Hello, everybody!
It’s been two weeks since release and we are thrilled to have received feedback from so many of you through reviews, email, and social media! Thank you very much to everybody for trying out our game. That includes every player who bought SLOTMANIA through the steam store, every steam curator, every streamer, and anybody who has joined us since launch!
A major update for SLOTMANIA is in the works and will be ready soon! We’ve listened to your feedback and tried to make the game more fun, dynamic, and fitting for a desktop experience that’s supposed to keep you company while you work.
We’ll make a proper event post with a detailed changelog and you’ll find a TL;DR at the bottom of this post. In the meantime, let us present you with a preview with the upcoming changes:
First of all: a guide! Finally, an instruction manual! Following the advice of one of our reviewers, we’ve added a section to the in-game menu that will teach you what the buttons and indicators on the UI and the machine itself do. This also applies to the upgrade menus, so you know what each upgrade does. We really hope that this way, the game is clearer for players. Thank you very much for your feedback on this!
Following that, a graphical overhaul will be rolled out to the entirety of SLOTMANIA. The machine has had a facelift and the user interface has been revamped to better organize all the options, buttons, and little bits and bobs, include an actual options menu, make things clearer for the player, and make certain functions easier to find within the menus or straight-up visible. For instance, we noticed that, for certain players, the “dragging” function button was barely visible, so we’ve tried to make it actually visible. Thank you for pointing it out, Corex!
Gameplay-wise, the gameplay loop has been altered. You no longer need to buy spins to play; you can pull the lever as much as you want. In fact, the whole “spins” deal has been completely scrapped. You can now spin that baby as much as your heart desires!
Does anybody remember the diamonds? Upon scoring three of them, the player would go into “boost mode” for a set amount of spins. We’ve kept that mechanic and made it a bit more of a core mechanic. Now, every time you get your three diamonds, you’ll charge 25% of your “boost meter” . Once it’s filled up, the player will be able to press the “boost button” whenever they want to go into boost mode and try to get bigger prizes. If you upgrade your machine, maybe this mechanic will become even better!
The prizes will be added up in a pot and given to the player at the end of boost mode, which will last for a set, upgradable amount of spins. If you land even more diamonds while in boost mode, it will be extended, and you’ll be able to rack up even more coins before the pot is released.
Have we mentioned that the Dice symbol no longer gives the player spins, since spins are no longer a thing? Instead, dice only appear during boost mode, and if three dice are scored, the current pot is doubled!
Outside of boost mode, the player will be able to get a new symbol on their machine: the Advance symbol! Every time three “Advance” symbols are scored, an Advance is awarded to the player! An Advance allows the player to “advance” or “nudge” a single reel to the next symbol. For instance, if the player gets two sevens in a row and the third one is right above a symbol, the player can “lower” that seven to earn a jackpot by using an Advance. Earn lots of them in order to build up that pot while in boost mode! Upgrading your machine will improve this mechanic and make it more flexible!
If you’d rather leave the machine idling, it can now be done! After receiving many requests for this, we’ve added an “Auto Mode” to SLOTMANIA. If the player wants the machine to spin automatically, they only need to press the big button that says “AUTO”, and the machine will spin automatically after a set amount of time, which can be decreased through the upgrade system. This does not work in boost mode, though! One must earn those big prizes.
Don’t have the time to spin the machine right now? While the game is closed, the machine will generate coins at a set coin-time ratio, so the game can keep progressing even when you are not actively playing. The coin-time ratio can also be upgraded!
What to do with so much money from so much spinning? New upgrades, now called “Upgrade Cartridges”, have been introduced, such as increasing the amount of spins you can do while in Boost mode or decrease the time between automatic spins. Also, the upgrade that increases the prize multiplier is still there. We are mentioning only a few upgrades, stay tuned to see the full list!
Alongside the classic upgrade system, we’ve also introduced a new “Machine Upgrade” mechanic where you’ll be able to upgrade the machine itself in order to unlock new Upgrade Cartridges, increase your level cap to even higher levels, and upgrade certain aspects that are built into the machine itself, such as upgrading the Advance mechanic or increasing the prize of certain symbols that can't be upgraded in any other way.
Speaking of levels, the upgrade level cap has been greatly increased so players can upgrade away and get a chance at landing those big, juicy jackpots!
On the “internal” side of things, we’re proud to announce the following features:
· Multi-display support: Players will now be able to drag their desktop companion to whichever monitor they desire.
· New save system: Once the update releases, the save file for SLOTMANIA will be located in AppData\\LocalLow to avoid future problems regarding save states and make things cleaner and more proper.
· Steam Cloud support.
· Manual resizing: A button will be added to the new settings menu, allowing players to resize their machine.
· Optional sound toggle while minimized: Players will be able to make the machine silent while minimized. · Volume control buttons in the new settings menu, allowing players to adjust the game’s volume.
· Volume control buttons in the new settings menu, allowing players to adjust the game’s volume.
As with any major update, there are a few changes that may not sound great at first, but are ultimately for the best:
Certain achievements will be removed, since the mechanics tied to them will no longer be present. As a sign of apology and recognition to every player who’s been with us since the beginning, we’ll be giving all of you two small rewards that will distinguish you as founding players who helped us improve the game and hopefully make it more fun. More on those rewards soon!
And last but not least, a progress wipe will be performed upon updating. We really hope this does not upset our small but dedicated player base. As stated before, this is for the best. The update changes too many core systems for old save files to be safely migrated. If we did not perform a wipe, things would break badly. Very badly.
And here is where the rewards come in, because we really do appreciate those of you who were here from the start!
For all the players who have been playing SLOTMANIA since release, as a sign of apology and recognition, a “Founders’ Achievement” will be granted to all the players who played the first version of SLOTMANIA prior to this major update. Additionally, a “Founders’ Trophy” will be proudly displayed on your machine to distinguish every single one of you as one of our founding players: the ones who helped make this game better!
TL;DR: Major update with full UI and visual rework, in-game guide, unlimited spins, Auto Mode, coin generation while minimized, redesigned Boost Mode, new Advance mechanic, new upgrade systems, multi-display support, Steam Cloud support, manual resizing, improved audio options, founder rewards for launch players and a progress wipe due to major internal changes.
We would like to thank everybody once again for believing in LCTO Studio and continuing to support us through our first month after launch. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, suggestions, concerns, problems, or anything similar. You can always contact us at [email protected], and we’ll be more than happy to read your messages and answer your questions! Without any of you, this would not be possible.
The update will be dropping soon, and alongside it, we’ll be making another announcement with a full changelog of every change coming to SLOTMANIA.
Stay tuned, thank you very much, and have fun!