Hello everyone, I'm so glad to announce that Comet Force will release next month, on April 17! I have been working on this game for 18 months now, and I'm proud to finally reach this major milestone. Here is a below a teaser. If you have played the demo, you should notice many new classes and enemies! It also features a new track that plays during boss fights. I hope it will get you excited about the release! -Radiant Sloth [previewyoutube=7Xgq27vk0HU;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2025-03-10 21:06:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, I am happy to announce that The Days of Ramadan Festival 2025 has just started and will last until March 30th! Comet Force is included in the event, so this is a perfect time to play the Demo and discover the game! The full release is planned for Q2 this year, so be sure to share your feedback on the Steam forums, to wishlist the game and to spread the word! I wish you all a great event! -Radiant Sloth

[ 2025-02-27 19:48:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! The Steam Next Fest is now live, until March 3rd, and it includes the demo of Comet Force! This is the perfect opportunity to discover the game if you have not played it yet! If you already have, there is some new content to explore! The latest patch added some new classes and weapon effects to have fun with, as presented in the previous post. But that's not all! I just released a new patch that adds a new feature. The game now has some kind of ascension system! When you start a game, you will be able to choose a threat level for the run, as illustrated below.
Each time you beat the game with a level, it will unlock the next level, which means you can increase the difficulty of the game as you play and unlock more powerful leaders and buildings. I decided to use the existing enemy modifiers system to implement the threat level. In the base difficulty, you are required to pick a new effect for enemies after each boss.
When the threat level is higher, you will in some cases be asked to choose several effects at once. That is how the difficulty increases: enemies will stack more effects. I feel this new mechanic was needed to improve the replayability and offer more of a challenge, as many people seem to win the game on their first run. Of course, the full game will introduce new enemy effects to bring more variety and make things more interesting the higher the threat level. Let me know your thoughts on this new system! I hope that you will enjoy playing the demo. Please don't hesitate to share feedback on the Steam forums, to wishlist the game, and to spread the word! I wish you all a great Next Fest with plenty of exciting upcoming games discoveries! -Radiant Sloth

[ 2025-02-24 18:00:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! The Steam Next Fest will soon start on February 24th, and Comet Force will be in! To celebrate this event, I am happy to release a demo update, with mostly some polishing, but also a bit of new content. The update is available as of right now, so be sure to check the full changelog at the end of the post and give the demo a try! And as always, feel free to share your feedback on the Steam forums!

Two new classes

I added two new classes. The first one shoots mines and brings many new effects related to those in the Academy. The second class introduces a new type. Until then, troop members were falling into the range or melee categories. There is now a third type: support. The new class is a guard that positions itself in front of the Captain instead of behind. The guardian has no direct attack, but has a lot of health and will reflect enemy bullets.
I hope you will enjoy these new classes. Tell me in the comments which one you prefer!

Change to the recruitment cost

This update brings a significant change related to recruiting. The recruitment cost will now go up the more you recruit of the same class. More precisely, the price will increase by 10 gems for each member of the same class already in the troop. My goal with this change is to better adjust the difficulty and encourage using various classes instead of relying only on one. Please do not hesitate to send me your feedback on this change!

What's next?

The rest of the changes are mostly polishing, small fixes, and quality of life improvements, as you can read in the changelog below. I want to make sure the UI is clear enough and ergonomic to not get in the way of the fun. If you have suggestions, please post them on the Steam forums and I'll do my best to address them. Besides, I'm making good progress on the full game. I am now done with adding new classes, new leaders, and academy effects. The v1.0 will have 8 new classes, and I think they all add something fun and interesting compared to what already exist in the demo. So stay tuned for future teasing! What remains to be done is adding new buildings, new enemies and bosses. I am hoping to get all of this done by mid-April, but I need to adjust my content goals depending on how the Next Fest goes. So I hope many people discover Comet Force during the event and have a lot of fun! As always, thanks for your support, and see you soon for the Next Fest! -Radiant Sloth

Full Changelog - Demo v0.5f

Added

• Added two new classes and their unique effects
• The recruit cost now increases for each member of that class already in the troop
• If some classes are still unknown in the journal, researching a new class will always offer at least one unknown option

Changed

• Improved how knockback is applied to enemies
• Relooked the Crusher class model
• Improved some UI and buildings descriptions:
  • Showing the class type (melee, range, or support)
  • Renamed 'Unique' to 'Single-copy'
  • Made it clearer troop quarters upgrades give additional troop capacity
  • ... and a few other things and typos fixes
• Playtime is not frozen during pauses anymore, so now gives the real session duration
• Moved the Quit button in the title menu to put it in the main list
• Showing a tooltip to display the key shortcut of some Close buttons
• Clicking the left or right key icons in the carousel displays (for instance when choosing a building) will now move the carousel

[ 2025-02-13 18:00:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, I hope you had a great holidays and everything is going fine during this beginning of the year. I am glad to share today some news about Comet Force. Let's get into it! First, let's recall that the Demo of Comet Force launched on December 9th, 2024. I would like to thank all the players for giving this demo a try and sharing your feedback. Thanks also to content creators for putting great videos out there. I encourage you for instance to check out this recent one from ReformistTM, it is very enjoyable! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAUsKTj41e4 So, a month later, it's time to reflect. Am I happy with how the demo release went? Unfortunately, the answer is: not really actually... Let's dive into the why. Comet Force has a median playtime of 21 minutes, which is similar to my previous game Destroy The Monoliths. This is rather good. Coverage on Youtube has however been more sparse and less impactful. The Destroy The Monoliths Demo was featured by Retromation and Wanderbots, and this had a significant impact. Comet Force has not had this chance yet, and this makes a huge difference until now. Overall, I did reached out to dozens of content creators and was hoping for a bit more more replies and featuring. The bottom line is that the wishlist count of Comet Force remains dramatically low compared to Destroy The Monoliths. And I don't really know why. I am personally very happy with the current state of Comet Force. I feel I really increased the level of polish in this project, especially in the UI. I also think Comet Force has cool mechanics and brings its own twist to the action shooter roguelike genre. Still, it is difficult to nurture motivation when struggling to spark interest. I am 100% determined to finish and release Comet Force, but I need to make adjustments to the project. I decided to cut down the scale of the game a little in order to release it sooner, which you may find a good or bad news, I don't know. In any case, I hope you will understand this decision, and that's why I'm trying to be honest about what I'm doing. However, I do want to reassure people: I am not rushing the end of the development. The game will still have plenty of content at the release, just a bit less than what I was ideally envisioning. Besides, I would be happy to work on post-launch content updates if the release actually goes better than expected! I just think it's time to finish this game (prototyping started in October 2023, it's been 16 month already!) and think about a new fresh project after that (I have a few ideas already... but more on that in future posts!). So, I am announcing Comet Force will release in Q2 this year! It will also be part of the upcoming Steam Next Fest at the end of February, and I am hoping for some good visibility during this event. If you like this game, please spread the word to whoever you know may enjoy it. Being a solo indie developer is not an easy task, and any help to increase the visibility of the project really does mean a lot. To end this post, I want to share a few screenshots of new content I have been working on! First, let's see every class currently in the game! The first 6 are already familiar to you if you played the Demo. But can you guess what the last 6 do? By the way, two of these classes will be added to the Demo during the Steam Next Fest so you will be able to play them soon!
Second, here is a bunch of new arena turrets! Some are even upgrades of other turrets, so all of these will play a really greater role in the full game.
One of these turret is a protective turret, with a blue circle force field that can absorb enemy bullets, as you can see below. Also, it seems the enemy with a golden overlay is behaving weirdly in this scene, shooting its peer... Did it get corrupted or something?!
That's it for this post and this content teasing. As always, thanks a lot for your support, and see you next time! -Radiant Sloth

[ 2025-01-19 00:06:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, It is this time of the year again! I wish you all a great holiday season, whether you spent it with friends, family or doing the things you love, and I hope great things await for all of you for the upcoming new year! In 2024, I released a couple updates for Destroy The Monoliths (have you played the new mode Defend The Core yet?) and released a demo for Comet Force, the full game being planning for next year. So, this has been quite a productive year, I'm happy with the progress made. I look forward to releasing this project in 2025, and maybe prototype new ideas for the future. It is currently the Steam Winter Sale, and all of Radiant Sloth games are in. You have a few days left to grab them! Until January 2nd:

• Destroy The Monoliths: -35% https://store.steampowered.com/app/2352000/Destroy_The_Monoliths
• Skycliffs: -65% https://store.steampowered.com/app/1888200/Skycliffs/

And of course, the free demo of Comet Force is still available, be sure to give it a try and add the game to your wishlist! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3071560/Comet_Force_Demo Again, have a great holidays, and see you soon! -Radiant Sloth

[ 2024-12-27 12:06:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, I have made really good progress on my new upcoming game, and I'm so happy to announce that the Demo of Comet Force is now out on Steam! It's time to lead your own space troop and defend the galaxy against waves of invaders! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3071560/Comet_Force_Demo This Demo offers to play full runs of 26 waves, and includes the following content:

• 3 characters to select as starting Captains
• 15 enemies to fight (10 regular + 5 bosses)
• 24 buildings (18 camp structures + 6 arena turrets)
• 6 troop classes types to recruit
• 65 effects to upgrade the Captain and the troop classes
• 15 enemy modifiers to pick from to choose how the threat evolves
• 6 music tracks from the OST with synthwave beats

Some of this content needs to be unlocked by spending resources collected during boss fights. Alternatively, there is an option to disable the meta-progression and explore all the content right away. I hope you will enjoy playing this Demo! Please feel free to share your feedback on the Comet Force forums, I will do my best to read and reply to every post. I have been working on this project for a year, and releasing this Demo is a great milestone reached, but there is still a long way to go before the full game is ready. So every suggestion or bug report really helps. Also, don't forget to wishlist the game and spread the word to whoever you think might enjoy it! As always, thanks a lot for your support, and see you next time. -Radiant Sloth

[ 2024-12-09 18:50:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, I am happy to let you know that the Demo of Comet Force will release on December 9th! The game has been available as a Playtest for a few month now, and I was able to finalize the content to switch to an official demo. This a a great milestone for this project that I started prototyping back in October 2023. I look forward to spreading the word and having new players join the community! Also, I released a Playtest update yesterday (v0.5b). It fixes some bugs, brings improvements to the knockback movement of enemies, and adds many in-game achievements. The Playtest remains available until December 9th, so you can keep playing the game. Please don't hesitate to share feedback, any suggestion or bug report helps a lot to ensure the demo releases with as few issues as possible. Moreover, your current game profile from the Playtest will transfer automatically to the Demo, so you won't loose any progress! As always, thanks for your support, and see you soon for the demo release! -Radiant Sloth

[ 2024-11-28 19:33:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! I'm happy to let you know that I updated the store page! The previous trailer and screenshots were from the pre-alpha version back in June. I have made a lot of progress since then, and it feels satisfying to finally reflect all this hard work on the page. I updated the About section, uploaded new screenshots and edited a brand new trailer! I had a great time composing a special music track to go along with these clips, I hope you will enjoy watching! [previewyoutube=2PLEjFjfDzw;full][/previewyoutube] Also, I have released a store page for the upcoming Demo. As I mentioned in last devlog, the current Playtest build is almost ready to release as on official Demo. I will tell you the exact date later, but I plan to release this Demo in December, so this is very soon! I hope this gets you excited. Meanwhile, please don't hesitate to give the Playtest a try! And share your feedback to help me fix the remaining bugs and balance the difficulty! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3071560/Comet_Force_Demo Thanks for you support, and see you next time, -Radiant Sloth

[ 2024-11-07 20:24:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! It has been a month since last devlog and I am happy to release a new major Playtest update! This will probably be the last Playtest build, as Comet Force is almost ready to switch to an official Demo! But let's talk about the main changes!

Anomaly's modifiers

There was one last important mechanic I needed to add: enemy modifiers. After each boss defeated, as you trigger the next wave, you are prompted to choose a modifier among three. These give various effects to enemies and increase the difficulty of the run. But you get to choose how the threat evolves! I find this mechanic interesting as it introduces more strategy and diversity. The modifiers you pick will likely impact what you then decide to build, recruit and upgrade. You will need to adapt your plans to counter the modifiers and remain strong enough to face the waves.
Pick how the threat evolves!

Many new enemies

I finally settled on 26 waves for the duration of a run, among which 5 are boss fights. I think this is a good number as this should translate to play sessions between 40 minutes and 1 hour. I added new enemies to have a total of 10 in this Playtest build, along with 2 new bosses for waves 21 and 26 that were not available previously. I am very happy of these enemies as they introduce new attack and move patterns. Some shoot bullets with a slight homing effects or a wavy motion. Others have a dash or can remain weak and confused for a brief moment after a powerful attack.
New enemies! Furthermore, I got rid of the old enemy visuals and created brand new 3D models. I hope you will like them as much as I do! I also improved some sound effects, added more polish, and composed brief cutscenes for boss spawn and death. It all feels much more alive!
The new boss for wave 21, shooting dangerous spikes

Other changes

New enemies and modifiers are a big change, but this update does not stop here! It also includes many tweaks to the UI and HUD, a short tutorial to explain the basics, an option to disable the meta-progression, a new music track, and a new menu with journal entries!
The HUD got improved!
Journal entries are a thing now!

What is Next?

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, Comet Force is almost ready to have an official Demo replace the Playtest. Please don't hesitate to share your feedback so that I can refine the current build and make sure the Demo build is as fun and enjoyable as possible! My goal, aside from reviewing your feedback, is to update the Steam page and prepare for the Demo release. I need to improve the description, take new screenshots, edit a new trailer, reach out to content creators, etc. Still a lot of work to do, but this is a huge step forward! As always thanks for your support! I look forward to reading your thoughts in the comments, and see you next time! -Radiant Sloth

Full Changelog - Playtest v0.5

Added

• Added Anomaly's modifiers (one pick after each boss, for a total of 4 during a run)
• Added option to disable meta-progression and play with all the content from the get-go
• Now playing a new music track during boss fights: United We Fight
• Added 6 new regular enemies and 2 new bosses
• Added a short tutorial to explain the basics at the first run
• All enemies and bosses have new and better 3D models
• Added a journal with stats, achievements, and entries to unlock
• Modified audio options to have separate sliders for UI and gameplay sound effects
• Added short cutscenes at bosses' spawn and death

Changed

• Runs are now 26 waves long (including 5 bosses)
• Improved the attack patterns of the 3 already existing bosses
• Improved some sound effects for enemy shooting and waves
• Many improvements and polish to the UI and HUD (panel backgrounds, buttons, input icons, etc)
• Improved the visuals and sound effects of mines
• Mines now take more time to explode the longer they travel
• Tweaked the space backgrounds colors for further waves

[ 2024-11-04 21:36:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! I am very happy to release today another major update for the Comet Force Playtest! This version adds a lot of content, enhancements, and new features, as you can see in the full changelog at the bottom of this post. But let's review the most important changes together!

Meta Progression

I finally added a meta progression system to Comet Force! My goal was to make something both simple and a bit different from my previous games. For Comet Force, I am leaning more on a roguelite vibe with meta progression giving access to permanent power-ups for your future runs. But these upgrades are not direct stats improvements, they rather consist in expanded possibilities and focus on the camp building. Initially, you start with only a few building options, but as you go and collect more of the new meta resource, called Void diamonds, you will be able to permanently unlock more buildings and turrets for your runs. These expand your strategic possibilities and give access to more powerful effects. So you will be able to build better camps and survive longer.
You gain Void diamonds at two occasions: when a boss spawns, and when a boss is defeated. So even if you couldn't beat a boss, you can still progress a little bit and hopefully go further next time. The gallery of leaders also has the same progression system. The first two are available from the get-go, but all others (which is only one in this version) need to be unlocked.

New Content

Regarding the new content, this updates also a fair amount of additions:

• You can now start with the Samurai class thanks to the third leader: Fang.

• I added new leader effects, and replaced some old ones which were not very good.
• In the gallery of buildings, you will find 4 new camp structures with quite interesting effects!

• The end screen is now more polished, and now plays some music as I composed 2 themes for defeats and victories.

As for the rest of changes, these consists of many visual tweaks, UI enhancements, and game balancing. You can check out the full changelog at the end of this post!

What is Next?

With this update out, Comet Force is now a huge step closer to a beta / demo version. I only need to add more enemies to extend the run to a total of 25 waves, and implement the last missing mechanic (more on that in the next devlog!). Hopefully I will be able to release an official demo before the end of this year. I feel the game is starting to feel a lot more fleshed out and polished, and this is quite motivating. I hope you will enjoy the update. As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section, and see you next time!

Full Changelog - Playtest v0.4

Added

• Added meta progression system with new meta resource to unlock buildings and leaders for future runs
• Added third leader: Fang (starting with the Samurai class)
• Added 9 new leader effects (3 of which replace old effects that were not quite useful)
• Added 4 new camp buildings
• Added 2 new music tracks (defeat + victory themes)

Changed

• Simplified the turret systems (only requires the Military Architect, no more research to do in the Research Lab)
• Zoomed the camera out a bit
• Increased a bit the arena size
• Increased range of all turrets by one
• Improved the end screen of runs with more statistics
• Added crystals orbiting the anomaly to convey how many bosses are remaining
• Tweaked the appearance of the Cannoneer and Crusher ship classes
• Improved the behavior of enemies:
  • Enemies now target the troop members that attack them
  • Bosses can perform a shockwave to repulse close entities
  • Enemies get less stuck against the arena borders
• Added clearer information to the Captain selection screen
• Improved the upgrade screen in the Training Center to show stats name
• Tweaked the space background by adding some planets and asteroids
• Tweaked the space background by shifting the theme color as the run progresses
• Added different styles to enemy bullets
• Upgraded engine to Godot 3.6

Fixed

• Added more preloading to avoid lag spikes at the start of runs

[ 2024-10-01 21:54:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! It has been a while since last devlog! I took some time off this summer, and it was great to rest and replenish both my motivation and energy levels. But I am now back, and today I am releasing a significant Playtest update for Comet Force! Let's dive into the details!

Build Turrets within the Arena

So far, players could only place buildings in the camp, around the arena. These only play a role in-between waves, and are not accessible during combat. I am happy to introduce a new game mechanic: turrets! These are built within the arena and assist the troop during fights by applying diverse effects when enemies or troop members are in their range area. For instance, the Mine generator will throw a mine to all enemies entering the area. And the Accelerator will make all troop members standing in the area reload and shoot faster.
I implemented 6 different turrets for now, but I will add a lot more for the full game, including upgraded turrets. The question is now: how to build turrets? There are two steps:

• To acquire new turret blueprints, players need to use the Research lab. It now has a prettier interface to allow different types of research: classes, turrets and buildings (which is locked for now since I need to implement more buildings). Similarly to researching a new class, you will get to choose between three turret blueprints

• To set up turret building sites in the arena, you need to build and use the Military Architect (unlocked by building the Research lab). This allows to buy a site, and you get to choose between three random positions. Once the site exists, you can go there and build the turret of your choice among your existing blueprints

I hope you will enjoy this new mechanic! I think it will make the fighting more interesting. In particular, it will incite to stop looping repetitively around the arena but instead leverage the range area of your turrets. Also, it adds more depth to refining your strategy and building your own play style. Let me know in the comments what you think about this new mechanic, or any ideas you may have!

Meet the Samurai Class!

This update also adds a new class to recruit: the Samurai! It has a sort of melee attack and has a few upgrades that can make it very powerful. It is only available for troop members for now, but I plan to add a third leader that starts as a Samurai in the near future.

What is Next?

My primary goal is to come up with a complete demo version and I hope to do that in the upcoming months. The current Playtest is getting closer to what I want in terms of quantity of content, but I still have a few more things to add. Also, I need to take decisions on some mechanics that are still missing, such as the exact scope of a run (how many waves in total? difficulty modifiers?) and which meta-progression to implement. If you have any suggestions, feel free to share them! As always, thanks for reading this post, and see you next time! -Radiant Sloth

Full Changelog - Playtest v0.3

Added

• Possibility to build turrets within the arena through Turret building sites
• New building: Military architect
• 6 new turrets
• New troop class: Samurai
• 8 upgrade effects for the Samurai class
• New music track that plays after wave 11: Around The Breach

Changed

• Some enemies now spawn at edges of the arena instead of all in the middle

[ 2024-09-07 09:32:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, Last time, I explained how I was reworking my prototype of Comet Force. Today, I am happy to report that I made a lot of progress. So much that I am releasing a Playtest on Steam! It is available right now! Head to the Steam page of Comet Force and click the green button to get instant access and give the game a try!

Share your feedback!

The game is still very much in development. This Playtest gives access to an early alpha version. It has most of the core gameplay mechanics, but still lacks content to be a proper demo. I am very interested in getting your feedback to help me refine the core gameplay loop and make sure the game is enjoyable. Once the core mechanics feel fun and cohesive, I will focus on adding a lot more content. So please share your suggestions on the Steam forums! I am really eager to discover your ideas and take them into consideration for the rest of the development.

How much content is there in the Playtest?

You can experience a run of 16 enemy waves, including 3 bosses. There are four unit types, a dozen buildings, and around 24 effects in the upgrade tree. The meta progression is however nonexistent for now, there is only one leader to play. But I think this is enough to get a feel for what the game is about. I hope you will enjoy playing and get excited to stay tuned with the development of this project.

What is next?

I need to spread the word about this Playtest! Having a playable build on Steam, even an early one, makes things so much easier to promote the game. I can now start to contact content creators and streamers. I am eagerand a bit nervous tooto see people engage with the game. Meanwhile, I will also keep working on the game: plan content, tweak things thanks to your feedback, refine my tools and development process, prepare for switching from prototyping to production. I am very happy about reaching this new milestone in this project. I am convinced Comet Force has a lot of potential, and I hope we will build a nice community around it to make this game a great indie gaming experience! As always, thanks for your support, and see you next time! -Radiant Sloth

[ 2024-07-07 13:09:19 CET ] [ Original post ]