WizardChess News

Welcome to WizardChess 0.9.7! We've been in the dungeon, crossing our I's and dotting our T's (and then realising our mistakes). We have increased the RRP of WizardChess to $15 USD. This will be the full US release price but if you feel subject to unfair price localisation, please reach out and let us know. Stay tuned for a 1.0 release date announcement!

NEW Lessons: Complete objectives to prove competence and earn shiny versions of friendly units
NEW Shop Lottery system replaces Quests and Donations
NEW Final cutscene (accessed by beating CrownSpider)
NEW First pass Credits roll
NEW Idle animations for multiple units (Fishtank, Lion, Cyboxer, Yowi, Doagen, Druid, Fichillin, Juggler, Knave, Orangutan, Barby, Hellcat, Warlock, Roboart)
NEW Warlock can now attack
NEW Sound effects for many units
NEW Bonus 5 VIM for first Arcade Mode encounter

CHANGE Rework difficulty in arcade mode, drastically simplify equation
CHANGE Rework Champion status calculation
CHANGE Bombs now use ATK of Gremlim instead of SKL to determine damage
CHANGE Tournament/Story Mode is locked until you beat Arcade Mode at least once
CHANGE Simplify Game Menu
CHANGE Restore Compass in Mazes
CHANGE Speed up SwordWall movement
CHANGE Change Earth traits to be more useful
CHANGE Speed up moving walls in Hss fight
CHANGE Rework input bindings and fix controller support across game

FIXED Prevent some units from being cloned
FIXED Prevent tutorial enemies from being spawned in FaeQueen fight
FIXED Fix and guard against out-of-bounds unit spawns
FIXED Fix & finalize Fae Queen spell VFX
FIXED Tweak Tutorial dialogue
FIXED Polish pass over all Cormag's dialogue
FIXED Ensure upgrades and key items are all inspectable (RMB)
FIXED Fix suggested challenge button
FIXED Prevent snakeify effect on markup tags within dialogue
FIXED Fix shop button labels
FIXED Fix cursed deal adding / removing devotion
FIXED Show unit stats on Lesson cards

Thanks for your continued support and feedback. Almost there.
Ben & Ricky (TwoPM Studios)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

A short devlog update video showcasing and summarizing the latest changes to Arcade Mode & the thinking behind the design.

Welcome to WizardChess 0.9.6!

We're tuning the balance and dynamics of Arcade Mode and bringing the endgame into focus. We dropped the initial time limit for Arcade Mode to 5 minutes and introduced a new concept: Ante.

After each combat you can Up The Ante to increase how much VIM you get ongoing, get a minute extra on the clock and increase the challenge of the game. The idea is to encourage faster, riskier play give access to higher difficulty for those who want it. From here we will be focusing on polish, refinement and testing as we prepare for 1.0.

NEW Up The Ante: get more VIM and more time on the clock in Arcade Mode
↳ The cost? Everything gets harder, faster. NEW Upgrades are inspectable in the shop
NEW The board can be set on fire
NEW Cutscene for the first cursed deal you visit
NEW Cutscene for the first card minigame you play
NEW Chickens have darkvision
NEW You get VIM from Cursed Deals
NEW Enemy Unit: Odonata
NEW Enemy Unit: Lampyrid
NEW Enemy Unit: Ixodes
NEW Enemy Unit: Gerridae
NEW Enemy Unit: Dynastes
NEW Enemy Unit: Chelicera

CHANGE Henge room appears later in Fae Biome (Story Mode)
CHANGE Less mountains in the mountains biome
CHANGE Transition cutscene to final phase of final boss
CHANGE Obstacles in tutorial biome are half-height
CHANGE Boost AI intelligence factor across the board
CHANGE Initial run time limit is 5 minutes in Arcade Mode
CHANGE Difficulty curve in Arcade Mode
CHANGE Champion status is determined by relative strength vs your party
CHANGE Remove Quicksand in CrownSpider fight
CHANGE CrownSpider is reachable in Arcade Mode (at sufficient Ante)

FIXED Honk can no longer teleport bosses
FIXED Guard against 0 enemies spawning
FIXED Initial unit devotion is shown correctly on UI
FIXED Changing elements updates unit trait
FIXED Guard against 0 spots for friendly units
FIXED Tourists get their luggage
FIXED Fae Queen spells are disabled in final phase
FIXED Door alignment in trade offers
FIXED Floating sprites on Cormag battlegrounds
FIXED Make some units uncloneable (Elemental Shield Orbs)

Thanks for your continued support and feedback.
Ben & Ricky (TwoPM Studios)

[h2]The annual Steam Summer Sale is here!![/h2]


Thousands of games are on sale across Steam, including a 25% discount on WizardChess! Consider grabbing the game bundled with 5 other unique and very positively received roguelikes for additional savings (or scope out one of the other bundles offered this sale).

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/34319/We_Like_Roguelikes/

The entire 2 Left Thumbs publishing catalog is on sale. Be sure to browser that selection to see what other quality games might tickle your fancy.

[h2]UPDATE?[/h2]
June is the first time in months we didn't have a new update for you! Our apologies for that. But the work continues! After some much needed downtime, Ben and Ricky are hard at work again refining the game's onboarding and core loop.

The goal is for players to understand the game quickly, start unlocking new stuff immediately, and to feel their WizardChess skills growing as fast as possible. We all agree the game is at it's most fun when both the player's skill and options are nice and high.

This home stretch of updates to v1.0 should help bring rookies up to masters in less time than ever!

[h2]COMING SOON[/h2]
A new roguelike published by 2 Left Thumbs is coming soon!

Keep an eye out for Gorgon Shield, from the creator of Swords and Sandals. It is a party-based RPG, arcade, roguelike. And I can guarantee you haven't played another quite like it!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2446920/Gorgon_Shield/

There is large demo for you to play around in. And please be sure to add it to your Wishlist!

Welcome to WizardChess 0.9.5!

This patch was a huge effort. It introduces 12 new units, builds out Arcade mode and streamlines the introduction to the game. We're focused on reducing tedium and bringing the fun of the late game in much earlier. Arcade Mode will be the default mode for new players going forward, with Story Mode acting as a set of challenges that unlock particularly interesting units.

This has been in response to the feedback we've received here on Steam & in our Discord about how the game could be more fun, for more insight into the design check out the latest devlog:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

NEW Unit: Druid
↳ Debuff the DEF of units standing in the same row or column. NEW Unit: Barby
↳ Moves slowly dragging a big club. Gains ATK when moving. NEW Unit: Wolobee
↳ Swap places with nearby units. NEW Unit: Doagen
↳ Repeats whatever move you last made it do. NEW Unit: Dancer
↳ Effortlessly moves between the crown. NEW Unit: Hellcat
↳ Taunt enemies to draw them near. NEW Unit: Warlock
↳ Direct all units to target the same cell. NEW Unit: Orangutan
↳ Throw adjacent units to distant tiles. NEW Unit: Cyboxer
↳ Automatically seek out combat. NEW Unit: Wisp
↳ Automatically evake combat. NEW Unit: Yowi
↳ Throw projectiles to push back foes. NEW Unit: Roboart
↳ Automatically charges at signs of enemy movement.

NEW Arcade Mode Unlockables
↳ After each arcade mode run you have a chance, based on the cards you draw, to unlock a new unit.

NEW Introduction scene
↳ Actual lore!

NEW Onboarding sequence
↳ We've streamlined the tutorial. This is the first step in a rework of the "tutorial" content to make it less boring.

CHANGE Tune enemy DEF scaling
CHANGE Ronin and Cat attack diagonally
↳ All units that can move diagonally should attack diagonally. CHANGE Reworking cutscenes and dialogue.
CHANGE Codex entries updated and re-written for clarity.
CHANGE Units will (briefly) indicate which tiles their effects are examining before they act.
CHANGE All shop items are inspectable
CHANGE Cloaky is inspectable in the shop
CHANGE Arcade mode buttons have bindings, labels and spatial targets

FIXED NullReferenceException accessing unit's position
FIXED Incorrect screen resolution calculation
FIXED Trade offers could overlap with the exit button


Thanks for your continued support and feedback.
Ben & Ricky (TwoPM Studios)