In case you missed it, alongside our announcement, we also launched a dedicated Steam page for Aloft’s demo. You can help us by doing two things here. Well, three.
If you haven’t tried the Aloft demo yet, please be our guest and give it a shot. It’s fun! And what’s even better is that you can try the multiplayer feature and play with a group of up to 8 people. Build a cosy base, craft some tools, glide to different islands, restore ecosystems; just play to your heart’s content.
If you did play the demo, please take a moment to leave a review on the demo page so we can get your feedback, AND to let other players know what you thought of it. That way we can encourage more people to try it out!
Lastly, make sure to wishlist Aloft to help us spread the word and get more eyes on our game. We are working hard to make Aloft something special, and we need your help!
To stay up-to-date on everything Aloft, be sure to follow us on social media and join our Discord server for the latest news, development updates, and community conversations!
Aloft Will Be at WePlay Expo!
Ahoy, Sky Sailors!
Shanghai’s WePlay Expo is almost here, and you can bet your favorite glider that we’ll be there! For anyone visiting the event on November 16 and 17, you are very welcome to swing by our booth for a chat and to play our Demo! We’re situated in the Yellow zone, booth F11.
During the event, head over to our Steam store page to catch streamer 主播莱斯利 as he checks out our demo.
Don’t forget that Aloft enters Early Access on January 15! If you want to make sure not to miss it, you can wishlist the game on Steam to ensure you’re notified.
Fair winds, Sky Sailors!
Aloft Sets Sail on January 15! 🌀
Hello Sky Sailors!
We’re excited to announce that Aloft will enter Early Access on January 15th!
This marks the start of an exciting new journey, one where Aloft will continually grow and improve. With the fun and solid foundation we've built, the wonderful feedback from our community, and the popularity of our latest demo at Steam Next Fest, we are incredibly excited for the future of Aloft.
Around launch, make sure to check out the store page where we’ll be adding a ton of new information on the Early Access period, including more specifics about content that will be added.
As the game evolves, it’s important to us to maintain an open dialogue with all you Sky Sailors out there. As long as you keep sharing your thoughts, we’ll keep listening, so make sure to join our Discord, where you can chat with other players and share your feedback with us.
As the team continues to work hard on the launch and general polish, we want to thank you all for joining us on this journey. We can’t wait for you all to join us in the skies of Aloft on January 15th.
💜🎃 Astrolabe Interactive wishes you a happy and spook-tastic Halloween! 🎃💜
Early Access Coming in January 💨⛵
Ahoy, Sky Sailors!
A couple months ago, we announced that Aloft would be entering Early Access in the Fall of 2024. Following many discussions and much consideration, we have decided to move the game’s Early Access release to January 2025.
We realize this may be disappointing news to many of you, and that’s why we want to assure you that this decision was not made lightly.
We’re very happy with the game’s progress at this stage, but there is a certain amount of extra polish, detail, and fine-tuning that we would love to complete before truly raising the anchor. While we are launching in Early Access, we're committed to delivering a level of quality that surpasses all our previous updates. We want you to be blown away by your very first leap into the skies of Aloft – so this extra time will be of utmost importance for the betterment of the game, and ultimately, the player experience.
The community’s response to our demo updates has been incredibly positive and motivating for the entire dev team. We cannot thank you enough for your patience and continued support throughout this journey.
As always, you can follow Aloft’s development progress on our Community Discord, where we share important announcements, updates, behind the scene content, and more.
We’re looking forward to announcing the exact Early Access release date as soon as possible!
We Reached 300K Wishlists! 🎇
Dear Sky Sailors,
Aloft has just recently reached 300K wishlists on Steam! 🥳
As we tie down the last few sails, we thank you for your continuous support. More news coming soon! ⛅️
DEVLOG - MOMENTUM 🏃♂️
Out with the old and in with the new: say goodbye to stamina and hello to momentum! Why the change? Through extensive internal reviews and valuable community feedback, we found that stamina often felt restrictive and counterintuitive to our feel-good vision for the game. Thus, momentum has replaced stamina, focusing on rewarding positive actions with a high-risk, high-reward approach. This change promises a more dynamic and enjoyable gameplay experience, while still providing a resource management aspect to the system.
Momentum is a new system, taking the form of a resource that you can accumulate and spend for powerful effects. Performing exciting actions will build your momentum, while other actions will cause you to spend or deplete it.
Momentum is displayed through a momentum meter currently below your health bar. By default, the player has three momentum charges and can build up to five charges. The maximum amount of charges you can hold is influenced by various factors, including the food your character consumes, the gear they wear, and the conditions affecting them.
The player may use momentum in various ways, but spending momentum typically requires consuming one full charge. Incomplete (semi-full) charges deplete during inactivity.
Momentum can be easily charged through tool-based resource gathering: using the pickaxe on large stones, the axe on trees and burnt stumps, as well as the sickle on wild plants.
While gliding, momentum can be obtained in different ways:
Regular gliding charges momentum slowly.
Gliding into an updraft charges momentum quickly.
Gliding close to an island also charges momentum quickly, depending on how close the player is to the ground.
Glider boosts now consume momentum. After the first free boost, every subsequent boost requires spending a full momentum charge. The first free boost becomes available again after a cooldown period.
While in combat, momentum can be obtained in the following ways:
Successfully blocking and striking an enemy charges momentum.
Successfully striking an enemy with a charged attack and/or combo finale charges momentum.
Getting hit by an enemy or the node charges momentum (like an adrenaline rush!).
Destroying corruption flora (purple and orange mushrooms) charges momentum.
Attacking the node’s weak points and inner fruit charges momentum.
Full momentum charges are spent to perform combat manoeuvres. Performing a charged attack (leap or upslash) or a ground pound will consume a momentum charge and the attack will be enhanced.
Momentum charges can also be used to automatically heal yourself (by gradually consuming charges) while sitting or laying down, which is useful after a challenging battle.
The following conditions grant or remove momentum charges:
Enthusiastic
Restoring an island’s ecosystem provides the Enthusiastic condition, which grants an extra momentum charge.
Wet
Exposure to rain or wading through ponds causes the Wet condition, which removes one momentum charge.
Hydrated
Drinking water, or consuming any liquid-based meal (such as a soup or smoothie) produces the Hydrated condition, which grants an extra momentum charge.
The following systems are not implemented yet, but are planned for the future:
Repairing Sails
Sailing through environmental hazards (such as storms or jetstreams) may damage your skyship’s sails; repairing them will charge momentum.
Gliding with Birds
Gliding alongside birds flying in the sky will charge momentum.
New Conditions
Zippy: Drinking Coffee produces the Zippy Condition which will grant you an extra momentum charge.
Exhausted: Gliding too far from a cluster, falling to the void, total health depletion, and environmental hazards (such as fainting from a heat wave or being struck by lightning) will produce the Exhausted condition, which removes a momentum charge.
Lastly, here is a sneak peek at the new UI planned for momentum, situated in the HUD. The momentum meter is located below your conditions, so you can quickly identify which conditions may be affecting your charges. Additionally, the reticle will conveniently change in appearance from white to yellow when there are momentum charges available for use.
That’s all, for now! We hope this was helpful in understanding the change and how the momentum system works. Please keep in mind that this system is still new and may be subject to change during the polishing and balancing phase, and as development progresses to incorporate additional gameplay features. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the new system and its UI – your feedback is crucial as we refine it further!
Questions? Comments? Just wanna say hi? Join our Community Discord below!
New Trailer Revealed at Gamescom! 🪶
Ahoy, Sky Sailors!
We’re absolutely thrilled to reveal our new trailer, premiered at the Into the Infinite Gamescom showcase! This trailer aims to neatly present all the game’s main features and immediately convey the vibe of your journey through the clouds. For anyone new to the game, it also serves as a great introduction. ⛅
The Early Access reveal in Fall is only a whisper away! 🍂 Early Access will be a new journey where we will work even closer with all of you to build Aloft into something truly magical!
🥰 🎮 WHOLESOME GAMES STEAM CELEBRATION 🎮 🥰
Ahoy, Sky Sailors! Aloft is participating in the Wholesome Games Steam Celebration! This cozy event features a ton of demos, discounts, and upcoming feel-good games. Check out the celebration on Steam from August 15th to the 21st! 💙 — Ohé, les Matelots Célestes ! Aloft participe à la Célébration de Jeux "Wholesome" ! Ce chaleureux événement présente de nombreuses démos, réductions et jeux réconfortants à venir. Profitez de l'événement sur Steam du 15 au 21 août ! 💙
DEVLOG - ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION 🌳
Once upon a time, our island was a thriving paradise. The air was filled with the cheerful chirping of birds, the trees stood tall and vibrant, and the plants flourished in a harmonious dance of colours. But now, due to fungal corruption and unsustainable gathering, the birds have stopped singing, the trees are lifeless, and the plants are overridden by invasive weeds. The ecosystem's vitality has reached an all-time low.
But all is not lost! It is up to you, explorer, to breathe life back into this once-beautiful haven. Together, we will learn how to restore balance and revive the symbiotic harmony of the ecosystem.
Welcome to the Ecosystem Restoration Devlog.
The first step to identifying an island in need of rejuvenation is to take a look around and examine the visual cues symptomatic of low vitality: dull colours, wilted and invasive plants, vine barriers, unharvestable crops, sick trees, and animal bones. While travelling, you can use the Table-Map and/or Spyglass to identify these low vitality islands from a distance.
In order to help restore the island’s ecosystem, craft a Field Guide by combining Leaf Cloth, Rope, and Paper on the Workbench. Using the Field Guide, you can study the ecosystem to determine what it requires to be fully restored; use that green thumb of yours to equip seeds and plant trees, various flora, and decomposers on the island. Soon, you will be able to introduce critters and other animals by transferring them over from other islands or by building a birdhouse. The Field Guide also highlights in red any hindrances such as sick trees that need to be chopped down, corruption nodes that need to be destroyed, and birdhouses that need to be repaired.
Once you've met the Field Guide requirements, watch as the island's ecosystem transforms and comes back to life right before your very eyes!feels good
There are several rewards to gain after restoring an island’s ecosystem; you will literally be feelin’ good as you’ll receive the “Enthusiastic” condition, which boosts your running speed, attack speed and damage, as well as momentum capacity.
Additionally, you will be able to harvest special crops that were previously overrun by weeds, access chests and different areas of the island that were previously blocked by vines, and tame animals.
The current Ecosystem Restoration mechanic is an introduction to what we have planned. Here’s a glimpse of what’s to come:
Animals Adopting You
To move animals between islands, you will have to first restore the ecosystem. Once the ecosystem is restored, an animal can adopt you, enabling you to relocate them to another island or bring them back to your home base.
Dream Herbs
Dream Herbs are a unique crop that will be found on low vitality islands. Restore the ecosystem to gather them!
The consumption of Dream Herbs will allow you to lucid dream and control your progression (more info on the Dream System later).
Life Trees
Each Tablemap sector contains a Life Tree, a massive tree species that wilted with the coming of the corruption.
Restoring the ecosystems of all islands surrounding these trees will revive them, revealing a vast hollow chamber at their roots that grant access to hidden rewards.
Restoring the Life Tree also imbues the sector of that biome with benefits, like favourable weather, revival of long-lost crops, and more.
Life Trees and its Saplings will grant Life Fruits: these fruits will have various purposes, notably for animal breeding and the Stormchaser system.
Here's a sneak peek at the Life Tree concept.
So, get ready, Sky Sailor! With your Field Guide in hand and a heart full of hope, embark on this enchanting mission to reinstate balance to the natural environment. Remember that the ecosystem is counting on you — give to it and it will give back. Happy exploring, and may the winds of restoration carry you forward.
Looking for other explorers to restore the ecosystem with? Join our Community Discord!
