Version 199 is here!

Yesterday, we updated the game to version 199.

The update introduces some pretty big changes for the better, and it took us a couple of weeks to make sure these changes were working as intended – since they touch upon multiple mechanics.

As an experiment, player party now enjoys 5 move points every day (previously: 3). How does it feel, to be able to move further? So far, we think that it allows us to have larger maps that feel less of a chore to explore. We may also introduce a modification for parties that would affect their move point range.
Quality of life improvement for those who play only with their mouse (and soon, for those who play on Steam Deck): when all move points are spent in the travel mode, now a replica of "End Day" button shows up over the party icon. Saving the need to reach for "SPACE" or move the cursor into the corner.
The "action area" of the encounter UI got a facelift: now all actions – moving an element from hand to formula and discarding the deck – are located within the golden frame. Anything outside of that (such as moving elements between two formulas) doesn't cost an action.
Thanks to feedback here on the forums, the free actions (that do not issue any Fatigue to the mage) now have a different color – beige/brown – than the actions that cause Fatigue – these are painted in blue.
All elements that are already drawn into the spell formulas, and are in the "mental space" of the mages, are now displayed a bit differently from the elements in their hands to help differentiate the two.
The first animated outcomes are in! You asked for it, we asked for it, and our animation team (or, to say otherwise, our friend and colleague Monika) delivered! Already in the game: DESTROYED and RETREATED. Coming a few weeks later: burned, ensorcelled, activated and the rest of the gang.
This may sound like bad news, but this is actually good news: we got rid of the dedicated Party Profile window, and now use its button to open Character Profiles. Advantages: one less window to keep track of (see explanation below), and a convenient button for accessing Character Profile (previously you had to use RMB on the portraits to access it).
Information about party sustenance, and consumption of cooked food, is now happening through Character Profile. It has become a one-stop place for all things to do with items, and so we also nuked the dedicated button for Inventory which used to be in the lower left corner in travel mode.
Instead of "read books", "equip clothing", "equip amulets", "consume alchemy" and "consume cooked food", we now have a single "USE" button. We also made it easier to, hmm, use. How it works: you drag and drop the desired item there, or you click on the item and then click on the button, or you just double-click on the item, and it's used automatically. If it's a piece of clothing, it will get equipped. If it's a book, it will be read. And if it's a substance, it will be consumed. This button is how you use any item in the game.
Equipment and clothing slots have moved to be closer to the character portrait:
Speaking of equipment, there are 3 new items, all belonging to the class of equipment:

Blackpaw's Paw that comes from the theft-loving creatures that you can encounter in Elderwood, and issues 2 tokens of Protection from Fear;
Giggler Stomach Mask, which is a facemask made from the insides of a seasoned giggler, and issues 2 tokens of Protection from Infection;
Blazing soul ring, which is one of the enslaved souls taken off the flaming spitter demon, and issues 1 token of Fire to every Shadow present in the encounter.
Some of the other equipment got a bit of a re-balancing: Motherstone Amulet now issues 2 tokens of Protection from poison, while Soldier's Amulet issues 1 token of Protection and Amulet of Reflection issues 1 token of Reflection.
And now for a whole new feature: essences. Essences are a part of the life force of a creature extracted in a high-stress situation. Such as death, change of shape or panic. There are three essences in the world of Rund: Destruction, Transformation and Deflection. Your party earns them when dealing with creatures from any of the three Realms of Rund.
And what do you need these essences for? That is connected to another big feature: Personal Spellbooks! Now every mage has their own Spellbook.

Initially, 9 spells are available to each character (mostly first-level, but occasionally some of the advanced, too) and the rest are unlocked by specific essences (it costs 1 essence to unlock the spell of the first level, 3 – of the second, and 5 – of the third).

To access the unlocking mode in the Spellbook, press the button with the lock icon at the top of the Spellbook (in a few weeks this part of user interface will change for the better):
In encounter mode, a major change has happened to loot, score points and essences: these are all now granted immediately, without waiting for the end of the encounter, and can be used in the same round.
Every party member can now use 1 curative alchemic substance during encounter. To access the list, use the green substance button in the character's hand. To actually use the item, double-click on it, or click and click or drag and drop it to the "USE" icon –
The use of encounter substances remains limited to 1 per round, and is now accessible via a red substance button. The actual use is similar to use of curative substances, via "USE" button –
The buttons for individual character decks have moved a little, and now display the counter of elements left. In case you missed the earlier change, they can be switched on/off individually:
Earlier, we added the indication of the impending attack. It displays the attacker, and hovering over the icon highlights the specific creature, like here:

With version 199, we make the next step and display the actual expected attack if you hover over the multi-turn indicator – in this case, it's 2 tokens of frost to every party member:
One last thing about encounters: we now added an "end of encounter" summary that displays the fate of your opponents, and the loot / score / essences that they have yielded. It's not perfect yet, e.g. opponents who retreated are currently not shown there –we'll fix this with one of the future updates!
Small improvement: discovery cards now appear in the top left corner. Previously they showed up in another spot, which conflicted with other valuable information.
Finally! We made a small change to Distorted Clouds (which are spawned by Anomalies during the season of the Phantom Moon): instead of killing the whole party, they now kill "just" a random party member.

If you've read this far – congratulations!

Those were a couple of very intense weeks of development =).

With 15.000 players giving the demo of Spire of Sorcery a try in the last few weeks, and with the wishlists closing on 75.000, we feel the pressure to deliver updates that cause the real impact. Thus from the "weekly" update schedule we now move to "when we complete the next big feature" schedule.

Please keep giving us your feedback about the demo, as specifically as possible, and we will do our best to continue to make this game better for you!

Yours as always,
Team CO / Vilnius, Lithuania