- Emberward 1.0 Is Out Now!! - 17 September 2026
It's Finally Done!I still remember the first day I opened up this new tower defense project. I thought to myself...this is my first indie game, so I should keep the scope under control and try to finish it in a few months. A year at most!And, well...somehow it’s been almost 4 years now 😆.Thank you so much for supporting the game throughout Early Access!Especially those of you who have been here since the very first demo. When I first started making the game, I never imagined there would be such a big group of players willing to help test it, recommend it everywhere, and give me so many suggestions for improving the game with every update. Hundreds of Youtubers and streamers also introduced the game to even more people. Every one of you played a part in making Emberward what it is today, and I really appreciate all the help. I’ve heard plenty of players talk about Early Access games the…
- Emberward 1.0 Coming September 17! - 2 September 2026
Yup, it's decided. The 1.0 update is coming on September 17!And... um......Yeah, actually, that's all I need to say here. I've got TONS of stuff that needs to be finished in the next two weeks, so I'll keep this short and get back to work. 😆By the way, the 1.0 version is currently in the testing phase. If you're interested in helping out with testing, feel free to join the Discord server to get access to the playtest branch. Of course, you may run into all kinds of issues during testing, so if you just want to enjoy the new region and other content, I'd recommend waiting until 1.0 officially launches. Two weeks will go by really fast!That's all. See you all at the 1.0 launch!- Refi
- Pricing Changes! - 9 July 2026
Hi everyone!Although we just talked about what's coming in 1.0 recently, it didn't really hit me until I started writing this announcement. Emberward's Early Access is really almost over! I've been trying really hard to get everything done lately...I'm even dreaming about designing new levels. Hopefully I can wrap up 1.0 soon so I can get back to working on the more fun stuff, like new towers and relics 😆(If you missed what's coming in 1.0, you can check out the previous post!)Because of Steam's rules, after a game's price is changed, there's a one-month cooldown before it can go on sale. So I need to update the price to the full release price a little ahead of the update to make sure there can be a launch discount when 1.0 comes out.So, Emberward's price will change from $14.99 USD to $19.99 USD on July 15! Regions with regional pricing will be adjusted accordingly as well.And since t…
- Dev Chat: What's Coming In 1.0? - 14 June 2026
It's been almost 2 months since the last update!Recently I've been seeing more and more people ask when the next update is coming. (Someone even emailed me asking if I was sick) So I guess it's time to talk about what's coming in the 1.0 launch!When Early Access first started, my plan was pretty simple: just steadily finish all 4 regions, make all the towers and relics I had planned, fix the bugs, and the game should be ready for 1.0! Surely that would only take about a year...right? But once I actually started working on it, I realized things were completely different from what I had imagined. Players often suggested ideas or gave feedback to improve the game, and I'd also keep thinking of things I wanted to add myself. In the end, a whole bunch of things that I had never originally planned ended up being added to the game 😆. Endless Mode was originally going to be much simpler. Infer…
- Game Update! (v0.4.12) - 16 April 2026
New update!Another month just flew by!In this patch, there are some big changes to Endless Mode. Previously, Endless Mode had random anomaly effects to ramp up the difficulty, so you had to adjust your strategy, towers, and relics around them. But from player feedback, a lot of people mentioned that those restrictive effects didn't feel great to play with. So this time I decided to try a different direction (...the exact opposite direction) and added powerful positive effects instead! Honestly, I think having both positive and negative effects could lead to more interesting strategy, but I wanted to hear your thoughts on a buffs-only version first. Let me know what you think after you try it!After this update, I've decided to start focusing on 1.0! I've already been slowly working toward it over the past few months, but trying to keep regular updates going while also building all the fe…
- Game Update! (v0.4.11) - 9 March 2026
New Update!Not sure if you noticed, but this week is Steam's Tower Defense Fest! The event is meant to help people discover more tower defense games, but it got me thinking... if it's a tower defense fest, maybe I could make something that fits the tower defense theme?Then I remembered something I've seen quite a few times in the feedback form. Many players said that after playing Emberward, it reminded them of the old days playing WC3 or SC2 custom games. For a lot of people, that was their introduction to tower defense games (yeah, same for me). And since the last update added the Fort Tower, I thought...why not take this chance to revisit that style a bit?In the new event map, you won't use any blocks to build your maze. Instead, we're going back to the classic approach - using Fort Towers to change the monsters' path. You'll also get 7 additional 2×2 towers, and you can use the Fort…
- Game Update! (v0.4.10) - 12 February 2026
New Update!Finally!! The feature that's been stressing me out the most is done!This update…I'd say about 90% of the time went into controller support. Since Emberward's demo launch, a lot of players have been asking about it. But if every time I add something new I also have to make sure controller support works perfectly, it would make development way more time-consuming and harder to iterate on quickly. So I decided to wait until we're closer to 1.0 and handle it all at once.Which means…after two years of stacking up hundreds of UI elements and game objects, it basically turned into development hell 💀. But I'm really happy I was able to keep my promise and add it to the game! This is my first time implementing full controller support. I've looked at how a bunch of other games handle it, but I'm sure there are still things I missed or weird edge cases I didn't think of. So if you try…
- Game Update! (v0.4.9) - 18 December 2025
New Update!2025 is almost over! ☃️ I was reading through some old patch notes yesterday and suddenly realized that around this time last year…I hadn't even started working on Sealed Citadel yet!? This whole year has felt like it flew by, but looking back at the logs, it's actually been pretty packed. All of a sudden, we've got the Sealed Citadel, Infernal Shards, a bunch of new characters, towers, relics, and tons of stuff that wasn't even in the original plan. So really, thank you all for the support and feedback throughout the year! Thanks to so many of you playing and supporting the game, I've been able to keep expanding Emberward. (Sometimes I feel I'm working on a live service game 😆)With the holidays coming up, I made an extra new event map for this update. Like the Misty Graveyard, this one is also a themed Endless Mode map with its own mechanic! On top of that, I kept filling i…
- Game Update! (v0.4.8) - 15 November 2025
New Update!So…this update ended up being nothing like what I originally planned! °∀°I've always felt that Emberward has one big issue that's really hard to solve: whether you play Roguelite Mode or Endless Mode, a full run takes a loooong time to finish. But TD games are naturally time-consuming, and when you add maze-building on top of that, the thinking time makes the game even longer. It's kind of a built-in limitation of the genre, so it's very difficult to find a fix for it.But a few days after the last update, Youtube randomly showed me a video about chess endgame puzzles (…I don't even play chess, no idea why it showed up but it was interesting). And it made me think: Is there a way to create a faster game mode using a puzzle-like structure?So I spent some time messing around with the idea, and it ended up being pretty fun and felt like it had a lot of potential! That's why I dec…
- Game Update! (v0.4.7) - 17 October 2025
New Update!Another step towards 1.0! This update fixes several issues I've been wanting to solve for a long time.After finishing the achievement system, most of the major planned features are done. But since the game's been in development for over two years now (!!), some of the early designs don't quite fit anymore as things have evolved. So this update, besides adding more new stuff, also focuses on reworking those parts to better suit the current state of the game. I've finished the last normal character, made some pretty big changes to how flame works, and added a bunch of new relics!By the way, a lot of players have been asking lately why more languages haven't been added yet. There are still a ton of adjustments happening (as you can see from this update…) each patch. If I add new languages now, every small tweak would mean re-translating, re-importing, adjusting the layout, and p…
- Game Update! (v0.4.6) - 11 September 2025
New Update!FINALLY the achievements are out!This patch was a ton of work, and I’m so happy it's finally done! Getting the achievement system finished feels like a huge step toward 1.0. Right now the game has 85 achievements. Aside from the ones you unlock just by progressing, I also added some that take a little creative thinking to figure out, plus a few ideas that came from players during Early Access. My goal with achievements is more about "encouraging players to do some weird stuff" rather than making them insanely hard (the most difficult one is likely the Infernal Shard 24 achievement). Kinda like extra challenges layered on top of the game.Also, there are a few new towers added in this update! I used to be very cautious about towers that move enemies. Since maze-building is the core of the game, mechanics like that can easily break the balance. This time I'm trying something new…
- Game Update! (v0.4.5) - 31 July 2025
New Update!This patch adds Daily and Weekly Challenges to Endless Mode!Recently, I've been thinking a lot about what the "final form" of Emberward should look like. I've played a ton of fun tower defense games in the past. They were super fun, but once I finished them, I often didn't feel like going back. I always wished there was something that kept pulling me back in with new challenges. That's the idea behind the new Daily and Weekly Challenges in this update!These challenges use maps from the regular roguelite mode, but with added twists and modifiers. Sometimes you'll get a ton of relics to play with, sometimes the elements are limited, or you might be handed a specific tower/relic combo and have to figure out how to make it work. The goal is to give you something new and interesting every time you launch the game! I'll keep tweaking this mode based on your feedback (maybe even a v…
- Game Update! (v0.4.4) - 25 June 2025
Surprise Update!!Not sure if anyone noticed, but today marks the one-year anniversary of Emberward's Early Access!(I was so naive to think I could finish the game in one year...Emberward is now at least three times bigger than I originally planned.)This past year has been insanely busy and exhausting, but also a lot of fun! I've had the chance to meet players from all over the world, learned a ton of things I never expected to deal with, and…released a bunch of bugs. Honestly, I wouldn't have made it this far without everyone's support. Thank you all for playing the game, allowing me to work on it full-time!Also, a huge thank you to all the players, Youtubers, and streamers who helped spread the word about the game! There's no way I could've reached so many people on my own (and please continue to recommend the game to your friends! I really need the help 😭). And I really appreciate ev…
- Game Update! (v0.4.3) - 13 June 2025
New Update!I thought this update would be easier to make, but it turned out to be a tough one!Designing the tier 3 Infernal Shards fried a lot of my brain cells, but I'm pretty happy with the result. I tried to come up with a system that isn't too harsh, but still provides an extra challenge. If you're into tough challenges, give it a try and let me know what you think! (Shard level 24 is...really hard)Also, some new Poison towers were added in this update, so now the five elements each have about the same number of towers. As for the Poison-element relics, since they were created early in development, I plan to adjust their effects in the future to better fit the current state of the game.(I guess some of you are going to ask, so I'll answer now: yes, there will be more towers added in the future!)After this update, I'll be spending more time on other features like Endless Mode, the ac…
- Game Update! (v0.4.2) - 8 May 2025
https://i.imgur.com/pnKz9Cc.gif New Update! This update introduces the highest difficulty system in the game - Infernal Shards. Since I need lots of feedback to figure out what's the expected difficulty for hardcore players, please let me know what you think after trying it out! The first two tiers are available in this patch, and the third tier will be available in the next patch. Originally, I planned to add more poison towers in this patch, but working on the Infernal Shard system took up most of my time, so the new towers will be postponed to a later update. Instead, I used the spare time to make several new relics. Some of them are quite different from the previous ones! As for the April Fools Event character - Joker (honestly, I was surprised so many people liked it!), it will remain in the game and will be labeled as an "Event Character". Since the fun of this character lies in i…
- Game Update! (v0.4.1) - 1 April 2025
New Update! Since I was a student, I loved seeing all the weird and fun events games would hold on April Fools' Day. Now that I have my own game, it feels like I have to add something special on this day! This update introduces a few more new towers, a limited-time April Fools' character, and a mode that randomly mixes maps from four different regions. As it's an April Fools' event, the new character is designed...differently compared to others. It might feel a bit luck-based or unbalanced, but...it's April Fools'! It’s the perfect time to add something that wouldn't normally make it into the game. (If you've been in the Discord for over a year, you might have already guessed what it is :P) The current plan is to remove this character in the next update (around early to mid-May), or to leave it in the game and flag it as a special event character if people really like it (Since it's not…
- Game Update! (v0.4.0 - Sealed Citadel) - 4 March 2025
https://i.imgur.com/LfpQ1dt.gif UPDATE TIME!! This is the patch that took the longest time to develop since the early access launched. The past two months have truly been...a development nightmare. But now, it's finally ready! (And I can go back to making more towers!) As usual, the fourth area comes with unique new mechanics, a new Boss fight, and new unlockable flames. Since it’s currently the last planned area, the design focus this time has returned to what really matters in tower defense games: resource management. Figuring out how to make the most of your gold, blocks, and towers, while fending off attacks and achieving other objectives, will be the key to conquering the new maps! For the next few updates, I’ll be adding more towers and relics, as well as finishing up the remaining characters. Originally, I planned to work on the highest difficulty mode next, but I’d like to see h…
- Dev Chat: 4th Region Preview - 11 February 2025
Hey everyone! As mentioned last time, I’m currently working on the 4th region. The development has been quite smooth (except I scrapped a main mechanic that took me 2 weeks to make and start over...), but it feels weird not posting anything for this long. So here’s a quick dev update to show what you can expect in the next patch! The next patch will introduce the 4th region, which includes several new mechanics, enemies, a boss fight, and a new flame you’ll unlock after clearing it. Right now, I’m aiming to finish it by the end of February. But since the new mechanic is a bit more complex this time, I’ll release it on the beta branch for a few days first to test things out. If everything goes smoothly, I’ll roll out the official update! As for the new mechanics in the 4th region... (If you don’t want spoilers, you might want to stop reading here!) (Honestly, I think it’s more fun to go…
- Game Update! (v0.3.5) - 19 December 2024
New update!! As mentioned last time, this update is focused on revisiting older features and includes some suggestions from the community. When I started making Emberward, most of the relics and characters were designed with simpler abilities, which made them feel much weaker compared to the newer additions. This patch focuses on reworking characters and maps. I've listed the changes below and explained why they are changed! After this update, I plan to start working on the fourth area (…😱). Since a full new area involves designing monsters abilities, mechanics, maps, and the final boss level, it'll take significantly more time than regular updates. Plus, with real-life events like the holidays and Lunar New Year coming up, I guess the next update might take until mid to late February. I know some players get anxious when they don't see updates in Early Access games, so I just want to…
- Game Update! (v0.3.4) - 13 November 2024
https://i.imgur.com/Xp0g3tZ.gif New update!! This update introduces another new character, new towers, and lots of changes! The new character, Tana, offers a more relaxed gameplay experience, and with a strategic use of towers and cards, she might be the strongest character yet! The three new towers...were much more complex to make than the others, but I really like how they turned out. (especially the tank :P) Try them out and let me know what you think! Also, thank you all for playing the Misty Graveyard! (I really didn't expect it to turn into an idle game...) I've got so much valuable feedback, and found lots of things that need to be adjusted for endless mode. I tried to make these changes with minimal impact on the normal mode, mainly to make the game more challenging without taking so much time. Give it another try if you're interested! In the next update, I plan to revisit and r…
