Author: Brett

Patch 1.07 Live on Beta (Windows)

Holy cow, this might be the biggest patch I’ve ever made!!
To opt in and try out the changes:
Right click Solar Settlers in Steam -> Properties, Betas

GENERAL CHANGES
-Added flavor text to every card!
-XP Gain Multiplied by 1.5 (Game Bonus, Win Bonus, Rank Bonus Random Bonus and Fate Bonus)
-Added background art to Derelict Starship and Shifting Vista
-Added Expert Mode unlock cheat
-Added BrainGoodGames Current Update to main menu
-Void can no longer destroy settled worlds
-Added floatey text when you harvest a planet with Origin
-Added basic explore cards to Card Collection
-Scaled down # of games required for race unlocks
-Added last week weekly challenge leaderboard
-Tweaked asteroid Event

CARD CHANGES
-Buffed Wormhole to allow free moves on AND off
-Temple of Might is now free
-Waystation is now free
-Habitat factory is now only usable 1 time
-Added 1 Military to Proto-Formids and Sentient Fungus
-Added +1Military/settler to Mining Colony

-Replaced Sensitive Server Farm with Extraction Facility
Extraction Facility – 1 ore
:colonist: – Draw a Card, 1 oxygen 1 hydrogen
:colonist: :colonist: – destroy this world, 4 ore 6 hydrogen

BUG FIXES
-Fixed a bug with not gaining resources fast enough from Production abilities to meet Goal requirements
-Fixed clicking between Popups in tutorial
-Fixed a bug with step 29 of tutorial
-Fixed bug with Diligence Tribunal not checking whether it was settled
-Fixed being able to activate Nomadic Tribe for no effect
-Fixed bug with Mirror Anomaly and deep space Jungle Worlds
-Fixed bug with Goal prompt not showing up sometimes in Expert Mode Weekly Challenge
-Fixed bug with loading Therlunai scavenge values
-Fixed weird Weekly Challenge timing to be Saturday to Friday

Harshness in Games

Some random game design scribbles!

Games can feel “harsh” for a number of reasons, and although seasoned gamers have built up a tolerance for certain kinds of harshness, it can be off-putting for newcomers. Musing about it a little, a game can feel harsh because of:

–Randomness seems to have too high of an effect on your fortunes, making the game feel capricious or arbitrary
-The game could have too high of a degree of Skill Compensation, making the game feel overly judgmental when you make mistakes
-The game can combine a long playtime with high endgame swings of fortune, which can make you feel like you have “wasted” time
-The game can feature prominent directed confrontation, leading to feeling singled out or ganged up on
-The game can have a lot of snowballing (common to engine building games) which can make early mistakes (when the player might still be learning) feel too important/punished too much
-The game can have a perceived forgone conclusion, where the outcome seems inevitable or almost inevitable (mitigated in some euro games by hiding victory points), and therefore the game seems pointless to continue

Have a great Wednesday,

Brett

Militia 2 is Live on Steam

The first-ever BrainGoodGames sequel! (And BrainGoodGame #7)
You can pick it up here! <<<<<<

Had a lot of fun playtesting yesterday. There is normally some way to surprise yourself by finding out a clever move and clearing boards faster than you thought possible.

Thanks to all the playtesters, family and friends who made it possible.

Special thanks to Keith Burgun for making the music for Push World! It sounds great and fits the mood of the game perfectly!

Solar Settlers is LIVE on Mobile (iOS + Android)

You can grab it here on iOS:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1451526448

and here on Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.braingoodgames.solar

I’d like to thank Vivafringe, Paulo, blubberquark and Nomorebirds for helping to test! Let me know if anything seems fishy with either version at braingoodgames (at) gmail and I’ll try to get an update out ASAP.

Enjoy!

Solar Settlers Patch 1.06 – “Expert Exploration” is Live on Steam!

Patch 1.06 for Solar Settlers is live on Steam! You can grab it here!

Patch highlights include a new Expert Mode for faster, more difficult games (it unlocks at XP level 10), a bunch of new goal cards for the races, a new base set card to unlock and a ton of bug-fixes and quality of life improvements.

Patch Notes:

New Cards:
-Added new Yon Goal card: Yin Shrine
-Added new Rak’Thun Goal card: Temple of Might
-Added new Kuldas Goal card: Hydrogen Nursery
-Added new Therlunai Goal card: Diligence Tribunal
-Added new base set card: Old-War Outpost

-Abandoning a practice mode game from the main menu no longer results in a loss
-Adjusted round number hover reminder text in Weekly Challenge
-Fixed rare null reference exception when colonists are refreshed
-Randoming and clicking play again now always gives another race if possible
-Added randoming animation to the main menu
-Reset race leaderboards for Season 2
-Fixed bug where doing a placement match would result in a loss even with no saved game
-Fixed bug with card collection after doing a weekly challenge
-Added option to end placement match and set rank early

Expert Mode:
-Added expert mode to unlock level 10 (unlocks Expert Mode toggle in options menu and Expert Weekly Challenge)
(Doubles oxygen costs for exposed colonists and settled colonists produce 1 oxygen per turn. Faster, more difficult games)
-Fixed # for suffocate message calculation
-Expert Mode no longer shows unexplorable military spaces
-You can choose your goal on the first turn

Void:
-Lowered habitat construction cost to 1 metal
-Changed reward for blowing up rock world from 4->5
-Changed reward for blowing up water world from 2->3 cards
-Changed reward for blowing up jungle world from 6->8 oxygen
-Changed reward for blowing up gas world from 8->10 hydrogen
-Added Fusion Drive Center to Void goal cards
-You can now destroy upgraded worlds

Goal Changes
-No explore 5 sectors goal in round 5 or 6
-No gain hydrogen or gain oxygen goal in round 4-6
-No settle goal in round 1-4
-Military goal only in round 3-4

Rolling in the Reef Patch 1.01b is Live

Now live on Windows, Mac and Linux – Grab it Here

Shout-out to Darkisbein from the Discord for tons of awesome bug testing feedback!
Discord invite link: discordapp.com/invite/UvyeDEN

Patch Notes:

GAMEPLAY
-When a new enemy is spawning and all available spawning locations are filled, one of your fish on the border will be removed randomly
-If you use the spyglass space with 3 artifacts, you gain 2VP instead
-Enemies now recalculate their paths when a new Anglerfish lantern face is placed on the board
-Modified artifacts to give 2VP when you pick one up with 3 artifacts already held
-Shallow waters squad now starts with 2 crabs and 2 seahorses
-Digging up a spyglass no longer triggers an enemy move
-X marks the spot can no longer spawn on half dug spaces

BUGFIXES/QUALITY OF LIFE
-Artifact names now show in artifact collection
-Fixed some issues where you could get stuck on the Team Up section of the tutorial
-Fixed bug that made it possible to stack finish artifact early popups
-Fixed null reference when finishing artifacts early
-Fixed issue with splitting an octopus 8 resulting in a 1 and a blank
-Fixed issue where artifacts could occasionally replace other already existing ones on the board
-Fixed bug where digging up coral would prevent you from using a die ability (like crab dig or roll new Blue Tang)
-Changed default placement match max from 10 to 15 (if you look at the relevant leaderboard first the max is set to whatever the 10th place score is)
-Made it so second Eel “1” move does not trigger enemy movement
-Fixed bug with passive artifacts showing “Discard the artifact without using the rest?” message
-Fixed bug with parachute not activating fish “1” abilities
-Large performance improvements
-Fixed bug with rank info tooltip showing up when XP quest popup was up
-Fixed issue with fish in tide pool showing their tooltips with popups up

Rolling in the Reef Patch 1.01 is Live

You can grab Rolling in the Reef here.

Patch Notes:

GAMEPLAY
-Added small bonus to goals for each “1” they require
-Added 1VP to all dice goals (should make smaller ones more valuable relative to big ones)
-Angelfish “1” ability now creates a wild angelfish
-Angelfish “1” ability now triggers exploration points
-Anglerfish 1 ability now gives 2VP and a new fish rather than the regular enemy rewards
-Weekly challenge is now 6 rounds (was 8)
-If you have full artifacts, you can play on a space with an artifact and discard it for 1VP
-You can now use a wild die for the Split Pair artifact
-Digging up coral always sets the new fish to wild
-Killing a monster with a full pool now spends the dice before getting rewards
-Rerolling when discarding an artifact no longer costs 1 sun (Fixed bug)
-Clownfish 1’s no longer cost sunlight to place
-Dice cup now rolls a new die of the chosen type
-Enemies now update their path decisions when you check them or when they move

INTERFACE
-Placement matches no longer adjust your leaderboard rank
-Main menu school is now whatever school you last played with
-Added clarification text to monster tooltip
-Max rank from placement match is now whatever the #10 spot on the leaderboard for that school is (defaults to 10 if you never check the relevant leaderboard)
-Disabled saving in placement match (You can now press ESC to set your rank whenever you want to)
-Added code to try to detect unsupported resolutions (5:4, 4:3) and switch to 1280×720
-Fixed achieved Blue Tang achivement being colored in
-Regroup button changes to “End Game” on the last turn

Rolling in the Reef 1.0b is Live!

Patch Notes:

-Fixed dice clatter sound being played twice on regroup
-Fixed angler fish goals not accepting angler fish
-Fixed Regroup 7 fish quest
-Wilds can now match anything as a pair to fight piranhas
-Wilds can now be played on any space (even next to a 2 and a 5 for example)
-You can no longer play ANY octopus on an 8 goal
-X-Marks space will no longer reappear in the same spot at the start of the next round
-Fixed quests not resetting after being rewarded
-Fixed rank total counting locked races
-Fixed buff two artifact to work like normal “+” for now (may try to let you get non-on-this-die pip values later)
-Added prompt to ask whether you want to sacrifice the rest of the artifact if you right click after playing part of it (like with Buff Two)
-Removed sunlight gained from gaining more than 16 fish in your tide pool
-Fixed being able to play 1s next to 8 (from octopi) on the board
-Removed ability to dig up coral and then slither off with eel
-Made enemies spawn quicker above rank 20 and in the Weekly Challenge
-Fixed a bug with gaining an artifact with an eel with no empty holders
-Fixed some typos

Have plans for a few gameplay tweaks for Saturday (when the Weekly Challenge changes over) so stay tuned for that!