The map has come alive: quests right on the planet!

For the upcoming second playtest, I’ve added a system of mini-quests directly on the map (which, in my game, is a planet). You can trade something useless for something valuable with the girl who has green camera-eyes. You can upload grenade schematics from the Ghost IT Guy in the Data Center. You can play a mini-game to win a tactical cartridge. Or you can (classic style) visit the cyber-well to restore your health.

I hope this will be fun to play!

I made a new background for battle locations: dynamic water reflections built entirely from ASCII symbols. I'm planning to use this visual feature across several areas.

As always, nothing but text symbols (the ones on any keyboard) are used. No scaling, no rotation. Almost like pure text mode.

The wave algorithm is a simplified Gerstner approach with two trochoidal waves - optimized to run faster.

New wallpapers from in-game screenshots!
★ Full HD: https://retroandrei.com/wallpapers/EffulgenceRPG_Hero_vs_Garpy_1k.png
★ 2K: https://retroandrei.com/wallpapers/EffulgenceRPG_Hero_vs_Garpy_2k.png
★ 4K: https://retroandrei.com/wallpapers/EffulgenceRPG_Hero_vs_Garpy_4k.png

Grab yours, set the vibe, and hit that wishlist! Playtest starts next week: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3302080/Effulgence_RPG/

Big day for me: Effulgence RPG Playtest #2 has just started! It's live for one week. I'd love to see you there. This is a very important milestone:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3302080/Effulgence_RPG/

I'm excited to launch Effulgence RPG into Early Access on Steam today!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3302080/Effulgence_RPG/

My goal with EA is simple: ship a compact, focused slice of the game and grow it together with players. This build already includes the core combat, exploration, and key systems. From here I'll expand content and polish based on your feedback. Roadmap: available in-game (menu) and on the Steam page.

The EA version is compact - about 1 hour of play. For 1.0 I'm targeting roughly 5 hours of content. If you're comfortable starting now, awesome. If you prefer to wait, I'll be happy to see you at release.

During EA the price is lower than the final price. Everyone who buys now gets the bonus DLC and the OST as free DLC. If they become paid later, early owners keep them forever.

Steam has enabled trading cards for Effulgence RPG! For a small text-based game, this feels like a tiny but very joyful milestone.

I'm working on the first update for Effulgence RPG and I'd love your input on one potential feature: letting you swap heroes between positions on the battlefield. It could make controls a bit more complex, but also open up new tactical options.

Please share your opinion in the poll here (Steam Discussion): https://steamcommunity.com/app/3302080/discussions/0/690869396921435282/

Steam Trading Cards and Animated Profile Background are live! You can now collect Steam Trading Cards for Effulgence RPG and craft a badge with ASCII-themed profile rewards.

Playing the game will drop cards that you can turn into a badge, emoticons, and profile backgrounds. It's a small extra for everyone who decided to support the game in Early Access.

I've also added an animated profile background to the Steam Points Shop, built entirely from in-game ASCII scenes. If you enjoy customizing your profile, you can grab it with Steam Points here: https://store.steampowered.com/points/shop/app/3302080

I'm happy to share a small update for Effulgence RPG (301):

+ Hero position swapping in combat. You can now swap the active hero's position with another hero during battle. Swapping adds PING (delay until the next turn). The PING cost for swapping is one third of the PING cost for skipping a turn.

+ Lower PING for unique abilities and injectors. Unique skills and injectors now cost less PING. You'll much more often end up in situations where using a unique ability or an injector still leaves the turn with the same hero. You can always see whose turn comes next in the PING timeline at the bottom of the screen.

+ Holiday screensaver. A festive screensaver has been added, and you can launch it from the main menu.

+ A handful of small fixes and tweaks.

Thanks for playing and for all the feedback.

Hello everyone!
I've just pushed a small "systems" update focused on infrastructure features that will keep getting expanded on the road to 1.0. What's new:

⚙ Steam Cloud Save is now enabled.
This is the first release of it, so I'd really appreciate testing: if you play on multiple PCs or Steam Deck, please let me know whether your save synced correctly.

⚙ Steam User Stats are now tracked and stored.
You can already see your numbers, and I'll be adding a lot more as the game grows.

⚙ First Achievements are in.
You can view them on your Steam profile, and in-game they also have animated 3D-like presentation.

This is just the start: stats and achievements will expand significantly as Effulgence RPG gets closer to 1.0. Thank you for playing and for helping me validate these features.

My text-symbol games (and apparently me too) were unexpectedly written about… on the radio. By Austria's awesome Radio FM4.
Link: https://fm4.orf.at/stories/3051374

Fun Twitter trend - my game tweet almost hit 500K views. That's not a common day for me.

I've got one small but very dear bundle: Retro Signal Pack. It's on extra discount and includes Effulgence RPG (ASCII 3D), ASCIILL (text dungeon crawler) and Coin-Op Vice (monochrome pixel shooter). Link: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/63849/Retro_Signal_Pack/

I'm making sure each weapon in the game differs not only in stats, but also has its own unique twist. Coming in the next update. Designing it the old-school way - in my work notebook.

ASCII animated avatar frame is approved by Steam! There are animated background and the frame for the game now. Several other items underway.

Effulgence RPG Big Update 9600 (Milestone #1) + -20% (5 DAYS)

Effulgence RPG Big Update 9600 (Milestone #1) + -20% (5 DAYS)

★ New combat location "Old Station". Tentacle-like grass tries to strangle your heroes. The finale is a huge, very strong, but slow boss.

★ Resource Bag. Resources earned in combat can now be taken with you and spent later (printing/healing/purchases).

★ Trading at the Smugglers' Glade. You can buy schematics and ready-made items.

★ Glyph Bomb. Built right during combat for the bosses currently on screen. The more matching symbols it has (the symbols the bosses are made of), the stronger the effect. One use per location.

★ Resupply after defeat. A safety net against dead ends: the game grants support (ammo/weapons). The worse your situation, the bigger the resupply.

★ The Inn heals up to 110% HP for resources. Wells restore HP too, but only up to the maximum — the Inn can give you overheal.

★ Skill level cap. The cap depends on your current party size: 1=>2, 2=>4, 3=>8, 4=>16 (2^N).

★ Unique item properties. Examples:
>> Linear Blaster: shoots at a target; if it misses, it fires a second shot, and so on.
>> Vintage Blaster: fires a shotgun-like spread and can hit multiple targets in a cone.
>> Assault Blaster: a hit triggers a mini-explosion that splashes nearby bosses.
>> Flint Spears: 3 throws per turn, aimed at different bosses.
>> Cluster Grenade: after the explosion, it bounces and hits a distant target.
>> Steroid Injector: in addition to healing, it provides extra recovery after the first instance of damage taken.

★ A few more small improvements and fixes.

A huge thank you to everyone who supported the project at this stage. If you're planning to support Effulgence RPG - I'd really appreciate it.

The game Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3302080/Effulgence_RPG/
(It is -20% now)

The next big update will be content-focused, with a lot more new combat locations. I've updated the roadmap: you can see it in the game's main menu in your selected language.

May ASCII be with you.

Effulgence RPG is 20% off now. It's still at its Early Access price, but that will go up soon with a big content update and the next step toward 1.0.

So this sale is one of the last chances to get in at the current price.

If you like unusual ASCII RPGs, I'd really appreciate your support.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3302080/Effulgence_RPG/

Made a fun sketch of the lower half of the final boss. The motion is fully procedural. Everything is calculated in real time. Does the movement look interesting?