Ladies and gentleman...we got him
After days of sliding into his DMs (pause), we are proud to announce our final hire: a game designer. They bring 15+ years' experience in both AAA & indies, designing it all: combat, economies, levels
The final piece is set
Now...we build😎
Today's update:
- Added more boundaries to the lobby
- Improved character shader; characters now receive light more effectively and have the cel-shaded look we originally intended
- Began prototyping system for sand-based landscapes
- Completely redesigned the bottom HUD UI
Today we have some additions to our Shield Wall ability.
Shield Wall grants frontal defense and reflects projectiles. Our warrior's shield model got an update to match its VFX on the ability itself. Check it out:
29 years ago today, Chrono Trigger was released, bringing with it a new gold standard for video games entirely. The amount of charm, beauty, and depth crammed into just a few megabytes is nothing short of a masterpiece. Nearly 3 decades on, you’d be hard pressed to find a
Today's update is a preview of things to come
Our 3D artist has been redesigning our characters, the first of which is our Warrior
Keep in mind that in a pvp game, all characters must be immediately identifiable on silhouette alone
Looks like he's been hitting the gymnasium...
Today we're clearing out our backlogged VFX
Here you can see our new elimination-related VFX:
- Elimination explosion 💥
- Health Orb 💚
Health Orbs spawn on any elimination. Run through them to get a moderate heal--now with a nice 'pop' animation
This saves a ton of time. What used to take hours rigging, animating, configuring Hurt Volumes & VFX regions, now takes none at all
TL;DR: We can make characters a LOT faster now. In fact, we've already started...
More exciting news: our rebrand was officially brand-approved by Epic this week! 😎
As you know, when you log in to our game, you do so with an Epic account. This brand approval is what gives us access to those Online Services
The arena is officially one step closer ⚔️
Today, our dev got nothing done as he was out with his beautiful girlfriend for Valentine's Day...Just kidding, he coded all day
Some WIP game feel VFX for our "Warrior":
Today's update showcases a NEW ABILITY: "Heroic Leap" 🏃💨
Leap to your targeted location. Upon landing, Stun & damage enemies
In particular, note the final shot. The enemy Warrior uses Intervene to push me off the map--but I Heroic Leap back for the kills. Check it out:
Today's update: more UI. We're nearly done overhauling our entire player HUD now. Once we do, we'll push a build and everyone can test it out.
Today, we got through the Kill Feed, and abstracted a "BorderBox" widget.
The Kill Feed:
Today's update is all about VFX. These are all WIP, but they're coming along quickly. Expect more VFX this week as well
First, our Warrior's Shield Wall ability now projects a hexagonal shield that is color-coded to your team--gold for fren, purple for foe
Today's update actually occurred earlier, when we live streamed some game dev. We also talked about Alea in general, and we announced a new feature 😎
Check out the stream replay here, and feel free to drop us a follow:
Today's update has some finalizations and some previews. First up, our status effect pads received final touches: proper meshes, VFX improvements, and the addition of the effect's icon at the center
Here's how they look in game:
Downloads are live! Check it out:
Log in with your Epic Games account to check out our lobby area
Here you can test our first Aleator, the "Warrior". Sprint, jump, dodge, and beat up some statues 🗿
Today we further improved Heroic Leap with more polish work
Its animation montage has been completely replaced with one that feels more engaging and fun
VFX-wise, the ground cracks now light up and fade into a crisp outline, which works on any surface. They also adhere properly
Today's update showcases a NEW ABILITY: "Heroic Leap" 🏃💨
Leap to your targeted location. Upon landing, Stun & damage enemies
In particular, note the final shot. The enemy Warrior uses Intervene to push me off the map--but I Heroic Leap back for the kills. Check it out:
Perhaps our best update yet: we have officially hired a 3D artist. We've worked with him before and he's done nothing less than a spectacular job. In fact, the 3D modular pipeline we talked about previously was made by him
Our character are about to look a whole lot better ⚔️
Today's update is an exciting one. We officially finished the final ability reworks for our Warrior ⚔️
The abilities in question are Battle Shout, an AoE buff, and Stance Dance, which swaps the Warrior between an offensive greatsword and defensive sword and shield combo
Both
Today's update is all about controller support. We have several controller bois in our early user pool, and they've helped us make some key improvements
Several issues are solved at once here, including:
- stick drift
- dead zones
- controller sens
Before & after:
Here you can see it in action. This widget can accept any content, can be any size, and most importantly, it can scale its (complicated) border size completely independent of its total size. We use this box a lot in our designs, so building this saves many future hours
Today's update is more VFX. First...we forgot a status effect :) Our final (for real this time) status effect is Shield 🛡
Shield absorbs damage. Check out its visual effect, and see it in action via Intervene
Its VFX is inspired by a game we love, can you tell which?
Today we finished the settings menu. Everything is now properly branded, complete with nice subtle animations
This was our last addition of new content for the next build, so expect it soon. After that, we're completely focused on the new map
Check it out:
As we prepare to release the new island, we're taking the time to add a bit more polish
Today we have the first pass over our settings menu, which is in desperate need of a makeover
This is just the menu itself, but soon its contents will be overhauled as well
Today's update showcases our new smoke/dust VFX. In addition to now being properly stylized, this system was rewritten to be more reusable
Note how the amount of dust is proportional to fall length
Also note "Hard Landing". This is our version of fall damage
Today is our last status effect post
Our final two effects are not buffs/debuffs themselves, but instead are immunity effects
First up is Cleanse. Cleanse removes all debuffs from its target. It is a defensive effect, and with the right timing, it can save your frens' lives
For today's update, we modularized several more VFX: melee swipes, trails, smoke bursts, & more
We put them all together in one sequence, showcasing each of the Warrior's two-handed weapon abilities
We also recorded an observer's perspective for a glimpse into multiplayer
Our Warrior is getting even closer to completion. Animation-wise, we've saved some of the best for last
Here you can see our new 1H melee combo. In redesigning its animation, we decided that the final hit ought to be AoE, so now he does a lil spin, inflicting AoE Weakness
Today's update is about Inverse Kinematics (IK)--a way to pull characters' joints to a desired position
In many games, you've probably experienced stairs or slopes which cause a character to half-float when stood upon. But with IK we can correct that
Check it out:
Today we're previewing our upcoming map changes
This will be an additional island to the lobby, where you can try out various heroes--testing their skills, movement, and even combat against target dummies
Expect to see it soon™️
Today, we optimize. We recently converted our static meshes to Nanite, Unreal 5's new rendering technology
Put simply, Nanite generates meshes which dynamically scale their detail
Note how the triangles change based on distance. All of this is automatic; no LODs
Today we're showing our launch pads. These do...exactly what you think they do
We've built them in a highly configurable way, where you can modify destination, speed, height, etc. And they recently got some nice VFX too
These are how you'll access the new islands soon 😎
Today we're showcasing our ground targeting system, which is how Heroic Leap selects your location
Walls, cliffs, ceilings--it handles pretty much anything. More importantly, it makes judgment calls. For example, aiming below a ledge places you above it
Check it out:
Today marks a new milestone for us: our first game update is live!
If you have the launcher, just open it and you'll get it automatically. If you need the launcher, you can grab it here:
Today's update is the finalization of our Intervene ability
Intervene leaps you toward an auto-targeted fren, granting them some Shield while pushing away & slowing nearby enemies
For a fun use of this ability, check out the second half of this clip:
Today we're showing all of our Warrior's abilities, back to back, in one quick take
These are now in a final state (pending a bit of polish), and are fully functional in multiplayer
Our big boi is nearly ready to ship! 💪
A new $ALEA update is live!
Just open our launcher and it will download. If you need the launcher, it lives at
In this update you'll find new Warrior abilities:
- Hamstring🦵
- Avenger's Shield🛡️
- Thunderclap⚡
Today's update involves character modularization--specifically Hurt Volumes. Previously, each character had its own skeleton, rig, and Hurt Volumes. Now, our 3D pipeline is streamlined. Characters utilize one modular rig, enabling shared animations, VFX regions, and Hurt Volumes
Introducing code name "Fire Dash"🔥💨
Fire Dash sends you forward in any direction--even upward. It moves you in a straight line, unaffected by gravity
Today we completed the visuals and movement. Tomorrow we hope to show you some more functionality--and give it a proper name
Check out an early prototype of our newest ability: Dragon's Breath 🔥🐲
Dragon's Breath is a channeled frontal cone. Hold it to continuously do damage to all enemies in its path
As you can see, area-of-effect (AoE) damage is a crucial element to our Mage's fire abilities
Our two-handed melee combo is now also complete 🗡️
We leaned in heavily to the stylized nature of our animations here, keeping everything pose-based and exaggerating the timings. The intention is to convey the weight of these heavy attacks:
Our Warrior is getting even closer to completion. Animation-wise, we've saved some of the best for last
Here you can see our new 1H melee combo. In redesigning its animation, we decided that the final hit ought to be AoE, so now he does a lil spin, inflicting AoE Weakness
Today's update involves more status effects
First we have SuperJump (buff: jump very high) and Disable (debuff: cannot act, but can move)
Note their interaction together. While Disabled, you can still move and jump. If you can jump, you can SuperJump
Short and sweet update today. As we pursue some refactor work, we are continuing to round out the animations on our Warrior
Today, we implemented turn-in-place and Dodge Attacks
Today we're showing the now-complete melee attacks for our Warrior
Primary Attack: tap/hold to continue performing a melee combo
Jump Attack: jump + attack to launch forward, Hobbling enemies hit in the back
Dodge Attack: dodge + attack to perform a lunging attack
Today we're showing our first Mage🧙♀️skill: Frostbolt
Frostbolt is a chargeable projectile; hold for more damage
This is where our status effects come into play. Fully charged Frostbolts cause Slow⤵️, and hitting an already-Slowed enemy Freezes❄️ them
Today we're clearing out some backlogged VFX as we prepare to ship the Warrior overhaul
In particular, we completely replaced our Fireball, updated the VFX on Shield Wall, and added a way to reuse a modular "ranged hit impact" VFX
All 3 can be seen here:
Today we're giving a peak under the hood at some of the ways we're modularizing VFX
In this case, we're using DataAssets (extremely useful, btw) to control a reusable effect we use for melee swings' hit impacts. With just a few parameter tweaks, we instantly see new results:
Today we have all new animations for our Warrior--walk, sprint, jump, land, jump attack, and dodge--for both his offensive and defensive stances
Just a few more key animations and this big boi will be ready to ship ⚔️
Today's update is the finalization of our foot IK. We now have interpolation on the legs & feet and a better placement solver
There is no collision smoothing on the rock in this video :) Check the second half for a funny bug we had when making this
Today's update is about Inverse Kinematics (IK)--a way to pull characters' joints to a desired position
In many games, you've probably experienced stairs or slopes which cause a character to half-float when stood upon. But with IK we can correct that
Check it out:
Today we've got 2 ability updates
First, Frostbolt❄️ is now complete with its own animation, VFX, and icon. It even casts its own light in dark spaces
Additionally, the Mage's Sprint ability now has an improved animation, and some nice magical VFX💫
Check it out:
Today we're showing the other side of the new training map
Previously, you saw an area to test your jumps, now you can see the other side--where you can test status effects, and later use your abilities against target dummies
Check it out:
Today we're previewing our upcoming map changes
This will be an additional island to the lobby, where you can try out various heroes--testing their skills, movement, and even combat against target dummies
Expect to see it soon™️
Today we completed our data-driven Weapon system, allowing for unlimited weapon types & skins
Weapons can be swapped between characters in real-time
We also integrated weapon bones into our rig, enabling independent weapon animations. Check out a familiar example below🎮
Today we're showing off a hot new ability: Blast Wave
Blast Wave is a slow-moving, large projectile. It pierces through enemies, damaging and Burning🔥 them. While active, you can re-press its button to detonate it, causing high damage and Pushing enemies
Check it out:
Today's update was coded live on stream at
For our upcoming "Combat Training Area", we needed an in-universe way for you to test our status effects, so we made some magic pedestals. These are still WIP, but functional
Check it out:
In our upcoming update, alongside bug fixes, we're looking to implement a few small features--such as refining our camera system 🎥
Our current setup immediately collides with geometry, but we're aiming for a smoother, more stable experience. Check out our progress so far:
Today we're showing 2 things: our v1 Mage model, and some cloth physics we're implementing for her
With the Mage, you can see a second example of our stylized, lighthearted aesthetic
A physics-based solution for clothing 👘 saves us a ton of time, while still looking great:
Today's update is wider than usual. We have more than just game content this time
For example, more information about $ALEA token utility has been added to the necessary areas:
- Website:
- Docs:
Today's update starts with a couple work-in-progress previews
Looks like our Warrior may be spending some time in the gymnasium, and it looks like the sun is setting in our beautiful lobby...
Today, our mage's model made its first in-game appearance, complete with a proper walk cycle🔥❄️
Keep in mind that her abilities are still using temporary animations. We're taking some upfront time to perfect her hair and cloth physics first, but full animations are coming
Today we're showing 2 things: our v1 Mage model, and some cloth physics we're implementing for her
With the Mage, you can see a second example of our stylized, lighthearted aesthetic
A physics-based solution for clothing 👘 saves us a ton of time, while still looking great:
Today we improved this ability and gave it a proper name: Living Flame🔥
Living Flame is no longer a fire-propelled dash. Now, you turn into fire itself
Send yourself forward, ignoring gravity. While active, enemies you pass through are Burned
Introducing code name "Fire Dash"🔥💨
Fire Dash sends you forward in any direction--even upward. It moves you in a straight line, unaffected by gravity
Today we completed the visuals and movement. Tomorrow we hope to show you some more functionality--and give it a proper name
Introducing our first Aleator: the "Warrior"
Slash through foes with a powerful 2-handed weapon, or switch to a defensive sword-and-shield combo to defend your fiends
He protec🛡, but also...he attac🗡️
You guessed it, more status effects today
Introducing: Shock. Shock does damage over time, and then a strong burst of damage when it ends. Healers should pay attention to Shock damage as players are not truly safe until it expires
After some testing, we came up with an even better camera experience
Rather than smoothing camera movement, we can simply not have any at all. For thin props like trees, we can simply turn off camera collision and dither them
Check it out:
In our upcoming update, alongside bug fixes, we're looking to implement a few small features--such as refining our camera system 🎥
Our current setup immediately collides with geometry, but we're aiming for a smoother, more stable experience. Check out our progress so far:
As we prepare to release the new island, we're taking the time to add a bit more polish
Today we have the first pass over our settings menu, which is in desperate need of a makeover
This is just the menu itself, but soon its contents will be overhauled as well
Today we've got the final aesthetic piece for our warrior: a reworked, clean 2H sword model. This simpler look better fits our aesthetic, and its smoother shape better accepts our black outlines
We now have just 2 agenda items, after which this big boi is ready to release 💪
Today we decided to add a bit more utility to our Warrior's toolkit: a new status effect called Taunt 🐂
Taunt forces enemies to look at you (think Dark Souls lock-on)
This truly allows for "tanking" in a pvp game, something we're eager to explore in more depth. Check it out:
Another ability complete: Blast Wave🔥
With a new icon, VFX, improved game feel, and a balance pass, Blast Wave is now ready to go
Pierce enemies with this large projectile, Burning 🔥them; press again to detonate and Push💨 them away
Check it out:
Today we're showing off a hot new ability: Blast Wave
Blast Wave is a slow-moving, large projectile. It pierces through enemies, damaging and Burning🔥 them. While active, you can re-press its button to detonate it, causing high damage and Pushing enemies
Check it out:
Today's update is on the technical side
Last week, we simplified our Hit Volumes into a single, universal component. Now, all elements needing a Hit Volume—melee swings, projectiles, ground AOE, launch pads—use this new component
This is a huge win for scalability
Today we improved the visuals for Frostbolt❄️
It now has a nice magic trail which cleanly fades out when the projectile expires and a new impact VFX when it hits something
Additionally, the light from Frostbolt is "real"; it illuminates the scene around it. Check it out:
Today we're showing our first Mage🧙♀️skill: Frostbolt
Frostbolt is a chargeable projectile; hold for more damage
This is where our status effects come into play. Fully charged Frostbolts cause Slow⤵️, and hitting an already-Slowed enemy Freezes❄️ them
In $ALEA, "speed" is not just how fast you move; it's also how quickly you recover
The Mage, being light & fast🪶, carries momentum from her Dodge & Hard Landing states, while slower, heavier💪 Warrior comes to a full stop
Today, our Mage's special ability is complete. Introducing: Elemental Exchange
Swap your abilities between powerful AoE fire 🔥 and precise, control-oriented ice❄️
We have a few final ability tweaks in the works, but expect to see this live soon!
The new update is live! Get it automatically from our launcher at
This update features a huge new map area where you can test your mobility and combat skills, as well as learn all about our status effects
Launch in and go beat up some statues 🥊🗿
We'd like to use the VFX videos to convey some info on our generic status effects system
We don't have one-off buffs or debuffs; they all live under a unified system. For example, any fire-based ability will cause "Burn", but the duration/damage will vary
Living Flame ⬆️🔥 is now complete with a proper animation, improved VFX, an icon, and a balance pass
Become flame itself and dash forward with this fiery movement ability, Burning🔥 enemies in your wake
Check it out:
Today we improved this ability and gave it a proper name: Living Flame🔥
Living Flame is no longer a fire-propelled dash. Now, you turn into fire itself
Send yourself forward, ignoring gravity. While active, enemies you pass through are Burned
After some feedback both internally and externally, were not quite satisfied with the VFX for Stance Dance
We are currently busy modularizing our weapon system, but took a break to improve the VFX of this ability, which you can see here:
Today's update is an exciting one. We officially finished the final ability reworks for our Warrior ⚔️
The abilities in question are Battle Shout, an AoE buff, and Stance Dance, which swaps the Warrior between an offensive greatsword and defensive sword and shield combo
Both
We finalized our Taunt VFX today, and gave the Warrior an animation & VFX as well
After the visual demonstration, we Intervene over to our ally to Shield him, then Taunt the enemy, forcing him to attack us instead
This is one way our Warrior can protecc 🛡
Today we decided to add a bit more utility to our Warrior's toolkit: a new status effect called Taunt 🐂
Taunt forces enemies to look at you (think Dark Souls lock-on)
This truly allows for "tanking" in a pvp game, something we're eager to explore in more depth. Check it out:
In many games, interrupting a movement ability results in lag. This is unacceptable
We recently refined these interactions: for Jump Attacks & Heroic Leap, Stun cancels the ability, while Push simply redirects it
For Intervene, which is auto-targeted, Push only delays its path
Today, Frost Nova is officially feature complete, with a new animation, icon, & VFX
Frost Nova is a ground-targeted AoE which Freezes❄️ enemies
Both Frostbolt and Ice Lance receive damage multipliers against Frozen enemies. Line 'em up and knock 'em down with huge burst damage
Our status effect plates from a few weeks ago are now being implemented in our new map
Here you can see Poison and Bleed debuffs, which are placed next to Cleanse, which removes them
This intuitive placement is teachable; it shows players how these effects combine
Today, we had another enjoyable live stream, where we tackled some UI code--crafting an "option selector" widget and integrating it into our options menu
We also answered questions and gave a sneak peek of upcoming features
Catch the VOD here:
We are now able to do more precise hit detection as well. In this clip, we dodge onto the AOE HitVolume. Because we are invincible when dodging, the initial hit effect only takes place once the dodge is complete
It's subtle, but we slowed it down so you can see it clearly:
Today's update is on the technical side
Last week, we simplified our Hit Volumes into a single, universal component. Now, all elements needing a Hit Volume—melee swings, projectiles, ground AOE, launch pads—use this new component
This is a huge win for scalability
Today we're demonstrating a few Mage combos:
1.) Frost Nova -> Frostbolt(s)
2.) Frost Nova -> Ice Lance -> Frostbolt(s)
3.) Frost Nova -> Frostbolt & Ice Lance -> Frostbolt(s)
These are shown in order of difficulty & reward. Use 3 for massive burst damage🗯
Today we're showcasing the Mage's third skill, called Frost Nova
Frost Nova is a ground-targeted AOE which creates a circle of icy terrain. Allies that step inside this circle are granted Speed Boost💨, while enemies inside are Frozen🥶
You can see both perspectives here:
Our Mage's fire abilities are now complete. With the addition of her primary attack, a lobbed projectile called Fireball, she now has 4 fiery weapons at her disposal:
🔥Fireball, Blast Wave, Living Flame, & Dragon's Breath🔥
You can see them all used together here:
Today we finished our Mage's base movement animations (walk, jump, sprint)
We leaned into some unorthodox choices here, like having her Sprint by riding her staff like a witch's broom🧹
Details like this let us inject personality and charm into the game. We hope you like it
Today we're showcasing our Warrior's final defensive ability: Avenger's Shield⬆️🛡
Hurl your shield forward, damaging enemies and inflicting Slow and Weakness
Your shield will bounce to all nearby enemies before returning to you. Check it out:
Introducing: Ice Lance
Ice Lance is a fast, precise projectile which causes Freeze❄️
If you hit an already-Frozen enemy, however, you also Stun them & deal 2.5x dmg
Combo potential: Freeze them with Frostbolt, then Frostbolt + Ice Lance simultaneously for maximum damage!
Today, Dragon's Breath has been completed, sporting a new icon, VFX, animation, and huge game feel updates
Of all our recent fire abilities, Dragon's Breath has changed the most. Most notably, it is no longer a primary fire, but instead a long, powerful cooldown
Check it out:
Check out an early prototype of our newest ability: Dragon's Breath 🔥🐲
Dragon's Breath is a channeled frontal cone. Hold it to continuously do damage to all enemies in its path
As you can see, area-of-effect (AoE) damage is a crucial element to our Mage's fire abilities
Today we finished improving our ground targeting system. Testing it in a more complex environment revealed a few minor issues, particularly with small gaps
It now handles these elegantly and simply; your Heroic Leaps will always go exactly where you want ⬇️💥
Today we're showing how our cosmetics system is beginning to take shape
All our weapons are now data-driven. We simply create a Data Asset of any weapon type, inside which we can put anything: a model, VFX, SFX, etc
Here you can see us swapping weapons in real time:
Our final Warrior ability is complete. Introducing, Thunderclap🌩🗡️
Raise your sword in the air and receive a lightning strike, dealing massive area damage and causing Shock⚡️
Your weapon remains bathed in lightning for 10s, inflicting Shock⚡️ with every attack
Check it out:
Here you can see shareable weapons in action. The Warrior's greatsword might be heavy, but our Mage can still wield it
Weapons are of course coupled to characters in our arena mode. But this feature opens up fun ideas for alternate game modes 😏
Today we completed our data-driven Weapon system, allowing for unlimited weapon types & skins
Weapons can be swapped between characters in real-time
We also integrated weapon bones into our rig, enabling independent weapon animations. Check out a familiar example below🎮