Card Changes

• Renamed Pau to Paw, Herald of Unity and changed their effect to "Tactician. Whenever a card enters your field or support zone from your hand, explore for a card with the same types"
• Renamed Urvar, Varlari Vanguard to Advar, Varlari Vanguard
• Renamed Lost Departed to Lost Soul and replaced the effect with "Last Words - Deal 2 damage to your hero, then summon a 2/2 undead follower token"
• Changed Darkness Sword to 3-cost 2-attack (from 2-cost 3-attack)
• Changed Varlari Necromancer to 5-cost 1/3 (from 4-cost 2/2)
• Changed Arfactus cost to 12 (up from 10) and removed Untargetable
• Changed Focus Point to 2 cost (down from 3), changed the essence to last while you control it, and added "Enters the supply zone exhausted"
• Changed Redan Fruit Merchant to Uncommon
• Changed Staff of the Wilds to Rare
• Changed Lifestream Ritual to Epic
• Changed Solar Eclipse's effect to "Increase the damage and healing your spells, enchantments, and artifacts deal by 1"
• Changed Flame Elemental to put counters from its trigger on itself only
• Changed Hide Away into an item artifact and renamed it to Hideaway
• Changed Tarin Spellburst's first effect to "Explore for spell, enchantment, or artifact"
• Changed Tarin Spellburst's second effect to "Your spells, enchantments, and artifacts deal +1 damage"
• Added second mode to Back to Nature to give a follower +X/+X until end of turn
• Reduced quest zone card limit to 6 (down from 12)
• Reduced support zone card limit to 8 (down from 10)
• Changed Draft and Sealed deck size to 40
• Renamed Golems to Constructs
• Removed health indicator for hero cards in the collection
• Removed keyword reminders from several cards that became too wordy
• Changed Black Market to be once per turn
• Changed Enfeeble cost to 3 (up from 2)

Other Changes

• Disabled camera auto scroll when mouse is over the bounds of the screen unless attacking
• Adjusted the logic of the collection browser
• Added number assist setting to accessibility menu
• Increased in-game size of quest and support cards
• Card stat modifiers appear when browsing the discard zone

[ 2024-12-18 10:27:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

What's New

• Fixed a critical lobby bug that kept players from being able to play together in the official server
• CPU logic improvements
• Reduced starting renown reward to 2000 (down from 10000), due to giving too much at the start
• Replaced Booster Box with 3 Card Pack Bundle
• Added Lan Discoverability to local lobbies
• Added Profile Sync to profile menu, so that players can sync their non-steam saves between devices

Card Balance Changes

• Changed Whispering Book to trigger once per turn but affect all essences
• Changed The Shadow's cost to 6 (up from 4)
• Changed Cursed Beast to 2/2 (down from 2/4) and it no longer has Tactician
• Changed Darkness Lookout to 1/4 (from 3/2)
• Changed Enrage to buff attack only and based on half the Passion essence
• Changed Crustacean Celebration and Golem Factory to require 1 mana to trigger at end of turn
• Changed Crustacean Recruit to summon a crab token when entering the field
• Changed Numbing Sphere to 3-cost and 1-justice 2-darkness (down from 4-cost 2-justice 2-darkness), and added draw on enter the field
• Changed Struggle darkness cost to 1 (down from 2) and added draw on enter the field
• Changed Parched Hound to trigger from hero heals instead of everything
• Changed Lireziel, Fledgling Adventurer to trigger from opposing followers and to no longer have tactician
• Changed Chains darkness cost to 2 (up from 1)
• Changed Enfeeble darkness cost to 1 (down from 2)

[ 2024-11-10 17:04:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

A new major update for Fairtravel Battle is finally out!

Major Changes

• Brand new battle soundtrack by crisp!
• French language!
• Improved mod setup experience!
• Big fixes to Steam Lobbies!
• Accessibility improvements!
• 36 new avatars!
• 23 new card backs!
• 27 new playmats!

Card Changes

• Added missing Adventurer tags to Anthe, Hon Sweetperson, and Shadow Assassin
• Lifestream Ritual now heals both the follower and the hero
• Justice Core was changed to "3 [COST], Exhaust: Give target follower +X/+X until end of turn, then summon a [JUSTICE] 1/1 Guardian Soldier follower token with Guardian, where X equals half your [JUSTICE] rounded down.
• Darkness Core was changed to "3 [COST], Exhaust: Give target follower -X/-X until end of turn, then summon a [DARKNESS] 2/2 Undead follower token, where X equals half your [DARKNESS] rounded down.

Improved mod setup experience

• Added support for modding with loose audio files (wav, mp3, ogg)
• Added support for mod file picking and for unzipping zip files

Accessibility improvements

• Added animation multiplier setting
• Reduced motion is now finalized
• Added team text coloring to in-game player names
• You can now skip most animations by clicking (card previews, turn message, player defeat)
• Added settings button to the onboarding sequence

Full patch notes

• Added missing Adventurer tags to Anthe, Hon Sweetperson, and Shadow Assassin
• Lifestream Ritual now heals both the follower and the hero
• Justice Core was changed to "3 [COST], Exhaust: Give target follower +X/+X until end of turn, then summon a [JUSTICE] 1/1 Guardian Soldier follower token with Guardian, where X equals half your [JUSTICE] rounded down.
• Darkness Core was changed to "3 [COST], Exhaust: Give target follower -X/-X until end of turn, then summon a [DARKNESS] 2/2 Undead follower token, where X equals half your [DARKNESS] rounded down.
• Added support for modding with loose audio files (wav, mp3, ogg)
• Fixed scroll sensitivity in the shop
• Fixed Raging Phoenix not triggering from resurrecting an elemental with Varlari Necromancer
• Adjusted multi move animation sound to be less overwhelming on big moves
• Removed Dina (Barrel) card style
• Fixed demo intro not respecting the local language
• Fixed several networking issues with steam lobbies
• You can now customize the hero for readonly decks
• Modded decks can now be successfully share with non-modded players as long as only the hero becomes an invalid card
• Copy-Pasting custom game modes and decks no longer requires the clipboard to change
• Added support for mod file picking and for unzipping zip files
• Fixed avatar picker on rewards screen not being in sync and not picking correctly
• Card pack card previews now properly zoom into the card style you got
• Changed Steam Lobby into its own lobby mode
• Added concede confirmation prompt
• Onboarding messages can now be advanced by clicking anywhere on the screen
• Fixed Shadow Assassin's 2nd ability never being selectable in some cases
• Added team text coloring to in-game player names
• You can now skip most animations by clicking (card previews, turn message, player defeat)
• Added animation multiplier setting
• Fixed Explorer multiplayer not setting player names and avatars
• Re-added Player is CPU game mode setting
• Picking a hero now shows the full hero card instead of the field image
• Added French translation
• Updated font for headers/titles due to localization issues
• Added settings button to the onboarding sequence
• Improved shop product preview screen
• Updated in-game player avatars

[ 2024-10-20 15:59:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Portuguese Language added!

Fairtravel Battle now has an additional game language: Portuguese! You can enable it by going to the game settings and swapping the language there. It will also auto-set itself to portuguese if it detects your operating system running in portuguese!

Card Changes

• Updated Dina Hero field art to be less zoomed in
• Changed Justice Core's effect to "3 COST, Exhaust: Put X + 1 +1/+1 counters on target follower, then draw a card."
• Adjusted Hon Sweetperson's targeting to no longer have restrictions
• Full Art card styles now remove most reminders from the card text so the art is more visible
• Simplified rules text to make it nicer to read and simpler
• Disabled Ranged from Flame Master (was accidentally set)
• Changed Darkness Sword to always return if you don't control a weapon, rather than ask every time you destroy a follower
• Fixed Empowered Fire Ball having two play modes
• Changed "Follower - Token" to "Token Follower - "
• Renamed Lireziel Denizen, Adventurer-in-training into Lireziel Denizen, Fledgling Adventurer
• Renamed Dark Hunter to Darkness Hunter
• Renamed Dark Lookout into Darkness Lookout
• Changed Grip of Darkness into Dark Grip
• Changed A Dark Past to calculate its trigger since the player's last turn
• Changed Darkness Core to also draw in addition to its effect, like Justice Core
• Renamed To The General Store into Let's Get Some Geqar
• Changed Redan Thief to choose a target to discard on deploy rather than when hitting the first time
• Changed Thulari Mercenary's effect to "This gets +1/+1 for each Lari you control"
• Changed "restore health" to "heal" to simplify clarity in rules
• Clarified Siphon Essence's healing effect

Other Changes

• Fixed pack indicator in lobby screen going over the deck customization screens
• Added interaction between +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counters (adding one of the other kind will cancel out both)
• Added weekly Booster Box bundle to the shop, to help players who want to complete their collection faster (but at a reasonable rate)
• Fix deck section not resetting its state
• Added New Player rewards
• Fixed resolution handling when having multiple refresh rates
• Added support for debugging translation strings (in launch options: use "--debug-empty-strings" to force empty text to turn into the translation key, use "--debug-all-strings" to force all text into its translation key)
• Fixed missing translations causing a bad state (every text in the game would be the translation key)
• Added shadows to sprites in fullart card style
• Added support for system language to auto select a language when creating a new profile from scratch

[ 2024-08-17 23:46:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Card Changes

• Added card art for Grove Guardian, Dark Lookout, Inviting Soul, Cursed Beast, Grove Tyrant, Plate Chausses, Struggle, Raise Morale, Dina (Hero), Flame Master
• Renamed Flame Master into Flame Elemental
• Changed Flying cards to not be able to attack flying tacticians
• Renamed Impact to Pierce and Quickness to Swift
• Grove Guardian is now a beast elemental (from just elemental)
• Redan Captain is now Unique
• Redan Commander now has 2 health (down from 4) and gives +1/+1 and guardian to other friendly followers

Other Changes

• Removed game over screen from tutorial matches
• Disabled focus camera
• Adjust mass open rarity description to use full words
• Fix first time booting not loading all steam profiles
• Reordered default decks from easier to harder

[ 2024-08-03 14:08:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Today, 22nd july 2024, marks 7 years since Fairtravel Battle started being developed! It's been quite the journey, and we're reaching a very important milestone! Only 14 card arts are missing for the base set (Adventurers of Fairtravel) to be fully art complete! This is a huge milestone, as 1 year ago we were missing over 130 card arts! I can't thank The Pixel Buster enough for all his help this past year, and I can't wait to see how far we can come further! Additionally, I received a physical prototype of the game a few weeks ago, which turned out very well!


Anyway, let's talk about the changes in this update!

Changes

• Added card art for Lifestream Ritual, Nalari Grove Gatherer, Siphon Essence, Soldier Training, Defender's Hammer, Lasher Chestplate, Greatsword of Agility, Nalari Skyseeker, Numbing Sphere, Reinforce the Guard, "Flareo, Aspect of Fury", Golem (that's an entire 12 new card arts!)
• Changed Shadow Assassin's 2nd effect to "This gains evasive until end of turn"
• Disabled Tab shortcut for ending turns
• Improved daily chest reward drops to 1 pack and 50 gold per 5 levels (down from 8 levels)
• Updated mass pack open experience to be simpler
• Simplified foil effect to be less obtrusive
• Optimized card textures to be more performance-efficient, while reducing the game's install size by around 100MB on all platforms and allowing lower end devices to run it better as well
• Renamed Greatsword of Agility to Swiftwind Slasher
• Redesigned team list screen
• Changed the Flying keyword into "Non-flying guardians can't defend from this. Can attack tacticians directly"
• Renamed Evasive to Stealth and Clairvoyance to Scout
• Updated card rules to use symbols when referencing to stat changes and cleaned up rules in general

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Explore not revealing cards properly in multiplayer
• Fixed mulligans not cleaning up properly in dedicated servers due to timeout
• Fixed several issues with Steam Lobbies

That's a lot of changes, and I feel that we're getting ever so closer to an actual launch! Thank you so much for everyone who has been a part of the community or tried the game so far, I want to hear more of your feedback and make this the best game I can!

[ 2024-07-22 07:11:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Some of the changes in this update have been applied as game data updates in the past, but I'm consolidating everything in this post!

Balance Changes

• Changed Black Market cost to 2 (down from 3)
• Changed Crustacean Recruit to mill 2 (up from 1)
• Changed Grove Tyrant to 7-mana 7/7 (from 5-mana 6/6)
• Changed Sludge Elemental's darkness cost to 2 (down from 3)
• Changed Sludge Elemental's discard effect mana cost to 2 (down from 3)
• Changed Undead Mob's cost to 2 (down from 4)
• Changed Greatsword of Agility to epic rarity
• Changed Warrant to rare rarity
• Changed Flames of Greed cost to 2 (down from 3)
• Changed Enrage, Lifestream Ritual, and Soar to have an additional effect "Last Words - Draw a card"
• Changed Fireball to 1-cost 1-passion and replaced rules text with "Deal 2 damage to target character"
• Changed Lord cycle (Al'Kai, Master Golem, Flame Master, King of Beasts, Master of Undeath) cost to 3 and health to 3
• Renamed Tainted Beast to Cursed Beast
• Changed Necromancer tribe to Varlari Lari and renamed to Varlari Necromancer
• Redesigned Supplies card effect to "Restore 2 health to target follower, then choose one, where X is the damage restored: * Deal X damage to target character; * Put X +1/+1 counters on target follower; * Summon X 1/1 Life beast tokens"

Other Changes

• Updated Sludge Elemental's card art and renamed the card to Slimy
• Added card art for Hunted, Obliterate, Redan Commander, Grove Arms, Master Golem, Redan Mender, Golem Factory, Master of Undeath, Undead Mob, Redan Captain, Redan Fruit Merchant, Purifier's Greatsword, Shadow Assassin, Necromancer
• Fixed booster pack rarity rolls as they were a bit unreliable
• Changed Epic drop chance to 35% (up from 20%)
• Changed Legendary drop chance to 20% (up from 10%)
• Cleaned up rules formatting and other translations
• Fixed Explore not revealing drawn cards
• Added foil effect to flamingo bundle cards
• Fixed UI overlap while doing a prompt that browses a zone
• Added logic to avoid getting mass repeated rares when mass opening packs
• Fix steam lobby display not being correctly aligned or having the right font

[ 2024-07-08 21:18:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Note: Some changes were recently made with a remote game data update, meaning they were already in the game. If you noticed some sudden changes, that's why!

Balance Changes

• Draconic Arbiter is now 4-cost, non-unique, and "Tactician. Opposing cards cost 1 more"
• Draconic Might now only targets followers
• Tainted Beast will only ever summon 1 token each time (was making more in some situations)
• Varlari Vanguard is now named as Urvar, Varlari Vanguard, is a 4-cost 2-passion Unique 2/5 (compared to 5-cost 3-passion non-unique 4/6)
• Updated gold per win to 25 (up from 20)
• Reduced cosmetic costs to 1000 (playmat) and 500 (card back) to compensate for recent card crafting value adjustments (down from 5000 and 300 respectively)

Other Changes

• Added animation to Energy Strike and Lireziel
• Updated keyword attachment icons to be easier to see in-game
• Fixed revealed cards staying revealed after being sent to the deck and drawn
• Easy CPU now uses different calculation formulas to be easier (as currently it was very similar to hard)

[ 2024-06-01 11:48:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Balance Changes

• Enrage now gives +x/+X instead of +X attack
• Explorer's map now costs 2 (up from 1)
• Nurturing Elemental now costs 2 (down from 3)
• Redan Captain now has 5 health (down from 6)
• Rush now costs 1 (down from 2)
• Soaring Elemental now has 2 health (up from 1)
• Soulite Sword now has 3 attack (up from 2)
• Tarin Spellburst's second level up effect is now "Gain untargetable by opponents", and he no longer is untargetable by default
• Treasure Dragon now has an additional effect of "At the end of your turn, ready this"
• Varlari Vanguard now has its effects swapped: first, put +1/+1 on a target on discard. second, deal damage with followers that have +1/+1 counters; third: EOT draw a card then discard a card
• Gold per win changed to 20 (up from 15)
• Updated crafting costs to: Commons: 150 (up from 100), Uncommon: 250 (down from 300); rare: 400 (down from 500), epic: 600 (down from 1200), legendary: 1000 (down from 2000)
• Reduced Explore, Heal Damage, Play daily quest steps to 5

Changes

• Updated collection card zom to show arrows on the card style swaps
• Added mulligan selection visual indicator
• Decks with CPU use disabled show an indicator
• Updated tutorial window arrows to be clearer
• When you open a deck, the collection filters will auto select the essences the deck has
• Modding: Added support for characteristic overrides and disabling some characteristics from being validated by the server
• Added descriptions to reward kinds in reward track
• Fixed generated AI decks to no longer have extra cards
• While building a deck, you can now exceed the deck size limi, but it will be invalid for play unless it has the correct amount of cards
• Updated fullart card styles
• Removed Heal Damage quest
• Fixed bugs with negative attack in combat
• Fixed a bug with redan thief triggering after dealing damage to a follower and surviving
• Adjusted prompt hide/show behaviours to hide buttons too
• Improved resource drop UX
• Updated multiessence sprite
• Fixed Grave Aura buff that was misconfigured

[ 2024-05-06 19:19:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes

Balance Changes

• Crustacean Recruit now mills for 1 card (down from 2)
• Redan Commander no longer gives a stat buff and no longer has Tactician
• Redan Captain no longer has Tactician
• Replaced Soldier Training effect with "Friendly followers enter fields with an additional +1/+1 counter"Q

Other changes

• Significantly improved Low Memory mode
• Fixed several rewards track bugs
• Updated reward images for lobbies with rewards

[ 2024-04-16 21:20:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update attempts to solve some economy balancing issues and improve functionality overall.

Changes

• Increased legendary pack price to 500g, to be more in line with its actual value
• Banned Struggle from Explorer
• Removed most of the alternative default game modes
• Removed all booster box bundles
• Changed gold per win to 15 (down from 25)
• Fixed target prompts submitting immediately when in a prompt with variable targets (like Up To)
• Rebalanced reward track and weekly chest
• Fixed AI Use deck parameter being reset in default decks each run
• Restored lobby rewards for sealed and draft modes
• Added background to prompt text
• Added collection mode dropdown in the collection screen

[ 2024-04-15 22:46:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes

• Changed Purifier's Greatsword to 6-cost (up from 4-cost)
• Added support for creating decks with cards you don't own, which can be played by CPU players
• Added support for allowing a deck to be used by the CPU or not
• Fixed a bug with decks with modded heroes not handling the mod being disabled properly
• Fixed a serious bug with daily quests not being updated properly

[ 2024-04-13 14:17:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

(Yes, I know there's been a lot of updates! But things are changing rapidly)

Changes

• Updated default decks and increased gold per win to 25 to compensate for the slower new player experience
• Removed summon mana cost for Master Golem and King of Beasts
• Fountain Elemental and Dark Hunter's rules texts have been cleaned up
• Grave Aura only affects friendly discard zones instead of all
• Grove Tyrant is now 6/6 (down from 8/8), and has impact and quickness (instead of only impact)
• Call of Darkness is back on 3-cost (down from 4-cost)
• Tainted Beasts effect now triggers only once per turn
• Several more improvements to AI
• Changed pack rarity code to be simplified and changed pack rarities to rare: 65%; epic: 25%; legendary: 10%
• Possibly fixed a bug regarding timezones and quest resets
• Fixed a bug with cards that have AI essence nudges

[ 2024-04-11 22:27:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes

• Many AI improvements
• Adjusted Fountain Elemental and Darkness Hunter to have their effect as "X where X is half your + 1"
• Changed Restoring the Ruins to no longer draw a card
• New profiles now persist profile customization settings
• Reduced requirements for the new daily quests
• Opening a card pack no longer shuffles the pack's cards

[ 2024-04-10 20:49:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes

• Added several new daily quests
• Adjusted in-game economy as it is currently too generous and getting a full collection takes less than a week
• Improved collection filtering for multi essence cards to show cards that have at least the essences selected
• Changed Flame Burst to 2-passion (up from 1-passion)
• Changed Satchel activated ability cost to 2 (up from 1)
• Added game configuration data into the game data with additional settings to tweak AI logic
• Fixed loose file modding to properly override files

[ 2024-04-08 23:01:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update focuses especially on fixing bugs and adding some quality of life (QOL) features.

Changes

• Cleaned up assets to reduce the size of the game considerably
• Added mod manager screen on game settings (so you can load/unload mods at runtime instead of modifying files manually)
• Reworked the game data packaging (updated once you run the game once)
• Updated the starting deck and starting mana for Explorer
• Redone AI logic (but since this is a sensitive area, it might have a lot of issues. Please report any you find! It'd be really helpful!)
• Changed Darkflame Blast to 3 damage (down from 4)
• Corrected Undead Mob's type line to Undead (was accidentally set to elemental but still acted like undead)
• Added card previews on mouse/finger over during mulligan
• Fixed Blacksmith's AI logic to no longer take wrong choices (like giving an enemy a buff)
• Changed confirm prompts game setting to be off by default on new profiles
• Added PC keybind to end turn (tab)
• Added Camera Shake and Reduced Motion accessibility settings (Reduced Motion is a work in progress and will be expanded over time)
• Added improved logic to some effects to handle Unique cards better
• Adjusted Arfactus's AI logic to prioritize followers

[ 2024-04-06 16:20:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! Next monday (25th March), the Steam Deckbuilders Fest starts! Now is the best time to try the game with a limited demo for this event! Fairtravel Battle is a labor of love which I've been working on for almost 7 years now, and it's my attempt at celebrating the trading card game genre! Fairtravel Battle feels truly special to me, with its unique resource system and flexible deckbuilding I've already been able to make over 18 interesting decks! And with its variety of modes I often find new ways to use cards I might otherwise consider too niche. 4 player battles are also really fun, especially when you team up! And Raid is such an awesome mode as well, who doesn't like playing as a mighty dragon? It's a really fun game, and with it being developed in a sustainable way, the full game will not shut down after official support ends, which only gets better thanks to modding support, so you can keep getting new content from the community or making your own! In this demo you can play vs CPU opponents only, and you are limited to the Explorer (deckbuilding), Duel, and Raid (3 vs 1 boss battle) game modes, which should give a good variety! You can even make your own custom rules for each mode! Come give it a try and feel free to share your feedback on the steam forums or on the discord!

[ 2024-03-22 11:10:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

FTB will participate in a few events soon, and this update introduces some improvements towards that!

Changes

• Sped up onboarding text speed
• Added sound to move card events
• Attackers now rotate towards their target at the beginning of battles
• Improved battle SFX and animation
• Changed Sealed pack count to 8 (up from 4) to account to adjusted default card pack size
• Added SFX to dragon raid transition animations
• Redesigned Burn default deck
• Added new card pack opening sequence
• Re-added old Dina Hero card skin as a separate card style

Balance Changes

• Dark Lookout is now a 3/2 (down from 4/3), as it felt overtuned for the cost

[ 2024-03-21 18:22:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update fixes a critical issue with CPU logic that made the CPU barely act.

[ 2024-03-17 12:11:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes

• Updated Core card cycle to "X+1" effects
• Restored turn timers in dedicated server matches
• Fixed profile creation on non-windows platforms
• Added duplicate protection to booster packs in duel mode
• Updated main menu and main screen UX
• More cleanup for translations
• Changed default foil intensity to 70%
• Added essence indicators to drafted cards
• Changed Explorer card amount to 5 to better fit Explore mechanic
• Updated card pack images

[ 2024-03-17 00:35:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Balance changes

• Changed Draconic Roar cost to 1 (down from 3)
• Removed summon sickness from Biggest Duel
• Changed Hon Sweetperson's field token copy effect to use the printed cost of the cards instead of their current cost
• Changed Restoring the Ruins to also draw a card alongside its effect

General Changes

• You can now move the camera on 3-4 player battles by moving your mouse to the side of the screen
• Added previews for "X" in card rules
• Added low memory mode
• Updated Onboarding experience
• Updated game icon
• Increased time for Hint Messages and made hints clear when doing a valid move
• Changed Collection % calculation to be based on total card copies as well as unique cards
• Added suggestion for disabling the focus camera
• New Profiles now reset deck cosmetics correctly
• Improved and clarified card rules text

[ 2024-03-08 21:18:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update has a special focus on making the game and user experience nicer for everyone, and introduces a new logo and default card back!

Main Changes

New Card Back and logo

We have a new card back, which I think makes the game a whole lot more professional! It was designed by The Pixel Buster, who has been adding new art for the game since august last year, and he has already made over 90 card arts!

New Hint System

There's a new hint system to help players both old and new understand why they can't perform certain actions!

New Mana Drop UI

The mana drop UI was quite clunky and not very accessible, so a new UI shows up now so you can more easily choose what you want!

Improved card rules

An important aspect of the game, the card rules text, has been slightly improved to be clearer and less heavy on players. Some more complex cards have also had some keyword reminders removed, to focus on the main keywords, and some cards no longer prioritize their associated cards (like tokens) where it's important for new players to understand the card. Additionally, some other rule terms have been changed:

• Rest is now Exhaust, and the Rest icon no longer is used (instead the Exhaust term is used explicitly). The reason for this is that Rest was an awkward term and the more standard term would be Exhaust, and I want the game to be understandable for most players.
• References that specify health now use the health symbol instead. This makes the rules nicer and also shorter to read.
• Some keyword reminders were rewritten to be clearer.
• Once per turn effects have been rewritten to use the "word -> effect" format, to more clearly indicate those effects being once per turn
• The Set Zone was renamed to the Support Zone. This was done because although the name kinda works in english, it becomes a bit confusing to translate to other languages and to explain to other players.

Changed rules on card stats when a card is removed

Fairtravel Battle is meant to be both a physical and digital game, and as a result it has to adapt to be a bit of both. In a lot of card games, damage is physical, and doesn't get changed automatically. However, a lot of similar digital games tend to adjust a character's damage/health when a card buffing it gets destroyed. To reduce "bad feels" situations in FTB, this behaviour was changed to be slightly similar to other games. Now, after one or more cards have been destroyed, if another card would have been destroyed as part of state checks, it instead gets its health set to 1 if applicable. This behaviour is new and the coding might not be perfect, so expect hotfixes in case some edge cases are found! This generally avoids bad feelings when a single targeted removal could wipe an entire player or team board due to a buff being removed and causing other cards to now have 0 or less health, which can be devastating and quite unfun.

Full Changes

• Added Strain card art
• Grove Arms now always summons tokens when attacked
• Staff of the Wilds now has 2 attack (up from 1)
• Draconic Shift no longer causes a debuff to opponents
• Added a visual indicator to revealed cards in hand
• Several UI/UX fixes
• Removed timed glow from Support and Quest zones to avoid confusion when a card actually activates
• Changed health calculations when stat buffs are removed to keep cards that just became eligible from being destroyed by state checks
• Updated rules text with simplified terms, icons, and layout
• Added support for summon sickness custom game mode parameter
• Simplified rules text of the Core card cycle
• Added missing keyword reminders from some cards and removed some from more complex cards
• Fixed deck customization not appearing
• Added Hint system
• Added new logo and card back
• Added support for clicking on a label that is part of a checkbox to trigger the checkbox
• Player hands now move when zooming out on 3-4 player battles so you can more easily see each hero's health
• CPU players should act more
• Added retargeting to single target prompts (so you don't need to re-select the target to change to another target)
• Fixed avatar picker to work on both home and rewards screen
• Redesigned control guardians trial deck list
• Rewrote the home tutorial to more clearly explain the game
• Updated Master of Undeath's trigger visual effect
• Improved performance and memory usage of the collection screen and in-game
• Increased UI size on the shop screen

[ 2024-03-02 16:38:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update brings an updated game economy to improve the pacing of the game experience, as well as several user experience (UX) improvements that overall improve the game quite a bit.

Economy Changes

One of the big challenges of game development is figuring out how to reward players. Giving too many rewards can make players lose interest, and that's something that was happening with Fairtravel Battle. Before this update, you could collect 4 copies of the entire card collection in less a couple weeks, which is not ideal: You don't really get to experiment all that much in such a small amount of time, and when you get all the cards, it can mean the end of the journey for a lot of players. There's many kinds of players, and as such I have to consider the best experience for everyone. I believe these changes should improve the pacing considerably, and make the game more fun even if you get less rewards. To be clear, there's absolutely no micro-transactions involved in card booster packs, so there's no monetary goal here. These changes are also not final, and will likely be tweaked over time. The overall changes are as follows:

• Booster Packs now have 5 commons, 3 uncommons, and 2 rare and up cards (meaning rare, epic, or legendary), for a total of 10 cards. This is a considerable reduction from the previous setup (8 commons, 5 uncommons, 4 rare and up, for a total of 17 cards).
• Daily quests have a reduced value of 60 gold (down from 75)
• Gold per win has been increased to 25 (up from 20, based on the survivor index, which means even if you lose you get rewards based on how many players were defeated before you. If 2 players were defeated before you, you gain 50 gold now)
• Removed new profile default quests that would give 5 packs each (you still get 3 quests each day and when creating a new profile)
• Removed new profile pack inventory (you no longer get 5 packs by default)

Booster Packs had very high value for each pack, with each pack having the potential to be able to craft the highest rarity in the game (Legendary) and have leftover renown, if you destroyed each card in that pack (destroying cards refunds you for half their value) These changes overall might seem like too much but please keep in mind this is not set in stone and if needed they will be changed. They need to be playtested to see how it feels, which requires your feedback. Thank you for your patience, and I would love to hear from you regarding these changes!

Other changes

• Added support for duplicating decks
• Added reminders to card rules text with small amount of rules
• Added missing in-game reminders to a few cards
• Adjusted User Experience (UX) for lobbies
• Reordered the game mode categories so it's easier for new players to orient themselves to the main modes
• Attacking during battles with 3 or more players moving the mouse to the slide buttons will cause the camera to move to the other side (so you no longer need to zoom out to attack)
• Added support for modding background music
• Changed Hero Attack/Armor indicators to only appear when relevant
• Added hide/show button when a game zone prompt shows up (such as during Necromancer's effect)
• New Game Profiles created in the profile list will keep the volume settings as the current profile (so if the game is silent in your preferences it won't suddenly have music and sound)
• Fixed an issue with CPU targeting cards where it would target the first card rather than the best card

[ 2024-02-08 22:30:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

While debugging strange behaviour for the game as of the latest update, I realized that I accidentally created new code with the same name as an existing code, which was somehow compatible, and was being used without warning, causing several issues. This hotfix fixes that and also adds a small improvement to the pack open experience.

Changes

• Fixed accidental code issue involving removed card events using the wrong code
• Mass Open card packs has received an improved experience that should be clearer and more user friendly

]

[ 2024-02-06 20:05:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Some players reported some critical issues with the latest update, which have been hopefully fixed in this update. This update also adds a small amount of new content

Changes

• Added Darkness Crossbow and Upgradable Servant card art
• Added Quick Draft Mode, where you pick exactly 30 cards instead of the typical 58
• Added Simple Draft Mode, where you pick among 3 cards until you have exactly 30 cards
• Added support for customizing draft rules
• Fixed tutorials not starting
• Fixed several other bugs

[ 2024-02-06 00:06:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Balance Changes

• Changed The Shadow to have Tactician
• Changed Souls' Eruption cost to 1 (down from 3) and darkness to 3 (up from 2)
• Changed Redan Entertainer cost to 3 (down from 4)
• Changed Shadow Assassin's Level 1 ability to target any character
• Changed Shadow Bird's cost to 3 (down from 4)
• Changed Tainted Beast's cost to 3 (down from 4)
• Changed Treasure Dragon's cost to 5 (down from 6)

Other Changes

• Fixed networking issues on Explorer and Custom Game Modes
• Added new art for Shadows' Call, Souls' Eruption, Overseer Golem, Staff of the Wilds, Watch Tower
• Added Circle Foil and Circle Skull Foil card styles for some darkness cards
• Fixed Battles to calculate damage properly when the attacker/defender changes attack
• Changed CPU decks to use the Mysterious Challenger name and avatar instead of the deck's last used name
• Fixed Collection screen's essence filters to use a proper white circle
• Added missing associated cards to Master Golem, Search for Treasure, and Shadows' Call
• Added missing fullart style to crab tokens
• Moved In-Game FPS counter to the In-Game Settings window
• Reworded team language on card rules to refer to friendly characters instead, as the team language felt clunky

[ 2024-02-04 19:03:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

What's New

Custom Game Modes

In this update, the custom game modes feature has been reimplemented! Make your own game mode variations by changing parameters across several modifiers, and share your game modes with your friends!

Full Patch Notes

• Added card art for Guard Patrol, Guardian Soldier, Warrant, Old Friends
• Renamed Draconic raid cards to Empowered
• Cleaned up the UI for the daily quest list
• Cleaned up game resources, which resulted in a considerable reduction of the game size (from ~500MB to ~370)
• Fixed Burn triggering when the player is about to get a game over
• Disabled AI lethal damage logic, which should make the AI be smarter when attacking and dealing damage
• Prevented damage being dealt to players when they're being removed (so a hero doesn't suddenly heal while being defeated, which looked weird)
• Attachments to heroes that were removed now properly get put in the discard pile
• Increased Onboarding text size

[ 2024-01-24 20:01:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

A new game data update has just been released. It will be automatically downloaded by the game when you run it.

Changes

• Reduced Set Zone card limit to 10 cards (down from 15)

Why?

The Set Zone is where you play artifacts and enchantments, and it used to be limited to 8 cards. However, you often would feel very limited when you made an artifact/enchantment-centric deck. After adjusting to 15 cards, I have come to the conclusion that it's best to have 10 (for now, feedback is welcome) because I'd still like the zone to have some more cards, but 15 gives artifact/enchantment-centric decks far too much advantage compared to follower based decks (which have 6 slots, so with 15 we got almost 3x the amount) Followers are more expendable and easy to replace compared to artifacts/enchantments, so it's fair that the set zone has more slots since they're meant to stick around unless removed Either way, I'm currently experimenting to check if the impact of this is good for the game or not. Feel free to send feedback!

[ 2024-01-09 18:14:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update improves User Experience and adds an improved foil effect

Changes

• Fixed a bug where free card backs weren't unlocked properly
• Added improved foil effect with customizable intensity in the game settings screen
• Updated game settings screen with a new Accessibility tab
• Added more card backs
• Upgrade flamingo bundle to add card backs for each card style unlocked through it
• Added Focus Point playmat
• Improved customization settings for deck editor

[ 2024-01-09 18:12:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes

• Increased quest zone to have up to 12 cards (up from 8), and set zone to have up to 15 cards (up from 8), this is under playtest to see how it feels and it might change!
• Added card art for Guild Training and Focus Point
• Added 18 new card backs and 7 new playmats
• Changed several previously purchasable (in-game currency) card backs to become free from the start
• Mastery Track now allows for card backs, playmats, and avatars to be earned
• Reduced playmat cost to 5,000 renown (down from 10,000)
• Fixed UI issue with in-game player displayer (which caused it to be on top of regular UI)

[ 2024-01-06 00:00:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes

• 18 new card backs
• 8 new playmats
• Cosmetics now all cost renown (again)
• Booster Boxes can now be bought from bundles on the shop, giving big discounts compared to buying packs separately
• Added Playmat Zone display setting
• Deck Copy system now only asks to paste a deck when you click New Deck
• Online lobbies now default to more than one team (same as CPU lobbies)
• Cores that ask for a target can now be cancelled
• Improved score calculation for hero armor
• Disabled damage limit when exceeding health when dealing non-combat damage

[ 2024-01-03 22:23:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, how've you been? First of all, I'd like to wish you all happy holidays and an amazing new year! As the year is getting closer to ending, I'd like to take this time to talk about how Fairtravel Battle changed this year and where it's heading. Fairtravel Battle had a bit of a turbulent two years, as the game was cancelled back at the end of 2021 but shortly afterwards was revived. That wasn't public until a massive remake update was released, because I didn't want to flop yet again. In simple terms, game development is tough, and circumstances are a big factor in every gamedev's career. I'm happy to say, I have been feeling much better working on FTB, I no longer feel extremely drained most of the time due to my sense of responsibility which made me do huge hours after my full-time job because I had this idea that I just had to keep making updates as fast as possible. Now that my mental health is much better, I should be able to keep developing FTB for quite a while onwards! The remake update was a reimagining of the game, returning it to its origins in a way yet improving every aspect quite a lot. I feel that as the FTB is now, is the best it's ever been, and it's very fun. I play it very regularly and I think I got something special here. This year, a major event happened that means that FTB might actually have a chance to be truly special: The Pixel Buster and I agreed to work together to get proper art for the game, of which over 78 card arts have already been added to the game. This has truly been a blessing, and in a situation like mine when there's barely any budget, it's not unlike winning the lottery: FTB now has a chance to both play and look amazingly! I'm hopeful that FTB will be released in early access next year. Knowing how the past few years have gone though, there most likely will be a lot of obstacles. But, we're getting there! I want to release it only when it's ready. The Steam Playtest will be kept available until then, of course. There have been quite a lot of smaller updates to the Playtest, and due to lack of visibility I'll be posting new update announcements here as well, since it might feel like FTB is barely changing otherwise. I'm truly thankful for the support of each and every one of you. I'd like to request that you wishlist the game if you feel you enjoy it enough to be worthy of such a thing. It really helps, as due to the lack of budget there's also a lack of marketing. Once more, I wish you all happy holidays and an amazing new year!

[ 2023-12-22 21:55:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fairtravel Battle is back, better than ever!

Hello everyone, how have you been? As you may know, I had to cancel Fairtravel Battle back in 2021 due to personal issues, but in the end I couldn't accept the way it ended, so I put those in the past and I'm back with a massive update! In fact, this update is coming out the same day as Fairtravel's 6th anniversary. I've previously posted announcements on each birthday but I was actually wrong about the date, as I've started working on Fairtravel on July 22nd rather than September 24th, which was when I posted my first devlog. Finally, I'm again working alone on this game, with the exception of commissioning art every now and then. I think speaking in first person will work better from now on.

What's New

This update remakes a large portion of the game. Here's the condensed change list:

• Remade base set with 135 cards with an improved card frame design
• Removed classes and introduced brand new unique resource system
• Redesigned mechanics
• Added new 4-player Raid game mode, where you can play as a raider or a raid boss
• Steam P2P Networking alongside improved multiplayer
• Many UX improvements, bug fixes
• Much more!

Brand new 135-card base set and improved card frame design

I was unhappy with the current state of the game (in fact, it was a major reason to return to it). Although the game was functional, it had a lot of bugs, the cards felt ugly and blurry to look at, and there were a lot of issues overall. As a result, I decided to redesign the base set, but I also felt that I'd need too many cards to make it work (there used to be almost 300 cards in the latest version before this). As part of the personal reasons that caused me to quit, I wanted the work on the new set to be doable for a single person. As a result, I removed the classes/factions that were in the game, and I thought of making something with maximum deckbuilding potential: Don't get things stuck to a specific class or faction, so that players can do a lot with a small amount of cards. I tried 60 cards, but it felt too limited in deckbuilding potential. I could have simplified the game by removing card types, but I thought it was going to impact the game negatively. Over time, the amount of cards grew to 135, and so far has stayed more or less that amount. Here's some of the cards in the game:



Overall I think the cards feel and look much better now.

Classes are out, new resource system is in

As I mentioned just now, due to development capacity I ended up deciding to cut out classes, but I needed a way to give meaningful deckbuilding to the game. As a result, I designed a new unique resource system that is at the same time familiar, yet refreshing. If you've ever played a certain trading card game, one of the most frustrating parts of that game is needing lands to have colored mana. Lands usually use up ~40% of a deck, and drawing too much or too little is a problem that regularly happens. It can keep you from playing the game, which is quite unfun. Fairtravel uses an essence system, which is similar to colors, but rather than using lands, any card can be returned to the bottom of the deck to increase your maximum mana and pick an essence to level up. What this means is, you can use as many different essences as you want, but cards will require a specific set and amount of essences to be played, alongside mana to play those cards. Unlike typical color-based systems though, there's no colored mana in Fairtravel: Instead, essences are never spent, you can only gain them and they're like a level requirement in an RPG. In simpler terms, let's say you have 4 mana and 1 passion (red color) essence, and you have 4 cards that each cost 1 red mana. In typical games, you'd only be able to play one of these, because you only have one passion, but in Fairtravel you could play all four, because that color isn't spent. I think this significantly improves the game and reduces friction with each match, but Invite you all to give it a try and share feedback!

Redesigned Mechanics

Several mechanics in Fairtravel have been changed considerably:

• Equipment are now generally called Artifacts since they might not be specifically character equipment
• Permanent Abilities are now called Enchantments, as I felt that the original name felt too clunky.
• Abilities are now called Spells, for the same reasons as Permanent Abilities.
• Standard Heroes no longer have effects, and are more or less just a skin.
• The Set and Quest zones now have a limit of 8 cards. If you want to play another (set zone), you can choose an existing card there to destroy to place the new one.
• Fields are limited to 6 follower cards, and if you need to play another you can choose an existing card there to destroy to place the new one.
• Soaring is now called Flying and has a different effect: A flying card can't be attacked or defended against by non-Flying cards.
• Tactician has been changed to be active while you control non-tactician followers. Meaning the best way to get rid of a tactician is getting rid of their underlings first.
• Drawing from an empty deck causes an instant defeat for that player. This was changed to make the matches more compact.
• Duel and Raid Decks are now 50 cards (down from 60) and Sealed/Draft decks are now 30 cards (down from 40).
• Weapons no longer have a swing cost.

I believe these changes improve the game experience overall, and I'd love to hear what you think!

New 4-player raid mode where you can be a raider or a raid boss

Part of the future plans for Fairtravel is to have more ways of playing than just dueling, and one of the biggest steps is adding the new Raid mode. This raid mode currently only has one scenario, the Red Dragon boss. This boss has three phases and a custom deck. For modes such as raid mode, you can add CPU partners, so you don't have to have a big group just to try it!

Steam P2P Networking and improved multiplayer

Part of the work done in this update includes a new work-in-progress steam peer-to-peer networking system. This means that, using Steam, you'll be able to connect to other players without needing the official game server. So, if the game servers happen to be discontinued for some reason, you'll be able to keep playing together, be it on Steam, your own server hosting using the Lan multiplayer feature, or playing offline. That's something very important to me: I want to ensure this game outlasts its support. Additionally, game performance and multiplayer networking has been vastly improved: You should have much less problems than before, with almost no desyncs if at all.

And much much more!

Seriously, so much has changed since 2021 it's crazy. According to my source control service (which is where I keep track of what changes in the game's code), the code for this version specifically had over 730 commits (sets of changes, usually multiple files), which is a huge amount of work for someone working solo. Many, many bugs were fixed, user experiences were improved quite a lot, a lot of frustration points were also taken care of, and overall the game feels great! If you tried it before and weren't happy with it, please give it another chance, it might change your mind!

What's coming next?

There's a lot of changes happening in the future. For one thing, I've been getting a trickle of new card arts custom-made for Fairtravel, and over the coming months most of the card arts will be replaced as a result, making the game look so much better. (You can see some examples in the earlier sections of this post) There's also a lack of polish, animations, sounds, effects, that I want to fix. I want to add more content for players to enjoy as well, and I hope to bring something truly wonderful for you guys! The game won't be released on Steam just yet, but you can still play it through the Steam Playtest in between. There's a lot of challenges ahead, but I'll do my best to make a great game for you! I want to take this time to thank everyone who has supported me throughout this journey. I wouldn't be able to go this far without you. And I truly hope that the future stays bright for Fairtravel Battle! Thank you for reading this lengthy post, I know it was a lot, and I hope you have fun above all else!

[ 2023-07-22 14:57:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

What's New

Development Builds

Since the last progress report, development builds have become available in the Steam Playtest! You can now try out in-development features like team battles!

Printing Test

As part of development, a goal is to have Fairtravel Battle as a physical game as well as digital. Recently, a new printing test has completed, with some positive results!

What else?

I'm working hard on the new raid battle, Elemental Dragon Lair! About 20% of it has been completed so far, with new cards being added to the custom raid boss player's deck before I'm ready to prepare a proper playtest for it. I can't wait to show you more! Thank you for your support and for following the game.

[ 2021-11-01 17:57:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Another year goes by, and now Fairtravel Battle is 4 years old! At least, we've been developing it for 4 years now! There's still a long way to go, but we're slowly getting there! So what has changed in the past year?

Last Year's Releases

Version 34

Right at the start of the year, Version 34 was released, introducing a revamped UI, new field looks, more game modes, redesigned hero powers, and more! It was quite the large update, taking over 2 months to be released!

Version 35

Version 35 came out with not much to show, since it was a tech release. We introduced a new, better multiplayer system with support for reconnections and better stability, a new game zone browser which lets you browse your entire deck or other game zone directly when picking cards, more tutorials, alongside a few card changes. This update took 5 months to be finished, in big part due to the new multiplayer, but we believe it was worth it!

Current Year's Developments

Version 36 is under heavy development, and it is in part a tech release and a content release. We're finishing up team battles and will be adding boss raid battles, where 3 raiding players can fight a boss player with overpowered cards. Each team mode can be played with CPUs as well, so you won't require other players to play with/against, although it's much more fun with friends! After this we will be focusing on creating more co-op PVE/PVP modes, as well as more unique ways to play. Once all the main features are in, we'll be redesigning the current main set in the game, in order to have a well refined experience. We are aware that several players don't like the current state of the main set, and that is in big part because we were designing as we explored the features we were adding to the game. We will be improving this soon! We missed the Steam Games Festival, but we believe that we should participate in it only after the game is in the best shape possible. We can't wait to see how far we can go now, and we hope we'll be able to make an amazing experience for everyone! Thank you for your support, it means a lot to us!

[ 2021-09-24 12:24:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

What's new?

Team Battles have been progressing well! It's now possible to run CPU lobby team battles as well as LAN battles! Here's a video showing some gameplay: [previewyoutube=2IGjbpZ9RAU;full][/previewyoutube] Please note that the update is in a very buggy state due to big changes, it'll be fixed before release! In the coming weeks, we'll be preparing the first public development build and preparing beta branches for the Steam Playtest. We feel that the team battles update will be a really fun experience, and can't wait to show more! Thank you for your support.

[ 2021-08-27 11:39:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

What's New

The new design tool for making card powers has been progressing well! All base effect pieces (nodes) have been created, and now all that's left is creating Fairtravel Battle-specific pieces! Once that's done, we'll be able to focus on the team lobbies support, which will allow for some very interesting gameplay! Team Lobbies are also being done with CPU player support, so even if you can't get people to play with, you'll still be able to try them!

[ 2021-08-10 11:48:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

What's New

Since the last update, we have been doing research on tools to better handle creating card powers, and it took a while to figure something out since this sort of tool can be very complex to make. After a while, we found a component that works perfectly for this, and have been preparing the code for using it There's still a ton of work ahead, but we are working hard to get things ready soon. Please have some patience as we work on it.

Bundles enter the shop

Additionally, there's a new Flamingo cosmetic bundle added to the game! The shop now supports bundle type purchases, although there's only one for now. This bundle gets you three card styles for Beast Lord, Lion Cub, and Arfactus, Shade of Birth!


Thank you very much for your patience, and we hope to show more progress soon!

[ 2021-07-14 17:29:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Introduction

It's been some time since the release of Version 35, which introduced a redone multiplayer. Since then, we've been hard at work on the next update. The next update focuses on two major features:

• A improved tool for card effect coding + Automated Testing
• Team Multiplayer

So what does this mean?

Team Multiplayer

(this video is a work in progress) Right now the main focus is the team multiplayer, since the other major feature isn't very noticeable. The reason we're tackling two major features rather than just one is that we want to ensure you get new content with each update. So, what's team multiplayer, exactly? We want Fairtravel Battle to be a way for players to enjoy collectible card games in a variety of ways, and one of the major ways we want to do so is by having dynamic team battles. Be it 1v1, 3- and 4-player Free for All, or co-op, we want it to be possible to allow you to have a lot of fun. Right now we have a good proof of concept demo for that. However, we still have several User Experience (UX) challenges to tackle. What this means is that we still gotta ensure when you do play in teams, you have the best experience possible. This is a complex problem: We need to ensure you can see the information you need in the easiest, most comfortable way possible. Right now we're tackling these challenges and seeing what works and what doesn't, so it may take a while until this version is released. That is all for now, thank you very much for your support. We hope to bring more news soon!

[ 2021-06-14 11:29:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

What's New

• Added new multiplayer system
• It's now possible to reconnect during an in-game online match
• Changed default game profile lobby mode to CPU to prevent friction when trying to play
• Added new Card Zone browser when performing deck search effects
• Pack opening has been moved to the Lobby screen when picking a game mode. Packs you purchase can generally be opened in the Duel mode, and temporary packs are more clearly shown in modes such as Sealed and Draft.
• Modding support has been re-enabled
• Added a card pack tutorial in the collection screen and when purchasing packs for the first time
• Quest cards have been renamed to Adventure cards
• Getting disconnected now awards loss rewards
• You now get end-of-game rewards when quitting a match or being disconnected (assuming the minimum reward time has happened)
• Improved Mastery Rewards to more easily show that they're available
• Pack drop chances now appear in the shop
• Removed Soul Crush card (Due to Dark Weaver having two cards that did pretty much the same thing, we decided to cut one out)
• Many fixes and card changes (pictures under this list)

Card Changes

The following cards have been changed. These are their new forms:

What's Next

Now that we have the new networking, we can start planning the next major feature: Team Lobbies However, to do this, we need to first address a growing issue in the game: We have a lot of card effects and no efficient way to design them. Additionally, we need to add proper tests for each card to prevent bugs as much as possible. Because of this, the next update will be a new tool for card effects and a suite of automated tests for the game. This will take a considerable amount of time, but it's no fun to play a game full of bugs, so this is important. We'll be working hard on this, and hope to provide the update in the coming months! Thank you for your support, we really appreciate it!

[ 2021-05-22 21:37:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

After 76 days, the new version of Fairtravel Battle is finally out! This new version massively improves the look and feel of the game, as well as adds new features and ways to play!

What's New

New User Experience (UX)

Since dropping mobile support, we have considered that the current UI was far too large for PC screens. Additionally, we wanted to try a different visual look for the game. As a result, we spent a good portion of this time redesigning the UI and UX of the game. We believe it looks great!

New In-Game Look

We revamped the board layout once again, adding larger follower cards, better-looking attack/health indicators, all without sacrificing gameplay mechanics! We think the gameplay looks much better, and easier to watch card arts!

New Game Modes

New game modes have been added to this update, including Shuffle Duel, Growth Duel, and Solo Duel! These new ways to play are quite fun if you want to try something new!

New Cosmetics

New cosmetics have been added to the game! Several new card backs, avatars, and a new playmat are in this update! As usual, there are NO microtransactions to get them. You can get them from playing normally. Additionally, due to the low usage of gold other than for purchasing booster packs, avatars and playmats are now purchasable by gold.

New Hero Powers

Due to concerns about how the current hero powers were unfun, a new keyword has been introduced: Journey. Journey reads "Journey X - After exactly X of your turns, perform an effect". It is an interesting buildup mechanic that typically has no cost, and lets us design interesting heroes that don't require spending resources to use. There are two flavors, Hero Journey and regular Journey. Hero Journey are reserved for hero cards, to make them easier to understand.

New Feature: Weekly Chest

A new progression feature has been added, Weekly Chest. As you play, you'll earn chest points whether you win or lose, and the more level your chest has, the more rewards you'll earn on the next Monday. This has been added to make the game more fun to play, since it gives players more things to do. Due to reducing rewards over time, we were concerned that the game was unfun to unlock cards, so the weekly chest was added.

New card arts

Both Arfactus, Shade of Birth and Timoteo "Tim" Shattershot have received brand new art! These pieces were made by Azure Meraki and Titaniumskin, respectively. They did an amazing job!

New Cards

These new cards were designed by Apollexis, who did a great job with them. If you'd like to discuss them, we're happy to get feedback at our discord or steam community!

Other Changes

• Resource actions have swapped places (redraw on the left, gain resources on the right)
• Rewards screen now has a tutorial and rewards should feel more rewarding
• Removed the 5-win/3-loss rewards from all game modes
• Galeran of the Forest is now a 2/2 (down from 3/3)
• Berserking Stampede is now a Dark Weaver ability (instead of Brawler)
• Explore effects now reveal the top 5 cards of your deck instead of the top 3 cards it wants to find, and puts the remaining cards on the bottom of the deck after picking
• Adjusted texture compression, meaning the game is now smaller and looks better

Conclusion

This has been a very important update, and we think the game looks great right now. For the next update however, we're going to change plans a little bit. The next update will be entirely focused on tech things, meaning it won't be very visible for players, as we'll focus on redoing the entire networking system for FTB. However, we're hopeful we'll also be able to add team lobbies and modes while doing so. We're unsure how long it'll take, since it's going to be very complex, but we'll do our best to keep you guys updated and do minor balance and bugfix updates as we go along. Thank you for playing, and we hope to see you again soon!

[ 2021-01-04 08:28:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

A new Steam feature was announced a couple of weeks ago, called Steam Playtest, which we applied to and have now enabled on the store page! Steam Playtest allows us to get feedback from players for a beta or pre-release version of Fairtravel Battle, without needing to give keys or lose on wishlists. You can sign up to the Playtest, and get instant access to the latest in-development version of FTB! Please note that this does not give you the actual game, you only get access to the Playtest version. So, if you enjoy the game, please add it to your wishlist! It helps us a lot. The playtest will last until around June 2021, when we'll be doing a demo for the Steam Summer Games Festival! We'd really appreciate any feedback you'd like to give. We're looking forward to building this game with the community!

[ 2020-11-17 20:50:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Oh boy, it's already been three years of work on Fairtravel Battle! Over those years, there have been 32 updates to the game. So how much work was done in the last year?

Last Year's Releases

Version 31

Version 31 came out at the end of 2019, and included a lot of cool features:

Card Styles

Card Styles were a cool new way to customize your cards' looks, in the form of unlockable rewards. You could spend Renown to unlock a card's style and equip it on that card.

Quality of Life improvements and Card Changes

A lot of improvements were added to the game, such as a new default card back, better mobile support, bug fixes, and more. Additionally, a lot of cards were rebalanced to allow for more fun gameplay.

Version 32

New board layout

New main experience

New card types

New Card Frames andclass/faction system

Version 32 took over 8 months to finish, starting from January and releasing in August. It was an insane amount of work, since it was a massive rework of most of the game and the way everything worked. It was a massive improvement in every aspect, although there are some issues we plan on fixing in the future. The new class/faction deckbuilding allows for more interesting card designs as well, and we'll be expanding on that in the next updates.

What's coming in the future?

More PVE content

Something that we have noticed over time is that making a multiplayer game is hard when there's almost nobody playing. To counter that, we're planning on adding more PVE (Versus the CPU) content. PVP content is still going to be a focus, of course. But we need both a good amount of PVE and PVP for the game to truly shine.

Raid and Team Battles

Something that we've been wanting to do for a while is raid and team battles. We feel that that's a field that's not touched much in any card game nowadays, and one that has a lot of potential. Raid battles would be 3 on 1 battles, where raiders battle an overpowered boss player. It's possible to play with CPUs on both raiders and the boss, meaning you don't need 4 players to play. Team Battles would allow for several ways of playing. Both PVE and PVP modes are planned, and even some more crazy setups (like free foir all modes with 4 players)

RPG Mode

There's some plans on a RPG game mode, which I've mentioned before. However, I haven't given much details, so I'll do so now. Right now it's still in the planning phase, so the details can vary a lot, since game development can be very iterative, meaning we do many attempts at finding the right formula for the game or a part of it. So, in the RPG mode, you'll have a lore-related character which is one of the heroes in the game. You follow their story until you reach the main city, where you'll have an inn and can swap characters you've unlocked. Each character would have its own deck, which you can upgrade. RPG Mode cards would be unlocked by playing that mode, not through standard card packs, and there would be story-specific cards such as item cards. You'd be able to explore outside the main city like a roguelike-style game, where each time you go out you get a different experience. The reason is that, lore-wise, the world of Fairtravel is constantly changing due to ancient unknown magic, which is why the two major factions (Explorer and Protector) exist. You'd also have challenges that don't requirea duel or combat, and you'd be able to meet interesting characters as you. This mode would have an end, but you'd be able to keep playing further.

Arcade Modes

There are other modes we plan on adding, which we're dubbing Arcade Modes. We feel that FTB becomes better with more fun modes to play, rather than just trying to be a typical collectible card game. This is still in development and we'll have more details as time advances.

Steam Summer Games Festival

Our new major target is the next Steam Summer Games Festival. We feel that it was a great event this year, but we didn't think the game was really to show it off to the world. Until June next year, we plan on getting a lot of major content improvements to FTB to prepare it for that.

Printed Cards

Although this is probably not as popular as we hope, we've been experimenting with having a printed version of FTB, including its own booster packs. This would be doable since we'd be using a print on demand store to get you those cards, which means it would have no cost for us specifically since the store would ship the cards to you. The prices aren't great since we're not printing as many as big companies do, but we feel that physical cards would be really cool to have.

Final Words

It's been a crazy year, with covid affecting the entire world and so much work being put into FTB. The last update took over 8 months to finish for good reason. It's been three years of work, and a lot more work is coming. We can't wait to see how much further we can go. We hope you're enjoying the progress as well. Thank you very much for your support and for sticking around all this time.

[ 2020-09-25 17:51:21 CET ] [ Original post ]