Author Topic: Skyward Collapse Free 2.0 Upgrade Launches Alongside Nihon no Mura Expansion  (Read 5315 times)

Offline x4000

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Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2013/08/skyward-collapse-free-20-upgrade.html

We at Arcen are proud to announce the latest version of our title Skyward Collapse has now gone gold.  As is typical for our titles, the massive 2.0 update is free, while a paid expansion pack with huge buckets of content also launches at an affordable $2.99.

At PAX Prime we'll primarily be showing off Bionic Dues in the Indie Megabooth, but we'll also have Nihon no Mura (the new expansion) and Skyward Collapse 2.0 to check out if you want to swing by.

What's New In 2.0
There was a big writeup on the largest set of changes, which were originally released as version beta 1.4.  Anyway, the highlights of what has changed from 1.0 onward are:

- Complete rebalance of pretty much all the units' bonuses against one another.
- Monster Caves that appear in addition to Bandit Keeps.
- 9 new bandit-only mythological creatures.
- 11 new bandit-only human units.
- Ally Camps, with 3 units from each faction moving here.
- 2 new land types.
- Soul imprints resource, and new related abilities.
- Currency resource, and revamped trade model.
- Building upgrades.
- Revamped resource costs for human units to better control production.
- Garrisons.
- Functional revamp of not only trade, but also embassies and flower gardens.
- New Insane and Torment difficulty levels for expert players.
- Visual upgrades to the fonts, particle effects, and various tiles.
- Improvements to Sandbox Mode.

And a whole lot more!


Nihon no Mura Expansion
The Japanese enter the fray on Luminith: their faction has a very strong military and a very strange pantheon: their gods are much more aggressive than their Greek and Norse counterparts, and each has three god creatures rather than three god tokens.  Learning to play this new faction effectively is a fun new challenge: given how powerful the Japanese military and mythology are, you have to be very creative in how you help the Norse and Greeks drive back this threat.  Remember, no faction is supposed to dominate the other!

Hamlets are new non-combative, non-factional villages that can be built in the remains of the fallen towns.  But it's never that easy!  Hamlet buildings can only be placed from a limited queue that cycles as you place them.  Hamlet buildings generate (or lose) Culture depending on what pre-existing tiles were adjacent at the time you placed them.  Culture allows you to activate four powerful new abilities, including creating Large Towns or even turning back time.  Amass enough Culture and Sunstone and you can even win the game via a new Cultural Victory!

Features
* Japanese faction with a unique new playstyle both for balance and gods.
* Hamlets: construction of 11 non-factional building types that generate Culture via new adjacency rules.
* New alternate win condition!  Construct the Luminith Tower via Culture earned in your hamlets.
* Powerful new Culture abilities: Enlarge Radius of Town, Reverse Time, Stop Woe, and Super Smite.
* Hamlet Idyll game mode: play for score with hamlets without the military side of the game.
* For all factions: 3 new map types, 9 new woes, 2 new land tiles, and a useful new Military Outpost building.
* Ten new music tracks by Pablo Vega, including a new vocal track for win/loss music!


About Skyward Collapse

"I can never play Skyward Collapse again. I work from home. Frankly, having it – and the accompanying temptation – within arm's reach would be detrimental to my productivity."
Richard Mitchell, Joystiq

"Skyward Collapse offers a unique twist on a stagnant genre"
9/10 - Rob Savillo , GamesBeat

How do you balance -- and indeed encourage -- a war between factions without letting either side obliterate the other?  How do you rule over gods, creatures, and men who refuse to obey you?  How do you build a landscape of villages when bandits and mythology are conspiring to tear it down?  Skyward Collapse places you into the role of The Creator, and frees you to tackle these problems your own way.  Brought to you by the developer of the modern strategy classic AI War: Fleet Command, Arcen's second full strategy title is equally unique (but far easier to learn): a turn-based 4x strategic god-game.

Your task is to build and populate the floating continent of Luminith.  You create -- but cannot control -- gods, creatures, and artifacts from both Greek and Norse mythology.  The power you wield with these is immense: Heimdall's horn causes everyone outdoors to drop dead, for crying out loud.  Your task is to keep both factions alive and fighting until The Master calls you home -- but this is harder than it sounds.  Bandit Keeps pop up periodically, as do Woes such as floods, serial killers, guild strikes, and vegetarian uprisings.  Every game plays out differently, and you'll need even the craziest of your powers in order to survive what lies in store for you.

Features
* A turn-based strategic god-game where you control neither faction, but instead strive to maintain the balance of power.
* Make towns and war as the boardgame-like floating continent continues to construct itself around you.
* Persuade your minions into doing what you want by controlling the circumstances of their (brief) lives.
* 16 gods, each with unique passive abilities and three active powers, help you further your goals as you pass into the Age of Monsters.
* Level up your player profile by winning games. Twelve unlockable buildings in all!
* Straightforward controls paired with an intuitive and helpful interface make this an easy title to pick up... but the strategy runs deep.
* Multiple difficulty levels let you play a very relaxed game up to a nail-bitingly difficult one.  There's no one best way to win!
* Co-op multiplayer for up to 8 players.


Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Mick

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Congrats on release!  :D

I have been so busy lately and unfortunately did not have any time at all to play much of the beta. On the bright side, I'll be able to experience all the new stuff in a complete state!

How should we go about getting Steam keys for our pre-orders?

Offline x4000

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Thank you very much!  And hope you enjoy, now that you'll have more time. :)

As for Steam keys, if you email the arcen games email address we'll hook you up!
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Pepisolo

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Good work! Very impressed with how much content you get for that $2.99. I hope it sells well.

Offline x4000

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It's going really slow so far, but it's the worst month of the year for sales (August and September are both really bad in general) so it's hard to know if that is a factor.  I have confidence that this will do well come the holiday season and so forth, whether or not it gets off to an awesome start here or not.  Releasing it in this month was kind of an experiment for us, as we've never released a new game this time of year, though we have done discount promotions in this month (last in 2010 or 2011 though).  So it's useful data either way.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Pepisolo

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One thing I noticed on the steam discussion area is that the latest release sticky needs to be updated. I'm sure that would net you extra sales just by doing that for this latest release. It's kind of outdated at the moment on version 1.008. Whenever I visit a game hub I go straight to the discussions area. Actually, I think it'd be a really good idea to keep this as up to date as possible, it lets the community know that the game is still being worked on, still has momentum etc. I know you already do that on this forum, but the steam community really are a largely different user base that won't read these forums. It also sits well with those that don't yet own the game to know the title is still being worked on and polished.

Offline mrhanman

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Congratulations on the release!  My new GTX 760 will be broken in on this. :P

Also, Pepisolo is right about the steam forum thing.  That there is a picky and helpless bunch.

Offline nas1m

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Congrats (again) from me as well!
Just a minor thing:
I just recognized that the Steam achievements for gaining level 10 and up are still present.
They should have been removed during the push for 2.0, right?

Keep it up! I am really looking forward to Bionic now!
Aside from a casual round of Skyward now and then, of course ;D
Craving some more color and variety in your next Bionic run? Grab a boost and a couple of custom floors!

Offline Oralordos

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I'm just now listening to the new music. Pablo has outdone himself again! And I definitely agree with you guys about Yamabiko No being both the victory and the defeat song.

Offline Misery

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I have to wonder how many people are actually AWARE of this expansion;  I havent seen anything about it on Steam whatsoever, and only a small blurb on the main "indie" site that I follow.  Nothing anywhere else yet.   And considering that so many people really liked the original version of the game quite a bit, I cant imagine why else it might sell so slowly.

Ugh.  Hopefully that will change; I really do think this one is quite deserving of good sales numbers.

Offline blastpop

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It is a Ninja expansion- literally and figuratively. Beyond the theme, I happened on the expansion about two weeks before the release so I picked up on it.  Just wasn't paying much attention with summer and so on. Then I got into the game so it got on my radar. So I can see why it might be a bit slow out of the gate.

Offline Breach

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Indeed. Considering the gigantic patch and the fact that a new DLC product has really been released I think it's deserving of a news post on the main Steam feed. If you can somehow wrangle Valve to fit that in between all their TF2 updates...

Offline x4000

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Thanks folks!

There are a variety of things inwork. Valve hopefully will do a post today, I think it was an oversight that they did not before. In terms of other coverage, partly I think that has been slow because of being caught between GDC last week and PAX this week. We're going to be actively showing both Nihon and Bionic at PAX starting tomorrow, so hopefully that generates some news stories.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Winge

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Yeah, I've been coming here to keep tabs on the expansion.  I've been wanting to get it via Steam, but I didn't see anything about the new release.  Still, looking forward to snagging it soon!

Now if only I can find time to play...I still haven't finished moving in yet :(
My other bonus ship is a TARDIS.

Offline Winge

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My other bonus ship is a TARDIS.

 

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