Just a quick reminder that our public demo for Abalon Arena (the multiplayer version of Abalon with support for up to four players, including online and, as of today, local couch-coop) will be closing on Monday, February 19th.

If you haven't already checked out the free demo, be sure to login and give it a go here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2352400/Abalon_Arena/

Also, wishlist and follow the Abalon Arena store page for updates on the development progress and future demo opportunities.

Thanks so much!

~Ross

Woohoo! \o/

Neon Tail is finally out!
I really hope you'll all have fun playing it!
It might be just another indie game for you, but for me so much has happen during its development...

I was a 3D artist, then a Producer, then an Indie Game dev, then had health issues, lost 20kg,
went full white hair, learned or found my way out of all the technical difficulties encountered,
took a full time job, went from part time Engineer to Game Director, but kept working on Neon Tail.

Now it is done, I have no idea where this will go, hopefully somewhere nice.
Crossing fingers. Please enjoy the game!


Release version has Japanese language, a rewritten ending, all bugs fixed (until some of you guys find new ones that is), along with all the achievements implemented.

More upgrades, dyslexia-friendly fonts, and other small but cool additions, that’s what this is all about!

We’re still working hard currently on T-1000, but soon enough we’ll be getting back in the Writer’s Room to start working on Chapter 3 and, perhaps, maybe even Chapter 4… 😉

• Running Speed: Adds +10% to the player's running speed.

“Running Speed” Upgrade Showcase

• Enemy Vision Cone: Makes enemy vision cones +10% more narrow per level.

“Enemy Vision Cone” Upgrade Showcase


Dyslexia-friendly Font Showcase

This is an accessibility setting that modifies Notes and other applicable game text to use a font that is designed to be more readable to players with dyslexia. This can be applied to multiple other sections of the game, and if anyone wants to give us any feedback for how we can utilize this setting, let us know! 😀


Showcase of Grade Requirement UI

If you’ve beaten a level, you can now see what Level Time you need to beat to get a specific grade. Good stuff.

And finally… perhaps the biggest and most requested change of them all…

*Significant Change. Just because I know a "little bit" of English doesn't mean I'm fluent in it.

[2.2.0] - 2024-02-17

ADDED

• “Running Speed” Upgrade added: Adds +10% to the player's running speed.
  
• “Enemy Vision Cone” Upgrade added: Makes enemy vision cones +10% more narrow per level.
  
• “Dyslexia-Friendly Font” setting added: Changes Notes and other applicable game text to use a font that is designed to be more readable to players with dyslexia.
  
• Grade Requirements added to Level Selection: If you’ve beaten a level, you can now see what Level Time you need to beat to get a specific grade.
  
• “Clear” button added to Keycode Panels.
  
• Added a small indicator next to the “Upgrades” button on the Main Menu when new Upgrade Points are available.

FIXED

• 1-1 Stage 4: Button springs were incorrectly configured, causing buttons to get potentially stuck in the activated position even when not interacting with anything physical. (Shoutouts to CGDannyB and Chris_RV2 for finding this potential bug during our Dev Talk, check it out by the way!)
  
• Lasers phasing through objects that are right in front of them.

KNOWN ISSUES

• Playing a level for the first time on the Steam build might result in slow loading times. We’re looking into potential solutions for them.
  
• Playing the game with a Switch Pro controller may lead to issues controlling the player's character. This is seemingly an issue with the Unity Input System, and sadly out of our control.
  
• Playing the game with a Dualshock 4 controller or on Steam Deck while having a keyboard connected may lead to issues involving controlling the game with the Keyboard. This is also seemingly an issue with the Unity Input System, which is beyond our control.

Changelog formatting is partly based on Keep a Changelog (https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/). Version numbers are formatted as such…

• Major releases usually include extensive visual & technological additions, like new campaign chapters and/or major new features, or overhauls of significant systems that might invalidate older game versions, such as save files.
  
• Minor releases include visual & technological additions and changes that are significant but likely do not include anything that may invalidate older versions of the game.
  
• Hotfix releases mostly include quality-of-life changes or fixes to other bugs and issues.

//Fixed

Some walls on crush map could flicker

Light in the subway basement was displayed incorrectly

Fixed excessively long black screen saver on crush map when you passed a level

Fixed a bug where toilets on the subway map were going into the wall

Fixed a bug where some weapons on the subway map did not make a firing sound

Fixed a bug where on the secret lab map your instant kill could start flying over your head and become infinite.

Fixed a bug where the game would stall when killing an enemy while standing close to it

Now volume settings affect tw woman's voice

Fixed severe fps dropout at the end of the subway map

Fixed a bug that caused no pickups to drop from the mutant

Now master sound works correctly

Bug causing hands to become higher than head is fixed

Fixed a bug where toilets on the street map were falling behind the house and you couldn't kill them.

// changed

Fixed several bugs in Russian translation

Reduced health of the boss on the street map

//Added

Improved partially missing Ukrainian and Russian translation

Added UI sounds

Added ammo crates to the arena where you fight the mutant on the street map

Hello hello hello - I'm returning with another development log covering some of the mechanics of Engineered to Purpose.

This time around I'm doing a deep dive into the first weapon you get in the game:


The Blaster is a big 'ol cannon that shoots big 'ol bullets. It costs less than all of the other weapons - which corresponds to it dealing less damage overall. It makes up for that in being a fast tower that can fire many shots - particularly when upgraded.

It starts off with Power and Tempo modifiers, which allow you to make the tower faster and deal more damage.

At each tier you can get access to more modifier variants, starting with the pesky

Heuristics adds damage for each time the tower kills an enemy. Towers with heuristics tend to start off weak, but when placed early they can scale up and become quite powerful with some upgrades (and difficult to balance q_q - hence the cap on the damage).

At the Advanced tier we have:

Replication queues up multiple bullets to fire in a row before reloading. This adds a significant amount of damage - but also comes at a diminishing amount of damage per extra replication modifier. The more bullets you copy - the less damage the copy does. Originally it was just a straight up double of the damage, but we've been realizing that it's too strong and needed to come down a level or so in order to keep the pool of modifiers at a reasonable balance.

Next up at the Sophisticated tier there's:

This is a new modifier that we've been developing which makes it so that on impact the bullet will move to the next closest target in range, hit it and then move to the next closest target and so on, until it reaches a limit. Each bounce will do less and less damage - adding more modifiers
will improve the level of damage maintained between bounces. Originally we had a pierce modifier which caused bullets to move through enemies, but we typically found that it mostly passed through enemies without improving the overall damage. Bounce feels more in line with what we want to achieve.

Finally at the Transcendent tier:

We have our flashiest Blaster modifier here - it stockpiles projectiles around the tower in an orbit and then fires them repeatedly at targets when enemies are in range. Adding more of this modifier increases the number of projectiles you can stockpile and how fast they recuperate. You can unleash an absolute barrage of attacks using this modifier.

Thanks for checking out our development log for Engineered to Purpose. Just as a reminder, if you're interested in trying out the game, please give it a wishlist! We're also looking to start up a closed beta playtest this month. If you want to be a part of that, shoot us an e-mail at confidence.roll.games@gmail.com.

We're excited to announce that Abalon Arena demo now supports local multiplayer (i.e. couch co-op and PvP) and Steam Remote Play for up to four players. Steam Remote Play allows you to play a Steam game with a friend (even if they don't own it) as if you were sitting together on the couch. The screen is shared and you're both able to use gamepads, mouse or keyboard to control the game together.



How it Works: Just click the "Add Guest" button in the game lobby to add additional local multiplayer guests. The hud and unit control will automatically switch over to the correct player when it's their turn.

1. New Feature Added support for four player local multiplayer.
   
2. Steam Deck Verified Abalon Arena is now Steam Deck Verified.
   
3. Fixed Bug where Metamorph was not carrying over status effects when transforming back into its native form.
   
4. Balance: Reduced Metamorph’s life from 9 to 8.
   
5. Balance: Rust, Melt, Cleansing Fire, Deconstruct and Purify can now dispel time travel status effects. When used this way, they do not trigger their other effects.
   
6. Balance: Increased the healing of Preserver from 3 to 4.
   
7. Fixed Bug where battle wouldn’t end if player died to poison at the beginning of their turn.

Abalon Arena's demo will remain live through the duration of next week for Steam's Remote Play Festival (which concludes on Monday, February 19th).

After the festival, we'll take a break to integrate other features (single player/coop campaign ladders, async multiplayer, etc.) and aim for more demo opportunities in the future before launch. Be sure to Wishlist and Follow our store page for these updates.

• Steam discussion board: https://steamcommunity.com/app/2352400/discussions/
  
• Discord: https://discord.gg/d20studios (RossD20Studios#2359)

Thanks for being a valued part of our community!

~Ross

• Fixed the issue where the spawn quantity was incorrect under specific circumstances.
  
• The base refresh cost for the shop has been reduced from 50 gold coins to 10 gold coins.

* The demo version has been updated accordingly.

Hello, we are KIWIWALKS!
We are excited to introduce Version 1.301 and its additions of Hard Mode and NG+.

Read further for more details!

<1.301 Update Notes>

1. New difficulty levels added - Hard/Very Hard
- The patterns of boss and semi-boss enemies are changed.
- Some player skills are rebalanced for these difficulties only.

1) Can be started via "New Story" on the title screen
2) If you have a record of viewing the ending, you can use any save file to start again from Chapter 1.
- The initial tutorial story will be skipped and you will start in the middle of Chapter 1.
3) New content exclusive to NG+ mode
- New monsters
- New equipment

1) Auto-skip Dialog
- Added an option to automatically skip dialog once voiced lines end.
2) Crafting Mastery
- Once you craft a healing potion/combat tool 3 times, you will get double the amount of crafting experience in subsequent crafts.

1) Increased efficiency of HP-consuming skills
- Each time you use a skill that consumes HP, its power is increased by 36%. Combining skills with this effect will increase the power of all of them.
- Applies to: Overload Strike 1, Overload Strike 2, Ultimate Strike, Ecarr Vertel, Ecarr Half
2) Life Staff
- HP recovery amount from skills can now be amplified with Strategic CRIT.
- Excess recovery amount from skills is capped at 65% of max HP.
3) Pet Balancing
- Lucca: The number of cooldown turns required when using Turn Pass has been changed.
Changed from 1 turn on first use and 4 turns subsequently to 3 turns on first use and 3 turns subsequently.
- Aslan: Increased power of secondary skill.
4) Added more defense skills on top of Basic Defense
- Charge Strength (from Physical Training Stage 2)
- Charge Magic (from Mental Training Stage 2)

1) The duration of certain defense buffs has been adjusted from 2 turns to 1 turn.
2) The maximum power of skills affected by enhancement (eg. Peanut Shark) will be limited to the highest level of Attack Blessings.
3) Added a new defense skill for Warriors. After being attacked a certain number of times, they will instantly enter Defense state, greatly reducing damage.
4) Boss/Semi-Boss Enemies
- Boss battle patterns will be added or changed.
- Some boss stats will increase proportionally to the player's stats


---

For any questions about the game or submitting bug reports, please use our official Discord channel.
Thank you!

Official Discord: https://discord.com/invite/witchspring

Bugs

• Prevent Brightness slider from going under 100%
  
• Bluetooth Xbox controllers should now work on Linux/SteamDeck
  
• Many other random controllers should work out of the box
  
• The Coward will now kick out items you leave in the trade window when it closes

Balance

• The Encampment is no longer a blood-bath
  
• Rebuilt enemy spawning algorithm. Should better adhere to the correct point value for a level now.

Misc.

• Hammer of Wotana power move should no longer crash the game with high Attack Count
  
• If the Coin Tally in the bottom right flips between negative and positive, it will reset
  
• With vsync off, the frame rate can no longer go into the thousands and cause so much coil whine
  
• Straggler enemies are no longer killed. Instead, the level will just complete.
  
• You can no longer heal the Innocent after the event completes

Additions

• Many things in the works…

- Improved main quest handling at Verona.
- Updates to improve archery.
- Fixed an issue with the roadblock guards not speaking.
- Fixed an issue where the player couldn't jump after chasing Maximus.
- Fixed an issue where Romius Treasure dialogue would not load if you failed his Runaway quest