SPACE / MECH / PILOT is available on Linux...today!

As a part of our Lunar-themed patch, SPACE / MECH / PILOT will be available for Linux players today! The game's primarily tested to run on Ubuntu and may exhibit unique problems not present in the original Windows version - we've ironed out several potential issues for this version but its possible more will come up. Please tag posts in the Steam Discussions with [LINUX] for any specific issues concerning the platform. Special Thanks to my pal Kei01g for helping with the release of this patch!

Some other changes made to the game (V1.07):

• [LINUX Release] - The game is now playable on Ubuntu / Linux OSes! To download the Linux version, you can go to the main itch page and download "SPACE / MECH / PILOT - Linux V1.07"!
• [LINUX Release] - Fixed a bug where dialogue that isn't enclosed within brackets internally will lead to a crash.
• In the opening screen of the game, additional information has been added to let players know they can configure the Manual Fire Key in the settings.
• (RANK 1-10) Kato's selected dialogue portraits at various scenes in the game are adjusted to more match the tone of the scene.
• (RANK 7) Kato will now sing 5 additional new songs (lyrically). Can you guess em' all?
• (FINAL REPORT) For the duration of the Steam Lunar Sale, you will see @hexantoid's Lunar Sale artwork. After the Steam Lunar Sale, a hotfix will go live to randomize the order of the key arts unlocked in the Final Report after your third completed playthrough.
• (POST-GAME) Fixed a bug where the Current Run Number doesn't properly increment anymore. For those who've had this bug persisted, you will have a completed run tally of 1 upon boot-up if your run count is at 0 but you already have a rewind level above Lv. 0. 
• (STEAM ONLY) Cleaned up some bad actors on the leaderboards. Some very minor anti leaderboard cheat checks are in place and will be updated every patch (or few hotfixes) to make sure we don't accidentally punish players legitimately at the top.

For those interested in a Mac version of the game, I am still looking into options but as notarizing a Mac release requires hardware that I do not own, I can't promise a release anytime soon. As for the browser release, I'm on track to begin development for it after we finish deadlines for RE: DECEIVED VOICE, but I am going to shoot for a late Q2/early Q3 2021 release (with development beginning between now and end of Q1 2021). 

I will be lumping a lot of fixes / accessibility changes with the release of the browser version, releasing as V1.10 - which will include the following changes:

• Menu V2 - menus will now be split into sub-menus to allow space for more options going forward. (i.e. selecting Audio Settings will change the options to let you select SFX Volume an Music Volume).
• Addition of a Accessibility Sub-Menu. This menu supports the ability to hold the manual fire button, change the game's font, and disable the CRT shader.
• More Key Art will be added to the Final Report
• Addition of a new Platinum Achievement (will unlock for everyone who has all 19 achievements in the Steam version)
• Dialogue will receive more varying text effects.
• Menu cursor in both the options and upgrade menus will now slightly bob left and right. By default, it will be off for accessibility concerns but can be enabled / have its speed toggled in the Accessibility Sub-Menu.
• (Internally) The game will receive a cleaner code overhaul and full documentation in its source code, allowing for easier post-development.

After this hefty patch + the web browser release later in the year, work on the game's expansions will be ready to go. However, as you are probably aware of by now, I'm pretty locked in on making sure RE: DECEIVED VOICE ships in its estimate release, so you might not see development get into the full swing of things till after that game's done. 

Besides, there's benefits to finishing that project over the expansions first, as there's quite a lot of new features being made for RE:DV that would speed up development significantly if we could port them back into S/M/P (new dialogue system with drastic improvements + the ability to localize the game, proper keybinding, full mouse support, and unique events/rewards if you own other SKY HOUR WORKS games). 

I must stress that while I've announced the existence of such plans of those expansions back in December, I can't guarantee a soon-enough completion of them as other things have taking precedent, but I'm planning on bringing someone on the project to help clean up my (terrible) codebase, develop the web version + V1.10 patch, and start work on the expansions while I'm focused on RE: DV. Given how much of a rush the original launch of the game was, I'd like to keep it slow and steady for the sake of everyone's health on the project going forward...hopefully that's fine with you!

We've got a few other announcements related to our Patreon and our celebration of the Lunar New Year, and you can see the full post here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/47384637