Version BETA, Soon™
BETA? Yep.
Hey! It's me, gwaja. It's been a while! Sorry for being so quiet. A few of you have hopped into my DMs to ask about how we're doing, so let's get you caught up on what we've been up to over the past year and some. This one's gonna be super informal; don't mind the mess.
The good news is that it's all good news! We've been iterating behind the scenes for a while, and we're ready to move out of our Alpha Playtest version, at long last! I'm gonna give you a little preview of some things before we hop into another round of playtests.
We're getting real weird with it (that's our brand at this point...) and if you've followed our Tweets and Discord chats over the past 2 years I'm sure you've caught on to some hints.
The Game
We haven't touched the loop, but we took a really long time to find the juice. Wellspring Alpha was basically us making different travel games over and over until we found something we liked, something that felt like the game we wanted to play for real. We found it, so we figure, let's just call this release beta!
First, we'll chat about our journeying mechanics! When your traveling company journeys, you perform minor and major scenes as you quest. Everyone gets to be a star, and there are tons of opportunities to explore both your traveler's inner feelings and the weird ass planet you've created with your friends. And there are hella action scenes.
Did we say that Wellspring is a roguelike? 'Cause it is. Journeying is hard, and travelers don't always make it home safely. But the Company persists, and the work must continue. If a traveler retires, for whatever reason, their legacy lives on with their Company. In less vague terms you get to keep some of your shit when your traveler kicks it.
The narrative side of the game is looser, more free-form like our favorite storygames. (Shoutouts to Orbital, we love love love that game) But when you go into battle, you're playing a more tactical game. It's what we like to call Sports Anime Monster Hunter. It's all boss fights all the way down. I'll talk about specifics after we've concluded our playtests for this version, but every traveler has a position like you're on a sports team. And each position fulfills a different role on the 10x10 gridded "court", so to speak.
I've always wanted to dunk on a monster, so now you can, too.
The Personal Stuff
Making Wellspring is the highlight of my last few years! We're sorry that it's taken so long, but we're having a blast back here. We're going to take a more public approach to things once BETA is out, so you won't be waiting too long between updates. It's time for rapid iteration and to let all of you internet goblins in on the party. Soon.
If you're still here supporting us through all of the (public) radio silence, we truly thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Join our damn Discord and get involved! Twitter really is a hellhole nowadays, and we try to stay off that as much as we can for better or worse.
Before I sign off, Abby's allowing me to show you some sketches.
smell ya later
-gwaja