Evercore Heroes: Ascension News

The holidays are coming up and besides the smell of freshly baked cookies it's the perfect opportunity to look at what we all achieved this year but above all..

What's coming next for Evercore Heroes: Ascension!!

We've got some big plans coming up! So let's kick off and start big right away with quite the treat...

Yes, that's right!

• We are participating in the upcoming Steam Next Fest in February!
• Evercore Heroes: Ascension is planned to come to Early access in 2025!
  
• Playtests are returning!
  

Mark the dates as you all will be able to try out Evercore Heroes real soon!

To prepare for Next Fest we'll be looking into other opportunities to have you test the game, so keep an eye out for that as we roll into the new year by signing up for the playtest and adding us to your wishlist!



2024 has been a super busy year for us here at Vela Games as not only did we turn a proof of concept into a full fledged hero co-op first action roguelite we also revealed our first gameplay to the world and brought all of that to here ~ on Steam, for you all!

Since begin this year we've added a lot of new shards, built random world generation so each run feels different, reworked heroes up to 6 playable characters with more to come and held our first playtests with you all (and more of you are showing interest every day - thank you!).

Your voice has helped us a lot to make sure we move the needle into the right direction and we've been working hard on the feedback you've been providing (like keyboard controls and custom keybindings - yes they are there!) and we hope we can count on your support once again in the new year!

We also decided to show our face and run our our very own live Q&A dev streams showing full playthroughs of the game!

[h3]Missed our live streams or want to see them again?[/h3]
We've made a playlist with all the videos which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql-zQ2LCFps&list=PLofkUog4ebZp0e0sbq8O7P_g_iPzgGTFW&index=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYFXzf5H7aI&list=PLofkUog4ebZp0e0sbq8O7P_g_iPzgGTFW&index=2

Until then we want to wish everybody Happy holidays from everybody here at Vela Games and we will see you next year!!

[h2]Greetings Heroes![/h2]

Last week we launched our new trailer (go check it out if you haven't yet!) and announced a new way to play the game we call:

'Hero Mode'

Today we'll talk a bit more about this new mode and further development of the game.



Hero Mode is what we call an experimental new mode. It came to be as a side project when we asked ourselves the question: 'what if?'

Many of you have been suggesting a solo-play feature ever since we started and over time we've gotten quite curious and started to explore how it could look if we tried to put it into the game.

We were not disappointed and we think you all might have been onto something!

[h3]So.. What is Hero Mode?[/h3]

Hero mode is a new single player mode where you get to challenge yourself and go on an adventure to face the dangers of Lumerea on your own.

That's right, it's all up to you to save the world and it won't be easy!!

This is our way of providing you with a way to play when you boot up the game and are waiting for your friends to come online, want to challenge yourself on a speedrun for bragging rights or want to practice a hero before queueing up for the real deal. Of course, if you don't feel like playing with anybody else that day, we think that's totally cool too!

We felt there was a real need from players to be able to jump into a game alone before queueing up with others and decided to take the plunge. Check it out!

(Lotus facing a new mini-boss on her own - are you ready?)

[h3]How do Hero Mode and Co-Op mode differ from each other?[/h3]

It comes to no surprise that the biggest difference between the two modes is that you'll be playing alone rather than in a party of three.

This means that nobody will swoop in to save you if you need some emergency heals or somebody to peel some enemies away from you. Hero roles act differently and you will find yourself prioritizing different powerups than before. On top of that, Health will become a precious resource that you will want to hold onto at all costs as it will not replenish by completing islands...

Picking a hero is the first important step! Will you want to focus on playing a hero with more health and overshield to absorb the damage, pick a healer so you can sustain yourself or deal more damage so you never get hit to begin with?

Every hero comes with its own benefits and unique way to play and you might even learn a new thing or two about the hero you never utilized before in Co-Op mode.

There are however other differences that are worth noting!

To accommodate for solo play, we'll be making slight adjustments to the islands (rooms) and the enemies that spawn. You'll encounter different objectives and will face lower numbers of enemies than you would in the Co-Op mode.

But don't be fooled! This will not mean it'll be any easier and it'll be more crucial than ever to learn what each enemy does so you can avoid taking damage and strike them back!

(Health is a precious resource.. Be careful!)

[h3]Will your main focus shift away from Co-Op mode?[/h3]

We've always said Co-Op is in our DNA and that hasn't changed! We still believe that Co-Op is the most fun way to play the game and that it's our most unique selling point compared to other games in the genre. We aren't changing direction, Co-Op mode is still our main focus going forward

Hero mode is currently still at this experimental stage where we are figuring out how we'd like to implement this mode next to the 3-man co-op mode without having to create and maintain two separate games when it comes to content, balancing, etc.

Expect more information on the new Mode as we work towards the next playtest, and who knows.. you might even get a chance to test it!

Do let us know your thoughts on our forums as it'll help us a lot to further develop it!

Till next time!

[h2]Greetings Heroes![/h2]

It was super exciting to have you play in our very first playtest and we can't wait for the next one!

Today we'd like to give you a little peek behind the curtains and talk about the most brought up feedback points during the playtest and what we are working on going forward!


As with game development, we can only focus on so much at the same time and we will have to make some tough (but important) decisions when it comes to what features we want to focus on next. Decisions are often a mix of upcoming game features we have planned, our core design pillars, team structure (who can work on what) and of course your feedback!!

Your feedback is super important and valuable to us and know that even if your feedback, or the game feature you gave feedback on, was not called out we have still read it and that it has been noted down! It truly helps us decide what to focus on next!

Let's dive in!

[h3]The good, the bad and the.. Billy?![/h3]

Let's have a look at the three most brought up topics!

1. Game controls
We made this first playtest controller only - and oh, did you let us know! It became pretty clear that a lot of you would prefer to have the option to play with either controller or keyboard & mouse!

We'll make sure to put keyboard & mouse controls on a higher priority going forwards so that in the future you can play with whichever method you prefer! Of course we'll keep on improving how the controller feels as well!

2. Adding friends and playing together
Friend matchmaking was not working as intended for a lot of you. Since the game is made to be co-op we'd really like to give you the ability to be able to play with your friends! We are working on the Steam friends list so that you can play together or queue up as duo next time!

3. The Luum system
There's been chatter and feedback regarding the Luum system and how Luum is gathered during gameplay. Some of you suggested that the game needs a passive luum regen, others feel a reset of both HP as Luum between islands is the right course of action while others want the drops to work slightly differently than they did during the playtest.

At this moment we have not decided on any changes to the Luum system, but instead we will keep a good eye on how it develops as we add new shards and features like unlockable rewards in the Hub that might affect Luum gain. We'd love to hear more of your feedback regarding this topic in future playtests to come to see if your opinion has changed.

[h3]Doubling down on what works![/h3]

We loved hearing that you are looking forward to play more and are excited about the cooperative and Roguelite elements of the game (so are we!)! We'll make sure to double down on them as we continue to develop the game and add more content!

As we know you all love to know what's next, we have a little teaser (just a little peek) for you of some of the new features we are working on!

• As we are a Co-Op game we want to create more cooperative play opportunities (combo's!) via shards! Some simpler examples would be applying poison stacks together as a team to activate de-buffs or setting an enemy ablaze so a teammate can make them explode!
  
  
• We are working on more clear communication of status effects on enemies via UI improvements. We know it can be tough to see what debuff is on what enemy during a fight so we are working on making these more clear!
  
  
• We've started work on the first set of powers you'll be able to unlock in the Hub before you set out on your missions. As in typical Roguelite fashion, these powers can be unlocked by playing the game and will help you both get more powerful over time as well as allow you to personalize your sentinels the way you like to play them and show skill expression.
  

As always, these are early teasers and therefor not final! Some of them might change over time as we develop the game.

[h3]And of course.. Bug fixes and balance changes![/h3]

We got reports of chittering, clattering and odd scaley creatures going around (no, not you Billy!). Some are big, some are small and others are.. well.. we have some bugs to squash!

With your help we were able to identify and catalogue bugs like for example the game over screen not showing at times, the ability screen persisting through teleportation, characters falling through the floor on certain maps and much more!

Of course we'll also keep tuning balancing and will work on making movement feel smoother as we go onwards.

[h3]Do keep the feedback coming as it's super valuable for us! Thank you![/h3]

[h3]We are live streaming Evercore Heroes during the playtest![/h3]

Come join us as we will play some games with you during the playtest! Gain bragging rights by carrying us and ask your questions in the chat!

Will I get to the end today? Let's find out!

[h3]Playtest + Dev Stream next Thursday the 22nd of August![/h3]



Get ready to play some Evercore Heroes!

We are starting a series of playtests and we'll be kicking off the first playtest Thursday the 22nd of August! Yes, that's next week!

Over time we'll organize more playtests, include more of you to grow the playtest pool and of course add more features for you to play around with so you can let us know what you think!


Servers will be open:

• 8 - 11 PM CEST
  
• 3 - 6 PM EST
  
• 11 AM - 2PM PST
  

*everybody with access can play, but servers are located in EU so you might experience some lag when playing from other regions.


Oh, and as bonus we'll be back with another dev stream during the playtest! Just like last time we'll be streaming on Steam so catch us in-game for carrying bragging rights, or ask your questions in the chat!



[h3]3 Player Team Roguelite Action![/h3]

Here are some of the features you can expect to experience in this playtest!

• Play 6 unique Heroes across 3 different roles!
  
• Customise your build with powerful upgrades that change the way you and your team play!
  
• Ascend the dangerous mountains of Kru, in an ever changing run to the top!
  
• Explore Castle Everae and get a sneak peek of upcoming progression features!
  

Important! This first playtest will be controller only! We feel the game is currently best experienced with controller, so to give you the best experience testing the game we have temporarily disabled mouse & keyboard for this playtest. We'll bring it back once we feel it's ready!

[h3]How do I join?[/h3]

1. Go to our Steam page and press the 'request access' button.
2. We will invite players randomly from those that sign up.
3. We will start sending out keys from Tuesday onwards. 4. You will receive an email from Steam when you are selected to play!

NOTE: If you did not get in this time, don't worry! We will be increasing the amount of players with each test!