New Additions
- Added 3 new battle music tracks by the talented Vincent Colavita!!! Check him out over @ https://www.vincentcolavitamusic.com 🎵🎵
- Added Steam Cloud saves! You may have to reset some of your settings- but all save data (not including settings) should now sync.
- Added a Hall of Fame! Keep track of which units you won a game with, how many times you have won with each unit, and the highest level reached on win!
- Added a new system of passive "Perks" that can be held by each unit! They are all universal and level-scaling, so try to find new combinations for your favorite units!
- Added Garlic perk: Damaged-> Deal LV of 💥 to one random enemy
- Added Eggplant perk: Faint-> Revive once per battle with base ❤️
- Added Peach perk: Level-Up-> Gain +LV of gold
- Added Potato perk: Start of Battle-> Gain +LV of ❤️ for each unit with the Potato perk
- Added Strawberry perk: Give one random ally +LV of ❤️
- Added Dizzy perk: Deal LV damage to one random ally
- Added Heartbroken perk: Lose LV of ❤️ and 💥
- Added Fruit spaces to the map! Visit to spend 10 gold and give x2 random units the selected perk
- Added Cursed Urn spaces to map! These will occasionally replace Gift Box spaces. Open the urn to receive TWO items... but give 3 of your units the Dizzy or Heartbroken "perks".
- Changed Pepper and Lemon foods to be defined as "Perks"
- Added descriptions describing each perk's effect
- Remade all item sprites to make them higher definition with more defined outlines
- Remade all map sprites to make them bigger and cleaner
- Remade all map character emojis to make them cleaner and slightly larger
- All new unlocks will now have a "!" until moused over on item menu
- Made a "GAME WIN" splash screen
- Added Log unit to "Spare" pack tier 2: 3/0 Ally to Right Damaged-> Give that ally shield
- Added VHS unit to "Spare" pack tier 5: If there is a unit in the previous space, it gets to act again
- Added Sunflower unit to Pack 1 tier 5: Gain ❤️-> Give LV of 💥 to one random ally
- Added Goat unit to "Spare" pack tier 1: 3/1 Damaged->Gain +LV of ❤️ and 💥
- Added Sunglasses item to Genie pool: Before entering your first shop, you may swap 3 units that will appear on this run
- Added Eye Amulet item to Genie pool: Change all Gift Box map spaces to Cursed Urn spaces
- Added Dizzy item to Genie pool: Start of Battle-> Give on random unit the dizzy perk and +1 base ❤️
- Added Stew item: Use Rest Button-> Give one random unit with no perk a random food perk
- Added Stopwatch item: Perfect Clear Battle-> Give a random unit ❤️ equal to turns remaining until end of next battle
- Added Seashell item: Unit Gains Shield-> Give that unit +1 base ❤️
- Added Beer Mug item: Start of Battle-> Give units in first column +1 💥 and -2 ❤️
- Added Candlestick item: Unit Defeated-> Deal 1 💥 to a random enemy
- Replaced Battery item with Notebook item: Unit Sold-> Give one random shop unit +1 base ❤️
- Replaced Carrot item with Pumpkin item: A random unit with no summon on faint ability will summon a 1/1 ghost on faint
- Replaced Electric Plug item with Pool Ball item: Reroll Shop-> Give a random unit +1 ❤️ until end of next battle
- Replaced Magic Wand item with Bandage item: The first unit damaged in battle gains +3 ❤️
- Replaced Bacon item with Beans item: Start of Battle-> If you have 6 or fewer units, give a random unit +1 base ❤️
- Changed how items are displayed. Now after 14 items on one line, you will get a button to scroll through all your items
- Added a blue border to all fights on the fire path
Balance Changes
- Raised starting HP each game from 10 to 15
- Made tutorial run start you with Growing Heart item that grants 5 extra HP
- Buffed Growing Heart item from 4HP to 5 HP
- Changed Jar, Food Can, and Nesting Doll units' descriptions and effects to apply to all perks
- Added Jar, Food Can, and Nesting Doll to Mystery Pack pool
- Buffed Hedgehog: 5/0 -> Deal LV damage to attacking ally or enemy, then gain LV of ❤️
- Buffed Pack 1 Flying Money to 1/2
- Buffed Pack 1 Vampire: 3/2 Attacks Enemy-> Give +LV of ❤️ to all units in column
- Buffed Pack 1 Honey Jar: 5/1 Damaged-> Summon xLV Bee units with 🔵 for ❤️ and 💥
- Buffed Pack 1 Moai to give stats to all allies in row on faint
- Buffed Pack 1 Tombstone to 3/2
- Buffed Pack 1 Ninja: Enemy Defeared-> Gain +LV base 💥, and give one random ally +LV base ❤️. This unit can only have a max of 1 ❤️
- Reworked Pack 2 Firefighter: 3/3 Start of Battle-> Remove Pepper perk from 8 adjacent allies and gain +LV of ❤️ and 💥for each pepper removed
- Lowered Pack 1 Freezing Face to tier 4
- Lowered Pack 1 Bee to tier 1
- Moved Dynamite from Pack 1 to "Spare Pack"
- Reworked Pack 1 Savoring Face: 3/3 Food Consumed-> Gain 💥 as both ❤️ and 💥 until end of battle
- Reworked Storm Cloud enemy. Raised starting HP, but it now loses HP equal to damage after each attacking
- Lowered Coffin enemy HP scaling
- Made it so the first map space that would be a battery space will be a guaranteed swap space instead
- Changed map generation a little bit to make for faster loading and more routes
- Changed Toolbox item so that it won't try to give shield to a unit that already has shield
- Made it so you can't roll the Sock or Salad items on the Mystery Pack
- Added a sell space to the Slot Machine Mystery Room
- Reduced Boss Battle enemy buffs by a small amount
- Lowered number of boss battles on map by about 20%
- Reduced Imp, Bull, Semi Truck, Van, and Queen Ant enemy HP damage scaling by a small amount
- Changed t4_r6 battle
- Changed t4_r13 battle
- Changed t3_r10 battle
- Changed t4_r14 battle
- Made it so you can't trigger an early draw if the Beetle unit still has space to move
- Made the random battle selection never give you same battle ID as one of your previous 5 fights
- Changed background color on first fight
- Made ally and enemy hit/faint SFX be left and right mono respectively
Bug Fixes/QOL
- Made all SFX stereo instead of mono (why was mono the default?!)
- Made it so you could see map character unlock conditions even after unlocking
- Fixed bug where taking Interrobang item would and checking the map before exiting the first shop would cause random ? spaces each time
- Changed the word "ally" to "unit" on all item descriptions
- Reworded French Fries, Cake, and Salad items to use "Summon" keyword
- Reworded Salad item to use "Perk" keyword
- Changed verbiage on pack 1 Doctor unit description
- Updated the "Understanding your Units" splash screen during tutorial
- Fixed description on Cupid unit
- Changed description on pack 1 Parrot unit to "units in column" because it also checks itself
- Changed Toolbox item and Tree unit descriptions to mention "units without shield"
- Fixed grammar on Bunny unit description
- Changed sprite for pack 1 Melting Face unit
- Changed sprite for Key item to Antique Key
- Removed weird pixels from Nesting Doll description
- Changed map Swap Space icon
- Changed damage loss text color on Wilting Flower and Coconut items to dark green
- Changed damage loss text color for Disposable Razor unit to dark green
- Recentered Merge Space NO/GO button
- Fixed a bug where the Toolbox item could crash the game if all your units already had shield
- Fixed a bug where the Pack 3 Yoga Guy could cause the game to crash
- Fixed a bug where the lobster could cause the game to crash if it was killed with no units ever purchased (no idea how I found this one lol)
- Fixed text on boss battle win popup so the "Perfect Clear" text wasn't covering it
- Made it so that Sprout and Farmer level-up SFX do not stack
- Fixed a bug where game could crash if entered with the Mystery Pack
- Fixed a bug where the Sacrifice Room music wouldn't stop playing after leaving room
- Removed Early Access hint from map loading screen
- Changed "Early Access Room ID" to just "Battle ID"
- Changed Early Access message in the credits
- Removed debug ability to scroll through tiers with arrow keys
- Made it so you can no longer quit and save while map is open. Escape will close the map first
- Made it so that the shop cost will always appear in front of items
- Moved the shop reroll/item text a little further away from the buttons
- Changed all shop UI to be text with black outline to improve readability
Extra Thoughts
As you can see I've been VERY busy the last couple months! Another big shout-out to Vincent Colavita for his awesome soundtrack! 🎵
I made lots of balance changes to the OG pack 1 and the game overall in preparation for the full 1.0 release. I originally designed the game around the higher prevalence of Saw and Battery spaces, so I had to make everything a little easier since those are not a main way of scaling any longer. The perks have been a lot of fun to design and play around with, so I hope you all enjoy experimenting with those! Beyond that, lots of little changes and tweaks as I put my finishing touches on Automoji.
I want to thank you all who supported me through almost a full year of Early Access (only one week short!) What started as a hobby for myself quickly spiraled into a larger scale project that I was proud to put my name on. Automoji has come a long way in that year, and that is in a huge part thanks to all the helpful and critical feedback that you all provided. What does the future hold for Automoji... Who can say? If I am fortunate enough to find any sort of success, expect additional updates as I gather more feedback from a larger player base. For now, I expect to keep my eyes peeled for any glaring bugs, but I think I have put a nice ribbon on Automoji and now all I can do is send it off! Programming has been a hobby of mine since I was 13, and don't expect to stop any time soon. I'm honestly still in awe I was able to see this project through to a logical end.
Anyways, enough rambling! Time to play!
Thank you again, and always,
Karl @ Automoji ❤️