There is a saying in game design: “follow the fun“. During testing I realized that it is great fun just to play relaxed games against Sokras, no pressure, just the challenge to beat your patient teacher. And this was the case even while their deck was pretty basic. So I decided to follow this fun and make the Skola experience a more interesting, build it out so it has even more variety and Replayability and come up with a system that is expandable in the future as well.
So from now on, after reaching Student Rank 10, Sokras will bring a random gadget from their private collection to class that changes things up a bit. I also improved Sokras’ power management greatly and made it dynamically react to the cards in their deck. In the future I will keep improving Sokras’ play patterns and adding new and interesting modifications to their collection.
And you know what else turned out to be great fun? Achievements! So a bunch of new ones have been added this patch, partly tied to the new gadget system, and I will implement many more for you to unlock.
Another big change is the rework of Amber Engine. The old Amber Engine worked, in so far as it provided a lot of power. So much so that power was almost no longer a consideration at all (especially in combination with Mechanical Bird). I came up with a new version that helps generate power but can also make use of Sources as material for enabling strong attacks.
Features
- After reaching Student Rank 10 (Practitioner), Sokras will bring a special modification to class that can shift the dynamic of the game. The modification is chosen from his personal collection of gadgets. At the highest ranks (Maestro and Elder), there’s a chance they take a second one. Defeating Sokras while they have brought one of their gadgets to class, will unlock an achievement, and defeating them with two, unlocks another special achievement.
- New achievements related to Amber Engine, Sandstorm, Falcon Strike, Sweat Collector, Substation and Into the Storm.
Balance
- Amber Engine has been reworked. While the old version was cool, it basically solved all power issues by itself, making the game less interesting. Amber is a color that should play with Sources and revolve around resource management to efficiently make use of its powerful modifications. The new version gives a power bonus when playing a Source and allows you to scrap a Source from your hand for a high offensive boost. This fits Amber’s theme perfectly and fulfills the fantasy of a mighty Amber Engine fueled by Sources.
Polish
- Improved Sokras’ Source management. They react more dynamically and sensibly to the game state and take into account the power usage of their deck.
Quality of Life
- When you gain temporary attack value, a log entry is created. When a card used to say “increase your attack value by 1 until and of turn”, it now says “gain 1 attack bonus”. This is a very intuitive way of phrasing it much shorter.
Bug Fixes
- Sokras correctly determines their defense setup count when considering to play Undercurrent. They don’t play it when it would kill them or deal more than 1 damage to themselves.
- Sokras no longer tries to use Junkyard without a valid target in some situations.