What started out as a learning project has taken on a life of its own and exploded into a much larger project than we ever dreamed it would be in the initial months of development before coming to early access. We admittedly have not put much effort into advertising so far, as we want to focus on actually finishing Go Up. While anyone would obviously love to make some real money on their game, we still have our eye firmly on our initial objective, which is to make a unique incremental game that we are proud of, and one that our players will enjoy. So for now the advertising and money can wait, we still have work to do. There are a few more tricks up our sleeves for mechanics that will be added before the “final” release of Go Up, but we also wanted to take some time to inform our early access supporters of what is to come, and also remind any newcomers that now is the time to speak up and let us know what you would like to see! If you have feedback let us know here on steam or on discord, but the sooner the better!
Strict timelines aren't really our thing here at Noble Whale, which is to say we won’t be talking about dates in this post. We like to leave room for the creative ideas we have along the way while working, so unfortunately that means most of the time we can’t really say how long something will take. So far literally every mechanic we’ve made in Go Up has grown and changed, sometimes into something completely different than our initial ideas for the given mechanic. So whenever we find ourselves at the precipice of Go Up’s “final” release our main goals are the same as stated above; for Go Up to be in a state we can be proud of, and our players enjoy.
This coming release (sometime in May 2026) is introducing the final area unlock of the skill tree, The Abyss! A place where nameless things gnaw at the heart of the earth. It sounds scary, but we intend for you to have a friend as you reach the dark places of the known world.
What we will be working on next will focus mainly on a tamagotchi style pet that will follow you on your journey upwards and help you along the way. We don’t want to have too many spoilers, in the roadmap, but your whale dragon will grow and if you treat them right, could even help you to fight a final boss!
Once you have your dragon whale pet at your side we wanted to add one final obstacle to your journey. It’s no secret that darkness abounds in Go Up, and as you light your way through the world, discovering new places, mechanics, and skills, you will inevitably stumble into the abyss. Here you may awaken something so ancient it has no name; a presence so formidable it would take a dragon to have a chance at defeating it. That’s right, it’s a boss fight. We think this is a fitting final mechanic to add to the wheels within wheels that is Go Up’s full game loop.
When we finally have the full game loop created and tested there are a few things we have always intended to go back and polish up since we added them into the game. This will be the time where we fully flesh out some of the mechanics such as shape drops, chaos events, the tree of Life, fishing, cave diving, your pet, and the final boss. There will most likely be a few more skills added across the map, and a few more interactions between the character, the character’s passive abilities, and their skills. This is also where we will be adding the final art and music into the game and massaging it lovingly into place. If we do hear any feedback from our players this is where we can tackle the final pieces our players think Go Up is missing.
Once we have everything in place we intend to release the “final” version to Steam (and I put “final” in quotes because we certainly reserve the right to add the update for the inevitable idea we will have as soon as we hit the release button). Ideally there will be no lingering bugs at this point, but we are more than happy to give Go Up the care it deserves as Noble Whale’s first released game if we do happen to miss something. It will be bittersweet, but we are so excited to finish Go Up and have it in a state that we can be proud of moving forward. We have so many ideas for the future of Noble Whale here on steam and are champing at the bit to get started. We fully intend to get to work on our next game asap, but only after we have Go Up where we want it. Go Up has been such a blast to work on and we can only hope our players share in a fraction of the joy it has given us. It’s not everyday you get the chance to work on something that you want to exist in the world, so thanks to everyone who has supported us and allowed us to keep going up.