If you like the game, then help spread the page below and “like” it on the steam greenlight page:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92953602

This game is pretty unknown, so I will need a lot of luck and attention to get anywhere. Please share it with friends and post it on websites you frequent!

In other news, Koya Rift is in the Neon Shump Bundle. Get it and a few other cool games for $5!

EDIT: The bundle is over now, thanks everyone!

Thanks for the support everyone! Wish me luck.

EDIT2: I am starting on a new game! Details about it will be announced as soon as we (yeah, it’s not just me working on it) come up with a name for the game. Subscribe to the website via email (top of the right column on the site) so you can get updates as soon as I release them!

-Zach

If you already own the game, this update is free!

Buy on Desura

Buy direct (DRM-free) via BMT

It’s here! The summer update is finished and uploaded to all distribution platforms (however, as of the time I’m writing this, it still has to go through Desura validation and the IUP newsletter containing the new version hasn’t been sent yet). The demo has NOT been updated, it is still a hopelessly old version of the game.

The update has been uploaded to the BMT servers, so re-visiting your download link should  allow you to download version 1.1. Make sure the file that you’re downloading says KOYA_RIFT_1_1.  If you have any problems, email me at sunnykatt [at] live.com and we can fix whatever went wrong.

What does this include since the initial game release? (we’re ignoring the half-update that came out last month)

Energy System (“Guard the Pod Initiative”): There wasn’t an incentive to guard the pod, so I made an “energy” system. Now when you fire a weapon, you drain your energy. To get it back, you need to visit the pod on the surface so it can recharge you. In my opinion it works great and actually forces you to protect your stuff on the surface!

New Health/Energy Bar: The old health bar looked nice, but it was hard to judge how much health you had left, and colorblind people couldn’t use it. Now health and energy are displayed in easier-to-read formats that take up less space. The smaller value of the two is pushed to the front, in case you’re having trouble understanding it.

New Rank Graphics

Wider Range Of Sound Effects: Sound effects added for:

• Player getting hit
• Player at low health/energy (warning buzzing)
• Ally getting hit
• Enemy getting hit
• Landing on the ground from a fall
• Buying a new unit
• Obtaining an upgrade orb
• Gnat exiting a wall
• Crystal Death
• Entering the pause menu
• Ally teleports (they do that now)
• and others I forgot to list. whoops.

BALANCE CHANGES: 

• Enemy HP less sensitive to the difficulty adjustment: before enemies took too long to kill after you hit difficulty 650 or higher.
• The “phasing” ability moves more quickly.
• “Inspire” (white) weapons have reduced effectiveness: With a large group of droids and a smart player, this combination was way overpowered.
• Difficulty adjustment is more sensitive in the downward direction: Before it seemed that it was easier to get the difficulty raised on you than having it reduced when you’re losing. It needed to be a bit more forgiving.
• Droid prices have a sharper exponential gain: Earlier it was too easy to buy a zillion droids and just wipe everything out in the tunnels. So their prices steepen based on the number you have already bought a bit faster than before.
• Droid AI values following the player more: If the player was trying to run somewhere but a droid was busy fighting, they used to prioritize the enemy over following the player. Now they still follow the player, even if they’re shooting at an enemy.
• The “Reinforcements” bonus needs to have a dropoff as you get more droids: It was really overpowered if you get maybe 3 reinforcement bonuses in a row. If you already have a lot of droids out on the field, it should only give you maybe one now, to prevent the player getting an unfair advantage (and later getting nailed with a difficulty increase.

“Campaign” Lock Symbol: I’ve had several people point out that it’s hard to know about the existence of campaign mode unless you’re told about it. So now in the main menu the “Campaign” button will still show if you don’t have it unlocked, but it will be greyed out and have a lock icon next to it. Upon hovering the mouse over it, it will say that you need to complete more battles to unlock Campaign mode.

Hover-Over Tooltip System: Learning the game was way too hard, especially in campaign mode. Now there’s lots of tooltips to help explain things, and they work very well!

In-Game Screen Shake Control: This is the most-requested option – The ability to turn screen-shake off will be in the options menu so you can adjust it in-game without having to modify a file.

Skip-able Death Animation (actually a bug fix): Some Redditors requested that it’s possible to skip the player death animation. The long wait times were actually from a bug (more of an oversight) that’s fixed now, so no worries about waiting a long time any more!

Replace all Code Drama logos with SunnyKatt ones: I won’t be starting a game with Code Drama until after I graduate university, if even then. So it is only hurting me to have a split-persona within the game.

MINOR INTERFACE CHANGES:

• Additional Numerical Representation of Money: Sometimes it is hard to judge using the symbols exclusively. Now numbers are superimposed on top of the money icons, as per request.
• “NEW” text above newly acquired weapons: Before, your newest weapon was just highlighted in yellow. Now it is emphasized with textual clarification.
• Slightly higher contrast between cave walls and background: People with CRT’s and other displays that have a deeper, darker color range had trouble seeing the difference between the cave walls and interior. So I slightly widened the difference in the brightness between these two.
• Make screen shake based upon your resolution: Before, Screen Shake was a hard-coded value that seems more extreme when you play on a smaller resolution (because there are less pixels). This now adjusts automatically so people playing on tiny 720p resolutions aren’t getting headaches. The shake is much more bearable now.

Remember to subscribe to the website for future updates (the top of the right column lets you subscribe via email!).

Links:

Koya Rift Subreddit

Koya Rift on Facebook

My Twitter (if you even care)

Thanks for the support everyone!

PS: Hey, press! I really need coverage. Email me please. <3

-Zach

This is me trying to mashup as many of the new features as I can into a single image.

The update has been uploaded to the BMT servers, so re-visiting your download link should  allow you to download version 1.05. Make sure the file that you’re downloading says KOYA_RIFT_1_05.  If you have any problems, email me at sunnykatt [at] live.com and we can fix whatever went wrong.

The update is currently going through validation on Desura, The update is now out on Desura!

IUP purchasers should be getting an email with a new copy of the game.

To find out what is new check out the uppermost section of this post: http://sunnykatt.com/archived-to-dos/

Everything under the section titled “Old Summer Update (Part 1) checklist” is what is included in this update, plus non-major things I didn’t end up listing.

Here’s a mediocre video explaining some of what is new, if you’re really interested.

I would like feedback on the update! So if you have time, please shoot me an email or otherwise get in contact with me on your thoughts. Is there anything you want added? Do more tooltips need to be added in any areas? Is there a balance change that should be made?

In other news:

Koya Rift Official Subreddit

/r/koyarift is now live! This is a reddit community where users can discuss and give me feedback on the game. Hopefully people actually use it and it doesn’t die out – the Koya Rift community does need a place to try and congregate!

I’ll be checking the subreddit for feedback and news on a regular basis, so it’s a great way to get in touch with me and the community.  Subscribe and use it!

New review from Buy, Rent, Avoid it (Koya Rift got a “buy”!)

Remember to subscribe to this website via email in the top right corner so you can stay updated. And if you’re a redditor, join the Koya Rift subreddit!

Also: I forgot to update the INSTRUCTIONS.txt file that came with the game. So that has no new info in it. I’ll get it for the next part.

Thanks for the support as usual everyone,

-Zach

Now it’s time for me as a developer to give back to the community. I’m going to start by making Koya Rift 50% off forever – a permanent price cut that brings the price down to a more accessible $3.99 USD.

Click Here to buy the game (DRM free)

Click Here to buy the game on Desura

Secondly…

I’m going to spend as much as my free time as possible this (American) Summer adding features to the game. 

What features, you ask? I have a few in mind, but beyond that, I’m leaving the choice up to you guys. What does the community want in the game? Post your questions in response to this post, email me, respond in the Reddit thread, or something else I can see. I’ll offer my feedback and let you know what we can and can’t do.

Here’s what I can’t put in the game (to save you the time from asking):

Multiplayer/Coop: Hugely time consuming – splitscreen can’t work with the current way I wrote the engine, it would take me the whole summer to refactor everything so that I could even get multiplayer working. It’s better to spend time on other features.

Ports to other OS’s: The development engine I wrote Koya Rift in is actually getting ported to other OS’s, but unfortunately KR relies too heavily on windows-only DLL’s to port the game now. I may do this on my own later down the road. I would like to see KR on tablets, but that’s a project for another time…

Click here to see what I’ve already planned to add to the game in a convenient list!

So what do YOU want to see in Koya Rift? A rare, neutral Alien race whose help can be won over? Space battles? Vehicles? Laser weapons? Energy Swords? An option to play as the phantoms? A new, different game mode? A special reddit alien outfit? collectible hats (I’ll veto that)?

I have some more questions. Would you guys like to see update videos every few weeks to see my progress? I think that would be cool. Would you also like playable alphas to come out when I add features? This would take additional work, but it could be done. Let me know! Also, I’m working at a place with flexible hours during the summer. Would anyone be interested in a Kickstarter to fund the update so that I can afford to work less at my day job and more on the update? Would it be successful? Again, let me know what you think!

I have some bad news, too. The demo will not be updated to support the new features. It will take way too much time that could be better spent on more features for the users. Similarly, I’m dropping multi-language support from the game. The translations were bad in the first place that everyone just used English anyway – continuing to support them will make adding new features much, much slower.

Also, remember to sign up for email updates! It’s at the top of the sidebar on the right. Please do this so you don’t have to remember to keep track of the news on your own.

And if you’re really hardcore, you can check out Koya Rift’s facebook page.

As a final reminder, remember to visit the Reddit Thread and distribute your votes and suggestions accordingly. Thanks for the help everyone, hopefully I can reward you guys with some awesome new features. <3

-Zach

The website it here. Check it out!

Also, if you have a Reddit account, please show your support here: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/qwwyb/introducing_the_indie_underdog_pack_help_fund_our/

Thanks guys!

-Zach

So post-sale impressions (the sale was amazing, by the way!) with new news will be coming up at the end of march / early april-ish, but exciting other news will be coming out before that. Sorry to keep you waiting.

Just keeping you in the know.

-Zach

EDIT: The sale is over now. There’s news coming later this week though, so sit tight.

Yeah, I wanted to do this a really long time ago.

Click here to buy directly (no DRM or third party software needed)

Click here to buy on Desura 

Koya Rift is 75% off for a whole week (ends 13th, so a bit longer than a week). It’s two bucks (1.99 USD). That’s cheaper than your lunch. Just sayin’.

If you don’t buy it or you already own it, that’s cool, but please, PLEASE, spread the word. You guys know how horrible I am at getting my name out there. Thanks and Enjoy!

If you own a blog, or any other kind of methods of getting this news out there, help me out and I’ll love you forever.

Game on!

-Zach (SunnyKatt)

EDIT: A lot of new visitors are coming here! You most likely want some information on the game.

Detailed description of gameplay: http://sunnykatt.com/koya-rift/

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5NQ7cJuKPI

Demo: http://www.mediafire.com/?5h049d8x7e90zs0

Review from an indie gaming site: http://astringentgaming.com/gaming_reviews/review-koya-rift_30131

Another review if you’re that interested: http://www.indiegamereviewer.com/koya-rift-an-indie-game-review/

You shoot up a bunch of aliens in a procedurally generated set of levels with random weapons and encounters. The difficulty level adjusts as you fight during different levels to keep the challenge pressured on you. It has an overall casual feel, so if you’re a competitive person who wants a game that you can easily pick up and put down from time to time, then it’s most likely for you.

-Zach

Hello internet! I’m not dead. Just very very busy. Here’s a new interview for you, though!

http://astringentgaming.com/articles/koya-rift-interview-zach-kehs_18183

- Zach

Hey everyone. I hope you didn’t think I dropped off the edge of the world or anything; I’ll try to explain what’s going on the best I can.

Koya Rift released a little over a month ago. I’ll admit, I did a terrible job at marketing the game. My sole focus was to create the best game possible in the time I had allocated, and I seemed to have ignored other important factors that would have contributed to more successful sales – such as making sure people actually know about the game.

There was my problem. I was ready to release a project I had worked very long and hard on, but nobody knew about it. I was very excited and nervous coming up to release day, but I was overlooking the fact that I had not prepared any press or worked hard enough at acquiring followers before the game had released.

Sales have been miserable since.

Shortly after release the fact that my game had pretty much bombed in sales became apparent and really discouraged me. The people that did buy the game were happy with it, and from them I got praise and my hopes had been raised some. But I was disappointed  in myself for not marketing it better. And I’m not sure why I was so upset with myself – I was juggling school and my part-time job on top of developing the game! So on one hand I feel like there’s nothing I could have done (the quality of the game would suffer), and on the other I’m pissed at myself just because I’m a perfectionist and my pride-and-joy has fallen far short of my expectations and initially failed on the market.

Another reason I was upset is that I only started sending release announcements and asking for reviews after the game released – I wish I would have tried to schedule them before hand. Many websites are simply ignoring me, or telling me they’ll get to it but then never doing anything (you know who you are). This is most likely because they’re already booked with news about other games, and if I pop in and try to get some coverage it’s difficult for them to find time to get an unplanned article about this unknown indie game written.

I promised a demo within a week or two, but it’s been over a month and I have one prepared for you all only just now. My failure in sales had demoralized me, and I was unable to get my head in the game and continue to work on the project that was the sole product of my passion and became my ever-present reminder of my failure, my last one-and-a-half years of life that only led me to an empty wallet.

I kept the demo in mind and worked very slowly on it. I moved into my university almost two weeks ago, the move and the classes have been eating more of my free time. But I’ve had time to reflect.

I put a lot of work into a project that I’ve heard great things about from my peers, and the people on the internet that have played and know about it. The product is done, can’t I try to market it now? I’m supposed to start up with a new team soon on a new game, but I guess I can always try to improve sales on KR and at least keep a measly income stream coming in. Only that most likely won’t happen because one of my payment distributors only pays me every $500 I make, and at this rate I don’t know if I’ll ever see that money.

Koya Rift was reviewed by a few sites, and they were positive! Each review provided me with a little bit of positive reinforcement, but because they weren’t from very big sources, only one or two sales each. So my victory was short lived.

Here they are if you want to read, the people that own these sites are very nice so I suggest you check some of their other stuff out:

Astringent Gaming: http://astringentgaming.com/gaming_reviews/review-koya-rift_30131

(The astringent gaming site seems to be offline for now, which is a shame considering it was my favorite review.)

Tas Gamers: http://tasgamers.com/pc/koya-rift-review/

Indie Game Reviewer: http://www.indiegamereviewer.com/koya-rift-an-indie-game-review/

Indie (Magazine); Issue 3: http://www.indiefunction.com/issue3.php

pigames (this is in polish, so if you want to struggle through a translated version you can try): http://pigames.pl/2011/06/koya-rift-recenzja/

And there’s a demo now, too. The differences in the demo from the real game are:

• No difficulty adjustment. It’s always at 480.
• No level generation. It’s one level. All the time. How lame.
• No campaign (duh.)
• No warm fuzzy feeling that results from supporting an indie developer.

After a year and a half of solo-development, I’m ready to share my work to the rest of the world. Please support me a buy a copy (7.99 USD!). Click the giant button below. You will be taken to a BMT micro checkout cart; after paying they’ll give you a link to a .zip file including the game (gloriously DRM free, so you can copy it to your other computers if you want). and here’s a nice advert image (click to make bigger!): Thanks a ton everyone! -Zach