Tutorial Rework
Before diving into the interesting stuff, here’s a quick note: The tutorial has been reworked, and the 3 Test Runs have been merged into 2. So, don’t be surprised when you see the third Test Run missing.
Chinese Localization
The other thing to mention before getting to the content is Chinese localization. It was mostly done without my direct involvement, and I’m very grateful to everyone who contributed—though I only have a vague idea of who did what.
From what I understand, after SoundOfMystery (a Bilibili content creator) made this video about the playtest, another Chinese creator (Mr IndieLizard) saw it and offered to provide a localization. The whole process on our side was handled by Zhibo Guo who's been helping me for years now. It’s very cool that all of this happened and I'm still in slight disbelief because it was absolutely unexpected.
Content
This patch, I continued indulging myself by making content that doesn’t change the game much but is fun to create. I promise I’ll start working on global systems in April—though I won’t promise to stop making unnecessary content.
Lighter
About a year ago, I asked Anton (our concept artist) to sketch a spark. Naturally, being an artist, he drew an entire lighter instead. The sketch was too cool to waste, so here we are.
We already have targeted exhaust effects (Laser Pointer, Book Burning), and Lighter might seem like the weakest of the three. But with Multiuse synergies (Speech Recognition, Self-Reference) and reveal mechanics, it should hold its own.
Fire Extinguisher
This fills the gap for targeted refresh effects, slotting neatly between Snapshot Recovery and Cloud Backup. The interaction with Hostile nodes adds flavor and situational usefulness.
Blackmail
Aimed at fixing the “great Data engine, nothing to spend it on” problem—a major pain point. This should improve once we introduce Scripts (abilities with a Data cost).
Quick-start guide
This is probably the most fun Data node in the game right now. Too bad it has placeholder art. Random + Express sounds like chaotic fun.
Archives and DLC
Archives, of course, were already in the game, but I’m going to disable the node until it gets reworked. I always liked the flavor, but it was very weak. Spending an action to achieve almost nothing isn’t fun—a consequence of Data nodes being weak on their own. There are simply no high rolls when generating random Data nodes. It’s also interesting to compare Archives and Quick-start Guide.
DLC is the new Archive, but much better. With a targetable effect, we can override hostile nodes, “revitalize” exhausted areas, and avoid overriding other important nodes.
I’m still unsure how to rework Archive, though. Thematically, it would work extremely well with Express + Downtime. But that means multiple Archives could activate simultaneously, and passive (non-triggered) transformation effects are dangerous for the game because they’re sensitive to execution order. Resolving this without crutches will be tricky.
New Aspects
Peer-to-peer network
[Node with Remote activated]: Reveal all other nodes with Remote. This is pretty cool and thematic Remote support. I hope Remote becomes a viable self-contained archetype, but it clearly needs at least a couple more Aspects for that.
R.T.F.M.
[Each turn when the first node gets activated]: If it was a Data node - refresh all adjacent System nodes. I’m really proud of the flavor here. And it’s a good Aspect, too.
Mason
[Start of turn]: Add 1 to Firewall.
[When Firewall becomes equal to 0]: Drop 2 Trace. Here, I’m experimenting with [When Firewall becomes equal to 0]. It seems okay. Since 0.7.6p2, it should always execute before the Drill (which weakens Firewall by 3).
Early bird
[First move each turn]: If the destination node is exhausted - transform the destination node into a Worm (and activate it). For an Aspect that’s 100% flavor-driven, it landed in a great place mechanically and balance-wise. It’s a shame there’s no link to the Worm in its tooltip, though.
Slowpoke
[After move]: If this is one of your first 3 moves this turn - drop 1 Trace.
Otherwise -add 1 Trace. This is a rather unsuccessful attempt at discouraging players from picking up every Express node. It’s not cool, and thematically it doesn’t work well (needs a better theme/name). I feel I need to explore this direction further—"slow builds" should be a thing in the game, but making them feel good will be tough.
What's Next
As I've mentioned at the beginning I need to stop fooling around and get to start making actual design work. Here's the list from the top of my head of what we need to work on:
- Dial-up keyword (spend Callbacks instead of Clicks to activate);
- Hard mode (adds a random hostile node into the level pool);
- Reboot (limit reboot on the home node to once per turn, fine tune other nodes with reboot);
- Streaks (multiple runs chained together)
- New test run
- Level/Core that doesn't shuffle System Grid (it's all placed around the home node in exact positions);
- Zoomed in tooltip features (links to other nodes, X and counter values, modifiers etc)
- More locations (Healing location, more temporary boosts similar to Lotus, inique event-like locations);
- Bits (resources that "lay" on exhausted nodes)
- Scripts (abelites that paid for with Data)
- More late game Cores
- At least 5 more things that are hiding somewhere in the backlog but don't come to mind right now.
The list is long, but nothing here seems particularly hard or intimidating compared to what we’ve already done. It will take time, though—so I should get back to work instead of writing posts few people will read.
Denis
PS: I completely forgot to mention that SPLT boss got the artwork (it's not final) for all stages. Notice that the last stage in not purple, so it doesn't have Protected and Core, and isn't required for successful level completion.