Spire of Sorcery News

It's been a week since the January update has been released. Here's what happened:

[h2]HOTFIX TO V204 IS OUT[/h2]

We pushed a small hotfix earlier this week, addressing the issue of overlapping music (sometimes in encounters there would be two themes playing at the same time) – this is no longer happening.

Asides from a couple of outdated tooltips, we haven't seen any reports of something critical, so we'll roll the rest of the minor fixes already with the February update.

If you're playing the current version (v204) and came upon something that needs a fix... please drop a note in the comments here, or submit a bug report from inside of the game – we'll collect all of the feedback and include into the upcoming update.


[h2]STORY MODE FOR CHAPTER 3[/h2]

Our team completed the design of the Story Mode for Chapter 3, and it's now in production.

How can we share some of the details with you, without spoiling the stories and the challenges?

Hmm... Let's try doing this with the introduction of the main forces you will be dealing with!

[h3]CAPTIVE WIND[/h3]



Captive Wind is the second artefact that the Spire wants restored. Where Arachnid of Resurrection enabled Cavern of Resurrection, bringing the Captive Wind back will restore the Orangerie room as well as the Summoning Hall.

The special power of Captive Wind is in accelerating the growth of living things, and it seems like it ended up in the possession of spreaders (formerly known as mushroom-eaters). Geographically, the Spire locates the missing artefact at the edge of the Elderwood...


[h3]ELDERWOOD[/h3]



Elderwood is the ancient forest that's anything but friendly to the outsiders.

Populated by blackpaws and leafclaws, it is the territory of the non-human tribe of spreaders.


[h3]SPREADERS[/h3]



Spreaders are the gardeners of the Elderwood, planting mushrooms that ventilate the roots of the trees. They are a collective mind, controlled by the Hive, and operate by establishing outposts from which they propagate the spores.

Walking into a cloud of spores can be disastrous for humans and animals. What can also be disastrous is becoming the seeding ground for spreaders, for they plant in the dead (helping the forest recycle nutrients) and sometimes mistake the wounded for the dying.


[h3]WILDLINGS[/h3]

Wildlings are the descendants of the runaways from the Empire who settled deep in the Wild Lands. Unlike the folks that stick around the border and get by with a bit of smuggling, wildlings make a living from the land itself and are very much focused on the demands of the continued survival.

Recently, wildlings are growing concerned with the accumulation of imperial troops at the border. They fear that the military campaign, rumoured to start soon, will pass through the forest, and their villages will be burned down along the way. Some of the tribes are being more cautious than others, and have moved in deeper into the Wild Lands – as far as the Elderwood, which the Empire shouldn't be able to penetrate easily.


[h3]"RED ZONES"[/h3]

As much as the spreaders are the masters of the Elderwood, there are certain places that even they cannot enter – known as the "red zones". What's in there, that makes humans and non-humans alike stay away? Who knows...


[h2]FACTS ABOUT CHAPTER 3[/h2]

We currently plan on the following:

• three possible boss encounters
  
• a main story and a side story, both with multiple choices
  
• a chance to get one new character to join the party
  
• compared with Chapters 1 and 2: 7 new opponents, and 1 unique boss

Plus new hex effects and new environment effects, as well as new biome visuals.

As to new features, let's talk about them in the next development update.


[h2]SPLATTERCAT PLAYS SPIRE OF SORCERY![/h2]

We are so happy (and so humbled!) to report that SplatterCat posted a playthrough of Spire of Sorcery this week –>

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The review is very kind to us, and we already see a few things that we can improve based on the feedback in the video and in the comments (louder sound effects for spells! setting difficulty to "easy" by default!). We appreciate this a lot.

Stay safe and have a great weekend,

Team CO
Vilnius | Mino/Gifu | Moscow

Welcome back, friends!

This is the third monthly update since the game entered Early Access.

Despite the much tougher schedule (we only had 2 weeks to work on this update because of the holidays!), we decided to stick to the monthly update schedule. We feel that it’s important to deliver new content to you on a regular basis. This has been our promise when we launched the game, and we’re going to stick with it! ːmagic_sparklesː



[h3]WHAT’S IN THIS UPDATE?[/h3]

There are 3 main points:

• Chapter 2 received the story mode.
  
• The Spire received Master’s chamber.
  
• A few mechanics got streamlined.

[h3]CHAPTER 2: STORY MODE[/h3]

Everyone’s old friend Alchemist got a whole story of his own:



A new story tells about the fate of the wounded scavenger:



Weavers got their maze, finally!



We knew that they don’t just live on trees. In fact, they change the forest to their needs… But were they always this aggressive?

This is the first story where there is an option to change the map of the chapter using an item, by the way. We plan to explore this mechanic more in the future.

Another new story tells about weavers who left the colony:



Finally, there’s a side story about a mage whom you might save (or not):



No spoilers, so no further details!

We hope that you enjoy the story mode, and we would love to hear your comments about it!


[h3]MASTER’S CHAMBER[/h3]

The Spire received an update.



Now new rooms become available after you bring back the lost artifacts. After the first chapter, you already have the Altar of Restoration. And as the campaign progresses, you will see more rooms that unlock additional features.

A new room: Cavern of Resurrection. Indeed, it is now possible to resurrect the dead. We just rolled this feature in and will be exploring it more in the future updates.

Changes: we decided not to build the Slumber Chamber, which seemed like something that’s not necessary (or even fun). Instead, now when you travel to a new location, you get to choose up to 5 characters who will join the adventure.

And finally – Master’s Chambers!



This is where the Spire communicates with the party. We also created the system of artifacts that surround the portal and display your progress in the campaign, and the Truthsayer – a device through which you can learn a bit more about the world.



[h3]CHANGES IN MECHANICS[/h3]

Essences are now used only to unlock new spells. The use of rooms at the Spire requires magic energy.


[h3]A BIT OF OTHER NEWS [/h3]

We’re currently talking to a few publishers about the sequel to our other game, Gremlins, Inc. 2 (which takes the existing design of Gremlins, Inc. further towards peer-to-peer multiplayer and fully moddable cards and boards), and several of them also became interested in seeing if we can cooperate on Spire of Sorcery as well.



We don’t know yet, if something happens on this front or not, but at least we wanted to share with you the fact that there’s quite a good interest in this. What we’re after is a bit of extra budget so that we can immediately start on the animations (which are currently on the backburner since the whole core team is busy with the story updates), and a chance to pick a brain of another experienced producer about all the possible extra features (including crafting and use of equipment in encounters).


[h3]WHAT’S NEXT?[/h3]

We will spend a few days after the release of this update on bugfixes and a possible hotfix, and then will start working on the February update.

We have two main ambitions with that update:

• Story mode for Chapter 3.
  
• Updated spells and a new way of their progression.

Chapter 3 currently deals with mushroom-eaters and needs a proper set of adventures. Moreover, here for the first time we want to connect new stories with the stories you already completed in Chapter 1 – it will be a proof of concept for “actions have consequences across the whole campaign” idea.

As to spells, we’re looking at a tree-like progression and possible schools, where for some mages progression in certain types of spells will be easier than for others. With some luck, we will also be able to bring back the deckbuilding, this time through a dedicated room at the Spire.

Stay healthy, enjoy this update – and shout if you find any bugs! We will hunt them down like the Broodmother will hunt down anyone trying to steal her precious artifact!

All the best from Vilnius Old Town,

/ Team CO /

Hey guys, just a quick note to say that we're currently working hard on the story mode for Chapter 2, trying to meet the deadline for the January update. Building a weaver maze, and a couple of new features, as well as trying to finish a new room (Master Chamber) for the Spire. We will do our best to ship the update on January 27, and will update with more details next week.

Have a great weekend!

While most of team is on holidays, we don't have much to report in terms of the actual development. We've been writing the stories for Broodmother's Treasure, and looking into whether we really need a Slumber Chamber at the Spire (we think, not) – but that sort of progress is not very visual. So let's use today's opportunity to talk about something else entirely, that is: the feedback that we receive from those who played the demo of the game.


[h3]DEMO STATS[/h3]



The demo version of Spire of Sorcery released on Steam in the summer of 2021, as a part of Steam Fest. As of today:

ːmagic_sparklesː 29.214 players have added the demo to their Steam Library
ːmagic_sparklesː 20.636 players have actually launched the demo

From what we know, this is a pretty good ratio.

We are also very happy that so many players have used the chance to "try before you buy", since our game relies on new mechanics and we want people to make informed decisions rather than rush in and then, perhaps, be disappointed.

And how much does an average player spend in the game?

ːmagic_sparklesː 30 minutes.

That's pretty neat, too. This compares to 1 hour 25 minutes that a player spends, on average, with the main game. In other words, if someone liked the demo, they will spend at least x3 times as much time with the main game – and most who enjoy the main game, spend between 4 and 8 hours with it.


[h3]PROLOGUE[/h3]



As much as we love Steam as a platform, it has some limitations (don't we all?).

In particular, a demo version of the game has its own app ID, but it's invisible. So players cannot publicly post screenshots from the demo, and they have no dedicated forums to comment on. We also have no way of notifying the owners that the demo has been updated.

Additionally, games in Early Access enjoy a somewhat limited visibility on Steam.

All of that contributed to the informal traditions, among independent developers and publishers, of re-releasing their demo versions as "prologues".

When we write it now, it sounds pretty awkward indeed: the same demo exists on Steam in two ways, one on the game's store page and another on its own page, where it's a "play for free" app with a description that says it is a demo. Quite complicated, right? But it's happening because re-releasing your demo as a prologue gives you the opportunity to reach additional audience, who may otherwise not discover the game.

As of now (during two weeks that it's been released):

ːmagic_sparklesː 3.333 players have added the prologue to their Steam Library
ːmagic_sparklesː 200 players have actually launched the prologue

You can see the difference between the audiences immediately: people who added the demo, did so specifically, and most of them tried it out. While people who added the prologue, mostly did so out of curiosity, and most of them haven't had the time to try it yet (and probably never will).


[h3]FEEDBACK[/h3]



A month ago we added to the demo, and to the prologue, the questionnaire at the end of the game asking three questions:

ːspellcastingː what did you like about the game?
ːspellcastingː what do you suggest to improve?
ːspellcastingː would you buy the full game?

Since then, we received nearly 500 responses, and it's extremely interesting to us, because this feedback comes directly from people who tried the demo.

Let's look at the most common answers.

What do people report as the features that they liked the most?

• the system of elements and the system of spells
  
• playing through magic, and playing for mages
  
• the look of the game, the visuals
  
• the combination of different mechanics of alchemy and spells
  
• the fact that the game offers original mechanics
  
• the setting of the game, the world, and the theme
  

If you follow this dev blog for some time, you may remember how back in November we discussed if we need to simplify some of the mechanics of the game, and the overwhelming majority of players said "please, not" – because to most of the people who like the game, the nuances of various mechanics are exactly what makes it fun.

In other words, we take this feedback as a proof that we should continue developing the spell system (e.g. a forked tree of progression) and the deck of elements (e.g. deck management), and not be afraid to introduce more original solutions (e.g. the Chaos Burn).

And now let's see what people report as something that we should change / what confused them the most:

• the game could use fewer clicks to perform the same actions
  
• some of the icons are confusing (such as outcomes in encounters)
  
• some of the menus obscure the game when opened
  
• the game needs deck management!
  
• the game needs more obvious flow for upgrading your characters!
  
• the game needs more lore!
  

Once such feedback accumulated, we were relieved to see that we don't have the audience splitting into "two camps", which sometimes happens in discussions. For example, one "camp" would say "we want more stories" and the other would say "we want to skip stories".

Here, it's obvious that our UI needs more polishing, and more optimisation. Currently, using Spellbook in encounters takes several clicks, where it could do with just 2 (open/select) if we get smarter about showing the spells. And the same applies to other areas. This is something that we improve with each update, and there is still work to do.

The same applies to the use of icons in the game. The Encyclopaedia is still pretty raw and hard to navigate. We updated the icons in the encounter, and the character stats, just two weeks ago, and now this is easier to grasp. However, there is still work to do with encounter outcomes and the solution of "what can I do with this situation" in general.

As to the lore, and stories, and deck management, all of these are what we work on for the next updates, so we're happy to see that we move in the same direction as desired by most of the players.


[h3]OUR TAKEAWAY FROM THIS FEEDBACK[/h3]



What do you think about the answer to the question about buying the whole game – what was the most common response?

The vast majority of those who answered the questionnaire in the demo said that they will buy the game – however, they have had bad experiences with Early Access, and thus will wait until the game is either in full release or closer to completion.

We actually tend to forget about this, because like every developer (including those who fail and those who succeed), we believe in what we do, and are fully committed to the game. Yet realistically, it's a fact that projects fail on Kickstarter and in Early Access and once you get burned, you may be unwilling to take more risks.

The good news is that a lot of people do enjoy the game, are not scared away by its original mechanics and look forward to its release. Spire of Sorcery's current wishlist stands a bit above ːhypnoheartː 70.000 ːhypnoheartː and keeps growing by more than ːfire_tokenː 1.000 ːfire_tokenː every month, and we look forward to seeing more players get the game once it receives more content, and moves closer to its full release.

With this, we big farewell until the next week – when the whole team is back from holidays.

Stay safe!

/ Team CO /

With the December update out, most of our team is taking a holiday break and some will take an additional week off in January to recharge after an intense end of the year. We hope that you, too, will have a chance to get some “lazy days” at the start of the year.


[h3]JANUARY UPDATE[/h3]

We plan to release the next update to the game at the end of January, which leaves 2 weeks to production, and then a few days for testing.

We decided to focus on adding Story Mode to Chapter 2 (Broodmother’s Treasure).



Now, the second chapter is just a “glorified boss fight”: you find the colony, destroy it, and then have a battle with the big monster.

What we’re after is a proper story of an artefact that you will steal from the weavers, supported by a couple of side stories:

• Some of the weavers disagreed with the dictatorship of the Broodmother and left her territory, only to run into trouble with scavengers.
  
• Your party of mages is not the first to approach weavers, and you may find a survivor of the earlier expedition.
  

We won’t spoil the actual stories here since we want you to have fun exploring them when the update is released. What we can reveal, though, is the redesign of the map: we plan on building a real maze in weaver forest, in parts – impassable, and in parts – passable with a penalty (through hex effects). Navigating such a maze would be a new experience.


[h3]MASTER CHAMBER?[/h3]



Something that was discussed in the community for a while is how the Spire right now is just a functional set of rooms. We agree that this basic design can be improved.

We will start with designing and building a Master Chamber, the central location of the Spire that will hold everything together.

We don’t know if we’ll be able to finish it in time for the January update, but if we will, then this is the place to which you will bring the artefact stolen from the Broodmother, and this is where you will visually see your progress in the campaign.

Those of you who saw the 2019 version of the game will remember a few earlier designs of the Master Chamber. We’ll take one of them and develop fully.


[h3]SPELLS AND SPELLBOOKS[/h3]

One of the things we’re keen to improve is the spells.



The current direct progression (L1-L2-L3) is functional, but it’s not what we have in plan for the whole campaign.

There are two options that we experimented with:

• Instead of opening new spells, to upgrade the existing spells
  
• To offer a choice of new spells when upgrading
  

In the end, we decided to combine both approaches, and that’s something for the February update.

At the same time, we’d like to simplify the essence mechanics.

Right now, you can collect 3 different types of essences, depending on the outcome of an encounter. But it doesn’t offer enough fun to justify the split into 3 different types, and so we will progress to having just 1 type of essences that you extract.

Together with this, we plan to change the cost of opening new spells to increased value specifically for each mage. It will cost, say, 10 essences to open mage’s second spell, no matter what that spell is, and it will cost 25 to open their third, and so on.

Which will allow us to bring another thing which was discussed in the community earlier: personal preferences of mages to specific schools of magic. We think that it would be fun to have one mage have a “50% discount” on opening fire-related spells, and another to have the same advantage for acid spells, and so on.

Provided that we allow to see this, and change this, at the start of the campaign, it will give you more control over the initial party – and the way you want to play the game.


[h3]CAMPAIGN – FROM START TO FINISH[/h3]

Once we started working on the change in spell design, we realized that it’s high time to detail the whole campaign, from start to finish, to broadly understand the needs of the mages towards the end of the game.

Will we have opponents that need 10 fire tokens to burn?

Will we have new tokens, and thus new spell schools?

After discussions, this is how we think the campaign will look like:

ːspellcastingː Into the Wild Lands
The escape into the Wild Lands: low-level inquisitors and soldiers, gigglers, shadows, a few demons.



ːspellcastingː Broodmother’s Treasure
Weavers, splitjaws, crawlers (plus higher-level gigglers and shadows) in the forest.



ːspellcastingː Demon Master’s Bidding
Mushroom-eaters and demons, blackpaws, leafclaws and weepers in the elderwood.



ːspellcastingː A Very Wet Place
Oorls and waterlings, earthleeches and creepers, snarers and drowners in the swamps.



ːspellcastingː At the Palace
Soldiers, inquisitors (and someone else, no spoilers) back at the Empire.



ːspellcastingː The Forgotten City
Ashlings, mutants and monsters in ruins and catacombs.



ːspellcastingː White Peaks
Oremasters, stingtails, panzerlings and fluters in hills and mountains.



ːspellcastingː The Distorted Lands
(No details, as we don’t want spoilers)



There are a few ideas for new kinds of tokens, indeed, especially for the catacomb chapter (electricity?) and the chapter set in hills (vibration?) – we’ll experiment with those once we get there.


[h3]WISHING YOU A SAFE 2022![/h3]

With this update, we wrap the year of 2021. Most of this year we spent running weekly sprints, releasing over 30 updates as the game took shape. We thank everyone who trusted us to make it happen, and especially those in the community who took part in the discussions that helped us define what “a game about a party of runaway mages” should play like!

We wish you a happy 2022 – filled with friendship, good conversations, good books, and good games! For us, this will be the year when Spire of Sorcery enters full release, and we look forward to giving you more happy moments with the game’s monthly updates.

Happy New Year!

/ Team CO /