Bring It On!
Recent Updates + Looking Forward
First, I wanted to take a moment to apologize for bugs and issues introduced in the latest Update. I have only myself to blame. I did not do enough testing before putting out the release to catch the bugs that I should have caught, and I did not realize that there would be so many people with performance issues once the release went out. These are oversights on my part and I have no one else to blame. I am mortified that these issues made it out into the world and I can only say that I am sorry and that I am doing everything in my power to fix them - and to learn from my mistake so that future releases do not have these kinds of problems ever again.
The last build to go out should have solved most of the hard crashes that were being reported.
We have a new build that is being tested right now that should help fix the performance issues and keep the game from crashing from lag.
If things go well, this update will be out later tonight (4/13) or tomorrow (4/14).
For as long as I can remember (messing around in BASIC on my Dad's Commodore 64) I have wanted to make games - not to join a AAA studio and be told what to work on - but to create my own interesting experiences and tell stories that resonate with other people. I am more interested in seeing more people play an enjoy my games than I am in seeing profits, which is why so many of my games are free or at a very low price point. I want people to enjoy the thing I've made more than I want to get rich from them buying everything I put out.
However, the reality of our world is that the stuff that I spend time and resources on HAS to be able to bring in enough profit that allows me to keep working on them if I want to keep making more games. None of my games have done that, yet.
This game was supposed to break that trend. I started on it at the height of Vampire Survivor (and Survivor-like) popularity, not so much to 'cash in' on the trend but to try my own spin on a beloved formula. Here we are a year later and the game is now only about halfway finished - and no one is buying it. No one is talking about it. And very, very few of you are playing it.
It is a wonderful feeling to finally see that someone has left a comment on something I've worked on. But these last couple of days since the Update, seeing nothing but people upset that the game was breaking... people who were - for once - actually WANTING to play the game, was more heartbreaking and overwhelming that I can even express.
All this is to say that I am dedicated to making this right for anyone who was upset or impacted by the problems in the new release.
I am going to do what it takes to fix the performance/lag/framerate issues.
I am going to do better at chasing down crashes and bugs.
I am going to continue to work on this game until it is *DONE* and is finished, regardless of how long it takes, or how many (or few) people support the game.
I would understand if you want to ask Steam for a refund on the game.
Hopefully you decide to stick around and keep playing the game, though - and if you do, I hope maybe you can tell others what it is you like about the game. A short review goes a LONG way. Record a video or stream playing it if you want. It all helps.
For the next update, I've already started planning some things.
First, I want to improve gamepad support. I know that it is a little wonky - especially on the Character Select menu and the Map - and I want to make it feel better to move around the menus with a Gamepad.
I also plan on adding a short "tutorial" to the game - which can be skipped, and re-played in the future.
Of course, the next Major update will add a new level, new bosses, and new characters, weapons, and items to unlock - but those will be a surprise for now!
Later on down the line, I want to add a Bestiary, and an Encyclopedia that talks about all the Characters, locations, items, weapons, etc.
I also might change up some of the menus a bit - maybe add a way to 'disable' unlocked weapons/items you don't like, and maybe have shorter side-missions in places that you've already cleared - like going back to the Grasslands to fight just the bosses or something.
These are all the things that are going to be worked on next.
If you have any suggestions or ideas for ways to improve the game or even new characters or weapons, please let me know!
We have an official Discord, or you can email us.
Read this post on how to reach out to us: https://steamcommunity.com/app/2020460/discussions/0/5254037276319332939/
Anyway, that's enough rambling from me for now. Please keep an eye out for the next update. I hope to have it ready tonight if I can. If you are STILL experiencing issues, I would love to hear about them!
Thanks for sticking around!
v0.8.4 - More bug fixes
Please let us know how this update feels for you!
Sorry for the problems!
Thanks for playing!
v0.8.1 - Minor Fixes
Hopefully this makes the game more playable for more people!
Please do not hesitate to let us know if you have more issues - or if this improves things!
We are going to keep investigating ways to improve performance further if possible.
It's finally here! Version 0.8: City Streets!
- New Level 4: City Streets
Fight your way through the narrow streets of the city! Buildings funnel you into narrow streets & you have to keep moving to avoid getting boxed in!
- New Unlockable Characters
We've added 4 new characters to the game! 3 of them are hidden in levels, and 1 of them is unlocked via Mastery! This brings the total number of characters in the game up to 12!
- Weapons and Items
We have changed the way weapons and items work a little bit. We've removed a bunch of the starter weapons and items from the game by default.
Those items and weapons are now unlocked in different ways: some achievements unlock them as rewards, some are unlocked by mastering characters. Also, items and weapons that are unique to a character become 'unlocked' for all characters when you master that character.
For example: master Sir Gerveson the Knight and you'll unlock the Short Sword to be available for all characters!
- Treasure Chests
Elite enemies and midbosses will now drop Treasure Chests! Stand on them to open and get prizes like XP bonuses, Soulstones, or even Relics!
- Relics
Relics are VERY RARE items that can be found in Treasure Chests that majorly impact your gameplay. There are 3 of them right now with more to come!
- Better enemy AI
We've improved the enemy AI a lot. Enemies are now smarter, especially with pathfinding, and the logic for spawning enemies has been improved. This is hopefully something that you won't even notice, except to stop seeing enemies stuck behind walls as much!
- Lots of minor tweaks and bug fixes!
We've tried to improve the overall game as best as we could, such as fixing some issues with the sound options and adding an option for VSync, plus lots more!
We spent a lot of time and effort getting this ready for you, and we hope you enjoy this update!
Stay tuned for more updates in the future!
COMING SOON: City Streets Update
I know it has been a little while, but we at Axol Studio, LLC wanted to chime in and let you know that an update is coming soon to the game!
The City Streets update will include:
- a new level - the titular City Streets with a new music track
- new boss encounters
- new unlockable characters
- new weapons
- new enemies
- and new treasure chests that can be dropped by elite enemies and midbosses.
Also, this update overhauls the enemy pathfinding logic completely making them slightly smarter than they were before!
We are hard at work trying to get this update to you as soon as possible, so stay tuned!
v0.6.3 - Fixing Character Mastery
If you have previously mastered a character but did not 'unlock' their reward/achievement, you should automatically unlock them when entering the character select screen.
Roadmap of the Future
Hello everyone! This is Tim - the founder of Axol Studio, LLC and the lead developer on Bring It On!
I wanted to take some time to talk to you about the status of the game, and the plans for the future.
We’ve been working on this game almost non-stop since the end of February. After taking a “break” to work on our Game Jam game: Starmander two weeks ago, and then taking another week-long break from that break, I thought it would be as good a time as any to update everyone on how and where things are going with the game.
Next Update
Our next update will introduce a new level: City Streets
This level will take place in the streets and narrow alleys of a crowded city, and, as with our other levels, will include 2 new bosses and a new unlockable character!
We want to try something new and different with this level and give you a sense of the claustrophobic and cramped feeling of the city. Combat will be squeezed into narrow vertical and horizontal corridors instead of being spread across the whole screen.
We also want to try to take some of what we learned with the Major Boss in the Fetid Fields and have boss encounters that contain multiple entities. I’m not 100% sure what form that will take just yet, but we’re working on it.
We are also planning to implement a feature that I have wanted to get into the game for a long time: Chests!
Defeating Elite Enemies and Bosses will now drop chests of varying levels: Common, Uncommon, and Rare! By standing next to a chest, a countdown will appear, and when the countdown reaches 0, the chest will open - with rarer/better chests taking longer to open.
Chests can contain various amounts of Experience Gems, Soulstones, or sometimes a Relic!
Relics are going to be a new item that can be collected while playing in a level. Relics will be fairly rare - you might only see one or two of them in a level, but they will have some WILD effects. Some good, some… well, interesting.
Relics will bestow passive, ‘game changing’ effects once they get picked up and can increase your score at the end of the level.
Some example Relics might include:
- Volatile Oil - ALL Enemies Explode when defeated dealing damage to the player AND other enemies
- Repulsion Charm - Critical Hits will knock back enemies 1000%
- Inferno Boots - Leave a trail of fire wherever you walk that hurts you as well as enemies.
These are just a few examples that may or may not make it into the next or future updates. We have several more planned, but we want to keep them a surprise.
Future Updates
In the long-term, we have a lot of things planned!
In addition to several more levels, many more characters, bosses, weapons, and items, we have a few major features that we’re working on.
We’re working on a special collectable item: Arcana
These will be picked up from chests, like Relics, but will be 1-use items with powerful effects.
You can hold onto one Arcana at a time, and there will be some input to trigger it.
Arcana will have effects like: instantly kill all enemies on the screen, or slow down all enemies for a short amount of time, etc.
We have some plans for a new section of the game: The Smith
Between games, you can visit the Smith to unlock new weapons and items - or ‘activate’/‘deactivate’ weapons and items from showing up as upgrade choices. Currently, the plan is to have these cost Soulstones, but we might introduce another kind of currency as we test this feature out.
Do you want to try your hand at some shorter, more interesting, and more skill-testing gameplay? How about Side Missions?
In addition to filling out the map with new levels, we intend to add new pips on the map that will appear after clearing a level that will allow you to revisit a level with various special rules, constraints, objectives, or other fun differences. Maybe revisit the Grasslands level but the only enemies are the bosses and you have to defeat them in 10 minutes or less?
Or you have to take on both bosses in a level at the same time?
We hope this feature will add lots of new, fun ways to experiment with different builds or fun, crazy rules.
We’ve got some more work to do to get these features implemented, so don’t expect them for another update or two.
Well, that’s all I have to say for now. There are more ideas in the works, but we’ll save those for another time.
As always, thank you for your continued support! If you have any questions or suggestions, we’d love to hear them! Contact us at info@axolstudio.com
Until next time: play on!
v0.6.2 - Minor Bug Fix
He should be back to work now and no longer causing issues.
Thanks for playing! 👩🌾
Minor update v0.6.1
v0.6 is now Live!
This update adds the Fetid Fields level of the game - which means 2 new characters to unlock (one found in the field itself, and one found by mastering that character), and 2 new bosses to face!
This update also contains several tweaks and fixes to the game. The levels have been changed a little bit to be not quite as difficult, and I've heard that the minotaurs have recently migrated out of the swamp...
What would you like to see added to the game? Do you have ideas for new characters, weapons, items, levels, bosses?
If you like this game, please tell your friends! This game survives on its players! We hope you enjoy the game, and would love to hear from you!
See you soon! 🛸