Dear friends,
In February we decided to bring back the monthly updates of Gremlins, Inc. as there's always things we work on, and changes in balance that we'd like to try, and shipping regular updates is very helpful to deploy all of these things at once.
Since we in parallel develop spellcasting Spire of Sorcery, the idea was to ship Spire of Sorcery's updates at the end of each month, and the updates for steampunk Gremlins, Inc. in the middle of each month. Well, so much for the domino effect: just last week we shipped such a massive update for Spire of Sorcery (our biggest yet, adding hours of gameplay) that we only now were able to re-group and update Gremlins, Inc.
This doesn't mean that we will abandon the "monthly update" ambition. We will keep trying! This is just to explain why certain things happen later than we would have wanted them to happen. weather
On a similar topic, and before we cover the new cards, here's the update for Gremlins, Inc. 2: after discussing the project with nearly 20 possible partners, we are now down to 2 whom we like the most. The journey has been quite interesting, as we are looking not just to rise the production budget but to align our long-term vision for the game, and this is the most important part of the discussion.
We will keep you posted on the decision when we make it!
And now about today's update: the main focus of this update is the introduction of two new cards.
NEW CARD: GLASNOST
Location: Courthouse Type: Normal Move points: 1 Cost: $50 Get: votes1, -malice1 Special rule: An opponent of your choice reveals any number of cards in their hand. That player gets malice1 and gives you votes1 for each card in their hand that were not revealed.
Its true that the poor have the right to know about the actions of the rich. It is also true that the rich have the right to make that right to know as difficult to exercise as possible. Expected use case: Use this card to reveal the hand of the leader. Harass your electoral rivals when you want to become the governor. Plot to steal votes from players who have not revealed their cards for a long time.
NEW CARD: FULL HOUSE
Location: Casino Type: Secret Move points: 1 Cost: Free Special rule: Show your hand. You are not arrested even if you have criminal cards (they are, however, discarded). Get $100 if any 2 cards have the same number of move points. For each additional card with the same number of move points as the pair, get additional $100.
Even small things can have a big effect when they accumulate, whether it's the cards or the fools. To get the most of this card, player will need to align the move points of their cards. It may be a good time to show your skills. But be careful: this is a secret card. We think that this card will be more useful on playing field 2 (Colony) than on playing field 1 (Town).
TECH FIXES
Many thanks to every player who submitted bug reports here on Steam forums and on the Discord server! This helps a lot with identifying and fixing the technical issues. What we achieved with today's update:
- The changes from the February update are now applied to the single-player mode; originally, they did not affect that mode, and we apologise for the inconvenience.
- The issues with season chests are now fixed; it took some time to identify the issue, and here the reports from players were very helpful;
- A few mistakes in various localisations got fixed; some of them were on the radar for months, but we forgot about them ;-P
FEEDBACK ON THIS UPDATE?
Before we move to the last part of this update, which is the Q&A with the concept artist and game designer, we'd like to ask about your opinion about the changes that happened with the previous update, a bit over a month ago. All the cards have been in the deck for ranked sessions on Asian server how is your playing experience? Better, worse, the same? We would love to get your feedback!
A BRIEF CONVERSATION WITH OUR FRIENDS IN KYIV
As you may recall from the last announcement (which stirred up quite some anger from the blood-thirsty crowd, to the point where Valve activated the review-bombing protection for the game a first for us!), right now the original game designer of Gremlins, Inc. (Adrageron) as well as the game's concept artist (Yaroslav) are both in Kyiv. We asked them to answer three questions, to help us understand what it means to live in a city that is attacked by bombs and missiles every day for the last month: notebook Is the Russian army really attacking Kyiv? Alexey "Adrageron" Bokulev Yes, every day we have bombs or missiles hitting the city. Even though this is nothing compared to what happens in Kharkiv and Chernihiv. Yaroslav Pavlyshynets All this time the Russian army is bombarding Kyiv, with quite a lot of attacks happening from the north from the territory of Belarus, or around the border. notebook Do such attacks kill civilians, regular citizens? Alexey "Adrageron" Bokulev Yes. I follow several journalists here on the ground in Kyiv, who broadcast real-time, and they report from the sites of attacks. This often includes casualties among the by-standers, people who just happened to be nearby when the missile hit the particular building. Yaroslav Pavlyshynets Naturally. Houses are destroyed, and civilians are dying. The Ukrainian air defence is trying hard to protect the city, we hear air sirens several times each day. A lot of missiles are intercepted by the defence but even in such cases, they fall on the city, causing destruction and, sometimes, starting fires. And in addition to pieces of missiles, we also had downed Russian military planes falling into the populated areas around Kyiv. notebook Does it help that we discuss and protest against the war here on Steam despite the fact that it's a games platform? Alexey "Adrageron" Bokulev It provides moral support, I think. And it informs people. The more people know about the horror that happens at this very moment in the middle of Europe, the more pressure there is on the governments of the countries where those in power at least somewhat care about the opinions of their citizens. Yaroslav Pavlyshynets Any support matters A LOT to us these days, including here on Steam. Because the local community is really huge. Many artists, sportsmen, scientists and regular people all over the world express their empathy for our pain and call for peace, and it gives us the power to hold on, to resist and to continue our fight. We know that we are on the side of the civilised world, resisting the cruel barbarian state. I'm certain that despite the Russian army being many times larger than ours, we will defeat them, since we fight for our freedom, we protect our homes. We wish world peace and a better tomorrow for all of you, // team CO
[ 2022-03-30 13:43:07 CET ] [ Original post ]
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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.
- OS: Ubuntu 12.04
- Processor: Intel PentiumMemory: 2 GB RAM
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: internalNetwork: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 1 GB available space
- OS: Ubuntu 12.04+
- Processor: Intel Pentium 3+ generationMemory: 4 GB RAM
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Geforce 9XX or AMDNetwork: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 1 GB available space
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