Dino Mercs
Patch v4.0.2
This month you'll see a lot of these patches. Again, a big thank you to anyone who finds a bug and reports it via Steam or Discord. It helps me a ton! Working solo on this project means that even if I do a ton of play-testing, I'll likely miss at least a few bugs every time.
Here's what I fixed in this patch:
- Potential fix for an issue where status cards persist in your deck after a combat encounter, leading to strange bugs and possible soft-locking. I say "potential" because I personally haven't encountered this bug (it was reported by a player), but I did see a possible issue in the code that I patched.
- Red Geyser, Scare to Death, and Blindsided cards now add 2 status cards to enemy deck, instead of 1.
- Made Primal Regeneration card description a bit easier to understand, it was kinda confusing.
- Panicked tooltip text mentioned Enraged status instead of Panicked status.
- Add back in tooltips for static cards (cards in card reward store, view deck overlay, etc.)
- More fixes for Smoke status card descriptions
- Some players have reported issues with tabbing out of the game and tabbing back in causing soft-locking. I added a potential fix that allows the game to continue running in the background. I'll need to do more testing to ensure that this has actually been fixed.
- Fix a bug where you could keep removing cards from your deck even though you couldn't afford it.
- Flush Out card had a white box where the art should be. I added a placeholder image for now (still need to finish all the card art!).
- Unlocks page pagination had an incorrect pagination label, was showing an incorrect total page count.
That's it for now!
- Tim (the dev)
Patch v4.0.1
- Potential fix for a soft-locking bug that occurs after status cards are played
- Fix bug where the code was trying to remove cards from card pool twice upon purchase
- Fix incorrect description on enemy smoke grenade status card
- Updated credits, was missing someone
Early Access Release v4.0.0
This is another HUGE update. As always with updates this size, there will be bugs, balance issues, and broken things. If you have any issues, please let me know here on Steam or, even better, on the DINO MERCS discord.
This update introduces a brand-new character: EPHEMERYS!
Ephemerys is a stealthy close quarters assassin who prefers to strike from the shadows. She utilizes the new Stealth stat to quickly dispatch enemies. A number of brand-new cards have been added that give you Stealth, and use Stealth to land deadly blows.
BOSSES have also been added!
Bosses are encountered every 20 sectors and will seriously test your survivability. They get access to some of the most deadly cards in the game and provide a hefty challenge to various play styles.
Currently, there are two bosses, with more coming soon!
Here's a full list of everything that's been added, changed, and/or fixed in this update:
- New: a brand new playable character - Ephemerys. She uses Stealth to avoid damage and land lethal blows on her enemies.
- New: Stealth - this stat reduces damage taken (prevents most damage if playing as Ephemerys), but once you attack, you lose all your stealth points. Use Stealth points to power up deadly Stealth attack cards.
- New: Stealth cards!
- New: new faction of enemies - Fascists! The Fascists field mechanical units and heavily armored vehicles to deadly effect. Try not to die.
- New: Bosses - extra-deadly enemies that will test your deck and skills to the max. They appear every 20 Sectors, so be prepared!
- New: Card Slots have been totally reworked. Instead of Weak/Average/Deadly and Positive/Negative, slots are assigned a multiplier based on how far into a run you’ve progressed. For example, a slot might power up (or power down) the effects of a card by 2x or by -2x. This should help remove some of the guesswork involved in positioning cards and make things simply easier to reason about in general. A big thank you to DINO MERC’s community manager, Strateture, for the inspiration behind this change.
- New: Since Card Slots work differently now, I reworked every card in the game … again. Expect a lot of upcoming balancing fixes. Things might be a little rough around the edges for a number of cards.
- Change: environmental damage from Operation Events is significantly reduced and is handled like combat damage (i.e. affects shield, then armor, then HP)
- Change: increase every playable character's starting Shield/Armor/HP
- Change: I thought have smaller numbers would help make things more strategic. Instead, it (personally) feels like small numbers are less fun, more difficult to balance, and appear to be “less powerful”. So I’m basically doubling every number (damage, stats, etc.)
- Change: cost of unlocking a new character is now 7, instead of 5.
- Change: player is rewarded 1 unlock point for every 2 sectors completed (rounded up, increased from every 3 sectors completed)
- Change: increase width of tooltips to prevent tooltips that are way too tall
- Bugfix: add in score details to Mission Complete screen
What's next?
I'm getting close to the end of Early Access - I'm specifically aiming to have the game finished before Christmas-time/late December. I'm focusing on lots of balance fixes, getting rid of all the bugs, and introducing various quality-of-life changes. There won't be much more new content at this point before the game leaves early access (you can expect another character, another boss, and some new cards at the very least!) since I want to focus on getting the game really polished.
I'll have more updates to share soon. In the meantime, have a spooky October!
- Tim (the dev)
Patch v3.0.3
I've got a bunch of other fixes in the works as well. I'm in the process of reworking card slot effect modifiers, a change that should help simplify everything and improve the gameplay experience. In addition to that, I'll be improving status cards. Some cards produce way too many of them, and they can have an outsized impact (negatively) sometimes.
Here's what this patch includes:
- UI: add a note on unlocks page explaining how unlock points are gained
- Bugfix: fix Enemy Headshot, Cruel Blade cards, they dealt damage to enemy instead of player
- Bugfix: fix enemy and player Blazing Sun cards, in weak slots they imparted Enraged status cards instead of Overheated status cards
- Bugfix: game could soft-lock around combat encounter three, due to some average/deadly enemies lacking an attribute needed for combat encounters
- Bugfix: the last screen of the tutorial disappeared again. I don’t know why. I added it back in. Hopefully it stays this time.
Patch v3.0.2
I'm still hunting down some hard-to-reproduce bugs. If you happen to encounter anything that doesn't seem right, please let me know here on Steam or even better, on the DINO MERCS discord server! The more details you can share, the better! Thanks in advance :)
Here's what was changed and fixed:
- New: Add option to Retreat from standard (non-Merc Killer) combat encounters - no rewards gained if you retreat
- Bugfix: Fix Character Unlocks - T.Rex/Triceratops
- Bugfix: Fix issue where if enemy has the first turn due to higher speed, the round would end after their turn finishes. Now rounds are always 2 turns
- Bugfix: Hide "unreleased" stat STL from stat section
- Bugfix: fix enemy CHOMP card, card effects were reversed
- Bugfix: fix uncommon attack card negative effect modifiers
Upcoming:
- I'm going to be reworking how Card Slots work
- More bug fixes
- Thinking through a better way to do events/lore/narrative
Thanks everyone for playing DINO MERCS and being a part of this Early Access journey. I've got lots of things in the works, excited to share it with y'all.
- Tim, the dev
Patch v3.0.1
- Fixes broken tutorial screen
- Fixes Auto Pistols - had Rare styling / cost, but it's a common card
- Fix "View Deck" functionality on Combat Rewards Store
I'll be continuing to make some fixes to cards that don't have correct effects in some card positions, plus I'm working on some balance fixes.
I just got home from some traveling, so will be fully back to working on fixes and new content in the next couple of days.
Thanks and hope you enjoy the new update!
-Tim, the dev
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Early Access Release v3.0.0 is live!
It's a huge update, so first off:
There are an enormous amount of changes in this update, so you should expect some bugs, balance issues, and various rough edges. If you encounter anything that doesn't seem right or anything that doesn't feel well-balanced, please join the discord server and tell me or leave a comment here on Steam!
Also - since there were so many changes, save files had to be wiped. All the cards are brand new and/or reworked, plus there's a new unlock system. So, overall, it made sense to have save files reset and wiped clean. I know it's a bummer to lose all your progress, so I'll do my absolute best to make this a one-time thing. I was able to do some upgrades to the save system, so this won't have to happen again.
Anyways, here's the actual notes on the release!
- New: New Stats! Aim, Strength, Speed, Cover, Dodge, and one more that will be revealed in the near future.
- New: No more Statuses! They have been cut for more focused, dynamic gameplay.
- New: Status cards. So, I kinda lied. Statuses are still in the game. But now they exist as cards. Now that they are cards, they will have more immediate effects as opposed to imparting passive modifiers.
- New: Simplified damage types. No more Plus damage types. Basic damage types now have a damage profile of 2x damage against the defense stat they are effective against, 1x against everything else. Special damage types have a damage profile of 3x damage/1x damage. The goal is to make attack cards more "situational". Some powerful attack cards were far too powerful in all situations.
- New: Explosive damage has a profile of 1.5x against everything, but cards that deal explosive damage are less common.
- New: enemies now have decks of cards that they draw from. This should hopefully result in slightly less predicable enemy turns.
- New: enemy stats and cards have been totally reworked.
- New: Support cards have been reworked from the ground up. They no longer have any effect when played. Instead, they impart passive effects, such as boosting all max stat values.
- New: Battery now gains double the passive bonuses of Support cards.
- New: Birtie-Rae (T. Rex) no longer has Primal Fury cards. Now, she gains additional bonuses from Enraged status cards.
- New: lots of new cards, plus more Legend cards.
- New: totally new card unlock system that allows for more freedom to unlock exactly the cards you want.
- Balance: Defense maximum stats (Shield, Armor, HP) have all been lowered. The goal is to make enemies/player feel less like damage sponges and to make battles feel more decisive and strategic.
- Balance: nerf Hyper Death Spine Blade legend card, now imparts a flat +7 damage increase instead of +300%
Expect plenty more patches, updates, and more over the next week or so!
And, I'll also be posting more about what's upcoming soon!
Beta v3.0.0 & Steam Strategy Fest!
First off, a playable Beta for upcoming release v3.0.0 is available to playtest!
This is a huge update that includes a rework of every single card in the game, new cards, new Legends, new enemy decks, new Stats system, and more. I plan to release it to everyone during the Strategy Fest, but I want the Beta to get a little bit more testing before that happens. Since I'm a solo developer, it helps to get some extra eyes on a release before I make it live to the public, so all (or at least, most) of those pesky bugs can be put down. Fair warning: there will be a number of bugs and balance issues. I'm actively working on fixing them, but any additional help finding issues is deeply appreciated.
If you don't know how to access a beta on Steam: right-click on the game, go to "Properties", then "Betas", and then select "testing" from the list of branches/betas to play. That will allow you to launch the game with the correct version. You'll know it worked because the title of the game in your steam library will look like "DINO MERCS [testing]".
If you do any play-testing, thank you! It means a lot to me. Please feel free to report any bugs, balance issues, and any feedback you have here on Steam (discussions or on this post), or even better, join the discord server! (a link can be found on the Start screen of the game)
Second, DINO MERCS is a part of Steam's Strategy Fest, as mentioned above. It's 25% off too!
That's it for now. I'll have a lot more to share when I do the full release of v3.0.0.
DINO MERCS + Steam Strategy Fest
I'm working really hard on Early Access update v3.0.0 and plan to release that in the next couple of days, assuming I can get everything at least slightly smoothed out by then. I've reworked every single card in the game, added a new stats system, given enemies their own unique decks of cards, a new unlock system, and lots more. There's now over 150 cards in the game! All of this also means that I have to do a ton of work to make sure everything is balanced and playable.
Possibly tomorrow or the day after that, I'll be releasing a playable beta via Steam. So if you'd like to help with playtesting, keep an eye out for that!