Rune Dice Demo Update 🎲

A hero’s work is never done!We are excited to share that we have released a new update to the demo!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3542380/Rune_Dice/

Read on to see what has been added.

Version 0.9.12

🌟 MAJOR NEW FEATURES 🌟

New Content

• New Class - Warrior: Master a brand new playstyle with unique Warrior dice and class-specific relics!
• New Boss - Blight Druid: Face off against this challenging new boss encounter

Meta-Progression System

• Unlock system added! Progress now carries between runs - unlock heroes, relics, runes, shop slots, and rune activation slots as you play.
• Class Leveling (Levels 1-7): Level up each class to unlock improved starting dice sets (levels 2-6) and gain a powerful relic at level 7.
• Quest tracking: New popup after each run shows your newly unlocked content and progress toward future unlocks.

New Altar Node

• Risk/Reward dice enhancement: Visit Altar nodes to upgrade or duplicate your dice.
• Stack the odds: Improve success chances by paying with coins, health, or sacrificing another die.

New Tutorial

• Revamped tutorial system: Complete tutorial redesign to help new players learn the game mechanics more effectively.

Quality of Life Improvements

• Better map generation: Cleaner paths with fewer road intersections make navigation easier.
• Hard Mode expanded: 3 additional battle rows between the second mini-boss and final boss for more balanced difficulty.
• Jester gets own node: Jester encounters now have dedicated nodes for better clarity.
• Mimics in chests: Mimics now appear in chest nodes (with some probability) - more thematic!
• Improved tooltips: Dice tooltips repositioned so they don't cover the battlefield.
• Quick navigation: New quickmap button and game speed controls added to navigation screen.
• Smarter pricing: Selling dice and runes now returns 50% of purchase price (instead of flat 5 gold).
• Cheaper shop rerolls: Shop reroll cost reduced from 5 to 4 gold.

⚔️ GAMEPLAY CHANGES ⚔️

Combat Mechanics

• Refined dice physics: Slightly increased dice jump height (3 → 3.5) and push force (40 → 45) for more dynamic merges.
• Damage type overhaul: Clear distinction between Physical, Direct Magical, and Indirect Magical damage.
• Boss crowd control update: Control effects now apply to bosses but don't prevent movement - more relics and strategies are viable!
• More accurate attack tracking: Hero attack counter reworked for precise calculations.

Dice Changes

• Healing Die is now universal: Moved from Mage-exclusive to base category - all classes can use it!
• New Mage die - Arcane Die: 50% chance to deal additional damage equal to die value OR 50% chance to heal the hero for die value - high risk, high reward!
• Freeze Die rework: Complete redesign with new distribution system and damage-over-time effect.
• Backstab Die adjustment: Now deals 1.5x die value (rounded up) instead of previous damage.
• Critical Die removed: Streamlined dice pool for better game balance.

Relics and Runes

• 6 new runes added to expand tactical options.
• New Mage relics: Sun Shard and Moon Shard expand Mage strategic options.
• Healing Momentum rework: Updated mechanics and description.
• Class relics updated: Relics adapted to reflect dice changes.

Balance Changes

• Goblin Rider: HP reduced (40 → 30).
• Spider boss (Hard Mode): Web Traps increased (2 → 4) for tougher challenge.
• Rewards rebalanced: Adjusted heal amounts, max HP gains, and drop chances across the board.
• Rune pricing: All rune prices adjusted for better economy.
• Life Rune: Heal reduced (15 → 8) for balance.

New Enemy Mechanics

• Enemy Shield Die: Enemies can now generate protective shields
• Enemy Poison Die: Watch out for poison damage from enemy dice!

🎨 VISUAL & AUDIO ENHANCEMENTS 🎨

Atmosphere

• Animated battle backgrounds: Battles feel more alive with dynamic backgrounds.
• New ambient sounds: Immersive background audio for different areas.
• Expanded soundtrack: New music for boss battles, new track for mini-boss encounters, fresh music for tavern, map screen, and location selection.
• Custom damage font: New custom font for damage numbers improves visual clarity

UI Improvements

• Redesigned victory/defeat screens: Beautiful new artwork + display of quests closest to completion.
• Hard Mode indicators: A separate icon on location selection shows Hard Mode completion status.
• Back button: Added to tavern screen for easier navigation.
• Tavern trophies: Defeated bosses appear as decorative trophies in the tavern.
• Updated sprites: Visual improvements for Goblin Alchemist, Goblin Rider, and various relics (Dice Factory, Reset Bounty).

🔧 TECHNICAL IMPROVEMENTS 🔧

• Better button placement: "Continue" and "Exit" buttons swapped in pause menu for more intuitive flow
• Clearer effect descriptions: Updated all relic and effect text to properly explain damage types and interactions
• Controller/Keyboard improvements: Fixed master dice aim and rune movement speed - no longer dependent on game speed and FPS for consistent controls
• Shuffle rune bug fix: Fixed issue with Shuffle rune and spider web interaction
• Steam Input fix attempt: Another attempt to resolve Steam Input controller bug

⚠️ Important Note ⚠️Unfortunately, we have had to reduce the number of languages available in the new demo. We apologize for any inconvenience and disappointment this causes, and we hope to expand the language support in the future.

If you have been enjoying the demo, we’d love to hear your feedback in our Discord channel!

Follow us on our social media accounts @runedicegame for more updates!