Hey all! I’ve been planning on writing this post for a while now as I wind down development and start to look forward to release.

First, I want to highlight the content you can look forward to in the game and provide a bit of a “guide”! I’m hoping the price point will reflect the value you’ll be getting out of these features, and I also hope the game is fun enough for you to keep coming back run after run, even after completing the game the first time (it’s designed for replay value!)

• All of the 5 levels have randomized enemy spawn sequences, meaning that no two plays of the same level will be exactly unique. This is meant to make the game feel fresh and new every time you play – especially when you’re playing for the first time. It also makes it harder to beat, because you can’t memorize enemy spawn sequences.
• The boss order is random as well, meaning that you could encounter two totally different bosses on two different runs.
• The boss difficulty and enemy difficulty scales depending on when you encounter them. For example, Cassie’s health and difficulty of attacks is low on level 1, but if you encounter her on level 4, she moves faster, shoots more bullets, the projectiles move faster, and she has more health. This is implemented for each and every boss in the game, and most of the larger enemies. The small enemies health will scale, but attacks do not.
• You will die a LOT in this game if you’re just coming into it. From the let’s play videos I’ve seen online, people coming in fresh die about 2-3 times before they get to the first boss, and it takes another few deaths to beat the first boss. After this, they are getting the hang of the game and the next bosses/levels come quicker. Don’t forget to use the modules between runs when you can!
• Speaking of modules, there are 25 total upgrades you can buy at the shop that are meant to ease your progression! Remember to use these and have fun watching your ship get stronger and mow down enemies!
• There are over 30 in-game upgrades. Just shooting the first one that rolls up probably isn’t the best strategy. Wait to try new upgrades you haven’t before, and see if you can come up with some good builds! There are some in-game upgrades that only unlock once you’ve gotten a prerequisite upgrade.. press “esc” and check out the upgrade info for more!
• Use your abilities (rockets, deflectors)! They are meant to make the game easier and provide you with more utility. I see a lot of people playing without these.
• If you are struggling and getting frustrated with the game, don’t give up! Use the game modifiers and enable some kushions to ease the difficulty. There is no content that is blocked by using modifiers, but it will keep you from getting certain achievements.
• On the other end, if you find the game too breezy or if you finish your first run and want more of a challenge, check out the kurses! They will challenge you in new and unique ways! I wanted to do this rather than just putting in a “hard” mode that just makes enemies bullet sponges so you could fine tune your experience to what you want.
• Play with the voice acting on at least until you’ve heard the dialogue once through! The actors did an amazing job embodying the Karens and Amanda, and it’s worth hearing!

I also wanted to note that due to some challenges with other commitments, I haven’t been able to implement controls remapping. I had really wanted this to be part of the day-one experience for players, because I know how some people love it! Unfortunately with the way I wrote the input system it’ll be a little hard to implement for me, so it’s going to take extra time. At this point in the launch cycle, I need to make sure I don’t introduce any bugs that would ruin or delay the launch and would like to announce that it’s likely not going to be in the launch build. This feature will, however, be implemented in a patch update post-launch.

Another announcement: The soundtrack page is being approved by steam now! I had submitted the page for review a while ago, but it’s been going back and forth in approvals for a bit. Unfortunately this means that the soundtrack won’t be available on day one, but will be released a few days after launch day. I’m going to bundle this with the game in a “complete the set” bundle, you can still get the soundtrack at the discounted rate if you buy the game on launch day.

Now for things on the horizon. A lot of people have been asking me what my plans are after launching the game. Will I continue to update it with content? I would certainly like to. Creating this game in my spare time (usually in the mornings before work), and raising a family leaves very little time for game dev. To get a little personal with you all, I do need to take a break from developing this game after launch so I can focus on some personal matters. That said, I do not plan to stop creating content for Attack of the Karens. I would very much like to provide patch updates with new content in the future. I’m not certain what the pace will be (it won’t be as it is now), but you can expect something on some level. The game was so much fun to make and people who have tried it seem to love it, so I’ve got to do something to keep it going!

On the subject of horizons, I also want to note that I’m also going to start work on a new project shortly after AotK releases! I can’t provide any details other than that yet and probably won’t for a while, but keep your eye on my twitter account for any announcements.

Thanks all! I can’t believe launch day is only 11 days away! WHO’S EXCITED?!?

-Joel