Jun 9, 2024

Aloft - Jellyfoosh (Marcus)

New starting environment

New starter island and reworked island cluster
New progression of resources, crops, and animals typical of the wanted early game experience
Demo area has been reworked to align with intended player experience and progression

Frescoes

Repository of ancient knowledge and history that unlocks key technologies

Introduction to the Ecosystem Restoration mechanic

Field Guide allows the player to evaluate the health of an island
New ways for the player to heal and improve the health of islands: inoculating trees with mushroom (decomposers), planting wildflowers and trees (plant variety), removing hindrances, and adding animals
Resources and areas can be locked if the island is not healthy enough, animals can’t be adopted unless their ecosystem is healthy
Further ways to interact with the island ecosystem will be added later

New wilderness assets

Wild seeds can be harvested from small plants and used to decorate your home with a variety of flora, as well as adding plant variety to restore island ecosystems
Collect reishi mushrooms to craft bandages, and create inoculants to grow more mushrooms at the base of trees
Elder trees are majestic trees that can’t be cut down - use them to fuel your creativity!
Bugs like ladybugs and beetles can be found and collected - further ways to interact with them will be added later

Introducing rock salt and charcoal

Rock salt can be found in caves and charcoal on burned tree stumps
Coal was removed from the game as it didn’t support the ecological message of Aloft

New corruption assets

New enemy: the Coward
New corruption node with tentacles
New "death" animation for the node

Weathered ruins & machines

Hidden treasures, lost items, and new loot is scattered among those remnants
Tools and cooking recipes can be found in ruins

Wrecks & anchors

Shipwrecks and debris can be found scattered on islands
Anchors are a new asset and form of discovery that unlock sailing equipment technologies

Sketchbook

The sketchbook allows for the discovery of blueprints from ruins and wrecks
Gather lost pages in ruins and scan objects with the sketchbook to learn new building blueprints

Improved VFX, SFX, and music

New water shader and waterfall VFX
New wind VFX (on islands)
New SFX: building, farming, gathering resources, movement on different terrain, cave acoustics, pond and waterfall ambience, node, coward, sailing, glider stand, sewing table, sketchbook
New music: loading screen ambience, fresco music/ambience, anchor music/ambience, ecosystem restoration, night time, combat

Glider stand

Craft, customise, and equip the glider
Further customization options and bonuses are not available yet

Sewing table

Craft and customise your outfit and its colours
Further customization options and bonuses are not available yet

Combat progression

Monster variety advances with each node destroyed

Momentum system

Skillful fighting and gliding is rewarded with momentum points, which gives the capacity to execute powerful manoeuvres

New cooking recipes

Grind salt in a millstone to explore 4 new cooking recipes

Multiplayer

Up to 8 players
For the duration of Steam Next Fest

General improvements

Partially updated UI (work in progress)
Multiple quality of life improvements
Multiple performance improvements
Polished walking and running animations
And many other improvements on the overall game, ranging from textures, assets, visuals, balance, gameplay, and user experience

Known issues

Created characters can’t be deleted in the game yet, you need to destroy the file
The game can crash after leaving the game in alt tab for more than one hour
Character's model is misplaced upon interacting very fast with a helm after another user uses it
Field Guide can show animals as being present on Islands which don't have animals
Sometimes, no environmental music is playing in the world
The player is able to override all the key binds with only 1 key
The Research Table can be unlocked but the resources for it are not available in the first island cluster
Food cannot be cooked in a Multiplayer session
It is possible to go out of bounds while travelling with the glider
Corner Roof pieces don't snap properly on Snap Mode - Automatic, use Snap Mode - Manual in the meantime
Island icons are very small when interacting with the Table-Map for the first time
Waypoints aren’t functional on the Table-Map
Momentum bar UI is misplaced in the inventory
The Pause Menu can be accessed while loading into Worlds
The user's character is teleported to a specific spot when interacting with the Glider Bench
FPS drops when a player joins the session
Movement Key Bindings are not translated unless the user switches tabs after changing the Language
Dynamic Resolution isn’t working as intended
The Leaf Chest Piece has the wrong name and description
Equipping new outfits while inside the Sewing Table doubles the player character model in 1st Person Mode

As usual for all demo updates, previous saves will not be compatible with the new version of the game. Additionally, players can access older versions of the game by going to Properties -> Betas -> Select the Beta you would like to opt into.

Bear in mind that those versions will no longer be supported and that you might encounter bugs, unbalanced, and missing features as those older versions do not accurately represent the latest progress.

Jun 9, 2024

New Multiplayer Demo Out Now, Funcom Joins the Team! 🕹️

Aloft - Jellyfoosh (Marcus)

Hello Sky Sailors,

We have been promising big news, and well, tie yourselves to the mast, because the winds of change are here! A brand-new multiplayer demo, a publishing partnership with Funcom, and a Fall 2024 Early Access release date! Join us above the clouds in our new trailer:

New Multiplayer Demo

It’s time to band together, Sky Sailors! Our multiplayer demo is now available to play, with up to 8-player co-op and a deluge of new features. Multiplayer will be available until June 17 as part of Steam Next Fest, after which the demo will remain for solo play.

Here’s the list of changes:

Multiplayer: Create a veritable sky village with up to 8-player co-op. Why not try out a slightly lopsided flying V formation?
Frescoes: Find repositories of ancient knowledge to discover new technologies.
Ecosystem Restoration: Heal and fortify islands’ ecosystems with the help of the new Field Guide.
New Resources: Rock salt, and charcoal.
New monster: The Coward. He lives up to his name and will catch you by surprise.
Sketchbook: Find ruins and wrecks to discover new decorative building pieces with the aid of your Sketchbook.
Momentum System: Skillful fighting and gliding accumulate momentum, which allows you to execute powerful maneuvers. Destroy corrupted nodes to unlock new combat moves.
New Starting Island: Begin your adventure on an updated sky island, which is far bigger and with something new to discover at every turn.
Glider Stand: Use it to craft, equip, and customize your glider.
Sewing Table: This new crafting station lets you craft and customize your outfits.
Updated UI: Additional polish and streamlining.
Improved VFX, SFX, and Music: In short, things look and sound better!
Multiple QoL Improvements
Several tweaks and improvements to progression.

Read the full Changelog.

Astrolabe + Funcom = 🌞

We’re excited to announce that we have joined forces with Funcom, who will support us in marketing (such as with the shiny new key art sketch we showed off), PR, localization, and quality assurance testing - essentially, to recruit as many Sky Sailors as possible! This gives the dev team more time to add new features and polish the game.

Funcom has a lot of experience both developing and publishing open world survival crafting games (Conan Exiles, Dune: Awakening), so they are a perfect fit for us. It’s fantastic to partner with a team that’s this passionate about the game, and it’s clear to us that Funcom are as committed as we are to ensuring Aloft soars.

Fall 2024? More like Fly 2024!

Aloft will soar into Early Access in Fall 2024, meaning you will be able to play the game with your friends in its most up to date state starting from then onwards.

When we launch in Early Access, we will be listening closely to all your feedback as we update the game regularly. We can’t wait to embark on this collaborative journey with all of you.

If you have any questions for us, please join us for a Q&A session on our official discord on June 10th, where we can expand on anything we’ve mentioned here and beyond.

Jun 9, 2024

New trailer and a release date: August 22nd

Tactical Breach Wizards - Pentadact

Suspicious Developments, the decreasingly efficient developers of Gunpoint and Heat Signature, today announced that their turn-based tactics game Tactical Breach Wizards will release on Steam August 22nd - a swift 6.8 years since the project began.

The date was revealed in a low growl during a new trailer for the game, debuting in the PC Gaming Show, which borrows Hollywood voice talent to lend the game's flimsy premise an air of legitimacy. The trailer profiles key members of your team, including and limited to: the Navy Seer, the Freelance Storm Witch, the Necromedic and the Rebel Riot Priest.

Realising they were now describing in text what they spent considerable effort rendering in video, Suspicious Developments cut themselves short and just embedded it:

There's a demo!

Viewers who find themselves roused by these wizards and their unexpectedly modern antics may act on their urges immediately, as the first playable demo recently launched in the Steam Next Fest.

Unroused viewers may prefer to step warily back from these robed figures and continue to read words about them from a safe distance. The company will arrange these words below:

About the full game

Tactical Breach Wizards is a turn-based tactics game in which you lead a team of renegade wizards in kevlar, as they unravel a modern conspiracy plot and/or find the most stylish way to punch a Traffic Warlock through a 4th story window.

It's a single player, story-driven campaign of about 8-10 hours, in which you:

Combo spells for satisfying results

Each of your wizards has a unique set of abilities, from a straightforward lightning bolt to transforming into a rabid dog. They're designed to be fun by themselves, but combine in more ways than even we can figure out.

Experiment freely, rewind your mistakes

We let you freely rewind your turn, which means you can try every wild idea you have. It might work beautifully, fail spectacularly, or screw up in a way that gives you new ideas. Either way, you play it out in-game instead of scratching your head.

Fight the (various) power(s)

Your team are a motley crew of misfits on the wrong side of the law, fighting against the Rushwater PD and their Traffic Warlock, a religious dictatorship and their Riot Priests, and a private military corporation meddling with magic to enhance their troops.

Upgrade your spellbook

Every ability for every wizard has a set of unique perks to unlock as they level up, tailoring their powers to your playstyle, and enabling even more ridiculous ways they can combo with each other.

Unravel a conspiracy, stop a war

As the enemy plot thickens, key players and their relationships are added to your conspiracy map to keep track of the important bits. You can delve deeper into the details, arrange them in a way that makes sense to you, and keep a visual overview of what's going on.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/Tactical_Breach_Wizards/

Tactical Breach Wizards is the third and (probably) final game in the tenuously connected Defenestration Trilogy, following on from Gunpoint and Heat Signature only in the sense that people can and will be propelled through windows by your actions. You can, and arguably must, wishlist it now.

Jun 9, 2024

Demo Large update and Devlog

The Explorator - Exploratorus

If you experience strange issues in the game and saves, start a new game

You are now in the great forest of ospolis, where we will have to delve deeper into the mystery and danger, the game is more focused on exploration and you will have to help yourself with the compass, your map and environments around you to help you find your way while paying attention to the danger lurking nearby

more immersive atmosphere and exploration

characters to meet with quests

new weapons and items

new places to explore

new creature: the devil's mouth

take into account that the demo is still an early version which in no way reflects the final aspect of the game, there will be more lore, characters to meet and resources to collect in the future

-------------------------------------- WHAT'S NEXT ? -------------------------------------

As we said in the previous devlog, we therefore focused on the immersive aspect of the game and focused the gameplay on exploration, we think that we could really find something enriching in giving the player a feeling of finding yourself lost in a magical and mysterious world, which leaves us surprised at every street corner.

We also improved the AI, some ranged enemies now take cover, this is still being improved because we also thought about a system where the enemy could bypass us but there were still problems with it and we are still working on it.

We also plan to enrich the gameplay with light rpg components, we are thinking of a talent tree, unique objects and a crafting system to further encourage the player to explore.

The most important thing for us is to enrich the lore of the game, we are working on writing the story to offer you a unique and ambitious experience unlike the initial project, expect to discover a scenario rich in characters, twists and turns and emotional sequences, we are excited to really give a unique identity to the project by what it tells in its environment, story and quests.

The environments of the new demo are twice as big as the old demo, and we are thinking of expanding the territories even further, we really want to give that feeling of perdition and reward when we discover something new

In the end, development was rather slow at the start of the year, we had to rethink everything to offer a new formula, and in the absence of a publisher and financing, we were unable to get help from outside. , despite everything we remain extremely motivated because the latest feedback has been encouraging and seems to support this change in gameplay.

We hope that the next fest will allow us to have a certain visibility, because we are preparing behind a kickstarter page, if the latter works, we will then be able to speed things up and think bigger, early access is still planned for the next year.

Thank you again for everyone who supports us in this project and do not hesitate to share the new demo with your contacts

bye !!!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/remnantgamestudio/the-explorator

Jun 9, 2024

Welcome to Hotel Galactic!

Hotel Galactic - antek

Hey there, travelers!

We at Ancient Forge are beyond excited to finally reveal Hotel Galactic, a project we've been passionately working on for a long time. This isn't just any project for us - it's the one we're taking the leap to self-publish, and we can't wait to share more gameplay details with you.

Hotel Galactic invites you to transform a rundown intergalactic hotel into a thriving tourist destination. Inspired by the enchanting worlds of Studio Ghibli, this game blends wholesome nostalgia with modern fairy tale magic, creating a unique and heartwarming experience. Build and customize every aspect of your hotel, optimize its layout for the best flow, and keep both guests and staff happy and efficient.

We've dedicated ourselves to every aspect of this game, tackling the complexities of intricate AI systems and the challenges of meshing together satisfying management and creative elements. Capturing the essence of Miyazaki's animation in a video game that appeals to a broad audience required two years of dedicated pre-production. Throughout this process, we have gained invaluable insights into balancing technical challenges with a unified creative vision, and we are incredibly proud of the result.

“Hotel Galactic is a massive step forward for all of us at Ancient Forge,” said Maksymilian Strezelecki, Vice President and Technical Director. “It’s an idea that had been percolating for a couple of years in pre-production, as we took our time to make sure the design and all its constituent parts meshed well to create this beautiful, nostalgic world. The technical demands were substantial, but the end result is a dynamic, immersive experience that I’m proud to share.”

“Hotel Galactic is the project that utilizes everything we’ve learned in the last ten years or so,” said Dushan Chaciej, CEO and Creative Director at Ancient Forge. “We aimed to create a wholesome and engaging experience for players that love to watch their simulated little dudes end up in all kinds of weird situations. Personally, I can’t wait to see what the world thinks of what we’ve been working on for the past three years.”

We're also thrilled to announce that we'll be launching a Kickstarter campaign in July to give our community a chance to be part of the Alpha-test group, as well as to win a few exclusive addons. This will help us make Hotel Galactic even more special, and we hope you'll join us on this journey.

Stay tuned for more updates, we’ve prepared a lot of exciting things for the upcoming months. Drop a wishlist if you can and together, we shall forge a new era of simulation games!

Thank you,
Ancient Forge