Oct 8, 2024

Amaze Onlookers with Your Smooth Breakdancing Skills

Guild Wars 2 - ArenaNetJoie

"/Breakdance" Emote Tome

Want to bust a move and let loose after a tough day of adventuring? Learn these acrobatic, high-skill moves and impress the onlookers. This new emote tome will teach you how to move like never before! The "/Breakdance" Emote Tome is available for 400 gems.

Secrets of the Obscure Expedition Contract

The Secrets of the Obscure Expedition Contract is here! We'll send out one of our elite Black Lion expedition teams to collect resources for you from Skywatch Archipelago, Amnytas, and Inner Nayos. They'll also collect rift essence for you. This enterprising item is available for 1,000 gems.

Black Lion Chest Update: Bright Waters

Inside each chest, you're guaranteed to find a redeemable Black Lion Statuette, a Black Lion Material Bag: Janthir Wilds, and two common items. You also have a chance to find something rarer in the fifth slot, including special items, glyphs, and skins from the Dokkaebi Weapon Collection and the Bright Inquisitor Weapon Collection.

Exclusive Item: Portable Hot Springs Chair

Soak your aches away with an amazing portable hot spring! Invite a friend and relax anywhere you desire with this little piece of the lowland kodans' magical, healing waters. The Portable Hot Springs Chair is a new, exclusive drop from Black Lion Chests.

Mystical Beast Weapons Collection

Invoke the power of nature's fury with this new collection of spiritual weapon skins—you shall vanquish the wilds with your stout heart and hearty brawn. Each Mystical Beast weapon skin is imbued with the spirit of one of six different beasts and can be obtained in exchange for 1 Black Lion Claim Ticket. Unleash your mystical beast by unsheathing or swapping your weapon!

What’s in Stock

Starting October 11 and continuing for the next few days, select infinite gathering tools will be 20% off, including the Shifting Sands Mining Pick, Infinite Volatile Magic Gathering Tools, Infinite Cosmic Gathering Tools, and many more! Gather everything you need in endless style!

Returning This Week

From today until October 15, Black Lion Chest Keys, Transmutation Charges, Total Makeover Kits, Self-Style Hair Kits, and Name Change Contracts are available at an incredible 20% discount. Retouch, remake, and reimagine your characters!

Available Now in the Gem Store!

Log into Guild Wars 2 and press 'O' to access the Black Lion Trading Company for these great offers and more!

Oct 8, 2024

Update: v0.8 | Bots!

Polymino - Welsh, it.

Hello everybody! I'm very excited to announce that version 0.8 is finally ready, featuring a lot of new content and improvements!

Bots!

Version 0.8 introduces Gauntlet Mode, a variant of Junk Attack where you face off against a series of bots, each one more difficult than the last. Pick a loadout and get ready for an intense fight against a brutally efficient AI. Can you survive enough rounds and earn enough points to climb to the top of the mode's leaderboard?

Profiles

Profiles allow you to customize the menus and save your cursor settings both locally and on the Steam Cloud. If you save a profile in your copy of the game and join another player's Remote Play session, your profile will automatically appear, allowing you to use your profile no matter whose game you're playing!

Profiles can be accessed by going to "Extras" from the main menu.

Balance Changes

The difficulty curve in Classic Mode has been changed: the score threshold for difficulty 20 is still 1,000,000 points, but the earlier difficulties are progressed through much faster. The actual formula for each threshold was changed from (difficulty)^2 * 2500 points, to (difficulty)^3 * 125 points.

Several of Junk Attack's loadouts were tweaked or completely reworked based on feedback from playtesting. Part of the reason why I'm so excited about the addition of bots is that anyone can now use these loadouts when playing solo, so I am looking forward to hearing what players think!

Full Patch Notes

Aside from the above, there are many more additions and changes in version 0.8, which I have listed below, as well as more specific details about what was already described.

Gauntlet Mode

Added a new game mode where a single player faces off against an AI player using a variation of Junk Attack's rules.
A new Steam Leaderboard exists for Gauntlet Mode, where players are ranked by the highest round they reached, with scores breaking ties.

Profiles

Players can personalize the appearances of some menus by using custom colors and patterns instead of the usual green, blue, red and pink for players 1-4 respectively.
You can also save your cursor settings in your profile, which is handy for associating them with specific users rather than player numbers.
If you join another player's Remote Play Together session, your profile will be loaded in their game, so you can take your preferences on the go.

Classic Mode

The difficulty thresholds have been adjusted: instead of (difficulty)^2 * 2500 points, it is now (difficulty)^3 * 125 points (note that the threshold for difficulty 20 is still 1,000,000 points).
- This results in every difficulty below 20 having a lower threshold (the lower the difficulty, the more drastic the reduction is).
- This decision was made to prevent the game from being stale when starting at low difficulties.

Junk Attack

New ability which is part of a couple of reworked loadouts: Transfer Spree.
- For a limited time, all junk hit by projectiles is transferred instead of shattered.
The following loadouts have been reworked based on feedback from playtesting.
- Bomb Proof: first and second abilities are cheaper.
- Queue Assault: the second and third abilities no longer rely on each other to be powerful.
- Sabotage: a nearly complete redesign to make each ability more impactful and give users a way to top-out their opponents.
- Petrification: the loadout still revolves around filling opponents' boards with tiny junk, but the gimmick of having an expensive first ability has been ditched in favor of abilities with more typical costs.
If releasing the bomb button will activate a Transfer Bomb, the outline shown has an alternate appearance.
The default time between difficulty increments was changed from 45 seconds to 30 seconds (the player can still select their own value like before).
The game tracks some extra stats such as the number of abilities used.
When junk is transferred, a fade-out animation plays instead of the junk instantly vanishing.
The alerts when targeted by Junk Transfers are less spammy (one alert for the whole ability instead of for each junk piece).
Some more complex abilities now have summaries in the ability info menus which do a better job describing them than the auto-generated details.
With the exception of Transfer Sprees, if a timed ability is applied while the same ability is already active, the new ability's duration is added to the timer instead of replacing the old timer value.

Extras

The Chemical junk theme has a new shader effect to mimic caustics.
The Fluid debris theme was redesigned to better fit the game's aesthetic.
The Bitcrushed sound effects pack was reworked to use the block-break sound from the Sega Genesis version.
The animations used for the game's new trailer can be viewed in game, which is how they were generated for the trailer in the first place!

Menus

The game now lets you know when you unlock new extras.
You can now hold left/right to move sliders instead of needing to do individual taps.
Player stats screen: progress bars now measure the progress between zero and the next milestone, instead of the progress between the previous and next milestones (which looked confusing).
When clicking on the loadout/player select buttons in the loadout selection menu, the game now detects if you clicked on the left side and will cycle backwards in that case (it was confusing for it to always cycle forwards even when clicking the left chevron).
All menus now treat mouse events as coming from the first player using the keyboard, previously some menus treated them as always coming from player 1.
Meter segment numbers in the loadout info menus stand out more.

Bug Fixes

It is no longer possible to do a frame-perfect swap to move a block which is falling.
Hold-to-swap controls are no longer buggy at the edges of the board.
Fixed a memory leak when starting a new game (which was fortunately very minor - for the leak to consume a single kilobyte of RAM, you'd need to play 32 singleplayer games in a row).
A rare bug whereupon first boot the game would open in a minimum-size window instead of fullscreen has been fixed.
Ability durations with decimal values are now parsed correctly instead of truncated to seconds.
Particle trails (such as the Fluid debris theme) get smaller towards the tail, as they were originally intended to.
The "GAME OVER" graphic is no longer visible above the board at the beginning of the animation in 4 player games.
Fixed a bug where Speed Up abilities could prevent the difficulty increase over time from working.
Fixed a memory leak which occurred upon exiting the tutorial at certain stages of it loading its animations.

Music

Music fades out when returning to the menus from the game instead of instantly cutting.
The number of times each song is played is balanced across the entire session (app startup to shutdown) instead of only being balanced within each game played.

Oct 8, 2024

Civilization VII Dev Diary #2: Leaders & Civs

Sid Meier's Civilization VII - sar.firaxis

Hey Civ fans! Sarah, your CM here with another Dev Diary. Today, we'll be diving into Leaders and Civs - two key ingredients to the Civilization franchise. And who better to detail this than Lead Franchise Producer Dennis Shirk, a Firaxis veteran of more than 19 years! Take it away, Dennis!

Hi everyone, Dennis Shirk from Firaxis here! Leaders and civs hold a dear place in my heart, and I'm excited to detail some of our thinking when it comes to Civilization VII. I'll explain the decision process behind which leaders and civs we select to put into the game, discuss why we added the new mix and match feature, outline what's new in Civilization VII, and provide a little bit of a look ahead. Let's get started!

How We Choose Leaders and Civs

The way we choose which leaders and civs to put into the game has evolved over the years, and even more so for Civilization VII. In the old days, the selection process was often pretty loose - a designer might think, "Hey, this could be fun," and that would be all it would take to get them into the game. As the franchise has grown and more players from around the world join the Civ community, we have to rightfully be more thoughtful in which leaders and civs make sense for the game.

Typically, we think about leaders and civs along a few criteria:

Historical prominence. If we ask players to think about history, oftentimes a few civilizations or figures from the past instantly rise to the top. Leaders and empires who left a lasting mark on the world at large are always strong candidates.
Player representation. Particularly in the last decade, both the community and our ability to connect to players from around the world has grown immensely. Representation is deeply important to many Civ players, especially those that may have been traditionally underrepresented.
Interesting Gameplay. Naturally, leaders and civs have to be fun to play. We think about people who carved particularly interesting paths through history, and civilizations who have a high potential for unique gameplay.

This selection process has changed quite a bit through some of the new features we're bringing to Civilization VII. Two things in particular change our internal calculus: Ages and the ability to mix and match leaders and civs.

As Ed previously outlined, Ages split history into distinct playable chapters, and every civ is unique to its Age. One of the direct results and benefits of this system is we can now go "deeper" with civilizations. Instead of a civ needing to meet the bar of having historical prominence across all of history, now we can apply that thinking to just one Age. Aksum or Maurya India are good examples of this; cultures that were particularly prominent during a specific slice of history.

With the ability to mix and match leaders and civs, we've decoupled what was traditionally a package deal. This is particularly liberating because in the past, leaders essentially needed to be the most popular or well-known figure from their respective civ, which often meant focusing on a ruler, kings and queens, president, or some other political figure. Now, in Civilization VII, great figures of philosophy, human rights, science and more are now elevated to leader status, like Confucius and Benjamin Franklin.

There are, of course, Personas. Many historical leaders and civilizations had complex, multifaceted histories. We introduced Personas in Civilization VI as a way to acknowledge historical figures who have ties to different civilizations, or those who excelled in two unique and important areas of statecraft. Personas return in Civilization VII with a stronger focus on the latter, as the ability to mix and match leaders and civs inherently covers the former. Every Persona comes fully equipped with their own unique feature set as a leader - a Unique Ability and Agenda, as well as a distinct outfit and background. One example in Civilization VII is Napoleon*, who can be played as either his Emperor** or Revolutionary*** Persona - reflecting the periods of his life during the French Revolution and his subsequent reign as ruler.

The last thing I'll note is that leaders and civs aren't selected by a single person or even department here at the studio - it's a wholly collaborative effort across the entire team. We take in considerations from the art team, historians, designers, the community - everyone plays a part in shaping the roster by bringing their unique perspectives. It truly takes a village to bring leaders and civs to life!

Why mix and match?

One of the more notable features in Civilization VII is the ability to mix and match leaders and civs. I mentioned a bit about the rationale above, but wanted to expand a bit more on our thought process.

A major reason for adding mix and match was to support Ages. In past games, you always played as the same leader and civ combo through the entire game. With your empire being represented by multiple different civs across a full campaign in Civilization VII, we needed to make sure that players still had a strong cohesive sense of "who" they're playing as, and against.

With Ages, we thought about several different approaches on how we could handle civs and leaders. This included the idea of switching leaders per Age, as well as designing in "stacks" where every Civ would be like what we have for India (Maurya, to Chola, to Mughal).

Each of these options fell short in different ways. We were convinced that swapping leaders would be particularly confusing to understand who you were playing with. Players often say that they're making alliances or waging war against Cleopatra, Gandhi, or Montezuma - not Egypt, India, or the Aztecs. And if the leader changes mid-game, that narrative inside the player's head is disrupted.

In a similar vein, only choosing civilizations that have a full "stack," as in a direct historical lineage, meant that we would have to be greatly limited in who we could consider for Civilization VII. You would only be able to pick civs whose past spans the entirety of history, which means no America.

That brings us back to "why mix and match" - and in some sense, why Ages? Through this feature, we're able to make sure you maintain a strong sense of identity for your empire, your friends, and your rivals on the world stage. Creating historical "pathways" instead of a strict empire stack provides significantly more replayability and allows us to represent a more diverse set of cultures. We're able to expand leaders into new categories, shining a spotlight on figures who contributed to humanity in ways many players may be discovering for the first time. And, of course, strategy! Every leader has a unique playstyle, and you'll be able to blend that playstyle with the unique traits of each civilization during the Age.

What's New for Civilization VII?

Now that we've gone through the structural and categorical changes, let's go through the actual components of leaders and civs.

As we've mentioned before, every civ is tied to a specific Age, and you get to experience that civ at the height of its power. Each civ comes equipped with a Unique Ability, Unique Infrastructure, a unique Civic Tree, an associated Wonder, Unique Units (both Civilian and Military), and typically a location Starting Bias. Combined together, these nudge the civ into a certain playstyle, categorized across Military, Diplomacy, Expansion, Science, Culture, and Economy.

For example, Han China is an Antiquity Age civilization. As you complete the Han's unique Civic Tree, you can unlock the Guanxi, Jin Qing, and/or Tianxia Traditions - each of these being available to slot into your social policies for your empire in future Ages, regardless of which civ you choose.

Han China has a Unique Infrastructure in the Great Wall - a Unique Improvement. In contrast, Rome's Unique Infrastructure comes in the form of their Unique Quarter - the Forum, which is created when combining Rome's two Unique Buildings, the Temple of Jupiter and Basilica, together in a single District. Unique Infrastructure like the Great Wall and the Roman Forum are Ageless, meaning their effects last across all Ages, and you cannot build over these structures.

Unique Civilian Units come in different styles as well. Han China's Shì Dàfū is like a mini "Great People" system - each Shì Dàfū provides a different reward, is received only once, and increases in cost. Maya's Jaguar Slayer, on the other hand, replaces the Scout and gives the unit the power to create an invisible trap on Vegetated tiles to damage enemy units and end their movement.

Every civ has an associated Wonder, giving them both the ability to unlock that Wonder earlier through their unique Civic Tree and a production bonus when building it. These Wonders are not unique to the civ though; wait too long to build your associated Wonder, and you may find that another player has scooped you!

For leaders, each comes packed with a Unique Ability, Agenda, and occasional Starting Bias; again, nudging their playstyle into the above mentioned categories. In Civilization VII, the AI will always pair leaders and civs with their closest ideal choice - typically determined by historical ties or geographical ties. You'll see those options as well in the form of a small portrait icon when starting a new game, but thanks to mix and match functionality you can freely choose which leader and civs you want to pair together. If you're playing more for strategy than historical immersion, you'll typically want to match a leader's playstyle to the civ's playstyle.

Something new to Civilization VII's leaders is the Attribute system. Attributes offer a way to customize your leader further during the course of a game, split into those six categories: Cultural, Diplomatic, Economic, Expansionist, Militaristic, and Scientific. Your leaders and civs have different strengths in these categories, determining the affinity you have toward earning certain Attribute points with gameplay, and you spend these points on attribute Skill Trees that make your leader stronger. For example, Augustus has a strong focus on Culture - so you'll find yourself having more chances to earn Cultural Attribute points.

Importantly, Attributes and their bonuses persist across Ages - ensuring that while your empire grows across time, so too does your leader! Attribute points can be earned across a wide variety of gameplay actions - building certain Wonders, researching certain Civics, completing narrative events, and as rewards for finishing milestones along Victory Paths.

A Look Ahead

Leaders and civs are a crucial element to the Civilization franchise, and I'm incredibly excited for players to experience each of them in Civilization VII. Through Ages and features like civ swapping and mix & match, we're able to go wider and deeper with civs and leaders than ever before.

For a look ahead on the next Dev Diary, we're going to be tackling a topic that core Civ fans have been dying to know more information about: empire management. We'll be detailing everything from how cities work, populations, yields, what a "warehouse" building is, overbuilding, and more. If you have any questions, please continue to share your feedback and thoughts across our social media channels. As always, thanks for being the best fans in gaming.

*Napoleon leader not included in the base game.
**Napoleon (Emperor) is available as bonus content for players that link a 2K Account to the platform account used to play Sid Meier's Civilization VII. Internet connection required. 2K Accounts are free. One per 2K Account. Reward will be automatically delivered in-game. Void where prohibited. Terms apply. For more information, read here.
***Napoleon (Revolutionary) is available as bonus content for players that link the same 2K Account to the platform account(s) used to play Sid Meier's Civilization VI and Sid Meier's Civilization VII. Internet connection required. 2K Accounts are free. One per 2K Account. Reward will be automatically delivered in-game. Void where prohibited. Terms apply. For more information, read here.