Draft of Darkness News

[h3]Fixes[/h3]
- Added a cooldown to "Shield-Wielding HAI10"'s push back attack.
- Fixed a bug causing hospital keycard chest to spawn on top of other obstacles.
- Fixed Smoke Bombs not being able to be used more than once in encounters.
- Fixed "Carved Pumpkin" equipment slot type.
- Fixed an error report caused by wrong equipment generation.
- Added Rene's own card rewards to the "Weird Painting" event.
- Typo fixes.

Happy Halloween and welcome to Draft of Darkness Halloween Update! This patch adds a new hero, a companion, 40 new cards, and new enemies to the game! The game will also be 10% off during the Halloween Sale. Let's dive right in!

[h2]New Hero: Rene[/h2]
Our new hero is a blood-thirsty chainsaw-killer with a pumpkin-head! She can use the new chainsaw weapon, mowing down the zombies and robots with little effort. Look for a new event in the Streets area to unlock her!



[h2]New Weapon: Chainsaw[/h2]
(An idea suggested by BlackDragonMagician#1680 in our Discord Server)
The chainsaw is a two-handed weapon, which can be used to deal repeated heavy melee damage and apply injuries. When using this weapon, the Conservation System functions as a "Turn Engine On/Off" switch. Keeping the engine on to use the strong versions of cards will continuously cost fuel: a new resource type. Don't worry, though; the chainsaw's weak mode cards are both distinct and more powerful than the other weapons!



[h2]New Companion: Chemist[/h2]
You will find out that a group of chemists are working on discovering a new weapon against the Darkness. By helping them out in the Hospital area, you will unlock the new Chemist companion to aid you in battle. They use spray gun to deal acid damage and get rid of the over-sized pests.



[h2]New Weapon: Spray Gun[/h2]
(An idea suggested by Kaaven#7321 in our Discord Server)
The spray gun deals the new damage type: acid. Acid damage ignores block, which makes it not so easy to defend against. Spray gun cards also apply corrosion, a slow but powerful damage over time effect; and can craft batteries and fuel on the go! Moreover, it can double as a flame thrower, dealing burn damage (the new name of light damage).



[h2]Block Mechanics[/h2]
Block is a familiar mechanic to every deck-builder fan: you simply gain x block to negate x damage. This was missing in Draft of Darkness due to it leaning more towards a traditional RPG style combat style of "receive damage, then heal". One could also argue that the lack of an "intent system" whittles away from the usefulness of a block mechanic. To try how such mechanic will fare in DoD, it is now introduced in the game and used mostly by the enemies. Block wears out in the beginning of an entity's turn; so you can choose to wait it out, brute force it, or circumvent it with acid damage.

[h2]New Boss: Disease[/h2]
A new boss fight is added to the Residence Area, with an enemy who utilises the new block mechanics to shield itself from incoming attacks. It can also unleash its acid attacks upon you. Basically, it does all the new things! (Not really...)



[h2]Other Additions[/h2]
Going into the Conservation Mode now won't cost energy! You can now freely switch back and forth between weak and strong cards! The only exception is the new chainsaw, which will cost fuel to switch to strong cards.



With the increasing number of resources, I color coded them to make them a bit easier to distinguish at a glance. They are now going to have a fixed order in the info bar above.



I can't fit all tweaks and additions in this article, so I'll let you explore the rest of them yourself (or see them in the changelog below).

[h2]Next Update[/h2]
The next update will add controller support, an encyclopedia of sorts where you can look at seen enemies (+their moves) and cards. There will be more content such as items and events coming up as well. Until then!

[h2]Full Patch Notes for v0.6.0[/h2]
[h3]Content[/h3]
- New Hero added: Rene.
- New Companion added: Chemist.
- New Weapon type added (20 cards): Chainsaw. A heavy-hitting melee weapon which applies injuries. Requires fuel to keep using cards, but weak versions of cards are also stronger than other weapons.
- New Weapon type added (20 cards): Spray Gun. Acid and burn damage weapon with AOE and utility capabilities.
- Added "Acid" damage type. Added corresponding equipment attributes adding Acid power and defense. Acid damage ignores Block.
- New boss fight: Shield & Disease.
- (New Condition) Injury: Causes a random negative effect per stack (Currently applies Physical Power, Physical Defense, Speed, CritChance reduction).
- (New Condition) Corrosion: Deals damage on decay, reduces Burn Defense.
- (New Condition) Stash: Gives temporary resources at the beginning of a turn.
- (New Condition) Engine On/Off: A permanent condition added when using chainsaws. With this condition, strong versions of chainsaw cards can be used. In Engine: On mode, the character will lose 1 fuel at the start of turns.
- (New Status) Toxic: Applies Corrosion upon receiving melee damage.
- (New Enemy) Shield: Uses Block and Guard to defend its allies.
- (New Enemy) Shield-Wielding HAI10: Gives Block to its allies. Uses Shield Bash move to push back its enemies.
- (New Enemy) Rotten Sentry: Deals acid damage and applies Corrosion.
- (New Event) The Chemist & Papers on the Floor: A quest event for unlocking the chemist companion.
- (New Event) Public Bathroom Massacre: An event for unlocking the new hero.
[h3]Improvement[/h3]
- Conservation mode now won't cost energy.
- "Light" damage type is renamed to "Burn".
- Added "Block" mechanics: The block value stacks and remains until the next turn of the entity. The received damage.
- (Condition) Poisoned: Now applies 10% physical power and defense reduction per layer, instead of a constant 30%. Max. is 50%.
- (Card/Syringe) Squirt Acid: Now deals acid damage instead of physical damage.
- Added a tooltip under cards about previewing the weak versions of cards.
[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]
- Fixed a bug causing all enemy cooldowns to be 10 seconds.
- Fixed "Play the Victim" card.
- Fixed a bug where "Weak" condition effect isn't removed after decaying.
- Fixed a bug causing weak cards to be stuck after switching off the conservation mode.
- Fixed a bug where swapping weapons caused their "Initial" attributes to trigger again.
- Fixed a bug where hovering over a card during draw animation would freeze the game.
- Fixed some animations not playing in the Linux version.

I am happy to announce that Draft of Darkness will be participating in the Steam Tabletop Festival (RPG Edition) running between 21 Oct - 25 Oct!

The game will be discounted by 10% during the event! Make sure to give the demo version a try!



I will be livestreaming the game on 23 Oct, 16:00 PDT / 23:00 GMT. Feel free to join me playing the latest Early Access release of the game!

This patch aims to make improvements to the equipment system, making it a much more enjoyable part of the game with the help of your suggestions. There is also a significant performance optimization, which should let the game run much faster. Aside from these improvement changes, 3 new trophy items and 2 consumable items are added along with a brand new decision event!

[h2]Equipment Rework[/h2]
With the new changes, I aimed to make the equipment you come across in your journey much more recognizable and easier to manage. The weapons and clothes are now not fully randomly generated. Instead, there are several pre-determined sets with fixed attributes. These set names designate the primary attributes of a piece of equipment. The images will vary based on this name as well. On top of this, an adjective may be added, giving it another attribute for variation. In summary, the attributes of an equipment are solely determined by its name, rarity (condition) and level. This will let you recognize each piece of equipment more easily.



The attribute values of equipment are also now much more simplified. The power attributes will always be integers (like +1, +2, +3...), while defense values will only have one decimal place (such as +5.1 instead of +5.14). This should help with equipment management feeling too convoluted and crowded, by eliminating the unnecessary clutter.

The equipment UI is also refined. The inventory is separated by slot types. In addition, the loot window along with the card selection now contains character avatars, which you can select to directly give equipment and cards to your allies.



[h2]Performance Optimization[/h2]
The performance of Draft of Darkness is greatly improved. With this optimization tweak, the game should run up to 500% faster (depending on your hardware) during the exploration phase. This is more of an "overall" update to the exploration phase. I'm still working on making the path-finding time for the point-and-click based movement better, and eliminating the pauses between each step while walking.

[h2]Content[/h2]
I've added a new decision event involving a background character, The Puppetmaster, who hasn't been mentioned before, but was already related to some of the events in the game. This event can be seen as a small side-quest for obtaining a new consumable item called Wooden Puppet, which can also be turned into a blueprint. This item lets you re-spec one of your allies by reassigning their stat points. The new event has a chance to spawn in the Streets area.



Aside from the event items, 1 new consumable and 3 new trophy items are added to the game. The newly added consumable "Smoke Grenade" allows you to disable enemies during exploration to walk past them if they are blocking your path. It can also be activated during an encounter to gain Stealth, allowing you to flee or avoid a powerful attack. (Or use it for your Stealth strats, anything is possible).

The trophy items are selected from the ideas which have been sent to our Discord Server by our members. I have credited them in the full changelog below. Thanks again to our members for taking their time to write item and cards ideas, I'm looking forward to add more of them to the game.

[h2]The Halloween Patch[/h2]
The next patch will be coming during the Halloween, and will contain a new hero, companion, new weapon types and enemies. When the exact date of the patch is decided, I will update the roadmap with it. If you have anything you think should be prioritized, send it over via the Steam forums, our Discord Server or via the in-game reports. Until next time!

[h2]Full Patch Notes for v0.5.5[/h2]
[h3]Improvement[/h3]
- Gear generation has been changed to generate from set names and fixed attributes.
- Character selection is added to loot window allowing for attribute previews and directly assigning equipment.
- Character selection is added to card selection window, allowing for directly assigning cards to a character.
- Equipment inventory UI is separated into segments according to slot type (Head, Chest, Weapon, Legs).
- Equipment comparison tooltips will now show equipped item side-by-side with the aimed equipment.
- Holding "Shift" while equipping weapons will equip it to the offhand slot.
- Equipment can be designated as Junk while looting them.
- Added an animation to the health and energy bars, visualising damage and heal amounts.
- For simplicity, attribute values on equipment now have fewer decimal places. The amount of decimal places are as follows: Power attributes: 0, Defence attributes: 1, Speed: 1, Crit. Chance: 1.
- Character avatars in character window, loot window and rest screen will show tooltips when hovered over.
- Flavour text is removed from generated gear.
- (Optimization) Sprite animation scripts are disabled for hidden objects during exploration.
[h3]Content[/h3]
- (Item/Trophy) "The Guide to Hacking": Stagger robot enemies whenever an ally deals critical damage to them. (Credits: @King Mordred#6223)
- (Item/Trophy) "Kaleidoscope": At the start of each ally turn, randomise the energy cost of all cards in hand until the end of turn. (Min -3 Energy, Max +3 Energy) (Credits: @Strikeing#1158)
- (Item/Trophy) "Spoiled Beef Jerky": Whenever the possessor gains Radiation during encounters, have a 50% chance to negate it and heal for the amount negated. (Credits: @Waffles#2657)
- (Item/Consumable) "Smoke Grenade": Exploration: Aim at a floor tile to disable enemies within 3 tiles for 6 seconds. Encounter: Give all allies Stealth 1.
- (Item/Consumable) "Wooden Puppet": Re-spec the targeted ally's stats.
- (Item/Quest) "Puppet Master's Box": Contains "1x Wooden Puppet".
- (Item/Quest) "Puppet Master's Key": Unlocks "Puppet Master's Box".
- (Decision Event) "Public Phone".
[h3]Balance[/h3]
- Tweaked some of the starting equipment and event reward weapons to be upgradeable.
- Equipment upgrades will advance equipment level by 10 instead of 5.
- (Card/Unarmed) "Repel": Energy Cost 3->2.
[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]
- Fixed character death state not registering when they have 0 health.
- Fixed double activation of cards when clicking on a target quickly after selecting a card.
- Fixed not being able to use zero-cost cards while having negative energy.

In this content focused patch, 2 new cards have been added for each existing weapon type, as well as 5 new cards for the unarmed card set. This brings us closer to our goal of 25 cards per weapon type. In general, I aimed to fill in the gaps and improve existing mechanics for the weapons; for example: more light damage opportunities for the flashlight, more synergy for the pistol, damage and energy sustain for the syringe, better deck control for the shotgun, a new bleeding approach for the knife etc. Some of the new cards intentionally promote inter-weapon type interaction, hoping to achieve better synergy in the current and future character decks.

I've also added a total of 13 new trophy items. These are distributed in the already existing item batches, so if you have already unlocked them, you'll start getting these items right away. Big thanks to those who helped me by giving awesome item ideas and inspiration in our Discord Server! I've credited them in the changelog below. If you have an item idea, you can join in and send it over too!

New decision events are also added to the game, which will add a bit more variety to your runs:

• "Hole in the Wall" will spawn in any one of the areas, which will let you get resources by sacrificing your hero's or companions' health.
  
• "Morgue" will spawn in the Hospital, giving you an opportunity to gain equipment, resources and cards.
  
• "Quick Enhancement Machine" will spawn in the Streets or in the Hospital, making it possible to upgrade your equipment, increasing their attributes.
  

The new knife card "Out for Blood" will let you inflict Bleeding with direct damage sources such as the new "Kunai" item and the good old "Choppy Chop"!

Another big change is made on Cara's perk. With the increased decay speed of the Bleeding that came with the previous patches, Cara's perk was becoming a disadvantage for her because of the limited time to build up Bleeding layers. To fix this, her perk's effect has been transferred to her old starting item called "Warning Letter", which is now toggleable. (This item had previously been removed when the perks were introduced). This gives you full control for when to speed up Bleeding procs, and when to slow them down. Her perk is also changed to give more incentive to natural Bleeding decay strategy, by having it enhance physical damage output from Cara or her companions.

The next patch will focus on the equipment system rework. I'm aiming to tone down the full randomization on equipment, and replacing it with a more user-friendly system. With the additional improvements to the UI, I'm hoping to streamline equipment management to make it a more enjoyable experience.

[h2]Full Patch Notes for v0.5.4[/h2]
[expand]
[h3]Content[/h3]
- (Card/Axe) "Ponder": Brace 4: Draw 3 cards. Discard up to 2 cards, gain Brace 2 per card discarded.
- (Card/Axe) "Prod": Brace 2: Deal 6 physical damage. Switch to alternative weapons. Increase the base damage of the next card you play this turn by 2.
- (Card/Flashlight) "Ricocheting Beam": Deal 6 light damage, then 4 light damage more to another random enemy.
- (Card/Flashlight) "Sunburn": Deal 6 light damage + 1 light damage for each debuff or disability on the target.
- (Card/Knife) "Dramatic Stab": Deal 1(3) physical damage. Next card you use this turn (except "Dramatic Stab") will be drawn back to your hand.
- (Card/Knife) "Shadow Rush": Advance 25%. If your have Stealth, Advance 40% instead.
- (Card/Knife) "Out for Blood": Limited 1. Knife attacks will instead apply Bleeding equal to their base damage this turn. Critical strikes will apply 50% more Bleeding.
- (Card/Pistol) "Play the Victim": Deal physical damage equal to half of the total debuff and disability layers on yourself twice (max. 5 per stack).
- (Card/Pistol) "Sidearm Tactics": Deal 4 physical damage. Reduce energy cost of next non-pistol card you use this turn by 50%.
- (Card/Shotgun) "Double-Barrel Shot": Discharge. Deal 6 physical damage twice. Next Pump Action card you play this turn won't trigger a Pump Action.
- (Card/Shotgun) "Payout": Pump Action. Draw cards until you draw a Pump Action card or a total of 3 card(s).
- (Card/Syringe) "Blinding Needle": Deal 2 physical damage. Apply Bad Vision 1.
- (Card/Syringe) "Secret Formula": Gain Kickstart 2 when discarded without activation. Goes to the draw pile when discarded at the end of the turn.
- (Card/Unarmed) "Heavy Punch": If unarmed, deal physical damage equal to the number of cards in your draw pile; if not, deal half the damage.
- (Card/Unarmed) "Karate Chop": Deal 4 physical damage. Combo 2: Goes to the top of the draw pile.
- (Card/Unarmed) "Oily Hands": Limited 3. Unusable. In hand: Reduce energy cost of melee damage dealing cards by 1.
- (Card/Unarmed) "Poke": Deal 2 physical damage. Create a Poke card in your draw pile.
- (Card/Unarmed) "Stall": Deal 3 physical damage. Combo 5: Advance 5% another random ally for each card in your hand.
- (Item/Trophy) "Post-it Note": Once per encounter, select a card from your draw or discard pile: On your next turn, draw that card if it's not in your hand.
- (Item/Trophy) "Kunai": Every 5th time an ally deals direct damage to enemies, deal 1 physical damage to all enemies.
- (Item/Trophy) "Radioactive Knuckles": The possessor's melee attacks deal 25% increased damage, but inflict Radiation 1 to the possessor.
- (Item/Trophy) "Radioactive Can": At the end of the possessor's turn, they restore 5 health but receive Radiation 1. (Credits: @KanadeBacon#0746)
- (Item/Trophy) "Old Backpack": For all allies increase Hand Size by 1 if they have 15+ cards, 2 if they have 24+ cards, 3 if they have 30+ cards.
- (Item/Trophy) "Red Ribbon": Selected card will be moved to the top of the owner's draw pile at the start of encounters.
- (Item/Trophy) "Scavenger's Rulebook": While looting, you can convert resources to another random resource. (Credits: @Strikeing#1158)
- (Item/Trophy) "Reverse Card": Once per encounter, transfer up to 2 stacks of a debuff from yourself to the targeted enemy.
- (Item/Trophy) "Pandora's Box": Gain random resources and consumables. Destroyed on use.
- (Item/Trophy) "Nazar Bead": Have a very low chance to receive 0 damage from enemy attacks during an enemy turn.
- (Item/Trophy) "Metal Lockpick": Allows you to open locked doors. Have a chance to gain extra loot from ordinary loot locations (drawers, garbage bags etc...)
- (Item/Trophy) "Suppressor": The possessor deals 30% reduced damage, but costs of the possessor's ranged damage cards are reduced by 1 during encounters. (Credits: @Anything Goes#5236)
- (Item/Trophy) "Whetstone": Increase Bleeding inflicted by cards by 1 during encounters. Any repetition on the card is reduced by 1. (Credits: @King Mordred#6223)
- (Decision Event) "Quick Enhancement Machine": Lets you upgrade equipment.
- (Decision Event) "Hole in the Wall".
- (Decision Event) "Morgue".
[h3]Balance[/h3]
- Cara's perk has been reworked to: "When Bleeding triggers naturally on an enemy, have a chance to reduce their Physical Defense by 50% of the triggered Bleeding."
- Cara now has a new starting item: "Warning Letter", which has the same effect of her old perk: "When enabled, enemy Bleeding interval is reduced by 1 second.". This item can be toggled on and of by the hero.
- (Companion) "Thug": "Opportunist" perk will only affect cards with 3 or more energy cost.
- (Card/Axe) "Braced Impact": Brace scaling limited to 20.
- (Card/Knife) "Bleeding Stab": Bleeding 4->3.
- (Card/Knife) "Stealth Blow": Stealth scaling limited to 10.
- (Card/Knife) "Wounding Tantrum": Repeat count 6->5.
- (Card/Knife) "Heroic Moment": Courage scaling limited to 8.
- (Card/Unarmed) "Kick": Energy Restore 3->2.
- (Card/Unarmed) "Punch": Energy Cost 2->3.
- (Card/Unarmed) "Recovery": Activation of the card will remove the energy reduction from Recovery.
- (Card/Unarmed) "Repel": Energy Cost 2->3.
- (Condition) "Brace": Physical Def Increase 2x->1x.
- (Condition) "Marked": Scaling limited to 200%.
- (Enemy) "Claw": "Vanish" Cooldown 10->20. Won't activate if user already has Stealth.
[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]
- Wording clarified on some of the cards.
- Fixed "Crippled" physical power reduction not being removed.
- Fixed "Little Robot" event rarely not spawning when required.
- Fixed some of the base damage scaling items not affecting Axe cards with multiple possible damage values.[/expand]