We are pleased to release a new alpha build of ScourgeBringer!
We have implemented many balance changes to items, shop, World 1, the altars, the skill tree, and the Super Fury (special ability). We’ve implemented, improved and fixed many quality of life features within the game as well.
All of these changes are based on the feedback you’ve given us over at the Discord and we can’t thank you enough for taking the time to write out your thoughts on the game.
We also added Steam rich presence support which is a cool neat feature.
We are now off to work on the next step of our game: early access!
Your feedback on previous alphas have been tremendously valuable, so please keep them coming!
You can read the full changelog after the gif.
Have fun!
Cheers, Thomas
Note:
We expectionnaly unlocked the 4th skill branch earlier (once Boss 1 is beaten) because World 2 kind of require it. All the skills will be reorganized/remade later.
New:
Added a new category of enemies: Alphas, bigger versions of existing enemies (including in World 1)
World 2 with its own enemies:
4 new normal enemies
3 alphas
1 mini boss
1 boss
A new skill branch with 5 new skills:
Parry: allows to destroy bullets with the Smash
Raining blood: bosses drop more skill points
Dirty barry: start new games with an enhanced revolver
Manual override: allows to choose a zone of attack when doing the special attack
Lethal Club: allows to throw bullets back with the Smash
Changes:
In mouse aim mode, slash, dash, and smash direction will now use the mouse direction
Reworked bullet contact particles
Made flies to be less spammy
Added new gamepad brands to the auto mapping
Made slash/dash/smash and auto aim less snappy and more accurate
Made the "!" mark bigger on bosses
Improved aim assist (less snappy, more accurate)
Adjusted a bunch of things regarding how smash and other attacks are impacting enemy timings
Fine tuned the physics and controls when smashing
Added debug launch options to test specific Worlds or setup:
"-debugStartingLevel 2": make the game to start directly at the second world (mind that using this option will break the "restart" option and make the game to softlock)
"-debugMap": always generate the same map to quickly test out things
Fixes:
Fixed map opening sound to repeat if holding the map button while choosing a blessing
Fixed the drone getting into firing position even when ammo are empty
Fixed enemies having difficulties to go around corners
Fixed wall crabs firing toward their walls if the player is right on them
Fixed ground pound not generating any waves if done next to a wall
Fixed enemies firing on walls when they try to corner the player
Fixed special softlocking some enemies in specific conditions
Fixed bosses attack chances being miscalculated
Fixed chain stunable enemies
Fixed clicking to bring up the skill tree might purchase a skill
It is time for a new Alpha update! Quite a big one! :)
We moved forward on our roadmap and added the calm hub world. You will start all your runs from here and will be able to pop up the skill tree to enhance Kyhra's abilities!
We also started to give more life to the NPCs which in the future will distill more lore and advises.
Feedback from the community have been quite awesome, as always. Thanks a lot! We hope that we've been addressing them in proper ways, and if some are still to be fixed, don't worry, we'll get there! Please keep them coming!
You can check the full changelog right after this news!
Let's keep on rocking! We're now working toward our next milestone.
See you around, and stay fresh!
Cheers, Thomas
Important note:
All prior settings are reset by this version. This is due to a change within our file format.
New:
Added the hub world from where every run will start and from where the skill tree is accessible
Added permanent skill tree (accessible from the hub world)
Added 13 of the 29 skills
Added dialogs to the NPCs (they don't have that many lines for now, but the system is fully implemented, hence it'll be easy to add more as we go)
Added portal to next level when beating the boss (which brings back to the hub for now)
Added Altar of Blood sounds
The game now saves your progress (skill points and unlocked skills)
Added button prompts to tutorial
Added more juice to the boss HP bar
Added a setting to disable to the low HP blinking background feedback
Added a demo mode: using the "-demo" launch parameter will run the game in a demo state with exit and settings disabled, as well as load/save being disabled and defaulting the game with 3 skill points available. The demo can be reset with F3.
Changes:
Some of the default abilities of Kyhra are now a skill (fast travel, kill combos, ground pound...)
Keyboard and mouse inputs are now ignored when the window is not focused
The map will now be locked while in combat
Simplified keyboard keys and mouse buttons names to be shorter
All menus now loop when navigating
Mouse wheel can now be used to scroll through menus
Made the "!" smashable symbol more visible
Traps are now disabled when rooms are cleared
Made the base revolver more precise and the master revolver more impactful
Fixes:
Fixed super attack soft locking if you hold down the slash input
Fixed super attack soft locking if you launch the attack right before the only remaining enemy is about to go an invulnerable state (e.g. teleporting)
Fixed smash sound when spamming the smash input
Fixed mouse selection having a priority over keyboard inputs
Fixed mouse selection still working on Altars while the game is paused
Fixed pause menu being accessible (yet invisible) while teleporting Kyhra
Fixed gamepad vibrating with low HP warning pattern after the teleportation animation
Fixed teleportation not properly landing Kyhra on ground
Fixed boss not being properly invulnerable during its introduction animation
Fixed gameplay still running during the game over animation
Fixed inputs still working during the game over animation
Fixed tutorial mouse inputs
Fixed pause not being unpausable with gamepad pause button
Here comes a new Alpha update! We continued to follow our roadmap and added the fast travel and the temporary upgrade systems.
You will now find Altars of Blood within the ScourgeBringer that will grant you their blessing.
We also continued to address the precious feedback you all have been sending us! Keep them coming!
You can check the full change log right down this news, with a couple gifs to illustrate the new content.
It's also probably worth mentioning that alpha registrations are done by asking our bot on our Discord server.
We're already busy preparing what's next, though we will first work toward a Gamescom demo for next month.
In the meantime, stay cool and hydrated!
Cheers! Thomas
New:
Added fast travel through the map (this will later be limited by skill acquisitions)
Added Altars of the Blood: in each world, you can find an Altar of the Blood that will grant you new powers (Blessings of the Blood) lasting for the current run
Added 12 Blessings of the Blood
Added French localization of the tutorial
Changes:
Enhanced map display
Upgraded our Linux and macOS runtime (stability and performance improvements on those platforms)
Removed the unimplemented languages from the settings until they are implemented
Allowed to bind the "back/share/select/-" gamepad button in the settings (PC only, because that's forbidden on consoles)
Changed the enemy bullets color to be different than the player ones
Removed the unused "return to hub" pause option and replaced it with a quick restart option
The super attack is now automatically slashing, but you can still slash yourself to speed it up
The game auto-pauses when the window gets out of focus
Fixes:
Fixed map input style being saved as mouse aiming (and therefore not restoring properly)
Fixed mouse selection of the mouse aiming setting
Fixed Linux issues with http requests
Fixed middle mouse button not being bindable
Fixed tutorial typos and wording
Fixed "New Game" not being selected when engaging the main menu with a gamepad
Fixed returning from pause or menus ghosting the previous input from closing the pause/menu
Fixed shop items being selectable before they appeared
The launch of ScourgeBringer's alpha has been a blast. All your feedback have been very relevant and helped us to focus on what matters.
Today, we are releasing Alpha 2.
It adds the super attack and revamps the weapon system (including new weapons and items). It also addresses a bunch of the issues you've highlighted, though all not yet, but we'll get there as we publish new updates.
Accessing the alpha: for the time being, alpha access are managed through our Discord.
You will find right after the gif the full change log!
Thanks for your support, and let's continue rocking the feedback!
Cheers, Thomas
New:
Added the super attack
Added 14 drone weapons to drop and find in the shop
Added 6 new items (most of them are related to the new drone reloading system)
Added the full level map
Added an option to disable the mouse aiming when playing with only a keyboard
Polished the settings and pause menu to have sounds and animations
Added more gamepad support, and possibly fixing a specific Xbox One controller issue
Added a deadzone to the aiming stick and slightly increased the moving stick's one
Implemented the auto-slash accessibility setting
Changes:
Reworked how the drone reloading works: the reload bar now consists in charging the full bar in order to get back X ammo (X depends on weapon), and it is more required to have an empty clip to reload
Changed the default drone weapon: it's now a manual revolver
Removed 2 items that were no more relevant to the new drone reloading system
Removed the Bodyboulder last bullets upon exploding
Removed the drone reloading gain from hitting with drone weapons
Fixes:
Fixed a few typos
Fixed max HP no being reset after a run
Fixed scrolling in the settings not being reset when browsing through tabs
Fixed possible crash if the Settings file doesn't exist
Fixed gamepad vibrating when playing with keyboard
Fixed pending money carrying over the next run
Fixed mini-boss not cashing the correct amount of money if the player is leaving the room too quickly
Fixed enemies not dropping the correct amount of money
Fixed world 1 shop room having missing tiles above its northern door
Fixed mini-boss continuing to fire upon exploding
Fixed the shop freezing the pending purchase if an unbuyable item is hit before the pending purchase has been cashed in
Fixed smart aim not snapping correctly to bosses
Fixed "exit" from pause menu not working if the player just got hit and has invulnerability frames
Fixed ambient sounds still playing even if the music volume has been set to 0
In regard to our open development process, we are pleased to announce that we started rolling out the first Alpha of the ScourgeBringer!
The game is still highly unfinished and not worthy of a public release on Steam.
And yet, we need feedback from the community to make sure that we're heading toward the right direction. Hence, we are organizing a private Alpha, which we will update regularly with fixes and new content up until it matches the quality that Steam players deserve.
Join us and you will be guided to the preview program registration process.
What to expect?
A real Alpha, which means a totally unfinished game with broken and missing content.
As of now, the Alpha contains only one world out of the six planned. There are also a bunch of features missing, which are going to be added progressively to the Alpha as we progress.
ScourgeBringer will release on Steam when we feel like it has reached the quality you all deserve, with enough content for you to already enjoy playing for extended sessions.
This will most likely happen when the game goes out of Alpha and enters Beta through a Steam Early Access.
If you want to wait for that to happen, simply wishlist the game and you'll get notified in due time!
I am Thomas, lead designer on ScourgeBringer. We are super pumped to finally unveil our new game that we are making with sound designer Joonas Turner and publisher Dear Villagers.
ScourgeBringer is a super fast-paced rogue-platformer. You can image it as a blend between Devil May Cry and Celeste. You can jump around, climb and slide on walls, and slash, dash, smash, blast ALL THE THINGS!