Poglings - Yojoyco


The Kickstarter campaign for Poglings starts TODAY until May 11th! You can get 36% off the game for the first 48 hours! (also limited quantity, whichever comes first!)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yojoyco/poglings/


Also, don't miss out on the special physical limited "First Hatch Edition" available for Nintendo Switch. After the Kickstarter is over this special version will never be available again, and other kickstarter exclusives like beta access!

See you in the Wild Vine Islands!
Clanfolk - Blorf

Hi Everyone,

The Hunters and Hunted Update has Arrived!

I am thrilled to get this update moved to the default branch. It has been an intense 10 weeks, with the testing branch participants being true heroes finding tonnes of bugs and giving great suggestions. I really can't thank them enough.

There were so many new emergent behaviors with the new Hunting, Sneaking, and Predator interactions that there is no way that I could have gotten all this working on my own.

Note: Anyone can join the testing branch under Clanfolk/Properties/Betas. If you do join, expect bugs, and if you find any, please report them here or on Discord. It makes Clanfolk better for everyone.

Lets get right to the details :)


Hunting Upgrades

Hunters can now Sneak and no longer chase prey around the map. Instead, they will wait for alerted prey to calm down before approaching so they can get a better shot.

Hunters are also able to back away from prey to ensure that the prey does not notice them. They can be quite stealthy now.

Hunters have a critical hit chance with bows. The base chance is 5% but increases to 15% at level 10, and can be as high as 24% at level 18 if there is an 8x affinity hunter. (Legolas) Critical hits do 3x damage.

Bow damage also increases with Hunting skill as the Hunter will hit better spots on the target. A level 10 Hunter will do 3x the damage of a level 1 hunter. Note: these numbers are subject to tuning.

Movement speed when Hunters sneak is now improved as the Hunting Skill increases

Visibility range for sneaking hunters is lowered as the Hunting Skill increases

Added new Hunter task to Finish Off Hunted animals that have been downed, instead of firing arrows at them.

Flee Task now reads flee visibility to allow good sneakers/hunters to get a lot closer before startling the prey.

Hunters now gain hunting skill points as they sneak to get close to prey


Alert System

Animals now have an Alerted State. When Alerted, animals will sense danger from 2x as far away as normal.

Alerts are triggered from animals fleeing nearby, or the sound of an arrow impacting on the ground in the area. So when a hunter is sneaking and gets too close to their prey, the hunter may be seen and trigger an alert. This causes the prey to flee which then alerts all other nearby animals and the flee will propagate to them as well. It looks quite natural and can make hunting trips quite interesting.

Hunters are aware of alert ranges and will also back off when prey are alerted so they do not need to follow them across the map.

The higher the hunting skill, the closer the hunter can get before triggering an alert in the prey.


Better Fleeing

Fleeing needed an upgrade with the new predators coming online. How fleeing generally happens is that an Alert will be triggered by sight or sound, and then the prey animal will try to get directly away from the threat. This only mostly works though and many times the prey would get stuck in permanent states of running back and forth.

So now the fleeing has a memory of the most recent flee tiles and those tiles are also to be avoided. This prevents back tracking and works quite well. It is like playing a game of snake with their own flee trail.

Flee tasks will also try to avoid tiles that will slow them down, like thistle. Now the animals can be pretty slippery.


Bleeding

With the new Hunting/Wolves, I decided that it was time to introduce bleeding and low health diminishing movement speed. This gives a more natural hunting experience with the prey weakening and slowing over time.

Arrows, Bites, and Claws can cause Bleeding.

If a unit is Bleeding and is hit again with more damage that causes bleeding, the bleeding will get worse.

Bleeding will stop over time, but heavy bleeding is likely fatal. There will be treatments once the Clanfolk run into cases where they are bleeding, but this is not a problem yet though.


Loyal Deerhound

Deerhound were the go to companion in 1300's Scotland. They were an essential hunting tool, they could protect the homestead, and were also just fun to cuddle.

When a Deerhound is born/purchased they will pick a companion. The Deerhound's world generally revolves around their companion and by default they will almost always be at their side.

Deerhound can have their owner set manually by using the set owner button when clicking on a Clanfolk, or using the toggle ownership button when clicking on the Deerhound. There is a new key Icon with a paw to show this relationship.

The Deerhound's main purpose is right in the name. They hunt deer. In 1300's Scotland there were no guns, but there was an abundance of Red Deer. Deer are very difficult to sneak up on and hunt with a bow, but Deerhound were incredibly effective at downing them. In Clanfolk, the Deerhound are equally effective.

Deerhound have three AI modes. These modes are set by selecting the Deerhound, and then at the bottom right of the selection window is a new toggle.


Follow Mode: Follow the companion, help ONLY the Companion with Hunting tasks, defend livestock being stalked by predators. So in follow mode, most of the time is spent with the Companion, but if there are livestock in danger, the deerhound will detect this and try to defend them.

Guard Mode: Patrol around between livestock to defend from predators, ignore hunting tasks, do not follow companion. This is very good for keeping wolves and foxes away from livestock. You lose the hunting help, but the Deerhound is always on guard duty and ready to defend.

Hunting Mode: Help ANY hunter that is hunting wild game. Then guard Livestock when not hunting. Do not follow companion. This is a useful mode if there are some deer in the area. Most of the time will still be spent Guarding, but the Deerhound will break off to help any hunters as a priority.

Deerhounds will inherit the keys of their owner. This allows them to follow their owner into rooms. They also inherit door ownership to allow them to get into the houses of their owners.

Dog beds have been added so the Deerhounds have a comfy place to sleep.

Pet Zones have also been added for cases when Dog or Cat beds are not yet available.

Note: The Deerhound sounds are actually from my Standard Poodle "Max." It turns out that his barking/growling/yipping sounded very similar to the Deerhound sounds I sourced, and he is also a complete acting ham so I can get a much wider variety of emotion out of him. There will be more interaction sounds starring Max to come in the future.

Wildlife Manager

The Wildlife manager now handles all spawning on the map. This means that animal populations will follow seasonal trends. So lots of animals in Summer and in Winter the populations will dwindle considerably.

When animals arrive, they will be assigned to packs or herds. When too many members of one of these groups are killed, the whole group will find the area too dangerous and leave. This means toy should pick the best targets for hunting and not just hunt the while herd of Deer for example.

Each animal group will assign a leader and the pack/herd will migrate around based on the leader's position. This keeps the group together and looks pretty cool. If one leader dies, a new leader will be picked.

Late Spring and Early Summer will now bring many babies to the map, and they will grow as the seasons progress. In Fall, the arriving animals will be older and be juveniles. In Winter only Adults will spawn. Note, babies will follow their mother vs the group leader.

The Wildlife Manager's spawn counts are proportional to the wildlife slider as follows: 1 + (0.25 * WildlifeSetting. So this means a -3 wildlife setting leads to 0.25x wildlife spawning, and a 3 wildlife setting leads to 1.75x wildlife spawning. More wildlife is not always a good thing as this spawns foxes, wolves, too.

Animal migrations onto the map use an accumulating random chance. So if each day there is a 25% chance of wolves arriving, then by day 4, there will be a 100% chance of them arriving (if all other criteria are met) Once the animals arrive, the accumulator resets. This prevents very long RNG stretches without spawning, but still gives spawning variety.

Deer start arriving Day 2
Wolves start arriving Day 21 (Winter Day 1) - Wolves need Deer/Sheep/Goat/Cattle to Spawn
Foxes start arriving Day 11 (Fall Day 1) - Foxes need Bunnies/Chickens to Spawn


Howling Wolves

Wolves are the big new threat. They only fear humans currently, but that will be changing. In particular stealing their kills or attacking/approaching their pups in the future will cause conflict.

So Wolves hunt in packs. This is a new hunting behavior, and very effective. The wolves will prefer to kill deer and stay away from humans, but if a sheep is alone in a field, it is a valid target and will get chomped.

Once wolves make a kill, they cannot eat it all at once (unless it is a huge pack) This means that there will be a carcass. The wolves actually prefer carcasses to hunting and will keep coming back to it until it has been fully eaten. Carcasses are stopped by default, so Clanfolk do not wander into future dangerous situations, but they can be stolen if desired.

While wolves feed on a carcass, they will spoil the meat, so if you want to steal it, steal it quickly. The wolves also consume the actual meat on the carcass, so there will not be a full deer's worth of meat if you steal and butcher the carcass.

Wolves also lose their fear when starving and will venture closer to human settlements. If there are wolves on the map, and no deer on the map, they will be coming for the livestock. For now, keeping the livestock in a pen will keep them safe, but probably not forever. If your livestock are not behind a fence, you are asking for wolf trouble.

Deerhound to the rescue. Deerhounds have no fear of wolves, but the wolves DO fear the Deerhounds. A Deerhound can kill a wolf, and they know it. Any time the wolves are up to no good, the Deerhounds can detect this and will try to protect whatever Livestock is in danger. So if you see the Deerhound run off barking, that is a good sign that the wolves are up to something.

The best solution to deal with problem wolves is to go on the offensive and hunt them with a few Deerhounds as backup.


Sneaky Foxes

Foxes are now a threat. A yipping cute little threat.

Foxes like to eat bunnies when they can, but they will also take a chicken that is unguarded. The thing about foxes is, if they are hungry enough, they will crawl under doors to steal chickens, so beware.

Foxes will try to avoid humans/deerhounds as much as possible, unless starving, then all bets are off with them.

Free range chickens are going to get eaten, so have some kind of chicken pen ready before Fall 1, or at least have a Deerhound on guard duty. The Deerhound will usually only put up with one or two sneaky attempts by a Fox before deciding enough is enough and killing it itself.

As with Wolves, if the Foxes become a problem, it is best to hunt them. Once the bunny population gets low, they can be a menace.


Finite Rabbits

Up until now, the Rabbit Holes controlled Rabbit spawning and would try to maintain a constant map population of Rabbits. Now the Wildlife spawner handles Rabbits. That means there are only so many possible rabbits a day and that the number of rabbits is highly based on the current season.

This leads to some scarcity problem because everything seems to eat rabbits, and when the rabbits run low, then livestock tends to be on the menu.

Rabbit spawning is also based on the number of rabbit holes on the map as follows.

Rabbits are allowed to spawn up to 2 + 2*Rabbit Hole Count on map, but also must respect seasonal population limits.

When rabbits find a large patch of grass with no holes nearby, they will dig a warren there. This then becomes a spawning node for future rabbits and allows the daily rabbit count to increase. So this means a map without grass will not have many holes which means few rabbits.

Baby Rabbits will be much more common now (Due to Rabbits breeding like they do, babies arrive all seasons aside from winter)

Baby Rabbits will now follow mother and nurse as needed


Honking Red Deer

Scotland is full of Red Deer, even today. They were a major source of food in 1300's Scotland and lead to the rise in popularity of the Deerhound.

The Red Deer will migrate onto and leave the map over time. They are a great bonus food source when they arrive, but they also have a chance to attract wolves, so beware.

The sounds for the Red Deer in Clanfolk are actual Scottish Red Deer recorded in Scotland, so although really odd sounding, they are accurate.

The Red Deer arrive in Herds and will leave if too many of their members die.

The Baby Red Deer will mostly arrive in Late Spring. They look like Bambi. Don't burn the forest please.


Stances

This seems like a little thing, but it adds so much personality to the animals. All the animals can now lie down when sleeping. Some like Dogs/Cats can also sit. In fact Cats/Dogs can sleep in two different ways.

When animals are stuck in a rain or snowstorm they will now lie down in a ball to keep warm.



The Little Things

Clanfolk now have a 5% chance of Twins!

No more fence to wall connection gaps. Fences now terminate with posts!

Flipped the windows vertically to make their perspective look better.

Made it possible for Seniors to marry! Seniors prefer other Seniors, but will also partner with Adults if needed

When the stop button is used on pets, they will sit... just because

Hens sit down on eggs now when brooding.


Change Logs

So usually I post all the change logs here for easy perusal, but I ran into a problem. The change log text is way longer than this text box will allow, and I ran out of characters. It has been a very busy couple of months.

So for those interested in the full story of this update, please take a look at the Steam Forums here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1700870/discussions/0/3183488858470509508/?ctp=13


Update 10 starts with changelist 0.334. It is a pretty interesting read if you like fine detail!


Road Map

There is a lot more to come! Please take a look at the Road Map for further long term details as well.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1700870/view/3388412789658793666

Diving back into the code now.

Thanks very much for playing Clanfolk!

Andrew Hume (Blorf)
MinMax Games Ltd.


P.S.
I just wanted to give a quick shout out to my partner Narlak's latest creation "No Creeps Were Harmed." We both have been solo developing our own games since Space Pirates and Zombies 2, and if you like tower defense style games at all, please take a look.

Narlak and i have been working together for over 18 years now, originally working on Scarface the World is Yours, then SPAZ 1 and SPAZ 2. He is the other half of MinMax and really does make a great game :)

Note: I will not be working on NCWH, and it does not impact my development of Clanfolk. I just wanted to make sure Narlak's game got some visibility, which is so hard to do these days.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1932260/No_Creeps_Were_Harmed_TD/
WWII Online - Zebbeee
INCOMING PATCH! 1.37.2.0 releases today and it includes some epic stuff! Ranging from Proximity Attack Objectives (which are player-driven for the first time in over 15 years), Squad Missions, the Wellington, HC Officer class receiving an infantry-placed mobile spawn to keep battles going, all SMGs audited to have tighter grouping/performance, and a whole lot more! Your subscriptions are directly responsible for keeping us going. This is our last major patch as now we set sights on transitioning into the Unreal Engine and innovating WWII Online's future. Remember we will continue to provide updates to WWII Online through our new trickle-down workflow and supplemental updates. THANK YOU, everyone, for believing in our shared dream/passion, and supporting us which makes all of this possible. Support our current fundraiser going on to help jump starter our Unreal Engine developments at http://www.WWIIOnline.com/fund.

World War II Online
Version 1.37.2.0 - April 2023

This release introduces some long-awaited additions to WWII Online that include the Wellington medium bomber, Proximity AOs, Squad Missions, Custom IVC channels, and much more to include bug fixes.

Features
  • The Wellington Mk III has been added to the Royal Airforce (RAF)
  • Nine (9) new factories have been added to the Axis side: Zwolle, Meppel, Hoogeveen, Harlingen, Limburg and Frankfurt
  • All Allied factories have been combined for RDP purposes, bombing one factory will affect all Allied resupply times
  • Bomber Loadouts have been re-added to the game
  • Proximity AOs have been introduced:
  • Towns with Heavy Inf EWS will trigger AOs
  • If Heavy Inf EWS is lost, the AO will be removed
  • Squad Missions have been added:
  • The Squad must have five (5) members online in order for Squad Missions to be available
  • Only one (1) Squad Mission per side, per Squad
  • Ten (10) Custom IVC channels have been added per side (see your HC for channel assignments)
  • Only applies to channel 1-10
  • Follows the F6 text chat channel (must be assigned to 1-10)
  • IVC now shows CRS members with all CAPS as represented elsewhere
  • Players can now adjust their in-game volume from within the IVC map tab
  • Fuel Barrel PPOs have been added to Supply Trucks
  • Planes, Vehicles and Boats/Ships can now be refueled:
  • Planes - Airfields & Airfield PPOs (can also re-arm)
  • Vehicles - Army Bases, Supply Trucks (can also re-arm) and Fuel Barrel PPOs
  • Boats/Ships - Docks (can also re-arm)
  • Fuel burn rates have been adjusted to be more historical in order to keep in line with our map size
  • All Sherman, Churchill, Pz4 and Tiger tanks have had their 3D model crew members updated
  • Free to Play (F2P) aircraft now have a different look than other versions
  • The gun audio for Hurri IIBs has been updated
  • Barrage Balloon PPOs have had their max damage updated in order to be harder to destroy
  • Gun Emplacement PPOs have had their proximity to other objects changed to stop blocking
  • The STG44 now has updated audio
  • All SMGs have had a recoil audit
  • All standard and limited SMGs have had their pistols removed and ammo amounts adjusted
  • Bombs have had their whistle sounds updated
  • Grenade explosion effects have been adjusted
  • New effects, audio and visual, have been added for 500kg bombs
  • The HCMSP PPO has been added to the HC Officer class
  • The HCMSP PPO's 3D model has been updated
  • Csm308 has been added to Bunker interiors and has a City CP named after him
  • Lille, Calais and Antwerp now have different versions of a Star Fort
  • A well has been added to Ooltgensplaat
  • Verdun has had a Crypt added to its surrounding area
  • A barn has been added to the vicinity of Tienen and Reusel
  • A damaged airfield has been created at Martlesham for initial introduction
  • A causeway has been added north of Moerdjik
  • AI MG Towers and Bridges have had their textures updated to appear more weathered
  • Removed four bridges around Piesport
  • Barbed wire has been added to the top of Armybase walls
  • Mooring points and crane rails have been added to urban harbors
  • Added three new Airfields to the UK: Gravesend, Southend and St Mary's Pitt
  • Added stairs to the garage of the Spawn buildings
  • Murder holes in Armybase walls were reduced down to two
  • Fourteen (14) new towns have been added: Fismes, Bouvancourt, Cerny-en-Laonnois, Bourg et Comin, Braines, Vailly Sur Aisnes, Chavignon, Soissons Les petit, Soissons, Port Fontenoy, Ooltgensplaat, Val de Livres, Reusel and Crucifix

Fixes
  • The Delete all Waypoints and Contact Reports bug has been fixed
  • Corrected an issue when some units that was causing extra-long despawn times
  • Fixed an issue with some areas missing train tracks
  • Fixed an issue that caused multi-crewed units to not report stats properly
  • Multi-crewed units will now be forced to re-initiate the multi-crew join process after each mission
  • The Ju88 has had a few bugs repaired:
  • Reversed rudder pedal movement
  • Hard to read speed and altitude indicators
  • SPAA 20mm gun audio has been fixed
  • Added missing FBs between Orbeval and Clermont-en-Argonne
  • Muzzle smoke has been reduced to help with visibility after firing
  • Engine fire effects have been updated
  • Adjusted FB tents to correct an issue that caused infantry to pop up above the FB tents
  • Adjusted footsteps sounds so they aren't so loud (first person only)
  • Adjusted tank track sound volume
  • Fixed and issue that was causing some Mac clients to crash while the game was loading

Fundraiser 2023 Update
Our 2023 Fundraiser for UE5 is going like "dambusters" as we are at 71% of our goal! A BIG THANK YOU to anyone helping WWIIOnline to move towards UE5!
Your 2023 contributions allow us to set a proper foundation during this critical Phase 1 of our journey to UE5, check out this video and get informed:



FREE OPERATION "DOWNLOAD MOAR RAM" on 16 April at 12pm Server Time / GMT+8
It's an ALL-ACCESS Weekend beginning on 14 April and running through OPERATION Download Moar Ram! Register now through our Discord event channel if you can attend this event!

S! Playnet / Cornered Rat Software




Connect to our Social Media to get more updates and help us gain visibility to grow the community and reach new players to play with:


Discord: https://discord.com/invite/wwiionline
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOQ90QTMviaKRqIMlUthW2A
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wwiionline
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/corneredrats
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WWIIOnline
Twitter: https://twitter.com/corneredrats

Have a look at our current 2023 Roadmap, and see its progress on our TRELLO.

Wishlist our next game Chokepoint, our prelude to WWIIOnline 2.0!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1576780/WWII_Online_Chokepoint/
Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis - pso2mod4


The scheduled maintenance will occur during the following period:

From 4/11/2023 (Tue) 7:00 PM (PDT) to 4/12/2023 (Wed) 1:00 AM (PDT)

*Please do not connect to the game servers until the end of maintenance is announced.

*Please note that if the 24 hour period after a Character Deletion Request passes during the maintenance, the character will be deleted.

*Characters that have completed the “Application for Ship Transfer During Scheduled Maintenance” will be transferred. AC will not be consumed until the Ship Transfer is complete.

*Ship Transfer applications will be processed according to the order in which they were submitted. However, some Ship Transfers may be postponed until the next Scheduled Maintenance if the number of submitted applications is excessive.

*If you do not have enough AC at the beginning of the Scheduled Maintenance, Ship Transfer will not occur, even if you purchase AC during the Scheduled Maintenance.

*For more details on Ship Transfers, such as the requirements, please check here.

Please note that the time maintenance is scheduled to end may change depending on the circumstances.
Urban Cards - UCDaniel
Hey folks!
It's been a little while, but here we are again with more content and news


We have added more cards to Beach!
Here is the complete list



Yes, they still exist, and some of them are not money laundering. For the old school traveler or the tourist with complex needs.



A goldmine walking on sunburnt legs, if spotted by an enterprising local.



Some people will go to great depths to avoid the beaten path



It says on my dating profile that I travel for business regularly, there really is no space to mention it's picking buds in Oregon


When you need a vacation from your vacation



The powers that be have decided they need a rest from you - perhaps a chance to work on your anger management issues



A nightmare for the socially awkward - a party you cannot go home from until it is over and back in harbor



You may question the warning about going into the ocean after a large meal, but certainly, it is unwise to go swimming after doing ten shots


This update also includes

  • New music track for Beach
  • New bg skin
  • New playable deck "Seasonal Visitors"
  • New Item "Cold Beverage"
  • Balance tweaks
  • UI changes to adjust better to some screens
  • Better visual feedback from tourists' cards time left
  • Translation updates

Big News

Urban Cards is coming to the Ipad!
We are very happy to announce that our game is coming to iOS very soon! We'll announce the exact date in the upcoming weeks. You can also join our mailing list for fresh news about Urban Cards and future projects ;)

Join our mailing list here
http://eepurl.com/ioAS0A





The Christmas faction is now a DLC
As we announced, this faction is now a DLC available for download. Thanks for supporting our time and development, and we hope to include more cards and content for the faction in the future.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2361870/Urban_Cards_Christmas_Faction/


And that's all for tonight,
Thanks for playing!
Daniel









Snacktorio - ellraiser
Hey friends!

It's been a bit of a busy month, what with me deciding to create ANOTHER game (please help me I can't stop) - this time making Mudborne, a small APICO-like for #FletchFest, a 1 week creative jam hosted by FletchMakes!

However that was only a week or so of the whole month, so I had plenty of time to dig into FTBS, and got some nice chunky things out the way in the process!

Read the devlog over on Ko-Fi:
https://ko-fi.com/Post/Feed-The-Beasts--March-2023-Devlog-O5O2JXEV6

~ Ell



Boba Simulator : Idle Shop Management - ipoon
Dear shopkeeper,

I've heard your feedback and have added a new feature to the mixer mechanic. After each game day, customer feedback in the report will tell you how many perfect and good mixes you made, as well as which mixes didn't impress them. This will help you hone your skills and impress customers even more!

I encourage you to always share your feedback with me in the Steam Community Hub discussions. Your thoughts and suggestions help make the game even better. Thanks for playing and happy brewing!"

- Napas Torteeka -
Apr 11, 2023
Community Announcements - Max [Mutiny Software]
Patch Notes
  • Updated Documentation: Added a warning about Steam Workshop preview image file size (having a file too big could lead to a "Limit Exceeded" error from Steam API)
STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™ - Electronic Arts


The story of Cal Kestis continues in STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™. Five years after the events of STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order™ Cal's fight to protect the galaxy from descending into darkness has become increasingly desperate. Pushed to the edges of the galaxy by the Empire, Cal finds himself surrounded by threats new and familiar. As one of the last surviving Jedi Knights, Cal is driven to make a stand during the galaxy’s darkest times - but how far is he willing to go to protect himself, his crew, and the legacy of the Jedi Order?

Build on all of Cal’s training with new Force abilities, combat stances, and lightsaber customizations that can be combined to form a unique Jedi fighting style. While the Force is a powerful ally, it may not be enough. Cal will get creative and master new skills and tactics, including leveraging the environment to overcome the obstacles ahead.

The galaxy is vast and diverse, so explore new planets and familiar frontiers to reunite Cal with the crew of the Stinger Mantis. All of Cal's new abilities and equipment will also enable you to explore each environment in new ways, taking on their own unique challenges and enemies. The galaxy is also packed with stories, secrets, and treasures, just ready to be uncovered by those willing to face the dangers that lay off the beaten path.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1774580/STAR_WARS_Jedi_Survivor/
Apr 11, 2023
Zero to Hero - Vegetablebread
Your powers are really important! While most of the build-defining features of your powers will come from upgrades during your run, your initial powers really set the stage. How powerful each upgrade is depends greatly on the context of the game. What your other power is, and what fights do you have in front of you are a huge part of that context.

Let's talk first about what changed in this update, and then I'll finish up with some thoughts about what that means, why I did it, and some ideas for future work.

What changed:

Your first powers will now all be from different characters. Depending on which power you choose, you'll be picking a character for the run, so your sprite will change. Your second power choice will be 2 other powers from that character, and 1 random power from another character.

Why I did that:

The main reason is what I talked about last week. Some skills aren't meant to work together, and others are. This guarantees that 2 of the powers you're offered for the second choice are designed to work together with your first skill.

However, even within an individual character's power set, not all choices are equally difficult. Some powers are designed to be powerful early, and some powers are designed with powerful upgrades in mind. Pick two powers with great upgrades, and you might have trouble saving up enough pellets at the beginning of the game to get to those upgrades. Pick two powers that are great early, and you might find yourself without a way to beat the later bosses.

Additionally, it's important that the game have a lot of variety from run to run. To discourage players from always picking skills in specific pairs, this design doesn't always offer you the powers you want. Since each character will have 5 powers, you have a 50% chance to find a specific power with your second choice. It won't be rare, but you can't depend on it if you want to win a lot.

Tying into this work, I'd like to implement a stamp book in the future where you can see which skill pairs you've won with, and which you've never tried. Take a look at Monster train for a good idea of what I'm thinking. Additionally, I'd like to have achievements for things like: "Get a win streak that includes every power without repeating". That would be a pretty difficult achievement.
...