Cauldron News

[h3]Hi Folks![/h3]

I’m back again with another Dev Diary focused on last week's demo updates for Cauldron. Huge thanks to all the community members that have been involved in feedbacking and suggesting tweaks and improvements!

These things got updated last week:

• Enemy Stats: There's a new feature that lets you see enemy details from the battle menu in the overworld! You can now hover over enemy icons to see their stats and details BEFORE entering battle!
  
• Refund Individual Upgrades: Finished up adding the individual refund option to all skill trees!
  
• Easier Party Builds: There's a new "Auto Build Party" toggle you can choose in party select that will build a very standard party, for those who don't want to think at all :)
  
• Battle Tips: Added some "battle tips" that automatically show up in the battle menus. These are still a work in progress, and definitely need to be word-smithed! (let me know if you have some good ones to add!)
  
• Upgrade Fixes: Fixed the individual refund issue where you could end up buying upgrades out of order
  
• Preset Builds: Tweaked/added preset builds for heroes
  

And these are the new updates from this week:

• Cap Apple Laser: Added a cap to apple game laser duration so that it can't overlap with the prior laser
  
• Huge Apple Numbers Fix: Added numbers suffixes past "jj" since people were getting that many apples! (though they might not be able to now because of ^)
  

[h3]Art updates continue:[/h3]
We're still hard at work finishing up the map, check out the new Frogtown design!



[h3]Achievement time[/h3]
Some of you have noticed that I’ve started implementing achievements. I’m just getting started with this, so it might be a bit buggy in its current state. I'm planning to test the waters with the demo, and then add a whole bunch for full release!

Have any suggestions for fun achievements? There is a thread in the suggestions section of the Cauldron Discord, so please jump on and share your best ideas, or feel free to comment on this post!

And as always, stay tuned for more updates, and keep posting your feedback!

Thank you for reading!
Pete


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2619650/Cauldron/

It's been a while since my last dev diary, but I've been hard at work on Cauldron. I’ll try to post these more frequently as I continue making updates!


A huge thank you to the thousands of new players that played Cauldron during the Steam Next Fest! It's been great to see all the feedback and positive comments in the Steam Community Hub and on Discord. I've been sifting through every comment and suggestion, and doing my best to get all of your great ideas into the game!


Cauldron has had a lot of updates in the past couple weeks. Based on your feedback I’ve made some major changes to the skill trees for a bunch of heroes to give them more depth and uniqueness! For anyone playing an old save, you'll just need to refund that hero's skill tree to see their new upgrades.

• Ticktock: Magic Attack - Ticktock's basic attack applies +1 stack of a random magical status effect
  
• Burny: Weak Spot - Burny's Skill and Special attacks deal +1 damage for every stack of negative status effects his target has
  
• Sparky: Gotta Go Fast - Gain +10% more action speed, but at the cost of -3 hp (to a minimum of 1 hp).
  
• Plague: Toxic Fumes - Plague gives off toxic fumes whenever he attacks, giving all enemies a stack of poison
  
• Chill: Chill, Bro - Enemies who attack Chill receive 1 stack of freeze (upgradable)
  
• Chop: Reckless - Chop opens himself up to being attacked and returns +20% of the attack damage to his attacker, as well as +1 stack of bleed, but loses 1 Speed, 1 Armor, and 5% Dodge.
  
• Thor: Healing Feathers - If Thor hasn't used his Skill or Special abilities yet, he heals the entire party for 1 hp after attacking
  
• Cleanse: Status Reflect - When Cleanse uses her Skill or Special, cleansed status effects are given to random enemies
  
• Buffy: Pep Talk - If an ally falls in battle, Buffy will apply Attack Buff to the rest of the team
  
• Debuffette: Rejuvenate - Remove 1 additional stack of every negative status effect at the end of your turn
  
• Debuffette: Discourage - Enemies who attack Debuffette receive Attack Down status
  

Go test them out, the demo is updated with these changes! Side note: Hero Preset Builds are now toggles that should update automatically whenever you gain more talent points!

Speaking of balancing, I also updated some of the enemy types. Instead of the elemental versions of each enemy essentially having the same base stats, I made the following changes. (Thanks to Hommnom for the suggestion!)

• Shock enemies have double action speed, but half hp
  
• Freeze enemies have double hp, but half action speed
  
• Burn enemies have double attack, but 66% hp and 66% action speed
  
• Poison enemies have double armor (and a little extra) and +50% hp, but half attack and 66% action speed
  

I've also fixed some minor stuff. Come check out the Cauldron Discord for full lists of updates!

Stay tuned for more updates, and keep posting your feedback so we can make Cauldron the best it can be! :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2619650/Cauldron/

Hey everyone! I hope you're doing well and that you're as excited as we are about Next Fest! 😄
We've been working tirelessly to make sure the demo was ready in time for the event, and now we are here, ready for your feedback on the game!

What's cooking?
There have been more videos popping up from content creators, which have been so much fun to watch. With all the newly gained attention, it's all starting to feel so real. Just a couple of days ago, the demo peaked at 150 concurrent users! It's incredible to think that there are so many of you out there playing Cauldron. I can't thank you all enough for giving it a shot!

The discussions on Discord have been great as well. People are sharing how they are exploiting the demo and its giving me a laugh but also perspective on how important it is to have constant feedback and interactions with you to make sure Cauldron is ready for release. If you haven't already, hop into the Discord and hang out with the rest of us! 🧙‍♀️

We might throw in a surprise or two during the event so stay tuned!



Thank you for reading!
Pete


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2619650/Cauldron/

[h3]Next Fest[/h3]
This past week has been crazy for Cauldron! We had a bunch of coverage popping up on YouTube that's brought even more players into our community. I'm working hard to make sure all of the feedback everyone has been giving finds its way into the game, and I'll hopefully get some of it in before Next Fest on Monday!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Here's a video Haelian did on Cauldron!


[h3]Updated Sprites![/h3]
We're still working on updating the character sprites! There's a lot of tweaking and refining going on behind the scenes, so they likely won't be ready in time for Next Fest, but we're making great progress and hope to have them finished soon after!




[h3]More Balance Changes[/h3]
I've updated the Cauldron upgrades and split out the apples/fish/rocks upgrade into three separate ones, which will give players the ability to put more focus into the minigames they prefer. And with that, I made the fishing game a little bit easier and removed the fishing handicap NPC. I think with the current balancing, he was a bit overkill. Let me know how you're finding the new progression!



[h3]Feedback[/h3]
As always, feel free to reach out with any comments, questions, or feedback, either here on Steam or over in the Cauldron Discord. There's still some time to give us your suggestions and help improve Cauldron before release! We'd love to hear from you.

Thanks!
Pete


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2619650/Cauldron/

Hey Everyone!

Cauldron has been picking up a bit of steam here (heh…) during Idler Fest, and I wanted to say thanks to all those who have been following the game’s development! Your continued feedback has helped Cauldron become the game it is today, so keep it coming!

Fishing Game Balancing
Players seem really divided on the fishing minigame. For some, the fishing game is far and away the fastest resource to grind out, while for others, it feels painfully slow. I’ve been trying to think of a way to keep everyone happy, so I’m going to test out a bit of a fishing game handicap, which can be toggled by our new underwater friend, Henry!



Gearing up for Next Fest
Steam’s Next Fest is only a couple weeks away, and there’s still so much left to do! A big task on our to-do list is to update all of the character sprites, the ones used for battles, menus, etc. We’re still zeroing in on the style we want, but we’re getting close!

Included in that update will be brand new Nyx sprites! Part of me will miss the current Nyx, as I’ve been looking at her for years now, but at the same time I have to admit her hat sometimes makes her look more like a pilgrim than a witch…



Feedback
As we make these updates, I’m hoping the community will chime in on what they like and dislike about the new art. There’s still time for us to make tweaks, so don’t hold back! As always, feel free to reach out with any comments, questions, or feedback, either here on Steam or over in the Cauldron Discord.

Thanks again for the continued support!
Pete


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2619650/Cauldron/