Whereas the last patch sought to introduce more subtle ways to grant strength to players through meaningful choices, this patch aims to deliver new, powerful options to players by reworking the powers available in the game. Power selection has a history of being either extremely over-tuned (ie: Sprint) or underwhelming  in terms of offering interesting interactions with other players and elements of the board.

To tackle this problem, all powers have been replaced with new powers that offer not only more powerful options but more counter-play for the opponents you use them on. Additionally, the addition of these powers allows for elaborate combos with items, squares, and battle to enable entirely different methods of play! Experiment with these new tools and find exciting ways to manipulate them to your benefit.

To ensure game stability, this patch will be rolled out slowly over the course of its launch week.

POWERS:

The old powers you knew have all been replaced. No worries though, among the new options are more powerful options that enable conditional strength based on how well you position on the board, and how well your opponents play around it.

But first..

I’M SPECIAL – All powers can now be “Specialized” at halftime, granting the power bonus effects based on the specialization chosen.

CHARGING UP – All powers now require energy to use. Upon activating a power, a player may now choose how much energy to invest into activating their power: the more energy spent, the stronger the power’s effect.

And finally, onto the new lineup of powers!

DASH

Allows you to move your pawn up to 2-14 spaces forward, dealing damage to any other players in your path. This does not activate the square’s effect you land on by default.

ENERGY BONUS – Dash range is increased by 1 square per energy spent (Max 14). Damage is increased by 2 for each point of energy spent.

CHOICE 1 — STICKY FINGERS: You also steal 15 AP from anyone you dash through.

CHOICE 2 — GRACEFUL LANDING: If you don’t collide with another player, you activate the effect of the square you land on.

LULLABY

Reduces the energy of nearby enemies by 3. If they become exhausted by this ability, they fall asleep, causing them to miss a turn.

ENERGY BONUS – The range of this ability is increased by 1 square for every 2 points of energy spent.

CHOICE 1 — NIGHTMARES: When your targets wake up, they become haunted for 1 turn.

CHOICE 2 — CRESCENDO: Base range of the ability is increased by 2 squares.

NETHER GRIP

Pull a target enemy to your current location. For each square the target is displaced, they take 2 damage.

ENERGY BONUS – This ability has a constant 6-energy cost.

CHOICE 1 — SIPHONING GRIP: You also heal for 50% of the damage your target takes.

CHOICE 2 — SHAKE-DOWN: Your target pays 1 AP to the pot for each square you move them.

CURSE

Deals damage to an enemy target every turn for the next 3 turns.

ENERGY BONUS – Damage dealt is increased by 3 per turn for each point of energy spent. (Total damage dealt is increased by 9 per point of energy spent).

CHOICE 1 — DEATH-WISH: On Curse’s last tick, the target takes an additional 10% of their max health as bonus damage.

CHOICE 2 — OCCULT AFFINITY: Curse now deals triple damage to a target per turn if the target is haunted.

POLYMORPH

Turns a target player into a harmless sheep for 1 turn. Polymorphed targets are untargetable, but cannot activate their power or battle other players.

ENERGY BONUS – Polymorph duration increased by 1 turn for every 8 energy spent.

CHOICE 1 — SHEPHERD: While a target is polymorphed, 20% of any AP they gain is also transferred to you.

CHOICE 2 — SLEEP SHEEP: Casting polymorph on an exhausted enemy will refund half its energy cost.

ARCANOPULSE

Deals damage to any players within 4 squares of you.

ENERGY BONUS – Damage dealt is increased by 6 per point of energy consumed.

CHOICE 1 — MEGAPULSE: If two or more targets are in range when cast, Arcanopulse does 50% more damage.

CHOICE 2 — DISTOPULSE: Range of Arcanopulse is doubled. (8 square range).

BATTLE:

POWER FOR ENERGY – If a player is exhausted, their power attacks only deal 50% additional bonus damage instead of 100%.

NO DRAIN – Light attacks no longer steal energy from your opponent, and instead only restore 1 energy per blue combo marker.

BOARD:

ZONING ORDINANCE – Board zones will now be at least 5 squares long when generated.

HIGH ROLLER – AP Per roll increased from (10+Game Round+ Game Players) to (20 +Game Round + Game Players).

HEX SQUARE

There are some changes to Hex Squares to make them more punishing to all players who land on them– with rolling becoming more predictable and accessible as a mechanic, the penalty for poor rolls will increase with this update.

NOT REALLY A HEX – Hex Squares no longer have a chance to switch a player’s position with an opponent.

….BUT THIS IS – Hex Square damage increased from 25 damage to 33% of a player’s max health as damage.

…AND THIS – When landed on, Hex Squares now have a chance to apply a debuff to the target player, causing them to lose 50% of their attack and defense for 2 turns.

…HEX MARK – After landing on a Hex Square, a player becomes Hex Marked for 2 turns. If the player lands on a Hex Square again while Hex Marked, they will miss a turn.

EVERYONE HAS TO DIE- The Green Zone healing bonus is now halved when in combat. Additionally, the zone bonus is not doubled after halftime if a battle is going on.

ITEMS

Two new items enter the game, designed to provide options to players who aren’t quite ready for battle in the early game; the new Underdog line of items should help players who are behind stand up to their more powerful counterparts. 

NEW – Underdog Shield

Combat Item

Cost: 70 AP

:: Grants +3 defense. When fighting players with a higher defense score than you, this item’s defense bonus is doubled.

NEW – Underdog Mace

Combat Item

Cost: 80 AP

:: Grants +3 attack. When fighting players with a higher attack score than you, this item’s attack bonus is doubled.

CHEAPER – Alien Shield

• Cost reduced to 155 AP. (From 180).

BUFFED – Odnamro’s Greatsword

• Crit chance increased from 25% to 40%.
• Now grants +9 attack (up from 8).

BUFFED – Gladiator’s Stronghelm

• Cooldown reduced to 2 rounds (from 3).

REMOVED – Mr. C’s Headphones

BUG FIXES:

• Fixed an issue where item tooltips would display too long.
• Fixed an issue where restarting the game from the end-of-game screen could cause the next game to crash.
• Fixed an issue which could cause de-syncs if the game client was minimized.

Following the Progression update, this one is about empowering the player with more innate strength to increase AP gains over time. At the same time, this patch delivers on more unique mechanics to give the player more interesting ways to think about board movement and adjust their strategy to compensate.

Changes, please!

BOARD:

NEW – BOARD ZONES

One of the biggest changes this patch is the addition of specific zones on the board. 

The board is now divided into 4 zones which are color coded. Several squares on the board make up a zone, and while the player’s pawn is in a given zone, they receive different benefits.

RED ZONE – While in this zone, the player gains +1 attack, +1 defense, and +5% crit chance.

BLUE ZONE – While in this zone, AP gains are increased by 15%.

GREEN ZONE – While in this zone, all healing effects (including regeneration) are increased by 100%.

YELLOW ZONE – While in this zone, item cooldowns are reduced by 1 round and all items in the shop are discounted by 10%.

HALFTIME BONUS – After halftime, all zone bonuses are doubled.

GENERAL:

REMOVED – STARTING ITEMS

First up on big changes are the removal of starting items. These items were meant to provide passive effects that allowed players to mimic certain square effects without actually landing on them, but in a time where rolling is more deliberate and movement around the board isn’t as unpredictable, they’ve become less significant and tend to just use up valuable inventory space.

NEW – CHARMS

Charms are meant to replace starting items. These are passive effects that players choose at the start of the game, and give each player unique goals during the game to maximize their effects. 

CHARMING – At the start of the game, every player now chooses a “Charm”. Charms are passive bonuses that last throughout the game.

Possible Charms:

Gratus – Gain +4 additional AP per dice roll.

Barterer – Gain a permanent 10% discount on all items in the item shop.

Lucky – Gain 2 charges of Roll Assist whenever you level up, instead of 1.

Artisan – All item cooldowns are shortened by 1 round. All damage you deal outside of combat is increased by 20%.

Treasure Hunter – Collecting a powerup grants +8 XP and restores all energy.

Titan — Gain +20 max health. All healing effects are 25% more effective.

Warmonger – Gain +1 attack permanently. Each battle you win earns you 10 additional AP and restores 5 energy.

Staminix – Gain +3 max energy. At the end of your turn, you restore 2 energy instead of the normal 1.

HALFTIME EVENTS

Here’s a new one!

NEW – JUST DESSERTS

All players gain a random dessert item, which can be consumed to activate a random effect.

ARENA FEES

Arena fees have been adjusted so that they are less punishing.

LESS PUNISHING — Players no longer pay 15% of their current AP when choosing not to battle. Instead they pay a flat 10 AP + 1 per game round.

ACCOLADES

THE SLOW AND STEADY – The “Speed Devil” Accolade now only awards 30 AP. (Down from 60).

TOO BAD – The “Unluckiest Player” Accolade now only awards 50 AP. (Down from 70).

MORE BLOOD – The “Bloodlust” Accolade now awards 45 AP. (Up from 35).

POT GROWTH

Previously, the AP in the pot would grow only after all players took their turn. This meant that the player who went first had a slight advantage in taking advantage of the AP growth. This change seeks to fix that and make more AP available as the game goes on.

MORE MONEY, MORE OFTEN – The AP in the pot now grows by 3 after every player’s turn, rather than at the end of a round.

ITEMS: 

Ushering new items with unique effects, more consumable options, and removing some of the older, more under-powered consumables.

NEW – Feathered Staff

Cost: 150 AP

Grants +2 max energy, and +5 defense. Can be activated to deal 22 damage to a target enemy. (3 round cooldown).

NEW – Experience Potion

Cost: 55 AP

Grants +7 experience instantly, but deals 35 damage to the player upon consumption.

NEW – Hyperdrink

Cost: 35 AP

Can be consumed to restore 6 energy.

NEW – Omen of Death

Cost: 40 AP

Can be consumed to mark a target for death for 2 turns. During this time, non-combat damage they take is increased by 20%.

NEW – Crown of Wisdom

Cost: 90 AP

Grants +3 defense. At the end of every turn, you earn +3 bonus experience.

CHANGED – AG II Pistol

:: Now always deals 12 damage. (Up from 6-12).

CHANGED – Deadly Tincture

:: Now grants 20% crit chance (Down from 25%) but no longer deals 25 damage to the user. Effect duration reduced to 2 rounds (From 3).

CHANGED – Ol’ Muriel’s Rolling Pin

:: Cooldown decreased to 2 rounds. (From 3).

REMOVED – Manual: Human Pressure Points

REMOVED – Self Defense Guide

UI: 

CLEARER – Created a new “Active Player” UI which will always display your health, energy, experience, items, AP, and status effects on your pawn. (Haunted, untargetable, etc).

CLEANER – General UI textures updated, and fonts have been normalized across all screens.

• Fixed minor anti-aliasing issues on large fonts, improving readability.

OTHER: 

A new patching client has been released alongside this patch! Downloading the new client is not required, but doing so could lead to faster patching and fewer problems when updating. New users will automatically be directed to download the updated client.

BUG FIXES: 

Fixed an issue where switching spaces with an opponent (from landing on a hex square) wasn’t working properly.

Fixed a visual bug with pawns not being properly positioned on squares.

Fixed a visual bug with pawns sometimes not facing the proper direction.

One thing the game has fallen short with is meaningful progression systems that evolve the gameplay. In other words, the first 5 rounds of the game feel too similar to the last 5 rounds of the game without much changing other than bigger numbers, and access to more abilities.

The goal of this update is to enable the gameplay to evolve over time so that players get access to exciting new decisions, get to reap the benefits for early planning, and get to adapt to changing circumstances throughout the game. Unlike previous patches which took a pass at board mechanics and combat, this patch seeks to do this through one of the game’s oldest systems: the item shop. Check out the changes!

BOARD:

I WAS CLOSE – Predicting a roll value within 1 space correctly now earns you 2 XP.

ITEMS:

NEW- HEROIC ITEMS

Heroic items are a new item tier- these items are extremely powerful, and very efficient, but won’t be available until after halftime.

Heroic items can never be stolen or destroyed by other players.

Most Heroic items start at 400 AP, but they become cheaper as other players buy Heroic items. After purchasing a Heroic item, the player becomes observed by all other players.

Many new items enter this new Heroic tier, and some existing items have been upgraded into this tier. Check out the list:

UPGRADED – Bow of the Master Archer

Cost — 400 AP

Grants +35% crit chance, and +8 attack. Against targets below half HP, your combo attacks will always crit, and your power attacks cost 1 less energy.

NEW – Doogle’s Spellbook

Cost — 400 AP

Grants +3 max energy. Increases all damage you deal outside of combat by 50%, and landing on a meditation square now restores all energy.

NEW – Duelist’s Longsword

Cost — 400 AP

Grants +12 attack. Whenever an opponent critical strikes you, your next power attack is free and heals you for 20% of damage dealt, but cannot crit.

UPGRADED – Emperor’s Breastplate

Cost — 400 AP

Grants +14 defense. Critical strikes against you drain 1 energy from your opponent, and empower your next standard attack to deal double damage.

UPGRADED – Emperor’s Defender

Cost — 400 AP

Grants +12 attack. In battle, you heal for 25% of damage dealt, and your standard attacks are free.

UPGRADED – Enmar’s Time Rod

Cost — 400 AP

Grants +9 attack and defense. Can be activated to reset all your other cooldowns and restore 4 energy. Cannot be used in combat. (5 round cooldown).

UPGRADED – Gladiator’s Stronghelm

Cost — 400 AP

Grants +10 defense, and +35 max health. Can be activated to charge at an enemy, dealing your defense score as damage to them plus 10% of your maximum health Can be used in combat. (2 round cooldown)

UPGRADED – Odnamro’s Greatsword

Cost — 400 AP

Grants +8 attack and +25% crit chance. Your critical strikes deal 20% more damage, and ignore 15% of your opponent’s defense.

NEW – Ramne’s Bulwark

Cost — 400 AP

Grants +10 defense, and +20 max health. All non-combat damage you take is reduced by 50%. Non-combat damage you take that would otherwise be lethal has a 50% chance to be dealt as non-lethal damage instead.

NEW – Monahue’s Righteous Staff

Cost — 400 AP

Grants +4 max energy. When activated, you drain all of your energy. For each point of energy drained, you deal 5 damage to all other players. This damage ignores all defense and refunds 5 energy if the damage kills a target. (5 round cooldown).

ITEM SHOP:

When it comes to the item shop, players rarely get to use items as they see fit and more often than not have to rely on what the shop gives them. Since the shop randomly picks items to display, players don’t get the opportunity to invest in the kinds of items they want but are pressured into buying whatever they can afford. These changes are designed to help the player find the right items for their play-style while getting players more invested in the choices available to them.

Additionally, you’ll now have to be a certain level to access certain items directly within the shop, making leveling up that much more vital to the progression system.

TRIPLE SHOP –  Upon visiting the item shop, a player can choose between buying different ‘classes’ of items:

CONSUMABLE — Includes items that restore health, energy, or grant temporary buffs. (Unlocked at start)

BENIGN — Includes items that grant benefits outside of combat. (Unlocked at level 2)

COMBAT — Includes items that aid in combat. (Unlocked at level 3)

HEROIC — Includes superior, high-cost items with dramatic effects. (Unlocked at level 4)

OTHER CHANGES:

The item shop now only displays 5 items at a time. (3 items at a time when in the Heroic shop).

When in the item shop, other players can now see what items are available to the turn player.

When a player enters the item shop, the turn timer is reset to 30 seconds.

The item shop will now strongly prefer to display items that the player does not already own, and items that the player can afford.

AUCTIONS:

Auctions were originally designed to ensure everyone had access to items early on regardless of what squares they landed on, but later in the game auctions would become unnecessary and less competitive due to players having full inventories. With the changes to the item shop however, auctions can be tuned to act more as early game suppliers of items and phase out when players don’t need them anymore.

The following changes have been made:

5-AUCTION RULE – A maximum of 5 auctions can occur per game. After 5 auctions have occurred, all shop squares will behave as normal. During this time, landing on an omni square will no longer grant the option for a player to visit the item shop before 5 auctions have occurred.

HALFTIME RULE – After halftime, regardless of if 5 auctions have occurred or not, all shop squares will behave as normal.

OTHER ITEM CHANGES:

IMPORTANT : All items that have cooldowns and grant stats will not grant their stats while on cooldown. Previously, this only applied to a select few items like AG Pistol or Precision Bow, but be warned: if an item in your inventory is on cooldown, it will not grant any combat stats. Other effects, like bonus AP for rolling, still apply even if the item is on cooldown.

Now, onto specific item changes:

BUFFED – Regenerative Charm

:: Now restores 30% of missing HP per turn. (Up from 20%).

BUFFED – Ol’ Muriel’s Rolling Pin

:: Now grants 2 attack. (Up from 1).

CHEAPER- Quizzle’s Mark

:: Costs 90 AP (Down from 100).

Item Stealing

Item stealing was a novel concept that had big implications for how players should buy items, namely because it created massive swings in net worth very easily and without much player effort. The mere existence of this mechanic also made it necessary for players to either spend large amounts of AP just protecting the items they had or risk losing the game because their prized possession was stolen. By removing the offending items, this creates room for safer player investments and more interesting items down the road.

The following items have been removed:

WHO CARES – Consecrated Sword

NOT FIT FOR COWBOYS – Gibson’s Lasso

NOT FIT FOR ANYONE (Literally) – Gloves of Thievery

OBAMACARE – Premium Insurance Card

TOO CRUSTY – Encrusted Shield

LOST SOULS – Soul Anchor

GENERAL:

HALFTIME BONUS – At halftime, all players now gain 50 AP, and 100 AP is added to the pot.

(JUST) THREE ROUNDS – The “Let there be Justice” halftime event now only lasts for 3 rounds instead of 4, and only effects Omni squares, not Battle squares.

JUST A FLESH-WOUND – All players now restore 5 HP at the end of their turn. (Up from 3).

SCARED  CRITLESS – Players no longer start with 5% crit chance.

This patch is the third of its kind to introduce new mechanics to movement around the board, and also the largest. Among the largest changes are new square types to help you zip around the board, changes to make rolling more deliberate, and powerups to reward players able to master these new systems! More on all of these later.

Focusing on these goals meant retiring some of the older game elements to make room for newer ones, so join us for a playtest sometime and give feedback on how well these goals were accomplished!

BATTLE:

First up are some minor adjustments to combat.

BACK AT YA — Counter attacks now ignore 20% of opponent armor, just like power attacks.

SLEEP BEFORE CRITS — A player that is exhausted can crit, but their attack’s base damage will not be modified.

BOARD:

NEW MECHANIC – ROLL ASSIST

When triggered, after rolling a player may modify their roll value by 1.

Players start with 1 charge of roll assist. After leveling up, a player gains an additional charge of roll assist.

NEW – Powerups

Periodically, some squares will now temporarily act as powerup squares.

Landing on a powerup square activates a bonus effect. There are 4 possible powerups:

Aegis — Makes the player untargetable for 2 turns.

Assault — Permanently grants +1 attack, and +1 defense.

Roll Assist — Grants 1 additional charge of roll assist.

Treasure — Grants a random item worth 140 AP or less. Chance of better items is affected by the net worth of the player.

• Powerups spawn once every 5 rounds, after a random player’s turn.
• Powerups spawn at the start of the game depending on the amount of players, and 3 additional powerups spawn at halftime.
• Squares acting as a powerup square do not activate their original effect.
• Landing on a powerup square grants +20 bonus AP if the player does not have the highest net worth in the game.
• Once a powerup is claimed, the square reverts to its original type. Omni squares can never become powerup squares.

BATTLE:

Pacifism has greater costs!

HIGHER FEES – When a player chooses not to do battle, they now pay 7% of their current AP + 10 AP. (Up from 5% + 5 AP)

COMMUNITY FEES – When a player pays arena fees (for choosing not to battle), those fees are now paid into the pot.

NEW – Waypoint Squares

The problem with reroll squares in this day and age is that they are difficult to balance with the leveling system. Landing on just one re-roll square early on puts a player extremely far ahead and creates a lead in MP that’s hard to deal with. These problems don’t end there: Reroll squares tend to make turns take longer without adding much depth to gameplay itself. As a result, they’ve been replaced with this new square type.

When landing on a Waypoint square, a player has the option to teleport to the next waypoint square in either direction. Movement via waypoint squares do not count toward levels, and this movement does not count as a roll.

AS A RESULT – All reroll squares have been removed.

AUCTIONS:

UNIQUE MERCHANDISE – Auction squares will no longer display items for sale that are worth less than 100 AP if another player already owns that item.

BID EM’ UP – During an auction, a player may place a bid for an item even if they are currently the highest bidder on that item.

COURT SQUARES:

Court squares have been with us since patch 0.0.6, they served as a means of equalizing the game when a player got really far ahead, but with the numerous changes over the last few patches to remove elements of randomness and make combat more about smart tactics than raw stats, the need for these squares have diminished. As a result, they will be leaving us this patch.

OUT OF SESSION – Court squares have been removed.

HEX SQUARES:

Hex squares were meant to replace Red X squares to allow for more player interaction, but as a result they’ve removed the penalty that once existed for poor rolls. With players having more control now than ever over their roll values, this change is designed to simplify the square’s effect while letting the square act as an incentive for players to avoid these squares at all costs.

SINGLE HEX – Hex squares now apply their debuff only to the player who landed on the square, not a random opponent.

SEALED FATE –  The debuff applied to the player is no longer decided by player roll. The game will automatically choose a debuff randomly.

Possible Hexes:

Haunting Hex — Haunts the player for 2 turns.

Exhaustion Hex — Causes the player to lose all energy.

Teleport Hex — Causes the player to switch positions with a random opponent.

Damaging Hex — Deals 25 damage to the player. This damage can be lethal.

MINUS SQUARES:

Small change to help even out the playing field when a player is significantly ahead.

SPITEFUL PAY – Losses from Minus squares increased by 20% when a player who lands on it has the highest net worth in the game.

POT CHANGES

WATCH IT GROW – Every round, if there’s money in the pot, the AP in the pot grows by 5 AP (Up from 3).

ITEMS:

NEW – Kosta’s Buckler

Cost : 160 AP

:: Grants +4 Defense and +20 max health. While equip, your combo strikes always restore 5% of your max health.

CHANGED – Champion’s Emblem

New effect — Whenever you win a battle, you gain 15 bonus AP, and restore 25% of your maximum health.

CHANGED – Xpired’s Mystery Soup

:: Cost increased from 15 AP to 25 AP.

:: No longer has a chance to move the player forward 4 spaces. Instead has a chance to grant bonus MP on consumption.

The following items have been removed this patch:

Allure Potion

Beer

Court Papers

Professional Legal Team

Tempered Mark

GENERAL:

AP GAIN ADJUSTMENTS

With court squares gone, these changes seek to add some behind the scenes equalization to help out players who are behind.

Each roll earns the player 10 AP + 1 AP per game round, up to 30 AP max. (Unchanged)

The player with the highest net worth gets a flat 5 AP for rolling instead of the normal bonus, starting after round 5.

Winning a battle against the player with the highest net worth also awards bonus AP equal to 5% of the player’s net worth +10 AP. (After round 10).

LEVELING:

With reroll squares being removed, the amount of MP needed for each level has been decreased at all ranks.

Level 2 — Requires 20 MP (Down from 25).

Level 3 — Requires 30 MP (Down from 40).

Level 4 — Requires 40 MP (Down from 55).

Level 5 — Requires 50 MP (Down from 70).

WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING – The Roll UI now displays previews of square types that you’ll land on for each dice roll.

KEEN EYESIGHT – Observation range has been increased from 1 square to 3. (Any player within 3 squares of you is now considered observed).

UI:

The player boxes are now hidden by default, and pressing and holding tab will show info about all players. This behavior can be disabled in the options menu.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed an issue where square tooltips would display over the Auction & Shop UI.

Fixed a bug where the pot share amount would appear to be capped at 5 when a player landed on a plus square.

Fixed an issue where tooltips could get stuck and remain visible longer than intended.

Fixed an issue where many sounds were not playing correctly due to sound overlap.

The first patch of this holiday season after a long hiatus. Don’t expect it to be the last though!

An earlier post foretold some of the changes coming in this patch and now they’ve arrived in all their glory. If you’ve read that post then you can skip the rest of this context.

The goal of these changes is to make energy a more valuable resource and allow players more options for managing it. The first combat update (0.2.6) was a large step in the right direction, but this patch seeks to deliver on more of those promises while cleaning up some UI elements and adding more polish.

BATTLE:

Following the combat update, the following adjustments have been made.

COMBO BREAKER- A combo system has been added to combat.

In combat, players can now perform three different kinds of attacks. Light, Standard, and Power.

Light – Light attacks deal 60% of normal damage, cannot crit, and cost no energy. Light attacks also generate a blue combo marker.

Standard – Standard attacks deal 100% of normal damage, can crit, and cost 1 energy. Standard attacks also generate a yellow combo marker.

Power – Power attacks deal double damage, can crit, and cost 3 energy. Power attacks also ignore 20% of your opponent’s defense. Power attacks generate a red combo marker.

COMBO ATTACK – After 3 combo markers are generated, the next attack performed becomes a combo attack. Combo attacks deal normal weapon damage and gain bonus effects based on the kinds of combo markers consumed.

• For each blue combo marker consumed, the attack steals 1 energy from your opponent and restores 3 health.
• For each yellow combo marker consumed, the attack deals 3% of your opponent’s max health as bonus damage.
• For each red combo marker consumed, the attack has a 10% increased chance to crit, and deals 10% more damage if it crits. (Up to 30% more damage)

DEFENSIVE OPTIONS – Two new combat abilities have also been added.

Counter-Attack – Your next attack deals 75% weapon damage plus 60% of the damage of your opponent’s last attack. This attack cannot crit. This move costs 2 energy and can only be used once per battle.

Evade – Your defense becomes 40% more effective for your opponent’s next attack, and you restore 20% of your current health. Costs 2 energy, and can be used a maximum of 3 times per battle.

RETREAT & PURSUIT ADJUSTMENTS:

The “Pursuit” option in combat has been removed.

When a player begins to retreat in battle, their opponent may choose to accept victory or continue with another attack as a way of pursuing their opponent.

Attacks on retreating opponents deal 50% damage (Up from 40%), and do not generate combo markers or count as a combo attack.

Attacks on retreating opponents now cost 2 additional energy (Down from 4), but cost nothing if the opponent is exhausted.

Fleeing from an exhausted opponent will always succeed.

EXHAUSTED PENALTY:

When exhausted in combat, the following happens:

• Damage dealt decreased by 50%. (Unchanged)
• Defense effectiveness reduced by 30% (Down from 35%)

OTHER ADJUSTMENTS:

All players now start with 16 energy (Up from 8)

Using items in combat no longer costs energy.

When spectating two players in battle, other players can no longer see the items each player has but they can view the stats of each player.

BOARD:

The board generation formula has been adjusted to place more omni & battle squares.

MEDIC PLEASE – Hospital squares have been adjusted:

Landing on a hospital square now grants the player +5 max HP, heals the player to max health, and restores 100% of max energy.

Choosing to visit the hospital (After landing on an omni square) will now only heal the player, not grant max HP or restore energy.

MAS AP – Blue squares generate 12% more AP at all stages.

ITEMS:

CHUG AWAY – Beer no longer deals 3 damage to the user when consumed.

This patch may be bittersweet for some of these items. With the combat changes, some items have skewed the balance of combat and had to be adjusted or removed. Meanwhile other items had obtuse effects which weren’t being utilized as intended, creating other problems. 

The following items are bowing out this patch:

Enchanted Slugger

Frozen Fist

Jace’s Revolver

Old Jack’s Blackjack

Rusty Axe

St. Joan’s Grace

Tommy Gun

GENERAL:

NEW – RANKS

Moving around the board grants movement points (MP). The amount of MP awarded is equal to the amount of spaces moved.

After obtaining enough movement points, a player gains a rank. Ranks unlock new abilities in combat, and all players start at rank 1.

RANK 2 – Unlocked with 25 MP.

Once unlocked, permanently grants +2 max energy.

RANK 3- Unlocked with 40 MP.

Once unlocked, permanently grants +10 maximum health and +1 defense.

RANK 4- Unlocked with 55 MP.

Once unlocked, permanently grants +10% crit chance, and +2 attack.

RANK 5 – Unlocked with 70 MP.

Once unlocked, your combo strikes will deal 5 bonus damage, be 10% more likely to crit, and always refund 1 energy.

RANK RACE – Being the first player in a game to reach a rank will also award 15 bonus AP.

ROLL PREDICTION – When a player is rolling the die, all other players may choose a number as their prediction for the roll value. If correct, the player gains +5 MP and +5 AP.

Miscellaneous:

HELLO MY NAME IS – Players now have nameplates that displays their name above their head.

ENGINE UPDATE — The game has been updated to use Unity 5!

Bug Fixes:

THIS WAY IDIOT – Fixed an issue where pawns would face the wrong way on the starting square.

Sit down! Let’s have a chat.

Or don’t and skip down to read the patch notes.

Still reading this part? Alright, let’s have chat.

As a turn-based virtual board game, Battle Squares offers a unique hybrid between a multiplayer RPG and a classic board game. While the marriage between these two genres creates for an overall unique feel, some unfortunate side effects of this hybrid include gameplay that is sometimes too slow and not always as engaging as it should be. This is a problem that has been brewing for a while, and there might not be a quick fix for it, but this patch seeks to kill unnecessary player downtime and get players interacting in new and different ways. The last patch set the game on the right direction to rework some of its more flat elements and allow the game to be more competitive on every level, and this patch aims to double down on those goals.

So what’s the larger goal for this patch? To address these points:

1. Allow for more interactions with board elements.
2. Allow for more interactions between players. (ESPECIALLY when it’s not your turn).

And how will we address these things?

Read on friends, read on.

BATTLE:

Following the combat update, the following adjustments have been made.

LESS EXHAUSTING – Choosing to “Pursue” an enemy in combat now only costs 1 energy if the opponent is exhausted.

I SEE YOU – Battling a player results in them becoming observed.

BOARD:

GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE – Shop Squares have been redesigned.

Landing on a “Shop” square will now trigger an auction for all players.

AUCTIONS: During an auction, 3-8 items will be placed on sale (Depending on the number of players in the game). All players may bid on these items for 30 seconds, placing bids in increments of 5 AP. Items sold this way have a starting bid of 50% of their cost. After 24 seconds, each item will be sold to the player with the highest bid on that item.

But what about the store coupon? What about the old item shop?

• Landing on an omni square and choosing to visit the item shop will trigger the item shop as normal. (Without an auction).
• Using the store coupon will trigger its effect as normal.
• The regular item shop now only displays 7 items. (Down from 14).

Further adjustments to court squares:

BENCH TRIAL – Courts will now start hearing cases after round 5, but attempting to sue a player before round 10 will result in 40% less AP.

The changes to blue plus squares back in patch 0.2.2 were a start to increasing interaction with static board elements. This change seeks to include other players in the AP generating process and allow everyone to have a say in how much AP a player gets to keep for themselves.

PLUS SQUARES – Plus squares grant AP the same way, however all other players now can play a role.

• When a person lands on a plus square, all other players can now press space repeatedly to increase the pot share.
• The Pot share is the amount of the generated AP that will go toward the pot instead of the player who landed on the plus square.

As a result of this change, the base AP generated by blue squares has been increased by 60% at all stages.

SPOOKY SHUTOUT – If a player is haunted and lands on a plus square, they no longer can pretend to generate AP.

GET EX(ED) – “Red X” Squares have been removed!

Red X squares brought dread and sadness wherever they went, and offered little in the way of adding interesting options for players once they landed on it. It was basically a “Time out” square and punished players for having a bad roll. 

The newest addition to battle squares takes a slightly different approach. Read on below for details.

NEW SQUARE TYPE: Hex Square

Upon landing on this square, a player’s next roll becomes a hexed roll.

Hexed rolls do not move the player forward. Instead, they activate an effect on a random enemy based on the roll value.

Possible Effects:

• (2-5) — The target enemy takes 20 damage.
• (6-8) — The target enemy loses all energy.
• (9-11) — The target enemy becomes haunted for a turn.
• (12) — Both players take 30 damage. The target enemy’s next roll also becomes a hexed roll.

REROLL SQUARES

Re-roll squares have also received some changes:

NOT SO FAST – Upon re-rolling, a player now only receives 50% of the normal bonus AP. This applies to all forms of re-rolling, not just blue re-roll squares.

RED RE-ROLL – Red re-roll squares no longer move the player backwards. Instead, the game will choose a random opponent to roll for the turn player. Bonus AP for re-rolling goes to the pot instead, not the turn player.

HOSPITAL SQUARES

Slight change.

TO HEAL OR NOT TO HEAL – Upon landing on a hospital square, a player has the option to heal to full health or permanently gain +5 max HP. If already at max HP, a player will automatically gain +5 max HP. (Unchanged).

GENERAL:

The last patch sought to bring new meaning to movement around the game board. We continue along this goal to make rolling integrate into battle further, so read on.

ENERGY LEVELS – An energy indicator has been added to the player box. This indicator does not display a player’s exact energy value, but instead it displays status text equal to their approximate energy percentage.

• Invigorated — 85%-100% energy.
• Normal — 70-85% energy.
• Sluggish — 50-70% energy.
• Tired — 35-50% energy.
• Weakened — 10%-35% energy.
• Exhausted — Less than 10% energy.

NO FLOAT – Added an in-game option to disable the floating square effect.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where attacks would sometimes cost too much energy to perform in combat.

Fixed an issue where a player disconnecting from the game could cause desyncs.

Optimization done to improve game performance significantly.

Visual fidelity improved to make in-game textures render better.

Hello wonderful people!

This update seeks to tie different game mechanics together in new ways to add depth to the game. With new interactions between game-play elements, this patch is set to allow for more player choice and more interesting scenarios as a result.

And why the “Espionage” update? Because after these changes, you’ll be needing to keep a closer eye on your adversaries. Enjoy!

BOARD:

GREEN (POT)  SQUARES – Green squares have been changed to award the money in the pot differently.

SPLIT OR STEAL : Upon landing on the pot square, all players will be given 2 options, to split or steal the money in the pot.

SPLIT — All players that vote to split the money in the pot will receive their fair share of all money in the pot, rounded up.

STEAL — If all other players vote to split, voting to steal will allow the player to take all the money in the pot, while other players get nothing. However, if more than one player votes to steal, all players who voted to steal will get nothing. The money in the pot will be split between all other players instead.

OTHER NOTES:

— Haunted players cannot vote. (And thus will receive nothing)

— If all players vote to steal, the pot grows by 15 AP and the AP in the pot remains.

— Not voting will default to a vote of “Split”.

— The player landing on the pot square will receive an additional 10% of whatever they win.

The following are technically not changes to the board itself, but these changes affect how pawns interact with each other on the board.

HIDDEN INFORMATION – Health, Energy, Attack, Defense, and Crit Chance are now all hidden on enemy players by default. These stats will appear as “???” unless that enemy player is observed (More on this later). Enemy items are also hidden by default and are only revealed to enemies if that player is observed.

OBSERVATION-  If a player is observed, then their stats and items are visible to other players.

Observation happens when:

• An enemy player is within 1 square of you.
• An enemy player activates or consumes an item. (In this this case only that item will be revealed).
• An enemy player is successfully sued.

When an enemy is observed, their stats will appear as they were last known. (If a player was observed to have 6 attack at one point, it will always show this unless the player is observed again with a different attack value.)

In battle, a player’s health bar will be revealed however their numerical health values will no longer be shown.

ROLL VALUE MODS – Rolling specific values now carries additional effects:

Note that these effects’ duration will stack if a player rolls more than once in a turn, but their effects will not.

Rolling 2-3 : Restore 1 energy.

Rolling 4-5: Gain +1 defense for this round only.

Rolling 6-7: Gain +8% crit chance for this round only.

Rolling 8-9: Restore 8% of your max HP.

Rolling 10-12: Gain bonus AP (Unchanged).

GENERAL:

SMOOTH ROLLIN’ – After a player rolls, the camera now pans smoothly to their location rather than jumping there instantly.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where WASD would pan the camera when typing. This key binding has been disabled.

There are some grand changes this patch, mostly targeted at the combat system and making it more dynamic, as well as giving players more options during battle without over-complicating the existing system. With that in mind, check out the changes set for this patch:

BATTLE:

NEW MECHANIC: Energy & Exhaustion

During combat, players have a new stat called energy.

Players start with 8 energy. Every 3rd basic attack costs 1 energy.

Activated items now expend 1 energy. Items no longer activate their regular cooldowns when used in combat; instead, these items go modified cooldowns that only apply in combat, meaning these items can be used multiple times in the same battle.

All activated items cost 1 energy to use in a battle. 

When a player’s energy reaches zero, they become exhausted. When a player is exhausted, their defense is 30% less effective, and their attacks deal 50% less damage. Energy never regenerates in combat, but players restore 2 energy at the end of each of their turns. Winning a battle restores 1 energy. Visiting a hospital will restore all energy.

Some powers have also been adjusted to be usable in combat. Each power costs 2 energy to use in combat, and costs 1 additional energy each subsequent time it is used. All powers have a 2-combat round cooldown.

Haunt — Haunting a player in combat drains 1 energy from them.
Sprint — Sprinting in combat makes your next attack ignore 30% of your opponent’s defense, and makes the next attack against you deal 35% less damage.
Stormfury — Smiting an enemy in combat deals 7% of their max health to them as damage.

RETREAT CHANGES 

• Retreating is now a combat option that may let you withdraw from combat.
• When a player chooses to retreat, their opponent may now choose to “Pursue” them, which costs 3 energy, and makes their next attack 50% less effective, however the battle will continue.
• If a player chooses not to pursue a retreating opponent, the retreating opponent pays AP to the victor as normal.

OTHER COMBAT ADJUSTMENTS:

To account for basic attacks costing energy, basic attack damage scaling has been increased by ~40%, however players no longer start with 1 attack.

Critical strike damage scaling has been reduced from 265-315% normal damage to 135%-170% damage, however the critical strike multiplier is now applied to a player’s basic attack damage.

ITEMS:

Numerous price adjustments have occurred; far too many to list here! Most items worth less than 110 AP have had their prices increased by 5-10 AP. Some items worth more than 200 AP have had their prices decreased by 10-20 AP.

CHANGED – REGENERATIVE CHARM :

:: Minimum healing increased from 3 HP per turn to 5 HP per turn.

CHANGED – BLOODBORNE SABRE :

:: Lifesteal increased from 10% to 15%. Also now tends to round up when performing calculations.

POWERS:

If your favorite power wasn’t changed to be usable in combat, don’t worry! Several other powers have received some changes:

PICKPOCKET

:: No longer steals a flat 10 AP from the target player. Instead, this ability steals 8% of a player’s current AP, and has a 25% chance to also steal an item worth 75 AP or less. (Chance to steal increased from 20%).

TORNADO

:: Tornado is now controlled via WASD, and can move in any direction during its 8 second duration. Players hit take 15 damage (Up from 10) and lose a random item worth 60 AP or less. (Cannot affect starting items)

GENERAL:

GET UP THERE – The Plus and Minus square UI’s have been moved into the top notification bar.

TIMER CHANGES – The turn timer has been adjusted so that players now have 12 seconds at the start of their turn to roll. Failure to roll in this time will cause the player to time out. Upon rolling, the player’s turn time is now reset to full.

NATURAL REGENERATION – At the end of each turn, players are now healed for 3 HP. (Up from 1).

READABILITY – Many tooltips (especially longer ones) are now more readable and are no longer partially cut off.

Bug Fixes:

Still in the bug squattin’ business!

• Fixed a bug where the battle UI would sometimes stay up too long. (And even forever in some cases).
• Fixed a bug where guests would start off at level 10. (Sorry guests!)

Just a small patch to clean up the UI a bit more, along with other miscellaneous things.

GENERAL:

UI:

—  The in-game user interface has been reformatted! Messages from the game will now appear at the top of the screen.

— Game rounds, the AP in the pot, and the time remaining for turns are all displayed at the top of the screen.

— The active player box has been removed.

— All other player boxes have been moved to the bottom of the screen. These player boxes display all the usual information along with a player’s items & stats.

Bug Fixes:

— Fixed a bug where messages in the overhead bar would frequently repeat and display longer than normal.

Yep! that’s it! Stay tuned for a larger update later this week!

This patch aims to address the growing player-base with changes to lobbies to make them more accessible, along with tons of changes to boards (And how they’re generated) to support custom boards down the line! If you’re excited to hear about player-created boards, check out the earlier post here, as they are on the way!

So we’ve got new boards, new items, new halftime events, and several other great changes! Read down!

GENERAL:

MAFIA WANTS THEIR MONEY – When a player has negative AP at the start of their turn, they take damage equal to 15% of their current health + 30% of the debt amount. This damage can never be lethal.

HIGH ROLLER – AP Gains for rolling the dice increased during all phases of the game.

NEW HALFTIME EVENTS:

Fire Sale! – For the next 6 rounds, all players receive discounts in the item shop, up to 20%.

Shop Till’ You Drop (Dead) – For the next 6 rounds, items in the shop are 30% cheaper but now also cost health to purchase, equal to 50% of the item’s cost.

OPEN LOBBIES –  Any time a player creates a game lobby, it is now visible to anyone connected to the game and by default does not require a room pin to be joined.

BE MY GUEST – Users can now play as guests! This let’s you play without having an account, however your progress will not be saved.

Cosmetics:

BETTER POSTURE – All avatars have a new idle animation.

BATTLE: 

Currently, defense is a little too effective at mitigating critical strike damage. Rather than a sweeping defense nerf however, the increased attack & crit scaling means that those who choose to invest in crit chance can have higher hopes for out-scaling their overly-defensive counterparts.

RELIABLE ATTACKS – Basic attacks have a smaller window of randomness; attacks that don’t crit are more consistent in how much damage they deal.

CRIT SCALING – Critical strike damage is now increased by 10% of your crit chance. (Before defense applies)

BOARD: 

NEW BOARDS- Several new game boards have been added. When playing online, the host can choose which board to use for the game.

“Ascend” — This board is closest to the previous standard game board. Set high in the sky, the board pieces float and the board is shaped in the form of a ‘C’. (Board size: 76 squares)

“Classico” — A small board taking place in a more classic, board game setting. (Board size: 52 squares)

“Enigma” — This board is more abstract and involves a lot of tight twists and turns. This is the new default board. (Board size: 78 squares)

“Nebulix” — A moderate-sized spiraling board set in space. (Board size: 60 squares)

“Zen Gardens” — A smaller board taking place in a peaceful garden. (Board size: 54 squares)

SPACE BAR FRENZY – AP Gains from Plus squares increased by 10%.

ITEMS:

NEW – BLOOD-BORNE SABRE

Cost: 90 AP

:: Grants +3 Attack. You heal for 10% of all damage dealt in combat.

NEW – RYAN’S PIERCER

Cost: 190 AP

:: Grants +6 Attack. Your attacks in combat ignore 35% of your opponent’s defense.

NEW – CLEVER DISGUISE

Cost: 70 AP

:: While you hold this item, an enemy that attempts to target you has a 50% chance to target someone else instead. (If a valid opponent exists).

NEW – DEADLY TINCTURE

Cost: 30 AP

:: Can be consumed to increase your critical strike chance by 25% for 3 turns. When consumed, you take 25 damage.

NEW – ELIXIR OF FORTITUDE

Cost: 30 AP

:: Can be consumed to increase your defense by 3 for 3 turns.

BETTER FOR CHAMPIONS – CHAMPION’S SWORD

:: Now grants +4 attack and causes attacks to ignore 10% of your opponent’s defense.

SNIPPED – D.E.T.H.S.L.I.C.E  SHURIKEN

:: Item removed from the game.

Bug Fixes:

Squattin’ bugs since 1337.

• Fixed a bug where a player’s camera would sometimes reset when clicking specific areas of the screen.