Hey everyone!
This update took a bit longer than expected to get live, but here we are! Let's run down the list of changes:
New Features
Added pillarbox/letterbox support for non 16:9 aspect ratios. New resolutions added to settings
Bug/General Fixes
Fixed a typo in the English language description for Nihil Rune
Fixed a visual glitch for the Japanese Localization title in credits
Auto-provided steam usernames for the profile feature will be truncated to 13 characters
Demonic Dice descriptions have been updated for improved clarity
Fixed an issue for Volt Tackle where it was behaving unexpectedly when given Repeat
Fixed a bug with Gift of Warmth+ where you would only get Flame Resist if the dice face used had a rune
Fixed a bug where Pain Transfer and Pain Protects were calculating their damage and barrier incorrectly
Fixed a bug where the Force achievement would not unlock if the damage ended the fight. Edited the description to clarify that only unblocked damage is counted
Fixed a bug that prevented Additive Rune from being unlocked
Build Rune text updated to correctly show the amount of permanent damage added to the spell
Fixed a bug where some unit abilities wouldn't reset their countdowns when used with Innate Rune
Attempted Fixes
These are fix attempts for machines where I can't test the outcome of the fix. Sorry if they didn't work, and let me know so I can try something else!
Attempted a fix for color issues on some Mac displays.
Attempted a fix for Steam Auto-Cloud for Mac and Linux devices (including Steam Deck)
Balance Changes
General
Spells that gain Permanent Might or Fortitude are no longer affected by effects that improve status effect gain
Enemies
The Prove Worth unit ability for the final boss, Avatar of the Soul, can now be activated any number of times. Every time the ability is activated, the countdown cost of the unit ability will increase by 5.
[Dev's note: There are a few reasons for this change. This gave the Innate Rune an outsized importance as a general pickup, especially for some builds. This on its own isn't necessarily an issue for my design goals for this game, but I did feel that it also created a bad dichotomy where if you did have a consistent Innate Rune, the fight was somewhat trivialized and if you didn't have the rune, the fight could be overly difficult for some build styles. I think this change will help with both, as it gives access to the ability consistently, but as you continue to use it, the ability becomes more difficult to use and relying on it becomes more costly.]
Dice Runes / Bodies
Immortal Rune - Max HP gain: 5 > 6
Vampire Rune - HP gain: 1x unblocked damage > 2x unblocked damage
Crystallize Rune - Ethereal dice made on activation: 1 > 2
Greed Dice Body - Gold gain: 150 > 165
Gaiamancer
Fertilize - Charge count: Charge 2 > Charge 1
Fertilize - Might or Fortitude gain: 1 > 2
Fertilize - Consume count: No limit > Consume 2
Mycelium - Dice cost: Exact 1 & Max 2 > Max 2 & Max 2
Tectonic Lash - Dice cost: Any & Min 5 > Any & Min 4
[Dev's note: As the demo character, Gaiamancer is already fairly well balanced. I wouldn't generally expect to see a ton of changes to this character.]
Pyromancer
Become Heat - Self-burn requirement: 20 > 16
Blackflame Seed - Charge count: No limit > Charge 2
Blackflame Sproutling - Charge count: Charge 2 > Charge 1
Blackflame Sproutling - Consume count: No limit > Consume 1
Burgeoning Blackflame - Blackflame infliction: 6 > 4
Doomseed - Consume count: No limit > Consume 1
Graft Blackflame - Consume count: No limit > Consume 2
Pain Lash - Damage: 11 > 12
Pain Protects - Barrier per stack: 5 > 6
Pain Transfer - Damage per stack: 6 > 7
Pain Wall - Barrier: 8 > 9
Scatter Blackflame - Blackflame infliction: 2 > 1
Scatter Blackflame - Charge count: No limit > Charge 1
Scorch can now target any unit, including the player
Share pain - Dice cost: Countdown 11 > Countdown 9
Solid Flame - Dice cost: Min 6 & Exact 9 > Min 6 & Min 8
Vengeance - Damage: 30 > 23
Vengeance - 15 self-damage clause if not used now self-inflicts 3 burn instead.
[Dev's Note: Blackflame is a very powerful status that gives you inevitability in a fight. The idea is that in exchange for this inevitability, it's slow to take hold and you need to find a way to scale it quickly or survive until it can do it on its own. At the current moment, scaling Blackflame is too easy, so Blackflame spells generally have received quite heavy nerfs. Hopefully this will reduce some of the over-reliance on Blackflame and encourage players to explore Pyromancer's other strategies. Many of Pyromancer's self-burn spells have received slight buffs with that in mind.]
Thaumancer
Thaumancer's Condense Clouds unit ability now grants 7 Storm instead of 5
Thaumancer's Condense Clouds+ unit ability now grants 10 Storm and Cloud Seeding instead of 7
Bitter Cold - Charge count: Charge 3 > Charge 2
Bitter Cold - Dice cost: Exact 2 > Max 2
Energy Field - Dice cost: Countdown 10 > Countdown 9
Energy Pulse - Dice cost: Countdown 12 > Countdown 10
Frozen Aether - Charge count: Charge 5 > Charge 3
Frozen Aether - Effect change: Now gains 3 Might if you have 15 or more Frost Barrier
Gust of Wind - Charge count: Charge 3 > Charge 2
Gust of Wind - Dice cost: Exact 5 > Min 5
Mistform - Storm required to trigger Impenetrable: 30 > 25
Overdrive Bolt - Effect change: Overdrive Bolt will now deplete spell charges used to deal damage
Snow Pile - Frost Barrier: 7 > 6
Snow Pile - Effect change: Now gains 1 Cloud Seeding
Snow Plating - Charge count: No limit > Charge 4
Snow Plating - Effect change: Now gains 2 Fortitude if you have 12 or more Frost Barrier
Static - Dice cost: Countdown 8 > Countdown 7
Strike Twice - Spell Flow: 4-12 > 5-12
Tumultuous Weather - Charge count: Charge 3 > Charge 4
Wall of Blizzard - Charge count: Charge 2 > Charge 1
Wall of Blizzard - Effect change: Now inflicts a Weak on each enemy
Wall of Blizzard - Rarity change: Uncommon > Common
Winter's Boon - Frost Barrier: 30 > 25
Winter's Boon - Effect change: Now gains 1 Hexproof
Winter's Boon - Rarity change: Common > Uncommon
[Dev's Note: Oooooooh boy. Let's talk about Thaumancer. I'm going to just say up front, the core design of the character will not be changing. When I was coming up with the character designs, I wanted to make sure each character played very differently to each other. I think I achieved this! And each character is unlocked in order of complexity.
Gaiamancer's general theme is growth. Gaiamancer gains dice that stick around during combat, and has the most consistent access to persistent buffs that stack over time. Gaiamancer is also the most straightforward to play.
Pyromancer's theme is explosiveness and consumption. The ethereal dice subtheme gives Pyromancer access to explosive turns, and many of Pyromancer's spells put the player at risk in some way without proper planning. Pyromancer's complexity is a bit higher than Gaiamancer.
Thaumancer was designed as a tactical resource management and engine-building class. I wanted a class without consistent access to additional dice to really put emphasis on the importance of your dice buildout and ways to consistently access the most powerful faces of your dice. So Thaumancer was built with the most dice manipulation of all the characters via rerolling. Storm was build from this design decision. Because of the way the character's base spells utilize Storm, playing Thaumancer is the most demanding in terms of tactics, as the order you cast your spells and which dice you use are individually important decisions. I think this creates a very interesting character with a very dynamic playstyle. This playstyle is very different from the other two main characters, and is definitely the most complex.
The other aspect of Thaumancer's design is resource management. Storm and Frost Barrier (along with a Spell Charge subtheme) act as resources for the player to accrue and use during their turn. In exchange for these resources, Thaumancer has access to some very powerful spells! You do need to build that engine though. With this in mind, I did make a few changes to help newer players ease into the Frost Barrier spells, as well as improve Thaumancer's early game survivability. Also, Overdrive Bolt was far too powerful, causing newer players to lean on it as a crutch. It has been nerfed appropriately.]
What's Next
I will continue to monitor the analytics after these changes and continue to make bug fixes and balance patches as appropriate. I also have a planned content update! I will be adding Challenge Modes to the game! No date set in stone for that release, but I'll keep you posted!
-Thomas, PolyGryph