https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EwV_P6fXIAQJhzk?format=jpg&name=large" style="max-width:100%">

I'm making very good progress, but I'm still very behind because the thing is that this game is INSANELY HUGE (just the gameplay, not even considering the writing!). I'm adding a lot of useful functions/things, like now you can see if you can upgrade a card because there's a little star animation over it, and so on.

Does the card upgrade only applies to creatures, or can spells be upgraded as well?

No only creatures, since the spell upgrade wasn't present in the framework, and I don't think I can implement it (I already added so many functions but this one would be a big change!)



edit: also because some spells couldn't really be upgraded in a fair way, like "kill random non-legendary injured creature", that one would be hard to upgrade. And so on.

To be honest right now my main worry is that I can win 95% of battles in hard difficulty. I need to check how I did in PSCD. Probably there were more wall/taunt units, or the CPU started with more defense or something, since I think it was harder (but I might be wrong, it's 4-5 years since I last played it!).

Of course I know that several people (card games newbies) thought PSCD was OK at normal difficulty, so perhaps I'm worrying for nothing We'll see!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EwwANWjWQAMfggE?format=jpg&name=large" style="max-width:100%">

behold another OP card!

I am still doing tests, worse case I can reduce it to "gain HALF attack and hit points of target" if I see it's too strong. But I finally managed to code the AI to use it well (before it was summoning the card always in wrong situations so couldn't "eat" the creatures!).

Haven't updated in a while but I'm making very good progress! Behold the power of the black castle:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzZa_8IXsAMo9UF?format=jpg&name=large" style="max-width:100%">

(there's a small issue with this new card border with the label vertical aligment, but will be fixed).

In short, without spoiling too much, if you dare to challenge Mantras, he'll fight you himself using the power of Cosmos! *



* seriously OP cards but I'm sure experienced card players will be able to beat him without problems!

[youtubeWD]X-OT1CqnudE[/youtubeWD]

First video of the deck screen and upgrade system

So this month I am hoping to have the gameplay demo with the first 2-3 battles (not sure if I'll make in time but I'll try).

I have a doubt though: in the game, depending on choices, there will be a good or bad ending for each love interest. With the good ending you can unlock the romance scene (in this game you can romance more than one character at time). And with enough good endings, you can also unlock an alternate ending, which means 2 bonus extra battles at the end of game.



The problem is... I am not sure how to do this. I mean, if you play in VN mode, you can quickly replay the game. BUT in VN mode you don't get to fight, so you don't have the 2 bonus battles. The game can be pretty long, if you do all the fights which are 72, but maybe mess up with the characters backstories, you could miss the two bonus fight at the end, and to get them you should replay the game from beginning



Not sure, I mean there are plenty of AAA games which have multiple endings and if you screw up at some points during the playthrough, you're basically screwed but I think it might piss some players off. I could maybe have an option to skip battles which people have already won in the past? would be a bit like cheating but not completely, if you already beat battle 37 in a previos playthrough... that's the best idea it comes to mind right now!

I want a super "secret" ending that requires you to play all the battles! But I'll play them all no matter what. Probably more than once...

Lol I hope so, but anyway you're not the average player for this kind of game the total amount of battles should be around 75, almost 3 times PSCD...

For now I'll stick with that idea above, maybe allowing it only if you play in easy/normal difficulty.

I've paused this in the last couple of months to finish some games (some very late like Summer In Trigue ). But in September I plan to resume working on this. The goal would be to design ALL the cards (including the new "Cosmos" ones). In September will also be busy with another KS (if they let me do it this time lol). Anyway, I plan to keep working on CoM and maybe have finally the demo towards end of year, even if it's a crowded moment, it's not the game release so even if everyone is busy with AAA games I don't care much

Definitely am looking forward to this game. The art designs and characters are just terrific and gorgeous!

Thanks. Now that Love Notes is done, I'll be working on this and release it next year !

Current plan is to do the Kickstarter first, not sure yet when (I need to think if to start it now or wait after Christmas) and I am also going to participate in the Steam Fest next February. So my goal is to have a playable demo in early Feburary And hopefully release it sometimes in March/April 2022

The KS project got approved: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/winterwolves/the-curse-of-mantras

Now only need to decide when to launch it...!

Resuming development thread, today I almost finished the tutorial, this is the upgrade screen info:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FJNs5llWUAAcRlf?format=jpg&name=large" style="max-width:100%">

I made a very detailed tutorial because my goal is to make this game a bit more casual than PSCD hoping that even people who aren't into card games will try the gameplay part.

In the easy difficulty will be hard to lose I think. But the hard difficulty should still be challenging!

Took a break yesterday after the loss of my cat, but today I made good progress again. I have the demo all done, I'm just playing it through several times to make sure it's not too unbalanced or that I messed up something.

I am considering if to have a "best of 3" system for each battle, but not sure. I mean, being a card game the RNG has a big impact. I can already foresee the negative reviews "the CPU cheats" on Steam

Playing at normal level I lost like 2-3 battles out of 20, so I fear it might be a bit too easy, but on the other hand I expect people to set Normal as difficulty, and only pick Hard if they're familiar with card games.

Anyway, might start a beta here before the Steam Fest so the version I put up there will be already more polished. I think even at end of the month!

You have my sympathies on the loss of your cat.

It broke my heart when we had to put down Julius (gray cat, well advanced in years, had an inoperable fast-growing tumor).

Yes mine had same issue, cancer in the head and couldn't do surgery

I'm sure you gave your cat a good life and did the right thing at the end, hard as it is.



Best of 3 doesn't sound like a good idea to me, and I can already see the negative reviews, "artificially bloated gameplay", "too many battles", etc.



On the other hand, if you have "puzzle" fights where the AI starts with certain unique cards in play, like some fights in PSCD, it might not be the worst idea, IF we're able to modify decks in between fights. Even then, I would prefer to reload and only have to win once.



You already know I'm going to play Hard and judge hard! (But mostly fair.)