Aloft News

Ahoy, Sky Sailors!

A couple months ago, we announced that Aloft would be entering Early Access in the Fall of 2024. Following many discussions and much consideration, we have decided to move the game’s Early Access release to January 2025.

We realize this may be disappointing news to many of you, and that’s why we want to assure you that this decision was not made lightly.

We’re very happy with the game’s progress at this stage, but there is a certain amount of extra polish, detail, and fine-tuning that we would love to complete before truly raising the anchor. While we are launching in Early Access, we're committed to delivering a level of quality that surpasses all our previous updates. We want you to be blown away by your very first leap into the skies of Aloft – so this extra time will be of utmost importance for the betterment of the game, and ultimately, the player experience.

The community’s response to our demo updates has been incredibly positive and motivating for the entire dev team. We cannot thank you enough for your patience and continued support throughout this journey.

As always, you can follow Aloft’s development progress on our Community Discord, where we share important announcements, updates, behind the scene content, and more.

We’re looking forward to announcing the exact Early Access release date as soon as possible!

Dear Sky Sailors,

Aloft has just recently reached 300K wishlists on Steam! 🥳

As we tie down the last few sails, we thank you for your continuous support. More news coming soon! ⛅️

Out with the old and in with the new: say goodbye to stamina and hello to momentum! Why the change? Through extensive internal reviews and valuable community feedback, we found that stamina often felt restrictive and counterintuitive to our feel-good vision for the game. Thus, momentum has replaced stamina, focusing on rewarding positive actions with a high-risk, high-reward approach. This change promises a more dynamic and enjoyable gameplay experience, while still providing a resource management aspect to the system.


‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
Momentum is a new system, taking the form of a resource that you can accumulate and spend for powerful effects. Performing exciting actions will build your momentum, while other actions will cause you to spend or deplete it.

Momentum is displayed through a momentum meter currently below your health bar. By default, the player has three momentum charges and can build up to five charges. The maximum amount of charges you can hold is influenced by various factors, including the food your character consumes, the gear they wear, and the conditions affecting them.

The player may use momentum in various ways, but spending momentum typically requires consuming one full charge. Incomplete (semi-full) charges deplete during inactivity.

Momentum can be easily charged through tool-based resource gathering: using the pickaxe on large stones, the axe on trees and burnt stumps, as well as the sickle on wild plants.



While gliding, momentum can be obtained in different ways:

• Regular gliding charges momentum slowly.
  
• Gliding into an updraft charges momentum quickly.
  
• Gliding close to an island also charges momentum quickly, depending on how close the player is to the ground.

Glider boosts now consume momentum. After the first free boost, every subsequent boost requires spending a full momentum charge. The first free boost becomes available again after a cooldown period.



While in combat, momentum can be obtained in the following ways:

• Successfully blocking and striking an enemy charges momentum.
  
• Successfully striking an enemy with a charged attack and/or combo finale charges momentum.
  
• Getting hit by an enemy or the node charges momentum (like an adrenaline rush!).
  
• Destroying corruption flora (purple and orange mushrooms) charges momentum.
  
• Attacking the node’s weak points and inner fruit charges momentum.

Full momentum charges are spent to perform combat manoeuvres. Performing a charged attack (leap or upslash) or a ground pound will consume a momentum charge and the attack will be enhanced.

Momentum charges can also be used to automatically heal yourself (by gradually consuming charges) while sitting or laying down, which is useful after a challenging battle.



The following conditions grant or remove momentum charges:

• Enthusiastic
  • Restoring an island’s ecosystem provides the Enthusiastic condition, which grants an extra momentum charge.

• Wet
  • Exposure to rain or wading through ponds causes the Wet condition, which removes one momentum charge.

• Hydrated
  • Drinking water, or consuming any liquid-based meal (such as a soup or smoothie) produces the Hydrated condition, which grants an extra momentum charge.

The following systems are not implemented yet, but are planned for the future:

• Repairing Sails
  • Sailing through environmental hazards (such as storms or jetstreams) may damage your skyship’s sails; repairing them will charge momentum.

• Gliding with Birds
  • Gliding alongside birds flying in the sky will charge momentum.

• New Conditions
  • Zippy: Drinking Coffee produces the Zippy Condition which will grant you an extra momentum charge.
  • Exhausted: Gliding too far from a cluster, falling to the void, total health depletion, and environmental hazards (such as fainting from a heat wave or being struck by lightning) will produce the Exhausted condition, which removes a momentum charge.

Lastly, here is a sneak peek at the new UI planned for momentum, situated in the HUD. The momentum meter is located below your conditions, so you can quickly identify which conditions may be affecting your charges. Additionally, the reticle will conveniently change in appearance from white to yellow when there are momentum charges available for use.


That’s all, for now! We hope this was helpful in understanding the change and how the momentum system works. Please keep in mind that this system is still new and may be subject to change during the polishing and balancing phase, and as development progresses to incorporate additional gameplay features. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the new system and its UI – your feedback is crucial as we refine it further!

Questions? Comments? Just wanna say hi? Join our Community Discord below!

Ahoy, Sky Sailors!

We’re absolutely thrilled to reveal our new trailer, premiered at the Into the Infinite Gamescom showcase! This trailer aims to neatly present all the game’s main features and immediately convey the vibe of your journey through the clouds. For anyone new to the game, it also serves as a great introduction. ⛅

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The Early Access reveal in Fall is only a whisper away! 🍂 Early Access will be a new journey where we will work even closer with all of you to build Aloft into something truly magical!