TUTORIAL
The TUTORIAL is finally here! It took a lot more time than expected and it’s really one of those things that make you hate game development.
One of the problems I had was that Final Stardust was suffering from an identity crisis. I spent a lot of time on polishing but when it comes to gameplay the game had no real direction. So I have been trying a bunch of different mechanics for the past 2 months.
I was pushing a new patch every 2-3 days so the game was always changing. This is why I didn’t want to invest in a tutorial before. However, the game’s identity is now clear. Now it should start to be clear whether the game is fun for you or not.
You can try the tutorial in the main menu under “Training”. The name “tutorial” will be left for tutorials outside of battle since they are just images. I will rework all the existing/missing images to make the different UIs/features more clear. I will also add a sort of “Rulebook” to mention all the small details that I couldn’t mention in the training.
If you aren’t good at English I can share all the training text to translate it: https://discord.com/invite/qJsQpG9
SALES
Even though only 15 buyers left a comment, the game sold 1100 copies in 2 months (yes discounts help a lot). This might not seem a lot but it’s actually very promising, for many reasons:
- No tutorial before.
- Still lacks many features.
- No publisher yet.
- No big YouTuber covered the game.
- No localization.
- No controller input.
- Only 2/10 chapters of the manga are released.
- No porting.
This means that selling like 10K copies and working on Cosmic Nexus 2 is something feasible. The cool thing is that now there is a small community on Discord that is passionate about the game. In fact I wouldn’t have been able to change the game so much if it weren’t for them. I just read an 8 page feedback file before pushing this patch haha.
Next discount will be late March, during the Steam spring sale & deckbuilders fest.
PAGE REVAMP
In case you didn’t notice, I updated the whole Steam page. Now it reflects the current state of the game.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The 3rd month of early access is going to focus on progression (deck slots, avatar creation, player level, stats, etc..). We are slowly building a great simulator but now we need to turn it into an actual game. We are still on track for a 6 months after early access release so everything is good.
I am also thinking about moving to a weekly update schedule. Releasing so many patches after doing 3 years of development already is brutal. The game is a lot more stable now so I don’t need to push as many hotfixes.
Alright, to the next patch!
PS: The week 8 was almost over and I used most days in week 9 so this patch is a mix of both.
CHANGES
- FIX: Fixed the card count missing an "x" in front of the number for deck cards in deckbuilding.
- FIX: Card preview in battle now doesn't close randomly anymore.
- FIX: Fixed an issue where the card state in battle was off if a Plano effect gave SCs.
- FIX: Fixed a weird SFX play when MG increased with a Plano effect.
- TUTORIAL: Added an in-battle tutorial called "Training".
- TUTORIAL: Disabled the first game tutorials as they contained outdated info. They will be reworked in the future.
- LOGIC: Reworked player turn logic in battle.
- BALANCING: Koma Mazai timeout only lasts 1 turn now.
- BALANCING: Jupai Mazai now gives RSC to both players.
- BALANCING: All robot Planos (besides Roboka) have a cost of 2 now.
- BALANCING: Roboka has a cost of 3 now.
- BALANCING: Tsunkame line now deals 400 MG per level.
- BALANCING: Tsunkame line EP are now decreased by 100.
- BALANCING: Kooroga line effect is now decreased to 100 per enemy level instead of 300.
- BALANCING: Nekora line effect is now increased by 100.
- BALANCING: Decreased Ookichu stats by 200.
- BALANCING: Decreased Muroni stats by 300.
- BALANCING: Decreased Capykyu line stats by 100.
- BALANCING: Decreased Sabizuma line stats by 300.
- BALANCING: Changed Kakuma line effect to be capped at 1000 per level.
- BALANCING: Changed Nueko line effect to increase MG by 300 per level.
- BALANCING: Nerfed Kisu line effect to only cure level 1 and 2 Planos.
- BALANCING: Robokin's effect now only works if you have less MG.
- BALANCING: Changed Enyoko line effect to shockwave rival.
- BALANCING: Changed Harimoru line effect to a heal.
- BALANCING: Buffed Nendochi line effect to scale with the rival level.
- BALANCING: Changed Chiiru line effect to scale with the current turn number.
- BALANCING: Decreased Yougakeru cost to 3 instead of 5.
- GAMEPLAY: Changed initial MG to 4000 in battle.
- GAMEPLAY: Celestial Planos can't be debuffed now (EP or HP decrease).
- GAMEPLAY: Celestial Planos can now be affected by status effects.
- GAMEPLAY: Battles now end after 16 turns.
- GAMEPLAY: Turns in battle are now reversed.
- GAMEPLAY: Planos who reach 0 EP are now destroyed.
- GAMEPLAY: Losing a battle now gives 150 gold stardust instead of 300.
- GAMEPLAY: Battles now give 300 blue stardust per win and 150 per loss.
- GAMEPLAY: Secondary attacks now can be direct too.
- GAMEPLAY: Both players now start with one residual space counter.
- GAMEPLAY: Direct attacks now make the opponent lose 1 residual space counter.
- GAMEPLAY: Removed Exhaust mechanic.
- GAMEPLAY: Decreased space counters in battle to 6.
- GAMEPLAY: Increased residual space counters in battle to 4.
- GAMEPLAY: Changed Kawaika line effect to phaseout.
- VISUAL: Added a progressive red glow in battle to add a sense of urgency.
- VISUAL: Added a fade animation when Mazais appear on the field.
- VISUAL: Removed developer message in title screen.
- VISUAL: Effects that deal MG damage now show the attack impact animation too.
- VISUAL: The selected card in hand is now highlighted before being played into the field.
- VISUAL: The evolution info now only appears on level 2+ cards and indicates the previous stage required for an evolution.
- VISUAL: Added a tooltip for hand cards in battle.
- VISUAL: Added a tooltip for Mazai cards in battle.
- VISUAL: Changed particle speed in battle.
- VISUAL: Added SC (space counter) text in battle.
- VISUAL: Added RSC (residual space counter) text in battle.
- VISUAL: Added an icon for the Overdrive slot.
- VISUAL: Overdrive animation now plays after the overdrive effect has happened.
- VISUAL: Added colors for deck entries in deckbuilding.
- UI: Disabled explorer UI in battle.
- UI: Disabled extra elements in UI results.
- UI: Disabled visuals for unavailable features in cutscene UI.
- CONTENT: Added a new Mazai effect that ends the battle at turn 6.
- CONTENT: Added a new Plano effect.
- SETTINGS: Removed "Auto Summon" setting in battle.
- SETTINGS: Remove Eishougi animation setting in battle.
- SETTINGS: Added "Attack Impact" animation setting in battle.
- SETTINGS: Stopped timer in battle for "Final Sentences" (when the enemy has low MG).