Hey all,
I am currently working on the next update - primarily focused on the flow, layout and overall fun of the Cult of The Drowned table, alongside a number of balance changes, bug fixes and other improvements - however since this will all take a few more days to implement and test, I just wanted to post a small update to highlight what other changes are in the works, as there has been a considerable amount of feedback and feature requests and I want to let everyone know I hear you all, and will be doing my absolute best I can to improve the game further.
First though - a quick word of thanks
Before I go into the upcoming changes, I want to say an enormous thank you to everyone who has bought the game, played the demo, reported bugs or posted reviews - positive or negative - the feedback has been incredibly invaluable, and I've noted every last scrap of it down and will be working my way through it all as best as I can.
To be perfectly honest, I had very modest expectations at best, however in less than two weeks Cult of PiN has now sold more than 17,000 copies, and I am at a complete loss for words to put across my gratitude to each and every one of you. I understand there have been some teething and balance issues - for which I am deeply sorry to those that were affected - however 5 hotfixes and one core feature patch later I think the game is at least in a stable state, and I can now focus on the fun, flow and balance of the game.
Roadmap
Play and Flow pass - While the Cult of the Drowned table is the focus at the moment, in the subsequent update I do plan on addressing the general flow of all the tables ASAP. This will include more gameplay elements on all tables, reduced ping-ponging between the lower bouncers, reducing the frequency with which the balls end up down the sides and ensuring tricks like the post-pass can be reliably done on all tables. This should be live within the next week.
Visual Feedback - A lot of players have mentioned the lack of visual feedback, lights, sounds etc that are usually found on physical Pinball tables. This was a conscious choice I made early on due to how chaotic the gameplay can get in late game when all the rituals are firing at once and it becomes hard to see what's going on, however I realise now this was a fairly poor judgement on my part as it leaves early-game lacking. I will be adding as much of this as I can squeeze in on all of the current tables, either alongside the play and flow pass above or shortly afterwards.
Minibosses -Ok, I hear loud and clear that fighting the same table boss over and over with some variance in spells is not hitting the roguelike spot that some of you were hoping for. I'll be prioritising a patch that adds a pool of themed minibosses for each table that will be randomly selected as the boss for each act. These will each have a unique strength or mechanic to spice up combat, and I'm still sketching out the ideas for these but I do have a number of concepts that I'm already very excited to start implementing. This will take some time but I'm hoping to start introducing at least 3-4 bosses per table within the next 4-6 weeks.
Balance Changes - These will be done alongside the other major updates, but this will also be a bit of an ongoing task. As it stands, almost any build will work in getting you past Act VI once you've grasped the core mechanics, with build synergy only really required to push deep into late-game. Multiball is also still the be-all and end all ritual. The recent changes to the Ritual upgrades attempted to mitigate this a bit, but at it's core, this is design problem that I need to give serious thought to. I will also be giving all Gylhps, Blessings and Curses a thorough review, expect a major blance patch in the next few weeks.
Long-term changes - Bugs and physics issues will be patched as quickly as I can fix them when reported, and I will be looking at full Cabinet support as well when I can, however please keep offering any suggestions for features or mechanics that you'd like to see. Some wonderful ideas so far are a Challenge mode, a Skills training mode, new balls and other wonderful ideas. I would like add a new table or two in the future as well, however I want to ensure the current 4 are up to standard before I start on those.
I hope this is welcome reading and offers confidence in where the game is headed in both the short and long term. As this is a solo/personal project I am incredibly, deeply passionate about it - perhaps a bit too much :D - and as such I plan to continue supporting this game for as long as there are players playing and folk offering suggestions and feedback, so please do keep it all coming!
Happy Flipping,
Kenny
