Game update & special events

We released Gremlins, Inc. on Steam in late 2015 and every year since then, the game has been performing better than before. If you told us that things would work this way back in 2015, we would have found this hard to believe. But here we are – with another record-setting year – thanks to dedicated players who come from all over the world!

Some companies measure their products by revenue. We measure our games by how much time people spend playing them, and by this measure last year saw more players play more sessions in Gremlins, Inc. than in any year before. We don’t think that we are creative geniuses, or that Gremlins, Inc. is a divine masterpiece. Rather, we think that the continued growth of the game is the collective result of these simple policies that we follow:

• We continue to support the game with new content (including new cards)
  
• We continue to organize regular official tournaments
  
• In ranked sessions, we enforce the Fair Play Rules and review every protest
  

With today’s update, we take the opportunity to thank you for your continued support of the game and for recommending Gremlins, Inc. to your friends. Together, we’ve already built a great community around the game. In the new year, let’s continue to set new records!



ːhypnoheartː Enjoy a new original main menu background created just for this occasion – The Jet Rat!
ːhypnoheartː Enjoy a new original music track created just for this occasion – Melody of the Jet Rat!

Both items are available in-game for free to everyone for the two weeks of the celebration. Once the event is over, these items will still be available as free tradable in-game drops.

ːhypnoheartː Get a new unique lobby icon created for the Lunar New Year 2020 “Steel Rat” for FREE*
ːhypnoheartː Get a new unique emoticon created for the Lunar New Year 2019 “Saving Up” for FREE*
ːhypnoheartː Get a unique emoticon created for the Lunar New year 2018 “Automated Dog” for FREE*
ːhypnoheartː Get a unique global effect created for the Lunar New Year 2017 "Flying lanterns" for FREE*

* – these unique items are granted for FREE automatically under the following conditions: (1) you must own Gremlins, Inc. and the following DLC's: Uninvited Guests, Automated Competitors, Astral Gamblers, Famous Figures, Digital Artbook and Original Soundtrack (collectively: The Governor Edition); and (2) you must log into the game at least once during the two-week celebration of the Lunar New Year 2020 (23.01-08.02).

ːhypnoheartː A special Lunar New Year Tournament runs on Amsterdam and Singapore servers 24.01 – 27.01.2020.



[h2]Changes on playing fields[/h2]

Two spots on each playing field have been changed. From now on, you won't receive income on the way out from the Jail (it is replaced with a Risk spot) – but you also won't receive a misfortune because the Misfortune spot has been replaced with with a Bribe spot.

We discussed this change with the player community and among the dev team, from different angles for quite some time – and finally decided to give them a try, because we believe that they will affect positively the dynamics of the sessions.

Firstly, those who are arrested will no longer be punished twice: first by being jailed, then by passing through the Misfortune spot on the way out. Secondly, the choice of behaviour in the Jail is now affected to a lesser degree by the route through which the player prefers to leave the place, and more by the strategic decision of which behaviour is more advantageous under the current circumstances.

The first moment was especially unpleasant to new players who do not know yet how to avoid arrests and misfortunes, or how to be properly prepared for such events. And the second one created the situation where bad behaviour in the Jail was by far the most popular choice because escaping from the Jail was safer than leaving it after the sentence is completely served. We expect that now the balance of these decisions will begin to level off, since the threat of an additional misfortune on the way out no longer pushes players away from choosing good behaviour.

[h2]Updated timers[/h2]

The speed balance of the game has been changed.

The new settings make it easier to play on Fast speed (more time is available for actions such as choosing a misfortune or a card when more than few are available) and increase the dynamics of sessions at Normal speed (which is used in ranked and tournament sessions), allowing less time for actions that do not require as much time as they were previously given. Slow and Relaxed settings of the timer now provide more time for each action, allowing to decrease significantly the pressure of the timer on players – without removing it entirely.

We are confident that these changes should positively affect not only the future ranked and tournament sessions, but custom sessions as well – no matter at which speed they are played.

[h2]GMT on both server clusters[/h2]

Both server clusters, Amsterdam and Singapore, now use GMT as their server time zone. Mostly it is required for our internal operation, but this also makes it easier to create protests because local timezone is no longer relevant – only the time as it is shown in the "previous sessions" tab in player profiles.

[h2]New cards[/h2]

[h3]THE COMMON FUND[/h3]
Location: Jail
Cost: FREE
Move points: 3
Type: permanent
Get: ːscoreː1

At the beginning of each round, every currently arrested player gets $25. Owner of the card, when arrested, gets $50 instead of $25.

"Because the prisoners couldn't find a common ground,
the discussion of the common fund got grounded."




[h3]SLOW MOVING VEHICLE[/h3]
Location: Plant
Cost: $350
Move points: 1
Type: permanent
Get: ːscoreː5

Get $50 every time you use a card with 1 move point to move.

"If this vehicle were pedal-powered, we could have cut the fuel costs even further" – a disgruntled client



[h2]New items[/h2]

• New main menu background – The Jet Rat. "Lunar New Year" set.
  
• New music – Melody of the Jet Rat. "Lunar New Year" set.
  
• New lobby icon – Steel Rat. "Lunar New Year" set.
  

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed an issue with the "Judgement Day" card, where if a player was teleported from the Astral or from the Plant, that player was forced to skip an extra turn at the Court. [ːnotebookː Mr Burnham]
  
• Fixed an issue with the "Lucky Devil" achievement which was possible to get in the Bank by playing "Eternal Mortgage" in combination with "A Lucky Potion" (it is a hidden achievent and that was the wrong way to get it). [ːnotebookː Doomy]
  

[h2]Known issues[/h2]
Information about all currently known issues, their status, as well as the suggestions from the community can be found at our public page on Trello: https://trello.com/b/HjOStDAS You can use our forums to report new issues or make suggestions about the game – they will be added to the Trello list.

Have you noticed that quite a few of the fixes and improvements in this post have the names of the players who reported/suggested them? This is because when a certain suggestion is implemented or a significant reported bug is fixed, the players who reported those first, are rewarded with in-game chests. Please keep those reports and suggestions coming!