Hey everyone - Happy Holidays! Exciting time of year as we hurtle towards the end of 2021, and finally - the Challenge Coin update is ready to go! I’ve been excited to get this update out and finally share it with you all, so lets get into it. There's a few other things I’ll address as well, and also get a change to share plans for the future. Let’s dive in.
Just a quick note, this one is long... even for my standards haha. Might want a cup bucket of hot cocoa for this one...
Interactive Battlefield
I’m going to get the bad news out first - as this is the thing that I’ve been the most upset about the last week or so. As you may know - the 500 Review milestone was absolutely smashed last week, in such blazing speed as well (much faster than I anticipated!!) My goal was to ensure that interactive battlefield was ready to go for this patch - however there's been a hold up with a 3rd party which I’ve been battling against.
I don’t want to go into details here, nor throw anyone under the bus. Whilst a deadline has been missed, personally I’m just hoping the person is safe and well right now.
What’s the resolution?
I’m hoping to hear from the artist within the next week or so with the final product. The game systems are good to go, and the animator is ready and waiting to jump into things. After a week, if I don’t manage to hear back, I’ll jump onto the tools myself and get a background painted up!
I love doing the artwork for Vault, however because of the time required with backgrounds, I tend to outsource these where possible, this one included. Although at this stage I’ll drop everything and get this finished up if I don't hear back, its super important to me.
In the end, I feel like I’ve let you all down by not having this ready. You all have been so supportive of Vault, especially the last month or so, and I wanted nothing more to deliver on my end of the deal. When I knew it wouldn’t be delivered on time, I felt like I had to get something to you all at least to bridge the gap. I’ve scrambled over the last few days to bring... something a little fun and light hearted. Let’s talk about Under the Mistletoe...
Under the Mistletoe
So I’ve dived into the Christmas spirit here and painted up a fun little piece with everyone's favorite, the Treasure Goblin. Huge thanks to my animator Sanjeev for getting this animated in such a short time!
So - I could have just given this one behind a code yeah? But I decided to have some fun with it! To unlock this Deck Back - all you need to do is kill (not let him run away!) the Treasure Goblin in any run between now and the end of December. Then... it’s all yours!
I know it’s not a battlefield :( But I hope you enjoy it! And the battlefield is coming - I promise!
Challenge Coins
Okay - so here is the meat and potatoes of this update - and it actually turned out to be way more content than I thought! Let’s talk Challenge Coins.
So the Challenge Coin system has been in place since launch. The system itself I thought was great -- funky little artifacts that combined other artifacts that shook up runs a little. Quirky little reasons to play differently. Despite the name, not all of them are "challenges" per say - just fun ways to engage with the game systems differently.
Although be warned, some are... pretty hard.
However, the delivery ... wasn’t great. UI was awkward, purchasing them in a different screen then loading them elsewhere... no support for I+. It wasn't great.
Enter, the new Challenge Coin system!
So right now there are 15 Coins (3 old ones, 1 which has converted the "Bare Bones" Achivement to a coin, to make it easier, 7 generalist and 4 class specific). With each coin, you can earn yourself 4 medals. 1 each for beating it on Normal, Hard, Impossible, I+30. Each coin has a custom I+30 modifier setup and preloaded (big thanks to Dabor for hand picking those. Also now you know who to blame for the ones with Ambush :P ). Once you do beat it on the preloaded I+30 setup, you are free to replay it again with your own custom settings.
Each coin also has an Achievement for each medal, and of course, if you beat it on a harder difficulty, you’ll be back credited for the easier one. So win on I+30, and you’ll get all 4 medals and achievements!
The UI also tracks what classes you’ve done them on, for the ones that are possible on multiple classes.
Each coin costs a set amount of Void Points, and once unlocked, it’s yours forever!!
I’m really, really happy with how the system came out. The content is great as well - and feedback from the Beta Testers has been excellent. However what I’m really excited about is the future from here. This is just the start of Challenge Coins. Now that the system is setup in a clean, easy to read, easy to digest way -- expect lots more CCs in the future. I definitely see a world where a couple get dropped every month!
In the end though - I really do hope you enjoy it! Between regular runs, Daily Draft and now Challenge Coins, I do feel Vault has a pretty decent slice of content to digest. If you have any feedback, please feel free to let me know!
And of course - huge shoutout and digital hug of thanks to all the Beta Testers. Without you all playing this stuff on the Beta Branch, patches would never be as smooth as they are. You the real MVP!
Matron of Memories
As I mentioned - I love doing artwork for Vault. Thankfully I got a chance to dive in here and paint up a few pieces for some rooms that got a change! I hope you like them!
Firstly - the “Loot the Dead” event at the start of the run has now been changed to the Matron of Memories. It’s a separate room now that you step into, rather than a little popup. This was for a few reasons, a lot of them technical (that UI was bugggggy), but it also allowed me to inject more life, lore and art into Vault - rather than a dopey popup.
The Cursed Item has also had the same treatment. No longer a popup, and with its own flavourful spin and artwork. You’ll also see the Shrine has been changed to this new layout.
Overall, I really like the new layout these rooms use and will probably stick with these moving forward for more generic “multi-choice” rooms.
Balance
There are a few calls planned next week, where the full card list is going to be looked at, one-by-one, and the stats and player feedback are going to be addressed. Expect a BIG change to cards (both good and bad) soon - I wanted to actually get this done this week but time didn’t allow it sadly.
We did however take a quick look at encounters. There were a few ... underperformers, who have gotten a little bump to help bring them into line. Plus a few little nerfs. All the details will be listed below!
Save system
Okay so this is something I wanted to address for a while now. Every now and then I get a bug report about a player losing their entire Profile. They boot up the game, and it prompts them to make a new Profile. Lolwat?
So, the funny thing is - this always is after a PC crash of some kind - thunder storm (looking at you Tempest...), power outage, Windows crash etc. I’ve looked into it, and it seems a common thing with Gamemaker projects.
So thankfully - long ago I setup a profile backup system, so so far, anyone who has reported the issue on Discord, I’ve been able to help restore their profile. I do plan to automate this, however for now, I’ll put the instructions in a sticky post on the Forums! If you have any troubles though - please just join the Discord and DM me, I’ll help right away !
In light of this, I think I’ve managed to setup a new save system that will avoid these problems. I say think, because I can’t manage to test it here. I’ve been trying all sorts of things, flicking the power off at the wall, going out and tripping the power box (wife wasn’t happy). No luck. But, fingers crossed this solution will avoid the issues moving forward.
Just wanted to make people aware that I’m looking into it and trying to find a solution! Also, there is a restore ability if needed.
Translations - a look at what’s ahead
So, I’ve been putting this one off for a bit - but it’s definitely time to get this moving. Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be pulling out all the text in game which isn’t in the localisation file, and moving it out into that file. This is a super long, manual process, but it’s really past the point when it should of been done. I’m dumb for not accounting for it sooner.
The good news is - the game is setup to support translations. It just needs to have all text put into the translation files.
What it does mean is that I’ll have my hands tied for a while getting that setup, which obviously comes at the expense of new content. However - it’s exciting news for all of you who have been waiting for the localisation process! There is a number of amazing people who are already waiting to get their hands on the file and translate it all for you! Chinese and Japanese are on the radar first up - as well as Russian. More details as we move closer on this.
Okay... even for me this one is getting long. If you’ve made it this far - congrats! I actually had an idea this week of a cool thing to add to the bottom of these to spark some discussion - a little question that I’d love to hear your opinion on each time! So here goes:
Question of the Week Update: What is your favorite encounter in Vault of the Void, visually?
So mechanics aside - which is your favorite designed encounter, based purely on looks? For me, it’s either the Forgotten (the Goat, Game and Vulture) or the Veiled Watchers. Something about that creepy cult like vibe which I really dig!
Wouldn’t be a patch notes without me gushing about how amazing you’ve all been with your beautiful reviews. I mean, over 100 in the last 30 days? I’ve run out of words at this point, you keep surprising me every week and I’m so thankful for each of you!
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday time, however you spend it. Thank you all for making 2021 a year of beautiful surprises. I’m so excited for 2022, and can’t wait to grow the game with you all.
As a quick note; I’m aware that Christmas can be a sad time for some, without those close to spend it to. I did just want to mention and extend an invite to the Discord server again. If you need to chat, or just have a place to hang out - it really is such a great positive community there. I'm there everyday as well, and will be more than happy to chat and hang out whenever I can!
Stay safe everyone - see you next year!
All for now
- Josh
The Big Ol' List o' Stuff
- Challenge Coins! Whole new system, whole new coins and a whole bunch of new Achievements!
- The Under the Mistletoe event is live! Go kill the Treasure Goblin for a (somewhat questionable) Deck Back.
- New Save system which I mentioned above. If you still have Profile loss issues, please reach out and I’ll help restore a back up!
- New artwork and layout on the Booster pack screen
- New artwork and layout on the Unlocks screen - much easier to find Deck Backs and Battlefields now.
- Reworked the code on buttons to stop them from appearing/disappearing. If you find any menus that start playing up - just let me know!
- Blood Library can now be re-entered! (finally)
- New artwork and layout for the Matron of Memories, The Raven’s Gift (Cursed Item) and the Shrine
- Bleed it Out and Scatter Shot are now Heavy cards
- Added an option in Settings to enable a tooltip which, whenever you mouse over a card, will show you how many of that card is in your Deck and Backpack.
- Tooltip added to Deck button in the top right corner which shows you Void/Sin count as well, at a glance.
- New artwork for both those buttons as well
- Mind over Matter now has a counter indicating how many cards it will pull back
- A warning has been added when you place the King’s Balance stone on a non-swift card.
- Once More WIth now carries across turns
- Artifacts can now be viewed when choosing Arkaos’s Bead or Swamp Mistress’s spell
- Several little bug fixes
Encounter Balance Changes;
- Birth Pit: -1 AP on Hard/Impossible, Pinkies have 10% less HP and do 11x1 instead of 6x2 on Impossible.
- Blood Hive: Has 8% more HP. Minions all have a bit more HP and AP to start with. Can't start with two poison-inflicting minions.
- Beast of Malice: Pummel doesn't normally hit as hard on Normal/Hard. Hits for 16 and 24 respectively instead of a whopping 30 every time.
- Dolus: Way more HP (about 60%). Let's see you race that poison now! Her Serpent's Bite no longer removes your Poison, and she also throws on Confussion.
- Hag: Starts with 1 more AP on Normal and 1 more Frenzy on Hard/Impossible. Applies 3 more Burn with her Burn action. Also a lot more HP (about 40%).
- Starcaller: About 15% less HP, but hit a chunk harder across all difficulties. Their Haunted move also now causes Fumble 1.
- Puppet Master: About 22% more HP and 1 more AP across all difficulties.
- Queen of Ages: Weavers have +1 AP.
- Dragon Mother: About 11% more HP and 2 more AP across all difficulties.
- The Forgotten: Deal a bit more damage on Hard and a lot more on Impossible. Also a bit more HP across all difficulties. They forgot (teehee) how to throw around Banes before, so now their Hide and Fear actions both shuffle a Bane in.
- Arkaos: Him and his arm and his other arm have about 30% more HP across all difficulties. 'Twas merely a flesh wound! Axe arm now has half the damage and twice the frenzy. Would be a real shame if someone brought slow to this fight.
Changed files in this update