We at Arcen are proud to announce the latest version of our title <a href="http://www.arcengames.com/w/index.php/skyward-features">Skyward Collapse</a> has now gone gold.&nbsp; As is typical for our titles, the massive 2.0 update is free, while a paid expansion pack with huge buckets of content also launches at an affordable $2.99.<br />
At PAX Prime we'll primarily be showing off <a href="http://christophermpark.blogspot.com/2013/08/bionic-dues-first-10-screenshots.html">Bionic Dues</a> in the Indie Megabooth, but we'll also have <a href="http://www.arcengames.com/w/index.php/skyward-nihon">Nihon no Mura</a> (the new expansion) and Skyward Collapse 2.0 to check out if you want to swing by.<br />
<b>What's New In 2.0</b><br />
There was a <a href="http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,13535.0.html">big writeup on the largest set of changes</a>, which were originally released as version beta 1.4.&nbsp; Anyway, the highlights of what has changed from 1.0 onward are:<br />
- Complete rebalance of pretty much all the units' bonuses against one another.<br />
- Monster Caves that appear in addition to Bandit Keeps.
- 9 new bandit-only mythological creatures.
- 11 new bandit-only human units.
- Ally Camps, with 3 units from each faction moving here.
- 2 new land types
- Soul imprints resource, and new related abilities.
- Currency resource, and revamped trade model.
- Building upgrades.
- Revamped resource costs for human units to better control production.
- Garrisons.
- Functional revamp of not only trade, but also embassies and flower gardens.
- New Insane and Torment difficulty levels for expert players.
- Visual upgrades to the fonts, particle effects, and various tiles.
- Improvements to Sandbox Mode.
And <a href="http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Skyward_Collapse_-_Post_Release_Notes">a whole lot more</a>!<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.arcengames.com/w/index.php/skyward-nihon">Nihon no Mura</a> Expansion</b><br />
The Japanese enter the fray on Luminith: their faction has a very strong military and a very strange pantheon: their gods are much more aggressive than their Greek and Norse counterparts, and each has three god creatures rather than three god tokens.&nbsp; Learning to play this new faction effectively is a fun new challenge: given how powerful the Japanese military and mythology are, you have to be very creative in how you help the Norse and Greeks drive back this threat.&nbsp; Remember, no faction is supposed to dominate the other!<br />
Hamlets are new non-combative, non-factional villages that can be built in the remains of the fallen towns.&nbsp; But it's never that easy!&nbsp; Hamlet buildings can only be placed from a limited queue that cycles as you place them.&nbsp; Hamlet buildings generate (or lose) Culture depending on what pre-existing tiles were adjacent at the time you placed them.&nbsp; Culture allows you to activate four powerful new abilities, including creating Large Towns or even turning back time.&nbsp; Amass enough Culture and Sunstone and you can even win the game via a new Cultural Victory!

We at Arcen are proud to announce the latest version of our title Skyward Collapse has now gone gold.&nbsp; As is typical for our titles, the massive 2.0 update is free, while a paid expansion pack with huge buckets of content also launches at an affordable $2.99.

At PAX Prime we'll primarily be showing off Bionic Dues in the Indie Megabooth, but we'll also have Nihon no Mura (the new expansion) and Skyward Collapse 2.0 to check out if you want to swing by.

What's New In 2.0

There was a big writeup on the largest set of changes, which were originally released as version beta 1.4.&nbsp; Anyway, the highlights of what has changed from 1.0 onward are:

- Complete rebalance of pretty much all the units' bonuses against one another.

- Monster Caves that appear in addition to Bandit Keeps.
- 9 new bandit-only mythological creatures.
- 11 new bandit-only human units.
- Ally Camps, with 3 units from each faction moving here.
- 2 new land types
- Soul imprints resource, and new related abilities.
- Currency resource, and revamped trade model.
- Building upgrades.
- Revamped resource costs for human units to better control production.
- Garrisons.
- Functional revamp of not only trade, but also embassies and flower gardens.
- New Insane and Torment difficulty levels for expert players.
- Visual upgrades to the fonts, particle effects, and various tiles.
- Improvements to Sandbox Mode.
And a whole lot more!

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Nihon no Mura Expansion

The Japanese enter the fray on Luminith: their faction has a very strong military and a very strange pantheon: their gods are much more aggressive than their Greek and Norse counterparts, and each has three god creatures rather than three god tokens.&nbsp; Learning to play this new faction effectively is a fun new challenge: given how powerful the Japanese military and mythology are, you have to be very creative in how you help the Norse and Greeks drive back this threat.&nbsp; Remember, no faction is supposed to dominate the other!

Hamlets are new non-combative, non-factional villages that can be built in the remains of the fallen towns.&nbsp; But it's never that easy!&nbsp; Hamlet buildings can only be placed from a limited queue that cycles as you place them.&nbsp; Hamlet buildings generate (or lose) Culture depending on what pre-existing tiles were adjacent at the time you placed them.&nbsp; Culture allows you to activate four powerful new abilities, including creating Large Towns or even turning back time.&nbsp; Amass enough Culture and Sunstone and you can even win the game via a new Cultural Victory!

This one has a number of bugfixes, tweaks, and refinements. Nothing grandly exciting in the main, but the fixes to certain mythological and god tokens not working in the prior version is obviously welcome.

One big thing here is that bandit units dying now gives you points. This makes it a lot easier to get points in circumstances where you are having to fight more bandits than the opposing faction, which sometimes happens. In other words, your ability to generate points is not quite so hampered by circumstance. This also leads to higher scores in general, so the score gates have been increased by 15% to compensate for that.

There was also previously some confusing logic regarding when units could and could not pick up bonus tokens. This was confusing enough that it seemed like an error even to veteran players, though the units were actually working just as they were supposed to. This restriction has now been removed so that units can super-stack bonuses a lot more. This makes them act in a way that will be immediately more clear to players of all skill levels... and in terms of this affecting balance, it's only going to make things harder, not easier, since a super-stacked unit is rarely a good thing. ;)

There are also now scroll/panning speed sliders! That is sure to be quite welcome. :)

Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have any version of the game. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.

This one has a number of bugfixes, tweaks, and refinements. Nothing grandly exciting in the main, but the fixes to certain mythological and god tokens not working in the prior version is obviously welcome.

One big thing here is that bandit units dying now gives you points. This makes it a lot easier to get points in circumstances where you are having to fight more bandits than the opposing faction, which sometimes happens. In other words, your ability to generate points is not quite so hampered by circumstance. This also leads to higher scores in general, so the score gates have been increased by 15% to compensate for that.

There was also previously some confusing logic regarding when units could and could not pick up bonus tokens. This was confusing enough that it seemed like an error even to veteran players, though the units were actually working just as they were supposed to. This restriction has now been removed so that units can super-stack bonuses a lot more. This makes them act in a way that will be immediately more clear to players of all skill levels... and in terms of this affecting balance, it's only going to make things harder, not easier, since a super-stacked unit is rarely a good thing. ;)

There are also now scroll/panning speed sliders! That is sure to be quite welcome. :)

Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have any version of the game. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.