Most of this patch came from watching new players try the game. Special thanks to Tim for a pile of feedback.
1,500 recorded battles told us exactly where new players struggle. Here's everything, properly listed:
[ NEW PLAYER EXPERIENCE ]
- Added a welcome screen on first launch — a short intro with HOW TO PLAY and TO WAR buttons. The full manual no longer auto-opens.
- Rebuilt HOW TO PLAY as a six-tab handbook: The Run, Gold, Feed, Backpack, Combat, Tips.
- Added diagrams: feeding a unit into the same unit (= one whole level) and item adjacency combos are now shown as pictures.
- The feed tip now states that same-unit feeding grants a full level.
- Fixed: the stronghold tip now clears after buying ANY building. It previously ignored Barracks purchases.
- Coach tips now remain available through round 7 (was 5), so a skipped lesson is never lost.
[ PERFORMANCE ]
- The game now boots in seconds. The art catalog previously loaded before the first frame — up to tens of seconds of frozen window on slower drives, sometimes showing as "not responding".
- Added a loading splash screen at launch.
- The game window now comes to the foreground on its own when launched from Steam.
- Fixed 171 sound effects decompressing on the main thread during startup.
[ MISC ]
- Added an optional in-game cursor (Settings → Custom cursor, off by default).
- Fixed: title-screen toys no longer trigger from the click that refocuses the window or exits a run.
- Fixed: bench seats earned from muster overflow now free up again when emptied.
The demo is free — and thanks to everyone who wishlists. It helps more than you'd think.
More from Warpack Demo
Other announcements
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