Apollyon: River of Life News

Here we are with a few updates and new features!

• Fixed accidental bug in 1.3.0 that made the black fading screens fade away too soon
  
• All effects will now show their image in a larger size, as well as their description
  
• Call Out spirit card fully added
  
• Descriptions on missing Self cards
  
• Deia-rei hyperlink fixed
  
• Spirit Card back button now throbs when the open card is resolved. MANY new players get confused about how to close the spirit card.
  
• Cooldown on some chatbox messages
  
• Added tutorial pushes so you are more likely to unlock the character that is aligned with your tutorial answers
  
• Game Setup animations fixed, could select options accidentally.
  
• Disconnect/Reconnect (DCRC) massively reworked, now functions much, much quicker. Players can be disconnected or lose internet access at any time and return to the ritual. If the host's PC turns off or something, however, the ritual still treats it as if you died. This likely won't be changed. Apollyon has never crashed.
  
• Player disconnection unselects tokens
  
• Taara's Kharmic abilities go to the chat, instead of popup functions.
  
• Reconnecting players cant move tokens.
  
• Steam profile pictures are now squares.
  
• New Menu links
  
• The Compass on the ritual menu will now highlight the current token position while not hovered
  
• Opening Z once you see the Wandering Spirit no longer avoids it
  
• Standard tale cards fully open their theme, and step an opposing theme closed twice. not fully.
  
• Fixed replication for effects that occur when a spirit is closed, as well as those that change the music pitch.
  
• Changed how many variables replicate to allow faster joining. Random variables will now work over very bad pings.
  
• New Dark Bargains objectives
  

Welcome, occult wanderers, to the River of Life.

Apollyon has been tempered in the great furnaces of game development, and is nearing a state that I can call "Full Release". The game has been feature-complete for more than a year now, possibly two, yet despite the dozens of hours of playtime... It is missing some of the stories that I desire to feature inside the game.

And so we remain in Early Access... but not for much longer. All things considered, two years of Early Access was not at all in my plans, but life gets in the way, and this is a game made by a solo developer.

Lose not your hope, Practitioner! Apollyon is coming to Full Release next month, with the last character stories, UX fixes, evasive bugs, and the very last Intention yet unseen!

But I'm getting ahead of myself... what comes today, in Apollyon 1.3?



With over 75 new spirit cards since 1.2, a similar number of new pieces of art, and a whole new Intention now unlockable, there is a lot of content! Experienced practitioners will notice the changes to the spirit cards and UI... the old ugly font has been replaced with one suited far better for our dark occult fantasy. This exists throughout the entire game.



The Veiled Practitioner has had a rework, and unlocking your first character is now quicker than ever! The Veiled Practitioner (your starter "character") will go through a quest of understanding the table by calling out to the worlds beyond and encountering many new spirit cards. Dark Bargains is now centered around this, though the main objective remains the same; to make occult deals!

New in 1.3 are some features synchronizing the code of the game with the narrative. Certain spirits will warp and distort the music, raising or lowering its speed and pitch. Astral projecting will increase the music's reverb. Many spirit cards will have associated ambient effects, such as ocean waves, windchimes, or thunder.

As always, there may be bugs that I haven't found, as there are nearly infinite situations and save states. However, Apollyon is becoming more and more tried and tested each day.

Coming up next in a couple weeks... 1.4:

• Character Stories - Live as each of the playable characters, and change the character's fate!
  
• Final Art for the last few placeholders
  
• Increased reactivity to player choice
  
• Filled out Past Sacrifice
  
• New category of "elite" spirits that come when you are sufficiently advanced
  

And in the 2.0 release, the final Intention!

Fixed issue with protean card giving the same buff/debuff.
Token hints on the lore page are now color-coordinated.
Test descriptions in the chat box are now color-coordinated.
Illuminator helps find body.
More quest directors to help the player understand when somethings been completed.
Much more logic to help the player unlock their second playable character.
Icon for intention completed!
Physical visibility when in the Twilight - the world was too dark!

6 new spirit cards involving lucid dreaming in the Torfield!

Dinlirys Intention is entirely reworked! 6,000 words and 20 pieces of art were added to it, with 14 spirit cards.

UI updates at public request.

Scattered bugfixes.

Welcome back to Apollyon, practitioners! Apollyon is still in development, much to many a person's surprises! In truth, the pace of development slowed down after EA release, yet here we are again with another 20,000 words of content. However, the focus of this update, 1.2, is not on the story (for the first time ever).

Welcome to the UI update!


Here we have a few new elements, including a simplified button to peek at the table, a new turn progression symbol with animation, and easy-to-read numbers by your statistics. The blips alone were not enough for some new players! There's one more massive change to this screen, however...

Looking at Apollyon's playtime stats, it seems that the average playtime is ~50 minutes, and the primary complaint is that the learning curve really slaps you in the face right away. The tutorial did not do enough, it seems! And so began the Lore page...


Here we have our new escape menu, as well as the lore page open! The new escape menu supports a library of lore, a condensed settings menu, and a new ritual info menu!


Gone are the days of bland off-black rectangles. Now are the days of pretty UI and in-text linking! As shown Limoseht will link through the lore/wiki to the new page!


Themes are also included in the lore page, with a vastly condensed and simplified explanation. This will help new players a great deal. Additionally, a radial UI will not only help to understand what the positions actually DO, but also inform more experienced players of exactly what tests and values the token position changes!

For example, Oliana in the Open and Physical position will change tests with dealmaking, trade, and talking to spirits!

Thank you to those who have been involved in the development and enjoyed the game so far. More is coming, as we get closer and closer to full release! Help Apollyon along by sharing with your friends and spreading the news, and always remember; summoning demons is more fun with friends!

-ApollyonDev