Steam News 11 December 20255mo ago

Crawl Tactics Final Official Release

Update log

Full Crawl Tactics update

The complete published notes, normalized for clean reading and source attribution.

Extracted changes

0 fixes2 additions3 changes0 removals

Gameplay
Compatibility
Balance

addedStartDevelopment of Crawl Tactics began in 2018. Influenced by the combat of Tactics Ogre and the roguelite progression of FTL, the aim was to create a game where each new battlefield offered fresh interactions and strategic combat. It followed a similar direction to my first game, SFD, but was intended to address the limitations and regrets I had with SFD. In particular, I wanted to implement verticality like in Tactics Ogre and improve the rough graphics.

changedNext fest Demo and BetaLooking back, the biggest mistake during development was implementing whatever I wanted without a clear direction. Because this was a solo project, development dragged on and the game grew overly complex. For example, verticality was difficult to implement in a 2D isometric view, leading to delays and bugs. Yet for players, verticality ended up interfering with trap usage and making maps feel inconvenient. It also obscured vision, causing confusion for many. During the first demo playtest, many said they found SFD more enjoyable. I also participated in Steam Next Fest, but the game lacked polish and failed to draw attention. Since you can only participate once, I missed a major promotional opportunity.

changedNext fest Demo and BetaOne memorable improvement afterward was receiving help from a pixel artist named Raseya, who worked on character pixel art. The quality was far better than my programmer art, but due to my strong personal direction and interference, we gradually drifted apart after the initial work. I want to express my gratitude and apology to Raseya.

addedOfficial ReleaseThe game officially launched at the end of 2022. Exhausted from the long development, I wanted to release it as soon as possible. However, the rushed release caused issues with quality, balance, and usability. Difficulty was also a problem; in trying to avoid making the game too easy, I made it overly difficult in ways that frustrated players. For example, since archers were too strong, I added an arrow-count mechanic to weaken them, but this only made archers hard to use and difficult to understand. Because of issues like these, the game’s reception was weaker than SFD, and sales were lower than expected. There was also friction with members of the Discord community, who disliked updates they felt were hostile to players. I even banned a user who ignored warnings, and my relationship with the person who had offered free German translation also deteriorated. Afterward, I realized the importance of feedback and made a genuine effort to listen and improve the game. I want to apologize again to Kampy.

changedv2The launch results were disappointing, and although I improved issues step by step through player feedback, the constant small fixes made me want to create larger changes. I did not want to abandon the game in an unfinished state, and although not many, there were players who supported the

The final major update of Crawl Tactics, the Crawl Tactics Final version, has finally been released. What allowed this once barely playable, unfinished game to reach this point was your advice and encouragement. Thank you for loving and supporting Crawl Tactics for such a long time. While there will be no further large content updates, I will continue to work on bug fixes, balancing, and quality-of-life improvements. If you enjoyed the game but have not yet left a review, please consider doing so, and help spread the word so that fans of turn-based tactics and rogue-likes can discover Crawl Tactics :D Since this is the final major update for Crawl Tactics, I wanted to look back on the journey of making it.

Start

Development of Crawl Tactics began in 2018. Influenced by the combat of Tactics Ogre and the roguelite progression of FTL, the aim was to create a game where each new battlefield offered fresh interactions and strategic combat. It followed a similar direction to my first game, SFD, but was intended to address the limitations and regrets I had with SFD. In particular, I wanted to implement verticality like in Tactics Ogre and improve the rough graphics.

Next fest Demo and Beta

Looking back, the biggest mistake during development was implementing whatever I wanted without a clear direction. Because this was a solo project, development dragged on and the game grew overly complex. For example, verticality was difficult to implement in a 2D isometric view, leading to delays and bugs. Yet for players, verticality ended up interfering with trap usage and making maps feel inconvenient. It also obscured vision, causing confusion for many. During the first demo playtest, many said they found SFD more enjoyable. I also participated in Steam Next Fest, but the game lacked polish and failed to draw attention. Since you can only participate once, I missed a major promotional opportunity.

One memorable improvement afterward was receiving help from a pixel artist named Raseya, who worked on character pixel art. The quality was far better than my programmer art, but due to my strong personal direction and interference, we gradually drifted apart after the initial work. I want to express my gratitude and apology to Raseya.

Official Release

The game officially launched at the end of 2022. Exhausted from the long development, I wanted to release it as soon as possible. However, the rushed release caused issues with quality, balance, and usability. Difficulty was also a problem; in trying to avoid making the game too easy, I made it overly difficult in ways that frustrated players. For example, since archers were too strong, I added an arrow-count mechanic to weaken them, but this only made archers hard to use and difficult to understand. Because of issues like these, the game’s reception was weaker than SFD, and sales were lower than expected. There was also friction with members of the Discord community, who disliked updates they felt were hostile to players. I even banned a user who ignored warnings, and my relationship with the person who had offered free German translation also deteriorated. Afterward, I realized the importance of feedback and made a genuine effort to listen and improve the game. I want to apologize again to Kampy.

v2

The launch results were disappointing, and although I improved issues step by step through player feedback, the constant small fixes made me want to create larger changes. I did not want to abandon the game in an unfinished state, and although not many, there were players who supported the

Source

Steam News / 11 December 2025

Open original