Star Rift Saga News

It's been another month, and while a generally like to write these things up at the start of every month, things have been... busy.

Star Rift Saga was invited to show the game on the floor of the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, where attendees were able to play the current build of the game. Much of my recent focus has been on getting things ready for that.

On top of that, visual assets have been done for the colony, so we'll take a look at that.

[h2]The Colony[/h2]

The colony has been completely visually reworked. Since this is an important place that you come back to often, it was important that it presents well. Here's a quick look at a run through the colony.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Those neon signs seen here are for each of the different services offered. They'll light up and the shop will open as you rescue people from their rifts, so the colony starts to feel more alive as you progress through the game.

[h2]Recap of the Portland Retro Gaming Expo[/h2]

SRS was selected to participate in the PIG Squad booth at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo alongside other games. Attendees were able to play the current version of the game, though there tended to be enough time to only get through the opening sections of the game.

I got great feedback from this event. The movement and art was praised

Looking back, it would have been best to section off several slices of the game and make those the expo version. Star Rift Saga is a bit of a long-form game that doesn't present well in small bursts at a large venue, so it would be great to have specific sections be playable. The eventual demo version that will be released publicly before the full release will likely be up to the first boss battle, though I'm tempted to make it a few vertical slices instead. Will have to see.

There was a great deal of variety in the games presented at the expo, so you can check out the games made by my booth neighbors below.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2484580/Mushroom_Musume/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2592940/Cosmic_PANIC/
Bears of Blight on itch.io

That's it for now, see you next month!

Things keep on rolling forward. I took new screenshots for the main Steam page using the new art (as in, not done by me but by actual artists!) so check that out if you haven’t seen that. I’ll be trying to commit to new screenshots regularly there as things are updated. Gone are the days of temporary programmer art prominently featured on the main page.

This month I’d like to highlight a system in Star Rift Saga that allows you to customize your playstyle as you level up- the skill grid.



The skill grid is one of the main progression systems in the game.



This is the skill grid. You can open it by talking to the weaponsmith in town as well as at every teleport room.

The skill grid allows you to equip skill chips. You can find those by defeating enemies as well as throughout the world. While many of them are random drops in different rarities, there are some that you can find at specific places.

Each skill chip provides some benefit to your build. It could be healing by doing damage, increased power in certain circumstances, additional abilities, and more.



The sticky bomb skill chip gives you a sticky bomb that you can stick on enemies by dashing through them. Other chips will enhance the bombs or give you one more often.



Plasma Overheat increases your power while your plasma blaster is overheated, letting your other weapons do more damage. Larger amounts of ammo means you’ll be overheated longer, which actually becomes a benefit with this chip.



Every time you defeat an enemy they’ll drop stardust. Collect enough stardust and your skill level will increase, giving you another tile to work with on the skill grid.

This means that instead of just getting bonus stats when you level up, you'll get more options for how you build your character.



While you’ll start with very little space and few options for chips, you’ll very quickly amass a large collection.





Here’s the next soundtrack preview, “Tools of the Trade.” This is the song that plays while customizing your skill chip loadout.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



I’ve been working on a lot of stuff that’s for late game, like the holosseum where you’ll be able to battle bosses for prizes. Things keep coming together, and I hope to be able to update you on a release date before too much longer. Thanks for reading and following along!

Had a moment this month where I was just taken aback by how far things have come recently. Things are moving along, but there’s still a long way to go. Art is getting more and more final on some areas, so we’ll be taking a look at the first major zone of the game.

I also did a full HUD rework, so we’re going to take a look at those things.



The Valley is the first main area you’ll explore. It’s a relatively peaceful area, so while there are enemies to fight and even a boss battle, it’s mostly a place you’ll pass through on your way to other places. It’s located in the center of the map, so it’s connected to every other major zone.



See those mushrooms? They’re bouncy. You can use them to reach higher areas. You can even mix them with other techniques to go even higher and farther.



There are caves you’ll travel through as you move from place to place. There are some branches in this particular cave, and even a few secrets you can get pretty early if you know how to use your abilities well.

In fact, that was one of the core goals of this part of the game. While this first trip through the valley is mostly linear, you’ll be introduced to lots of branches and shortcuts that you can’t explore yet, but will be able to explore when you’ve increased your abilities. Some of them are pretty obvious, while others you might pass by without even noticing.



These trees make for great platforms in the more vertical areas of the valley. This particular room is actually home to one of my favorite hidden collectibles in terms of how it’s hidden, I'm very excited for you to find it when the game is ready.



Those previous screenshots showed off a bit of the new HUD, but let’s take a closer look. Note that this is still somewhat of a work in progress, but a lot of work has been done on it recently and it’s a far cry from its earlier look.



Pictured is the health bar, armor, weapons, ammo, attack modifiers, jet fuel gauge, and dash gauge.

There are a few other things besides these that can show up on the HUD from time to time. I’ll be going into each of these in the coming months.

If it seems like a lot of things to keep track of, don’t worry. They’re introduced gradually over the course of the game.

Things are moving along. I’m hoping to be able to set a time when you can play the game before too long. However, please recognize that while I’m trying my best to get the game into your hands as soon as possible, I’m also hesitant to promise a release date until it’s ready and I know I can meet that deadline, so stay tuned.

This month the soundtrack for the colony was finished and implemented, so I figured it’d be a great time to take a look at the colony itself, the hub for your adventure.

I wish I could say that things have been moving fast, but that’s just not how game development works. There was a lot of behind the scenes stuff and little things that will have a large impact, like economy and balance changes.

The big change is that I got rid of save points entirely. They’re all gone, no more saving. Instead, the game now autosaves every time you change rooms. It’s a small thing, but not having to stop the game to save makes a big difference. Plus it makes things easier for me to test and fix as I play through the game. Surprisingly little broke when I made this change, but there are always a few weird fringe cases you have to account for.

As we approach the polishing stage, I’m slowly phasing out my (not great) art for higher quality stuff. Hence, there’s a mix of old and new art here, especially with regards to the characters and some of the objects seen here. Things will gradually start changing to better art, but for now there’s a mix that you’ll notice.



You’re not alone on this planet. A group of people were sent here to investigate the rifts a while ago. They’ll help you out on your journey.



You can stop by the item shop to buy and sell items. Selling things to the shop will add it to the supply so you can buy more. Plus you’ll get a few other goodies by filling up their stock, so try to collect them all.



The weaponsmith will let you customize your playstyle by equipping skill chips. Gathering stardust will let you equip more of them. How many are there to find?



You can also exchange skill coins that you get when you find a duplicate chip for chips of various rarities. When you do this you’ll also get a selection of chips that you can choose from instead of just getting one at random.



Unfortunately, most of the colonists have since been lost in various small rifts across the planet. Close the rifts and you’ll free the colonist inside.



Rescuing people will send them back to the colony, where they’ll each offer unique services for you.



Around the planet you’ll find translocator rooms. These can take you to and from the colony, so you’re never too far from home base.


Here’s a preview of the soundtrack for the colony. I really like this one, it just has a sort of homey feel to it.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

That’s all for this month. It’s been very exciting to approach the polish stage, but there’s still a fair amount to do. Expect to see a lot of visual changes in the coming months.

It’s time for the June developer update for Star Rift Saga! This month we’ll take a look at some of the collectables you’ll find throughout your journey as well as have another preview of the soundtrack.

This past month has been both exciting and slow. While there’s not a lot of huge improvements to show right at this moment, I feel like things are at the top of the roller coaster, ready for that big drop and speed. In coming months there should be a lot more to share as things move along in the polish pipeline.

One thing that did see a lot of polish this month was the character art. The playable character is now in a nearly final state, so that will be shown as we move forward. At some point soon the screenshots on the Steam page will see an update, especially as environments get some polish.





The dash module is one of the first upgrades you’ll find. It lets you do a short dash or backdash. You’re almost totally invincible during the dash. Go through hazards? Yep. Enemies? Sure. It’s also very very fast.



You can also use a backdash to quickly reposition. You won’t fall while dashing, so you can clear small gaps.



You’ll have to wait for the green meter in the top left corner of the screen to fill up before you can dash again. There are some skill chips that change how quickly the dash meter fills up.



There’s some cool movement tech here too. If you’re on the ground you can cancel the dash with a short jump. You’ll give up the invincibility in exchange for some speed. This bonus momentum will keep up as long as you stay in the air, so you can keep jumping to keep the speed up. Your dash gauge also will have a slight delay before it starts filling if you do this, but you can chain dashes, jumps, and other moves to speed through areas.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Here's all of the clips in one video without that all that crunchy GIFy quality.

Pulling back the curtain a bit, the dash was originally a roll and the backdash was a backflip. However, that was both a lot of animation and significantly slower to execute. The change to a dash enabled faster gameplay, especially when engaged in combat. This is especially true when using the backdash to quickly reposition.



The colony you’ll frequently visit and start your journey from sits within a lush valley. As such, the valley is one of the first places you’ll explore. It mostly serves as a path to the other areas, and it is connected to every other major zone. This area is represented in the capsule image for the Steam page. Here’s a preview of the soundtrack for that area.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



It’s been very exciting to see things start to come together. It’s moving forward, and with any luck you’ll start seeing that polish in these updates very soon.

Don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam, and follow along on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Excited for what’s next!