We're thrilled to unveil an updated demo version, refined and enhanced thanks to your invaluable feedback since its debut. Your input has been instrumental in elevating our product!

Key Enhancements Include:
- Enhanced graphics across the game and its menus for a visually improved experience.
- Refined camera movements within the menu for smoother navigation.
- A critical fix addressing an issue where the drone, in hiding modes, occasionally impedes quest advancement under specific scenarios.
- An overhaul of the audio menu bug, granting players full control over their audio settings for an optimized auditory experience.

Thank you for your continued support and feedback, helping us to perfect our game!

The mayor lost the keys to his safe. He asked you to find the keys and open the safe. During this event, at regular levels and in Challenge mode, you can collect Green Keys. If you collect the required number of Keys within the allotted time, you'll get a big reward; if you don't manage it in time, you'll get a consolation prize.

The time of the event is based on the time on your PC, and the duration may vary slightly from the duration of this announcement.

Patch 2.1.2.0.3 Notes

(This patch is mostly a bunch of bug fixes and balance changes.)

Gameplay Changes:
-Fixed an issue that was causing a player's health regeneration to be 2 higher than it should be at Mastery 8. (It was an increase from Mastery 7 instead of a decrease like it should have been.)
-Black Markets (in Bazaars) generally spawn with less cards on average. They can still spawn from 0-3. The change is because Black Market cards were too ubiquitous considering they are supposed to be special cards you only use once in a while.

Card Changes:
-Beetlemorph moved from Common to Uncommon. (This was actually done in a previous patch but I forgot to note it. I updated its card image to show the Uncommon symbol. At Common it's way too ubiquitous for an arguably S-Tier card.)
-Marshknight lowered from 1/8 unupgraded and 1/30 upgraded to: 1/7 unupgraded and 1/12 upgraded. (While it was funny to give it massive health there are just too many synergies with it now that break the game and make runs boringly easy.)
-Soldak lowered from a 30/30 to a 20/20. (Too many new synergies cause issues with it being so large. It's frequently just a game-ender which can make runs repetitive when every game is just "play one Soldak and ignore all the enemy's cards." At least now you might need a secondary plan as well.)
-Stupefy cost increased from 2 to 3. (When it hit Giants it was far less consistent at getting high value for its cost. Fel Wyrms however appear way more frequently, so this card's cost was increased to compensate for the extra reliability.)
-Final Act reduced from a 10/10 to a 6/6. (Was dealing way too much damage, around 20, thus trivializing battles. Now its total damage dealt will be closer to 12.)
-Poison Daggers now just deals Enflame damage equal to the amount of Poison on the monster board, not double. (This card just did way too much for 4 energy.)
(Argatamos's Cards were completely overpowered, so they have all been rebalanced, and in the spirit of Black Market cards being a risky endeavor, you now lose 8 life when you play Argatamos's Bargain. Most of Argatamos's cards still have just about a Legendary-tier power level, they just aren't a 110% auto-win like before and you will likely need to consider your synergies with it more now.)
-Argatamos's Bargain now makes you lose 8 life when you play it.
-Argatamos's Hellspike cost increased from 4 to 6.
-Argatamos's Pet reduced from a 4/10 to a 4/6.
-Argatamos's Balloon now only slows the monster by 3 turns instead of 5.
-Argatamos's Command's cost increased from 1 to 3.
-Argatamos's Armament's equipment bonus reduced from +3/+7 to +3/+4.

Artifact Changes:
-Brewmaster's Mark price increased from 350 to 600. (This effect is so good that it should require a big commitment.)
-Ferocity Serum's price increased from 200 to 250. (More powerful than expected.)

Bugs Fixes:
-Fixed a bug where attaching multiple Argatamos's Armaments to a single Defender wouldn't gain you more than 1 life per attack.
-Rogue's Dagger card image now correctly has a Void Stone on its card.
-Attempted to fix a bug that could cause the game to crash in dungeons.
-Fixed a bug where Constellation Beast wasn't working with Magic Lantern (the artifact that makes it so its Void Stone is ignored.)
-Argatamos's Bargain now increases your cards gained count by 5 when you get the 5 Argatamos cards.
-Fixed a bug where Sea Skulk could sometimes soft lock the game if it was the last monster on the monster board after a Defender killed the other monster.
-Fixed a bug where Magic Scroll was able to be attached to any card instead of just Ability cards.
-Fixed a bug where Equipment would be invisible if it was on a Defender that was not in the leftmost inplay slot.
-Fixed a bug where The Tidebringer card could be damaged by Defenders.
-Multiple cards being destroyed at once will no longer be as loud.
-Fixed a bug where Constellation Beast's attack/hp numbers would go outside of its attack/health box while in hand, if its attack/health was 10/10 or higher.
-Fixed a bug where at the Bazaar if you bought all the Black Market cards then the frame that holds the normal cards would get shorter.
-Fixed an issue where Magical Barrage's text box was too big.
-Fixed a bug where if you got +25 Bloodrunes instead of a card at the Traveling Merchant, it would give you an incorrect notification window.
-Fixed a bug where Argatamos's Bargain would say that you need 7 cards to discard to it instead of 5.
-Fixed a bug where Argatamos's Bargain was costing 3 instead of 4.
-Made it so that a card you've grabbed from your hand will no longer appear behind the monster deck.
-Fixed a bug where upgraded Nova was giving you the +5 runes per kill for the entire battle, instead of just for the turn.
-Fixed a bug where "Level Up" cards would sometimes not have the current level value aligned on the card correctly.
-Fixed a bug where "End of Days" and "The King's Banner" could have the red/green reminder text disappear.
-Fixed a bug where the "Siege" prize card you get from Trebuchet sometimes had an empty text box.

Enemy Changes:
-Frost Dragon - Slightly lowered Frost Wolf's stats at Mastery 1-2 from 1/4 to 1/3.
-Irko - Lowered Zadeus Tentacle's stats at Mastery 1 and 2 from 4/12 to 3/12.
-Irko - Ichor Strider had its health reduced by 1 at Masteries 1-5.
-Spider Queen - Imp had its stats reduced from 2/4 to 2/3 at Masteries 1-2.

Hey! We're releasing a patch for the Oppidum Demo that fixes a couple issues some of you were experiencing, as well as adding some nice improvements for a better experience. The servers will be under maintenance for a short while that shouldn't last more than a couple minutes!

• You can now see your party members creating their character in real time during the character creation screen.
  
• Dialogues with NPCs triggered by other players now appear marked by their favorite color to let you know you're not controlling the dialogue.
  
• Fixed an issue where you couldn't move your camera with your mouse while in target mode, despite the existing setting that allowed it.
  
• Fixed connection problems in certain circumstances.

Please, make sure to keep the Oppidum demo updated, and don't hesitate to contact us on the official Demo Feedback thread or on our Discord Server. Keep enjoying the demo!

—EP Games 🍃

Thank you to everyone who has played the demo and left us feedback on the game.

We have completely reworked the game and redesigned a lot of the game according to community feedback:

• We have completely redesigned the boss fights and added a bunch of new mechanics.
  
• We have added TONS of new items, cosmetics, and abilities into the game.
  
• We have completely reworked the lighting in the game, and added many different lighting techniques. to make the game more immersive (flashing / flickering lights, fading lights, etc).
  
• We have added a public server list, so you can join public lobbies in a friendlier manor. You can still keep your lobbies private and only have players join via a code.
  
• We have added a NEW FINAL BOSS! With tons of new mechanics.
  
• We have tested and made sure that the game is compatible with Steam Deck, as it's a perfect game for the Steam Deck.
  
• The game has been localized for many additional languages (Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Portuguese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, French, German).
  
• Additional class abilities has been added for each class. Archers get a wind arrow which can push back all enemies. Priests get an AOE heal which also heals over time. Rogues get a vanish ability which will remove all agro from the rogue. Warriors get a taunt/buff which will force all enemies to attack the warrior, as well as buff the damage of the entire group for 5 seconds. Wizards get a short-cooldown teleport.

In addition to these changes, we have created a new release trailer and updated all the store images.

If you haven't already, please make sure to wishlist the game, and we will see you in-game on February 23rd!

Join us for our Miniatures Q&A sessions on our Steam page during Next Fest. We've gathered your questions and will be answering them, all while showing you around some of the stories from the upcoming game.

For more details, check out our events on Steam.



Please note that this is a pre-recorded broadcast. If you would like to chat to the team or find out more about the game, please come and join us on Discord.



~ The Others 💛

Hey doomed souls,

My minions have told me they are ready with the environmental teaser. I hope you are ready to look deeper into my crypts at some of the dark secrets it may hold.

https://youtu.be/KGlGyVv2jUo

Come see some of the mysterious locales that you will find in my tomb. You will find many. If you are interested in my crypts, I may give it to you for a million souls including yours. Heheh

Tomorrow my minions get together to play a Cryptmaster D&D session on Steam.

- Cryptmaster

Hello dedicated fans of Astro 4x,

It has been about 5 years since there was any news or updates to this game. It has not been abandoned and I have plans for it. I will quickly summarize those plans and then explain the absence.

Future Plans:

1. I'd like to completely redesign Astro4x to have more 4x elements and fix many issues (like small text and not scaling properly to different resolutions)
2. I'd like to make Astro4x completely free and refund anyone who purchased it (thanks Bartwe! ;p)
3. I'd like to completely change the art style, music, soundfx, ui, and design of the game

What happened for 5 years?

Well, I put Astro4x into early access in May of 2019, and I'm writing this in Jan of 2024. Later in 2019 I was working on a prototype game that got some attention on twitter. That turned into a game development contract and a kickstarter for my other game Lazr. My time and effort was focused on Lazr and only Lazr during the last 5 years. Lazr is almost complete and I can see the finish line (it's about 80% done). However, a few days ago I got an email from Steam urging me to do something with Astro4x. Apparently, letting a game sit in early access for 5 years is not what Steam wants you to to do with their platform. I can see their pov. So, Astro4x will live!

During the past 5 years I have thought a lot about Astro4x and redesigned the game on paper a few times. The game as-is lacks depth to me, along with interesting art. The current style is simplistic, but I would like to be able to show different units with different sprite graphics, instead of just using an arrow to show any kind of ship. I've also listened to the feedback from players about small fonts and scaling issues. I also think the music is sleepy. This game also runs on .net 4.5 and monogame 3.7, which are long outdated now. I would like to completely rewrite the game in MG 3.8+ and .net6+.

So yeah, that's the future of this game. I'm probably going to start working on it on the side while I finish Lazr. maybe you will see an update in the next few months?

//MrGrak

I was working on another game but I am now working on Isles of Adalar again. I am incorporating everything I learned from working on that game. I am using the opportunity of porting to Unreal Engine 5 to rethink everything. I have spent way too much effort on the level editor. I still am going to support mods but now it is through JSON files. All the data is in JSON files and scripting is done through LUA instead of the in- game level editor. I am trying to focus on the gameplay. I wrote a design document and I think I have what I want in the first island planned out as well as the game mechanics. It will be awhile before I upload the new version, I want it to be playable.

I wanted to show my progress. I have been concentrating on building up the UI as well as the character creation system and quests.


This shows the new character screen. I am trying to standardize everything. I am using metahuman models. Any metahuman model can be used which will allow the addition of new metahuman models through mods.
Here is a close up. Since the rig is metahuman (tal normal weight) any clothes/armor rigged to that can be added through mods. Only human characters are supported right now. The hope is in the future to add different races but that will be a ways off.


Male and Female supported. Not many variations yet but I can add more later.


Showing the background tab. Here you can select the class and subclass. Each subclass has its own starting stats and set of skills that the character starts with. The plan is you get a stat point to use and you can learn a new skill every level. Stats determine what skills you can learn.


I have the inventory system working. You can equip/unequip weapons and armor.


You can filter the inventory based on item type


Containers are working. You can take and place items.


Doors are working. You can open and close doors. Still need to implement picking locks and using keys




You can harvest materials to use for crafting. Some materials will require a certain tool and/or a certain skill to be harvested.


You can find crafting stations that will allow you to craft different types of items.



If you have the skill to craft a recipe and the recipe is of a type that matches the crafting station then they will appear in the list. You can craft items if you have the required materials.


I have only the first person view working right now but Unreal has a full featured 3rd person controller (as well as first person) that I can use. Still a lot of animations to hook up.


Monsters need a lot of work but Unreal has a very nice AI system that I can use, instead of having to write one from scratch, again....


This shows the JSON file for configuring and adding recipes. The crafting station reads this JSON file to determine what you can craft. You will be able to add additional JSON data in mods to add your own recipes, items, etc.


This shows the JSON that sets up the conversation.


This shows the LUA code that can be called. Still a lot to do but LUA code will be used for conversations (determining what options and nodes can be seen, actions that occur), and quests. Also interactable objects and triggers.


This shows the JSON file that determines what is in a chest. Right now you can specify specific items but in the future you will be able to randomly spawn items to be in a container.


The way JSON information is associated with objects in a level are through Unreal's tag system. For this NPC it has a tag for the type of Object it is (in this case it support conversations) and the ID of the object. You start the with ID_ (to avoid conflicts with other tags you might use) but the game strips off the ID_ to match with the object in the JSON files.

The idea of this system is that if you want to make a new island you can use Unreal's free and extremely powerful editor (5.3). Then you add your JSON and LUA code and link it through tags that you place on objects in your scene. This is the way I am doing it so users can do the same thing.

I worked a lot on the editor for Isles of Adalar but it was too much, to make an in-game editor and work on the game so now I am offloading that work onto Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine has a new Procedurally Generated Content (PCG) system which is a better version of the procedural content generation I created in Isles of Adalar, so that takes away the biggest reason I needed an in-game editor. You could not easily generate an island (at least without buying some assets from the unity asset store). PCG is included for free in the Unreal engine. Also I can standardize on the much better looking metahuman models so that it is easy for modders to add their own. The Unity version of Isles of Adalar is based on a custom rig. You cannot map animations to that rig through mecanim but it is pretty easy to map almost any animation to the metahuman rig.

I have to have a full-time job to pay the bills so I will be working on this in my free time so progress will be slower than I would like, but my plan is try to finish the game that you paid for and deserve.

Kevin

General

• Leveling up after maxing out your upgrades will now give a choice between HP and cryptogold
  
• Performance improvements

Balance

• Titanium Plating now also improves all cooldowns by 1% of max HP

Bug fixes

• Fixed a soft lock that could happen when picking the Chaos Drive legendary
  
• Fixed a crash that could happen when picking the Microtracers legendary
  
• Fixed an issue where explosion debris wasn't rendering on high graphic settings