Astatos News

To the Crown Mages,

This update features the next step of the PvE implementation for Astatos. Over the past few months we’ve been hard at work on a scripting system to introduce single player Trials with custom scenarios to the game.

Included with this update are three interactive Tutorial Trials, aimed at introducing new Crown Mages to the gameplay of Astatos. We hope this commonly requested feature serves to make the game more approachable to players of all skill levels!

These Tutorial Trials were the test bed used to engineer the scripting tools required for in-game story sequences and scenarios. Along with our A.I. implementation, we’ve managed to run these Trials locally on your computer while making use of our existing multiplayer framework.



For those curious about the details behind our new single player trials, we released a blog on the subject along with a bunch of concept art and design documents over at our Patreon: www.patreon.com/StudioKlondike

As mentioned, this is Part 2 of our PvE updates. Throughout three updates, we hope to implement the most commonly requested features for the game.

Part 3 will involve the Implementation of Trials into the Astatos story. In the initial update we hope to cover implementation for the prologue chapter (Ab Initio), then expand to cover Chapter I, and the upcoming Chapter II at a later date.

For the detailed list of changes implemented with Astatos v0.5, please read on below.

- From the team at Studio Klondike

[h2]New Features[/h2]
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Revamped Tutorials: A series of interactive Tutorial Trials have been added to the game. These Tutorials are designed to quickly get new Crown Mages up to speed on how to play Takeover, and Conquest Trials.



These tutorials involve several thousand new words of dialogue, and include a small teaser for upcoming story content.

Tutorial Trials can be accessed from the new Tutorials menu under, Trials > Training > Tutorials.



Please note: Tutorial Trials are run locally on your computer without assistance from the Astatos game server, therefore they are not included in counts of rooms displayed in the lobby.



Additional Notices: The save data has been extended to allow for one-time popup events. In this update, players will now be prompted to play the tutorial the first time they enter the Trials menu.

As this data is stored locally, these one-time popup events will be reset when installing Astatos on a new device.

[h2]Smaller Additions[/h2]
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New Button Prompts: The keyboard buttons to enable Auto and Skip functions during Story Mode are now displayed in the pause menu.

Title Screen Setting: A setting has been added to select the appearance of the Astatos title screen, variations of which are planned to be implemented as part of future major updates.

[h2]Change Log[/h2]
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[h3]Game Features[/h3]

• Playable Tutorial Trials have been added to the Trials menu. Allowing Crown Mages to get hands-on in learning how to play Takeover and Conquest Trials.
  
• A tutorial popup now displays the first time a player enters the Trials menu, introducing the menu and directing them to play the Tutorial.
  
• When leaving a Trial, you will now return to the relevant section of the Trials menu. (e.g. when leaving a Training Trial, you will return to the Training Trials menu.)
  

[h2]Game Content[/h2]

• New Hero Skins have been added to the store and made available as monthly rewards.
  
• Herclaus - Cyber Justiciar
  
  
• Zermes - Summer Delight
  
  

[h3]Trial Fixes[/h3]

• [Conquest Trial] Sulpicius should no longer cause a Conquest Trial to soft lock under certain circumstances.
  
• [Conquest Trial] Resolved an issue where A.I. teammates would have their contributed Energy refunded at the end of the round if the player finished summoning the Hero Card.
  
• The Spell Card “Divine Favour”, will automatically draw a Card when there is only 1 player to select.
  
• The Summon Menu button will now always appear correctly if the mouse interacts with it during its appearance animation.
  
• When the Hero Card summon limit is reached, the Summon Menu will now close automatically and all unused Energy will be refunded to players.
  
• Improved stability of the “Keep or Redraw Cards” stage.
  
• General stability improvements when players have varying amounts of ping.
  

[h3]Game Changes[/h3]

• Sulpicius has been added as a new A.I. opponent that can appear in Training Trials.
  
• A.I. opponents now display unique titles.
  
• Button prompts for Auto and Skip now appear on the pause menu during Story Mode.
  
• A new setting has been added to select the appearance of the Astatos title screen. “Chapter I” is the only option currently available.
  

[h3]Game Fixes[/h3]

• The level-up reward displayed next level in the Level menu now displays the reward for the correct level.
  
• Improved the method the game uses to detect the correct display resolution upon first boot.
  
• Resolved an issue that prevented password reset and email confirmation emails from being sent.
  
• Added error handling for when the Steam overlay is disabled, which can prevent you from making purchases in the Store menu, or from binding your account.
  
• Fixed some menus not closing correctly when being invited to join a Trial by another player.
  

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]

• Playing a card at the same time the Trial Card changes elements, can sometimes result in you being unable to play any more cards when you should be able to.
  

To the Crown Mages,

The Steam Summer Sale is here through till July 7! Although a small sale, if you're a fan of our music, be sure to check out the Original Soundtrack DLC for 10% off. Or invite some friends to play and save 19% off on the Game + OST bundle! Your support means a lot to us!

With that out the way, we're well along the way towards releasing v0.5 which should be PvE Part 2 with a playable tutorial for multiplayer. We hope players look forward to it in the coming weeks.

- From the team at Studio Klondike



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1764200/Astatos_Original_Soundtrack/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/22815/Astatos__Original_Soundtrack_Bundle/

[h2]Plus more from Studio Klondike[/h2]
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If you haven't yet, be sure to check out the DLC sale for our previous game, Nekojishi. The base game is free to download too!



https://store.steampowered.com/app/570840/_Nekojishi/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/6935/Nekojishi_DLC_bundle__A_Sunny_Day__Voice_Pack__Chinese/

To the Crown Mages,

This small update changes Mukaki’s Takeover Ability and introduces some small fixes.

For the detailed changelog of changes implemented with Astatos v0.4.2, please read on below.

- From the team at Studio Klondike

[h2]Changelog[/h2]
[hr][/hr]
[h3]Balance Changes[/h3]

• [Takeover Trial] Mukaki’s Ability has been changed. The new Ability description reads:
  Players on Mukaki's side can play up to two Cards during the Trial Stage. (Passive)
  (5 Cooldown) Lose one Influence, add 1 Cooldown to Makari-Hari, swap all Cards with your opponent.

[h3]Gameplay Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed a situation that would cause Conquest Trials to soft-lock.
  

[h3]Game Fixes[/h3]

• A notification now correctly displays if the player cannot connect to the server upon launching the game under certain circumstances.
  

To the Crown Mages,

This update introduces a new mechanic into Takeover Trials, our first new merchandise for Astatos, plus various bug fixes.

For the detailed changelog of changes implemented with Astaos v0.4.1, please read on below.

- From the team at Studio Klondike

[h2]Announcing new Merchandise available at Pawprint Press[/h2]
[hr][/hr]
Go forth Crown Mages, with your Heroes and fellow summoners by your side! Our first new merchandise for Astatos is here! Two acrylic keychains sets featuring the Crown Mages, Gods, and Heroes from the game are available starting today!

Head over to our merch store at store.pawprint.press to pick them up! They ship internationally direct from the US.





Some leftover Kickstarter stock of the Astatos Seal T-Shirts and Astatos Tabletop Starter Editions (no expansions) have also been made available. (Really limited stock!)



[h2]New Features [/h2]
[hr][/hr]


Takeover Trial - Disparity: Disparity is gained whenever a player fails the Trial Stage. Gain enough, and you'll be able to activate a Disparity Action to help turn the tide of the Trial!



Select the Disparity bar to preview the current Disparity Action. When the action is available, select the bar again to activate it.



Currently, only the action Disparage is available for multiplayer. More Disparity Actions may be made available in the future.



Victory Condition Tooltip: When beginning the Trial, a tooltip will now appear displaying your current side, and the victory condition.



Store Update: The Pawprint Press tab has been added to the Store navigation. Here you can find various Astatos merchandise items. [Please note: You will be redirected to the Pawprint Press website to purchase items under this category.]

[h2]Changelog[/h2]
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[h3]Game Features[/h3]

• The Disparity bar has been added as a new mechanic during Takeover Trials.
  
• A victory condition tooltip will now display at the beginning of a Trial.
  
• The Pawprint Press category has been added to the Store.
  

[h3]Balance Changes[/h3]

• [Takeover Trial] Mukaki’s Ability has been changed. The new Ability description reads:
  Players on Mukaki's side can play up to two Cards during the Trial Stage. (Passive)
  (5 Cooldown) Lose one Influence, summon Makari-Hari, and swap all your Cards with your opponent.

[h3]Interface Changes[/h3]

• [Takeover Trial] The appearance of the Influence bar after losing a Influence point has been modified to make it easier to see how much Influence you have remaining.
  

[h3]Game Content[/h3]

• New Hero Skins have been added to the store and made available as monthly rewards.
  
• Timaios - Coach
• New entries have been added to the Astatos Manual covering the Disparity mechanic.
  

[h3]Trial Fixes[/h3]

• Player names with English characters did not appear on Hero Ability notices when playing in Traditional, or Simplified Chinese.
  
• Spell card draw notices used in Aristotle's ability didn’t queue correctly, causing notices to be cut off rather than queued to display in sequence.
  
• [Training Trial] A.I. opponents did not correctly discard cards as a part of Zermes' ability in Training Trials.
  
• [Training Trial] The names of A.I. opponents did not display correctly on the Spell Card casting UI when playing in Traditional or Simplified Chinese.
  
• [Training Trial] A.I. opponents on the opponent's team could submit cards in a Trial during Drusus' Hero Ability. Additionally, the Ability would soft-lock after the first Trial.
  
• [Training Trial] Occasionally when adding a "Medium" A.I. opponent to a Training Trial, they would appear as “Hard”.
  
• [Training Trial] A.I. opponents can appear to select themselves when they use targeted actions such as the Spell Card - Consecrate (Spell C).
  
• [Training Trial] A.I opponents wouldn’t use Drusus successfully if they’re by themselves. (No human player on their side)
  
• [Training Trial] Makari-Hari’s Takeover ability would give twice as much energy as desired when playing against a human player.
  

[h3]Game Fixes[/h3]

• Player profiles would appear as "tempName" on the lobby screen when performing a rematch with another player.
  
• Signing out of your account via Main Menu > Profile > Manage Account would cause the game to hang on the loading screen rather than continuing to the splash screen.
  
• When the server is unavailable, instead of displaying a message the game would freeze on some computers.
  

Please note that some of the above issues were fixed in a hotfix between v0.4 and v0.4.1.

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]

• Playing a card at the last-second during the Trial Stage, may result in unexpected behaviour, or Trial soft-locks in rare cases.
  
• Playing a card at the same time the Trial Card changes elements, can sometimes result in you being unable to play any more cards when you should be able to.
  
• Occasionally the “Keep or Redraw a Card” stage may result in unexpected behaviour where players may not draw back a full hand of cards, and the card colour counters may desync.
  

To the Crown Mages,

Today we’re pleased to have released the first step in our implementation of PvE for Astatos! In this update you will be able to play single player against A.I. in Trials.

While there’s a few kinks to work out in the A.I. logic itself, the feature represents a big shift in our development of the game—and required nearly as much code as the Trial system itself. You’ll be able to access the PvE from the new Training option in the Trials menu.

As mentioned above, this is Part 1 of the PvE updates planned. Throughout three updates, we hope to implement the most commonly requested features for the game.

• Part 1: Training Trials where the player can play against A.I. opponents in single player matches. Allowing players to learn the game without the pressure of a real match, and earn daily rewards without the need to rely on other players— albeit at a reduced rate. (This patch!)
• Part 2: Tutorial Trials where the player can learn how to play the game in a structured, and interactive tutorial. This update will involve many of the functions required for Story Trials, such as in-game dialogue, scenario scripting, and fully-local Trials. At this time we’ll look into introducing PvPvE for Conquest as well.
  
• Part 3: Story Trials: Implementation of Trials into the Astatos’ story. As there will be significant design time involved, we may split this part to only cover implementation for the prologue chapter, then expand to cover chapter 1, and the upcoming chapter 2 at a later date.
  

Please note that the above is subject to change depending on the production schedule for the rest of the game, but we hope you look forward to the changes implemented in this patch, and our future progress for the game!

For the detailed changelog of changes implemented with Astatos v0.4, please read on below.

- From the team at Studio Klondike


[hr][/hr]


Training Trials: A new PvE mode that allows you to play single player Conquest (4 person) and Takeover Trials against A.I. opponents.

A.I. opponents are available in 5 difficulty settings. Easy, Medium, Hard, Dummy, and Random Actions. When playing against a bot that is “Medium” or “Hard” difficulty, you will receive Monera and Reward Points for the Trial. You will not however earn EXP in Conquest, or Rank in Takeover Trials.



Even at the Hard difficulty, you should not expect A.I. to fill in for an experienced human Crown Mage. Rather, it is best to think of this mode as a way to learn the mechanics of the game, or test out new strategies.

Training Trials have their own Hero Pack equip settings that are separate from Conquest and Takeover Trials. Be sure to remember to check these before beginning a Training Trial as this specific setting is not currently saved between game restarts.

This feature is available from the “Training" button in the “Trials” menu. As this option replaces the previous “Tutorials” button that would access the text manual, that button has been moved to the “Training” menu.



Player Discovery: Within a lobby you will now see the numbers of total rooms, and joinable rooms for that game mode as well as a button to visit our official Discord. A room is joinable when it can be joined via Quick Play. A room is no longer joinable if it is private, or if it is already within a Trial. Players within Training Trials will show as non-joinable rooms. We hope this helps players better find each-other and enjoy the game in conjunction with the PvE features implemented in this patch.



Spell Card Names: After some UI adjustments, Spell Cards have now been given proper names in Trials. The name changes are as follows:

• Spell A -> Altered Trial
  
• Spell B -> Blessed Trial
  
• Spell C -> Consecrate
  
• Spell D -> Divine Favour
  
• Spell E -> Exalted Element
  

We hope this change serves to make spell cards more recognisable, especially if more Spell Cards are added to the game in future updates.



Ping: Your ping is now visible from the pause menu during a Trial. We recommend playing Astatos with a ping below 300ms. If your ping exceeds a certain threshold, you may be forcibly disconnected from a Trial.


[hr][/hr]
[h3]Game Features[/h3]

• Training Trials have been added to the Trials menu. Allowing players to participate in PvE matches.
  
• Server room counts have been added to the lobby interface, with separate counts for Takeover, and Conquest Trials.
  
• Spell Cards have been renamed alongside the Spell Card draw UI for Aristotle being redesigned.
  
• Server ping added to the lower-left corner of the pause menu during a Trial.
  

[h3]Balance Changes[/h3]

• The cost to summon Aristotle has been reduced by 1 Energy.
  

[h3]Game Content[/h3]

• New Hero Skins have been added to the store and made available as monthly rewards.
  
• Varius - Control
  
  
  
  
• Cerkles - Good Doctor
  
  

[h3]Game Changes[/h3]

• Music tracks have had their audio levels rebalanced so the volume is consistent between menus, gameplay, and story. Players may want to adjust their music volume setting after this patch.
  
• Some sound effects have been updated.
  
• The track “Louder Than Words” now plays during Training Trials.
  

[h3]Interface Fixes[/h3]

• Aristotle’s card draw mechanic now has a new pop-up which appears above passive heroes on the side of the screen.
  
• Aristotle’s card pop-up will no longer conflict with Kyros’ card pop-up, which resulted in the opponent's card colour counters remaining visible when they should not have been.
  
• Improved the way the lobby locks in players when a match is beginning, as well as the behaviour of the lobby timer under some scenarios.
  

[h3]Trial Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed various issues regarding high-ping and player desync in Trials. As a result, Trials should be significantly more stable under high-ping conditions.
  
• Players will no longer be able to break the Hero Stage by performing actions within the last second.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Heroes to behave incorrectly when there was a significant ping difference between players.
  
• If the timer runs out on the victory screen, the main menu may not load in some cases.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the Trials menu to open twice when returning from the victory screen.
  
• Occasionally Sulpicius would fail to function, causing the Trial to soft-lock.
  
• Occasionally Gaios would fail to function, causing the Trial to soft-lock.
  

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]

• Playing a card at the last-second during the Trial Stage, may result in unexpected behaviour, or Trial soft-locks in rare cases.
  
• Playing a card at the same time the Trial Card changes elements, can sometimes result in you being unable to play any more cards when you should be able to.
  
• Occasionally the “Keep or Redraw a Card” stage may result in unexpected behaviour where players may not draw back a full hand of cards, and the card colour counters may desync.