Effulgence RPG news & patch notes

Made a fun sketch of the lower half of the final boss for my ASCII game. The motion is fully procedural. Everything is calculated in real time.

Does the movement look interesting?

Now I need to make the front half really weird and cool.

What kind of front part would fit this boss best?

P.S. Also working on a fix for the hieroglyph bug. Thanks for supporting the project!

If you checked Effulgence RPG during the previous sale but decided to wait, now is a good time to look again.

The game is now more polished, with major performance improvements, a new custom font, and new visual modes.

It is also still available at its Early Access price, with a price increase planned closer to 1.0.

Effulgence RPG is now 20% off during the sale.

Over the last month I've been working on a serious low-level refactor of the Effulgence RPG engine.

The game might look almost the same at first glance but under the hood, a lot has changed. The goal was simple: push performance and remove technical limits so I can keep shipping new graphical ideas without fighting the engine.

What's new

• 50–100% performance improvement in many scenarios (depending on the scene and your hardware).

• Multi-script rendering is now possible: the game can display characters from multiple languages at the same time including CJK ideographs.

• A brand-new font built specifically for Effulgence RPG.

• New experimental visual modes, including LCD-style screens and a Black Paper mode.

Why this matters

Even if today's update doesn't drastically change what you see moment-to-moment, it's a major step forward for the project. This work lays the foundation for more ambitious ASCII graphics, richer effects, and future content with fewer compromises.

Thank you for playing Early Access, leaving feedback, and supporting the project. You're helping me polish Effulgence RPG into something truly special.

Effulgence RPG Big Update 9600 (Milestone #1)

Important: this update touches a lot of systems, so old saves won’t carry over — you’ll need to start a new game. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Happy holidays!

The Animated Profile Frame for Effulgence RPG is now available in the Steam Points Shop.

I'm also pushing toward a major update on January 2. The highlights:

• 10+ weapon twists: I'm making sure every weapon has a gameplay hook, not just different numbers. Designed the old-school way - in my notebook (image below).

• New location: a fresh battlefield to fight through.

• Rebalanced: a full balance recalculation for a better flow and difficulty curve.

Thanks for supporting the project - see you on Jan 2 with full patch notes.

Hello everyone!

I've just pushed a small "systems" update focused on infrastructure features that will keep getting expanded on the road to 1.0. What's new:

⚙ Steam Cloud Save is now enabled.

This is the first release of it, so I'd really appreciate testing: if you play on multiple PCs or Steam Deck, please let me know whether your save synced correctly.

⚙ Steam User Stats are now tracked and stored.

You can already see your numbers, and I'll be adding a lot more as the game grows.

⚙ First Achievements are in.

You can view them on your Steam profile, and in-game they also have animated 3D-like presentation.

This is just the start: stats and achievements will expand significantly as Effulgence RPG gets closer to 1.0. Thank you for playing and for helping me validate these features.

I'm happy to share a small update for Effulgence RPG (301):

You can now collect Steam Trading Cards for Effulgence RPG and craft a badge with ASCII-themed profile rewards.

Playing the game will drop cards that you can turn into a badge, emoticons, and profile backgrounds. It's a small extra for everyone who decided to support the game in Early Access.

I've also added an animated profile background to the Steam Points Shop, built entirely from in-game ASCII scenes. If you enjoy customizing your profile, you can grab it with Steam Points here:

Point Shop

I'm working on the first update for Effulgence RPG and I'd love your input on one potential feature: letting you swap heroes between positions on the battlefield. It could make controls a bit more complex, but also open up new tactical options.

Please share your opinion in the poll here:

Link to the poll

I'd like to share a small update - Steam has enabled trading cards for Effulgence RPG, and I'm working on them right now.

So far I've already:

• drawn the first set of cards,

• prepared profile backgrounds and emoticons,

• sent everything to Steam for review.

For now, the cards don't drop yet and aren't visible in your inventory - they'll only appear in the game after Steam approves and enables them. If everything goes smoothly, I'll post a short separate update with the date and details.

P.S. For a small solo game with text-based graphics, this feels like a tiny but very joyful milestone. Thank you for playing - without you, we wouldn't have reached the trading card stage at all.

Hi! I started a new player poll about an important gameplay question: what should happen after you lose a battle?

Right now, if you lose, you go back to the planet map, but lost weapons stay lost.

I am also thinking about another option: after defeat, restore your state from before the fight (like an auto-save).

I made a pinned discussion where you can read more and vote for your preferred option (or suggest a third idea):

Link to the discussion

Your feedback is very important in Early Access. Thank you for helping me shape the game!

Effulgence RPG has just passed 1,000 copies sold in its first days of Early Access, and I wanted to say a huge thank you. For a niche ASCII tactical RPG made by one person, this means a lot and literally keeps the project going.

I launched into Early Access with a compact, focused slice of the game so we can shape the future together. I'm already reading your feedback and planning the first updates: small fixes, quality-of-life improvements and then new content step by step.

To celebrate the launch, I also made a new "official-ish" trailer: it starts with my wife and me in live action (pistol + mage duo), then ASCII slowly takes over the screen and it transitions into the in-game trailer. I'd love to hear what you think about it:

Thank you again for the support, wishlists, reviews and bug reports - they directly influence what I focus on next.

I'm incredibly excited to launch Effulgence RPG into Early Access today.

My goal with Early Access is simple: ship a focused slice of the game, then grow it together with you. This version already has the core combat, exploration and systems in place, and I'll be expanding content and polishing features based on your feedback. The roadmap is available both in game and on the Steam page.

As a small thank you for jumping in early, the game is cheaper now than it will be at 1.0 and everyone who buys during Early Access gets a bonus DLC and the original soundtrack as free DLC. If they become paid later, Early Access owners keep them forever.

Thank you so much for your support, wishlists, tests and comments. Without all of that, Effulgence RPG simply wouldn't exist.

Effulgence RPG has passed the milestone of 50,000 wishlists on Steam. For a solo ASCII RPG that's insanely cool – thank you for your interest, support, playtests, ideas, and memes. Without all this, the game simply wouldn’t exist.

What to expect at the start of Early Access

On December 2 you'll get the first public version of Effulgence RPG – a compact "slice" of the game you can comfortably explore in a single evening:

• turn-based combat with ASCII visuals and effects,

• several combat and quest locations on the planet,

• a system where you dismantle enemies into parts and print new items,

• tactical cartridges,

• short satirical dialogues and strange encounters on the map.

This is not the final game, but a starting platform that I'll be building on as I move along the roadmap.

First update: Combo Update

The first major milestone is already planned for January–February — the Combo Update. It will include:

• a new tactical Glyph Bomb with an area-of-effect blast,

• new mechanisms (for example, Sparrow and Robot Head),

• combined attacks performed by several heroes together.

You can open the detailed roadmap directly from the in-game menu.

Supporter DLC: how it will work

Alongside Early Access I'm launching the Supporter Pack – an extra DLC with a collection of ASCII animations.

While Effulgence RPG is in Early Access, the Supporter Pack will be free – you can simply "claim" it on the store page.

Everyone who adds it to their library during this period will keep the DLC forever at no extra cost.

After version 1.0 releases, the Supporter Pack will become paid DLC, but nothing will change for early owners – this is my way of saying thank you to those who supported the game early on.

During Early Access I'll be gradually adding more content to the Supporter Pack: new ASCII animations, behind-the-scenes materials, and cosmetic bits. I'd like it to be a small "growing collection" for everyone who helped the game at an early stage.

What you can do now

If the game is already on your wishlist – thank you so much, see you on December 2.

If not yet – now's the perfect time to add Effulgence RPG to your wishlist and try the demo.

And of course, it helps a lot if you share the link with friends who might enjoy an unusual tactical RPG made out of text characters.

Thank you for giving this game a chance to shine!

I'm thrilled to drop my latest trailer:

What do you think? Drop feedback below!

★★★

I'm planning to put them in a new intro/tutorial location. The learning curve is a bit steep right now, so I'm adding a dedicated area to teach the core combat mechanics.

★★★

Hi everyone!

1) New demo build with updated controls: v80386

I've just pushed a new demo featuring the refreshed controls and a few quality-of-life tweaks.

Versioning follows my retro-CPU theme: 8080 → 8088 → 8086 → 80286 → 80386.

If you try it, I'd love your feedback on feel, responsiveness, and key/gamepad mapping.

2) Dec 2 launch will be Early Access

I'm a solo developer, and with your help I plan to bring Effulgence RPG to full release in 4-6 months. Early Access lets me deepen combat and refine controls/QoL together with the community.

3) Discord (optional) now available

I've opened a Discord server for those who prefer it. It's entirely optional - Steam Discussions still work great but if it's convenient for you, feel free to join.

https://discord.gg/sPF5uTcZJP

Thank you for playing the demo, leaving feedback, and helping shape the game!

From "\[]" and "x" to a 3D column: per-glyph motion, light pass, and a hint of neon.

This new object is now part of the upcoming location.

I opened my localization sheet. You can suggest better wording in your language.

★★★

This is 100% optional. I'm a solo dev and I use comments to catch awkward phrasing. Play and enjoy is already enough - suggestions are a bonus.

★★★

How to help

• Open the sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tYRDJnPVPWaOzLXWYg2_mgiNun7Iw1JLO3wGOS4DigQ/edit?usp=sharing

• Pick the right tab: UI, Locations, Dialogs + Hints, or Items.

• Find your language column. Each column is one language. Each row is one game line.

• Add a comment on the cell you want to improve (Right-click → Comment, or Ctrl+Alt+M / Cmd+Option+M).

• In your comment, write the full improved line. If it's a small fix, you can just show the change.

• If you're unsure, say why in the same comment.

Please keep

• Do not change the left "Key" column.

• Keep placeholders and tags as-is: {0}, {name}, #ff8800;, #br;, etc.

• Keep game names the same: Effulgence, XyComb, etc.

• Use short, simple sentences.

Notes

• The sheet is open for comments only. I will review and apply good suggestions by hand.

• I'm a solo dev, so replies may take some time.

Languages in the sheet

These are the languages I have right now:

• English Chinese (Simplified)

• Chinese (Traditional)

• Spanish (Latin America + Spain)

• Portuguese (Brazil + Portugal)

• French

• German

• Italian

• Polish

• Ukrainian

• Japanese

• Korean

• Russian

★★★ Thank you for helping the game read better in your language! ★★★

I'm opening a short 5-day playtest to stress-test the new planet/map controls. I'd love your feedback on how it feels with mouse, keyboard, and gamepad.

Everything you see is made from keyboard text symbols and built inside the game's engine.

Wishing you a spooktacular Halloween in advance!

New release date: December 2.

Based on your feedback, I'm reworking the controls - taking ~two more weeks for polish.

★ Next week: a micro playtest (sign up on the store page).

★ Bonus: a hi-res poster.

Video:

Download hi-res (5010 x 7200, PNG, 20MB):

Thank you for the feedback! Please add to your wishlist and drop by the playtest next week.

I've wanted to make a dragon out of text symbols for the game for ages and I finally did!

I planned a mean dragon, but he turned out kind of adorable. He's even got a Peace Sign tattoo on his wing. He loves pacifists. They're delicious.

Also, I made a new background for battle locations: dynamic water reflections built entirely from ASCII symbols. I'm planning to use this visual feature across several areas.

As always, nothing but text symbols (the ones on any keyboard) are used. No scaling, no rotation. Almost like pure text mode.

The wave algorithm is a simplified Gerstner approach with two trochoidal waves - optimized to run faster.

★★★ 💀 ★★★

The second playtest will run from September 19 to September 27. The main goal of this playtest is to see whether the individual locations start to come together as a single, unified game experience. Your feedback is incredibly valuable - I'll be very grateful for any thoughts and impressions you share!

I’ve added a super weapon to the game. During battle, you can observe which symbols the current monsters are made of, open the bomb editor, enter it symbol by symbol - and boom. The more matches with boss symbols, the stronger the damage. You can use it once per location.

Fixed bugs and already added a ton of new stuff. In two or three weeks, I’ll launch Playtest #2.

Just finished my first-ever Steam playtest of Effulgence RPG. The main goal was to get feedback on the combat system. The current gameplay session was only 10–15 minutes - too short, in hindsight. Still, I’m very happy with the results.

Sign up for the second playtest! The first one went well - over 800 people filled out detailed feedback forms. There’s still a lot to improve, and I’ll try to build a new version with updated gameplay in the next month or two.

Also, I put together a short intro that plays at the start of the game, before the main menu.

Does it look interesting? Is it clear what’s going on? I feel like it still needs tweaking, but I’m not sure where exactly.