u/DarTin20

Hey everyone,

We’ve spent the time since our last update on balancing Cursed Soulless Vagabonds.

You might have seen in one of our other posts that duplicate weapons can scale the attributes, on top of synergies that make you even more powerful.

Well, we might have overshot the target during our latest balancing.

We ran a playtest with a level 60 character and checked the “splash” attribute specifically.
It’s so huge now that enemies don't even make it onto the sceen. If we leave it like this, our 3-minute runs are going to turn into 3-second runs! - just exaggerating to make the point clear.

We're curious about your preference: do you enjoy reaching a point where your build is so strong that you can just stand still and watch everything melt, or do you prefer the game to keep challenging you all the way to the end?

Hey everyone,

We’ve spent the time since our last update on balancing Cursed Soulless Vagabonds.

You might have saw in one of our other posts, that duplicate weapons can scale the attributes. Plus there are synergies to get more powerfull.

Well, we might have overshot the target during our latest balancing.

We ran a playtest with a level 60 character and checked the “splash” attribute specifically.
It’s so huge now that enemies don't even make it onto the sceen. If we leave it like this, our 3-minute runs are going to turn into 3-second runs! - just exaggerating to make the point clear.

We're curious about your preference: do you enjoy reaching a point where your build is so strong that you can just stand still and watch everything melt, or do you prefer the game to keep challenging you all the way to the end?

Hey everyone,

We’ve spent the time since our last update on balancing Cursed Soulless Vagabonds.

If you saw our previous post, we talked about how our duplicate weapon effect and color synergies can scale the weapon attributes.

Well, we might have overshot the target during our latest balancing.

Before this, the "splash" attribute felt weak. But after changing it, we ran a playtest with a level 60 character. The splash effect is now so huge that enemies don't even make it onto the sceen. If we leave it like this, our 3-minute runs are going to turn into 3-second runs! - just exaggerating to make the point clear.

We're curious about your preference: do you enjoy reaching a point where your build is so strong that you can just stand still and watch everything melt, or do you prefer the game to keep challenging you all the way to the end?

Hey folks,

I want to share the new Sword Inventory system for our game, Cursed Soulless Vagabonds.

Here is how we designed the inventory:

1. Fully paused: The game completely pauses while you manage your inventory, giving you a calm space to read attributes and craft your build at your own pace.

2. Color synergies: Instead of random numerical stats, we use a color-coding system. You match weapons of the same color to increase their specific effects (See the highlight in the attached .gif).

3. Useful duplicates: Finding the exact same common weapon over and over is no longer a waste of time. Equipping identical copies provides an additional strength multiplier on top of the color synergy, meaning every single drop is useful.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this approach to inventory management.

Hey folks,

today, I would like to show you our recently finished Sword Inventory.

Together with the Upgrade Map, this is the second essential element in Cursed Soulless Vagabonds where the strategic depth really comes into play.

One of our main design goals is to respect the player's time. Behind the scenes, we use massive .csv files to balance the 666 unique weapons and scale the difficulty of the enemy swarms. However, we don't want players to spend their short runs calculating complex numbers. That is why we made the build creation highly intuitive: we color coded each weapon. This easy color-coding helps you quickly select the right swords and craft the perfect build.

We also wanted to solve a classic ARPG frustration: finding the same common weapon over and over again, leaving you unsure of what to do with it. We decided to turn this into an advantage. In our game, equipping identical copies of the same weapon strengthens them even further, adding an extra boost on top of the color synergy. Every drop is useful, and you never lose time managing useless duplicates.

Happy to listen to your feedback!

 

P.S. In case you are not in a rush and want to take your time: read the attributes, enjoy the graphics, listen to the souls or just relax. This is completely possible, as the game fully pauses while you craft your build.

Hey folks, we are a small indie team currently working on Cursed Soulless Vagabonds

In traditional Action-RPGs, you manage character stats and mana bars, use healing potions and actively trigger skills. We stripped all of that away.

In Cursed Soulless Vagabonds you just control the movement of your character (the Husk). The attacks are executed automatically by your floating blades. With your arsenal of swords, you build your own mobile Tower Defense hub.

1. The player is the tower: You only control the movement of your husk and try to survive in the extremely small, static, one-screen levels.
2. The swords are the defense systems: Instead of carrying just one or two weapons, you are surrounded by 10 to 20 floating swords.
3. Autonomous combat: These swords attack the massive swarms of enemies completely on their own.
4. The core appeal: Just like in a good tower defense game, the draw doesn't lie in attack reflexes, but in resource management and strategic synergy. Each of our different swords has unique attributes thanks to our color system. Tactics come into play in the "Upgrade Map" between levels, where you decide how to invest your loot to build the perfect automated line of defense around your character.

It is a Tower Defense game, but the "tower" is you.

Let us know your thoughts - even if you think it's a crazy idea!

P.S.: The video is our work-in-progress footage, you can already see our massive enemy swarms in action and the Upgrade Map. Implementing the full visual of the 666 floating swords is our next big development milestone!