Patch 0.2.0 is now live and available for testing. The core highlight of this set is the release of twenty (20) new pieces, five per element set, now available for play. In addition to new normal and ultimate pieces, players will now have the ability to test the new Signature pieces in the Full game mode.
Before getting into the long list of changes for this update, a few notes regarding current versus future plans for some systems and changes to the development cycle and process.
Development Cycle / Update Cadence
The exhaustive and overwhelming heft of the Set Completion Update has been significant and it has delayed updates for an entirely unreasonable amount of time. This kind of delay is not something that was intended but it became a constant "kick the can" situation while pursuing feature releases.
To correct this and ensure that some update gets out on a timely basis, updates are scheduled to be released on the 15th of the month every other month, with intermittent hotfix patches in-between.
This update was slightly delayed for 2 reasons:
A bug which was preventing signature pieces from being spawned in PvP matches.
The main game server needed to be entirely refreshed and reconfigured. This was a one-time process and should mean future updates are significantly faster.
A "back-burner" task is to finalize the automation process for the deployment of the client and server. Currently client building is fairly well automated with only minimal manual intervention needed for pushing to the default branch. Server deployment is in need of some work but is continuing to improve now that a private test environment has been established.
Moving forward, expect some form of update on a bi-monthly basis, roughly on the 15th of:
June -> August -> October -> December -> February -> April
Matchmaking
The current release includes a breakout by piece availability (Core, Extended, Full play sets). Players who are in one tier are ineligible to queue into players in other tiers. The reason for the separated queues was to isolate pieces, namely signature, such that players without a signature piece would not be facing a player with one. My intention is that new systems will replace this temporary restriction when/if signature pieces are made baseline. Previously it was intended to be a progression towards unlocking signature pieces however this idea has been set aside for the time being. There are a few alternative routes I want to consider exploring before committing to.
As of the release of this update, matchmaking set records and ELO calculations are disabled. These features are expected to be turned back on prior to the August update.
Feedback
One (slightly undocumented) feature in the update is the addition of a Feedback menu. By pressing (F1) in game, a feedback form will be submitted which includes a variety of categories. The only requirement is a minimum of 15 characters. Feedback collected this way is stored anonymously and not shared.
Patch Notes
With that out of the way, below is a list of changes in the game. Many of the updates were excluded as they are exclusively server runtime related and focus more on how matches and game logic are handled.
General Updates
Added 5 new pieces per element:
Fire: Everburning Sapling; Unstable Spark; Magmasage Vathyra; Ot, the Everburning
Water: Drop of Living Water; Primal Spirit: Hswartaai; Tidesage Oseptes; Cyy, Water Incarnate
Wind: Zephy Zontanemos; Polarized Twister; Kumogolem; Samal, the Sky's Rage
Earth: Eye of Abjar; Guardian of Raktaluka; Sandsage Muki; Kir of the Red Sand
Piece selection is now performed on the Play menu screen.
Piece selection is now locked while queued for match.
Piece selection process has been streamlined. Instead of selecting a piece and clicking a button to select / deselect it, simply left or right click on a piece to select or deselect it respectively.
The Computer opponent has been lobotomized. Currently, it is making entirely random moves. Once set records and ELO tracking is implemented, computer matches will operate on independent values. There are plans to introduce player-influenced difficulty scaling to a newly redesigned AI opponent in an upcoming game mode for PvE.
Replays have been temporarily disabled.
There is a known issue with trying to reconnect to a PvP match after disconnecting. This will be addressed in an update either with or before the August update.
Matchmaking
Matchmaking is now split into tiers:
Core - The original 5 pieces which constitutes the minimum pieces for play.
Extended - An additional set of 5 pieces to be used with the core set.
Full - Adds the new Signature piece type.
Matchmaking ELO ranges are now available. These limit the skill range gap between you and your opponents.
Matchmaking brackets are baseline implemented but not fully enabled. These brackets will, in the future, be tied to specific competitive leagues for PvP matches.
Gameplay
Added a Piece Status menu to show statuses of selected pieces on the board.
The Player Status menu is under work and should be released with or before the August update.
Pieces which fortify are now affected by the status Fatigue_Fortify, preventing them from using their fortify effect again.
Fire
Wildfire
Capture: Spawn a Kindling 2-3 tiles away randomly. This effect can capture enemy pieces.
Water
The "Flow" effect has been reworked. The new effect activation criteria is dependent on the type of flow effect:
Full: The player spends mana while at max mana.
New: The player spends all their remaining mana.
Eclipse: The player takes a piece action which costs no mana.
Surge
Advance Flow: Nearby friendly pieces go dormant for 2 turns. For each, claim two tiles nearby randomly.
Undertow
Flow (Full): If this piece is near an enemy piece and a non-exhausted friendly piece, destroy the enemy piece and claim 2 nearby tiles. Exhaust the allied piece for 1 turn. This piece goes dormant for 2 turns.
Wrath of the Drowned
Fortify: Awaken all nearby friendly pieces. Consumes 1 effect counter to refund 1 mana. This piece can fortify for the cost of 1 counter instead of mana.
Shimmering Tide
Advance: If this piece claims a tile, refund the mana cost of moving.
OnPlay: This piece costs no mana to move if it will claim a tile only if it can move otherwise.
Hold Flow: This piece's move size is increased by 1 next turn for its next move.
Wind
Previously, Upending Torrent and Supercell were not working as intended. Instead of the previous behavior of claiming only tiles near the pieces, they now correctly claim tiles inside their respective ranges.
Earth
Reworded the text for Living Stone for clarity.
Moving forward, patch notes will likely be more detailed as the majority of work done in this update was back-end server runtime changes. These changes were extremely time consuming however with the foundation set, a number of game play, reward and progression, and personalization updates are ready to be developed on.
Please feel free to provide any and all feedback in order to help improve the next release on August 15th.