- Dev Blog #1 How'd launch go? - 4 September 2026
Hey Everyone!I wanted to start making Dev Blogs a regular thing. Even if we don't have an update ready to release, I still want you all to stay informed every few weeks on how things are going and what we are working on.Lets start with how Launch went. A couple weeks after the big day, I posted an update about stats and a video clip talking to the audience... it went semi viral... https://x.com/RefractiveENT/status/2092288439446118455 It's always crazy when a post gets that much attention out of nowhere, it was just my big dumb face talking, so I really didn't expect it to do as good as it did. The brief summary is: Few weeks ago I launched my first game Luminary Week 1 grossed $100k+ in sales. Only 2% of Steam games do that, and we did it with No Funding, No Publisher, No Ads, just hard work.Stats Today Net: $110kAfter Steam's cut: $77kAll Reviews: Mostly PositiveEnglish Reviews: Very…
- Map Player Icon, Temple NPC, Bug Fixes - 24 August 2026
Hey Everyone, This is a smaller update but wanted to get this out into the world early since a few items on this list are things everyone pointed out often in reviews and forum discussions as needed asap Update Version 0.11.02.0051Additions:New Intro Temple Guardian NPC that gives you backstory and goals through dialogue (Thank you to my wife for doing Voice Acting for her first time to help me in a pinch haha)Landing a Melee Critical hit now plays sound and flashes enemies health bar yellowFree Aim Bow Headshots also do Critical DamageMap now shows player icon and joined player icons, all color codedUpdated Hall of Heroes with new names from discord membersQOL:Enemies now have a chance to drop Chips (currency) when killedInventory page now closes with "I" as wellMap page now closes with "M" as wellCrystal Ores have had their base value increase to $100 so they sell for moreBUGS:Fixes t…
- Launch, Plans, Hotfix Update - 14 August 2026
Thank You First, I want to say thank you all for giving us a chance. Making a game and putting it out into the world has always been a dream of mine. We are completely self taught, and just figuring things out as we go along. A co-op openworld ARPG is not an easy type of game to make either, and many told us we shouldn't start with something this big, but it was just the game we wanted to make :)When we released our demo, we also started in a rocky spot. 75% reviews at first, but through time and updates we got our Demo reviews up to 90% Very Positive. While I hoped we had done everything right to start off there with our Early Access release, it looks like we are going to need to take the same path of slowly grinding those review scores up with each build update. But that's ok, we've done it before and we can do it again.Early AccessI'm a perfectionist in nature, so I never want to sho…
- Luminary's Early Access - OUT NOW! - 11 August 2026
Our JourneyAfter over 4 years of testing/learning game dev, and then another 1.5 years of rebuilding it from the ground up, working on it full time with just the two of us... Luminary is FINALLY out in the world! I can't even put into words how that feels... Surreal? Accomplishment? Terrifying? It hasn't really sunk in yet.This solo or co-op Zelda/Fable/Skyrim Idea I had for a game that my family could play together that we all enjoyed. Dynamic combat for me, forgiving combat for my wife and son. Exploration, leveling by doing, drop in drop out co-op and continued progression across different sessions. Years lead up to this moment, and it actually happened. Our PriceWhile we priced our game at $20, about a month ago I decided to increase our launch day discount per additional wishlist milestone we hit. Well we definitely didn't hit 150k, we didn't even technically hit 100k... we were cl…
- Closed Playtest Tomorrow! - 25 July 2026
Hey Luminaries! If you are already a member of the Hall of Heroes, then you should have received an email this morning about signing up for our Early Playtest taking place Tomorrow July 26-27th. This is the first opportunity the larger public has been able to experience drop in drop out co-op, but you can play it solo if you'd like. If you did not receive and email, we've got you covered! You can still sign up for it here: https://luminary.firstlook.gg/ From First Look we will be able to send out Keys to everyone tomorrow morning. This is a "closed" playtest. Meaning no streaming or content creation of it, but you will still be able to invite friends from your first look account to receive a key so you can play together. This is mainly for us to give our community an early look at things, and to hunt down any big remaining bugs, so we can solve those before our Early Access launch Aug 1…
- Wishlist Milestone Discounts! - 14 July 2026
As we glide past 50k Wishlists, I was inspired by a post I saw from another game "The Mound". I saw what they were doing with their Wishlist milestone discounts and thought "How Awesome! I wanna do that too!" So at 2 am I whipped together this graphic and got ready to announce it this morning. That's how quick big decisions are made at the Indie Game level haha. Here it is. As we "hopefully" reach more Wishlist milestones before our Early Access Day 1 launch on August 11th, I will be increasing the launch week discount. 100k = - 12.5% 150k = - 15% 200k = - 17.5% 250k = - 20% So let your friends know who you plan to co-op with, get the word out. Let's see what discount we can get to before Launch :)
- Luminary Demo 0.10.32.0071 - Patch Notes - 2 July 2026
Golem EncounterAudio: Brought Golem hit sounds and effects back.Camera: Fixed an issue where the camera would get stuck after defeating the Golem.Combat: Resolved a bug causing combat music to continue triggering on after the Golem is defeated.Combat & GameplayGoblin Loot: Goblins no longer drop weapons upon defeat so as to not clog up your inventories and radial wheels.Input Mapping: Rebound default keys: Shift is now Dodge and Control is now Walk.HUD: Added a toggle input key to show or hide the HUD. By default it's F8.Temple: Fixed a bug where the temple chest could not be "found" by the player.Character Creator & UICharacter Selection: Fixed a bug where the selected character would break when returning to the race/gender selection screen.Audio: Removed click sound effects from race and category selection buttons.
- 40k Wishlists, Price / Launch Date Reveal - Playtest? - Major Demo Update - 1 July 2026
Hello Luminaries! The last couple months have been a whirlwind of excitement and WORK! We hit 40,000 Wishlists, actually we are currently sitting at 43K, and we've been crunching heavy behind the scenes getting ready for our Early Access launch date, that looms ever closer with each passing day. A day that many of you might have saw as July 30th. Well turns out, everyone and their moms decided to release a game that week haha, so we decided to push 10 days later to give us a bit more breathing room and "hopefully" more visibility.Luminary's Day 1 Early Access Release date is officially August 11th, 2026. Along with that news we've decided to reveal our Early Access Launch price as well: $19.99 usd - with Regional pricing and a 10% launch week discountSome have said maybe that price is cheaper than expected for an Openworld Co-op ARPG, but this is Day 1 Early Access after all. While Lumi…
- Carve your Name in the Hall of Heroes - 11 May 2026
Will YOUR name carved in the Hall of Heroes? Who's dedicated to the fight to push back the darkness? If you plan to play Luminary on Week 1, please fill out this simple google form. Week 1 Luminaries will have their name displayed in game for all eternity! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfgKWlvI_csm8KiFMq8us21iNnoaStpwSEgKCfU2Cfv1F8Apw/viewform?usp=dialog (Game Lore, this hall pays tribute to the Luminary Vessels of the past. So what better way to fill out those names than with yours!) I know Early Access launches can be rough (we don't plan for ours to be, but who knows haha). So we just wanted to give a little something extra back to those who are supporting us from day 1. I can not tell you how much I appreciate your trust in us going forward. You are helping us make Luminary a great game for all to love. Thanks, Keith
- See you soon :) + Expectations - 30 April 2026
I want to Thank everyone again for supporting us for as long as you have. It really helps our motivation to keep pushing hard over the finish line. I'm going to be hunkered down, grinding for the next few weeks, finishing up the "must haves" for our Day 1 Early Access launch. (Which is right around the corner) Things are going well, but with that said I thought maybe I should set some expectations. Although we clearly label everything we will have in our Game on Day 1 on our game's about section, there have been a few Early Access games that have come out recently that may influence what people are expecting from us. For example Windrose. A game with millions of dollars in development funding, and 50+ people working on it over years. Compare that to our little game Luminary, where our "funding" came from my savings account, and there's only been two of us haha.So I'm just saying, while…
- GameSpark Interview (English) + 30K Wishlists! - 15 April 2026
We hit 30,000 Wishlists thanks to this Article (Sorry for the huge wall of text below, but the diehard fans want a lot of this info) I had a huge in depth interview with GameSpark (a Japanese publication) about Luminary. Since many of our followers here on Steam are only English speakers, I wanted to share with you all the original English answers version, because there's a LOT of Luminary FAQ info in here. (GameSpark Article)When people hear the term "action RPG," many tend to imagine hardcore gaming elements like challenging combat and deep, intricate build customization. However, Luminary, scheduled for release in Q2 2026, aims to deliver a game that inherits those appealing aspects while avoiding overly complex systems and excessive penalties, making it an action RPG that anyone can easily enjoy. We sat down with the developers to ask: What exactly does a casual, family-friendly act…
- A little Update + New Key Art! - 2 April 2026
Hi! Just a Little Update...I wanted to say Thank You to Everyone who has supported us so far on this journey, it really means the world to me. To show a little gratitude, here is a UHD 4k Image of our new Key Art that you can download. (If for some reason you can't download it here, we have the file in our Discord as well if you'd like to join) We are hard at work on getting ready for our Early Access release, which is right around the corner. During that time we have gotten great feedback on our Demo, and are starting to get noticed by some Publications who are writing some articles about us.This has greatly helped get much needed eyeballs on Luminary, which has grown our Wishlist count from 25k to 28k since our last post. I'll see you soon to give some new updates as we get even closer to launch. Thanks!
- Luminary Demo 0.10.27.0001 – Patch Notes - 28 February 2026
Character CreationFixed not being able to return to race/gender selection after confirming gender.
- 25K, New Environment and Graphics Settings Update - 28 February 2026
I really want to thank you ALL, and the new Japanese fans who came in clutch over the last week. We have passed 25,000 Wishlists, actually closing in on 26k today, and I honestly can't thank you all enough for being interested in our little indie game Luminary. With Early Access launch only a few months away, we are still working hard on some important features we want at launch, but things are looking good :) This News also comes with an important Update to the Demo. Here's some of the important bits below. Environment RefreshWe have gone through an adjusted just about every aspect of the Demo Environment. Foliage, Rocks, textures/material, lighting, color, etc. Major overhaul that keeps the same feeling and tone, but looks even better. - Rocks now all have a dynamic Material can looks details and high res at any distance while saving on performance - Ground materials are now higher fi…
- Update on what we are working on - 13 February 2026
Hi Luminaries! I just wanted to give you a small update on what we are working on. This week we started revamping some of the artwork and lighting in our demo and Early Access map. Here's a few beauty angle screen shots for that work. We will push out an update with these artwork changes next week. The following few weeks we will be tuning up our multiplayer system, and pushing that feature out to the demo as well to get everyone's feedback on it. Performance, goods, bads, etc. Thanks everyone who is following us closely and care about these updates to the community. We are definitely working with our followers to make Luminary great, and if you would like to contribute your thoughts to that, please join our discord :) discord.gg/NNrurAT5um
- Luminary Demo 0.10.24 – Patch Notes - 12 February 2026
Performance & GraphicsLowered resolution scale limits to 25–100.Improved Way Tree performance by removing particle lighting.Animation & CombatAdded basic foot IK.Reduced bow jank for smoother aiming and firing.Interface & LocalizationTranslated the Character Creation menu and selected improved fonts.Translated tutorials.Translated armor names and descriptions.Changed highlight color in the inventory.
- Performance, Languages, Bugs and MORE! - 6 February 2026
First of all, let me say how happy I am at the recent support for Luminary. We've gained 2500 Wishlists in just the last two weeks, putting us over 23,500 and inching closer to 25k. We've never had this kind of momentum before, and we love and welcome all the new Luminaries! We are always working on improving our game, but some of that work isn't as flashy as a new ability or environment etc. But a lot of that unflashy work went into this patch. Subtle but important tweaks and additions that make the gameplay "feel" better. PerformanceThe First Important one is our engine upgrade and performance boost. You should see about a 15% boost in FPS, this is more noticeable on the High Graphics settings, and we will continue making optimization efforts for the lower end users. Solid Playability is important to usLocalizationWhile still in their Rough Draft phases as we work directly with our co…
- TIER 2 UNLOCKED! - 14 January 2026
Tier 2 Unlocked! Demo Update We are happy to announce the launch of a new Update for Luminary's Demo. In this update we did a few things, but the biggest is the addition of a Tier 2 Difficulty. Think of it like a New Game Plus, but things are a little different in Tier 2. Enemies are Stronger, more resilient, there's more of them, and they have a different look to them. You will also get more XP for killing them, so if you want to keep leveling your Luminary further, or want to power level a New Character from zero, Tier 2 is the best way to do that. Two other additions were small:Grass now fades out the closer it gets to cameraTransfer all now works on MKB even when not hovered over an Item Now if you haven't played our demo yet, This update plus lasts (Stats, Leveling and Weapon Abilities) update, now would be a great time to try out Luminary. And if you haven't yet PLEASE Leave us a…
- 20000 WISHLISTS - 22 December 2025
We actually hit 20k Wishlists a couple months ago when we released our demo, but it just dawned on me I never let you all on Steam know about it. OOPSI'm going to make sure I keep all of our Luminary followers more updated on Steam, since there are 3550 of you on here :) I can't Thank you all enough! Tell your friends, and together we can rid this world's darkness with light
- Luminary Demo 0.8.51 – Patch Notes - 22 December 2025
GameplayFixed player not respawning after falling off level.
