A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux

Buy Now$4.95 USD or more

Orb of Aeternum

A bite sized dungeon manager game that require
new strategies every time you play!


Evil humans are coming for the Orb of Aeternum and it is up to you to defend it.

  • Mine out the mountain looking for gold and ancient artefacts
  • Use ancient scrolls to build everything from lava pools to fighting pits
  • Locate the 4 runestones and seal away the orb for good

Made in PICO-8, Orb of Aeternum offers just the right combination of retro feeling with contemporary mechanics. Immerse yourself in crisp pixel art and crisp chiptune music

Features

  • Short and action packed sessions requiring new strategies every time
  • Mine your way through the randomly generated mountain
  • Build specialised rooms to upgrade your units and dungeon
  • Fight the never ending intruders
  • Crisp pixel art and sweet chiptune music

Some of the rooms available to build

  • Fighting pit - train your brutes to become even more powerful
  • Workshop - allows placement of deadly spike traps
  • Stone gazer - see further into the mountain's cold hard stone
  • Blood altar - convert your miners to fearless warriors
  • and many more to to discover


Credits

Design/Art/Code: Johan Peitz (@johanpeitz)
Music/Sound: Brent Houston (@VAVMUSICMAGIC)

Stay in touch

  • Join for free on Patreon for devlogs and behind the scenes!
  • Sign up for my newsletter to get the latest info first!
  • Follow me on twitter/X or Mastodon for daily updates!
  • Join our discord and hang out with other fans!   

Steam keys

Get a key to unlock the game on Steam with every purchase!

Updated 17 days ago
Published 29 days ago
StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux
Rating
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
(9 total ratings)
AuthorJohan Peitz
GenreStrategy, Adventure, Simulation
Made withAseprite, PICO-8
TagsDungeon Crawler, Management, PICO-8, Pixel Art, Retro, Tactical, Top-Down
Average sessionA few minutes
LanguagesEnglish
InputsMouse
AccessibilitySubtitles

Purchase

Buy Now$4.95 USD or more

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $4.95 USD. Your purchase comes with a Steam key. You will get access to the following files:

Orb of Aeternum 1.1 (Windows) 1,012 kB
Orb of Aeternum 1.1 (Mac) 3 MB
Orb of Aeternum 1.1 (Linux) 771 kB

Development log

Comments

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10/10 for artwork, sfx / music, replayability and fun factor :]

Just grab a copy, I'm sure you'lI dig this game!

#PunIntended

Thank you so much! :D

very cool for pico8, ive been playing on steam and for some reason at certain points the game will just lag like crazy, and then be ok. its usually after ive got lots of units and cauldrons around the place and bigger waves are coming. but then it just clears up and runs fine again. not sure what the cause might be.

there’s some prof issues that I will be addressing in an upcoming patch

Pretty nice job guys, and Happy Bday @johanpeitz! Gameplay takes a bit to master, with minions not beeing so “autonomous” as in original DK series. Will put some time on the game to really enjoy it (just had a quick couple of runs so far).

Great Music @VAVMUSICMAGIC (as always…), but I am quite sure you know what I would say about it ;) Not dark enough!

thanks - and glad to hear you enjoyed it !

Are there more monsters or more enemies planned for this game?

Like dragons, mages, thieves? Or having enemy AI that retreats when getting injured, which accumulates the threat of the next wave?

I’m looking to do at least a bug fix/QoL update. There is not much room to fit in big changes like the ones you suggest, but maybe I can squeeze in a new room and a new unit. 

Also, I want to keep the game sessions short and frantic so I don’t want to add anything that might prolong them 

(1 edit)

This game is fun when its short and frantic, but so far the builds are pretty the same since the enemy component is the same all the time.
I suggest more variables to increase replayability? For example, at every playthrough, the types of enemies appear and don't appear are always different.  Same goes to rooms,  sometimes you get different monster rooms instead of lizard room.

thanks for the feedback! Will see if it possible to add something like this in a patch 

(2 edits)

How did you manage all this unique art? I attempted a "larger scaled" game like this with my Alex Kidd Pico 8 de-make, and even trying to come up with a level storage format that re-used level sequences to "compress" the level, I still hit every graphical, code, storage and even sound limit there is to hit (I had to reduce the music to use arpeggio chords to save "tracks" for other songs and sounds).  Just looking at the gifs and screenshots on your page here, I really wonder what techniques you used...

Hey, suberb! Pico 8 files included? Thanks

(+1)

Thank you so much!
Aiming to add the pico8 files once I know there aren't any major bugs left :D

Great, many thanks! 

(+2)

It is astounding the lengths you go through to make stunning games on the Pico-8. Much love.

(+1)

Thanks - much appreciated!