Asterius
A downloadable exquisite game for Windows and Android
This is a Beta. I very much appreciate feedback. It helps make the game better.
Consider getting Asterius on Google Play, it's firstly designed for mobile. Currently, the Apple Store build is in limbo. Apologies. For browser play, the swf is downloadable below. The open beta feedback was a success and I've been working on the full release. Thank you all for your support!
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If you like Rogue-likes but are tired of things like inventory management and stats comparison but still want the depth and adventure, then here it is! All you need is WSAD* (*author's preferred control scheme, you can also use arrow keys or mouse).
Asterius is a "smart" and true, but streamlined rogue-like dungeon crawler game, inspired by ASCII games, but made so each procedurally generated dungeon is winnable. The game is carefully crafted to give each dungeon a hand-designed feel with the randomness of a rogue-like. The mechanics are easy to learn but take a long time to master.
You can change to touch controls in the game's menu to digital gamepad, or use a physical gamepad, keyboard, or mouse.
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Download Asterius:
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Also available on
Development log
- Major updatesJul 30, 2019
- Time vs EfficiencyApr 05, 2019
- How developing an indie product differs from big studio products.Oct 26, 2018
- Asterius developmentOct 10, 2018
Comments
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I am looking for a hint for the nonviolent ending with Asterius - this game is too good to leave 98% complete
The best mobile game I have ever played
Hey, not sure if you’re still working on this project, but the Android version is no longer compatible with the latest version of Android (error I got trying to install the apk from the downloads and from Google Play). Just thought I’d let you know, in case you’d like to update it. I’d love to try it on my phone! :) Looks like a really fun game!
Maybe not perfect, but you can play it via the SWF, above. On desktop, you can use Adobe's last standalone Flash player (v32) to run it, available at the Internet Archive. On mobile, there should be various apps to run SWF's. If you have trouble surviving the game itself, there's a guide here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/JohnnyEnzyme/comments/r7wz0x/notes_on_asterius_a_lovely...
Finally came back to this game and mastered it! Lots of great updates since last time I played, great work! I'm having an issue in my run where I'm just about to go for Asterius after doing everything else: the room before says it's cursed now ( wasn't before) and won't let me in and I can't quite figured out what this is about.
Cursed rooms have moved 2 times through my exploration of that run and I see no hint as to how that works (is it linked to the switch puzzle maybe?)
You're amazing! It's a tough game! Thanks for the kind words.
The cursed rooms are actually a failsafe for when a room encounters a bug when loading. My newest update fixed a lot of rarely occurring problems with room loading, so the cursed rooms hopefully won't be as much of a problem when I release it. I need to finish several features that are blocking the release until completed, and I've been quite busy with life stuff, so it's been taking much longer than expected. Soon, is all I can say.
Thanks for coming back. It's people like you that keep me motivated.
Ah shoot so I might not be able to meet Asterius on that run then, can't find a way through or around that bugged room.
Once I got into the habit of always equipping "wait" the game became easier :P The biggest hurdle was to survive all the way to a boss room, but once I finally did that Kentaur is currently so easy and the blessed sword is such a game changer ( making goliaths absolutely trivial) that the rest of the progress happened pretty quick afterwards. Happy to give more complete feedback on the overall experience if you wish!
One thing I dont get is that I got those info scrolls about 2 amulets that do good stuff but after clearing the map and defeating all the goliaths I found none of em game those specific amulets!
Anyway, I'm a huge fan of Nethack and Asterius is one of the few games that make me feel really understood what was strong about it. A traditional roguelike where knowledge and understanding of the world is key to survival instead of grind. Love that you can leave notes for each entry in the bestiary, that's really one of the best additions to the genre I've seen in a long time!
You might be able to bomb around the cursed rooms if you have enough bombs. Sometimes you can go into rooms not charted on the map through walls that look solid. It's tedious and risky though.
I'll look into the amulet thing. There should be 2 out of 6 that are always good.
You can email feedback@boopsgames.com if you want to give detailed feedback. Either way, I appreciate all feedback, detailed or not.
No uncharted rooms around there unfortunately!
Ok, maybe I just missed a couple goliaths somewhere because I think I only remember 4 goliaths ( and 3 skorpions).
Great game, as others have said.
bugs:
Sometimes all silver dogs become aggressive for no valid reason. I’m pretty sure that this is triggered whenever I revisit the entrance room, and I can reproduce it that way.
On one occassion, I used a travel hat, but the one statue I discovered sent me to a different statue. Same was true for the other statues, and after going through all six of them, I was transported to the first statue I discovered.
Small things that could be better:
there could be an option to deactivate auto-use of bombs on anything other than walls bordering the rooms, so it’s harder to accidentally waste a bomb or blow up something important.
There could be a way to pass your turn, so you don’t have to drop torches or something.
it could use an auto-travel feature, allowing you to instantly travel between any two cleared rooms that are connected by cleared rooms.
Thanks for your post!
Do you have the latest version of the game? I believe I fixed the aggressive dog issue, so it'd be good to know if it's still not fixed.
Is the wrong travel shrine issue only when you have all six travel shrines? I'll look into it.
You can equip the sword if you want to only use the sword, but I think what you want is very specific. I'll consider that option. I've been wanting to add more a robust options menu.
I've experimented with passing your turn, and it took away from some challenges, but I believe since there are ways to effectively pass your turn then this mechanic is just tedious. I'll be adding ability to pass a turn.
As for the travel between rooms, it's been on my list and will eventually be a feature, thank you!
I really appreciate the feedback! Thanks for playing.
I’m using localized swf version 0.43.621, that should be the latest version. I could also reproduce it on the web version yesterday.
No, the wrong travel shrine issue caused me to find 5 undiscovered shrines. Each shrine sent me to a new, unkown shrine, only the final one sent me back to the one shrine I found normally. No idea what caused it, it happened on the first run of the game, after downloading it.
Edit: I just found out I copied the .sol files that day (I savescum sometimes). Turns out I actually only found 4 new shrines that way. Tell me if you want me to send you the files in some way.
You’re right, the auto option suggestion is very specific. I can’t really unequip the auto, if I used the sword I couldn’t have something else to quickly switch to. But it’s not important, I probably should just be paying more attention. And once you get the blessed sword it works like I’d like it, anyway.
You’re welcome, thank you for making this game!
This is very helpful, thank you again!
How is this game not more known ? This is really really good. Great understanding of actual roguelike mechanics ( need to learn gods, monsters, traps and items of the world to survive longer) and with really interesting combat strategy. The randomness is already excellent, it s really fun to replay and the rooms havent felt repetitive yet after half a dozen attempts.
I d just say a couple death seemed really unfair but maybe it is because i have not understood how to spot the danger yet? ( monster in water and tree push guy).
Thanks for the encouraging words! I know there are more people who love the game, just not so vocal about it. It helps to get these messages for affirmation. I'm working every day to make this game better. In fact, the next update will make the game's performance much better! After that, I'll be improving some of the design and conveyed information so things like the tree pushing man won't seem so random (there's a chance the old men are evil). Thanks again for playing, I'm glad you're enjoying it!
You're welcome, and yeah I ve encountered the info warning about old men now.
Do they cause insta death ? I think if their trap only removed one hit point it would help a bit. Its a tricky thing to design because i like the concept of having to identify who is evil every run but at the same time gameplay wise the first runs of new players are gonna confusing and seem unfair. The other tricky part is your game punishes hard on backtracking with the poison system, so if you meet the old men before identifying them you re kinda screwed?
Excited for the performance increase, on my phone the game starts chugging like crazy after I explore 12+ rooms. Maybe too much data to remember?
Yes, changes like those are the ones I've been planning--namely backtracking woes will be softened--thanks for the suggestions! The data is being managed fine, but the way Flash handles removing and loading textures causes the hiccups; more twextures, longer hiccup. That sort of lag should be reduced greatly in the next update, of which requires a lot of manual texture reworking, which is what's been taking the next update so long. Either way, other things not related to that should make it a bit better as well. Truth is, I started programming this game a loong time ago, and I'm learning more about how to write neater code, so I've been rewriting a lot of old stuff to speed things up. There's a priority list I'm going down, and my efforts are just now starting to show. Fingers crossed!
Awesome, best of luck!
Ah also, bug feedback: sometimes the game freezing indefinitely when loading a room ( happened only twice over a few hours of playing).
This game is excellent. I don't have any complaints with it. Keep doing what you're doing and I can't wait for the full product.
That's great and very encouraging. Thank you!