Big announcement
Big announcement. This page is the full history of every deployment of the game so far, newest first, each with a three-word code word of its own. If there is ever a problem, or someone suggests rolling back to a version, we can simply say the code word.
The first ever deployment:
Code word: Ignition Hexfield Perihelion. At that time the game was still called Shardfront.
47 deployments so far. Times are shown in your own local time and the "ago" counters tick every second.
- Solarsail Roster Nadir (#47, Master login)
- Owner access through the master account
- Gravitywell Duel Equinox (#46, Early access)
- A beta members area with early access to new music
- Messages from the team on your account page
- Lighthouse Dyson Magnetar (#45, A new riddle)
- Another whisper on the lore page
- Cometail Crew Meridian (#44, Hukiography)
- A blog post with the first player's match captures
- A private archive in the Studio for files sent to the owner
- Ionstorm Ladder Vesper (#43, Look-alike names)
- Names that look like an existing player's alias are held back
- Alias questions and a community notice for a legitimate near-name
- Starforge Replay Titan (#42, Big announcement)
- A release timeline with a code word for every deployment
- Times shown in your own local time
- .
- Mender Lacerta Tick (#41, Small fix)
- Nickname spelling corrected
- Turnstile Bastion Hercules (#40, Reserve a name)
- Reserve a username and ask for an invite without Discord
- Bot protection on forms and sign-up
- A greyed-out invite-a-friend button
- Podium Ranking Scorpius (#39, Ranking plan)
- The first player on the About page
- A blog post on how fair ranking will work
- Sentinel Alias Aquila (#38, Held names)
- Some aliases are held back, and invites can pre-fill one
- Highlight Burst Fornax (#37, Highlights)
- Optional, on-device pictures of big moments, with a gallery and storage warnings
- Vault Allowance Hydra (#36, Storage allowance)
- A storage allowance on your account, with an ask-for-more button
- Aviator Sunglint Qhapaq (#35, The sky)
- Owner account styling and avatar
- The planet Qhapaq and its moon in the lore
- Armory Sirius Mirage (#34, Faction units)
- Eight units for each faction, with a separate saved deck for each
- Riff Fanfare Corona (#33, A welcome with a soundtrack)
- A special invite welcome with a fanfare and a rock riff
- Halide Mosaic Pleiades (#32, The world)
- A lore page: the planet Halide, two factions, two commanders
- 69 ready-made avatars with skin tones and a randomiser
- Haunt Ledger Andromeda (#31, Louis and the terms)
- Louis becomes the second commander, and Ghosting can haunt enemies
- Terms and privacy notice with PDF downloads and print buttons
- Shutter Beacon Taurus (#30, Screenshots and priorities)
- An in-game Screenshot button and share panel
- Feedback gets an Other category and priorities
- Warpdrive Specter Cygnus (#29, Commanders)
- Two commanders to choose from on the Loadout screen
- Drop Warp: teleport selected units
- Ghosting: make your units almost invisible
- Cooldown Fade Ursa (#28, Delete with a safety net)
- Delete your account with a 30-day restore window
- Privacy page explaining each stage
- Vanguard Beta Lyra (#27, Beta testers)
- Volunteer as a beta tester from your account
- Postmark Veil Draco (#26, Email sign-in)
- Passwordless sign-in by email link
- A privacy setting for anonymous error reports
- Country-based age rules at sign-up
- Keystone Alias Gemini (#25, Invite-only accounts)
- Invite-only sign-up
- Aliases with a public history of every alias used
- First-to-join badges
- A My data view
- Lens Capture Callisto (#24, Bug-report attachments)
- Attach screenshots or recordings to feedback
- An optional activity log with bug reports
- Sonic Patch Meteorite (#23, Sound button fix)
- Fixed: the sound button could leave you unable to turn sound back on
- Crimson Redshift Dusk (#22, Dark crimson)
- Dark crimson on black by default, with an original-colours option
- Pocket Cosmos Quiet (#21, One-screen menu)
- A one-screen menu that fits phones without scrolling
- A camera-dot screen-fit aid
- Animation, performance and quiet-time settings
- Back and refresh guards
- Waveform Rigel Tape (#20, Mini player)
- A mini music player with a live waveform and track choice
- Music can start when feedback opens
- Submit your own music, with a rights declaration
- Courier Polaris Wire (#19, Feedback reaches us)
- Feedback now alerts the creator by email, with safeguards against messages written to trick an AI
- Chorus Shout Altair (#18, Shouts and credits)
- Shouts, Credits and Promo pages
- A credits link in the game
- Phoenix Rebirth Sagan (#17, Renamed JBU)
- The public title became JBU
- Expandable transparency note and the AI persona label
- Family-friendly content rule
- Orbital Sunrise Pulse (#16, Live set)
- A one-hour live set with live controls and an audio-reactive visualizer
- Tankard Orion Relay (#15, TostTube)
- TostTube, with pronunciations, tooltips and hidden touches
- Code sites
- Ranger Bulletin Vega (#14, Announcements)
- An announcement bot that can post notices
- Learn sections: the game, game physics and quantum physics
- Foghorn Rift Nova (#13, Megaphone)
- The red feedback megaphone with a foghorn and a drum and bass drop
- Click-to-load music embeds
- An in-browser track editor
- Lunar Ledger Quill (#12, Legal notices)
- Not-affiliated and legal notices gathered in one Legal section
- Eclipse Promo Horizon (#11, Promo page)
- A promo page on its own address
- Aurora Kindred Glow (#10, Kindness)
- More emote packs
- A Be Kind card and tab
- Alias rules
- A social row after matches
- News signs and sign-in plan pages
- Meteor Chatter Spark (#9, Emotes)
- Eight free quick emotes with a picker and speech bubbles
- The rival answers some of them
- Zenith Riddle Comet (#8, Hidden things)
- Easter eggs on every Shards page
- A Hall of first finds
- A joke page
- Orbit Beacon Harbor (#7, Community page)
- Shards Community page with a feedback form
- Public tracker of reviewed feedback
- Apogee Lance Thunder (#6, The big finish)
- A 10-second lock before the Lance fires, with a live target swap
- Smarter AI that watches the Lance
- Anti-snowball balance tuning
- Clearer board and a right-hand button column
- Cosmic Vinyl Tide (#5, Music embeds)
- Travesty Spotify players on Shards and the official site
- Pulsar Echo Cinder (#4, More music)
- Four Precursor tracks added to the soundtrack
- Nebula Signal Lantern (#3, Official site and feedback)
- The official game site with FAQ and roadmap
- Feedback form
- The Shards website
- A switch to withdraw music if ever needed
- Quasar Drumline Ember (#2, Soundtrack arrives)
- El Topo tracks in the soundtrack player
- Music streams from the game's own server
- Public-site hardening
- Ignition Hexfield Perihelion (#1, First deployment (then called Shardfront))
- Landscape hex-grid real-time strategy game, playable in the browser
- AI opponent with three difficulties
- The Spire, pads and the Rift Lance
- Strike and Repair powers
- Built-in sound and voices
- Fullscreen and landscape for phones
How to read this: a deployment here is a change that went live on the public alpha. Times are when each one was saved right after going live; a few small updates in between were combined, and work before the first live deployment is not counted. Only features that reached the live game or sites are listed.