Version 0.71.1 Release Notes

Hi everyone -

Summoners Fate launched in Steam Early Access three weeks ago. Since its launch over 6,000 players have entered the multiverse, hurling over 1 million squirrels between them! To celebrate, we're sharing our future plans for the game, which will see new Summoners to play, more diverse biomes to explore, and multiple PvP multiplayer modes, including a ranked system.

Early Access Roadmap

Our short term goals are to continue responding to player feedback we've been receiving by fixing bugs, adding QoL features (such as the Ambushes and Loot Finder added in previous updates), and improving gameplay mechanics (such as the Combo System we're updating today and the Unlock system that we'll be addressing next week).

Then it's on to adding content...lots and lots of new content! We have a major update planned for each quarter including a new world biome, bosses, and cards suited to theme intermixed with player suggested ideas as well. The roadmap also highlights a variety of other key updates, including PvE leaderboards and a complete overhaul to the game’s AI. Both of these are in direct response to the community feedback.

Finally, as our community grows we'll begin rolling out multiplayer modes which will include several ways to play including traditional real-time 1v1 PvP, asynchronous multiplayer battles (words-with-friends style), and even a 2v2 cooperative battle mode where you and a friend can join up to face enemy AI together.

Update #4 v0.71.1 - Combo System

Today's build update aims to improve our Combo System by directly applying player recommended feedback we received.

The new system allows for unlimited combos from each of your allies (who will now deal half their power damage, rounded up). Combo attacks will no longer use up your unit's action, but units who have already attacked during your turn cannot combo attack.



We're still working on improving on the combo system, and you can share your feedback and additional ideas on our dedicated discussion board here.

New Cards

Have fun "breaking the game" with these wild new satchel cards inspired by our players' suggestions in the New Cards and Characters discussion board.

Here’s the full list of changes for this update:

*This update is also applied to our free demo version.

• Feature Change: Combo System The combo system triggers a bonus attack that cannot be countered when an enemy is knocked adjacent to your ally. Previously, this system used up the unit’s command for the turn. Based on player feedback, we’ve change this rule so that combos no longer use up your unit’s command. Instead, you can combo unlimited times per turn with the following balance changes: Combo attacks deal half power damage (rounded up). Units cannot combo after attacking.
  
• New Card: Pied Pipe - Artifact (permanent ability) that makes all of your small animals become Loyal.
  
• New Card: Collar of Devotion - Satchel card that makes the next animal you summon become Loyal until resting at camp.
  
• AI: Increased the AI turn time limit from 60 seconds to two minutes as a temporary solution to allow players experiencing delayed slower AI processing to have enough time for AI to complete their turn before throwing a bug prompt.
  
• AI: Added a mechanism to track whether or not the AI boardstate is synced with the player. I suspect some of the sync errors I'm seeing in the reports are caused by the board state being off, even though the cmdLog is synchronized. I’m hoping this will provide some more insight into what is happening so I can resolve the few remaining AI sync bugs still lingering.
  
• AI: Fixed bug #2204 where the AI locks up due to a null ability user on an action being simulated. I'm not sure how this occurred (and I also noticed that if I undo the AI turn and end turn again, the behavior is different). Somehow the player got out of sync, though this change did allow the battle to continue.
  
• Fixed another bug where the boss key/skeleton key wouldn’t drop. Thanks to fuyu.lee and RISC_MGMT we were able to discover that this occurred because the key bearing unit was defeated in a narrow corridor where there wasn’t enough room to place all of the drops. To solve this issue, I've made it so that if there isn't enough room for each drop to land on an unoccupied tile, the drops will now stack on top of each other using this new target sort. Additionally, I’ve adjusted our procedural algorithm so that Elite fights will no longer spawn in corridors.
  
• Fixed bug where lore couldn't be retrieved because it was in Mercenary Den by making it so that lore cannot be hidden on maps containing shop encounters. (Thanks Fieri The Merry)
  
• Fixed bug where excess lores were appearing on the world map. The reason this occurred is because the bookcases had the capability to drop lore in addition to the lore hidden throughout the world. This was originally done to increase the likelihood of finding all lore, but now that we have the loot tracker, players were interpreting it as a bug. Bookcases will no longer drop lore (unless lore is hidden on that map) and have increased chance of dropping cards now instead. (Thanks RyuSage and mr.kitty)
  
• Fixed bug where fully looted rooms were still showing "ghost" icons of keys no longer there.
  
• Fixed bug where Sibylla was buffing enemy units spawned at the beginning of encounters (Thanks Sinister Design and Tor)
  
• Added support to maintain persistency of status effects tagged with the "Keep" attribute (such as birthday hats) so that when the unit is defeated and revived with a raise dead spell, it still has its party hat. This is important for artifact cards that confer permanent abilities. It also fixes bug where player would not get credit for the "Birthday Wish" achievement if the Birthday Boy is killed and resurrected using a Stone Ankh or Spirit Recall.
  
• Fixed bug where Taurus and other Elite minions were not displaying the correct amplitude values for their abilities (Thanks Marvin for catching this, and sorry for the frustration it caused). This bug was accidentally caused by a change in last week's update when I fixed the ability grouping so that the Void Necromancers ability would be correctly identified as "Farshot".
  
• Fixed bug where the "Catch of the Day" encounter was not spawning Marauders correctly around the captured hero when discovering this event in dungeon rooms containing treasure chests
  
• Fixed "Finding the Perfect Tree" encounter so it now always spawns the Treant with 4 goblins surrounding it
  
• Fixed bug where Drax steals Frozen Blades and causes exception because there is no weapon to throw (Thanks Rioter32
  
• Fixed bug where Sunder Armor could be used to remove permanently affixed equipment (like the gear on Griegal, Goblin Warlock).
  

Outstanding Issues

We're aware of an actively working on fixes for the following issues:

• Lag (slow frame rate) is affecting a small percentage of players. Please continue to report this in-game when you experience the issue so we can narrow down potential causes and find solution faster.
  
• Slow AI Turn Time - For a small percentage of players, AI is taking a very long time to process its turn. We're not sure yet what's causing this, but we've temporarily increased the AI turn limit from 60 to 120 seconds.
  
• Game throws error when attempting to battle with custom deck in Battle Mode. We still need additional player info to help us resolve this. Please respond on this thread if you have encountered this particular issue.
  
• RasterJobList/writeInfo and VertexData/createVertexBuffer errors - Please consider adding notes (what was happening when bug triggered) so that we can attempt reproduce these issues.
  

Help us Grow Summoners Fate with your Steam Review

I'm proud to share that in our first three weeks since launched, we've achieved 75 reviews with an 86% "Very Positive" rating. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed a review.

Reviews factor in the Steam algorithms that help us reach more players and grow our community. If you haven't done so yet, please consider recommending Summoners Fate on Steam. We're very close to our next goal of reaching 100 reviews by the end of our first month, and I very much need your help to keep this momentum going :)

Join the Discussion:
- Steam discussion board: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1681840/discussions/
- Discord: https://discord.gg/d20studios (RossD20Studios#2359)

Thanks so much!

~Ross