It's no secret that Rivals wouldn't be where it is today without our players and awesome community. We're still amazed and humbled every time we see art, videos, tournaments, articles and streams about our indie platform fighter.

As a thank you to everyone who's purchased the game and our players who have helped us grow, we're adding a special piece of DLC for everyone who bought the game in Early Access. Introducing the Early Access color set that applies to both your Steam name and your favorite Rivals:



This DLC unlocks the old school Gameboy color set for every Rival, and also gives you a colored name you can use online to show off your EA status. The Gameboy colors are a throwback to one of Dan's earlier smash games, so we thought it fitting that the early adopters would get the OG palette from before Rivals was cool.

Players don't have to do anything to get these, they'll automatically be attached to your account when the game comes out on Tuesday. Everyone who gets the game in Early Access will receive this so you technically still have some time to hop on the bandwagon if you want a chance to use these in game.



These colors have special properties that can't be recreated in the custom color menu.


Thanks again to all of our players, we hope you're as excited about the full launch as we are!

It's no secret that Rivals wouldn't be where it is today without our players and awesome community. We're still amazed and humbled every time we see art, videos, tournaments, articles and streams about our indie platform fighter.

As a thank you to everyone who's purchased the game and our players who have helped us grow, we're adding a special piece of DLC for everyone who bought the game in Early Access. Introducing the Early Access color set that applies to both your Steam name and your favorite Rivals:



This DLC unlocks the old school Gameboy color set for every Rival, and also gives you a colored name you can use online to show off your EA status. The Gameboy colors are a throwback to one of Dan's earlier smash games, so we thought it fitting that the early adopters would get the OG palette from before Rivals was cool.

Players don't have to do anything to get these, they'll automatically be attached to your account when the game comes out on Tuesday. Everyone who gets the game in Early Access will receive this so you technically still have some time to hop on the bandwagon if you want a chance to use these in game.



These colors have special properties that can't be recreated in the custom color menu.


Thanks again to all of our players, we hope you're as excited about the full launch as we are!

If you play Rivals with a controller - we’re proud to share today that Controller Chaos is introducing an exclusive line of Rivals of Aether controllers. Fans have been requesting these for quite some time, and now thanks to Controller Chaos that dream is a reality.

You can see what some of these hand-painted masterpieces look like below and get one for yourself at http://www.controllerchaos.com/rivals-of-aether-custom-controllers.html. If you pick one up make sure to tweet us a picture of how it came out with any customizations you made.

For a chance to win one for free, you can enter our contest here: https://twitter.com/RivalsOfAether/status/844219115686453248

If you play Rivals with a controller - we’re proud to share today that Controller Chaos is introducing an exclusive line of Rivals of Aether controllers. Fans have been requesting these for quite some time, and now thanks to Controller Chaos that dream is a reality.

You can see what some of these hand-painted masterpieces look like below and get one for yourself at http://www.controllerchaos.com/rivals-of-aether-custom-controllers.html. If you pick one up make sure to tweet us a picture of how it came out with any customizations you made.

For a chance to win one for free, you can enter our contest here: https://twitter.com/RivalsOfAether/status/844219115686453248

Hey everyone, Rivals of Aether comes out on 3/28 in just 6 days! I've been seeing a lot of questions lately about what the full launch means for Rivals of Aether, especially with people already feeling like they've been playing the full game for quite a while.  Whether you're fairly new or a seasoned veteran, there should be plenty of changes coming that interest you.  As a reminder, if you're a player who has already purchased the game during Early Access, you'll automatically get the full version of the game on 3/28 through Steam.  Read on to find out some of the things that will be included with that version next Tuesday.

Our single player modes are getting the bulk of the updates for launch.  More than just story mode, this means all kinds of features that give the game a high level of polish and players a chance to have fun offline in a non-competitive environment.



Story mode starts off by digging into the background and relationships between the Rivals through traditional arcade style fights. Once you've began to uncover the mysteries of Aether you can jump into Abyss mode.

Abyss mode is where things start to get crazy, letting you play cooperatively with up to 4 people and advancing through waves of different challenges and enemy types. You and your friends will jockey for experience points to level up your Rival so they can equip powerful runes that augment their attacks. You can also take these leveled up Rivals into Abyss versus and compete directly against your friends.

In addition, these modes will all have leaderboards, so you can climb to the top with the best times in story mode or the furthest waves in abyss.



Here's a quick rundown of some of the things you can look forward to in single player:

• Story Mode
• Abyss Mode
• Leaderboards
• Currency / Unlockables
• Collectible Trading Cards / Badges
• Music (stage music, victory themes, and more)
• Achievements

Even though the core multiplayer mechanics for Rivals haven't changed in awhile, this update will still shake up competitive play. For starters, the stage count will be increasing from seven stages to eleven. We'll be implementing a neutral and counterpick system to accommodate the larger stage list and also raising the bans from one to two. We're excited to see which stages are most popular in tournament play.



For launch we'll also be doing a ranked ladder reset. This means on the 28th, everyone will be reset to 1000 ELO. The old ladder will still be memorialized on Steam (Ralph OP), but this gives all of the new and old players alike a fresh start. We'll also be implementing seasons (which will each last 3 months) so the ladder doesn't get stale.

Lastly, people have asked about it, but I wanted to confirm that the RCS (Rivals Championship Series) will be back for a season 2. You can look forward to more regions, bigger tournaments, and a new points format. Rewards are in the works for the new ladder seasons and RCS S2, but I'll save those for a later post.

---------------------

All of these things (and a few others) will come together for our launch on 3/28. Even if you've played the heck out of Rivals in Early Access it's definitely going to be a great time to share it with your friends who haven't played yet as the game will look and play the best it ever has.

To see all of the new gameplay above in action, make sure you tune in this Sunday to our pre-release party on http://twitch.tv/RivalsOfAether at 12PST/3EST. We'll be doing a summit style event - playing different games with Washington locals and a few out of state guests.

We look forward to seeing you all online on launch day!

Final note: If you were hoping for additional characters at launch you're going to have to wait a little bit longer. You can keep speculating for a few more weeks before our first is revealed ;)

 

Hey everyone, Rivals of Aether comes out on 3/28 in just 6 days! I've been seeing a lot of questions lately about what the full launch means for Rivals of Aether, especially with people already feeling like they've been playing the full game for quite a while.  Whether you're fairly new or a seasoned veteran, there should be plenty of changes coming that interest you.  As a reminder, if you're a player who has already purchased the game during Early Access, you'll automatically get the full version of the game on 3/28 through Steam.  Read on to find out some of the things that will be included with that version next Tuesday.

Our single player modes are getting the bulk of the updates for launch.  More than just story mode, this means all kinds of features that give the game a high level of polish and players a chance to have fun offline in a non-competitive environment.



Story mode starts off by digging into the background and relationships between the Rivals through traditional arcade style fights. Once you've began to uncover the mysteries of Aether you can jump into Abyss mode.

Abyss mode is where things start to get crazy, letting you play cooperatively with up to 4 people and advancing through waves of different challenges and enemy types. You and your friends will jockey for experience points to level up your Rival so they can equip powerful runes that augment their attacks. You can also take these leveled up Rivals into Abyss versus and compete directly against your friends.

In addition, these modes will all have leaderboards, so you can climb to the top with the best times in story mode or the furthest waves in abyss.



Here's a quick rundown of some of the things you can look forward to in single player:

• Story Mode
• Abyss Mode
• Leaderboards
• Currency / Unlockables
• Collectible Trading Cards / Badges
• Music (stage music, victory themes, and more)
• Achievements

Even though the core multiplayer mechanics for Rivals haven't changed in awhile, this update will still shake up competitive play. For starters, the stage count will be increasing from seven stages to eleven. We'll be implementing a neutral and counterpick system to accommodate the larger stage list and also raising the bans from one to two. We're excited to see which stages are most popular in tournament play.



For launch we'll also be doing a ranked ladder reset. This means on the 28th, everyone will be reset to 1000 ELO. The old ladder will still be memorialized on Steam (Ralph OP), but this gives all of the new and old players alike a fresh start. We'll also be implementing seasons (which will each last 3 months) so the ladder doesn't get stale.

Lastly, people have asked about it, but I wanted to confirm that the RCS (Rivals Championship Series) will be back for a season 2. You can look forward to more regions, bigger tournaments, and a new points format. Rewards are in the works for the new ladder seasons and RCS S2, but I'll save those for a later post.

---------------------

All of these things (and a few others) will come together for our launch on 3/28. Even if you've played the heck out of Rivals in Early Access it's definitely going to be a great time to share it with your friends who haven't played yet as the game will look and play the best it ever has.

To see all of the new gameplay above in action, make sure you tune in this Sunday to our pre-release party on http://twitch.tv/RivalsOfAether at 12PST/3EST. We'll be doing a summit style event - playing different games with Washington locals and a few out of state guests.

We look forward to seeing you all online on launch day!

Final note: If you were hoping for additional characters at launch you're going to have to wait a little bit longer. You can keep speculating for a few more weeks before our first is revealed ;)

 

CEO Dreamland is coming up soon and we can’t wait to head to Florida to play. If you’re unfamiliar with the CEO series, it’s a huge fighting game tournament with a wrestling theme. Top players even have their matches in the middle of a wrestling ring. This year organizer Alex Jebailey is showing his love for the scene with his take on a platform fighter/brawler specific CEO event – and that's where CEO Dreamland comes in.

Since Rivals will be a main event at the tourney we wanted to show our support with an awesome stage skin you can pick up in the compendium right now – The CEO Ring.



This stage skin replaces the Rock Wall with brand new art, animations, and even has a remixed version of the Rock Wall theme music by flashygoodness. The majority of the funds also go straight back to the players as a pot bonus for the Rivals bracket, so it’s a great way to support the community.

If you’re able to make it we’d love to see you at the event, so make sure you stop by the Rivals area and say hi! Stay tuned for more announcements this month including the full launch of the game out of Early Access on PC with brand new game modes, stages, and more.

CEO Dreamland is coming up soon and we can’t wait to head to Florida to play. If you’re unfamiliar with the CEO series, it’s a huge fighting game tournament with a wrestling theme. Top players even have their matches in the middle of a wrestling ring. This year organizer Alex Jebailey is showing his love for the scene with his take on a platform fighter/brawler specific CEO event – and that's where CEO Dreamland comes in.

Since Rivals will be a main event at the tourney we wanted to show our support with an awesome stage skin you can pick up in the compendium right now – The CEO Ring.



This stage skin replaces the Rock Wall with brand new art, animations, and even has a remixed version of the Rock Wall theme music by flashygoodness. The majority of the funds also go straight back to the players as a pot bonus for the Rivals bracket, so it’s a great way to support the community.

If you’re able to make it we’d love to see you at the event, so make sure you stop by the Rivals area and say hi! Stay tuned for more announcements this month including the full launch of the game out of Early Access on PC with brand new game modes, stages, and more.

Hey everyone,

We want to share a few announcements today regarding Aetherboards and where we're focusing our community efforts during 2017. Read on and let us know what you think of the news.



We will officially be retiring Aetherboards at the end of this month.  With the full game launch on the horizon we want to focus our community efforts and meet you where you're most active.

You don't have to worry that closing Aetherboards will make it harder to get in touch with us. We have quite a few popular hubs that we frequent that are also teeming with players. Check out the communities below if you want to discuss Rivals or find players.


Our discord server is a great place to find opponents and meet other players.  It's growing exponentially, and just this week we were selected for the official discord partner program. This means we get a few perks to buff our awesome community like VIP voice servers, custom invite screens, a sweet partner badge, and a couple other extras to make us stand out.

A big shoutout to all of our players who call the server home, Zam who founded it and the rest of the mod team who keeps it from being buried in memes.  We're just shy of reaching 2k members so hopefully we'll reach that milestone soon. Discord is also home to a bunch of other great Rivals communities like the RoA Academy, NCS Tournament server, EU Rivals, and too many more to mention. Check out the #rules-and-about channel in the main discord to find your way to the other discord servers.



Share this link to invite your friends: https://discord.gg/RoA



Most of the dev team are redditors so you'll definitely be able to find us over on /r/RivalsOfAether.  Our sub normally has the most up to date news and events and looks beautiful to boot with a custom Rivals design by /u/kenxftw.

Our Steam forums have always been active and we don't expect that to change any time soon. With Aetherboards leaving the picture, we're taking this opportunity to reorganize the Steam forums and bring over some of our useful posts from Aetherboards. We've recently added subforums and our news and announcements will continue to be cross-posted in Steam News. If you're a lover of traditional forums we hope you'll make the move over to Steam.

Xbox players are always welcome anywhere, but if you're looking for an Xbox specific group then check out some of the Xbox clubs on your console or the Win10 app. Just search for "Rivals" and it should give you a list of the top ones to join. Our favorites are the 'Rivals of Smash Bros' and the 'Rivals Competitive and Casual Club'. There's tournaments, LFG, clip sharing, and more.

Wrapping it up, I don't want to leave out the obvious social networks but also don't think you need an example of what Facebook is at this point ;)

Rivals Facebook/ Twitter / YouTube / Twitch

We're always keeping a watch over all of these channels and make a point to answer your questions and help troubleshoot issues. You can also contact us directly at contact@rivalsofaether.com. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you online!

-Etalus