Ascend News

[p]Hi everyone,[/p][p]We wanted to share a quick update with you all. The release date for Ascend has been moved to 30th September. The decision wasn’t easy, but with us working on the game part time, the timeline slipped a little underneath us. We want to make sure every puzzle is thoroughly tested and the most annoying of bugs are squished before you set foot on the mountain.[/p][p][/p][h3]✨ What's Next?[/h3][p]The good news is we’ll be putting out another demo update in early September! This will include a brand new area and puzzle for you to explore and help us test. Your feedback has been invaluable so far, and we’re really excited to give you something new to dive into before launch.[/p][p][/p][h3]✨ What Else?[/h3][p]While we’re here, here's a sneak peek at a few things we’ve been working on:
[/p][p]Gemini Puzzle[/p][p]Aurora enters an iced chamber where she must push ice blocks and statues into place. Each move has to be carefully thought out, as the chamber itself reflects her actions, capturing the balance and duality of the twins. Yes, it's a push block puzzle, but who doesn't love these, and it's with a twist![/p][p][/p][p]Virgo Puzzle[/p][p]A meditative star path woven into the earth itself. Players must recall constellations and step carefully on musical platforms. It’s a slower, reflective challenge, inviting patience and precision and memory![/p][p][/p][p]Shrines[/p][p]The shrines scattered across the mountain continue to evolve, guiding Aurora’s journey. The water level in particular has been a big focus; its tides rise and fall depending on time of day, leading to puzzles full of hidden paths, shifting bridges, and a stormy intensity.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We’re truly sorry to delay things a little, but we hope you’ll understand why we chose to delay. Ascend is a special project for us, and we want to make sure it feels just as magical for you when you play it.[/p][p]Thank you for your patience and continued support, it really means the world. 💜[/p][p][/p][p]Nareice[/p]

[p]Hey everyone,[/p][p]It's Nareice here from the Miami Avalon team!

First off, a massive thank you to everyone who played Ascend during Steam Next Fest. Your support, kind words, and feedback meant the world to us. We’ve been going through all your comments and bugs you've been posting, suggestions, and we're doing our best to prioritise what we can fix while continuing to work on the full game coming this August!![/p][p]As a fully unfunded, micro indie studio working on Ascend in our spare time, your encouragement is what keeps us going. We can’t patch everything all at once (though we wish we could, honestly!), but with each update, we’re aiming to make the game more polished and the experience we set out for Ascend to be.[/p][p]Update 1.4 includes improvements to the Leo and Sagittarius puzzles, controller fixes (though we're working towards full controller support), and a whole bunch of animation and sound design polish that makes the mountain feel more alive than ever.

[/p][p]Here’s what’s new:[/p][p][/p][h3]Leo[/h3]

• [p]You couldn’t move the camera when holding the Leo mirror. This is now fixed.[/p]
• [p]Spark didn’t appear anymore on the telescope, indicating it’s broken.[/p]
• [p]The Twilight interaction cutscene was adjusted slightly.[/p]
• [p]Updated the Twilight setting to UP on the controller.[/p]
• [p]The telescope had no interaction.[/p]
• [p]Mirror rotation continued to play if left and right are spammed. This should now be fixed.[/p]
• [p]Implemented the Leo puzzle, and all sounds are now completed.[/p]
• [p]Shortened the time between mirror hit sounds.
  [/p]

[h3]Sagittarius[/h3]

• [p]Candle lamps in the library posed an immersion issue. The candles have been moved away from the books![/p]
• [p]You drift left when using the controller on the blue bookcase. This shouldn’t happen anymore.
  Interacting with the Sagittarius Bow has been corrected.[/p]

• [p]Added floating dialogue when near Sagittarius bookcase, which are riddles connecting to the books you should place.
  [/p]

[h3]General[/h3]

• [p]End-of-demo menu was broken.[/p]
• [p]On the demo end screen, none of the options on the UI could be pressed.[/p]
• [p]Added an interaction on the crystal for the Leo puzzle hint.[/p]
• [p]Added player footsteps to animations.[/p]
• [p]You couldn’t move the tarot cards with the left analogue stick.[/p]
• [p]Aurora's eyes needed some adjusting. Our girl was looking at the sky all the time!
  Cleaned up the level so the mountain came back into view in the background.[/p]
• [p]Switched the close button to the B button on the controller.[/p]
• [p]You can't rotate objects with the controller's left analogue stick.[/p]
• [p]The controller is uneasy to control when moving the mirrors[/p]
• [p]No controller support for NPC interaction. Now fixed.[/p]
• [p]You have to press the left face button to interact with the NPCs.[/p]
• [p]The icon for top face changed to Xbox controller.[/p]
• [p]Quest UI now doesn’t show up in the cutscenes[/p]
• [p]Updated footstep system.[/p]
• [p]Added cloth foley sounds to animations[/p]
• [p]Added hover/unhover to inventory UI.[/p]
• [p]Stopped Tarot Card Hint sound being triggered.[/p]
• [p]Quest bar and book updates.[/p]
• [p]An update to the final animations.[/p]
• [p]Jump is less floaty.[/p]
• [p]Idle adjusted on animations.[/p]
• [p]We've added Credits! Thank you to everyone who worked on Ascend so far!

[p][/p][p][/p][p]That’s everything for this update! We'll land one more big demo update before the full release or any hotfixes as needed. Thank you again for climbing with us and being part of this journey!!
It means more than we can say. [/p][p]If you come across any issues, feel free to reach out via the Steam boards. We're working on having Discord up and running soon. We're always listening. [/p]

We're back with another exciting update! Our demo is now not only looking better but also sounding delightful too (new Yak sounds anyone??) 🦬

Go try out the improvements to our puzzles and explore the library! 🌠



[h2]General[/h2]

• Performance increase and memory leaks update. Now less memory leaks overall.
  
• New Timer turner UI added, now pulses and gives a visual indicator that time has passed.
  
• Added a new dialogue box.
  
• Updated run and jumping animations. Less float, more joy!
  
• Quest UI uses controller to move between tabs now.
  

[h2]Leo Puzzle[/h2]

• Hints are added when the Twilight crystal is not touched.
  
• Dusk tutorial hint added to encourage players to enter dusk.
  
• Twilight crystal has new VFX to entice the player to interact with it.
  
• Updated working on the notifications for the Twilight crystal and Sagittarius book puzzle.
  
• Updated the scrolls and book to give better hints for the puzzles.
  
• Fixed light source messaging not triggering when Solariseye is added.
  

[h2]Sagittarius Puzzle[/h2]

• Interaction on object improvements for the library puzzle.
  
• Lighting pass indoors (Castle).
  
• New name for the library.
  
• New object names.
  
• New Atherbolt Library assets placed.
  
• No more placeholder assets, all removed.
  
• Sagittarius castle cinematic adjusted to include more hints for the puzzle.
  
• New Sagittarius castle hidden room added.
  
• Sagittarius Bow puzzle hint in the hidden room of the Atherbolt Library.
  
• Fixed the empty book not getting replaced in the Sagittarius puzzle.
  

[h2]Audio[/h2]

• Implemented Book Place + Pickup, and Bow Place.
  
• Implemented sound for bookcase movement.
  
• Added sound when glass is added to a light source.
  
• Leo puzzle: completed laser and mirror hit implementation.
  
• Tarot Aura card now makes a mystical sound effect ✨
  
• Castle reverb added.
  
• New Yak sounds!!!
  
• New Fox Monkey Sounds.
  
• Updated Aurora footsteps.
  
• Various Audio bugfixes.
  

We're so excited for you to see what we've got planned - onwards adventurers!

Let us know any feedback via the Steam Community Hub, Bluesky, Instagram, X or our Discord server (currently under renovations)

We’re thrilled to announce that Ascend will be featured in the Women-Led Games Showcase - Summer Game Fest Edition!

This showcase is a celebration of games led by women across the industry, and we’re honoured to be part of it. Tune in on June 7th at 10AM PT to catch an exclusive look at Ascend alongside a stunning line-up of games from women-led teams.

💫 Watch the full showcase here:
https://www.youtube.com/@Women-LedGames

Being a part of this community means so much to us. Ascend is a deeply personal project, and to share space with other women-led studios doing meaningful, emotional, and powerful work is honestly amazing.

We hope you’ll join us for the showcase, discover new favourites, and celebrate the incredible women shaping the future of games. Your support means the world 💜

Showcase Date: June 7th, 10AM PT / 1PM ET / UTC -7
Where to watch:

• WLGTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/womenledgames
  
• WLG Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Women-LedGames
  

You will also find our showcases on The Game Awards, IGN, and GameSpot YouTube channels

See you in the showcase!
- Nareice

We've got some incredibly exciting things brewing over at Team Miami Avalon which we can't wait to share with you! But in the meantime, we've added some magical touches to our demo - check them out ✨

Your quest is as follows... Try out our new and improved demo, give us feedback and continue being lovely humans! 🌠



[h2]Fixes and changes[/h2]

• Performance update in the castle.
  The castle should now not cause framerate drops within the castle. We moved overlapping lights and adjusted postprocessing effects.
  
• New lighting in the castle during the evening and daytime.
  
• The Sagittarius puzzle is now complete! You can finally complete the Sagittarius puzzle with quest objectives and a true ending to the demo.
  
• Updated cutscenes within the castle.
  
• New dialogue added within the castle. Now you’ll be as confused as Aurora about what’s going on!
  
• The time turner number bug during the tutorial. This is now corrected, so you’ll know what to press now.
  
• New Night Sky - Now with an update on the Aurora, and at nighttime it now rains. We did this to help make big variations between the time of day, so it’s more visual.
  
• Crystals now have a better visual representation of what they mean.
  
• UI has now been updated for the Main menu and Pause Menu.
  
• Time turner has better notifications when using it.
  

Now go on, explore!

Let us know any feedback via the Steam Community Hub, Bluesky, Instagram, X or our Discord server (currently under renovations)