Greetings interdimensional adventurers, we come bearing good news! Our next free update to Astral Flux is nearing completion. Nathan has prepared a video devlog outlining what you can expect to see in the Submerged update:
We will be beta testing the update from December 17 until early next year. Existing players are encouraged to sign up and will receive priority. We are also inviting new players (you will be provided with a key), but we have limited space.
If you’re interested you can sign up here! Space is limited so please sign up early to secure your spot. Submissions will close on December 16.
Safe travels, AF Team
Artifact Hunter Update Now Available!
We are pleased to announce that the second major update to Astral Flux is now available!
New Features 🙌
New achievement: Artifact Hunter!
New temple escape mechanic: world destroyers
New mechanic: artifact system! Discover randomized artifacts during your runs, apply gameplay modifiers in subsequent runs. (See devlog for full details)
New stats UI and large minimap display (press Tab key or Back button to access)
Bug Fixes/Improvements 🐛
Minor visual updates to tutorial scene
Fix for some enemies remaining passive when aggroed
Update damage upgrade descriptions to be more clear
Fix for player walk animation remaining active during certain situations (teleporting, etc)
Make player invincible during teleportation
Fix some enemy navigation issues
Balance Changes ⚖️
Chance of enemies spawning in aggro state
Enemies now aggro when hit
Tweak enemy spawn logic (The enemy difficulty spawn curve was not properly evaluated in previous builds; this has been corrected)
Devlog: Artifact Hunter
Hey, it’s Adam from Cosmocat here with some details about the upcoming content update for Astral Flux: the Artifact Hunter update!
This update adds several new mechanics to the game, the most notable of which is the artifact system.
The artifact system consists of multiple parts. Firstly are the actual artifacts: these mysterious objects are found during your run (at most: one per world) but can’t actually be used until you bring them back to your ship to decipher them.
To facilitate that, you’ll now start your run in your ship, where you’ll have access to a (comically large) computer that is able to analyze the artifacts to determine their effects.
The artifact effects available in this update are: enemy spawn rate, enemy health, item spawn rate, starting oxygen, aggro probability and world destroyer spawn rate. (More on those last two in a minute.)
Artifacts can provide either a buff, a debuff, or a combined buff/debuff.
You read that right: some artifacts will buff your oxygen (and quite significantly). Hopefully this will help alleviate some stress for the players who expressed their dislike of the oxygen system. 😉
Naturally, there’s a new achievement to go along with this, appropriately dubbed “Artifact Hunter”.
To help you make better decisions during your run, we’ve also added a new stats UI and map display screen. This screen will show you the currently active artifacts, along with your stats (rate of fire, damage, etc.), and an enlarged version of the map.
Last but not least, we’ve added a couple new mechanics to keep you on your toes.
Enemies now have a chance of spawning in an aggro state. Moreover, when you attack them, they will automatically aggro. (Previously enemies only aggroed during the escape segment.) Additionally, we’ve added a new hazard during the escape segment: world destroyers! These anomalies will spawn randomly around you, doing damage as well as what their name implies: literally destroying the world. In fact, this can be both a hindrance, and a benefit, as you can use them to carve a path out of the temple.
As noted above, both the aggro probability and the world destroyer spawn rate can be affected by artifacts.
We’re looking forward to sharing the update with you!
If you’re keen to check it out now, we’ve uploaded a preview build to the beta branch. Feel free to comment here or on the Cosmocat Discord with your thoughts. You can expect the official release within the next few weeks. (It's a brand new branch; you might need to restart Steam for it to appear)
If you’re curious about what’s coming next, some ideas we’ve been kicking around for our final two content updates include: new worlds (including new enemies, bosses, etc.) via branching paths, new upgrades, and new weapons. What do you think? Are there things you’d like to see more of? We’d love to hear from you!
Until next time, Adam
Balance of Power Update Now Available!
Today's the day! The Balance of Power is now available!
New Features 🙌
Add a settings menu (game, graphics and audio settings)
New exchanger types: oxygen -> health, health -> oxygen, coins -> health
New upgrades: double jump, reset dash on wallcling, ground pound
Oxygen zones. Need a breather? Stand by a tree to stop your oxygen from depleting
Bug Fixes/Improvements 🐛
Fix for player bullets not colliding with indestructible tiles
Fix for enemy bullets not colliding with indestructible tiles nor destructible tiles
Apply smoothing to homing bullets
Improve enemy random path generation
Remove background tiles from mini boss room entrance
Partial fix for final boss phase not cancelled immediately on death
More feedback for small and large jelly attack
More feedback for ground robot attack
Fix for long HUD text wrapping (time, coins)
Music now paused on pause
Improve SFX spatialization: all sounds are now wider, more natural sounding
Hide oxygen time in player ship and tutorial
Disallow pausing during screen transitions
Speed up treasure chest opening animation
Various visual fixes/polish
Revise final boss room layout
Balance Changes ⚖️
Challenge room updates: adjust spawn logic, enemy difficulty, room layout, add ground hazards, add more enemies, plus a new enemy!
Adjust probability of exchangers and treasure chests
Randomize enemy bullet spread
Faster bullets for small jelly
Faster bullets for ground robot, no longer homing
Extra heart items are now temporary (i.e. they act like a shield)
Enemies are now spawned randomly; you should notice less repetition
Remove max health item
Add aggro states for additional enemy types
Increase starting oxygen (4.5 -> 5 mins)
Increase max oxygen time (6 -> 10 mins)
Enemy missiles can now be destroyed with a single bullet
Adjust final boss room layout, add exchanger
Reduce hitbox for final boss lasers
Final boss laser attack now actually targets player
Ground robot enemies no longer start underground
Devlog: Balance of Power
Hey, Adam from Cosmocat here. Nathan and I are excited to share with you the first major update to Astral Flux since launch: the Balance of Power update!
As you can probably tell from the name, this update is all about balancing. But it’s so much more than that: it also includes numerous bug fixes, improvements, new features, and a whole lot more.
We’ve prepared a video devlog outlining what you can expect to see when the update launches on February 14th. And to celebrate the launch, we’re offering a 25% discount on Astral Flux during the Balance of Power launch week!
Thanks for watching! Adam & Nathan
Build 7.2
Hey, back again with a small patch to fix a minor visual issue in build 7.1.
P.S. Stay tuned for some big news!
Build 7.1
Hey, back again with a small patch update to fix a performance regression in build 7. Let us know if you run into any slowdowns.
Build 7 release notes
Thanks to everyone who helped make the release a success! We’re pleased to announce the first post-release update. This update clears up a few release bugs, improves onboarding, and makes several balancing updates that we believe will bring the difficulty more in line with your expectations.
New Features 🙌
New custom adaptive final boss music
Bug Fixes/Improvements 🐛
Explosions now have a 50% chance of causing ceiling enemies to drop
Allow pausing in player ship
Increase hitbox size for world 1 boss
Various minor audio and visual fixes
Start world 2 boss faster to minimize chance of player walking into swords
Close final boss gate faster to minimize chance of player trapping themselves outside
Potential performance optimization (pause some distant off-screen enemies to reduce CPU/physics load)
Add HUD feedback when collecting oxygen, coins, and activating switches
Improve usability of oxygen refill stations by clearly showing coins -> oxygen exchange details
Spikey enemies can now be killed via explosions
Fix some issues with physics-based coins
Fix for world 1 boss not always taking damage
Fix for player stuck moving slowly after holding exploding barrel
Fix various scenarios in which player could remain in the shooting state
Fix for pausing during teleporting leaving player frozen
Balance Changes
Increase world 1 boss health, add ceiling worms
Fix for world 3 boss head health not refilling fully after each phase
Decrease probability of bottles spawning hearts and oxygen (50% -> 33%)
50% chance of chests being trapped
Remove item spawns for world 1 and 2 bosses
Increase difficulty of challenge rooms
Known Issues See this forum post for known issues with the latest build
P.S. We will soon be posting a devlog with our plans for the future. We have lots of cool stuff in the works and we’re excited to share! Stay tuned...
Astral Flux developer live stream
The time has arrived: Astral Flux is now available! We are very excited to see that many people have started playing the game.
To celebrate the release of Astral Flux, we will talk about the development history, our plans for future content, and of course play the game. If you have any questions, drop them in the chat during the live stream so we can answer them.
See you there! :) Adam & Nathan
Link to broadcast: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1757920/broadcasts/
Astral Flux launch weekend!
It's happening! It's happening! Astral Flux is launching this Friday!
1️⃣ Friday: The game will be available with a launch discount of 10% (for the first week) 2️⃣ Saturday: Adam will be showcasing the game at the ISNS booth at Hal-Con (in Halifax, Nova Scotia) from 12 to 2 Atlantic time. Stop by and say hello! 3️⃣ Sunday: Adam and Nathan will be live streaming play throughs on the Steam store page, answering any questions you might have, and will also have a few keys up for grabs
Thanks to everyone who participated in our alpha and beta testing--we couldn't have done it without you!
