Synergy rework and Octave sneak peak!
over 2 years ago – Fri, Jul 29, 2022 at 10:06:29 PM

This entire month has been dedicated to finishing all the ongoing features. This is a very ambitious update that we are working on, here are some recent news about it.

New Effects, Gambits and Auras: the Synergy rework🔥

We were not entirely satisfied with the Gambits, Effects and Auras that we had in the game. We knew the system was very interesting but when creating builds we felt it always lacked - Synergy. 

What we call Synergy is the possible combinaisons between the different playable elements that you can find in the game - Spells, Gambits, Auras, Effects.

We had the feeling that very few synergies existed and it was mainly about multi-hit spells and mono-hit spells. After a lot of design talks, we improved the system and made many changes to improve it and make it more central to the game progression.

- First, we removed many of the Auras and Gambits that were not very interesting to play with, for example the ones dealing more damages if enemy health is full or depending of number of effects affecting the enemies. 

- Second, we added several new unique effects to create more synergies opportunities between your spells, auras and gambits! What we call Effects are elements negatively affecting enemies, we have also reworked the way Effects stacks are displayed above enemies as you can see below.

We also added some new summons that will trigger Effects, here are some for you to enjoy!

A feeling that we had in game for a while was the feeling of not really choosing your build regarding the gambits you equip on your spell, here are some balancing changes according to this.

• Spells will now always come with at least 2 gambit slot available minimum. 
• Gambit slot unlocker cost has been reduced from 200 to 75 quartz to be a lot more affordable.

- Finally we also reworked all the gambits icons and aura icons to have a more distinct personality and be much more clearer.

The coral archieplago progress 🏝️

The coral archipelago content is now complete! All the new enemies have been done and will now enter polish phase. Here's a quick tease of what you'll be facing in the world.

Dale has also came through this month with the new great theme of the 3rd world, enjoy a glimpse!

Andromeda's bar interior progress 🍹

Now that the bar interior is open, you will be able to meet the zodiac there in a more peaceful context, discussing with them and if you're lucky they might even consider joining you in battle!

A Jukebox is also available inside for you to enjoy the game ost!

Elites visual rework 💀

Another system that got a visual rework are the elites enemies. They now have an all new color palette applied to them to really feel like different enemies! We also reworked the UI to have icons above their head instead of a text for a better visibility.

Finally a small gameplay glimpse of Octave 🎯

Keeping you updated with Octave, here's a small gameplay clip of some possible combos between his spells, enjoy!

We are entering a critical  phase for the next update, for now we prefer to not give a precise release date for this update as we do not want to compromise on quality.

Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game!

Have a wonderful weekend!

-The Hibernian Workshop Team

Third world, the Pantheon, Ayla figure, Hero summons and more!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Jun 29, 2022 at 03:43:38 AM

Happy  to report this month the team has made huge progress on all the new content for the next update and soon all that will be left to do is polish and playtest! ✨

So, without further ado, here is our progress report - 

Welcome to the Coral Archipelago! 🌊

The next world is here! The islands are waiting for you to cross them and meet the marine fauna! But be careful, this world is the home of the dangerous Noble Zodiacs, fierce enemies that will never allow you to pass without an intense fight!

The Pantheon and Ayla figure 💫

The Pantheon is a new place accessible from the main hub of the game. When used, the floating orb will teleport you into a place where we immortalized some of our backers as golden statues. 

We initially wanted to have these statues randomly spawning at the merchant's room but this way anyone can witness them directly from the main hub. If you also want to have a statue of yourself (it can be with your pet) and your name appears when standing next to the statue, you can still order it on our Backerkit store. 

We also have great news regarding the Ayla figure (also available on the Backerkit store), Limited Run Games manufacturer produced an example version that suits our vision and we really love it - we hope you will like it as much as we do!

Kinship system🤝

A completely new system has been added to the game, the kinship system!

In your runs, you will now have access to a new special room inside wich you'll get a new kind of item: the souvenirs.

Souvenirs will grant you the power of one of your friend from the Garden! Each character has their own unique power that will surely help you through your journey!

The intent of this system was to make the characters you meet and love a bigger part of your escape attempts and feel a deeper connection to them when they join your adventure!

Look forward to getting the souvenir as they will surely prove useful in your quest.  

Zodiac summons rework ♍

Another accomplishment from this month was the rework of several of our Zodiac summons!

Most of the old summon either didn't fit the zodiac or were lacking in juice! So we decided to rework most of them to become truly impressive attacks!

But that's not all we also made summons for the next two Zodiacs of the Coral Archipelago, enjoy a sneak peek!

New spells - the Zodiacs spells ♐

We added a new kind of spell to the game, the Zodiac spells! They'll give you the ability to use some of the Zodiacs signature attacks as your own.

Don't expect to find them like others  spells! They will only be accessible in a special place, but we'll let you find out for yourselves.

Andromeda's bar 🥂

The door to the interior of the Andromeda's bar is now open, in here you'll be able to meet the zodiacs and talk with them in a peaceful environment.

Get insight about the world by the mouth of your enemies, learn more about them and if you're lucky, they might even join you directly in your journey!

Discord new emotes! Join us! ✨

We also did something for our lovely discord community. New Astral Ascent emotes have been added to the server for you to express yourself there or on any other place if you have Discord Nitro!

We hope you'll enjoy them as much as we do! 

This month has been a great month of progress and we cannot wait to let you play with all of this new content! 

Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game!

Have a great day and week!

-The Hibernian Workshop Team

Working on next major update: New character, New rooms, New bosses and more! ♏
over 2 years ago – Fri, May 27, 2022 at 01:56:42 AM

First of all, we want to thank everyone for making this Early Access launch so succesful! We loved watching your reactions, reading your theories and your suggestions - one major of these suggestions is being developed. 

Also, if you have the occasion to leave a review on Steam, it helps us gain visibility and it is much appreciated!

All the team is thrilled for what's coming next and eager to give you the great experience you are looking for!

We started working on Octave! 🌠

You are all waiting for it and, as promised, we are working on implementing a new playable character: Octave the gunslinger! 

As the name suggest, he will fight at a distance using two guns and bring ethereal weapons to the battle!

We hope you'll have fun playing around with him once the update will be out!

New bosses in the work! ♏

We also made a lot of progress on the next bosses for the coral archipelago.

Scorpio beat you up again and again stopping you from going through the third world but soon you'll be able to take your revenge!

However, don't expect an easy battle, Scorpio may be arrogant but he has the power to back it up!

A new star guardian also joined the frey: Draco!

A mysterious and blazing warrior capable of incredible martial feats!

New Traps and Props! 🐡

We are working hard on the coral archiepelago world and while we don't have suitable visuals to share for now, we worked on some new traps and props for this specific world inspired by the marine life.

We hope they'll be of good use in your next adventures!

We also made a big change from the W2 traps, we decided to remove the statue trap that we considered not being a good trap and replaced it by this new sand shark trap! Watch where you are walking!

New NPC and room: The Sun ☀️ and The Moon 🌙

Lastly for the content update, we are working on additional rooms to the game inspired by the sun and the moon.

These new unique rooms will ONLY be accessible by activating a new rare altar in exploration rooms and will contain the most powerful of spell you ever saw in the game.

In the sun room, you'll have access to 3 altars selling you powerful spell for a great amount of different resources like Quartz, Stars and Keys.

In the moon room, you'll also have access to 3 altars selling even more powerful spell than in the sun room however you'll have to bargain with your max health to obtain them so don't get too greedy!

We're again thankful to everyone who made our Early access launch a success and we hope you are thrilled to see what's waiting for you in the next update that is targeted to release for August!

Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game!

Have a wonderful day,

-The Hibernian Workshop Team

Now available in Early Access! 🔥
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Apr 13, 2022 at 01:22:45 AM

 Astral Ascent is now available on Steam Early Access! 

Let your friends and favorite content creators know about the game and don't hesitate to review the game on Steam! As we are self-publishing, we are even more counting on you!

The whole team has worked hard to deliver the best possible 2D Rogue-lite we could create, here is what you can expect - 

• 2 out of the 5 playable characters
• 5 out of the 12 Zodiacs bosses
• 2 out of the 4 Worlds to explore
• 2 minibosses
• Fully Voiced dialogs
• New Game Plus feature
• Local co-op

And this is not the end, we will provide updates through the Early Access with new worlds, new Zodiacs, new playable characters and more! We will also try to provide assistance on bugs and polishing.

Also, we have decided to only focus on Windows during Early Access but you can expect the game to be on Mac and Linux at the final release.

EARLY ACCESS KEYS

All Early Access keys have been sent by email to backers who either selected the Early Access pledge level or added a Steam Key as add-on to their pledges.

Important note - Please check your Spams if you didn't receive your key yet, we still have more than 500 of you who received the email but did not open it, the email is named Astral Ascent - Early Access Steam Key - Kickstarter Reward. 

SPOTLIGHT ON THE BAD KARMAS - last 48h!

It was such a great surprise to see a boardgame about Zodiacs on Kickstarter. The Bad Karmas is, like us, taking the Zodiacs as main antagonists and  we love how they made them giant and dangerous beings you have to fight against. 

The concept also seems amazing because the Zodiacs have AI and you really must face giant powerful creatures which come with splendid figures.

Don't hesitate to check their campaign that ends in 2 days!

As always, have a wonderful day and great fun on the game!

-The Hibernian Workshop Team

Early Access - Steam Keys reward
almost 3 years ago – Mon, Apr 04, 2022 at 01:43:42 AM

To backers who took the Early Access version -

Astral Ascent will be released on April 12th and you should all have received your Steam Keys (keys were sent to the email address used during the Kickstarter campaign).

If you do not see it the email please check your Spams.

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Why is the game not launching after I redeemed the game?
This key will only give you access to the game once the game is released in Early Access (April 12).

Will I receive a different key for the final release?

No, this key also unlocks the final version of the game.

How do I activate the Steam key?

Here is the official Steam guide on how to activate a key. 

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If you still do not find your key please contact us, preferencially by email at [email protected] or send direct message to Louis on our Discord server with the email address you used.

Have an excellent week!

-The Hibernian Workshop Team