http://store.steampowered.com/app/268130/Heat_Signature/

It's on this day, the 13th of Space February for some reason, we remember the assassin Cherry Ash and her lover, muse, and arresting officer Tesh Domina. Two legends of their professions, two glittering careers brought crashing down in glorious flames when they hooked up instead of doing their jobs. Today we celebrate their professionally disastrous and ultimately fatal love, partly because it has something to teach us about the human condition, and partly because their sweet custom weapons are still knocking around here somewhere.

For the next two weeks, two unique shipments are passing through the Drift. Look for a ship with a flashing gold beacon, and raid it to find either Cherry's Fatal Attraction or Tesh's Instant Connection. Each shipment will keep flying around until you steal it, or until the end of February. After that, whether you stole them or not, both items will be available to find as very rare random loot.


Stabbed through the heart
And you're to blame
You give teleporting swords into people
A bad name

Cherry's Fatal Attraction is a melee weapon that teleports you to your target with your blade already through their heart. It's long range and penetrates anything - even shields - but needs recharging after one use. When it's out of charge, it still works as an armour-piercing longblade.




Tesh Domina was known for being able to pacify a room full of criminals faster than any other Offworld Security Officer. Ever the supportive partner, Cherry thought Tesh's kit was holding her back. So she had this wildly expensive custom concussion club made for her, with zero recovery time and a Slipstream effect on every strike. After that, Tesh wasn't known for much - everyone she took out thought they'd been hit by some kind of blurry grenade.


We've added the option to disable Liberators, the well-equipped characters who show up in the bar to help anyone struggling to liberate stations.


We're thinking about an update to add some optional extra difficulty - vote on which of our ideas sound good to you.


Because we're slow and bad, there's still time to get on our trading cards! Tweet a GIF, GFY or short video clip of something extraordinary you did or that happened to you in Heat Sig, mention @HeatSig in the tweet, and we'll make trading cards about the best. We have 3 we're definitely going to pick so far, and we need at least 2 more.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/268130/Heat_Signature/

It's on this day, the 13th of Space February for some reason, we remember the assassin Cherry Ash and her lover, muse, and arresting officer Tesh Domina. Two legends of their professions, two glittering careers brought crashing down in glorious flames when they hooked up instead of doing their jobs. Today we celebrate their professionally disastrous and ultimately fatal love, partly because it has something to teach us about the human condition, and partly because their sweet custom weapons are still knocking around here somewhere.

For the next two weeks, two unique shipments are passing through the Drift. Look for a ship with a flashing gold beacon, and raid it to find either Cherry's Fatal Attraction or Tesh's Instant Connection. Each shipment will keep flying around until you steal it, or until the end of February. After that, whether you stole them or not, both items will be available to find as very rare random loot.


Stabbed through the heart
And you're to blame
You give teleporting swords into people
A bad name

Cherry's Fatal Attraction is a melee weapon that teleports you to your target with your blade already through their heart. It's long range and penetrates anything - even shields - but needs recharging after one use. When it's out of charge, it still works as an armour-piercing longblade.




Tesh Domina was known for being able to pacify a room full of criminals faster than any other Offworld Security Officer. Ever the supportive partner, Cherry thought Tesh's kit was holding her back. So she had this wildly expensive custom concussion club made for her, with zero recovery time and a Slipstream effect on every strike. After that, Tesh wasn't known for much - everyone she took out thought they'd been hit by some kind of blurry grenade.


We've added the option to disable Liberators, the well-equipped characters who show up in the bar to help anyone struggling to liberate stations.


We're thinking about an update to add some optional extra difficulty - vote on which of our ideas sound good to you.


Because we're slow and bad, there's still time to get on our trading cards! Tweet a GIF, GFY or short video clip of something extraordinary you did or that happened to you in Heat Sig, mention @HeatSig in the tweet, and we'll make trading cards about the best. We have 3 we're definitely going to pick so far, and we need at least 2 more.

For the duration of Space Winter (21st to 31st of Space December), you can use the objective delivery chute and choose one item (per day) to give to your Steam friends.

When you see a 'Gift!' annotation on your stash, you'll find a box inside with a gift from a friend!

If you don't have any friends, or your friends are allergic to space or fun, you'll still sometimes get random presents from the citizens of the Drift, who appreciate you.



Space Winter is a season for friendship, giving, and staying home so the Voidmother can't take your mind. Those who stray too far into the cold... they come back, but they come back wrong.

The Voidmother isn't real, of course, she's just a ridiculous story made up by people whose minds were taken by the Voidmother.



Against vital safety protocols, independent stations have chosen to modify their long range beacon lights to emulate festive - or 'ugly' - colours. Thousands will die in collisions caused by the reduced visibility.



If you hadn't already unlocked the Everything Gun by playing at launch, it's unlocked to find for everyone now! It's still a unique weapon, so it's rare.



If you have friends but they don't play Heat Signature, they should know that a) they're missing out on your funny item names, and b) we're 20% off in the Winter sale, crazy, such a deal, how can they do this.

For the duration of Space Winter (21st to 31st of Space December), you can use the objective delivery chute and choose one item (per day) to give to your Steam friends.

When you see a 'Gift!' annotation on your stash, you'll find a box inside with a gift from a friend!

If you don't have any friends, or your friends are allergic to space or fun, you'll still sometimes get random presents from the citizens of the Drift, who appreciate you.



Space Winter is a season for friendship, giving, and staying home so the Voidmother can't take your mind. Those who stray too far into the cold... they come back, but they come back wrong.

The Voidmother isn't real, of course, she's just a ridiculous story made up by people whose minds were taken by the Voidmother.



Against vital safety protocols, independent stations have chosen to modify their long range beacon lights to emulate festive - or 'ugly' - colours. Thousands will die in collisions caused by the reduced visibility.



If you hadn't already unlocked the Everything Gun by playing at launch, it's unlocked to find for everyone now! It's still a unique weapon, so it's rare.



If you have friends but they don't play Heat Signature, they should know that a) they're missing out on your funny item names, and b) we're 20% off in the Winter sale, crazy, such a deal, how can they do this.

We've uploaded a new patch, here's what's changed:

2017.11.30.1

• Fixed game locking after liberation mission completed. (Bug introduced in previous patch)
  
• Remove liberators' personal missions if the station is liberated outside the mission.

2017.11.27.1

• Fixed guard errand frequency.
  
• Fixed retiring a character generating an extra liberator.
  
• Fleshstripper no longer uses a bullet.
  
• Fixed Strategy Map becoming non-interactive after a liberator is killed while liberating a station.
  
• Fixed thruster sound playing after repeating practice mode.

If you'd like to get patches as soon as possible, the nextversion beta receives patches as soon as they're ready for testing.

We've uploaded a new patch, here's what's changed:

2017.11.30.1

• Fixed game locking after liberation mission completed. (Bug introduced in previous patch)
  
• Remove liberators' personal missions if the station is liberated outside the mission.

2017.11.27.1

• Fixed guard errand frequency.
  
• Fixed retiring a character generating an extra liberator.
  
• Fleshstripper no longer uses a bullet.
  
• Fixed Strategy Map becoming non-interactive after a liberator is killed while liberating a station.
  
• Fixed thruster sound playing after repeating practice mode.

If you'd like to get patches as soon as possible, the nextversion beta receives patches as soon as they're ready for testing.

I was too nervous to read Heat Signature reviews for two weeks after launch. I was relieved to see the scores were great, and after 3.5 years of work, that was all I wanted to hear: I didn't want to know what their caveats were.

Once I calmed down and read them, though, I was delighted: they were not only very positive, but they told entertaining stories and made intelligent points. And almost every critique I read I thought was a fair point. Hence this:

The Fair Points Update. 5 new features and 3 new items, in direct response to review critique, designed to round the game out and make it more fun for more people.

We also added a gun that fires acid money to melt the flesh from your enemies and leave only chemically bleached bone. No-one asked us for that, we just kind of did it, and now here we are.



This post only explains the features themselves, read the blog version if you're interested in the design thinking behind it all.

Missions with shielded or armoured guards can seem impossible without very high level tools

You're now told how many of each type of guard you'll encounter on a mission, so you can plan accordingly. You'll be able to tell: yes, I have enough tools to deal with this many shielded guards. There are also more missions with 3-6 bosses, which is very doable if you have just one tool that deals with their protection type.

We're also adding two new item types to help you better deal with armour and shields. Acid Traps can be placed to strip the armour of any guard who walks on them, and Crash Traps will crash all of their electronic kit, shields included. You'll have to use some guile to set them up and lure the target into them, but they both come with a powerful advantage: they're always self-charging. That means even the common ones are endlessly re-usable, so there's no upper limit on how many armoured or shielded guards you can deal with - if you can lure them in.



Permadeath encourages you to choose missions below your skill level, because so much is at stake

Sometimes, one of the harder missions on offer will come with a Glitchback Guarantee. This means your client will teleport you out the moment you get hit, avoiding any permanent damage. So there's absolutely no risk in taking these missions, you can't lose anything no matter how badly it goes. It doesn't make the mission easier, though - if you have to be glitched out, the mission is canceled.

if you can't manage Hard missions, progression is too slow.

If you haven't liberated a station in a while, one of your choices on character select will be a Liberator: a randomly generated character with high-level gear, and a personal mission to liberate a particular station. They already have the intel and the kit to go out there and do this, so you can just pick them and head straight out.



Stronghold liberations are too hard for some players

If you fail a Stronghold mission, you'll find a Stronghold Liberator in the bar. These are like the other liberators but even better equipped, so they should make Stronghold missions more viable and fun if you're not able to complete them with characters who started from scratch.

I sometimes have trouble making things out

Under Accessibility Options, there's now a Simple Art Mode you can enable. It makes all ships use a simpler version of the Foundry ship look, which is already our clearest and plainest. We've clarified and plainified it a bit further in this mode: the traversible space is almost entirely blank, and the solid stuff is tweaked to all look identical. Hope this helps!



We now annotate explosive guards when they first appear on screen, since some people had trouble spotting those. You can turn this off in the options if you don't like it.

I just hate permadeath.

OK, no reviewer said this. But one or two players did, and I think we can help them out without changing the game for the majority who like it.

We've added this under Cheat Options to be clear that it's not how the game is meant to be played - I don't want other players to feel like they're being asked to design how the game should work. This is a cheat. Play without it unless you need it.

When permadeath is off, anything that would normally permanently kill your character instead resets you to when you were last at a station.

As it stands, there's no way to strip the flesh from my enemies with a corrosive form of currency.

That was an oversight and we're sorry.

The Fleshstripper is a new unique weapon that fires the same acid used as currency in the Drift - extracted from those colourful nebulae you've been flying through. It belts out a heavy rain of the stuff, melting through armour and flesh alike, leaving only skeletons behind. Its ammo is your savings: it costs 1 acid-money to fire.



From the 22nd of Space November to the 6th of Space December, there's a shipment passing through the Drift carrying the Fleshstripper - that's your sure-fire way to obtain it. Regardless of whether you steal the shipment, it's also available to all players as a very rare random drop.

Us: Here's a significant free update!
You: Great! I can't believe we get these regularly for free forever!
Us: Oh, geez. This is awkward.

This update is a one-off, we don't plan to do updates like this on a regular basis. We might add items from time to time, but only buy the game if you want the game as it stands - we don't make promises about future content.



Heat Signature is all about player choice, so we would never try to influence how or when you choose to vote for us in the Steam Awards, in the 'Choices Matter' category for player choice, before the 28th of November, by clicking here. That would have to be your choice.

Either way, if you've played enough Heat Signature to know if you recommend it, we'd love for you to leave a quick review! As you can tell from this update, we like reviews.

I was too nervous to read Heat Signature reviews for two weeks after launch. I was relieved to see the scores were great, and after 3.5 years of work, that was all I wanted to hear: I didn't want to know what their caveats were.

Once I calmed down and read them, though, I was delighted: they were not only very positive, but they told entertaining stories and made intelligent points. And almost every critique I read I thought was a fair point. Hence this:

The Fair Points Update. 5 new features and 3 new items, in direct response to review critique, designed to round the game out and make it more fun for more people.

We also added a gun that fires acid money to melt the flesh from your enemies and leave only chemically bleached bone. No-one asked us for that, we just kind of did it, and now here we are.



This post only explains the features themselves, read the blog version if you're interested in the design thinking behind it all.

Missions with shielded or armoured guards can seem impossible without very high level tools

You're now told how many of each type of guard you'll encounter on a mission, so you can plan accordingly. You'll be able to tell: yes, I have enough tools to deal with this many shielded guards. There are also more missions with 3-6 bosses, which is very doable if you have just one tool that deals with their protection type.

We're also adding two new item types to help you better deal with armour and shields. Acid Traps can be placed to strip the armour of any guard who walks on them, and Crash Traps will crash all of their electronic kit, shields included. You'll have to use some guile to set them up and lure the target into them, but they both come with a powerful advantage: they're always self-charging. That means even the common ones are endlessly re-usable, so there's no upper limit on how many armoured or shielded guards you can deal with - if you can lure them in.



Permadeath encourages you to choose missions below your skill level, because so much is at stake

Sometimes, one of the harder missions on offer will come with a Glitchback Guarantee. This means your client will teleport you out the moment you get hit, avoiding any permanent damage. So there's absolutely no risk in taking these missions, you can't lose anything no matter how badly it goes. It doesn't make the mission easier, though - if you have to be glitched out, the mission is canceled.

if you can't manage Hard missions, progression is too slow.

If you haven't liberated a station in a while, one of your choices on character select will be a Liberator: a randomly generated character with high-level gear, and a personal mission to liberate a particular station. They already have the intel and the kit to go out there and do this, so you can just pick them and head straight out.



Stronghold liberations are too hard for some players

If you fail a Stronghold mission, you'll find a Stronghold Liberator in the bar. These are like the other liberators but even better equipped, so they should make Stronghold missions more viable and fun if you're not able to complete them with characters who started from scratch.

I sometimes have trouble making things out

Under Accessibility Options, there's now a Simple Art Mode you can enable. It makes all ships use a simpler version of the Foundry ship look, which is already our clearest and plainest. We've clarified and plainified it a bit further in this mode: the traversible space is almost entirely blank, and the solid stuff is tweaked to all look identical. Hope this helps!



We now annotate explosive guards when they first appear on screen, since some people had trouble spotting those. You can turn this off in the options if you don't like it.

I just hate permadeath.

OK, no reviewer said this. But one or two players did, and I think we can help them out without changing the game for the majority who like it.

We've added this under Cheat Options to be clear that it's not how the game is meant to be played - I don't want other players to feel like they're being asked to design how the game should work. This is a cheat. Play without it unless you need it.

When permadeath is off, anything that would normally permanently kill your character instead resets you to when you were last at a station.

As it stands, there's no way to strip the flesh from my enemies with a corrosive form of currency.

That was an oversight and we're sorry.

The Fleshstripper is a new unique weapon that fires the same acid used as currency in the Drift - extracted from those colourful nebulae you've been flying through. It belts out a heavy rain of the stuff, melting through armour and flesh alike, leaving only skeletons behind. Its ammo is your savings: it costs 1 acid-money to fire.



From the 22nd of Space November to the 6th of Space December, there's a shipment passing through the Drift carrying the Fleshstripper - that's your sure-fire way to obtain it. Regardless of whether you steal the shipment, it's also available to all players as a very rare random drop.

Us: Here's a significant free update!
You: Great! I can't believe we get these regularly for free forever!
Us: Oh, geez. This is awkward.

This update is a one-off, we don't plan to do updates like this on a regular basis. We might add items from time to time, but only buy the game if you want the game as it stands - we don't make promises about future content.



Heat Signature is all about player choice, so we would never try to influence how or when you choose to vote for us in the Steam Awards, in the 'Choices Matter' category for player choice, before the 28th of November, by clicking here. That would have to be your choice.

Either way, if you've played enough Heat Signature to know if you recommend it, we'd love for you to leave a quick review! As you can tell from this update, we like reviews.

We've uploaded a new patch, here's what's changed:

2017.11.01.1

• Fix incorrect module destroyed by the Foundry Brick's high-speed collision.
  
• Intel missions no longer generated after personal mission cost reduced to zero.
  
• Fix crash when selecting two dialog options simultaneously.
  
• Fix negative living witnesses.

2017.10.30.1

• Updated GameMaker to v1.4.1772

2017.10.26.2

• Disabled sell/stash item in retirement menu.
  
• Fixed client messages in liberation menu.

The previousversion beta branch now contains patch 2017.10.26.2. If the latest update has caused problems for you, you can switch to this by right clicking Heat Signature in your Steam library, choosing Properties > Betas and using the drop-down list to choose the previousversion beta.

If you'd like to get patches as soon as possible, the nextversion beta receives patches as soon as they're ready for testing.

We've uploaded a new patch, here's what's changed:

2017.11.01.1

• Fix incorrect module destroyed by the Foundry Brick's high-speed collision.
  
• Intel missions no longer generated after personal mission cost reduced to zero.
  
• Fix crash when selecting two dialog options simultaneously.
  
• Fix negative living witnesses.

2017.10.30.1

• Updated GameMaker to v1.4.1772

2017.10.26.2

• Disabled sell/stash item in retirement menu.
  
• Fixed client messages in liberation menu.

The previousversion beta branch now contains patch 2017.10.26.2. If the latest update has caused problems for you, you can switch to this by right clicking Heat Signature in your Steam library, choosing Properties > Betas and using the drop-down list to choose the previousversion beta.

If you'd like to get patches as soon as possible, the nextversion beta receives patches as soon as they're ready for testing.