• Restored old starting scenario, with minor updates for BBQ game systems.
  
• New starting scenario now available on Brutal difficulty only.
  
• Added difficulty selection dialog when starting a new game.
  
• Assorted minor fixes, including some possible mission blockers.

• Players with high res displays may wish to increase UI Scale. See: Options > Interface Options

• BBQ Part II is making slow progress, but is nowhere near ready.
  
• 2018 marks Zigfrak's 10th development anniversary. Carpe diem, kids.
  
• Development and build environment moved from Mac to Windows. I *think* everything worked?
  
• Built with Unity 5.6.3p2
  
• Loot Code KRT2-9DL3-V23L expires January 14, 2019. Redeem for a rather larger pile of flax.

We nailed down that pesky bug preventing progress through the new tutorial for some players.

It could impact other missions too, so make sure it says "Zigfrak 1.5.5" (or newer, if you're reading this from the future) on your main menu screen!

Thanks to diligent players who reported this early and often enough for the bug to finally click for us, and Rustysniper for handling the release footwork.

--Alex

Entheogen Studios is proud to announce immediate availability of the Zigfrak 1.5 Feature and Engine Mega-Update. Our first public update in over two years, this release is dedicated to Zigfrak's true cult following. We're here for you until the cold, bitter end.

It's risky to change up so many things at once, but these are good changes. Zigfrak has grown up, but it's still as crazy as ever. If you encounter problems or have questions, please let us know.

Since it is the future now, we're trying a pure 64-bit release this time. Chime in on the pinned forum thread if you'd like to comment about 64-bit releases.

This is Backyard BBQ part one of two. These changes are intended to support the upcoming expansion content patch, eta mid-late 2017.


ːflameː Too many to list.
ːflameː Everything is different now.
ːflameː Same creamy Zigfrak center.

No, really, too many to list. See what happens when I even try?

• Retooled controls: Ship no longer tracks the camera; instead, the camera tracks your ship. Pilot mode and gun mode are the new default.
  
• "Recover" command: Applies duct tape, clears last chance, repairs items, launches decoys. Recover does whatever it needs to do to get you out of a hairy situation. Internal effects have independent cooldowns.
  
• Tech Specs: Talent Trees in space. Five trees, each with an action skill and host of abilities to choose from. Talent selection begins at level 15.
  
• Pets and pet-like things: You're not alone. As you progress through the game, your ship will start to accumulate a cloud of friendlies, flying in formation by your side.
  
• Equipped item changes: Some item types can only be professionally installed at a station, after discovery in the wild. The new Upgrades tab at participating vendors is a browsable catalog of these discoverable items. Essential items like weapons can still be swapped in and out at will, no professional installation required.
  
• Multiple save slots
  
• Bank is now shared across characters
  
• Another massive re-itemization. Items have been added, removed, and changed.
  
• Vendor stations now have "auto-sell", "auto-discombobulate" options.
  
• "Merciless" NPCs, and NPCs specced into talent trees of their own. Watch out.
  
• UI changes, apologies to people with small monitors in 2016.
  
• Kinetic damage bonus is now derived from physical force.
  
• Added ship-on-ship collision damage. Ramming speed!
  
• Added free system roaming; happy exploring!
  
• Rendering engine update, many graphical improvements.
  
• Campaign overhauled to integrate with systems changes. Tutorial content has been replaced.
  
• Literally thousands of other tweaks and improvements are not listed here.

Finally, some stuff is *not* included, or not 100% finished. Please don't hold it against us too harshly.

These remaining items are planned for the Backyard BBQ Content Patch, ETA mid-late 2017.

• Achievements
  
• Expansion content including playthrough+ and raised level cap.
  
• Finalized pet system
  
• Large ship control
  
• Partial controller support only.

Existing saved games will be imported. Those who beta-tested can just keep on playing, there is no wipe.

The Zigfrak 1.18 (2014 release) save file will be left unmodified, in case you need to roll back.


Good hunting, we hope our game brings you some measure of blissed out space shootin' satisfaction.

Sincerely,
The Zigfrak Team
Alex and Jess (aka Rustysniper)

... technically.

Fixes included:

ːflameː Addresses a performance issue seen during Symbioid encounters.
ːflameː Addresses an issue with discombobulations yielding inappropriate items.

Apologies for unexpected crafting side effects, or if the Symbioid Virus was making your computer slow.

The test branch has been updated to Zigfrak 1.5.3.

This is a followup to yesterday's mega-patch on the test branch, and attempts to address several player-reported issues which were preventing early campaign completion.

Zigfrak is a game with a lot of randomness in it; no two playthroughs quite the same. Testing all the possibilities is a challenge for us. Thanks for your help and patience during this final shakedown.

Fixes for issues:

- Auto-jump not working for some players on certain missions.
- Defense platforms sometimes not spawning during tutorial.
- Loss of camera focus during opening gun sequence.
- Fixed potential null reference crash during opening tutorial.

Please report back.

For good measure, here was yesterday's announcement:

http://steamcommunity.com/games/zigfrak/announcements/detail/653414355536317418

The test branch has been updated, and this time all characters (new and old!) are invited. Set your Steam client to pick up the Zigfrak public test branch to check it out. This release includes all systems changes from last December's test patch, plus a major retooling of the game's primary campaign, and Marduk knows what else.

A few known issues linger:
- Large ship control still unfinished.
- Pet system working but unfinished.
- Controller support unfinished.
- Various camera glitchiness. Cameras are hard.

It's been too long since the last update, so I'm pushing it as-is. I think it's a vast improvement over our last major update in 2014. Everything has been taken apart and put back together again, this time with feeling, and true to the vision of what Zigfrak is... whatever that is.

Please take a look, and call out any major issues you run into. Linux build is untested, shout out if you have any luck either way. All builds are 64-bit.

Unless we run into any show stoppers, this patch should hit the public branch around the end of November.

Good hunting. Make a new character. Take some screenshots!

Zigfrak's base price will be getting a bump from $4.99 to $7.99, pending Steam's approval of the change.

This is a long-planned change based on several factors. In a nutshell, running a small business in California is expensive, and indies should not undersell themselves. That's the cost of a free expansion!

We will be promoting the BBQ feature release to the main public branch soon, pending a little more fix-up of the things it broke.

(December 2016 Update: Beta period is over, thanks to all)

(November 2016 Update: New characters are now welcome!)

Have a level 40 Zigfrak character with campaign completion? If so, you are cordially invited... to the Backyard BBQ Open Beta!

Visit the BBQ Beta sub-forum for all your Backyard BBQ needs.

To switch to the public test branch (Zigfrak 1.5), right-click on Zigfrak in your collection, and modify your opt-in status under the Betas tab. You may need to restart Steam to make sure it pulls down the right build. The download is about 260 megs, and the start screen says "Zigfrak v1.5.0".

/throws down hammer, for no reason.

Backyard BBQ's talents are 100% feature complete, and apparently working (cross your toes.) There is undoubtedly some balancing and tweakage much later down the road-- especially once players start kicking the tires, but for now, I'm calling this a major milestone. There are just a few more gaps to fill in before releasing a test candidate for those who have opted in for beta releases. Best case is a few weeks out. Worst case is heat death of universe. So close.

As a reminder, we're doing a feature release first (just features, no major content changes.) A public test build for the feature release is what's close. An engine update will follow, and finally, the expansion content will hit. These are further out. I don't mean to sell the feature release short, though, this bugger is huge.

A full writeup of all the available talents is now available here:

http://zigfrak.com/bbq/bbq-specs.html

There are a great number of cherry picked dev screenshots on the @zigfrak twitter feed, check them out and give us a follow!

https://twitter.com/zigfrak/media

Thank you for flying with Zigfrak. We know you have your choice of space games to fly with, and your decision to fly with Zigfrak brings us a warm fuzzy every time. Also, radiation sickness.

--Alex
Zigfrak Dev

About a week old at this point, but in case you're interested...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbsR-XXvwZc