Happy holiday season Duelists! We're thrilled to announce the launch of NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters the "So much content it should be a remaster" major update. This follows Novembers Swamp update, a major content drop for the highly-rated PvP auto-battler blending monster taming with strategic inventory management, from the Turkish indie duo of Rogue Duck Interactive and DiceHit Games. The Swamp Update (v1.1), released November 27th, introduced a fresh new fusion Element created by merging Nature and Water elements, with over 10 upgrades and Cosmions empowered by that same muddy power, alongside reworked Haste buff and Clumsy debuff. With the "So much content it should be a remaster" major update, NeoDuel continues to evolve by adding over 20 QoL updates ranging from UI changes to better user experience, brand new Steam Community items, and finally, a singleplayer mode, offering Duelists the space to refine their strategies, learn elemental counters, and take on curated challenges without affecting Elo ranks. On top of all, to celebrate this major update and the Steam Winter Sales, we're putting NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters on a 30% discount, just in time to treat your friends our game before the holiday break (prices are regionally adjusted, check your local store for exact pricing below). https://store.steampowered.com/app/2693940/NEODUEL_Backpack_Monsters/ There's a lot to cover in this update, so grab a drink, and let's get to it:

NEW CONTENT FOR THE GAME:

Singleplayer Challenges: A Community Favourite

With the arrival of Swamp, NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters also introduce a highly requested feature: single-player challenges. Duelists willing to learn the ropes, practice or even challenge themselves will be able to do so without losing any Elo ranks. The single player challenges bring a set of predefined Elemental riddles or "puzzles" where you must tackle a single run against a series of singular elemental themed builds, with more themed challenges to be added throughout the year.
Each challenge will include both a Normal mode, perfect for practicing, and a Harder version, designed for veteran Duelists. Upon completion, Duelists will be able to adorn an elemental challenge completion player card themed after the Element they've won, showing off their accomplishments.
We've had lots of fun designing these challenges, full of pop culture and even meme references, and maybe some jokes that certain NeoDuel veterans will get. In any case, it's a fun yet challenging experience for solo duelists, and completely free of charge for all players.

Steam Community items now available in Steam

Celebrate this update with the launch of NeoDuel five trading cards, connected to our main core elements - Neutral, Fire, Air, Nature, Water, Electricity - combined with the ultimate Evolution form of its corresponding starter Cosmions. As you play, you may earn those cards, which will ultimately unlock profile badges (themed after the 5 highest Elo ranks in the game), and even emoticons and profile backgrounds.

QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATES

This major update also adds to the range of new QoL updates, features, and balancing, including the following highlights:

• New duelist avatars themed after the Air and Water Elements, DiceHit and Rogue Duck dev team
• Custom name tags, 10 in total based on the singleplayer challenges (Air, Water, Electric, Fire and Nature)
• Refined Cosmions: balancing tweaks for better gameplay
• A new upgrade slot so you can pick out of 4 options instead of 3
• Enhanced Tutorial: Guidance for overtime mechanics and a new onboarding process
• New Tooltip adding much more details and readability to the stats, evolutions, fusions and changes in the game
• Stats Live Calculations: Real-time buff and nerfs stat displays in the shop for better strategy and planning
• Upgrade Screen & Customization Shop UI
• New Buff/Debuff Effects & Avatar Animations
• Polished Main Menu Assets

COSMION & UPGRADE BALANCING AND CHANGES

While the game has been quite solid in terms of balancing, based on almost a month of monitoring, we did find some little tweaks to push. The majority of it is mainly to give you some incentives to pick some of the least used Cosmions like n30 c0sm10n or even Belestra. AIR BASED COSMION

• Air Khepre and Khepira: Cooldown reduced from 4 to 2.5.

ELECTRIC BASED COSMION

• Belestra [REWORK]: Previous passive removed, and now each time Belestra deals damage, it gains 1 strength
• Wasbuzz: Critical hit chance upped from 20% to 30%.
• Z.E.U.S.: Added extra 10% critical chance stat.
• Tokmak: Energey cost reduced from 3 to 2.5.

NATURE BASED COSMION

• Rockeon: Damage range upped from 15-18 to 16-20.

NEUTRAL BASED COSMION

• n30 c0sm10n: Damage range upped from 7-9 to 8-11.
• Knod: Damage range upped from 5-6 to 6-8.

SWAMP BASED COSMION

• Squelcho: Energy cost reduced from 3 to 2.

WATER BASED COSMION

• Artwo: Energy cost reduced from 3 to 2.
• Serenius: Link effect upped from 5 to now 10 Flow

CHANGES TO UPGRADES

• Rook Upgrade: Reduced value of shield to 50% from 100%.

BUGFIXES AND KNOWN ISSUES

• Steam Deck bugs - KNOWN ISSUE : Steam Deck running on Linux means that lots of those OS bugs are affecting Neoduel "on the go". Expect to see black bar in places where some animations are not loading correctly, and there's small instances of cloud save not working as intended, creating a different instance of your save on the machine. We're currently investigating a fix.
• Achievements - KNOWN ISSUE : We received small reports of certain complex achievements like "Fusion Complete" are not triggering upon completion. We're currently investigating a fix but require more data so don't hesitate to open a support ticket on Discord.

Thats it for now Duelists! Well be constantly monitoring how you will be playing this new version of the game, before taking a short break for the holidays. From our small but dedicated dev team, our publisher and other partners, we would like to thank you all for supporting us! Until then, for the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem.

[ 2024-12-19 18:05:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Missed the Steam Autumn Sales? Well you're in for a treat, as Neoduel: Backpack Monster is part of the Weeklong Sales, with a 30% discount. Grab the full game and all updates included for less than 10$. Perfect timing to gift this game to your friends now before the holidays (prices are regionally adjusted, check your local store for exact pricing below). https://store.steampowered.com/app/2693940/NEODUEL_Backpack_Monsters/ Until then, for the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem.

[ 2024-12-12 08:55:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Tough love, anyone? You dont master Cosmions overnight, but you wouldnt want it any other way. Nominate NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters for "Best Game You Suck At" starting from today until December 4th... Unless you believe we deserve to be nominated in other categories as well? And while you're at it, we're currently taking part of Steam Autumn Sale, with a steal of a discount of 30%, perfect to gift the game to your friends. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2693940/NEODUEL_Backpack_Monsters/

[ 2024-11-28 10:18:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Brace yourselves for new Duels! We're excited to announce the first major free update to NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters (currently rated Highly Positive on Steam), our exciting PvP auto-battler that combines strategic inventory management with monster taming elements. This update, titled The Swamp Update (version 1.1), is now live on Steam and introduces a fresh new fusion Element by the same name, created by merging Nature and Water elements and on top of that we've done the prework on a bunch of new feature coming in the coming months including a soon to be released singleplayer challenges for all solo Duelists. Perfect timing as we push today a 30% discount promotion in celebration of this major patch and Steam Autumn Sales... We guess it's perfect timing to gift this game to your friends now before the holidays (prices are regionally adjusted, check your local store for exact pricing below). https://store.steampowered.com/app/2693940/NEODUEL_Backpack_Monsters/ We also wanted to introduce a Custom PvP mode in this updates (as mentioned in V1.0.97 patch notes), but due to some IP-based restrictions in certain countries, we've decided to push that feature to a later date instead of preventing some nations from being able to use it. The good thing is that the system is ready, and just requires our network infrastructure to find a solution around those IP restrictions. In any case, there's a lot to cover in this update, and like all kinds of Swamp parties, they always toad-ally fun. So without further pondering around let's get to it:

NEW CONTENT FOR THE GAME:

A slippery element: Dance to the algae groove of the Swamp Element

This major V1.1 update of NeoDuel will feature the second of our four major and free content update revolving around the new gameplay mechanic addition known as Elemental fusion. After Ice, we're introducing the power of the Swamp, an elemental power from the fusion of Water and Nature which brings a reworked version of the Haste buff and Clumsy debuff. Similar to previous blog post, we figured we'd list all of the new Cosmions which most of them rely on a fusion (you can see them visually under this list in order from right to left):

• Swamp Essence: only two kind exist (Rare and Epic) with the Rare one being the results of a fusion between Rare Water and Nature Essences. Fuse two of those to obtain an Epic Swamp Essence.
• Swamp Slimi: The results of a fusion of Water and Nature Slimi.
• Axomuddy: Kind of look like the known walking catfish, this Cosmion is the fusion Duopon and Sugeko.
• Bog Klood: Fuse an Water Klood with a Rare Nature Essence, or alternatively an Acid Klood with Rare Water Essence.
• Squelcho: The results of fusing Arthur with an Epic Nature Essence.
• Orhan: Fuse Cemil with a Rare Nature Essence and you get this muddy attacker.
• Dorogun: The Swamp dragon is the result of Bradragon with a Rare Swamp Essence.
• Iblis: This is the mighty triple fusion of Cemil, Suat and Orhan, merging into this Neutral grim reaper.
• Mosscream: The fusion of a Domi and Duopon.
• Drenchnaut: This mud turtle is the fusion result of Strutwahl and a Rare Nature Essence.
• Hagartha: This super-unique Cosmion themed after an iconic Witch of the swamps can only be obtained through the "Terror of the Swamp" shop Upgrade as a reward.
• Artwo: While not a Swamp Cosmion, this Water "upgraded" version of Arthur was necessary for the meta. Fuse Arthur with an Epic Water Essence to obtain this critter.

Some slippery Upgrades!

Over the past two months since the launch, we've added 30 new upgrades in the game, ranging from elemental keyword counters to rare game-changing alterations, and that now reaches the range of close to 200 in total. While, most upgrades have been rebalanced based on feedback from Duelists, we decided to tone down on the drop new upgrades for this version (as the pool is getting huge), and so we have 7 starting Swamp themed one, focusing mostly . As for the keywords, we've redesigned how Haste and Clumsy works:

• Haste: Your caster and defender Cosmions trigger 3% faster
• Clumsy: Opponents' caster and defender Cosmions trigger 3% slower

While it seems like the same as before, Haste and Clumsy were actually affecting all Cosmions, and thus now they're focused more around the current changes from Swamp, having so many Defenders and Casters added to the game.

QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATES

This major update also adds a range of new and previously released QoL updates, features and balancing that were added since the launch on September 30th, including the following highlights:

• Redesigned menu and player card [NEW]: A revised version of the main page UI has been enhanced, featuring a rework on the player card with your stats implemented, with a clearer customization button to set up your avatar.
• Tutorial for newcommers [NEW]: While working on a the singleplayer challenges, we were inspired to revise our previous tutorial experience. This new version is a better onboarding system, as it doesn't pair you against another player's board, but rather a preset challenge for you to learn the ropes of the game, and learn from the mistake of those other boards.
• Ice Elementals: Introduction of Ice elementals alongside 13 new Cosmions.
• New PvP practice mode: After completing a full game run, generate a build code to share and compare your setup against a friend's opponent.
• New Upgrades: Over 30 new upgrades are available in the game, ranging from elemental keyword counters to rare game-changing alterations. Most upgrades have been rebalanced based on feedback from Duelists.
• Complete Codex: A comprehensive Codex that explains all game mechanics, includes a full list of Cosmions, fusion recipes, and fun flavor text for our cosmic critters.
• Quality of Life (QoL) updates: new icon designs, optimized UI, visual changes, keyboard shortcuts, fusion lock, and a lot more.

Thats it for now Duelists, we've taken enough of your time, go and climb the ranks! Well be constantly monitoring this week stability of the builds, meta and other live aspect of the game, to make sure the game is perfect. From our small but dedicated dev team, our publisher and other partners, we would like to thank you all for supporting us in this launch! Until then, for the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem.

[ 2024-11-27 17:18:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of today, November 14th, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel on Steam, make sure you update your game. Here's what to expect in this patch note:

NEW UPCOMING FEATURES

While this is not technically getting implemented today, the patch does prepare the ground work for the game to host a new feature we had in mind for a while which is PvP custom games. While we have the casual mode to let Duelists do practice runs without fear of losing any Elo ranks, we always wanted to allow everyone to play against a specific build from a friend, without having to redo the game design. After all, this is an asynchronous multiplayer game, so you're not effectively fighting other backpacks live, so we had to find a different approach to the PvP custom game mode. That said, coming next week, we're going to launch that mode if it all goes well, and we'll explain a bit more how it works. On another note, our development on the Swamp Update (version 1.1) progress is going well, and we're definitely hitting our deadline of launching around the end of this year. In the meantime, we figured we'd reveal some of our early sketches of the Swamp Cosmions as a teaser, and would love to hear from you Duelists what you think these two critters' names are.

COSMION & ESSENCE BALANCING AND CHANGES

In this patch the balancing is solely focused on the Fire Element. We had to give it a little additional discouragement because, in spite of all the earlier nerfs, Fire is still the most common element. As you can see, it mostly targets the Flinter spamming builds' power buildings and makes adjustments to Houshan, the popular Fire dragon, with minor hits to Blazeroll and Matchiro. FIRE BASED COSMION

• Flinter: Upped price in shop from 4 to 5
• Matchiro: Base damage range lowered from 3-6 to 3-5.
• Blazeroll: Upped price in shop from 4 to 5.
• Houshan: Cooldown upped from 4 to 4.5.

DRAGON ARCHETYPE COSMION

• Baby Dragon: Accuracy reduced from 80 to 50

Developers Notes: The reason for this nerf is the newly discovered Baby Dragon Attacker build paired with Dragon Scales Upgrade. While I do think it's an interesting buildcraft, it should not be this strong. If you are going for it, better have some Clarity now!

BUGFIXES AND KNOWN ISSUES

• Steam Deck bugs - KNOWN ISSUE : Steam Deck running on Linux means that lots of those OS bugs are affecting Neoduel "on the go". Expect to see black bar in places where some animations are not loading correctly, and there's small instances of cloud save not working as intended, creating a different instance of your save on the machine. We're currently investigating a fix.
• Achievements - KNOWN ISSUE : We received small reports of certain complex achievements like "Fusion Complete" are not triggering upon completion. We're currently investigating a fix but require more data so don't hesitate to open a support ticket on Discord.

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-11-14 15:56:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of today, November 7th, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel on Steam, make sure you update your game. Here's what to expect in this patch note:

THE BIG UPGRADE PATCH

DID SOMEONE SAY MAWR UPGRADES!? Yes indeed, and that brings a staggering amount of almost 160 Upgrades in the game with today's 13 new additional Upgrades. The new batch is just adds some missing pieces to the puzzle, and here's the full list including in order from left to right.

• David (available in stage 1,2 and 3): Take 30% maximum health damage and gain 20% damage.
• Goliath (available in stage 1,2 and 3): Gain shield equal to 25% of your max health and lose 5% damage.
• Regen of the Colossus (available in stage 1,2 and 3): Every second, gain 1,5% of your maximum Health.
• Roll of the dice (available in stage 1,2 and 3): Cosmions have 10% chance of not consuming Energy.
• SHIELDS UP 1 (available in stage 1): At start, gain 40 Shield.
• SHIELDS UP 2 (available in stage 2): At start, gain 90 Shield.
• SHIELDS UP 3 (available in stage 3): At start, gain 150 Shield.
• Stop the Bleeding (available in stage 1 and 2): For every loss you have, gain 2 Toughness.
• Strength from numbers (available in stage 1 and 2): For every Cosmion you have, deal 1% more damage.
• Tough Shell (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): For every Defender you have, gain 1 Toughness.
• Slimi packet 1 (available in stage 1): Your Slimis now have 4 second cooldown instead of one time effect, gain 2 Slimis.
• Slimi packet 2 (available in stage 2): Your Slimis now have 4 second cooldown instead of one time effect, gain 4 Slimis.
• ANOTHER ONE? (available in stage 2): Gain a Rogueduck, lose everything you have.

Developers Notes: With this update, you will realize that the Upgrade selection pool is getting bigger, and we won't stop there. When a pool gets this big, it can be very hard to find the Upgrades you are looking for in the long run. While we don't want players to be forced into playing a specific build every time, we also do not want Duelists to NEVER play their dream composition. In a near future patch, we are thinking of a QoL update which will further make the entire Upgrade selection feel good and reliable. This patch is also focused on a rebalancing of Neoduel's Upgrades, with a plethora of changes mostly on a granular level in terms of stats, based on now one full month of Duelist data. That ranges from how many times certain Upgrades or Cosmions were picked in the shop, and pair it with current win streak and overall success rate. We hope that the following rebalanced upgrades will incite some new build crafting juice:

• Adrenaline Boost (available in stage 1,2 and 3): Once per duel, when you are below 25% Health, gain Shield equal to the 25%->20% of your maximum Health.
• Better Than Nothing 1 (available in stage 1): Each lose gives 4->5 additional coins.
• Better Than Nothing 2 (available in stage 2): Each lose gives 6->8 additional coins.
• Better Than Nothing 3 (available in stage 3): Each lose gives 8->10 additional coins.
• Blood Pact (available in stage 1,2 and 3): Lose 20%->30 of your Health but gain 5-6 Strengthen.
• Blood Pact (available in stage 1,2 and 3): Your Cosmions deal more damage according to your opponent's missing health (1%-40%->30%, capped at 40%->30% Health).
• Cheap Tactics (available in stage 1 and 2): Common and Rare Cosmions trigger 35% faster.
• Corrosive Acid (available in stage 1 and 2): Acid now also damages the opponent Health. Acid now deals %25 less damage.
• Defense of Many (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): Gain 8->7 Shield per Cosmion you have.
• Earthen Armor (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): Gain 5->7 Toughness.
• Elemental Synergy (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): Cosmions from your most used element have additional 30%->20% Cooldown Reduction.
• Energized! 1 (available in stage 1): Gain 5->6 Energize.
• Energized! 2 (available in stage 2): Gain 7->9 Energize.
• Energized! 2 (available in stage 2): Gain 10->12 Energize.
• F.A.S.T. (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): Gain 7->5 Haste.
• FireStarter 1 (available in stage 1): Inflict 5->4 Burn.
• FireStarter 2 (available in stage 2): Inflict 10->8 Burn.
• FireStarter 3 (available in stage 3): Inflict 15->12 Burn.
• FlowMaster 1 (available in stage 1): Gain 10->15 Flow.
• FlowMaster 3 (available in stage 3): Gain 30->25 Flow.
• Greedy Dragon 1 (available in stage 1): Gain 10->8 Coins.
• Greedy Dragon 2 (available in stage 2): Gain 15->12 Coins.
• Greedy Dragon 3 (available in stage 3): Gain 20->16 Coins.
• Harmonic Resonance (available in stage 2 and 3): If you have equal number of Fire and Water Cosmions, gain 45->50 Flow and inflict 15 Burn.
• Icy Protection (available in stage 1,2 and 3): Triggering Frostbite also gives 25->20 Shield.
• Icy Veins (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): For every Ice Cosmion you have, inflict 2->3 Frostbite at start.
• Jitterz (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): Boost your Energy regeneration rate by 40%->30%.
• Last Breath (available in stage 2 and 3): When you are below 40%->30% Health, Attacker Cosmions gain 100% Critical Chance.
• Less is More (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): If you have less Cosmions than your opponent, gain 10->12 Toughness.
• Like the Wind 1 (available in stage 1): Gain 5->6 Clarity.
• Like the Wind 2 (available in stage 2): Gain 7->9 Clarity.
• Like the Wind 3 (available in stage 3): Gain 10->12 Clarity.
• Link Master (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): For every 3->4 active links you have, gain 1 random buff.
• Love is in the Air (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): Gain 1 Restoration for every 2->1 Air Cosmion you have.
• Master of None (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): If you have no more than 4 Cosmions of the same element, gain 4->5 Toughness and inflict 4->5 Brittle.
• MORE ENERGY (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): Increase maximum Energy by 33%->40%.
• More is More (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): If you have more Cosmions than your opponent, inflict 10->8 Brittle.
• Muscles Up 1 (available in stage 1): Attacker Cosmions gain 2->1 additional damage, gain 1 Plinn.
• Muscles Up 2 (available in stage 2): Attacker Cosmions gain 4->2 additional damage, gain 2 Plinn.
• Muscles Up 3 (available in stage 3): Attacker Cosmions gain 6->4 additional damage, gain 3 Plinn.
• Nature Heals (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): For every Nature Cosmion, healing effectiveness increased by 5%->7%.
• Optimized Defense (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): All Shield you gain increases by %25->20%.
• Ouch (available in stage 1): Gain 3->4 Spike.
• Ouch!!?!?!? (available in stage 3): Gain 7->6 Spike.
• Pure Soul (available in stage 1): Negate the first 4->5 incoming debuffs.
• Purer Soul (available in stage 2): Negate the first 7 incoming debuffs.
• Purest Soul (available in stage 3): Negate the first 10->9 incoming debuffs.
• Purist (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): If you have no essence in your bag, gain 15%->20% maximum Health Shield.
• Resilience (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): You take less damage according to your missing Health (1%-40%-> 1-30%, capped at 30% Health).
• Slimy Barrier (available in stage 1, 2 and 3): Gain 15->16 Shield for each Slimi you have.
• SoulStealer 2 (available in stage 2): Gain 6->5 Siphon.
• SoulStealer 3 (available in stage 3): Gain 9->7 Siphon.
• Spacious! 1 (available in stage 1): Gain 3->2 random zones.
• Spacious! 2 (available in stage 2): Gain 4->3 random zones.
• Spacious! 3 (available in stage 3): Gain 5->4 random zones.
• The Core of All (available in stage 1): Gain 8->7 Common essence.
• The Core of All 2 (available in stage 2): Gain 7->6 Rare essence.
• The Core of All 3 (available in stage 3): Gain 6->5 Epic essence.
• Tiny Army (available in stage 1 and 2): Common and Rare Attacker Cosmions gain 4->3 Damage.
• Versatile Army (available in stage 2 and 3): If you have no duplicate Cosmions, gain 7->15 maximum Energy.
• Win-Win 3 (available in stage 3): Each win gives 5->4 additional coins.

Developers Notes: In general, we realized that some Upgrades were either too strong or extremely weak. This made the already frustrating aspect of the Upgrade selection RNG even worse for players. With this big balance update and 13 new Upgrades (on top of those added last week), we hope it bring the power level of all of them more in sync, so Duelists do not feel as bad when they are picking a less than ideal Upgrade option for their build.

BUGFIXES AND KNOWN ISSUES

• Japanese, Korean, Traditional & Simplified Chinese - KNOWN ISSUE : We've needed more time to implement all new localization for this patch, and due to timezone differences will have some unedited translations for these languages, but will be patched in less than 24 hours..
• Steam Deck bugs - KNOWN ISSUE : Steam Deck running on Linux means that lots of those OS bugs are affecting Neoduel "on the go". Expect to see black bar in places where some animations are not loading correctly, and there's small instances of cloud save not working as intended, creating a different instance of your save on the machine. We're currently investigating a fix.
• Achievements - KNOWN ISSUE : We received small reports of certain complex achievements like "Fusion Complete" are not triggering upon completion. We're currently investigating a fix but require more data so don't hesitate to open a support ticket on Discord.

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-11-07 15:34:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy 1-month anniversary to all Dueslists! In today's dev blog, we're looking forward to the future after one month of launch. What were the highlights so far, some fun stats about our Duelist's performance, as well as to what to expect for the future of Neoduel: Backpack Monsters. Despite some of bugs and issues in the launch week, we are generally pleased with how the release went, and for that we'd want to take this time to thank everyone from your Duelists to our dev team and publishing partners. Everyone involved and our community has been incredibly receptive and transparent with questions, concerns, and recommendations, and we have taken everything on board which has shaped the future of the game.

THE 1-MONTH LAUNCH ANNIVERSARY RECAP:

Since the launch on September 30th, we've released a healthy spread of patches both fixing key issues, but also adding new features, Cosmions, Upgrades and much more. In case you missed the news, here's the recap:

• New Fusion Element and Cosmions: added on launch day, the Ice element brought a change to the meta for those that have been with us since the early testing and demo days. We're really glad people are finding some fun synergies with Ice Cosmions and making use of the Frostbite keywords. Fun fact, Ice Cosmions were the least changed in terms of stats and effect since the launch.
• Complete Codex: Throughout the month, we've updated and improved the Codex adding a bunch of new features to help newcomers and even veterans familiarize themselves with as much of the game as they can. Accessible from the main menu as well as during games, the Codex explains all game mechanics, features a full list of all Cosmions, Fusion recipe lists, as well as some fun flavor text for our cosmic critters.
• New Cosmions!: While the launch date Ice Cosmion drops upped the full roster by 13 new creatures, we also introduced a new Pedro evolution, a Duopon fusion and a new neutral Cosmion known as Naci. The latter might seem cute, but he's a good counter to those Frostbite builds.
• New Game Mode The main core mode of the game is a ranked run where your performance affects your daily, weekly and all-time elo standing and rank. We've introduced recently a Casual version of that mode, to make sure people had a way to practice without the fear of dropping that much in Elo rank.
• So many QoL updates!: This is where our Neoduel community really shined, and we'd like to thank them once more for their input. Throughout this past month, their feedback helped us optimize some features, and we've introduced new icon designs, optimized UI, lots of visual changes, keyboard shortcuts, fusion lock, and so much more.

THE NEXT MILESTONE UPDATE: ENTER THE DEPTHS OF THE SWAMP

Now what we've done this recap, we've been working on our next milestone patch, set for launch in November and it's going be to one where Duelist will need to master the art of hostile environment survival: Swamp.
While we originally planned to have Lava as our next Fusion Element in our roadmap, the current meta with our players had us change it to Swamp. We won't delve that much into the Element for now and its associated keyword, but know that this decision of a change is better for the health of the current builds. Expect new themed Cosmions, Upgrades, and some other bigger surprises for our version 1.1 of the game.

THE 1-MONTH LAUNCH UPDATE: AVAILABLE TODAY FOR FREE!

Thursdays are our usual weekly update days, and we figured in honor of one month celebration - and Halloween - to give you some free treats:

• FRESH NEW UPGRADES

  
  Pethor's release 2 weeks ago might have opened the flood gate on our upgrade factory, and we're introducing today more than 10 new upgrades (12 to be exact) with this update. They're pretty much fun, and most are focused on defending yourselves from specific Elemental keywords, while other add some new gameplay mechanics like some unique Zones. Here's the full list and their icons (from left to right in order):
  
  • Base Armor (available in stage 2 and 3): You get 40% less damage from Acid
  • Elephant Skin (available in stage 2 and 3): You get 40% less damage from Spike
  • Iron Wool Jacket (available in stage 2 and 3): You get 30% less damage from Burn
  • Water Repellant (available in stage 2 and 3): Opponent's Water Cosmions trigger 30% slower
  • Rubber Shoes (available in stage 2 and 3): Electrocute stuns you for half the normal value (0.5 instead of 1 second).
  • Not so fast, bardner (available in stage 2 and 3): Inflict 1 Clumsy for every 3 Haste your opponent gains.
  • Electrical Shield (available in all stages): Every time you trigger Electrocute, gain 20 value of shield.
  • Butterfly Effect (available in stage 1 and 2): Your Plinns now have 300% Critical Damage and you also gain 2 additional Plinns.
  • Dragonic Armor(available in stage 1): For every dragon you have, gain 50 Shield at start.
  • TURBO matchiroS (available in stage 1): Matchiros now consumes 0 Energy and you also gain 2 Matchiros.
  • Kloody Skies (available in stage 1 and 2): Your Kloods trigger 1 second faster and you also gain 2 Kloods.
  • I am an Economist (available in stage 1): Your Stonks Stripes and Protecc gives 1 additional coin and gain 2 Stonks Stripes.
  As usual, don't forget to check out the Codex for all these new upgrades, or to refresh your memory on certain mechanics.

• CODEX FILTERING SYSTEM

  
  A much requested feature by our Duelists, but one that was a bit harder than expected for us. Say goodbye to endless scrolling in the Codex to find a specific Cosmion to see its stats, effects or refresh your memory. We've added a simple filter system where you can now search by Elements, to quickly see only Ice Cosmions and Essences for example.

BONUS: FUN STATS!

We thought to end this dev blog with some interesting stats about this one month of launch. I'm sure you're eager to discover things like which Cosmion or Upgrade is the most used, how many players have done flawless runs and other things.

• The most recuring win/loss ratio in a single run is 6 to 5. About 9% of the entire player base finish their run with this score.
• Only 0.25% of our player base is above the 7000 Elo rank. Talk about le Slimi du Slimi!
• Elemental Synergy is by far the most popular Upgrade picked in the Shop!
• So many Duopon picked, BUT it ranks 10th out of 10 most used Cosmions.

BUGFIXES AND KNOWN ISSUES

• Casual mode loop bug: Fixed a rare bug when after losing a casual game, you sometimes had the option to continue, resulting in a loop where you could play your final fifth try infinitely if you wanted to (you could still give up).
• Steam Deck bugs - KNOWN ISSUE : Steam Deck running on Linux means that lots of those OS bugs are affecting Neoduel "on the go". Expect to see black bar in places where some animations are not loading correctly, and there's small instances of cloud save not working as intended, creating a different instance of your save on the machine. We're currently investigating a fix.
• Achievements - KNOWN ISSUE : We recieved small reports of certain complex achievements like "Fusion Complete" are not triggering upon completion. We're currently investigating a fix but require more data so don't hesitate to open a support ticket on Discord.

Thats it for now Duelists! From our small but dedicated dev team, our publishers and other partners, we would like to thank you all for supporting us in this launch, and sticking around to support and help us. Until then, for the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem.

[ 2024-10-31 14:30:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of today, October 29th, 2024, a hotfix patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel on Steam, make sure you update your game. Here's what to expect in this hotfix patch:

BUGFIXES AND KNOWN ISSUES

• Zone links: Fixed a bugged where zone links would not work as intended in some rare situations.
• Verdantclaw effects: Poor Verdantclaw keeps on being semi-unreliable these days. We've fixed an issue where Verdantclaw's effect would not trigger in a game.
• Game Freeze: We've seen reports of the game freezing for up to 30 seconds at first launch. While we couldn't replicate this issue, we've done some coding optimization on the main menu to make sure it doesn't happen. If you do face this, please open a support ticket in our discord server to be able to track better these and find the possible flaw.
• Steam Deck bugs - KNOWN ISSUE : Steam Deck running on Linux means that lots of those OS bugs are affecting Neoduel "on the go". Expect to see black bar in places where some animations are not loading correctly, and there's small instances of cloud save not working as intended, creating a different instance of your save on the machine. We're currently investigating a fix.
• Achievements - KNOWN ISSUE : We recieved small reports of certain complex achievements like "Fusion Complete" are not triggering upon completion. We're currently investigating a fix but require more data so don't hesitate to open a support ticket on Discord.

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-10-29 15:28:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Tuesday, October 1st, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel on Steam, make sure you update your game. Here's what to expect in this patch note:

NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT

• New game mode: Casual runs: Last week's patch was the preparational work for introducing a new mode that allows Duelist to try new builds, combos and more without the fear of losing Elo. That mode is now live, called simply Casual mode: you'll be able to start a "normal" run (Ranked) as well as casual one, and eventually give up or continue both or neither. So go wild, try your freakiest builds without fear of losing your coveted rank or medal win streak.

COSMION & ESSENCE BALANCING AND CHANGES

In this patch you will see a bunch of balance changes around links. Links are how players express skill, and we felt some of them aren't as rewarding as they should, especially in stronger Cosmions. This patch SHOULD make the game feel better on that front, paired with some other stat changes to make sure nothing is too strong or weak. In case you missed it, you can also watch our monthly AMA with Lead Gameplay Designer Bahadr Van to understand how we tackle these balancing topics. [previewyoutube=VpUslY_EF1k;full][/previewyoutube] AIR BASED COSMION

• Galewings: Gain 2 clarity.
• Parryplus: Base shield value lowered from 90 to 70. New Link effect now will be to gain 20 Shield.

Developers Notes: Parryplus had some link effects which no one cared about it seems, so we decided to reshape it. ELECTRIC BASED COSMION

• Nikola 7: Base damage has been raised from 27 to 30.
• Voltroost: Based damage range upped from 22-25 to 25-30
• Voltrex: Upped value of link effect from 1 to 2 Max Energy. Based damage range upped from 45-65 to 50-70
• Shock Duck: Lowered energy consumption from 2 to 1.
• Belestra: Upped critical chance damage from 25% to 50%. (technically an Electric/Nature Cosmion)
• Tokmak: Energy cost lowered from 2.5 to 2.
• Shoal: Upped Haste on stun from 3 to 5.

Developers Notes: Electrocute was a scary keyword in the past (pre-launch era), and we do not want them to come back to their former overpowered glory, but they still deserve SOME love. FIRE BASED COSMION

• Ifry: When opponent is below 50% health, Ifry will now increase enemy Burn effect by 30%. That's upped from previously 10%. Cost in shop upped by 2.
• Ifraltus: When opponent is below 50% health, Ifraltus will now increase enemy Burn effect by 50% and heal the same ammount. That's upped from previously 20%.
• Pyrofur: Upped possible links by 1.
• Cinderjaw: Upped possible links by 1.
• Houshan: Cooldown upped from 3.5 to 4.
• Blaze Duck: Energy cost lowered from 3 to 1.5.
• Fire Khepira: Base damage range lowered from 12-14 to 11-12.
• Cinderjaw: Accuracy upped from 85% to 95%

Developers Notes: Ifry and ifraltus had very low stats for some time now. To not boost the already rising popularity of Fire builds, we've paired with some nerfs as well including Houshan's changes (being a backbone of most Fire builds these days). ICE BASED COSMION

• Isvasal: Cooldown reduced from 6 to 7 seconds.
• Suat: Base damage lowered from 18-24 to 17-23.

NATURE BASED COSMION

• Ziran: Effects on links changed from +1 Spike to +15 Shield.
• Monofloa: Upped possible links by 1.
• Ansham: Start of game effect now inflicting 7 Acid instead of 5.
• Verdentclaw: Upped shield gain from 10 to 15.
• Trifloa: Upped possible links by 1.
• Liskers: Upped cost in shop from 7 to 8
• Sapprion: Link effect upped from 1 to 2 Spike.
• Maestoad: Accuracy upped from 90% to 100%. Base damage upped from 14-16 to 15-19

Developers Notes: A lot of these stats felt low at the moment, such as Verdentclaw and Maestoad. On top of that, we decided to change Ziran's effects as it didn't make sense for it to grant a random Spike effect and replaced it with Shield. NEUTRAL BASED COSMION

• Knod: Upped possible links by 1. Accuracy upped from 75% to 90%.
• Pedro: Upped possible links by 1. Base damage range lowered from 6-9 to 6-8.

WATER BASED COSMION

• Arthur: Reduced cost in shop by 1.
• Aqualith: Upped the number of random buffs per link from 1 to 2.
• Serenius: Based damage range upped from 30-35 to 35-40. Energy cost lowered from 4 to 3.

BUGFIXES AND KNOWN ISSUES

• Cosmion link effect bugs - FIXED : A handful of Cosmions had visual bugs in terms of what their link effects meant. We've done some cleanup on those and made sure they work as intended thanks to our community.
• Verdantclaw's shield gain bug - FIXED : Our beloved starter Nature evolution shield gain didn't used to increase with the Bloodlust upgrade. This should be fixed now according to our testing.
• Steam Deck bugs - KNOWN ISSUE : Steam Deck running on Linux means that lots of those OS bugs are affecting Neoduel "on the go". Expect to see black bar in places where some animations are not loading correctly, and there's small instances of cloud save not working as intended, creating a different instance of your save on the machine. We're currently investigating a fix.
• Achievements - KNOWN ISSUE : We recieved small reports of certain complex achievements like "Fusion Complete" are not triggering upon completion. We're currently investigating a fix but require more data so don't hesitate to open a support ticket on Discord.

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-10-24 14:35:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Thursday, October 17th, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel on Steam, make sure you update your game.

NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT:

• New game mode: Unranked - Coming Soon: We know most of you have been trying some new builds, but are worried about losing Elo while doing those experiments. We figured the Unranked mode was needed for that, for a more chill place to try and learn without the fear of dropping in ranks. The patch readies the game for it, but the mode will be coming in live pretty soon.
• 3 New Cosmions: Cosmions are key to the gameplay, and sometimes we introduce new ones to fill in some gaps that exist in the current meta. While some might look like a familiar evolution, others are newcomers to the Duelist's backpack:
  • PeThor: Pedro's evolution grants him the power of the famous Hammer-wielding god of thunder. All you need is fusing Pedro with Zcythe, and this attacker gains 1 damage per each of its 5 links that are active.
  • Naci: A fresh new Neutral starter Cosmion. The fusion of a Neutral Domi with a Fire essence, this Cosmion will force an increase of Frostbite detonation requirement by 1.
  • Quopon: Fan-favorite Duopon has finally found a way to evolve! Place two Duopon together to fuse them into the Nature defender Quopon, granting 6 Restoration at start, and with each 2 Nature links gain one more Restoration.

QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS

• Updated Codex: We read that people weren't satisfied with the amount of information conveyed in the codex, so we added some more clarity, updated the example videos, and even some "starter" example builds to get you going.
• Link Visual Change: Links looking the same confused a lot of players, so we are bringing a visual change to add better readability. Whatever the requirement of that link is, that's what is going to be shown from now on.
  
• Optimized background logs: Most of you won't feel this change, but it's our way to cut down on logging requirement on your devices, to hopefully fix some small performance issues when too much was going on in a duel.

BUGFIXES

• Localization improvements: Thanks to feedback from our Korean, Chinese and Japanese community, we've done an optimization pass for those languages in the game.

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-10-17 13:15:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

During the Steam Next Fest, we have 4 free game demos up for you to try out. If you played a game published by Rogue Duck Interactive before, you probably love replayable strategy games! Let me start introducing our games, during the Next Fest, download the demos you are interested and become part of the development by giving us your valueable feedback.

New Next Fest Strategy Demos

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2517440/Mini_City_Mayhem/ A city builder where you race against time to build your city! Become the mayor of a tiny town, plop down tiny building blocks to build a working city to progress. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3179860/Pairs__Perils/ A memory-game roguelike and dungeon crawler. Match cards to attack enemies, avoid traps, shop for relics and consumables. Sharpen your mind as you journey through the depths of the dungeon in search of The Dealer. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3056580/HEXAROMA_Village_Builder/ Build your charming medieval hexagon village in this city-builder. Strategize the best hexagon island placements. Place the building pieces strategically, and grow your village and your tiny island. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3204250/Lost_But_Found/ A combination of a job simulator & hidden object game. In a top-down table, you are an officer who oversees the lost items in an airport. Organize those items and distribute them to people who lost their belongings. That's all we have for this Next Fest, we hope you found something you like. In that case, wishlist the games to stay in the loop!

Other Strategy Demos

Additionally, we have other demos, that's not participating in this edition of the Next Fest yet, but soon. Check them out too. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2449450/Clonizer/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/2655590/Kingdoms_Deck/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/2945950/Dice_n_Goblins/ Have a strategy-filled Next Fest event, everyone! Follow us on our social media so you don't miss free strategy goodies!

[ 2024-10-14 17:00:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Wednesday, October 3rd, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel on Steam, make sure you update your game.

NEW FEATURE:

Refreshed Keyboard Shortcuts: With the fusion lock feature we added last week, some of our players who got used to right click to drop Cosmions into the storage voiced their need for new shortcuts. That's why we're bringing it back to not break your gaming instinct and introduce some new ones which are:

• C -> Open the Codex
• K -> Drop everything from backpack! That includes Cosmion, Zones, and anything you can stash.
• F -> Reroll the store offerings
• R -> Rotate held Cosmion, Zones, etc.
• Q or Right Click -> Drop the highlighted Cosmion into storage OR reserve shop offering.
• E or mouse scroll button -> Fusion Lock
• M -> Sell highlighted Cosmions, Zones, Essence.
• Space -> Start Duel
• Arrow keys or WASD -> Acts like a D-pad and moves the entire board

BUGFIXES

• Steam cloud save system improvements: Throughout the launch week, some players had issues with Steam cloud saves due to tightened security and permission settings. This cause players to have different instances of their game progress on different platform (such as PC vs Steam Deck). We've optimized how cloud save is handled now, and things should work as smooth as a butter.
• Double essence fusion/evolution bugs: Fixed an issue where some fusions wouldn't work as intended when positioning two Essences next to each other while linked to their needed Cosmion. While we couldn't replicate the issue in our playtest, our patch should address that, but do let us know if you encounter this again.

COSMION & ESSENCE BALANCING AND CHANGES

While we're still cooking the full balance patch based on our data from last week and this coming one, we've realized one thing: Fire builds are prevalent. Even though not the strongest builds in terms of success rate, it's still the most players. Therefore we are nerfing some of the best performing fire Cosmions just a bit, while buffing a tad bit some lesser used evolved and fusion ones. ELECTRICITY BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Chirvolt: Reduced energy consumption from 3 to 2
• Volroost: Reduced energy consumption from 6 to 4
• Voltrex: Reduced energy consumption from 8 to 5

Developers Notes: Chrivolt is an adorable Electric starter Cosmion, but we realized that its current energy consumption and its evolutionary path was too high. So we tweaked them down. FIRE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Houshan : Cooldown upped from 3 to 3.5
• Firefist : Damage range reduced from 10-15 to 10-13

ICE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Cryo Sugeko: Changed fusion recipe form Sugeko + Common Air Essence to now Sugeko + Rare Ice Essence.

Developers Notes: Ice is meant to feel strong as an element as it requires stacking, but Cryo Sugeko is the most used one as it was only requiring a Common Air Essence to evolve it. So we decided to tone it down by making its evolution more difficult, requiring now a Rare Ice Essence. NATURE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Duopon: Price in shop upped from from 3 to 4.

Developers Notes: Duopon is performing a little too well for a low cost Cosmion. It is very good for links as well as early game sustain, but at this price IN THIS ECONOMY? That's just a steal. WATER BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Serenius: Reduced energy consumption from 6 to 4. Upped Damage range from 25-30 to 30-35.

Developers Notes: Arguably the worst performing Cosmion according to our data, we've decided to give it some love to incite you all to try it, especially considering its on hit effect of applying 2 Fog and creating 2 Flow. For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-10-08 14:27:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Wednesday, October 4th, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel on Steam, make sure you update your game.

NEW FEATURE:

• Fusion List in Codex: The codex now features a new tab called Fusion. Let's call it our recipe list for all Evolutions and Fusions in the game, which should help many learn this important mechanic in our game.
  
• Fusion Lock: We know some of you have been asking for this, preferring to have two Firefist side by side, without resulting into the Fusion Molten Punch. All you have to do is right click on the Cosmions in the backpack, and you'll see a padlock icon on it for visibility (similar to locking Cosmions in the shop offers to prevent reroll).
  Codex Cosmion links: All Cosmion possible links will now appear upon hovering over them in both the list of critters as well as the Fusion list.
  Visual updates to icons: For better readability, especially after the Fusion Lock feature, we've switched the "reroll lock" icon in the shop to a "reserved table card" with a checkmark. We also updated the Codex top right icon to better match our visual identity of being more digital based than paper based.
  

BUGFIXES

• Codex overlay bug - part 2: The bug was semi-fixed yesterday with 1.0.5. When checking the Codex, Cosmions would get removed from backpack. This has been full resolved, and we also removed the mouse interaction with the background, as the Codex acts as an "overlay" on top of the shop screen, which should result in fixing frame drop issues when checking it.
• Fusion Cosmions disappearance Some of our Duelists reported problems of Cosmions disappearing when they disconnected during battle.

COSMION & ESSENCE BALANCING AND CHANGES

AIR BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Galewing: Damage range reduced from 20-22 to 18-21

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-10-04 11:54:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Wednesday, October 3rd, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel on Steam, make sure you update your game.

NEW FEATURE:

• Flavor Text Localization: A semi-missing feature we had from launch now resolved. All Cosmion flavor text for all of our 11 supported languages are live. Discover the lore of NeoDuel.
• Rarity percentage added: When you hover over the reroll button, you will see the probabilities in percentage form of all rarities.
• Shop reroll animation: We added a small entrance VFX animation to Cosmions in the shop when rerolling the offerings.

BUGFIXES

• Codex overlay bug: When going into the codex and leaving, some Cosmions would get too exited and jump out of the backpack. This has been resolved.
• Energy Info panel bug: Fixed and issue where the pull down info panel displayed wrong calculation of energy consumption.
• Fusion fix: The fix we did in 1.0.4 actually broke some small - but essential - thing in the game, and had to tune it. Most of you didn't notice but it could've become a serious issue.

COSMION & ESSENCE BALANCING AND CHANGES

NATURE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Duopon: Restoration effect reduced from 4 to 3.

NEUTRAL BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Teen Dragon: Minimum damage lowered from 11 to 10
• Pedro: Energy consumption reduced from 4.5 to 4

ICE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Isvasal: Cooldown upped from 5 to 6

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-10-03 07:55:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel on Steam, make sure you update your game.

NEW FEATURE:

• Codex Shortcut: Thanks to the community feedback, we've implemented a quick icon in the shape of a book on the right corner of the shop screen, that will serve as a shortcut to the Codex. This should help players reduce the unnecessary clicks to access it.

BUGFIXES

• Steam Cloud Save: We fixed an issue with Steam cloud save not working as intended. Now Dueslist can switch between different devices paired to their Steam accounts. For more information about Cloud Saves, please visit the dedicated help page on Steam.
• Buggy fusions: In some instances where multiple Fusions and Evolutions were set in shop, they wouldn't actually trigger after that Duel round. We've tweaked things so that by removing - a hidden - background feature that would tier fusions and evolutions.
• Elo loss: Some players reported losing dramatic amount of Elo after finishing a game. This has been fixed, and we retroactively fixed all Duelist Elo ranks that were affected.
• Duelist data: There was rare instances where players would not see their key stats (win/loss) or in-game Steam name when first loading into the game. We whipped the server sync into place, and that shouldn't happen anymore.

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-10-02 10:23:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Tuesday, October 2nd, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel on Steam, make sure you update your game.

BUGFIXES

• China Server Fix: During the launch, we discovered a bug where the game would not connect to our multiplayer servers, causing players to not be able to matchmake with other Duelists. This was cause with issues related to the physical location of our servers that never arose before in our testing, and those are now fixed. We appologize to anyone that was affected by this, and if you still face this issue in China, we recommend using an "accelerator" and report the bugs on our Discord serveror Steam discussion page.
• Upgrade reroll visual bug: Fixed a rare instance when Duelists were rolling Upgrade, stacking its description to the left side.
• Avatar switch bug: Fixed instances when your set Duelist avatar was reverting to default when rebooting the game.
• Music tweaks: Small issues were found with the sound mixing of the soundtrack, arena announcer VO and SFX.

COSMION & ESSENCE BALANCING AND CHANGES

AIR BASED AND KLOOD COSMION

• Porgur shop cost upped from 1 to 2
• All Kloods: Cooldown reduced from 8 to 7.5

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-10-01 10:12:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Brace yourselves for Duels! The long-awaited indie sensation, NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters, has stormed onto Steam. This unique blend of inventory management, auto-battling, and monster-taming game is launching at $11.99 with a 20% launch discount for a limited time (prices are regionally adjusted, check your local store for exact pricing below). https://store.steampowered.com/app/2693940/NEODUEL_Backpack_Monsters/ This launch introduces a range of exciting new features, including the Codex, Elemental Fusion, new Cosmions and Upgrades, and plenty of quality-of-life updates including arena announcer voice acting, promising to elevate the experience and add even more strategic depth to every duel. We're going to break down everything in this blog post, but in the meantime, check out our brand new Launch Accolades Trailer featuring quotes from people like Ganyonz, Pawkt and Strategy Informer. [previewyoutube=bUuKG_YSd_o;full][/previewyoutube]

NEW FEATURES:

The Codex

Internally named Cosmodex, we've decided to go with a simpler word of Codex. This feature can be accessed from the main menu, as well as the pause menu while playing and contains all information about the game in detail. Want to see the full list of all 175+ Cosmions and Elemental essences? Or learn in advance what each buff and debuff do? Or maybe plan your run based on a hopeful drop of a specific Upgrade?.

In-Game Tutorial

While we revealed that we were going to update the tutorial, it's being removed as a standalone feature now. Our new tutorial now gives you information and interactive guides as you progress during your first run in bits instead of having to read some complex manual. For those of you that want a refresher, you'll be able to see it all in the the new codex tab, and learn at your own pace game mechanics, list of buffs and debuffs, augments and more.

Newly added VFX, art, soundtrack and arena announcer voice over talent

The game is more lively now! We have new animations for different in-game interactions, new music soundtracks composed by Turkish based Boray Berke, a couple new sound effects and the arena announcers! The later were announced earlier this month, and are voice over talents in two languages, mainly Turkish and English: Nick Atlas (which you can hear in the Accolades Launch trailer above) and Zeynep nen. Finally for you competitive Duelists, the Elo emblems will now showcase a small roman numeral showcasing your full grade, ranging from IV to I.

Achievements added!

Some of our team members are big achievement hunters, so we couldn't resist adding this to the game. With over 34 achievements to unlock, ranging from simple actions like winning your first tournament medal all the way to winning a perfect run of 15 winds and no loss, this should make the game extra challenging for all of you Duelists... And of course, for Achievement Hunters, you'll be able to proudly display those in your Steam profiles.

NEW CONTENT FOR THE GAME:

Frostbite damage: arrival of the Ice Cosmions

This launch of NeoDuel will featured the first of our four major and free content update revolving around the new gameplay mechanic addition known as Elemental fusion. The first to go live is Ice, an elemental power from the fusion of Air and Water which brings a new keyword to the game known as Frostbite. With most of these Ice Cosmions and Essences being the result of fusion, we figured we'd list all their "fusion recipes" especially for you players that haven't played since the demo went offline weeks ago:

• Ice Essence: only two kind exist (Rare and Epic) withe the Rare one being the resuts of a fusion between Rare Water and Air Essences. Fuse two of those to obtain an Epic Ice Essence.
• Ice QB: The fusion of a Domi Cosmion and one Rare Air Essence
• Bling Chling: Fuse two of these Ice QB, and you get a Bling Chling.
• Cryo Sugeko: As you would expect, it's the fusion of a Sugeko with one Rare Air Essence.
• Ice Slimi: The results of a fusion of Ice and Air Slimi.
• Baozi: The Ice dragon is the result of Bradragon with a Rare Air Essence.
• Icatis: Like the other elemental fusion of Abatis, just fuse it with any rarity Ice Essence.
• Hail Klood: Fuse an Air Klood with a Rare Water Essence.
• Suat: The results of fusing a Cemil with a Rare Air Essence.
• Nikola Zero: Nikola 7 paired with one Epic Air Essence.
• Notorius I.C.E: Two Bling Chling make up this rhyme-powered Cosmion.
• Fubuki: Fanfox fused with a Rare Water Essence.
• Isvasal: Fuse Galewing with Aqualith.
• Chateleine: The only exception to the rule. The super-unique Cosmion frost sorceress can only be obtained through a shop Upgrade as a reward.

A typical Ice build requires Duelists to really focus on the Frostbite debuff, where upon stacking 10 values, it will trigger a 50 HP damage wave of chilling power. Throughout the coming year, 3 more Elemental fusions will launch with free major updates including Lava, Swamp and Storm.

A lot of new Upgrades... Like a lot!

With almost 20+ added Upgrades, that makes a total of 80+ to choose from between the 3rd, 6th and 9th run. Because of the larger pool of Upgrades now, we've decided to tweak the reroll upgrade to now give you the ability to change each of the three offered individually, instead of the whole set. We'll let you discover them in the game (as it's part of the excitement), but remember that at any moment, you can check the full list from the Codex.

QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS

[olist]

Hotkey change: Not much of a big change, but could be for those that were devoted Duelist during the demo era. While you used to be able to instantly see all links in your backpack with the ALT button, our community recommend we switch with the Left CTRL instead.

Flavor text for Cosmions: The start of our first foundational work into sharing the lore of the game, adding short description about each Cosmion such as their origin, moods, or even food preferences. [/olist]

WHAT'S NEXT FOR NEODUEL: BACKPACK MONSTERS

Ah the lovely and burning question the community usually ask when we launch a game! Our commitement to NeoDuel goes beyond today's launch date, and if you remember the previous blog posts, we're planning numerous to release plenty of free content drops, but also new features and quality of life improvements currently cooking in our dev ovens. Please note that everything listed here is subject to change at any moment, so stay tuned to future announcements on our social media channels, Discord channel and of course Steam community articles: [olist]

More fusion elements: As of today, you're discovering the first of our free content drops which is the fusionable Ice element, its matching Cosmions and abilities. In the next drops, we'll introduce Lava (Fire+Nature), then Swamp (Water+Nature) and finally Storm (Air+Electric). Each major update will introduce over 10 new Upgrades as well as Cosmions and Essences.

Unlucky no more! In NeoDuel, the early game is where player agency is at its lowest. We noticed that many Duelist were pushed away by the game when losing early battles due to luck. To accommodate for those with poor RNG, we are planning to introduce a system giving Duelists 1 more heart in their 5-loss streak once they reach round 3 (as long as they lost one).

Fusion lock: While the entire strategy of a build revolves around fusing and evolving Cosmions and Essences, we know that some of you have been asking for a way to prevent that from happening automatically. While we won't introduce something like a "forever stone", we're working on a feature to lock Cosmions and Essences in the backpack, so they never evolve.

Codex enhanced: We believe the codex is pretty neat at the moment, but there's always ways for improvements. One of them we can reveal is that we're planning to add in the near future the full list of Fusionable Cosmions, explaining how to obtain them with a neat list of all "recipes" to make sure you don't rely on trial and errors. [/olist]

COSMION & ESSENCE BALANCING AND CHANGES

Would it be a true launch with some balancing tweaks? While lots of it was decided from the combined data of the Demo, we also had a team of devoted playtester try out the release build in advance to check the performance after adding the Ice element and its matching Cosmions, Upgrades and more. You'll notice that most of the balance changes are shop cost reductions especially for Legendary and higher rarity Cosmions, and then plenty of buffs to see more of these critters in use. Since the largest majority of players didn't get the chance to try out Ice Cosmions, we didn't bother with adding their balance changes, but our internal tests shows that they are pretty set in... ice? AIR BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Galewing: On hit Clarity removed and upped damage range from 16-20 to 20-22
• Valkyrie: Price in shop reduced from 12 to 11
• Ageccus: Price in shop reduced from 13 to 12. Cooldown reduced from 7 to 6.5

ELECTRIC BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Zapp: Cooldown upped from 2.5 to 3.
• Hype: Cost upped from 4 to 6
• Voltrex: Upped damage range from 40-60 to 45-65 and Accuracy boost from 90 to 100.

FIRE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Porgur: Fog effect upped from 1 to 2
• Blazeroll: Link effect boosted, with now each link increases activation chance by 10% instead of 5%.
• Houshan: Cooldown reduced from 4 to 3.5
• Ifry: Price in shop reduced from 8 to 7
• Firefirst: Added a critical damage chance of 10%. Reduced stamina cost from 3 to 2
• Molten Punch: Added a critical damage chance of 20%
• Harmonion: Price in shop reduced from 6 to 5. Cooldown reduced from 5 to 4
• Igni and Manu: Price in shop reduced from 5 to 4. Upped its shield generation from 30 to 40.
• Yogan: Price in shop reduced from 14 to 12. Added a critical damage chance of 10%
• Dorangutan: Price in shop reduced from 15 to 12. Cooldown reduced from 4.5 to 4

NATURE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Bumcid: Cooldown reduced from 4 to 3
• Ansham: Cooldown reduced from 5 to 4
• Sapprion: Added a critical damage chance of 10%. Reduced stamina cost from 3 to 2.5
• Verdantclaw: Added a critical damage chance of 10%.
• Maestoad: Cooldown reduced from 3 to 2.5. Reduced stamina cost from 2.75 to 2.5
• Eclipse: Price in shop reduced from 15 to 12

NEUTRAL BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Revlana: Upped damage range from 10-14 to 12-16. Added a critical damage chance of 10%
• Hawkista: Added 2 additional links to the Cosmion
• Ishu: Price in shop upped from 4 to 6
• O.U.R: Price in shop reduced 4 to 3
• Hurdo: Link effect damage increase from 3 to 4
• Hit Dicest: Price in shop reduced from 10 to 9. Cooldown reduced from 2 to 1.5
• Demoncore and Omnicore: Price in shop reduced from 12 to 11

WATER BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Strutwahl: Added 2 additional links to the Cosmion
• Dumocto: Energy cost reduced from 3 to 2
• Aqualith: Cooldown reduced from 5 to 4.5
• Grimjaws: Upped damage range from 30-35 to 35-45
• Arthur: Price in shop reduced from 8 to 7
• Serenius: Price in shop reduced from 15 to 12

KNOWN ISSUES

• Codex missing flavor texts: You'll notice that the flavor text for Cosmions are missing in certain languages, but we plan to have all translations implemented this very week (expected by Wednesday, 2nd of October).
• Visual shop bug: In some instances where you have 0 coins, you might see that one 3 value Cosmions is visually showing as available to purchase. We're working on getting fixed very soon.

BUGFIXES

TOO MANY TO LIST! No really, if we were to list down all bug fixes, we'll end up having a thesis-size patch note at this point. Thats it for now Duelists, we've taken enough of your time, go and climb the ranks! Well be constantly monitoring this week stability of the builds, meta and other live aspect of the game, to make sure the game is perfect. From our small but dedicated dev team, our publisher and other partners, we would like to thank you all for supporting us in this launch! Until then, for the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem.

[ 2024-09-30 10:00:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings Duelists! My name is Dora zsoy, one of the lead Producers on NeoDuel from Rogue Duck Interactive, known for games like Cardboard Town and recently launched Dice & Fold. In case you missed it, we revealed our official launch date, set now for 30th of September 2024, as announced via a fresh new trailer via IGN which you can watch below. The game will be made available for the price of $11.99 with a launch discount of 20% (rounding to roughly $9.50), with lower regional pricing for a handful of markets. Dont forget to help us out by sharing the Launch Reveal trailer on social media, to get the word out to as many potential future Duelists as possible. [previewyoutube=xf1LR2mEvhw;full][/previewyoutube] Were super excited to finally launch the game after months of work, based on a long list of feedback, surveys and playthrough of the demo from our community. While we spoke about the launch content update in the 0.9.0 Patch Notes, were glad to share that pretty much everything planned is going according to plan, including a reworked onboarding for newcomers, technical optimization, the Cosmodex and some new gameplay mechanics including the arrival of fusionable elements starting with Ice (blending Water and Air together). In that sense, were going to keep the demo for a few days, then it will be retired from the Steam store so get your Duels going until then (official date will be shared at a later stage). The remaining days will be needed for the last polishing touch on the game before the release, such as finishing up tweaks on localization of our 11 supported languages (English, Turkish, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and Simplified & Traditional Chinese), as well as some scheduled quality assurance work. This will provide us plenty of time to concentrate on gameplay refinement, bug repairs, optimization, and interface enhancements as well. For the time being, I figured Ill give you a glimpse of all that is to be expected in the full release of NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters.

CLARITY OF GAMEPLAY AND UI FEATURES:

Game Tutorial

Remember that tutorial you werent really a fan of? Maybe it was too simplistic to help anyone with the game, or lacked details to appeal to new Duelists, so we changed things up. Once you play NeoDuel for the first time, your first run of games will feature on-screen prompts guiding you through the Duel, explaining the basics of the inventory management, monster-tamer and auto-battling aspect of the game. This decision was made after a constant data analysis of the current player base not making use of the dedicated tutorial in the game.

The Cosmodex (name pending)

While we didnt decide on a fancy name for our Cosmion Index feature in NeoDuel, it will have everything you need to educate yourself on the current launch list of over 175 Cosmions and Elemental essences, but also how to acquire those Evolved and Fused Cosmions. Other than that, expect some small, animated guides as well on certain game mechanics, that could also be a refresher for those of you that havent played the demo for a while.

NEW CONTENT FOR THE GAME:

The Ice Update: Rise of the Cosmion Walkers?

As part of our free content roadmap, the full release of NeoDuel will introduce our first gameplay mechanic addition known as Elemental fusion: blend the power of Air and Water to create a new Element Ice to freeze your opponent in the arena. In the process, new Cosmion evolutions and fusions will emerge, harnessing the power of ice, adding more than 13 new critters to the Cosmodex. As with other Elemental types, most Ice Cosmions will have a new keyword associated to them which is Frostbite. It requires Duelists to stack 10 values of that Frostbite, which will trigger a 50 HP damage wave of chilling power. Throughout the coming year, 3 more Elemental fusions will launch with free major updates including Lava, Swamp and Storm.
from left to right, Icatis, Bling Chling and Fubuki. Heres couple of examples to know what to expect from these frosty Cosmions:

• Bling Chling: this Cosmion might be cute, but his rhymes are sharper than icicles. Its trigger effect is to inflict 5 Frostbite, and a 4x Ice link will help the Cosmion gain 2 damage.
• Icatis: The Ice evolution of Abatis is themed like a certain winter celebration. After each Frostbite blast, you gain 20 shield.
• Fubuki: What if Fanfox embraced the power of Okami? A master of the chill winds, Fubuki inflicts one stack of Frostbite for every enemy miss. Upon a 5-level Ice link, it will inflict 1 fog at start.

Theres many more to come, and we cant wait to see what you Duelists might do to harness Ice.

Voice over announcers: Lets get ready to rumble!

We know, thats a bit of a surprise! NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters will now feature voice overs in two languages, mainly Turkish and English, specifically for the Arena announcers to bring these Duels to life. Nick Atlas, known for his roles in Mika and the Witchs Mountain, Dune Spice Wars and Cultic, will be your English announcer, while Zeynep nen will take the same role for the Turkish language. The latter is known for her work in numerous televised animation work in Turkey, including Niloya, Tay and Sagu & Pagu. Thats it for now Duelists! Well be hard at work in the coming weeks to get ready for the launch, and a potential day one update with some balancing updates and a couple of additional surprises. Until then, for the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-09-16 14:19:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Monday, September 9, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel demo on Steam, make sure you update your game.

NEW CONTENT FOR THE GAME: 5 NEW UPGRADES

Here's the five first new Upgrades introduced in this patch which you can see in the image below, and their description listed from left to right:
[olist]

Mirror Mail: Reflect 10% of the damage taken from Attacker type Cosmions. Tired of attacker comps? Are you a high defense comp? This one is for you!

Early Visitor: You get one powerful epic, legendary or astral rarity Cosmion early, but do you trust enough your luck?

More Energy: Increase maximum Energy by 33%. Perfect to pair with other energy based Upgrades.

Elemental Synergy: Cosmions from your most used element have additional 30% Cooldown Reduction; Perfect for all of you one trick ponies.

Last Breath: When you are below 40% Health, Attacker Cosmions gain 100% Critical Chance. Nail that coffin and finish the Duel! [/olist]

IMPROVEMENTS & ADJUSTMENTS

Longer battles! Duels are running faster than we want them to be. In the early game they are fine as is, but as you progress in the tournament, they tend to finish faster. We are changing how HP scales up, and as the game progresses, max HP will increases gradually, hopefully fixing this problem. This should make burst and shield strategies weaker. If it's too much, we will adjust accordingly. Fog cap removed With the coming of 0.9.3 and our introduced Air Dragon, we had diminishing returns for fog and rain, and a hard cap for accuracy and stamina regen. Right now since we have diminishing returns, we feel that we should reward those focusing on that fog mechanic. Optimization of rarity rolls in shop To better reflect the current Cosmion pool in the shop, we had to change the numbers of appearance of our critters based on the rarity amount.

COSMION & ESSENCE BALANCING AND CHANGES

NEUTRAL BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Ishu shop cost upped from 4 to 5.
• Air Khepira: Cooldown upped from 3.5 to 4, and damage has been reduced from a range of from 20-25 to now 18-22

NATURE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Duopon regen value reduced from 5 to 4.

Developers Notes: We felt like this healing Cosmion was a bit too strong, so we had to tune it down. CHANGES TO DRAGON ARCHETYPE

• Added +2 damage to all Legendary Dragons
• Baby dragon damage range changed from 0-0 to 0-1

Developers Notes: Our aim for Dragons was to make them scale in strength as the game progress. But due to them being accessible early on - if you are lucky - duelist rarely picked them due to their low base damage, so adding an additional 2 damage stat should make them worth your time. As for our little nugget of a dragon, we felt that dealing 0 damage CONSTANTLY was something Duelists weren't fan of, so many we gave it a "baby" boost. For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-09-09 10:04:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Monday, September 2, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel demo on Steam, make sure you update your game.

NEW CONTENT FOR THE GAME:

NEW ARCHETYPE: FOS RU DRAGONS If you remember the 0.9.0 Patch (which you can read here in case you missed it), we wanted to introduce a new Cosmion archetype that feels rare and powerful, and our pick was Dragons. Mystical being that can be found in the folklore of many different cultures around the world, we felt that Dragons fit perfectly in our goal was to create an archetype that could embrace any Element and serve as a set piece with sufficient variation to accommodate various builds. While we already had two Dragons in the game, Houshan and Runghai, they were Legendary Cosmions you could only buy in the shop. With this patch, we're removing those two dragons from the shop rotation, and introducing the base Cosmion known as Baby Dragon.
This will be Duelist's first building block in the archetype - plus it's cute as hell - and will need to be "fed" a Plinn or Kriko to evolve into Teen Dragon. The latter will then need to be fused with Essences, to become one of the following 5 Elemental Dragons: [olist]

[NEW] Air Dragon: We realized that there is not a viable "fog" build, so this is our first attempt on creating one. The reason fog and rain doesn't really have builds is because we think these debuffs are a bit too "toxic" gameplay wise.

[NEW] Nature Dragon: Gaining shield won't damage your opponent, but a Dragon which gains damage as you gain shields will.

Electric Dragon (Runghai): The thunderous Dragon has been reworked. While it was just a pure damage dealer, now it ramps up damage equal to player's energy regeneration on every attack.

[NEW] Water Dragon: Gain flow and damage. Free flowing Dragon power!

Fire Dragon (Houshan): We just adjusted some of its stats but the main abilities are still the same. [/olist]
At the moment, only the Fire and Electric Dragon are named, and our plan is to have fun new names for the other three by launch.

COSMION & ESSENCE BALANCING AND CHANGES

AIR BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Ageccus Cooldown upped from 6 to 7, and cost in shop from 12 to 13.
• Air Khepira: Cooldown upped from 3.5 to 4, and damage has been reduced from a range of from 20-25 to now 18-22

AIR BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Fanbran: Cost in shop upped from 9 to 10.

BUGFIXES

Shield bug fix: One of our loyal Duelist noticed was the shield bug, which helped us find some rare bugs related to our new upgrades introduced in 0.9.2. For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-09-02 09:53:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Monday, August 26, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel demo on Steam, make sure you update your game.

NEW CONTENT FOR THE GAME:

Mentioned in the big 0.9.0 Patch (which you can read here in case you missed it), we're working on a series of new Upgrades that will be gradually introduced in NeoDuel starting today. Our aim is to try to drop a set number with most future patches, to make sure your dueling experience feels fresher than a mint lozenge. Here's the five first Upgrades which you can see in the image below, and their description listed from left to right:
[olist]

A Good Offense: Every time your Cosmions attack, gain 2 Shield

Adrenaline Boost: Once per duel, when you are below 25% Health, gain Shield equal to the 25% of your maximum Health

Calm Team: All Cosmions consume 0.5 less Energy

Compensation Prize: If you lose a round, gain a random Rare-Epic-Legendary Cosmion

Confidence: For every duel you win, deal 3% more damage. For every loss, lose 4% max health. [/olist] Developers Notes: 5 fresh new Updates for our Duelist straight out of the oven! While we believe all of you will use them based on your own playstyle, we designed them to answer certain needs and feedback from Duelists. Starting with A Good Offense, our aim was to give an Upgrade that supports Duelist that are focused on very offensive builds and want an extra side of survivability without changing their backpack composition. Adrenaline Boost on the other with for those of you that needed that slither of extra health to finish an opponent. For energy hungry builds full of Attack type Cosmions, Calm Team should help you manage that drain. Finally, our two last Upgrades are mostly focused on lucky or unlucky runs - Compensation Prize will help you get a random higher than Common rarity Cosmion, while Confidence will boost your damage as your win streak gets higher. We're excited to see what you do with these upgrades!

IMPROVEMENTS & ADJUSTMENTS

QUALITY OF LIFE CHANGE FOR FUSIONS While it seems like a very simple change, this was long awaited by Duelist. Instead of praying to the Fusion gods, you'll be able to see exactly which Cosmions are getting ready for a fusion thanks to a visual prompter consisting of a name pop and solid line between each part (a visual example is right under here). We've tried almost all of them, but if you do encounter any bugs on that front, make sure to let us know.

BUGFIXES

• Bug Fix: We - hopefully - got rid of a nasty visual bug that would render your own in-game avatar bigger than the arena. Would be a gigantic hilarious joke if the rest of the game would scale up accordingly.
• Bug Fix: Remember that unwanted behavior where players would see stacked Cosmions on top of each other? It should finally be gone for good now, unless....
• End of Duel music fix: if you know then you know

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-08-26 12:47:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! Since the major patch on July 15th (aka The Wholesome Patch), we had to deploy a hotfix over the past weekend for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. If you haven't yet, and to experience the most recent build of NeoDuel demo on Steam, make sure you update your game.

IMPROVEMENTS & ADJUSTMENTS

NEUTRAL BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Knod: Accuracy reduced from 85% to 75%

AIR BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Capcop: Accuracy upped from 50% to 85%

ELECTRIC BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Zapp: Link number reduced from 4 to 3
• Nikola 7: Damage reduced 27 to 25 when triggered by Stun

BUGFIXES

• Bug Fix: We - hopefully - got rid of a nasty visual bug that would render your own in-game avatar bigger than the arena. Would be a gigantic hilarious joke if the rest of the game would scale up accordingly.
• Bug Fix: We got rid of a unwanted behavior where players could stack Cosmions on top of each other
• Various sound bug Fix

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-08-19 16:43:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings Duelists! Missed us? A few weeks ago, we planned to write a retrospective blog post, but after being included in this week's Wholesome Games Steam Celebration, we decided it would be preferable to concentrate on two things: finishing up some essential improvements that the community has requested, and sharing our recap. As we prepare for the upcoming full launch in the upcoming season, let me set some expectations: our publishers, The 4 Winds Entertainment, and our development team, Rogue Duck Interactive and DiceHit Games, are committed to giving our community regular updates about the game, even in its demo form. So let's get started right away!

STEAM FEST RECAP AND THE STATE OF NEODUEL DEVELOPMENT

For the past couple of weeks since the end of the Steam Next Fest, weve had a mountain of data to analyze from demo players feedback, to suggestions in our official Discord channels, but also those that filled in the official game survey, and for that we would like to start this blog entry by thanking you all! We learned a lot from players feedback, ranging from what most of you like, dislike, and what exactly the general consensus felt missing in a game like NeoDuel. On top of that, the Steam annual event helped us reach a whopping 15000 wishlists, and we cant thank you enough for it.
Also a small visual update: NeoDuel has a new logo! The new design is much clearer, and carries on the visual style of the Traditional & Simplified Chinese, Korean and Japanese versions as they are fully localized. We are particularly big fans of the little flairs added in certain letters to bring them more to the front. Now in the essence of transparency, we figured we share some of the highlights of what we learned mattered the most to our veteran and new Duelists: [olist]

General Gameplay and Mechanics: The keyword that is the most recurring in the feedback is simply diversity and balancing. While Duelists are enjoying the complexity of gameplay elements, fusions and evolutions of Cosmions, theres a certain build fatigue where recurrent strategies are happening a bit too often especially at higher elo. Thats why our commitment to constant build balancing will carry on as it is, and in case you have missed it on our Steam page, one of the post-launch FREE content updates will be bringing a new gameplay mechanic: elemental fusion. In a nutshell, youll be able to blend the power of Air and Water to create a new Element known as Ice, to freeze your opponent in the arena. Thats the first of the 4 new elemental fusions planned as an example.

Cosmion Evolutions and Fusion Mechanics: One thing that Duelist pointed out is the lack of set knowledge about all this aspect of Cosmion power. So far, the majority have learned it through trial and error, and were working on a compendium that will feature a Cosmodex (a complete list of all Cosmions and their trigger/passive abilities), as well as fusion guides and a list of starter builds to get you going. Expect this closer to the full launch of the game, which will endorse the updated tutorial or onboarding experience for newcomers.

Technical Aspects of the game: Another big challenge as a developer is that our design of NeoDuel is biased to our constant involvement in its development. Listening to players has helped us realize that certain aspect of our game are rather crude, and we have identified couple of points that we are launching with this 0.9.0 update (AKA the Wholesome Patch today). This includes SFX for Cosmions and certain actions, Animations and VFX for multiple aspect of the game and localization into more languages. [/olist] Theres much more as well, but we want to keep surprises for the full launch. The ultimate goal is to keep NeoDuel fresh from now until launch and onward, adding a broader variety of Cosmions and game elements, to refresh the game and provide new strategic options.

THE WHOLESOME PATCH: VERSION 0.9.0 AVAILABLE NOW

Todays patch was catered specifically for our participation in the Wholesome Games Steam Celebration running from today until the 21st of August. This event is a cozy celebration and showcase of all video games that inspire optimism, joy, and introspection, and we thank them for hosting us. This new build is quite a big one, even bigger than the version that was prepared for Steam Next Fest, and we hope you like what youll see. Our team has been working very hard to update the meta with a ton of new features and content while keeping some of the best duelist builds available... But more balanced.

NEW CONTENT FOR THE GAME:

New Languages: Hallo! Bonjour ! Hola! Ol! Privyet! NeoDuel is a game that relies on a lot of reading, so not playing it in your native language might be hard for many Duelists. This update adds French, Spanish, German, Brazilian Portuguese, and Russian. The game thus expands its reach beyond the initial Turkish & English versions and already supported Traditional & Simplified Chinese, Korean and Japanese languages. Note that the current localization is not final and doesn't reflect the final product, so if you do find anything that seems out of context, dont hesitate to share your feedback on our official Discord channel. SFX and VFX: call in the animators! We took action after hearing you Duelists claim that this is our weakest area! A ton of idle animations for our favorite Duelist avatar, a dynamic health bar that brings the combat to life, and a ton of noises you'll hear while playing have all been included. We can't wait for you to see a ton more of it in the complete launch editions!
Enhanced Battle Log Introduced in patch 0.7.1 back during Steam Next Fest, this feature was well received but felt like it could use some more well, logs. We added in effects in the battle log as well, while changing its design for better clarity, and hopefully will be something you use more often. The BIG Upgrade update This is a significant modification that will fundamentally alter how players interact. For those who don't know, Upgrades are modifiers that you can choose every few rounds to alter your strategy. An example of an upgrade would be to reduce the cost of fire cosmions. We added a ton of new Upgrades and modified nearly 90% of the existing ones, so be ready to be astonished. The fundamental justification is that, in the process of investigating balancing Upgrades, we discovered that, in order to truly make them enjoyable, we need to modify the system and remove the ones that are overused. This implies that as you advance, the Upgrades you receive after your third match will start off as somewhat "common" rarity Upgrades and will eventually scale to rarer, more potent ones. This adjustment will bring the flat value Upgrades into line with the percentage ones, improving their balance. Ultimately, we came to the realization that many of our improvements were not as enjoyable as previous ones, so we decided to embrace a chaotically joyous part of the new ones. New Cosmions Evolutions: While were working on a bunch of new wyvern themed Cosmions that we might have teased on our official Twitter/X page, this update brings a new evolution for two of our favorite Cosmions: Mira and the duo Serena & Sparky. The Serena & Sparky evolution is a fun design, where Sparky now becomes a rideable electric beast which Serena mounts in battle.
The second one is for our cute yet super-diverse Cosmion Mira. While Mira was already rather jack of all trade fusion pick thanks to its ability to get enhanced to any Elemental power, its Epic evolution involves embracing another Cosmions called Khepre to make use of it as shield. We promise you, its an adMIRAble sight.

COSMION & ESSENCE BALANCING AND CHANGES

ELECTRIC BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Knod Cooldown upped from 1.75 to 2.5 Knod, and damage has been reduced from a range of from 4-7 to now 6-8
• Liskers rarity raised from Rare to Epic, and changed its link effect of gain +1 damage for linked Cosmions in every 4 active links rather than 3.
• Nikola7 damage reduced 30 to 27 when triggered by Stun.

Developers Notes: Bizzz Spark. While this patch is about all the other more macro changes we are focusing on, we just had to look at this particular combination which dominated the game since the Steam Next Fest build. The problem with this Knod/Liskers/Nikola7 combo is this: Knod does double attacks, Liskers gives attack damage per link which Knod doubles, and when you bring Nikola7 to the mix with 8 links its big burst match start trigger, then youre pretty much unstoppable. When a player combined these 3 units, they halved the health of the opposing backpack in one burst, then that was followed with a quick double attack from Knod to end the Duel. So our reasoning was to first keep the intended attack amplifiers abilities of Knod, but raising its cooldown. Then when looking at Liskers, we realized its original design concept was meant at a time where the abilities for multiple links was much lower. We figured we should increase its link number, but upping its rarity to Epic to enforce scarcity in the shop. Finally for Nikola7, its tweak was mostly planned before the rise of this combo especially because its usage in the combo was mostly for its links rather than its damage range to make sure it doesnt become another key Cosmions in another one shot build.

• Zapp Cooldown upped from 2 to 2.5

NEUTRAL BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Ishu cost in the shop is upped from 3 to 4.

Developers Notes: We feel too much love is given to this Neutral Cosmion that others are jealous, so we decided to up its cost to reduce overperformance. NATURE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Duopon: Upped its restoration trigger effect from 2 to 4
• Hercuvine: Link trigger restoration upped from 1 to 2

Developers Notes: Remember how we changed our tick rate bug in the game from 1 second to 2 back in the last patch Well someone forgot to enhance restoration units for it to make sense. FIRE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Dorangutan: Conditional effect of restoration upped from 3 to 5.

Developers Note: Same logic as the Duopon and Hercuvine tweak listed above. AIR BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Capcop: Reworked condition specific effects - on every successful attack, gain 1 damage.

Developers Note: Duelist and our own team didnt really get a reason to make use of this Air Cosmion, so we decided to change it entirely into a gradually damage boosting machine.

• Aetherling and Galewing: Our air core units now do not scale with excess accuracy, but rather with every clarity you gain.

BUG SMASHED!

It's been a LONG time friends so if we wrote the full bug fixes, this already 1500+ words post would be double the size. Just know that we squashed almost all known bugs that were shared by the community, including some sneaky ones we believe none of you have ever encountered. Thats it for today! We know its a long read, but we believe that keeping a steady flow of communication with you all is key to the future of NeoDuel. For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-08-15 08:09:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Tuesday, June 25, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent and up to date build of NeoDuel demo on Steam, make sure you update your game.

IMPROVEMENTS & ADJUSTMENTS

NEUTRAL BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Pedro : The damage range was reduced from 7-10 to now 6-9, while energy cost was upped from 4 to 4.5.
• Ishu: Cost reduced from 4 to 3.

Developers Notes: Pedro while not being a strong Cosmion on its own stat-wise, is a very dominant Cosmions in the early game. We mean to cut that a little to push Duelist to pick other Cosmions. NATURE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

Liskers: Cost raised from 5 to 7.

Spiry: Max damage upped from 4 to 5. Developers Notes: We're seeing a raise in Liskers spam builds, and decided to up its cost to rein that down. If we end up seeing that happen again, we might consider another solution. FIRE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Matchiro: Cost reduced from 4 to 3. Max damage upped from 4 to 6.

Developers Note: Matchiro is very weak because of his long history as being a key Cosmions in the Turbo Matchiro build, so we wanted to bring him back into play without making him a dominant pick. WATER BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Cemil: Damage output range changed from 20-26 to 18-24.
• Strutwahl : Cost reduced from 8 to 7.

AIR BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Drib: Accuracy lowered from 100 to 90 and cooldown upped from 2.5 to 3.
• Ageccus: Cooldown upped from 5 to 6, and price raised from 10 to 12.

Developers Notes: Drib has been an easy-to-fuse Cosmions, but his main form is already too strong. This tweak should be enough of a damage cut, and push Duelist to experiment with fusions instead. As for Ageccus, we personally love seeing equinal-themed Backpacks, we had to pull the reins a bit stronger as they are too overpowered.

BUGFIXES

• Bug Fix: Focussed mind and Kikiyaon now calculate correctly (math is hard...)
• Bug Fix: Augment timings are fixed
• Inventory bug fixed: You should not encounter a weird blank screen now... Hopefully.
• Abatrion bug fix: The trigger effect now gives correct shield.
• Ishu, Leviathan and Siphon fix: These did not work as intended due to a strange coding error. Now that they do, you should try them out!

Developers Notes: One of the main reasons Air was very strong element was due to the way the Critical damage was calculated. Now that we found the culprit, it should removes that sense of being an overpowered elements. As for the Augments, some of them didn't work sometimes, mainly due to a timing error which we fixed. For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-06-25 07:10:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Watch Developers Play!
A little bit about our Game; NEODUEL is a PvP inventory auto-battler with a monster-trainer twist! Collect, combine, manage your backpack, and create powerful combos. Fight other players with your team of monsters strategically placed on a grid. Rise through leagues in the competitive ladder! Play the exclusive NextFest demo by yourself for limited time only! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2693940/NEODUEL_Backpack_Monsters/

[ 2024-06-15 14:00:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Saturday, June 15, 2024, a new patch has gone live for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters. To experience the most recent build of NeoDuel demo on Steam, make sure you update your game.

IMPROVEMENTS & ADJUSTMENTS

MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES

• New symbols for Essences and Bags: We used to have the same icon for Bags and Essences as our Cosmions, but now they got their own class icons! This means that Duelists cannot use Essences in certain key links, BUT we will be bringing more Cosmions with Essence links soon.

NEUTRAL BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Hawkista: Reworked to become a new Neutral Cosmion instead of Air.

Developers Notes: While Hawkista IS a bird of prey, linking it to Air elementals indirectly guided Duelists to play it almost uniquely with Air Slimes. Our team DID NOT want that to be the outcome, so turning him Neutral will increase build variety.

• Hit Dicest: Link effect now stacks. Link number reduced from 3 to 2, and cooldown raised from 4.5 to 5.

Developers Notes: Essentially this is considered like an upgrade, we believe it will increase the games skill ceiling. If we see in our internal stats that it brought negative effect to the meta, well probably raise the cooldown once more But until then, this is the right balancing.

• Revlana: Cooldown has been reduced from 4 to 3, and damage output range reduced from 12-16 to 10-14.
• Z E U S: Cooldown reduced from 4 to 3.5; Energy cost reduced from 5 to 4.

Developers Notes: After our last hotfix 0.7.1, we were afraid that Z E U S would to be too strong, but we ended up realizing it was exactly the opposite.

• Omnicore and Demoncore: Shop prices raised from 10 to 12.

Developers Notes: Although they arent necessarily strong, we noticed they have quite a high pick rate, so making them more expensive might tone that down.

• Mira: Raised the cooldown from 2.5 to 3, and max damage went from 6 to 7.

Developers Notes: The only reason we are making this change is that theres too many elements in the game with a 2.5 cooldown. This resulted in a strange pattern of energy consumption in builds. While this change will reduce damage pace, Miras energy consumption should be more stable FIRE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Pyrophate: Shield generation on activation reduced from 15 to 12.

Developers Note: Thankfully not many Duelists notice that, but Pyrophate one mean shield-making machine. This tuning should keep him a strong Cosmion and shieldmaster, but in a more balanced way.

• Firefist: Rarity reduced from Epic to Rare
• Molten Punch: Now requires fusion of two Firefists, instead of a combination of Knod, Firefist and Epic Fire Essence. The damage range was reduced from 38-42 to now 22-30.

Developers Note:Since the launch of the demo, the Firefist and Molten Punch build was the LEAST PLAYED in the game. We are assuming that its a combination of Firefist being of Epic rarity while making a Molten Punch was quite a grind. This change should help people get into this build, as well as fusing Molten Punch, earlier. To counter potential abuse, we felt that we needed to tone down the maximum power.

• Dorangutan: Coodlown upped from 4 to 4.5

WATER BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Runghai: Damage output range changed from 25-30 to 34-42, while Cooldown were raised from 2.5 to 3
• Cemil: Damage output range changed from 15-20 to 20-26, while Cooldown was raised from 2 to 3. Finally slight upgrade to energy from 2 to 2.5.

Developers Notes: Cemil is a great driving flow behind many builds, but that 2 second cooldown made it indispensable with strength and other damage buffs. We decided to turn that down a bit, while upping the damage it can cause. AIR BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Aetherling: Minimum damage reduced from 11 to 10
• Galewing: Minimum damage reduced from 18 to 16
• Volucris: Damage output range reduced from 35-42 to 30-35

Developers Notes: Duelists are loving Air elementals, and theyre not wrong. Air might be too good now, but we found the main culprits and got grounded.

BUGFIXES

• Bug Fix: Units will not turn after the start of a Duel. While we thought this was only a visual bug, it affected links and cost lots of Duels for some players. If you encounter it again, please let us know (although were confident you wont).
• Bug Fix: Air Critical insane numbers fixed
• Bug Fix: Duckduck, Fireduck and Knod link energy now reduces at the right pace instead of double the value.

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-06-15 12:35:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Salutations, Duelists! As of Tuesday, June 11, 2024, the newest hotfix for NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters, the following modifications are available. you experience the most recent NeoDuel demo on Steam, make sure you update your game.

IMPROVEMENTS & ADJUSTMENTS

UNIQUE COSMIONS BALANCING

• Z E U S: Cooldown has been upgraded from 2.5 to 4
• Revlana: Reduced damage range from 15-20 to 12-26

Developers Notes: Apparently two of our unique Cosmions added recently were a little over the top. Weve decided to balance them out to make sure they are not overused. AIR-BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Yekrut: Stamina reduced from 4 to 3, while damaged range is now reduced from 20-22 to 18-20.

Developers Note: Our beloved eagle, symbol of talisman and glory in our developers nation was spending a bit too much stamina. We tweak that consumption but had to lessen its damage output to keep it fair. NATURE BASED COSMION & ESSENCE

• Maestoad: Reduced energy cost from 3.5 to 2.75

Developers Notes: Our new Cosmion was a little weaker than intended, so we hope this change will make it appealing for your builds. MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES

• Show us all the links! Pressing alt or G on the keyboards now show all the linked Cosmions and essences.

BUGFIXES

• Knod links now decrease to the correct amount of energy
• Volucris now fuses only the intended way
• Localization fixes for current supported languages

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-06-11 14:13:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

From June 10 to June 17, take part in a thrilling 7-day series of challenges known as the NeoDuel Fest. Unique daily challenges where you need to show your strategic creativity for a chance to win Steam Gift Cards!
7 Back-to Back Challenges: NeoDuel Fest is a series of 7 unique challenges, each inspired by different in-game themes. Follow the specific daily challenges, showcase your strategic creativity using diverse in-game mechanics, capture your best performance, share screenshots in the dedicated Discord channel and win some prizes!
The Top 3 participants for each challenge selected by our team will win Steam Gift Cards either 50 or 25 of Euros depending on their ranks (or equivalent in your local currency). For more details on the rules and regulations, interested players can visit The 4 Winds Entertainment Discord Channel.

[ 2024-06-10 16:00:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Its been a wild couple of days since our last patch note, but in case you missed it, we have a new publishing partner - The 4 Winds Entertainment - who will support us as we get NeoDuel closer to the finish line and onward. That means our patch notes will become a bit more fun and clear, and follow certain formatting for better accessibility. This upcoming patch for the NeoDuel demo is slightly heavier on content, since well be highlighted in the upcoming Steam Next Fest. Our team has been hard at work adding a plethora of new content and features, a reshape to the existing meta but without breaking some of the top duelist builds out there Just, you know, stopping some exploits, while keeping things fresh.

NEW CONTENT FOR THE GAME:

New Feature: Battle Log A lot of Duelists wanted this, and we finally did it. You can now see which of your Cosmion did the most damage or synergy, and find out the weaker chain in the link. Its a full log feature that splits data into damage count, healing and shield values, and other effects applied. We will be listening to all of you Duelists feedback on this feature, and work toward a more complex or tweaked version of the Battle Log as we get closer to the full launch. New Feature: Fusion Bond " Fuuu...sion..HA! Alright, you probably guessed by now that we're a bunch of weebs. We love the fusion abilities of our beloved Cosmions, but some of you felt like the outcome of fusing wasn't clear. With the Fusion Bond, you can now see which Cosmions can fuse together, and the potential outcome. New Feature: Additional Keyboard Shortcuts

• Added the ability to rotate Cosmions using the Q and E keys.
• Added the ability to quickly send Cosmions to the bag with the S key or the Mouse Right Click

New Cosmions We have been working hard on designing and bringing new critters into the game which will increase the depth, enhance your Duelist experience and fill all the blanks a potential build could have. We start with unique Cosmions, which are found in the Fire, Water and Air elemental category, but missing in the rest. With this patch 0.7.0 codename Steam Fest, all elements have their ultimate Cosmions including:

• Z E U S: Powered by the iconic electric deity, each energy you generate will add damage to that Cosmion.
• Faeris: The God of nature is here to protect you. This Cosmion increases all shields you gain
• Revlana: No elemental power doesnt mean weakness. This Cosmion grows in strength the more you have a variety of other elements in play.

Other than that, weve added some a set of 8 new Cosmions to spice things up:

• Pedro: Pedro, Pedro, Pedro, Pedro, P. A common attacker that uses a lot of energy but hits really hard.
• Stonks Doge: A new fusion-based Cosmum lets you use those useless stonks tigresses in a useful way.
• ChugChug: We heard that there are energy problems, which we think will be solved with this fusion Cosmium!
• Arthur: Coming from the wild depth, this gunslinger will solve those pesky flow problems by converting your energy into flow!
• Meteor Klood: The long awaited Fire elemental cloud that was missing from the kloodline. It will inflict 1 fog, 2 burn and 2 Lava Burn.
• Ishu: Kawaii! A Cosmiun disguised as a sushi, and acts as a defender for - mostly - Fire duelist. Each time you inflict a debuff to your enemy, you recover 1 health
• Pyrophyte: A tree shaped Cosmion which gathers strength by burning inside out. Everytime you deal burn damage to the enemy, it gains shield.
• Harmonion: Fight water with fire? Turns your flow into burn, allowing for some interesting builds.

Developers Note: As our current Duelists keep playing the game, we have noticed some problems that arent balancing problems, but rather a lack of pieces to finish the puzzle, and those are new Cosmions. As we continue to update this demo, and march towards the full launch, we will keep experimenting with unique Cosmions, in hope it will boost your imagination and wildess builds. New Zone: Heart Zones can bring some interesting changes to gameplay, and this new Heart Zone is a big pill of vitamins. For every Cosmion with a passive effect in this zone, your Duelist will gain 10 HP on top of your cap.

IMPROVEMENTS & ADJUSTMENTS

Onboarding and Tutorial A lot of the community feedback made us realize that the first-time user experience is not where we want it to be. Were constantly improving on that front, and tweaked the previous tutorial by timing better the on-screen messaging based on Duelist actions, as well as adding an explanation of the Cosmion description card. This is not yet reflective of the final form of the tutorial for the full launch, so keep that feedback coming! Upgrade Balancing As we launched the first version of the demo, we noticed that plenty of upgrades were not balanced at all, and we didn't really implement the best system for them. To resolve that, we are going to be separating each stage of upgrades into their own tier, from 1 to 3. Upgrades get more valuable as you progress in the duels, and you will feel it as well. We are also bringing some new upgrades to change the pace on that front. Unique Cosmion Pricing Reduced Unique cosmions are those you could only get from upgrades, yet had a price tag of 30. We realized from our data that they were becoming tools to pick and sell, so we reduced their cost to 20. Cosmion & Essence Balancing & Changes Fire-based Cosmion & Essence

• Ifry burn per link has been reduced from 2 to 1
• Ifraltus burn per link has been reduced from 3 to 2
• Rare Fire Essence burn effect has been reduced from 3 to 2
• Epic Fire Essence burn effect has been reduced from 6 to 4
• Porgur cost reduced from 2 to 1

Developer's note: Let's talk about the typical fire build here, because there are a couple changes we are bringing into this element to tweak things for Duelists. There are two big problems with Fire builds at the moment: it is very easy to play efficiently, and there is A LOT of starting Burn effect. This is not what we want for a ramping build, so were removing a lot of initial Burn effects. To not shatter all current builds, we are also adding some new elemental optimized units so seasoned Duelists can still bring the summer heat.

• Firefist link effect has been upgraded from 2 to 3
• Moltenpunch link effect has been upgraded from 4 to 5

Developer's note: Firefist build is the least popular line in the game according to our stats. Reducing a start build will disrupt too much the meta, so we wanted to make sure you still aim for a perfect link, without removing THAT much burn effect.

• Fire Mira damage has been reduced from a range of 6-8 to 5-7
• Yogan damage has been reduced from a range of 7-10 to 6-8

Developer's note: With the new Cosmions were introducing in the Fire category, some base damage from the most used ones needed to be tweaked. Nature Based Cosmion & Essence

• Spiry energy cost per attack has been reduced from 3 to 2
• Abatis cost has been reduced from 6 to 5

Developer's note: For Spiry, the intended gameplay was for a Duelist to put more of them in play to eventually take advantage of the fusion, but currently, even if you had no other Cosmions, you would be out of energy. This didn't quite make sense so we had to introduce this fix. Air-based Cosmion & Essence

• Volucris reworked: Changed fusion from Yekrut + Ageccus + Epic Air Essence to now Yekrut + Clepius. Its cooldown is bigger, changing from 3 to 4, and the on-hit haste was removed.
• Volucris passive Giving critical stats to the linked Cosmion is now On attack phase give the linked Cosmion 20% critical damage change.

Developer's note: The Air elemental big boy was a little hard to reach and too important in winduelists, discouraging them to trade. What we are doing is making it a lot easier to fuse a Volucris, and tuning him accordingly. The old passive ability felt limiting for duelists, as most didnt want to apply critical stats to a linked Cosmion. This one will lead to stronger end-game boards for more fun late duels. Electric based Cosmion & Essence

• Belestra Rework: Changed fusion from Wasbuz + rare nature + rare electric essence to now Wasbuz + Rare Nature. Its cooldown has changed from 2 to 5, Stamina from 2 to 4, Damage range from a range of 15-21 to 18-22 and finally added 20% innate critical chance.

Developer's note: Do we even need to explain this one? Belestra has been a very strong Cosmion that needed to be contained so it doesnt go berserk. The tweaks are meant for it to be easier to fuse, but still keep him fun to play.

• Zapp cost reduced from 3 to 2
• Tesla cost reduced from 9 to 8

Developers note: Most of our original testers and alpha demo Duelists remember the nuke it tesla build, which was VERY scary. For those lucky enough to have not witnessed that dark era, that build could sort of one-shot you at the start of the duel. WE DO NOT want to see those ever again, but we do feel like we overdid it with the previous changes, so were balancing to a nice middle ground. Neutral based Cosmion & Essence

• Demoncore-Omnicore link amount changes from 4 to 6 to be fully activated.

Developer's note: Our team loves these 2 Cosmions, but our internal stats reveal that they are being used too often based on how easily they can be linked. To make sure they are not activated EVERY time a Duelist buys them in the shop, we had to up the link cap for a full activation to now 6, and might add more if we feel these are still too easy. Water-based Cosmion & Essence

• Common Water Essence flow reduced from 3 to 2
• Rare Water Essence flow reduced from 5 to 4
• Epic Water Essence flow reduced from 9 to 8

Developer's note: Similar to the changes brought to the Fire essences, we realized that Duelists are using too much Essences in comparison with Cosmions, which isnt really their purpose in the game (you are a monster tamer after all). For us, Essences are complimentary slots into your backpack, while Cosmions are your priority. Essences only take 1 slot and are used in fusions, which make them on par with the core mechanic of a Cosmion but at a reduced cost. This change to the Water essences should keep that trend down, and we will constantly monitor the situation.

BUG SMASHED!

• Bargain Master: We discovered an unintended loop that could be considered an exploit by our system, between fusions of David E. Sence and the Bargain Master upgrade. This ability has been dropped in the bin to keep the in-game economy healthy Plus, theres a big chance you didnt even discover it.
• Numerous bugs squished in the background that haven't done that much damage for Duelist Those darn sneaky bugs.

For the most recent news, join the NeoDuel community by following us on Twitter or hopping into the T4W Discord server. Please contact our support channel on the T4W Discord server if you need assistance with typical technical issues or if you are unable to resolve your problem. Till then, keep on dueling, and good luck!

[ 2024-06-05 13:35:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

The 4 Winds Entertainment teams up with Rogue Duck Interactive to add 3 new titles to its 2024-2025 publishing slate, starting with previously announced NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters, an exciting PvP inventory management auto-battle game to players worldwide, currently set for release in Q3 2024. NeoDuel: Backpack Monsters is a PvP inventory auto-battler with a monster-trainer twist! Collect, combine, manage your backpack, and create powerful combos. Fight other players with your team of monsters strategically placed on a grid. The game can be wishlisted on Steam, as well allowing players to download a demo to try it for themselves. For more information about the game, visit the dedicated steam page, as well as joining our official Discord channel.

[ 2024-06-03 14:46:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

A new duelist joins the battle! We welcome our new publishers The 4 Winds Entertainment, to bring our fun blend on PVP inventory-management and monster tamer game to life Founded in 2021, after successful regional launch of WW3 and recently HAWKED, independent publisher The 4 Winds Entertainment is changing its business strategy to become a global publishing house with one goal: to help developers from around the world to reach to a more diverse community of players. The partnership with Rogue Duck Interactive is the first toward that global expansion, switching to an emphasis on quality over quantity, but also clever, original experiences from underrepresented studios and developers. Hop on to Steam, wishlist NeoDuel and try the demo now!

[ 2024-06-03 14:42:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Watch Developers Play!
A little bit about our Game; NEODUEL is a PvP inventory auto-battler with a monster-trainer twist! Collect, combine, manage your backpack, and create powerful combos. Fight other players with your team of monsters strategically placed on a grid. Rise through leagues in the competitive ladder! Play the exclusive NextFest demo by yourself for limited time only! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2693940/NEODUEL_Backpack_Monsters/

[ 2024-05-26 03:01:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello Duelists, It's patch day and it's already live! While we collect our smaller updates in this thread, this is a big one and includes some news, so here are they! If you want to stay in touch further, don't forget to follow us on Twitter or join our Discord. System Changes: - Elo System Reworked, let us know how it feels! - Links added to Cosmions with no links or only 1 link. This will increase the skill expression overall. - Some on-trigger Cosmions now only work with Attackers as they were letting some truly overpowered combos to happen (Shown as " Link" in game) - Some Upgrades Reworked: Discover them in-game and let us know what you think! :) General Balance - In-battle Player HP increased: Fights will take slightly longer and will let some new ramp-up builds to work. - Credit amount increased in each Stage: You'll get to make more meaningful choices in shop. - Fog, Toughness and Brittle now diminish over time. We'll keep an eye on this and balance Cosmions that provide these buff / debuffs to companse with the next patch. - Fusion formula adjustments Cosmion Adjustmens - Nerfs: Riko, Omnicore, Demoncore, Fire Mira, Flinter - Buffs: Firefist, Blazeroll, All the Ducks - Balanced: Air Cosmions (Less Energy usage, more damage, hence further synergy with Crit!) - Other minor nerf and buffs We hope you'll enjoy this version! Our team is hard at work to bring you more content and better balance as time goes. Now, we'll be focusing on a big Next Fest Update with many new Cosmions on June 10th! Until then, we'll keep making small balance changes and bug-fixes whenever required. For the Next Fest, we're planning: - At least 5 New Cosmions - New Avatars - QoL improvements - Balance changes If you want to stay in touch further, don't forget to follow us on Twitter or join our Discord. See you then!

[ 2024-05-24 22:50:40 CET ] [ Original post ]