And the Soundtrack of Pink Gum is on Sale for the first time as well!!!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1899490/Pink_Gum_Soundtrack/

Hi!
We just released a new patch! Except for addressing more bugs, we also included some new info in the game’s stats page - those so inclined can now see for how long they’ve played in-game, and how many levels and narrative events they’ve completed.

Full changelist:
Added more stats to stats page
Fixed issue where game would softlock itself upon loading the credits

Enjoy! :)

Some fixes

As more people make their way through the game and post videos online I've begun to feel somewhat dissatisfied with the AI move decisions and had a few quick ideas to iron out specific issues.

Though I originally intended to release a larger patch with many more features, I decided to rush these initial fixes out quickly since they're extremely important to the gameplay and some players are still in the middle of their playthroughs. So without further delay, here's the new changes!


Patch Download Size

• Windows - 30.7 MB
  
• Mac - 23.2 MB
  
• Linux - 23.8 MB

Changelog

• Added extra detail objects for interior hallways
  
• Fixed rendering bounds for a few characters
  
• AI: Now factors in board state for Spawn Pawn weight
  
• AI: Chance of Spy sacrifice reduced further; based on board state
  
• AI: Makes less mistakes on Normal mode as more pieces get lost
  
• AI: Further adjusted King capture and Spawn weights on each opponent
  
• Added Checkmate indicator UI icon to player status banner

The goal of these AI changes is mainly to make the opponents act more like a human without drastically increasing the difficulty. In doing so, however, this patch probably does make matches a little tougher, particularly towards the endgame as it does a better job saving its King. Like version 1.0.2, this is another breaking change for match guides or walkthroughs.

Previously, certain move types such as Spawning a Pawn would be weighed based on a constant value, adjustable per opponent. This was done for performance and algorithm simplicity reasons, as doing a whole minimax algorithm on these moves would increase the waiting time. But this resulted in some funky moves, particularly when the AI was sure to lose a piece since the average value of all moves becomes negative. In such a scenario, the AI preferred the constant value since it wasn't based on any board state. This resulted in terrible moves which can even ignore King danger and may even cost it the game.

With version 1.0.3, the AI now precalculates an average board weight value by running standard minimax, which is reused for all these "constant value" moves. This is possible thanks to new code that allows for "no move" turns as part of the initial search. So once this search completes, the AI stores that value as a baseline to use for Pawn Spawning and the previous 1.0.2 system that guards against poor Spy moves. This means that if an opponent is about to lose their King, that negative weight is still applied to the Pawn Spawn possibility and it becomes more likely to favor a saving move. This also applies for any sort of piece loss too, not just the King, making the summon Pawn move only likely when the AI deems it is safe to do so.

Finally, there's a new UI icon that pops up under a player banner once they have acquired Checkmate! This should help add clarity to the state of the game and more clearly display which player is ahead in objectives.

That's all for today, and thank you again to everyone that has tried out the game! The launch week is now over but I'll continue to monitor the game for issues and start work on that larger update. If you run into any bugs or have any questions, feel free to post here in the discussions or contact me on Twitter! Enjoy the update :)
-Matt

- The transformation code should now actually work; sorry
- Fixed "Without Not X" not working correctly
- Fixed "Empty Is All" not working

I left for a vacation-ish for a week and a fix I meant to publish before that didn't go through; some levels, such as "Exactly As It Says" in New Adventures, were broken during this. Huge apologies for this mistake.

We've had some great conversations on Discord with the Political Arena community the past few months, providing production updates, answering Qs about the game, talking politics and what games we're playing.



Team Political Arena is a small group, and though production continues apace on our beloved "Resigning-to-spend-more-time-with-my-family-but-actually-I'm-taking-a-lobbying-job" simulator, we don't always have the time to update all our social channels. We're in the process of building out our team to ensure we have more bandwidth to share updates with you, but in the meantime we hope you'll pop into our Discord, where our ability to easily chat with the community allows us to keep in touch when we have free moments between figuring out whether to include bolo ties in character creation and how much algorithmic weight to give to agribusiness lobbyists.

Steam updates, by comparison, are a bit more cumbersome and time consuming. To give you a sense of things, here's a walkthrough of Steam's backend UI.

See you on Discord!

Take control of Chester the pig as you avenge your herd and set out to retrieve the stolen Sacred Carrot. Chester’s Revenge is a heart-pumping, fast-paced 2d action game inspired by old and modern classics such as Cuphead, Mega Man, and Metal Slug.

The Steam Demo goes LIVE on June 13th at 10 AM (PT) and features two epic levels and bosses to battle and conquer. Battle through both Mount Inferno and The Desert of Death.



Whereas he may be the weakest of Rad Ralph's lieutenants, this ancient manticore still packs a lethal sting. Sting Tooth loves to taunt his prey and will talk up a big game before closing in for the kill. He resides within the blistering dunes of the Desert of Death. Sting Tooth will destroy his foes with neverending volleys of lethal stingers and a fiery breath assault that turns flesh into ash.


When it comes to sword fighting, there is no one better than Drago Dinn. So refined are his skills with the blade, that he refers to it as dancing. Residing in the flaming belly of Mount Inferno, this sophisticated snake loves company and dueling. Nothing gets his cold blood boiling more than a good old-fashioned dance-off. Nobody puts Drago in a corner.

Monsters, Puzzles, Battles, Oh My!

We have been in awe of your in-game screenshots, shared online and on our Discord, and decided to have some community fun by challenging you to a screenshot contest! Starting now, and until June 24th at 12 AM CST, you will be able to possibly win prizes for your horrifying DarKnot images taken from our Demo!

To do so, join our Discord and submit your best, scariest screenshot from your DarKnot playthrough, and post it in the submission channel!

The winners will get a 20$ Steam Gift Card, and keys to the exclusive version of our Demo! More information below:

First place:

• 1x Steam Gift Card (20$)
  
• 1x Exclusive Alpha Build Key

Second place:

• 1x Exclusive Alpha Build Key

Third place:

• 1x Exclusive Alpha Build Key

Rules:

• Only one submission per person is allowed.
  
• Small editing/Photoshop is allowed, but do not go overboard! It’s supposed to be a screen capture from your playthrough.
  
• The original image must be created by you, of course. Any stolen screenshots won’t be considered. ALL submissions must be newly created content.
  
• Must be submitted on Discord by June 24th at 12 AM CST in the #submissions channel.
  
• No discussions in the event channel please, but feel free to react to the artist’s posts and show some love! Your reactions will help with the final judging. Any discussions will be deleted from the channel to keep submissions easy to see.
  
• All submissions must follow the server's rules, Steam User Agreement, and Discord Terms of Service.

Get ready everyone! We can’t wait to see what you can capture!

Signing off,

DarKnot Team

Community members! We have an announcement to make.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1911520/Call_to_Arms__Gates_of_Hell_Talvisota/

We will release Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Talvisota this week.
Talvisota adds Finland to the experience, featuring the 3 different wars Finland fought from 1939 to 1945. The amount of content is huge, with the SP campaign, skirmishes, tons of new multiplayer maps, dozens of new Conquest (DCG) maps and much, much more.

Check out the Talvisota content on the store page and hit that wishlist button!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1911520/Call_to_Arms__Gates_of_Hell_Talvisota/

This is a smaller update because I wanted to show off the new Bunker and Teleportal model.

• Added the Bunker model - complete with an interior, and NPCs will now rest on beds inside (ignore the fact that they don't have a sleeping animation yet)!
  
• Added the Teleportal model - with a really cool portal effect. This and the Bunker are larger than the placeholder models, so they may mess up bases with pre-existing bunkers and teleportals.
  
• Added a 3D title screen - it's pretty customize-able too, so I might change the scene depending on your progress.
  
• Added a game over screen. It's barebones, but at least you can't continue playing on 0 health.
  
• NPCs now have hungry (with no food) and dead notifications. Hopefully that'll help you keep them alive, or at least know when they died.
  
• Added controls option.

I recently switched back to Aground Zero from Stardander, so expect more updates to Aground Zero in the coming month!