#this post is long and has no images balls
DISCLAIMER 1: i have this post set to auto update at Jan 3rd 12pm pst, our goal launch time for Afterbirth+. there is a chance the game may not be for sale for another hour or 2.. just wait it out and it will appear :)
Afterbirth+ is now out on steam!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/570660/
-You will need the Afterbirth expansion to play it.
-If you own Afterbirth, AB+ will be discounted to $6.66 till the 10th of jan.
-AB+ is an expansion to The Binding of Isaac that adds new items, enemies, unlockables, achievements, endings and a new playable character as well as full access to mod tools and user made mods.
-AB+ is coming to consoles in spring this year.
DISCLAIMER 2: like any launch there is a good chance that we missed some bugs and players may experience some issues that our testers might have missed. the team will be working hard for the week of launch on fixing all major bugs or other issues. i also reserve the right to nerf! (but only if said item is very easily exploited). all other updates will happen when monthly booster packs go live.
be gentle! we are doing our best here.
xoxo
-eggy
Afterbirth+ will close the book on a 5 year journey that started out as a 3 month flash project i made with a friend (florian himsl) for fun. we had no real intentions to sell it, it was originally going to just be a sponsored flash game due to the fact i was worried people wouldn’t be that into it, and we only spent a few months on it.
i never had any idea Isaac would become what it has, this little monster has consumed my brain for what feels like a lifetime and im at a point now where i can be happy with officially finishing the story and calling the Isaac project done.
but as sad as that may sound to some, this is really just the start of things to come. AB+ started as just a mini DLC of mod tools, but slowly ballooned into another game expansion with a bunch more added content… but still at its core the whole point of AB+ was to hand the game off to the community, who at this point knows the game better than i do.
this new year will be a changing of the guard so to speak, we will be giving over Isaac future to the fans and supporting the mod community as much as possible.
this year will be a year of the monthly “Booster pack”!
as you may have assumed, using mods wont allow for you to unlock new game content / get achievements. but we have come up with a way to bring the best mod content officially into the game via mini monthly updates to AB+ or “booster packs”.
(ill probably also join in the fun a little.. honestly i came up with a few neat item ideas during the last week of crunch that i need to see in game.. so maybe this whole “letting go” thing is a lie!)
so all you out there will get to experience a year of free user made content officially added, and all you modders will get a chance brag to the internet about your amazing design skills and unlock the biggest and most sought after achievement in Isaac to date, the “MY WORK IS OFFICIALLY IN ISAAC” achievement!
SO YOU WANT YOUR MOD OFFICIALLY IN THE GAME!?
so when making mods you can honestly do whatever the hell you wanna do, so dont let this post sway you from making a totally nutty mod with guns and Jesus and copy-written material that will put you in jail! but the following is a list of basic guidelines when it comes to content im looking for to be added in this years monthly “booster packs”.
Items-
theme tips:
this can be a difficult one due to the fact that most of the items in Isaac are based on personal items/themes from my own childhood but the best way to stay on theme when it comes to items visual design is to stick with these simple and effective Isaac tropes.
-gross items (bodily functions / liquids / solids / wounds)
-christian items (artifacts / rituals / etc)
-pagan / satanic / occultic items (artifacts / rituals / etc)
and the minor Isaac themes like fetal development, disease, dnd and general 80s nerd bullshit.
design tips:
Isaac has a few hard archetypes when it comes to items, its best to design around these specific groups.
-HP driven items: (items that use life as resource / contact damage stuff / items that like it when you take damage)
-Defensive items: (items that protect you / raise your hp / reduce damage)
-Tear mods: (items that change your tear behavior / add status effects)
-Resource based items: (items that effects pickups / generate things / use your resources in different ways / affecting shops)
-High risk reward items: (stuff like bobs brain / curse of the tower / cursed eye) (people may not like them but items like these are important too!)
-Mod items: (items that affect usable items / familiars / angel,devil rooms / shops / etc)
-Trinkets: (items that passively mod behind the scenes %s, effects and support a range of archetypes)
-Wild cards: (items that dont fit into an archetype but do interesting things none the less)
Enemies/Bosses-
im specifically looking for enemies that will be added as alts to existing ones. this makes them a lot easier to add so we dont need to include 100+ rooms specifically for each of them. they dont need to be like the enemy they are an alt of, but should roughly fit the theme/difficulty of said enemy you are making an alt for.
theme tips:
most of you should know these themes by now.
-most enemies should resemble Isaac in some minor way
-stick to Edmunds 6 Ds of Isaac visual enemy design: decaying, demonic, dead, dying, diseased and decapitated!
- again minor themes of fetal development, insects (decomposers) and body horror in general are always accepted!
design tips:
also im sure there are more than a few zelda enemies i missed out there.. just copy those! :\
Challenges-
it would be great to add a new challenge every month this year.. but they gotta be good!
challenges should force the place to finish the game in a unique / interesting / challenging way that you aren’t usually used to. theme doesn’t matter as much on these, as long as the design is fun or new id be more than happy to add as many as we can over the year.
Misc-
im sure there are things out there we somehow missed that we can officially support. out of the box stuff, whatever works as long as it fits the theme and is a solid design im more than happy to consider it.
the best way for me to see your designs is to simply tweet me a gif or video of your mod in action, be specific though dont send me like 20 items or 15 enemies, just send me one of each that you feel is the best, then wait a month to send more.
thereddit page is also a great place to showcase your mods as well as get feedback and maybe even sync up with an artist or programmer you can partner with (romance?).
anyway i hope this was helpful, its a bit hamfisted but as the months roll by im sure we will find a smooth way to exchange ideas and ill keep updating the blog with new info as the year unfolds.
so enjoy the launch, dig into the new content and have fun unlocking all the new bits and pieces we added over the year. Tyrone will be doing a post in a week or so that will go more into mod details and ill do what i can to link any fan made mod tutorials here.
im honestly very excited to see where you guys take this!
