New Abilities
Enemies now have Abilities:
In practical terms, these are effects they already had before; Zagreus’s Revive, Lilith and Hades’s Summons, Samson’s damage negation... all these ‘Abilities’ were already present on these cards, but they will now appear as an icon (just like Status effects such as Poison) at the bottom of the card.
From left to right, Ares has the Regeneration Ability, which heals him by 2 at the start of each turn, and Samson has Armour 1, which reduces the damage he takes by 1 and also applies Angry for 2 turns to the card he attacks. These are some of the new Abilities.
You can see at any time what that ability does and its corresponding information; if it summons cards, which card and when, if it revives, how many times and with how much health...
This change has allowed me to implement the following mechanic:
Enemy Actions
Up until now, in Hadarot, enemy cards only attacked, but I decided to change that.
Now, different enemies can perform other actions:
Attack – The default action for all cards; the standard attack, so to speak.
Enhance - Depending on the state of the board and other factors, some enemies can improve their stats, enhance their Abilities, or even gain new Abilities
Inflict - Apply a Status Effect to one or more cards without dealing direct damage
Thanks to the new Abilities, I can make it so that any card can Revive very easily, or that any card can Summon, or do both at once
In this Gif we can see how Hades, instead of attacking, upgrades it's Summon Abilitiy, now he'll summon a more powerful card instead of a little soul
Up to Difficulty Level 4, only enemies with a Cost of 8, 9 or 10 can be Upgraded, and only once; from Level 4 onwards, many other enemies will be able to be Upgraded, and more times – the further you progress in the game, the more they’ll be able to do so.
New Game Summary
The only thing still missing after the whole visual revamp was the Game Summary, but now it’s better than ever!
This new animation makes the game more immersive; I really like the idea that you’re playing on an arcade machine, and it makes the Recap a bit cooler. But that’s not all – it now has new features too:
Tips: When you lose a game, it shows you on screen what you did well and what you could do to improve. It’s not particularly complex, but it can help some people, especially at the start.
Recommendation: If you win the game, instead of tips, it gives you a recommendation for other strategies you could try in another game, so that new players can see the variety of games you can play
Statistics: The only section that was already in the other summary, but now it looks nicer.
Honour Cards: If you win a game, this menu will appear. You’ll be able to see which card was the most useful in the game, along with two other cards that played a significant role or any notable funny moments.
Finally, I’d like to let you know that next week (starting Monday 4 May) there will be a Steam Festival featuring Deck Builders, in which Hadarot will be taking part with a special offer during the event.
Over the next few days and throughout that week, I’ll be sorting out any minor issues that may arise from this new update.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the new update, and long live Deck Builders!