In today's post, we got some exciting news to share with you. We are talking about the announcement of our next game, sharing the joy of winning our first award and more!
Dreamhack and Animecon Recap
As you might have read in our previous post we have been at two events in Europe. Dreamhack and Animecon. We would like to thank everyone for their compliments, feedback and the enjoyment that has been shown.
The announcement of Rogue Reaper: Awakening
At Dreamhack we have announced that we are continuing with the development of the Rogue Reaper franchise. During the development of Rogue Reaper: Awakening we want to have the community involved (that means you!).
We have created an official Rogue Reaper Discord server where we can chat with you. In the future, we would like to use this Discord server to receive feedback during the development stages and hear your thoughts.
You can join our Discord Server here: https://discordapp.com/invite/roguereaper.
While this is still a work-in-progress we invite you to join us on our next adventure.
Winning the 'Best Action Adventure Indie Playground'.
During Dreamhack we have received the award for the Best Action Adventure at the Indie Playground! Without you we might have never been where we are right now, so thank you for that.
The winners of the giveaway
During Dreamhack and Animecon we hosted two giveaways for the community.
The following people have won signed artwork:
Neesa
Joakim
Rinopelli
And congratulations to Sara with your Instagram post for winning the signed artbook.
All winners will be contacted by mail in the next week.
Below we will highlight some of the changes and provide you with the full patch notes.
A new health bar
The feedback that we have received over the last couple of weeks is that the way we are showing your current health can be quite difficult to interpret. While we made the decision to show as little UI as possible we agree that we might have gone a bit too far.
And for that reason, we have decided to show your health in a different way.
In this patch, we have added a health bar that is easier to understand, and still quite minimalistic.
The removal of Reaper Vision
In this patch, we are removing Reaper Vision. We believe that Reaper Vision is not working the way we intended it to do. We are also aware that Reaper Vision is causing many problems.
Reaper Vision causes big FPS drops on some computers
Sometimes you can get stuck in Reaper Vision, so you have to play the rest of the game with a gray filter
We might have given players the idea that Reaper Vision is mandatory to use telekinesis
While it's hard making decisions like these, we believe that giving a good and natural experience to everyone is an essential part of our philosophy.
Changing the hit indicator of the boss
One of the mechanics of the boss fight is that the player has to find out how to damage the boss. However, we do feel that it can be a little too difficult depending on where you are standing. Therefore we have changed the weak spot indicator so it is more clear.
We also changed the 'instant kill smoke' around the boss so it damages over time. This makes it less frustrating and more understandable what you died from.
Patch Notes
General
We fixed some bugs with the audio. Mainly that it wasn’t on the same level in some places.
Changed the way UI is rendered, which should increase FPS in-game.
We removed the reaper vision feature from the game.
We added a new health/resource bar, which replaces the resource circle in the middle of your screen.
With that, we added a new reticule which you can aim with.
We added an error message on game launch when your GPU does not support Shader Level 5.
The intro video should not stutter anymore on some setups. Let us know if you still experience this issue!
The resource fountains now stop glowing after you have used them, to make it clear that they can no longer be used.
Added a red haze indicator to show when the player is low on health/resource.
Level
With the removal of the reaper vision feature and the new health bar, we changed some of the tutorial text.
Fixed a bug where enemies sometimes could not walk on stairs.
Introduced some new enemies in the level so it feels less empty after the gargoyle fight.
Added more crates and barrels to supplement the new enemies.
Added a gate to the gargoyle fight; they must first be killed before you can continue.
Enemies
Fixed a bug where throwing an enemy on an enemy didn’t deal any damage.
Slightly tweaked the damage dealt by the rats that are spawned during the gargoyle fight.
Decreased the gargoyle projectile damage so the fight is fairer to the player.
Added new blood particles that should be more clear
Boss
We added a new particle effect to the boss, which will let you know you have dealt damage to it.
Changed the effect that indicates when and where you can melee the boss.
We fixed a bug where sometimes, the smoke would deal damage even outside of the indicator shown before spawning.
We changed the damage of the smoke around the boss from an insta-kill, to a stronger than normal damage over time. Watch your toes!
Abilities
Fixed some bugs in the ability view and optimized the layout so it’s more clear how to unlock abilities.
Why bug reports are important to us
We want to give you some clarification about how we handle bug reports, and why they are important to us.
Since we are a small indie studio, we love to work closely together with our community. We are watching many online videos of playthroughs, checking the discussions page on Steam and talking to you on social media.
Having our players report bugs makes it much easier to investigate this issue. Sometimes we ask for computer specifications after you have reported a bug. Having computer specs makes the process of investigating the bug easier for us.
We take all bug reports seriously. No matter how big or small they are.
We hope we have given some clarifications about how we handle bug reports.
Thank you for the continuous support of Rogue Reaper,
The Fireroot Studios Team
Celebration Summer Giveaway
To celebrate our attendance at Dreamhack and Animecon we are having a giveaway!
What can you win?
1x Signed physical artbook of Rogue Reaper from the development team (only on Dreamhack)
3x Signed artwork from Fireroot Studios
How do you enter?
Globally You can enter this giveaway* by going to the following link: https://forms.gle/HVuiSoS6VFrJCR4m8.
Make sure you fill in your email address so we can contact you if you win.
On Dreamhack On Dreamhack we will be hosting a small event at our booth (B01:22). Come see us at our booth to gather more information about this event.
* Please note that this giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere. That means all regions! Winners will be chosen at random and are contacted on their email address. Each winner will have 14-days to reply or it will be forfeited. Fireroot Studios is not responsible for email issues. We reserve the right to disqualify fraudulent entries.
We are attending Dreamhack!
The four months since the release of Rogue Reaper was an actual roller coaster. For those that have finished Rogue Reaper (small spoiler alert here) you might have figured out that Rogue Reaper started as a school project from 15 ambitious students.
Most of us had little to no experience in the gaming industry. We are just a group of friends that shared one big passion: video games. In the last couple of months we have listened to your stories, watched your videos, enjoyed the fan-art and smiled seeing your enjoyment.
Behind the scenes we have been very busy getting everything in order to share some big news this summer at Dreamhack and Animecon
Dreamhack, Sweden | 15 - 17 JUN
This year we are attending Dreamhack in Elmia, Jönköping, Sweden. You can find us at the Indie Playground at the booth B01:22 and during our Show & Tell on stage the 15th of June, 18:40 local time.
If you’re attending Dreamhack or Animecon make sure to visit us! We won’t treat you like the plague.
Want to find out more?
In the weeks to come we will be sharing more information about our future plans, so make sure to keep a close eye on our Steam and social media channels.
The Fireroot Studios Team
Patch 1.1.4 and a word of thanks to our community!
Hi Reapers,
Before we dive into the patch notes we want to say thank you for all the kind words and the great feedback we have received. Without you guys we couldn't make this the success it is right now.
Why you might ask?
Because we just reached 15.000+ owners of Rogue Reaper! This a huge milestone for us that we never anticipated. So thank you so much for giving Rogue Reaper a try.
We will also keep updating Rogue Reaper to ensure the best possible gameplay experience for you guys. Because you deserve it!
What that being said. Let's look at the patch notes!
Patch notes
Fixed a bug that caused players to not be able to unlock abilities during specific circumstances
Resource regeneration (under 25%) now works properly during the bossfight
Improved hitbox of the boss head so the last stage is easier to complete (and matches the visual representation)
Fixed menu not opening during bossfight
Fixed exit to main menu during bossfight
Floor on boss transition now properly breaks away
One of the hidden achievements can now be unlocked
Improved enemy behaviour when being thrown
A big thank you for your continuous support and as always... Happy Reaping!
Fireroot Studios
Rogue Reaper has been released! Download now for FREE!
Hi Reapers,
After 11 weeks of hard work it has finally happened. Our game Rogue Reaper has been released!
We want to thank you, our community, for all the support! It motivated us even more to create this game.
To celebrate the launch we created this launch trailer for you to enjoy!
https://youtu.be/4NLX25We29w
We are so proud of what we achieved and we hope you like it!
The team of Fireroot Studios
Our second Dev Talk has been released!
Hi Reapers!
We just released our newest Dev Talk on Youtube! In these Dev Talks we go in depth on what struggles and achievements we got during development. So tune in!
In this video Niels (Lead Artist), Lars (Story & Level design) and Joost (Community Manager) will talk about the story of Rogue Reaper, Lilly and and more!
My name is Lars and I am one of the game designers at Fireroot Studios.
I'm mostly working on the Story & Scenery in Rogue Reaper. That means I am usually creating the levels, thinking about the story of Rogue Reaper and what we want to portrait with our (upcoming) game.
As a storyteller I would like to share some backstory about our main character in this upcoming game.
Lilly's Story
Lilly (short for Lillian) is the playable character in Rogue Reaper. As her father is the Grim Reaper she's never in the spotlights herself. Lilly is fifteen years old when the story of Rogue Reaper starts.
Lilly grew up with just her father in the afterlife. Without any brothers or sisters around the house she was used to being alone while her father was doing his duty on earth. Being just with her father also created a strong bond between the two.
The scythe
When Lilly's mother died the scythe of her mother was passed on to Lilly. While Lilly is quite inexperienced with the powers the scythe possesses, she knows one thing for sure. She intents to pass on her mothers legacy.
The scythe is equipped with a magical lantern that gives her access to her telekinetic powers.
With Great Power Comes...
Lilly knows as no other that one day she has to replace her father as the Grim Reaper. This puts quite some weight on her shoulders. But she knows like no other that the balance between life and death is the most important thing in the world.
If she only knew that that balance is in great danger...
Weekly Development Update #2
Hi Reapers!
Time goes by fast and it is friday once again, which means it’s time for a weekly development update! This week we have worked hard on the visuals of the game and finishing the playable areas and mechanics. We are excited to show you what we have done in detail, so let’s get started!
Finished market & added visual effects
Our level designers and artists have worked very hard on finishing the market area we showed you guys last week. We also added a lot more cool effects which makes the atmosphere much better. These effects include fog and lighting. As you can see in the image below the changes are pretty big and we are excited to show you guys the full game when it releases.
Push & pull enemies
As you may already know, Lilly (your playable character) uses her telekinetic powers to defend herself against the dangerous enemies she faces in her journey. One of the mechanics we are excited to show off is Lilly’s ability to pull enemies towards her and launch them. We are excited to see how you guys will use this ability once Rogue Reaper has been released!
Checkpoints (still work in progress)
One of the main features in adventure games are checkpoints, which are most of the time very obvious landmarks. Rogue Reaper also has a checkpoint system in the game in the form of a fountain. This fountain lets you regenerate and more importantly, allows you to spend your well earned skills points. You can read more information about skill points in our previous development update.
We are proud of what we have accomplished this week and hope you guys liked what you have seen. We will keep posting more stuff like these development updates and the Reaper’s Diary in the upcoming weeks. So make sure to wishlist Rogue Reaper to stay up to date with the latest news.
Also you can join our growing community by following us on social media!
Rogue Reaper is full of enemies that are making the place unsafe. These enemies are the manifestation of the plague and the reason of the high dead count.
With this post we want to give you an introduction to some of the enemies in Rogue Reaper.
Rat
Back in the day rats were one of the ways the black plague spreaded and it would be foolish of us to exclude them from the game.
In the game rats are small and fast, but don’t deal a lot of damage. Since Rogue Reaper is based in a city these rats can be around every corner. They can be annoying to deal with, but not an enemy to ignore.
Wolf
Who doesn’t like wolves? We do! These wolves are fast and dangerous and mostly guarding and/or patrolling important area’s. Once they see you they won’t hesitate and run straight at you to attack. It’s better stay out of their way...
Plague Bird
The real ambushers in our game and they can be around every corner. These birds lurk in the dark searching for an unsuspecting prey and once in range, they will spit deadly infected balls at them. Besides this, they are super fast and once you spot them, they can move to another spot in an instant.
???
Yes, there is one more enemy in the game. It is a big and fierce one you cannot underestimate. However, I don’t want to spoil everything for you guys. So you will have to find this one out for yourself when Rogue Reaper releases.
Concerning the release, Rogue Reaper will release February 1 here on Steam. So wishlist now to stay up-to-date on the latest news!
You can also be part of our growing community by following us on social media.
Thanks for reading and like always… Happy Reaping!
Important: Release date moved back by one week!
Hi Reapers!
For the last 11 weeks we have been working hard on the development of Rogue Reaper and the release is coming closer by the day.
However, to ensure a better gameplay quality we are moving back the release date with one week, from January 25 to February 1.
Right now we are at the point that the game is fully playable, however a few mechanics need extra polish before it reaches the quality that we want to have. Because of that, we will use this extra week to work on quality control, squishing bugs and extra polish.
