It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this demo update was brought to you by Yogcast Games - organizers of the Tiny Teams festival. Without it, I'd still be stuck in the playtest branch making silly Cores that maybe seven people on Earth understand. Instead, we spent nearly a month polishing the demo, and Alex (being an artist he is) drew us the new capsule art:
On top of Tiny Teams, we got into Debut Festival by gamedev.ist - which, by strange coincidence, started the exact same day. You might think this doesn't matter much, but having two festivals coinciding gave us that perfect deadline pressure, which (in moderation) can be wonderfully motivational.
Anyway, huge thanks to all Steam festival organizers, big and small. For obscure indies at the bottom of Steam's food chain, these events are genuine rays of hope. And you need a lot of hope when working through "80% effort for 20% progress" stretch.
There are so many small changes that might not even seem necessary. But they occasionally look nice and that's something.
Status Effects
Instead of bulk-showing all status effects on the edge of the screen, we now group them next to their respective stats. It’s easier to see them here, and since the game lacks a preview system, good visual cues are critical.
I should mention I’m not a fan of "status effect stacking" strategies (much like I dislike keyword soup in CCGs). Ideally, players would never see more than 5 different status effects on screen. That’s the design goal, at least.
That said, we need to start using status effects more to remind players of Core actions/special rules.
Dynamic Cursor
The cursor change has been in the project for a month, but now Alex has cast his magic on them, and you can actually see the icons. It’s a nice little feature, that despite being small managed to introduce all sorts of pesky bugs. Just the way we like it.
More seriously, it works well, and I think it would be especially helpful for the new players.
Challenges
Under the hood, you can now launch Challenges - custom runs with unique setups. I plan to use these as a refuge for content that plays well but can’t be a part of the full game. There are 3 very rough challenges available through the console.
To launch a challenge open the console by pressing ` and start typing run.start_ch and it should fill up the prompt with options.
- Lockpicker is a challenge where each level is a Codegates breaking level.
- Jetpack is a regular run with Jetpack as a starting aspect (lets you move to any node more than 2 spaces away)
- AllRandom is a regular run where each Data and System node is randomly generated, so there are no deck-building whatsoever.
Tutorial Rework
This is barely interesting to anyone, but I removed the ATM level from the tutorial. The problem was that people associated Trace and Corrosion too much. Thematically, it’s not a bad connection—Corrosion is the reason Trace exists—but gameplay-wise, players need to focus on Trace. That’s hard when there are three spiky things on the board next to you.
Until yesterday, I thought this was the last tutorial rework we’d make. But after playtesting, Alex suggested explaining Reboot earlier by moving Maxwell to the 4th tutorial level (and potentially cutting Inverter entirely). As much as I don’t want to do it, it’s a reasonable change. I'd probably wait until the week is over to do it, though. And we might need another basic node that gives callbacks on activation to replace Address Book ([Exhaust] trigger won't work well in the absence of Inverter).
Playtest and Early Access
Other than above-mentioned tutorial change I don't plan to spend much more time perfecting the demo build. So if you are reading this and can see yourself playing for more than 2 hours then you should consider joining us in the Playtest (which I'm going to reopen just in a few days after the peak from the festivals goes down but dm me on Discord if you want to get in now).
I think we are reasonably close to getting to a stage where the game would be an ok Early Access purchase. For me personally, the milestone here would be a system that would allow players to make 2 consequent runs without any Core played twice. With a single final bossб we are obviously not there yet. But we're pretty close.
FULL CHANGLEOG (v 0.7.10): ## [0.7.10] - 07.08.2025
###Added
- new Prologue TestRun selection window;
- new cursors;
- run Victory music;
- new animations for the level start and reboot;
- Morning Call(aspect) (Remote reach anywhere on the 1st activation);
- challenges (work in progress, available through the console only, press ` to open the console then type run.start_ch);
- new Signal Beacon interlude level on Stage 11 (refresh Beacons to gain permanent Link);
- new icons and placements for status effects;
###Changed
- TestRun-1 rework (ATM level removed);
- Nullifier(core) rework. Exhaust only the activated node;
- Chip (core) now loses strength when Cookies node gets transformed;
- chkdsk (aspect) changed to: "[After Move]: If moved over an exhausted node 2 times in a row this turn - reboot."
- Codegate(node) rework. Protected removed, "Lose X Link" added to [Exhaust]/[Transform] triggers;
- Eavesdrop(node) Signleton added. Data gain increased to 3/4;
- Self-Diagnostics(node) rework. Counter removed, refreshes adjacent nodes on activation (plus version restores Link per node refreshed);
- Inspirational Quote(node) changed to "Refresh up to 2 random adjacent nodes, then collect X Data (X = number of nodes refreshed)."
- Security Patch (node) Express changed to "[If Trace>0]: Express";
- Master Key(node). Base version Express and Limit added;
- Flash (node): changed to hide only active, then reveal all (up to 2/3 away). (Also disabled in Demo because it still sucks).;
- Tapped line (aspect) reworked. "Whenever you gain Callbacks - drop that much Trace. Whenever you spend Callbacks - add that much Trace."
- Stuck Button(node) changed to "Reboot 2/3 times";
- System Update(node) Express added (+ force Complete turn on the base version).
- Stack Overflow (aspect) changed to: "[Data Overflow X]: Drop X Trace and lose X Callbacks.";
- Freemium(node) changed: (60 cred, -3 Link) to (50 cred, -2 Link);
- Network password(node) rework. (Singleton. Restore 2/3 Link. No data gain);
- Code Optimization+, Call to Action+ and Overclocking+ all changed to base + Multiuse(2);
- Flash (node) reworked. (hide adjacent, reveal up to 2/3 away);
- starting credits increased to 50;
- item shop prices lowered to 25;
###Removed
- Voice recognition(aspect) temporarily disabled;
###Fixed
- Secret Dossier+(node) fix;
- Lighthouse+, Fire Extinguisher+ and Wire Burn+ bugs;
- Ayrton(core) no longer restores check points upon death;
- Moving into a hidden node (with Compass) will now reveal the node for a brief moment;
- something something sound compression;