Retromine Demo v4.0 Patch Notes
Powerful Passive Abilities, Boss Rounds, Total Visual Overhaul, & Steam Demo Release Out Now!
Hi everyone!
Welcome to the third and final pre-release content update for Retromine. It brings powerful new passive abilities, boss rounds, super-commons, & more! Let’s get into it!
The demo is also OUT NOW on Steam! Click to play!
Ability Cards
Ability cards are a new fourth type of card represented by the color green. Sometimes appearing in the shop, ability cards can only be rare.
Uniquely, ability cards are not discarded once played, and remain in the pile until the expedition ends. Once in play, ability cards trigger powerful effects when specific conditions are met.
This update features the first batch of 10 ability cards, with many more coming in the full release.
I was actually going to keep this feature out of the demo, but they’ve become such a core part of my vision for the game that I decided to create this first batch for the Steam demo release.
Boss Rounds
Boss rounds are the second new feature arriving in this update!
On expeditions 3, 6, and 10, you will face off against a tough boss round, boasting massively increased scorium requirements. To compensate, you will receive 2 extra turns to meet the huge requirements on these rounds.
Boss rounds should play with the interest curve of the game in a more engaging way, and also give ability cards a couple of expeditions per game to really shine!
Streaks & High Scores
Play your heart out in 4.0 as you chase high scores & streaks! The game will now track your highest score, current winstreak, best winstreak, and total wins, displayed on both the main menu and any victory screen.
These stats are tracked on a per-difficulty basis.
Share them with your friends & pursue new personal bests!
Super-Commons
This update also introduces a new feature I am calling “super-commons”!
If you are extremely lucky in the shop, you will sometimes run into a common resource that has been promoted to rare! These resources sport a massively increased size & price tag, as well as increased rarity, with a twist - all of the positive numbers in their abilities are doubled! For example, if Cubite increases upgrades by 3 times, it now increases by 6 times!
Animated Backgrounds
Travel throughout the mines on your way to the Core to discover four new hand-crafted animated backgrounds by yours truly.
These were honestly painstaking to create, and took a ton of time to make. Please let me know if you like them <3
Total Visual Overhaul
The game has received a total visual overhaul from top to bottom!
Every screen in the game has received some love, with tons of new animations, particle effects, & little details everywhere.
Full Deck Screenshotting
There is now a button on the victory screen to effortlessly capture your ENTIRE deck in one screenshot.
Post them online, compare victories in the discord, & share with your friends!
Trimming the Fat
For the Steam demo, I have re-evaluated the card pool from top to bottom, and removed several cards from the game.
With the addition of ability cards, I actually feel like the amount of builds possible in this version is much higher than before, though the card pool is technically slightly smaller overall.
These cards will return in the full release, with many receiving reworks.
New Features
Ability Cards - 10 New ability cards that provide powerful passive abilities are now available!
Boss Rounds - Face off against ultra-tough boss rounds 3 times per run, with extra turns to help you out!
Streaks & High Scores - Play your best as you chase streaks or pursue the highest score!
Super-Commons - The luckiest players will now be able to discover ultra-powerful “super-common” resources in the shop, with increased rarity and powers!
Hand Animated Backgrounds - All backgrounds in the game have now been fully hand animated by yours truly!
New Biomes - 4 new biomes have been added to the game, with matching backgrounds!
New Reworks - 4 cards have been re-evaluated and given new abilities!
Screenshot Your Full Deck - There is now a button on the victory screen to take a picture of your entire deck in one go!
Discounts - Purchase cards on sale to buff up your deck on the cheap!
Polish
The game now scales until depth 1000 instead of depth 10 - This is a purely cosmetic change
The score bar now flashes to notify you when you fill it up
The interface in various screens has been updated to include the fourth card type, ability cards
The end turn button now glows when your turn is complete
The energy cube now glows with particles when you have energy
The draw pile & discard pile now stack up with cards as you draw and discard them
There is now an animation when you enter a shop or reroll the shop
Cards now bob up and down in the shop
The go button in the shop glows when you have no more purchases to make
The victory screen icons for Thrifty Mole & Clever Mole have been updated to represent their function more accurately
The map has been removed from the game
Rare cards now sparkle brightly when stocked in the store, and have ambient sparkles afterward
Quality of Life
If you beat the Core with turns to spare, you now have the option to win the game on the spot
You can now collect score past the goal
You can no longer click the reroll button in quick succession to prevent accidental rerolls
The booster pack now asks for confirmation after opening, allowing you to view the cards you obtained in more detail
You can now view a glossary to see exact definitions of icons and gameplay keywords
You can now see the scorium requirements of the next level in the shop
Added the option to disable background motion
Added the option to disable the end turn warning
Added the ability to see patch notes from previous updates on the main menu
Balance Changes
General
The starting deck has changed to include a size 3 and size 7 Ore and size 3 and size 7 Scorium.
Prospect has been adjusted again - hopefully for the final time!
Rare cards have been rebalanced across the board
You will now battle against “boss rounds” 3 times per game - on Expedition 3, 6, and 10
You can now only hold up to 10 cards in your hand at a time
I can’t believe I have to say this, but the ore cap has been increased to 100 MILLION
The scorium cap during expeditions has been removed entirely
Shop
Rare cards are now over 15 times more common
You will now see at least 1 rare card per run guaranteed
Discounted cards now appear often, which now slashes their price in half
Discounted powers appear rarely
After rerolling one shop 3 times or more, the price begins to increase exponentially
Card costs have been increased in the midgame and lategame
Resources now have their sizes slightly randomized
Cards now have their costs slightly randomized
Relaxed
Now has boss rounds on round 3, 6, and 10
Overall difficulty slightly reduced
Adventure
Now has boss rounds on round 3, 6, and 10
Brutal
Now has boss rounds on round 3, 6, and 10
Overall difficulty slightly increased
Secret Difficulty
Now has boss rounds on round 3, 6, and 10
Overall difficulty MASSIVELY increased
Actions & Tools
Ancient Ruins
No longer gives ore or score
Aquifer
Rarity increased
Axe
Cards drawn decreased from 3 to 2
Cost reduced from 20 to 11
Axolotl
Received a new ability. Play to discover!
Best Friend
Ore increased from 15 to 30
Energy cost increased from 1 to 2
Crusher
Rarity increased
Cost increased from 18 to 36
Greedy Mole
Ore decreased from triple to double
Cost increased from 20 to 30
Helmet
Base score decreased from 10 to 5
Cost decreased from 15 to 13
Ingots
Cost increased from 18 to 25
Minecart
Actions required decreased from 4 to 3
No longer gives ore or score when conditions are met
Cost decreased from 12 to 9
Pickaxe
Energy cost decreased from 1 to 0
Ore decreased from 15 to 10
Prospect
Energy cost decreased from 2 to 1
New ability: Upgrade a resource by 1. Gain 5 Ore or Score.
Sledgehammer
Received a new ability. Play to discover!
The Creature
Received a new ability. Play to discover!
Torch
Cost increased from 23 to 25
Wrench
Rarity decreased
Ore or score decreased from 15 to 8
Resources
Bubblite
Cost increased from 26 to 33
Crystallium
Base size decreased from 5 to 4
Cost increased from 21 to 45
Cubite
Base size decreased from 15 to 14
Cost decreased from 20 to 18
Now gives triple upgrades instead of quadruple
Floatstone
No longer draws cards
Ore or score gained increased from 1 to 2
Base size decreased from 7 to 5
Shop cost increased from 11 to 15
Fossil
No longer draws a card
Cost increased from 7 to 8
Gems
Now Inert: 25.
Base size decreased from 10 to 8
Cost increased from 15 to 17
Ichorite
Energy cost increased from 3 to 4
Cost increased from 31 to 56
Powers
Booster Pack
New ability: Add 3 cards to your deck, each of a different type.
This is now to account for ability cards, which are also available in booster packs.
Amount available per run increased from 2 to 3
Can now contain “super-commons”.
Odds of finding a rare significantly increased.
Boots
Added to the game
Hourglass
Cost 3 increased from 250 to 300
Cost 4 increased from 400 to 500
Cost 5 increased from 600 to 1000
Cost scaling increased from 100,000 to 10 million
Dynamite
Ramping cost per purchase increased
Tumbler
Odds of finding a rare significantly increased.
You can now tumble rares.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug where resources would be larger in the shop if you had purchased them previously
Fixed a bug where playing Ancient Ruins wouldn’t upgrade Bubblite
Fixed a bug where you couldn’t play a retained card first on your turn
Fixed a bug where Badger would cause the game to think you have more cards in your hand
Fixed a bug where Badger and upgrades would not properly interact
Fixed a bug where Badger transformed cards would not actually enter your deck sometimes
Fixed a bug where Badger transformed cards would still appear in your hand later in the expedition
Fixed a bug where the Creature could fire at 4 cards in hand sometimes
Fixed a big where the Creature would glow as if its conditions were met when they were not
Fixed several visual bugs relating to Greedy Mole
Fixed a bug where Waterfall would draw a card when you had 8 cards in your hand
Fixed a bug where resources in a Booster Pack could only ever be of the same time (ie a found Floatstone in a booster pack would ALWAYS be Scorium type)
Fixed a bug where Moonstone and Bubblite wouldn’t interact properly
Fixed a bug where Tumbler could not transform rares
Fixed a bug when playing Isopod where Floatstone’s conditions would not be met
Fixed a bug where you could play tools on nothing
Fixed a bug where restarting rapidly draws 10 cards
Fixed a bug where Waterfall would not draw to 7 cards sometimes
Fixed a bug where Waterfall wouldn’t make sounds sometimes