Ver 0.956a Patchnotes:
[ LOCALIZATION ]
First, I want to apologize to players playing in other languages, I need to update the localization, as I've been changing several items. I will try to update this in the next patch.
まず、他の言語でプレイしているプレイヤーの皆様にお詫び申し上げます。いくつかのアイテムに変更を加えたため、ローカライズ（翻訳）を更新する必要があります。次のパッチで更新できるよう努めます。
首先，我想向使用其他语言游玩的玩家们道歉。因为我最近修改了一些物品，所以需要更新本地化文本。我会尽量在下一个补丁中完成更新。
首先，我想向使用其他語言遊玩的玩家們致歉。因為我最近修改了一些物品，所以必須更新在地化文本。我會盡力在下一個更新檔中完成更新。
[ GAMEPLAY ]
Common-rarity shovels now often add strength: Silver Pop through Sapphire Pop in particular, as well as Updraft and several others. Roughly half of all common rarity shovels now add strength, even if it's just a little bit.
Beetle Bane now has 6 coppers in initial coffer instead of 8. This should make Beetle Bane slightly easier.
Some elements of the physics for coins and launch speed have been adjusted. Previously, coins dug relatively deep into the rocks, but based on player feedback, this ultimately made the game feel less satisfying. However, the "Spring Down" shovel is still really fun for this, as well as the "Anchor" Rune. I may continue to adjust this in the next patch.
Mirror Rune was changed from: "Drop: Drop duplicate on other side of crate" to "Drop: Trigger any relevant "Drop" shovels and handles a second time." -- Mirror rune was too powerful, as it would give both extra drops AND nearly guaranteed forge / option value to have 2 x unlocks. Some version of it might return as a very special reward.
[Minor] Purse now costs 6 and sells for 3 (up from 5 + 2 respectively). This gives purse a little more value early on.
[ UI ]
Shovels and handles for sale now get larger when mousing over.
Shovels and handles equipped now get larger when mousing over, outside of the shop.
Gacha do not get larger on mouse over, but are 20% larger to improve readability. (Can still right click for more details.)
Can now right click stuff in shop (but be careful not to accidentally buy). Can turn on "double click to buy" in Menu -> Other if you want more layers of protection.
However this is slightly bugged for "Handles", especially for Quest handles, and for things you haven't purchased yet. This should be fixed in the next patch.
Many tooltips have gotten larger, to improve readability. This will continue in the next patch as some of them are still too small or misplaced.
Made the shield hit sound effect deeper and a little louder
"Unlocked by" was displaying wrong titles / names for characters
[ BUGS ]
Stability has been improved with additional deferred calls for physics related actions. I hope to continue to improve this even further.
Weird highlighting and unhighlighting of handles in shop (on mouseover) now fixed.
If all enemies were defeated, it was not showing damage from cursed stones in the prediction function. This is now fixed.
Penny Rock upgrade was not triggering properly for Silver and Gold Coins, now fixed.
[ FEEDBACK ]
i think the game needs more healing options during battle, even with the ability to open every chest it is very easy to snow ball loosing health because potions will roll out
There are some additional 'shield' options among the 'full game' items, but some aspects of the "snowball losing health" is intentional. I want to keep runs somewhat short (ideally 25-35 minutes) and so I don't want players to suffer a long and slow run that will likely end in death anyways. However, I may implement a "depth 0" mode for accessibility reasons as well, and that might have additional healing.
However, if you do happen to get the "Updraft" item I recommend upgrading it with a quest and you might be pleasantly surprised. ;)
"Sick idea, sick game :D"
Thank you for your kind words! Both the positive and negative feedback really motivates me to keep polishing and improving.
Fighting the worm boss with protected felt like there was no way to win after only about for hits. All it did was hit after hit, 13 or 14 damage every time. It only took a few before I figured I was done for. I figured my build wasn't good enough but it still felt unsatisfying.
Thank you for letting me know! I'm impressed you made it that far with 13 or 14 strength! The new common items with some additional strength might help significantly. I can give more hints, but I also want to give you a chance to explore it yourself.
Some text in the shop did not scale correctly and letters appeared elsewhere (p) at the bottom of shovel shop
Ah thank you! I did quite a bit of UI polish in the shop this patch, particularly focusing on text. I'd love to hear if it's still causing issues.
path choosing for map could use more varity
Ah sorry, I think Depth 1 always has the same paths, but as you go for higher depths and defeat more characters, more variety opens up. In other words, other characters bosses and mini bosses start showing up, and there's more randomization. However, I'll keep it in mind. I'm personally very fond of the "?" spaces in other roguelikes and am tempted to try and implement them....
For me at least it feels very unfun doing TOO well and killing an enemy before I can open their chest. Feels like I'm being punished for playing well.
Thank you for letting me know. This is a balance I'm still working on, and you aren't alone (as you can see in the feedback in this patch and previous patches).
This was one reason that in this patch, I've reduced the speed and weight of coins especially (and gems somewhat). I wanted to add a little more energy and make it easy to pop stones, but actually on the whole I think it made it more chaotic and less predictable. (Judging from the average submitted emotion as well.). You might find it easier to unlock now.
There's also one character in the full game that I think you might enjoy that's more oriented toward unlocking.
I tried something like 7 to 10 different damage models in earlier prototypes, initially I had a system where you could kill an enemy by unlocking (i.e. every enemy was "Flighty"). And others where unlocking did direct damage as well, or increased the damage from stones, etc etc.
I think the common items having strength might also indirectly help with this, as higher depths become slightly less dependent on "luck" in the first shop(s).
I found it very unclear as to how to activate runes -- do you want to match them? save them?
Thank you! I think I need to do another pass on the UI here. If it says "Forge: X" that means you need to forge with that runed gem to trigger it. Others are constant, like the Spear rune and Shield rune. So for the Spear Rune and Shield Rune, you are slightly discouraged from forging with them, and kind of want to keep them in the crate. But for others, you kind of need to forge with them to get the benefits.
I really like the game as is so far. Great Job
Thank you! I hope the latest changes don't disrupt your enjoyment! :)