Cardboard Town News

Okay, okay, we've heard you! Sandbox mode is here!

You don't want to worry about red alerts, resources, or even just READING THE CARDS and that's... okay i guess.

Go ahead and build whatever you want!

[h3]Introducing Sandbox Mode[/h3]

Build your dream Town made out of Cardboard in this mode without any hassle!
For a short while, we've made Sandbox Mode available for everybody to test it out.

In this mode; you'll be able to draw any road or building card you want and use it without any money or resource requirement!

In the original version it will be unlocked on Mayor Level 16, which does not take long to reach to, especially in standard modes.



Sandbox mode screenshots already started to come in! If you give it a try, share your screenshots with us on Twitter @strateragames

[h3]Unlocking New Modes - System Change[/h3]

In the previous version, this is how the modes were unlocked:
- Mayor Level: 2 Modes
- Rocket Ending: 3 Modes
- Drill Ending: 3 Modes

We've noticed it's too much for casual players, so we've moved most of the "ending" modes to the Mayor Level meta progression instead.

• Level 4: Blessed Town Unlocked
  
• Level 13: Towntanic Unlocked
  
• Level 16: Sandox Mode Unlocked
  
• Level 20: Cursed Unlocked (as before)
  
• Level 29: Rural Town Unlocked
  
• Level 41: Democratic Town Unlocked
  
• Level 51: Utopia Unlocked (as before)
  
• When you finish the game with Rocket Ending: Quick Decisions Unlocked
  
• When you finish the game with Drill Ending: Expanding Town Unlocked
  

[h3]Lowering the Vote Count for Max Level[/h3]
It used to require 23,500 Votes to reach Mayor Level 60, we're reducing this to 20,000.
Please let us know how do you feel about meta progression speed and feel so we can adjust it better!

[h3]Other Updates & Changelog[/h3]

• Synchronized card data across platforms.
  
• Implemented save feature in sandbox mode.
  
• Unlocked sandbox mode for testing purposes.
  
• Modified end-game scenarios for diverse gameplay.
  
• Major UI enhancements for improved user experience.
  
• Introduced sandbox mode for creative play.
  
• Fixed main menu navigation issues.
  
• Implemented new deck rules for balanced gameplay.
  
• Improved gamepad navigation in card library.
  
• Enhanced performance and stability of Sandbox asset.
  
• Added gamepad support in sandbox mode (work in progress).
  
• General game improvements and optimizations.
  
• Resolved duplicate quest card issue.
  
• Updated booster pack illustrations for a fresh look.
  

Hello everyone!

You said more control, less RNG, we listened!

Let's start by celebrating the update with a 40% Discount starting November 14th 10 AM PST until the end of the Steam Autumn Sale!

We have a few headlines today so let's get right into the case:





We know how much you hate the troubles (those small disturbances that happen on 3rd turn of the Trouble-Meter) and annoyance it brings.

Troubles were here to;
- Provide challenge to players
- Make sure resetting / reducing the Trouble-Meter had to be done with care
- Add a fun randomness to the game

However, they had too much emphasis for being such a small disturbance.
E.g; You had to look out when you were building a Police Station just to avoid a -1 hit to your Envirorment score, which doesn't feel very nice. Or you'd get a notification every couple of turns, which could be annoying / distracting.

Things like that. But we've kept the mechanic despite all that because of the reasons above, until we've decided that it's just not worth it anymore.

But we still want to keep some positive parts of it, so it's time to say;





Crisis Cards always have negative sides; but they usually also have positive parts too and it's up to you to whether to play them or just ignore them!

For example, the trouble "Yet Another Oil Leak" would make you lose -1 Environment randomly.
The card "Yet Another Oil Leak" still makes you lose -1 Environment but;
- You decide when that happens
- You get a Coin in return.



Crisis Cards can not be destroyed, but they can be discarded. So you can choose to deal with them later, but if you ignore them for too long, they will bloat your deck.

Currently, crisis cards come at every 100th Population but we may change that number, or change to mechanic's trigger point later, according to balance. As always, we're open to ideas and feedback!



No one asked for this, but it's here!
You can now press ALT key to switch to miniature-view and experience your city first hand!

It will also trigger itself after 5 minutes of inactivity, like your lil' screen saver.



Controller Support: Cardboard town now has full controller support for Xbox & Steam Deck controllers. (Dualshock is supported but the interface is still in progress for it) This feature still experimental, please share your experiences and ideas in Steam Discussion Forum.

Cloud Save: Now we have cross-platform Steam Cloud Save support, which means, your game save will not be lost even if you remove the local game data, or if you want to keep playing your level on another device.

Linux & Steam OS Support: Cardboard Town now is ported and works stably on Linux and Steam OS devices natively.

Notarized MacOS support (Silicon): Cardboard Town binary on MacOS now works more efficiently and the game binary is notarized via AppStore.

On-going work for Mobile: We keep on working on porting our game for iOS and Android. We will have more information in the coming releases.

[h2]1.1 Announcement Trailer[/h2]

You don't like reading? We got you, here is our 1.1 Trailer video;

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Steam Trading Cards & More[/h2]

Cardboard Town is now eligible for Trading cards!
Keep playing the game to drop Trading Cards! Collect them all to get badges, emojis and profile backgrounds.



[h2]Gameplay Updates[/h2]

Fire-Fighting card was available since the first build, fire itself however... Was problematic and never available in the main version. Well, no more; it's time to burn down the city!! 🔥🔥

Try to take care of the fire early on or it might spread. It doesn't destroy buildings; but each active fire has a chance to burn down your resources.



[h2]QoL Updates[/h2]
Now when you hit all Red-Alerts; instead of an instant game-over; you get a final warning and lose the game only if you end the game with all Red-Alerts lit.



When you hover a card, it shows the building tile size, so you can pick which building to place with all the information at your disposal.



We saw that sometimes players try to drag and drop the cards on the board (like Hearthstone) we wanted to allow this behavior, now you can drag and drop a building card on the board and it gets built!
Same goes for action cards, you can just drag and drop them to play!



Sometimes, for any reason, a card might not be playable. Normally; an alert sound plays and if there's a disaster preventing the card from being played, the disaster shakes. However when there's no disaster and you just don't have the money: not enough visual feedback occurs. So now when you try to play a card that you are not able to play: it shakes!



It was unclear when the map size would increase, now we have a counter next to the vote box for the remaining tiles until the board gets enlarged.



We noticed players usually ignore the Star Quests and disasters, to fix that, we also added a star quest progress animation, and for disasters; a noticeable animation.




[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed problems with some of the building sound effects.
  
• Fixed an issue causing the troubles to trigger twice when you progress back and forward on the trouble meter.
  
• Level up bar is now faster, depending on the amount of votes you gained in that term.
  
• Your current run will not be wiped anymore when you update the game.
  
• Fixed the lingering bonuses for buildings demolished by Earthquake or Fire.
  
• Mouse controls are more stable, and on trackpads, map won't shake on building placement.
  

[h2]Balance Updates[/h2]
Almost all Red Cards now have +1 Day limit on their count-downs.

As always, thank you for your continuous support, we are also thankful that the reviews about the balance of the game are getting better with our last 2 updates. But we will move things around till it's PERFECT!

We noticed the same issue the community did, that the player agency of the runs is not quite how we want it to be. In order to address this, we made some changes, which will also spice up the early stages of the run, and break the repetitive feel for the early game by creating agency and variety.

- Player now offered 3 cards to choose at the end of Day 1-2-3 (different types) for early game agency
- Game Over condition checks happen at the end of the day instead of instantly
- “Scan and Print” now will get destroyed after playing
- “Smart Solutions” now triggers at Max 5 times (was unlimited)
- Fixed some issues with fonts and UI
- Mayor button tutorial triggers at a better time

Don't hesitate to send us a Steam comment on this post or via [email protected] if you would like to share the bugs, issues, or recommendations you have.

Thank you for the amazing support and attention from all the community. We closely follow the community response and made some balance changes & bug fixes.

• We balanced Classic mode to be more starter friendly with extra resources and Officers, and added a new mode called "Expert" which is more challenging and gives more Votes.
  
• Added "Got It" checkbox on every tutorial screen, which will hide that specific tutorial information panel forever when you check it before pressing Okay.
  
• We added an animation to make it more clear that -20 resource is a game over condition.
  
• Game is now more comfortable to play on a wide screen monitor.
  
• Fixes on missing translations.
  
• Balances on modes other than Classic.
  
• Added resizeable Windowed Mode.
  

Don't hesitate to send us a Steam comment on this post or via [email protected] if you would like to share the bugs, issues or recommendations you have.