MV - Ad Astra Infinita: The New Evolution

● ARCHIVED · READ-ONLY
Started by ArchonDev 10 posts View original ↗
  1. ArchonDev
    #1 Source
    Screenshot (1).png

    5/13/25 Update: The game is playable from start to finish!

    Story:
    In Ad Astra Infinita, you play as a nameless creature who awakens on the planet Vaalbara, the site of a cruel, world-wide blood sport. Thousands of like creatures have been released on the planets surface and are fighting to the death for the right to ascend to the stars.

    All may not be as bleak as it seems, though, as a few creatures you meet along the way seem to have other ideas - ideas of rebellion against the powers that be.

    Gameplay:
    In this world, every enemy you defeat could drop a Mutagene, the essence of their physical or psychic power. Using these Mutagenes, you will be able to adapt to overcome any enemy you encounter by changing up your strategy at the drop of a hat.
    • Transcend system inspired by Shin Megami Tensei - gain Limit by hitting enemies' weaknesses, and prevent them from gaining Limit by nullifying their attacks, then hit them with devastating Transcend attacks!
    • Use Mutagenes instead of traditional equipment to change your party's stats, elemental properties, and attacks on the fly!
      • Each character has several Mutagene slots divided among a number of categories (Mutant Weapons, Psionics, Metabolic, etc.); the protagonist can also equip 'Human Weapons'
    • Level up and fuse your powers with Plasmids to stay ahead of the arms race!
    • Make use of Psionic powers to fast-travel, avoid encounters, and even straight-up warp over obstacles on the map (as long as you can remember where you were...)
    • Explore the world of Vaalbara to collect powerful, game-breaking Mutagenes from forgotten temples and deadly beasts...you're going to need them to defeat the Empire's enforcers!
    Other Features:
    • An original, metal-based soundtrack that's probably a good deal better than the game itself... a little more listenable than it was a year ago
    • Lots of technobabble and pseudo/pop-sciencey nonsense typical of 2000s era sci-fi games like Master of Orion, Sword of the Stars, etc.

    Screenshots:

    Screenshot 3 small.png
    Screenshot 2 small.png
    Screenshot 5 small.png
    Credits:
    • Kadokawa - RPG Maker, most assets
    • Yanfly - Plugins
    • AEkashics - Many sprites
    • Murray Atkinson - Some BGMs
    • Shoichiro Sakamoto - 'Sound Sepher Engine' Speed up battle plugin
    • Armymonkey - Blood tilesets
    • SkottyTV - Window skins
    • Bridger2065 - 'Xena' font
    • Martin Damyanov - Underground Waterway intro image
    • Jplenio - 'Polar Region' intro image
    • Pixabay - Ruins intro image
    • t0ngo - Magma Chamber intro image
    • LN_Photoart - Mountain intro image
    • Pixabay - alt Mountain intro image
    • mxwegele - Jungle intro image
    • Myriams-Fotos - Part 2 intro image
    • Wikilmages - Primal Plasmid image
    • Dimafe - Planet Vaalbara image
    • Freepik - Space Station hangar image
    • Pixabay - 'Staging Ground' BG image
    • Rostislav Uzunov - 'Staging Ground' BG image
    • Du'o'ng Nha^n - 'Staging Ground' BG image
    • S_Dij (Freesound.org) - Reload SFX

    Download(Win/Mac):
    Download on itch here
  2. handoffire21
    #2 Source
    The music is great, it really fits the theme.
  3. ArchonDev
    #3 Source
    handoffire21 said:
    The music is great, it really fits the theme.
    Thanks, glad to hear it!
  4. ArchonDev
    #4 Source
    UPDATE: Chapter 2 is now complete! This chapter includes the following:

    1. 10 new enemies and three whole bossfights (one optional)!
    2. 13 new Mutagenes to collect!
    3. The introduction of Plasmids - upgrade four of your old Psionic Mutagenes (including two that are new in this chapter) to gain all-new powers!
    4. A new ally who performs devastating Psionic attacks using his massive Intelligence!
    5. The first appearance of an endgame boss...
  5. ArchonDev
    #5 Source
    BIG UPDATE: Chapters 3-8 are now playable!
    Much more content has been added - the game is now fully playable from the start to the 'normal' ending! The 'true' ending is still a work in progress. I'm releasing what's playable now as a 'demo' to prove that, after two years of silence, the game is indeed still being made.
    Some known issues and things that are incomplete:
    • There are supposed to be little cutscenes with dialogue and still images after each major bossfight, but only 2-3 have been made
    • Most skills, especially later in the game, don’t have unique animations yet and either have no animation, an animation from the default assets, or some other skill’s animation
    • All bosses are beatable, but some late-game bosses may be too difficult without a guide

    Itch page here: https://archondev.itch.io/the-new-evolution

    If the game seems interesting to you, please give it a try and let me know what you think!

    Thanks,
    -Mike
  6. ATT_Turan
    #6 Source
    I played your game for the forum’s Web Feedback Festival. I recognize the effort it takes to get a game in a playable state and released for people to try, so if you don’t care to read constructive criticism, all of my thoughts are in spoilers. If you do read it, I hope some of it provides you useful thoughts when working on this or future projects.

    Spoiler
    It would probably be a good idea to have some kind of introduction for basic controls. Not everyone has played an RPG Maker game (it’s even possible, though not likely, that not all of your players will have played a video game).

    The various text windows appear to have somewhat randomly-placed double spaces between words.

    On the first map, what are all the fuzzy orange things to the right of your starting location? They look like fire, but I’d expect them to be animated - the actual fire sprite you selected for the events will be animated if you select the Stepping option on the events.

    Similar to the basic controls, it might be nice to get a basic introduction to what the battle options are, especially since they’re not the standard Attack/Skills.

    In battle, it looks odd to me to have enemy attacks pop up a second copy of your HP gauge immediately on top of your portrait.

    The battle log messages go by way too fast to understand what they’re saying. I don’t know what the point of keeping them is if they’re not legible.

    I died in my second fight, since I didn’t appear to have any way to heal.

    The concept of super-customizing your character by mixing and matching all the categories of mutagenes and psionics and weapons seems like it could be fun. But just being thrown into the game with no explanation of the systems and no story beyond “Okay, go do stuff” doesn’t serve to create a high level of engagement.
  7. ArchonDev
    #7 Source
    Hey, thanks a lot for playing the game and taking the time to leave feedback!

    I'm guessing you didn't interact with the random skeleton on the map immediately north of the starting map?
  8. ATT_Turan
    #8 Source
    ArchonDev said:
    I'm guessing you didn't interact with the random skeleton on the map immediately north of the starting map?
    If it was an event/NPC, I didn't see it. If it's a terrain feature (like a skeleton on the ground), no, I don't walk around maps just trying to interact with random things.

    If that's something important to the game (like instructions on the combat, how to heal/rest), you might want to make so people can't miss it.

    Have the NPC initiate a conversation, mark spots on the ground where the character stops and goes "Hey, what's that over there? I should take a look!" etc.

    (you may want to @tag or Reply to people you're talking to directly :wink: )
  9. ArchonDev
    #9 Source
    @ATT_Turan Yeah, very good point...I've been playing the game for so long I've forgotten how strange it is.

    The skeletons are actually treasure chests, and interacting with that particular one triggers a sequence that leads to an NPC showing up, giving you some gold and selling you items XD So yeah, I should've made it more un-missable.
  10. ArchonDev
    #10 Source
    Major Update: True Ending path now playable, Animations added

    When you reach the stars, what then? What does the new world look like? Take the right path to get a taste of what lies beyond the goal of ascending to the heavens...

    Several new endgame bosses have been added, as well as class-upgrade quests for each character, and dozens of new, original skill animations. The game is now fully playable from start to finish, and I plan to have done with it in the next year or so.

    The game is now released on Steam as well as on itch - it's free now and it's going to be free forever. Give it a try and please let me know what you think!