Altered Alma News

Hey there, awesome gang:

Hope you're all kicking off the year in high spirits! The journey from the year's start till now has been a whirlwind for us. We reached 1800+ followers on our Kickstarter campaign; THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Your support has been amazing, and we are happy to announce we are close to launching it — the reveal of tiers, rewards and all the cool stuff is coming soon!!

Follow us on Kickstarter if you haven’t already to stay informed when we do so.



We also hope all of you also had an amazing and rocking year so far. We have more updates and exciting news for you. Let’s get started!!

We are heading to Malmö, baby!!

We’re super excited to assist the Nordic Game 2024, and guess what? We’re not showing up empty-handed – we’ve got a playable DEMO in tow. That’s right!! From May 21st to the 24th, join us if you happen to be there as we hit the streets of Neo-Barcelona and let us know what you think.



The event will take place in Malmö, Sweden at the Slagthuset complex (Booth DSS-25), we are excited to see you there and hear you about what you think about Altered Alma, we will be waiting for you.

We made lots of changes and improvements from the feedback we received from past events and Q&A Sessions. Your words are never lost in the wind, and we take them into account for future updates.

Speaking of improvements:



Jack’s new hacking skills brought new combos and attack options to the table, and now they include Status effects. You have many ways to attack and defend yourself in the dangerous alleys of Neo Barcelona, and while we don’t want to spoil future surprises, we can tell you that status effects will be a part of the special attacks and skills we’ll reveal in the future.



Jack’s bombs don’t only deal explosive damage – now they can leave a lasting Pyro status effect on the environment and nearby enemies that burns and damages enemies that come in contact with the flames.

And if grenades are not an option because of the close distance? Wear a temporary flaming shield that protects Jack and burns enemies that get a little too close. Warm and cozy.



You can also use attacks with a Cryo status to freeze enemies in place; whether it’s a cryo bomb or a freezing 360-degree explosion around Jack, they will give you some chill time to plan your next movement.



And sometimes you don't have to keep your feet on the ground, climbing and jumping are great options for getting around, this way you'll have a better ability to explore all the corners of the city and have the High Ground against your opponents.Walls are not only to stop bullets, they are also a great way of moving around.

[h3]Dev Update: May Progress[/h3]
A huge shoutout to everyone who’s been hanging on the last events and our Discord Q&A sessions. Your input has been invaluable, helping us fine-tune the game to make it even better. We’ve been writing down notes like crazy during these events, and we can’t wait to put them to good use as we polish up the final game.

And a special thanks to all the brave souls who’ve already taken Neo-Barcelona for a spin and shared their honest thoughts with us in the previous events– you rock!

• The Ramblas Area is now complete and ready to explore.
  
• The Romance System is now running. Make the right choices and you may have a partner for the next Valentine’s day.
  
• We also polished Jack's character controller in order to have a more precise movement control over the character.
  
• The Killshifts, those sweet executions Jackelyne can perform are now easier to make, and easier to enjoy.
  
• Implemented new animations for enemies, NPC's and combat
  

And that’s all for now, guys! Stay tuned for updates! And that’s all for now! For all questions you may have, we encourage you to join our next Q&A session on Discord — the date is still to be determined, but our public form is now open to everyone.

See you in our next entry,
2Awesome Studio & Critical Reflex

Good morning, gang!

WE WILL BE ON KICKSTARTER

Are you interested in contributing to the growth of Altered Alma and maximizing its potential as a project? You can!



In the upcoming year, we are starting a Kickstarter campaign to propel Altered Alma to new heights, and our pre-launch campaign page is now live.

With this campaign, our aim is to broaden the game's horizons, introduce more features, and sculpt a Neo-Barcelona experience that lingers in players' memories! Plus, brace yourself for spectacular rewards, both in digital and physical forms, of course!

Be sure to click the follow button on the Kickstarter page to stay updated and not miss the launch next year. It helps a lot!



Now it’s time for another monthly dev log — this time we’re starting a series of devlogs, covering the most notorious criminals of Altered Alma.

Being the city of opportunities, Neo-Barcelona attracts all sorts of individuals. And since there are not enough legal opportunities for everyone, some decide to take matters into their own hands — turning to organized crime.

Crusaders, Harlequins, Shallari, La Familia and Vynefolk — these are the names you should remember when visiting Neo-Barcelona. It’s them who actually control the city, manipulating the officials from the shadows.

After years of bloody gang wars, each group now controls their own part of the city. And while most of them try to uphold the “official” truce, some never accept the terms and always look to stab others in the back.



Today we’ll talk about the Crusaders — the self-proclaimed modern knights. Their ranks consist of highly disciplined cyborgs, who value honor (even if it’s street honor), order and tradition. Yes, despite being cyborgs, they don’t just blindly worship chrome and steel, but also try to preserve the centuries of rich culture found in Neo-Barcelona.

Under the leadership of Megaduke Synthetico, they primarily engage in mercenary activities. Given the considerable cost of hiring mercenaries, the Crusaders find themselves undertaking assignments exclusively for affluent clients or those who have amassed sufficient resources to enlist their services.



Working for the rich also helps forge relationships with the most influential people of Neo-Barcelona. And In a city where power and influence mean everything, you’d be a fool to miss such an opportunity. This, combined with the Crusaders’ cyber-enhanced strength and good subordination, makes them one of the most respected gangs in the city. Which is why Jackelyne once was a member of this organization.

Would you give up a part of your humanity to become a modern knight? Hop on our Discord server and let us know your choice!



[h3]DEVELOPMENT UPDATE: NOVEMBER[/h3]

• Metro area is now complete
  
• Designed new bosses and mini bosses rooms
  
• Worked on new mission cutscenes
  
• Made a lot of improvements in the platform perspective, props and decorations for a better playing experience
  
• Implemented new animations for enemies, NPC's and combat
  
• Improvements on the UI
  

This past month has also been pivotal in refining the overarching narrative and design, with new concepts and ideas being brought to the table and meticulously documented.

And that's all for today!

Have a great day,
2Awesome Studio & Critical Reflex

Welcome back, dear gang!

Not long ago, we came across one of these popular timelapse videos that show the look of a place over the years. It made us think about Neo-Barcelona, and how much it has changed since its first appearance in Aeon Drive. Of course, we refer to both the artistic and game design vision. As we have evolved over the years as developers, so has the world in which Jackelyne's story unfolds — plus, it's important to remark that they’re not the same city, so each version has its peculiarities.

Leaving this detail aside, there are many interesting aspects to talk about. The first and most important is the role of the city in each adventure, as it has become a protagonist of the series in its own right.

While in Aeon Drive the city was a mere witness to the adventures of Jack, who had crashed there escaping from an interstellar war, in Altered Alma Neo-Barcelona is at the center of the action. Therefore, this time the player will walk through a world full of light and life, but also darkness and death. The same streets that saw our protagonist grow up.



This is due to the main concepts that guided the development of each game. Aeon Drive was born as a game made for fast gameplay and speedrunning. It means that players should see the most important elements of the game in the forefront to optimize their actions at every moment, so the background loses importance to dimension engine cores, enemies and obstacles. Here, Neo-Barcelona is a mere crossing point.

In contrast, the Neo-Barcelona we introduce in Altered Alma is designed to encourage and reward immersion — not just in terms of map exploration, but also by looking closely at the elements composing each room.

The more you explore and scratch, and the more attention you pay to the scenes, the closer you will get to the very essence of this city. For example, you'll soon notice how deeply rooted gang culture is in the history and politics of Neo-Barcelona, and what kind of relationship their leaders have. This knowledge is intertwined with the main plot of the game and, sometimes, the player’s choices will have a meaningful impact on this power balance. Everything contributes to making the city feel like a living organism that never stops changing.




Altered Alma's artistic style was born by mixing two very opposite ideas: the coldness of life in a cyberpunk environment and the need to preserve elements of the past, using them as a base to create something new, refined and expressive. The locations where this combination is most evident are those we have taken from the real Barcelona.

We refer to famous landmarks like the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral that inspired an entire biome in the game. But there’s more to it — from buildings and sculptures to small props like street signs and vending machines, there are many others related to catalan culture scattered all over the city.




Another aspect we cared a lot about was the artistic expression of light and shadow in the new Neo-Barcelona. It's important to understand that there's a close relationship between cyberpunk societies and nightlife. Neo-Barcelona awakens as the sun goes down, so it's during nighttime that the best and the worst of this city show up. When you build up light on top of darkness as we do, it's easier to make the brighter elements stick out. Poetic, isn't it?

Besides this, it's very important for level design as we cannot take visibility away from the platforms in favor of aesthetics. A poor approach in this regard can kill the player’s desire to see what lies beyond.




As mentioned before, you need to explore new areas in order to progress in the story of Altered Alma. You can revisit them as many times as you want, and sometimes there will be new events waiting for you. Some of them will be part of the main story, while others will be side quests. These secondary missions will also help you learn more about Neo-Barcelonian gangs, make new friends and, even, develop unexpected romances with Jack's crew members.

Each district brings new chances to get rare resources, meet key citizens and uncover the dirty secrets of those in power. Of course, there’s a certain risk in going so far… No gang will allow you to dive into their territories without permission. In fact, you might end up fighting some particularly strong enemies. But that shouldn’t be a problem for an experienced mercenary!

Speaking of the fat cats, there's one more new thing worth mentioning related to Altered Alma's Neo-Barcelona. As shown in our latest trailer, some bosses will use environmental attacks on Jackelyne. By this integration of the background into action, we aim to create spatial awareness and add more mechanics to the fight via inanimate objects.




Last but not least, here’s some stuff that our lead artist Sergio Cabanillas used as reference:
Metrópolis (1927, Fritz Lang), film — German expressionism.
Paul Verhoeven, movie director— Sarcasm and cruelty as narrative elements.
Brave New World (1932, Aldous Huxley), novel — Dystopian societies, dark humor.
1984 (1949, George Orwell), novel — Dystopian societies.

We hope you’re up to visit Neo-Barcelona when Altered Alma is out. There's no better way to appreciate all the hard work behind its stunning visuals than giving it a chance.

With all this said, let’s move to our monthly dev update!

[h3]DEVELOPMENT UPDATE: OCTOBER[/h3]
Metro area is almost complete, now under testing.
We’ve tested both an early version of the dialogue options needed for the romance system and the relationship menu.
The team’s working on a couple specific animations for the first scenes of the game. One of Jack’s crew members is going to have a hard time...
Our artists designed new map icons for crew members and other important characters. The most important thing is to make exploration easy for you!
We’ve introduced new fixes in Spaceport, like for particles and new enemies.


Thanks for joining us one more time. Don’t forget to join our Discord server for further updates on the status of Altered Alma and exclusive chats with the community. Also, we’re always available on Twitter, Facebook and TikTok.



Last but not least, add the game to your wishlist if you already haven’t. This is super important for small developers like us to ensure the success of the game!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2190700/Altered_Alma/

Have a great day,
2Awesome Studio & Critical Reflex

Heyo, dear gang:

We hope you survived the post-holiday blues and had a wonderful month. For us, September has been quite intense! Within a few weeks of each other, we attended two new events and faced the release of another game, whose extense promotion campaign made us a bit exhausted. So here we are, squeezing our last energies to bring you a new update. Let's get started!

[h2]EVENTS[/h2]



In preparation for Indie Dev Day and the Tokyo Games Show, we read and analyzed all the feeback we gathered at Gamescom. As a result, we could improve the alpha demo for the new players and everyone noticed the slight changes our team introduced. We're confident that the notes we took at these events as the visitors played will be plenty useful to rethink some concepts and polish the final game.

We were pleasantly surprised by the comments mentioning how responsive Jackelyne feels, the smoothness of platforming and the beauty of the game art. Plus, players really liked the energy dagger both as a weapon and transportation method.

Thank you to all who decided to experience Neo-Barcelona first hand and weren't afraid to share some honest thoughts!


[h2]SEPTEMBER PROGRESS[/h2]

• Japanese integration for a future language pack is in preparation.
  
• Ramblas are under testing and polishing.
  
• The AI for several enemies has been adjusted.
  
• Art assets for the Metro area are nearing completion.
  
• Now working on the romance system, and its integration with Twine.
  

And that’s all for now! For all questions you may have, we encourage you to join our next Q&A session on Discord — the date is still to be determined, but our public form is now open to everyone.

See you in our next entry,
2Awesome Studio

Heya, dear gang!

Are you doing well? We lived a pretty exciting month as 2Awesome Studio just came back from Gamescom. You know, the international video games event in Germany! Of course, we didn’t arrive empty-handed — a new gameplay trailer for Altered Alma has appeared in the awards show livestream by IGN! Click on the image below to enjoy the gory cyberpunk feast we prepared for you:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

On the occasion of this premiere, we organized a public event where our team answered some pressing questions on Altered Alma. It took place on our Discord server a few hours ago, but you still can submit new contributions through this form for the next edition. Also, remember joining our community server to read all answers!

The last weeks have been exhausting, but also a very exciting ones. While we continued to complete development tasks, part of the team spent a considerable time preparing for our attendance at Gamescom — not just the comms team, but also all those in charge of building up and testing our on-site demo.



Despite this crazy race against the clock, rest assured that we're leaving August behind in high spirits. We learned a lot on players' expectations and those aspects we should polish. But above all, we have been delighted to see people of all ages enjoying this first contact with Altered Alma — their smiles, shock faces, and even those times they cursed the final boss, meant a lot to us.

Our time at Gamescom, as well as the appearance of Altered Alma at their Steam event, also brought a generous amount of wishlists. To all of you who read us for the first time, THANKS A LOT. Thanks for believing in the project and joining our community to keep an eye on all that's about to come. We have a long road ahead but it's much funnier with you all by our side.




At this point we must thank Critical Reflex for providing us with the wonderful goodies that some of you saw in our booth. Information flyers were exquisit and everyone loved the shiny stickers, as well as acrylic figurines we used as decoration (RIP Red Rosie, she didn't survive!).

Last but not least, remember that we’re open to receiving your questions through Steam, Discord or social media — feel free to reach out to us and we’ll do our best to offer a good answer! Also, remember telling your friends and followers about Altered Alma. Every addition to a wishlist help us grow a bit more on Steam.

See you in our next entry,
2Awesome Studio & Critical Reflex