Dear Players:

Since the official release of “Signal Maze” version 1.0, we have received enthusiastic feedback from our players, which includes both encouragement and affirmation, as well as many valuable suggestions and constructive criticisms. Here, we would like to thank every player who has paid attention to and supported the game, and it is your attention and correction that has provided an important guideline for our optimization direction.

After an in-depth review by our team, we realized that due to the lack of development experience, the game has failed to achieve the desired experience in some parts. The core problem was that the overall positioning of the game was blurred and fragmented - in the EA phase, we simply used “strategy puzzle” to summarize the game category, but neglected the ‘strategy’ and “puzzle” aspects of the game. However, we ignored the essential differences between “strategy” and “puzzle” games in terms of design logic, style presentation and playing experience. This lack of clarity in the positioning of the game led to a deviation between the core gameplay and the user's expectations, which in turn affected the consistency of the overall experience.

In view of this, we decided to systematically reconstruct the underlying positioning of the game, and simultaneously launched a comprehensive remake of the shop content. After the team's unremitting efforts, the 2.0 version of Signal Maze is now officially available to everyone.

Detailed update:

Updated Version ID: V2.2.0:

• UPDATE: Shop function completely remake.

• UPDATE: Seed function added to the randomization process of Shop levels.

• UPDATE: Time Panel completely remake.

• UPDATE: Main level streamlining, all main levels remake.

• UPDATE: Unit shapes, locks, pivots, and sliding clamp completely remake.

• UPDATE: Level trees completely reorganized, story lines rearranged.

• UPDATE: Heat dissipation, corruption disaster ticks remake.

• OPTIM: Overall level difficulty adjusted and slightly reduced.

• OPTIM: Heat Dissipation Grid and Corruption Grid remake.

• OPTIM: New Voucher mission type added.

• OPTIM: Increased the frequency of Push Units and Trash Units appearing in the game.

• OPTIM: Shops now pop up automatically when arriving at a shop tick (can be turned off in options).

• OPTIM: Mouse drag protection now adds a smarter “semi-protection” tick (can be adjusted in options).

• OPTIM: Optimized visual effects of cell-to-signal and cell interactions.

• FIX: Some missing localization and formatting issues.

About Version 1.0:

Because version 1.0 still has some playability in the levels and store, and because some players may be more than halfway through the game, we are offering players the option to continue playing version 1.0. Simply select “Version 1.0” via the Steam Launch options at game startup to start the game normally, and then:

• Level Tree, Levels, Shop, and Time Panel will remain as 1.0, and some of the 2.0 updates will also be retroactively applied.

• Except DEMO version, DEMO can only launch in 2.0

Since not all levels are remaked between 1.0 and 2.0, levels with the same name completed in 1.0 will be unlocked automatically in 2.0; Vouchers unlocked in 1.0 will be carried over to 2.0 automatically, but Industry Vouchers of the same name levels can only be obtained once.

We promise that version 1.0 will recive bug fixing update at least until the end of this year, and will remain accessible for at least 12 months.

However, from now on, version 1.0 will no longer receive any balancing or optimezing updates.

Some update details:

Next, we'll go into more detail about the various updates that are important for version 2.0

Shop functionality completely remake

The Shop is a core part of the game that we felt was in dire need of a remake. Previously, the default randomization of the store was a mechanic that failed to provide enough decisions and fun for players, so we decided to completely remake the shop. The core adjustments are that the default Shop Delivery will be changed to a Selecting Delivery, while the units available for purchase within each phase will remain randomly generated.

And for this unit's randomization process, if the player wishes to replay based on a known state. We've also added a seeded randomization feature. It allows the player to play the store level in an expected way.

Time Panel completely remake

The core functionality of the Time Panel has not been tweaked, but we have redesigned it based on the overall R.O.O.T. device visualization.

Main level streamlining, all main levels remake

1.0 level tree as shown,

Below is the level tree of 2.0 (blurred to prevent spoilers). We found that the 1.0 main story was long, poorly paced, and fragmented, so we decided to significantly streamline the length of the main story in 2.0. At the same time, we've adjusted our narrative strategy: instead of forcing the main story to carry the entire plot, we've presented some of the side stories in the form of level tree branches, so that players can independently choose whether or not to deepen their experience of the side content.

Unit shapes, locks, pivots, and sliding clamp completely remake. Note:

This part of the update will also be reflected in the 1.0 version of the game.

1.0 Unit and clamps

2.0 Ver：

We found that in version 1.0, the unit interface is not recognizable enough, and the various types of clamps(especially the pivot and sliding clamps) are only differentiated by color, which makes it difficult to identify the unit visually. Therefore, we have completely redesigned the structure of the unit and reworked the overall shape and related clamp components, hoping to optimize the visual presentation to improve the recognition efficiency and playing experience when you play.

Conclusions:

Thanks for sticking with us till the end. It has been a hell of ride for the past six months since Signal Maze launched. Looking back, many early decisions feel painfully naive now. Being in the middle of development, there were a lot of issues that we didn't see through in time.—it took working on this 2.0 update before we finally felt, "Okay, this time we may-be fixed things right."

The pandemic’s impact on the project was far more tangled than we ever imagined. We’ve often wondered—without those lost years, could the game have matched our vision sooner? But "what-if" don’t get us far. Our team learned as we went, and honestly? We still don’t know how to design a game at all *maybe*.

For this version, we overhauled everything until we nearly skinned ourselves alive—fine-tuning every bit of level logic and visual feedback. At least now when we play it, we can sigh, "Worth every sleepless night."

Truth is, making games is like nurturing a child: you know you should stay objective, but you can’t help pouring your heart into it. 2.0 isn’t some "final chapter," but it is the best answer we can offer at this stage. How far we’ll go from here? Hard to say. But as long as players keep engaging with our work, we’ll keep exploring this maze of game design.

To everyone who critiqued or cheered us on these past months—thank you. You’ve genuinely walked a long, long road with us.