Post by MatthewDutt in Serenitrove comments

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Any ideas on how to get the restore cells turtle? Maybe I just play griddle too much, but I have just over 7hrs of playtime and can't seem to get 35 cells in a run... I got the hats for all the other turtles at least! (except for the new turtle)

Also, don't mess with gem spawns too much. If anything, just lower diamond's spawn rate and make it usable for a more powerful accessory! I have 18 diamonds and only 8 sapphires, somehow. Titanium is the only thing I lack, having to spend it to repair my drill so often...

An idea for the halo hat - you could make it spin in place horizontally, still taking up one pixel but going through a gradient of yellows and gold to make it appear as if it was spinning, rather than just being a bland bar above your head.

Great game all around! Looking forward to more updates

Scoot119 days ago

First of all, thanks so much for playing!

To unlock Fern, there isn't any special trick, as no turtles or accessories currently boost restore cell spawn rates. The best way to improve your odds is to use Caelo and maximize your light radius so you don't miss any restore cells deeper down. The game uses a pseudo-random system to prevent runs from being ruined by bad RNG. At minimum, one restore cell is guaranteed to spawn every 20 cells. With the game going 433 cells deep (excluding the first 20), you're looking at at least 22 restore cells per run even in the worst-case scenario. Typically, by the time you reach the Magma zone, you'll have around 30, and with good visibility, squeezing out 5 more from there is definitely within reach.

On gems, I actually agree that sapphires feel a bit too rare, since they currently only spawn in the Ice zone. I'm considering adding them to the Magma zone as well to help balance things out. As for diamonds, they're meant to be more common since the diamond pickaxe eats through them pretty quickly. If they were any rarer, the pickaxe would become too costly to be practical, so I think their current rate is in a good spot.

And I love your suggestion for the Halo hat! I originally had it hovering slightly up and down, but that didn't feel quite right. A rotating yellow to gold gradient sounds like an awesome visual, way more dynamic than a static bar.

This kind of feedback is exactly what makes working on the game so rewarding, so thank you!

MatthewDutt117 days ago(+1)

Thanks for taking some of my feedback! It's super cool to see a fun game with an awesome developer - that's why I love itch.io

Looking forward to more additions in the future, excited to see what you have planned for the next layer below obsidian

MatthewDutt117 days ago(+1)

Just found my first sapphire in the magma layer! The color contrast looks super cool, I think adding them was a great choice. Definitely one of the coolest looking ores.

Any plans on a Steam page? It'd be pretty cool to see it released as an official game. I'd pay money for it! It reminds me a ton of the game Super Motherload, you should check it out!

Scoot117 days ago

Thanks! I thought the Magma zone was a good fit for Sapphire too. Ruby can be a bit hard to spot with the surrounding colors, and since Ruby already appears in two zones while Sapphire only had one, it felt like a nice way to balance things out.

As for a Steam page, Serenitrove is something I've always intended to keep completely free. No DLC, no paid content, just a small project to hopefully bring a bit of joy to people. That said, who knows what the future holds! If there's ever a remake using something like Unity or Godot, a Steam release could definitely be on the table.