itch.io

Ok, just tweaked the token reward counter, here's the changes:

here are the new requirements for max token reward:

escape at level 15 or higher, less then level 8 gives nothing

0 damage taken, nothing gained if 1000 or more damage is taken

1000 or more enemies killed, nothing gained if 0 enemies are killed

0 potions taken, nothing gained if 75 or more potions are taken

escape with 100000 credits or more

use no checkpoints

each checkpoint removes 10 of your total score.

additionally, the final token amount is multiplied by difficulty level

Hope you enjoy this new one.

try updating to the latest version, it will fix the unhandled exception problem, as for tutorial starting every time, simply press don't show this again when it shows up

Ok, try this:

On Windows 10, you can create an exclusion folder by following these steps:

Open the Start menu and type "Windows Security", then press Enter.

Go to Virus & threat protection.

Select Manage settings under Virus & threat protection settings.

Scroll down until you find Exclusions and select Add or remove exclusions.

Choose Add an exclusion, then select Folder.

Create a new folder somewhere easy to find, such as C:\Games, and select it.

Extract or install the game into that folder and try running it again.

If you're using a third-party antivirus instead of Windows Defender, look for an option called Exclusions, Exceptions, Allowed Files, or Trusted Folders, and add the same folder there.

Hope this helps.

Yes, this is my contact page:
https://perceptiagames.netlify.app/

Thanks for taking the time to play the update and write such detailed feedback.

First of all, I'm sorry you had to go through that, especially losing your save. That definitely wasn't the experience I wanted people to have. I've added a global comment at the top of the page explaining in detail how the token system works, what affects your score, and why the rewards are calculated the way they are. I also asked everyone to share their thoughts on what they think would be a good balance, because I know my own perspective on difficulty is probably very different from most players.

As for the weapon slots bug, could you be a bit more specific about what happened? What exactly wasn't working, and how can I reproduce it? If I can reproduce the issue on my end, I'll do my best to fix it in the next update.

And  as for where is the progression save stored, it's in the config file that has no extention, if you still have the old one that has the .ssvv extention, then delete it. The game should keep each progress when it updates now.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Hi! I hope all of you are doing ok.

Here is the thing,

To achieve the highest possible token rewards, you'll want to:

Escape at level 15 or higher.

Kill 2,000 or more enemies.

Take no damage.

Drink no healing potions.

Use no checkpoints.

Escape with at least 100,000 credits.

The token reward is divided into two parts.

The first part is based on your score and can award up to 80 tokens.

Level contributes 30% of your score. It starts counting at level 8 and reaches its maximum at level 15. Escaping before level 8 gives no points from this category, and levels above 15 do not increase it further.

Kills contribute another 30% of your score. You receive the maximum contribution at 2,000 kills. More than 2,000 kills will not increase your score, while 0 kills give no points from this category.

Damage taken contributes 25% of your score. Taking no damage gives the maximum result. Once you've taken 300 or more damage, this category contributes nothing.

Healing potions contribute 15% of your score. Using no potions gives the maximum result. After drinking 20 or more potions, this category contributes nothing.

Checkpoints reduce your score after it has been calculated. Every checkpoint used subtracts 10 score points. Using one checkpoint subtracts 10 points, two subtract 20 points, and three subtract 30 points.

The second part of the token reward comes from the amount of credits you escape with and can award up to 20 tokens before diminishing returns.

Escaping with 25,000 credits awards about 5 bonus tokens.

50,000 credits awards about 10 bonus tokens.

75,000 credits awards about 15 bonus tokens.

100,000 credits awards the full 20 bonus tokens.

If you escape with more than 100,000 credits, you will continue earning extra tokens, but the increase becomes smaller and smaller. There is no hard cap, but each additional token requires significantly more credits than the previous one.

Now I'd like to ask for your opinions.

I'm actually very good at the game, and I've always enjoyed extremely difficult games that reward very little. Before I lost my sight, I spent a lot of time playing games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Because of that, I honestly don't have a good sense of where the reward balance should be for most players.

For example, in Island of Blood and Ash I usually don't even start buying guns until around level 5 or 6. I never use checkpoints. Most of the time I sell my healing potions instead of using them. That's simply how I enjoy playing, so I realize my expectations may not match everyone else's.

I'd really appreciate your suggestions. If you think the token requirements should be adjusted, let me know what you think would be a fair balance. Feel free to discuss it here, suggest new numbers, or simply vote on what you think would make the progression feel rewarding while still keeping the game challenging.

thanks for the report, it is fixed now, update to v1.3.2

try this:

launch the game once, then open the settings.json file that showes up, then go to this line:

"tts_voice_engine, 0 is system tts and 1 is NVDA"

if the value is 0, then change it to 1, that will make the game use NVDA

Hi everyone!

First of all, thank you all for playing **Island of Blood and Ash** and for all the feedback you've shared so far. Every update has been shaped by your suggestions, and I'd love to hear even more ideas from the community.

I'm currently planning future updates, and I'm looking for **gameplay ideas**, not just bug reports. Anything that could make the game more fun, more challenging, or add more replay value is welcome.

Some examples include:

* New enemy types or stronger non-boss enemies.

* New weapons, melee weapons, or weapon upgrades.

* New items, consumables, or boon effects.

* New mechanics or events that can happen during a run.

* Hidden areas or special "pocket dimensions" that reward players with rare or powerful loot.

* New resources, crafting ideas, or shop upgrades.

* New risk-versus-reward mechanics.

* Anything else you think would make the game more exciting.

Don't worry if your idea sounds unusual or crazy. Sometimes the best features come from unexpected suggestions.

I can't promise every idea will make it into the game, but I'll read every suggestion, and anything that fits the game's design has a good chance of inspiring a future update.

Looking forward to hearing your ideas!

Thanks for playing!

The boss only appears on the Very Challenging difficulty or higher, and it will spawn when you reach level 6 or 7.

The number of tokens you earn at the end of a run depends on several factors:

 The fewer potions you drink, the better.

 The less damage you take, the better.

 The more enemies you kill, the better.

 The higher the level you escape with, the better, up to level 15 which is the max.

The more credits you escape with, the better. The score is capped at 100,000 credits, but if you manage to escape with more than that, you'll earn even more tokens.

Good luck.

Thanks so much for the report, it has been fixed in v1.3.1, hope you injoy it.

Hi everyone!

I've seen a few reports of the game crashing or closing as soon as you try to move through the menus. From the reports I've received, the crash appears to happen at the moment Windows' built-in Text to Speech starts speaking the selected menu item, so that's the part I think is doing it.

To help work around this, I'll be including a settings JSON file in the next update. The file will be created automatically the first time the game launches, and you'll be able to edit options such as the screen reader setting directly in that file without needing to enter the game's menus.

So if the game crashes before you can change the settings, you'll still be able to adjust the screen reader option manually by editing the JSON file.

Thank you to everyone who's reported this so far.

Hello,

Thanks for pointing that out. I realized the wording in the credits file was misleading.

When I wrote that players were allowed to create mods and improvements, I wasn't referring to modifying the game's source code. What I actually meant was that players are free to replace and customize things like sounds, translations, and other user-editable resources, and to share those with the community.

I'm still fairly new to game development and licensing, so when I wrote the credits file I didn't fully understand that the word "mods" usually implies source code access or an official modding system. That wasn't my intention.

The game's source code isn't public, but I'll update the credits file in the next release to make this much clearer. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Hi! I'd love to have a Mac version of the game, and I actually tried compiling one before. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and since I don't own a Mac, I have no way to test or fix Mac-specific issues. Because of that, I can't officially support a macOS version at the moment.

The same goes for Linux. I'd be happy to support both macOS and Linux, and I'm more than willing to put in the work to make native versions. The problem is that I don't own either platform, so I have no way to properly test them. If someone with a Mac or Linux machine would be willing to help me test builds and report issues, I'd be happy to work with them to try to get those versions working. Until then, though, there's unfortunately not much I can do.

It sounds like the Audio Games forum page is incorrectly showing that the game has a Mac and Linux versions. If anyone knows who manages that page, I'd appreciate it if they could ask them to remove the wrong labels so people aren't led to believe there's a macOS or Linuxversion when there isn't.

Thanks for understanding, and if someone is interested in helping with testing, feel free to get in touch! I try my best to read the comments as soon as possible.

Thanks a lot for playing the game and for taking the time to write such detailed feedback. I really appreciate it!

The achievement idea is actually something I've been thinking about. I'd like to add achievements in the future, and maybe even a global scoreboard or something similar to give players more long-term goals.

As for the checkpoint system, you're definitely not the only person who's brought this up. Because of that, I'm planning to change it. I don't think I'll go with unlimited saves, since I still want the game to reward players who complete runs with fewer checkpoints. The game already has a scoring and ranking system, so my current idea is to allow multiple checkpoints but have each one affect your final score or rank. That way, players who want the extra safety can use it, while those looking for the highest ranks can challenge themselves without relying on checkpoints.

Regarding enemies gathering outside the shop, that's actually something you can plan around. Try getting a bit creative with the tools the game gives you. For example, you can place three C4 charges a couple of tiles apart before entering the shop. If enemies gather while you're inside, you can detonate them as soon as you come out and clear the area. Or, if you're feeling brave, you can run into the middle of the group and drop a bomb. You'll lose about 50 health, but it can wipe out a large number of enemies. There are quite a few different strategies you can use depending on the situation.

Anyway, right now my main focus is adding a self-update system so players can update the game easily without having to keep coming back to the itch.io page every time a new version is released. After that's done, I'll continue improving the game based on everyone's feedback.

Thanks again for your suggestions, and I hope you keep enjoying the game!

Hello, thanks for playing the game! I actually wanted to create an account on the Audio Games website a few days ago, but I couldn't figure out how. If you have an account there, would you mind posting a link to the game's itch.io page? I've seen other developers do that, and I'd really appreciate it.And about the description of the shop building, you could restart the run with bob's dialog enabled in settings, or you could simply open one of the text files in the language folder, it has all the text in the game, so you could also use it to change anything you don't like the writing of.
Also, the game is far from perfect, so I will keep adding more tips and explanations, crafting for example, you could have it if you reach level 7 and buy a worth of25000 gold from Bob, he will be happy and give you an axe and pickaxe, you cut trees and mine boulders, you bring him that and he will make you a small ship which you will drag to water and escape, but the crazy guys will not sit by and watch you drag the ship.
if you finish a run, based on your performance you will get a rank and a score, and based on the score you get tokens, which you can use to unlock boon items.
I need a way to explain all of that during the gameplay with tips and hints, so I have a long way to go.

Thanks for playing.
Check out v1.2.0, it has what you suggested

Thanks for trying the game, and thank you for the detailed report!

I haven't been able to reproduce the issue on my Windows 10 system, so your information is very helpful. Since it happens with both the installer and ZIP versions, it sounds like something specific to your Windows 11 25H2 setup.

Could you let me know exactly what you do before the crash? For example, does it crash as soon as you press an arrow key in the main menu, or only after selecting an option? If there's an error message or anything recorded in the Windows Event Viewer, that would also be very helpful.

I really appreciate your offer to help troubleshoot. If I make a test build with additional logging or a possible fix, would you be willing to try it?