Jul 3, 2024

Rivals Workshop Character Contest: Winner Revealed!

Rivals of Aether - Etalus

Last year we announced a one-of-a-kind contest where Rivals Workshop creators had the chance for their own character to be officially added to Rivals 2. Creators had six and a half months to design, animate, and code their creations before submitting them to our dev team for a rigorous judging process. Today, on the one year anniversary of the contest, we're finally revealing the winner and 4 runner-ups!

We were incredibly impressed with the over 80 submissions we received featuring creators' completely original characters. We could clearly see the love and hard work that went into them, and want to thank everyone who entered. If you haven’t gotten to play these amazing characters yet, make sure to try them yourself by filtering in Steam Workshop with the “Rivals 2 Contest” tag.

Our Official Winner

Our official contest winner is La Reina, The Crowd Magnet by Sa-v and Onyx! This acrobatic grappler grabbed our attention from the get-go, and topped our developer panel in all categories including Gameplay, Visuals, and Character Background. Sa-v and Onyx have taken home the first place prize of $5,000 and as shown in the trailer, we’ve already begun some early work on La Reina in 3D. She won’t be playable any time soon, but we’re looking forward to sharing updates on her as we make progress.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author
"La Reina was one of the highest rated characters among our development team after we did our initial judging. What really pushed her over the edge for our team was her undeniable style and her strong roster fit. The original Rivals of Aether doesn’t have a true grappler, which makes sense in a game without a lingering shield or block. But La Reina feels like a grappler cranked to 11. Her playstyle is fun and unique and we are excited to adapt her gameplay and expand her moveset with the new options that Rivals 2 features.” -Dan Fornace, Studio Lead

The Runner-ups

We can’t stress enough how many amazing entries there were in this competition. Choosing just one winner was a tough job. Here are the next four runner-ups from our judging process. These characters will receive special recognition with an exclusive character icon for each creator/team to give out in Rivals 2.

Yono, The Carrier’s Honour

Yono, by FuZZ_lol and garebear, was one of our favorites because he oozes style and personality. He was one of our top ranked lore characters and we love the webcomic that the team created. We were impressed by the backstory behind the Postmen’s Guild and the stage that the team created for Yono. His roster fit was also very strong as he is an awesome and creative take on the air element.

Bhadra, The Golden Vagrant

Bhadra, by PJ and Hemuth, was immediately identified by our team as one of the highest quality entrants. Right when the contest closed, we found ourselves gravitating toward this well-crafted Shiba. While he wears his inspiration on his sleeve, the execution and creativity in converting him to a platform fighter was top notch. We also really liked his elemental fit of Gold as well the wandering samurai lore in his backstory.

Helios, The Unstoppable Peace

Helios, by Goomboo, was our other top ranked lore character. We were blown away by the trailer that Goomboo created. It fit right into the world and we wanted to learn more about Helios and his relationships with the inhabitants of Julesvale. The moveset and elemental fit into fire also earned high points from our team. Like Bhadra, there was clear inspiration, but the moveset felt right at home in a platform fighter. After playing him for even a short period, Helios felt like a character that was always in Rivals.

Awatsu, The Saponaceous Serpent

We can say it. Awatsu, by Selrate, was Dan’s favorite character in the contest while also ranking highly with many of our developers. When it comes to adorable creatures that creatively manipulate their element, Selrate may have outdone Dan himself. The character is so unique in its visual style and the way it moves. The animations and effects are also beautifully executed. When you combine its visuals with the intricate but intuitive bubble system, the character really stands out from the rest.

Thank You

Thank you to everyone who created characters, supported workshop devs throughout the contest, and even those who simply played some of the entries and interacted with the community’s creations. It’s always amazing to see what passionate people can create, and as game devs ourselves, it’s an honor to see other talented devs make their mark on the world of Aether.

Jul 3, 2024

uFactory DevLog: July 2024

uFactory - Lucid Silence Games

Hi everyone! Progress continues on the 2.2 update for uFactory!

The big feature for this next update is Platform Support:

uFactory is now running smoothly as a native app on Linux!
Work on the Mac version is still ongoing
uFactory runs smoothly on Steam Deck too, but the controls were lacking...

...which bring me to my next point. A new surprise feature! uFactory 2.2 will include Full Gamepad Support! Want to sit back in your couch and play with an Xbox controller? Well, soon you can!
This controller support will make the game much more enjoyable on Steam Deck as well.

The goal is still to have this update released by August 1st, 2024!

After 2.2, we'll be very close to feature parity with the old Unity version of uFactory, so that after that, you can expect to start seeing some brand new features and content!

As always, if you want to keep up with the development progress, check the Live Development Roadmap or join our Discord Server.

Thanks again for supporting uFactory! Expect some new content in the next couple weeks!

Jul 3, 2024

Playground Showcase: SOULS seeking fun while you have a SUPREME time at MANTYS

Grounded - Obsidian Aarik

Welcome back, friends! If you enjoyed the three Playgrounds from last month, then you definitely won’t want to miss this month’s set of awesome maps made by our talented community. Looking for a challenge or just some good wholesome fun? We got you covered.

Grounded Shrunken Souls

Kicking off the list this month’s Grounded Shrunken Souls by Capitao Shultz! This Playground is the perfect soulslike experience in a big way, but tiny. Explore various locations filled with creatures, loot, and hidden secrets. Steele yourself to overcome challenging biomes and face your fears against epic bosses. Don’t forget to raise the BURG.L bonflags to set your spawn point and keep an eye on the lighting to help guide you to the next location.

Download Code: X8J-UCF-L4X

Supreme Commander

Up next, we’re going to look at one of Axel99zx’s Playgrounds! Get ready to defend your tower against waves of spiders in Supreme Commander! You are charged with defending your tower against an arachnid assault where killing spiders will reward you with upgrade points. Use those points to upgrade your crossbow, increase your ammo refill rate, automate your robot army, upgrade your TAYZ.T’s, and activate your automated turret systems! Endless waves of spiders will attack your tower, and as time progresses, the more difficult it will get. See how long you can last and rack up as many kills as you can to secure the high score!

Download Code: DQW-XQ5-8DP

Ticket to Mantys!

Are you ready to win some prizes? Then let’s head on down to Manty’s! Created by RYYY Jones, Ticket to Mantys is an incredible wonderland of mini games! In this interactive experience, you’ll shoot hoops, go to the shooting range, play stab-a-bug, and so much more. There are even five hidden treasure chests to collect. Don’t forget to bring home a stuffed Aphid for your kid sister, or she’ll throw a tantrum!

Download Code: VBN-P39-XBS

That wraps up this month’s Playground Showcase. Give these Playgrounds a try and make sure to share your own Playground in the official Discord Server; they might just end up on future showcases in the months to come!

Thanks for reading, and remember, stay safe, and stay Grounded.

Jul 3, 2024

Thank you for playing the Milo demo! 250 Steam Wishlists!

Milo - ammoburger

Thank you everyone for playing the Milo Demo. There's much work to be done and I'm enjoying a (much needed) short vacation from Milo, and I'm excited to announce that Milo has gained 81 wishlists since the demo dropped on Steam a few days ago, bringing Milo to 250 Steam wishlists currently averaging 12 wishlists/day since the demo launch!

According to Steam, 132 (different) people have launched the Milo Demo since release, and it has averaged at 25 daily active users with a median time played of 14 minutes. In the coming months I'm going to aim to add more content and balance Milo to increase the median time played.

Additionally, look for Milo during the Steam Scream Fest this year starting October 28th. I'm expecting another significant boost to Milo's visibility there. I will likey not participate in Steam Nextfest until Milo accumulates around 5-10k wishlists. So, obviously it's still a long road ahead both in development and marketing, but this is what I signed up for. I hope you all continue to enjoy the demo you will start to see many significant updates to the demo in the coming weeks/months.
~Spencer

Jul 3, 2024

Celebrating 30,000 sales! Plus some metrics and info about v1.0

Football Coach: College Dynasty - achi

I'm happy to announce that Football Coach: College Dynasty has reached the incredible milestone of 30,000 sales!

This has exceeded my wildest expectations, and couldn't be possible without the community that has sprouted around the game, which helps so much in getting the word out and improving the game. Your feedback has helped tremendously as I add new features, fix bugs, and enhance the UI and quality of life. Thank you for being a part of this journey. As I celebrate this milestone, I remain committed to developing the game as we continue on the road to v1.0 (see more below). Thanks again!

Now, let's take a look at some fun charts and metrics.

Sales by country:

94 countries in total have users who have bought the game. As expected, the vast majority of users (85%) come from the United States, where college football has its roots. Other English-speaking nations make up another 8%, the sim-loving Germans make up another 2%, and the rest of the countries fill out the last 4%.

The following countries have just one copy sold, so shoutout to the singular buyers from:

American Samoa (also has a playable school in game!)
Bahamas
Ecuador
Egypt
Fiji
Jamaica
Lithuania
Malta
Nepal
And 15 other countries with just one user :)

Thank you to everyone for buying the game, especially those non-Americans!

Playtime by user:

The average playtime for Football Coach: College Dynasty is 64 hours and 53 minutes. This is bolstered by the hardcore fans who play the game a ton; 14% of users have over a 100 hours of playtime (seen above), and I know I've seen some screenshots and reviews from users with over 1,000 hours. That's insane!

Daily active users:

Above is a chart of a rough average of daily active users and peak concurrent users since the game's release in December 2022. As you can see, players peaked last winter at 1000+ daily active users, which makes sense as that's when the CFB season has its playoffs, and it's after some lucrative Steam Winter sales when people first bought the game. A cool takeaway for me in the chart, though, is how the active users have held steady and even increased throughout the game's lifetime. July 1st of 2023 had 373 daily active users, while the same day in 2024 had 706, showing that the game's audience is growing, and people who love the game continue to play it.

The planned v1.0 release:

The game has come a long way from its initial release in December 2022. I've added new playbooks, revamped the depth chart and substitution system, added player and team records, timeouts, the Certified Classic system, league news, player and coach import, custom team logos, scholarship limits, jersey numbers, coach contracts and tons more in the updates since. However, there needs to be a time when I can consider the game ready for the full v1.0 release.

The goal is to release Football Coach: College Dynasty to v1.0 in late fall of this year. To do so, I have been working full-time on the game since May to finish out the remaining big features of the game. The first was the new Expanded Playbooks update, which also optimized the game and added tons of other features like coin toss, UI updates, etc. From there, these big feature updates are planned:

Recruiting 2.0 update, currently in-progress, focused on revamping and adding features to the recruiting portion of the game
Advanced scouting, which will add more dynamic scouting to the game, with fog of war options so that exact attributes of players won't be known (especially those not on your team), similar to systems that exist in other sports sim games
In-game playcalling enhancements, to improve how substitutions are done, how you can react to the defense alignment on offense, and providing more options for game plan strategy
Better Steam integration, with achievements and workshop support for custom universe files, and perhaps cloud saving (won't 100% promise cloud saving due to file sizes, but it will be investigated)

That may not be the exact order of the features, and things internally may shift, but those are the big ones on my mind right now. There are other smaller features, like UI changes to make the game more exciting via award ceremonies and recruit commitment reveals, coach changes so they go to the pros, better OOC scheduling, and more, but these are more minor on the list compared to the above. If I get those 4 big features above done, plus some more minor things mentioned, then I will feel good about releasing the game to v1.0.

Support after v1.0 and Mac release:

Even after the game releases to v1.0, I plan to keep developing it for a couple months to add more features, fix bugs, and release to other platforms. For Mac users, this means the game is planned to come to Mac by the end of the year, AFTER the v1.0 release. I will keep the community updated with any changes to timelines etc. Thank you for your patience!

Thanks again for allowing the game to reach this milestone. I've loved working on it the past 2.5 years, and will continue to try and make the best game possible on the way to v1.0. And if you're somehow reading this and haven't bought the game, it's on sale right now as part of the Steam Summer Sale! Cheers!

Buy Football Coach: College Dynasty on Steam

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