Today we released the first of several major updates for A Druid's Duel. Version 104 addresses a few issues with online gameplay and also includes a couple bug fixes.
Updating to v1.0.4 is required to play online games.
You may notice you have a bunch of games where it is now your turn. This is a Good Thing! Your opponent has automatically conceded, so just Resume the game and claim your Aura and Trisks!
Here's the gist:
Any game down to 2 players can now be Conceded. This is the "I give up" option. If you Concede the game, you retain any Trisks or Aura you earned. Any game with 3 or 4 active players still allows the current player to Retire. This means you leave the game and forego any Trisks or Aura from it.
The server is now doing automatic clean up of games. Any game where the current player has not taken their turn for 36 hours will do one of two things:
If it's down to 2 players, the current (inactive) player will concede the game.
If it has 3+ players, the current (inactive) player will Retire from the game.
In either case, the next player either wins or takes over as the current player.
The multiplayer maps "Four Corners" and "The Vaulted Wood" have been adjusted to allow for better balance.
The game limit has been increased to 10 active games and a bug has been fixed that counted some game states against your total. With automatic game clean up, this hopefully is an adequate number for now.
I will be posting a Guide on how to play Online Games that will cover how it all works in-depth.
The servers will be down for a while as I test through the updates.
Following the update, you will need to have version 1.0.4 of the game in order to play online games. There are significant changes where earlier versions will not be compatible. Again, this is for Online Games only. Campaign and Local Multiplayer will be untouched in this update.
On the Good News front, most in-progress games should be fine once updated on the server side.
A large number of games will be auto-conceded due to inactivity and disappear from the inactive player's list. If these games remain in your list, it means it is your turn, and all you need to do is Resume the game and claim your Aura and Trisks!
I will post more details on how the concessions and automatic game cleanup works following the update.
Thank you!
Kris
Update Schedule
Hey Everyone!
A Druid's Duel has been out for 2 weeks and the common theme is that the game itself rocks, but there are a few places the overall experience falls pretty short. I am encouraged that you really like thrashing Druids and will do what I can to improve the areas you don't like as much.
I've planned out a series of updates to help address the major issues. Read on to find out what's in store. I plan to get through all of these in the next 5-7 weeks.
Update 1
This will focus on short-term fixes to keep online games moving:
Players can concede in 2 Player games (or games down to 2 players left) at any point.
3 or 4 Player games will remain the same, meaning you can Retire on your turn only. This is not meant to make things hard for you, but the server will do its best to clean up inactive players.
Balance tweaks to some 2 Player maps.
A server component will accompany this update that will clean up games when they are not moving. If you don't take your turn within 36 hours, you will automatically concede or retire from the game. This is a fair balance between urgency and flexibility. If it turns out this is too long or too short, it will be easy to adjust.
This update is expected in the next week and will require the servers be down for a little while for updates. It will likely mean any in-progress games will be canceled. I'll give you more details before it happens.
Update 2
This update will provide better overall game options, such as widescreen support, audio/sound options, and some improved interface items.
Campaigns will get some updates that allow you to clear one at a time, or to change the difficulty setting in a current campaign. I am also looking at removing the back-track/replay requirements as everyone seems to hate them :)
Update 3
This will focus almost entirely on improved online play. The idea is to integrate heavily with Steam and provide a much easier way to find and play games immediately and to their conclusion. Lobbies, in-game Chat, Friend List integration are all planned.
And Beyond...
Provided the other updates go smoothly enough, the focus will turn to improving the Campaign overall as well as new game modes such as Skirmish or randomly generated maps.
Thank you for reading and don't be afraid to hit me up with any questions or ideas.
Kris (designer/developer)
Update 1034 Released
Today we released a small update to address a few of the bugs that have been reported, namely with the Campaign mode and a couple of the Achievements weren't working.
Version 1034 also allows the game to run in the background, so if you are waiting to take your turn, you can do something else and the game will continue to listen for your opponent's moves.
Note that opponent turns will play automatically (with sounds and all) when they are received.
Email Notifications Update and Roadmap
A small update went out to the server and Player Portal today. This exposes options for controlling when and how often you are emailed a notification when it is your turn.
Log in to the portal website and find it under: My Profile > Notification Settings. The options are once a day (default), always, or never.
The next small update will focus on bugs that have cropped up. Following that is running the client in the background and widescreen support. Then the big daddy...
A major update around improving the multiplayer experience. You can let us know your ideas on the discussion thread. The main focus will be on making it far easier to organize games and supporting your steam friends list.
Thanks for your continued ideas and feedback!
Kris
Just Getting Started
Hello Everyone!
We've been launched a few days on here so far and are getting some very positive feedback. But of course, no game is perfect! So thank you very much for the suggestions and encouragement.
First Update In The Works
The first order of business for us is to do some clean-up on how Online Games are managed. Namely, we're looking at simplifying your ability to Retire/leave games. It's a tricky dilemma and we want to make the right changes.
Keep in mind that right now you can leave any game that has more than 2 players. On your turn, just go into the game and choose to Retire. If there are 2 players, you're kind of stuck finishing it.
It's no fun when the people you're playing with suddenly drop out, but neither is it fun to wait for them for days and days to take their turn. If you want to leave a game, you should be able to -- we get it.
With those two sides in mind, we're working on both a notification update as well as a fair way to leave games you don't want to finish.
Be sure to drop into the Discussions if you have something to say about the game. We'd love to hear anything you have to say!
