StarVaders News

Heya!

Thought it would be fun to show off some of the new things we've been working on in the background!

[h2]New Glossary![/h2]

We created a new glossary for all the cards and artifacts in the game! It features full search and filtering functionality for ease of use! It will also keep track of cards you've discovered, cards you've won a run with, etc.



Although it is working very well, It's not complete yet! We're still planning on adding an invader section so you can study the encounters you are up against, and more!

[h2]Difficulty Systems![/h2]

We've been busy designing, testing and balancing the difficulty systems for the game!

The final game will have 3 main difficulties, and each difficulty level will introduce new content and new mechanics!



For example, the second difficulty "Invasion" will introduce Advanced Invaders, which are harder, tougher, or more unique versions of our current invaders. Every single base invader in the game has an Advanced version! And they do play differently from each other - it's not just stat differences!

Also planning on creating a Custom Difficulty mode, in which you'll be able to add your own modifiers to craft the perfect difficulty and content for yourself - or if you want to try out some wacky combinations of modifiers to play around in the game! (this is the current plan, but not implemented yet in the beta).

We're still hard at work on the game and the release timeline is still up in discussion. But that doesn't mean you can't start playing it now! If you'd like to sign up for the beta, or be part of our community, our Discord server is the best spot to be! You can join us here: Discord Server.



[h3]And don't forget to Wishlist! It helps us out more than you think![/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2097570/StarVaders/

Seeya next time!
- axolotl

Last weekend, we were showcasing Star★Vaders at PAX West in Seattle! It was really awesome seeing all the fellow devs and meeting with so many players!

I had built a last minute demo from our beta build to showcase at PAX, and it was very well received - barely any bugs and the new changes worked great! So I fixed a few of the bugs and decided we would be uploading it to Steam!



Although this is likely the one of the biggest Demo update we've ever had, it is still a rather "small" content update, most of the changes are mechanical changes, or QoL features. If you'd like to check out and help us playtest *new content* for the game, you can join our closed beta from our Discord server over here .

What's new in the demo:





[h3]- ​​Updated Visuals! ​[/h3]

Added animations for all simple invaders in the game, and a new card shader too! We're planning to have animations for most entities in the game, and are still working on adding more.

[h3]- Even Better Pilots![/h3]

We've updated the two pilots to truly have unique mechanics. Noel now plays with her unique *Frozen* card mechanic, while Zeke's deck has been simplified to make it smoother to play.

The pilots also now have unique cards and artifacts they can find in their card pool to support their new archetypes! (Even Roxy has new, unique cards!) You can click on the "Loadout" when selecting pilots and scroll down to check out what they have! (We're still working on the Glossary).



[h3] And much, much more! We've done a HUGE balance pass throughout the game and changed almost 25% of the cards. Check out the full changelog at the bottom of the post. [/h3]



We will unfortunately *not* be participating in the October Next Fest, and will also not be releasing into EA this year. We're still having discussions, but we're trying to make sure the game is in the best state possible and have enough time to market the game before it comes out!

I'm also not sure when the next demo update will be, but I do want to rework the tutorial again - I've seen some PAX players confused about certain aspects of the game (like how bombs work), so I think it can still be improved.




In the meantime, if you're starving for more content, please join our Discord server and request access to our beta! We are currently testing the second mech, new bosses, and difficulty levels in our closed beta.

[h2]Download the demo here![/h2]
[h2]Join our Discord if you have feedback![/h2]




https://store.steampowered.com/app/2097570/StarVaders/





FEATURES and NEW CONTENT:

- New Act previews to see what boss you will encounter each Act!
- Added Wild, Auto, Recycling, Salvage, components
- Added unique pilot cards, unique pilot artifacts, and updated pilot mechanics
- Steam Cloud Save
- New card shader
- Added idle animations for most entities in the game
- Added bug reporting feature (press F2)
- Better card input system (no more forced cancelling)

BALANCING:

- Added a minimum deck size of 8, card removal is now a flat 5000 stars (thin deck infinites were becoming a problem. Infinites are okay, but they should be fun to play and fun to obtain. This change aims to help with that! The same infinites and thin decks are still possible, but need clever gameplay to obtain instead of just hoarding money to remove cards. We are also adding a special artifact that removes the deck limit, since rules are meant to be broken!). But either way, we're always looking for more feedback and thoughts from players!

- Whenever you are struck, Junk goes to your discard pile now

- Skip reward now grants 500 stars
- X-Ploder is now 0 cost but no longer draws a card
- SCR4P now strikes a random Shield-less invader and is now a Rare
- Shatter no longer draws a card, but fires a bullet *down* instead
- Hothead is now Legendary
- Expanded the max artifact count to 27
- Anti-Mag has been nerfed so it only works once per card.
- Buffed Plasma Bomb to be able to be placed up to 3 tiles (from 2)
- Reworked Recycler to generate random cards whenever you purge a card.
- Nerfed Red Giant with "Increase cost of Bomb cards by 1"
- Salve now unburns ALL cards anywhere.
- Buffed many movement cards by 1 (Into the Fray, Momentum, Respite)
- Repair now draws and plays from hand as well.
- Flight now moves to any tile.
- Insulation now also draws on Burnt cards.
- Starter Fluid now works with Tactics too
- Operating System now only works once per turn, but gives +2 heat sink.
- Run & Gun has been renamed to BackFire!, and now works with Fire synergies.
- Annihilation is now 2 cost.
- Mimic has been nerfed so that Junk goes to your discard pile.
- Artillery Strike can now fire from both top and bottom
- Temporarily removed Rising Star, Care Package, Dust Devil, and the Alpha-Gamma chain
- Reworked Threat Analyzer to draw a card whenever you move into a Danger Zone
- Interlinked now gives Linked for every 5 cards in your deck
- MisFire! has been reworked to fire in ALL diagonals.
- QuickFire! now makes the *most expensive* card free
- Heat Waste now fires bullets in diagonals
- Reactor Burn now adds Meltdown to your discard
- Plasma Fire! now also counts cards in your discard pile

- And likely more changes I have forgotten to note down!

BUGFIXES:

- Updated a lot of the tutorial tips, card descriptions, and more info tooltips.
- Fixed Kraken soft lock
- Time Angel no longer channels doom
- Fixed run time issues
- Shrapnel now never "whiffs" out of the grid on an edge bomb
- Fixed card input crash
- Fixed card glitchyness when pressing too fast
- Better seeding and rigged tutorial

Hey'all!

It's been a while since our last Demo update - and that's because we've been busy working on a lot of new features and content for the game!

Here's a few sneak peaks to some of the simpler stuff that we've been working on that isn't top secret redacted content -

[h2]Animations for every entity in the game:[/h2]



[h2]New minimap / boss preview (top right corner):[/h2]



[h2]In-game bug reporting feature:[/h2]



[h2] More top secret beta content?[/h2]

There's a looooot more we've been working on, but we aren't ready to reveal that yet! We're almost done with the second class, we have additional difficulty systems implemented, a new boss for every act, and even more [REDACTED] systems that we are experimenting with!

Wishlist and follow us on Steam! We will likely be starting a devlog to reveal these new game features in the near future!

[h2] The second class has a new energy mechanic?![/h2]



None of the features we've mentioned in this post are ready for the public yet (content creators beware!), but we're looking to expand our playtesting pool to have more feedback on what's working and where to improve!

If you might be interested in helping us playtest, please join our Discord server here and ask for the playtester role! We appreciate all and any ideas or feedback you have for us.

We're trying to make the best deckbuilder possible, and that doesn't happen without listening to your feedback!

Thanks,
axolotl

This is a rather small patch for the demo build that fixes some of the bugs encountered and adds a bit more content to help complement and flesh out the Push synergies a bit more!



There is still an elusive Kraken bug that we weren't able to reproduce yet - if you ever get soft-locked during the Kraken please let us know!

Otherwise, we've been busy in the background fleshing out the second Class and our difficulty systems. Keep an eye out in our discord server if you're interesting in playtesting them - we might need some extra pairs of eyes soon!

As always, if you encounter any other bugs or have more feedback, we are always happy to hear from you in our discord server!

Changelog:

‣ Added unlocks for Level 6 Gunner -> Sonic Boom, Dust Devil and Galeforce

‣ Added preview for amount of currency at Min's Workshop

‣ Fixed crash when entities are pushed into holes and collide with the wall at the same time

‣ Fixed soft-lock when rewinding Mega-Blob when it splits out-of-turn

‣ Added More Info for Plasma Fire's "chain"

‣ Added rocket visuals for Titan Rocket - rocket visuals are now also angled correctly

‣ Added delayed attack previews when hovering over player

‣ Reduced XP cost to level up


[h2]Download the demo here![/h2]
[h2]Join our Discord if you have feedback![/h2]



https://store.steampowered.com/app/2097570/StarVaders/

Thank you so much for playing our demo! We've got over 1000 new downloads since TactiCon, with a lot of great feedback and amazing support from you all!

We're working on some major updates in the background in preparation for EA and beta playtesting - but for now we've just published a patch for the demo that includes 2 new upgrades and Steam Deck resolution support! Go check it out!

As always, if you encounter any bugs or have more feedback, we are always happy to hear from you in our discord server!

Changelog:

‣ Added 2 new Upgrades - Breezy and Risky

‣ Blocked some "bad" upgrade combinations that no one took

‣ Steam Deck resolution should now be supported

‣ Fixed missing More Info lines for many cards and artifacts

‣ Fixed bug when right clicking to exit More Info screen

‣ Potential fix for crash when quitting

‣ Fix Boosted trigger when using QuickDraw

‣ Fixed Star CrossFire + Little Friend interaction


[h2]Download the demo here![/h2]
[h2]Join our Discord if you have feedback![/h2]



https://store.steampowered.com/app/2097570/StarVaders/