Eclipse Breaker News

The Eclipse Breaker team and I have been working hard and kicking ass and I'm excited to announce that our new demo is up, featuring everything you've seen in these posts and more. Since the last time the game was publicly available there have been new enemies, the Companion system, a new training grid update, new Prima, new player abilities, it basically feels like a whole new game. To play, just head over to the store page and click "Download".

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2815060/Eclipse_Breaker/

If you're not at a computer right now, here's a video of me playing the game and talking about all the new features:

[previewyoutube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU0teUL1u6E[/previewyoutube]

When you're done, you can come back here and continue to read about all the new things we've developed that you'll see in upcoming builds of Eclipse Breaker. Take your time, I'll wait. And after you play, don't forget to send in some feedback. I love feedback, and I count over 50 changes and fixes to the game so far based on feedback from players, so keep sending it!

OK, welcome back! I hope you enjoyed the demo. Let's talk about a new enemy, the Slag. He's a mound of elemental goo that spews hazardous puddles at you. He wears a cute hat and comes in every elemental variety. You'll encounter Fire Slags when you're in a fire level, which spew fire puddles that will ignite you, Water Slags on the water level that spew water puddles that will drench you, Ice Slags that will freeze you, Lightning Slags that will shock you, and Earth Slags that create earthquake zones that damage you more if you stand in the center.



We're in the beginning phases of adding a story to the game, and characters that you talk to. As part of this process we have been creating new character portraits. You already know Ember, the game's protagonist, our stalwart hero who is determined to kill the sun god and doesn't get it when the kids talk about those newfangled Constellation Grids. I'd also like you to meet Sylphie, the keeper of the Temple of the Gate. She maintains the temple and its shop, and likes to see how many times she can snooze her alarm before she absolutely has to get up. Props to the illustrator Devin Yang for making these, he does amazing work.



And finally, one of the most long-requested features has finally gotten some work put into it: the ability to save your game! It's a small thing, but as we add a ton of new content it's important that players are able to pick up where they left off. And I'll let you in on a tiny spoiler - the first time you run the game the save game feature will also double as a narrative beat, as you'll be "loading" a save game from your 1997 PS1 save cartridge. I put in a lot of work to make it feel like that legacy JRPG loading screen that you may remember. Details like this aren't strictly necessary, but they help a lot to make that right vibe.



I'm probably most excited about the new narrative we're building for this game. It's the last big piece that we need to make this really start feeling like the old JRPG vibe that we're going for, and we have some cool things in the pipeline there. I don't want to talk publicly about it yet, but if you're interested in our narrative plans, I'm more amenable to talking about that sort of thing on our Discord server.

Hello! I've got a ton of updates I have been itching to share, but first I wanted to say thank you to everyone who participated in the September 30 playtest. A lot of people played and we got a ton of great feedback. Addressing that feedback has been my top priority, and in addition to a ton of small improvements motivated by your feedback I have also been adding some big new features. I'm very grateful to everyone who played the game and sent me feedback.

So let's talk about what's new in Eclipse Breaker this month. First, because we introduced two new Primas, here's a primer and Primas: Primas are passive abilities that you can attach to your attacks as you progress through a run. They're kinda similar to the materia from Final Fantasy VII.



The new Earth Prima creates a rupture on the ground around enemies that deals periodic damage to all enemies inside it. Any enemy standing in this rupture receives periodic damage. If enemies stand in the spot where two ruptures overlap they receive not just 2x damage but 3x damage, and if enemies stand where three ruptures overlap they receive not 3x damage but 6x damage. So the key to using these ruptures is to overlap them on clusters of enemies. Check this out:



I also added the Water Prima, which drenches enemies and creates waves that hit nearby enemies and damage them as well. Enemies that are drenched reflect waves back out at other enemies, and make them again more drenched. These waves can reflect off enemies infinitely if they are drenched enough. So this is another good prima to use against close clusters of enemies.



Companions are allies that you can take with you on your journey. Taking a new companion changes your passive and ultimate abilities and allows you to unlock modifications for your other abilities. Awards that you obtain during your run will allow you to upgrade your companion's abilities. So far I've only built one of the companions, but now that the system is built the remainder should be easier to slot in, so be on the lookout for more companions in future builds.



And finally, I have received a lot of player feedback that there's now much to do while the player's stamina is recharging. Well you spoke and I listened and added Meditation. Now the player can press a button to regenerate their stamina faster. Some companions are planned to augment the player's Meditation as well. For example, it is subject to change, but some companions may allow your Meditation to also grant your next attack more damage.

Please enjoy our new trailer showing off a ton of new features we've been working on, featuring a new boss, new enemies, and more encounters.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

I'm also pleased to announce that we're running a limited-time playtest during the Steam Turn-Based JRPG fest. Hit the "Request Access" button on the store page to apply. We regularly accept new playtesters so check back regularly after you have applied.

I would love to hear what you think! I pay careful attention to all feedback. In fact, I love getting feedback from players. Join our Discord server or simply send me an email at [email protected] and tell me all the ways you think the game could be better.

On September 30 we will be conducting a closed beta test. We'll be releasing a new playtest build with tons of new features,

• New enemies
  
• New bosses
  
• New encounters
  
• New upgrades
  
• Just generally lots more game
  

Reserving your spot for this closed beta test is very easy! You can do so by joining our mailing list. You'll be notified as soon as the beta is ready. In the meantime feel free to play the public demo, currently running a build from July 31.

Meet Friga the Ice Queen. You'll encounter her as a miniboss as you play. I'd love to show you how she works, but before we get to that, I need to explain how I've reworked the Ice prima.



Primas are passive abilities that you can attach to your attacks as you progress through a run. They're kinda similar to the materia from Final Fantasy VII. The Ice prima increases how much damage your attacks deal and applies the Frozen effect, which applies a slow to enemies. However, I kept getting feedback from players that they didn't understand Frozen's effect and it wasn't very exciting, so I added some functionality to it. Check this out:



Now whenever you attack a Frozen enemy, it shatters the ice and sprays a shower of ice behind them, damaging and applying Frozen to all enemies behind. This effect can chain and occur multiple times from a single application, which makes it great against crowds of enemies.

With that in our pocket let's check out Friga's attacks!





Her first basic attack throws three ice shards at the player. If you are feeling bold you can parry all three of these individually and gain three stacks of Radiance for a lot of extra damage. Otherwise you can simply block them normally.





She can also summon four frozen pillars. Stand near these pillars and you will be Frozen, meaning your movement speed will be slower and your stamina will recharge slower.





Friga swipes her sword twice, dealing damage to you each time. But remember how I reworked the Ice prima to spray ice behind enemies? Well, Friga can do the same to you if you stand behind her ice pillars. Watch where you walk!





This was the most complicated for me to build, but also the coolest of all enemy abilities in the game so far. Friga splits in three and then each of the three clones charges at you, dealing damage if she touches you. The player must dodge all three charges to avoid damage.



By the way, have you signed up for our mailing list yet? That's the best way to stay up to date on breaking news about Eclipse Breaker and other Lunar Workshop games, and secure your spot in the upcoming preview build event that we're going to be releasing at the end of September!