Releasing the demo was wild! We have a playtest version of the game that you can get on our discord, that's a version of the game where we push updates first, and only then do they make it into the demo.
We've been busy improving the game from the get go, at first pushing daily updates, and afterwards (once things stabilized, and critical issues were fixed) moved on to weekly updates.
This update article looks at what's been happening behind the closed doors, although they're pretty open, our discord is a place where you can chat with us any time!
Enough preface, let's dive right into it!
Youtube videos
We've been super fortunate, and people have created youtube content playing Fogpiercer. To all of you, but also to our Discord community, we owe a massive thanks!
The videos and feedback we're receiving are a source of inspiration and data, helping us make Fogpiercer into an even better game. Here's a couple of those!
https://youtu.be/3iAVF2ozeR8?si=h8N9Dkr-bRLMRPEE
https://youtu.be/hP1dtB_iWSI?si=sDxmQ9pQHN6fYXq5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPOEnlLhpGM
Speedrunning
Never thought this was going to happen, honestly. In terms of spotaneous combustion theories, this is pretty close. If you visit youtube you can find numerous videos from our speedrunners already, and in addition to that there's an official Speedrun.com page for Fogpiercer Demo now as well!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubhymOBZgiE
Fogpiercer Demo on Speedrun.com
Changelog
The changelog is fairly extensive, but also shows just how much we've done since launching the demo, if you want a more detailed look into the changelog, feel free to visit our discord (and the #Changelog channel).
Most notable of these changes is going to be the rework of the tutorial system. We've noticed that few players come to grasp the coolest strategies of the game, and we've aimed at making them more obvious right from the get go, in the tutorial!
Added
- different colour for enemy turn intent that has an effect
- this also adds a colour setting under the accessibility tab
- i.e. Lojzo's carriage disable attack
unit side panel can now be turned off by pressing a grid cell that does not have a unita couple of missing translation strings that were still hardcoded"Magenta" colour to accessibility settingsit was just purple, but then it started looking a little different 😅"Speedrun Statistics" which appear in the pause menutime of the run (excluding game pauses and initial screen)number of turns takenloading screenalso a setting for auto accepting the end state of the loading screenthis implements asynchronous loadingnew shortcuts!Z/C move the train back and forwardF to end turn / F to chooseM to toggle the mapnumber of copies of a card in the Unit Side Panelnumber of player turns taken in the "Run Over" screenWeighted random when modules are being offered to the playerEach boss will now have a station right after itStronger buggies have burn resistCannon heavy has stun resisttop panel for train overview now also has buttons as shortcuts for moving the traintop panel for train overview shows an icon when a carriage can be upgraded in a stationsteam wishlist and "Discussions" links to the top right corner in the main menu and pause menureturning back to a station from the map view is now possiblewarning label to the "main menu" return option in the pause menu that warns the player of losing run progressability to change animation speeda lower default for 3D scaling on the steam deckoverall number of activated modules in the modules screenoverall number of activated cards in the cards screenchop shop cards now also show the number of copies that will be added to the deckDemo / Playtest windows now have their correct respective namesMalfunction does not trigger if disabledanimation speed also influences the slow-mo amountsave slots!minigun to the main menu!"missions" systemat the moment only used in the tutorial, we'll expand on it in the futureenemy waves?setting to turn off shadowsChanged
- improved the settings popup
- added a super quick animation when it's turned on and off
further tweaks of fight progression for the first part of the map, mainly focusing on probabilitiesweighted random of enemy kinds and support unit chancestweaked probabilities of enemies in the second map fightsmalfunction cards now wait for env hazards to resolveenemy turn now waits for malfunction cards to resolveGame Over screen uses the game scene loading as the rest of the game (the async loader)Player XP amounts got lowered, enjoy slightly faster levelling!Modules in Tier 1 are unlocked by default for new playerscan be disabledCards in Tier 1 are unlocked by default for new playercan be disabledMeta progression Modules and Cards got a face-liftChop shop - shop UI got a face lift too!station bonuses no longer overlay shop UIAnimation speed has been changed to having 5 pre-set optionsSLOWEST, SLOW, NORMAL, FAST, FASTESTFight Backthe enemy that destroyed the carriage, is insta-killedSilver Tongue30% discount!Shield CarriageShield Trick1x in deckPanzer DomeCost Up + AP Cost 1Shield Revengenew pattern and AP Cost 1Sheild Siphonthe same but +1 shieldArtillery CarriageIron Rain - Exhaustcard text and effect positioncamera animation when leaving the map is fastershop items leave an empty border when boughtunavailable shop items (no more modules/cards) are visualisedrevamped visual stylestronger colours, some may need tweaking, let us know!- lots of colours changes all around, we'll be iterating
train travel speed is BACK!though with saner limits"Money" -> "Scraps"reworded most cards and modules, to ensure a same style of writingHand Throwdiscard hand, draw as many cards as were discardedThe title below the game's logo now aligns with the version of the game (Playtest, Demo)Loading screen has a game logo progress texture instead of Coal Pusher illustrationand it always reaches 100% now too!hide AP cost and number of copies of cards that are lockedredesigned the enemy list panel on the right of the screentrees and rocks no longer float above the groundimproved visuals of stationsTutorial redesignedImproved performance by selectively casting shadows only where necessaryChanged the icon on negative module of Extra Move CostThe player gets free scraps in the tutorial to ensure that upgrades and a new carriage can be boughtFixed
- Right Mouse Button (RMB) no longer shows intent details and it's also used to cancel an active card
- Station UI not appearing when it should if the player is in map preview when entering a station
- Underlying system for bonuses, this fixes the "Mirage Mystery" module and prevent similar issues in the future
- Final damage that destroys a carriage not being registered in run stats
- Choosing a module after a "Module Van" fight before all modules have initialised, no longer crashes the game
- multiples of the same module can no longer appear
- visual of the unit position didn't always correctly update
- pressing enter when choosing upgrade cards no longer breaks UI / crashes the game
- a better fix is incoming! we need to add the ability for cards to be focused
one cannot endlessly reroll modules anymoreupgrading a carriage and picking a card no longer crashes the gamemap can only be toggled using the M shortcut when it's available, preventing a softlockhitting enter after choosing a reward no longer triggers it againcard arrow line should no longer be "red"previously used malfunction cards are no longer hiddena missing card in the chop shop when the player no longer has any rare/epics availablegrid annotations render over cards no more!max health card wordingdefault unit movement speed is back to its original valueinstant cards can no longer be spam activatedbrake and move forward sounds were flippedchoppy particles have been tweaked, likely an engine errortranslations for new effectsgrid annotations only turn on when set so in the settingsall default modules now turn on properlypreview map no longer has a button to return to the station (broke things)audio low-health is now correctly reset even when Malfunction is in hand when the fight endsStation should now always be spawned at a correct location, so regardless of the train and animation speed the train will stop at the right placeMalfunction can now be always removedColours now get initialised properlycorrect info text for spikespause menu now renders above everything else at all timesstations no longer randomly spawn as propsThat's it for this update! The build is now live, let us know what you thought of the changes, cheers!
