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Rivals & Gameplay

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Description

RIVALS OF AETHER is an indie fighting game set in a world where warring civilizations summon the power of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Choose a Rival to bring into the battlefield and manipulate the powers of the classical elements and animal movement. Praised for its competitive gameplay and intensive training tools, Rivals of Aether is the perfect entry to the Platform Fighter genre.

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Features

• Choose VERSUS MODE to duke it out in competitive 1v1 or 2v2 fights, or jump into a free-for-all.
• Play STORY MODE to learn the backstory behind each rival and begin to uncover the hidden mysteries of Aether.
• Dive into ABYSS MODE to see how many waves of shadowy fighters you can defeat and reach the leaderboards alone or with a friend. Customize your Abyss Mode builds and challenge your friends in ABYSS VERSUS.
• Take your skills online in ONLINE VERSUS ! Play against your friends or test your skills in RANKED MODE to climb the leaderboard.
• Study TUTORIAL MODE to hone your skills from beginner to advanced lessons. Or boot up PRACTICE MODE to get your hands on all the frame data and hitbox visualizations.

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History

Dan Fornace

Dan Fornace started out as an independent developer while in college, releasing Super Smash Land as a free fangame in 2011. To date, Super Smash Land has been downloaded over 500,000 times. After college, he was hired by Microsoft Studios and worked as a Game Designer on their XBLA and Digital Design teams. He worked as a Design Consultant on Trials Evolution, Mark of the Ninja, Joe Danger 2: The Movie, Dust: An Elysian Tail and Ori and the Blind Forest. In 2012, he was appointed the Lead Designer on the Microsoft Studios side of Killer Instinct: Season 1. He worked closely with Double Helix and helped design and program the Dojo Training Mode. In April of 2014, he left Microsoft Studios in order to start his latest independent game, RIVALS OF AETHER.

RIVALS OF AETHER

Dan Fornace and flashygoodness began development on RIVALS OF AETHER in April of 2014. That July, the project was announced to the public along with revealing the first two characters: Zetterburn – The Fire’s Roar, and Orcane – The Puddle Jumper. In August 2014, it was revealed that RIVALS OF AETHER would be coming to the Xbox One as part of the ID@Xbox Program. That winter, the character roster was expanded with two additions: Wrastor – The Wind’s Fury, and Kragg – Earth’s Bastion. Work on the game broadened in 2015 as the full development team came into place and core features like online play were added. Two additional characters (Forsburn – The Exiled Flame and Maypul – The Sylvan Watcher) were added as RIVALS OF AETHER was greenlit after only 5 days on Steam Greenlight. Absa – The Storm Architect joined the cast shortly after that. In March 2016, the final character of the original roster was revealed: Etalus – The Glacier’s Might. That summer RIVALS OF AETHER became available on the Xbox One Game Preview program. In September 2016 the Rivals Championship Series, a competitive online circuit run through smash.gg, was announced. In January 2017 at Genesis 4 the official PC launch date of March 28th, 2017 was finally revealed.

Selected Quotes

• "Dan is a great designer, and you can see it and feel it in every frame of Rivals. It’s amazing."
  - Chris Charla, Director of ID@Xbox
• "Great movement options, a crazy combo game and a supportive development team make Rivals of Aether a platform fighter you do not want to miss out on."
  - Sam Foxall, Shoryuken
• "The reason I stopped playing Smash."
  - Keyori, Twitch/YouTube Content Creator

Monetization Permission

Dan Fornace allows for the contents of Rivals of Aether to be published through video broadcasting services for any commercial or non-commercial purposes. Monetization of videos created containing assets from Rivals of Aether is legally & explicitly allowed by Dan Fornace. This permission can be found in writing at https://rivalsofaether.com/press.