Development roadmap

Playable now

• Done
  Spirit form
  Walking, sprinting, jumping and wall clinging.
• Done
  Scaring
  Noise that startles villagers, who then panic and flee or chase you.
• Done
  Villager behaviour
  Scareable, hostile and indifferent villagers that react to what they see.
• Done
  Possession and invisibility
  Controlled by an ectoplasm bar.
• Done
  Objects and healing
  Throwable objects, health potions and healing bubbles.
• Done
  Tutorial, saving and pause menu
  Your progress is saved to your device.
• Done
  Skill tree
  Spend skill points on movement, ectoplasm, body and scare skills, with prerequisites and a free respec.
• Done
  Lighting and atmosphere
  Moonlight in the village and lighting on the player and houses.
• Done
  Touch controls
  A virtual joystick and on-screen buttons for touch devices.

Now

• In progress
  Community playtests
  Ongoing on Discord. Feedback from testers shapes every update.
• In progress
  More skills
  The tree is live. Senses, intangibility and further branches are next.
• In progress
  Hub upgrades
  New portals, interactive areas and progression systems.

Next

• Planned
  Early access testing
  Planned for Discord members first. Join the Discord to hear when it opens.
• Planned
  Public demo
  A demo release for community feedback.
• Planned
  Steam launch
  Full release on Steam (to be confirmed).

Later

These ideas may change as the game and its community grow.

• Planned
  More ghost forms
  Evolve beyond Spirit through Ghost and Banshee to Poltergeist, each with unique abilities.
• Planned
  Stronger scares
  Spook and Haunt are in. Torment and Curse are planned.
• Planned
  Senses
  Abilities that let you detect things about villagers and the world.
• Planned
  Flight
  Double and triple jumps, float and glide are in. Full flight is planned.
• Planned
  Intangibility
  An invisibility upgrade.
• Planned
  Environmental scares
  Interact with the world to build layered scares.
• Planned
  Expanded areas
  More unlockable zones in the living world.
• Planned
  Polish
  Pixel art improvements and spookier sound design.

Development team

Ethereal Ascent is a solo project. Community testers on Discord help find bugs and decide what to build next, so joining the Discord is the best way to influence the game.