itch.io

Ok! Issue should be sorted now!

Basically, what was happening was when I draw lines between nodes to connect them, there is a certain distance. What I failed to consider is that this distance changes based on what resolution you play at. So, I changed the way the distance is measured and did a few rounds of testing. I think it should be all good!

Thanks for letting me know! I see the issue, Im working on a fix :)

Progress has been great on the game this week. Here's what's new :

I've been working on more enemies for the second and third stages of the game, and this is what I've come up with. Three new enemies - one is a cannon that shoots you with pods from a distance, the other is a cactus that takes short hops to get to you but does massive damage when it does reach your tower and the last one is a big frog like creature that jumps great distances and has big amounts of health. These enemies are more or less just larger and stronger variants of what was already available but they do add some value to the combat and feel of the games encounters.

Then, I added level texts to the world map so now when you enter or exit the world map you can see how far you were within a certain region. This is a small but important change. I also blacked out the regions that are not available within the demo. Apart from this I added a new end of demo screen.

Vitally, I've re-organized the entire skill tree and rebalanced the resources and how much certain nodes cost. The skill tree is now functionally complete and will just receive more upgrades to it in the future. The aim of this update was to clump together resources within their category, for example the lightning abilities are now all close to each other. This was heavily requested from various players. The skill tree now feels quite good to use but I'll still keep tinkering with the final balance of resource spend leading up to the final release.

So, this marks the final update for the demo specifically, and everything I work on from here on out will only be available in the full release. Give the demo a go and see what's new, if you enjoy it - remember to Wishlist!

To keep up to date with the project and all my games please join my Steam page here : https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34814553-Aligned-Games

Hi all, little update for everything I've been doing in Just Keep Defending And Mining.

The upgrade screen was pretty good, but needed a bit more information so as to allow players to make better informed decisions. So, I've added "ghost" nodes. These nodes allow you to see whats coming, so you can make a more informed decision about what to buy next when you are buying upgrades. I think this adds a new element to the upgrade loop in the game. Next up I will be reworking the entire layout, and this helps alot. Being able to preview your options before you unlock them gives you a better decision making pathway as a player.

The map while functional was quite obstructed and bulky. It was difficult to see what things are and it was difficult to see which text belongs to which island. I've reworked the layout and reworked all of the colors and texts to better show which island is relevant to which prices and details. The whole map is a bit easier to navigate now.

 So, I got some feedback that the reward screen is fun for the first few times, and then it just kinda gets annoying. So, what I've added is an ability to fast forward time. So now, you hold down left mouse and the whole animation plays much faster than normal. This makes the whole thing a lot more tolerable after playing alot of rounds and having to wait. Now, you fast forward if you want to.

All in all development is going well on the game. Next up I will be reworking the layout of the upgrade tree, I will also be adding custom towers to each map and I will be finalizing all the maps. I also aim to add the remaining abilities and upgrades in the next few weeks.

To keep up to date with the project and all my games please join my Steam page here : https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34814553-Aligned-Games

Remember to wishlist!

I wonder if I should program a tool that takes a unity scene and outputs it as a godot scene with fbx - glb/gltf conversion. 

How are scenes set up in Godot?

Could you email me at Johannesnienaber@gmail.com?

It is unity based but I can add glb versions of all the models for you, but, you'll have to set up the scene yourself. 

Do you think going forward its worth it for me to always include glb models?

Benjamin!

Thanks for the comments. 

I added checkpoints and you can now clean in any order. 

Try again and let me know what you think!

Sorry for the delay, I have been away. 
Could you send me an email at Johannesnienaber@gmail.com? What exactly would you like me to do? Convert all the files to fbx? They should be FBX already. 

Thanks for playing as always!

I'll add fbx

Sure, Ill add that when I have a moment later on. 

https://aligned-games.itch.io/just-keep-defending-and-mining-prototype

Wishlist here :

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4677370/Just_Keep_Defending_And_Mining/

Just Keep Defending And Mining is a fast-paced node buster incremental tower defense and mining hybrid built around a tight upgrade loop.

You Are The Node You are the node, a moving radius of action. Anything inside your circle gets mined or attacked. Break rocks to gather ore, eliminate enemies for coins, then invest everything into a massive but growing upgrade tree to get stronger each round.

Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade!

The upgrade tree is a large, branching network of interconnected upgrades that shapes how you grow each run. Every choice opens new paths, letting you lean into mining, combat, survivability, or a mix of all three. Costs scale as you push deeper, forcing decisions on where to invest and how to adapt. Over time, the tree becomes the core of your progression, turning each run into a strategic build that evolves as the pressure increases.

Progress Every Run Each run feeds the next. Even when your tower falls, you earn coins to spend on upgrades, pushing you further every time. The pace ramps up, the pressure builds, and your power grows!

Balance Mining And Combat Enemies constantly swarm your tower, forcing you to balance positioning, mining, and combat. Focus too much on mining and you will get overwhelmed. Lean too hard into combat and your progression slows. Finding that balance is the core of the game.

Mine, fight, earn, upgrade, repeat. Keep pushing.

I liked this, seems like an interesting idea that can be something bigger if you decide to make it a full game!

Pretty fun! Good job!

Pretty fun but quite difficult! 
Good job!

Pretty fun but quite difficult! 
Good job!

Thank you thats great to hear!
I wish I did too! And melee upgrades! But you know how jams go... you just dont get to everything. 
Still, Im happy with what I got done :)

Very fun and awesome looking little game!
Good job!

Thanks for playing!

I agree, the bullets are a bit mis matched with the upgrade system. Ideally I'd have liked to add more upgrades and only after the jam ended I realized I didn't do a mag size or melee weapon upgrade! Oh well, maybe I'll add it if I keep working on it. 

Oh man this is really hard XD

Its an interesting mixture of genres for sure but I really struggled to focus on two systems at once.

Awesome art and music you did really well with this!

hmmm unfortunately it seems the game didnt work for me... perhaps because I'm on ultrawide resolution?

I can see what you were going for but unfortunately I wasn't able to place anything. 

Had some performance issues and I really found it hard to see what was happening, but man, the movement is awesome!

You did really well with the movement and feel.

Very unique looking game and pretty cool art style. I dont really have any idea what to do or why but its a very cool world to be moving around in. Super strong style! Unfortunately the gameplay didn't make sense to me. 

Thanks for playing!

I agree, more types of zombies would make it alot more interesting! I'll consider it for the future if I keep working on it. 

Definitely too easy. I think a game like this needs alot of work to get the difficulty curve just right because the levels are always randomly generated. 

Faster, bigger, stronger and more variety in zombie design would help alot for sure. 

Thanks for the kind words!

Thanks for playing!

Thanks for the kind words. 

In interesting game. Very simple but functional and even a bit fun! Good job!

I also like the tone and worldbuilding alot with the eerie feeling and soundscape. 

Love the game, great job on this. 

Art is amazing too!

The game is available to play here : https://aligned-games.itch.io/crystal-harvest-apex-operator-alpha

The game is available to wishlist here : https://store.steampowered.com/app/4229620/Crystal_Harvest_Apex_Operator 

Welcome to the public alpha test for Crystal Harvest: Apex Operator. The purpose of this test is too see public reaction and to gather feedback on the game. This version will be the last public test before the demo.  

Crack, mine, and sell valuable crystals in this fast-paced incremental mining extraction roguelite. Earn currency to spend across upgrade categories with permanent progression and powerful builds in runs. Fight alien hordes, push into zones, and extract at the end of each run - or lose everything.

Hi!

A new version is ready to play if you want to check that out!

Alpha test :

https://aligned-games.itch.io/crystal-harvest-apex-operator-alpha

Hi!

A new version is ready to play if you want to check that out!

Alpha test :

https://aligned-games.itch.io/crystal-harvest-apex-operator-alpha

Out now!

https://aligned-games.itch.io/crystal-harvest-apex-operator-alpha

GREAT WORK! Awesome little game.

Crystal Harvest: Apex Operator First Playtest Set!

Crystal Harvest: Apex Operator has been in development for around three months now, and the game has come a long way.

I’d like to announce the first public play test. You dont have to sign up for this one, the test will be an open and free build that will be playable on Itch and Steam. This version is still an early build, but will showcase what the game is all about.

The core loop and many of the upgrade systems have been implemented and thoroughly tested and so its time to start showing them off. The game offers a full gameplay loop and around 1-3 hours of content right now. 

So, the play test is happening on the 17th of March and will run for one week. Hop in and check it out!