Hey there travelers, settle down and listen,
Hello everyone! Remember how we said we would be working at a reduced pace for the summer? Well, we had a lot of fun, we took some vacations to enjoy the nice (fickle, humid, hot) Quebec weather, and now we’re back on track to keep creating a badass, awesome, fun and wholesome Aloft game!
Hello everyone! Since the last update, time flew by us and now has come the season of harvest, cold evenings and warm beverages (pumpkin spice optional). In Quebec, fall is the season of apple picking, warm cider and slowly realizing that snow is coming, for better or for worse. For Aloft, however, the weather doesn’t stop us from pursuing our goal of making the best game we can!
Since the last devlog where we talked about the Next Fest results, the navigation system overhaul and new assets related to navigation, we had a bunch of new features implemented in the game, as well as several quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes. As always, the patch notes will come with the update itself, but more on that later.
If you want more regular updates and engage with the community, we do encourage you to join our discord, it’s full of good stuff, and we share updates more often and in a more casual way.
Community involvement
Ever since we showcased the game during the Next Fest, we’ve kept receiving great feedback from players all around the world and videos kept coming out about the demo. People are just having a blast playing Aloft and that’s so nice to us, it really gives a boost to the team’s morale and encourages us to work even harder. Some big names in the Youtube game even made videos on Aloft, it’s awesome! And now we’re happy to announce that we reached 1000 members on our Discord! Everyone has been awesome, they have great suggestions and impeccable taste. You should join them ;)
Additional building blocks
We really want Aloft to be a game about creative freedom, but you need brushes and oils to paint a masterpiece! We already have several building pieces with which to build your islands, but we missed a couple. They will also allow you to use more rocks and rope in your projects.
Players will now have access to delightfully wavy spiral staircases, stone building parts and rope fences. The staircase was tricky to implement in regard to other building parts, but we think the end result is great and adds a lot of character to staircases. It’s also promoting safety in the workplace, which is always a good thing.
With these stone foundations, players will finally be able to get rid of all their excess resources by building rock-solid buildings.
Farming
We are working on the farming system! After preparing the ground, planting the crops and watering them is a wonderful way to become an active part in the creation of biodiversity. Monoculture can be harmful to the environment, that’s why we created a whole bunch of plants and crops that players will be able to grow and harvest. In a later update, we will include cooking and permaculture systems.
The Dorkip is the primary farming tool. Praised by our discord members (for reasons unknown), the Dorkip is a fictional tool combining a gardening hoe and a short spear. The result is something that will allow you to plow the earth and defend it against fungi creatures!
An essential accessory - the bucket - is currently available in two formats: the leaf bucket is cheap to build and contains little water. The wooden one holds more water, but is more expensive to craft. Both have their uses, and they are quite pretty. The water system is still being worked on, so the only way to fill your bucket is by interacting with a pond. Keep that in mind when choosing your farming-focused island!
Finally, of course, farming wouldn’t be farming without being able to plant crops! To allow for the funky layout of some of our fanbase’s custom islands, players will have to put down plots of land before planting their crops. Those will grow better when watered properly, of course!
UI and french localization
Most of the UI in the current demo is a placeholder that worked while we implemented the different mechanics and systems of the game. Now that we have a better understanding of the visual identity of the game and of the user experience, we wanted to overhaul most of the UI to better reflect that. I think you’ll find it’s much prettier and easier to use. Full disclosure, some of the UI is not final as we are still working on it and implementing new systems.
Furthermore, we will also implement a first version of our French localization. Having a team that is mostly bilingual in French and English allows us to localize our game properly in those languages. Just like the UI, it will be a work in progress as we implement more features and correct the bugs we find along the way.
Demo update
So when will you see all those fancy assets and new mechanics? As early as next week at the time of publication (September 30th, 2022). In addition to what was already mentioned above, we will add more assets, fix some bugs and add some quality of life changes. Of course, a changelog will be published along with the update, containing all the changes.
What’s next?
We are in the process of expanding the team and to make sure we have all the skills needed to make the game of our dreams happen. Our first new teammates will join us next week and we’re still hiring more!
After the update, the demo will stay up for the foreseeable future. We really enjoy seeing everyone playing our game, making videos on it and giving us such great feedback. Thank you all so much for your support and we look forward to seeing you around the hurricane.
If you want more Aloft content or would like to give feedback, be sure to wishlist the game on steam here and join the Discord server using the image below
