We'd like to discuss the current state and direction of Spaera as we prepare for a 1.0 Release candidate. Ever since we moved away from the Tetris style gameplay, the journey has been filled with ups and downs. We know we have something unique, but we can't, in good faith, release the game as it is. The game's current system doesn't feel completely correct or intuitive. After another stretch of testing and feedback, we think we've identified some key problems and features missing from the game.

One of the hot topics in the Spaera Discord channel is the concept of chain setups. We went through many iterations to see if this was a core mechanic that we could have in Spaera since it is quite fun in other puzzle games, but couldn't really achieve any reasonable form of it with the current system. The problem, we think, stems from complexity and randomness. The current iteration of Spaera demands too much attention from the user. Players have to juggle piece selection from the shared deck, piece placement and color matching of (often complex) pieces, opponent's board and spell state, and their own spell meter. Adding setups to this mix is simply too difficult and impractical.

We still have the luxury of making radical changes during this Steam Early Access phase so in the coming patch that is exactly what we will do. For starters, we will be toning down the amount of difficult shapes. In exchange, we've introduced a new type of block, which in essence, is a "double block".




These blocks need to be cleared twice, but maintains the same color once the first stage is cleared. The "brick-blocks" have also been changed as the clearing mechanics for those are a little too confusing, again adding to the complexity problem. Of course, this is a radical change so balance will be in flux while we continue to tweak but we must say, this new take is very refreshing!

Right now, an experimental build is up on Steam, which can be accessed by right clicking Spaera in the game list, selecting properties, tabbing to "BETAS" and choosing the "experimental- " drop down. Give it a shot, as it doesn't affect your rankings and as always, we're looking for feedback in our discord channel.

Happy Holidays!

Game System Changes

• A new block type that requires clearing twice has been added, dubbed a "double block"
  
• Play Pieces now occasionally spawn with double blocks
  
• Panic mode increases the rate of double block spawns
  
• Brick blocks only require clearing once by proximity now, as opposed to twice. As such, it also falls naturally without
  staying stuck.

Balance Changes

• Pone's "1000 Shattering Fists" has swapped to level 4 and now uses the new Brick Blocks
  
• Pone's "Sky Splitter" has swapped to level 3
  
• Harland's "Tweets of the Afterlife" now uses the new Brick Blocks, but strength of ASCII art has been toned down using a weighted algorithm. Very difficult to clear art now has a lower chance, along with a new type that will actually help opponents. Dice roll away!
  
• Joseph's "Brickinator" has been changed to use Double Blocks

Known Bugs

• Board blocks may animate incorrectly during certain circumstances

We'd like to discuss the current state and direction of Spaera as we prepare for a 1.0 Release candidate. Ever since we moved away from the Tetris style gameplay, the journey has been filled with ups and downs. We know we have something unique, but we can't, in good faith, release the game as it is. The game's current system doesn't feel completely correct or intuitive. After another stretch of testing and feedback, we think we've identified some key problems and features missing from the game.

One of the hot topics in the Spaera Discord channel is the concept of chain setups. We went through many iterations to see if this was a core mechanic that we could have in Spaera since it is quite fun in other puzzle games, but couldn't really achieve any reasonable form of it with the current system. The problem, we think, stems from complexity and randomness. The current iteration of Spaera demands too much attention from the user. Players have to juggle piece selection from the shared deck, piece placement and color matching of (often complex) pieces, opponent's board and spell state, and their own spell meter. Adding setups to this mix is simply too difficult and impractical.

We still have the luxury of making radical changes during this Steam Early Access phase so in the coming patch that is exactly what we will do. For starters, we will be toning down the amount of difficult shapes. In exchange, we've introduced a new type of block, which in essence, is a "double block".




These blocks need to be cleared twice, but maintains the same color once the first stage is cleared. The "brick-blocks" have also been changed as the clearing mechanics for those are a little too confusing, again adding to the complexity problem. Of course, this is a radical change so balance will be in flux while we continue to tweak but we must say, this new take is very refreshing!

Right now, an experimental build is up on Steam, which can be accessed by right clicking Spaera in the game list, selecting properties, tabbing to "BETAS" and choosing the "experimental- " drop down. Give it a shot, as it doesn't affect your rankings and as always, we're looking for feedback in our discord channel.

Happy Holidays!

Game System Changes

• A new block type that requires clearing twice has been added, dubbed a "double block"
  
• Play Pieces now occasionally spawn with double blocks
  
• Panic mode increases the rate of double block spawns
  
• Brick blocks only require clearing once by proximity now, as opposed to twice. As such, it also falls naturally without
  staying stuck.

Balance Changes

• Pone's "1000 Shattering Fists" has swapped to level 4 and now uses the new Brick Blocks
  
• Pone's "Sky Splitter" has swapped to level 3
  
• Harland's "Tweets of the Afterlife" now uses the new Brick Blocks, but strength of ASCII art has been toned down using a weighted algorithm. Very difficult to clear art now has a lower chance, along with a new type that will actually help opponents. Dice roll away!
  
• Joseph's "Brickinator" has been changed to use Double Blocks

Known Bugs

• Board blocks may animate incorrectly during certain circumstances

Based on the feedback and testing from our Discord channel, we are increasing the number of colors in blocks back from 3 to 4. This change should help increase the viability of chain setups by reducing the chance of accidental clears. This version was first made available to our experimental game build, which can be accessed in the Steam Properties page of Spaera. Moving forward, we will be making changes quickly on the experimental build to get feedback. If you would like to be a part of this process, please join the Discord and have some discourse!

• There are now four potential block colors that can show up in pieces.

• Fixed misc. bugs that were causing crashes.
  
• Fixed personal leaderboards not displaying records properly

• Updated the UI for Online Mode selection to match Story Mode UI.

Based on the feedback and testing from our Discord channel, we are increasing the number of colors in blocks back from 3 to 4. This change should help increase the viability of chain setups by reducing the chance of accidental clears. This version was first made available to our experimental game build, which can be accessed in the Steam Properties page of Spaera. Moving forward, we will be making changes quickly on the experimental build to get feedback. If you would like to be a part of this process, please join the Discord and have some discourse!

• There are now four potential block colors that can show up in pieces.

• Fixed misc. bugs that were causing crashes.
  
• Fixed personal leaderboards not displaying records properly

• Updated the UI for Online Mode selection to match Story Mode UI.

We are introducing a tutorial mode that goes over the very basics of the game with this patch. While this probably won't be very useful for most of you who are reading this and are already experts at the game, this hopefully will help ease new players into the game. The mode is currently located under Story mode if you wish to check it out, and we'd greatly appreciate any feedback! As for a more advanced tutorial, that is something we hope to work on at a later date.


One of the feedbacks we've been receiving lately is that the Chain Multiplier mechanic feels more like a distraction and the game would be better off without it.

When we added the Chain Multiplier, it was done in hopes to change large clear setup playstyle from high risk low rewards, to at least high risk high rewards. In Spaera, setups are innately high risk due to the potential threat of opponents' abilities that can wipe away your hard work. Chain Multipliers are supposed to make them more gratifying if someone does decide and manages to pull off a successful setup.

However, that doesn't mean that players should feel like they are punished if they aren't doing chains. We are currently entertaining the thought of removing Chain Multipliers completely, we wanted to try one tweak and also hear your feedback.

• Decreased the number of block clears required to send a line to the opponent from 7 to 6.
  
• 1 chain and 2 chains now share the same multiplier.

Now players are guaranteed to send at least one line every two clears even without chains. This should help end game survival as well as increase the pace of the game.

We are introducing a tutorial mode that goes over the very basics of the game with this patch. While this probably won't be very useful for most of you who are reading this and are already experts at the game, this hopefully will help ease new players into the game. The mode is currently located under Story mode if you wish to check it out, and we'd greatly appreciate any feedback! As for a more advanced tutorial, that is something we hope to work on at a later date.


One of the feedbacks we've been receiving lately is that the Chain Multiplier mechanic feels more like a distraction and the game would be better off without it.

When we added the Chain Multiplier, it was done in hopes to change large clear setup playstyle from high risk low rewards, to at least high risk high rewards. In Spaera, setups are innately high risk due to the potential threat of opponents' abilities that can wipe away your hard work. Chain Multipliers are supposed to make them more gratifying if someone does decide and manages to pull off a successful setup.

However, that doesn't mean that players should feel like they are punished if they aren't doing chains. We are currently entertaining the thought of removing Chain Multipliers completely, we wanted to try one tweak and also hear your feedback.

• Decreased the number of block clears required to send a line to the opponent from 7 to 6.
  
• 1 chain and 2 chains now share the same multiplier.

Now players are guaranteed to send at least one line every two clears even without chains. This should help end game survival as well as increase the pace of the game.

In this patch, we are exploring certain system changes to increase the pace of the game, and the frequency of magic abilities used.

We have been busy restructuring our server architecture to improve stability and better prepare us for upcoming features. While there is still a good amount of work left, we are working towards enabling private match lobbies to support more than 2 players, and spectator mode.

• Increased frequency of pieces containing magic orbs
  
• Changed board to start with 6 rows of garbage blocks
  
• Panic Mode multiplier is now 1.5x when in Panic Mode.

• Fixed a bug that was causing certain assets to display in lower resolutions than intended.
  
• Fixed misc animation glitches.

Since we somehow managed to post the previous patch notes on every place except on Steam, here's the missing patch notes for 0.9.4.0:

Hello All! Today's patch covers mostly quality of life updates and bug fixes surrounding the UI and game animations. The most visible change is the addition of the Drop Shadow, which makes it a lot easier to plan your combos. We know this has been a highly requested feature and we got around to adding it in! We've also tweaked some spells here and there.

• Harland's Orb Eater only takes away exactly one meter, leaving partial meters alone.
  
• Harland's Tweets of the Afterlife has new Pixel Arts!
  
• Joseph's Raging Waters now has a 2x bonus per orb stolen

• Drop Shadow added to current play piece

• Fixed some Leon spell animation glitches
  
• Fixed some animation glitches for Pone's Lava Geyser
  
• Fixed Personal leaderboards. They are now functional again
  
• Fixed some layer issues with some spells

In this patch, we are exploring certain system changes to increase the pace of the game, and the frequency of magic abilities used.

We have been busy restructuring our server architecture to improve stability and better prepare us for upcoming features. While there is still a good amount of work left, we are working towards enabling private match lobbies to support more than 2 players, and spectator mode.

• Increased frequency of pieces containing magic orbs
  
• Changed board to start with 6 rows of garbage blocks
  
• Panic Mode multiplier is now 1.5x when in Panic Mode.

• Fixed a bug that was causing certain assets to display in lower resolutions than intended.
  
• Fixed misc animation glitches.

Since we somehow managed to post the previous patch notes on every place except on Steam, here's the missing patch notes for 0.9.4.0:

Hello All! Today's patch covers mostly quality of life updates and bug fixes surrounding the UI and game animations. The most visible change is the addition of the Drop Shadow, which makes it a lot easier to plan your combos. We know this has been a highly requested feature and we got around to adding it in! We've also tweaked some spells here and there.

• Harland's Orb Eater only takes away exactly one meter, leaving partial meters alone.
  
• Harland's Tweets of the Afterlife has new Pixel Arts!
  
• Joseph's Raging Waters now has a 2x bonus per orb stolen

• Drop Shadow added to current play piece

• Fixed some Leon spell animation glitches
  
• Fixed some animation glitches for Pone's Lava Geyser
  
• Fixed Personal leaderboards. They are now functional again
  
• Fixed some layer issues with some spells

We will be performing scheduled maintenance at 6 pm PDT today. Servers are expected to be down for a few hours as we upgrade them. Online mode will be inaccessible during this time.

We will be performing scheduled maintenance at 6 pm PDT today. Servers are expected to be down for a few hours as we upgrade them. Online mode will be inaccessible during this time.