Vault of the Void News

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October 4th! Thanks everyone for an amazing EA experience -- I'm excited to share 1.0 with you all!
- Josh

Hello everyone! Here we are at the start of September (already!?), and Update #56 puts a bow in the big class balance updates that have been going on. Tempest is the focus, and I’ll preview her stuff here shortly, but firstly...

[h3]The Road Ahead[/h3]
651 days ago, I pushed a button in the Steam backend that pushed Vault of the Void live into the world. (No seriously, I pushed the wrong button and set it as a 1.0 game, not an Early Access title.) The time has come to push that button once more!

Today's patch will be the last patch in Vault of the Voids Early Access lifecycle. Of course, I’ll probably be hotfixing a few small issues over the weekend, however the next time you hear from me, will be with the long awaited 1.0 release! I’m nervous, excited, terrified and anxious all at the same time, but this day was due to come eventually. Bringing VotV through EA, gathering player feedback and watching the community and game grow over the last 2 years has been mind blowing. Of course, 1.0 won’t really change much. I’m still going to be actively working on the game full time, and commited to providing updates at the same speed!

Such a change visually!



In terms of a specific date -- that information should be public next week (along with a snazzy new trailer!). I’ll be able to preview new features then as well (yes, the new Deck Builder UI will finally be released to the world!)

One small note on this -- I touched on a potential price rise coming for Vault a long time ago when I added the Tempest. I never actually got around to that, but now is the time to square that away before release. From this weekend, Vault of the Void will be moving from $14.99 USD to $17.99 USD. Wanted to give a quick warning for any last minute purchases!

Thank you everyone for so much support over the last few years. I’ll have much more to come, including a video showcasing the evolution of the game, a peek inside the fabled notebooks and more!

[h3]Tempest Changes[/h3]
Last class, but not definitely not least -- the Tempest finally has her balance pass! The Tempest card pool was definitely lacking, so that was hit pretty hard. She has a total of 18 new cards to play with, and some global balance changes as well! Also, the Tempest Void Touch is now available in the Void fight!

For those wondering about the Artifacts, the full list has had a pass over and new ones are currently being added as well. That big balance pass will all be a part of the 1.0 patch as well :)



[h3]Infinity Wars[/h3]
Fellow Aussie developer Lightmare Studios have been working hard on their CCG, Infinity Wars Classic. They have just launched a Kickstarter for their next set, and have opened up free access to play the game right now!

Some of you will already have unlocked the Infinity Wars Deckback inside of Vault (use code “Infinity'' if you haven’t!). Whilst that was cool -- it's time to step it up to celebrate their launch! I’ve included some limited time Alternative Artwork packs that you can pick up right now -- for 0 Void Points! The artwork features card art from their game, and there's both one for Afflictions and Sins! They’re both available now under the Unlocks screen.



Also, be sure to check out the Vault of the Void cross over promo card, alongside it's in game custom battlefield in Infinity Wars Classic today.

[h3]Profile Restore[/h3]
One issue that has plagued the game since inception is the wild case where, sometimes, for unknown reasons, during a power outage or computer crash, your profile may be deleted. I’ve always taken backups for this very reason, but restoring your Profile could sometimes be a bit of a problem -- no longer!



I’ve now added the ability to restore your Profile from one of the backups automatically from the Options menu. Also, if the game detects your Profile was deleted and it has backups available, it will prompt you at the Main Menu and restore it for you!

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And that's it from me! I’ll continue to monitor any issues that come up over the next few days, and hotfix if they do. A big thank you to all the really kind reviews recently as well -- it helps so much when it comes to spreading the word of Vault around.

Next time we speak -- it’s 1.0 time!

Thanks everyone -- all for now - Early Access Josh




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Newish Stuff
- New Tempest Cards and balance changes! (see below)
- Potions have now been added to the Compendium
- All "Highest HP" effects will now ignore Immune targets.
- Added a Profile restore system for those rare times when your Profile is corrupted by a computer crash/power outage.
- Visual Effect added for Ignite
- Visual Effect added for Swamp Witch.
- Vision cards can now been seen in order when you click on your Deck.
- Added visual effects for when cards are played and the location they go to.
- Can now re-enter the Sins event
- Tempest Void touched is now in the game.
- Changes to the tutorial to ensure certain cards aren't shown which may overwhelm newer players!

Tempest Things
- 18 NEW CARDS!
- Rebuke: Changed Zeal from 1 to 2 and damage from 22(30) to 24(32).
- Forked Thrust: Changed "adjacent" to "other" and damage from 7(11) to 9(13)
- Static Sabre: Changed damage from 8(12) to 8(10), but added "Apply Shock 2(4)." after the damage.
- Conduit: Changed damage from 26(30) to 28(32).
- Cadence: Now costs 1 less.
- Stalwart: Now costs 1 less.
- Eye of the Storm: Now costs 2 less.
- Overload: Changed from "all enemies" to "the highest HP enemy."
- Imbue Weapon: Changed damage from 13(20) to 10(16), but changed the +1 per Overcharge to +2.
- Neutral All Alone: Made the base damage hit all enemies.
- Zeal: Righteous Aura changed to "At the end of the turn, deal damage equal to half Zeal (rounded up) to all enemies. Affected by Rage."
- Zeal: Hollow Vengeance gained "Overcharge 1".
- Zeal: Sacred Rays - +1 damage
- Zeal: Righteous Aura - +2 damage
- Zeal: Sacred Flare - +3 AoE Shock
- Zeal: Augment Armament changed to "Upgrade 1 card from your Deck"
- Zeal: Augment Arsenal changed to "Upgrade 2 cards from your Deck"

Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where Forceps interacting with a Black Void Stone does not cause it to become Inert.
- Fixed the Rune Smith's re-roll to now be seeded
- Fixed some logic in reshuffle seeding
- Fixed some ordering on Discard effects for things like Diversion Upgraded + King Stone
- Fixed tight pockets showing the wrong amount on Re-Rolls at the Rune Smith, despite charging the right amount.
- Finally fixed the issue with card freezing.
- Fixed an issue where setting your Max Instability over 50 in the Options file wouldn't stick.
- Fixed various issues to do with large font.
- Fixed an issue with Language Options and missing text.
- Made the tooltip for the Map Icon still accessable when disabled (between floors).
- Fixed an issue with Button text sometimes going beyond the button size
- Fixed an issue with Puncture working when you hit a targets Fortitude.
- Fixed an issue with Medals and Leaderboards going out of sync. All players will have their Medal counts corrected on next login.
- Fixed Mind Shatter so that the second portion of its damage is effected correctly by Rage.
- Fixed an issue with No Kando and the Future in Flux Challenge Coin.
- Fixed an issue with Upheavel and Diversion with a Blue Stone.
- Fixed a damage projection issue with Unholy Creations and Sneak Attack.
- Fixed an issue with Ballet Shoes and not being able to recur on the first turn.
- Recycling Bin and Foreceps will now flash when still ready to be used.
- Fixed an issue with Void's minions being insync when playing with Ambush on.
- Fixed cards doing a funny jig sometimes when choosing one to discard/add to bottom of deck/expel etc.
- Fixed an issue with the Black Coach ignoring the Bleed transfer from Gutted.
- Fixed damage projections with Red Gemmed Surge.
- More optimisation fixes.

Hey folks! Today’s patch is something of a mixed bag, lots of little tweaks and changes -- the last patch probably before the Tempest gets her new cards + balance changes! For the first time, I’ve managed to actually document pretty much all the changes I made as well (woo, I’m learning!). I’ll highlight a few of the major ones below and then dump the full list as well.

[h3]Spell Changes[/h3]
One of the major changes to this patch is really something that has been on the cards for a few months now. Spells will no longer have their cooldown persist between combats. You’ll no longer need to draw out a fight for an extra turn of two to reduce the cooldown on your favorite spell.

As a result, the cooldown of a number of starting spells has been bumped up by 1 (few exceptions to this). Coupled with the price reduction at the Spell Child, this will make inroads on having other spells compete with the starting spell. However there is still a big balance pass coming to all Spells soon to level the playing field where possible!

[h3]New Cards[/h3]
4 new cards have been added to the Daughter of the Voids card pool! Girl’s Best Friend, Spite, Final Repose and Alms are a couple new Corruption Attack cards to help flesh out that need!



[h3]Card Scaler + Card Stacking[/h3]
This is partly in preparation for the big overhaul to the Deck Manager UI (which has this same functionality), but all Deck Viewer screens now have the ability to scale the cards to suit your preference. This of course will save, so you’ll be able to find the perfect setting for you!



Another thing which has been extended this patch is the card stacking feature! Previously, this had just been for token cards (Hidden Blades and Silent Shivs). This has now been setup to work for all cards! You can still disable this in the Options menu if you like, and I’ve also added a “Threshold” setting, so you can customise when and how the cards stack (default setting is 5).



[h3]New Alternative Art Pack[/h3]
A new Sins pack has just been released, done by the very talented Wilfred Dajotoy. I know at this stage things are starting to skew heavy on the "Sins" side of things for Alternative Artwork, I'm going to be focusing the new artwork on Afflictions moving forward now! Then hopefully start branching out into more cards as well!




[h3]Preloader[/h3]
For some people on older machines, there have been reports of some issues when it comes to booting up the game, and having the preloader preload all the textures. This speeds up things by a huge margin for most systems, however some older graphics cards may have issues managing the load. If you’re having long boot times on the preloader, or even having the game crash out right on boot, I’ve set up a way to disable the game from pre-loading.

The byproduct of disabling this is that the game will now have those small hangs during game play as it quickly loads what it needs when needed. This will only be on first texture call and usually is perfectly smooth after the first combat.

To disable this option:

1. Head to your local Vault of the Void folder :

   %localappdata%\Vaultofthevoid

2. Open up the file called options.json
   
3. Look for an option called “preload” and set this to “false”.
   
4. Boot up the game!
   

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Thanks everyone for your continued support. Next up will be the Tempest balance pass and a somewhat large injection of cards for her! Then, we’re on the road to 1.0, which is just around the corner!

Also, if you're not on the Discord yet, a new "Daily Card Discussion" has just kicked off and the community is working through each card one by one, sharing thoughts and strategies on each as they go. Please feel free to join and jump in on the fun! You can see which cards have been spoken about so far here.


Take care -- and happy Vault slaying!

All for now
- Josh



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General Bugs and New Features
- Added a Rarity icon on cards for easier readability.
- The Card Bobbing option will now also disabled Enemy cards from bobbing up and down.
- Pricing chart added to the Lost and Found.
- 4 new Daughter cards added.
- You can no longer view decks from the current day's Daily Draft, however you’ll be able to view them the following day as normal.
- Eroditing Sanity now adds a debuff to your buff bar.
- Under the hood changes made to Dolus's randomisation to remove extremes at either end.
- You can now click a card and then click again to play it (right click to drop it)
- For those who have issues with the preloader loading all textures to memory, there is now an ability to stop it.
- Added a visual effect for Planar Shift
- Random option added for Purge Effects
- When doing a custom I+ setup, there is now a "Random" button which will give you a Random I+ setup at your current Max Instability.
- Spells no longer carry their cooldown between fights!
- Most starters Spells have had their cooldown increased by 1.
- There is now a Corruption Stats tooltip when you mouseover the Corruption orb, letting you know the sources and stats of your Corruption gain during a fight.
- Any "Deck Viewer" screen now has an option bottom left to scale the cards to your liking.
- Fixed some issues with Threat Projection and Steath with debuffs.
- Card stacking is now enabled on all cards. You can set your "Threshold" in the options menu.
- Fixed a bug which caused stacks of cards to disappear on Purge/Discard
- Fixed a layout issue on the Spell Book page when you started to get too many spells.
- Fixed a display issue with Hidden Blades on the Fishhook challenge coin interacting with Shock.
- Fixed a bug where Tea Leaves choice at the Matron would heal you if you were below Max HP.
- Fixed the Puppet Masters "For my Next" act move, to do the Draw before he attacks.
- Fixed Square Peg so it can trigger off itself.
- Fixed a bug where re-entering the Matron could cause a re-roll.
- Fixed a pre-fight display error when vs'ing the Void on Tempest.
- Cards with Alternative Artwork inside the Deck Builder will now show their full text.
- Fixed a bug on Japanese locale which caused a linebreak on a half space fullstop.
- Fixed a bug which would cause the Purge Effects preview screen to go over the frame.
- Ablative Pauldron will now round down in the players favour.
- Random battlefield will now actually randomise!

Encounter Tweaks
- Forgotten Goat: -2 AP on hard and Impossible
- Forgotten Vulture and Game lost about 10% of their HP
- Obsidian Golem has -2 AP on normal
- Hag has a tiny bit less HP and doesn't hit as hard later in the floor
- The Void has about 8% less HP across all difficulties
- Dolus has about 8% less HP across all difficulties
- Congregation Crows have -1 AP on Hard and Impossible
- Piglet Explosions deal -2 damage on Impossible
- Sisterhood Sisters have 15% more HP across all difficulties
- Firebugs and Pyre have about 15% more HP on Impossible

Hi there everyone -- just a small update post today, letting you know about a few bug fixes and updates that have gone through over the last week or so.

[h3]Route Planner[/h3]
As many of you would have seen by now, there is a new feature I’ve just added named “Route Planner”, which enters a simulation time mode where you can traverse the Map, without risks. This is super helpful when learning Vaults slightly obscure map movement method. It’s also a great way to mark out a path for Veterans of the game!



[h3]Daily Draft Reset and Anti-Cheat[/h3]
I’ve gone ahead and reset the Overall Top 100 Leaderboard as promised, some great new high scores already coming through! I’ve also gone ahead and updated the anti-cheat system a bit, and will continue to keep an eye on decks and ensure they are being played and submitted legally.

[h3]Swift Changes[/h3]
A small presentation change of note. The Swift tag at the bottom of cards has been switched out to now be a keyword on cards. This should help new players onboarding when it comes to Combo and what cards get multi-triggered. Being a tag meant it often got missed, so moving into the body text of the card will help alleviate that problem.



[h3]Humble Bundle![/h3]
As many of you may have seen already, it was a huge honor to be asked to be involved with the Humble Bundle Deck Builder Bundle (try saying that 10 times fast!) that was released a few days ago. If you haven’t checked it out already, this is a great opportunity to score some awesome games, and support charity at the same time! A huge welcome to all the new players who have come across Vault from the Bundle as well!



[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
I’ve been tinkering away at lots of little bug fixes over the past little while as well! From cards doing wrong damage (Grapeshot!) to other display issues, lots of things have been crossed off in the Discord. Thank you to everyone who’s been reporting things as wel go!

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Thank you everyone for making Vault what it is, its awesome to see so many new players and active discussion happening around the game. There's a small card infusion coming for the Daughter of the Void, then we’ll move over to the Tempest for one last balance pass -- then, some exciting news regarding 1.0!

Thanks everyone! If you're enjoying Vault of the Void, please do leave a Review if you don't mind, it really does help a lot for small Devs like myself!

Thanks everyone - all for now!
- Josh

Hello everyone! I hope you’re all doing well -- and a big welcome to all the new Vault of the Void players who have come by in the last little while! I’m very excited as usual to dive into this patch now -- lots of fun stuff, including the new VFX and Purge Effects -- so lets dive in!

[h2]Daughter Balance + New Cards[/h2]
The main focus for this patch was obviously the Daughter of the Void, and her getting a nice balance pass and some new cards to play with! Overall, the Daughter wasn’t in too much of a bad spot, but as usual we passed over every card, gathered input from players and also analytics and made a bunch of little tweaks here and there.

One of the biggest changes, may also appear to be the smallest! Her class Artifact has gained a new line, and now reads:



This means Purging for Corruption, even when at full energy, has an extra bonus! This little boost should help kick start her Corruption gain even more, and speed things a lot.

As with all balance passes, there has also been some nerfs to certain cards and archetypes. Grasp, Masochist and Harness Sin all come to mind. Whilst they all did a thing well, they just tended to do it a little too well, and the community has helped shape some small changes in their direction, to hopefully help promote more deckbuilding.

For the first time, I’ll probably note that this balance pass isn’t 100% done. We’re happy with where it's at, but still think there is a bit more to tweak here -- maybe. Daughter is pretty complicated, and whilst all the testing has been generally really positive, there's still a few things we’d like to smooth out. Expect a few small changes and even a quick injection of new cards in the next week or so on top of what is here!

[h3]As with all balance patches, we don’t close the book here. We’ll be monitoring the numbers over the next week and making changes where needed. This goes for the Hidden and Enlightened as well, who will be getting another look over the new data and will have stuff bundled in as needed![/h3]

I’ll include a full list of all the changes at the bottom of this update!

[h2]New VFX Changes + Purge Effects[/h2]
Okay -- so one thing which you may have noticed is small amounts of lag when first starting fights, when certain FX load etc. Also, due to Vault’s “2D sprite sheet” FX, I feel the game did tend to lack a bit of charm. When I first started working on Vault, I couldn’t figure out particle systems at all. I couldn’t make anything look good -- and pretty much gave up thinking it was a flawed system haha!

Fast forward to now, a few years more experience under my belt, I decided to dive back into the particle system and see what I could work at. Thats been a huge focus of my time, and I’m really happy to announce that almost all the 2D sprite sheet effects have been replaced with nice particles effects! This should be overall better for performance, I’ve cut texture pages down by over a third!

The byproduct of this little experiment means I got to have some fun with something that I’m really hyped about! A new Cosmetic Unlock is available under the Unlocks screen! Purge Effects give you a way to add some visual flair to your Purges. I have heaps of fun making these -- if you have any suggestions or ideas, please let me know! I hope you enjoy them !



If you have issues with the new effects on your PC or Laptop, there is a new slider under Options which allows you to scale down the amount of particles you see!

[h2]Daily Draft Changes + Leaderboard Reset[/h2]
The Daily Draft has seen some changes reach its shores. It’s been on the cards for awhile, but the biggest and simplest of these is that each hex now includes a new card reward, so you’ll be able to deckbuild more as you go! Also, two hexes include artifacts, and there's been some visual tweaks to scoring to show where you’re at mid fight.

Once the dust settles and feedback is good on these changes, I’ll go ahead and put the Tempest (finally) into rotation!

Also a note, as is the way with Early Access, there will be an Overall Leaderboard reset coming in the next week or so. A lot of the top scores are from cards that no longer act the way they did, or relics from a scoring system that has been changed over time. Individual scoreboards won’t reset though, so you’ll still have all your medals!

[h2]New Alternative Artwork Pack[/h2]
A new Alternative Artwork pack, done by the talented Adrian Bueno, has been added to the Unlocks! I love this set!

[h2]Large Fonts and Steam Deck[/h2]
I've added a Large Fonts option in the Options menu now. This definitely helps out a lot on smaller screen displays. I'll continue to make improvements on this as I get a chance to play around with it more.

In conjunction with this, I actually just recieved a Steam Deck from Valve (thanks Valve!) to test and setup Vault on! I've had a quick play around already -- whilst a lot of the changes that will come with Controller Support will help in this case, it already works pretty well! I can definitely see a few imporvements that I can slot in quickly though, and will look to this over the next little while.

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Of course -- bundled into all this is a load of bug fixes and performance tweaks. Thanks to everyone who has reported stuff, I'm always sweeping through and making changes where needed!

Again, big thank you for all the support and reviews! If you're enjoying Vault, please do remember to leave a review, it helps so much when it comes to spreading the word -- which is a massive thing for small solo dev projects like Vault!

Thanks everyone -- take care!
- Josh



[h3]Full Change List (Subject to small changes)[/h3]
Starter Artifact Void Manipulator: Added "Energy gained past the max turns into Corruption."

Unleash Darkness: Made the upgrade also increase Discard Corruption to 2.
Cursed Shield: "Block 6(8). If Corruption is over 20, Block 3(4)."
Void Kiss: 1 cost, Deal 9(10), Draw & Discard 1(2)
Wreath, replacing Spirit Shield as 2 cost common daughter starter (in Corruption): Block 14(19). Opener: Expel and add 2(3) Void Coins to Deck.
Grasp: Now deals 2 more base damage but only 25% Corruption damage normally - the upgrade increases the Corruption damage to 50% instead of increasing base damage.
Harness Sin: Instead of giving the rage if you purge it while having 5+ soultithe, it's simply "gain 25% Rage if you have no rage", with the upgrade removing the "no rage" condition.
Soul Kiss: The upgrade also increases the Rage to 50%.
Dirty Soul: -1 Threshold, +1 Corruption, pre and post upgrade
Dark Pulse: +1 Corruption on slay, has 75% Corruption base damage and upgrade is Solo: 50% Corruption damage, instead.
Maddening: +1 corruption pre and post upgrade
Debt Repaid: +2 its damage numbers, pre/post upgrade and both play and purge
Strike with Blood: Upgraded to 35 damage.
Allomancy: Changed to "add 2 Void Coins" (per damage)
Proliferate: Changed damage to 7(9), Threshold to 4(3) and Block to 5(6).
Flesh and Blood: Deals 125(150)% and Purge on base, the upgrade increases the Purge: Gain 1 Corruption to 2.
Knife in the Dark: Deal 5(7) damage. Apply Vulnerable 2(3). (Apply Weak 1.) - Upgrade stays 1 cost.
Wither Shield: Changed block from 10(14) to 12(15)
Separated Soul: Added the Discard: Gain 1 Corruption to the base card, and then made it go to 2 on upgrade.
Exploit: Increased the Rage in the opener from 50% to 75% and the damage from 8(12) to 9(13)
Cycle of Agony: Changed it to "Soultithe 2. Deal 50(75)% Corruption damage. Loop."
Ghost Walk: Changed to "Deal 50% Corruption damage. Gain 1(2) Corruption. Ghost. Inert."
What Was Owed: +1 damage pre and post upgrade
Limit: -1 cost
Acquired Resistance: Changed to "At the start of each turn, Threshold 6(4): Block 8(9). Expel."
Collect: Changed to "Gain 2 Corruption for each Affliction in hand. Deal 75(100)% Corruption damage." and make it an Attack.
Discount Death: Made it an attack. Lower cost to 3. Lower damage to 150(200). Added "Draw & Discard 1." after the Corruption damage and before the cost modification.
Unholy Cleansing: The upgrade is now the base functionality. The new upgrade is to lose Expel.
Reap and Sow: Made the damage always be 75% - the upgrade instead increases Sift from 1 to 2.
Null and Void: Extra 25% Corruption damage pre and post upgrade
Deliver from Evil: +2 Block pre and post upgrade
Blade of Darkness: +1 damage pre and post upgrade
Shed No longer cost reduces on upgrade
My House My Rules costs 2 more and will probably continue to explode the universe.

[h3]Neutral Changes[/h3]
Blood for Blood: Change the damage to 12(16)
Do Over: +2 to damage pre and post upgrade
Supernova: Make this do +8 damage pre- and post- upgrade. It's a neutral brute force AoE *rare*!
Riposte: Add +1 to both damage and block, pre and post upgrade