We're happy to announce our first community event on our Discord server! Check out the #octave-thoughts channel if you want to participate.
Suggest what you imagine Octave is thinking about and vote for your favorite line. The 2 most popular suggestions will be implemented in the game in the next major update!
Who is Octave? He is a confident boy. A bit arrogant, he's not very cautious about his word and he doesn't let people push him around. Octave broke into the garden to avenge his mother. Octave will be the third character playable, you'll be able to fight with him in the next major update.
Astral Update - June 2022
Happy to report this month the team has made huge progress on all the new content for the next update and soon all that will be left to do is polish and playtest! β¨
So, without further ado, here is our progress report -
Welcome to the Coral Archipelago! π
The next world is here! The islands are waiting for you to cross them and meet the marine fauna! But be careful, this world is the home of the dangerous Noble Zodiacs, fierce enemies that will never allow you to pass without an intense fight!
The coral archipelago
The Pantheon and Ayla figure π«
The Pantheon is a new place accessible from the main hub of the game. When used, the floating orb will teleport you into a place where we immortalized some of our backers as golden statues.
You can access the pantheon from the village
The Pantheon
We initially wanted to have these statues randomly spawning at the merchant's room but this way anyone can witness them directly from the main hub. If you also want to have a statue of yourself (it can be with your pet) and your name appears when standing next to the statue, you can still order it on our Backerkit store.
We also have great news regarding the Ayla figure (also available on the Backerkit store), Limited Run Games manufacturer produced an example version that suits our vision and we really love it - we hope you will like it as much as we do!
Kinship systemπ€
A completely new system has been added to the game, the kinship system!
In your runs, you will now have access to a new special room inside wich you'll get a new kind of item: the souvenirs.
Souvenirs will grant you the power of one (or more) of your friend(s) from the Garden! Each character has their own unique power that will surely help you through your journey!
The intent of this system was to make the characters you meet and love a bigger part of your escape attempts and feel a deeper connection to them when they join your adventure!
Work in progress room
If your health is low, Zim-Zim will come to your help!
Look forward to getting the souvenir as they will surely prove useful in your quest.
Octave combo attack
Zodiac summons rework β
Another accomplishment from this month was the rework of several of our Zodiac summons!
Most of the old summon either didn't fit the zodiac or were lacking in juice! So we decided to rework most of them to become truly impressive attacks!
Virgo new summon
But that's not all we also made summons for the next two A Zodiacs of the Coral Archipelago, enjoy a sneak peek!
Scorpio summon
New spells - the Zodiacs spells β
We added a new kind of spell to the game, the Zodiac spells! They'll give you the ability to use some of the zodiacs signature attacks as your own.
Don't expect to find them like others spells! They will only be accessible in a special place, but we'll let you find out for yourselves.
Capricorn zodiac spell
Andromeda's bar π₯
The door to the interior of the Andromeda's bar is now open, in here you'll be able to meet the zodiacs and talk with them in a peaceful environment.
Get insight about the world by the mouth of your enemies, learn more about them and if you're lucky, they might even join you directly in your journey!
Interior of Andromeda's bar
Discord new emotes! Join us! β¨
We also did something for our lovely discord community. New Astral Ascent emotes have been added to the server for you to express yourself there or on any other place if you have Discord Nitro!
We hope you'll enjoy them as much as we do!
This month has been a great month of progress and we cannot wait to let you play with all of this new content!
Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game!
Hard working team Have a great day and week!
-The Hibernian Workshop Team
Patch Notes - June 2022 - 0.34.1
βChanges inspired by our community!
Major Features
New Language: Japanese has been added in the game.
Sand Shark trap: World 2 now has a new trap that replaces the original firing projectiles statues.
Small Features
Carnivorous Plants: They deactivate less frequently in order to be less visually noisy.
Implementation of new context dialogs.
Octave and Calie disappeared from the Hub in preparation for their release.
Armor spike goes away faster becomes darker when it does not hit anymore.
Trees could hide the next level difficulty information in Andromeda's bar.
Auto guided spells will not target invincible enemies anymore.
Thunder sparks crawl on ground further than before.
Level progress UI doesn't open automatically after equiping a new spell
Bug Fixes
Capricorn books trail would sometime be in front of Capricorn.
First of all, we want to thank everyone for making this Early Access launch so succesful! We loved watching your reactions, reading your theories and your suggestions - one major of these suggestions is being developed.
Also, if you have the occasion to leave a review on Steam, it helps us gain visibility and it is much appreciated!
All the team is thrilled for what's coming next and eager to give you the great experience you are looking for!
We started working on Octave! π
You are all waiting for it and, as promised, we are working on implementing a new playable character: Octave the gunslinger! As the name suggest, he will fight at a distance using two guns and bring ethereal weapons to the battle! We hope you'll have fun playing around with him once the update will be out!
Octave the gunslinger
New bosses in the work! β
We also made a lot of progress on the next bosses for the coral archipelago. Scorpio beat you up again and again stopping you from going through the third world but soon you'll be able to take your revenge! However, don't expect an easy battle, Scorpio may be arrogant but he has the power to back it up!
Scorpio won't give you any slack!
A new star guardian also joined the frey: Draco! A mysterious and blazing warrior capable of incredible martial feats!
Draco is a fierce enemy!
New Traps and Props! π‘
We are working hard on the coral archiepelago world and while we don't have suitable visuals to share for now, we worked on some new traps and props for this specific world inspired by the marine life. We hope they'll be of good use in your next adventures!
Jelly Fish
We also made a big change from the W2 traps, we decided to remove the statue trap that we considered not being a good trap and replaced it by this new sand shark trap! Watch where you are walking!
Beware of the sand sharks!
New NPC and room: The Sun βοΈ and The Moon π
Lastly for the content update, we are working on additional rooms to the game inspired by the sun and the moon.
These new unique rooms will ONLY be accessible by activating a new rare altar in exploration rooms and will contain the most powerful of spell you ever saw in the game.
In the sun room, you'll have access to 3 altars selling you powerful spell for a great amount of different resources like Quartz, Stars and Keys.
The sun room
In the moon room, you'll also have access to 3 altars selling even more powerful spell than in the sun room however you'll have to bargain with your max health to obtain them so don't get too greedy!
Moon room
We're again thankful to everyone who made our Early access launch a success and we hope you are thrilled to see what's waiting for you in the next update that is targeted to release for mid August!
Don't forget our Backerkit shop and our Discord Server to speak with the community and give us feedbacks on the game!
Hard working team
Have a wonderful day, -The Hibernian Workshop Team
Astral Ascent - Some news from the Hibernian Workshop
Dear Astral Ascent players,
First of all, we wanted to thank you for the support and the love you've sent us since the release of the Early Access. It's a huge step for us after over 3 years of work on the game and we're so happy to see how many players enjoy playing Astral Ascent. π
We have received some feedbacks about crashes and bugs related to performance issues. We are really sorry about that, we know that's is a major problem right now and we are working hard to fix this: for the next major update, the game will be ported with a new game exporter, much more optimized than the one we're using today. This change should solve most of the issues encountered and the game should run way smoother across the board.
While waiting for this update, we suggest you to take a look at our common issues guide. You'll find some temporary solutions to avoid crashes. This guide is updated each time a new solution is discovered. For example, recently, some players noticed a major performance boost by installing the game on a SSD. It turns out it helps a lot of players who had performance issues. So feel free to add a comment if it doesn't work or if you find a new solution.
If you encounter any more issues, you can join our Discord server and send a message in the #bug-report channel or in the thread of the common issues guide.
In the meantime, we are working on a small update that should come in the next few weeks. Some minor changes will be made there and you'll be able to play Astral Ascent in Japanese!
Thank you for everything and have a wonderful day, - The Hibernian Workshop Team β¨
Patch Notes - April 2022 - 0.33.7
βChanges inspired by our community!
Small Features
There's now a cooldown for meeting a Zodiac in a boss room after defeating the Zodiac there (1 run cooldown)
community inspired β Crystals currency are now auto-collected by player, as long as it enters on player sight at least once
community inspired β Players fall attack (pressing down+jump while in air) now recover one mana piece (just like any other basic attack)
community inspired β It's not possible to find spells with gambits placed on ""locked gambit slots"". This is to avoid confusion as if the gambit is working under this condition or not
At start of the game, players are now hinted about the possibility to play the game with a outline on some game related objects. This is a option intended to improve readibility wich might be prefered by some players.
Small buff on HP drop from enemies and HP found on quiet room
Poison / Explosion won't trigger the NG+ missile and NG+ thorn armor when they hit enemies as it could create chaos/ felt unfair.
More updates targeting better game performance
Balancing
Sagittarius challenge Timer changed from 45 to 35 seconds
NG+ random debuff: movevement speed debuff have been nerfed
Ice shards aura: Nerfed to spawn have more cooldown between ice orb spawn
Bug Fixes
When summoning Taurus as player 2, in co-op mode, the summon buff targeted player 1
Sagittarius summon didn't trigger it effect when summoned by player 2
The subtitle for NPC/PC real time dialog could disapear before it's audio finished
The volume of the music played in the hub area could change value incorrectly after opening the poetic peddler menu
Text tips we're lost after changing game language (until game was restarted)
Sometimes the text tips for effects could display hints wrongly (hints displayed for effects not presented in the spell/gambit/relic)
community inspired β It was possible to randomly be spawned in a gray screen when starting a new run, forcing player to restart the game
Going back to main menu during a zodiac challenge could trigger wierd behaviors when going back to the game hub
community inspired β Carnivorous Plants in World 1 does not attack you while looting anymore.
Deactivated World 2 fire statue while searching for replacements.
Performances improvements when hitting enemies.
Balancing
Enter room heal Aura: The Hp given back by this aura effect has been changed from 10 hp per room to 5% Hp per room
Missile on cast Aura: Behavior has been changed to spawn 2 missiles after casting a spell everytime. Cumulating this aura will also augment the number of missiles spawned
Yalee Revenge Aura: This aura will now spawn +1 Yalee per time you have it equiped (to a maximum of 4 yalee at once)
Yalee on spell refresh Aura: This aura will now spawn +1 Yalee per time you have it equiped (to a maximum of 4 yalee at once)
Level Design
Removed some Flame geyser in the special trap exploration room of World 2.
Removed some pirannah plants in the special trap exploration room of Wolrd 1.
Interface
community inspired β Next spells mana cost are now displayed in red if not enough mana to cast them.
community inspired β Added spell ID number and gambits icons next to each spell, including above player's head.
Bug Fixes
""New"" icon above NPCs would disappear weirdly but moving up.
French translations typos.
Preview spell would trigger even if pressing once instead of holding.
Sometimes it was possible for enemies to be hited even if player was not attacking it
URL links from the game main menu was not working properlly (social media links and patch notes)
community inspired β New Resolution Quality graphic option: It's possible now to reduce resolution quality through the game graphic options. This should help players with weaker graphic boards to player the game with better FPS
Small Features
Change the description of Summon Yalee Gambits, they will now display the number of Yalee that will be summoned at once.
Change the description of ""Elite or Higher"" gambits to ""Elite or boss""
Disabled the context dialog of getting a spell in intro room.
community inspired β Healing shards now restore 10 hp to players if they are full of shards when collecting it.
Balancing
Sagittarius summon nerf: Nerfed the duration of Sagittarius summon from 20 to 16 seconds.
Change fight room timer duration: Change the timer to 45 seconds instead of 30, this should make them a lot more doable while still being challenging.
NERF - SPIRIT SWORD: Duration of the spell has been reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds. Ai and damage is unchanged.
NERF - RAVAGING SPHERES: Damage output of the spell has been slightly reduced
BUFF - GLACIAL SPIKES: Damage output of the spell has been augmented.
NERF - SHATTERING STARS: Damage output of the spell has been reduced.
NERF - MAGMA COMETS: Damage output of the spell has been reduced.
BUFF - KI BLAST: Damage output of the spell has been augmented.
BUFF - DARK BURST: Damage output of the spell has been augmented.
NERF - NΒ°012 ELECTRIC SCALPELS: Damage output of the spell has been reduced.
NERF - LIGHTSPEED FIST: Damage output of the spell has been reduced.
Minibosses and Zodiacs now spawn one spell / one gambit and one slot unlocker.
community inspired β Carnivorous Plants collider hitbox has been improved.
Reduced heals from Resting Rooms, from Zodiacs bosses rewards, and crystal healing shards are less frequents on enemies.
Common Spells are more frequent now.
Level Design
Removed some of the W2 geyser trap in the special exploration room so they don't bother you when trying to equip newly acquired loot.
Interface
community inspired β Dialogues are now skippable with ""enter"" and mouse inputs
community inspired β When leaving a run, warning message about losing current progression has been added.
Narrative Design
Fixed a minor issue with a french dialog displayed while being in english in the settings.
Bug Fixes
Game would bug after trying to unlock the last 3 colors of the Stylist NPC
Lottery could have chest stacking giving way too many rewards.
community inspired β Zodiacs not attacking from times to times.
community inspired β One color from Oloon was not unlockable.
community inspired β Gambits affecting ""elites or higher"" were not affecting minibosses.
Astral Spirits now runaway when being hit once.
community inspired β ""NaN"" displayed on Botanist interface.
community inspired β Spells/Gambits could spawn inside walls.
community inspired β New Resolution Quality graphic option: It's possible now to reduce resolution quality through the game graphic options. This should help players with weaker graphic boards to player the game with better FPS
Small Features
Change the description of Summon Yalee Gambits, they will now display the number of Yalee that will be summoned at once.
Change the description of ""Elite or Higher"" gambits to ""Elite or boss""
Disabled the context dialog of getting a spell in intro room.
community inspired β Healing shards now restore 10 hp to players if they are full of shards when collecting it.
Balancing
Sagittarius summon nerf: Nerfed the duration of Sagittarius summon from 20 to 16 seconds.
Change fight room timer duration: Change the timer to 45 seconds instead of 30, this should make them a lot more doable while still being challenging.
NERF - SPIRIT SWORD: Duration of the spell has been reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds. Ai and damage is unchanged.
NERF - RAVAGING SPHERES: Damage output of the spell has been slightly reduced
BUFF - GLACIAL SPIKES: Damage output of the spell has been augmented.
NERF - SHATTERING STARS: Damage output of the spell has been reduced.
NERF - MAGMA COMETS: Damage output of the spell has been reduced.
BUFF - KI BLAST: Damage output of the spell has been augmented.
BUFF - DARK BURST: Damage output of the spell has been augmented.
NERF - NΒ°012 ELECTRIC SCALPELS: Damage output of the spell has been reduced.
NERF - LIGHTSPEED FIST: Damage output of the spell has been reduced.
Minibosses and Zodiacs now spawn one spell / one gambit and one slot unlocker.
community inspired β Carnivorous Plants collider hitbox has been improved.
Reduced heals from Resting Rooms, from Zodiacs bosses rewards, and crystal healing shards are less frequents on enemies.
Common Spells are more frequent now.
Level Design
Removed some of the W2 geyser trap in the special exploration room so they don't bother you when trying to equip newly acquired loot.
Interface
community inspired β Dialogues are now skippable with ""enter"" and mouse inputs
community inspired β When leaving a run, warning message about losing current progression has been added.
Narrative Design
Fixed a minor issue with a french dialog displayed while being in english in the settings.
Bug Fixes
Game would bug after trying to unlock the last 3 colors of the Stylist NPC
Lottery could have chest stacking giving way too many rewards.
community inspired β Zodiacs not attacking from times to times.
community inspired β One color from Oloon was not unlockable.
community inspired β Gambits affecting ""elites or higher"" were not affecting minibosses.
Astral Spirits now runaway when being hit once.
community inspired β ""NaN"" displayed on Botanist interface.
community inspired β Spells/Gambits could spawn inside walls.
Added an option to reduce fullscreen quality for low settings
Dedicated Graphic Card picking: It was possible that for some users for their dedicated graphic card to not get picked to run the game in previous versions. Now the game should prioritize using the computer didicated graphic card
Small Features
Performances improvements on effects on enemies
Performances improvements on World 2 level design elements
Performances improvements on Falling Leaves
Interface
Hidden mouse cursor when playing with a controller
