Draft of Darkness News

Small patch with some balance tweaks and bug fixes.
[h3]Improvement[/h3]
- Tooltips are now shown in the card detail screen when hovering over the card.
- Attribute calculation tooltips now show Crit. Chance in the percentage format.
- In "Mystery Box" event, one of the reference phrases for the crow token is changed from "the scavenger" to "the carrion", to prevent confusion with the axe token. In addition, this puzzle will use the same phrase for each token per generated puzzle.
- Added "Locked Drawer" as another trigger for the "Public Phone" event, to increase players' chances to trigger it.
- Some changes have been made to the "Hidden Doors" event when triggered with Ivan. It's now possible to advance in the event to get rewards with Ivan.
[h3]Balance[/h3]
- (Card/Knife) Withstand Pain: Protection Layers 3->2. Now gives Block 10.
- (Card/Axe) Axecelsior: Physical Dmg. 5->10, Fatigued Layers 10->5.
- (Card/Spray Gun) Stir: Chemical Cost 1->0, HP Loss 1->2. Now HP is lost when a card with 3 or less energy cost is drawn (instead of 3 or more).
- (Card/Spray Gun) Weak Spray: Acid Dmg 0.4->0.25.
- (Card/Mech) Aerial Shot: Physical Dmg. 1.5->3.
- (Card/Mech) Chemical Bomb: Acid Dmg. 3->4.
- (Card/Mech) Cluster Bomb: Physical Dmg. 2->2.5.
- (Card/Mech) Dark Chain: Dark Dmg. 1->2.
- (Card/Mech) Dark Flame: Dark Dmg. increase per use 1.5->2.5.
- (Card/Mech) Incendiary Bomb: Burn Dmg. 3->4.
- (Card/Mech) Repeating Shot: Physical Dmg. 1->2.
- (Card/Mech) Shoot: Physical Dmg. 1->1.5.
- (Card/Mech) Weak Claw: Physical Dmg. 0.4->0.6.
- (Card/Mech) Shield Up: Block 3->4.
- (Card/Mech) Wormhole: Battery Charge Cost 2->1.
- (Condition) Core: Agile: Speed Increase 20%->30%, Crit. Chance Increase 20%->40%.
- (Condition) Core: Gunslinger: Power Increase 30%->50%. Now increases all Power attributes, instead of just Physical Power.
- (Condition) Core: Overheat: Speed Increase 40%->60%.
- (Condition) Core: Defender: All Defence Increase 30->50.
- (Perk) Repellent: Push Back 10%->5%.
[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]
- Fixed "Black Pendant" item not giving Virus immunity.
- Fixed some of the equipment card effects not working when equipped in the alternative weapon slots.
- Fixed Ivan getting high amount of unarmed cards because of Leo being considered unarmed.
- "Weird Painting" event now gives "Out for Blood" card instead of "Choppy Chop", since "Choppy Chop" is an equipment card.
- Fixed "Burning Chain" card having wrong target type.
- Fixed "Public Phone" event being active for Ivan.
- Fixed "Matter Collapse" not showing crit. damage.
- Fixed "Hidden Doors" event puzzle giving Pennies over and over when "Recall Solution" is selected with Ivan.

Hello all! With this content patch, a new hero, new companion, new weapon type, 40+ new cards and 1 new boss fight are added to Draft of Darkness!

[h2]Hero: Ivan[/h2]
Ivan can use the brand new weapon type: the Dark Cannon! This weapon type comes with more than 20 cards, and specialises in deck & timeline manipulation. With Dark Cannon cards, you can create moves in your and allies' decks, advance allies and push back enemies in the timeline, retain moves to use them in the next turn, or clone cards to gain advantage against powerful foes!

To unlock Ivan, you need to defeat the Brain Artifact boss.



[h2]Unique Companion: Leo[/h2]
Ivan is a special hero, in that he starts with a mech companion named Leo. Being a machine cat, Leo can't use weapons like other characters, but he has a completely unique "Mech" deck with its own moves. Leo also learns these moves while leveling up, instead of getting them from encounters. Instead of going to the trunk, Mech moves will be added directly to the Leo's deck upon being acquired.



"Core" mech moves give Leo powerful abilities during combat. Only one Core can be active at a time, but they each significantly change how Leo fights. You can increase Leo's defences or choose to boost his offence by making every attack repeat itself. You can even make Leo fly! (Special thanks to "@Strikeing" and other people in our Discord server for giving the initial ideas of "core" mechanics and cards being gained every level-up.)



Leo also can't wear equipment, but he naturally gains defences when his level increases. His "Mech" perk advances him in the timeline when allies get hurt, which makes Leo a great companion in the party. Leo's deck synergizes well with Ivan's Dark Cannon and other weapons.



[h3]Boss Fight: Brain Artifact[/h3]
When visiting the Factory, you will come across a new boss: Brain Artifact. This boss is one of the experiments of the Puppet Master, creator of the Puppets and the Dark Cannon. While trying to construct a fully sentient being who will obey him without condition, Puppet Master realizes something new.



Upon defeat of the Brain Artifact boss, you will unlock a new Outcome, and this boss will be added to the boss rotation of the Factory.

[h3]What's Next[/h3]
Draft of Darkness is a solo-developed game: it's hard to isolate the development process from the personal issues. In short, due to problems with my family's health, I had to take a few breaks from the development past two months. Right now, I can say that everything is under control and I'm back to my normal development schedule. That said, the planned release date for Draft of Darkness v1.0 is unfortunately delayed to later this year. I've already re-planned the release schedule and I will announce the new date once it's final.

I've been focusing heavily on content, but there has been some important tasks piling up in the backlog as well. So I'm planning on releasing a few bugfix and balance/technical improvement patches along the way. Aside from those, the next big patch will be adding the Part II of the story, and add the final content for the game. The up-to-date schedule can always be found in the Steam Forums or our Discord Server, feel free to check them out. Until next time!

[h2]Update Notes for Patch v0.9.0[/h2]
[h3]Content[/h3]
- New hero added: Ivan.
- New unique companion added: Leo.
- New weapon type added: Dark Cannon.
- New deck added: Dark Cannon (20+ cards).
- New deck added: Mech (20 cards).
- New booster pack added: Quantum Vortex.
- New boss fight added: Brain Artifact.
- Added a system where cards can be gained when leveling up. Leo uses this system to gain Mech cards.
- (New Perk/Ivan) Iron Fist: Increase base damage of your first damaging move in a turn by 0.1x for every 2nd move used by allies between turns. If this effect isn't triggered in a turn, it stacks.
- (New Perk/Leo) Mech: Can't use equipment. May learn 1 move upon leveling up. Physical, Burn and Dark defenses are increased by 3 per level. Whenever an ally loses health, Advance 5%. Immune to Bleeding. Can't benefit from Pills, Vitamins or Energy Drinks. Negate incoming Blinded, be Staggered instead.
- (New Item) Old Rollerblades: The possessor gains Slippery 3.
- (New Item) Gray Cloak: The possessor gains Sneaky 3.
- (Condition) Flight: Now can also decay with a melee hit (if not dodged).
[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]
- Fixed an issue with Brute (enemy) making no moves and getting stuck.
- Fixed an issue with some of the conditions affecting damage types when they shouldn't (ex: Dodge condition affecting health loss in card previews.)
- Fixed some of the problems where events block other events or chests.
- Various typo & small fixes.

With this content patch, a new boss fight, new events, new enemies and items have been added to Draft of Darkness!

[h2]Boss Fight: Puppet Dolls[/h2]
Puppet Dolls are one of Puppetmaster's earliest experiments to infuse organic and inorganic materials using the Darkness. This new boss fight is located in the Factory as an area boss. In this fight, you will encounter 3 enemies, each with different roles and attacks. One of the dolls will try to capture your companions, rendering them stunned; while another will sap the energy and health of the captured survivor. Be careful which doll you focus on, they will become more and more aggressive as their pretty faces crack.



[h2]New Enemy: Wasp[/h2]
It's been a while since the Residence area got new enemies, so I thought it's time to add some! The new wasp enemies have an exciting ability they are eager to show off: flying! When they take off, they will gain an ability to dodge melee attacks. You can shoot them down with ranged attacks, which will render them defenseless. In the following patches, I will add new variations to this enemy. I'm also planning to utilize this flight ability for the next hero added to the game.



[h2]New Items and Events[/h2]
11 new (10 trophy, 1 quest) items have been added. With the newly added events, the event variety in the Factory area is now matched with the other areas.



While exploring the Factory, you may hear an unsettling sound. Upon investigating, you will see that it's coming from a door. I will leave it up to you to decide whether or not to try to open it, all I gotta say is: Be prepared, if you do so!

Most of the events seen in other rogue like games consist of choices with basic risk/reward or negative/positive tradeoffs. Events in Draft of Darkness mostly have been more complex or in a different taste when compared to those types of classical events. With the "Levers" event, I wanted to add such an event that is simpler, but containing randomized tradeoffs with different advantages. Basically, you can select one of 3 randomized effects, which include ones such as:

• Gain 2x random rare consumable, lose 30% health.
  
• Gain a random trophy item, sacrifice a companion.
  
• Randomly transform 3 cards in trunk.
  
• Cure Virus, suffer Radiation 40.
  

[h2]Next Patch[/h2]
The next patch will introduce a brand new hero, with new weapon types to Draft of Darkness! The plan points to end of May for the patch's date, but you might notice that we are going a bit behind schedule. Please check the topic in the Steam Discussions regularly for up-to-date patch dates, or join our Discord Server! See you next time!

[h2]Update Notes for v0.8.2[/h2]
[h3]Content[/h3]
- New enemy added: Wasp.
- New boss fight added: Puppet Dolls.
- (New Item) Acid Powder: The possessor gains Infusion: Acid 10 at the start of encounters.
- (New Item) Gunpowder: The possessor gains Infusion: Burn 10 at the start of encounters.
- (New Item) Foggy Mirror: The possessor has a 50% chance to inflict Bleeding 2 to attackers. If the possessor falls below 20% health, the mirror shatters (Turns into "Shattered Mirror"). (Credits: @Yobee#0866)
- (New Item) Shattered Mirror: The possessor suffers Wounded 1 every 12 steps during exploration. The possessor has a 50% chance to inflict Bleeding 6 to attackers. (Credits: @Yobee#0866)
- (New Item) Crown of Thorns: Increase Crit. damage multiplier of moves by 1x, but reduce their base damage by 20% during encounters.
- (New Item) Fly Trap: Allies restore 4 health every other critical hit they inflict.
- (New Item) Prison Shank: At the start of encounters, replace weak alternatives of the possessor's moves with "Shank". ("Shank" can critically strike.)
- (New Item) Black Pendant: Increase all power attributes of the possessor by 2. The possessor becomes immune to Virus. Does not cure the possessor if already infected with the Virus.
- (New Item) Chess Piece: Bishop: Reduce Vitality by 20%. Increase Agility of the possessor by half their Vitality.
- (New Item) Chess Piece: Knight: Reduce Agility by 20%. Increase Handiness of the possessor by half their Agility.
- (New Item) Chess Piece: Rook: Reduce Handiness by 20%. Increase Vitality of the possessor by half their Handiness.
- (New Event) Banging Door: An event where a horde of enemies are stuck behind a barricaded door. The door can be opened using a "Handiness" stat check, or by spending a "Crowbar" item. The event triggers an encounter with 3 enemies, who have "Horde" status. "Black Pendant" item is obtained upon completion of the encounter.
- (New Event) Levers: An event where the player can choose one of 3 trade-offs. Each choice has both a negative and positive effect.
- (New Condition) Flight: Have 80% chance to dodge melee attacks. Decays with 80% chance upon receiving a ranged attack.
- (New Condition) Captured: Reduce Speed to 0. Whenever the captor takes damage from an attack, lose 1 health.
- (New Status) Horde: Spawns another enemy upon death.
- New item unlock tier added: Batch 3. This tier can be unlocked by completing the Factory area. (Automatically unlocked if Factory is unlocked before the patch.)

With this improvement & content patch: the fast travel mechanics, a new companion and various content have been added to Draft of Darkness.

[h2]Fast Travel[/h2]
I've been trying to improve run durations by introducing options to speed up exploration and encounters. I kept focusing on this matter to make further improvements. After exploring the map and reaching the boss, players generally backtracked to a shop or terminal to resupply. The fast travel system aims to speed up this part of the game and skip the mostly uneventful travels taking place in already explored areas.



The fast travel is simple: you can open the map, click on a fast travel location and initiate the process. You can fast travel to shops and terminals if you already interacted with them. There is a caveat though, this is not a teleportation, you can still get interrupted by the enemies! When the fast travel begins, a path is calculated between your current position and the target. If an encounter is hit, it will be triggered. This makes it important to have a clear path between yourself and the fast travel position. If you fled from the enemy and cornered yourself into a dead end, you shouldn't trust the fast travel to save you from harm's way.

[h2]New Companion: Brute[/h2]
The newly added companion can be unlocked by completing a challenge offered by Brute Osman in the Streets area. Brutes use none other than their punches as weapons. They excel in utilising "combos" with the help of their unique perks.



The new unarmed cards manipulate hand & draw pile, getting more powerful when the combos are invoked at the right time.



[h2]New Events[/h2]
With this patch, I've added several non-story events, focusing on the newer areas. One of the new events is the "Fireplace" event, found in the Residence area. This event replaces the recruitment event of this area, giving you a choice to select one of four companions. In other words, this will give you more control over your first companion. Credits to @GoldenEulogy in our Discord Server for suggesting this idea.

Other events add new opportunities to get more resources, cards, items and equipment. The "Supply Boxes", for example, will allow you to receive resources and rarer consumables if you have the necessary item to open them. With the "Statue" event, you can spend leftover Anolette dusts and petals in the last area of the game. To see the full list of new events, check out the changelog below.



Draft of Darkness incorporates puzzles of survival horrors in the rogue-like formula, by re-thinking them in a procedurally generated manner. The new "Grid Panel" puzzle event added to the Factory is another step towards the goal of having such puzzles in every area. I won't spoil the puzzle here, but as in all other puzzles in the game, I aimed to make it one that will be easy to master and fun to solve each run. Also, while it can be solved simply by itself, you can also find a clue dropped from an encounter in the area. Pro tip: When you are done with the puzzle, you can sell the clue for a high price!

[h2]Next Patch[/h2]
The next month's patch will continue focusing on adding new events. There will also be a new boss added to the Factory area. Until next time!

[h2]Update Notes for v0.8.1[/h2]
[h3]Improvements[/h3]
- Fast Travel: You can now use the map to fast travel to shops, terminals and area bosses. To fast travel to shops and terminals, you must interact with them at least once; while bosses can be travelled to if you revealed them. When fast travel is initiated, the path to the target is checked for enemies; if there is, fast travel will fail and the encounter will be triggered. Environment effects such as Radiation will still be applied according to the calculated path. Fast Travel is disabled while the Daemon is active.
[h3]Content / Balance[/h3]
- (New Companion) Brute: A companion who can only use unarmed cards. Unlocked using "The Brute" event.
- (New Perk/Brute) Crusader: When you trigger a combo, remove 1 Debuff layer from yourself.
- (New Perk/Brute) Muscular: Increase your Physical Power by 0.2 per card in your draw pile.
- (New Perk/Brute) Zealous: When you trigger a combo, restore 2 Energy.
- (New Decision Event) The Brute: An event where you fight Brute Osman in a one-on-one duel. The Brute companion will be unlocked if you succeed.
- (New Decision Event) Fireplace: Appears in the Residence area, in place of the regular recruit event. Through this event, you can choose a companion among 4 of them. The chosen companion will join the group.
- (New Decision Event) Supply Crate: Can be unlocked using a Crowbar or Lockpick to gain resources. Appears in all of the areas, but crowbars can be found in the Factory.
- (New Decision Event) 3 Chains: Appears in the Factory area. A choice between a rare move, trophy item and pristine equipment can be made to obtain one of them.
- (New Decision Event) Grid Panel: Appears in the Factory area. A procedurally generated puzzle event. Adds a special encounter to the area, which will drop a clue item as loot.
- (New Decision Event) Statue: Appears in the Hospital area. "Anolette Petal" or "Anolette Dust" item can be spent to obtain pristine condition equipment. Weapon drops are based on group members.
- (New Item/Consumable) Crowbar: Can be used to open supply crates. Encounter: Draw 1 move.
- (New Item/Quest) Crumbled Paper: Upon use, shows a clue for the Grid Panel event.
- (New Card/Unarmed) Cobra Stance: Select a move from your draw pile (except "Cobra Stance"), draw all moves with the same name from your draw pile.
- (New Card/Unarmed) Accumulate: Select and transfer up to 2 move(s) from your hand to draw pile. Until the end of turn, -Combo 2: Reduce Energy Cost by 1. -Combo 3: Increase base Physical Damage by 2. -Combo 4: Restore 4 Energy.
- (New Card/Unarmed) Elbow Strike: Deal 0.4x Phys. Damage. If unarmed, gain 2 Block. -Combo 2: Gain 2 Block. -Combo 4: Dealt damage is increased by 10% of Block you have.
- (New Card/Unarmed) Load Bag: Send to the bottom of the draw pile. While in draw pile, increase all defenses by 20 and reduce Speed by 0.5 while unarmed.
- (New Card/Unarmed) Suplex: Deal 0.5x Phys. Damage. If unarmed, gain Kickstart 1. Combo 2: Increase base damage and combo requirement by 1.
- (Card) Stall: Now has "Advance 20%", instead of "Advance 5% for each move in your hand".
- "Crowbar" is added as a new starter item.
- "Zealous" is added as a new starter perk.
[h3]Fixes[/h3]
- Refresh rates removed from options, as the game uses desktop refresh rates in both windowed and fullscreen modes.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, we had to deviate from this plan due to personal issues. For an up-to-date roadmap, please refer to the forum topic here. Thanks for your understanding.

Hello all! Thanks for sticking with Draft of Darkness so far. I'm excited to announce the plans for the rest of Early Access!

(Click image to Enlarge!)


There are still a few improvement ideas I'm planning to implement, such as fast travel (for faster backtracking). I also want to work on optimization and improve the game's technical aspects for the release. Aside from these, we will mostly focus on content. The release update will add the rest of the events, bringing the game's story to an end. I'll also keep supporting the game post-release, and add an endless mode, where you will be able to embark on customized runs with different modifiers.

As with all plans, no matter how carefully made, things may change and delays may happen. But do not worry, we have a forum thread where such changes are announced and the updated plan is kept. It's right here. The same plan can also be seen in our Discord server. I'll also try to push out more updates to the "experimental" branch this time around.

To celebrate this announcement, the demo version of the game is updated with the latest changes. Once again, feel free to join our Discord server if you have any feedback, or want to follow the development more closely. Until next time!