for blood! Resistance is futile! (This costume is reserved for AI players, so mere humans aren't allowed to use it)
• Wizard hat and beard - You can never have too many beard costumes, and this will let you say YOU SHALL NOT PASS.
• Tabard - Lets you get medieval on other players' posteriors! Designed by our Gigaballer as well!

It's finally fully released! We made it! Narwhals are soon to be running amok all over the place! Here are the goods: New Stuff!

• New versus levels:
  • Stasis
  • Ameoba
  • The Gate
  • Perch
  • Tumble Dry
  • Squall
  • Pneumatic
  • Slippery Slope
• Challenge levels
  • 11 new Obstacle levels
  • 13 new Target levels
• Steam stuff:
  • Steam leaderboards
  • Achievements!
  • Trading cards
  • Big Picture support
  • Badges
• Music - 5 fresh new tracks, including the Obstacles theme shown in the launch trailer!
• More sounds - end of match sounds, world-specific ambience, and more!
• Even more visual effects: shockwave, heat shimmer, and lots of new particle effects!
• Challenge modes: a ‘next level’ button has been added to stay in the groove
• Updated challenge results screen - you can now see the required times for platinum, gold, silver, bronze medals, the difference between your current and best time, and the name of the level you just played
• End of match visuals and sounds for GAME, TIME, and COMPLETE
• Options: resolution can now be changed in game
• Control: gamepads now can use both analog sticks for turning, as well as both triggers for gas - now you can play one handed like in Wave Race 64!
• Credits - our identities have been revealed, as well as the amazing people who have helped us make it!

Changes:

• Level name changes
  • Moebius to Möbius (big change!)
  • Fast Forward to Time Spiral
  • The Clash to Flip and Dip
  • Battlefield to Slush Puppy
  • Glacial Gate to Glacial Pass
• Gamepads can now use the dpad for menu navigation
• On gamepads the ‘A’ button is now used for readying up instead of the ‘X’ button
• Challenge mode: Lava is a +5 sec penalty, Fireballs are now a +3 sec penalty
• Challenge mode: game timer is now has .000 precision - as accurate as Olympic bobsledding - important for leaderboard rivalry!
• New medal graphics

Balances/Fixes:

• End of match: selecting “Restart” after a Random level was played will pick another random level
• Level loading is improved
• Physic calculations have been optimized
• Game timer font has been updated

Costumes:

• ‘?’ rider
• Six Link

Thanks to everybody who has supported us up to this point! To any newcomers to neon space narwhal combat, good call on upgrading your existence!

It's finally fully released! We made it! Narwhals are soon to be running amok all over the place! Here are the goods: New Stuff!

• New versus levels:
  • Stasis
  • Ameoba
  • The Gate
  • Perch
  • Tumble Dry
  • Squall
  • Pneumatic
  • Slippery Slope
• Challenge levels
  • 11 new Obstacle levels
  • 13 new Target levels
• Steam stuff:
  • Steam leaderboards
  • Achievements!
  • Trading cards
  • Big Picture support
  • Badges
• Music - 5 fresh new tracks, including the Obstacles theme shown in the launch trailer!
• More sounds - end of match sounds, world-specific ambience, and more!
• Even more visual effects: shockwave, heat shimmer, and lots of new particle effects!
• Challenge modes: a ‘next level’ button has been added to stay in the groove
• Updated challenge results screen - you can now see the required times for platinum, gold, silver, bronze medals, the difference between your current and best time, and the name of the level you just played
• End of match visuals and sounds for GAME, TIME, and COMPLETE
• Options: resolution can now be changed in game
• Control: gamepads now can use both analog sticks for turning, as well as both triggers for gas - now you can play one handed like in Wave Race 64!
• Credits - our identities have been revealed, as well as the amazing people who have helped us make it!

Changes:

• Level name changes
  • Moebius to Möbius (big change!)
  • Fast Forward to Time Spiral
  • The Clash to Flip and Dip
  • Battlefield to Slush Puppy
  • Glacial Gate to Glacial Pass
• Gamepads can now use the dpad for menu navigation
• On gamepads the ‘A’ button is now used for readying up instead of the ‘X’ button
• Challenge mode: Lava is a +5 sec penalty, Fireballs are now a +3 sec penalty
• Challenge mode: game timer is now has .000 precision - as accurate as Olympic bobsledding - important for leaderboard rivalry!
• New medal graphics

Balances/Fixes:

• End of match: selecting “Restart” after a Random level was played will pick another random level
• Level loading is improved
• Physic calculations have been optimized
• Game timer font has been updated

Costumes:

• ‘?’ rider
• Six Link

Thanks to everybody who has supported us up to this point! To any newcomers to neon space narwhal combat, good call on upgrading your existence!

Hey cool cats, Big news! STARWHAL is coming out of Early Access and transitioning into the full release very soon!

Full release of STARWHAL on Steam is launching September 29th!

It’s been a while since we started up the Early Access back in February. Thanks to everyone who has been with us since then (and even before!), and everyone who’s joined us for the ride! As some of you remember, we started the Early Access with these features:

• 2 versus game modes
• 3 worlds
• 10 versus arenas
• AI players
• 12 song soundtrack
• 48 costumes
• 1 burrito

Let’s have a look at what’s in the full release:

• 4 versus game modes
• 5 worlds
• 25 versus arenas
• AI players
• 17 song soundtrack
• 90 costumes And all this totally new stuff!
• 32 single player challenge levels
  • 16 obstacle levels
  • 16 target levels
  • Race to get Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum medals
• Leaderboards to track challenge level times and your worth as a human being
• Ghost replays to play against - beat your rivals and gloat to your friends!
• 24 Achievements
• Customizable match rules
• Redesigned UI for game status and menus
• Radical new post FX including bloom, distortion waves, and more
• Steam trading cards
• 1 burrito (okay, this one's not new, but don’t fix what ain’t broke)

Shazam! Thanks so much for everyone who gave us feedback during development - we really appreciate it! The game has grown into something much bigger and better than we anticipated and we couldn’t have done it without you and all our loyal backers on Kickstarter.

Price change

With all these new features, we’ve decided that we’ll be increasing the price to $14.99 for the full release, with a 15% launch sale discount for the first week. For anyone who hasn’t picked the game up yet, you still have until September 29th to buy it at the original $9.99 price! This release isn't the end! We've already got ideas and plans for post-release content updates that will be totally free. Stay tuned! See you, space cowboys and girls!

Hey cool cats, Big news! STARWHAL is coming out of Early Access and transitioning into the full release very soon!

Full release of STARWHAL on Steam is launching September 29th!

It’s been a while since we started up the Early Access back in February. Thanks to everyone who has been with us since then (and even before!), and everyone who’s joined us for the ride! As some of you remember, we started the Early Access with these features:

• 2 versus game modes
• 3 worlds
• 10 versus arenas
• AI players
• 12 song soundtrack
• 48 costumes
• 1 burrito

Let’s have a look at what’s in the full release:

• 4 versus game modes
• 5 worlds
• 25 versus arenas
• AI players
• 17 song soundtrack
• 90 costumes And all this totally new stuff!
• 32 single player challenge levels
  • 16 obstacle levels
  • 16 target levels
  • Race to get Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum medals
• Leaderboards to track challenge level times and your worth as a human being
• Ghost replays to play against - beat your rivals and gloat to your friends!
• 24 Achievements
• Customizable match rules
• Redesigned UI for game status and menus
• Radical new post FX including bloom, distortion waves, and more
• Steam trading cards
• 1 burrito (okay, this one's not new, but don’t fix what ain’t broke)

Shazam! Thanks so much for everyone who gave us feedback during development - we really appreciate it! The game has grown into something much bigger and better than we anticipated and we couldn’t have done it without you and all our loyal backers on Kickstarter.

Price change

With all these new features, we’ve decided that we’ll be increasing the price to $14.99 for the full release, with a 15% launch sale discount for the first week. For anyone who hasn’t picked the game up yet, you still have until September 29th to buy it at the original $9.99 price! This release isn't the end! We've already got ideas and plans for post-release content updates that will be totally free. Stay tuned! See you, space cowboys and girls!

It's like poetry, it rhymes! The new update has been a long time coming, but it's finally here, and there's a ton of new stuff!

New Stuff!

• Challenge Mode! This is an early 8 level preview of the single player mode that tests your STARWHAL skills. In the final release of the game, we're aiming to have over 30 levels. There are two different types of challenges:
  • Obstacle mode - 5 levels of racing to the finish line as fast as you can. Watch out for the hazards, as hitting them will give you a time penalty!
  • Levels:
    • EZ EZ
    • Full Throttle
    • Stream Sailor
    • Sludge Sewer
    • Centrifuge
  • Target mode - 3 levels of seeking and destroying the heart targets as fast as possible!
  • Levels:
    • Crossroads
    • Rebound
    • Factory
  • Hazards - Obviously, it's not so simple to just get to the end. Avoid the hazards to make to the finish in one piece!
    • Fireballs and Lava will give you a time penalty
    • Slime will kill you in one hit, so watch out!
  There are also a couple of other neat features!
• Ghosts - Your runs in Challenge modes get recorded and uploaded so you can race against yourself, a Steam friend, as well as a Rival, who has a similar time to your own!
• High Scores - Try to get faster times to unlock the coveted Platinum Medal!
• Leaderboards (coming soon) - we're still working on this one, so it's not in this preview build. Upcoming versions will have Steam leaderboard information displayed in game so you can value your worth as a human being by comparing yourself to friends and total strangers! Warning: We may need to clear some of the leaderboards while we're still in Early Access. Please be patient with us!
• UI overhaul
  • Player Select: you now have to ready up before going to the next screen (This means less accidental clicks when setting up a match)
  • Mode select: now you have more freedom of the type of the type of game you want to play - create your own combinations of score/time
  • Options menu: options now save their state between different game sessions
  • Post FX: We've now implemented lots of cool post effects including Bloom Lighting and chromatic aberration which make heart hits even more intense!(These can be disabled in the options screen)
  • Controller support: Xbox One controller for the Windows version of the game

More new awesome music and sounds!

Balances/Fixes:

• Narwhals have been tweaked - there's now a bit less friction on the players, especially on the "bell" area where the horn meets the head. In our testing, we've found that this has led to faster, more aggressive play since you don't get stuck on each other as often
• Heart hits - heart hits in versus mode now have a shattering effect to emphasize hits, as well as to show how long the heart is invulnerable between taking hits
• Ice blocks are now a bit easier to break in the Forsaken world
• Fast Forward level has been reworked
• Fixed the long standing and mysterious issue where sometimes a heart icon in the GUI won’t appear in Classic mode
• Camera improvements now better frame the action
• Curved blocks are now smoother so it's easier to slide on them
• Key Bindings - adding/removing AI on the keyboard are now changed to the P and O keys respectively from the +/- keys.
• Player Select - the confirm button for the WASD controls is the ‘Space’ key

Costumes

• Bacoooon, to dream of delicious bacon-wrapped narwhals
• Long Scarf, for sci-fi fans
• Female Assassin (we broke the bank trying to get this one in!)

As always, sound off in the Community Hub to let us know what you think! Looking forward to racing (and beating, of course) all your ghosts in Challenge mode!

It's like poetry, it rhymes! The new update has been a long time coming, but it's finally here, and there's a ton of new stuff!

New Stuff!

• Challenge Mode! This is an early 8 level preview of the single player mode that tests your STARWHAL skills. In the final release of the game, we're aiming to have over 30 levels. There are two different types of challenges:
  • Obstacle mode - 5 levels of racing to the finish line as fast as you can. Watch out for the hazards, as hitting them will give you a time penalty!
  • Levels:
    • EZ EZ
    • Full Throttle
    • Stream Sailor
    • Sludge Sewer
    • Centrifuge
  • Target mode - 3 levels of seeking and destroying the heart targets as fast as possible!
  • Levels:
    • Crossroads
    • Rebound
    • Factory
  • Hazards - Obviously, it's not so simple to just get to the end. Avoid the hazards to make to the finish in one piece!
    • Fireballs and Lava will give you a time penalty
    • Slime will kill you in one hit, so watch out!
  There are also a couple of other neat features!
• Ghosts - Your runs in Challenge modes get recorded and uploaded so you can race against yourself, a Steam friend, as well as a Rival, who has a similar time to your own!
• High Scores - Try to get faster times to unlock the coveted Platinum Medal!
• Leaderboards (coming soon) - we're still working on this one, so it's not in this preview build. Upcoming versions will have Steam leaderboard information displayed in game so you can value your worth as a human being by comparing yourself to friends and total strangers! Warning: We may need to clear some of the leaderboards while we're still in Early Access. Please be patient with us!
• UI overhaul
  • Player Select: you now have to ready up before going to the next screen (This means less accidental clicks when setting up a match)
  • Mode select: now you have more freedom of the type of the type of game you want to play - create your own combinations of score/time
  • Options menu: options now save their state between different game sessions
  • Post FX: We've now implemented lots of cool post effects including Bloom Lighting and chromatic aberration which make heart hits even more intense!(These can be disabled in the options screen)
  • Controller support: Xbox One controller for the Windows version of the game

More new awesome music and sounds!

Balances/Fixes:

• Narwhals have been tweaked - there's now a bit less friction on the players, especially on the "bell" area where the horn meets the head. In our testing, we've found that this has led to faster, more aggressive play since you don't get stuck on each other as often
• Heart hits - heart hits in versus mode now have a shattering effect to emphasize hits, as well as to show how long the heart is invulnerable between taking hits
• Ice blocks are now a bit easier to break in the Forsaken world
• Fast Forward level has been reworked
• Fixed the long standing and mysterious issue where sometimes a heart icon in the GUI won’t appear in Classic mode
• Camera improvements now better frame the action
• Curved blocks are now smoother so it's easier to slide on them
• Key Bindings - adding/removing AI on the keyboard are now changed to the P and O keys respectively from the +/- keys.
• Player Select - the confirm button for the WASD controls is the ‘Space’ key

Costumes

• Bacoooon, to dream of delicious bacon-wrapped narwhals
• Long Scarf, for sci-fi fans
• Female Assassin (we broke the bank trying to get this one in!)

As always, sound off in the Community Hub to let us know what you think! Looking forward to racing (and beating, of course) all your ghosts in Challenge mode!

It's uuup! Go go go! Here's the recap of all the totally sweet game things you can get once you connect your 56k modem to download the update! New stuff!

• New world: The chilly distant system called "Forsaken"!
• 3 new arenas: The High Ground (featured at The Next Level PAX East tournament), The Clash, and Moebius
• New visual effects across the board
• New arena visual detail - crystals in Asteroid X and moss in Neo Flopicron
• UI updates, including a move of in-game score to bottom of screen (configurable in the options menu)

Balance/Fixes

• Zones - bubbles act more like liquid now with a bit of resistance as you swim through them
• Heart Throb - the heart throb now gradually slows down and becomes easier to catch the longer they have the heart
• Arenas have been moved around a bit into different worlds
• General bug fixes including fixed scoring for Team mode and Zones and optimized game and level loading
• New controllers supported where possible based on the surveys sent back

ALSO! New costumes

• Ice Cream matching set
• Spartan helmet
• T-rex hat
• New battle companions! Paddington the Cat and Carl the Warrior Snail! (and a donut)

Want to tell us how much you love pushing your friends into lava, how COOL the ice world Forsaken is, or that you feel that Carl is overpowered? Let us know in the community hub!

It's uuup! Go go go! Here's the recap of all the totally sweet game things you can get once you connect your 56k modem to download the update! New stuff!

• New world: The chilly distant system called "Forsaken"!
• 3 new arenas: The High Ground (featured at The Next Level PAX East tournament), The Clash, and Moebius
• New visual effects across the board
• New arena visual detail - crystals in Asteroid X and moss in Neo Flopicron
• UI updates, including a move of in-game score to bottom of screen (configurable in the options menu)

Balance/Fixes

• Zones - bubbles act more like liquid now with a bit of resistance as you swim through them
• Heart Throb - the heart throb now gradually slows down and becomes easier to catch the longer they have the heart
• Arenas have been moved around a bit into different worlds
• General bug fixes including fixed scoring for Team mode and Zones and optimized game and level loading
• New controllers supported where possible based on the surveys sent back

ALSO! New costumes

• Ice Cream matching set
• Spartan helmet
• T-rex hat
• New battle companions! Paddington the Cat and Carl the Warrior Snail! (and a donut)

Want to tell us how much you love pushing your friends into lava, how COOL the ice world Forsaken is, or that you feel that Carl is overpowered? Let us know in the community hub!

Hey sports fans! First off, STARWHAL is a sport. Second, we're coming at you with an update on May 20th! Since we last chatted, we've had the game featured in some cool places. We were at PAX East in two tournaments: The Omegathon and The Next Level. The players took flopping narwhals VERY seriously, and tons of cool prizes were given! We also demoed the game at Ottawa Comiccon to over 38,000 attendees who needed way more space narwhal combat in their lives! Also, have you heard that we're coming to PS4 and PS3? Check out our new trailer, which includes some new levels coming in this update! http://youtu.be/SJiJi7IwQEk Lots of new content this time! You're going to love it so much that you'll want to marry the game if you haven't already. Check out the patch notes below: New stuff!

• New world: The chilly distant system called "Forsaken"!
• 3 new arenas: The High Ground (featured at The Next Level PAX East tournament), The Clash, and Moebius
• New visual effects across the board
• New arena visual detail - crystals in Asteroid X and moss in Neo Flopicron
• UI updates, including a move of in-game score to bottom of screen (configurable in the options menu)

Balance/Fixes

• Zones - bubbles act more like liquid now with a bit of resistance as you swim through them
• Heart Throb - the heart throb now gradually slows down and becomes easier to catch the longer they have the heart
• Arenas have been moved around a bit into different worlds
• General bug fixes including fixed scoring for Team mode and Zones
• New controllers supported where possible based on the surveys sent back

May 20th. Be there! (Meaning be at home by your computer, preferably with some friends around.)

Hey sports fans! First off, STARWHAL is a sport. Second, we're coming at you with an update on May 20th! Since we last chatted, we've had the game featured in some cool places. We were at PAX East in two tournaments: The Omegathon and The Next Level. The players took flopping narwhals VERY seriously, and tons of cool prizes were given! We also demoed the game at Ottawa Comiccon to over 38,000 attendees who needed way more space narwhal combat in their lives! Also, have you heard that we're coming to PS4 and PS3? Check out our new trailer, which includes some new levels coming in this update! http://youtu.be/SJiJi7IwQEk Lots of new content this time! You're going to love it so much that you'll want to marry the game if you haven't already. Check out the patch notes below: New stuff!

• New world: The chilly distant system called "Forsaken"!
• 3 new arenas: The High Ground (featured at The Next Level PAX East tournament), The Clash, and Moebius
• New visual effects across the board
• New arena visual detail - crystals in Asteroid X and moss in Neo Flopicron
• UI updates, including a move of in-game score to bottom of screen (configurable in the options menu)

Balance/Fixes

• Zones - bubbles act more like liquid now with a bit of resistance as you swim through them
• Heart Throb - the heart throb now gradually slows down and becomes easier to catch the longer they have the heart
• Arenas have been moved around a bit into different worlds
• General bug fixes including fixed scoring for Team mode and Zones
• New controllers supported where possible based on the surveys sent back

May 20th. Be there! (Meaning be at home by your computer, preferably with some friends around.)

Hey everyone, The update is aliiive! Drop whatever you're doing and come check it out immediately!! Additions

• 2 new modes - Heart Throb and Zones
• 3 new levels - Modulus, Viscosity, Tarkus II
• 9 new costume pieces
• A new world - Neo Flopicron, the ruined STARWHAL home planet
• A new challenger approaches! E-sports commentator and all around baller, Day, joins the fray as a STARWHAL rider!
• More controllers now supported - F510, Razer Sabertooth Elite, Pro Ex mini, and some Madcatz

Fixes/updates

• Updates to correct some physics problems with players/objects getting stuck in walls or other players
• Tunnels of Love and Wide Load moved to Neo Flopicron world
• Classic increased size to be closer to the original demo version
• Tweaked responsiveness of controls - turning speed is increased
• Fixes to functionality and stability

Look at all those juicy features! The attentive among you will notice that we renamed the new world to a cooler name, and that there's an extra level. We tossed them in because we like you guys. :) Sound off on the discussion boards to let us know what you think!

Hey everyone, The update is aliiive! Drop whatever you're doing and come check it out immediately!! Additions

• 2 new modes - Heart Throb and Zones
• 3 new levels - Modulus, Viscosity, Tarkus II
• 9 new costume pieces
• A new world - Neo Flopicron, the ruined STARWHAL home planet
• A new challenger approaches! E-sports commentator and all around baller, Day, joins the fray as a STARWHAL rider!
• More controllers now supported - F510, Razer Sabertooth Elite, Pro Ex mini, and some Madcatz

Fixes/updates

• Updates to correct some physics problems with players/objects getting stuck in walls or other players
• Tunnels of Love and Wide Load moved to Neo Flopicron world
• Classic increased size to be closer to the original demo version
• Tweaked responsiveness of controls - turning speed is increased
• Fixes to functionality and stability

Look at all those juicy features! The attentive among you will notice that we renamed the new world to a cooler name, and that there's an extra level. We tossed them in because we like you guys. :) Sound off on the discussion boards to let us know what you think!

Hey people, Our first game content update is coming next week! Check out this action: New millenium features!

• 2 new game modes - Zones and Heart Throb
• A whole new world: Eden Surface
• 2 new levels
• New costumes!

All you cool cats will now be able to play Zones and Heart Throb! For those of you didn't get to preview these game modes on the stream, here's the run down: Zones Players rush in to claim control of the zones! Each zone is surrounded by an anti-gravity field, and when control of the zone switches to another player, it triggers a shockwave that blasts opponents away from the zone! Heart Throb Players have to fight for their right to have a heart! Only one player has a heart, but anyone who manages to tusk it will take control of it and then need to engage evasive maneuvers to gain points! We'll also be putting up various bug fixes. Thanks to everyone reporting issues on the discussion boards! See you next week!

Hey people, Our first game content update is coming next week! Check out this action: New millenium features!

• 2 new game modes - Zones and Heart Throb
• A whole new world: Eden Surface
• 2 new levels
• New costumes!

All you cool cats will now be able to play Zones and Heart Throb! For those of you didn't get to preview these game modes on the stream, here's the run down: Zones Players rush in to claim control of the zones! Each zone is surrounded by an anti-gravity field, and when control of the zone switches to another player, it triggers a shockwave that blasts opponents away from the zone! Heart Throb Players have to fight for their right to have a heart! Only one player has a heart, but anyone who manages to tusk it will take control of it and then need to engage evasive maneuvers to gain points! We'll also be putting up various bug fixes. Thanks to everyone reporting issues on the discussion boards! See you next week!

Hi friends, We've gotten a ton of feedback in the community hub this week - thank you! Today we're putting up a patch to address a few things, namely controller support. - Added more controller support (see below). - Added sounds for banging into things and crossing tusks with other players. - Renamed level "The Wall" to "Glacial Gate". - Ice blocks are now slippery. - Getting stuck in a transition after mode-select fixed. - Fix for player select issues such as having two players the same color or not having proper teams. - Fix for players moving wildly after pause. - Player select screen UI upgrades. Some controllers that should now be supported are: - Rock Candy - Afterglow - Bigben - Tron 360 - Razer Sabertooth - QanBa fight stick - Various Logitech controllers - Some PS3 controller support with Motioninjoy, and without - More Xbox 360 compatible controllers If you find any problems with the game, please let us know. Happy flopping, everyone!

Hi friends, We've gotten a ton of feedback in the community hub this week - thank you! Today we're putting up a patch to address a few things, namely controller support. - Added more controller support (see below). - Added sounds for banging into things and crossing tusks with other players. - Renamed level "The Wall" to "Glacial Gate". - Ice blocks are now slippery. - Getting stuck in a transition after mode-select fixed. - Fix for player select issues such as having two players the same color or not having proper teams. - Fix for players moving wildly after pause. - Player select screen UI upgrades. Some controllers that should now be supported are: - Rock Candy - Afterglow - Bigben - Tron 360 - Razer Sabertooth - QanBa fight stick - Various Logitech controllers - Some PS3 controller support with Motioninjoy, and without - More Xbox 360 compatible controllers If you find any problems with the game, please let us know. Happy flopping, everyone!

Hey guys! We're going to flop on over to Twitch for a Saturday afternoon STARWHAL stream! Come on down to hang out with us! http://www.twitch.tv/breakfallgames We're gonna play some STARWHAL (obviously) and likely call each other morons at some point. You may also get a sneak peak at some of the goodies that are in the works for our first update. Radical! See y'all at 12:01pm EST, aka 12 noon! (Anyone else have a hard time remembering if 12:00pm is noon or midnight? Just us, I guess.) http://www.twitch.tv/breakfallgames

Hey guys! We're going to flop on over to Twitch for a Saturday afternoon STARWHAL stream! Come on down to hang out with us! http://www.twitch.tv/breakfallgames We're gonna play some STARWHAL (obviously) and likely call each other morons at some point. You may also get a sneak peak at some of the goodies that are in the works for our first update. Radical! See y'all at 12:01pm EST, aka 12 noon! (Anyone else have a hard time remembering if 12:00pm is noon or midnight? Just us, I guess.) http://www.twitch.tv/breakfallgames