Update v0.74

Based on feedback we received after our demo's launch we implemented a plethora of changes, some small and some quite substantial. Here is a list of the most important ones:

[h2]Campaign[/h2]

• Increased the number of power shards received at the start of the game from 2 to 8
  
• The machines can now use the Shield and Refinery buildings sooner to give more variety and challenge at the start of the game, but their utility is more limited compared to later levels
  
• Considerably increased power shard amount when skipping regions
  
• Spell rewards - starting from the third spell reward player element is no longer prioritized by 2 choices but by just one thus allowing for larger variety in builds
  
• Enemy builders will now have a harder time building stuff when the corruption is high (slower build speed), which should give players a bit more time to deal with the enemy
  
• Reduced the amount of extra corruption (bonus for nearby residential buildings) that is generated by terraformers by 50% to offset the change above
  

[h2]Spells[/h2]

• Many spells received additional audiovisual cues and effects to make casting them more fun
  
• All spells now have a targeting indicator (previously only some spells had it)
  
• Combustion - increased damage by 30%
  
• Wildfire - increased duration by 25%
  
• Rock giant - initial attack cooldown has been removed so that the giant can attack immediatelly after spawning
  
• Fire eater - fixed a bug that prevented this spell from working properly in most cases
  
• Rejuvenation - fixed a bug that caused no effects to be shown when the spell was cast
  
• Cleansing rain - increased the amount of corruption that is cleansed and fixed tooltip for stun (extra effect that can be unlocked)
  
• Spells that generate mana or miracles will now show the generated amount on screen
  
• Increased base mana regeneration by 20%
  

[h2]User Interface[/h2]

• World screen - added the ability to open the game menu with the Escape key
  
• World screen - menu buttons are now a bit larger
  
• Spirit screen - added missing icons for some rewards
  
• Spell properties - added highlight for upgraded properties
  

[h2]Controls[/h2]

• The button for casting spells can now be held for continuous casting
  

[h2]Other[/h2]

• Settings - fixed a bug that prevented audio volume to be correctly applied when loading settings
  
• Buildings- enemy buildings can now be targeted and damaged during construction but have a 90% damage reduction during that phase
  
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused weird sound artifacts when the player moved fast over the map
  
• Fixed a rare bug that could lead to crash when the moving target of a spell died before the spell finished casting
  

[h2]What is next?[/h2]

We still plan to update the demo as we find bugs, but these will mostly be minor updates. In the meantime, we will continue to work hard on the game, taking all of your feedback to heart.

In a future post, we will reveal some of the much bigger changes coming to the game - such as a new, much deeper progression system centered around working with Gaia, some major changes to how we distribute rewards, as well as major improvements to the AI, new enemy types, random events, and more!

Thanks,
Peter