Build 75, Ironing Out the Basics

Hi comrades,

I'm releasing a big gameplay patch! I focused on the things that seemed to be confusing or not thought through in the initial version, and on improving the feels overall. This patch is about polishing the basics, so there's no new content here, but please do stay tuned for more adventures! Now, without delaying any further, here's the changelog, adorned with my commentary:

Duel Flow

• Significantly reduced how much time was wasted on animations and camera moves during a duel

• Increased opponent's manipulation speed

• Opponent now starts moving their magic units before the "Opponent's Turn" announcement disappears

• You can now start moving your magic units before the "Fay's Turn" announcement disappears

• Added a slight camera shake on spell impact

I've heard feedback that duels feel "dragged out", and I agree. In this case, I've fallen into a trap of having a developer cheat at my disposal. I'm always speeding up time when playtesting, and so I didn't realize how much downtime there is between your turns. I tuned the duel flow to have way less of it, and the gameplay feels smoother and better as a result.

Semantics

• "Spells" (the boxes with magic elements in them, like Fire or Ice) are now "Magic Units"

• "Spells" (the actual damage your sorceress deals) are now "The Spell", which you construct during your turn

• "Cast Spells" button is now "End Turn". Sometimes it's time to be immersive, and sometimes it's time to be straightforward

• The rectangle boxes in the bottom-left that used to show damage (for example, "6 shock") are now replaced by magical orbs, 1 for each point of damage. This is mostly a visual change, but it feels better to see just how much damage you managed to get from that Wires Department in one turn. They also appear above the department that produced them.

• Sorcerers now shoot as many fireballs as there are damage points in the spell. It looks extra-powerful to send your sorceress a lot of damage!

There's been some confusion on my end about what exactly a spell is, and it confused the players as well. With these changes, it's clearer to what exactly the phrase "Doubles your magic unit" relates. And if you are not sure what Doubles means, wait until you hear about...

Explainers

• Department popup now features explainers for mentioned mechanics, such as Doubled or Cursed

• Explainers are also featured in calibration screen, in engine popup, and in effect popup

• Effect popup has been reworked to present information more clearly. There're also a few new icons for effects

It's unbelievable I've launched a card game without a mechanics explainer in the interface. I've actually found a few old mockups which did feature explainers, but those were never implemented. Well, better late than never!

Interface

• Popups are now locked in place, and won't follow your cursor after appearing. They also have a subtle "slide in" animation

• Department popup now informs you that department is resting until your next turn (after you've already dropped a magic unit to it)

• Department popup is now more clear about the fact that you have to drop either one or the other type of magic unit into department, not both

• Polished how department popup reacts to dropping a magic unit into department

• Polished engine popup looks

Gameplay

• Doubled magic units have been reworked with new animation and logic. Now, the game splits your Doubled magic unit into two basic ones, and applies them one after another.

• Some departments won't use up quirks anymore, including Improbability Department, Tax Avoider and The Vault. This means that if you drop a Doubled Shock into the Improbability Department, you'll get a Doubled Ice back, not two basic Ices.

• Rewritten Tsar Cannon reaction to clear up confusion about its mechanics

• Changed Revolution Engine passive effect: now Moves your Tsar Cannon to the most right at the start of the duel

• Fixed: if you restore a Tsar Cannon, and use it again, the first reaction might drop to 1 damage

• Fixed: spell queue might overlap with Return button when you are about to overdrive an engine

Hopefully, all these changes make the game more enjoyable to play for the old players, and more welcoming to the new ones. I’m terribly glad to have the release date pressure off me, because now I can go into my favorite mode: obsessing over details. Thank you all for supporting this game, and I’ll see you soon! (perhaps in my Discord to discuss the changes?)