Squirmish News

PUNKIN HAID, the first new card added to the videogame, is a member of the Halloweenies, a brand new group. For now, PUNKIN HAID is the only available member of the Halloweenies, and as such, you will have to wait for more Halloweenies to become available before you can make use of its group ability. However, with 7 starting HP, a heavy hitting special attack, and a special ability with hard removal that can fend off an immediate loss, we think you will find PUNKIN HAID to be an exciting new addition.

PUNKIN HAID is often included in Standard format games and is now present in Rogues' Gallery decks used by PICKLEPUSS and GREYFACE. It has also been added to a number of built-in example decks.

The Halloweenies group can be selected in 2 Group Monte games, although it's not a very good choice while it only includes one member.





A gameplay pacing slider has been added to Settings-Hodgepodge. It's a simple continuous slider labeled Slower on the left and Faster on the right. With slider positioned all the way to the left (on the Slower end), the game plays at it's regular pacing which some players find to be too slow. Moving the slider to the right, the game's pacing is gradually sped up until the game plays at a 1.5x faster speed.

Gameplay pacing is meant to be complimentary to the Hyperspaz button. The maximum 1.5x pacing speed up stacks well with Hyperspaz without getting too out of hand.

Unlike Hyperspaz, the gameplay pacing setting works during PvP, but has a special behavior. For PvP games, the gameplay pacing which is actually used is the average of the pacing settings of both players. If one player has pacing set slow and the other player has it set to fast the game will be played with a medium setting. (Gameplay pacing cannot be changed during PvP matches.)

• At fastest setting, the round changes go much faster, because the camera is no longer briefly pulled back.
  
• Starting with a midway setting, bots will only give battle cries they play a certain amount of time before launching their chosen attack. At fastest setting, bots will launching their attacks fairly quickly after starting a battle cry, pretty much what human players will tend to do.
  
• Starting with a midway setting, Referee popups will snap immediately to fully revealed, which are more easily dismissed with a single click.
  

[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

• Adjusted bot smacktalk cooldowns to make bots a little less chatty.
  
• Fixed Standard format which was sometimes generating decks having less than 36 cards.
  
• Fixed possible soft lock when OLD MAN EGGPLANT’s AUBERGINE LIMOUSINE was activated without any movable targets.
  
• Fixed display issue with a too dark dither pattern covering "ghosted" cards in Deck Builder.
  
• Fixed uncommon crash that could happen in PvP games when opponent disconnects.
  
• Fixed PvP issue with Z-REX's UNEXTINCTED.
  
• Fixed interaction between HAMSTACK's HIGHTAIL and STINKEYE's ORB OF ODOR where Skip Button was not visible.
  

[h2]Cards affected:[/h2]

• PUNKIN HAID (new card)
  
• OLD MAN EGGPLANT
  

In the spirit of Early Access, we continue to improve and evolve the Rogue’s Gallery content into a more complete experience.

Previously, it was not obvious in the game that defeating each rogue opponent not only unlocked the next opponent but also unlocked use of that rogue’s character as your in-game avatar. When used as an avatar, that character’s animations appear in the left hand portrait during matches and you can express yourself using that character’s collection of Smacktalk emotes.

With this update, we’ve made it a little more challenging to unlock each rogue’s avatar. Moving forward, a simple defeat of a Rogues’ Gallery opponent will unlock the next opponent and earn you a Steam Achievement, but to unlock a rogue’s avatar for your own use, you must defeat the rogue 3 times in a row in the Rogues’ Gallery. (Sparring matches don’t count).

To track your win streaks, each rogue portrait in the Rogues’ Gallery lobby is now decorated with 3 stars. With a win streak of one, one of these stars will be lit yellow, and the others gray. When all three are yellow, the rogue’s avatar becomes permanently unlocked and you also get a Prize Card (see below). Note that this requires a 3 game win streak, not merely 3 wins. If you lose or concede a game against a rogue, your win streak against that rogue will reset to zero, and all that rogue’s stars will become gray again.



Once you’ve unlocked some rogue avatars, you can switch to a new avatar using the User Settings popup that can be opened on the home screen.


Prize Cards are a new addition this release. A Prize Card is very similar to a Steam Achievement, except they are unique to Squirmish and signify accomplishments that also unlock important items or features. Plus, although they have no in-game effect, they look just like other Squirmish cards.

A PRIZES section has been added in the CARDS area of the game, next to COLLECTION, DECKS, and MINI-DECKS. All awarded prize cards can be browsed in this section, and you can examine each of them they same way you examine any other Squirmish card. Each will explain what you accomplished to earn the card, and what prize was unlocked by it. Each prize card even even has its own "battle cry".

The first block of Prize Cards are awarded for accomplishing a challenging win streak against a rogue, and each one unlocks the rogue avatar pictured on the card.



[h2]Returning Players[/h2]
If you’ve already defeated some or all of the Rogues’ Gallery opponents prior to this update, you’ll find that you’ve been spotted one victory against each rogue that you’ve already defeated.


[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

• Fixed a bug with FOXY LION’s SLY & STEALTHY ability. When controlled by a bot, SLY & STEALTHY would sometimes make an illegal move if OLD MAN EGGPLANT’s AUBERGINE LIMOUSINE was activated before it on the same turn.
  
• Fixed a bug with DAMAGEBOT 2000’s AUTO INJURY ability. AUTO INJURY was triggering on attack damage (and potentially absorbing it) when DAMAGEBOT was at zero HP.
  

[h2]Cards affected:[/h2]

• FOXY LION
  
• DAMAGEBOT 2000
  

Orange Generic Guy, best known as Human One, the default player avatar in Squirmish has a mission. He's decided to see if he can battle all the way through the Squirmish Rogue's Gallery! Watch his epic quest unfold daily this week on YouTube! You may even learn some good Squirmish strategy along the way... through both good and bad examples!

The first four installments are already available... here is the first one:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Changes:

• Changed behavior of Damagebot 2000's Auto Injury. Damagebot was sometimes redirecting damage to itself from a self-attacking enemy card.
  
• Fixed a fadeout glitch on Game Over screen which was occurring at the conclusion of PvP matches on Steam Deck and when using a game controller.
  
• Improved reliability of establishing Fight A Friend connections after a previous invite was declined or cancelled.
  

Cards affected:

• DAMAGEBOT 2000
  

A new technical advancement that will STUN THE WORLD has been added to Squirmish: The Videogame of Brawling Beasties in our latest update! We have developed... the HYPERSPAZ button!



Yes, they said it couldn't be done... they said it was impossible... they said it was just a fancy name for a fast-forward button... BUT WE SHOWED THEM! Mad, they called us! MAD! Mad is not my name!

Tired of Picklepuss and his incessant whining? Sick of Beatknock's endless poetic prattling? Don't want to wait for General Mayhem to figure out the last detail of his master plan?

Well now you can feel like some dashing space pilot in a vest with a tough exterior (but a heart of gold) as you click that HYPERSPAZ button and watch the time whiz by like a well-oiled roadrunner thrown off of the Empire State Building!*



ABOVE: Pompaduck points out the location of the new HYPERSPAZ button. It can be activated by holding down the button, using the spacebar, by using the right trigger button on your controller, or by standing in place and spinning around until you get nauseous.

*PLEASE NOTE we are NOT RESPONSIBLE for premature growing of long grey whiskers, or for time paradoxes that may be caused by frequent use of the HYPERSPAZ button. In the event you meet a version of your parents that are younger than you, best to go outside and play.