It’s time for the June developer update for Star Rift Saga! This month we’ll take a look at some of the collectables you’ll find throughout your journey as well as have another preview of the soundtrack.
This past month has been both exciting and slow. While there’s not a lot of huge improvements to show right at this moment, I feel like things are at the top of the roller coaster, ready for that big drop and speed. In coming months there should be a lot more to share as things move along in the polish pipeline.
One thing that did see a lot of polish this month was the character art. The playable character is now in a nearly final state, so that will be shown as we move forward. At some point soon the screenshots on the Steam page will see an update, especially as environments get some polish.
Dash Module
The dash module is one of the first upgrades you’ll find. It lets you do a short dash or backdash. You’re almost totally invincible during the dash. Go through hazards? Yep. Enemies? Sure. It’s also very very fast.
You can also use a backdash to quickly reposition. You won’t fall while dashing, so you can clear small gaps.
You’ll have to wait for the green meter in the top left corner of the screen to fill up before you can dash again. There are some skill chips that change how quickly the dash meter fills up.
There’s some cool movement tech here too. If you’re on the ground you can cancel the dash with a short jump. You’ll give up the invincibility in exchange for some speed. This bonus momentum will keep up as long as you stay in the air, so you can keep jumping to keep the speed up. Your dash gauge also will have a slight delay before it starts filling if you do this, but you can chain dashes, jumps, and other moves to speed through areas.
Here's all of the clips in one video without that all that crunchy GIFy quality.
Pulling back the curtain a bit, the dash was originally a roll and the backdash was a backflip. However, that was both a lot of animation and significantly slower to execute. The change to a dash enabled faster gameplay, especially when engaged in combat. This is especially true when using the backdash to quickly reposition.
Valley Music Preview
The colony you’ll frequently visit and start your journey from sits within a lush valley. As such, the valley is one of the first places you’ll explore. It mostly serves as a path to the other areas, and it is connected to every other major zone. This area is represented in the capsule image for the Steam page. Here’s a preview of the soundtrack for that area.
The Top of the Roller Coaster
It’s been very exciting to see things start to come together. It’s moving forward, and with any luck you’ll start seeing that polish in these updates very soon.
Don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam, and follow along on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Excited for what’s next!