Hi Slayers, the August Neowsletter is here!
The team has been hard at work on new content but it'll be at least a month until any of it hits the beta branch.
We'll be out of office during late August for our annual team break, so there won't be an August 27 patch. As a mostly remote company, it's good to meet in person to touch some grass, frolic on the beach, and whatever else it is that people do when they aren't playing or making video games.
For now, let's take a look at how far we've come since launch and what we've begun to work on...
Roadmap Revisited
Outside of our ongoing tasks of bug fixes and balance updates, many items on our roadmap have started seeing some movement:
Things that have been added:
- Steam Workshop support
- Initial scaffolding for The Bestiary
- The Badge/Score system
- Traditional Chinese and Indonesian localization
- Lots of new cards, relics, etc.
Things we're actively working on:
- Experimental game modes
- Alternate Act 2
- New character
Our bi-weekly update cadence on the beta branch has allowed us to cross quite a few features and content off of our to-do list. It also allows us to be more dynamic and experimental when introducing changes. However, when doling out content piecemeal like that, it's harder to dedicate time to developing the bigger, more impactful content that so many players are most eager for. As you can see above, we've since shifted our focus to such pieces of content, including an alternate Act 2 and new character! In order to bring you this much-anticipated content, we will be shifting our updates to be a bit further apart, at least for a while. We can't guarantee the exact pace or if said pace will be regular, but we'll continue to keep you updated, as always!
While we're really excited to show off everything we've been working on, we also hate spoilers. So please take this foot for now.
Q&A With C&A
Time for our (roughly bi-monthly) Q&A section! If you'd like your question to be featured here, the best way to send it to us is [email protected].
Clapah asks: I am loving Slay the Spire 2! I was thinking about the balance of ascension 10, knowing it is a fair bit easier than a20 in spire 1. How difficult are you aiming for a10 to be? Will it be around a20 in spire 1 or closer to how it is now in early access?
Casey: Our general thought has been that Ascension 10 is close to the highest difficulty we'll have for the game. Grinding out Ascension 20 would be quite a chore as there are more characters in the sequel. As more content makes it into the game, there will be a clearer picture on how we want to tackle challenging difficulty though :)
SuperJuan2000 asks: Enchantments have been my favorite addition to this game, they help spruce up cards and make the game feel endlessly fun. Do you have any plans for more enchantments? Additionally, would you guys add in enchant stacking in the future (As an example, the Self Help Book event can grant +2 damage on a card and then picking up Gnarled Hammer grants +3 damage, stacking up to +5 damage since they're the same enchantment.)?
Casey: We like enchantments too! However, we explicitly disallow stacking of enchantments as the probability of snowballing with a single card goes up. We want our players to experience deckbuilding rather than cardbuilding!
Fundays with Fox asks: I have been enjoying the video game Slay the Spire 2 and I have a question about it: suppose that I am playing as the Necrobinder and an enemy is attacking for 5 damage. Would Osty prefer I played Defend or Bodyguard?
Casey: Osty wants to be a good boy and Defend so we should let him.
Silversmith20 asks: can you give us back some of the control options and touchscreen mode from the first game
Casey: We're always adding more input/control stuff but it'll likely be part of the push for mobile ports that will bring in touchscreen.
forge 12 asks: hello megacrit can you give defect a gun resembling real life guns
Anthony: no
Ghost Actual asks: Can we get outfits or recolours for characters now that we have mutliplayer?
Casey: Sounds useful, why not (we're a small team, though, so not sure when we'll be able to prioritize this.)
SamuraiSAX asks: Is there any word on when we can expect Steam Achievements?
Casey: The v1.0 release
The Annual Stopwatch — Cat Food Cup
Did you know that every year, the Chinese StS community holds at least one tournament called the Cat Food Cup, hosted by IrisRaphael? And right now, as this Neowsletter reaches your hands, it's getting ready to raise the curtain on the Top 16 of the main bracket over on bilibili!
This is already the 7th Cat Food Cup, and the core rules of this tournament — passed down all the way from Slay the Spire 1 — have never changed: each player gets two SL (save-load) chances, then two players run the exact same seed, and whoever climbs further and faster up the Spire takes the win. You can find the full schedule from Aug 8th to Aug 30th and detailed competition rules right here! There will be guest appearances from various streamers, so go check out the matches! Also, shoutout to 鸟蛋 for making the event's cool logo!
Map Masterpieces
Now let's see some of the latest in-game drawings you've sent our way!
This enormous, full-body portrait of the Necrobinder by 櫻ヨル!
This adorable, propeller-hatted Silent with a big lollipop by grymm!
A couple of abstract Regents submitted by tr1ke, the one on the right looking eerily like a different (some might even say the original) long-legged, star-shaped character.
Connections Section
Some of you said last month's puzzle wasn't so chill after all, so I can't really gauge the heat-level of this one but I hope you have fun with it! ^-^
Community Corner
Thank you to 林林 for this month's vibrant, festive cover image! Also, shoutout to our very close runner up Aster, a 12-year-old fan who's already an incredible artist:
Next month's theme is: September in the Spire! Maybe that means the Slayers are headed back-to-school, maybe it means they're going apple-picking, or maybe they're just enjoying the changing foliage--but it can be anything that feels representative of September! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via [email protected] or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title! Please make your submission by Thursday, September 10th!
And now for the usual community highlights...
This gorgeous illustration of the Slayers all conspiring together (no pun intended) by Hieumay!
This incredible splash art of the Silent dodging some Phrog Parasite tendrils by **Elliades**!
One of multiple pixelated renditions of Slay the Spire 2 cards by frost-geist!
That's all for this issue; we'll be back refreshed (and maybe a little tanned) next month!