Sparks of Inspiration - Demo Update

We’re excited to release this gigantic update, featuring the newest hero, Boltrik, a rework of the dungeon loop that adds a lot more depth and meaningful choices to your run, as well as a host of visual, UX, UI, and other improvements listed below.

A huge thank you to all the playtesters and everyone trying out our demo. Your feedback has been invaluable! We're continuing work on the release version of the game, where you can expect new heroes, environments, enemies, events, story, and much more. We can't wait!

General

• Added a new hero: Boltrik, Keeper of Sparks (Support/Slayer). Boltrik is a goblin tinker who excels in producing mechanical summons animated by his unique magic, Sparks. His playstyle revolves around crafting and commanding summons, alternating between defensive drones and explosive automatons. Boltrik comes with 28 brand-new cards tailored to his summoning mechanics.
• Backpack: Store up to 8 items, allowing you to socket gems, or even sell gems when the time is right.

Dungeons

• New dungeon design and core loop:
  - Dungeons now consist of five days of encounters, with a boss on the sixth day.
  - Each day you face 3 encounters in any order you choose.
  - Your party starts their run with 3 Lumina Kindlings, which can be used to camp in place of any non-boss encounter. You can only camp once per day.
  - This new design allows for more forward planning, and a ton of fun new decisions to make.
  - This change is not compatible with previous save files. Any in-progress runs from earlier versions will not be playable, but all progress and unlocks will be preserved.

Gameplay

• Replaced the Panic mechanic with Resolve:
  - When a hero is downed, their cards are transmuted into Resolve until they are revived.
  - Resolve: When drawn, give ALL heroes 1 Armor.

Artifacts

• Boundless Bag can now only be found in the shop.
• Retrograde Hourglass reworked: Heroes start battle with 1 less mana.
• Gluttonous Goop now only clones cards up to a full hand.
• Lifestone: Max HP gain reduced from 5 to 3.
• Added Summoner's Band: Summon cards you gain are upgraded.
• Warrior's Band: Rarity changed from Uncommon to Rare.
• Pacifist's Band: Rarity changed from Uncommon to Rare.
• Enchanter's Band: Rarity changed from Uncommon to Rare.
• Gold Ingot can no longer be found in the shop.

Cards

• Lightning Spear: Damage decreased from 6 to 4.
• Empowered Arrow renamed to Empowered Shot and reworked:
  - Empowered Shot (X-cost): Deal 8 damage. Kaelin gains X Strength.
  - Empowered Shot+ (X-cost): Deal 8 damage. Kaelin gains X+1 Strength.
• Strapzix Bootkin: Cost reduced from 2 to 1.
• Strapzix Bootkin+: Cost reduced from 2 to 1.
• Sacrifice: HP loss reduced from 8 to 5.
• Sacrifice+: HP loss reduced from 5 to 3.
• Solar Conduit reworked:
  - Solar Conduit: Give 1 Mana. Draw 1 Card.
• Solstice: Cost reduced from 1 to 0.
• Solstice+: Cost reduced from 1 to 0.
• Calculated Chaos: Minimum damage increased from 8 to 12, and maximum damage increased from 12 to 16.
• Calculated Chaos+: Minimum damage increased from 12 to 14, and maximum damage increased from 15 to 18.
• Added new card for Flint:
  - One Two Punch: Deal 7 damage. Consume Flint’s Strategy to deal 7 damage to a random target.
  - One Two Punch+: Deal 10 damage. Consume Flint’s Strategy to deal 10 damage to a random target.
• Annihilation: Cost reduced from 3 to 2.
• Annihilation+: Cost reduced from 3 to 2. Area damage increased from 6 to 9. Instance damage decreased from 6 to 3.

Gems

• Amber reworked:
  - Amber: Add Retain keyword to a card.
• Added Zircon:
  - Zircon: Unblocked damage from a card with Zircon pierces through to the enemy behind the target.
• Aetherium is now Rare, and can be found outside of the shop.
• Crimsonite rarity has been changed to Uncommon from Rare.
• Emerald rarity has been changed to Uncommon from Common.
• Kafinium is now Rare, and can be found outside of the shop.
• Topaz can now only be found in the shop.

Events

• Harebrained Schemes can no longer give you a random artifact with negative effects.
• Duke It Out reworked with additional choices and rewards. The champion encounter is now optional.

Status Effects

• Aura of Strength removed for simplicity. All instances of Aura of Strength have been replaced with ALL heroes gain Strength.
• Dawn Form: Now adds Solar Conduit to draw pile, instead of hand.

UI/UX

• Reworked and improved several screens, including Party Select, Revive, Victory, and Loss screens.
• Overhauled the loot system. Loot is now collected directly within the battle scene after combat.
• Rewrote tooltips for clarity and fixed many missing tooltips. Most things should be accompanied by appropriate tooltips now.
• Made many improvements to artwork and sound effects for a more polished and cohesive experience.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where Retribution could gain damage due to Haldor taking status effect-based damage.
• Fixed a bug where Trick Shot being depleted due to Transient would cause its draw animation to not complete properly.
• Fixed a bug with Stormheart Shard not triggering due to taunt from Taurite gems.