Element — patch notes and updates
Stored observation / content update:
Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.
| Update | Date | Excerpt / source |
|---|---|---|
| Element v2.3 released! | 2020-05-10 | We disintegrated some space junk and Element v2.3 'Lunar' is available now! This update removes some obsolete cold-war era 32bit tech and adds a couple of shiny modern privacy controls. The Mac version now supports macOS 10.15 Catalina with a hardened runtime and fancy notarisation. There's also an upgraded Unity engine thrown in to sweeten the deal. Element is available on the App Store for iOS and for Nintendo Switch. An Android version will finally be out soon! Please let us know what you think - leave reviews, start a thread or leave a comment in the discussion forums, or tweet @flightlessnz. Enjoy. cheers, Greg & John Flightless Element |
| Element v2.2 released! | 2018-12-10 | Our advanced tech supplies have landed and Element v2.2 'Blazar' is available now! The coolest new feature in this update is the addition of a 'Super Missile Supply Crate'. This advanced supply crate can be picked up using a supply drone, just like a regular supply crate. After your drone picks up the crate it will launch a huge missile attack at the enemy. The new advanced supply crates are not available to the enemy so you can decide exactly when to use them. The supplies also become more frequent and more powerful as the game progresses and will help tip the game in your favour or get you out of a tricky spot, particularly on the outer pla |
| Element v2.1 released! | 2018-10-17 | Our transmissions are tuned and Element v2.1 'Quasar' is available now! This update adds some highly requested features: menu music, in-game dynamic music, and a quick way to return to your base during the game. We added some more awesome music by our longtime collaborator Jeremy Cullen. There are a couple of tracks used in the menu and all of them are used dynamically in-game. There is an ambient first part and later a second part kicks into gear based on events as the game progresses. Music volume can be adjusted or turned off using the in-game menu. The volume preference is saved and respected in the menu and the game. To return to your ba |
| Element Release! | 2018-07-27 | After four years in development, we are happy to announce the full release of Element v2.0 "Lagrange" today for Windows, Mac and Linux. It has been quite a long journey for us and the game through Early Access. We have exhibited Element at PAX Australia and GDC, entered quite a few indie festivals and competitions, attended various games conferences, and met plenty of friendly players and amazing developers along the way. A massive thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement. Included in our final release are months of updates and improvements to the Early Access version - new stuff, fixed stuff, tweaks, balances, engine updates, |
| Full release inbound! | 2018-07-23 | We are extremely happy to say that Element will be kicked out of the Early Access airlock and released for Windows, Mac and Linux on Steam this week! Element v2.0 should be available on Friday 27 July, 2018. There are months of updates included - new stuff, fixed stuff, tweaks, balances, engine updates, UI updates, effects updates, input updates, icon updates, and brand new planets, intro animations, epilogue animations, and localisation. We will include a more detailed feature and update list in the release post. Element will also be released this week for Nintendo Switch in the Europe / Australia / New Zealand and US / Americas regions. A J |
| Element v1.5.1 update. | 2017-09-06 | Our labs have torn down and rebuilt a bunch of junk and Element v1.5.1 'Pulsar' is available now. Nearly all of the changes are under the hood, with some big refactorings of our plumbing and difficulty systems to prepare for future v1.6 updates. On the surface everything should play the same so please let us know if anything is misbehaving. We have also updated the Steam, input, sound, and JSON libraries which should be seamless. There are a couple of shiny bits amongst the mundane library update waffle, including a small unit spawn animation, some updated explosion effects, and a new epilogue animation. This update also removes the Linux ren |
| Element v1.5.1 update. | 2017-09-06 | Our labs have torn down and rebuilt a bunch of junk and Element v1.5.1 'Pulsar' is available now. Nearly all of the changes are under the hood, with some big refactorings of our plumbing and difficulty systems to prepare for future v1.6 updates. On the surface everything should play the same so please let us know if anything is misbehaving. We have also updated the Steam, input, sound, and JSON libraries which should be seamless. There are a couple of shiny bits amongst the mundane library update waffle, including a small unit spawn animation, some updated explosion effects, and a new epilogue animation. This update also removes the Linux ren |
| Element v1.5 released! | 2017-07-09 | Our labs have completed their latest research and Element v1.5 'Pulsar' is available now! This update includes a new Supply Drone that can be used to fetch bonus Supply Crates appearing on the surface and in orbit. To accommodate the Supply Drone, the 'Repair' menu has now become a 'Drone' menu. The Drone menu will context-sensitively launch a Supply Drone or a Repair Drone depending on if your current target is a Supply Crate or one of your units in need of repair. We have also added voice control input for Windows 10. This is considered experimental and we are still working on adding some UI to manage the preference. If you enable your micr |
| Element v1.5 released! | 2017-07-09 | Our labs have completed their latest research and Element v1.5 'Pulsar' is available now! This update includes a new Supply Drone that can be used to fetch bonus Supply Crates appearing on the surface and in orbit. To accommodate the Supply Drone, the 'Repair' menu has now become a 'Drone' menu. The Drone menu will context-sensitively launch a Supply Drone or a Repair Drone depending on if your current target is a Supply Crate or one of your units in need of repair. We have also added voice control input for Windows 10. This is considered experimental and we are still working on adding some UI to manage the preference. If you enable your micr |
| Element v1.4.2 update. | 2017-02-11 | We have verified some internal telemetry and Element v1.4.2 'Nebula' is available now. This update includes a completely replaced text renderer to prepare for future localisation, updated UI layouts and copy edits for the updated text renderer, and an updated input library. Every piece of text in the game has been changed so please let us know if anything has gone astray! Also, remember to check out the recent v1.4.1 updates from a few weeks ago; Element v1.4.1 release notes. Please let us know what you think - leave reviews, start a thread or leave a comment in the discussion forums, or tweet @flightlessnz. Enjoy. cheers, Greg & John Flightl |
| Element v1.4.2 update. | 2017-02-11 | We have verified some internal telemetry and Element v1.4.2 'Nebula' is available now. This update includes a completely replaced text renderer to prepare for future localisation, updated UI layouts and copy edits for the updated text renderer, and an updated input library. Every piece of text in the game has been changed so please let us know if anything has gone astray! Also, remember to check out the recent v1.4.1 updates from a few weeks ago; Element v1.4.1 release notes. Please let us know what you think - leave reviews, start a thread or leave a comment in the discussion forums, or tweet @flightlessnz. Enjoy. cheers, Greg & John Flightl |
| Element v1.4.1 update. | 2017-01-28 | After a short break to realign orbits Element v1.4.1 'Nebula' is available now. This is a systems update for Steam, input and sound libraries, and Unity. We have also made some rendering optimisations using gpu instancing and updated shaders, optimised some of our model data, and reduced loading times with assorted memory trickery. There are also some changes under the hood to address problems with deferred rendering on Linux using Unity's new graphics APIs. Windows and OSX platforms will continue to use the primary deferred renderer that enables lighting and post-processing effects as normal. We are experiencing a few problems compositing mu |
| Element v1.4.1 update. | 2017-01-28 | After a short break to realign orbits Element v1.4.1 'Nebula' is available now. This is a systems update for Steam, input and sound libraries, and Unity. We have also made some rendering optimisations using gpu instancing and updated shaders, optimised some of our model data, and reduced loading times with assorted memory trickery. There are also some changes under the hood to address problems with deferred rendering on Linux using Unity's new graphics APIs. Windows and OSX platforms will continue to use the primary deferred renderer that enables lighting and post-processing effects as normal. We are experiencing a few problems compositing mu |
| Element v1.4 released! | 2016-10-26 | We have finished observing space dust and are happy to announce that Element v1.4 'Nebula' is available now in time for PAX Australia! This update includes a brand new tutorial, a redesigned and refined game UI, a bunch of visual changes, new narration and in-game dialog, improved native input, and updates to sound, effects, Unity, and assorted bits of plumbing. Thanks for all of your feedback and support, particularly those who helped test our new tutorial. The new tutorial is a more refined experience compared to the older one in v1.0, if anyone remembers it. The overall approach is much more interactive and does not take away the basic wor |
| Element v1.4 released! | 2016-10-26 | We have finished observing space dust and are happy to announce that Element v1.4 'Nebula' is available now in time for PAX Australia! This update includes a brand new tutorial, a redesigned and refined game UI, a bunch of visual changes, new narration and in-game dialog, improved native input, and updates to sound, effects, Unity, and assorted bits of plumbing. Thanks for all of your feedback and support, particularly those who helped test our new tutorial. The new tutorial is a more refined experience compared to the older one in v1.0, if anyone remembers it. The overall approach is much more interactive and does not take away the basic wor |
| Element v1.3 released! | 2016-09-13 | We have finished harvesting asteroids and are happy to announce that Element v1.3 'Kuiper' is available now! As always, thanks for all of your feedback and support. This update includes some new content, a few UI and visual changes, improved native input, and updates to sound, effects, Unity, and various bits of plumbing. There is now debris around each world, including orbital asteroids and incoming meteors of various sizes. They are automatically targeted by defence units and can be manually targeted using attack missiles. Debris collides with everything and inflicts a lot of damage so you'll need to balance your defensive efforts against i |
| Element v1.3 released! | 2016-09-13 | We have finished harvesting asteroids and are happy to announce that Element v1.3 'Kuiper' is available now! As always, thanks for all of your feedback and support. This update includes some new content, a few UI and visual changes, improved native input, and updates to sound, effects, Unity, and various bits of plumbing. There is now debris around each world, including orbital asteroids and incoming meteors of various sizes. They are automatically targeted by defence units and can be manually targeted using attack missiles. Debris collides with everything and inflicts a lot of damage so you'll need to balance your defensive efforts against i |
| Element v1.2 released! | 2016-07-20 | After a few months of hard work in the mines, Element v1.2 'Corona' is available now! Thanks once again for all of your feedback and support. This update includes a whole lot of visual changes, a new native input system, and updates to sound, Unity, Steam, and various bits of plumbing. This update clears the way for our plans for additional game content in the upcoming releases. The biggest change is an updated renderer. The new deferred renderer allows for enhanced lighting and effects, and combined with the update to Unity 5.3 brings vastly improved batching, multithreading, and more efficient rendering. We are keeping support for the exist |
| Element v1.2 released! | 2016-07-20 | After a few months of hard work in the mines, Element v1.2 'Corona' is available now! Thanks once again for all of your feedback and support. This update includes a whole lot of visual changes, a new native input system, and updates to sound, Unity, Steam, and various bits of plumbing. This update clears the way for our plans for additional game content in the upcoming releases. The biggest change is an updated renderer. The new deferred renderer allows for enhanced lighting and effects, and combined with the update to Unity 5.3 brings vastly improved batching, multithreading, and more efficient rendering. We are keeping support for the exist |
| Element v1.1 released! | 2016-03-10 | We are happy to announce that Element v1.1 'Aurora' is available now! Thanks for all of your feedback and support. This is a big update and we have been working hard to refine the UI and gameplay, update the content and tech, and streamline the overall experience as we prepare to add more features and content. Please let us know what you think - leave reviews, start a thread or leave a comment in the discussion forums, or tweet @flightlessnz. Enjoy. cheers, Greg & John Flightless Element v1.1 'Aurora' Changes Game Objectives You are now mining in direct competition with the enemy. To win, simply mine more element than the enemy and destroy th |
| Element v1.1 released! | 2016-03-10 | We are happy to announce that Element v1.1 'Aurora' is available now! Thanks for all of your feedback and support. This is a big update and we have been working hard to refine the UI and gameplay, update the content and tech, and streamline the overall experience as we prepare to add more features and content. Please let us know what you think - leave reviews, start a thread or leave a comment in the discussion forums, or tweet @flightlessnz. Enjoy. cheers, Greg & John Flightless Element v1.1 'Aurora' Changes Game Objectives You are now mining in direct competition with the enemy. To win, simply mine more element than the enemy and destroy th |