This patch brings even more new mechanics to the board, while still providing all the usual: a few new items, quality-of-life changes, and more!

Enjoy friends, enjoy.

GENERAL:

ROLL REVAMP – Rolling the die now involves new mechanics.

• When the player begins to roll, a slider now appears with all the possible roll values. This slider quickly cycles between the values and pressing the space bar will slow the cycling process to a stop until a number is selected. The timing of the key press affects the value of the roll.

WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR – When a player finishes selecting their starting powers and items, they can now see which other players the game is waiting for.

NEW HALFTIME EVENTS :

The Gym Reaper : One player receives the Workout kit item, which can be consumed to permanently grant +4 attack and defense. All other players receive a complimentary water bottle (If they have space in their inventory), which restores 30% of the player’s max HP when consumed. (Can be used in combat for the same effect).

Ready to ROCK: A player receives the legendary guitar item. This item can be consumed to play an AWESOME solo for a target player. (Deals 70% of the player’s current HP as damage to them, and takes a % of their net worth.)

Price Dice: For 10 rounds, rolling the dice deals 15 damage to the player. Does not apply if the player is below 40 HP.

SECOND HALF – After halftime, all AP gains are increased by 20%.

ITEMS:

NEW – CLEANSING ORNAMENT

Cost: 45 AP

:: Can be consumed to remove all banishment, haunting, and untargetable effects from yourself.

CHANGED – ROGUE BOOTS

:: Cost reduced from 60 to 50 AP.

POWERS:

LESS EXHAUSTING – Sprint AP cost reduced from 4 AP per square to 3 AP per square.

Bug Fixes:

Squattin’ bugs since 1337.

• Fixed an issue where particle with sound effects would not respect the player’s “Master Volume” setting, often making them play louder than intended.
• Fixed a bug where too many particle effects would be created when a player loses a battle.
• Added a debug command to fix turns getting stuck.

After 0.2.0, it was time to take a step back and revise some old features as well as address the issues caused by the release of 0.2.0. This patch aims to do just that! And while patch 0.2.0 was the largest patch in Battle Squares history, this patch is quite possibly the smallest.

GENERAL:

ALPHA GRIND – All alpha testers now start at level 3.

PAUSE MENU – Pressing Escape will now give players access to a pause menu, allowing you to adjust in-game options during the game.

Bug Fixes:

Squattin’ bugs since 1337.

• Fixed a major bug where de-synchronization would occur in longer games.
• Made tooltip tracking more accurate when viewing other players’ items.
• Optimized networking to reduce lag in multiple instances.
• Fixed the Court UI tooltips to display accurate descriptions.
• The Website buttons now link properly to the website.
• The How to Play button now correctly begins the tutorial.

Here we go, the biggest patch in Battle Squares history. And now we prepare as the game moves into its beta stages. There’s a ton of context below, but if you’ve played any version of Battle Squares prior to this patch, you are considered an “Alpha Tester” and are entitled to quite a few in-game goodies, as a way of saying thank you. (More on this later!)

TONS of changes across the board. Here we continue our trek to improve the new player experience, further tweak cosmetic factors, add in cool new items, and revisit some of the core design decisions behind Battle Squares.

I want to emphasize feedback for this patch. Changes to a lot of core mechanics makes for a very different game feel , and going forward these changes will further define the game to be something truly unique. At the same time, some of these changes are more on the experimental side and will require dedicated testing and iteration to get perfect, like anything else!

Because of the size of this patch, it will probably be rolled out over the course of a few days to make sure everything runs smoothly.

GENERAL:

CREDITS – Credits have been introduced this patch as an in-game currency.

• Credits are earned from playing games, but donators also get a one-time 5,000 credit bonus.
• Credits are used to unlock cosmetic items such as avatar skins (see below), titles, and portraits in the Marketplace. The Marketplace will be disabled this patch but will be fully active in a later patch. Stay tuned!
• All Alpha testers get 500 credits for free.

PLAYER AVATARS – Players can now choose an avatar in the brand-new ‘Profile’ section.

• Player avatars are in-game models that will represent the player as they move across the board! (Say goodbye to the old wizards, they are no longer enabled by default).
• Players can choose their avatar from a preset collection, however in the future further customization will be an option! Look for this to be a donor feature.
• Avatars can be unlocked, in general, by playing more games (See level system) .
• All Alpha testers get 2 exclusive free skins — Gramps, and Mista P.

LEVEL ME UP-  A leveling system has been added to keep track of player progress across games.

• Players will gain XP for playing games. XP will be used to track levels and as a player levels up they will get access  to more features in-game such as powers, starting items, and more!
• Certain Powers can only be unlocked for use in games when a player has reached a certain level.
• Some starting items can only be unlocked for use in games when a player has reached a certain level.

HALFTIME – At halftime in each game, a random global event is activated for all players.

• Halftime events affect all players no matter what, and change depending on the state of the game.
• Most events are geared toward challenging players to stay ahead, and giving players that are behind a way to catch up.
• The game must be at least 30 rounds long for halftime events to activate.
• Halftime events can be disabled in the lobby setup.
• Current Halftime Events include:
  • VILLAINY – A player is marked as a villain. This player receives the Villain’s Cape item, which grants +5 Attack and +5 Defense. When this player is defeated in battle however, they pay 20% of their net worth to the winner (in addition to standard battle costs) and the cape is consumed. The Villain’s cape can be stolen.
  • LET THERE BE JUSTICE – For the next 4 rounds, Battle and Omni squares become Court squares.
  • MASS RECALL – All players’ items are sold and players are refunded 100% of the cost. For the next 5 rounds, the item shop will be closed to all players.
  • NEWSOME’S CURSE – All players become haunted for 3 turns. One player becomes immune to this effect.
• Expect more halftime events to come in the near future.

MUCH, MUCH PURDIER-  Numerous UI revamps have occurred.

• The Main Menu now provides direct links to the website and has a new “How to Play” button.
• Lobby PIN Entry UI has been reformatted.
• In-Lobby UI has been reworked to display more information about the players; layout has changed to accomodate player profile information and host settings have been tweaked.
• The Power select UI has been reworked to be less wordy and more cohesive.
• The in-game player boxes (On the left-hand side) have been reformatted to display the player’s portrait, and can be moused over to see the player’s profile information.
• The starting item selection UI has been expanded to allow for more than 3 starting items, and has had the explanatory text moved to the item tooltips.
• The End-Of-Game UI has been reformatted to display player portraits. Additionally, UI animation improvements have been made to hide irrelevant UI frames during the end-phase sequence. This UI will also take the player back to the main menu instead of the login screen as it did in previous versions.
• The Local Play Setup UI has been consolidated into smaller and more concise UI frames. Additionally, these textures have been updated.
• The Profile UI has been added, and is accessible from the main menu.

MOAR OPTIONS-  The options menu can now be toggled in-game.

HOUSEKEEPING-  During the game setup phase (when players are choosing powers etc.) Most UI frames are no longer visible.

CHAT IT UP-  The chat window can now be viewed in the lobby again. (A partial revert of the change made in 0.1.6).

HEY, NO PEEKING – A player’s starting item selection is no longer shown until the game officially starts. Additionally, a player’s chosen power is not shown until the game officially starts.

TILT – The default in-game camera has had its yaw slightly adjusted to view more of the board at a time.

MOST IMPORTANTLY – The game now has a custom cursor.

BATTLE:

When it comes to battle, a player has limited information to ponder: health, attack, and defense. (And occasionally crit chance). However to make battle more strategic and dynamic, integrating new items directly into the system was crucial. By allowing for new abilities in combat that are tied into items, the goal here is to allow for new strategies; fleeting are the days of the stat war, and what we have in its wake are a new generation of items creating for more strategic battles. Have at it!

ITEMS IN COMBAT- Items that have previously had damaging active effects (IE: AG Pistol or Precision Bow) can now be used while in combat. Items used in combat will go on cool-down as normal but do not replace the player’s standard attack for their combat turn. Additionally, new items have been added that carry additional effects in combat. (See items section for details!)

THE BOARD:

The number one issue with the Court Square since release: few people understood exactly what it did. Landing on a Court Square meant doing some mental guesswork on who to sue and if you were in the lead, landing on a Court Square essentially meant pay 30 AP. With these changes, players can be more informed and make educated decisions and risks, all while not being punished if they choose to play it safe. Court squares allow for big payoffs, so creating a risk/reward dynamic was really the goal here.

LEGAL CONSULTATION –  The Court Square now displays a custom UI when choosing to sue another player. This UI will display the chance of success for suing each player, and give the player an option not to sue anyone.

DOUBLE JEOPARDY – Once a player successfully sues another player they may not sue another player with a Court Square again for 6 turns. This restriction does not apply to Court Papers.

Court Squares are supposed to serve as a means to catch up in much-needed net-worth, but Haunt and similar effects were undermining this ability. There are already numerous ways for players who are ahead to play around Court Squares, Haunt just shouldn’t be one, as it’s oppressive enough as-is.

HAUNT ME NOT – Players can now earn AP from suing another player even when haunted.

BOARD BIAS- When rolling the die, you’re about 60% less likely to get a die roll that would put you on the same square as another player.

GET OFF MY FACE- When you land on the same square as another player, your pawn is now slightly offset to prevent your avatars from stacking on top of each other.

NEW – Emperor’s Blessing:

Cost: N/A

:: A possible starting item. Every time you roll, you have a 10% chance to get the adjustment option, allowing you to change your dice roll to be one higher or one lower.

POWERS:

Without going into too much detail, these changes are aimed at removing the more uninteractive elements of powers and giving players interesting abilities that can be played around by opponents. (+1 for counter-play). Check out the new powers:

NEW – Pickpocket (Replaces Greed)

• When activated, you may steal 10 AP from a player. This effect also has a 10% chance to steal an item (worth 70 AP or less) from the player.

NEW – Earthen Might (Replaces Earthquake)

• Causes an earthquake which deals 8 damage to all players and changes several squares on the field into “Earthen Traps” for 1 turn. If a player lands on an Earthen trap, they miss a turn. You are passively immune to Earthen traps. You may choose not to create an Earthquake and gain +1 Defense permanently instead.

NEW – Celestial Favor

• When this power is activated, you gain a random “Celestial” item that lasts for 3 turns. Celestial items are unique and cannot be stolen or obtained through any other means, while carrying a variety of different effects. Celestial items also cannot be sold however.

NEW – Banish

• When this power is activated, you may banish another player for 1 turn. While banished, a player cannot shop, declare battle, or use their chosen power, but they also cannot be targeted by other players. This power can be used on yourself to become untargetable for 1 turn.

Bug Fixes:

Squattin’ bugs since 1337.

• Fixed a bug where the camera would pan at different speeds depending on your framerate. If you have a high-end PC and are getting 120+ frames, panning with the arrow keys will no longer cause your camera to appear off the game board.

After a moderate break, this patch is all about improving the new player experience, introducing some quality of life changes, cleaning up some of the UI, and overall improvement of the Battle-Squarish atmosphere.

Here’s what’s we got:

GENERAL:

FOR THE NEWBIES-  A brief how-to-play section has been added. While it’s intended for new players, experienced players should sift through it as well– it might give you some useful tips!

PRETTY PARTICLES-  Various particle effects have been added!

MESSAGE IMPROVEMENTS-  The message window can now be hidden, its opacity can be changed, and game messages appear white while player messages will appear blue. The message window has been slightly recolored. The message window will also only appear when a player enters the lobby.

REMEMBER ME-  A player’s volume settings will be stored across play sessions.

COOLDOWNS GALORE-  Cooldowns can now be viewed in the active player box.

THE BOARD:

FLOATERS-  All board squares have a ‘floating’ animation. The background of the game board has also been changed to a sky texture.

Bug Fixes:

Squattin’ bugs since 1337.

• Fixed a bug where the restart feature didn’t work properly.

This patch includes some radical changes, including sweeping changes for the board, more game options, some new content, and more!

Here’s what’s on the roster:

GENERAL:

START TO FINISH-  Players can now adjust settings for end-game accolades and starting items in the lobby screen.

FIXED ROUNDS-  A game can now only have a preset number of rounds, 20, 30, 45, or 60.

FOR YOU ENMAR-  After activating a valid item, a player now has an additional 7 seconds to take their turn.

SORRY LOTTO WINNERS-  A player can no longer win the pot if they are haunted.

THE BOARD:

SWITCHEROO-  The game board is now randomized every game!

This randomization is based on a formula to ensure that a healthy amount of each square is on the board, but the positioning of each square along the board is completely random. Enjoy!

GIVE EM A BREAK!-  When a player lands on a Red X square, they now become untargetable for a turn.

NULL AND VOID-  Void squares have been removed and will no longer appear on the game board.

COURT IS (NOT) IN SESSION?-  Court squares will no longer be active until after 10 rounds have passed. (Up from 5.)

Bug Fixes:

Squattin’ bugs since 1337.

• Fixed a bug which in some cases caused a player to lose AP if they ended their turn too fast. Whoops!

Taking a break this patch to clean up the user experience a bit!

Here’s what we have to offer:

GENERAL:

ABOUT  TIME-  A How-To-Play section has been added. It’s brief, so check it out!

NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T-  The message window can now be minimized, or expanded to show more messages at once. By default, the message window is now smaller.

PRO-BONO WORK –  After failing to sue a player, the turn player will now only pay legal fees if they are the player with the highest net worth.

THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT-  Attempting to sue the player with the highest net worth will now always succeed, unless the target player has a legal team.

…MAYBE –  If the player with the highest net worth attempts to sue a player, they will no longer always fail. (But their success chance is halfed.)

CHANGED – Battle Standard:

:: Now grants +2 attack (Up from 1.) Also grants +20% crit chance. (Up from 5%).

REMOVED – Brass Knuckles:

:: This item has been permanently removed.

REMOVED – Tyson’s Mitts:

:: This item has been permanently removed.

Some might call this patch a hot-fix, but let’s not chance patch 13 with a bunch of new game-breaking features.

Patch 0.1.2 came with some issues so this patch is aimed at fixing them while introducing a few more quality of life changes– And yes, a small amount of -new- content!

Here’s what we have to offer:

GENERAL:

CHATTERBOX-  A simple message box has been implemented. While in game, all notifications that used to appear overhead will now appear in the message box. Expect a lot of tweaks to come in the future for the appearance and exact format of the box.

GET OUTTA THE WAY-  Many UI windows are now draggable, and can be positioned anywhere on the screen.

 POWERS:

CHANGED – Sprint – Cost to move per square reduced from 6 AP to 4 AP.