Oct 26

Novus Orbis - Seizo Games

A small but hopefully significant update!

First of all, Novus Orbis has reached 50 Reviews, 94% positive, with the tag Very Positive!
Thank you everyone who helped me reach this small but significant milestone!

The game's BGM tracks for the new locations are starting to flow in. They're still not final, so composition may change a little and volume/mixing/quality is still not the best, but I'm really happy with how they make the new levels feel, so I wanted to add them to the game already. More to come!

Then, with the new additions from update 0.5.0, after feedback and testing, I realized I needed to re balance quite a few things.
As always, the game is being shaped little by little, nothing is ever set in stone, and I'm working hard to make the final product as good as I can.
In general I think the game was getting too difficult (to the point I was struggling myself to win runs), as well as the fact that I felt difficulty wasn't evenly spread through a whole run.
Two major things that I think can really change how a run goes (especially, them happening by the end of level 2), are the ability to find a pet and increasing your max HP.
The more events I add, and the more blessing there are, everything is getting diluted, making the balance towards the end of a run trickier.
Because of that, I have made it so it's easier (almost guaranteed) to have ways to find a pet and at least some kind of HP boost calculated around which level you're on.

As a side note, winning the game with 10 challenges on is a REAL challenge. Unless you get a very lucky build, you will really need to take advantage of all the game's mechanics to be able to win against the last boss.

Additions:

(Music) Added a non final version for the Echo Tower and Outer Space BGMs.
(Music) Replaced the BGM for the Sanctuary event.

Changes:

(General) Removed the anti stall system. It was being to difficult to properly balance, keeping track of all possible reasons the player would be stalling, and in the end, if a player wants to stall and play boringly, it's on them lol
(General) Decreased chance to find negative portal pixies (stronger enemies and damaging ones).
(General) Decreased damage from damaging portal pixies to 10%.
(General) Increased healing from healing portal pixies to 20%.
(General) Stronger enemies pixies will now give slightly less strong enemies, and blood given will be 3x instead of 2x.
(General) The game will now make it easier to find a Fancy Bottle card if you don't have one, or a pet, starting from level 2 (from item chests).
(General) The game will now favor finding a Platinum Melon card if your max HP is too low for the current level.
(General) Healing Springs now heal 50% max HP from 33%.
(Challenge) Challenge 3 now gives 15% more HP to enemies instead of 25%.
(Challenge) Challenge 4 now gives 15% more damage to enemies instead of 25%.
(Challenge) Challenge 5 (the one that gives you one Affliction card) has been completely changed into one that gives bosses 1 Strength status per level.
(Challenge) Challenge 9 changed to have bosses start at 3 Countdown on their first turn.
(Player) Warrior starting HP increased to 60.
(Player) Mage starting HP increased to 50.
(Card) Fire Arrow damage increased to 5-9.
(Card) Fire Ball damage increased to 7-14.
(Card) Slash damage increased to 6-9.
(Card) Kick damage increased to 3-6.
(Card) Spinning Slash damage increased to 5-8.
(Card) Bird Feather now gives you 10% more max HP instead of flat 5.
(Enemy) Zakuro's Desperate Bite attack (when without a tail) is now less powerful.
(Enemy) Eye of the Storm's "Storm" attack is now a 4 hit attack instead of 5.
(Enemy) Eye of the Storm's "Electrify" amount decreased to 5 from 10.
(Enemy) Necrosphere multiple attack is now a 2 hit attack instead of 3.
(Enemy) The World's initial Protection charges decreased to 7 from 10.
(Enemy) Luna Ignis and Luna Aegis Countdown increased by 1.
(Enemy) Grinder now performs 1 action, then 2 actions, alternatively.
(Event) You can now find and store 4 Sanctuary spirits at the same time at most.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed Paper Airplane card not working on pet item cards.
A recent change in how the game is loaded when launched made it so changing font would make the game crash or act weird. Fixed.
Fixed Goosebumps blessing not working on Tick.
Fixed error in Discharge card text.
Fixed a bug that would let you select Lava Flow again after using it, making it possible to use it multiple times without burning cards.
Fixed a bug that could lead to the game forcing you to pick 3 more Affliction cards when loading a run with Risk of Skill or Risk of Assault.
Fixed the shop room music disappearing when accessed after a special fight (Mimics and Monarch).
Fixed a bug that could make portals appear in event rooms that should force you to interact with them.

Remember, if you like the game, each single positive review helps me a lot!

If you have any feedback or want to discuss about the game, join my Discord server.

Oct 26

Trick or Treat!!!

Kemopop! - fisk

2.0.666 adds a seasonal event to Kemopop!. Trick or Treat adds two new seasonal stages!!!

Duke's Halloween stage is accessible in the demo version!!
Piña's Halloween stage is exclusively available to owners of Boys in Hawaii!.
Special for the event, a new hazard is added!! The Mimic transforms into anything matched adjacently.

Trick or Treat! runs until November 4.

Accessing seasonal stages outside of Halloween

Earning all base game achievements will allow you to access event stages at any time. Difficult, but not impossible!! It's a reward for die-hard fans only.

Seasonal events will repeat every year, on the same dates. You could also wind back your system clock, but that is cheating...

Miscellaneous

\[Boys in Hawaii!] The Calendar now highlights seasonal events.
\[Boys in Hawaii!] Reduced the texture resolution on a piece of guestbook fanart which greatly exceeded the renderable texture size on most Android phones.
The Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional) translations have been updated. These translations may need verifying, but as of writing, these translations now stand as the most complete non-English translations of the game.
Touched up Duke's cutscenes and icons.

No achievements are currently tied to the new stages or puzzle features, as it will cause a paradox with certain requirements. This may be changed later.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Oct 26

The Biomes Fight Back!

Survivesmith - markleeml9292

Sub-Biome Hazards

The term "Biome Hazards" used to describe the random environmental hazard events that occurred throughout a level. "Sub-Biome Hazards" are however, persistent within all sub-biomes, until you get the equipment necessary to navigate it (more on that later).

Each sub-biome throws a completely different type of challenge for you to conquer. None of the sub-biomes are "easier" to navigate than the other due to their unique nature. Here's an overview video of the different aspects surrounding the new sub-biome hazards:

For those of who you prefer reading over watching the video or want to understand better about all of that, here's a summary:

Sub-Biome hazards pose a unique navigational challenge on each sub-biome. However, these can be counteracted with the new "Haz-Pro" recipes that can be crafted at the Forge Pod.
A random haz-pro recipe will be given to you at the start of a run. It's up to you to to decide whether you want to explore the safer sub-biome first or go straight into an unsafe one.
You can find the ingredients to craft a haz-pro item for a different sub-biome within every biome.
Here's a list of the sub-biomes and their hazards:
- Malshade Grove: The air in this biome is dense and corrupted, making every breath a struggle. All damage you receive while in this biome is increased.
- Twilight Verge: The corporation has laid traps in these lands, making any creature less than the size of a bear unable to move a few feet without getting caught. Your movement will be halted randomly by hidden traps whenever you move.
- Luminous Crags: Minerals here are of great value, but reaching them is not easy. All mineral nodes have spikes beneath them, making the mining process difficult.
- Verdant Veil: The dense coverage of greenery in this biome makes visibility extremely low, even during the day time. You will be unable to see much here without a better light source.

Let us know if you find any of the hazards too difficult or easy, and if the recipes are too hard to craft, or anything else in general. We look forward to hearing from you about this update.

Cheers!

MaRK