Merry christmas everyone!

I just finished Mars Explorer for iPhone 1.1 - but when I was halfway through the process of submitting the update to the App Store, Apple took their entire "iTunes Connect" site offline with a "closed for the holidays" message that says they will re-open on December 28th. So it may be a while before everyone gets to play with the new version, but believe me - the wait will be well worth it.

-Aubrey

Major New Features:
   • The 1.0 world has been christened as "Mons", and "Freestyle" - a vast, highly detailed world based on it's counterpart in the desktop version of Mars Explorer - is now available to further your explorations!
   • The new "Launch" screen provides an elegant, 3D preview of each world you can explore.
   • Terrains now support multiple textures - Fly over grassy meadows, race across barren terra firma, and battle your way up winding lava paths!

Physics Enhancements:
   • Hovercraft's new physics model automatically transitions in and out of ground effect when cruising over jumps to allow you maximum free flight air time
   • Buggy is now equipped with even more spectacular crash physics - including the ability to not slow down when bouncing over jumps at breakneck speeds
   • Buggy planes and bounces a bit when entering - and travels faster through - lava
   • Buggy now automatically rights itself when stuck upside down, and does intelligent checks to make sure it never falls through the terrain at ultra high speeds
   • Buggy is more responsive when stalling in flight - allowing you a better chance at in-air recovery

Interface Tuneups:
   • Vehicles cast a shadow on the terrain - perfect for precision landings and flybys!
   • Accelerometer input now works much better at near vertical device orientations - play from a reclining position!
   • Wings can be activated while riding inside buggy - tap and hold to deploy wings, tap and drag to look around
   • Buggy "ride" camera position tweaked a bit for maximum visibility
   • New button in settings panel allowing you to exit the active world
   • Better springboard icon
   • Heading readout ~ suggested by Mr Binki-Doo

Performance improvements:
You should notice dramatic framerate improvements in this release - which is due to tons of "behind the scenes" work, some of which is enumerated below.
   • Built with latest Unity iPhone release (1.0.1f3), which includes many optimizations - including better memory handling & disabled exceptions on script calls
   • Automatic dynamic physics sample rate and world camera view distance optimization
   • Compressed background music - providing smaller application size, reduced processor consumption, and smooth termination on application exit.
   • Optimized terrain shaders, mesh division, and uv mapping & tiling
   • Heavy optimizations to the vehicle's physics scripts - especially the buggy's wheel slip calculations