Heart of Gaia - Solo project Action RPG

Showcase Games
1

About the game:
In Heart of Gaia, you lead a resistance group fighting against a primordial evil that threatens to destroy the world as we know it. The setting features a steampunk ambiance with a rich variety of art and mechanics.

You begin the game playing as Oleg, a rogue and one of the few survivors of a brutal, life-changing massacre years ago. Now an adult, Oleg is tasked with helping restore Gaia from its chaos in exchange for protection and a chance at a “normal life.” Along the way, you’ll be joined by strong and reliable comrades, each with unique backgrounds and abilities.

Key features:
This is a 2D isometric-style game. You’ll engage in a variety of activities, including dynamic character-swapping combat, experimenting with different builds and strengths, and assembling party members for specialized or balanced performance. The game also features potion crafting, as well as a range of accessories and armor to customize your playstyle.

At its core, Heart of Gaia is about understanding and appreciating the lore and the connections between characters. The goal is for players to become genuinely invested in the cast and the different ways they can be built and played.

Target and additional information:
Building a community is very important to us. Considering the game’s style and atmosphere, we want to share our development journey and player experiences as much as possible.

We are currently focused on gathering more wishlists on Steam and increasing overall visibility ahead of launch, as the game itself is already complete.

I would sincerely appreciate any feedback, comments, or suggestions. As mentioned, this is a solo project created with almost no budget, but with a great deal of passion and dedication.

The Heart of Gaia demo is available now on Steam. (Heart of Gaia on Steam)

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7 Likes
2

Looks great!
Are you making the art? It’s awesome

3

Yeah everything is handmade, the only program I used was on the songs since I’m not an audio expert or anything close haha.

2 Likes
4

Very nice presentation, with loads of cool little details in there, like a smooth pre-title tutorial. With that in mind, I’ve focused on small details that could elevate the game, and not so much on ideas for content and mechanics - it looks like you have those already :slight_smile:

My notes:

  • Cool cutscenes! Great soundtrack too, very atmospheric and fitting. The sound effects are a little rougher, but they’re there, and they communicate what they’re supposed to.
  • Audio is too loud - compare the game audio levels to that of a professionally made game or music album. By having the levels so high, you risk distortion and have no headroom for playing multiple sounds at once.
  • Would be nice to be able to click on dialogue text to complete it instantly (I later realized that space does this - that could be communicated to the player)
  • Might be an idea to move the health UI to the bottom of the screen, where it’s easier to glimpse at in the heat of battle. There’s a reason all the Diablo-alikes do this.
  • A nice feature would be to pause the game and stop the audio when the game window loses focus.
  • Giving the save slots character images is a little confusing - it suggests that the player is saving that character, not the game.
  • It could be made clearer why a character can’t wear certain equipment, on the equipment itself or the “error” message. If the player party gets more characters, the inventory will get a bit hard to read.
  • I found it quite time-consuming to find a way out of the castle, and managed to die several times before I managed it (sewer baddies, accidentally hitting a friendly). Maybe the first time in the castle could be made a little smoother.
    • Maps for areas would be a very welcome addition, or some kind of guide to the selected quest’s next location.
  • Enemy projectiles are too fast to react to - if they’re meant to be avoidable, they should probably be slower. Alternatively, if they’re meant to be dodged / blocked, the enemies could have a clearer wind-up animation / glow / something to indicate that they’re about to shoot in a direction.
5

Can’t wait to playtest it this weekend! Btw, do you have any other socials besides YouTube?

1 Like
6

Honestly right now the place I’ve been most active at has been YouTube. I didn’t get much chance to work harder on promoting, so now that the game is finished I’m working harder on it and trying to be more frequent and active, I’m not an expert in this. Hopefully I’ll be able to post more on youtube and tiktok or discord.

2 Likes