Our Ascent
Our Ascent is an incremental roguelite RPG with many layers of metaprogression.
Update A.2.0.2 is out now!
It seems that many players on the browser version have lost their save data. I am sorry about this! I think this is because of the addition of the new difficulty mode. Cloud Saving should fix this and will be implemented soon!
Other versions should have no problem with continuing from the last update.
Check here for the patch notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X0Cv0BKXY_qmRdDojXphDtwc3ZDZqiqe5G3oU8VraGI/...
Available for download on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android*. Support for iOS is coming soon. Until then, iOS users can play using the web player!
To download for Android, you'll have to share your email with me. I will add your email to the internal playtester list. Then, you will be able to download the game off of the Google Play Store using this link: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.egg.OurAscent.
You can send your email to me through Discord, Reddit, email, or Patreon. I know this is weird, but because this is my first game, Google won't let me make it more public. Once they approve me, you won't have to go through this hassle.
Defeat enemies!
Upgrade your stats!
Buy equipment!
Augment your power!
Always make progress!
This game is in very early alpha testing. I was the only person who had played the game. So, I apologize for any bugs you may encounter. If you do run into a game crashing bug, restarting the game will almost always fix it.
Please let me know of any bugs that you find or features that you want implemented! I want to interact with the community as much as possible to make the best game possible!
Discord: https://discord.gg/WtKweNpdYp
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Our_Ascent/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ourascentgame/
My email: ourascentgame@gmail.com
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Our Ascent - Version: A.1.0 Released!28 days ago
Comments
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Is there currently any way to transfer saves from the web version to the desktop version?
Not yet, but the Cloud Save is coming soon! I hope to have it for next update, but I need to do some more testing.
I am saying this as someone who's played a game of a similar format (though not as animated as yours), and in response to another commenter's comment.
Considering that excess EPs are carried over and to be used in the next location (i.e., a continuation as opposed to fresh start), I'd argue that the current final bosses' difficulty levels are just right. They are after all not the FINAL-final bosses. Perhaps if any adjustment is to be made, maybe it could go into the next stages' development instead, e.g., somehow make the enemies difficult for Stan's natural attributes but easier on Apolonia's.
Well done, Noobilator7! It is an addictive game. In my experience, even my already being familiar with the game format does not take away from the gratification.
Perhaps if any adjustment is to be made, maybe it could go into the next stages' development instead, e.g., somehow make the enemies difficult for Stan's natural attributes but easier on Apolonia's.
The first stage you'll be able to play after completing Glades with Apolonia and Stan, is... Apolonia and Stan working as a team, fighting in the same battles. So they'll be naturally balancing each other out.
I'm happy you enjoyed the game! I hope you'll come back as more content gets added.
very fun game. i beat it with stan. it was a bit rough in the beginning with his low hp but his amazing attack and agility just shredded enemies before turn 15ish where they start hitting each other randomly lol. I noticed that he got nerfed, but his damage output is still leagues higher than Apolonia's haha.
some of my other thoughts:
beating the final boss of glades was rather underwhelming
core gameplay loop got a bit stale towards the end, felt somewhat grindy
I never got to reach those (??? difficulty) mysterious islands, any idea how to get there?
liked the game a lot, keep up the good work! also im excited for whats coming next!
beating the final boss of glades was rather underwhelming
What do you think is missing? Is it too easy? Do you think the Final Bosses should have custom animations?
core gameplay loop got a bit stale towards the end, felt somewhat grindy
I agree, but I think some people love the grind. I will say though, Stan's endgame was balanced around having already beaten the game on Apolonia. So the benefits Apolonia would've provided through extra Boss Points would've made it feel a lot less grindy.
I never got to reach those (??? difficulty) mysterious islands, any idea how to get there?
Those will be available in a future update :)
Thanks for the feedback!
Primarily I was disappointed with how sudden the ending was, because
1. I didn't even realize the fairy was a final boss and
2. dialogue afterward felt akin to "hooray, you beat the final boss"
I was expecting some more lore lol. The final bosses werent easy (especially the other final boss - the first time I fought it I didn't make a dent on its purple hp bar). As for custom animations, I love minimalist games so personally that's icing on the cake. I'd honestly prefer more content.
I think you misunderstood that I only played with Stan. I actually got both Stan and Apolonia to beat the goblin boss, then beat the game on Stan since Apolonia's weak damage at the later stages ends up getting me into the "overtime" at turn 15ish, where her high hp and defense just don't matter anymore. Maybe I've haven't been allocating her stat points optimally.
sorry for the late reply and again, fun game, haven't had this much fun playing a browser game for a while :)
I was expecting some more lore lol.
You're right, it doesn't feel finished. Keep in mind that this is an alpha test, where you're only seeing 2% - 5% of the game's main story. Final game will be 100+ hours long, so this story is just beginning. The idea is that after defeating the final boss, the story and lore will continue being explained in the second Zone (Oasis).
I think you misunderstood that I only played with Stan.
Oh I see now, yeah Apolonia needs to spend a lot of Stat Points on Attack/Agility/Luck because she already has so much Defense.
I'm glad you like the game though! I hope you'll come back when more content gets added.
I really wish you could quickly cose the shop/stats up menu with tab/q/esc or a key like that, would make playing the game a lot smoother.
You can! Pressing the "x" key will close any menu. Check the hotkeys section in the Settings menu to see which hotkeys are available to you!
The nerfs hit Stan like a ton of bricks. Keep getting 2 shot and defense doesn't help because he only gets 2 per stat point.
You can still go full Attack on Stan, but it is much harder (and risky). Balancing Health, Attack, and Defense is key now. Because the Stamina mechanic has been removed, being tanky enough to live for 10 to 15 turns is optimal for winning the most battles.
I was playing then I made that comment and left to go do other stuff. Now I log in and my save data is gone again.
The last update was about 20 hours ago, so I don't think that one was because of an update. Some people never have issues with the saving on the web version. Some people are constantly having issues with the saving on the web version. I don't think this is an issue I can reliably fix until Cloud Saving is the main saving method. The only thing I can suggest is downloading the game, as that won't have any save issues.
Huh. Just got here, was super hyped about seeing the new version having come out - and apparently have lost my progress. Not sure why, haven't cleared cache or anything like that. Not super worried about it honestly, but figured I should mention it, wasn't sure if it was intentional or not.
Thanks for mentioning this! This does seem to be a widespread issue, which is different from the random deletions that happen on the web version. I think this happened because I added a new difficulty mode. I'm sorry about this! It is not intentional for players to lose progress. I will try to add cloud saving as soon as possible so that this doesn't happen again.
I liked the game overall and if the development progresses at this quality level, this game will surely deserve at least a 4-star rating (or Steam thumbs-up).
Regarding constructive critic:
My personal playstyle is very agility/luck based. So far I played 2/1/2/4/4 and 2/2/1/4/4 so far. Currently it feels like the game is not supposed to be played like that?
I have trouble identifying when to progress into the next zone and the punishment for doing so too early, or having a build around luck where random loss is part of the build, is very harsh. With just a dozen or so allowed fights (unless slightly modified by equipment), every loss in a playthrough hurts very much, especially when the level-up curve is so extreme (which I generally approve of!).
I would accept this as part of my playstyle if I had not felt like hitting a progression cap. Persistent equipment is migrating the problems, but I seemed to have capped the buyable equipment quite far and to unlock other slots I would need to replay the game in other style I enjoy less. Maybe do not cap the equipment slots behind that criteria?
For the equipment, some random-stat dynamic equipment may help lessen that issue (Diablo-Style)?
As of now, I would probably rate it 3-Stars (subjectively due to my playstyle), but as it is "just an alpha", it does not deserve this as a public rating.
I have trouble identifying when to progress into the next zone and the punishment for doing so too early, or having a build around luck where random loss is part of the build, is very harsh.
The game is meant to allow you to meaningfully impose your own playstyle on to the characters, but unfortunately, not to the regard that you might be hoping for.
Your experience has been heavily negatively impacted by your stat allocation. The first Character is all about having great defensive stats as she has lots of armor. As a tradeoff, she doesn't get much luck or agility. You can see how many stats you get per stat point in the Extra Info section of the Stat Allocation menu. Characters are partially bound by their inherent weaknesses and strengths, making your playstyle hard to pull off on the first Character.
Additionally, the problem with your allocation is that Agility and Luck are only as powerful as your Attack Stat. Agility gives Combos, increases Crit damage, and Luck increases the chance for those Crits. This synergy where Agility and Luck and Attack all benefit each other means you can't skip out on Attack.
With just a dozen or so allowed fights (unless slightly modified by equipment), every loss in a playthrough hurts very much, especially when the level-up curve is so extreme (which I generally approve of!).
You get almost 50 Encounters by the end of the game because defeating a boss gives back Encounter Points. To get to that point though, you need to have a somewhat appropriate Allocation spread.
For the equipment, some random-stat dynamic equipment may help lessen that issue (Diablo-Style)?
In a way, this already exists. You are meant to have the ability to get all non-accessory equipment slots unlocked before the first boss. And each equipment type specializes in a different stat. Your weapon gives Attack, your armor gives health, your shield gives Defense, your helmet gives Luck, and your boots give Agility. This way, you'll always have a little bit of everything.
I can only really see your Allocation spread working on 2 out of the 8 planned characters. And I want to keep it this way. You are meant to be able to strategize to bring out the strengths of your characters, while also bringing into consideration what your power fantasy is. The problem is that you can only do that to an extent. Making it so that you could do whatever you wanted Allocation wise removes a core part of the strategy of this game.
Thanks for the feedback! I'm sorry that your playstyle doesn't work well on the first character. But because many players like the game for very same qualities that make you dislike the game, I'm afraid I won't be changing this mechanic.
I think I see the issue here. I would not seriously try to play "a warrior as a ninja", but the other character choicer were not there, so this implied to me on my first playthrough, that this was a generic character that I can evolve based on the stat allocations.
I would suggest to show all available characters in locked form and give a brief design description for the player to identify how each character is meant to be played. Something basic as "Warrior", "Ranger", "Mage" would already be enough to give an easy understanding what playstyle they would be in for.
I would assume that the other issues will become irrelevant once that is pointed out.
That's a great idea! There are archetypes I had in mind when designing the optimal playstyles for the characters, but which archetype I chose isn't clear. But uh... unfortunately there are only two characters right now lol. I will add this though, thanks for the suggestion!
New blood in the genre of Inflation RPG. (Not sure if it is right to refer to another game to describe the genre.) Let's move on to the game now. Overall, I liked the beginning. After playing a little, I noticed that there is some kind of plot, which gives advantages to this game, unlike similar ones. I also liked how the author describes the mechanics gradually, which adds additional advantages. As for the balance, I would say that it is present, and this cannot but please. Otherwise, we also run through the zones, farm experience, gold and deal with the management status.
I hope the author will not abandon the project, like some game developers. I can only wish him success.
Upd: my native language is not English, so there may be an error in this review. I hope the game will be released on Google Play, I have a lot of acquainted who are into such games, so I will ask them to leave their feedback.
Love the concept, and i thoroughly enjoyed the execution so far! Looking forward to the future updates
kinda sad i seemed to lost my progress when i reopened the game
Are you on the web? If you don't allow your browser to save data or if you clear your cookies/browser history your save could get deleted. Unfortunately, that problem is inherent to web versions and is not something I can fix.
i was on ios browser, closed the game to run some errands, and when reopening the game, it had reset
The game should save automatically multiple times per run. If you try doing one encounter and then refresh the page, does the game save?
my only complaint is that the rest of the game isnt out yet 🔥🔥🔥 (but fr this thing is a banger but the question is: when the rest of the game is released will it be released on itch too is it all moving to steam?)
I'm glad you've been liking it!
I will keep it on as many platforms as possible, so long as it makes sense. Right now I see no reason to stop, so itch will continue to get all of the updates.
Yes yes yes, brother (Yippeee)
I get a black screen whenever I try to play fullscreen.
If you click again, the black screen goes away. It's a weird issue, I think I know the solution and I'll see if it works on the next update.
Thanks I got it to work. Is it possible to get to the area with level ????. I beat the story but I'm still missing 5 minions.
Not yet, but those areas do not contribute to your total Defeated Minion count. You're missing those Minions from currently accessible areas. Next update will have this:
This will very easily let you see which enemies you have not yet defeated.
For a game in some of its earliest stages it is already quite fun, obviously there's a lot of room for improvement which will come with time, development and growing the amount of resources you can use. With some better art, a more fleshed out story, larger cast of characters, etc. It would definitely scream a good indie game to play especially since it seems the only IAPs are going to be DLC set aside from the main story,
Personally, I believe the very first zone needs to be expanded as it is quite a small zone considering the maximum level for xp percentage growth is 10k it would make sense for the final boss to be slightly below or slightly above 10k, slightly above sounds better as it would force the player to be smarter with their stat assignments
Second thing is that progression feels too easy but also too hard in the sense that after roughly 3 runs all equipment slots with the first character are unlocked and probably 5-6 runs with the second character. The second character took around 10-15 runs before all bosses were beaten considering the attack + Crit + Initial Combo melting the health on any enemies. I believe I beat both final bosses with a final health of 1500 and defence of 7800. The first character in contrast feels a lot weaker obviously more targetted towards health which is quite useless given the enemies gain a dmg multiplier after 11 turns with each turn afterwards increasing their multiplier by x2 theron. Ideally it would be better if they gained damage reduction for say 10% with a 10% increase for 5 turns followed by a dmg increase of x2 or 10% for another 5 turns allowing the player a bit more leeway. I have yet to beat the main story with character one, I have had upwards of 50k health on top of 100k damage a 50% crit chance and 4.4x crit rate and didn't stand a chance against the final bosses. It's for this reason that I think enemies need that slight little rework
The equipment also needs a bit of refining. For the 2nd character there is a weapon you can get after your last encounter with the blue haired girl that is weaker in every way in comparison to the weapon prior while being more expensive and ultimately useless outside of the 0.2% increase in xp rate. In general though equipment mainly feels quite useless, I like the idea of buying equipment but having more lootable equipment would be nice along with having some kind of weapon refinement/upgrading but also possibly a con for the weapons if they are "OP" or a pro if they are "weak". Say for example you have an axe that gives you 7500 atk plus 20% damage increase, it could have the con of reducing your agility and defence giving you a minus to your stats or you might have a flimsy sword that deals 500 atk but gives a permanent crit rate increase of 2x so if you had 3.5x it would then be 5.5x when equipped
Having a way to speed up combat and also flee from combat would also be nice mainly just for the whole speedrun aspect for those skillpoints, maybe attach that stuff to something like a relic system where relics are found upon monumental achievements like beating a zone within a time limit, losing a certain amount of fights, win a certain amount of fights with low health, etc. Things that take skill and dedication and reward the player with silly or serious artifacts that could benefit them or make their gameplay that bit more difficult. Again as an example, speeding up combat could be linked to the speed you beat a zone, faster you beat the zone faster you can speed combat up or fleeing from combat being a cowards way out from losing too many fair fights e.g fights which your current level could normally handle and also requiring all stat points to be used to avoid people just going to a level 100 zone as a level 1 to easily obtain the relic.
The art was another thing, that just comes down to having one solid art style, that will come when there is a budget that can be put into the development process of the game and a reliable artist to do that sort of work.
Again considering its in its earliest state its a game that had me hooked for a couple hours and once in its finished state I think I'd gladly purchase the game, don't undervalue it, once it starts to look good and play good there's nothing wrong with charging people to play it, a game can be made for fun and still help put funds towards either a sequel, expansion or personal life expenses and if the game is addictive enough with a thrilling gameplay loop, worthwhile story and sense of accomplishment people will definitely buy it.
Overall I'd give this game a solid 7/10 considering it being an alpha release. 1 point off because nothing is perfect another off for the art and the last point off for the progression regarding character 1 good job making the foundations of a worthwhile game!
Very addictive. Pretty good progression flow, there's just a point where it's hard to make more than ~$5k gold that gets tough.
Have you made progress on both characters? Both characters benefit each other, and that should help you get over the part where getting more than 5k gold is difficult. Then you'll be into the end game where you're making 20k - 40k per run.
thank you for being upfront about the usage of AI art in your game! i won't be playing due to this, but it's nice to see someone honest about it
There are 6 PNGs that were created using AI and then edited by me. They will all be removed and replaced by real commissioned art. I hope you'll come back and give the game a try once I remove all of the AI art from the game!
I really enjoyed this! There's a lot of content, and the autobattling system is pretty satisfying.
I haven't actually played anything like this before so maybe take this with a pinch of salt, but I have some feedback :)
Overall, it's a really solid loop you've got here. I'm really impressed! Looking forward to seeing more 😁
there's a LOT of information here, and the vast majority of it is displayed with text.
the art style is super inconsistent.
I agree with both of these. The solution isn't simple though. I would like to display information with icons that convey the same message, but in a less "nerdy" format. There would of course be a setting for those looking for all the numbers, but at least initially, a iconographic style could help ease players into the game. The problem is that I don't have an artist. I am one person whose skillset is mostly limited to programming.
And yes, the art is mostly from asset packs. If you click on the Info button on the Main Menu, you'll be able to see where I got everything from. I agree it could be better with a more consistent art style. But I am a single indie developer with no funding/resources. Maybe in the future I can implement these changes, but not right now.
I'd like to see some sort of cloud save system so I can switch between devices.
Cloud saving will happen! I want every platform to support this feature.
It's more satisfying to click the thing and have number go up
What do you propose I change it to? You get hundreds of stat points, and clicking for each one would take forever. I could implement something like "hold to allocate quickly", but still imagine you want to allocate 100 stat points to each of the 5 stats equally. It would take forever compared to the current system.
Still, I agree it can be confusing initially. I might add an animation or something of the sort that demonstrates how it works.
menus need juice! I want things to jiggle when I click them 😂 in Unity that sort of thing is really easy
I will experiment with this! I do need to add these little things that make a huge difference. As I am a programmer, UI things haven't been easy for me to develop. Take a look at what the game looked like 3 or so months ago:
It's almost comical... While it is a lot better now, I'll keep on working to improve it!
Thanks for your feedback! It doesn't matter to me if you've never played this type of game, I want you to find this game fun!
I have been thoroughly enjoying playing through this and discovering more effective ways to get farther. Glad that it looks like you're pretty on top of things here, and I think any complaint I could've had has probably already been mentioned by others. I look forward to seeing what else you do with it, and can't wait to play it on Steam too.
Edit: Oh, I suppose one question I could ask - do you happen to have any idea if the save from the browser version will be ported to Steam? I'm not sure if the way it works is any different or not, but it was something I was curious about. I'd understand if it is not possible, but.. I do have hope.
It is likely possible. Unfortunately I don't entirely know yet. But I would think that once I implement cloud saving, you should be able to save to the cloud, and then continue on Steam with no problems.
This does require for you to wait for cloud save though... I'll try to get that out as soon as possible!
Yeah no worries, I'm good either way, as it is such a fun experience that I wouldn't mind starting over if I had to. But hey, if it's possible to keep what I've got, then great. Cheers!
I hate the style of progression in this game so much. I know the devs either made or were inspired by that inflation rpg game. I've played them all so I always know what/where any game comes from (root wise) but, just like that one, you hit annoying walls here.
DIGGING THROUGH THE SHOP TO FIND SOME ITEM THAT MAKES ME WEAKER IN SOME WAYS BUT ENOUGH STRONGER IN SOME WAYS TO POSSIBLY MAKE ME A LITTLE MORE EFFECTIVE ASSUMING I'VE UNLOCKED THE ITEM ASSUMING I'VE EARNED ENOUGH MONEY THAT RUN TO AFFORD IT IS NOT F*CKING FUN.
The idea of having equipment with opportunity costs that makes you stronger in some ways and weaker in others provides an avenue for strategical decisions in an otherwise simple game. This game takes the IRPG concept and adds a layer of skill expression that people like myself enjoy.
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the game! But this is a core mechanic of the game that I don't think I can feasibly change.
This game seems to have died on me when I clicked the fullscreen icon. I guess I'll refresh and try again?
If you go fullscreen, you have to click the screen once and the game will show as normal. This doesn't affect anything but it can be annoying. I will see if I can fix it for future updates.
I did refresh and it seemed to work fine then. Just disappointing at first when it's my initial experience :-)
Beat it once, I think (it said I would continue with the current character sans gold, but I didn't actually get to do that).
I like the current Log-scale health bar system. If there was a numeric version I would probably use that instead because of the tactical advantage, but I prefer the current system because learning to guess the remaining health based on the shown bars is fun. It would also be cool if the base for the log graph itself increased each bar so that higher bars are increasingly unresponsive, so then you could have an enemy where fully half its health is hidden is a sliver of a health bar and it looks like you aren't making progress until you push through and then you only have another 50% hp to deal or so. I wouldn't want a sliver of health to be more than 50% of max hp, though, or it would be less fun, so maybe base should asymptotically approach some finite limit?
I like the routing aspect of the game, and I hope that remains a focus in future versions. Stat allocation and equipment selection is okay, but routing is the main strategic element I enjoy.
It's a little weird that you can keep playing if you switch to an equipment set with more encounters after using the last one fast enough, but will die if you take too long clicking. I see that a pop-up dialogue like when in the equipment menu might feel bad, but what if you automatically switched to a loadout with more ep left if one exists when you run out?
The continuing feature will be implemented in the future! There will be more Zones to explore in addition to the Glades, and this is where you'll be able to use everything you've gained.
It would also be cool if the base for the log graph itself increased each bar so that higher bars are increasingly unresponsive
It's an interesting idea, but I'm afraid very few people would use it. I'm glad you like what the game currently has though!
I like the routing aspect of the game, and I hope that remains a focus in future versions.
It will! In fact, I'd like to make it more complex. The reason that it is fairly simple in this first Zone is because I didn't want to overwhelm the player with too many choices. But once they understand how things work, as they will in future Zones, I can adopt a more exploratory "open world adventure" approach to map design.
It's a little weird that you can keep playing if you switch to an equipment set with more encounters after using the last one fast enough, but will die if you take too long clicking.
I'm not sure what the quoted text means. Where would you die if you take too long to click? If you end an encounter and have no EP remaining, the run should end with no option to swap loadouts. I think I am misunderstanding something.
Although I don't understand that, I understand the solution, and I think that is a cool idea! I will add it.
Maybe I am misremembering but I thought I went to 0 EP and before the animation played I switched loadouts so I had more than 0 ep (possibly I opened the inventory and manually equipped an item, though) and then I could keep playing just fine, and I did that a couple times but I also failed to do it several times so I gave up on it as a plan.
When you swap to a loadout that would put your EP at 0 or below while on the Overworld, a warning shows up telling you to swap loadouts . If you then swap loadouts to something with more than 0 EP, that warning disappears.
If swap to a loadout that would put your EP at 0 or below while a menu is open, your Remaining EP will flash and say you have 0 EP. If you try to close the menu at this point, it will show you the warning. If you swap before trying to close the menu, everything will play as normal.
In every use case, the game is designed to make sure you don't accidentally end your run by swapping to the wrong loadout. Of course, there could be a bug, but I haven't heard of any problems with this feature until now. Let me know if you run into something like that again, and you think it's a bug. I'll be sure to fix it!
So I finished the current game (all bosses with both characters) and I have a couple of suggestions-
I'm not sure I like the multiple health bars. They make it difficult to tell how close I am to killing an enemy. It's a cool visual so I think it can be made to work, but it might be worth adding an option for a % health indicator or a single health bar.
Have you considered using abbreviations for large numbers (ex. 100k instead of 100000)? It's not a problem now, but if the numbers grow exponentially as the progression continues it could become one.
I know this comment is getting long, but one more suggestion I have is having the character skill screen and character select default to the character last played, instead of defaulting to the first character. When I played the second character it got a bit annoying having to manually change to him every time I finished a run.
I hope the feedback is helpful, feel free to ignore if you disagree, you are clearly better at this than me. Regardless, the game is awesome and I'm definitely looking forward to playing the final product.
I'm not sure I like the multiple health bars.
This has been requested by multiple people, and so I will be adding a setting for variations on the health bar including making it linear and showing the exact numerical health of the enemy.
Have you considered using abbreviations for large numbers
I assume you're not on the latest version ;) That feature has been in the game since the A.1.0 update. Even getting to 5 figures could make the formatting weird in the Stats Allocation menu.
having the character skill screen and character select default to the character last played
This will be available in the next update! Many people have also requested this feature.
I hope the feedback is helpful, feel free to ignore if you disagree, you are clearly better at this than me.
It is helpful, thank you! I don't care how crazy or unqualified your ideas might be. I am designing this game for you, and all ideas are good as they help me understand what I should be working on. I will push back on those ideas if I don't think they fit well, but if enough people in the community demand it, I will create it.
Great game. really want to open the second region )
Is there a way to see which regions still have unbeaten enemies?
Not yet, but that feature is at the top of my todo list!
This game feels amazing to play and I finished both stories, but I was a bit annoyed at the presets: basically I mostly have the same main equipment most of the time and only change rings and when I buy new equipment I have to update all of my presets (of which I usually use 2 or 3). It would be cool if you could share slots between presets, here are some ways in which you could do that:
1. Preset 1 would define what equipment "empty" slots are in other presets
2. Add a new pseudo-item which would copy equipment from a given preset
3. Have a "base" for a preset, which would replace empty slots with items from a different, selected preset
4. Add an "equip on all presets" button next to the regular "equip" button
In all cases I think the "copied" item should be a ghost and not at full opacity so the player knows its a copied item, and if it chooses from a specific preset maybe add a "number badge" to it.
I am working on making loadouts much less tedious to use! I think in the first iteration of this I'll have two settings. Copy/pasting entire loadouts and equipping a certain equipment to all loadouts. I'm already struggling to find the space to do this, but I will add more customizability in the future if needed!
I am working on adding a setting that drastically speeds up animations!
I do wonder what your concern is with conversations is though. There is a setting that lets dialogue instantly appear, as well as the fact you can click to instantly finish a select dialogue. Additionally, there is a button to entirely skip the dialogue. What would you like to see added to this to make things flow smoother?
Oh, if that's the case, then I apologize. I might've missed the part where it is possible with speeding up the convos. As for the speeding up animations; please do!
If the game is built around repetitions, make sure that the player can jump back into the game relatively quickly. Right now, every time EP runs out, the player has to go through multiple menus before they get back into the game. It's especially annoying when there is nothing to upgrade and the player is forced to spam-click through menus and animations before he can play again.
It is also an issue that playing with other characters makes this even slower as the player has to repeatedly choose the non-Apolonia character over and over again after each run. The game should remember which character the player has chosen.
In the progress menu, in the top right there's a button to quickly go to the next run. There's still 2 menus, but you can do it quite quickly.
I am working on making it remember your last Augmented Character and last Story played! Also, Adambob is right. There is a reset button there as well as in the Settings menu though -> Other -> Reset Run.
Thanks for the feedback!
The problem here is that it's not clear at all as far as Adambob's comment is concerned.
This button, which resets talents:
Is the same as this button which starts a new run:
This makes me think it resets/restarts the same run rather than starts a new one.
I see, but I'm not sure what the solution is. To get to the EXP Progress screen, you have to click on the "Save & Continue" button. With this saving, it is implied that you won't lose progress if you pass that point.
A through explaination for how resetting works is given in the Settings Menu. There isn't room to do the same here.
If I were to replace the reset icon with text like "Reset Run" or "Try Again", it would lead to the same confusion in your conclusion. A "Play" button would be out of place. What do you propose I show instead of the reset icon?
Loving the game so far, but started on browser, and didn't realize the game would be so fun and long, and since I've lost saves on browser games often, I'm wondering if you know any way to download a save from the browser version? Either way, awesome game!
I'm glad you're enjoying the game!
As far as I know, you can't download the save off of the browser version. Eventually, I'd like to have Cloud Save so you can play on any device and carry over your progress. Sorry about that!
I've played the game for quite some time now (like 4 or 5 hours) and the game is very fun. The only problem i have is that the progress seems to slow down very fast after around level 1200. It just becomes too repetivie, getting one equipment every run and a run takes like 10 min (5-10)
Have you been playing both characters? Playing one character benefits the other one, making it much easier to progress. If you swap between the characters often, you should be able to afford more than just one equipment per run.
Yes i have. Been switching between them to have about the same progress and it is still slow.
There is currently a difficultly spike while playing Stan at around level 600, but other than that the game should be smooth sailing.
Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/WtKweNpdYp! There's a strategy channel you can use to get help with progressing.
Hope to see new updates soon!
I think, AI art is good to use, especially if this is not final version!
Great game in overall, thank you!
Thanks for playing!
All of the AI art will be gone before the game is published and out of the playtesting phase, I promise. And the real art I commission an artist to make will be better than the AI art, but it will take time.
I've completed the first area and it's fantastic so far. The only complaint I have is that sometimes you can't see the bonuses of nearby when you're in a large area. Sometimes it's worth it to do an earlier section if it has a gold or exp multiplier, or you can move to a higher section if it has an enemy debuff, but you have to hike back and forth to check. It's particularly bad in the second to last part of the first zone, where there are a lot of sections with similar levels, and I want to check if any of the zones has a bonus. Some solutions I can think of are adding the ability to zoom out further and/or adding an effect to the borders of a zone when it has a bonus.
That's a great idea! I think I will make zooming out a setting.
I also like the idea of adding effects to the borders, and that should be easier to do. I'll see if I can add that in the next update.
Very nice game. I created a profile here just to say that.. :D
Thanks! :D
You just accidentedly built one of the most addicting gameplay loops ever. I cannot believe this is an alpha test. I literally love this no end.
I like how boss points encourage you to switch characters. I was intially opposed to the second character, but then realized I could build my attack extremely high for him. High risk, high reward. I love it.
What does EP in the top right mean? I see it go up as the remaining encounters goes down. It confused for me for a while, I though EP meant the remaining encounters, which lead to a couple unexpected deaths.
For a early alpha, this has a lot of charm to it. I'm excited for a full build of the game!
The EP in the top right is shown after you unlock Achievements. It stands for "Encounter Points" and represents how many Encounter Points you've used during that run. This, along with the timer, help you know how close you are to completing an Achievement. Your Remaining Encounters can be seen with the red bar in the top left.
I'm really happy you like the game! It's amazing knowing that my hard work is paying off.
Why isn't this game on steam for $2 or so?
The developer is a millionaire and doesn’t need money?
This is a good project, I would WANT to add it to collection.
This will definitely have, if not fans, then an enthusiastic audience =)
I'm glad you like it! The reason I'm not on all the platforms is because I am very new to the scene. I am most certainly not a millionaire haha, I'm just a kid fresh out of college. Everything here has only existed for 5 days or so. I applied to be a developer on Steam on 7/11 and this is what the page says right now.
Your tax and identity information is pending verification from the third party service. This process may take 2-7 days and you may be asked to provide additional documentation. Please keep an eye out for an e-mail requesting additional documents.
So it will be there soon, although I'm not sure if I want to make it a paid game. I had always thought this was going to be a free game, at least for the first couple of stories/zones. I would like for there to be paid content through DLC/extra stories eventually though.
The game already has a wonderful community over on the Discord! It is awesome having so much help when it comes to ideas for features, bug fixing, or just general strategy discussion.
ai art :(
I am working on replacing it! In the About Page inside the game, you can see my stance on this as well.
> There will not be any AI art in the final release of the game.
> This is a free game with no ads, and was initially made for educational purposes.
I am currently looking for a real artist to redo all of the AI art that is in the game. All of the AI art will eventually be gone, I promise. I dislike the idea of artists not getting compensated for their work as much as you do.
However, I do want to retain the quality, and that is why it's not a quick fix.
And that's good =)
Let me explain:
If any large studio with hundreds, thousands of employees uses hackneyed presets, AI art or anything in this category, it's bad, in my opinion.
But for guys who decide to create their own project without any funding, based on personal enthusiasm, using only one, two, three people. AI, presets, whatever - this is a lifeline!
Nowadays, the price of a tiny model reaches half a year’s salary in poor regions... Maybe it’s not the AI problem, but someone overvaluing their work?
This game is going places. I have tried all "Inflationlike" games, my favorite being Resolute hero for his really good item drop system.
It would be really cool to add something similar, like before starting a battle there is a little "?" square letting you know that peon has an item drop you have still not collected, when you already collected it, it shows the item drop in the same box for next fights. This way it feels more transparent and there isnt a need to constantly be looking for guides for the good drops.
The exp system is genious and really like it, there is alwais a feeling of improve after every run thanks to it.
Being able to play on different character with different stats and items feels refreshing and the addition of the skill tree, despite being too simple, can give a lot of depth. I really hope you improve it in favor of developing builds and variety of playstyles. A lot of times, inflationlike games feels like there is only a viable build that you must follow in order to advance. This is my opinion, but im sure that even if this isnt your plan for this game you will make it in a way that i will love. This game have a lot of potential!
It used to be like this! But I had a few problems with that idea so I changed it:
I do want the screen that shows up on game over to be the equipment screen. That reinforces one of the core metaprogression aspects of the game. If I show the stats screen, it would lead to confusion on why it is being shown, especially if the player hasn't fully internalized the unlocking equipment mechanic.
I agree that what you're saying would lead to a more strategic experience early on, but I believe the danger of confusing new players is greater than the benefit granted to those looking to minmax.
Thanks for the suggestion though!
I don't think this game needs enemies getting a damage multiplier if the battle drags on. The first character's tanking strategy is already penalized by the fact that fights taking longer = less progress per hour for the player.
Agreed. It should probably still exist as an anti-softlock measure, but i personally think it should only happen after like... 100 or so rounds of combat, not the 10 or so it seems like currently. That way the battle of attrition the first character seems built for is actually viable.
I am working on implementing these suggestions! I agree, with dodging, Apolonia's special can feel useless.
Although, if an encounter is to go past 10 turns, I don't think it should be as it is with no 2x per turn damage multiplier. Maybe there should be something like a shared damage multiplier (both you and the enemy get it) or maybe the battle rapidly speeds up (a sort of "frenzy" occurs).
I really don't like the idea of a new player allocating a lot of health and defense, and then fighting an enemy in a level 25+ area. They might be in that encounter for 30 seconds if they don't have enough attack. I don't think that is a good introduction to the game.
But I hear these concerns, and I will update the game to address them.
Believe me, 30 seconds is almost nothing. How about 20 minutes per encounter? In one of the games I intentionally gone into one, although I didn't expected it to last THAT long.
A fatigue mechanic makes sense, but I think it ramps up too fast. If it kicks in as 2x at round 12 (or whatever it's set to now), it should maybe double every 5 rounds afterwards, or increase by 1x every round, but doubling so quickly means the fight just instantly ends as soon as it kicks in. Apolonia's DPS is so lacking that I found myself having to dump 100% of my points into attack when I was first reaching the level 2000-3000 range in order to kill anything.
You sir, know how to make a satisfying gameplay loop.
There is plenty of room for polish, but this is a very compelling phase one alpha.
Thank you for sharing this with us.
I couldn't agree more. This is such a nostalgic experience