Greetings Wielders
[p]What’s this? Another Steam post about something other than your favorite HoMage? Well, yes. But to be fair, this is pretty cool news, and in many ways it is connected.[/p][p]By now, you probably know that we’ve been developing a separate, smaller project on the side. Something a lot different from, for example, our work on the Yulan DLC. Something that is still very much a work in progress.[/p][p]With Steam Next Fest coming up, we saw an opportunity we didn’t want to miss. So we decided to show you what we’ve been working on in the most straightforward way possible. A demo.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/4097070/Wielders_of_the_Essence_Demo"][/dynamiclink]Defend the swamp and Wield the Essence (demo-style)[/p][p]Wielders of the Essence started as a bullet-hell survivor experiment. A bit of a palette cleanser for us, and a chance to explore what else we could do with our rather extensive collection of awesome pixel art. As development went on, we kept changing things, based on our whims, hunches, and the crucial feedback we have received from testers.[/p][p]The result is no longer just a straightforward survivor. It has evolved into something closer to an incremental survivor. Short runs, meaningful progression, and a loop that feels more in line with how we tend to design games, well planned with a definite strategic choice.
[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/40723472/5981dd83edb2c469f2d6785f886451c2ad25d160.gif"][/img][/p][p]Dreaths might be cute, but you really want to kill that one.
It has been well received by our testers so far, which is encouraging. Wishlists have been steadily growing, and we’re very curious to see what kind of impact Next Fest will have.
[dynamiclink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1vje18rf6E"][/dynamiclink]To see someone else play the demo, well, we recommend this one!
But this post isn’t meant to fully explain what Wielders of the Essence is. That’s what the demo is for.[/p][p]So give it a try. Wishlist it if you find it interesting. And consider it a small glimpse of what our art and systems can do while you wait for Rise Eternal and the next faction DLC.
[/p][p]/Anders and the rest of Lavapotion[/p][p]
[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/40723472/830136ac78eb5929b181487ab5e6646ccb69d729.jpg"][/img]And why not a little insight into how it can look when Lavapotion works on Wielders of the Essence?[/p]
