SHARDFALL

Living background Each upgrade family now changes the sky. Wider scratch adds a ring of crimson daggers around the shard (more daggers per level) and Sharper tool makes them longer, slimmer and white-hot. Fortune (Polish, Lucky, Dust funnel) grows a green crystal garden along the bottom, and your drones now fly as a visible fleet. Everything answers the cursor: hover a crystal and it rings, hover a drone and it surges, flick a dagger and it kicks out (with a low thud, not a spam of noise). Drones have roles (Striker, Arc, Cross, Diver) and rally on crits and Overcharge. Three new synergies: Sharper tool heats your drones, drone-heavy cracks pay extra dust, and crits help the Legendary and Mythic pity. Goal and side-quest rewards were trimmed to keep pacing.

Balance + tester codes Higher tiers are now tougher (Quartz 2.4x, Amethyst 4x, Obsidian 7x, Starfall 12x) and drones hit about 15% softer, so scratching matters more late on. New tester code PREACT2 (Settings > Tester code) loads Act I finished, right before the Act II shift, so you can watch it happen. ACT2 still skips into Act II. Test builds on automated runners no longer send reports.

Tip fix The curator no longer gives the Overcharge tip before you own Overcharge, or the Prism and Bench tips before you have Fractured or reached the Bench.

Tester feedback pass Settings has a Tester code box (Redeem) so a tester can skip to Act II with the code ACT2. Shop cards can now be bought x1, x10 or MAX (switch above the cards; holding a card still repeats). The tutorial now points out the drifting lights and falling stars (free Lumen) after your first few shards, instead of much later. The cursor has a faint halo ring so it is easier to find. Play time now only counts time the game is open and visible, so leaving it in the background or asleep no longer inflates it (an older save keeps the time it already had).

Phone and reports Pop-up messages now sit on top of the Foresight cards on phones instead of under them. Reports now also record when you first reach each milestone (Fractures, Acts, Tiers, goals), so the stats page can chart how everyone is progressing.

Phone leftovers The curator's speech box now stays above the shop cards instead of sitting on them. Prism tree node names are readable on phones, and the Refraction header (Respec, Back) fits on a 360px screen.