CardScrawl News

[p]This update focuses on polish, bug fixes, and improving gameplay clarity across multiple systems. Thanks for all your feedback and support.
[/p][h3]Combat and Gameplay Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Vampiric Strike Phase Status: Will now display "Vampiric Strike" instead of "Leech"[/p]
• [p]Vampiric Strike Feedback Improved: Creatures with Vampiric Strike now display a +{x} healing value during the combat phase to indicate the amount healed. This resolves a visual bug where unrelated tiles were being highlighted.[/p]
• [p]Creature Attack Clarity: Creature attack interactions have been made more clear during combat.[/p]
• [p]Opponent Summon Fix: Fixed an issue where opponents could sometimes summon a creature without having enough mana. This previously resulted in a flame sigil icon appearing incorrectly next to the opponent's mana roll.[/p]

[h3]UI and Visual Updates[/h3]

• [p]Phase Status Display: Fixed cases where the wrong phase name was displayed during gameplay.[/p]
• [p]Help Button Glyph: The help button now correctly reflects the active control scheme (keyboard or controller) when opened.[/p]
• [p]Resume Run Menu: Updated keyboard/controller input behavior. The menu can now be closed by pressing the back button on either input method.[/p]

[h3]Progression and Unlocks[/h3]

• [p]Character Unlock Fix: Fixed an issue where some characters were not unlocking properly, despite achievements being awarded. This bug was preventing approximately nine champions from becoming available.[/p]
• [p]Chaos Hardcore Progression: Chaos Hardcore mode now correctly tracks character unlock progress.[/p]

[h3]Champion Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Weeping Maiden: Fixed a bug where Weeping Maiden was losing health at the end of each turn unintentionally.[/p]

[h2]RC 1 Update - Gameplay, Visual, and Bug Fixes[/h2][p]We are excited to release our first Release Candidate for the game. This marks a major milestone as we focus on refining gameplay, improving clarity, and resolving remaining issues as we move toward a full release. Thank you for all your feedback and support as we continue to polish the game.[/p][h3]Champion Changes[/h3]

• [p]Battle Knight Wonder: Fixed an issue where the opponent's ability would damage their own creatures (Player version was correct).[/p]
• [p]Nocturne: Opponent's creatures without enchantments are now darkened, as they cannot be targeted.[/p]
• [p]Valeena: Ability effect no longer plays on creatures without enchantments (visual fix only).[/p]
• [p]Koross: All tiles other than opponent's creatures are now darkened during ability targeting.[/p]
• [p]Immolator:[/p]
  • [p]Fixed an issue where creatures summoned after casting the ability would not receive the correct power bonus.[/p]
  • [p]Ability is now usable during the Summon Phase to prevent unintended gameplay interactions.[/p]
• [p]Cat Kaiser:[/p]
  • [p]Ability would incorrectly skip the movement phase if a creature advance occurred. This has been corrected.[/p]
  • [p]Visuals for the extra combat phase have been corrected to accurately reflect gameplay.[/p]

[h3]Enchantment and Board Changes[/h3]

• [p]Arcane Aberration: Ability has been reworked to create Manaburn Sigils on the board that deal damage based on a creature's mana cost. These sigils cannot be overridden by Flame or Stone Sigils for their duration and pierce Enchantment Immunity. The pattern appears staggered across the board depending on whether the player or opponent casts it.[/p]
• [p]Flame Sigil:[/p]
  • [p]Damage text now displays the actual damage amount instead of showing it as a percentage.[/p]
• [p]Enchantment Immunity: All text and phase names updated for consistency.[/p]
• [p]Green Cast Arrow Sprite: Corrected visual issue with the casting arrow.[/p]

[h3]General Gameplay Improvements[/h3]

• [p]Summon and Action Phases have been reworked so that the opponent completes all of their actions first, followed by the player. This change allows players to better react to the opponent and streamlines gameplay. We also thinks this makes the game more enjoyable.[/p]
• [p]Added additional polish to ability mouseovers for champions such as Zod.[/p]
• [p]Flashing Border for Enchantments: Creatures with enchantments that are on a 1-turn cooldown now have a flashing border, indicating they will cast their enchantment this turn.[/p]
• [p]Phase name updated for consistency ("Casting Spell Immunity" is now "Casting Enchantment Immunity").[/p]

[h3]Tutorial and UI Changes[/h3]

• [p]The Help menu can no longer be opened during tutorials via the pause menu.[/p]
• [p]Advanced View Mode Tutorial: Now forces Advanced View to be active for consistency. A disclaimer is shown at the start.[/p]
• [p]Combat Round Order Tutorial: Updated with examples that reflect recent visual changes such as the flashing border behavior.[/p]

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed an issue where some opponents (such as Zod and Valeena) would incorrectly use their abilities when they would have no effect.[/p]
• [p]Corrected selector placement in the Advanced Board View Tutorial to prevent overlapping important information.[/p]
• [p]Resolved a bug where using player abilities during the Summon Phase with a full board could cause the ability to fail and the turn to pass to the opponent.[/p]

[hr][/hr][p]Thank you for playing and for all the feedback as we head toward a full release. The development team is continuing to work on additional polish and visual improvements in the coming weeks.[/p]

[p]Patch Notes – EA 11[/p]

• [p]Casual Mode: Player’s champion ability power is now halved to allow more frequent use and better pacing.[/p]
• [p]Help Sheet: Now includes discard phase info and explains that discarding is optional.[/p]
• [p]Help Sheet: Now accessible in the pause menu.[/p]
• [p]Creatures: Removed flavor text from creature card mouseover to reduce confusion.[/p]
• [p]Tutorials Menu: Fixed an issue where the return button couldn’t be selected using a controller or keyboard.[/p]
• [p]Tutorial Descriptions: Each tutorial now shows estimated time to complete.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some typos[/p]
• [p]Creature Mouseover: “Spell Immune” status has been renamed to “Enchant Immune” for consistency.[/p]
• [p]Advanced Board View Tutorial: Fixed a selector UI issue that was obscuring creature info.[/p]
• [p]Cat Kaiser: New visual effect added when casting the ability.[/p]
• [p]Tutorials Button: Now flashes to draw attention.[/p]

[p]Thanks as always for your support![/p][p]We’re continuing work on visual polish and clarity improvements to make your experience smoother every patch.[/p]

[p]Visuals[/p]

• [p]Added a new unique background when fighting the Tower Lord[/p]
• [p]Ability usage effects are now much more noticeable than before. This will be adjusted further in future updates.[/p]

[p]Champion Fixes & Adjustments[/p]

• [p]Cat Kaiser: Fixed an issue where using the ability always gave the player the next action, regardless of proper turn order. (This bug only affected the player; the opponent version was working correctly.)[/p]
• [p]Salvatore: Ability now always deals at least 1 damage. This issue was only noticeable on the early floors but has now been fixed.[/p]
• [p]Brute: Fixed an issue where the Opponent Brute’s ability would incorrectly target all creatures, including allies, in its vertical line of effect.[/p]
• [p]Wretched Cretin & Nocturne: These champions were mistakenly using the same ability animation. Each now uses a unique one.[/p]

[p]Gameplay[/p]

• [p]Rivals: Some champions did not have their correct rivals during a run. This has now been corrected.[/p]

[p]Tutorial[/p]

• [p]A new Combat Round Order tutorial has been added to help players better understand how combat phase order works.[/p]

[p]Thank you all for your support! We are actively working on additional visual polish and more updates to improve clarity and gameplay.[/p]

Visual Clarity & UI Improvements

Enhanced Readability
• Tutorial Improvements: Status Effects, How To Read Cards, and Target Types tutorials now highlight relevant elements for much clearer learning
• Selector Borders: Added visual borders throughout the game when summoning, equipping, and targeting for better board readability
• Combat Clarity: Creatures attacking each other now display selector borders, and arrows appear above creatures casting enchantments
• Target Information: Enhanced target pattern displays during combat and when hovering over creatures

Menu & Interface
• Settings Menu: Fixed issue where Settings and Help menus could incorrectly open simultaneously
• Save Data Display: Improved readability of save prompts and fixed incorrect difficulty/floor information display
• Tutorial Progress: Added progress indicator on the Status Bar during tutorials
• Advanced Tooltips: More champion abilities now show detailed target information when hovering

Gameplay & Balance Changes

Core Mechanics
• Starting Enchantment Deck: Normalized to be consistent across all runs for better early game balance
• Round Rewards: Reordered end-of-round rewards - Spoils now come first, followed by card selection
• Spell Immunity: Renamed to "Enchantment Immunity" for consistency

Champion Abilities
• Audio: Fixed missing sound effects for Cat Kaiser, Nocturne, and Rock and Roll Troll abilities
• Visual Effects: Restored missing visual effects for Dracarath's champion ability
• Targeting: Improved ability targeting for Brute when using a controller/keyboard
• Animation Speed: Updated ability animation timing for Wonder, Brute, Zod, Koross, and Nocturne

Bug Fixes

Audio & Visual
• Ghost Cards: Fixed sounds playing when player was out of cards
• Music System: Resolved issue where pausing/resuming caused looping instead of track progression
• Creature Cards: Corrected power and mana color display on inactive creature cards
• Spoils Display: Fixed rare spoils showing incorrect information on mouseover

Gameplay
• Chaos Hardcore: Removed incorrect save file prompts and updated mode description to clarify no saving is allowed
• Oni: Now correctly inherits Tower Lord's first ability for the match (wasn't getting an ability before).
• Tutorial Descriptions: Updated to clarify they're best viewed after playing at least one match

Interface
• Ability Buttons: Active ability border now disappears on mouseover to match opponent behavior
• Enchantment Targeting: Improved clarity when using targeting abilities by hiding conflicting target information whenever using Character Abilities that select a target(s) (Brute, Koross, etc.).

Thank you for your continued support during Early Access! Happy dungeon crawling!

The CardScrawl Team