In celebration of the 3rd anniversary of our previous game release, we are making our current Steam titles completely free to own! Starting 8/25/2021, TimeTekker and AstroViking will be made free, permanently! We sincerely thank everyone who has purchased or played our releases over the past few years. Though we love these games, they have remained obscure over their lifetime, and we really want people to enjoy them! We think that removing the barrier to entry at this point in their lifecycle will enable more people to try them out, and hopefully have fun with them. We also have an unannounced, but ambitious project in development that we've been keeping occupied with over the last few years. We hope to share it with you someday! In the meantime, we hope you enjoy these newly free games!

[ 2021-08-11 04:56:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! We've just updated the soundtrack for AstroViking to utilize Steam's new audio player feature. You can now play the audio from the soundtrack directly in your Steam library, and can easily be taken to the directory where the soundtrack was downloaded. This is a pretty big improvement to how Steam handles soundtracks, so we thought we would implement it for those that bought it. If you own the soundtrack, you'll now see this "Additional Content" box with the album art on it.
Clicking on it will bring you to a page that lets you play the music directly in Steam.
We have future games in the works, but we hope you continue to enjoy AstroViking! - Ryan, Artii Games LLC

[ 2020-01-11 06:56:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! We've uploaded a new build with bonus controller improvements. You can now hotswap your controller for mouse and keyboard at any time during gameplay. Also, all tutorials now accept any input style to advance through them, no matter what control style the game "thinks" you're using. A small subset of players were probably impacted by tutorial-related bugs, which should now be fixed. Other bugs have been squashed too. We hope you continue enjoying the game!

[ 2019-09-30 01:47:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! We noticed some bugs with the leaderboard in the current Steam version, so we've spliced some experimental stuff we were working on into a new, updated version of the game. This includes controller support for the main game area and various other quality of life features.Controller support is limited to the upgrade menu and the actual combat. The main menu is mouse-only still. New enemy designs and some slight rebalances also made it in. If by any chance you have issues with the game that are caused by the update, clearing your save will fix it. Simply hold Q, W, L, and P at the same time, then close the game and reopen it.

[ 2019-08-27 01:47:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Weve got some exciting news about the Entropy Update thats been long in the works. Cutting straight to the chase, its not going to be an update anymore, but an entirely new game. After seriously looking at the progress so far, weve decided that the game design has changed so drastically that little of the original game remains at all. The scope and polish is also on a totally different level from the original. Its much more in tune with what we were trying to create in the first place, which is a full roguelike game with a huge amount of content. Instead of taking away what consumers paid for by releasing a huge rework on top of the original product, weve decided to leave the original AstroViking as-is and make this update a new game. The incremental game design changes we added throughout the update blogs have led us to change many fundamental things about the game that we wanted to see. Instead of wave-based survival, this new game is a full campaign-oriented roguelike with a story and lots of content to unlock. Since even the genre is very different now, it didnt make much sense for us to release this as an update and erase the old gameplay style. Although, were strongly considering adding in some modes with the new mechanics that call back to the arcade gameplay you all know from AstroViking. We dont really have a release date or much other info we want to make public just yet. (Weve learned enough about tentative release dates from all the missed deadlines for the update.) However, most of the stuff you saw in the update blogs is going to be making it into this game. (Theres also 707 big content commits to the game at the time I'm writing this. Yowza.) With that said, we hope you'll stick with us on our journey to bring you more games to enjoy. We appreciate you guys a ton. - Ryan O'Hara, Artii Games LLC P.S. Here's a sneak peek of the new character design:

[ 2019-08-11 20:25:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're back with more progress! After 7 months of work on this update, we're finally nearing the home stretch. So many things have been added by this point that this update might as well be a full on re-release of AstroViking. Its taken a long time to get this far, and were very grateful for the your patience. Our core team is only 4 people, so major improvements take a huge amount of time to finish. Without further ado, here are the biggest new features we've added to the game:

• An all-new arena for classic mode, Niflheim! This arena will replace the old one. Instead of being boxed inside that abstract space area from the current Steam release, you'll be fighting on a blizzard-stricken frozen lake floating in outer space:
  
• The Expanse, a new area for completing tutorials and testing your weapons before moving into the actual combat arena:
  
• New VFX for the Vortex and Dash. Practically everything visual has been reworked throughout the game, but your abilities have been especially polished:
  
  
• New pause screen. Instead of just a black overlay with the word "Paused", we stepped it up a notch with a neat vaporwave visual effect which looks like a paused VHS tape. Add in some spicy visuals and we've got ourselves a really cool pause screen:
  
• A loading screen with randomly selected tips. Replacing our simple black loading screen is an actual stylized loading bar:
  
• Ragnarok mode rework. Ragnarok mode will be getting an easier unlock condition as well as a new arena specifically for it. The menu art for selecting Ragnarok mode is also pretty cool now:
  
• New skill tree. We've reworked the skill tree with the introduction of status ailments. From now on, you can simply jump into one of 6 paths, each with their own branches, right from the start. Now there's an EXPONENTIAL number of ways to build your character, and we've even introduced a progress bar to show you how close your run is to a "maxed out" character:
  
• FULL CONTROLLER SUPPORT, FINALLY!. Yes, it's finally coming. The game is fully playable in every sense with a controller. Menus, equipment selection, gameplay, and even the leaderboard all support controller-based navigation. DualShock 4 controllers even have fully integrated LED support!
  

Thank you guys for all of your support. This update will be out sometime soon, for real this time. Let us know what you think of the new content in the comment section, we'd love to hear from all of you. - The Artii Games Team

[ 2019-03-20 05:03:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy Holidays from the Artii Games team! We're here to provide some quick updates on the Entropy Update's progress!

We couldn't release before Christmas :(

First off, I'll say that we intended to get this out before the Steam Winter Sale started, but controller support set us back on art progress by about a month. (And boy, it was NOT fun to do.) Our custom controller solution for navigating the menu turned out to be a behemoth that took a lot of time off of other things. One good thing about that is that controllers are now fully supported! The downside is that we are going to have to delay the update to January, as a lot of important features didn't get the attention they deserved yet.

Previews of new features

The best way to keep you updated on our progress is through screenshots, so here's a TON of them.

• Boss Waves have been reworked to Mutant Waves. Mutant enemies are modified versions of existing ones with crazier bullet patterns and new designs.
  
• Status effects have been added! You can now infuse your bullets with 3 different kinds of effects (freeze, poison, and spark). Each effect has highly variable build paths to help you make really awesome combos.
  
• You can now shop for items that will mutate your initial loadout. We'll be adding a few before this update, but will probably roll out more items at random. We intend for these effects to be drastic and game changing. Also, the currency to buy items is unlocked from playing the main game (currency persists between your play sessions.)
  

The game has gotten tons of art polish! From a totally new mode select screen to a new HUD for the main game, EVERYTHING is better looking.

New seasonal events! The title screen changes in the winter months to be snowy! In the future, we may expand this beyond aesthetics and add more seasonal changes.
There are seemingly hundreds of minor changes to the game that are probably too boring to report here, but practically everything has been dramatically improved. The game should also be receiving large updates after this one that are more content focused. To all the players, thank you for supporting Artii Games, and thank you for playing our games! We'll keep doing our best to make this update a great one, and we hope you enjoy it when it's done! Happy Holidays! - The Artii Games Team

[ 2018-12-21 03:31:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

We finally have an ETA on this update! It will be out in late December before Christmas! We've been working every day on new features and quality of life improvements. Being a small team of 4, a lot of these systems have taken a while to get rolling, but we're getting close to putting the finishing touches on everything we wanted to see! Our previous blog post covered most of the features we're adding, so check that out for some screenshots of work in progress. Some things will be subject to change as we get close to release and know what we can get done in time, but these are ALL either finished or almost finished:

BIG STUFF
• Full controller support for the entire game!
• Status ailments for your bullets
• New status ailment upgrade tree with 20+ new upgrades
• 18 new enemy sprites
• Remasters of all current music tracks and 6 new songs
• An item shop on the title screen that uses a global currency from beating waves (will persist across runs)
• Items that influence your starting character stats and provide interesting stat tradeoffs
• Equipment presets for every mode which allow you to save your favorite item configurations to start with
• New enemy AI behaviors like lunging and strafing around you
• The game has been stylized to look like an old TV screen (this can be toggled on and off)
• GIGANTIC performance increases due to our incredible programmer's efforts with object pooling and optimization QUALITY OF LIFE / POLISH STUFF
• Winter mode for various elements of the game (turns on in December)
• New emotions for the main character on the title screen
• New mode selection screen with dramatic titlecards for every mode
• Visualizer bars at the bottom of the screen that sync to the currently playing music
• New VFX for the map, like fog and ambient stars
• The upgrade tree now highlights nodes that you have to exclusively choose from when you come to a choice.
• The score tracker now jumps and emits rainbow particles whenever you get points
• The upgrade tree has better background art and particles
• The title screen now has a parallax background and some very 80's wireframes on the edges of the screen
• The currently playing music track's name is shown at the top of the screen

Thank you for your patience as we get this all wrapped up!

[ 2018-10-31 02:11:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! We're still hard at work on the newest update to the game, and we finally have some pictures to share! We still have a while before it's all done, but the finished product will add a GIGANTIC amount of content.

Full Controller Support

First off, we finally have support for controllers in every part of the game. Button prompts are even customized to your type of controller! Xbox and PS4 buttons are both represented!

New Enemy Designs

All of the enemies now evolve based on how far along you've progressed! Their design will get more intimidating and complex over time, making for 24 distinct enemy forms!

New Enemy AI

Enemy AI behaviors are also improved and specialized for each enemy class! Some will now try to keep a certain distance away from you, for instance. This makes dealing with a ton of different enemy types at once very challenging!

Music Visualizer

We've added a cool bar visualization to your HUD that's affected by the music that's playing. Coupled with the chill new tunes from our new guest composers and a remastered original soundtrack, this adds some serious flavor to the music!

Old School CRT Display

Relive some classic arcade memories with a new visual aesthetic that embodies everything retro! You might be fooled into thinking you're playing on a real arcade machine! If you prefer the previous aesthetic, you can always switch back!

Status Ailments

You can now imbue your bullets with 3 different effects: Spark, Poison, or Freeze! Spark deals extra damage and momentarily slows enemies, poison... well... poisons enemies, and freeze will lock them in place for a moment! To go along with this, we've added an entirely new underground segment to the upgrade tree that allows you to individually upgrade each status! You can switch between any ailments you own at any time while you're playing.

Turrets

Get ready to add tower defense into the mix! You can now build turrets on the map's rocks and upgrade them as well!

Absolutely gigantic performance boosts

Our talented optimization coder has improved performance to an insane degree. The game can now handle far more objects on screen without any hiccups. More details on the in-depth workings of this will probably come soon, but the bottom line is that the game runs so much smoother! Check out this demo of an insane number of objects on screen!
Thank you all for being patient with us as we finish this up! We can't wait till it's out! -The Artii Games Team

[ 2018-09-28 18:38:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! We've been working hard the past few weeks and wanted to let everyone know what we're up to! An absolutely massive, game-changing update is on its way and should be released in the near future. Some things in this list may be subject to change, but we're confident that everything here will get in before the next patch.

• FULL CONTROLLER SUPPORT! Yes, even in the upgrade menu and main menu! We've integrated ReWired, a plugin that allows universal support for every gamepad. Whatever type you have, we should have it covered!
• EVOLVING ENEMIES! Enemies will not simply be recolored upon assuming a new difficulty level- they'll evolve! Every single enemy has 4 levels of evolution that replace their higher difficulty versions! Some even have complex animations like writhing tentacles and biting jaws!
  
• STATUS AILMENTS! You can augment your shots with poison, paralysis, or freeze ailments which all have interesting effects on enemies.
• TURRETS & DEFENSES! You can build turrets on top of the rocks that surround the map and customize them in their own entirely new upgrade tree! Turrets can even inflict ailments!
• RANDOMLY GENERATED BOSSES! New exclusive enemies will appear on boss waves which are randomly generated each time you encounter them. Instead of simply introducing new high level enemies, boss waves will become an entirely new experience!
• NEW MUSIC! Our composer is working hard on a new series of music tracks! Instead of one normal track and one boss track, normal tracks will essentially form a playlist. Every time you defeat a boss, the normal battle music will change to a new song!
• LOADOUTS! We're adding in the ability to customize your starting equipment! For instance, you might choose to make your bullets massive upon starting the game, raising the ceiling for how far you can upgrade their total size!

[ 2018-09-03 19:36:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all, we're hard at work on more features. We don't have a timetable for when they'll be ready, but we'll be open about what we're up to as we make progress. Here are our plans: - Right now, our biggest priority is controller support. Our programmer is working on integrating ReWired, a plugin that allows universal support for gamepads. You should be able to play the game with whatever controller you own once this is rolled out, provided that everything goes smoothly for us. It's not an easy process, so we'll probably be at it for a bit. - Another big feature we almost have ready is a way to keep the mouse inside the window while you're in the middle of combat. (Or, if this feature doesn't work for your OS, we'll also pause the game automatically if you accidentally click outside the window) Bonus features we're keeping in mind for later: The update we're most excited about is a seasonal skin for the game which will automatically activate in December. Everybody loves winter modes! Maybe other seasonal skins will be possible in the future if we think of a good way to represent them. -The Artii Games Team

[ 2018-08-21 22:52:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello all, we've been hard at work on an update that addresses a lot of requests people have had! Here's the changelog! Please report any bugs!

• Added Ragnarok Mode, a special alternate game type where you start with 50k points and have one shot at upgrading before you're permanently locked out of buying anything else. Healing is also COMPLETELY DISABLED! 8 hits, and you're dead. period. This mode is for the most masochistic players! You need to beat wave 25 to unlock it!
• You can jump to previously completed waves if you've cleared them before! If you reach wave 10 or 20 at least once, you can instantly jump to them at the start of a run with 70% of the money that you would have had if you got there from wave 1!
• Enemies are now smarter and will chase you around obstacles relentlessly! No camping allowed!
• You can now check your high scores from the title screen and see the leaderboards for all available gamemodes there!
• A crazy new arena for Ragnarok mode complete with a sinister background art and an oppressive atmosphere!
• New themed leaderboard colors based on the mode you were playing when you died!
• Bugfixes all around!
• Small balance changes!
• Performance improvements!

[ 2018-08-16 08:07:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

A new update for the game is in the works, which includes an incredibly difficult bonus mode for the best players to test their worth! Along with that, we have graphical improvements, better (and smarter) enemy AI, performance improvements, bugfixes, a better tutorial...and more! We don't know exactly when it'll all be done, but it'll be soon! Keep on scoring! -The Artii Games Team

[ 2018-08-14 05:22:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

An issue in the steam config was causing the Mac version to not properly download. This has hopefully been fixed. If you had this happen to you, sorry! Try uninstalling and reinstalling the game and it should work.

[ 2018-08-11 04:38:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's almost time! The game will be coming out at 11 am EST tomorrow! Our musician has been hard at work on a new song for the game which is now integrated! The boss waves now have their own specific music and a custom musical cue when you've beaten one! It's a super intense song that should make your high score attempts more exciting! Another small bug with replenishing player HP has been fixed as well. Enjoy this last update on the eve of release! You'll be hearing more from us tomorrow!

[ 2018-08-09 18:41:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

I've just finished testing and verifying the quality of the Mac build and it's all set! The only caveat is that the Mac version is permanently locked in windowed mode (but still resizeable) because of graphics API issues with our shaders. This seems unfixable. However, the game is equivalent in all other aspects to the Windows/Linux version and arguably looks even better on my Mac display ːsteamhappyː. It's looking like AstroViking now fully supports all 3 major operating systems, so it's more open to the community than ever! Have fun!

[ 2018-08-06 20:43:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Most of the pre-release quality of life features that have been requested are now in! This update will be going live momentarily! - Fixed Multi-shot positional bug - Added labels to the upgrade tree and subtrees to make it easier to tell what you're buying - Abilities replenish instantly when beginning a new wave - Restructured the upgrade tree to give players more options immediately - The volume slider is now present on the pause menu - Abilities will flash their icon a little to let you know when they're ready again. - Small technical bugs fixed Our musician is currently working on some new music tracks for the game as well, and any additions will be retroactively added to the soundtrack DLC as an update. Thank you all for your suggestions and please let me know if there are any bugs.

[ 2018-08-05 18:06:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! We're currently hard at work on adding extras to the game before release! We're in the middle of adding gameplay feedback improvements that make the game feel better overall. We have no idea what bonuses will and will not get finished by the time we put the game out, but expect new quality of life features that weren't in the trailer! Copies of the game will probably be sent to reviewers through curator connect very close to release. We would have liked to give reviewers much earlier access to the game, but our new features will improve the game a lot, and we want to show the best that the game has to offer. Thank you for playing our games!

[ 2018-07-28 16:06:47 CET ] [ Original post ]