Ova Magica News

[p]Hello everyone💚,[/p][p]As many of you in the community already know, player feedback is extremely important to me—and I take it very seriously. Since the very first 0.6 version, countless features and improvements have been shaped directly by your ideas and suggestions. This collaboration with all of you is what helps make the game better with every update.[/p][p][/p][p]Over the next few updates, I’ll be sharing a series of changes and improvements you can expect in the upcoming 1.0 release. While I know this doesn’t directly affect the current 0.9 version, I hope it’s reassuring to see how things are improving and evolving based on your input.
[/p][p]To kick things off, let’s take a look at the first big set of adjustments:[/p][p][/p][h3]Upcoming Energy System Improvements[/h3][p]Many of you shared that energy management felt a bit too challenging at the start of the game. After listening to your feedback, I’ve made some adjustments for the upcoming version 1.0 💚
[/p][p]That said, I still want to keep the core design choice:[/p][p]In the beginning, the game is meant to feel a little tough, so that upgrades, new blobs, blueprints, and buildings feel rewarding as you progress.[/p][p][/p][p]Here’s what’s changing with the energy system in 1.0:[/p][p][/p][p]Increased starting energy: from 175 → 250[/p][p]→ This gives you more breathing room before you need to eat or heal.[/p][p](Based on feedback that energy drained too quickly.)[/p][p][/p][p]Tournament rewards improved: Winning a tournament now raises your max energy by 25, up to 425 total.[/p][p]→ This makes tournaments feel more impactful for progression.[/p][p](Based on requests to expand maximum energy.)[/p][p][/p][p]Tool energy costs rebalanced:[/p][p]Fishing rod: 10 → 4[/p][p]Bug net: 5 → 4[/p][p]All tools/actions now cost 4 energy, and with skills unlocked, some can go as low as 3.[/p][p](Especially fishing had lots of feedback that 10 was way too high.)[/p][p][/p][p]New beginner recipe: Smoothie[/p][p]Ingredients (very easily found in the first starting season): 1 wild raspberry + 2 apples[/p][p]Restores 70 energy[/p][p](Based on feedback that early-game lacked simple recipes.)[/p][p][/p][p]Early Access games will always have their rough edges, and I’m truly grateful for all the feedback you’ve shared about the energy system so far. Your input helps me shape the game into something better with every update.[/p][p][/p][p]If you have more thoughts or ideas, please don’t hesitate to share them—either by joining the Discord community or posting here in the Steam forum. Every bit of feedback counts! 💚

Thank you for reading!
~Claudia[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]Today marks exactly 1 year since Ova Magica was released into Early Access! 🎉[/p][p]We’re incredibly happy and grateful for the amazing journey it’s been so far. Seeing players enjoy the game, share their experiences, and build a supportive community has meant the world to us.[/p][p]Your feedback, passion, and love have helped to shape Ova Magica into what it is today. Thank you for being part of this adventure 💚![/p][p][/p][h2]To celebrate, we're launching a Screenshot Contest📸✨![/h2][p]
Whether you're playing the demo or the full version, take your best (or funniest, or cutest!) screenshot and share it with us on Steam.[/p][p]
Rules:[/p]

• [p]🖼️ How to participate: Upload your screenshot or artwork (when edited) to the Ova Magica Steam Community Hub and post the link to it as comment below this post! [/p]
• [p]✅ Editing is allowed but no must – feel free to add funny captions, dramatic filters, or anything creative![/p]
• [p]💚 Optional: Show your love for the game by sharing your screenshot on social media with the tags #OvaMagica and #OvaMagica1stAnniversary.[/p]
• [p]📅 DEADLINE: The contest runs for one month. All entries submitted by August 23rd at 11:59 PM PDT will be considered.[/p]

[p]
Prize:[/p][p]This is meant to be a fun, social event for you—the Ova Magica community—but for a little extra motivation, we’ve got a prize:[/p]

• [p]🎁 Winners can choose between one Ova Magica Steam key OR a $25 Steam gift card*! [/p]
• [p]🍀 We’re also raffling one additional Ova Magica key / $25 Steam gift card among ALL participants — so everyone has a shot at winning! [/p]

[p]We can’t wait to see what you come up with — good luck and have fun! 🥳 [/p][p][/p][p] Additional Rules:[/p]

• [p]By participating you allow us to share your screenshots on social media and other channels.[/p]
• [p]You may submit multiple screenshots, but each person will only be entered once into the raffle.[/p]
• [p]*The Ova Magica key will be sent via DM or email and you can re-gift it to a friend if you already own the full game. If you choose the Steam gift card instead, it will be sent directly to your Steam account. To receive it, you'll need to temporarily accept a friend request from the developers.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Development News and Progress [/h2][p]We know many of you are looking forward to the 1.0 release of Ova Magica, and we really appreciate your patience and excitement💚. We're working hard on it — this will be the biggest update the game has seen so far, and also the final major milestone - the full release💪![/p][p][/p][p]That also means there’s a lot involved. In addition to finishing the game content itself, we’re dealing with achievements, localization (over 200,000 words), console porting and certification, QA, Kickstarter rewards, marketing, and quite a bit more. For a small team like ours, it’s a big challenge, and some of these areas — especially localization — are more time-consuming than expected.[/p][p][/p][p]Also not everyone knows this, but most of the game is being developed by a single person — ClaudiaTheDev — with the publisher’s porting team working closely alongside her on the console versions. (So that means "We" here). [/p][p][/p][p]It's important for us to be transparent with our community and the Ova Magic players:[/p][p]It will still take a few more months before we can realistically assess the full release timeline. Around autumn, we hope to have a clearer picture of whether a 2025 release — as originally planned — is still achievable. We'll keep you in the loop as things progress.[/p][p][/p][p]The good thing is that the 1.0 content itself is almost finished. But everything around the game — all the necessary parts to launch it properly across multiple platforms with multi-language support — just takes time.[/p][p][/p][p]That said, we’re using the game’s first anniversary as a moment to look ahead, and we’re sharing a few sneak peeks below of what’s coming in version 1.0✨![/p][p][/p][p]Thanks again for your ongoing support and understanding — it really means a lot to us 💚![/p][p][/p][p]– ClaudiaTheDev and Top Hat Studios[/p][p][/p][h2]Dev Sneak Peeks[/h2][p]⚠️WARNING: Below the following 1 year anniversary pic are SPOILERS⚠️. Stop reading here if you do not wish to see them.
[/p][p][/p][p]Chameleon Blob[/p][p]Ever seen an NPC with a cool-looking blob or special skills? Well, it's MIMIC time!
[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]More Tutorials
The Blob League Academy has now several new interactive courses. It handles all knowledge required for raising your blobs succesfully.[/p][p][/p][p]Research Center[/p][p]Pearl asks you to build the Blob Research Center. The research team is trying to reassemble an ancient rune that was shattered into several shards — it might reveal a portal to a location holding the key to blob fusion technology… but the shards are lost. Can you help the team to succeed?[/p][p][/p][p]Radiant Blobs[/p][p]Legends say that on very, very rare occasions, a 'radiant' shimmer can occur when breeding blobs... And it seems these blob have especially strong mutations.[/p][p] [/p][p]Gallery[/p][p]Interact with the new NPC "Xell" in the theater to view the gallery. Progressing the game unlocks more images.[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Marriage
Sneak peek: Wedding Planner building + interior:[/p][p][/p][p]Sneak peek: Civil Wedding Ceremony[/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]We hope you enjoyed the few sneak peeks💚 We'll make sure to post another update when we have more news and share even more 1.0 content! In the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out via the Steam forum or our Discord in case of questions.[/p][p][/p][p]Thank you for reading this far and again for your continuous support![/p]

We created a new key art to celebrate the Steam Creature Collecting Fest 💚

The artwork is drawn by the talented Brdt-E and she spend a lot of time and love on it!

And of course we also have a discount for you during the event!

We continue working hard towards the full 1.0 release💪.

You can always drop us feedback in the Steam forums or connect in our Discord💚!

Note: Make sure to update to the 0.905 version. If Steam doesn't update automatic, restart Steam. On Steam Deck games sometimes do not launch after updates, in this case restart your Steam Deck.

This update features new content and also lots of improvements based on your feedback.
The team uses this occasion to thank all players who left us kind words, suggestions and ideas 🙏. Your support during Early Access helps a lot!

We are looking forward to the full release and improving the game further during the remaining Early Access period. If you have more feedback and ideas do not hesitate to reach out via the Steam Forum or our Discord.

Please also leave a Steam review if you enjoy playing Ova Magica - it helps a lot to get some visibility💚 !

Below are SPOILERS, so stop reading here if you prefer to play the new content blind and figure out how to unlock the new features for yourself.




[h3]NEW BLOB WORLD: PREHISTORIC BADLANDS[/h3]
Venture with Lapis into the blob world and discover the secret of the legendary blob fossil egg! The blob world comes as always with new blobs to collect.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

How to unlock:
Fill the level 4 heart fully for Lapis and Lazuli to unlock their new friendship event. The event is a special “duo event”. Follow the quests of the event to gain access to the Prehistoric Badlands.



[h3]DREAM AREA - SKIP SEASONS FEATURE[/h3]
If you are still missing some seasonal or festival items you can now skip quickly to the required season:
Re-visit the Keeper of Time. The blob gifts you a legendary egg and offers you to progress time to the next season.

How to unlock: Available the day after completing Jade's level 4 heart event (in which you meet the Keeper of Time first time). Interact with your bed or tent and you will see an additional choice "Dream until next day".

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]NEW FRIENDSHIP EVENTS[/h3]
All 13 befriendable Npcs are now playable until level 5.

[h3]NEW TOURNAMENT: MALACHITE CUP[/h3]
How to unlock: Progress the friendship of all Npcs to level 5.

[h3]OVOSCOPE[/h3]
An x-ray device which can store blob eggs and show you their content before hatching them.

How to unlock: complete the Prehistoric Badlands blob world.





[h3]MOTION SICKNESS SETTINGS[/h3]
Based on feedback that some players experienced motion sickness when playing Ova Magica.

There are now 2 new settings in the pause menu which hopefully will prevent or reduce it:

• Disable Camera Smoothing:
  Removes all camera “after smoothing /motion” which can greatly help when the motion sickness occurs mainly when moving the player character and rotating the camera.
  
• Battle Camera Setting:
  You can choose between the options “Dynamic (Default)”, “Less Rotation” and “Static” to help reduce motion sickness during battles.

[h3]TEAM TERMINAL[/h3]
Based on players' feedback that switching blobs for farming, battling and other tasks was tedious.

Flint now sells the “Team Terminal” blueprint. Use it to register blob teams and swap between them quickly without having to go into blob barns and navigate the UI each time.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]BLOB SKILL AND ABILITY INFOS[/h3]
Based on players' feedback to see more information what the skills and abilities of blobs do.

Descriptions for blob skills and abilities can now be displayed in several “UI locations” with the "Skill Info" button.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]MUSEUM INVENTORY OVERVIEW[/h3]
You can now select the new choice “View museum inventory” when interacting with the donation box. The museum inventory lists already donated items and shows how many items are still missing in the botanic garden, dining hall and aquarium area of the museum.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]MAGICAL STORAGE: NEW QUICK TRANSFER [/h3]
Based on feedback that players want instantly transfer items from the inventory to the magical storage without having to navigate through all the individual items.

With the new “Quick Transfer” button you can now move all items from your inventory to the magical storage which are already stored in the magical storage too.
Note: the quick transfer does not occupy new free slots in the magical storage, if the max allowed amount of 999 for an item slot is reached



[h3]SAVING AT FAST TRAVEL SIGNS[/h3]
Based on players' feedback that it's tedious to walk back to your tent/house to save the game.

All fast travel points can now also be used to save the game (except in the Clover Town area during festivals).



[h3]BLOB SKILL OVERHAUL[/h3]
The display of the old “Grade” (A-F) on blob skills was removed. Instead the status effects and stat value changes (attack, defense, speed) are now displayed for more infos.

Reason:
The “Skill Grade” was an early concept that was not yet properly implemented. During several tests in Early Access, it ended up not working well with the battle balancing. A more “complex” system isn't always good and can cause confusion, so we decided to remove it and not force something into the game that doesn't really work well.

[h3]VARIOUS + QUALiTY OF LIFE[/h3]

• added new learnable recipes: Blob Island Cocktail (buy from Harold), Apple Pie (get in intro/farm tutorial), Homemade Lemonade (obtained in Flint's first heart event). All missed recipes from events are added automatic to existing Early Access save files.
  
• added several new unlockable skills to the player’s skill menu. Already spent skill points have been reset.
  
• time is stopped now at the boss stage in blob worlds (to avoid falling asleep before collecting the rewards)
  
• shooting stars appear now one hour earlier (8-11PM) to give a bit more time to collect the dropped items before falling asleep at midnight
  
• blobs which reach the highest happiness in blob barns now produce 2 items overnight
  
• added music for rainy days (before no music played)
  
• an icon is now displayed in the restaurant and beergarden dish selection on not yet learned recipes
  
• replaced the slide puzzle of the first Mystic Forest blob world with the easier lantern puzzle
  
• you can now choose between “Exit to Title” and “Quit Game” in the pause menu instead of always having to go to the title before closing the game
  
• feeders and most storage containers (chests) now show similar to the magical storage infos about items (based on feedback to see season of seeds and hela value of items)
  
• UI shown at the portal before entering a blob world and choosing your companion now shows the power level of the wild blobs in the world
  
• blob types: changed type of Sheep blob to Magma, changed type of Slot blob to Forest
  
• increased collect range of all fruits falling from trees (affected: apple, orange, cherry, coconut and heart fruit)
  
• the loading screen is now shown when saving the game at the bed until the save menu appears to avoid thinking the game has frozen. Reason: Loading save files can take a few seconds for very slow hard drives/devices and having a lot of existing manual save files.
  
• chests can now be renamed (+ changed blueprint name from “Storage Container” to “Chest”)
  
• can now hold the increase/decrease keys for inventory stack transfer + buying stacks
  
• can now hold the direction keys in several UIs
  
• Blobpedia now lists only already obtainable blobs during Early Access
  
• Reordered Blobs in the Blobpedia
  
• Blobpedia now also displays the energy costs of blob skills and abilities
  
• improved enemy KI to use less often skills, which only apply status effects but do no damage, when the status effect is already applied (effects among others the skills “Diamond Shield”, “Spikey”, “Poisonous Mushroom” and more)
  
• when having all manual save slots filled instead of the disabled “Create New Save” button now a new “Override Oldest Save” button is displayed
  
• added more names to the random blob name suggestions
  
• improved all loading times when changing areas and entering buildings. But the loading time when starting the game (before the title screen) is slightly longer now
  
• reduced required RAM in all areas. Mainly noticeable in the bigger outdoor scenes (Clover Valley and Clover Town).

• added missing “Blob Action” (Default: Shift / Left Bumper ) to the control remap settings
  
• fixed that feeding rice to a blob with the Seed Scoop ability didn’t give rice seeds
  
• fixed that favorite temperature was not determined correct for bred blobs
  
• fixed that blobs on training devices or the auto petter where not healed overnight
  
• fixed that you could place some objects with the workbench inside some hills on your farm
  
• fixed that resetting settings didn’t reset the screen resolution correctly
  
• fixed that “Inspect” instead of “Talk” was shown when interacting with Helene
  
• fixed that the skater crew Npcs appeared sometimes in two locations parallel at the same day
  
• removed unreachable mud pile inside hill models near mine area
  
• reduced too high energy costs of toxic swamp
  
• changed MCs dialog slightly during Sleigh Swap festival to make more clear her blob is called Morrison
  
• fixed that blobs were not following the player correct in the Adventurers’ Club Intro event
  
• fixed several typos

Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoy the new features ♥