Novus Orbis News

The demo has always had two versions of the dragon boss: Zakuro and Tao.
They became the two possible bosses for the first level, but so far that was the only level with variable bosses.

I wanted to expand the concept to other levels, and I like the idea of having bosses that look similar but play quite differently.

With this update I introduce Necrosphere, the alternative boss for Caves!
It has a brand new status/mechanic, that I'm sure you'll love (hate lol).
It may be a bit too punishing for now, some small tweaks may come in the future :)

No other new content, but a lot of changes and bug fixes:

[h2]Additions:[/h2]

• New Caves alternative boss: Necrosphere.
  

[h2]Changes:[/h2]

• (Card) Crystal Fragment can now be used to gain 2 SP, on top of giving 2 SP when drawn.
  
• (Card) Zap now costs 3-2 instead of 3-1.
  
• (Card) Concrete Barrier now costs 3-2 instead of 3-1.
  
• (Card) Discharge now reqiures 5 Thunder on top of removing 10.
  
• (Card) Increased out of combo cost for Imposing Presence to 6.
  
• (Blessing) Moved Quick Reflexes blessing to the strong blessings pool.
  
• AoE Up status now adds 10 damage per charge to AoE cards, instead of being a multiplier (addition calculated before multiplication from great strength).
  
• The speed up function now speeds the game up more.
  
• Added more info to the Mage's elements description.
  
• Pet item cards are now skippable after clicking on the item on the floor.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes:[/h2]

• Fixed a bug that would make AoE attack cards do nothing if you killed an enemy with a single target attack card before using an AoE card while having Dual Wielding status.
  
• Fixed a bug with AoE Up status and the new Long Arms blessing.
  
• Fixed a bug that let you interact with the firepit after extinguishing it.
  
• Fixed a bug that would let you access the menu (and allow going to the main menu) while having card prizes to pick on screen (leading to breaking the game when going back into a run).
  
• Fixed a bug that would give a wrong cost for zero combo cards, during combo zero, when owning the blessing Nothingness.
  
• Fixed a bug that would give you the Inflammable achievement when extinguishing the firepit.
  
• Fixed an exploit that would let you pass Death's trial by running away from a Mimic.
  
• Tentative fix of a rare instance where the game would stay with a black screen after loading a new level. This is a bug that have been reported by at least two people, but I cannot reproduce myself (seems to happen only when passing from Caves to Abyss). Please let me know if this happens again after this update.
  
• Fixed a bug with Death's Crown status, that would account for your current remaining HP instead of your missing HP.
  
• Fixed a bug where Death's Crown wouldn't be applied to Guardian's Fury card.
  
• Fixed a bug where you could find duplicate blessings under certain conditions.
  

First update post release!

I hope you're all having fun with Novus Orbis.
From what I'm seeing on Youtube, the game is running fairly well, with a few small things I'm addressing with this update.

There was a set of achievements I wanted to implement before releasing, but bug fixes had the priority, so I couldn't make them in time.
With this update I added 10 new Achievements, with related cards and blessings.
There are also a few balance tweaks and bug fixes.
Keep in mind that, especially for new stuff, it's possible it's not extremely well balanced, so changes may come in the future.

[h2]New achievements:[/h2]

• Extinguish
  
• Celestial
  
• Immense Heart
  
• Immense Hitter
  
• Overcomer
  
• Audacious
  
• Achiever
  
• Overachiever
  
• Well Well Well...
  
• Sushi Chef
  

[h2]New Blessings:[/h2]

• Gracious
  
• Thick Air
  
• Long Arms
  
• Optimism
  
• Rage
  
• Afterimage
  
• Elevation
  
• Second Stomach
  

[h2]New Cards:[/h2]

• Disaster Recipe
  
• Paper Airplane
  
• Death's Crown
  

[h2]Changes:[/h2]

• Elemental Tortoise will now change into an attack intent if at more than 1 countdown when coming out of its shell.
  
• Mimic will now drop either of its special prizes, plus one more random rare card, and allows for two picks.
  
• Lowered the chance to get Ignite and Burn from the firepit to 5%.
  
• Changed the color for the text AOE to make it more readable.
  
• Imposing presence is now Legendary.
  
• Stamp can now be found from level 2.
  
• Changed Boomerang Effect's description to make it more understandable.
  
• Changed Foresee's description to make it more understandable.
  
• Temporarely removed Italian and Japanese translations for the score screen (it's causing a softlock when language set to Japanese).
  

[h2]Bug Fixes:[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where the game would revert any new score, win/loss counts if in the same game session you'd get a new achievement.
  
• Fixed a crash when you check statuses during the tutorial when playing with a pad.
  
• Fixed a few issues with the alternative font (wouldn't be used in the enemies' names, and would create corruption with cards during the tutorial).
  
• Fixed a bug that had the text for "AoE Up" showing in red.
  
• Fixed some cards not showing their correct type when created during fight (for example Hell's Gaze).
  

Thank you everyone for the support and for playing!
Remember, if you like the game, each single positive review helps me immensely!

If you have any feedback or want to discuss about the game, join my Discord server.

[h2]EARLY ACCESS[/h2]
After 2 and a half years of development, I'm very happy to finally release Novus Orbis in Early Access! A lot of work the last ~6 months has gone into visual improvements, QOL features and general polish. The game is more mechanically sound than ever, with a lot of edges smoothed out, which feels like the perfect time to launch into Early Access!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2437330/Novus_Orbis/

[h3]CONTENT?[/h3]
The game currently features a set of 4 levels and 2 classes.
The full game is planned to feature 9 total levels and at least a 3rd class.

Please understand that I would love to make more classes, but they're the most difficult part of a game like this to make and implement, making sure that they're interesting enough to be worth being there in the first place. Depending on how development goes, and how well the game is received, I may make more than three, but that's not something I can promise at this stage.

[h2]ROADMAP[/h2]
I felt it would be best to enter Early Access with a plan. Currently ~1 year of early access is planned, with plenty of smaller content updates throughout! Included is a Roadmap of major updates leading to the 1.0 release:



With the game released, I plan on going back having regular updates.
They should come every 1 or 2 weeks, depending on how things go.
There will be two big updates during the year:

[h3]The Skies Update (Q3 2025)[/h3]

• Second set of levels (3 new levels)
  
• Introduction of branching paths in the world map
  
• Second ending
  
• Third class

[h3]The Answers Update (Q4 2025)[/h3]

• Third set of levels (2 new levels)
  
• Third ending
  
• Secret ending

[h3]Throughout Development:[/h3]

• New pets
  
• New cards for the existing classes
  
• New blessings
  
• New events
  
• New enemies
  
• New achievements

I'd like to keep the finer details to a minimum to make the experience more enjoyable :)

[h2]FEEDBACK[/h2]
I'll likely add a beta version of the game where you'll be able to play and see new stuff in advance, knowing that there may be more bugs than usual.

Same as I did with the public demo, I'd love to keep in touch with the community to make a great game.
Remember that any feedback is welcome. I won't be able to follow each single piece of advice I get, but at the same time I think it's important to hear my players' voices.
If you feel something is off, should be added, removed - anything really - please let me know here on Steam, or even better, in my Discord server.



Thank you everyone who has followed the project so far, and all new users to come!
I'll keep working to make the best game I can, in hope it will be enjoyed but as many people as possible.

If you feel Novus Orbis deserves it, please leave a positive review.
Each one really help a lot, especially for an emergent small game like this :)

[h3]Today kicks off the big 2 Left Thumbs Publisher Sale![/h3]
Explore the full event page to scope out loads of discounts, free games, bundles and more!



[h2]How about a FREE game?![/h2]
Croak Crusader: Spawn of the Spore Spectre launched TODAY, and is available 100% for free!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2997920/Croak_Crusader_Spawn_of_the_Spore_Spectre/

This free title introduces the general gameplay, protagonist and antagonists of the upcoming (paid) release, Croak Crusader: the Champion of Canada. Be sure to add that to your Wishlist!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3152060/Croak_Crusader_the_Champion_of_Canada/

[h2]COMING SOON[/h2]
Very VERY soon! Novus Orbis is a combo-based roguelike deckbuilder, set to release into Early Access on February 10th. There's already dozens of hours of content, and the game will only be getting deeper and more varied from here!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2437330/Novus_Orbis/

[h2]NEW UPDATES[/h2]
A collection of games have all timed free updates and big announcements for this event!

[h3]WizardChess[/h3]
WizardChess is a chess-like tactical roguelike with a near infinitely replayable amount of variety and depth. And today takes us a step closer to FULLY infinite replayability, with the addition of Daily Runs!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1274210/WizardChess/

[h3]Starground[/h3]
At the end of 2024 Starground revealed a planned development roadmap. Today sees the Brewconomic Cropdate, adding animals, fishing, potion brewing, and an improved Space Hub.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2793380/Starground/

[h3]Magenta Horizon[/h3]
In addition to making the awesome art for this sale, solo-dev Maddison Baek has crafted new community items for Magenta Horizon! Play the game to earn Trading Cards, and unlock awesome profile backgrounds and other Steam goodies.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2109060/Magenta_Horizon__Neverending_Harvest/

[h3]Schism[/h3]
Schism has a new update dropping Feb 10th that adds some end-game content, and enhanced controller support. Keep your eyes peeled for that! But the BIG news here, is that Schism is leaving Early Access MARCH 10th!! There is no discount now, so as not to conflict with that launch discount.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2084300/Schism/

[h3]Tower of Kalemonvo[/h3]
While this classic-style hack n slash ARPG isn't out yet, it did just receive yet another demo update. The name of the game right now is polish, preparing for our newly set released date of MARCH 28th!!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2351860/Tower_of_Kalemonvo/

[h2]FOLLOW ALONG[/h2]
Follow 2 Left Thumbs on social media to stay up-to-date on all the latest games and news. 👇

• Bluesky
• TikTok
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Discord
• Twitter

[h2]LOGO UPDATE[/h2]
I'm burying the lead a little here. But as a part of this event, I'm also debuting a redesigned 2 Left Thumbs Publishing logo - made by Fiend Folio artist RedRachis!

This will hopefully be the last content update to the demo until the release.

The score screen when you win or die has always been relatively underwhelming both in presentation and contents.

Also, I was taking into account the game time to calculate the score, which in a game like this doesn't make much sense (and also created issues with the speed multiplier).

So, I introduce a new score screen!
The score still has no purpose other than "here's how you did", but there is more information in it, and most importantly, now it keeps track of your stats between runs, giving you a high score value for each of the categories that are used to calculate the score.

There is also a "difficulty multiplier" that has no use in the demo, but in the final release will take into account the number of set challenges, or if you've set easy mode.

Moreover, it now includes a victories and losses counter.


Overall this was a needed inclusion to make a more complete game, and I hope it's satisfying enough.
There's a chance I may add more variables if players feel they need them, but I think I've covered basically everything of interest.



Finally, with the last update I had introduced a few issues, like the tutorial being forced every time you open the game, and the tutorial having some input problems.
Everything should be solved now!