We already have a 1.1 update in the works that adds new items and other content as a thank you for all your support.
Between 1.0 and 1.1 we will also be releasing our standard hotfixes & minor patches to make sure urgent issues are addressed ASAP.
The End of the Road
If you all hadn't guessed by now, this launch means a lot to us personally.
The three of us started Afterburner Studios almost exactly three years ago. At the time, we were feeling burned out and disillusioned with traditional game development.
After talking about going independent, we realized we had very similar values and goals. We happened to be in a very fortunate position, already transitioning out of another game development project where we all met. We decided to take a risk and create something we felt true ownership of.
Honestly, it was a huge gamble. We were scared, anxious and incredibly excited. In that respect, not all that much has changed, but what drove us forward was a love of games, creating games, and a desire to share an experience with you.
We've learned a lot about making games, building a business and working together over the past three years. Shipping any game is very challenging, let alone your first title as a team. Ultimately, we're incredibly proud of what we built, and it feels like a dream come true to be able to share that with you all.
So now that you know how important the project is to the team, I want to take a moment to explain how important you all have been to us.
We have had many milestones, a pre-alpha, a public alpha, a Kickstarter demo, a beta, an early access release and now, finally, a 1.0 launch.
Throughout each of these milestones, more and more of you dedicated your time, energy and emotion into the project with us.
Each step of the way, you helped guide the project with your encouragement, feedback and championing of Dreamscaper.
As much as we pride ourselves on doing a lot with a small team, Dreamscaper would not be what it is today without all of you.
So sincerely, from all of us at Afterburner, thank you for the continued support of Dreamscaper. It's allowed and enabled us to follow a dream that can feel impossible at times, and your impact can not be understated.
We truly hope you enjoy the full release of Dreamscaper, and we eagerly await your feedback.
If you've enjoyed Dreamscaper, please share with your friends, it makes a huge difference.
Finally, if you'd like to give us direct feedback, or even just hang out with us, check out our Discord:
Earlier Launch: August 5th, New Features & Price Change!
New Launch Date: August 5th
You often hear of games being delayed due to development issues. Well, we're ahead of schedule and will be ready to launch Dreamscaper one full week early on August 5th. Be sure to update your calendars!
New Price: $24.99 USD starting July 5th
We also wanted to take the opportunity to communicate that Dreamscaper's price will be increasing from $19.99 USD to $24.99 USD (or your regional equivalent) on July 5th. We feel very strongly, thanks to the feedback of our Early Access players over the last year, that we have substantially raised Dreamscaper's quality bar and packed it full of the content you'd expect from the most premium Action Roguelikes. This increase will help support both Dreamscaper's post-1.0 as well as Afterburner Studio's future titles.
Launch Discount
For those who were hoping to grab Dreamscaper at a discount before we leave Early Access, we have good news for you: we will launch on August 5th with a substantial launch discount. This means that, if you haven't already purchased Dreamscaper, we recommend you wait until August 5th to get the best deal between now and then.
Dreamscaper 1.0 - Massive Content Update
Now, without further ado, let's talk about our largest content update EVER that we are absolutely thrilled to share with you at Dreamscaper 1.0's launch. The focus of this update was to complete the Dreamscaper experience (fill the gaps in content & story) and add even more replayability for those of you who have already put dozens (if not hundreds) of hours into the game:
Increased Challenge (Dream Intensity)
Throughout Early Access, we spent a lot of time making Dreamscaper more accessible. As an increasing number of players have become more skilled at our combat, we identified the need to give those players a challenge. We have added "Dream Intensity" options to every run:
In what will be a very familiar design to Action Roguelike fans, players will be able to unlock the ability to opt-in to either Hard or Nightmare variants of a few different gameplay categories. These range from increasing overall damage dealt to Cassidy, to shaking up the configuration of enemies or the attack patterns of bosses. The higher Dream Intensity scores are not for the faint of heart, but player who succeed will be rewarded with new decorations for Cassidy's apartment as a testament to their skill.
New Biome: The Return
Throughout Early Access, the last two biomes of the game have been slight variations of each other. Now, each floor is given their own dedicated biome. This sixth and final biome is called "The Return":
Like the other biomes, it has its own set of randomly chosen encounters.
New Boss: Regret
One thing you will notice early into your run is that Isolation has been moved from the third biome (The Remembrance) to the second biome (The Renewal). Replacing Isolation's temporary spot is Regret:
What Regret lacks in size, it makes up for in cunning and agility.
New Boss: Resentment
Finally, there was one more remaining missing boss fight at the end of the fourth biome (The Descent). Rounding out our total number of epic boss fights to 6, we introduce Resentment:
Resentment is an absolute unit, but we believe you're all up for the challenge.
New Boss (Variant): True Loss
We don't want to give too much away, but there is now the ability to unlock a second phase of the final boss fight in our game.
New Enemies
Two new enemies will begin to spawn for those who decide to play on Nightmare Dream Intensities:
New Enemy: The Assassin
New Enemy: The Umbra Knight
Cassidy's Story (& Two Endings)
Many of you have asked about Cassidy's story. Throughout Early Access, you got to know the other residents of Redhaven, but Cassidy really only ever alluded to her own life & past. Now, defeating each Biome's boss will unlock very short vignettes that give a bit more insight into what Cassidy is going through. Additionally, beating Loss under certain conditions will finally give the true ending to Cassidy's story in Dreamscaper.
New HUD
Our HUD has used the same placeholder art for the last year, so thank you everyone for your patience. Over the last few months we have worked closely with UI artist Justine Raymond to overhaul our HUD with an aesthetic that more closely matches our dream style:
We've also changed our HUD so that less relevant elements will auto-hide when they're not in use.
New Languages
Thanks to your support throughout Early Access, we could afford to translate to 6 additional languages for our 1.0 launch:
German
French
Italian
Spanish
Japanese
Korean
We acknowledge that there was also demand for several other languages (Russian, Turkish, Portuguese, etc.), but there were budgetary constraints. We will continue to evaluate other languages depending on our 1.0 launch goes.
35 New Steam Achievements
We are increasing the total number of Steam Achievements from 10 to 45 at our 1.0 launch. We are also investigating Steam Trading Cards & Steam Points over the next month, as those are auxiliary features that actually don't require changes to the game itself.
7 New Music Tracks
Everything Dale North touches turns to gold, and these 7 new tracks are no exception. We are excited for the Dreamscaper Original Soundtrack to finally be complete. Thank you Dale!
Misc. Additions
Over the last few months we have primarily been releasing smaller Quality of Life updates you may have missed:
We hope that it's apparent how hard we've worked on our 1.0 launch. In addition to everything above, our small team of 3 also had to simultaneously port to the Nintendo Switch and navigate the business & marketing side of launching a game. That said, you may notice a lack of new items in this update.
The good news is that, thanks to you, Dreamscaper has already sold well enough in Early Access to warrant at least one free major content update in the form of Dreamscaper 1.1. While we don't have a specific date planned yet, it will add several new items, a new puzzle type, and of course it will include Quality of Life updates based on the feedback we receive from 1.0.
Between 1.0 and 1.1 we will also be releasing our standard hotfixes & minor patches to make sure urgent issues are addressed ASAP.
THANK YOU!
Thank you for joining us on this journey. It has been an honor to build Dreamscaper alongside all of you, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record: the game would simply not be at this level of quality without your feedback.
We look forward to delivering the "official" Dreamscaper 1.0 experience to all of you on August 5th!
Cheers, Rob, Ian & Paul
EDIT: Dreamscaper Launches out of Early Access on August 5th (previously 12th)!
Big news today Dreamers!
Dreamscaper is launching out of Early Access into 1.0 on August 12th August 5th!
After a year in Early Access, we're finally ready to call the Dreamscaper experience complete.
You can look forward to a ton of new content, but we're going to keep the details under wraps for now. Look for a more detailed write-up with info on the major changes for 1.0 soon.
As always, your continued feedback and support has made this all possible, so THANK YOU!
We're so excited to share what we have in store with you, but until then you can join us on Twitter & Discord to discuss the game, and share with your friends!
Twitter: http://twitter.com/dreamscapergame
Discord: http://discord.gg/dreamscaper
Final Stretch Update #1 - Hotfix #1 (0.16.1.2)
UH OH. I done goofed! I made an oopsie!
An optimization that was meant only for a certain console port accidentally made it onto the PC in the latest update. The result was that turning V-Sync on would sync your frames at a 30 Hz frequency instead of the intended 60 Hz on Windows. This is now fixed.
This is why we do early access! Thank you to everyone who caught this. I'm glad we had it sorted before our 1.0 launch.
- Rob
Final Stretch Update #1 (0.16.1.1)
Most of the changes are under-the-hood in preparation of our upcoming 1.0 launch, but these are the changes you can see in the build today:
New Music for Nightmare Event & Restore Rooms from Dale North
Bombs, Keys, Health, Sand, Resolve, Glass & Inspiration dropped by enemies should be much higher now.
Ideas should be much more common now.
Fixing bug where player can still perform actions when frozen.
Fixing bugs where some item speed modifiers aren't being respected.
Fixed Primal Scream audio bugs.
Particle systems are more readable on Lower quality settings.
Parried projectiles no longer appear to teleport.
Ranger attacks have better telegraphing, fixed poison attack hitbox duration.
Fixed some enemy out-of-bounds spawn locations.
Various graphical glitch fixes.
Various lighting improvements.
Various run-time optimizations.
Please let us know if you encounter any new bugs so that we can fix them up before launch!
Catnap Update #2 - Hotfix #3 (0.16.0.9)
- Fixing issue where Isolation's "Overwhelm" projectiles are moving way too fast - Fixing visual issue with the Critical Attack VFX - Fixing a minor attack pattern mistake in the final boss battle
Catnap Update #2 - Hotfix #2 (0.16.0.8)
- Experimenting w/ a change to make Heavies, Bruisers & Battlemages 2x resistant to parried projectiles. - Fixing collision box on Snowball Projectile. - Updated Chinese translations.
Catnap Update #2 - Hotfix #1 (0.16.0.7)
The initial tuning we put in for when lucid is drained when blocking hits with a shield was found to be too punishing. We've greatly reduced this amount and please let us know if you still have feedback for that feature. It's admittedly a bit of an experiment.
Catnap Update #2
As we mentioned in our last update, virtually all of our energy is focused on our upcoming Dreamscaper 1.0 release. In the meantime, we've made a huge number of (mostly user-suggested) improvements to the game that we feel comfortable releasing into Early Access in the form of our second Catnap Update.
Quality-of-life Improvements
Lucid Fountains now grant a random Lucid Drop Keepsake (+% Max Lucid)
Character Stats in the Inventory are only displayed for stats that have been modified from the default.
Daydreaming & Meditation no longer have explicit upgrade tiers to purchase. Tiers are unlocked simply through total currency spend.
Crystal Barrier will stagger nearby enemies when broken.
The Sketchbook has an exclamation mark next to discovered Ideas that haven't been viewed yet.
When discovering a new preferred gift, fanfare animation & sound is triggered.
Items that double keys and/or bombs will give you 1 of the currency if you have 0 before pickup.
Perfect Dodges additionally buff the interrupting Melee & Ranged Weapon attack damage as well.
Explicit Shatter has been replaced with Frozen enemies being shattered by natural critical hits (more common synergy).
Camera Zoom settings can now be set in the Controls options (Toggle, 1x, 2x, 4x).
Lobbed Player Projectiles have a consistent arc now, regardless of speed.
"Chained Effects" have been renamed to "Shock Chain" to reduce confusion over the feature.
Level Summary UI has received some polish.
Save slots now display "Nights Passed" and "Successful Runs"
The projectile-firing traps should now have better positioning outside of the level bounds, so that their collision does not impede the player.
The attack telegraphs appearing over the player's head have been given a stroke, made larger and more obvious.
Balance Changes
Level generation has been improved so that certain room types are statistically more common. For example, Enchantment room should now show up in approximately half of all floors.
Taking non-parried hits to your shield drains Lucid (not very much).
The Meditation upgrade "Celebrate My Success" has been moved to an earlier tier.
Bug Fixes
Fixing bug where fast-moving projectiles could skip past enemies.
Fixing bug where lobbed enemy projectiles could "hang" in the air.
Fixing bugs with controller force feedback.
Fixing bug with Treasure Map.
Fixing bug with Futuresight upgrade.
Fixing bugs where Character Stats could display 0 health.
Fixing bug where Nightmare Campground could receive repeating rooms.
Fixing bug where City was more likely to spawn specific rooms.
Fixing bug where enemies could rotate in a jerky fashion.
Fixing bug where some status effects could deal 0 damage.
Fixing camera issue for Negativty fight.
Numerous boss fixes.
Numerous enemy fixes.
Numerous level collision fixes.
Numerous UI fixes.
Numerous loot spawn location fixes.
Numerous typo fixes.
Closing Thoughts
This will likely be our last feature update before our 1.0 release. We will continue to patch bugs, but everything else we'd like to save for our full launch to make that moment as special as possible.
Thank you to all of you for helping to support Dreamscaper's development throughout Early Access. It literally would not have been possible without you. We know that many of you understandably have questions around the 1.0 release date, and while we can tell you that we've already made tremendous progress towards that milestone, we are unable to reveal a specific date at this time. We appreciate your patience and have been working hard to make it worth the wait!
If you encounter bugs or have additional feedback for this update, drop us a line here or over on Discord.
Cheers,
- Rob, Ian & Paul
Catnap Update #1
As we enter the final stretch of Dreamscaper's Early Access period, we are now focusing most of our efforts on delivering the best Dreamscaper 1.0 experience possible. The team is well on their way towards finishing the final biome, the two final bosses and fleshing out a more complete story for Cassidy.
While this work admittedly stretches our 3-person team fairly thin, we decided we still wanted to continue providing regular updates to those of you who continue to support our game's development. Today we kick-off the "Catnap" series of updates which focus primarily on quality-of-life improvements & gameplay refinements based directly on your feedback.
What's New?
Dodge Improvements
While we put a lot of time towards improving combat throughout Early Access, one area in particular that didn't get a lot of our attention was dodging. As players, you pointed out that not all dodges are created equal, and the ones with longer recovery time were particularly polarizing. Introducing the "Perfect Dodge Interrupt":
Originally suggested by Discord user "JT", we applied the same "Perfect" system we have for Melee & Ranged attacks to the recovery animations of each dodge. As you can see, even the dodges with the highest recovery become far more deadly once perfected.
Guard Break
We have heard your feedback that shielded enemies can break the flow of combat. Our original intent here was to introduce enemies that virtually required parrying, but as we added enemies with more nuanced hitstun rules, we believe this is no longer a necessity. Therefore, we've added the concept of "Guard Break" into our game (thank you "PiRoScOuT", "DaddyDeGrand" et al for the suggestion):
For now, all Alternate Attack on all Melee Weapons will break guard. We will continue to refine and expand on this system as we receive additional feedback.
New Secret Room Visuals
We have polished up our secret rooms by giving them a very distinct aesthetic. Thanks to Paul's gorgeous environments, they now truly feel like they're real secrets worth discovering.
New Exchange Room Visuals
Similarly, Paul gave the exchange rooms a distinct aesthetic as well.
Minimap Improvements
Discord user "Hashin" pointed out that there was no way to tell the difference between a portal that is Locked, Reinforced, or a combination of the two. For now, we have decided to simply color-code the portal in the UI.
Destructibles 2.0
There are admittedly quite a few issues with destructibles. We've reworked the mechanic from the ground up to solve all of the observed frustrations:
Destruction
Have you had times where it's taken way too long trying to fully destroy a cluster? What about one or two small stragglers getting completely lost? We are now far more generous with hits and we've introduced rules that prevent stragglers completely.
Bomb Rules
Originally we wanted players to be deliberate in where they place bombs for clearing reinforced destructibles. Over time, it became clear that it was frustrating to not fully destroy a cluster with a bomb. Fortunately, we also discovered that it's far more fun to be deliberate when placing bombs relative to multiple clusters, portals or enemies. Therefore, we've changed it so that bombs fully destroy a destructible cluster in order to encourage more experimentation with bombs!
General Improvements
Unclaimed items on the ground will be automatically recycled into sand on descension!
You can now recycle item choices without having to pick one up first.
Bombs have a short cooldown to prevent accidental double taps.
New discovered interests play a reveal animation when chit-chatting.
Gamepad UI navigation has been greatly improved.
A full audio balance & polish pass.
As always, a lot of bug fixes!
Closing Thoughts
Thank you so much to all of you for picking Dreamscaper up in Early Access. It not only helps support our development financially, but as you can see, your feedback and suggestions are directly improving the game.
If you have additional suggestions or feedback that you'd like to see in the next "Catnap" update, drop us a line here or over on Discord.
