Demo - update #8

An exciting update for the demo!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350900/Fogpiercer_Demo/

Previously saved runs will be wiped. Your permanent progression remains intact.

This is a one time thing only. We know it's not ideal, but it was the best we could do, given the context. We had to work out several issues with the run seeds system, due to this, there is a single time wipe of saved runs. When launching a run that previously had a save, the save will be wiped due to an incompatibility with the new system.

The fog

The fog is an important part of the game, sadly till this update, it wasn't all that in there. We've been thinking about how best to implement it and eventually settled on a global shader, that hides things further from the center, to give the illusion of the fog engulfing the train. It is far from realistic, but we're hoping the stylization is exactly what the game needed

UI updates!

Panels, colours, animations, there's a lot all around, but let me share my favourite, there's something super satisfying about it too:

look at those circles!

More encounter rewards

Chop shops provide more options, fights have a chance of having a random extra reward too, we've boosted the scraps economy a little bit as you can now enter fights that reward you with double scraps from destroying enemy bandits.

Random encounters got more stuff too! Whether it's a free carriage upgrade or increasing the max HP of one of your carriages, there will be some tough and interesting decisions to make in your runs!

All of the extra rewards and encounter modifiers have been rebalanced from the perspective of their probabilities for a better mix

Check out the changelog for a full list.

Card modifications

We made them make more sense! The system was a great start but we decided to push it further. Now there are many more conditions that decide what can happen where and the cards that come out of the new card modification system usually offer tempting alternatives if not outright upgrades!

Lastly we also added a small panel, that mentions the mods that were most recently added to the cards:

Changelog

With over 100 changes we've got new modules, cards, visuals, UI improvements, bug fixes, balancing, encounter modifiers and more.

Added

• Modded cards' names are followed by "+"

• The number of mods is represented by the number of "+"s

• Cards now visualise the modified elements by using colours

• Card modifications are now also visualised in card descriptions

  • Colour coded in the same way as other modifications

  • i.e. "Deal 2 damage", if previously 1

• New module: "Card fuel"

  • Whenever you exhaust a card, draw a card

• Card modification can now increase card rarity in situations where the card avoided getting a trade-off in conjunction with a strong effect

• Bogie exchange can be modified now

• Fog

  • Seriously

• New cards:

  • "DNA Flip" meta card: Discard either a red or blue card from hand. Draw a card of the other colour from the draw pile

  • "Secret choices" meta card: Exhaust a card then draw cards equal to its AP cost

  • Adjusted" Alternative fuel " meta cardDiscard a card, movement cost is decreased by its AP cost

• "Innate" card effect

  • Placed at the top of the draw pile at the beginning of a new fight

  • Can be put on cards through card mods

• Player messaging of what happens when cards couldn't be put on hand

  • They're added to the top of the draw pile (i.e. drawing a driver card with Diamond Hands active)

• New encounter mods:

  • Chop shop will now have either of these three:

    • Card remove

    • Card duplicate

    • Card transform

    • Each one has three uses and can be activated for scraps

  • Fights now have a chance of having additional:

    • Card mod reward

    • Card transform reward

    • Card remove reward

    • This means there's more planning you can do for your journey!

  • Fights have a chance of having "Double scraps" reward

    • Get 2x scraps per enemy destroyed

• Lamp props have been added to the chop shop visual

• Implemented mod-ability of Powerful and Hot Cask

  • You can make them stronger now through mods by changing their power!

• Better information labels for ranges:

  • "A full half of the pattern depending on grid side"

  • "Target range is all enemies"

  • "AOE range is a half of all available target range depending on grid side"

• Labels detailing mods currently applied to cards

• New random encounter rewards:

  • Upgrade a random carriage (at derailed train)

  • Grant +1 max HP to a random carriage (at workshop)

• New settings aiming at providing more control over the game's performance:

  • Visual effects (Low, Medium, High)

    • High is what the game's had till now

    • Low turns off mist, snow, and locomotive lightshaft

  • Shadows

    • This one already existed but wasn't properly applied

• Depot encounter modifier:

  • 100% chance of getting a card modification reward

• Credits screen in the main menu

  • Initial version; more credits (illustrations, code help, special mentions) will be added over time

Changed

• Renamed "card upgrades" to "card mods" / "card modification"

  • To better reflect the nature of the system

• A substantial update to the upgrade system -> card mods:

  • High chance of getting an effect-related modification

    • i.e. add burn

  • Low chance of getting a strong card-related modification

    • i.e. lower AP cost, higher card damage

    • Increases card rarity

  • Super low chance of getting both

    • Counts as two mods instead of one, super rare

  • Multiple conditions ensure most offers make sense; some mods offer tradeoffs, while some are clear upgrades

• Refactored the card effects' logic to make it more robust

• Renamed "Shield +" to "Emergency Shield" to avoid name collision with modded cards

• Improved UI communication of effects' properties (temporary, turns left)

• The following cards: [Sticky Bomb, Carpet Shot, Artillery Attack, Enemy Cannon, Enemy Minigun, Bolas, Shield Revenge] now support modification influences (damage, shield amount)

• Improved font support for 2D cards

• Ammo Scavenger:

  • Now reads: "Draw {CARD_POWER} minigun cards, one from the draw pile and the rest from the discard pile"

• Improved minigun SFX

• Improved card modification system checks

• Disabled enemy support units no longer trigger active skills when [Disabled]

• Improved visuals of the playtesting panel

• Highlighted cards in meta progression have a slight rotation to their appear animation

• Improved main menu visuals:

  • Optimized particle usage

  • Tweaked visuals to better align with gameplay lighting and colors

  • Slowed down movement

• Icon of train movement in UI updated

• "Diamond Hands" wording updated to match refactored system distinguishing hand draw size and max hand size

• Refactored buttons:

  • Number of uses and cost of uses should now be more robust

• Movement cell is visually stronger

• "Emergency Shield" now only has 1 copy in deck, since it's [Innate]

• Reworded the button at end-of-run screen to "Continue"

• Changed the visuals of encounter modifier visuals

Fixed

• Modified card effects are now correctly saved and loaded

• Improved wording of [Temporary] card effect

• [Hold] cards are no longer ignored when discarding your hand

• Settings' "Shadow" option now correctly adjusts main directional light

• "Mastermind" can be cancelled again

• If a card has a random AP effect, it no longer gets a modification of its AP

• "Emergency Repair" now works when the encounter was escaped

• Only increase card rarity under special conditions

• Pressing the locomotive button on the main screen no longer removes cards from your deck before the run begins

• Spiked hull check no longer crashes the game

• Seed strings now generate consistent maps

  • Note: current run saves may be broken due to this

• Tutorial train is now always the same

• Enemy overkill chain crashes fixed

  • Destroying an enemy that overkills another no longer causes crashes

• All reward states now correctly register as triggered

• All temporary effects are correctly removed at the end of a fight

• Temporary effects are now correctly flagged as temporary

• Harpoon no longer moves carriages

• Cards with unused card power no longer display that power (Damage/Shield) in UI

• Sticky Bomb's detonate correctly has [Hold] again

• Ammo Scavenger no longer draws all minigun cards

• Edge-case crash fixed:

  • Caused by an enemy destroying another that was queued to act later

• Sticky Bomb no longer remains on train units if the fight ends before detonation

The update is now live, we're off to making the game even better, cheers!