Aeternum [PC & Xbox bullet hell]. OUT NOW ON STEAM

[BrooksBishop]

Hi all!

Update July 18, 2017
Aeternum is finally out on Steam! Hooray!
The Steam version has a lot of updates including new online leaderboards, achievements, trading cards, an extra playable character, and a lot more.
Get it before July 25th and there's a 15% launch discount too.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/454750/Aeternum/

Update Sep. 2, 2015:

Spoiler

We're going to TouhouCon 2015!
I and Jesse will both be at TouhouCon in Anaheim September 18-20. We'll be presenting a panel on Friday at 1pm entitled "A Glimpse at Indie Game Development" talking about how the game was made. So come on by and hang out if you're going!

The other big announcement, is that we produced a batch of physical copies of the game on CD! Copies will be available to purchase from us at TouhouCon, with the possibility of online sales after that if I can find a good means of distribution.

Lastly, I hope to finally put up Greenlight pages on Steam soon for Aeternum, along with our upcoming next game, Glory Gunner to take advantage of the exposure.

Update Jan. 19, 2015:

Spoiler

You can now buy Aeternum on itch.io at http://brooksbishop.itch.io/aeternum, if you are so inclined.
The version available on itch.io is the brand new latest 2.0.2 which includes the following changes:

• Added fixed/variable timestep toggle.
• Added vsync toggle.
• Added option to set starting Panic count in practice mode.
• Fixed a problem with running the game in full screen mode on screens with a native resolution smaller than 1280x720.

The timestep and vsync toggles are there for anyone who has certain Nvidia cards, and experiences slowdown of XNA games.

These changes don't affect scoring or gameplay, so any scores set in 2.0.2 are compatible with 2.0.1 scores.
The 2.0.2 patch is available on IndieGameStand already, and patches have been submitted to Desura and Humble store so if you bought in either of those, you should be able to update soon.

Update Dec. 3, 2014:

Spoiler

Aeternum is part of the IndieRoyale Gaming Tuesday bundle! This will run from December 3rd to 9th at http://www.indieroyale.com/
This bundle includes 5 games (to start, with more to come later), and supports the Gaming Tuesday initiative (more info on that here).
If you think the bundle is great, and want to help out in the charity, awesome! However, if Aeternum is all you're interested in, I ask you to please continue to purchase at http://aeternumgame.com where I get all of the sale instead of a small fraction. Thanks!

*****

I'm Brooks, developer of Aeternum, the xbox live indie games bullet hell. I just wanted to let everyone know that the game has officially been updated!
In addition to a few bug fixes (which I outline in this blog post), the 1.2.1 update finally adds the Extra 5th stage with an entirely new boss fight. Anyone who has bested Greytail the Wicked can unlock the chance to fight against the mysterious Winter, a girl apparently locked in a sub-space closet for untold years.

The update also includes new songs by Jesse Bishop, so if you liked the rest of the soundtrack I suggest heading over to his Bandcamp page and picking up the updated OST. It's still completely FREE! Although, if you enjoy it maybe drop a couple bucks in the optional purchase field. Jesse gets all the proceeds from the album sales himself, and I'm sure he would appreciate being able to afford another burrito or two.

The new OST also includes a cover of Greytail's theme by none other than VikingGuiter! And also features some sweet guitar work by the always amazing Stemage. You can find the track on YouTube too if you just want to give it a listen. It's rad.

If you haven't bought it yet, the game is available for $2.99 on the Xbox Live Indie Games market (or search for Aeternum on the Indie channel). Anyone who purchased the game previously, simply start it up, and you will be prompted to download the update for no additional charge!

If you do pick the game up and you enjoy it, please consider rating the game. A good rating really helps out.

I'll be around in case anyone wants to hurl obscenities or criticisms at me.

Love you all!
-Brooks

[n0rtygames]

^ Check this guy out. He means business.

[KennyMan666]

Oh yeah best XBLIG right here.

Though launching the game does not prompt me to update. Guess I'll delete and redownload or something.

[BrooksBishop]

I waited until my copy registered the update before I posted anything. My apologies for anyone that tries and it hasn't gone up for them yet!
I added a version counter to the bottom right corner of the main menu, so for anyone that goes the delete/redownload route you can be sure it's updated if it reads "Ver. 1.2.1" instead of showing nothing.

[shmuppyLove]

$2.99? Well, this is a no brainer.

Purchased for great justice!

[KennyMan666]

There we go. Beat the Extra Stage on Normal first try. :V

Additionally: It made me somewhat sad to see that Aubrey wasn't playable in the normal mode, only the Extra stage. I understand why, since it wouldn't make any sense at all storywise to have Aubrey play the regular game, but it would still be fun to have her playable (once you've unlocked the extra stage, of course). Just axe the dialogue scenes for her and don't think too hard about having her fight herself in stage four. :V

(and while I'm asking for things, I'd be very happy to see a Restart option in the pause menu.)

And now also to see if I notice any changes in the standard game!

[n0rtygames]

$2.99? Well, this is a no brainer.

Purchased for great justice!

^ This. Please support good shmups without the expectation of them being 80msp. It really is worth $3 if you don't have it already

[Jaimers]

This is pretty fun.

The focus speed seems to be a tad too slow for what is expected of you though. It reminds me a bit of DOJ Shotia but I guess I'll just get used to it.
There doesn't seem to be much to stages but the bosses are fun at least.

Don't have the means to record live from the xbox so I guess I'll wait for the PC version to record a replay. In the meantime I'll try to beat lunatic.

EDIT:


Okay Lunatic was a lot harder than Demonic.

[Despatche]

Additionally: It made me somewhat sad to see that Aubrey wasn't playable in the normal mode, only the Extra stage. I understand why, since it wouldn't make any sense at all storywise to have Aubrey play the regular game, but it would still be fun to have her playable (once you've unlocked the extra stage, of course). Just axe the dialogue scenes for her and don't think too hard about having her fight herself in stage four. :V

do it like espgaluda ii and add a shin aubrey?

[BrooksBishop]

Okay Lunatic was a lot harder than Demonic.

Congratulations! You are officially the first person I am aware of (besides myself) to beat anything past Hard.

The difficulty is controlled by a rank variable, which is set as: Normal = 0.0, Hard = 0.2, Demonic = 0.5, Lunatic = 1.0.
So Lunatic is indeed quite a big step up comparatively!

[SuperSoaker360]

Slow-movement speed is pretty slow.
Can't record either. Will pick it up on the PC definitely though.

Also, I'm in the boat with adding Aubrey into the main game.

[SuperSoaker360]

Aeternum has finally been released on PC available for $3 here: https://indiegamestand.com/store/549/aeternum/

For an indie shooter of this quality, you can't go wrong with the price.

[Kaspal]

Aeternum has finally been released on PC available for $3 here: https://indiegamestand.com/store/549/aeternum/

For an indie shooter of this quality, you can't go wrong with the price.

is tehre a DRM free version, like DanmakuUnlimite 2? if so, point me to it, and i'd buy it in a second... i just dont like to go to steam or desura or that kinda shit. pretty please?

[BrooksBishop]

I know how you feel, sometimes I just like a folder with a game in it and that's it, hehe.
So, buying it on IndieGameStand gets you the completely unencumbered installer. No DRM, and no app required to run it!

For those that do like Desura though, I just now got it finalized there. Buying it on IndieGameStand also gets you an optional Desura key as well.
http://www.desura.com/games/aeternum

[Kaspal]

I know how you feel, sometimes I just like a folder with a game in it and that's it, hehe.
So, buying it on IndieGameStand gets you the completely unencumbered installer. No DRM, and no app required to run it!

For those that do like Desura though, I just now got it finalized there. Buying it on IndieGameStand also gets you an optional Desura key as well.
http://www.desura.com/games/aeternum

Lemme get this straight: if i buy it at IndieGameStand, its a DRM Free version? which i can install, and play endlessly, transfer to a Pendrive and keep on playing no problem?... if so, im SO buying it today!... thx for the info.

[Observer]

Yes, you get a DRM-free installer to carry around so get on buying! I just did and forced someone else to follow suit.

While you are at it, get Danmaku Unlimited 2. Same deal, DRM-freeness.

[Kaspal]

Yes, you get a DRM-free installer to carry around so get on buying! I just did and forced someone else to follow suit.

While you are at it, get Danmaku Unlimited 2. Same deal, DRM-freeness.

i bought Danmaku Unlimited 2 for PC as soon as it was announced here ... 5 bux well spent! ... and with Google Wallet, the way i like it!... This one, i'll get it as soon as i'm back home...

[SuperSoaker360]

There we go.

Still can't do Lunatic though. Some of those boss attacks are seriously vicious.

[BrooksBishop]

There we go.

Congratulations! You are officially the first recorded Demonic completion I've seen. If you would like to claim the Demonic prize, send me an email at brooks@wastedbrilliance.com so I can get some info.

And yeah, I balanced the game around my ability to complete Demonic, and utter inability to clear Lunatic, lol. But what's a shmup without a challenge?

[shmuppyLove]

There we go.

Still can't do Lunatic though. Some of those boss attacks are seriously vicious.

FULL SHMUP BRO



Greytail's later phases are completely nuts, I can't imagine what they'd be on Lunatic

[SuperSoaker360]

Actually Jaimers just uploaded a Lunatic 1CC. Definitely worth checking out since it's a No-Miss.

EDIT:

Wow, MY HD IS SUCK

[BrooksBishop]

Go ahead and email me anyway. I have a few of these I can give out.

[shmuppyLove]

Wow, MY HD IS SUCK

Nah it's fine, just poor YouTube quality + JPG compression.

[Jaimers]

New movement speed is glorious.

Have a lunatic 1cc.

[BrooksBishop]

Have a lunatic 1cc.

I just want to say: Your victory dance after beating Greytail makes me happier than you can imagine.

[Pteriforever]

Sooooo Shinyyyyy.

I normally don't pay for games, but this looks nice enough that I might just get it as a reward for myself once I've finished my exams later this month.

[SuperSoaker360]

Wow this true final boss is brutal on Lunatic.

[BrooksBishop]

For all you Humble Bundle fans out there, Aeternum is now available DRM free via the Humble Store widget at AeternumGame.com.
Buying it this way adds the game to your Humble Bundle account too, so you'll be able to access it there, as well as download any updates later. I'm working on adding Desura codes as an option as well.

Speaking of game updates, I have a 2.0.1 build in testing on my end which has a bunch of minor cosmetic bug fixes, but also reverts Panics so they fail spell bonuses again. Beyond that, I think the PC release version launch has gone fairly well. Now, if I could just find a way to let people know the game exists, maybe I'd sell a few!

[VideoGameRescue]

Now, if I could just find a way to let people know the game exists, maybe I'd sell a few!

Some of us are doing all we can to help you out in that department

[KennyMan666]

I made a thread about it on a Swedish Touhou forum and is linking it regularly in #shrinemaiden. Should probably make threads about it on some more gaming forums I go to.