Over the past few weeks we worked on the recent update which included Shozen and have been working behind the scenes on the new game modes and mobile version of Labyrinth.



The art team drew layout for Adventure mode map; worked on mocked up level, plus made trees and UVs for Forest level; created Wastelander hero card art; created and integrated portrait art for Story mode (tutorial) dialog; created concept art, modeled ruins, and background for Starspire level; completed high and low poly models of Spirit Beast boss and prepared it for rigging; and worked on modeling and animations for Duelist.



The audio team tweaked Sorcerer sounds; fixed and added button sounds; and created sounds for Wastelander.



The design team implementing first pass on new Tutorial and tested the new content; revised tutorial 2 and took a first pass on tutorial 3; mocked up battle outro; completed UI mockup for mobile; worked on spec for Adventure mode, designed its layout and UI.



The engineering team created new Quest choice feature and added new Quest UI art; refactored shell for Adventure mode replays and merged in new UI; worked on star requirements for Adventure Mode; worked on improving deck data around stars, unexplored rooms;worked on non-PvP encounter framework; added dialogs for PvE encounters; integrated and cleaned up the Finite State Machine; made system fixes to accommodate new Story mode; added Story Mode events; made Hero tutorial operational; improved raid shell flow; experimenting with mobile cam & controls; and worked on authentication to Wiki.




We also made a modification to the matchmaking server because although it looks like matches are happening more often for players since the last update, raid credits are still weighted too heavily in the algorithm, so we are scaling back their influence even more. That change went into affect today.

* New Hero: Shozen, the Wanderer
* Manessa nerf - key cards in certain Manessa builds have been changed to encourage a greater diversity of strategies
* Gameplay Revisions - changes to leveling and matchmaking, so new bosses get raided sooner and hopefully matches that are more fair
* DLC Starter Pack added to Steam Store Page
* More card art
* Bug fixes and card balance changes





We have made some changes to matchmaking. The amount you raid now has a smaller influence on how often you are raided back. This should increase the number of players who receive raids overall. There have been a number of balance changes and bug fixes.

* Compressed Level progression to only 5 levels, requiring half as much experience earned as the 15 levels required previously
* Matchmaking now limits maximum weighting of raid credits to increase distribution and frequency of raids
* Matchmaking now uses a single rating rather than separate ratings for Offense and Defense to limit variance




Unlock the power of arcane treasures with a new Hero: Shozen, the Wanderer!

Shozen specializes in the use of equipment, including some he can equip to other Heroes. He also has cards that interact with Equipment in new ways. He comes with 10 Unlockable cards listed below.

Cards Unlocked for Shozen only

* Elemental Repair (Common Utility Spell)
* Spirit Artifact (Rare Healing Offhand)
* Breath of Innervation (Rare Utility Spell)
* Elemental Artifact (Epic Area Weapon)
* Celestial Artifact (Legendary Minion Offhand)

Cards Unlocked by Shozen for Wizardry

* Frostfire Staff (Common Staple Weapon)
* Fire from Ashes (Common Utility Spell)
* Ethereal Compass (Rare Utility Offhand)
* Stormbringer (Epic Multi-Attack Weapon)
* Draw Power (Epic Equipment-Enhanced Attack)




Starter Pack DLC was added to the Steam store. It's meant to be a good deal for new players who would like to help support Labyrinth development. It might even make sense for existing players. The Starter Pack includes Sarkhet, Siegebreaker, and 15 Card Packs for $19.99. If you have Sarkhet or Siegebreaker already, you will get the Gold equivalent. There is a launch discount of 10% right now too.






Card Replacement

* Adolphus' Rare Perk Weapons Expert (+1 Attack for Securitrons, 3 stars) replaced by Security Detail (Securitrons have Provoke, 4 stars)

Card Revisions

* Graven Curse and Death's Presence now add card to hand first time after triggered that hand size is below 7
cards and other abilities that draw cards but are limited by hand size of 7 are now explicit in their text as to limitations
* Essence Extractor is now 4 stars, but lose 1 Health per Amp gained
* Healing Shadow is now 3 stars
* Chain Reaction now just gives Amp regeneration
* Shadow Meditation is now 4 Ticks
* Adolphus and Manessa now run further away from enemies
* Radaghar now has 40 Health
* Annul now checks for Heroes in Windup before playing but costs 2 Ticks
* Essence Shock is now 3 stars
* Lifespeaker is now 3 stars, 7 Health
* Warden of Time is now 3 stars
* Conservation of Time now only gives 1 Tick discount to ally
* Urath, Death's Harvester is now 18 Health
* Freezing Blast text now clarifies that it applies Frozen and Boss won't play it on already Frozen targets
* Magmanura now Activates Lava placement at end of turn
* Rousing Strength now costs 3 Ticks
* Merciless Pull now only adds 1 space per stack to Draw In
* Revised text on Awakened Might to require damage to enemy
* Standalone now costs 4 stars
* Thundering Rage now has Blast 1 and increased by 1 each Tick during Channel instead of Blast 3
* Shattering Impact now costs 2 Ticks
* Raging Destroyer now has a different skin from Siegebreaker
* Summon Shieldbearer now costs 3 ticks
* Eerie Marauder is now 3 stars, 1 armor
* Pale Rider is now speed 3, armor 2
* Molten Heart text was revised and it now triggers at 30 lava
* Eternal Watcher now costs 4 stars

Card Fixes

* Balanced Attack and Moordiar's passive ability were not triggering Gravity Generator
* Blade of the Immortal was being destroyed on Faith caster death
* Hold the Tide was not triggering on 5 hits
* Warriors Onslaught kicker was causing hangs with no enemies adjacent
* Firebolt kicker was giving draw to target instead of self
* Chilling Growl was fading on end of Windup for Heroes in Windup when it was played
* Ruthless Subdual with Subdue was triggering as an Attack card instead of a Spell
* Heart of Primeval was over-triggering on attacks with multiple actions , also text was fixed
* Warden of Time passive was affecting Equipment use
* Upgraded Charge wasn't increasing Dynomine damage
* Elemental Infusion, Heartseeker, Hold the Tide, Talisman of Ikiki, Necromotivator, Shadow Meditation and Pray to the Void were exceeding hand size of 7
* Staff of Destruction was not triggering equip abilities and perks

Over the past two weeks, we made the following progress:

The Engineering team fixed reward receipts; created matchmaking for Explore mode; added nobody home fallbacks; worked on controls for mobile version; brought aspects of mobile build back up to date; matchmaking; continued to refactor the UI shell; created Explore mode UI shell; and started implementing Quest 2.0 features.

The Art team worked on animations for Duelist; fixed Sazama animation, skinned the Collector; created ad art; worked on card art; layed out Explore mode map; and started art for Spirit Beast forest level.

The Audio team reworking audio for Siegebreaker level and battle mode screen.

The Design team updated analytics to account for the new boss, Siegebreaker; worked on the second draft of Korghan tutorial and 2 encounters for Lavella; worked on content for tutorials; and added the Wastelander cards and passive ability.


* New Hero - a Wizardry equipment master
* Manessa Nerf
* Changes to leveling and a reset to matchmaking, so new bosses get raided sooner
* More card art
* Bug fixes

Paaaaatch

Gameplay Revisions

* Using Equipment (Weapon or Offhand) no longer counts as card play, but equipping them still does
* AI with extra movement will not make multiple moves, but act after first move

Card Fixes

* Text on Firebolt was missing Focus kicker
* Disintegrate with Focus kicker was destroying all enemies (even the boss!)
* Aspect of Ix permanent damage was not stacking properly
* Persistence engine was triggered by playing multiple attacks on same turn rather than only when hitting multiple targets with same attack

Card Revisions

* Ace of Warriors now technically triggers on Attack cards *or* Weapons (which are no longer counted as cards), but is practically unchanged
* Replicate is now a 4 Tick Windup, but copies the Minion with highest Health
* Essence Shock now gives a 1 Tick discount to the next Attack card played per Minion that has died since the last Attack card played
* Venomfang Queen and Urath, Death's Harvester now have range 2 to prevent using Heroes using small Minions as blockers

Backer Rewards

* If you had or are having problems, please re-enter your code that starts with "BK:" and that should automatically correct things. If not let us know.
* Unless it is for card packs--those have expired. Ask us for new ones.
* Other rewards coming later once they are ready.

Facebook Ads

We started a small ad test campaign on Facebook to get our feet wet with promoting Labyrinth. Please share and let us know if you have any feedback on the ads. Here is one of them:

* New boss
* DVR style replay controls
* Improved Battle log
* Card and gameplay changes
* Added some card art
* Bug fixes


The Engineer's Guild's ultimate war machine strides into the fray, shattering whole armies with its combination of brawn and firepower. Armed with two fist-mounted battering rams and a head-mounted cannon, the Siegebreaker employs some of the Guild's most advanced technical achievements. Where and when the Guild chooses to deploy their technological terror is something that few outside the inner circle can predict, but wherever it arrives, it will surely steer the course of Hylea's wars toward the conclusion that best serves the interests of the Starfall's secretive masters.

The Siegebreaker combines Mechanical and Giant traits for the first time, offering a host of powerful new card combinations. Also, when the Siegebreaker takes 6 or more damage from an attack, he activates his defense grid by summoning an Arc Node. Left unchecked, these structures render swaths of the board uninhabitable. Combine this ability with other Traps to put maximum pressure on your opponent's board position, or use it to corner them into devastating attacks like Crush--the possibilities are vast.




We have improved the replay controls so they aren't just pause and resume, but now they are more like DVR controls: restart playback, pause playback, card by card playback (click to continue), continuous playback, skip to end, and exit replay. Plus you can click on any tick on the timeline and jump to that point in the replay.



Want to repeat a particular sequence to see how two cards combined? Now you can. Also, you can now fast forward to the end or rewind to the beginning of a replay with a single button click, allowing you to watch a particularly awesome replay again without having to return to the menu.

Hopefully this will help you learn how to improve both your boss and hero decks, as well as get screenshots at just the right moment. You might even notice more bugs with the cards. If you do, please let us know.


Along with replay, we've improved the Battle Log to help players better understand the flow of the game. Minor actions like Minion attacks and triggered abilities like Counterstrike now appear in the Battle Log as minimized icons. This change puts more importance on cards and makes the log much easier to understand at a glance. In addition, we now display the Tick number within the Battle Log, so you can easily understand the sequence of actions and find specific events much more quickly.

Remember you can scroll the Battle Log and hero and boss actions are color coded.


* Triggers with "at or less than half Health" now round down


* After Boss reshuffles hand and trash on empty deck, draw to hand of 3 like start of battle
* Bosses now ignore Stealth enemies when deciding to play cards
* AI now ignore adjacent Stealth enemies when deciding where to move
* Bleeds no longer fade on death of caster who applied them
* Offense Tutorial 3 hang on return after certain Retreat or Disconnect circumstances


* Vestige of the Fallen King now acts and spends Durability passively like Thirsting Axe, has 3 Durability
* Firebolt now has a Focus 5 kicker to draw a card
* Winter Amulet now has equip and use cost and Durability like Brimstone Tome
* Go for the Throat now +1 damage, only 1 star
* Arm with Magicks now results in the target Minion taking 1 more Tick to act
* Geist Charged Arsenal now +1 Attack, only 2 stars
* Violent Impact now does 6 damage
* Blistering Blast now does 7 damage
* Strength of Steel now 3 stars
* Awakened Might now 4 stars
* Shrine of Gilgarra now does not trigger on Lair summons


* Placeholder card art now matches attack type consistently
* Removed vestigial Ranged and Melee tags on attacks that have changed type from earlier releases
* Cards that draw a card now work when hand is full
* Opaline Ossuary now triggers consistently
* Rictus Mask no longer targeting already dead targets
* Lightdrinker kicker damage now correct, was 1 too high
* Horn of the Spiritcaller cost increase on Kindled Spirit now working
* Dissipate no longer counters Windups when played on their last Tick
* Disintegrate kicker no longer ignores Stealth
* Relocate now works on Stealthed friendly Hero after 5 Focus
* Arcane Abomination now works as written even for Windup Boss cards
* Essence Shock attack buff now only occurs on attack not between turns
* Magma Surge damage now fixed, not an attack
* Chilling Invocation now indicates that it's a Windup on the card
* Cascade of Stone and Freezing blast now draw a card as written
* All Defense cards that give Attack Power gain now trigger Strength of Steel
* Essence of Fear now correctly describes its Stealth Warcry
* Reborn Champion and Spirit Warleader now act on the Tick after summoning


* Memory related crash many experienced in the last update made with Unity 5.6.0 may have been fixed with the upgrade to Unity 5.6.2. Please let us know if you encounter a problem.
* Hang in tutorial some players experienced, usually in the 3rd level of the intro tutorial, is fixed.
* Backer reward bugs should all be fixed now. If you are had or are having problems, please re-enter your code and that should automatically correct things.
* Many other minor bugs were fixed.


Summer Update I seemed to have pretty good balance overall. A few times certain bosses grew in strength for a few days and then returned to the group after people figured out how to beat the strategies being used. Only in the last 5 days has Manessa grown both in strength and popularity for more than a few days. We are making some adjustments to nerf her slightly.

July 23


Notice how Manessa's popularity (Total %) and strength (Win/Loss) grows from 11% and 0.66 to almost 18% and 1.45 over 5 days? Moving both to the right and up for a period exceeding 4 days seems to indicate players adopting decks that may be unbalanced.

July 27


Over the weekend players figured out how to beat the strong Manessa decks, so her win/loss rate came in quite a bit. Although she stayed stronger slightly longer than typical, this is a good indication that she is not too far out of balance.

July 30


There are some quite lurkers as well, like Adolphus, which like Manessa could become very hard to beat. With the addition of Siegebreaker, the whole balance of the meta will change and we will continue monitoring daily. Because there are new cards other bosses can use as well, we will be on the look out for that too.

24 Attack, but just 1 Health



Over the last 2 weeks we worked on the tasks below in addition to getting this update released.

* The engineering team improved the action feed; worked on the server for Explore mode; added stairs and boss camps to Explore mode; fixed some UI bugs; and refactored some underlying UI code.

* The art team worked on ad art; completed modelling of the Siegebreaker level; created animations for the Duelist; and created card art.

* The design team revised Siegebreaker cards for balance; worked on content for Story mode, adding content for Lavella, Rohin, and Renna tutorials; researched using Snowflake for analytics; and made changes to equipment for Explore mode.

Could you please give us your opinion on some sample screenshots we may use to promote Labyrinth?

https://discordapp.com/channels/151388100159864833/260902816569098251?jump=337405173586722816

The next update in a few weeks will include:

* New Boss
* DVR-like controls for watching replays
* Improvements to the Battle Log




Next week, Labyrinth will debut at San Diego Comic Con in the Dell Booth. The Dell Booth is shared with PC Gamer and is #241 on the map. The booth is located in the wing where most of the video game booths reside. There will be several computers set up on which visitors can play Labyrinth. Postcards with keys for 5 free card packs will be given away. The booth will be open to all during regular hall hours (9:30am – 7:00pm Thurs – Sat, 9:30am – 5:00pm Sun, starting on July 20). If you happen to be attending, please stop by!



To celebrate Comic Con, Chris Scholz (CEO) and Bradley Fulton (Creative Director) will appear on the Skybound live Twitch stream at 12:00-12:30 am on Thursday, July 20 to talk about Labyrinth. Join the stream for a chance to win some free card packs and maybe even a hero or boss!

https://www.twitch.tv/skybound

Also, we are starting advertising on a small scale to test the waters as we build out infrastructure to promote Labyrinth in a focused way once the game exits Early Access. The first ads will appear on Facebook late next week and we will expand from there. If you happen to see them, please share them with your friends.




There still is no dominate strategy and a fair among of churn as players try out different bosses. Roggix has fallen in popularity and in the last 4 days, Radaghar has emerged as a popular and relatively powerful boss. A few people have discovered a very powerful Giant Queen build. Right now Oros is unloved, but there is potential for a deadly build.




Since the last update, the team has been working adding new content, a big feature, and the new game mode.

* The Engineering team worked on replay UI, Battle Log, and new Explore mode, getting it ready for testing; started implementing ad optimization system; plus worked on shops integration and unifying accounts for mobile version.
* The Art team worked on card art; created art for Siegebreaker level; and worked on art for ad campaign.
* The Design team installed and tested Siegebreaker, revising for balance.

Sazama Video

As an orphan, Sazama was taken in by the warrior monks of a remote temple on the haunted borderlands of Akeya and raised as an instrument of silent justice. She stealthily closes on her targets before dispatching them with her Kyoketsu-shoge and melting into shadow. Sazama makes use of Stealth, which we have given new rules:

* A character with Stealth cannot be targeted by attacks
* Area attacks and attacks with random targets can still hit a character with Stealth
* When the character attacks, it loses Stealth
* Stealth can also have a duration, depending on the ability that grants it

Sazama also unlocks 5 unique cards that only she can use, and 5 cards that you may put in any Skulduggery hero's deck, including one that gives other Skulduggery heroes Stealth.


Incinerate your foes in style with the Scarlet Sorceress skin for Renna. Also found in the Store.


Ranked mode has been removed. It just wasn't working well and our addition of crowns caused more problems than it solved. Since we are working on an awesome new competitive mode to replace it, instead of spending the engineering resources to try to make Ranked better for a short time, we decided it is more expedient to turn it off. More details will be provided on the new mode in a future update.

The 2nd Boss slot from Casual has been removed. With the current player base, the matchmaking algorithm tends to ignore low level bosses if one boss is level 15 and the other is not. So, the low level bosses never got a chance to gain experience. With only one boss slot, you should be able to level up your bosses more steadily.


We've rewritten the way that bosses draw their cards to make the rules more consistent and eliminate some outlying experiences that were sometimes not fun.

The old rules for boss card draw:

* At the start of each of their turns, the boss would shuffle their deck and draw until they had three-card hand.
* One card in hand was selected at random, and the boss would attempt to play it.
* If the boss couldn't play a card, (for instance, if it had no valid targets), they would discard it and try to play another card.
* If the boss had no cards left after trying this three times, it would guard until the next turn, when it would repeat the process.

The new rules for boss card draw:

* Like heroes, bosses start the game with a 2-card hand, and draw a single card on odd ticks.
* One card in hand is selected at random, and the boss attempts to play it. If the boss can't play that card, it will try another until it has tried every card in hand.
* If none of the cards in hand are playable, the boss will Guard.
* When the boss tries to draw a card and the deck is empty, the boss discards their hand and the deck is reshuffled. They then draw a new card.




We've made numerous improvements to the card pool based on feedback from the community and our own continued playtesting. In particular, we have focused on an extensive rework of the Elemental trait for bosses.

When laying out the 8 core boss traits, we assigned a particular strategy for each. Our original vision for Elemental is that it would be set apart from the other summoner traits in the way it handled its minions. The intention was to give Elemental minions a range of unique abilities, as if the summoner was casting spells that take physical form. In our initial execution, this idea did not come across as we hoped. Elemental bosses tended to feel like ordinary summoners, and there was heavy mechanical overlap with Spirit and Mechanical. In addition, Elemental also suffered from build diversity, as almost of its Perk cards were dedicated to supporting summoner builds, leaving little support for standalone and hybrid builds.

In this release, we have significantly changed many Elemental cards, with a particular focus on the summon spells and Perks. We've introduced a new keyword called Volatile that will primarily show up on Elemental minions. When a Volatile minion attacks, it dies. This keyword is often paired with a Last Words ability, and evokes the ephemeral nature of Elemental minions. It also allows us to give Elemental bosses efficient summons without choking up the board with small minions and creating megaswarm builds, which are more the purview of Spirit and Mechanical. We've also redesigned many of the Perks to support other kinds of builds.

New Cards

* Searing Blood (Fireheart unlock)
* Eternity of Earth (Elemental)
* Transmute to Frost (Elemental)
* Transmute to Stone (Elemental)

Removed Cards

Note that if you had any of the old cards that have been removed in your collection, you have been compensated with their crafting value in Stardust.

* Kiss of Fire (Elemental)
* Density of Stone (Elemental)
* Chill of Ice (Elemental)
* Rush of the First Wind (Elemental)

Fixes

* Kylee passive ability triggering as intended
* Rebirth Devotion kicker healing to target max Health not caster's
* Bag of Endless Things no longer spending Amps
* Hold the Tide triggering on fifth attack
* Warpriest's Inscription Balanced Attack still playable at max Fury (for no additional Fury)
* Vengeant Strike damage corrected
* Aether Crucible working as written
* Mindless Golem acting first time on Tick 1 instead of Tick 5 and removing Ticks correctly
* Arcane Abomination registering Attack bonus from Windups properly
* Synchronicity triggering on time
* Violent Impact damaging targets with Tenacity as intended
* Time Keeper no longer discounting Channels
* Killing Zha, Which Eats the Sun satisfies Caster Boss quest
* Tooltip cards for Elemental minions summoned via Channel have their stats instead of Boss stats
* Essence Shock registers multiple kills at once
* Essence Storm no longer hangs due to losing all Minions during Windup
* Gilgarra's Mantle triggering correctly
* Queen of the Northern Wastes spawning in correct spot
* Clockwork Beast card text reflects ability timing
* Mine Securitrons receive bonuses from Weapons Expert and Upgraded Chassis
* Doomsday Machine spawns with same health as Great Experiment had at time of transformation
* Pull Through the Veil no longer triggers Eternal Renewal
* Offense Tutorial Tinderheart playing multiple cards instead of repeating

Gameplay Revisions

* Bosses draw and hold hands of cards the same way Heroes do, but with 10 card decks that reshuffle both their remaining hand and used cards into their deck when it is empty (Hero decks do not reshuffle)
* Stealth prevents all targeting except Random and Area effects
* Delay is called Ambush, but works the same
* Tenacity ignores movement restrictions of Provoke
* Bosses and Minions that seek out weak targets will not make unnecessary moves if target is in range already
* Boss Cone and Line attacks are all Windups and target spaces rather than enemies, so can be dodged
* Minions summoned during battle spawn near enemies
* Minions summoned via Channel or by another Minion's Activate ability spawn next to summoner
* Minions that have Activate summons do so at end of turn to prevent the spawn from blocking their paths
* Frozen now adds a Tick during Frozen instead of at end, still does not stack

Card Revisions

* Death's Presence is now a Perk that, upon half Health, gives Sarkhet an Enhancement that does what Death's Presence used to do
* Leaden Javelin Piercing is now Focus-triggered
* Dissipate now counters Attack cards but not Channels or Windups
* Roggix now sprays only 4 Lava when damaged by an attack
* Anvil of Elements cost reduced because its Flamehammer Enhancement now heals only 1 per turn
* Armorcraft Armor buff has Duration 5, does not stack
* Flayed Hunter no longer has Fleetfoot, has Stealth until attacking, then regains Stealth when attacked
* Breath of the Sun and Zha Which Eats the Sun attack are Windup 2
* Swipe is Cone 2, Windup 1
* Vicious Claws also gives +1 Armor until next turn
* Deepcrag Lurker has 11 Health
* Direwolf has 16 Health, gains attack on Boss Attack card instead of Boss summons
* Chilling Growl also restores 3 Health
* Charging Bovak has 7 Health
* Forked Lightning is an Air Attack
* Arm with Magicks is a Frost and Earth Enhancement
* Shape from Stone is an Earth Spell, Stone Bodyguard is an Earth Construct
* Deathsparks have 2 Health
* Fire Elemental has 5 Attack, 3 Health
* Frozen Sentinel has 0 Attack, 5 Health and Provoke, no Last Words
* Ember Hounds, Skystalkers, and Raging Cyclasms have Speed 1 and are Volatile, meaning they die upon attacking
* Fire Golem has 14 Health
* Earth Golem (Pull from Earth) has 3 Attack, 5 Health, and heals the Boss 3 per turn instead of providing Shield
* Magmanura has 4 Attack, 3 Health and places Lava in Blast 1 on Activate, not Last Words
* Power from All-Matter is an Earth, Air, Frost, and Fire Spell
* Harness the Winds and Kindle the Hounds are now Channel summons, one per Tick
* Whirling Embers now extends the length of Kindle the Hounds Channel, does not modify Ember Hounds
* Skystalkers now add 1 Tick to enemy on attack, no Last Words
* Unstable Core Last Words only Blast 1, Add 1 Tick
* Ignited Hounds no longer affects Kindle the Hounds, but removes Volatile from Ember Hounds so they don't die on attack
* Blistering Belch is now Blistering Blast and a shared Elemental card that is a Fire and Air attack with Cone 7, Windup 3
* Feed on Fire is now a Perk that restores 1 Health when Fire Minions die
* Roaring Flame now gives +1 Attack to Fire Minions instead of +1 Health
* All-Matter Golem has Attack 7, Health 7, Speed 4, Armor 2
* Killbot and Cannoneer have 6 Health
* Bushwacker has Warcry - This gains Stealth until it attacks
* Mighty Phantasm has Health 7, Attack 7
* Murderous Might also gives +1 Health to Mighty Phantasm
* Spirit of Justice has 10 Health
* Spirit Warleader has Armor 1
* Swiftsteed Rider has 10 Health


Backers who get a Defense loot bonus as part of their reward tier may have noticed that their bosses are not gaining any additional Stardust. We fixed this bug, but it requires you to reenter your backer code. An additional email will be sent to affected players as a reminder.


Since the last update on on June 6, we started working towards a 3 week cycle for updates. If we can stick to this cadence, each update will be a bit smaller in terms of technical changes, but still have the same amount of content added as in previous updates. We are still working on big changes too, but are trying not to let those stop us from hitting the 3 week cycle goal. Bugs might still cause delays, but with smaller changes, hopefully the bugs are fewer.


The graph shows the 4-day moving average of bosses in Casual mode based on their strength (Win/Loss Ratio) and popularity (% Total of encounters). Although the June Update released on June 6, the data starts on June 10 because 4 full days of data is required for the moving average.



We were targeting a 0.5 win/loss ratio for bosses this update. Although it is difficult to see, 0.5 is exactly where Kairon ends up on June 28. Although Roggix seemed to be preferred both in strength and popularity, he did not dominate; and even at the end of this period, the mechascorpion makes a surprise surge in power because someone discovered a stronger deck for it. All the movement suggests a robust meta this past update.

With the changes to the Elemental cards, it will be interesting to see the affect on the meta. Throwing a new hero in the mix, Sazama, may also cause players to seek new new strategies for their bosses.




If you experience any of these bugs, please send an output log file to us. Here is how to find the output log file: http://i.imgur.com/LA3Roxu.png

* A crash may occur in the Deck Builder or shortly thereafter in-game. We believe that this is related to known bugs in the version of Unity that we are using. We have tried to add workarounds where we can and plan to update Unity for the next update.
* Players may get stuck at the beginning of the 3rd Tutorial level or in other places in the tutorial
* Being in Stealth may cause a hang if that hero is the last one alive.


Besides was was described above the team has been working on the following since the last progress report.

The art team completed the Shadow Boss; worked on concept art for the Ardelon level; created the Scarlet Sorceress skin for Renna and its anims; and created more card art.

The design team created cards for the Ninja; added the Stealth keyword; designed and revised Elemental cards; made changes to how Boss hands work; created content for new tutorials (aka Story mode); working on the differentiation of Immobile vs Tenacious keywords; and lots of iteration and balance testing.

The engineering team added the concept version of "Explore" mode to the development build and worked on its matchmaking; worked on crash protection; worked on replay UI; and removed Ranked mode.

(And before we get ahead of ourselves, scroll down to read about Backer Rewards!) We are hard on ourselves and sometimes players are hard on us too. It's nice to hear positive words after a major update. Below is a selection from a few players. Thank you all for the criticism and the praise. Both motivate us to make Labyrinth better.

"you really improved the balancing, it feels WAY better now and I can take a lot of these points back and I'm motivated to play again." -traumspieler

"the joy that I'm experiencing in playing Labyrinth after the most recent update has increased SIGNIFICANTLY!" - HallowHawkshaw

"I've been trying it for a few days now and it got more balanced, it's true. I lose in defense, which I don't mind because at least I wasn't there using my time to lose those battles XD. You nerfed some of the best hero cards, but that's ok, they were overpowered, especially the warrior ones. I hope you keep up with the good job, this game is awesome in many aspects, especially art and mechanics." -gaballufix




- Unreadable text on Lifespark Last Words buff
- Highlight preview on Cloud of Steel
- Bag of Endless Things no longer spending Amps
- Rebirth with Devotion spend healing to max target Health now instead of caster max Health
- Mine Securitrons now receive bonuses from Weapons Expert and Upgraded Chassis
- Provoked debuff no longer removing movement from targets with Tenacity
- Eternal Renewal no longer triggering on Pull Through the Veil
- Gilgarra's Mantle now triggering even if target of Attack card dies
- Vengeant Strike damage now matches card text
- Shockwave with Violent Impact Perk no longer ignoring targets with Tenacity for damage
- Lifespark and Deathspark suicide abilities now working until dead instead of just on first Tick, added text to Deathspark regarding this
- Doomsday Machine now summons with same Health that Great Experiment had before summoning


- Rousing Strength now costs 2 Ticks
- Armorcraft Armor buff now lasts 5 Ticks, only stacks Duration
- Visuals on Stomp and Titan's now more appropriate to names
- Removed range text from Pounce to prevent confusion as to targeting of attack




Last update's report was exceedingly long because of all the changes and several important items fell through the cracks. Here are the things we forgot to mention:

Return of Stardust

We removed 48 cards from the set. Although there isn't any pop-up screen in the game telling you which cards were removed from your collection, we granted you the Stardust disenchant value for each card removed from your collection, so you can rebuild your collection. This Stardust is temporary for use during Early Access and will not be part of a refund when we reset accounts when Labyrinth exits Early Access.

This award of Stardust is not related to the previous miscalculation during the April 13 Hero/Boss Store Update, which has already been accounted for as described in a previous report.

Gold Cap

Earning gold is now capped at 70 wins per week, resetting Sunday midnight UTC. This affects approximately 2% of players.

Card Draw

Cards are now drawn and placed in your hand on odd ticks unless a card modifies that.

Easier Bosses

This last updated indeed nerfed the bosses, however many people have not yet reset their boss decks and are running decks that had cards which we removed, so they are incredibly weak. Update your boss decks for more of a chance to win.

Some top players already have very strong Bosses, so it is possible to find new combos that are hard to beat.

Request for Feedback

What do you think about the game balance now? Please tell us in Discord and the Steam Discussion forum. We think we may have gone overboard on making it easy, but are interested in hearing your opinions. Please let us know now and in a week or two once people figure out the new card set.

Partial Victories for Bosses

In addition to 5 Stardust per hero plus 5 more for killing all 3, Bosses will also generate 5 Stardust from players who retreat right away. Players who give up and retreat later in the encounter will count as the Boss killing all 3.

Reminder about Getting Raided

If you haven't played for awhile and just recently returned to the game and played a lot, but your boss hasn't been raided, you may have been raided a lot while you were away and amassed negative raid credits. You will need to raid a lot to burn those off and then you will start seeing raids again.

Also raids on your Boss won't be instant, in some cases they come bunched up a couple days after you play a lot.




An email with your key was sent to you. If you didn't receive it please check your spam and promotions folder. If you find it there, please mark it as not spam to help future rewards get through.

This set of backer rewards only includes backer badges, offense and defense loot bonuses, and 5 card packs per week (non-giftable variety) rewards. Each key will unlock the appropriate rewards for your tier. Other rewards will be distributed in the future.

Discipline Specific Card Packs for Completing the Introductory Tutorial




There is a rare crash bug. We have seen it 4 times in total. If you experience a crash, please send us your output log file. How to find the output log file: http://i.imgur.com/LA3Roxu.png


We've mainly been working on this patch for the last week, but the following progress was made on the main line.

- The engineering team improved replay UI and worked on unit stats.
- The art team roughed in Blaster level art, textured the shadow boss, and created concept art for Ardelon level.

What's New

Card Set Rebalanced
New Perk System
Crowns in Ranked
Partial Wins for Bosses
New Boss: Celestial Giant
Change in Free Bosses
Unlock Cards Shown in Store
Discipline Card Packs for Completing Tutorial
Hero/Boss Price Change
New Item: Korghan Skin
Backer Rewards

Rebalance

In the last update, our goal was to re-establish the difference between the abilities that affect health: melee attacks, ranged attacks, and healing. The efficiency of ranged attacks and healing abilities were reduced to account for their greater flexibility. This mostly affected Heroes, which reduced their overall damage output, and as a result the balance of the game shifted in the direction of Bosses. Our data have shown that since the last update, both Heroes and Bosses were winning about 50% of the time. In another game, this might be the ideal balance, but because of the nature of Labyrinth's asymmetrical gameplay, we feel that the active human player should be winning more often that not. All things being equal, this means that the overall balance should favor Heroes. We've spent the last month doing a thorough pass on the card pool to shift things back toward the Heroes. We've also identified and corrected some outlier cards that were way above the curve in terms of power level.

We've also made a significant number of changes to the basic (free) cards. Our intent is to further simplify the cards that players are first exposed to in order to reduce the complexity of the game in the first several hours of play. Some of the staples have been moved from basic to common, and simpler versions have taken their place at basic. Other staples have been kept at common in a simplified form, but may be modified with Perks to regain their original complexity (and sometimes gain new power.) These changes should help new players understand the game a bit better, and grow into the complexity of the game over a longer period.

Perks

We have also taken a fresh look at Perks. Our experience showed that common perks had kind of a clunky role within the card pool. Some of them were very powerful and were crafted by players early, but then those same players would later open several duplicates that were only good for Stardust. In general, it wasn't clear what made a Perk common or some other rarity. We've introduced a new keyword: Stack. Stack is always accompanied by a number. You may add a number of copies of a Perk with Stack equal to the Stack number. From now on, common Perks will generally have Stack. Higher rarities may also have Stack, but its main home is common. To go with the new keyword, we've designed a new suite of Perks at common. Most of these new cards modify specific spells. Our intent is evoke the feel of adventurers leveling up their key skills and abilities. Perks that affect the whole deck have been shifted to higher rarities, which is a better place for powerful, "build-around" cards. The big-picture goal is to make common Perks more collectible, and have their own role within the design.

Ranked

As active players in Ranked mode are probably aware, there have been several ongoing issues with Ranked mode in the time since it was introduced. Some of these issues have to do with the unique nature of Labyrinth's matchmaking. Traditional ladder systems assume that gameplay is symmetrical, but Labyrinth isn't. This results in some strange dynamics, as players rocket to the top of the ranks based on the performance of their Heroes, and their Bosses make very little contribution.

With this update, we have added a new (experimental) feature to Ranked play: Crowns. Crowns are similar to Skulls, but with a few key differences:

* In order to gain a rank, you need to gain a Skull when you have both the maximum number of Skulls and Crowns for your current rank.
* You earn Crowns only with Boss victories or partial victories (battles where you have at least 1 Hero kill.)
* Unlike Skulls, Crowns are not lost by losing games.
* When you lose a rank, you lose the Crowns for that rank.

The purpose of Crowns is give Bosses more input into a player's ranked performance. We also hope to slow down progression through the ranks, which will hopefully improve the quality of matches. This is an experimental feature as we figure out the best way to combine the two modes of the game into a single competitive experience.

Partial Wins

There are now partial wins for bosses. So, if a boss kills a hero they will get 5 Stardust, even if the heroes kill the boss. If the boss kills all the heroes, it will get an additional 5 Stardust, for a total of 20 Stardust.



New Boss: Kairon, the Watcher (Celestial Giant)

We welcome our eighth Boss to the battlegrounds of Labyrinth! Kairon, the Watcher is a servant of Nethra, the god of Time, and stands guard over his domain on Urix, the most distant and mysterious of the planets. Kairon has the Celestial and Giant traits, giving him a range of some of the most powerful spells and minions in the game.

With the addition of Kairon, we have completed the first eight Bosses, and now have a set that gives you two different choices for each boss Trait. Starting later in the summer, we plan to release a new set that adds a third boss for each Trait. We will release more details as those patches approach, so watch for future updates!



Unlock Cards Shown in Store

Now you can see all the cards that you are getting before purchasing a hero or boss. After selecting a hero or boss in the store, click on the 'More Info' button to see the list of cards.

Discipline Card Packs for Completing Tutorial

We have replaced the 3 random booster packs that we were giving as a reward for new players completing the introductory tutorial with 4 random Discipline specific card packs. This change gives more options for new players in deck building early in the game.

Hero/Boss Price Change

Thank you to everyone who purchased one of the new heroes or bosses. We appreciate your supporting Labyrinth development while it is in Early Access. In order to run Labyrinth as a free to play game that can sustain its operating costs and better cover the cost of development for a given hero or boss and their associated level-up cards, we have increased both the cash and Gold prices of the non-basic heroes and bosses. Heroes and Bosses are now 2900 Gold and $9.99 USD.



Skins! Korghan the Reckless

Give Korghan a new look! The Korghan the Reckless skin--the younger version of Korghan Twice-Born, how he looked in his first life--is available in the store for 2000 Stardust or $4.99 USD. After purchasing, go to My Decks, select Korghan Twice-Born under Heroes, and then click on the 'Skins' button in the bottom center of the screen. After that, you can toggle the available skins in the window on the left.

Backer Rewards

Emails with codes for certain backer rewards will be sent out later this week. After redeeming the code, backers will have a nice green "K" in front of their in-game name.



Known Issues

Warfare Epic Hold the Tide provides +2 Armor but does not trigger the Turn the Tide card being added to hand after five attacks.



Development

Since last week the team completed the following items.

The engineering team worked on caching inventory for mobile; optimized opening packs for mobile; worked on saving Explore mode data to database and messaging back and forth from server; and cleaned up highlights.

The art team created elemental caster; created card art; added animations to Blaster; textured Pyro skin; worked on shadow boss; and created animation for Blaster's ranged attack.

The audio team fixed a crossfading issue.

The design team revised lair slots; changed card rules; and created content for Explore mode.