Super excited to announce that Shell of a King v2.0 is finally here, and with that, we are officially departing Early Access! It's been a long journey, and I wouldn't have made it here without everyone's support. So thank you, and I hope you enjoy v2.0 of Shell of a King! :)
Note that the price of Shell of a King has been raised to $10 to reflect the finished state of the game. [dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/2384130/Shell_of_a_King/"]Soundtrack is also now available for purchase! Alternatively, you can find it on my youtube channel!
What's next for Shell of a King?
I consider Shell of a King in its current state to be very much a complete game. I'll of course fix bugs as needed, but aside from maybe a harder difficulty or a boss rush mode, I don't really have any future content planned. However, something I would like to add is translations for other languages. I'd do this properly by hiring actual native translators, which would take sizable financial resources. So to help support this, if Shell of a King continues to have new players over the next month, I will add translations for at least Spanish, French, and German, with more to follow.
Potential Sequel?
A Shell of a King 2 is something I'd really like to make, and I have a good idea of what a sequel would look like. It would take place following the events of the true ending, and focus on retrieving the 4 elemental souls to halt the crumbling, exploring the entire world of Agathara. Starting fresh would also give me the opportunity to push Shell of a King's visual style to something a bit more refined. That being said, because I'm starting to feel old, I likely wouldn't start a project of this magnitude unless the support is there for it.
Some Final Yapping
I started working on Shell of a King about 4 years and 2 months ago. It's basically my first game, and I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out. For better or for worse, it far exceeded the initial vision I had for a short, challenging bullet hell game. It may not seem like a huge game, but it's become exceedingly difficult and time-consuming to manage as a solo developer. These past few months have been particularly mentally grueling, but I'd say overall I've had a lot of fun making this game, and am overjoyed to hear that some people have enjoyed playing it as well. So thanks again for all your support, and for reading this essay lol. I hope Shell of a King has inspired you in some way, and that my future projects will do the same.
All the best, ~ Rosune
If you'd like to report a bug or get in contact with me for any reason, Join the Official Shell of a King Discord! v2.0 Change List:
Add a new Shattered King alternate ending obtained by returning to the throne with all 3 of the King's holy relics. There is a new Steam Achievement for this as well
The Neutral Ending is now more distinct and has a unique end screen
The Bad Ending is now more distinct and has a unique end screen (I might get cooked for this one lmaoo)
Pricilla destroying the Wishing Well now has a unique end screen
Pricilla now presents you with a destroy-wishing-well option
Not sparing Sthena when given the choice no longer gives the Bad Ending and instead gives the Solo Neutral Ending
Killing Slider and Zeke is now an act of negligence and forces the Bad Ending
Slider and Zeke now should always follow you for the True Ending
Slider and Zeke can now no longer be fought after True Ending
Chibifi the Magus boss
Add more playtesters and more attributions to the credits
Add the yield phase to Slider and Zeke boss if Sthena is alive and Serpent Hunter is not equipped
Add new Slime Titan poses
Add some lore murals to the King's Puzzle
Add VSync graphics settings option
Add Ultrawide and QHD resolution settings (I couldn't test these, so hopefully they just work)
Add an edit toggle to gamepad stick settings to prevent accidental changes
Add more various particle effects
Add some sorting to the File Stats Boss list
Add a new Deep Sewers song that alternates with the current one
Add a new Small Room song
Add a new song for the Chalice and Throne areas
Add a new song for Chapel and Chapel stairs
Add a new song for the Shrine of Silence
Redo Pricilla's location songs
Finish the Rock Snakes boss song
Finish the Congealed Soulmass song
Finish the Grand Library song
Finish the Grand Archivist boss song
Mix the Queen's Pet boss song a bit better
Nerf the firerate modifier of the Staff of Horror from 1.1 -> 1.02
Buff Gregory boss HP 18k -> 20k, damage 35 -> 45, Eye HP 2k -> 2.5K
Buff Sahn the False King defence from 10 -> 11 lol
Rework the Grand Archivist 2nd phase to have significantly less invulnerability. This can allow 3-4 elemental phases at once, depending on how fast you choose a book.
Adjust the volume of many boss sounds
Improve the wall avoidance of some enemies
Change normal credits music to a new soft main theme
Clean up some of the Sthena ending cutscenes
Clean up the Last Supper cutscene drawings a bit
Redraw some Mobius sprites
Name Sthena's 3rd phase
Small optimizations
Fix a bunch of poorly looping songs
Fix shadow settings not working correctly with new environment objects
Fix buggy slime ball behavior
Fix music stuttering in the Swallowed Caves currents
Fix Greg's NPC music interfering with Auri
Fix Greg's NPC music messing up song fades
Fix the fishing rod cast range not working on gamepad
Fix rancid bug allowing you to double-load files
Fix being able to zoom during certain cutscenes
Fix being able to overdamage Auri during phase transitions
Fix many visual bugs
Fix some weird behavior with the Disable Item Visuals setting
Many other bug fixes
Various Internal changes
