Card Survival: Tropical Island News

Hello everyone!

The moment has finally come. After more than a year in Early Access and an extra year of development before that, Card Survival is finally ready.

We want to give our personal thanks to all the people that helped us improve the game by reporting bugs and making suggestions, to those who helped our game reach more people by creating content about it, to those who have given us fuel by expressing their love for the game and really to all the people who've given Card Survival a try,
We are very happy that you all exist.




[h2]Short Term Plans:[/h2]

Our plan for now is to continue fixing bugs as we find them and pushing hotfixes as usual while I try to get more exposure for the game.
We'll also continue filling in the survival guide for the next few weeks until it's complete, hopefully soon! (-_-u)

Later in the month we're going to be releasing game achievements and more importantly, a free limited version of the game for those who want to give Card Survival a try before buying it.

Then, once things are a bit more settled we'd like to take a short break to recover and our plan would be to later return with an update for Halloween that should include the new Mermaid character, as well as new features and perks. We'd also like to release our iOS and Mac versions around this time.

On the background we'll also start working on performance improvements and potentially looking into starting the localisation process.


[h2]Long Term Plans:[/h2]

Like we've mentioned in the past, our idea is to continue updating Card Survival at a lower pace while we slowly shift our focus to our upcoming games, including the new Card Quest and the next game in the Card Survival series.

The amount of updates we release will most likely be dependent on what reception the game gets. So if you liked Card Survival and you like how we do things, consider leaving us a review and telling others about the game. These things can really go a long way and we need all the help we can get. :)



[h2]GDWC[/h2]

We are participating in the Game Development World Championship and we thought it might be a good idea to mention it here as any support could help Card Survival get some extra exposure.
You can help us improve our ranking by visiting our GDWC page, liking it or sharing it.
No registration is needed, so it's quite easy. :)

https://thegdwc.com/games/98d247eb-a40f-42fb-afe6-de490c598389



[h2]New Perks:[/h2]

We've added a few new perks to the game. Nothing too fancy, but players should now be able to have perks to start in almost all locations of the island and even in an Abandoned Farm in the Secret Valley, just like the Farmer character.


[h2]Minor Improvements + Fixes and Hotfixes:[/h2]

- Guide Entries layouts have been reworked.
- Blueprints steps now update better (images and numbers now change together).
- Grandfather no longer shows the medicine tooltip for liquids that are not actually medicinal. 
- Grandpa and Macaques now drink proportionally to the amount of drink that is given to them.
- Fixed some bugs that were causing roofs to collapse at strange times (again).
- Fixed a bug that was preventing tide pools from updating when you're not there.
- Added missing Yam and Mushroom Saturations to the Saturation List.
- Added some missing Art.
***
- Fixed some problems with alignment of visual elements in the journals
- Right-clicking to put something in an inventory will move the view of the inventory to the thing you just put inside.
- Clicking on locked blueprints that require another blueprint to be unlocked will take the view to that blueprint so you can check its requirements.
- Added sounds to menues and buttons.
- Drums now alter your mind less.
- Cleaning actions with brooms now inform you when it's too dark to clean.
***
- Fixed a bug where the time displayed by the confirmation popup on certain action didn't match the actual time of the action (for instance when detaching seats in the plane with the tourist)
- Eggs now give a lot less food to partridge feeders.
- Fixed bug that was preventing you from lighting tinder from a fire.
***
- Leaves now give the proper value when used as fuel.
- Sheltered Leaves can now be repaired with all leaves.
- Added a scroll view to the "current status" effects of the stat inspection window (ginger stat window bug).
- Fixed a bug where some chain of events would complete with a delay (macaque delay bug).
***
- Tweaks and fixes to the Farmer.
- Knapping is now easier to level up.
***
- Fixed another roof bug.
- Tweaks to farmer's journal.
- Saturation system improvements.
- Leaf Bed can now be built with every type of leaf.
- Fixed a bug with the honey blueprint.
- Visual improvements to blueprint research tab.
- Fixed sorting issues in the blueprint list.
***
- Implemented new Research System to replace Bluerptint Shop.
- Fixed a bug with the collapsing roofs.
- Balance Tweaks to saturation (specially on beach area food items)
- Saturation now takes longer to cause nausea.
- Added Tonic Water into the game.
- Balancing Tweaks and improvements to the Malaria System.


That's all for now. Thank you all again for having shared this journey with us.
We'll be here in the forums and on discord as usual. ;)
See you around!

Hello everyone!

Hope you are all well.

Let's go to straight to our content list:


[h2]New Blueprint Unlocking System:[/h2]

On this, our second and last mini update, we are releasing a new blueprint system that we believe should make the game less overwhelming to new players.

From now on, once a blueprints is unlocked, players will have to purchase them in order to be able to use them. Blueprints will now have to be bought with suns on each individual run. This will not only give a new use to suns, but also make the acquisition of new blueprints a more conscious action, which is something we think will help.
In addition to this, this system allows you to see all blueprints in the game at all times and informs you of the requirements to unlock them, making things a lot less obscure than before.





[h2]Guide Improvements:[/h2]

- Blueprints now have a help button that takes you directly to their guide entry. This way you can see what they are about before placing or purchasing them.
- Blueprint Ingredients now also have a help button, so you can find out what the ingredients are and where to get them.
- Stats now also have a help button that takes you to their entry on the guide.
- The survival guide interface has received some polish.
- We have added multiple concept/tutorial pages to help understand some of the game systems. Let us know if there are any other systems you would like us to explain better!
- We have improved the searching algorithm for finding entries in the survival guide.


[h2]Minor additions and Balance Changes:[/h2]

- The Shed is now more vulnerable to storms than the Mud Hut.
- The new Stone Hut is invulnerable to storms and a bit larger than the Mud Hut.
- Macaques are now harder to hurt, making them a worse source of meat and leather.
- Saturation now goes down slower, making it more important to vary your diet.
- Ginger is now better at lowering food saturation.
- Alcohol now has a stronger dehydrating effect.
- There are now more ways to get drunk: Mead and Sugar Wine.
- Rice now gives more satiation.
- Added a default journal for custom characters.
- Added descriptions for all stats.
- You can now find wood and sticks on the beach.
- Papers can now be lit with fires and candles.


[h2]Fixes and Hotfixes since the last Update:[/h2]

- Fixed a bug that was causing sharks to constantly bite you when trying to wash yourself in the raft.
- Repairing Supply Chests now requires confirmation.
- Added more Guide Entries.
- Added some new cards to the filters.
- Grandpa can now drink coconut water.
- Fixed a bug that was stopping roofs from collapsing properly.
- Reorganized blueprints.
- Fixed a bug with the path that goes from the eastern to the western highlands.
- Fixed a bug that was causing items to duplicate.
- Fixed an issue that was preventing the eastern to western highland path from appearing.
- Fixed an issue that was breaking the seat and debris objectives for the tourist and farmer characters respectively.
- Improved many guide entries and removed many incorrect ones.
- Heavy Stones can now be destroyed.
- Fixed a visual appetite bug.
- Cholera tweaks to how you catch it.
- Heavy stones can now be trashed.
- Added new tips.
- Fixed a bug that was preventing grandpa from getting healthy.
- Fixed a bug that allowed you to build raft fish traps anywhere.



[h2]Final Update:[/h2]

This will be the last update we release on early access as our final release is getting quite close.
Until then we're going to be working on balancing the game, fixing bugs, filling in the guide entries, listening to your feedback on the new blueprint system and trying to reach out to youtubers to try and get some promotion for our game.


Thank you all for your support.
Have a good week and see you for the final release! ;)

Hello everyone!

We just released a new feature into the game that we thought deserved its own update/announcement, so here we are with the first of these mini updates we promised!


[h2]Safety Mode:[/h2]

The main feature we are releasing this time is the new Safety Mode.
This is a checkbox on the character selection screen that provides you with a safety net when playing the game. It can be applied to both official and custom characters and once checked will allow you to restart your day at any time from the in-game menu. You will also be given this option on the game over screen, so if you accidentally overheated to death or made a bad decision that led you to dehydrating you will have a chance to save your save. Provided of course that you ticked the Safety Mode option when you first started your run. :)





On a related note we decided to remove the Survivalist as it was originally implemented her as a patch or quick solution for people that were having issues with the game's difficulty and it wasn't a proper character like the tourist or the farmer. I am hoping that the safety mode will help make things more managable and remove the need for the survivalist.
I might re-add the character later if I manage to get the time to give it a proper journal and a more unique adventure.

I have also temporarily removed the Mermaid but I will be re-adding her a bit after release as she is currently a bit broken with all the changes that have gone into the game. The new Mermaid will have her own journal as well as some new unique features.





[h2]Visual Improvements:[/h2]

We have been working hard on making the game look prettier. The game now has a new splash screen as well as shadows and other visual improvements for its cards and menues. We are happy with the results and hope they will make Card Survival more visually attractive to new players!

We have also added missing art for some stats and other things and will keep adding more during the following weeks.



[h2]Minor Changes and Additions:[/h2]

- Tinder can now also be lit with Citronella and Jasmine candles.
- Bug Protection is now stronger.
- The Farmer's start is now considerably more generous with rain and the reservoir starts full.
- You can now soak rice in boiling and rice water.
- Gas mask protection effects is now weaker when not wet.
- Fiber can now be lit in stoves too.
- Made mold descriptions more helpful.


[h2]Fixes and Hotfixes for the Update:[/h2]

- Fixed some issues involving all traps, specially one stopping you from catching partridges in the Secret Valley.
- Deadfall and Snare traps now work on the Eastern Grasslands and the Desolate Beach.
- Fixed a bug that was stopping Cinchona Crop Plots from producing trees (was giving bark directly instead).
- Fixed a bug that was hiding the effects of ginger.
- Fixed a bug that was allowing you to make mud in the dark.
- Macaques now transfer their previous states when going from wounded to friends.
- Fixed a bug with the dismantling action of the Scrap Spear.
- Cinchona bark now rots.
- Drying racks now properly slow down the spoilage of food in their inventories, but accelerate it if it's raining.
- Fixed a bug that was causing drying racks to create duplicates.
- Fixed a bug that was causing beesmokers to disappear in certain cases.
- Fixed a bug that allowed to harvest food from tidepools even when they were empty.
- Added some missing saturation icons.
- Changed the icons for Mites and Fungus in Crop Plots.
- Fixed a bug that was causing cleared jujube plants to dissappear.
- Cleared Wild Jujubes no longer have the wrong name.
- Fixed the wrong name in pesticides.
- Drying Racks are now cheaper to build.
- Fixed a bug that was making some characters start with cholera.


That's all for now!
See you soon in the next Mini Update! ;)

Hello everyone!

Hope you are all well.

This is going to be our last regular update during early access as our final release is getting quite close.
During the following weeks we are going to be focusing on making the game as stable as possible, balancing and polishing things, filling up the survival guide and adding some last remaining features with some "mini updates".
This should not take us more than a few weeks (fingers crossed), at which point the game will be officially released.


Let's go to the content list now:



[h2]New Diseases:[/h2]

We have added a couple new diseases to the island.

The first one is Cholera which can be contracted by being dirty and will cause nausea and extreme diarrhoea.

The second is Malaria, which can be contracted from mosquitoes (included in bug population) and can be quite dangerous if not treated with quinine. Quinine can be extracted from the bark of the new Cinchona Tree (found in the jungle highlands) and is essential to surviving this disease. A more potent version of this remedy can also be made if one has access to vitriol.
Large bodies of water like puddles, raincatchers and reservoirs now have a positive effect of insect population, so keep that in mind too!

Characters with the immunized perk (like hunter and farmer) will be resistant to these diseases but those who are not will have to be cautious and try to stay clean and avoid areas with high insect population until they are ready.



[h2]Crop Pests:[/h2]

Crops can now get Mite and Fungal infestations.

Mite infestations will be more common in dry areas, underwatered plants and fertilized crops while Fungal ones will be more common in humid areas and overwatered plants.

Different plants will have different resistance to mites and fungus and as a general rule will be more susceptible to disease if growing outside of their natural environment.

Once a plant gets very infested it will start infecting other plants so try to not these things get out of control.
Fortunately there are a few ways to deal with these things. Crops can now be destroyed (returning you an empty crop plot) if you see there's no way of saving a plant. You can also use chilli pesticide to kill and prevent mites as well as a new brimstone pesticide which kills both mites and fungus.





[h2]New Environments & Related Features:[/h2]

Two new environments have been added.

The first one is the Eastern Grasslands. A more arid version of the old (now Western) Grasslands. It connects the with the other Grasslands, the Eastern Highlands and the new Desolate Beach.
This environment contains a new plant called WIld Jujube which acts a good source of leaves and has edible fruits. This is also Cobra and Monitor territory so proceed with caution!

The second one is the Desolate Beach, a desolate volcanic beach that is adjacent to the Eastern Grasslands, the Mangroves, the Bird Rock and the Volcano itself. This area is a lot more barren and dangerous than the other coastal environments, having Monitor Lizards and no Palm Trees, and can now also be used as a starting place thanks to a new perk.
Because of its proximity to the Volcano, the Desolate Beach also possesses some obsidian, flint and brimstone rich rock, although in smaller quantities than the volcano, making this an safer but less effective alternative to get these materials.
This area also comes with the new Tide Pools which can be harvested for shellfish and get gradually replenished during high tide. These Tide Pools can also now be found in the Rocks and the Bird Rock.
Lastly, there is also a new cave (called the Tidal Cave) which can be found in this area and contains a tide pool of its own. This cave does not protect against storms though and will get you and your clothes wet every time the tides are high.





[h2]Raft Improvements:[/h2]

The Raft Voyage has received some extra features again.

- Floating Debris: You can now bump into floating debris that you can harvest for materials including wood, cord and plastic.

- Shark Visitors: You will now sometimes get sharks following your raft. These sharks will attack you if you get into the water while they are close, so be carefull.

- Atoll: There is now also a chance to find small atolls where you can stop your raft to recover for a bit before continuing your Journey.

- Passing Ships: Which can rescue you early if you manage to catch your attention. To do so use Flares, Torches, Signalling Mirrors, Candles or just wave your hands and scream at them. All these methods vary in effectiveness and are subject to luck but you should still try with your best available tools whenever you see the opportunity.



[h2]Loading Tips:[/h2]

The game now shows loading tips both when loading new saves and when entering environments. Hopefully this will help players discover many new features and make some of those long loading times a bit better while we work on improving performance.
There aren't that many tips yet but we are going to be adding many in the following weeks!



[h2]New Survival Guide:[/h2]

The old survival guide was a bit confusing and obscure, not too mention quite out of date. For this reason we have made a brand new one that is more akin to an encyclopedia with a search function included.
The new guide is not ready as you'll notice it has a lot of duplicate/erroneous entries and most of the proper ones are quite incomplete, but we are going to be filling them up for the final release as well as adding tutorial pages to it.

We'll also soon be adding some new features to it, such as filters and quick access buttons to cards that would take you to their appropriate guide entry.



[h2]Extra Features:[/h2]

-Drying Rack: You can now build a Drying Rack that will allow you to dry many plants as well as fish and meat and will soon be replacing the old drying system.
This structure can only be placed in open spaces (it won't work in the wetlands or deep jungle for example) and only works while it's not raining.

-Fresh Leaves: They can now be acquired when chopping some trees and plants. They can be used as feed for goats and also left to dry to use as tinder.




[h2]Fixes and Hotfixes for this Update:[/h2]

- Fixed a bug where boiling salt water would not yield salt when the boiling happened offscreen.
- Potential fix on the big bad bug where lots of cards would disappear in the top row after travelling to an area.
- You can now build rafts in all coastal environments.
- Bee suits now also protects against bugs.
- Macaque Skewers now also accept chilli powder.
- Fixed Issues with multiple Palm Trees losing their coconuts at the same time.
- Increased coral drop chances.
- Dragging Stacks is now faster.
- Wound screen now always start to the left when open.
- Weather indications no longer appear on main menu slots.
- Tweaks to card special durabilties.
- Fixed a bug with the scrap spear.
- Fish Tacos now also accept dried Chilli and Chilli powder.
- Milking goats now only costs a minitick.
- Fixed a bug when taking pictures to monitor lizards.
- Fixed an issue with the Tourist's souvenir mission.
- Tweaks to the fonts.
- Fixed an issue with roof damage not working properly.
- Treenails now unlock earlier.
- All fires can now be fed with stacks.
- Fixed a bug that was causing glasses to get damaged on some wrong events.
- Chests and Trunks are no longer damaged by storms.
- Dragging stacks implemented.
- Tweaked blood loss system.
- Tweaked Tourist start.
- Fixed an issue with the cut shavings action.
- Fixed some issues with the sharpened stone blueprint.
- Increased coral spawning chances.
- Fixed a visual bug where luggage would change colour.
- Fixed a bug that was causing plane seats to dissappear.
- Plane Trunk can now accept Jerrycans.
- Luggage can now be placed on the location row like baskets.
- Fixed a bug with the scrap spear.
- Fixed a bug that was stopping macaques from raiding some indoor environments.
- Added missing raft art.


That's all for now! See you all next time!

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all well.

I would like to start this announcement by telling you that August is going to be our last month in early access. By then it will have been a year since we first released and we think it will be an appropriate time to release our game. We are hoping the release will bring us a much needed boost in sales and a chance for us to take a short break to recover and spend some time with our families.

This won't be the end for Card Survival though, as we have more updates coming after that.
While they won't be as crazy frequent as the ones we've been releasing this year they will still be introducing new content, polishing the experience, and bringing performance improvements. We will also be working on localizations and a mac/iOS release.

Now to the content list:


[h2]Tourist:[/h2]

The Tourist has received some improvements including a new journal of its own to follow in line with the Hunter and Farmer characters. The plane crash perk now also has received some improvements, making it start with some detachable plane seats (which can be harvested for scrap, cloth and fiber) and some luggage containing papers, chocolate and some other things.





[h2]Raft Improvements:[/h2]

The raft and the sea voyage have received a balance pass and some new features.

The raft now has a few improvements of its own:
- Raft Expansion: You can now build two different expansion improvements to expand the amount of things you can carry in your raft. Adding these expansion will also allow you to add more supply chests to a total of 4 if both expansions are built.
- Raft Shelter: This structure will let you sleep on it and protect your from the rain and sun.
- FIsh Traps: Fixed nets that will catch fish for you over time.

The Island Escape ending is not ready yet though, so expect some new features for it coming soon.


[h2]Sending Cards to Other Environments:[/h2]

You can now drag cards to the entrances of indoor environments to move things there without having to enter. This works for mudhuts, sheds and caves as long as the entering the place does not have a tick cost (so it doesn't work for the cave system in the highlands).
Hopefully this will help reduce the time spend in loading screens while we work on improving performance. ;)


[h2]Dragging Stacks:[/h2]

By popular demand there's now a new feature that allows you to quickly move multiple cards into feeders, compost bins, inventories and indoor environments. ;)

Note: This feature has been temporarily disabled because of a last minute bug. We'll push a hotfix as soon as we can once we are sure it's stable.


[h2]Beautification:[/h2]

We've been working on getting Card Survival to look better trying to achieve a more tangible and unified style. This is still a work in progress though so expect more improvements soon, both to improve aesthetics and readability (we are aware some has been lost with the new font).
As always everyone's feedback is welcome!
Hopefully you will like the new style or at least the direction in which it's going.


[h2]Minor Changes:[/h2]

- You can now make a scrap spear too.
- Making honey now also has a blueprint like coconut milk.
- Ash Dressings are now also available as blueprints.
- Sharpened Stone now can also be crafted as a blueprint and now requires a heavy stone.
- Flint Axe is now easier to unlock.
- Flint Spear is now harder to unlock.
- Dynamite can now be used for revenge purposes.
- Split Sago Logs now give rotten remains when they rot.



[h2]Fixes and Hotfixes for the Update:[/h2]

- Fixed a bug that was causing mushroom objectives to not show in the plant of crops objective for the farmer.
- Solar Stills can now be buil in the secret valley.
- Fixed a bug that was preventing log traps and trapping pits from catching boars in the deep jungle.
- Fixed a bug that was preventing you from finding the beach from the rocks.
- Boiling Rice does not spend the water now, instead producing rice water which can be drank and reused.
- Rice Water and rice now have a small anti diarrhoea effect.
- Coffee beans can no longer be used as bird feed after i was informed it's bad for birds.
- Fixed some issues with some of the farmer journal missions not working properly.
- Tropical Almond Kernels and Coffee beans can now also be used to make bird feed.
- Fixed issues with the hunter's journal.
- Fixed a bug that was preventing the hunter and the farmer from unlocking the raft.
- Increased the rate at which the grandfather heals.
- Animal feeds now accept any combination of legal ingredients.
- Increased the difficulty rating of the Farmer character.
- There are now more important warning when suffering from hypothermia and hyperthermia.
- Oil now evaporates slower.- Fixed a hunter spear objective that seemed to be broken.
- There's a minimum swimming skill requirement to attempt to swim to the bird rock now.
- Fixed a bug that was making it easier to swim to the rocks even when low on swimming skills.
- Added quicklime and straw as usable temper items when working with clay.
- Fixed a bug that was preventing more than one young tree of a type to exist at any given time in a single environment.
- Fixed many action log texts.
- Bird Feed now costs less food.- You can now feed medicine to your grandfather (it makes him recover a bit faster).
- Fixed an issue with the jungle salad showing the wrong ingredient text.
- Added woodworker to the proper perk tab.
- Made the clay pot cooler and some other clay things heavy so that they won't get carried away by storms.
- Fixed some bugs that could happen with the grandfather cooking objectives.
- Fixed an issue with the wooden bed showing the wrong art.
- Fixed some issues where the grandfather would turn into a macaque after death.
- Added missing art for the update.


That's all for now.
See you next time!