Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The Playtest version of my incremental game Crystal Ascend is coming to an end! I'm very glad that so many of you participated in the beta and provided valuable feedback. Thank you all! My Demo version has taken into account many of the suggestions from the Playtest, and I've added even more playable content. All the content is now complete, and I'm ready…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! This episode continues building the Iron element skills. When you think of iron, it feels hard – perfect for making blunt weapons that can knock enemies away. So after the absorption ring gains the power of the Iron element, it can now launch crystals! When a crystal is shattered, it flies out in…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The Playtest version of my incremental game Crystal Ascend is ready! Let me briefly explain the gameplay. You start with an absorption ring, controlled by your mouse. Aim at the floating crystals, “smack!” – the crystal shatters, aether flows out, and is absorbed by the large crystal in the center. You don’t need to click the mouse; the absorption ring att…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! In the last episode, I finished the Dark element. Crystals influenced by Dark power generate a black blade flash when shattered. This time, I made a brand new crystal type and designed a set of skills that can synergize with Dark crystals. First, the new crystal – Rainbow Crystal. Think of it as a…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! Before I knew it, I’ve already posted 11 dev logs. It’s quite satisfying to see the game gradually becoming richer in my own hands. Enough small talk – the element finished this time is — Dark. Since this is an incremental game where you absorb aether from elemental crystals to level up, the skill…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! This is an incremental game where you absorb aether from elemental crystals to level up, so the skill design also revolves around elemental themes. The element finished this time is — Lightning. The lightning element can imbue crystals with lightning energy. When you break a lightning‑element crys…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! Big hammer upgrade 80k, little hammer upgrade 40k… 😄 This is an incremental game where you absorb aether from elemental crystals to level up, so the skill design also revolves around elemental themes. The element finished this time is — Iron. The iron element can create weapons in various forms.…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! After many iterations, I’ve given the floating crystals variations in shape and size, and their movement now feels like they’re being carried by aether currents. When attacked, they display cracks based on damage taken, and upon destruction, fragments and absorption light bands are added. I’ve als…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! The crystal effects are almost done, but the variety is still quite limited. I used Blender to create several different crystal shapes and have them spawn randomly. This makes things look less monotonous. There are also two sizes. Larger crystals have more health and contain more aether. Crystals…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! Last time I finished the hit effect for the crystal. But just having a hit effect isn’t enough – there’s nowhere to display the crystal’s health. Simply putting a health bar won’t work; with so many moving crystals, health bars would create clutter and hurt performance. After much thought, I decid…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! This time, I’m mainly doing some detail optimization. I’ve already added plenty of animations and effects for the crystal’s spawn, disappear, and movement. But there’s still a long way to go before it’s perfect. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the absorption ring (i.e., the player’s mouse)…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! Last time I added the crystal breaking effect. It felt pretty impactful, but something still seemed missing… Looking at the lonely, hungry crystal elemental spirit in the middle of the cave, it suddenly hit me – the crystal just shattered, but the Crystling never got fed at all… It’s starving 😂.…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! I’ve already made the crystals emerge quite naturally, but the breaking effect was still a disaster—they just vanished like magic. No, wait, even magic tricks at least produce some smoke or something 😂. So, “how the crystal disappears”—this profound question lay before me. Since these crystals ar…
I like to think the lava moves the crystals around. Terry says that's "unscientific." Don't listen to Terry. · ——Donny Vermillion Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! In the last episode, I got the crystal to float up successfully and added a simple movement effect. But obviously, a plain circular motion just doesn’t look good. The f…
Hey everyone, this is Zodiac GameLab . The incremental game Crystal Ascend has made some progress! In the initial version, the crystal was just stuck in mid-air, looking fake and lifeless 🥲 To make the crystal feel more dynamic, I added a short floating-up animation. The rising motion can’t be too fast or too slow—if it’s too fast, it looks choppy, and if it’s too slow, there’s hardly any time…
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