Blosharper Early Access v0.1 (Build 1162) Release Notes: "Debt, Cherry Blossoms, and Cheats"

Hello, Blosharper players!
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who played the demo version during the Steam Next Fest, sharing invaluable feedback and gameplay data with us.

Thanks to your dedication, we have carefully reviewed and implemented your feedback to rebuild the visuals, economy, and the game's signature hardboiled noir atmosphere from the ground up. We are thrilled to present the Early Access v0.1 (Build 1162) update.

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1. Ultimate Hardboiled Noir Visuals

■ Enhanced 2.5D Emotional Expressions for 5 Main Characters

• Introduced 20 new 2.5D illustration poses conveying situational emotions for the 5 main characters (Protagonist, Jinni, Madam Hong, Old Man, and Moneylender).
• Characters' movements and expressions now react dynamically in real-time according to the flow of bets and the tension of conversations.
• Implemented a high-definition original graphic for Jinni with refined physics-based secondary motion (jiggle effects) to deliver a more dimensional and polished appearance.
• Added precise layer perspective rendering based on screen depth, resolving previous visual glitches like overlapping or clipping character outlines.
• Adjusted layout proportions so that characters' heads are no longer cut off on various display aspect ratios or resolutions.

■ New "Modern" Card Theme & Significantly Eased Unlock Conditions

• Added a sleek, contemporary "Modern" card theme with dedicated graphic assets.
• Eased the unlock barrier so players can enjoy this new theme more casually. It now unlocks immediately upon achieving a 3-Combo Streak.

■ Month Indicators & Overlays for Card Identification

• To assist players who find traditional Hwatu (floral cards) month classifications challenging, we added a 'Show Card Months' option in the settings and applied intuitive month overlays directly to the card faces.
• Synchronized the animation timing perfectly so that the month overlays and card numbers reveal simultaneously with the dynamic card-flipping animation.

■ Improved Card Readability & Held Cards Visual Cues

• Refined the card number overlays for each theme so that text remains highly legible even on stylized themes, such as the Ink Wash theme, without blending into the background.
• Added a high-visibility mint green border highlight to help players instantly distinguish their currently held cheat skill cards from regular cards.

■ Full-Screen Destruction & Optimized Impact Effects

• Introduced a satisfying glass shattering effect, screen bullet hole effect, and a sharper Katana Slash effect to maximize the visceral impact of gameplay.
• These dramatic shattering effects are now seamlessly integrated when you are defeated in boss battles or narrowly escape through financial rescue.
• Reworked screen scaling formulas to ensure impact visual effects retain their perfect aspect ratios across all resolutions and zoom factors without stretching or distortion.
• Refined the physical screen-shake algorithm when characters take damage to deliver a heavier, more elastic tactile feedback.

■ Sakura Parallax Effect & Retro CRT Theme

• In response to a valuable suggestion from our demo player kokokoo ("It would be great to have cherry blossoms falling on the main title screen"), we implemented a multi-layered 3D cherry blossom parallax effect along with a dedicated melancholic BGM.
• Replaced the main menu background with a flickering retro cathode-ray tube (CRT) filter to deepen the dark, lonely hardboiled noir ambiance.

■ Dialogue Readability & Floating Speech Bubble Animation

• Halved the size of character emotion icons inside the dialogue window to prevent text line wraps from being broken, significantly improving dialogue readability.
• Reworked the entry animation of speech bubbles so they pop up using the bubble's tail as the anchor point rather than a static center axis, adding a more dynamic, theatrical flair.

2. High-Stakes Gambling Economics & Upgrades (System Rebalancing)

■ Skill Awakening & 'Bad Luck Protection'

• Removed the previous refund system that returned awakening costs when selling awakened skills, amplifying the risk and commitment of skill choice. (Materials are preserved on failed attempts, but no refund is provided when selling already awakened skills.)
• To mitigate frustration from consecutive failures, we designed a 'Bad Luck Protection' system where each consecutive failure increases the next attempt's success rate by +1% (capped at a maximum of +10%) per round.
• The adjusted success rate is clearly displayed on the upgrade screen, accompanied by a unique floating upward badge animation on failure to soften the blow.

■ Two-Tier Unlock Standby System to Maintain Balance

• Implemented a "two-tier standby unlock" system to prevent newly unlocked cheat skills from suddenly appearing in the shop mid-run and disrupting difficulty balance.
• During an active run, unlocked skills are held in a queue and formally reported and added to the pool only during the final Game Over settlement.

■ 'Brainwash' Reset for Stat Allocation Flexibility

• Added a "Brainwash" reset option to the Level Up menu, allowing players to reset and redistribute their stats in exchange for a small amount of in-game Cash.
• Added a secondary confirmation dialog to prevent accidental triggers and verify your choice, avoiding unintended resets.

■ Non-Linear Compound Interest & Fair Defeat Penalties

• Reduced the frustration of losing all progress upon death or bankruptcy. Now, only the cash in hand is confiscated, while bank deposits and debt status carry over safely to the next run.
• Conversely, high-level loan shark interest rates and late-game round fees now scale exponentially (non-linearly), creating intense financial pressure in the late game.
• Refactored and streamlined the complex interest rate system to improve game stability.

■ New Event Sequences & Eased Late-Game Progress Gates

• Removed the cumulative death count requirement to progress to the next stage (Special Cards), smoothing out the narrative flow and easing progression barriers.
• Added dedicated story events and multilingual dialogues for the first encounter with Special Cards, optimized tooltip readability, and improved rendering performance.
• Fixed an edge-case bug where the initial Special Card encounter would trigger twice consecutively.

■ House Entry Fee & Overdraft System

• In mid-to-late rounds, players must now pay a "House Entry Fee" to join the betting table.
• If you are completely broke, bank accounts are now permitted to go into negative balances (overdraft), allowing you to keep playing even when you lack the entry fee.

■ Trillion-scale & Scientific Notation Formatting & Seeded Play for Fair Matches

• Applied Trillion (T) and scientific notation (eN) formatting to prevent astronomical late-game currency numbers from overflowing or clipping the UI.
• Introduced Seeded Play, allowing players to copy a seed code or share a URL parameter to compete against others on an identical map layout.
• During Seeded Play, bank functions (deposits, loans) and specific story encounters are disabled, and a dedicated seed status badge is displayed on the screen.

■ Dynamic Combination (Aficionado) Decorative Transition

• Simplified the internal save data structure to completely prevent save corruption risks. The 🍂Aficionado styling is now applied dynamically at the UI stage.
• Implemented save data migration to seamlessly transfer existing player progress and stats, ensuring any redundant duplicate data is safely cleaned up during the process.

3. Narrative & Challenge (Interaction Polish)

■ Revamped "Game Over Dashboard" for Sweet Revenge

• Replaced the plain results screen with a comprehensive dashboard showcasing 6 performance indicators: Final Score, Surviving Rounds, Max Profit per Round, Highest Single-Turn Score, Best Combination Bonus, and Bribe Amount.
• Categories where you achieved a personal best will glow with a subtly blinking orange NEW badge.
• Newly unlocked cheat cards (available for selection in subsequent runs) are displayed prominently on the right.
• Implemented a button to easily copy your run's seed code to the clipboard and share it with friends.

■ Deepened Madam Hong Shop Interactions & Expressions

• Madam Hong's dialogue poses now change dynamically to match the depth of your affinity and trust level.
• As your relationship deepens, new welcoming greetings unlock when entering the shop, and departure lines become more emotionally poignant.
• Resolved a stuttering bug where shop greetings would blink rapidly upon entering, ensuring a smoother greeting sequence.

■ Contextual Narrative Readability & NPC Relationship Terms

• Implemented a monolog bubble system where the protagonist reacts with thoughts when achieving astronomical scores or facing imminent bankruptcy.
• Replaced the NPC title in Tutorial stages 4, 5, and 6 to maintain narrative consistency and align with the story progression.
• Resolved instances where mismatched character portraits, audio tracks, and subtitles occurred during certain story intros and branching paths.

■ Welcome Screen BGM Loop Delay & Volume Sync

• Fixed a sound conflict where the lobby background music would bypass the global master volume settings and play at maximum volume.
• Added a 4-second loop delay at the end of the lobby theme, introducing periods of silence that blend with the cherry blossom visuals to emphasize the game's lonely noir mood.
• Fixed an audio glitch where the lobby theme would overlap with in-game audio when refreshing the browser or exiting to the lobby mid-session.

■ Defeat Presentation Polish

• Enhanced the defeat screen visuals to dynamically project the portrait of the boss you clashed with.

4. Player Experience (UX) & Platform Optimization

■ Enabled 'Show Card Numbers' by Default

• Set the "Show Card Numbers always" option to true by default, enabling new players to grasp Hwatu numbers immediately and play intuitively.

■ Haptic Feedback & Steam Deck Layout Optimization

• Implemented controller haptics (such as PS5 DualSense) providing subtle vibration profiles for shuffling cards and colliding chips.
• Implemented Force Feedback: the R2 trigger resists compression when throwing the final Suicide Hand, creating physical tension.
• Refined the gamepad focus navigation to guarantee seamless menu navigation, specifically tailored for Steam Deck compatibility.

■ HUD Buff/Debuff Dashboard

• Added a mini HUD panel in the top-right corner of the screen to track active buffs/debuffs (All-In status, Boss Curse, Insurance status, etc.).
• Players can navigate focus to these icons using a gamepad or keyboard to display detailed tooltip explanations.

■ Sound Resource Optimization & Smooth Fades

• Rewrote the background music backend, drastically reducing initial load times and runtime memory footprint.
• Background tracks now transition smoothly with volume fade-ins and fade-outs.

■ Steam Cloud & Encrypted Secure Storage

• Replaced vulnerable browser localstorage saves with a secure, encrypted single-file format (.sav).
• Configured Steam Cloud synchronization to enable cross-saving between Steam Deck and PC without data loss or conflicts.
• Provided automatic progress migration for players who ran the Next Fest demo (*_demo.sav) into the Early Access v0.1 release.

■ Tutorial Skips & Screen Zoom Restoration

• Resolved a freeze bug where the CRT glitch noise filter failed to clear during Tutorial Stage 3 loading, leaving the screen pitch-black.
• Resolved skip button locking issues during key dialogue flows in Tutorial Stages 2 and 5, allowing players to skip sections freely.
• Restored camera zoom equations so that pack opening effects, boss encounters, and victory screens scale perfectly without clipping on ultra-wide or narrow screens.
• Blocked scoreboard vibration from interfering with guide focus indicators during tutorial sequences.
• Resolved focus initialization lag where the first card of a newly loaded tutorial round failed to receive default focus, improving initial gamepad responsiveness.

■ Safe Game Exit & Departure Protection

• Prevents accidental browser navigation or abrupt session closures. The game now prompts an in-game confirmation overlay to verify your choice, allowing you to save your progress safely before exiting.

■ Reduced Early Game Fatigue

• Eased the early game fatigue by removing redundant shake warning alerts and vibration sequences during the opening round, allowing a smoother entry into the first hand.

We have crossed nights of debugging, graphic layering adjustments, and code tuning to present this complete canvas to you. Blosharper has grown into a much more robust and refined game, thanks to the voices shared by players during the Fest.

The table is set. May luck and your own underhanded cheats be with you at this beautiful, ruthless board.

Thank you.

- The Blosharper Development Team -