VoiceOver Support — Full VoiceOver labels across all menus, overlays, and HUD elements. Screen change announcements on every scene transition. Accessible labels on upgrade cards, character select, settings sliders, pause/ability buttons, and health bar.
Reduced Motion — Animated effects (glitch lines, scan lines, glow pulses) gracefully adapt when Reduce Motion is enabled. Pulse actions replaced with static highlights.
Dynamic Type Scaling — Font sizes scale with the user's preferred text size via AccessibilityHelper.
Keyboard & Controller Navigation
Full Keyboard Playability — Every game screen navigable with keyboard alone. Level-up cards selectable with arrow keys + Enter, or number keys 1/2/3. Pause, settings, game over, run complete, level clear, and briefing screens all respond to keyboard input.
Controller Focus Extended — D-pad/stick navigation added to cosmetic shop, bestiary, run complete overlay, title screen, and level briefing. HexMapScene routes controller input to all overlays.
MainMenuScene Keyboard — Left/right arrow keys navigate save slots, Enter selects, Escape closes character select overlay.
Tutorial & Onboarding
Contextual Hint System — Non-blocking banner tips for players who skip the full tutorial. Five hints triggered by gameplay events: movement (after 3s idle), auto-fire (first kill), XP collection (first gem), level-up (first upgrade screen), and ability (when first ready).
Platform-Aware Messages — Hint text adapts to input method: touch instructions on iOS, keyboard/mouse on macOS.
Persistent Per Save Slot — Hints track via seenHintIDs in SaveSlotData; each hint shows only once per save.
Lore & Narrative
Deeper Integration — Neurodrift story woven more deeply into mission briefings, terminal text, and UI flavor throughout the campaign.
v1.22026-04-09
New Features
Corruption Zones — 3-5 lethal hazard areas spawn per level with glitchy digital noise visuals (flickering fill, CRT scanlines, teleporting noise blocks, chromatic aberration ghost borders). Deals 25% max HP/s — lethal in ~4 seconds. Forces strategic pathing around dangerous terrain.
Terminal Guardian — New sentinel enemy type that guards hacking terminals. Three guardians orbit each terminal, charging at players who approach. Shield-shaped with pulsing neon green visuals. Cannot be despawned by distance — must be killed or terminal must be hacked.
Balance Changes
Turret Reactivation Cooldown — After a turret's 30-second firing window expires, it now enters a 45-second cooldown before it can be reactivated. Turrets display a red countdown timer during cooldown.
Hacking Terminals Farther Away — Terminal spawn distance increased from 800-1400 to 1200-2000 units from the player, making them a more deliberate objective.
Magnet Pickup Nerf — Base magnet radius reduced from 150 to 80, magnet speed from 400 to 300. Magnet Core passive scaling reduced from +25% to +15% per level. Pickups no longer fly to you from across the screen at level 1.
Enemy AI
Sentinel Behavior — New AI behavior pattern for Terminal Guardians: orbits a guard point at 100pt radius, charges at 350 speed when player enters 200pt range, returns to orbit after charge with cooldown.
v1.12026-04-08
New Features
Title Screen — New cinematic title screen with logo, version display, and pulsating START button after intro crawl
iCloud Save Sync — Save progress syncs across devices via iCloud Key-Value Store with deterministic merge
Firebase Analytics — Event tracking for level complete/fail, weapon performance, upgrade choices, and difficulty balance metrics
Firebase Crashlytics — Automatic crash reporting with Game Center user ID grouping
Cosmetic Shop — New cosmetic skins purchasable with in-game currency
Game Center Integration — Leaderboards for score, kills, combos, and survival time; achievements for milestones
macOS Support — Full keyboard/mouse and game controller support; native macOS window management
Endless Mode — Infinite wave survival mode with escalating phases