Today is Maiden & Spell's 5th anniversary!!!
Thank you to everyone who's played, and everyone who still plays!!



The Maidens' adventures still continue through you...

Hello Maidens!

If you're reading this, chances are you're into fighting games that break the mold. If you're looking for your next weird PVP game to force your friends to play with you, I've got your back.



Our very own Dreadwyrm Heir is a guest character in a fighting game that just came out, Duelists of Eden!



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1664200/Duelists_of_Eden/

Featuring grid and card based battles! You build a deck of spells, and use those to fight others online. It has some great pixel art, and like all good fighting games, rollback netcode.



Hope you'll check it out!

Hello Maidens,

Unless you've been following my development updates on my upcoming game RABBIT & STEEL (wishlist it now, do it!), it's been a little while!

After some consultation with the Discord, it has been decided to pull back some of the changes that Lich and Stormbeast got in last year's update.

In addition, some players expressed an interest in playing some older builds, so I have made some of those available as separate branches. Please feel free to play what you'd like! Keep in mind, you'll only see lobbies of players who are on the same branch as you.

Without further ado, the patch notes!




Novi Holy
- Fixed issue where Cooldown Hold would persist between casts




Lat Life
- Draw layer adjusted downwards
- Duration 14s > 12s

Butterfly Thrall (Offensive Special)
- Movespeedmult changed 1.0x > 0.8x (overwrites other movespeedmults)

Novi Life (Defensive Special)
- Cooldown increased 8.5 seconds > 10 seconds
- Flower duration increased 17 seconds > 20 seconds





- Fixed AI to use Basic more often

Dimi Lightning
- Time until fully charged increased 800ms > 765ms
- Speed when fully charged decreased 5 > 4.5
- Size when fully charged 220px > 210px

Doppelganger (Offensive Special)
- Cooldown increased 7 seconds > 9.5 seconds

Flashstep (Defensive Special)
- No longer grants weak invincibility at the start of charge
- Cooldown increased 12 seconds > 13 seconds

Hello maidens!

My next game, RABBIT & STEEL, has officially been announced!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2132850/Rabbit_and_Steel/







Wishlist it now! Do it! You can tell all your friends that you got in before it got big.

Features online co-op, random loot, awesome bosses, and of course, rabbits!



If you enjoyed Maiden & Spell, I garauntee you'll enjoy this one too.
Hope to see you rabbits there!

Garnet Flare (Offensive Special)
- Move slowdown on use .35x > .4x




Sniper Shot (Basic Attack)
- Fully charged fire angle increased 4 > 8 degrees

Bind (Wide Attack)
- Draw layer adjusted downwards

Knife Juggle (Offensive Special)
- Draw layer adjusted upwards

Vanish (Defensive Special)
- No longer has a slowdown at the end
- Using knives no longer resets movespeedmult during Vanish
- Movespeedmult reduced 1.5x > 1.3x
- Movespeedmult length is now 1300ms (previously overwritten by the slowdown at the end)




Dimi Lightning (Basic Attack)
- Fully charged bullet speed 4.5 > 5
- Now categorized as a Spell
- Now adds 700ms SpellLock

Lat Lightning (Wide Attack)
- Sprite adjusted for visibility

Doppelganger (Offensive Special)
- No longer effected by SpellLock or AttackLock
- Cooldown reduced 8 seconds > 7 seconds
- Now has 500ms SpellLock (300 when focused)
- AttackLock increased 500ms > 700ms (300ms > 500ms when focused)

Flashstep (Defensive Special)
- No longer effected by SpellLock or AttackLock
- Now grants 200ms weak invincibility at the start of charge




Sunburst (Basic Attack)
- 3rd hit in combo now has 600ms Movespeedmult (the same as the 1st and 2nd hit, reduced from 1300)
- Alternate color's focus version is now darker rather than lighter (To match with P1 color)

Lat Holy (Wide Attack)
- Number of bullets now ranges from 12 to 62 based on charge (was previously 12 to 60)




Dodge Roll (Offensive Special)
- Cooldown increased 3.5 seconds > 4 seconds

Stun Wave (Defensive Special)
- Now deletes bullets in a radius a second time, 100ms after the first




Lat Life (Wide Attack)
- Draw layer adjusted downwards
- Duration 12s > 14s

Butterfly Thrall (Offensive Special)
- Fixed issue where number of bullets fired was dependant on framerate
- Draw layer adjusted upwards
- Movespeedmult changed 0.8x > 1.0x (overwrites other movespeedmults)

Novi Life (Defensive Special)
- Cooldown reduced 10 seconds > 8.5 seconds
- Flower duration reduced 21 seconds > 17 seconds
- Charge speed reduced 20%




Saphire Flare (Offensive Special)
- Cooldown increased 2.5 seconds > 3.5 seconds

Hydra Head (Defensive Special)
- Cooldown increased 6.5 seconds > 7 seconds
- Now gives 1.1x movespeedmult for duration of invincibility (Duration increases with charge)





Dimi Dark (Basic Attack)
- Attacklock reduced 1000ms > 900ms

Lat Dark (Wide Attack)
- Deadzone decreased ~20%

Novi Starfall (Offensive Special)
- Changed movespeed mult 0.8x > 1x (overwrites other movespeed mults)





-The list of lobbies now displays full lobbies
-The 'search' option has been replaced with a link to the M&S Discord
-The maximum number of players that can use a single lobby increased 8 > 16
-The time to make a decision after an online match increased from 30s > 60s

-There are now separate options for "Magnus" and "Magnus (Moving)" in the Training AI menu

-Fixed bug where, in training mode, border walls would disappear after a hit
-Fixed the 'Spectator Bug', where spectators would desync and see characters getting hit over and over
-Fixed bug where a sound would play when you hit up and down after selecting an option after an online match

Hello Maidens!

...Are you still maidens?
A lot can change in... 15 months since the last post, gosh.

I've been busy myself with a plethora of different things, so I'll try to bring you up to speed.

First off, new patch notes for a new balance patch!



.........

Uh, on second thought, the patch notes are pretty long.
Maybe I'll separate that out into a different post.

.........


A few months ago, a couple of the top Maiden & Spell players approached me about possibly updating the game with a few balance tweaks. Over the course of years of playing, a few lopsided matchups and weird quirks about particular moves had been rubbing them the wrong way.

So, we did a pretty long, back and forth, feedback-driven beta.

I'd be lying if I said these were carefully considered developer-knows-best changes. The truth is, these people have gotten so good at the game, and know it in-and-out so well, that I can no longer win against them.

So uh, I mostly did what was asked of me. And read lots of Discord discussions. And the results are patch 1.3.2.0!
If you'd like to thank these brave maidens or try your luck playing against them, you can always do so in the Discord!

THE DISCORD

Yes, there are still people playing Maiden & Spell in 2022! It's lasted a lot longer than I honestly thought it would.
It's still a great, welcoming community, so feel free to hop in, no matter your skill level.

------------------



Next order of business, some news about my next game! (it's not actually called 'Rabbit Game')

If you're not in THE DISCORD, you might be a bit out of the loop.

Maybe you only, very vaguely, remember a post saying that I was making a Strategy Roguelite game with rabbit girls...

Uh, I'm not anymore!

Well, I'm still making a Roguelite game with rabbit girls. Just not the 'Strategy' part.

I... completely scrapped the game I had been making, and started anew last November.

Don't worry, you didn't miss anything. The game wasn't very good; that's why I scrapped it.

But, I didn't really start anew either; because my new Roguelite game is... very similar to Maiden & Spell, to be honest. It's reusing a lot of the code, as well as many stylistic choices. And that's made development go very smoothly since rebooting the project.

So smoothly, in fact, that... I'm almost ready to announce it officially! Expect something before the end of the year!

Here's a sneak preview to whet the appetite...





Please look forward to it!

----------------

One final bit of news!

Maiden & Spell characters are making a guest appearance in NOISZ STARLIVHT!


https://twitter.com/noiszgame/status/1565544879958245376

You will be able to fight against the Heroes United to the tune of "The Stars Turned Reverse".

NOISZ STARLIVHT is available on both Android and iOS, so if you guys have phones (you guys have phones, right?), be sure to check it out!


See you all again very soon!

Hello maidens! It's almost halfway through the year now. I hope that news doesn't bring you dread!

If you're the kind of person who would click into this announcement, you might be aware that the Maiden & Spell Discord has been doing a bit of a balance thingamajig.

That has now ended; thanks everyone for your feedback!
I think we've gotten the game to a place where it's pretty okay. There are still a few difficult matchups here and there, but characters got some desperately needed buffs and nerfs.

Also, thanks to a very generous member of the Discord (thank you Alec!), the game has been translated into Brazilian Portuguese.

First, patch notes! Then some other things.

--------------------------------------------------------



Wide Attack
-Number of bullets 22 > 20
-Attack lock 425ms > 550ms
-Takes an additional 75ms to gain a hitbox
-Added a visual effect to indicate direction of bullets




Basic Attack
-Unfocused bullet speed 12 > 10

Wide Attack
-Movespeed Mult x.85 > x.75
-Movespeed Mult duration 800ms > 1100ms
-Attacklock duration 700ms > 1000ms
-Time bullets are active 750ms > 650ms
-Range decreased

Stun Wave
-Stun time increased 1200ms > 1400ms




Basic Attack
-Spell lock decreased by 300ms (previously went from 700ms > 400ms based on charge, now goes from 400ms > 100ms)
-Angle now decreases from 90 > 4 (was previously 90 > 10)
-Movespeed Mult while casting .3 > .5

Knife Throw
-Focused move color adjusted
-Focus knives now fan at an angle of 9 degrees between each shot (36 total)




Basic Attack
-Hitbox linger time 600ms > 850ms
-Spawns 10% faster when focused

Wide Attack
-Attack lock reduced by 100ms (before it was 1000ms > 300ms based on charge, now it is 900ms > 200ms)
-Spell lock reduced by 100ms (same as attack lock)
-Time until hitbox is active is now a flat 500ms (up from 400ms-500ms based on charge)

Offensive Special
-Number of bullets on tap 24 > 28
-Attack lock reduced by 100ms (before it was 1000ms > 300ms based on charge, now it is 900ms > 200ms)
-Spell lock reduced by 100ms (same as attack lock)
-Cooldown reduced 5s > 4.5s
-Movespeed mult on tap increased 1.2x > 1.3x




Wide Attack
-Spawn delay increases 600ms > 700ms > 800ms with combo (was previously a flat 600ms)




Basic Attack
-Speed increased from 3.5 > 3.75
-Rate at which size increases matches speed increase




Time Stop
-Cast time reduced 550ms > 475ms




Basic Attack
-Bullet speed at maximum charge decreased 6.5 > 4.5

Wide Attack
-Order in which bullets appear has been reversed (shallower angle appears first now)

--------------------------------------------------------


Now that's out of the way...

How have you all been spending your year so far?
I've been working hard on my next game.


...Uh, I know that I said I would be doing extra character costumes for Maiden & Spell in the past but, unfortunately, I'm not sure that's happening anymore. Maybe in the sequel (my next game is not a Maiden & Spell sequel).



If I'm being honest, I've not done a great job of managing my time and priorities this past year. It's caused me to fall behind on a lot of things, the care and maintenance of Maiden & Spell just being one of them.

It's been over a year since I launched Maiden & Spell, and after a number of game prototypes that I threw out, a personal break that went on a bit longer than it should have, and some Switch port troubles, I have only just semi-recently cobbled together a solid direction and plan for the next game.

It's a roguelike! Featuring cute girls. Cute rabbit-y girls. Also the gameplay is pretty unique, if I do say so myself.



I'm not quite ready to show the game to the world. I'll put out an official announcement a bit closer to when it's actually ready to play this time around. Maybe around 6-8 months out from launch or so!

If I've at all piqued your interest, consider joining either my mailing list or the Maiden & Spell Discord. You'll get a notification one way or another (and maybe a sneak preview or two...?). And the Maiden & Spell Discord is still the best place to find a great community and battle people online! In case you need something to pass the time.

Hope to see you again soon!

Maiden & Spell is now officially out for the Nintendo Switch!!



Purchase it via the Nintendo E-shop today!



The Switch version has all the things you'd expect in a Switch version...

Take it anywhere, snap the controller in half, hand one half to a stranger on a train, and bond over some bullet hell battles.

Also has some cool new features, like emotes!



I added these so that even people with parental controls enabled can communicate a bit online.
They'll also be coming to the PC version soon (a few days tops), along with a host of bug fixes.

Hope you pick up the Switch version soon!

I'm awake! Alive! What year is it?!

Oh, it's the one year anniversary of Maiden and Spell's launch! Happy birthday Maiden and Spell.

I've come to you on this momentous occasion to announce that Maiden & Spell is finally heading to the Nintendo Switch, with the help and publishing of none other than Nippon Ichi Software!

Check it out!
https://nippon1.jp/consumer/indie_spirits/maiden_and_spell/



When...? Uhhh, soon! Very soon.

Look for a news post as to the official date, and to this Twitter or this Twitter for more news!


Speaking of more news, Maiden & Spell will also be at a VR event; Indie Maker's Syndicate! Hope to see your avatar there!
https://indiemakersyndicate.com/

Stay safe!

Hello everyone!

Maiden & Spell is 30% off during the Steam Summer Sale!
If you're reading this you probably already have the game... but do all of your friends!?

Just think! Social interaction is precious in these dark times. For the low price of just under 10USD, you could make your best buddy feel obligated to play some online matches with you!



(Or you know, just recommend the game to them if you think they'd like it.)


The Steam Sale comes in the middle of an ongoing Balance Beta we were having in the Discord. I didn't want the majority of the player base playing on a Beta Branch while new players came in from the sale, so for now, I've updated the game to the current place the Beta is at!

There are still things that are a work-in-progress (such as the game's Spanish Translation) but for the most part everything is a bit more balanced out!

Here are the Patch Notes so far! The Beta isn't "over" yet, just on pause for a little bit. We'll continue in a few days!






Novi Fire
-Stand time increased 450ms > 550ms




Lat Dark
-Deadzone decreased 180 > 150
-Attack interval increased 150 > 180
-Speed of bullets increased 9 > 10




Stun Wave
-Fixed online behaviour
-Radius 325px > 335px
-Spawn delay 400ms > 425ms
-Move lock 625 > 650




Sniper Shot
-Max charge is now 550ms for arrow speed and movespeedmult reduction

Knife Juggle
-Now knives will fire almost immediately when focused (500ms vs 2100ms unfocused)




Lat Water
-150ms warning added to beginning of move


----Lich of Flowers---

Lat Life
-Flowers now increase in number as they go out




Sunburst
-Bullet raidus 200px > 240px
-Holding focus will make the move shorten itself

Novi Dispel
-Will no longer apply speed down to opponents with Strong Invincibility




Round start invincibility is now strong invincibility
Strong invincibility visual adjusted slightly