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Soulcaster has been patched! New feature: Quick Save Password

The new version of Soulcaster has just passed peer review, so anyone who has bought the game can download the new version for free. Changes:

  1. Password quick save and quick load.  You can save one password per profile and avoid the hunt for a scrap of paper if you have less than 75 minutes to play at once.  This was by far the biggest request from everyone who played the game.
  2. The “screen size” option now shows a boundary area when selecting so you can see the real area of the screen.  Thanks to Randy of Neuron (XNA Creators Club member) for this suggestion.
  3. Exploit fix: The “free upgrades” you could get by restarting a level after buying upgrades (keeping your upgrades but getting your checkpoint cash back) has been fixed.
  4. Exploit fix: It was possible to summon infinite souls through button mashing through a “single frame” error.  Thanks to Alex Shoup for finding this, keeping it secret from the interwebs, and sending me detailed info on how to reproduce it.

Please post thoughts and questions about the new save system, since I am looking for an elegant save system for Soulcaster II.

    Week 3 Press

    Soulcaster has really exceeded my expectations in critical reception.

    “This is an absolutely amazing little action / strategy game that isn’t easy to categorize. It combines the best elements of Shining Force / Final Fantasy Tactics with dungeon crawling and tower defense games, and it all comes together with great results.”

    – Curious Soft/XBLARatings.com

    “Soulcaster was a pleasant surprise: a mash up of an 8-bit RPG and Tower Defence, thereby ticking virtually all of the right boxes for anyone who’s ever ordered pizza for a night in with their Nintendo controller…”

    – xnPlay – The Juice Report

    “… excellent …”

    – Tycho/Penny Arcade

    “Everything from the level design, item names, graphics, sound, gameplay, and little in-jokes, Soulcaster harkens back to the day of retro-RPGS and is a great buy for anyone with the points.” (8.5/10)

    – Trace Aber/411Games

    “Another one I checked out was Soulcaster, which I loved. … The music’s really great.”

    – Signed In Podcast

    “I’ve never seen anything like this … definitely, definitely worth your time. Very different.”

    – NooBTooB Podcast

    Huge thanks to all the critics who took the time to play through and review the game.

    Week 1 Press

    OK so this game has gotten much more attention than I ever imagined. There’s not much more I can say right now so I’ll just put up some pull quotes.

    “I got to say I really enjoyed this one and if you are looking for a top-down action adventure role playing game with a retro look and feel it would be difficult for me to not recommend Soulcaster.”

    – Two Fedoras

    “I highly recommend action and strategy fans alike to check out Soulcaster, there’s good a reason why it has already shot up into the top 20 rated Xbox indie games.”

    – GayGamer.net

    “The soundtrack for the game is as amazing as it is fitting and makes me hope this guy is successful just so I can hear more songs by him in his games. The shopkeeper’s song is the most epic 8-bit metal song EVER and yes, I’m kinda serious about that.”

    – Digital Quarters

    “Soulcaster is completely playable, incredibly polished, nostalgically retro, and insidiously addictive.”

    – XboxHornet

    “Well worth the money.”

    – Zeboyd

    “With a shop to upgrade, multiple paths through each stage, and a ‘hardcore’ mode, this is pretty much the best Tower Defense game on XBLIG OR on XBLA, rivaling even Defense Grid for sheer amazingness.”

    – WDesm on xblaratings.comm

    And for the ultimate press any developer could ever hope for, still leaving me in a state of shock:

    “I caught a trailer for an Xblig called “Soulcaster” that took me a while to parse, but it’s out already, so discerning the truth of it is a straightforward matter. It’s lovely. It plays for all the world like a combination of Bomberman and Tower Defense, and I hadn’t considered it previously, but them’s two things what might benefit from juxtoposin’.”

    – Tycho on Penny Arcade