Gremlins, Inc. News

Dear community:

We have updated the Original Soundtrack of Gremlins, Inc. with 2 new music tracks: Nostalgic Tune and The Beat of Chaos. This expands the soundtrack to 33 tracks, with the total playtime of 1 hour and 31 minutes. If you own the Original Soundtrack DLC, the new tracks are now available for you via free Steam update.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/459851/Gremlins_Inc__Original_Soundtrack/

We wish you all the best,
and hope that a bit of new music will improve your mood

Team CO

Dear community:

This week we made the decision to adjust the pricing for the downloadable content of Gremlins, Inc.

The following DLCs will see their prices increased from October 28, 2020:

Gremlins, Inc. – Uninvited Guests Gremlins, Inc. – Automated Competitors Gremlins, Inc. – Astral Gamblers Gremlins, Inc. – Famous Figures

The new prices effective from October 28, 2020 will be as follows:

US: $9.99
EU: €9.99
UK: £9.99
Japan: ¥ 1000
South Korea: ₩ 10000
China: ¥ 38
Russia: ₽ 295
Ukraine: ₴ 100
CIS: $ 3.99
Poland: zł 19,99

(other currencies will be adjusted accordingly)

The following DLCs will not have any changes in their current pricing:

Gremlins, Inc. – Original Soundtrack Gremlins, Inc. – Digital Artbook Gremlins, Inc. – Card Game, Print & Play Set

These DLCs will keep their current prices of:

US: $4.99
EU: €4.99
UK: £4.99
Japan: ¥ 560
South Korea: ₩ 5000
China: ¥ 23
Russia: ₽ 149
Ukraine: ₴ 50
CIS: $ 1.99
Poland: zł 9,99

(other currencies will also remain unchanged)

• The main reason for this changes is that we want to speed up the development of new content for Gremlins, Inc., which requires additional budget. The dev team behind this game depends on the revenue that we get through sales, and every extra bit allows us to commission more art, more music, as well as to progress faster with the code of the game.
  
  
• In conversations with the community, we heard for a long time that having played for 100 hours, for 200 hours or for 600 hours, the extra few dollars don't really matter if you're interested in supporting the project by purchasing its DLCs. On the other hand, those who don't love the game that much, will not purchase the DLCs no matter the pice.
  
  
• We expect the actual numbers of copies sold of these DLCs to decrease, while maintaining the revenue or seeing it increase by 10-15%. Let us be clear: we do not expect that we will double the revenue – this is simply not how markets work. But we do expect a moderate increase, which goes a long way towards helping us move faster with the new content and features; and most of these features and content we release as FREE updates – available to every player.
  

With this announcement we wanted to let everyone know about the change a little bit in advance, so that this adjustment doesn't come as a complete surprise. NB: once the price is increased, DLCs will not go on sale for the mandatory 30-day period.

If you already own some of these DLCs, these changes will not affect your ownership; you collection just becomes a little bit more valuable. We appreciate the support of our player community and remain, as always, committed to further improving this game, whether this is about ranked ladder, AI bots, new cards, or re-balancing of the existing mechanics.

Our goal is to keep developing the game until we eventually are strong enough to proceed with Gremlins, Inc. 2 – which will incorporate all the insights, discoveries and the good parts of code from the current project. The faster we can move on the way to this goal, the better off is everyone!

// Team CO

Five years ago, our development team launched Gremlins, Inc. on Steam in Early Access.

Since then, we released over 100 game updates that introduced new content and new features, as well as balanced the existing mechanics, and it seems like you guys have appreciated it: Gremlins, Inc. is now owned by over 700.000 players on Steam, and a thriving player community that we love dearly.

When we designed and developed the game in 2014-2015, we were rather naive. Thankfully, with the feedback from the community and through constant game updates, we were able to wisen up along the way, improving the game based on what players enjoyed the most. And you’ll be happy to know that the whole of this year we were working on the tools that will allow us to improve the game further, and in a much more radical way than before!



Some surprises that we discovered in the last 5 years:

• Less than 20% of Gremlins, Inc.'s audience speaks English as their native language; most players speak the other 12 languages that the game supports (from Japanese to French). We grew up thinking that English language and American market are responsible for the success of any game, but this does not apply to our case!
  
  
• 50% of all sessions played in Gremlins, Inc. are played in single-player mode. When we released the game in 2015, it didn’t even have single-player mode! But once we realised that this is what players want, we rolled it out – and it’s been in much demand. Today we make two big steps forward with this mode (details below).
  
  
• Goodwill can move mountains. Like many young developers, we weren’t very flexible at the beginning, and the more people criticised our decisions, the harder we stuck to them. But then, an amazing thing happened: a friendly community of players from Japan, Russia, China and other countries sprang up, and asked for the same things… nicely! So instead of explaining how “this cannot be done!”, we started looking for solutions, and found a way to make almost everything happen.

And now let’s go over the major changes that come with today’s Autumn Update as well as with the new DLC “Agents of Chaos”:


[h2]SPECIAL 5TH ANNIVERSARY CONTENT[/h2]

As always, we see the game’s birthday as a chance to give you something back!

• To celebrate the 5th anniversary of Gremlins, Inc. on Steam, we commissioned a new original music track from A.Fruit which sends you back in time to the earlier days of the game. “Nostalgic tune” will be available to everyone in the game for the next two weeks, at which point it will transition to an item that you can get for free from the in-game chests.
  
  
• We also asked our artists, Monika and Rita, to create a new main menu background that features some of the favourite gremlin items from the cards in the deck. Everyone will see this background in the game for the next two weeks, and then it also becomes a free drop. See if you can spot every object in this background, and identify the card that it comes from!

[h2]BOTS 2.0[/h2]

It’s no secret that AI bots occasionally made some unexpected moves in the game. We finally got around to updating their logic, and correcting a bunch of mistakes that they typically made in complicated situations!

• the bots are now generally smarter – beware!
  
  
• bots no longer discard their starting hand at the start of the session
  
  
• bots are now much more careful when choosing Misfortunes: they will choose the worst possible Misfortune for their opponent, and the best possible for themselves
  
  
• bots now better understand the rules of different spots and locations: for example, if they have money to spend, they will pay to increase their chances of success on Tribune, and they will generally stop entering locations where they cannot achieve any meaningful result
  
  
• when bots plan their way around the playing field, they now take into consideration whether or not there’s a Misfortune spot on the way; moreover, if the session is played with open Misfortunes, then the bots will actually consider the Misfortune that’s expected to happen to them along the way
  
  
• bots are now more conscious of their income, and will try to match the income of other players by investing more aggressively at the Bank
  
  
• most importantly, bots are now much better at judging the other players and identifying the most dangerous opponents!

We hope that you will enjoy Bots 2.0 in single-player challenges as well as in your multiplayer sessions where these bots will now replace human players that dropped out.

[h2]RANKED LADDER 2.0[/h2]

During the last 2 months, we discussed with the community the change in how rating points are calculated in all ranked sessions (details). As the result of a very constructive discussion, we agreed that for all duel sessions the old rules will remain in force; while for sessions with 3 or more players, the new rules come into force from November 1, 2020.



[h2]MODDING TOOLS & UPDATED CARD DESCRIPTIONS[/h2]

We continue to work on the advanced modding tools that will allow everyone to change not only the values and the effects of the cards, but also values and effects of characters, spots and location, and we’ve made great progress on this direction. The tools are already working properly here at the studio and we need just a bit more time to translate them and prepare them for the public release. This will allow the community to create such custom sessions as we’ve never seen before!

As a part of the preparation work, we’ve re-written a lot of card descriptions, because they must now be flexible enough to allow modifications. For example, a description that said “Skip your next turn” becomes “Skip turns: {X}”, because through the modding tools you will soon be able to set it to skipping 2, 3 or more turns, if you wish – and so on, across the whole deck. Don’t be alerted when you spot these changes, and please let us know on the Discord server if you find some mistakes!

[h2]NEW CARDS[/h2]

“Honorary escort” and “Dice-roller” are now in the game!

“Honorary escort”

Location: Police spot
Cost: $150
Move points: 4
Type: Secret
Get: ːmaliceː +1

Special rule:

Choose an opponent. Teleport to their spot or location.



“Dice-roller”

Location: Gamble spot
Cost: $50
Move points: 3
Type: Normal

Special rule:

Roll the dice. Get $100 for each card in your hand that has the same number of move points as the number on the dice.



[h2]CHANGES IN SPECIAL CHARACTER ABILITIES[/h2]

After long community discussions, the Banker gets a whole new set of abilities:

Personal cashback

When you spend $ to play a card, you immediately get back 20% of the amount paid.

Instant dividends

When you use the Bank to increase income, you immediately get back 100% of the amount paid.

Money makes money

When your income is increased through any means, it additionally increases by 3.

Sale of shares

When you land on a Bribe spot, you can sell 10 income for $100 (income that you receive due to active permanent cards cannot be sold). If you do that, you don't pay the bribe.



These new abilities are significantly more flexible, and will allow us to fine-tune them further once we see the statistics of how this character is used after the change. These abilities also allow players more freedom when playing for the Banker as this character’s income is now no longer so much tied to the specific spot of Income and the specific location of the Bank.

[h2]CHANGES IN CARDS[/h2]

False Testimony



The effect of this card got somewhat weaker. The player of your choice no longer loses money and will be arrested only if their ːmaliceː is higher than yours.

Demon’stration



The effect of this card now scales with the number of players in the session, which makes the card more versatile and balanced for the specific session where it’s used.

Devil’s Due



With the change, this card gets the flexibility that was requested by the community for a long time. Now you choose the specific resources that the player of your choice loses, so you can use this card to achieve different goals depending on the context.

The Common Fund



This change is not as significant as the other changes above and just harmonises the mechanics. Now the money is issued at the start of each player’s turn, rather than at the start of the round.

[h2]AGENTS OF CHAOS[/h2]



We haven’t released a new DLC since 2017, but with the 5th anniversary of the game coming up – and with the major progress that we achieved with the modding tools and with the updated AI bots, – we finally were able to do something experimental: “Agents of Chaos” brings you a new single-player campaign that contains 12 duels with modified decks and cards as well as with modified playing field rules. Previously, such a thing was simply impossible to dream of!

In addition to the campaign, this DLC also gives you the following unique items:

• 12 new character portraits and player tokens of gremlins transformed into Agents of Chaos
  
• “Trail of Chaos“, probably the most dangerous token trail in the game
  
• “The Governor of Chaos“, a Governor frame that inspires both fear and respect
  
• “Touch of Chaos“, a unique emoticon that illustrates the transformation of a regular gremlin into something more sinister!
  
• “Gates of Chaos“, a new original main menu background
• “The Beat of Chaos“, a new original music track that packs as much of a punch as all the other tracks combined!
  
• “Agent of Chaos“, a medal for player profile that is yours to keep to scare away potential trouble-makers.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1438000/Gremlins_Inc__Agents_of_Chaos/

If you enjoy Gremlins, Inc., you can support our further development efforts by purchasing this DLC – we rely on the sales to continue updating the game with new features and new content!

[h2]WHAT’S NEXT?[/h2]

Over the coming months, we’re going to be busy with a number of things:

• preparing the modding tools for release to the community: it’s a big task, but we’re going to get it done, so that you can try to bend the mechanics of Gremlins, Inc. whichever way you want!
  
  
• creating two new cards for the Winter Update. If you have some ideas, please share on the game’s official Discord server!
  
  
• prototyping a possible new DLC tentatively set for February 2021, which may transport gremlins into… cyberpunk Japan! We’re still exploring the possibility: think of aesthetics of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama and Kobe, think about Japanese heavy metal, neon signs, and an ambience straight from AKIRA… done in close coordination with the Japanese community of the game. Would this be something up your valley? Please let us know in the comments!!

With this, we wish you and your families to stay safe, and to join us in celebrating 5 years of Gremlins, Inc. on Steam – here’s to 100 more game updates, and here’s to reaching 1 million players one day, and here’s to 5 more years on the platform!



With thanks and lots of love from Vilnius Old Town,

The development team of Charlie Oscar

The following rules become active on October 1, at 12:00 GMT, and will apply throughout the 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: hidden
ːcheatdiceː Characters: from random set
ːRatsClockː Timer: normal
ːLocationː Field: Clockwork town

* Special rules:

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:

The following cards are removed from the deck:

ːcardsː The Accelerator
ːcardsː An Award Ceremony
ːcardsː A Compromising Document
ːcardsː False Testimony
ːcardsː A Fraudulent Transaction
ːcardsː Judgement day
ːcardsː An Honest Exchange

ːsteampunkːːsteampunkːːsteampunkː

[h2]Cards adjustments[/h2]

All adjustments from the previous season are still intact. In addition to them, we change 2 more cards. The following changes are applied in all modes and will be active for at least 1 month. Please keep in mind that for the next season we might revert these adjustments or replace them with something else. It depends on the results of the tests and feedback we'll receive from the community.

[h3]A Second Chance[/h3]



Reason: this card needs some love which for now it receives in the form of increased bonus.

[h3]Investigation[/h3]



Reason: in opposite, Investigation's cost was slightly increased in order to reduce the number of times it is played. Depending on the results, this card might see even more serious changes in the future.

______



ːmaliceː Official Discord
ːmaliceː Twitter (game updates)



ːsummer_magicː Official Discord
ːsummer_magicː Twitter (game updates)

[h3]ːHoly_Grailetː 25.09 12:00 PM GMT – 28.09 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

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 colony

Special rules

Changes in the deck:

-1 The Accelerator
-1 An Award Ceremony
-1 A Compromising Document
-1 False Testimony
-1 A Fraudulent Transaction
-1 Judgement day
-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, ːpumpkingː 7, Bomb-o-mat, A Contraband Box of Goods x 3
2. ːHoly_Grailetː 4, ːpumpkingː 7 A Contraband Box of Goods x 2
3. ːHoly_Grailetː 4, ːpumpkingː 6 A Contraband Box of Goods
4. ːHoly_Grailetː 3, ːpumpkingː 6
   
5. ːHoly_Grailetː 3, ːpumpkingː 6
   
6. ːHoly_Grailetː 3, ːpumpkingː 6
   
7. ːHoly_Grailetː 2, ːpumpkingː 5
   
8. ːHoly_Grailetː 2, ːpumpkingː 4
   
9. ːHoly_Grailetː 1, ːpumpkingː 3
   
10. ːHoly_Grailetː 1, ːpumpkingː 3
    

ːHoly_Grailetː = Tournament Chest (limited, tournaments only)
ːpumpkingː = Autumn Chest (limited, Autumn 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: 1,351 unique players participated in the tournament.
  
  
• Involvement: 276 players completed 8 or more sessions. 124 players received the "Facepalm" lobby icon for completing all 8 tournament sessions for the first time. 479 players completed more than half (5+) of their sessions.
  
  
• Sessions played: 2,021 tournament sessions were played in the course of the tournament.
  
  
• Average lenght of sessions: Amsterdam (4 players, 30 points) – 47 minutes / 46 rounds. Asia: (2 players, 35 points) – 25 minutes / 55 rounds.
  
  
• Bans: 3 protests have been investigated and 4 players banned for the breach of the Fair Play Rules during this tournament.
  
  
• Tournament chests: 3,148 tournament chests were distributed during the tournament (overall, including non-tournament sessions, 5,146 chests were distributed to players in this period).
  

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

01. Fellow (1212) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x5, ːpumpkingː x7, Bomb-o-mat, A Contraband Box of Goods x3
02. Kit_EA (1020) – 8 sessions, 6 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː 4, ːpumpkingː 7, A Contraband Box of Goods x2
03. Ну мам (954) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x4, ːpumpkingː x6, A Contraband Box of Goods
04. Atta Codipeti (945) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːpumpkingː x6
05. Thainlex (942) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːpumpkingː x6
06. weysbery (939) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːpumpkingː x6
06. not the body (939) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːpumpkingː x6
08. Greamus (918) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x2, ːpumpkingː x4
09. Vaipperi (915) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x1, ːpumpkingː x3
10. Reject (894) – 8 sessions, 5 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x1, ːpumpkingː x3

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

01. 歪象 (648) – 8 sessions, 8 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x5, ːpumpkingː x7, Bomb-o-mat, A Contraband Box of Goods x 3
02. rukifel (600) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x4, ːpumpkingː x7, A Contraband Box of Goods x 2
02. Declan (600) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x4, ːpumpkingː x7, A Contraband Box of Goods x 2
04. DestinyAngel (594) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːpumpkingː x6
05. 白芷 (588) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːpumpkingː x6
05. U.M.R (588) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x3, ːpumpkingː x6
07. nuroku (582) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x2, ːpumpkingː x5
08. ohlokrat (534) – 8 sessions, 6 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x2, ːpumpkingː x4
09. Iris (522) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x1, ːpumpkingː x3
09. anon (522) – 8 sessions, 7 victories. ːHoly_Grailetː x1, ːpumpkingː x3

ːHoly_Grailetː = Tournament Chest (limited, tournaments only)
ːpumpkingː = Autumn Chest (limited, Autumn 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)