v0.43 is already here, sooner than usually updates are rolled out. This is due to implementing only one, big feature this time: meta progression! However, even though this patch took less time to roll out, it's very important: finally people have a bit more reason to start new runs. Let's begin! (And keep in mind that lots of new art are just placeholders)
As always: join my Discord server to share your thoughts and receive instant access to the playtest! ;)
You can now browse all cards, burdens and relics in the game through a Collection dialog. Cards can be filtered, letting you easily look at e.g. all the forest cards. Meanwhile relics and burdens also received the "inspect feature", though right now it just simply shows its icon and description on a bigger scale. (more to come!) However, your collection is obviously not fully collected at first!
Most collectibles start out "undiscovered", meaning that their effect is hidden until you meet them for the first time during a run. Undiscovered items are introduced to you gradually, resulting in a better learning experience and flow. On the other hand, some cards and relics are initially locked: even their portraits are hidden! These collectibles cannot be found during a run till you unlock them at the end of a session through... well, through playing. Right now all the population you achieve progress an "unlock bar", it's that simple. However, in the future all unlocks will have some challenge attached to them, which you must complete to unlock those particular cards or relics. (E.g. complete an island without failing a demand.)
To show your discoveries, unlock progression and just unlocked collectibles... there is now a proper post-game screen! After finishing or abandoning a run, it shows your run's details (though it's pretty minimal right now, more statistics to come!), newly unlocked cards and relics, and of course your final score compared to your high score. If you abandon your run from the main menu, you are not forced through the post-game screen to save you some time. However, if you unlocked something with this abandoned run, an exclamation mark appears besides the Collection Button and you can check them out!
Shops now offer only 3 relics, but also offer either a card removal or card upgrade service (with increasing cost after each usage)
The new game and continue buttons in the main menu were merged into a Play button, which opens a "tri-button panel". It lets you abandon or continue your existing run in its first row, and lets you look at the leaderboard at the bottom. If there is no active run, the first row becomes a giant new game button. ^^
Mana is no longer clamped: you can go above the maximum via e.g. cards (Consistent with how other card games handle it.)
Tutorial messages have a nicer, hand-made character art (Thanks Theo!)
Various fixes
As always, a huge thanks for your continued support and feedback! In fact giving meta-progression a higher priority was due to one of your suggestions: I was working on the wonder/boss islands feature, when I decided to put it on the shelf for now and implement collections instead. :) If you'd like to share your thoughts on these changes or report any issues, join my Discord server! (and of course I'll grant you instant access to the playtest! ;) )
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the update! :) Tibor a.k.a. Tudvari a.k.a. Portgate Studios