New Features

• Visual combat resolve revamped.

• During best of 3 the loser of the round will now get to pick who goes first next round.

• Surrender rounds when not in one-game

Improvements

• Check renamed to Pass, End Deploy renamed to End Phase.

• Naming/wording improvements for various notifications and match UI elements.

• Discard windows order in hierachy adjusted to make them appear on top of all non notification/tutorial elements.

• (Tutorial Match) Various UI improvements and fixes for scaling and to match the highlighted element(s)

• Tutorial revamped and updated to new script.

• Welcome panel for first time players recreated in UI toolkit and can now be reopened from the bottom bar.

• Parry reset between phases removed.

• Parry shield effect added that takes hits and breaks when cap reached.

• Mulligan window resized to fit under the top header, this moved the keeping x cards .. text now a seperate floating box in the bottom right corner.

• Tutorial mulligan2 panel adjusted for the new mulligan window size.

• Attacker and Blocker selection windows resized, structured, positioned to not block the header and to fully hide again apart for the button.

Bug Fixes

• Card ID being shown in life gain notifications.

• Top bar deck/discard/hand amount label blocking the tooltip hover.

• Incoming Attackers list not clearing on match reset -> this leads to the next match starting with blocker selection window open with any remaining incoming attackers.

• Mana available indicator for opponent reading the player mana availability instead of opp.

• (Tutorial match) Next panel after loyal gatewarden deploy prematurely flashing visible after the deploy.

• Unequipping items causing a disconnect when server tries to add inventory interaction log due to a wrong reference.

• Adventure mode map icons targetable while not in adventure mode.

• Active deck for constructed mode validating the wrong drop down selections during match accept.

• Multi target Or actions labels missing.

• Music audio setting not matching master after system change (appearently master does not include music here somehow).

• Unblocked cards without alert and with twinstrike tapping after ambush step.

• Disconnects not showing the correct screen after disabling the main UI.

• Heavy damage moving on while attackers are dead -> needs more testing.

[ 2025-06-20 16:59:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

New Features:

• New effect for buffs.

• Random common item rewards for match winners.

• Reagent loot with 50% drop chance at match wins.

• RPG Mode map added (not usuable yet, for display and preview).

• Updates to map and line drawing based on user progress for RPG mode, map is now fully functional.

• Tooltips for matchUI check/end deploy button.

Improvements:

• Statistics UI rebuilt.

• Demo UI rebuilt.

• Demo queues and modes adjusted.

• Tooltips for missing old tooltip triggers replaced with the new tooltip system.

• More UI updates and fixes.

• Draft mode color background for indication of maindeck selections being correct so hopefully people notice they need to drop 6 cards to the bench to proceed.

• Set background music to the tutorial track while in tutorial mode.

• Card tapping sound rained in have a cap to reduce the mass tap sound spam at turn changes.

• New item cards for loot drops.

• Some tutorial text / visuals improvements.

• Tutorial UI fully rebuild, scaled, positioned to correctly scale to aspect ratios.

• Tutorial text improvements.

• Tutorial card interactions locked to requiring highlight.

• Inventory and Equipment tooltips and UI improved.

• All card selection prompts (start cards, blockers, attackers, trigger selections, damage division) are now reinforced during the tutorial to ensure all proper selections are made to progress.

• Rulebook/Patch notes indexing now focuses headers top rather then bottom.

• Improved (serverside) logging for inventory interactions.

Bug Fixes:

• Tooltip positioning.

• Battleground/Adventure UI not persisting through tab changes on main menu.

• Various UI related issues.

• SFX for action impact missing.

• Queue buttons using wrong deck selection to validify decks.

• Notifications not showing up due to recent changes.

• Patchnotes button on loading screen not reacting.

• Tutorial panel actionTurnResolve not resetting after tutorial / on new tutorial start.

• Bug form multi line fields not escapable.

• Tutorial match auto deployed mana disappearing.

• Chat message by enter sending empty text.

• Not clicking a button before turn resolve completes makes a panel never hide in tutorial match.

• Previous UI panel becoming visible again by pressing the hide mana button when not intended during tutorial mode.

• Audio system causing issues on initialization creating bugs anything audio related.

• Match Audio playing the same clip for any fx play.

[ 2025-06-19 12:37:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

### New Features:

- Tutorial match, this is a guided 4 turn experience to learn the basics of the game. - Full card view for after draft selections of bench/maindeck. - Sorting and type filter for card view on draft interface. - New rulebook and patch notes interfaces. - Action card impact effect.

### Improvements:

- UI (mostly text) during tutorial match. - Rulebook now changeable in admin interface. - / rounds count added to the draft interface. - Revenge added into the precombat calculations for blocker selection display. - Large amount of adjustments to match and match tutorial UI to address scaling and sizing issues on different aspect ratio. - Tooltips added to the new main menu UI. - Duel feature returns. - Decks are now only send as ID to the server on match entrance instead of the full deck. - Heavy and card clear adjusted to also happen after ambush phase. - More ui parts shifted to ui elements. - Tooltips reworked to use UI elements. - UI prep for Demo version to match the new main menu flows. - Chat window redone in ui elements. - Action card discards after impacts for any cards that died from effects delayed by 2 seconds to ensure visual impact and to see what happens before card discards. - Game server now running on new beefier hardware.

### Known Issues:

- Bug report panel going behind some (ugui) UI elements. - Main menu in process of switching away from UGUI, current the duel feature is still missing, this will come with the next update.

### Bugs Fixed

- Rapid/Rally labels on card kw tags. - MatchUI not resetting when leaving tutorial match. - Critical issue in turn switch resolvement breaking match flow. - UI cards incorrectly displaying attack when counting riposte. - Next round during best of 3 starting with last rounds loser. - Overtime deduction being added instead of deducted fixes. - In queue incorrectly true flagged on game start preventing UI interaction. - (Serverside) Three game and one game queues mixed around for draft mode pvp. - PVP draft mode toggle not bound to correct field sometimes. - Draftmode timer mana submissions stopping wrong timer when player 2 submits. - Timers adjusted to add the time spent past limit during draft to the opponents round time for match. - Main menu buttons not clickable after leaving a match. - Draftmode timer issues. - Deck selections on main menu not being used. - Allowing challenge/duel start when no opponent is selected. - Settings menu exit button not working.

[ 2025-06-01 11:04:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

New Features

Modal card filter added to deckbuilder. 20 new cards. Account Inventory added. Equipment system fully working. 4 modal cards added.

Improvements

Transport stability fixes and other network related improvements. Riposte adjusted to cap to total incoming attack power rather then highest incoming attack power. New decks now need to be given a name when creating. Adjustment to main menu to see if it fixes the best-of-three against AI with invalid deck issue. Damage splitting for blockers now done before the phase it is about to engage in, meaning we can reassign damage after ambush/twinstrike. AI player improvements. Deckbuilder serverside interactions logging. 3 action card fixes.

Bug Fixes

Serverside steam heartbeat causing latency and relay issues. DeckBuilder serverside cache issues. DeckBuilder deck cloning issues. Issues as a result of the partial combat rewrite to allow phase based damage assignment. Draftmode mana panel buttons not resetting on match end/ new match.

[ 2025-05-28 16:26:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

63 new cards were added to Manacaster today, bringing the base set to nearly 800 cards! New players might be thinking "my God man, 800 cards, how will I know them all at first sight!?" Don'tcha worry. Because of how Manacaster is designed, if we make a card for one Element, we have to make it for all 6 elements. If we make a card for one Hybrid, we have to make it for all 9 hybrid elements! And if we make a Neutral card, we have to make every version of that card possible. ( see: Jab, 1 mana = 2 damage up to Thundershock, 12 mana = 13 damage. With that said, lets get to the new hotness!

Scavengers

Everyone loves a grower!

Battlemages

Obliterators

Giant monsters that help you bridge the gap between the Late Game and the End Game.

Mono-Element

Hybrid-Element

Board Sweepers

Single-Target Damage

[ 2025-05-02 10:23:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Until one sits down to design a game, it's difficult to see how game mechanics are taken for granted by game designers. From a player's perspective, it's nearly impossible to differentiate between a "best practice" and an "outdated practice". Anyone attempting to design a new game needs to be aware of the greater design patterns across the industry. Below is a list of common patterns that we intentionally removed from the design space of our strategy-and-tactics card game. Manacaster is built on the premise of extremely precise, mathematical game balance, augmented by AI tools that can simulate millions of games. As one might imagine, the frameworks underlying the math include a large number of restrictions about what "can and can't be". Technically speaking, these are our design assertions against which we test all newly-created Manacaster cards. Speaking plainly, these are the "major sins" of our design space. They are not to be violated, full stop. In other words, a card will fail a balance check and be rejected by the "system" if one of our designers tries to do it. This may sound strict to some game designers, but we consider this a cornerstone of Game Engineering. Games, after all, are a self-contained system that produces a dynamic and repeatable outcome when given the correct inputs. What else to call such a thing, but an engine? So, with that premise set, here is a rather large list of mechanics you might see in other games, but you'll never find in Manacaster. Most of these mechanics were in the game at some point, but have since been removed, much to the delight of our beta testers :)

>> Direct-to-Player Damage

Assertion: Players should only lose life due to enemy Units dealing combat damage. Reasoning: Our early research showed that a large % of the fun in card games ( for example, Hearthstone, Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh ) was related to "creature combat". In other words, its fun to smash monsters with your friends. Result: Games don't end out of nowhere due to a random damage spell topdecked. Board stalls don't develop due to `onDies(damageOpp)` triggered abilities sitting on both sides. Combo Kills are generally simple as "count to 20" and require little-to-no explanation.

>> "Hard" Removal

Assertion: A Unit can only be killed by having its DEF reduced to 0, or receiving damage equal to its DEF in a single turn. Reasoning: Hard removal circumvents the balance system because it does not take into account the size of the target; it just dies outright. Before we added this restriction, Units costing more than 5 mana were basically useless. Result: No spells exist that 'destroy a Unit" or "destroy all Units". Players are rewarded for investing in their Units with permanent and temporary buffs. High-cost Units like the Titans, Kaiju, and Avatars become immensely valuable finishers ( instead of unplayable crap ). The best way to take down a Titan is generally with a series of cunning double-blocks and combat tricks, but a cheeky 12 mana Terminus also does a great job.

>> Forced Discard

Assertion: A player cannot force another player to discard a card from their hand. Reasoning: Forcing the opponent to discard cards from their hand reduces interactivity, which is a big no-no in our world. For every sicko* that loves discard-decks, there are 10 normal people who don't like playing against them. Result: Players are rewarded for sculpting a strong and versatile opening hand, being confident that half of their cards won't mysteriously vanish for no reason. Cards that allow self-discard, such as Psychic Strike or Quick Pivot, become powerful tools instead of unplayable liabilities. *You know who you are....

>> Counter-Spells

Assertion: No card should be able to nullify another card in the process of being played. Reasoning: First, our game's timing system has no concept of a "pending" spell, or a "stack", when it comes to casting spells*. There would exist no time frame in which another player could "interrupt". Second, counterspells are just another form of hard removal. Result: Generally more interactivity. No color bias towards any given element because "it has access to counterspells" or "it has access to direct damage", etc. *Note that triggers can form a stack if they all pop at once. Actions, however, resolve immediately upon being cast.

>> Resource RNG

Assertion: A player should have full control over the type and sequence of resource cards they deploy. Reasoning: One of the most frustrating feelings in a game is when you "just don't draw the mana you need". One player getting choked or flooded on resources ruins the game for both players and reduces overall interactivity. Result: The resource system in Manacaster is built around a 12-card secondary deck containing ONLY mana cards. Each turn, you must play one of your choice. The result is that players have more agency over their in-game fate, able to live and die by their choices without "mana screw" to blame.

>> Searching Your Deck

Assertion: Players cannot look at any deck for any reason at any time during the game. Reasoning: Searching your deck, or your opponent's takes a lot of extra time, especially in tabletop where shuffling is required thereafter. Top players will use this chance to make tiny adjustments to their mental math, meaning that Manacaster will require some memory component at the highest level ( which is not a good feature ). Result: Decks sizes are small enough that proper deck construction allows remarkable consistency across games. Players do not need to remember anything except the rules of the game.

>> Looking at Other Players' Hands

Assertion: Players should not see each other's hands. Reasoning: For the same reason we prohibit searching decks ( avoiding memory games ), we don't allow looking at the opponent's hand. If we permitted this, memory would become a vital component at the top level of play. Result: Manacaster remains a game which rewards diligent study and good strategy, not the ability to remember large quantities of small information. Almost everything needed to make an informed gameplay decision is made available by the current gamestate.

>> Activated Abilities

Assertion: Units should not have any "special abilities" such as tapping to deal damage or paying mana to draw cards. Reasoning: We wanted to keep the division between Units and Actions as crystal-clear as possible. "Units that act like Actions" was a thing we intentionally avoided. Units exist to live, battle, and die, not pretend to be magical spells. Result: Interacting with Units and Actions feel very different, in the complementary way we anticipated they would. Units that provide recurring effects do so by means of triggered abilities such as "at the start of your turn" and "when this Unit dies". Actions have an immediate impact on the game state and can swing entire games in a moment.

>> Mana Ramp

Assertion: Players gain exactly 1 mana each turn, to a maximum of 12. Reasoning: Mana "ramp" often leads to strategies that attempt to scale up faster than a typical deck. These decks often deploy enormous Units on early turns by sacrificing cards, creatures, or life points as a form of all-in strategy. In the absence of hard removal and counterspells, the only natural counter to "ramp into biggie" is "also ramp into biggie", creating a degenerate metagame condition. Result: Decks are rewarded for deploying Units on a tight mana curve, making full usage of their mana each turn, and grinding out attritional advantage over the turns. Fewer "let me explain my combo to you while you pack up your cards and go home, loser" moments.

>> Raising the Dead

Assertion: The discard pile is a one-way street. Reasoning: By avoiding interaction with the discard pile, the player's working memory is relieved of a small burden. Recurring or reviving a card breaks the rule of "one of a card per deck" by allowing the same card to be played twice. Result: Nothing. That's the point. You don't miss it. You don't notice it. You just keep playing and what's gone is gone. A perfect example of "addition by subtraction".

>> Mass Team Pump

Assertion: Anything which affects multiple Units must either specify the exact quantity, or it must affect ALL Units equally. Reasoning: Quite simply, we got sick of games ending because Player A had more Units and gave them all +5/+5. It's fun the first time. It's boring for both winner and loser after a dozen "pancake wins". Mathematically, it broke the game's core principle of "everything has a proportional cost". Result: When you get killed, you generally get killed with dignity by a big scary monster or a legitimate enemy horde. Mass removal spells remain crucial, but are not strictly mandatory as they were when mass team pump was around.

[ 2025-04-11 12:32:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

This affects _ALL_ Units, and you will generally see Units are about 1 stat point bigger on average. Must Attack got a further buff such that they are now 2 stat points bigger than before. We also brought back Cannot Block as a credible alternative to Must Attack, since some decks prefer to avoid the risk of mandatory combat. This ability is similar ( but slightly less ) in point value to Must Attack. These balance changes also opened up a large design space for over 100 new Units, many of which fill existing "holes" that players have been feeling during draft and deckbuilding. These new Units are _not_ in this balance patch. We anticipate we can begin releasing the new Units in about one week, and with over 100 to work with, we think that will last quite a long while :) As always, balance is subject to change as we inspect the math and the gameplay logs. Manacaster's game balance is handled by a "point balance" algorithm that ensures all cards properly represent an equal sum of Costs and Benefits. Keep on 'casting! -- Admins

[ 2025-04-10 19:29:05 CET ] [ Original post ]