We are excited to announce the release of Version 2.5.2!

In this update, we have added a few more spooks to the story room, making it a little less safe than before. Be sure to keep your wits about you as you explore this new and improved area!

• We have also migrated our translation server for long-term suitability.
  
• We have fixed a bug that was causing the "Other" category to break anomaly spawn, so you can now rest easy knowing that everything will work as it should.
  
• To improve the overall performance of the game, we have compressed the game textures for the story room. This will make the game run more smoothly on lower-end devices and provide a better overall experience for our players.
  
• Finally, we have implemented a global resource management configuration that will allow the game to use much less CPU and GPU.

Thank you for your continued support and we hope you enjoy the latest version of our game!

Hello, Fellow Arkers! Chrono Ark has been updated to version 2.0 Alpha!

We’re sorry to announce that the development period of the Main Story has been extended. Therefore, we have released the Alpha version of 2.0 to add some of the 2.0 content in advance.
We are spending a lot of effort into making the Main Story as good as it can be, so we ask for your patience once again. ːsteamhappyː




The new character ‘Leryn’ joins the fray!
She is a support character who utilizes special barriers.
Also, there are new records related to Leryn. Unlock Leryn by viewing the record on how she became part of the Investigation Team!


‘Blood Mist’ is a new system that lets you raise the difficulty of your playthrough in each campfire.
‘Blood Mist’ is consisted of 4 levels, and each level presents a higher difficulty.
At the cost of increasing difficulty, the game will offer better rewards, so make sure to give it a try!

• Added new character ‘Leryn’
  
• Added ‘Blood Mist’ system
  
• Added 30 new Relics, reworked 18 existing Relics
  
• Added 1 new Lucy Skill
  
• Added 5 new Lucy Draw Skills
  
• Added 1 new skill each for Hein, Selena, Helia
  
• Added 4 new Equipment
  
• Added 3 Records

General

• Ally skills with debuffs will now apply debuffs even if they miss.
  
• Relic Pouches now show 2->3 Relics when used.
  
• When combining 2 Relics in the campfire, show 2->4 Relics.
  
• When fighting the Final Boss on Normal Difficulty, remove the buff selection on 1st and 2nd phase summons.

Selena, Helia

• Passive : Changed so that when one character takes fatal damage, the other receives only half of the damage as Pain damage.
  
• Observation : Removed discard after 2 turns effect
  
• Added 1 Skill Upgrade each, changed Helia’s Skill Upgrade.
  
• Added 1 new skill for each character.
  
• The following skills have been adjusted or reworked.
  Flame Arrow
  Shooting Star
  Blessing of the Stars
  Dark Sun
  Dark Moon
  Power of the Full Moon
  Solarbolt
  Flame Eruption
  Tears of the Sun
  Tears of the Moon

Ilya

• Thunder Burst Ascension, Thunder Skyfall Descend : Added cost reduction to skill drawn by Sheathe effect.
  
• Frostbite Debuff : Reduced damage

Joey

• Self-destructing Healing Drone : Removed maximum activation limit
  
• Strawberry-flavored Tablet : Now removes 1 random debuff of any type instead of only Weakening
  
• Weakening Smog : Added Once and Swiftness, Cost 2->1

Hein

• Increased base critical chance
  
• Blood Reflux : Removed Innate, Cost 1->0
  
• Intimidation : Added Armor reduction effect.
  
• Rage : Cost 1->0, No longer hurts caster by 50%, only recasts skills that are 2 cost or below.
  
• Mutilate : Prioritizes enemies with the lowest health.
  
• End of the Line : Removed the caster’s health below 40% condition, added a new effect that lets you deal 100% of Attack Power as additional damage when at Death’s Door.
  
• Assault Slash : Damage 100% -> 120%, Countdown 0 -> 1
  
• New Skill : Added ‘Endless Rage’.
  
• Blade Grinder : Changed effect.

Ironheart

• Absolute Defense : Added maximum 5 hits per turn limit.
  
• Heal me!: Changed skill effect.

Miss Chain

• Dismantle Armor: Now applies 5 debuff stacks and removes 1 stack when damaged, Armor reduction buffed to 50%.

Lian

• Retribution : Damage 135% -> 145%

Pressel

• Divine Revelation : Changed effect.

Lucy

• Lucy’s Necklace has been buffed.
  
• Tumble : Exclude one of 3 -> 2 random skills from the deck.
  
• Search : Added Swiftness.

Relic Adjustments

• Memory Fragment : Cost reduction changed to 2 -> 1.
  
• Dark Magician’s Skill : Enemy receiving damage increased to 20% -> 25%.
  
• Sun Shard, Moon Shard : Changed set bonus effect.
  
• Bag of Potions : Added Relic Inventory +1 effect.
  
• Witch's Curse : Effect activates every 3 -> 2 turns
  
• Atomic Reactor : Effect activates every 3 -> 2 turns
  
• Purifying Crystal : Lucy Skill created by this Relic now costs 1->0
  
• Shark Fin : View 4 -> 5 Equipment
  
• Yummy Carrot : View 4 -> 6 Lucy Skills

Relic Reworks

• Vigil of an Old Hero
  
• Glowing Stone
  
• Fog Totem
  
• Cursed Pharos Mask
  
• Black Rabbit Doll
  
• Librarian's Journal
  
• Lost Research Journal
  
• Thorny Stem
  
• Shadow Orb
  
• Quick Focus

Fixed an issue where Taunt status applied to enemies by skills were different from other Taunt status.

Fixed awkward or unnatural parts in some parts of the Main Story.

• Restored Memories
  
• Towards the Finale
  
• Victory or Death
  
• Replica

.....and one more thing!


Preview for the 20th Investigator ‘Momori’!

¡Lo que muchos esperaban! La lista de cambios en la que hemos estado trabajando en los últimos días.

Changelog actualizado:
https://aoforever.cc/changelog.php

Discord:
https://discord.com/invite/9bH9adPBxf

Lista de juegos patrocinados por Nosetu.com:
https://web.nosetu.com/

Web oficial de Argentum Online Forever:
https://aoforever.cc/



Fix: Si se traba el personaje abajo de Nix basta con reloguear el personaje para ser destrabado automaticamente.
Fix: Centinela no llegaban las notificaciónes por correo electronico al ser deslogueado.
Fix: Centinela a veces no aparecía con la clase pescador.
Fix: Ahora al matar npcs de mar las monedas de oro serán agregadas a la billetera (antes no se agregaba)
Fix: Ahora se guardan los mensajes personalizados (antes no se guardaban)
Fix: Escudo de hierro y cotas de malla lo podia usar la clase pescador, esto ya no sucederá más.
Fix: Al ocultarse con la clase ladrón o cazador el personaje parpadeaba y se veia visible por unos milisegundos, esto ya no sucederá más.
Fix: El NPC que vendía cascos de hierro solo vendía hasta 100 hasta que se reiniciaba el server, esto ya no sucederá más.
Fix: En deathmatchs automaticos no se podian atacar facciones o ciudadanos entre ellos mismos, esto ya no sucederá más.

Número de usuarios online en la web:
Ahora desde la web oficial del juego (http://aoforever.cc) se puede visualizar la cantidad de usuarios online.

Nuevo sistema de mascotas:
Mucho más eficaz que el anterior sistema que estabamos usando, ahora las mascotas te acompañan, ahora las mascotas solo se pierden si te matan con las mismas ya estando invocadas, se arreglaron los 3 elementales y fatuos.


Rechazar items Drag & Drop:
Se implementó un nuevo comando /DROP para activar y desactivar la posibilidad de que te arrojen items al personaje, tambíen se puede configurar desde el inventario (Click en la manito)


Los personajes que tenían un PIN invalido (como por ejemplo alguna letra en la clave pin) recibirán un nuevo PIN generado aleatoriamente al correo electronico.
Nuevo sistema anti-bots para evitar la saturación del servidor.
Ajustada la dopa de los personajes (Visita la wiki del juego para ver los detalles)
Ajustado el Worldsave y limpieza del mundo, ahora se anunciará con 5 minutos de anticipación en consola antes de efectuarse.
Ahora estando muerto un casper puede atravesar a otro casper.
Ahora un usuario vivo puede atravesar a un usuario muerto.
Ahora al hacer click en el porcentaje (%) se quedará mostrando el porcentaje y mientras se entrena se actualizará automaticamente.
Ahora el oro que se agarra del piso primero debe ser equipado para ser agregado a la billetera del personaje
Ahora se puede crear un personaje y elegir un PIN de seguridad de hasta (15) digitos, antes era hasta 6.
Ahora se puede entrar a un deathmatch automatico desde zona insegura y al terminar el evento te dejará el personaje vivo y en la última posición antes de ingresar al evento.
Ahora aparecerá un mensaje en consola con el daño total de la apuñalada.
Ahora al abandonar la legión oscura el personaje no podrá re-enlistarse hasta pedir perdón via foro.
Ahora se pueden compartir y atacar NPCS en ciudades entre ciudadanos sin quitar el seguro y volverse criminal.
Ahora la araña del desierto que tenía más vida y dropeaba una llave fue remplazada por la araña común.
Ahora cada Fragmento de Cristal que se obtiene matando golems en el polo norte tiene un valor de (10.000) monedas de oro.
Ahora en el mapa Polo Norte hay mascotas domables (Tigres, Osos y Jabalíes)



Armaduras faccionarias actualizadas, ahora cada clase y rango tiene su propia armadura con diferente item con el numero de rango incluido en el nombre. Mayor rango de facción incluye mayor protección en la armadura.

Los numeros están representados en el siguiente orden (Defensa Minima / Defensa Máxima)

ARMADA REAL
Rango 1 Aprendiz : 5 / 10
Rango 2 Caballero : 5 / 15
Rango 3 Guardian : 20 / 25
Rango 4 : Campeón de la Luz : 30 / 35


LEGIÓN OSCURA
Rango 1 Ésbirro : 5 / 10
Rango 2 Caballero Oscúro : 5 / 15
Rango 3 Protector Cóndenado: 20 / 25
Rango 4 : Dévorador de almas : 30 / 35

Change log 2/28/23:
- Fixed the bug that would cause the boxer in the calibration scene to not appear and would mess up the career mode UI panel.
- Added a new piece of training equipment to the gym scene! The Wall Bag can be found to the left of the speed bags and can be used to train your hooks and uppercuts!
- Optimized the Calibration Scene because it was using up a lot of GPU resources.
- Updated the Score Cards at the end of bouts so it doesn't have text sizing issues and shows the players stats first instead of the bout scores.
- Rotation is now allowed during bouts if Orbital Movement is enabled.
- Bout system now properly differentiates between a TKO (3 Knockdowns in same round) and a KO. It will still take 3 Knockdowns throughout the entire bout to KO the boxers.
- Optimized the lightmaps to save performance and storage.

v2.0.1.2 - **All Class lvl 30 Skills!**

**New Things**


Level 30 skills!!

Druid Skill - Owl Form (Active Skill)

Owl Form is a Shapeshift skill that gives all allies a crit rate boost (# of turns with the buff based on the number of Shapeshift Stacks you have) and attacks an enemy. At Max Stacks, applies a bleed to the enemy."

Alchemist Skill - Bio (Active Skill)

Bio is an AoE attack that has a chance to poison all enemies and grants a Brainstorm Stack.

Crystalsmith Skill - Challenge (Active Skill)

Challenge puts a debuff on an enemy for 2 turns. If the enemy is defeated in those 2 turns, the you regain 80 health. If it is not defeated, it regains 150 health.

Bard Skill - Resonance (Active Skill)

Resonance is a single target attack that has a chance to apply Atk Down debuff and brings in an ally to attack with you (the ally you bring with you is random and can also apply a debuff specific to that class). Grants a Crescendo Stack.

Warrior Skill - Counterattack (Passive Skill)

Counterattack is just what it sounds like, when you are attacked you attack back. Only applies when you are hit with a single target melee attack. Gives a Fervor Stack when you counter.

Rogue Skill - Stinging Nettle (Active Skill)

Stinging Nettle is an AoE damage skill that has a chance to land bleed on each enemy. Grants a Pilfer Stack and can be used with Assassin's Charge.

Wizard Skill - Arcane Influence (Active Skill)

Arcane Influence does increased damage based on the number of debuffs on the enemy. Gives a random stack among Fire/Ice/Thunder, ignoring any stack that is already full.


**Bug Fixes**

• Typing "skipturn" without indicating an attack will now properly skip the turn
  
  
• Correctly relaying boss information for Troll on the Mechanics Bar

**Changes**

• Icons added for Warrior's Defender and Berserker Stance so you can tell which stance you are currently in
  
• Animations added in for some skills, such as Bind, and newly added skills (mostly ranged attacks, still working on melee attack effects

Updated the Troll, Direwolf, and wolf pups to have the correct PFPs

Ahoy, shipowners!

We have noticed, also by checking your feedback (many thanks!), that some secondary mechanics and options in the prologue might not be obvious at first glance. So we have gathered all the useful things that we felt were unnoticed by some of the players and compiled them as tips for you to use!


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2251420/Cruise_Ship_Manager_Prologue__Maiden_Voyage/

1. You can change the color and interior variation of the passenger's cabins
By using the numbered buttons under the name of the cabin option in Build Mode you can change the color and the arrangement of the room. You have three color versions (blue, green, and red) and two arrangement types to choose from for each cabin!



2. The club can be used as a stairway
Two-story rooms - in the case of the prologue, our stylish disco - allow you to move between the decks the same way as a stairway. So you can save money on one set of stairs by using the disco as a way for passengers to reach the upper deck.



3. You can upgrade rooms in the Build Mode

Most of the rooms available in the game - cabins, services, and entertainment alike - can be upgraded to better quality, up to five stars. You upgrade them by half star at a time using the star icon next to the Sell rooms and Sell all rooms buttons. Of course, the upgrade has its sometimes hefty cost, so mind the budget. In addition to the quality upgrade, the durability of the items increases. On the downside, the upgraded room will use up more fuel and possibly also more supplies.



4. You can assign tasks to the crew on pause

In the down left corner of the screen, above Management and Passengers buttons, you have a speed menu. Thanks to it you can speed up the gameplay of the Cruise part of the game up even to x8. But the same menu has also a pause button, which is pretty useful. It is active, which means that you can assign tasks freely when paused. So if there is too much happening to manage it, just hit the pause and do everything in your tempo.



5. People sent out to do tasks will go back to their posts when finished
Afraid to send the cook, the DJ, or even the captain to a nearby emergency? Worried that you will have to assign them to their post again afterward? While making them leave posts may be not optimal, don't worry about using them to clean, extinguish flames, or make quick repairs. When they are finished with such a task, they automatically get back to the posts you assigned to them in the Management menu.

---

We hope you enjoyed our tips and maybe learned something that you missed on your first playthrough! If you want to learn more about the mechanics of Cruise Ship Manager: Prologue - Maiden Voyage directly from us, you can always rewatch the launch live stream, available on Youtube:



If you have questions, you can always ping us directly on Discord:



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1730240/Cruise_Ship_Manager/

Ahoy, shipowners!

We have noticed, also by checking your feedback (many thanks!), that some secondary mechanics and options in the prologue might not be obvious at first glance. So we have gathered all the useful things that we felt were unnoticed by some of the players and compiled them as tips for you to use!


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2251420/Cruise_Ship_Manager_Prologue__Maiden_Voyage/

1. You can change the color and interior variation of the passenger's cabins
By using the numbered buttons under the name of the cabin option in Build Mode you can change the color and the arrangement of the room. You have three color versions (blue, green, and red) and two arrangement types to choose from for each cabin!



2. The club can be used as a stairway
Two-story rooms - in the case of the prologue, our stylish disco - allow you to move between the decks the same way as a stairway. So you can save money on one set of stairs by using the disco as a way for passengers to reach the upper deck.



3. You can upgrade rooms in the Build Mode

Most of the rooms available in the game - cabins, services, and entertainment alike - can be upgraded to better quality, up to five stars. You upgrade them by half star at a time using the star icon next to the Sell rooms and Sell all rooms buttons. Of course, the upgrade has its sometimes hefty cost, so mind the budget. In addition to the quality upgrade, the durability of the items increases. On the downside, the upgraded room will use up more fuel and possibly also more supplies.



4. You can assign tasks to the crew on pause

In the down left corner of the screen, above Management and Passengers buttons, you have a speed menu. Thanks to it you can speed up the gameplay of the Cruise part of the game up even to x8. But the same menu has also a pause button, which is pretty useful. It is active, which means that you can assign tasks freely when paused. So if there is too much happening to manage it, just hit the pause and do everything in your tempo.



5. People sent out to do tasks will go back to their posts when finished
Afraid to send the cook, the DJ, or even the captain to a nearby emergency? Worried that you will have to assign them to their post again afterward? While making them leave posts may be not optimal, don't worry about using them to clean, extinguish flames, or make quick repairs. When they are finished with such a task, they automatically get back to the posts you assigned to them in the Management menu.

---

We hope you enjoyed our tips and maybe learned something that you missed on your first playthrough! If you want to learn more about the mechanics of Cruise Ship Manager: Prologue - Maiden Voyage directly from us, you can always rewatch the launch live stream, available on Youtube:



If you have questions, you can always ping us directly on Discord:



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1730240/Cruise_Ship_Manager/

- Fixed a critical issue in Explain and Compose mode when Twitch was connected
- fixed minor text issue in editor

Hello folks!

Wow! Thank you so much for all your questions! We had so many to answer that this will be a huge post, so strap in and let's take this journey of answers together!

Pombomb thanks you too! He worked so hard delivering all your messages, and we promise he'll get all the treats and pets he wants.





Various: When is it coming out?

Tom: It’ll come out when it’s finished 🙂
Jay: Keep your eyes peeled for more information soon!

Various: How long would it take for the average person to complete the game?

Tom: Most first-time playthroughs take about 30 hours. However the open nature of the game can make this vary by quite a lot. I know some people who played for 50+ hours before beating it the first time. On subsequent playthroughs, when you know where various important things are, and when you know your way around the battle system, it isn’t too difficult to get it down to 10 hours, and I'm sure speedrunners will get it down to sub-3 hours.

Ace Nhiyr: Will there be any secret linkages between Lenna’s Inception [Bytten Studio’s previous game] and Cassette Beasts?

Tom: 😉

Jay: You may have noticed a couple of nods in the demo - I wouldn’t want to spoil any further ones!

winfrey: How long have you been working on this game?
Tom: We’ve been working on it since late 2019, and first announced it in May 2020. Games take a lot of time to develop. If it seems like it's taking Cassette Beasts a long time to come out, it's only because we announced it so early!

Raven: Did you ever steal a traffic cone?

Tom: We’ve all done things we regret.

Why were cassettes the medium you picked for this story?

Tom: Jay should answer this one!

Jay: I think when you’re trying to explain a fantastical concept such as “transforming into monsters”, you need to have something “real” to anchor that to. Popular media series’ that involve monster capturing and transforming all understand this - if you can imagine yourself with a magic deck of cards, or a morphing watch or belt, then you can start to properly imagine yourself doing it. The cassette tape fulfilling this function was the result of exploring what “real world” item we could use as the foundation for monster transformation. They’re something a lot of people are familiar with, but are also cool and retro!

Lewis: How will you celebrate the game’s release?

Tom: Personally, I’m going to take a few days off to spend time with my girlfriend. It’s been a while since I’ve had a proper holiday. I think I’ll drink a lot of beer too. Cheers!

Jay: I’m going to go outside and touch grass.

Solidwake: Have you had the game playtested by others or is that something you might consider?

Tom: Yes, the game has been playtested by our friends and family, as well as Raw Fury’s testing team, their gamebreakers group, and the localisation team. They’re all under NDA though, so don’t start asking them about it. 🤫

caiman: Are performance targets for the console versions finalized?

Tom: Our targets are 60 FPS on Xbox Series and Steam Deck (as well as Windows/Linux for sufficiently powerful hardware), and a minimum of 30 FPS for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

Shikikan_Dawn: Will the soundtrack be available on Steam? It's lovely.

Jay: Yes!

Prof.McStevie: I'd love to know why you chose this particular art style, it's very pleasing and wanted to know the reasoning behind it :O

Jay: I’m a pixel artist by trade, so me working on a monster-collecting RPG was always going to involve pixel art. I was also really interested in the “HD pixel art” look that games have been starting to explore in recent years, so making that jump to 3D for the world made sense. It’s the first 3D game I’ve worked on!

@EnigmonOfficial: Who did the assets for the world and are they available for work ? I love the 3D world with 2d sprites. It's very distinct and stands out.

Jay: That was me - unfortunately I’m busy making Cassette Beasts!




Various: How many monsters are there?

Tom: There are 120 regular monsters (including evolutions), giving 14400 fusions. If you want to count bootlegs (rare palette- and type-swapped monsters) as well, there are 1800 monsters and about 3.2 million fusions.

Hubertdradon: Are there any predatory bird monsters?

Tom: It depends what you count as a predatory bird monster. I don’t think there are any monsters based specifically on predatory birds, but there are definitely a few bird-like monsters you could consider predatory!

Zyries: Were there ever any types you guys scrapped because they didn’t fit or other reasons? Or any interactions between types you had to scrap?

Tom: We locked the types down in late 2019, before we even started working on Cassette Beasts full-time. But there were some type-related ideas for potential monster-collection games we discussed before we finally settled on Cassette Beasts. One was subtypes, where there are several different variants of each type. So for a basic Plant-type, there would be a few subtypes like Fungi, and Wood. All Plant subtypes would have advantages and disadvantages over the same types, but the buffs and debuffs you’d get were different. I think this would have been too complicated in Cassette Beasts. And anyway, something with that many types wouldn’t leave you with many species of each subtype.

I’m sure I pitched various other weird types for Cassette Beasts to Jay at some point. In the past I worked on a little procedural generation prototype called Kirigami Beasts, which generates monsters with types like Paper, Rock, Scissors, Glitter, Glue, Tiny and Giant. I like weird types, and I'm glad we found a way to get Glitter, Plastic, and Glass into Cassette Beasts.

As for type interactions, they’ve been through a lot of iterations. Pretty much all the buffs/debuffs have changed at some point. At one point we planned for Air-type to disperse and remove Glitter-type, but we felt like it would be better to keep the interactions of a rare and unusual type like Glitter consistent.

winfrey: Was it hard coming up with all the beasts’ names?

Tom: Most beasts’ names haven’t been too hard to come up with! Often it was the case that Jay would draw a design, and I’d have 5 pun names for it in about 10 minutes. There were a few weird coincidences where Jay had designed a monster that I assumed was based on a pun name he came up with because the pun was so apparent. The Plant-type lion monster Dandylion is one example. There is no other name that monster could have had, but somehow Jay didn’t have any particular name in mind when he’d designed it!

Jay: Naming things is our greatest talent as a team: making Cassette Beasts was merely an excuse to come up with hundreds of puns.

🐸💦: Any unexpected inspirations or influences along the way? Would love to hear any oddball or surprising media outside of monster taming / creature collecting that helped shape Cassette Beasts!

Tom: Great question, there’s a lot! If you want the really oddball stuff - I’m an occasional lucid dreamer, so I get a lot of my ideas by mining dreams. That’s actually where the idea of copying monster forms to transform into came from: I had a dream about travelling around an island with a friend, where I'd transform into monsters for battle, and “learn” new forms by observing wild monsters. Jay and I had discussed transformation before that, but up until that point it had always been one fixed monster form per character - you’d have to recruit a new human character to be able to use their monster form in battle. Jay, influenced by Kamen Rider, later suggested doing the copying and transforming with physical cassette tapes, and Cassette Beasts was born!

Another oddball source of inspiration for me was the story “The Beatles Never Broke Up”, about a man who in 2009 hit his head and woke up in another world where the Beatles still exist, where people still use analogue technology, and where parallel universe travel is commonplace. I'm sure you can see some similarities with Cassette Beasts here!

And of course various aspects of the game have been influenced by more normal things! The presentation of Archangels in Cassette Beasts is inspired a little by Madoka’s witches. And the way the relationship system ties into fusions is heavily influenced by Steven Universe, which we’re both fans of.

The AP system in Cassette Beasts is taken from board and card games. Both of us had noticed that the constraints on board games pushed their designers to really refine resource management systems. I think that AP is both simpler and more tactical than, for example, standard JRPG MP meters - and it lets us design powerful moves that would be difficult to balance otherwise.

Jay: Off the top of my head, an influence on the broader themes of the game (as well as the strange English surrealism of the setting) takes some inspiration from comic author Grant Morrison, whose stories often explore the nature of fiction, multiple realities, and their influence on one another.

Prinny: I'm curious if you would add heights in comparison to your player (a human) mainly for fan art/drawing reasons for better scaling

Tom: You can see how tall a human is in comparison to monsters at the start of battle! When you enter battle you’re in human form for a couple of seconds before you transform.

Jay: In our key art we draw monsters slightly smaller than they are compared to humans in-game… I think this is more because a 6-foot tall Pombomb wouldn’t be as cute as a dog sized one.

RetQuetzin: Were there any monster fusions you wanted to handcraft or are they all handled by the procedural system?

Tom: I think it would have been a waste to hand-design a subset of fusions. Handcrafted fusions would have taken about as much time to sprite and animate as a large regular monster, so each one of them would reduce the total number of monsters we could have in game. On top of that, out of the 14 thousand procedural fusions, there’d only be a slim chance a player would come across one of the handcrafted ones.




Little_JonS: Very, very excited for this game! Just wondered what you had planned for anything post-game?

Dnlsokoloff: Is there going to be a post-game, single player arena/battle frontier of some sort where we'll still be able to put our beasties to the test?

Jay: There’s post-game content for sure, but it might be a bit different from what you might expect based on other games in this genre. We generally try to design the content that best fits the world of Cassette Beasts.

Tom: There is a pretty substantial post-game quest that introduces new monsters, characters and bosses. I estimate that the post-game adds 10-20 hours. That's not even including the randomisation and permadeath options that get unlocked for repeat playthroughs.

Akarnor: Will there be new stickers [in the full release of the game that are not in the demo]?

Tom: We have a lot of ideas for new moves and status effects that won’t make it into the 1.0 full release. If we get the opportunity, we’d love to add more after the game’s release.

Ryterex: Are there any plans for post-launch updates?

Tom: Can’t say at the moment. When we have something to announce you’ll hear about it.

Jay: The kind of support we’re able to provide will depend on how well the game performs. You know what that means: time to bother your friends and make them follow the game!

Shawn B: Will there be any online multiplayer? I know there is couch co-op but I'd like to be able to play with people who aren't right next to me as well.

Tom: There won’t be any online multiplayer at launch - we’re developing Cassette Beasts predominantly as a single-player experience. As for after launch, I can’t say for sure, but it’s a possibility if the release goes well.

C-Vale: Are there moves/status effects not on the wiki?

Tom: Only the unobtainable boss moves.

Crackerbones: Will there be an item to increase bootleg odds later in the game?

Tom: In the post-game there’s a valuable consumable that can be used to find bootlegs of certain species or types. In a previous blog post we mentioned Rogue Fusions: tough fused wild monsters that have a higher than normal bootleg rate. There are several kinds of Rogue Fusions, some of which get unlocked late in the post-game, and the most challenging of them give the best odds for bootlegs.

I like that the most efficient way to get bootlegs in Cassette Beasts is to use the battle system.

William Syler: Are there mechanics, gameplay considerations, or ideas that you’re really excited about / proud of in Cassette Beasts? Tell us more about them!

Tom: There are a few that I can’t talk about yet! But I can say I’m pleased with the battle system. Demo players are already praising its depth, and I’m very much looking forward to the reaction to the Ranger Captain boss fights. Each Captain specialises in a particular strategy to show off some of the things you can do in the battle system. In the post-game they hone their strategies further. It’s gonna be fun!

a_galvantula: How did you come up with the idea for some of the loading screen tips?

Tom: Do you mean the loading screen text that says like “Directing Traffikrab”, “Seeing all the Allseer”, etc.? We didn’t come up with this idea, it was shamelessly stolen from the Sims. Back in the day, the Sims used to display nonsense loading screen text to make loading screens mildly entertaining (“Reticulating splines” is the famous one). I’ve always thought this was a fun idea, and I don’t know why more games don’t do this.

Solidwake: How many open world areas should we expect to be able to freely roam around in?

Tom: The island of New Wirral is one large open map, about twice the size of Hyrule from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. There are some invisible walls you can run into if you exploit physics during the tutorial, but after that the only limits are your knowledge of the battle system and your physics skills!

NCrafters: Local co-op in the demo had player two pretty "handcuffed" to player one. Are there any interesting features or mechanics planned for this mode to make the experience a little more flexible?
Tom: Having the two characters travel together is kind of the point. If they could go off and do separate things, there wouldn’t be many meaningful ways the players could interact. It would end up feeling like two single-player games. There are games that can support independent exploration in local co-op, but the mechanics of turn-based RPGs don’t lend themselves to it very well.

ShuddersGist: What's the friendship/love mechanic gonna be like? How will it affect the game?

Tom: You can get closer to the companions by completing their quests and by battling alongside them. Levelling up your relationship unlocks fusion, as well as a special move called Fusion Power, which does different things depending on which species were fused. And of course the closer you are, the higher the stats of your fusions are!

Each time you level up your relationship with a character, you learn a bit more about them via a little cutscene that plays. There’s also a romance option when you’ve maxed out the relationship meter - but it’s completely optional and doesn’t affect the gameplay.

Nanite: Are there any plans for challenge modes?

Tom: There are permadeath and randomiser modes unlocked once you beat the story. As for other challenges - we’re going to wait and see what challenges and rules the community comes up with!



That’s it for today! Missed your chance to ask us something? Not to worry as we'll be doing another Q&A closer to release. Come chat with us on our official Discord! You can always follow us on Twitter, too!

Until next time!

Hey everyone!

Today we have a rather light patch featuring two quality-of-life changes.

Firstly, you are now able to shoot whlie being attached to a wall during any phase of the wall-sticking (fixed position, slide, wal jump etc,!



Secondly, you are now able to stick to the wall both when jumping and when falling. In previous versions the character could stick to the wall only during active phase of jumping. The only situation when the wall sticking is bypassed is when the player presses “DOWN” command to detach from wall, and when character slide off the wall (having the same effect as manual detachment)

As always, if you like our game, please leave a review, and let us know what you think on the Steam forums or our official Discord server!

Make sure to check out our bundles!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/30527/Riftbreaker_x_BIOTA/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/30056/Mining_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/29657/BIOTA_x_Impaler/

See you in the next one!

small bros. and Retrovibe