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Announcement
Sgt M
Announcement
Announcement
Release Date: Jan 5, 2024
Hello all!
All hail the completed progress chart! Astra Hunter Zosma is now content-complete and is currently going through its playtest and cleanup phases. And with that, I am happy to announce that the game now has a release date; January 5, 2024!
The game will be available as a free download here on RPGMaker.net, as well as on Steam and itch.io. Visit the links below to see those respective pages:
Steam
Itch.io
It's been a long two years working on this project and we're happy to finally see it ready for release! Thank you everyone for following this project. I hope you'll enjoy the game soon!
- Sgt M
All hail the completed progress chart! Astra Hunter Zosma is now content-complete and is currently going through its playtest and cleanup phases. And with that, I am happy to announce that the game now has a release date; January 5, 2024!
The game will be available as a free download here on RPGMaker.net, as well as on Steam and itch.io. Visit the links below to see those respective pages:
Steam
Itch.io
It's been a long two years working on this project and we're happy to finally see it ready for release! Thank you everyone for following this project. I hope you'll enjoy the game soon!
- Sgt M
Announcement
Progress Report
Dev Log #7: Onto The Final Chapter
Hey, all!
I figured it was best to give an update sooner rather than later since I've made some big strides over the past few weeks. To keep it brief: Chapter 5 is more or less finished (maybe about 97% of it) and though it does feel like a first pass in some regards, it's stable enough that I can start work on Chapter 6.
I think maybe we can skip the Progress Chart this time. It hasn't hanged all that much, but maybe we can put some sort of graphic in here because that apparently improves readability. So here you go.
Chapter 6 is something of an oddball compared to past projects, as it is technically the final dungeon in the game, but it's not really a "final dungeon" in the traditional sense. The story structure for Zosma didn't really call for a big evil castle or anything like that in its narrative. So the final area in the finale ends up being something of a small boss rush. Chapter 6 ends up being "the dungeon that just happens to be the last one" but it's also when a lot of the big story points come to fruition, so I hope you'll look forward to it.
Indeed, this project is far enough along where I can almost quantify exactly what needs to be done before it hits the beta phase.
Chapter 6 is about 20% done, with half of the dungeon mapped. Some of it is evented. I'm actually glad that there isn't much more to do because boy howdy let me tell you that I'm running out of ideas for puzzles and stuff, but I think I have just enough material and ideas to get the job done. In that regard, I have one miniboss and one boss battle left to design for the chapter and then we'll be squared away combat-wise.
The finale, which I guess I should just call Chapter 7, hasn't been started at all. So that will be a big project on its own since nothing related to it has been developed yet and it will be quite asset-intensive.
Then that leaves the Expanding Void, which is pretty much complete except for balancing the battles in the sixth tier and designing the boss at the end of it.
So boiling it all down, here's what left in the alpha phase:
- The remaining 80% of Chapter 6
- The whole Finale + Ending(s)
- Postgame (two bonus bosses)
Then it's onto the beta phase and practicing the long-forgotten art of testing and polishing your game before releasing it. There's quite a bit of cleanup to do, and I do want to give some of these story scenes a little extra oomph before calling them complete.
I'm pretty excited that we're getting close to the end here! It's far from my first rodeo at this point, but it never gets any less exciting to see a project near completion. Hopefully you can play the game early next year maybe.
By the way, did you remember to wishlist the game on Steam? Making that beautiful number go up always helps.
- Sgt M
I figured it was best to give an update sooner rather than later since I've made some big strides over the past few weeks. To keep it brief: Chapter 5 is more or less finished (maybe about 97% of it) and though it does feel like a first pass in some regards, it's stable enough that I can start work on Chapter 6.
I think maybe we can skip the Progress Chart this time. It hasn't hanged all that much, but maybe we can put some sort of graphic in here because that apparently improves readability. So here you go.
Chapter 6 is something of an oddball compared to past projects, as it is technically the final dungeon in the game, but it's not really a "final dungeon" in the traditional sense. The story structure for Zosma didn't really call for a big evil castle or anything like that in its narrative. So the final area in the finale ends up being something of a small boss rush. Chapter 6 ends up being "the dungeon that just happens to be the last one" but it's also when a lot of the big story points come to fruition, so I hope you'll look forward to it.
Indeed, this project is far enough along where I can almost quantify exactly what needs to be done before it hits the beta phase.
Chapter 6 is about 20% done, with half of the dungeon mapped. Some of it is evented. I'm actually glad that there isn't much more to do because boy howdy let me tell you that I'm running out of ideas for puzzles and stuff, but I think I have just enough material and ideas to get the job done. In that regard, I have one miniboss and one boss battle left to design for the chapter and then we'll be squared away combat-wise.
The finale, which I guess I should just call Chapter 7, hasn't been started at all. So that will be a big project on its own since nothing related to it has been developed yet and it will be quite asset-intensive.
Then that leaves the Expanding Void, which is pretty much complete except for balancing the battles in the sixth tier and designing the boss at the end of it.
So boiling it all down, here's what left in the alpha phase:
- The remaining 80% of Chapter 6
- The whole Finale + Ending(s)
- Postgame (two bonus bosses)
Then it's onto the beta phase and practicing the long-forgotten art of testing and polishing your game before releasing it. There's quite a bit of cleanup to do, and I do want to give some of these story scenes a little extra oomph before calling them complete.
I'm pretty excited that we're getting close to the end here! It's far from my first rodeo at this point, but it never gets any less exciting to see a project near completion. Hopefully you can play the game early next year maybe.
By the way, did you remember to wishlist the game on Steam? Making that beautiful number go up always helps.
- Sgt M
Progress Report
Dev Log #6: Just a Regular Ol' Update
hey gamers,
I figured now's as good of a time to provide a status update as any. Progress on Astra Hunter Zosma has been chugging along throughout the summer.
Let's start things off with a look at the Progress Chart.
Aside from a few placeholders that need fleshing out, the whole of Chapter 4 is done, and I've also made a decent amount of progress on Chapter 5. About one-third of the dungeon is mapped and evented, as well as the story scenes within them.
Chapter 5 actually changes things up quite a bit gameplay-wise. You'll have access to a boat, and exciting ship battles with salty pirate crews await you on the high seas inside the Crescent Moon Tower. I'm hoping the ship battles will help change up the battle system a little bit, even if there's not very many of them.
Agent Ape has also been working on some additional music to help give each chapter a bit more pizazz. Namely, every chapter will have its own battle theme. I hope you'll enjoy his compositions!
In addition, I've been making some QOL improvements that aren't present in the demo. You may remember that the companion's treat system was overhauled to give them stat boosts at the start of battle. And... well, it still wasn't very useful. Now there is an option to auto-feed the companion cookies to get the stat buffs without having to go into the menu! Feel free to set it and forget it. That's what I do.
I've also just finished implementing a new Notebook menu, which collects all of the treasure hint notes that you can find in your adventure. Previously the notes were Key Items, but they quickly clogged up your inventory. Now you can check them all in one place, and even see which notes are for puzzles that have already been solved.
So we're going into Fall with more work on Chapter 5, and then it's just Chapter 6 and the finale after that. Regretfully though, I'm starting to think that my goal for a 2023 release may have been a tad ambitious. I don't think it's completely out of the realm of possibility, but I'll be genuinely surprised if I hit that goal. The game does need a fair bit of polish and it won't be done on the first pass. We'll see what happens.
I guess that's all for today! Thank you as always for following this project.
- Sgt M
I figured now's as good of a time to provide a status update as any. Progress on Astra Hunter Zosma has been chugging along throughout the summer.
Let's start things off with a look at the Progress Chart.
Aside from a few placeholders that need fleshing out, the whole of Chapter 4 is done, and I've also made a decent amount of progress on Chapter 5. About one-third of the dungeon is mapped and evented, as well as the story scenes within them.
Chapter 5 actually changes things up quite a bit gameplay-wise. You'll have access to a boat, and exciting ship battles with salty pirate crews await you on the high seas inside the Crescent Moon Tower. I'm hoping the ship battles will help change up the battle system a little bit, even if there's not very many of them.
Agent Ape has also been working on some additional music to help give each chapter a bit more pizazz. Namely, every chapter will have its own battle theme. I hope you'll enjoy his compositions!
In addition, I've been making some QOL improvements that aren't present in the demo. You may remember that the companion's treat system was overhauled to give them stat boosts at the start of battle. And... well, it still wasn't very useful. Now there is an option to auto-feed the companion cookies to get the stat buffs without having to go into the menu! Feel free to set it and forget it. That's what I do.
I've also just finished implementing a new Notebook menu, which collects all of the treasure hint notes that you can find in your adventure. Previously the notes were Key Items, but they quickly clogged up your inventory. Now you can check them all in one place, and even see which notes are for puzzles that have already been solved.
So we're going into Fall with more work on Chapter 5, and then it's just Chapter 6 and the finale after that. Regretfully though, I'm starting to think that my goal for a 2023 release may have been a tad ambitious. I don't think it's completely out of the realm of possibility, but I'll be genuinely surprised if I hit that goal. The game does need a fair bit of polish and it won't be done on the first pass. We'll see what happens.
I guess that's all for today! Thank you as always for following this project.
- Sgt M
Progress Report
Dev Log #5: Progress Goes On
Hello all!
It's been about three months since the last proper update devlog, so I thought I'd give a quick update on where everything is going.
I don't have too much to cover today, nor do I want to draw things out by embellishing the more mundane aspects of development. But I have hit one or two noticeable milestones over the past few weeks that should give a better idea of where everything stands.
I think we can cut to the chase and pull out the ol' Progress Chart.
It doesn't look like a whole lot has changed - and you'd be right! I'm still working on Chapter 4, and I've simultaneously taken a detour to begin working on some parts of Chapter 5. The short version for that is: cutscenes are pretty exhausting! Realizing that a game does not need to be developed completely linearly has been something of a blessing, and I've taken the time to work on other parts of the game instead of bashing myself against a wall to get the next part of the story implemented.
I have also been working on the big optional dungeon, the Expanding Void. The entire dungeon is now mapped and evented, with lots of treasure to find, some light puzzles to solve, and plenty of fearsome enemies to chase you down. Considering this is almost half of the game's content, this is definitely a great thing to get out of the way.
In addition, graphics for every non-boss enemy in the game have been completed. Most of the bosses have been made, as well, including most of the ones that use sideview battlers instead of standard battler graphics.
Uh, I don't have too much else to really go over today, but just know things are going pretty well for the most part. It's kind of hard to put a percentage number on how far along the project is as a whole. It's considerably more than halfway at this point, though. All the hard stuff has been done and out of the way for quite some time now. It's just a matter of finishing up the rest of the actual content.
I guess that's it! I'll see you all next time.
- Sgt M
It's been about three months since the last proper update devlog, so I thought I'd give a quick update on where everything is going.
I don't have too much to cover today, nor do I want to draw things out by embellishing the more mundane aspects of development. But I have hit one or two noticeable milestones over the past few weeks that should give a better idea of where everything stands.
I think we can cut to the chase and pull out the ol' Progress Chart.
It doesn't look like a whole lot has changed - and you'd be right! I'm still working on Chapter 4, and I've simultaneously taken a detour to begin working on some parts of Chapter 5. The short version for that is: cutscenes are pretty exhausting! Realizing that a game does not need to be developed completely linearly has been something of a blessing, and I've taken the time to work on other parts of the game instead of bashing myself against a wall to get the next part of the story implemented.
I have also been working on the big optional dungeon, the Expanding Void. The entire dungeon is now mapped and evented, with lots of treasure to find, some light puzzles to solve, and plenty of fearsome enemies to chase you down. Considering this is almost half of the game's content, this is definitely a great thing to get out of the way.
In addition, graphics for every non-boss enemy in the game have been completed. Most of the bosses have been made, as well, including most of the ones that use sideview battlers instead of standard battler graphics.
Uh, I don't have too much else to really go over today, but just know things are going pretty well for the most part. It's kind of hard to put a percentage number on how far along the project is as a whole. It's considerably more than halfway at this point, though. All the hard stuff has been done and out of the way for quite some time now. It's just a matter of finishing up the rest of the actual content.
I guess that's it! I'll see you all next time.
- Sgt M
Announcement
Announcement
Steam Page Live! + Demo Update Soon-ish
Hey, all!
The Steam page for Astra Hunter Zosma is now live! You can wishlist to game to get notified of when the game releases (and help us out, too!). You can find the Steam page here.
In addition, I am looking to update the old 2022 demo to address some compatibility issues that demo saves have with the full game. Quite a few things have been changed and restructured since last year, including some story content that happens at the beginning of the game. While I encourage everyone to play it from the start to see what has changed, I will still work to get everyone's existing saves compatible with the finished version.
More on that to come in the near-ish future! So keep a lookout for Version 2 of the demo sometime soon.
The Steam page for Astra Hunter Zosma is now live! You can wishlist to game to get notified of when the game releases (and help us out, too!). You can find the Steam page here.
In addition, I am looking to update the old 2022 demo to address some compatibility issues that demo saves have with the full game. Quite a few things have been changed and restructured since last year, including some story content that happens at the beginning of the game. While I encourage everyone to play it from the start to see what has changed, I will still work to get everyone's existing saves compatible with the finished version.
More on that to come in the near-ish future! So keep a lookout for Version 2 of the demo sometime soon.
Progress Report
Dev Log #4: The Second Half
Hello, all!
Today is going to be a bit of a quick update... to be honest, I don't want to bore everyone with a lot of minor details. But I figured we were overdue for an update on Astra Hunter Zosma.
How's It Going?
Over the past week or two, I managed to finish up just about everything with Chapter 3. As far as content goes, that means that the game is roughly halfway completed. It's a solid 3-4 hours of gameplay if you do both the main story and the continuous optional dungeon, so I'm figuring the overall runtime of this game will be about 6-8 hours when everything is said and done.
"But where is the Progress Chart?" you ask! Well, look no further:
As you can see, our friend the Progress Chart Lock failed to keep the Progress Chart in check, and a small bit had to be added to account for the game's finale. Technically, it's something I had planned but it was never really reflected on the chart. Nevertheless, the Lock has failed miserably and must spend the remainder of this game's development redeeming for his sins. What a pity.
There have been quite a few changes to the existing content, as well. The intro dungeon, for example, has gotten a bit of a makeover with a few additional story bits added that give better context on events that happen later in the game.
The tutorials have also been re-arranged a bit to account for the Shield/Barrier mechanic being removed completely. I ultimately made this decision because while it seemed to be a good idea at first, it just ended up being a frustrating waste of the player's actions to have to take an enemy's shield down before being able to damage it. It's one of the numerous changes I've made to the battle system in general to help speed it up and help prevent the player from being in combat for an overly long time. I like keeping things snappy! And I hope the combat system in the final game will be better and more balanced than what was seen in last year's demo. Considering the level of power creep in Zosma compared to past games, this has been quite the challenge!
Several other big changes have been made, such as the Treat system being completely overhauled. The old system affected the companion's stat growth. But you'd usually set it to the stats you wanted at the start of the game and never visit the menu again. Now the companion has a set stat growth rate, and you can continuously give treats to give them stat buffs for up to 3 battles at a time.
In general, making the companion character more useful is a long-term goal for this project. Right now they're just sorta "there" in combat. I'm hoping to figure that out sooner rather than later!
What's Next?
Well, I've started work on Chapter 4, which is something of this game's equivalent to Box World and Lamp Land seen in the Soma Spirits games. It's also the big kickoff for the second half of the game when the story really starts to ramp up. Here's a bit of a preview:
I hope you're feeling lucky! This dungeon will be sure to test your fortunes, so I hope you'll look forward to it.
I guess at this point it's time to keep chipping away at the rest of this project. I'm -hoping- it will be done sometime this year, but again, no promises on that front until I know for sure that I can reach that goal.
I guess that's it for today! Until next time.
- Sgt M
Today is going to be a bit of a quick update... to be honest, I don't want to bore everyone with a lot of minor details. But I figured we were overdue for an update on Astra Hunter Zosma.
How's It Going?
Over the past week or two, I managed to finish up just about everything with Chapter 3. As far as content goes, that means that the game is roughly halfway completed. It's a solid 3-4 hours of gameplay if you do both the main story and the continuous optional dungeon, so I'm figuring the overall runtime of this game will be about 6-8 hours when everything is said and done.
"But where is the Progress Chart?" you ask! Well, look no further:
As you can see, our friend the Progress Chart Lock failed to keep the Progress Chart in check, and a small bit had to be added to account for the game's finale. Technically, it's something I had planned but it was never really reflected on the chart. Nevertheless, the Lock has failed miserably and must spend the remainder of this game's development redeeming for his sins. What a pity.
There have been quite a few changes to the existing content, as well. The intro dungeon, for example, has gotten a bit of a makeover with a few additional story bits added that give better context on events that happen later in the game.
The tutorials have also been re-arranged a bit to account for the Shield/Barrier mechanic being removed completely. I ultimately made this decision because while it seemed to be a good idea at first, it just ended up being a frustrating waste of the player's actions to have to take an enemy's shield down before being able to damage it. It's one of the numerous changes I've made to the battle system in general to help speed it up and help prevent the player from being in combat for an overly long time. I like keeping things snappy! And I hope the combat system in the final game will be better and more balanced than what was seen in last year's demo. Considering the level of power creep in Zosma compared to past games, this has been quite the challenge!
Several other big changes have been made, such as the Treat system being completely overhauled. The old system affected the companion's stat growth. But you'd usually set it to the stats you wanted at the start of the game and never visit the menu again. Now the companion has a set stat growth rate, and you can continuously give treats to give them stat buffs for up to 3 battles at a time.
In general, making the companion character more useful is a long-term goal for this project. Right now they're just sorta "there" in combat. I'm hoping to figure that out sooner rather than later!
What's Next?
Well, I've started work on Chapter 4, which is something of this game's equivalent to Box World and Lamp Land seen in the Soma Spirits games. It's also the big kickoff for the second half of the game when the story really starts to ramp up. Here's a bit of a preview:
I hope you're feeling lucky! This dungeon will be sure to test your fortunes, so I hope you'll look forward to it.
I guess at this point it's time to keep chipping away at the rest of this project. I'm -hoping- it will be done sometime this year, but again, no promises on that front until I know for sure that I can reach that goal.
I guess that's it for today! Until next time.
- Sgt M
