Demo Update

Thanks to everyone who spent the time to share their feedback on the demo!
After going through all your comments and survey entries, I’ve decided to update the demo with a focus on 2 major points: lowering frustration from RNG and improving clarity for new players.

The updated demo is now available! Here is a breakdown of the included changes:

RNG & Variance

One of the recurring points in player feedback has been that the game can be quite punishing in case of bad RNG. I want the game to be a fun balance between skill and luck of the draw, so I’m making a few changes that will give players more tools to work around unfavorable RNG:

• Lowered the variance in tile distribution significantly. This will prevent the same tile type from occurring more than 3 times in a row (no more 7 roads back to back). The amount of tiles for each category remains the same however.
• Added a fixed schedule for random events (example: Black Market will now always occur at waves 10 & 25, bonus cards at waves 2, 8, 12, etc.). There will still be RNG within many of these events, but keeping a more rigid structure will allow players to be more strategic with upcoming waves and events. This is especially useful for the Black Market (see balance changes below)
• Increased the number of bonus cards drawn from 2 to 3
• Added a new card type: Relics. Game changing bonus cards have been transformed into relics which will become available at specific points in the game (think Slay the Spire boss rewards). Before this change, many of these cards didn’t allow for interesting decisions as they were often immediate picks.
  Relics have the power to completely change the way a run is played, and can help the player make comeback even late into the game. Reservoir is a new relic added with the update.
• Added a few more tiles, bonus cards, and relics to the core set with a focus to help mitigate RNG
  Both the factory and market square are reliable ways to get that missing piece you might need

Balance Changes

General

• The starting isle for the founders guild is now slightly bigger
• Founders now start each run with 1 bridge and 1 bomb
• Range benefit for arrow towers and cannon towers on high ground has been increased
• Black Market now always presents the same 4 choices. Combined with its fixed placement in the event timeline, this change will make the Black Market much more reliable and useful.

Enemies

• Raiders now take 50% less damage when carrying their shield. The shield breaks after taking 3 hits.
• Fanatics cannot spawn before wave 12
• Enemy spawn numbers have been adjusted to account for the all other balance chances

Tiles

• Small flag is now called pointy flag, has increased range to accommodate its name change
• Quarry is now common (gray) and reads: Destroy adjacent tiles and gain 1 gold for each destroyed tile
• Cannon towers are easier to obtain but a bit less powerful. Previously, much of a run’s success was dependent on getting a cannon tower early on.
• Sniper towers now always target the enemy the with most health

Bonus Cards

• Moving Currents now reads: Randomly spawn a fishing hut
• Pruning was replaced with Cadastre
• Provisions now gives 2 tile refreshes instead of 3
• Duplicates should appear much less often when drawing bonus cards

Fixes & Improvements

New Player Experience/Tutorials

• Added an information button to both upcoming cards that leads to the tile information popup
• Bridges and Bombs count can now be interacted with to get more information on these ressources
• Made the abandon isle button red
• Added another page to tutorials that explains the tile movement after each wave
• Changed the way treasure chest rewards are displayed since they could be easily missed
• Clarified wording for tiles that need to be surrounded
• Clarified that only 1 trap can be active per path tile
• Improved UX when tile placement is not allowed. Hitting the (?) button now shows a contextual error message.

Other

• Made currently held/upcoming tiles visible during random events (when pressing the eye button)
• Added a new icon for bonus cards in the event timeline, the star is now used for relics
• Reworked cannon tower graphics as it was confusingly similar to the arrow tower (left: before, right: after)
• Reworded a few cards & descriptions to be more clear
• Fixed a bug that prevented points from being awarded for skipping bonus cards
• Fixed an issue where the screen resolution selection was displayed improperly
• Attempted to fix an issue on Windows that leads to distorted sounds while playing
• Fixed a few of other small issues

Huge thanks to everyone who has played the demo and submitted feedback so far. Don’t hesitate to fill out the in-game survey again if you have any comments on these new changes.

Thanks,
Dan