We interrupt your daily flight to bring you a new patch. It improves the code for the Regular and Quick Map, and also adds a lot of optimization and technical changes. While a lot of changes have been made, they can be summed up quickly.

First off, the Map generation code has been optimized. Additionally, it received a few Quality-of-Life modifications. The Quick Map now accurately displays unopenned doors, and doors that can only be opened with a Laser Beam are marked differently to the ones that require Rockets.

On the more technical side of things, a new idle animation system was implemented. Not only does it run more smoothly, it also lets me remove a lot of redundant assets, making the game slightly slimmer. It even allows me to add idle animations to enemy ships!

Finally, one of the most important changes is that a new free paintjob has been added to the game, called Carol. Its main feature is a cute little christmas hat on top! Unfortunately it doesn't offer jiggle physics, as I'm yet to figure out how to do those.

Here is a full list of patch notes:

Additions:

• Added a new Free Paintjob: Carol.
  • You can swap to it in the Shipyard or in the Options menu.

Visuals:

• Secret Doors are now painted green instead of gray on the map.
• Removed Secret Doors from the map key, as they act just like regular doors.
• Added a new Map icon: Sealed.
  • This icon marks doors held shut by a special sealing lock.
• The Quick Map now accurately indicates which doors have been used before.
• Enemy ships now have an idle animation when Idle or Alert.

Campaign:

• Increased the activation arc of the Centurion's Forward Shield from 10 degrees up to 90 degrees.
  • It's mostly to deal with a rare issue with the Forward Shield.
  • Shouldn't have any tangible impact on the fight itself.

Rebel Ops:

• Reduced the number of Paladins that spawn in Mission 6.

Bugs:

• Fixed several Dock icons being incorrectly tinted.
• Fixed an incorrect objective marker in Rebel Ops Mission 6.
• Fixed a bug where using a specific secret door in Rebel Ops didn't make it appear on the map.
• Fixed the Hel's Fighters Store map room displaying a Landing Pad instead of a dock.
• Fixed enemy projectile sounds stacking during the last two phases of the final boss.

Techical Changes:

• Updated the Input library to version 6.1.5.
• Optimized the Map creation code.
• Optimized the persistent enemy code.
• Optimized the enemy lead calculation code.
• Created a new idle animation system for the game.
• Removed the now unused idle animation sprites.
• Removed several obsolete objects.
• Removed several unnecessary lines from the final stats window after finishing Hel's Fighters.
• Removed several obsolete functions from the code.

How to update the game on itch:

1. Download the new version.
2. Delete the old Aerostrike folder. All save files are stored in a separate folder, so it is safe to delete the old game files.
3. Create a new Aerostrike folder.
4. Extract the game files inside the new folder.

This is currently the last planned update for MF-01 Aerostrike. From here on, patches might be simple bug fixes or maybe a few extra free paintjobs. I'm looking to work on other projects for the time being, including a possible short Potatostrike SHMUP game.

If anyone is met with any sort of weird bug, or simply thinks that the map should have inverted controls, feel free to leave a comment, send an email to the support address, or message me on any of my social media accounts (preferably Mastodon).

Stay safe pilots!