May 30, 2022

Aeternum Vale is coming to Early Access this Summer!

Aeternum Vale - BorisCerdan

Excited yet? I sure am! ːsteamhappyː

It wasn't my original plan to go through an Early Access before a full 1.0 release, but after putting a lot of thought into it, I came to the realization that it could be a great opportunity, for two main reasons:

- Despite the project’s advancement, there are still more features and pieces of content that I want to implement. I don’t want to compromise on my vision for the game, but I also want to manage people expectations. Early Access gives us the best of both world: an ongoing, interactive development based on community feedback and open dialogue.

- Existing in an Early Access form will make the game more discoverable and open several new marketing channels that will hopefully bring more eyeballs to the title. More active feedback would also make for a more stable and polished final product by the time we reach a full 1.0 release.

This is Steam’s Questions sheet for Early Access, that will throne on top of Aeternum Vale’s Steam page:

1. Why Early Access?

Putting the game out there while there is still more content to be added is a great way to gather more feedback, which will help polish the player’s experience one update at a time and get early opinions on the game.

2. Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

As of now, no date has been set in stone, but we’re looking at a time frame of roughly a year. Maybe a bit less or a bit more, depending on players feedback and external factors.

3. How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

In its finished state, the game will have more enemies and Boss encounters, additional game areas and two different endings (false ending & true ending). There will also be more NPC interactions leading to the full main story players will need to follow to unlock said “true” ending.

4. What is the current state of the Early Access version?

Gameplay wise, everything is in there: All navigational abilities (Jump, Double Jump, Dash, Wall Cling & Gliding) are implemented and fully functional. In terms of the game world, players can already get a glimpse of 10 different biomes, fight a dozen unique enemies, get to the “false” ending, and meet a quirky cast of 20+ quirky characters.

5. Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

The game’s price will slightly increase at the full release.

6. How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

Community is at the core of this project. Aeternum Vale was originally founded on Kickstarter by 135 amazing backers who became the game’s backbone through our Discord Server. Since then, they have been able to experience technical demos, alpha builds, and have significantly contributed in shaping the game! By releasing in Early Access, we hope to keep developing this awesome community and gather even more feedback to make Aeternum Vale the best game it can possibly be! : )

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Well, we still have some work to do before that Early Access version is ready to release, hence the vague release window. When it's ready, I will announce the precise release date with a cool trailer. And when the fateful date arrives, I will start sending Steam keys to all backers!

/!\ Early Access will be Windows only for the time being! Mac version will come later down the road /!\

In the meantime, I thank all of you for your patience and your undying support!

Stay tuned to the Discord Community Server ! ːsteamhappyː

May 30, 2022

The Neo Cosmos DLC is Available Now!

A Dance of Fire and Ice - Kyle

A Dance of Fire and Ice: Neo Cosmos is now available! Neo Cosmos is an expansion DLC we've been working on for a while now, and we're excited for you to finally play it. It adds new worlds, new game mechanics, all-new music, and new Level Editor events.

The DLC is directed by TaroNuke, creator of NotITG and UKSRT. Check out his previous works and you may get an idea of his game design style! Taro was incredible to work with, and has been crafting this expansion from the ground up for a long time. He has a very particular skill and style for making levels, which was perfect for a game like A Dance of Fire and Ice.

Once you have the DLC, you can find the new worlds by traveling to the portal to the right of the Main Menu!

DLC Features

New worlds: Adds 5 new worlds to the game, each with new mechanics and gimmicks.

New editor features: New Neo Cosmos-specific level events added to the Level Editor. Share your levels on Steam Workshop, and play levels that use them!

Original music: Features original tracks by Canblaster 2K6, Frums, Ash Astral, and DM DOKURO.

Directed by TaroNuke (creator of NotITG and UKSRT), with plenty of surprises, new characters, and story.

For the full changelog of everything we've added with today's update and everything we've added since our previous Steam post, you can click (WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE NEO COSMOS DLC) right here.

Neo Cosmos FAQ

Q: Who made Neo Cosmos?
A: Neo Cosmos is directed by TaroNuke, with help from the 7th Beat Games team. We all worked on it together, but it deserves a huge thank-you to Taro for coming up with the ideas, story, and levels. Thank you Taro! It also includes great character art from two artists, SUPERCOMPUTATION and electr1ca.

Q: How difficult is Neo Cosmos?
A: It has some new surprises, so that answer will be different for each player! We recommend that you at least try playing the main 12 Worlds of A Dance of Fire and Ice before playing Neo Cosmos. We like how it feels as an extension after playing those, but the DLC does not require that you beat those levels to play it, so don't worry!

Q: Do I need to unlock Neo Cosmos?
A: If you've purchased the Neo Cosmos DLC, the only thing you need to do to unlock the new content is to complete World 1 (and the boss level 1-X) from the beginning of the game. You probably have it unlocked already!

Q: Is the Neo Cosmos DLC needed to play Steam Workshop levels that use special Neo Cosmos Level Editor events?
A: Yes, owning the Neo Cosmos DLC is required to create or play custom levels that use the new Neo Cosmos Level Editor events.

Q: Will the Neo Cosmos content come to mobile?
A: Yes, eventually! We are still working on it, so it might take a while for the mobile version to be updated. We can't really confirm anything else about the mobile version yet. Thank you for understanding!

Q: Will A Dance of Fire and Ice, the base game, still receive free updates?
A: Yes! The base game will be treated separately, and will still receive free updates, such as levels and level editor improvements.

Q: Us the Neo Cosmos soundtrack available to purchase?
A: Yes! You can get the soundtrack on Steam or Bandcamp!

We hope you enjoy the DLC! We had a lot of fun playing it ourselves. Ever since we launched A Dance of Fire and Ice, we've been surprised over and over again with how many different ways there are for creators to explore new rhythms and new game concepts. The game has evolved a lot since it first launched.

Thank you for playing, and let us know what you think of the new levels!

Our fans run a Discord server where you can talk about our games and the level editor: http://discord.gg/rhythmdr

Twitter: https://twitter.com/adofai
Website: https://www.7thbe.at

May 30, 2022

Monthly Dev update #2 (May 2022) - Angry Cats Looking for a Dogfight!

Task Force Admiral - Vol.1: American Carrier Battles - Drydock Dreams Games

Dear Fans,
Dear Followers,
Old & new,

Welcome to this May dev diary for Task Force Admiral.

As promised, we are now on a monthly schedule. This one will be dedicated to air-to-air mechanics.

Hello to all our new friends! (aka thanks Shermie!)

First of all, allow us a shout-out to Sherman on Youtube, who had the kindness to cover us in a video earlier this month. Seems it went quite well (100k+ views, cool!) and there's a lot of you out there who mentioned how they'd love TFA to somewhat bring back the emotions we all had when playing Battlestations more than a decade ago. Well, we can't promise anything when it comes to direct control of units, although it is considered to some extent for future development - but be certain we'll do what we can to have the sort of looks, sound environment & general vibe necessary to look the part!

At any rate, here are the sequences - some of them original, some of them longer versions of scenes you might have seen already. Hope you'll enjoy the ride. As for all our new followers who joined us following this vid, welcome aboard - and let's get to the next item of interest.

Drama in the air: developing air combat and TFA's flying fighting machines

We have reached a point in development where we're busy testing - if I might say, even brute stress-testing - existing mechanics so as to ensure that they will work properly, especially in the demanding scope of an actual carrier battle. As you certainly know, these engagements could involve dozens, if not hundreds of aircraft in relatively close distance of each other, all busy with their own mission and priorities. At one point at Midway, literally more than three hundred planes were in flight between Midway, the Kido Butai and the American carrier task forces.

Granted, not everybody was engaged at the same time in the same spot, but still we have to plan for contingencies. In an alternative world, where the US commanders get their act together, Midway's own attack force, say, could have been striking at the Japanese carriers at the same time as all the converging carrier-based raids, while the Japanese were launching their own raids. In such an extreme scenario, what would happen to your computer next?

Well, good news, we ran some tests: seems like your computer will be alright. That's a good start, isn't it! Unlikely 100 v 100 dogfights were set, and our computers are handling that like fairly well. That one thing is a relief already, and it is pleasing to know that this part of the development is on the right track. Engagements of a moderately epic scale (for the genre that is... We ain't UEBS in the air either) will be possible and should allow us to rest easy when simulating some of the most complicated battles of 1942, including on a resource-heavy map like this one which encompasses the Solomons, New Hebrides, New Britain, a bit of New Ireland and a big chunk of Papua New-Guinea.

This also allowed us to explore a bit further the damage system. As you can see above, each aircraft is made of larger main parts (wings, fuselage, tail, engine which all have a certain amount of hitpoint before they finally break down, possibly with catastrophic consequences). Sub-systems, such as the pilot himself, fuel tanks, landing gear, radios, other avionics when present (IFF, navigation homing devices, radars), guns, etc... will be added to each aircraft and can be damaged or destroyed by the occasional bullet or shell. It is, obviously, nowhere close to the sort of detail you would have in a simulation like, say, Il-2, but it is still a good compromise considering we're making a wargame with an air combat element - and not the other way around (we'll mention this again later in this update).

Now, as for how combat proper would look, I guess a video is worth a thousand words. Here are a few minutes captured and put together in a short showcase.

So, what you're looking at is our fighter AI interacting on both sides of the aisle, trying to make best use of the aircraft flight models and overall doctrine they're provided with. The pace of the action is deliberate: Task Force Admiral doesn't try or ambitions to be on the arcade side of things. Air combat will be at times murderous, but it's nothing like the sort of overkill you'd see in action movies or more recent action games. We try to inject some humanity in our pixel pilots: they are not omniscient, their actions require a base reaction time, wingmen will try to cover their leaders before going for the cheap kill, etc... We encourage them to exploit the vertical plane and the offensive and defensive maneuvers (split-S, Immelmann, scissors) that make good use of it. That would explain why in this sequence, you see them start the engagement over the clouds and end up on the deck. Besides, when specific conditions are met, complex defensive maneuvers like the Lufberry circle or the Thach Weave, or beam defense maneuver like Thach would call it himself, will be attempted by sections under pressure.

Overall, it is not perfect, but it feels real enough so as not to warrant much more work for the time being. We'll fine tune AI behavior based on results once we get an actual battle running from the beginning to the end, including through the calibration and use of varying skill levels for the pilots (Midway-era VF-8, watch out!).

At any rate, for those who did not know about our earlier efforts regarding the implementation of complex tactics, please check out our old video about the Weave - that one ain't nothing new, but if you had missed it, here it is for your enjoyment!

In regard of aircraft performance, that one recurring question, we will stick with what is made available to us from the archives. Then again, we don't pretend to hold the holy truth when it comes to aircraft specs - honestly who does? Old Il-2 hands who have been around for a couple decades will know what I am talking about. But we'll try as much as possible to remain faithful to the references we have in our possession.

Our main dev JB has developed a tool that allows him to double-check in-game aircraft performance against actual curves from existing data. Such a feature should also be welcome if you were to mod that thing down the road, whether it is about tweaking the performance of existing aircraft... or pre-visualizing the flight characteristics of new ones.

History corner: Fighter sections in action, or where game design comes from

As small essay might appear necessary, as to explain what you were watching just earlier, exactly. That is, how we proceed when we design our AI behavior, in regard of what references we use, and why we’ll always go with doctrine, reference literature and statistics over a mere “gut-feeling” whenever we can afford to do so.

One thing that might not seem too obvious and lead to some surprise when watching the action depicted in the videos, is the way the said action seems to be based around sections rather than individual planes. Indeed, it so happens that modern takes on World War 2 air combat in our films and video games tend to completely set aside the importance of the section as the actual basic combat element, instead of individual aircraft. Much like naval surface combat is in fact a game of divisions (we'll come back to this in due time), naval air combat in 1942 in the Pacific (I wouldn’t go as far as commenting other theaters) was a matter of tactical sections bouncing tactical sections. Although we could very well indulge in that department and go with the flow, it just did not feel right, especially as a starting point for our game series.

Certainly, what you see is arguably showing near-perfect behavior and discipline on part of our pixel pilots, which was what was expected, yet not always found in actual American pilots, and even less so in their Japanese counterparts. We'll make sure to add some more uncertainty to all of this, especially through our pilot proficiency system. Yet, the section - and formation flight in combat - was not just a fancy impracticable idea born from the desk of officers safely theorizing behind the lines. These combat methods were designed by actual fliers, and flown in combat by then.

In regard of the section concept proper, its point was to precisely enable, well, section combat tactics. These could only be done as long as fighter pilots followed “intensive training in maintaining position in a section formation in every type of section maneuver.” Indeed, as “the section being the basic unit of the fighting squadron, every section must be thoroughly trained to maneuver as a unit at all times.” (USF-74, 2-302 – Basic training)

Section tactics have their use on the offensive, where the wingmen are expected to cover each other during firing passes, but obviously are the condition sine qua non to enable some of the more complex team-based defensive maneuvers, such as the Lufbery Circle or later on the Thach Weave. To be pretty straightforward, you can’t make a circle alone, nor can you weave without another friendly aircraft (or ideally, by the book, another section). These maneuvers were important enough that the Beam Defense Position (as Thach called the Weave) led to the adoption, service-wide, of the divisions of four aircraft made of two sections, instead of the (until then) regular divisions of six aircraft made of three sections, as the earlier model left one section without a role or a cover. Even then, this reform and the tactics which motivated it were only allowed by a prior change in 1941, when the Navy, learning from the lessons of air combat over Europe, had converted the basic fighter tactical unit from the three-plane section to the pair. That’s how important these formations were: they defined the shape of fighter air combat by merely subtracting a plane from a section, or a section from a division. Ordered air combat was no furball – nor was it fantasy, as it was the foundation of the greater success the US Navy would obtain in the air, first in the Solomons with the performance-challenged F4F, then for the rest of the war with its more potent successors.

Agreed, there’s still much to do to give the Japanese counterpart, the Shotai, the same sort of relevant treatment in-game, and take into account the relative yet well-documented hotshot tendency of its pilots. But at the end of the day though Task Force Admiral is - we'll repeat it, sorry - a wargame with a lite air sim component, and not the other around. Beyond the show, it is important for us to focus on the actual results & statistics of the encounters we orchestrate, and put to rest a few popular tropes along the way if need be. In that regard, this leads us to another cliché that might need some clarification too – that is, overall air combat lethality.

From the little that could be collected from the comments made under the videos posted above, some viewers have been worried about how deadly these combats would be if the AI is not able to pick every single opportunity to shoot its guns at the enemy. It just so happens though that the overall death toll of naval fighter air combat over the Pacific in the first half of 1942 is particularly underwhelming compared to your average video game session.

Naval fighter encounters for instance (that is, every time a carrier-based US fighter type met with its Japanese Navy counterpart, be it a carrier or shore-based squadron) between Pearl Harbor and June 1942 can be counted with seven of your fingers alone, actually, as you can see in the table below. Note that all aircraft were not all engaged at the same time or at all, and that bombers were present too (but here only fighter on fighter kills are accounted for). Damaged aircraft are indicated when known in details, and this table does not claim to be overly accurate (it was compiled for the sake of the argument), but gives a good idea of the actual losses. Note that 3 to 4 times as many kills (or more!) were routinely claimed by the airmen on both sides during the very same actions.

For most of the pilots involved in these encounters, it was their very first experience with air combat. Some had not flown in a combat environment at all before these dogfights. In addition, US combat performance during these early days was particularly vulnerable to debilitating gun jams. As these were solved and pilots on both sides learned the ins and outs of the enemy (and the limitations of their own aircraft), and as the elite Tainan Kokutai pilots started to fly over the Solomons at the very edge of their range, naturally, these losses increased. But it is a good reminder that one-sided battles were rare, and definite kills hard to achieve. Most of the excellent pilots involved in these battles never became aces, the luckiest ones had a few victories by July 1942, most none at all – and even though these numbers include bombers and search planes too, bear in mind that most of these kills were not confirmed by post-war research when they involved fighters. Unhinged sky massacres, leading to the obliteration of one side when it came to fighter combat as you know them from your usual multiplayer engagements, simply did not happen back then, that is a fact. And this is what we will base our in-game experience off, as much as we can.

Good sources for these contents are naturally books such as the legendary The First Team duology by John Lundstrom at USNI Books, and Michael Claringbould & Peter Ingman's South Pacific Air War series - and many other volumes over there at Avonmore Books. These are all very good readings which will set the mood just right for our game.

Finally, allow us to wish all Veterans, Servicemen, Servicewomen and those who love them and care for them a warm, restful, kind Memorial Day. We know there are quite a few of you from the US Navy, Marines & Coast Guard - and relatives - among our followers. A few kind words are the least we can do, even though we are not from your place - but still owe you much of our freedom, and have gone through some loss ourselves all too recently. Thank you all for your service, and the service of those you love - and please stay safe.

Take care, all of you.

The Task Force Admiral team.

May 30, 2022

0.5.0 - Key Update

Egg Ascent - toilet abuser

Custom key binds!!
- Located in Settings > Input
New mechanics
- Metal doors!!
  - Like normal doors but the opening is delayed
  - Added a “metal door flash” settings which flashes the metal doors lock every time it ticks; thought it was a bit jarring but also that it could be useful for understanding the timing so I made it a setting :)
- Fragile keys
  - Same as keys but break on impact
  - Is used in some hard mode levels, replacing normal keys
General changes/additions
- Can now access the settings while in a level through the pause menu
- Debug mode
  - Toggled in Settings > Game > Debug Mode
  - I’ve been using debug tools during development and wanted to give the option for players to use them too to practice some of the harder levels, or to just mess around with
  - They’re very basic and aren’t very polished at all nor are they very intuitive; might expand upon these later if they are actually used
  - If debug mode is enabled, your times don’t save
  - Here are some of the debug features that are useful, leaving out some stuff that doesn’t have a use outside of bug testing
    - Debug console: open with ~ key, some cmds below
      - “help”: without arguments lists all the commands, with the name of a command tells you the use of that command
      - “level {WORLD_NUM} {LEVEL_NUM/i (for insane)}”: brings you to a specified level
      - “wipesave”: wipes your save, restart required
      - “ttw”: toggles targetting eggs through walls
      - “debug”: toggles debug mode
      - “free”: starts the game in demo mode
        if you wanna run demo%
        only allowed to submit demo% if debug mode is disabled, disable by using “debug” command, only way to get debug mode back is by restarting game since there is no option in demo mode (might change this in the future)
    - Flying: F key
    - Teleport: T key
    - Stop: G key
    - Fixed cam: Mouse5
    - Setting spawn: V key
Other smaller changes
- Remade “level auto reset”
  - Now resets the level if you are over your PB, even if you haven’t completed the level
- Settings menu options made more aligned
  - Not sure if I like the way it looks at the moment, but it feels clearer than before
- Holding jump while opening a door in the air will make you jump higher than normal
  - Not sure if this was noticed but if you open a door in the air you do a little air jump :)
Level changes
- Made this part really detailed so it’s easy to change times on speedrun.com :)
- Repositioned keys in various levels
  - Attempting to make key levels more playable on controller, doesn’t entirely fix the problem but I will be working on this more
- New level positions
  - key1 → key4
  - key2 → key5
  - key3 → key6
  - key4 → key7
  - key5 → key9
  - key6 → key15
  - key7 → key16
- Added cannons to some levels
  - egg4 hard
  - egg8 hard
  - egg15 hard
  - egg18 hard
  - portal2 hard
- Replaced key with fragile keys in hard mode for
  - key6 (was key3)
  - key9 (was key5)
  - portal5
- Made egg9 slightly longer
- Changed end of egg13 (might change again at some point idk if i like it)
- Portal19 hard added more spikes
- Remade key0 hard
- Remade end of egg9 hard
- Changed area surrounding golden egg of egg13 hard
- Made last section of sticky6 bigger
Bug fixes
- Fixed sticky egg not jumping off of the wall
- Fixed bug with speedrun timers giving you a 10ms lead when starting from the level select
- Fixed key getting you stuck into the wall (again)
- Fixed bug where eggs would collide with each other (i think??)
- Fixed bug where when keys would break and unlock a door in the same frame and the key would still respawn