Abalon News

This update is available free for all of our existing players and on sale for the Roguelike Celebration and Steam Scream Fest.

[h2]About Abalon 2.0[/h2]
Following in the spirit of our previous large update, "Gear Up!", I've taken player feedback to heart to provide a rewarding structure to Abalon's massive amount of content and deliver on some of our most requested features. Let's dive into the changes!




We've added a new player leveling system, depicted by our signature "Progression Tower" that will have you ascending further into the clouds and unlocking new characters, game modes, upgrades and challenges. Since Abalon was designed to encourage the exploration of many different characters and deck synergies, the tower stands tall to unify your excursions and provide some extra incentive for that "just one more run..." feeling.

You earn player XP for playing adventures with any character and the rewards here are universally available and unlocked for all of your characters.



Player Level works in tandem with Summoner Ranks through a tiered upgrade system that's designed to see players jumping from character-to-character to make the most efficient progress. The greater the challenge (game difficulty to summoner rank), the greater the XP earned per run. The summoner upgrades are unlocked per character, but each upgrade tier requires a universal unlock so that all summoners can reach their highest potential. Among those rewards are tomes of XP that you can use to help your favorite characters boost ahead.


Each upgrade opens up more opportunities for customizing the start of your adventure run.


For instance, you'll be able to unlock more starting spells, carry items and artifacts (in separate categories from your spells) and eventually take guardians as starting units. To incentivize exploring a variety of different cards, we've added a "points system" in the form of gold cost for each category. This way, you might decide to take a few potions or invest your entire budget in one really powerful artifact. And yes, your customized starting decks are now saved so you're all set for your next run!


Each summoner also has 3 character specific upgrades that enhance their natural abilities (2 ability upgrades and 1 stat boost). You'll earn your first upgrade in the bronze tier after a run or two, with slick bonuses like spin attacks for melee characters and extra projectiles for ranged.

The diamond tier was specifically created to reward our most hardcore players with some outrageous new abilities: Sylvia can hurl a barrage of squirrels, Sir Cheezles can mass time travel, Serpenta can mind control small armies, and so much more!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
There's nothing subtle about the Summoner upgrades that unlock at Diamond Tier. Hurling a barrage of squirrels is by far the most satisfying way to collect loot.



You're going to need those upgrades to take on the new ascension difficulty mode that we've lovingly called "The Descent" as you're not climbing a spire so much as descending into the underworld. This was a fun way to curate some of our existing challenges and create a streamlined experience that you'll be able to compete and compare scores of other players with.


Each level of Descent introduces a new challenge that's added cumulatively to the previous challenges and provides a distinct score bonus (for either battles, summoner fights, run completion, etc.)

Completing runs will earn your summoner stars - which now show on their run start card so you can try and collect them all for each character.


All of these great new features also culminate in the imminent release of Abalon for Apple iOS and Google Play! Abalon is carefully designed to play comfortably from anywhere - on any device, in any orientation, and sync your progress seamlessly amongst all the platforms in which you play.

To that end, you'll find a new "Account" setting in the menu where you can (entirely optionally of course) register an account with us so you're ready to sync your Steam game data and play on your mobile devices when the game launches in three weeks on [h3]Thursday, November 7th![/h3]

You can pre-register now (it's free) on both Apple and Google Play.

[h2]Balance Changes[/h2]

1. The big one: Ranged units no longer counter attack ranged attacks. We pondered this one quite a bit, and decided it didn't create the best experience, especially when you'd have a carefully placed fireball or dragon breath returned with a barrage of arrows.
   
2. Plague changed from “Non-undead units get -1/-1” to “All enemies get -1-1 until end of their turn.”
   
3. Forbidden Library cost reduced from 2 to 1
   
4. Withered Dog - Life Increased 2 to 3, Gains Small
   
5. Weaken - In addition to -2/-2 can’t counter or combo, weakened targets cannot block.
   

[h2]Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements[/h2]
There were a lot of fixes in this build too, and I thank everyone for using the in-game/forum/and Discord reports for contributing. Honestly, there's quite a long list and I decided I'd best be launching this update so you can play it rather than reading a hundred little bullet points :P

[h2]Let me know what you think![/h2]
I care a lot about this game and our community here, so please let me know what you think of the changes and where you'd like to see Abalon go next. Your Steam reviews are also greatly appreciated!

~Ross

[h2]Greetings D20 Fans![/h2]

For those of you heading to PAX West this weekend, I have some exciting opportunities for us to meet up, read on!


Check out the Be Brave panel tonight at 6:30 and learn how to network with the pro's. I'll be speaking alongside several industry vets including folks from Microsoft, Bungie, Niantic and Nerd Ninjas.

Details: https://west.paxsite.com/en-us/schedule/panel-information.html?gtID=866604&panel-name=Be-Brave-Networking-and-amp-Navigating-the-Industry-with-Boldness-13-and-




On Sunday from 12:00PM-9:00PM I'll be demoing Abalon Arena alongside a collection of the best upcoming indie games in the Pacific Northwest at the Seattle Indies Expo, also known as SIX.

Stop by and challenge me to a PvP match, or bring a friend along and play coop vs the bots, or bring 3 friends and battle each other in FFA or 2v2!

Details: https://six.seattleindies.org/


Abalon is coming to mobile and you can pre-register now on Apple and Google Play at the links below:

[h3]Pre-Order Abalon on Apple:[/h3]
https://apps.apple.com/app/abalon/id1235934798

[h3]Pre-Register for Abalon on Google Play:[/h3]
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.d20studios.summonersfate

I aim to have details for joining the prerelease beta along with a Steam update later next week when I'm back.

I look forward to seeing you there!

~Ross Przybylski, Founder & Game Developer
D20Studios, LLC

Today’s update is a large set of fixes for player reported issues. I’m still working to respond to all of the feedback from our latest major update (Gear Up!) so if you haven’t seen your feedback addressed below, rest-assured, I’ll have another update coming soon.

1. Fixed bug where a corrupted save file caused by a Summoner being removed from play during a battle in Horde Survival mode could result in an endless error loop even after closing and restarting the game. (Thanks PhiatJustitia)
   
2. Fixed bug where a Summoner equipped with Joker potion defeated by a Toxic Spore resulted in that Summoner being removed from play (causing the error above) (Thanks PhiatJustitia) (As a special note, I was able to both fix your bug and correct your corrupted save file so you’ll be able to continue your game next time you login)
   
3. Fixed bug where transforming a Summoner into another unit twice in a row (for example, into a bear and then into a tiger) would result in its Summoner status being lost. This resulted in several problems, like being unable to Use, Recycle or Discard cards or retreat from battle. It also caused your Summoner to run away from combat at the end of the fight. (Thanks Kowalth and Andy Mickey)
   
4. Fixed bug where monitors running with 1365x720 (300% scale) and 1470x920 (200%) scale resolution in full screen would throw an exception. (Thanks stottinator for providing a reproducible edge case that helped me finally fix this bug)
   
5. Fixed bug where the game would appear to infinitely display the loading screen when a new required game version update is available instead of displaying the message directing the player to update their game client. This occurred if the server responded before the client finished loading.
   
6. Fixed bug where equipment cards given by high-roller npc could go to deck and cost mana instead of the satchel (Thanks ink and Fareley)
   
7. Fixed bug where equipment cards given by the fairy could go to deck and cost mana instead of the satchel (Thanks Harr·Megiddon and Kowalth)
   
8. Fixed bug where Orb of Insight was surfacing equipment cards as non-satchel. The orb will no longer surface equipment cards as spell card choices to adhere to the Gear Up rules logic that all equipment is now satchel cards, not deck cards (Thanks Harr·Megiddon)
   
9. Fixed bug where damage from the Mana Stone artifact was getting absorbed by armor.
   
10. Fixed bug where unequipping/re-equipping armor could regenerate damaged armor, allowing players to bypass damage caused by Heatwave. Damage caused from Heatwave now ignores armor as it should thematically. (Thanks Lord Cameron).
    
11. Fixed bug where equippable consumable items (Weighted Die of Theron, Four Leaf Clover, Ghost in a Jar, Joker’s Last Stand, Pylactery Potion) were returning to the satchel after being used. (Thanks Lord Cameron, ink and 妖娆的山药)
    
12. Fixed bug where Trinity Orb would trigger its ability when playing cards from the satchel outside of combat. The orb will now only trigger during battle as intended. (Thanks ink and Fareley)
    
13. Fixed bug where cards added to discard pile via a summoned creature being defeated would trigger the Incinerator’s ability to generate extra mana. The Incinerator will now only trigger mana when cards are discarded from the player’s hand via the discard action. (Thanks ink)
    
14. Fixed bug where a Wizard Hat added to the spell deck could produce a satchel card version of the hat whenever it was unequipped. (Thanks ink and xacegod)
    
15. Fixed bug where Metamorph exhibited strange behavior when equipped with items and morphing into another unit including life not being reflected correctly for equipped buffs (ex: celestial hearth) and creating duplicates of equipped items (Thanks ckdee, Jear and NMP). The Metamorph will no longer transfer equipped items to the unit is morphing into. Instead, items equipped to the Metamorph will be removed while transformed, and then, after being transformed back, the Metamorph will have kept its equipped items.
    
16. Fixed bug where an AI ranged unit equipped with a melee weapon could still fire (in a hilarious fashion) its new melee weapon as if it were a bow and arrow. (Thanks ellaris)
    
17. Fixed bug where Glyph of Nithsrot doesn’t work with ranged attacks. I decided to change this ability and the wording to be such that unit must be melee attacked for the ability to trigger. (Thanks xacegod)
    
18. Fixed bug where weapons with Pierce couldn’t be equipped if the Summoner’s power was below 1 (Thanks mr.kitty)
    
19. Fixed bug where player was stuck in an endless loop after battle due to a mutated and mind controlled snake returning a non-mutated snake owned by the enemy after battle. This was a fun bug to figure out :) (Thanks Lap)
    
20. Fixed bug where player is knocked into water for lethal damage but they have the Joker potion which should revive them, and as a result, their Summoner is removed from the game, resulting in a battle that cannot be ended. (Thanks pellemat696)
    
21. Fixed bug where it was unclear that Rogue’s bonus attack on enemies with 1 life remaining only triggers on ranged attacks. I made it so the rogue's ability now works for melee as well. (Thanks ink)
    
22. Fixed bug where player opened a sarcophagus and immediately right clicked on guardian that jumped out caused a soft lock. (Thanks Fareley)
    
23. Fixed bug where the Warlock Staff wouldn’t target units at range if moving away from enemies who originally surrounded you to shoot them. (Thanks mr.kitty, NMP and xacegod)
    
24. Fixed bug where unequipping items that affect health (like the Samurai Helmet) could make shopkeepers turn hostile on the player. (Thanks mr.kitty)
    
25. Fixed bug where units with lunge were still required to attack boxes and barrels adjacently in explore mode. They’ll now attack surrounding objects diagonally.
    
26. Fixed bug where ranged units equipped with a melee weapon would sometimes use their dagger stab attack animation instead of the animation for the equipped weapon.
    
27. Fixed typo in marauder ambush encounter "verocity" should be "ferocity" in text description (Thanks dragoonO1)
    

[h2]Black Screen/Loading Issue:[/h2]
I am still trying to fix the “Black screen” on load error that’s being reported (mostly by Chinese and Korean players with what I suspect are AMD graphics cards with specific driver versions). I’ve put in several potential fixes, but I have yet to receive player response to let me know if the issue is in fact resolved. If you have encountered this issue in the past or are experiencing it now, please reach out via the in-game report, Discord, or Steam friend request so I can help you.

Also note: A temporary fix that seems to work is kicking the game into windowed mode using Ctrl+F

[h2]Thanks for Your Support![/h2]
Thanks again for reporting these issues and providing me an opportunity to create a better game experience for you.

Remember, Steam reviews are the life-blood of indie devs like myself. If you’re enjoying the game and the service you’re receiving, please hit that thumbs up icon for Abalon in your Steam library and let me know how you’re enjoying the game :)

As promised, another round of bug fixes!

1. Fixed bug with the Snake Staff so it now works correctly as a Farshot ranged attack and also attacks barrels and crates correctly while exploring. (Thanks SpadeDraco, BurntFaceMan and ink)
   
2. Fixed bug the Warlock Staff so it now lunge attacks correctly on diagonal targets (instead of casting a fireball and blowing up its wielder) (Thanks BurntFaceMan)
   
3. Fixed bug Fixed bug where a Bow and Arrow equipped to a farshot unit would lose its +2/+0 bonus after battle until unequipped and re-equipped. (Thanks Fareley and ink)
   
4. Fixed an exploit that would allow infinite healing by equipping and unequipping the Samurai Helmet (or another Max Live giving artifact) while the player also had armor. (Thanks bmcfluff, NMP, LordCameron)
   
5. Fixed bug that could occur when attempting to view unit cards during the AI turn while they were casting spells.
   
6. QoL: Players can now open and view unit cards during the enemy turn and inspect their inventory without their cards being closed whenever the AI casts a spell. Instead, the game will now pause in the background whenever the player is inspecting a card or tile on the board and resume once the player has closed the card they are inspecting.

Keep your feedback coming and I'll get another patch out for you tomorrow :)

~Ross

And take 2... sorry about that everyone! Seems my last patch caused a different bug (thanks for the quick reports, it should be all good now). Here's the update notes again in case you missed it:

Wow, thanks so much everyone for the very positive reaction to our "Gear Up!" update. I'm so glad you're enjoying the new equipment feature. Please be sure and write/update your Steam review if this update has addressed your feedback :)

Also, I wanted to let you know I'm working as fast as I can to fix the recent bugs you've discovered, so here's a quick patch that takes care of a few of those issues so far:

1. Fixed bug where item icons were not fitting within the icon slot and equip/unequip buttons were appearing too large or small depending on your display scaling.
   
2. Fixed bug where players on specific combinations of AMD graphics cards and driver versions saw only a black screen when opening the game in full screen. (If this issue affected you, please respond in the comments to let me know if this fix worked for you as I can't verify against every driver and I want to make sure you are taken care of).
   
3. Fixed bug where right-clicking to view a character card equipped with max items would throw an exception. What's actually happening here is that these characters were able to equip more than the max number of 8 items via the Fallen Angel encounter (or other events). I'm still working to fix that, but in the meantime, you'll be able to view your character cards without the error now.
   

Expect more fixes and improvements to come soon!

~Ross