Labyrinth
Matchmaking Server Maintenance
January 9th Patch
1. Fixed Daily Quests. Only 1 new quest will appear per day.
2. Fixed gameplay Damage Equation, and some Damage calculations.
3. Internal server fixes, improved stability.
Servers are back up!
January 6th Patch
New Year's Game Update
Build Update Notes
At long last the update is released! We did a major overhaul of Labyrinth. Plus, we have added Mac support!
Fixed Rewards and Replays. We believe we have fixed all of the frustrating bugs which where blocking notifications, rewards, and replays from getting through. We have had a couple dozen people testing, but that isn't at the scale of the entire player population, so if you encounter any of these problems, let us know and we will work to patch what we missed.
New Servers. Before, the game ran on local servers which contacted a remote database. Now Labyrinth runs on remote authoritative servers. One of the benefits of this is that you will now be able to resume encounters that are in progress, even if you get disconnected due to poor internet. It makes it less likely that things will get out of sync if you play the game on multiple devices in the future. This also makes any future cheating much more difficult to do, helping to ensure a fair playing field for all players.
New Content. This is a major content update that brings the game much closer to full release. Almost every key feature that will be included in the official launch has been implemented. There will be more content added in the future We've been placing particular focus on the new player's experience, improving the first 5 hours of the game.
Among the many changes are the following features:
Expanded and Improved Introduction: We've added the Defense (Boss) tutorial, which is a short narrative that teaches you how to build Boss decks, how defense and replays work, and some of the strategies you will encounter. This tutorial unlocks when your first Hero reaches level 5. We've also reworked and improved the appearance of the Defense screen.
New Boss and New Boss Trait: Maessna, the Dawn Queen is a Caster / Celestial Boss, and introduces Celestial cards to the game. Celestial cards channel the power of the gods. Cast devastating spells, manipulate time, and protect your Lair with giant minions that summon other minions.
Major Balance / Refinement Pass: The entire card set has seen more thorough testing and has been rebalanced to bring costs and effects more into line. Some cards have been cut and others added, effects changed, and rarities shifted around. There is still plenty of tuning and balance work to do, which we look forward to tackling as we collect feedback and data from a larger pool of players.
Improved Visuals: More cards now have the appropriate card illustrations, and new visual and sound FX have been added to many cards. In addition, we have added new models and animations to a number of minions and structures.
Better Matchmaking: We have a new algorithm that takes into account more factors, particularly a player's activity. We responded to feedback from many players that they were unsatisfied with the number of raids that they were receiving. From now on, the more you go on raids, the more likely it is that you will be raided. There are several other factors that play a role in matchmaking, and we will continue to tune this as we go.
Quests: We've implemented our first pass at the daily Quest system. You receive one Quest a day, and can have a maximum of three at time. Quests give you a great way to earn some extra gold by logging in every day. We have plans to refine this feature over the next several months, but we felt it was important to get at least a simple form into the game now.
Store Updates: We've added code redemption, and made some improvements to get everything in place before we turn on purchasing with real-world currency and start distributing backer rewards. We've also made great visual improvements to the pack-opening process.
Known Issues
- Ranked mode is turned off. We are reworking it and will patch in the future.
- All bosses are granted level 5 after the Defense tutorial completes.
- Practice mode does not turn on until you have equipped a boss.
- Friends list in Practice mode may not update correctly.
- Encounter could reset to an earlier tick in the middle of raiding.
Tips
- The more you raid, the more you will get raided.
- If matched against a high level boss, try to survive as long as possible, you will get more XP.
Account Reset
We reset all Gold, Stardust, Levels, XP, game state, and Card Collection inventory to the "new account starting state" and then refunding Gold and Stardust equivalent to what you earned previously by playing and building your collections. As we mentioned in a previous progress report, when you log in, your gold will be equal to:
Gold = (Card packs purchased * 100) + (Gold balance)
For stardust it will be equal to:
Stardust = (Logins since 9/23 * 5) + (Boss wins since 9/23 * 10) + (Stardust balance before 9/23)
Due to inconsistencies with our Stardust data and bugs in the rewards system, we cannot come up with a Stardust formula as accurate as our Gold formula. However, the method shown above overstates the Stardust we are returning to players because we have more accurate Boss wins data than you would expect, since you did not always get notifications of Boss wins due to the bugs.
Week 55 Progress Report
Labyrinth is on sale for $4.99 during the Steam Winter Sale, -50% off! The Winter Sale 2016 runs from Dec 22, 2016 @ 9:50am Pacific to Jan 2, 2017 @ 10:10am Pacific. Grab it for a Stocking Stuffer today!
Development
The team has been hard at work getting the Defense Tutorial Update ready for release. It is getting closer and we are starting QA today. In addition to finishing integration efforts to get the game running on the authoritative server and fixing related bugs, the team worked on the following this week:
- The Engineering Team worked on Server/Back End Architecture; Rewards UI; and Boss Tutorial Rewards UI.
- The Design Team worked on Tutorial clean-up and polish; Quest integration; and whole set card balance and tuning, with an emphasis on Boss cards, minions, and spells.
- The Art Team worked on new legendary minion models, interface polish, and numerous card visual improvements.
- The Audio Team worked on Arcane Protector FX; and Hard Light, Lightning Cone, Lockdown FX.
Upcoming Update
We would like to give you advanced warning that we plan to reset accounts on the next update. There will also be a maintenance period when the game will be down while we update. We will announce at a later date exactly when we will start maintenance and releasing the update.
As for the account reset, we will be resetting all Gold, Stardust, Levels, XP, game state, and Card Collection inventory to the "new account starting state" and then refunding Gold and Stardust equivalent to what you earned previously by playing and building your collections. After the update, when you log in, your gold will be equal to:
Gold = (Card packs purchased * 100) + (Gold balance)
For stardust it will be equal to:
Stardust = (Logins since 9/23 * 5) + (Boss wins since 9/23 * 10) + (Stardust balance before 9/23)
Due to inconsistencies with our Stardust data and bugs in the rewards system, we cannot come up with a Stardust formula as accurate as our Gold formula. However, the method shown above overstates the Stardust we are returning to players because we have more accurate Boss wins data than you would expect, since you did not always get notifications of Boss wins due to the bugs.
Happy Holidays!
Happy holidays to all of our backers and fans! Thank you for your support and warm holiday wishes. Most of us at Free Range Games plan to take a little time off next week and come back fresh to bust bugs and get the update out!
Less that 1 hour left to vote for Labyrinth for Indie Game of the Year at IndieDB
Week 54 Progress report
Labyrinth is in the running for Indie of the Year at IndieDB and needs your vote!
Click and vote for Labyrinth! http://www.indiedb.com/groups/2016-indie-of-the-year-awards/top100
Development
Over the last week our team has been working hard on the things for Labyrinth, below is a brief list of what we have done.
- The Engineering Team worked on Migration testing; Battle Resume; Rewards for League entry; Raid Manager; Casual Matchmaking; Tool Tip and Tutorial Polish; Steam Purchasing.
- The Design Team worked on Defense Tutorial; Boss Cards; Reaction field; Card visuals; Bushwhacker AI; Defense Tutorial Boss leveling.
- The Art Team worked on Boss display pedestal; Flayed Hunter; Pack opening revisions; Conversation sketches; Pack opening key exploding gfx; Skinning Venom Fang Queen; Centurion 2; Concept art; Minotaur Death; Flayed Hunter.
- The Audio Team worked on Shield Runner voice over; Storm Caller, and Lifespark FX; Doomsday Explosion, and Endurance Totem FX; summon mech, summon spirit, Aspect of Serpent FX; Doomsday ambiance.
Upcoming Major Update Features
This is what we are working on for the upcoming update. Some of these features may or may not make the final cut.
- Removed option to skip tutorial at the very start of the game
- Defense Tutorial which starts once a hero reaches level 5
- In Causal mode, players matched with prebuilt boss decks until a hero
- reaches level 5, then matched with real players
- Reworked Defense screen art
- Added the Priestess of the Sun boss
- Added and modified cards and characters, adding art in many cases
- Rebalanced bosses, heroes, and their cards
- Reworked Matchmaking algorithm
- Resume on Pause, so now you will be given an option to return to games in progress
- Quests system for extra gold rewards, removed the old temporary daily rewards
- Updated Store to allow codes to be redeemed and added tokens
- Card Pack Opener improvements
- Authoritative servers to protect from cheating
- Fixed bugs
Get out the Vote!
Skybound has been helping us get the vote out for Labyrinth, even using The Walking Dead to help us. To help Labyrinth and as thanks to them, please retweet:
https://twitter.com/TheWalkingDead/status/809481112628043776
And of course, ask a few friends to vote!
Twitter Performance
To everyone who has been helping get the word out on Labyrinth, thank you very much! This has been an amazing 2 weeks. Please keep retweeting.
If you would like to get involved, now is the time! We are giving away keys every week on Twitter and could use your support in retweeting to get the word out. You may even win a key to give to a friend!
Here are 2 to retweet right now:
- https://twitter.com/LabyrinthOracle/status/809854638379954176
- https://twitter.com/LabyrinthOracle/status/808451952409341952
Thanks!!
The Walking Dead supports Labyrinth
https://twitter.com/TheWalkingDead/status/809481112628043776
Please vote and share.
Vote (again) for Labyrinth. Yes, again!
http://www.indiedb.com/groups/2016-indie-of-the-year-awards/top100#vote45170
Labyrinth was voted into the Top 100 in stage 1. This is stage 2 now. Thank you for your support.