Vault of the Void News

Hello everyone!

Today's update sees something I’m really excited to finally share with you all -- the new Alternative Artwork system!

Amongst a handful of bug fixes as well, from today you’ll be able to find a new kind of Unlock under the Unlocks screen -- Alternative Artwork packs!



The artist in me is really excited for this update :) I have a number of very talented artists working right now on new packs in a variety of different styles, so this really is just the beginning! However, there is some great stuff already in there.

This system also continues my precedent to have no meta progression in Vault of the Void. Everything in Vault will always be cosmetic unlocks, including card backs, battlefields, alternative artwork and perhaps even alternative monster artwork in the future! It was a decision I had to make at the very start when it came to Vault and its unlock/progression -- and this is the way I decided to take things. So hopefully I can deliver some great content in this regard -- let me know if you have any ideas for more cosmetic unlocks!

A huge shout out to Joi Rudin, who is a long time Vault player who reached out right from the start to get involved with an Alt Artwork pack! Their pack is now available to buy with your hard earned Void Points -- check out Twisted Reality now in game!



Also, as promised, our friendly Treasure Goblin pack is now in game! As many of you know, the Treasure Goblin pack started as a thank you to the Community for reaching 1000 reviews! Since then however, the counter had to be taken down from the game. I still wanted to show my appreciation however, and so for the next 2 weeks, I’ll have the Treasure Goblin Affliction Pack in game for 0 Void Points. After that time, it will remain unlockable, however will be back up to its regular costing of 200,000 Void Points.



[h3]For those who don’t own Vault of the Void yet - - just a very quick disclaimer to let you know that Void Points aren’t a paid microtransaction currency! It’s just a progression currency earned in game by playing runs! Don’t fear -- still no microtransactions here!![/h3]

The other thing to note is that the Community Reward for 750 Reviews, which was the alternative Hidden Blade artwork, has been moved outside of being a Code unlock to being available all the time, at the cost of 0 Void Points. I also painted up a Silent Shiv to add to that pack!

A huge thank you to all the artists involved, and of course my amazing animator Sanjeev for his incredible skill bringing the Treasure Goblin to life! Much, much more to come with this system -- I hope you all enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed getting it put together!

[h3]If you're an artist and are interested in working together to make an Alternative Artwork pack of your own, please reach out to me and lets chat![/h3] [email protected]

Next on the list will be the Daughter of the Void balance pass, and a special announcement regarding 1.0!

Thanks everyone -- take care!
- Josh

Hello everyone! Thank you all for the support over the last few days, really appreciate it -- and a big welcome to all the new players!

This is just a quick hotfix to address a few issues that have shown up in the latest patch. Thank you to everyone who has reported issues. I would have loved to have posted this earlier but I fell sick over the weekend sadly, only just getting back into things now!

[h3]Fixes: [/h3]

• The hitbox on the Vault Guardians once inside the Vault has been adjusted to scale with resolutions.
  
• Fixed a bug which could cause the window to squish and lock up when switching between Fullscreen.
  
• Limited the amount of times the Treasure Chest can "creak".
  
• Added a UI Scale option for different resolutions. This enables sizing up or down (or both), but is dependent on the resolution you're running. (Some physically can't go any higher in scale, and some become too small otherwise). This is very experimental, so please send any feedback my way! There's a few images I know that don't quite fill out the screen on some of the weirder combinations, I'll work through those this week!
  
• Fixed a bug with Squid Stance and X cost cards.
  
• Fixed a bug where players were unable to purchase Challenge Coins nor switch their Deck Back.
  
• Changed the Focus spell so you can now cast, even if you don't have cards to Vision.
  
• Fixed an issue with cards being interactable outside of the window bounds on the Deck Manager.
  
• Investigating a bug where a tile that is vertical from your current spot and shout be accessable, becomes locked out. This currently can be sloved by returning to the Menu and loading up again, however I'm working on a fix.
  
• Garnet Band is taken into account now for next turn Threat calculation.
  
• Living Blood Artifact taken into account when you have Threat, and its interaction with Bad Trip.
  
• Future Strike numbers will turn green on turns they're going to trigger via Time Warp.
  
• Fixed a bug the broke card text alignment on Streamer Mode, when playing in smaller resolutions.
  

This patch is currently on the Beta Branch, you can access this by right clicking the game in your Steam Library, heading to the Beta tab and opting in. All data is cross compatible between Branches! I will sync this to the Live Branch in the next 24-48 hours :)

Thanks everyone for all the great feedback and lovely reviews! I’ll be back soon with more updates and more content!

All for now!
- Josh

Hello everyone!

Firstly, I really apologize for the delay in getting this patch up. It's taken just over a month now which definitely isn’t the norm, nor my intention. However, it turns out that rewriting the resolution code for the game... was a bit of work haha. However, its done now, and I’m happy to finally get this patch out to you all! Let’s dive in.

[h2]Ultra-Wide Screen Support, and Resolution Changes[/h2]
So the core of all this started with my push to provide support to all the Ultra-Wide players out there! I appreciate you all asking for it, and I’m happy to announce it's all done! The core change here required a full rewrite to the code which enabled the game to scale depending on the resolution selected. This turned out to be a monumental task, however the benefits also include the fact that the game now will scale perfectly to mobile devices (hint hint).

Just as a note -- there are a few screens like the Deckbuilder which could utilise the Ultra-wide space better. Those will be getting full redesigns to fit in the near future!

When you go into the game options now, you’ll have a resolution selector for you to choose your game resolution! I’ve tried to include all the main ones in there, however if any are missing please let me know and I’ll add them in! There is also a way to set a custom size by using the options file if need be.



[h2]Borderless Fullscreen[/h2]
I can’t begin to explain how big a hurdle this was (and really, it shouldn't have been). But due to engine limitations, I’ve tried so many ways to get this implemented reliably. However, this latest version seems to be working well by testers so far, so I’m very happy to push this out live. Just a note on that, but very rarely, the fullscreen/borderless toggles won’t do anything. A quick restart of the game seems to fix this every time! (Sorry !!)

[h2]The Enlightened Changes[/h2]


Now all the technical stuff is out of the way, let's dive into the fun content side of things! As promised, it's the Enlightened turn for an update! We sat down and worked through each of his cards, using analytics and player feedback across all difficulties to target various things to bump up. Overall, his rework wasn’t as extensive as the Hiddens (his starting artifact didn’t change, for example), but still a significant number of tweaks and balances. The goal was to just give him a gentle nudge upwards, and by bumping numbers in small ways, and adding a few more Fatigue sources, slightly speed up fights.

All in all, 12 Neutral/Hidden cards were changed, 25 Enlightened cards got tweaked in some way, and 11 new cards were added! There were also some small tweaks to the starting kit for Martial and a tweak to the Mindfulness Spell.

I’ll put a full list of changes at the bottom for those who’d like to look over things!

At the end of the day, Enlightened wasn't too far behind the curve when it comes to win rate, and just needed a few soft touches. But as always, we’ll keep and eye on things here and push numbers more where needed!

[hr][/hr]

So there's a few things that didn’t quite make this patch. The biggest of which was the Alternative Art packs I wanted to add, for Sins and Afflictions. I’m currently getting those wrapped up and I’ll hopefully drop them in a small patch next week.



Further to that, a few people have been asking about 1.0. I’ve got some exciting news on that front! But -- can’t share it yet :)

Next up will be the Balance Update for the Daughter of the Void, and I’ll endeavor to get a few new Challenge Coins in before then as well!

Thank you everyone for your patience, and for all the lovely reviews and kind words! It really does make a difference and means the world! Looking forward to keeping this train rolling!

Take care!
- Josh



[h3]Neutral/Hidden Card Changes[/h3]
Grapeshot: +1 damage pre and post upgrade
Salt in the Wound: -1 clot pre and post upgrade
Opening Move: Opener also gives 1 Overcharge
Killing Blow: +4 damage pre and post upgrade
Yin Yang: +2 damage pre and post upgrade
Arcane Overload and Furious Assault: +1 to per-card scaling pre and post upgrade
Zig Zag: Cost reduced to 0
Cease Exertion: The conditional slows are now AoE.
Unload: Changed to deal 20(22) damage and Sift 2(3).
Surprise Attack: Does 3 more baseline damage pre and post upgrade
Wound: +3 damage pre and post upgrade

[h3]The Enlightened Card Changes: [/h3]
Smack to the Future: FS increased from 2x2(3x3) to 5x5(6x5)
Mix Up: Increased FS by 1 pre and post upgrade. The upgrade also adds Purge: Trigger Void Stone.
Union: Increased FS and Shii by 1 pre and post upgrade
Harmony: Increased Block by 1 pre and post upgrade
Unbalanced Fury: Increased FS from 6x2 to 6x3
Careful Advance and Cautious Blow: Both now cost 1. FS/Shii/Block/Delay Block values reduced to 5.
Exhale: Increased Shii by 2 pre and post upgrade
State of Mind: Increased Purge from 2 Shii to 4 Shii. Buff now scales so that it applies 4 Shii X times, instead of applying 4-times-X Shii.
Meditation: Base card gains "Purge while Zen: Gain 1 Energy."
Back in Time: +1 Shii pre and post upgrade
Haste: Reduced cost by 1. Changed the upgrade to "Opener: Chain 1."
Prophesized: +1 Shii pre and post upgrade
Time Warp: Changed to be "this turn and next"
Gaining Momentum: Deals 1 more FS pre and post upgrade. Increased cost by 1 and add "Draw 1" to its opener clause.
Battle Insight: Zen: Vision 1 replaced with an unconditional Vision 2
Clear Image: Deals -2 Shii pre and post upgrade and has -1 cost
Ankle Break: Changed to Deal 10 damage. Deal 5(7) Shii. Follow-Up: Apply Slow 1(2).
Deceleration: The upgrade has now become the base card. The new upgrade adds "and Vulnerable 2" to the conditional.
Age: Current upgrade removed. Gains Purge: Block 3(6).
Timeless: Gains Purge: Rage 25%.
Chaotic Blur: +2 block pre and post upgrade
Opposing Force: +1 FS pre and post upgrade
Undermine: Changed the FS to 5x1(8x1) and made it also apply Vulnerable 2 pre-upgrade.
Bring the Thunder: Now an Uncommon. Rage 50% X(+1) times. Purge: Draw & Discard 1.

[h3]New Cards: [/h3]
11 new cards added!

[h3]Other[/h3]
Removed 1 copy of Gaining Momentum from the Martial starter replacing it with a 9th Lashing Kick.
Focus (Mindfulness starting spell): Removed the Zen requirement from the Rage 25%

Hello everyone!

I wanted to take the time to update you all on what’s going on behind the scenes. It’s been a bit of time since the big Hidden update, so lets recap what’s going on, how things went, and what’s next!

[h2]The Hidden Update[/h2]
To cut a long story short, the Hidden Update (from pretty much all accounts) was a great success! A massive thank you to everyone who has reached out with feedback — it was great to see such a positive reaction around the changes.

The Numbers
We had some target numbers in mind when it comes to win rates etc that we really wanted the new Hidden to fall into. As of right now, everything has trended upwards, and numbers fall (for the most part), within 1% of our goal. This is so great to see, The Hidden and the Tempest are both now sitting very close (no really, like… REALLY close) to each other in power level, win rate etc. Excatly what the goal was.

The Response
But its not just about numbers for me! Always its important to know how the class feels to play — and on that front, its been almost exclusively positive as well. A lot of people commenting about the new changes to the artifact, the free combo, and being able to spend it now more willingly. The Hidden has been revitalised in a lot of peoples eyes, and people are enjoying the new power level.

Thank you again to everyone who has reached out, left comments, DM’ed me, chatted in the Discord etc. The only way to know how this stuff feels is to hear it from you all, and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to do so!

All in all, a great step forward for the Hidden and Vault of the Void overall. I’m excited to move onto the next class focus, the Enlightened.

[h2]The Enlightened[/h2]
Work is already underway on the Enlightened changes. I will preface this by saying —don’t expect a major overhaul on anything with him. Right now he’s in a pretty decent spot, and the focus will be just bumping numbers up in a few places, adding a bunch of new cards, and addressing a few pain points (2 cost Openers, 2 costs in general etc). This process is already underway and you can expect to hear more about this next week as it moves into testing!

[h2]Resolution Changes — Ultra Wide Screen Support [/h2]
Right now, when not spending time in the trenches discussing/changing the Enlightened, all my time is spent working on the new resolution changes for the game. The goal with this was primarily to extend support now to Ultra Wide screen monitors, and also address the “black bars” that appear on certain resolutions. It also means that when the game extends to handheld devices (Steam Deck, iPad, Switch etc), it will conform perfectly.

This is a pretty major overhaul to be honest. I’ve spent around 3 days on it full time so far, and only have 3 screens or “rooms” fully converted. When I first started working on Vault, I had zero knowledge when it came to programming, let alone game development. Ideally, this would have been something the game supported from the beginning — however now it's just something I have to cycle back and retrofit. I’ve learnt a lot in the last 3 years!

The downside to this, is just time. I need to continue working on this to ensure it's ready for the Enlightened update, and splitting an update its tough. I’m hoping the rest comes together pretty smoothly over the next week or so, but I apologise in advance if it delays the updates for a week or so as I get it all finalised. Once done, the game will have a proper resolution selector, it scales to the game window and scales all game assets in the same way.

Sorry again that this fall right in the middle of development — but once done we’ll be in a great place moving forward!

[h2]1000 Reviews[/h2]
Over the last week or so we hit a very amazing milestone! 1000 total steam reviews — unreal! Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a review over the past 18 months. I’ve mentioned it before, but Vault doesn’t have a big marketing team or publisher behind it at all. Steam Reviews are the main way Vault gets out and shared with others, and hence I’m extremely thankful.

I previewed an alternative Affliction card artwork pack a while back, featuring the Treasure Goblin himself! The next patch I’ll include instructions on how to claim this in game, as a big thank you to you all for helping Vault become what it is!



That’s all from me for now! Thanks again to everyone for playing and enjoying Vault of the Void. The journey so far has been incredible and I’m excited for the future.

Take care, all for now!
- Josh

Howdie folks! Well, it’s finally here -- many weeks of me saying “soon”, finally got a chance to sit down and go over the first of the Big Balance Updates. Rather than pass over everything at once, I decided to split things into each of the Classes. I prefer to push updates out at least every 2 weeks if possible, and doing things this way gives the testing team a bit more time to focus on new areas.

A big shoutout to Dabor and Breakshift for their work throughout this patch, but for their time during the concept stages. Lots of calls and discussions passing over everything, and I’m really happy where it landed. And, of course, a HUGE thank you to the Internal Testing Team and the Localisation team for getting everything through so quickly, and all the great feedback and bug finding throughout the process.

So, with that, let’s dive into the great Hidden Balance Pass.



[h2]Goals[/h2]
So what needed to change with the Hidden?
Firstly, it's been known for some time that the Tempest is the strongest of the 4 classes. WIth each class’s Balance Patch, the goal is to edge them closer towards the Tempest, rather than edge the Tempest down. The Hidden, Enlightened and the Daughter all want to be nudge up a bit in win rate.

More specifically, when it comes to play style, the goals were:

• Make the starting decks feel more even - better Slash, weaker upgrade on Draw Blood. Give Quickness its own appeal compared to Lick the Knife
  
• Make spending Combo as appealing as Balance spam -- give more Combo, and make Combo spenders stronger in general.
  
• More Blade/Shiv and Combo generation in the common pool.
  
• Better longevity -- more ways to apply raw Bleed, and give the starting Artifact a way to scale in longer fights.
  
• Increase the card pool.
  

In total, there were:
[h2]36 changes to the current pool (34 buffs, 2 nerfs)[/h2]
[h2]14 New Cards[/h2]

If you’d like to see a full list of all the card changes, they will be listed below.
If you’d like to check out the new cards, you can head to the Compendium and type in 1.4.44 into the search bar and it will list all the new cards!

One of the big changes is to the Hiddens starting Artifact (Sneak Artist), which now reads:

At the start of each turn, if at Combo 0, Combo 1.
Starting from Turn 4, your max Combo is increased by 1.

Great source of free Combo each turn, and a little bump if fights start to take a bit longer!

Overall, I hope you like the new changes -- feedback so far has been really positive! The next step is passing over each of the Artifacts and adding some more, and balancing where needed. This will happen over the next week or two as the dust settles on this change!

Thanks everyone for being patient with me as I finally got around to all this!

[h2]Other Things...[/h2]
Whilst I’m trying to keep these notes short, I have gone through and worked through a number of bugs which have shown up in Bug Reports over the last little while. I’ve also worked on the UI of the Daily Draft (expect some bigger changes there in the next little bit), which will now show how many times a player has placed top 3 in the Draft, and also tracks how many times you have as well! I've also been tending to a few other wording bugs etc that go along each patch.

One of the bigger changes is adding more visual feedback and clarity to Echo Wall. Right now, it was an effect that did confuse players a little bit because of its lack of visual feedback, but also due to poor wording. It’s been updated to reference Threat now (as it triggers when the creature attacks, not when you take damage), and I’ve added a slight pause and visual pow-wow when they get smacked back from it.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Feedback[/h2]
Thank you to everyone for the lovely feedback and support over the last few weeks! Some really nice reviews have rolled through and I appreciate everyone who takes the time to share their thoughts! It's awesome to think we're nearly at 1000 Reviews, a milestone I never thought I'd see!

I hope you all enjoy the new changes and updates, and I'll be swinging back in before too long to update the Aritfacts, and forge a plan for the next class's update!

Thank you everyone!

All for now.
- Josh



[h2]Full Change List[/h2]
- Slash Changed to: Deal 6(9) damage. If at Combo 0, Combo 1. [[1 less copy in starter deck, replaced with another Underhanded Tactics]]
- Draw Blood Changed: Make the upgrade "Add an upgraded Silent Shiv to hand" instead of "Add 2 Silent Shivs to hand."
- For The Throat Changed: Apply Bleed 6(9).
- Quickness Changed: Combo 1. Block equal to Combo. (Rebound.)
- Backpedal Changed: +1 damage both pre and post upgrade
- Bladestorm Changed: +1 bleed both pre and post upgrade
- Bleed It Out: Increase the purge-bleed on upgrade to 3
- Bloodlust Changed: +1 block both pre and post upgrade
- Bloodthirst Changed: Change damage to 8(11)
- Exploit Vulnerability Changed: Apply Vulnerable 2(3). Apply Bleed equal to (combined) Vulnerable(, Weak, and Slow).
- First Blood Changed: If target is below 10 Bleed, deal 14(20) damage. Otherwise, Apply Bleed 6(9).
- Hemolysis Changed: +1 block both pre and post upgrade
- Light It Up Changed: Deal 9(10) damage. Overcharge 1(2). Expel.
- Main Gauche Changed: +1 block pre-upgrade
- Scatter Shot Changed: +3 damage pre and post upgrade
- Slick Strike Changed: +2 damage pre and post upgrade
- Splatter Changed: Deal 9(10) damage. Clot 2(1): Deal 5(6) damage.
- Surprise Attack: Move to Neutral card pool.
- Thousand Cuts Changed: +3 bleed pre and post upgrade
- Underhanded Tactics Changed: Deal 4(7) damage. If the target is Attacking, apply Weak 1 and Vulnerable 1.
- Blender Changed: +1 bleed pre and post upgrade
- Blood Siphon Changed: (Trigger target's Bleed.) Remove target's Bleed. Gain that much Block. Purge: Block 4.
- Cease Exertion Changed: Both Clots go down from 3 to 2
- Grapeshot Changed: Deal 5(7) damage to a random enemy 8 times. Purge: Sift 1.
- Lacerations Changed: Lower the cost pre-upgrade to 1
- Opportunist Changed: Deal 5(8) damage, or 9(12) if the target is Bleeding, to all enemies.
- Response Changed: Increase upgrade to 4 cost.
- Rip and Tear Changed: +1 bleed pre and post upgrade
- Slice in Twain Changed: Increase the damage from 10(12) to 20(24)
- That'll Sting Changed: +1 damage pre and post upgrade
- Blades Upon Blades Changed: +1 damage pre and post upgrade
- Open Up Changed: Change the "15"s to "18"s
- Sustenance Changed: +1 block pre and post upgrade
- Flaying Flesh Changed: Just +1 damage pre and post upgrade