Astra And The New Constellation - 1.1 Patch And Updated Demo

Hiya folks! I'm happy to announce that the first patch for Astra And The New Constellation is live. This update is a catch-all for several different types of changes, and I think overall the game should feel a touch better (and fairer!) in action. Check out the Approximately-Everything-Unless-I-Forgot-Something list of changes at the bottom of this post.

Getting the 1.1 build ready was a great time to lock in the updated demo, which is now also available on this page! I'll be delisting the older demo on its standalone page right after this post, as it's just far enough out of date that I think it's not a fair representation of where the final game landed. If you haven't already given Astra a try, now's the perfect time to hop in and give it a go.

In addition to in-game changes, I've also added Raspberry Pi and P8 cartridges as download options! This was an oft-requested option, so I spent some time talking with other developers who've done similar Pico-8 releases, as well as checking out the distribution format for a lot of them here on Itch, and decided to go ahead and add those. I hope y'all have fun, and please shoot me some pics of the game playing on your devices!

Thanks again to everyone who's offered encouragement and feedback on the game as I slowly chipped away at it. This new 1.1 build is something I'm really happy with, and I hope y'all are as well. If you have any thoughts about the updates, please feel free to reach out here, via Twitter, or on my developer Discord server! ✨

- rare

1.1 Update Changelog:

• Made a few small adjustments to platforms and hazards across several levels to improve game flow, and reduce "leap of faith" moments where player wouldn't be able to know where they needed to aim by the time they had to commit to a jump.
• Increased range of activation for checkpoints, no more near misses!
• Reduced the hitboxes of the following hazards to better match their sprites:
  • Satellites
    
  • Sawblades
  • Spikes
  • Falling boulders on level 04
  • Fire spits on level 12
  • Floating boulders on level 14
• Fixed a bug where the transition wipe when using the Return To Title menu option after finishing a level would not correctly center on screen.
• Changed in-level tutorial texts to color 9/orange to help distinguish them from the levels as objects of interest.
• Updated the camera on level 08 to center the player higher on screen, giving them a better preview range of upcoming level sections. This update also includes a very slight tweak to make the camera feel less jittery after the player groundpounds and bounces up!
• Added a background sprite behind fire spits on level 12 (small pillars poking up out of the lava) to help players determine where the fire spits would rise up from.
• Fixed minor graphical bugs, and reduced instances of background effects on levels where they could impact the game's performance. Thanks for the reports!
• Added dust clouds to the mini intro cutscene of level 11, to enhance Astra's zoominess factor by an order of magnitude. This one is very important, as far as I'm concerned.