Week ending 13 September 2026 · Development notes from 11–12 September, updated 12 September 2026.
This week’s Paradroid work was about giving players more reasons to experiment, and more control over how the game feels. The ship can already be a dangerous place; now it is getting better at remembering exactly how you caused the trouble.
A little mystery in the statistics
I wanted the statistics to offer a few surprises. A separate Hidden Discoveries screen now sits behind the main Statistics page, with undiscovered entries showing ?? and 0/0 until you achieve them. Multi-kills, explosion chains and friendly-fire incidents become things to discover through play rather than a checklist that gives everything away before you start.
We also added records for the longest distance travelled by a shot that kills a droid, and the biggest successful transfer upgrade. There is now a lifetime breakdown of kills by ramming, each weapon type and explosions, credited to the finishing blow. Those methods reveal themselves individually, and the discoveries now spread across two pages so the screen has room to breathe. Existing totals are preserved; the new kill breakdown starts recording from this change.
Earning a different view of the ship
The unlock idea changed as we worked through it. Initially, Metal tiles were going to be the reward for revealing all the hidden discoveries. A more fitting challenge emerged: successfully transfer from 001 to 999. That now unlocks Metal. A tiny Influence Device taking over the top droid feels like a moment worth rewarding—and probably a moment worth taking a screenshot of.
This builds on Thursday’s switch to HD as the default and Retro as a reward for exceeding 68,000 points. The Transmission Terminated screen caught up with that visual direction: HD and Metal use the transparent high-resolution 999 artwork, while Retro keeps the old sprite.
Modern comforts, optional old-school controls
Settings now has a proper home on the title screen. Effects, music and background ambience have their own switches and volume controls, alongside reduced flashes and screen shake. Touch players can adjust control size and opacity. Everything saves automatically, and the tilemap selector stays hidden until an alternative has been earned.
For anyone who misses the feel of a C64 joystick, there is an optional Retro Gamepad mode that restricts movement and firing to eight directions. Analogue remains the default, but the old-school option is there when you want it. We also replaced text-only controller prompts with Xbox and PlayStation button images, including the correct Back buttons. One small fix stopped an ordinary “An enemy droid…” sentence accidentally acquiring an Xbox A icon. Apparently even the instructions wanted to join in.
A fresh start should be a deliberate choice
With more progress to keep, there also needs to be a clear way to start again. Reset Statistics & Scores now explains what it will remove before doing anything: saved scores, lifetime statistics, discoveries and the Retro/Metal unlocks, including progress synced through iCloud. It returns the game to HD but keeps audio and control preferences. Cancel is selected by default, because wiping your achievements should take more commitment than an accidental button press.
A transfer with its own voice
The transfer game now announces each stage with the new sound clips. Captured accompanies the opening droid display, Colour counts from 99 to 0 during side selection, and Finish does the same during the circuit fight. Both counters follow the actual time remaining.
Fight Over plays before the outcome appears. Deadlock waits for its announcement to finish before generating fresh circuits; Complete and Rejected finish speaking before returning to the normal game flow. The sequence also works with sound switched off. Three unused audio files have been removed, and the new clips are included in both the Mac and iOS builds.
Controls that fit the player
There is now a dedicated Keyboard Controls page for remapping movement, fire, transfer and pause. Bindings save automatically, conflicting or reserved keys are rejected, and Restore Defaults provides a quick way back. Arrow keys remain available, and the instructions reflect the chosen bindings.
Touch Controls has its own screen on iPhone and iPad, with a live preview of the movement joystick and Fire control as size and opacity change. It stays out of the Mac settings. Gamepad button remapping and adjustable deadzones remain work for a later pass.
A little more life in the menus
Instructions now type onto the screen like the droid library. Credits arrive in stages, showing the original authors before my credits. Statistics cards, settings rows and high-score entries reveal in a quicker stagger, with the next starting a third of the way through the previous fade.
We briefly had rather too many fades. Returning to the title screen keeps its transition, but moving between instruction pages, statistics pages or the two score tables does not repeat it. Reduced effects skips the decorative animation.
High Scores opens on today’s table when there are scores from today, otherwise on the all-time list. Andrew Braybrook’s tribute score now carries November 1985. Score entry has also lost its duplicate Save action: the larger Save button is the single save control, reachable by gamepad as well as mouse or touch.
Ready for another pair of eyes
A Mac friend-test DMG was prepared on 11 September with Gatekeeper instructions. The app icon now has a clean black surround while keeping the white 001 droid. That package predates the latest menu and keyboard changes; the newer work is now committed for the next build.
Where the build stands
The latest development pass finished with all 72 automated tests passing and successful macOS and iOS builds. The controller feel and touch layout still need hands-on checking; a successful build cannot tell me whether eight-direction movement feels right under somebody’s thumbs.
It has been a week of connecting the smaller details: what the game remembers, what it reveals, and how it responds to the way you want to play. There is more personality in the menus now—and a rather good excuse to attempt that wildly optimistic 001-to-999 transfer.