Gremlins, Inc. News

[h3]ːHoly_Grailetː 19.03 12:00 PM GMT – 22.03 12:00 PM GMT ːHoly_Grailetː [/h3]

[h3]ːsteampunkː EUROPE[/h3]

ːcardsː players: 4
ːscoreː victory condition: 30 points
ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed
ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed
ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: hidden
ːcheatdiceː Characters: from random set
ːRatsClockː Timer: normal
ːLocationː Field: Clockwork colony

Special rules for European server

No.

Tournament points (place in session/points gained):

1. +150 tournament points
   
2. +45 tournament points
   
3. 15 tournament points
   
4. 0 tournament points
   

[h3]ːsteampunkː ASIA[/h3]

ːcardsː players: 2
ːscoreː victory condition: 35 points
ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed
ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed
ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: hidden
ːcheatdiceː Characters: random
ːRatsClockː Timer: normal
ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town

Special rules for Asian server

Changes in the deck:

-1 The Accelerator
-1 An Award Ceremony
-1 A Compromising Document
-1 A Fraudulent Transaction
-1 An Honest Exchange

Tournament points (place in session/points gained):

1. +60 tournament points
   
2. 0 tournament points
   

[h3]ːvotesː RULES:[/h3]

Sessions that count towards the tournament: ːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinːːbh2coinː (8)

For each defeated opponent ("defeated" means that at the end of a session the player has a lower final position than yours), you receive additional tournament points. The number of points depends on the number of victories (1st places) of the defeated opponents in the current tournament. Important: these additional points also are added to your overall tournament score retrospectively, when the players previously defeated by you achieve victories in the tournament – even if you already have reached the limit of sessions for the tournament. What this means is that you keep getting tournament points as long as your previously defeated opponents continue to play, and win.

During this tournament, regular rating points will be frozen for all the players. Your tournament sessions will NOT affect your regular rating.

Players get tournament points for the first 8 sessions played in the tournament on each of the servers. Any subsequent sessions won't give any tournament points, and won't increase the number of defeated opponents who give additional points. Nonetheless, victories of all opponents who were defeated in the first 8 sessions will affect your final tournament rating.

[h3]PRIZE FUND:[/h3]

Awarded: Top 10 players on each of the servers. In addition to the main prize fund, every player who finishes all 8 tournament sessions receives a special bonus player icon “Facepalm” (only if it has not been received before)!

Place / Prize –

1. ːHoly_Grailetː 5, ːgreengemstoneː 7, Bomb-o-mat, A Contraband Box of Goods x 3
2. ːHoly_Grailetː 4, ːgreengemstoneː 7 A Contraband Box of Goods x 2
3. ːHoly_Grailetː 4, ːgreengemstoneː 6 A Contraband Box of Goods
4. ːHoly_Grailetː 3, ːgreengemstoneː 6
   
5. ːHoly_Grailetː 3, ːgreengemstoneː 6
   
6. ːHoly_Grailetː 3, ːgreengemstoneː 6
   
7. ːHoly_Grailetː 2, ːgreengemstoneː 5
   
8. ːHoly_Grailetː 2, ːgreengemstoneː 4
   
9. ːHoly_Grailetː 1, ːgreengemstoneː 3
   
10. ːHoly_Grailetː 1, ːgreengemstoneː 3
    

ːHoly_Grailetː = Tournament Chest (limited, tournaments only)
ːgreengemstoneː = Spring Chest (limited, Spring Season only)

In the case when at the end of the tournament two or more players will have equal number of tournament points, they will share the same (highest) place and get the same rewards. However, the award list will not be extended, and we will still award only the top 10 players on each server.

[h3]TOURNAMENT CHESTS – FAQ:[/h3]

Q. Where do Tournament Chests drop?
A. Only in tournament sessions, which are available via Multiplayer Lobby.

Q. If I've finished all my tournament sessions, can I get more tournament chests?
A. Yes, as long as you will keep playing tournament sessions.

Q. Are the tournament items limited to this tournament only, or to tournaments in general?
A. The tournament items are available via tournament chests, which drop during every official tournament in the game.

Q. Is there a full list of tournament items available via tournament chests?
A. Yes, please see below:

• Message – No need to thank me. (uncommon)
  
• Message – Nothing personal. (uncommon)
  
• Emoticon – Winner (uncommon)
  
• Emoticon – Thief (uncommon)
  
• Lobby icon – Darbl fon Murblenton (rare)
  
• Player profile – Trophy shelf (rare)
  
• Main menu background – The Champion (rare)
  
• Governor frame – The Governor of Governors (contraband)
  
• Blueprint – Blueprint: "The Ruffian" (contraband)
  
• Special item – Bomb-o-mat (contraband)
  
• Token trail – Champion's trail (illegal)
  

[h3]DATA[/h3]

• Participants: 1,433 unique players participated in the tournament.
  
  
• Involvement: 300 players completed 8 or more sessions. 136 players received the "Facepalm" lobby icon for completing all 8 tournament sessions for the first time. 474 players completed more than half (5+) of their sessions.
  
  
• Sessions played: 2,175 tournament sessions were played in the course of the tournament.
  
  
• Average lenght of sessions: Europe: (4 players, 30 points) – 48 minutes / 47 rounds. Asia: (2 players, 35 points) – 25 minutes / 59 rounds.
  
  
• Bans: 2 protests have been investigated and 2 players banned for the breach of the Fair Play Rules during this tournament.
  
  
• Tournament chests: 3,183 tournament chests were distributed during the tournament (overall, including non-tournament sessions, 5,298 chests were distributed to players in this period).
  

[h3]TOP-10 – EUROPE[/h3]
937 participants

01. frobnobin (1212) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x5, ːgreengemstoneː x7, Bomb-o-mat, A Contraband Box of Goods x3
02. Calmand (1155) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː 4, ːgreengemstoneː 7, A Contraband Box of Goods x2
03. nikron (1068) – 8 sessions, 6 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x4, ːgreengemstoneː x6, A Contraband Box of Goods
04. MirisuN (1026) – 8 sessions, 6 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːgreengemstoneː x6
05. Revived (999) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːgreengemstoneː x6
06. Lochside (978) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːgreengemstoneː x6
07. Canama91 (963) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x2, ːgreengemstoneː x5
08. Hotik (942) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x2, ːgreengemstoneː x4
08. iMba (942) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x2, ːgreengemstoneː x4
10. RaskolnikovsAxe (927) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x1, ːgreengemstoneː x3

[h3]TOP-10 ASIA[/h3]
496 participants

01. rukifel (750) – 8 sessions, 8 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x5, ːgreengemstoneː x7, Bomb-o-mat, A Contraband Box of Goods x3
02. Виктор☭Исетский (624) – 8 sessions, 8 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː 4, ːgreengemstoneː 7, A Contraband Box of Goods x2
02. ARCHIDUQUE ABITALDOSAURIO JR 8.2 (624) – 8 sessions, 8 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x4, ːgreengemstoneː x7, A Contraband Box of Goods x2
04. DestinyAngel (612) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːgreengemstoneː x6
05. K! (594) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːgreengemstoneː x6
06. Efreet (588) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːgreengemstoneː x6
07. EXEL (576) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x2, ːgreengemstoneː x5
08. RomenZero (558) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x2, ːgreengemstoneː x4
09. Declan (552) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x1, ːgreengemstoneː x3
10. HOMER Yu (522) – 8 sessions, 6 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x1, ːgreengemstoneː x3

ːHoly_Grailetː = Tournament Chest (limited, tournaments only)
ːgreengemstoneː = Spring Chest (limited, Spring Season only)

* the number of sessions played shows only the sessions that were played while they had impact on the overall tournament score of that player.

** if two or more players have equal number of tournament points, they share the same (highest) place and get the same rewards.

We congratulate the winners and wish good luck to everyone in future events! Thank you for being such an awesome community! ːvotesː

______



ːmaliceː Official Discord
ːmaliceː Twitter (game updates)



ːsummer_magicː Official Discord
ːsummer_magicː Twitter (game updates)

Due to multiple changes that we made in the Winter update in regard to characters' balance, there will be no changes in the rules for March. We want to have more time to see how characters perform within the same environment before we start changing it.

For example, the Politician, who looked rather weak in the first weeks after the update now looks much better since players learned how to take advantage of its new set of abilities. We don't want to rush any changes until the new meta becomes more stable.

The results of this month will define the changes that might happen in April.



The following rules become active on March 1, at 12:00 GMT, and will apply throughout the whole month to all ranked sessions that are launched after that point.

ːsteampunkː EUROPE

ːcardsː players: 4
ːscoreː victory condition: 30 points
ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed
ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed
ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: visible
ːcheatdiceː Characters: from random set
ːRatsClockː Timer: normal
ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town

* Special rules for EU server:

None.

ːsteampunkː ASIA

ːcardsː players: 2
ːscoreː victory condition: 35 points
ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed
ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed
ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: hidden
ːcheatdiceː Characters: random
ːRatsClockː Timer: normal
ːLocationː Field: Clockwork colony

* Special rules for Asia server:

The following cards are removed from the deck:

ːcardsː The Accelerator
ːcardsː An Award Ceremony
ːcardsː A Compromising Document
ːcardsː A Fraudulent Transaction
ːcardsː An Honest Exchange

ːsteampunkːːsteampunkːːsteampunkː

There are no additional adjustments to the cards at the beginning of this season.

______



ːmaliceː Official Discord
ːmaliceː Twitter (game updates)



ːsummer_magicː Official Discord
ːsummer_magicː Twitter (game updates)

Dear friends:

In the time since we released the major Winter Update, we identified a few areas where we could further improve player experience.



Here's what we change with today's update:

• Mulligan's timer at the start of a session is increased by a further 15 seconds.
  
• User interface now correctly indicates the Politician as the favorite candidate if "Connections at the Parliament" (+ːvotesː2 before the Elections) makes the difference.
  
• The effect of "The Evil Statue" no longer triggers if player gets ːmaliceː from a Misfortune that was received from cards such as "Karma", "The Lesser Evil", etc.
  
• The effect of "The Common Funds" is no longer triggered twice if player is arrested while skipping turn at the Plant or at the Astral.
  
• The Banker's ability "Hedging the risk" is no longer triggered if player used "A Prank" to exchange place with another player.
  
• Request window for the Banker's ability "Hedging the risk" now has the correct name.
  
• Abilities that show a request window (such as "Hedging the risk", "Pickpocketing" or "Shaking the tail") no longer keep that window open if player didn't react in time and the decision was made by the bot.
  
• The visual log after "Demon'stration" is played now correctly shows that player receives not only money, but also ːmaliceː for each ːscoreː that is taken from other players.
  

THE UPDATE IS NOW AVAILABLE!

IMPORTANT: due to significant internal changes in the code, saves that are made in the current version of the game won't be compatible with the new version of the game – we apologize for the inconvenience.

Dear players:

We congratulate those of you who celebrate the Lunar New Year, and we wish everyone health and prosperity. May this year give you the strength, the resolve and the patience to change the world for the better, and to help those in need!

Traditionally, around this time of the year we release a major update for Gremlins, Inc., and this year is not an exception: today's update is especially heavy with balancing changes that touch upon characters, cards, and even locations – as well as with new features and quality of life improvements.

Let's look at the changes one by one:

[h3]SPECIAL CONTENT DEDICATED TO LUNAR NEW YEAR[/h3]

Commemorating the year of the Ox, we bring you:

• a special animated background for main menu
  
• a new original music track created by A.Fruit
  
• a new emoticon
  

All these items are granted for free to every owner of The Governor Edition (as a reminder, we now have two separate Governor Editions).

The new melody and the new background are also available to every player in the game for 2 weeks following this update (once this period passes, these items will remain available only to the owners of The Governor's Edition).


[h3]NEW FEATURE: IN-GAME PAUSE[/h3]

It is now possible to play private multiplayer sessions with a timer, but use the pause function if something outside of the game requires your attention.

You can activate the pause at the beginning of your turn and the game (and your friends) will wait for your next action for as long as it takes.

Please note that this feature is limited to private sessions only, in order to prevent delays in sessions with random opponents.




[h3]NEW FEATURE: MULLIGAN SYSTEM[/h3]

The new mulligan system gives players much more control over their starting hands.

At the start of the session, instead of receiving 6 cards with the ability to discard any of them and get random replacements, each player now gets 12 cards and chooses the 6 that they want to keep (the rest is discarded as usual).

This way, you can tailor your starting hand much better for your first few turns in the session. This also makes early inspections and arrests more justifiable, since it is now easier for other players to get a hand of cards that can be used very efficiently from the very first round.




[h3]NEW CARD: "ADMISSION OF FAULT"[/h3]

“ADMISSION OF FAULT”

Location: Tribune
Cost: ːvotesː 1
Move points: 4
Type: Normal
Get: -ːmaliceː 1

Special rule:

Choose another player: they lose ːvotesː 4.
If you use this card to move, lose ːvotesː 1 and ːmaliceː 1.

"No gremlin ever admits their fault, unless they find a way to hurt their competitor even more with such admission."

This card hurts your popularity but it damages your opponent's popularity even more!




[h3]NEW CARD: "CORPORATE SCAM"[/h3]

“CORPORATE SCAM”

Location: Office
Cost: free
Move points: 3
Type: Secret, Permanent
Copies in the deck: 2

Special rule:

When all copies of this card are active simultaneously: players who don’t own such cards lose ːscoreː1 per copy; players who own such cards get ːscoreː 1 per each copy that they own. All copies of this card are then discarded.

"The most reliable protection from being cheated is to affiliate yourself with the cheaters."





[h3]CHANGES IN LOCATIONS[/h3]

THE OFFICE



This simple change slightly reduces the effectiveness of the Office, and makes its effect less impactful on the money of players.


THE CASINO



Over the years we got plenty of comments on the Casino's efficiency (or the lack of it). Here is the new Casino that doesn't limit your winnings, but will penalize you if you gamble for more than you can afford to lose.

Just to elaborate and make it clear: you can now gamble in the Casino even without any money, and you still have a chance to win up to $100. But if you lose, your ːmaliceː increases.


[h3]CHANGES IN SPECIAL CHARACTER ABILITIES[/h3]

There are a lot of changes in the special abilities of characters that are based on server stats, discussions in the community and suggestions of top players:

THE BANKER



This change is a necessity: while it was a cool idea to have this ability on the Bribe spot, we actually can't keep it there as it creates multiple issues with the internal logic, some of which aren't fixable. Thus we move this ability to the Risk spot. The numbers won't change for now, but we can always adjust them later if needed.


THE THIEF



These changes should reduce the effectiveness of the Thief in session with multiple opponents – while keeping the character potent in the duel format.


THE COLLECTOR



These changes directly improve the character's performance, although one of them plays a bit different role. The change of "An Exhibition" adds to control of how much income the character can get from active permanent cards: now, if needed, we can change it so that every active permanent card increases the Collector's income by 30 which gives the character a much bigger boost in the early game – but with the limit of 90, it does not become overpowered in the late game when the Collector might have a lot of active permanent cards (because only 3 of them provide the actual boost).


THE POLITICIAN



Just as we have done with the Banker in the previous update, now it's time to bring in major changes of the Politician's abilities. The changes are meant to improve the character's ability to accumulate ːvotesː but provide fewer benefits during the Elections. Most importantly, the character no longer keeps ːvotesː after the Elections, which means that after each case of the Elections the Politician should work hard on re-gaining ːvotesː.


[h3]CHANGES IN CARDS[/h3]

THE STASH



You can no longer use the Dump before you travel to the Treasure.

Two reasons: (1) this effect wasn't in line with all the other effects of teleportation; (2) this effect wasn't very useful in the first place, but created additional delays. Thus we streamlined the card a bit – now you go straight to the Treasure, without any delays.


EASY GAMBLE



Considering the change that we made to the Casino, the old effect of this card wouldn't make sense as there is no limit to your winnings anyway. So instead, the card now protects you from getting ːmaliceː when you lose too much money.


[h3]QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS[/h3]

Thanks to player feedback, we identified two changes that can improve player experience:

Firstly, when a spectator leaves the session that they watched, they are now redirected to the multiplayer lobby – which makes navigation between different sessions that you want to spectate a bit easier.

Secondly, the drop of a new chest during the session is slightly changed so that it no longer blocks the Plant location on the Clockwork Colony playing field.


[h3]FIXES[/h3]

It is no longer possible to use "Cheating" to move from the Astral to the Bank for the player who does not have active "The Astral Elevator" permanent card. Earlier, there was a very rare and very specific set of circumstances that allowed to "cheat with "Cheating"" this way, but now it is fixed for good.

Fixed a rare issue, where sometimes images of emoticons would have stuck on the screen if their hot-key was pressed while the emoticon is dragged with the mouse.


[h3]WHAT'S NEXT?[/h3]

In a few weeks Gremlins, Inc. will celebrate its 5th anniversary on Steam (March 11, 2021).

In our wildest dreams, we never imagined that this native digital board game created by a small studio will reach 700,000+ owners on Steam, and bring together a community from pretty much every country in the world!

We'd like to use this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to continue updating the game, bringing new content and new features throughout 2021. We closely follow player feedback and community discussions, and we will keep making the game better with every major update!

A special "thank you" goes to the Japanese community of the game, and especially to our friend Standard of Ur, for providing early feedback on the upcoming DLC that is dedicated to the theme of Japanese Cyberpunk. This DLC is currently nearing the end of its production cycle, and will become available in the spring of this year.



Additionally, we are very close to finishing the custom modding tool that will allow players to extensively modify Gremlins, Inc. by changing the effects of cards, locations and general rules. The tool is now already in translation, we expect to release it around the game's anniversary in mid March.

Thank you for being a part of this friendly community, and we wish you all the best!

Team Charlie Oscar
Vilnius Old Town, Republic of Lithuania.

The following rules become active on February 1, at 12:00 GMT, and will apply throughout February to all ranked sessions that are launched after that point.

ːsteampunkː EUROPE

ːcardsː players: 4
ːscoreː victory condition: 30 points
ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed
ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed
ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: visible
ːcheatdiceː Characters: from random set
ːRatsClockː Timer: normal
ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town

* Special rules for EU server:

None.

ːsteampunkː ASIA

ːcardsː players: 2
ːscoreː victory condition: 35 points
ːcursecardː Chaos Cards: allowed
ːhealth_powerupː Character Abilities: allowed
ːtelegramː Impending Misfortune: hidden
ːcheatdiceː Characters: random
ːRatsClockː Timer: normal
ːLocationː Field: Clockwork colony

* Special rules for Asia server:

The following cards are removed from the deck:

ːcardsː The Accelerator
ːcardsː An Award Ceremony
ːcardsː A Compromising Document
ːcardsː A Fraudulent Transaction
ːcardsː An Honest Exchange

ːsteampunkːːsteampunkːːsteampunkː

There are no additional adjustments to the cards at the beginning of this season. Later this month the Winter update will be released for the game, which will introduce a plethora of changes to the cards, characters, etc.

______



ːmaliceː Official Discord
ːmaliceː Twitter (game updates)



ːsummer_magicː Official Discord
ːsummer_magicː Twitter (game updates)