v1.10.2 / Readable release records
Existing documentation gains stable version links and machine-readable companions without adding text to the playfield.
- The closed release-notes dialog is pre-rendered into HTML. Existing help and version records are exported as Markdown and JSON with canonical links.
- The page receives descriptive structured metadata. Simulation, scoring, seeds, local records, atlas and soundtrack are unchanged.
v1.10.1 / Separate Start Measurement
The /ai-games/ edition measures a new voyage with afterlight_game_start; opening the game does not count as a launch.
- Successful launches, including retries, emit the game-specific start event to the existing site measurement ID. Invalid seeds, pause / resume, notes, flight actions and reviews emit no application analytics events.
- The shared collection helper uses an isolated, short-lived Google tag with automatic page views disabled. Fixed canonical URLs omit seed queries and fragments; production HTTPS host checks keep local / offline previews unmeasured. A blocked tracker does not stop play.
- The simulation, scoring, records, seed generator, recorder, soundtrack, atlas, signals, distinctions and guide are unchanged. Every preceding release remains preserved.
v1.10.0 / Flight Distinctions
Adds three optional personal milestones for completed voyages: Sunwarden for a hit-free victory, Starweaver for victory with every beacon linked, and Resonant for victory after reaching resonance ×3. Each mode retains its own collection.
- Pause shows current distinction progress; How to play explains all three conditions and storage scope. Goals remain optional and add no points or mechanical rewards.
- A completed victory evaluates recorded flight facts. Damage counts still disqualify Sunwarden after hull repair, and peak resonance remains eligible after a later broken streak. Defeat never awards a distinction.
- Luminous seal cards distinguish Earned this flight, Collected earlier and Not yet collected. Dawn / Eclipse collections use separate validated records, survive reload and retries, merge repeated awards idempotently and retain a page-session fallback when browser storage fails.
- Phone victory spacing keeps the title, medals and Retry visible without scrolling. A native Flight details disclosure retains every maneuver statistic, starts expanded on desktop / collapsed on phones and supports touch and keyboard.
- Existing scoring and best-record keys remain in use. Simulation, recorder, soundtrack, live guide, atlas and signal source match v1.9.0 bytes; every prior release and decision entry remains preserved.
- Verified with 137 pure tests and 175 Chrome checks, including frozen-state isolation, malformed / blocked storage, reload / mode separation, current-versus-collected labels, phone victory fitting, native disclosure and unchanged score / atlas outcomes. Replay motivation, human learning and physical-device performance remain expectations rather than verified results.
v1.9.0 / Flight Signals
Adds an action signal navigator to the flight atlas. Filter recorded hits, ember returns, beacons and flares, inspect their exact timestamps and map locations, and replay the approach to a chosen signal.
- Flight Signals lists the recorded actions with tenth-second timestamps. A native type filter and Previous / Next controls jump between signals; separate actions at the same time remain individually selectable.
- Selecting a signal stops replay and seeks exactly to its stored time. A static colored map halo marks the action location; the detail names its kind, time and distance from the sun. Delivery signals are located at the sun, while ship poses remain ten-Hz samples.
- Replay approach explicitly starts up to two seconds before the selected signal, runs at the existing double speed through one second after it, and stops automatically. Recorded bounds clamp the clip; manual timeline seeking clears signal selection and approach playback.
- Keyboard row activation, real touch selection, bounded scrolling, empty-filter messages and disabled boundary controls keep the review usable. A sticky atlas header keeps Close reachable in the expanded dialog. Recording limits and the absence of reconstructed threats are explained.
- The separate signal model copies and indexes at most 240 existing markers without changing the flight record or simulation. Engine, recorder, soundtrack and live guide bytes match v1.8.0; existing v1.7 records and every earlier release entry remain preserved.
- Verified with 123 pure tests and 157 Chrome checks, including selection, same-time actions, approach stopping, zero-length review, native keyboard / touch, 320-pixel layout and unchanged ended-flight rewards. Maximum atlas playback averaged about 51 fps on the checked headless Chrome host. Faster review, learning and enjoyment remain expectations rather than verified human outcomes.
v1.8.0 / Flight Guide
Adds optional destination guidance: a faint gold / blue course and reticle mark a nearby available ember, the sun for a full hold, or the next constellation beacon when that detour is selected.
- Guide on / off or G toggles the course and reticle. It starts on, selects nearby unlocked embers while gathering, and points home when the hold is full. A small moving course marker is omitted under reduced motion and while paused.
- Bank route / Beacon route or R switches the full-hold destination while constellation nodes remain. Beacon guidance follows the numbered nodes and returns home on completion; route choice hides when unavailable.
- Thirty-unit target hysteresis avoids near-tie flicker. Pickup, lock expiry, resize, new seeds and route progress select current world positions without changing simulation objects.
- Compact objective controls support keyboard / pointer / touch, return focus to the canvas, preserve guide on / off within the page and reset each launch to banking. Text entry and modal controls are isolated from shortcuts.
- Endings suppress the destination and show accurate voyage status. The guide marks a destination; the player continues to steer, dodge threats and time abilities. Existing v1.7 records and every prior release remain preserved.
- Verified with 113 pure checks, 140 Chrome checks and 1600 voyage results exactly equal to v1.7.0. Desktop / 320-pixel guidance layouts were reviewed, native touch and keyboard route controls worked, and the engine / recorder / atlas / sound source remain unchanged. Human navigation benefit and physical-device performance remain unverified.
v1.7.0 / Nightglass Prisms
Introduces stationary coral prism enemies with a tracked aim, locked warning corridor and short finite beam. They create another timing decision: step aside, dash through with protection or flare the device.
- A prism arrives in Dawn’s final tide and Eclipse’s second and third tides. Some later enemy arrivals can become prisms, capped at three within the existing thirteen-threat limit; the earlier tides remain prism-free.
- After its arrival warning, a prism tracks for 0.35 seconds, locks its aim for 0.9 seconds, fires for 0.28 seconds and rests for 2.6 seconds. The 360-unit beam has round ends and shares its geometry with collision checks. The device remains stationary.
- Protected Slipstream crosses a beam; a flare destroys a device within the existing radius for 25 points. A distant flare touching only the beam does not erase its source. Normal hull loss, cargo scattering and shield recovery apply.
- Coral triangular devices, dashed aiming corridors, luminous firing bands, countdowns and tide guidance distinguish the new enemy. Measured warning labels stay inside canvas edges; the HUD identifies prism or combined front danger. Results count prism clears and hits.
- New v1.7 Dawn / Eclipse bests compare flights under the changed hazards. Every older score key and release entry remains preserved. Spawn selection consumes the same number of random draws, and the new rules replay deterministically on retry.
- Verified with 100 simulation / recorder / audio / prism tests, 123 Chrome checks and 1600 normal-input voyages without timeouts. Legacy steering won 794 of 800; beam-aware steering won 790 of 800 and reduced prism hits from 32 to two. The three-beam stress scene with music averaged about 60 fps on the tested GPU-disabled Chrome host. Human difficulty, enjoyment and physical-device performance remain unverified.
v1.6.0 / Orbital Score
Adds an original adaptive synthesized soundtrack and a controllable music / cue mix. Tide harmonies, a quicker Eclipse pulse, full-hold bells and low-hull bass accompany an explicitly enabled flight.
- The three tides now have their own harmony. Dawn plays a slower pulse; Eclipse moves faster. Full cargo adds high bell accents, and the last hull adds a low bass layer. All sound stays off until enabled with Sound or M.
- How to play includes an Adaptive music checkbox and a master-volume slider. Music can be disabled while keeping action cues; mix preferences stay in page memory and reset on reload.
- Pauses, help, release notes, flight review, window blur and endings fade and stop music. Resuming a flight restarts its musical phrase; muting fades and releases music and action voices.
- Separate budgets cap synthesis at sixteen music and eight action voices. Short scheduling lookahead skips stalled beats, gain envelopes smooth transitions, and a common master mix feeds a compressor. Audio startup races cannot override a later mute.
- No simulation or scoring changes; existing v1.3 mode bests remain applicable. All earlier release entries and record keys are preserved, and the package still works offline without assets or dependencies.
- Verified with 83 simulation / recorder / audio checks, 105 Chrome checks and 800 voyage results identical to v1.5.0. A real twelve-second offline synthesis render produced finite, non-silent samples without clipping. Desktop and phone mix layouts were reviewed. Speaker quality, musical enjoyment and physical-device performance remain unverified.
v1.5.0 / Flight Atlas
Adds an inspectable canvas debrief after either ending: scrub a tide-colored route, review action markers and observed cargo / hull / delivery / score state, or play the recording at double speed.
- Review flight opens a native dialog with a route atlas, delivery / hit / beacon / flare markers, a keyboard- and touch-controlled timeline, and optional double-speed playback. It starts stopped at the recorded ending.
- Recordings now include observed cargo, hull, returned embers, score and tide, cloned beacon positions, bounded action markers and a complete final result. Final changes at the same timestamp update the last pose without adding duplicate samples.
- The map fits the complete recorded route and its markers, colors completed paths by tide, and states the five-minute clip limit separately from the complete flight result. Threats are not reconstructed.
- Cached static atlas painting and state text updates, frozen main-canvas painting while modals are open, correct resize invalidation, released replay observers and restored focus on close.
- The simulation and scoring remain unchanged, and existing v1.3 mode bests continue to apply. All prior release entries and record keys remain preserved.
- Verified with 68 simulation / recorder checks, 86 Chrome checks and 800 seeded results identical to v1.4.0. Game / echo samples averaged about 60 fps; maximum-length atlas playback averaged about 52.6 fps on the tested GPU-disabled Chrome host. Real-device performance and human learning benefit remain unverified.
v1.4.0 / Echo Voyages
Adds an optional echo of the preceding matching attempt and an editable voyage seed, so routes and timing can be practiced against a repeatable field while keeping existing mechanics and score records.
- A hollow lavender echo replays the immediately preceding matching seed and mode. It has no collisions, pickups or scoring; Echo on / off toggles the practice aid.
- The local recorder samples simulated time at ten Hz, excludes pauses, stores at most the first five minutes and fades playback after its recorded ending. Reloading clears the echo.
- Enter an optional eight-digit hexadecimal seed beside Launch to revisit a field. Blank launches randomly; zero is valid, invalid codes have a focused inline error, and New voyage clears the field.
- Compact desktop / phone launch forms, native Enter submission without shortcut interference, keyboard focus restored after echo toggles, and reduced-motion preference starts echoes off with an explicit opt-in.
- The simulation and scoring remain unchanged. Existing v1.3 Dawn / Eclipse personal bests continue to apply, with earlier keys preserved.
- Verified with 61 simulation / recorder checks and 73 Chrome checks. All 800 seeded results exactly match v1.3.0. Three 120-frame samples, including a maximum-length echo with three fronts and thirteen shades, averaged about 60 fps on the tested GPU-disabled Chrome host; human learning benefit and real-device performance remain unverified.
v1.3.0 / Constellation Run
Adds a voluntary outer-orbit constellation: carry a full ember hold through three blue beacons for extra points and a charged escape, with clearer phone cues and separate records for the expanded scoring rules.
- Link three numbered blue beacons in order while carrying all three embers. Cargo stays aboard; each link earns +50, with an additional +250 on the third, for +400 total.
- Completing the constellation instantly recharges flare and Slipstream and grants a 1.2-second shield. Progress survives hits and tide changes; beacons are optional for victory.
- Seeded beacon positions use a separate generator, preserving ordinary salvage and arrival randomness. Retry restores the same route; positions follow the sun on resize.
- Hexagonal beacon markers, constellation threads, full-hold route guidance, scoring effects, optional-objective HUD and result progress. Phone glyphs remain readable and status toasts sit above the ability dock.
- Independent v1.3 Dawn and Eclipse records preserve all previous keys. Invalid prototype-named mode values safely fall back to Dawn.
- Verified with 50 simulation checks, 55 Chrome checks and 800 seeded flights. All 400 constellation attempts linked every beacon; 389 also won. Direct routes retained their preceding-release gameplay outcomes. Both 120-frame render samples averaged about 60 fps on the tested Chrome host; human enjoyment and real-device performance remain unverified.
v1.2.0 / Eclipse Fronts
Adds expanding storm fronts, a choice of Dawn or Eclipse voyages, and reproducible retries so route planning, flare openings and protected dashes can be practiced against the same field.
- Coral storm bands expand from the sun after a visible warning. Mint gaps are safe; flares cut reachable openings, and a protected Slipstream can cross a band.
- Dawn keeps a forgiving opening and introduces fronts on later tides. Eclipse has faster and more frequent shades, three fresh arrivals per tide change, and recurring fronts.
- Visible voyage seeds, Retry voyage for the same seed and mode, and New voyage for choosing another mode and field.
- Independent Dawn and Eclipse personal bests preserve prior records, including session-only records when storage is blocked.
- Front-cut statistics, grammatical result labels, honest hull-repair feedback, readable front warnings and merged repeated status labels.
- Verified with 39 simulation checks, 46 Chrome browser checks and 400 seeded runs: 200 Dawn victories, 198 Eclipse victories and two Eclipse defeats. Normal and scripted heavy scenes each averaged about 60 fps on the tested GPU-disabled Chrome host; real-device performance and human difficulty remain unverified.
v1.1.0 / Slipstream & Resonance
Adds a directional escape maneuver and rewards clean full-hold returns, with a more visible sunrise, richer tide atmospheres, clearer scoring feedback and a cached starfield.
- Slipstream: press Shift or the new touch control for a short directional dash with brief protection. Its 4.2-second recharge is independent of the flare.
- Resonance: uninterrupted three-ember returns earn +75, +150, then +225 bonus points. Hits reset the streak; partial returns still earn ordinary ember points.
- A fresh personal-best record tracks the new scoring rules while preserving the older browser record.
- Delivery ribbons, combined point labels, distinct tide-colored nebulae, an exposed solar-bloom ending and clean-return / combat / maneuver statistics.
- Cached background painting, two-finger touch abilities, a compact phone results card, and removal of protection refreshes caused by resizing.
- Verified with 27 simulation checks, 33 Chrome browser checks and 200 complete seeded flights, with and without dash. The 120-frame software-rendered Chrome sample averaged about 60 fps; device performance and human enjoyment remain unverified.
v1.0.1 / A darker tide, a clearer flight
Refines the initial voyage so efficient salvage routes encounter meaningful threats, while improving mobile help and the clarity of pause and end states.
- Moved shade arrivals to the outer salvage orbit, increased their speeds and frequency, and added two visibly announced arrivals at each tide change. Existing threats still clear and hull still repairs.
- Restored a compact, accessible How to play button on phones and adjusted controls for screens as narrow as 320 pixels.
- Holding the pause key now changes state only once per press. Completed flights hide the inactive Pause button and show an ending-specific objective.
- Removed the duplicated star caption and kept transient effects aligned when the playfield resizes.
- Verified with 16 simulation checks, 26 browser checks, and 100 complete flights using movement and flare. Added mouse steering, held-key pause, blocked storage and external-request checks.
v1.0.0 / The first dawn
Afterlight is a single-player orbital salvage game. Pilot a solar skiff, collect fifteen golden embers, and return them to a dying star through three increasingly dangerous tides. A restored sun is your victory; losing all three hull points ends the flight.
- Original procedural canvas world with a luminous sun, orbital engravings, drifting starfield, skiff trails and particle effects.
- Keyboard, mouse and touch steering; three-ember cargo hold; automatic deposit; rechargeable radial flare; two shade behaviors and arrival warnings.
- Three tides, hull repair between tides, recoverable dropped cargo, temporary shields, score and device-local personal best.
- Optional synthesized sound, pause and resume, interruption protection, reduced-motion support, help and preserved release notes.
- Self-contained static files, design motivations, verification report and publishing guide.