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You definitely should start putting games on Steam

It is great. I love the idea of relics having both positive and negative effects. It actually works in this case. I prefer shorter dailies than longer ones

One of the daily relics today doubles your starting HP to 10, yet none of the descriptions mentions that.

I wouldn't mind having a little more player agency by allowing me to rotate the pieces. I read your comment on this from 3 years ago, and I feel like people would play by randomly placing pieces because they often don't have any other choice.

In today's daily, I got so far, and it looked like I could continue going indefinitely (you might want to ramp up the curse chests after some point to make things more difficult). I was looking for ways to intentionally finish the run. This gave me an idea: how about a level on which you need to defeat your own character. Let's say that after countless attempts to find the holy grail and after mingling with too many heretics, our noble hero lost their mind and need to be stopped. Maybe each step could deduct points instead of granting points. All boons and curses are still in effect, but the goal changes.

Additionally, one edge case: if you have red purple wildcard ; smite and the bonus that stuns heretics when they step on purple - they cancel out. Nothing happens to the heretic when they step on red (no stun, no death)

Thank you for your fixes. A few things that aren't really bugs:

1. In this boss battle, the level is wider than the game screen and the chest is not visible (it was on the left end below the boss position) ... Have you thought about zoom out / scaling down when the level gets above a certain size?

2. I believe that "amethyst resurgence" should be classified as a curse instead of a boon.

Some bugs: 

1) I had a case where my tiles were getting duplicated when I was stepping on 2-3 penance gems one after another. My guess is that because I was at the end of the deck, the second penance started to shuffle before the first penance had finished "delivering" its shuffled tile.
This happened multiple times before I made the recording

2) I have cases where a gem from a pylon can get permanently added to a tile. I can't tell for sure when it happens. The one from today I had a tile with blue gem, a purple pylon added a purple gem to it and I was stuck with that for the next levels.

3) I tried the daily in a new browser - the pylon colors are not the same between runs

4) Placing a tile affected by green pylon generated a blank, without it, there would be an empty spot that would be struck by lightning. Instead of recognising the blank, the lightning still struck and reduced the hp (better watch the video)

Heh,  regarding Nchiren - I was initially writing it as a question if it was intentional or not and if it was to give the player some indication that they are allowed only one purchase. But then I deleted it to keep my "essay" shorter. Using the same slogan texts as the other vendors ("shop till you drop") also doesn't help to highlight the difference.

The legacy pylon activation on the tutorial level definitely not a priority.

The multiple pylons thing - to me it would make sense if the pylons overwrite the existing gem. In theory there could be a case where 3 (or more) pylons touch the same tile. It is definitely more simple to just pick 2 of them and ignore the rest but ... on the other hand ... if each of them activates but only 2 remain, it would be more fun 😇. An example: if there are green, red, blue and orange pylons (corner position), if you are lucky, your placement would get you healed, place a blank tile and have blue/orange left on the tile. The order in which pylons activate would play a role in deciding which 2 gems remain at the end.

Two minor comments I forgot:

- I notice a significant delay between the moment I place the last possible tile and the moment when the thunders start. It could be something that you added intentionally, based on previous comments. If that is the case, I recommend including some indication for players that they are having 1-2 seconds to drink a potion. Might not be obvious to newer players and would help to show that it is intentional and not just sluggish. I personally would enjoy the reminder as well.

- Not a sound designer myself, but my first impression from the pylon's sound effect was not pleasant. I am getting used to it, but if more people mention it, maybe you can find a more chill / less jarring variation for that sound.

Great update. The pylons add another level of strategy that needs to be considered. I love it!

Some stuff to point out after a few plays:

• Nichiren vendor:
  While other vendors allow multiple purchases, here the merchant window closed after the first purchase. Right after the vendor interaction, I placed a tile next to a chest. After reaching the chest the rewards window was not reacting to my hover/clicks, but the tiles in my hand were playable. This happened in 3 separate games. Once it was between levels (merchant was at the end of one level, rewards bug happened on the next level).
• "Monumental Presence" and "Obelisk Enrichment":
  - Appear to be duplicates with different names.
  - Used as legacy in a new game, they don't have effect on the starting level. I was hoping to start with more than 10 points on level 1 :-)
• Tile with gem placed between two pylons - enhanced only once:
  Placing a tile with a purple gem between red and blue pylons resulted in blue purple gem (expected blue red). I uploaded a public video, and you can see this at 18:00
• Pylons don't affect non-manually placed tiles (?):
  - I used the "pathfinder's" potion to add some tiles around me. The newly appeared one that was next to a pylon didn't receive a gem.
  - Just a guess, but if a green gem places some blanks, I assume that the pylon would not add gems to those blanks. If then I use 2 of the potion that adds paths to tiles on the board, I will have walkable tiles around the pylons that don't have gems. Imagine the horror!
• After my last death to a boss the starting tile started to render above all other objects. Both in the menu and during a new game. It fixed itself after reaching level 2.
• I don't have many impressions about the fragile tiles. I like how they skew a little bit when you step on them once. Didn't have a case to step on them again to break them.
• I love the gems become anti-heretics barriers upgrades.

In case your backlog of ideas has become too short after your vacation. Here are a few:
- a relic that acts the opposite of a wildcard: prevents combining gems of certain colors. Might be useful to counter some (green) pylons.
- relics or potions whose effect depends on the number of gems currently on the board
- vendors that give delivery quests: You receive some bad potion. You have to carry it a few levels and when delivered to another vendor you get points or a better potion. .... or: You get a package of 5-10 fragile tiles. You get paid XYZ number of points for each delivered tile to another vendor 3 levels later. Maybe subtract points if too few tiles are delivered.

It won't take much effort to entice me. There are games that I have paid 10-15EUR and I have played them much less than this one. I believe that it has potential.

Regarding the greens here are some thoughts:

- It is ok for not all gems to be desirable from the start. Navigating around the green rarely poses a problem (for an experienced player).

- In later stages, when curse chests start appearing, green can be helpful to complete the stage while avoiding opening such chests (maybe a shopkeeper can offer the service to remove relics, Cavalry is one of those good until it becomes bad, kind of relics).

- Maybe not directly changing green gem, but adding more use cases where green can be useful would add extra depth.

Here are some ideas:

• Fragile tiles - tiles that can be used only once, and then they disappear from your deck
• Dangerous spots - makes tiles placed on them fragile. Similar to the sacrificial spots, but the placed tile remains in use for that level.
• Extra-dangerous spots - Walking on a tile placed on such spot will break the tile. An extra challenge combo-breaker that you need to plan how to finish the level without stepping on it too many times.
• "Wild beasts" that walk on empty spots - Similar to brutes, they damage you when you pass by, use your tiles to "pen" them so that you can continue playing undisturbed.
• Change scenery - after XX levels, the background changes and some gems have different effects(?)

These are the ideas that come to me when I think: "I have a gem that creates tiles and has map control, when can it be useful?". I am sure that you can think of others as well. I have been amazed by your creativity, and when you ask for my suggestions I feel very honored.

I have been playing too much this gem of a game. It is time for me to take a break from it. 

Sometimes when you start off a good run it can go for hours before the curses catch up with you, a death of a thousand cuts that can go on forever. I would love to see a menu screen where I could either save my progress and continue later or can give up (submit my score) ... also add some sound controls there too :) 

Ignoring scope constraints, instead of simply "give up" maybe there could be some sort of "go to siege" button or something similar that would send you to a super hard, impossible to win level, which offers massive points with every step that you take.

The RNG in the daily is not as deterministic as initially thought.

I was worried that my score was so low in comparison to others, so I tried to find my mistake and load the daily in a new browser. Surprisingly, reloading the game in incognito can give you different starting deck. Examples:

neither the points or the shop prices were shown...

One thing that doesn't sit well with the rest is that SIN should only activate after I place a tile that I can't access - step 3) in the above plan, but in this case we see the problem already before step 2)

Sorry for bombarding you with bug reports. Let me know if I should stop.

Today I got stuck in a shop. I knew that going there I would be blocked by heretics from going anywhere else. My plan was: 1) enter the shop, 2) buy something, 3) place a tile in one of the inaccessible spots 4) make use of the sin relic for an extra turn 5) place a tile in the last remaining inaccessible spot 6) win the level. What I believe that we are seeing is that reaching the tile with the shop the sin relic was activated before finishing the shop interaction (I guess)

I have noticed that potions are drinkable at all times. Today I attempted to use the healing potion after getting stuck, while the lighting bolts were raining down on the remaining empty spaces. The idea was that if I time it right, I could heal more than if I used the potion before the end of my turn. While I was able to pull it off, apparently, the game had already decided that my hp at the end of the turn was less than all the damage to be received, so it killed me anyway. May I suggest that the hp>0 check is done at the end of the lighting bolts animation? 

I am sure that other Casual Crusade pro gamers would appreciate it :)

Another simultaneous interaction that doesn't behave as expected: Having the relic for healing when stepping on red, when you pass by a brute just before stepping on the red, the healing does not trigger - only the damage from the brute.

Not a bug, but an edge case suggestion - make cavalry relic (open chests with blanks) to work on picking crosses in boss fights. It is a marginal improvement, but can save runs ... like mine from today

I am having too much fun with this game! New build strategy - if you get enough red gems and raise your max hp high enough, it pays off to purposefully block yourself from playing more chests, especially if they are cursed.

A few bugs worth mentioning:

The description of relics that involve gems are messed up. It is something new from today. For example, Smite mentions "Khan legacy", while the text remains red and the effect is on red gems. 

I believe I had a case where I was standing next to a red gem, a brute came next to me, they stepped on the gem, died, and then I received 1 damage from them.

It is pretty nice. Good job!

For today's score I got 6000 from drinking a potion of randomness. The 481 I survived long enough thanks to green gem filling the board.

Haven't paid attention to that, but will keep an eye out. I opened the daily in incognito and it was the same for me - green in the menu; red in game.

Today's daily chroma ban was supposed to be the green one, but during play it was the red one?

Hey. This is the second time I get stuck on that "alternative dimension"
This time I opened a new browser and recorded the same run.

It is not related to my previous ascension because the problem happens with a new account as well. It must be expecting me to place a tile, but the board is already completed

before I reach I usually always try to shuffle the tiles so that I have options available later. 

I think this particular time, I had 3 tiles (from Fibonacci) I placed a purple gem tile so it swapped out one of my options. I am guessing that when the boss jumps and all tiles are reshuffled, the people gem activated a second time and it swapped out the other tile as well...

Inexplicable death to the first boss today. Just picked the chest with the cross and died. Judging by the similar score, I suspect that @Rafitko might have had the same issue.

Oh! Damn, I feel silly now :-D

Can't ask this without sharing a picture

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(spoilers below)

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am i being trolled?

Oh wow! It is such a relief that my progress is saved between play sessions.

Unfortunately, I can't progress further. I don't hear any different sound

Help! I am stuck! 

I think I found a way to get 30 extra lives, but I don't know where is the pause screen. Trying not to give out spoilers

You have been chosen to captain the hastily designed Voyager-19 space probe; a rudimentary spacecraft equipped with a hibernation pod and fractional light-speed capable engines, to search for the missing science mission.

Ackshually, my car has a fractional light-speed capable engine as well 🤓

In Behacked there was "holy water" to remove curses. We should have a similar relic/potion here.

You are very correct about the leaderboards. Some daily modifiers are small enough to be negligible, but I am sure that people would prefer to have a separate leaderboard for "clean" runs.

And yes, I will proudly wear my "hat" and wings now

Me again :)

I don't know what happened with the first altar, there was a quick text effect that I couldn't read fast enough and then I continued playing.

I was carrying a second moldy key and 2 grails for multiple levels, not sure if that was intended.

My only problem from today's run - can dailies count as part of the regular leaderboard as well? I am afraid my 66 G will be lost in the many pages of the dailies chronologies.

Suggestion for a new curse: "the number of the beast" - if your score contains the digits 666 next to each other, you receive damage and another curse.

It is an amazing game, my friend. You could develop something full fledged from this idea.

If you are still interested in some edge cases bugs, here are some from today's daily:

1) Died for standing on a trap tile during a boss battle - I guess that the heretic tried  to appear and clashed with the player character

2) new trap card out of nowhere - I started the recording because I suddenly got a new trap card during the boss battle. Was this the case for others? Is it supposed to be like that?

3) Chest - Merchant - Deck view interaction - When reaching a merchant and a chest at the same time, the selection windows for each get queued. I opened my deck to review which tile would be the best for me, this caused the chest options to disappear and to switch to the merchant's selection.

Today's daily has a curse "Excommunication - ... - This curse can be placed anywhere"

What does that mean?

Also - me making the most of an unlucky boss fight:

Another game saving potion - Clay. An opportunity to drink remaining potions before death would help make the maximum out of a particular run

This is a screencast that doesn't record audio or the mouse position. It is unedited, real time of me pausing and thinking, so it might appear a bit slow.

(The boss battle starting at 7:05 was epic. I actually completely forgot about my Fibonacci blink and almost died)

Time to take a break from this game. Can be addictive :)

I thought to make a video to report some bugs, ended up recording my record run. It is 69 minutes long and doesn't start from the beginning. Let me know if you want to see it

Daily run discussion:

1)  Maybe not all curses should be in the daily pool? (Halted lineage). I guess if I made it far enough, I would have a relic to pass on, so maybe it does have a place there

2) On the third level I got a bottled mana potion that should give 1000 points. Drinking it gave me 3000 points. Maybe include in the description the current multiplier "1000 x3" that changes with the level number, or don't multiply it if that was not intended.

A problem with the deck viewer and CONTRITE - if you have an option to pass and open the deck to review your tiles, upon clicking exit the reward selection gets closed as well.

Agreed, it is tricky to design around. Honestly, I wouldn't want all runs to have a longer pause. What about some sort of quick time event that triggers only if you have such a potion on you?

It is great to see that you are enjoying updating this game.

Here are some features ideas:

• Show the number of the current level/stage reached
• During boss fights, show the remaining HP of the boss
• I had a run where I made a silly mistake and blocked myself from half of the level. I reached to an available chest and picked the amnesia potion. As this was the last tile possible, the game started destroying tiles. I drank the potion while the animation was running, but I was killed nonetheless. Would be nice if there is a prompt to drink the amnesia potion when stuck, before the lightning starts striking.