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Spellmasons News

Steam Lobby Support!

[p]Third time's the charm!
I've been trying to implement a new multiplayer backend for the past few months and my first two attempts did not succeed. This time I tried using Steam's Lobby backend to connect players and it worked.

What this means:
If you use the new "Steam Lobby" option (still in Beta), you won't be sharing a Community Server with other players which means other players (not in your lobby) can't crash your game and the server is not sharing resources between everyone playing. The "Steam Lobby" option allows players to connect directly to each other. My initial testing looks really promising, however, I'm labeling this "Beta" because if history has taught me anything, no matter how hard I try I can't find all the edge cases that players do :D
Please give the "Steam Lobby" multiplayer option and try and let me know how it works in Discord.

This update is part 1 of a 2 part Major update with the second half planned in Late July. This update is mostly for stability and the second update is a content update that I'm really excited about.

Here's the full changelog:

-Network: Enable Steam Lobbies for improved multiplayer[/p][p]-Balance: Restore "Undying" to Goru and modify Undying so it brings ressurrects with 50% health[/p][p]-Quality of Life: F12 now takes Screenshots![/p][p]-Language: Pre-reform Russian[/p][p]    Thanks @nikitasss[/p][p]-Menu: Redesign menu appearance
[/p][p]-fix: Remove redundant runPredictions which occurs in deselectCard() which is triggered on click[/p][p]-fix: Prediction forceMoves from bloat (or any onDeath) simlulating on the NEXT call to runPredictions.[/p][p]-fix: confirm discard hotkey label[/p][p]-fix: bone shrapnel only select corpses[/p][p]-fix: Overspend Rune upgrade bug[/p][p]    that resulted in negative SP[/p][p]    Thanks @BlackCobra22113 and others

Since I launched Spellmasons, I've released over 50 free updates. If you're enjoying what I'm building, you can help support my work at Patreon or leave a candid review of the game on Steam![/p]

Improved Enhanced Servers

Last update I released experimental Enhanced Servers (player to player connections that don't suffer from heavy server load) - which worked for some people but not for others due to firewall issues. This update should resolve the firewall issue so the Enhanced Servers should now be available for everyone!

Please let me know about your experience with them on Discord.

Some other changes in this update:

Quality of Life:
- UI: Add additional side spell holders
- Game: Add singleplayer difficulty options after you beat Deathmason on Normal difficulty

Balancing:
- balance: Remove `undying` blessing from Goru
- balance: Siphon cost
to match the scaling structure of mana steal so it can't scale infinitely.
Thanks @Carlos

Fixes:
- fix: p1p connection not working on firewalls
- fix: Poisoner + Sharp Teeth Imbalance
Thanks @Yasu
- fix: Infinite Loop Contaminate, rez, suffocate
- fix: Armor now allows reducing damage to 0
Thanks RAHHHHHH :3

Enhanced Servers

Good news for Spellmasons!


I made a new multiplayer backend from the ground up and you can try it today! It uses P2P (player to player) connections instead of a dedicated server. What this means is that people playing other games on the same server can no longer crash your game or slow it down by summoning too many minions! Your server won't share any resources with any other players.
You can push the game as hard as your own PC (and your friend's PCs) allow!

The Enhanced Server still supports many players (technically an unlimited number of players, bound only by the resources of your computer).

Try it now in the multiplayer menu and let me know what you think on Discord!



Changelog
balance: Damage Limiter. For enemies with super high health, damage limiter allows for dealing up to 3% of max health at a time - whereas before it was capped at 30 damage. This has been often requested, because high health enemies in loop levels were nearly impossible to deal with if they had Damage Limiter
balance: Adjust loop difficulty to scale
balance: Ensure bosses keep spawning on loop levels after +3

fix: Exploit where investment rune gave extra SP on quickload
fix: Polymorph removing benefit of sharp teeth and hardened minions. Thanks @month for reporting!
fix: Quicksave "Last Turn" From saving at the beginning of a level before any enemies are placed
fix: Prevent unspawned players from taking damage
Thanks Piratesaur from Steam forums and others who reported this
fix: Targeting spells sometimes missing "Requires Following" Text when no non-targeting spell came after it
fix: Minion runes not working on automated summons
Also fixes quantity power scaling so that sharp teeth and harden minions applies AFTER quantity power from stacking summons.
Thanks @SquishyFishy
fix: Update player manaPerTurn when upgrading manaMax
This didn't affect players since their stat refresh logic doesn't consider manaPerTurn but it DOES affect player clones.
Thanks @Tingora!

copy: Add unitOfMeasure to town portal
Thanks @IVI and @Tingora
copy: Fix copy
- Trap copy missing "Damage" text
- Blood Archer copy: "Miniboss" -> "Champion"

admin: Add "Give all runes" Admin command for testing

v1.54.1

Patch Notes - Version 1.54.0

Balance Changes
  • Adjusted loop difficulty scaling. The rate at which the difficulty increases on loop levels (+1, +2, +3...) will now grow faster
  • Ensured bosses continue to spawn on loop levels beyond +3.


Bug Fixes
  • Fixed an issue where quicksaves labeled "Last Turn" would save at the beginning of a level before any enemies were placed.
  • Prevented unspawned players from taking damage.
    Thanks to Piratesaur from the Steam forums and others who reported this!
  • Fixed missing "Damage" text in trap descriptions.
  • Corrected "Miniboss" to "Champion" in Blood Archer descriptions.
  • Resolved an issue where targeting spells sometimes lacked the "Requires Following" text if no non-targeting spell followed.
  • Fixed minion runes not working on automated summons.

    Also fixed quantity power scaling so that Sharp Teeth and Harden Minions effects now apply after quantity power from stacking summons.
    Thanks to @SquishyFishy!
  • Updated player manaPerTurn when upgrading manaMax.
    This didn't affect players directly since their stat refresh logic doesn't consider manaPerTurn, but it did affect player clones.
    Thanks to @Tingora!
  • Added a unit of measure to the Town Portal description.
    Thanks to @IVI and @Tingora!


Admin Tools
  • Added a "Give all runes" admin command for testing.

Even MORE Runes!

1.52.2 Update


I'm super excited about this update because I believe it will make lesser known / less popular builds and strategies MUCH more viable! For example, the Curse/Stall build will be a viable option even in single player due to the new Decoys. And there's much more like that but I'll leave it to you to figure out how to leverage these runes.

Shoutout to @scobjo for making an incredibly well composed document pointing out some of the gaps in balance, may changes from that document made it into this update.

[h2]New Content[/h2]

Rune: Precision
Thanks @PiElRoja

Rune: Whirlpool

Rune: Plague Doctor Mask
Thanks @Arivia!

Rune: Reflex

Rune: Hardened Minions, Sharp Teeth

Rune: Thorny Decoys

Rune: Witch Bane
Thanks @Monarch!

Rune: Blood Warlock

Rune: Icy Veins
Thanks @VinnickTalberot!

Rune: Winter's Chill
Thanks @VinnickTalberot!

Rune: Investment
Thanks @Akira!

Rune: Blood Letting
Thanks @Monarch!

Rune: Town Portal
Thanks @Arivia!

Rune: Last Stand, Contaminate on Kill, Hat of Despair
Thanks @Arivia for Hat of Despair!

Added 2 new decoy upgrades

Upgrades to Poison
Thanks @Scobjo!

[h2]Balance Changes[/h2]

Plague Doctor Mask cost adjustments

Make Contaminate on Kill more expensive
Since it transfers the stacks of the curse too, it's SUPER powerful.

Make reroll runes cheaper

Swap Rare → Uncommon

Recall: Uncommon → Rare
Thanks @Scobjo!

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

Fix: Desync with unit movement
Units with leftover paths now clear their paths before receiving stamina.

Fix: Spellmason clone movement timeout
AI units now handle stamina changes correctly to prevent timeout issues.

Fix: Blood Curse + Debilitate stage order
Blood Curse now applies before Amount modifiers.
Thanks @Varion!

Fix: Goru resurrecting more than once
Undying now removes itself properly.
Thanks @Weedybird!

Fix: Freeze immunity not working via non-spell sources
Thanks @Varion!

Fix: PlagueBringer working while dead
Thanks @AlchemyExists!

Fix: Missing mana SFX for 'send mana' and 'steal mana'

Fix: Clones casting 'clone' on enemies
Thanks @RAHHHHHH :3!

Fix: Privacy policy overlapping menu logo

Fix: Changelings' cast delay issues

Fix: Prevent out-of-bounds spawns
Thanks @Rampantegecko!

Fix: Purple Portal clearing shields and mana overflow

Fix: Purple Portal resetting quicksave on level start
Thanks @Lost and @eps!

[h2]Optimization[/h2]

Improve recall
Units no longer pack together at the same spot.