This is a preview of all of the upcoming changes. The update itself will be released 11.02. IMPORTANT: due to significant internal changes in the code, saves that are made in the current version of the game won't be compatible with the new version of the game we apologize for the inconvenience. Dear players: We congratulate those of you who celebrate the Lunar New Year, and we wish everyone health and prosperity. May this year give you the strength, the resolve and the patience to change the world for the better, and to help those in need! Traditionally, around this time of the year we release a major update for Gremlins, Inc., and this year is not an exception: today's update is especially heavy with balancing changes that touch upon characters, cards, and even locations as well as with new features and quality of life improvements. Let's look at the changes one by one:

SPECIAL CONTENT DEDICATED TO LUNAR NEW YEAR

Commemorating the year of the Ox, we bring you:

• a special animated background for main menu
• a new original music track created by A.Fruit
• a new emoticon

All these items are granted for free to every owner of The Governor Edition (as a reminder, we now have two separate Governor Editions). The new melody and the new background are also available to every player in the game for 2 weeks following this update (once this period passes, these items will remain available only to the owners of The Governor's Edition).

NEW FEATURE: IN-GAME PAUSE

It is now possible to play private multiplayer sessions with a timer, but use the pause function if something outside of the game requires your attention. You can activate the pause at the beginning of your turn and the game (and your friends) will wait for your next action for as long as it takes. Please note that this feature is limited to private sessions only, in order to prevent delays in sessions with random opponents.

NEW FEATURE: MULLIGAN SYSTEM

The new mulligan system gives players much more control over their starting hands. At the start of the session, instead of receiving 6 cards with the ability to discard any of them and get random replacements, each player now gets 12 cards and chooses the 6 that they want to keep (the rest is discarded as usual). This way, you can tailor your starting hand much better for your first few turns in the session. This also makes early inspections and arrests more justifiable, since it is now easier for other players to get a hand of cards that can be used very efficiently from the very first round.

NEW CARD: "ADMISSION OF FAULT"

ADMISSION OF FAULT Location: Tribune Cost: votes 1 Move points: 4 Type: Normal Get: -malice 1 Special rule: Choose another player: they lose votes 4. If you use this card to move, lose votes 1 and malice 1. "No gremlin ever admits their fault, unless they find a way to hurt their competitor even more with such admission." This card hurts your popularity but it damages your opponent's popularity even more!

NEW CARD: "CORPORATE SCAM"

CORPORATE SCAM Location: Office Cost: free Move points: 3 Type: Secret, Permanent Copies in the deck: 2 Special rule: When all copies of this card are active simultaneously: players who dont own such cards lose score1 per copy; players who own such cards get score 1 per each copy that they own. All copies of this card are then discarded. "The most reliable protection from being cheated is to affiliate yourself with the cheaters."

CHANGES IN LOCATIONS

THE OFFICE
This simple change slightly reduces the effectiveness of the Office, and makes its effect less impactful on the money of players. THE CASINO
Over the years we got plenty of comments on the Casino's efficiency (or the lack of it). Here is the new Casino that doesn't limit your winnings, but will penalize you if you gamble for more than you can afford to lose. Just to elaborate and make it clear: you can now gamble in the Casino even without any money, and you still have a chance to win up to $100. But if you lose, your malice increases.

CHANGES IN SPECIAL CHARACTER ABILITIES

There are a lot of changes in the special abilities of characters that are based on server stats, discussions in the community and suggestions of top players: THE BANKER
This change is a necessity: while it was a cool idea to have this ability on the Bribe spot, we actually can't keep it there as it creates multiple issues with the internal logic, some of which aren't fixable. Thus we move this ability to the Risk spot. The numbers won't change for now, but we can always adjust them later if needed. THE THIEF
These changes should reduce the effectiveness of the Thief in session with multiple opponents while keeping the character potent in the duel format. THE COLLECTOR
These changes directly improve the character's performance, although one of them plays a bit different role. The change of "An Exhibition" adds to control of how much income the character can get from active permanent cards: now, if needed, we can change it so that every active permanent card increases the Collector's income by 30 which gives the character a much bigger boost in the early game but with the limit of 90, it does not become overpowered in the late game when the Collector might have a lot of active permanent cards (because only 3 of them provide the actual boost). THE POLITICIAN
Just as we have done with the Banker in the previous update, now it's time to bring in major changes of the Politician's abilities. The changes are meant to improve the character's ability to accumulate votes but provide fewer benefits during the Elections. Most importantly, the character no longer keeps votes after the Elections, which means that after each case of the Elections the Politician should work hard on re-gaining votes.

CHANGES IN CARDS

THE STASH
You can no longer use the Dump before you travel to the Treasure. Two reasons: (1) this effect wasn't in line with all the other effects of teleportation; (2) this effect wasn't very useful in the first place, but created additional delays. Thus we streamlined the card a bit now you go straight to the Treasure, without any delays. EASY GAMBLE
Considering the change that we made to the Casino, the old effect of this card wouldn't make sense as there is no limit to your winnings anyway. So instead, the card now protects you from getting malice when you lose too much money.

QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS

Thanks to player feedback, we identified two changes that can improve player experience: Firstly, when a spectator leaves the session that they watched, they are now redirected to the multiplayer lobby which makes navigation between different sessions that you want to spectate a bit easier. Secondly, the drop of a new chest during the session is slightly changed so that it no longer blocks the Plant location on the Clockwork Colony playing field.

FIXES

It is no longer possible to use "Cheating" to move from the Astral to the Bank for the player who does not have active "The Astral Elevator" permanent card. Earlier, there was a very rare and very specific set of circumstances that allowed to "cheat with "Cheating"" this way, but now it is fixed for good. Fixed a rare issue, where sometimes images of emoticons would have stuck on the screen if their hot-key was pressed while the emoticon is dragged with the mouse.

WHAT'S NEXT?

In a few weeks Gremlins, Inc. will celebrate its 5th anniversary on Steam (March 11, 2021). In our wildest dreams, we never imagined that this native digital board game created by a small studio will reach 700,000+ owners on Steam, and bring together a community from pretty much every country in the world! We'd like to use this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to continue updating the game, bringing new content and new features throughout 2021. We closely follow player feedback and community discussions, and we will keep making the game better with every major update! A special "thank you" goes to the Japanese community of the game, and especially to our friend Standard of Ur, for providing early feedback on the upcoming DLC that is dedicated to the theme of Japanese Cyberpunk. This DLC is currently nearing the end of its production cycle, and will become available in the spring of this year.
Additionally, we are very close to finishing the custom modding tool that will allow players to extensively modify Gremlins, Inc. by changing the effects of cards, locations and general rules. The tool is now already in translation, we expect to release it around the game's anniversary in mid March. Thank you for being a part of this friendly community, and we wish you all the best! Team Charlie Oscar Vilnius Old Town, Republic of Lithuania

[ 2021-02-10 17:58:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

This is an intense strategy board game in a steampunk world of corrupt capitalist gremlins who compete for money, political power and prestige. Save and invest, steal and extort, arrest and get arrested – in single-player and multiplayer modes, with ranks and ladders. Unleash your inner gremlin!

HOW DO YOU PLAY THIS GAME?

Gremlins, Inc. is designed for 2 to 6 players, in multiplayer or in single-player mode (with AI bots). Each player has 6 cards on their hand (replenished from the same deck), and uses them to move around the playing field and to perform a number of different game actions. There is a lot of interaction with other players, and duels are significantly different from 3-player or 4-player games. You play for score limit, or rounds, or for time limit in custom or ranked sessions (with matchmaking by rating). Password-protected private sessions are also available.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO PLAY ONE SESSION?

The game offers different session settings to make them fit your available time, and single-player mode offers automatic Save/Load function at every turn so that you can take a break whenever you want (multiplayer mode offers re-connect functionality as long as the session is still in progress). A quick duel for 20 score points with a fast timer can finish in under 20 minutes, while a 4-player session for 60 rounds can last for 2 hours or more.

SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM STRATEGIES?

There are different types of cards in the game (permanent, regular, secret and criminal) and as each card can be used either to move or for action, you will develop both short-term and long-term strategies for making the most out of where you are, and what you have in your hand. Normally you spend half of your game time accumulating things, and another half controlling other players (stealing, arresting, making them pay a fine, initiating player conflicts, and so on). The more you play, the more new strategies you will discover, especially when combining the effects of several cards played in a row.

MAKE DECISIONS, PLAN YOUR MOVES

• This is an intense strategy game: make decisions at every round! Plan your moves, then adjust to the actions of the other players and new cards drawn.

• The design of the playing field and the layers of optional features allow for a variety of strategies. The more you play, the more roads to victory you discover, using a combination of features based on the particular setup of the session.

• The game offers a resource system that allows for many comebacks even after you're robbed or arrested (or both). With score, money, votes, malice, income and bribes, the tension remains until the very last round.

• In this game, you have to be mean to win: not letting the others to score is as important as scoring yourself. The only true moment of unity in a multiplayer session is when everybody's united against the player who's about to win the game. Earn and steal resources, set traps, arrest, initiate Player Conflicts, bluff and climb up the political ladder to become the Governor.

• The multilayer mode of the game features a system of ratings, ladders and ranked sessions: compete in a specific league, and take part in the regularly organised tournaments (normally, over 1,000 players participate). A system of anonymous masks allows everyone to compete on equal terms in a ranked session, so that you can't really disregard someone as a newbie player, or target a veteran as your prime suspect in a political race.

• In addition to the multilayer mode, the game offers 9 single-player challenges plus the option to create custom single-player sessions with different AI bots (with each major update, we keep adding new challenges).

FACTS & FIGURES

• The game currently features 169 cards in the main deck: permanent, regular, secret and criminal, each with a hand-drawn steampunk illustration (with each major update, we keep adding 1-2 new cards to the core deck).

• The game also features 34 telegrams of Misfortune in the Misfortune deck: send and receive events that may disrupt another player's plans, or significantly improve your own standing (with each major update, we keep adding 1-2 new cards to the Misfortune deck).

• Chaos Cards: an optional set of 6 cards available to every player in the game, that changes the dynamics of the session.

• Special Character Abilities: an optional feature that enables 12 sets of abilities unique to each character type, which then defines the core strategy of every player.

• There are 11 locations – the Office, the Plant, the Dump, the Marketplace, the Inferno, the Jail, the Casino, the Court, the Treasure, the Bank and the Astral Plane – and 7 spot types – Danger, Gamble, Police, Income, Bribe, Misfortune and Tribune.

• The game took us three years to develop from concept to Early Access and to full release, and we're committed to the continued support of the community and development of new features and new content. It is the brainchild of Alexey Bokulev, the acclaimed creator of Eador.Genesis. There are currently over 35,000 players of Gremlins, Inc. on Steam from all over the world, including USA, Russia, China, Japan, UK and France. Collectively, players launched over 400,000 single-player and multiplayer sessions since the game's full release in March 2016.

FINALLY, WHO ARE THE GREMLINS?

You think that’s just a pocket watch in your hand, a watch that’s a bit late because you keep forgetting to wind it up? No, no and no – you couldn’t be further from the truth! What you carry around is a whole gremlin town packed into this tiny mechanism: a town with its own bank, its own casino… and even its own jail! Gremlins are the microscopic creatures that inhabit any mechanism that they can possibly infiltrate. If a watch or a telescope malfunctions, then it’s probably due to gremlins who took up a residence there.

More than anything in life, gremlins value money, political power and prestige: prestige that one can claim after completing some sort of a grandiose engineering project. Aside from working on their own projects, gremlins mostly spend their time preventing other gremlins from building something even more grandiose. This they achieve through bribing officials and lying to the electorate, as well through stealing from their competitors - and outright arresting them.

A DISCLAIMER (JUST IN CASE)

We felt it important to note that Gremlins, Inc. is not a free-to-play game. Also, this is not a CCG or TCG: you do not need to buy boosters or packs, in every session the game offers the same deck to every player, and everyone's chances are equal.

OUR DLC POLICY

We remain committed to the principle of continuously updating the game with new features (e.g. special character abilities) and new content (e.g. new cards, new Misfortunes) that come in the form of regular updates that are FREE for every owner of the product. At the same time, from time to time we create and release fun stuff (animations, character portraits, alternative music themes) that is not related to the game mechanics, as paid DLCs. If you like it, you can support our efforts by your purchase. However, there is absolutely no pressure to own any of the DLCs in order to play the game or compete in the tournaments.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT ONLINE CONNECTION

Gremlins, Inc. was designed as a digital board game with the multiplayer mode at its heart. This is not to say that we don't like single-player – we do, and there's a separate section with the single-player challenges as well as the mode where you can create any custom single-player session that you like. However, the architecture of the game is built in a way that allows us to continually update the game mechanics and AI logic, which for this reason is processed entirely on the server side. Therefore whether you play Gremlins, Inc. in a single-player mode or in a multiplayer mode, your game client needs to be connected to Steam, and game's server, at all times. If you are looking specifically for a game that can be played offline, then Gremlins, Inc. in the current state is not the right product for you. An offline-only version of the game is currently in development for release later in 2016.

AMSTERDAM AND SINGAPORE SERVERS

The game currently supports 2 separate servers: Amsterdam and Singapore. Players are able to check their ping value for each of these servers, and play on the server that is the most convenient. Each server has its own player ladder, statistics and player profiles. Most players choose Amsterdam, since ping to Amsterdam from anywhere in the world rarely exceeds 300. However, as we saw more and more players from the Asian region join the game, especially from China, we added the server in Singapore in order to be able to offer faster connection specifically to these players. We hope that this works well for every player, as good player experience is our top priority. We will continue to monitor the quality of our server/client connection in order to adapt the servers to the changing requirements and we thank you for your patience.