I just pushed a minor hotfix patch to prevent some additional crashes/bugs that popped up.

• Fixed crash that could occur when loading a new level
• Fixed crash that could occur when applying mutation Essence effects to friendly creatures
• Fixed crash that could occur after choosing the Mass Protection blessing

[ 2024-12-16 14:32:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

I'm excited to announce the release of the Chrysalis Original Soundtrack on streaming services! You can find the Spotify album here, or search your favorite streaming service to find it there. It's the perfect music for sleeping, yoga, or sleep yoga!
In other news, I uploaded a hotfix yesterday that prevents some crashes that occurred when loading a saved game. If you ran into any issues, make sure you have the game fully updated and try to load your save again. Let me know if you have any issues! I am keeping an eye on all feedback in Discord and the community forums and making notes for potential updates in the future. Thank you for playing!!

[ 2024-12-12 20:19:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

The day has finally arrived! Chrysalis is officially released, and I'm happy to finally share the game with you! Join us on Discord to hang out and discuss with other players: https://discord.gg/Ehjzmtv5rx. I hope you enjoy your time with the game! If you run into any issues or need help, I'll be keeping an eye on the Steam Community forums and Discord, so don't hesitate to reach out! Alex

[ 2024-12-09 14:25:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

The incredible InterndotGif plays Chrysalis for the first time! Check it out: [previewyoutube=cXaXX0a85G0;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2024-11-18 19:21:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Z1 Gaming learns the ropes and embraces the mayhem in his latest video of Chrysalis gameplay! Check it out: [previewyoutube=FuJANmZTOqg;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2024-11-08 22:32:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

[previewyoutube=cZ0XIXKShW4;full][/previewyoutube] I'm excited to announce the official release date for Chrysalis: December 9th! The game will be available on PC, Mac, and Linux! Meanwhile, head over to our Discord or try out the Demo to get a head start! See you soon!

[ 2024-11-02 13:09:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Demo and Playtest builds have been updated with all new Follower mechanics and UI, as well as some bug fixes and other changes. We would love your feedback on the updates, which you can read about in detail below!

• There is now a cap on the number of Followers you can have at one time, starting at 5 but upgradeable through various means. You can "remove" Followers at any time, causing them to stay where you release them. You can also have old Followers "re-follow" without spending any Anima.
• Added new Follower UI which lets you manage your Followers. Click the new button or press 'F' to open the screen. You can change the shortcut key from the Options menu as usual.
• Added new Boons which affect Follower cap
• Follower cap does not include the creature you control with Symbiosis, but when you leave Symbiosis with a Follower while maxed out on current Followers, that creature will stop Following.
• Follower AI should be better at avoiding trapping the player in tight spaces
• Reduced stuttering that sometimes occurred at the start of a new monster wave
• Ghost Wolves no longer spawn Follower Souls and can't be leveled up as Followers
• Correct music will now resume when loading a saved game during an active monster wave
• All friendly health bars are now green, including the player's main health indicator and the Follower health bars in the new Followers screen
• Additional bug fixes

[ 2024-09-26 14:14:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Development continues on the latest Beta build! Since the Demo release, I have been working on adding more content and features to the Beta Playtest for continued testing and refinement. We've added new Metamorphoses for almost all species in the game, new Spirits, Boons, Blessings, level generation variations, and much more!
In addition, Chrysalis will be part of the Earth Appreciation Fest hosted by indie publishers Mechanistry and Slug Disco. You can also find the game in the Endless Replayability Fest hosted by Steam next month!

[ 2024-04-22 12:43:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here are the latest updates to the Demo build, available NOW! Important Note: this build is save-breaking. You will not be able to load your saves from the previous version of the Demo, but things like Achievements and Scores will remain untouched.

• Added an option to video settings to "zoom out" the pixel scaling of the game world and in-game UI, effectively allowing players to see more on screen
• Added a "Touchpad + Keyboard" input method that removes all right-clicking. Left click to move/attack enemies, Ctrl+Click to inspect enemies and items
• Clicking the "Follow" button on a friendly creature's stats screen will also cause that creature to gain a level. The Anima cost matches what you would spend if you used Symbiosis to possess the creature and level it up.
• Followers can now be leveled up directly from their stats page. Click on a Follower and click the "LVL UP" button.
• Follower AI has been significantly improved. They should notice when you disengage from enemies and follow you more closely. When defending the Chrysalis, they will only engage enemies that are near the player, rather than pursuing enemies at great distances.
• If the Chrysalis is offscreen during a monster wave and takes damage, a notification will alert the player that the Chrysalis is under attack
• A Growth's range will now be shown when clicking on it, similar to how it is shown when placing them using Spores
• When hovering over a Growth's metamorphoses, the range indicator will change to show the range of the metamorphosis. This allows the player to visualize the area "covered" by the new metamorphosis
• Increased the auto-pickup range for items
• Renamed "Sunbud" and "Stormbud" to avoid redundancy when using Spirits on them.
• When in Windowed Mode (non-fullscreen) with the game resolution set to the monitor's resolution, the window will become borderless to fill the screen
• Prevent items from dropping onto inaccessible tiles
• Fixed a possible crash when loading saved games
• Fixed a possible crash when applying Storm Spirits and Explosive/Poison essences

Here is a comparison between the "normal" view and the new "Zoomed Out" scaling available in the new version:

NORMAL:

Zoomed Out:

For the new "Touchpad" input method, I've tried to make it easier to play the game on a Touchpad by removing all right clicking. While using this method, you will still left click to select things, but also to move and attack enemies with your basic attack. If you want to select an enemy (to inspect it) instead of attacking it, you can hold down Ctrl and left click it. Let me know if you have any feedback on these features. For more frequent updates on new features and progress, join our Discord: https://discord.gg/Ehjzmtv5rx

[ 2023-10-21 19:28:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

I pushed a small update today with some demo fixes and tweaks. Here are the patch notes:

• Fixed a crash when using Symbiosis on Growths
• Fixed a rare crash when defeating final waves
• Fixed Sun Spirits increasing rather than decreasing cooldowns
• Slightly lowered Skel Health
• Slightly decreased damage of rabbit's Gnaw and increased cooldown by 0.1 sec
• Dash ability now increases attack speed for 2.5 sec, down from 3.0 and cooldown is increased to 15 sec, up from 12

[ 2023-10-12 22:00:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Join our NextFest stream to learn more about Chrysalis and see live gameplay!

[ 2023-10-11 16:13:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Join our NextFest stream to learn more about Chrysalis and see live gameplay!

[ 2023-10-11 16:12:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here are the patch notes for the latest Demo build (1.6). Saves from this build are incompatible with previous versions, so you may want avoid updating before finishing your current run.

• Completely reworked the tutorial system - even seasoned players might learn something new!
• You no longer have to travel back to the Chrysalis to get a new Boon after defeating a wave - they are automatically given to you after the wave ends
• Permanent Boons and Mythical Boons are both listed in the boon selection UI now - you can see all of your collected boons in one place
• If the player is far from the Chrysalis when the level is cleansed after the final wave, items close to them will no longer disappear
• Friendly creatures now have a green outline when you hover over them
• The tile indicator under the cursor turns red if there is no path to the tile
• Game now pauses automatically when opening the Symbiont UI
• Increased the base Stun time of Storm Spirits to 2.0 seconds from 1.0 second.
• Graphics optimizations, should result in 20-30% increased GPU performance
• Fixed an issue where the game would hang for several seconds after defeating the final wave of a level

[ 2023-10-07 18:10:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

• In Windowed mode, the window can be repositioned using the title bar as expected (thanks @Moofalope)
• The window no longer changes dimensions when moving between monitors with different DPI scaling
• The "Continue" button on the main menu is disabled if there is no current save file
• Reworded some of the Gameplay Tips for better guidance of new players
• Reworked the main menu art and colors
• The title music no longer restarts every time you revisit the main menu
• The action bar at the bottom of the screen is now slightly shorter, taking up less screen space
• Mythical Boons are now selected by clicking the small button above either boon slot on the action bar
• Abilities on the action bar are now clickable (in addition to the normal keybind activations)
• The game is now compatible with Steam Link for remote play on phone or tablet. It works best with the Trackpad cursor movement option. Testing is still in progress.
• Changed rabbit species metamorphosis level to 4 (from 5)
• Fixed bug where the music would stop playing after the 1st wave ended
• The mouse is now locked to the game window while in Fullscreen mode
• In Windowed Mode, changing to Fullscreen uses whichever monitor the window is currently on (or most "overlapped" onto)

[ 2023-09-29 19:59:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

The official demo for Chrysalis is now available for Windows/Linux/Mac! Can you get through the first 3 levels of the game and defeat the 1st boss? Since the levels are procedurally generated, you can get quite a bit of replay value just from the demo itself. I hope you have fun with it! And you can head over to our Discord to meet other players, strategize, and report any bugs you might find: https://discord.gg/Ehjzmtv5rx Here's the demo trailer: [previewyoutube=g53_5toVxcQ;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2023-09-28 21:25:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Beta 1.0 of Chrysalis has officially arrived! The big addition in this update is the 3rd monster faction: the Nox. This new faction is themed around the underworld and undeath and includes 4 new monsters with 3 additional metamorphoses, 2 new bosses, and new enemy defensive growths. In addition to the Nox faction, there are also new boons and growths to collect, as well as a rework of some of the early abilities for several lower level friendly creatures. As we prepare for the October Next Fest, we are in need of additional playtesters to help us refine the gameplay and squash any lingering bugs that may remain. You can request access to the Playtest via the main Steam page, and join us on Discord here: https://discord.gg/Ehjzmtv5rx. Thanks for playing!

[ 2023-08-31 19:03:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here are the patch notes for Alpha 4.4:

• Added the "Killer Rabbit" attack to Jackalopes which automatically crits when attacking from Stealth
• Changed the Ram's "Charge" ability to be a straight line charge that stuns and knocks back enemies around the ending tile
• Luxa gained after beating a level is now based on the number of waves defeated
• Luxa costs for Blessings have been adjusted
• All Metamorphosis costs for Growths have been reduced
• Growths now have a Magic stat which displays on their left-click UI
• Unlocking new growth metamorphoses now also grants a small amount of Sylva
• The number of enemy portals that spawn per wave in Levels 3-8 has been adjusted to smooth the difficulty curve
• The time between waves has been adjusted. Instead of the time decreasing by one minute for each successive wave in a level, there are now 5 minutes before the 1st wave, and 4 minutes between all further waves in each level.
• The amount of Sylva refunded at the end of the level (or by manually refunding) is now 80% of the full cost of the growth(s), up from 50%
• Ability tooltip now shows Damage Type (Magic or Physical)
• Ability tooltip now displays the Pulse Rate for Beam attacks
• Sap Life now does Magic damage as intended
• Slightly lowered Rock Spit's Power
• Spawning and Charm abilities can no longer be used after the level has been won
• Fixed some issues with non-16:9 window sizes
• Fixed some abilities having Power too low
• Fixed random crash when starting a new game after changing the window size

[ 2023-02-10 16:46:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Alpha 4.2 is now available! Here are the latest patch notes:

• IMPORTANT: this is a SAVE BREAKING update - previous game saves are not compatible with this game version
• Additional key bindings now available: spacebar and up to 6 additional mouse buttons
• Stone of Protection now blocks ALL harmful effects when hit by an enemy ability
• The tile-based effect of Explosive and Poison Essences is now a timed explosion
• Life Essences can now be applied to friendly creatures
• Reworked damage scaling and calculation so powerful abilities scale faster as player stats increase
• Venopod now does more damage but has a slightly longer cooldown
• Prevent very high level enemies from spawning in lower game levels
• Luxa gained after each level is now affected by the *percentage* of Health the Chrysalis lost
• Slightly increased the amount of Sylva produced by fields as the player progresses to higher game levels
• Tweaked cooldowns and damage of monster growths (Obelisk, Egg Vessicle, Tainted Stump) for better balance
• Fixed several bugs with Stealth (thanks Snorlaxxo)
• Several UI and menu fixes
• Many crash fixes (thanks to all playtesters, and congrats to Metalliferous for winning the Bugstalker Discord title!)

[ 2023-01-22 03:22:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

We have finally added achievements, as well as some fun new Major Blessings for each Chrysalis. There have been some substantial balancing tweaks for the early game, so please feel free to offer feedback about your experience with the changes. Here are the patch notes for Alpha 4.1:

• Added Achievements
• Chrysalises must be unlocked now (by getting certain Achievements)
• Added all new Major Blessings for each Chrysalis - these apply directly to the player
• 3 Sylva and 3 Anima now spawn at the beginning of the 1st level
• Homes will now spawn a new friendly creature if all of its previous spawns are killed
• Bruiser attacks now stun and do more damage, but have a wind-up time, making them avoidable
• Earthvein now increases the percentage of max Health healed by Blood of Gaea to 80%
• Minor bug fixes and UI refinements

[ 2023-01-16 18:05:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

The latest Playtest Alpha build is available for all playtesters! This is a small update that adds 6 new monsters to the late game. Each one is an "upgraded" version of one of the previous monster metamorphoses. For example, the Pox's "Bruiser" monster can now metamorphose into the "Bonecrusher", which has a charged-up AoE blast attack that throws enemies backwards. In addition, there have been several bug fixes and tweaks in this latest version. Let me know if you run into any issues. Crash logs can be uploaded to Discord or sent via email to MetamorphGamesLLC@gmail.com. I hope you enjoy the latest build! Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ehjzmtv5rx - Alex

[ 2022-08-23 20:09:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Alpha 3 is now available for playtesting! Have a look at the patch notes below for all the latest features and fixes. Join our Discord server to chat with the developer and other players: https://discord.gg/Ehjzmtv5rx

Alpha 3 Patch Notes

Playtester Note: Saves from earlier Alpha versions are NOT compatible with Alpha 3

• Added all-new Events system. Random events can occur between waves which have a variety of effects impacting creatures and growths, or even adding optional secondary objectives
• Added Storm Spirits, a new spirit type that can be applied to any friendly creature or growth, giving knockback and stun effects.
• Added Rabbit species with 2 metamorphoses: Jackalope and Bunniloo
• Added Sheep species with 2 metamorphoses: Ram and Goldhorn
• Added Stormbud species
• Added new Minor Blessings for each Chrysalis
• The amount of time between each wave now decreases by 1 minute after each wave in a particular level
• Multiple bosses now spawn on the final level
• The number of enemy portals that spawn during waves increases for each consecutive wave in a particular level
• Ecos are now loaded from data files rather than being hard coded, allowing modders to add new Ecos
• Flame Pixie is now a permanent boon
• Stonequake does less damage but has a longer stun duration
• Solitaire flowers now have piercing shots that ignore the enemy's Defense stat
• Tick rate decreased and damage increased for poison and burn effects
• Arachnids starting Health now 25, down from 30
• Frog starting Health now 26, up from 20
• Sticky Lick cooldown down to 0.8 from 1.0
• Fiery Heart damage boost increased to 3 (from 2)
• Increased Chrysalis of Soleria starting health from 125 to 150
• Increased the Health and Defense gain of Strong Roots from 50% to 60%
• Increased the duration of damage immunity from Last Stand to 10 seconds (from 8), but increased the cooldown to 60 seconds (from 30 seconds)
• Lowered bonus Sylva from Chrysalis of Veridia to 30 from 50
• Certain abilities like Dash no longer have an animation delay before the creature begins moving again
• Lowered 1st metamorphosis level requirement for frogs and arachnids to 3 (down from 4)
• Improved jump animation
• Added a visual indication when effects like stun, freeze, poison, etc. are resisted
• Various particle animations improved
• Starting locations can be within a broader area now, not always close to the center of the level
• Creatures will no longer appear submerged in water while jumping out of water
• Added more ability AI - mutated enemy creatures will use more of their abilities during combat
• Added Range stat to ability tooltip UI
• "Hitched" entities such as Forest Pixies, Frost Orbs, etc. now show up in the list of Passive effects for creatures and growths
• Items behind large sprites are no longer blocked from being selected
• Sunbeams can no longer heal the Chrysalis
• Fixed bugs with target outline UI
• Fixed a UI bug where passive effect icons were shown in the wrong place on the Creature screen
• Fixed a bug where an enemy's health bar would not follow them while jumping
• Fixed a bug in the mutation system that prevented certain combinations of species from occurring
• Fixed a pathfinding bug when navigating over long distances
• Fixed a bug that allowed application of spirits to creature homes
• Fixed crash when loading a saved game containing eggs anywhere on the map
• Mac version now compatible with older MacOS versions going back to 10.12

[ 2022-03-16 20:38:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Playtest Alpha 2 is now available for all playtesters! I finally managed to get the Linux and Mac versions running through Steam, so if you have access to either of those OSes and you're interested in helping out, fire up the game and let me know if you run into any major issues. Since those builds are newer, I'm expecting that issues will pop up. I'll keep an eye on the community forums and Discord, as always. If you aren't currently signed up for the playtest and would like to join, head over to the main store page and click "Request Access". Here are the updates for Playtest Alpha 2:

• Linux and Mac builds now available for playtesting!
• Added Sun Spirits
• Added Sunbud species with Sun Spring home
• Added new crystal metamorphoses: Piercing Crystal and Empowering Crystal
• Added new shroom metamorphosis: Toadstool
• Added new boons: Lifeblood, Natural Immunity, Natural Agility
• Spirit elementals can no longer cross-mutate with each other (only with non-elemental species)
• Non-mutated Spirit elementals can only spawn from their respective homes (Fire Spring, Frost Spring, etc.)
• Previously every level had rivers, now some will not
• Crawlers are slightly faster
• Rivers no longer lead far away toward the edge of the map, away from main level areas
• Jump and teleport abilities clear the player's previous target so they don't immediately start pathing back toward it when trying to escape
• Unlockable growths can't be attacked and killed while the player is unlocking them
• Logo/header redesign
• Several bug fixes and stability improvements
• Special thanks to ghostlyhydra456 for finding and reporting many bugs in Alpha 1. Check out ghostlyhydra's YouTube channel!

[ 2022-01-13 15:05:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

I'm excited to introduce Chrysalis, a hybrid tower-defense/survival RPG set in a world of natural mythology, with an emphasis on procedural generation, customizability, and replayability. Play the role of an incorporeal Wisp tasked with defending a magical chrysalis against forces of corruption and darkness. Search for resources and enlist the aid of friendly plants and animals as you explore each randomly generated level. Fend off waves of monsters, with each level offering new challenges, specialized wave types, procedurally generated bosses, and more. Chrysalis will soon begin an alpha testing phase using the new Steam Playtest feature. Click the "Request Access" button on the store page to join the next group of playtesters! [previewyoutube=JEdygcfjcJs;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2021-11-04 03:07:57 CET ] [ Original post ]