Nov 3, 2023

Soulash 2 Early Access Date Announcement

Soulash 2 - Artur Smiarowski

Soulash 2 Early Access will begin December 4, 2023 on Steam and Itch and is planned for at least a year of active development.

The game will have a base price of $17.99, with regional pricing suggested by Steam. There will be a 10% launch discount, and Soulash 2 will be released alongside a Soulash Series Bundle that will provide an additional 15% discount to owners of the first game. I plan to increase the base price every 6 months of active development.

Many players asked what's the difference between the demo and the EA, so here's a list of key differences as of today:

4 tiers of special location difficulty. The demo has 33 small, easy locations. The Early Access begins with over 100 different procedural locations of varying sizes and difficulty.
All 14 skills with 50 maximum potential levels instead of 20. Additional skills will be implemented during the EA period.
Medium and Big world sizes for longer adventures.
History progression before starting a new game, which will expand some settlements up to tier 3 and unlock more buildings and related NPCs to interact with.

Modding tools and Steam Workshop will come a few weeks after the EA release, as I want to give it a proper spotlight this time.

The EA roadmap will be released in January, so I have time to gather your suggestions and have a chance to adjust my plans to include some of the things you'll want to see in the game.

The game will be updated weekly, with possible hotfixes in between, and major milestone updates once every 3 months. The four key milestones I want to hit during Early Access (in order):

Party mechanics, adventuring with NPCs.
Settlement Management, inviting NPCs to our settlements.
Armies and Conquest mechanics, taking over other NPC settlements, tier 5 special locations for big battles.
Continuation of the story from the first game as part of the history simulation process, worldwide events.

This is the scope of the 1.0 release, which is my core vision for this game. As I mentioned, a more detailed roadmap will come in January. The primary purpose of this Early Access is for me to hear your suggestions and include the best ones in the game. If you like contributing and shaping games you play, this will be the best stage to join in.

I'm very excited to begin this next chapter with you all. It's been a long grind since I've decided to make the sequel, and I wish you all a lot of joy playing with it in the years to come. As always, I'm available to discuss the game on Discord alongside more than 1,200 of our fans, so join us there, and let's have some fun together!

Artur

Nov 3, 2023

V1.1 Update is here

Smash Dungeon - simon

Changes in V1.1.0

Along with the obvious bug fixes and minor QoL improvements a number of BIG new features have come in v1.1.0 and these mainly revolve around improving meta progression. Here's a list of the most notable ones.

XP
XP has been introduced which is gained by taking health from enemies. The more you hurt them the more XP you gain, its that simple.

More Player Skills to Upgrade
Previously Runes needed to be found so you could upgrade your players skills and there were 7 to find.
There are now 23 skills that can be upgraded and unlocked with most being unlock-able by Runes but don't worry if you don't find them as the skills can also be unlocked with XP. If you are lucky enough to find Runes the skills can be unlocked early. Upgrading skills is now done via the new Rune room or in Purgatory and is no longer available via the Stats menu option.

Purgatory
Upon death or when you have killed a Boss you will travel to Purgatory. Here you can upgrade your heroes skills, have a chance to change or upgrade Weapons/Armor in a Smelting area and practice using consumables in the Training Room. Some areas of Purgatory will required you to rescue individuals from the main Dungeon before becoming available.

Rescuing NPCs
Previously when you rescued a wizard you might earn some keys, bombs and a chance at a passive item. Now rescuing a NPC will give you those rewards AND also return the NPC to Purgatory which as previously mentioned, can unlock Player Stats or the Smelter early but don't worry if you don't rescue these as they are unlocked once you reach the required XP.

A new Room
As mentioned above you can no longer upgrade a players skills/stats via the Stats menu option. Instead this is done in Purgatory or a new Wizard Forge room.

Hints
To help new players a hint may pop-up from time to time giving you some guidance when something new becomes available or where I feel people have struggled.

Control Help
Painted on the floor of the first room of the first level will be your control bindings as a reminder or helper for new players.

Charging Special Attack
A great suggestion made in the discussion forum was to allow the player to recharge their Special Attack when they run out. This will be available in v1.1.0 and now when you run out of Special Attacks it will recharge when you kill an enemies with the weapon but the further on you progress the more kills required to fully recharge.

More info on collected Items
Another great suggestion was to provide the player with some information on what items do when you collect them which has now been added to v1.1.0.

Whats missing
Localization for the new content is not yet available and currently has English as a placeholder.
Hopefully soon.

Nov 3, 2023

Devlog #8: Exciting Upgrades Coming to Nova Lands Soon!

Nova Lands - vulfey_and_his_owl

Hey everyone!

Thanks for being awesome supporters of Nova Lands! We're working hard on some fantastic new stuff, and we can't wait to show you what's in store.

Here's a quick rundown:

Meet the Magnetoids!

The biggest addition to the logistics since the launch of the game! They will become your new automation champs, zipping items lightning-fast between buildings. Talk about efficiency!

Advanced Construction Awaits!

Introducing the Particle Accelerator - the most advanced building yet. It churns out top-tier items you'll need in the late game 🙂

What’s Happening at the Space Station?

Well, say hi to The Inventor. He’s got a drawer with all the cable types in the galaxy and can crack encrypted hard drives while cooking up special production boosts.

Also, check out the Grappling Hook! It's your go-to tool for spacewalk missions, letting you zip around asteroids like a pro.

That’s all for now, folks!
We will share with you the release date of this update quite soon 🙂

Stay in the Loop!

For more Nova Lands updates, follow us on our Steam page and hang out with us on:

Thanks for being part of our Nova Lands community ♥️
See you in Nova Lands - adventure awaits!

Ed, Doug, and Lucas @BEHEMUTT

Nov 3, 2023

v1.1.0 Purgatory, XP & More

Smash Dungeon - simon

Nov 3, 2023

Hakan's War Manager Roadmap

Hakan's War Manager - kalamayin

Hey there, Fellow Khans,

I'm Omer, the game designer from our small indie studio, and I'm here to give you a sneak peek into our roadmap for "Hakan's War Manager." You know, the journey of creating a game can be a thrilling yet challenging one, especially when you're a tiny team of three, like us. But we've got big dreams and even bigger aspirations for our game, and we want to share our roadmap with you.

Demo Phase:

We're already in the demo phase. You might be wondering why it took us a bit to post this roadmap. Well, the truth is, there's been a whirlwind of activity here, and we actually had an unofficial roadmap scribbled on the back of a napkin. But good news! We've just released the demo, and it's out in the wild for you to explore. It's been an incredible journey so far, oh! there might be a thing or two missing in the demo. Rest assured, we're on it, and we'll be adding those missing pieces very soon, possibly in the next week.

Early Access:

Now, here's where we need your support more than ever. Being a small indie studio, we've faced our fair share of challenges in bringing our vision to life. That's why we're embracing the Early Access phase. We want your feedback, your thoughts, your battle cries – every bit of support you can offer. Early access is where the magic happens, where we learn from your experiences and make "Hakan's War Manager" even better.

Full Release:

This is the big one, the grand finale. It's what we envisioned when we started this game. Well, I might be stretching the truth a bit – it's actually smaller than my initial imagination. But, you know what they say – your first game teaches you to keep your scope small, and that's what we're doing. We're going for a league system, just like in football (or soccer for our friends across the pond). In this system, all you Khans out there have a chance to become the Hakan, the "Khan of Khans." It's the ultimate goal, and we can't wait to get there with you.

As we journey through these milestones, we want you to know that your support, feedback, and enthusiasm keep us going. We're incredibly grateful for your involvement in making "Hakan's War Manager" the best it can be.

Warm regards,

Nov 3, 2023

IndieCade, SXSW 2023 and other happenings

Repella Fella - 2 Left Thumbs

IndieCade 2023

We're very excited to have Repella Fella taking part in IndieCade 2023! Unfortunately with Steam's discount cooldown rules, the game isn't on discount just yet. In the spirit of transparency, we wanted to let you know here:

Repella Fella will be 50% off from Nov 7th - 17th!

Be sure to explore the event to discover other hidden gems out there, and great new and upcoming indies! I'll hand thanks off to Phill to talk about his time at SXSW last month!
-Graeme (2 Left Thumbs)

SXSW Sydney 2023

Hey there, it’s been a while!

Having just returned home from SXSW Sydney, I figured it’d be a good time to give an update on the state of the game and everything that’s happening. But first… SXSW itself.

For the first time, SXSW came to Australia, and Repella Fella was invited to attend the games showcase. While not quite on the level of PAX (yet), SXSW was a great way to get the game’s name out there. We gave away ~250 Steam keys, cards, magnets, stickers, and information flyers.

A huge thanks to Luella Moore for organizing the entire thing – it did NOT look easy!

How’s Repella Fella Doing?

I never expected it to sell crazy amounts, but I had hoped to earn enough to fund a sequel. Earnings per month have been pretty nice for a solo developer, and I’ve been able to reinvest some of that money into things that will benefit a sequel. But can I actually fund a sequel at the moment? No, not really.

However, my publisher and I still have a few things up our sleeves. We currently have a console version in the works. We have approval from Microsoft to put it on Xbox, so it’s now down to getting something that can run on consoles, which has been fairly… enlightening.

During the process, we’ve already figured out a few areas that can be improved on all platforms. For example, the game now starts instantly as we aren’t preloading a bunch of data that isn’t needed. RAM usage for the PC/Mac/Linux versions can be cut down considerably, and hopefully, this will result in fewer issues for people with low-end hardware.

If all else fails, the game will go free, and I’ll continue to make bite-sized episodes when time allows. It’s hard to stop thinking about how a new game could work, what will happen, how old choices can affect the future… and so on. I already have many ideas written down that I’m genuinely excited about.

If there is a sequel, how will it work?

The scale will be much smaller. When I made Repella Fella, I went all in and added a crazy amount of detail, subplots, and cause and effect (even if much of it went unnoticed!). For a sequel, the only way I can see a path forward would be to focus more on gameplay and episodic installments. There’s no way I can put in another 5 – 6 years of work.

What would a sequel be called?

Not Repella Fella. Each game/episode will have its own name.

Any changes to the gameplay?

The game would be far more interactive. It’s important to note that when I started Repella Fella, it was going to simply work like old Ray games – you make choices. In the end, I added the ability to walk around, complete quests, read, watch, etc. I’d build on that so that there’s more to do and interact with, all wrapped around a decent challenge.

I’ll reiterate something I’ve touched on before – Repella Fella wasn’t the game I wanted to make; it was the only game I could make with limited knowledge and resources. I’m much better equipped to tackle game development after 6 years of creating one almost non-stop.

Will you use Construct 3 again?

Nah. But maybe.

Ideally, Unity or Godot would be the engine for a sequel, but Construct remains as a fallback. Though, I’d likely steer clear of Unity after recent controversies.

While I adore Construct, the problems are random, hard to reproduce, and things break all the time. Not only that, but official support is minimal (sometimes non-existent), and I have spent an incredible amount of time and money debugging problems.

One of the most reported bugs is that patrolling guards break (e.g., Shambles). For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why. They’re on a simple predetermined path that loops, but it continued to break. After ~5 months of prodding, Stan and I finally figured out what was happening. It turns out when you enter an area, save and then enter another area, sprites (the patrolling guards) become detached from their timelines.

Why does this happen? Couldn’t tell you. Worse than that, I don’t have access to change the code on an engine level. There are workarounds, but they are hacky, inefficient, and not as useful as timelines.

Link to GitHub issue

Each ‘stable’ update tends to introduce new issues, and so the game must be tested each time. At 5 – 6 hours each, that’s a lot of testing. At the end of the day, I’d simply love to be able to rely on tools that are a little more robust.

That’s It?

That’s it! Once I have more news on the console version(s), I’ll do another write-up letting you know what to expect.