A Dance of Fire and Ice News

It's been an exciting month!

In case you missed it: our DLC expansion, Neo Cosmos, is out now!

It's been two weeks since we've launched the DLC, and the reaction has been really amazing. Thank you all for your support and your feedback. We had been working on Neo Cosmos for a long time in secret, keeping most of the details to ourselves, and hoped that you would find it as fun and surprising as we did while playtesting. Thank you all so much for playing.

Here's a summary of everything new that's happened since then!

[h2]Version 2.0.3 (r92) Release Notes[/h2]

Warning: Gameplay spoilers for Neo Cosmos below!

We have some new Accessibility Features. If you're having a hard time in Neo Cosmos, you can go to the Advanced Options section of the pause menu to tweak some settings.

Hold Tiles: You can now choose from Normal (the usual default behavior), Allow Tapping Ending Tile (tap to end the hold, instead of releasing), and No Holding Required (just tap the beginning and ending tiles instead of holding.)

Freeroam Tiles: You can now choose to be invulnerable during the Freeroam sections. With this enabled, you cannot be destroyed by touching spike balls or lasers.

Custom Level Editor: Minor updates and changes to the editor

Balance Changes: A few changes have been made to Neo Cosmos to make the experience more smooth for the player. In addition, Practice Mode is now available in T3, T3-EX, and T5

New music by DM DOKURO: Our secret minigame now has a new song, by DM DOKURO!

New Localization: ADOFAI and Neo Cosmos are both now available in French and German!

You can read the full list and description of changes in these patches by checking out our changelog here: https://7thbeat.notion.site/ADOFAI-Minor-Changelog-v2-0-1-r91-4c8da3f86f7c4039a9442dcd157cd30b

[h2]Neo Cosmos Soundtrack[/h2]

The official soundtrack for A Dance of Fire and Ice: Neo Cosmos is out now!

Find it on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2016420/A_Dance_of_Fire_and_Ice__Neo_Cosmos_OST/

Find it on Bandcamp: https://7thbeat.bandcamp.com/album/a-dance-of-fire-and-ice-neo-cosmos-ost

You can also listen to a few of the songs on our Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoV0Pc5bQC6LhGsbNaCGvHzuUP1TFeI1S

We couldn't have made Neo Cosmos without the help of our featured artists: Canblaster 2K6, Frums, Ash Astral, and DM DOKURO. They worked directly with TaroNuke in composing for the levels, and we really love the tracks they created.

If you'd like to support us and the featured artists, check it out!

[h2]We're Working On More Neo Cosmos Content[/h2]

We have three things we want to note quickly!

1. We are now working on adding more content to be added to the Neo Cosmos DLC! It will take a while, but please look forward to it. We were waiting to see what the reception of the DLC would be, and since so many people enjoyed it, we're happy to keep going and add more to it. These updates to Neo Cosmos will be free content patches.

2. As we announced before, we are going to continue adding to the base game. That means new worlds, new Level Editor tweaks and improvements, new accessibility features, etc. are being worked on for regular A Dance of Fire and Ice as free content patches.

3. We're making a minor price change to the Neo Cosmos DLC. After receiving a lot of really positive feedback from players, and surprise at its price, we have decided to raise the price by $1 USD. If you already own the DLC, this doesn't affect you at all! You don't have to pay anything extra. Thank you for supporting the DLC so early. Consider the earlier price just a "super Launch Discount!"

The sales of Neo Cosmos have allowed us to dedicate the time to adding new stuff to it in the future, so we're really grateful for your support and your interest. There's more to come!


That's all for now! Thanks for playing, and check out the Neo Cosmos Soundtrack if you want to take the songs with you everywhere you go!

Our fans run a Discord server where you can talk about our games and the level editor: discord.gg/rhythmdr

Twitter: https://twitter.com/adofai
Website: https://www.7thbe.at

A Dance of Fire and Ice: Neo Cosmos is now available! Neo Cosmos is an expansion DLC we've been working on for a while now, and we're excited for you to finally play it. It adds new worlds, new game mechanics, all-new music, and new Level Editor events.

The DLC is directed by TaroNuke, creator of NotITG and UKSRT. Check out his previous works and you may get an idea of his game design style! Taro was incredible to work with, and has been crafting this expansion from the ground up for a long time. He has a very particular skill and style for making levels, which was perfect for a game like A Dance of Fire and Ice.

Once you have the DLC, you can find the new worlds by traveling to the portal to the right of the Main Menu!

[h2]DLC Features[/h2]

New worlds: Adds 5 new worlds to the game, each with new mechanics and gimmicks.

New editor features: New Neo Cosmos-specific level events added to the Level Editor. Share your levels on Steam Workshop, and play levels that use them!

Original music: Features original tracks by Canblaster 2K6, Frums, Ash Astral, and DM DOKURO.

Directed by TaroNuke (creator of NotITG and UKSRT), with plenty of surprises, new characters, and story.

For the full changelog of everything we've added with today's update and everything we've added since our previous Steam post, you can click (WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE NEO COSMOS DLC) right here.



[h2]Neo Cosmos FAQ[/h2]

Q: Who made Neo Cosmos?
A: Neo Cosmos is directed by TaroNuke, with help from the 7th Beat Games team. We all worked on it together, but it deserves a huge thank-you to Taro for coming up with the ideas, story, and levels. Thank you Taro! It also includes great character art from two artists, SUPERCOMPUTATION and electr1ca.

Q: How difficult is Neo Cosmos?
A: It has some new surprises, so that answer will be different for each player! We recommend that you at least try playing the main 12 Worlds of A Dance of Fire and Ice before playing Neo Cosmos. We like how it feels as an extension after playing those, but the DLC does not require that you beat those levels to play it, so don't worry!

Q: Do I need to unlock Neo Cosmos?
A: If you've purchased the Neo Cosmos DLC, the only thing you need to do to unlock the new content is to complete World 1 (and the boss level 1-X) from the beginning of the game. You probably have it unlocked already!

Q: Is the Neo Cosmos DLC needed to play Steam Workshop levels that use special Neo Cosmos Level Editor events?
A: Yes, owning the Neo Cosmos DLC is required to create or play custom levels that use the new Neo Cosmos Level Editor events.

Q: Will the Neo Cosmos content come to mobile?
A: Yes, eventually! We are still working on it, so it might take a while for the mobile version to be updated. We can't really confirm anything else about the mobile version yet. Thank you for understanding!

Q: Will A Dance of Fire and Ice, the base game, still receive free updates?
A: Yes! The base game will be treated separately, and will still receive free updates, such as levels and level editor improvements.

Q: Us the Neo Cosmos soundtrack available to purchase?
A: Yes! You can get the soundtrack on Steam or Bandcamp!


We hope you enjoy the DLC! We had a lot of fun playing it ourselves. Ever since we launched A Dance of Fire and Ice, we've been surprised over and over again with how many different ways there are for creators to explore new rhythms and new game concepts. The game has evolved a lot since it first launched.

Thank you for playing, and let us know what you think of the new levels!

Our fans run a Discord server where you can talk about our games and the level editor: discord.gg/rhythmdr

Twitter: https://twitter.com/adofai
Website: https://www.7thbe.at

[h2]3-Year Anniversary Update[/h2]

It’s hard for us to believe that it’s already the 3rd Anniversary of launching A Dance of Fire and Ice on Steam, but here we are. Time has flown by, and we continue to be surprised and honored by the positive feedback we’ve seen from players about our simple rhythm game. We really appreciate everyone who has played the game, whether you’ve mastered the skills on your own, shared your scores with friends, or streamed yourself marathoning 6-X until you finally got it right.

To celebrate the 3-Year Anniversary, we’ve got a few additions to the game this week!

Here's our full changelog if you prefer not to miss every single detail.

[h2]Collaboration with “Rhythm Journey”[/h2]

New World: Fear Grows, with music by Linky

Recently we became fans of a new indie rhythm game, Rhythm Journey. It's a game inspired by ADOFAI on the surface (with tutorial levels for each song, speed trials, one-hit death etc), but actually tackles a different aspect of rhythm theory! It's focused on teaching you different kick and snare rhythms on the drums, so it uses two buttons instead of one. Each song is written to teach you a unique rhythm, from ghost notes to swing notes to fun drum fills. We at 7th Beat Games are all about unique rhythm mechanics so we love it. Not enough people are playing this game, so now we're doing a collab so that more of you will check it out. The new world, RJ, has a special one-time gimmick that's a nod to their game's mechanic, guess what it is…

Thanks to Linky, the musician of Rhythm Journey for supplying the song and also making all the tutorial tracks! And check their game out for their part of the collab, featuring their interpretation of ADOFAI's title track!

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1945220/
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/rhythm-journey/id1602799241
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.melovity.rhythmjourney/

[h2]New Options: “Practice” and “No Fail” Modes[/h2]

We’re introduced two new options for helping players learn levels they’re stuck on.

Practice Mode: With the Practice Mode option toggled on, you can practice a segment of a level that you’ve failed on. After you lose, press the P key before respawning to trigger Practice Mode. This will give you a chance to practice the segment of the song that you’re stuck on. You can exit Practice Mode in the Pause Menu. This feature can be used on both official levels and custom community levels.

No Fail Mode: No Fail Mode is an option you can use while playing custom community levels. This “No Fail” option allows you to continue to the next tile even if you miss it, and it disables Overloading. When you finish the level, the Results Screen will display info about your misses if you have the “Detailed Results” option toggled on. In a way, it’s like playing the custom level with Invincibility. We hope this is useful for learning really difficult custom levels, or having the option to enjoy the full song even if you cannot complete the level on your own.

You can enable “No Fail” mode in the Custom Level Editor by clicking the armor icon in the bottom right corner. You can also toggle it in the Custom Level Select menu by pressing the N key. An icon will display in the corner while you play, indicating that you are playing with “No Fail” mode on.

[h2]New: Featured Levels[/h2]

In the years since the game’s launch onto Steam, we have seen really incredible work done by the community with the custom level editor. Knowing that some players might not search through Steam Workshop to find these creations, we decided we wanted to find a way to highlight them and add them to the game for everyone to enjoy. We reached out to the original musicians and the level creators and will now begin adding a few of our favorites to the game! This way, even users who don’t search through Steam Workshop can easily find these levels we enjoyed.

You can now find these levels by heading to the Custom Level Select and entering the “Featured Levels” section. We will update this section with more levels periodically throughout the year, so you will hear from us again on more favorites we’ve been playing.

Nichipe will be joining us in handling the search and curation for custom Featured Levels. He has played over a thousand ADOFAI levels, and has a great Youtube channel where he tries out and discusses great levels each year, so working together has been a natural fit. Thank you, Nichipe!

We also plan to add these levels to the iOS and Android versions of A Dance of Fire and Ice in the future, allowing mobile players to also enjoy them.

Our first few Featured Levels are:

Final Phase, music by Plum, level design by Daming

Barrage, music by Halv, level design by NumbEr07

Make It Funky Now, music by DOT96, level design by PizzaLovers007

[h2]Coming Soon: Neo Cosmos[/h2]

In case you missed it, we’re working on an expansion to A Dance of Fire and Ice! It’s called Neo Cosmos, and it’s directed by TaroNuke, creator of NotITG and UKSRT! It features a new set of levels, and a few gameplay surprises. We’re still working hard on it, but we do have a teaser to share…

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Neo Cosmos will be a paid DLC, but free updates will continue to be added to the base game A Dance of Fire and Ice even after it’s out.

Thanks for playing, and thanks for all the incredible feedback on Steam, Twitter, and Discord over the past three years. We still have more plans for A Dance of Fire and Ice, and we’re excited to keep working on them. Thank you for coming on this journey with us!

Our fans run a Discord server where you can talk about our games and the level editor: discord.gg/rhythmdr

Twitter: https://twitter.com/adofai
Website: https://www.7thbe.at

These are changes released in December 2021, from the previous Steam announcement in October 2021, including the alphas and betas in between.

These are mostly QoL tweaks and editor.

Note: with this version, we are now on a new **Unity 2021** engine, which brings improvements in input drops or lag. Input drops should not be a problem now.

You can view the full changelog with descriptions and example images at our Notion Page linked here.

Our collaboration with Muse Dash by Pero Pero Games is here! Three new worlds have been added, you can find them in a new location on the main menu after completing Worlds 1 through 5.



New Worlds:

Night Wander (cnsouka Remix), with music by cnsouka, and guest VFX by Rikri

La nuit de vif, with music by Polymath9, guest VFX by Rikri, and ML-3/ML-5 tutorial music by natebcarson

EMOMOMO, with music by Ras, level design by Nichipe, guest VFX by Riya and Nichipe, and background animation by Riya

Full changelog (including level editor changelog) here.

We had a great time working together with Pero Pero Games to bring Muse Dash and A Dance of Fire and Ice together. Please check out Muse Dash’s update last month, which has added levels based on Heracles, Rose Garden, and more. They even have levels based on songs from Rhythm Doctor, our other one-button rhythm game!



Oh, and if you're interested in more rhythm games: Our fellow rhythm dev (and Russian translator for A Dance of Fire and Ice) Calvares is working on a new rhythm game! It's called Kovox Pitch, and it's a story-based rhythm baseball game. You can play a free demo on the Steam page now, check it out!

Thank you for playing!

Our fans run a Discord server where you can talk about our games and the level editor: discord.gg/rhythmdr

Twitter: https://twitter.com/adofai
Website: https://www.7thbe.at