Soul Stalker News

Hi everyone!

I've been showing off some of the progress we've been making recently on the hub update... And I'm glad to announce that you can play all of this RIGHT NOW on the beta branch!

If you're not sure how to access the beta branch but want to play right now, you can do the following:

1. Right click on the game in your Steam library.
   
2. Open Properties.
   
3. Click on Betas.
   
4. Select the "testing" branch.
   
5. That's it! There should be no code required or anything to access it. If you want to switch to the base version of the game, do the same thing again but select "default branch" as your selected branch.
   

Once we're sure that this update is bug free, we'll put it up on the main branch so everyone will be able to play it without needing to adjust their properties!

Also, I just posted a new devlog going over what we've been doing at the studio for the past 6 months (both for Soul Stalker and other games) so watch it below if it sounds interesting to you!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Either way, here are the patch notes, it's a huge one:

• Added the hub world - no longer do you click on menu elements, you can now interact with them in 3D space!
  
• Added a new weapon evolution system - the old weapon upgrade system can still be accessed in the weapon shop, but now you can apply unique 1 time evolutions to weapons at campfires!
  
• Added the job system - the overworld has a job board that shows 3 randomized runs. These have randomized characters, trinkets, weapons, and locations. Beat these to progress the new gate quest system. They are 1 act long, but the map generation goes longer than usual so in practice they're as long as 1.5 acts.
  
• Added many more encounters to regular runs thanks to the extra work we did on job runs.
  
• Added gate quests - the overworld has gates that block chest rewards. Complete the quests and get access to them!
  
• Added a location system - jobs now have "locations". For instance, you may have a job in Routoxin, so all of the enemies and environments match the poison theme. Another example is Terrisnory, where the enemies and environments match the icy theme. The Journeys (new name for "normal runs") will still have a combination of varied locations. There are currently 7 unique locations, and a total of 16 combat environments (up from the 10 that we had before the update)!
  
• Added NPCs! You can talk with them in the overworld and they'll give you tips or lore.
  
• Added a "Mixed Shop" node in the map, which shows you both weapons and trinkets.
  
• Reduced the game's RAM usage by as much as 90% at times (this one was insane, I might make a video for how it went down on my YouTube channel).
  
• Reduced the space that textures take by ~70%, this is why the game is 30% smaller in file size but has ~5x more content and assets. Without the texture reduction, the game likely would've been around 3gb instead of the current 700mb.
  
• Improved GPU performance through texture optimization.
  
• Added a new character, Gobble - Looking for someone who still owes her some money. Multihits triggered by blue fire can also multihit.
  
• Added a new status effect - blue fire. You can double hit enemies by attacking them with a melee attack if they have the blue fire status.
  
• Added the Red Fursa enemy - a red panda that has incredibly long dash range.
  
• Added the White Fursa enemy - a red panda that has incredibly long dash range.
  
• Added the red, green, and white Leaja enemies - ghost leaves that have high health, and try to cut off escape routes.
  
• Added a new weapon, Directblade - Slashes enemies in your movement direction, and applies blue fire, which allows melee attacks to multihit.
  
• Added a new weapon, Backguarder - Slashes enemies behind you to protect you.
  
• Added a new weapon, Prime Fire - Shoots a blast at nearby enemies that applies blue fire, which allows melee attacks to multihit.
  
• Added a new trinket, Animal Skull - Using melee attacks on enemies with bleed triggers multihit like blue fire half the time.
  
• Added a new trinket, Blue Staff - Increases blue fire chance on attack by 15%, but reduces power by -10%.
  
• Added a new trinket, Multithermal Hole - Blue fire deals damage every second.
  
• Added a new trinket, Hot Rock - Increases blue fire duration by 0.5s.
  
• Added variants of each playable character sprite without the white outline for the overworld.
  
• Forge's quest now allows you to progressing by evolving weapons as well.
  
• Made it such that Quijano has stat scaling for secondary stats, and is now only restricted in scaling for primary stats.
  
• Removed the blinding white glow after you complete a run.
  
• Slightly adjusted map generation to make some choices more interesting.
  
• Fixed a bug that made it such that hovering over a trinket image in runs sometimes showed untranslated descriptions.
  
• Fixed some localization bugs in menus that caused translated text not to show.
  
• Fixed bug that caused coins to sometimes give 0 currency in the highest ascension.
  
• Fixed bug that caused coins to sometimes fly into the air and remain uncollectable.
  

Oof that was a big one! I won't go in depth about all the design decisions that went into making this update, but once it's bug-free and on the main branch, I'll post a YouTube devlog going through all of the details so I hope you can enjoy that!

One last thing is that you can get a bundle of both Soul Stalker and our other game, Wanted Shadows, for a super nice discount! If you own Soul Stalker, you can get Wanted Shadows for a discount just like that, no catch! So get that in the link below if it interests you!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/36217/Rad_Roguelikes/

Anyways, that's it for this update, I look forwards to getting your feedback, and I hope you all enjoy this new version of the game!

P.S. A review would be greatly appreciated, it helps so much :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1714240/Soul_Stalker/

- Conrad, Lead Developer

Hi everyone!

Just posted a new devlog covering the updates that are coming to the game soon, watch it here:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Also! The Steam award event season is on, so if you've been enjoying Soul Stalker, make sure to nominate us for what you think best fits :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1714240/Soul_Stalker/

That's it for this post, and I can't wait to release this update soon!

- Conrad, Lead Developer

Hi everyone!

It's been about 2 weeks since the last update so it's about time I announced what we've been working on! The video below should do lots of talking...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
As you can see, we've removed the main menu from the game and replaced it with a hub! That's far from the only thing that's different, but I'll start explaining what this huge change means for how the game works.

Firstly, instead of going to the main menu whenever you start the game or finish a run, you go to the hub. Then, you interact with the "Journey Globe", select your ascension difficulty, and then you start the run as always.

You may be asking yourself how you choose your trinkets, weapons, and characters? Well, next to the globe there are two posts that you can interact with that allow you to equip and buy trinkets and weapons! There's also a character post that allows you to see the character quests, as well as change your current character.



You might have also noticed some ghosts and the playable characters around the hub, these will give you tips, lore insight, and just generally funny quips! It should make the world of Soul Stalker feel much more fleshed out.



Finally, there's the new "Jobs" system that not only allows you to have more variety of runs, but it also ties in with a new progression system! How the Jobs work is that they are presented to you at the job board, and instead of choosing your character, weapon, and trinket, you get a randomized combination. The best thing about this system is that these are all themed to a specific style, an example to illustrate this is that you might get a desert job where all the environments are deserty and the enemies are cactuses and hyenas!

If you'd prefer to stick to normal runs however, you will still be able to play the game as before without touching jobs at all!



Regarding the progression system attached to the jobs, I will leave this unnanounced for now but it should give you all more incentive to play beyond just climbing ascensions!

Also, we recently released a new roguelike called Wanted Shadows! In short, it's a Bullet Heaven just like Soul Stalker, but it takes the action to the max. You aim your attacks, click to shoot, have a dodge with stamina management, and more!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2491670/Wanted_Shadows

Both Soul Stalker and Wanted Shadows are part of the Steam Bullet Heaven fest, so not only are they both discounted, but if you get them together the discount is even more extreme! Also, if you own one or the other, you still get the discount on the game you don't have :)

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/36217/Rad_Roguelikes/

Anyways, that's it for this update, and as always, I would really appreciate it if you left a review! It's the best way to support the game!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1714240/Soul_Stalker/

Hi everyone!

I'm happy to announce that Soul Stalker is part of the Bullet Heaven Fest! This means it's getting featured with tons of other cool games for the genre.

But... There's another bonus!

In case you didn't know, we've also developed another Bullet Heaven Roguelike called Wanted Shadows. If you already own Soul Stalker, you can get the game at a further discount with the link below!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/36217/Rad_Roguelikes/

Also, if you just want to get the game without getting Soul Stalker, you can just use the link below!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2491670/Wanted_Shadows/

Anyways, that's it for this update, and I'll post soon regarding future patches! If you're enjoying the game, a review would also be greatly appreciated :)

- Conrad, Lead Developer

Hi everyone!

It's been about a week since the last mega update, and I wanted to make this post to see where all of you feel the game is at! I have a few questions right off the bat:

How do you feel about the new metaprogression? Do you feel that it significantly improves the game, or would you prefer for there to be even more? If you do want more, what kind of metaprogression do you think the game would benefit from?

What new archetypes would you like the game to have? Right now, we're adding different status effects to broaden the games possibility space. What other things would you like us to add to increase the game's synergies?

We're considering adding events. If we do add them (not confirmed that we will yet), what would you like them to be like?

Those are my questions for now, but I thought I'd show you some of the stuff we've been working on! Firstly, we're continuing work on the third and final act, but aren't able to show anything yet. However, we're showing the next character that will be introduced in the next patch, Gobble!



They're a character designed by one of our Kickstarter backers, and I'm so excited to show you all how they play!

Beyond these two future additions, we're working on adding new node types and will show them once they're more well defined, but more news should be coming soon!

One last thing I wanted to mention is that I would supper appreciate it if you reviewed the game, as it helps out so so much. As well, 5 days ago we released another roguelike called Wanted Shadows and you can get it for just $1.34 on launch discount! If you already own Soul Stalker, it costs even less, so go get it in the link below!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2491670/Wanted_Shadows/

Anyways, that's it for this update, and I'm excited to share more progress with you soon :)

- Conrad, Lead Developer